Mar 2009 a

Not many photos this time, sorry!

Tue 03 Mar 2009
Steve's workplace has been hit by the worst computer virus to date: Conficker (the up and down virus). It's designed to send personal records and account details from Banks out over the internet, and has a time-delay on it, and can sometimes take 6 or 7 attempts on just one computer before its definately all cleaned. To get rid of it they'll need to go one computer at a time (10-20 minutes per computer)! We can forsee loads of overtime coming up.
There's a cool quarter of a million dollar bounty on catching the writer of the Conficker virus: read this story

Wed 04 Mar 2009
Steve wanted to go to fighter practice tonight but instead was working back late at work. Jen ordered a new Mac Mini computer, as her current one is 5 years old and can't handle new features on the internet, and cannot be upgraded. Also, the Mac Mini's have just been re-released with greatly improved tech specs.

Thu 05 Mar 2009
Jen went to pub to celebrate a work colleague's birthday. She was ordered to drink vodka ("because you're so much more fun on Vodka"), and was very rosy-cheeked after a few drinks, as you can see in this photo:


Sat 07 Mar 2009
Steve's at work ALL weekend-long. Gggrrrr says Jen.
At least his team seem to be making good headway with this computer virus now. Apparently they got a quote to clean up the virus, at £2,000 per day for 4 to 5 days at least. But instead Steve and team are fixing it themselves. They're going to be absolutely exhausted and still have to go back to work for the normal Mon-Fri week.
After Steve got home from work we went out to dinner and a movie. We saw "Watchmen" and my word, it certainly deserves its 18+ rating! Entertaining enough, but we won't need to see it again anytime soon.

Sun 08 Mar 2009
The weather's poor, so Jen stayed in and did some design work on SCA business cards, as well as wedding invitations for Jenny and Nick who will be getting married in September.
Discovered that there's a cyclone ripping along the Queensland coast! Before moving to the UK, Soph was teaching in the Whitsunday Islands, and would have been evacuated from her home.
Jen also keeping herself busy with a bit of DIY tinkering, making an inner door for the loft opening, for while the ladder is open. This will help keep the warm air downstairs for when the new loft insulation will go in. Unfortunately the insulation isn't in stock this week - grrrr.

Mon 09 Mar 2009
Jen's off to the pub to meet up with a group of SCAdians from Canada.

Tue 10 Mar 2009
Jenny (Edith) drops in for dinner and a general chit chat. Great to catch up.
Found out in the news that an oil tanker got caught up in the cyclone off Queensland's coast, and has spilled 100 tonnes of oil, spoiling miles and miles of pristine beaches. What a catastrophe! It will takes years before all the sea life stops being affected (poisoned) by this spill.

Wed 11 Mar 2009
Steve went to fighter practice. Really good for him too - cleared his mind and made him much happier. Jen came home to find the new Mac has arrived.

Now just need to wait for parts B and C: these being the new 22 inch monitor and new Design software.

Thu 12 Mar 2009
We took the afternoon off work, so Steve could have a haircut and to go visit Queensland House on The Strand. It was great: no queueing, no how-to-vote pamphlets, no need for ID either which was a bit worrying. Voting out of the way, we also dropped off some wine and wine bottles to the other side of town, to Asbiorn (for brewing).

Fri 13 Mar 2009
We had a tasty dinner together and spent some time relaxing and enjoying the fact Steve's finally going to have time off work! Hurrah!

Sat 14 Mar 2009
This morning we ordered insulation for the loft, to be delivered Thurs or Fri next week. It's great stuff, natural wool, so not hazardous to put up, breathes naturally, and also fire-retardant to Govt standards. Steve worked hard on taking it easy and enjoying his weekend! Jen visited Cornelisson's art store in town.

Sun 15 Mar 2009
Steve did some study today and he's likely to sit the Cisco switching exam in the next week or so. Jen did some preparatory work for a class she'll be teaching next weekend on 4 kinds of medieval gilding. As part of our relaxing weekend we took a walk around the local Cemetery, which we've been meaning to do since moving to the area in Sept 2007!

Feb 2009 b

Hi all,

One more photo from the Ethelburga event on 14th... this is a photo of the choir singing. Plus we were lucky to have Lord Robert and Mistress Kiriel join us for the night. Thanks to Constanza for taking such a lovely pic.


Fri 20 Feb 2009
Steve's been madly studying this week, as next week he'll be attending a 5 day course. It's always easier to do a course when you've got some idea about the subject matter.
This week some posters arrived in the post. We're going for a nautical theme downstairs. Jen framed these and Steve made himself very handy with nails and hammer!

Above: one of our new posters framed and hanging up.

Sat 21 Feb 2009
Today we hopped out at London Bridge station, wandered around Southwark Cathedral, and the Borough Markets next door to it. (hhhmm... what a fab food market!!!)
Then we wandered over to the Tate Modern art gallery. The most interesting thing we saw was this spider sculpture and installation:

We were both pretty disappointed by the gallery's displays, and what we learned is that 20th century artists were apparently obsessed with their private parts! Jen decided she wants to spend more time looking at portraiture.

Sun 22 Feb 2009
DIY day. Jen made a fabric bag, sewed a couple of h&s warnings to it (no naked flames etc) then stuffed it with spare loft insulation. We unscrewed the loft door and together we forcibly staple gunned the "pillow" to the door. Jen painted the other side and left it to dry. And lasty, Steve attached the smoke alarm to the outside and we reattached the door back into place.

Above: he newly insulated loft hatch.

Mon 23 Feb 2009
Steve started his 5 day Cisco course, which his work is paying for him to attend. Here's a photo of the 3 work books Steve has to get through in one week!!! Poor guy.


Tue 24 Feb 2009
Singing night. After Steve cooked up a tasty dinner for everyone, the madrigal singing / rehearsing began. We sung good!

Wed 25 Feb 2009
Spring seems to be springing. Our careful gardening is paying off. First the snowdrops flowered, then the purple/blue hyacinth, and now the little irises have arrived. It's just the white tulips that haven't bloomed quite yet.


Thu 26 Feb 2009
Today during the intense course, Steve felt a little like this:


Sophie had bought tickets (as a present for Steve) and all three of us went and saw The Cure play live at the O2 (Millenium Dome) tonight. Here's a little more about it: www.seatwave.com/nme-big-gig-tickets/season

Steve and Soph certainly enjoyed the concert. Jen moaned a bit about the bright lights flashing in her eyes and took a kip half way through.

Fri 27 Feb 2009
Jen's mum's birthday. Happy birthday!

Sat 28 Feb 2009
Went to the local post depot and picked up package, the model yacht has arrived. Jen spent 10 minutes erecting the sails (read: untangling the sails).


Above: the kitchen shelf is no longer empty.
In the evening, Jen helped Jenni B move house, and later on, Jen and Steve enjoyed dinner at Nick and Jenny's (William & Edith). Yes, that was 3 separate Jens we were talking about! Good company, good food. It was taste testing for the upcoming Lent feast at Crown Tournament, which will be happening at the end of March. Yum, tasty!!!