Climbing again

Went to the Manchester Climbing Centre with MC last night. It was fun, despite my lack of success in getting up anything in the last half of the evening. I think it was the extra weight of the cup of tea

tattoos

The theme of tattooed knuckles has been going round my head for a few years. What would be the best eight-letter sequence to display? Or a pair of four-letter words? Plenty of examples at Knuckle Tattoos
Get your own knuckles at the knuckle tattoo gun.

Vegan cheescake

I had two recipes, but the first (from the Real Food Daily cookbook)required white miso, and since I couldn't find any I found another recipe on the Internet. I ended up combining the two recipes in an apt and original way. Read on for the full story, with pictures.

The RFD cookbook had a fancy-schmancy wheat-free crust made with barley flour and stuff. Probably would have been delicious but I couldn't be arsed, what with the time it was going to take to make the cheesecake itself. I didn't want to spend all day in the kitchen so I smashed up 20 hobnobs and fried the bits with 3 tsp of margarine, and spread that in my pie tin. Mmm, fried biscuits. They're unhealthy-licious.

The filling was made in two parts - first was 1 cup of maple syrup, 1 tsp of vanilla extract, 3 dessertspoons of sunflower oil and a lemon. The zest of the lemon was put in the liquid, then I peeled the lemon and removed the pips and some of the tough bits and blended it all up with my hand blender. Then I whisked in one tsp of baking powder and half a cup of arrowroot powder.

For the second part I used one 225g tub of Tofutti "Better Than Cream Cheese", one packet of silken tofu (approx 14oz) and half a packet of normal (firm) tofu (125g). I blended these up a bit, then I added the liquid< from the previous paragraph and blended some more. By this time it looks pretty gooey and tastes sweet, and the work is almost done. Pour the gooey liquid over the crust and bake at about 180 deg C for an hour (check to make sure the top doesn't burn) then take out. It should be a bit runny in the centre but firmed up at the sides. Then leave to cool for four hours

As a topping the RFD have a raspberry puree to make. Or get a tin of black cherry pie filling from the supermarket and pour on the top. I went with option two.

I could eat a really large amount of this.

Quick!

Google Analytics says that 83% of visitors to this site stay less than
10 seconds. Can I say a brief hello? No - they've gone

My footprint

Apparently, if everyone lived like me, we'd need 2.6 planets http://www.myfootprint.org/ My fuel consumption estimates were very rough though

Hygiene

For ages I couldn't spell hygiene. But that isn't the point right now. I want to share with you my world-improving idea. Everyone worries about germs nowadays, especially when using public toilets, which is why they have taps which operate by waving your hand under them, and hand dryers (previously covered in this blog)
But door handles? Well, someone has an idea which I don't really rate. My idea is to have two handles and a note advising customers who have washed their hands thoroughly to use the top handle (ideally white) and others to use the lower handle (a dark colour). Probably wouldn't work. Non-washers are no worse off than if there was only one handle, but have everything to gain by using the "clean" handle. Would anyone use the "dirty" handle? If no-one uses it, would it be cleaner than the clean handle? Which handle would you use?

insomnia

morning everyone. I'm back in the GMT timezone, and finding it a challenge to adjust. why does everyone get up so late here? it's nearly 04:00 already and everyone seems to still be asleep. anyway, I've got myself a laptop (that works) so I can while the time away posting stuff on my blog and doing other important stuff. like working out how much tax I pay. seems a lot

Portobello mushrooms and polenta

One of the places that we ate at on holiday was Real Food Daily in Santa Monica. I had a pair of lovely tacos, and sushi. It was so good we bought the cookbook and tonight we made one of the recipes from it. Which, as you can see, was some big mushrooms, and aubergine, and vegan soft cheese, on a disc of polenta. Pretty delicious even though I say it myself, took about four hours to prepare though. Since it isn't my recipe I better not reproduce it here. But if you want to come round and read the RFD cookbook you're welcome to.

touring the west coast on one burrito per day

holiday going well. LA was a good place to land. Oceanside had awesomw burritos. San Diego was a happy place with nearly perfect weather. Stopped in Santa Barbara for an extra day because we like it. Went canoeing around the bay/harbour this morning. only capsized once -while landing on the beach. My new favourite mexican food place is Chilango's.

Multimedia message

Got to philadelphia largely without incident. However Moving though the intestines of PHL is a slow process. Getting through customs involved filling in forms, lengthy queuing, speaking to two customs officers and even more queuing. Still waiting for our connecting flight though it is apparently somewhere near. Had a warm doughy pretzel with mustard- philadelphia cuisine is novel. In UK time it is 23.05 but only 15.05 in LA so quite a long time till bed. I hope to obtain a decent meal and a glass of wine before the day is out. Looks like the peristalsis is about to get us on the plane and onward to the west coast.

