London Calling – Take 2
Sunday, February 10, 2008 ~ 6 comments so far
Back from Spain, unpacked and back into the routine. The next few weeks will be busy, preparing for a new kitchen, finishing off a website (two on the go at the moment) as well as a few other things that have cropped up in our absence that need dealt with.
However, before all that and as I’ve already mentioned, I’m in London this coming weekend. Friday evening will find me in Charing Cross in the Ship and Shovell pub from around 4pm.
At the request of some, I’ve setup an Upcoming event for this momentous occasion. As I was told (or at least this is how I remember it) this is an incredible opportunity for you all to meet and greet the 17th most important blogger in Scotland. OK, maybe I’m over-egging it a little but I’m DEFINITELY the most important blogger in my house.
If you can be bothered to come along, and you have an Upcoming account, then it would be handy if you’d sign up to this event so I know how many people to expect. I know the pub has a maximum capacity so this will help me gauge the interest in what may be a once in an evening occasion.
I realise the location won’t suit everyone but as I’m hauling my ass down from Scotland, it really would be a little rude of you to complain, so suck it up. I will bring some signed photographs and if you are really lucky I may even let you buy me a drink. It’s only fair.
Hope to see you all there.
Day in the Life
Saturday, February 9, 2008 ~ 7 comments so far
“Woke up, got out of bed, dragged a comb across my head” sang Paul. And everyday I do the same thing, except the comb thing as there isn’t really that much there that needs combing…
I recently completed an article outlining a day in the life of a technical writer (well a day in MY life as a technical writer), and thought I’d take a stab at filling out the rest of the day on here. I can’t publish my ‘working day’ article until the magazine comes out, so there will be a big gap there but it’d just bore you anyway.
My typical weekday starts at 6.30 am. Well it used to, it now starts whenever a small black furry creature decides it’s time to leap up onto the bed and gently knead one of us awake (that sounds odd, cat owners will know what I mean). Regardless, the alarm goes off around 6.15 am, and the snooze button is quickly employed, at least once, sometimes twice depending on how many times I’ve awoken during the night. I tend to sleep lightly until around 3am so any noises or, say, cats leaping onto the bed, tend to wake me up.
Rolling out of bed, the first and usually most pressing matter to be dealt with is my bladder (too much detail?) and then it’s a quick shower and time to get dressed. I’m lucky that my darling wife doesn’t trust me to iron my shirts properly so there is usually one waiting for me, a quick check to see if my boxer shorts will last another day or whether I need to change them (I’m KIDDING!) and then an important part of my morning.
My office is based in a fairly out of the way location with no shops within walking distance, so the restaurant/canteen downstairs is our main source of food. I’ve tried my best to be disciplined and to make my lunch to take with me but it just doesn’t work and I usually end up buying my lunch at the office. With that in mind, when the company launched a salary sacrifice scheme for the canteen I signed up immediately (they are contributing 30% on top of what I put in so I’m saving money this way, kinda).
That means that I need to make sure I’ve got my wallet with me or I’m stumped. I still carry a couple of pounds in change, just in case, but after slipping my wallet into my back pocket, strapping my watch to my wrist and grabbing anything else I need for work (iPod, USB drive and occasionally my notepad or a book) I toddle downstairs for a glass of fresh orange.
Feed the cat, check his litter tray and generally potter until we are both ready to leave, usually just after 7am. The commute takes around 40 minutes most mornings, and I tend to drive the bulk of it as it involves a short spell on a country road which she doesn’t like driving. She’ll leave me at the office and take the car with her as she works about 10 minutes away. I don’t have a fixed time to start but have gotten used to the timings which allow us to miss the bulk of the traffic in the morning, and allow me an hour or more of peace and quiet until everyone else arrives.
These days I eat breakfast in work, typically Fruit and Fibre in a throwaway attempt at being healthy, then it’s coffee and my working day has begun.
[This is the bit that is getting published. It'll get posted to my other blog in due course.]
As the clock rolls past 5pm I start thinking about going home. Louise and I trade the odd email during the day so I’ve usually got a fair idea of what is planned for that evening. She picks me up around 5.20 and we doddle home as quickly as the traffic allows to be greeted by Ollie who has, obviously, learned what our car sounds like.
We usually have a cup of coffee when we first get into the house, sort through any mail and double-check plans for the evening. Although since Louise changed jobs and we now commute together, we’ve usually covered all that so depending on what is in store sometimes it’s a straight dash for dinner. Louise is currently dieting (really well too, almost 2 stones in 4 months!) so she’ll prepare something that she can eat, and I’ll take a bit of whatever is on offer.
