It's a beautiful day today!

I just wanted to share with you that it is a beautiful day today so if you are hiding in your room dazed, staring at your computer, being bored (must be if your reading this), then go outside. It's so sunny! ps i'm sorry if its not sunny where you are and i've made you more sad but it will be sunny where you are soon!

Why do dogs love to stick their heads out of car windows?

Lol this article about why dogs love to stick their heads out of car windows made me smile at ask.yahoo.com!

The McCartneys raise awareness of baby seals' plight in Canada

I think its great that Paul and Heather McCartney are raising awareness about this issue of seal cubs being clubbed to death in Canada, i'm slightly disturbed by the concept that they went out to the area and then left knowing what was going to happen to the pups they had just seen, but at the same time i'm not really sure what I expect them to do about it. They are only people after all. I'm surprised that the British government are only considering banning baby seal related products... America is actually ahead of us on protecting something! Even the EU have laws about not importing the pelts (which obviously means we can't import them without ECJ issues [life was so much easier when i didn't understand the court systems, when i was barely aware of them...]).

Here is the article on CNN.com.

Firefox 1.5 sucks!

I downloaded the new version of Firefox and i have to tell you some random window at the bottom of the page appeared and would not leave. It sucked. Spent ages trying to get rid of it, found this chat about the same problem (which proved i wasn't going crazy). And had to downgrade... (well it was that or use internet explorer). My conclusion, firefox need to sort it out... i was very distressed.

Fairtrade Fortnight!

Just a note that Fairtrade Fortnight is between 6th and 19th March. Check out the link for more information!

Cute things!

According to this article on the Now Magazine Toronto website and the experts consulted, particularly persuading for me was Adam K Anderson, Canada Chair in Cognitive Neuroscience, U of T, our brain reacts to cute images we see, something to do with positive association and reward processing!

So to get your dose of potentially rewarding cute images look at the following websites:
cuteoverload.com
babyanimalz.com
The Daily Puppy [previous post mentioning this site]
The Daily Kitten [previous post about this site]
thingsthatmakeyougoaahh.com (example picture right)

Changing colour bath!

Now i have to be honest, what attracts me to this bath is simply the fact that it looks cool because i'm not convinced that constantly changing colours would do anything but give me a headache. It is meant to be relaxing utilising Chromatheraphy [definition of Chromatheraphy, yes i had to look it up], can someone try it please and let me know if it works? Then i'll consider whether perhaps in the future it would be useful to buy one. Maybe i'm just attracted to it because my uni house only has a shower... well i guess we'll never know.

Here is the article about on it chipchick.com.

Unphotographable.com

Unphotographable.com is a cool site that I found when browsing photoblogs. The idea is that there are loads of situations where there is a perfect photo opportunity but you either don't have your camera or it would be inappropriate to take a picture. On this site he describes what he saw where a picture could have been taken. And also if you have a missed photo opportunity you can email him letting him know and he'll post that too!

Immature but made me laugh!

I know this is immature but it made me laugh when i was having a horrible day, i hope it does the same for you! Make sure you watch it to the end! P.S don't watch it if you dislike immature stuff. (Remember back in the day of pokemon, feel free to sing along, noone can see you!)

Vacation Placement at Richards Butler

I have been offered a vacation placement by Richards Butler, and I was more shocked than when I got the interview in the first place! I believe it begins on June 18th and finishes on June 30th so wish me luck :)! [previous post about the interview]

Food Allergies and the Anaphylaxis Campaign

I was pleased when I saw a title involving food allergies on those clips you can get across the top of gmail. But then I opened the link and was shocked to find the title 'Food can affect your health'. That to me is obvious and everyone should already know that. It is so important, it can lead to life and death situations. You could argue that it is good that awareness is being raised, and I agree, but i'm shocked at how little some people know about these allergies.

