Right, well 2006 is on the verge of buggering off... all the best for 2007 boys and girls...!
John
Sun Dec 31 23:48:32 2006

 MESSAGE
siwarrior
Sun Dec 31 22:02:35 2006

 Hello chaps! Just got an internet connection again after a few days absence... Hope evrything has been OK in my absence.... Happy New Year everybody!
John
Sun Dec 31 20:01:24 2006

 Well, there's not too much time left to achieve anything this year now... So I'm making plans for 2007 instead!! :)) Best wishes Lox - and all my friends at the Maison. May 2007 strengthen friendships, weaken enemies and be productive, peaceful and civilized for all! Happy New Year All!! :))
Nigel
Sun Dec 31 17:26:57 2006

 Guys and Glas, years drawing to a close, I wish you all a great Year and a lot of Happiness and Luck!
Lox
Sun Dec 31 16:30:42 2006

 Morning everyone!!! Year's closing up, any second thoughts on things that you'd like to do in 2006?
Lox
Sun Dec 31 10:05:27 2006

 Morning Maisoneers!! :))
Nigel
Sun Dec 31 08:03:31 2006

 Nigel: Yep You are right, that comment sums it all... Let's hope that there will not be too many retaliations now... A bad day for the history of the world...
Lox
Sat Dec 30 16:25:28 2006

 Indeed.
tom
Sat Dec 30 14:34:06 2006

 Well, I've just been back to the BBC News pages to see what is happening... If you go to the Reader Comments section, the comment made at: Saturday, 30 December, 2006, 13:34 GMT 13:34 UK and which has received the most recommendations, says it for me as well...
Nigel
Sat Dec 30 14:10:29 2006

 Hi Lox. Yeah, I can't quite get my head around what they have now done. The repercusions are bound to be disastrous... (
Nigel
Sat Dec 30 10:48:46 2006

 Morning everyone!
Yes Nigel you are quite right. I have seen the news yesterday around 2ish (night), I think it's terribly wrong to do something like that, even if he was a very bad person and had done a lot of nasty things. Now he's a martyr. We certainly exported democracy there! Look how happy are they! :(
Lox
Sat Dec 30 09:56:30 2006

 Morning all!! :)
I see the world is going mad - and sure to go madder... :( (Re:news)
Nigel
Sat Dec 30 09:35:40 2006

 Travis: Safe travel!! That's a long way to go, but the trip sounds interesting... :P

Tom: I am waiting for the next fiscal year to put the expenses on the company :D. All the trouble that I am having with the wireless LAN is enough to throw windows from the "window" once and for all!
Lox
Sat Dec 30 00:03:12 2006

 Thanks, Nigel. The plan is no stops for sleeping; just bathroom breaks. Wife and I will take turns driving. Could be interesting.
Travis
Fri Dec 29 23:50:26 2006

 Phew! Drive safe, Travis!! That's a lonnnggg way! :))
Nigel
Fri Dec 29 23:49:44 2006

 1750 miles of driving between tonight and Sunday morning. Should be a great time. I'll likely not post much in Pennsylvania, but have a Happy New Year, all! I'll be back on January 8th.
Travis
Fri Dec 29 23:31:27 2006

 Good news, Tom! There's a lot to like, isn't there? And I notice even Apple are pushing Parallels Desktop as the VM of choice. It handles XP so perfectly there's no need for BootCamp. A good, easy and clean way to wean from the Windows platform to the Mac. Plus, if any "nasties" get in they're confined to the VM!
Nigel
Fri Dec 29 22:16:24 2006

 Nice one Lox! It's totally changed the way I look at computing. Things. Just. Work. I've onyl had it a week, and I already hate using Windows.
tom
Fri Dec 29 21:46:30 2006

 Blank
Sheri
Fri Dec 29 19:00:57 2006

 Actually the weather is crap here too... Today we are cleaning the flat, no going out I think, maybe in the night we'll go to the cinema and then afterwards we'll discuss about new year's eve... As for the comics Sheri, she doesn't know... I have tried to explain the differences let's hope she understands now, but n any case I can't be arsed if she doesn't!
Lox
Fri Dec 29 13:31:49 2006

 Hi all!! Well that's me sorted... Hair cut nice and sharp!! (Well short and grey anyway!) Took all that rubbish accumulated over the Christmas period, to the waste disposal tip...
Nigel
Fri Dec 29 12:29:03 2006

 Arumpf!
Sheri
Fri Dec 29 10:53:12 2006

 Lox. Puoi dire a Marta che, da noi in Francia, c'è una differenza tra pornografia e erotismo...! La bande dessinée che ti ho mandato è, secondo me, erotica...!
Sheri
Fri Dec 29 10:51:48 2006

 Good morning! Hope everyone had a great Christmas. I did. I'm now gearing up for DH's birthday, which falls on New Year's Eve. (that means more eating and drinking - I feel so fat!). Happy New Year, all!
Tim's mum
Fri Dec 29 10:01:51 2006

 Yawn... Morning all! :)
Nigel
Fri Dec 29 07:57:19 2006

 ... and so Good Night then!! :)))))
Nigel
Fri Dec 29 00:01:33 2006

 Morning all!! :)
A "lovely" wet day here in the west of England!
Nigel
Thu Dec 28 08:52:43 2006

 Good Morning everyone! Four spam messages already busted today, I think that spammers are going to appear again I am afraid... :(
Lox
Thu Dec 28 08:02:00 2006

 Nighty Night everyone! Happy New Year Tom! My father Christmas will arrive a bit late (early next year) with a similar toy for me !! :D
Lox
Wed Dec 27 23:26:37 2006

 Evening all!! :)
Happy Christmas and a Prosperous New Year Tom!! And a Mac too, eh? Splendid!! :)))))))))))))
Nigel
Wed Dec 27 22:52:45 2006

 Hey all! Happy Christmas (belated) and a forward look to a Happy New Year. This is being posted from my Mac Book Pro.... (Father Christmas was very good to me this year!)
tom
Wed Dec 27 21:54:45 2006

 Actually... "Afternoon all!!" :)
Nigel
Wed Dec 27 12:29:55 2006

 Morning all!! :)
Safe journey, John. Enjoy France and the New Year celebrations!!! :))))))
Just back from a healthy walk... People are still grumpy out there!!
Nigel
Wed Dec 27 12:29:19 2006

 Right I'm off then, please look after the site in my absence chaps!
John
Wed Dec 27 11:59:21 2006

 Have fun John and happy new year!!!
Lox
Wed Dec 27 11:26:04 2006

 ...in fact I probably won't have a "proper" internet connection again now until I start the new job on Jan 8th, however I may occasionally be able to do dialup in the intervening time.
John
Wed Dec 27 11:12:53 2006

 Right then chaps, I'm going to be leaving my Dad's house today and going to stay with my grandmother again for a few days... which means I might not be able to get on to the internet for a while.
John
Wed Dec 27 11:11:54 2006

 Sheri: I've booked my train tickets, and I'll be in the Dourdogne next week, arriving late Monday night (New Year's Day), and returning back to the UK on the morning of Sunday 7th. I'm travelling to/from Brive-la-Gaillarde as I mentioned before, although my Mum is actually staying somewhere out in the middle of nowhere... I don't know if meeting up during that time will be practical or not as I don't have my own transport, but at least I thought I'd let you know the dates when I'll be in your fair country so on the off chance you felt like a bit of an excursion we could set something up perhaps...
John
Wed Dec 27 10:16:33 2006

 Thanks Sheri!
John
Wed Dec 27 10:10:04 2006

 erratum: gorgeous
Sheri
Tue Dec 26 20:38:07 2006

 John: gorgious bride...!
Sheri
Tue Dec 26 20:37:32 2006

 The thumbnails look a bit disappointing to my eyes, but the full sized images are generally quite nice.
John
Tue Dec 26 18:35:16 2006

 John: Wow! It will take me ages to see them all! But still I am resolute to get a glimpse at every single one of them!
Lox
Tue Dec 26 18:24:28 2006

 Today I finally got round to uploading the "official" wedding pictures - if anyone is interested you can see them here.
John
Tue Dec 26 18:03:32 2006

 Good to hear - both!! :)
Well a quick snack then we're off to the in-laws! :))
Nigel
Tue Dec 26 12:21:47 2006

 Thanks John! I have managed to sleep until 10 this morning, given the last week average it's quite a result. I also managed to drown Christmas related issues in a nice pint of Guinness yesterday!
Lox
Tue Dec 26 11:49:15 2006

 Hi Nigel! I didn't overdo it all that much yesterday so I feel fine today.
John
Tue Dec 26 11:23:34 2006

 Morning Maisoneers!! :)
Are we recovered? I must admit I feel a bit more spritely than yesterday!
Nigel
Tue Dec 26 11:14:49 2006

 By the way - the ampersand (&) will quickly bugger up your RSS feeds if you use it. So it is better if you type the XML/HTML compliant & instead.
John
Tue Dec 26 09:57:42 2006

 Lox - the address changed, the RSS feed for your bit of the blog is now located here - similarly the rest of you can infer the addresses of your RSS feeds, they all follow the same pattern.
John
Tue Dec 26 09:53:50 2006

 ... Hmm... Just found that BBC link again - it's now at the bottom of the page...
[rant]The writer seems to forget all those people who need to keep in touch with friends and families around the world. What about those 800 sets of parents worrying about their offspring in Basra, for example? A bit of a cheesy dig, an easy swipe, f you ask me![endofrant]
... which I wouldn't if I were you! ;)
Nigel
Mon Dec 25 23:03:58 2006

 Lox: Hypocrite
sheri
Mon Dec 25 21:05:39 2006

 Evening all!! Yes, the kids are just going to bed! Me and Joc are worn-out even more now! The "big film" on the BBC this afternoon was Monsters Inc... Oh well... It made them cry and hide under cushions... :(
There was a somewhat thoughtless headline on the BBC News site earlier (it's gone now)... along the lines of "It's Christmas Day, why are you on the Internet?" I didn't dig deeper but thought it seemed a bit rich coming from them! I was checking world affairs, that's what I was doing. Feeling a bit guilty for having a good time when others less fortunate might not be... OK, I should have clicked the link and read it... But still...
Right... Time for a restorative! :)))
Nigel
Mon Dec 25 20:24:34 2006

 John: sorry to bother, a friend of mine told me that the syndacated.xml file is not working anymore. New posts do not seem to appear in his feed reader, and I believe it is because we migrated to sbm... Is there a way to get it working again? Thanks!
Lox
Mon Dec 25 19:13:18 2006

 Sheri: No porn for me I am a very respectable person... (YEAH AS IF), I do think that you should be more careful when visiting Italian porn sites, anyways...
Lox
Mon Dec 25 18:53:36 2006

 Merry Christmas, all. It's a great day in Lubbock and hopefully across the world.
Travis
Mon Dec 25 18:45:51 2006

 Hello again chaps, hope you're all still having a nice day. I haven't actually got anything to say really... erm.
John
Mon Dec 25 17:52:31 2006

 LOX: You'll have to tell me why I keep receiving porn spams IN ITALIAN!!! You have spywares in your pc! Whenever you consult a porn site, use Spybot afterwards, damnit !!!!
Sheri
Mon Dec 25 17:17:37 2006

 Buon Natale, Nigel (and to you all)!
Sheri
Mon Dec 25 15:47:29 2006

 Lox: You'll have to let me know what the Italian for Merry Christmas is!!! :))
Nigel
Mon Dec 25 10:42:44 2006

 Morning Maisoneers!! And a Happy Christmas - Joyeux Noël - to you all!!
Yes, the kids have covered the house in wrapping paper (we've had a few tears - but that was just me!!;)) and Mummy and Daddy are worn-out already...!! :)
Nigel
Mon Dec 25 10:42:07 2006

 It must feel great to be back in England eh! I felt the same when I came back to Florence!
Lox
Mon Dec 25 10:37:06 2006

 Merry Christmas chaps! I was going to say I hope you get some nice presents, but at the risk of being all serious and grown-up, more than that I hope you're able to spend Christmas with the people you want to be spending it with. For all that people whinge about having to visit relatives etc, I spent a large part of last year's Christmas day alone in my dreary flat in Tokyo, and I can tell you it was bloody miserable. Today on the other hand I have a generous helping of family members around me and it is great.
John
Mon Dec 25 09:32:51 2006

 Good morning masoneers! Just woken up on Christmas day with a nice phone call from JAPAN, Oh joys of a multicultural and integrated world!
Lox
Mon Dec 25 09:10:13 2006

 Merry Christmas to everyone!
Lox
Sun Dec 24 23:49:29 2006

 Well all, I've just started on the gin and tonic - a bad sign!! :)))
Sheri: I just read this article and it caused me to grin (and to ask my Belgian friend if it is all true!!??) - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/6205403.stm ;))
Nigel
Sun Dec 24 16:46:25 2006

 Yes, John! go ahead! open it!
Sheri
Sun Dec 24 12:14:43 2006

 Yes, I see what you mean Sheri. We were talking earlier, and trying to figure out where the term "Boxing Day" comes from. I guess it's some Victorian concoction...
Lox: So inputting the 192.1.1.50 does bring up the configuration screen then? With my hardware firewall there is no indication of any activity, it just works in the background, and not being a separate box it doesn't have all the logging etc.
John: I am hungry now....!!!
Nigel
Sun Dec 24 11:50:41 2006

 Sheri: your parcel arrived by the way - thank you very much, it is very generous of you...! Is it appropriate to open it now, or should I save it for Christmas day?
John
Sun Dec 24 11:00:15 2006

 Happy Christmas Eve everyone! Today there also happen to be a couple of birthdays in my family, so we're off out for a "posh" lunch now. However, given that it will be here in North Wales, I feel the use of the term posh will be somewhat relative.
John
Sun Dec 24 10:40:33 2006

 Nigel. I'm not a fervent christian. 'Christmass' has too much of a religious connotation. Gift Day sounds better!
Sheri
Sun Dec 24 09:57:44 2006

 Nigel: Yes that is standard... I configured the Modem for example 192.1.1.1 and the router 192.1.1.50 - I can surf the net but I cannot use the router to do all the filtering (even if I set the filters nothing happens...)... :(
Lox
Sun Dec 24 09:00:14 2006

 Ah! Hi Sheri! I've not heard that phrase before. Tim has just come running in proclaiming loudly "I know what day it is! It's Christmas Eve!"
Nigel
Sun Dec 24 08:50:55 2006

 Morning Maisoneers. It's Gift Day! Can't wait till tonight!
Sheri
Sun Dec 24 08:20:00 2006

 Morning all!! :))))
Lox: You should just be able to input the IP address of the router in your browser and then enter it's configuration menu. Are you using the standard Tiscali USB modem?
Nigel
Sun Dec 24 08:17:33 2006

 Tech help: I have my Tiscali modem, and a new router/modem/access point from Netgear. I managed to configure them so that the internet would work, but I cannot seem to be able to use the Netgear services (firewall etc etc)... Any ideas? Unfortunately I cannot DMZ the Tiscali router as it's firmware is blocked and that option is not for me to use I am afraid...
Lox
Sun Dec 24 01:37:21 2006

 Why, yes asinakaraz, we always post answers to such "technical" problems as to how to get around Windows registration... I mean, "Derrrr"
Nigel
Sat Dec 23 18:53:49 2006

 Hello Der Fehler muss also irgenwo in der Win-Registrierung liegen. Hat jemand ne Idee wo ich suchen muss ? Bye
asinakaraz
Sat Dec 23 17:49:48 2006

 Very eloquently put Abigail.
John
Sat Dec 23 17:35:53 2006

 vbbbaaa a\a\Xjhnh VFVV
Abigail
Sat Dec 23 17:24:58 2006

 Home after a day zooming around. Welcome back to the UK John! Lox - Abi is doing very well, she loves the tree but has no expectations about presents!
dsp
Sat Dec 23 17:23:48 2006

 26th is Boxing Day? We don't celebrate it here. It's Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Eve, and New Year's Day. Good luck to you, too, John.
Travis
Sat Dec 23 16:25:25 2006

 Afternoon!!
Well I walked down to town to do a little last-minute shopping... Horrible!! People are all aliens!!!! (OK, maybe not strictly true, but most of those I bumped into were pretty unfriendly, with their eyes on the bargains...)
Travis: best of luck with the in-laws!! We go to mine on Boxing Day.
John: Glad you finally get to see how good a Mac looks on a nice monitor! They are something else, aren't they?!? :))
Nigel
Sat Dec 23 15:56:36 2006

 John: The Maison on iPod? That's amazing. In other news, the in-laws are on their way here today. There is still a good deal of prep for their arrival. Mostly cleaning. The shopping is done. I did manage to misplace the book I bought for my father-in-law though. I'll need to find that...
Travis
Sat Dec 23 14:36:38 2006

 The Maison backup has just completed - I feel all secure now knowing the site is all safely stored inside the lovely little Mac Mini. Actually I think I'm going to copy it onto my iPod as well, so I can take it all wherever I go... (although as far as I'm aware there isn't any way to browse the files on there).
John
Sat Dec 23 13:16:28 2006

 Everyone in my family is getting either books or food this year - which means I've basically only really needed to visit two shops to do the lot.
John
Sat Dec 23 13:10:38 2006

 Ciao Everyone, just finished the first half of shopping with Marta, fortunately all the things that I needed have been taken, and there weren't so many people as I thought... Oh well, these two days are going to be pretty busy I hope everyone is enjoying the pre-Christmas run...

