This and that

Tuesday, August 5, 2008 ~ 8 comments so far

Summer holidays make it easy to keep on top of RSS feeds, and easier to spot some ace new blogs. Check out this one, I think it could be quite good.

My father-in-law is back in Scotland for the month, so we’re off to see him tonight and I’m really REALLY hoping he wants us to bring in a fish supper for dinner. I’ve not had fish and chips for ages and currently have a real craving for them.

XNeat Windows Manager is yet another application capable of doing some nice UI effects in Windows. Best of all, and the reason it wins out over many other similar applications for me, is that with it installed you can MIDDLE-CLICK TO CLOSE APPLICATIONS STRAIGHT FROM THE TASKBAR. Sounds simple I know but it’s a habit I use all the time in Firefox to close a tab, and it’s been bugging me for YEARS that I couldn’t do this in Windows until I stumble across XNeat.

A quick thanks to Daisy for nominating me for a Post of the Week award, I didn’t win but was quite surprised to see my name in the shortlist. Who knows, it might inspire me to indulge my creative side a little more often (there was a similar post later on last week too).

Since I bought my iPhone I’ve changed the way I think about how I work when I’m at home, and find myself leaning towards my MacBook more often than my PC, it’s just so much nicer to use. The only downside is the small screen and limited hard drive (my music collection is larger than my MacBook’s hard drive). So I’m looking to the Belkin Flip (DVI version) as a solution.

Physio tomorrow, we’ll see if the eccentric loading exercises I’ve been doing (and for a change I’ve been pretty good at remembering to do them!) have had an impact. They FEEL like they have, fingers crossed.

Weekender

Monday, August 4, 2008 ~ 4 comments so far

Friday night – a LARGE meal and a few beers left me feeling a bit bleurgh, but it was a good laugh. Was quite happy to get the last train home for a change.

Saturday – lunch in Perth, absolutely first class meal, then off to Dunkeld to catch the bride and groom emerging from the cathedral, before we headed up to the Hilton for the reception. Very nice place that, right on the banks of the Tay, and the reception was in a marquee out in the grounds. I’ve still to sort through the 200-odd photos we took (although at one point Louise and her brother were having some sort of stupid photo face-off (I’m guessing Paul will win that one)).

Needless to say, being a Hilton hotel, the drinks were a little on the pricey side… I’m still not quite sure what came over me but I definitely recall paying £8.50 for a glass of wine!

And Sunday saw us visit Louise’s Aunt for a spot of lunch. We got home around 4pm to a very affectionate little cat, watched a movie (I am Legend… guff), and generally lazed about until bedtime.

And now it’s Monday. Already.

How was yours?

Mundane life

Friday, August 1, 2008 ~ 1 comment so far

Well I think I’ve spoiled you all enough for the moment, so I’ll withhold my next piece of literary ramblings for another time.

That makes it sound like there is something waiting in the wings. There isn’t, just to be clear. I make it up as I go along, honest.

And so to everyday matters.

Tonight we say goodbye to our Support Manager which, of course, means a night out of food and alcohol. Thankfully my cold has started to shift so I should manage to stay awake longer than 8pm.. I hope.

Then on Saturday we are driving up to Dunkeld, stopping at Perth for lunch, to attend the wedding reception of my brother-in-law’s girlfriend’s twin sister.

Lunch on Saturday will be at the wonderful Deans @ Let’s Eat which I’ve mentioned here before, and I’m really looking forward to it as it remains one of the best meals I’ve ever had. Louise has resigned herself to a lack of conversation from the other side of the table as I quietly orgasm at the sheer mouth watering deliciousness of the food.

I fear I may be building it up a little too much, I really must learn to scale back my expectations.

The wedding reception should be good as, by and large, they like a good bevvy in that family and the buffet is, so I hear, stovies and bacon butties! ACE! We are staying at a hotel on Saturday night so goodness knows when the night will end (depends how far my cold has really shifted I guess!)

I’ll be taking the camera, of course but given the fact that it has been raining non-stop for the entire day so far, I’m not holding out much hope of getting anything decent.

And then, with the weekend behind us the next big date in the calendar will be Tuesday when my father-in-law touches down for a month back in Scotland.