Working At Home, Blogging In Bed

Back from Germany late last night and up bright and early for quite a busy 'working from home' type day. We took Dylan to school and then hung around, Jacq did the refreshments prior to the year 2 assembly, and I nipped out and got my hair cut. After Dylans cute assembly we picked up some supplies and headed home for the last bit of the morning. At midday the coach arrived bringing Harriet home from Ingestre Hall. Sounds like she had a great time there with stories of 'eating tuck after light's out', absolutely classic.

Jacq helped out with year 1 kids in the afternoon while I had another session with Linda. The practise didn't go so smoothly over in Germany. The hotel environment proved to be a distraction and we discussed some strategies for dealing with that. Sitting practise was good and the body-scan practise tried for the first time. Must try to maintain a consistent approach in this coming week to really fix it into my routines.

The rest of the afternoon was spent doing some actual work. Design decisions made while in Germany are now being questioned. If only these issues had been addressed by the original design process then we would not have been forced into making decisions at this late stage. Sometimes, despite what the customer says, we have to trust that we know a thing or two about designing control systems. It's the only way to go forward at this point.

Went over to visit Mum tonight as Dad is over in Ireland catching up with people. Sounds like he's having a good time there and I'm glad he's finally making the space for himself to do this sort of thing. Long overdue.

Typing this from bed. Blogging in bed rocks! It's the future.

Working In A Karlsruhe Stylee

A bit of snow, a warm hat, lots of walking, public transport, iPod soundtrack, PCS7 programming, hotel breakfast, canteen salad, Subway sandwich and mumbling the occasional words in German.

Working in a Karlsuhe stylee.

I think there's worse places to be sent to work in than Karlsruhe. I'd rather be working at home of course but this place is better than being stuck in Winchester which is where I'll be in a few weeks no doubt.

Jacq and Dyl sound like they're having a fine time while Harriet is away at Ingestre Hall for the week. Looking forward to friday when we're all back together.

Siemens Industriepark Karlsruhe

A Connection Thing

Worked at home yesterday and had my second session with Linda. We did sitting and standing meditations and I think I'm getting into it more. No revelations as such but a tangible sense of relaxation and peace. Will be interesting to see how I can integrate the practise into next weeks visit to Karlsruhe.

Swimming today and Dylan still wasn't happy swimming from the deep end even though we'd practised it loads last Sunday. Harriet swam superbly and passed her level 8 test!

Quick phone chat with Mike while making lunch. We agreed that Sally Phillips was a godess last night on 8 Out Of 10 Cats.

Went over to Marys in the afternoon. I haven't seen the Steves since christmas I think. General agreement on the greatness of My Name Is Earl. Theresa still not committing to the June holiday yet. Just what does she need? I'm gonna have to force the issue next time I see her.

Came home and watched Curse Of The Were-Rabbit which looked great on the telly after I played around with the connections. Ran the DVD through the RGB input and it made an amazing difference to the picture quality. Also, the annoying crackle in the left speaker seems to have gone, so that must have been a connection thing.

The Start Of Spring?

March already. The met office are calling it spring but it doesn't feel like it right now. It's been cold, but no snow to speak of. Enjoying the blinding glare of the sun through the windscreen on these clear mornings soundtracked by Boards Of Canada.

Feeling ok with work stuff which seems unusually under control. Can it last? I dunno. Trying to keep taking my tablets and practising the meditations. Drinking less coffee. Am I feeling any different yet? No. But, early days yet.

Check My Links

Tinkered a bit with the blog today. I've wanted to organise my links for a while but didn't want to have to get into any sort of coding. Finally I found the combination of services that appears to give me what I want. First off, I created a Bloglines account to scan through the rss feeds of the usual suspects of news sites and publish the good stuff on a blog. This blog also provides an rss feed which gets converted by Feed Digest into some javascript dropped into my Blogger template. Job done. Check my links.

The Old House But Different

Swimming in the morning. Shopping in the afternoon. Party for Harriet later and Mitchell came over to play. Noticed that our old house is up for sale. Checked it out online and there were a number of photos of it inside. It was weird to see pictures of somewhere you know so well, changed by others redecoration.

Much musing in the evening over holiday choices. Center Parcs is looking favourite. Probably in thhe UK even though it's way more expensive than over in Europe. The booking will be made soon.

Precious Snow

Friday at home again. A covering of snow made the walk to school fun. Harriet carried her snowball all the way to the playground. I saw a number of kids carrying huge chunks of snow in their arms towards school. Too precious to throw around, this rare material called snow. I wish the kids could enjoy a proper downfall of the white stuff.