Dsp: How is Abi doing? Excited? Thrilled?
Lox
Sat Dec 23 12:36:53 2006

 Wow - the maison backup utility runs so much faster from the UK. :)
John
Sat Dec 23 11:48:34 2006

 I've just got the Mac Mini hooked up here in the UK for the first time. I've borrowed a spare LCD panel my Dad has, it's the first time I've used it with a proper monitor - it looks really fantastic!
John
Sat Dec 23 11:43:22 2006

 Yes, it's amazing how much I find I rely on the Maison, whether just to spout-off about something, or talk to real people, or just chill-out. I can see we're all becoming addicted!! :)
Nigel
Sat Dec 23 10:55:07 2006

 I've just finally got my blog up to date. Of course a lot of it is rather bland drivel as a result, but that's not entirely what the whole process is about - I seem to have developed a sort of obsessive compulsive disorder over the whole thing, if I don't write my blog it's like those days haven't happened or something...!
John
Sat Dec 23 10:37:17 2006

 I think it might be partly to do with the time of year? Not much daylight at the moment here in Blighty (plus all the fog etc) so my body clock is even more confused than normal.
John
Sat Dec 23 10:35:57 2006

 Getting better Nigel - but it's really taking a while this time to work it out of my system - usually the ritual of waking up at 4AM only happens to me on the first night after I land, but this time round I've had it about four nights in a row!
John
Sat Dec 23 10:35:11 2006

 :))))))
How's the jet-lag?
Nigel
Sat Dec 23 10:30:29 2006

 Morning chaps! What a novelty it is to be able to say that and be in the same time zone and everything...!
John
Sat Dec 23 10:10:22 2006

 Hi dsp!! Sounds good!! We saw the inlaws on Thursday and did a delivery then - we'll be back there on Boxing Day when the whole of Joc's clan gathers. Today is an open book ... so far!
Nigel
Sat Dec 23 09:38:34 2006

 Hiya Nigel - any plans today? We're delivering presents.
dsp
Sat Dec 23 09:28:35 2006

 Morning Maisoneers!!! :)))
Nigel
Sat Dec 23 09:26:20 2006

 Yep, Travis. Joyeux Noël et bonne année!
Sheri
Fri Dec 22 21:18:07 2006

 Incidentally incidentally, what do the French folk say? Joyeux Noelles (something along those lines). I may have mixed a masculnie and a feminine there. John, though I can't spell it, "Akimashite Omedeto gozaimasu."
Travis
Fri Dec 22 20:56:09 2006

 Incidentally, we ONLY say "Merry Christmas," "Happy New Years," and/or "Happy Holidays." I believe "Happy Christmas" is fairly common in the UK; not?
Travis
Fri Dec 22 20:54:27 2006

 I've been on "Christmas holiday" for a mere week now. Muahaha. The in-laws will arrive tomorrow, and I'll set out for the fatherland on the 29th. I'll be back in Lubbock around the 6th of Janvier. I will have an internet connection (or connexion). Fear not.
Travis
Fri Dec 22 20:52:59 2006

 Splendid, John!! :)))
Nigel
Fri Dec 22 19:26:59 2006

 GRANDE JOHN!!!! Welcome back!!
Lox
Fri Dec 22 17:46:44 2006

 I'm back!

Sorry chaps, that may have been the longest consecutive absence I've had from any kind of internet connection for as long as I can remember. I hope everything has been OK here in my absence. My bit of the site is horribly out of date - I shall attempt to rectify that now.
John
Fri Dec 22 17:34:32 2006

 Sheri: Good news - glad it arrived in time! I wasn't sure it would...
"All in good time" is fine, so is "All in due course". :))
Well I have about half-an-hour to go then I hope the roads are clear and fog-free! Homeward-bound... :))
Nigel
Fri Dec 22 16:25:54 2006

 Or is it 'all in due course'?
Sheri
Fri Dec 22 15:57:08 2006

 Sorry, I think 'All in good time' is more correct than 'everything in due time'. Isn't it?
Sheri Ze Frog
Fri Dec 22 15:53:39 2006

 Nigel: got your card. It's very kind and it pleased us very much.
Sheri
Fri Dec 22 15:47:48 2006

 Wait a minute! Christmass is the day after tomorrow. Why would I want to wish you a merry christmas now? Everything in due time!
Sheri
Fri Dec 22 15:46:39 2006

 Ah!! Good news, John's Mum!! And Compliments of the Season to you! :))
Nigel
Fri Dec 22 15:36:34 2006

 Don't worry about John, he's somewhere in Wales minus an Internet connexion. I saw him and the new Mrs John on Monday and they were both glowing. He got straight off the plane at Heathrow and to Guildford by 6 pm so I saw them for a whole two hours. Merry Christmas everyone.
John's Mum
Fri Dec 22 15:14:46 2006

 Logging off now, but will probably have a quick look from home. Have a great holiday everyone.
Mad Mumsie
Fri Dec 22 15:00:40 2006

 MM: Merry Christmas!! :))
Lox: sounds very nice indeed. I particularly like tortellini!!!
Nigel
Fri Dec 22 14:00:55 2006

 MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE. I hope Father Christmas bring you everything you want.
Mad Mumsie
Fri Dec 22 13:42:57 2006

 Just concocted a marvellous meat filled tortellini served on a courgette, mushroom, cumin and milk sauce. HIGH CLASS!
Lox
Fri Dec 22 13:35:08 2006

 MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!! I was out this morning... :P
Lox
Fri Dec 22 12:32:56 2006

 Have a great holiday - dsp and dsp's Mum !!! :))
Happily it's been an uneventful morning - hopefully the afternoon will be much the same... Time for some lunch...
Nigel
Fri Dec 22 12:22:33 2006

 I finish work today, MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!
Tim's mum
Fri Dec 22 11:55:24 2006

 A 12 o'clock finish is pencilled in for today. Happy Christmas everyone!
dsp
Fri Dec 22 11:43:33 2006

 Ah! Don't blame you MM! :) Yes, we have to be open until 5pm too. The town is said to be heaving with people - it was certainly busy even when I came in. I will not venture out until home-time, me-thinks!
Nigel
Fri Dec 22 10:35:05 2006

 That's not how you spell sneak. That's better.
Mad Mumsie
Fri Dec 22 10:28:36 2006

 Nigel: I'm glad to said "AT WORK" and not "WORKING". Most sane people are not putting their noses out of the front door to come to the libraries, so it is very quiet in the IT Section, but we have to be here until 5pm in case the systems go belly up. Having said that, it only needs one of us, so I may just sneek off in the middle of the afternoon.
Mad Mumsie
Fri Dec 22 10:28:05 2006

 Thanks dsp!!! :)) You're a "good sort"!!! :)))
I tried posting earlier, but no joy. Are we all at work, or is it just me and MM?
Nigel
Fri Dec 22 10:22:54 2006

 Except I now have to refresh the screen to show my messages. Oh, yes, Good morning everyone.
Mad Mumsie
Fri Dec 22 10:14:59 2006

 For a nasty moment there I thought I was going to have to spend my last day at work before Christmas, without access to the Maison.
Mad Mumsie
Fri Dec 22 10:13:48 2006

 Fingers crossed - its mended!
dsp
Fri Dec 22 09:36:40 2006

 Is it me or when you make an entry there is always a nasty error coming up? Is the page holding together by miracle or what?
Lox
Fri Dec 22 07:41:55 2006

 Sheri: Ok that you were drinking wine but isn't that a bit TOO MUCH!? :D Anyways good morning guys and gals!
Lox
Fri Dec 22 07:40:27 2006

 Farewell, Friends. Adieu. Que Dieu soit avec vous (et avec votre esprit)!
Sheri
Fri Dec 22 07:26:23 2006

 It's over. It's all over. La maison had its moment of glory. Time to shut down.
Sheri
Fri Dec 22 07:24:58 2006

 Travis: John won't answer. Chie doens't want him to associate with us anymore...
Sheri
Fri Dec 22 07:22:49 2006

 John: Having a glass of Laphroaig right now. This particular bottle was aged 10 or 12 years (can't quite recall). I don't like it as much as Highland Park, but it is very interesting. It's very "smoky" tasting, and is quite a bit better than, say, Dewars or JW. I may have spelled Laphroaig incorrectly.
Travis
Fri Dec 22 02:08:41 2006

 Hi all! Back from the dentist and I'm glad to report we were all OK - well, except my wallet of course... :(
Well Done Sheri!! Now you can relax with that wine, over Christmas!
Nigel
Thu Dec 21 16:07:55 2006

 Nigel: I don't know. We COULD see a white Christmas, but the family is heading back to my fatherland (Pennsylvania) just after Christmas, so I'm sure we'll see some snow or ice there. Incidentally, all of that snow has melted already.
Travis
Thu Dec 21 14:55:31 2006

 Listen to MM ... things need to be done in the right order- as in "Always pillage *before* you burn" etc.
Jimmy
Thu Dec 21 12:45:22 2006

 Sheri: I don' recommend drinking BEFORE shopping, or you will end up spending more than you intend. A well deserved glass or three afterwards as a reward for a job well done is quite acceptable.
Mad Mumsie
Thu Dec 21 11:52:47 2006

 Wine. I need wine. A lot.
Sheri
Thu Dec 21 11:09:52 2006

 Off to do some shopping now!
Sheri
Thu Dec 21 11:09:24 2006

 SCRIPT FINISHED! I'm rather pleased with it! Far better than my first attempt (A Syrian Summer, if you all recall).
Sheri
Thu Dec 21 11:09:05 2006

 Oh, and Good Morning all. Only two days to go. Awful weather here, foggy, cold, yuck.
Mad Mumsie
Thu Dec 21 10:33:06 2006

 WHO?
Mad Mumsie
Thu Dec 21 10:31:49 2006

 We bow to your great majestic aura of power OH sire Sheri...
Lox
Thu Dec 21 09:52:46 2006

 Morning-people-of-Earth. I-greet-you.
Sheri
Thu Dec 21 09:11:07 2006

 Dentist.... BAD!!.... Actually I have to go visit mine I am afraid.... :(
Lox
Thu Dec 21 08:19:45 2006

 Morning Maisoneers!! :)
Well, it's the dentist for me and my brood today... Good fun, eh?!?! :)
Nigel
Thu Dec 21 06:54:33 2006

 Coo! Could be a white Christmas in Lubbock, Travis? We had one here last year - and it *is* getting colder - so maybe we'll get a repeat! The kids will love it for one thing, and it gives them something to do over the school-holidays. Somehow a damp, grey Christmas is a bit of a let down...
Nigel
Wed Dec 20 22:18:15 2006

 Bit of snow this morning when I awoke...bleah.
Travis
Wed Dec 20 14:39:07 2006

 We're going away for a few days between Christmas and new year, so I think I'll spend the cash on a hotel-upgrade.
Jimmy
Wed Dec 20 13:02:02 2006

 Jimmy, how much fun are you going to have spending the rest of the money!
Mad Mumsie
Wed Dec 20 12:48:52 2006

 Way to go Jimmy!! A nice surprise! :)
Nigel
Wed Dec 20 12:36:53 2006

 Bloody Hell! The car only failed on dim bulbs and wiper blades! That really is a first ... and I'd saved-up about 500 quid for the "Repairs" :)
Jimmy
Wed Dec 20 12:28:16 2006

 Ho dear! Has the "Daily" page gone again... ?
Nigel
Wed Dec 20 12:07:51 2006

 Sheri - Ah! Actually, no, I thought you were serious! How gullible am I! ;))))))
Nigel
Wed Dec 20 12:04:18 2006

 Fair enough ;-)
Sheri
Wed Dec 20 11:01:32 2006

 Sheri, of course, both in the same glass. Really, what sort of person do you think I am. I enjoy both, but usually on separate occasions. In fact there is a bottle in the cupboard for a special occasion, which we bought back from Fleurie in the summer.
Mad Mumsie
Wed Dec 20 11:00:00 2006

 MM: concerning your last mail. Hope you don't mix Vouvray and Fleurie (which is a beaujolais). Quite different wines!
Sheri
Wed Dec 20 10:50:58 2006

 Nigel: I hope you realise I was kidding. It's about 2°c over here!
Sheri
Wed Dec 20 10:47:48 2006

 Hi Sheri! Hmmm. In fahrenheit that would be: "Nice and Warm" !! :)))
Nigel
Wed Dec 20 10:31:26 2006

 Weather's fine here. 32° C in the shade. (What would it be in Fahrenheit?)
Sheri
Wed Dec 20 10:21:33 2006

 Morning all Why is it that the thought of an MOT sends us all into a panic.
Mad Mumsie
Wed Dec 20 08:46:15 2006

 'morning! OH NO! It's the day of the MOT (shudder) !
Jimmy
Wed Dec 20 08:15:49 2006

 Morning all!! )
Nigel
Wed Dec 20 07:09:52 2006

 Actually it got a lot colder in Italy too in the last 2 days... Shame shame... Anyways I got 3 more spam messages this morning, are we being attacked?
Lox
Wed Dec 20 06:51:04 2006

