tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-52615492011-07-14T17:49:11.806-07:00... the continuing adventures of Benjamin Fig and Dr Buffy ...Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comBlogger1501100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1102466179920033132004-12-07T17:25:00.000-08:002004-12-07T16:36:19.920-08:00

Hey there, hello again. It's been a while since the massive IVF post, over 2 months in fact. It's 5:24pm on Tuesday 7th December, Rocky Mountain time, and I'm sitting in my little office passing time before my clarinet lesson at 6:30 up at the University. It's been cold all day today, -18 or so, with snow on and off. The windows of the hospital are covered in ice, which makes for a very unusual,

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1094533555389863492004-09-20T21:10:00.000-07:002004-09-20T20:12:26.563-07:00

Well, it's been over 3 months since our attempt at IVF, so I guess the dust has started to settle and it's time to try to make sense of it all. Maybe writing this piece will help. The Background. We're both 36 now and we've been married for 8 years or so. We'd always planned on a family (she wanted 2, I wanted 4), but we put off having kids until we were 30 (careers, exams etc.), but once we

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1095046487763664652004-09-12T20:20:00.000-07:002004-09-12T20:34:47.763-07:00

Hey, I just called into my local Canadian comics shop to buy the new hardcover of 'Louis Riel'. They had a copy in the window but I couldn't see one on the shelf, so I asked the assistant if he could find a copy for me: Me: Hi, do you have any copies of 'Louis Riel' by Chester Brown? Him: Sorry, hmmm? Me: I'm looking for a copy of 'Louis Riel'? Him: Who? Me: You know, Louis Riel? It's a comic

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1094831120877037872004-09-10T08:40:00.000-07:002004-09-10T08:45:20.876-07:00

God! I laughed till I dropped! You've gotta check out this and this

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1094704557634036062004-09-08T21:24:00.000-07:002004-09-08T21:35:57.636-07:00

Hit the comics shops today and found some new stuff. Real cool... The Complete Bone Amazing 1300-page softcover of the whole thing. Very impressive looking paperback. Looking forward to getting stuck into this... Battle Royale 8 The slaugther continues in fine fashion... Persepolis volume 2 Came across this by accident today - read the first one and was impressed. This one is a blue

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1094532707567105932004-09-06T22:29:00.000-07:002004-09-06T21:51:47.566-07:00

And... we're back again! Apologies for the brief (3-month) hiatus, but we've been busy moving between continents and turning our lives upside down! We've moved to the western part of Canada and will be here for the next 2 years; we've had a great first couple of months here, and the summer is now coming to a close as temperatures drop and the winter looms. The Rockies are beautiful, the food is

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1086430307421993342004-06-05T03:10:00.000-07:002004-06-05T03:11:47.420-07:00

Just sent out the following email: Dear Everyone This is just a short email to let you know that our first cycle of IVF was unsuccessful. The chances of our one embryo making it were always slim (10-15%, apparently), but it's still hard to accept that this wasn't our time. Sorry to let you know by e-mail, but it's a bit easier telling you this way as there's much less boo-hooing and we've both

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1086303177287076082004-06-03T15:50:00.000-07:002004-06-03T15:52:57.286-07:00

Another bump on the rocky rollercoaster that is IVF tonight. Our pregnancy condition is negative, I repeat negative. Fuck this for a game of soldiers. Let's go and get pissed.

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1085820171496675192004-05-29T01:39:00.000-07:002004-05-29T01:42:51.496-07:00

Wow. What a long, strange couple of months it's been. It seems like our lives have been turned upside down, given a good shake and then left to settle again. And it's not over yet... We've been to Canada, sold a lot of our possessions, found a new house and have gone through one of the weirdest experiences of our lives yet - IVF. And I stll haven't written my review of Cerebus issue 300! (

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1081587125138970222004-04-10T01:49:00.000-07:002004-04-10T01:55:56.060-07:00

Have added the site to the UK weblogs aggregator but it hasn't appeared yet. I'm almost finished by ebay travails - nearly all of my auctions are now online, should have the last ones done today. Then it's just a case of waiting 7 days, getting the money, packing the items up and shippinh them out... Phew!

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1081289380483864132004-04-06T15:06:00.000-07:002004-04-06T15:13:26.500-07:00

Released our first book into the wild tonight in a shopping centre in N Ireland. It was JACKIE BROWN by Elmore Leonard. I wonder who will find it... And what will happen then? Our house is a bit of a bomb site at the moment as we're getting rid of a lot of stuff in preparation for going to Canada. Most of it is making money for us on ebay - the running total is about 2500 quid so far, believe it

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1078528157642765832004-03-05T15:04:00.000-08:002004-03-05T15:12:19.763-08:00

Second read through... Issue 300 achieves what I thought was near-impossible - it provides a fitting ending to the series. It's deeply moving, puts recent events into context and features (briefly) the events and people which have made the last few years with Cerebus so memorable. And it ends on a bit of slapstick. It is reminiscent of the double issue 112/113 in terms of tone and content.

