Wednesday, November 30, 2005
A tale of teeth
At 01:50 on the morning of 23rd January 1973 the volcano Helgafell on the isle of Heimaey in the Westmann Isles errupted.
The country was mobilised to rescue the 5,300 villagers from the eruption, and aircraft were sent from Reykjavík to evacuate the ill and the elderly. The able-bodied were to be evacuated in fishing boats. At 05:30 the elderly arrived at the Harbour House in Reykjavík, where they were served a hearty and nourishing Icelandic breakfast.
No-one ate a thing.
The hosts were concerned, and asked what was wrong. Did they not like a good Icelandic breakfast? Yes, they would love it, but they'd all been rushed out of the old people's home so quickly that they hadn't had time to collect their false teeth.
This was a problem.... A phone call to to the police chief in Heimaey was met with the response that he wasn't ordering any of his men into the hazardous local environment, but if he got any volunteers he'd see what he could do. One plucky volunteer dodged lava bombs to enter the home and rescue the missing teeth, then delivered it to the last aircraft heading for the capital.
The pensioners were delighted to receive their teeth, although there was one small problem... in his hurry the brave police officer had just thrown all of them into a single bag.
Some of the pensioners were said to be happier than others.
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The country was mobilised to rescue the 5,300 villagers from the eruption, and aircraft were sent from Reykjavík to evacuate the ill and the elderly. The able-bodied were to be evacuated in fishing boats. At 05:30 the elderly arrived at the Harbour House in Reykjavík, where they were served a hearty and nourishing Icelandic breakfast.
No-one ate a thing.
The hosts were concerned, and asked what was wrong. Did they not like a good Icelandic breakfast? Yes, they would love it, but they'd all been rushed out of the old people's home so quickly that they hadn't had time to collect their false teeth.
This was a problem.... A phone call to to the police chief in Heimaey was met with the response that he wasn't ordering any of his men into the hazardous local environment, but if he got any volunteers he'd see what he could do. One plucky volunteer dodged lava bombs to enter the home and rescue the missing teeth, then delivered it to the last aircraft heading for the capital.
The pensioners were delighted to receive their teeth, although there was one small problem... in his hurry the brave police officer had just thrown all of them into a single bag.
Some of the pensioners were said to be happier than others.
0 comments
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
Strangely addictive
These sudoku things should come with a mental health warning - These Puzzles Are Good For You.
I discovered sudoku when I was back in the UK a couple of visits ago, thanks to the Daily Telegraph. I'd copy the grid out so as not to deprive Dad of his daily dose and then sit there and ponder it.
Now that I have a super-duper new Palm TX I've downloaded a sudoku generator for it, and it's turning into an excellent tool for de-stressing and unwinding. The discipline of pattern recognition and logical deduction is curiously distracting.
The software I've got is SuLite from www.onesir.com, which is a little easier than the Daily Telegraph ones in that it normally gives you more numbers to start with (I think) and it also allows you to see the impossible locations with a tap of the stylus, but it's still an enjoyable way to induce relaxation.
0 comments
I discovered sudoku when I was back in the UK a couple of visits ago, thanks to the Daily Telegraph. I'd copy the grid out so as not to deprive Dad of his daily dose and then sit there and ponder it.
Now that I have a super-duper new Palm TX I've downloaded a sudoku generator for it, and it's turning into an excellent tool for de-stressing and unwinding. The discipline of pattern recognition and logical deduction is curiously distracting.
The software I've got is SuLite from www.onesir.com, which is a little easier than the Daily Telegraph ones in that it normally gives you more numbers to start with (I think) and it also allows you to see the impossible locations with a tap of the stylus, but it's still an enjoyable way to induce relaxation.
0 comments
Monday, November 28, 2005
Oooooh! Errr...
The hotel I'm staying in in Reykjavík has an internet connection in the room.
This is definitely a Good Thing, as it means I can upload my last couple of blog posts. It's also a Good Thing that I'm driving back up to Akureyri on Friday, as the hotel is practically next door to Sirkus, Reykjavík's top nightclub - favourite of Björk and recently host to Quentin Tarantino. It's close enough that I might even by tempted to pop in just to say that I have - besides, Kayte will have to visit it for 'professional reasons', given that she runs a pub in Nottingham.
I had a bit of fun trying to find the hotel through the rush-hour traffic, but got here eventually after a three-hour presentation of the initial results of my usability study. I have a suspicion that last time I visited the Iceland Express offices the taxi driver took me around the houses to get from the airport to the offices as I took a much more direct route than he did.
The office is quite close to Perlan, which has a great café - remember the belgian waffles and cherry compote from a few weeks ago? That's definitely somewhere we're going to have to do lunch sometime while folks are here.
The big plan for tonight is to relax and watch the Horizon on supervolcanoes on RÚV. We had the docudrama on Friday which, with the very first Midsommer Murder, provided probably the best evening's TV I've seen since I arrived. Unfortunately I was so tired I fell asleep about halfway through Midsommer so I still don't know who did it.
As usual, the hotel room light isn't brilliant, but it's enough for me to do some cross-stitch while I wait for the family to arrive sometime after midnight. Then the fun begins. :)
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This is definitely a Good Thing, as it means I can upload my last couple of blog posts. It's also a Good Thing that I'm driving back up to Akureyri on Friday, as the hotel is practically next door to Sirkus, Reykjavík's top nightclub - favourite of Björk and recently host to Quentin Tarantino. It's close enough that I might even by tempted to pop in just to say that I have - besides, Kayte will have to visit it for 'professional reasons', given that she runs a pub in Nottingham.
I had a bit of fun trying to find the hotel through the rush-hour traffic, but got here eventually after a three-hour presentation of the initial results of my usability study. I have a suspicion that last time I visited the Iceland Express offices the taxi driver took me around the houses to get from the airport to the offices as I took a much more direct route than he did.
The office is quite close to Perlan, which has a great café - remember the belgian waffles and cherry compote from a few weeks ago? That's definitely somewhere we're going to have to do lunch sometime while folks are here.
The big plan for tonight is to relax and watch the Horizon on supervolcanoes on RÚV. We had the docudrama on Friday which, with the very first Midsommer Murder, provided probably the best evening's TV I've seen since I arrived. Unfortunately I was so tired I fell asleep about halfway through Midsommer so I still don't know who did it.
As usual, the hotel room light isn't brilliant, but it's enough for me to do some cross-stitch while I wait for the family to arrive sometime after midnight. Then the fun begins. :)
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Sunday, November 27, 2005
Not throwing up
The base has a new food outlet - Taco Bell.
We went there for lunch, after a very quiet morning during which I got executive summary of my Iceland Express report written. I've never visited a Taco Bell before and was a bit nervous, as I've had some severe problems with chilli before that has left me rather wary of Mexican food. It doesn't help that I'm not a great fan of guacamole and sour cream in the same way I'm not a fan of salad cream and mayonnaise.
I nearly chickened out and went for a Subway sub instead - still no meatballs anywhere else in the country, after all - but was eventually persuaded that questilladas (or something like that) were gunk-free and came in chicken as well as chilli beef. And it was very enjoyable.
Then it was back to play My Dwarfs Fly High (exceedingly silly and won by me) and then the entire Zombies! tetralogy (even sillier, won by Rebecca, and definitely on the 'must buy' list). Next time I'm through here I really must introduce them to Family Business.
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We went there for lunch, after a very quiet morning during which I got executive summary of my Iceland Express report written. I've never visited a Taco Bell before and was a bit nervous, as I've had some severe problems with chilli before that has left me rather wary of Mexican food. It doesn't help that I'm not a great fan of guacamole and sour cream in the same way I'm not a fan of salad cream and mayonnaise.