 Yeah, Nigel. Lubbock gets snow on occasion, too. We had about 2 inches or so about a month ago. Now, Arlington (near Dallas) almost NEVER sees snow, and it melts almost immediately.
Travis
Wed Dec 20 00:02:50 2006

 brrrr. freeing thick fog out here on the East coast, i can hear the faint sound of fog horns in the distance, quite eery!
kev
Tue Dec 19 23:49:26 2006

 Hi Travis - Now freezing rain isn't something I would normally associate with Texas!! Here in old Blighty - well my part of it anyway - a sunny afternoon was replaced by thick fog which made the drive home horrible.
Nigel
Tue Dec 19 22:37:20 2006

 Freezing rain and a bit of a power outage. Quite unfortunate for little old me, who was stuck at home today. All seems to be in order now.
Travis
Tue Dec 19 18:50:12 2006

 RAJ!!! How are you my man?! Where are you at the mo?
Lox
Tue Dec 19 16:42:22 2006

 I only found out today that John and Chie got hitched Congratz to you both and yes I am the last to know anything :P
Raj
Tue Dec 19 16:41:24 2006

 Well the wireless network isn't set up yet, I hope that I can amaze everyone around the end of the week... :D
Lox
Tue Dec 19 12:26:16 2006

 Lox: You know you've joined the technical elite when you can surf from the loo. You're one of the fortunate 0.001% on the planet.
dsp
Tue Dec 19 10:34:14 2006

 MM: Yes! That's better! I am refreshed!! :)
Lox: Just don't drop the PSP!!! :)
Nigel
Tue Dec 19 10:31:51 2006

 Dsp: Soon I'll be posting with my PSP from the BATHROOM!!! :) Yes, my dreams come true! :D
Lox
Tue Dec 19 10:27:06 2006

 Nigel: 6 minutes to go.
Mad Mumsie
Tue Dec 19 10:23:36 2006

 Hmmm. This is not fair.... I would love a cup of tea! :((( First break will be at 10:30...
I'm mentoring again today which means a lot of sitting around smiling and looking helpful, telling people where they are going wrong. Whereas in reality I'm thinking of all the more interesting and useful things I could be doing far away from here... (I've logged in on a spare machine to "check my mail"... yea, right!! :))
Nigel
Tue Dec 19 09:45:25 2006

 Hi everyone. Lox - I'm working from home today too. Trusty cup of tea by my side :-)
dsp
Tue Dec 19 09:34:24 2006

 Working from home today... CUP OF TEA and some snacks! Unbeatable!!! :)
Lox
Tue Dec 19 09:23:03 2006

 Mesdames, Messieurs, je vous remets cordialement le bonjour.
Sheri
Tue Dec 19 08:32:16 2006

 Morning all!! :))
Hi-ho, Hi-ho, it's off to work we go...
Nigel
Tue Dec 19 07:34:10 2006

 Good Morning everyone! It's not 6,30 here in Italy and I am awake! I hate jetlag like this! Anyways I took the liberty of cleaning the board of 5 spam messages it seems that they are trying to bother us again, but the clever system devised by John and Tim seems to keep them at bay. As for John, WHERE IS HE!?
Lox
Tue Dec 19 05:44:50 2006

 Guys, if you receive a mail from me (or anyone else) entitled INVITATION, do NOT open it! Delete it immediately!!! Deadly virus!!! It is not a joke.
Sheri
Mon Dec 18 21:08:32 2006

 Anyone else use Firefox? All of my blog entries are double posting, but I don't know why. I'm only hitting "Save" once.
Travis
Mon Dec 18 20:40:20 2006

 Hi Guys! Well, I have been training a new member of staff today so have not been on the computer much... Madness is mandatory for the Maison though !! :))))
Nigel
Mon Dec 18 15:34:39 2006

 Mmmmm it's full of nutcases in here Sheri.... :D Take me for example!
Lox
Mon Dec 18 15:25:15 2006

 I'm 'le fou du roi', John being naturally the king.
Sheri
Mon Dec 18 15:17:52 2006

 It's funny how quiet this board can be when I don't take part in it...! Obviously, I'm indispendable. You NEED my insanity!
Sheri
Mon Dec 18 15:16:07 2006

 Do you think Watanabe San had to send the boat back when he found out John was leaving ?
Kev
Mon Dec 18 13:13:45 2006

 Jimmy: The best laid plans of mice and men .................
Mad Mumsie
Mon Dec 18 12:45:49 2006

 Not for Me! Hahahahahaaaaaaaaaaa! (evil laugh etc.) Sadly, this is my final week of not having to work on Friday. Not that it's done me any good ... I'd been hoping to spend my Fridays sitting around watching the telly & drinking beer ... but I've ended up doing the shopping and housework. Bugger.
Jimmy
Mon Dec 18 12:31:30 2006

 Just Monday, still overcast here, but a brighter sort of overcast if you know what I mean. Still five days then a week or so orf.
Mad Mumsie
Mon Dec 18 11:19:08 2006

 Hi MM. Anything specific or just a general Monday Malaise?
Nigel
Mon Dec 18 08:52:43 2006

 Morning all, what a bloody awful day. And its Monday!
Mad Mumsie
Mon Dec 18 08:21:04 2006

 Morning all!! :)
Nigel
Mon Dec 18 06:57:46 2006

 Ciao John have a good flight back! Morning everyone by the way!!
Lox
Mon Dec 18 06:22:49 2006

 Although you are a gaijin, many will miss you especially the Karaoke bars and several alcohol sellers. Goodbye John san!
JAPAN
Mon Dec 18 06:22:10 2006

 About to get on the plane so this will probably be the last message from my beloved internet phone. Back to stone age technology at space age prices in the UK. So anyway, goodbye Japan!
John
Mon Dec 18 02:16:27 2006

 John: Actually since you are at it, can you copy down the SECRET RECIPE of that marvel of culinary invention that is called PARMESAN, but has NONE in it!! :D
Lox
Sun Dec 17 11:39:20 2006

 Right, well it is Sunday evening here now, we're on the way to the airport although the flight is not until tomorrow morning. I'm sure the hotel will be very dreary as airport hotels always are, but at least it means we don't have to get up too early tomorrow morning. Today has been a reminder of how much hard work it is to move house, even with a small apartment like we had. So we're both quite knackered now!
John
Sun Dec 17 11:03:25 2006

 Lox: me and Chie are in Pronto in Shinjuku. I can see the fake plastic cheese and everything. I know how much you love it!
John
Sun Dec 17 09:23:11 2006

 ... it's OK Lox. I just noticed you've posted a new blog entry... I'll nip over and read it... ;)
Nigel
Sun Dec 17 08:16:25 2006

 Lox: What did you do? :)
Nigel
Sun Dec 17 08:15:16 2006

 Wrap up warm, John!! It's wet and cold over here just now :))
Nigel
Sun Dec 17 08:14:42 2006

 Have a safe flight back!!! Mine was DREADFUL all because of ME (which makes it even worse!!)
Lox
Sun Dec 17 08:14:12 2006

 Right, have now checked out of the flat, if that's the right term for it. Not too emotional but bloody hard work! We're now vaguely on our way to the airport, although a couple of errands to run first.
John
Sun Dec 17 08:00:37 2006

 Morning all!! :)
Safe journey John! Hope leaving the flat is not too emotional!
Lox: Welcome back!! No doubt the spectre of jet-lag will wreak havoc!
Nigel
Sun Dec 17 07:32:58 2006

 Although the posting time (6,30) might mean that I am still I Japan, I am indeed posting from my house!! HO JOY!!
Lox
Sun Dec 17 05:46:48 2006

 Hello All, well, sorry I haven't been online much. As you can imagine have been pretty busy with leaving Japan and all that. Today is our last day in the flat, will check out of here this evening and spend the last night in Japan in a hotel at the airport.

Anyway, the man is just about to come and disconnect our internet connection. I'd really hoped I might get a bit more time to update the site etc, but it seems he's decided to come early... So just the mobile now!
John
Sun Dec 17 00:51:19 2006

 John and Chie, I hope you have a safe and uneventful journey back to the UK.
Mad Mumsie
Sat Dec 16 23:13:57 2006

 "Lated" = "latest"
Travis
Sat Dec 16 19:45:55 2006

 Any idea why I double-posted my lated blog? I didn't hit send twice or anything...
Travis
Sat Dec 16 19:45:42 2006

 Nigel: Forget what I said, I got it!
Sheri
Sat Dec 16 10:26:20 2006

 Nigel, what's your surname btw?
Sheri
Sat Dec 16 10:22:24 2006

 Ah Good!! Yes, happy to help in whatever way I can, Sheri! :) Remember to send me those details via email!!! I've been busy this morning writing Christmas cards!! ;) Well, after days of rain, today has started sunny (but cold) Hurrah!
Nigel
Sat Dec 16 09:51:46 2006

 Nigel: I finished the scenario last night! I need to check a few things , then I'll send it to you (if you still want to help with the syntax) .
Sheri
Sat Dec 16 09:35:00 2006

 Sheri: You busy writing? How's the project going? You haven't mentioned it much lately...
Nigel
Sat Dec 16 08:16:24 2006

 Morning all!! :)
Hope you are back safe and sound now, Lox!! Frightening stuff!!
John: I guess you are hung-over ?!?!? :))))) How was the last day at work?
Me? Well, I was just woken by the post-lady.... (Ooeerr!) Sadly nothing exciting...
Nigel
Sat Dec 16 08:15:21 2006

 You will never believe what happened to me today.@I have lost the passport and tickets at the airport, I left them into the basket that comes with the carts here... After two hours of frantic searching, alerting every person in the airport and everytihgn (I was going to loose the ticket and of course I couldn`t go back until at least Monday when the embassy would reopen to get me a new passport), I found it!! Lucky me that I speak Japanese it would have been impossible otherwise... I`ll post something from Europe, I have much to tell about yesterday night as well....
Lox
Sat Dec 16 03:26:06 2006

 Travis, I think in the context of Lox's statement, fumble, would be the kind of thing that might occur in the back row of a cinema with a young lady, as Nigel rather eloquently suggested ;) rather than he made a joke, or somehow manged to drop a football under the table :) - at least thats my interpretation, maybe DSP actually meant something different like he was in the rock band Fumble
Kev
Fri Dec 15 22:19:20 2006

 Dsp: Actually I was hinting to the fact that too much drinking would get him "under the table", hence the exploration... :P

ANYWAYS I am off to Narita to get the plane that hopefully will get me back to Pizzaland this evening, have a good day!
Lox
Fri Dec 15 21:57:16 2006

 DSP: I'm intrigued. What is a "fumble"? Is it some sort of gaffe?
Travis
Fri Dec 15 16:49:19 2006

 Ah... Well it sounded vaguely "risque" all this fondling going on under the table. I can't explain why talk of "naughty goings-on" made me think of you, my friend!! ;))
Nigel
Fri Dec 15 16:08:54 2006

 Nigel. Sorry, grab what?
Sheri
Fri Dec 15 15:36:10 2006

 Gosh that was a bit in yer face, wasn't it.
Mad Mumsie
Fri Dec 15 14:40:37 2006

 Phew! Glad things are back to normal...
Say! Why is the *whole month* jiggered now?!?!?! How can mistakenly adding an opening BOLD tag affect everything before it? That's spooky, that is...
Nigel
Fri Dec 15 13:22:00 2006

 Sorry guys and galls, I must have got my HTML tag wrong just then :(((
How's that?
Nigel
Fri Dec 15 13:19:42 2006

 Hey! I'll have some of that!!! (c'mon Sheri!!! This is a joke I expected you to grab first!! :))))))) Well I've just been reading the fascinating Wikipedia articles about iPod and it's history. (It's my lunch break and it's raining out there :(( ) I'm also begining to notice how much celebrity stuff, TV and Film stuff, is appearing in the articles. It's kind-of watering down the on-line encyclopedia feel, I think. A shame as it's generally a great resource. To my mind IMDB should stay king of movies and stars. Horses for courses as they say...
Nigel
Fri Dec 15 13:18:34 2006

 Lox: I am intrigued, what is an "under the table exploration" is it some kind of fumble?
dsp
Fri Dec 15 09:07:51 2006

 Morning all!! :)
Seems like you guys have both got an emotional day ahead of you! Something I sincerely hope mine isn't!!! Best of luck! :)))))
Nigel
Fri Dec 15 07:01:02 2006

 Well, productivity today so far has been pretty minimal. I did at least tidy up my desk though. Going to have some final meetings this afternoon, and in about three hours time I'll no longer be an employee of this well known software company.
John
Fri Dec 15 05:32:15 2006

 John: Have a nice day, I am sure you'll feel like a million bucks at the end of the day, but by night I predict an "under the table exploration" that might put that feeling into prospective...
Lox
Fri Dec 15 01:52:34 2006

 Well I'm on the way into the office for my last day at work!
John
Fri Dec 15 00:12:32 2006

 Good Morning! Today I will send my very first hate mail to my new employers!!! OH OH OH!!! What a prospect, I might set a record for the quickest company to be written off the records ever!
Lox
Fri Dec 15 00:09:04 2006

 Nigel: if he told you that, you'd have to kill him. Er...
Travis
Thu Dec 14 18:16:00 2006

 John: When can you go public on the new job? "Nice Job" sounds like such a Holy Grail...
Nigel
Thu Dec 14 16:19:08 2006

 Hi Travis. You must be true fans of the teams!! :)) I reckon the effects will kick in around 3pm when you'll start nodding-off!! Perhaps as John and Lox suffer from jet-lag so much, you could suffer from Basketball-Lag. We could be hip and trendy and call it "BB-Lag" :))) (Or maybe.. er.. not)
Nigel
Thu Dec 14 16:16:19 2006

 Just completed an interesting run of events. Yesterday, the wife and I left Lubbock, Texas in our car at 1:00 PM. We arrived in Dallas at 7:00 for the Lakers/Mavericks basketball game. After the game, it was 11:15 PM. We took shifts driving/sleeping and arrived here in Lubbock at 6:00 AM. It's now 10:00 AM. I've slept less than five hours, which is tragically little for me, but I feel good. The game was quite exciting.
Travis
Thu Dec 14 16:03:54 2006

 Sorry chaps, again busy drinking today, and now I very much need to go to sleep. After a bit of a lull in communications for the last few weeks, today I spoke to my new employer again, and reassuringly I still do have a very nice job to go to in January. It wasn't all a dream!
John
Thu Dec 14 15:59:35 2006

 Hmmm. "Tasty Delicious" I think I'm going to have to make more use of that one!
Nigel
Thu Dec 14 14:09:41 2006

 Yeah, I thought so too...!
Sheri
Thu Dec 14 14:01:50 2006

 Sheri - John will come back because, frankly, he has nowhere else to go.
Rob Lang
Thu Dec 14 14:00:28 2006

 As for School Dinners, the staff at my school would use the ubiquitous prefix "Tasty Delicious", which seemed to be used in place of the more honest: "Nice but not exciting".
Rob Lang
Thu Dec 14 13:59:44 2006

 I never had a Manchester Tart. Most came from South of Watford. *snigger*
Rob Lang
Thu Dec 14 13:58:48 2006

 Hi T'sM :) Yes, that pink custard!! I'd forgotten such delicacies!! It probably had a red colour in it that has now been banned! As for the tart... Didn't now the name but it sounds familiar! I went to many different schools, and sampled so many dinners - it was just comforting that everything was the same, everywhere! :)
Nigel
Thu Dec 14 13:19:34 2006

