Un-Happy New Year!

Let's be clear about this...

I HATE NEW YEAR!

I tend to feel the sadness of another year passing rather than any pleasure from the new year to come. Consequently, I always have this impression of new year 'celebrations' being completely false. I dislike the pressure to have 'the best night ever'. The idea of being in some place surrounded by 'revellers' horrifies me. MIserable sod I am, I know, but this is how it is for me. I'd rather meditate a while and focus on the new year, NOT listen to bloody fireworks!

Imax

Went to see Polar Express in 3D at the Imax cinema at Millenium Point. We met up with 'the sisters' for the 10:00AM showing to save some cash on the entrance fee. When finally sat down with glasses in place, the 3D effect was very good. The movie looked great but the characters looked a bit odd, faces were too fixed, dead looking. The story itself was pure sentimental toss and really was over the top. I was begging for it to finish. The kids liked it though, so that's the main thing.

Over to Marys afterwards. Rebuilt Beckys PC and setup wireless network. The WEP key took an age to sort out as an incorrect string is not reported back, the adapter just fails to acquire an IP address. Not very helpful.

Crumpet

A good TV night last night. After a few nights of Sky Movies, it was back to the normal channels for an excellent docummentary on Crumpet, pin-ups from the TV and movies of the 60's and 70's. A most enjoyable program crammed full of cleavage. This ticked all the boxes for me. From the Carry On's to the Vampire Lovers, the presenter knew his stuff. All the commentators seemed, like me, to have lusted over these women as boys in the seventies. Madeline Smith was my fave. What a cutie!

Following that program of high art we decended into the action/weird genre for the second to last episode of Lost. Wow, this was a good one. Finally the French woman appears and talks to the whole group and suddenly things swing into action. The boat gets launched and goodbyes are said, preparations are made for the coming attack of 'the others', and the usual 'memory clips' featured a number of the characters in or around the airport prior to the fateful flight filling in little gaps in their stories. Can't wait for the last one, although I'm sure it won't end in any conclusions. I hope they've got season 2 programmed in at Channel 4 soon.

Finally we watched the Comic Strip that we taped from earlier in the evening. It wasn't vintage, but it was good to see that they were still working together. There's no reason why they shouldn't be able to do something brilliant. But this wasn't really it. In saying that, it DID feature a generous ammount of cleavage (which was nice) which returns us back to Crumpet.

And It's Over

Through the Christmas 'peak' so hopefully a bit more time for just 'nothingness' from now on. Jacq and I have drifted through Christmas with lousy head colds. Mine's clearing now but Jacq is still full of it and has had basically no voice all day today.

Christmas Day was fun and the prezzies were fab. I got the Peel biog I asked for plus CD's from Boards Of Canada and Gang Of Four. We visited Jim in hospital at the same time as Mary so there was a whole bunch of us around the bed. Left him about to tuck into his crimbo dinner. I hit the red wine during the food prep for our dinner in an attempt to break though the cold symptoms. The dinner was great I'm sure but I couldn't taste it much. Afterwards I zonked out on the couch. I must stress that this is NOT the norm for me! I awoke to find the washing up done which got me out of a chore.

Boxing Day we had the clan around. We catered for 15 and probably did too much. There was loads left at the end of the 6 hour visit. Jacq thought it wasn't much of a success but I thought it was ok. But of course I couldn't taste anything. Buzz on the PS2 was the hit I knew it would be. I didn't get a game as the guests came first so I was mostly in the kitchen, washing up with my head pounding. Later we played a bit of Burnout Revenge which was another of my prezzies. It's a mighty fine looking game. As I said, it was a 6 hour visit and by the end we were all done for. But again, no early night for us, I spotted the pilot episode for the new Battlestar Galactica and it looked supperb so I stuck with it till 2:00AM. I did TRY to like the Dr Who shown yesterday. The Beebs big one for Christmas. It left me cold. I just like my sci-fi to be american I guess.

Today we had Mike and Liz come over. Prezzies exchanged. Buzz played. Did a copy of the Boosh DVD's for him. Must get around to watching them soon. After their visit we had Paul and Lynette, still on Thailand time as they only got back Christmas Day. Their prezzie for Dyl was a cool helicopter.

So tomorrow should just be us and our own devices. There's batteries to be purchased for toys yet to be played with.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve and we're just watching TV and waiting for the kids to get to sleep so that we can bring down their prezzies and arrange them under the tree. They've left a mince pie out for Santa which I'll have to scoff down with this cup of coffee.

I'm feeling quite rough at the moment. Just cold symptoms, but it's bad timing for the foodie enjoyment to come over the holiday. Didn't get much sleep last night due to the sore throat so I got up at 5:30AM and went shopping for the last batch of groceries. What we don't have now we'll have to do without, but as the family are coming over on Boxing Day I just hope there's some food left for them.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to tomorrow morning, bring on Christmas!

Skip The Flash Intro

This made me chuckle in todays Technology Guardian...

"Adobe buys rival Macromedia for $3.4bn. The sale completes in December; it would have been faster if the lawyers had skipped the Flash intro."

Prezzies In The Post

A couple of treats in the post for me today. A recording of Fergus's recent performance at Trinity College Chapel and the latest of Pauls 'Yak' CDs of WIRE rarities. So far I've only listened to a bit of Fergus's CD and really enjoyed the intriguing textures.

Wasted trip to hearing clinic with Dylan this morning, hopefully a more productive appointment will be made in the new year. Managed to get the last of the Christmas food shopping this afternoon and thankfully it wasn't the panic and chaos I was expecting. So let the relaxing begin.

Wrapped

I hate wrapping presents. Don't know why but I get really impatient when wrapping each item. Jacq and the kids went over to Marys this afternoon which gave me the opportunity to wrap Jacqs prezzies. Thankfully they're all done now.

Tidying Up For The Slob-Out

Yesterday was quiet. In most of the day, not doing much. Early start for beers last night with Mike and Paul. Abbotts ale was supped in quantity. The usual 'review of the year' chat was chewed over.

A bit groggy this morning. The 'pub atmosphere' eminating from my clothing turned Jacq over. Pottering around the house doing some chores today. Not quite the 'slobbing-out' I have been predicting but there's plenty of time left for that. Got to get everything prepared for the slobbing session. I can't slob-out in an untidy house!

Harriet had a friend visiting this afternoon. Later, we went over to see Jim in hospital and then on to Merry Hill for some last-minute prezzie shopping. Now this COULD have been utter madness and I WAS expecting the worst, but although busy, it wasn't complete chaos. So, Jacq and the kids went off for a stroll while I picked up the prezzies I needed, mostly for Jacq. I think I'm all done now. Finished.

The Start Of The Christmas Holidays

It's been quite a while since the last blog post so I should explain... Work is the reason I suppose. Not that I've been absurdly busy or have been doing millions of hours, but there have been many threads dangling for a few weeks that have been occupying my thoughts and I've not had any mental space left forr blogging.

But things have changed now.

First off, quite a few of those work threads have been tidied or become clearer in the last week such that I can see the way forward at last. This means that I can let go of some stuff that has been nagging a me for a good while. And the other factor is that I'm now at the start of my Christmas holiday. It feels real good. There are still some orgainising tasks left but in general, things are very relaxed it is most enjoyable.

Yesterday was the last swimming lesson before Christmas and the traditional 'playing with floats' session. Although suffering with a cold, Dylan insisted on going in so I had to go back home and get his things for him. In the afternoon we shopped for groceries and continued the 'stocking up' effort. The tops of the kitchen wall cupboards are groaning under the weight of goodies and booze.

Today we went up town for a little look around the shops first thing before they got busy followed by a tour around the German market. Much snacking was enjoyed and the Gluhwein hit the spot.

Tonight we sat down with some more movies. I switched on the movie channels on Sky and we've caught up with quite a few treats already. I keep digging at Jacq that we'd enjoy them more on a bigger telly but I guess the funds aren't really there. I'll keep working on her.

Planning on making good creative use of this holiday period as well as polishing off a few work tasks to boost my productivity for the new year. Also going to catch up with some more blog posts. I've got the Karlsuhe posts to update and there have been a few blog-style thoughts of late that I'll try and transcribe.

Monday tomorrow and there are NO pressing chores, NO work to prepare for, just hanging out, what a joy. Meeting Mike and Paul on Broad Street for beers at six, should be a blast.

Trip To Karlsruhe

Taxi to airport and met up with Phil, Adrian and Dave. Looking forward to flying, it's been a long time since my last take-off. Straight up through the low cloud and into bright sunshine. Restarted Ballards Millenium People. Smooth connection from Frankfurt airport onto the train system. The ICE train was fast and smooth. At 195km/h it was so quiet that Phil and I were practically whispering our conversation. Out of the station at Karlsruhe and onto the tram and more examples of efficient public transport. Got the S3 tram to Mendelssohnplatz and checked into our hotel. We had some time to kill so we had a walk around a bit of Karlsruhe town centre and picked up a couple of pressies for the kids. IN the evening we met up with some of our European colleagues for a 'Welcome Beer'. The beer was tasty and free and it flowed and flowed. Not much self-control exercised but just about got away with not drinking too much. Don't want a hangover on the first day of the conference.

Germany Here I Come

It's been a busy old weekend but I must post a summary prior to tomorows trip to Germany. Saw Liars and Celebration last night at the Flapper with Paul. Good to be out. Gig was good. Really liked Celebration. The singer decided to come into the crowd and stand next to me and sing. Best seats in the house!

