boreders

I have a problem with the morning… I enjoy it too much when I have the chance to read the overnight news, catch up on forums, sip coffee and chew toast/cereal. I’m not so keen on the bit that involves running around, getting showered and changed, then forging off into the dark/cold towards work (through moderate to heavy traffic).

Can anyone suggest why this might be the case? Could I find some means to inject some of the sedate entertainment and enjoyment of the former into the stress-inducing trials of the latter?

Answers on a postcard…

Just watched Defiance. The Jews suffered incredibly in their efforts to survive – I’m thankful not to have been around during that dark time. As a retelling of a true story, it made harrowing viewing. My wife seemed stunned that it was based on true events. I’m stunned that we live in a society that stones fire engine crews and rapes old women… the lessons of intolerance from events such as a the Second World War seem to have fallen on deaf ears and ignorant minds.

Despite the fact Slumdog Millionaire has an uplifting conclusion, I don’t think I could stomach two movies with such a weight of woe in one evening. My fragile personality already sits on a grey and depressing precipice at the moment.

I’ll record ‘Slumdog’ and watch it later in the week or something. Instead, I shall retire and get some much needed rest. I have a copy of Arcadia waiting for me to finish it. My wife considers reading plays before bedtime a little odd, but I have to read it somewhere and somehow the lavatory doesn’t seem to be appropriate. Are there certain works unsuitable for toilet reading? Do some books warrant more respect? Or more refinement, at least?

Yeah, I have finally managed to start the torturous process of replacing my video tapes with DVDs. Mind, I’m not talking about replacing official tapes with discs…

In my youth, I had the habit of recording almost any noteworthy comedies or films on blank tapes. I have treasured copies of ‘A Bit Of Fry & Laurie‘, ‘Magic Roundabout’ and various versions of ‘Reeves & Mortimer’. Admittedly, I didn’t always manage to get whole series – I’m watching the first series of the ‘Smell Of Reeves And Mortimer‘ and I only had the vaguest recollection of episode 3 n’ 4, because I hadn’t recorded them at the time. The delights of Greg Mitchell and Corkie, “Noel’s Addicts’ (with the freakishly naked Noel Edmonds) plus the live appearance of Mulligan and O’Hare lamenting the loss of Rose.

I’ll have to root through the rest of the blank tapes now and see what else I’ll need to replace. Mind, some items will never be replaced, most likely… like Reeves and Mortimer’s comedy turn in “The Weekenders” pilot episode ‘The Meat Festival’.

Would it be an abuse of time travel to go back to the 80s and 90s with a DVD recorder to catch the stuff I’ll never get copies of anywhere else?

Having off the move to the new server for a fortnight, I finally realised that delaying any longer was likely to be a risk. I’m maintaining the old and new solution at the moment, so if I don’t make haste and get the work done, I pay double for longer. Not a good idea. So, instead of sitting in Bank Holiday traffic or arguing with the rest of the family, I’m sat at the computer watching files up/download and trying to figure out whether I’m setting everything up right.

Suffice to say, I’m glad this isn’t a totally dedicated server I’m setting up from scratch here, or else I’d be in real trouble. Handling this virtual server with most of the foundation work in place is frankly enough of a learning curve for me. Teachers not only fail to tell you much about real life in school, they also didn’t cover name servers, control panels, and the intricacies of selecting efficient FTP solutions. Damn them and their algebra. What good is that to me now, huh?

So, it’s past midnight, Bank Holiday, and I’m around halfway through this onerous task. I imagine that tomorrow should provide enough time to do the remainder of the work, but that doesn’t really console me. I’ve still lost the long weekend. Yes, I did watch ‘League of Extraordinary Gentlemen’ (enjoyable background noise) and the first season of ‘Look Around You’ (Thanks ants! Thants!); but, that hardly compensates me for the lost time.

Now, I’m watching a spider scuttling across the living room carpet. I bet he had a good Bank Holiday weekend. Probably gorged on little insects having had a solid afternoon of productive web spinning. Lucky bastard.

