slothblog

Oh The Humanity!

2008-10-11T09:26:00.000-07:00

When will this endless slaughter end?
Huge props to Orac, where I first saw this.

Still Alive

2008-10-01T14:24:00.000-07:00

In blog terms it has been a positive age since I last posted. It turns out that it took me much longer than I expected to recover from the virus I had. What with the week of holiday I had at the top of the month I have effectively been out of the office for the whole of September, the few days I graced the place have been lost to my still feeling very tired and feeble. It has only been in the last 24 hours or so that I have properly surfaced and taken in my surroundings, Probably just in time too as I am going to be a bridesmaid on Saturday it will be my first time as one and I do not want to disgrace myself by falling asleep during the speeches.

Rhodium

2008-09-19T04:04:00.000-07:00

I meant to blog about this a couple of weeks ago.

The rest of the elements can be found at the University Of Nottingham's Website

Only When I Laugh

2008-09-19T02:30:00.000-07:00

My virus continues.

I've spent most of my time delicately draped accross on one of the sofas like the sickly heroine of one of the more bathetic Victorian novels.

I felt decidedly better on Monday morning so it was off to work I went with, if not with a "HiHo" and a merry tune on my lips, but feeling ready for another day at work.

I walked from the car park into the office with a colleague - in that distance my voice started to sound like a teenage boy's just before it start to break and I began to feel my chest tightening up. By the time I got into the office I was beginning to squeak like a bat whisperer.

So they sent me home.

Tuesday - off work

Wednesday - off work

Thursday - off work - began to feel better

Friday - today I wake up feeling that if I don't talk too much I'll be fine. I get into work, feel awful, squeak like a bat to my boss, promptly burst into tears for no better reason than I don't feel well, get sent home again.

I seem to be ok if I do diddly squat, if I do anything for too long - talking, driving to work (remember it's an hour drive for me), trying to concentrate - it takes it out of me.

Things I'm Hearting At The Moment

2008-09-11T12:04:00.000-07:00

I'll start with the thing I'm not hearting - I've got a virus which hasn't turned into a cold but has given me a sore throat, painful blocked ears and feeling as weak as kitchen. It's not done much for my cognitive skills either I could barely string a sensible sentence together yesterday at work. In fact for once I found it easier to write down my thoughts than say them. So I've been off work today and depending on how my ears and balance are tomorrow possibly tomorow.

But back to the things I'm currently loving.

The new iTunes 8.oh.summit - the Genius feature is genius it can recommend new tracks from the iTunes store based on the track that you have highlighted and it can pull together playlists of music from you own collection that should all work together. It's not perfect, it won't work with the Beatles at all, it won't recommend you buy any of their stuff, include any of their songs in the playlist nor will it pull together a playlist from one of their songs. I know I tried it this morning.

Dark'n'Stormy cocktails - being easily swayed by the adverts I bought some Ginger Ale so that we could have moscow mules, Simon in the spirit of experimentation decided to use rum instead of vodka and we thought we had a new taste sensation on our hands. Not surprisingly we found out that we had been beaten to the cocktail shaker but it is still rather nice.

Romantic Internet Caused Marriages - Simon and I meet through blogs, Graham and Aimee met through Flickr and they are getting married tomorrow in the States (assuming immigration hasn't been an arse) Good luck you guys, you rock.

The End Of The World Is Not Scheduled For Tomorrow

2008-09-09T12:10:00.000-07:00

But then again people love to be scared, or to be iconlastic against the vast majority. Most don't give a monkeys about the LHC, there's not been a mention of it in the office, but then we do go in for very mundane water cooler moments where I work, football and Holby City seems to be the subjects that grip the most people.

So I'm pretty confident that I will be seeing Simon tomorrow when he gets back from St Albans where he's being educated in the ways of interfaces.

I had an offer on my flat but it was stupidly low, so I've rejected it. I doubt he'll come back with anything reasonable so the next step will be to let the place out, then this place then rent something we can live in with more than one bedroom and enough room for us to swing the proverbial cat. It will be wonderful to have a garden and a spare bedroom or two.

So what have you eaten?

2008-09-05T08:49:00.000-07:00

One of those lists that spread meme like through the "desperate for something to blog about" blogging community. It's a bit American in emphasis and I've had to look up some of the things 'cos I'd not heard of them before.

We've been busy, but nothing particuallry note worthy, I've got a new camera, the weather has been shocking, finally had a viewing on my flat and possibly there will be an offer but probably not an acceptable one, still we can always let it out for the duration, people still need to live in places.

Anyways back to the meme - in bold is what I've eaten, in italics what I would never consider passing across my lips

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush Aubergine dip
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. Peanut Butter and Jelly (jam) sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses - very smelly french cheese probably wouldn't consider eating but you never know
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns - Dim Sum
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda - not yet but it sounds delish
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat - not yet but something else I want to try but goat is quite hard to get round these parts
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk

45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martin - haven't tried it but only because I never knew you could do such a thing
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse - not sure I think I may have done so in France one time
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa - need to try this
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

- I have also eaten jellyfish tenticles, kangaroo, mutton and green bagels for St Patricks Day

And the big shout going out is for Cosmic Varience where I saw this first

New Toys

2008-08-20T13:24:00.000-07:00

Flickr have upgraded the slideshow tool on their website so I'm trying it out.

right now I'm not sure that it even works satisfactorily.

