Oh The Humanity!

When will this endless slaughter end?
 Huge props to Orac, where I first saw this.

Still Alive

In blog terms it has been a positive age since I last posted.  It turns out that it took me much longer than I expected to recover from the virus I had.  What with the week of holiday I had at the top of the month I have effectively been out of the office for the whole of September, the few days I graced the place have been lost to my still feeling very tired and feeble.  It has only been in the last 24 hours or so that I have properly surfaced and taken in my surroundings,   Probably just in time too as I am going to be a bridesmaid on Saturday it will be my first time as one and I do not want to disgrace myself by falling asleep during the speeches.

Rhodium

I meant to blog about this a couple of weeks ago.

The rest of the elements can be found at the University Of Nottingham's Website

Only When I Laugh

My virus continues.

I've spent most of my time delicately draped accross on one of the sofas like the sickly heroine of one of the more bathetic Victorian novels.

I felt decidedly better on Monday morning so it was off to work I went with, if not with a "HiHo" and a merry tune on my lips, but feeling ready for another day at work.

I walked from the car park into the office with a colleague - in that distance my voice started to sound like a teenage boy's just before it start to break and I began to feel my chest tightening up. By the time I got into the office I was beginning to squeak like a bat whisperer.

So they sent me home.

Tuesday - off work

Wednesday - off work

Thursday - off work - began to feel better

Friday - today I wake up feeling that if I don't talk too much I'll be fine. I get into work, feel awful, squeak like a bat to my boss, promptly burst into tears for no better reason than I don't feel well, get sent home again.

I seem to be ok if I do diddly squat, if I do anything for too long - talking, driving to work (remember it's an hour drive for me), trying to concentrate - it takes it out of me.

Things I'm Hearting At The Moment

I'll start with the thing I'm not hearting - I've got a virus which hasn't turned into a cold but has given me a sore throat, painful blocked ears and feeling as weak as kitchen. It's not done much for my cognitive skills either I could barely string a sensible sentence together yesterday at work. In fact for once I found it easier to write down my thoughts than say them. So I've been off work today and depending on how my ears and balance are tomorrow possibly tomorow.

But back to the things I'm currently loving.

The new iTunes 8.oh.summit - the Genius feature is genius it can recommend new tracks from the iTunes store based on the track that you have highlighted and it can pull together playlists of music from you own collection that should all work together. It's not perfect, it won't work with the Beatles at all, it won't recommend you buy any of their stuff, include any of their songs in the playlist nor will it pull together a playlist from one of their songs. I know I tried it this morning.

Dark'n'Stormy cocktails - being easily swayed by the adverts I bought some Ginger Ale so that we could have moscow mules, Simon in the spirit of experimentation decided to use rum instead of vodka and we thought we had a new taste sensation on our hands. Not surprisingly we found out that we had been beaten to the cocktail shaker but it is still rather nice.

Romantic Internet Caused Marriages - Simon and I meet through blogs, Graham and Aimee met through Flickr and they are getting married tomorrow in the States (assuming immigration hasn't been an arse) Good luck you guys, you rock.

The End Of The World Is Not Scheduled For Tomorrow

But then again people love to be scared, or to be iconlastic against the vast majority. Most don't give a monkeys about the LHC, there's not been a mention of it in the office, but then we do go in for very mundane water cooler moments where I work, football and Holby City seems to be the subjects that grip the most people.

So I'm pretty confident that I will be seeing Simon tomorrow when he gets back from St Albans where he's being educated in the ways of interfaces.

I had an offer on my flat but it was stupidly low, so I've rejected it. I doubt he'll come back with anything reasonable so the next step will be to let the place out, then this place then rent something we can live in with more than one bedroom and enough room for us to swing the proverbial cat. It will be wonderful to have a garden and a spare bedroom or two.

So what have you eaten?

One of those lists that spread meme like through the "desperate for something to blog about" blogging community.  It's a bit American in emphasis and I've had to look up some of the things 'cos I'd not heard of them before.

We've been busy, but nothing particuallry note worthy, I've got a new camera, the weather has been shocking, finally had a viewing on my flat and possibly there will be an offer but probably not an acceptable one, still we can always let it out for the duration, people still need to live in places.