 What about corned beef hash with red cabbage, chocolate sponge with pink custard. Our school dinners were cooked at a central kitchen, put into huge aluminium containers and delivered by van. (ergo no chips). They were served up or ladled out by dinner ladies, if you were lucky you got 'seconds'. Nobody had even heard of yoghurt and happy meals hadn't been invented.
Tim's mum
Thu Dec 14 13:06:06 2006

 Nigel: I see we are both fans of the traditional 'school dinner' - I loved them! Did you have Manchester Tart? (pastry case, jam, coconut and custard? You can buy it in M&S - expensive tho.
Tim's mum
Thu Dec 14 13:05:39 2006

 Ahhhh... I remember so well the first week of married-life.... Washing the dishes, mowing the lawn, painting the walls... :)
Nigel
Thu Dec 14 12:31:20 2006

 Predictable. Then, when the heat of their passion will cool down, he'll come back to us on his knee, begging for friendship. I don't know about you, but I'll ignore him superbly. that'll teach him a lesson.
Sheri
Thu Dec 14 12:26:01 2006

 I think John is on his honeymoon. I told you, guys! Now that he's married, we count for mothing...
Sheri
Thu Dec 14 12:23:37 2006

 Noooooooo!
Sheri
Thu Dec 14 12:21:36 2006

 :)))) Only perhaps because I'm trying to translate an English Institution (albeit an old one which everybody but me hates!!) using my school-boy French! ;))
Nigel
Thu Dec 14 12:08:52 2006

 Why would I wish to do so, Nigel?
Sheri
Thu Dec 14 11:40:55 2006

 "Pommes de terre cassées avec Poivre et chou".. Sounds soo much better in another language!! :)) Please feel free to throw stones at me Sheri!! :))
Nigel
Thu Dec 14 11:28:44 2006

 ... I also liked my mashed-potatoes served from those ice-cream spoons with the rotating cutter jobbie. Nice neat little hemispheres of spud you could then mash satifactorily into your gravy etc! And rice-pudding with a dollop of jam on the top... Ahhhh... :))))
Nigel
Thu Dec 14 11:20:04 2006

 I see...!
Sheri
Thu Dec 14 10:25:44 2006

 Sheri, you're not a frog, you're Belgian. Nuking them would be a swift end, I think it's better to let them tear themselves apart through social instability.
Rob Lang
Thu Dec 14 10:05:33 2006

 Sheri: Nuking is bad and you cannot use the are for more than 50 years. I think that the car park idea is better.
Lox
Thu Dec 14 09:40:11 2006

 Am I the only one who likes boiled cabbage?!?!? :) Genuinely! Fond memories of school days. Plenty of mashed-potatoes and boiled cabbage, covered in a great sprinkling of white pepper!! Yum!! (OK, I'm as mad as a fish, I know!! :))
Nigel
Thu Dec 14 09:24:22 2006

 And why so much hatred in your voice?
Sheri
Thu Dec 14 09:20:45 2006

 What do you suggest, Rob? Nuke the damn frogs (me included)?
Sheri
Thu Dec 14 09:17:17 2006

 YEAH! French wines taste like cabbage! I think that we should build a huge parking lot out of France (excluding beautiful Vienne of course)...!! Actually, jokes aside, Californian wines are getting quite popular in Italy as well, they aren't all that bad and pricewise they are quite reasonable... Although I wouldn't trade a Cote du Rhone or a nice Chianti for an Ozzie wine so easily...
Lox
Thu Dec 14 09:16:48 2006

 I'm with Sheri on this. Furthermore, the French need to wake up a bit because their snobbery won't be shared by the rest of the globe for long!
Rob Lang
Thu Dec 14 09:07:33 2006

 Morning Maisoneers!! :))
Sheri, your knowledge is better than mine, I concede. I find my own palette has changed over the years and I no-longer appreciate white wines at all... :( Must be all that Guinness I drank!!
Nigel
Thu Dec 14 07:11:06 2006

 Nigel: French wines are no longer superior. There are now many 'foreign' wines (American, Australian, South African,...) whose quality is equivalent, if not better. French supremacy is over, I'm afraid.
Sheri
Thu Dec 14 06:16:48 2006

 Morning Maisoneers!
Lox
Thu Dec 14 01:50:26 2006

 Ah! Well I trust they are worthy of your palette!!? White wines leave me a little confused. I remember well a holiday we took to the wine-growing regions of Germany. Their wines are very... er... teutonic... From this experience I realise French wines are superior! :)
Nigel
Wed Dec 13 21:25:33 2006

 Women...! As for the wine, I finished a Savagnin (Côtes du Jura) and started a Mâcon Village (grape: chardonnay).
Sheri
Wed Dec 13 21:05:22 2006

 Hi Sheri! I hope you have become inebriated on some quality beverage! A nice red perhaps? A Scnapps? Brandy - Napoleon. Not Champaign surely!?! Sadly my wife will not let me join you this evening... :( Sensible girl...
Nigel
Wed Dec 13 20:58:17 2006

 And of course I forgot DSP! Silly me!
Sheri
Wed Dec 13 19:29:11 2006

 By 'you all', I mean you, Chie, MM, Nigel, Lox, Travis, Jimmy, Kev and - yes! - even Rob, my worst detractor.
Sheri
Wed Dec 13 19:27:55 2006

 John. About your trip to France. I don't want to impose on you. I'm sure you want to make the most of your stay with your mum. But I maintain what I said: next summer we HAVE TO meet, the lot of us, maisoneers. It would be truly wonderful. I'm not entirely sober right now, but you all mean something to me.
Sheri
Wed Dec 13 19:24:06 2006

 Wow! You're going to be busy then, John! Will your magic Japanese phone work over here too? You could surf from your Grandmas with that if so... If it won't... well you could always sell it to someone at tomorrow's party!! ;))
Nigel
Wed Dec 13 14:24:31 2006

 Anyway I need to go to bed now as I was up until 4AM last night (on a school night!). Lox if you want to meet up tomorrow or Friday let me know and we can try to sort something out (although as I say, as long as you don't mind sharing me with some people from work).
John
Wed Dec 13 14:20:51 2006

 Lox: if you don't mind joining in on a night out with some people I work with then it's quite possible... Tomorrow (Thursday) night is my official sobetsukai which will be in Chofu - 15 minutes by train from Shinjuku. I haven't yet heard the plan for Friday but I think that will involve a repeat performance with a slightly smaller group of people from the office (i.e. the ones I actually get on with). Maybe that one might be in Shinjuku or something...
John
Wed Dec 13 14:18:31 2006

 John: That means that we cannot see each other before Friday correct? :(
Lox
Wed Dec 13 14:04:59 2006

 Sorry chaps I've not had much time to spend on the Maison over the last few days. I'm in my last week at work (and in Japan) now so very busy really... Hopefully normal service may be resumed next week when I'm back in the UK (although having said that it sort of depends which part of my family I'm staying with, strangely enough my Grandmother doesn't have internet access).
John
Wed Dec 13 13:53:54 2006

 I HAVE TO START BUYING PRESENTS YET!!! I hope that all the beneficiaries will understand that I was quite crippled in the shopping spree galore this year, mostly because I am 6000miles away from where I should be! :P
Lox
Wed Dec 13 13:41:11 2006

 Nigel: Who said anything about shopping finished. I'm sure there must be one or two things I've forgotten. Cyberdad did ask last night if I had any idea how much was on my credit card! I said no idea at all.
Mad Mumsie
Wed Dec 13 12:33:26 2006

 If at all...!
Sheri
Wed Dec 13 11:26:05 2006

 Ah... So Santa is going to have a rather high-pitched voice this year! :)
Nigel
Wed Dec 13 11:24:47 2006

 I met yesterday an old man with a white beard, all dressed in red. Kept saying something like Ho-ho-ho. I don't know what he was laughing at, but I didn't like it and I gave him a hard kick right in the genitals. His Ho-ho-ho turned mute, preceded however by a swift but distinctive 'ow-ow-ow'. Weird guy.
Sheri
Wed Dec 13 10:58:38 2006

 Sheri: Are you thinking of the famous Monty Python sketch! :)) How go the Christmas preparations in France?
MM: Yeah, it's good when all the shopping is done!!! :))
Nigel
Wed Dec 13 10:55:48 2006

 Morning all. Grey day in London. Cyberdad is going to buy the Christmas tree today. Super. Cards all written and sent. All the prezzies nearly wrapped up. I love this time of year.
Mad Mumsie
Wed Dec 13 10:48:21 2006

 arh! Parrot, not parrots. Always ruining my jokes because of silly spelling mistakes...!
Sheri
Wed Dec 13 10:20:08 2006

 Hello John. Heloooooo. Wakey-wakey! (Reminds me of a dead parrots. Where was it again?)
Sheri
Wed Dec 13 10:18:46 2006

 Glüt früt hü. (That's how we say 'good morning' in Norwegian)
Sheri
Wed Dec 13 10:17:00 2006

 Morning!!! :) Another windy day here in the UK.
Nigel
Wed Dec 13 07:06:14 2006

 Morning all!
Lox
Wed Dec 13 00:13:43 2006

 Tum-te-tum. Doodle-dum-diddle.... :)
Nigel
Tue Dec 12 21:49:03 2006

 Well, I'm off home now. Just had a friendly chat with my boss - back-to-work proceedure as normal. And it was decided I could go home early!! :))
Nigel
Tue Dec 12 16:09:14 2006

 Sounding a bit "rough" there, Sheri! It must be all those cigars!
As you can tell I'm not so busy here. My bosses had expected me not to be in today... So I am checking my emails (100's of corporate "Urgent!" waffle...)
Nigel
Tue Dec 12 11:38:23 2006

 Bleuark berk bluck cough grüt.
Coughing Sheri
Tue Dec 12 11:24:05 2006

 Sheri: ;)
Still, my colleagues were happy to see me!! If my bosses were not!
Nigel
Tue Dec 12 10:09:31 2006

 In Siena, ther was a nice vinoteca. I used to linger a lot there, discovering Italy through its many wines. Good old days.
Sheri
Tue Dec 12 10:07:43 2006

 A grape apparently more demanding than the almighty carbernet sauvignon, but which could equal it in quality provided you grow it in the right conditions.
Sheri
Tue Dec 12 10:01:47 2006

 Yes, it grows everywhere but as every grape it is deeply influenced by the territory. In Chiantishire the soil is good and the wine is a good as a result, but there are a lot of CRAP Sangiovese wines out there...
Lox
Tue Dec 12 09:58:53 2006

 Lox: in the article, it says it's a grape which is hard to 'tame'. Difficult to obtain a standart, homogenous wine, for it changes a lot depending on how and where you grow it.
Sheri
Tue Dec 12 09:57:24 2006

 C'mon, Nigel. We know it's fake! You just like to lament, asking for attention...
Sheri
Tue Dec 12 09:53:13 2006

 Nigel: I hope it improves, (the shoulder and the job situation), in Japan they would say "GAMBATTE!!" (try your best!)
Lox
Tue Dec 12 09:26:04 2006

 The herrings sound great Sheri... Not sure about the chocolate or wine...! Well I'm in work again, but the old shoulder is back with a vengance... :( Ho dear... Let's see how it goes then...
Nigel
Tue Dec 12 09:19:50 2006

 Brunello=barrique x 5 years, but still 100% sangiovese from the montalcino area. Sangiovese is quite a rough grape as far as I know, grows in a lot of places and it's quite strong and full bodied!
Lox
Tue Dec 12 09:15:56 2006

 Lox: sto leggendo un articolo sul Sangiovese e la denominazione Brunello di Montalcino. Molto interessante.
Sheri
Tue Dec 12 09:04:07 2006

 Only a French would mix SALTED HERRINGS with CHOCOLATES!!! But it sounds incredibly interesting to eat......
Lox
Tue Dec 12 08:15:47 2006

 Had a salt herring for breakfast this morning. Then I continued with a handful of madeleines coated with chocolate. Mmmmm, yummy!
Sheri
Tue Dec 12 07:43:37 2006

 Good morning, citizens of the World! Wake-up, glorious Great Britain! Buongiorno Italia, paese dell'arte! Good day to you Japan, Isle of the Rising Sun! Hello America, Land of (so-called) freedom! Greetings to you all from Frogland!
Sheri
Tue Dec 12 07:32:57 2006

 Morning all!! :)
Nigel
Tue Dec 12 07:06:46 2006

 John: Did you know that the link on the little camera next to the posts entries on the mainpage do not link to the pictures anymore? They just sit there doing nothing as a matter of fact...
Lox
Tue Dec 12 05:27:30 2006

 Ah, good morning by the way!
Lox
Mon Dec 11 23:27:37 2006

 Nigel: Great stuff!! I am waiting to run Mandriva on the PC that I am currently using to post and browse from Japan... Fact is, until I buy the new Imac there's no chance to update to the new system! :D
Lox
Mon Dec 11 23:27:13 2006

 Hi Sheri: Yes.
Nigel
Mon Dec 11 21:30:08 2006

 What means: "nuff"? Enough?
Sheri
Mon Dec 11 21:14:17 2006

 Lox: Just installed Mandriva 2007 (in a VM). It's just about the same as the 2006 version to look at, but it is a flawless install and configures itself perfectly. Ran first time and even connected to the Internet with no problems.
Nigel
Mon Dec 11 18:45:13 2006

 You mean to tell me 398 euros are all you got for your work?!!!! Got to be kidding, pal! (I must have missed something there!)
Sheri
Mon Dec 11 11:20:38 2006

 say no more say no more...
Lox
Mon Dec 11 10:47:29 2006

 And they nit-pick over just 3-euros?!?!?! Madness!!!!!!
Nigel
Mon Dec 11 10:22:00 2006

 Well it was 401 euro and it is now 398.... Not a lot really... :D
Lox
Mon Dec 11 08:35:18 2006

 Morning Maisoneers!! :)
So Lox, they are decreasing your commission already?!?!?! The only posititive I can think of is that you must have earned sooo much already they want to claw some of it back??!!!
Nigel
Mon Dec 11 06:57:34 2006

 John if you read this, will you gimme a call to arrange everything for tonight?
Lox
Mon Dec 11 04:48:42 2006

 I can't wait to be back in Florence, I am still quite eager to enjoy my new home and everything, shame that I must leave again for Tokyo in less than a month :(
Lox
Mon Dec 11 01:57:44 2006

 First good news of the day, since my boss apparently calculated an exchange rate that was not quite the correct average for a certain month, then they recalculated my commissions, effectively DECREASING THEM by 3 EURO!!!! HURRAY!!!
Lox
Mon Dec 11 01:13:18 2006

 Good morning World! I can proudly announce that I have eradicated yet two more spammers from the board. OH WHAT A SATISFACTION!
Lox
Sun Dec 10 23:05:38 2006

 Just got back from a long weekend away. To John and Chie: Congrats to you both!!! I was thinking about you on Friday. Hope it went well. I look forward to any UK celebrations!
dsp
Sun Dec 10 21:56:40 2006

 John: There are two problems with California and late January. Late January, I'm back in classes. California is more than 1000 miles away. Curse our conquering ways. If only the US weren't so big.
Travis
Sun Dec 10 15:05:57 2006

 JOHN:!!! I have a request for the new version of SBM... TAGS to write bold, Italic and maybe a couple of sizes for the characters! I am sure you can do it! BRAVO!
Lox
Sun Dec 10 12:57:15 2006