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1078526684704761682004-03-05T14:38:00.000-08:002004-03-05T14:47:46.326-08:00

Before getting into the meat of issue 300 (maybe tomorrow, after it's sunk in), 2 initial observations: 1. The cover is a little different from that seen in Previews: Original Previews cover The Real Thing 2. Parts of the issue remind me a little of one of my favourite issues of Alan Moore's Promethea, number 23, when Promethea and Barbara reach the first sphere Kether, The Crown, the white

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1078525507824081162004-03-05T14:24:00.000-08:002004-03-05T14:28:09.700-08:00

Just read Cerebus 300. WOW Absolutely. Fucking. Brilliant. Nothing like I expected. Gotta read it again now. (to be continued)

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1078524383736487522004-03-05T13:45:00.000-08:002004-03-05T14:10:16.043-08:00

The arrival of issue 300 has got me thinking about the last 11 years... When I was passing my Finals at university, Cerebus was lying dead drunk in a bar in Iest When I got my first real job, Cerebus and Cirin were on the way to (and past) the moon When I got married Cerebus and Bear were shooting the breeze on the roof of the bar When I passed my first Big Exam, Cerebus and Rick were playing 5-

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1078515240785072422004-03-05T10:52:00.000-08:002004-03-05T11:37:36.903-08:00

Well... it's here! It's lying on my desk and I can't bring myself to open it... I just don't want the whole Cerebus experience to end. But later tonight, I'll give in and bring it all to an end. It'll be like opening the box in which Schrodinger kept his cat - before I open the envelope, everything is possible. The cat (and Cerebus) hangs poised somewhere in between life and death, waiting

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1078267362458519902004-03-02T14:39:00.000-08:002004-03-02T14:50:58.686-08:00

Just noticed this... The cover from The Last Day is a true 360 degree wraparound... As you can see, if you take the far right end of the montage, it fits neatly onto the far left side ... This means that the 'camera' of the viewpoint from each cover has been rotating around Cerebus in a complete circle over the full 10-issue montage. Isn't Gerhard a clever boy?

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1078256632223016452004-03-02T11:23:00.000-08:002004-03-02T11:47:03.140-08:00

Just came across this on the Cerebus Fangirl site. Apparently Gerhard has supplied them with the cover of the last Cerebus phone book, collecting 289-300, The Last Day. And it's totally gorgeous! Click here for the big version! Basically it features the montage which I've shown here before, along the bottom of the cover. Each part is beatifully draw in sepia tone and is much better lit than

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1078100885794378772004-02-29T16:23:00.000-08:002004-02-29T16:31:40.280-08:00

Sheshep spends the first part of issue 299 asking Cerebus questions about events which occurred over 100 years before, at the end of ‘Rick’s Story’ and the during ‘Fall and the River’, making it plain that the version of history promoted by the New Joanne is quite different from the facts known to the reader. Having deluded herself that she is ‘The New Joanne’ rather than ‘The Jaka Look-Alike’,

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1078100468011741242004-02-29T16:14:00.000-08:002004-02-29T16:25:14.420-08:00

The covers of 297 and 298 are almost identical, both showing Cerebus in bed from the same viewpoint. The only difference is that there’s a little light coming in from the left of the cover in 297, while 298 is dark, showing that it’s now night. The first half of 298 is completely dialogue-free. The issue opens with the sun going down behind the Sanctuary, as night falls, the moon rises and the

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-107809993700101612004-02-29T16:08:00.000-08:002004-02-29T16:16:04.373-08:00

297 kicks off with Cerebus having to decide about whether to sign this pro-lesbienne declaration which will break the deadlock and let his son Shep-Shep come to visit. In the end, his pragmatic side triumphs and he signs the paper, reasoning that “the only thing that matters is getting Shep-Shep in here”. As soon as he’s handed the paper back however, he starts wondering if he hasn’t done exactly

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1078099607127187582004-02-29T16:04:00.000-08:002004-02-29T16:16:56.310-08:00

As I’ve been up to my eyes studying for the last 3 months, it’s only now that I’m getting around to blogging about the last 4 issues of Cerebus, 296-299. Up to the end of 295, the storyline of The Last Day had been intriguing and moving in equal parts but had also been fairly slow and leisurely. As you’ll see, the slow part of the story is just about to finish… We left off at the close of 295

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1077920902368341672004-02-27T14:25:00.000-08:002004-02-27T14:31:14.543-08:00

Oh my God. In less than 26 hours it will be March 2004. The long road is running to it's end. Issue 300 of Cerebus has been to the printers and has been shipped. It'll be here in just a few days. And I still haven't reviewed 297-299! Gotta get moving this weekend... Kinda hard to believe it's all going to be over soon. Only twenty pages to go and then Cerebus will be dead. Cerebus 1978-2004. RIP

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1077581239368720232004-02-23T16:07:00.000-08:002004-02-23T16:10:06.450-08:00

I got a lot of new games for xmas, but I never really got round to blogging about them because of all the studying. So here's the brief rundown:Need for Speed:UndergroundWhat a great game! I got this for Christmas a few weeks after I got a copy of Midnight Club 2. And I've played NFS to death while only spending a few hours on MC2. The races in NFS are just more visceral, more intense, more in

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1077494224917297382004-02-22T15:57:00.000-08:002004-02-22T15:59:50.746-08:00

