Andreea Raducan

Why ask why?  I am quite obsessed with this woman.

I honestly think that Andreea is the most beautiful woman i have ever seen in my life (sigh....).

Rockall

Quotation of the day:  Anon ~ Scottish by birth, British by law, Highlander by the grace of God

From Wikipedia: Rockall (Irish: Rocal, Scottish Gaelic: Rocabarraigh) is an extremely small, uninhabited, remote rocky islet in the North Atlantic Ocean.

Here's a picture of it:

Looks pretty bleak, eh?

The reason it comes up, though, a bit convoluted, ackshully, bear with me, is this:

That's a CD cover, an album by Calum & Rory MacDonald, and it's one of the best of the year so far, (IMFFHO).

There's a Scottish folk-rock group called Runrig.  One of my all-time favourite groups, as a matter of fact.  Loads of stuff up on YouTube (if you're interested). Calum & Rory are members, but as there hasn't been a new Runrig album since 2007's "Everything You See" -- at least, i don't think there has --  this is a pretty good stopgap.  In fact, it sounds like Runrig without its lead singer.

Its original lead singer was the brilliant Donnie Munro (now a member of the SNP, i do believe).  But Runrig is one of the very few bands who survived and throve after the departure of the singer.  (AC/DC, Marillion, and Pink Floyd did, too  -- there are a few others although i can't think of them off the top of my head.)  Runrig's current singer is the brilliant Bruce Guthro -- from Nova Scotia of all places -- and the band literally wouldn't have survived without Bruce.

You can buy "The Band From Rockall" here: http://www.musicscotland.com/cd/index.html

Highly recommended!

My Bleeping Computer

Quotation Of The Day: Julie Burchill ~ Tears are sometimes an inappropriate response to death. When a life has been lived completely honestly, completely successfully, or just completely, the correct response to death's perfect punctuation mark is a smile.

As i may have mentioned -- probably ad nauseam -- i was on a fairly mediaeval work schedule for almost three weeks.  It ended on Sunday thank goodness, and i now have two days off, whoopee!  I see beer & pizza in my future....

But last Tuesday -- allegedly my day off, i only had to work for three hours, starting at stupid o'clock in the morning nonetheless -- i came home, booted up the PC and was typing away happily, when ... the machine shut itself off for no reason that i could see.  I tried two different power cords -- the extent of my technical expertise, la la -- but ... nuffink.

And so i took FRED (effing ridiculous electronic device) in to the best computery shop in town, Onsite Technology. (www.onsitetechnology.ca)  The owner, Troy (about whom i have probably written before) is the most tech-savvy man i know, and he immediately diagnosed the problem: the power supply had failed.  (He had replaced the power supply a year or so ago and had since discovered a problem with that particular model, but doubted it would still be under warranty.)

But!  He also diagnosed a possible hard drive problem:  the potential failure thereof.  Now, let this be a lesson to us all:  i have everything vital backed up to discs or thumb drives, but still, there's "stuff" (to use the technical term) on my hard drive i'd hate to lose.  Re-imaging and replacement of the hard drive could have been a real blow to the weekly budget.  As Astrid once remarked, i work more and make less than anyone she knows, and in the five or more years i've been writing this blog i've made about ten dollars from it (so keep on clicking on those ads, boys and girls!).

Cost to replace the power supply: $90
Cost to re-image and replace the hard drive: $200.

The former i could have managed.  The latter would have meant a diet of cheese sandwiches and roll-yer-own cigarettes for a week.

So, on Monday, i went to the shop to collect it, fearing the worst, heavy of heart and light of wallet.  And the total bill was ... ridiculous.  It was absurd.  It was (can you stand this suspense?) it was ... $18.25!  I spent more in cab fare getting the machine there and back!

The hard drive was fine and it turned out that the power supply was still under warranty, so all i had to pay was labour, and i had a $10 gift certificate.  $18.25.

And here, for no particular reason, is one of my favourite album covers of all time.  It's a solo album, in Swedish, by Frida of ABBA, and it's called "Frida Ensam" (which, i believe, means "Frida Alone").

