Due to the monthly fee being identical to my current package, I recently upgraded to ADSL 2+, with Annex M (which gives a much faster upload, but requires your exchange to have LLU). Like many upgraders have reported, I was getting a really crap download speed (~2Mbps), but a fantastic upload speed (~2Mbps). However, faced with a 2Gb download (for an IDE "upgrade"), I finally got 'round to calling my ISP and I was reminded why I chose Nildram in the first place - good customer support.

Dialling a number I had in my speed dial (back from when I moved house and had to phone often) got me straight through to a technical person who knew exactly what he was doing. Several profiles and tweaks later, I'm back to nearly the same download as I was before I regraded (I was getting 10Mbps down, but am now getting ~8Mbps down) and a steady 1.6Mbps up.

So all in all, a good switch. Now if only I can persuade my new router to route VPN traffic...

For those of you in a buzz free world, Dave* has commissioned a new 3 part series to be aired this weekend, starting on Friday. 
Also, for those of you with Sky/Virgin, Tin Man is airing on the Hallmark Channel at the same time.



*The TV Channel

The date of the Reading Beer Festival this year is Thursday 30th April thru Sunday 3rd May.

Will probably do the usual trick of going up Friday lunchtime, seems more relaxed than Saturday evening.

Well, it's early morning and yes, I'm still awake. Here in Britain, winter has set in with a vengeance, with a second snow fall in 3 days.

Have fun everyone!

And the world breathes a sigh of relief as the United States of America changes stripe again.

Here's holding out hope that Britain can also change next year...

I'm currently listening to internet radio station Sky.FM, which is supported by ads. As this is an American station, I'm getting american ads. Having played GTA with its fake radio stations, I was very amused to hear a lot of the ads voiced in that same deep american voice, which comes across to us Brits as over the top insincerity, especially after the tounge in cheek nature of GTA fake ads. However, there's a Brit voicing the ad for Californian wine - is this to add cachet?

Anyone got any recommendations for other internet radio stations? (hi-energy rock/pop/dance)

Yesterday, I finally got around to fixing the syphon on my downstairs loo - though as is the way with all DIY jobs, it required more time and effort than anticipated.

( Cut for the uninterested )

You know the rules.

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 56.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next two to five sentences in your journal along with these instructions.

Don't dig for your favorite book, the cool book or the intellectual one: pick the CLOSEST.

 

      "Intuition will only fill in pens that are past the end of those specified by the application, there is no facility for using
      default values for "leading" pens (those at the beginning of the array) without using the defaults for the rest of the pens.

      Using the pen specification of an existing public screen is a bit more involved. First, the application must get a pointer
      to the screen structure of the public screen using the LockPubScreen() call. A copy of the screen's DrawInfo tructure
      may then be obtained by calling GetScreenDrawInfo(). The DrawInfo structure contains a copy of the pen specification
      for the screen that can be used in the OpenScreenTagList() call with the SA_Pens tag."

From which book was I quoting?! What this is telling me is that I need to organise my books better!

Thanks to fox_c for the recipe linkage: Red Rice Salad

After reading her description of it, I was salivating, and just had to try it - so I went over to our local Waitrose, sure enough - Red Rice (albeit from the Camargue rather than Indonesia, but hey!). Got everything bar the ground coriander - I was convinced I had some in, but when I got back I didn't, so that was the only missing ingredient. Still, everything else was correct. Added an extra chilli, as I like the heat, but with all the coconut milk, it can easily stand several more if you want it hotter.

And what a fantastic range of flavours! I'd never normally put that much soy sauce into a dish, but wow! I pan fried a fresh tuna steak to go with it, and added a little wasabi sauce, and complemented it with a bottle of fresh Cabernet Sauvignon, as the rich flavours needed a robust red. A good Rioja or Barolo would also go well with this.

I've not done cooking like this for ages - there was a lot of chopping (which could have been alleviated by using the food processor, but hey, whilst the rice is cooking, there's plenty of time to chop!)

I'll definitely do this again, and I have a few changes in mind to make it even more delicious! Watch this space.

Next up, saurkraut, chinese style! (Made this a few years back, lost the recipe, will have to experiment from memory!)

Edit: Mmmm, the Bottlegreen Elderflower Sorbet is v.nice too!

