Weekend and stuff

I had a good time in Crewe, no seriously don't snigger, there are worse places to spend a Saturday believe me - I've experienced some of them! The boring bits of the day were really the two meetings I attended - some dull bits about rule changes and new wording to the Society's constitution that we had to discuss but once that was out of the way, it got a lot more interesting. Although I am sorry to note that my post on Friday seemed to so disturb Jamie! I was thinking on Saturday whether I should start a separate blog, one that is completely dedicated to my love of railways and my other 'anorak' pursuits. That why at least I won't cause any embarrassment or distress to Jamie by mentioning the 'r' word over here! I guess the truth is that if you simply see trains as a necessary evil (and I am sure some people really think they are evil) form of transport, then reading me banging on about it, must be about as exciting as watching paint dry, probably slightly less so in fact. I can accept that so maybe I will invest in a new blog and put a discreet link on here to there. Then if you want to take a sneaky look at what I get up to some weekends you can and do so without fear of embarrassment! Of course, if all this talk of railways is a complete turn off then you can stick here and listen to me bang on about something much more interesting, like Star Wars!

Tried to book my tickets for Celebration Europe earlier this evening but the web site through which said tickets can be purchased is not available. That is quite worrying because you would think that an on-line ticket vendor would have a web site that was robust and available at all times. Even worse, some feedback on this particular web site, which I will not name, was far from positive. In fact I'd say it was rather derogatory which does not inspire much confidence in the idea of buying my ticket in advance, especially when reading horror stories of people having booked tickets and then being told the day before their intended gig or whatever that tickets have been cancelled due to some arcane admin reason. So it looks like I could be buying the tickets on the day. The only problem with that of course is that probably everyone else will have the same idea and I have these visions of queuing for hours on end.

I bought myself a new toy yesterday. A treat to myself paid from part of my bonus and pay rise at work. Its a Toshiba combi-DVD/video recorder with a HDD. It's a lovely sleek black design and gives a brilliant picture. I was quite struck by how much sharper my TV reception is not to mention the quality of the recordings on to DVD and the HDD. Okay, its not multi-region, which would have been an advantage but then I've lasted this long without a multi-region player and I see little reason to change. Additionally, I could have gone for a player that was compatible with HD (High Definition) but as I don't have a HD TV and have no intention of getting one for the foreseeable future this wasn't a primary concern. Moreover, there are currently two competing formats for HD and it is by no means clear which will be the victor and I don't want to be on the losing side of the modern Betamax vs VHS debate. What I really wanted this machine for was the ability to record onto DVD's and also to be able to copy from VHS to DVD, which I spent an enjoyable few hours doing yesterday afternoon. I've started copying my Star Wars programmes that I've recorded over the last 10 years and was surprised by the number I have on VHS. The first DVD I've made (its not complete yet) will basically be all the little snippets and adverts that I've got. I then intend to do a second and possibly third DVD with the documentaries on, which are wide and varied. There is something from each of the three prequels and also some Special Edition stuff I recorded back in 1997. Its interesting to watch again particularly listening to George Lucas as he constantly re-writes Star Wars history!

I am really chuffed with my new toy and I went for Toshiba because that's the make of my TV, which I've found both excellent in terms of quality and design and its ease of use. The DVD/VHS player is going to take a little bit of getting used to using but I think I was getting the hang of it by the end of yesterday.

Another little treat has been buying the complete series box set of The West Wing. I am waiting for that to be delivered at the moment. Again, a pleasing purchase because I got it at something of a bargain price and it comes with two discs of extras, something which was mostly absent from the individual season box sets.

So looks like I am going to be spending a lot of time in front of the TV over the next few weeks!