Well, we're back again.Posts have been a little thin on the ground here for the last 2 or 3 months, as I've been busy studying for my Big Exam, the Part III FRCS. I was away in England doing this exam last week, and I'm happy to say that I passed. So I should have a lot more free time to do the things I enjoy, such as blogging, playing the PS2 and the saxophone and reading like mad! Dr Buffy and

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1076000650421246662004-02-05T08:59:00.000-08:002004-02-05T09:06:32.326-08:00

No posts for the last few weeks (actually since Christmas) as I've been studying like mad for my Big Exam. Still 2 weeks to go to the Big Day, so I've still got to study like a madman, but normal blog service will be resumed once it's all over. Have to write about the excellent issues 298 and 299 of Cerebus, however... especially 299 - i just got it today and it's totally WHAT THE F**K! What a

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1071944865526669702003-12-20T07:23:00.000-08:002003-12-21T10:52:07.786-08:00

Following on from the post below, I've now finished the montage of all of the covers from The Last Day, the last book in Cerebus. Issues 289-297 are now out, 298 and 299 are scanned in from Previews and issue 300 is taken from the Previews site mentioned below. Rather than putting all 12 covers side by side (and making you scroll like mad to the right) I've arranged them in a 4x3 grid which

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1071859341376260242003-12-19T10:42:00.000-08:002003-12-20T06:59:53.023-08:00

Just browsing thru the posts over at the Cerebus group on Yahoo and I came across this link about the final issue of Dave Sim's Cerebus. Although it's not made entirely clear, it seems that the cover of the last issue might be this: It looks like the cover shows the light entering Great Cerebus' room as the sun comes up, presumably after he dies. As you can see, the logo is central and is all

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1071750650543787982003-12-18T04:30:00.000-08:002003-12-18T04:31:04.723-08:00

Hey, I got a new phone last week, the Handspring Treo 600. I had been looking for a new PDA (upgrading from my old black and white Visor Edge, I had considered the Tungstem and Zire ranges) but I was getting tired of carrying around a PDA and a phone, so I started looking around for something to do the job of both. The Treo 600 is a little bigger than my Ericsson T68i phone, but it has so

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1071749777778127512003-12-18T04:16:00.000-08:002003-12-18T04:16:32.156-08:00

I've managed to get back to the computer a bit more this week to fill in a few more blog entries. This is largely because my boss is away at the moment, so I'm free for part of the week, although my other work is managing to expand to fill the gaps, thank you very much! Anyway, what's rattling around my frontal lobes at the moment? Let's see... Watched a good program last night on the Soham

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1071579611374599622003-12-16T05:00:00.000-08:002003-12-18T04:17:22.580-08:00

Oh yeah, what about Saddam Hussein being found in a hole? Will it be another one of those 'I remember where I was when I heard about XXX' moments? I think not, in the long run... It's just not big enough, or personally significant enough. The ones I can think of right now, in no particular order, are: Where were you when you heard ... ... about Diana's death (in bed at about 01:00 on a

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1071578802942141102003-12-16T04:46:00.000-08:002003-12-16T04:46:56.550-08:00

Hmmm.... bit unfocused today... Got back from Edinburgh at 6pm on Friday night, then straight out to a Christmas dinner, then straight into a 48-hour work weekend on Saturday morning. Operating most of Sunday, got to bed at 1am on Monday morning. Then another 12-hour day on Monday. So now I'm feeling ... a little unfocused, slightly blurry at the edges. I know I should use today to do a little

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1070972200936429472003-12-09T04:16:00.000-08:002003-12-09T04:16:52.923-08:00

Wow! It's been a month since my last blog! Up to my eyes with work (12 hours a day), getting ready for Christmas, making plans for going to Canada and studying for my big exam in Febrary. Work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep... Still finding time to relax, tho: Movies: Working thru the Godfather trilogy. Enjoyed Pirates of the Carribean, and even figured out why Johnny Depp was undead too. Games

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1068166174152371332003-11-06T16:47:00.000-08:002003-11-06T16:49:37.323-08:00

Just had a look at the Preview of the cover of Cerebus 298 and it seems it's very similar to the cover of 297... Cerebus is still in bed, but now it's night. According to the 'issue blurb', he might be dead already... but I think he'll hold out to 300. Now I just have to add it to the montage...

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1068032188085761422003-11-05T03:36:00.000-08:002003-11-05T03:38:02.430-08:00

Just a quick update on the state of play with the latest PS2 games... I rented Pro Evo Soccer 3 for a few days just to try it out... In the end, I decided not to buy it as there aren't really enough new features since version 2. In fact, after playing Pro Evo 3 for a day or two, I went back to Pro Evo 2 and started remembering how much I enjoy it already! It's a super game (no FIFA for me!), so

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1067771408733756672003-11-02T01:43:00.000-08:002003-11-02T04:35:18.326-08:00

Just finished reading the first 26 issues of Animal Man by Grant Morrison, originally published way back in 1988-1990. I have read a lot of other Morrison stuff (most notably Zenith, The Invisibles, The Filth) but for some reason I had never got as far as this. I guess my curiosity was piqued when I found out that the long-delayed 3rd part of the series Deus Ex Machina was coming out as a trade

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1067708118243952122003-11-01T08:07:00.000-08:002003-11-01T09:36:14.233-08:00

