The Last Post

It's been a good while since the last post and this may possibly be the last post on this blog. My blogging mojo seems to have left me of late. Much stuff has been happening recently but there's been no urge to blog about it. So, if this IS the end, then so be it. It's been an interesting experiment from my perspective. My next web project may be a wordpress-based site for my company, Tingy Ltd. It will probably have a blog component to it so there will be more of this drivel to wade through. Check it out here www.tingy.co.uk

Spiderman 3

We went to Spiderman 3 this morning. Dylan was so excited waiting for the lights to go down, and so was I. Regardless of the lukewarm reviews I've seen around, I LOVED SPIDERMAN 3! Ok, it's not as good as 2 but that movie is so awesome that 3 really doesn't have a chance of topping that. And anyway, what law says that the next thing in a series must be better than the last? The main characters drew me in as they always do, the funny bits made us laugh and the action sequences have certainly cranked it up a few notches. The dizzying battles taking place during falls from skyscrapers really blew me away. I want to see it all again, right now. Looking forward to the DVD release to really study the great CGI work.

Watched the rest of the Heroes episodes last night so we're now up to episode 18. Wow! The story continues the gallop along with connections being made all over the place. Can't say too much about the plot content for fear of spoilers. But suffice to say the series is absolutely fantastic. Got to download myself the next batch now.

Coming Up

Up early with leg pain despite a late night watching Heroes last night. Got the last bunch of episodes on DVD from Steve and planning on gorging myslef on them all this weekend. It's a treat not having to suffer the usual annoying adverts.

Some contact re-established with the Siemens organisation during the week. I'm hopeful that Phil is in line for a contract position that's coming up. It will be a good strategic move to get back in with them, especially as they should be able to support a working arrangement outside of IR35. It's good just to make contact to let them know I can be available and interested.

Reminded this morning that today is the 24 Hours Of Flickr so I'd better get my camera out and take something. Not expecting much though as I intend to continue decorating Dylans room and have all painting jobs completed this weekend. Stated the big Link picture soon.

Jacq has taken Dylan down to swimming this morning as she hasn't seen him swim for ages. I'm pottering around the house tidying up before getting my painting clothes on. Tomorrow morning is Spiderman 3 and we'll be there for the early showing. Me and Dylan are looking forward to that. Not sure about Monday but as it's a bank holiday it'll probably be chucking it down.

What's The Time?

Jacq has been chuckling all weekend at her MacBook. She has set it to 'speak' the time to her every half an hour. It's cheesey robot sing-song voice cracks her up every time.

The kids haven't been around much this weekend. Harriet was sleeping over last night and out all day with friends today. Dylan was at a birthday party this afternoon and is sleeping over tonight. Where has my little gang gone? Still, on the plus side, it did enable me and Jacq to get into some serious DIY. Cracking on with Dylans room, we got some more painting done and I've installed a couple of extra sockets.

Grabbed a moment in the garden this afternoon with the dog and took a few photos. I've been trying to 'capture' Pebbles for a while now and I think I might have finally got one. Check it out on my Flickr stream here.

Restarting DIY

Another nice weekend just gone. Finally back into working on Dylans room. I should have been into it last weekend but the shower needed replacing and that was a higher priority. Really have to get a wriggle on and get the room done so Harriet can have her bedroom back to herself.

What Kind Of Madness?

Most mornings I drive into the city centre and straight out the other side on my way to the motorway and another city. What kind of madness is this? I'd love to work in the city that I live in but I've never managed to find work based here.

More Exercise

Appointment with the doctor this morning about my hip joint pain. He prescribed some painkillers and recommended that I increase my exercise time to 45 minutes a day. If only it were that easy to fit such a time in. I suppose I could always visit a local gym in the evening but I don't think my energy reserves could support it.

