The view from my desk

Now, bring on the cider and ice creams!

Where to go with this...?

I really don't see the point in continually telling the world how tired I am; how rubbish London transport can be; how stressful the job is; or how many house jobs were done of an evening / weekend. However, as that has now removed a lot of my waking hours the question is, what should I write about?

Looking at my stats, there are 8 people who regularly (daily) visit the web site. There are also a number of people subscribed to the RSS feed (of course I have no idea if they read the feed). So, you lot, what do you want more of? Rants about current world stupidity? Photos? Commentary on little things? Hopes and dreams? Or should I just shut up? Go back to technical postings once in a blue moon?

Any idea? No preference?

The cutest girl in the world. Now in pig tails

Ok, one of the 2 cutest. I'm married to the other one.

P.S. I'm back, but can't blog properly yet. Head not in the right space.

This is the end.

Well, it is for a week and a day.

And boy do I need it. Late nights all week, early mornings twice (including today). A holiday is very much needed.

I'll be leaving the blackberry at home. I don't know about my phone. I think I'll have to leave that too. Too many reports of apps ignoring the data roaming preferences and costing people a fortune. No thanks!

So no communication for a week. A scary concept for me.

Must remeber the camera. We've had a period of forgetfulness when it comes to the camera lately, but I've charged it up, and it's ready to go. Just in time for me to walk into the sea with it in my pocket. Again. Again.

Strangely tired. I've actually had a reasonable amount of bed time the last couple of nights, but sleep (or at least deep sleep) is elusive at the moment. Combine that with an 06:20 alarm call, and tiredness isn't hard to explain.

Ok, enough. Be good whilst I'm out. See you back and refreshed on a week come Tuesday.

Morning

I'm up early (or is that on time? On a damp and dreary morning. So here is the view from the far end of the platform, and an idea of what Berkshire looks like at 7am today.

Ready for a break?

On holiday next week (and a couple of days of the following week), so no posts. I'm definitely ready for it. Stress at work is invading my dreams, and making me restless. It's time to stop, leave the blackberry (and the G1) at home, and get away from it all.

That's all I can think about this morning. Changes and demands at work are too overpowering to think about at the minute, so my mind is skitting away to happier thoughts.

It's a hard life

So, another Monday begins. And for my daughter it'll be something of a comedown. She's had the weekend of her little life!

It all started Friday. Her usual friends unavailable, she went to Monkey Mates. An indoor playground with lots of scafolding wrapped in foam and bright colours, big toys swinging around, climbing nets, and, of course, slides. She had a great time. And my wife got a work out!

Nothing out of the ordinary there though. She's been to Monkey Mates before.

On Saturday however, a new experience. We drove for an hour, down to near Portsmouth, to a place called Paultons Park. It's essentially Alton Tours for the under 9s with most of the rides for the under 4s. She *loved* it! It's a one off fee to get in (and children under a metre are free), then all the rides are height restricted with 85% being for those over 90cms. My daughter is 92cms. She's free, but able to go on pretty much everything. Win.

We spent the day on ride after ride. Rollercoasters, pirate ships, things the go round, up, down, huge slides (no, bigger than that), and every other fun way of moving your body. My daughter was into everything. Even taking her hands off at daring moments and waving them in the air. Usually giggling like something demented. Best of all, there were hardly an queues. Toddlers and queuing don't go well together, so that was a real bonus. We generally had to wait one turn before our go.

She even had her first ice cream (just like Daddy's) and managd to eat it cleaner than most 6 year olds I've seen with ice creams. She, of course, loved it too. (Most of the other food she ate during the day was brought with us, and healthy!)

She fell asleep on the way home, and went straight to be when we got back.

We followed that up with a whole day in the garden with Mum and Dad. This may not sound huge to you, but to her it is. Usually when we're at home, one of us (or both) is busy doing jobs. Yesterday, the time was for her. I did a BBQ which she enjoyed (lots of shrimp), and we spent time in her ball pit, playing football, and just being near her while she played with sand, or bounced on the trampoline.

Another fun day, and another early night.

Now she's back to normality. Poor girl. She'll just have to put up with play dates, trips out to parks, and more playing in the garden. Tough life.

Can't be bothered

I'm no fun at parties. Apparently.

Too hot chocolate

Of a morning I like to pop to the coffee booth at Reading and get myself a nice hot chocolate from the lovely people at AMT. Today it didn't work like that.

They don't take cards, and I have 24p in my wallet. A transaction was not going to happen.

So, I thought, if the train I get on has a new style buffet car I'll get one there. They take cards.

The train arrives.

It has a new style buffet car.

I order a hot chocolate.

It comes HOT. In a paper cup. Not weighing very much which I thought was odd.

By the time I got to Paddington, 25 minutes later, the drink was still too hot to drink, and the little bit I sipped tasted like hot water with essence of chocolate.

My mouth and tounge are now burnt. I haven't had a drink. I'm not happy. This is no way to begin a Thursday.

I will not be buying a hot chocolate from First Great Western ever again.

I need a holiday

This thing can write itself these days. Pick from:

I'm tired
Commute is rubbish
Didn't do much of interest last night / weekend

That about sums it up. I'm tired through. I need a break. The one we have coming up in 12 days will do for a start.

Maybe I should start calling and e-mailing Americans at 7am our time and expecting an answer. See how they like it.

Really, given a whole 6ish hours of overlap in our working days, why do they wait until 23:50 to send an e-mail for information?

Also, meetings are usually scheduled a few days in advance. People know about them. So why wait until the evening before your meeting to ask me for the data to support your agenda? I'm not in the meeting, I didn't know it existed, I'm not getting anything from it. So why should me and my team bust a gut to get you data when you could have given us a few days warning and had it completed without disrupting our entire schedule.

Ok, rant over. I need a break.

Restless in Reading, Lozenges in London

Didn't sleep well last night. Sore throat and swollen glands do not make good bedfellows.

I was up at 3 for some throat spray. Sometime around 4 I was shivering violently under a thick duvet. 5 to 6 I was sweating and delerious. 6:30 onwards, exhausted dozing / unconsciousness. 7:30, up, showered and off to work.

I'm coming to the conclusion that I might be an idiot.

I'm warm, and rather damp. It really hurts to swallow. I have a splitting headache. I feel full (bloated might be a better description) even though I haven't eaten anything.

Yes, probably an idiot.

The duvet was calling, and I ignored it. Deciding, instead, to put myself through a stressful day at work. Why? I don't know. I have things to do, yes, but they could probably have waited. (Ok, not really. Things need to be done by the end of the week, and here we are, at the end of the week)

I'll shut up now. Leave you so I can wallow in my pain and sorrow. At least it's a three day weekend. Woo. Rest.