I feel much better. Have now updated my blog and whilst I am doomed never to have a slide show on here I have just worked out how to add pictures in to a blog message so I can now pepper the entire site with knitting and kittens. Yay! (Eek, goes the one person who reads this).
I am hoping that this will all spur me on to being a good girl and writing my blog updates much more frequently. I have been a little slack over the last couple of weeks which is a bit silly of me and I intend to atone for this. Unfortunately right now I have a piece of knitting in front of me that I am dying to get on with and have already ignored for half an hour and I'm going to have to cave and get back to it before I run out of time before work to get any knitting done. I find that if I sit and knit for a bit before starting the every day routine at work it helps settle me into my day and I feel as though I have had some time to myself to do something for me. I often knit in the evenings as well but I invariably have at least one kitten and a husband near me. It's not thinking time like I get in the mornings.
Speaking of which I'm going to go! But I shall be good and write more today in penance for my recent slackness.
Friday, 30 November 2007
Thursday, 29 November 2007
Still can't make it work
Okay, so I'd really like to know how I'm supposed to make the slideshow work on this thing- it's been driving me completely nuts. As a second place solution I have added a link to my flickr photo album at the bottom of the page in the links section. I hope to god that that works properly.
Tuesday, 20 November 2007
Marmite is the food of the gods
Have I ranted about this before? If not then I jolly well should have done- marmite is so good! Hmmm, makes my lunchtime. The only thing that can top a marmite sandwich is a cheese and marmite sandwich and the only way to get better than that is a toasted cheese and marmite sandwich. Makes me dribble just thinking about it.
Marmite even works with slightly odd things. Another of my favourites is marmite with cream cheese and cucumber, toasted or not, however it comes.
In fact the perfect lunch for me would be a toasted cheese and marmite sandwich, a greek sesame bar, yogurt (either the thick ski type ones with strawberries in or natural greek yogurt with cucumber and raisins in) and a plump ripe kiwi. Other fruit may also be added in such as raspberries, pomegranate, plums (though I haven't had a good one of these for ages), peaches, nectarines or blackberries. A small handful of nuts excluding peanuts, pecans, pistachios and hazelnuts (so brazil, walnuts or cashews really) would not go amiss either.
Hmmm, have just had my lunch and have now gone and made myself hungry again. Of course the best way to combat this is to have a nice bowl of porridge (with brown sugar) in the morning. That will fill you up for the entire day. As it is however, I'm not much of one for mornings and very rarely feel like eating which probably accounts for the rumble in my tummy at lunchtime.
Hah! very one track mind at the moment it seems. I didn't really have any intention of dissecting my lunch box for you all but I guess it's as good a subject as any. It stops me ranting about the bloody stupid slide show function THAT DOES NOT WORK after all.
Ahem.
Marmite even works with slightly odd things. Another of my favourites is marmite with cream cheese and cucumber, toasted or not, however it comes.
In fact the perfect lunch for me would be a toasted cheese and marmite sandwich, a greek sesame bar, yogurt (either the thick ski type ones with strawberries in or natural greek yogurt with cucumber and raisins in) and a plump ripe kiwi. Other fruit may also be added in such as raspberries, pomegranate, plums (though I haven't had a good one of these for ages), peaches, nectarines or blackberries. A small handful of nuts excluding peanuts, pecans, pistachios and hazelnuts (so brazil, walnuts or cashews really) would not go amiss either.
Hmmm, have just had my lunch and have now gone and made myself hungry again. Of course the best way to combat this is to have a nice bowl of porridge (with brown sugar) in the morning. That will fill you up for the entire day. As it is however, I'm not much of one for mornings and very rarely feel like eating which probably accounts for the rumble in my tummy at lunchtime.
Hah! very one track mind at the moment it seems. I didn't really have any intention of dissecting my lunch box for you all but I guess it's as good a subject as any. It stops me ranting about the bloody stupid slide show function THAT DOES NOT WORK after all.
Ahem.
Monday, 19 November 2007
Hmmm, not working for me
Er.. never mind. It seems that I have wasted a great deal of time on producing nothing. The slide show doesn't want to display on my version of the blog and I have finally run out of ideas as to why that might be.
I shall try again once I have summoned the will to live.
I shall try again once I have summoned the will to live.
So slow....
I realise that I have been a bad girl and not added a post for ages. This is due to two things.
The first is that I have been working hard on my Wollaston project and have been having much fun trawling through archives for birth records etc. Whilst this is not strictly necessary for work it will all ultimately end up in a paper and/or on-line once we have hosted the database on the university website. So it is therefore both useful and interesting and I can justify the time spent.
