Blue and Yellow.

After sharing my workspace with y'all yesterday, I suppose that it's only fair to show how I spend the drive to and from work. Now admittedly the bluebells aren't eight feet tall and this wasn't taken from my car, but I drive for 25 miles past fields of rapeseed and bluebells. I do love this time of year (though my Asthma doesn't).

Long Weekend?

Hurrah! But let's just remind ourselves of what work looks like, shall we...?

Hm.

There are some days that I find it really hard to blog at all, but there are others when (drunk though I may be) I feel myself compelled to say: "WTF?"

Seriously, read this. There is a war going on, and someone died. Collateral damage, friendly fire (or whatever you want to call it) will happen in a war. That's whats occurs - it's a war. Yet this someone was doing an honorable thing in plain sight, and by all accounts, the Italians did nothing wrong.

And yet someone died... but it's all OK?

It's a war. Fuckups happen, but someone is to blame. Resolved of culpability? Pah!

Tests.

Tests seem to be the "in" thing on Blogs at the moment. My last two posts are testimony to that.

Light hearted as they may be, I am very concerned about the result of this one. Or rather, the Implicit Race test you'll see as an option once you've agreed to the disclaimer.

I'm not one to automatically believe the result of any online questionnaire, but racism has become one of society;s biggest taboos (and justifiably so) that any indication that we may fall foul of this particular misdemeanor is immediately both worrying and fascinating - that's why I took the test, after all.

Am I racist? I might be (though I feel I am not), but that's neither nor there - what concerns me is that racism has become such a hangup that by respecting the ideology that we must not be, we become super-observant of race, and fulfil our own fears that by being a different skin colour we are somehow different.

Hmmm.

Taken from the same resource as the thingummies in these fine people's blogs.

How Old Do You Act?

30 Under 12: You are a kid at heart. You still have an optimistic life view - and you look at the world with awe. 13-19: You are a teenager at heart. You question authority and are still trying to find your place in this world. 20-29: You are a twentysomething at heart. You feel excited about what's to come... love, work, and new experiences. 30-39: You are a thirtysomething at heart. You've had a taste of success and true love, but you want more! 40+: You are a mature adult. You've been through most of the ups and downs of life already. Now you get to sit back and relax.

What Age Do You Act?

I'm 23.

Who Should I Vote For?

Your expected outcome:

Liberal Democrat

Your actual outcome:

Labour -8
Conservative -37
	Liberal Democrat 55
	UK Independence Party 23
	Green 6

You should vote: Liberal Democrat

The LibDems take a strong stand against tax cuts and a strong one in favour of public services: they would make long-term residential care for the elderly free across the UK, and scrap university tuition fees. They are in favour of a ban on smoking in public places, but would relax laws on cannabis. They propose to change vehicle taxation to be based on usage rather than ownership.

Take the test at Should You Vote For

Ubuntu.

Since everyone else has been off gallivanting (my own fault, I should add, that I am not there too) I've had the opportunity to do something I've been meaning to get around to for quite a while, namely give Linux a go.

Everyone seems to have their own favourite Linux distibution. Well, not everyone - I can think of many people who couldn't give two hoots about Linux in any form, but you know what I mean. My favourite, without having tried any variant whatsoever, is Ubuntu for no other reason than I'm a bit compulsive and it looks pretty.

I didn't want to go to the risk of installing it only to find that nothing functions like it should, so I made a Live CD which basically boots the operating system from the CD without actually changing anything. Setup was surprisingly straightforward, although it was somewhat slow, though I'm relatively certain that's because it was running from disc.

I vividly remember the problems I had getting this computer to recognise my Broadband modem the first time round, and was expecting the same this time... but no! Within seconds of getting into the OS I was online (Firefox, of course). Mere moments later, I was playing with my favourite and recognised tools, OOo, Thunderbird, The Gimp... in fact, I can't really see any need to have Windows at all... although no Hello so I have had to revert back to Windows to post this, but that could be easily remedied.

I'm sorely tempted... but do I dare make the jump to installing it permanently? More to the point, do I run the risk of doing some damage that I really don't know how to undo?

Pretty though, isn't it?

After.

Vino deux.

Me: "Say, colleague from Norwich office who I just happen to be speaking to, I bought some great wine from Virgin the other day... and it arrived within two days! How great is that?"

colleague from Norwich office who I just happen to be speaking to: "That's pretty cool. Who did you say you got it from again?"

M: "Uh, Virgin Wines. Why?"

CFNOWIJHTBST: "You know they're on the floor above us, right?"

M: "Uh, no..."

CFNOWIJHTBST: "And you could've had it delivered through the internal mail, receiving it next, or even better, same day if you ordered early on a weekday, don't you?"

M: "No..."

CFNOWIJHTBST: "Well you could."

M: "Fucksocks."

CFNOWIJHTBST: "Two days is not bad, though."

M: "Meh."

Vino.

I am a drunkard.

This is not my confessional - everyone already knows. I enjoy the odd bottle of red wine, and always have. I think I get the habit from my parents - my dad enjoys the taste, while my mum knocks it back like it's Calpol.

While at work the other day, I wa sreading the back of Marketing Magazine. For those of you not familiar with this esteemed journal, on the back pages there is an article entitled Don't Call Us... whereby the author details their experiences with various customer services offices. As I happen to run (in the loosest sense of the word) one such establishment, I happen to find this feature of particular interest.

Virgin Wines, in their encounter with the column the other day scored a reasonably respectable 10/10. In the circumstances, I considered it acceptable to give them a shot. Not one for calling people since I spend half my working day on the phone, I decided to order some plonk online.

Not only was I happily given £20 off my first order (of £70, making the total just £50), but after plcing my order on Sunday, I received it today. Tuesday.

By Amtrak.

How do they make a profit? I don't know, but I don't care - move aside Waitrose, I've found a new supplier for my dirty habit.

Urk.

This evening will be mostly spent plaing the best game ever, The Ur-Quan Masters, a port of an old game called Star Control II.

If you've never heard of it, you can find out about it and download it here.