Coffee Break

Pain in my hip joint today caused me to suggest a lunchtime coffe to Phil in place of the normal trip to the gym. Phil agreed and so we popped down to Starbucks in the local Borders bookstore. The car park was very busy for a bookstore but it seems that everyone is in the coffee-shop, not browsing books. It was a very pleasant time spent chatting away with Phil fueled by coffee and cake. At the end of the hour I'd really lost my work-mojo and didn't relish returning to the dull workplace. I think Phil felt the same as the conversation extended into the office and it was a struggle to get back into the document I was working on.

Uber-Demo

I continue to be impressed with Phils MacBook Pro. At work this afternoon he presented the uber-demo, showing off some of the neat apps that I've been hearing about on podcasts over the last few months. Quicksilver, Scrivener and iGTD all look like the business. Seeing iPhoto being used from a photography perspective looks a breeze. Of course the Apple hardware itself just rocks and seeing the keyboard softly illuminate was super-neat.

Beadnell

Some notes from a wonderful holiday.

Packed the car and got everything in the boot so I was happy with that. The kids were well setup in the back with their dvd player and the dog in the middle. On the journey up, Harriet got a text from a friend saying that Dylan had won the easter egg competition with 'Egg Wars - A New Yolk', an egg-based homage to the movie. Another winner for Jacq.

The holiday cottage was great with lots of space and nicely decorated. Everything in place we wanted for a relaxing holiday. Talking a stroll with Pebbles, I found a path which lead between houses straight to the coast in less than a minute.
Saturday morning I walked to the shop with dog and boy to fetch paper and milk. Slipping easliy into the relaxed pace with breakfast followed by a long read of the paper. Looking forward to a walk along the north beach later.



The first walk along the beach was a real life-giver with the wind in our faces. Pebbles loved the beach from the start, dragging great clumps of seaweed around with her. Although there was a chill in the wind, the sun shone through and lifted the scene. I took some photos and we collected some pebbles. Real ones, not the dog. Back to the house for some warm baths. I'm sat outside on the back patio with a coffee enjoying some sheltered sun. It's a meditation in itself. The first of many hopefully. Me and Jacq popped down to the local chippy later then we all sat down to watch the start of the new series of Doctor Who.

Sunday morning strolling along the south bay beach, just me and Pebbles. A huge stretch of sand backed by dunes, a perfect scene. We all returned later in the day running up and down the sand dune hills. Totally lost track of time, it reminded me of how it felt to be on holiday as a kid. Afternoons streching on forever. Time goes slow on this holiday.

Monday morning slowly stirring. A bath in Lush Blue Skies is a refreshing delight. Shorts on today even though it's not that warm yet. Another afternoon on the south beach dunes. We took sledges found at the cottage to ski down the dune hills. Jacq took some video. Pebbles had such fun greeting everyone on the beach and making friends. Back at the cottage and it's only just gone three in the afternoon. It's great to actually feel each moment of the day pass by naturally.

Weather got nicer as the week went on. We hadn't expected he sun and packed no sunblock so I burnt the top of my head. Apart from a trip to a Roman site to get Dylan a sword and shield, we just simply hung out in Beadnell and relaxed. Sublime.

I'm glad we didn't take all of our usual gadgets up on holiday with us. I was free of the opression of possibilites. Would I be happier without it all? No, the holiday was a refreshing break from the routine that should hopefully renew and refresh my creative goals. Normally by the end of a holiday I've usually had enough, ready come back home. But this time I would have loved another week in Beadnell living at that same pace and just enjoying each moment. I could tell it was a good holiday by the despair in my mood on returning to work the following week. It took nearly all week to re-adjust back into things.

Blow Away The Cobwebs

Not blogged for a while but that doesn't mean I've not been online. I've been online loads, in fact, I've probably been online too much. Well, tomorrow we're off on holiday and I'm looking forward to being very much "offline". The only gadget I'm taking away with me is a camera. We've got a cottage in the village of Beadnell in Northumberland and the dog is coming with us. Hopefully there will be lots of invigorating walks on the windswept beaches. Should blow away the cobwebs.

Saw Phil today in the office for the first time all week. Good to see him and his swanky new MacBook Pro. I'm ever so slightly jealous. At the risk of being seen as a copycat, I want one.

