2009 — 3 April: Friday
Another placeholder. It's 01:37 or so, and will soon be time for sleep. Though not before tonight's picture of my favourite chauffeuse as we were about to set off back home after our two-week stay at a guesthouse in Penzance in September 1975:
I must say, I much prefer the more modern position of wing mirrors these days.
Prestidigitation
After some very close reading of a manual or two, I've considerably improved the interconnection of the A/V system. For example, I hadn't realised you could freely assign both optical digital inputs and both co-ax digital inputs on the Onkyo receiver to, basically, anything you want. So I can, indeed, have digital I/O to the minidisc recorder, digital output from the Sony Freeview box (that I shall once again use just as a radio), and digital output from my MP3 files on the Linux PC. I was wrong, however, about the hdcp flag on the Oppo DVD player — that setting can only be adjusted on the Freesat TV PVR, not the Oppo.1 So I shall retain the 5.1 analogue input from my DVDs.
Indeed, I've just been enjoying the 5.1 surround sound remix of Dark Side of the Moon2 on an SACD I borrowed from Mike. It's a much better sound than the rather thin sound from the digital bitstream available via the hdmi route. I gather my fancy new Pioneer Blu-ray player turns up its nose at SACDs, but then I think I've only got one in my collection, and it's up in the loft in any case. (Sarah McLachlan's "Surfacing" rings a faint bell, but I've long since ripped it to MP3s...)
G'night.
What a dull start...
... to the new day. Mind you, it's 10:12 and I have no first-hand experience of what it was like earlier today — yawn. Definitely time for a cuppa. Mercy me. I've spent the last 30 minutes or so browsing through the headlines and blogs at many of my usual haunts and have to admit it's basically not worth the effort to satirise the crap going on in the world. I'm reminded (not for the first time) of Christa's wisdom. See you later.
(BBC Radio 4) talk of "lunch" in the time of Jane Austen is making me hungry! It's only 12:20 too.
Mid-afternoon
Well, I ordered myself out into the delicious sunshine to grab the next batch of crockpot meat and veg before allowing myself the treat of my afternoon cuppa. What is it about ladies driving large BMWs in the Waitrose car park that means they can ignore dotted white lines across their bows, I wonder? The glare she gave me as she slammed on her brakes was distinctly accusatory, but I wasn't the one powering through those dotted lines at escape velocity and a crazy angle.
Time for all those gardeners' questions, it seems. Since I doubt they can answer the question "Why did my gardener have to leave?" I shall select alternative audio fare.
Mr Postie was kind enough to drop off a high-definition version of Lawrence Kasdan's first film and news, from IBM, of a 0.1% increase in one component of my pension. I shall try not to let my increased income go to my head or change my modest way of life!
Later
My evening meal is on the last leg of its journey to a perfect state of thermal agitation. Suits me — I'm starving! I'm listening to the BBC 6 o'clock news without finding anything to satirise; what a mad world this is, my masters. Quite mad. Legalising rape within marriage? Pretending 3.7% of sixth-formers no longer exist for budget purposes? Gimme a break!
Found a lovely entry on a Humax forum relating to over-complex systems and things like Harmony multi-purpose remote controllers:
Having a TV like the Kuros, an AV Receiver, and needing to match inputs depending on what you're doing has done nothing but confuse the wife for 2 years. When working away from home, a call in the evening has not usually been 'i love you', but rather 'how do you get this *"%£&^ television to work'... Maybe i can now travel in peace?
I have some hopes of the radio play tonight. It might make more sense than my Samantha Lang DVD of the same story.