Great train journeys of the world #173

Went to Bradford to leave my bike somewhere safe while I'm away. Much as I love the idea of public transport, the journey back was expensive and slow. Never mind that, think of my carbon footprint. Going to have to take a lot of trains to make up for the plane journey tomorrow.

windgather

Went to climb some rocks with MC. Did a couple of routes
near Pott Shrigley. Lovely countryside made me regret not having a
camera. Did a couple of leads. Must get myself some more gear e.g.
Nuts 1 to 10 and some quickdraws. Maybe pick some stuff up in the US

the weekend

my game plan was to stay up late tonight but I'm quite tired. probably a side effect of drinking all that wine last night with GV and her bf. anyway, have realised that after three weeks of ownership there isn't a picture of my bike up here yet. So here is one

I've come across a couple of vegan blogs tonight, and I know you all love vegan blogs so check these guys out
Yeah, that vegan shit
Vegan cupcakes take over the world

dry hands

Most hot-air hand dryers are useless at drying hands. Useless at drying anything. And while some people say they are good for the environment, I'm sceptical. I recall that at the Centre for Alternative Technology they advocate paper towels which can be composted. But this isn't the point I want to make. Last night I found an electric hand dryer which actually dried my hands. It made loads of noise and the fan seemed to be strong enough to blow the water right off. I was so impressed I took a photo

Opportunity

I always worry about what i put on this blog. I'm going to spain for a long wknd. Not that i have a massive readership but just my luck if the three people who read this are my mum, my gf and a local burglar. Anyway i'm taking all my valuables with me. Should be good, a bit of fresh air, dry weather and duty-free is just what i need. Although the holiday is starting in the traditional way with a surprising delay at the airport.

rained on

we went for a walk in Glossop today. At the top of the first hill it became apparent that the weather wasn't going to hold out. It rained heavily while we were retreating. Noticed that the bricks in Glossop say "GLOSSOP" on them which I found very pleasing.

footy

I got a place as substitute on the Main Office team in the annual work five-a-side football tournament. In the pub on friday night Dempsey and his mate Ian gave me football knowledge which I took away on a beer mat

In the event just the knowledge didn't make me a star, experience seems to count for a lot. I don't think I disgraced myself though, and I enjoyed it.

Would I eat a beef burger for one million dollars?

This question has been troubling me for a while.

Everyone thinks they have principles, but if I was actually sat down with the suitcase full of money and a flame-grilled, 100% beef patty in a sesame bun, would my principles match up to my greed?

Some people say that the good deeds they could do with the money would outweigh the bad deed being done to the animal between the buns. To me it seems difficult to quantify some unspecified good deeds. If mcdonalds gave a million dollars to the WWF for every burger they sold would that make their business morally acceptable? I don't think so.

Perhaps this theory can be extended. If one million dollars donated to a worthy cause offsets a beef burger, how many dollars makes it okay to eat a human burger?

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Back to the snack. So, I swallow the last morsel, dab the ketchup from my lips with a napkin and gleefully toss handfuls of bank notes into the air. I give it all to the WWF right? I don't keep any myself e.g. to cover my expenses. Or a solar powered rolls-royce to help the environment?

I can't help wondering about the shadowy figure in the background, pushing the money at me. Who would pay a million dollars to watch me eat a burger? Nobody nice would make an offer like.that. Would Ronald McD do it for the advertising?

"Our burgers are so tasty even Matt the Vegan can't resist them"

How is this for a headline: "Vegan eats burger for million bucks". Would be difficult to keep it quiet. People would be jealous because they didn't get $1000000 for eating a burger. They'd probably shout 'Sellout" at me when they saw me in the street. It doesn't matter to me what the world thinks, though it does bother me what my friends think of me. And if I could justify it to myself then I could justify it to other people. Maybe.

It is a stupid question because the situation won't arise. But the question of what makes people do the right thing or the wrong thing is a tasty one. And how the wrong thing can be justified is the cheese slice on top.

New tyres

Yesterday was the day i finally needed new tyres, four of them. I went for Michelin Energy E3A. Not the connosieur's tyre i prefer but not the cheapest tyre on the market either. I worry about buying cheap tyres. Will the last thought in my mind as i skid off a cliff be "at least i saved forty quid on these tyres" According to Michelin this type will not only last longer, it will make my car use less petrol too. And both of these features are highly desirable at the moment. I'm on a decent wage but i can't seen to live within my means.

