and then i forget what they were.

last week linus & i went to the 13th london girl geek dinner, held at google. the food (from the google cafeteria) was damn fine – if that’s really what the staff get to eat (google is somewhat famous for it’s “free breakfast and lunch” policy) then i can see how fully they deserved winning that whole best place to work thing. the speakers were good as well although i would’ve liked to hear some more technical detail from the google girls. i also managed to meet candace, who i’ve known (in the virtual sense) for something like 8 or 9 year, but had never met IRL before, despite her having lived in london for about 4 years now.

the weekend was super sunny and delicious and we managed to stain the deck, and it looks bloody good, if i may say so myself. there was quite a lot of swearing and frustration involved with the staining device. the stain itself – ronseal “perfect finish” decking stain – seems to be a good product, but the long-handled fluffy-padded application device they provide with it is complete crap. firstly, it’s obviously designed for hobbits and anyone over 5 feet tall cannot use it. secondly, the spongy furry pad at the end of the too-short handle is completely hopeless at getting the stain into the grooves of the decking planks. which is odd, because getting the stain into the grooves of the decking planks is exactly what the marketing fluff claims it is good at. marketing people making things up? what has the world come to? anyway we finished applying the second coat with brushes, on our knees. if anyone out there is considering this stuff, save yourself a second trip to homebase and get a big wide bristly paintbrush while you’re there. you will end up needing it.

we also finally mowed the lawn, and i planted out my tomato plant, and we harvested and ate the first two strawberries from the strawberry patch.