November 30, 2001 

One final comment before I go - toWimble's friend Pip, occasional reader of this blog: I am diligently checking your new blog. It would be much improved if you wrote something in it ;-)

18:53 | |

 

The weekend approaches. I'm going to see Harry Potter tonight. I'm going to the pub for lunch with friends on Saturday, with no particular plans for the afternoon. I'm looking forward to this weekend.

18:51 | |

 

So, today is the 101st anniversary of the death of Oscar Wilde. I shall be commemorating this by, erm, mentioning it here.

18:42 | |

 

Go Bagpuss!. Or Craigpuss?

04:37 | |

 

Yey! He was pants anyway.

04:30 | |

 

This is not equality. It's discrimination and therefore wrong.

04:29 | |

 

Shame. I respect Diane Pretty for her fight, and I hope that in her position I would have the courage and tenacity to fight for my beliefs as she has done.

04:24 | |

November 29, 2001 

So following on from a day in meetings, yesterday I got to spend a whole day watching people install pipework. When we finished at 9pm and turned the pumps back on, the old pipework split, causing some people to be wet, some people to be annoyed, and one person (me) to be resigned to the fact that life in Hampshire is never going to improve, however hopeful it looks. I finally finished at 11pm, having left home at 6:15am. Yawn. Today, I will mostly be standing round watching people test things. Oh joy.

19:09 | |

November 28, 2001 

Lots of time spent in meetings yesterday (yuck). Lots of time spent doing quizzes today. Apparantly I am:
27% addicted to the internet (thanks paj)
14% e-bore (thanks JD)
Meriadoc Brandybuck, according to this (JD again)
Mainly piglet, according to this (guess who from?!)

20:11 | |

November 27, 2001 

Apparantly, according to this (thanks fluffymuppet) I'm gonorrhea. How delightful.

00:25 | |

November 26, 2001 

I should take just a moment to remember Mary Whitehouse, may she rest in peace. A sad day. Although she is best remembered at Thribble Towers for giving her name to the Mary Whitehouse Experience.

23:00 | |

 

Grr. Am trying to book tickets for Harry Potter with the UGC at Crawley. They have 20 (get that? two zero, twenty) performances every day. And guess what? They're all sold out. After 3 attempts with the automated line I got through to a human being (the very helpful Dave, thankyou!) with whom I watched the tickets go before my very eyes. Aah well, just have to wait a while.

22:27 | |

 

There are many reasons I buy the Independent. One of them is this story about Engelbert Humperdink. The second is their quote of the day:
"You see the situation has changed so we are joining with the Northern Alliance."
Akra Delawar, Taliban fighter

22:18 | |

November 24, 2001 

Ladies and Gentlemen, it's the weekend. I am very happy about this, as you may imagine. I don't know whether I'm happier that for once I get a lie in tomorrow, or that tonight I am going out in Brighton (I would link to the specific pub, but it only gets a mention in the sussex transgendered page, and this is a family blog!). I don't often see the people I used to work with except for the odd visit to the office for meetings, so I'm really looking forward to catching up on the gossip and talking a bit of shop. Sadly, I don't seem to be able to update my imood so I thought I'd better say that I'm, well, better now. Have a good one, folks!

02:22 | |

November 23, 2001 

Before I forget, two things. The desktop plant experiment was distinctly unsuccessful. Alright, I didn't kill it, but it didnt' grow either. And I've finally got my home page up and running, although large portions of it are still under construction, for which I humbly apologise.

18:54 | |

 

The ex-boro boy done good.

18:44 | |

November 22, 2001 

Something of the Far Side in today'sDilbert, methinks.

18:51 | |

 

Well, I always said I'd move back to India quite happily, particularly if it makes me lose weight. I was reminded last night that I haven't mentioned my weight this week. You will be pleased (if you care at all) that I lost a pound this week. I will fit in a wedding dress!

18:27 | |

November 21, 2001 

Wow! Another eighties phenomenon apparantly still going strong.

19:05 | |

 

Thanks to inw for this. Readers are invited to supply their own captions.

