Planet OxIRC

Windows 7 is actually pretty decent so far. Nothing too much bad to say about it, and it's pretty stable and has surprisingly good hardware support for a release candidate. I've run one game under it just fine (Battlestations Pacific) and to the best of my knowledge my other two current games (Arma 2 and Eve) should also be fine once they've finished downloading. AVG doesn't seem to work, but given how tightly antivirus software is tied to the OS version that's not too surprising.

Windows Live, on the other hand, can suck my nuts. Annoying piece of crap.

I managed to get myself Trojan'd and AVG can't fix it. I can't even boot into safe mode. Oh well, it's a good idea with Windows to burn it all down and reinstall every few years anyway, so I figure it'll be a good chance to ditch XP and try out the Windows 7 release candidate; I hear it's pretty shiny compared to Vista's initial release.

It's been a long and busy week, and not a little frustrating. I've been on the early shift at work and made my 8:30am start every morning... until today, when I slept in a little. I've done some identity activism radio appearances, and lots of Lib Dem politicking. OTOH, I've also had a night round at tartful_dodger's place, and spent a pleasant few hours down the pub with co-workers last night.

Tonight I will be skipping my customary Currybeer in favour of catching up on a few things; tomorrow I'll be heading to FAB Caffor a munch with greyeyedeve, and perhaps Wagamama and the cinema afterwards. On Sunday I'll be out campaigning.

I am now the proud owner of a Trek 7.3 bike. It's been a bit of a fortunate coincidence really...

I told Bicycle Doctor that I wanted to test-ride it, and had been told by them previously that they didn't have any 22.5" frames in stock. They said they could frig up an 18" frame with raised saddle and handlebars which would be good for a test-ride but not to purchase, and would call me when it was ready. I got a call back about twenty minutes later - somebody had ordered in a 22.5" frame Trek 7.3 and it was waiting to be tuned up for collection. I was told I could take it for a quick spin if I got there before it was collected.

The next day, I took it for a brief spin in a torrential downpour, and really liked it. The sitting position is more upright than my old bike, which feels more comfortable. The handlebars are padded and widened at the end, just where they got sore when riding on the old bike. It's a bit weird being higher off the road, and the wider tyres are taking a bit of getting used to, but they're still 700C diameter, which makes for a nice fast ride.

On returning from the test ride, I told the shop guy that I wanted to buy one. I was told that the person who'd ordered it had decided not to purchase after all, and so I could have the very bike I'd just test-ridden, the very next day. I ordered a pannier rack and mudguards, and an über D-lock, and had some lights thrown in for free.

On Tuesday I left the office at 5pm to collect my bike. Rush-hour traffic meant that I didn't get to the shop until 5:55pm, and the shutters were already down - they'd closed early. I was really upset by this, but then collared one of their employees coming out of the side door and asked him to fetch my bike. He said he couldn't process the sale since the tills were off, and I handed him the receipt which said I'd already paid in full.

So yay, new bike!

FFS THIS IS NOT A FUCKING U-TURN OR RETREAT OR ANY SUCH OTHER FUCKING THING YOU JOURNALIST FUCKING RETARD SHITBAG MORONS

THE GOVERNMENT HAVE SAID THAT ID CARDS ARE VOLUNTARY FROM DAY ONE. THEY WERE LYING THEN AND THEY ARE LYING NOW

GET THAT THROUGH YOUR THICK FUCKING HEADS AND STOP SUCKING ALAN JOHNSON'S COCK WHEN HE'S JUST AS MUCH OF A LYING AUTHORITARIAN CUNT AS ALL THE FUCKERS WHO PRECEDED HIM

Now that's car repair with style! Good taste in whisky, too...

Last night, I dreamt that I'd rescued three small black kittens.

I then kept dreaming of waking up because a small black kitten was crawling on my head; I reminded myself, in the top-level dream, that the kittens were bought in a lower-level dream, and then dreamt of falling back to sleep, and dreaming of the potential pungency of a house filled with unrestrained small kittens.

I suspect I need to buy a fan, though since the CPU fan in the Mac Mini on the other side of the room is enough to make getting to sleep harder, the fan would have to be implausibly silent.

Hmm. I've noticed a few gaps in my bookcase, and I can't quite remember to whom I've lent what.

cartesiandaemon has my copies of "The Well of Ascension" and "The Hero of Ages"

ceb has the two Cat Valente books

pseudomonas has quite a lot of books and I didn't keep a record of exactly which; certainly includes "Red Seas Under Red Skies" and "Snake Agent".

Somebody must have my Sarah Monette books, but I'm not sure who.

