Rantings

Hope you all had a good Christmas! Did Santa bring you everything you wanted?

I'm still pooterless, so currently hijacking Mr Lisa's laptop for now. I don't have long to update you all.

Me? I got the latest Terry Pratchett book, "Wintersmith". Also, the complete boxed set of Farscape Season 3 (Mr Lisa got me Seasons 1 and 2 last year), the complete Life on Mars (Yay! Can't wait for a Series 2) and the complete boxed set of Doctor Who Series One (the one with Christopher Eccleston). A geek's paradise!

Speaking of which ... wasn't the Christmas Day Special of Doctor Who great?! I was pleasantly surprised by Catherine Tate as I don't usually enjoy watching her on telly, and Sarah Parish as the Empress of the Racnoss was just superb. Also on Christmas Day was the Doctor Who Confidential Christmas Special which went behind the scenes of the Doctor Who concert which was held at the Millennium Centre in Cardiff in aid of Children In Need. Just wonderful.

And yesterday? Well, the wonderful John Barrowman got hitched, of course, to his long term partner of 16 years, Scott Gill. Some nice photos to be found here, including some rather lovely pictures of JB in his kilt (swoon). It gives me a warm fuzzy feeling and makes me proud to be British (which is a rare thing in itself) to know that same sex couples are entitled to just the same rights as everyone else. And quite rightly so.

Speaking of JB, I can now own up to my little jaunt last month when I went in search of an unusual Christmas gift for Mr Lisa. As I had been keeping it a surprise for him I couldn't really write about it in my blog in case he reads it. I don't think he has so far, but you never know. Well, let's just say I got him a signed and personalised copy of JB's CD "Swings Cole Porter". Damn that man has a good voice. Also, I got myself a nice photo of JB autographed and personalised for me, and my picture taken with Captain Jack himself. He was so patient and polite while I fumbled and got lost for words, a real gent.






Right, I think that's it for now. I'm going away for New Year (Whitby) so I may not update till I get back. In the meantime, here are some photos from the last Whitby Gothic Weekend.

Apologies if you're getting bored of hearing about him, but for those of you who can't get enough of him, don't forget to tune into Radio 2 tonight at 7:30pm for Friday Night is Music Night, where Mr Barrowman himself will be singing a selection of songs from our favourite musicals, along with a festive selection of carols. This is a recording of the BBC Christmas concert which took place on the 18th.

If, for whatever reason, you can't listen to it on air, you can listen to it for up to a week after, at the BBC website, here.

Well, I eventually sat down to watch the first part of the Hogfather last night. Now, I have been a fan of Terry Pratchett for years and have been reading his Discworld novels since I was a teenager (yes, I'm 38 now, what an oldie), so following the storyline was a no-brainer for me, but Mr Lisa had problems understanding what was going on. Did anybody else have trouble following it? And if so, do you think the producers kind of assumed/relied on most people having read the book first? Bear in mind that PTerry himself had a hand in the production, so the whole thing could have become somewhat self-indulgent for him.

Thoughts?

Is it because you are looking forward to getting lots of prezzies? Is it because you get to spend quality time with your family? Is it because you get to eat and drink as much as you like without anyone nagging about your expanding waistline/heart/teeth*?

* delete as appropriate

Nope, none of the above for me. This year it's because the Christmas Special edition of Doctor Who, "The Runaway Bride" is on TV!

Me? Sad? Whatever gave you that idea?

I found my mobile. Or rather, Mr Lisa found my mobile hiding under one of the seats in the car.

My laptop is still well and truly broken, though. So, this is currently being typed at work, and sometimes I can get my ancient fossil of a desktop PC working well enough to catch up on email and stuff, but for the most part I feel pretty much crippled.

[sigh]

With much thanks to Dan's Movie Digest for these items:

Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (1964) is considered to be one of the worst movies ever made. It is so bad, that it is actually fun to watch. The filmmakers were probably too embarrassed to renew the copyright, so it’s now in the public domain, free to download.

and

Actual English subtitles used in films made in Hong Kong

I have lost my mobile phone. Not only that, but it's either switched off or the battery's flat. I've been trying to ring it to find out where it is but nothing. I just keep getting through to voicemail. :-(

Not only that, but my laptop died a couple of days ago. When I switch it on the lights come on, but that's it. The hard drive won't spin up. I do have a copy of Knoppix on disk, and thought if I could boot up into a disc version of Linux I'd be able to repair or recover info from the HD, but it won't even boot from CD ROM drive, even though that's what it's set to do in the BIOS. Yesterday I took the HD out and put it back in again, thinking maybe it was a dodgy connection. I switched it on and got as far as the big windows logo on the black screen, and it froze. I've never got past that.