This morning we went to see the new Potter movie. Good stuff. Enjoyed it. Tried to do my packing in the afternoon then went out to see a canal boat parade in town. Met up with Mom and Dad there. Seems from Steves Flickr stream that Mary and co were there too.

There's other stuff I'm missing here but I need to get to bed. End of post. Germany here I come.

See What I Did There?

Hey guess what? I DID buy a lawnmower on Sunday AND I got the grass cut too! See what I did there? I was using some reverse psychology on the situation. Feel pretty good about the whole deal.

Since the weekend, the days have flown by. I'm not really getting enough sleep so I'm going straight up after this post.

Caught up with Phil yesterday and agreed plans for next weeks trip. Jacq picked up some Euros for me. I picked up a travel adapter. Now I've just got to learn German on the flight over!

Work Desktop

Loving my dual-screen setup at work. This is a grab of the desktop from last Thursday where I was checking out some basic PCS7 functionality using the mighty VMware while at the same time monitoring my email and listening to a tune. With VMware I'm nicely setup now to develop and test my PCS7 stuff for my current project without being tied to a bunch of IL40 PCs back at the office. Hence this weekend being spent testing out some SCL ideas for standard blocks.

Can I Get A Lawnmower?

A few weeks ago, alright, probably months now, my lawnmower packed in and I've been meaning to get a new one to do the 'last cut' of the year. Well, after weekends of kids parties, today seemed like a good day for it. Sun shining autumn-style and a free afternoon ahead, I popped into the local DIY store. But could I get a lawnmower? Could I buggery! Seems that I'm in the wrong season now. The store just wanted to flog me a range of tacky christmas lights to nail around my house. I'll be trying another store tomorrow, but even if I get one it'll probably be raining and then next weekend it'll be kids parties again and before you know it, it'll be christmas and... and... oh well, just let the grass grow. I'll sort it out next year.

Interesting Author

I'm a bit behind in discovering this guy, but anyway, Cory Doctorow seems like an interesting author. Among many things, he's published a few novels of a sci-fi/tech/geek nature which look interesting. What's cool is that he makes them all available for download in loads of different formats. Really loads, like even iPod notes format. I've saved off a few in pdf stylee and I'll give them a go, nowt to lose.

Code Design Is Good For The Soul

WFH today which meant I could go to the Year 2 assembly and watch Dylan. He had a couple of lines to say which he spoke beautifully, really loud and clear. He was the best. I'm not biased.

The works tasks in hand today are thankfully design related. It's been so very long since I was involved in any sort of code design and it's really enjoyable to be doing a bit again. Wether the blocks I'm designing are used in my current project or not doesn't really matter to me right now. I'll be using them probably in my next project for sure. It feels almost like a creative act and that's good for the soul.

Going Deaf For A Fortnight

I had this thought a couple of months ago that I'd like to get out and see more local gigs. I haven't been out to many as yet, but someone who most definitely has, is Pete Ashton. He's currently in the middle of a project called Going Deaf For A Fortnight in which sees he's going out to a local gig every night for 14 days. It's an interesting snapshot of the Birmingham gig scene. Some of the gigs he reviews seem at first glance to be unappealing prospects but it transpires that there's something of interest at most of them. Makes me want to get out to some more gigs. There's a few events on my Upcoming list at the moment and hopefully I make it out to some of them.

Snippets

Snippets of catchup...

Thursday, Steve picked up one of our old sofas so now we have a bit more room in the room. Still got one left but we might keep it.

Friday morning, Year 5 assembly. Harriet and Amanda did an audience survey of crisp favourites and presented a bar chart. Cute.

Working from home. Dull documents for my current project. Very hard to motivate. Would have been even harder in the office. More distractions there, people to have a moan with, and a couple of hours on the motorway for the pleasure.

Carols 40th birthday party went off well. It was a complete suprise to her. She loved the present Jacq got her. Dylan had great fun running around with Mitchell at top speed and doing the classic knee-slide across the dancefloor.

Saturday morning, Jacq and Carol talking about the party. Both the kids doing great swimming. Chilled at home before going over to Marys for the traditional bonfire party. The bonfire took off, despite early battles with some rain, thanks to wood brought over by Theresa. The fireworks were good but as always there were just too many. Didn't even open the box that we brought over, left them with Steve to set off , he'll probably get more fun out of them than we would.

Sunday morning now. Up early and I don't know why. I should probably go back to bed and resume my lie-in. Raining. Not doing much today. Domestic stuff. The new week will soon be here.

Codename V

Mike came over Monday night and it was good to see him in fine spirits so soon after his second op. We listened to a few things but no creative stuff. But soon, oh yes, soon. I'm quite stoked by a sample challenge thrown down by Mike to get some stuff out of a piece of Bladerunner soundtrack.

Chatted a bit about 'V For Vendetta' which he has lent me. We checked out the movie trailer and it looked pretty good to me, although Mike warns that they've fucked up the ending so I won't get my hopes up. There doesn't seem to be must publicity around at the moment for the movie yet the site states a Nov 05 release but the latest news item is from July. Strange. I finished the book this evening. I fancy reading some more graphic novels.

We Got New Sofas

Yes it's true, we got new sofas. Two leather two-seaters plus two big pouffes for some feet-up action. Now we've just got to get rid of the old sofas blocking up the front room.

Blists Hill Day-Out Action

Managed to do a family day-out thing today to Blists Hill in Ironbridge. We had a great day there spending our old money in the old shops. The weather was lovely. We walked for miles around the place. Our ticket included other museums in Ironbridge so we'll be back there again for some more day-out action.

Bye Alistair

Saw on the IC list today that it was the service for Alistair yesterday. I was most impressed to learn that Colin had turned up for it. What a nice gesture, I'm sure Alistair would have been chuffed. Bye Alistair.

Damp Again

Another damp holiday day. The forecast says that tomorrow might be sunny. I do hope so. We need to get out for a trip somewhere.

During some retail this afternoon I spotted the Peel biography. That's going on the christmas list. Watched some programs about him tonight on BBC4. It was the anniversary of his death just a day or two back. Still hard to believe he's gone.

Half-Term Full House

It's the half-term holidays and I'm off for the week. The weekend just gone, Dylan was at a party Saturday and Harriet at one Sunday, then today we had a house full. Dylan had two mates over to play and Harriet had one. We knew it was going to rain all day today so we were in the house anyway. The kids had a grand time but there was a lot of background work required to keep things running smoothly between everyone. I'm pooped. Dylan has another friend over tomorrow then maybe after that we'll get out and do something if the weather holds.

Technical Specialists Unused

In the office today, which is unusual for a Friday for me but seeing as I'm on holiday next week I thought I should put in an appearance. Myself and Adrian had a good go at SteveP about training and tech support stuff and a whole range of issues. It just came pouring out. I think most of it just breezed over Steves head. He probably just wanted us out of his office. I'm not expecting any follow-up.

Earlier Steve had questioned me about the SINAUT product and his plan for getting some info into the office, which ammounts to getting a product specialist to sit with the particular SAS engineer for a day. It seems that he's totally forgot that he has got three technical specialists in his department who are supposed to get up to expert level on these products and support the rest of the teams. I reminded him of this and he said, "Oh yeah". I despair.

A Jolly Holiday With Jon Reed

SteveY mailed me today with an eBay link Jon Reed has an auction running for a holiday with him to Antigua. Apparently he's been getting media interest. What a character that guy is.

Pacemaker

Mad dash from the office to pick up the kids and get them over to the dentists. Checked everything ok at Jims flat then visited him in hospital. He'd had a pacemaker fitted today and considering that, he seemed very well. His hearing seemed much sharper and communication much easier. Hopefully he'll be coming out soon but it was good to hear him say how much he was appreciating being in there. All in all a good visit, although the kids hated it in there.

Barking At Digital Puppies

The kids skipped swimming lessons on Saturday morning because of Harriets swimming party in the afternoon. Everyone met up in the baths car park. A beautiful sunny autumn afternoon. Jimi turned up! He'd been visiting his dad in hospital. We talked him into coming into the water with the loan of a pair of my shorts. Paul turned up to boost the adult numbers. He mostly hung out with Dylan while I looked out for the school friends. Everyone had a great time in the water. Jacq even had time to come in after setting up the party food. The family came back to ours for puddings, coffee and more present opening. Harriet had a lot of great gifts and enjoyed her day loads. I gave Jimi a lift to New Street station and the rest left about 8PM.

Sunday was a day for relaxing. Yesterday Steve had mentioned a Flickr outing on Sunday afternoon but I had to get some work done ready for Monday morning.

So today, Monday, is Harriets birthday. 10 years old! Two digits! Our daughter's growing so quick. I worked from home today which gave me the luxury of opening presents with Harriet and taking the kids to school. We got Harriet a DS and the Nintendogs game which she was thrilled with. Jacq bought herself a copy also and spent the day shouting commands at her virtual dog. Got my work emailed off about lunchtime which was a great relief. Mike popped by in the afternoon and dropped off a copy of V For Vendetta which I'm looking forward to reading. Then it was time to pick up the kids again. Time for much barking at digital puppies.

She's Back!