It pains me when reading about the $300 PS3 Slim that purchasing the very same PS3 Slim Console from Amazon.co.uk will cost me the considerable sum of £249.99. Correct me if I’m wide of the mark, but isn’t the exchange rate about $1.65 to the pound sterling?

I know that we’ve always suffered from the vagueries of transport costs, exchange rates and trade deficits, but there’s a big gap between £182 and £250 (that first being a rounded estimate of the current exchange). I could buy two or three games for that, a fun bundle of software joy to play on my new slim machine. Why punish us so hard? Surely there is a way to offset the difference and make the offer a more engaging one to those outside of the States?

Oxford was great – we’ll definitely go back. On the day after arrival we had a good wonder round. I was disappointed I couldn’t get into the Bodleian Library, but otherwise an enjoyable day wandering. Drank coffee on the site of the oldest coffee house, meandered through a few colleges, and visited Gropec*nt Lane (whoops, sorry – Magpie Lane now, right).

After Oxford, we headed off to Hereford for a fleeting visit. We stopped at the Moody Cow for a delicious dinner, and then on to the B&B for a good nights sleep. In the morning, after a disappointing breakfast, we visited the cathedral, saw the Mappa Mundi, and gazed at the musty tomes in the Chained Library. The Three Choirs event going on at the time (and only have an hour long car park ticket) made it a bit of a rush in and out, alas.

Then on to Hay-on-Wye. We walked around about a dozen bookshops on the first day and found nothing to buy. Stayed – and dined – at the Famous Old Black Lion – where Cromwell is claimed to have stayed at one time. Good food, excellent service. Second day in Hay was more rewarding, with a half-dozen books bought between us – and a lost little albino gerbil, who we transported home in a small plastic cage and have named Pinky.

Overall, an excellent trip. Will definitely do Oxford again soon, and maybe Hereford to spend more time there. Hay I can manage without for a while, as many of the shops were quite disappointing compared to our last visit several years back.

I have been struggling to find a Twitter client I really like for the Mac. For the iPhone, Tweetie seems like a decent choice, but it isn’t free. I rather had my heart set on finding something free I could use on the laptop.

So far, I’ve tried Beak – which looks good, Twhirl – which doesn’t, Canary – which is a bit on the simplistic side, and now Syrinx. While the lattermost doesn’t have the trending information accessible that I’d like, it does have a fair amount of functionality built right in – including the ability to block people from the interface rather than needing to sign on to Twitter directly. I only downloaded it an hour ago, so I’ll see how it pans out.

I suppose, if push comes to shove and I can’t find the features I need in a free client, I may have to spend more money to make for a comfortable and fully featured Tweeting experience. I’ll give the Mac version of Tweetie a go in it’s ad-supported version and see how that pans out. May spending $19.95 will be worthwhile.

I have been looking for an easy way to sort the apps on an iPhone; but, there isn’t one. I tried sorting them into categories, but adding new apps every few days meant the sorted pages rapidly got messed up.

I could hack into the phone and create some sort of bastard control system. Or, I could watch YouTube videoes of non-existent sorting concepts.

On the other hand, I could probably use this fairly simply concept of popularity recognition by bumping apps up one whenever I use them. If I can remember to do it.

Anyone else found a way to effectively sort apps with a minimum of fuss and a maximum of value?

As happens on an irregular basis, I have gone for a complete reformatting of the boreders themes. I always like to try something a little different, ideally something at a tangent to whatever went before. So, I have cast aside the garish orange of the last theme and gone for a something subdued and minimalist.

I will likely tweak the style and graphics before I’m done. The base style has no images at all, so there’s room for quite a bit of tweaking if I feel inclined.

You have to wonder, has the driver of this vehicle genuinely got a car seat installed in this car for a kid? And, if so, filled with envy of the vehicle as I am, could the kid suffer from a little car sickness just to give the Lamborghini a little added ambiance?