Decisions, Decisions

Last week I finally downloaded the new Jaunty version of Ubuntu, after waiting impatiently for it for months - and now I think I'll wait a bit longer and stick with Hardy, lol.  I've upgraded the bits I wanted to upgrade (GIMP and OpenOffice, mostly), and have decided to wait for the big, stuffed-with-extras dvd that Linux Format will no doubt put out before deciding whether or not to change.

So after all that impatience, now I've got it, I don't want it!

I've also been considering my scrapbooking efforts.  I digiscrap, and print the results at work.  I started with 12x12, because thats what everyone uses... and now I'm changing my mind and printing the whole lot all over again at a different size.

Sometimes I really think my brain mulls these things over and over just to keep itself amused.

Weekend away!

We never go on holiday, so the idea of heading away so the Other Half could compete in a mountainbike race was really appealing.

We went to this place, which is one of the top tourist destinations of the South Island.  It's the beginning of winter here though, so the tourists were pretty thin on the ground; we ate dinner at a restaurant, and were the only customers on that side of the building.

The dinner itself was beautiful and huge; I had beer battered fish with salad and chunky fries, and found it hard to finish - but it was so good that I persevered, lol.

The weather could have been better - 60mm of rain overnight, but at least it wasn't pouring when they started the race, it was just sorta drizzling.  By the time they got in it was a beautiful day.

Even though we were only there for one night, I feel like I've been on holiday for ages, although I can't say I'm really looking forward to going back to work, hehe.  Still, I'll be using some of the huge bandwidth limit to download Ubuntu Jaunty tomorrow, so it won't be all bad.

Dawson the slightly chilly Grump

Our cat has conjunctivitis.  We took him to the vet on Saturday, and have been torturing him with eye drops in one eye since.  This morning I took him back to the vet, and now he has drops in one eye, a cream applied to the other (actually in his eye, which makes MY eyes water) and eardrops...

He hates us, and is currently sitting outside in a pre-frost glaze instead of being inside, flat on his back in front of the heater.

He's going to be so thrilled when he realises it's an ongoing ritual.

I have a cold

I'm the third person - out of four - at my work to come down with this, only I managed it right in time for Easter weekend (rats).  And now the Other Half is complaining that his nose is starting to run as well.  I've told him that it's the bosses fault, since he gave it to me, but apparently the buck stops with me.

On the upside, I won't be eating much chocolate, because I can't actually taste it so there's no point.  On the downside - I won't be eating much chocolate!

Day Off

I have today off, so I can watch Wrestlemania.  How's that for random?

Me, the '09 version

There have been a couple of new features introduced to the 2009 model of moi. 

To start with, I've lost a bit more weight.  Since October last year, I've lost 10kg (about 22lb), which I'm totally stoked with.  I've got about another 20kg to go, but I'm impressed with where I'm at, considering that I'm determined to do it without dieting.  Everything I've lost, I've lost purely because I've dragged my butt out of bed a bit earlier and got on the trainer, to work up a sweat before work.  I actually enjoy it, although now that winter is coming it's getting a bit harder to get out of bed in the mornings!

Something else I'm doing now to get a bit of exercise is that I've taken up a new sport - badminton.  There was an inaugural Business League started here to drum up interest in the sport, and we at work signed up.  We lost the first three weeks outright, and won the last three on points, so we all improved as we went, but the main thing was that it was really fun.  Mum, who came to watch and played when others couldn't make it, and I decided to go along to the club nights when they started.  We've been going for a couple of months now, and I was even voted onto the club committee at the AGM last week, so I'm well and truly committed to it now!  It's heaps of fun, and something that I feel I'm actively improving at - I can almost hold my own in a match with the vets now, and everyone is really supportive and helpful.

The thing is, because I've taken up this new thing, I'm actually out and about during the week, which I don't think I've ever done.  I'm meeting people, and finding so far that it's not nearly as intimidating as I thought, so I'm starting to relax into the whole thing and enjoy myself.  So that's another bonus...

The new hobby that I mentioned in my last post was a computer-based thing... I've been collecting digital scrapping ephemera for ages, but haven't done much scrapping because the software I've got is so slow that it was just painful.  So instead, I scaled down what I've been doing, and switched from full page scrapbook pages to index-sized recipe cards.  It's totally addictive!  I've bought a little chest to keep the recipes in, and am totally impressed with how creative they look.  The idea is to make looking thru them just as interesting as the actual cooking part, and so far so good.

This is the first one I did:

At the time, I didn't take note of the wonderful designers I need to be crediting, but will have to start taking note.  So far I've got about a dozen recipes done, and have about another 40 to do out of the not-so-flash book I was making.  I've decided that once I've done that, I'm going to get rid of all the cookbooks that I've been holding onto for that one recipe.  Fresh bookshelf space...!

Tired

Am feeling a bit stretched at the moment, what with one thing and another.  Will try and post a random update over the next few days/weekend.

I've got a new hobby, a new sport and a new weight goal... stay tuned, kiddies!