First a new lens for our camera arrived, a 50mm f/1.8. It's not USM so the focus motor sounds more like a scream than a whisper, but at £55 it was a bargain. Now I get to play around with low-light photography.

Secondly, a new monitor, an Iiyama E431S 17" LCD monitor. They claim it's "ivory" which I was hoping would be white, but they mean "beige". However, the image quality is great and I was pleased to see a sRGB button in the menus. All I need now is a ICC X extension and my monitor calibration tool is useless.

I didn't tell Vicky about all this as she has been saying how ugly my computer is recently -- 17" monitor and a mid-tower, beige and clunky, until the original iMac came out I didn't have this problem :) -- and I thought I'd surprise her. When Vicky finally noticed yesterday evening she was really pleased, and having lots of space on the desk is... liberating.

NP: Best of Sting and The Police