It's been very busy lately. I had a load of work on the weekend, and to top it off the British home secretary came to see the labs and I had to brief her on my work. So nervous! She was really late and I'd assumed that she wasn't coming, so when she did show up I was busy watching Battlestar Galactica and stuffing my face with Mini Cheddars. Somewhat embarrassing! No matter; my briefing went well and she seemed to go away happy.

As I mentioned in my previous journal Proxsecure, the ISP I've been using, has started blocking all manner of websites, including FA. I've managed to stay online using a VPN, but I'm not hopeful that will last. I've also realised they're a bit rubbish as they don't run their own DNS servers, instead relying on OpenDNS. Using a free service to prop up a commercial enterprise is pretty poor show, especially one that charges its customers $90/month for 256kbps! Fortunately, there is another provider on camp, so I will give them a try next month. The new guys charge $96/month for 512kbps - slightly more money, but much better value.

The weather has heated up again. It's been 38C for the last couple of days. You really notice the difference when the ambient temperature exceeds body temperature: so sweaty. It's really not very glamorous. Neither are all the insect bites on my arms. I'm getting slowly eaten alive, either by mosquitos or sand flies at the moment - I'm not sure which. Whatever they are, I'm having alergic reactions to the bites, which is deeply unpleasant. I'm going to try using insect repllent tonight; hopefully that will keep them away.

It's not all bad news at the moment. I received an aid package from my colleagues in the UK yesterday, which included Jaffa Cakes and poki! It was really thoughtful of them and included a couple of nice letters. Sometimes it can feel like we're forgotten by work out here, so things like that really help. We had a geek-meet today as well, which is where all the civilians working for my employer get together for coffee and a chat. There's a surprising number of us which helps with the feelings of isolation.

Lastly, I had a really nice note from jazzfoxrules that really brightened my weekend up. She asked me a really important question: am I getting any art commissioned soon? It's been a good long while, so I think it would be rude not to! Can any of you recommend artists that are open at the moment, that would be willing to do a reference sheet?

It's nearly time for dinner. I've been getting bored with the food here. It's good, but the menu is pretty restricted and only a week long, so I'm eating the same stuff week after week and really starting to crave some variety. I'm going to try organise a group visit to the steak house next month for my birthday. I'm not that fussed about celebrating it, but it's a good excuse for a change of scenery and a change of menu!