Yes, she's back! Our big girl Harriet is back with us! Had to wait at school after picking up Dylan. The coach was stuck in traffic. When they finally arrived it was so good to see her. She claims it was all horrible, the food was gross, the activities were hard and they had to do chores! But I reckon overall it was a great experience for her and given time she'll look back on it fondly. I spoke with her teacher to thank her for looking out for Harriet and she said that Harriet had done really well during the week. We're so proud of her.

Picked up some McFood on the way home then showed Harriet the new desk in her bedroom that we set up for her while she was away. It's so good to have her home.

John Peel Day

I was thinking of not going to the John Peel Day gig at the Jug Of Ale as Mike and Paul had both dropped out. Then Paul of the IC list mailed and we agreed that even if the bands were shite (which they were) it was worth attending in memory of the man.

Whilst propping the bar and discussing various music matters, I was approached by Brendan! Haven't seen him for about 10 years. He looked really well (the bugger) and it was very good to catch up a little with him. I hope that now we have bumped into each other that we can catch up a bit more some time.

All in all a good night. Not the greatest gig but still enjoyable to be back in the local gig scene. Must keep looking out for more interesting events. Check my upcoming page for the latest.

Harriets Trip

Our big girl is on her first school trip away to Wales for the week. We took her to school this morning and saw her off on the coach. Jacq was stressing over the packing arrangements but in reality organised it all superbly. Harriet was a bit nervous the night before but this morning it was more excitement that I saw.

Tonight we got a call from the teacher saying that Harriet was a bit upset and wanted to speak to us. Jacq took the call but could barely squeak a word out in an attempt to not get upset herself. I spoke to Harriet and she was fine, just a little homesick. Her friend Lizzie had started them off and the pair of them got upset together. I think they were tired at the end of the first day and their emotions got the better of them. I'm sure things will be fine in the morning. I was very pleased that their teacher spotted the situation and took steps to smooth it out.

Editors

Great night last night at Editors at the Irish Centre. Mike and I went into town together. I enjoyed walking through the city centre. The evenings now dark but the store lights still on, reminded me of Christmas. It's so rare that I walk around town that every visit brings new discoveries. I'm constantly looking around in wonder.

Met up with Paul at The Kitchen within the Custard Factory. Nice bar. Nice art on the wall by Beat13. Had a couple of drinks before heading off to the Irish Centre. The place was heaving. Sold out. It had been ages since I'd been to a 'proper' gig like this. Queuing to the bar and crushed in the mosh pit. The support was ok, We Are Scientists from NY. When Editors came on the place went wild and it was fun allowing myself to get swept up in it all. Joined in with the mosh pit and had a great time leaping about. So hot in there, the occasional flung pint came as quite a refreshment. I was hoarse from shouting in ears to chat and singing along with the songs. The band played well and the crowd loved it. All in all a top gig.

When we piled out of there I had that lovely post-gig deafness as we walked around the streets of Digbeth looking for a last drink. Eventually we gave up on that idea and made our way back through town to the bus. It was quite a serene journey home which I suppose is odd for a Friday night. The parts of town we walked through, the bus, the Bearwood high street, all quiet.

Upcoming

So I get myself setup on Upcoming and drop a badge on my blog site then what happens next? Well Upcoming only go and get themselves bought by Yahoo! don't they? Is there a pattern here? Will all the sentences in this blog post end in a question mark? No.

This is cool news. Stuff coming together. I like it. And tonight I'm attending my first Upcoming-posted gig, Editors at the Irish Centre. I'm reet looking forward to this. Meeting up with Mike and Paul over at the Custard Factory first. Should be sweet.

Matlock Day Out

A beautiful day out to Matlock in the Peak District. First stop was a walk around Matlock Bath. As always, the book sale shop caught our eye. Among other things, I picked up a 'making of' book for the recent Hitchhikers movie. At the till, the guy told me that his daughter was actually in the movie. A student at the Wimbledon College Of Art, they got involved in the creature props and she actually played one of the Vogons.

We drove up to Rowsley and got on the Peak Rail steam train back down to Matlock. Had a bit of a look around and then went back. On the platform waiting for the train, we started to worry. No sign of the train. Finally my nerve went and I called the helpline. As I listened to the phone ringing, the engine came around the bend. Phew. Back to the car, and home.

The Art Of WFH

Yet another day working from home (or WFH, as it shall be referred to from now on) which takes the total days for this week to three. A new record for me. Must confess to still not being as effective as I would like to be. I have to improve this if I want to continue with the WFH routine. Having to work on the family dining table is not ideal and there are many, many distractions throughout the domestic day to contend with.

Yesterday I popped into the office for some traditional desk action. The highlight being confirmation of the tech specialist conference in Karlsruhe. Hotels and flights now booked, this trip is on! Looking forward to a bit of travelling, something I haven't done for a long time.

Giving Githead A Miss

A second day working at home. My neck was stiff this morning (and still is now) so I gave the commute a miss. I was planning on going to see Githead tonight at The Garage in London. But laziness got the better of me. I don't expect that the set has changed much since the QEH gig so I'm probably not missing much. Would have been good to catch up with the IC massive but it's a long way to drive on a wet evening just for that.

Now THAT'S What I Call A Salad Sandwich!

Sometimes 'Working From Home' has it's advantages you know. Had quite a productive session this morning and stopped to make this beast of a sarnie. Probably my favourite ever meal, the salad sandwich. Oh well, blog post done, break over, back to the Functional Spec.

Drink At Heights

My new desktop background, showing off a composite I assembled this morning from our visit to the Heights Of Abraham last weekend.

Took Dylan and Sofia to Dions party today and left Harriet playing with Aksa. Everyone had a great time. Jacq and I planned to get lunch at the California Pizza Factory in Harborne, but on arrival we were disappointed to find that it's closed down. Some new thing in it's place. End of an era for us.

Dylan has discovered the telephone. Spent ages on the phone this afternoon to his mates Sumeet and Arron. It was so funny listening to him chatting away.

A Nice Saturday

A nice Saturday today with swimming lessons this morning then the afternoon spent at the Belbroughton Scarecrow Weekend. Lizzie, Steve and Theresa were there too. Weather was nice. All in all it was very nice just wandering around the place.

Worked from home again yesterday. Quite a productive few hours. Getting back into the discipline of it all.

Quite a good week just gone. As Phil mentions in his blog, there's a Technical Consultants Conference in Karlsruhe at the end of November and we've been approved to attend. If that comes off it should be excellent.

Tags

Tags are great! It is such a cool way to organise information now that I've finally got the hang of using it. My first experience was with Flickr, and like most things I mused too much over what words to use. But lately I've loosened up a bit through tagging my bookmarks in My Web and I've found that the more tags you use, the better resource of info you have at the end. Obvious really, but it takes me time.

Tags are being used more and more by different sites, there's even a name for it, Folksonomy. Not very catchy. There was an article in The Guardian about it recently.

Would you like to see my tag cloud? You may have to sign in to see this, not sure.

Revolution Controller

Nintendo do it again! Always prepared to think that bit wider. The new controller design is a classic example. Like many, I first saw it and thought Nintendo had lost the plot. But now I'm convinced that it's going to be awesome. The thought of using it as a sword / lightsaber will be so much fun. Check out an article about it here.

Cold In The Shade

Working at home today at the end of an ok sort of week. I'm plodding through my current tasks as best I can. Jacq not feeling too good so I left her in bed and took the kids down to school this morning. A cloudless blue sky. Bright sunshine, but cold in the shade. It's starting to feel a bit like autumn. Soon the back garden will be full of leaves.

Chugged away at my documents all morning while the home PC was busy hoovering up on Soulseek. Quite a haul. More than I've had for a long time. Listened to a few tracks from the forthcoming Boards Of Canada CD. That's one I need to buy for real.

Puters Gone Crazy!

Have had a whole heap of problems trying to keep my puters online recently which has had me suspecting router problems. Tracked the problem down to a DNS failure which could be bypassed by manually setting the addresses in the TCP properties. Finally tonight I found out thanks to a forum post that it's iTunes 5 that has caused the mayhem! Apparently some bundled service called Bonjour is causing DNS conflicts. I'm glad that there is an explanation for the craziness and hope Apple sorts it soon.

In other news, there isn't much news. Yesterday was an in-the-house sort of day and today was a quite good office day. Picked up The Guardian and I love the new size, but still getting used to the logo. Got a 19" TFT monitor for my desk today which works lovely in dual desktop mode with my laptop. I was enjoying just dragging windows from one side to the other. Easily pleased me. Not that the wife would agree.

One More Go

Worked from home yesterday for the first time in ages. Good to be not driving to Coventry. Even better to see the kids in their new uniforms going into school.

Inbetween doing work stuff, Jacq and I shopped for clothes for Harriets trip next month. It was much easier picking up the clothes without dragging the kids around the shops. Thankfully it all fitted at treat when tried on at home.

This morning the kids had swimming then we went over to Lizzies for the afternoon. She did a curry which was very nice. Steve and I discussed the imminent design changes to The Guardian which I was completely unaware of. The merits of the new masthead typeface were discussed and we both agreed that we didn't like it much but that it has probably been considered long and hard by others way more qualified than us.

We took Super Monkey Ball Deluxe over to play which I picked up yesterday for a good price (20) at Game. A top game it is, with great little mini-games inside. The footie game is a fave of mine. The main game itself is the kind of things that provokes screams of pain upon failure, but always results in the urge for 'one more go'.