I'm the lucky one out of my siblings in that i do not have any known allergies to food, although i have my suspicions about intolerances. My brother is severely allergic to peanuts, a 6 on the scale, which is the highest you can have, and is slightly less allergic to other nuts. He used to have severe allergic reactions from feeding my hamster peanuts (this was obviously before we knew he was allergic- we don't let him do that now, would be hard I don't have a hamster anymore).

My sister has been allergic and had intolerances to food since she was a baby. These include milk (cow or goats), citrus fruits (including tomatoes), eggs, soya, wheat, nuts of all types... Just consider what restrictions that has on her diet. She is very good, when she was 3 she was offered an ice lolly whilst playing at a neighbours and told the offeror that she was on a special diet and so couldn't accept it. My mum organises for her to take her own food to school and to parties, everyone who looks after her has to be aware that she carries an anapen and that they might have to use it. My brother carries an epipen with him everywhere.

(My grandad has also recently been diagnosed with an allergy to gluten and wheat. This leads to extreme weight loss and general illness but not anaphylactic shock in his case.)

Although those working in school receptions are now trained in the use of this emergency adrenaline (epipen and anapen) to treat anaphylactic shock I wonder how many of those who work in cafes would know what to do in these situations. Food labelling with warnings has become much more prolific in the last few years, with alot of credit due to charities such as the Anaphylaxis Campaign who are consistantly raising awareness! The problem now is that many companies label everything they make in order to cover themselves from liability if they make a mistake. This almost limits the food that can be consumed in the same way that no labelling originally did. The Anaphylaxis Campaign also have run sessions where you can learn more about allergies and how to use anapen and epipen on someone who is having a reaction. I attended one of these sessions and found it very useful.

Sarah Reading, a 17 year old girl, died after eating a lemon meringue pie in a well known department store in 1993. The desert had contained peanut. Something Sarah, like my brother, was fatally allergic to. The Anaphylaxis Campaign was begun by a group of parents who had faced similar experiences and included the father of Sarah Reading. [more information about the campaign]

It is important that people in positions where anaphylaxis shock (the reaction caused by allergic reactions of this type) is likely are aware of what should be done both to protect people from the risk in the first place and how to react in a situation where accidents occur. Staff who are not told what is in ingredients of freshly baked cakes, or what is in meals on menus are not helpful and should know. It's not their fault, it's the fault of those who fail to recognise this is a problem. When my family used to eat out we'd have to check with the waitress what is in each sauce and coating, cakes for desert etc. This often lead to bags being brought to us for us to check the ingredients, and sighing as they considered that we were being difficult. This has lead to us changing tact. We now simply ask for plain (whatever meat my sister has decided she wants) and my brother tends to by habit avoid anything that looks like it might contain nuts (nut labelling is much, much better with chain restaurants often making it clear on their menus along with what is vegetarian). This is generally more well recieved with a short sentance explaining why, than an enquiry about specific ingredients and leads to a much more enjoyable evening.

Action must also be taken by those who have allergies. I used to have a friend at college who frequently failed to hand in medical forms and rarely carried his epipen. I considered this reckless and he should have been forced to be more careful, but its hard to make a 20 something male listen to reasoning when they don't want to know.

News:
Anaphylactic Shock (BBC NEWS: Death of champion hurdler Ross Bailliee)

Links to Blogs:
Anaphylactic Shock (Doctor Julie)
Anaphylactic Shock (Parenting a child with a food allergy)
Anaphylaxis (Textbook reading)
Bad Reactions (Reactions from proximity rather than actually consuming)

Radley purse and getting old...

I feel a bit more grown up using my Radley purse that I got a couple of weeks ago as a Christmas present (my mum bought it for me, we'd agreed we'd wait until I found a purse I liked) after using my Animal purse which I couldn't shut (too many cards and photographs). [From blog browsing Radley seems to have been a popular xmas present.] And after turning 20 I find myself slowly moving towards grown-up stuff, like proper handbags... what is with that??? I think i'm getting old [by the way loving the cute black radley bags with splash of colour dangles].

Links:
It Must Be Love (Radley Bag)

Monty Roberts demo was great!

