Everything, Everything

I did leave my mobile in the fourth bedroom, will collect it after work. Which I had better think about going to now.

Where did I put it? It must be around somewhere. I have a nasty feeling I've left it at my parents' house, after I dropped my brother and his girlfriend back from town. I can't seem to find it around here. I'm relying on my iPod to wake me up for work.

I used to have a teddy bear called Teddy, and one called Doggy (who looked, unsurprisingly, like a dog). Looking back, Doggy was far cooler, with his jacket with the button, but I loved them both equally.

I can't believe it, my grandparents bought me a really nice shirt and tie for my birthday.

My parents also got me a DVD writer, a nice surprise and luckily I didn't buy it with my expensive new computer case last week - that now sits in my cupboard!

Mine's not until tomorrow, which means that it's Lynne's birthday today. I didn't send her a card, by the time she asked for my address it was basically too late to buy and find out where to post hers to (I had asked where to send it before, see a previous entry that explains why I decided not to send one) without taking any time off work. I know what present I'm thinking of getting her, maybe I can get it in the sales now, and give it to her in person sometime in January when I visit Jon.

I got myself a lovely case yesterday, spent last night trying to move the contents of SilentBob2 across - and then trying to get him to boot up properly. Managed it in the end (who'd have thought a jumper in the wrong place would have stopped him from booting?) Will find a photo/link later on.

For some reason we have to wait until February to watch Ocean's Twelve! America got it last week, the rest of Europe gets it now, so why do we have to wait so long? I was thinking of suggesting to a friend that we go watch Ocean's Twelve this week, but that rules that out. Kinda.

I just spotted that Ella Enchanted is out in the UK, several months after it came out in April in America. The Odeon website has also been updated, with a text based version to make it more accessible. I think I prefer the text version, although why they're using HTML 3.2 I don't know, as HTML 4 has greater accessibilty support when used properly. A 'Print Preview' of the page shows up the strange way it's been implemented. Also, you can only view the times, you can't actually book anything through the text based sysytem (yet?).

Pretty much everyone I know are going back for Xmas this year, so it'll be very quiet at work for the next couple weeks.

It's so yummy, but perhaps I should cook some real food, like some pasta.

Lynne sent me a text today asking for my address, I presume so she can send a birthday and/or Christmas card. I really should go out and buy some cards today, but I'm feeling warm, cosy and lazy. There might be time if I buy them on Sunday and post them first class.

Why is it I'm wide awake, wanting to read more of Foundation? I need to get up for work in a few hours. I also want to eat some cookies right now, even though I don't have any. Trish seemed to like the small Xmas tree we now have in our lounge.

I found out why I kept getting change in my pocket - my wallet had a hole (again). I've patched it up with some sticky tape (the stuff I used to use on my knees years ago, it's great stuff, basically like gaffer tape). I've got a couple new wallets lying around somewhere, but I love my old wallet, and I'll hold onto it as long as possible.

I have Beck's Tropicalia stuck in my head. I blame the episode of Joan of Arcardia that's on TV now, with Joan battering the drums in the school bands. Not that Beck batters them, he's far more talented.

I have my Buffy box set. And Teachers is on in a minute. And I got a Xmas card from Richard and Jackie. And this new bit of work I've been given looks like it's dead easy - I could probably do it by the end of the week, but they've given me until April!

Xmas lunch tomorrow, we're supposed to have a competition for the best decorated tree, but we haven't even built ours yet, never mind built decorations. But I expect Rachel will have made some pink and glittery items at home today.

I was watching it tonight with my mum, and we both came up with a much better storyline to tonight. Here's how it should have happened.

Fiona is a double agent. She plants the evidence of the tube attack so that they can 'capture' her and Danny and make the video (she was quick at getting into the flat with her lock pick, and the other guys who killed Blackbird must have gotten in with ease as the door looked fine, perhaps she learnt off him?). She plans it to happen on her birthday, when Adam has to do everything she says (making it easy to put him into a dangerous situation to play this distracting game). Ruth's early scene from the episode raised the idea of a mole.