Back at home I settled down for my first solo meditation. Had about a 20 minute session in total and it seemed ok. Calming. Got me in a good place ready for the work session. Getting into my sequence logic. Nice when a plan comes together.

Got the car back. Still needs an engine service but I'll book that next week. Just glad to have my 'wheels' back. Watched Kingdom Of Heaven tonight and really enjoyed it. Unusual film for me to like but I guess I was just in the right placce for it.

My First Meditation

Thursday I worked from home. Car in the garage for MOT work. Spent a lot of time on the phone to various colleagues. At last the pieces are coming together and some coding can take place.

Broke off at 1:30PM for my first meditation session with Linda. An interesting hour or so. Not sure what I got from it but I've decided to follow it through for a few more sessions to give it a fair chance.

Didn't get the car back as some work needs doing on the brakes so I guess no office action tomorrow either.

Mike came over in the evening and we went out for a beer or four. Attempts to go down the Hagley Road were aborted and we ended up in the local which turned out to be just right. T'was real good to see him and hear his enthusiasm for his current creative outputs. Go for it fella!

An Update From The Doctor

Saw my doctor today and thankfully my BP has gone down a bit. I need to do a month on the tablets to confirm that they really are working. My blood tests haven't shown up anything to worry about so that's another bit of good news.

Update

Back from Karlsruhe Wednesday at midnight. Blood test first thing Thursday then took Dyl for another hearing test at City. Into the office late morning, not many in to catch up with. Reported project progress and probably started alarm bells ringing.

Worked at home Friday and the alarm bells continued to ring. Got a login for the I&S ProFlow system which seems a neat way of exchanging large files. Went into town for lunch and a stroll around the Bullring.

Saturday swim only for Harriet as Dyl complained of earache. In the afternoon we saw Zathura with Carol and Dave. Rest of day just hanging and doing a bit of project work. The application is well and truly in my head now and it's not going away. Need to make some REAL progress in the coming few days. I need all of my CFCs in place and get down with sequence development.

Free Is My Favourite Price

Those nice people over at Computer Arts have made all of their tutorials available for free. That's very nice of them isn't it? They used to be 99p each and so I never bothered with any of them. But I think I will now. Free is my favourite price.

Back At My Hotel

Back at my hotel room and about to watch a movie on my laptop but first I did a check for any wireless networks, and hey, I found one! So what's a boy to do but leech some bandwidth and have a web browse. Shamone!

Karlsruhe Commute

Another commute over to Karlsruhe. A journey eased by my swanky new earphones I picked up at the airport. The ear-plug style really boosts the bass and cuts down on the aircraft background roar, leaving the skittering rhythms of Laika to soundtrack the flight.

Done a few hours in the office and now I'm the last one here. I guess I'd better take the tram over to my crummy hotel. That means no more internet connection for today. Arrgh!

Through The Roof

While in hospital last year I was told to get my blood pressure checked out as it seemed to be a bit on the high side. So yesterday I saw my doctor who checked it and declared it to be "through the roof". Apparently my 180 over 110 is a bit more than on the high side. It was a bit alarming. I had an ECG done to check that my heart wasn't already damaged by the high pressure (it wasn't) and he put me straight onto medication to get the pressure down as a priority. Apparently five years at this kind of pressure and I'd be done for. Yikes.

Back Home And Working At Home

Got back home at midnight last night. Got a taxi home from the airport complete with the city's most talkative cab driver. I mumbled my way through his endless conversation whilst praying constantly for him to please... shut... up. This morning I got up easy and have been working from home. But now I'm really feeling tired. My eyes are closing as I'm typing this. I should take a nap but a coffee will have to do.

After mentioning the chat function within Gmail, they only go and launch it today don't they? Tried it this morning and it worked well. It will probably only be Phil that I chat with as it's a great way to keep updated with the office gossip.

The Winter Olympics open today in Italy. Google have uploaded hi-res data of the area for Google Local and Google Earth. Must try and catch the opening ceremony tonight.

Sparky The Hamster

Phoned home last night and Dylan picked up. I asked how he was and what he was up to and his reply was, "We haven't even got a hamster!" What a cutie! (That's Dylan, not the hamster. The hamster I've not met yet.)

Travelling Back

Travelling back today but in the office all day till six before setting off for the train/plane. It's going to be one l-o-n-g day today. The iPod is on charge on the desk getting ready for the journey. Progress has been happening within the project so I guess it's been a worthwhile trip. I'm back out here again on Monday for some more.

Sitting here at my desk I'm really cherishing my internet connection. Couldn't do without it. Makes being away so much easier. Checking my regular blogs helps loads. Keep on posting people!