Another good session at the gym today. 20 minutes on the cross trainer and all of them in the cv zone. Hope to work some exercse into my relaxing routine next week.

History Is Fantasy

Eduardo Recife is a graphics guy I like a lot. I've been checking his Misprinted Type site for years now but only today did I find his commercial work site here. Really great stuff that guy does, so inspiring. Following a link to some video for an HBO history lecture show called Assume The Position. It looks pretty good stuff and I might just BT some of it for a look-see. You gotta love bittorrent, it's so cool being able to just download stuff that seems interesting without having to wait for your own broadcast networks to pick up on it. Phil passed over a bunch of episodes of Dexter in the week that I'm looking forward to sitting down with.

Only a week to go until our Easter holiday break up in Northumberland in the village of Beadnell. Really looking forward to it. Taking Pebbles up with us will force us into a different sort of holiday I reckon. A simpler holiday, consisting of fresh air and beach walks hopefully. Dylan is keen to check out out some Roman stuff so a trip down to Hadrian Wall is definitely in the plan, if only for another sword for his collection.

Not much to summarize from the working week. Ducked out of gym on Friday due to strained muscle in the hip area. I'll be back on Monday, if only on weights. Popped over to Coventry on Wednesday to catch up with ex-colleagues and members of the elite Chancers team. Great to see everyone and love the fact that eveyone seems to really value keeping in touch. Long may it continue.

Karting

Karting last night with some of the guys from work. The group split into teams of two for a 1 hour endurance race. Phil and I teamed up in Kart 11. Phil drove first and set off at a great pace getting miles ahead of the pack. I was half-pleased and half-terrified, concerned that I would let the side down. It took me a while to build up the required agression to go full-out around the course. But once I got into the zone, the red-mist came down and I was pushing myself hard to keep the pace up. I was stoked. In the end, we came in third place which I was chuffed with considering it was my first time karting. Glad I didn't let the side down. Top fun all in all. The kids were impressed with my bronze medal. You can see an example lap of the track here.

A lovely spring-like sunny morning, Dylan and I did the swimming lesson routine and Harriet played out with her friends. Later on I went down the high street to pick up the obligatory mothers day flowers and bumped into Mike who was looking well. I hope we can get together for some creative action soon.

Games In Good Health

Listening to the 1Up Yours podcast on the way to work this morning reporting from the current Game Developers Conference. It sounds like Sony may finally have some interesting stuff coming up on the PS3. It will be nice to get excited about that bit of kit at last. Hopefully some Nintendo news will be coming out from there soon too. Go Ninty!

Gym attendance still going strong and I'm starting to feel some benefits from it in a general feeling of well-being along with a flexibility I've not had for many many years. I'm already starting to wonder why I ever left it this long to do this when it makes me feel so good about stuff.

Official Companion

Meeting tonight with my soon-to-be accountant in Birmingham. It was a two-hour chat that went by in a flash. My mind is spinning a bit with figures and I'm musing on some decisions that need to be made. As always, talking it over with Jacq helped me with my moral compass.

Managed a little bit of retail action while walking through the Bullring tonight. Picked up a copy of Firefly: The Official Companion for a real good price. It looks sweet, with lots of pictures and info that I can geek out over later. On a related note, my second set of trading cards arrived today, full of Serenity goodness.

Lunar Eclipse

After swimming, the afternoon was spent over at Marys house for Jodies birthday. Good to see everyone as it's been a while.

Waiting in the drive-thru on the way home, I rambled on about how great our new car is. The improvement in space and functionality for the family is a joy to me. I think it suits us really well.

It was a lunar eclipse last night. The sky was clear so we got a good look at it. Although Flickr is full of moon shots this morning (no, not THAT type of moon), it wasn't worth pointing my camera at it as I just don't have the lens.

