Mike's Random Muses

Too busy, no time to blog, it's madness here. Can I retire soon? Please can I retire soon? If only........

Driving to and from work today I was/will be listening to the following tracks:

1. Down Down - Status Quo
2. Town Called Malice - The Jam
3. You Wear It Well - Rod Stewart
4. New Sensation - INXS
5. I Surrender - Rainbow
6. You Aint Seen Nothing Yet - Bachman-Turner Overdrive
7. Sweet Home Alabama - Lynyrd Skynyrd
8. Don't Cry - Asia
9. Baby I Don't Care- Transvision Vamp
10. Whiskey In The Jar - Thin Lizzy
11. Sunday Morning - Velvet Underground
12. Stuck In The Middle With You - Stealers Wheel
13. All Right Now - Free
14. All Or Nothing - Small Faces
15. Rat Trap - The Boomtown Rats

Not a bad list for a free CD.

As much of the country supposedly basks in a winter wonderland of snow, I woke up wondering what all the fuss was about. At 6:45am there wasn't any sign of the white stuff in my neck of the woods. I got up washed and shaved, and when I came out of the bathroom, there was about a half inch layer outside and the pond was sort of slushy at the edges. By the time I got into the car at 7:30 the snow had stopped, 3 miles into my journey and there was no sign of snow at all in the surrounding areas. South Lancashire had a light dusting but Merseyside had escaped. We're still waiting, the radio weather girl says more will come by lunchtime. Not quite the whiteout forecasted yesterday, well not yet anyway.

Other areas appear to be somewhat worse off. Scotland (who always get it first anyway), and the east coast where it's not unexpected are probably the worst areas affected. Add to them Peterborough where a radio report says five inches fell overnight.

Whilst I'm awaiting the coming 'whiteout' I sit pondering today's potential whitewash that appears to be looming ever closer.

So today is the day that the Hutton Inquiry will be officially published. We've already had news of a leak that appears to clear our beloved Prime Minister, Tony 'Teflon' Blair, and many of his cronies. If the leak is correct then I can only conclude in my inimitable cynical fashion that it is the whitewash that many expected.

The so called leaked report seems to claim that Blair did not lie, nor did his slimy mate Alistair Campbell. I believe the report is wrong. Why? Well read my lips as it were:

Tony Blair is a politician as was his mate. Politicians lie for a living. If you don't believe me then I'll point you to the labour manifesto, where Teflon Man and his mates said: "We will not introduce top up fees". If that is the case then what was that vote last night all about? Yes, you know the one the one where Tony and just enough of his cronies voted for the introduction of Top Up fees. Add to this that Teflon Tony has a background in the legal profession, as a lawyer. Yes, you know the profession well. It's one, along with the media and estate agents, that twists facts to suit it's own needs. I think that says it all really.

This rambling rubbish was brought to you by a very bleary eyed cynic. Now I'll sit back have a cup of tea and wait to see what the official Hutton report says.

My life has been rated:
See what your rating is!

Nicked from Audrey

A massive e-mail virus spread through the Internet at a rapid clip late yesterday, hitting corporate and home computers with as many as 1,000 e-mails a minute.

The virus, dubbed "MyDoom" by anti-virus software maker Network Associates Inc. and "Novarg" by rival Symantec Corp., hit just after 4 p.m. EST, the companies said. But Matej Sustic, chief technology officer for Vancouver-based Fusepoint Managed Services Inc., said he first learned of its existence a week ago. reports The Globe And Mail

The article goes further explains: The worm can bring computer systems to a near halt by clogging the e-mail server. An infected computer not only fires out enormous amounts of e-mail, it also has to deal with a flood coming in. The virus copies itself onto a computer's system registry, then shoots out the e-mails. It also opens a connection to allow hackers to enter, Mr. Sustic said. "This virus hasn't been investigated completely yet, so nobody knows what that hole is for."

Well, I received two of these emails to my Yahoo account this morning, but didn't open the attachments, the Yahoo virus scanner confirmed that they were infected, but I would have deleted them anyway as I didn't recognise the name of the sender. I also received one mail inviting me to click a link to accept membership of a Yahoo newsgroup that I hadn't asked to join, that got binned too.

