The Lover Of Nifty Stuff

05:30 pm: My laptop screen finally gave up the ghost and is in for repairs.

Don't know how long it's going to be or how well I will cope without access to the net. Here's hoping my elderly Toshiba still works, even if I can't play WoW.

02:22 pm: Oh dear...
I am ashamed. Deeply, deeply ashamed.

One of the perks of travelling long distance to work is that I get to listen to Radio 2's 'Popmaster' quiz. The final stage of the quiz is called '3 in 10', where the winner is challenged to name 3 hits from a a named act in 10s.

Today, for the first time that I can remember I actually succeeded in naming 3 hits...

        ... for Britney Spears.

I shall go and commit ritual suicide forthwith.

09:55 am: Glaring omission

I missed something out of my mega-post yesterday, and this I want to say publically.

That is a huge thank you to <taldragon for putting up with months of me being miserable, withdrawn and generally unpleasant to live with.

I couldn't have managed without your support, friendship and willingness to take one look at me and go and put dinner in the microwave after a long day at work. I don't say it often enough how much I've appreciated it.

Thank you

 

01:06 pm: The Big Read reckons that the average adult has only read 6 of the top 100 books they've printed.
1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicize those you intend to read but haven't read yet.
3) Underline the books you LOVE.
4) Strike out the books you have no intention of ever reading.
5) Bold and strike books you read but hated.
6) Reprint this list in your own LJ



1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen  Ties with 'A Tale of Two Cities' for the best ever opening line to a book.
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien  A book that can only be described as a 'Tome'. I still love it; despite the poetry.
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 The Harry Potter Series - JK Rowling  Love/hate with this one. Not as good as she would like to think she is, but still a damn good series. Don't like Harry Potter, but ;love some of the others. Her idea of what makes you a 'good guy' sometimes worries me.
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte Depressing book. Pathetic characters. However, very evocative and a good story saves it.
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell  Animal Farm is better.
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman  Better the second time around.
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott 
12 Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy   Only Hardy worth reading
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller  Absolutely mad, but fun.
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare  Not really a book, and a dull read unless you 'act' the parts.
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien Hate, hate, hate Bilbo
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger Dull.
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot  Duller
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell Masterpiece of romantic fiction. It's a great read.
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald Another character I longed to give a good slapping to.
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens Bleak book
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck  I discovered Steinbeck as a teenager and loved him. Haven't read him since though.
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll  What was he on?
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis 
34 Emma - Jane Austen  another sarcastic delight from Austen, but gods did I want to slap her.
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres Odd, but entertaining
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne Never really a favourite of mine, I must admit.
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell  This is one of my all-time favourite books
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown Entertaining pile of old tosh
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy  A man who takes three chapters to say 'The hero walked over the hill'
48 The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood Science fiction for those who refuse to read it. 
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding  This I found frankly scary.
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert  Amazing concept and story. Pontificating text.
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen  Good, but Pride and Prejudice is better
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens  Some beautiful writing and another one where the 'flawed' character sacrifices himself of the pretty and vapid 'hero'. Is Sydney Carton really not the better man here?
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck 
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy  Jude the Boring, more like.
68 Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding Funny, but gods did I want to give Bridget a good kick in her 'fat pants'. A damning indictment of modern women. Is this what the Suffragettes died for?
69 Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville Cracking yarn if you can get past the Victorian prose.
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath Oh gods. Kill me before i read a page of this again.
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome Very dated now, but I enjoyed it in the 70s.
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray Bitingly clever a la Austen, if you can get past the style.
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens One of Dickens' better books.
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker Dark and unusually written, but I liked it
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte's Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle It's hard to beat The Great Detective.
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks All I remember about this book is finding the imagery horrible.
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams Bunnies without the fuzzy. Surprisingly deep and tear-jerking. Bigwig is my hero!
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute On The Beach is better
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas Great story, but the Michael York films are better!
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl Fantastic author at some of his darkest best.
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo Enjoyable read, but it's sheer size lets it down.


Tags: meme

02:34 pm: Sorry for being an apologist...
OK, I take it back. I am in fact a happy geek, content and secure in my l33tness.

01:21 pm: O.O
There are women in feathered and be-sequinned swimming costumes, with high-heels and feather headdresses wandering round the office distributing t-shirts.

They're advertising a poker tournament being organised by $howboat (the company I work for), so there is a link.

However my inner feminist is mightily offended both by the parade of semi-nakedness and the open drooling of the guys around me and my inner professional is appalled that this is happening in the workplace. I don't begrudge the guys looking, it's normal to want to do that to an attractive and so openly displayed body; but some of the conversation is faintly creepy and I'm annoyed by the blatant sex-objectification (is that a word) of the girls.

