Funny how it goes – have a period of going weeks between entries, and then suddenly end up doing almost one a day for a bit.

As I said yesterday, it’s been an exciting time – we were at Biscaya Bay in town last night, which was fab. I had a lovely duck main, and then what is probably their speciciality for pudding – namely a trio of creme brulee. But these are no ordinary creme brulee, oh no – how about lemon, raspberry, and thyme(!) creme brulee? Truly wonderful creations, and the thyme one is a lot nicer than you might expect – I’d go so far as to say it was my favourite.

Sold off my old phone too, on good ‘ol eBay. Despite being faulty (and very clearly sold as faulty), it raised over 30 quid. That’s going on for half of what my brand new shiny phone cost! So it’s shaping up nicely for a new GPS in a few months time, when I’ve managed to save some more.

The final excitement was icing the Christmas cake this afternoon, all ready to be eaten next week. I don’t know that I’ve really come to terms with Christmas day being next Sunday, but it is! The cake is not fully decorated, as I’m going to do something approximately artistic on the top (and it will be a very rough approximation to art). Probably a little marzipan snowman and snowballs. Or something.

Anyway, this evening is Bleak House evening – the final two episodes no less.

Well, it’s that time of year. Actually not all my whirls have been social – I spent a good part of this week in Edinburgh with work, although that did involve two rather nice evenings out. I had hoped to catch GoF, but the timings at the cinema didn’t really fall that way.

So last night was dinner with friends. Tonight is the better half’s work meal. Monday is house group Christmas social. Tuesday is my work Christmas lunch!! I don’t know if I’ll want to ever see another glass of mulled wine and/or mice pie again. Actually, that’s not true, because I like both those things a lot.

Anyway, cake icing day tomorrow. The mazipan went on last week, so it’s had a week to dry out properly (otherwise the colour can come through the icing), and now it’s time to ice. Not going to do anything fancy this year – not least of which because I forgot to buy any food colouring. D’Oh! Still, I might put a snowman on top, or something.

I’m feeling very virtuous, because I am almost entirely ready for Christmas. Going to post the last batch of cards this afternoon (plus a couple of birthday presents), then buy the last couple of pressies on my way home. A. is out this evening, which means I should be able to get them all wrapped too.

I’ve got this afternoon off work, to do some bits and pieces, and I’m hoping I’ll be finished in enough time to go shopping in town. Then all that I’ve got to do is to ice the Christmas cake (already done the marzipan). The tree went up yesterday – using the articifical one this year because it’s a lot easier with a youngster around. He managed to smash a bauble even though there weren’t any going on the tree!!! Going for the minimalist look too, so it’s only got a set of white lights on it. My natural inclination is towards gaudy flashy shiny sparkley overload, but A. is a tempering influence!

I suppose the preparation I haven’t finished is the spiritual, but then that’s supposed to take the whole of advent anyway. We’re doing much better with our advent candle this year, but the advent calendars have been complete chaos. I think next year we’ll only have one. I suppose I do feel a sense of anticipation already. To be honest my focus is really on early next year, for reasons that those who know me well will understand!

I wonder if the goose getting fat is talking about the fact that roast potatoes are supposed to be cooked in Goose fat? I don’t believe I’ve ever actually eaten any goose. Wikipedia tells me goose was the traditional Christmas/Thanksgiving fare, now displaced by turkey. Must be true.

Should probably explain Friday’s entry. 🙂

A. was out at a party with a whole bunch of church friends, and the Mick in question asked her what I was up to – would I be sitting in front of the computer? She said I would be, but that I would doing some work (which was true), and Mick didn’t believe her…

He then went on to generally assert that I spend a lot of time on the computer, which isn’t true either; although if I ever get an evening to myself, it’s another matter. He asked what I could possibly be doing, and A replied that one of things I do is my webpage.

Mick expressed surprise and disbelief that I have a web-page (let alone a blog), so A. gave him the address…

I don’t actually know if he has looked here – he didn’t mention anything when I saw him last night. I suppose I could check the weblogs, but life just seems a bit short, somehow. I guess this is the advantage of a blog that handles comments! Not about to do that though.

I gather my fanbase has increased by one.

Welcome aboard, Mick. 🙂

So I’m hopefully having a day trip to Bristol early next year, and assuming I want to be there from 11 until 4, my options are:

The timings column is the timing of the major transport leg, and the clock times are the times I physically exit/enter our house. The costs are guesses, including any extra bus fares, taxes, parking, ….