Now, what's worrying me the most is that I have all my website files on there, including my FTP login info, and so I can't update my site to say I'm not taking any more orders till after the New Year. And I've just got an order from someone who wants it before Christmas. There are also all the wages on there, because I use the Inland Revenue P11 calculator that comes on their CD. And I haven't backed up the wages for about three months. Yeeargh! What am I going to do? I am in such deep doo doo right now, I feel sick. And I had just bought John Barrowman's Aspects of Loyd Webber off iTunes, as well. Downloaded but not listened to all of it yet. Now it's gone.

Ok, calm down, Lisa. You need to phone the guy at Tyne Computers and see if he can help. Maybe it's just a loose wire or something. Yeah, that's it. A loose wire. Everything will be fine. I just need to keep telling myself that. Everything will be fine, everything will be fine, everything will be fine ...

Ok, so who watched the Royal Variety Performance last night? And I defy anyone to say they didn't swoon when John Barrowman did the last number at the close of the show. That shameless Torchwood plug halfway through was a bit cheesey, but I can live with that.

However, I was quite disturbed by Barry Manilow's performance. So much so that I had to fast forward it (I was lucky I was watching it an hour behind everyone else due to the wonders of Sky+). I couldn't help but think that he'd had so many face lifts he no longer looked human, nor could he stop smiling as his face has been stretched into a pained rictus. Now then, that's just given me a good idea for a new monster in Doctor Who ...

10th December 2006

As many of you will already have picked up on the grapevine, an autographed script for the third episode of Torchwood, "The Ghost Machine", is currently being auctioned on eBay, the money going to Cardiff & District Samaritans.

While I think the Samaritans do wonderful work, I am personally very surprised that the current bid is so high. Someone is either very caring, and their conscience tells them it is their responsibility to do their bit for charity, or they are barking mad and have too much disposable cash (or a credit card, as the case may in fact be). Given the nature of the human race and my overdeveloped cynicism, I think I have a pretty good idea which it is.

What do you think?

UPDATE: 12th December 2006
The auction has ended, the winning bidder getting the script for a measly £565! ;-) Good show, Cardiff Samaritans ... let's hope the buyer coughs up the cash ...

Woo hoo! I'm so pleased! My current favourite programme is to continue for a second series, the BBC have just announced today!

"BBC Three's Torchwood is back for a second series but this time it will premiere exclusively on BBC Two as confirmed by Jane Tranter, Controller of BBC Fiction, and BBC Two Controller Roly Keating.

Starring John Barrowman, Eve Myles, Burn Gorman, Naoko Mori and Gareth David-Lloyd, Torchwood has captivated audiences and smashed records.

It attracted an audience of 2.4 million viewers for the broadcast of its first two episodes - securing the highest-ever audiences for a BBC Three programme and the highest-ever ratings for a non-sport programme to air across all channels in digital history."

Click here for the full press release

Yippeeee!

Women: Know your limits

You can read about it here and here. Ohdearohdearohdear.

Via John Scalzi

Thanks to John Scalzi

Ok, so I've just finished watching Torchwood on BBC 3 ... did ANYONE understand that reference in the conversation between Jack and Ianto at the end about the stopwatch, because it has me completely confuzzled ...

This is from Dave the Sod's Blog, and is uncannily accurate. You choose a sequence of eight colours and it gives you a kind of personal profile. If you try it, hop on over to Dave's blog entry and leave a link to your blog with the results. Go here to try it.






You are very ambitious and because you seek and need recognition, you try in your own way to impress people and you want to be looked up to - to be both popular and admired. You feel that there is a gap which separates you from your fellow man, or woman as the case may be, but this anxiety is an unnecessary one. Keep on the way you are going and you may surprise yourself.

Enough is enough. Nothing seems to be working out as you would like it to and it has got to the stage where you feel as if you can't be bothered anymore. The way you feel is that it would be great if you could be cut off from everything and take it easy - be it only for a short time.

We are all conditioned by our environment and as such we respond to people's perception of ourselves, but you feel that conditions are not right at this time. You are experiencing certain reservations that are precluding you to develop a particular relationship, business or personal, that is being offered. It is 'make your mind up time' - the decision is all yours, but whatever decision you make, it will be the right one.

You refuse to relax or to give in and you are endeavouring to keep exhaustion and depression at bay by keeping active. You are experiencing a relationship or a situation which is not satisfactory but you feel powerless to change it. You have that 'need to be needed' but you do little to achieve the sense of belonging that you need. You try to disguise your feelings of insecurity and so you continue to resist this state of affairs - and as a consequence you are experiencing tension and stress. Your depression makes you irritable and impatient. You have that urge to get away from the situation, either actually or mentally. You are finding it increasingly difficult to concentrate.

