It's far too easy to buy things online. A few clicks and all of a sudden you've spent £132 and have nothing to show for it for half a week. In this case, I spent an hour researching external hard drives and the reliability of, and have ended up buying something that's nearly the same as dad's got. I wanted 1Tb but it was too expensive to justofy, sadly But now I get to try and fill up 300Gb! It won't take long.

But of course the main thing I'll be talking about for the next two weeks is tennis. It's not been all that exciting so far, although that's mostly because there was hardly any play Monday and it keeps being interrupted by football. Today, while Andy Murray was playing the commentary on his match was on Five Live Sports Extra, which I can't listen to at work on my ordinary radio. Although I now know lots about Michael Vaughn's knee and the captaincy of the England cricket team - I never knew it was so complicated.

Work's been really busy, mostly because the network system is shit, frankly (I mean, even more than usual, if that's possible). Between that and the tennis I've not really done much else this week.

I'm going to the Film & Comic Con at Earl's Court tomorrow, so Sel can drool at see Rachel Luttrel. So I'm taping tomorrow's tennis (and if it wasn't bad enough I have to play a guessing game between BBC1 and BBC2 but I also have to play a guessing game with alternative schedules) so Middle Saturday will be played on Middle Sunday. Hence I will be avoiding all tennis tomorrow. And those eight hours will take much less than that to watch. But Andy Murrary vs Andy Roddick could be quite good/very disastrous and hopefully on whichever channel I tape. I'd tape both but then I'd have to leave my computer on all day in the heat while I'm out and I'm not keen on that idea.

Doctor Who, obviously, will have to wait for the BBC3 Sunday night repeat, but who cares about that.

I got curious today about how people were reading this. Mostly because I still haven't got round to sorting myself out with plugins on WP and I wondered how useful some of them would be. Plus everyone likes to fill in polls - and this one's an easy question (unless I've missed off something obvious).

My blog reading habits

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I now have a USB hub and normality is 99% restored. The 1% is that my 60gig external hard drive for my backups doesn't like my new hub and will only work when plugged into the back of my computer. It's the same make as my mum and dad have both had, and they've both had problems with theirs. So I will be forced to buy a ~300gig one (dad has one that size and I'm jealous). Which I am really broken up about.

I saw X-Men 3 this afternoon while we were playing football. There was a new Pirates of the Caribbean trailer! And a Superman Returns Trailer. Which frankly, were more exciting than the film. I'm not quite at the point of wanting my 2 hours back but it really wasn't very good. I heard that you're supposed to stay till the end of the credits on this one but I had to leave to get my bus. Can anyone fill me in on what I've missed (assuming there was anything of course).

My weekend was going quite well and I'd got lots of things done today in preparation for not being in much tomorrow up until Doctor Who started. I plugged in my freeview TV card and nothing happened. I plugged in my ordinary TV card and nothing happened. They both plug into my USB hub which was working this morning. So I turned the telly on to watch Doctor Who while restarting my computer/unplugging and replugging in things and eventually established the only consistent thing not working was my USB hub. Although all the lights were still on.

The only way I can watch Confidential is through my Freeview card. It's a bit crap because if you plug it into a different USB port than the one it was installed on it pretends not to know what it is. I tried plugging it into the back of my computer, finding the installation CD and installing it but it threw a wobbler about that one. So I gave up and watched Doctor Who, by which point there were only ten minutes left.

I spent the time during Confidential searching the web for any similar incidents and it was useless. I restarted some more, did a system restore back to when it did work, which confused my virus checker but didn't sort the problem. So now I am stopping off in Argos on the way to see XMen 3 tomorrow (during the football) to get a new USB Hub. Which hopefully will work and I will have to reinstall some stuff for it, not least the Freeview card because there is something on BBC3 I want to watch at 10pm.

And then I spent two hours on the phone to my dad trying to sort this (and talking about other things). Then I went to write this up and my website wouldn't work. Half an hour later and disconnecting and reconnecting it mysteriously comes back up. No thanks to Pipex there then.

On a more positive side, I listened to the first half of the latest Seventh Doctor and Ace audio, The Settling. It's really good so far, with nice Ace and Hex interaction and an excellent cliffhanger to part 2 for the Doctor (and by excellent I mean funny).

As for tonight's episode...
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Tonight I actually watch something that's on TV and not Doctor Who shocker. I was about to say it won't last except the next two weeks are going to be taken up watching large amounts of Wimbledon.

