This road will be closed

Damn diversion yesterday made my journey home from work 2 hours long (normally it's 40 minutes). Grrrr.

Here's why: the road I normally use (the A14) takes me directly from work to home. It's a national speed limit road (ie 70 MPH). Except this Friday, the direction I take to go back home was closed from 21:00 to 05:00.

Of course, that Friday was also the day I'm on call, and don't finish work till 22:00.

The road signs mentioned there would be a diversion, and indeed there was one. So I took the diversion exit and followed the signs and drove on.... and on..... and on..... and on.... through country lanes at maximum 50 MPH (due to lorries), through at least 12 villages at 30 MPH limit.

To make things worse, the diversion was taking me WAY PAST where I lived, up up and up and then down down and down another road. In other words, I drove up about 30 miles and drove back down that 30 miles on narrow country lanes. Picture a triangle with one arm "closed"... so to get from A to B I had to go all the way up to C, then all the way down to B.

By the time I got home at 23:00 I was grumpy, hungry, and tired. The Big Mac I'd sneaked in just before leaving work came in very handy.

Quick Question

You know when you're playing a game and you have X many lives left. Do you prefer it that:

a\ X = the total amount of lives left, including the one you're playing with. Meaning when X=1 and you die it's game over.

or

b\ X = the total amount of lives left in stock, ie excluding the one you're playing with. Meaning when X = 0 and you die, it's game over.

I personally much, strongly, positively prefer the scenario B. In fact, scenario A just down right annoys me.

Super Mario Galaxy 2 star count at 97!

(twitter is down)

"my drawer"

I recently bought a new desk. My 10 year old classic was just too small - way too small in fact, still I had a love relationship with it (my first desk in the UK!) and it's travelled with me far and wide.

Anyway, my current desk is a nice big office desk, with cable management holes and lots of space for everything. It also has 3 drawers, and the most important thing ever: MY DRAWER.

Yes, my drawer. Our hobby (PCs? Games? Technology? Gadgets?) is messy. There's lots of odd bits and pieces, lots of fittings and adaptors and cables and tools and stuff that just don't go anywhere else. There's that 2nd favourite mouse, the extra headset you might use, the keys that came with your case etc etc, all little things that need to go somewhere right?

There's also the screws and screwdrivers, the joypads and the screen wipes, the glasses wipes and so many other things you just have to have near by to you, at arm's reach.

The best thing about "my drawer" is that it should never, ever be tidy. If it is tidy, it's not "my drawer" any more, and someone else has been in it and tidied up (a BIG no no). It has to be haphazard, with a cable here, a pen there, a screw here etc. Yet, I can tell you blind-folded exactly where everything is. Ask me about something and I'll just put my hand in my drawer and take it out without even looking.

We've all had that moment - you subconsciously knew that 6 years ago a video card you bought have a VGA2VGA extender. You put it away in your "my drawer" and "forgot" about it - not exactly forgot but filed it away under "could be useful later". This "useful later" moment comes after 6 years, and you know you own it, and you know it's in your drawer. You look and look and, initially, a small sense of panic comes along "Where did I put this? Surely it's in here somewhere? If it isn't, have I started putting stuff away "randomly"?"

Then you find said item - safe and sound in your "my drawer" and instantly a sense of calm, elation, and relief comes over you - a little reminder that you, and only you know what's inside "my drawer" and remember every little thing there. You also get that even better feeling of knowing that one day, that silly little cable that you put away all those years ago did come in useful.

So, what's your "my drawer"? Where is it and is it messy, or tidy and organised. And if you don't have one-liar.