Both the kids are out this afternoon. Dylan at Davids birthday party and Harriet over at Mollys. So I finished off fitting some new lights in the kitchen. That's done and now what? I want my kids back! The house is too quiet without them.
Everyone over at ours on Tuesday. Dashed out in the morning to stock up on party food then prepared a grand spread in a flash. With the food done, some settled down to a game of Cluedo but me and Steve started up Burnout 3. Eventually everyone was lining up for a turn! There was much screaming and laughing as the cars were smashed into slow-motion oblivion. Top entertainment. The kids all moaned when it was time to go (after more than 5 hours!) but so did the dads!
Tired this morning from late night. Went to see 'A Series Of Unfortunate Events' at the cinema. Not bad at all. Jim Carey was superb. Art design was lovely. Very Burton influenced and that's a good thing. Back home doing a few chores here and there and continued play-time. Jacq still hitting the Sims hard. Harriet on Animal Crossing. Me and Dyl doing bits with all sorts.
Over to Theresas in Tamworth picking up Jim along the way. The cousins had a fun time and much screaming during pressie opening time. Jacq brought Taboo and Pictionary over with us as Theresa has no games. Taboo was a blast! We haven't played it for years. Hilarious!
Back home we played with Dyls RC cars and track. Good fun doing the sports DV footage. Must get some good F1 type sound effects for the audio track. Stayed up MUCH too late. A little bit of booze, Jacq on Sims 2 and me pottering on PC and stuff. Booze has been very moderate this year and feels much better for it.
Setup the camcorder on tripod in the corner of the room and started it off just before I let the kids in to see the pressies that Santa had delivered in the night. The morning went by in a blur of flying wrapping paper. Dinner delivered the classic 'dying scientist' gasping for breath, can't eat another thing type moment.
Harriet sqeeled with delight over her Pokemon direct from Japan. Dylan loved his 'Doc Ock' arm and went around picking stuff up with it. Mostly my pressies were DVD's this year. Got the Alien Quadrilogy box which is lovely and a bunch of music discs. Jacq liked her PDA but mostly spent her time with Sims 2. I'm not into the game but the graphics are superb and the program is clever stuff. Jacq was SO into it, she played until her eyes bled!
A quiet day really. Dylan and I went out for a while to a few local shops. I love being out and about with the kids and just chatting about what we see and do. The calmness continued through the evening, the kids went up to bed nicely and we set about the pressie preparations.
A task I had been meaning to do all week was to record the Peel tribute doc on Radio 1. I was convinced it was about to be removed from the 'recent shows' list so I decided to load Total Recorder onto my machine. Before loading my old version 3 of the program I checked the official site and found that the latest version 5 is available for only 11 dollars (6 quid)! So the purchase / download was made and the show recorded for later playback on iPod.
Last day at work yesterday. Hurrah! Spent the morning in the office and sorted out the details for a drinkie in the evening. Site work in the afternoon was uneventful. I always expect a nasty suprise on my last day before holidays. But thankfully not this time. Once home, I got Jacq a balti from the Raja then headed over Burton way.
Got to Dans house then taxi to Burton to meet up with Phil. At last the 'real', unoffical, alternative, self-financed SAS Coventry Good Guys Christmas Party was ON! Had some beers, had some balti, had some great chat. All in all, a top evening. Glad to finally get out for a beer with those guys. Circumstances did not permit more of the good crowd within the team to make it, but maybe the numbers can increase when we do it again. Which I'm convinced we should. Maybe a summer one next?
Crashed at Dans and woke mercifully without hangover. Drove back home then Jacq took the car to collect Becky, Jodie and Katy for a sleepover visit. They've all had loads of fun today. Noisy, but fun. My parents visited and dropped prezzies for Jacqs birthday. Spiderman 2 DVD, nice. Watched it tonight. Awesome movie. Moved me again, just as it did at the cinema.
Thankfully the pain cleared last night and this morning I was fully back to normal (whatever THAT is!). Jacq & Harriet went out to the cinema to see some girly flick. Paul collected Me and Dylan and we went over to sort out his printer problems.
Went over to Duggos in the afternoon and dropped off presents. Mike and Liz turned up there too and came back to ours for a visit. Exhanged prezzies and played some Eye Toy. I'm hoping this Christmas holiday will kickstart my creative activities and I'll have some material to share with Mike sometime soon. Liz is talking about them moving back to Bearwood which would be awesome.
Updated my Flickr buddy icon with a festive makeover last night. Everyone is doing it so it seemed like fun to join in. Pete has joined and left a few comments. I hope he goes on to upload some shots. New feature spotted today allows ranking of your photos by views, comments and favourites. Suprised to notice that 4 people rate my Stone Pile as a favourite. That's some cool. I'm chuffed.
Pain has returned today. Different at times and then back to the usual back/stomach ache. Have had to resort to the painkillers a couple of times. Desperately hoping it doesn't linger too much over the holiday. That would be a real bummer, but it's not unheard of me to trash my time off with feeling ill. Attempting to continue a kind of normal life. Kids last swimming lesson today so the floats were out and a fun time was had.
I was sure I was going into the office this morning. Bags packed, lunch made. But I couldn't find the car after Jacq had parked it way down the street following her visit with Jim to hospital yesterday. I got soaked walking up and down the street looking for it! Then Dylan started complaining of stomach ache again. So to be on the safe side we took him to the doctors. Turns out he's got a throat infection that can sometimes include symptoms of stomach cramps. Gave him some painkiller then dropped him into school for 'toy day' and Jacq went off to a carol service. I'm back home working in a much better environment than the office anyway. I WILL try and get there on Monday to drop off some stuff and do a bit of paperwork.
Monday morning 10:00AM, Harriets Christmas play. An alternative Snow White panto. Much fun. Took the camcorder but didn't have a good viewpoint. Barely glimpsed Harriets singing. Mom & Dad turned up to see the play and we'll probably see them at Dylans play on Wednesday too. From school straight to site with hopefully a better attitude. The work went smoothly enough and the afternoon whizzed by. Home to a top roast meal from Jacq. Scrumpcious. Later I capture the second DV tape so now I've got all the footage from 2004 in the PC. Played a bit more with Movie Maker to see what could be done. Lots of choice, but it's soon obvious which are the naff bits to avoid. So now I need to assemble a movie...
Tuesday up to SWSH. Met Phil in the canteen about 8:30AM. Told him about the DV stuff and he advised to do the edits in 'chapters' that way the Nero software will build the DVD with the scene selection points already there.
The strategy workshop we attended was generally a pretty positive and useful exercise. Good to get more 'face-time' with Jurgen the MD. Didn't hold back from dishing the dirt, and the structure kept most things quite anonymous which will hopefully feedback into SAS. We'll see. It'll probably be a few months before any outputs emerge so the challenge is to stay a bit more positve in the meantime.
Swimming as usual. Dylan making a great effort. Harriets technique looking sweet. Mitchell came back to our after for a couple of hours playing. Dylan had a great time with him. Groceries later then off to the office party.
Not looking forward to it much. Met up first at All Bar One. Standard lame expensive style thing. I bought 3 drinks and got no change from a tenner. Thankfully it wasn't my money. At the Thai Edge the seating was arranged around two circular tables. I was of course seated between two couples. The food wasn't awful but I can't say I liked it. Jacq would have hated it all. Rather have an Indian anyday. Had a few Thai beers which were ok but the opportunities to chat to the few people I would have liked to, just did not appear. Call from Jacq that Dylan was not well provided a reason to leave about 10:30PM. No buses were appearing on Broad Street so had to resort to taxi. Dyl asleep by the time I got home and felt OK in the morning.
Out last night with Simon, Adrian, Pete & Martin from the good old days back in the Cincinnati software department. Excellent night as always. Walked across town from the bus. Passing through the Bullring where fake snow was being blown from the top of the building. I watched as people walked through the area and spotted the snowflakes then a smile appeared. Got to the Big Wok all-you-can-eat Chinese and met up with the others. Waited a while to get a table. The place was packed. The food was good and I had a good three plates full. It was great to see them all and the chat and banter was top notch. Looking forward to the next meet-up already.
Jacq bought the Christmas edition of the Radio Times today. What a joy! One of my favourite Christmas rituals is to read through each day with a high-lighter pen and mark each TV programme or radio show that looks interesting. Usually each year I end up missing about 90% of all the things I mark, but that's not the point. It's all part of the 'Magic Of Christmas'.
It would be mildly tedious if I were to continue 'bigging up' Flickr again so I'll try not to, except to say I think it's by far the best place on the web right now. I've been uploading a bit more and enjoying the comments and contacts. The coposites group has been going from strength to strength and it's fun 'bumping into' Phil at all sorts of places all over the site.
Phil, Dan and I met up with SteveY at lunchtime over at the Cocked Hat. Good to catch up with him. A good chat was had and we sneaked back into the office way past two. A good day in the office, although I can't say that I got much actual 'work' done. Motivation eludes me still.
As ever, the good people at Flickr continue to rock my world. The new 'Date Taken' feature has given me reason to spend lots of time tweaking the details of my photostream. I wonder if the word 'photostream' will ever make it into the dictionary?