'A closed mind is like a closed parachute, it will always let you down.' - Monty Roberts (variation of the common quote)

I went to see Monty Roberts yesterday (previous post about Monty Roberts)! I was very impressed especially with the horses who wouldn't load, one of them rearing all over the place, changed to trotting happily into the horse lorry. I really enjoyed the whole experience and it gave a whole new dimension on the idea of body language use with horses. I think the critics should try the techniques themselves with their own horses and then see what they believe. I know I have tried Join-Up myself with my horse and was happy to see what I already believed to be true, that it does work! And my horse has never been in contact with Monty, trust me on that.

I also learnt a couple of new things about Monty himself that I did not previously know. For example that he is 71 years old, and that he is not meant to ride horses anymore due to horse-riding injuries he has sustained! As a person Monty has a great sense of humour, although it would be hard to explain to those who don't know anything about horses!

Links:
Monty Roberts Website

Loving Pandora.com!

Have you ever been listening to iTunes and sat there clicking through all your songs feeling bored and fed up that you can't get instant music that you haven't heard before and old favourites that you don't have in your music library? Have you ever wanted to listen to a song that you don't have without downloading? If you have check out Pandora.com.

Pandora.com is a website where they make a radio station around what you tell them, so you type in a song or artist and then it plays music back to you that is by similar artists, and you can state whether or not you like it or not and it learns what you want to listen to. I haven't been using it for very long but so far i'm loving it! It's been on my list of sites to check out for a while and i'm impressed. Only criticism so far is that for all us UK users you have to fake a US postcode thingy to sign up (you can use the service without signing up!) if you want your radio preferences saved because they are currently only licensed to stream to the US but apparently they are planning a UK release in the future! The concept is allowing you to discover new music by artists you have never heard of! The creators have actually listened to each individual song taking notes so they can cateogorise them, thats commitment for you. Such a great idea, it's free, there really has to be a catch!

NB discovered that you can't skip very much, only a few songs per hour due to licensing so keep typing in what you want to make sure the songs are what you are going to want to listen to!

Other comments on Pandora.com and the Genome Music Project:
Listen to Music Online with Pandora
Pandora - The Genome Music Project
Radio made just for you

Other Pandora Links
The Pandora Site Blog

Yay Video!

I think I just found a way to embed video and i'm so excited I thought I'd try it out! I warn you that the quality is going to be rubbish, this was the video I was going to post to show you how interactive furby is with my sister!

Random Acts of Kindness Week!

It's random acts of kindness week this week (13th Feb - 19th Feb), I would have posted about it yesterday but it may surprise you to know that occasionally I do have other things to do! Quite why they chose the week of Valentine's Day I don't know but hey... Check out this months issue (March 2006) of Marie Claire for an amusing article by a journalist trying R.A.K.W. out in London. (Also several decent strong women bouncing back stories, I quite enjoyed reading it for a change on the long train journey back from my London interview. Usually I just turn page after page after page sighing with boredom. And it reminded me that I want to do some voluntary work over the summer... I need to look into that!)

Some ideas I 'borrowed' from Marie Claire for your random act of kindness:

1. Buy a coffee for someone behind you in the queue
2. Say 'hello' to a stranger
3. Take goodies to workmen
4. Donate to homeless shelter
5. Buy a friend flowers
6. Collect litter in the park
7. Pay everyone you meet a compliment
8. Help someone with their bags

There is actually a Random Acts of Kindness Foundation, no really hit the link. And the previously always in the media Join-Me 'collective' is still running its' one random act of kindness every friday (yes the Join-Me from the books).

It's true that one thing you say or do can make or break someone's day (so if you can't be kind at least don't be mean).

Happy Valentines Day!

Thats it really!

Legal News

While attempting to get information on a law firm I discovered this Legal Week site. Check it out and do a search on the firm name to get up to date information on what is going on with them in the legal news!

