I'm stepping out in a minute, to pick up some catfood and things.
But, before going, I looked at the uk news and saw the fuel price rises here.
Petrol prices are about a pound a litre. Which is a hell of a lot. When I started driving petrol was only 83 pence a litre. And that wasn't that long ago - only a few years. I know it was this low - I've still got the spreadsheet I used to calculate my cost per mile.
Prices didn't stay that way long, raising quickly.
But you remember the fuel blockades a few years back? Prices are a third higher now, then at the time.
Still, fuel in Canada is 1.20$. So about 60p.
Monday, October 1, 2007
I have a problem.
As many people have said before, from alcoholics anonymous to WoW Anonymous, the first step of resolving a problem - any problem - is admitting it exists.
Hi, I'm 4400 miles from home, and I have a problem.
Just the one?
Stop it you, this is my blog!
The problem today is t-shirts.
I've got many t-shirts - half olive green, the rest an assortment of non-colours. White, black, grey...but nothing bright, nothing lively.
The problem is how I acquire them.
I can count on the fingers of one hand (that's 4, not 31) the number of times in the last 3 years I've gone into a shop, browsed, searched and sought a t-shirt. Pick them up at an army base? Acquire them from running events? Taunt someone from Microsoft?
These I've done. For a free one, I'd run miles.
Today, it was about 3.1 miles, in 28 minutes.
This was not about raising money for charity - not for me. The thousand and more others might run for charity...but not me.
This wasn't about a chance to chat up pretty girls while running an easy 5k, even if there was quite a few rather cute ones. Even some b-- no, I'm not saying it Helen.
This wasn't even about training for another run - 5k is straightforwards to run. Most people could do it, if they really wanted to.
No, it was the T-Shirt.
I am 4400 miles from home, and I'll do almost anything for a free t-shirt.
----
Nb - the photo's will be here as soon as I can find a really, really small screwdriver. Otherwise we're stuck with IR.
Oh, and I'm somewhat happy that I pulled a curry back from the brink of disaster today. It was even edible.
Hi, I'm 4400 miles from home, and I have a problem.
Just the one?
Stop it you, this is my blog!
The problem today is t-shirts.
I've got many t-shirts - half olive green, the rest an assortment of non-colours. White, black, grey...but nothing bright, nothing lively.
The problem is how I acquire them.
I can count on the fingers of one hand (that's 4, not 31) the number of times in the last 3 years I've gone into a shop, browsed, searched and sought a t-shirt. Pick them up at an army base? Acquire them from running events? Taunt someone from Microsoft?
These I've done. For a free one, I'd run miles.
Today, it was about 3.1 miles, in 28 minutes.
This was not about raising money for charity - not for me. The thousand and more others might run for charity...but not me.
This wasn't about a chance to chat up pretty girls while running an easy 5k, even if there was quite a few rather cute ones. Even some b-- no, I'm not saying it Helen.
This wasn't even about training for another run - 5k is straightforwards to run. Most people could do it, if they really wanted to.
No, it was the T-Shirt.
I am 4400 miles from home, and I'll do almost anything for a free t-shirt.
----
Nb - the photo's will be here as soon as I can find a really, really small screwdriver. Otherwise we're stuck with IR.
Oh, and I'm somewhat happy that I pulled a curry back from the brink of disaster today. It was even edible.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
It GROWS!
There are many things that grow.
Some growing things stop and start, shrinking and enlarging as the seasons pass. Waistlines, weights, some plants....the amount of sleep you need...
Helen, I know exactly what you were thinking. Stop it.
Other things just keep growing, damn it. It grows, and grows and grows - to the point where you have to do something about it before it drives you MAD and you start raving about the pink icing, and how it made you do those horrible things to the neighbours children.
Feeding them cookies laced with laxatives...
Anyway, the point of my post? Oh, yes.
Hair.
It grows continually, whether you like it or not.
And a few weeks ago - yes, old news, I just kept forgetting to write about it - I got it cut. Again. Twice so far this year...both voluntary....
There was however, a problem.
She was brunette, about 5 foot nothing and rather sweet. She was just starting at the place, and need some "models" to demonstrate her abilities on to the management. To prove she knew what she was doing. So could she cut and dye it, at a vastly reduced rate...
And she smiled at me.
What was I supposed to do, say no?
So, several hours later, I left the place. My hair was still there, in the most part. Huge amounts were not left littering the floor as usual.
I hadn't left it a whole year this time.
What took so long wasn't the cutting, but the colour. Hours teasing out strips, painting them with goo and wrapping them in foil, folded and folded again.
