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03012010250

I should be packing.  And cleaning.  And vacuuming.  And finishing the laundry.  And packing.

But I couldn't possibly not post this.

It would seem that the Higher Education Opportunity Act was passed by Congress in August 2008. 

Never heard of it?  Don't feel bad; neither did I.  To be honest, I tend not to pay much attention to what the elected congressweasels are up to at any given time.  Ignorance is usually bliss when it comes to politicians.  Mind you, I vote in every election...and I always end up voting for, by my standards, the lesser of two obnoxious and self-serving evils.  (No, no, not at all cynical.)

However, one of the provisions of this act was that starting in July 2010, college bookstores would be forced to provide the ISBNs of all the textbooks they carry so that college students can make informed choices when purchasing such books rather than be at the mercy of dictatorial bookstore staff whose actions, in fairness, are often due to corporate policy.  (Follett, I'm talking to you.)

Pardon me while I do a happy dance.

Mind you, even if the college bookstore's prices approach "reasonable", I will continue to buy my texts from those sellers online who have served me well in the past.  And I shall take great delight in telling my sundry student friends about a) the HEO Act and b) those online sellers.

Tomorrow I am undergoing my "special procedure", or as Mr FD has taken to calling it my "journey to the centre of the earth". I have been on the "special" diet since Sunday and my last meal is at lunchtime today. At 4pm I get to start the "special" drink. I imagine the rest of the evening will be taken up along these lines -

journey to the centre of the earth

tomorrow, tomorrow it is all happening at 6.30am tomorrow!

Y!J Search and alumni
Originally uploaded by angrydicemoose

2010 is here and just had my first official day at my new job. I've know most of these folks for over five years now so the familiarity is nice. Plenty of new and fun challenges ahead, so this should be a fun year. (NOTE: photo and blog post are unrelated)

2010も始まり、今日は新しい職場での初仕事。殆どのメンバーは知り合って5年以上たつので、すでにエンジンかかった状態でスタート（？）。年男な今年は新しい職場でのチャレンジが楽しみです。(写真は去年の年末に参加した検索チームの卒業生と現役メンバーの集まり。。。)

I've been absent for a week or so, thanks to my laptop wishing me a happy christmas by dying on its arse while my live-in computer fix-it man was in Inverness visiting his family, so apologies to anyone whose comments or posts I've not replied to/ written about. As I'm back at work now with quite literally bog all to do until the sites start generating some work for me I thought I'd have a look at some of my stats for the years 2000 - 2010.

Things Lost/ given away:

• 3 grandparents, 1 sort of surrogate grandmother brought in replace one of the actual ones who was a cow, 1 great aunt and 1 great uncle. Blimey, there's been a bit of a cull in the family this past decade!
• 2 boyfriends, one of whom was a nice guy but just not for me, one of whom was a complete twat that I can't believe I bothered with. Let me give you the benefit of my wisdom - never date anyone you met on a train, it didn't end well for me and it ended even less well for my cousin who married the nutjob she met on one. Now that's a long and bizarre story which also happened in my 'decade under review'!
• 1 family dog, Barney, a hairy creature that moulted more than I ever believed a creature could without ending up bald. His ability to start a random fight with dogs much bigger than himself, leaving the owners clinging onto their beasts for dear life while I tried to drag the grouchy bundle of hair and teeth up the road by the scruff of the neck was awe-inspiring. I will also never forget the time he chased a chav down the road and over a fence for no better reason than that he had a rabid dislike of anyone in a beanie hat. Plus his attacks on the hoover never stopped being funny. He was put down last year after the tumour on his back began to affect his mobility and I'm sure that wherever he is he's having a great time starting fights with dogs 4 times his size and scoffing his own bodyweight in dog biscuits.
  