Others haven't been so fortunate, this is confirmed by the fact that the virus is spreading.

As usual the message is:

• If you do not recognise the sender of an email then do not click any links or open any attachments
• If you are not expecting a mail with an attachment from a friend, then check he/she really sent it before opening it
• Treat every email with suspicion
• keep your virus checkers and firewalls up to date, if you haven't got one then you should get one

If you ignore the warnings then one day you will hit trouble.

ADDENDUM:

If you already have been infected with this virus then you can now find a tool and instructions on how to remove it at Symantec.

Following on from my post last week about Microsoft legal battle against teenager Mike Rowe and his website www.mikerowesoft.com: It appears that the computer giants have increased their original offer of $10 to buy out the site name from the Canadian.

The BBC reports: A Canadian teenager whose website annoyed Bill Gates' lawyers is giving it up in exchange for Microsoft goodies, including an Xbox console.

On the face of it Mike Rowe may have appeared to have sold out rather cheaply, but if Microsoft keep their word and give, the teenager, training for certification, on its products, then the youngster could certainly increase his future employability and save a shed load of training fees in the process.

It's nice to see someone not being too greedy in their pursuit of their ambitions.

Our manager has decided that we need a pep talk, to boost our spirits, ahead of the looming project, so he did it by email: No reading newspapers at desks, no abusing internet access, pay careful attention to the customers dress codes, etc, etc. The usual I don't mind it but don't abuse it stuff.

The best was yet to come: Deadlines will not be missed, the project will be delivered on time, within budget, it will be a top quality delivery and what's more, it will be the best project the company has ever delivered.

We're doomed, doomed I tell you.

Thanks to Richard at Background Noise for finding this picture.

The water bottle on the water cooler at work sprung a leak today, some quick thinking solved the problem. Two breathable waterproof elastoplasts were stuck over the hole and they sealed the leak very effectively.

Ananova: Eighteen of the endangered birds will be monitored as they migrate from Tasmania to the finishing line in southern Africa in a unique scientific project called the Ladbrokes Big Bird Race.

Scientists, ornithologists and punters will be able to follow the birds' progress via the bookmaker's website and place a variety of bets on the race.

Monty Python should have thought of this one: "ALBATROSS!, ALBATROSS, Come on Sure Someone wants a bet on an Albatross?".

It's confirmed a long held belief that mugs will bet on anything, but at least this time the bookmakers funded research may end up doing some good.

I know I've been generating a lot of fluff type posts of late, but due to project commitments, I've not had a lot of time to write up anything vaguely interesting and the situation should continue for a wile yet. I do have a few ideas for more entertaining or informative posts but they will have to wait until I have more time to write them up.

I shouldn't complain because if this project is signed off by the customer, it should ensure that I have a job in this company for the next 18 months at the very least. On top of that it will give me experience in areas I've not worked in before, which has got to be good for future employment prospects.

The task in hand at the moment is to get all the project design documentation completed and in place by the end of February, which is when the development phase of the project starts, that is assuming the customer finally signs the contract. If they don't sign they will be well stuffed in there particular market area, as they will not be able to get anything like the system they need, in place in the next 5 years, without our product and our help.

Of course there is a catch to me working on the current tasks in hand:- I hate documentation.

I am Gaius Caesar Germanicus - better known as Caligula!

Third Emperor of Rome and ruler of one of the most powerful empires of all time, your common name means "little boots". Although you only reigned for four years, brief even by Roman standards, you still managed to garner a reputation as a cruel, extravagant and downright insane despot. Your father died in suspicious circumstances, you were not the intended heir, and one of your first acts as Emperor was to force the suicide of your father-in-law. Your sister Drusilla died that same year; faced with allegations that your relationship with her had been incestuous, you responded, bafflingly, by declaring her a god.

