Before I begin the free-for-all, I want to pay tribute to a family member who passed away recently. Thor was full of life, but sudden ill health saw him rapidly deteriorate recently and he was humanely euthanised just short of his 14th birthday. He was the best dog a family (my in-laws) could ever have. OK, so Lassie was probably the best dog a family could ever have, but Thor came a very very close second. We'll miss you wagging your tail so hard it hit the side of chairs in the dining room, opening a flesh wound under the fur and leaving a bloody smear on everyone and everything you came to investigate for hours after. See you on the other side, big guy.
OK, serious stuff over. Time for the fun. Hey kids, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. I mean it. The last two weeks it has snowed. A lot. I'm a poor English lad and all this American weather is still new to me. I'm still adjusting to the whole Fahrenheit-Celcius thing (18 degrees... convert it and it's either in the mid-sixties or eight degrees below zero). Don't get me on the subject of conversions... it's bad enough that my genius of a wife (and I mean that most sincerely, her IQ is over 130) sometimes doesn't know how many fluid ounces in a cup (8 fl.oz = 1 cup). How many rods are in a furlong, how many gills in a hogshead and how many grains in a pound? I have trouble remembering...
You'll go far in life if you said 40 rods, 2016 gills and 5760 grains.
You'd get further in life if you knew there were 1,000 grams to a kilogram, 10 centilitres to a litre and 100 centimetres to a metre and just adapted, America. Go on! 96% of the world's population manage just fine without knowing that there are 16 ounces in a pound and 14 pounds in a stone, and most of us can count in tens, hundreds and thousands right now! You already know what 2 litres looks like, after all... judging from the number of Vanilla Coke bottles I see in those shopping carts every weekend! Ho ho ho!
Seroius point on the subject, Americans: imagine if there were 12 cents to something called a 'shilling' and 20 shillings to a dollar. That's right kids, 240 cents to your dollar. There would be a new quarter-cent, half-cent, two-cent, three-cent and six-cent (half a shilling) coin. The nickel would become obsolete, the dime would be worth 24 cents, an old quarter would be called the five-shilling piece (60 cents) and the half-dollar would now be the ten-shilling (worth 120 cents).
If you had $2-1s-3c (two dollars, one shilling and three cents) and split it equally three ways, what would you all have? That's right, kids. A headache! The currency I have just explained isn't some far-fetched mental head-screw either... the pound-shilling-pence was the official currency system of Britain until 1971. The Beatles counted out their pound notes this way. No wonder John Lennon moved to the States.
Back to my life, now I've tried to convert you to the metric system. The Xmas shopping has been done, the house-hunting is on hold for now and tomorrow we go to see "The Return Of The King". I waited the length of "The Two Towers" before it dawned on me that Shelob's Lair would have to wait for another year. Have no idea who Shelob is? Read the Lord Of The Rings trilogy, your brain will thank you for it. I tried reading them after enjoying "The Hobbit" as a thirteen year-old and couldn't get into them at all. Beth got me to look at them anew a few years ago and I tore through them (and even finished "The Silmarillion" to boot). She has me reading the Harry Potter books now. I know that someone dies at the end of "The Order Of The Phoenix"... I don't know who it is yet, but I'm near the end of Harry's 5th year at Hogwarts so don't spoil it for me.
I would reveal what I got everyone for Christmas but they'd read this and have nothing to look forward to. So I'll save that for after the holidays.
Listen : The Bionic Jam - The Baldwin Brothers ... The Christmas Waltz - Frank Sinatra.
Friday, December 19, 2003
Friday, November 21, 2003
I must say a heart-wrenching "sorry" to the nice folks at the US Postal Service. Sorry, USPS.
It wasn't you that delayed the arrival of my CD burner. It was THE SELLER. Yes, I paid for something on eBay, and after it had failed to arrive after ten days I emailed the person doing the selling. I asked him when it was sent so I could guess when it would be arriving. He asked for my mailing address to confirm who I said I was (sensible I guess... except for the fact that I paid with PayPal and so he would HAVE my address already and the email came from the SAME PERSON...). Oh, he said in his email, I'm sorry but I forgot to ship it but I'll send it by Priority Mail. He had my f#�&ing money for two weeks at this stage and NOW decides to ship it?
