Das Blog Mk II

Sunday, September 21, 2008.
Work 10-4. Cold start, but overall a sunny day and also the day of the Skinner's Ale annual half marathon for charity, which took place that morning. The piazza had the familiar white marquee that it uses for a lot of charity or market based events, plus there were metal fences and railings to cordon runners off and point them in the right direction. A kid's mini-marathon was held first, then the main event.
TF2K5 MUSH - every now and again a background TP('tiny plot') runs as well as bigger foreground ones. One of them is vaguely religious, so to speak - the Book of Primus exists in at least three parts, not all of those parts match up and the data is spotty and arcane at best. Factions and characters squabble over the meaning and possession of them. As a throwaway, I had Deeky mention Vector Prime to her adopted aunt Sheng with reference to a few figures mentioned in said 'books', based on 'Junkion lore' and so forth. Her aunt then asked for something printed that she could use to refer to! Deeky spent the rest of the IC day writing up a report based on what she 'knew' - and whinged to Sam about doing homework. ^-^.
Tinker reported that there had been another earthquake not far from his region of Japan, at about midnight last night our time! They have a lot of earth tremors out there, being practically over a fault line. I made a joke about whether it was him being hungry... - he's fine.
Slick visited his local county fair yesterday! He's not been in a while, and this year he determined to join in and have good time. Among the requisite livestock and exhibits was a showing and judging event to do with alpacas and llamas. It's a big local thing, believe it or not, says Slick. He didn't get any food freebies for helping out this year, but he seemed perfectly content paying his way around in the usual manner and eating food that was bad for him, barbecued beef things and 'funnel cake' - Sweet batter poured out to cook in deep fat. It makes a crispy, greasy pastry that you cover with sugar, fruit, or what haveya. Very tasty and very bad for you! I'm sure the middle class folks in Scotland would love it..! He also bought 'Speed Racer', the fast-car movie aimed at kids. I never followed it too closely - it looked like what you get if you literally convert Power Ranger-styled anime characters and vehicles to real life, but it tickled him, so maybe it's worth a second look. And he passed along a Peter Gabriel tune - from the Wall*E movie! ^-^

Saturday 20 September 2008.
Work 12-7. Mostly sunny, odd cold breeze. Truro Carnival Day, not that I saw anything. Another day at work. Not boring but just routine; fitting room duties, till transactions, putting out new or reprocessed stock. I can't recall specific details. The pay is always good.
Mum & Dad went shopping but the car battery was flat! They called a repair man to charge up the battery, then they had to drive around shopping and keeping the engine running or such until the garage found a replacement and everything was back to normal. Car batteries don't last as long as the car does!
Fireworks from what I think was Truro School on the hill at around 8:30 P.M. - Mum & Dad and I watched it from our kitchen window! ^-^
Fiddled on Adelle for a bit first and last thing.

Friday, 19 September 2008.
Work 8-4:30. Cold start, but it is late September. Mostly sunny, mild; cloudy P.M..
Another day at work. Not boring but just routine; fitting room duties, till transactions, putting out new or reprocessed stock. Autumn/winter is well under way now in terms of clothing in Menswear, right down to tables practically overflowing with lambs-wool jumpers, cotton based jumpers ditto (a better range than last year) and we've got the hats, scarves and gloves as well. Homeware already has Christmas pot-pourri and charity cards for sale by the tills, and the amount of toys on sale is starting to increase! Over the weekend Martin Spenser had a promotion to tie in with a carnival themed TV advert. We handed out tickets to customers that could contain prizes or vouchers off future purchases. If the ticket didn't win a prize, the voucher would take £5 off their next transaction. Some customers tried to pull the wool and claim vouchers when they weren't entitled to them because the vouchers weren't precise in their rules and regulations... '~'
Fiddled on Adelle for a bit first and last thing.

Thursday, 18 September 2008.
Mixed cloud and sun, odd rain. Another day at home. I slept in, watched a cartoon or two and went up the town PM. Fiddled on Adelle for a bit first and last thing. Tinker showed me a web site with some paper 'make your own' Transformers on it - rather than simple transforming models, these are quite advanced paper sculptures that don't, but look amazing! I got to see a preview ink of a Halloween Sabrina Online picture that Pepper is working on, of the skunkette's little sister posing as a Transformers Animated character. To amuse Tinker (and myself!), I sneaked an entry in the TF2K5 MUSH 'wiki' about Pong, as if it were a real character on the MUSH. I scanned the picture he doodled for me a few days ago, and Tinker might be intrigued enough to appear from time to time on the role playing game. We shall see..!
Meanwhile on TF2K5 MUSH, Deeky's scrap heap home could use with being a bit more secure, I've decided, so she can ensure privacy when she wants it. Coding fun!

