Well, it feels like I’m going to have a very strange 48 hours in my life shortly. It started today really – I had quite a bit of work to do at the office, yet hardly managed to get a thing done: it didn’t help with my boss having to work from home because of the snow (and hence there was a higher than normal level of emails flying backwards and forwards). I felt knackered at the end of the day and was sooo glad he allowed us all to go home at 4.30pm to make sure we got home safely.
» Read more: Personal: Feels like strange 48hours coming up…

Well, it’s time to place a nice big order from Amazon.co.uk again – this time:

• 2x Yamada DVD 5520 Multi-region DVD Player at £39.99 each (one for me, one for my sister which my Dad is buying off me)
• Al Murray – The Pub Landlord – Live – My Gaff My Rules. DVD £14.98 (for my sister).
• Open All Hours. Series 1 and Season 2 . DVDs £25.98. (for my Dad)
• Tenko – Series 2 Complete. DVD £43.99 (for my Mother).
• Gerry Anderson’s Terrahawks – Vol. 1. Video £9.89. (for GESF’s birthday)
• Lynne Truss: Eats, Shoots and Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation. Book £6.99. (for GESF’s flatmate)
• Helen Fielding: Olivia Joules and the Overactive Imagination. Book £6.49. (for GESF)
• Philips HR2303 Comfort Ice Cream Maker. £28. (for GESF + flatmate to share)
• Robert X. Cringely: Accidental Empires: How the Boys of Silicon Valley Make Their Millions, Battle Foreign Competition and Still Can’t Get a Date
  . Book £6.29. (for my OU course)
• Philip Evans, Thomas Wurster : Blown to Bits: How the New Economics of Information Transforms Strategy. Book £11.34 (for my OU course)
• John Naughton: A Brief History of the Future: The Origins of the Internet . Book £6.39. (again for my OU course)

So that just leaves my other sister and my grandparents to shop for…

I had today off work as a kinda holiday (due to the server migrations we’ve been doing, I’ve been putting in some serious overtime the last fortnight: around 3 hours every night) and managed to make an appointment next Wednesday (the 3^rd of December) to see my Doctor concerning a few health issues I’ve been slightly worried about. I hope it’s just a case of Psychosomatic Hypochondria which can be treated with a cause of Placebos ( ), but you never know. I suspect I’ve got high blood pressure as every weekend that I’m at my parents (which is every fortnight), I’ve been taking my BP and it’s been extremely high… Plus I’ve been having pains in my chest quite a bit recently and (especially for the last 2.5hours today), been feeling really “light headed” and like I’m about to faint (I haven’t yet though…).

Anyway, I was just downstairs reading a magazine whilst Zaphod (my “spare” computer) installs Linux and I thought I’d weigh myself (the “really interesting” article about “Posh Spice” – Victoria Beckham made me think of weight) so I got on my digital scales. 14stones. Aaargh – must be a mis-reading. Got off, got back on 11stone 2lbs. Ahh – that’s better, but that could be a mis-reading as well (as digital scales can be “funky” sometimes). Next three weighings all give 14stones exactly.

How the h-ll did that happen though? Last time I weight myself, I was 13stone 10lbs and loosing weight (around 2 months ago) so how on earth have I practically gained a stone in weight recently? That weight gain, combined with my height of 6ft 2in (yeah, I’m British but I still use good old Imperial measurements) puts me officially in the “Overweight” category (my Body Mass Index is 22.5). This is shocking! Especially for me as most of my life I’ve been in the “underweight” category…

*gulp*. I know I’ve been drinking a lot of Cola recently, eating sweets and having sugary foods such as pancakes, but still… And I’ve only been eating/drinking those cause I’ve felt thirsty and just really really felt like eating something like that (it makes me feel better – see previous entry).

I just hope the Doc’s got some good news, but the way things are looking I’ve probably got the onset of diabetes or something similar. Gak.

Whilst I’m logged into Richy’s Random Ramblings content management side and in the “Aid to Memory” train of thought – I thought I’d just note down this Pancake recipe. Ok, it’s months away to Shrove Tuesday (the traditional time for Pancakes), but I really like Pancakes but can never seem to have a recipe to hand – but no more…

Anyway – the recipe should make 12 pancakes, but I managed to squeeze just 3 out of the ingredients (saying that, packets of “batter mix” which say 8 pancakes gives me 3 pancakes as well so…)

This is a “quick and simple” recipe so don’t expect “perfect pancakes” from it(!)

You will need: Around 100g of plain flour (3.5oz), 1 egg, half a pint of milk (300ml), a little bit of salt and some butter or frying oil.

1. Sift the flour and salt into a bowl. Make a well in the middle and add the egg
2. Mix and add the milk until the batter is smooth
3. Warm up frying pan and coat the base lightly with oil/grease/butter. Add batter to cover base of frying pan. Cook until the pancake moves freely (around a minute). Flip pancake over (or toss it if you are feeling daring). Cook again until golden (around 30/45 seconds).
4. Serve with sugar (yum) and lemon juice
5. Eat pancake whilst cooking the next one: repeat until batter runs out then make some more