He promised to ship it the next morning, on Friday the 14th. So I should have it now, right? When it didn't arrive on Wednesday the 19th I asked him if he had the validation number so I could check on the USPS Website. He gave me the number, and guess when he sent it? Yep. That's right. Wednesday the 19th. I paid for this thing by electronic transfer (that's what PayPal is) on Monday the 3rd and he sends it more than two weeks later. I don't even know if the validation number he gave me is for my purchase, either. It could be going ANYWHERE for all I know.
Ggggrrrrrrr. Oh, and sorry USPS.
Listen : Blowout - The Crystal Method.
It wasn't you that delayed the arrival of my CD burner. It was THE SELLER. Yes, I paid for something on eBay, and after it had failed to arrive after ten days I emailed the person doing the selling. I asked him when it was sent so I could guess when it would be arriving. He asked for my mailing address to confirm who I said I was (sensible I guess... except for the fact that I paid with PayPal and so he would HAVE my address already and the email came from the SAME PERSON...). Oh, he said in his email, I'm sorry but I forgot to ship it but I'll send it by Priority Mail. He had my f#�&ing money for two weeks at this stage and NOW decides to ship it?
He promised to ship it the next morning, on Friday the 14th. So I should have it now, right? When it didn't arrive on Wednesday the 19th I asked him if he had the validation number so I could check on the USPS Website. He gave me the number, and guess when he sent it? Yep. That's right. Wednesday the 19th. I paid for this thing by electronic transfer (that's what PayPal is) on Monday the 3rd and he sends it more than two weeks later. I don't even know if the validation number he gave me is for my purchase, either. It could be going ANYWHERE for all I know.
Ggggrrrrrrr. Oh, and sorry USPS.
Listen : Blowout - The Crystal Method.
Wednesday, November 12, 2003
Tuesday, November 04, 2003
So, did we get the house? Erm... no. We were outbid (and the realtor wasn't at liberty to tell us by how much, but he did let slip that it was by a matter of a few hundred dollars).
Yes. A few hundred. Less than we pay for rent, and we could be in our own house. C'est la vie, I suppose.
We did look around another one recently. Just a quarter of a mile from the house we lost out on. It seemed perfect. Then came the sob story. The woman was selling because she and her kids were moving to South Carolina (quite a way away) but she wasn't moving just yet. She has a daughter in a local hospital and the buyer of the house would have to agree to have her, her biker boyfriend and her other two kids lodge in the house until "around May, possibly June next year". We don't know what's wrong with the daughter, but half a year in hospital? What if it takes longer than six months? What if she's in there for a year or two?
We also discovered (thanks to our insistence on looking at the declaration of sale) that there was a fire in the house a couple of years back. Her son was "playing with matches that were lying around" and caused enough damage that $47,000 worth of work was done on the house. This could be seen as a plus... the house is now certifiably stable and has electrics that are up-to-code... however, who wants to buy a house knowing that tbe little firestarter is still in the house and may decide to "play with matches" again once the house is in someone else's name? Obviously, we're not buying that house.
Beth's brother got married to his long time girlfriend on the 17th of October. It happened in Las Vegas and a bunch of us flew out there for a long weekend (Thursday to Sunday) to be there for the ceremony. I took the cheap digital camera (cheap, and it shows!) and used the pictures to make a little photo gallery for the happy couple. It also records the fun we had. Here are the photos (if you want to take a peek). There are around 50 pictures in there, so it could take you half an hour just to whistle through them and read the comments at the bottom of the pages. Making little web-sites like this is a lot of fun... well, it is for me.
Oh, and my latest eBay purchase should be here soon... a CD burner. Yay!!!
Listen : Absurd - Fluke.
Yes. A few hundred. Less than we pay for rent, and we could be in our own house. C'est la vie, I suppose.
We did look around another one recently. Just a quarter of a mile from the house we lost out on. It seemed perfect. Then came the sob story. The woman was selling because she and her kids were moving to South Carolina (quite a way away) but she wasn't moving just yet. She has a daughter in a local hospital and the buyer of the house would have to agree to have her, her biker boyfriend and her other two kids lodge in the house until "around May, possibly June next year". We don't know what's wrong with the daughter, but half a year in hospital? What if it takes longer than six months? What if she's in there for a year or two?