Yay! Rockband has arrived for the PS3! But the store's not up yet. D'oh.

So is anyone else going to try this game out? I'll most likely be playing on an EU english roleplaying server, but don't yet know which one (and won't start playing til the Monday after it comes out, due to the RPG weekend...) It'd be nice for us all to start an MMO on the same server for a change!

... and I got all these amps!

Have a look at the last paragraph:-

<a href="http://www.photoshopuser.com/photowalk/city/london.html">London photowalk</a>

Now when I want an ampersand, I want my rendering software to get it right!

&, &&, &&&, &&&&?!  Yup, all look good to me.

Damn you Rockband!

After 2 sessions (one on hols, one at a friend's birthday do), I seem to have acquired a need to learn how to play the drums properly. Consequently, I now have an electronic drum kit, and have plenty of free time in which to practice! Now all I need is a Rockband style stave animation to play along to, and I'll be set!

I and 11 others went to see Spamalot yesterday - very funny. Sanjeev Baskar plays King Arthur and even sings tolerably well :D It pokes a lot of fun at Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals whilst keeping many of the gags from the film.

Left Thatcham at 9:30; arrived in London around 10:30 and wandered around Camden before lunch - which was quite spooky, as the last time I was there was playing  Hellgate: London - plenty of recognisable landmarks from the game! Had some lunch outdoors, wandered around some more and ended up in the Punch and Judy for a pint or two of good ale before mooching over to the Palace to watch the show.

Followed that up by having dinner at Stanzas just around the corner from the Palace; took a while to choose the food, which were all straightforward dishes cooked superbly. For starters, I would have had the scallops, but they didn't have enough, so I changed to the crab bisque, which was nice. The steak was cooked as a meal for two - 32 ounces of meat on the bone, aged for 30 days and cooked to perfection; accompanied with a bearnaise sauce, gravy and delicious large chips, with the skin still on the potatoes. We didn't bother with desert as part of the group wanted to get back home (though some of us carried on drinking Sam Smiths in the Chandos til the last train back). With wine, the price came to nearly £45 a head - well worth it.

The final leg of our journey took us to Reading, where we had to hang around for 40 minutes for the last train back to Thatcham, which had morphed into a bus because of engineering works. We sat outside the Three Guineas for a last pint (Tim Taylor's Landlord for me - delicious!), watching people get on various coaches that came and went. At the appropriate time, we wandered over to the coach and were told that there was only 1 space left for Thatcham. However, a frantic bloke then organised taxis for the 16 or so people not on the coaches.

So, finally, we got back home at midnight, having persuaded the taxi driver to drop us off close to my house rather than the station (as it was a very similar distance for him). Result!

The Big Read top 100, with books I've read in bold, books I intend to read in italic & books I love underlined.

Last day of my current contract tomorrow, and nothing lined up except a long summer break!

Woot! At last, some free time to do all those things I've not set aside the time for, such as taking and processing photos, sorting out books, tending to the garden...

Oh wait, there's decorating that has to be done... D'oh!.

Yay! My new 3 piece suite came today. Much more comfortable than the old sofa, and more seating for guests - you won't have to sit on the floor anymore :D

Just a reminder - the Reading Beer festival is fast approaching!

1st to the 4th of May this year. I'm going Friday afternoon for a larger range of beers, and all day on the Saturday ( though the Saturday is doubling up as a stag do for a local friend ).


http://www.readingbeerfestival.org.uk/

Lots of new series starting April:

Heroes season 2 should be starting on Beeb 2 sometime soon (the Sky magazine suggests April, but it and the interweb refuse to tell me exactly when)

Battlestar Galactica season 4 starts on Sky One (& HD) on Tuesday 1 April with a retrospective, and for proper on 8 April.

Dr Who season 4 on Beeb 1, Saturday 5 April

Oh, and for those of you who like crime drama such as CSI/NCIS/Jag might also like to know that FX is going HD soon. NCIS rocks, btw - FX are currently at the middle of season 2 with a show every weeknight, and season 5 should start soon. Channel 5 are nearing the end of season 4 at the moment.

Anyone else caught the new Flash Gordon series on Sci-Fi? I thought the first 2 eps were rather middling as these things go, but I'll give it a few more episodes before abandoning it...

In book related news, just finished Halting States by Charles Stross - a must read for any MMORPG players :D