Arn't We Doing Well

2008-08-19T09:39:00.000-07:00

Sometimes a picture (or screenshot) is worth a thousand words

On Board

2008-08-13T11:44:00.000-07:00

Stanstead

2008-08-13T11:04:00.000-07:00

Again to the seaside with work this time Newquay by plane our flight is delayed so we have hit the bar while Ryan air find our aircraft/wind up the rubber band/sacrifice small woodland creatures to the aviation gods.

Thrilling

2008-08-12T09:12:00.000-07:00

Individual Eventing on the radio is so thrilling especially when everyone on the commenting team is rooting for the final few competitors to knock over a bar or two. I started listening on my way home and found myself sat in the car still so that I wouldn't miss the climax. We weren't expecting to get a medal by all accounts ended up with a cheeky little bronze - congratulations to Tina Cook.

Possibly the worst remake ever

2008-08-08T17:19:00.000-07:00

We've just sat through the Bruce Willis version of The Jackal. What a pile of steaming crock it was shite from beginning to end. Completely untense and unthrilling just a big weapons fantasy. The original with Edward Fox was tense, exciting, thrilling - almost everything that the modern one isn't. I hear that the remake of Pyscho is bad too but I've not seen that.

So at the risk of getting no comments whatsoever what's the worst remake you've seen.

T'Olympics

2008-08-07T09:54:00.000-07:00

Which weird sport will you suddenly find yourself completely fascinated? I found myself completely involved in the weightlifting this time four years ago but this year I think the most popular spectator spectacle will be watching western politicians trying to say harsh things about the Chinese authorities trampling of human rights and reckless arms dealing without saying them so harshly that the Chinese Authorities notice and stop playing nice with our trade deficits. Bush was at it today his routine was to say the nasty things but not in China as obviously they won't notice cos it wasn't said there. It's a bit like going to a party at a neighbours house, but before you do, standing in your garden shouting loudly to all who will hear, about what a bunch of chiseling bastards they are.

China's human rights record is abysmal and I don't have the answers perhaps the Olympics should not have been awarded to them but when things cost a lot of money niceties such as free speech, justice and the right to live a life without fear of the state tend not to have as much impact.

I am so boring at the moment

2008-07-31T13:19:00.000-07:00

I can't think of anything interesting to write, when something interesting happens to me I can't blogging in an interesting way. I'm too hot, the heat and humidity just saps my brain. Work can't provide any bloggage as I won't blog about it although I may be going to Cornwall and Belgium next month - this month depending on when you read this, or the month after that or not at all. It all depends.

Right now I just want autumn to start again, for when it rains the temperature to drop properly not the humidity to rise. I really can't bear it.

People Doing Good Things For Others

2008-07-28T09:53:00.000-07:00

It's sponsorship time, I'm more than a bit late for one and going to be early for the other.

First off I have to admit I haven't got round to doing any donating yet but I will, come the end of the week when I get paid.

Firstly and currently going on is the Dales Walk in aid of the Joseph Salmon Trust. Which means Dan and chums are doing this

This July ten friends will be walking the the 78 mile long Dales Way footpath. Yes, 78 miles. In six days. And what’s more it was our own idea. Many are predicting it will be the end of us.

In aid of this

The Joseph Salmon Trust is a small charity whose aim is to offer financial assistance to people living in the Huddersfield area, whose child has died.

It's small but local and aims to help with some of the day to day stuff that really can hurt after a berevement.

The other one is my friend Dave, he's a bit of a runner, been known to do the 50 yard sprit in 3 seconds flat when last orders is sounded. Anyway someone's attached a pint to a stick and he's running rather further now and trying to raise funds for SSAFA if you wanna donate he's got a Justgiving page http://www.justgiving.com/davidheaton

Non non photography day

2008-07-17T08:59:00.000-07:00

I hope that you are all out there recording the everyday for Nnpd. I won't much to add i've not been able to take a photo most of the day and that will continue. I'm on my way back from Tenby still in wales and we've been driving for the last three hours i think the roads have been lengthened over night.

Tenby

2008-07-16T11:41:00.000-07:00

Most of the time work is pretty rubbish but just once in a while it sends me to beautiful places like this. There is a gentle breeze the warmth of the day is still lingering and i can hear the gentle sound of the waves lapping on the rocks below me. Sometimes i'm very lucky.

So More Estate Agent News and other stuff

2008-07-05T09:36:00.000-07:00

I got a letter from the new estate agents - the ones that the busted company passed the house details onto. They have taken some nice photos, got the details mostly right and arn't looking to charge any more than the last lot so I'm guessing I'll go with them.

Jesse Helms is dead, good riddence to racist, homophobic, mean spirited nasty rubbish. I'm an atheist so I don't believe in hell but I can see why so many people think it would be the right place for the loathesome bastard. Tblogg has a choice selection of Helms' quotes.