Anyways back to the meme - in bold is what I've eaten, in italics what I would never consider passing across my lips

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush Aubergine dip
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. Peanut Butter and Jelly (jam) sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses - very smelly french cheese probably wouldn't consider eating but you never know
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns - Dim Sum
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda - not yet but it sounds delish
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat - not yet but something else I want to try but goat is quite hard to get round these parts
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk

45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martin - haven't tried it but only because I never knew you could do such a thing
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse - not sure I think I may have done so in France one time
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa - need to try this
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

- I have also eaten jellyfish tenticles, kangaroo, mutton and green bagels for St Patricks Day

And the big shout going out is for Cosmic Varience where I saw this first

New Toys

Flickr have upgraded the slideshow tool on their website so I'm trying it out.



right now I'm not sure that it even works satisfactorily.

Arn't We Doing Well

Sometimes a picture (or screenshot) is worth a thousand words

On Board

Stanstead

Again to the seaside with work this time Newquay by plane our flight is delayed so we have hit the bar while Ryan air find our aircraft/wind up the rubber band/sacrifice small woodland creatures to the aviation gods.

Thrilling

Individual Eventing on the radio is so thrilling especially when everyone on the commenting team is rooting for the final few competitors to knock over a bar or two. I started listening on my way home and found myself sat in the car still so that I wouldn't miss the climax. We weren't expecting to get a medal by all accounts ended up with a cheeky little bronze - congratulations to Tina Cook.

Possibly the worst remake ever

We've just sat through the Bruce Willis version of The Jackal. What a pile of steaming crock it was shite from beginning to end. Completely untense and unthrilling just a big weapons fantasy. The original with Edward Fox was tense, exciting, thrilling - almost everything that the modern one isn't. I hear that the remake of Pyscho is bad too but I've not seen that.

So at the risk of getting no comments whatsoever what's the worst remake you've seen.

T'Olympics

Which weird sport will you suddenly find yourself completely fascinated? I found myself completely involved in the weightlifting this time four years ago but this year I think the most popular spectator spectacle will be watching western politicians trying to say harsh things about the Chinese authorities trampling of human rights and reckless arms dealing without saying them so harshly that the Chinese Authorities notice and stop playing nice with our trade deficits. Bush was at it today his routine was to say the nasty things but not in China as obviously they won't notice cos it wasn't said there. It's a bit like going to a party at a neighbours house, but before you do, standing in your garden shouting loudly to all who will hear, about what a bunch of chiseling bastards they are.

China's human rights record is abysmal and I don't have the answers perhaps the Olympics should not have been awarded to them but when things cost a lot of money niceties such as free speech, justice and the right to live a life without fear of the state tend not to have as much impact.

I am so boring at the moment

I can't think of anything interesting to write, when something interesting happens to me I can't blogging in an interesting way. I'm too hot, the heat and humidity just saps my brain. Work can't provide any bloggage as I won't blog about it although I may be going to Cornwall and Belgium next month - this month depending on when you read this, or the month after that or not at all. It all depends.

Right now I just want autumn to start again, for when it rains the temperature to drop properly not the humidity to rise. I really can't bear it.

People Doing Good Things For Others

It's sponsorship time, I'm more than a bit late for one and going to be early for the other.

First off I have to admit I haven't got round to doing any donating yet but I will, come the end of the week when I get paid.

Firstly and currently going on is the Dales Walk in aid of the Joseph Salmon Trust.  Which means Dan and chums are doing this

This July ten friends will be walking the the 78 mile long Dales Way footpath. Yes, 78 miles. In six days. And what’s more it was our own idea. Many are predicting it will be the end of us.

In aid of this

The Joseph Salmon Trust is a small charity whose aim is to offer financial assistance to people living in the Huddersfield area, whose child has died.

 It's small but local and aims to help with some of the day to day stuff that really can hurt after a berevement.

The other one is my friend Dave, he's a bit of a runner, been known to do the 50 yard sprit in 3 seconds flat when last orders is sounded.  Anyway someone's attached a pint to a stick and he's running rather further now and trying to raise funds for SSAFA if you wanna donate he's got a Justgiving page   http://www.justgiving.com/davidheaton