Just a few brief words on some of the new comics I've come across in the last wee while: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen A superb ending to the whole Martians-invade-Earth-and-who-will-stop-them story, following on from the superb part 5. If I only remember one part of this story, it'll be the bit where I realised that Mr Hydel had killed Griffin (the Invisible Man) when his blood suddenly

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1066257560213118872003-11-01T06:03:00.000-08:002003-11-01T07:34:21.546-08:00

Having been away in both Toronto and Heidelberg recently, I've been a little slow in getting around to thinking about issues 293-295 of my favourite comic book. The other reason for the delay is that these two issues, while excellent, left me a little unexcited. Why? Well, let's see... 292 ended with the revelation that Shep-Shep is on the way to see his father, possibly in response to Cerebus'

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1067695389730076972003-11-01T05:45:00.000-08:002003-11-01T06:03:42.883-08:00

It's 8 degrees C, 1:46 pm on November 1st 2003 here in the UK. I'm on my own today, as Dr Buffy is away in the Seychelles for the next 10 days at a conference. It's funny, though - I have lots of work to do, lots of books to read, lots of films to watch and lots of games to play, but when she's not here I can't really see the point of any of them. At least come Monday I'll be at work and that

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1066257966234512872003-10-15T15:39:00.000-07:002003-10-15T15:46:05.793-07:00

Just finished reading Grant Morrison's great, uneven, spell-binding, frustrating run on Animal Man issues 1-26 from way back in 1989/1990. It's fascinating to see some of the issues and techniques which would late bear fruit in The Filth, Zenith and the Invisibles getting an early run-about here. The whole Animal Man-travelling-in-time theme bears directly on one of my favourite Invisibles issues

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1066257226609324012003-10-15T15:26:00.000-07:002003-10-15T15:33:46.333-07:00

Here is the cover of 297 from Previews: We're starting to reach the end here ... it's a very dark cover and Cerebus appears to be in bed. I've added it to the montage here: The big montage is here

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1066125874772260672003-10-14T03:04:00.000-07:002003-10-14T03:04:34.930-07:00

Haven't posted as planned for the last 2 days because on the night before I flew home I was attacked by a virulent strain of gastroenteritis. Diarrhoea and abdominal cramps from 11pm-2am and then projectile vomiting at 4am. Lovely. I was weak as water on Saturday morning but my friends let me sleep and then drove me 100 kilometres to the airport rather than make me go on the bus in my weakened

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1065809772796525512003-10-10T11:14:00.000-07:002003-10-10T11:16:12.700-07:00

Just a quick blog from Heidelberg to say we've had a great week here with our friends and we're sorry to be going home tomorrow. Lots of stories from our various travels, the christening and the conference I was at. More when I get back...

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1065121667467783422003-10-02T12:07:00.001-07:002003-10-02T12:19:59.176-07:00

Ok, back again, 3 operations later... Where was I? Oh yes, the joy of demo discs.... The latest issue of the UK's Official PS2 magazine came with a disc containing 14 demos, and some of them were quite good really. But the best 2 were Amplitude and Freedom Fighters. You know that a game's good when you're willing to go back and play a time-limited demo time after time just to get the buzz of

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1065121678177109802003-10-02T12:07:00.000-07:002003-10-02T12:15:21.100-07:00

The other demo which has been on my brain is Freedom Fighters. I played the demo level, The Post Office about 20 times and have since bought the full version. The game puts you in charge of a mechanic fighting to free New York from the invading / occupying Russian army. It's a third-person shooter, and you get the usual array of weapons but the key feature is that you command a small team of

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1065093508064754622003-10-02T04:18:00.000-07:002003-10-02T12:21:36.393-07:00

OK, I'm back... Blogging a bit less often than before at the moment due to the loss of my Monday morning and Tuesday afternoon "free sessions". I'm still free on a Thursday morning at the moment, but I often have to do an hour or two's teaching which eats into the time I have. Also, at the moment Dr Buffy and I seem to be going thru a hyper-busy phase - getting home late from work, eating late,

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1065046193526983462003-10-01T15:02:00.000-07:002003-10-01T15:09:53.560-07:00

Looking at my site meter, which I do from time to time, it seems that a lot of people are reaching this site by typing in the terms "sycamore trees" into Google. Are you lot looking for this site in particular, or are you just tree fanatics? Comments below, please.... A lovely sycamore tree

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1064529278577762452003-09-25T15:17:00.000-07:002003-09-25T15:34:38.410-07:00

Just a quick bed-time note on my new favourite spin-off series, Smax from America's Best Comics by Alan Moore and Zander Cannon. It stars the titular Smax and his new partner Toybox, two of the heroes from Alan Moore's Top Ten series about superheroes who work as cops in a city where everyone else is a superhero. This may sound like a pretty weird idea but it's actually very good - especially the

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1064405536479473112003-09-24T05:12:00.000-07:002003-09-24T05:36:04.740-07:00

Aargh! F**K Blogger! I just spent 20 minutes writing this post only to lose it after Blogger said it was published! Anyway, we're back again. We have been on hiatus for the last 3 weeks or so because we've been away in Toronto so that I could attend a job interview. Before you ask - it went very well, but I won't know anything until the end of October, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1062272005113406612003-08-30T12:00:00.000-07:002003-08-31T04:45:06.586-07:00

