Leaving

So Friday I left Siemens. In the end I was glad to get away. No regrets at all. Even a last stroll around the building couldn't bring up any real nostalgia. I was looking forward more to seeing the lads at the traditional lunchtime leaving drink. There weren't many in the office today for a start and a few had to get off home. So the few that came had drinks bought and we took a table outside. Thankfully very soon after the boys arrived. Phil, Dan and John, fantastic to see them. Took them inside to buy a drink and the talk was all about payday. Text messages displayed. Dan suggested a money fight! Adrian popped in to say hello which was nice of him as he'd been at a funeral that morning. Finally Steve turned up on his way back from Milton Keynes. Good to see him again and bring him up to speed with the decline of the office. And by 2:00PM I was on my way home.

Done.

Picture Note: Check the photos above, taken with my nice new phone. Notice anything about them? The only people smiling in them DON'T work for Siemens anymore!!

Last Few Days

My last day tomorrow at Siemens. I've been clearing out stuff from the office over the last few days and occasionally remembering some good times during the last eight years. Throwing out stuff like eight diaries can make you do stuff like that. But in general I don't as nostalgic as I thought I would. That has got to be because so many others are leaving around the same time as me and my real mates have already left. I thought of doing the lunchtime walk today one last time but in the end realised that it's not the same without the entertaining chat. Even when we were just bitching over the same old topics, it was always fun.

Leaving this place and moving on is so much easier because keeping the network together is so much easier than in previous times. Email, blogs, texts, etc. are invaluable. The contracting thing would be much scarier were it undertaken in isolation. The good comms provides real support.

Flickrmeet

Yellow,
Photo by Aeioux.

A walkabout in Birmingham with a bunch of Flickr people. Most enjoyable it was. It's been a long long time since I walked about taking pictures purely for the art of it. Got me looking at my surroundings again with a fresh eye. Aeioux took this picture and I reckon it must have the only one he took where I wasn't smilling like a fool. Thanks for not making me look a fool Aeioux. He seemed like an interesting character who's into loads of creative stuff. And here's me moaning constantly about getting a creative moment to myself. Must try harder. Roll on the next Flickrmeet.

Susans Wedding

Saturday was my cousin Susans wedding day. We went up to Manchester for it and Mike kept an eye on Pebbles. It was very nice to see people who I haven't seen for ten years or more. Everyone looked well and seemed to be having a great day. Our kids didn't enjoy it much and in retrospect maybe it would have been better to have gone without them. Still, Susan had a great day and that's what really matters.

Working At Home

Worked at home yesterday and will do again today. The reason for this is combination of roadworks on the motorway and the current heatwave. Sitting in my non-air-conditioned car in a traffic jam on the M6 really seems to hightlight the utter futility and stupidity of the daily grind. Much smarter to just stay at home, keep cool, do a bit of work.

Wilting In The Heat

It's SO very hot! It's every door and window of the house wide open type heat. Too hot to do stuff. I was working at the Coventry office today and the lunchtime walk with Adrian was ill-advised. I felt awful afterwards. Clothes drenched in sweat and eyes on fire from hay-fever.

Yesterday (Sunday) was just as uncomfortable. Plans to go to the local Harborne Festival were shelved and we just flopped in the shade of the house. Saturday was nicer. Dylan had his friend Mitchell to play after swimming. In the afternoon we went over to Theresas for Lucys 8th birthday. Me and the Steves endured the England v Portugal match with much shouting at the TV involved. As is traditional, we lost on penalties and like times before, I couldn't watch. Hanging out in the garden was fun with the kids playing various water games and Pebbles running around exploring their huge garden. At one point I took a number of shots for a composite of everyone just sitting around. I've just got the basic layout done in Photoshop so far but I hope to do some detailed editing to get the kind of effects that Panoramatic gets in flickr.

Spidey Is Back!

Joy, oh joy! The teaser trailer for Spiderman 3 is out! Watch it here. It's a teaser, but you do see quite a few clips. As always, it made me want to weep. Tobey Maguire is so perfect as Peter Parker he gives it a real emotional centre for me. A new Spidey movie. Fantastic. Can't wait. You can keep your Superman. (Although the new trailer for that looks pretty neat and we WILL be going to see it.)