Me vs. The DSA

A two round knockout. They gave me my motorbike licence just after lunch today. A couple of minors which is a shame since i didn't get any last time. But no majors which is better than last time. Rode home by myself, and felt seriously free. Now for a bike

Holiday postcard

The holiday venue this year is a huge stone castle in Scotland. Not very old but the biggest place we've stayed in. Large en-suite rooms for everyone and for the first time ever no shortage of fridge space for beer. Perhaps we're drinking less? The views are good enough for a travel magazine. Haven't seen a red squirrel yet though.

Holiday activities so far have included learning to play Texas Hold 'Em and cycling up and down hills in the direction of various beaches. There is talk of playing the famous Withnail & I drinking game and on thursday a trip up Ben Nevis. I'm not sure if i'm in shape for either of these but the latter will probably be the easier of the two. One thing that is missing is a connection to the outside world. Mobile phone signal is only reliable from the roof of the tower and i haven't been on the Internet for three whole days.

Concert at the Night & Day

Went to see a few bands tonight. Had booked tomorrow off work so i could let my hair down -euphemism for getting drunk. Sandbox were on first and got the event off to a good start. You can't go far wrong with Loud guitars and an attitude. Second band -Hey Bulldog were even better. The singer had a kind of high pitched style which worked for me though my lovely gf thought he sounded like a girl. The band got on with a dense wall of sound thing behind him. I was happy with the result. A bit disappointed with Frontrunner who started out like Oasis wannabees. They got going later on but were on match for the headliners. Pitch Invasion reminded me a bit of Mudhoney-which is high praise from me. Sounded a bit rough but with loads of energy and enthusiasm. I would have bought their album. If they had one. And if i had some spare money. As it is I'll be revisiting their Myspace page and seeing if they have any tracks to download. And looking out for any more gigs in the area. They rock!

booze, delicious booze

I was working last weekend, and I've been on the night shift last week. It's been a while since booze passed my lips which made it even more of a pleasure to go out with my lovely gf to some of manchester's finest taverns and alehouses.
I particularly enjoyed the FrÜli at Kro2. Could hardly stay awake on the bus home, but this is not uncommon.

Went for a little walk to Chrolton Water Park today. Weather was pretty sunny, waterfowl were plentiful.


Fruit & veg today? - Salad
Exercise today? - at least 12 miles of walking

Where is R'lyeh?

Last night i dreamed about Great Cthulhu again

the beach

Went to Crosby on Sunday, lots of iron statues of Anthony Gormley

I hate computers

Have you ever had a USB device, like a flash drive or an external hub refuse to install? You can try to reinstall the drivers again and again but you just get an error message saying it couldn't install because "function driver not specified"? Well that used to happen to me on a PC with Windows 2000 and SP4 installed. But when I installed the Windows 2000 Update Rollup 1 for Service Pack 4 my troubles were over. I googled about this error prior to my breakthrough but didn't find this helpful hint on the web anywhere. It is on now.

Back to work plan

I've had a week off, but i'm about ready to return to work. I've had a shave and i'm in place for an early night. This week has been relaxing but not very productive. I've had a dabble with vmware, I've caught up with some friends and I've caught up on my sleep. Going to work does impose a structure on one's life and that isn't always a bad thing.

handy dial up Internet access

here's a handy number - 0845 604 3090. And one just needs to point your computer at it, give them any username and password you like, and you're headed down the information super highway

I'm a winner

Passed my motorcycle theory test, celebrated by buying myself a pair of non-leather motorcycle boots (Dainese Torque Out). Obstacles to me becoming a hell's angel that still remain are

1. DSA practical motorcycle test
2. initiation into Didsbury Chapter of Hell's Angels
3. buying a chopper, with extra long forks and a petrol tank in the shape of a skull
4. growing a beard

want to send me a file?

click here

a weekend away

took my lovely gf away to Yorkshire for the weekend. did a bit of a walk from Otley to the Cow & Calf in Ilkley And then had a meal at an undeservedly obscure café.

On sunday had a walk round Harrogate, and called in at the orange shop. I've been a bit unhappy with Orange for a while now (mainly the high costs of calls on my PAYG tariff and their habit of passing my number on to their dealers so they can mither me about getting a new phone) so I asked them for a PAC number which would let me take my existing phone number to a different telco. I thought that as a PAYG customer I was unloved, but it turned out Orange want to keep me. A nice lady called Karen told me what they could do

• calls to landlines or orange numbers were 15p/min, now 5p/min
• calls to other networks were 35p/min, now 12p/min
• texts were 10p each, now I get 300 free per month (since I'm not a voracious texter I doubt I'll have to pay for any)
• 1MB of Orange World access - I'm not sure what this is, but thanks anyway

so I guess Orange can provide a cheaper tariff for PAYG customers. The moral of the story is ring up and act like you're leaving them. My current balance is £7.91 so I'll see if my credit lasts a bit longer now. Karen didn't mention but it seems this tariff only lasts for six months, I've made a note in my diary to call them back in september.

flushed with comnsumer power we then moved on to Leeds, home of the ever-so-lovely Leeds Corn Exchange and a rather good thai restaurant. the courgettes with chili and basil were delicious

return from Switzerland

I'm back. It was nice to see the baggage handlers in Geneva enjoying their work so much when we got there. Chucking bags about, putting each other on the carousel. So I should probably not be surprised that on the flight out of Geneva my luggage didn't come with me. After five days it has allegedly been sighted in London Gatwick.

