Merry Winterval.
OK - should I just list this year's haul of presents? (Yes, it's just past midnight on Christmas eve, but we do the presents thing on the 24th in Germany, or rather, in German tradition.)
Presents given, this Christmas:
Presents received (this Christmas):
** I was skeptical of the guy. Anyone who converts to a religion as an adult is suspicious to me, of course, but the rumours about him endorsing the death sentence against Salman Rushdie and similar issues, I wasn't exactly sympathetic. That said, his faith seems to have mellowed in recent years, and this album sounds very much like the Good Ol' Cat Stevens.
Oh, and I should mention my Christmas CD (see here). As I may have mentioned on occasion, computers hate me, so there's no PDF of the cover art at the moment, but here's the track listing:
* You don't need to look up Shane McGowan on Wikipedia to tell that he's an alcoholic and has no teeth. Seriously - just listen to this one.
In other news, my cat allergy/asthma confuses me. I've had more-or-less the usual symptoms for the past week or so (can't breathe/cough a lot at night, mostly fine by day), but today - with our usual Raclette Christmas dinner and all the cheese and grease fumes, it changed for the better, if anything.
Also, I have yet to get round to posting the screenshot, but I did get OS X to boot on my (entirely non-Apple) Athlon a few weeks ago when I was still in Exeter. OK, so not much actually works in terms of hardware (network, sound...), but just seeing the 'about this Mac' box saying 'Processor: AMD Athlon 64' is well worth a w00t.
Oh! And I may have a working mobile phone again soon. As my current one (a hand-me-down from my sister) has become unusable due its nearly-dead battery, I may get the next one from my sister, as she's just got a fancy new Motorola. The one I'd be getting is a fairly nice Sony Ericsson with a decent camera and all.
Off to Germany for the usual big family get-together tomorrow. Back on the 28th or so. (New car not here yet, so the old Multipla gets to do another 450 km return before I drive it the 850 km or so to Exeter. Shame, really - I'd like to see how the Prius does on the motorway.)
Presents given, this Christmas:
- A Val McDermid murder mystery
- A tiny, tiny cheese garlic grater
- A chocolate fondue kit
- Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion (Oh, the irony)
- The Bumper b3ta Book of Sick Jokes* for my 16-year-old cousin. (I just hope his parents don't understand enough English to make sense of it...)
Presents received (this Christmas):
- An Other Cup by Yusuf Islam** (oh the irony...)
- Some cooking-related books, including one whose title translates as "the Leftovers Cookbook", featuring such important ingredients as brains, crickets, tarantula, kebabs, human meat (the entry on which actually mostly discusses Catholic communion...).
- Douglas Adams' Starship Titanic (the book)
- Some rather nice, sharp, big knives. (For cooking, what did you think?)
- The Hitchhiker's Guide radio series, on CD
** I was skeptical of the guy. Anyone who converts to a religion as an adult is suspicious to me, of course, but the rumours about him endorsing the death sentence against Salman Rushdie and similar issues, I wasn't exactly sympathetic. That said, his faith seems to have mellowed in recent years, and this album sounds very much like the Good Ol' Cat Stevens.
Oh, and I should mention my Christmas CD (see here). As I may have mentioned on occasion, computers hate me, so there's no PDF of the cover art at the moment, but here's the track listing:
- Silent Night by Stevie Nicks
- Nothing Can Turn The Tide by The Albion Band
- The Coventry Carol by Alison Moyet
- Christmas Morning by Loudon Wainwright III
- Auld Lang Syne by The Barenaked Ladies
- Holly Herald by Jethro Tull
- Once Upon A Long Ago by Paul McCartney & Wings
- A la berline postiljon by Herman van Veen
- Mi-Go We Have Heard on High by H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society
- Footprints in the Snow by Jim Rooney
- Fairytale of New York by The Pogues* featuring Katie Melua
- Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas by Luther Vandross
- Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer by Jewel
- Ich wünsche mir zum Weihnachtsfest by Die Prinzen
- Last Christmas by Billie Piper
- Ave Maria by Die Roten Rosen
- Santa Claus Is Coming To Town by Smokie
- Ö Christmas Tree by Ö La Palöma Boys
- All I Want for Christmas is a Dukla Prague Away Kit by Half Man Half Biscuit
- Run Rudolph Run by Bryan Adams
- Dance Of The Sugarplum Fairies by The Vandals
- Feliz Navidad by Wolfgang Petry
- I Won't Be Home for Christmas by Blink 182
- Wizards in Winter by Trans-Siberian Orchestra
* You don't need to look up Shane McGowan on Wikipedia to tell that he's an alcoholic and has no teeth. Seriously - just listen to this one.
In other news, my cat allergy/asthma confuses me. I've had more-or-less the usual symptoms for the past week or so (can't breathe/cough a lot at night, mostly fine by day), but today - with our usual Raclette Christmas dinner and all the cheese and grease fumes, it changed for the better, if anything.
Also, I have yet to get round to posting the screenshot, but I did get OS X to boot on my (entirely non-Apple) Athlon a few weeks ago when I was still in Exeter. OK, so not much actually works in terms of hardware (network, sound...), but just seeing the 'about this Mac' box saying 'Processor: AMD Athlon 64' is well worth a w00t.
Oh! And I may have a working mobile phone again soon. As my current one (a hand-me-down from my sister) has become unusable due its nearly-dead battery, I may get the next one from my sister, as she's just got a fancy new Motorola. The one I'd be getting is a fairly nice Sony Ericsson with a decent camera and all.
Off to Germany for the usual big family get-together tomorrow. Back on the 28th or so. (New car not here yet, so the old Multipla gets to do another 450 km return before I drive it the 850 km or so to Exeter. Shame, really - I'd like to see how the Prius does on the motorway.)