 On the contrary I have gone around a sunny and crispy Tokyo today and it was quite pleasurable!
Lox
Sun Dec 10 12:50:22 2006

 Cheers John! Well France in the new year has got to be better than Oswestry today - brrrrrrrr. 'Orrible!!!
Nigel
Sun Dec 10 10:45:32 2006

 No prob, John! The first week of January would be perfect. If we can't make it, I'm sure we'll have other opportunities.
Sheri
Sun Dec 10 10:17:45 2006

 Sheri: I haven't made firm plans for my trip to France yet, but it does seem likely if I do go and visit my Mum it would be in that first week of January. Of course, that is all dependent on whether or not it is actually possible to travel across France around New Year! I'm going to give my Mum a call and check out the trains this evening, and if it does look feasible then I'll get back to you with my travel dates.
John
Sun Dec 10 10:00:39 2006

 Nigel: I just arrived back in Tokyo a few hours ago - it is early Sunday evening here now. Next week will be my final week working for that "well known software company" - I'll be working a full week and Friday 15th is my last day. That then basically just gives us the weekend to pack up and move out of the apartment, before flying to the UK on Monday 18th. I'll be taking a break over Christmas, seeing the family etc, and will then start the new job at the "well known search engine company" in London on January 8th.
John
Sun Dec 10 09:50:11 2006

 John. Brive is at 380km from Vienne. So it's not far. Problem is: it's kind of lost in the middle of nowhere. The highway from Vienne stops in Clermont. Then we have to use national roads which are significantly slower and sinuous. Perhaps you'd like us to meet in Brive. Christelle, Brinsley and I would enjoy doing a bit of sightseeing. The area, I imagine, must be well-preserved. I might consider booking a room in a nearby hotel for two or three nights. What d'you reckon?
Sheri
Sun Dec 10 09:12:25 2006

 SECOND WEDDING!?!??! I mean you got wed YESTERDAY and you are already thinking about the next one!! Unless it means something else and in that case do please explain! :P
Lox
Sun Dec 10 08:34:39 2006

 Morning Maisoneers!! :)
A hundred questions, John! Have you left "a certain software company" yet? When do you start for the new one? Still in Hiroshima? :)
Nigel
Sun Dec 10 08:03:51 2006

 Lox: the France trip is to go and see my Mum, and California is a business trip (sort of training and "meet the team") for the new job. If Chie and I are going to have a proper honeymoon it'll probably be well into next year - maybe after the second wedding.
John
Sun Dec 10 07:48:26 2006

 John: Weren't you planning not to have a honeymoon trip at least close to the wedding? Change of plans? Or going to meet your employers in Cali?
Lox
Sun Dec 10 07:34:55 2006

 Travis: ...and I'll probably be in California in the second half of January, but I guess that's even further still.
John
Sun Dec 10 06:49:31 2006

 Sheri: I may find myself in France in the first week of January. Alas, it's a big country! Is Brive-la-Gaillarde like a million miles from Vienne?
John
Sun Dec 10 06:46:12 2006

 Yes, of course Lox. Between men would be even better. No women wailing around. We'd be drinking from dawn till dusk and beyond. I didn't add the others (Tim, Rob,...), not knowing them well enough, except for Travis who indeed lives in the Far Far Away Kingdom. I would be nice to meet him too. But I maintain: Firenze is best! If we meet during summer, it leaves us time to prepare for it (both materially and psychologically). WE HAVE TO MEET!
Sheri
Sun Dec 10 05:50:40 2006

 I'll get to your neck of the woods soon, Lox. I've honestly been trying, but so many things have conspired against me. I thought that this would be the time, but college applications have proved too consuming...time and money.
Travis
Sun Dec 10 03:04:27 2006

 Ah and you forgot Tim, Rob and Travis (altough it might be quite espensive for him to come..) :D
Lox
Sun Dec 10 02:31:17 2006

 Good Morning Maison! Sky is clear and sun is shining, time to go out today to Haajuku for some Meiji Jingu action and some shopping!
Sheri: Meeting in Florence can certainly be arranged, in my flat only one couple can stay, but I am pretty sure that I can send the rest somewhere else in the city (at my mum's mostly), if we need... Or we might meet "man only", in that case it's easier and it would be better to see each other in places such as Amsterdam, Monte Carlo or even Paris would do... :P But for the ladies we have gone out to buy cigarettes!
Lox
Sun Dec 10 02:28:18 2006

 Sheri: There are two obvious answers to that question. First, I obviously cannot chat about that in "open lines". And, yes.
Travis
Sat Dec 9 22:49:02 2006

 Sheri: Yes, "meeting" will do fine. And Firenze sounds lovely - compared with the wet, windy, cold, gloomy Oswestry right now!!
Yeah, it's really great that everyone at the Maison is so diverse - Travis clearly Professorial material over there in Texas; Sheri playwrite cum landscape architect; Dr John sorting out M$'s digital video; dsp keeping the mobile-phones of the country running smoothly; Rob keeping the web running smoothly, or at least designing AI to do it; Kev at the forefront of modern games development; Lox helping the Japanese understand what Italian fashion is all about.... Me... Let's not go there just now (call it a "hiatus"...! :))
But I know what John means about aiming content for an audience. Hang on... Look at the above... That's what everyone here does in their day-to-day lives!! It's funny though. I've told a few friends that i inhabit the Maison but I don't think anyone's looked in yet...
Nigel
Sat Dec 9 20:57:27 2006

 Travis. Any tempting bits among your female students?
Sheri
Sat Dec 9 20:30:50 2006

 Sheri: I gave it. It was my class. I've graded them all, and I've entered all of the grades so that class is wholly finished. With the exception of complaining students.
Travis
Sat Dec 9 19:57:10 2006

 Lox. How about next summer? That leaves us six month to organise. 4 couples: you and Marta, Nigel and Joc, John and Chie, Christelle and me. (OR Marta and me, You and Chie, John and Joc, Nigel and Christelle. OR John and Marta, etc...)
Sheri
Sat Dec 9 18:36:31 2006

 Nigel. In this case, should I say a meeting or a meet?
Sheri
Sat Dec 9 15:38:45 2006

 Ok, Lox. Let's organise a meeting in Firenze with John, Chie, Nigel and Joc. At your place, naturally. Free of charge. I would come with Christelle, so that women do the necessary shopping while we drink copiously. How does it sound? How many room in your flat?
Sheri
Sat Dec 9 15:34:39 2006

 'And', not 'abd' (damn it!)
Sheri
Sat Dec 9 15:29:24 2006

 John. You forgot to add: "Abd on this point, I rest my case"! Nice speech, anyway.
Sheri
Sat Dec 9 15:28:46 2006

 Travis: The exam, giving or sitting it? Are you actually lecturing or attending classes?
Sheri
Sat Dec 9 15:19:51 2006

 Sheri: in response to your point about me being so "composed" that's probably a fair observation based on what you see on this site. It's that way because of who reads it: my family, people I work with etc. Maybe there is still a lot of reserve in the British character, but to me it's more a case of finding the right tone for the audience. Surely that's the same anywhere to some extent - surely you wouldn't talk to elderly relatives in quite the same way you would a close friend over a few beers? The trouble with the web is it's open for everyone to read, so I tend to default to the lowest common denominator. It'd be great if we could meet up and go for a drink one day, then hopefully you'd get a better idea what I'm like when I'm not watching what I say so much.
John
Sat Dec 9 15:19:18 2006

 On my way into school. I'm giving my Mythology final exam today. Yay!
Travis
Sat Dec 9 14:59:04 2006

 Incidentally, Colin Firth seems a bit effeminate to me. Good actor, mind you.
Travis
Sat Dec 9 14:54:10 2006

 Conversation has taken an interesting turn. My wife is a fan of Brad Pitt, Bruce Willis. Used to be a fan of Clooney, but I think he has been proven sufficiently ridiculous to quell that. Sheri, when you insult the British, you must know that my "people" have been in the United States for around 100 years. I have almost no ties to the Motherland.
Travis
Sat Dec 9 14:53:29 2006

 In Britain, Lox, in Britain!
Sheri
Sat Dec 9 11:44:14 2006

 Under covers and lights off? NNNNAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Lox
Sat Dec 9 11:29:20 2006

 Quite right. And yes, Colin Firth is the male par excellence. I would hardly imagine him in a doggy style position with another man.
Sheri
Sat Dec 9 11:08:19 2006

 ...oh, an no offence was taken!!! :))) After all sex is just something you do under the covers, with the lights off, isn't it?!?!?!? ;))
Nigel
Sat Dec 9 11:04:13 2006

 No, not the best, Sheri... the only one I think matches a proper "Chaps" attitude though... Can't say I particularly like the man...
But don't you think it is interesting to see which famous sportsmen or film stars your wife or girlfriend (or both!) actually fancy? Joc likes Sean Bean, Colin Firth, even Sean Connery and Harrison Ford (It breaks my heart to admit I could never match these guys!)
Nigel
Sat Dec 9 10:54:11 2006

 But of course, I'm only teasing. No offence.
Sheri
Sat Dec 9 10:52:00 2006

 Nigel. Mmmmm. fair enough. "Repressed" is probably more appropriate. As for Hugh Grant, is he your best example for British masculinity?
Sheri
Sat Dec 9 10:44:49 2006

 ... that should be "Meet Mario"....
Nigel
Sat Dec 9 10:39:08 2006

 Right, I'm back now - just been feeding the kids. :)
John: I know what you mean - like they say about learning something, if you write it down it somehow "sticks" in your memory more! Enjoy being the centre of attention for a few days (despite that not really being the "British Way"!!)
Lox: Te guitarist is called Mario DaSilva. I jumped in and bought the album - Mett Mario - which is an hour of covers, no vocals. Veeerrryyy relaxing, but high-quality listening too.
Sheri: Hmmmm. No, we Brits are not "asexual" just somehwat "repressed"!!!!! :)))) Like him or loath him, Hugh Grant seems to somehow embody the British Male's attitude to sex... ;)))) Maybe.... :)
Nigel
Sat Dec 9 10:38:20 2006

 Be more specific, Lox.
Sheri
Sat Dec 9 10:23:55 2006

 Sheri: The occasion might be NEARER than what you believe it could! :) I am sure I'd love to meet a couple of people in person! :D

Nigel: What was the name of that uitarist that you were listening to recently?
Lox
Sat Dec 9 10:15:03 2006

 Sheri: Indeed agreed. But the British composure taught me a lot in those years, and now, although I am a sexual maniac I keep the beast at bay for a little longer than I used to! :) Still I am sure that John will give us a detailed account of all the positions that he tried yesterday night, including the world famous "Winning Diagonal", that cannot really be explained in words...
Lox
Sat Dec 9 09:55:42 2006

 And guys, some day, we WILL have to meet. I cannot keep insulting you via the net. I'd like to do it face to face, around a pint.
Sheri
Sat Dec 9 09:51:04 2006

 And I believe Lox, being a Latin cousin, should agree on this.
Sheri
Sat Dec 9 09:46:44 2006

 Nigel. I've been doing some proper thinking. I believe you, the British, are depressingly asexual ! The so-called British 'phlegm' or 'composure' is but a sign of your lack of sexual interest. How does it sound for a theory? Look at John, for instance. He never talks about sex. He's so composed that he drives me crazy at times. He is damn too polite! Me, I have a cock instead of a brain. I act on impulsions, like a beast which I am. That's why I'm so ill tempered!
Sheri a.k.a. Ze Mean Provocative Frog
Sat Dec 9 09:43:23 2006

 Fear not chaps, I have no intention to neglect my duties here at the Maison long term! Some of Chie's friends stayed on in Hiroshima so in a low key way the wedding celebrations are still continuing. So I haven't been near a computer for the last day or so. It's rather sad really, but I find I'm itching to write a blog entry about the wedding etc, it's almost as if it hasn't really happened until I've got it all down in the blog.
John
Sat Dec 9 09:18:26 2006

 Sheri: I think it could just be that all you French (ok, Belgian!) guys are sex mad and clearly don't need to be taught anything. Whereas us English need a few helpful pointers... :))))))))))
Lox: Remember John has that magic mobile-phone!!! :))))
Nigel
Sat Dec 9 08:28:39 2006

 Lox. The Maison will fall into decay and disintegrate for lack of maintenance. Pathetic.
Sheri
Sat Dec 9 08:22:15 2006

 Nigel: because French lessons rhyme with French letters...
Sheri
Sat Dec 9 08:19:18 2006

 Sheri: I agree, now John is going to neglect us for at least 1000 years and then we will fall in disgrace and all of that! :(
Lox
Sat Dec 9 08:11:10 2006

 Morning all!! :)
John: Glad you survived the first night as a married man... always tricky!! ;)
Travis/Sheri - why is it "French Lessons" always sounds so risqué and yet "Greek lessons" does not?!?!?!?
Nigel
Sat Dec 9 08:08:14 2006

 Sorry:'K'now
Sheri
Sat Dec 9 07:43:01 2006

 Travis. Your wife... Why should she now...? Naturally you Americans lack our expertise in this matter...!
Sheri
Sat Dec 9 07:41:21 2006

 Of course, I should have known. Now that Mr John Hawkins is married, Mr John Hawkins has but little time to spend with his friends! The conjugal bond matters more than friendship. I'm sure Chie is taking you away from us. We're just a bunch of weirdo(e)s, is that it? Computor freeks and a sex maniac of a frog. Adieu, ami infidèle! Adieu, monde cruel!
Sheri
Sat Dec 9 07:26:58 2006

 Probably won't get a proper chance to update the blog until tomorrow.
John
Sat Dec 9 03:12:38 2006

 Morning John!! I see you have already taken the first step into proper manhood and responsibility blah blah blah... Now tell us more! :D
Lox
Sat Dec 9 03:10:11 2006

 Well played, John. Or Mr. Chie? What will it be now?
Travis
Sat Dec 9 01:53:26 2006

 Hungover but seemingly no prospect of vomiting, clearly I exercised excellent judgement last night.
John
Sat Dec 9 01:21:12 2006

 Sheri: "She" is a linguistics grad student from Tunis. I doubt my wife will let me nail her. If that's what you mean.
Travis
Fri Dec 8 23:58:55 2006

 Rob: Thanks! It was really a sort of mind reading effort between me and John, as soon as I finished writing my message where I was asking a picture a mail from his mobile arrived!! :D
Lox
Fri Dec 8 23:42:21 2006

 ... or perhaps... No I won't as it seems that my VHS recorder has gone belly-up! How annoying.... :(
Nigel
Fri Dec 8 23:08:33 2006

 Good man John!! That'll how 'em!! :)) Is there any better way to start married life, I ask myself?!?! :))) Incidentally there's a program on Channel 4 as I write, about the ultra right-wing factions in Japan and their desire for world domination..... I'll watch it later...
Nigel
Fri Dec 8 19:43:06 2006

 Congrats John and Chie! John, like the fact you wore black. Lox, nice work,
Rob Lang
Fri Dec 8 19:27:30 2006

 Shame on you, John! What an example! As a gaijin, you have a moral position. You represent the lot of us, for f... sake! Behave and stop fondling Chie's best friend's butt!
Sheri
Fri Dec 8 17:15:30 2006