The stress that you are experiencing at this time is due to the present situation - a situation of your own making. But trying to ignore it, hoping that it will go away, will only aggravate it further. What you need to do is to slow down - to relax and re-think the situation and by going slow, you may be amazed to find that most of your problems will resolve themselves.

Whitby Gothic Weekend is only 3 days away. I still haven't finished sorting my outfits.

I ordered a made-to-measure corset/cincher and (rather foolishly, I suppose) decided to lose a bit of weight before I go. I lost 7 pounds in a week (yes, really!) and by the time the bloody corset came it was just a bit too big! Aargh! I'd forgotten about that! I am so annoyed! So, now I look like a barrel in it because, it doesn't tighten up enough to actually accentuate my waist. Bummer.

Oh well. Check back after the weekend for some photos. The Damned are the headlining band this time, so should be good.

How on earth he could manage it in freezing cold water is beyond me ...

Here, here, and here!

As it's International Talk Like A Pirate Day tomorrow, click here to prepare! Aharhaaaaarrrr!

Via By The Way

Ok, so I may be a bit out of the loop as I've only just discovered these.

I love AC/DC. I'm not sure I like this hillbilly yokel stuff. But I have to admit that Hayseed Dixie are a very talented bunch of folks who must have one hell of a sense of humour. Have a listen to this if you dare.

Thanks to Butchieboy, I now have a new widget so you can IM me if I'm online!

Click on the picture to find out what's made me so incredulous.

Click the picture to be taken there.

This is so cool!

I just love this. I mean I really love this. Logic tells me that this is illogical, as it's just another GUI that'll eat up even more HD space and memory than XP (which would be quite an achievement in my opinion), and - let's face it, in the days of DOS did we ever have our PCs hang for no reason? - as I'm an incurable gadget geek, I just have to have this. One day. If it's ever released into the wild.

My dad is 65 in a few days.  He finished working last night (although he’s not officially retired until 9th May, he had 3 days holiday to take).  As you can tell, it’s quite a special birthday and so I would like to get him a special birthday gift (plus a little retirement gift).  But, what do you get a 65 year old man who’s had everything he ever wanted for previous birthday gifts?  Answers on a postcard to:

Mrs Clueless
Somewhere in the Frozen North
United Kingdom

On a brighter note, I was offered some work a month and a half back by one of the local civic centres.  They asked me if I would be interested in “doing a bit of consultancy work” for them.  Well, that could mean anything, right?  So I arranged a meeting with them and soon discovered that what they wanted me to do was to teach people with learning disabilities how to make, wrap and sell soap, with the intention that it would become a profitable business and these people would eventually be able to draw a wage and stop claiming disability/incapacity benefit.  My initial contract was for 6 weeks but they’ve extended it by another 6.

I wasn’t sure exactly what these people would be like, but after working with them for a month and a half I am having some serious misgivings about this project.  There are so many aspects of a soapmaking business that they simply are not capable of handling.  Somebody is going to have to take care of all the legal aspects of it, such as compliance with cosmetic regulations (you soapers in the USA don’t know how lucky you are), trading standards requirements such as weights & measures and labelling, public liability, record keeping and batch numbers, bookkeeping … the list goes on.

Apart from all of that, I worked out that they would have to produce (and sell) between 700 and 800 bars of soap per week to make it a viable project.  Last Tuesday they had a particularly productive day – they made a grand total of 18 bars of soap.  These people have very short attention spans, they need a stick of dynamite up their arse to get them to put on any burst of speed, and they get bored very easily.  I teach them one day a week and even that is challenging for them.  If you try to get them to hurry up to increase productivity they get upset and start to cry. They really do need to be treated with kid gloves sometimes. Their project is doomed to failure before it’s even started and I’m beginning to feel very disheartened.  However, if we were to carry on one day a week and use it as a craft day, then I’m all for it.  It’s educational and they enjoy themselves immensely. One girl asked me who would teach them after I had finished.  I told her, “No one, because by then you will be experts and will be able to do it on your own”, to which she replied, with big sad eyes, “Then I don’t want to do it anymore.  I only ever want to make soap with you.”

Awwwwwww.

Thanks to Butchieboy for reminding me …
… so here goes.

Some of you who been reading my blog for a while may remember this and this.  We thought that after the court case that would have been it.  Finished.  But we were wrong.