I nearly chickened out and went for a Subway sub instead - still no meatballs anywhere else in the country, after all - but was eventually persuaded that questilladas (or something like that) were gunk-free and came in chicken as well as chilli beef. And it was very enjoyable.
Then it was back to play My Dwarfs Fly High (exceedingly silly and won by me) and then the entire Zombies! tetralogy (even sillier, won by Rebecca, and definitely on the 'must buy' list). Next time I'm through here I really must introduce them to Family Business.
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Saturday, November 26, 2005
Just a little hairy
Today I drove to Keflavík, and it was only icy in two areas.
I was rather worried about driving down after the weather we've had over the last couple of months, but as we haven't had any snow over the last five days I decided it should be OK. And, true enough, most of the road was OK. Öxnadalsheiði was a bit icy (as expected) and the other heiði just after Blönduós was a bit nasty too, but the rest of it was fine. I suspect that they wouldn't have worried me if I'd had four or five winters here, but they definitely elevated my adrenaline levels.
When I got to the base the Icelandic lögga (I can't spell police officer so cop will have to do) on the gate looked at my passport and me and said "You're the British citizen!" Clearly there are no other Brits who visit the base on a regular base. It turns out that he's a Liverpool fan too.
Rebecca and I just relaxed and watched Strictly Come Dancing on BBC2 (I am sooooo jealous that they have both BBC1 and BBC2). At last - a competition topic I know something about! Zoe Ball is definitely not worth perfect tens, by the way. I did like Anton and I thought that the cricketer (Darren?) was great.
Then we watched King Arthur. Oh dear. It's about as accurate as Monty Python and the Holy Grail although, to give it it's due, at least it's set at the right time and the Romans and Saxons aren't bad. Still, it has some very amusing moments. Some of our comments:
Great fun, but it remimded me that I really must buy Holy Grail on DVD.
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I was rather worried about driving down after the weather we've had over the last couple of months, but as we haven't had any snow over the last five days I decided it should be OK. And, true enough, most of the road was OK. Öxnadalsheiði was a bit icy (as expected) and the other heiði just after Blönduós was a bit nasty too, but the rest of it was fine. I suspect that they wouldn't have worried me if I'd had four or five winters here, but they definitely elevated my adrenaline levels.
When I got to the base the Icelandic lögga (I can't spell police officer so cop will have to do) on the gate looked at my passport and me and said "You're the British citizen!" Clearly there are no other Brits who visit the base on a regular base. It turns out that he's a Liverpool fan too.
Rebecca and I just relaxed and watched Strictly Come Dancing on BBC2 (I am sooooo jealous that they have both BBC1 and BBC2). At last - a competition topic I know something about! Zoe Ball is definitely not worth perfect tens, by the way. I did like Anton and I thought that the cricketer (Darren?) was great.
Then we watched King Arthur. Oh dear. It's about as accurate as Monty Python and the Holy Grail although, to give it it's due, at least it's set at the right time and the Romans and Saxons aren't bad. Still, it has some very amusing moments. Some of our comments:
- NO NO NO NO NO NO NO! (On the appearance of the trebuchets)
- Nice bliant she's wearing
- But he's a complete literary invention
- Nice sword. Pity it's about 400 years to early
- Run him through!
Great fun, but it remimded me that I really must buy Holy Grail on DVD.
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Friday, November 25, 2005
Raising a glass
Today I mourn with Ulster and Manchester.
Yes, I know it's very uncommon for me to feel any empathy with that particuar city, but the death of George Best is mourned by people from well beyond the city boundaries, and not just Manchester United fans.
I used to work with a City supporter. Not long before he left the company his City mug went missing, and he asked me to look after it if it should ever come to light again, on the grounds that he could trust me to treat it with respect. I would not be ashamed or embarrassed to be seen drinking coffee out of a City mug.
George Best was quite probably the best footballer the UK has ever produced. Beckham and even Owen come a poor second to him. Later this evening I shall raise a glass of good Irish whiskey to his memory.
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Yes, I know it's very uncommon for me to feel any empathy with that particuar city, but the death of George Best is mourned by people from well beyond the city boundaries, and not just Manchester United fans.
I used to work with a City supporter. Not long before he left the company his City mug went missing, and he asked me to look after it if it should ever come to light again, on the grounds that he could trust me to treat it with respect. I would not be ashamed or embarrassed to be seen drinking coffee out of a City mug.
George Best was quite probably the best footballer the UK has ever produced. Beckham and even Owen come a poor second to him. Later this evening I shall raise a glass of good Irish whiskey to his memory.
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Thursday, November 24, 2005
Sunshine and wolves
No, this isn't surrealist word association.
In fact, sólskin (sunshine) and úlfur (wolves) were two of the first nouns I was exposed to this evening in my first Icelandic As A Second Language lesson. Yes, after being here for 15 months I've finally booked myself onto a course.
It's a little strange. When I've done language courses before - the normal school stuff and then I did a term of German while I was working at Dundee - the courses all started with the assumption that we all spoke English. On this course three of my fellow students don't. There are six of us: myself, a newly-arrived housewife from Thailand, two Poles (a couple), a Swiss and a Chinese lecturer from the university. Unfortunately I don't speak Polish, and I have yet to try my French or German on the Swiss (knowing my luck he'll speak Italian, and my Italian is confined to operatic libretti) so it looks like we're all going to have to learn Icelandic to communicate. Which is, I suppose, the idea.
The classes are twice a week for the next five weeks, although I'll have to miss next week while I'm away down south. So far it's okay, although I'm baffled by the fact that while kona (woman) is a feminine noun maður (mother) is a masculine noun. Intellectually I appreciate that it's because it ends in -ur but it just seems inuitively wrong. I'm having one or two problems separating the pronunciation of o and ó, and although au is no longer a mystery I'm still greatly confused by the myriad sounds for the letter g.
After the class I went off to the cinema to see Serenity at last. It is soooo Traveller-esque! I remember doing things like that in RPG sessions as a student. The only problem was that I'd forgotten that here in Iceland there's an intermission. No warning, just Mal starting up the stairs, the screen goes blank, the lights come up and the screen starts showing adverts, then the lights dim and Mal finishes his climb. Very disconcerting and disruptive.
Then on the way back the sky turned green for my enjoyment. Nothing too spectacular, just curtains of emerald rippling across the heavens. It's still at it now.
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In fact, sólskin (sunshine) and úlfur (wolves) were two of the first nouns I was exposed to this evening in my first Icelandic As A Second Language lesson. Yes, after being here for 15 months I've finally booked myself onto a course.
It's a little strange. When I've done language courses before - the normal school stuff and then I did a term of German while I was working at Dundee - the courses all started with the assumption that we all spoke English. On this course three of my fellow students don't. There are six of us: myself, a newly-arrived housewife from Thailand, two Poles (a couple), a Swiss and a Chinese lecturer from the university. Unfortunately I don't speak Polish, and I have yet to try my French or German on the Swiss (knowing my luck he'll speak Italian, and my Italian is confined to operatic libretti) so it looks like we're all going to have to learn Icelandic to communicate. Which is, I suppose, the idea.
The classes are twice a week for the next five weeks, although I'll have to miss next week while I'm away down south. So far it's okay, although I'm baffled by the fact that while kona (woman) is a feminine noun maður (mother) is a masculine noun. Intellectually I appreciate that it's because it ends in -ur but it just seems inuitively wrong. I'm having one or two problems separating the pronunciation of o and ó, and although au is no longer a mystery I'm still greatly confused by the myriad sounds for the letter g.
After the class I went off to the cinema to see Serenity at last. It is soooo Traveller-esque! I remember doing things like that in RPG sessions as a student. The only problem was that I'd forgotten that here in Iceland there's an intermission. No warning, just Mal starting up the stairs, the screen goes blank, the lights come up and the screen starts showing adverts, then the lights dim and Mal finishes his climb. Very disconcerting and disruptive.
