h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

No worries - hope you managed to fix your computer. The blasted things never seem to work well for long, do they? Dave's PC is on its last legs and we're trying to decide what to buy to replace it, given that we can afford to spend about £600.

I'm glad I don't have to stop being a kid . I think its just your body that ages, not your mind. Mind you, I've been going grey since I was 16, so I claim that's because I'm wise . I gave up colouring my hair last year, so I have stripes of grey hair which make up probably a third of my hair (the rest of it is dark brown!).

Our GCSE history certainly wasn't taught that well ; it seemed to skim over a lot of things. The exam board also managed to mess up our exam papers by putting the wrong information packs in for the questions. It certainly doesn't inspire kids to take an active interest in history .

I knew what you meant about lay reading, so I wasn't offended or anything - I often have to take a similar approach to explaining technical things to non-technical people. It can be a bit of a tightrope to walk, as you don't want to accidentally insult someone's intelligence.

I'm really looking forward to going to Bath - it's just a few weeks off yet . It'll probably coincide (give or take a week) with mine and Dave's 6-month wedding anniversary, which will be a nice way of celebrating . I'd love to go to Sutton Hoo - I'd love to see everything they excavated, too.

I'd really recommend a visit to York - it's a really nice place and is small enough to explore in a day. York Minster is fascinating - I'd recommend taking the audio tour of the undercrofts and crypts, as it runs through the whole history of the church and the land its on.

Hope the uni work is all going OK - surely you must break up for Christmas soon?

Bath for Christmas shopping! Or does 6-weeks mean just after Christmas...

*mutters about where the heck does all the time go, and starts counting on her fingers*

... whatever - I know you'll have a great time.

I have an Acer TravelMate laptop (P4, 2.8GHz; 256 SDRAM; 40Gb hard drive; CD / DVD +/- writer; WiFi, Bluetooth and InfraRed enabled; ATI Radion 9000 IGP graphics card; Windows XP pre-loaded; and stunning sound even without separate speakers) which I bought direct from the manufacturer in January for £700, incl. VAT

It's a better spec than any of the other PCs in the house, including the machine we made for Boy Wonder as his Christmas last year (which cost just as much ), and the laptop J was given for work - which, considering he's a software designer, is a bit worrying! - and it's faster loading / running than any of the others, too. That surprised me, since the house PC and Boy Wonder's both have 512Mb RAM. Guess it's the processor speed moreso than the RAM that does it, after all.

Seriously, I would highly recommend them. OK, I had an 'issue' with this one a couple of weeks ago, but I'm pretty sure it was down to something *I* did rather than the machine itself if I'm honest.

Honestly, hark at me! Turning into a right 'puter in my old age!

Uni work is stressful at the moment, particularly in the run up to Christmas as most of my modules are based on assessed coursework rather than exams. Means I can't let anything slide and revise later, because everything counts towards this year's marks, which are 25% of total marks towards final degree classification.

Coming on to H2 is a bit of a release, as it makes me stop thinking about uni work by concentrating on what I'm saying in my posts. I can't switch off any other way as whatever else I do leaves enough background processing power (there I go with the computing metaphors again!) available to still be churning over uni stuff in the back of my mind.

Very distracting when you're trying to decide between Brenda, Andy and Journey South on X Factor, or Zoe Ball, Colin Jackson and Darren Gough on Strictly Come Dancing!

I think we go to Bath in about 3 or 4 weeks.... and this year has gone far too quickly - although the plus side is I have 3 weeks left at work, and then 3 weeks of holiday . I don't think we'd get any shopping done in Bath - Dave's a typical bloke and hates going shopping for anything other than cars or tools so I don't think I'm going to get him into many shops. It's just like taking a sullen teenager shopping. I'm planning to finish earlier than him for Christmas so I can get all our Christmas shopping done without having to drag him along!