Found an interesting character on Flickr last night. Going by the name of Striatic, the guy has quite a few killer shots in his 'stream, and seems to go around wearing a bowler hat! That must be quite unusual in Canada. One of his composite shots went straight into my faves, you can check it here.
Got the tree up yesterday. Look a treat. Must blog a photo later when the lighting is at maximum 'christmassyness'. Working at home today. Dylan off school with a temperature. Poor buddy. Texts from Phil on a retail expidition to the Bullring. Off to see Jacqs Dad later since I'm home today and will be on site tomorrow.
Dyl did the business at swimming this morning. Keith commented on how he had come on. So I guess last Sundays swimming session paid off. Straight after swimming we picked up Jacqs dad and went over to Chiquitos down Marys way. Jimi was up from London on one of his rare visits. A couple of hours and it was all done. Christmas obligation over and Jimi and Luisa were off. The chat was more relaxed once they'd gone. Harriet was upset that we weren't visiting at Marys after but we promised a sleepover for Beccy, Jodie and Katy during the Christmas holidays.
After dropping Jacqs dad home we wizzed up to Ikea for the last hour. Picked up new lights for the kitched. Hopefully get them installed tomorrow to give the kitchen that halogen sparkle. Bought a few other items and before you know it that's a hundred pounds please! Am I a tightwad to be shocked at that?
Tonight we watched 'Something's Got To Give' on DVD borrowed from Dave. Enjoyed it more than I was expecting to. Worth a copy.
I actually DID take a photo today, even if it was just with my phone. Took a sequence of shots of the Bullring in Birmingham. Composited the image in Photoshop but not sure it was good enough for a Flickr upload. But I did post my composite of Barbara Hepworths St.Ives garden. I need to finish off some more of my composites and get them up there. The Composites Flickr group is continuing to grow and quite a few really nice shots have been added recently. I think it's my favourite group on Flickr.
I'm enjoying Phils new early morning photo and Flickr post. The images may not always be his best but the ritual is inspiring. Todays was a joy. And a composite too. Double points! I wonder if I could take an interesting picture today and upload it? I shouldn't really challenge myself like that because I'm bound to fail. Or am I? Check later posts to see.
Working at home this morning. There's a frost on the cars and rooftops and it's a lovely bright day. Jacq's just taken the kids down to school and I'm chugging through word documents (and blogging this of course). My heads back in a much better place. Busy weekend ahead. Hopefully sometime Sunday I'll get the christmas stuff down from the loft and we can start the decorations. Booked my last few days of holiday yesterday so I'm only in for the last Monday before Crimbo and that's me down. A fortnight of chillout infront of me. No chores. No shops. Just fun stuff. Bring it on.
There HAVE been things and thoughts worth blogging about this week, but my head's so mashed by work that I need to sort those issues first. Not really sure where to start as it's all really a continuation of the bad vibes that have been around all year. The Grain project is still going tits-up causing SP to been down in Winchester for the forseeable. Coupled to this, poor client/time management regarding Barts projects. These two major issues are causing a general feeling of despair in the office, even with those, like me, who aren't directly involved in the projects. It's our office they'll be closing down.
Decided to go into the office today after a day at home and a day at site. As soon as I got there I wish I hadn't bothered. Didn't do anything there I couldn't have done from home. Lasted till lunchtime then went home to some work there. Fetching the kids from school helped to cleanse the mental space.
Went for a swim this morning to give Dylan some tips. After just a couple of minutes he was swimming strongly by himself. Just goes to show what a little one-on-one attention can achieve. Hopefully he'll show his new skills at next saturdays lesson and give Keith a suprise!
Chores around the house when we came home. Almost every room is straight now. Dylan is settling into his room fine. He wouldn't let us in yesterday while he was stretched out on the floor playing with his pirate ship. The downside of everywhere being tidy is the fact that our bedroom is completely crammed with stuff. But, better one room in total chaos rather than all rooms in slight turmoil. T'wife and I commented this afternoon on how well the house works for us. Domestic life seems much easier in this house. A bit more room and better layout seem to do the trick.
The christmas vibe is increasing. Crimbo CD's on heavy rotation on the hifi. Harriet practising her christmas play songs in the car. I think the tree will be coming out next week sometime. Must book my remaining holiday to extend the christmas break. Will be nice to really relax into the whole groove of yuletide inactivity. Must make a promise to myself to crank up the creative side of things soon. No reasons not to. No excuses anymore.
Yesterdays working from home was very productive for my workload and very good for my quality of life. So there's a positive work related statement on record. Went to the mall in the evening. Starting to get busy there in a Christmas-rush kind of style. As well as prezzies, we picked up some additions to the Christmas albums collection. A 3CD set of crooners, a Doris Day album I've long wanted and James Brown Funky Christmas. Listening to the Doris Day album, the warmth pours out of the speakers. Sublime.
Today was test day at swimming and Harriet did us proud by passing her level. Only two passed and she was the best. Her dolphin kick stroke made me say 'wow' it was that good. So now she'll be going up to the deep end for her lessons, it's a big step but I'm sure she's ready for it. Dylan didn't pass as he's simply nowhere near ready yet. He hasn't yet got the confidence without floats. I'm really glad he's got Keith as a teacher as he's very good.
Party in the afternoon, Bethanys 6th. Bouncy castle in church hall. Loads of kids from Beths class. The cousins were a bit non-plussed. Things relaxed towards the end when the cousins had the castle to themselves. Back to Lizzies after for opening of prezzies. SteveK was running through a bunch of mp3's most of which didn't do that much for me. I did like The Earlies single though so I may investigate them a bit further. Good Flickr related chats with SteveT.
Last nights post was a bit too down. This morning things are better. But then they would be, I'm working from home, the sun is shining in through the front room window and I had breakfast with my kids this morning who are now walking down to school. I think it really is that Coventry office, I've simply had my fill. I'm done. Tour of duty over. Time expired. Next please.
Although on the whole, an enjoyable day in the office, there was an undercurrent of despair which I can't ignore. Certain issues regarding the management and performance of the place are really eating away at me. I feel a real urge to distance myself from the whole sorry mess. I know this is a horribly negative post and totally bitching about work but this is the only place to express it right now. The recent dialogue has not helped me in any way and I don't believe that anything is going to be changing anytime soon so I can't see any future right now. I think my exit strategy needs to be implemented. And probably soon. I know it's a big step but I've got to DO something.
Dylan off school with cold. Jacq off school with bad back. I dropped Harriet off at school then carried on into the office. Never really got into my stride work-wise as I spent most of my time on the phone to my client. Problems could not be resolved over the phone so I wizzed over to site. By the time I got there everything was back online. Off site in time to pick up Harriet and we all went over to Jims. Tonight I'm working to prepare for a day on site tomorrow. Must get around to doing some fun things sometime...
Just settling down after chores and kids having trouble sleeping. Decided to do a bit of creative stuff on the pc. Plugged in my scanner and... nothing. Trawling through forums it appears that my scanner driver does not work with XP SP2. Absolutely no info on the companies website about this issue or any prediction of updated driver release. How poor is that? Oh well, just a bit of web browsing then...
Just catching up with some of my regular sites. Noticed that Phil had posted a weekend roundup like myself and had also called his weekend roundup 'Weekend Roundup' the same as me! How spooky is that?! Well, OK not very spooky at all really I suppose. But it COULD have been. Couldn't it?
Friday working from home with the Mobilis setup keeping me in touch with the office. Popped out midday for some retail opportunities. Got more pressies for the kids. Picked up Haunted Weather by David Toop on a tip from Fergus. Finally spending book tokens I'd had since Feb. Later I collected the kids and did the ballet run to Harborne. Parents came over in the evening and I discussed some DIY issues with Dad.
Saturday started with a visit from Paul. Early as usual. Swimming lessons went well with Dylan really trying this week. In recent lessons he has just been larking about in the water and not listening to Keith. This week he did much better and made some good progress. Dave and I had a good moan about jobs and money and stuff. Lent me a couple of DVDs that I must copy for the new office collective. Spent the afternoon storing more stuff up the loft. Need to get some more boarding and sort out the space properly.
Sunday morning at the cinema for a preview showing of The Incredibles. What an awesome movie! We all loved it. It was really superb on many, many levels. Dylan now wants to be known by his new name 'Dash'. He said I'm the Dad cos I'm tough. What a cutie! On the way back home we called into a few shops around the city looking for a bed for Harriet. Finally found one in a shop on the Bearwood High Street! More chores in the house rounded off a busy and enjoyable weekend.
Raining when I got home from work, not looking forward to going up town later. But that all changed when the rain turned to SNOW! Now I'm so looking forward to trudging my way up town. Just to see the heavy snowflakes falling through the light of a streetlamp was a joy. The journey to town was a breeze and soon I was on Broad Street outside the Figure Of Eight. Mike and Paul already there and on the San Miguel. Good chat was had. Good to see Mike seemed in fine spirits despite challenging financial situations. Many pints later we left the pub with a San Miguel glass each and piled onto the 140 out of town.