Wednesday, September 17, 2008.
Dry, cloudy. Mum & Dad back from Romania P.M.! Another day at home. I slept in, watched a cartoon or two, did a few house, garden and cat-based chores and hung out online a lot. DVD and CD of Daft Punk music and cute animation arrived and I had a lot of fun playing the music and watching the movie in full from that. Over the weekend I uploaded a compressed version of the movie from YouTube and decided that night that I liked it so much that I wanted the actual merchandise. My Humax PVR arrived this afternoon as well! I haven't unpacked it yet - things are a bit busy right now. It can wait a little, while Mum & Dad unpack and do 'back from holiday' things. Went to town to buy pasties for our evening meal from the new Rowe's shop that has opened in part of the old Luke's ironmongery shop. The Winter Rule office building has completely been demolished now and only a neat pile of rubble remains.
Mum & Dad seem to have a good trip back, overall, aside from traffic issues at the Romania end. They spent most of the evening unpacking, checking mail and then fiddling with laptops and computers to sort out holiday snaps and check finances online.
TF2K5 MUSH - Deeky had a little fun chatting about things on her mind with Sam and later a little flirting fun with Ion! ^-^

Tuesday, 16 September, 2008..
Wet spells, sunny patches. Mum & Dad away to Romania. Another day at home. I slept in, watched a cartoon or two, did a few house, garden and cat-based chores and hung out online a lot. Slickpuppy was on Messenger, so I caught him for a quick chat. Aside from virtual hugs and chat about cats, doodles and TV, I learnt something very promising; I might have a roomie splitting costs with me. Chiaroscuro and I are pondering sharing a place. We're not sure we'd be a good couple, but we're pretty sure we could share a place comfortably even if we're not. We both need a bit of change in our lives. Might be good for us. Nothing set in stone yet. Summer's over, and it's really time for me to poke around for something new, regardless. New job, new digs. Something. It's getting on time. I asked him where he intended to base himself. Just starting to look. Maybe here. Maybe Baltimore. Waiting for more input from Da Mongoose.
TF2K5 MUSH - Perceptor - played by 'Spike, aka my online friend Briar, has offered to ICly snag Deeky as his lab assistant! ^-^

Monday 15 September 2008.
Dry, mostly cloudy. Mum & Dad away to Romania. Another day at home. I slept in, watched a cartoon or two, did a few house, garden and cat-based chores and hung out online a lot. Sept 15th is Jyungo-Ya, says Tinker, or the full moon festival - essentially a harvest moon festival variation - in Japan. He also asked me to do the bios for his characters in Andorozon - I've been slack that way lately and forgetting to do lots of things I otherwise should. Helping straighten up the text in Edenworld is all well and good, but I need to remember the other things that I promised to do as well!
Did Llama's medicine - or rather, Emma did, while I held him down gently, of course. ^-^
TF2K5 MUSH - Quickswitch has a strange IC personality. Apparently he's 'just bipolar' - Deeky thinks he's a real berserker. After a minor confrontation with the former in the Autobot repair bay, she explained to the security Autobot Impulse why she acted as she did a few months earlier when she 'contained' cerebro-shelled DepthCharge up with Quickswitch - she feared they were both too dangerous to be left in the repair bay together!

Sunday, 14 September 2008
Work 10-4. A sunny start A.M., cloudy but dry P.M. Mum & Dad away to Romania. Before arriving at work I saw that the Winter Rule building is no more and has been converted into quite tidy heaps of different types of scrap and rubble, presumably for recycling. Also unavoidable to notice was the annual memorial motorcycle run to Falmouth building up in the Tesco's car park! There must have been over a thousand bikes all packed in there, plus burger trailers and Pirate Radio! At about 10, they all started filtering out and heading off. I inquired of a biker couple in passing while on my way into work what this year's charity was. They mentioned 'First Line'
Another day at work. The usual routine, putting food out in the Food Hall before opening time, then spent mostly in the fitting room, on tills and also in the café last thing before going home. Fiddled on Adelle for a bit first and last thing.
Llama wasn't at our house when Emma came around to do the interferon thing P.M., so we both went around Karen and Mike's and he was on the bed in one of the bedrooms. We ganged up on him and he gave in without too much of a struggle. He doesn't get fed for ½ hour after that, though.
Chatting to Slickpuppy was tricky this evening as I had a needy cat, Barney, demanding cuddles and trying to snog me, and then Grandad beat me to phone calls with his grocery list from Tesco's. I told Slick about Llama's interferon. I asked whether he'd got an aerial for his TV set yet, but he dismissed the idea of watching 'three local broadcast channels'. I wonder if he's got something in mind and is waiting for prices of digital TV in the states to come down? I'm not sure. I'm having a quiet day meself. Got a warm, lazy day here. Just whiling it away puttering online and watching movies. My weekends are a bit lazy since the summer movie season ended. I'll get to drawing more before long.
While chatting, I ordered the Humax PVR from Amazon UK that I've had my eyes on for a while, and also a DVD and CD album - Interstella 5555 and Discovery by Daft Punk. The anime movie is essentially the 'videos' for the music on the CD put together as a cute cartoon space adventure movie.
What put me onto ordering the anime movie? Deeky's got another new friend from the EDC - but he's not a Transformer or a human. Ion's allegedly Nebulan, only instead of being green-skinned, he's blue, like the alien singers in the anime movie! Deeky is getting used to life as an Autobot conscript. Some of the other Junks not quite in the know are a bit suspicious, but things are settling down, for the most part. Deek is part of the Protectobot team, it appears, in a supportive role. The character Hound has a player as well, which is good. I should be able to use that to advantage, too. I've sent in her speed upgrade log, so hopefully her reflexes are faster, now. ^-^ Which next..? Dexterity upgrade or holograms? Space walk, by chance..? Heal, Construction and First Aid may have to wait until she gets positive IC EDC feedback...

