Shamelessly stolen from liz's blog.

The Big Read reckons that the average adult has only read 6 of the top 100 books they've printed. Well let’s see.

1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicise those you intend to read.
3) Underline the books you LOVE, or strikeout the books you read but didn't like.
4) Reprint this list in your own LJ so we can try and track down these people who’ve read only 6 or less and make them read.

1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling
6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne
8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis
10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
19. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
22. Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone, JK Rowling
23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling
24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling
25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien
26. Tess Of The D'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
27. Middlemarch, George Eliot
28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving
29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck
30. Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez
33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett
34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
38. Persuasion, Jane Austen
39. Dune, Frank Herbert
40. Emma, Jane Austen
41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery
42. Watership Down, Richard Adams
43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
46. Animal Farm, George Orwell
47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher
51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
53. The Stand, Stephen King
54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
56. The BFG, Roald Dahl
57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman
62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden
63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough
65. Mort, Terry Pratchett
66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton
67. The Magus, John Fowles
68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding
71. Perfume, Patrick Süskind
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl
75. Bridget Jones’s Diary, Helen Fielding
76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt
77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
78. Ulysses, James Joyce
79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens
80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
81. The Twits, Roald Dahl
82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith, this gets all three as I intend to read it again its so lovely.
83. Holes, Louis Sachar
84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake
85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
89. Magician, Raymond E Feist
90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac
91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo
92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel
93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
95. Katherine, Anya Seton
96. Kane and Abel, Jeffrey Archer
97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez
98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
100. Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie

Human After All

This weekend has not been at all what I expected, my plan originally was to hold the lan event on Saturday then on Sunday to help Jo and Holly clear their new allotment.
Friday night came around, I worked on the game server, Bruce and Phil came over so we played a few games and watched Zero Punctuation. Phil told me about the achievement servers for Team Fortress. Servers set up only to enable players to improve their ratings. I must admit it was fun burning up everything as a Pyro.
Saturday the lan went off, it was well attended with 19 of us crammed into the legion it was a fun day. The games weren't without problems Steam once again failed to work correctly, I think it might be the last time I use Steam at a lan.
It was all going great Fun that is until about 8 O'Clock when my stomach decided to start playing up. The pain was intense, and I had to leave early, it was the first event I haven't stayed through to the end. I had to get a lift home then pretty much stay in the bathroom for the next couple of hours, not a great way to spend Saturday night.
Needless to say I had to skip going round to Jo allotment and have spent the day reading and resting. I started the Brothers Karamazov Dostoevsky masterpiece. It is a bit heavy going Second only in length War and Peace so it might take a while, but if its anywhere near as good as The Idiot or Crime and Punishment then it will be well worth the effort.

Radioactivity

Started moving office today, the customer is abandoning their second building. My normal desk is now a void in the centre of the office, and I am temporally sat next to the MI analyst. There is a bit of a bed atmosphere still all the uncertainty and change is palpable in the air.

Thankfully my day was brightened by a lovely lunch time jaunt to the Swan where I met Sarah. We had a drink, some food and a chat, somehow putting the world of politics to rights before moving to the Nature versus nurture debate. I was really good for me to take a break and relax for a while things have been really stressful recently.

I telephoned about the mortgage Iam taking out the advisor promised like so many others in the last couple of weeks to find out and call me back, she didn't. I am in the process of dissolving some of my assets to pay for the deposit and other costs, I must say it has been a chore, while perfectly happy to accept money off me getting it back its really difficult. New Star were especially painful to deal with, and after the dismal performance I would not recommend them to anyone. Its strange, I have been saving since I repaid my debts from University and travelling and I will soon exchange all that for over £100,000+ of debt {and a house). I am also doing it at the start of a downturn am I mad? It is possible but I think I drove a hard bargain on the price, I have a lot of skill so even if the worse happens I am sure lots of companies want to employ motivated talented individuals like so i think I have a few things going in my favour.

I went to the gym after work, I managed a short jog and a few other cardio bits, it was really hot I was very sweaty and glad of a shower when I finished.

