XML & XSLT rock. Have a look at the "News Feed" page (removed), I've just updated it :-) The list of news categories, and the headlines themselves are pulled in as XML, and then processed according to what they are. Too tired to talk though, more tomorrow.

At last... after 10 days of no DSL, I have DSL again :-) Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury, the defendant; British Telecom, stands in front of you, accused of provision of shit service to a level never before seen. You MUST answer guilty to the charge.

I found a really cool supplier of news feeds... and they're service is too slow to use. Pity, there was a lot of content there which would have been great for the site. I'm going to have to look for some more, but so far nothing else I've come across is as consistant as Moreover was. Went out today, but it was cold, so we didn't do much. Stopped by Waterstones and picked up a couple of Michael Marshall Smiths books - "Spares" and something else which is in the other room and whose name I can't remember.

Windows XP was released the other day. Now, any time I switch on the TV there's an ad for the thing. Its a good OS though, we've been using it for a while and its more stable than anything I've ever seen before. Even Linux had more hassles than XP.
The customisation I was talking about before for the site is underway. I'm going to allow personalisation of the front page to give you not only my Journal, but a choice of news services and links you want to use. Its going to take a while to get it fully up and running, but its going to be fun to get there I think :-) Have to finish the Photo gallery too, as soon as DSL comes back... which will be sometime soon. Really.

DSL is still down :-( The pricks at BT don't seem to have their shit together enough to actually be able to FIX problems... but they can make them easily enough. I was going to work on the new photos page tonight, but for some reason the Cabernet-Shiraz we had with dinner has gone straight to my head. Guess that third glass was a good idea ;-)
I saw something completely disgusting on TV earlier... there's a program on Channel 4 I think, called Bar Wars. Its another Reality TV program about two opposing teams, imaginatively called "The Girls Team" and (you guessed it) "The Boys Team" who run beach bars in the tourist infested Mediterranean. One of the girls on the program was complaining earlier about "foreigners", and the way she doesn't like them, and how they're terrible because they don't speak English and she can't understand them. I can't remember her exact words, but fuck me, she was awful. The impression she conveyed was that she only liked British people because they were British, and the rest were complete wankers simply because they were foreign and different. The xenophobic small-minded fucking bitch.
I got a call yesterday from the Harvey Nash recruitment agency. They apparently have a job which would suit the profile I stuck up on Monster.com last weekend. I'm looking for a software development management position in Lazio which pays more than STG£40,000 (€64,000). That should be sufficient enough to keep us comfortable in Rome. We'll see what the job is like next week I guess :-)

The pain begins next Thursday. At the Dentisit this morning, my doctor actually gave out to me for not taking care of my teeth. She said - "Do you not LIKE your teeth or something?... because you don't take care of them". I stand chastised. I need nine fillings, and possibly my last wisdom tooth taken out. I'm not looking forward to it. I am proficient at talking in clipped sentences ;-)

For the second night in a row, I can't sleep. I've never had a problem with insomnia before, I wonder whats causing it now? Just can't get my head calm enough to be rested and asleep, the most trivial shit keeps going around and around... travel details for Dublin next week... memories of taking the 84 bus home from Greystones (or even earlier than that, taking the 84 bus home TO Greystones)... do something about Preston (though that isn't as trivial)... Rodger Waters is playing the music of Pink Floyd in Wembley in June after I've moved to Italy... what meetings to I have scheduled tomorrow morning, and how are they going to be affected by whatever happens at the dentist... I have to go to the dentist tomorrow. It couldn't be that keeping me awake, could it? ::Yawn::

God I hate modems. They're so slooooow. In the last three years I've made the odd modem connection here and there (usually if I need to get inside the firewall or something), typically with the intention of not transferring big chunks of data. Right now, I've been working on Dan's site using a modem, and its completely horrible. I click "Save" on the page I'm working on, and wait... and wait... and wait some more for it to upload. Then I switch to the browser, click "Reload", and wait... and wait... and wait some more, and look at my changes. Yuck. Speaking of yuck, I have a dentist appointment tomorrow morning, which I'm not looking forward to. I have to get this chipped tooth fixed, and I guess its about time I had the cavity in my wisdom tooth done too, and I know its going to be torture. I got an interesting mail tonight, from one of the agencies I submitted my CV to. Its very cryptic - simply says "Can you please contact me, I have a great job to talk to you about." and some contact details. I wonder if its spam, or if the person at the agency really does have something. I'm going to call tomorrow and find out :-)

The man from BT came this morning, plugged in his laptop to the DSL line, and said... "Yep, its broken". Going around in circles now, trying to get this sorted out. Our keyboard is fucked too, ertsdfxcv keys don't do anything. Had to get Anna to get a new one when she was in town. I've just plugged that in and it feels really nice so far :-)

I'm wrecked from badminton. We played a couple of great mixed doubles (Anna has asked me to mention that she's cute looking... and she IS :-)) where we were quite evenly matched, and finished games up with only a few points between us. Then we played a couple of games where the girls were on one team, and the guys on another. Again (this is the third or fourth time) they slaughered us. For some reason we just can't get it together when we play that way. Have to work on that. Tomorrow the guy from BT is coming around to visit and fix DSL. I bet you what really happens is that he arrives, plugs his laptop into the wall, says "Its Broken" and then fucks off. Will let you know tomorrow how it goes.