You revived a number of unpopular traditions, including auctions of properties left over from public shows. When a senator fell asleep at one such auction, you took each of his nods as bids, selling him 13 gladiators for a vast sum. You attempted to have your horse, Incitatus, made into a consul and hence one of the most powerful figures in Rome. It was granted a marble stable with jewels and a staff of servants. At one point you forced your comrade Macro to kill himself - in much the same vein as your father-in-law - accusing him of being his wife's pimp. You, of course, were having an affair with said wife at the time.

Things went from bad to worse. When supplies of condemned men ran short in the circus, you had innocent spectators dragged into the arena with the lions to fill their place. You claimed mastery of the sea by walking across a three-mile bridge of boats in the Bay of Naples; kissed the necks of your lovers, whispering sweet nothings like "This lovely neck will be chopped as soon as I say so,"; dallied with your sister's lover and made her pull her unborn child out of her womb prematurely. Towards the end of your reign, you had a golden statue of yourself made and dressed each day in the same clothes you yourself wore. When you eventually died, the terrified people of Rome refused to believe that such a cruel reign could ever end, and believed you to be alive for years afterwards.


Which Historical Lunatic Are You?
From the fecund loins of Rum and Monkey.

According to this site, when entering my real name, it reckons my ideal job would be a Jewelry Thief.

An article in today's Daily Mail indicates that my earlier report of a swearing parrot owned by Winston Churchill, may well be a load of rubbish. Apparently Lady Soames, Churchill's daughter claims that Winston owned a once grey parrot but never a Macaw. The parrot's current owner is adamant that he got the parrot from Sir Winston.

Whatever the truth, I thought it was a nice story anyway.

The Bishop had asked the children: 'A famous professor once told one of his pupils, 'It's not our abilities or gifts which define who we are, but the choices we make'. Do any of you know who that professor was?'

The children couldn't answer the question but the Queen did. Can you answer it without clicking the link?

From The Daily Mirror: SHE WAS at Winston Churchill's side during Britain's darkest hour. And now Charlie the parrot is 104 years old...and still cursing the Nazis.

Her favourite sayings were "F*** Hitler" and "F*** the Nazis". And even today, 39 years after the great man's death, she can still be coaxed into repeating them with that unmistakable Churchillian inflection.

I wouldn't be surprised if, some present day, politically correct moron, doesn't start a campaign to re-label Winston Churchill a bigoted racist, following these revelations.

Ananova reports: A Canadian teenager called Mike Rowe who added the word soft to his name for his website title, has been ordered by Microsoft to hand over the domain.

The 17-year-old has been told by the company that his site infringes on their copyright and could confuse their customers.

How pathetic does this make Microsoft look? The trouble with big business monopolies is that they love to stiffle creative talent wherever it appears. Noboby on earth would have assumed that Mikerowesoft was associated with Bill Gates's outfit, other than those with severe literacy defects.

Here's a message to Bill Gates: "If you want the lads domain name, then pay the kid a decent rate. Don't blame him for his idea, blame your, no doubt overpaid, marketing executives for not thinking of the name first and getting it registered".

According to this quiz (flash required), as a supporter of my hometown team, I'm worth a grand total of £963,765 if they decided to sell me.

Thanks to Nick Barlow for finding the link.

Then try this cracking site. It might keep you amused for hours. There are options for insults, insulting ways to dump people, instant flames for message board forums, random curses, Impolite ways to request silence (Shushmonger), Shakespeare insults, Stylish insults.......

The Insultmonger homepage says:

Our mission is to raise the standard of insult to an art form. Insultmonger.com was the first insult site on the Internet; and is the supreme resource for great insults for all occasions - from old standards to thousands of Insultmonger.com originals.

Having played around with it for a while I think they have succeeded. Warning much of the language is choice so if easily offended or under 18 don't bother going there.

I am in the flow of these pointless memos now. I have stopped talking to my team. When they speak to me, I am referring them to their mailbox, then sending an instant message. says Call Centre Confidential in his post for 15th January 2004.

This reminds me of the manager I once had who insisted that all communications with him were via e:mail, he sat opposite me on the next desk attached to mine, not more than 2 yards from me. It was a programming job so it wasn't as if we couldn't talk or we were permanently attached to our phones all day. It didn't quite get to the silly point where we would all issue 'Good Morning' messages via e:mail but there were times when it wasn't too far off that point of silliness.

