Legends of the Sun Pig

…or at least a substantial pocketful of silver.

Our new washing machine arrived yesterday, and just in time too, because Alex went barfy with winter vomiting again during the night on Tuesday. Our old one still worked–sort of–but the filter for the waste pipe was giving us problems, and the wash cycle didn’t always advance properly. So last weekend we went out and bought a new one.

The best thing about it is that it’s so quiet. We knew the old one was loud. It had lost most of its internal stability some time ago. When it went into full spin mode the whole house would shake. But it had deteriorated slowly, over several years, and we had just come to accept it. But this new one…wow! With the kitchen door closed, you don’t even notice that it’s on. Even when it’s doing a full spin, we don’t need to raise our voices, or turn the volume up on the TV.

It’s immensely satisfying to have a purchase turn out so good.

And on the subject of quietness, I ordered some components from QuietPC.com yesterday: the AcoustiCase, ultra-quiet PSU, and Flower Cooler that I mentioned on my PC upgrade list the other day.

I was very tempted to buy the rest of the components as well, and spend some time upgrading my PC while I’m off work this week…but I decided to hold out until the new year. There’s nothing I’m doing with my PC right now that really requires extra oomph (i.e. games), so I’d be upgrading just for the fun of it. Best to let Moore’s Law run for another month or two, and save myself a few pounds. The case components, however, are not electronics, and are unlikely to come down in price much. And they will provide a tangible benefit for our everyday life and computer usage: they’ll make our living room substantially quieter.

What are the chances: earlier this evening I decided to write an email to (Evert-Jan Garretsen), an old school friend whom I haven’t seen for ten years. In the middle of writing it (and it wasn’t a long email, so writing it didn’t take very long), I received an email from Paul Stefiszyn, an old university friend whom I haven’t seen for ten years.

Cool! Ain’t Google grand?

The Atkins diet has been getting lots of publicity recently. That’s the one where you cut out most of the bare carbohydrates, and stick to eating foods that are high in protein. It’s not quite as simple as sausage, steak, and bacon, but it does allow you to eat lots of stuff you’d think you’d have to turn down if you wanted to lose weight. I think I’d have trouble living without bread.

Whenever Abi and I try to slim down, we go for a simple calorie-controlled diet: 1500 calories a day. We eat whatever we like, only less of it. It means I get a packet of hula hoops and a finger of fudge each day :-).

I’m back up to 74kg again, and I’d like to lose some of that before Christmas rolls around. I’m finding it hard to get the motivation together, though. As we descend into the depths of winter, my body keeps saying “bulk up…eat more fat…hibernate.” And there’s all of the festive season thing going on with visitors (hi Andy!), birthdays, gaming days, work dinners, etc. Sigh.

It’ll get better after the solstice. Or at least, after New Year.