Had a good time though, and I feel refreshed. Probably the fresh air and the early nights

switzerland

Having a week of snowboarding, not in too much pain at the moment.
still trying to decide if I prefer left foot or right foot forward.
struggling with swiss keyboards where the Z and Y are swapped round
and the symbols are all over the place

back soon, will upload pictures then

Death

I've been thinking about death lately. Not in a morbid way. If you can think about death in a non-morbid way then that's how I've been thinking about it. It's pretty inevitable so I might as well plan for it and then hope to delay it as much as possible.

I sort of know what kind of funeral I want, but I need to put the word out, otherwise the secret might die with me and I might get something unsuitable. I'm not sure how much my personal taste should run wild in this area. On one hand I expect I'll be paying for it, or at least the costs will come out of my estate, and I should be calling the tune; but since I won't be conscious it doesn't really matter to me what happens. Like any good host I should provide whatever the attendees will enjoy (?) most.

But who will the attendees be? I'm planning to outlive everybody I know. I suppose I have to assume that something has gone wrong and everyone I know now will be there. Or even that the people I know around the time of my demise will be similar to the people I know now. So basically, whoever turns up should know me, know what I'm like and be able to say to each other in the car park afterwards "I've never been to a funeral like that before, but it's what he would have wanted"

I don't want any of that religious stuff. I've lived the majority of my life outside churches and I'm not planning to skulk back inside when I'm dead. I don't want to be buried in consecrated ground either. It's cremation for me, dressed in some nice black clothes. And I'd be obliged if someone could take my ashes back to Leeds. There's a park where I believe I planted an acorn when I was very young, Butchers Hill I think its called. That seems like a good place for me to symbolically rest.

The service should start with a great tune- "Glam Racket" by The Fall. I've listened to those lyrics time and time again, and they still don't make any sense. A bit like life really.

And I'm not really sure what else should happen. It's tempting to just have a sombre DJ in a black frock coat play my all time top ten songs. But I should try to put on a show which has a meaning. To convey the message that I've had a fairly enjoyable life, tried to live it the way I wanted to, and I go into oblivion with out too much regret. There's a passage which sums this up at the end of "The Watchmen" by Alan Moore, where Rorshach realises that Dr Manhattan has to kill him. Someone could read it out.

After this it would be nice if someone who knew me could stand up and say what a nice chap I was. I don't want to be too ambitious though, maybe a PowerPoint presentation of some of my recent holiday photos would be a good alternative - the first one should be upside-down, that's always funny. And a song, either "Orange Claw Hammer" by Captain Beefheart & his Magic Band, or "54 Cymru Beats" by the Aphex Twin.

Maybe both, how am I doing for time? I'd like to have another reading, one which neatly encapsulates my personal philosophy, makes everyone think a bit. Nothing comes to mind though. So my choices are

1. something bizarre, like the Windows 2000 EULA or an extract from "Moby Dick"
2. something pretentious e.g. from Paradise Lost, a book I can't make head or tail of while I'm alive
3. something from one of my favourite authors, H P Lovecraft or Philip K Dick or William Gibson

I have to go with option 3, and I had a skim though tonight. Didn't find anything appropriate so unless I change this later please use one of the bits about the battle robots from Count Zero

And for the outro, "This Corrosion" by the Sisters of Mercy. It's pretty long so the guests don't have to stay for all of it. My environmentally-friendly cardboard coffin (with the Ajut eyes drawn on) should whisk through the curtains when the bass guitar part begins.

With a bit of luck I'll have a bit of money left over when I'm gone and after my bills are paid. If there's some funds available I'd like to put on some drinks and a vegan buffet. Linda Mccartney sausage rolls and avocado sushi.

Any volunteers to be my executor?

roots

this is what the Internet is all about for me. this would take years of research to do by hand but in a couple of clicks you can look at the purple bit on the map and find out where home is. my home is in God's Own County. Or the People's Republic of West Yorkshire (PWRC) as some call it.