One thing I have to say about management by e:mail is that it works both ways. You always have to remember that whatever the manager says, is now backed up in writing. Therefore if he/she is entirely wrong, then they have no way of wriggling out of bad decisions, you now have the hard evidence. Conversely whatever you say to your manager in writing can and will be held against you if you are not very careful.

At the worst case silliness scenario you can just imagine it, e:mails flying about all over on every possible stupid little subject you can think of, work continually disrupted by a constant stream of one line gems such as:

• What have you got on now,
• What was so-&-so asking when he/she was at your desk,
• What time are you finishing today?
• Will you be in early tomorrow?
• Will we have anyone to cover the phones at lunch time? (we always had cover for the phones)...........

..........ad-nauseum

I have to say the day our email server went down and couldn't be recovered for 3 days, left him in a total tizzy, learning how to talk to colleagues almost left him traumatised, I really wonder how he got into a management position in the first place, I'm left wondering if his interview took place via e:mail. Mind having seen how my interview was conducted I wouldn't be surprised if his had been via e:mail.

The problem, managers using such a technique find difficult to grasp, is that a knowledgible employee can turn the tables and use the technique to manage the manager. A very powerful thing, about using memos/e:mails to turn the tables, is that it can get your name known to senior managers, especially if they are copied in on the memo. This can and often does have a spectacular effect on your future career, even if everything you have ever sent is absolute garbage or just pure drivel. I have personally seen people promoted, off the back of been known to senior managers, because their memo outpourings:

Senior Manager (SM): Old Dick Head down in accounts payable is a good chap, perhaps we should promote him?
Supervisor (SUP): But he's a dickhead
SM: No he's not his name has come to my attention a lot recently, he let's me know what's going on, he's my ears on the shop floor and always has his finger on the pulse
SUP: he's still a dickhead
SM: Oh be quiet and stop your whittering, that's why you've never got on, you are always so negative, just see to it that he gets his promotion this year, I've got high hopes for him.

You've all seen it happen I'm sure, if you haven't seen it you've certainly felt the effects of it. I've used the memo technique myself, in moderation. The key things to send via e:mail/memo: are things like:

• any new ideas you have regarding improving your or your colleagues work practises are communicated via e:mail and copied to the senior managers that count this is done to ensure that you have evidence as to who originated the idea, the fact that it went to senior managers means your boss cannot steal it. In this way you'll get to be known as an ideas person.
• Weekly achievements, this is done to ensure your boss and, those that count, know what you are up to, without having to ask, it ensures that you get the credit for a task before anyone else claims it and, the memo also serves as a useful aide memoire when it comes to review processes.

E:mails or any memo can be an effective tool if used correctly and in a balanced way with other communications, but as with anything, total reliance on one method will always end up counterproductive in the end. The manager, remarked upon above, is no longer with us, he was released in a huge cost cutting exercise that took place 2 years ago, along with 42 others in our then 48 strong office.

When I look back to the time I worked with the "Management By E:mail" manager, I have to admit that he wasn't the worst one I've encountered. I think that accolade goes to the one who subscribed to the "Management By Telepathy" technique. If you have a manger who subscribes to this method, your only hope is to seek employment elsewhere. Get out now

We've just had an email circulated, from security at work, warning of a new Trojan/worm doing the rounds on the Internet:

There's a new "Trojan"-style Internet worm that's been causing some concern since late last week. The worm comes nicely disguised as a message from Microsoft warning that you should update your Windows operating system and directing you to click on an attachment (which is, of course the nasty little worm).

As with all these things DO NOT click on the attachment, Microsoft has repeatedly announced that it will never send out updates that are launched via an email attachment.

Personally, I never open any email attachment that is either unexpected, or from any source that I am not very familiar with.

Way back on 22nd of April last year I wrote a blog about the plight of David Wilson a British lorry driver who had suffered an extremely raw deal at the hands of the Greek legal system.

Well finally, after waiting nearly 9 months for his appeal to come to court, he was officially cleared by a judge in the port town of Patras yesterday. The judges, at the appeal court, described his arrest and prosecution as a complete shambles. Anyone with half a braincell could see that, so why did it take the Greek authorities so long to see it?

