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10:04 pm - Random bits and pieces

I had a very nice birthday indeed yesterday, despite its (almost) starting with the noise of breaking glass and a resounding 'Fuck!' coming from steepholm* downstairs, and its (almost) ending with Becca and Y.D. passing on the news of Michael Jackson's death**. And despite a chunk of the in-between being taken up by a trip on the Bristol Flyer (involving an interaction with an incredibly annoying group of potential Bristol University students - I would worry for gair but they were SO. Not. Going to Bristol) to Bristol Airport and then on Ryanair to Dublin. Still - many kind wishes and lovely gifts and all appreciated.

Today I ventured into Spectra Camera in Dun Laoghaire to get a new iMac for my mother and found amazingly that they were on 15% off sale (*never* happens because Apple knows we Maccies are all diehards anyway so they don't need sales) and I got the last remaining one for her with the offer of Office for Macs installed for €39.99. Up until now her receiving an email with an attachment has caused major trauma, usually ending eventually in her forwarding the email to me.

While waiting for them to install and reboot and polish up the iMac I went into a café to get my tea-fix and was highly amused to hear the following said by an older man sitting at the table next to me. He was pontificating to the woman (not his wife, but I couldn't figure out the relationship) a bit about when the Irish came here and so on and then:

Yes, they know that from DNA evidence. DNA is the new archeology.

A bit later - having failed to answer her question about what DNA stood for - he said that DNA was the oldest thing surviving, and that the 'language of DNA is unchanged since the beginning - only the words are different'. I have NO idea what he meant by that, but had to write it down (on the inside of my cheque book, of course - never have anything better on me for writing notes like that) so I didn't forget.

And just for the record, an iMac does indeed 'have a bit of weight in it', as the guy in the shop told us. The car seemed quite far, but YD and I did turns and just about made it.

* No blood was shed and nothing too special was broken.

** I wasn't a fan particularly but he was always there and I can remember him when he was young and cute as anything. Though - as per steepholm's kindly correction - he was actually younger than I am, it wasn't by that much and you wouldn't have known it had he died on any day other than the 25th of June!