BBQ Tonight
Keeping quite busy at the moment (i.e. having a life outside of the internet) and working hard that is. Well tonight I've got a birthday bbq in which i'm taking a very active part, procuring the bbq, preparing the food, dessert and presents ... well you know :). This is what's on the menu:-
meat
chicken thighs
chicken breast + pieces
pork spare ribs
pork chops
Vegetables
kebabs (cherry tomatoes, green/red peppers, crougette, pineapple, onions and mushrooms)
onion kebabs (onions and garlic)
jacket potato
potato salad
corn on the cob
Dessert
birthday cake from superquinn :) (not much preparation for this)
grilled pineapple rounds - tempted to dip them in coconut milk & cinnamon)
I CAMPIONI DEL EUROPA SIAMO NOI
WoooooooHooooooooooooooooo! MILAN MILAN!! MILAN MILAN!!!
I CAMPIONI DEL EUROPA SIAMO NOI !!!!
I watched the match alone at home yesterday. It was one of the most boring matches of the league, a typical final. Milan played very badly and scored a first very lucky goal, and later managed a better executed second goal. Five minutes before the end Liverpool scored but I knew they weren’t going to repeat their feat again. As soon as they won I opened a big bottle of whiskey my father gave me as a present and drank half of it by the time the TV program finished. Of course I still had time to make it to the pub afterwards!!
Out - Natsuo Kirino
There were two reasons why I got Out by Natsuo Kirino, first I noticed the distinctive book cover in the bookshop and secondly a friend of mine who was reading it suggested it. The story is about four financially pressured housewives frustrated with the drudgery of daily, who work the night-shift in a food packing factory. One night Yayoi, the youngest one of the group, crosses the line and chokes her husband to death. Yayoi phones her friend at the factory Masako, who for no apparent reason agrees to help disposing of the body.
The book is 500+ pages long but it's also one of the fastest books I finished in a long time. That brings me to the first characteristic of the book - its pace. The story reads so fast that sometimes you actually feel that you're skimming over the pages rather than reading them. One of the reasons for this is that Natsuo keeps suspense growing throughout the whole book, keeping you guessing what's going to happen next. The characters are well developed and are one of the strong points of the book.
The depth in character development gives the book a psychological twist which keeps you wondering what is motivating the main characters. To help in understanding the characters better the narrator sometimes shifts the event perspective between the main actors of the story. Although this adds a slight repetition to the events it helps give more insight to the individual characters.
The major drawback of the book is the book description on the jacket of the book. The description basically gives off half of the story which always is very annoying. Once you get over the main half of the book though the story plot starts twisting itself away from the usual thrillers and turns quite unpredictable. Having said this, the plot is quite linear and not very intricate. Final say: A very enjoyable fast paced thriller but I'm waiting for the sequel. 4/5
Disaster
*ring*ring*
phone: wa wa wa wahhhhh
reply: arggg arggg
*phone conversation ends*
*working on new (test) machine Fozzie
[Open window on live server Rowlf]
@Rowlf>rm -Rf /u01/app/oracle/oracle
@Rowlf>rm -Rf /u01/app/oracle/oraInventory
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!
Eurovision 2007
Now that I cannot deny that my Eurovision addiction any longer I feel obliged to write my yearly few words on the event.
Like every year there was talk of bloc voting and neighbouring country favouritisms, but despite all this like every year the winner was unpredicted. The winners Serbia (download mp3)not only didn't have an interesting stage, appealing song or sexy singer, but their song was performed by what the Czech friend described as a "lesbian boy".
This year my votes went for Slovenia, Finland and Ukraine, in that order. Both Finish and Slovenian acts had a similar dark gothic touch, which explains why I liked them, but I guess that wasn't generally appreciated trait by the public this year. Ukraine (download mp3)with their fun and funny drag act managed the second place but the other two didn't even manage to make the top 10 to automatically qualify for next year.
My biggest disappointment wasn't even the fact that the dot didn't qualify for the finals but that my compatriots, with whom I categorically disassociate myself from, gave maximum points to the UK. The UK's song was the only song I couldn't stand watching and actually left my seat to prepare a drink in the kitchen. With the abysmal quality of the recent British songs I think they should be banned from entering the competition let alone automatically qualifying despite the result.
Ireland finished last receiving only 5 points from Albania. This is ironically exactly what happened last year to the dot with the difference that we received 1 point instead of 5. The UK should have been reserved this treatment this year. Having said this, I might add that the dot only got 15 points in the semi-final only managing the 25th place in the semis (position 39 out of 42).
Best online documentaries
Best Online Documentaries - A list of high quality documentaries on loads of different subjects ranging from anthropology, business, environment, health, mysteries and science.
Free audio books
Looking for something new to do with your mp3 player? You can try listening to some audiobooks once in a while. The simplyaudiobooks site publishes a free audiobook each month. This month it's The stolen white elephant by Mark Twain. Of course you can buy all sorts of audiobooks from the site but a free download is always handy to get you going with audiobooks.
Free Audiobooks hint Nr 2. In the age of the internet we tend to forget about the more conventional sources of free stuff. Most libraries lend out audiobooks which you can borrow for free. So fish out that library card and visit the library if to find more free audiobooks.
Back from Riga
Back from a weekend break in Riga this long bank holiday weekend and straight down to work. This month is "work hard - play hard" month with all the different things going on I'm barely spending any time indoors. I quarreled with my home PC and relegated it to play The office (watching season 3) and the odd movie Saw II (3.5/5), Layer Cake (still halfway through). At work I'm in the middle of a couple of deadlines before my next trip back to the dot in a week's time.
In the mean time, Milan made it to the Champions League final to my complete euphoria. The match reminded me of the world cup semi-final between Italy and Germany not only because of the fantastic way my favourite teams played but also because I watched the game in the exact same place, and similar foolish things in the heat of the moment (like hugging and lifting complete strangers in a pub full of Manchester United supporters).
This weekend is Eurovision weekend in Helsinki. The dot still needs to qualify in the preliminary phase before making it to the final. I like this year's song more than the usual ballads they were competing with lately and hope for a better result than last years. Hopefully that wouldn't be that difficult.
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