I know that the environmental damage that flying causes – but honestly it has almost every other criteria in it’s favour. I think even driving would work out more expensive if you factor in road-tax and wear and tear, and that’s before considering that I would be depriving the family of a car for the day.

.. I also love flying. 🙂

There seem to be plenty of sites around and about on “How to blog”; talking about what a blog should and shouldn’t be, how to attract readers, and so on… Some go so far as to compare a blog to a newspaper – “You must post every day”!

For me, this ‘blog’ has always been about me keeping a record of my own thoughts and events, primarily for my benefit, although those who know me may be interested, I guess. I don’t think this is selfish – I don’t have the time or energy to maintain a “public service” or “journalistic” blog, and let’s face it, most of them out there don’t fall into this category anyway. It’s just an online journal, where I can throw thoughts, snippets, and links that I think are worth storing – or that I think one day might be interesting historically. Perhaps it’s a bit like therapy? The other key component is keeping my skills current; although this probably encapsulates the website as a whole. Stuff like working out how to generate an XML feed, how to put on GeoURL data, making it all XHTML compliant…

I think the whole thing of regular publishing is greatly undermined by the RSS magic. I can pull up my live bookmark and see at a glance if any of my friends’ blogs have got new entries.. I don’t actually need to go to their sites at all (except to read them!). I would like a most sophisticated aggregator, but am still waiting….

Perhaps people do start blogs with an aim to being The Most Popular Blog ever, but not I.

All from The Humour Vault

Q: What happened to the Pope when he went to Mount Olive?

A: Popeye almost killed him!

If College Students Wrote the Bible, the Ten Commandments would actually be only five, double-spaced and written in a large font.

Two nuns are hard at work painting the monastery. It is very, very hot and one nun says to the other, “Do you think it would be evil if we took our habits off since we’re working so hard and it’s so hot?” The other nun said, “Well, we’re all alone and no one ever comes here, to the monastery, so it will be fine.”

So the nuns took their habits off and were painting in the nude when all of a sudden, a knock was heard at the door. “Who’s there?” they cried in a panic.

“The blind man,” came the reply.

“Well,” said the first nun, “if he is blind, it won’t make any difference.”

So the nuns opened the door.

“Nice tits!” said the man. “Where do you want me to put the blinds?

David is not feeling very well and he decides to go see a doctor. While he is waiting in the doctor’s reception room, a nun comes out of the doctor’s office. She looks very ashen, drawn and haggard.

David goes into the doctor’s office and says to the doctor, “I just saw a nun leaving who looked absolutely terrible. I have never seen a woman look worse.”

The doctor said, “I just told her that she is pregnant.”

David exclaimed, “Oh my, is she?”

The doctor responded, “No, but it sure cured her hiccups.”

One unfortunate day, three men died in a horrible car accident. They all found themselves at the pearly gates waiting to enter Heaven. St. Peter had just one requirement for them: On entering they each must present something Christmas-y.

The first man searched through his pockets, and found some mistltoe, so he is allowed in. The second man presented a Christmas cracker, so he was also allowed into Heaven.

The third man casually pulled out a pair of panties. Confused at this last gesture, St. Peter asked, “How do these represent Christmas?” The man replied, “They’re Carol’s.”

PS I forgot to mention, I’ve added geographical information to both eutony.net and this page, which means you can jump along to the GeoURL website and find websites that are close to where I live. I should add that there is an added error in the data, so it’s no use turning up at the house at exactly this lattitude and logitude!

Well, the phone arrived on Monday, and it seems to be very nice. Small and sleek, yet also fast to use, and I do like the blue edge lights. I haven’t used it in anger yet, as it’s still locked to O2, but the unlock cable is due to arrive on Monday which will free me to fly in the world of Orange.

I have been carrying it around in my pocket (mainly because the unlock cable is being delivered to work, so I was going to unlock it there), and it feels fine. Of course I’ve yet to see how noticeable the vibrate is, and all that stuff, but so far it’s a big thumbs up!

The camera shutter noise is back, sigh, although it’s loads better than the K700i noise! If I get very excited I might flash the firmware and get rid of it, but I don’t think firmwares for this phone are particularly out and about just yet.

So as soon as it’s unlocked, the K700i’s off to eBay. In it’s state it’s in I’m hoping to get 30 or 40 quid.. It’s looking like I’ll get about the same from my old Garmin, which means I’ll be all set for the new GPS early next year! Well, I say new; I expect eBay will be my friend once again, which will save me another 30 or 40 quid on a brand new model.

Anyway, this entry is 100% avoidance as I’m meant to be finishing off my sermon prep for tomorrow evening.