The other news

[jadesfire]

Happy birthday, aeron_lanart!!! Hope it's a good one, hon.

~ Today is a bank holiday and I am at work. There is something wrong with this picture. On the other hand, after spending all Friday lying on the sofa and most of yesterday dozing, I'm actually ready to get some stuff done. And did I mention that my work is awesomely understanding about my health? I'm so lucky on that front, and it's a counting my blessings kind of day today.

~ I'm not going to be around as much as usual for the next few weeks, since we were broken into at the weekend and my netbook was stolen *cries* (as well as our wallets and J's laptop). I will be getting another, just not for a little while, which is going to curtail my online access. BTW, those of you with netbooks, what have you got and what do you recommend?

~ Less surfing might not be an entirely bad thing, since I have a stupid amount of stuff on my writing plate right now, and maybe less time online will mean more words on the page. Anything's possible, right?

~ I am busy every night this week. All with good stuff, but I'm starting to wonder if this is what it's like to have a social life. Weird.

~ Flautists on my flist, how do I play a 'C' without dropping the flute or losing the note? I'm teaching myself at the moment, and right now I can only manage one or the other...

~

	This week	Next week	This Month	Long Term
WORK	Serial POs Transcribe Audiotour Receiving Houtschild books Invoices Moys Mooting videos FMP orders Oracle password Non-FMP orders	Serial POs Finish Audiotour BIALL tickets and details	Google Books Agreement Any reading for BIALL conference
WRITING	Pirate!fic NCIS fic for azure_chaos Beta for donutsweeper	Finish tardis_bigbang	bau_bigbang "Five Things..." ficlets spn_summergen	SGA project with perspi Dragon!fic Universal Library sgabigbang
OTHER	Email C OSD Reply to CK Update library blog Return EFL book Return library books Linkspam Zoo RLD change Haircut Taste of Britain Address to A&L	Coffee with AW Email AG Update library blog Pictures to blackmare_9 Post to Rusty	Duke Humfrey's Paperwork for BIALL conference Writing links (?date?)	Course at ContEd? Website for my stories Flute

~ Yes, you did read right in that table. Because we are a bad influence on each other, greyias and I have signed up to co-write for this year's sgabigbang. That's THREE Big Bangs for me this year, plus the SPN Summer Gen challenge. Bring it on *wibble*

~ There's probably more, but I need to get coffee before my 3 hour enquiry desk shift. Hopefully the students are all in exams or Bank Holidays *crosses fingers*. There's so much to do!

~ I am rather vague today. This could prove problematic.

[I'm just going to keep adding 'ETA's to this as I remember things. By the time Californian folks see it, this post is going to be epic]

~ I made a lemon drizzle syrup cake last night, and it is exceedingly yummy. I meant to bring it to work for those of us slaving away while everyone else is at home, but it's still sitting on top of the bread-maker in the kitchen. It's one of the easiest and yummiest cakes ever, and I've put the recipe under the cut.

Cream together 175g caster sugar (I use Golden, but normal will do) and 125g butter. Add 2 eggs and the grated zest of 1 lemon. Mix until smooth. Carefully fold in 175g self-raising flour, a pinch of salt and 4 tbsp of milk. Scrape into a prepared 2lb loaf tin and bake at 180 for about 45 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean.

While it's baking, put 100g icing sugar and the juice of 1-2 lemons in a saucepan and heat until the sugar is dissolved and you have a syrup. As soon as you take the cake out of the oven, puncture it all over with a skewer and pour the syrup over. Leave to cool completely before eating.

[Weight to volume cooking conversions can be done here]

Comments

[aeron-lanart.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the birthday wishes, I'm going to have a great day!

Happy Towel Day and don't forget...

(http://s215.photobucket.com/albums/cc176/a_lanart/?action=view&current=4728_1188771401466_1293750066_31143.jpg)

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

Woot! I'd forgotten about Towel Day, but not the Lilac - that's a great picture.