Friday, 12 September 2008.
No work today, vacation. Mostly bright but with constant showers. Mum & Dad away to Romania with Aunt Anita. Another day at home. I slept in, watched a cartoon or two, did a few house, garden and cat-based chores and hung out online a lot. Tinker sent me a toy submarine Minicon through the post and a post it note with a picture of Pong, a skunk cassette-Junk we dreamed up. We chatted about paper Transformers as well. Llama came round to visit, so I fed him a little cat food when I fed Barney. Later on, over the weekend, a neighbour called Emma will bring Llama's medicine round for me to store in our fridge. Karen and Mike go on holiday next week and he's on interferon. Apparently it's something a lot of humans would queue up for and isn't cheap. Llama only gets a little tiny bit, though. Emma is going to help me get the stuff down his little cat throat. I told Tinker about this last night. He jokes am I creating a super cat soldier..? ^-^
Mum & Dad called from Romania, where it's not in the 30's but is in the 20's temperature wise. I said hi to Michaela first as she was the one to actually phone, and wished her happy anniversary for tomorrow, then Mum wanted me to make sure I phoned Grandad to make sure every thing was fine and to pass on what I'd been told about Romania, plus Anita wanted to stir Alex my cousin up to do the same thing for Grandad - basically so we're all keeping out of mischief, I think! o_~
Cyberskunk's Kitty has been in hospital getting operated on for girly things. Hopefully, he says, once she's out that should be it - this is a big operation that has been expected and planned for. After that, the plan is for her to get a new job closer to where Cyber lives, acquire some medical insurance and live happily ever after. ^-^ He's still dabbling in crafting little flash computer games.
Lots of things have been happening to Deeky on TF2K5 MUSH.She needs upgrades, so I applied for and got OOC admin approval for them. But then IC took over from OOC and things got complicated (is it me or is Deeky a magnet for this sort of thing?) I thought it would be nice if Deeky applied to the EDC for permission to train in their premises. Unfortunately, military bases require a thorough background check on all persons, and Deek's is spotty to say the least. The upshot of which has resulted in old cases being brought up again in spite of them having been dealt with at the time, and she lost her Autobot allegiance yet again! >_<
Fortunately, it was just the first part of a phase that seemed to keep everybody else happy - while she lost her allegiance, she was privately offered Autobot recruitment in order to retrain and get the skills she needs to advance generally. ^-^ Which she took, but had a little cry since she wasn't a Junkion now. But she's not going to stay an Autobot forever, just until she gets her training done. ^-^

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Monday, September 01, 2008
Did you work today? What was the weather like?
No work today. But not worth going out, either. It's been grey wet and miserable all day. Soggy weather!
Is today an anniversary day?
It's the first of September! White rabbits!
What did you get up to this morning? What cartoons are on?
Pokemon reruns and Shaggy And Scooby Doo Get A Clue. They just take up the PVR space, so I deleted them. I really should think about ordering that Humax. It can apparently record radio programmes too. In an ideal world, I'd have a flat screen TV that could link up as a monitor to Adelle, a Humax PVR, the original Pace and region-zero DVD player that I currently have and a combi DVD/video cassette/PVR recorder to replace the video recorder, Panasonic TV and Sagem PVR that I have. The video recorder has a habit of eating tapes. I should have returned it soon after I found the fault, but I never got round to it...
Did you go to town? What did you see? What did you get?
No, it was pretty soggy for much of the day. It wasn't sunny, anyhow.
What have Mum, Dad and Barney been up to?
Mum & Dad are getting things ready on the spare bed for their holiday to Romania to see Mihaela's parents and a few others. Dad's painting the front room a pale custard yellow shade so that the new fireplace shows up from the wall better. That and presumably the front room needed painting up anyhow. Bits of furniture are pulled away from the wall where he's been (or is) painting. Mum is Chief Inspector, of course. ^-^
What did you get up to this afternoon/evening? Did you do stuff in your room? What was on TV?
Putting away clean clothing. I think it's time I changed my bed, too, don't you? ^-^ Over dinner Mum & Dad got excited about my credit card statement which I'd been rash enough to leave lying about and they had discovered. They got all insist ant about direct debits and paying off the bill before my interest got any higher. With hindsight, I'm glad they brought it to my attention, but I wish they wouldn't be quite so excitable about it.
What did you do online? Did you do any MUSHing?
TF2K5 MUSH ; for some reason, oddball Autobots Whirl and Raindance decided to 'inspect' Deeky's scrap heap home and, in doing so, practically ruined the place! Fortunately Victory Leo (usually admin-only, rarely appears IC) interceded ICly. He would have shot Whirl if not for Deeky pleading nicely, and instead resorted to dealing his own brand of community service, which involved hauling their sorry arses to the Moon, to clean it up..! ^-^

