Most mornings I drive into the city centre and straight out the other side on my way to the motorway and another city. What kind of madness is this? I'd love to work in the city that I live in but I've never managed to find work based here.
Appointment with the doctor this morning about my hip joint pain. He prescribed some painkillers and recommended that I increase my exercise time to 45 minutes a day. If only it were that easy to fit such a time in. I suppose I could always visit a local gym in the evening but I don't think my energy reserves could support it.
Pain in my hip joint today caused me to suggest a lunchtime coffe to Phil in place of the normal trip to the gym. Phil agreed and so we popped down to Starbucks in the local Borders bookstore. The car park was very busy for a bookstore but it seems that everyone is in the coffee-shop, not browsing books. It was a very pleasant time spent chatting away with Phil fueled by coffee and cake. At the end of the hour I'd really lost my work-mojo and didn't relish returning to the dull workplace. I think Phil felt the same as the conversation extended into the office and it was a struggle to get back into the document I was working on.
I continue to be impressed with Phils MacBook Pro. At work this afternoon he presented the uber-demo, showing off some of the neat apps that I've been hearing about on podcasts over the last few months. Quicksilver, Scrivener and iGTD all look like the business. Seeing iPhoto being used from a photography perspective looks a breeze. Of course the Apple hardware itself just rocks and seeing the keyboard softly illuminate was super-neat.
Some notes from a wonderful holiday.
Packed the car and got everything in the boot so I was happy with that. The kids were well setup in the back with their dvd player and the dog in the middle. On the journey up, Harriet got a text from a friend saying that Dylan had won the easter egg competition with 'Egg Wars - A New Yolk', an egg-based homage to the movie. Another winner for Jacq.
The holiday cottage was great with lots of space and nicely decorated. Everything in place we wanted for a relaxing holiday. Talking a stroll with Pebbles, I found a path which lead between houses straight to the coast in less than a minute.
Saturday morning I walked to the shop with dog and boy to fetch paper and milk. Slipping easliy into the relaxed pace with
breakfast followed by a long read of the paper. Looking forward to a walk along the north beach later.
The first walk along the beach was a real life-giver with the wind in our faces. Pebbles loved the beach from the start, dragging great clumps of seaweed around with her. Although there was a chill in the wind, the sun shone through and lifted the scene. I took some photos and we collected some pebbles. Real ones, not the dog. Back to the house for some warm baths. 
I'm sat outside on the back patio with a coffee enjoying some sheltered sun. It's a meditation in itself. The first of many hopefully. Me and Jacq popped down to the local chippy later then we all sat down to watch the start of the new series of Doctor Who.
Sunday morning strolling along the south bay beach, just me and Pebbles. A huge stretch of sand backed by dunes, a perfect scene. We all returned later in the day running up and down the sand dune hills. Totally lost track of time, it reminded me of how it felt to be on holiday as a kid. Afternoons streching on forever. Time goes slow on this holiday.
Monday morning slowly stirring. A bath in Lush Blue Skies is a refreshing delight. Shorts on today even though it's not that warm yet. Another afternoon on the south beach dunes. We took sledges found at the cottage to ski down the dune hills. Jacq took some video. Pebbles had such fun greeting everyone on the beach and making friends. Back at the cottage and it's only just gone three in the afternoon. It's great to actually feel each moment of the day pass by naturally.
Weather got nicer as the week went on. We hadn't expected he sun and packed no sunblock so I burnt the top of my head. Apart from a trip to a Roman site to get Dylan a sword and shield, we just simply hung out in Beadnell and relaxed. Sublime.
I'm glad we didn't take all of our usual gadgets up on holiday with us. I was free of the opression of possibilites. Would I be happier without it all? No, the holiday was a refreshing break from the routine that should hopefully renew and refresh my creative goals. Normally by the end of a holiday I've usually had enough, ready come back home. But this time I would have loved another week in Beadnell living at that same pace and just enjoying each moment. I could tell it was a good holiday by the despair in my mood on returning to work the following week. It took nearly all week to re-adjust back into things.