It was quite relaxing, in a insane kind of way. Not moving, 2/3 blind, just watching the blur with the pretty voice move in the mirror...
Still, what sort of colour do you think I ended with? And how much, in UK terms, do you think I paid...
(I would post a picture now, but it doesn't show up in IR.)
Some growing things stop and start, shrinking and enlarging as the seasons pass. Waistlines, weights, some plants....the amount of sleep you need...
Helen, I know exactly what you were thinking. Stop it.
Other things just keep growing, damn it. It grows, and grows and grows - to the point where you have to do something about it before it drives you MAD and you start raving about the pink icing, and how it made you do those horrible things to the neighbours children.
Feeding them cookies laced with laxatives...
Anyway, the point of my post? Oh, yes.
Hair.
It grows continually, whether you like it or not.
And a few weeks ago - yes, old news, I just kept forgetting to write about it - I got it cut. Again. Twice so far this year...both voluntary....
There was however, a problem.
She was brunette, about 5 foot nothing and rather sweet. She was just starting at the place, and need some "models" to demonstrate her abilities on to the management. To prove she knew what she was doing. So could she cut and dye it, at a vastly reduced rate...
And she smiled at me.
What was I supposed to do, say no?
So, several hours later, I left the place. My hair was still there, in the most part. Huge amounts were not left littering the floor as usual.
I hadn't left it a whole year this time.
What took so long wasn't the cutting, but the colour. Hours teasing out strips, painting them with goo and wrapping them in foil, folded and folded again.
It was quite relaxing, in a insane kind of way. Not moving, 2/3 blind, just watching the blur with the pretty voice move in the mirror...
Still, what sort of colour do you think I ended with? And how much, in UK terms, do you think I paid...
(I would post a picture now, but it doesn't show up in IR.)
Friday, September 21, 2007
Porn
Today, after our run, Ali and I went shopping.
We bought some porn.
Ali buys lots more of it then me. I'm lucky if I get one piece a month. Ali....most weeks....
Not pawn, but porn.
Luke, wash your mind out with soap.
Helen, stop giggling.
Mother, take a breath. Now, take another.
There are many types of porn. This one is RUNNING porn.
The local porn sho- running room had a shoe sale on - and while we've got relatively new shoes, good for another few hundred K, another pair is a good idea. It lets you leave one pair to breath, you're not wearing the same pair two days in a row...
The only problem is the cost. A good pair of real running shoes for an overpronator like me (and a decent percentage of the rest of the population) would cost quite a bit. A couple of hundred dollars.
We bought some for 70.
We call it running porn because of the temptation to look, see, try some on, fantasize about getting a new pair...
There are worse types of porn.
So I've heard.
We bought some porn.
Ali buys lots more of it then me. I'm lucky if I get one piece a month. Ali....most weeks....
Not pawn, but porn.
Luke, wash your mind out with soap.
Helen, stop giggling.
Mother, take a breath. Now, take another.
There are many types of porn. This one is RUNNING porn.
The local porn sho- running room had a shoe sale on - and while we've got relatively new shoes, good for another few hundred K, another pair is a good idea. It lets you leave one pair to breath, you're not wearing the same pair two days in a row...
The only problem is the cost. A good pair of real running shoes for an overpronator like me (and a decent percentage of the rest of the population) would cost quite a bit. A couple of hundred dollars.
We bought some for 70.
We call it running porn because of the temptation to look, see, try some on, fantasize about getting a new pair...
There are worse types of porn.
So I've heard.
Monday, September 17, 2007
Robert Jordan
I know R posted a comment about Robert Jordan, but I was asleep when it happened.
Robert Jordan, author of the Wheel Of Time set - two and a half foot of my bookcase - has died.
This is no suprise, for he had been dying for a long time - since the last book was released. Which was about 2 years ago.
There's been a lot of us following the set, from the first book to the latest, each between 500 and a thousand pages. We've watched the dark, the light. The Aes Sedai who speak no word that is not true. The forsaken and the...well, we're still not sure what Moriden is.
There's hope that the book will be finished - there are large quantities of notes, tapes and manuscripts.
Death is lighter than a feather, duty heavier then a mountain
Robert Jordan, author of the Wheel Of Time set - two and a half foot of my bookcase - has died.
This is no suprise, for he had been dying for a long time - since the last book was released. Which was about 2 years ago.