Back in March we received a letter from his solicitor regarding the incident that that the f*****t was claiming for damages and personal injury.  I mean now the whole thing is getting stupid. It’s become completely obviously that he was never interested in justice and possibly even the welfare of his son, but in his bank balance.  Now it makes sense – the whole way he overreacted from the start, the fact he didn’t want to listen to anybody in case they actually talked some sense, the fact he didn’t even try to find out what happened before passing his own judgement (in fact, he still doesn’t know the full story so his conclusion is based entirely on assumption) … he’s so transparent and he’s making himself look very foolish. Even our solicitor said, “Oh for goodness sake!  He’s just after money. His solicitor is the kind that gives our profession a bad name.”  That kind of person disgusts me.  Anyone who will attempt to screw over somebody else just to make a quick buck is amoral, greedy and selfish, they have no respect for anybody else and they certainly can’t have any for themselves.  I suppose I should be thankful that if he wins, the money will be awarded to his son (who will get it when he’s 18), not to him. I don’t want him to get a penny. He deserves nothing from me but a big fat kick up the arse.  Or maybe a lobotomy.

This Live Sience article is well worth a read. I've always had this feeling that antibacterial soaps are not necessarily a good thing.

I have to have one. I simply have to have one of these baths. The copper one. It would be the perfect ornament for my handmade soaps.

Anyone who liked Samerost will just love Samerost2. You must save the canine friend of your little tellytubby-type guy.

Regine blogs about some bizarre taxidermy in the name of art here.  Worth a look if you’re not too freaked out by it all.

PS I will post an update soon … honest!

Other than blogging about silly websites I haven’t really written a serious entry about anything that’s been going on.  So much has happened there’s too much to say in one post, and quite frankly I simply don’t have the time right now.

On Thursday I have a funeral to go to.  As it’s in Welwyn Garden City I will be travelling tomorrow and coming home on Friday.  Once I get home I have a boatload of preparation to do for some consultancy work I’ve taken on starting on Tuesday, so I can’t see me writing anything before then.  I promise when the panic is over I will start bringing you, my readers, up to date.

Until then, take care.

Hatt baby!! Don't forget to watch the flash video!

My husband thinks this is only fair, after all ...

You know those poorly translated instruction manuals you get with new japanese digital cameras and stuff? Well, thise menu just knocks spots off them all!

Thanks to Halla in 2eggs for this link.

Fan-bloody-tastic!!!!!

This isn't real. It can't be real! Oh [insert deity of choice here], please tell me this isn't real!!!

Fab! I just love this crocheted taxidermy! Via We-Make-Money-Not-Art.

A few thoughts please for Sierrajazz, who has suffered a very hard loss recently ...

Grocery Shopping? Take your rubber gloves! Bleeuurrgh!

So, how do you know whether you've bought your loved one the Valentine's gift they want? Well, chances are you you haven't.

A must read if you like browsing through blogs. So utterly silly it's good. :-)

You are Bettie Page

Girl next door with a wild streak You're a famous beauty - with unique look And the people like you are cultish about it

UPDATE: I did this other similar quiz and guess who I was?

Marylin Monroe
You're blonde, curvy, scandalous, and dead by 36.
You spawn conspiracy theories you're so hot.


Pin up queen, or not?
brought to you by Quizilla

I’ve been following this news as it unfolds.  So sad, all those people.  I’m too choked to comment properly.

Ok, so who has been watching Life on Mars? Hubby and I have watched it since the beginning, but everyone I’ve asked hasn’t been watching it! It’s bloody brill! And so many little twists and turns when you least expect it. It just goes to prove to me that Britain makes bloody great films and dramas without having to rely on big budget special effects in order to get bums on seats.

Well done, BBC! Nice one!

Find out here.

Mine is Twisted Whispers.

So, somebody had their laptop stolen. Not only that but they posted details of said laptop on eBay, along with updates as to the police's progress in apprehending the crims. Heh heh!

This is mine:

Well, it seems that the bottle nosed whale that swam up the Thames died of dehydration, muscle damage and loss of kidney function. Poor thing. It was an eleven year old female, just a youngster. She must have been terrified. This makes me so sad. The theory goes that whales sometimes take a wrong turn around the northern headlands of Scotland when migrating, and end up in the North Sea rather than the Atlantic. They then try to correct their course by heading west, and sometimes this leads them up rivers. Poor girl was only trying to find her way back to her family. As whales get their water from the food they eat, and as there wasn’t much to feed a whale in the Thames, she became dehydrated. I feel so sad about all this, but I know that even if the rescue had been a success she would only have swam back upriver. Had they been able to fly her overland and released her off the West coast into the Atlantic then it would likely have been success, so maybe it’s better this way.