Wow! I just read the latest Sock Monkey by Tony Millionaire from Dark Horse Comics and it's a hum-dinger! As soon as I read it through, I went straight back to the start and went over it again to make sure it was as fantastic as I thought it was! So what's so great about Sock Monkey? Well, I've alluded to this excellent title on this blog before when commenting on the unique Maakies strip by the

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1062108551134833662003-08-28T14:50:00.000-07:002003-08-28T15:09:37.236-07:00

Just finished this excellent book You Got Nothing Coming: Notes From A Prison Fish which is all about being on the receiving end of the Americal justice system, written by Jimmy Lerner, a convict serving time for murder. It's a brutal, painfully honest read which pulls no punches. Lerner, a first time convict arrives at the prison not knowing what to expect, along with all the other Fish (

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1062067911218880802003-08-28T03:50:00.000-07:002003-08-28T14:50:24.866-07:00

Just checked out the Files area over at Yahoo Groups, and it looks like the cover of Cerebus 296 is going to continue the One Big Montage thing. For the full, ever-expanding cover montage from 291-296 click here for the big version and here for the small version. There are only 4 more issues to go... I wonder what this means for the cover of 300?

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1061817143456732102003-08-25T06:11:00.000-07:002003-08-25T06:12:23.503-07:00

So the About page is done at last! It's not much to look at, but it's there anyway...

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1061810336735981762003-08-25T04:07:00.000-07:002003-08-25T04:35:18.303-07:00

So, I thought I should finally get around to writing the About page for this blog. It's taken long enough... But then I wondered - what IS this blog about, anyway? Since I started it, I've been writing without any particular agenda in mind, so I thought I should take a look at where have the blog has gone and what topics have been covered, in its deliberate randomness. The first post was made

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1061746278457257402003-08-24T10:25:00.000-07:002003-08-24T10:34:29.930-07:00

Finally got my Unibrain FireWire webcam hooked up to work with the site, as you can see to the right. Initially it was pointed right at where I'm sitting now, but I'm afraid it wasn't very aesthetically pleasing, so you now have a view of the street across from our house. Hope the neighbours don't mind! It refreshes every 30 seconds (not a lot happens around here!) but I hope it'll show changes

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1061464786118726282003-08-21T03:59:00.000-07:002003-08-21T04:19:46.130-07:00

In association with my quick re-read of Latter Days Book 1, I've ended up dipping back into the big (2-volume) Going Home storyline (counting 'Sudden Moves', 'Fall and the River' and 'Form and Void' as books 1, 2 and 3 of the bigger 'Going Home' storyline, as was initially intended) for a bit of context and I find myself thinking about a few pivotal scenes: Cerebus and Jaka turn back south on

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1061463474092370602003-08-21T03:32:00.000-07:002003-08-21T03:57:53.933-07:00

Kind regards to the folks over at Snowchyld who say: "digging thru my logs i found a link to under the sycamore trees a great blog, going in depth into Dave Sim's Cerebus (a fantastic read, i still want to pick up the GN's and read in one sitting ;))" Nice to know someone else is reading my drivel! Now if I can just find about 180 free hours I can join you in the great Cerebus re-read. It would

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1061162226035583562003-08-17T15:55:00.000-07:002003-08-17T16:19:33.310-07:00

Shorter review this time around for part 4 of The Last Day... As noted on this blog, the 292 cover fits on to the right-hand edge of the 291 cover, forming the start of one big motage which will go at least as far as 295. The issue starts with Cerebus reminiscing about seeing his son Shep-Shep (where did this name come from? is it a nickname?) grow up, playing 5-bar gate, hunting in the woods (

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1061160700234632672003-08-17T15:21:00.000-07:002003-08-17T15:53:40.893-07:00

Just while I'm on a Cerebus blogging kick: Issue 291 A proper 'story' issue. Aaah... it's nice to get back to the story after the interminable 'Chasing YHWH' issues. 287 and 288 (the 'interview' issues) were much better than the pure commentary issues, and 289/290 was OK after a fashion, but 291 gets back to where most of us want to be - back to Cerebus. The issue starts with him waking up

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1061157854742349562003-08-17T14:47:00.000-07:002003-08-17T15:54:31.976-07:00

Following on from recent comments about similarities between Melmoth and The Last Day, I've been thinking about further links between the two books: Melmoth comprises the last 12 issues of the first half of Cerebus and The Last Day comprises the last 12 issues of the second half. The covers of both series feature a multi-issue cover montage. Both are about a character's last few days (or day)

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1060967770887926102003-08-15T09:50:00.001-07:002003-08-15T10:49:59.543-07:00

According to the latest issue of 'Previews' (August 03), the new Cerebus trade paperback Latter Days will consist of issues 266-288, covering the prologue and Book One of the Latter Days storyline. The cover (see below) will be in colour, in keeping with the 2 previous books, Going Home and Form & Void which had colour photo covers. Uniquely among Cerebus collections, the cover of Latter Days

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1060955964775979042003-08-15T06:53:00.000-07:002003-08-15T07:03:46.903-07:00

