Heads up... At some point in the all too near future regular blogging here will be unavoidably interrupted. The reason is two fold: 1) After a couple of years (hmm maybe 18 months) of heavy use our beloved Alienware Area 51-m notebook is struggling in the heat. At first I figured it was just a busted fan, but it looks like a CPU problem. Just downloading some software to test that theory out. The Alienware guys are great at looking after their customers, but I haven't looked into the options yet. I'm not sure if they'll send a part out or if I'll send the machine in for an overhaul. If it goes back then I'll have to rebuild the piece of crap that is sitting downstairs. That will slow down life online for sure. 2) Jess has family staying with us. Not a problem, but it's going to bite into my time. The American contingent will be here for ten days but will be low maintenance. The Israeli contingent will be here for just shy of two months and will drive me insane. I love them to pieces but they are high maintenance - high as in pass the oxygen masks. I may decamp to the pub next door and pull a Warren. Although after chatting with John he may beat me hands down on the roaming family attacks... The downside of number 1 is that I'll be annoying people less on here. Stop cheering. The downside of number 2 is that we won't have room for people to crash here again until after the 22nd of August. This sucks as I'm already turning friends away - sorry guys! As soon as we have the place to ourselves we will of course be fucking off to Helsinki again... haven't nailed down the details on that one yet. More news on all the above as it comes in. I'm off to hit the laptop's insides with a large hammer. Mike is writing to the delightful smell of vegetable crumble...