Thanks to webcowgirl for the picture

12:48 pm: I am such a sad geek

12:11 pm: Burglary update
$howboat demob countdown = 3 days
Maiden countdown = 15 days
Motivation (1-10) = -3+2i

Well, it's been a while since I posted, so here's a rather long update...

First of all, thanks to all the people who kindly offered to help out following the break-in last week. We're getting stuff sorted now. My new laptop (shiny!) has arrived and been installed with WoW (got to get my priorities right), although I am rapidly coming to hate Vista and it's nanny-style. Mobile arrived 2 days earlier than expected, so I am connected. Fortunately taldragon still had her passport and so was able to withdraw from the bank and Phil loaned me some cash this weekend, so we are temporarily solvent. Good news is that all cards were cancelled before any were used. Even better was the news that my handbag and purse have apparently been found dumped in a garage somewhere. Not my phone, but hopefully I'll get some stuff back... eventually.

The front door lock is damaged though. It's hard to get it to shut on just the Yale lock now, so taldragon is looking at replacing the whole door with a more secure unit. It was the one weak point in the house left really, well that and a new lock for the gate (yes, we have double-glazing, an alarm etc.).

Apparently the night after we were broken into three more houses in our immediate vicinity were burgled in the same way. Quiet break-in in the night, searching downstairs and taking of small portable valuable items. The next-door neighbour lost all her wages in her handbag and some jewellery, including a hand-made gold locket containing the hair of her daughter who died of cancer. Some things can't be replaced on insurance - and unfortunately she wasn't insured. She won't report it to the police, either. While I can understand her 'well, they won't catch them anyway so what's the point' attitude up to a point, something like the locket is easily identifiable and may just crop up in a haul.

12:43 pm: Awful day
Gah. There are times I hate my life.

Our house was broken into last night and they took my laptop and my handbag.

I am seriously pissed off and also penniless (we have 85p between us until the banks send us new cards)

Can I curl up in a corner and die now?

10:51 am: Gmail's latest set of sponsored links for me...

Sponsored Links
D&D London
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www.danddlondon.com

Toop Exhumation Ltd
Over 50 year's experience both in the UK and overseas
www.toopexhumation.co.uk

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Removal Cartons & Bespoke Packaging Buy online or Call 0208 942 0415
www.avispack.co.uk

Biodiesel, SVO, Methanol
Pumps, Meters, Filters etc UK Supplier, Buy online- Low prices
www.bellflowsystems.co.uk

03:52 pm: The countdown begins...
J K Rowling announces the final Harry Potter date.... http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6320733.stm

12:51 pm:

01:46 pm: Football
Even if you know nothing about football and British music (that's 'soccer' to you over-the-pond Philistines) the comparisons are amusing. If you do, it's even funnier!

From an email...

ARSENAL- Like the Arctic Monkeys. Young, cocky, brimming with promise. Show all the hallmarks of stadium Gods, but time will tell as to whether they can achieve their obvious promise.

ASTON VILLA- Are A-Ha. Big for a small period in the eighties, hinting at a comeback, though you're not really sure where they've actually been for the last twenty years. You've been vaguely aware of them without ever feeling their presence.

BLACKBURN ROVERS- The Kaiser Chiefs. Typically Northern, stoic, formulaic. A couple of big hitters, but really you suspect they are punching above their weight.

BOLTON WANDERERS- 50 Cent. Seemingly devoid of any talent, completely misrepresent the genre. Yet somehow achieve huge success. Really you just wish they would go away.

CHARLTON ATHLETIC- Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. Went up the spout when the talented one left.

CHELSEA- The Sex Pistols. This one sticks in the craw because I love the Pistols. But the comparisons are irrefutable, possessed of a moral arrogance that grates with everyone except their fans. You suspect they are bound to fizzle out as quickly as they arrived. Managed by a pretentious, self absorbed tosser.

EVERTON- Debbie Harry (Blondie). Much more attractive in the eighties. Nevertheless, you have to respect their achievements.

FULHAM- Rod Stewart. Trendy for a time in the seventies, before they became substanceless playboys. Nowadays quite content with where they are with no further ambition.

LIVERPOOL- The Rolling Stones. Huge for about twenty years, but you cannot really tell why they're around anymore. Happy to dine out on their illustrious past but still have a huge fanbase. With the odd exception have produced nothing since 1990.

MANCHESTER CITY- The Foo Fighters. Inoffensive, some talent in evidence, but largely irrelevant. Fronted by a bloody nice bloke who made waves in the early nineties, which kind of prevents them from being annoying.

MANCHESTER UNITED- Oasis. Glorious heyday in the nineties, a few dodgy years thereafter. Ultimately you cannot deny their status amongst the all time greats.