19:03 | |

 

I've just been shopping to Amazon. That's dot com. Why? The UK version doesn't see fit to sell used/collectable books. I've been after Masks of the Martyrs for years, and when I finally decided to treat myself I scoured the web. I ended up back at Amazon. As the UK doesn't seem to have caught on to this market I'm paying about £10 shipping, bringing the grand total to £11.26 (aargh!). Still, should be worth it. I'm very excited now :-)

05:26 | |

November 20, 2001 

I really shouldn't talk about this, as the company I work for is the consultant, but it made me laugh. All I'm going to say is that since I've been working for said employer people have been working on said site.

20:19 | |

 

Rick Parfitt of Status Quo has RSI. Repetitive Song Injury?

01:31 | |

 

Another weekend over. Although I always enjoy going home to see my parents, travelling 4 hours each way (if I'm lucky) for 23 hours at home is not easy. I went home for a friend's engagement party, and while everyone was glad to see me and I saw some people I haven't seen for literally years, I did feel that it was a bit of a wasted trip. I know it wasn't really (and both my Gran's were very pleased to see both myself and paj), it just feels like it.

Most of the conversation this weekend revolved around our long-distant yet still upcoming wedding. We had a look at a reception hall (and booked it) and had many discussions on food, timing, photographs, flowers and all the other things I had hoped to avoid after getting my sister's wedding out of the way! Still, Yarm seems to be working out nicely as a venue. Watch this space for news on the wedding bus!

01:30 | |

November 17, 2001 

Thank crunchie it's friday!

00:10 | |

November 16, 2001 

I thought these went out in the seventies!?

19:04 | |

 

Dilbert clearly lives in the south-east of England.

18:53 | |

 

Have just discovered that I have to endure family photos at Christmas. And they're not even my family yet!! Is that a valid exuse for being the one behind the camera? No? Okay, time to book that hair appointment...

04:31 | |

 

I shall not be saying much tonight, as my top priority is shivering. I have spent all day standing outside testing a piece of equipment. This basically involves starting it up in as many ways as possible, breaking it in as many ways as possible, and telling it to shut down in as many ways as possible. Sadly, inbetween each test the kit has to cool off for 9 minutes. Which means that we cooled off very quickly indeed. Brrr.

04:29 | |

November 15, 2001 

Giggle. Thanks to plurp, whom I also have to thank for the fact that I now have one of these, and will be keeping you updated on it's progress. Aren't you lucky...

18:37 | |

 

Wow! Who said scientist had nothing to do?

18:36 | |

 

So for those of you who can't live without seeing your name in lights, I give you edited highlights from the communication portal.
First up, JD and SJ both refer to this entry, saying that I should blog more for my loyal readers. Well, one does one's best! I should also note that JD has followed my trend and ditched reblogger. Well done that man.

A reader who is likely to be paj refers to this entry, saying
I'm sure you'll find that you have been paj's number one for quite some time now!
Always nice to know ;-) And in answer to your other query, the reason there is no thankyou page on the portal, is because that would involve linking to another website, and I just can't be bothered.

Finally, jmac queries...
nonononononono, Kirst-o, you've got to tell us EXACTLY how much you weigh. Your non-paying public wants ounces. I think you can stop short of measurements, though - that might constitute an obscene publication. I'll have to look into the legal ramifications of that.
It's on a need to know basis. If I told you I'd have to kill you. Lets just say, more than Kylie and less than Geoff Capes.

That's all folks...

05:16 | |

 

Book your tickets. Now!

01:53 | |

 

It's the things that don't make the front page that remind me that the world is not as equal as we might like to think.

01:49 | |

November 14, 2001 

I have a confession to make. Many of you who've known me for over a year will have noticed my weight loss, and many of you also know that I did it through Weight Watchers. What you probably don't know is that I've gone back - partially because living away from home I'm tempted to eat crap, but also because there's more that I want to lose. I'm paying £4.50 a week and struggling to stay the same weight, so I figured if I say to myself that everyweek I'll tell you lot what I've lost/put on, it'll be a bit more incentive. I may change my mind, of course (my perogative as a woman!), but we'll see. Since I restarted I've lost a bit, put on a bit, and today I weigh the same as I did when I signed up again. Watch this space...

18:38 | |

 

Thanks to paj for pointing this out. Woo!! I'm number 1!!

05:06 | |

 

Just read my horoscope on the beeb. Spot the deliberate mistake:
Tuesday 13 November
The aspect between Uranus and the Moon (still in your sign) means you want to do something out of the ordinary today. The summer hols have started, so there's no reason not to. Look to people younger than yourself for laughs - they're a whole lot more fun than the older folk today.