Look What Happened There

Can't remember much of what happened at the weekend as it's got to Thursday night already in the blink of an eye. One thing to report though was a quick shopping trip up town on Sunday afternoon where I scored the first series of Battlestar Galactica from Virgin for just £12.99! Thirteen quid for 4 DVD's, that's good value in my book. T'wife says I can't watch 'em as they're too boring but she wasn't keen when I brought Firefly into the house and look what happened there.

Pleased to report that since joining the gym last week it's been 100% daily attendance so far. It's a bit of a mad rush trying to get a solid block of time actually on the equipment so I hope I can stretch my lunch-hour by a bit as I get more settled into the workplace.

Booked holiday for the upcoming Easter break up in Beadnell, Northumberland. Easter is at the end of this month which seems ridiculously close but it will be fun to be away with the dog for the first time.

Trading Cards

First week done at new workplace. Friday night journey home not as bad as expected. Jacq went over to Carols for some cooking-slash-party thing. She found it boring and needed booze to get through it, ending up with the blokes in the kitchen.

Jacq and I went to see Hot Fuzz this afternoon while my parents looked after the kids and took the dog up the woods. Film was good, not as good as 'Shaun', but good.

Some post waiting when we got back home. Love getting post. Love getting post from US even more. I got trading cards. I love trading cards. I don't like buying trading cards by the individual packet, but buying them as a complete set rocks! Got myself a lovely set of Firefly cards which are a joy to flick through. Firefly is one of my most favourite TV shows ever.

Oh and Jacq is great. Great great great.

New Direction

This week has gone so quick, it's Thursday already and I've not yet blogged about starting at a new workplace this week. I'm over in Leicester now and there are a few friendly faces here. It's great to be working with Phil and Dan again. On the first lunchtime we took a stroll and it was just like old times, except with less to bitch about.

A more than usual amount of TV has been watched just recently. 24 and Lost are essential, but the highlight is Heroes which started on Monday night. I'm loving this. Took me until the second episode to get fully into it but I'm there now. Hiro is my fave character so far but I expect that will change as things develop. The fact that the actor that plays Hiro is also an oscar-winning ILM employee make me sick with envy.

Inspired by Phil and frankly using him as moral support, I've finally joined a gym. It feels like a big step for me and it's long overdue. I'm determined to get into the routine of going every lunchtime and really making this a 'lifestyle change' as my doctor calls it. I've only been twice so far and not attempting anything too ambitious until I've had my induction session next week.

Now I Can Love My Car

So glad to report that I've got the car back from the garage and it's running like shit off a shovel. What a relief that is, I can now allow myself to love my car. I'd been holding off getting too attached on the off-chance that I might have to return it should the lack of performance in the engine become too much to bear. But all is well, the car drives nice now and it's here to stay.

A Flickrmeet tomorrow with the Black Country group, having a walk around Walsall. Looking forward to this as I've never had a close look at the town. Jacq and the kids are coming too and they will mostly be hanging around the New Art Gallery which I hope to check out as well as it's been ages since we've been there. Hope they've still got Noddy Holder as the voice of the lift announcer. That's the best bit. An art installation in itself.

My Own Personal Flickrmeet

Dropped my new car into the garage this morning to check out the under-powered effect I've been noticing. I hope they can find something wrong to fix otherwise I'll have to swap the car and I don't want to do that. After the drop-off, I took a walk into town through the streets of Digbeth. The sun was shining strong and I enjoyed my own personal Flickrmeet.

I know that lots of people didn't much care for the first Fantastic Four film, but I liked it. I was glad to learn that a sequel had been sanctioned and now I've seen the trailer for it I'm stoked. Check it out here.

Another Last Day

I don't like last days. I hate feeling like I might be the focus of any kind of attention. That's a bit lame I'll admit, but there it is. I just wanted to get my work done, get my hours in, and get out of there with the minimum ammount of fuss. So just after lunch I made my backups, made my excuses and left. Thankfully no bridges were burnt and the door was left open to stay in contact, there's every possibilty I could work work for them again under the right circumstances. Can't ask for better than that I guess.