Adam has to make a difficult decision, to choose between his wife or Danny, but Fiona knows he loves her and would choose Danny to die if he were forced. This allows her to play the card to set up the hostage situation, safe in the knowledge she has Adam's full attention, diverting him from the real plan. She does this all in front of Danny, who will be her witness/alibi so she can be blame free, and could even be praised for her courage if they both survive.

But then somewhere along the way there's a twist, she says something that compromises her and she's forced to take charge and eventually has to shoot Danny. And then the next season would be up to Sam and Ruth to prove to Harry that Fiona is a double agent, angering Adam in the process. When they eventually prove it halfway through the season, we'd have to watch Adam's reaction as his world falls apart. This would also see Harry take a more direct role, and let us explore Sam (who we rarely see, which is a shame as she's pretty) and Ruth.

But no, they go for the simple storyline. What a waste.

And does anyone else think this new Zaf(?) bloke is Danny's replacement? After all, you can't have an entire cast full of white people. Mind you, I'm surprised they don't have more disabled people on the show to make it more 'politically correct'.

Argh! I just bought the Buffy collectors box set using eBay! Someone was selling it using Buy It Now (her name's Emma and she appears to be obsessed with the colour pink), so hopefully she might send it tomorrow so I can get it delivered Tuesday morning (and only take half a day off work). I spoke with Joanna from uni and she's going to buy my couple of seasons of Buffy to help offset the somewhat silly price. Had to break the bad news to her that the box set was limited edition, as she was after it too (why didn't Fox tell anyone it was limited edition?).

It's not on tonight! They want everyone to be gripped on Monday. I want Fiona to die and Danny leave, but I suspect they'll kill Danny. Maybe if I'm lucky they'll both be critical and we discover who lives next season - obviously Fiona if that does happen. Next reason will be rubbish, I just know it.

Ready to do some hibernating? Bet you are - but others may not be quite ready to let you disappear, at least not yet. Fulfill your obligations, choose a dimly lit spot and hide out for as long as you like.

Sounds like good advice to me!

After the last entry, I couldn't help thinking of the beginning of the song From Despair to Where by Manic Street Preachers.

I write this alone on my bed
I've poisoned every room in my house
The place is quiet and so alone
Pretend there's something worth waiting for.
There's nothing nice in my head
The adult world took it all away
Wake up with the same spit in my mouth
Cannot tell if it's real or not.

I must sound so dreary tonight, I hope it passes soon.

I finally spotted Lynne on MSN tonight (or do I mean morning?) and decided to ask where I should send her birthday card and if she was planning on sending mine to my parents. It seems she's hosting a party and doesn't have time to chat (not that she ever does), but gave the impression she isn't planning on sending me any cards this year. Now I'm not sure if I should send her a card. Perhaps I should just give up on the idea of sending birthday and Christmas cards to everyone this year.

Still, I shouldn't be surprised, this week has been pretty awful and I don't think anything has gone as planned. There have been a few good points though, like the chocolates at work, the card from Caz, managing to read a few books, a nice lunch at Thai Emerald.

I had originally planned to mention Apple's unsubtle product placement in Blade Trinity. The iPod scene really was quite blatant, how dumb do you think we have to be? Mind you, I have an iPod, but I got my 3rd generation one ages ago before everyone went wild. The forthcoming iPod Photo sounds pretty rubbish, but maybe it'll force down the 4th generation iPod prices to match its rivals.

I don't know what I'm going to do tomorrow. I need to do some washing, and I could perhaps think about burning some files, although my new 300GB hard disk makes things easier to put off. I think this is why I slept so much last weekend. Why do I feel so frustrated all the time? Is it just that it's close to Christmas and I'm not a fan of winter?

My right foot's got pins and needles again, I really must stop sitting in awkward positions while I type.

