In which I am even more random than usual

[jadesfire]

Happy Ada Lovelace Day! Head over to the website here and check out some of the awesome women in technology and science. I haven't had much of a chance to do proper reading around yet, but I heard Maggie Aderin-Pocock on Desert Island Discs a few weeks ago and was instantly smitten. She's an astronomer, an instrument maker and a communicator (brilliant article by her here) as well as sounding like an all-round lovely person. If I get a chance later on, I'll add her to the map on the Finding Ada website :)

Otherwise, it's another dull, grey morning here, which is making me long for spring to actually get going. On the other hand, one of the consequences of that will be the clocks going forward this weekend, and I'm not that keen to lose an hour's sleep :S

I've been trying to work out if I haven't been posting because I've got nothing to say, or if it's because I've got too much to say and can't work out how to cram it all into one post. You know what it's like when your head is all full, and everything gets mangled when you try to write it down?

So what *have* I been doing? Well, last week we went to hear Melvyn Bragg give a lecture on the history of the Royal Society, which was as much about the present as it was the past. One of the great joys of living in Oxford is hearing clever people talk in beautiful surroundings, and the Sheldonian is as grand as they come. We managed to get good seats, directly opposite the podium, and the amplification was pretty good. The subtitle of the lecture was "notes from an amateur", although of course, he's far from that. Entertaining and wide-ranging and generally a good night out was had by all.

Over the weekend we did house-type-stuff that I'll talk about when I can, and took a trip up to Stowe Landscape Gardens, which is one of our favourite National Trust properties. The weather and my hip held out (although I was aching badly by the time I got home) and generally a lovely time was had by all. Things have become a little more stressful as the week goes on and as they tend to, but in general, things are good.

Also, we discovered that if we moved the furniture around in our very small living room, we could divide it into a 'living' area and a 'dining' area, which means we can keep the table up all the time. The difference is incredible, and I'm feeling much happier about the flat today.

One slightly disconcerting note is that I'm more or less up to date at work. I mean, I have odds and ends that I'm mopping up, but if I can concentrate today, by 7pm when I leave here, I'll have done...well. Everything. I'm starting to get nervous about what I've forgotten.

Fortunately I have lots of other things to keep me going, and most awesomely of all, I've been writing. My inspiration dried up completely about this time last year, and although I've put out dribs and drabs since then, the urge to write went away almost completely. Ironically, since starting to crochet last November, I've found the urge returning (oh, get your minds out of the gutter :P) and have three or four WIPs that I don't actively hate right now. \o/ The relief is incredible, and at this rate, I should have my help_haiti fic done soon.

Which reminds me, please could someone point me in the direction of good White Collar fic? I'll take OT3 but, as usual, would prefer Gen. I'm gradually reading my way through the AO3 collection, which is pretty good, but would love to find some proper 'caper' stories or episode-style fic. Yeah, yeah, I know, I've lit the landing lights for the flying pigs already...

What about the rest of you? Everyone okay out there?