Rotary and Shelter Boxes

I attended a Youth Speak yesterday that my brother was taking part in, both my old school (my brother's team) and my old college were represented there. What was interesting is that Rotary who are an international network of service volunteers, sponsor this event, and also several others which include Young Poet, Young Chef and Young Musician. I know that I was completely unaware of their involvement and think that it is important to recognise the good that they are doing in promoting youth talent!

They are also involved in Charity work sending Shelter Boxes to be used disaster areas that provide all the equipment necessary for 10 people, this includes sleeping bags, a tent, cooking equipment and other stuff that's useful like clean water. You can make a donation towards these boxes here.

More Links:
RowGirls race across atlantic and help Rotary Shelter Boxes
The Rotary Website
The Shelter Box Website

Furby is truely interactive

My mother has bought me a Furby and it is very cute. They are much more interactive than I expected and the voice recognition is quite impressive considering they had to make it so it would recognise the all changes in voices according to country and region. My sister particularly likes the jokes. I wanted to upload the video of her talking to it but I don't know how to... so here is a picture of her talking to her furby.

Previous Furby Posts:
My Sister has a New Stlye Furby
Online Shopping... Again!

And welcome the mean alarm clock...

The idea behind this 'Sfera' alarm clock i found on the popgadget: personal tech for women site is you have no choice but to get up. Each time you hit the snooze button it moves further away from you and towards the ceiling (yes it does look like there are strings involved), so eventually you have to stand up to switch it off. I think they have to win the prize for creativity, and yes I still think it possibly would work, although potentially like most alarm clocks you'd get used to it, perfecting the art jumping up, switching it off and then going straight back to sleep. Even if it is mean it would probably work better than my travel clock phone alarm combination i've got going on at the moment. Also since it hangs above your head it probably has some kind of concussion/strangling warning on it... or it should have.

Eragon and Eldest Podcast

I'm not sure what I make of this podcast craze. I think I can sum it up best by saying that I quite like the idea of talking rubbish into a microphone and then posting it online for people to enjoy listening to, BUT thats just the problem noone would actually enjoy listening to it because they don't know me and i'd be talking rubbish. However people don't seem to think about this before creating them.

The Shur'tugal website now has its own podcast MWH. For those of you who don't know, meaning pretty much everyone, Shur'tugal is a site to bring news etc. about the Inheritance Triology by Christopher Paolini which are books which I loved reading... i live half my life in a fantasy world even when i'm not reading fantasy books like this! Anyway my point is I decided to listen to the most recent podcast and I have to be honest I was annoyed because it was annoying (could potentially be because they are all 16, i'm sure I was annoying at 16), and vaguely interesting if I didn't already know all the stuff that they were talking about, although they did have a bit where Christopher Paolini himself spoke but again that was annoying because he just said two sentances in a radio voice. By five minutes in I just felt like a loser for even considering it in the first place... debate amongst yourselves.

So in conclusion Podcasts are not good, not fun, and not usually clever.

P.s. if you loved the Inheritance Triology books the movie Eragon is due for release at the end of this year.

My Sister has a New Style Furby

An update on my post here regarding the new style, looks like a gremlin, Furby. My sister has a new one, and although not as cute as the original it is cuter in real life than it appears in pictures... AND its more fun to play with and doesn't talk so much rubbish on its own. It will sing you a song, or tell you a story, or tell you a joke when you ask it to. My conclusion, the new furby isn't all that bad, and yes I still want one...

Gym...

Today I have decided that I am going to the gym... actually technically I agreed yesterday to go with my housemate Laura, today my enthusiasm has reduced but now she is making me go anyway. If I never post again it's because i've died from the shock...

Ahhh I've been given an Interview!

Ok i've been given an interview by Richards Butler and I really didn't see that coming, and its scary, especially because I really like their firm. Time to brush up on my law and firm knowledge... AHH! Luckily the firm website has a firm news section so that shouldn't be too hard (it will be the understanding the jargon that will be difficult). And the interview is on Valentines day, what a good job i'm single otherwise I'd have to make a very early career vs. relationship decision... I have a 30 minute verbal reasoning exercise (i did a tester one and didn't do very well, not helping my nerves), and a 30-40 minute interview.