Just a quick note to say that another exquisite cartoon is up at Maakies.com. Beautiful maritime-themed art in the main 5-panel strip (Sea Monster Sandwich) with a faintly disgusting second strip running (entitled Maternity Ward) at the tiny gap at the bottom of the panels. It's not half as vulgar as others in the series, but be warned... it's a wee bit rude. Check it out ... there's nothing else

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-106095527894506342003-08-15T06:40:00.000-07:002003-08-15T06:52:21.216-07:00

It seems that I'm not the only Sideblog user who's decided that the introduction of ads is a bad thing. In response, the creator of the site is currently trying to decide whether to scrap the service entirely, scrap the ads or launch a cheap 'sideblog premium' service. Apparently the majority of users aren't as au fait with CSS as was expected and the ads are tricky to remove or alter to make

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1060778769124233522003-08-13T05:35:00.000-07:002003-08-15T06:44:23.233-07:00

Last night's story on the BBC about a British businessman importing a missile to the US to fire at Air Force One was pretty scary. But it reminded me of one of the main storylines in the second series of 24, which ended this week in the UK. You know, the one about the US military allowing a terrorist cell to deliberately bring a live nuclear weapon on to US soil and then to try and 'sting' them

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1060641463622167662003-08-11T15:21:00.000-07:002003-08-11T15:37:43.550-07:00

Working steadily harder at the moment... we managed the 'changeover' OK (with no uncessary deaths) and the new staff are settling in OK so far. The only problem is that one of my colleagues is on leave so there are only 2 of us to do the jobs of 3 at present. It's not much fun, working from 8am - 7:30pm each and every day. Gotta keep moving... So what else is in my frontal cortex at the moment?

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1060604199623138892003-08-11T05:13:00.000-07:002003-08-11T05:16:39.643-07:00

Minor site changes to report today ... Moved the links to the lefthand side... Also ditched sideblog from from the right hand side, as it has started to put an unwanted ad in LARGE PRINT at the bottom of the blog. I couldn't find an easy way to disable this or make the print smaller (I'm no CSS expert), so I ditched it. Sideblog should take a look at blogrolling, blogsnob and backblog to see

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1060093196292673912003-08-05T07:17:00.000-07:002003-08-05T07:19:56.276-07:00

Tomorrow is the changeover day at work... lots of doctors on their very first day at work... Danger, danger, danger... Whatever you do, don't get sick!

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1059954648636595312003-08-03T16:47:00.000-07:002003-08-03T16:50:48.633-07:00

Well, I gave in to temptation and spent the evening watching the last 2 episodes of Edge of Darkness, entitled 'Northmoor' and 'Fusion'. It's been such a long time since I saw these episodes - I didn't recall the whole episode in the nuclear plant and I had forgotten the ending, so it was a great 2 hours' viewing. And the DVD also had a 30-minute documentary called 'Magnox' which was made up of

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1059934240923267792003-08-03T10:47:00.000-07:002003-08-03T11:12:20.863-07:00

All these years, I've been missing out on espresso... As mentioned below, I was looking around for presents for Dr Buffy's birthday and I realised that the one kitchen appliance we have never had is a coffee maker. So I made some discreet enquiries and got hold of a Magimix M200 Nespresso espresso machine. And it's a real hit! Unlike the food processor, juicer, bread-maker, etc. this machine

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1059930525183877042003-08-03T10:01:00.000-07:002003-08-03T10:13:12.843-07:00

More photos from today, with minimal comment (garden pics are on Macro mode): On the fence Borage on the ground On the creep Dew In the pond Blooming From the road Bathroom fish from the Seychelles Our refrigerator The Kitchen Grotto

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1059929685127868152003-08-03T09:35:00.000-07:002003-08-03T09:55:26.296-07:00

Just wanted to say a little about a book I got Dr Buffy for her birthday recently. I was in the bookshop looking around for presents and a book called "sock monkeys (200 out of 1,863)" caught my eye. (by Arne Svenson and Ron Warren, published by Ideal World Books) It's basically a book of black and white classical portrait photographs of 200 sock monkeys from Ron Warren's collection of 1,863.

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1059928230948777272003-08-03T09:05:00.000-07:002003-08-03T09:57:02.370-07:00

Also spent a little while re-organising the playlists on the iPod. I have been buying a lot of new CDs recently, and I haven't had time to listen to all of them all the way through. To remedy this, I have set up a separate iPod playlist which contains all the new albums and also those which I feel I have neglected. These include: New and Neglected Massive Attack: 100th Window, Mezzanine Van

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1059926734571533972003-08-03T08:56:00.001-07:002003-08-03T09:57:41.080-07:00

16:50 here, UK time... So far today- 05:14 Woken by call from work - luckily didn't have to go in, as another speciality had the situation in hand. Settled back into fitful sleep until... 08:30 Alarm clock goes off. Getting up early to take Dr Buffy to airport. Good breakfast of apple juice, bacon/potato omelette and coffee. 09:30 On the road to the airport. Bit slower than normal due to

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1059915505091635772003-08-03T05:16:00.000-07:002003-08-03T09:32:42.093-07:00