Last days, I hate 'em. I suppose I should get more used to them. They're a feature of the landscape.

The snow returned today. It was snowing as I left the office and the queues on the M6 south were horrendous, but nothing compared to the chaos I encountered on leaving the motorway. It must have took me almost an hour to travel the last couple of miles from the motorway exit to my house. I almost didn't make into my road. Much wheelspinning on the hill. But I made it glad to say. Sense of relief when I got into the house.

Jacq picked up a sledge on the high street so off we went to the woods. Much fun was had. Harriet and her friend Ellie were on the sledge, me and Dylan were rolling down the hill, Jac and Pebbles surveyed the scene.

Telly and wine were enjoyed later from the sofa. It's the start of a half-term holiday. Does it get any better than this?

The Woods Transformed

The snow stuck around yesterday and it was great to go out for a walk in it. Usually the evening walk of the dog involves walking along the edge of Warley Woods, but never IN the woods. That's because basically it is a dark and scarey place on a winters evening and I'm a scaredy-cat. But last night the woods were illuminated by the snowfall and filled with the sound of laughter. We ventured through the trees and came out in the open area to see hundreds of people enjoying the snowy slopes on a variety of sledge contraptions. Unfortunately we don't own a sledge, I don't even know where to but such an item. Hopefully some enterprising soul will sell sledges on the high street after this recent snow and we can pick one up then, ready for the next time.

A Taste Of Winter

It snowed this morning. It wasn't the storm the news had been in a panic about for the previous few days, but it was nice. Enough snow to get the schools closed, although that's not saying much. I travelled into work without any problems which is where I am right now. I hope the kids get to have a play in the snow before it melts. The dog saw it for the very first time this morning and she ran back into the house.

It was my birthday on Sunday just gone. Jacq got me an iPod Shuffle. That thing is small! Been listening to Boards Of Canada on the nightly dog walk. Should be a nice soundtrack to a walk in the snow tonight.

Finishing at my current workplace tomorrow and I'm taking a week off next week as the kids are on half-term break. Looking forward to the week off as it's arrived almost as a surprise. Looking forward also to starting at my new place of work the week after.

A Day Off

Too much stuff on today to possibly consider doing a days work at the office. So, no wages for me today. Set off this morning over to Leicester for an interview. The journey was as long as I had feared and motorway trouble meant that I had to phone ahead and warn of my late arrival, not a good start. The interview went fine and I reckoned that I pressed all the right buttons. It really helps in an interview situation to go into it NOT wanting the position. Following the two hour meeting, I caught up with my mate Phil and discussed things. My head was spinning with many questions and it helped enormously to bounce some ideas off him.

Headed back to Brum for a dental appointment. What fun. I hate the injections. Sitting in the waiting room my head felt like it was about to explode. Stressing about a possible new job and worrying about an injection, I was in a right state. Anyways, I survived of course. Managed to get back in time to pick up my little beauties from school. Discussed things further with Jacq and decided that I would indeed go for this new job. Soon after, the call came through from the agent that an offer had been made. So now it's real, I have a new position to go to if I want it. I've got this weekend to let things sink in and on Monday I'll be going into the office to drop the news. There will be an undeniable satisfaction in demonstrating to the guys who've been chuntering on about no work and moving on that yes, I'm moving on, and you lot can stay, chuntering on.

Spoke with Mike tonight and I hope we can get together soon. Although he's not been too well recently, I'm chuffed as fuck about some of the creative stuff he's been up to. You go Micky!

Should have gone out to see The Nightingales tonight but I wasn't feeling up to it. A mixture of the dental work and the stressing about work stuff meant that an evening on the sofa with the wife and a box of wine was far more appealing. The kids had a 'sleepover' tonight, which involves Dylan sleeping on the floor in Harriets room and the two of them having a great time playing with Gameboys and all-sorts, joking and giggling. I love it when they decide to do that. Good times.

