Le Weekend

After the excitement of the last few days a chance to relax. I've been chastised for writing boring blog entries, in that all I write about is going up town on Saturday and buying gadgets. Sorry folks, but there you are. Hey, but wouldn't it be tragic if those bits were made up......

Anyhoo, on with the motley. Didn't go up town today. No gadget to report about. Probably because most of the things I want to buy aren't on sale yet.

At least not going shopping leaves me more time to consider the important questions of life. James (who may be reader number 10, but I'm starting to lose count) has sent me a few including:

How do you tell when you're out of invisible ink?

Such profundity pales into insignificance when considered against the most difficult conundrum of all time:

How do you throw away a used dustbin?

 

Kitchen Explosions

Yesterday we plumbed in our new (ish) cooker and the washing machine exploded. Only in my house. Loud bang, black smoke and blown fuses. It happened just as the gas fitters picked up the old cooker and were carrying it out of the kitchen. Apparently they looked highly concerned for a few moments, before looking for the hidden camera...

Sometimes it is best not to try and repair things. If a huge amount of smoke has come out there is probably not much point in mending it. So, today I find myself in a place I'd better not name. But I think Haley would have shopped there. Anyhoo, after due deliberation we selected a new machine and tried to buy it. The man said they had none in stock, and they didn't known when anymore would be arriving. So I asked if I could buy the one on display. No came the reply, because they need to have one out there to encourage people to buy one. Even though you can't. I knew better than argue. I just told him it was his loss, and left with my dignity intact. And went somewhere else instead. The new machine comes on Monday. I probably have to wear the same clothes until then...

 

I Forgot My Hat

I forgot my hat. I did. Right at the graduation ceremony where I was Graduand's Marshall. I got to the bit in my speech where I deal with hats: "..and now let's talk about hats. It is very important.......that you don't leave your hat in your office prior to coming here.....". Fortunately the nice lady from Ede and Ravenscroft was on hand to lend me a spare. She asked me how big my head is. A lot smaller than I think it is...

The ceremony went OK though. Just a couple more to do and I can hang up my gown for the day.

The blurry view from the podium. Well, it was my third ceremony......

 

Snow Joke

Snowy today. Drove in to work in 20 minutes (usual journey time) and was then assailed by loads of tales of traffic jams, tailbacks and the like. And me without a good story to tell. Never mind. The journey back was not very pleasant. I went via the dentist. He said he couldn't see anything wrong, so he took an x-ray. And found an underground cavity. I wonder if it has stalactites and stalagmites in it? Anyhoo I have to have a filling, which is nice. My dentist has stopped saying "You've got good teeth" and started saying "You've got good teeth - for your age". You know you are in trouble when the dentist looks into your mouth and you hear "That's a very big cavity - cavity - cavity...."

Went home and watched this stupid program about finance. Apparently we are all in horrible money trouble (so they do know me). The only things I really learned from the program were that if you have 115 Million in the bank you are unlikely to have any money worries and that if you are about to make a stupid purchase you should ask yourself the following three questions:

Do I need it?
Can I afford it?
Can I buy it cheaper somewhere else?

Of course, if you are me, you then go ahead and buy it anyway....

 

Badge of Honour

Got a new name badge today. The rules are quite scary:

I was wondering what would happen if you failed to obey the rules. Would the "Badge Police" come round and duff you up. What kind of badges do they wear? Is there a "Badge Police" plainclothes division? And I'm not sure about the Medical Advice bit. I'm not in the habit of asking my doctor if it is OK to wear badges. However, the magnet is jolly strong. Just the thing to give me to play with near my computer. I've stuck the badge on my room heater for now.

Wear it with pride, but only if you actually are Rob Miles.

 

Off at a Tangentium

Neil has sent me a link to a new web site which considers alternative perspectives on IT. If you are concerned with the profound and how our digital society is developing it is worth taking a look here. Some of it is a bit too deep for me, most of my issues with the IT Revolution tend to be centred around the fact that bits of it don't work as well as they should....

 

International Internet Free Day

Today is International Internet Free Day.

As a mark of respect I did not write this blog entry