The second thing is that I have been trying to upload some more photos onto my blog account. I realised about half way through last week that I hadn't posted in a while so I thought I'd do something spectacular in the way of new photos of my knitting over the past month or so as I have finally finished a bunch of projects and want to show off. Unfortunately this proved to be much more difficult than I had first anticipated and I have had to spend a couple of evenings and a lunchtime swearing at my computer, creating various e-mail accounts which I will now undoubtedly forget the passwords to and all other manner of annoying things.
However, I think that I have finally managed to get it to work so expect service to return as normal!
The first is that I have been working hard on my Wollaston project and have been having much fun trawling through archives for birth records etc. Whilst this is not strictly necessary for work it will all ultimately end up in a paper and/or on-line once we have hosted the database on the university website. So it is therefore both useful and interesting and I can justify the time spent.
The second thing is that I have been trying to upload some more photos onto my blog account. I realised about half way through last week that I hadn't posted in a while so I thought I'd do something spectacular in the way of new photos of my knitting over the past month or so as I have finally finished a bunch of projects and want to show off. Unfortunately this proved to be much more difficult than I had first anticipated and I have had to spend a couple of evenings and a lunchtime swearing at my computer, creating various e-mail accounts which I will now undoubtedly forget the passwords to and all other manner of annoying things.
However, I think that I have finally managed to get it to work so expect service to return as normal!
Thursday, 8 November 2007
Kafka sucked
I have always meant to read some Kafka- mostly because I have heard many other people rant about his work and feel it is regarded as a collection of modern classics. As I came across one of his novels in audio book format I decided to listen to it today whilst at work. I was particularly drawn to the book that I found as it involves a man waking up one day to find that he has turned into a beetle overnight. It is aptly titled 'Metamorphosis' and I was hoping for some sort of insightful social commentary or human character exploration. What I got was a surreal, tedious and morphologically inaccurate story. The style of writing was interesting at first for its unusual approach but quickly became dull and repetitive. The storyline had very little development and I came away with the feeling that it was just all a bit pointless. It could have worked so well and I felt it a complete let down.
So now I am angry that another good idea has been wasted. It's just another story that will never realise its potential and so will never come to be. I mourn for lost stories.
So now I am angry that another good idea has been wasted. It's just another story that will never realise its potential and so will never come to be. I mourn for lost stories.
Cycling incident
Am feeling a trifle shamed today. This would be because I earnt my badge for frightening little old ladies yesterday. I didn't mean to frighten her and I promise that I had the best of intentions but I'm not sure that I thought it out all that well.
What happened was this: I was peddling my way down the road at about 3 o'clock yesterday afternoon when I noticed that as the lady in front of me (who was also riding a bicycle) rode over a cobbled bit of road on the high street, the plastic bag in her back basket slipped open and four plump cherry tomatoes came bouncing out and pinwheeled off across the road and pavement. Firstly this struck me as completely bizarre until the brain had time to process what the bouncing red blobs where and then, I admit, as funny. I also noticed however that there where several more tomatoes looking like they too might make a bid for freedom, along with some grumpy kiwis. So I thought I'd do my good Samaritan bit and tell said lady so that she didn't loose them all.
This proved more difficult than first anticipated as as I sped up behind with a view to pull alongside her she also sped up. I put on a burst of speed, pulled out after checking I wasn't going to get squished and came alongside. She then moved over so I had to shout in her ear which made her jump and she consequently slowed down so that as I was trying to explain the situation I ended up over shooting completely and shouting over my shoulder as I sped off into the distance. I was so embarrassed that I deliberately peddled harder so as to extract myself from the situation. I realised afterwards that all this meant that all I had done was to leave a confused and slightly stunned pensioner by the side of the road behind me.
What happened was this: I was peddling my way down the road at about 3 o'clock yesterday afternoon when I noticed that as the lady in front of me (who was also riding a bicycle) rode over a cobbled bit of road on the high street, the plastic bag in her back basket slipped open and four plump cherry tomatoes came bouncing out and pinwheeled off across the road and pavement. Firstly this struck me as completely bizarre until the brain had time to process what the bouncing red blobs where and then, I admit, as funny. I also noticed however that there where several more tomatoes looking like they too might make a bid for freedom, along with some grumpy kiwis. So I thought I'd do my good Samaritan bit and tell said lady so that she didn't loose them all.
This proved more difficult than first anticipated as as I sped up behind with a view to pull alongside her she also sped up. I put on a burst of speed, pulled out after checking I wasn't going to get squished and came alongside. She then moved over so I had to shout in her ear which made her jump and she consequently slowed down so that as I was trying to explain the situation I ended up over shooting completely and shouting over my shoulder as I sped off into the distance. I was so embarrassed that I deliberately peddled harder so as to extract myself from the situation. I realised afterwards that all this meant that all I had done was to leave a confused and slightly stunned pensioner by the side of the road behind me.