Up Early

The hum of a police helicopter over the house woke me at 4:30AM from a sleep that wasn't very restful to begin with. Too hot and mad dreams about work stuff meant I had to go downstairs for a drink. The PC was running so I checked that my Soulseek downloads had completed and started this post. I'm thinking now that I might as well go into work early and get some more hours in.

Back To School (Learning Stuff)

Kids back at school today. Jacq says they both have nice teachers. Harriet is in year 5 now. So next year is her last before senior school. Gosh. Time is marching on. Dyl got a sword from the local post office as a treat on the way home. A splendid samurai type blade that we played with over at Jims tonight.

Got Laika best of CD 'Lost In Space' in the post today. Top notch bargain at 3.99 off eBay. What a top quality band Laika are. Yet totally ignored it seems. Pleased to see in the liner notes much respect for Wire.

Mike couldn't make the sesh tonight so I had another hour with Ableton. Still getting familiar with the program and trying to establish a workflow. Not sure if I'm doing stuff correctly at the moment but it's fun and I'm liking my current results so that's good enough. Need to do much more though. These current things are just the necessary initial experiments.

MUST just mention this article spotted over at Lifehacker. Absoultely spot on stuff. REALLY connecting with this. Read it here, 11 Tips to surviving a day job with your creativity intact.

New Sofas

Had my first look at a PSP this morning in a Game store. Have to concede it's quite a sexy beast but not sure that I really want one. Played with Wipeout Pure and the graphics were stunning but it seemed a bit sluggish to me. I like the fact that it can browse t'web but if that's something I really need then I'd get better functionality from a PDA.

This afternoon we ordered a couple of new sofas. Our old ones are too big. Smaller sofas will give us some flexibility in organising and decorating the living space. Included two stools in the order for some feet-up time when kicking back in front of the telly.

Sorted!

Harriet passed her Level 7 swimming test this morning with some superb technique. I'm so proud of her. Dylan did well but still needs to concentrate more. He's still just in there ducking his head under water when Keith is trying to talk to him. He's always having fun. We went swimming yesterday afternoon and he spent the whole time underwater.

In the afternoon I spent some time with my central heating system trying to understand what is going on with it. Having changed the diverter valve recently I've been focussed on the fact that the independent control of HW and CH I expected is not available. After much digging around with my meter I started rechecking the wiring around the programmable controller and stone me if I didn't find that the damn thing was wired up wrong from the start! I was well chuffed by this discovery and after changing the connections I had full control of HW and CH. Sorted!

Tonight Jacq and I watched Manhattan. An absolute classic. A wonderful movie. Worthy of a copy.

I'm A Post-Punk

You're a Post-Punk. You know 70s punk was cool, but it was mostly just a stepping stone for the greater intellectualism of what would come after. The 80s were amazing. You quite possibly have huge hair, and may wear lots of black. Snare drums need reverb. Lots and lots of reverb.

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Sleeping Over & Good Tunes

Becky has been staying with us for a couple of days and Harriet has had a great time with her. Steve picked up tonight on his way home. Dylan is over at Davids for his first sleepover. What fun everyone is having!

Mike phoned to remind me about info I'd promised him and failed to deliver. Slack I am, and no excuse. I've now mailed him the info and hope he gets a result as I was stoked to hear how excited he was about the project and about Ableton Live.

Ripping and listened to a few tunes dug out of boxes. Promised Dave at work a copy something by the Pixies. He's just been to the Reading Festival but not on the right day to catch Black Francis and friends. What a blast it is listening to Surfer Rosa.

The Money Thing

In the middle of a Bank Holiday weekend, it's been a productive few days doing various tasks. I finally changed the diverter valve on the central heating system, a job that's been hanging over my head for a few months. Glad that's done.

Many of the other tasks have involved spending some money. Money I wish we weren't spending right now but there seems no other choice. It's bad timing with recent work announcements that will probably result in me doing less overtime in the coming months. And I can already feel christmas breathing down my neck. Trying my best not to stress about this. Trying.

Sorted Mikes lappy out on Thursday night and I've had Duggos PC this weekend for a rebuild also. I haven't had my own lappy out for days. Must get more time with Ableton Live 5 my current fave rave. The skills can only build if the time is put in.

Another bit of software that's floating my boat is Konfabulator. A bunch of desktop widgets like those in OSX but amazingly they were out before the OSX Dashboard. Check my desktop here...

They are very cool and some I'm finding really useful. I hope in the future Yahoo integrate more of their services into Konfabulator. Stuff like Flickr and the Yahoo calendar would be smart to have on the desktop at all times. Still evaluating how much of a load these things put on the system but I should really have more RAM in this PC anyway. But this brings us back to the money thing.

Spontaneous Curry

Jacq and the kids were over at Marys today so I drove over from work to pick them up. The kids had a great time as usual. Got talked into staying there longer and getting a curry in. Sitting round the table afterwards, Steve was in fits of laughter playing with 20Q (his word was 'fart'). He had the rest of us falling about. And then the bloody thing guessed it correctly! That thing mystifies everyone that comes into contact with it. It's amazing.

Workshop

The workshop got a bit of momentum going today and I got quite a lot out of it. Never mind PCS7, there's so much of SIMATIC Manager I don't know! If I get put on another non-SIMATIC project I will refuse as I'm determined to try an achieve some sort of expertise in SIMATIC. I feel like I've lost all the experience I previously had and am kind of starting from scratch but I'm relishing the process of getting into it. Respect due to VMWare which is impressing me during the workshop. Tonight I spotted a ref on the net to running OSX in VMWare so I'm on the case with a torrent downloading of an image right now.

Late getting over to Jims tonight as I couldn't duck out of work early. The kids were in fine form tonight playing with their McDonalds 'The Dog' toys. Such a pair of cuties they are. Apparently Dylan was doing great this afternoon at the swimming baths. Harriet was teaching him how to do handstands. I was determined to get back into some Ableton Live 5 action tonight but the time just tore away from me. Oh well, maybe tomorrow. Looking forward to second session this Thursday.

Old Faces (No Offence)

Back to work in dreadful weather dampened the spirits slightly but it was good to be back and see some old faces. Phil was back after a major stint at Winchester. I was most impressed by the AWESOME email he received from the Operations Manager speaking of him and his project in glowing terms. I think the phrase 'raised the bar' was used which convinces me that Phil is now secure in his position as 'Top Software Engineer In SAS'. Official. Popped out lunchtime with SteveD and caught up with Steve Yearl. Good to see him, it's been quite a while since the last meet. All is well with him and the chat was good as always.

PCS7 Workshops all week with Wolfhard. His flight was delayed today so we started late but I'm hopeful of some very useful sessions as the week progresses.

Kite Flying

Had a nice couple of days down at Weston. After quite a tiring journey day we kicked straight into relaxation mode. Jacq took the kids out for a stroll and I stretched out on the hotel bead. After a while she phoned and summoned me to the hotel/pub garden where she and the kids were waiting. Drinks were bought and we settled down into a relaxed groove. Nice change for me to not be trying to fill time by 'doing' stuff.

Following breakfast, picked up the newspaper, magazines and some water and headed down to the beachfront. Explored the pier area before lunch then settled down in the afternoon on the sands. Took some photos of the kids in the lovely low sun late in the day.

Back home today and caught up with domestic stuff. Feeling mentally cleansed and ready for the coming week.

Like Watching Paint Dry

Harriets room is finally purple. It took four coats but now it's done. A few other DIY tasks have had to fall by the way to get the room completed. My new diverter valve for the central heating is still not fitted so I guess it will have to wait till next weekend now.

Got my crown fitted today. Colour matched OK. When I had the temporary crown fitted a fortnight ago I cracked some jokes to my dentist as he selected the right colour to match my teeth. I asked if he had a swatch book and if they called the colours names, like 'Black Coffee'. But I got no laughs from this audience. He simply said, 'Your colour is B2'. Maybe humour isn't a Dentist thing.

Tomorrow we're off for a couple of days down at Weston. It'll be good to have a break from the domestic scene. Good for the kids to have a good runabout after days of their parents painting away upstairs.

The First Real Day Of The Holiday

A few days into the holiday but I suppose today (Monday) is the first real day. It's only real when everyone else goes back to work. Continued the painting today. Stopped about 11:00PM when I ran out of paint. The very busy floral pattern of the existing wallpaper is proving hard to cover but I think tomorrow it's ready for the first application of the top coat.

Dylan played over at Davids today and we picked up groceries after just about managing to get through the weekend without a trip to the supermarket. I've decided to steer away from the ready meals a bit this week so the trolley was full of good ingredients. Just need the time to cook the buggers now.

Hangover

Ahh...that's better. Finished work for a week. It's been quite a busy and productive week for me work wise, which is enjoyable change compared to recent months. Looking forward to week off though, hopefully some DIY and some fun.

Felt awful this morning after a night on the beers with Mike and Paul. Good to see them both. Could have done without the hangover though. It's still dragging on this evening. I won't be right until the morning.

As Good As Black Dog

Listened again to the session on the drive to work. If anything, it sounded even better today! About 20 minutes into it things really worked for a solid 30 minute block. Sounds moved in and out of the mix, fitting smoothly or jarring interestingly. I'd previously talked about this kind of composition / structure but my attempts had come up short. This though is the real thing. Like strands of a story going off in all directions. Like a splintered image. I'm reminded of Black Dog and it sounds every bit as good.