I have glitter on my bed, and I don't mean the movie with Mariah Carey. I should be asleep now, but I'm quite happy reading Forward The Foundation and listening to Nirvana while files copy about disks on SilentBob2.

For some reason the W3C thing told me there's a warning for this page, even though on the advanced page it says all is well! Make up your mind.

I was quite worried, thought I'd killed my PC, but it seems I must have nudged a cable loose somewhere - after dragging SilentBob2 out of the cupboard and attaching him to my monitor, I was able to spot that it wasn't picking anything up on the Primary IDE. I pushed and prodded, and my guess is the connection on the Seagate Barracuda V drive was pulled loose inside the SilentDrive enclosure. I'll try and carefully push the disks back in when I piece him back together. On the bright side, the additional SATA controller didn't require the driver disk as the chip is identical to my other card. When I was trying to install it on my dad's PC earlier it gave a couple BSOD! But all is well right now - touch wood.

Chloe's trying to sort everything out before she starts her new job in London, it sounds like she's really looking forward to it and I'm really happy for her. She's been in a rubbish job (similar to mine, but she can go on MSN and bring anything she likes in to work) for nearly a couple years now. She gives me hope that I'll find something better.

And I got a card in the post today, my first proper Christmas card - it was from Caz! I also have one at work from one of the Helens. I must buy some cards this weekend.

We went to Thai Emerald yesterday lunchtime for our section's Christmas celebration. It was pretty good, the chicken dish I had was nice and spicy and very tasty, and we all had a pretty good time. My only complaint would have to be the ornate wooden chairs, as the carved image in the back poked into my spine a bit too much for my liking, but I soon forgot about it.

I was a little annoyed that the person I was going to have coffee with today didn't turn up.

And I had my boss' boss' boss' boss' boss (i.e. senior management way up above me) pestering me to see how progress was going on something I'm doing for him. Oddly enough it's been delayed because I'm also working on something else for the seniors, and I can't do them both at once (although they're quite closely related). They don't seem to realise the hassle of writing something on a flaky server that should have been decommissioned a year ago, using a language that no one in their right minds would use (ColdFusion 5).

Ah well, we have our section's Christmas lunch tomorrow. Shame I have to be at work for half nine in time for a meeting (I can't remember the last time I made it in to work before 10).

Admittedly it was just meant to be meeting up for a coffee as friends so we could catch up, but she didn't come over during the afternoon, and I think I saw her leave at 5 (and by that time the coffee place had already closed). In the words of Dogbert: Bah!

Ooops, spent too long in the shower again, it's so nice and warm - unlike outside!

I'm not surprised, but I wasn't able to get the Buffy DVD box set from a site I found.

Dear Mr Nicholls,
This is just to keep you up to date on the status of your outstanding order(s). The following item(s) shown below have recently had their status updated:

Description: Buffy The Vampire Slayer - Season 1 To 7 (Collector's Edition) (Box Set)
Price: ?154.49
Status: Not available from distributor

Not available from distributor After repeated attempts we have been unable to source this item and have been advised by the distributor the item is not available

Ah well, back to eBay.

What's the differece between XHTML 1.0 Strict and XHTML 1.1? Well I decided to change the doctype of the new index page to XHTML 1.1 and it only complained about one bit. It used to have xml:lang="en" lang="en" but apparently the lang element has been removed in favour of xml:lang - so I was already there with the xml:lang support, to make my page XHTML 1.1 compliant I just had to remove a bit of code!

So what else is different? I expected it to be something big between XHTML 1.0 Strict and XHTML 1.1, but apparently not. That's one of just 3 changes listed so far in the W3C Recommendation, along with replacing name with id for anchor tags and image maps (still no official word on target support, you have to add that in as a module, but allowing anyone to add anything as a module sounds like a bad idea to me), and something called Ruby (short runs of text alongside the base text, typically used in East Asian documents to indicate pronunciation or to provide a short annotation).