 Right, Travis. 'in' the pic it is! As for French, the 'someone' you talked about is apparently a 'she'. Tell us more...
Sheri
Fri Dec 8 17:12:42 2006

 No, really, so drunk there ought to be a UN resolution banning it.
John
Fri Dec 8 16:59:50 2006

 Well thanks everyone! I'm both married and hugely drunk now, although not necessarily in that order. Anyway, as they say here in Japan, Yoroshiku!
John
Fri Dec 8 16:45:26 2006

 Sheri: Very tall "in" the pic. How would one say this in French? Dans? Incidentally, I've found someone who will teach me French in a kind of reciprocal setup. I'm going to teach her Greek; she'll teach me French. Beware, Frenchies.
Travis
Fri Dec 8 16:41:14 2006

 Congrats, John and Chie!
Travis
Fri Dec 8 14:58:47 2006

 Brrr... Cold here! After the storms of last night there was a still frost ths morning... Crazy weather! :))
As for getting sloshed Sheri.... Any expensive wine of note?!? Our cupboard seems to be a little bare in that direction... :(
Nigel
Fri Dec 8 14:55:47 2006

 Gross Sheri, gross!
Sheri
Fri Dec 8 11:25:25 2006

 Right, now that congrats are issued, let's get sloshed!
Sheri
Fri Dec 8 10:51:57 2006

 Erratum: LookS
Sheri
Fri Dec 8 10:49:34 2006

 Lox. John look very tall on the pic. Is he not standing on a hidden box?
Sheri
Fri Dec 8 10:48:59 2006

 Anyway, congratulations! To both of you! JE LEVE MON VERRE A CHIE ET JOHN (I raise my glass to them)!
Sheri
Fri Dec 8 10:47:34 2006

 And John! Interesting that white pompom (or bobble) hanging at groin level... (groin level?! That a good one!)
Sheri
Fri Dec 8 10:34:17 2006

 Why is Chie dressed like the Queen Mother?
Sheri
Fri Dec 8 10:31:26 2006

 So what is it? Nine hours on from us? In which case it's proably gone seven in the evening in Japan... the celebrations will be in full swng!!! :)))
Nigel
Fri Dec 8 10:12:31 2006

 The more I look at that picture, the more I think it's one of the best pictures EVER in the history of marriages. GOOD STUFF!
Lox
Fri Dec 8 10:11:22 2006

 Congratulations to you both - Chie, you look wonderful, and the bloke next to you looks OK too.
Mad Mumsie
Fri Dec 8 08:39:15 2006

 Congratulations JH, I like your dress :) it suits you.
Kev
Fri Dec 8 08:10:06 2006

 Oh Wow!!! Congratulations!!! How superbly splendid!!!! :))))
Nigel
Fri Dec 8 07:03:42 2006

 Nice work Lox! Right, turning phone off for a bit now.
John
Fri Dec 8 04:38:28 2006

 GROUND BREAKING NEWS

Our special correspondent from Mianjima (Japan), managed to sneak a picture of the event that shadowed Britney Spears parties and Kate Moss white stripes, the media have been kept away from the island (protected by armed helicopters and a special squad of the SAS), but we managed to get the first unofficial picture from the site itself, for security reasons we cannot tell the name of the guest, as he/she would be shot on the spot. CONGRAAAAAAATTTSSSSSSSSSSSS John and Chie!!!!!


Lox
Fri Dec 8 04:32:23 2006

 ANy live pictures of the event? Congrats again!!! I'll call you when I have finished working (and when you are most likely to be drunk!!)
Lox
Fri Dec 8 04:22:31 2006

 Right, I've got me dress on now, just got to sit around for an hour or so now.
John
Fri Dec 8 03:43:02 2006

 Care to explain the proverb of the BAR MITZVAH? I had a peek at Wikipedia, but I couldn't understand the link... Well I still don't know how do you make "Hormone"..... :D::D:D:D:D:D
Lox
Fri Dec 8 02:24:19 2006

 If you weren't veggie you'd probably be eating that pork chop by now! Please take some pictures from the groom's prospective, it's important! Just to ruin the ritual that has been like that for the past 1000 centuries! :D
Lox
Fri Dec 8 02:20:43 2006

 Well I'm on the island where we're going to have the ceremony, but it doesn't start for another 3 hours. My presence is apparently not required for the next hour, so I'm sitting on a bench by myself feeling like the proverbial pork chop at a bar mitzvah.
John
Fri Dec 8 02:05:44 2006

 NEWS FROM JAPAN

Tokyo, 8th December 2006 - Our Correspondent Lorenzo Pirisino

Cloudy day in Tokyo to salute the last hours as a bachelor of Dr.Phd.M$.ABC John Hawkins, who is going to get married at 14,30 Local hour, first in a typical Japanese dress and then (rumors from the "Sun") in a typical western tuxedo. In Hiroshima the weather is cloudy, 87% Humidity. Interviewed over the phone Dr.Hawkins told us that "I am really calm, no pressure at all, I slept soundly all night" and added "I can't wait to hit on the booze!".

GO JOHN!! La Maison at unison wishes you all the best, and of course CONGRATULATIONS!!!!
Lox
Fri Dec 8 01:41:29 2006

 Do not worry! Will call ya in a minute anyways!
Lox
Fri Dec 8 00:22:58 2006

 Anyway, I'm off to get married now, please look after the board in my absence!
John
Fri Dec 8 00:04:20 2006

 Oh, it's OK, the board just wrapped because it went past midnight - I was worried for a minute there!
John
Fri Dec 8 00:03:44 2006

 I hope it wasn't a bad idea to post those lines!
John
Fri Dec 8 00:03:00 2006

 By editing the dates, I'm referring to the lines:
In index.html:
<!-- MESSAGES year = 2006 month = 12 -->
In daily.html:
<!-- MESSAGES day = 6 -->
John
Fri Dec 8 00:02:14 2006

 As a last resort, I've put a copy of the current index.html and daily.html under /board/backup/ - if there are no .tmp files to rename, then you need to download the files, edit them with Notepad and modify the dates appropriately, then upload them into /board/. Doing so of course risks losing some messages though.
John
Thu Dec 7 23:58:54 2006

 Sorry the second one of those is the wrong way round. Anyway, maybe a good tip is to just FTP in, sort the folder by date, and you should see index.html and daily.html among the newest files. If they're not, then you might need to rename.
John
Thu Dec 7 23:57:09 2006

 If it does go wrong again, it is hopefully just a case of renaming index.html.tmp to index.html, or possibly renaming daily.html to daily.html.tmp.
John
Thu Dec 7 23:53:46 2006

 I've taken a few minutes out of my wedding morning to fix the board - in doing so I risk incurring the wrath of Chie and I'm literally taking my life into my own hands. Please don't break it again!
John
Thu Dec 7 23:52:22 2006

 Anyone have interesting holiday plans? I'm going to be heading back to Pennsylvania (my homeland). I'll be there for about a week. Haven't been back for two years. Taking the wife and kids. Everyone should be together except my older brother and his wife (they'll be in her homeland, India). Should be nice.
Travis
Thu Dec 7 03:33:28 2006

 John: That is pretty shite, as I told you "de visu" (face to face) when we met, but here in Japan it is considered a stigmata to have a foreign name and so on... It's so strange... In Italy I'd happily ditch my surname for a foreign surname if I could, it would be viewed as COOL! :)
Lox
Thu Dec 7 01:31:29 2006

 Rob: Chie is basically keeping her name it seems. Being a gaijin makes me a second grade husband - I'm just a footnote on her koseki tohon (family register - what they have instead of birth and marriage certificates). If I'm lucky my surname might get put in her passport somewhere, in brackets.
John
Thu Dec 7 00:52:59 2006

 Lox: I secretly agree entirely with your rant but am far too afraid to say so in public. Ah, oops.
John
Thu Dec 7 00:46:24 2006

 Nigel: Top song that one!!! :D I wonder who taught him the words!
Lox
Thu Dec 7 00:41:01 2006

 Rob: As I have wrote, if the thing is felt by both people then it is correct that things should go the way you did. What is the fascination with the camel thing may I ask? :P
Lox
Thu Dec 7 00:36:15 2006

 "Father Christmas; Father Christmas
He got stuck; He got stuck
Climbing down the chimney; Climbing down the Chimney
What bad luck; What bad luck"
Tim - aged 6
Nigel
Wed Dec 6 21:24:55 2006

 Watch it lad, or Father Christmas won't be coming down your chimney this year. ;)
Mad Mumsie
Wed Dec 6 15:57:45 2006

 Thanks T-Boy. Do it your own way, that's the only way. MM: Hat? You trained a bird to sit still on your head.
Rob Lang
Wed Dec 6 15:55:10 2006

 And I bought a new hat :)
Mad Mumsie
Wed Dec 6 15:32:37 2006

 And everyone had a really lovely time.
Mad Mumsie
Wed Dec 6 15:31:50 2006

 Rob: Your wedding photos did seem to hint at a certain "Rob Lang" flavor. Well played.
Travis
Wed Dec 6 15:19:58 2006

 John: Bona fortuna! Hope all goes well. Sheri: The line about "first times" was hilarious...and I hope a joke (I don't know John's views on the subject). Lox: I greatly enjoyed my wedding, but when I'm a rich bastard, I'd love to "renew" my vows in a wedding more to my taste. I don't think weddings are just for women to get excited about.
Travis
Wed Dec 6 15:19:17 2006

 The point is, it was a joint venture, it's what we BOTH wanted. She wanted to make sure the food was ok and throw caution to the wind with no flowers, I wanted a Papier Mache camel. So we did that. She wanted Stately Home and I wanted to wear a signature black long coat. Job done.
Rob Lang
Wed Dec 6 15:04:57 2006

 I see what you mean, Lox, but it's not quite like that. We wanted to have a big ass party in front of her mates and my mates. She wanted to get dressed up. So did I. So we organised our own (she helped with mine, finding that cool coat). We broke a lot of the wedding "rules" (the first in our family to do so but not so flagrantly as my uncles) to make it just how we wanted it to be.
Rob Lang
Wed Dec 6 15:02:38 2006

 Will you be taking her name or will she be taking yours? or will you go double barrelled? You've both got pretty cool surnames, Hawkins and Moriwaki. Perhaps a join? Hawiwaki? Morikins?
Rob Lang
Wed Dec 6 14:59:45 2006

 RANT MODE - I am against any form of marriage, and I am deliberately saying the following things in a provocative way.
Since it is WOMEN who really care about getting the big white dress and so on, I don't see why the burden of having to organize it all should be halved just for the sake of "we are doing this together"... If a friend of mine invites me for dinner am I expected to cook half of the meal? - END OF RANT MODE

Ok now you can flame me
Lox
Wed Dec 6 14:59:34 2006

 I was lucky, having lots of best men to run around for me and the Mrs did a lot of the 'things she wanted to do', leaving me to organise the rest of the stuff.
Rob Lang
Wed Dec 6 14:57:56 2006

 Thanks for all the best wishes etc everybody. Chie seems to be running around like a headless chicken whilst I'm very much of the opinion that so long as we both remember to turn up nothing else really matters that much... Of course, this attitude has been interpreted as laziness by the other half. Ho, hum...
John
Wed Dec 6 14:47:33 2006

 Rob: AHAHAHAHAHAH!! :) Marvellous! :D
Lox
Wed Dec 6 14:42:12 2006

 MM: Well it's an odd wish but in old Italy a male child was far more useful than a female one, mind you that's not how italians think about it now... I guess...
Lox
Wed Dec 6 14:41:02 2006

 Did he indeed. (hands on metal hips)
Mad Mumsie
Wed Dec 6 14:40:18 2006

 Just passing on the advice that (Cyber) Dad gave me.
Rob Lang
Wed Dec 6 13:58:50 2006

 So, Mr Lang, Mrs Lang Jnr obviously doesn't read this sight. Perhaps I should introduce her, if you are going to make remarks like that :)
Mad Mumsie
Wed Dec 6 13:49:09 2006

 Good luck, John boy. Don't do it, etc etc
Rob Lang
Wed Dec 6 12:59:49 2006

 MM- yes, it does seem a bit of an odd wish ...
Jimmy
Wed Dec 6 12:33:07 2006

 AND WHAT IS WRONG WITH FEMALE CHILDREN. You lot would be in a sorry state without us ;)))))
Mad Mumsie
Wed Dec 6 12:28:55 2006

 Though I wonder, Jimmy...
Sheri
Wed Dec 6 10:28:14 2006

 LOL
Sheri
Wed Dec 6 10:27:16 2006

 (yeah, and my arse is *still* sore)
Jimmy
Wed Dec 6 10:23:58 2006

 Don't forget to use condoms, John... (cose I hope you didn't do 'it' before the actual wedding, did you?) Ah, first times! I remember! I was naive and very clumsy.
Sheri
Wed Dec 6 09:41:33 2006

 Weekend? It's only Wednesday! Sorry, thought it was Friday. D'oh.
Tim's mum
Wed Dec 6 09:20:22 2006

 John: AUGURI E FIGLI MASCHI!!

(This is a typical wedding thing to say in Italy which means "Best wishes and may you have MALE children!)
Lox
Wed Dec 6 09:20:16 2006

 Sheri: Unfortunately you can't. But you can completely delete the text and put in a different blog, but now there are two sets of comments as far as I see... Oh well...
Lox
Wed Dec 6 09:18:19 2006

 John and Chie, Very best wishes to you both. Hope your weekend is wonderful. Look forward to seeing pics of Dr & Mrs. Hawkins. (How grown-up does that sound!)
Tim's mum
Wed Dec 6 09:17:39 2006

 Hi guys. How can I delete an entry?
Sheri
Wed Dec 6 09:02:01 2006

 Good luck John & Chie! Have a great day!
Jimmy
Wed Dec 6 08:55:51 2006

 John: Good luck to both of you, I hope you have a wonderful day and that the sun shines. Look forward to seeing the photos :)
Mad Mumsie
Wed Dec 6 08:41:45 2006

 morning peeps, long time no see, thought I'd drop by and see how everyone is. Anyone up for a meet up back in Reading some time ? :)
Raj
Wed Dec 6 08:14:59 2006

 John: You are right, but I simply can't be arsed to put soul in something that I believe I am going to leave there in a couple o years... Oh and by the way I hope everything goes well at the wedding... Will you ever be able to forgive me for not coming? Well I won't forgive myself that easily I am afraid... :(
Lox
Wed Dec 6 08:14:18 2006

 Lox: Yep, that's the guy (Mario DaSilva). I only just discovered him, but he'svery "mellow". The CD's I found weren't the flamenco type though; but he's clearly a superb player :))
Nigel
Wed Dec 6 07:34:15 2006

 Morning all!!! :)
I say - this is all too casual John! I mean... "A Wedding"!!!! (Still, trust a genuine "Chap" to play these things down! ) I sincerely hope things go to plan and that you and Chie have a great time!! Don't worry too much about anything else. (There will be "stresses" but they are inconsequential). It's all for you two... Yes, it's even embarrassing (well mine was!)... And annoying when you discover all the guests have drunk the booze and there's nothing left for you!!! (Speaking personally, of course!)
So - Enjoy the day!!!! You have my best wishes!!!! :)))))))))))
Nigel
Wed Dec 6 07:31:54 2006