The full story of the overturned conviction is available at The independent.

I've had a few hits from people trying to find how to remove the Searchcentrix hijacker, as I didn't give clearer instructions before here is what I did:

1. Download, install and run HijackThis. This will give you a HijackThis log file.

2. If you are capable of understanding the entries in the log file then remove the obvious culprits and any other dodgy entries.

3. Many of you will not understand the log file, if that is the case then read the following link: Hi-Jacking & Spyware Links and Tutorials (12/14/03) and read some of the posts relating to Searchcentrix in the following forum: Spyware - Hijack Related. Both links are on the Computer Cops site. This may help you understand the log a bit better.

4. If you are still at a loss as to what to do then, get an account at Computer Cops and post a plea for help in the Spyware - Hijack Related forum. If you have to do this then you will have to be patient the moderators will help but they are very busy and it may take around a week to get back to you.

5. If you have managed to remove the dodgy entries in the HijackThis log file, then Next, boot into Safe Mode (restart your PC and tap F8 as it restarts), make sure that you can view hidden files and folders and run a search for the below folders/files in bold and delete them.

C:\WINDOWS\system32\spoolsvv.exe (be careful, there is a valid windows file named spoolsv.exe. Do not delete this file)
C:\Program Files\Common Files\updater\wupdater.exe (delete the folder)

6. Reboot the PC, you should now be in the clear. If you still have problems then I suggest the Computer Cops links mentioned above will be of help.

Other general information on hijack clearing can be found here.

Get yourself some free copies of utilities like SpyBot, Ad-aware and Spyware Blaster and use them regularly.

Keep up to date on what is going on out there by reading SpywareInfo another useful site.

If this post has helped you to neutralise any spyware software or hijackers, then I'd appreciate a comment. If it hasn't, then a comment on how to improve the post might be helpful.

So Harold Shipman topped himself? Oh dear, never mind. The only regrets I have about this are that:

1. He left so many people wondering if their relatives were actually victims of his.

2. He didn't suffer enough for his evil ways.

One question: Why bother with the inquiry? The evil swine knew he was guilty and has now has saved the taxpayer a fortune, I'm more interested in the outcome of the Kelly inquiry, than some poor sod potentially losing his job over as a result of Shipman's cowardly act.

This will upset some people but, why can't a rope be placed in the cells of all convicted murderers/rapists/peadophiles? Prisons would soon be empty and it would down to the individual convict whether he made the ultimate sacrifice.

Pholph's Scrabble Generator My Scrabble© Score is: 19. What is your score? Get it here.

Nicked from All That Jazz.

It seems that I have lost membership to the Verbosity webring for some breach of their rules. I would guess the rule I breached was to swap around the link, to a random site in the ring, with the webring list link. I did this so that it mirrored other webring links that I belong to. I did this so I didn't have to move the mouse cursor to much when firing up 4 random webring pages (one from each ring). But I suppose rules are rules and the webring owner wants an easy life when it comes to checking for her code.

I was booted off the ring without warning, I know I should have checked on the rules, but I will not be re-applying for membership, as that is one rule I don't wish to conform to. This isn't a spat, it's personal choice, the owner of the ring probably has enough of a hard time of keeping a check on who has the correct code installed without hunting for variations.

Introverted (I) 56.67% Extroverted (E) 43.33%
Sensing (S) 65.63% Intuitive (N) 34.38%
Thinking (T) 62.5% Feeling (F) 37.5%
Perceiving (P) 51.43% Judging (J) 48.57%

Your type is: ISTP

Nicked from Darren Rowse.

You've seen Pop idol and World Idol, well now Darren Rowse has proposed Blogger Idol. It's not competitive, in Darren's words:

I thought it might be fun to have a 'Blogger Idol' series.

I don't believe in competitive blogging so we won't eliminate people each week or declare someone an outright 'winner' in the end - but we'll have a bit of fun with it and hopefully get people reading some new blogs and making connections with previously unknown people. Are you in?

