Testing, testing

Firefox done gone and made hisself a fatty. We's none too wealthy round these parts, so ma sez ta me 'son, leave that damn goat alone and go get yer Daddy a new web browser'. Folks in these parts be reckonin' Flock cud be tha wuuun. Here's me thinkin' Opera was wut city folk used instead of Firefox but hey, I ain't never been much of a thinker.

Flock Tour



Apparently, it integrates seamlessly with blogger, flickr and the like. We'll see. First problem is - the 'turn off italics' button doesn't work.

Blogged with Flock

Fzztzt....fft....peh....gnhhhhh

Well for a start, it has been raining. I couldn't fly my kites, nor collect my new bike from Rob and Katie's, nor lurk in the garden nor anything else that involves not being wet.I kept busy though. My Ubuntu box is now online and works like a dream, the PSP collection swells exponentially still, and a couple of shifts have even made it into my life, with some training thrown in for good measure. Weekend saw us head to the cottage (currently unoccupied) for the weekend, with an almost-missing-the-playoffs panic for me which Mars saved me from. Then Rob and Katie came and left again because Rob forgot his inhaler and on the Saturday the Hafla was ace, really good to see Mars dance properly and compare her to the good, the bad and the ugly as all three were in plentiful supply. She's bloody good.

On Tuesday we went to see the Levellers as part of Rob's birthday week of drunken silliness. It was good although with a big day at work tomorrow and all sorts seemingly afoot, I've had to cry off going to Brecon to do it all again tonight, which is gutting but practical. That is all.

More TV Licence Fun

Not content with fuming over the phone book sized wad of dual-language tish Capita recently sent us asking for the Licence fee so that they can take a bit and pass it on to the BBC, who then pass it back to them in consultancy fees, I'm posting a link to this, because now the stupid bastards are criminalising my ownership of something I've been obliged by law to pay for for the last 12 years, and passing a portion of our licence fees to Microsoft for their rubbish, proprietary Windows Media Codec. Why they've decided the rubbish proprietary Real Media codecs are no longer crap enough I don't know. I've always thought they were perfectly hopeless and needed no further breaking. Ho hum.

And I'll have that by direct debit, Limey - no more Post Office payments for you! Bill xx

All work and all play makes Mike a tired boy

There's not much I haven't done this last fortnight or so. A week of shifts at the shelter and lots of computer fiddling inbetween has been rounded off nicely with a visit from both Ian (brother) and Elaine, on Friday Mars went out with Karl, Ilana, Chris and Lee to the New Statesman and I received Ian at the flat, heading immediately to the pub where everyone convened for last orders and then no small amount of tipsyness at home afterwards. On Saturday we went down the bay to show the visitors Cardiff, and there were bratwurst and no going in the Doctor Who exhibition because it looked a bit crap for a fiver.

Lavernock point ans Sully followed and we finally supped a pint at the Captain's Wife, a rather splendid foodie pub on the seafront at Sully. The posh curry house down the road felt the full force of Ian's credit cards s he treated us to a slap-up spicey extravaganza, where I had Chicken Rogan Josh and half Mars' Karahi and some of Elaine's somethingorother she didn't finish. Then I did a burp.

Sunday Ian left and I got Ubuntu talking to my router with the cable he'd brought, which is a more simple thing than wifi to configure - you just plug it in. Now I can really get my teeth into Linux as it is connected to the net. Unlike windows, you can update every program, every aspect of the OS with virtually one click, but having only really been trying to connect with wifi I've not been able to get a machine with Linux online yet, and now I can there's going to be some fun getting it to stream media from my Windows machines. In the afternoon Mars and Elaine went for a drive round most of Wales and I went to Rob and Katies to play Burnout and eat homemade cheese straws. It would have been rude not to try for last orders again after that - M&E arrived to ferry me home from R&K's in the rain and had a bite to eat before we left.

Today, I'm fiddling with Linux, Football Manager and my PSP. I think I have to find some drawspace for some shirts as well. All quite boring, but that makes a nicer change after being so bloody busy. May won't let up at all, looking at my diary. Woo.