They Started It

Bit of a gap since my last post and not much of a reason why. Been down in Winchester again this week for 3 days. The work was dull, I didn't have really that much to do. Trapper's last night on Tuesday and we watched the England v Sweden match at the Irish pub. Good atmosphere. Suffered a bit the next morning in the workshop. Human again by lunchtime.

Back in Coventry office Thursday. Spent most of it sorting stuff out of my desk and brought another boot-full home. The word went round that the project has been delayed until next April. This has been by far the worst project I've ever been associated with. The areas I've been involved with have been OK but as a whole, it just doesn't work. Although there have been technical challenges, I think clarity and communication of design from the front would have helped overcome most issues. The fact that a number of us on the team have put in our notice must have contributed to it's demise and if that causes the upper management some discomfort then I'm fine with that. After all, in playground-speak, 'they started it'.

On Wednesday our MacBook was delivered. What a beauty it is. Still getting used to the OS regarding installing applications and the like. Well impressed with the interface. Last night, showing my Dad the machine, we popped a DVD in and Jacq got the remote out for the first time. This launched the Front Row interface and I was knocked out. The browsing of movie trailers was fantastic. Really focuses the user on content rather than the technology involved.
Mom said he should get one for his birthday and I agree. He won't of course.

Worked from home Friday. Hope I can do a few more days at home during my notice. Don't suppose it will be an option when contracting.

Secure The Future

What's really great about putting your notice in is that you are immediately immune to all the rubbish you had stressing about prior to handing it in. In one action I went from not knowing what I will be doing in a months time (and who I'll be working for) to knowing exactly what I'll be doing. Sometimes you just have to secure your own future.

Sorted.

When I got back from site tonight, as well as a house full of people, I had all the paperwork associated with my freelance career. Some interesting reading for the weekend. I definitely prefer the term 'freelance' to 'contractor', it's got a better ring to it.

Still managing to ignore the barrage of repellent mediocrity that is Big Brother. I'm so not interested in that crap. My new headphones with their 6m lead are keeping me insulated from the hideous television. Listening to Richard H Kirk's 'The Number Of Magic' brings back memories of 'ambient' club nights in the mid-nineties.

Mad Day Anniversary

Tuesday was a mad day. What started out as a day booked off as holiday to spend time with my wife on our ten year anniversary turned into a day where we hardly spent any quality time together.

Things got off to a bad start actually the night before as Harriet developed tummy pains and we spent a couple of hours down in A&E getting her checked out. It turned out to be nothing. When we got home at 5:00AM Jacq said she'd been up with the dog crying while we were out. Not the best of starts. Knackered.

Jacq took Dylan to school while Harriet slept. Got a call from a company that Trapper had given me the nod about the day before. They were interested in my CV so I arranged to go see them in Stafford later that day at 4:00PM. I then went off for a couple of fillings and came back with a frozen lop-sided mouth which made Harriet laugh. Soon after we took Pebbles off to the vets for her first jab. The vet seemed pleased with her general health and condition.

Time then to head up the M6 a bit to Stafford and have an interview. It's been a while since having one of those. Seemed like a decent place. Offered a position there and then. Opened ended contract. Just the job. The journey both ways seemed fine. No worse than the trip to Coventry for sure. Think it could happen if the contactor side of things can be setup. Gosh. That all happened a bit quick.

Back home I continued building a new PC for Duggo. Bit of a mad rush. Stopped for a balti with t'wife. A brief moment together. Then back onto finishing off the PC. Delivered it to their house about 9:30PM and then dashed back home to catch Lost.

What a day.

Ten years. Blimey. It's gone quick.

Notice

Today I handed my notice in. What a relief. After weeks and weeks of trying to second-guess my future, I've gone ahead and secured it for myself. Sod 'em.

So goodbye to the long term plans and hello to the glorious uncertainty of contracting. Bring on the big wages!

Pebbles

Here she is! It's Pebbles! She is lots of fun and LOTS of work. She's charmed the kids and almost driven the wife to distraction. She is such a little cutie. We love her to bits.

Back From Holiday

It's been nearly a week since we came back from our holiday at Center Parcs and it feels like ages ago. We had a great week. The weather was kind and we found that we really enjoyed it. The kids raed it better than a 'normal' holiday. It was nice to be riding around on a bike. First time for years. Simple pleasures.