First there was Colin and Justin. Which did involve doing everything at the last minute, as always, and pink suits but didn't involve Justin going off on one. On the other hand it did have a bride that was ridiculously picky I don't know why she wasn't doing it all herself. There was a groom as well, I'm not sure he got much of a say in anything.

I am working my way through the best of The Avengers, so all the ones I'm watching at the moment are good. Tonight I went for The Gravediggers which had an excellent fight sequence on a minature train, with Mrs Peel tied to the tracks and with appropriate music. You had to love the eccentric (ie mad but rich) guy who always ate on a train - with scenery going past, the sound of the train going along, the steam from the engine and his butler cum skivvy rocking the carriage. I want one.

http://jacksonpollock.org/

When I saw the remake of A for Andromeda on BBC4 earlier this year I heard that they'd done a remake of Quatermass the previous year, before I had BBC4 and was quite disappointed to have missed it. So I was pleased to find it had been released on DVD, and it made a nice change from Doctor Who on my rental list.

I did have to get up in the middle to work out who the journalist was (Brian from Teachers, which was a bit surreal) but I really enjoyed it. I've not seen the original to compare it against, mind you. It was quite creepy towards the end but I was a bit disappointed by the way they wrapped it all up neatly. Mind you, I was waiting for the world to end and didn't expect them to save it at all.

I've also read a whole load of books, so will put them behind a cut-tag thingy.
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I liked it, it was fun. And it had more guest stars I've heard of than you can shake a stick at: that guy from Hustle (who's also apparently going to be in Life on Mars, yay!), the girl who was Moaning Myrtle and one of Bridget Jones's friends, and Moya Brady (Robbie Cryer - it seems like forever since she left). And Peter Kay, who I've heard of but not seen in anything. I keep thinking I hate him but then remember I'm getting him mixed up with Johnny Vegas, whose scene in Blakes Junction 7 is fabulous but makes me cringe because it's Johnny Vegas.

So, on balance I haven't had enough sleep.

In today's driving lesson I only stalled the car twice, which is an improvement on last week. I also failed to find fifth gear on all but one occasion (the first one, bizarrely). And I still can't do junctions. So, as long as I don't have to drive anywhere that involves changing roads, I'll be fine.

There was also tennis today, yay! Two good matches, hopefully tomorrow's final will be good too. Only a week till Wimbledon, and three weeks till I go there.

I do like The Avengers. The Cybernauts is an excellent science fiction-type episode. There's a great speech in the middle, given by the evil genius bad guy:

Computers no bigger than a cigarette box. Pocket television. And radios smaller than a wristwatch.

Back in 1965 that was science fiction. He also had a computer that could do calculations (shock! horror!) and spit out the results on punch cards.

But the Cybernauts' karate chop is very cool. Who cares about Cybermen when you can have silent Cybernauts karate chopping their way through doors?

I've also been working my way through The Talons of Weng Chiang this week. I thought it was slow to start but ended up being really good. I really liked one of the guest characters attitude towards the Doctor, assuming he's a Sherlock Holmes type (well, he was dressed as Holmes...). I really liked Leela in this as well, trying to kill people and using her brain to try and find out what's going on.

The thing I've noticed is that it's quite hard to cross stitch to Doctor Who and especially The Avengers. It's because there's quite a bit of action you need to watch and The Avengers often has whole scenes with no speech.

I have a vague memory of reading something a long time ago talking about how some TV programmes are more like radio, in that you don't need to watch them. Yes, Minister is a good example because BBC7 have quite happily transmitted episodes and they hardly lose anything on the radio. It doesn't make it any less funny though. It consistently amazes me how something that pretty much just involves three blokes in a room talking can be so funny.

Since I was good and worked last night I gave myself a night off to watch non-Doctor Who TV. Which was supposed to inlude The Avengers but I finished dinner too late, so it's been moved to tomorrow night now. Probably.

Anyway, there was Colin and Justin. Now, of all the people you'd not want to plan your wedding they've got to be top of the list. But as usual really, they had loads of crises but it all came right in the end. And Justin threw a hissy fit over something small. But it's not as good as their usual house designing thing because you don't get them having arguments with Katy and Andy, and the narrator for this one wasn't as funny. I'll still be watching next week though.