I ought to lend hilarityallen "Dragonfly Falling", the second volume of "Empire in Black and Gold"

In the other direction, I have and have read naath's "Glorifying Terrorism" and despotliz's "The Graveyard Book" and "The Gone-Away World"; I have and have not read Jon Amery's "The Twilight Watch" and Liz's "The Fortress of Solitude".

If you have borrowed books from me, or have lent me books which aren't on my list, would you mind leaving a comment?

You might remember that, a few months ago, some muppet wrote off my bike quite spectacularly.

Courtesy of the University's cycle to work salary sacrifice scheme, I now have my mitts on one very shiny bike. It is a hand-built frame by Bob Jackson of Leeds, built to order into a complete bike by Oxford Cycle Workshop, who have really done a stellar job.

Some photos (more and better later).

Edited so that the bike write-off link is no longer a photo of Ben Goldacre (whoops!)

Well, that was a hell of a Glastonbury. On Thursday, torrential rain looked like it was going to make the festival a muddy and miserable one. However, the weather brightened up on Friday, and made for a glorious if slightly overcast three days. Dry, and not too hot. Perfect. I took lots of photos, as always. I skipped Bruce Springsteen, alas - but to see a rather intimate gig in the John Peel tent with Jarvis Cocker (right), which was awesome.

I've been decorating cloth bags recently(ish) and I'm quite pleased with what I've done.
Pictures are here.

I was especially pleased to discover that instead of having to iron each 10cm square for 5 minutes, I could put several bags at once in the oven for 5 minutes.

Introducing venusintransit.

Everybody go friend me if you want to keep track of what's happening. There might be the occasional personal post in here while I'm away but mostly I'll be posting in the other journal.

As it says in that one, I'm all set now. The only thing I am pondering currently is if I want to make it a paid journal so I can more easily put pics in the post (I believe that the LJ photo thing is a paid thing, right?). If anybody want to contribute a couple of months LJ time to save me making the decision then feel free. ;-)

Oh, and a last note on the travel journal. Part of the point of it is to keep it separate from this one. So I'm not going to be linking usernames and such like. This journal is easily enough findable but I might as well try to keep them as separate as possible. Don't let that restrict you though. I welcome comments and anything else you want to put on there. :)

And since its not really relevant for the other journal I thought I'd put my amusing milkshake related travel story here. I decided to go for a milkshake in shakeaway as I often do. Often enough that they know me in there by now... I was chatting, I mentioned my holidays and one of the girls mentioned they were doing a very similar but longer trip and so there was much excited chat about stuff. And they've demanded I send them lots of postcards so they can stick them up on the wall and they've told me I have to come in for a milkshake when I get back and tell them all about it. It made me quite excited about it all really. :) Also quite amused that I got their address written down with best wishes and smiley faces on the back of one of their menus. I love oxford. :)

You know, you really would think I'd have more sense than to go out for a walk to find stuff to make for dinner when there's a thunderstorm brewing. I feel like I swam home.

On the plus side, now I've got the stuff for sausage and chip butties for dinner :)

On Sunday, hsenag, Alex and I went to Kentwell Manor where they are having their Great Annual Recreation of Tudor Life. Over the course of each year they recreate a year from the Tudor period; over various weekends the place is populated by fully costumed re-enactors. This year they are doing 1535, when Henry VIII had just married Anne Boleyn.

I found it fascinating, and it's something I'd like to participate in in future, though I'm not sure when I would find time or money (and I'd probably prefer to be "posh" but would be required to be not). The photos we took are here. The Tudors were all very happy to talk about what they were doing, and talked to us as if we were also from their period but perhaps didn't know about their particular lifestyle.

If you get a chance to go, and like that kind of thing, I'd heartily recommend it.
(They do WWII ones too, and I hope to persuade the family to go to that too!)

So I'm off travelling and I intend to blog about it. I have decided to stick with what I know for blogging (ie LJ or similar) but am considering a new account for my travel blog so that I can give it to work people and others without worrying about them getting to my personal stuff trivially.

I'm trying to decide what a cool name for this second account would be though and so thought I'd open it to the floor for suggestions. there won't be a prize except of course for some kudos and the fact that every time you look at my travel exploits you'll see your suggestion there. That's an awesome prize really isn't it? :)

So go for it... all suggestions welcome...

For the first time ever in my life, after my bank has (once again) caused me hassle in trying to buy things online (in this case my trip to Iceland for fanfest), I'm considering getting a credit card. I don't anticipate carrying a balance as a matter of course, it's more for hotels and plane tickets - but I also wouldn't mind having it available as a line of credit should I get laid off, so not having a huge APR would be nice. My credit rating should be good, with the caveat that I probably don't have much credit history, not having had a credit card or bank loan before (unless anything I had jointly with LaVera might be in there). I do pay my rent on time every month but I don't know if that makes it into credit history.

Holly recommends Capital One. Any recommendations or ideas from anyone else?