Is february the worst month?

many think it is, but the weather wasn't too bad for most of saturday, went for a walk in the countryside near bolton with my lovely gf. the sunshine got obscured by fog about halfway though, but we managed to get back to the car.

Started work on the new Thomas Pynchon book. Apparently The Klaxons are engaged in the same pursuit. I've just read the link to Against The Day and found that it is over 900 pages. I'm going to need more reading time in my life

peace & quiet

PHD survived the blogger changes, but this might be the end of the line for another reason. I'm dissatisfied with the quality of my output. There are a couple of reasons for this.
Since this blog can be connected with me I have to consider that what I write may come back to bite me if read by future employers, voters, etcetera. I tend to under-report events which would show me in a bad light
And I plan to one day supplement my pension by doing a bit of journalism on the side. I can see myself having a weekly opinion page in the guardian/radio times/heat magazine. A flattering thumbnail picture of a younger me in the top corner and a quirky title: "Matt grows more week by the day" or something. But I can't imagine editors stumping up hard cash for the tripe I've been producing here
So I'm going to take January off and see how I feel after my hiatus. In the meantime I'll be posting my photos on webshots.com. Photojournalism is apparently not a moneymaker

winter holidays

another day off work. and without clearly defined goals I seem to drift randomly about in the universe. today I ended up in a café in fashionable didsbury village. the coffee was a bit fierce for my tastes. later I have to go into town to take some CDs back to the library

the blogger login is getting integrated with the google login. I could put it off but it will have to be done sooner or later. I'm a bit apprehensive. If you don't hear from me again then it didn't work, but to paraphrase Rorshach, I regret nothing. Have blogged free from compromise and step into the shadows now without complaint

shortest day/longest night

after today the days get longer (at least for my readers in the northern hemisphere) which is good. I like to see sunlight, other light just isn't the same colour. And warmer weather should follow which is another plus.
I've been thinking about musicians whose output doesn't really grab me, but who have done one song that I think is brilliant. Sometimes the phrase "one hit wonder" would apply, sometimes a particular song scores with me because it has played in a film or a significant moment of my life. It's recently been suggested that I pretend to like strange stuff just to confuse people. Anyway, here is the track listing for the all-time greatest, one-off track compilation tape that never existed.

Ten Pole Tudor	Swords of a Thousand Men
Edith Piaf	Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien
Screaming J Hawkins	I put a spell on you
Martha & the Muffins	Echo Beach
The Only Ones	Another Girl, Another Planet

Five songs isn't really enough for a decent compilation tape, if anyone has any suggestions please comment....

Fruit & veg today? - ample
Exercise today? - nil
Hours of sleep I'm going to get tonight? - should be okay for 8 or thereabouts

insomnia

How d'you do, O pasty moon?
I want to ask of you a boon.
I want to fall asleep tonight,
And wake refreshed in Dawn's new light.

Avoid spam

I was taking a web survey and they wanted an email address. I hate spam, so I gave them a shot of mailinator.
Mailinator is like webmail, but disposeable. You pick an email address e.g. matt@mailinator.com and if anyone sends email to it then it shows up in a totally non-private way on the site. Did anyone send mail to that address? Probably, it's a pretty common name - take a look
But for a more private approach I like Jetable which gives you an alias for the email address you enter. So it all goes to your normal mailbox, but when you get an alias you give it an expiry date, like 1 day or 1 week or 1 month. If a spammer gets hold of it you'll get the spam but for one month at most. Jetable is great, but it's down at the moment. I hope they come back

Fruit & veg today? - some salad, a clementine and a banana to come
Exercise today? - kung fu day!
Hours of sleep I'm going to get tonight? - 6 or seven

life in the big city

I don't think I'm burned out yet. My new job is a lot less stressful than my previous one. The work isn't super tiring, not like digging ditches or lugging stones about. But I still fantasise about living in the countryside, growing soya beans and turnips. Being self sufficient - as long as I can stomach turnip wine. Why should modern life be so stressful though? I think things are probably easier now for most people than they were a couple of hundred years ago. I've got clean drinking water, a TV, and enough to eat in the fridge.

The article suggests that for some people in the modern world the feeling of achievement is lacking. Which could be true. I find it more satisfying to look at a dry stone wall I've built (for example) than to have recorded some good up-time stats and have ticked off a few things on my To Do list. But then I don't need to build any dry-stone walls. I need to sort out my life goals and make some progress towards them.

Who is Lee Hazlewood?