 Right, well anyway, I'm off to Hiroshima now. Not sure I'll be online all that much over the next few days as I think I'm going to be pretty busy with the wedding and everything... will maybe just check in occasionally using my phone. Please look after the Maison while I'm away!
John
Wed Dec 6 04:45:57 2006

 Browsing idly on wikipedia just now, I discovered that at one time Burger King was owned by Guinness (well, sort of) - isn't that crazy?
John
Wed Dec 6 02:43:51 2006

 Lox: ....and any foray into Ikea territory must be swiftly remedied by watching Fight Club. I'd also suggest that Radiohead's OK Computer had Ikea in mind, without ever specifically mentioning it - particularly the songs No Surprises and Fitter, Happier. Shopping at Ikea has become iconic of the sort of banal and futile routine which people in the modern world call life. Rebel Lorenzo! Rebel! Go thee unto some hitherto untrodden island and collect driftwood, and make yourself a shelf out of that. It may be structurally unsound, and somewhat less convenient than just popping down to Ikea, but think of the soul you'll be putting into that corner of your room. It'll make a great conversation piece at dinner parties.
John
Wed Dec 6 02:25:30 2006

 Travis: maybe not worth comitting a felony over Glenmorangie - if it is a fairly standard bottling it ought to be relatively inexpensive and easy to come by. I'm not a particular fan of Glenmorangie given that I'm more of an Islay man, but where they do shine is in the plethora of different cask types they experiment with (although this could be an admission from them that the basic spirit is a little uninteresting!).
John
Wed Dec 6 02:18:37 2006

 Lox, are you sitting further away from the screen than you normally do?
John
Wed Dec 6 02:12:24 2006

 is it me or the messageboard just changed the font size/style?
Lox
Wed Dec 6 01:40:27 2006

 Tempting, Lox...the Ikea, that is.
Travis
Wed Dec 6 01:36:04 2006

 I am currently browsing the Ikea page to look for a suitable bookshelf for when I go back home...
Lox
Wed Dec 6 01:28:04 2006

 I would have drank the bottle and dispose of the evidences...
Lox
Wed Dec 6 01:18:05 2006

 John: I am watching the residence of one of my professors while he's in the UK this semester. He's from Ireland, mind you. At any rate, I was at his place tinkering with the thermostat because the temperature is reaching freezing during the nights right now, and I noticed that he has a bottle of Glenmorangie. If it were opened, I would have consumed some. It wasn't.
Travis
Wed Dec 6 00:59:06 2006

 Good evening.
Travis
Wed Dec 6 00:57:31 2006

 Good morning everyone by the way (which given the current time zone means only to John)...
Lox
Wed Dec 6 00:07:29 2006

 Mario da silva? The flamenco player? He's great!
Lox
Wed Dec 6 00:05:24 2006

 Evening all! Just been tooling around iTunes, listening to stuff I'd never dreamed I would. Some good, some awful. Found a very restful accoustic guitar recording by Mario DaSilva... Quite liked it. Touched on some classics - A Horse with no Name by America.... I shall continue...
Nigel
Tue Dec 5 22:42:06 2006

 Yeah? Well Padme's dead.
Rob Lang
Tue Dec 5 15:43:31 2006

 I LOVE the "Lord Lox" bit, I think I am going to use it from now on! :)
Lox
Tue Dec 5 14:56:36 2006

 Rob (with a little echoy voice) I AM YOUR FATHER!! (now you can dive in a garbage chute 10000 miles above the sky)
Lox
Tue Dec 5 14:56:05 2006

 Don't try to frighten us with your sorcerer's ways, Lord Lox. Your sad devotion to that ancient religion has not helped you conjure up seemless web component integration, or given you clairvoyance enough to use tag clouds.
Rob Lang
Tue Dec 5 14:45:47 2006

 Worth a look, though, even just for the community feel of it all. I must admit that I want to conglomerate a lot of the content I have scattered around the web in a single place. I might write a blog in eBlogger and then use my maison account for bringing that and all the other stuff into one place for the complete 'Rob Lang' story as it were. The more I look, the more stuff I have lying around and I really do want to get it all sorted in the (or for the) new year.
Rob lang
Tue Dec 5 14:18:11 2006

 Rob: well feel free to make use of SBM if you wish, however I feel it probably won't do a lot in your case - you don't have an existing Greymatter blog to import, your current system isn't plagued by timeouts I'm assuming, and you're already reaping the benefits of XML/XSLT. I guess all SBM will do for you on top of that is a bit of archive management, things like RSS files, and of course comment posting.
John
Tue Dec 5 14:11:46 2006

 Actually I wasn't playing around with the scripts, it was just the same old CGI timeout problem as ever. It was an immense struggle against the bout of lethargy with which I'm afflicted today, but I just managed to summon the energy to fix the daily page. If it goes wrong again today though I fear I simply don't have the will to fix it.
John
Tue Dec 5 14:09:02 2006

 And the daily page to which we are all redirected is also broken and apparently "cannot be found".... ergo, John is playin around with the scripts!
Lox
Tue Dec 5 13:48:47 2006

 Incidentally after posting that message below, I got a CGI timeout error.... Oh well...
Lox
Tue Dec 5 13:47:33 2006

 Rob: Join the dark side (SBM), and you'll become more powerful than you have ever imagined....
Lox
Tue Dec 5 13:41:12 2006

 Nice, John. Glad to hear you opted for JS ASP rather than the ugly child of Basic. am looking into all the options at the moment (as well as SBM) for the next version of my bit of the maison. Still not sure what to do.
Rob Lang
Tue Dec 5 09:57:27 2006

 John: I am back only now... Comments have been edited from that post. As for the picture bar, I did it because it was quick to click on it and go back, but set aside from me (and possibly you) nobody else knows about it I think....
Lox
Tue Dec 5 08:39:23 2006

 Ah! Thanks very much. I'll give it a go later. (It was reading your note to Rob about those transforms that made me think...)
Nigel
Tue Dec 5 07:36:56 2006

 Nigel: If you directly edit any of the HTML pages generated by SBM then those edits will be lost when that file is rebuilt (for example when a new comment is posted).

The HTML files are generated by transforming the raw entry (saved in XML) using XSL, then inserting a header and footer, which come from HTML snippets saved in the /nigel/sbm/html/ directory.

You'll need to make the changes in the files under /nigel/sbm/html/ then from SBM do an appropriate rebuild.
John
Tue Dec 5 07:34:28 2006

 John: Don't know if you spotted a comment I made the other day in your blog. It was about the fact that I'd FTP'd a new sidebar image (you know, that one of me photographing myself with the phone) and bit of text, into my area and it seemed to work. But then, when I made a new blog entry it reverted to the way it had been before. Should I be doing anything specific to properly accomplish this task??
Nigel
Tue Dec 5 07:25:16 2006

 Morning all!! :)
Nigel
Tue Dec 5 07:02:48 2006

 I seem to have been overcome by a wave of lethargy today. I sort of wrote the script required to make a list of most commented entries, but I don't have the enthusiasm to finish it off, debug it etc.
John
Tue Dec 5 07:02:32 2006

 Lox: the big banner logo on my page also links back to the main page of the 'Maison. I have no idea why I made it do that - it doesn't really make any sense...!
John
Tue Dec 5 05:41:07 2006

 Lox - if you're still bored may I propose that you have a short but gratifying time deleting the spam which has unfortunately accumulated here.
John
Tue Dec 5 05:39:52 2006

 Works now, no problem, I have been changing the pages a little, I wonder if any of you could give me tips on how to improve them... I think that the big picture on the top that has a direct like to the main page is not used by anyone (as it is not publicized it was done mostly for me)... But maybe there is something else that needs to be changed.... Any ideas guys and gals?
Lox
Tue Dec 5 04:23:31 2006

 I looked just now and I could see the archive for November - both the link in the master archive index, and the archive index for November itself. Are you sure?
John
Tue Dec 5 03:50:40 2006

 If you do a "Rebuild Absolutely Bloody Everything" from today it will build that master archive index. Prior to yesterday though that file wasn't included.
John
Tue Dec 5 03:48:34 2006

 John: I couldn't help but noticing that the archive from NOVEMBER is completely missing though... Anything wrong with that? I rebuilt the Master Index Archive, it was bloody fast by the way! :D
Lox
Tue Dec 5 03:40:35 2006

 I remember that I did a "Rebuild Bloody Everything" and I thought that it would take care of all aspects of the Rebuild Issue... Anyways I'll get the wheel spinning and rebuild the file that you say!
Lox
Tue Dec 5 03:37:34 2006

 The file that "Rebuild Archive Master Index" rebuilds on your bit of the site is here - it's basically just a list of all the months in which you've posted entries, with links to the archive entry page for each month. Until yesterday SBM wouldn't have built that file, so right now you may still be seeing the page that Greymatter built (last time it managed to do so without timing out).
John
Tue Dec 5 03:01:10 2006

 I've fixed (what I assume to be) the error you saw earlier. Technically you might want to go and do a "Rebuild Archive Master Index" to rebuild the file that it failed to rebuild earlier, but in practice the difference will be pretty negligible.
John
Tue Dec 5 02:57:23 2006

 I see... I am currently in the office doing FUCK ALL, this afternoon contract talks are going to take place, then I hope I can go to bed early as my back is killing me!!! :(
Lox
Tue Dec 5 02:54:18 2006

 Actually I may not be going out after all - just phoned the British embassy to check their opening hours and apparently they're closed all day today for training - glad I checked! Anyway, I think I've found that error already - it's not serious, as you noted your entry was still posted, I think it just means your archive index for December will not have been rebuilt just now (it'll get built again later on, don't worry).
John
Tue Dec 5 02:45:13 2006

 I have to go out for a while now, but might get a chance to look at it later on this afternoon.
John
Tue Dec 5 02:33:58 2006

 What was the error?
John
Tue Dec 5 02:32:59 2006

 John: I hate to be the one that breaks your toys but SMB just returned me a Javascrip error while posting my last entry... Since it eventually got posted I didn't reload or anything, probably is a problem with the PHONE connection that I am using here at the office though...
Lox
Tue Dec 5 02:14:54 2006

 Rob: it's a blog engine written in ASP (with JavaScript as the scripting language, because VBS is just too horrible). Entries and comments are stored as XML files, and it uses XSL to turn these into the HTML files that you eventually see on the site. Currently we're all using the same set of XSL files from a common SBM directory on the site, and our respective pages are then personalised with snippets of HTML that can inserted by the engine after the transform takes place (as well as having our own CSS, of course). ...but I've already put in a simple feature to "override" this default behaviour, so if you'd prefer you can just keep your own XSL files on your bit of the site, and then you can make a look and feel which is entirely different to the others.

It has all the basic features you'd expect for managing your blog, so you can of course edit entries after you've posted them and also delete comments. In addition to a page for each entry it also generates a main page for your bit of the site with the most recent entries on, as well as monthly archive indices of your entries, an RSS feed, and the little "most recent" file that gets aggregated onto the main page of the Maison. Perhaps the most important feature is that it can automagically import entries from Greymatter - not much use for you obviously, but an absolute must for the rest of us. So Nigel/Travis/Sheri/Lox have been able to pretty much seamlessly transition from the old to the new system, and from the outside you'd never really know any difference. Unlike Greymatter though, it is written to be very efficient, so (thus far at least - touch wood) it doesn't run into the CGI timeout problems that had made Greymatter basically unusable.
John
Tue Dec 5 01:28:52 2006

 Nice John. Can you fill me in on this SBM stuff. What is it? I am thinking of moving my stuff on somehow but as I am a webcoder during the day I am not sure I can be arsed to do it in my spare time now.
Rob Lang
Mon Dec 4 15:42:03 2006

 Rob: That would probably be frightening. I saw the sort of crowd that the place attracts. Well done. John: You're a busy man. Calm but busy.
Travis
Mon Dec 4 13:34:01 2006

 John: That post is a real winner isn't it? I wonder which is the top ten in the last five years, commentwise...
Lox
Mon Dec 4 11:43:09 2006

 Sorry - I meant see here or here.
John
Mon Dec 4 10:15:26 2006

 I have taken the liberty of converting the old site-wide blog (see here) over to SBM. I haven't written any new articles on it for ages, and it had sort of fallen into disuse among the 'Maison regulars, but it seems there is still a thriving community of people endlessly arguing about the Diamond Car Insurance article from almost five years ago. It has nearly 300 comments! Although admittedly a number of these are duplicates due to people reposting what with the CGI timeouts and everything.

So anyway, now there isn't so much of a smidgeon of Greymatter left on the site - we're 100% SBM-tastic.
John
Mon Dec 4 10:14:30 2006

 Rob: I wonder what were they thinking when they saw you like that... maybe another German invasion attempt?
Lox
Mon Dec 4 09:59:03 2006

 T-Boy, Henley is just down the road/river from Reading (upon Thames). I've been through there a number of times - perhaps the crowning moment was walking through with a load of cadets on an expedition wearing back packs and combat clothing. The toffs really didn't know what to think!
Rob Lang
Mon Dec 4 09:08:14 2006

 Presentation over, I think it went ok... Now more menial crappy work (sticking YET MORE FABRICS on boards), I hope I can make it back home by not later than 9 ish...
Lox
Mon Dec 4 08:18:37 2006

 Morning all!! :)
Nigel
Mon Dec 4 06:50:52 2006

 Glad you liked it Travis - the old HP sauce rarely disappoints!
John
Mon Dec 4 05:10:40 2006

 John: Just had a glass of Highland Park. It was my first experience, but it was surprisingly good. Very little burn, a lot of flavor. A more experienced companion said that it was certainly one of his top five favorite (he'd never had it before). Thanks much.
Travis
Mon Dec 4 03:05:23 2006

 John: Thanks! To be honest I feel like a puppet, so in a way I feel like there are no responsibilities involved in the outcome of the presentation... Oh well...
Lox
Mon Dec 4 02:50:30 2006

 Good morning Lox. Hope your big presentation thingy goes well today.
John
Mon Dec 4 00:47:31 2006

 Good Morning...
Lox
Mon Dec 4 00:11:27 2006

 ... oh yes, and pomposity is a pre-requisit!!! :)
Nigel
Sun Dec 3 17:22:48 2006

 Ah yes Travis, that's the Henley Royal regatta, held, unsurprisingly at Henley-on-Thames!! :)
Nigel
Sun Dec 3 17:20:14 2006

 Oops. It's Henley Royal Regatta. My one professor has shown a few images from his journeys there. He is apparently acquainted with some royalty, was able to hang out in the "exclusive" areas. I know nothing about rowing, but it's sufficiently pompous that it interests me.
Travis
Sun Dec 3 17:18:22 2006

 Yes, Nigel. I figured that was the case. There's a very famous Regatta in the UK...Henry's? Royal may be in the title even. I believe that when London host the Olympics, rowing events are held there.
Travis
Sun Dec 3 16:39:43 2006

 Not sure now, Travis. Don't think it's as highly regarded here as in the US - except maybe the rowing...
Nigel
Sun Dec 3 15:57:09 2006

 So in short, I'm going to grade a lot of quizzes and then watch the televized event, I believe. Possibly write a paper.
Travis
Sun Dec 3 15:44:49 2006

 Today is an important day in terms of college athletics (I don't know how important college athletics is in the UK). The seedings for the top football bowl games are announced today. They are like mini-championship games, but there is only one actual championship games. The bowl games pit evenly-matched teams against one another. It's a big deal, there's a TON of money involved.
Travis
Sun Dec 3 15:44:03 2006

