Michael's Meanderings

For the last 3 weeks or so I've either been suffering from flu or allergies. Symptoms are dripping / blocked nose, sneezing, cough, itchy eyes, occasional mild headache. Not all of these occurring at the same time.

Last Friday I went to the Peacock Theatre to see Cirkus Cirkor which combine traditional circus skill, with stories involving the human body, in a very surreal way. The pre-show warm up including cast going around the theatre, one of them talked to me. In addition two paintings of a crossed out phone and a crossed out camera were passed around the audience to remind patrons what not to do.

Last Wednesday was the monthly Lates at the Science Museum. Had a spicy chicken and noodles for dinner and then then I got to the museum at 6:20 and the queue hadn't quite got to the end of the building. Before doors opened the queue had snaked to the end of the block! I asked one of the staff and they said there are usually 3-4000 people in the building!

Despite the evening lasting over 3 hours and each talk only lasting 30 minutes, I've never managed to to get to more then two programmed items a night, this time was no exception. First I squeezed in to listen to "A History of Sex Toys" sponsored by Ann Summers which skipped over the first 2000 years with minimal details, to focus on the last 20 years where things changed...

I then managed to catch "Dance, Hormones and Sexual Selection" where research indicated that men with the highest testosterone / symmetrical body shapes were preferred partners, from their dance moves alone (ie actual body shape changed to animation or blurred)

To finish off I sped through the Wallace and Gromit exhibition again, as it closes tomorrow. I left fairly early just after 9 and got home by 10:40.

The next three weekends I going to be away. Next week at Constitution in Cambridge, then Anticipation in Montreal and then the local juggling festival at The Hawth.

So the last two weeks or so at work have been hectic, working as part of the team working on laptop encryption. Usually I might get one or two voice mail messages a week, over the last two weeks I've had 10+ a day! We've encrypted nearly 600 laptops so far and are nearly done!

I re-read the last 3 Harry Potter books prior to seeing The Half Blood Prince at the Cinema. I think they got the balance right, turning a book that long into a movie requires cuts and modifications, and I think it turned out OK.

A week ago last Thursday I went to City Airport at Docklands, just so I could tell how long it took to get there, and to find it. Since I'm flying from there to Montreal via Amsterdam next Tuesday. I also stopped off to see the Thames Barrier an then stopped at Gatwick for something to eat, as it was getting late.

Last Saturday after getting my back adjusted I walked from Hove to Brighton, since it was sunny. My niece was due to bungee jump on Saturday and when I spotted a crane on the seafront I texted to find out where she was. When I got home I discovered that the crane I'd passed was the one she'd jumped from!

I haven't managed to get many walks around Bedelands recently, due to poor weather at the weekend, and inertia! I have however been walking from Hove to Brighton, when it hasn't been raining, so I think that makes up for it. This Saturday I managed to buy some fresh Tamarinds, which I hadn't tasted since I was living in Barbados 40 years ago. The same shop also had fresh sugar cane but it was expensive, and wasn't my favourite even as a kid.

I've just ordered a new bike from ASDA it was only £75 including delivery, but at least I'll find out if I can still ride, and enjoy the process. I haven't been on a bike in about 30 years so... I didn't want to spend a few hundred pond and then discover I hated it ;-)

On Saturday 4th July after getting a deep tissue massage I walked along the beach from Hove to Brighton, since it was a nice day. This last weekend the weather was less pleasant so it didn't try it, though I did take photos of old family haunts. My great grandfather's shop at 74 Goldstone Villas is only 4 doors away from my chiropractor! Then the family home at 12 Connaught Road, and my grandfather's old house at 24 Brooker Street. Some of the buildings around them had changed, but they seemed to be almost unchanged.

At work I've been heavily involved in a laptop encryption project, using McAfee Endpoint Encryption. For all three charities we support all their laptop are being encrypted s access to data on them is restricted to nominated users. So even if the laptop is lost or stolen, sensitive data will not be accessible.