This blog has had more hits in the last 36 hours than ever before, largely because of the montage of issue covers from Cerebus 291-295 (see below). So that got me thinking about which was my favourite issue cover, and I came up with issue 141 (the Christmas 1990 issue). It's from part 2 of Melmoth and features a wonderful painted sky at day break. But while I was rooting around in the 140s, I

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1059912165068111232003-08-03T04:34:00.000-07:002003-08-03T05:08:32.413-07:00

I've been neglecting the blog a little bit over the last few weeks, as I've been extra busy at work, but I'm at home all day today so I thought I'd make up for it a bit. So during the next 12-16 hours I'll be blogging about my day, writing about books, comics, TV and movies that are on my mind, posting photos that I have taken and generally letting it all hang out... First up: Not sure why I

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1059804761804121952003-08-01T23:10:00.002-07:002003-08-01T23:12:41.790-07:00

Ah, that's better...

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1059804680342174982003-08-01T23:10:00.000-07:002003-08-01T23:11:20.326-07:00

So it's official. The iTrip, a wireless radio broadcaster for the iPod has been banned in the UK. This is a shame, as it's a lovely little device which clips on top of the iPod and allows all the music on the iPod to be played on a nearby FM radio. It's great for those moments when you just don't want to plug your earplugs in. Admittedly, the sound quality isn't fantastic on FM and many portable

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1059804602839911682003-08-01T23:07:00.000-07:002003-08-01T23:10:02.816-07:00

As you can see, I'm having a little trouble with multiple posts of the same item with the new Blogger interface. I have now deleted the offending article, so let's see if that helps...

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1059777269023114012003-08-01T15:30:00.000-07:002003-08-30T03:43:42.880-07:00

Maybe it's just the fanboy in me, but I noticed something cool about the covers of Dave Sim's Cerebus 291 and 292 and I thought I'd do some digging... So I downloaded the covers of the upcoming issues 293-295 from the Cerebus group on Yahoo, cut and pasted them into one big montage and here it is: Click here for the big version As you can see, it's one huge scene going from cover to cover

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1059482783838455772003-07-29T05:46:00.000-07:002003-07-29T05:46:51.173-07:00

Ha ha! Blogging 2 days in a row - wonders will never cease. Dr Buffy and I are really back at the grindstone now - working from 7am-7pm, home for dinner and TV, doing paperwork until 12 midnight, then off for a few hours sleep before the alarm goes off at 6am again. Working at the weekends too - it's a real pain not getting a lie-in. So what's happening? Trying to find the time to watch episode

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1059392733760907172003-07-28T04:45:00.000-07:002003-07-28T04:45:33.650-07:00

What's happening? Is Monday the only day when I have time to blog? Things are just piling up on my desk at home... Just too busy at the moment to look around me. Oh, to be back on Tilos... Quick updates on life in general.. Major upgrade to the home entertainment system ... Got my first dedicated multi-region DVD player for the bedroom (Toshiba, 78 quid from Amazon, very slim and slinky model)

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1058788351477253822003-07-21T04:52:00.000-07:002003-07-21T04:52:31.453-07:00

It's becoming depressing - most every day on the news there's a report about another 1 or 2 American soldiers getting shot in Baghdad. It's slowly starting to morph into Vietnam. Bush should increase the pace at which the USA is withdrawing before it's too late... Also, good to see that Dubya still has an open mind about all those prisoners at Camp X-Ray... how can they hope for a fair trial if

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1058788136183193472003-07-21T04:48:00.000-07:002003-07-21T04:48:56.156-07:00

I was busy all day Friday, so I only found out about the whole Dr Kelly suicide thing late on Friday night. Initial reaction: stunned silence. Sounds like he was hounded by the MOD/government media machine and just couldn't take it any more. I don't think Blair will (or should) resign, but I think Alistair Campbell will have to, and that Geoff Hoon (Minister of Defence) probably should too.

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1058787922923991022003-07-21T04:45:00.000-07:002003-07-21T04:45:22.906-07:00

We've been back from Tilos for about 10 days now and are slowly coming back to normal. I've was back at work for 3 days last week, and I'm starting to feel like I was never away... Oh well, at least I've got my batteries fully charged for the next few months... I'm staying on in my current post for another 6 months before moving to another excellent job in February, which I what I requested. On

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1058786276365253952003-07-21T04:17:00.000-07:002003-07-21T15:37:54.263-07:00

I've been using the new version of Safari on the Mac to access Blogger for the last few days and I wasn't very impressed with the lack of useful linking and uploading tools. But just this morning I went to Blogger on a PC at work and the new interface looks great! I guess that I'm just seeing the 'lo-fi' appearance on Safari because Blogger isn't configured for it yet. Now if I could just

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1057963879850137152003-07-11T15:47:00.000-07:002003-07-11T15:51:19.830-07:00

What a great holiday and what a pity that it's over! Tilos was even better this year than last - lots of swimming, sun-bathing, reading, sleeping late and great food and drink. Wow! At least we have another 4 days off before we have to go back to work. We took over 250 photos in our 2 weeks away, and a large number of these images will be making their way here in the next few days. Anyway, that's

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-1056468121215460142003-06-24T08:18:00.000-07:002003-06-24T08:39:02.903-07:00