Then on the way back the sky turned green for my enjoyment. Nothing too spectacular, just curtains of emerald rippling across the heavens. It's still at it now.
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Wednesday, November 23, 2005
Another day, another set of differences
All sorts of things are different today from what they were yesterday.
To start with, the snow is back. Not a lot, but if it keeps up I'm going to have to give serious thought to flying to Reyk on Saturday, which I'd rather not do. OK, I'm not keen on a six hour drive either, but at least I'd have the car.
I also have a new phone, and it was less expensive than I thought it would be. I was expecting to have to pay about £150 for a cheap and cheerful little Nokia, but I got one for less than half that.
Today was the deadline for my students to hand in their HCI coursework. I intend to mark it tomorrow and, hopefully, give them the results on Friday afternoon. As I'm in Reyk next week and their exam is first thing on the following Monday, it seemed rather unfair not to give them the results before the exam. I'm quite impressed, actually. The coursework is quite large and complicated - it makes up 50% of their overall mark - and the ones I've had a quick flick through so far look very good.
Tomorrow is the deadline for the database coursework, although two of my students are so on-the-ball that they've handed it in already. I expect the standard for this piece to be just as high as for the HCI, judging by some of the conversations I've had with the students over the last week.
My students are generally very good. They're not afraid to ask questions in lectures, which works very well in a small group. If they've got other questions they'll come to my office and ask me, something else of which I thoroughly approve. I enjoy teaching, and teaching good students is particularly satisfying.
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To start with, the snow is back. Not a lot, but if it keeps up I'm going to have to give serious thought to flying to Reyk on Saturday, which I'd rather not do. OK, I'm not keen on a six hour drive either, but at least I'd have the car.
I also have a new phone, and it was less expensive than I thought it would be. I was expecting to have to pay about £150 for a cheap and cheerful little Nokia, but I got one for less than half that.
Today was the deadline for my students to hand in their HCI coursework. I intend to mark it tomorrow and, hopefully, give them the results on Friday afternoon. As I'm in Reyk next week and their exam is first thing on the following Monday, it seemed rather unfair not to give them the results before the exam. I'm quite impressed, actually. The coursework is quite large and complicated - it makes up 50% of their overall mark - and the ones I've had a quick flick through so far look very good.
Tomorrow is the deadline for the database coursework, although two of my students are so on-the-ball that they've handed it in already. I expect the standard for this piece to be just as high as for the HCI, judging by some of the conversations I've had with the students over the last week.
My students are generally very good. They're not afraid to ask questions in lectures, which works very well in a small group. If they've got other questions they'll come to my office and ask me, something else of which I thoroughly approve. I enjoy teaching, and teaching good students is particularly satisfying.
0 comments
Tuesday, November 22, 2005
Warm and windy
We've had some extremely strong winds for the past couple of days.
It has been sufficiently strong to blow the kitchen blind far and energetically enough to pust a large mug of the worksurface to smash on the floor. At least it wasn't my new Worldcon mug. It's the sort of wind that reminds you why Iceland's native trees are only four feet high - anything larger would be blown over.
Still, it's not three feet deep in snow, which means that (all being well) I can take the car down to Reykjavík at the weekend. The big plan is to drive down on Saturday and go to see Harry Potter that evening. If I can take the car it'll make it easier next week when the family arrive as we won't have to hire one.
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It has been sufficiently strong to blow the kitchen blind far and energetically enough to pust a large mug of the worksurface to smash on the floor. At least it wasn't my new Worldcon mug. It's the sort of wind that reminds you why Iceland's native trees are only four feet high - anything larger would be blown over.
Still, it's not three feet deep in snow, which means that (all being well) I can take the car down to Reykjavík at the weekend. The big plan is to drive down on Saturday and go to see Harry Potter that evening. If I can take the car it'll make it easier next week when the family arrive as we won't have to hire one.
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Monday, November 21, 2005
Feeling grotty
Grr... mutter... hormones...
The day so far: got up (it was still very dark, still in astronomical twilight rather than nautical twilight); went into work and gave a revision lecture going over an example paper; did a pile of prep work ready to mark the two courseworks that will be coming in later this week; felt grotty and went home via the craft shop in order to get things for making Christmas cards.
I have a rather cynical theory - if three lecturers leave at the end of the year (not unlikely), Mark goes on sabbattical and we get about three students next year (which is likely, given that the TV news announced last week that the faculty was being closed down and that's not being corrected until an interview with the new Dean later this week), then the university will decided that there's really no call for an IT faculty and will let it die off. That way they can say that they didn't actually close it but it'll have the effect they wanted all along.
My shoulder still hurts, my network connection is still playing up, and I still have hormones. Want to curl up until the world goes away again.
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The day so far: got up (it was still very dark, still in astronomical twilight rather than nautical twilight); went into work and gave a revision lecture going over an example paper; did a pile of prep work ready to mark the two courseworks that will be coming in later this week; felt grotty and went home via the craft shop in order to get things for making Christmas cards.
I have a rather cynical theory - if three lecturers leave at the end of the year (not unlikely), Mark goes on sabbattical and we get about three students next year (which is likely, given that the TV news announced last week that the faculty was being closed down and that's not being corrected until an interview with the new Dean later this week), then the university will decided that there's really no call for an IT faculty and will let it die off. That way they can say that they didn't actually close it but it'll have the effect they wanted all along.
My shoulder still hurts, my network connection is still playing up, and I still have hormones. Want to curl up until the world goes away again.
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Sunday, November 20, 2005
Grr and phew!
I'm in Iceland and my mobile phone is in Stansted.
Worse than that, it's not entirely my fault. I was a bit worried when I couldn't find my mobile in order to set the alarm to wake me up ludicrously early last Monday in the hostel, but assumed that when I properly emptied my bag I would find it. Then I emptied the bag yesterday and couldn't find it. Today, when someone rang it, it rang but I couldn't hear it.
Now the last time I definitely saw it was when my bad was searched at Stanstead and they took the phone and iPod away to test for explosives residue. I remember seeing the security officer put my iPod back in my bag but I don't remember the phone. And since the bag was never out of my possession after that point, the logical conclusion is that the phone is still at Stansted.
Which means that I'm going to have to contact them and see about getting it shipped to Liverpool... assuming they can identify it and so forth. Fortunately I don't use it much, but it's still damned annoying.
That's the grrr... the phew! is because I've just completed one of the more harrowing craft experiences I've had in quite a long time. You see, although I'm quite good at embroidery, I've never had the confidence in my own design abilities to tackle making non-embroidered cards. I finally bit the bullet with a pierced work/spirella birthday card to go to the UK this week. I'm embroidering the birthday present, so I felt that embroidering the card as well was a bit of overkill but I still wanted something more personal than a shop-bought card. It's based on ideas from several cards in a book I bought this week.
I'm still undecided on whether it's OK or not. So for now, while I consider the matter further, I'm going to go and get the rice pudding out of the oven and gorge myself on some serious comfort food.
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Saturday, November 19, 2005
No more sequins
The tree skirt is, at last, finished.
I eventually decided to do the outer swirly bits in the larger plain white sequins, but the size difference is sufficiently small that it still looks OK. I got half of them done last night then spent two and a half hours of a radio Miss Marple plus another hour of radio drama finishing the swirly bits and then adding the tiny snowflakes and spots.
The finished article is about 1.2m in diameter and took over 5000 sequins to complete. It's a full circle but the other semicircle is plain so I folded it in half to photograph it.