This was by far the coolest thing that's happened at work for a long time in my books. As Adrian was working down at Winchester and couldn't come on the lunchtime walk, Phil took some photos then posted them up on Flickr here for Adrian to enjoy. I hope he did.
Started this post not sure of the subject to be covered. Should it be the music I've been listening to in the car recently? Should it be the chores and tasks that occupy the few brief hours after work each night? Should it be the occasional highlights in the otherwise dreary office day? No I think I'll groan on about the fact that I'm tired because I stay up too late and the fact that my back is hurting because I've strained it and I'm out of shape. I'll be glad when todays office shift is done cos I'm going out for some beers with Paul and Mike tonight and then I'm working at home tomorrow.
Just went in to see my boss and reject a promotion which we had previously discussed. Have been musing on it a while and now I'm so glad I've done it. Everyone wants to 'get on' as they say, but you also have to recognise the things that bring satisfaction and cherish them. My new role seemed to reduce any creative activity I might be involved in. Now being a Software Engineer I'm not exactly 'creative' full time. I'm no artist! But the pleasure in designing a block of code IS a creative act of some description and it's by far my favourite part of the job. I don't want to lose that.
Monday morning drive to work. Sounds horrible doesn't it? Made easier with the iPod cranking out some good tunes. Bit of a Manchester theme this morning. A blast of 808 State followed by A Certain Ratio. Flight by ACR is such a massive track. It hits so many spots for me. It always lifts and inpsires. It's title is perfect. The guitars create noise and ambience and even a lick of funk. The bass is solid and the drums, don't get me started on the drums! Featuring the most exquisite bass drum work, I love the drum track so much. Every discreet fill and flourish is a beauty while the minimalist groove is never compromised. Awesome.
Another busy day around the house. Put up the bathroom cabinet bought last night from Ikea. Paul and Rachel came over in the afternoon. Possibly a drinkie with Paul and Mike next week. Sounds good. Other good news, the Gang Of Four are reforming and playing in Brum in January! I think I have to go to that one. Balti night tonight. Good chat with my man at the Raja. Happy Eid.
Testing out software and panel for the Heathrow site. Up to the wire with some of the bits. Couldn't get the alarms working, although talking it though with tech support, it seems a re-install is on the cards. Stopped over in Winchester at the Giffard House Hotel. Nice place. Always a pleasure to stop there.
The new pc was delivered to home on Wednesday. Checked it out briefly when I got home Thursday night. Bit dissapointed at the noise level. Brought a Scenic T model home at the weekend to compare it. Put it in a bit more perspective.
Last Tuesday spent the morning at the hospital getting my IVU xrays done. Seems the stone(s) is still in there but I await the consultants decision as to the next step. The injection was weird. The predicted symptoms were experienced. A hot feeling all over, a metallic taste in the mouth and the feeling that I'd pissed myself! As I said, weird.
Got an eye test done in the afternoon. Seems that my left eye is worst but in general my eyesight is not poor. The optician predicted I would need glasses for pc work in four years time. Apparently 44 is a classic statistic age for that.
The pc restrictions are starting to be removed. New pc delivered on wednesday, adsl router & wireless point picked up this morning from delivery firm, I'm now online up in the kids bedroom with my new work laptop testing out the wireless range. It's good to be back online properly! There are a few things to note from the past week but I'll post them up later.
Boy working from home is tough! It's nearly 11PM now and I seriously haven't stopped all day. Got lots of tasks done and filled in all the time in between with work stuff. Unfortunately that leaves absolutely no space for arse-on-sofa time.
Jacq took the kids off to school and then spent the morning there helping out with various classes. I stayed home doing work stuff while the Sky installer did the business. Talked the Sky-man into NOT nailing his cables all around the skirting boards so I can take my time and do a proper install job with the cabling running under the floor. Jacq home lunchtime and talked me into a pizza session. So off out to lunch we went but also managed to squeeze in a trip to the dump and pick up a desk for the new computer. Picked the kids plus David coming back to play. Dylan and David had a blast. When David had gone I started building the desk but had to return some poor quality bits. Hassle. More chores after getting the kids to bed and then catching up with remaining work bits. Just got to finish off the desk now and then I'm done.
Haven't blogged for a week and there's not really much of a good reason for that. Back at work this week obviously dictates a certain structure to the days, and the pc lying in the corner just did not appeal. There's not really that much of note to record but a few things stick in the mind.
Initially the return to the office was flat because I was straight out to site. With that over, there were some good times in the office, mainly catching up with Phil who has had a busy one himself recently. Had an email dialogue with my IT dept that hopefully results in me getting a new pc next week to replace the useless lump I'd previously been issued with. More site on Thursday, in a hut in a field with no facilities. Nice. Ended the week with my staff dialogue session. Got said everything I wanted to say. Emphasised over and over my negative feelings and low morale. My boss simply agreed with everything I said so no real arguments developed. I've applied for another session with the next boss up the chain.
Saturday swimming then Molly with us all afternoon. Got a bit of DIY done. One uplighter fitted in the front room, hopefully do the other one today. Watched a John Peel tribute thing on telly. Lots of good people saying nice things about him. I think Phil Jupitus was right when he said that we don't yet know how much we will miss him. What Peelie did was simply essential to the development of so much new music and there is nothing that can replace that.
Up nice and early (putting the clocks back an hour helps) and a treat of breakfast at McDonalds. Egg Muffins rock!. Took our old computer cupboard over to Annas as it's too big for the alcoves in our rooms now. Spent an a couple of hours putting it back together again for her. Glad to have it out of the way and put to good use. Jacq made a top Sunday lunch. And not long after it was time to get ready to go over to Marys. Dug out the kids dressing-up clothes and got them ready for some Halloween party action. They've been looking forward to trick-or-treating for a couple of days now. When we got there all the kids were dressed up and got some good shots hopefully. Party food was had then straight into some party games before they headed out to trick-or-treat. They all looked so cute in their outfits. They came back with their buckets filled and smiles on their faces. I spent a while staring at bonfires with the Steves. Then it was fireworks time. This year there were more combined fireworks which meant less fiddling with endless small things. But even so, we were flagging by the end. There's always just a few too many. All in all a good show though. The kids all had a great time.
Picking up with the old routines, this morning was swimming lessons. Dylan struggling a bit in his lesson not helped by the fact that he's not listening enough to Keith his teacher. Later he was having loads of fun playing with Mitchell. Lizzie and Steve came over this afternoon for the tour and some good chat. Groceries later. Cut right back on the booze! If it ain't in the house then we can't drink it! Guardian had a free DVD in it today, Cinema Paradiso. I like the idea of giving away movies. Hope they continue with the idea. Haven't watched it yet. Jacq watching Oceans 11. Tired tonight. Trying to blog inbetween yawning. Last day of house stuff tomorrow then back into the work thing. Whatever. I need some sleep.
The week draws to a close and very pleasant it has been. Anna got the tour today and gave us a lovely gift of wine and flowers. I've not drunk as much wine for a l-o-n-g time as I have this week. Brief chat with Dan gave a flavour of the office. Seems like temperatures have risen in the Grain project. Got a text from my client indicating site work on Monday. Plan to go into the office first thing to pick up laptop and hand-over from Geoff. Back at the house I was getting more DIY bits done. Picked up Harriet and Lizzie from a house party where they had been pumping in copious ammounts of dry ice! How weird? Downed another couple of whites tonight whilst watching the standard five channels of TV. Need to get some digital TV soon. Checked up the t'internet last thing. No communications of note to report. Let's see what the weekend brings.
With all the business of the house move and the knock-sideways shock of Peelie passing, I've just realised that my mate Phil has been very quiet this week. No messages in my inbox, no posts in his blog, must be busy I guess. Funny how I need to see online evidence of a person to know they're ok. The fact that they are busy with 'real life' is obviously far more valid than any internet rambings. I guess the more online activity, the less that person 'really' exists.
Me and Dylan dropped Harriet off at Mollys then set off around the DIY stores. Back home Jacq had been up the high street and was busy carving up a pumkin head. Clearing up the back garden a bit. Sweeping up leaves. Jane brought Harriet back and my parents arrived at the same time. Useful time with dad spent checking out the central heating performance. After they had gone me and Harriet trekked out to get chips from our new local chippy. Another good day in the house with things running smoothly.
Submerging the sadness over Peelies passing, another day in the new house commences. Various chores around and about then out for lunch at Pizza Hut. Melted cheese heck ensured no requirements for any further sustainance for the rest of the day. I just love the deep pan base. Post-pizza we shopped for house bits at B&Q. Mary & Steve & kids turned up in the afternoon. They liked the house and we had a good chat while the kids had a great time playing. More house stuff after they had gone. New bits in the bathroom. Kids in bed. Grand Designs on but I'm online listening to Peel tributes. Still sad.
Well another day in the house started out fine with clearing the place of empty cardboard boxes and a wardrobe that doesn't fit up the stairs. Then I got lots more stuff up into the loft and hey presto! the place is looking lots tidier.