Then I listened to The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents from Listen Again, and 1.30 Saturday on BBC7 wasn't that convenient. And my non-Doctor Who night went awry because David Tennant was in it. I'd entirely forgotten the story though, so I really enjoyed it, just as I had reading it. I do like the little girl who makes her life a story and whose name I can't remember how to spell.

The long DW fic is now up to nearly 14,000 words and ten cups of tea.

Just for a change, and I know this comes as a big shock, work are doing my head in. For the past month and a half I've been hot desking in the main building because the link to our building is too shit to do any work. Each week, when I've been working out where to go next, I've been hoping maybe it'll be fixed.

So today I found out that we're going to be moving offices entirely. But it won't be for another two months and this means they won't be fixing the link.

It has been nice sitting in a big office with air conditioning (although from today I have an office to myself as one of the directors is away ) and the new office would be a big one with air conditioning. But all this hot desking is really doing my head in. Plus I keep having to go back to my old desk for some things and end up really wet or really hot and usually forget something anyway.

On a more positive but just as depressing note, I went to a talk at lunchtime on SeeSaw, who are an Oxfordshire based charity. Some people from the company are doing the London to Oxford cycle ride in July and I suggested this (among others) as their charity, so it's really great that they're raising money for them and are so keen.

I've gone off this driving thing - my left leg hurts. And by hurts I mean the muscle is really painful even when I'm not using it. And what doesn't help is that because it was hot last night when I went to bed I decided to leave the window open a bit. Which turned out to be a really bad idea because not only could I not sleep because the bed didn't get cold enough but I also couldn't sleep because my eyes felt all funny and my nose was horrid. Tonight I have put the bunny in the freezer, so I can freeze my feet off instead. I really need it to rain quite a bit and do something about all this pollen.

Three people have posted their stories for the Doctor Who Fic Fest already, including Always which is for my Sarah & Harry audio request. I vaguely know how mine starts but still don't have any sort of plot yet.

The long one I'm writing (working title: Sarah Jane drinks lots of tea*), I'm still partway through version 2 of. Except that last night I added a new bit of the plot in, as when I read it through I realised I'd laid down loads of clues but not explained anything. Mostly because I still hadn't decided exactly whodunnit. But now it has added Tenth Doctor and Rose in it.

And now the sun's going down it's getting cooler - my computer's fan has even gone off! - so I might actually be able to stay in the vicinity of my computer to actually do some work on it.

I have also discovered the usefulness of Word. And by Word, I mean word processing packages that are more word processy than WordPad and are not Word. If you type teh it changes it to the! If you don't quite hit the shift key at the beginning of a sentence it capitalises it for you! And you can see how many pages you've done, which is very cool. My only trouble now is deciding whether I want to use Word Pro or Open Office. Oh, decisions, decisions.

* I counted and in the first draft she explicitly drinks six cups, in 11,000 words.

I have a tendency to save things up for the weekend but this week I was good. I realised, though, this meant there was nothing I needed to get done. Which was nice. So I've read lots and watched lots, and remembered I hadn't listened to Monday's ISIHAC.

Apart from that, I went to Tescos while the football was on and it wasn't empty, which was annoying. I went to Henley Ball last night, which was really good fun, except for the cold soup and the warm fruit salad. Then I had a driving lesson, which wasn't too bad in the end but still quite scary. I'm not used to cars coming towards me quite so close on the right.

I watched Second Coming. I saw the first ten minutes when it was on before deciding I couldn't be bothered. But since lots of people thought it was good, I gave it another try. It was scary in places and though provoking in others but I could have lived quite happily without seeing it.

On the Doctor Who front I saw Spearhead from Space, which is one of the only two episodes to scare me. It didn't scare me the second time round, though, which probably explains why the Autons in Rose didn't scare me - it's the first time that's important. It did look very 60s though, with the men in thick black framed glasses.

I enjoyed this week's Doctor Who. Not least because it's a two-parter I could just fast-forward through the previously and the beginning titles. I seem to recognise half the cast in the trailer as well. But this two-parter was quite an exciting action thingy with cliffhangery bits. Except for how the Doctor escapes in the end, which I was so hoping wasn't going to happen but knew it would. And we all know the Doctor believes in Rose - or at least he believed in all his companions up to the point in The Curse of Fenric.

I've been looking at my Firefox extensions and I was just wondering what extensions do other people have that they can't live without? I'm sure there are extensions that exist that I would find really useful if I just knew they existed/I needed them (I didn't think I could live with tabs at first, now I can't live without them).