0844 861 5959

23/08/2008
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Did you work today? What was the weather like?
Work 12-7. It's been cloudy with sunny spells. Not bad overall, but you'd take a mac with you for just in case.
Is it an anniversary day?
No, but today was Cornish (Gay) Pride Festival Day! It's been advertised in the Martin Spencer canteen for a while now. Why they don't just use the G-word, I don't know. I heard that there was a parade that took place in Victoria Gardens and presumably went along the main street until it reached the piazza, but while at work I never got a chance to actually see.
What did you get up to this morning? What cartoons are on?
I checked but there weren't any cartoons to watch! Made sure my Sagem PVR was tuned in to the CITV channel. It should work right, now!
Remember at least one thing you noticed or did at work.
Mr Suit, John, is really obsessing over an arrangement he's got together with a male voice choir. Middle to senior citizen aged couples come in and mention the choir and he acts like he's on commission as he buzzes about getting them measured up ready for his big order. As it got closer to evening, staff left for home and customers were still running around messing the place up what with this second sale we have on. New items were coming in from delivery as well. The upshot was that there was too much to do and only me and Jack (a affable sort) to sort out the repro(cessed clothes customers had tried on and discarded), new deliveries and tidy the place up, it looked a mess! Then a manager wanted one of us to cover Homeware for a while - and that took up half an hour of time I should have used in Mens, sorting out crockery for this wifie with a trolleyful, among other things. I told Jack not to do more than he should, pushed the jeans to the back room and wrote a note about it for whoever comes in first tomorrow. I'll do the jeans then. It's not fair on poor Jack otherwise.
Did you go to town? What did you get?
After my shift at work, I noticed the marquee on the piazza was converted into an outdoor disco set-up as part of Cornish Pride. It was hard to tell who was actually gay though. Then again, how *do* you tell? I think the only criteria was to have a ticket to get in! There were token police around as a precaution, and one end of the tent had a DJ turntable and mike plus huge speakers
What have Mum, Dad and Barney been up to?
Dad went to the rugby today, so Mum waited for both of us to come back before creating a risotto for dinner.
What did you do online? Did you do any mushing?
TF2K5 MUSH ; a lad called Jayson is being held prisoner on an alien ice planet by the natives on trumped up charges of theft. Sam invites Deeky on a trip with him and some friends to see if they can solve the mystery and get their friend off the hook. Not a lot is actually achieved, but Deeky gets to do her Herbie Bug routine and have some fun.

Friday, August 22, 2008
Did you work today? What was the weather like?
Work 8-4:30. It was sunny all day, practically! Can you believe that..? It was nice to see sunshine in Martin Spencer through the windows, anyhow!
Is it an anniversary day?
Today is Ian's birthday! When he was round last weekend I got him a bottle of rijoca red wine and a Muppet greetings card to take away with him to London.
What did you get up to this morning? What cartoons are on?
For some mysterious reason, I haven't been recording morning cartoons for the past couple of days. I think I might have deleted a setting by accident when I deleted some old recordings I no longer wanted. I've re-set up to record morning cartoons on CITV.
Remember at least one thing you noticed or did at work.
Not the most eventful day (hope that doesn't mean that something is wrong?) Work was routine. I should ask about the Martin Spencer card application forms though - we staff are meant to know how to fill one out for customers (the tekky bit that is, not the bit they're meant to fill in!), but I don't know yet. I wonder if Bernice or Pete know? They're joint co-ordinators or whatever.
Did you go to town? What did you get?
To and from work; the Winter Rule building looks like a Dorking-Kinnersley cross-section, and sad for it. Because of asbestos, the thing has to come apart carefully before they can prepare the ground ready to build the replacement office unit. I still wonder where the actual company is based at the moment. The flower boat opposite Martin Spencer looks the same as ever, but the quay along side it has been cleared of overgrown plants and debris.
What have Mum, Dad and Barney been up to?
I didn't ask, but I suspect getting some garden work, computer twiddling and some shopping done. Dad prolly went walkies somewhere. He does from time to time.
What did you do online? Did you do any MUSHing?
Reviewed the instruction booklet that I downloaded a few weeks ago for the Humax PVR9300T. It seems to have all the right whistles and bells, as Mum would say. She also says to wait a while for customer reviews to arrive so I can make sure that I've got a good one, not a dud. I'm pretty certain I've found the one I want though. ^-^ ICly, Deeky chatted to Sam about biology. She's waiting for the Autobot CoC to okay her various requests for training and upgrades. OOCly I'm waiting for TF2K5 MUSH admin to do the same! Deeky has a rationale for hugging Sam a lot. She can scan him internally. No, Sam, we Transformers (not the friendly ones, anyhow) do not take humans apart to see how you work!