[tiggothy.livejournal.com]

re. C on a flute - I balance it on the bottom knuckle of my first finger (the knuckle where it joins to your hand). I think this is the lazy way to do it though, as it;s the way I worked out when I was about 12 and 12-year-olds are only non-lazy when compared to 13-year-olds!

Also, this might not be a recommended way of balancing the instrument because I tend to get cramp in my hands after extended bouts of playing (or when there's lots of fiddly notes). Mind you, I do have stupid joints.

I suspect the more proper way to do it is to use the thumb & forefinger of your right hand to balance the flute against your jaw/lower lip. Maybe see if there's any footage of James Galway (or other flautists) online & see if you can pick up tips from watching him/them?

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

Looking at footage is a good plan. I'm not sure I'm putting my hands in the right places, but it seems to be working so far, apart from C!

I'll give it a go, thanks :)

[wildcat88.livejournal.com]

I agree. Balance the flute on your right thumb and the bottom knuckle (where your finger meets your hand) of your left forefinger.

And I'm soooo looking forward to what you and greyias are going to write.

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

Okay, that makes sense, thanks.

Heh, we're still at the "looking at each other and wondering what on earth we're doing" stage. That's always fun ;)

[crystalshard.livejournal.com]

*blinks* That's a loooong list of stuff to do.

On the more entertaining side:

Klingon anti-virus software. (http://www.sophos.com/HIghoS/)

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

*g* It's always a long list.

I'll have a look at the video once I get home, but that looks awesome!

[hab318princess.livejournal.com]

sorry to hear about the break in!

I've signed up to wrianojune - 50000 words in 30 days.... but next to your list that looks tame

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

Hee! It's a lot of words, that's for sure...

Thanks - I miss my little computer! :(

[hab318princess.livejournal.com]

it is, and I'm still tidying up my Tardis Big Bang and would love to post some fics which need finishing!

[rustydog.livejournal.com]

Zoo!

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

I KNOW! We got vouchers for Christmas that need to be used by the end of June, so it's off to London Zoo we go :D

[naye]

Wow. You are one busy person. I am in awe of your list! Good luck with that, and have fun with the new Big Bang. ♥

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

*g* Grey and I are going to have a great time, although I've already warned her means a twice-as-long story, not half the work ;)

The list is always huge, but I figure it's best to aim high :D

[naye]

I've already warned her means a twice-as-long story, not half the work ;)

Truer words were never said! Ah~! I hope you have as much fun as me and friendshipper did last year. ♥ I can honestly say that I'm seriously looking forward to what you and Grey can come up with, even though I only read fic very sporadically right now. You will be genius!

[thalia]

The flute question: The C is the left index finger and right pinky, right? (The fact that I had to think about that tells you how long it's been since I've played.) Your right thumb is what's holding up the flute; it's basically under the first two fingers of your right hand, if that makes sense. Between that thumb and your mouth, the flute should stay in position.

Just wait till you get into the really really high notes; some of those fingerings are insane.

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

*nods* that makes sense, thanks. I'm just having trouble actually balancing it. Probably needs practice :)

Heh, well I play 2 different recorders already, so more insane fingering is par for the course. My problem is going to be differentiating the three!

[thalia]

Yeah, I learned the flute before the recorder, so I keep trying to use flute fingerings on the recorder. Oops. Luckily, they're not all that different. My husband plays the clarinet, and it's way more confusing.

Flutes and alto saxes have very similar fingerings, so if you want to learn a reed instrument, you've got a head start there, anyway. [g]

[xwingace]

Actually, taking into account that the common clarinet is a Bb instrument and the soprano recorder is (I think) a C instrument, the fingerings for the clarinet and the recorder are identical for the notes of the same name, though not the same actual tones. You just have to keep the octave valve on the clarinet pressed, then the fingerings are otherwise the same up to B. Ten fingers for C, release one at a time...

