The week you splurge and eradicate all your savings in one fail swoop (and then some) when you know you probably shouldn’t, is the week the washing machine decides to spontaneously combust.

Akra is in the kitchen with manual in hand. Fingers crossed.

Akra has discovered new ways to wake me up in the morning (no, not that, that’s hardly new … and you have a dirty mind).

Picture this, it’s 7.15am. I was up late last night, lovingly caressing my new iMac. I’m trying to pretend the morning hasn’t started yet, whereas Akra has been up for hours, still working on his book.

Akra: You know that cut on my hand, it’s opened up again.
Me [somewhat muffled into the pillow while pulling the covers over my head]: Oh dear, poor you.
Akra: Yeah, and I bled all over your new mouse
Me [sitting bolt upright, wide awake now]: WHAT?!
Akra [unable to speak as he's creased up with laughter]

See what I have to put up with?!

Well the move over hasn’t been as scary as I thought it might be.

The iMac came with the Leopard disc, and not pre-installed which was a bit nerve-wracking – I’ve never had a simple upgrade with Microsoft ever, but it really was a case of putting the disc in and letting it get on with it. Had no problems with Leopard at all so far (compare that to Vista – hah!)

For a web-browser, I’ve just installed the mac version of Firefox and copied my bookmarks and passwords over. A quick job and at least gives me something familiar on the machine.

Email was even more hassle-free – all my email is IMAP, so just told Mail where to look and voila, back in contact with the world.

For a chat client, I’m using the free Adium which (once I remembered all my chat passwords!) seamlessly got me connected and found all my contacts again.

Those three were really the most important things – I start to feel rather twitchy if not contactable.

Documents, photos and music was a simple drag and drop operation from the backup drive (although mental note for future: itunes doesn’t need you to import the library again, and will give you duplicates of everything… iphoto, make sure you tick the box which doesn’t copy all of your photos again when importing its library too).

Oh, and I am in raptures over coverflow and quick look in finder – especially when looking through my photo collection. It’s so quick and smooth – so much quicker than Window’s preview (which in vista always took an age for my RAW files and then left windows open everywhere until it caught up). Even better, I didn’t have to install a load of codecs just to view my Canon RAW files. It. Just. Worked. Apple, I love you.

We had a bit of a giggle when the remotes interfered with each other’s macs, but that was a simple pairing job. Must remember to put stickers on the backs of the remotes though as they look identical and could easily be confused.

Setting up the printer was the first real techie wrestle we had to do, which apparently is more HP’s fault than Apple’s. After reading forums and working slowly through it (not really knowing yet how Mac OS works with peripherals made that a bit harder) we’ve got there though, and come to think of it, I don’t remember that being easy with Windows when you didn’t know what you were doing either. So that’s a no score draw.

Haven’t had to worry about an antivirus, but I will install one just to avoid accidentally passing one on to my Microsoft bretheren.

Installations really are a dream, you just download, drag and drop and it gets on with it.

Still left to do:
- copy over my notes from Evernote into Journler
- find an equivalent to MS Money and get that up and running
- install the Canon RAW converter software
- get my RSS feeds off my old PC
- sort out a dual boot of XP just so I can run Lord of the Rings Online. Don’t really want to give Microsoft any more money, or sully this machine with a Microsoft operating system. May wait a while and see if I really miss the game or not before parting with the £50 for an OEM XP Home copy.

Think I’ll go make a cup of tea first, though.

This is my first post via my new iMac. I’m trying to remain calm, but I’ve already managed to screw up my music transfer (I forgot importing library when you’ve already copied it over into itunes gives you duplicates of everything – argh!). As Red Dwarf would say, “they’re going to sort that out in the dub”.

Otherwise, I’m loving the iMac and the Leopard interface – all very clean and beautiful. It’s really a work of art. I’ve got a steep learning curve ahead of me (especially trying to find all the decent Mac equivalents for windows programs I use extensively, such as MS Money) and it’s a bit of a step into the unknown, but hey, I like a challenge.

Hasta la Vista, Vista.

Dom, this is all your fault…

… well, and the Vista-shaped final straw…

In a shock move, now that I have finished the alien scarf, I have started a new knitting project which is non-scarf like! In fact, it’s a pair of knee length socks.

