We wuz robbed

I don't believe it, missed out on the prizes by two lousy points. Put in a storming first round, including guessing the price of a barrel of oil correctly, but got pulled down by a poor second half (it's that third pint that hurts you) and some very dodgy answers.

I mean, if I asked you what was Edith Piaf's theme song I'm willing to bet "Non, je ne regrette rien" would be the answer. "La Vie en Rose" wouldn't even get a look in, except for our quizmaster. No-one got that one right.

Oh well, it's only a game and we turned in a very respectable score. Nice to go out on a high note, just like Ms Piaf herself.

Pub quiz

We’re heading down to the Dog and Bell for quiz night tonight. We’ll probably get beaten hollow as there are two professional teams who go down and take it too seriously. I’ve written and hosted the quiz a few times and those teams are so anal I’m surprised they don’t suck up the furniture when they sit down.

Still, a fun night, washed down by a few jars of ESB. Not too much however, as by pint number three brain functions get seriously impaired – as my dating history shows all too well.

I hope I can find a pub quiz venue in San Francisco. It's a fun way to spend an evening; good beer and friendly competition in a convivial atmosphere makes for a good evening's entertainment. I understand the Edinburgh Tavern, a British theme pub round the corner (well, up two block and four across) from work has one. Something to investigate.

Two weeks to go

Fuuuuuuuck!

Privacy please

Interesting news from the US I’ve just heard about. Customs can now search your laptop on entering the country and you have to hand over passwords. Given I’m taking two across in my hand luggage this could be a problem I’ll have to face.

My work laptop is going to be a problem. Company secrets can’t be handed over in such a cavalier fashion so I’ll have to make sure they are taken off before travelling and stored on a UK server for later download. The move is already acting as a spur to clean up the laptop but the court ruling adds urgency to this.

As for the personal laptop that’s clean, but I still don’t like the idea of someone going through my correspondence. Thankfully a history of hacking has left me with a few tricks up my sleeve that should fox anyone taking a sneaky peep. Most customs officers don’t have a clue about computers so I’m not too worried.

Dog Days

This weekend was full of of dogs, with a bit of motor racing thrown in for good measure. On Saturday I went round to see my oldest friend and his wife for a farewell dinner. I've known V since he was a spotty first year in halls of residence at university, but a lot of beer has passed under the bridge since then.

He's a big swinging dick (BSD) in the City now but thankfully hasn't become one of those irritating ones you see in bars trumpeting their imaginary self-importance. Mind you, he has had a bit of an ethics bypass, but that's the world of finance for you. His wife R is Spanish and a sweetheart - not least because she makes strong gin and tonics by the pint glass, which is a fast way to my heart.

They breed dogs in their space time so spent most of the night trying to satisfy five small balls of fur with treats and ear rubs. I'm not a huge fan of small fluffy dogs but in their case I'll make an exception. Add into that an excellent meal and fine wines and it was an evening to remember. V is the one person I never take wine for when invited round for dinner - he's a wine buff with a stunningly good cellar and anything I'd buy would have invited good natured ridicule.

Sunday saw me round to R&B’s for Grand Prix day, Monaco this time round and Monaco in the rain, which always makes for an interesting race. Hamilton drove a very skilled, and very lucky, session to clinch the winner’s podium. But the tragedy of the race came near the end. Adrian Sutil from Force India drove a cracking race and was up to fourth when Raikkonen lost it and slammed into the back of him, taking him out. I understand he was in tears later and I’m not surprised – that crash cost his team millions and him the best finish of his career. But he drove a really mature race and I’m sure he’ll be back.

R&B have two dogs, Charlie and Toffee, and it’s always nice to see those two. Charlie’s the Alpha dog and won’t stop barking when you come into the house until he gets the chest rub he sees as his due. Toffee’s a lap dog and likes nothing better then squirming onto you and trying to lick your face. I'll miss them nearly as much as R&B and their two lovely kids - sorry G&S, young adults.

People often say you’re either a dog or cat person. This is rubbish; it’s perfectly possible to be both. Dogs are easy to understand, very affectionate and will put up with a lot, but they are kind of dumb. Cats are beautiful, smart, mostly standoffish and occasionally nasty bastards to small rodents, but you let them get away with it because of the upsides. Few things compare to a happy cat purring away beside you. The ideal house is one with both, so long as they get along.

Belated posting

Well, another series of missives added late, but as you'll see a lot's been happening.

In the meanwhile I'd recommend going to see Iron Man. Too many comic to screen films are rubbish but this one takes a very mediocre comic and turns it into a great bit of brain candy. Robert Downey Junior hasn't been this good since Less than Zero, Jeff Bridges makes an excellent bad guy and even Gwenyth Paltrow turns in an OK performance.

Geek love

As part of the home clearance I've come across a fair amount of technology that has been given away at various press events and I haven't got around to using.

Now I know some of my American counterparts have a very hard line on freebies. Many are barred from even accepting a grotty tshirt in case it is seen as bribery. US journalists as a rule never take gifts, pay their own way on trips and even take their own coffee into interviews in order to avoid the slightest perception that they are being influenced by those they are paid to cover.

European journalists, by in large, take the opposite view. Budgets are much tighter on this side of the Great Salty Puddle, journalists salaries are much lower and so we take every freebie going and are more than happy for companies to fly us to distant events. Simple economics means that if they didn't we couldn't afford to go and companies recognise this and take us.

I once had a polite but forceful row with an excellent journalist on Wired, who was appalled that we accepted such gifts. "What about bias?" she said. The simple answer is to look at how we behave. Generally, and this is a sweeping statement but broadly true, the US press gives interviewees a much easier ride that the UK press.

You'll never see a British hack applaud a press conference or preface their question with a comment on how great the presentation was - behavior I've seen from the US press many times. We are our own watchmen and any journalist who softballs or shows bias gets drummed out of the profession very quickly.

Anyway, so I took some unused kit to the Computer Exchange and traded it in. On my way out I saw this, a ThinkPad T60, sitting alone and unloved in the corner of the shop. I knew it had to be mine and, after a quick inspection, a rummage around on the hard drive and a brief exchange of funds, it was - and I'm writing this on it now.

But SL I hear you say, why not get a Sony with its pretty designs, or a nice cheap Dell or HP machine. Well the simple answer is that, in my opinion, there is no better laptop than a ThinkPad. I've used a lot of laptops over the last 15 years, reviewed many, many more, and nothing else matches the ThinkPad*.

They are beautifully utilitarian, have the best keyboards in the business and are so rugged you could beat off a hoard of dervishes with one and still be able to check your Gmail afterwards. They are the best of IBM's engineering and Lenovo have wisely decided not to muck about with perfection.

Plus they have the 'magic eraser' cursor controller on the keyboard so you can turn the trackpad off. I once lost a page and a half of copy because my thumbs were dragging on the trackpad and I've never trusted them since. Lessons like that, along with not backing up regularly and making boot discs, you only have to learn once.

My glee in getting this little beauty was deeply geeky, but I'm proud of my geekiness and was over the moon with this find. All it needs now is a few upgrades to the hard drive and memory and I'll have a machine that will last for years.

*Before you ask no, Lenovo did not sponsor this posting and the only gifts I have taken from the company over the years are a Bluetooth mouse I can't even give away, a useless power cable and a laptop bag. Its management team are touchy little wankers too - if it wasn't for a good internal and external PR team they'd be sunk.