Egg (Mc)Muffin

Well by now you'll have all seen the reports on all the major news channels, the shocking news of the rise in price of the McDonalds Egg McMuffin. It has risen from 99p to a whopping £1.49, a scandalous rise of 50p! Since when was inflation running at 50%? I'm truly shocked and outraged. As a mark of protest, this morning I cooked myself my very own Egg (Mc)Muffin made with finest ingredients procured from Sainsburys last night. It was, even if I say so myself, simply gorgeous.


Here's the cost breakdown:

• 1 x Muffin = 15p (Pack of 4 muffins 59p)
• 1 x Cheese Slice = 6p (Pack of 10 cheese singles 59p)
• 1 x Egg = 17p (Pack of 6 medium eggs (free range!) 99p)

Total cost of one homemade Egg (Mc)Muffin = 38p

And here's how to make one of these bad boys:

1. Fry yourself an egg in a little oil, trying to keep the egg white tucked in around the yoke. This was quite easy on my first attempt but if you've got one of them ring things that keep the egg contained them you're quids in. You can flip the egg to fry both sides as I did or not, your choice.
2. Cut the muffin in half and apply a small smear of margarine or butter to each half.
3. Pop your tidy little fried egg out onto the bottom half of the muffin. Place a single cheese slice on to the egg and then add the top half of the muffin.
4. Place the assembled beast into a microwave and give it a blast for 20 seconds to give the muffin a boost in fluffiness.
5. Enjoy with a back coffee (or other beverage of choice).

So, there you go, a delicious Egg (Mc)Muffin knocked out in the comfort of your own home for just 40p. A lot less than the scandalous £1.49 that McDonalds are asking for one, and arguably a better tasting beast to boot. Will it stop me eating Egg McMuffins at McDonalds for the occasional breakfast treat? Probably not.

Weekend Summary - Edited Highlights

Good weekend just gone. Highlights being, picking up our new car on Saturday morning and a Flickrmeet at Witley Court on Sunday. Not much more to be said really. Photos from Sunday are up on Flickr if your interested. That's it. Cheers.

A Grind At Times

There's a sense of relief as the week winds down. It's been a grind at times to get through it simply because of the attitude I've brought to it. I realise I've made it hard for myself and I need to sort that out. I'm grateful for the lifelines thrown from emails and phonecalls this week, thanks guys. I reckon that I'm missing having colleagues more than I realise. Maybe I've kept myself too isolated in my freelancer status. Plans are in hand and change will come, but I'll not say anymore about that until things are really happening.

I know that most of this ramble will make no sense to most. It's just work stuff after all. I don't want to create the impression that I'm stressing about stuff because I'm not. I'm just looking forward to my Friday night glass of wine a bit more than usual.

Touch

AWESOME post by Fergus on his blog A dorsal fin breaks the water, recalling the great work of the Touch label. Touch was an intoxicating source of inspiration and mystery to me back in the day. Their beautifully packaged cassettes blew my mind. I never collected the whole catalog, but the stuff I did get remains precious to me still. In fact, I've just been over to the TouchShop and ordered myself the latest compilation Touch 25.

Thanks for the memory jog Fergus.

We Bought A Car

Test drive was OK. The deal is sealed. We got ourselves a nice new-ish Citroen Picasso to look forward to next weekend. Hurrah. I'm excited.

New series of 24 started tonight and I enjoyed the double episode. It's good to have Jack back. In the break was an ad for the restart of Lost series 3. Seems like it will be 24 and Lost both on Sunday nights. My two fave programs on the same night. Can't decide if that's a good or bad thing. Certainly the only night I'll be watching telly for the next couple of months.

Here's a clip of some beatboxing that really made me chuckle. Checkout Beardyman.

Watch This Space

For some reason I've been finding it hard to muster the enthusiasm for a fresh blog post this week. Don't know why. Anyways, work stuff is under control, got a new project, just a tiddler but it'll do. Although change does not appear to be thrusting itself upon me in this new year, I've sort of talked myself into it I think. So we'll see what happens work-wise. I'm up for change. Watch this space.
Worked at home today cos I had a dentist appointment this morning. Ouch. Later in the afternoon we popped into the Citroën dealer and spotted a Picasso that we liked. Top end of our budget, but it's got all the bells and whistles on it. Having a test drive tomorrow to check it out some more. Watch this space.

