w.Blogger V4.00 Release Candidate 2 installed

I have just updated from Beta 1 to RC 2, looking at the history file I would expect no issues, and certainly do not currently have any of the issues fixed between the two versions

Hospital Again

Amanda's dad, Mike, is back in hospital again. he has been battling against cancer for the last few years with some success. He has been thro' a colostomy, and recently completed a 6 week couse of kemotherapy. He was due to get the results from his latest cat-scan on Monday, but instead was admitted with severe heart palpatations.

He has been in for 5 days now, and is feeling very down.

The Da-Vinci Code

I have recently completed "The Da-Vinci Code" by Dan Brown, WOW! It's one of the best novels I have read in years!! I have no idea where the facts end and the fiction starts, but it all blends so seamlessly and it is a real page turner.

It seems that Ron Howard has the task of turning this book into a film, I hope he does a good job of it, I fear for the results of a "Hollywood" treatment on such a complex story line!

I have now started to read "Digital Fortress" by the same author, the story has already captivated me, but I do have a few issues with the repeated confusion between a 64BIT key and a 64 CHARACTER key, a small point, but enough to reduce the credability of the story.

The INK has finally been re-scheduled

The new date is Monday December 6th - 10:00 AM

Happy Birthday Amanda

Today is Amanda's 38th birthday... Congratulations sweetheart

She has just opened her cards and presents, and we are going into Birmingham as soon as we are all washed and dressed. The annual German market is currently on, she has £40 in birthday money to spend and we all fancy a cooked breakfast!

Hayley Westenra in Concert

[Listening to: River of Dreams - Hayley Westenra - Pure (04:20)]

Last night I took Amy to Symphony Hall in Birmingham to see Hayley Westenra in concert.

It was a really good evening, the girl has got the voice of an angel!!

She walked onto stage at 7:30 pm sharp, and started singing "Amazing Grace" whilst the small orchestra looked on silently, slowly joining in to wards the halfway stage. I was almost in tears, what a fantastic voice! she sang 4 songs and then introduced her "guest" a greek tenor Mario who perfored two songs - then an interval : after 35 minutes!!

The concert resumed after 20 minutes with two solo violin performances, before Hayley returned in a changed outfit. The same "a few from her, followed by a few from him" with another change of frock... Finally the obligatory encore which include a haunting version of "Pokarekare Ana" (another slightly moist eye moment) and "Hine e Hine" which finished as a duet with Mario.

There were numerous plugs for a "Special Edition" of Pure, on sale for a mere £15 - Rather a lot of money for an assorted collection of 7 additional tracks, when you already have the original album! The program was £6, again a little expensive given the size of it

Overall verdict - Excellent performances - just a little on the short side, not really very good value for money

The "INK" has been delayed

It was originally going to be 2nd week in October - but Dado was on holiday... there was then a period were Steve wasn't available due to work commitments, but finally we booked Thursday 4th November - the day after tommorow!!

Unfortunately, that has had to be cancelled, there has been a death in the family, and the shop will be shut for a few days. Steve is going to arrange another appointment for sometime soon....