Had a really fun and chilled day. I got home at about midday after doing some grocery shopping. Bought lots of things to keep me going until mid-week but forgot that I was supposed to be going out for dinner with Mark this evening. Well, it was in the back of my mind but I was buying things to cook this evening. Not a problem, though, as it's stuff that'll keep.

I've gone all vegetarian in my shopping. Must be Toby's influence. Certainly not a great fan of red meat at the moment.

Bought myself a copy of SuSE 7.1 because I've currently got work's copy of the DVD and manuals at home and I could do with my own copy. Mark pointed out I was defecting to the dark side and that I should feel dirty. I also got RealPlayer working and installed a few other bits and pieces. Other than being a bit of a spod for the day and buying things online, I spent the majority of the afternoon chilling with Elgar and drinking coffee. And reading the paper, of course. I quite enjoyed today.

Dinner was lovely. We (Mark, Barry and I) went to a place called Gordon's in Hungerford which I've not been to before. I've driven past it a few times and it's really quite unassuming from the outside, but inside it's really nice and cosy and the food - whilst predictable - was really nice. The service was stonking too. Mark seems indifferent - but tending towards hating - about working in the US. I think he's happy he's there only temporarily.

Barry's new car is nice. Some sporty Mercedes thingie with lots of gadgets. I did point out to him that the fancy radar thing on the dashboard didn't stop him from reversing into a tree the first week he had it, but he pointed out it's designed to stop you reversing into other cars. The GPS system's incredibly groovy as well - and the phone hands free thingie integrates into the dashboard display so when the phone rings the caller's name or number gets splashed up underneath the speedometer. Very groovy, although I think the idea of putting the side indicator repeaters on the wing mirrors is particularly stupid as wing mirrors are the first things to get broken when you're parked in busy traffic.

It was a nice evening. I've been completely unproductive today - which is nice. I did do some washing and had a little sleep in the afternoon. The rest of the week has been planned to be a progressive tidy up around the flat as it is starting to look a bit untidy again.

I am even more convinced that flying in the US is the thing to do. It's cheaper and I have guaranteed weather. I think, also, that taing a month or two out to acheieve something like that won't be particularly detrimental to any career plans I have as it's an initiative thing. Perhaps. Dana's getting married in September and Mark's mind is being evil and telling me I should finish flying by then so I can fly bride and groom to Las Vegas. I think they'd probably actually prefer to get there in one piece, actually.