2012 — 30 November: Friday
The ghost in my machine very sensibly1 spurned control of the meat portion until well after the end of the 9 o'clock news summary so, as usual, I don't have a clue what's going on in the world. But the power is on, the broadband is connected, water flows out of the tap, the central heating works effectively, BBC Radio 3's "Essential Classics" is doing fine, and the recently-enjoyed cuppa was both hot and fresh. Such indolence!
Having whittled away...
... somewhat at the email order notifications backlog2 to reduce the list to less than one screen's worth of Gmail — knowing full well that (a) the only way of keeping my sordid little media databases happy is to feed them in a timely(!) fashion, and (b) finding the round tuit that runs that process is a whole different issue — I've just finished experimenting with an entirely new and rather late breakfast of the sort I've not eaten since Germany in September 1974... on the lovely sunny terrace of my in-law's little mansion in Meisenheim. Just before they technically were my in-laws, actually.
Last week Mike brought back from Spain for me a little pack of "Jamón Serrano", which I popped onto some (only-two-and-a-half-years past their "best by" date) chive-enhanced thin crackers — of the sort Andrew reminded me I still had tucked away since I used to buy his supply for him until Winchester finally started stocking them (presumably about three years ago now) — with the lovely "reduced-sugar" orange marmalade that I've become addicted to. A much more interesting taste than the bran-filled porridgey sludge with milk and stewed fruit that has generally been my 'normal' breakfast for the last five years or so.
A change is as good as a rest, and all that. What's next? Well, how about tackling the now-dried mud on my 'walkies' trousers? Better not do that inside, I guess. [Pause] It's a sunny clear blue sky out there, and now about 1C. I had no idea mud was capable of acting so much like superglue. I live and learn. Crikey, it's already well into lemonses time.
It obviously pays...
... to be awake...
... compare and contrast mere days ago. Cool. I shall celebrate with a pre-lunch cuppa :-)
I was just reading a piece by Stephen "Mathematica" Wolfram about Mandelbrot, whose posthumous autobiography should be interesting, and may yet appear on my shelves. It "inspired" me to inspect Mr Wolfram's own 2002 book "A new kind of science", which I see has attracted some of the most damning reviews I've ever read. Mind you, Mr W certainly seems to have a high opinion of himself. But I didn't feel moved to click "Add to Basket".
I have however just downloaded, and may even try, Apple's latest variant of iTunes. I fairly regularly install this, feed my MP3s into it, get annoyed with it for one reason or another, and end up expunging it from my PC until the pain has worn off. We're now up to Version 11, I see. It claims to run on 64-bit Win8... or should I say "be supported on"? What's the betting the first extra it will bring in its wake is QuickTime, and the next is some dreadful automated Apple software updater / snooper? It will, I'm sure, also attempt to claim ownership of every media filetype known to humanity. But, with luck, I may yet be able to use its library facility to export an XML description of my music 'library' that Brian's Pythonic skills can then wrangle into something akin to what I actually wish to see...
Time for lunch already. In fact, it's 13:29 before I've even noticed. Weird.
After some careful unticking of defaults before letting it loose, after 10 minutes or so it had got as far as the letter "J" with its file importing...
That green bar isn't a progress bar, sadly, merely an animation to help you believe something is still going on (or, in this case, in). Meanwhile Kermode and Mayo are on good form. And if it turns out that Helena Bonham-Carter has done a good job as Miss Havisham, I expect that will in due course become my fifth version:
Odd how some effects of a brief study of Eng Lit nearly half a century ago linger.
Tuneful?
OK, there was a momentary bit of madness when iTunes rampaged rather further afield on my system (48,639 tracks? Do me a favour!) than I'd intended, but I've now zapped the Library, and confined the next scan just to artists whose name begins with "A" to give myself a fighting chance of trying things out. First impressions are actually not too bad at all. But now it's time to don some fresh glad-rags and nip over to that stalwart supplier of tea and company on the other side of the village. Then, a quick pitstop back at Technology Towers and it's over to darkest Winklechestershire for a meal and a movie (or two).