If you fancy a go, take a look at the link and post a comment.

It seems Prince Charles has confirmed my thoughts, about the stupidity of our Monarchy; he sent a present of a bottle of whisky to recovering alcoholic, Ozzy Osbourne, after Ozzy injured himself falling off his Quad bike. (source :The Herald Sun)

Stupid Boy.

Almost 170 years of railway and postal history will draw to a close early on Saturday morning as the last mail train pulls into Penzance station, the Royal Mail says.

The last traveling Post Office, on which mail workers would sort up to 3,000 letters an hour as the train raced across the country, would arrive around 6:30 a.m., a spokeswoman said. reports Reuters

Given that modern machinery can sort mail 10 times faster than humans this was inevitable, the staff themselves were all offered transfers to other areas of the mail service but 80% opted for voluntary redundancy.

Of course the this move to shift the mail onto the road and in some cases, air transport, would seem to fly in the face of the government aim of shifting freight off our roads onto the rail system.

The Globe and Mail: Farm-raised salmon contain substantially higher levels of PCBs and other potentially cancer-causing industrial pollutants than their wild counterparts, a new study has says.

Researchers at Indiana University measured the levels of 14 toxic compounds, called organochlorines, in about 700 North American, South American and European salmon and discovered that farm-raised Atlantic salmon had 'significantly higher levels of 13 toxins compared with wild Pacific salmon.

I seems that farm raised fish are fed a mix of fish oil and meal made from just a few species of ocean fish, this has the effect of concentrating the contaminants contained in the farmed salmon. Wild fish eat a greater variety of fish species so they do not have the same problems. The contamination is so bad that it is recommended that human intake of salmon should confined to one meal per month or less. Some sources claim it should be no more than 3 meals per year.

Ten reasons for avoiding eating farmed salmon can be found here, along with supporting links to relevant articles.

So, once again human ingenuity and the desire to fatten up farmed livestock quicker and for bigger profits, has found another way of poisoning the food chain.

Heres another one found when I took the Famous Leaders quiz:

Is someone trying to tell me something?



Stolen from Mad Musings Of Me

On the 2005 holiday front we were tentively planning to spend my 50th birthday in Australia, Brisbane to be exact, where my brother emigrated to last year.

If prices stay the same as they are this year we should be able to get a return flight from Manchester to Brisbane for around £580, that's in June. I know it's the Australian winter, but Brisbane should still be like our summer at that time of year.

I've been looking at a few holiday brochures over the last few nights, and have got it into my head that I wouldn't mind visiting Corsica this year. Has any of you readers ever visited the island and can anyone recommend which area is best as a base. We aren't into laying on sunbeds all day long and quite like to get around and visit the sights and sample the local culture, etc. A second choice for a place to visit might be Sardinia, recommendations for this would also be gratefully recieved.

having said all that I doubt if we will make any concrete holiday plans until Mrs C has had her final operation and we know how well she will be to travel.

Well the move finally took place yesterday and is all done and dusted. Network access was restored in a record time for once and I'm back online. The biggest problem now is that my PC at work can now be seen by people in the office, so access to all this sort of stuff is best done outside office hours or in my lunch break.

I've still got a couple of PC's to build and connect up for the co-workers who spend most of their time off-site.

Apart from that all I have to do is find some inspiration for blog subjects, that's not coming easy at the moment.

We're still waiting for the army of "Mr Shifters" so here's a quiz to be going on with, in fact I may have done this one before but what the hell:


You are Form 9, Vampire: The Undying.

"And The Vampire was all that remained on
the blood drowned creation. She attempted to
regrow life from the dead. But as she was
about to give the breath of life, she was
consumed in the flame of The Phoenix and the
cycle began again."

Some examples of the Vampire Form are Hades (Greek)
and Isis (Egyptian).
The Vampire is associated with the concept of
death, the number 9, and the element of fire.
Her sign is the eclipsed moon.

As a member of Form 9, you are a very realistic
individual. You may be a little idealistic,
but you are very grounded and down to earth.
You realize that not everything lasts, but you
savor every minute of the good times. While
you may sometimes find yourself lonely, you
have strong ties with people that will never be
broken. Vampires are the best friends to have
because they are sensible.


