Curiosity found the gadget ?

I never knew there was a trombone on the opening track to the Flood album by They Might Be Giants ...

Jumped over a few stepping stones to more gadgets over the past couple of days. For a while, I've seen a few people's MSN Messenger contact info bars show what they're listening to and I've wondered if I'd be able to do that through iTunes. It's a bit useless but I like my gadgets enough to see if it could be done. In the end, it's been done through complete accident rather than any grand design :-)

I'm often logged into MSN at home and I'm happy to give out the address to blogfriends. It's not the iceangel.mercs@ which is on my profile, although I do see emails that go to that address. Although the Mercs don't exist any more, I'm keeping that address for sentimental value :-) My MSN address has too much info to put where phishing scanners can see it, which is why I'm not going to post it.

When testing out the Airfoil app (linked in post below), I was originally going to test it using a couple of Windows Media Player tracks that came with this machine. As it turns out, Airfoil didn't work too well with WMP but it's gotten me the iTunes track info into Messenger :-) The problem's one of Digital Rights Management, where Vista objects to the trust chain being broken into. Airfoil's an application I'll get "Sometime" but that sometime will be when the dollar to pound rate is more favourable, so the $25 licence fee costs me less. Until I get a telly that supports HDMI inputs, I don't see too much of a need to acquire the Airfoil app.

It's the difference between "Want" and "Need".

I "want" the chocolate and orange flavoured muffins from the shop but I try to avoid having too many because I don't actually "need" them. Unless it's a day when you've had a lunchtime meeting out of the office and you've missed when the sandwich bar is open :-) Muahaha - I think the "need" there is to have an excuse to hunt the muffin :-)

The "want" vs "need" battle is one I find myself fighting fairly constantly with food ... My weight is fairly stable but still a little high compared to what it should be (I'm around 2 stone overweight for the muscle I currently carry). I find myself "want"ing far too much rubbish but I'm getting better at only munching when I "need" to.

The telly's another example, I "want" something new, shiny and high def but will resist until it breaks into being "need" ... Old telly is still going strong at the moment, so I have a little while yet which should let me regenerate a bit of cash (after buying laptop) as well as allowing the market to settle a bit. It does make it a mite more frustrating for people looking to buy me stuff though :-)

What else has been happening ? The CrazieBoys watched the film Defiance last night and it's not often a film finishes with the people leaving in a decidedly sombre atmosphere. Cracking film this one, tackling a very tough subject in a horrible time for many. A very well done to the makers here as they've done a cracking job here.

Work is still being stimulating and we're moving into a very "interesting" time. With the possibility of being "interesting" in quite a few ways. Plus I still get to talk to great people and completely cave in when the finance girls ask me for money. It's part of the job honest ... And no, it's not that kind of job. Ermm ... think I'm digging me a hole here ... They're a good bunch our people, it makes working on the project far more satisfying when you can have a bit of good harmless fun with your workmates :-)

Like being able to make your boss crack up by sending him an email that says "Ok, I've just lost all hope of concentrating on writing this document ..." The trigger was highly pretty contractor girl sitting on a desk that was right in my eyeline past my screen. That's sitting on the desk, not on a chair behind desk. Not totally politically correct but harmless fun and I think my boss knows me well enough now to know that while I would be highly distracted by highly pretty contractor girl, I'd still be cracking on with being professional. (In the end, I got dragged away by someone, so I didn't spend too long in gaze-mode !)

That's a lot of the reason I've stayed where I am for so long, the project itself is an interesting one and is continually moving forward. But it's the people who really make me stick around.

PS That muffin was definitely more healthy than the chocolate bar alternative :-) Honest !
PS2 Must work on psychological techniques to help me resist feminine wiles. Somehow, I think that may be a project doomed before it starts.