Sleep; What's that then?

Hello World! Long time no write I know, but I've just been so busy. Lorii's parents have been on holiday, and it has driven home to me just how much they help. Lorii has been going in to the hotel this week and with George away that means I have to take Lorii in. So 4 hours of sleep a night if I can get to sleep by 3.00, which I rarely do. Tomorrow (What am I saying it is tomorrow!) I take Katie into work, at 9.15am; It's 4.15am as I type this!

Lorii went to hospital and has been told she is to have a hysterectomy. Soon I won't know a woman with a womb! No date as yet but with a 3 month waiting list we are looking at early December. Later this month Lorii has another CT scan to look at all those lumps in her lungs. I'm a little less worried about those since the Lupus diagnosis as it could explain what they are; scar tissue from an occasion when the Lupus turned on Lorii's lungs.

Lorii has a really heavy cold at the moment, which seems a bit unfair to throw at someone as poorly as Lorii. Plus she can't take any cold cures as they all seem to contain paracetamol and would cause her to overdose if she took her needed co-codamol. Ho hum.

Jake gets to meet one of the Dragons from Dragons Den on Monday. I've told him to ask for lots of money! You never know....

Fireworks III

Multiburst
Originally uploaded by Canon Fodder

Well I got to see some fireworks this year. :o) The Portuguese put on a good show as part of the World Fireworks Competition, and I got to try out my new camera. Mainly it highlighted that I need to learn a lot more. Especially on how to control it in manual mode. However I did get a few decent results, though a lot did not work. This was not due to my bungling but the strong onshore wind; which made both the camera and tripod shake as well as deforming the star-bursts.

Shell Drop

Shell Drop
Originally uploaded by Canon Fodder

Well I got lucky! There was one date on which the World Fireworks Competition is held that I could attend; last Sunday! I'll post pictures once I've sorted them out; I got very trigger happy. Anyway I was walking down the promenade to find a suitable spot to set up the tripod. I was keeping one eye on the sunset, as it was turning out to quite a good one. But kept noticing that the seagulls were all flying around with shells in their beaks. Puzzled I watched closely as the bird circled above my head before dropping its shell and immediately diving after it. With the crack the shell made the penny, as well as the shell, dropped. The gulls were smashing the shells open on the foot of the sea wall. Now while I'm sure the whelks were not very happy about this I hope you'll agree it made for a nice photograph.

Toby Playing

Just a short vid of Toby playing with his favourite toy. If you want one of these for your cat you can get them from Lorii's ebay shop on the right.

Qualifications

Pyro China 1
Originally uploaded by Canon Fodder

Well the good news is that Katie got her exam results today and they're excellent. Four B grades, four A grades and three A star grades. Katie is the first student ever to get A star in both English Literature and English Language at her school. Everybody is made up for her though bizarrely Katie is most pleased with the B she got in French. After a poor spoken test Katie had not been expecting to do so well.

On a slightly less happy note I have just noticed that the World Firework Competition, that is once again to be held in Blackpool, is going to do it's thing on Friday nights. I'd been really looking forward to trying my new Nikon out and seeing if I could better the results I got last year (See above). But with me working nights that's going to be out of the question. Ho Hum.

Adoption

Well tomorrow I'm off to court to see the judge. Nothing bad though, just adopting the kids I've been raising these past few years.

Lorii has been told by the doctor to start the process of registering as disabled. A bit of a downer that, but at least once registered we should get some tax breaks and some better parking spaces.

Well as I'm up early tomorrow, and I'm only just back from work, I'd better get to bed.

Katie Job Watch: Day 35

Yeay - KATIE GOT A JOB

She now works at Pets @ Home at weekends... she got the call the day after the interview... so obviously cleaning out cages and serving the general public is better than washing and ironing at home.

Scruff

Scruff
Originally uploaded by Canon Fodder

Well we decided that the guinea pigs needed some new blood to diversify the gene pool. So lets hear a warm welcome for scruff! Scruff brings not only a fresh set of genes but a sense of style unknown to our family of guinea pigs. According to Katie his symmetrical rosette pattern actually means he is rather well bred. Gosh! Blue blood; who knew?

Katie Job Watch: Day 29

Katie has an interview! Talk about jammy. One application and they phone her straight back within hours of submitting it. The meeting is on Monday; obviously I'll keep you all informed.

Star Trek Ships

Star Trek Ships
Originally uploaded by Jibby!

Stumbled across this as I was roaming Flickr one lunchtime. Who knew there were so many ships in Star Trek?

Katie Job Watch: Day 28

Yesterday Katie actually asked for a job and was given an application form!!! However this was because the employer had no vacancies at the moment and was probably being polite. Otherwise there is not much news on the seeking front, though Katie is settling in well to her new domestic duties. She did admit that she was getting fed up with, "Being the house slave!" But then that was the idea, so no sympathy here. If she does not step up a gear in the hunt soon Lorii and I will be adding more chores and a timetable they must be done by...

Birdgirl

Birdgirl
Originally uploaded by Canon Fodder

Well getting the birds wings clipped seems to be paying dividends on the taming and training front. As the picture shows Katie can get up close and personal with the birds now. Oh and she did not lose an eyeball just after this picture was taken.

On the job seeking front there has been very little progress. I was right about the uniform though, so I'm glad I didn't waste my money there. If Lorii and I don't see some serious job seeking action soon though things may turn nasty...

Harry Potter

Well Jake now has latest Harry Potter book. He queued for hours in the pouring rain to get it as soon as it was available. Lorii has peeked at the back page to discover Harry Potters fate, but I think I'll just read the book when Jake has finished with it.

Votes Please

Well I've added a picture to the fashion competition on Jpeg Magazine. If any of you folks feel like supporting me I'd appreciate some votes...

Katie Job Watch: Day 19

Still no job; or any serious searching for jobs. So Lorii and I now have a tame domestic servant. Until work comes her way she is now in charge of the laundry, dog walking, hoovering, washing and cleaning. Which is great! Tonight I'm coming home to a bed with fresh linen. Katie has just made me a packed lunch for work and she has a huge pile of ironing to do this afternoon. I'd get her a uniform, but she would probably like that, so we'll just keep piling on the chores until getting a job seem like an easy way out.

Katie Job Watch: Day 16

Still no job yet. Though she has now made a curriculum vitae.

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday Mum! Hope you're having a great time.

Vanishing Point

Vanishing Point
Originally uploaded by Canon Fodder

One of the ways Flickr categorise the pictures submitted to it is by 'Interestingness.' Just how 'Interestingnees' is accumulated is a subject of much debate by the users of Flickr, but it is something most want. It has something to do with the number of views a picture get as well as who looks, what groups the picture is placed in and how many. I'm damned if I can work it out, but I do know that in the "Last 7 Days Interesting" section you can find some pretty spectacular pictures. I've never made it into the Last 7 Days but I have had a few pictures placed in the Top 500 Interesting for the week they were posted. The beach shot above is the first to have made this distinction since January 2006, as well as the first on my new Nikon. I'm pretty chuffed. Lets hope it's the start of a trend.

1812 Overture

I found this on You Tube; Now why were my science projects nothing like this? If we were lucky we got to play with a Van de Graaff generator, never a Tesla coil! But what a use! These guys are turning the word geek into cool! I can just see Heavy Metal bands wanting giant musical Teslas to replace their banks of Marshal amps.

Katie Job Watch: Day 5

Katie is still looking for employment. Though she has made some half hearted moves in the direction of the local supermarket and DIY store.