A weekend and a half..........

In both meanings.

Hazel and I took the Monday off as well this weekend in order to help with the move - which is due next weekend. Don't ask! In addition, Sal was down for the weekend and was due to return to London on Sunday morning by train. Except that she had booked for Saturday morning by mistake and lost her money. What to do? Well, she decided to quickly book a Mega-bus ticket from Exeter to London and if we took her to Exeter she would be in time to catch it. Well I managed to just get her to the bus station in Exeter before her bus left. But! Although she and Hazel walked past it several times, they missed the window sticker that stated it was a hired bus and not a branded one. So we now have to drive to St Davids station in time to book and catch the next train to London. And then drive back to Plymouth.

It's getting better......

Lulu's appetite, that is. Upon enquiry yesterday she was able to admit to quite a few edible items that had slid down over the previous 24 hours. On the mend then!

From the good, so to the bad.

I started this week on a high as far as work was concerned. Plenty of logs closed and feeling very satisfied. By today, I am bogged down in a long and complicated problem involving transatlantic VPN links and Firewalls with a MS security update on the side. There are other problematic PCs out there but this one is the biggest pain. On the home front, Lulu is feeling a lot better but only a lot better than dead girl walking which was where she stood last weekend. They have the flat from next Monday and it's not a good time for Lulu to be sick so Ian will be knocking himself out to get everything moved over the weekend.

Living in 'Interesting Times'.

Old Chinese curse, brought up to date by Sir Terry Pratchet.

Lulu still not 100% so Hazel and I looked after the grandchildren for most of the weekend. It was a lot of fun and I think they had a good time as well but very tiring and a certain amount of worry about Lulu as well made for  a stressful time. Almost glad to be back at work. Denise dropped in on Saturday to collect her Wifi and see Cocky. He was glad to see her but not particularly concerned when she left and hasn't shown any signs of being upset.

Sorted!

Not only did I sort out the security on a friends WiFi but I also sorted my struggle with the syntax of the GLCD display yesterday. I went to bed feeling very clever, that'll soon pass, and quite satisfied.

I have also worked out a plan of campaign to persuade the bunny to allow me to pet him. When I give him his treat twice a day, I am tickling him under his chin with my finger whilst simultaneously  holding on to the treat for a fraction of a second longer. He is beginning to accept this as normal so I will continue by extending the times very slowly. Cocky had his beak put out a bit yesterday evening as Titch made a nest on me for most of the time I was watching television. The cats and the cockatoo all remain very jealous of each other.

Cups and suchlike

running over.

The appointment did arrive and was only two weeks after where it was supposed to be. This, despite the delay, is something of a high score when dealing with the NHS.

I played with the sketches for the display a bit over the weekend but found that lcd functions don't work with glcd hardware..sigh!

Self inflicted wounds?

At ten pm yesterday, I took some bits up to the attic and decided to have another go at the Arduino (more about that in the blog). At midnight, I got to bed. Fortunately, I had an easy start this morning so I am feeling more mellow than I deserve to. I must make a note not to do that again!
This morning, I phoned the Royal Eye Infirmary to make my next appointment and was very pleasantly surprised by the helpful nature of the young lady I spoke to. My record with them is not good, as they have lost my papers so many times in the past and, at one point, I was out of the loop for several years with the wrong medication. All I need now is for the letter to arrive with the correct date etc. and my cup will overflow.

Some days are just good.

An excellent days work, even if I do say so myself. Five logs down and all for today, not closing from last week. I also had a good result yesterday with the display panel I am playing with on the Arduino. On a bit of a roll maybe, wait for the fall!

No pain, no gain.

And what I should like to know is, "When does the gain begin"? I am still getting pain from my sinuses and, so far, have yet to see any gain from it. Life is not fair! The second box of bits arrived this morning and very good it is too. I now have enough to pursue some fairly complicated designs from the basic learning package for Arduino. I have joined forces with a colleague to administer the Arduino blog as we both have lots of links and things to write about.

Back to normal

Well, I'm getting back into the swing of things again now. I managed several jobs yesterday and have done even more today so life is settling back to a comfortable routine of work and leisure. At home, I'm having a lot of fun playing with my new toys, the Arduino kit, and interacting with all the animals again. Titch is very happy now I'm back and tries to spend a large part of the evening snoring on my lap or chest. Cocky just wants a lot of love and Rodney has been so bold as to lick me on one occasion. Life is good.

Another year over

and deeper in debt.

Well, maybe not quite that bad but things got a bit tight towards the end of last year. We ended up paying other peoples bills on an almost weekly basis. As we had been in these various predicaments ourselves in the past, it was really the only thing we could do. Life for most of our family has now settled quite well and the rest will follow shortly so we are now looking at upping our mortgage payments yet again in order to clear as much as possible while the low rates last.

My own particular cross, over the Christmas, was to have some serious sinus problems which caused me intense pain. Suffice it to say that I was on pain killers until New Years Eve. Not a particularly merry Christmas.
On a lighter note, I have begun a new blog around the Arduino open source hardware and software control system. The link has been added to my personal blogs, below left, and is this