I need a new phone, and I have decided not to get an iPhone, as I already have an iPod Touch, and it does everything I need of it already. And I have 3 Orange Magic numbers now, and to be honest, Orange have always been pretty good.

So I need to find an "upgrade" phone. Can't decide whether to get a bog standard one that will just do the phoning basics, or to go for the lovely new Nokia Fancy Pants N78. I have a N80, and it has been pretty much a disaster, with F-All battery life, and it crashes all the time..... The N78 has 5 Megapixel Camera, and Sat Nav. The Sat Nav is the winner for me, to be honest. Particularly as it can be hooked up to my hands free bluetooth car kit, and it will speak to me while I drive........

Och. Not sure. I'll pop in manyana to make the decision.

In other news, never rule out the Germans.

My washing machine has broken down. Why does this sort of thing always happen on Fridays?

Given the absence of a home nation in the Euros, I feel I should select a nation to support.

I have gone for Spain. Ronaldo may turn out to be the player of the tournament, but I think Torres will score the goals.

If I ever go to New York, I'll be on the look out for the Statue of Happiness, and the Roller Coaster in Broker......

Because I'm lazy, I'm going to take my headings from the last few songs on the random play list on my iPod.

Today - Smashing Pumpkins

Siamese Dream: Great album; I remember going round to the house of TDL and he put this on, and I was totally blown away by it. I do have Melon Collie and The Infinite Sadness, but it's not a patch on this. Today is the best song on the album by a long sea mile. This came on while I was driving into the car park at work this morning; 0815 start, cancer patients to see.

LSF - Kasabian

First track on when I got back into the car from work at 1700hrs. I first heard this because it was on the sound track of FIFA 06 (I think) on the Gamecube. I played that game forever, won the champions' league equivalent, and kept on going. All for no achievement points. There's no way I would play the Wii version if the 360 version were available: gotta have the achievement points!

Love is the Law - The Seahorses

Whatever happened to John Squire? The first line of the song is about a Dog Fish Egg Shell, which I always thought was a particularly odd thing to sing about.

Little Miss Can't be Wrong - Spin Doctors

Do you know that there's two new Power Rangers series on Jetix this morning? Lightspeed rescue and Lost Galaxy. A quick IMDB search suggests that they were made in 1999. I never understood the attraction of Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, but the kids seem to love it. Every version has a black guy, a chinese guy, a girl, a strapping white boy, and some even have a robot - and none of them appear to be able to act. The kids' other favourite viewing is Ben 10 - now that's a different story!

Definitely the hardest level yet - multiple goes to get past the N.O.O.S.E (SWAT) guys, and another couple to be able to shake a 3* wanted level. I am particularly lame at losing wanted levels.

In other news - I have a new girlfriend, Carmen, which is lucky, given how it turned out with Michelle.....

In real life - need to order the Wheelie Bin Sticker Shenanigans.

And my students have invited me out for mealage and drinkage on Saturday. But they don't know what FTW means. Interesting.

TBTC mentioned wheelie bins in his latest missive.

Decorate your wheelie bin!!!:

http://www.wheelie-bin-art.co.uk/

Nice.

This just makes me ashamed to be living in Scotland.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/7405259.stm

Livejournal isn't really the catharsis that it once was - I have time to read my friends' journals every day, but little time to reply, and no time to write my own. This is no real loss to society, I fear.

Things are happening:

1. The boys are playing Super Mario Kart Wii. They haven't expressed any wish to play the Wii since they went on about it so much I had to buy one. But his weekend they have discovered Mario Kart. They can't do the grands prix, and neither can I, but they love the time trials. The original on SNES was one of the most finely tuned games of all time, I recall, but more recent iterations have been annoying: there has been a shift from driving first and weapons second, to overly powerful weapons and random chance over any driving skill. So on-line stuff is a lottery. Maybe I'm just getting old and boring.

2. Just back from a BBQ. The boys were great, well behaved, ate their meat and pitta, played quietly. Lovely. The chicken at the BBQ was very tasty - secret family recipe, apparently. Secret recipe turns out to be natural yoghurt and heinz tomato ketchup. Not so secret any more.

3. I have ceased to be a chest doctor for at least 9 months. From Tuesday I will be an Oncologist, but only for 6 weeks. It'll be nice to have a change of scenery for a bit, but I suspect I will tire of Lung Cancer very quickly.

4. Today has seen the most remarkable final day of a football season that I can remember. And I was at a BBQ with at the house of the only doctor in Tayside without Sky sports....

5. Got the DVD box set of Ashes to Ashes, after the success of Life on Mars in Faroon towers. Like it so far, but it lacks the presence of John Simm. I have always liked John Simm, and now I discover why - he's not a Lanc after all, but was born within the hallowed borders of Yorkshire. All makes sense now.

6. In laws are living with us for the next 3 months: f-i-l has had a triple bypass, and he's convalescing up here in sunny Dundee. He's doing well, but still knackered. Up-side: free babysitting. Down-side: double food bills!

7. Speaking of James. The gig was great, and I've booked tickets to see them again in December at the G-Mex. Or, actually, TAFKAG-Mex. We're going to make a weekend of it - stay in Manc, trip to Blackpool, that sort of thing.

8. Gladiators is back on TV. I'm recording it, in glorious HD. Judgement reserved.

9. Have had a week off in which I've driven 1250 miles and grown a very rubbish beard. Back to work tomorrow after an enthusiastic shave.

10. GTA IV.