There's been a lot of us following the set, from the first book to the latest, each between 500 and a thousand pages. We've watched the dark, the light. The Aes Sedai who speak no word that is not true. The forsaken and the...well, we're still not sure what Moriden is.
There's hope that the book will be finished - there are large quantities of notes, tapes and manuscripts.
Death is lighter than a feather, duty heavier then a mountain
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Strange pictures...
Evening all.
Courtesy of Mother, I now have my webcam here in Canada. So low resolution photo's are now a cheap and easy thing to do.
There's only one small, tiny catch.
The camera was never returned to its original state, since I converted it one sunny afternoon into a near infra-red camera. So right now, it can see in the dark (with an IR source, such as this video remote...).
It can easily pick out objects camouflaged in the visible spectrum - because it doesn't see the same light as we do. A black object can be white, a pattern of green and brown can be either white, black, or some strange pattern.
A tabby cat is still tabby though - but this makes sense. If a rodent could defeat cat concealment by shifting slightly the light spectrum they can see...they would!
But why bring this up? Well, I am going to turn it back into a real camera at some point Soon. But in the mean time, what should I photograph, in IR?
But keep it legal people.
*Edit to add photo
Courtesy of Mother, I now have my webcam here in Canada. So low resolution photo's are now a cheap and easy thing to do.
There's only one small, tiny catch.
The camera was never returned to its original state, since I converted it one sunny afternoon into a near infra-red camera. So right now, it can see in the dark (with an IR source, such as this video remote...).
It can easily pick out objects camouflaged in the visible spectrum - because it doesn't see the same light as we do. A black object can be white, a pattern of green and brown can be either white, black, or some strange pattern.
A tabby cat is still tabby though - but this makes sense. If a rodent could defeat cat concealment by shifting slightly the light spectrum they can see...they would!
But why bring this up? Well, I am going to turn it back into a real camera at some point Soon. But in the mean time, what should I photograph, in IR?
But keep it legal people.
*Edit to add photo
Monday, September 10, 2007
Must learn to party
I'm getting older.
Again.
Its a bad habit that I'm trying to give up, but it's hard. The symptoms of getting old are stressful and concerning.
You start worrying about things like...washing. And clean clothes. Worries about of getting larger (in the wrong directions), grayer (it's a lie) and less flexible (not being able to chew your own toe nails is concerning).
Still, I'm older. I'm sure I"ll get over it.
But, being older, I really should really have learnt how to party by now. For, you see, this is how I spent my birthday.
I worked from 6am in the morning till2pm, then I worked at a different company, because Ali needed a hand, from 2 till later. By the end, I was pretty tired. When Ali got home, she was pretty tired. An early night all round, to be honest.
A Caesar salad is not a birthday celebration
Still, the next day was saturday, right?
.
Well, no. Worked from 10 till 5, went home, cleaned and tided somewhat, ready for the DnD game. But...it was not to be. We were missing two players. One I'll live without...but two..can be a problem. So we went to plan B.
Plan B started with chat, and Guitar Hero 2. This was followed by a meal our, and three of us trooped down to PC Bang. A computer game place, with 50-odd well specced computers that played like a dream.,. A real dream. 1200*1024 (or something like that!) with beautiful graphics and lovely FPSs. Dozens of games.
We escaped that place.
Eventually.
At 4am on sunday morning.
Again.
Its a bad habit that I'm trying to give up, but it's hard. The symptoms of getting old are stressful and concerning.
You start worrying about things like...washing. And clean clothes. Worries about of getting larger (in the wrong directions), grayer (it's a lie) and less flexible (not being able to chew your own toe nails is concerning).
Still, I'm older. I'm sure I"ll get over it.
But, being older, I really should really have learnt how to party by now. For, you see, this is how I spent my birthday.
I worked from 6am in the morning till2pm, then I worked at a different company, because Ali needed a hand, from 2 till later. By the end, I was pretty tired. When Ali got home, she was pretty tired. An early night all round, to be honest.
A Caesar salad is not a birthday celebration
Still, the next day was saturday, right?
.
Well, no. Worked from 10 till 5, went home, cleaned and tided somewhat, ready for the DnD game. But...it was not to be. We were missing two players. One I'll live without...but two..can be a problem. So we went to plan B.
Plan B started with chat, and Guitar Hero 2. This was followed by a meal our, and three of us trooped down to PC Bang. A computer game place, with 50-odd well specced computers that played like a dream.,. A real dream. 1200*1024 (or something like that!) with beautiful graphics and lovely FPSs. Dozens of games.
We escaped that place.
Eventually.
At 4am on sunday morning.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)