I'm not rude - my tact filter just works the other way...

... This is just fab! There's not much more that I can say - it's completely true and I want to tell everyone I know (hence the post!). Also - thanks to Paul to bringing to my attention!

Other great quote from Paul this eve: "Your books don't need organising - they need a government"!

TARDIS bookshelves..?

I'm confused.

I'm re-arranging my books and bookshelves. The first thing was to move the shelves into their new places, so I took all the books off them and put them in piles for their new classifications. I'm now putting them back onto the shelves, only there doesn't seem to be enough space.

The only explanation I can come up with is that my bookshelves had some kind of TARDIS facility that has now been switched off...

why I love Slashdot...

... just reading the comments on an article about the US blocking entry to a Black Hat presenter to an annual security conference, and someone posted the following:

Another evil terrorist plot foiled! Tax me some more so i can be even safer!

gotta love those slashdotters! (and no, I haven't RTFA, but if you'd like to - here's the link to the /. page!).

the art of procrastination

I think I could teach a course in this... I'm going on holiday in 2 week's time and I've written a complete list of everything that needs doing in the flat beforehand - mostly tidying and cleaning.

since I wrote the list, I have re-arranged and cataloged my DVDs (not on the list) and am half way through completely re-arranging my books, including moving bookshelves around the flat and deciding on a cataloging system (again, not on the list)...

I've got to get ready to go out now, but I've promised myself that I'll make a start on the list tomorrow...

Studio 60 is finally on UK TV!

yay! Thursdays on More4 at 10pm - and they're showing all 22 episodes in one run! This show is amazing and if you haven't discovered it, now is the time. It's written by Sorkin and exactly what you'd expect from him.

even though I've seen all of it already, there is something exciting about watching on telly! If you've missed the pilot tonight it's repeated at 11.05pm on Sunday, again on More4.

(apologies about the number of exclamation marks but, as you might have guessed, I'm quite excited about it!)

different world...

... there has been some kind of serious accident on the New Kent Road and the whole road has been shut off (since at least 9pm).

I've just been across the road to get some Diet Coke and it's like a different world - no cars and lots of people about - far more than usual. Everyone was being friendly and talking to everyone else - not about the accident - about the weather, the new M&S at the garage - basically, just chatting.

It was odd - nice, but odd. I always find it quite friendly round here, but hadn't realised before how much effect the road has on people, in so far as being a barrier that makes everyone keep to themselves - the whole London thing.

oh dear...

... I still occasionally get IET things through the post and the latest newsletter came yesterday (I was so excited about The Deathly Hallows that I didn't notice until today!).

The headline on the front page is: "UK skills gap 'continues to deteriorate' ". I thought this was good news - the gap is deteriorating - but no, they meant it was widening. I don't know who the sub-ed is, but they either have a very limited knowledge of grammar, or they hadn't read the article..!

approximately 10 hours after it arrived...

... I've finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I'm not going to put any spoilers here at all, only to recommend that people read it.

(also - once you've read it - let me know so that I have people to talk to about it!)

update: am really annoyed - most of the good sites have shut down until the 24th or 25th... if people don't want to get spoilers, then they shouldn't go on the forums - there's not need to shut them down!

first Harry Potter review

the NY Times got hold of a copy of The Deathly Hallows from a store who broke the embargo. Here's what they say about it (contains some spoilers, but doesn't give away the ending).

hopefully my copy will be in the post on Sat!

learning... at last!

just had another great day - went to a gig with Paul at the Union Chapel, which is a church in Islington that has acoustic gigs. Saw Kate Walsh, supported by Ruarri Joseph who were both great, and am now about to eat.

the learning bit comes in here - I've actively planned to do nothing for the next 4 days, just to see how my body is coping with the increase in activity! I'm not amazingly shattered and could probably get away with doing something, but I'm not going to. Now this is a first for me, and I'm celebrating the fact!

what a lovely day!

it started with breakfast at my dining table (I finished dismantling the shelving units yesterday and move the futon into the office), then went to meet Mum for a coffee. After that we went shopping, bought some lovely summer clothes and finished it with a meal at Loch Fyne with Dad.

the sun has been shining most of the day and I'm going to watch a film and then head to bed.

splinter inducing...