05:02 | |

 

At least the Germans get a chance to vote.

04:58 | |

 

I finally finished The Bear and The Dragon yesterday. Awful. Terrible. Appalling. Full of self gratifying knowledge sharing. I resolved after reading Executive Orders and was suckered in by a reduced cover price. Oh, how I regret that now. I have to read a book right to the end, however bad it is, so I suffered all 1137 pages of this. And it got interesting around page 700. Read his earlier books (Red October, Cardinal of the Kremlin etc), just don't touch anything after about 1995.

01:21 | |

 

All the posting I wanted to do yesterday and couldn't, because my machine was too slow, is irrelevant now. So I won't bother. I'll just delve into the depths of the communication portal (also akin to a black hole). Referring to this post, our most regular reader writes
Why not have both this and REBlogger like what I do? - JD
Because it clutters, and I hate clutter (although writing this on an entirely useless webpage may be somewhat ironic)
Secondly, an anonymous reader clearly needs a new computer
yer text is too small... on my mac... thribbler.
Or tell me how to make it bigger ;-)

00:46 | |

 

Bad news in my humble opinion.

00:38 | |

November 12, 2001 

It appear's that the world is becoming an increasingly less pleasant place to be by the day. Now the government I helped vote in wants to 'temporarily opt out of part of the European Convention on Human Rights. This cannot be a good thing.

And in Ireland the protests over children walking to school go on. I know there's a lot of politics going on with this, don't get me wrong. But surely for the sake of the kids they could give it a rest? Find a compromise? Or am I totally naive?

21:43 | |

 

The definitive Clangers, Bagpuss and Ivor the Engine sites, for all of you who are as sad as me.

19:16 | |

 

Thanks (I think) to plurp for pointing us in the direction of this guy, and his bible-told-in-lego.

19:11 | |

 

I appear to be back at work. It feels like I never left. Where has this weekend gone? Between being a sympathetic ear, a girlie confidante, big-sister at a Tweenies birthday party and, quite literally, left holding the baby, I don't seem to have got a lot done. Still, I guess a change is as good as a rest...

19:08 | |

November 10, 2001 

Aha. An excellent excuse not to have a dinner party. Not counting the fact that thribble towers has no dining table or chairs, which is also a very good excuse ;-)

03:51 | |

 

My favourite quote from this article is this one:
Mr Vajpayee told the newspaper that the US was suffering from poor intelligence.

03:44 | |

 

Those of you who know my involvement with the steel industry will understand me not commenting on this horrific incident. I just wanted to say that although I'm refraining from comment, I am praying for the families.

03:41 | |

 

Well, Auntie's news has done it again. In the whole confused issue of the PFA voting to strike they've managed to put together a simple explanation as to why. And strangely, I find myself in agreement with Alex Ferguson and Manchester Utd - that the principle of the strike is good, and the PFA could do some good with the money.

03:36 | |

 

Yey! I avoided a CPD seminar (with free lunch) today to go out with paj. Imagine my delight when I discovered that not all the free lunch had been eaten and I could have some without having to sit through the terribly dull seminar!

02:05 | |

November 09, 2001 

Thanks to plurp for this, which conclusively proves that I'm not sad:
You are a casual weblogger. You only blog when you have nothing better to do, which is not very often. There's nothing wrong with that. But if you'd post a little more often, you'd make your readers very happy.
So, what about it. Would I make you happier? Honest answers only please ;-)

18:48 | |

 

So, the more astute of you did notice the new communication portal on the right there. And sent me these intelligent comments...
Tutti-frutti, oh Rudi, a-wop-bam-a-loom-op, a wop-bam-boo! Signor Casey
Clearly mistaking thribble for a dodgy lyric depository, jmac none the less manages to get his comment in first of all. Congratulations! Even beating someone who thinks they are yoda...
Woo! Works it does. Cunning it is! An HTML master you are.
... and the ubiquitous commentor, JD
Just testing...
Anyway, functionality proven beyond doubt I feel, so reblogger is going. Wave bye bye...

04:50 | |

 

Today's Dilbert. We like.

