Alex Harries's diary

(Off-topic. Plus I *think* I'm not breaking the rules posting this here, but I'll double-check...).

Ok, sorry; I know this is both shameless and cheeky. But it's a very nice laptop, and it's the laptop that built UPSU.net, and it's only 99p on eBay at the moment (although I'm hoping it'll sell for a bit more...).

Anyhoo, it's a bargain. Find out more here...

I wrote a little while back about taking my bank to court. I've just read this story of a similar claimant - Declan Purcell - sending bailiffs into his local branch to seize the bank's property after the bank failed to refund his money despite winning against them in the courts.

• Find out more at Timesonline.co.uk.

I wonder if this like Real World 2.0 - where user-generated Web 2.0 content jumps into the Real World and bites the posterior of Big Business...? ;o)

/al

Yes I'm avoiding work. Again...  Do this, pass it on:

Do this and repost it with the title: "I've done --- out of the 132 stupid things."

Level 1
(X) Smoked A Cigarette
(X) Smoked A Cigar
(X) Kissed A Member Of The Same Sex (no tongues!)
(X) Drank Alcohol

SO FAR: 4

Level 2
(X) Are / Been In Love
(X) Been Dumped
(X) Shoplifted
(X) Been Fired
(X) Been In A Fist Fight

SO FAR: 9

where is level 3?

Level 4
(X) Had A Crush On An Older Person
(X) Skipped School
(X) Slept With A Co-worker
(X) Seen Someone / Something Die

SO FAR: 13

Level 5
(X) Had / Have A Crush On One Of Your Facebook Friends
( ) Been To Paris
( ) Been To Spain
(X) Been On A Plane
(X) Thrown Up From Drinking

SO FAR: 16

Level 6
(X) Eaten Sushi
(X) Been Snowboarding
( ) Met Someone BECAUSE Of Facebook
(X) Been in a Mosh Pit

SO FAR: 19

Level 7
(X) Been In An Abusive Relationship
(X) Taken Pain Killers (Tylenol counts)
(X) Love/loved Someone Who You Cant Have
(X) Laid On Your Back And Watched Cloud Shapes Go By
(X) Made A Snow Angel

SO FAR: 24

Level 8
( ) Had A Tea Party
(X) Flown A Kite
(X) Built A Sand Castle
( ) Gone mudding (offroading)
(X) Played Dress Up

SO FAR: 27

Level 9
(X) Jumped Into A Pile Of Leaves
(X) Gone Sledging
(X) Cheated While Playing A Game
(X) Been Lonely
(X) Fallen Asleep At Work / School

SO FAR: 32

Level 10
(X) Watched The Sun Set
( ) Felt An Earthquake
(X) Killed A Snake

SO FAR: 34

Level 11
(X) Been Tickled
(X) Been Robbed / Vandalised
(X) Been cheated on
(X) Been Misunderstood

SO FAR: 38

Level 12
(X) Won A Contest
(X) Been Suspended From School
(X) Had Detention
(X) Been In A Car / Motorcycle Accident

SO FAR: 42

Level 13
(X) Had / Have Braces
(X) Eaten a whole pint of ice cream in one night (me = fat bastard...)
(X) Danced in the moonlight

SO FAR: 45

Level 14
(X) Hated The Way You Look
(X) Witnessed A Crime
(X) Pole Danced
(X) Questioned Your Heart
(XXXXxxxxxxx) Been obsessed with post-it-notes

SO FAR: 50

Level 15
(X) Squished Barefoot Through The Mud
(X) Been Lost
( ) Been To The Opposite Side Of The World
(X) Swam In The Ocean
(X) Felt Like You Were Dying

SO FAR: 54

Level 16
(X) Cried Yourself To Sleep
(X) Played Cops And Robbers
(X) Recently Colored With Crayons / Colored Pencils / Markers
(X) Sang Karaoke
(X) Paid For A Meal With Only Coins

SO FAR: 59

Level 17
(X) Done Something You Told Yourself You Wouldn't
(X) Made Prank Phone Calls
(X) Laughed Until Some Kind Of Beverage Came Out Of Your Nose (do Pringles count as a beverage...?)
(X) Kissed In The Rain

SO FAR: 63

Level 18
(X) Written A Letter To Santa Claus
(X) Watched The Sun Set/ sun rise With Someone You Care/Cared About
(X) Blown Bubbles
(X) Made A Bonfire On The Beach or anywhere

SO FAR: 67

Level 19
(X) Crashed A Party
( ) Have Traveled More Than 5 Days With A Car Full Of People
(X) Gone Rollerskating / Blading
(X) Had A Wish Come True
( ) Been Humped By A Monkey (no, but my brother is very hairy)

SO FAR: 70

Level 20
( ) Worn...

Timesonline.co.uk is running a daily 15 minute brain exercise thing - you get 15 minutes to answer 5 questions, with a new set of questions being posed each day, for example "rearrange these 8 sets of 3 letters into four groups of 6 to work out what the scrambled words are: ...." (I spent 8 minutes on that one, was about to give up and the answer popped into my head - who says the subconscious mind doesn't help us out? ;o).

It's not all sunshine, fluffy bunnies and flowers: I've just scored 9 out of a possible 20, which ranks me at a lowly 213 (probably out of 214 people...) so I think I've got my work cut out for me...

Registration is free, and you can opt out of all their junk mailing lists as usual. Try it out, here.

(Off topic, and apologies for the title - it was the best I could think of...)

I've already said my piece about Celeb Big Brother's latest publicity ploy - the stirring up of a race row - but I think it's probably best left to a magistrate to put things into perspective, here.