This evening I sat and chatted to Kasia, we swapped some songs, and stories about why we like them.

Lose Control

I managed to be pretty productive today, helped my dad do some wiring. It was like spaghetti junction under the floor boards but armed with a multimeter we worked out how the wiring worked. Bruce's British domestic wiring guide was a big help too, it actually explains the best practises and why you might want all that earth bonding. I especially like Figure 3.1 which show the dangers of different levels of electric shock.

Apart from wiring bit I managed to go to the gym and set up loads of server bits for both the lan server and improvements to the server room equipment. I even found time to clean out the fish tank so I feel like I have had a pretty successful weekend.

El Rincon

Andy Gilmore invited Phil and myself out for a meal with a few other people to celebrate his birthday. We went the Spanish restaurant El Rincon. We met at Abito about 7.45 and walked down Deansgate to the restaurant. There were 10 of us including Phil, Myself, Andy's friend Chris his girlfriend, Emily her sister Hannah and boyfriend Carl.

The place was very busy, Chris pointed out the it was mostly female patrons. The staff were authentically Spanish to the point it was slightly confusing, almost as confusing at the menu. We had two choices basically a heap of plates with paella or a heap of plates without. Despite it being a binary choice it proved really difficult for everyone to come to an agreement on what we were eating. The choices were ok for most of us Chris decided to get his own stuff because as a strict veggy he wasnt sure there would be enough. For some unknown reason Carl threw a strop and decided not to eat anything which meant there was this malign presence right in the middle of the table. However after the food (and drinks) started to arrive everyone but Carl got into the swing of things.

The food was really nice, I ate far too much and enjoyed every bite :) Christ who turned out to be a bit of a wag pointed out that most of the Patrons were female.

Afterwards we went back to chiefs for some of Emilie's home made cake beer and Wii. According to Wii fit I am seriously in danger of metabolic disease, sigh.

Scary future

I am getting to the point when the house purchase is starting to scare me a little. I just read a few scary articles this one about is now a good time to buy a house?
on the positive side, I think I have found a good house in a nice area and I managed to get a decent discount on the price and I should be able to increase the value by fixing the place up. I am going to have a lot of work on my hands though. I should complete on the 8th August which is coincidently the start of the Olympics in Beijing, last year I was in Shanghai and the excitement for the upcomming games was just starting to build should be an interesting games.

Killing In The Name

Been a bit of a delay on this post as I have spent the week recovering from the night.

It was a night of Freedom last night for five of the IT team, so to celebrate a group of us went out to the Frog and Bucket.
It was a group of 11 of us, of which the only 4 would be staying on at. The rest either were made redundant or left of their own volition.
We met up at the rather expensive fringe bar, a couple of the guys had already had their last day so it was good to see them again, if a little sad that it would be the last time.
The Frog and Bucket did bottles of Carlin for £1.30 the alcohol was soon flowing. I had seen the compare before at the Woodford comedy night Legion of Laughs. He was a very funny guy. The other comedians were extremely variable ranging from the hilarious to the absolutely dreadful.

Jo B's ex lodger Alex was watching I said hello, he actually liked the comedian I thought was the worst, but it all subjective I suppose.

After the comedy was over one of the support techs persuaded us to go to 5th Avenue we were all a little worse for wear none more the Johns girlfriend who started speaking in Welsh and then fell and hurt her foot. She had only just had it taken out of plaster today so I left her with John looking for a taxi.

5th Avenue we pretty crowded with the sort of student types I remember in there years age when I went there (also as a student). I danced with the others like lunatics drunken to the ear splitting music (it took two days for the ringing in my ears to disappear). At one point Steve M and myself were screaming Killing in the name of at each other. A fun night all round though I felt like death turing into work at 9 after only leaving 5th Ave at 3. Mind you a few of the others went on to a casino afterwards and still made it in.

The Salmon Dance

I am spending the week in Laindon Essex on a work exercise. I was kept up most of the night by the Chemical Brothers Salmon dance which was playing on an endless loop somewhere out the back. It became quite excruciating after a while.

