What a crazy weekend I've had. My car broke down on my way home from work on Friday evening. After much investigation, it turns out that all that was wrong was it had ran out of petrol - even though it said it hadn't! The mechanic suspects that there may of been blockage somewhere, which has now been cleared.
And as if my car breaking down wasn't bad enough, I woke up on Saturday to find that one of my cats (not sure which) had peed all over my desk, scanner and - worst of all - my PC! Thankfully, my desk, scanner and PC were unharmed (the case stopped the pee getting inside), and after much cleaning all is well again.
It was a pretty dismal display by Villa yesterday afternoon. Boss David O'Leary called the 3-1 defeat to Everton the worst display he'd seen at Villa Park since he became manager - I wouldn't disagree with him there - Villa were just awful. Villa are at home again next Saturday to Middlesbrough - a win would be nice!
I'm going to have to get a big sports update in sometime between now and tomorrow, as I haven't done one for a while, and there's various Pirates and Villa scores to mention! I'll do Villa today. Since my last update they lost 3-1 at home to Arsenal and beat Portsmouth away 2-1. Up next: Everton at home on Saturday.
I've just finished reading A Darkness More Than Night the 7th book in the Harry Bosch series by Michael Connelly. I enjoyed it immensely, but I didn't think it was as good as previous Harry Bosch novels. I've got the 8th book, City Of Bones, arriving in the post tomorrow morning along with two other Connelly novels.
I took my PC all the way up to Sheffield over the weekend for a Counter-Strike LAN with these guys and I thoroughly enjoyed myself! There was a total of 15 people playing, and I'm almost certain I finished last (my PC crashing twice didn't help matters either), but I won't know for sure until the stats are published.
It was a sad day for hockey yesterday. Commissioner Gary Bettman officially announced the cancellation of the rest of the NHL 2004-2005 season. To be honest, I didn't like the idea of a 28-game regular season followed by the playoffs anyway. The big question now though is: where on earth do we go from here?
I'm not that optimistic about a deal being done at such a late stage, but after the NHLPA said it would accept a salary cap, it appears that all that separates the NHL and the NHLPA is $12 million. It's expected that the 2004-2005 season will be officially cancelled tomorrow afternoon. Can they bridge the gap in time?
My tune of the week is most definitely the super Back To Basics by the Shapeshifters. Ok, so it sounds distinctly familiar to their previous tune, Lola's Theme, but the hook and the vocals are way better in my opinion. It probably won't be as big as Lola's Theme, however. It's out on Positiva Records on March 14th.
So, yet another day of boredom is just beginning. I'm yawning my head off already because my body is so inactive it just wants to switch off. The only thing that's keeping me going till the end of the working day is the arrival in the post of NHL 2005 and the next Michael Connelly novel, A Darkness More Than Night.
So, another boring day in the office then. I'm not sure if I can take this much longer. I enjoy working here, but the work itself (making train reservations and logging problem calls) just doesn't challenge me anymore, and it's really, really boring. I won't allow this to become another Safeway. I think it's time to move on.
Wow! The New England Patriots have won the Super Bowl again. Congratulations, guys! Three titles in four years - can you say dynasty? The Philadelphia Eagles gave it their best shot, but the Patriots were just too much for them. I wonder if they'll win it again next year as well? I wouldn't bet against them...
My super new Zalman CPU cooler is excellent. It's a lot quieter than the standard Intel cooler, and it's also a lot more efficient at keeping the CPU temperature lower as well - without any noticeable increase in noise. I'm going to buy some Arctic Silver 5 to see if I can lower the temperature a few more degrees.
Clearly, the guy in this article is absolutely crazy. How on earth could anyone give up their broadband connection and go back to using 56k dial-up? That's crazy talk. I don't know what I'd do without my lovely 1MB broadband connection - I just can't imagine life without it. Thanks to Vishal for that crazy, crazy link!
I've ordered a Zalman CNPS7000B-AlCu CPU cooler to replace the useless Intel one, and also an extra AcoustiFan to improve airflow. The Thermal Spec for a 3.0Ghz Prescott chip is 70 degrees, and mine is almost reaching that under load. Hopefully, this new cooler will help to cool (and quieten) things down.
I can't believe Villa didn't beat Fulham last night. And although he missed two penalties, it would be unfair to place all the blame squarely on Angel. After all, he did score the opening goal, and it was poor defending that gave Fulham their equaliser in a game that ended 1-1. Villa are at home to Arsenal next on Saturday.
The Portland Pirates suffered two heavy defeats last week. They lost 4-1 away to Manchester, and 5-3 at home to Providence. They bounced back, however, with an excellent 4-0 win away to Worcester. They play the Lock Monsters tomorrow night, by which time the 04-05 NHL season might be cancelled.