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.
You Know Yer Indie. Let's Sub-Categorize.
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
Today was a good day for doing jobs around the house. Little DIY tasks that have been on the list for a while. It helped that Jacq was on my case, leading me from job to job. I'm right pooped now though.
Today was the most productive day in the office I've had for ages. Probably down to the fact that I was the ONLY person in my department! Had a chat with my boss about some improvement proposals I've recently made and he seemed to be quite enthusiastic about the ideas. This was quite cheering and I'll have to monitor things closely to see if he really does progress things as he promised. So quite a positive work mindset at the moment and with next week full of meetings with German colleagues it should continue.
After work we went up to the Bullring for me to pick up some photos I'd had printed by Jessops. I selected the option of delivery to store as I don't trust the mail to not damage things. I'd rather fetch them myself. Also went round the Selfridges food hall and picked up loads of interesting goodies. Yum.
There was a tornado in Brum today. How mad is that? Looked like it made quite a mess in Kings Heath from the local news. Nasty. No session tonight with Mike as his shoulder/neck is giving him pain. Hopefully we can re-schedule for next week sometime if he's up to it. I'll continue my efforts to prepare some fresh material for the session.
Back in the office this morning after working at home yesterday. Dave left his skateboard under my desk for me to borrow while he's on holiday. Real nice of him and I'm looking to having a good go on it. Had a quick go tonight at Jims place with Dylan on it with me and he loved it. After Jims visit we picked up some paint and stuff for upcoming DIY action on Harriets room.
Hoping to add some more samples tonight to the batch I've recently saved in prep for a session with Mike on Thursday. Need to make sure I've a respectable number of sounds ready so hopefully we can generate something completely new and fresh. I'm really hoping that we can suprise ourselves.
