So here I am not sleeping.

A mixture of circumstances and carelessness to blame.

Circumstances 1: Chris and I spent a little time talking about *the future* and plans that I had this evening. I'm really in a place where I want to get on and start a business (with other people). I have products in mind, I have ideas about how they might be generated and contacts that we could work with to make it happen. I know of people who might help fund it, I know people who can help me get grants to kick it off and where I can rent space to do it.

But I also need to work through all the stuff required by the present employer and complete all they need in order to secure the redundancy package, and that means I can't really get started yet. But all this stuff is whirling round in my head, looking for ways to get out and become real.

Circumstances 2: There's a number of people that I care about that I feel the need to pray for right now over a range of issues. That's just hanging there in the back of my head all the time, and in a good way, doesn't go away. If you're one of them and reading this, don't let it worry you. I'm happy for it to be like this.

Carelessness 1: About 9.15ish I decided I wanted to get on with one of my amp projects. A couple of years ago I put together a 5W amp based on 1 12AX7 and 1 EL84, called it the Metisse amps 'Purity' because it was so simple and sweet sounding. However further listening had me deciding it wasn't so sweet sounding after all, as it produced some slightly odd harmonics and had a nasty whistle at high volumes without a guitar plugged in. So it's sat on the shelf mostly, being brought down, played and put back occasionally.

So I would like a lightish amp with 12" speaker and plenty of sparkle and a bit of drive that I can carry easily.

I've got a couple of lightweight pine 1X12" cabs I built laying around, so the idea became to fit the little amp into a cab with a spare G12H (also laying around). The G12H is a great speaker, sparkly, HUGE but controlled bass response and classic tone. It is also dead heavy, which is one reason it's not in my (already heavy) 18watt clone.

Now wisdom suggested that before I actually fit the amp I should just check it sounded OK. Um, not completely. So out came the schematics, all 20 min before bedtime, and suddenly I had a head full of resistors, caps, layouts and plans. Which did not subside after I laid down my head and turned out the light.

Carelessness 2: I'm still thinking Mac vs PC. Mac vs PC. And that doesn't quite shut up and go away either.


So here I am. Sat up at 1.00am.


Not sleepy yet. I could usefully replace the wireless router with a more recent version (this one will only allow 1 machine wireless access at a time) that doesn't drop the connection/has better software & noise rejection. I could also usefully put back the 2nd DVD drive that Ben had to borrow to load a game months ago. I could also usefully dismantle the seagate external hard drive I've borrowed to see if it will work as a USB drive caddy to back up a work laptop. I'm also highly tempted to attempt downloading the hacked version of Leopard to install on a PC (while the net is quiet and speeds are higher).

To quote Fungus the Bogeyman "what does the night have to do with sleep?"