21/08/2008
Did you work today? What was the weather like?
No work today. Mostly overcast, and rain, quite heavy at times.
What did you get up to this morning? What cartoons are on?
Had a lie in, didn't watch cartoons today.
What have Mum, Dad and Barney been up to?
First thing this morning, Mum & Dad did as they said, and went to Martin Spencer to pick up some discount food. We had some of it for dinner tonight!
Did you watch TV or do something around the house this afternoon/evening?
No, but I should. Spent too much time on Adelle, making a weekly planner and having Deeky chat up Sam on TF2K5 MUSH. They've been looking at cloud shapes from Golden Gate Park in San Fran.
What did you do online? Did you do any MUSHing?
See above. Tonight there is an Olympic styled TP where humans in exo-suits get to battle each other in a free for all. Sam's player is going too, to make up the player numbers, but since I have work tomorrow, Deeky has 'studies' and needs to remain on Earth.
What did your online friend say about their day?
I read up an e-mail Cyber sent me yesterday. Now I know why Cyber and Kitty have been soppy lately. She was out of phone-contact for an extended period of time while out picking up her sister from work recently. After not hearing from her for quite some hours that evening, he started to panic and thought she might have been in a traffic accident. When she did call him, the poor guy nearly cried - he was that glad she was safe! Aw...

Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Did you work today? What was the weather like?
No work today, thankfully. It's been cloudy, breezy with odd showery patches, no sun. Quite warm when you've got a waterproof mac on.
Is it an anniversary day?
Not that I know of. The Beijing Olympics are still in session, though. Mum said recently that the Aussies have a joke about Brits. As long as we're sat on something, we win medals. So far we've done very well in bike, boat and swimming events. Lots of gold medals! ^-^ Today apparently was a boat and diving day for us.
What did you get up to this morning? What cartoons are on?
I had a lie in and caught up on some Shaggy And Scooby Doo Get A Clue cartoons, which I'm beginning to like! Pokemon was reruns of earlier in the series, so I'll skip those until they return to where I left off last time. The Hits TV channel is now called 4Music (part of Channel 4), but I think the parts that I record - the Top 40 and new breaking music - are still on at the same times. I'll need to check up on that and tweak the recording times if necessary. I tried a little TF2K5 MUSH , but Sam's player was tired and had a busy day ahead of him tomorrow, so I let him go. Deeky can wait. I've got upgrade apps to write, anyhow. I made a start on some of those. They don't require an @mail (in-game mail) these days, the admin prefer actual emails. The MUSH used to role play 4 hours for every RL one, but since the game year is now 2029, they've decided to parallel RL and now the seasons and times match PST.
Did you go to town? What did you get?
I went into town at around 4, after chatting online briefly to Tinker and Cyber; mainly a trip to Staples and Tesco's. There's nothing in either Staples or Curry's/Dixons that I want, though. I got some rich tea biscuits and some rent money for Mum at Tesco, plus a few nibbles for myself. Winter Rule building is being demolished slowly to remove asbestos. The Purple Poo Flinger Phantom has struck again.I spotted a purple bag of dog poo in the building's car park area. Yuck.
What have Mum, Dad and Barney been up to?
Mum & Dad have been fiddling around with their respective laptops trying to configure the WiFi that Ian installed while he was here last weekend. Apparently WiFi isn't to do with the internet directly, it's like Bluetooth and is merely a transmitter system. Mum & Dad want to be able to print off stuff from their computers remotely, but there are (of course!) teething troubles.
Mum & Dad bought a new suitcase yesterday while I was doing extra hours at Martin Spencer (to help cover the new sales event). They intend to return tomorrow first thing to take advantage of a £10 'dinner for two' offer that has resumed for the next few days. Good food offers disappear quickly once word gets out. The offer includes main meal components, plus matching veggies, plus a desert, and a bottle of red or white wine, all for £10. Mum & Dad get a staff discount as well! ^-^
Did you watch TV or do something around the house this afternoon/evening?
Can't say I did much. I really should tidy up this bedroom...
What did you do online? Did you do any MUSHing?
I sorted out a few finances at Nationwide online prior to going shopping. Since I forgot that my secondary ISA was a lump sum one and not a cash ISA, I've created an e-savings 'pot' to save the money in until the new financial year.
On TF2K5 MUSH , Deeky and Sam are getting along very well. She's pretty much Glumdalglitch to his Gulliver, so to speak. He's also got an additional secret - he's got more of Soundwave's databases locked up in his mind than even he knows. Sometimes he gets flashes of insight he can't explain.
What did your online friend say about their day?
Cyber and Kitty have been dedicating songs to each other online in the way that dating people do. She likes Marillion, apparently. Tinker thinks he's being bitten by bugs from the USA in a parcel he sent for...