Sunshine Casts It's Spell

Lovely weather cast a beautiful spell over this weekend and even the normal routine events seemed to be slightly more enjoyable than normal somehow. Coming out of the house on Saturday morning into warm sunlight was a great start. With me wearing shorts we all walked down to the swimming baths. The kids did great.

In the afternoon we worked and played in the garden. Paul and Lyn popped in for tea and a chat about being self-employed. Interesting stuff he had to say but I think I'll stick with the umbrella company approach when I finally go contracting. They said they'll be over next weekend to have a cuddle of the pup when she arrives.

Sunday we shopped at Merry Hill for some holiday food and a bit of reading material. Jacq picked up Douglas Coupland's latest, jPod. We love Doug! I'm going to be sneaking a peak at this book while were away for sure.

Rest of day spent packing and organising for going away tomorrow to Center Parcs. The hallway is jam-packed with stuff ready to load into the car in the morning. How come there's so much stuff?! We're only away for 4 nights! I hope I can fit it all in.

Work, Work, Work (Nearly Finished)

Coming towards the end of what is possibly my last week in Winchester. I've been quite busy trying to help out with various tasks. Slow compiles drag out the process painfully. It won't be a quick getaway tomorrow as I don't want to leave things unfinished and drop others in it next week. But what a joy it will be to be home at the start of a weeks holiday.

Bank Holiday

Jacq snapped the above shot during a visit yesterday to Gullivers Kingdom. A great picture and rare for the fact that all four of us are in the frame. We managed to generally have a fun day even though poor Harriet was not feeling very well.

Today was a Bank Holiday complete with traditional rain. We went to see X-Men 3 which was OK. Nothing more than that. Harriet was feeling worse today and it's been hard trying to make her comfortable. A combination of a sore throat and a couple of very wobbly teeth has kept her on the edge of upset all day. Poor sweetheart.

Theresa popped in following a trip to Brum and we discussed plans for next week's holiday. Dylan spent a couple of hours playing with his mate David. I fetched him home as soon as I could. I'm torn between letting the kids play with their friends and having them around me on my rare times at home. I miss the kids so much during the week. I miss out on too much. It's not right you know.

Richard Herring

Went to see Richard Herring at Artrix in Bromsgrove. Nice enough venue that I'd not been to before. Not many people turned up to see Richard which was a shame because he was excellent. Unfortunately the atmosphere was simply lacking. There simply weren't enough people there to achieve the rquired critcal comedic mass. In his blog about the evening it was obvious that it was a dissapointment for him. I will definitely go see Richard again. I really like him.

A Bunch Of Books

Back home from another week in Winchester to some nice post. A bunch of books from Amazon. The Taschen books are amazing value at just six quid each. Check them here and here. The Paul Morley book I've been meaning to get for ages so I might just take it with me on holiday. The Jarman book, Jacq got me for a penny! (plus postage) He is still a hero of mine.

Accidentally bought a MacBook this afternoon! Couldn't help myself. I saw the offer of 0% over 6 months on their website and decided to go for it. Got nearly fifty quid 'educational discount' just for saying that the kids would be using it. Bargain.

As for the working week. The big news is Phil handing his notice in. Fair play to the man for walking the talk. I'm trailing behind but I have at least sent out the CV and let's see what happens. I'm covering for the lead engineer who is on holiday which keeps me busier than I would like. It's hard to remain de-motivated and pissed off when you're busy with stuff.

I Need T-Shirts

I need t-shirts. I'm itching for my first Valleyschwag which apparently is being dispatched next week. In addition I've also ordered schwag from the Google Store. Soon I will be full-on geek-boy slash old-git.

Update: Google sent me advice of the shipping and taxes invloved in the order and it took it from $40 to over $100! So I cancelled the whole deal. I'll just wait for the Valleyschwag.

Double G And The Traitorous 3

Trawling around the web tonight looking for info on the upcoming Scritti Politti album for Rough Trade, I discovered some cool stuff. First off, the news that they recently played live, that's LIVE, in Brixton under the alias, Double G And The Traitorous 3. Now, Green is famous for NEVER playing live so that's a big thing in my book. But also, I found out that they are playing another gig at the Hay literary festival on 2nd June. I SO want to go. The timing isn't great but my god, I love this band. I should go. I really should.

Probably won't.