People I like to listen to (Nick Cave, Lydia Lunch and others) seem to like to listen to him. And this gives me an excuse for some embedded youtubery

vegan sushi

"sushi" apparently doesn't mean 'raw fish' but 'something edible made with rice and vinegar'
It's taken me a while to build up my stock of sushi ingredients (seaweed, sticky rice, grain vinegar and wasabi) but on saturday I got my stuff together. I still haven't mastered the technique. I think ideally the contents (I used red pepper, cucumber, cashew nut pieces and some other stuff. Would have used avocado but it wasn't ripe) would be in the centre of the rice but mine were usually located eccentrically.
As these photos show. Tasty though.

Currently reading: Nick Cave - And the Ass Saw the Angel Actually I finished it today, second time I've read it. Sometimes funny, often disturbing. Fascinating prose: the reader works out what has happened from the internal monologue of the main character, even though  the character can't work it out. Sometimes I wanted to look away but I had to find out how it ended.

Currently listening to: THE FALL - THE REAL NEW FALL LP (FORMERLY 'COUNTRY ON THE CLICK')

one year (and one day)

I've just noticed that my blog has been going on for 12 months now. And curiously 12 months ago I was wittering about traffic and my MP.

I definately should get a life

wheels

recently I've been sorting out my car troubles. I needed a new tax disc, which meant fruitlessly trying to get one from the DVLA website, but apparently the database wasn't updated. Then trying a phone line which was always engaged. Then trying a post office, then trying a post office which was further away but actually did tax discs.

Then being told that although my MOT was valid now, it ran out the day before my next tax disc would start, so they wouldn't give me a tax disc until I got a new MOT. basically they assume that if they let me buy a tax disc when I want to then I won't bother to get an MOT and I'll drive around in a dangerous car and with invalid insurance. I wasn't pleased.

My car passed the MOT second time, just needed numberplates and a windscreen wiper. Then I could get my tax disc and now I'm all set. Being slightly wiser I got a six month tax disc so next time my MOT and my tax disc renewal won't coincide. Car expenditure this month - approx 165 quid, plus petrol

It makes me wonder about road charging. Why not just tax petrol more and scrap the tax disc / tollroads / other daft ideas? Drive more miles? = use more petrol and pay more tax.Have a big gas-guzzling SUV? = use more petrol and pay more tax. Have a firm of container lorries which transport heavy goods across the country? = pay lots of tax, or get a better business model which might involve sending goods by rail instead. I wonder if my MP is reading this?

Fruit & veg today? - onions, 'shrooms, capsicum and runner beans in my risotto
Exercise today? - none

I spy

Went into town today, didn't get anything exciting apart from some photos.
here's one of a palm tree growing outside the new-look arndale centre. The picture is a bit poorly composed, with hindsight standing behind a large grey pillar didn't pan out too well. Memo to self - when taking pictures take a few in case some don't come out, and try standing in a few different places. I may have a go at working with the interesting things refected in the glass next time I'm around there

And the contradiction inherent in the artificial natural sponge caught my attention

Finally we went past the Vimto(tm) monument, but it was too dark. at some point I'd like to work out how to get a decent picure of something in the dark with my camera. perhaps holding it steady and not using a flash? whatever. picture of the Vimto(tm) monument will wait for a future thrilling installment

dates (mmmm, dates)

This here's a useful website- the doomsday algorithm for working out what day of the week any given day was, or - despite the rather pessimistic name - will be. So it turns out that despite what Mr Cave said, the King of Tupelo was born on a tuesday. I was born on a friday

and here's a couple of photos, first autumn has made my morning run rather attractive, in some parts at least. And in some of the other parts the graffiti is getting better. Allow me to help a local artist get some exposure

lead on, Macsween

had haggis for tea last week, it was delicious. I took a picture but now I can't find the lead for my camera, so you'll have to take my word for it.
Update - here's the thing hiding behing a pile of mashed parsnip and sweet potato. I assure you it was more filling than it looks here

5 - 7 - 5

my haiku was poor
autumn leaves are clichéd
I'll try something else

healthy snacks

Frito-Lay Angrily Introduces Line Of Healthy Snacks

PLANO, TX—"Look at what you've reduced us to," said CEO Al Carey, as he disgustedly held up a bag of Cranberry Spinach Explosion snack chips.

saw this on The Onion today, and laughed heartily <contains swearing>

sunday

I was thinking about my blog template this morning. I seem to be doing okay for sleep recently so I'm dropping that. Not sure about the fruit and vegetables, and the exercise lately has been sporadic so;

exercise today - 100 press-ups (target = 200 per day)
fruit and veg - none so far

going for sunday lunch with Dempsey and my lovely gf today, will address the F&V situ at that point

update - went to trof and had a reasonable meal. reasonable in that the food tasted okay, but they seem to subscribe to a commonly held view that "vegans don't like food". the deal is this, their sunday lunch has a beef option which is

