6 nations...

England team for Saturday's opener against Wales.

In world news today...

Man, Slovakia, trapped in his car by an avalanche, drinks 60 bottles of beer and urinates his way to freedom.

Hen, China, produces 'spoon-shaped' egg. No purile comments please.

Nick, Edinburgh, starts using firefox browser instead of crappy old internet explorer. Discovers his current projects require further testing. Also discovers that RSS feeds are very cool. If anyone knows of a good RSS reader can they email me?

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia...

brilliant

Calvin & Hobbes on education...

American remake of The Office - preview...

... at the NBC Screening Room. Very peculiar.

Production artwork from Peter Jackson's remake of King Kong...

True. Ain't It Cool News geeky article.

Cricket - England win!

Yet another test series won, away against South Africa for the first time in 40 years - well played the boys, particularly Strauss with the bat, Flintoff with the ball and Giles with both (that's what a good education does for you).

England weren't as convincing as they were last year, and I don't think the Aussies will be too worried leading up to the Ashes. However, no team will write off an England win until the 4th day is over.

Roll on the one-day matches, one of which my brother william will be attending in Cape Town. Not jealous at all.

How to switch to a mac...

Something for those of you who have just bought an ibook or are about to buy a mac mini, from the tao of mac

Mac Mini...

A preview for Tim.

bizarre ebay auctions...

here

Sky Sports - The Best Sport Coverage From Around The World...

Sheffield Wednesday vs Port Vale, live from Hillsborough, 7.45 pm tonight.

England Cricket...

BBC Back to winning ways

GNER Wi-fi...

...I'M ON THE TRAIN!

BBC NEWS - Apple Macs: Objects of devotion

Read

And your point is...?

Turn your iPod into an iPod shuffle

Engadget's ipod shuffle review...

...Here. I know I already have an ipod, I know I don't need this whatsoever (despite my arguments about also using it as a memory key), yes I know I know I know, blah blah blah.

Bored?

Sites for when you're bored

itunes on random...

Just had one of those random play moments... the very second Green Day sing "here comes the rain again" (song 'When September Ends' from very good new album 'American Idiot'), Edinburgh turns dark and the heavens well and truly open in near hurricane force winds.

Desperately trying justify an ipod shuffle.

New Apple stuff...

Mac mini - £339 / £399



ipod shuffle - £69 / £99





Plus new ilife and iwork office application. Good time to go mac.

Christopher Hill, I applaud you...

An excellent purchase - 14" ibook.

ipod rip-off... but hold on...

This isn't even an MP3 player!

PSP and DS to launch in Europe in March...

More info. Save up those pennies.

Both available on import from GBAX. PSP reviewed on the same site - he quite likes it.

Chris clones himself...

Crazy guy... presumably multiplying the volume of cat hair and drool stopped chris from doing the same to Jimmy.

Apple iHome...

Is this a low cost Apple media centre? Word is that these images are faked (aside from centre spelt correctly, some prople really have too much time), but there are strong rumours that amongst this week's product announcements will be a sub-$500 headless imac - an ibook - spec G4 shipped without monitor.

Also mooted are flash memory ipods and other cool wallet-tempting stuff for me to evangelise about.

Jonny, NOT AGAIN!

Wilkinson injured yesterday, out for at least the first two six nations matches. Grrr.

detox over, coffee fantastic...

The long 5 days has come to an end. Believe it or not, yesterday I was feeling great - full of energy, healthy, hydrated, and in a good mood. We've both lost a good few pounds as well. Food yesterday included half a melon for breakfast (cheap gag at rach's expense included), sunflower bread, a smoothie (kiwi, banana, pinapple & 'sharon fruit'), grilled fish and veg for tea, with a load of fruit. Eating more healthily is going to be a doddle after this.

Today, after a glorious breakfast of cereal and tea, we're going for a walk along the beach while our lamb stew cooks for 8 hours in the new slow cooker.

Detox, well into day 4 now...

Into the final straight now. Tea last night was absolutely delicious - butternut squash soup. I don't really feel any better for doing this, to be honest, but at least I'm feeling virtuous about my food intake. Still aching a bit in my joints, but I don't know whether that's the caffeine or the 2 consecutive days going swimming. Chris (who is now photoblogging) has given up caffeine permenantly, something there is no danger of me doing. Had a very pleasant meeting with officer Jim last night, who was horrified that I was sticking to juice.

Feb 14th - Elvis Costello at the Usher Hall, hurrah!

Fossil palm pilot watch

Phil's next purchase?

5-day detox reviewed...

I'm finding it easier than this person

Detox, day 2 complete...

We're coming up to the halfway point, and the moments wondering why I'm putting myself through this continue... I keep craving coffee (no caffeine allowed), a bowl of cereal (no dairy allowed) and of course, beer, chocolate, anything from crombie's ... This morning I have very little energy, feeling quite miserable staring into a cup of herbal tea!

But it's a short push through to Saturday, happy in the knowledge that this is like a full oil change in the car, running more efficiently afterwards and in the knowledge that our 2005 healthy living plan will seem really easy after this week.

Yesterday's tea, cooked by Rach (after a very tiring swim), was a delicious chicken and fresh veg stir fry, cooked with organic soy sauce, ginger, garlic with brown rice cooked in organic stock. Tonight we're planning a butternut soup, with possibly a visit from officer Strugnall and future missus, in Edinburgh scouting for castle wedding venues.

geek gadget alert

Do I want a Nintendo DS in my hands in 24 hours? Tempting...

Detox, day 1 complete...

Dinner yesterday - delicious: soup made from apple, parsnip, carrot, leek, onion and lentils, with curry and herbs. Served with seedy wholemeal bread. Finished off with lots of fruit and more water in front of the new series of Shameless.

This morning: melon, green tea, water. Seriously missing tea or coffee - my legs and fingers are aching and I'm berift of energy. A bit like the England cricket team, who are following up their unbeaten 2004 by getting comprehensively mullered by South Africa in Cape Town.

Vanity Fair Star Wars photoshoot...

Cool

New Year 2004-5

Happy New Year everyone.

New Year was spent with Tim, Karen, Phil, JaneR, JaneE and Glenn. We really missed Chris though. Actual New Year was spent at the street party which was great fun. We had a few rounds of golf, watched the marvellous Sound of Music (which Glenn in particular enjoyed), and chilled out a lot.

Tim has kindly posted some photos to his site.

Rach and I have started a 5-day detox today, which will be closely followed by a proper diet in order to get in shape for May.

Today's food so far:

Half a melon / apple / satsuma
2 wholemeal seeded bread rolls
some leftover couscous with roasted veg
2 pints water
2 cups of herbal tea

I'm missing tea and coffee badly, maybe having withdrawl symptoms. It's also the first day back at work, so today could be better in all honesty!