Having spent the bulk of yesterday tidying my bedroom, shortly after midnight everything was tidy, clean & polished. The reward at the end of it all was supposed to be a lengthy session on my computer. Only this plan was scuppered when my computer emitted a VERY loud humming noise the moment I turned it on.

Annoyed at the thought that my hard drive had popped (although I’d luckily backed-up my important files the day before), I went to bed to watch a film.

Turning my computer on this morning, everything seemed tickety boo. So I’m hoping that it was just something vibrating on the metal casing - as a result of plugging in the gamepad.

Fingers crossed, eh?

I’ve just spent an unnecessary amount of time getting a gamepad working on my computer; it’s got eight buttons but the maximum you can manually assign on Windows XP without the drivers is six. And as you’ve gathered, I don’t have the drivers. Which is annoying, as I purchased the gamepad brand new yesterday and drivers weren’t supplied - nor are they available on the manufacturer’s website.

Still, after a lot of searching for drivers for similar devices, I’ve found one that works. Not that I’m an avid gamer or anything - I just wanted to try something. And it worked.

The downstairs computer has a habit of making blippy noises at random times when using Microsoft Word. One would think that this is simply a case of too many keys being pressed at the same time. But surely then the same thing would happen when typing in other applications, which it does not.

Also peculiar - having spent all morning working on an article for someone in plain text using Word, I’ve just opened the file on my computer, continued working and it’s now blipping up here too.

But how can this be? It’s obviously retained some kind of attribute or other from the downstairs computer, yet we’re working in plain text here. Spooky. Which brings me to my next question: Where do all the calculators go?

I have a medium-sized banana hoard buried in my My Documents folder. That sort of thing can really put a crimp on your day.

But thankfully not in this instance. Hurrah!

Unlike Doctor Who which I unfairly dismissed, I’ve always hated Tony Christie’s Is This the Way to Amarillo. I’m no music lover, but the way it sounds has never appealed to me. The fact that my parents have played it for years hasn’t helped matters either.

And as much as I suspect Peter Kay is a top bloke, I don’t find his type of humour at all humorous. So I’m again quite surprised to say that I now like this [re-released] song.

The fantastic video definitely helped me warm to it: Geoffrey & Bungle, Sooty & Sweep, and perhaps best of all, short -arse Ronnie Corbett falling over.

For years I have avoided Doctor Who at all costs: It’s a load of rubbish, and it’s extremely overrated. Where this notion came from, however, I do not know, as before today (other than send-ups & Daleks) I’d never seen any episodes of Doctor Who. In fact, the closest I ever got to the series was an old friend’s cassette-driven games console, as he had the game.

When I first got wind of this new series, I realised that I’d unfairly dismissed the programme, so thought about giving it a go. Then I heard that Billie Piper was a main character, which really put me off. But knowing that Christopher Eccleston was set to play the doctor, then reading that Mark Gatiss & Steven Moffat were on the writing team, and that Mike Tucker was involved with the effects, I was swayed to give it a proper chance.

So what did I think of it, then? Well, from a technical point of a view I was shocked when the automation in the new Broadcast Centre went wobbly, allowing us to hear Graham Norton over the top of the episode. I mean, it was one of the Beeb’s most important broadcasts (no, really) and they managed to cock it up; I feel gutted for the people on the production team.

As for the episode itself - excellent stuff indeed. (Not that either of my brothers would agree.) The script was top-notch with a great blend of science fiction and comedy. Everything was executed well, with a snappy pace that didn’t deaden the drama. Eccleston was brilliant as the doctor, and Piper didn’t irritate me at all (I’ll even go as far as to say that she was “very good”).

I’m surprised to say that I’m instantly hooked, and will be watching in weeks to come.

So there you go.

I’ve been feeling rather ill since Tuesday and woke up this morning feeling nauseous. But after a mass binge on biscuits, chocolate and chocolate biscuits, I was feeling myself again. I stopped feeling ill too.

Mind you, I have just nastily gashed my wrist - on my toenail of all things.

On & off for the last week or so, I’ve been desperately trying to save a video file so that it streams just how I want it to. I’ve finally done it, but boy did it take some doing - it even saw my father kindly setting up another computer with a different operating system.

Still, it was all worth it as the video kicks bottom.

I was feeling really poorly last night - so much so that I was in bed and not watching tele by 9:00 PM. Shocking.

Today I was up & out early for my second personal tutorial with tutor Steve B. at 11:00 AM, and still feeling poorly. Afterwards, I met my mother in town to do a bit of shopping, where among other things I picked up a special Star Wars DVD.

And after The Bill, I’m going to be giving it a spin.

Control - you must learn control.

The Racodac term technically finished on Friday. But because of exams, postponed crits and various administration type things, I’ve got to go in du temps en temps this week.

Today I’m not needed so I’d planned a day of slobbing in the morning, followed by slobbing in the afternoon. Then a bit of a snooze before the main evening’s slob. But I’ve woken up feeling really sick, so I’ll probably just bum about doing nothing instead.