I could not survive without lists. I have a brain like a sieve, and lists are my way of getting through the days. Shopping, To Do, Wish, Life Goals, Favourite vegetables... I can put things on, I can tick things off. Gotta love lists.

We in the West don't like to change. Oh we like the idea of it, sure enough. We like leaping on our high horses about climate change and 'Doing Our Bit'. But it would seem we're only happy to Do Our Bit if we can do it within our own comfort zone. Look around you. Look at Smart cars, bio-diesel, carbon off-setting and kerbside recycling. How to save the planet without actually having to lift a finger. How about, and here's a radical thought; how about not owning a car at all. How about not flying. How about using less in the first place; buying goods that are already recycled, so that all the paper and glass and plastic you so dutifully sort actually makes a difference, instead of being stored in a container in Liverpool docks because there's no market for recycled paper, or green glass.

I find the reaction to Sony's PS3 Game, Resistance: Fall of Man really interesting. The game reportedly depicts a bloody shoot-out inside Manchester Cathedral - something which church leaders have described as "desecration".

Here's a Life Lesson I should have learned years ago, which I will share with the unwary: When choosing a quick lunch to be eaten in a public space, don't go into a Yorkshire sandwich shop. No, go to Boots or something. Get a couple of damp, compact triangles with some obedient sliced chicken stuffed into the front. Something that's not going to embarrass you. Do not struggle with your food; eat discreetly.

It's been a while since I've danced. But yesterday's Guardian interview with Tim van Eyken reminds me of what I've been neglecting.

I do try really hard not to get "religious" about Free Software. Afterall, everybody has their own motivations and requirements with computing, and I'd no more insist you use a particular set of software than I would tell you what clothes to wear. However, where computer software is used in education, I am more concerned.

From my viewpoint, proprietory software tends to limit choice: there are strong commercial incentives for proprietory software vendors to "lock their customers in" to only using their software. Microsoft are perhaps the most obvious example of this. But "lock-in" gets ugly when it happens in an educational setting. If schools feel they have few or no software choices, how can they provide an open-minded education in information technology to our children? Small wonder that software vendors always slash their prices for educational establishments. These discounts unmask the growing tendancy for IT and digital arts education to unwittingly become government-subsidised marketing initiatives for proprietory software.

Well, it happens most days actually. I sometimes have seal children, or tiger children; once I had two small pilot whales running around the kitchen. But today it was penguins. Not sure what kind - Emperor I think, given the noise. They pitter pattered in the kitchen, swaying and honking as they struggled through an Antartic blizzard. It was too much for the littler one to cope with, and he had to stop for a rest on his daddy's feet. But they made it to the bedroom eventually. There was a noisy greeting dance, and a display of how penguins are the fastest animals in the world at getting into their pyjamas (nice one Dad), and now they're snuggled down in their snowy beds to sleep until the sun returns. This may be mid spring, this is Yorkshire. We can hope.