We also discovered (thanks to our insistence on looking at the declaration of sale) that there was a fire in the house a couple of years back. Her son was "playing with matches that were lying around" and caused enough damage that $47,000 worth of work was done on the house. This could be seen as a plus... the house is now certifiably stable and has electrics that are up-to-code... however, who wants to buy a house knowing that tbe little firestarter is still in the house and may decide to "play with matches" again once the house is in someone else's name? Obviously, we're not buying that house.
Beth's brother got married to his long time girlfriend on the 17th of October. It happened in Las Vegas and a bunch of us flew out there for a long weekend (Thursday to Sunday) to be there for the ceremony. I took the cheap digital camera (cheap, and it shows!) and used the pictures to make a little photo gallery for the happy couple. It also records the fun we had. Here are the photos (if you want to take a peek). There are around 50 pictures in there, so it could take you half an hour just to whistle through them and read the comments at the bottom of the pages. Making little web-sites like this is a lot of fun... well, it is for me.
Oh, and my latest eBay purchase should be here soon... a CD burner. Yay!!!
Listen : Absurd - Fluke.
Wednesday, September 17, 2003
Hyperlife: when a lot of life's experiences are crammed in a very short period of time.
Welcome to our Hyperlife. Here's what has happened in the last few weeks, crammed into one very muddled paragraph. Hold on tight, here we go...
Coming back from Chincoteague after a week on the Virginia coast. Stopped at a rest-stop for leaflets for one of Beth's work collegues and =POP!=. Entire right leg locked up as I was getting back to the car. Ambulance came, suggested one of two hospitals that were on our way. One in Maryland catered for all the Ocean City accidents and we'd be there for five hours minimum. The one in Delaware is smaller and we'd be in and out in two hours. So we drove to the one in Delaware. Doctor in the ER was THE SPITTING IMAGE of Richard Dreyfuss. He popped the knee back into place for me. That face you just made... Beth made that face too when she heard it POP! back. Now I have a knee brace on and attend light physical therapy three times a week because the MRI (which took three hours) came up inconclusive. I had a really bad cold too, which was nice for a change.
Oh, and we've just put an offer in for a very nice three-bedroom ranch house in one of the nicest areas in town. When I say 'just', I mean just now. The realtor left to beat the 7pm deadline because a few people are bidding and the place has only been on the market since last week. We offered more than the asking price, so I really hope they accept our offer. So; we're waiting for a 'phonecall, probably tomorrow, and hopefully ours was the winning bid. Who knows, maybe Hurricane Isabel won't blow the house away when it hits the State in a day or two...
Listen : Rocking The Suburbs - Ben Folds.
Welcome to our Hyperlife. Here's what has happened in the last few weeks, crammed into one very muddled paragraph. Hold on tight, here we go...
Coming back from Chincoteague after a week on the Virginia coast. Stopped at a rest-stop for leaflets for one of Beth's work collegues and =POP!=. Entire right leg locked up as I was getting back to the car. Ambulance came, suggested one of two hospitals that were on our way. One in Maryland catered for all the Ocean City accidents and we'd be there for five hours minimum. The one in Delaware is smaller and we'd be in and out in two hours. So we drove to the one in Delaware. Doctor in the ER was THE SPITTING IMAGE of Richard Dreyfuss. He popped the knee back into place for me. That face you just made... Beth made that face too when she heard it POP! back. Now I have a knee brace on and attend light physical therapy three times a week because the MRI (which took three hours) came up inconclusive. I had a really bad cold too, which was nice for a change.
Oh, and we've just put an offer in for a very nice three-bedroom ranch house in one of the nicest areas in town. When I say 'just', I mean just now. The realtor left to beat the 7pm deadline because a few people are bidding and the place has only been on the market since last week. We offered more than the asking price, so I really hope they accept our offer. So; we're waiting for a 'phonecall, probably tomorrow, and hopefully ours was the winning bid. Who knows, maybe Hurricane Isabel won't blow the house away when it hits the State in a day or two...
Listen : Rocking The Suburbs - Ben Folds.
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