Conference

Currently sat in a slightly chilly (well, I am wearing a scarf, but then I have low tolerance for cold) room in RAL being told about how the telescope I'm working on is progressing. There are many words which I understand only vaguely. Happily, they are providing wireless, so I have net access as & when. [strokes the lovely shiny Powerbook]

Hotel is also v nice - the room I'm in is about the same size as the entire upper floor of our house, yet bizarrely is equipped with two 2'6" single beds (I can understand the single-bed-ness, since it's a conference centre & one might reasonably expect people to be sharing rooms with folk they wouldn't want to share a bed with. It's the 2'6" bit that baffles me. Thankfully I didn't actually fall out last night.). It also has free net access, hurrah. So that's my evenings sorted (in fact this is a lie: tonight I intend to be antisocial & go to my room & play on the internet & knit & go to bed early; tomorrow night there is a Relaxing Social Event instead).

Managed to get my Treo playing MP3s yesterday (by virtue of buying a headphone adaptor for it). Unfortunately, I discovered that quite a lot of the stuff I have ripped to the Mac I inadvertently ripped in AAC format rather than MP3, so have to convert any of this that I wish to put on the Treo. Currently, however, I can only get 8 or 9 songs at a time on the Treo (have only a 32meg SD card), so this isn't too much of a chore. I also found out that you can get 256meg SD cards from Dabs for a mere 20quid, which is an attractive thought which I must RESIST. I shall wait & find out how much I actually end up using the MP3 player before I start splashing out on increased storage.

Conference

Currently sat in a slightly chilly (well, I am wearing a scarf, but then I have low tolerance for cold) room in RAL being told about how the telescope I'm working on is progressing. There are many words which I understand only vaguely. Happily, they are providing wireless, so I have net access as & when. [strokes the lovely shiny Powerbook]

Hotel is also v nice - the room I'm in is about the same size as the entire upper floor of our house, yet bizarrely is equipped with two 2'6" single beds (I can understand the single-bed-ness, since it's a conference centre & one might reasonably expect people to be sharing rooms with folk they wouldn't want to share a bed with. It's the 2'6" bit that baffles me. Thankfully I didn't actually fall out last night.). It also has free net access, hurrah. So that's my evenings sorted (in fact this is a lie: tonight I intend to be antisocial & go to my room & play on the internet & knit & go to bed early; tomorrow night there is a Relaxing Social Event instead).

Managed to get my Treo playing MP3s yesterday (by virtue of buying a headphone adaptor for it). Unfortunately, I discovered that quite a lot of the stuff I have ripped to the Mac I inadvertently ripped in AAC format rather than MP3, so have to convert any of this that I wish to put on the Treo. Currently, however, I can only get 8 or 9 songs at a time on the Treo (have only a 32meg SD card), so this isn't too much of a chore. I also found out that you can get 256meg SD cards from Dabs for a mere 20quid, which is an attractive thought which I must RESIST. I shall wait & find out how much I actually end up using the MP3 player before I start splashing out on increased storage.

Foxes!

League not allowed to give out furry foxes!

kitty_goth has a furry fox which I pinched from the League's stall at one of the conferences I staffed last year. Cannot decide whether that or the fox puppet is cuter...

Have eaten large quantity of food for lunch (hurrah for lunch on expenses!) & now feel mostly like having a little snooze rather than paying attention to the conference this afternoon. Whoops.

Foxes!

League not allowed to give out furry foxes!

kitty_goth has a furry fox which I pinched from the League's stall at one of the conferences I staffed last year. Cannot decide whether that or the fox puppet is cuter...

Have eaten large quantity of food for lunch (hurrah for lunch on expenses!) & now feel mostly like having a little snooze rather than paying attention to the conference this afternoon. Whoops.

Books!

Right - I am ordering a couple of books from Amazon, & if I order another £5-worth, I get free shipping. So recommend me something! (books or music, don't worry about checking the price, I shall do that myself).

Books!

Right - I am ordering a couple of books from Amazon, & if I order another £5-worth, I get free shipping. So recommend me something! (books or music, don't worry about checking the price, I shall do that myself).

Music!

Have been downloading lots of music from assorted female rock/punk types, & some Riot Grrl stuff (specifically: Joan Jett, the Raincoats, L7, Patti Smith, & X-Ray Spex, which admittedly I already had a bit of). It is all rather fine. I fear this has been a Hideous Gap in my musical knowledge (bad feminist! no biscuit!) which I should update forthwith.

Which has led me to think: having just requested book recommendations, I should now request music recommendations. So - recommend me music! One track (or artist, but if possible give a particularly good track) you think I should know but might not.

(particularly pleased to have found both this track & 'Cruel To Be Kind', also by the Raincoats, which are both on the 10 Things I Hate About You soundtrack & I like v much)

Music!

Have been downloading lots of music from assorted female rock/punk types, & some Riot Grrl stuff (specifically: Joan Jett, the Raincoats, L7, Patti Smith, & X-Ray Spex, which admittedly I already had a bit of). It is all rather fine. I fear this has been a Hideous Gap in my musical knowledge (bad feminist! no biscuit!) which I should update forthwith.

Which has led me to think: having just requested book recommendations, I should now request music recommendations. So - recommend me music! One track (or artist, but if possible give a particularly good track) you think I should know but might not.

(particularly pleased to have found both this track & 'Cruel To Be Kind', also by the Raincoats, which are both on the 10 Things I Hate About You soundtrack & I like v much)