Sent to me by my old AboveNet buddy Aida Salah.

Shangri-La is in you mind, but your Buffalo is not

Spent the morning researching what Google hath wrought and fixes thereof. Got my archives sorted after much misery. Lost my blog's original design tho. No choice about it. I'll create a new design tho since life has moved on, my blog design may as well, too.

You may notice that all my years of archives are missing. Thank you Google. Google forced users to migrate to the new blog version without warning us we'd lose all our archives. I guess that counts as a great big F U from Google to users. If they'd warned me, I would have saved the archives onto some other media or location before I migrated my account.

I thought Google's mantra was "Don't Be Evil". I guess that's for other definitions of evil than I know.

Just arrived back from Oxford. I was up there with Alan for the annual ACCU conference. Alan spoke on Network Programming. I was surprised how he packed the room for his talk since his time slot was in direct competition with Bjarne Stroustrup. Some of them were clearly fans because I see them at every talk Alan gives regardless of topic. Anyway, it was a really good talk despite Alan not creating the slides/slideshow he was supposed to have done. He actually (figuratively) kicked me out of the house for 2 days at Easter so he could supposedly create these slides. Instead, he write code for Federation's new front end and he played Sim II. Gotta lotta 'splain' to do there, Alan. For next year's conference, he's going to have his whole talk ready to be sent in by Xmas so it gets on the conference CD.

Anyway - stay clear of the Oxford Paramount hotel near the Peartree roundabout. It's crap and the food is dire! They have the facade and trappings of a luxury hotel but absolutely no foundation or follow through to make it actual luxury rather than just pretension.

ACCU - shame on you for the ghastly Speakers Dinner. Perhaps it was just as well that the food portions were so shockingly small because the food was so horribly bad, there was no temptation to eat it after the first taste. Many of us went out afterward missing the chip stand in Oxford since we were stuck way outsaide town this year - the hotel is at a park & ride roundabout so no walkable alternatives to the provided food. Even the food at the hotel restaurant, lunch bar and coffee bars was indifferent at best and generally revolting.

On the other hand, the speakers were great, the people attending were a really good bunch.

We're eating dinner at home tonight. I've had enough tough, overcooked, sugered and salted food to last me the rest of the year.

This is Andrew standing in front of the British Museum on Saturday. He wanted to see the Elgin Marbles, which he also photographed. We mostly wandered around the museum looking at the wonderful red & black ancient Greek pots, monumental statuary from the palace at Ninevah, and cuniform tablets - which are absolutely amazing! The BM is wonderful for simply wandering around and looking.

On the way to the museum we stopped at The Lazy Dog cafe for really excellent Hong Kong style dim sum nibbles. It was a whole day of serendipity because after finding the dim sum place, we then walked on to find a graphic books and comics store where Andrew garnered a few very choice items ( ask him what they are and for a peek at them). Then we stopped in at the Games shop and were sorely tempted to buy the (anti) Terrorist game complete with balaclava of Evil.

Andrew got a set of miniature canopic jars at the museum and other assorted lovelies. We then cabbed it over to Asti's flat in Bermondsey. The sun was shining, the day warm with a slight cool breeze. Can this really be London with such magnificent weather?

In a sense, I knew it would come to this - spam has so obscured my legitimate email that it has become too lengthy and demanding a task to filter it out anymore, the noise to signal ratio has gone beyond my limit. I've had my IBgames email address for so many years, probably about 15!At this point spam is 99+% of my total mail.

I've given up on filters, believe me I've tried them all, carefully and patiently training them. Useless. I saw an email fly by as it downloaded - from my friend Gordon, with a photo attached and before I could catch it, the filter had eaten it never to be seen again. Changed filters at that point and the next filter found other ways to mangle my mail. I just do not have a spare hour or more each day to go through my email any more and what's more I don't want that m,iserable task. It's not the US this crap is coming through, either. I did some experimenting and the bulk of the crap is from Japan and cyrillic addresses. Why spammers think I read cyrillic, I don't know.

