T O T K a t

   hdiutil attach foo.dmg
   cd /Volumes/Foo-0.1/
   sudo installer -pkg Foo-0.1.pkg -target "/"
   hditutil detach /Volumes/Foo-0.1/

The one big down side is that the TV can deal with only 4x3 PC input at a maximum resolution of 1024x768. It looks a bit silly on a huge, widescreen TV, but I guess that's just tough. There is no way on earth I am buying a new TV, for a very long time.

Despite really not feeling up to socialising last night, I hauled ass over to my old job's offices to meet up with a guy who works in one of their US offices and was over visiting for the last couple of weeks. I picked a Thai restaurant which was on the tube line which connects my current office, my old job's office, the place where he was staying and my house - handy.

Sugar Hut was the place of choice and, by God, it was a good one. Very trendy indeed, decor in a Moroccan style (wish I'd had my main camera with me), really good Thai food (and, er, a decent wine list) and the service was both attentive and relaxed. We shared a couple of nice starters, Satay Chicken (chunky, juicy bits of chicken and a nicely smooth and hot peanut sauce) and a seafood platter with a lime and chilli dip. Fragrant stir-fried Jasmine rice to share would have done me as my dinner - there were entire King prawns in there! But I also had duck in red curry sauce to go with it (and my ex-colleague had chicken in red curry sauce) which was nicely spicy, the duck lean and the chunks of fresh pineapple and little round fruits (I have no idea what they were, but they were walnut sized, spherical and pleasantly tangy) kept it from being overly rich and fatty.

In my tired haze this morning (got home at aruond 0045, so it was a wee bit late) I'd almost forgotten about the coconut ice-cream at the end. I have vague recollection of insisting that my ex-colleague try it but no idea if he liked it or not. That second bottle of wine probably fuzzed out bits of detail. I've not drunk that much in a very long time and I was dreading standing up this morning. Thankfully I feel fine. I had a cup of tea before bed and half a pint of water during the night, so that probably helped.

The bill was a little startling, but the two bottles of wine won't have helped and service was included. I'd definitely go back there (maybe drink less next time *cough*) again. Very nice.

Status: Delivered
Delivered On: 29/01/2008
14:19
Delivered To: LONDON, GB

photos later

Package Progress
Location Date Local Time Description
NORTH LONDON, GB 29/01/2008 6:01 OUT FOR DELIVERY

1. I need to get clothes altered again, specifically taken in.
2. Apple keep updating the status of my order to say "shipment still on schedule" but won't give me a tracking number.
3. I may not have enough yarn for the scarf I've been making, however I may be able to make it work by blocking it afterwards.
4. There's only one thing on my social diary this week (still, it's up on last week which had nothing in it at all).

1 - the blueberries sank
2 - it made 15 instead of 12 muffins
3 - there's only me to eat them

I've got through two so far and given 4 away. 10 left. I thought I might be meeting an ex-colleague this afternoon, who is visiting from the USA until Tuesday, but I didn't get a confirmation. That's one less potential scoffer of muffins. They won't keep all that long either.

It's almost 11am on a Sunday and all 12 things on the weekend's To Do list are done. I'm all showered after the grubby work for today, so I'm going to sit in the garden and drink tea and enjoy the sunshine.

Still one of the nicest, feel-good adverts out there at the moment - the Skoda Fabia advert with the car that is made entirely from confectionery. The detail is so sweet (pun half-intended), there's even golden syrup used as the engine oil.

Tomorrow, I shall be making muffins. The two are unrelated.

I am managing to take a photo a day still. This project is therapy in a way. My sheer bloody-mindedness to complete it forces me to find _something_ each day to photograph. Sometimes it gets to the end of the day and I get a bit desperate to find something, but I've succeeded every day so far.

In other news, I'm waiting for a Mac Mini to arrive. I was fussy, which resulted in it being cheaper and simpler to order it online rather than get it in the Apple Store. It's a bit of a wait for it to arrive though - ETA 30th at the moment. Bleh!

I've only caught one episode of any of the current television programmes about chickens. However, I have decided to get free range chicken only, preferably organic. It does cost a bit more, but given that I can afford it and it's better all 'round, I'm going to do it. For dinner today, I roasted (in a brand new roasting dish with a lid) a free range chicken from Morrisons (my local one doesn't appear to do organic chicken) with onions, garlic, herbs and seasoning. And it is soooo succulent! I think it may well be a combination of a pretty good chicken and the new roasting dish having a lid.

The soup is on the hob for lunches another time and there is loads of chicken left for sandwiches and curry later in the week.

I bought some Italian bread from there, for lunch today with my best friend. The wild boar pate, herb roasted ham, manchego and cherry tomatoes that went with it were gorgeous. I'm thinking I really should have got some cakes as well, but it isn't as if the place is going to disappear overnight so there's plenty of time (i.e. tomorrow :o)).

My 3rd year form tutor at school (Bob Lister) was quoted in a BBC News article on the decline in Latin teaching in UK schools. Sad to hear about the decline though. Many argue that it's a worthless, dead language. I disagree.

A year long project. I hope I manage to keep it going. A photo a day for a year. I've managed it for the first 5 days, so.

I went to look at Kinetica today, but it was not only closed but the whole building taped off and under reconstruction. So instead, I went to the Tate Modern. Having not actually seen Shibboleth yet, it was worth a shot.

Maman is still there (or back, I'm not sure which). I saw it first many years ago when it was in the main hall and had a wobbly leg. And on wandering further down the South Bank, there was a light installation or three, by David Batchelor, all done in everyday objects, recycled plastic containers and low energy lights. Pretty cool really. Nice to see something so pretty as the one on the left, made from recycled things and promoting recycling.