God - I'm Bored

And pained

And Numb

And so very, very, very, VERY Bored.

As I mentioned in my last post, I am, at the moment, off work with a trapped nerve which is effecting the feeling in my right arm, and particularly the fingers on my right hand.

Numb for a lot of the time, "pins and needles" at others, it has been decided that, as I can climb ladders and telegraph poles, staying on the ground may, at this point at least, be the best option.

As you can see from the image on the left, I hadn't quite realised how much your Spine and Nerves inter-act, how easy it is to trap a nerve in your back, and that injury to effect your hand.

To be honest, before I went to the Doc's I was running through a list of "What If's". And as there is a history of Heart problems in our family, and pain in your arm being one of those symptoms, you can imagine how frightening things were becoming. But it turned out to something a little less "nasty".

That said, the pain is quite pain. It's a little like, most of the time at least, having a "toothache" like sensation in your arm, but the pins and needles are the worst.

And, with it being my right arm, it makes it difficult sometimes to use the computer, write or basically do many things without some discomfort.

And then, as things were getting a little better with rest and whatever, on Tuesday I missed the bottom two steps on the stairs.

Toppled forward, and then landed on the right hand side of my body, on.........

You guessed it?

My RIGHT ARM

Needless to say there were a few choice words, a strange sort of Tango as I leaped, hopped, walked and generally made a fool of myself as the initial pain went away. And then a second trip to the Doctors.

And another 10 days off work.

God - I'm Bored

Just a test as much as anything else - but for a "saddo" like me, the picture of a Colonial Viper (Battlestar Galactica), is still a good picture none the less 

News Stories of the week..........

It has been a quiet week, here at Chez Smudger, this week, so I have trawled the stories I have found via my Newzcrawler connection. And, apart from having to struggle on with a trapped nerve in my neck that is causing my right fingers to loss their feeling

( OUCCCCHHHH )

I have updated my favourite browser (which I would recommend to anyone - especially if your a real Explorer hater) - Firefox , which has now gone into version 1, and also, seemingly, gone fully under the "control" of the Mozilla Organisation.

60th Anniversary of Operation Market Garden

Massive air drop to mark Arnhem Veterans of the Battle of Arnhem re-enact the famous air drop to mark its 60th anniversary.

[via BBC News UK UK Edition]

I have always had an interest in history, and the last two World Wars in particular. And, over the last few days, there have been many news stories reporting on the Arnhem memorial events. I was particularly moved by the Air drop that took place earlier today. Although I could spend a few lines re telling the story, fellow Blogger and Xanga member EnglishJuls has done several postings on the same story, and a dammed fine job she has done too.

The House Of Commons

Commons raider's 'easy' scheme The protesters who stormed the House of Commons describe the operation as "frighteningly simple". [via BBC News UK UK Edition]

'No-go' jibe as Michael pulls out Pro-hunters say Alun Michael's decision to drop out of a march shows the countryside is a Labour no-go area. [via BBC News UK UK Edition]

These two stories are indicative of the "ideals" of some people, and that some of their tactics stink.

Over the last few days, The UK hunting fraternity have, after an 80+ year debate, lost the argument on the banning of Fox Hunting. But , over the last few days, there have been several things that have, in my mind, threatened the very fabric of British Society.

The first story just showed how easy it would have been to assassinate any member of Parliament, when the five protesters broke through on to the debating floor of the House of Commons. The finger pointed at the Rural Affairs Minister could have easier;y been a gun. Where was the security?. ( And then that being followed up by a Sun Reporter smuggling a "pretend bomb into the House of Commons - what did the Sun think it was doing?) And now, the Countryside Alliance (and I apologise to those who demonstrate in a fair minded manner - which is, of course most of them) have effectively made the countryside a no go area for Ministers. OK, they have the right to be mardy. They have the right to protest their dismay. What they don't have is the right to block who goes where and when.

Microsoft - OH OH

Major Windows XP SP2 bug reveals documents worldwide

Direct and Related Links for 'Major Windows XP SP2 bug reveals documents worldwide'Following is text from the German site PC Welt about a bug they discovered in Windows XP SP-2

[via Lockergnome's Tech News Watch]Windows XP SP2 Security Center Spoof

Direct and Related Links for 'Windows XP SP2 Security Center Spoof' - This is almost sad. According to PC Magazine, the new Microsoft â??securityâ?? features can in fact be spoofed thanks to a big oops and a little know how.

[via Lockergnome's Tech News Watch]

Isn't it sad. Microsoft issue a major patch for Windows XP, and, almost immediately they are back in trouble. Both the above stories just seem to show how, whatever the people due in Richmond, they take one step forward, and then three steps back. What a pig.

Weather in Space?

Hurricanes could delay shuttle return to flight The effects of two major hurricanes in recent weeks could eventually delay the space shuttle'...

[via spacetoday.net]

This is just one of the by products of what seems to have been a rather "excessive" Summer of weather on both sides of the pond. The US and its neighbours have suffered several major storms in succession, whilst over here we have had little Sun and lots, and lots, and lots, and lots, AND LOTS of rain. What is going on with the weather?

Blogging and Fiddling

flip flopping blog software - After a short time away from Movable Type and a somewhat less that satisfactory run with WordPress we are now paying customers of Six Apart and running on MT 3.11. [via Unsanity.org]

I know that this is quite the thing that I do, but what i do do is jump from one web based system to another. If you have read any of my posting before, I have commented on the fact that several times I have rationalised the number of Weblogs I actually post too, only to, within a few months, weeks or even , in the case of the last "sort out", within a few days - what a wally -

God Bless

The Smudger

A Conversation with a ghost..........