So far today went ok, I met a my colleague who is extremely tall, female and a little shy I think. She has been doing the web design but this was the first time I bumped into her.

They have put me up in a travel lodge on a little commercial park which isn't to bad, it just down the road from the office.

Bangers and Mash

Went to see Radiohead at Lancashire County Cricket Club this evening. It was really brilliant.

Martina, Phil and Paul joined me, Paul having already seen them in London a few days ago. We arrived just after 6 just before Bat For Lashes started up. Andy Fletcher was their sporting a VIP pass we went and said hello, he and Paul chatted then we went forward into the crowd.

Though it had been raining in the morning just like for Paul McCartney the clouds cleared and the weather stayed fine. Phil got wet though in the first moments of Radiohead a flying pint hit him squarely in the chest soaking him with what we hoped was cider.

When Radiohead came on they did a really good set mixing most of the best of In Rainbows with a host of their most popular tracks. The Gloaming and Idioteque were great as were Paranoid Android and Lucky was played as part of the encore. The sound set up was top notch, very clear and loud. I briefly saw Ian when we arrived back and apparently he could hear it all the way at one of Nicks places miles away.

I really enjoyed it and Paul reckoned the band were on a lot better form than London, though he thought and I agreed that the crowd were in part a little too malevolent a lot of very drunk and drugged up people jostling around.

Come as you are

It has been an interesting day, I spent the morning reading the Great Gastby, which proved to be a pretty excellent read. Set in the roaring 20s New York its a story of people out of place, love, and the problems lies caused. I kept thinking about Becky while I was reading it, she would fit into that would of high society.

I managed to get a quick swim in before heading round to Wollers house for a bbq. Danny, Ian and Paul were there already when I arrived. They went off to buy bbq stuff while Woller made up a salad. Unusually for salad it mostly contained veg. We set up an instant bbq in the back garden. Danny incinerated the burgers so Ian was left to do the rest of the cooking while I looked at Wollers virus filled laptop.

When we finished death by meat (The salad was virtually untouched) it was time for Mario Kart, with a quick interlude for the disgusting 2 girls one cup. For some reason it came up in a conversation so it had to be shown, Ian actually came close to throwing up. I cant say I blame him its completely disgusting. We watched a few bits from some TV show called Flight of the Conchords, it was funny but I didn't see enough to really get it.

We decided it was high time to head out to the pub. I chose not to drink so that I could drive home and sleep in my nice comfy bed not on my Wollers not so comfy floor. First stop was the Flower Pot, we were all laughing and joking around mostly at Paul's expense, Danny insisted his Corduroy jacket made him look like a teacher. At some point we were talking about phones, mainly because Paul kept impressing on Ian how superior his N95 was to his phone. I made the mistake of telling everyone how to use the voice dial feature by holding down the top right menu key for 5 seconds. It set off a 5 minute exercise in us all trying it out which Paul filmed.

We went to a few bars in Macclesfield talking and laughing it was a reall nice evenign sat outside. I was boring everyone about my house purchase and generally laughing and joking around. I left them at the point they were heading into a club
Upto that point it had been a really fun evening of talking and laughing, apparently I made the right decision as Chicargo Rock really wasn't that good.

Spyder Monkey

This morning I picked up the Telegraph money section, a couple of bits caught my eye. Obviously at the moment I have property in mind with the propective purchase of y first home, I was heartened to read this about the merits of buying in the current market. I am glad I didn't entertain the idea of buying a flats, at one point until Nicks sage advise persuaded me against it, I was seriously considering an apartment in Stockport, reading this confirms that New Build flats are a dangerous buy.

Youth Novels

Somewhere in the last few days I might have made a somewhat life changing decision. I suddenly have a lawyer, and I am in the process of arranging a mortgage. While its awesome news that after all this time looking I have finally found somewhere and had an offer accepted

Last night Martina and I watched the best of Radiohead dvd, it should really be called the full Radiohead because its actually all of their videos during their life at Emi. I picked her up from Northern Moor and we ate curry in Rusholme, I had Afghanistan cuisine lamb and rice. Before heading back to mine to appreciate the awesome band that is Radiohead.