I'm extremely pleased to see it completed, as I can now relax and do something else. I'll have a bit of a breather before I do a couple more snowflakes as gifts, but after that I don't think I even want to see a sequin for at least six months. :)
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I eventually decided to do the outer swirly bits in the larger plain white sequins, but the size difference is sufficiently small that it still looks OK. I got half of them done last night then spent two and a half hours of a radio Miss Marple plus another hour of radio drama finishing the swirly bits and then adding the tiny snowflakes and spots.
The finished article is about 1.2m in diameter and took over 5000 sequins to complete. It's a full circle but the other semicircle is plain so I folded it in half to photograph it.
I'm extremely pleased to see it completed, as I can now relax and do something else. I'll have a bit of a breather before I do a couple more snowflakes as gifts, but after that I don't think I even want to see a sequin for at least six months. :)
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Friday, November 18, 2005
Freaked out
I am officially freaked out.
When I checked that my last post had been uploaded properly I noticed that the moon didn't rise or set today. OK, I thought, so it rose just before midnight and sets just after midnight. Except that I watched it swing down towards the mountains in the south this morning and the swing up from the mountains in the north this afternoon.
In fact, it rose at 14:00 GMT on November 16th and won't set until 16:38 GMT on November 21st. What's actually happening is that it drops below the mountains to the south but never below the horizon.
Alright, so the lunar ecliptic isn't the same as the solar one or we'd get eclipses each month, but it's really strange to have it demonstrated in such a visible manner. My mind is boggling as a result.
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When I checked that my last post had been uploaded properly I noticed that the moon didn't rise or set today. OK, I thought, so it rose just before midnight and sets just after midnight. Except that I watched it swing down towards the mountains in the south this morning and the swing up from the mountains in the north this afternoon.
In fact, it rose at 14:00 GMT on November 16th and won't set until 16:38 GMT on November 21st. What's actually happening is that it drops below the mountains to the south but never below the horizon.
Alright, so the lunar ecliptic isn't the same as the solar one or we'd get eclipses each month, but it's really strange to have it demonstrated in such a visible manner. My mind is boggling as a result.
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The sequin saga continues
After writing yesterday's post I took the plunge and began cannibalising the swirly bits to do the final snowflake.
The final snowflake is now complete, in place and has half of its bead edging done. I managed to do that and the remaining small swirly bit between the snowflakes with the sequins that originally made up the first two border swirly bits, which means I now have to decide how to redo those and do the equivalent feature on the other side of the pattern.
I could do them in silver, but I'm not convinced I have enough silver sequins. I could do them in the too-pink but correct size new sequins, but they really are rather pink. I could do them in the larger sequins, as at least they're the right colour. Or I could do them in the correct size but white sequins I managed to find in the papercraft shop this afternoon.
Decisions, decisions...
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The final snowflake is now complete, in place and has half of its bead edging done. I managed to do that and the remaining small swirly bit between the snowflakes with the sequins that originally made up the first two border swirly bits, which means I now have to decide how to redo those and do the equivalent feature on the other side of the pattern.
I could do them in silver, but I'm not convinced I have enough silver sequins. I could do them in the too-pink but correct size new sequins, but they really are rather pink. I could do them in the larger sequins, as at least they're the right colour. Or I could do them in the correct size but white sequins I managed to find in the papercraft shop this afternoon.
Decisions, decisions...
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Thursday, November 17, 2005
Et tu, ABBúðin?
Panic is beginning to set in about those sequins.
Today I went to ABBúðin, the craft shop, to get some silver sequins and, on the off-chance, to get some more of the mother of pearl ones. Not only did they not have the pearl ones, but they didn't even have silver ones. Sea-green, yes. Magenta, yes. Cerulean, yes. But not silver and not mother of pearl. I fear that I'm going to have to look around Reykjaví when I get down there the week after next. Which is annoying, as I was hoping to get everything finished by then so that Mum could take it back to the UK with her.
In the meantime, then, it's back to a cross-stitch for my oldest friend (who has a significant birthday next week). I won't be able to give it to her until Christmas, but in the shop today I did pick up the makings of some rather nice birthday cards, one of which I'll make up and send over the weekend.
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Today I went to ABBúðin, the craft shop, to get some silver sequins and, on the off-chance, to get some more of the mother of pearl ones. Not only did they not have the pearl ones, but they didn't even have silver ones. Sea-green, yes. Magenta, yes. Cerulean, yes. But not silver and not mother of pearl. I fear that I'm going to have to look around Reykjaví when I get down there the week after next. Which is annoying, as I was hoping to get everything finished by then so that Mum could take it back to the UK with her.
In the meantime, then, it's back to a cross-stitch for my oldest friend (who has a significant birthday next week). I won't be able to give it to her until Christmas, but in the shop today I did pick up the makings of some rather nice birthday cards, one of which I'll make up and send over the weekend.
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Hardanger class at Kingdom University
Oooh... I can blog directly from Picassa - nice! These are the fair gentles who took my Hardanger class at Kingdom University last week. 0 comments
Wednesday, November 16, 2005
Too good to be true
Right size, wrong colour.
I've started the final snowflake with the new sequins only to discover that while they're the right size, their 'mother of pearl' colouring is far more intense than the originals. I think that I'm going to have to undo some of the swirly bits to recycle the sequins into the snowflakes, then redo the swirls in either plain white or in the new sequins. Or silver, I suppose, as there are already silver swirly bits in the design. It would then at least be symmetrical.
It's a trip to the craft shop tomorrow to see if I can get silver facetted sequins in the correct size. Otherwise I'll have to have yet another rethink.
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I've started the final snowflake with the new sequins only to discover that while they're the right size, their 'mother of pearl' colouring is far more intense than the originals. I think that I'm going to have to undo some of the swirly bits to recycle the sequins into the snowflakes, then redo the swirls in either plain white or in the new sequins. Or silver, I suppose, as there are already silver swirly bits in the design. It would then at least be symmetrical.
It's a trip to the craft shop tomorrow to see if I can get silver facetted sequins in the correct size. Otherwise I'll have to have yet another rethink.
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A huge sigh of relief
The latest bags of sequins are the right size.
I was rather worried when I saw them, as I thought that they were smaller than the original ones. I've just opened the packet and compared them and, thank goodness, they're the same size. Phew! Now I can finish the tree skirt at last. Plus another couple of snowflakes for other folks.
Another thing I've got round to at last is watching the final episode of Dr. Who. I collected the DVD at the weekend and couldn't resist watching it at the first possible opportunity. I wasn't expecting the regeneration until the Christmas special - shows how out of touch I am. I must admit that I could have done without all of the heart-wrenching stuff in the cafe on Earth, and I'm still making my mind up about Rose becoming an avatar of the Tardis. I did cheer when the daleks shot Anne Droid though.
The current ongoing slog is the website usability audit I'm doing for Iceland Express. Cognitive walkthroughs take time, and I spent four hours today doing a single scenario. Admittedly it's one of the more complex ones, but I'll be glad to see the end of it. There's one other complex one to do then the rest should be more straightforward.
Still, even without implementing the recommendations I'm going to make, it's far, far superior to Iceland Air. I today booked my flight to Paris in January with Icelandair and had to ask one of my students to translate the website at one point. The Iceland Express site is far more intuitive and you can make sense of the process without having to understand Icelandic. It says a lot for the current dialogue design that that it the case.
Now it's time to get started on those snowflakes.
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I was rather worried when I saw them, as I thought that they were smaller than the original ones. I've just opened the packet and compared them and, thank goodness, they're the same size. Phew! Now I can finish the tree skirt at last. Plus another couple of snowflakes for other folks.
Another thing I've got round to at last is watching the final episode of Dr. Who. I collected the DVD at the weekend and couldn't resist watching it at the first possible opportunity. I wasn't expecting the regeneration until the Christmas special - shows how out of touch I am. I must admit that I could have done without all of the heart-wrenching stuff in the cafe on Earth, and I'm still making my mind up about Rose becoming an avatar of the Tardis. I did cheer when the daleks shot Anne Droid though.