And just so non-geeks have something to read about, I nearly guessed right. I would have been happier if I'd been right, to be honest. I hope this doesn't spoil anything for those who plan on watching it on Monday, but I thought the whole affair was a test for Harry, and they'd go too far and Harry wouldn't get the new job. It seems it was just to prepare us for his responses at the end, and explain why he's staying where he is next season.

However, my next theory (I love trying to second guess Spooks) is that Fiona gets killed next episode. That would give Danny a good enough reason to leave, especially if he's responsible for it - although survivors guilt would also be a way out, and would avoid the horrible husband and wife partnership being the main stars of the show next season. And that would allow Ruth and Sam to move into better roles. Plus it might make Adam less cocky next season, I don't like him, I miss Tom. I'm probably all wrong though, and I'll think of something new by next week!

Okay, so it's a bit boring and similar, but I've done an alternative stylesheet for the index page. IE users can see it by clicking on this link, as I use PHP to switch the default stylesheet for you. Mozilla Firefox users can just switch in their browsers - I must admit, it's growing on me, I might even install it on my main machine sometime.

After lots of mucking around, I finally worked out how to get the blue background header working in Mozilla Firefox! It turns out that having a float: left followed by a float: right means the original div gets pretty much ignored. All you have to do is move the float: right BEFORE the float: left, and all is well. I still don't exactly understand why, but it seems to work. Still, I've learnt the difference between ids and classes, and managed to get it looking identical between IE and Firefox. Not bad.

It wasn't unexpected, it's only a pound more than my bid right now, but I don't want to pay a fortune (it wouldn't be that much more expensive to buy the remaining individual sets). So I've decided to try this other online store who claim to be able to order from their suppliers - it's a decent price and worth a try, although they'll probably come back to me and say it's unavailable.

Found out from Rebecca (who started with Kev) that Gill at work has a boyfriend, which was fairly inevitable as she seems nice and she's pretty. It's a good job I didn't ask her out before. It was also nice of Rebecca to get back to me, I wouldn't say we're friends, we just know each other.

Still maybe next week will be more interesting.

It seems that the Buffy 1-7 DVD box set is a limited edition of 10,000. I've put a bid in for one on eBay (the seller - who has a high rating - has PayPal's top protection, so I shouldn't get ripped off), but if I don't win it (please, no one else bid for it) then I'll probably see if this other online store I've found will give me an activation code for my account, so I can buy one from them - for less money, but they don't have it in stock and I suspect they'd make me wait weeks before saying they can't get it. I'm not a fan of eBay, but if that's the only place I can get a copy for under 350 quid then so be it! Otherwise I might just buy the Region 1 from America when it's out, all my DVD players will support it, but I'd much prefer a Region 2 PAL copy. If I do get the complete box set, my DVDs of seasons 3 and 4 will be up for grabs, probably for a token amount if any friends want them.

I must have a trapped nerve in my back, as the base of my spine really hurts.

I can't sleep. I don't want to go to work. I just can't handle the mind numbing boredom of it all. In the past week or two, I've managed to read over half a Bill Bryson book, several chapters of Prelude to Foundation by Asimov, play around with XHTML and CSS, post on the newsgroups at work (giving JavaScript advice to an imbecile who is probably paid 50% more than me), and in a few spare moments I've written code in ColdFusion that's incredibly easy to maintain and gained me yet another small award.

The new intranet standard is late, a draft was due in October, we still haven't seen anything. It's being written by someone who doesn't appear to have any technical knowledge. If we're lucky, we might finally be allowed to publish HTML 4.01 (instead of HTML 3.2) and then we'd only be 5 years behind that standard. XHTML Transitional would be nice, but we don't have the tools to enforce that. Mind you, we still don't have a link checking tool, that broke back in August.

It's not just me though, even my boss is getting annoyed and frustrated. She's glad she's retiring soon. Lucky her.

A flash animation from Poisoned Minds - it's so true!

Came across this page on The Register, very funny.