Wow, Rob posted!

I took yesterday afternoon off. My boss was in the city (he covers the planning archaeologist post there as well as the county one), and he phoned about some letters we were doing. And then he said that if it came to a choice between filing and going home (if I finished all the other work), I could go home! So I did. I'm never sure whether he means I can just have the time off, or whether he means I can use some of my annual leave. Who knows. I'd feel bad if I'd just skived off, though.

Ah well.

I hoped to sort out my wedding dress, since the dressmaker had phoned earlier when I wasn't in. I'm getting it made by these people. Anyway, I phoned, and she wasn't around, so the bloke said he'd get her to phone back. He gave her the message, but she didn't. I phoned back later, but she was leaving, and she was a bit odd. Which made me sad. I'm too touchy sometimes! My mum'll phone up Monday and sort it out. I think mainly she just wants the balance so she can start making the dress.

I spent all afternoon doing things to www.RobAndHelensWedding.co.uk. I think it looks pretty nice. Looks a lot... pinker on Rob's PC than it did on Brian. Hehe. It has a long ramble I wrote about Rob, and what he means to me, and why we're getting married. And some info about where things are going to be, maps and things. :)

We will add more. We'll have to do the wedding list soon.

So, that's about all I have to say really. Until the next time.

I have been mostly.... READING: utopia (lincoln child) / WATCHING: friends (e4), jake 2.0 (sky 1) / LISTENING: hatful of rain (del amitri) / various blue brothers gubbins

posted by Fiery Fred @ 12:21 PM 0 comments

Oooooooooh, there it is.

Phew.

posted by Fiery Fred @ 5:35 PM 0 comments

Noooooooooooooooooooooo! Where'd Stephanie's blog go?!?!?!??!?!

Aaaaarghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!

posted by Fiery Fred @ 5:34 PM 0 comments

Was just checking out the new stuff on blogger, like the profile gubbins. I was amused to see it had a random question (or challenge?) for you to answer, and mine happened to be, "Compose the lyrics to a new national anthem that features an animal sound at least once". Unfortunately you only have 150 characters to do this, which was nowhere near enough! And I didn't even write the whole song. I thought I'd write about New Zealand, because I don't know their anthem at all. So maybe it's not that interesting. :)

Our country is quite interesting, because it has some sheep.
You might not think they're interesting, they only eat and sleep.
But there'd be no wool without those sheep! Or lamb, or mutton stew!
And that's what makes our country great, and now you know why too.

Sheep! Sheep! They baa and eat and sleep!
Sheep! Sheep! They make the world complete!

posted by Fiery Fred @ 9:42 PM 1 comments

There, I have slightly redone the blog. Better not look at the code though, it's a total bodge job. Ah well. It works in Explorer. I'm scared to test it in anything else. ;)

You may notice that I have made the type face larger. I was having trouble reading the monitor from my bed, so I thought I'd give in and admit my eyes aren't as good as they used to be. How terrible it is to grow old. And let's face it, a geek's eyes are more likely to wear out, what with the whole 'focussing just past the monitor screen' problem that my optician warned me about.

*sigh*

Anyway, what have I done since last blogging? Let me see... on Friday last week my brother came to visit. Hooray! Ali had gone to Swansea, Wales, for her friend's wedding rehearsal. (Someone has to learn how weddings are supposed to go, and it might as well be my best person.) With her out of the picture, we decided to make like kings, and eat and drink and be merry! (Or something.) And that is how Rob, John and I ended up in the pub, eating and, er, being merry.

John had come to visit with the excuse that we were going to a seminar on Saturday. Well, it was a Christian music thing, with a... can't find a link. Hmm, this will have to do. It had Stuart Townend teaching us new songs, and some of the members of Phatfish, who are a cool band. Except now everyone says I have to grow a beard if I'm going to continue to play the bass guitar. Oh no!

There was a free book too, with sheet music in it. And it was free to get in. Woo!

Hmm. That was about it for Saturday.

Apart from... EUROVISION!!!!

Yes, the yearly fun event that showcases Europe's best music. :p

It wasn't as good as it has been, although the Ukraine's winning entry "Wild Dancing" was great. I was surprised that Germany entered something that was actually quite good (their stuff tends to be... odd), and Holland's was good too. And obviously Turkey. I won't talk about it much because James and Ali have already talked about Eurovision, but... an entertaining night's TV. :)

Sunday we all went to church. In the afternoon John strimmed the lawn, I weeded (took a while to decide whether some of the plants were weeds or not, but hey), then we all decided to wash our cars. Not that I have a car. I helped Rob, and Ali and John washed their own cars. And then we had a barbecue! Mark came, and Harriet and Will. And Phil turned up, but he wasn't invited, he just has this ability to turn up when food's being cooked. Hehe.

So that was fun. But then John went away and things got more boring. Back to work, back to reality, back to boredom.

I did have to go do the doctor's today though, for those anti-baby pills. It's still scary. ;)

I have been mostly.... READING: edge magazine; utopia (lincoln child) / WATCHING: eurovision (bbc 1) / LISTENING: hatful of rain (del amitri) / PLAYING: battlefield vietnam; the saga of ryzom

posted by Fiery Fred @ 9:05 PM 3 comments

Wow, new Blogger has a commenting system! That's exciting. It'll e-mail me when people comment and everything. Excellent!