Picnic In The Park

Went to Weston Park today and meet up with Jacqs sisters. The kids had an amazing time together playing on the adventure playground. Lovely picnic under dappled shade of a huge tree in the grounds. Although there's not that much there to do, we spent a good seven hours there which everyone seemed to enjoy. I hope we all do it again sometime.

Stoked

Listened to the first half of the session on the drive to work this morning and finished off the rest on the way home. Absolutely amazed at how good some of it sounds. I'm really not sure where these completely spontaneous pieces came from. The way sections start up, end and another emerge completely knocks me out listening back. I want to do some more. If feels like it's an endless potential energy that I want to plug back into. Stoked.

Sessioned

Session over. Just dropped Mike back home. Up too late now for a weekday night, but still buzzing from the session. Every bit as good as expected. Just throwing loops and sounds for 90 minutes. No talking, just the occasional nod. Recorded the whole thing so now I have a rather large mp3 to listen to on the journey to work. Looking forward to hearing it.

Had a nice idea today for a completely un-cynical title, 'Good Luck With Your Life'. I like it, not sure if it's suitable for anything we did tonight but it's worth noting down.

Had my temporary crown fitted today. Needles in the roof of the mouth don't half hurt!

Locked Out

Had to dash home from the office lunchtime today as t'Wife phoned to say she had locked herself out of the house! Suprised we haven't done this before really. We must get some contingency plans in place. So I got home and worked for a couple of hours before visiting Jim.

After Jim we popped into Pauls to pick up my Lacie drive that he'd borrowed to download his videos. He's done a good job on his NYC trip. Reminds me to sort out our tapes and get some DVDs made. Spotted in his garage my old Muddy Fox bike. I had to give it to him simply because I had no room for it. And I still don't. Bah! Another reason to wish I had a garage.

Tonight I got some more samples done in preparation for the Thursday session. Sweet.

Awarded

In the office today I was presented with my A&D Silver Award. So I've got a framed certificate on my desk and apparently some gift vouchers to come but I don't know for how much yet. It's a silly business really but I suppose it's nice to be recognised occasionally so I'm not complaining.

Even nicer, a postcard from Phil arrived today from his holiday in Pembrokeshire. Excellent photo of Picasso. It was really nice of him to think of us. I was very touched. Top bloke.

Tackling Tasks

Today was a good day for doing jobs around the house. Little DIY tasks that have been on the list for a while. It helped that Jacq was on my case, leading me from job to job. I'm right pooped now though.

Positive Mindset

Today was the most productive day in the office I've had for ages. Probably down to the fact that I was the ONLY person in my department! Had a chat with my boss about some improvement proposals I've recently made and he seemed to be quite enthusiastic about the ideas. This was quite cheering and I'll have to monitor things closely to see if he really does progress things as he promised. So quite a positive work mindset at the moment and with next week full of meetings with German colleagues it should continue.

After work we went up to the Bullring for me to pick up some photos I'd had printed by Jessops. I selected the option of delivery to store as I don't trust the mail to not damage things. I'd rather fetch them myself. Also went round the Selfridges food hall and picked up loads of interesting goodies. Yum.

Birmingham Tornado

There was a tornado in Brum today. How mad is that? Looked like it made quite a mess in Kings Heath from the local news. Nasty. No session tonight with Mike as his shoulder/neck is giving him pain. Hopefully we can re-schedule for next week sometime if he's up to it. I'll continue my efforts to prepare some fresh material for the session.

Suprise Ourselves

Back in the office this morning after working at home yesterday. Dave left his skateboard under my desk for me to borrow while he's on holiday. Real nice of him and I'm looking to having a good go on it. Had a quick go tonight at Jims place with Dylan on it with me and he loved it. After Jims visit we picked up some paint and stuff for upcoming DIY action on Harriets room.

Hoping to add some more samples tonight to the batch I've recently saved in prep for a session with Mike on Thursday. Need to make sure I've a respectable number of sounds ready so hopefully we can generate something completely new and fresh. I'm really hoping that we can suprise ourselves.

Fantastic Film

Took the kids to see Fantastic Four today. Splendid comic book superhero family fun. Dylan was excited about it, asking me questions about the plot all the way through. The dialogue was really smart and funny and the action rocked. Can't fault it really. It really needs a sequel to build on this first film. They need some baddy with plans for world domination to battle against.

Toy Day

It's 'Toy Day' at school today. The last day of term and the kids are so pleased. We dropped them off this morning and I worked at home for a while. Later I went with Jacq to see 'War Of The Worlds' which was sound. Enjoyed it. Top effects, really impressive. Back home I did a bit more work and Jacq fetched the kids. Dylans teacher asked to go into class before home time and they presented her with a bunch of flowers for the aal the help she has given to the school this year.

Coventry Borders

Quite a full house in the Coventry office today. Bodies everywhere. Nothing special going on just lots of people passing by, having meetings, etc. On the way out of Coventry I spotted a huge new Borders store with a Starbucks inside it. Looks like a much better venue for an after work drink than the local pub. Must mention it to Phil when he's back in the office. The other plus point is the Paperchase stuff in store, perfect for picking up a suprise for the wife.

Weekend Roundup

The kids did great at swimming on Saturday morning. Harriet even got extra praise from Keith during Dylans lesson! Even though they both have the odd moan about going, I'm so proud of how well they're doing.

Saturday afternoon spent moving shelves and stuff in Harriets room so as to make room for a bigger desk for her. Need to give the room a lick of paint before we purchase the furniture.

Sunday has been a lazy day and very pleasant for it. We hid inside from the sun all day with all the windows and doors open trying to get a breeze through the house.

Jacq and I have been snatching the Potter book from each other all weekend. She's ahead of me of course. I've too many other things I like to dabble in. An ongoing task this weekend is the management of my mp3 archive ID3 tags. I did a big batch by hand within the limits of the Windows properties dialog, but by Sunday had upgraded to an mp3 tag editor to try and automate the process a little. It took quite a few downloads to find an editor I was comfortable with. Hopefully I'll get the task completed in the next few days and then I can move onto another item on my list.

Room Temperature 2

Received a CD in the post yesterday from Fergus. Another on his 'Room Temperature' label. This was was titled 'Unmoor'. The music was impressive collage of industrial drones and scrapings. Intense listening. The music packaged in a cute 3" CDR in jewel case. Nice presentation. Inspiring. Wish I could channel that inspiration and generate some outputs of my own.

The Potter Has Landed

Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince has just arrived via the postman. The doorbell rang and there was a scramble for the door. I was doing the washing up at the time so I didn't stand a chance. I did however manage to sneak a read of the first paragraph before t'wife got hold of it. We're going to be running two bookmarks this weekend!

High Street News

Good news for the Bearwood Hight Street. It's rumoured that Tesco will be getting the keys for our local Safeway at the end of July readying for an October opening. Safeway has lain empty for months bringing the whole area down. We need our supermarket back and I'm glad it's Tesco.

Even better news is that Subway is opening a store on the high street just 5 mins walk from my front door. Yummy! I'm looking forward to chowing down on them there Veggie Delite sandwiches!

Exploring Mount Everest

Been enjoying some more sightseeing around the mighty Google Earth. The Google Earth Hacks site provided this cool link to the 7 summits. It's really been an eye-opener to me being able to zoom and rotate around something like Everest. I've never been into geography much but it's brought more to life for me. Looking forward to even higher rez bitmaps in the years to come.

1 Thing

Bigging up a track that I'm into right now. It's not that new apparently, even the wife has heard it before me. The track is 1 Thing by Amerie. Check her site and you'll find it on there available for listening. A superb clash of tumbling go-go drum loops and guitar stabs with a repetitive vocal over the top. I always loved the Washington Go-Go scene but it never fully delivered its promise. Trouble Funk rocked hard for a while but unfortunately the scene mellowed out as soon as the world noticed it. The rest of Amerie's stuff seems pretty bland but this one track stands out for me. Have had it on repeat play all day on my iPod. Tripping.

Picnic In The Park

Picnic In The Park,
originally uploaded by Tingy.

What a nice weekend that was. Weather was good, in fact too hot on Sunday. Got the usual domestic routine sorted and spent the spare time just relaxing. Can't claim to be too tired after last week. It was quite a cushy number really. I'd feel a little less tired though if I could ever get myself to bed a bit earlier. Sunday we went round the corner to Warley Woods to the annual Picnic In The Park. Some of the bands were a bit dodgy but all in all a pleasant way to spend an afternoon.

Glance Back And Keep Going

Glancing back at the archive list made me realise that I'm well past the one year anniversary for this here blog. I'm pretty pleased with that. I've never meant to have a wide readership for this blog. In fact Phil is probably my only regular reader. It was mainly just a desire to record a period of time and have it secured in the archives of this internet thing. In the future, I'm sure the internet will appear as some sort of quaint experiment, but at least there will be some words of mine buried within the backup tapes. Not saying anything profound or important. But hopefully painting a picture of the inside of my head for a year or two. So I'll just keep going then.

Good To Be Home

It was a great course and the week has been enjoyable but it's still good to be back home. Got back before Jacq who was at her uncles funeral this morning. Great to see the kids in the playground. Harriet not happy about the upcoming sports day. Poor sweetie. Mom and Dad came over tonight. It was Dads birthday in the week and I couldn't think of a thing to get him. Must try and think of something to suprise him with later.