Later on in the afternoon we were out shopping when Paul phoned me with news that John Peel is dead. I'm gutted. Peelie was a massive hero of mine. An inspiration on many levels. The world is a poorer place with him gone. I'm going to miss the fact of John Peel. See ya Peelie.
Settling in more. Milk on the doorstep. Sorting out more stuff. Fixed a bookcase in place and the books can now come out of their boxes. Hospital appointment this afternoon revealed that the kidney stones are STILL in me. More x-rays ordered. Possible surgical procedures discussed. Cripes. Theresa and Lucy turned up for a look around the house. After their visit we wizzed up to Ikea to check out some bathroom cabinets. When we got home a card was waiting from neighbours at 190. Nice gesture, must call to thank. Kids in bed late. Keeping each other awake singing songs together that they've learnt for school assembly. So cute!
We've done it! We moved house. Friday came and went in a blur of boxes, furniture and sweat. We thought we were prepared but as the removal guys started speedily emptying our house of its contents we found more and more items without a box to call home. But by the end of the morning everything was out. Even the sofas which had to be carried at head height around the back of the house as our new front door would not allow them to pass. The legal stuff happening without a hitch was a surprise considering the bumpy road of the house chain dragging on for months and months. No sooner had we dropped off the old keys than I got a call to pick up the new keys just as we walked past the estate agents office. Into the new house and everything was fine. Bigger than I remembered it and in great condition. Very relived that the sofas fitted into the rooms and dissapointed that our bed and wardrobe would not fit up the stairs! Oh well, the guys kept filling the house and I couldn't help myself but join in. Dave, Will and Josh certainly earnt their money that day. I couldn't do that work five days a week. Once they had gone we locked up the house and called on the old neighbours to say goodbye. Steve did me a copy of Hero on DVD which I watched Saturday night. An awesome sight.
Saturday spent focussed on the kitchen. Although clean, we scrubbed it again from top to bottom. Our stuff fitted in great. Spent a fortune on food at the supermarket. Paul and Lyn came by. Can't keep that pair away :) House warming gift of a case of wine was gratefully received.
Sunday Mom & Dad came over. Quickly turned into a working visit as me and Dad got to work on the leak in GCH header tank (fixed), checked out the loft (and bunged up some stuff), and got the bed bases upstairs. Quite some work invloved in taking apart just enough of the bed base to get it up. Re-assembled upstairs with skill and a stapler. Multiple attempts to get the wardrobe upstairs were met with a steady dismantling of the construction. Eventually it was taken upstairs as a flat-pack kit. Hurrah! A good days work done with Dads invaluable assistance.
Tired tonight. Another glass of wine sooths away the strains and tomorrow brings another adventure.
In the office today. Tried injecting some positive energy into the Grain project by talking through some mapping strategies with Adrian. Why no-one else is doing this for the team is beyond me. Handed over to Geoff for site next week. New laptop on my desk but didn't get to explore it much.
Straight up to school for parents evening. Both kids doing great. Back home to experience more moving prep stress. There just seems so much to do still. Paul and Lyn came over to collect the old fridge. That's one thing out of the way. I relaxed a bit knowing that was out of the way.
So tomorrow we're outta here. It's going to be a bit weird, but good weird. Don't know when we'll have broadband setup in the new place so offline for a while now. See ya!
Working at home today. Got quite a bit done considering Dylan was off school for a hearing test and Harriet was off due to feeling ill with a cold. Jacq busy with more of the final packing preparations. It's getting close now.
Have learnt today that the next two days will mostly be spent on site commissioning. That's just exactly NOT what I wanted. Little chance of sloping off early Thursday afternoon if in the middle of commissioning plant.
Amazing to report that today was really a rather pleasant day in the office. The vibe was good amongst the team present. Got a fair bit of work done. The travelling was fine both ways. Can't complain about a working day like today. Soundtracked by the new D12 single 'Git Up' which has a stunning rhythm track more like Autechre or Aphex than your standard rap track.
Enjoyed a spot of quality TV this evening. Jonathan Millers History Of Atheism was top notch. There's not enough voices in the media pointing out the obvious STUPIDITY of ALL religions. Good to see it on BBC4 even if it was in a kind of overly intellectual presentation. Really looking forward to the next episode which I think features Richard Dawkins.
Let's be clear about this, religion is for babies afraid of the dark. Religion should be banned. No, not banned, that's dumb. Religion should be deemed so laughably ridiculous, that no-one with any common sense would admit to believing in it.
There, that's better. Imagine religion is dead. Isn't the world a more rational, intelligent and grown-up place now?
A busy weekend just gone. Harriets 9th birthday. Saturday morning swimming was fun. Mitchell joined Dylans class and the two of them had lots of fun after running about during Harriets lesson. At home and busy with party preparations then back down to the swimming baths for the party. The kids had the pool to themselves complete with lots of floats and toys. Everyone had a great time. Parents too. Jacq set up the party stuff while we were all in the pool. The hour was soon up then it was party food, games and cake. Harriet had a great time. Another great party success for Jacq. She always does the best parties. The cousins came back to ours for the present opening. Me and Steve K had some good 'puter chat.
Harriets actual birthday was Sunday and the presents were opened first thing. She loved all her presents. The Pokemon content was high. Harriet picked pizza for lunch so we went down to Harborne. Rest of day was spent with the remaining jobs for the house move. And then it was all over, our last weekend in this house.
In the last two days I've been at work for a total of 32 hours! Let it be known that I am completely knackered! Looking forward to the weekend.
Enjoying the track Child Made Of Salt by Sleepy Rabbit that I downloaded from Opsound. I've had the first couple of seconds on an endless loop all morning. The phased sound helped in trying to drift through the endless loop of dull dull dull work. I don't want to detail the work stuff, it just isn't interesting anymore. I've decided to steer this blog back to more constructive pursuits.
Cocteau Twins - Echoes In A Shallow Bay this morning. The Cocteaus STILL give me the goosebumps even today. I was a massive fan. Always loved the way they sounded so amazing and were just normal people with none of the rockstar affectations. Although they may have inspired the 'shoegazer' movement of the early nineties, I don't see anyone holding a torch for them today. Shame. Their whole back catalogue sounds consistently wonderful. Top notch. Up there with the good 'uns.
Savath & Savalas - Apropa't soundtracked the morning drive. I could feel the warmth of the music on my face. Soothing Catalan vocals and the sound of sunshine.
The office was an up-and-down affair. Much to moan about but tried to focus on the tasks at hand. Trapper is in charge but needs a push to get things done. Adrian in his usual bad place which is always good entertainment value. Good to touch base with Phil and Dave H.
Quiet house when I got home. Dylan was over at Davids and Harriet at Aksas party. When I went to fetch Dylan, Steve gave me a flyer for his band 'The Marones' who are playing in town next month. Might be fun. Picked up Harriet and dropped Molly home. Got the kids to bed and settled down to some computer action. Exploring the Opsound open sound resource site. Found some nice tracks and a few things that I intend to borrow from.
Thursday morning working at home. X-ray at City Hospital in the afternoon. Got to wait ten days before getting results from my doctor. Hopefully it's all past as I haven;t had any pain for some days now. Mike came over in the evening to entertain us both.
Friday morning working on site then into the office in the afternoon. Stayed until I could stand the sound of the Beard no longer. Just closed my laptop and picked up my bag while he was in full rant. No sure if I even switched the machine off. Just got outta there. Self preservation.
Lasted in the office till about 4PM. When I got home the kids were already bathed and being charming. Harriet had written a story called 'The Diary Of The Cutest Bunny' which she read to me. Then Dylan read me his school book which featured speedway racing. Speedway so reminds me of the seventies. I remember Dad taking us to watch it on dark autumn evenings. I can still smell the fumes.
Jacq went out later with Carol to see Annas loft conversion. Because of this I had managed to duck out of a work-related curry this evening. Not that it would have been horrible. I just didn't think it was worth the effort to drive over to Tamworth to watch other people enjoy a couple of pints.
Inevitable I suppose. Office status now NOT Beard-free. Still, it was a nice morning and walk. So, it's iPod set to stun and headphones on. Now playing HIA - Freefloater, a great album of electronic bleeps and grooves. Not just straight-ahead techno, much more swing to it. HIA are the best music ever to come out of Brum. Just a shame hardly anyone has ever heard of them.
Listening to EBTG on the way to work. Tracey Thorn has a wonderful voice. Good to be in the office on a day when it's Beard-free. Getting stuff done, enjoying the banter, good stuff. Looking forward to the lunchtime walk, haven't had one of those in a while.
Got Colins new CD Githead yesterday. Haven't listened to it yet. Hopefully tonight I can site down with it and the free Malka CD My Pet Fish that came with it. Two CD's for 8 quid, top bargain! Treat yourself!
Today was a grind in almost classic style. Raining pouring down during the rush-hour. Took me an hour 15 mins to do a journey that should have been 45 mins. Working on site with not much to keep me very occupied. The clock ticked s-l-o-w. Problems later in the day kept me on site until 7:30PM.
Dylan had fun with David visiting tonight.
Looks like I'm on site again tomorrow. Must try and re-energise. So tired right now.
