http://blog.electricquaker.co.uk Home to the Tongue-in-Cheek Ramblings Of Mister JTA Wed, 19 Nov 2008 10:41:20 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Been listening to a lot more Billy Joel lately, especially at work (not least because I keep forgetting to take my MP3 player to work, so I'm using the N95 instead.). I do concentrate better with music in the background, as long as I know it relatively well (otherwise I have ... http://blog.electricquaker.co.uk/2008/11/19/update-in-the-manner-of-an-unhelpfully-titled-pile-of-generic/ ...to those who have leather jackets, shaved heads, and 'L-O-V-E' and 'H-A-T-E' tattooed over their knuckles: Don't wear chunky gold-coloured signet rings on your little finger. A pair of fists that proclaim 'LOVE' and 'HAT' are never going to look cool. Just a thought... http://blog.electricquaker.co.uk/2008/11/14/a-word-of-advice/ Today's blog post title comes from a nice little essay by Ferrett, whose LiveJournal I read. Since it's less than a fortnight since I was spectacularly failing at changing the washer in a tap (although, to be fair, a plumber had previously said the whole thing was seized; I was mainly ... http://blog.electricquaker.co.uk/2008/11/12/if-tyler-durden-knew-how-to-change-a-tap-he-wouldnt-have-to-punch-people-in-the-face/ Every day this past fortnight that I have woken up I have done so with my left knee killing me and my back playing hob so as not to feel left out. After a remarkably mild year for that kind of thing, I'm out of practice at the whole "constant ... http://blog.electricquaker.co.uk/2008/11/07/must-be-winter/ OK, so I went all quiet again. Profuse apologies. On the other hand, I came down with Fresher's Flu good and hard, through my usual tactic of stressing out, sleeping badly and consequently waking up with an immune system that saw an infection and went in like the US Marshalls*. Consequently ... http://blog.electricquaker.co.uk/2008/10/22/updates-woo-c/ Fascinating set of responses to the Name The Song meme. I will do it again, when I have a moment, but I'll do it by Random-from-a-specific-set-of-MP3s, not Random From All, which I think is why a few got missed, because even I reckon they're hard. Still, for those of you who ... http://blog.electricquaker.co.uk/2008/10/02/well-since-youve-all-stopped-guessing/ Haircut: Well, first up I've just had a haircut. Was surprisingly quick, and fairly painless. I don't get on with haircuts, as a rule. Unless I know the barber I never have anything to say, and I just sit there gawping at my own reflection and wondering if I'm moving my ... http://blog.electricquaker.co.uk/2008/10/02/multiple-things/ ...Fun and frolics yesterday when Orange put a bar on my phone, to prevent me from communicating with people. A service provider that does this when I've not paid them for three months I can deal with. A service provider who does this when only the other day I gave them ... http://blog.electricquaker.co.uk/2008/09/28/meanwhile/ But, y'know. I figure this will interest / infuriate at least, er, three of you. So there we go. It's one of those memes that has Rules, which I'll chuck up for your benefit at the start, so you can work out what you're doing, even if that turns out ... http://blog.electricquaker.co.uk/2008/09/27/ive-been-good-and-not-uploaded-a-meme-fail/ It is currently Thursday. And I am still amazingly tired from last week. Mainly, I'm tired from last week thanks to all the driving I did, which I'm actually finding fairly tiring. [Out of curiosity, I just ran all my destinations through Google's patent Evil Maps Of Global Domination (beta), ... http://blog.electricquaker.co.uk/2008/09/25/ive-got-to-start-listening-to-those-quiet-nagging-doubts/ I would strongly reccommend that, excepting those few of you who may have reason to believe I'd go out of my way to help you, you all do the sensible thing and keep your distance. Otherwise, I'm sorry to say, I shall be very much responsible for my actions. That is all. http://blog.electricquaker.co.uk/2008/09/16/service-announcement/ My Facebook status, yesterday (following the frankly imbecillic report on the BBC's website about New Facecoke, to which I have to struggle to react with anything but bile) was something like [JTA] is genuinely confused by the way people are objecting to New Facecoke. In spite of that being my status, I ... http://blog.electricquaker.co.uk/2008/09/12/and-another-thing/ Well it's been a busy couple of weeks. (I offer this mainly as a reason for why I've not managed to update anything, rather than as a warning that a massive post is on its way; you're safe to continue reading!) I've contrived to buy a car, and to drive it ... http://blog.electricquaker.co.uk/2008/09/12/no-clever-title-for-me/ Quick post before I get back to whatever desk I work at on Friday afternoons! I read a lot of webcomics, partly because it helps me to work out what day of the week it is while I drink my morning coffee (For example; if it's a day without a new ... http://blog.electricquaker.co.uk/2008/08/22/wow-this-is-just-frying-my-brain/ ...and other good ways for an optician to describe the glasses you’re wearing. Buzzed over to D&A this morning (I say "buzzed;" I was there until the bank shut, which is going to slow everything down a bit). It seems there's been some very minor shift in my left eye, but ... http://blog.electricquaker.co.uk/2008/08/16/pretty-much-spot-on/ ...is on the rise." D'you ever get one of those days where everything seems to be going well, and then it all goes arse-over-tit? (Usually, we call these 'Thursdays') This isn't one of those days.* Rock! Indeed, having Passed My Driving Test, and had someone buy me a beer during a working lunch, ... http://blog.electricquaker.co.uk/2008/08/13/some-kind-of-harmony/ ...is the world finally growing wise?" I have passed my driving test. Huzzah! Over slightly-more-than-40-minutes-because-the-traffic-in-town-was-horrible, I got no majors (obv), and lone minors in: Footbrake control (coming through the massive jam in town), Moving off control (thank-you right turn out of Waunfawr), Following distance (down, I suspect, Penglais Hill), Undue Hesitation, and Junction Observation (I have ... http://blog.electricquaker.co.uk/2008/08/13/i-cannot-believe-my-eyes/ For those of you some way behind the news, it was widely reported earlier this month that a frankly crazy woman in the USA had spent frankly crazy ammounts of money to get five clones of her dead ugly dead dog, which once, er. Bit a sheep, or did something ... http://blog.electricquaker.co.uk/2008/08/11/hyper-linkage/ But I have to say I'm enjoying the weekends a lot more now that they're an interlude of time off, rather than just another part of the vast expanse of nothing that forms the bulk of my existence. Of the five people I've spoken to on the phone this week, three ... http://blog.electricquaker.co.uk/2008/08/10/another-weekend-gone/ Astonishingly, I did actually find myself having to think for this one. So I'm unecessarily pleased with my result. Your result for How good of a Calvinball player are you?...Your Grade= A++ Amazing Calvinball knowledge and strategy! 91% Game_Knowledge and 89% Game_Skill! Amazing. You are part of the ... http://blog.electricquaker.co.uk/2008/08/10/mansbridge-i-await-challenging/