Post waiting for me. New CD from Michael Allen. Geniuser. Had a quick listen to some tracks. Sounds fantastic. Must do a copy for Mike.

Contrasting Days

Another good day on the course up at SWSH. Excellent to see Phil up here. Havn't seen him for ages. Cool rumour he heard about the Coventry office moving to Brums Mailbox building. It's obviously pie in the sky but it's nice to dream.

The superb atmosphere yesterday in the canteen when the Olympics were awarded to London contrasted with the depressing mood today as the news was full of bomb blasts in the capital. Bastards.

Sorted

Finally managed to score a copy of PCS7 V6.1 last night but installation fell down due to requirement of SQL Server. Got that sorted today and completed installation. System running sweet on my machine. Top notch.

First Post From SWSH

My first post from SWSH. Hopefully the first of many. Impressed with the setup my colleagues have up here. The first day of the PCS7 training course is over and is going quite well. I've moved over into the engineering department to pick up my mail and do some ods and sods. Attempts to secure V6.1 have faltered so far. The guy I asked had the box on his desk but some bugger had nicked the disk. Must keep on trying.

UPDATE: Geoff and I working here gone six and the 'Rider' just came past and stopped for a pleasant chat. Can't do any harm to the brownie points. Not yet in Phils league, but trying ;)

Dark And Smart

Off work today. Jacq got roped into doing the refreshments at Dylans assembly this morning so I helped out too. The assembly was nice. I'm always choked at these things. Left the school and went to see Batman Begins at the 10:45AM showing. Top movie. Christian Bale rocks. Dark and smart.

Dodgy Dealings In Country Pub Car Parks

Back in the office today after a few days of site. Not much news. Pleased to see that all arrangements are in place for the PCS7 course next week up in Manchester. Looking forward to that. Replacement RAM turned up so my PC will be rocking with 2Gig. Need to get PCS7 installed and get into it. Trashing my engineering drive this afternoon.

After raving about Google Earth the other day, I haven't had much chance to play with it since. Servers seem down all the time. I guess lots of other people liked it too.

Lunchtime I met up with the guy who we sold Dads caravan awning to via eBay. Dodgy dealing in country pub car parks. So I've got a handful of folding to give to Dad tonight when they visit.

Taking tomorrow off without pay. Steve suggested it due to me being on waiting time and having just worked a weekend. Suits me fine. A long weekend before being away on the course next week.

Google Earth

Once again the vast scope of Google activities continues to amaze me with the launch of Google Earth. I downloaded it this morning and am simply ASTOUNDED by it. It's free, it's got the whole world on it, you can skip around the globe exploring, I've hardly scratched the surface. Brilliant. You do need quite a whizzy PC with good graphics and a broadband connection to run it, but so what? I got that. 'Ave it.

MediaMan

I think I've blogged before about a media catalog program by Delicious Monster that I thought looked very cool. Can't find the original post, must sort out how to search my own blog someday. Anyway, this cool program was unfortunately Mac only. Well, hurrah once again for Lifehacker as they linked me to MediaMan which on first view looks to be a very similar thing for PC's and it's free. I've just installed it and it's just the job. Top notch!

A Tip Top Tip

This has got to be one of the coolest tips I've ever read! I love to open links in new tabs in Firefox but I hate the way you have to right-click the link and choose new tab from the pop-up. Imagine then my delight in finding this tip whilst browsing through Lifehacker.

I'm loving Lifehacker right now.

Me At Work

Just spotted that Blogger now hosts pictures in the blog. What a splendid idea. So now I don't have to limit my blog pictures to just the ones I post up on Flickr. This is good news. So here's a picture of me at work in the Coventry office some months back taken with my phone. Can't remember who took it. Trapper or Dan I think.

A Weekend Sold Off For Cash

Yet another weekend of site support down in Kent. Drove down Friday night for an early start on Saturday. The shift was uneventful and felt like forever. Got back to my hotel room and promptly fell asleep. Woke up feeling dreadful and hence couldn't be arsed to go for a swim. Back on site this morning and nothing happening that needs my attention. The pipe cooling process continues at its own pace. Can't wait to be driving up home tonight. A weekend sold off for cash. I hope we see the benefit.

Postscript: A desk, an internet connection and hey presto! Lots of blog postings! So at least I feel like I've done something positive in my day.

Darth Beyblader

Playing a Beyblade match tonight with Dylan. My cool blade setup was all black so I adopted a suitable Vader-like voice to intimidate my foe. Alas, Dylan still beat me, 20 to 15. Harriet kept score and made trophies for us both.

Had Seventeen Seconds by The Cure on in the background. One of those albums I can not listen to for years and years and then I know every note, beat and word just as they come out of the speakers.

Normal Service Will Be Resumed

Managed to screw up my blogger template tonight after experimenting with an RSS feed in the code. So I've had to quickly republish with a standard template which I'll get around to changing and customising over the next few days. Should have made a backup of the layout maybe? Well, it's probably a good thing it's gone as it was overdue a change anyway.

Schcoobydoo

Hadn't heard anything from Mike for ages. He hasn't been updating his blog much but this morning I checked it and he had posted yesterday for the first time in ages! Seems that he has been through a bad down phase but thankfully he reports that he is back out the other side. I called him lunchtime and he sounded in good form considering he'd been in hosptial this morning for his long-awaited procedure. Hopefully he can finally get some relief from his pains and get on with his life. Must meet up soon. Lots to talk about.

Throwing Down The Beats

Been doing quite a bit of the music stuff lately. Still scratching the surface of Ableton Live and my new PCR-1 midi controller, but having fun enjoying the learning curve. My current musical doodles end up as electro-loop kind of things but in my head I keep hearing Laika / Mice Parade rhythm-driven pieces. I just need to keep on throwing down the beats until it starts sounding like what I'm hearing in my head.

Where My Head Is At

I realise that lately my posts have been catch-up summary style entries. These fail to get the real 'blogging' essence of expressing thoughts and moments. This is because I'm not getting web access until the arse end of the day and all I can think is to report the days events. I've only really thought about this today so I'll try to post some more 'random' things to make the blog more representative of where my head is at.

The Cure For Fathers Day

The weekend just gone was HOT! It was nice to be back in the weekend routine as it felt like ages since I'd seen the kids swimming. Went over to Marys on Saturday afternoon and the kids had great fun with water pistols. Sunday was Fathers Day and we brought Jim over to ours for lunch.

Today I got my belated Fathers Day gift, the remastered Three Imaginary Boys by The Cure. A great package of the album plus a disc of extras. And the best news is that Jacq has ordered me the next three Cure albums, the classic trilogy of Seventeen Seconds, Faith and Pornography. Awesome albums. I got them all already but these versions are extra-special.

Working over at BPA Kingsbury site today and got some good stuff done. Doing tomorrow and Wednesday on site then maybe into the office on Thursday to get some paperwork done. Got a call from the office asking me to work this weekend down on the Grain site. I really don't fancy the gig but I suppose I have to keep on taking my turn. And of course the money will come in handy.

Ending The Working Week

Today I was working at home, which was great because it was such a lovely day. Jacq was working down at school, helping with some science activities in the playground. I got on with some sales support stuff for a few hours. When Jacq came home we grabbed some pizza then went to Ikea. The kids went to Aksa and Sofias house to play after school. I got a haircut, took some garden garbage to the dump then we got the groceries before collecting the kids. Watched 'Empire Strikes Back' then up to bed. It's amazing how into the Star Wars universe the kids are. A busy sort of day and really enjoyable. Now it's wine, beer, bombay mix and telly (plus a bit of blogging).

Working Week

The lack of posts this week has been mainly down to lack of energy at the end of the working day. The days have been long but the work has been ok. Regular chats with colleagues such as Phil have helped establish quite a positive mindset for me at the moment. Things aren't perfect but I'm looking into the future with expectation.

Grain Again

Down on site at Grain this weekend. The usual mixture of terror (not knowing what to do ) and boredom (having nothing to do). It's a strange situation. Didn't want to do it but don't like refusing and I suppose we do need the cash. I'd rather put some hours in on a job of my own though.

MP3

My current computer task is transferring all of my CD based MP3 archive onto my Lacie external drive ready for some serious organising. There's 60 CD's in the archive and it's taking ages. Hopefully completed tonight, currently copying CD #41 across.

Dog

I'm coming under some intense pressure lately from Harriet for us to get a dog. My instinct is 'no way' I don't want to share my life with an animal. I've been clear on this for years. I've listed the reasons over and over and I'm convinced, but part of me is aware that maybe my logical objections can't overrule the natural event of having a dog in the family. My case wasn't helped much by us going over to my parents tonight and meeting my brothers new puppy who is staying with them. A black labrador puppy undeniably cute. I wonder is my argument crumbling?

Hospital

Back to hospital today to follow up my kidney stone situation from Feburary. The appointment letter did not indicate what was planned for today. I spoke with the consultant then he sent me off for an x-ray. His tone suggested he thought the stone has probably come out but he will write to me once he has seen the x-ray. So no real progress today.

Pembrokeshire Holiday

Broadhaven,
originally uploaded by Tingy.

