Camera still didn't arrive today, which leaves only tomorrow for me to pick it up.  Now, its currently on one of four flights from Hong Kong to Heathrow, expected to land between 04:50 and 05:25.  After that it gets handed off to Parcelforce, and its going to get lost for weeks probably.  Its not that I want this that badly, its just that I wanted to take it to Dublin for the weekend.  We're flying out early on Monday morning you see, so if it overruns another day I'm screwed.  OK, so maybe I do want it badly. 
I've been playing with the blog UI over the last couple of days.  I've been trying to get the same look and feel you see with .Text, but using my own software.  Its getting there, so I would expect to have something rolled out within a couple of weeks.

In anticipation of my new digital camera, I've updated the photos section of the site.  Hopefully I'll be posting more stuff there soon enough... though not as soon as I had hoped!  The camera supplier came back to me today and told me they were out of stock.  I'm going to have to b buy one with  a lens now.  This gives me an advantage when I go to sell my old EOS, as I'll have an original lens to sell with it :-)

Today I did something innovative and new.  Actually, I did two innovative and new things.  Firstly, we have stock options that are actually worth money at the moment, so I cashed some in.  Yes... real money!  I know, its incredible, but, it had to happen sooner or later.  So at long last I've become a dotcom millionaire... well maybe a couple of orders of magnitude off that, but I made some money :-)  To celebrate, I bought my first digital camera.  No Anna, that one doesn't count because a) it was a gift, and b) it only did 640x480 or something.  I bought a Canon EOS 300D.  Its the first sub-£1000 digital SLR on the market, and I think its going to rock.  It hasn't been delivered yet, but should get here before the end of the week.  We went to see one in a shop several weeks ago.  Scally didn't like the finish on it, thought it was too cheap looking in comparison to other cameras.  The silver you see below on the body is plastic, so care needs to be taken not to drop it on concrete or something.  Thing is, I have an analog EOS 300, and I've never dropped that.  Oh yes... the lenses & accessories from my old camera will fit this one too.  This is one of the reasons I bought it.  Anyway, take a look below, I'd like to introduce you to my new baby :-)

Last night we went to see a production of Ibsen's A Dolls House, at the Barbican.  This production was supposed to be particularly good, having won several awards in the recent past.  It didn't disappoint.  The only problem for me was that it was in German.  There were sub-titles on either side of the stage, so it wasn't impossible to follow what was going on, but it made it a little disjointed, and made the acting too wooden for my liking.  I just don't think I've come to terms with the whole sub-titles thing yet.  Great night though, and well worth doing :-)

Well... not really new, but I re-imaged the hard disk last night.  Getting everything restored now, but its really slow.  I can't do anything either while my email is restored, so I have to surf ;-)

Interesting reaction yesterday when I tol people in work about my results.  Universally all of the guys said something like "congratulations man, that's great".  Universally all of the women gave me a hug and screamed "Yayyy".
So, which do you think I prefer working with...?

My biopsy results came back today.  I had a type of cancer called a seminoma, which is the most common testicular cancer in men in the UK.  I say "had" because it seems like they removed all of it when I was in hospital the week before last.  There was no indication that the cancer had spread to any other organs, and the blood vessels joining to my abdomen were clear of cancer cells.  I will still have to undergo radiotherapy though.  They're going to irradiate me with twenty Rads (Rems, Roentgens, they're all the same apparently) per day over ten days.  The side effects should be minimal though, apparently I won't feel sick much, though I will get tired from the procedure.  I don't know why yet though, I had a link, but cant seem to find it now.  I'll post it as soon as I find it. 
They're going to follow up with my other testicle in June.  There was some calcification in it that they want to scan with ultrasound, and possibly do a biopsy.  The chances of getting cancer in a testicle with calcification increase from 400-1 to 200-1.  But hey... you should see them - they look sparkly on the ultrasound ;-)  But I have to get the radiotherpay out of the way first.  More as I know it.

Someone who is dealing with the person I just dealt with mailed me this morning to ask why I left negative feedback.  Wasn't sure what to tell them really, so I just told them what happened.
Smith Barney sent me a password through the post for their site... but no username.
Oh, and the rest of the good news will have to wait until I get back from the doctor.

So I wasn't alone in not smoking for the last week.  Most of the rest of my course did the same, though there was one girl who didn't.  She had a bad week, and had to move house or something.  Hmm... I want a cigarette now.  You know, the feeling is more one of disappointment than anything else.  I try to remember what I'm missing, and then get this flash of pleasure when I realise that its a cigarette.  Then I remember that I gave up, and I'm disappointed.  Addiction is a strange thing sometimes.
Thirteen and a half hours to my results.

I've just rolled out a little temporary re-design, using .Text.  I'll see how this works over the next few weeks, and also figure out a more comprehensive integration strategy... or I'll make it all fit together better ;-)