I did manage to get another bargain. I had been after the Richard and Judy wine book, and found it reduced to a fiver at asda! Now if i could just manage to stop spending and save for the car....

I need to put away around 66 pounds a month. It's quite a lot really.

I feel i should do something for new year...i hate being single.

Mind you, i am tired. I think i might make it that Sunday i do nothing. I do a cooked breakfast in the morning, watch a film or dvd or something, have a mini roast for Lea (not quite Lunch and not quite Tea), and REST.

posted by small 4:51 PM

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas!

I decided to buy myself a new toy. Well, and ex-display DHD4000, a thomson freeview HD recorder. As it's ex-display it doesn't come with a manual (got it off the net through), nor a remote (although the remote for my ferguson freeview box does most things apart from fast forward and rewind), and a power lead (i hope that the power lead from my old freeview box is ok). I have orded off ebay a universal thomson remote, which should have the missing bits on it. If it doesn't, i haven't lost too much and will have to pay more for an original remote.

I only got it Wednesday, but so far I am loving it. It's a twin tuner, which means I can record two things at once. Hurrah! Now i just need to get out there and do things.

I flicked through Jans spice newsletter and have bookmarked a couple of events.

Mind you, buying the dvr, which was 100 quid, did go straight onto the one credit card I had just cleared. I also have a car service/mot next weekend which will no doubt go onto that and start my debts up again. The dvr i can pay off. I have money which was intended specifically for buying me new toys (and i've spent a year lusting after a DVR!), but car fund is nil and is always several hundred.

I'm a bit blue because it's another new year on my own. As i'm single, i don't get invited to the parties - i'm really made to feel like i am not wanted. So i guess i will buy a bottle of bubbly and celebrate myself. I guess i could sit down and think about my finances, and how i can properly budget for car repairs.

posted by small 11:40 AM

To respond to the reader about the course - it was mainly vb.net, with a tiny bit of c#, and a small bit of asp.

It was a good course, and i really hope to get a lot of use out of it. I've downloaded from microsoft the vb.net visual studio express, and the web developer express too. I just need to practice now!

I studied with Learning Tree. Rigth next to Euston Station, but i think i would rather have been in Birmingham, and gone home to my own bed every night! But i am not going to gripe, as it was a training course.

The good news is though, i passed A209! I am thrilled. I got a Grade 2, and i think i was bumped up a grade, as according to the marks it should have been a grade 3. It was a tough exam though, and i think that marks can just be a guide. If everyone did less well, then i guess the marks are on a curve.

But who cares! I passed! I cannot wait for Christmas to get the books for my next course, and get stuck in. Remind me in 4 months that i wrote that!

I've been looking a few years ahead at the Masters course, and i'm beginning to think it might be beyond me. Still, i could always do the foundation masters and see.

posted by small 1:45 PM

Examing my reasons for not going out and having a social life, or doing activities in the evenings. One was because although i don't watch a lot of telly (around 10 hours a week), some of the programmes clash. Which means i tape one and watch the other. I did think about buying a twin tuner HDD, but i keep hearing horror stories about it. So now i'm thinking i might spent 70 quid and buy a little portable tv, so that i can at least record the programmes that are on analogue terrestrial. I can pick one up for 70 quid...it's a thought.
posted by small 4:42 PM