Anyway, I'm moving most of my personal mail over to my gmail account. I hate the awkward email address on that but at least I do get my email there. I get so little spam there - perhaps 40 pieces a week tops, and Gmail manages to trap it all.

It's snowing. And it's even sticking. Heavy snow, big fat flakes and lumps of it. And it's cold.

Blech!

I just washed the windows - inside and out! and polished them to gleaming streak-free clearness. So of course there's a sudden hailstorm! Yowser!

I decided I had to to - something- about the apartment, so this weekend's project was the balcony. We have a berautiful view of the Duke of Northumberland's River/Silverhall park. But the balcony was dirty and dusty and unused and littered with stubbed out cigarette butts. So I cleaned up the litter, washed the windows, bought a really sturdy and comfy director's chair and bought a large rosemary plant in a terracotta planter. I need to add more planters of herbs and tomatoes and flowers and some hanging baskets and another chair and voila! It will be lovely and inviting very soon.

What's new here? Well, no point mentioning my work since it's still a 2+ hour commute each way which sucks up most of my personal time and leaves me exhausted - although my job and my workmates are still wonderful.

What's new is that Andrew is coming to visit for Easter weekend. He'll leave JFK Thursday night and arrive here Good Friday morning and return home on Tuesday. So a short but hopefully sweet Easter/Passover weekend together. The plan is to keep this visit firmly in the relaxed and leisurely category. Per Andrew's request, one whole day wandering aimlessly around the British Museum- yay! This is a wonderful thing to do. Other plans are for sitting on the terrace at the London Apprentice, overlooking the Thames, and drink and chat. A walk to Syon house, perhaps. Basically leave things relaxed and open to possibilities. No schedules, no rush, just float and relax.

Our friends Ginny & Nigel have sold their house and are about to leave for a new life in Spain. They have a posh new apartment on the beach near Alicante. We're going to a farewell do for them on Saturday. We're also dragging our friend Jude down from Leeds to be at the farewell bash since Ginny is her best friend and she needs to be there to say goodbye or more like aloha - till we meet again. We all plan to visit Ginny & Nigel and guest it in the sun. They're good people.

The chiller unit for the Data Centre build-out at work arrived on Wednesday. Great fun watching the giant crane hoist it into place on the new plinth outside the Alpha data room.

Same words - different food!

To start with, be aware that all your familiar brand name foods are generally made locally to a different, local tastes adjusted recipe. This means familiar comfort foods like Hellman's Mayonaise and Heinz Ketchup have a LOT more vinegar than you're used to in the US. Even old reliable Philadelphia Cream Cheese is not exactly the same. Still the best you can get here but not the same.

Two ubiquitous kitchen standbys to also be wary of are canned Tuna and Cottage Cheese.

They do not sell White (Albacore) tuna here. Period. End of story. Ain't available. The stuff they sell in cans here is more closely related to what we'd give our cats. It's not the lovely, firm, mild, and clean tasting Tuna we know and love. Don't even think of buying it. How I miss Starkist, Chicken of the Sea and BumbleBee's best solid, white, albacore.

The other gotcha is Cottage Cheese. I don't know what you'd call the dairy product sold here as "cottage cheese". It's nothing like Breakstone's", that's for sure.

Yes, yes, yes , of course there's scads of lovely food available here. The point is, it's different. And sometimes you just want the comfort of familiar tastes.

Alan and I are going out shortly to start taking photos of the lunar eclipse. It should reach peak totality about 10:45 pm or so here, so I should be awake enough to go outside and get some good photos then. I'll try to get a cycle of shots through the whole eclipse actually.

Oh yes, I forgot to mention - I bought myself a new camera. I love taking photos and I have not been happy with any of the cameras I've been given or used since my old wonderful Minolta 35mm film camera. This new camera is the first that is entirely my own choice. It's the Sony cyber-shot DSC-T50. In bright cherry red. I'm a happy girl.

