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Mom

Back from the Dead

Well, as of yesterday, I’m back on a decent computer. I picked up a 120gb HD (rather than 160) from ebay, where it seems I go for almost everything these days. Quick delivery, brand new, well packaged, and within five minutes I had it fitted and Windows setup running.

I guess it’ll take a few days to get everything on here how I want it. But it’s nice to not be seeing the machine sitting around like an expensive ornament. And at least I learned how to fit a hard drive out of the experience. I’m sure that’ll come in handy on an almost daily basis. 🙂

It’s been a weird few weeks with that and having a dog around. The dog’s future here, it has to be said, is at present under consideration. Let’s just say he has a boisterous nature and a discipline problem… and mom, not being in the best of health, is finding it very difficult to cope (and with her angina, too much stress is a real no-no).
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Flaming June, Huh? Where’s Bleeding Terry?

Oh, haven’t I been quiet. Here I am, disappointing an audience of thousands! The arrogance of celebrity is an awful thing!

The dog had his second jabs last week, so he’s allowed outdoors in seven days or so. The fact that we still have him is a minor miracle—mom’s found it particularly tough to cope with his antics. He needs proper exercise badly.

I’m still on the old computer. I tried formatting the hard drive last weekend as a last resort. It being so large, this took the better part of 24 hours, at the end of which I found the process had settled the issue permanently—chug chug chug on the bios screen ad infinitum, unable even to boot from floppy! It’s dead, Jim…
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A Guarantee of Nothing

I did call about my computer on Monday. And… uh… the company we got it from has liquidated, and the takeover people aren’t honouring old warranties! What this means to me: (a) I will probably need, at some point, to pay for a new 160gb hard drive and either figure out how to fit it myself or pay someone to do it for me; (b) I’m stuck on my old computer for the time being.

Hey, I knew there’d be a good reason for not dumping this old thing on a nearby tip! 😉
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Puppy Wanted

Yesterday reminded me that our dog, Fred, would’ve been ten years old a few days ago. He died in July 2002, following a drawn-out period of illness I prefer to forget. Mom was dead against having another dog back then, but feelings change over time, and lately we’ve been watching the local classifieds regularly.
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Random Music Comments

Still on music: finally picked up the last Blur album, Think Tank, the other day. Blur used to be my fave band a few years ago, but the fact that it took me almost a year—and HMV selling it off for £7.99—to get this one says a lot for my expectations. I wish I could say I was wrong; three listens later, I’m still waiting for one of the tunes to stay in my head. This, from a band whose melodies were always so memorable.

I will persist, though, and give it a few more tries. So far, it seems a huge disappointment.
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Convert to the Ring

Well, much to my surprise, mom did finally decide to give Lord of the Rings a fair hearing. We watched the first two episodes recently. Not on the same night, okay! 🙂 She hates this kind of thing normally, but all the hype and good reviews weakened her resolve. Of course, she ended up thinking they were terrific, and we plan to see the final part at the cinema soon. (Not right now; we’re both suffering from yet another cold virus at the moment. Lovely.)

Watching The Two Towers a second time helped resolve some of my own reservations about it. I’m told the extended version has better editing, but on the whole, I enjoyed it better than the first viewing. Look, I won’t forgive Jackson for the Christopher Lee thing in a hurry, but that doesn’t mean I don’t admire this work on many levels. It’s a genuine achievement.
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Back and Forth

No, I haven’t abandoned the blog. I just haven’t had much to say, really. Mom and I both had a nasty cold week before last (caught from her boss), and with mom’s health not being great, she’s still suffering the effects, so it’s been a subdued atmosphere.

I got asked for a blowjob today by someone about 15 years my junior. Charming folk round here! But, I guess, the nearest thing to a proposition I’m gonna get anytime soon. 🙂
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The Wonderful System

By way of a moan about the government in general, you might be interested in the state of the pension system these days. My mother was 60 on August 13th (which was a Wednesday). Two weeks later, her pension still hadn’t been paid. She started making angry calls. No one had a good explanation for this, except mutterings about ‘backlog’ and things not being ‘processed yet.’

She did finally get sent a giro for the first two weeks of her pension, last week. It should have been paid into the bank, but they seemed to be having trouble with this concept. It was dated from August 18th. Here’s the fun bit: she phoned to inquire what this meant, and they told her the pensions are only paid on a ‘from Monday’ basis, so since her birthday was on a Wednesday, she loses five days of pension simply because it didn’t fall on a Monday! (How much like an evil ‘save every penny we can get away with’ government plot does this sound?)
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