Wire, less. Bad. Good new year.

It's been almost a month since I have been missing, largely due to stupid Microsoft and their lousy Windows systems. My g wireless card didn't work after installation - and for some reason Windows can't detect the former card anymore.... So I am stuck without internet access, except when that pesky housemate is out - then in times like this I try to troubleshoot my laptop and also go online at the same time.
I could try more ways and means to fix my laptop (hell, I have already installed Service Pack 2 which I avoided for 3 years), but I can still go online at Hui's place or the university or my workplace (and right here at home when my old b card was still "working", on my neighbour's connection - with permission).

Shall see how things evolve... Worst come to worst I have to reinstall windows etc if I can't debug.

Merry Xmas and Happy New Year to all!!!!!!

In the intervening period I managed to go to London to get my passport done, have roast duck dinner in Leicester over xmas, and shop on Boxing Day in Leics and the next day in Birmingham! Hui got me a very nice pair of leather shoes - I have been looking at getting a pair for months. Also grabbed a cheap pair of less formal leather shoes for everyday use. But I wore it to work today, the first working day of the new year. I really like TK Maxx - can't believe I didn't shop there for nearly 3 years. Now I am there most times when I am in town (and in that part of town, that is).

I also got myself a NEW CAMERA!! Finally! The Fujifilm F45fd, made exclusively for the UK market (one specific retailer), known worldwide as the F40fd. It is a 8.3MP camera with a superior 1/1.6" CCD and 256k colour LCD screen. I had narrowed my choice to 3 cameras originally, the Panasonic FX12, Canon IXUS 70 and Sony W55, and this sort of dropped in just because of a special offer that Argos had. Otherwise I wouldn't have considered the Fujifilm because it would have been out of my budget (but not much more expensive than the Canon actually, which is the best of the three). In truth I would have gone for the 7MP Panasonic. They did have a Boxing Day Sales offer for this camera too, but I got a superior one for ten pounds more so I won't complain. I also went with the Kingston lifetime warranty 2GB SD card.

Last weekend Roger and Zhang Hui and her mum visited Cardiff, and I accommodated them in my room. Having met them over xmas I had been less than impressed by the attitude and behaviour of the mother - I realised how much more cultured I had been brought up by my own parents! Heh! Obviously I was not the yes-man or one to take unfair criticism lightly - but with respect I rebutted some of their more short-sighted and utterly baseless claims. Won't try to elaborate here, but my original plan of paying for their dinner in Cardiff all but extinguished itself due to the treatment me and Hui received. And it wasn't even good ol' Roger's fault. I did treat him in the end, but only him.

We also managed to fashion a badminton session on the 31st out of nowhere - they hadn't planned to be in Cardiff but a bit of shrewd reasoning and actually astute, practical planning meant that I took them to the Cardiff Bay barrage instead (where I hadn't been before either!), and then we dropped mother and daughter off at Cardiff Bay (Roger has been there before) so that we could slink off to play some year-ending badminton! I ran out of ideas and finally got a court at almost the furthest leisure centre I was willing to consider, and fully expected not to be able to complete the one hour of playing we planned for. I think we managed 40+ minutes in the end. Not much warm up, definitely no stretching, but we finished evens, 2-all. I think it was 15-21, 21-16, 21-17, 17-21. Quite even but I made a lot of inconsistent plays. Roger used a lot of his backhand but I like to think that I forced him there in part. His drops have improved - his training these few months really told, and he tried a few difficult tricks which didn't quite get past the net, but his net play has also gone up a notch. Great anticipation - I had only just managed to get onto the end of his sharp drop, and tipped the shuttle back over the net, when he came right up and swept the shuttle cross-net. In such a situation there is nothing much one can do to save the shot because of the speed and angle of the shuttle as it goes across the net.
In the third set I was even leading him 7-0 and I never looked in danger...

I got a christmas card from Ling today. I must say, the only card that came from afar this year! Thanks.
I watched Dragons Den on tv today as I mopped up my dinner - interesting how investors think. I better heed Chris Bradley's advice and get more involved in the financial aspects of looking at projects - will be beneficial to me no matter what I do in future!