Not blogged for a while but that doesn't mean I've not been online. I've been online loads, in fact, I've probably been online too much. Well, tomorrow we're off on holiday and I'm looking forward to being very much "offline". The only gadget I'm taking away with me is a camera. We've got a cottage in the village of Beadnell in Northumberland and the dog is coming with us. Hopefully there will be lots of invigorating walks on the windswept beaches. Should blow away the cobwebs.
Saw Phil today in the office for the first time all week. Good to see him and his swanky new MacBook Pro. I'm ever so slightly jealous. At the risk of being seen as a copycat, I want one.
Another good session at the gym today. 20 minutes on the cross trainer and all of them in the cv zone. Hope to work some exercse into my relaxing routine next week.
Eduardo Recife is a graphics guy I like a lot. I've been checking his Misprinted Type site for years now but only today did I find his commercial work site here. Really great stuff that guy does, so inspiring. Following a link to some video for an HBO history lecture show called Assume The Position. It looks pretty good stuff and I might just BT some of it for a look-see. You gotta love bittorrent, it's so cool being able to just download stuff that seems interesting without having to wait for your own broadcast networks to pick up on it. Phil passed over a bunch of episodes of Dexter in the week that I'm looking forward to sitting down with.
Only a week to go until our Easter holiday break up in Northumberland in the village of Beadnell. Really looking forward to it. Taking Pebbles up with us will force us into a different sort of holiday I reckon. A simpler holiday, consisting of fresh air and beach walks hopefully. Dylan is keen to check out out some Roman stuff so a trip down to Hadrian Wall is definitely in the plan, if only for another sword for his collection.
Not much to summarize from the working week. Ducked out of gym on Friday due to strained muscle in the hip area. I'll be back on Monday, if only on weights. Popped over to Coventry on Wednesday to catch up with ex-colleagues and members of the elite Chancers team. Great to see everyone and love the fact that eveyone seems to really value keeping in touch. Long may it continue.
Karting last night with some of the guys from work. The group split into teams of two for a 1 hour endurance race. Phil and I teamed up in Kart 11. Phil drove first and set off at a great pace getting miles ahead of the pack. I was half-pleased and half-terrified, concerned that I would let the side down. It took me a while to build up the required agression to go full-out around the course. But once I got into the zone, the red-mist came down and I was pushing myself hard to keep the pace up. I was stoked. In the end, we came in third place
which I was chuffed with considering it was my first time karting. Glad I didn't let the side down. Top fun all in all. The kids were impressed with my bronze medal. You can see an example lap of the track here.
A lovely spring-like sunny morning, Dylan and I did the swimming lesson routine and Harriet played out with her friends. Later on I went down the high street to pick up the obligatory mothers day flowers and bumped into Mike who was looking well. I hope we can get together for some creative action soon.
Listening to the 1Up Yours podcast on the way to work this morning reporting from the current Game Developers Conference. It sounds like Sony may finally have some interesting stuff coming up on the PS3. It will be nice to get excited about that bit of kit at last. Hopefully some Nintendo news will be coming out from there soon too. Go Ninty!
Gym attendance still going strong and I'm starting to feel some benefits from it in a general feeling of well-being along with a flexibility I've not had for many many years. I'm already starting to wonder why I ever left it this long to do this when it makes me feel so good about stuff.
Meeting tonight with my soon-to-be accountant in Birmingham. It was a two-hour chat that went by in a flash. My mind is spinning a bit with figures and I'm musing on some decisions that need to be made. As always, talking it over with Jacq helped me with my moral compass.
Managed a little bit of retail action while walking through the Bullring tonight. Picked up a copy of Firefly: The Official Companion for a real good price. It looks sweet, with lots of pictures and info that I can geek out over later. On a related note, my second set of trading cards arrived today, full of Serenity goodness.
After swimming, the afternoon was spent over at Marys house for Jodies birthday. Good to see everyone as it's been a while.
Waiting in the drive-thru on the way home, I rambled on about how great our new car is. The improvement in space and functionality for the family is a joy to me. I think it suits us really well.
