October 30, 2004

Lazarus returns

My phone appears to have made something of a recovery. Let's see if it is a permanent one.

Posted by totkat at 9:23 AM | Comments (0)

October 29, 2004

Dead phone

Well, it isn't quite dead. Most of the number buttons don't work and as a consequence, I can't unlock it when I turn it on to see what else doesn't work until I put the SIM in another phone, change the PIN to something that I can type in with the few remaining number keys, then put it back in my phone. I can get away with the green button not working and actually make calls to numbers that exist in my contacts list already if the menu key still works and the red button still works. I'm buggered if one of those doesn't though. As for sending text messages, that's going to be impossible with only 4 number keys working.

Posted by totkat at 1:14 PM | Comments (0)

October 28, 2004

*bounce*

Yay! Yummy breakfast this morning and a pile of cool prezzies. Dinner out later. *bounce*

Posted by totkat at 11:29 AM | Comments (0)

October 26, 2004

A great man passes

John Peel; a man who was like your dad, but cool. Pivotal in the music industry. He will be missed.

Posted by totkat at 2:24 PM | Comments (0)

October 22, 2004

Ow

There are cow-orkers you'll miss when they go. And then they do. Four in the last year. The most recent one to leave got some vouchers for me and another cow-orker to go for a massage at the new "Relax" place next door to the office. Lovely thing to do. Really.

So, we went for the massage and were totally spaced out afterwards. But this morning the base of my back, just above my waist, is bruised. And it is just where the bottom of my rucksack sits against my back. Ow. That, plus the gouge out of my tongue where I bit it quite hard on Wednesday night and I'm whining a lot (more than usual) today. Ow.

*whine*

Posted by totkat at 10:46 AM | Comments (0)

October 18, 2004

My present to me

I have an Imperial buttload of developed APS films, from each of which I would like to have at least one frame in good quality digital format. To get this done on the high street would cost me around £250 (I said it was a buttload of them!). So, I bought me one of these little film scanner babies for £227. The good thing is that it also works for standard 35mm film, so the resale on eBay (which will happen once I've converted all of my APS film) will be reasonable and I'll recoup some of the cost of it.

Of course, it'll take quite some time to plug all of the film canisters into it and then correct for orientation of photos, light balance etc. But I think it will be worth it in the long run. I'm missing a lot of photos in my digital albums.

Posted by totkat at 11:36 AM | Comments (0)

October 14, 2004

Find me a statistician!

There's an article on BBC News Online today that is confusing me.

"Using a mobile phone for 10 years or more increases the risk of ear tumours by four times, Swedish research shows.

The Karolinska Institute study of 750 people found the risk of acoustic neuroma rose by 3.9 times on the side of the head the phone is used.

There was no increase in risk on the other side of the head - giving an overall rise in risk of 1.9 times.

Acoustic neuroma is a benign tumour in the auditory nerve, which can cause brain and nerve damage.

It affects one in 100,000 people.

Those who had used mobile phones for less than 10 years were not at a greater risk, the team reported.

Out of the 750 people who took part in the study, 150 had acoustic neuroma and of those one in 11 had used a mobile phone for at least a decade."

So, out of 750 people, 150 had tumours. And out of that 150, 1 in 11 had used a mobile phone for more than ten years. How does that tell me that using a mobile for more than ten years will quadruple my chance of an ear tumour? Can someone explain it to me?

Posted by totkat at 12:35 PM | Comments (0)

October 12, 2004

Yum. Choccies.

Dear Sainsbury's,

thank you very much for the lovely birthday present of a tube of Elizabeth Shaw Russian Vodka chocolates.

Thanks,
Kate

[They sent me a voucher for these for my birthday. Who says reward cards are evil?]

Posted by totkat at 5:08 PM | Comments (2)

To toy or not to toy?

I stopped using a PDA a while back, through laziness and lack of need. I almost gave the last one away but it was politely declined. Now I find the need for a PDA again, what with having an actual social life and all, albeit mostly borrowed. So I had to find the Clie again. Eventually, after some weeks, it was found and after a couple of days of very dodgy battery, seems fine now. The battery life isn't stunning and it doesn't have built-in Bluetooth given as it is a bit old now. So, I kinda want to get a Tungsten T3. But, without knowing that the battery life is significantly better, and being able to justify the bulkier PDA as well as the cost... hmm.

Amazon Associates earnings would get me £43 off the T3, which is a start, but still I don't think I can go for it. Of course, I'm being periodically paraniod about money due to the whole "pensions crisis" thing which keeps popping up. Bah.

Posted by totkat at 4:18 PM | Comments (2)

October 8, 2004

Not entirely sure about this

So there's this Norwegian dude who's written a "safe shell" to go over the top of standard Windows, for small kids (2-12 years old) to use. Now, while I'm all for protecting little kiddies from inappropriate things, I don't think this solution is a good idea in the long run. Regardless of any filters and "Net Nanny" style applications, children should be supervised using the Internet. Giving kids a very much dumbed-down interface isn't going to help develop their computer skills either. I'm sure the intentions are good, but... misplaced in this case.

Posted by totkat at 4:27 PM | Comments (0)

October 7, 2004

Time to think, maybe?

So, that job I turned down still hasn't been filled.

Maybe the company needs to sit down and think why they're not filling it, instead of throwing more and more money at it.

Posted by totkat at 4:47 PM | Comments (2)

October 5, 2004

And so it begins

My yearly battle against the other commuters.

The temperature starts dropping, so All Of The Windows Must Be Closed on the train because it is Freezing Cold and people will... er... get a bit cold because they've not bothered to put on enough clothes to keep them warm outside. Thing is, you see, when it gets cold and you have to walk to and from a tube/train station you really ought to put on warm enough clothes. The other thing is, tubes/trains get stuffy and humid with lots of people in them, so a little ventilation is really an essential thing.

Posted by totkat at 11:29 AM | Comments (1)

October 4, 2004

So.

A new dawn at work. People gone who made the place more full of life. I never did like it when they went on holiday/on call and now they're gone.

It feels... quiet.

There are Oracle courses coming, probably, but that's the only up side to it.

Posted by totkat at 12:58 PM | Comments (3)

October 2, 2004

Happy birthday, mother.

Prezzies are at my house for when you get back.

Posted by totkat at 8:19 AM | Comments (0)