Playing a Beyblade match tonight with Dylan. My cool blade setup was all black so I adopted a suitable Vader-like voice to intimidate my foe. Alas, Dylan still beat me, 20 to 15. Harriet kept score and made trophies for us both.
Had Seventeen Seconds by The Cure on in the background. One of those albums I can not listen to for years and years and then I know every note, beat and word just as they come out of the speakers.
Managed to screw up my blogger template tonight after experimenting with an RSS feed in the code. So I've had to quickly republish with a standard template which I'll get around to changing and customising over the next few days. Should have made a backup of the layout maybe? Well, it's probably a good thing it's gone as it was overdue a change anyway.
Hadn't heard anything from Mike for ages. He hasn't been updating his blog much but this morning I checked it and he had posted yesterday for the first time in ages! Seems that he has been through a bad down phase but thankfully he reports that he is back out the other side. I called him lunchtime and he sounded in good form considering he'd been in hosptial this morning for his long-awaited procedure. Hopefully he can finally get some relief from his pains and get on with his life. Must meet up soon. Lots to talk about.
Been doing quite a bit of the music stuff lately. Still scratching the surface of Ableton Live and my new PCR-1 midi controller, but having fun enjoying the learning curve. My current musical doodles end up as electro-loop kind of things but in my head I keep hearing Laika / Mice Parade rhythm-driven pieces. I just need to keep on throwing down the beats until it starts sounding like what I'm hearing in my head.
I realise that lately my posts have been catch-up summary style entries. These fail to get the real 'blogging' essence of expressing thoughts and moments. This is because I'm not getting web access until the arse end of the day and all I can think is to report the days events. I've only really thought about this today so I'll try to post some more 'random' things to make the blog more representative of where my head is at.
The weekend just gone was HOT! It was nice to be back in the weekend routine as it felt like ages since I'd seen the kids swimming. Went over to Marys on Saturday afternoon and the kids had great fun with water pistols. Sunday was Fathers Day and we brought Jim over to ours for lunch.
Today I got my belated Fathers Day gift, the remastered Three Imaginary Boys by The Cure. A great package of the album plus a disc of extras. And the best news is that Jacq has ordered me the next three Cure albums, the classic trilogy of Seventeen Seconds, Faith and Pornography. Awesome albums. I got them all already but these versions are extra-special.
Working over at BPA Kingsbury site today and got some good stuff done. Doing tomorrow and Wednesday on site then maybe into the office on Thursday to get some paperwork done. Got a call from the office asking me to work this weekend down on the Grain site. I really don't fancy the gig but I suppose I have to keep on taking my turn. And of course the money will come in handy.
Today I was working at home, which was great because it was such a lovely day. Jacq was working down at school, helping with some science activities in the playground. I got on with some sales support stuff for a few hours. When Jacq came home we grabbed some pizza then went to Ikea. The kids went to Aksa and Sofias house to play after school. I got a haircut, took some garden garbage to the dump then we got the groceries before collecting the kids. Watched 'Empire Strikes Back' then up to bed. It's amazing how into the Star Wars universe the kids are. A busy sort of day and really enjoyable. Now it's wine, beer, bombay mix and telly (plus a bit of blogging).
The lack of posts this week has been mainly down to lack of energy at the end of the working day. The days have been long but the work has been ok. Regular chats with colleagues such as Phil have helped establish quite a positive mindset for me at the moment. Things aren't perfect but I'm looking into the future with expectation.
Down on site at Grain this weekend. The usual mixture of terror (not knowing what to do ) and boredom (having nothing to do). It's a strange situation. Didn't want to do it but don't like refusing and I suppose we do need the cash. I'd rather put some hours in on a job of my own though.
My current computer task is transferring all of my CD based MP3 archive onto my Lacie external drive ready for some serious organising. There's 60 CD's in the archive and it's taking ages. Hopefully completed tonight, currently copying CD #41 across.