Well most of yesterday, last night and all day today has been without pain, which is nice. Today spent indoors. Weather rotten. Chores done. Sorted house insurance stuff. Mike phoned, hopefully meet up later this week.
Woke at 5.00AM again. Pains plus a headache. Soon eased once up and about. Spent a bit of time tweaking my blogger template. Created a 'Listening' box to pay homage to some great sounds. Took some time sorting out the Amazon linkage but got there in the end with my new 'associate' status ready to earn me shedloads of cash (not).
Forgot to mention that I created my own little Flickr group. Got the OK from Miles to use the Ideal Copy name linking in with the mailing list. Fergus sounds excited by the Flickr concept so I'm sure he's going to be hitting the list with links. Check it > http://www.flickr.com/groups/idealcopy/
Paul coming over first thing to blag some software. Dylan starts his Level 2 swimming lessons today at a slightly earlier time which is great cos it means I get to watch Harriet afterwards.
Worked at home today and got lots more done than I did yesterday amongst the chaos of the office move.
Flickr accounts released today. I signed up for a 2 year deal. Flickr rocks. Must drop them a line to suggest T-shirts. I'd wear one.
Still getting pain. Took me down this evening. Had to resort to the codine. Got my appointment through for x-ray next Thursday. Maybe I'll find out what's in me and how big it is.
I haven't blogged the recent twists and turns in our house chain saga because frankly I couldn't follow them very well myself. Today the pressure increased another notch and looked like we were heading for another stalemate or worse, the final collapse. But when I got home from the office a call from the solicitors confirmed that contracts had been exchanged. Couldn't quite believe it. Phoned Ken and he couldn't either. So that's it. We're moving. Completion date set for the 22nd of October. Blimey.
Flickr continues to be 'The Best Thing Ever' (after Blogger obviously) as I witness more of my friends come online and starting to share photos and getting great comments from the other users. Fair warms the cockles it does.
Went out for lunch with t'wife. All you can eat pizza. Yummy! Melted cheese will solve all my ills!
Phil raised the bar by going and getting Pro status at Flickr. Blatently copying him, I've sent out my invites. Right now I just need one more then I'm in. Following the success of the Seascapes and Shorelines group, I'm also inspired to created a group myself.
Been check out some great mp3 blogs like Spoilt Victorian Child recently. Like the 'now playing' sections of these sites with lots of album cover images linked to Amazon. I was thinking of nicking the idea and adding it to the blog BUT the plain fact is I'm NOT playing anything at the moment. It's hard to be 'now playing' when ALL of your albums are packed away in boxes!
Back from a walk. Bearwood going about it's normal mid-week business. The sun was shining and the wind was blowing leaves from the trees. People out in their front gardens talking. Called at Mikes but I guess he is over at Liz's place. Probably walked no more than two miles but I think it did me some good. It hasn't cleared my headache but the breeze blew away a few mental cobwebs.
Off work again. Head still thumping. Can't seem to shift it. Drinking fluids by the bucket-load. Jacq's helping out up at school this morning. I'm going out for a walk.
Weekend wiped out with the onset of renal colic on Saturday night. Pain like you wouldn't believe. Called doctors out twice to dose me up with pankillers. Discomfort continued and sleep broken. Checked in with my GP today. Not really sure what happens next. Blood tests done and specialist contacted. But do the pains return or has it all passed? I don't know.
My training course went OK. Made it all up as I went along. I hadn't forgot as much Step 7 as I feared. Call from estate agents with news that the chain may actually be on the move! The people above us have pulled out of their purchase! BUT, have got an offer in on a vacant property. They have also agreed to move in with relatives by 22nd October to enable our part of the chain to complete. Good news.
Work OK if you like that sort of thing. Site in the morning and office in the afternoon. All went by in a bit of a blur. Grabbed some stuff together in an attempt to prepare for a training course I'm doing tomorrow on Step 7 programming. It's been at least two years since I've done any S7 in anger, so I'll be winging it bigtime tomorrow.
Mom and Dad agreed to store some boxes out of our front room which is a real bonus. If we're going to have to 'sit it out' with this house chain, then at least we should make a bit of space and put our dining table back together.
Watching Love Actually at the moment actually. It's not great, but I can't stop myself from liking Hugh Grant doing his 'Hugh Grant thing'.
Took the day off today. Jacq ill. Did the school stuff. Got a haircut then onto the phone to start chasing up estate agents and solicitors. Filled the car with the last of the house trash and took it down the dump. Got completely soaked in the process. Call from the solicitors seemed to be saying it's time to sit tight or break the chain. Apparently attempts to bring pressure on the chain will have no effect. So now what? Wait for events to unfold I guess. Updated Ken on the situation. Agreed to try one last push tomorrow then, who knows?
Lots of chain communication today but no much clarification. Amazed by a call from my solicitor who said she was 'struggling to remain professional' in dealing with the solicitor up the chain. This guy certainly seems to be giving everyone the run-around. Kens attempt to crank up the pressure on the chain seems to have stopped at him with a shrug-off. Confusing and fustrating.
More talk with solicitors today but still no clues as to what's going on. Somethings got to give during this week. People in the chain are getting edgy.
Dylan fell over at school (again) today. He's always running around at top speed. This time he bumped his chin real bad. The little smasher. He went to Davids house to play after school and had a great time. Apparently Davids dad is in a Ramones tribute band. That's pretty cool.
Uploaded the basic front page to the Tingy website last night. Did a few mods tonight to continue the development. Quite pleased with it so far.
Lovely day today. No stress at all. Sun shining this morning. Inspired some photography in the garden. Layers of foliage catching the sun in my camera for maybe the last time.
Went out for a most enjoyable Sunday lunch at the California Pizza Factory in Harborne. Dylan and I had a great light sabre battle at the table in which he cracked me up by using his Jedi powers to summon great weights down onto my head.
Did some paperwork in the afternoon to catch up for Friday. Ready for another week. Bring it on.
Things are calmer today. Back into the normal weekend routine. Swimming was fun as usual, the kids are doing great. Afternoon spent battling with more stuff in boxes. Tonight I'm browsing through CD's of photos to find stuff to upload to flickr. Loving that site right now.
Working from home today. Yesterdays nerves about the move were tested even further by a series of phonecalls with various people within the chain. Things are still dragging on but I'm not quite sure for what reasons. Everyone was telling us a different story and the result was much upset. At one point we were convinced that the whole thing is about to fall through. It still might. We're just hanging on again for another week in the hope of agreement on completion. Suffice to say not much paperwork got done today. I'll have to do more over the weekend to cover today.
Ballet lessons restarted today for Harriet. We waited in the car during her lesson. Dylan playing on the GBA. He's just discovered the joys of Sonic The Hedgehog.
Skipped a blog post last night due to tiredness and a generally offline day that was mostly work and not much inspiration. Today was only slightly better.
Finished on site today. Working from home tomorrow. Catching up with paperwork then getting busy with 'move' stuff. Car full of trash ready for the dump. Furniture to dismantle into movable pieces. STILL no firm word on the completion next Friday, I AM getting a bit twitchy now. Worst case scenario involving frantic phonecalls to any removals firm not fully booked for that day. Still, plenty to focus on with the packing.
The drive to the office was soothed by a good helping of Cocteau Twins. The office itslef was the usual morale draining experience. New laptops all round the place. That helped motivate me. No sign of mine. Not even ordered. I was in the mood for a good moan at Steve but Trapper mentioned that this years pay awards are sorted this week. So I've decided to leave any moaning till next week ;)
Got some new comments and new contacts on flickr which is always very cheering. Some of the photos on there are so amazing. And the flickr site itself continues to rock. The new slideshow is great.
This evening we went to IKEA to pick up a chair for my Jacqs dad. Took it over to his place and put it together. Good deed for the day done.
Another site day of little note. Snagging forever. Not very interesting but I suppose I shouldn't grumble. Could be worse. HAS been worse in the past! Don't know what's gonna pick me up if not me. I AM trying, honest. I'm not feeling sorry for myself here, well not much.
Jacq chased the chain today and guess what? Messages back in the afternoon by coincidence that the 24th just MAY be a firm date. Must phone them again tomorrow to try and get it fixed so we can book removals.
Kids were bouncy when I got home. Dylans friend David had been over after school. Harriet generally bouncy about everything. Stuffed my face with pizza then tried to get them to calm down to sleep.
A quick trawl around my usual spots on the web, news sites, blogs, flickr, and now I'm done. No update from Phil and now he's up in Scotland commissioning. Benny checked the blog and picked up on my 'oh so subtle' work moaning. Uploading on flickr. Fumbling on Photoshop. Mumbling.
Watched Shaun Of The Dead on DVD last night. It rocked! Funny, cool and a bit scarey, all the things that the reviews said it was. Makes me want to dig out the Spaced DVD's.
Today was spent in the scarey place known as 'under the stairs'. Clearing out the last of the trash and boxing up the bits to be moved. Glad to report that not much was salvaged for the move. Just goes to show how much pointless rubbish had collected under there. Resolve to be more organised in the new place.
