Cas is currently

I give up.
It’s been a long relationship for me.
Nearly six months of total fidelity.
I only strayed once, and that was a misguided drunken fling, and I was forgiven.

But things have been rocky for a while now, and the time has come to face facts and admit that we have grown apart.
We have different goals in life.

I want a some excitement with some oomph between the sheets.
He wants lazy evenings in, watching the footy, with me bringing him meals and letting him off the washing up.

It’s over.

We will always have the memories, of when it was new and exciting, learning new things about each other.
We’d wake up together, have a lazy breakfast in bed, with fresh coffee and tea. We’d have a laugh over the funnies, cry over the disasters.
Now I’m lucky to get a line out of him in the morning, and as for a beverage? Instant is all I get these days.

He has to go.

~ * ~

I really hate having to admit defeat, but I need a new RSS aggregator.
The new release of Newsfire is buggier than an ant-farm, won’t let me view more than three feeds before crashing, and is generally starting to piss me off with its incessant calls for registration (and a largish chunk of money I don’t have to spare right now), and limiting me to just 25 feeds.

So, if any one knows of a really nice aggregator that works (on a Mac), is free, doesn’t have a limit on the number of feeds I can subscribe too, and looks nice, can they share please!

WARNING: I am picky about my user interfaces. I know I shouldn’t care, but a certain elegance of design is important to me, and for some reason browser-based aggregators just don’t get me going, though I am prepared to make an exception if it’s a really good one. The UI should be simple, useable with the keypad (ie arrows to move back and forward through feeds, a hot key to open the feed in the browser), and if it supports grouping of feeds, and a ‘new items’ list all the better…

And yes, I know that Firefox lets you subscribe to feeds, but see my above comments about browser-based. That, the whole having to scroll through bookmarks thing, and that Firefox is just too slow and processor-hogging for me on the Mac, and it just doesn’t fit the bill. Sorry.

I do figure that software is one part in your life where you are allowed to be unfaithful on occasion. So, all you geek-fiends out there, what have you got for me? Cas is in need of some RSS-lovin’…

Cas is currently

Well you could knock me down with a feather. It would have to be a pretty hefty feather, because I am no light weight, but I am sure, given the appropriate plumage and enough force, I could be sent arse-over-tip.

Why, do I hear you cry, am I currently so easy to upend? Well, one thing is that I keep forgetting that links are two-way. You link to something and promptly forget that people frequently look at who is linking to them in return. I don’t know why I forget this, because I do it myself (very few people link to me, if you are interested), but forget it I do. Last Monday I posted about how the addition of different barnyard animals to one another does not necessarily create a new species ^*1*, linking to Paul’s recent tribulations with GIS.

And lo, I open up Gmail this morning, and it tells me I have a comment from the afore linked-to personage ^*2*.

Hence the feather-knocking comment.

Yes, ok, so it might not seem much to you, but I am in an odd mood today. I’ve already waltzed round the lab once, and the day is yet young, so who knows what the rest of it will bring?

The other reason I am in an odd mood is that I am currently listening to a band called The Mountain Goats. I am not sure what I think of them. Currently I am just settling for odd. They are a little… something… for my taste, but the CC has stolen the iPod to listen to the Eagles so it was the least I could do to steal his Walkman in return.

Cas is currently

Just in case you were under any doubt as to my geek credentials, the following is a common sight in the lab. (Cameraphones are great!)

Tilly on the left, Jeff on the right. (Click on the pic to see notes).

And yes, we do crack GIS and computing jokes when we’re in the pub at the end of a long day.

We need help.

Cas is currently and still a little

The Godhead is an absolute gem of a man. A complete honey. A total sweetiepie and a wondeful human-being to boot.

Cas is currently

Ok, I found this random site that generates these little personality test thingamies for the sidebar of blogs. Because I so don’t want to work right now, I spent a happy ten minutes or so, and here are the few results that made me giggle:

The Underwear Oracle
When you’re bad, you’re very bad. And when you’re good, you’re still trouble!
You’re comfortable in your own skin – and don’t care to impress anyone.

What’s your Japanese Name?
Misako Tanaka
or (depending which name you use)
Hiroko Yamada
– (Japanese speakers/readers out there – what does my ‘Japanese’ name really say? Or what should it be, for both Cas and Claire please)

What’s your Superhero Name?
Your Superhero Name is The Admiral Angel
Your Superpower is Gadgets
Your Weakness is Flirting – Personally, I think those last two should be reversed.
Your Weapon is Your Flaming Hammer
Your Mode of Transportation is Tricycle

How Machiavellian Are You?
You Are Somewhat Machiavellian – How does this work exactly? I am only Machiavellian on alternate days? What?
You’re not going to mow over everyone to get ahead…
But you’re also powerful enough to make things happen for yourself.
You understand how the world works, even when it’s an ugly place.
You just don’t get ugly yourself – unless you have to!

What’s Your Power Color?
Your Power Color Is Magenta
At Your Highest:
You energize yourself and push others to suceed.
At Your Lowest:
You feel frustrated and totally overwhelmed. – Ok, this is true.
In Love:
You are suprised by who you attract. You’re a love magnet. – Excuse me?! This is the girl who was single for an epic two and a half year stretch you’re talking about!
How You’re Attractive:
Open and free spirited, people want to explore the world with you.
Your Eternal Question:
“What is my next source of inspiration?”

No, I have no idea why either, but I was in need of a laugh. A Somewhat Machiavellian Love Magnet indeed.

Cas is currently

Ok, because I am going totally insane, and no fun to be around right now, I am going to hold off the long blog posts till I can guarantee I won’t kill innocent bystanders.

Just a quickie – it was brought to my attention today that if you google my name and a certain social software project I am currently working on, I am the top (yes, that’s the first) result. Depending on what keywords, and how much of my name, you use, you also get upwards of four or five more results for me (yes, little old me!) on the first page alone.

If you’re internet sleuthing skills are any good, go check it out and have a look see at how wonderfully well I am failing my course. If you promise to play nice, I might even let you join the wiki properly so you can talk to the great and the good of archaeology. Well, you could talk to them if any of the ?$%!!*$@* little buggers were using the damn thing. As it is, I can conclude my entire thesis right now and save you all having to read it:
Question: How do wiki’s promote discussion in some arcane and esoteric field no one is really interested in?
Answer: They don’t.

Yes, happy campers, the culmination of four years of university and over £20,000 of debt, all neatly summed up in one snappy line. Go me.

I had already written most of my usual sunday mid-morning roundup and was on the verge of hitting ‘publish’ when I realised what the date was today. Yes, I really have been that self absorbed lately that I completely missed the fact that four years ago today a good friend of the family died along with 2,748 others.

So, if you will excuse me, I am not going to post the traditional right now – it seems callous and wrong.

Instead, I would like you all to take today to sit down with the people you care about, tell someone you love them, and ring those people you’ve been meaning to talk to in ages but haven’t got around to it. Life is too short and you’ll always regret it if you let that chance slip by.