A great holiday last week in Saundersfoot, Pembrokeshire. The weather was kind and we got lots of beach action in. The kids had a great time. Took the Playstation for lots of Lego Star Wars play at the end of each day. Once the kids were in bed the TV was dire, especially S4C.

A School Day

Today revolved around Bearwood school. The kids went into school and Jacq and I followed into Dylans class. We had agreed to help set out seating for Dylans sports day but before that we got roped into doing some reading with the kids. It was sweet being able to sit in the corner of class and observe as Dylans school day started. Chairs setup, the sports day began and Dylan got a 2nd place in his team relay race. Putting the chairs away was even harder work, thankfully Steve stayed back and helped me and Jacq. Back home I sorted out some work admin then we went out to lunch at Pizza Hut. Mmmm... melted cheese. From there we went to the swimming baths to watch Harriets swimming gala. Wow, the noise! The kids were lifting the roof off the place, shouting and screaming for their friends. Harriet came 2nd in her race. I was very proud. Back home for a quick cuppa with Zaida then back to school to collect the kids. Hurrah, school is over, it's holiday time!

Rest Day

A fifteen hour day yesterday down at the new T5 terminal at Heathrow airport. What an amazing sight it is seeing this huge building coming together. It's still a long way off complete, but so impressive with the innards exposed. I've never been so impressed by the sheer nuts and bolts of a building construction.

The meeting that I had agreed to attend at Cov today was cancelled so the planned 'rest day' could be considered precisely that. Harriet was off school with an upset stomach. We popped over to Jims to collect Jacqs mobile that she had left there yesterday. Called into WHSmith to pick up some comics for the kids and a book for Jacq for the forthcoming holiday. I'm sorted with the latest copy of The Wire still unopened on the shelf. Got down some bits and pieces from the loft ready for the packing and sorting which will probably commence this evening. The big question is of course, should I take the laptop? Probably not. It would be a good idea to have a break and maybe concentrate on just listening to some stuff and maybe make a few notes.

Acrobat

Monday on site I at least had something to do. With testing and handing-over to Trapper, I actually had quite a busy day. Came back home in the evening in time for an hour with the kids.

This morning I went into town for an Adobe Acrobat training session. Met up with Phil and Dave in there. Glad I went, learnt quite a bit, hope the use of PDF technology could be engineered into our processes. Need an early night tonight as I have to be down at the BPA Heathrow T5 site by 8:00AM.

On Site On Sunday

Still here. System still standing. Sun is shining. Wind is blowing. Not much to do. I've a few mods which I'll implement later.

On Site On Saturday

Had an earlier night last night than the night before but it seems I missed out on some good gossip from Dave A. Oh well, a pleasant evening all the same with my swim length totals reaching new heights and a chat with Neil in the bar. He's one of the good 'uns.

Hopes are high that the server problems on site are gone. Time will tell. Dave, Adrian and Deiter are leaving site with Gordon staying back to babysit. No site tasks for me so far today. Hoping to do a few mods tomorrow in readiness for some testing on Monday. For some reason it seems that webmail is not being blocked on the site network. Bonus. Nice to have Gmail running again.

Site Stuff

Came down to the Grain site yesterday. Problems with servers. Lots of Siemens bodies on site. Today a German specialist has arrived. Let's hope he can sort things out and then everyone can calm down. I've had a few bits to keep me busy. Good chat in the bar last night. Gordon from the Manchester office is a sound guy. A very useful person to know.
Prior to Grain, I was up at the Mersey BPA site which was a busy day but I'm happy to report that I managed to make time to grab myself another pair of Vans. 75 notes down to 30, top bargain.

Coffee Morning

0517_101753.jpg,
originally uploaded by Dylzuzu.

Dropped the kids off at school then myself and t'wife headed up town for a stroll. Picked up some couscous and olives from the Selfridges deli for my lunch. A tall Americano and carrot cake in Starbucks whilst looking out over the bullring (see photo).

Happy Birthday Dylan!

Dylan is 6 today, Happy Birthday Son! He got us up before 6 this morning to open his presents. He's been looking forward to his electric guitar for ages. We've kept a few prezzies back for a mini-party tonight for just the four of us. It's been party season lately. The weekend just gone had a school friends party at the Wacky Warehoue on Saturday, then a cousins party at our house on Sunday. We then went to Warley Woods to enjoy the sunshine, although I didn't get to play with the kids much as I was helping Jim walk there and back. Hopefully Steve K uploads his photos to Flickr so I can blog them.

Went into work yesterday to do some paperwork then over to site in the afternoon. Good to catch up on the work gossip. Looks like a project has landed that I can take on. Need to convince my boss that it's just a one-man-job so I can have the freedom to work on it at home. Hmmm... the summer working from home, sounds like a good plan.

Sunshine At The Edge Of The World

A sunny day today on site and busy with various testing activities which makes the day go fast. So nothing to complain about I guess. The landscape around here has that 'edge of the world' feel about it. I like it. Must try to remember my camera for the next shift down here as I've seen a few opportunities for some industrial vs wildlife shots.

Having internet access down here on site sure does help to feel connected to my normal life via emails, blogs and news sites. I'm not suffering from those 'isolated/offline blues'. In fact I feel quite serene. Which is nice.

A Good Thing Or A Bad Thing?

My new site colleague is not very happy being down here on site which is perversely making me more chipper. Site goes at it's own pace and I just do bits that I can when I can. Phoning back into the office it seems that there's still no real co-ordination within the project. A juicy rumour I've heard could spell a sideways move for my manager which could be a good thing. But I guess, depending on who we get, it could also be a bad thing.

Making Room For A Microwave

So Saturday was a weekend in one day. The morning swimming lessons were fun. Dylan and Mitchell were split up by Keith to stop them playing about during the lesson. Cue much banter between the two families about the 'bad influence' of the others son! In the afternoon Harriet and I played a bit of frisbee in Warley Woods. The wind made it a quiet a challenge. Dylan basically just threw himself around on the grass for fun. Watched 'The Terminal', which was nice.

Sunday was a work day. Down on site by lunchtime. The handover didn't ammount to much. Things still seem quite quiet. By myself in the hotel and a book during the evening meal. Reading Stuart Maconies Cider WIth Roadies which is very entertaining. Suprised to see that he still lives just around the corner from me in Quinton.

Today I'm trying to get a handle of the progress of the job on site. Throwing out duplicate snag lists, updating change logs, generally being a bit pro-active. If nothing else it's helping to make the day go faster and the job seem less daunting. Phoned Jacq at lunchtime to learn that our fish died this morning. Poor old fishy. Oh well, as Jacq said, at least we've got room for a microwave now!

Friday Is My Saturday

My two days off are Friday and Saturday so I've declared today my Saturday. Does that make any sense? No matter. Home from site last night in time to hang with the kids, put 'em to bed then pop out to vote. Later I opened my post, an Edirol PCR-1 midi controller. Been wanting one of these for ages. Sold a bunch of CD's to justify it and now here it is. Fiddled a bit getting the drivers set up then I was away playing with the Operator synth within Ableton Live. Sweet Lordy! It was LOTS of fun. Stayed up too late. When I finally took the headphones off, one of my ears actually ached!

This morning we dropped the kids off at school then I went to get my hair cut. A quick 'number one' later and I met up with Jacq having a cuppa round the corner with Jane and Anna. We all went back into school for Year 4 assembly. Harriet did a powerpoint slide about her beloved Neopets. Had to endure more of Mr Pies poorly played Beatles songs!

Jacq and I then spent a pleasant few hours in Merry Hill browsing the shops. Picked up Simon Reynolds new book Rip It Up And Start Again for a tenner. Spotted the remastered CD's of 'Seventeen Seconds', 'Faith' and 'Pornography'. The classic trilogy of Cure albums. Boy I wanted them all so bad, but at 17 quid a pop it's a bit much really. I guess I need to sell some more CD's.

Dreaming Of Snags

Sitting in the site office. No tasks from the loop checking. Nothing really to do. Timesheets updated. Expenses done. I've started work on a proposal document for the Snags database I 've been wanting for so long. I'm not sure when I would get the chance to knock one up on the Coventry IIS so I might as well get my thoughts down on paper so that I can gather a few opnions. With a document ready, I could put it under a managers nose if the opportunity ever arose.

Grain Again

Back down to the Grain site this morning. Still getting used to being driven by events here on site. I'd prefer to be driving things a bit more myself but I just don't have the info to enable me to do that.

Bank Holiday Weekend

Got home Friday night just in time to catch the tail end of Derren Browns show. Still don't know how he can possibly do some of that stuff. Glass of wine and watched the 3rd disk from the 'Spaced' box-set Mike lent me. Top stuff. Obviously way too late to get to the Apple Store opening tonight in Brums Bullring. Hope to get to it soon.

Saturday morning at the swimming baths as usual. Getting out of the car, Dylan pointed out that he was still wearing his pyjama top! We laughed too much and I had to take him home to change before his lesson. Dave signing up with Force9 got a true bargain as they are not charging for sign-up right now. In the afternoon took Dylan to Arrons bowling party. Evening viewing was 'When Harry Met Sally' a good old rom-com.

Sunday morning at the cinema. Met up with the Tomkins crew. Steve, Jacq and I saw 'Hitchikers Guide' and Mary took the kids into 'Valiant'. Movie was good. Episode III trailer looked great. Afternoon visit from my parents with stories and photos from their recent holiday in London doing the sights. Had a nice stroll and play in Warley Woods. Hope we get more use of this green open space in the coming summer.