4pm here... Been very busy at work recently, running from pillar to post. Getting more and more frustrated at how much effort it takes to do even the basic things right. Starting to feel a deeply ingrained tiredness setting in. Which means it must be time for a holiday. So Dr Buffy and I are leaving for Greece at 5:30! We're flying to Manchester tonight and then off to Rhodes first thing

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-2004334452003-06-17T14:26:00.000-07:002003-06-17T14:26:18.013-07:00

Just a couple of quick pics on the new Nikon cam: A rather evil-looking sky seen out of my south facing window at about 10pm: and then our back garden seen from the same window at an odd angle. Shows the tiles and the water feature quite nicely:

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-2004318442003-06-17T06:27:00.000-07:002003-06-17T06:29:51.000-07:00

Finally finished Mission 5 of the 1-player game in SOCOM Navy Seals, called 'Temple at Hohn Kaen'. This is the second Thailand-based mission in Operation Good Karma and it only took me 20 attempts! Missions 1-4 were much easier. I tried a variety of approaches to the mission but usually ended up sustaining a lot of damage at the start and middle of the level so that I was killed before reaching

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-2004317912003-06-17T06:11:00.000-07:002003-06-17T06:11:43.000-07:00

Pipex has a new interface for its web-based DSL e-mail and boy is it SLOW. The interface itself is quite pretty (blues and purples) but waiting 5 minutes for a new e-mail to display really sucks. Sort this out, guys! And while you're at it, do something about all the spam. It's getting beyond a joke!

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-2004282772003-06-16T04:03:00.000-07:002003-06-17T06:07:37.000-07:00

Just found this at Metalinker : Konspire. Looks like a cool channel tool which is available for OSX. Must remember to give it a whirl when I get home again. Update: Tried it out. It works using a web-based interface. I'm not really au fait with this type of software in general but my first impressions were not good. Pretty ugly interface (white and red on a black background) and not terribly

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-2004281022003-06-16T01:34:00.000-07:002003-06-16T01:34:18.446-07:00

Back in the library this am. Monday morning is my only truly 'free' session of the week (there being 10 sessions in the week, am and pm, Monday to Friday) so I often find some time to blog in the library. The weekend was great. Left work early on Friday to go examine in one of the medical school's qualifying exams (3rd years) and then ended up in the bar with some of my colleagues for a few

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-2004253462003-06-14T10:35:00.000-07:002003-06-16T01:37:09.000-07:00

Below is a short piece I wrote on the latest issue of 'Cerebus' by Dave Sim. For readers unfamiliar with Cerebus, a few words of introduction are probably in order. Where should I start to try to explain something that's been part of my life for so long? 'Cerebus' is a bi-monthly comicbook that the Canadian Dave Sim started writing in 1978. The hero of the story was the titular Cerebus, an

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-2004095632003-06-10T15:48:00.000-07:002003-06-10T15:48:38.600-07:00

Note for later to self: check out SpamAssassin: Welcome to SpamAssassin to get rid of all this damn spam.

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-2004094692003-06-10T15:09:00.000-07:002003-06-10T15:36:59.000-07:00

Welcome to my first (and hopefully last) blog restaurant review. My parents took Dr Buffy and me out for dinner about 2 weeks ago to a trendy place called Porcelain, a restaurant associated with the hotel Ten Square and the club Bar Red and we all had the worst meal of our lives. This is saying something, as we eat out quite a lot, but our experience in this restaurant was truly abysmal and I

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-2004094372003-06-10T14:59:00.000-07:002003-06-10T14:59:09.533-07:00

What an odd, strange few days it's been. My life has been very abnormal for the last 8 days, and I haven't had time to blog but I think I'm getting back to normal now. It all started when Dr Buffy had to fly off to New York for 8 days for a meeting. And then work just exploded - 79 patients at the maximum count, both of my colleagues went on leave and left me 'holding the fort' more or less alone

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-2003863902003-06-04T16:22:00.000-07:002003-06-10T13:51:53.000-07:00

Wednesday 5 June ... Working 13 hours a day every day ... I am responsible for 77 patients and rising ... and I'm on my own at work for the next 4 days... no time/energy to blog for now... I'm dancing as fast as I can...

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-2003442172003-05-27T06:28:00.000-07:002003-05-27T06:28:38.000-07:00

Back at work again today. These last few weeks have been rather odd - away in the Black Forest, then back for a week or two, then away again on a management course. And now back to the grindstone again. It has the result of leaving me feeling a little adrift at work at the moment, unsure of exactly what has happened while I've been away flying my kite... Hopefully it'll pass in a day or two...

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-2003359762003-05-24T06:05:00.000-07:002003-05-25T12:40:18.000-07:00

Just back from an excellent 4-day course about management and other things, about which more later. While I was away I had a few hours to myself and managed to get time to finish a book I started when we were in Germany. It was the excellent The Rotter's Club by Jonathan Coe. It was a book I sort of bought by mistake. While we were in Freiburg, we were looking for birthday presents for Banana

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5261549.post-2003104382003-05-19T05:23:00.000-07:002003-05-19T05:23:23.920-07:00

Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse on the UK rail system. I'm surprised they didn't eat the intruder, as it probably would have tasted better than the food on offer.

Benjaminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09855223999416677258noreply@blogger.com