I also paid off all the outstanding back bills I had except for 2 personal loans. I'll be starting to pay those off with my next paycheck.

Have I mentioned my husband and his lust//need for a new laptop? (For family members, think "Space shuckle" and you will understand everything.) The campaign for a new laptop began in early Dec 2006 with subtle murmurings about how long code was taking to compile. I'll spare you the remaining details.

The object of desire was a "Copper Toshiba" with a 17" wide screen monitor, full size keyboard with keypad, harmon kardon stereo speakers, blue LED lights along the front edge, and all sorts of cutting edge specs including a 200 GB HD, 2 GB ram, Intel duo core processor, top of the line Nvidea graphic card with 512 MG, etc. The people rejoice, the man is happy with his new laptop. We added in a new USB external HD - a 500GB red (lego) brick. Totally adorable - as cute as the laptop is sleek and sexy.

We staggered into a restaurant for lunch afterwards since we left the house only having coffee this morning. The happiest thing besides getting exactly, precisely what we wanted (and for an excellent low price) was that we paid for it - didn't put it on plastic, not going to have to pay it off. We agreed to wait till we set aside enough to pay cash for what we wanted - and we did.

Happy, happy, joy, joy!

I just got a Samsung 20" widescreen LCD monitor. Can you believe this is my first brand new monitor ever and what's more, the first one I have picked out for myself. I really hate when people give me something technological or push me into buying it (even worse!) but it's not what -I- want. (Yes, my husband in Mr #1 for things like that.)

I really needed a monitor because otherwise I just had the standard little laptop screen as my main monitor and recently a 3rd hand 8 year old cast-off 17" LCD wit5h major brightness issues. (As in dark and murky and belongs in the trash bin which is why the other 2 former owners dumped it.)

So, I survived the install and configuration and adjustment process (You do know that "Plug and Play" is one of the 10 Great Lies, right?). Now I just need to get a new computer or laptop - of my own choice, to my own tastes. I would get one now except my nearest and dearest has been putting on a "Space shuckle" scene daily for the past 3 months and I'm so worn down by it that I'm letting him buy a new laptop tomorrow. His former laptop will go to my son Andrew whose laptop died recently. What I realty wanted to do is get a new laptop for myself and give Andrew my Thinkpad which is less than a year old (no, I'm not happy with it because I did not choose it and it hasn't the features I want, but I got it for free so I've used it) I think it is powerful enough that Andrew would have found it very useful.

But my aim at the moment is to pay off debt not buy optional new equipment.

Anyway, I like the new monitor.

Health report - I'm still feeling exhausted and achey. I wish I had a real idea how long this post-flu whatever will take to go away, recover from. Useless to ask a doctor here since most of them seem to have become idiots following the politically correct line. According to them, I probably had a mild cold and my anemia is negligible and I am focusing too much attention on my high fever, heavy lung congestion, low hemoglobin test results, etc. The NHS has spoken. All hail the NHS.

Back to work, I think.

OK, someone asked for the recipe I used so here it is...

2 cups butter                                
2 cups sugar                                       
2 cups brown sugar
            
4 large eggs                                                     
2 tsp. vanilla
                                    
4 cups flour                                         
5 cups blended oatmeal*(see note below)
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. baking soda (also called bicarbonate of soda)

24 oz. chocolate chips (or more, more is good, I used more)
3 cups chopped nuts (pecans or walnuts)(yes, I used more of these, too!)

*Note about what blended oatmeal is...Measure oatmeal and blend in a blender or food
processor to a powder.

Also note - most civilized people with a well equipped kitchen will have a sturdy
mixer to cream the butter and sugar and then mix the dough and a blender for the
oatmeal. We still have a basically bachelor kitchen from Alan which I am slowly
upgrading. So I made these cookies using nothing but a food processor to cream the
butter and sugar and a bowl and big spoon to hand mix the rest.