Isle Of Grain

So here I am on site. Got a quiet moment and a network connection, so let's blog! Yesterday was a total stress-out for me. A thumping headache from start of day to end.
Got my induction done having travelled down the night before. The safety guy was a complete racist and spent his lecture telling us to shop the foreigners if we see them breaking site rules. Jerk.
Trying to get into the system felt daunting. Adrian had new code to install and was under pressure. Doing mods on your last day on site is a no-no as we all know. But he had to. And guess what? It went badly and he was on site till 7PM getting the system up and stable. Hence I don't fancy doing anything at system level, I just don't know my way around it well enough. Everyone tells me I'm there to support loop-testing but you just can't predict events. We shall see.
Yesterday I was depressed as hell. Today I'm much happier. A swim and a good breakfast set me up right. Haven't actually DONE anything but have been involved in the general flow of the day. Lots of talk about various tasks but all fade into nothing. There always seems to be a reason why something can't be done. I just hope this doesn't build into an explosion of tasks all at once in the future.
Glad to be going home tonight having had a brief taste of site. Baby steps. At least I know what to expect when I return next week.

Sitework Beckons

Well, it's been on the cards for a while and today I have been finally asked to join the Grain project team to help out with some sitework. Jacq not happy about the short notice for this weekend so I've declined that. Although I'm not thrilled about doing site, I'm most definitely NOT stressing about it. Site happens. It's about time I copped for some. So bring on the overtime! 'Ave it!

Another Nice Weekend

Another nice weekend just gone. Sunday was full of fun especially. Swimming in the waves at Crystal in Stourbridge, then Robots at the AMC cinema followed by a miniature railway ride in a park.

More Changes?

It was announced yesterday that our General Manager is being replaced. Not that suprising. The last of the Dickinson management is gone. Hopefully the changes that are bound to follow will improve my feelings about work. I need to fix my head. Warnings about my blood pressure are focussing me a bit more on my stress levels. I need the skills to chill. I need to be able to accept the bits of work that wind me up and not get stressed by them. Easier said than done I guess, but I have to try. I need to change.

Google Maps

Google maps is very cool. Check out Bearwood. Just wish they had the great satellite images for the UK that they do for the US. Scrolling around the US is a blast. The Google Sightseeing site is great fun.

Coffee & Croissants

Is there any better smell on a sunny Sunday morning than coffee and croissants? I don't think so. Off now for a visit to Bourton On The Water. Don't ya just love a sunny day?

Good To Be In The Weekend

Work was tiresome this week. Morale very low. Drifting. Giving me headaches. So glad that the weekend is here. Harriet had me up 6:30 this morning to go fetch a parcel from the sorting office for her. A 'Harris' Neopet that Jacq got her off eBay, she was thrilled with it. Kids back into swimming lessons again today then after we booked Dylans party at the Wacky Warehouse. Rest of day filled with the usual chores and just hanging out at home. Tonight me and Jacq watched Dodgeball which was a good laugh. Balls wacking into the nutsack is always good fun!

The High Line

This site has some beautiful images of a side of Manhattan that I didn't know existed. The disused High Line track is a wonderful place that I do hope can be reclaimed as a public promenade. I know that I would dearly love to take that stroll.

Delicious Monster

Check out Delicious Monster. Cool website. Cool application. And best of all, I love that fact the companys workplace is their local coffee house where they get free wifi. Sweet.

Catching Up

It's been a week since my last post and there's quiet a bit to catch up on. The kids second week off school for Easter. They had loads of fun over at the sleepover then Dylan had a full day of play over with his friends David and Aaron. Wednesday was another product brief day and once again it was very interesting. It really does show up what a clueless operation we run at Coventry. Dentist visit gave an all clear to the kids and I'll be having a crown on my busted tooth. Thursday and Friday down at Weston again. A little trip for the end of the holidays. Nice times at Wookey Hole and Weston but the wind too cold for much beach action. Dylan lost his first tooth. Freaked him out a bit. Back home for the weekend and ready now for the new week.

Kids On A Sleepover

Just dropped the kids over at Marys for a sleepover with their cousins. We're back home and cooking dinner, listening to music, all very civilised but feels weird. Just seems WRONG not having them around the place.

Lovely Days

On Top Of The Hills,
originally uploaded by Tingy.

After a week based mostly in the office, yesterday I was on a sales visit over in Erdington just around the corner from Cincinnati. Home nice and early so later in the afternoon we went for a walk up the Clent Hills. The weather was lovely and it felt great to be out in the fresh air. Took some nice photos although some of the best ones were taken by jacq and she's nabbed them for her photostream.

Picked up a top bargain at HMV in Merry Hill, Volumes 1 to 4 of UFO for 20 quid. Result.

No swimming this morning due to Easter break. Me and Dyl got our hair cut. Spent most of the day in the garden. Cut the grass for the first time. Sorted out the shed. Very satisfying work in the spring sunshine.

Kids are exited about tomorrow cos they're going over to Becky, Jodie, Katys for a sleepover.

Ourmedia

Got my place setup over at ourmedia.org in anticipation of good things. It's early days at the moment with the place still in alpha so it's a bit creaky but I hope it settles down to be my one repository for online stuff. The fact that it's online FOREVER is quite a cool concept. Let's see what uses I can put it to. Check my page here.

Happy Easter!

Max out on the brown stuff people! Check Wooster Collective.

Weston Super Mare

You Looking At Me?,
originally uploaded by Tingy.

Had a nice pre-Easter break down in Weston Super Mare. Met up with my parents who where down there in their caravan. Weather was kind and we had a nice day in Cheddar. Did the Cheddar Gorge caves and wandered around the village shops on Thursday. Spent a bit of time on the beach on Friday morning before travelling back up home in time for the Easter weekend choccy frenzy.

Skatepark WSM

Skatepark - Weston,
originally uploaded by Tingy.

Discovered this cute little skatepark right next to our hotel down in Weston Super Mare. Nice little halfpipe with gentle curve. I'd fancy my chances on it if I had a skateboard with me. Although NOT during this trip cos I had a bit of a bad back. Pussy.

iSeminar

Toady I experienced my first iSeminar at work. The presentation itself was ok but the concept is fantastic. I know this sort of thing is nowhere near the cutting edge but for the little part of SIEMENS that I work for it's a revolution.

Good to be focussing some of my work activities towards the SIMATIC world. It's been a long time since I've had much to do with it. I'll be glad to see the back of Rockwell stuff. It's ok kit but it's of no long term use to me.

Without Wires

At last I am again wireless! Picked up a modem/router/access point from Micom yesterday whilst travelling from office to site. Quite a bargain and bundled with a USB adaptor also so now the main PC is wireless too. Set everything up this morning on my first working at home day for some time. Beautiful day today. Lovely sunshine. Great to be at home. Didn't get huge ammounts of stuff done. Found it hard to concentrate.

Jacq said recently it's about time we had a day out somewhere. So last night we booked a couple of nights in a Travel Inn down in Weston. My parents are there in their caravan so we can hook up with them Thursday/Friday. Should be fun. Especially if the weather is like today.

One Hundred Photos

Dylan & Harriet

Got around to posting up a few photos taken at the weekend during an afternoon walk around Warley Woods. Noticed after the upload that I've finally passed the 100 photos point on Flickr. Took me long enough!

Githead

Githead

Saw Githead last night down on the South Bank. Got there really early after a site visit in Hemel in the afternoon. Killed time by walking to Tate Modern. Forgot my camera. Annoying, but I got over it.

Saw the first band but left after the first number. They were shit. Never trust a band that co-ordinate their clothes. When I returned to my seat for Githead the guy next to me said I'd made a good decision to leave. Turned out the guy (Gary) was on the IC list.

Caught up with the IC Massive, Paul, Mark, Alistair, Keith and a few others. Had a couple of beers and some good chat. Good to see them.
Githead pretty much rocked out convincingly. Scanner played his part. Malka nailed the bass. Colin seemed to be enjoying himself. Even joking when a string break caused him and Scanner to swop guitars. Didn't stay for much of the headliner set. Walking across the bridge back to the tube, Big Ben struck ten. Nice sound. Enjoyed being in London tonight. Finally got back home at 1:00AM. Knackered.

A Lazy Day Planned

A nice lazy day is planned for today. It's almost midday and I'm still in pyjamas. Took some nice photos yesterday afternoon in Warley Woods so I'll sort them and post up on Flickr later. Dylan had a party yesterday morning. Chatting with Sangeevs dad it turns out he is a lecturer in electronics at UCE. Sounds like he teaches the course I took way back in the day. Much before his time. He was asking me about SCADA and PLC, makes a nice change for someone to know a bit about the area of software I work in.

Rant! Academy

Thanks to Phil for inspiring this post. Poor sod only stopped by my desk to exchange a conversational pleasantry but I started off on a rant about the state of current 'popular' TV formats. Sorry. But. It seems at the moment that all TV programs, regardless of content, are blindly adopting the format of reality, vote-based shows. Doesn't matter what the program is about as long as there is an element of public or 'expert' judgement involved. What the fuck is that all about? Why can't programs just BE about stuff? Why are the program makers happy to be such unimaginative sheep! Rubbish, just rubbish. The lot of it. TV is by far the most unimaginative communications medium. Shite.