Next Project Please

Finished the project at Manchester today. Glad to be finished, I've been stuck in Excel hell for months. It will be interesting to see what projects are available when I return to the office on Monday. I've done a little bit of groundwork to check out options if it's time to move on. The more I think about moving contracts the more exciting the prospect seems. Talking with Trapper this afternoon he talked about work down at Grain where the BIG money is, I doubt whether the opportunity will arise or if I have the commitment to go for it.

iPhone

Followed the Macworld Expo keynote by Steve Jobs live this afternoon by constantly refreshing the live blog page on Endgadget. It was quite exciting watching the event unfold piece by piece with every new press of the F5 key. So it turned out that the iPhone DID exist and wow, it looks so sweet. The way it brings together all the things you could want in a portable device is just so cool. Apple really know just how to do things RIGHT. It seems so obvious when Apple show their stuff but how come no-one else can get anywhere near them? It just makes other devices look DUMB. Seems that Europe will get the phone at the back-end of the year, I wonder in what form that will appear and on what networks. I know which phone I'll be getting when my current contract runs out.

Happy New GTD

Spotted in Merlins del.icio.us links, an interview with him in which the New Year is mentioned as a popular time for adopting the old GTD. You could say this is obvious, but it was news to me (duh). I think I should take a return visit to GTD-land this week and try and get my act together. Check out the interview/podcast here.

Computer Down, We Have A Computer Down

Urgh. Our main PC 'Pooter' has died. Hard disk boot failure. I can fix it, in fact I've still got some warranty cover on the damn thing, but part of me doesn't even want it fixed (even though I have to rescue a whole bunch of photos and mp3's). Why don't I just go and get myself a shiny new iMac instead? Maybe later in the year I guess. Let's see what is announced at MacWorld next week. I'm really looking forward to hearing the news. It's interesting to note how my media landscape has changed over the last year or so in that it's podcasts like MacBreak Weekly that I'm looking to for my informed opinions. Go Leo!

The Old School

Yesterday I took trip to see the Smethwick Photographic Society in Oldbury and came away unimpressed. There's a thread on flickr where I discussed this so I won't duplicate, but suffice to say, it re-enforced my rejection of the 'old school' of photography I remember from the eighties. And it seems a couple of people in the Birmingham group have had a similar relationship with photography to me, being re-inspired by the arrival of digital and the very wonderful world of flickr.

Nice Timing For A New Year

Back at work and hearing stories of possible slow times at the company I'm working for. Thoughts immediately turned to my options and I called up Phil for his always positive advice (thanks friend). Of course I'm slightly over-reacting, but that's deliberate. If this does turn out to be the moment to change contracts (and I'm not completely sure that it is), then it's good to be prepared and have all avenues explored.

So time to do some networking and see what's out there. I must admit that the prospect of some sort of change is quite invigorating. Nice timing for a new year.

Post-Holiday Mind

So I've fallen back into the rut of dull posts of late, just recording events. Well, as enjoyable as this Christmas holiday has been (and it has), it doesn't really make for great postings as my mind has been generally on just enjoying the moment (unusually for me). With the working year about to force it's way back into my life tomorrow, the mind re-emerges from this holiday-mode bliss and maybe I'll have some drivel to blog about again.
I suppose I should have been at work today but as we're all still just getting on our feet post-vomitting virus I went easy on myself. So today has been a sort of limbo-day where, in the background, I've started to try and reconnect with various work-related thoughts and tasks. To be honest it's been a struggle to remember where I'm at, so I hope I can pull off a convincing 'committed' return tomorrow when in reality I've had a complete brain-wipe and I'm totally chilled. For myself I'm pleased about this mental state, but I don't suppose work contacts would be that thrilled if I were to share my enlightenment.