Wulf's Webden

The Webden on WordPress

19 December 2024
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Semi-successful Soup

Tonight’s dinner was homemade soup. It was tasty but, for a variety of reasons I’m inclined to describe it as only semi-successful. The two particular downsides were first that I got a small scald on the inside of my arm when taking the vegetables out of the oven (run immediately under hot water – I don’t think it will be a major problem but it’s an injury I’d still rather not have) and that it was ironically colder than expected when I served it up (the stock I used was microwave defrosted but there were still a couple of bits of ice when I put it all in the blender).

What did work? The combination of winter vegetables (including almost the last of my squash harvest) along with some red lentils roasted up well. I left them in the oven long enough for some maillard reactions to occur and the taste had a caramel note. The texture was also very pleasing – thick and creamy. I added a spoon of yogurt as a garnish but it wasn’t needed for the overall texture.

I’ve got one final squash left so I’ll probably make a similar soup again, although taking more care on removing it from the oven and ensuring it is properly hot before adding any yogurt on top!

18 December 2024
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On My Bike

The Green Gym group I often volunteer with was having a winter BBQ this morning to say thank you to the volunteers. It was across the other side of Loughborough but Jane decided not to go so (despite it being a bit windy) I decided it would be a good time to get my bike out.

It didn’t need much maintenance apart from pumping up the tyres and spraying with a bit of oil and worked better than I expected. I’ve definitely lost my cycling muscles though. If I’m going to make more use of the bike in 2025, I will need to do some training to build those back up!

17 December 2024
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Tuba Straps

One thing Saturday afternoon’s tuba gig did was provide an opportunity to try out the straps on my tuba case. I’ve had it a couple of years but, up until now, I’ve just had to carry it a short distance from the car. Parking in town is tricky so we walked down and I’m pleased to say that the shoulder straps made it easy. Who knows when I’ll need them again but I now know they work just fine.

16 December 2024
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Quick Kedgeree

We had some baked fish left over from last night so, for tonight’s dinner, I decided to see if I could knock up a quick version of kedgeree.

I combined the fish with sliced up roasted onion (also from last night) and some seasoning – salt and pepper ground up with a bit of cumin and the seeds from a cardomon pod, along with a bit of tumeric and a bay leaf. All that got microwaved to put some heat into it and, while it was mellowing, I took a packet of microwave ready egg-fried rice. Technically that is meant to have a more Chinese flavour but I took a punt on it working and also avoiding the need to boil up an egg.

I’m not sure it was quite as good as the ones I’ve done before but, at less than ten minutes to get prepped, cooked and served, a whole lot quicker and a cheat version I’ll keep in mind next time there is some fish waiting to be used up.

15 December 2024
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Hurrah for the Tram

Nottingham’s tram service made my day much easier. I was able to book a day pass on my phone (cheaper than two singles), leave the car at Clifton South and ride the tram up to the centre of town for my gig this afternoon. As a bonus, the kerbs at the stops have been calculated so that there’s a smooth experience when rolling something heavy like my amp trolley on and off.

It turned out that I could have travelled a bit lighter as I was set up right next to a plug (no need for my external battery) and the gig was easily within the volume output of my smaller combo amp rather than needing the cab and head, but I’d still have needed the trolley in either case and, even if I was a little over-equipped, at least the tram service made it a still quite feasible journey.

14 December 2024
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Electric Tuba

This afternoon I’ll be playing my tuba as part of an ensemble performing in the Carillon Centre in Loughborough (2pm – 3:30pm), supporting the local Lions organisation in their fundraising. I’m not actually plugging my tuba into an amplifier but I have now got it decorated with a small string of Christmas lights for visual effect so it should at least look good!

12 December 2024
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God Rest Ye… Poco Loco

This Sunday afternoon I’m depping with a big band at the Albert Hall. For those not from the East Midlands, I probably should point out that I mean the one in Nottingham and not the Royal Albert Hall in London. And, to be completely transparent for those from the East Midlands, I should also mention that, for those familiar with the Nottingham one, it isn’t on the main stage but in the bar area, as part of the warm up for the Music for Everyone Christmas Concert.

I’ve been invited to do a bass and drum intro for one of the tunes (Carl Strommen’s Poco Loco) and, since the drummer wasn’t able to make the only rehearsal I’ve attended, I thought I’d knock together a quick video to illustrate what I have in mind:

11 December 2024
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Accounted For

Yesterday’s first IT shift went well and I’m back in tomorrow. Sadly though, it looks like I’ll have to set aside thoughts of an extravagant celebration as we found out that we needed a couple of car tyres replaced today which will use up all the money earned! One of the tyres had picked up a tack and gone flat but the car’s pressure sensors failed to alert me before I’d driven on it (possibly as much as to Outwoods and back). That therefore needed replacing and the inspection advised of some sidewall damage on another tyre so I decided to get that sorted at the same time.

On the other hand, at least that unexpected cost will be covered by new money coming in! All accounted for!

10 December 2024
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Ex X?

I haven’t entirely dumped Twitter (sorry X… formerly known as Twitter) but I have now set up a Bluesky account. The next thing to do is to work out whether I’ve really got much appetite for that kind of social media channel anymore. It used to be mainly about connecting with people I knew but, when I check on Twitter, there is very little of that heritage left, compared with a lot of advertising, a lot of spam and, every now and then, a wave of awful stuff that makes me cautious about catching up on it and extremely hesitant to recommend it.

If I do get round to connecting to more people on Bluesky and actually making a post or two, will it be like the halcyon days when “web 2.0” was the buzzword or am I just contributing to its inevitable decline and corpse-like decay?

9 December 2024
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First Shift

Tomorrow is my first shift doing casual work Loughborough University’s IT team. It is supporting their Windows 11 migration project, so probably mainly sitting in a room full of computers keeping an eye on them as they get upgraded. However, I suspect the procedure is a little more detailed than “fire up the upgrade and hope for the best” so I will make sure I pay full attention at the briefing. My experience so far, on home computers, suggests that it is a fairly reliable process although you do have to watch for drivers that aren’t supported. I suspect though that the scale of a university-wide project means other quirks have surfaced and will continue to do so.