Pump it up

Surprisingly enough, after last night's stressful drive and a wuffing incident (possibly kitteh/mowse related) at 2:00 am (the first for nearly a year), I didn't feel too bad this morning, thanks mainly to some glorious autumn sunshine glinting off fields shrouded in wisps of mist. The drive wasn't too bad either compared to yesterday, when it took me over an hour in both the morning and afternoon to drive thirty miles. Not good.

I reinstalled the custom style sheets on the web app that I was setting up, and it mysteriously sprang into life. Not entirely sure why, as I couldn't see anything that was different or any error messages indicating that this might be the cause. Doing this sort of installation is always a bit hit and miss - every environment is different in some way, and this is the first 64 bit SQL Server system that we have done. Sometimes it feels as if these things only work if you hit upon the right combination of voodoo configurations, spin three times widdershins and wave a kipper in the air.

The last episode of This is England:86 proved to be a gripping conclusion to the series, with *that* scene (no spoilers, but if you've seen it you'll know what I am referring to) being one of the most gripping and horrifying things I have ever seen on television. Superb stuff. I liked the ambiguous and low key ending as well, which was exactly the right way to finish things - life goes on, after all.

In technology news, two things have impressed me recently. I downloaded the Nav Free sat nav software for my phone, and it certainly does the job. I've never really used sat nav systems to any great extent, but this is certainly useful to have available for those occasions when I have to drive somewhere I haven't been before.

The second thing is my new Kindle, which truly is a thing of beauty and a joy forever. It is the most comfortable and convenient way to read books and documents, and it seems like a little miracle when I email something to it and it silently appears on the screen. After the battery hungry iphone, it is also hugely refreshing to have a device that is always on and only needs charging once a month. I am going to load up all of my OU course books to have them on hand for reference.