I did a quick google search on the firm and found this profile on a blog 'inside info' of the firm. This from The Top 100 in the UK (They are number 26!). And this is the HR Survey of the firm from The Lawyer.com.

I'm very scared...

Cute Pony Ownership Inner Thoughts

This blog called Little Black One and Co. is full of the mistakes of a horse lover, I particularly like 'How (Not!) to Acquire a Bigger Pony! (Cob Blob)', and even has some interesting inner thoughts of their ponies 'The Importance of Being Cute by SWUO' is an excellent example of this. Like any personal themed blog you can probably only read one or two articles at once before you get the feeling of deja vu but could be a cute site to return to occasionally.

Stalkers can track your movements after 5 mins with your mobile

I have just read this interesting and seriously disturbing article about how it is possible to track someones movements through their mobile phone just by registering it online. The moral of this story is don't leave your mobile with anyone who could be your stalker... Not particularly useful for those in relationships where the stalking starts with control issues but still something that is good for people to be aware of.

The Daily Kitten

I posted a while ago about 'of the day' sites and mentioned The Daily Puppy. Now I have found the The Daily Kitten site and so feel like it would be discriminatory not to mention it (you should hear the drama in our house about whether dogs or cats are better, personally I like both, but I want a dog...). From what I've seen of the Daily Kitten site so far it's nowhere near as cute as the puppy site but maybe it's just been a slow week for them...

The cutest one on the front page would be Cappuccino whose picture I have attached to this post. But hey today's kitten might be more cute, but it isn't posted until exactly 15.07 every day... weird but true.

Vacation Placement applying is over...

It's the 31st Jan people, and so vacation placement applying is over! Well at least the first wave is... A few more for next week and a couple more for March but we shall see! It is also the end of exams for everyone in my house! I hope that exams went well for everyone who had them, us lucky second year law people had none, ah ha ha ha! Not feeling too great today after going out last night and have a business game workshop to attend this afternoon which is being put on by Linklaters... wish me luck...

While creating that Linklaters link I have discovered that the firm have been rocked by a murder of a friend and colleague Tom ap Rhys Price. There is a website where you can donate money here to a charitable trust that has been created in his memory to provide educational facilities to those who cannot afford it, something that he himself had benefited from. And there is a tribute to him from the firm here.

Woodland Trust Eggs

I went to Sainsbury's yesterday and of the 93p I paid for my free range medium eggs, 1p went to the Woodland Trust. This leads me to conclude that the Green Metropolis book website I previously posted about is more generous than Sainsbury's as they give 5p per 3.75 someone pays for a book... truly facinating I know...

The Aibo is no more... well almost!

Sony have announced that they are shutting down the department that created the Aibo, the cute electronic dog that was freaky because it was a robot but still cute! I'm a bit upset actually because I wanted one just for the hell of it... I find it hard to believe that Sony will never make robots ever again, although the article claims that the entire robotics department will be shut down, maybe the next thing will be a secretly created iRobot styly house robot. Here is the article where I found out about my loss. The good news for those who already own one is that the after sales care will continue for 'a while longer', whatever that means. And they will still be selling the pet for a few more months, including the new brown model that they are advertising on the website, for all of you who wanted one and have a lot of spare money lying around to spend on a robotic dog. A news article about the death of the Aibo can be found here.

Long time no post... But intersemester break and so its hectic!

Or at least it seems that way but actually it's only been a few days...

Law is snowing me under but I feel more optimistic today, and no I have no idea why! So I've made some belated new years resolutions... 1. go to the Hartley Library on campus (right) to do work (honestly this one should not be that hard, I live a 30 second walk from campus), 2. make sure I do at least four hours of work every day (that will be hard, haven't decided if that includes lectures yet... i'll let you know in a couple of months lol) and 3. try not to get distracted or talked into doing things I don't want to do (impossible- but thats what new years resolutions are for) ...which reminds me I need to start writing the article for our new law magazine that I volunteered to write about the intersemester break...!

