The joy of stationery

July 18, 2007

I've always found stationery to be very exciting. Don't ask me why, but the sight of a clean, pristine sheet of paper just fills me with joy. Blank books even more so… actually, to the point at which I have banned myself from buying new books until the ones I have are full up. My […]

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Siarad yn Gymraeg efo Twitter

July 17, 2007

Dw i wedi bod defnyddio Twitter ers sbel nawr, yn y Saesneg, ac dw i'n ei garu fo. Wefan siml ac hwyl ydy o, ble dw i'n gallu dweud wrth y byd be' dw i'n gwneud. Medra i siarad ?¢ phobl hefyd – mewn 140 llythrennau neu llai. Mae 'na wasanaeth tecstio, felly medrwch chi […]

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The right tulle for the job

July 12, 2007

Sunday I spent some time making a few back-of-an-envelope calculations at to how much tulle* I would need to make my wedding veil. I've spent quite a bit of time looking for patterns and instructions online, having initially found a really very simple set of instructions which made me suspicious because, well, it can't really […]

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Say hello to Shadowglobe

July 3, 2007

How excited am I to be able to finally, legitimately, announce the new internet radio station, Shadowglobe? Oh, I'd say… rather excited indeed! Iain Baker – Mr Keyboard Breaker to his friends – tantalisingly gave me the dev URL and swore me to secrecy some weeks back, so I've been able to listen, but completely […]

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Take a Break

July 3, 2007

Almost the first thing Kevin said when I got home on Friday was “Can you explain to me the cultural significance of Take A Break?”, at which point I burst out laughing. Yes, that's right, this week, I'm in Take A Break magazine (you better rush – it goes off the shelves tomorrow). A while […]

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Underfloor heating

June 30, 2007

I find it weird when I hear people on TV saying things like “Underfloor heating is quite new in the UK” when the Romans were doing it two thousand years ago. Never fails to amaze me how slow we are to rediscover stuff our ancestors knew.

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Home, sweet home

June 29, 2007

Finally starting to feel human again after a very long, sleepless (and late) flight home from San Francisco. I had a nap for an hour this afternoon which generally speaking made me feel worse rather than better, but after a lovely risotto and a glass of wine, I'm feeling much more normal. I am fully […]

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I'm a firestarter, twisted firestarter

June 28, 2007

Just when I've settled into being back in San Francisco again, it's pretty much time to leave. I fly tomorrow afternoon and land Friday morning, and spend the intervening hours wishing that someone would just get on and invent that damn teleportation device we've all been yearning for. It's been a great trip, and I'm […]

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Is it Friday?

June 23, 2007

Yes, I do believe it is. That means my mad week of conferences is over. The last two days have gone very quickly, and I've managed not to really get jetlag, although I did quite spectacularly run out of energy at 10pm last night, as if someone had just pulled the plug. I'll leave the […]

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The many faces of jetlag, or, The real enemy is sleep deprivation

June 21, 2007

I think it's Wednesday. I could be wrong. In some time zone, and to pick a random one, say BST, I am. I'm not sure what time zone it feels like, but I know the feeling of sleep deprivation any day of the week. I'm learning that jetlag isn't predictable. Like altitude sickness, it doesn't […]

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Will there be cake?

June 16, 2007

Today is Chocolate and Vodka's 5th birthday! My very first post, aptly named Post Number One, was posted on Sunday 16 June 2002 at 02:07 PM BST. I feel reluctant to link to it, because it took me quite a long time to get into my stride on CnV, to find my own voice and […]

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A twisted love story

June 15, 2007

It's really hard to describe David Mackenzie's new film, Hallam Foe, without missing out something really vital. The story of a soon-to-be 18 year old boy who's still struggling to come to terms with the death of his mother, Hallam has retreated from the world and views it almost exclusively via binoculars, spying on his […]

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Beginning Ruby

June 11, 2007

So a few months ago I thought that it would probably be a really smart move for me to join LRUG – the London Ruby Users Group – so that I would be able to meet some other Ruby users, and maybe find some help in my quest to learn Ruby on Rails. It's been […]

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More tiaras!

June 10, 2007

A couple more tiaras that made this week. The photos are a bit fuzzy, because my little Ixus isn't good at close-up stuff, but you get the idea.

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Yay! Macbook fixed!

June 8, 2007

After 12 days in the Apple repair shop, I finally have my Macbook back. I have to say that the staff were really lovely, and they took very good care of both me and my Macbook. The problem was that my screen flickered, but of course when I took it to the Genius Bar, it […]

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