03/08/2008
Work 10-4. The weather wasn't sunny, per se, but was at least dry A.M., although it got progressively soggier as the day wore on.
There was a steam engine rally or event somewhere today, as I heard steam whistles this morning, and saw a steam-powered engine heading up the road while I was on fitting room duty at Martin Spencer this afternoon. I don't know off hand where it was, or if it's a seasonal event. There was an event called Q in the Park at Boscawen Park. Mind you, I'm pretty sure that sort of event is music based, so I can't account for the steam engine.
In addition to the steam engine, and in addition to watching the first of our formal corduroy trousers getting put out (another sign of the count down to Christmas!), the store music came on loudly at 3 p.m., playing Chain Gang by the Pretenders. It's a department store, not a prison..! Very Martin Spencer, I don't think...
ICly on TF2K5 MUSH, Deeky spent part of her day cleaning out Ramhorn's ears (like you might for a pet), and later coaxing Sam into explaining about his origins. It turns out that the humanising TP from earlier last month resulted in him being 'born' after playing host to Soundwave's mind. When Soundwave left, he was the result; alive, a bit confused, and very wary. Deeky thinks of him as a human Junkion and is completely fascinated with him! ^-^

02/08/2008
Work 12-7. Mostly sunny, some cloudy/damp moments, but a good day overall! ^-^
This morning I took a look at the AnthroCon web site for details of up and coming events - it's still too early. I did find a photo gallery of some of the fursuiters from this last time, though and picked out a few cute snaps to keep! Checked Sabrina Online site for new comic strip.
At work there more stints in the café to cover the regular staff. While I was on fitting room duty, Mum showed up, to show off a 4 GB flash chip she had bought for under a fiver. It's tiny! ^-^ She's really pleased with it.
This evening Dad has been playing the weirdest music on his new computer. I'm used to hearing him play classical music so tunes from the DAB Chill radio station is quirky! Mum is taking her time over what bits of junk to delete off her laptop and what bits to keep. Dad wants to intervene, but it's not his computer! ^-^
I downloaded the instruction manual for the PVR that I'm interested in. Found a cute fan art item on Edenworld's pictures web page. It's of Lyron (looking quite boy-like) and Panchun at a woodland waterfall. It's so cute!
ICly, Deeky has become ever-more intrigued by Sam on TF2K5 MUSH and has coaxed out of him that he does know his origins, even if he has no memory of anything more recent than the past couple of months...

Friday, August 01, 2008
Work 8-4.30. Mixed heavy rain and some sunny spells, but then it got murky come evening.
The boat by Martin Spencer is vacant now, the florist's has moved to Lemon Street Market. Meanwhile the boat itself has got construction worker's fencing round it and they talk about redevelopment and refurbishment. But are they going to do a proper job, or just something superficial? I notice with some irony that the company doing the upgrading is Portia, the company that wanted to scrap the boat originally and build some awful coffee-tin type building in its place - that's going back a couple of years ago, now. We the public all voted NO, by the way.
Spent time in the Bureau de Change, plus did a stint in the café as well as doing regular stuff in Menswear today. During my tea break I phoned Mum about how the £10 Dinner For Two offer is going to be repeated on August Bank Holiday, most likely.
Went into town after work to pick up the Argos catalogue. It's got Transformers:Animated Transformer toys and some Classics figures like the 'series one' versions I picked up before or around Christmas last year. I may be tempted by the latter, the former are strictly dependant on whether they're cute or not. Also the catalogue's got the new upgraded version of a Humax that I'm interested in, but more research is needed before I decide to buy. Pottered in Waterstone's (nee Ottaka's). The old Luke's ironmongers/grocerery shop opposite Martin Spencer is now three smaller units; one is a WM Rowes patsy shop, which will pleas Mum & Dad!
Mum's Toshiba laptop arrived today. She's got it plugged in to charge up before she takes the big plunge.

