The lost week

Well, a whole ten days without turning up at the office and I feel worse for it. When I left on the Friday, I had my ankle still playing me up and my hip going into spasm on a regular basis. By the Sunday, the ankle was a bit better and so was the hip. On Tuesday the ankle was almost gone and the hip was obviously going to get there as well. On Wednesday we went to visit friends who live on a boat and the walk and climb was a struggle but we made it, there and back. On Thursday, our cockateil fell off the perch and had to be given a decent burial in the rubbish bin. By Saturday, I was trotting to the boys room a lot, eight times in fact, with a severe case of the runny squirts. I took to my bed for most of the day, mainly because it's next to the bathroom. By Sunday I was a bit better and today I am back at work and somewhat glad to be so.

Today is not a good day to buy a hard drive for your PC due to the floods in Thailand. Eggs in one basket springs to mind................





This is not Feathers, this is an anonymous male photographed by Dan.                RIP Feathers

Aaaaaaah, Soul

We picked up the new car this morning and reality hit me as I put our things in the boot. This is just too easy! I have never before experienced the thrill of owning a new car, or any car, with so little hassle. I know that, strictly speaking, the car belongs to Hazel, not me, but I am the driver and the feeling is awesome.

I spent my lunch break going through the handbook whilst sitting in the car and managed to set up the Bluetooth  system for my phone. I have never used a voice recognition system that is so easy to use and works so well. The next thing I do will be to set up Hazels phone as well. Even the radio is simple to tune. I do realise that there is a fair chance that all modern cars have equally good electronics but this is the first time I have used this stuff myself and I was impressed.

Finding her feet........

is our Sal. She signed on with an agency on Tuesday and has an interview for a full time job today so fingers crossed. We have done a bit of video chatting using ooVoo and, as all worked well, I will be moving some kit into the kitchen in order that Hazel can talk to her. Yesterday was bad, Hazel had so much pain I had to stay home as well to look after her. It's awkward because I like being with her and looking after her but, all the time, I am thinking I should be at work. Yesterday has come out of my leave so no real problems but I wonder what will happen when I run out of leave?

A new lifestyle

Sal has arrived and is settled in. We had a fairly tearful phone conversation last evening but she is much better off than most young people looking for a job in London so she will be fine. I have been looking around her neighbourhood courtesy of Google Earth and I am very impressed. Just a casual look reveales so many intriguing places to see and all within a short walk. The temptation is great to visit and spend days just taking photographs.

One more time......................

Another weekend come and gone, we only saw Samuel for a brief time as he had been naughty and was sent home early. As I was not having a very good weekend anyway, this came as a bit of a blow to me. We learnt on Friday that the new car will be ready for us to collect this coming Friday morning so Hazel is really looking forward to that. I am seeing it as yet another step closer to losing our camper. On Sunday, I made pasties and these were the best yet. I got everything just right and they turned out a treat. Perfect appearance, perfectly cooked and great taste. I must get around to writing down the recipe soon because I suspect very few people outside Cornwall and South Devon, apart from Russ of course, will have ever eaten a real pasty like these.

On Friday, I received my Kindle copy of the latest 'Discworld' novel, "Snuff". By Sunday, I had finished it and put it back in the archive so I could assign it to Sally. She will, undoubtedly, begin it tonight.  

If I was reviewing "Snuff", I would say that it's a fascinating story with mainly well known characters in a very new situation. It knocked me off balance for the first few pages until I got into the rhythm of the story. As usual, Sir Terry manages to imbue the story with morals and themes based on our world but subtly changed to a Discworld perspective. Guess who the Goblins are? Despite my first impression, this may well become one of my favourites.

Image via Wikipedia

Sal is off today to begin living in London. She has a flat share in Soho and, although she has no job yet, she has enough money to stay for up to six weeks looking for one.

Defying logic

Yesterday, I told of the painful patch on my left leg. I have just discovered it seems to be getting better..........

This probably has nothing to do with the research I have just finished on our university implementation of SharePoint 2010. I have spent a few hours over the last couple of days testing how the 'Alert' option works within the Tulip and Scolar system. In short, it's, as always, very logical (For a given definition of logical) and seems to do what it wants to do. What it doesn't do is what the users want it to do. I can understand why but I can also understand the users frustration when it doesn't do what they expect. However, thanks to my research, at least I now know the limitations and strong points of it.

Let's get medical

This is a bit like the old joke about the chap who went to the doctor and asked about a pain in his hand. "Does it hurt there?" he was asked, "Yes", "Does it click if I move your finger like this?", Yes", "That's funny, I have exactly the same symptoms, I wonder what we have wrong with us".

So, I have a very tender area of skin on my left leg, just below the knee and slightly to the outer side. Not very big and no outward signs or redness but extremely painful when rubbed or put under pressure. I have just looked on the Internet for any conclusions and found dozens of people with almost exactly the same problem. Many have been to their doctor only to be told that they, the doctor, have no idea what it is. It could be stress or something viral, shingles maybe but no one has an answer yet. Good, innit?