Kept meaning to write a ‘proper’ entry, but kept not being in the mood, so I’ll just stop putting it off any longer and just write it before it’s waaaay tooo looong…
Thursday 16th
Spent all day sat in interviews. But in a good way, I was the one asking the questions, alongside the new MD. He’s really into using people for their talents regardless of seniority, which is good. New IT manager, some good candidates we called back, and one guy who blew it so badly despite looking great on paper. Useful experience, sitting on the other side and looking at candidates rather than being one. That was cool. No work done at all though, hadn’t expected to lose all day on them.
Friday 17th
Last day at work, a huge rush to get through everything and leave on time after yesterday. Did manage to leave nearly on time (half 4 instead of 4), but then had to explain to MD on the way out why I wasn’t going tot he staff do he was paying for. “Party in London” says I. He’s a little religious, I’ll leave explaining S-C until after the pay review…
Drive to London, park at ’s, change in car (cold, not nice), go to train station, then go into town. Get to Kings Cross at about 10ish, wait for the shuttle bus which picks us up at about 10.20pm.
S-C was cool, again. Met more people, spoke to others, passed on random methods of insulting Mike to people, and said a few words to which was cool. But, after a busy day at work and a 4 hour drive, I wasn’t really in a “meet new people” mood. So, despite standing right next to , , and at various points in the evening, I didn’t actually say much. ah well, there’s always next time.
Saturday 18th
Had planned to crash at Mike’s, then go shopping and drive home. Fortunately, invited me to and talked me into attending the London Vampire Group Xmas party. It didn’t actually take much persuasion really, Neil Gaiman theme and several attractive women I’d met at S-C were going…
So, bummed around Mike’s, read a bit, order pizza and then go into town. The venue was quite cool (although I forget the name of the pub), and the company was interesting and amusing. Over the course of the evening, Mike was flirting with one of the two ladies visiting from the Isle of Man, I thought her friend was much more interesting (which is weird, not my ‘type’ really). Guess which one had a boyfriend? Sorry Mike.
Of course, I didn’t find out how young Sophie was until after the flirting had become a little too obvious. We behaved. Sort of. She’s actually capable of typing coherent emails as well, none of this long paragraphs with no punctuation bollocks. I like that in a person. If we could add 5 years or so to her age and move her to a slightly easier to visit locale I’d be a very happy man right now. Still, fun. To everyone alse at the LVG party that had wanted to contiinue conversations with either of us. Or indeed not see a couple rather enthusiastically connected for most of the evening in a well lit pub, sorry. Sort of, anyway…
Sunday 19th
Finally went shopping. Didn’t buy much, but ruled out lots of gift options. Did buy the SFX reviews of the year magazine. Very useful, I own 6 of the top ten books. I asked for another one of them for Xmas (Johnathan Strange and Mr Norrel. Only just started it, but recommend it - hardback currently, the skint people should get the paparback; everyone that likes books should get it, very cool so far). Had a coffee, then drove home.
Monday 20th
Slept all day. Seriously. Completely lost track of time, got up late evening, did nothing useful. The weekend completely wore me out. Not complaining though.
Didn’t do much the rest of the week really, went Xmas shopping with sister, found Ottakers (mentioned that already), and read books. Went out drinking with the guys from GW a few times, that was fun. I may manage to live with the new manager there, he’s not as bad as I first thought. Not good in any way, but not the complete arse I first read him as being. Try and get him promoted out instead of fired methinks. Staff training is fun; he writes out a bit of the training manual, I look at it and suppress the desire to observe how much of that pageI helped write. 3 hours a week still, I can manage that 
Saturday 25th
Parents house, see Gran as well, she’s looking really old now (over 80, I forget the exact age). But she’s happy, and coherent if forgetful of names, so that’s cool. I don’t know what to think about my parents though. They bailed me out (big time) from a financial hole I’d dug earlier this year, I’d made it clear I didn’t want much. They’ve always been generous at Xmas, but… New car stereo. Not just any car stereo, but a top of the range DAB radio car stereo. £300 worth. And a pile of other stuff. So much for not getting anything.
Still, a good day, and nice to see the close family together without too many others.
Sunday 26th
Watched Return of the King extended edition, as expected. Actually enjoyed the film, even got a bit emotional at the end. Huge change from when I saw it in San Francisco when it came out, I guess I wasn’t in the right mood. Very enjoyabel, and I flicked through some commentaries as well, they were fun. Didn’t know Sirkis had also voiced the Witch King. Hearing the actors describe cutting from a bit they filmed at the start to a re-shoot 4 years later then back again despite it being seemless int he flim was weird.
Bummed around, played on the internet, read a lot of slashdot stuff from the feed. Not much really. Ate chocolate cookies though
However, it’s very apparent I’ve messed my body clock up last week, I’m not sleepy and it’s 5am. So, time to not sleep then turn in early tomorrow, sort the thing out. Normally works.
Oh yeah, The Temple got hacked Xmas eve. CJ fixed it, I’m really glad I talked the guys into bringing him on board, the tech side of website management is beyond me still…
[as, it appears, is formatting LJ entries. Why ‘edit entry’ creates a new entry each time I understand not…]
December 27th, 2004
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OK, I’ve been hating living back in Torbay. Main reason I’ve given is that the only half way decent bookshop is a WHSmith, which doesn’t really count.
There’s now an Ottakers. Yay! says I. Found out about it last week, went in it for the first time Wednesday, with my sister, to buy some Xmas presents. Bought a few books, looked around, she bought me a book that I’d been looking for. Managed to resist the temptation to buy stuff for myself. Was very tempting.
Went in again today. Was intending to buy a voucher for dad as a final present, and maybe a little something extra. £59 later…
Voucher and a Bill Bryson book for Dad. Jimmy Nails’ autobiography for Mum (it was on offer and she’s a fan). Um, I already had their presents.