The ones I like are: Read more...

Go me: Wednesday last week I started writing a long Doctor Who fic with a plot. I've written a bit each day (except Saturday and Sunday) and now I've finished the first draft and have 11,000 words. Which is more than I've written on anything I've finished - and at the moment my final drafts seem to be twice as long as the first ones. I supposed I'll have to start on the second draft now... Although I am trying to decide which prompt to go with to write for the Doctor Who Fic Fest as there are a few that look interesting but I think I am going to need to remind myself of the Chris Eccleston series first.

I saw Horror of Fang Rock last night. It's the first time I've seen Leela. She was interesting. Because she was so unfamiliar with the place and the time she didn't act at all like some of the other companions would. The story was quite interesting as well and the lighthouse it was set in was very cool. The only bad side was the monster at the end which just looked like it couldn't manage the stairs. It was more scary when it was pretending to be one of the crew.

But there are two people who can: Happy Birthday to Avon and Gary

Nothing exciting happened today. But I did work out why I thought I'd seen the horse on a spaceship thing in Girl in the Fireplace before - it was actually horse in a bathroom in Dirk Gently. So glad I've got that sorted because it's annoyed me for weeks.

I made the mistake of looking at the five day forecast on the BBC website. So now I'm really looking forward to having a driving lesson in 30 degree heat. Great.

The second coolest fake pet in the world: Sam the Cat. My sister has one - he purrs and breathes when you stroke him. And when his batteries haven't run out.

The coolest fake pet in the world is Intelligent Guinea Pig it runs round like a real pet and everything! I so want one.

I enjoyed last night's Doctor Who, although it could have done without the addition of dad's computer mysteriously playing up in the middle. But they went to an alien world! And it was a quarry! And it was exciting. I'm really hoping next week's resolution isn't going to be a letdown.

Then we watched an episode of The Avengers where a guy has a machine that sends criminals back in time. Only at the end do you discover how they do it - it's very clever. I only have one colour episode to go now! (and about 22 black & white ones, so I think they'll last a while)

I'm partway through Resurrection of the Daleks on DVD at the moment, which is a Peter Davison one with Tegan and Turlough. It's entirely possible that there's a plot but I haven't been able to find it yet. So I have no idea what's going on and don't care either.

I just listened to the Big Finish audio The Game, courtesy of Sel. That's Peter Davison but with Nyssa and I really enjoyed it. It proves what I was saying in the pub on Monday that he's an interesting Doctor with one companion (I haven't got as far as Turlough or Peri yet) but two or three is too many.

I also listened to the second half of Night Thoughts. It was quite creepy and a bit weird but I enjoyed it. There is a point towards the end when the Doctor locks Ace and the Bursar (who just made me think of Unseen University, which didn't help) in the cellar to protect them from the zombie that might be roaming around. Bet you couldn't guess where the zombie is.

I also did some writing today. After Aervir challenged me I wrote a drabble for the latest Tolkien Weekly challenge: Hobbits in Trees.

Ann wanted a limerick. I spent all day procrastinating and ended up writing three. I couldn't resist the obvious for Sam, who at least had a name that looked like it rhymed with plenty of things. And after writing two LOTR I thought I'd do a Doctor Who one, and I make no apologies for using the same rhyme.

There once was a place called Mordor
Which wasn't the same as it oughta'
When it opened its gate
To fangirls and hate
It once more was well-known for torture

There once was a hobbit called Sam
Who was good at cooking ham
But at Frodo's behest
Sam added his request
For of green eggs he was a fan

There once was a man known as Doctor
Whose TARDIS didn't work as it oughta'
Though the choices were vast
He chose to go to the past
And arrived three years in the future

39.1cm / 155cm (25.2%)

I am finally a quarter of the way there!

Sadlers Wells - Dress Rehearsal and Back Stage
Standard Wells books by this point with the extra excitement of some of it being set in the Lakes District, where I've been. Plus I only have two to go now, although we are getting quite ridiculously rare (I haven't seen the last one for less than £40 yet...)

Lois McMaster Bujold - Memory
It's interesting that the previous book was about Mark trying to work out who he is, then this one is about Miles trying to work out who he is. As much as I enjoyed that part the main plot of Illyan's assasion sort of doesn't start till halfway through and it's blindingly obvious whodunnit, given we only have one suspect. Only three to go now!