MIDDLESBROUGH- James Blunt. Of absolutely no interest to anybody whatsoever.

NEWCASTLE UNITED- U2. Sickeningly full of their own self importance. Nothing to say yet popular, had a half decent hit in the mid nineties, but why they are considered such a leviathan is a complete mystery. The only difference is that U2 play to sold out stadiums.

PORTSMOUTH- ELO. Criminally under rated. A talented front man who really does not get the credit he deserves.

READING - The X Factor winner. Backed by lots of hype, money and a prat that thinks he's better than everyone, unheard of before this year and will surely fade back to obscurity soon enough.

SHEFFIELD UNITED- Take That. Out of their ten year hiatus and back woth the big boys. You met their return with dread and horror, but really not as bad as you thought they were.

TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR- Guns 'n' Roses. After a little success in the early nineties, they are now generally a complete laughing stock. Dozens of line up changes, yet nothing approaching success. Strangely still believe that they are great. Have been promising a comeback for years- it's never materialised.

WATFORD- Bruce Springsteen. You feel sympathy for them because they are a little misunderstood, but barring a decent output in the eighties, you feel they're not really up to scratch anymore.

WEST HAM UNITED- Chas 'n' Dave. Unpretentious cockney troubadours, kind of likeable but a little too much Tottenham runs through them.

WIGAN ATHLETIC- Jet. Uninspiring, bland new boys on the block. Thye really bring very little to the party that you haven't seen a thousand times before, but you grudgingly respect their ability to ween success out of limited talent.

08:58 am: Just read the comments...
http://www.surreycomet.co.uk/display.var.1039169.0.marksman_called_in_to_kill_kingstons_pigeons.php

A fairly innocuous news story... then someone got to the comments...

03:22 pm: I should have guessed...
Most people will agree with this one!

You are The High Priestess

Science, Wisdom, Knowledge, Education.

The High Priestess is the card of knowledge, instinctual, supernatural, secret knowledge. She holds scrolls of arcane information that she might, or might not reveal to you. The moon crown on her head as well as the crescent by her foot indicates her willingness to illuminate what you otherwise might not see, reveal the secrets you need to know. The High Priestess is also associated with the moon however and can also indicate change or fluxuation, particularily when it comes to your moods.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

12:08 am: This year marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Penlee Lifeboat Disaster, when the Penlee lifeboat was lost with all hands while trying to rescue the crew of a distressed freighter (including a woman and two children) in hurricane force winds battling sixty foot waves.

For me the most amazing thing is that Britain's Lifeboat service, the RNLI, is entirely funded by charitable donations and staffed by volunteers. That's right, the men and women who go out daily risking life and limb do so for no recompense whatsoever. They're dedicated in a way that most of us can only boggle at.

In an earlier time when Britain was a major seafaring nation, almost all the volunteers were seamen of some description and it could be said that they did it in the hope that should it ever be their ship that was going down in a storm, some other bugger would be brave enough to come out to help them. These days most of the volunteers are at best leisure sailors, with a smattering of landlubbers, but when the call goes out they still answer it come hell or high water (literally) and save dozens of lives every year.

So if one day you see someone rattling an RNLI tin, or on a pleasant day out at the sea side see those curious hollowed out mines with a slot in it, or in a shop see those little toys where the lifeboat 'launches' if you put a coin in, put some money in it to keep the lifeboats launching and to say thank you for the people willing to risk their lives in the service of others.

Back in 1981 a young man answered the call of the Penlee lifeboat that December night with his father. When the crew assembled, they found that they had too many crewmen as all the volunteers came out. The coxswain (commander) of the boat ordered him to stay behind, as he didn't want to risk two men from the same family on such a dangerous mission. Twenty five years later, that young man is now the coxswain of the modern Penlee lifeboat, even though his father died and the body never recovered. That's the kind of quiet bravery you find among lifeboat crews.

10:20 am:

You Passed 8th Grade Math

Congratulations, you got 10/10 correct!

02:05 am:

LIVE TRUMPS 1.1

watch cynicaloptimist fight

CREATE YOUR CARD

06:47 pm: And England go out of the World Cup on penalties yet again...

06:19 pm: Very true

What Your Soul Really Looks Like

You are a warm hearted and open minded person. It's easy for you to forgive and forget. You are a grounded person, but you also leave room for imagination and dreams. You feet may be on the ground, but you're head is in the clouds. You believe that people see you as larger than life and important. While this is true, they also think you're a bit full of yourself. Your near future is likely to be filled with great successes and accomplishments. You just need to figure out how to get there. For you, love is all about caring and comfort. You couldn't fall in love with someone you didn't trust.