Completely sick of online forms for vacation placements, especially ones that ask questions like "give an example of a situation in which you have been 'tough' as well as 'diplomatic' " which has lead to me slowly reducing the number I plan to fill in by the deadline as the days seem to fly by. It's ok! More deadlines in Febuary and March for different firms!

Visit to Bond Pearce on Friday was good. We were only expecting a tour of this regional firm but actually recieved a whole session on networking which was fun but scary, especially when they brought in people from all over their firm for us to network with, without telling them who we were or why they needed to talk to us!

Rolls Royce did a good business workshop involving engines, obviously! (can you believe they don't make cars! see I learnt something!)

Blake Lapthorn Linnell showed us application forms that people had submitted to them, which proved to me how I really need to 'step up my game' in regards to applications to firms (yes i am scared). We also played a game they used to use when people applied to them... which Jen then asked to take home to play as a drinking game... good application technique I thought...

Our intersemester break is a good idea, and it's a testament to those people who have organised it. We're lucky to have the opportunity to take part.

Busy, Busy, Busy and Stressed!

Ok well in the midst of trying to apply for vacation placements, thinking of ways to fit in going over work, as well as project work, an essay which i need to do, needing to buy shoes (no really, its for a visit to a law firm), and it being one of my flatmate's birthday's today which means preparing party food i found this article about Laughter actually being the best medicine on a link from gmail. Thats obviously why i'm not feeling too great right now, i'm feeling quite short on laughter!

And secondly this really weird article about the phone company 3 who apparently now have a tariff which means that when you get called or texted then you get credit to use on your phone the next time you top-up. Yes i know, weird! Check out the article about it here. There has to be a catch...

Recycle your books!

I have found this new website for those of you buy too many books and/or who read too much... i would if i had the time (chosen my firms to apply for vacation schemes law people will be pleased [or horrified] to know, will most likely be doing that all/ starting the painful process tomorrow, except when i have my arabic listening exam)!

Anyway the site is Green Metropolis where they sell second hand books for 3 pounds 75 pence (still no pound sign sorry) and allow you to sell your old books for 3 pounds, and they will give you the money for postage if it's a very heavy book. The site is the first ethical used book website of it's kind in the UK. The idea is that you never pay more than half the original retail price for your new book, including postage, and you help the environment in the process! A good and worthy plan i feel! For every book sold they give 5p to the Woodland Trust, and of course 3 pounds go to the seller so i assume they keep the rest for running costs and the postage of heavy books. 5p isn't very generous in my opinion, but then it depends on how many books they are selling i suppose, it's the thought that counts really, at least they are giving SOMETHING!

Sadly (or gladly) there don't seem to be any academic books for sale on the site which is the first thing my flatmate Alex asked when i told him about it, but to be honest if you want second hand academic books attack the year above you, i know at my uni law students will do anything to give them away. First years beware however, because sometimes the books the second years try to sell you will already be out of date, and you may need current editions (check with your tutors before you buy)!

The picture is of Barry Crowe the founder of the site, and if you click here you will be taken to an article about the site from which i stole this picture.

...Of the Day Sites...

These are perfect for those like me with short attention spans and they seem to be increasing in number! Here are just a few of my best finds (lol):

Standard Of the Day Sites
Word of the Day
Quote of the Day
BBC on this Day and This Day in History

Animals
Animal of the Day
The Daily Puppy (Puppy of the Day)
Pet of the Day

And the Different
Astronomy Picture of the Day
This Day in Music
Cool Site of the Day

And the just Plain Weird
Everyone's Favourite The Library Link of the Day

Southampton Uni Riding A-Team Won Weds BUSA Competition!

