We have good news

Kathryn can stay! We finally got the Visas back yesterday; well, visa. Kathryn's now allowed to stay here until we leave, unless that takes more than 2 years. I was incredibly relieved, since we're going on holiday in the not too distant future and need passports for that.

So that's good.

Also good, I had my eyetest today; in 5 years my eyes have hardly changed. In fact, one eye is exactly the same and one is so very slightly different they recommended no change in prescription. I also have no signs of macular degeneration - which is good - my mum's got very serious degeneration and I'm slightly worried about my eyesight (long term) but they checked it today my field of vision is hunky dory.

I will just have to take care of my eyes.

I was sat reading the contact lens sign and really want to go back to wearing lenses; but can't at the mo. If this allergy clinic does the Sublingual allergy treatment, that might mean I could, which would be awesome beans.

I was also good today for numerous reasons:
- I actually walked to town and back, rather than driving, despite it being cold.
- I sorted out my debts a bit. A very nice woman at the bank explained that there is a way to avoid early repayment charges on a loan, so my debt is now a loan. I must not take the credit cards with me anywhere.
- I didn't buy the Nikon D70s I saw. I'm even not buying it now, despite knowing it's quite a good price.
- On a smaller scale, I didn't buy lunch. I bought a drink ('cos I was thirsty after leaving uh...an hour earlier than I needed to (yes, I'm stupid sometimes)).
- I went and dropped off my prescription at the doctor's - so I should be able to get my new nose-spray on Monday.

I've also been good:
- Yesterday I fixed the car's exhaust. Well. Improved. Fixed might be an overstatement. It's now only fouling the suspension at extremes of travel. Having beaten crap out of the bit that you can't replace for about an hour I managed to move the 45 degree joint by about an inch and a half - a good chunk of the two inches I needed. I think it's leaking less now. Not quite sure how to get it that last half inch tho'.
- I got the iPaq working on the Mac. Well, technically it's working through Windows 2000 on VMWare on the MacBook. The GPS bit should work, and so before we go to Ireland I need to fork out for a new CF card for it - a much bigger one - then I can have Europe maps...and an MP3 player in the car again. That would rock my little world.

Also good:
Royksopp's new video. Many people seem to have missed this, and it's excellent.

Do I...?

Okay, now it's long been noted, particularly by me, that I'm a harsh environment for technology. I've frizbee'd MP3 players, my phone's spent more time falling to the floor from a height (usually a hard concrete floor) than I'm sure it'd care to recount; my paranoia has meant that the only reason my iPaq survived was a process of me not actually taking it anywhere.

Well, it comes to this.

Do I try and keep the Mac as it was, a beautiful testament to Apples minimalist design? Or do I accept that I'm going to ruin the outside of the case, and slap stickers on it now?

Or do I wait until I've ruined the case then slap stickers on it?

It's not like I'm short of stickers...

But it is very pretty.

As a side point. The office is very untidy. I've been poking at it since I posted and...well...now it's marginally less untidy. But I've seen the light regarding wireless devices. I used to think 'oh, why would I want a wireless printer'? Now I understand. Since I don't have a desktop anymore (not counting the RiscPC which can't actually drive the printer, or any of the devices in question 'cos it doesn't have USB), then I do seem to be suddenly surrounded by millions of cables.

There's:
- The TV Capture Card
- The SD/MMC/CF/other odd memory card reader
- The Printer
- The hard disk
- The USB keyboard and trackball (for when I want to do serious stuff, or lots of typing)
There's other devices too, but I can't think what they are right now. Having shuffled things around a bit I've realised that (a) I need a much larger office, and (b) labelling the cables is going to be essential. So I have.

I need to tackle the pile of crap on the sofa-bed now. And then I should take the huge box to the recycling thingie ('cos it won't fit in our bin). And now, the excuse for this quick break? I'm going to post a few bits and bobs on Freecycle.

Just plain wrong

A while back a black teenager was killed in London in what turned out to be a 'racially motivated attack'. The media in the UK were all over it, it was covered from every possible angle and the killers eventually found and prosecuted. The papers continued to discuss it for ages. Then there's the young girl abducted while on holiday; that's run and run, and still running occasionally.

Compare those experiences with this: Young, gay, proud, battered to death. I vaguely recall hearing about this story, initally, but since then nada. Not until now, when I ran across the acquittal of the accused. There's always two sides to every story, but the quotes given seem pretty damning.

Why haven't we heard more about this?

Presumably because the UK is still much more homophobic that it likes to imagine.

*sighs*