Michael's Meanderings

The organisation I am still working for (a year after I started) is now South East CSU (Sussex IT Services).
One of the advantages of working in Worthing as I am travelling in the opposite direction to everyone going to London. As a result I have got a seat every day (apart from a couple of exceptional times).
Got the new Mercy Thompson anthology "Shifting Shadows by Pat Briggs" from Audible
For the first time I got on the wrong train (in the morning) and was travelling east (rather than west). Got off at Berwick and got in to the office an hour later than intended!
D got a second apple tree and vine, and i dug the holes to plant them into. Told him to stop buying any more trees!
Brighton Reading Group discussed Pattern Recognition by William Gibson (I didn't finish reading it) at Earth and Stars pub
Bathroom tiled so all walls and floor of bathroom covered (no longer any bare floorboards).
Went to the dentist, got filling in bottom right incisor.
Went Ballroom Dancing every Tuesday with Social Dance on the last Saturday of the month with a practice night the Friday 8 days prior to this.
Visited my family for the weekend (with a laptop issue to solve).
New Nook Simple Touch with Glowlight arrived unexpectedly. Works perfectly. However discoved that most of my books are on the US site with the Nook accesses the UK one.
Contacted support to get this resolved to no avail (Nook iOS app connects to US site)
New steel bath is finally installed (apart from the overflow)
Completed pottermore.com to date (end off Goblet of Fire)
Saw "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in 3D"
Contract extended to end of March! This can of course be cancelled at any time by either party but still.. Nice to have some income while it's disappearing on bathroom refurbishment.

I've been for a couple of short rides on my bike, I need to get some training in how to use 18 gears properly.

Our offices are in the process of being repainted (at least the halls, stairs and toilets), so there is the smell of fresh paint in the air.

The weather has turned and we are no longer even able to pretend it's still summer, I saw my first conker earlier this week. I re-potted some plants over last weekend, hopefully they will stay alive.

The laptop encryption project is still ongoing, but has reduce considerably, and should finished in by October.

Last we I was on an "Embracing Equality and Diversity" training course, mandatory for all staff. didn't really learn anything startling, but I did get to see colleagues away from work (and it was on one of the last sunny days, and had a walkabout during lunch.)

I ordered a EZReader Pocket Pro earlier this month and it arrived on Tuesday. It cost $199 (£150+VAT) as a promo launce price during September. It's an ebook reader with eink and uses a kinux kernel, it supports most open formats (and some closed ones). It can be charged via USB cable to a PC and came with a free 1GB SD card with 300 books reinstalled. So far I've read one and a bit books on it, it's about the size and weight of a paperback.

Last Sunday I went to see "Aliens in the Attic" at my local cinema, and on Monday I went to the Science Museum for a talk by Sir Tim Berners-Lee on The Web Revealed a reminiscence on 20 years of the Web. This cost me £5 but was well worth it.

This weekend we're celebrating my neice's 18th birthday! It seems hardly any time ago she was a baby, now she's as tall as I am (nearly!). Report after the fact.