What's Doing

Alright, maybe a quick digression to this rather wonderful geeky doormat. Definitely one for Ciaran

Sorry, too busy to blog, I’m watching Hells Kitchen.

Blimey it’s good.

A nice little piece about how great software patents are over at DNA Lounge. Mumble, mumble, diversity, innovation, mumble.

Tomorrow is looking to be a poor day for the cushions on our sofa. In chronological order I shall be watching;

• The Super 12 Final – Rugby Union
• England v New Zealand in the first test at Lords – Cricket
• The FA Cup Final, Man Utd v Milwall – Football
• The Parker Pen Cup Final at the Madejski stadium – Rugby Union
• Qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix – Motor Racing

If that doesn’t keep me occupied then there is the Bulldogs v Panthers game, not to mention the Surrey v Middx match at the Oval. Did I mention that I am a member there? Yes I am.

After all of that couch based activity I should really get some exercise. I think I shall be giving these people a call very soon.

For no reason other than I can, henceforth my first born son will be referred to on this here web site as "Jumpers For Goal Posts" (or JFGP for short).

There is a reason, but I’m sure my culture savvy readers won’t need me to explain it.

I’ve just forked out a small fortune for the latest Ben Folds ep’s. They are called Speed Graphic and Sunny 16 (sorry no URL for the second one).

As usual with Mr Folds work they are interesting, moving, thought provoking and just darn good. Top marks, however, go to the first track on Speed Graphic, a cover of The Cure’s in between days. Two minutes and fifty three seconds of pure genius. Music like that is what makes life worth living.

<Update>Just noticed that the man himself is touring the UK this year. Sadly the dates are in November and we are moving back down under in October so I won’t be able to go. Here’s hoping that the 70’s throwback will be take some time out to attend.</Update>

Did I mention that software patents get my goat almost as much as ID cards?

I’ll get me coat.

We are back from a romantic weekend in Rome. We went child free courtesy of Outraged and the IMoT. As you can see from the photo SWMBO didn’t fret about the parting at all, this is just one of the calls she made to check that number one son was prospering.

I, of course, had no doubts about the quality of care he was receiving. After all their two children (sorry folks, no photos by dictat) are in fine fettle after six and three years respectively so I knew laughing boy would be fine for a couple of days.

It was probably a good idea we didn’t have the little man as it made the walking around the city that much easier. And boy did we walk. Apart from on the "Rome by Night" tour on Friday night when we mainly sat in traffic. It’s a lovely city though and I highly recommend a visit.

Just a short note to let you, dear reader, know that a couple of the links in my sidebar are now working. I’ve had no complaints, but if you had tried the links to Jonathan James Palmer or Ciaran Hennessy recently you would not have had a great deal of joy.

Luckily for us the chaps have managed to get their acts together and rejoin this here world wide intarweb net. Good work fellas, may your links never rot.

There isn’t a lot to report from Chez Todd, hence the paucity of posts. Last week I took the boy to see his grandparents in cream tea country. SWMBO joined us on Friday evening and we persuaded granny to keep an ear out for the ankle biter on Saturday night. Faced with this unusual freedom what did we do? Went to the cinema of course. We had a veritable cornucopia of films to choose from. Well, alright, two, and we saw Shaun of the Dead. Funny, slightly scary and chock full of cultural references. Thoroughly pleasant entertainment.

Which is good because the alternative was Van Helsing, which hasn’t exactly been universally praised. Although Ciaran quite liked it. Which gets me back to where we started so I’ll just stop there.

In the comments to my last gadget post Mrs Buck asks for some evidence of my camera use. After a weekend of heavy snapping I added over a hundred photos to my library – and that’s after a little judicious culling of images.

But unless I give proof no one will believe me, There are a couple of really good shots in that bunch so here you go CB. Don’t say I don’t listen to my readers. Click on the thumbnail for a nice big shot, which I have shrunk down from its original large size to speed up the downloads of those of you still in the twentieth century (on dial-up). For the uninitiated the picture is of Jumbo Buck on our trip to Fishers Farm in sunny Sussex. A very nice day out it was too.