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Well, I’m surprised I can even remember the password to get into this, it has been that long.

I got an Amazon voucher for my birthday in May from my brother, and I used it about a month ago to buy a few books. I bought a book on iPhone development (I fully intend to make a fortune with my iPhone app that I’ve yet to a) have an idea for; and b) write.)

I also bought the Millennium trilogy, which consists of the following books:

• The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
• The Girl Who Played With Fire
• The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets’ Nest

I read the first couple of chapters of the first book in the trilogy about a week after it arrived (I had spent the previous week reading the iPhone book, planning my fortune) and then I was too busy with work and life in general to go back to it. So it sat for maybe about another three weeks on the shelf in my bedroom.

Last Saturday, I woke up, and didn’t really feel like getting out of bed. So I thought I’d pick up the book again. I couldn’t really remember what I’d already read in the first couple of chapters, so I started right at the beginning again. I read those same chapters, and then another couple.

I eventually got out of bed, did the usual showering etc, and made breakfast. I didn’t have plans for that Saturday, so after I’d eaten, I sat in the armchair at my window with a mug of tea, and opened the book again. I’m not 100% sure, but I think it was at least two hours before I put that book down again. And that was only because I had to pee.

I pretty much spent the rest of that weekend reading the first book of the trilogy. By late Sunday night, I’d read most of it, but as I was working on Monday, I eventually succumbed to sleep. Not returning from work until after 7pm on the Monday, I made (and ate) dinner, watched some TV, and then went to bed, and read the remainder of the book. I’m not sure I’ve read a book of over 500 pages in such a short time ever before. I literally could not put that book down over the weekend.

When I am reading a book that I am really enjoying, I actually tend to read it in short bursts: maybe a chapter at a time. The reason being that I don’t want the story to finish. Like most enjoyable things in life, I don’t want them to end. But, I’d bought all three of the books in the Millennium series, and each book is thicker than the last, so I knew that what lay ahead was even more reading, and so I was content to speed through the first book in confidence that really it wasn’t going to end at page 538; rather, it was only going to lead into page 1 of 569 of the next book, and thereafter page 1 of whatever of the next book. Upshot is, there was plenty more reading to come in this trilogy, and so I let myself enjoy the book knowing it wasn’t “the end”.

I’m not going to do a book review on that book, and I certainly can’t review the trilogy as I’m only about a third of the way through the second book at the moment (which incidentally is also fantastic so far), but I will recommend that you read it. It’s an excellent book, one of the best I think I’ve ever enjoyed.

Right, I’m off to bed. To read, funnily enough.

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The first full week of November is upon us, and I’m off work for a week as I desperately try to fit in the 19 days holiday I have left before the end of the year.

I haven’t really got any plans for this week other than for Thursday which will see me at Glasgow Green to watch the annual fireworks display. And then I’ll be in a few pubs around the Merchant City area; for a heat obviously, because it’ll be cold down there on Glasgow Green. Ahem.

Today however, I stand accused of spectacular forward planning and of being ‘worse than a girl’. I was bored this morning (my body wakes at an absurdly early hour even when I don’t have to get up for work), and as it was dry and sunny (if a little cold), I decided to head into Glasgow to wander around the shops for a bit. I left Glasgow having bought what I will wear for my work’s Christmas night out. Which is on 19th December.

I’m actually glad that this particular festive task is out of the way, that really only leaves me the necessary present buying, and that’ll be done online hopefully within the next few weeks. I’ll hopefully be stress-free over the festive period and will just be able to enjoy the atmosphere without all of the hassle that goes with it. I think Edinburgh will get a visit this year (haven’t been for a couple of years now) as the mulled wine in that wee German market thing at the top of Princes Street Gardens is fantastic!

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I’m on holiday from work for a week. This is my first break for 14 weeks, so I’m finding it a bit weird getting into the swing of doing nothing.

I got up this morning about 8am (which is a pretty decent lie-in for me, as I’m normally up before 6am), and I’ve done nothing at all since then (apart from shower and make some lunch). And I am BORED.

I have things to do this week, but can’t motivate myself to do them. I’m meeting a friend for lunch tomorrow, so that’s pretty much that afternoon used up, I’ll visit my parents tomorrow evening (get a free dinner cooked for me), and I have a website to design, code, and build for another friend.

I also have a house that badly needs tidied (both inside and outside), and a ton of bills/letters to file away. This task will definitely be done this week, as the state of my living room with papers and books and letters and all manner of other bits and pieces is really doing my head in, and if I don’t do something about it sanely, I’ll end up just piling it all into a big heap and setting it on fire (it is almost Bonfire Night after all). And I kinda need some of it, so setting it alight isn’t really the best idea.

I also want a new table and a new lamp for the living room. This (not the lamp, the table part) would also allow me to finally set up the hi-fi that my brother gave me about three months ago, which has been sitting in the box in my spare room.

So, not sure how much of a ‘holiday’ this week will be, if I do actually manage to motivate myself to get off my arse and do any of the stuff that I should be, and frankly, need to be, doing.

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I have new wheels. That is to say, I have a new car, but indeed that also means I have new wheels. I had steel wheels on my last car, I now have alloys again.

I liked my last car. It was a Citroen C2 1.4 Diesel, and the fuel economy on it was simply superb. I could easily get 600 miles out of a full 40-litre tank. It was a quick wee car too; pulling away from junctions etc was very good, and I’d say that the initial pull-away speed of that car is easily quicker than anything else I’ve owned.

But, in November, the car will be three years old. It would also have done 60,000 miles. So I was faced with finding the money to:

• a) put it through an MOT
• b) put it through it’s 60,000 mile service

In addition, I needed tyres, I desperately needed brakes (including discs as I’d let the pads get so bad that the discs had become scored), and I had a leak somewhere in the coolant system. I estimated that getting all of this done in November would mean that I would have to find close to £700 from somewhere, which I don’t really have the means to do.

So, instead, I bought a new Mazda 2.

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