• slices of roast beef
• yorkshire pudding
• roast potatoes
• gravy
• vegetables

and seemed to this observer to be a substantial amount of food

for the vegan option the beef and pudding were replaced with two 6" skewers with bits of courgette, cherry tomatoes, etcetera barbequed on them. which was tasty but hardly going to fill me up. I had a tofu burger for dessert but this came without bread (the bread had eggs in it??) so in the end I was satisfied but hardly stuffed

the thing is vegetables are nutritious but you need to eat sufficient quantities of them

halloween

I carved a pumpkin

and I read in a magazine at the dentist's about how it is that I'm always busy but don't get that much done. It's called "displacement activity". Now I have a name I can look for a cure. But first I have to make tea.

back from my holiday

got back from Scotland yesterday. only went for a short trip. did the usual stuff - walked on the moors, visited a distillery, drank whisky. saw a bottle of 40 year old Laphroaig (priced at £1000) but didn't taste it. had a great time but it was over too fast. Work on monday. My photos of Islay are here.

got to get a pumpkin carved today, going to a wedding tomorrow. time I got dressed really

Fruit & veg today? - expecting quite a bit of pumpkin
Exercise today? - maybe a run
Hours of sleep I'm going to get tonight? - eight shouldn't be too hard

paying the ferryman

I'm aboard the Hebridean Isles ferry about to cast off and set sail to Islay.The ferry is a bit too modern,I was hoping for a wooden skiff poled along by a dour kilted ferryman but on the plus side this car ferry seems more seaworthy. I've explained to Maribel that if one goes on holiday on a boat it counts as abroad. She seems sceptical. Scotland is looking great-loads of mist,hills covered with trees and heather, silver sunlight glinting off lochs. With the cry of the curlew in my ears and last nights whisky lingering in my head it feels like a proper holiday to me. Apparently there is a cybercafé on Islay so i may be able to upload some photos. I'm really hoping for a decent curryhouse. Haggis isn't really to my taste. Neeps and tatties will be okay though.

-- This Orange Multi Media Message was sent wirefree from an Orange MMS phone.

sleep, eat, drive, work, drive, eat, sleep again

it's been a busy but not very exciting week. Working nights should take the same amount of time as working days but it doesn't feel like I've done much other than the above.

well, I did go for a meal at the Khandoker on Tuesday. it was a fund-raising dinner to support some kind of ambulance. I'm a generous person who can usually give up some time to eat a cheap curry for charity

and I went to martial arts on wednesday. I haven't had as much exercise as I'd like this week, hope I can still manage my run when I get back into it

and finally, finished wearing in my new trainers. Took me a while to find some nice, black, vegan trainers. these are the ones

the weekend departed

Not much doing this weekend, been working. Got out at 6pm last night and went to see The Departed with my lovely gf.

I had heard bad things about the film but it was the best thing on offer within 20 miles on a sunday evening, and I wanted to get out. I was pleasantly surprised though, the pace was fast enough to keep me awake but not so fast as to make it an action film. the plot was fairly water tight (apart from the stuff about computers, which was minor) and as with 99.9% of films I didn't guess the ending in advance of it happening. I'd give the film four asterisks ****

I'm off to B&Q today. While I'm out I may try to get some advice about my bike, which has been making strange grinding noises recently. It sounds like I may need a new chainset. I like the look of the one on the top right here. It costs about four times as much as my bike though. So tempting, £14.96 a month for the next three years doesn't sound too bad...

I'm lazy

I don't seem to get much done in the mornings before I go to work. Eat breakfast, have a run. Make a phone call and then panic trying to get my lunch, have a shower, pack my stuff for work, etcetera.

let's see if blogging about it helps

My mango tree is doing well this year

Fruit & veg today? - a banana
Exercise today? - a short run, maybe slightly over one mile
Hours of sleep I'm going to get tonight? - 7-8

To Rococo Rot

I was thinking about To Rococo Rot, the other day. Strange name, sounds like it should mean something in french. John Peel used to play them, and there are a few songs of theirs on the Domino record label page (link above)

And here's something else from Kitty-Yo, a song by them, and when it finishes - a song by Rechenzentrum. I love minimalist german electronic music

no blogging

I've not been blogging much recently, not sure why. Nothing to say maybe? Perhaps I'll tell my continuing story through the medium of my ebay purchases and sales? Perhaps I won't, as the commercialism distorts some of the finer points of the narrative. It surprises me that I can write stuff like this when I'm sober

Film Review - Clerks II

Went to see the new Kevin Smith film last night. I haven't seen the first Clerks film so went to see it on the strength of Dogma and that one about the cartoonist. I was slightly worried that my lovely gf wouldn't like it, especially when she saw the poster and said "Is this film going to be any good?"

