GTA San Andreas was released in the UK today. I predict this is going to be the best PS2 game ever.
I’ve had my copy reserved for about two months now, and finally picked it up this morning. Funnily enough, there didn’t seem to be any lines at HMV (although it was 10:30am) and the sales guy told me that they have unreserved copies in stock. I bet they probably sell out by the end of today, or at least definitely the end of the weekend, so go get your copy today!
Dear friends I left behind in New Zealand,
I will be in Wellington for the first time since 2001 this Christmas. Please join me for drinks on January 7th. This is the last weekend I am in New Zealand, so you better bloody not be on holiday, or I will cry. Like this :’(.
I will confirm a venue soon. Can’t wait to see you all!
Love,
Ani
P.S. :’(! You don’t want that!
There is a reason why everyone in Manchester is grumpy, pale, and pudgy, and it could have something to do with the fact that the weather is so miserable and dreary that noone in their right mind would ever want to leave the house.
According to some random statistics I found on the internet, the sunniest Western city/town (aside from Yuma, because to be honest, who gives a fuck about Yuma) is Phoenix with 4,020 hours of sunshine per year. Wellington, which to me has pretty much the right amount of sunshine hours, clocks in at 2,025 hours annually. That means that Phoenix is really quite sunny. On the other hand, the very, very, very other hand, in fact, a hand that isn’t even attached to your arm, is Manchester with 1,330 hours.
1,330 hours might sound like quite a few, but when you work it out, that’s not even 4 hours a day. But these “statistics”, well, I think they might have the slight flavour of bullshit. I spent my first summer in Manchester, and I use the word summer quite loosely, because basically it consisted of a few days where the temperature climbed just past 20C. That’s how hot we used to keep the office air-conditioning. I also estimate that the sun actually shines for only approximately 4 minutes per day.
The fact of the matter is: it is currently 27C in Houston and 12C in Manchester. It’s 10C in Wellington, and is 2AM and actually winter there! (Or close enough.) Argh, cold.
I know why the English drink so much tea – to warm their frozen mitts on the mug.
At the bigger companies I’ve work for we’ve always used Microsoft Exchange or Lotus Notes which gives you access to the handy Out of Office Assistant. However, I have been working at smaller companies with POP accounts for some time now, and was resigned to the fact that all emails sent to me when I was on holiday would have to be ignored. Wrong!
I’m not sure how I didn’t find this before, but on Microsoft’s knowledge base website, I found this article on how to emulate the Out of Office Assistant using Outlook without Exchange.
Basically, you create an Outlook template (an .oft file) and set up a rule that replies to any emails received with the template you’ve created. Once you’re back at work, turn off the rule. Voila! The only drawback is that you have to leave your computer on and Outlook open because it’s not a serverside option. But hey, better than nothing! (At least your boss might think so.)
P and I went to Antwerp this weekend and took Monday off so he could deal with all the silly Belgian paperwork things. It was so nice to get away from the utter shite Manchester weather for a few days.
We flew KLM, which involved flying to London City and then to Antwerp – each time in a 50-seater plane with propellers. Propellers! It was so windy and turbulent that I pooed in my pants about eleventy times.
Being back in Antwerp almost felt like going home. We had our bikes waiting for us and it is so nice and relaxing crusing around the streets and not worrying too much about getting hit by a car because the drivers are cautious of cyclists and there are loads of bike lanes. It was nice going back to Dansing Chocola for Looza and vodka, and some koffie verkeerd which always comes with yummy biscuits or chocolate.
The only bummer about Antwerp is that I don’t speak Dutch. Sure, I can say hello, goodbye, yes, no, thank you, please, and not much else, but it gets really frustrating going out to dinner with P and his family and not understanding 99% of what’s being said. So I bought an interactive Dutch course (leer Nederlands!) on CD-ROM. From just last night I can count to 20 and name about 6 colours. THAT is progress. Also, total dedication and love. Better fucking recognise!
There is a lot about Belgium that I really love – the culture, the food, the price of food and living compared to the UK, the laidbackness-but-not-quite, biking everywhere – I really could see myself living there for a while if the situtation arose. However, I don’t (yet!) speak Dutch so I couldn’t get a job and Belgium has the most ridiculous amount of taxes in possibly the entire universe.
Antwerp = (100% Ani Moller approval)-(2% for stupid taxes)