 Ah yes, let me pontificate for hours on the advantages of one over the other...!! Er... No... Mandriva used to be called Mandrake but got bought out. DSL is based on Knoppix, which in turn is based on Debian... So you see?!?! You *do* know all there is to know! ;))))))
Nigel
Sun Dec 3 15:26:10 2006

 ...although I hear the package manager is better in Shplunketvlabbymugweirz.
John
Sun Dec 3 14:36:06 2006

 Nigel: Mandriva - now there's another one I've never heard of. Say, have you tried Zrumegonplicktyblah?
John
Sun Dec 3 14:35:05 2006

 Well, I was going to try the latest Mandriva 2007 - a magazine I bought had a copy on the front. Then I noticed, tucked away in some 50mb iso, hidden in a sub-dir, DSL. Thought I'd try it! I was very surprised how quickly it ran, how light a footprint it makes and how good it is in combination with FireFox!! However, I'm no expert here...! It just struck me what a compact, fast and very secure way to do some web browsing this was. Especially in a VM. I don't have any pressing need to do this, mind you, this is just for "fun"...!!!! (Remember the stormy weather here at the mo.. :))))
Nigel
Sun Dec 3 14:09:35 2006

 I'm a relative novice when it comes to Linux - a very long time ago I dabbled with RedHat, and slightly more recently I used Debian a bit. That's it. There seems to be some sort of fashion with Linux distributions, every month or so one of you guys mentions some new distribution I've never heard of before, which makes all previous ones completely outdated and worthless. I can't keep up!
John
Sun Dec 3 14:02:57 2006

 With reference to Bob Dylan's famous song, I am inclined to ask how many Linux distributions must one man install, before he can say he's a man...?
John
Sun Dec 3 13:58:10 2006

 Ha! Just posting from Firefox running in DSL (Damn Small Linux) as a virtual machine! Unbelievably quick to load and faaaast!
Nigel
Sun Dec 3 11:23:55 2006

 Sold!!! :))))
Nigel
Sun Dec 3 09:16:53 2006

 If mince pies are the order of the day, may I propose some sort of extravagant and not even remotely health concious cream product to accompany? Clotted and with booze in, ideally.
John
Sun Dec 3 09:10:18 2006

 Most certainly!! :) A trip to Sainsbury's is apparently on the cards now, so we can, at least, replenish stocks!! What I seem to have become rather attached to this year, is mince pies! There are some lovely ones out there - not just the plain boring ones of old!
Nigel
Sun Dec 3 08:49:40 2006

 Nigel: sounds like a nice quiet day in is called for then! Can I suggest scheduling in a round of tea and something toasted and buttered: perhaps teacakes or crumpets?
John
Sun Dec 3 08:37:06 2006

 Hi John! Well there's a nasty wind out there; it's raining against the windows too. So, nothing planned as yet! I can hear people stirring upstairs so the peace and quiet will be shattered soon!!! :))
Nigel
Sun Dec 3 08:14:56 2006

 Good morning Europe! What have you chaps got planned for the day?
John
Sun Dec 3 08:10:25 2006

 Morning!! :))
Nigel
Sun Dec 3 07:38:43 2006

 Good morning.
Sheri
Sun Dec 3 07:18:48 2006

 OK Lox, in that case maybe we should meet a bit earlier? I could probably leave Yokohama a bit earlier, and get to Ikebukuro for 6 instead.
John
Sun Dec 3 05:15:57 2006

 John: yes sounds like a good idea but quercus is not an issue this time, I'd like to go back early as tomorrow I have the big presentation and I need to be as awaken as possible... Is that ok for you? I'll call you around 5 ish anyways...
Lox
Sun Dec 3 04:47:23 2006

 Lox: I'm going to be in Yokohama this afternoon, but will be back in Tokyo for the evening. If you feel like going out this evening, how about a trip to Ikebukuro? I think I should be able to get there by 7PM. If you're interested, probably the best place to meet up would be the Metropolitan Exit - then we can start off with a bite to eat at Rohlan, and afterwards head on to Quercus.
John
Sun Dec 3 02:35:49 2006

 Sheri: I thought so! :) So you DID see the ferrari! :D
Lox
Sun Dec 3 00:11:48 2006

 Lige så godt! ;)
Nigel
Sat Dec 2 20:46:22 2006

 Nigel, I'm polyglot. I'm good with 'tongues'... ;-)
Sheri
Sat Dec 2 20:19:58 2006

 Sheri: I've got to ask: How many languages can you speak?
Nigel
Sat Dec 2 20:16:47 2006

 Lox. Infatti, si trattava semplicemente di topa (credo che si dice 'topa' per designare il sesso feminile). Volevo ottenere qualche spiegazione sul'espressione inglese "to give sb the V sign".
Sheri
Sat Dec 2 18:33:17 2006

 Sheri: I think I thought (yes, that's right) that your first name was Sheridan. Lox: Totally agree. Playing fast and loose with spirits is something for the inividual who knows his likes and dislikes...or for the bartender who has similar knowledge of a longstanding customer.
Travis
Sat Dec 2 16:38:29 2006

 Travis: Yeah, people think they are being generous when they effectively "spike" your drink. Trouble is that usually it wrecks the interplay of tastes the original drink was meant to have!
The most offensive word is and easy one, guys. Yolu all know it. Don't try thinking of anything too clever... Mind you, going by the news of late, it's clearly Polonium. What a mad world.. :(
Nigel
Sat Dec 2 15:52:47 2006

 Sheri: You MUST tell me!! It's not an option... Go at the window of the kitchen, do you see that man disguised as your neighbor but visualized as a ferrari? Well, failing to tell me might result in sudden explosion of the man. MHUAUMAUAAUUAMUA (ONE MILLION DOLLARS!)
Lox
Sat Dec 2 15:24:35 2006

 Travis: yes, Donald it is! Not a common name in frogland!
Sheri
Sat Dec 2 15:18:52 2006

 Lox: Ah ah ah! I won't tell you!
Sheri
Sat Dec 2 15:15:04 2006

 I would love to know what the most offensive word in the English language is. It may be different from the US to the UK, mind you. In other news, I had a martini last evening, with Bombay sapphire gin. It was horrendous, but I can't drink martinis as is, so it may have been good qua martini. I then wished some coffee to speed my metabolism, so I asked for some Irish coffee...and the bartender went crazy on the whiskey so it was unpleasant. Bit of a stomach problem this morning.
Travis
Sat Dec 2 15:13:09 2006

 Now you are getting me even MORE curious (if it was needed), what DID YOU WROTE?!? I know I will loose sleep over this issue... Was he referring to female genitalia? The idea that I might not know what is the most tabooed word in english is driving me insane!
Lox
Sat Dec 2 13:44:34 2006

 Interesting explanation, John. History has its positive side!
Sheri
Sat Dec 2 13:37:34 2006

 Sheri.... and again I'm really sorry for the censorship - I wasn't offended myself, it's just as I say my family read that bit of the site regularly, and your comment included basically the most taboo word in the English language!
John
Sat Dec 2 13:34:03 2006

 Sheri: yes I agree they were valid questions. The "V" in Japan is used to mean peace, which is odd really as, like you said, it's original use was V for Victory. Of course, whilst victory will generally result in peace, they're not quite the same concepts! I don't really know how the misinterpretation (if that's what it is) happened. As for the offensive hand gesture used in the UK, I heard it originates from around the time of the battle of Agincourt. The British army had won a lot of battles because of the skill of their archers, so when British soldiers were captured by the French, they'd cut off their bow fingers as a punishment. British troops who hadn't been captured then got into the habit of starting off a battle by clearly showing the French they still had their bow fingers, and thus the modern day hand gesture arose.
John
Sat Dec 2 13:31:05 2006

 Sheri: Two pints on an empty stomach are more than enough for me, given that at dinner we had more beer of course... As for the comment, I am curious to know what did you write of so terrible that had to be deleted!!!
Lox
Sat Dec 2 13:29:25 2006

 Nigel: this seems to be based on the opinion that foreigners come to Japan and then just run off back to their native country after a few months without settling their debts. I'm sure there have been instances of this happening, but still, prejudice is prejudice - you can't go tarring all foreigners with the same brush.
John
Sat Dec 2 13:27:10 2006

 And now I believe I understand a comment you wrote on my blog, a few weeks ago. You said you couldn't say everything you wanted because of your readership. I thought you were talking in terms of content. Apparently, you meant the form, didn't you? The vocab. If so, I apologize. On the other hand, I'm a damn frog...!
Sheri
Sat Dec 2 13:27:10 2006

 Ok, no problem, John. I understand. But, actually, I was not trying to be funny. These were real questions. Could you provide me with the answers via my email adress?
Sheri
Sat Dec 2 13:18:08 2006

 Sorry, that sounds a bit odd, given we are all posting together!! I was referring to the Japanese attitude to foreign names etc...
Nigel
Sat Dec 2 13:17:28 2006

 That's a bit "off" isn't it? Just imagine the furore if that went on over her!
Nigel
Sat Dec 2 13:14:31 2006

 Sheri: really sorry but I've had to delete your comment on my blog - my Mum reads it and the choice of language was almost certainly going to cause alarm.
John
Sat Dec 2 13:14:22 2006

 Sheri: she probably won't - you have a really hard time in Japan if your name is foreign sounding (as I can attest to) - it's very common to get refused credit cards, apartments etc etc simply on the grounds that the name on the application form isn't Japanese. So given that one of us already has this disability, it didn't seem to make sense to inflict both of us with it.
John
Sat Dec 2 13:11:51 2006

 Guinness gives me the runs...
Sheri
Sat Dec 2 13:10:59 2006

 Ah Sheri... But two pints of a high-quality beverage!! The gentleman needs to be commended for his choice!! ;)))))
Nigel
Sat Dec 2 13:08:18 2006

 Btw, John. Did Chie change her name for Hawkins?
Sheri
Sat Dec 2 13:00:59 2006

 I think so! However it does seem to be getting earlier every year... I'll post some pictures later.
How's things, Lox? Been busy again today?
Nigel
Sat Dec 2 12:57:06 2006

 Lox: only two pints. Nothing to boast about!
Sheri
Sat Dec 2 12:56:58 2006

 Christmas parade? is it not a trifle too early?
Sheri
Sat Dec 2 12:55:57 2006

 :)))))
We've just been to the annual Oswestry Christmas Parade... Cold!
Nigel
Sat Dec 2 12:35:48 2006

 Morning (evening here) all, I have just left John at Shinjuku with Chie, it has been the usual great thing to see him, drank also 2 pints of Guinness in the mids of talking... :)
Lox
Sat Dec 2 11:51:17 2006

 Morning all!! :)
Nigel
Sat Dec 2 07:55:35 2006

 How would I know?
Sheri
Sat Dec 2 07:25:47 2006

 Sheri: What exactly has been done?
Lox
Sat Dec 2 00:42:49 2006

 Sheri: Indeed. On both accounts. Lox: It's been done.
Travis
Fri Dec 1 21:04:29 2006

 I must be uneducated!
John
Fri Dec 1 17:26:58 2006

 'koprophage', for the benefit of the uneducated, means shit eater. Is that really your mail address, Travis?
Sheri
Fri Dec 1 16:16:18 2006

 Nigel: I said it in English so everyone could enjoy it. My professor who deals in the filthiest of Greek poetry's head shot up at that. I hope he was pleased.
Travis
Fri Dec 1 15:50:06 2006

 That goes without saying, Sheri ;)))
Travis: So I guess the recipients spotted your naughtiness?
Nigel
Fri Dec 1 15:44:50 2006

 Sheri/Lox: You were desiring that paper that I wrote on punishment. It's not in its final version, but I have the version that I presented yesterday. I should boast that I was able to say "wide-assholed" (euruprwktos) in my talk. If you'd be so kind as to send me an email at koprophage (at gmail) I'll send along the paper.
Travis
Fri Dec 1 15:41:58 2006

 As far as I'm concerned, I'm still innocent...!
Sheri
Fri Dec 1 15:39:32 2006

 ...and think where you were 5 years ago Travis!! I was young and innocent back then...
Nigel
Fri Dec 1 15:37:59 2006

 In looking over the archives, I saw that I have posted at least as early as December, 2002. That would make this Christmas my fifth Christmas at the maison. Has it been that long?
Travis
Fri Dec 1 15:18:54 2006

 MM: Thanks. That's what I get for only going to my page and the msg board with regularity.
Travis
Fri Dec 1 15:14:27 2006

 Travis: there is a link on the main page by the message board link that says Archives. They are ALL there.
Mad Mumsie
Fri Dec 1 15:08:38 2006

 John: I infact finished work at TEN THIRTY PM, although I had just been idle for the last hour. I'll write something about it tomorrow, but I know how you felt all this time man!! How was the filth anyways?
Lox
Fri Dec 1 15:05:52 2006

 I'd love to see those old comments. I didn't get to read them all. There were references to Scotch which I missed. Anyone feel like digging up a link for me? Morning, all. Lubbock had some interesting weather. Two inches of snow yesterday, and today all classes before 10:00 were cancelled at my university. Great stuff.
Travis
Fri Dec 1 15:01:46 2006

 (Not sure I can say that , actually. Of a rare kind, perhaps?)
Sheri
Fri Dec 1 15:00:36 2006

 Of course I wasn't including you, MM. You are a lady of a rare species. :-)
Sheri
Fri Dec 1 14:59:02 2006

 Come on Sheri - its the 1st December, so a new page. If you want to see all those wonderful comments you made yesterday, go to archives and pick November. Oh, surprise, surprise, there they all are :)
Mad Mumsie
Fri Dec 1 14:38:53 2006

 Sheri, just watch who you are calling names.......we have looooooooooooooooong memories!
Mad Mumsie
Fri Dec 1 14:35:59 2006

 So Lorenzo missed out on a night of glorious filth for the sake of his so called "work". That boy needs to sort his priorities out!
John
Fri Dec 1 14:30:16 2006

 Good afternoon, by the way.
Sheri
Fri Dec 1 13:37:20 2006

 What?! All my witty comments from yesterday have been deleted?! Am I being censored? Of course I am! Anglo-Saxon Basts, the lot of you...!
Sheri
Fri Dec 1 13:36:52 2006

 Hmm, not tried Aquavit in the freezer, T's M, but yes it's like schnapps! Right, where's that ice-cube tray...? ;)
Nigel
Fri Dec 1 13:14:25 2006

 Happy Anniversary to Lox's knee! Nigel: Do you keep your Schnapps in the freezer? I believe Aquavit stays liquid - is that the same as Schnapps? (I accept no responsibility for failed experiments!).
Tim's mum
Fri Dec 1 12:49:41 2006

 Morning Maisoneers!! :)
So Lox, it would be better if I *didn't* say "many happy returns" then!!! Joking aside, how does the knee feel these days? Does the knee still let you know it's there?
Nigel
Fri Dec 1 07:11:30 2006

 Actually it was yesterday.... Oh well, doesn't matter!
Lox
Fri Dec 1 04:31:34 2006

 TODAY IT's MY KNEE SURGERY ANNIVERSARY!!! (1 year)... Dunno if I have to be happy about it, but I thought it my be interesting for you to know, needless to say that I think it's enough to have such an occasion to remember once in a lifetime only.... :P
Lox
Fri Dec 1 00:00:46 2006