Rest of day spent playing with the kids and now I'm kackered. And here comes another week...
My current hire car has a neat MP3 CD player in it that has kept me most entertained on the journeys between home and site. I've quite a sizeable collection of MP3's to choose from. But most of the tracks I've downloaded from Soulseek are 'nice to haves', not essentials. That's because the essentials, I already own.
On yesterdays journey home I was blown away by an exception to this rule, the wonderful Remain In Light by Talking Heads. I downloaded it because my shitty old tape version doesn't sound too good anymore. What an album! Hat's off to the genius of Byrne and Eno!
Another week ended and no confirmation of a firm completion date. The communications from these solicitors and estate agents is very poor. No wonder people get stressed. Oh well, another weekend, another round of packing away belongings.
Long day on site equals short post at end of day. Head still in the same kinda place as yesterday. Please get me to the weekend somebody.
I don't think I'm coping as well as I'd previously thought with work-related issues. But as soon as I say to myself 'right, I'm going in to see my boss', I feel overcome with a sense of futility. So whaddya do 'bout dat?
Because my head is full of work rubbish and real life worries I can't seem to string together much of anything to post about. Core time at work today as Dylan wanted me to take him up to school and then home early for visit to father-in-law. Talking tonight with Harriet about her role in looking out for Dylan at school. Like any parent, I wish I could be there for them all the time.
Watched new series of Grand Designs that started tonight. Beautiful house on Spanish hillside. Classic image of the swimming pool edge dropping away against a clear blue sky.
Site tomorrow for a few days so mostly offline. MUST get my current Tingy designs out of photoshop and onto the web. I'm so slack.
Surrounded by the noise from idiots in the workplace. I can't get the volume high enough on my iPod to block them all out!!! Help!!!
Still feeling same as yesterday. Focus required. I think I may have to have words with my manager today. If I don't then I'll just carry on with the same negative thoughts. We'll see where his head's at when he comes in.
Ken phoned last night. Possible completion date 24th Sept. Fine by me. Let's do this.
Stressful journey to work due eternal roadworks and various accidents. As I made my way across Coventry town centre I wondered why I was bothering. I knew that as soon as I got into the office I'd be moaning about something or other. And I was right.
This can't be healthy. Must try MUCH harder to keep my head down into work stuff and let the shit fly around overhead. Keep telling myself that it's none of my business but it still stresses me out to witness the piss-poor performance of the place.
At least I know there's an escape route available.
Swimming lessons on Saturday morning and Dylan passed his level 1 test! Well done Smasher! Harriet still on level 6 but swimming so well now. Getting up to level 7 is tough as that's when the lessons start using lengths rather than widths.
More box packing in the afternoon. Not much interesting to report about it, but I still find it to be quite fun. Jacq sorting out the monster lavender in the front garden as the bees seem to have had their full.
Sunday yet another nice day. BBQ over at Lizzie and Steves for Maddies 3rd birthday. Harriet and Rebecca spent the entire afternoon linked togther by their GBA's. Funny watching them walking around everywhere together. Having Pokemon trainer conversations that the adults could not understand. Well me and Jacq could, but that's cos we're cool parents, aren't we? (Well, we try. Not TOO hard though cos that's a bit sad.)
Dylan felt much better this morning and was happy to go to school. I did a few hours of work stuff this morning, Photoshopping screen dumps for a technical manual I'm writing for my project. When a natural break came I stepped out into the garden for refreshment. What a civilised way to work your day!
Packed the lappy away in the afternoon. Took some stuff down the dump then picked up the weeks groceries. Mom & Dad came over in time to collect the kids from school with us. Dyl seemed a bit tired but perked up once home. Harriet yelped for joy when she spotted the Pokemon comic we had brought up to school for her.
Rest of day spent in a variety of pleasant ways including a bit of a go on Spiderman 2 although I'm STILL not getting my share of the web-slinging action! Spoke with George and Ken to get the latest in the saga of the house chain we're all in. Seems that there MAY be an agreed date by the end of the week. I do hope so. I was shocked when Ken told me that we'd been doing this for 19 weeks now!
So what's happened lately? Well not much in real life due to working on site for excessive hours. But a recent email from Fergus enthused me as we connected over JG Ballard. Spookily, after JGB being in my recent thoughts, I picked up his latest book Millenium People in a booksale shop.
What little time I've spent in the office this week has been spent in the usual manner of full-on bitching mode. Learnt today that our star project is running at a margin of -25%!!! Well call me stupid, but that simply CANNOT be right! One HAS to despair! Anyways, good to see 'best mate Phil' in the office today, if only to pay respect to his recent blogs and now playing Sonic Youth. Chap!
This update finishes on a low note as my 'Super-Best-Boy' Dylan had a miserable return to school today. Apparently, at his cousins house yesterday, he hurt his neck bouncing on his Aunties bed. So the pain from his neck plus returning to school caused quite some trauma this morning. Thankfully I'm working from home tomorrow so I get a chance to look after him. Bless.
And that's the update for now. If I don't see ya, well have a good 'un.
A nice weekend just gone, but so short! Saturday was a day of the usual routines and the dismantling of the kids beds ready for packing. The kids are now sleeping on their mattresses on the floor and finding it great fun. Sunday was a day out to Gullivers Kingdom in Matlock. A fun day for all. Monday was a shopping day. New shoes for the kids ready for school.
And then it was over. And now I'm back at my desk just prior to heading off to site. The usual bitching in full flow. The previous weeks queries to my manager had generated absolutely no content in my inbox. No change there then.
Again, I need to shout out how fantastic flickr is. I just spent a relaxing hour browsing through such a variety of wonderful images. I'm really stoked by whole experience. I need to polish up a few of my composite pieces and post them up.
Tidy laptop session last night with Mike. Created a few little things and listened to a whole lot of different stuff. He left me with a cd full of northern soul mp3s to trawl through.
Dylan is SO desperate for the Spiderman web shooter he saw in the shops the other day. He hasn't stopped asking for it for two days now!
Another unimpressive day in the office but it couldn't touch me.
At todays Team Brief it was all too apparent that the power base of my organisation is shifting to SWiSH in Manchester. So let's cut to the chase shall we? That's where the deals will be made. That's where the experts will emerge. That's where new opportunities will arise. So someday I'll need to be there.
Following the Team Brief I had a word with the Operations Manager and floated the concept of me moving to the SWiSH Systems Dept. No problem, he said. Easy as that. He even went on to include me in his list of 'the good guys' which was flattering. This quick chat did wonders for my work morale. To know that the move is there for the taking when I want it, is very liberating. It makes clear any confusion in my brain about how I can stay within Siemens in the medium term. The only barriers are physical and logistical issues to do with my home location and working strategies. These I can progress and deal with myself now that I know there's no organisational problem.
A healthy by-product of the chat was the paranoia it induced in my department manager. This is of course an entirely desirable state of affairs. Keep 'em on their toes I say!
Trying to keep my head down and battle through paperwork but in the afternoon found myself drifting and ended up on flickr. Suprised to find a couple of comments on my photos. Suprised also to find that it gave me quite a buzz. I promptly sent messages of thanks and added them to my contacts. Exploring more of flickr and noting the new things added to the site made me appreciate just what a kick-ass site it is.
The kids are stopping with their grandparents tonight for sleepover fun. I found myself missing them as soon as I got home. Me and t'wife went straight out to the cinema to see The Bourne Supremacy. Wow! That film rocked! Top notch spy action. Better than the first one. Back home, we strolled up for a delicious balti at the Raja.
A building under construction is a beautiful thing. Any building. From a shack to a skyscraper, a building under construction symbolises the future. Aside from the basic need of shelter, a designed construction is a gesture of optimism. And I suppose it follows that ANY design effort is an acknowledgement of the future, a projection out of the moment into the open space of possiblity.
I'm inspired. Get me to a copy of Photoshop right now!
Listening this morning to Elbow. Downloaded the first album for the track 'Any Day Now'. I've always loved the vocal lines. Put me in mind of Eno the first time I heard it.
"Any day now hows about getting out of this place. Any ways.
Got a lot of spare time. Some of my youth and all of my senses on overdrive."
On the drive to work I got sucked into the rest of the album and I could not skip on to anything. Completely under it's spell. That hasn't happened for a long time.
There's not much to post about this weekend. It was full of the usual stuff, swimming (both days), chores, groceries, gardening, throwing out more trash. End of Sunday and I'm totally knackered. Sat down for a web browse and came upon this site, middle age shred. Superb name, the intro text on the home page got me right stoked, it summed me up to a tee. Maybe I should shut up about being tired from doing a few chores, and get off my fat arse and get back on a skateboard!
No real new creative thoughts recently, just mulling over the current photoshop pieces. Must collect together all the recent samples to present a body of work to Mike on Wednesday.
Work tomorrow. I kind of parked my head up over the weekend and haven't given things much thought. But I need to list out some stuff and sit down with my boss this week. If I don't then I might just go a bit loopy.
