Selenay's Ramblings

So, For Reason (TM)*, I'm considering buying a small, super-cheap desktop to hook up to my HDTV. The one I have my eye on has an HDMI output, so my question is thus:

If the desktop has an HDMI output, would there be anything keeping me from using the TV as its only monitor? Does it have to have a monitor attached to the VGA when I first boot it up, or can I hook it straight to (the HDMI port on) my TV with no issues?

* These reasons are, at least in part, the combination of TunnelBear and sites like BBC iPlayer. And also all the cable TV websites, for when I miss episodes due to my PVR being silly. Because I'm fed up with the tiny picture my iPad sends to my TV with the iPlayer (I have to run the website through Chrome rather than having the app, Because Canada) and most of the catch-up apps for iPad are locked unless you have a cable subscription, but they refuse to work with my cable provider Because Maritime Canada. Ugh. So a super-cheap desktop is starting to look like a great option.

OK, yes, it's possible that new Doctor Who has me pretty much as excited as the entire Christmas thing.

Three presents have arrived. One is still in its Amazon box - I peeked in, saw the edge of an unwrapped case, and quickly put it aside to open on Christmas Day. I shall be monitoring the mail box carefully for the next few days and putting all gifts in a safe spot, away from cats. Then I'll pile them very briefly under the tree for photo-taking purposes on the day itself before opening things while Skype-ing with the parents and my sister. It should all be quite lovely.

I have also bought myself some presents. It looks like there will be no shortage of DVDs to watch over the holiday period :-)

This is good because my stupid back is going to entirely prevent me going to see the Narnia movie on Boxing Day as planned. Ack!

Today I did my groceries, both the standard stuff and the fresh stuff because the weather yesterday evening was not in favour of me walking anywhere nevermind traipsing into a superstore. For the next two weeks, I should only need to venture into stores in search of fresh stuff (fruit, veg, milk) and some sausage meat for stuffing. My lovely butcher is making me a pound of Lincolnshire-style stuff. It's going to be gorgeous. I've even bought myself a duck breast for a super-special post Christmas meal. I think that I'm ready for this, more or less.

I am so glad that I'm not hosting Christmas this year. My contribution is stuffing (got a recipe for sausage meat, chestnut and cranberry stuffing that sounds om nom) and brussels sprouts. I love sprouts and the only place to get the good ones is at my nice boutique store, which is probably the only store that I'll be hitting in any shape or form until post-New Year.

Does anyone get the feeling that Christmas this year for me is mostly about food, TV and treats? Hmm.

In other news

Delicious is being shut down. I've been using it for organising all my links to recipes because the tag system is awesome for that. I'm thinking about switching to Pinboard, but does anyone have any input into which systems may fit my needs best? I want something where I can tag the links and then hit, say, duck and find all my duck recipes. Being able to combine tags would be awesome, but not a total deal-breaker, and I'd like an interface that's easy to use and has the ability to export and backup the bookmarks in case the website shuts down. Argh.

Is Pinboard going to be my best bet?

I am working from home again because I have a physio appointment this afternoon. I'm rather enjoying this whole working from home thing.

The interesting complication today is that I usually have a meeting on Wednesday mornings. Previously we've simply moved it to Tuesday afternoons, but this week we couldn't due to people being on holiday so we decided to do the meeting by conference call instead.

I know our meetings and they often last over an hour. That would be an hour with my phone against my ear, making my ear rather sore, and probably hooking the phone between ear and shoulder at various points to free up hands for the computer. Not my favourite thing ever, not to mention that I always have great difficulty hearing people on the telephone and it's even worse on conference calls.

Solution: Skype. I finally installed it (my contact name is on my profile) and used it to do the conference call. I have speakers and a standalone microphone which was much more comfortable. Plus I could have the volume of the speakers at a comfortable level for me to hear. Much smoother than I had been thinking it would be and I didn't even need to buy Skype credits because the conference was a free-phone number.

Plus I now have Skype. That should be...interesting! Gotta work out how the rest of it works now...