• 1 job, when back in 2003 my dad fired me as an incentive for me to go out and find a proper job instead of flouncing about being the cook for the nursing home they own.
• 3 cars - my first car, Cyril I, a silver Nissan Micra that was 12 years old when my parents bought it off my grandparents (as a way to stop them driving) and that ran like a dream until my then boyfriend Ben had been driving it for a while. After that you had to get up early if it was set to rain because you'd have to disconnect all the plugs and wipe them out with WD40. The RAC man was out to it so often that I got a christmas card off him. Nice chap. I loved that car. Also a ginger Peugeot 106 that coordinated beautifully with my ginger best friend and a harlot scarlet Ford Fiesta that ended up with my brother in London after a rather complicated swap involving my parents, my brother, a Peugeot 307 and a bank loan.
• 1 friend/ flatmate who turned out to be a sociopathic slut who would offer my live in boyfriend sex while I was at work. He didn't take her up on it but it pissed me off none the less. Possibly it was not a good idea for me to attempt to have it out with her while fuelled up on cheap vodka but to be honest, she deserved every single one of the names I called her and I feel no guilt about aiming for her weak spots - popularity and looks. 
• Umpteen thousands of pounds on pointless crap that I didn't need/ alcohol/ cigarettes/ clothes that I looked shocking in and shoes I couldn't walk in.
• 7 guinea pigs. Shit, that sounds really bad when you write it down doesn't it? I swear I'm not some sort of psycho small furry critter killer.
  

• 1 job. I've been here 7 years this march which is truly terrifying.
• My 30s, and I don't want to even think about it, let alone talk about it.
• 20 odd pairs of shoes / boots (conservative estimate). This decade I made the awesome discovery that is Duo, a company who makes boots in different calf widths, meaning finally I could have a pair of knee high boots that didn't look like wellies. A revelation, I'm sure you'll agree.
• 1 dog - Geoffrey, who has featured in the blog before. He's a barmpot and as camp as christmas but everyone loves him.
  
• 9 guinea pigs. 7 of which I have managed to dispatch to that great rabbit run in the sky, leaving me with 2 currently. Who, to the irritation of my other half are currently living in an indoor cage in the conservatory because it's minus 8 outside. "Of course they'll only be inside for a couple of days" I said 2 weeks ago. Smirk...
• 6 second cousins, 3 of which were born to the same family. No family should have more than 2 kids, at least not if they expect me to remember all of their birthdays and buy them decent gifts at christmas.
• 1 husband. We've been married for 4 years this year and that means that even if we were to divorce tomorrow we wouldn't have the worst marital record in my family, as two of my cousins only made it to the 2 year mark. Happy days.
  
• 1 degree and 1 diploma. I am now a very highly qualified time waster, an achievement indeed.
• Some wrinkles, the number of which I have not had the courage to count.
  
• About two stone in weight, 1 of which I think I put on this christmas. I put my work trousers on this morning and decided, as I desperately struggled with the stupid button that either the mischief gnome had been in the wardrobe over the holidays and altered the dimensions of all my clothing or I needed to step away from the Terry's Chocolate Orange and head towards the salad. Sigh...
• The ability to get from A to B without major injury. Only one this decade, a fractured kneecap, which was a vast improvement on the previous 2 decades when my inability to judge what was going on at the ends of my limbs led to me practically having my own dedicated seat in the A&E department. I think it might have been a family thing because my brother was also well known for his ability to fall over or into things as well.
  
• A number of friends I'd lost touch with but in particular the lovely BGS girls who I went to school with and a girl who I went to primary school with and lived down the road from. I can't imagine now why we didn't all keep in touch, it seems ridiculous when we have such a good time.
  
• A sister in law. Which is weird because that means my little brother is married. I realise that at 26, 6ft 4 or so he probably isn't that little but still....
• Lots of lovely friends on Vox and even a few from back in the days when I started out online, on Diaryland!
  

mmm

mmm

This was taken on New Year's Eve. I did not bring my D90 *hitsmyheadagain* so here is a video taken with my copact