Michael's Meanderings

Last Wednesday, was the last in the month, and so was the night for Science Museum Lates. This time it was celebrating the science of genius.

Arrived at 6pm after getting a 6" sub for dinner. After 50 minutes waiting went straight it.

Renewed my Plus+ membership, which got me a free drink (I had a bottle of Mangers cider usually £3) and this also gives me access to the IMAX and exhibitions for free. It also gives advanced access to the workshops and talks, at the smlates without queueing.

The first thing I went to, and the best thing of the evening, was a demo of The Babbage Difference Engine No 2. The noise was awsome, and even the printer was Babbage's design.

The next talk was about the history of IQ testing, with example of physical tests, some from decades ago, to the most recent.

TruFact the first testing of intellegence, with statistical analysis, occured at the site of the Science Museum over 100 years ago!

I then checked out the Tenori-On demo a rather strange electronic musical instrument. (there are iPhone apps that simulate this behaviour).

And the final item was The Guardian's Science Weekly podcast Live! With A twitter feed broadcast behind the participants. It over ran til just after 10pm so we has to be escorted out, as the event had already closed! Oh yes I met someone fom the ZZ9 fan club!

Over the Bank Holiday weekend I upgraded my PC operating system to Linux Mint 9, which is the third version I've had installed, which means that I've been running Linux now for over six months, possibly even a year.

Mum phoned to let me know she'd just got back from Spain, having once again put out her hip and having to spend most of her time in hospital. fortunately she was at church when it happend so there were a lot of people to rally round and help. (It was almost exactly a year ago that a similar problem with her hip put her in hospital, in Spain.)

On Sky1 there was an excellent two part adaption of Going Postal by Terry Pratchett. Charles Dance as Vetinari was chillingly perfect, though I'd not previously imagine the patrician as a blonde. The Clacks were just wonderful, as was the smoking gnu!

I used my slow cooker to make rice pudding, the first use since I got the replacement pot (rice pudding was the first thing I'd cooked previously too). I also made some bread. I really must get back into the habit of bread making, there is nothing like fresh bread and butter.

And then back to work today!

So what have I been doing since Van Der Filk?

I've still got the cold I had then, despite taking vitamin C. Continued to watch NCIS and watched the pilot of Caprca (which I remotely set to record from Grantham). On the Wednesday (10th) I went to the Hawth to see "One Man Lord of the Rings" a tour de force by Charlie Ross. If you are a fan of LotR then this is a must see performance.

I renewed my Friends of the Hawth and got a spiffy new card. I also booked two more tickets.

On St Valentine's day I went to the local cinema to see The Princess and the Frog, a slightly less traditional Disney tale.

Most of this week over half our department was not in the office, either off sick or on leave. Tuesday was the most stressful as I was the ONLY member in the office! Colleagues from other teams did help out so I wasn't completely swamped. Most of them were back today.

On Monday I got home to discover that the bottom of my new slow cooker had cracked off and the contents of my second meal had escaped! Hopefully I can get a replacement as it's been less then 30 days since it arrived.

Tuesday being pancake day, I visited my chiropractor before getting home to make pancakes. lemon and sugar and maple syrup were both tasty fillers.

Earlier this month I arranged for a survey of my house so that I could get cavity wall insulation and extra loft insulation subsidised by the government. The survey was done today and my front wall is apparently half wood and so can't be filled. The back wall can be done, as can the loft, but all the junk and flooring has to be removed first! So I've spent the last hour and a half passing down stuff that's been up there for about 20 years. I've only moved about 20% so I know what I'll be doing over the weekend!