Cream butter and both sugars. Take time to make sure it is light and fluffy.
Add eggs and vanilla and mix well.
Mix together with flour, oatmeal, salt, baking powder and soda. 
Add chocolate chips, and nuts.
Roll into balls and place two inches apart on a cookie sheet. Lightly flatten balls
with the palm of your hand.

Bake for 10 minutes at 375F. (I baked them for 9 1/2 min at 170C in a fan convection
 oven.)
Makes a LOT of large cookies - like about 100 or so. You can halve the recipe but why?
They will all be quickly eaten and everyone will be very happy and grateful. Nah,
they'll be happy and ungrateful and demand more cookies!

I've been slogging in to work each day, making it barely, clawing my way through the day to get home and collapse from bronchitis or whatever it is I have that the NHS refuses to take seriously. Luckily I survived. There would have been a morbid satisfaction in Alan suing them as - She Told You She Was Sick and Needed Antibiotics- but alas I was strong enough to survive. However, this is NOT how modern medicine should be. This is medicine on the same level as 1 million years ago. Yep, that's about right for the NHS. Bastards!

Anyway, I'm Project Manager on a major data centre buildout for my company. It's to be the showcase model for all our corporate data centres worldwide.

Moving along, Alan's dat took the train down from Leominster to visit London for a few days and see some art exhibitions. We had dinner with him every night. Lovely to see him again but we are now all restaurant'd out and just want to eat home cooked dinners for a while. Which we are doing tonight - shoulder of lamb roasted with applies and shallots and cider and finished off with double cream. Yum!

Alan has 1 week left at his old job and then it's on to his new job - Infrastructure Director for a new Massively Multiplayer Game company. He's really happy to be going back into the Games industry and out of gaming. So to say goodbye he announced he would be bringing into work a huge pile of fabulous American cookies his wife wouldbe making for everyone.

Umm yeah- I'm making them now. The infamous Million Dollar/Neiman Marcus/Urban Legend cookies. I'm in luck because they came out georgous. Perfect. You would die just from the lucious smell. Let alone the taste.

"I have given instructions that I be informed every
time one of our soldiers is killed, even if it is in the
middle of the night. When President Nasser leaves
instructions that he is to be awakened in the middle
of the night if an Egyptian soldier is killed, there will
be peace."
-- Golda Meir

I managed to make it thru today at work - barely. I definitely sounded like I was spreading plague with my awful deep congested cough. I definitely would not have wanted to sit next to me. And I knew it wasn't as bad as it sounded.

The awful strength of addiction (and the morbidly ironic amusement) was brought home to me as I was leaving to go home. I had managed to fairly painlessly reduce a 40+/day cigarette habit down to about 4 (yes, really!) a day. It was working, I was holding at 4 or so a day, month after month. Not even buying any, just using up the American cigarettes my sons brought over before Xmas. Then this -illness- hit me on Friday and I was just too ill to even consider smoking or eating or even drinking coffee. Basically made it through the weekend sipping hot sweet mint tea or spiced black tea.

So I'm back at work today and people are going out for a smoke break and even the thought of it sends shudders of horror through me. And I'm thinking, wow! it's been 4 days since I smoked so maybe I might as well not start back again. The day passed and I was getting my coat on to go upstairs and wait for the cab to take me home (I'm really still too ill to be at work, no way could I make it thru my usual 2+ hour commute each way) - and I find myself thinking - not bad, I have enough time before the cab comes to smoke a cigarette. And a part of my mind was reacting with pleasure looking forward to it! And I thought, am I nuts? With me still hacking away like Typhoid Mary? And why not just give it up anyway since I haven't smoked for 5 days now. And then I thought, yeah but I still have a full pack of Virginia Slims Lights in my pocket! And that mattered to me.

This is nuts. This is addiction. Luckily I am far too ill to seriously consider smoking anything at the moment, no matter my addicted brain's yearnings. My body is digging its heels in saying OUCH! No! HURTS!

Back to sipping Pellegrino water, for me.