It was a lunar eclipse last night. The sky was clear so we got a good look at it. Although Flickr is full of moon shots this morning (no, not THAT type of moon), it wasn't worth pointing my camera at it as I just don't have the lens.
Can't remember much of what happened at the weekend as it's got to Thursday night already in the blink of an eye. One thing to report though was a quick shopping trip up town on Sunday afternoon where I scored the first series of Battlestar Galactica from Virgin for just £12.99! Thirteen quid for 4 DVD's, that's good value in my book. T'wife says I can't watch 'em as they're too boring but she wasn't keen when I brought Firefly into the house and look what happened there.
Pleased to report that since joining the gym last week it's been 100% daily attendance so far. It's a bit of a mad rush trying to get a solid block of time actually on the equipment so I hope I can stretch my lunch-hour by a bit as I get more settled into the workplace.
Booked holiday for the upcoming Easter break up in Beadnell, Northumberland. Easter is at the end of this month which seems ridiculously close but it will be fun to be away with the dog for the first time.
First week done at new workplace. Friday night journey home not as bad as expected. Jacq went over to Carols for some cooking-slash-party thing. She found it boring and needed booze to get through it, ending up with the blokes in the kitchen.
Jacq and I went to see Hot Fuzz this afternoon while my parents looked after the kids and took the dog up the woods. Film was good, not as good as 'Shaun', but good.
Some post waiting when we got back home. Love getting post. Love getting post from US even more. I got trading cards. I love trading cards. I don't like buying trading cards by the individual packet, but buying them as a complete set rocks! Got myself a lovely set of Firefly cards which are a joy to flick through. Firefly is one of my most favourite TV shows ever.
Oh and Jacq is great. Great great great.
This week has gone so quick, it's Thursday already and I've not yet blogged about starting at a new workplace this week. I'm over in Leicester now and there are a few friendly faces here. It's great to be working with Phil and Dan again. On the first lunchtime we took a stroll and it was just like old times, except with less to bitch about.
A more than usual amount of TV has been watched just recently. 24 and Lost are essential, but the highlight is Heroes which started on Monday night. I'm loving this. Took me until the second episode to get fully into it but I'm there now. Hiro is my fave character so far but I expect that will change as things develop. The fact that the actor that plays Hiro is also an oscar-winning ILM employee make me sick with envy.
Inspired by Phil and frankly using him as moral support, I've finally joined a gym. It feels like a big step for me and it's long overdue. I'm determined to get into the routine of going every lunchtime and really making this a 'lifestyle change' as my doctor calls it. I've only been twice so far and not attempting anything too ambitious until I've had my induction session next week.
So glad to report that I've got the car back from the garage and it's running like shit off a shovel. What a relief that is, I can now allow myself to love my car. I'd been holding off getting too attached on the off-chance that I might have to return it should the lack of performance in the engine become too much to bear. But all is well, the car drives nice now and it's here to stay.
A Flickrmeet tomorrow with the Black Country group, having a walk around Walsall. Looking forward to this as I've never had a close look at the town. Jacq and the kids are coming too and they will mostly be hanging around the New Art Gallery which I hope to check out as well as it's been ages since we've been there. Hope they've still got Noddy Holder as the voice of the lift announcer. That's the best bit. An art installation in itself.
Dropped my new car into the garage this morning to check out the under-powered effect I've been noticing. I hope they can find something wrong to fix otherwise I'll have to swap the car and I don't want to do that. After the drop-off, I took a walk into town through the streets of Digbeth. The sun was shining strong and I enjoyed my own personal Flickrmeet.
I know that lots of people didn't much care for the first Fantastic Four film, but I liked it. I was glad to learn that a sequel had been sanctioned and now I've seen the trailer for it I'm stoked. Check it out here.
I don't like last days. I hate feeling like I might be the focus of any kind of attention. That's a bit lame I'll admit, but there it is. I just wanted to get my work done, get my hours in, and get out of there with the minimum ammount of fuss. So just after lunch I made my backups, made my excuses and left. Thankfully no bridges were burnt and the door was left open to stay in contact, there's every possibilty I could work work for them again under the right circumstances. Can't ask for better than that I guess.