Downturn

2008-07-01T12:44:00.000-07:00

The estate agents I put my flat on the market with has gone out of business. I can't say I'm surprised as I've not heard a peep from them in ages, they've failed to get a single viewing on the flat (and it isn't that bogging) in roughly 8 weeks. Simon got a call from the company that has picked up the remaining properties on the books this afternoon, I didn't hear a thing because they failed to use the email address or the mobile number I gave them a month ago.

Actually I feel relieved, hopefully the lack of action on the flat was due to the failing company and not entirely due to the stagnating market. Anyways that's what I'm hoping, we've only had one viewer for this place in a month so it's not good out there at the moment. We will sell the properties eventually but I would like it to be sooner rather than later.

Dead laptop

2008-06-23T14:23:00.000-07:00

The laptop died on Sunday, fatal errors to the hard drive :-o. It has been hell. I can't look up actors or plot details on imdb whenever I want to. We can't play wow together which removes half the fun for me. I have got so used to having the internet as my constant, uncomplaining companion that when it's not instantly there, because I have to share the iMac with Simon, it's really annoying. So this evening I have painted my toenails pm that I have something to do with my hands and watched far more telly than I usually do. I haven't worked out how to blog from my phone without a picture so enjoy.

edited 24/6/08 for sense and grammar

700th

2008-06-19T12:40:00.000-07:00

This is my 700th published post, I've been blogging for just over three years now. My rate of blogging had decreased significantly. I guess partly because I don't want to make you all feel sick with envy by blogging about wedded bliss day in and day out. Come to think of it I don't want to make myself sick either :)

In order to save money I've been strickly sticking to the speed limits, no drifting a little bit over any more for me. And it has made a difference, my mileage has increased by about 5%. I've also noticed that the roads are a bit quieter than they were last year and there seems to be an increase in the number of people pottling along at 50 miles a hour, I don't know if this is really so or just a bit of obsevation basis by me. 5% improvement in the miles I get isn't really going to cut it though I just paid for my first £50 full tank of petrol today, (our car takes about 42 litres) this time last year I was paying about £37 each time I filled up. The car is pretty good for mpg it can do about 425 on a full tank, unfortnately I drive 460 miles a week to get to work and back. It's not good, not good at all.

Slowly Slowly

2008-06-17T15:20:00.000-07:00

I'm waiting for firefox 3.0 to down load before going to bed, I had my first annual check of my eyesight since discovering that I had glaucoma, the good news and it is very good news is that the medicine is working and there is no detiration in my vision either eye and the pressure in my eyes is good. A classic case of early detection and preventative medicine I guess.

I am "too young" to have glaucoma as it is normally seen in the over 40s I am very grateful to the staff at Boots the Optician for doing the checks when I went in for an eye test. The waiting area in the hospital backs that up as well, apart from the staff I must have been the youngest person in the waiting area by a good 25 years at least. I also have to be grateful that I don't have perfect vision because if I did I doubt that I would ever go to the opticians and it would not have been discovered until I noticed the damage, especially as there is no history of glaucoma in my family. Overall I'm lucky really.

Cheese

2008-06-15T04:28:00.000-07:00

Testing the moblog facility that comes with my new mobile. I <3 my new phone

Week

2008-06-14T10:19:00.000-07:00

I find composing blog entries directly in the Blogger create post form, saps the inspiration from me. I've had a few blog ideas this week but once I've not been able to get much further than opening up the web page before the ideas desert me. To avoid this happening again I am trying to write this blog while watching the telly not the laptop. Fortunately I can touch type, unfortunately I'm not the best typist out there so I've had to go back to correct the errors.

So this week, On Wednesday I took advantage of the new flexi scheme at work and left at 2:30 pm to go into town to see the solicitors about the information they needed from me for the HIP and other stuff, then my bank to tell them that I've changed my name and that I had moved (no need to rush these things) and then finally on to the estate agents to correct all the information that they had put in the particulars - phantom doors and missing radiators were the most glaring.

Friday saw another colleague of mine leaving for pastures new, she won't be replaced here because all our posts are relocated to the South West at some point in the future and no one wants a job with that level of insecurity. The office I work in used to have 16 people in it now there will only be 7 and most times it's emptier than that. We went to the pub to see her off there were plenty there but this is where my ears hinder me, they started to hurt and I couldn't hear people clearly enough to carry on a conversation so I ducked out early as there is no fun in not hearing peoples drunken conversations when you are sober.

Today we went into town, Simon got a new wallet and we looked at the small continental market. These markets are getting to be much of a muchness and they bear no resemblance to markets on the continent that I've seen.

We had my version of Jambalaya, no sausages or prawns, mushrooms and saffron instead and and emergency substitution of basmati rice for american long grain but it was very nice with white wine and watching Giles Coren and Sue Perkins dice with heart disease as they eat their way through the seventies some of it was very wrong but other seventies favourites are probably still favourites today, like prawn cocktail, steak diane and black forest gateaux.

Mmmmm black forest gateaux.