Basically the title says it all, the Southampton Uni A-Team won the A-Team competition on Weds at Pinkmead. It was their home comp, and so thats kind of expected. The team came first overall against Surrey, Portsmouth and Brighton Unis, and the four Southampton riders, Lizzie, Tom, Phil and Jenny, all recieved the top four individual scores as well.

For those of you who do not know how the BUSA competitions work there is a dressage stage, and a showjumping stage, each stage using 4 horses from the home teams stables who are shown to the riders in a short demonstration before they decide who will ride which horse. Then they get a short amount of time to warm up on the horse before taking the dressage test, or jumping the course. Our A-Team is very good, but then i would say that because i'm biased.

I spent the day being a helper [timing warmups, putting up knocked down jumps, helping with getting the horses ready, not plaiting because i really have no talent in that area] (yes i know lowest of the low) but it was fun in the warped kind of way that helping at stables always is, and we got to watch the teams ride so it was all good.

If you want to find out more about Southampton Uni Riding Club and teams check out the website here. If you want to find out more about BUSA and all the sporting events they offer look at their website here.

EU Lectures ARE dragging!

I was browsing blogs again... honestly i am going to start picking out firms to apply to vacation placements soon... i kinda have to since most of the deadlines are the 31st Jan... although i believe Linklaters is TODAY! So if that was one of your choices you might want to get a move on. Anyway... i was browsing blogs and found this post about how EU lectures are going at Reading uni and it all came back to me how i was slowly losing the will to live in my last couple of lectures, and its nothing to do with my lecturer who seems like a very nice man... but each EU treaty, discussed in painful detail, followed by a slow breakdown of who created them and who signed them was actually making me will anything distracting to happen... projector to break, lights to fail, fire bell to go, half the lecture theatre to fall down... u know the usual!

Online Shopping... again!

Interesting camera cases are few and far between these days, and so i was delighted to see cases on this site that will fit my new ultra-thin point and shoot camera, the Sony T7. Especially the DB7-T7-C, which i would link but the website is not that kind of website, its a moving flashy one!

For any of you tv show Teachers fans out there, Amazon is doing some serious deals on the dvds of the show as i was informed yesterday by my housemate Rich, and here is the proof. Teachers Seasons 1-3 for only 21.97 pounds (don't have a pound sign on my laptop sorry!), and Teachers Season 4 for only 9.97 pounds! I know... Bargain! And Free Delivery on orders over 15 Pounds!

Ahh and there is the return of the Furby. I have to be honest i've been surprised at the lack of advertising but obviously they are not concentrating sales in the UK... and i'm embarrassed to say... i really want one! Even if they now are twice as big as the original and kinda look like Gremlins. No really they do, take a look. The advertising video i found attached to the Amazon site is quite scary, if you don't believe me then click the link! I'm even more tempted to get one because my housemate Laura has threatened me with death if i bring it into the house... only time will tell if the Furby has crossed the line from cute to freaky with its growth spurt! They are for sale on Amazon for 30 pounds which is 10 pounds cheaper than my local top shop, and has free delivery!

I have been looking for a charm bracelet for quite a long time, and i'm not going to lie I do already have three BUT there is nothing the same as actually collecting the charms with family and friends buying them for you, each meaning something separate to you. I have two ready made ones, one in gold, one in silver and one i had as a child which is now too small. I also have two silver charms given to me by my grandma that had yet to be attached to a bracelet, and that is why i was looking for a new bracelet. I quite like the bracelets found in Links of London. Particularly the modern designs of bracelets like this. They also sell simple and effective designs such as this as well as the charms themselves, including this lovely four leaf clover charm, and loads others for various occasions such as graduation or engagement! There is also a basic bracelet designer, where you can attach charms to one of the standard link bracelets. The fact that in some of the designs are silver and 18ct gold are mixed is something that particularly attracts me because i want a silver bracelet but i wear gold as well!

What to do when you should be writing an essay...

Now i might be bored (which i am), and meant to be doing work (yes that one too), but actually checking all the random bookmarked blogs isn't providing me as much amusement as usual, mainly because the most interesting ones, Scrubs star Zach Braff's Blog for example, have nothing new on them, and the rest of us don't have lives that anyone wants to read about!

