Health matters have been problematic in the last two weeks. I’ve just about gotten back all the mobility in my foot but I now have this stupid phlegm-y chest cough. Katy had a migraine last Wednesday that left her vomiting for most of the night and part of the following day. I stayed home from work and managed to catch either a 24-hour bug or a touch of food poisoning. The result of which was I was puking my guts out Friday night and was completely useless on Saturday. I was back on my feet – mostly – on Sunday but Katy is still feeling out of sorts. She went to the doctor today so hopefully that’ll be on its way to being sorted out, but with the beastie being difficult because of his teeth these days, it still promises to be a bumpy ride for the next few days. I’ve already taken a lot of leave time so I’m a bit conflicted about staying home, but at the same time, if she needs it, family comes before work. Still, I just wish things would settle down for a bit and the universe would give us a break.
Quote of the day
On swine flu:
It’s humbling that I could be killed by 3.2kbytes of genetic data. Then again, with 850 Mbytes of data in my genome, there’s bound to be an exploit or two.
Original source: an interesting piece comparing the flu virus to a computer virus, and on hacking H1N1:
Waited a lot, mumbled a bit, became British.
I affirmed a pledge of allegiance to Her Majesty the Queen yesterday and became naturalized as a British citizen. The ceremony was, to be honest, a bit hokey, but the symbolism of it was nice. It would have been a lot better if I hadn’t been in the middle of a nasty migraine. Afterwards, people were complimenting Katy and I on how well behaved the beastie had been. He, of course, was flirting with everything that would smile at him.
The highlight of the day came when we were making our way to the Cambridge City Council offices and ran into Santa Claus in his off-duty summer outfit. Imagine a fat old dude, with a kick-ass white beard, fabulously working flaming, scarlet red trousers and a buttoned shirt of the same colour. Fantabulous!
Keeping calm and carrying on. Kinda, sorta.
One week later and I’m walking – well, limping, really – but at least I’m back at work. My ankle is strapped in and I’m wearing my hiking boots (which do nothing for my foot odour) so it’s not too bad. I don’t need to take painkillers any more and the swelling is mostly gone. There is still a kick-ass bruise on both sides of my ankle but it’s now multiple pretty colours and that’s also going away.
We spent the weekend in Leicester. Good news, we have curtains! They cost a damn sight more than we expected them to, but at least we have something that Katy and I can agree on. It should be the last big thing we need to spend on. It needs to be the last big thing we spend on, because we’re broke at the moment and since Katy’s maternity pay is ending next month, our budget will be tight for the next few months. Joy, joy, stress, stress, stress. Really, it’s doable but we’ll need to be frugal – something we’re really, really bad at doing.
We went to see two movies: Coraline and Terminator:Salvation. Coraline is really funky and I’ll be buying it when it comes out on DVD (see? not frugal!) T:S was very meh. Ok, but nothing spectacular. They did manage to tie in nicely into the first and second movie, but… dunno. I wasn’t hanging on the edge of my seat. BTW, when did the movies become so expensive??? Tickets for two adults for a matinee, two medium soft drinks, the smallest popcorn available (which was still bigger than a whole portion of microwave popcorn that I usually share with Katy) and a small ice cream: £30!!! How the hell do teenagers afford that? I mean, shite!
We got our new sofa on Friday. The thing is f’n HUGE! I knew it was big and it knew it would fit, but seeing it in a giant showroom doesn’t do it justice when you imagine how it’s going to look in your living room. I had to ask the delivery men to put the old couch in the back shed because they said that it wouldn’t fit in the office. I think it’s partially that they didn’t want to be arsed to make it fit through the door, but they have planted the seeds of doubt about getting it in its proposed resting place and that doesn’t make me a happy bunny. More to come later when we attempt to pry it in :)
The BenBen was a bit of a handful this weekend. We think his teeth are giving him grief. It’s coming up to the right time and he’s showing some classic signs of it. He’s drooling on everything! And I mean droooooooooling. My clothing gets soggy just looking at him. We’re going to go see a dermatology nurse about his eczema. Hopefully it’s something he’ll grow out of and it’s just being aggravated because of the heat at the moment. We’ll see what she has to say.
Quote of the day
If I have to check all my assumptions, I’ll never get any science done.
F*CK. Also, ouch!
In a show of great skill and talent, I have managed to lose the ability to walk in a straight line and have spectacularly wiped out on a walkway at work and have twisted my ankle in the process. I’m currently sitting with my foot elevated and wrapped in ice. Taking advantage of the fact that I’m a walking pharmacy, I’m felling a lot better after taking ibuprofen, paracetamol and codeine. Still, god damn it, I do not need this shit right now.
Our cats are more random than usual
Tolstoy has taken to sleeping in the most random places ever in the past few days. Normally, he’s sleeping under the Poang in our bedroom but in the past 3 days, we’ve seen him:
– on the couch (which he never does)
– under BenBen’s cot bed (he’s usually *in* it)
– behind the scratching post we just put upstairs (it’s always fun when he attacks your feet in the middle of the night when you’re not expecting it)
And this morning, we found him sleeping on BenBen’s play mat.
Random animal :)
Meat + flame = GOOD!
With the weather being so nice recently, the BBQ has had a good dusting off and has seen more usage in the last week than in the last year :) I think that having it so close to the back patio door will be a good thing. We had Bratwurst, veggie kebabs and steak last Sunday and we had BBQ chicken salad last night. If the weather holds out for tonight, it’s going to be burgers :)
Oh, and as a side note, 
makes a really good BBQ sauce :)
Britain’s got talent
I’m happy Diversity won, but at the same time, I think that it’s a shame and a farce that Stavros Flatley didn’t even place!
Quote of the moment: You’ve got to have some Greek in you somewhere. No one is that cool who isn’t a big Greek.
The dance act is quite cool though, so they’re going to wow the Queen :)
New peeeeeeeeeeectures!
I’ve finally pulled the finger out and gotten some pictures online. You can go browse the galleries on the website and see:
Pictures of the EMBL Staff Association Retreat to Edinburgh: http://www.flubu.com/various_pics/edinburgh_may_2009/
A really cool collection of night-time areal pictures of London: http://www.flubu.com/various_pics/london_from_above/
Some recently added pictures of Mr BenBen: http://www.flubu.com/various_pics/ben/
Of the last gallery, let me give you some teasers :)
