Surprise music hit of the week is Norah Jones. Got a copy off my Mum & Dad last weekend and have listened to it a few times. It's a lovely album, catchy tunes sung by a lovely voice. I am a bit worried that I might be going a bit Country...

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Bit more of an update to my webpage - put my Ask Jeeves parody up.

Apparently the weather is going to be really nice on Sunday so we will probably have a BBQ again. I intend to make the most of this summer and spend as much of it as possible outdoors.

I keep reading about the RIAA and the BPI moaning about poor CD sales and blaming it on piracy. In my opinion CDs have been overpriced since day one as the record companies tried to recoup some of the money lost when video came in. The other day I bought some DVDs at �4.99 and yet I can buy a CD from a high street retailer for �14.99 - that just doesn't add up. Also the terrible manufactured pap music that gets released doesn't deserve to sell any copies. Whenever possible I buy my music from eBay or direct from record labels. This way the artist doesn't lose out and I'm not doing anything illegal. And you know what? If CDs cost �4.99 I bet I would have bought tons more.

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I had the day off today. I mowed the lawn at the back and the weather was fantastic. The sun felt really warm and it didn't feel like March at all. I hope it continues and we have a great summer. We had a BBQ last night which was also great. Really nice steaks and sausages. The first of many, I hope.

I've been playing with Ableton Live - it's a great piece of music software for someone with no talent, like myself. It makes it easy to make the music go just how you want it to, with a simple interface. More 'hands on' than say, Acid, as you can easily change things on the fly. I just need some nice loops now and I'll be set.

Filling in the insurance claim form, I realised last week's burglary cost us about �500. Not bad for about 2 minutes of thieving. The little sods had also used Candi's bank card on Wednesday, even though it was suppsoed to be cancelled on Sunday. The bank are not being very pro-active about returning Candi's money, either. I have no hesitation in recommending First Direct whenever anyone complains about their bank. I've been with them for years now and they are excellent.

I was thinking of putting some tips for playing The Sims on my website. I realised that I've been playing it for a while now and a lot of the stuff I've learned could be useful to others. Or maybe not? There are some good tips on the EA site (this one has to be my favourite)
I've got a bit stuck on Unreal II and almost given up playing it. I didn't really get very far and lost interest quite quickly. Also it seemed to struggle to play at normal speed, even though I've got a relatively new PC. I think I prefer the hack 'n' slash action of Unreal Tournament 2003. Playing online against other real players, it can't be beat.

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