The current ongoing slog is the website usability audit I'm doing for Iceland Express. Cognitive walkthroughs take time, and I spent four hours today doing a single scenario. Admittedly it's one of the more complex ones, but I'll be glad to see the end of it. There's one other complex one to do then the rest should be more straightforward.
Still, even without implementing the recommendations I'm going to make, it's far, far superior to Iceland Air. I today booked my flight to Paris in January with Icelandair and had to ask one of my students to translate the website at one point. The Iceland Express site is far more intuitive and you can make sense of the process without having to understand Icelandic. It says a lot for the current dialogue design that that it the case.
Now it's time to get started on those snowflakes.
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Tuesday, November 15, 2005
The official report is out...
... And I still have a job.
We've now had the official word of what's happening to the IT faculty. We are being merged with the faculties of Business and of Natural Resources. Not perhaps the most obvious of partnerships but the best result that we could have hoped for, given that the alternatives including closing the faculty. I think that the only thing they missed out was perhaps adding Anglo-Saxon Studies or maybe Media Studies to the mix. It seems, though, that the chap who's due to take over as dean of the new faculty is a good guy though, so there may yet be hope.
On to more positive news. My new Palm TX is a wonderful little device with real WiFi, which means that I can connect through the university's wireless network - woo-hoo! I spent some time with Oskar from Gagnasmiðjan getting it set up and comparing my TX with his E2. Mine won, of course. :) I've got to go back in a couple of days so we can see how some of the university's web pages come out on such a small screen.
For now, though, I've spent most of my TX time doing Sudoku and playing Legacy.
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We've now had the official word of what's happening to the IT faculty. We are being merged with the faculties of Business and of Natural Resources. Not perhaps the most obvious of partnerships but the best result that we could have hoped for, given that the alternatives including closing the faculty. I think that the only thing they missed out was perhaps adding Anglo-Saxon Studies or maybe Media Studies to the mix. It seems, though, that the chap who's due to take over as dean of the new faculty is a good guy though, so there may yet be hope.
On to more positive news. My new Palm TX is a wonderful little device with real WiFi, which means that I can connect through the university's wireless network - woo-hoo! I spent some time with Oskar from Gagnasmiðjan getting it set up and comparing my TX with his E2. Mine won, of course. :) I've got to go back in a couple of days so we can see how some of the university's web pages come out on such a small screen.
For now, though, I've spent most of my TX time doing Sudoku and playing Legacy.
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Monday, November 14, 2005
Still awake
In spite of only eight hours sleep in the last 60 I am still awake.
It wasn't easy getting up at six-thirty this morning, but I had a taxi booked for seven in order to get me back up north in plenty of time for my ten o'clock lecture. One two hour lecture and a further two-hour lab later I was sufficiently awake to get my new Palm set up but not a lot more.
Somehow I don't think I'm going to be late into bed tonight. :)
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It wasn't easy getting up at six-thirty this morning, but I had a taxi booked for seven in order to get me back up north in plenty of time for my ten o'clock lecture. One two hour lecture and a further two-hour lab later I was sufficiently awake to get my new Palm set up but not a lot more.
Somehow I don't think I'm going to be late into bed tonight. :)
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Sunday, November 13, 2005
Back on the road
After my short nap this morning I've spent the day travelling again.
Cynewulf, a visiting lady from Lochac and myself got a lift to Stansted with Caitlin from Pont Alarch and arrived sufficiently early that we had time for quite a large lunch and a chat before the check-in opened. My secondary bag containing my sleeping bag and some garb underwent a SEF (a Serious Existance Failure, as opposed to a TEF or Total Existance Failure) and had to be wrapped in copious amounts of brown tape before being checked in.
In spite of this I had no problems at check-in for once. The position was being staffed by an older woman who teaches crewel embroidery in her spare time. Shortly afterwards I did manage to lose my companions. I've no idea how - I mean, a man carrying a harp should be difficult to miss!
My hand luggage tried a little subterfuge going through the scanner so it had to be unpacked by a terribly nice customs chap. I've got no problem with that and told him so. If I'd been in a hurry I might have been a bit frustrated, but it's just one of those inescapable facts of life. He checked everything, tested my iPod and mobile phone for explosives, then handed my bag back to me, closed, zipped, and ready for its onward journey.
I finally managed to get season six of M*A*S*H in the departure louge, together with three Clapton CDs and a new Palm TX to replace the T5 I lost at Coronation in June. The flight was rather longer than usual, due to very high headwinds but I didn't really notice as I was asleep for most of it. It was one o'clock before I got to the City Hostel in Reykjavík for a good, if short, night's sleep
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Cynewulf, a visiting lady from Lochac and myself got a lift to Stansted with Caitlin from Pont Alarch and arrived sufficiently early that we had time for quite a large lunch and a chat before the check-in opened. My secondary bag containing my sleeping bag and some garb underwent a SEF (a Serious Existance Failure, as opposed to a TEF or Total Existance Failure) and had to be wrapped in copious amounts of brown tape before being checked in.
In spite of this I had no problems at check-in for once. The position was being staffed by an older woman who teaches crewel embroidery in her spare time. Shortly afterwards I did manage to lose my companions. I've no idea how - I mean, a man carrying a harp should be difficult to miss!
My hand luggage tried a little subterfuge going through the scanner so it had to be unpacked by a terribly nice customs chap. I've got no problem with that and told him so. If I'd been in a hurry I might have been a bit frustrated, but it's just one of those inescapable facts of life. He checked everything, tested my iPod and mobile phone for explosives, then handed my bag back to me, closed, zipped, and ready for its onward journey.
I finally managed to get season six of M*A*S*H in the departure louge, together with three Clapton CDs and a new Palm TX to replace the T5 I lost at Coronation in June. The flight was rather longer than usual, due to very high headwinds but I didn't really notice as I was asleep for most of it. It was one o'clock before I got to the City Hostel in Reykjavík for a good, if short, night's sleep
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Saturday, November 12, 2005
Plusses and minuses
Today has had its highs and lows.
Breakfast wasn't bad - bacon, scrambled eggs, turkey slices and bread - but it was the only event food I ate all day. Lunch was so late that a group of us sent out for fish and chips. The feast was even later and inedible, so we sent out for a chinese takeaway instead.
The teaching side of the event was much better, if a bit hectic. My seven-person hardanger class became a fifteen-person class (I'm very glad I didn't give Mum all of the spare thread!) but went very well indeed. The goldwork class was cancelled, so I gave an improptu class on needlelace instead. The calligraphy class also ended up with eighteen people rather than the twelve I'd planned for but it seemed to go OK all the same.
In the gap between needlelace and calligraphy I had a chance to take a class on making Silly Hats™ and made a maroon chaperone. I also picked up a beautiful astrological brooch that will go beautifully on said Silly Hat™ and a tiny portable loom for tablet weaving (which is about two inches too big to fit in my suitcase :( ).
There was then a pause before the longest court I've ever sat through. Under normal circumstances I'd probably have been elsewhere but I wanted to see Cernac get his Pelican so I went along. It turned out to be a good thing as I was called up to be inducted into the Orden des Lindquistringes. It's an award for not being able to say 'no' without following it with the word 'problem'. :)
The badge of the Order is a ring in the shape of a golden dragon curled around a red cabochon stone. Mine is the first in a new set created by a silversmith in one of the German shires. It's quite impressive and several people offered to find it a good home for me. I'll post some photos when I get back.