In a related story... here at thribble towers, we are gutted that we appear to be the only one not to see the new StarWars trailer, due to only having a dial-up :-(
But not as gutted as when we discovered that the Empire video from our widescreen box set was missing, presumed borrowed and never returned. Anyone seen it? Reward offered...

04:42 | |

 

Does this mean that sheep are more intelligent than government scientists?

04:38 | |

 

Due to blogger not working this afternoon I didn't get to tell you that at 14:58 it started snowing. Yes, that's right, the first snow of the year. It kind of goes with the Christmas decorations springing (or wintering?) up in the shops around here.

04:33 | |

November 08, 2001 

Thanks to plurp for this. Apparantly I'm a Gryffindor. This goes against the official Warner Bros site, which puts me in Slytherin. So, i'm either a goodie or a baddie and can pick and choose. Today, I think I'll be a baddie.

20:04 | |

 

Good. Because if parents can't smack their kids (in moderation, don't get me wrong, I don't advocate the cane) then they'll resort to screaming, shouting, and verbally abusing them. And I think that's worse.

19:54 | |

 

The more astute of you may have noticed a new box on the right hand side. I believe comments sent through it should reach me, but I have no proof of this yet. I would just like to say that I didn't steal it from paj, JD or anyone else. I got it from bravenet and I've sworn at the code all by myself. Call it an ongoing project...

05:07 | |

 

I moved into a B&B this week, escaping from my previous (very cold and spider infested) accommodation. I am only blogging this to say that should you ever find yourself in need of somewhere cheap, friendly, comfortable and warm to stay in the vicinity of Andover, look no further than the Shangri-La and it's wonderful owner, Wendy.

04:22 | |

 

I was given the Construction Site Safety - Safety Notes from the CITB today. Imagine my excitement! The CD is uploaded to my computer and I am browsing the section entitled 'Buried Services'. No, I'm not going to give you edited highlights. You'll have to read it for yourself. Should you be interested...

04:17 | |

 

Another example of politicians not thinking the consequences of their actions through.

04:08 | |

 

Hmm. I'm not sure whether I'm more bothered by a fossil cockroach the size of a mouse, or by the fact that there are still cockroaches the size of mice in existence.

04:06 | |

November 07, 2001 

K recommends Heinz microwaveable treacle sponge pudding. Yum.

05:11 | |

November 06, 2001 

I've come back from a fantastic weekend to a sub-zero office, and my fingers are about to drop off with frost bite. I have spent the weekend doing nothing but spending time with paj, which was lovely. We went shopping (yey!) and I managed not to buy shoes (bigger yey!). We watched the fireworks and had a couple of beers. We drove round and looked in estate agent's windows. I cooked a roast. We watched films. Generally relaxing and very very good. I don't think I'll see one like it for a while now...

04:39 | |

November 05, 2001 

Well, I don't think the boro could have done better than this. Which even prompted a blogback from my mum!

Whilst I was looking at that page though, one of those disturbing pop-up ads, erm, popped up. I never give them chance to load, and this was no exception. What worried me was that the title appeared to read 'Liverppol Gambling Game'. Liverppol? Illiteracy annoys me almost as much as... pop-up ads.

19:55 | |

November 02, 2001 

He's back. And I hope he gets what's coming to him, the idiotic shirt-pulled-over-head-wearing Italian.

20:16 | |

November 01, 2001 

I don't buy newspapers very often, but when I do I buy The Independent. This morning was one such occasion, and two stories caught my eye. Firstly this one.

The end we desire is this - al-Qa'ida shut down in Afghanistan, the Taliblan regime out, an new broadbased regime in.
Tony Blair, 30/10/01

The objectives are clear, and the one about the removal of the Teliban is not something we have as a clear objective to implement.
John Prescott, 31/10/01
Good to see they, erm, agree.

The other story was this one, which should be read just for the translation of the old guy's quote.

23:29 | |

 

What?!

04:58 | |

 

Comments-wise, paj and jmac, I've checked out dancing paul and it just takes too long to load for me, even if it does look pretty cool.

04:53 | |

 

Today has been spent standing in the sunshine and the mud watching people install valves. I can think of worse ways to spend a day (paperwork, for one), so I'm happy. If cold.

04:37 | |

 

Laugh. Lots. Thanks JD.

04:35 | |

 

Large organisation in un-thought-through idea shocker. I am, as ever, unsurprised.

04:32 | |