Cha Cha Chá and SQL

Recently I was listening to Ismael Rivera’s Arrecotin Arrecotan while updating some databases. Two things became very obvious to me:

• I love cha cha music.
• I wish I was back at the BritFest.

The main problem I have with dancing cha cha is that I don’t think my posture and movement is up to the challenge. It doesn’t stop me trying though

Since I can’t go back to the BritFest for a year, I thought I might try the Madrid congress. Its schedule looks a bit more civilised than UK congresses: there are no classes before two in the afternoon.

Moving Flat pt III: Aftermath

It took four days, two of them off work, to get moved from Ealing to Surrey Quays. My schoolboy error was to hire a large car rather than a large van. The amount of time it takes to drive across London is ridiculous, and I would have been much better off taking a vehicle that could hold everything I wanted to move, and making only one trip.

Freecycle is a great thing for getting rid of unwanted stuff quickly without sending it to landfill. Friends who will help you move are invaluable. Being offline at home for any length of time is a serious problem. Packing for congresses while still living out of boxes is a pain. I really like my new place, but I’ll like it a lot more in a week or so when it’s properly organised.

Hurray for The Times

Not something I ever thought I’d write, but then I never expected to find any sense in its pages. Their food critic recently went to town on the stupidity of mineral water. I’ve always thought it was a terrible waste of money and effort, but I never expected to see it condemned in the pages of a paper so in love with conspicuous consumption.

Even more oddly, their reviewer is related to that chap from the deeply boring Call My Bluff. Who would ever have thought that something good could come from that?

Moving Flat pt II: The Job

I still hate moving. Now I actually have to do it.

Why the Police Don’t Make the Law

They have terrible ideas.

More RAID Pain

Once it’s working, wouldn’t it be nice if it stayed working?

Firefly

I’m a huge fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and by extension, of its writer Joss Whedon. I haven’t seen or sought out much Angel. When I heard about the concept of Firefly a couple of years ago, I wasn’t really driven to see it.

This weekend, though, Firefly (and Serenity) more or less fell into my lap, and I ate them up. After Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I should have realised that Joss’ shows can’t be judged by their names. It’s absolutely awesome, and it’s terrible that it was cancelled. Fox have a lot to answer for.

If you haven’t seen it yet, go buy it now. I know space westerns sound stupid, but this is Joss, and he easily rises above any problems he might set himself. It’s just very, very good.

Fundamentally Wrong

The chippie along the road offers  ketchup, salt, and mayonnaise, but no vinegar. The man behind the counter tells me that it’s “too dear”. Given that I won’t be buying chips without vinegar, I think this may be the textbook example of a false economy.

MLP: Making Your Own Fun

MLP stand for Mindless Link Propagation. It’s the secret ingredient in Fark, Slashdot, Plastic’s QuickLinks, Digg, and so on. It’s a good portion of what the Internet was made for. Normally I try to stay away from this lowest-common-content format, but today I’m feeling weak. I give you THREE FUNNY THINGS.

OMGWTFBBQ!

I’m 30 today. I don’t have anything really coherent or sensible to say about that.