Other awards presented included the position of Justice of the Peace for Paul deGorey (most amusing!), an Award of Arms for my friend Dan in St. Andrews, a wooden artillery piece for Brighthelm in lieu of land, and a well-deserved Panache for Mareddudd, an immensely talented tailor with an excellent voice.
The night progressed... and progressed... and progressed and we ended up sitting around a log fire toasting marshmallows on Acarin's toasting rapier until the sun rose and people started appearing for breakfast, at which point I gave up and took to my bed for a couple of hours to catch up.
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Breakfast wasn't bad - bacon, scrambled eggs, turkey slices and bread - but it was the only event food I ate all day. Lunch was so late that a group of us sent out for fish and chips. The feast was even later and inedible, so we sent out for a chinese takeaway instead.
The teaching side of the event was much better, if a bit hectic. My seven-person hardanger class became a fifteen-person class (I'm very glad I didn't give Mum all of the spare thread!) but went very well indeed. The goldwork class was cancelled, so I gave an improptu class on needlelace instead. The calligraphy class also ended up with eighteen people rather than the twelve I'd planned for but it seemed to go OK all the same.
In the gap between needlelace and calligraphy I had a chance to take a class on making Silly Hats™ and made a maroon chaperone. I also picked up a beautiful astrological brooch that will go beautifully on said Silly Hat™ and a tiny portable loom for tablet weaving (which is about two inches too big to fit in my suitcase :( ).
There was then a pause before the longest court I've ever sat through. Under normal circumstances I'd probably have been elsewhere but I wanted to see Cernac get his Pelican so I went along. It turned out to be a good thing as I was called up to be inducted into the Orden des Lindquistringes. It's an award for not being able to say 'no' without following it with the word 'problem'. :)
The badge of the Order is a ring in the shape of a golden dragon curled around a red cabochon stone. Mine is the first in a new set created by a silversmith in one of the German shires. It's quite impressive and several people offered to find it a good home for me. I'll post some photos when I get back.
Other awards presented included the position of Justice of the Peace for Paul deGorey (most amusing!), an Award of Arms for my friend Dan in St. Andrews, a wooden artillery piece for Brighthelm in lieu of land, and a well-deserved Panache for Mareddudd, an immensely talented tailor with an excellent voice.
The night progressed... and progressed... and progressed and we ended up sitting around a log fire toasting marshmallows on Acarin's toasting rapier until the sun rose and people started appearing for breakfast, at which point I gave up and took to my bed for a couple of hours to catch up.
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Friday, November 11, 2005
There's always a problem
Yesterday's travel clearly went far too easily.
This morning I gave the Hardanger class to Mum's embroidery group. It turned out to be a good thing because it allowed me to discover that the fabric is over-starched and will need soaking before the cut threads can be removed.
Then it was off to Lime Street Station. The city centre is still full of roadworks, the upshot of which is that the twenty-minute trip took ah hour and I missed my train. This led to me being stressed while crossing London and, by the time I got to Hockley nearly an hour later I wasn't particularly happy.
Still, I had arrived. As there was going to be a short court before Cernac's Pelican vigil (for non-SCAdians that's his all-night session listening to the advice and good wishes of others and searching his soul for any reason why he shouldn't accept one of the society's highest honours) I wore the new kirtle. Not because there was a court, but because it was Cernac, who is a fencer and an all-round good guy.
I also stood guard over his vigil for a while - protecting him from harm and the masses during the night, getting everyone to sight his 'visitor book' and making sure that he wasn't monopolised by anyone.
It was great to see people again - too many to mention here, but from all over Europe. There were some folks who couldn't make it but I'll catch up with them next time.
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This morning I gave the Hardanger class to Mum's embroidery group. It turned out to be a good thing because it allowed me to discover that the fabric is over-starched and will need soaking before the cut threads can be removed.
Then it was off to Lime Street Station. The city centre is still full of roadworks, the upshot of which is that the twenty-minute trip took ah hour and I missed my train. This led to me being stressed while crossing London and, by the time I got to Hockley nearly an hour later I wasn't particularly happy.
Still, I had arrived. As there was going to be a short court before Cernac's Pelican vigil (for non-SCAdians that's his all-night session listening to the advice and good wishes of others and searching his soul for any reason why he shouldn't accept one of the society's highest honours) I wore the new kirtle. Not because there was a court, but because it was Cernac, who is a fencer and an all-round good guy.
I also stood guard over his vigil for a while - protecting him from harm and the masses during the night, getting everyone to sight his 'visitor book' and making sure that he wasn't monopolised by anyone.
It was great to see people again - too many to mention here, but from all over Europe. There were some folks who couldn't make it but I'll catch up with them next time.
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Thursday, November 10, 2005
Sewing and shopping
Not a lot today - a bit of shopping and a lot of thread winding. Oh yes, and I hemmed my kirtle.
It was really nice to spend a large chunk of the day sitting on the sofa sewing while listening to BBC News 24 and UK History. I hemmed the kirtle, so it's now ready to wear on Saturday. I've got my russet viking shirt to wear when I arrive, as I don't really feel like changing into semi-formal garb just for the evening.
I also spent three hours cutting lengths of thread for my hardanger class and winding them onto bobbins. Still, there's enough left to leave two skeins for Mum and have sufficient that if I do get one or two extra people I can let them try it anyway.
We did a quick shopping trip after lunch with mixed success. I got the new trousers I wanted and even found a beatiful long black wool coat in the sale. I got ten calligraphy felt-tip pens and a copy of New Scientist. I couldn't, however, find season six of M*A*S*H, season three of Bugs or season two of Spooks. I'll check at the airport on the way back instead.
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It was really nice to spend a large chunk of the day sitting on the sofa sewing while listening to BBC News 24 and UK History. I hemmed the kirtle, so it's now ready to wear on Saturday. I've got my russet viking shirt to wear when I arrive, as I don't really feel like changing into semi-formal garb just for the evening.
I also spent three hours cutting lengths of thread for my hardanger class and winding them onto bobbins. Still, there's enough left to leave two skeins for Mum and have sufficient that if I do get one or two extra people I can let them try it anyway.
We did a quick shopping trip after lunch with mixed success. I got the new trousers I wanted and even found a beatiful long black wool coat in the sale. I got ten calligraphy felt-tip pens and a copy of New Scientist. I couldn't, however, find season six of M*A*S*H, season three of Bugs or season two of Spooks. I'll check at the airport on the way back instead.
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Wednesday, November 09, 2005
More random jottings
From the Unhinged Bracket.
Thanks to my interesting travel schedule, I've spent today sitting on planes, trains and coaches, or awaiting a train, plane or coach at a train, plane or coach terminus. In the process my mind has been free to wonder about some strange and interesting facts.
While sitting at the BSÍ bus station in Reykjavík, I noticed delivery van driving past that bore the name 'Knútsson'. Then occurred to me that the name Knut, popular in Anglo-Saxon historical novels amongst other things, should be pronounced 'ker-noot' rather than 'nut'. So Canute is merely an attempt at a phonetic spelling. Ahhhh. I'm glad I sorted that one out.
The MacDonnell Douglas 82 has eight emergency exits rather than the normal six. One of these involves dropping the pointy bit off the rear of the fuselage and escaping through the end of the fuselage tube. Rather nifty, I thought.
The Stanstead flight had an unusually soft landing this time. I've got used to rather rough landings on Icelandic airlines - my theory is that it's so difficult to land in the regular bad weather that the pilots overcompensate during the good weather. Shortly after landing the pilot announced that we'd made the landing on autopilot because the system for fully automated night landings has to be tested from time to time. Perhaps they should test it more often. :)
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Thanks to my interesting travel schedule, I've spent today sitting on planes, trains and coaches, or awaiting a train, plane or coach at a train, plane or coach terminus. In the process my mind has been free to wonder about some strange and interesting facts.