I even declined an invitation to the pub, a move which had everyone believing I am having some sort of relationship with Martina beyond simple friendship. Its quiet interesting, I have done some pretty naughty things in my life but never with her.

Tonight I went out with Ian, Paul and Nick. Paul is up for the weekend to check out Radiohead on Sunday and party the rest of the time away. We had a fun evening laughing an joking. Paul hilariously made a very loud and rude comment regarding faecal matter heard by half the patrons of the Bollin Fee somewhat dampening our collective pulling power. I got told off for writing too much about our nights out in this blog, whoops it was never my intention to cause trouble, thought I enjoy being contentious.

Paul started an interesting text conversation with Sarah, I knew he was annoyed that neither she or Simo turned up for his Manchester gig. I think he wanted to say something so he sent drunk text, not always the best plan (though I have sent plenty myself).

We left relatively early, Paul and Ian had been drinking since 8 and were quiet tipsy I was drunk enough to eat a kebab. I feel overfull a little drunk and very very strange. I realised this time last year I was in Turkey, a lot has happened since then but in a way I haven't quiet got over that rejection yet. Olya is married now, like Maia and for that matter Anya. And thought I realise its for the best as non of them actually loved me, they all had an effect on my life and the way I think today. I think the worst thing for me is not the rejection itself but the fact that I could be (if only in my mind) such a part of somebodies life, talking everyday, listening to painful moments as a confident then be so easily discarded. I suppose I am just to sensitive abut it. My friends seem to get women to have such strong feelings for them, I have never felt in that position, though probably if I were that would make me similarly uncomfortable.

Foamy

My friend Lisa sent me a link to this
I think its simply genius, Foamy he knows all...

Vista

I saw this blog might be useful for multi core users as by default Vista only uses one of the processors on boot.

Gimme Stitches

Where did the weekend go? I blinked and its already Monday evening. I am slightly stressed to start with having made a rather big decision last week I made an offer on a house in Handforth, which I am still waiting to hear about. I had to make an offer, I am hoping in the current climate they might go for it, if not there are plenty more places out there.

Unfortunately it wasn't fun exciting things that took up the majority of my time. Saturday was spent busily building a new server upgrading equipment and generally getting bits of Server Room ship shape. Its taken over six months to move off the original server to the new box. To give its due that little IBM has managed to work for over 3 years.

Saturday evening was spent at Jo Bergers, in celebration of his upcoming birthday. It was nice evening with some drinks friends, football then boxing on the TV, and a chess battle between two of the guests.

Sunday I continued setting up bits on the new server its soon going to be ready to take over the bulk of the hosting, which is great as its a much better server than the current box. In the afternoon went to the gym then met Martina and her friend Ceri for a curry at the spicy hut. We had a fun time chatting about life museums and music. Ceri had to get a train back just after 8 so Martina and I went back to my house to watch some nip tuck and listen to music.

Home Brew Server

 
Bruce and I went to IFL to install a new server, we couldnt help but notice in the next rack was this creation. I have never seen anything quite like it before, it made us feel pretty professional!

Oh Well

Its been raining today a lot. I met Sarah for lunch and on the walk to the slug and lettuce I got soaked, was like a tropical rainstorm you might see in a film.

It was nice to see Sarah, it had been quiet a while since we last met up for one reason or another so we both had lots to talk about easily jabbering away through the lunch hour.

When I got back to the office I was waiting for feedback on a project I put live and I got dragged into review meeting. Not a project review though, this was a personal one. After my rant about things the feedback has finally worked its way through the chain. I had a long chat some of which was helpful some of which sounded like a conversation from Fight Club. Overall I think it was positive, but I still felt uncomfortable because my customer was doing this not my company. Still if it helps clear the air it will make me feel a lot better.

This evening I was supposed to go to Yogo with Martina but instead we sat and watched nip tuck. She had a job interview thing with Emirates today which tired her out, and I was just mentally tied after work. It was a weird evening watching a series all about beauty sex and power. She reviled that she is infatuated with someone online, it reminded me of all my bad experiences falling into infatuation with women off the net only to meet them and be a disappointment, I took her home and returned here deep in depressive thought as the rain batters my roof I sit and blog.