Last days, I hate 'em. I suppose I should get more used to them. They're a feature of the landscape.
The snow returned today. It was snowing as I left the office and the queues on the M6 south were horrendous, but nothing compared to the chaos I encountered on leaving the motorway. It must have took me almost an hour to travel the last couple of miles from the motorway exit to my house. I almost didn't make into my road. Much wheelspinning on the hill. But I made it glad to say. Sense of relief when I got into the house.
Jacq picked up a sledge on the high street so off we went to the woods. Much fun was had. Harriet and her friend Ellie were on the sledge, me and Dylan were rolling down the hill, Jac and Pebbles surveyed the scene.
Telly and wine were enjoyed later from the sofa. It's the start of a half-term holiday. Does it get any better than this?
The snow stuck around yesterday and it was great to go out for a walk in it. Usually the evening walk of the dog involves walking along the edge of Warley Woods, but never IN the woods. That's because basically it is a dark and scarey place on a winters evening and I'm a scaredy-cat. But last night the woods were illuminated by the snowfall and filled with the sound of laughter. We ventured through the trees and came out in the open area to see hundreds of people enjoying the snowy slopes on a variety of sledge contraptions. Unfortunately we don't own a sledge, I don't even know where to but such an item. Hopefully some enterprising soul will sell sledges on the high street after this recent snow and we can pick one up then, ready for the next time.
It snowed this morning. It wasn't the storm the news had been in a panic about for the previous few days, but it was nice. Enough snow to get the schools closed, although that's not saying much. I travelled into work without any problems which is where I am right now. I hope the kids get to have a play in the snow before it melts. The dog saw it for the very first time this morning and she ran back into the house.
It was my birthday on Sunday just gone. Jacq got me an iPod Shuffle. That thing is small! Been listening to Boards Of Canada on the nightly dog walk. Should be a nice soundtrack to a walk in the snow tonight.
Finishing at my current workplace tomorrow and I'm taking a week off next week as the kids are on half-term break. Looking forward to the week off as it's arrived almost as a surprise. Looking forward also to starting at my new place of work the week after.
Too much stuff on today to possibly consider doing a days work at the office. So, no wages for me today. Set off this morning over to Leicester for an interview. The journey was as long as I had feared and motorway trouble meant that I had to phone ahead and warn of my late arrival, not a good start. The interview went fine and I reckoned that I pressed all the right buttons. It really helps in an interview situation to go into it NOT wanting the position. Following the two hour meeting, I caught up with my mate Phil and discussed things. My head was spinning with many questions and it helped enormously to bounce some ideas off him.
Headed back to Brum for a dental appointment. What fun. I hate the injections. Sitting in the waiting room my head felt like it was about to explode. Stressing about a possible new job and worrying about an injection, I was in a right state. Anyways, I survived of course. Managed to get back in time to pick up my little beauties from school. Discussed things further with Jacq and decided that I would indeed go for this new job. Soon after, the call came through from the agent that an offer had been made. So now it's real, I have a new position to go to if I want it. I've got this weekend to let things sink in and on Monday I'll be going into the office to drop the news. There will be an undeniable satisfaction in demonstrating to the guys who've been chuntering on about no work and moving on that yes, I'm moving on, and you lot can stay, chuntering on.
Spoke with Mike tonight and I hope we can get together soon. Although he's not been too well recently, I'm chuffed as fuck about some of the creative stuff he's been up to. You go Micky!
Should have gone out to see The Nightingales tonight but I wasn't feeling up to it. A mixture of the dental work and the stressing about work stuff meant that an evening on the sofa with the wife and a box of wine was far more appealing. The kids had a 'sleepover' tonight, which involves Dylan sleeping on the floor in Harriets room and the two of them having a great time playing with Gameboys and all-sorts, joking and giggling. I love it when they decide to do that. Good times.