The laptop sounds good - my dad's got an Acer TravelMate and hasn't had many issues with it, although he got it back in 2000 so it's a bit old now. I'm surprised about the RAM/processor speed thing, as I know a lot of CAD machines are fitted with bucketloads of RAM rather than the fastest processors. Hey ho. We're aiming for at least 256MB RAM and 40GB hard disk with a load of USB slots and the usual CD/DVD writer.

I'm weird; although I'm technical with cars and mechanical things, I'm utterly hopeless with software and can only just get by with computing things . As long as it does what I want it to when I press the button, I'm happy.

about your uni work. I saw your journal about it, and it sounds very intense . At least once it's out of the way, so is 25% of your degree, which is an encouraging thought. I'd like to offer advice, but I tend to read fast, so I'm probably not going to be that useful. Have you still got tonnes to do? It's good to come on here and switch off, though - that's what I do on here, too, although I'm at w*rk . Sometimes a quick hootoo is the only thing keeping my sanity!

I have to admit I haven't seen any of this series of the X Factor or Strictly Come Dancing - does that make me a philistine, or what . I have heard that Darren Gough is actually doing very well for himself on it, though.

I really don't seem to have had much time at the weekends recently - I haven't even watched CSI, which is normally the one thing I'll make time to sit down and watch. Probably just pre-Christmas busyness setting in already .

At least it's finally got cold and properly wintry, weather-wise - I was wondering if it was ever going to get cold enough to dig out my hat, scarf and gloves! I like these crisp, clear, cold days we're having at the moment .

Anyway, good luck with your uni work

Hi Rains... long time, no post - on my side, I hasten to add.

That trip to Bath must be coming up around now - hope you have a lovely time.

Do you remember some time back we were trying between us to figure out what type of VW it was my uncle had when I was a kid? Well, walking back to the carpark at Uni after a seminar the other day I suddenly remembered - must have been running in the background processing part of my brain all that time, as there is no other reason for me to have suddenly remembered!

It was the Variant fastback, and he had several of them during the 70's - I particularly remember a permanently-dirty-white one, and a bright orange one (popular VW colour in those days).

Although this link is to a S African version of the car, it is close enough to my childhood memories to evoke severe feelings of nostalgia. http://www.bradfordvdub.co.uk/mfforsale_fastback.html

Ahhh... family hols to Weymouth, and days out in Weston-Super-Mare... fish & chips, ice cream dripping down the front of my grubby green-and-purple mac, sea-breezes strong enough to knock you off your feet, and a 10-mile walk through knee-deep oily mud to reach the sea. Those were the days!

Hiya!

I hope your uni work is going well and you're finding time to relax, as well . Hope they haven't given you tonnes of coursework to do . Are you having a good half term with the kids?

I'm lurking at work again, as I'm feeling rather today with a sore throat and what feels like a cold coming on. It's nearly hometime, and I'm stuck waiting for people to get back to me about work things, so a quick post on here seemed something to do! I seem to have escaped a really bad telling off; my boss really didn't seem all that bothered and just told me to watch my back!

Your family holidays sound like my memories of mine, only ours were in Skegness rather than Weston-Super-Mare. I remember we once put on a postcard that the sea was cold, brown and frothy, but so was the beer so that was OK .

I'm really looking forward to May, as me and Dave have booked 2 weeks exploring the Rockies in Canada as a kind of first anniversary treat . I've never been to Canada, so I hope it'll be a good trip.

We had a lovely time in Bath, and I'm hoping I can persuade Dave to go again soon, as we didn't get to have tea in the pump rooms . It was *so* crowded; I've never seen anywhere this crowded. It was literally shoulder to shoulder wherever you went, including inside the shops themselves.

for the link, that car wasn't the one I was thinking of, so I've learnt something new . An awful lot of 70s cars were really loud colours, weren't they?

I had my blood test results back, and I don't have helicobacter pylori, so goodness knows what it is . It's eased off again now, so I suppose all I can do is keep bugging the doctors when it flares up .

Anyway, take care and hopefully chat soon .

Lins