(I play the clarinet as well. Couldn't get a note out of a flute if it killed me, though)

XWA

[thalia]

I thought my husband said the octave key on a clarinet really works more on a 12th than an actual octave... but I could have misunderstood. I think I could probably manage an octave, but a wider range would get really confusing. I just can't cope with the number of things to press on a clarinet. There are a lot fewer options on a flute. [g]

[xwingace]

He's probably right (I'm not used to discussing this stuff in English. I'm not sure I know all the terms). If you don't press the octave key, what you get with 10 fingers on the keys/holes isn't a C like it would be on a recorder with the thumb hole completely closed, but instead it's the E below that C. Nevertheless, with the octave key pressed (which is actually a lot like half-closing the thumb hole on a recorder, now that I think about it), the fingerings are pretty much the same for the C major scale (there are some differences linked to the number of keys on the clarinet for the half-tones, yes).

Not as many options on a flute? But I thought the clarinet key system was based off that of the flute (the böhm system?) Actually, the whole fun of the clarinet is that for quite a few notes, there's two ways of playing that note. This makes quick fingering a lot easier, but most of the time, knowing one of the options is quite enough.

XWA

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

(I'm the exact opposite - if it's got a reed, I'm lost, but I've always been able to play the flute. *g*)

I'm trying to think of them as three totally separate instruments (I play descant/soprano and alto recorders) else I'm only going to get more confused... ;D

[xwingace]

I started on soprano recorder; it is (or at least used to be) common here, for kids to start on that and 'graduate' to bigger instruments after a year or two/three. I can't really play it now, though, because I can't blow into the mouthpiece with so little air pressure that the tone doesn't go off (that's the result of playing clarinet -- more air pressure required). I have an alto recorder that I *can* still play, but the C key doesn't close properly, so some notes don't work. Fingering isn't any different, though. Not that I know all that much of it, anymore.

I love the flute, several of my cousins play it. But I can't get sound to come out. And in the end, I think I like the clarinet more anyway. :-)

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

I thought I saw you mention THREE bigbangs earlier.... Not sure if I should giggle or glare at you for that.

Give a shout out if you need help on any of them! :)

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

Hey, you'd better giggle - I'm halfway through your beta but I can always stop there... ;D

Just kidding. I must be mad, but it seemed like a good idea at the time!

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

If you're mad you are in good company! Climb aboard!

[greyias.livejournal.com]

Because we are a bad influence on each other

Too true. The entire cast could end up as sea slugs for all we know. *g*



As for Netbooks, beware, TL;DR

After struggling and prevailing to install a new OS, I do recommend mine, mainly because it has a nearly full size keyboard, which is wonderful. And now that I have Windows XP on it rather than that really bad distro of Linux, it boots up and is ready to go in less than thirty seconds. However, the battery life on my particular model is atrocious (I get maybe an hour and a half unplugged. I probably need to tweak my power settings.) I think the battery life has improved with the newer models, but it gets very hot. (But that seems to be common with HP laptops, as I can attest to after owning three.) It looks like the Compaq variant (http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/uk/en/ho/WF02a/321957-321957-3832385.html) is popular on your side of the pond. I'm not sure if it's a different PC, or simply a rebranded one.

Even though I hate their marketing team right now, all of my research shows that the Dell Minis (http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/products/category.aspx/inspnnb_mini?c=uk&cs=ukdhs1&l=en&ref=lthp&s=dhs) are fairly solid machines.

And I've never heard of this one before today, but Asus has just released some sort of Supah Eee Machine (http://uk.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=24&l2=164&l3=0&l4=0&model=2912&modelmenu=1), that's big on HDD space and expandability. If the price is right, I might suggest going with that one. It seems both portable and decently powerful.

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

That's great, thanks. My one problem with this (I can see already) and why I'm going to end up with another Acer is that I only want an 8.9" screen. 10" is just a little bigger than I want - the littler one fits in my handbags and is nice and light. Mind you, that Asus one looks all kinds of pretty, so I might see if I can play with one first. Still, with the Acers on Amazon Warehouse for under £200, the others are going to have to go some to beat it. Although I might see if I can put Ubuntu over Linpus Lite, just so I can look at something pretty instead of the hideous desktop.