Thursday, July 31, 2008
No work today. It's been less humid that recently (it was sweltering at work last weekend!) but even though it wasn't so hot, there was still no actual sunshine, today. We got lots of torrential rain episodes, though!
I didn't sleep under a duvet or sheet, I slept on the bed. This morning I fiddled with the new wallpaper program I got for Adelle and tweaked a few settings on the scheduler that I downloaded earlier in the month.
Mum & Dad went to Tesco's in Poole by car. Apparently it's bigger than the one in Truro. I was meant to keep an ear out for the DHL people with a delivery for Mum (her Toshiba laptop, prolly) but before they set out, Dad found a postcard in the letter box. DHL have done their usual of knocking quietly so you don't hear them, then leaving a postcard and running away. Mum is not pleased! Anyhow, I didn't have to keep an ear on the door after all.
The sale at Martin Spencer was down to final reductions yesterday. Now everything is getting moved around and autumn/winter things are starting to appear. The countdown to Christmas has begun - the Argos catalogue is out now! I'll take a look in one when I next go shopping myself and see if they've got that new PVR that I'm interested in getting.
Corrected Ratbat's spelling on Edenworld, role played Deeky on TF2K5 MUSH. Ratbat explained on the comments page about deleted comic book snippets with mature content that would not now be included in the comic, but had been in the first print of the comic. I summarised one of the snippets (since Tinker got me the comic at AnthroCon) and had Jotun robot sex explained to me after that! ^-^ Deeky has been showing the EDC amnesiac Sam around San Fran (and surroundings), when not puzzling over the books of Primus and wondering why they don't match up into one nice complete volume she can read and learn from.
Dad is having fun with his new wide screen monitor and the new CPU that he sent off for. They're huge! It means that the study ROM internet computer can now get a flat screen monitor and that's prolly good, but he wants to transfer the internet computer's content onto his old computer, so we can get rid of the old internet PC unit. I'm not sure I trust him with that. It rarely goes smoothly - I can just predict something strange happening. But we shall see!

Friday 11 July 2008.
Work 8-4:30. Spotty rain on and off, but better than some of the torrents we've been getting lately. Another day at work. Not boring but just routine; fitting room duties, till transactions, putting out new or reprocessed stock. We had a 'Listening Friday' meeting of a sort where the results of the poll Martin Spencer held earlier in the year were reviewed and we all added our opinions and feedback. Most of it was routine stuff, until we got to the part about bullying not being tolerated at Martin Spencer. Everybody mentioned Sally!!
Fiddled on Adelle for a bit first and last thing. Nothing else particular happened today, or I'd have written it in.

Thursday 10 July 2008.
Spotty rain on and off, occasional sun. Warmish, on the whole. Another day at home. I slept in, watched a cartoon or two and went up the town P.M. to Currys for a couple of replacement keyboards and to the Pannier Market for some retractable USB cables for Adelle. Then to Tesco's for a few health nibbles. Wall-E Pixar movie preview are showing on TV at Currys. It looks hyper-cute! I must book a ticket or two...
Fiddled on Adelle for a bit first and last thing. Tinker is revamping his Andorozon site so that it follows a pattern similar to Ratbat's Edenworld one - with a blog style and other bits and pieces, in his own words easy to update with current events. He says he got an e-mail from Chen today, and reports that Chen thought I was very nice, ^-^ plus that his legs (his knees, that is) are feeling better. Given the amount of roaming around that man did at the convention, Id' be surprised if they weren't feeling more comfy now - not so much walking to do. Get to hospital soon and get those joints fixed, please!
Slickpuppy appeared later that night... or rather the morning after? Anyhow, he showed up past midnight my time and I sent him a scan of the sketch he did for me at AnthroCon. He did lots of hugs and explained that he wouldn't be around on Sunday - two of his friends, Dellar and Dreamshadow or whomever, are going their separate ways after some 15 years of being an item. They've each found other partners and are moving on, but Slick won't be able to visit either of them with the ease that he used to, so is going to visit them now. Of course I had no problem with that. I also told him about the FurryMUCK guy, Peanuts, taking a look at Ashel and maybe having a go at redrawing him.

Saturday 05 July 2008 to Wednesday, July 09, 2008.

I can't honestly say that the past few days have been much to write home about (nice cliché for a girl back from holiday, huh?), Mostly because of the rain. For the time of year it's been abysmal. An almost straight week of rain isn't funny, even for someone who's not the most up and about individual in the world. Things online include Tinker having a go at creating a model sheet of Jay-B's back for me (we've got her backside sorted but the area around her wings needs work), Cyberskunk informing me that Kitty might have to see her doctor (she's got some quirky but persistent tummy pains) and that Squiggle is still busy with his latest commercial commissions (and drinking far too much caffiene), a friendly squirrel on furrymuck volunteering to have a go at redrawing Ashel for me , which he says will take him about a week to do. ^-^
On Sunday I went back to work, but nobody really noticed that I'd been away, which was quirky. Anyhow life there is the same as usual, except that we've got a youngish guy who used to be a manager in the public café, Pete, as a sort of supervisor, and Bernice isn't quite sure she's happy with the arrangement. She's got nothing against Pete himself, however. (Pete quit being a manager because it 'wasn't for him', he says. I bet it was the fact he was in the café as well) - it's hard in there!). Plus when I chatted to Slick that night, I let him know how I'm a sort of guest editor for Ratbat on her Edenworld site. Wow - Another artist you've gotten friendly with. You have a knack for that! I hope I'm appreciated and not a pain in the bum, though. It's how Wikipedia works; folks make entries, others tighten it up, make corrections, all for the greater good. ^-^

