Michael's Meanderings

I've been using my new camera to video the Tuesday juggling class, it's interesting to see the improvements over the weeks. I must try to upload the material somewhere.

I've been practicing club passing for the last few weeks and I seem to be getting better. There are two places where everything usually falls apart. Not throwing the club to your partner in a consistent manner, and managing to fail the basic pass to yourself throw. The latter is more common and more embarrassing!

Yesterday's juggling was the last but one of the term (and since a number weren't going to make the last week) we went for our traditional drink after. This time we just went around the corner to the Potters, where I had a half of Guinness and we had about half an hour before we had to leave.

Last Saturday after my Chiropractor appointment I went to the Cinema in Brighton to see "Watchmen", there was over an hour to wait for the film to start, after i got my ticket, so I sat on the beach for a bit then laid down to have a bit of a rest.

Any way the film was excellent, I haven't read the original book since first publication, even though I did recently get a copy of the Graphic novel reprint.

On Sunday since I wasn't around the previous day I did my shopping and decided, as the weather was still nice to take another walk around Bedelands. This time I took the public footpath across the tran track and home via the roadway.

And finally I just realised that it's been nearly 2 years since I joined Librarything.com, my first book No Quarter by Tanya Huff, was entered on 28 Mar 07

I've just added my 3000th entry to LibraryThing. That's not quite the same as the number of books cataloged as I have 38 Wishlist entries. But even so that's quite impressive.

I have the 283rd largest collection on LT!, though I have discovered a number of unexpected duplicates, (as opposed to the duplicates I knew about). I have 80 duplicate works, some may be books I scanned twice, some are copies I've bought by accident and some are because I'm a completest for some authors (Bujold and Wrede spring to mind) and I do have the most books by both authors.

In a bit of serendipity I received SFX magazine in the post on Saturday and according to Dave Langford column therein he too has recently had new bookshelves installed and has had to make some rearrangements. I don't know it he did any cataloging at the same time though.

Yeah! LibraryThing is back. I can hardly believe how much I missed it.

So I've obviously been adding books all evening and now have a total of 2465 and have the 435th largest library on LT.

When I got home from work yesterday my brother-in-law had completely built one of the two remaining bookcases in my living room. That's the fastest he's done it and was possible because he was able to work outside and the warm weather caused the stain to dry very quickly.



I would have uploaded pictures but my ISP has capped my current usage as I've managed to use up this months allotment of data uploading / downloading before the end of the month, so for the next week I'll be somewhat limited.

The LibraryThing site has been been suffering over the last couple of days and has been unavailable. It would appear I've become a bit addicted as I really wanted to add the new books that I'd just shelved.

Oh I just found this on the Bujold Mailing List and it was so appropriate
Critical Mass: the number of books required before it is quicker
to buy another copy of a title then to find your copy.

More wood arrived yesterday, so my Brother-in-Law was able to make a start on adding the final two, floor to ceiling bookcases, in the back room / library / lounge. In addition he installed a nice small shelf, above the door which will hold about 30 paperbacks. A most excellent use of space. Photos to follow hopefully.



I've nearly completed cataloging all the books on the ground floor (current total 2369, I'm now in the top 500 libraries on LibraryThing, out of 215,981 members, currently at number 476!)

I just realised I haven't posted since last Sunday! Monday being another Bank Holiday I was off work, so I went to see "Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At Worlds End". It followed from the earlier movies in style, having little plot but lots of cool one liners.

When I got back I managed to catch Mythbusters: The Pirate Special!

On Tuesday, and for the rest of the week, I was working from a different office, that is the NSPCC head office, where I used to work until we got our own office. Changing backup tapes for 20 servers can be a real pain!

When I got home a package arrived with 5 books from Amazon (which I then added to LibraryThing ;)).

On Wednesday I got 4 packages from Amazon with a total of 11 books, (you don't get any packages from Amazon and then along come 4 at once!)

A work related book was delivered to our main office, from Amazon, so I popped in to pick it up. Only to discover one of my team mates (Operations) was leaving that day and we were going for drinks at lunch time. So There and Back Again...

There was a good deal at the pub £3.99 for a Curry (Lamb Rogan Josh) and a pint of Cider! Bargain..

Friday picked up a book (Wizards at War by Diane Duane) and a comic at Forbidden Planet (and nothing at Murder One) before heading home, where I went also straight to bed (9:35pm)

And that's probably enough for now.

Today is my Mum's birthday, so the three of us left at noon (in my sister's car), with an expected arrival time at my parents / sister's family abode of 12:30 but stopping for petrol and having it start to rain, slowed us down a bit, so we arrive a bit later than anticipated.

First thing first, was the present giving, which was over quickly and then there was a little bit of unexpected excitement. We were to have a fondue lunch and a bit of a spill occurred so we had an unexpected fire! But before the fire alarm started screaming my brother in law leapt into action and got things under control.

After this the meal was a bit of an anti-climax but tasty.

Back home I continued to add books to LibraryThing until I reached the two thousand books (which was Shards of Honor). I've also uploaded 332 scanned covers too! I've borrowed the scanner from my sister as I don't have one myself

I got to carry over some leave days from last financial year, so I decided to use one of them on Friday to add to the Bank Holiday to give a long weekend.

Mostly I used it to catch up on TV episodes I'd previously recorded on Sky+ (including a Town Called Eureka, Shawn the Sheep) a few programs live (including Psych, Hay on Sky, Have I Got News For You, Balderdash & Piffle) and on mailing list email I hadn't read for a week. (I still haven't caught up yet)

I also added further books to my LibraryThing catalogue. My brother in law helped by finishing off the job of making my "new" fire clubs, which I've been working on for the last few weeks, but just couldn't get around to finishing.

When I tried them they worked fine, now I just have to get some paraffin....

It's been rather warm over the last few days (30°C in the office at the moment, no air con!) though the hay-fever seems to be under control.

Saw the latest Doctor Who on Saturday, after getting back from the Circus. It was very impressive to see a real time story (as per Jack Bauer / 24) 42 minutes before crashing into the sun....

Monday did some more club passing, once again with two different people (but not at the same time!)

Last night I saw the last broadcast of "Blood Ties" prior to it's US hiatus. I suspect I'll actually get to see the rest on Living TV before the Americans get to see the remaining episodes.

And finally my new bookcases are now full with books that have been catalogued on LibraryThing and I'm now stating on the other bookcases in my "living room". Count is now 1674 books catalogued. While not in the top 50 libraries (yet), I have got into the list of books added in the last 24 hours, nearer the top than the bottom!

Since I discovered Blood Ties was being turned into a TV series I thought I'd re-read the series that inspired it. I've just finished the last short stories. Which Tanya Huff has said will be the last in the Vicky Nelson series. I hope that she gives in to the lure of future short tales.

Yesterday two books arrived from Amazon.
This evening I visited Forbidden Planet (as usual) and bought two books, didn't buy anything at Murder One and when I got home there was another Amazon package with another 2 books.

Check LibraryThing for details. I've now entered over 1500 books and nearly all the books in my new book cases. Once I've done them it's going to be a little harder getting access to the remaining books.