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