Then there’s the new Rory Bremner book, the first Game of Thrones book and the first series of Hitchhikers Guide on CD. Um, there’s a sale on next week as well.
My bank balance is doomed, it’s 5 minutes walk from the flat…
Oh yeah *checks date*
Bah Humbug to the lot of you…
December 25th, 2004
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If you weren’t aware of the Cobb County, Georgia US school district putting stickers on all their books, there’s a link at the bottom of the below.
But a biology teacher at Swarthmore has come up with a pretty cool rejoinder.
Bush actually did say that as well.
http://www.swarthmore.edu/NatSci/cpurrin1/textbookdisclaimers/
December 25th, 2004
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Reminder to Mike, and anyone else online right now, tune to Radio 4. Baddiel’s show is great.
December 24th, 2004
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Dial up users may want to not be doing anything online else while looking at this link…
Santa Mosh!
Another update is due, some cool stuff at work yesterday, but Ican’t be arsed right now…
December 12th, 2004
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Look, I put in a bio. And I put in a lot of interests. Then I got confused. BTW, ? You can’t spell ‘Ministry’.
I was born in Paignton 30 years ago. I now work in Paignton. Between then, I’ve travelled, lived all over the place, ran a shop, got a degree, slept with a few women, met some people, and played a few games.
People tend to give me credit for work they did, which is weird. I go to Italy, get met at the airport, driven to the hotel my friends there had booked for me, have a great weekend, and they thank me for coming. Barry, Rox and Mike set up a clubnight and save a society, I’m the Honorary President. Go figure. I guess I must be good at ‘leadership’ and ‘teambuilding’. As long as the team can handle being insulted constantly because I’m bored.
I like real music, played by real musicians, preferably with talent. I’m not a genre purist, I like good stuff if it’s good, and dislike crap stuff even if the lead singer is a gorgeous goth girl. I’ve been known to get out of bed in the afternoon on my day off, but that’s unusual.
If I’m supposed to be meeting you somewhere, ring me in advance to make sure I’m on my way, I’ll probably forget, be late, or otherwise be annoying.
I’m good at ‘verbal reasoning’. I mean, really good. Analysis is my thing. Shame I can barely change lightbulbs, the oil in my car, etc. If it’s anything remotely practical, don’t ask me.
Oh yeah, I love the net, but can’t see the point in spending money on stuff. This is typed on an AMD Athlon 650. Yes, that’s right, not even 1Gb of processing speed. 64Mb RAM. Dial up internet connection. It’s all I need.
Please stop telling me to get broadband, I live in a crappy flat and plan to move soon. Broadband contracts are for a year minimum, and, well, you read the specs of my PC, right?
I browse using Mozilla. I get annoyed with people who whinge about pop-ups, get infected with viruses and send large filesize emails. I’m not a fan of corporate culture, but find a lot of activists on ‘the left’ to be woefully misinformed or misguidedly confident. Lots of things to complain against, no long term solution.
I’d rather fix the world the long way.
Oh yeah, I work in an office in an underpaid job that causes me much stress 3 months a year and much time off the rest. My boss is both great and awful, I wish we could work together without shouting, but it seems we can’t.
That’s me. Arrogant bastard aren’t I?
December 10th, 2004
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Sorry, but somethings, I just don’t get…
http://img79.exs.cx/img79/5126/mutilatedbaby8mj.jpg
Someone explain why people would do this?
December 10th, 2004
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You are Gobo Fraggle.
Which Fraggle Rock Character Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla
WTF? I ticked all the apathetic, would rather sit in the corner boxes, and they still make me Gobo? Which one was Gobo?
December 8th, 2004
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Picked Chris, Alica and Laurence up (almost ontime) outside the Great Western, then drove to Barnstable, we only got lost once despite me forgetting to look at the directions before leaving…
Good to see Sy down here from London, the Barnstable guys were their normal friendly selves. The “great” chippy they “always” goto on Sundays when in the vllage is, um, closed every Sunday, so junk food diets R us, but who cares.
I won an Ironhall challenge, Chris beat a Morrigan giving him two of each DL, he came first in the tournament, and as he was the only undefeated player and he was the only person that beat me, I came second! I seem to be doing better in tournaments recently, I guess having the best player in Europe as a pretty good friend helps. Using his decks definately helps.
Beyond that, very lazy weekend, and when I got back to the flat, the lounge and hallway lightbulbs went when I turned them on. Must talk tot he landlord about the electrics (again). That means cleaning the flat so he can get in though. I’ll leave it for a bit…
So, I used my last spare bulb, and dug out the weird ‘red’ one I inherited fromt he previous occupant. It’s got to be all of 20watts, if that, completely pointless. Ah well, I’ll have to stumble around a bit tonight and buy some more ont he way home tomorrow.
Colleagues over from Germany again, this time the Head of the German office, a regular conatact I’ve never met, so should be an interesting day. she’s bring one of our most important agents along, so I have to be nice and presentable. Oops, maybe should have done some laundry. Ah well.
Grotty cold is back, but that’s usual. Spent some time trawliung around LJ communities again, I find a few of interest somehow, and people I know are already members. Figures. New people found though, including Dr Ben of Spin (really must have that argument properly again sometime Ben) and a crazy American over here that almost might be as left wing in some areas as me…
I’ll stop rambling now. Night all. Mark? drink some hot chocolate. IT probably won’t help, but that’s what normally gets me to sleep.
December 6th, 2004
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I don’t know why it went all wrong yesterday (well, I do, I’d used html brackets with no code), but it looked fine when I checked it myself.
Ah well, I’ll get used to the little differences of LJ I suspect.
Still can’t figure out why I got to be a phoenix.
December 4th, 2004
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