It was actually quite scary at first… I’ve not knit on the round before, and have only managed basic long strips that are worn around the neck up to now, so increasing the needle count up to four was a bold move on my part. I think I’m getting the hang of it though.

AND, rather miraculously, it’s starting to look like a sock!

Maybe I should risk all and try a jumper next…

Well, I’m on the third day of light therapy, and I’m now on a 15 minute dose at 7.30am in the morning. I was highly dubious about this, as normally I struggle to get out of bed in time for 8am before Akra leaves the house (and my natural waking time if left to my own devices would be nearer 11am), but I was actually awake (and more importantly alert) by 7am this morning which was nothing short of miraculous.

The nausea and jitteriness was present a little yesterday, but no sign of it today. That might be because of the reduced dose earlier in the day, or it might be I’m just getting used to it now. I have, however, got an evil spikey throat – but that’s more down to the cold I seem to be coming down with… bah!

One disadvantage I have noticed, is that my traditional 3pm slump when I completely run out of energy has now moved to 12 noon. Not a good point in the day to start clock watching for the kids bedtimes! Today, I’ve given myself a top-up 8 min dose of the light box at double the normal distance as a “boost” and it does seem to have helped a little.

The last week has been quite sunny, but today seems a bit overcast. Not sure of the forecast for the rest of the week, but I’m guessing the real test of this light box is yet to come…

Well here I am on day one of treatment, and I must say it’s all a bit odd.

The idea is that for a couple of days, I have a longer treatment then gradually move it to earlier in the day and reduce exposure time. Today I had half an hour at 9.30am with the light box.

Before using it, I felt very groggy and had one of those “not enough sleep” fuzzy headaches. Ten minutes into the treatment, the headache significantly subsided – unsure whether that’s a placebo effect or genuine, but at this stage I don’t really care.

Sitting in front of it (well, the device is slightly to the side so your eyes are bathed in the light, but only in your peripheral vision) is quite odd. Maybe because I’m not used to it yet, but I was constantly paranoid about its positioning and whether I was keeping my face in the field of light enough – I’m guessing this will change as I get used to it. It’s also slightly unnerving having such bright light nearby. I found myself very aware of it and had to consciously remind myself not to move my head out of the way.

At the end of the treatment, I felt slightly giddy and light-headed towards the back of my head, but still with a slight headache at the front of my head which was quite bizarre. The brain fog which I’ve been living with on and off for two weeks though had lifted enough to give me the motivation to suggest going out today. Further benefits of mood are probably down to being outside for most of the day, but there was a definite “push” available that I haven’t had for a while.

Otherwise, I’ve been okay today. I’ve been better with the children, even though they’ve been quite tired and whiny today I’ve been able to cope and mostly be sympathetic rather than shouty. It’s a start.

I do feel a bit light sensitive and more aware of smells – I don’t know if that’s connected or not. I also had bad motion sickness in the car. While I do get car sick from time to time, it’s normally only if I’m looking down to read a map. I wasn’t sure if this was connected, but have just found documentation that states nausea as a side effect when you first start treatment. It should go away in a few days.

I hope.

Well after a rough beginning to the week, I finally gave in yesterday and ordered an Apollo goLITE M2 light box and it arrived this morning.

Unfortunately, it needs an 8 hour charge before I can start using it, but I will let you know how I get on and give a proper review in the next few days.

Well, okay not quite… but a top chocolate-maker at Thorntons did end up making rather a fool of himself at rival store Hotel Chocolat (those lovely people who sent bloggers free review chocolate last Easter) and truffles were squashed in the process.

The article mentions that Mr Colenso has now resigned (asked to leave?) and they’re now looking for his replacement.

I wonder why he did it? Jealousy? Mental breakdown?

I note that the article refers to Hotel Chocolat as a rival to Thorntons, but realistically there is no comparison.

Thorntons has been going downhill for years – once the luxury stop on the high street, the chocolates are now nothing particularly special, don’t seem particularly high in cocoa solids compared to many luxury brands out there and are severely lacking in innovation.

I hope they find a suitable replacement for Mr Colenso who might breathe new life into the company and come up with more enticing chocolate.

Oh, and if Hotel Chocolat feel the need to send any Christmas chocolate my way… you know where I am…