auchmeddan

Just updated the blog from Wordpress 2.0 to 2.0.2 and a couple of (expected) things happened:

1) We lost our custom header (the image of Jules in the cave)

2) The Itunes and Weather Plugins disappeared.

The things I hadn’t counted on though were the Authors list disappearing from the side panel, and the Author’s name disappearing from the Posts.

That seems to be all that is wrong though, so overall it was a pretty painless upgrade. I’ll just need to have a hunt about again to reconfigure these things.

UPDATE: Oh yeah, just noticed the countdown timer vanished as well! Still, it’s not bad considering the update consisted of me clicking a button in Site5’s Fantastico Control Panel.

Well, I finally finished “Marley and Me” earlier this week (on a night when I should have been studying).

This is the best book I have read in a long time, and slides easily into my Top Ten list of favourite books. It’s very simply written and easy to read, and if I had one complaint to make about the book it would only be that I wish it had been longer. I don’t remember reading any other book that has ever made me laugh out loud like this one did, or made me cry like a little girl for the last couple of chapters. Maybe it’s because I’m such a dog-lover that I was so moved by the book, or because I kept relating Marley’s behaviour to either Zak or Ricky, but either way it is one of the most satisfying books I’ve ever read.

Now I just need to get Jules to read it, so I have someone to talk to about it.

In other news, the weather here in Bermuda has absolutely sucked the past few weeks. We seem to have almost constant high winds. I think Spring got lost on the way here.

The weather at the beginning of this week was great, it was sunny and there was very little wind so when Ondrej, at Bluewater divers, emailed me to ask if I wanted to go for a dive Tuesday I jumped at the chance.

It was a pretty quiet boat for divers, only 5 in total, 4 certified divers and one lesson and dive. Surprisingly there were about 6 folks coming along to snorkel. Everyone was getting themselves sorted on the boat and there was a huge splash. We all looked round and one of the snorkeling folks was in the water. After finding out she was ok I was trying not to laugh, Michael wasn’t so subtle he said “well I guess you don’t need to go snorkeling now?” with a big smile on his face. Turned out she was leaning on the ladder at the back for support while she put her foot in the water to test the temperature. As the ladder isn’t locked the force she used while leaning on it was enough to push it down, so when it went down so did she. After all that she ended up not going out to snorkel, she got seasick.

The visibility was really good today and I was really exited when our first dive site was the Lartington, you can sometimes find a lion fish here. Found him in one of the small boilers found in the middle of the wreck. They are just so beautiful looking, hope the guy I was guiding managed to get a good picture. Also on this dive I noticed a big coney hanging around a bit of reef so I went in for a closer look. On closer inspection there was a pretty big octopus hiding between two rocks. Don’t think he liked my presence so he shot off under another rock, was still cool seeing him swimming away.

The second dive was the Constellation/Montana, wasn’t really expecting to see much but right in its usual spot in the boiler was the local spiny lobster. Surprisingly there were a few shoals of fish around the site and lots of juveniles, it was great swimming through them. Also on this dive my favourite fish, the smooth trunk fish, made an appearance. Watched him for a little while, hope the folks I was diving with didn’t mind stopping to watch him swimming around.

If I was a photographer today was a great day for taking photos, the sun was out and the fish were out in full force. Wished Dave could have been diving with me, looking forward to my first dive of the year with Dave, hope it’s a day like this one. The two guys I was guiding were pretty good. Pat from Norfolk in the UK seemed like he had been diving for ages. Brian from the states seemed newer to diving but after the first 15 mins seemed pretty comfortable in the water and I didn’t have to chase either of them down during the dive. All in all the diving today was really good and I really enjoyed myself, it’s nice just being able to go out when I like :-)  

I got into the water for the first time this year on Sunday, when we went snorkelling at Church Bay. Jules has already got a dive in this year - the benefit of her being available during the week if the boat happens to go out.

The water is still very cold just now (by our standards anyway) so we were both snorkelling in full wetsuits, but the advantage of the cold water is good visibility. After we were finished snorkelling we found a shallow, sheltered pool of water that was harbouring a number of juvenile white/silver fish and some juvenile sergeant majors (photo below).

I was supposed to be studying this weekend for my 2nd MCSE upgrade exam, but the weather was too nice to stay at home.

I read the first 30 pages of “Marley and Me” last night before going to bed and so far, so good. I haven’t laughed so much at a book in a long time. I know there are less happy moments ahead later on, but for now I’m happy. If it could just stay with the comedic adventures of raising a puppy, then I’d be a very happy camper. The book made me think of how Zak was as a puppy and brought back a lot of good memories.

I’m also reading 2 other books just now - Savage by Richard Laymon (the author I only discovered after he was already dead) and a Microsoft training book that I’m referring to while studying. “Savage” is one of the few remaining Laymon books I haven’t read and is pretty good - a lot better than the last one I read (”The Lake”). I got into the habit of reading two books at a time while toiling through the Stephen King “Dark Tower” Series…which are really some of the most boring books ever written. There’s a great story in there and some real flashes of brilliance, but it’s hidden inside several hundred pages of tedium. I got as far as book 4 in the series, but am in no rush to read the last Three.

I looked out the window this morning and wasn’t convinced that it was a good day to go and play volleyball. However, I had already emailed Michelle to say I’d be there and I hate it when people say they are coming and don’t turn up so I thought I should head on out there. The wind was blowing pretty strong down our way, lots of white caps. I figured if its blowing from the west, the wind on Horseshoe beach wouldn’t be that bad as it faces South. At least the sun was out???.

When I turned up just after 2pm I thought they’d be well under way but I guess the weather had given most folks second thoughts about turning up. In the end we had 10 people, perfect number. There were lots of missed chances and sand dives (mostly from myself and some from Franco). We also cant forget the shots that you never in a million years believe are going to go over the net, got one of those

We had played maybe 3 or 4 games (and somehow I’d always ended up on the losing team, oh well) and the dark clouds had moved in. We thought we were going to escape but unfortunately not. Some of us stuck it out hiding under our towels where others ran to the shelter of the Lifeguard station. The rain only lasted 5 mins and so back to the game we went and yes I was still on the losing team (maybe next week). With the heavy rain then the sun coming out we got a beautiful Rainbow. Mark Quesnel stopped the game to capture it, just have a look at the photo.

After a couple more games the rain stopped us for good and as we all rushed to take the net down and run for our scooters, cars it really started to pour, thunder and lightning the works. Still it was a good way to spend a Sunday afternoon, hopefully the weather will be better for next weekend.

After hearing Howard Stern rave on about “Marley and Me” on his morning radio show, I decided to go and buy the book, even though it sounded like it would make me a bit emotional (especially considering how much I love dogs).

When I got to the store though, I had a look at the cover photo and chapter titles (including later chapters “Borrowed Time” and “The Big Meadow”) and bottled it.

Yesterday I steeled myself and went out and picked it up. When I told Jules I’d bought it she immediately started making fun of me, and told me she wants to watch me read the book. Jules then hatched an evil scheme to snap a photo of me if she sees me getting upset reading it, although she wasn’t smart enough to keep her plans to herself.

Obviously, I now need to read the book in secret.