Here's the playlist for the past few days:

Rory Gallagher -- Jinx
Roxy Music -- The Best Of Roxy Music
Mike Oldfield -- Incantations
Jethro Tull -- Heavy Horses
Terje Rypdal -- The Singles Collection
Propaganda -- A Secret Wish
Free -- At Last
Colin James -- Fifteen
Rod Stewart -- A Night On The Town
Colin James -- Fifteen
Van der Graaf Generator -- The Least We Can Do Is Wave To Each Other
Mike Oldfield -- World Premiere Of "Crises," disc 2
Bill Bruford -- One Of A Kind
The Kathryn Tickell Band -- Instrumental
Sheryl Crow -- Detours
Humble Pie -- Performance: Rockin' The Fillmore
Rod Stewart -- Live (Not Authorised) Bootleg
Rod Stewart -- Blondes Have More Fun
Various Artists -- The Roots Of Rock 'n' Roll, discs 1 & 2
Keane -- Strangeland

Playlist -- Again....

Quotation of the day ~ P.G. Wodehouse:  He looked something between a youngish centenarian and a nonagenarian who had seen a good deal of trouble.

Sorry, kids, the brutal work schedule continues and all i can offer is yet another playlist.  Here 'tis:

David Bowie -- The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars
Keane -- Strangeland
Pink Floyd -- The Division Bell
Sandy Denny -- The Northstar Grassman And the Raven
Calum & Rory MacDonald -- The Band From Rockall
Florence And The Machine -- Lungs
Seether -- One Cold Night
Fairport Convention -- Gladys' Leap
Elkie Brooks --  Live And Learn
Greg Lake -- From The Underground, Vol. 2
Rory Gallagher -- BBC Sessions
Gentle Giant -- The King Biscuit Flower Presents Gentle Giant
Joe Bonamassa -- Driving Towards The Daylight
Peter Hammill -- Consequences
Sky -- Sky 4
Gentle Giant -- Free Hand
Bruce Springsteen -- Wrecking Ball
Calum & Rory MacDonald -- The Band From Rockall
Keane -- Strangeland
Rush -- Clockwork Angels (twice!)
Jane Siberry -- Meschach Dreams Back
Five For Fighting -- The Battle For Everything

Seven more days of starting work at stupid o'clock and Keith will be back from his holiday in Cape Cod and i'll be back to what we laughingly call "normal" around here.

Playlist

Quotation of the day: J.B. Morton ~ It is said of a certain poet that, though he tortures the English language, he has never yet succeeded in forcing it to reveal his meaning.

Nothing much to write about today, kids -- i'm working some brutally anti-social hours at the moment, or ATM if you insist.

So all i have is my playlist:

Calum & Rory MacDonald -- The Band From Rockall
Florence + The Machine -- MTV Unplugged
Doc Watson -- The Essential Doc Watson
Kronos Quartet & Pat Metheny - Different Trains
King Crimson -- Larks' Tongues In Aspic
Marillion -- Clutching At Straws
Steeleye Span -- Now We Are Six Again, disc 2
Radiohead -- The Bends
The Strokes -- Is This It
Luther Grosvenor -- Floodgates
Calum & Rory MacDonald -- The Band From Rockall
Peter Gabriel -- So
Jethro Tull -- A Passion Play
Bruce Springsteen -- Wrecking Ball
Various Artists -- Pink Box: The Songs Of Pink Floyd
Kate Bush -- Never For Ever
Tyrannosaurus Rex -- Prophets, Seers And Sages, The Angels Of The Ages
Jefferson Airplane -- Crown Of Creation
Island -- Pictures
Joan Osborne -- Bring It On Home
Runrig -- Everything You See
Keane -- Strangeland
Sky -- Sky 1
Keane -- Hopes And Fears
Peter Hammill -- Roaring Forties
Ten Years After -- Undead
Joe Bonamassa -- Driving Towards The Daylight
Lais -- Dorothea
Peter Hammill -- Consequences
Various Artists -- "Pet Sounds" Revisited
Joan Osborne -- Bring It On Home
Great Big Sea -- Fortune's Favour
Camel -- Mirage
Genesis -- And Then There Were Three
Peter Hammill -- Consequences
P.J. Harvey -- Let England Shake

Kimba

Quotation Of The Day ~ William Shakespeare: There's neither honesty, manhood nor good fellowship in thee

When i bought my first PC and came online, this was back in the days of Windows 95, one of the first Internet forums (fora?) i joined was devoted to the Music of ABBA.  (And i'm not going to apologise for my love of ABBA.)  And one of the first people i met on this group and became friends with was a woman from Australia called Roo.

(Even though that particular forum no longer exists, i made some very good friends there.)

Anyway, Roo.  She and i have become quite solid over the years and i've watched her kids grow up and one of her daughters, Kim (a.k.a. Kimba) is the subject of this post.

Kim was recently the victim of a horrific incident of road rage, and here's the news report:

This makes me weep, i can't possibly imagine the effect it had on poor Kim & her family.