Also on the work front on Friday morning it was discovered that over night a daring rooftop break in had occurred and the Police had to be call. Non of my stuff was touched, but ....

And finally Torchwood, watched last week and will need it's own posting!

Last weekend My parents came over to collect me. Dad took me into town to do shopping and buy a new lawn mower, we left Mum playing with my eeePC. Anyway I had a nice visit, and got brought home by my sister and niece.

Monday's juggling went we, we practiced club passing out side and managed a V  patten.

Wednesday I managed to twist my left wrist, while loading backup tapes into  one of the computers at work, as a result I had to leave early so I could get to the doctors before they closed. Medication was provided and I'm not to use the left hand for 2 weeks.

Thursday was a chiropractic day and after deep massage on my back and hand most of the pain had gone! Magic fingers.

Last Saturday I had another back adjustment (originally scheduled for Wednesday but... Things seem to be much improved.

Yesterday I went to the Cinema to see both "Kung Fu Panda" and "Prince Caspian" animation and "live" action, as per LotR.

Today I got 3 packages from amazon with a total of 10 books, and then went juggling, where I was only able to watch and do some two ball juggling, myself. And now we are up to date.

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Last Tuesday I finally managed to book a ticket to Denver for this year's worldcon, to make up for the high price of flights in August, I've booked a bed in a hostel just down the road from the convention centre.

On Wednesday I returned to the Hawth (where I saw Return to the Forbidden Planet on Saturday) for "Simply Ballroom" a tour de force of the various dances that make up the modern ballroom repertoire.

On Saturday the younger of the two trees in the front garden was taken down, the remaining one also needs removal before it's roots can do structural damage!

My regular Monday juggling class went very well, I improved my club passing to the extent that we managed 7 passes while in a V formation. I.e. the teacher was at the base of the V and the 2 of us were at the 2 tips, it was really cool!

This evening I had my latest chiropractic adjustment. My balance appears to be better and I have much less back pain, so it's all good.

So I didn't get around to updating at home so...

Mon 14th Finally got started on updating The Bujold Nexus.

Tue first lot of SD cards arrived and I tried installing alternative operating systems for the eeePC, only the 2GB cards got reformatted as 1GB! Downloaded 3 ISOs using Torrent.

Thu discovered there was a problem with my heating system. The pump had been silted up with crap from corroded pipes and wouldn't turn.

Fri heard that a colleague of 20+ years had died yesterday! Heating system pump replaced, pipes need doing to at a later date.

Sat after years of back pain I have finally been persuaded to visit a Chiropractor and my first session was this morning. X-rays were taken of my lower back, and an initial exam was made. This on my house mates recommendation.

Mon further SD Cards arrived and they also format to 1GB, since the reader is the only common device, I tried with a different one and this generated a 2GB Card. In the evening Juggling class started, we were able to juggle outside as the weather was fine (if a bit windy) and it was still light. Managed some club passing, but not as good as the end of last term. I managed to break my right thumbnail when we were 3 person passing.

I was in early on Tuesday (to make up for leaving early on Monday for juggling, and got a call to say my dentist could see me that afternoon, so i took the afternoon off and had my tooth looked at. At first it looked like a small chip, but then the whole filling came out leaving mostly hole! Due to time constraints I couldn't get a permanent filling but a temporary one was applied (should last until my new appointment).

and so Wednesday morning I had my second meeting at Chiropractic First in Hove, when I was taken through the examination results, and then had my first Adjustment. It was weird after the treatment was done, then I realised that I didn't have any back-pain!

Today I missed my normal train so got in a bit later than normal. At 10:00am there was a Requiem Mass for the person who died a week ago, which I went to. I'd met him for the first time when he interviewed me for my first job at The Children's Society (which I didn't get!) It was a nice service, 5 staff from Charityshare went, in addition to the many from The Children's Society past and present. An now we are up to date!