Something

It took me pretty much all day to recover yesterday. I think I need to cut back on the drinking somewhat.
I had been promising to take Martina out of Mack and Pats for days and though I felt like death I thought that I better do it, especially after she phoned again.
We went to the shops then for a walk around style. The weather was great but we got a little lost and after going to the gym the day before my legs were really tired. My knees especially found even a short walk pretty difficult. After that we went back to the house and cooked spicy broccoli, it was OK, not very spicy, filling though. Had a sit in the garden but I couldn't get comfortable both because of my aches and pains and the thought I wasn't entirely welcome in the house.
Martina wanted some CD copying anyway so we came back to my house, watched a Japanese Einstürzende Neubauten rockumentry then a few Nip Tuck season while I burned copies of her German lessons.

Today I just about got a big project ready for testing which was positive.

Someone left a weird comment on my flickr photstream, I can't tell what language it is. Kasia say not Italian, Nekena told me its not Spanish, I have no idea, love to find out though.

The house purchasing has slightly stalled while I work out how much I need for renovations versus how much I can borrow. At the moment its looking like I can afford the place but wont have enough spare cash left over for the renovations. I wanted to talk to Nick about it but he has been off commiserating with the Poles.

Little bit

Another sunday, another day spent feeling horrible because of too much alcohol. I think I must epitomise the binge drinking culture of the UK.
It all started Friday night, we [Phil Bruce Myself and Nick] enjoyed a quiet drink in the John Millington in Cheadle Hulme. It was very reserved just a nice chat and a drink

Saturday I dragged Nick out to see a house in Handforth. Its a bit of a wreak a 3 bedroom mid terrace with a dodgy floor. However the building is sound, the location great and with a little TLC it could be a really great house. Its one of the few places where I could really see myself living in, so I will make an offer Monday, fingers crossed. The prospect both excites and completely terrifies me

In the evening Nick Ian Gilly and I went for a meal and a couple of drinks at TGI Fridays. It was a bit rubbish to be honest Nick and I had both finished before Ian's streak arrived. We decided to go for some drinks in Didbury after that, starting in the Slug and Lettuce and working our way through Varsity to the Pitcher and Piano for some Mojitos. As we were enjoying ourselves we headed to Deansgate locks to continue the evening. I used to drink in Revolution a lot but I had not visited for some time, its sure changed. They have renovated and knocked through making for a much more pleasant environment. We all enjoyed a few more drinks a bit of dancing and chatting. Bumped into some friend of Becky's they were gorgeous unfortunately it did nothing to improve Nick's mood to be reminded of her.

By the time we left Revolution I was rather sloshed and so did not really see it as a strange step to go for a Curry in Rusholme. It was a mistake I could taste curry when I woke up this morning, yuk. Gilly was on top form in there talking about his family work and such. We got a taxi home from Manchester the driver of which was some African guy who was chewing on some sort of root which given his general behavior I took to be some sort of stimulant. He told us that the world is all controlled by the queen (his argument lasted virtually the entire 30 minute journey), I was glad to get home.

As I was typing this piece I realised had little red lines under all the words ending in ise, it appears Safari / Apple prefer the American (or Oxford English) ize ending to words. There is a full discussion about it on wikipeadia.

Digital Love

I have just about made it through the week. I was so glad to finish work today, I got home and just relaxed chatted on the net for a while.
Martina was mad at me for not returning a message, and my phone was bleeping with texts from people but I needed to take a few hours out just let the stress levels drop.
I did end up going for a quick drink with Nick Bruce and Phil. Phil is in high spirits as he has some new plan to make money filming holiday resorts, it one of those idea that could be great or a damp squib, for his sake I hope its the former.
Nick was a bit more tired and stressed than usual, he is still waiting on some cash to come through after the bank have been stalling, I think like one of our clients they are running a go slow in the hope people go somewhere else.