On a brighter note, I heard that the watering can that was used to keep her wet is likely to sell (if it hasn’t already) for £15,000, with the money going to the British Divers Marine Life Rescue.

Thanks to John Scalzi for this little snippet of humour.

I’ve just got back from the hospital.

Some of who’ve read my blog for a while will know that I have plantar fasciitis.  It started a few years back soon after I had bought a new pair of walking boots.  Salamon boots, they were.  They had good arch supports and lifted the toes allowing a good rocking motion when striding forward.  I started having pain in my feet very soon after starting to wear them.  However, I was told to persevere as it was because they were a new type of insole that I was not used to.

Pah!  I should have got my money back straight away.  Having been to see a physiotherapist, I now know that it is likely that boots have caused all my pain, that the tendon along the sole of my foot has stretched so much that I now have fallen arches, plantar fasciitis in both heels, and poor gait and posture.  I feel so angry.

I took advice and stuck with the boots.  I took the doctor’s advice and did exercises that made it worse.  I had a steroid injection which was given using an old method (straight into the bottom of my heel) which is very painful and was described by the physio as ‘barbaric’ when it could have been given in the side of the heel which is less traumatic.  I paid good money to see an orthotist who told me to wear high heels!!  Is it any wonder I’m quickly losing faith in so called experts?!

It turns out that my feet will never get back to normal.  The damage is done.  “Welcome to the world of fallen arches.”  Yeah, thanks, mate.  He did say, however, that I can be pain free and lead a normal life using a combination of treatments.  If this is the case, then why have I suffered with painful feet for the past 2 years or more?  Why the hell wasn’t I referred before now?  I’m pleased that the physiotherapist realises that I might still need to be referred further to the podiatrist.  At last, someone who can admit when they may not be able to help!

Neeaarrgh!  Someone stop me before I throttle someone!

We are both ill today.  We went to my parent’s house for dinner yesterday evening and this morning we were both up early with bad tummies.  I shan’t go into details, suffice it to say that I’m going back to bed now for a while.  Sorry, Mam, but it really could only have been the dinner.  :-(

Well, I’m shuffling painfully off to dog training class in half and hour. The pooch has been upgraded from the foundation course (designed for dogs over 1 year old with no formal training) to the bronze class, because he’s just too bloody good for them!! He he. That’s my boy!

UPDATE: The little git was horrible. He started off well, but when a husky misbehaved and ran up to him he didn't like it being in his face and got aggressive with it. After that, he wouldn't concentrate on what he was supposed to be doing and just generally disgraced himself. I'm not at all pleased. He is going to have to get his act together over the next few weeks, or he's not going to pass the exam and he'll get a big kick up the bum from me, because I'm not spending another £57 to take him through the course again! Grrr!

Ouch.  My feet hurt so badly.

I’ve been out this evening (I don’t usually go out on a Saturday night) and there were no seats to be had in Chicago Rock.  The place was full, and I had to stand the whole evening.  I have a problem with my feet.  I was diagnosed with Plantar Fasciitis in my left foot a while back, and had a cortisone injection in it.  Now I have the same thing in my right foot, and not only that, but I have generalised pain all over both my feet, especially over the top of the instep and up the lateral side, and in my ankles.  This comes on gradually after I have been on my feet for more than 10 minutes at a time.  So, I’m sure you can imagine the pain I’m in now.  I’m sitting with my feet up on the settee, typing this on my laptop, and my feet are still throbbing, especially in the joints in all of my toes.  I just wish I knew what it was.

Still, I have a physiotherapy appointment on Tuesday morning, so we’ll see what they say.  Personally, I think I should have been referred to the musculo-skeletal clinic in the beginning, but then, what the hell do I know?  I’m just the patient!  Pah!

So sad. I had really hoped that the whale might make it back out to sea, but it was not meant to be. Still, I can't help but wonder if we had done things differently the outcome might not have been so tragic ...

We went to see Thunder in concert at the City Hall last night.  Yes, that’s what a couple of saddo’s we are.  Most of the fans were greying ex-rockers who dug out their old leather bike jackets, dusted them off, then tried to squeeze into that and their old worn jeans.  At times I felt quite embarrassed to be there.  Then, when the band came on, the lead singer looked exactly the same and danced like my dad!  Aarrgh!

Well, I swallowed my pride and decided to make the best of it, so I screamed and clapped and sang along with everybody else.  It wasn’t so bad after that.  LOL

Newcastle 0-1 Blackburn

Pah!

Whale spotted in central London. Thanks to vanillasky for pointing me to the online article.

A blog worth browsing through. Some very interesting stuff. I personally like the USB coffee warmer, but I'm also thinking of taking part in swirlygirl's 52 figments.