I'm coming under some intense pressure lately from Harriet for us to get a dog. My instinct is 'no way' I don't want to share my life with an animal. I've been clear on this for years. I've listed the reasons over and over and I'm convinced, but part of me is aware that maybe my logical objections can't overrule the natural event of having a dog in the family. My case wasn't helped much by us going over to my parents tonight and meeting my brothers new puppy who is staying with them. A black labrador puppy undeniably cute. I wonder is my argument crumbling?
Back to hospital today to follow up my kidney stone situation from Feburary. The appointment letter did not indicate what was planned for today. I spoke with the consultant then he sent me off for an x-ray. His tone suggested he thought the stone has probably come out but he will write to me once he has seen the x-ray. So no real progress today.
Today revolved around Bearwood school. The kids went into school and Jacq and I followed into Dylans class. We had agreed to help set out seating for Dylans sports day but before that we got roped into doing some reading with the kids. It was sweet being able to sit in the corner of class and observe as Dylans school day started. Chairs setup, the sports day began and Dylan got a 2nd place in his team relay race. Putting the chairs away was even harder work, thankfully Steve stayed back and helped me and Jacq. Back home I sorted out some work admin then we went out to lunch at Pizza Hut. Mmmm... melted cheese. From there we went to the swimming baths to watch Harriets swimming gala. Wow, the noise! The kids were lifting the roof off the place, shouting and screaming for their friends. Harriet came 2nd in her race. I was very proud. Back home for a quick cuppa with Zaida then back to school to collect the kids. Hurrah, school is over, it's holiday time!
A fifteen hour day yesterday down at the new T5 terminal at Heathrow airport. What an amazing sight it is seeing this huge building coming together. It's still a long way off complete, but so impressive with the innards exposed. I've never been so impressed by the sheer nuts and bolts of a building construction.
The meeting that I had agreed to attend at Cov today was cancelled so the planned 'rest day' could be considered precisely that. Harriet was off school with an upset stomach. We popped over to Jims to collect Jacqs mobile that she had left there yesterday. Called into WHSmith to pick up some comics for the kids and a book for Jacq for the forthcoming holiday. I'm sorted with the latest copy of The Wire still unopened on the shelf. Got down some bits and pieces from the loft ready for the packing and sorting which will probably commence this evening. The big question is of course, should I take the laptop? Probably not. It would be a good idea to have a break and maybe concentrate on just listening to some stuff and maybe make a few notes.
Monday on site I at least had something to do. With testing and handing-over to Trapper, I actually had quite a busy day. Came back home in the evening in time for an hour with the kids.
This morning I went into town for an Adobe Acrobat training session. Met up with Phil and Dave in there. Glad I went, learnt quite a bit, hope the use of PDF technology could be engineered into our processes. Need an early night tonight as I have to be down at the BPA Heathrow T5 site by 8:00AM.
Still here. System still standing. Sun is shining. Wind is blowing. Not much to do. I've a few mods which I'll implement later.
Had an earlier night last night than the night before but it seems I missed out on some good gossip from Dave A. Oh well, a pleasant evening all the same with my swim length totals reaching new heights and a chat with Neil in the bar. He's one of the good 'uns.
Hopes are high that the server problems on site are gone. Time will tell. Dave, Adrian and Deiter are leaving site with Gordon staying back to babysit. No site tasks for me so far today. Hoping to do a few mods tomorrow in readiness for some testing on Monday. For some reason it seems that webmail is not being blocked on the site network. Bonus. Nice to have Gmail running again.
Came down to the Grain site yesterday. Problems with servers. Lots of Siemens bodies on site. Today a German specialist has arrived. Let's hope he can sort things out and then everyone can calm down. I've had a few bits to keep me busy. Good chat in the bar last night. Gordon from the Manchester office is a sound guy. A very useful person to know.
Prior to Grain, I was up at the Mersey BPA site which was a busy day but I'm happy to report that I managed to make time to grab myself another pair of Vans. 75 notes down to 30, top bargain.
