Calamity day

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12°C, light cloud

On this day, things went wrong. Firstly, my modem/wireless router has partly failed. There is no response from it via the network cable link that my desktop PC uses. Wireless internet access still works, but if any router settings need a change, then I may not be able to get back into the preferences page. So the wireless works, so does the WAN side, but the LAN cables don’t; that suggests it needs a firmware update, but will that leave it locked in.

Have you ever misplaced your bank cards? Mine are probably at work but to be safe the bank have disabled them for me. Yesterday, I spent 2 frantic hours searching, finally cancelling my weekend plans unable to buy petrol. I know they haven’t been used…

That’s the second time this week that valuable time has been lost to manic searching. The other at work wasn’t my fault but probably looked that way to the class. There, valuable marking time was lost in the face of a looming reports’ deadline. the more you try to get done, the less…

Heating= Off

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10°C, heavy showers

Compared to last year, it’s remarkable that we’re well into November, and my house’s central heating is still switched off. Last year, we were receiving warning of impending “arctic weather”, but this time we’re emerging from the warmest October on record. There is always some weather record broken every year, so maybe that’s no story.

Mid night-time hunger: woken in the night by rumblings, this has happened a few times this month.

Film: The Infidel– a spoof on the UK Muslin/Jewish experience in Britain. It raised a few laughs with us, but was, on the whole, rather feeble and ‘forced’. If you get the chance- don’t bother.

Chicken Fillet

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14°C, S winds, CA:20 miles

This counts as the strangest thing I have ever confiscated at work.Silica gel

The Year 11 girls were waggling it around at the end of a lesson. The gales of laughter were obvious enough to attract attention. They laughed even more when I told them I really didn’t know what it is. It’s the oddest thing, rather like a warm semi-transparent fillet of fish. I held it by the end and waggled it with some caution. It’s as dense as meat and about 4″ long.

The women in the reception were kind & worldly enough to tell me of its true identity. My incredulity increased, why, just why? Is some kid going through the school day somewhat asymmetrical? Perhaps they can be spotted unconsciously walking with a slight curve to one side with her balance thrown out.

It’s in Lost Property now, will anyone ever pick it up?

Dogs’ puzzle

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17C, rain then sun, wind lightening. CR:70.2 miles

After a few days off the bike, today’s ride felt easy, right up to the 70th mile. Only early sunset stopped me doing more. Home, the dogs were caught working on a puzzle. the chocolate box must have had a second layer, it just had to!

She has entered the building

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11°C, rain

A day for mortgage hunting. Important, necessary and will save over £7000 over the next decade, but ultimately boring. What else can you do on a wet autumn day at home. I have a slide-rule here on the table.

Day’s best feature- Bessie is home, she seems well and was striding in a springy way round the vet’s when I walked in and she recognised me. she’s been there for four days now. It was sad to be here without the ol’ girl. We thought the worst was going to happen, but she is reinvigorated. Awww.

We Need To Talk About…

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13°C, clear, fresh colourful

You know a good film when you talk about it on the way home, a great film has you chewing over it all of the next day too. We Need To Talk About Kevin had this effect on me today. We saw it at FACT in Liverpool last night. A very nice Cinema, but sorry Liverpool, it’s not as stylish as The Electric in Birmingham. Immediately, I was struck by how clear and sharp the picture is on these modern digital screens, especially on the adverts oddly. The films idea is well documented on the web, and in many places, more articulately explained than I could. I am, however, glad that I didn’t ready many reviews before going, the final culmination of the plot revealed itself to me in the film, not in the papers beforehand.

The best thing for me was that I didn’t feel patronised by this film. The plot appeared in small clues, amid pictorial sequences and focus on details of the characters’ lives. Each of those pictures would have stood as a ‘short’ in itself. The tension slowly built up throughout, images added on top of images seen earlier in the film. The whole story was fed to us, no need to spell out the plot and tell us what each bit meant. We worked it out for ourselves.

A dog with cancer

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13°C, lighter winds, some sun. CK:29 miles

She’s been ill for a week or so now. A second vet can’t now find a lump, the first thought it quite large. Maybe now she is getting some treatment, her belly is fuller  that lump is obscured when feeling by hand. I haven’t done any such probing. she has (sorry for the grisly details) black diarrhoea which sounds like there’s blood in it. I hope that this hasn’t been triggered by us feeding her sausages, minced-meat and such. Dog food is quite bland, but the change could be the problem.

I have to face the fact that this may be her last winter. She is 13 years 11 months at the time of writing.


Track stand

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15C, clear but winds strong. CK19 miles.

Not up to a full ride today so playtime on the fixed-gear bike instead. I tried doing a track stand on a quiet road. Erm, it’s not as easy as it seems. The problem, for me I suppose, is fear of falling off. Very slow speed control is okay, but kicking backwards to cancel a leftwards fall is, so far, impossible.

More time another day.

Four Gigs

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15°C, clear sun.

Nerdity– fitted new RAM to my main computer, doubling it up to 4GB. Windows XP only recognises 3.66GB, but that’s still a huge increase on 2GB. There are some technical reasons why you don’t get to use all 4GB, but upgrading to Windows 7 should reveal it all.

The first two runs crashed out with a blue screen, but I’ve changed settings in the BIOS, and the last run worked without a hitch. Microsoft FSX seems to run a little faster now, but I didn’t test it very rigorously. It has a latency of 5-5-5-18, but I don’t really know what that means right now. I have a little book though.

Nerdlessly: the pond has built up edges on the lower side, it now has a water butt full of water more than this morning. A good few hours effort, it’s great to work outside on a clear sunny day. I need to plant some grasses round the rim to stabilise the bricks + mud around the shore.