While sitting at the BSÍ bus station in Reykjavík, I noticed delivery van driving past that bore the name 'Knútsson'. Then occurred to me that the name Knut, popular in Anglo-Saxon historical novels amongst other things, should be pronounced 'ker-noot' rather than 'nut'. So Canute is merely an attempt at a phonetic spelling. Ahhhh. I'm glad I sorted that one out.
The MacDonnell Douglas 82 has eight emergency exits rather than the normal six. One of these involves dropping the pointy bit off the rear of the fuselage and escaping through the end of the fuselage tube. Rather nifty, I thought.
The Stanstead flight had an unusually soft landing this time. I've got used to rather rough landings on Icelandic airlines - my theory is that it's so difficult to land in the regular bad weather that the pilots overcompensate during the good weather. Shortly after landing the pilot announced that we'd made the landing on autopilot because the system for fully automated night landings has to be tested from time to time. Perhaps they should test it more often. :)
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Tuesday, November 08, 2005
Mostly prepared
I've now got all of the stuff I need to take back to the UK this weekend.
A quick trip to the needlework shop for fabric and thread (and a silent internal catching of breath when I saw the price) has allowed me to obtain the remaining materials. I've written and printed out the notes for both classes, and now have only to pack. Still, I managed to ask for a metre of Hardanger fabric and otherwise conduct the whole translation in Icelandic, so that wasn't too bad.
I'm still not entirely happy with the shoulders of my kirtle, so I'm also going to pack some more binding in case I have time to alter it. Still, as I'm only away for five days I'm not going to have to pack a lot.
Nothing else interesting today. Gave a lecture on concurrency control in database systems. Wrote some more lecture material. Talked to several students about an upcoming coursework. Just a normal day in academia.
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A quick trip to the needlework shop for fabric and thread (and a silent internal catching of breath when I saw the price) has allowed me to obtain the remaining materials. I've written and printed out the notes for both classes, and now have only to pack. Still, I managed to ask for a metre of Hardanger fabric and otherwise conduct the whole translation in Icelandic, so that wasn't too bad.
I'm still not entirely happy with the shoulders of my kirtle, so I'm also going to pack some more binding in case I have time to alter it. Still, as I'm only away for five days I'm not going to have to pack a lot.
Nothing else interesting today. Gave a lecture on concurrency control in database systems. Wrote some more lecture material. Talked to several students about an upcoming coursework. Just a normal day in academia.
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Monday, November 07, 2005
Worrying the neighbours
I think I might just have confused my next door neighbour.
I have a very nice next-door-neighbour. He speaks excellent English and if there's anything strange going on explains to to me. He, like one of my Iceland Express colleagues, calls me Doctor Nik. The Simpsons is popular over here too, even if it is only on cable.
At about six pm this evening the doorbell went. This was spectacular timing on my part, as I was three quarters of my way into my kirtle for its first proper fitting. As it's quite tight fitting in the bodice I could either have pulled everything off (not as much of a problem here as it would be in the UK) or answer wearing the kirtle. I chose the latter and got a very puzzled look in reply.
The reason for the call was to get me to move my car so that the snowplough can clear the car park... an excellent idea given that at present your wheels move only along the deep ruts and the slush rubs along the underside of the car.
How long the snow will remain though is anybody's guess - it's been warm and wet today, with temperatures about four degrees Celsius and with rain instead of snow. It makes me wonder just what to wear for the journey on Wednesday. I must check the UK weather forecast for the weekend.
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I have a very nice next-door-neighbour. He speaks excellent English and if there's anything strange going on explains to to me. He, like one of my Iceland Express colleagues, calls me Doctor Nik. The Simpsons is popular over here too, even if it is only on cable.
At about six pm this evening the doorbell went. This was spectacular timing on my part, as I was three quarters of my way into my kirtle for its first proper fitting. As it's quite tight fitting in the bodice I could either have pulled everything off (not as much of a problem here as it would be in the UK) or answer wearing the kirtle. I chose the latter and got a very puzzled look in reply.
The reason for the call was to get me to move my car so that the snowplough can clear the car park... an excellent idea given that at present your wheels move only along the deep ruts and the slush rubs along the underside of the car.
How long the snow will remain though is anybody's guess - it's been warm and wet today, with temperatures about four degrees Celsius and with rain instead of snow. It makes me wonder just what to wear for the journey on Wednesday. I must check the UK weather forecast for the weekend.
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Sunday, November 06, 2005
Eyelets complete...
Eighteen eyelets all hand stitched...
...To the accompaniment of Parsifal on RÚV. Yes, I have opera sung in German with subtitles in Icelandic. It's a good thing I know the basic plot outline. :)
It's a very modern, almost abstract, production of Parsifal. I'm not actually a big fan of transfering plays and operas with a specific setting into the modern day - I'd far rather have the Ring with stereotypical horned helmets than the pseudo-Victorian version I had on video - but the music is good. It's the same with Shakespeare; I much prefer it to be performed in costume appropriate to the setting of the play.
But then I'm not an Arty Type. I have simple tastes which generally require explosions to keep me interested. Culture? That's what you get in yoghurt or petri dishes, right?
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...To the accompaniment of Parsifal on RÚV. Yes, I have opera sung in German with subtitles in Icelandic. It's a good thing I know the basic plot outline. :)
It's a very modern, almost abstract, production of Parsifal. I'm not actually a big fan of transfering plays and operas with a specific setting into the modern day - I'd far rather have the Ring with stereotypical horned helmets than the pseudo-Victorian version I had on video - but the music is good. It's the same with Shakespeare; I much prefer it to be performed in costume appropriate to the setting of the play.
But then I'm not an Arty Type. I have simple tastes which generally require explosions to keep me interested. Culture? That's what you get in yoghurt or petri dishes, right?
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Saturday, November 05, 2005
Joys of eBooks
EBooks do some things extremely well.
I don't just mean things like having the ability to run a search through the text. At present I'm being distracted from other pastimes by Gust Front by John Ringo, the sequel to A Hymn Before Battle which I finished yesterday. The basic premise is that Earth is contacted by friendly aliens who need an aggressive race to fight off a common enemy. By book two the bad aliens are about to invade Earth and by chapter 35 (which is where I am) they've landed.
No, the really neat thing I discovered with this particular book (other than a couple of Kipling poems I haven't read before) is how it handles maps. Rather than inserting a large map graphic it just links out to the US Geological Survey website for the appropriate location. OK, so it would be less useful if I didn't have broadband, but as it is I think it's pretty cool.
Other than that it's been a quiet day. The kirtle just needs the eyelets and the hem doing, I've discovered some quite large icicles hanging down over the bedroom window, and I have a rice pudding cooking in the oven.
Oh yes, and Icelandic television doesn't subtitle the dialogue in Old Norse from The Island at the Top of the World. I wonder if they do the same for The 13th Warrior?
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I don't just mean things like having the ability to run a search through the text. At present I'm being distracted from other pastimes by Gust Front by John Ringo, the sequel to A Hymn Before Battle which I finished yesterday. The basic premise is that Earth is contacted by friendly aliens who need an aggressive race to fight off a common enemy. By book two the bad aliens are about to invade Earth and by chapter 35 (which is where I am) they've landed.
No, the really neat thing I discovered with this particular book (other than a couple of Kipling poems I haven't read before) is how it handles maps. Rather than inserting a large map graphic it just links out to the US Geological Survey website for the appropriate location. OK, so it would be less useful if I didn't have broadband, but as it is I think it's pretty cool.
Other than that it's been a quiet day. The kirtle just needs the eyelets and the hem doing, I've discovered some quite large icicles hanging down over the bedroom window, and I have a rice pudding cooking in the oven.
