2010 — 17 February: Wednesday
I notice it's mysteriously become 00:29 already. I've been catching up on my as-yet unwatched "30 Rock" episodes, and am quite taken with the series. (Enough to have pre-ordered Season #3, at least.) I also notice it's nasty, cold and wet outside, too, so it's obviously time for some sleep. Tomorrow is, as ever, another day, and I figure winter can't last for ever.
G'night.
It's all bright
Indeed, one could be fooled by the sunshine into letting down one's winter guard. Early days yet, though, and — besides — it's time for breakfast first. 10:25 and counting. Moscow to Vladivostok? Six days at my PC screen? I think not! Wouldn't mind a trip on a virtual space shuttle, though.
While I'm always pleased to hear some of my favourite music (I have the latest patched iTunes serving away downstairs on the iMac and set to "shuffle") I am often taken aback at the juxtapositioning of "adjacent" tracks,1 and always shocked to realise just how old some of those tracks are. For example, Bo Hansson's 1972 "Magician's Hat" is from well over half a lifetime ago. And even the Tori Amos track that's followed it is from 1998. Christa: I'm getting old, my love! Perhaps I should start wearing purple?
It was on "QI"...
... that I learned that the US warship that survived Pearl Harbour without a scratch ended up as the "Belgrano" in the Argentinian navy. Now (28 years on) I see that we're facing another potential conflict. Lovely. I wonder what else we'll be fighting about after the last oil has been used.
And now (15:03) Pink Floyd's "Obscured by Clouds" has just popped out of the soundscape. 38 years ago(!), but I can still remember the wall-to-wall display of the record sleeves for it in the shop at the bit of Charing Cross road that's near the Cambridge Circus roundabout — though I bet it's now all changed, of course. It's turned from a lovely morning into an equally lovely afternoon despite the relentless descent of the barometer. The ERNIE is paid in, today's DVD has plopped on to the mat...
... the car's glass bits are all nice and clean, the tum is comfortably full, Matalan has been inspected for a new quilty waistcoat type jacket thingy (but I didn't like the all-nylon one that was all they had), Comet has been inspected (and found equally wanting in the desktop line).
Must be about time for the next cuppa.
Orange marmalade? Yes! Orange Marmite? No!
I mentioned (a while back, now) my current (life-long) policy of seeking amusement when and where I can. So I can report that, although slicing a fresh orange with a knife encrusted with Marmite does a grand job of cleaning the knife, it does little by way of improving the flavour of the sliced orange. (Recall, I like to experiment with flavour combinations — not always successfully.)
Meanwhile, software patching continues apace. There was a chunk of stuff accumulated for the iMac. Oddly, none of it asked for my password. And the browser I still regard as my default (Firefox) has crept up to 3.6 on both OS-X and Windows. So when I next excavate a path to the Linux box at the other end of the study I expect that will complete the hat-trick. Also an update to the essential desktop search tool, Copernic.
Heavens to Betsy, it's nearly time for the 6 o'clock news. When did that happen?
I was amused...
... to see that a fellow reader of "The Word" magazine chooses to keep his rare CD copy of "Now that's what I call music #4" in Buzz Lightyear's capable arms!2 Click the pic to see the accompanying letter:
Also been greatly amused by this week's "Write Stuff". Wickedly funny.
Shock! Horror!
I never detailed the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain CDs I bought at their pre-Christmas gig, did I? Let alone the DVD of their Prom concert six months ago to the day (give or take). Tut, tut.
Meanwhile, the Vatican has released its own list of Desert Island listening. Amazing. And I live in the faint hope of finding "Horizon" more interesting this week. It starts in just a few minutes. [Pause] A distinct improvement on last week's poor effort.
Snow? No thanks!