Disaster in the kitchen!!

Probably the double exclamation marks are over egging the pudding, for that matter so is the word disaster, (it's not like International Rescue was needed) but definitely a case of be careful what you wish for..

This morning I thought next I'll wash the kitchen floor but first I want to give the oven a going over.

It's one of those glass front jobbies by Electrolux ( well actually made in a giga manufactory somewhere in eastern Europe with the word Electrolux transferred onto it when it was about to leave, indeed it could have had any of a dozen names on it and no one would be any the wiser)

The point is it has doors made of two sheets of glass with a space between, but constructed in such a way that any crap can get and run between the panes, you can see it, but you can't get to it.

Now this thing had given us trouble before, it's kept cool with a fan on the top, which costs a fortune to replace and the bearings of which wear before you have time to turn around and then makes the most *horrible* noise you can imagine.

Why they couldn't just have bunged even a modicum of insulation in it thus doing away with the need for the fan *and* reducing it's power consumption is quite beyond me - guess that's why I'm not a designer being paid the big bucks. Assuming this stuff these days actually *has* designers..

back off my tangent..

I open the door, start fiddling with it. Then I *swear* there was nothing intervening, one microsecond there was a door, the next the kitchen floor was literally covered with the tiny exploded remains and with a brown handle sitting forlornly in the middle of it.

And I am convinced there was no intervening time period between the two states.

And when I say exploded I mean it, there was glass in the hall, and under the fridge 15 feet away, and in Johns study, and Dolly's breakfast. All lying there tinkling sadly to itself.

A quick search and it seems this sort of thing happens all the time. And they want 140 quid for a new sheet of glass. Ha! I should coco!

So now it's that quandary, what the hell do you do? I had planned on renewing the kitchen next year (2011) and having a sensible well made gas cooker (yes they even still exist) but we can't do without an oven until then...

scrabbling about.

Pushing to the very limit the fact that I am obviously being smiled upon just at the moment I did the scariest thing, the thing that I have been leading up to bit by bit on my latest iPod round.

Deleting my whole MUSE catalogue and re ripping it in lossless.

Just to save you the stress that I went through it did work, and perfectly. And of course I still had the discs and the backup files etc etc but to delete anything by MUSE is going against God and nature.. I actually had to close my eyes before clicking on delete..

And to prove Christmas really is over this is the guys on an airport conveyor on their way to Korea for the next leg of the Resistance tour. Work, work..

More MUSE news in that they have just won best album cover for the Resistance, well DUH! It's gorgeous..

And pushing your MUSE tolerance to the max, do watch this clip intended to persuade kids to take science and maths, Boy did I take a wrong turning. These guys have to have the best job in the world & I'd happily cut short Christmas..

Oh and in other news we are being very British and ground to a halt and snowed in with at least.. an inch.. of snow.

Some things don't change.

Pattern Recognition

Tempting fate and just *asking* for trouble but...

Yesterday I installed a simple Ethernet network. Went smooth as smooth and a piece of p*** to do. So my computer no longer uses wireless, got rid of that Dlink dongle thing (I thought they were supposed to make good stuff) and now I have a 30MB connection. A bit of a relief after 16K..

I also installed a socket in the living room next to the TV. So far it's doing nothing but the way non-dad technology is going it's bound to be needed sooner or later.

Then with trepidation in my heart I plugged my iPod into my computer. No warnings, no tales of corruption, without hesitation it synced the stuff that the day before it had repeatedly refused.

The ultimate test I deleted all my Killers albums, re - ripped them in Apple Lossless and reloaded them. Done, perfectly, without demur.

And this morning I hear that Lady Gaga will be supporting MUSE at Wembley in September.

Is it me or is there a *definite* pattern emerging here?

Where's a supermodel?

I realise I should have said something about the video yesterday, apparently Lady Gaga is getting kidnapped by supermodels (they are *such* scamps these supermodels these days..) and sold to the Russian Mafia.. (happens all the time). Not completely sure about the isolation pods & vinyl outfits at the start or the bed bursting into flames at the end (I guess due to sub standard Russian wiring practises) but it was *stylish* and the last scene made me laugh.

I did actually buy Lady G's album Fame Monster in the summer but found that even I could not stand unrelenting disco for long, or indeed a single playing.

I gave it to the guys in the kitchen where they turned it up and left it on repeat to see if they could make young Jason's head explode...

In the meantime, in spite of endless reloading, restarting etc my wireless connection on my computer keeps working at around 16KB (you try doing *anything* at that).

Since the advent of the Sugden amplifier in combination with a pair of B&W monitor speakers I have realised how dreadful 'standard' compression on iTunes is but I can't seem to delete albums and rerecord them in Apple lossless without it baulking at around track 4.

And iTunes seems at random to claim my iPod is corrupted and needs to be reset... and then it freezes.

Oh and Brown Cameron et all have gone into dreary overdrive, well there is an election in, like six months..

There's never a supermodel about when you need one.

Reasons for cheer

Guy on the radio trying to think what was good about January..

Well soon it'll be February then it'll be Christmas again, then it'll be 2058 and we'll all be dead..

It's always good to look on the bright side :-)

In the meantime here we may all drown in rubbish. They didn't collect yesterday (thought they were being a bit optimistic) So in the meantime you don't dare bring the bins in, because the second you do they will come..

And while my big wheelie bin still has room in it because I'm a (fairly) good little eco-drone others are hidden behind big piles of extra rubbish bags..

It does make you wonder how countries like Canada or Sweden manage when they have more then two millimetres of snow - even on January the 1st night.

Oh another good thing about January - The Christmas tree gets taken down and put away. I know that sounds a bit harsh (me? surely not?) but I always think it's lovely to have it, it's even nicer when it's gone. It's amazing how clean and spacious everywhere suddenly looks

Thought you might like my new guilty pleasure.. (though not that guilty If I'm being strictly honest)

Reasons to be cheerful

Guy on the radio trying to think what was good about January..

Well soon it'll be February then it'll be Christmas again, then it'll be 2058 and we'll all be dead..

It's always good to look on the bright side :-)

In the meantime here we may all drown in rubbish. They didn't collect yesterday (thought they were being a bit optimistic) So in the meantime you don't dare bring the bins in, because the second you do they will come..

And while my big wheelie bin still has room in it because I'm a (fairly) good little eco-drone others are hidden behind big piles of extra rubbish bags..

It does make you wonder how countries like Canada or Sweden manage when they have more then two millimetres of snow - even on January the 1st night.

Oh another good thing about January - The Christmas tree gets taken down and put away. I know that sounds a bit harsh (me? surely not?) but I always think it's lovely to have it, it's even nicer when it's gone. It's amazing how clean and spacious everywhere suddenly looks.

New Decade

New Decade, New Doctor.

Yup this evening David Tennant metamorphoses into - well I don't know someone with floppy hair who looks like he should be still be doing his homework and in bed by 10.

At first I was horrified (sounds like something by Gloria Gaynor) but as the doctor has descended into permanent shouting, running about and pulling faces new and young might for once = good or anyway better.

To tell the truth I haven't actually watched Dr Who in a while I got so bored not just with the faces, but the fact that no one *ever* stays dead, or locked in a timewarp, or a parallel universe or mindwiped or whatever it may be.

I believe it's also bye bye Russell T Davies.

I'll get lynched :-)

New decade and this is all I have to say. Ho Hum...