In the office this morning the talk turned as always to the woeful state of affairs know as our management. The floodgates were fully open! I felt almost over-whelmed by the seemingly endless list of lame decisions, gaffs and other assorted screw-ups. I really did feel bad. Driving to site later, my mind was spinning, trying to make sense of it all, trying to imagine my future options. Because one thing is for sure, I definitely am NOT happy. I'm sure it's a whole mixture of things but I can't shake the feeling that I need to make some sort of decision.
Further house news, seems like the 27th will NOT happen. 10th of Sept is now the proposed date. Anything, as long as it's for real this time.
Call from Paul. Seems like I was right about his dial-up settings being hijacked by some malicious program in his system. He's just got stung for a 200 quid plus phone bill in 24 hours! Yikes!
My latest Photoshop piece consists of a number of empty skatepark images overlapped. Thinking about the image today I realised the link between the empty skatepark and Ballards trademark empty swimming pools. I'd never made that connection before. It's so obvious.
The sight of a deserted skatepark is such a resonant image for me. The curved banks of cool concrete lit by the low sun of a summer evening. Reminds me of a skatepark in Wolverhampton we use to skate after hours back in the seventies. Climbing fences and dodging security and then we were in. The feeling of having the place to oursleves seemed to be the ultimate freedom back then. Time seemed to stand still. To this day it's still a memory that I often meditate on.
Back in the real world, word is coming through that the 27th actually may be the completion date. Shit! That's just ten days to go! Let's get busy with those cardboard boxes.
Tonight Harriet has Lizzie sleeping over at our house. Dylan was sad at bedtime saying that no-one will play with him. But when the lights went off and the torches came out, Dylan was the star of the show with his blue LED torch.
A long day on site down at Walton On Thames. On the journey I drive past the edge of Sheperton and I always think of JG Ballard. It's been years since I read a Ballard. I'd say he was probably my favourite author. The feelings I got when I read him are still with me but I don't know if I could describe them. Cool. Odd. Vague. No, I can't do it. Can't express it. I should read a Ballard again.
Later in the day I was working by the Heathrow T5 building site. Some huge structures being errected there. One of my systems had sprung a memory leak. Where's a software plumber when you need one?
Tonight Harriet and I sat and watched some of the womens gymnastics team event together. Harriet was well impressed. "Wow" she said as she witnessed each event for the first time. I was choked after every performance. Simply full of admiration for each one of them.
It seems more grinding than normal today. Workplace uninspiring. Thoughts turned to current Photoshop doodles. Made a few notes about them. That's about it. I think I'll be finishing at core time today.
Remembered something from yesterdays Observer. A short questionnaire with Alan Titchmarsh. In it he said, "If I died tomorrow I haven't wasted much time."
That's a really cool thing to be able to say. Is it too late for me to catch up?
Picked up Harriet from Lizzies this morning. Sounds like she had a great time, not much sleep though. Dylan was glad to have her back.
In the afternoon we to a trip into town for a walkabout. Loads of things happening. A German wine festival, an great outdoor exhibition of large ariel photography, a street entertainers competition, Sportsfest in Centenery Square and Discovery Day at the ICC. We walked around it all. In Victoria Square the kids ran around over a huge map of the world. Harriet enjoyed the challenge of trying to find places we suggested to her. In the ICC we went into Symphony Hall a listened to an organ recital. Harriet seemed quite impressed.
Didn't put much stuff in boxes this weekend. Should I be worried?
No beers last night as it turned out both Mike and I are on the same drugs. Him for the neck and me for the knee. What a sorry pair we are! No matter. Good to see him as always.
Office less fun today for the obvious reasons. I'm now getting mad at myself for being mad. I SO need to rise above this but it ain't so easy.
Popped a couple of samples under the radar to keep up the creative push.
Phils iPod is sweet. Apparently recharges through the USB. I wonder if mine will do that? Need to get myself a cable when the new laptops arrive with USB 2.0 onboard.
Finishing at lunchtime then over to Mom & Dads for a visit. Hopefully catch the Olympics opening ceremony later on TV. I do enjoy a spectacle. See if I can get the kids enthusiastic for it.
Today I would say, was a good office day. Good dose of healthy bitching with Phil about the general state of things. The new laptops look like they've not been spec'd right. Another victory for our leader!
Anyway, the day was Beard-free so a light, care-free atmosphere surrounded our natural-break chats which ranged from the afore mentioned bitching through to creative endevours of many types. High point of the morning must have been notice of the arrival of Phils iPod! Much rejoicing was to be heard.
Managed to get in a lunchtime walk. Nice and brisk. Me, Phil and Adrian. Sun shining but not for long. The heavens soon opened over Coventry and Phil captured it here.
Dave was over from Worcester this afternoon for chats with managers about his future within the company. Can't work out if he's staying or going. Hope he stays as he's one of the good 'uns I reckon. Phil and I drooled over his laptop screen rez of 1400 by 1040. It sure looked sweet and crisp. Hopefully our new ones look as good.
Doc appointment to sign off my knee. No problem. Then I stupdily went and asked about 'the snip'. Before I knew what was going on, he'd got his dictaphone out and was busy dictating a letter referring me to the local hospital. So now I'll be getting a letter in the post! Shit! That was quick! Can't we take a moment and talk about this?!!!
Round to Mikes tonight to see how he is and nod to a few tunes (and maybe drink a beer or two).
Phew! Skipped a day blogging yesterday due to evening spent tweaking my flickr accounts. Managed to fuck it all up and actually DELETED one account! What a complete tool! Thankfully the lovely people at Ludicorp sorted me out (Thanks George!). So tonight it's all back on track. Uploaded some more pictures and STOPPED all tweaking.
Day on site at Hemel. Swopped out a PC that needs a rebuild. Fixed a few snags, well I say snags but really they're extras. Little bits the client wants adding. Got to keep 'em sweet.
Text with Mike. He's off work with some neck/nerve problem. Try and see him tomorrow night and see how he is. Says he got some tracks/ideas to play me.
Phils reports on the laptops aren't looking too promising. Once again dissapointment looks inevitable. But in saying that, during a break today I scanned through the latest Siemens UK newspaper and found myself heartened to be working for such a varied and interesting company. I just don't work in an interesting bit yet. Hopefully, emphasis on the YET. Any company that comes up with the Dressman has got to be quite cool. Don't ya think?
Have had to dismantle the dining table to enable the front room to be the main storage area for the growing number of cardboard boxes. Although normal at the moment I'm sure life in the house will start to get more inconvenient as stuff dissappears into boxes. But the computers stay on till the end! Heaven help us when the broadband connection is cut!
Decided to sell the kids playhouse as it's too small for them. No point moving it to the new place. Jacq has her eye on a new playhouse. One that we can all fit in. That will be fun.
Still taking the tablets for my knee. Still hurting but I'm fully mobile so mustn't grumble.
Trip to the dump this afternoon I think. Better get back to stuffing things into boxes then.
Later that day...
Dump trip ain't happening cos it's just too hot and sweaty to sit in a massive queue of cars surrounded by smelly refuse. I'll do it after work one night this week. More stuff is now in boxes.
Paul & Lyn came round. Haven't seen them for weeks. Not much news. They've just booked to go away at Christmas. Dubai then Australia. Cost a fortune. If I had that kind of cash I still wouldn't to do anything like that. No offence to those countries, I just ain't interested. But who's interested in my opinion anyway.
Kids in bed. Seems like there's no air in the house. Head's thumping but I can't take any Ibuprofen cos it clashes with the anti-inflammatry drugs. Doc said it would cause my stomach to burst. Nice.
Dylan In Eden
Originally uploaded by Tingy.
Just checking out my new account at flickr. From what I've seen so far, I must say that I'm well impressed with the whole flickr concept and website. It's well worth a try for free. Give it a go. www.flicker.com
I thought I had blogged from my phone but something must have gone astray so let's get up to speed...
Down on site for a few days this week. Work under control, no issues. Mad storms around London. Driving around the M25 was a lightning show. At the end of day 1 my knee felt sore as I got into bed and proceeded to wake me through the night. In the morning I noticed it was red and tender to the touch. Had a bit of trouble putting weight on it. By the end of day 2 I was running a temperature. I was in obvious need of anti-biotics. Day 3 didn't really have much work for me but you've got to keep the client happy haven't you? I was away off site by lunchtime and Jacq made me an afternoon appointment with the Doc.
Got home after a right tough drive. Knackered and feeling the sweats again. Jacq and the kids had enjoyed a stop-over last night at Marys. Harriet had so much fun and such a late night that she was spark out on the sofa.
The consult with the Doc led to swift diagnosis. Housemaids Knee. No!!! Please, a sting or a bite at least. I said, "You can't call it that! It MUST have a techie name?" As he wrote the offending phrase in my records I demanded he replace it with its proper name Prepatellar Bursitis. Doc seemed convinced it wasn't infected but I protested my case and got some anti-biotics for the fever feelings.
Spent the evening gently. Jacq busy boxing books using my new tool, a packing tape sealer! Top job, kids wanted lots of goes sealing the boxes with tape. Spoke with Dad who told me that Rene had broken her leg in 3 places! That put's all in perspective then doesn't it? He laughed when I told him this story.