Oh yes, and Icelandic television doesn't subtitle the dialogue in Old Norse from The Island at the Top of the World. I wonder if they do the same for The 13th Warrior?
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Friday, November 04, 2005
Ugh - definitely not sausage
Iceland still has no decent sausages.
Amongst the things discussed in the kitchen at the pre-Hallowe'en pre-party party were saugaged. It's not only me that misses real sausages. Hagkaup, it seemed, were not only selling their normal pylsur and bratwurst pylsur (tested some time ago and found to be bearable but to herby), but had recently started selling enskur pylsur (English sausages).
So I dropped in yesterday and picked up a pack, together with a bag of pudding rice and a rather good garlic loaf. Last night I had bangers and mash for dinner. Unfortunately the enskur pylsur taste only slightly less processed and unpleasant than normal pylsur.
Pylsur (hot dog) is almost a national dish here. Not for Iceland the multitude of burger and sandwich bars; instead there are pylsur stands all over the place. It's the standard snack up here other than ice cream. Which is okay, except I've never liked hot dogs anyway. Never mind, the buns are the best soft bread buns I can find.
I also didn't buy a new computer yesterday. One of my students commented that the Apple dealership had a special offer on iBooks, so I wandered in to have a look. The 12-inch iBook, even on offer or with an educational discount, costs more than I could walk into PC World in Liverpool and pay for the 15-inch top-end model. Had the offer brought the machine down to near the UK prices I'd have gone ahead and bought it, but that's a ridiculous mark-up. Nor did they have any games software - I've got a bit bored of Mike's Cards Lite.
It looks like I'm going to have to do some serious shopping in the UK at Christmas.
0 comments
Amongst the things discussed in the kitchen at the pre-Hallowe'en pre-party party were saugaged. It's not only me that misses real sausages. Hagkaup, it seemed, were not only selling their normal pylsur and bratwurst pylsur (tested some time ago and found to be bearable but to herby), but had recently started selling enskur pylsur (English sausages).
So I dropped in yesterday and picked up a pack, together with a bag of pudding rice and a rather good garlic loaf. Last night I had bangers and mash for dinner. Unfortunately the enskur pylsur taste only slightly less processed and unpleasant than normal pylsur.
Pylsur (hot dog) is almost a national dish here. Not for Iceland the multitude of burger and sandwich bars; instead there are pylsur stands all over the place. It's the standard snack up here other than ice cream. Which is okay, except I've never liked hot dogs anyway. Never mind, the buns are the best soft bread buns I can find.
I also didn't buy a new computer yesterday. One of my students commented that the Apple dealership had a special offer on iBooks, so I wandered in to have a look. The 12-inch iBook, even on offer or with an educational discount, costs more than I could walk into PC World in Liverpool and pay for the 15-inch top-end model. Had the offer brought the machine down to near the UK prices I'd have gone ahead and bought it, but that's a ridiculous mark-up. Nor did they have any games software - I've got a bit bored of Mike's Cards Lite.
It looks like I'm going to have to do some serious shopping in the UK at Christmas.
0 comments
Thursday, November 03, 2005
World Usability Day
Ah, an international day of something of which I know something.
In case you didn't already know it, today is World Usability Day. Usability isall about making things easier to use - not just software, although that's what I do - but also other things. BC News has a poll running to find out what people think are good and bad examples of usability. As I write this the worst example is automated phone systems that give you numerical choices then leave you listening to muzak for ten minute. The most usable item is not the Apple iPod, but the humble post-it note.
I'm currently in the middle of a formal usability evaluation of a commercial website and I keep coming up against the same thing time and time again: good graphic design does not mean a high level of usability. It'll be interesting to see which of the two gets a higher priority in the business environment.
So what are my personal favourite usable and unusable items?
Usable - the vaccuum cleaner we had in the last house that had a special clip to attach the pipe to the body, which meant that you could comfortable and safely carry it in one hand.
Unusable - Doors that only open outwards but have a pull-handle on the inside.
0 comments
In case you didn't already know it, today is World Usability Day. Usability isall about making things easier to use - not just software, although that's what I do - but also other things. BC News has a poll running to find out what people think are good and bad examples of usability. As I write this the worst example is automated phone systems that give you numerical choices then leave you listening to muzak for ten minute. The most usable item is not the Apple iPod, but the humble post-it note.
I'm currently in the middle of a formal usability evaluation of a commercial website and I keep coming up against the same thing time and time again: good graphic design does not mean a high level of usability. It'll be interesting to see which of the two gets a higher priority in the business environment.
So what are my personal favourite usable and unusable items?
Usable - the vaccuum cleaner we had in the last house that had a special clip to attach the pipe to the body, which meant that you could comfortable and safely carry it in one hand.
Unusable - Doors that only open outwards but have a pull-handle on the inside.
0 comments
Wednesday, November 02, 2005
Ouch
My shoulder hurts.
It's occasionally played up in the past, but since I pranged it at Rent-A-Don in March the pain has become more consistent and uncomfortable. It's now at the point where it's sore at night and when I wake up in the morning, and where pain is beginning to affect its mobility a bit.
I certainly don't think I'd like to try wielding a rapier at any length with my left hand right now. As well as the shoulder, the RSI problem has also got worse over the last couple of months and sometimes I do actually lose sensation in my index and second fingers entirely. Numbness I can live with; a total lack of sensation is a little disconcerting.
So I'm plucking up courage to visit the doctor. I've managed fifteen months without having to do this, and I'm rather loathe to do it now. I'm always loathe to visit the doctor, and although the health system here is supposed to be very good, especially for physical injuries - all those skiing accidents - it's still not something I look forward to. It always seems an admission of weakness or failure - I know that sounds crazy but I can't help it. Illogical, apart from anything else.
Maybe after Kingdom University. It would be nice not to be sore.
0 comments
It's occasionally played up in the past, but since I pranged it at Rent-A-Don in March the pain has become more consistent and uncomfortable. It's now at the point where it's sore at night and when I wake up in the morning, and where pain is beginning to affect its mobility a bit.
I certainly don't think I'd like to try wielding a rapier at any length with my left hand right now. As well as the shoulder, the RSI problem has also got worse over the last couple of months and sometimes I do actually lose sensation in my index and second fingers entirely. Numbness I can live with; a total lack of sensation is a little disconcerting.
So I'm plucking up courage to visit the doctor. I've managed fifteen months without having to do this, and I'm rather loathe to do it now. I'm always loathe to visit the doctor, and although the health system here is supposed to be very good, especially for physical injuries - all those skiing accidents - it's still not something I look forward to. It always seems an admission of weakness or failure - I know that sounds crazy but I can't help it. Illogical, apart from anything else.
Maybe after Kingdom University. It would be nice not to be sore.
0 comments
Tuesday, November 01, 2005
A quiet Hallowe'en
Hallowe'en always leaves me with very mixed feelings.
Yes, Hallowe'en is fun; it involves parties, too many apples, and generally cake and alcohol as well. But it also brings back the memory of the Hallowe'en over thirty years ago when my grandfather died. He was in hospital at the time with a spinal tumour, and had been ill for some time. It became obvious during the day that he wasn't going to last much longer so we spent the evening just waiting for the phone call.
Here in Iceland this year there seemed to be very few people about - but that might have been due to the weather. Either that or they all held their parties over the weekend.
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Yes, Hallowe'en is fun; it involves parties, too many apples, and generally cake and alcohol as well. But it also brings back the memory of the Hallowe'en over thirty years ago when my grandfather died. He was in hospital at the time with a spinal tumour, and had been ill for some time. It became obvious during the day that he wasn't going to last much longer so we spent the evening just waiting for the phone call.
Here in Iceland this year there seemed to be very few people about - but that might have been due to the weather. Either that or they all held their parties over the weekend.
0 comments