So I received a slow cooker for my birthday from my brother and his family. So I tried a beef stew in it today.
Potatoes just wouldn’t cook. I wound up transferring it to my regular stew pot and boiling it madly for another 1/2 hour.
Also, half the meat was very tender and half was very dry.
I can fix the potato problem, just cut them up smaller.
But not sure what to do about the meat.
Oh and the onions remained big pieces. They usually cook down to nothing.
Must ponder…
I am no longer a licensed driver.
My California Driver’s License expired yesterday. I can’t get a UK one with the current state of my diabetes.
In some ways it is oddly freeing.
I am sure it will feel less freeing when I am in California later this year, after the baby is born, and I can’t drive!
We don’t have a car, we have no plans to get a car. So why should I worry about a license? I shouldn’t! 🙂
Along with the snow I’ve received a beautiful necklace from my husband, flowers, a balloon and a teddy bear from my sister in law, a gift card from my in laws and an Amazon certificate from my mom.
So a good birthday all the way around!
BBC is predicting heavy snow for tomorrow. Met office says the same.
Would that be the coolest birthdy present ever? A free day off of work?
Yet.
And they lied about the 3c today. It was actually -3c. So bitterly cold, but no snow.
I am highly disappointed.
It snowed in Belfast today.
Snow.
In Belfast
Today.
It didn’t stick, but for about 2 hours, down it came.
Snow.
In Belast.
It *never* snows in City Centre Belfast. Never. Just doesn’t happen.
Well, maybe once a year.
But certainly not on 28th October!
But today.
Snow.
In Belfast.
WOW!
Its definitley winter!
And the first sign of said winter in Belfast? The P&O Ferry in her winter dock on the Lagan. *le sigh*
also…*yawn*
I get teased. A lot. Over the way I pronounce some Irish words.
Anyone who has ever seen the Irish Language written out, knows that pronunciation can be tricky. Example, the name Sioban? Pronounced Sha-Von.
And yesterday in the office we were discussing a news story about a murder that occurred in Armagh. One of my co-workers lives in Armagh. And apparently I can’t pronouce it at all. To me, the way I said it and the way they said it sounded the same. Apparently not.
I take the teasing in good spirit, since it isn’t meant maliciously. It is more amazement that I can’t pronounce these things, because to the natives it is second nature.
And when they really want a laugh? They ask me to pronounce Carrickfergus. Apparently the way I say that is hysterical!
On our old laptop. We replaced it because it was having a severe overheating problem. It kept shutting itself off, it was that bad.
So today, I took it apart. Completely. From stem to stern. From hard drive to mother board.
And found? Enough dust and other crap in it to make my own golem. It was really really gross.
And then I put it back together. And it works! And its running much cooler!
So now it is defraging. And then it will get a disk check. And then maybe a fresh load of Windows.
And now we have two computers that work. One is brand new and is good for *everything*. And the other one is more or less refurbished and cruises the ‘net and can do word processing and such.
Also? I have my work laptop. So really, we have three. And the work laptop? Has Adobe CS. So, when I bring it home, which I don’t always, I can do graphics on it.
And we have a wireless network at home now.
So come on over, use a laptop. Its here if you need it!
in other news, I’ve been doing a bit of freelancing, with my SMTs approval, on Belfast Rotary Club’s website. My CEO is a member and he asked me to help them out. The same company that did NISP’s site did that one, but I’m the overall web girl for it. And I’ll be getting paid a bit to do it.
And i didn’t wind up actually losing any weight this week after all. But I will. Maybe this week.
So life is pretty good, technology wise. If only I could sleep…
Was out last night for our Building Managers Leaving Do. It was great craic.
Started the evening here at Zen. Had some dumplings and some HUGE New Zealand Mussels cooked Teppenaki style, i.e. more or less grilled. They have excellent sushi as well, but I wasn’t in the mood last night.
Then headed over to The Apartment. Its not the best bar in Belfast, but you can usually get a table if you get there by about 10:30, and we like to sit when we drink!
Ended our night at Mynt. Their site specifically lists them as a gay bar, but it really didn’t seem like a gay crowd last night. Certainly plenty of boys were flirting and dancing with me! I don’t usually like that kind of place, all dark and loud and hot, and they have one of those fog machines with the nasty smelling fog that sends me right back to my theater days. But I was just in the mood last night. And I danced for 2 hours straight, no joke.
Made it home about 2am. Every muscle in my body hurts. And I had a blast.
I also have some photographic evidence. I may threaten to put that up here if people in my office do something I don’t like!