Some great web stuff to pimp at the moment. 30 boxes is looking good and being very useful in practise as I'm planning out my forthcoming weeks. Looking forward to getting chat working within my Gmail as this will be an even greater way to keep in touch using IM. Lifehacker keeps on feeding the goodness with a link to this tidy little torrent client which I'll install when home and then I'll be hitting this list of torrent sites hard.

The Great Bull

This is superb, The Great Bull, a version of 'The Great Bear', which in itself is a version of the London tube map. Made me a bit homesick. And a bit proud strangely.

Another Day In Karlsruhe

Ate out last night with Marco at an African restaurant which was very nice indeed. I gave the crocodile meat a miss and stayed with the vegetables.

Not much to say about the work side of the trip. Things are plodding along and it seems I'm expected to turn up here every week even if it's just to show some 'presence'. Seeing as I don't really command much presence, being a humble sort of chap, I don't really know if I will meet this requirement. But, if that's what they want me to do...

Karlsruhe Again

Karlsruhe again. Monday is basically travelling. The journey is not hard, but the time taken means that not much else can be done in the rest of the day. Hotel is a bit basic but it'll do for a few days. The noise from the surrounding area is a challenge. There is a level crossing right outside the hotel where the tram cuts across. A bells rings constantly while the barriers are down and this happens every ten minutes!

Tuesday now and I'm in the office, meeting some new guys on the team. Looking forward to a productive few days. Initial meetings have been promising.

On a comedy tip, I got an entertaining mail from Mike today. Reading his latest blog entry at the weekend was laugh-out-loud funny. I really hope he keeps it up cos it sounds like he's on a roll right now. Check him out here.

Happy Birthday

To me!

The above display was made for me by Harriet on the dining table. Opened up my cards this morning and I got some lovely hand-made ones. Dylans card of a fast car featured working flames! Got a cool Hellboy figure plus the directors cut DVD. Also got last night from mom, the Firelfly DVD box. I'm picking up some great DVD's lately, just need to get around to watching them.

Ramblings From The Week & Other News

The big news in the office is the suspension of the current redundancy program that was due to be announced next week. Very strange news which has been explained away by the management but could be a cover for something else big. More waiting and uncertainty I suppose.

In other news, I shall be in Karlsruhe again next week for more collaborative work on the project. Can't say I'm hugely looking forward to being away again but I'm itching to get into writing some code. It's been another busy week but not of much substance.

Got new tyres fitted during the week while at work using a mobile service I found on our intranet. Most convenient way of getting a chore done is to do it during work hours. Saves me wasting a few hours at the weekend.

Dylan has been off school all week with a throat infection and I've enjoyed taking Harriet to school for a few days. Last day of the working week and I'm taking the opportunity to work from home.

Work have blocked access to flickr through IE so I've installed Firefox to get around it. Enjoying the look of the Firefox Aquafox theme.

Yuk! Yet fascinating account of wasps making roaches into zombies here.

Big Telly

Hurrah! We got a big telly! At last!

Showed t'wife the slimline Samsung telly and she agreed to the purchase. 500 notes for a 32" CRT widescreen pure flat and 100Hz refresh ain't bad, and the slimline design is a real bonus. I had to go back to the store by myself to pick it up and it only just fitted in the back of the car. No way could I have fitted in one of the full size beasts, and no waaaay could me and Jacq have lifted one into the house. We only just managed with this slimline one. Just watched House Of The Flying Daggers on DVD and it looked a treat. Check it out:

Snowing In Karlsruhe

It's been snowing here all day in Karlsruhe. That's more snow than I've seen in a long time compared to Birmingham. The snow has actually made the weather feel slightly warmer.

Work stuff is still ok, not much to report about that. Ate with Marco last night at an African restaurant which was really nice. Couscous and vegetables, yummy. Not sure what we're doing tonight. Haven't managed to watch any of the DVD's I brought over with me. Haven't slept very well all week in the hotel. Looking forward to my own bed.

Karlsruhe

I'm in Germany this week. Busy busy with work stuff. Working with colleagues on the initial setup of the software project. Quite a nice office environment as you can see:

Not much to report about the trip. The work is going pretty much to plan. The weather has been sunny but bloody cold. The beers have been nice. The team went out to a local brewery on the first night. A nice gesture. We ate Mexican last night and tonight I think Marco is taking me to eat African. Should be interesting.

As always, looking forward to getting back home. Sounds like the kids have been busy with friends and clubs. A week away is about as much as I can stand.

Puter Fixed

The nice man from Siemens-Fujitsu called today with a new motherboard. Hurrah! The puter is alive again.