Even shiny shiny and chip chick my regularly checked gadget blogs are not amusing me with more random iPod dock toilet roll holder hybrids. I wonder why... Although i do quite want a tv blocker but i've wanted one of those for quite a while!

Southampton University Riding Events inc. Monty Roberts!

I really think Ella, our University Riding Events coordinator is trying to bankrupt me! Jumping Clinics, Driving Intros, Beach Ride, Monty Roberts Demo, all on top of my normal lessons each week, and thats just the things i've agreed to do! Don't forget the fact that every week i could also, if i choose to, take part in Polo lessons, Hacking, and if i'd have had the time and gone to the trials, and had alot of luck (lol ALOT), been doing team training once a week as well! i could almost forget that i'm meant to be doing a degree, oh yeah and need money to eat!

Lol i'm not really complaining, and i'm really looking forward to seeing Monty Roberts (the real life horse whisperer for those who do not know)! This is his website, and the question section was actually quite interesting... but then again i might just be avoiding writing my Property II essay... no i don't think thats what it is!

The picture is of Monty Roberts and Shy Boy! The symbol is the official Join-Up logo!

Web-Surfing Today... Must try to control Internet Shopping... and Time Wasting!

Check out these cool bluetooth headphones! I was quite impressed, clicking into my regular daily shiny shiny gadget blog. They also have some interesting pink headphones that they found at the CES show but if your that interested then you can search and find them on the site yourself!

Today I bought a pair of snow boots for the stables after discovering that i have issues with have no general stable footwear, apart from my stables trainers... to which we really don't want to go there... and i have offered to help at the University's A-Team show on Weds 18th Jan 06, so next Weds! They are not actually my size because they didn't have them... typical, but never mind! I felt perhaps it was time i invested rather than look even more like a tramp than i will after having to wash horses and running around after people in a wet stables environment for several hours. For all you horse owners and regular competitors who do not have the luxury of a groom, i feel i will have a serious case of what i lovingly call "Show Syndrome". Which i define as going from relatively clean (as clean as you will be in stables clothes, at a stables at six in the morning), with a dirty horse in front of you, to an immaculate horse with all their dirt transfered onto you!

Anyway anyone wanting to get some reasonable discounts should check out the TDS Saddlers Website, they just happen to be my local saddlers at home but as a bonus they have a website and as far as i can work out they deliver internationally as well as all over the UK. And they currently have a sale on which throws up some ridiculous things like a 3 pounds 50 pence headcollar which you will have to pay another 4 pounds on for delivery but hey thats still cheap!

I also purchased a memory card for my camera from eBuyer, slight issue because i ordered the wrong one, thank goodness for the 7 day distance selling regulations (i knew doing a law degree would eventually come in useful) which means i can return it when it arrives next week.

My picture is of the chaos i would have to face if i wanted to actually go shopping in Southampton City Centre! Thank goodness for the Internet!

3 Entries a Day... who does that?

Apparently to keep people returning to a blog you need to do 3 entries a day [source]. No wonder i don't get people reading mine very much, thats insane, you'd actually have to have no life, endless amounts of time, or just enter very short entries (or perhaps have an incentive... like getting paid!)! Good job this blog is simply for my own amusement, or i might get super enthusiastic and feel like i had to post loads of entries each day!

Dubai: Time for Bed in the Desert

The sun begins to set...


...And we head for the desert camp...

And home from Dubai again!

Today is the third day back at uni and i've decided that logically speaking i need to do more work... so here i am posting on my blog which i need to change the html on because the thinness of it is driving me crazy... another thing i will get around to!

Anyway, Dubai at xmas was cool and weird all at the same time but the main point of this post is to put up a couple of pictures that i took while i was out there, before i broke my camera by getting sand in the lens... error! but on the up side i have a new camera which is good, but no memory card... which i am aware is BAD!

This is from my trip to the mountains in Oman