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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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 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!
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."
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