*g* Highly adventurous sea slugs. I suspect the Asurans are Starfish...

[greyias.livejournal.com]

I suspect the Asurans are Starfish...

I wonder if that makes the Wraith leeches?

Although I might see if I can put Ubuntu over Linpus Lite, just so I can look at something pretty instead of the hideous desktop.

What are the system requirements for Ubuntu? If the Acer can run it no problem, I'd say that's probably a good way to go. (And Ubuntu seems to be the user friendliest distro from what I can tell.)

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

Aha! I hadn't been able to work out what the Wraith were, but yes! Definitely.

...just so we're clear, I'm not writing 40,000 words of The Adventures of Team Sea Slug. Not even for you :P

There's a good forum with support for newbie Acer users, so I'll have to see how easy it is to change the distro. Apparently it's a nightmare to switch to XP, but a nicer Linux would save a lot of headaches. Alternatively, I can get a refurbished Dell for about £250.

Decisions, decisions...

[greyias.livejournal.com]

...just so we're clear, I'm not writing 40,000 words of The Adventures of Team Sea Slug. Not even for you :P

But they could save The Universe the Seven Seas--slowly. V.e.r.y.s.l.o.w.l.y.

Decisions, decisions...

What sort of activities/things do you see yourself needing/wanting to do on it? That might help you narrow it down more.

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

Sea slugs, woman. Sea slugs. They'll be lucky to save a beach, let alone an ocean.

What I want it for is kind of the problem. I want to surf the internet, watch videos and write. That's about it, and in theory Linux does that, but I hate the Open Office Writer and the way it screws with formatting. Linux laptops are so much cheaper, but it'd be nice to have a simpler life. *sigh*

This could take a while ;)

[greyias.livejournal.com]

They'll be lucky to save a beach, let alone an ocean.

But they have heart (http://www.turner.com/planet/movies/ma-timov.html). And sluggy teaminess. Or teamy slugginess. Or... oh, nevermind.

This could take a while ;)

Hahaha... I hear you on Open Office. I haven't been able to articulate what about it I don't like, but that could very well be it. It just feels... weird to type in.

You could go with a Linux laptop (for affordability) with the aim for upgrading to a system/OS that you like. (If you happen to have an old Windows XP installation disc, you can probably reuse it to go XP if that's what you want. Or Ubuntu... but I think it may be a tad more resource intensive than XP)

[mad-jaks.livejournal.com]

As you seem to be loading your plate may I humbly suggest that you let yourself take a small breather sometime around December and participate in consci_fan_mo? (Maximum word limit 2000 words.)

*comes to read your 'fandom' responses*

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

Heh, well I forgot to mention that I intend to open bringthehappy again in August, but yes, everything should be over by September. At which point something else (non-fic related that's on the horizon) may eat my life, but we'll see ;)

[mad-jaks.livejournal.com]

I intend to open [info]bringthehappy again in August
And are you going to follow through with your thought from earlier in the year and link to insane random pairings generator do-hickey?? Because that would be kind of hilarious :D


(I am now reading criminalmind in Dreamwidth.)

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

*g* I don't plan on making it compulsory. The best mad-prompt generator I've found is actually the subject line in Yahoo Mail. If you start a new message, then click the 'subject' button, it fills it in randomly with all kinds of fun stuff :) So I think I'm going to make it an option. Otherwise I'm not sure I'll get anyone to take part!

[mad-jaks.livejournal.com]

Oh do PLEASE make it an option it will be so much fun :D

[mad-jaks.livejournal.com]

Hey! I met a considerable chunk of my f-list through taking part in bringthehappy so I'll be there - the only reason I wasn't last year is because I was in Switzerland for most of it. :D