But it was pretty funny. The technique of putting some funny characters together and having them interact around some amusing situations is tried and trusted. I'll mention the beastiality episode as an example, because it might get my blog some hits. And there was a bit of home-spun philosophy which made me think briefly about how my life is going. It's good to think about that from time to time. I heartily recommend this film.

I'm on the late shift this week, so I had time for a big breakfast


In theory I have time to do some exercise too. that was part of my plan but now I'm a bit too stuffed to run much

shiftwork

My first week of shifts this week (6am to 2pm) and not too bad. not much going out in the evening, though I did make an effort to get to martial arts last night - and felt more drowsy than usual this a.m.

not found anything super productive to do in the afternoons. notified a few people about change of address, new bank a/c, etcetera. have been doing regular exercise to make me tired by 8:30. keep meaning to pick up my repaired trousers from town but keep forgetting.

Fruit & veg today? - none yet
Exercise today? - a 13 minute run
Hours of sleep I'm going to get tonight? - at least 7.5 I hope

garbage

something on slashdot caught my eye, they are planning to build in Florida, and apparently have already built in Japan, a facility to vapourise landfill rubbish. I'm really opposed to nuclear power and would like to see the UK government investigating alternatives like this.
the article is here

Film review - A Scanner Darkly

Went to see A Scanner Darkly last night, with a fair bit of trepidation. The bitter taste of V for Vendetta lingering in my gullet was a reminder that a great book can be made into a terrible film. And at Printworks prices I didn't want to see a terrible film. Incidentally a small carton of popcorn was £3.40 - inconceivable.

I thought the pseudo-animation thing worked out okay. Some found it annoying. The film opens with bugs crawling over Freck and I don't think CGI or Carpenter-esque puppets would have blended in as well. Special effects have their uses, but probably would have seemed over the top in this everyday tale of drug-taking folk

It must be about ten years since I read the book, and I didn't notice any major departures from how I remembered the plot. Not that I have a great memory for that kind of thing. The film was a lot easier to understand, which does suggest that some simplification may have happened.

Overall, if you liked the film go and read some Philip K Dick books. And if you didn't like the film, go and read some Philip K Dick books.

a little place in the country

some disappointment today when Eden District Council broke the news to me that they were very unlikely to give planning permission for me to renovate a run down shack in Northumberland. I had hoped that 35 grand would secure me a rural hideaway, even if it wouldn't secure me a roof, windows, door, running water or broadband internet connection.

still, the 3 hour commute to work would have been a chore

Northumberland

Camping this wknd up by Hadrian's wall. The weather was apparently normal for summer in these parts but our pitch stayed almost mud free. I imagined the wall would be bigger but after 2000 years of people scavenging the stones i suppose It's surprising that any of it remains. The roman fort at housesteads was well worth a look, especially for those interested in latrines. The scenery all over northumberland is beautiful. Makes me want to live in the country. Not sure if the demand for IT personnel would keep a roof over my head though. Why whenever i go away for the wknd do i want to stay? I even like living amongst the Didsburati. Perhaps i should travel more. Perhaps i should stay where i am more and sort out the lounge of our flat? Anyway, this is the longest journey as a passenger I've done for years and i quite like it.

-- This Orange Multi Media Message was sent wirefree from an Orange MMS phone.

international talk like a pirate day

this be the day for me http://www.yarr.org.uk/talk/

The wedding of the year (so far)

This weekend saw me wading barefoot through the glastonbury mud. Not for the first time, but this time I was drinking champagne at Sophie and Dr Jon's wedding. There may be more details and even pictures to follow, but I'm trying to give this blog a semblence of being current and I don't have much spare time. Just imagine a great big wedding with buckets of rain.

I'm back!

BT finally came up with the goods and we have a 4 meg connection. I feel that I've rejoined the human race. I'm relieved that unscrupulous comment posters haven't taken the advantage to hawk their wares and post insults while I've been unable to moderate. Anyway, Phil came round for tea, we ate a vegetable packed risotto' with chocolate cake for dessert. I'm late for bed now, more drivel soon

a rolling stone gathers no moss

The recent dearth of entries on my blog is due in no small part to the appaling lack of internet access at my new flat. Although it is a bit of a palace in many other ways. Until I can galvanise either BT or TalkTalk into action it looks like Withington Library will be my gateway to the world wide web for some time to come so apologies to my regular readers - normal service will be resumed as soon as possible

Gen and Dempsey came round for drinks last night and we made a little trip to my new local - the Didsbury.

Fruit & veg today? - a banana
Exercise today? - a bit of a ride on my bike
Hours of sleep I'm going to get tonight? - should be enough