  A Conversation with a Ghost??????

Its been one of those "Smudgers Fav" weekends - sort of.

I've had a weekend of Most Haunted Live, and then last night (Tuesday) we saw the first program of Most Haunted series 5 from Kinnitty Castle, County Offaly in Southern Ireland... and , as most of you already know, I am a serious MH addict.

And what do they both have in common?

Contact with the spirit world.

Most Haunted live came form an Old RAF base in North West Wales - full of tales and memories of the second world war - along with the "vibes" left from the worst of times that mankind can inflict on its-self. The memories of horrendous injuries. Missions. Prisoners of War, the full kit and caboodle. I must admit, I did like the gentleman known as Brian. He is a Psychic Artist - that is, he "feels" the atmosphere, invites the spirits to talk to him, and then he draws what he feels. A very animated, seemingly nervous type of person at times. And when he'd finished we saw pictures of a Pilot called Geoffrey, and a "supervising"spirit, towering over those of his subordinates. I must admit, I'm not really sure of this sort of thing.

Derek, Yvette and the crew were up to their usual high standards, with Coins being moved, strange noises, orbs - and then the best was yet to come.

Back to last nights Castle visit - again there were orbs. Karl (Director & Mr Yvette) had the "HELL" scared out of him, with noises, shadows, orbs and then something brushing across his face - no wonder he legged it - I would have too. And then there was the "conversation" that Derek and Richard Felix  had with a spirit the basement Gym. Richard asked a question, the spirit replied with a knock. Then came the cliche d " Knock one for no, and two for yes", but it seemed to work.The teams new parapsychologist, Ciaran OÃ?Æ?Ã?¢??Keeffe, suggested that the noise was caused by the heating system of the nearby sauna. I could have sort of accepted this, except for the fact that the replies came back so quickly, so seemingly in reply to the question. What I didn't believe was the, so called, spirit image seen in the Gym window behind Derek and Richard - I just couldn't see anything at all.

Swirling Glasses and rocking tables

Now for something in common. Obviously the series 5 visits where in the can before the MH live over the weekend, but what they both had in common was Table Tipping. Now Table tipping is a means by which a spirit can contact the living by moving a small table. The circle of the living place their fingertips on the table, and then "channel" the spirit energy into the table causing it to move - "allegedly".

Now the trial at the castle, to me at least, was disappointing. the table "vibrated" but that was all. However, in the old Dance Hall/Officer Mess at the RAF station, things were totally different. Boy-ed up by the success of the Glass experiment in the Station projection room (the spirit of a Wing Commander had "answered" questions, in a Yes/No manner by moving an upturned glass) - this was pretty impressive on its own. Even more validated by the fact that Human fingers touched, but not rested, on the glass, and Ciaran made the team member remove their fingers at random. But the table tipping was something else. This table, covered with a silk tablecloth to show whether there was any one pushing the table (the cloth puckered up under the slightest of downward pressure), but to make any movement more obvious, the table was on casters.

Make the movement more obvious - that was an understatement. The table pirouette d across the floor, with the MH team member struggling to keep up, with Karl actually being thrown off at one point. A very impressive TV experience.

I accept that this is TV entertainment, built up in parts for a TV audience - but that said?

God Bless

The Smudger

This is just a test - just to see what works with Visual
Blogger

We've bitten the bullet............

Boy I'm tired

   I'm so very, very tired.  

And, what worse, I don't really know the reason for it. This week has been no different to the last (or the week before that, or the week before that - you get the idea). But I'm absolutely shattered. Maybe I'm coming down with something.

Anyway, back to the "proper" news.

  The first bit of news is TheSmudger has decided to get "hip" and he has brought himself a little MP3 player on ebay, ipod-esk. There's really no way that we could have afforded the "real" iPod, even via ebay. But the little machine that I have bid on has been confirmed this morning as on its way.

I love looking, and bidding, on ebay. Only odd things. The odd computer game. Harry Potter/Pokemon Cards. Nothing major as such.

Can you become an ebay addict?

The second bit of news is the best bit - for all of us - I HOPE

The old family computer is now nearly 4 years old (we have one in the kids bedroom that is even older than that , but that is another story), and we had been talking about changing "the old dear" in the new year, when the    Christmas     festivities were over. Technology has certainly moved on somewhat in the last few years, but, in the last few months particularly, Sugarbug has begun the really show its age. You have to wait for the computer to do everything. It is really, really slow.

But, in the mean time something else came to our attention. And it came in the shape of a "Sales" Brochure from work.

Here in the UK, the Government is running a scheme, is conjunction with various Employers, that allow tax breaks and the like for their workers who "rent" computers via the scheme. The idea is, apparently, to encourage more UK Citizens to have a computer in their home by making the access to a computer more affordable. And, as I work for BT , and as BT are one of the companies included in the scheme (and BT is one of the suppliers as well - via BT HomeComputing), we have a shiny new computer coming on Thursday. It was supposed to be a surprise for the Kids, but I think my Lad must have ears like an elephant - as he asked would the computer by here when he came back from school on Thursday.

And this IS from someone who has hearing difficulties - I sometimes wonder if he is Psychic ?

I will let you know how things go - hopefully