It seems that a possible move date may the 27th of this month. That focuses the mind. It's a bad time to get restricted movement. So I'll just have to to stop being so gay and get stuff done.
I WAS thinking of working from home tomorrow but I'm going to be feeling too shitty. When I phone in sick I MUST remember to NOT call it Housemaids Knee!
Overnight I got Moon Safari by Air off Soulseek. Heard it in a store yesterday. This morning I'm driving to work listening to it on my iPod. Ain't technology wonderful? Also got Horse With No Name by America. Haunted by that tune. Been humming the La La La bits to myself all day
Not exactly a bad day in the office I suppose. The Beard was back and was roundly ignored by everybody. Nat was in. Probably won't see him again as he leaves on Thursday and I'm out on site. Updated Adrian with the mods I'd done to his project. Preparing kit for a couple of days on BPA sites. Lunchtime walk entertaining. New name for Mavis is Princess. Sometimes just general workplace piss-taking is as funny as any comedian. The general comedy of life I suppose.
Got email in the afternoon from Andy. Good to hear from him. And glad to know that he hasn't fallen out with me. Got another mail from him at home. Sounds like all is well with them. Must try and meet up with him sometime. A drinkie would be good if we could organise it.
Saturday morning a bit rough following previous evening drinkie (see previous post for evidence), eased into things with a bit of post-breakfast Photoshop action. Decision made to grab small moments to continue creative activities ("putting the hours in"). Working on the new tingy 2.0 website, pleased with the results of an hours dabble.
Midday swimming lessons for the kids. It was Dylans second lesson and he was way better than the two other newbies in the class. In the changing room I told him how proud of him I was and he replied, "what's proud mean?" He talked me into agreeing to go swimming again in the morning. I could not refuse his enthusiasm.
Rest of day occupied with the usual chores. Following the groceries run, got dragged into ToysRUs and got fleeced for 50 quid. Feel like a ripped off mug in a street gambling setup. But with a receipt.
Jacq made me watch Down With Love, not exactly bad I suppose, but I'd rather have had another blast on Photoshop.
So, Sunday morning and though I didn't much feel like it either I dragged t'wife out of bed and down to the swimming baths. Good fun once in there. Dyl discovered putting his head underwater with Harriets goggles on. Had to take of his floats so that he could get under as much as he wanted. Treated ourselves to McBreakfast afterwards.
Popped into town later for a walkabout. Lovely sunny day. Deckchairs were out in the Bullring. I tried to use a book token I've had in my wallet since Feburary but still nothing grabbed my attention. Picked up some notebooks in Paperchase sale. Down to a quid each these beauties were full of lots of different style lined pages. Hopefully another tool in the creative toolkit.
Back home I got busy breaking up our crappy old chest of drawers and taking them down the dump along with various bits of trash from under the stairs. Full car but I'll need to do it again next week to finish the job.
And that's about it for this weekend. Kids are in bed and it's just a couple of hours of relaxing for us then another weekend is done.
Checking Phils blog I was once again struck by the connections he makes out to other blogs and sites. I decided to follow through a bunch of blog links and found myself back at two sites I had checked on the very first day that I set about blogging. They were Memoria Technica and Gaping Void. On the Gaping Void site I was drawn to an old post called 'How To Be Creative'. In the post I found point three hit home very hard.
"3. Put the hours in.
Doing anything worthwhile takes forever. 90% of what seperates successful people and failed people is time and stamina."
I know that I've said this line before to myself and others but tonight it struck me hard, almost like I'd never realised it before. If it's true (and I know that it is), where does that leave me? Because I know that time is the one currency I don't have much to spend. It's an obvious truth that greatness cannot be achieved in a lunchbreak but believing that it can gives some small comfort to me. I'll never shake off the dreams of doing something that outlasts me. Something that can impact on others that I don't know. I HAVE to believe that I can attempt stuff even on a very small scale otherwise it all looks a bit hopeless. Creativity, expression, call it whatever is good for mental health. To feel that you're making some sort of mark gives a kind of validity that helps negate the final truth that in the end it's all meaningless.Work involved a drive to Hemel for a meeting about snags. Planned site work for 3 days next week. At least that means Jacq can plan on some car usage next week. The driving was tough due to loads of traffic. Made bearable only buy air conditioning and general bantering with Stuart.
Props to Phil for ordering his iPod today with the proceeds of his brouchure design work for the Staffordshire Creative County Guide. Nice work.
More motorway chaos on the way home. A cool bath soothed and refreshed. Bit of telly. Bit of puter. Half a day tomorrow then hurrah, it's the weekend.
Picked up Jacq and the kids from Marys on my way home from the office. All the cousins were there running wild around the place. Apparently Jimi is working for Sony now. Wonder if his employee discount rate is any better than Andys was. That reminds to drop Andy a line. It's been ages.
Steve next door passed me a copy of Hellboy on DVD. Top quality rip version. Watched the movie late into the night. Doesn't maintain the excitement level that the trailers suggested but then what movie ever does? Not many. The Matrix maybe. Anyway, enjoyed Hellboy, good fun, cool characters.
I really meant to blog this last night but was up till past midnight packing away the last of the CD's into boxes. Dad phoned to tell me an old school friend had died. I wasn't suprised that I felt nothing. I haven't seen the guy for 20 years. A wasted life. I watched from quite close up as he seemed to deliberately choose a different path through our school years. We had been good friends for ages. He was really smart. Then one day on the way to school he said, "I think it's time I started having some fights". I'll always remember that phrase. Completely unnecessary. From that point he was on a slippery slope down into the abyss. Violence, thieving, glue, homelessness, chaos. I haven't given it any thought over the years but now I do, I can't see why it happened that way. Oh well. His choice. See ya Eugene.
Back in the office. Phil not in (bummer). Beard not in (hurrah!). No news reported as predicted. No sign of the new laptops (was I really expecting any?). MUST try to get back into the work groove.
Tested out email text from phone into the blog. Worked OK but the post title is just a default that can be editied later. Hopefully phone blog will be useful in the future when out on site.
Suppose I should read some more emails.
Last night I checked out my old domain name at lowcostnames and found to my suprise that the domain was available once more! The previous arrangement between freenetname and nominet had obviously expired. So I grabbed my Switch card and signed up for a 2 year registration for just seven quid plus vat. Bargain.
This morning I uploaded a quick page of text as a statement of intent. I've not managed to grab enough time throughout the rest of today to develop a new home page yet but the thoughts have been swirling around the brain and I'm confident that a new design will form over the coming week via scribbled sketches and Photoshop dabblings.
So, watch out! Tingy's back! CLICK!
Not exactly looking forward to returning to the office tomorrow. Being away for a week feels like a long time and I always expect great changes. But of course, nothing ever does.
Just before bed tonight I told Dylan that I was going back to work in the morning. He whispered in my ear, "Will you miss me?". He has no idea how much!
Back today from a week in Pembrokeshire. A great holiday which could have been even better if the weather had let us play on the beach as much as I'd hoped. Yes, the good old British summertime really did not deliver for us this time. Still, much fun was had by all. The kids got their first taste of a caravan holiday and I was reminded why I had a gut-instinct aversion to the whole idea! Maybe that's a bit unfair, but my god! I had to back out of the toliet into the hallway to get enough room to pull my kecks up! The caravan site was nice. Better than I remember them. It had a nice little indoor swimming pool which the kids loved and we made full use of. I also enjoyed the steam room. Tried the sauna but didn't like it as much.
Saundersfoot was a really nice little place with a cute harbour and beach. Tenby didn't do that much for me but was ok. Narberth was a groovy little town with lots of nice arty shops. Bought myself a sculpture of a head which I'm going to call 'Head'. Here is a picture of him. I don't know the name of the artist but the woman in the shop Jellyegg said that he is an Irish bloke who lives in Kent.
We didn't explore Pembrokeshire completely but we really liked it and definitely intend to return for another holiday in that area. Just probably in a cottage next time!
Friday night at the start of a holiday is a nice place to be. Looking forward to being away, playing on the beach, reading the last part of Harry Potter 5 which I've been saving, taking some photographs, looking at the world around me, thinking creative thoughts, relaxing.
Got Organic Art Deluxe in post today. Cool eBay purchase. 99P plus postage. Top bargain. Boxed and shrink-wrapped. I've always wanted to have a play with it. Even though it's not exactly cutting edge anymore it was still lots of fun.
I'm enjoying the Firefox browser experience. It's very quick and efficient. I think I'm sold. Try it at http://getfirefox.com
In a meeting this afternoon, the concept of Siemens installed ADSL line for engineers who wish to would like to work at home part-time was floated and met with much agreement around the office. I've registered my interest and we'll see what happens. I won't start to nag until we've moved house.
Lots of Spidey ads on the telly tonight. Both Jacq and me saying how much we want to see it again. Roll on the DVD. Hopefully before christmas?
Loaded up the GBA with a couple of games for the holiday. Wario Ware, Pokemon Pinball and Harvest Moon. I actually played the pinball game for 20 minutes. The longest I've ever held a GBA. Made my thumbs ache. Fun though.