Friday, 04 July 2008.
Sunny to start with and then it rained. Mum & Dad visited Auntie Susan and Uncle Ernie, which might account for it taking a wet turn. Another day at home. I slept in, got up, washed etc and checked my weight in the bathroom.- 13.01! Not bad after being on holiday.^-^ Tinker asked me online yesterday when to have a 'Jay-Bird day' for model sheet purposes. I suggested today. He used Open Canvas, a Paintshop Pro like package that he sent me earlier. The scary part about WPE files is that if you open them in Open Canvas, you see the entire drawing session unfold in triple quick time before your eyes! Wow. The resulting drawing is quite good, too!
Put a few bits away from the spare bed, fiddled on Adelle for a bit first and last thing. Nothing else particular happened today, or I'd have written it in.

Thursday, 03 July 2008
It's a nice sunny day outside and I'm awake, mostly intact if a bit sleep-fuddled at the back of my head. Barney and Llama are coming and going via the cat flap and Mum & Dad are out shopping at Asda for most of the day. Today I'm supposed to be slowly transferring things from my suitcase and backpack to their various homes; I've already put out my laundry for washing. Computer-wise, I've got to train Word to behave, update this diary (as always!), start the transfer from Outlook Express (now redundant with Hotmail) to Windows Live Mail, and get the blog online as various folk wonder if I'm alive out there. I've learnt a few lessons from the holiday, and there are plenty of reasons for wanting to visit Pittsburgh again.
The lessons are; never phone overseas direct from a hotel - the phone bills are excruciating! A call box would have been cheaper, but if I had been able to top up Mum's 'international' phone card, calls would have been far cheaper all-round. But in order to do so, the payment had to be made with a US debit or credit card account. So I'll need to find a set of numbers that enable me to make cheap rate calls home from overseas the way Mum's handy list enables me to do the same thing to the USA now...
Next - WiFi. I didn't sign up for the Omni's freebies-offer at the time, because I wasn't taking Adelle with me, plus the other aspects seemed redundant. However, Tinker brought his laptop into my room on various occasions and used it to net, which added around $10 per day WiFi was accessed. Tinker paid up for that as soon as we realised, of course, but it was still quite a nasty sting to see it on the bill. Next time I visit, I'll certainly be signing up, and saving money!
Finally, hotel bill-wise, don't think that the bill stops at the price in the brochure. There are taxes as well! I politely but firmly pointed out at hotel reception that it might be a good idea to inform overseas customers of the extra $15-odd added onto each day's stay in terms of tax. Not only is there the tax that is added onto purchases, but also a tax for being a visitor to the US, plus something called RAD tax. I have no idea what that is. If the Omni didn't have a discount on for AnthroCon goers, the bill would have been even higher! >_<
Here's a notion - take suction cup hooks on holiday. Stick them in your hotel window and hang a sheet of paper from it. Then when you take snaps of your hotel, you can easily see which room was yours (unless everybody else does it, of course)!
Conventions require cash! So take plenty of dosh with you up front. I used ATMs to get extra cash, but the upshot of this is that as well as the local machine charging you, so does the company you got your money card from. My dollar card had plenty on it to start with, but that's not the point. (American ATMs do not hold onto your card while you use them. You insert and then withdraw your card smartly, as if using a hotel card key).
Make sure that the chip you use in your camera is not going to cause problems. A 4GB chip in a 5 year old camera might result in a few glitches, as happened in my case. Overall, it worked, but I didn't really need 4GB anyhow - I wasn't making major movies! If in doubt, stick to using 1GB chips.
Don't bother pestering Tinker's buddies for concept pictures of Jay-Bird. They already have a lot of commissions on their hands, they don't know you and they work better if they have a model sheet to work from. Bug Tinker instead. He doesn't mind. Then use that model sheet for future encounters.
Holiday money cards may not work as debit cards. Use them as if they were credit cards. I was mildly surprised and a bit concerned that there is no use of chip and pin (or even just pin) and only infrequently did I ever sign for anything. So check your receipt and make sure you're not being billed for anything higher than the cost of a couple of hoagies and a can of iced tea.
Travelling public systems - train and bus both - they seem to have dispensed with handing out tickets. I would have thought it was something that was considered important. How do you catch fare-dodgers? And it's reassuring to have a ticket - you can see how much you paid and use it for future reference, too. But no...
I did this before I went away - always let your bank/credit card/debit card people know about your holiday and how long you'll be away. Otherwise a friendly computer will block your card, thinking that somebody has stolen it to use overseas.
Caught up with pages from Edenworld and Sabrina Online