You may have noticed this website looks rather unlike how you remember it (and I’ve broken a number of links) … well I just upgraded to WordPress 2.0 which was released today.

Small problem… forgot to back up the template that ran this site and as such it’s now well, erm, gone…

So, this is Blix, one of the standard templates included with the new WordPress and I’ll be customising it through time to look a bit more like how I’d like this site to look.

The photo gallery is still there at http://www.iross.net/photos/ - just the link to it is a little, erm, gone.

Oh, and it broke the LiveJournal integration - note to Yoda - DONT UPGRADE YET

Mum & Robert, as seen through the eyes of the next-door neighbour’s dog apparantly… They were given a matching pair of plush OAPs that both snore (and move whilst snoring) by Katie next door…. I think they’re perfect replicas personally.

Although I believe they got her a bear with a T-Shirt saying “I’m a beautician not a magician” - so I dont blame her

Merry Christmas to anyone that has nothing better to do this morning / afternoon than read this (oh, and who hasn’t already got a card or an SMS from me) so that’s probably no-one….

But, Merry Christmas anyway!

‘Tis the season to be jolly……. No, it’s not….. ’tis the season to spend 30 minutes looking for a parking space (when other people have already resorted to parking on the raised bits / yellow boxes / loading bays / walkway) then STILL have no idea what to buy so you end up walking around the same 7 or 8 shops until almost Midnight…

That was last night, I increased the present total by one.

Today I continued in vain to do my christmas shopping… this resulted in not very much more, although am now down to all but one … reason I’m still one down ? ATM swallowed by bank card for no good reason, so I know what I’m getting… was just unable to get it.

Not to mention the fact that I’m cold (ok, mentioned)

Humbug!

Note: I do actually quite like Christmas itself, the pretty trees and lights and decorations everywhere, but the shopping and stress and running around like a headless chicken….. no thanks

Does anyone out there enjoy Christmas shopping?

I spent the best part of 3 hours in Braehead today only to leave with 2 gifts and 5 cards and me eating a hotdog from Rollover (I figure parking at braehead is free, you have to pay for it everwhere else, so i might as well eat that £2 or so)

Really, I am absolutely useless at Christmas Shopping. Think Graeme had the right idea, he did all of his online this year with people like Amazon - had it all done by the 12th December and didn’t have to set foot in a shop playing constant christmas music.

Anyway, as most of you will probably know… I started early this year… 20th December! a whole 3 days earlier than last year… I’m getting better I guess

Thanks to the wonderful Live+Press plugin for WordPress I can now harass everyone who knows me on LiveJournal without bothering to actually post anything over there.

Basically everything posted on iross.net will be mirrored there automatically. So hopefully I wont be accused of not updating it, rather just accused of posting lots and lots of pointless things to it

p.s. thanks to Yoda for inspiring me to find the plugin as his blog clearly uses it

Yes this is a padlock that normally adorns the front of the shop (before you run down to break in - rest assured there are other ones on it)… the piece of metal lying to the left is the key…. or more accurately about 1/3rd of it.

This is the THIRD time this has happened…. All i tried to do was take the key back out the lock!

Why is it always me, I try to get away sharpish (well, slightly early but Mike might read this) and the lock breaks!

Would you believe it, I got another Christmas present from the Chinese Takeaway… That makes two years in a row. This means they either like me or, we eat too much chinese food!

It’s under the tree with the others… anyone care to guess what they sent? It’s in a metal tin and rattles…

Finally, it looks like Mac users will be getting Google Earth soon..

I’ve been playing with it and from what little I’ve seen it looks very impressive. The current beta doesnt allow printing or eMailing (although all the options for both are there) but other than those minor issues (and the fact that Great Western Road still seems to be Inverquhomery Road and that Byres Road has become Durness Streeet!!!!) the Mac version of Google Earth seems remarkably stable for a beta.

The quality of the image in major cities is incredible, as is shown by the pictures of my flat and the family home in Giffnock shows. More remote areas like East Kilbride and Newton Mearns (where more family stay) aren’t available in the “Wow you can read the directions on the road” resolution yet.

Come on Google, fix the incorrect street names and no-one will never need another mapping / direction finding program again!

Well it’s two weeks before Christmas so it made sense to put up some decorations… Even got two trees this year! One of them’s real but it’s a foot tall, the other isn’t and is courtesy of B&Q’s 50% off offer…

The little one is graced with a lovely little Kit-made angel and right now she’s in the middle of producing a wreath from the off-cuts off big trees that no-one wants… bit like going shopping with Pheobe for a christmas tree… ALL the offcuts from B&Q are now sitting on the floor of the lounge.