Been Poorly

Just another cold I suppose but it knocked me about a bit. Came on last Thursday so I went home and sweated it out like a whore in church. The fever passed and I struggled back to work as I had a colleague visiting from Germany. Got most of the usual tasks done over the weekend but basically I was wiped out. Well enough for work Monday and feeling better now. Work is loading my brain quite a bit and learnt yesterday that I'm working in Germany all next week. The project is at a critical stage and I reckon we'll be working some mad long days next week.

Oh well, hence the non-blogging recently. Will try and get back into it. Oh yeah, the main home PC busted last week as well. That's another reason I haven't blogged. Waiting for a Siemens engineer to bring us a new motherboard. Oh well.

Bought a new washing machine last night. Not the most fun way to spend cash it must be said. Went for a Bosch which happened to be reported at the weekend by the Guardian as the best supplier of white goods accoring to Which? reports. Would have liked a Siemens one of course but not worth the extra hundred quid. Hope it gets delivered before I'm away next week.

Lost Without Lost

The two-part final episode of Lost season 1 is over. Superb stuff. The hatch is open. The boy is taken. But what now? Channel 4 say that season 2 is coming in the Spring. When is Spring? I need more detail. I need dates!

Google Earth Out Of Beta

Google Earth rocks my world once more! It's out of beta and the latest download scored me some high-res pictures of my part of Birmingham at last. Superb fun just buzzing around my local area. The data might be a few years old but what the hell. Download it yourself and see if you're on there!

Good Time For The Gogglebox

Nice to see Richard Dawkins on the telly tonight pointing out what a right old load of bollocks religion is. Top man Richard. No new arguments in the programme but good to hear the sane voice of the atheist being broadcast.

Also on telly, more good stuff, a new series called Life On Mars. Nicely done. Cool seventies detail. I think I'll keep watching.

And with the last two episodes of Lost coming on Wednesday, it's quite a good time for the gogglebox.

Probably The Last Weekend Without Overtime (For A While)

My Name Is Earl is fantastic! Caught the first episode on Channel 4 friday night and I'm a fan straight off. The characters are superb, Earl and Randy are classic and I'm undecided at the moment who is my favourite. If you haven't seen it yet then catch up quick people, it's an absolute treat.

Nice to have a good laugh at the end of a strange week. Depressing work news plus lots of intense project activity. I brought the laptop home but never switched it on. It's probably the last weekend I'll be able to do that for a while. Things are getting seriously busy.

Back into the swimming lesson groove on Saturday. Good to catch up with Carol and Dave. In the afternoon myself and Dylan went with Dave and Mitchell to see Kong. The boys enjoyed it. I was kinda bored but I did like the digital recreation of 1920's New York.

Sunday morning, the girls weren't up, me and Dylan went to McD for breakfast. It was really nice, just the two of us tucking into pancakes.

Work Stuff

Simultaneous announcements at our offices today. NEVER good news, and it wasn't. The company is looking to loose people, specifically engineering capacity. They've said that we are safe at Coventry, but it's only the start of a process and what shape we'll be in at the end, who knows? I'm not feeling very positive, but today was so busy working with Wolfhard that I've hardly had time to focus on it. I'm unsettled at the prospect of having to attend an 'interview' next Wednesday in Manchester to discuss my skill-set. Can't shake the feeling that I'm re-applying for my own job. Not nice.

Christmas, The End

The end will be official today as we're taking the tree down. I don't really want it down yet but tomorrow I'm back at work and it seems right to draw a line between. Overall it's been a good holiday. We could have done without the colds but there you go. I didn't get all the creative stuff done that I had planned. In fact, I did nothing creative at all, which is a source of a little regret. But I'll just do something about that, I'm NOT going to stew over it like I have been doing. New years are for resolutions, so I'll simply resolve to be a bit more creative in my free time.

New Years Day

Went back over to Marys to look at their wireless network. Steve had installed AOL software on Beckys PC and now the network don't work. God, I detest AOL! Their software is completely shit! The interface is nasty and the functionality limited. It's an impoverished experience of the wonderful web. Why anyone would want to use it is beyond me. Oh well, rant over, Steve wanted it on, so I simply un-installed, then re-installed the wireless adapter and things came back to life.

The kids stayed to play for a few hours and me and Jacq went into town for a walk around the shops. This was very enjoyable. No kids to worry about for a while. Picked up a few nice things. Some DVD's for the collection, Hitchhikers movie, Complete Ripping Yarns, Fear & Loathing and Filth & The Fury.

Watched Fear & Loathing later with some bottles of wine. Johnny Depp was superb as Hunter. Debauched.

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.