What makes you happy ?

I am really liking this new machine. A week of getting used to it, a new keyboard, dual screens, less clutter. Most good. And yesterday, after trying all week I managed to max out the cpu by doing things with a DVD that meant a film ended up on it and working – no silver coaster! That made the CPU sweat – it does on the other machine but this did it much quicker. Must try that again some time ;)

Things to do:
- find a task launcher that really does stay on top all the time. Yzdock does not, Objectdock does not. Both disappear just when you need them. My quick launch is fairly stacked right now which is annoying.
- get used to Autohotkey It’ll save me loads of typing IF I get used to using it and IF it stops freaking out for no apparent reason and turning the kb into a letter explosion when a key is touched. (It just did it again when writing an email. Seems more and more like AutoPITA)
- hope my back gets better. The trampolining damage was lessening but this morning when out with Winston I had to hold his collar as 2 dogs were taken by. He pulled toward them – which he usually doesn’t do – and I had no slack so I was twisted sharply. Right now I’m sitting up very straight as it’s the only comfortable position.
- ponder what I can do with my
- welcome eldest back to the fold. She’s been away for the week with a friend so it’ll be good to have her back.

(Post title should mean this entry looks better in a feed reader :) )

Working from home has it’s downsides. It has many more than you might think. But today I won.
I can wear what I want, get a cold one from the fridge when I want, not have to sit in a moving oven, not get close to other hot sweaty bodies in lifts, offices, trains. As hot as I am, I won :)

Tomorrow – World Jump Day

Was to untangle this lot.

Which I did.
All important. All being kept. Because you never know when you might need it.

I go into abody yesterday, Neil isn’t in. I tell Brian I’ll be in Derby Saturday, he says they will be there Sunday. Today, about 20 minutes after something bit my right forearm which promptly ballooned Neil emails and wants me in to colour my arm in. On Thursday. But he didn’t say which Thursday… I hope he gets the email I shot back. And I hope it’s tomorrow.

Tonight sees the unveiling of a little project which has been in the works for a while so that will be nice to set free.

And I’m looking for programs – so far it’s the Sync toy from Microsoft or Cobian backup – so that with the two drives in the new machine I can specify directories I want synced frequently but without me having to remember. I don’t want an image or for a full root copy of any sort (are they the same?) but I do want to be sure that I have two copies of what I think is important. (I know I’m weird about both data backup and discarding unneeded data but we all have our foibles). Know of a better program that will silently get on with the job?

and Mario for the DS bought. Will be playing that on 31 July as I pass over the Atlantic.

I wrote quite a detailed post asking for help with setting up a connection between the other computer and this one. I re-read it and mentally went through the steps so I wouldn’t be caught out with a simple error… and then realised that in my inveterate fiddling with things I had stopped the services responsible. I deleted the post. Of course now I realise what I should have done is publish it anyway and let people answer :)

I was going to blog about how I fought with some Russian Vine which was strangling plants and destroying the fence, but then I realised I’d need a ‘Gardening’ category here – and that just is not going to happen. Ever.

Laptop battery .. it’s up to 70 minutes. I don’t think it’ll do much longer. It’s probably enough…

Look at the stars. Over there ——>

Vertical blinds actually – crack of thunder this am which was (or seemed) directly over the house. The dog didn’t have a clue and once me and D had recovered from the “10 out of 10 on the crap-that-was-loud” meter it was great to see the storm. Until I realised that somewhere some lightning had fried my connection. Not good. (So I started Baldur’s Gate 2 again). New router needed. Hours offline – and I coped. Amazing…

BT fixed the link. BT cut the line speed to a third of what it can be. Okay so it’s still fast but that’s not the bloody point. They’ll call out that they have upgraded and unbundled but they don’t mention the fact that they also happily screw with paid for services. Bloody idiots.

Bon Echo and Firefox do not play nice. Multiple startup errors from FF despite BA not being there anymore so a full reinstall of FF was done. I thought I had saved all the passwords. Oops. So my trusty Keepass gets called to action and I start plugging in the random characters. Be interesting to see what I’ve missed this time.

Friday. I like Friday. Less work on Friday and the weekend so I can catch up on everything else. And go look for a new monitor..

From the Guardian: Drinking lots of coffee saves liver from alcohol damage. I wonder if that would explain my healthy liver despite the alcoholic batterings I gave it. I used to drink very very strong coffee – 2/3 teaspoons of coffee in a mug sveral times a day. So that combined with 20+ units of alcohol a day was the reason my GP was amazed when he opened the test result and said that my liver was indeed in perfect shape. That could almost be an argument for going back to the beer.

Tshirts. I own dozens. Loads of them. I was told that I always wear black, I was in the mood for some tidying so off I went. Threw out 5 I’ll never wear again. That left loads and loads still. Sorted all the black ones and put them in a different pile. That left me 6. Just six tshirts. Maybe they had a point about the black…. later in the shop buying some more colorful replacements J points at one and says “Only a real man can wear pink”. Heh – that psychology worked – I bought it. I prefer to call it ‘salmon’ in colour. When we got back D chimed in with the same refrain. I haven’t yet figured out when I’ll wear it. (When. not if).

And I’m bored with the colours on this theme.

That’s what I need. I’ve an irritating amount of fiddly small jobs that need doing so I need a list and the right mood. I’m writing this so hopefully I wake tomorrow ‘in that doing mood’.

Buddhism. I’ve been reading bits about/around Buddhism. I’m surprised about how much I disagree with it. This karma thing – does it last just the one lifetime or does it last more? The killing of other things – an absolute rule? It’s also strange that I’m seeking answers. No doubt I’ll forget all about this until someone pops in with a comment in the distant future.

I've forgotten when J had her cataracts removed and new lenses inserted, but the left one has gone wrong. She now has worse vision than before the operation – which is strange. So off to the slowest hospital dept in the history of Leicester next week …… and we have no doubt that they'll mutter and end up doing nothing this side of Wembley being finished because she has vision in one eye. Which she does. Still not right though. She's legal to drive – but then unless you have experience of reduced vision you would be amazed at just how little vision you need and still be able to keep your licence.

Got the Brain Training game for the DS yesterday. Tried the Quick Test. It rated me as having the brain of someone in their 80's. Did it again – 70's. One more time…. 50's. Seems to be amusing enough though :)

I'm debating going into the City tomorrow. In the afternoon. When there will be no-one around. Could actually be a pleasant experience.

Quote of our week – from J "So who are we playing on Saturday?"

Noise of the week – J playing "Three Lions" 

Task for the weekend: get all the games consoles in the house and hooked up to the TV. And if it's still sunny Sunday, have a go at sorting out more wires in the garage than are in a DIY warehouse.