I ought to update my template. And change that wallpaper link. That'd mean finding a new wallpaper for my PC, probably. What a terrible chore. :)

So, what have I done this week? On Monday Rob, Ali and I went to look at a flat to rent. We thought a flat would be good for our first home, since it'd be cheaper, and we could save for a deposit to buy a house. Besides, a little way in the future we might know what area we'd want to live in, or what we'll be doing with our lives in the way of work, and other things, because buying a house is a more permanent kind of thing.

Drat, I pressed the wrong key on the laptop. I'll have to retype things.

Tuesday was the church housegroup thing.

Yesterday Rob and I were supposed to go to to our marriage preparation course, which would be the second session. But we didn't, because Rob wasn't feeling well. I wasn't that sad about it, since it's terrifying..! But I'd kind of made my brain accept the fact I was going to have to do it. Last week we learned about communication. Ooer. I reckon we'd be fine communicating if we used PC's all the time, not that we're bad at it now. But I'm better at putting my thoughts down into typed words than anything else. We'd have never started dating without MSN, after all.

Ah, what a sad geeky world I inhabit.

Today I had to go and see the nurse, because I signed up at a new doctor's surgery. It took ages for me to manage that, since last time I tried nowhere was accepting new patients. But Ali phoned up her surgery again and this time it was okay. So I went there. The nurse had to take my blood pressure twice because the first time it was too high. I was a bit nervous. :)

I have another scary doctor visit next week though, now, because I'm going to talk about anti-baby pills.

Now that's scary.

Hmm, that's about it.

One other thing that I wanted to talk about was the Lynx Dry mermaid adverts. Not the TV one, which is easy to find on the web, but the billboard ads. They're on nearly every bus shelter at the moment, it seems. Anyway, I don't understand mermaids. If they reproduce like fish, why do they need breasts? But on one of the posters you can see where there should be nipples, and there aren't any, so they can't be anything other than cosmetic. And how come they seem paler than the rest of the mermaid's torso? That would make sense if they were wearing bras, but they're not. I don't understand...

I can't believe I'm talking about mermaids breasts. ;)

I'd better go now!

Comment if you dare. :D

I have been mostly.... READING: edge magazine; utopia (lincoln child) / LISTENING: liquid skin (gomez)

posted by Fiery Fred @ 7:48 PM 1 comments

I just went through all my archives, adding descriptions to the archive page. It struck me that my blog entries used to be far more exciting than they are now, which is kind of sad. I wouldn't be surprised if no-one reads this anymore, it's that boring. I even had weeks where there were no archived entries, because it had been so long between blogs, and when I have blogged it's been boring! What must you think of me?

This week has been a strange, strange week. It was a bank holiday on Monday, so there was no work. Ali, Rob, his sister Emma and her boyfriend Jonathan, and myself, all went to Twycross Zoo. There are a lot of monkeys (and apes, which are like monkeys but have no tails... I didn't know that until visiting the zoo). Apparently that's what the zoo's famous for.

Unfortunately, it was rainy, so most of the animals were hiding inside. It looks like it's more fun when they can be outside, swinging around on things. People always say it must be weird for them, but it's what they're used to. Most of them never knew what it was like to be free, in their natural habitat, so it's not overly cruel to keep them in cages.

That's the conclusion I came to, anyway.

I mean, all the elephants seem to come from Burmese logging camps. I liked the elephants. They're so... different. Their trunks are cool. And whenever I think of elephants I think of that "Just So" story about how the elephant got his trunk. That was a good story.

Ah, now I'm rambling! At least it means I'm writing something. I suppose. ;)

Anyway, this week, apart from the bank holiday, seems to have been very short and full of odd things.

Wednesday we had the first of our "marriage preparation" course things, which was scary, but not as scary as it might have been.

Thursday I left work early and went into town and had lunch with Rob. And we arranged some flat viewings.

And yesterday I skived off work early again and bought some CD's. :)

Oh, and Ali has been obsessed with "Dead or Alive 3".

Honestly, she has. She might try and deny it, but we know better. Hehe.

I have been mostly.... READING: edge magazine; quicker than the eye (ray bradbury) / WATCHING (tv): friends (c4) / PLAYING: dead or alive 3; splinter cell / LISTENING: liquid skin (gomez)

posted by Fiery Fred @ 11:29 AM 0 comments

Ack, haven't blogged again for ages. Drat!

I survived a whole week with my boss being away, without messing anything up. Hooray! I was the only planning archaeologist. Ooer.

Um, can't think of much to say.

Bought a domain name for my wedding: RobAndHelensWedding.co.uk... nice, eh? Hehe. Doesn't have much on there though.

:D

I have been mostly.... READING: edge magazine; lucas (kevin brooks) / WATCHING (tv): neighbours (bbc 1); angel (sky 1); jake 2.0 (sky 1); friends (c4) / PLAYING: everquest; dead or alive 3 / LISTENING: wow 1998

posted by Fiery Fred @ 6:37 PM 0 comments