... oh dear.

can I suggest that if you find yourself awake in the middle of the night and have a thought about re-arranging furniture, stop at the point where you've made the diagrams.

I've just dismantled one of the massive shelving units in the office and have about 3 splinters in my fingers (my feet are safe as I put on a pair of New Rocks!).

on the plus side, the office now looks much bigger and when I get rid of the other unit, I'll be able to move the futon in there.

on the down side - I have splinters...

think I'm going to try and stay awake for the day now, with a nap at sometime mid-afternoon so that I'm awake and ready for shopping tomorrow with Mum.

Update: ok - the staying awake thing isn't working, so I'm going to go to bed now, but get up before midday!

strange world...

... I just came across the following quote on the Beeb website:

The clip of the al-Qaeda leader features in a 40-minute video on a militant web site that carries the logo of al-Qaeda's media wing.

they have a media wing. The US shouldn't be offering a reward for his capture, they should be getting Warren Buffet to invest and then buy them out...

after an hour of ceaseless searching...

... ok - it's more like a week than an hour, and not really searching, more like ceaseless devotion to moisturising - but that's not the point...

... the point is that I now have almost pretty feet! Hard edges are nearly gone, and skin is pretty silky, so I'm not completely ashamed to show them in public when I go on holiday (4 weeks today - yay!).

I put the blame for the fact that I've had to spend time doing this squarely at my mother's door... I think it goes hand in hand (or foot in foot) with the whole feet-radiating-cold thing.

also - dyslexia can be a bugger sometimes - I knew the quote verbally and it has just taken me about 20 mins to work out how to spell the word ceaseless (seasless, seesless, sealsus - yeah - I knew the quote before I knew what the word meant, so I'd never thought about it before... another airing cupboard moment!)

have you checked that it's plugged in...?

I am a complete muppet of the highest order...

... my wifi hasn't been working since I've had the new lappy which, although annoying, hasn't been a major stress as I've just connected directly to the router.

I have tried various things though - rebooting the router, checking that I've set up the wireless network from the lappy etc, but to no avail.

about 5 mins ago, I noticed that my lappy has a "wifi" button on it - can you guess what happened when I pressed it?

grrr....

recommendation...

... if you are up watching tv quite late because your brain is being noisy, may I suggest that watching Monster in probably not a good idea...

it's a great film, which I've seen before, but really - not for that "just before bed" time...

type-cast actors...

... are really annoying! I've just watched an ep of CSI that I haven't seen before and so, one would assume, I didn't expect to know who-dunnit until at least part way through... Unfortunately, the same actress who played Mary Marsh in the West Wing (a leader of the Christian Right) was in it. I made the assumption that she was the baddie, and she was - grrr....

scary...

... just finished watching All The President's Men on telly (lovely insomnia has popped up to say hello again) and came to check my mail. The first thing in my inbox? An alert from The Washington Post reporting that Bush has commuted Libby's prison sentence...

what's that phrase? The more things change...

July!

ok, so I know that I've lived here all my life and therefore don't expect summer to mean warm sunshine, but lying on the sofa under a duvet (I refuse to put the heating on...), taking cold and cough medicine is frankly ridiculous...

... if only I was going away somewhere warm and sunny in say, 37 days - oh hang on, I am!

the best political satire I've seen in ages, and from an unexpected corner...

... well, I've probably overloaded on Doctor Who this eve as, along with the last ep of the season (amazing btw), I've been catching up on the Doctor Who Confidentials (the BBC3 fanzine show).

In the Confidential for Ep 12, the footage of Mr Saxon (the Master) taking office as Prime Minister has Things Can Only Get Better as a sound track, and some of his poses in the shots are direct copies from when Blair took office...

I'd never really thought of RTD's politics before, but I'm guessing he was anti the war!