2009 — 21 September: Monday

Back in April last year, during a brief but painful episode of XP system failure, I processed and published a picture of Christa and her parents breakfasting in the Old Windsor house before a holiday outing. Here's a shot of the same scene from a different angle:

Christa in 1977 or so

I spent the last part of the evening catching up on the Joss Whedon series. Of course, it's all old hat to Junior. Ho hum. G'night.

Having just...

... woken up, I'm listening to Harry Shearer's "Le Show" for the first time in many months. It's now 09:38 and I need a cuppa!

I learn that nothing much has changed in the zany world. An American general is "about to push the 'send' button on a request for more troops" in what is now an eight-year land war in Afghanistan. But then, I return to the BBC web site and learn that one of their top 10 stories is about a car crash leading "Miss Whiplash to God". I think it's time to retreat to music. Must up that blood sugar level. Mr Whedon's imagined brain wiping technology would certainly come in handy.

Never too late...

... for a spot of lunch. It's 14:25 and my first mission (socks, knickers, belt, butter dish, USB hub, new keyboard) was partially successful. Existing examples of these items are all worn, or wearing, out. In the case of the butter dish, the (stainless steel) dish bit is fine, but its plastic lid was seen off by a falling Marmite jar. It's a dangerous existence in my kitchen.

Thanks for this link, Tom!

In later news...

... I'm back from a Hedge End "superstore" clutching a neat little powered seven-port USB hub to my manly bosom. I also took a long, hard look at the Logitech Duet network music controller, and the Mac Mini, coming (as John Ebdon was wont to say) to no particular conclusion. There was also a tasty-looking Samsung laser printer and colour scanner in a neat, wireless package. Such temptations to string along the path of a hapless pensioner. Oh, I also tried a pair of Sennheiser headphones (proving, for starters, that they were hopeless at noise isolation) and lingered awhile at an HP desktop PC with the new Intel i7 Quad Core.

Meanwhile, I'm listening to Karen Armstrong jabbering away on NPR about her beliefs and her book proffering the "case" for "god". I think I'd rather listen to the kettle boiling. Less random, for a start.