Which Mythological Form Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Nicked from Audrey.

We're all packed up with a few links to the network still plugged in. We're now awaiting the men with the trolleys to move all our furniture and equipment, once it's under way, I don't know when our next network access will be. It could be Monday before we are fully up and running.

I spent most of yesterday and early this morning removing yet another IE hijacker. This time it was something called SearchCentrix and an additional unasked for tool bar from Webalize.

I'd noticed a spate of pop up ad's, increasing as the day wore on. Then found that every now and then whilst trying to access some of my regular blog reads that I'd get diverted to the SearchCentrix site instead of the normal MS page that you get when a site cannot be found. Of course it wasn't as easy as just resetting my default options, I had to go hunting around with various tools to find all the registry entries to delete, then reboot in safe mode and remove a couple of hidden programs that were loading on boot up and continually changing my IE options.

I really do hate the sites and ad's that do this, do they really believe that such antisocial behaviour will result in people placing orders with their sponsors? Bastards, one and all. I think I've got it fixed now, the only trouble is that the next 2 days will be spent moving offices so access will still be intermittent.

This move to the first floor and to the other end of site will increase my daily commute by around half a mile. I wonder if I can claim mileage for the extra distance?

?? Which Of The Greek Gods Are You ??
brought to you by Quizilla"



Earl Grey: Classy and smooth.

What kind of tea are you?
brought to you by Quizilla



You've got style and good taste in music and
clothes, but not much else. Well done. You're a
Glam-Rocker.

Which subculture do you come from?
brought to you by Quizilla

All nicked from Brean

Ananova reports: Scores of Americans are scouring a city for a winning lottery ticket worth £90 million after an Ohio woman lost it in a convenience store car park.

There is a lot to be said for buying lucky dips, at least you wouldn't remember the numbers on a lost winning lottery ticket. I bet this poor woman's life will be hell from now on, if she fails to find the ticket, that is.

The singer-songwriter Ray Davies of the Kinks has been shot and wounded in the leg by a mugger in New Orleans. reports The Guardian

This was something of a shock to me today, the Kinks were one of my favourite bands of the 1960's.

I don't know if I'm coming down with something, I just feel drained and too tired to think today. I'm shattered, I think I need a holiday.

Results...: "
Water Mask
You control the lakes, ocean, etc. If you want it
to rain you can make it rain. If you want a
flood you've got it. You control any kind of
water. Lucky you! Please rate my quiz for me
thanks and I hope you had fun


What mask should you wear?(new 19 outcomes with pics)
brought to you by Quizilla"

From about pip. Hmmmmm? I seem to be very water oriented today.

If you are wondering whether I have made a New Years Resolution for 2004, I'm sorry that you will be disappointed. I haven't made any.

The only resolution I have ever kept was the one I made over 20 years ago, that was:

Never to make any more New Years Resolutions. It's a cop out, but I've kept to it and I'm not going to break it now.

You are water. You're not really organic; you're
neither acidic nor basic, yet you're an acid
and a base at the same time. You're strong
willed and opinionated, but relaxed and ready
to flow. So while you often seem worthless,
without you, everything would just not work.
People should definitely drink more of you
every day.


Which Biological Molecule Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Thanks to Breanagh for this one.

I'm back in work after the Christmas holidays, it feels like I've never been away, roll on that big lottery win. Some hope.

Christmas was a pretty quiet affair, we didn't get out on our normal Christmas walk as Mrs C wasn't up to anything more than a 20 minute stroll, so we just sauntered around the estate in the pouring rain to walk off a bit of the over indulgence. New Years Eve was much the same, we stayed in and got a Chinese Banquet from the local takeaway.

The surprise presents for Christmas were:

• a signed copy of Dark Winter by Andy McNab from my step-daughter which I have just started reading. I don't think I've ever had a signed copy of a book before.
• a copy of Pompeii by Richard Harris which I had finished reading by 27th December, it is an enjoyable easy read.

Anyway: Happy New Year to all my readers and let's all hope that 2004 is a far far better year than last year.