Why am I so baffled by technology? The teenagers on the bus don't seem to be having any problems with it and I'm not that much older than them! Firstly, I'm trying to burn a CD to give to my friend as a birthday gift. Although I've owned my PC for three years I've never tried to burn a compilation CD before, I've only copied whole CDs directly from the DVD drive on to a blank CD in the CD rewriter drive. The PC has the Nero CD burning program installed on it so I followed the instructions in the help section to try and copy tracks from different CDs on to my hard drive and then to a blank CD. However, somewhere along the line it all went wrong. I managed to copy the tracks on to the hard drive in wav format, then I thought I'd burned them on to the blank CD. When I tried to play the CD back on my stereo it only picked up one long silent track. I checked the CD out on the PC and the individual windows media player files are on there but they will only play one at a time as if they are on different playlists! I'm baffled and I guess I'll have to start the whole process again. It really annoys me how loads of software is provided with PCs but without proper instructions. Grrrr.
My second technology related problem is related to my much loved mobile phone. It is possible to record 30 mp3s on to the handset but I can't figure out how. The instruction booklet mentions needing a data cable and downloading software from the Samsung website. I'm happy about the data cable bit but I can't find the software mentioned. I really want to sort out the mp3s so I don't have to put up with an annoying polyphonic ringtone any longer! My friend has managed to transfer some tracks to her Samsung phone. Apparantly, her boyfriend transferred them via bluetooth from his laptop. This doesn't help me very much as I don't have a computer with bluetooth capability.
I'm hoping to spend my Xmas and Birthday money on an mp3 player. Maybe that's not such a good idea!
In non technology related news I've got a rotten cold. It kicked in on Tuesday evening and I felt rubbish on Wednesday and Thursday. Now it's turned into a coughing and sneezing thing. So attractive! At least I got the worst of it over with last week because next week is going to be hectic. I've got uni on Monday as usual. On Tuesday we're having our team Xmas meal (not very festive Thai food) at lunch time and the Brownie Xmas party (theme: odd socks and silly hats) in the evening. On Wednesday night I'm meeting a bloke I used to work with in Wimbledon for a drink. Friday is the last day of term at work so the students are chucked out at 12.30pm to make way for an afternoon of staff festivities. First there's a buffet lunch followed by the staff panto which is entitled "Dick Whittington in Wonderland" this year. It's been written by a member of staff so there will be plenty of in jokes. I nearly fell off of my chair laughing last year. Then in the evening there's a party with live music. It's really good that there are so many parts to the celebration as there's something for everyone. A friend of mine was telling me that some of her Muslim colleagues don't attend their office Xmas meal as they don't want to pay £28 for a meal which includes meat they can't eat and booze they can't drink. At least with our celebrations there's something for everyone to enjoy. Although, wine and beer are provided most people don't drink very much which probably prevents many problems arising. My family aren't big drinkers and my dad avoids his work Xmas dos as he finds that his colleagues drink too much and fight with one another. I like a drink and I don't have a problem with people drinking but I think it's good to feel that you can have a good time without drinking.
Someone who does enjoy a drink or ten at work parties is Cardiff bloke who went out on his work do last night. He was still producing legible text messages by 10pm which has to be a good sign. I haven't heard from him today though so I'm hoping he's not in hospital or in prison! As the company he works for is in a spot of bother at the moment I'm guessing that they were drinking to forget.
'Press Gang' spot of this week is Rosie Marcel once again. This time she was appearing as a Bank Manager in a repeat of 'Nathan Barley'. Thanks to IMDB I have managed to establish a (very) dubious link between 'Press Gang' and 'The Tribe'. Rosie Marcel's father Terry Marcel produced 'The Enid Blyton Adventure Series' which was made by Cloud 9 and starred David Taylor and Jennyfer Jewell (Sasha and Ellie in The Tribe). It's a small world.
Today I went into Kingston to have my hair cut then met a friend for lunch. We tried to do a bit of Xmas shopping but I didn't get much. As usual I will be scrabbling around at the last minute. I intended to ask for a day off of work next week to Xmas shop but I found out on Friday that our computer network will be down for two days in the week before Xmas so I'll probably ask for a day off then instead. My dad is a nightmare to buy for. If you get him something he didn't specifically request he just puts it down and forgets about it so it spends the next few months in a corner gathering dust. When you ask him what he wants he doesn't know!
The second series of Arrested Development has finished. What am I going to watch now? I guess there will be some half decent films to keep me amused over Xmas. I'm keen to see Rory McGrath, Griff Rhys-Jones and Dara O'Brian's attempt to do a real life 'Three Men in a Boat' trip. I love that book.
Right, I'd better go and do some online Xmas shopping.
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