Tuesday, 6 November 2007
IKEA is magic
I hate to say it, but really I have to- I'm an IKEA lover. It's not the actual products that I love (though I have to say, there are some clever ideas packed into the catalogue), but rather the ingenuity that goes into the design. The actual objects may well be hideously ugly once they have been constructed but the construction of said objects is to my mind, very pleasing.
As a new home owner I have found the very existence of IKEA to be a great boon. Doubtless without it we would still be living in a house of cardboard box furniture (though in honesty I'm not sure how far off of that we actually are). As it is we have managed to afford things that we otherwise wouldn't have- such as a king size bed which is frankly just terrific. We've kitted out our lounge and just the other day, bought a massive desk to fit into the back room so we can do work at home. Or cut cloth for dress patterns, which ever you think most important :)
The design of many of the products is just wonderful though. I know most of it is driven by the business. Of course it is the company which benefits most from making stack-able watering cans, not the customer. The profit margin on that product must be huge once you have factored in the reduced costs of transport and storage. Plus they sell so well as everyone looks at them and thinks 'that's clever, and green. I shall buy one to show that I am a considerate person who thinks of these things'. EVEN IF THEY DIDN'T REALLY WANT ONE TO BEGIN WITH.
And that's the magic of IKEA right there folks. They could sell ballet shoes to a pig if they wanted.
As a new home owner I have found the very existence of IKEA to be a great boon. Doubtless without it we would still be living in a house of cardboard box furniture (though in honesty I'm not sure how far off of that we actually are). As it is we have managed to afford things that we otherwise wouldn't have- such as a king size bed which is frankly just terrific. We've kitted out our lounge and just the other day, bought a massive desk to fit into the back room so we can do work at home. Or cut cloth for dress patterns, which ever you think most important :)
The design of many of the products is just wonderful though. I know most of it is driven by the business. Of course it is the company which benefits most from making stack-able watering cans, not the customer. The profit margin on that product must be huge once you have factored in the reduced costs of transport and storage. Plus they sell so well as everyone looks at them and thinks 'that's clever, and green. I shall buy one to show that I am a considerate person who thinks of these things'. EVEN IF THEY DIDN'T REALLY WANT ONE TO BEGIN WITH.
And that's the magic of IKEA right there folks. They could sell ballet shoes to a pig if they wanted.
Thursday, 1 November 2007
Unfortunate postal inccident
Have had the funniest enquiry ever today.
An old lady called me in much distress because she had posted a woodlouse to the boss to be identified and upon phoning to see whether he has received said parcel, she discovered that he is away at the moment. I then had to field a phone call from said lady, who was desperate about her poor woodlouse, as it might have been suffocating in the envelope. In order to placate the lady I got her to describe the parcel and promised very faithfully to rescue the woodlouse from said package if it had arrived. I decided against doing the whole 'its a tiny thing, how much air do you think it needs?' conversation. It was all just too much effort.
Anyway, I had to sit through a lengthy discourse on said woodlouse, about how fond the lady is of it, how she thought it was a peculiar albino one, how she had been ill and thus been keeping it at home for the last 11 days until she could post it off. I gave many reassurances on keeping it alive and not murdering it wantonly as entomologists are wont to do.
After managing to extract myself from the conversation, I gently replaced the receiver, wiped the sweat from my brow and pottered through to find the parcel. I opened it up and gently extracted the contents.
One letter - check
One pill box - check
contents of pill box, one dead woodlouse - check
I don't know what it was that made me think that said woodlouse would be dead but dead it was. I think it was the way in which the lady had gone on about how fond she was of it. I just KNEW it would be dead- that's just my luck.
An old lady called me in much distress because she had posted a woodlouse to the boss to be identified and upon phoning to see whether he has received said parcel, she discovered that he is away at the moment. I then had to field a phone call from said lady, who was desperate about her poor woodlouse, as it might have been suffocating in the envelope. In order to placate the lady I got her to describe the parcel and promised very faithfully to rescue the woodlouse from said package if it had arrived. I decided against doing the whole 'its a tiny thing, how much air do you think it needs?' conversation. It was all just too much effort.
Anyway, I had to sit through a lengthy discourse on said woodlouse, about how fond the lady is of it, how she thought it was a peculiar albino one, how she had been ill and thus been keeping it at home for the last 11 days until she could post it off. I gave many reassurances on keeping it alive and not murdering it wantonly as entomologists are wont to do.
After managing to extract myself from the conversation, I gently replaced the receiver, wiped the sweat from my brow and pottered through to find the parcel. I opened it up and gently extracted the contents.
One letter - check
One pill box - check
contents of pill box, one dead woodlouse - check
I don't know what it was that made me think that said woodlouse would be dead but dead it was. I think it was the way in which the lady had gone on about how fond she was of it. I just KNEW it would be dead- that's just my luck.
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