A little bit of TV whilst dinner digests, typically something we don’t need to concentrate on (hello Friends, Frasier, Simpsons, and Everybody Loves Raymond) and it’s time for some household chores. Of the two of us I’m the tidier, and tend to focus on that type of thing, which is handy as apparently I don’t hang the washing up correctly… hey that’s what I’m told, don’t blame me!
I don’t tend to watch “live” TV these days, unless it’s sport related, and the decision is usually to do some work on the computer, play a game (PS2 or Wii) or chill out and play with the cat. One of us will knacker him out at some point in the evening and the rest of my night, and more nights than is healthy, the PC will win the battle for my attention.
Bed beckons around midnight.
Boring huh. Still, it filled a blog post.
Music I’ve forgotten
Thursday, February 7, 2008 ~ 4 comments so far
There is one major downside to owning a lot of music. It’s not the worry of storage space, nor the concern of quality, instead it’s rather more trivial than that.
I can’t remember what I’ve got.
In any given month I’ll buy at least 2 or 3 albums (not CDs), and they’ll go into rotation at home and at work. Of course I don’t always pick up new albums, sometimes older ones grab my fancy, for example I went through a spate of purchasing old Rolling Stones albums a couple of years ago. Those months are pretty easy to handle, as the new stuff slots into rotation easily. The problems arise when I purchase multiple CDs, which I do tend to do, leaving newer albums to be bulk purchased at the one time.
With several new albums arriving in my playlist, I naturally gravitate to the ones that instantly appeal and stick to those for until I get bored, at which point I revert back to the tried and trusted (my last.fm account gives an accurate depiction of what those are). And there in lies the problem.
I don’t make a conscious effort to revisit music that falls in-between, the music that I last listened to a few months back lies dormant until I stumble across it randomly. I’ve been deliberately using iTunes Party Shuffle to try and revisit the depths of my music collection but I think I need to be smarter than that. Possibly knock up a Smart List that only lists tracks that either haven’t been played at all, or haven’t been played in the past six months. Yes, that might do it.. (the reverse of this, kinda..)
This post is brought to you by Aimee Mann (Bachelor No.2), The Divine Comedy (Fin de Siecle), Joanna Newsom (The Milk-Eyed Mender), and Chungking.
So, go on, delve deep into your music collection and drag out an old friend. And, if you feel like it, do let me know what you found.
Beginner’s Guide to Guitar Hero
Tuesday, February 5, 2008 ~ 5 comments so far
We got a Wii in January, and Guitar Hero arrived this week. I’ve not played it much but there are a few tips I thought I’d pass on.
The first one is obvious, if you don’t have it (and you like rock music) GET IT! I know it’s hard to find, I ended up ordering mine online. I first played it at about 2am on New Year morning, and was instantly taken with it. It’s quite a straightforward game but is completely absorbing, mind you I’m not sure the word ‘game’ is adequate, it’s more an entertainment experience or something…
The next tip is to make sure you’ve closed the curtains, drawn the blinds, and generally are free to prance around your living room like a twat. Not that you’ll be prancing much but you do want to be…
…standing up. Tip three made a real difference to me, and whilst I’m not entirely sure why I do know that being able to move along to the music really helped me suss out the combinations and rhythms.
And finally have an alarm clock or some method of alerting you of the time. The temptation for just one more song is high and before you know it, you’ll hearing a banging from upstairs as your wife gently yells that it’s TWO FUCKING AM! SHUT UP!! as you shred through some more AC/DC… allegedly.
Kid for a day
Sunday, February 3, 2008 ~ 4 comments so far
Cue dream sequence.
wibblywobbly ~ wibblywobbly ~ wibblywobbly
When I am grand poobah, leader of all and ruler of the land, my first act will be to create a new law which will read: “You, my loyal and humble subject, are entitled to choose one day of the calendar year during which you will be free from the constraints of adulthood and allowed to act and think like a child.”
Actually, that’s not strictly true.
My FIRST act as grand poobah, leader of all and ruler of the land will probably be to order a bigger robe and crown, then do a little jig in celebration of my, somewhat unexpectedly, acquired position.
After I’ve calmed down, beheaded a few oiks in Burberry justbecauseIcan and had a good hearty meal, for one should never make rash decisions on an empty stomach (just ask Alfred von Schlieffen who’s SECOND plan was “have dinner”), I will then proceed to lay down the law. Don’t worry though, I will be a benevolent ruler. Unless I don’t like the cut of your jib of course, whereby an entirely different law will be invoked and you shall be cast out along with the Spice Girls (except Baby) and made to watch endless repeats of Saturday night family TV.
My law will free adults of their responsbilities for a day, remove the persistent nagging in their head and allow them to revert to childhood. Throw tantrums and food, stomp in puddles, lie about in a field staring at the clouds, or create elaborate structures from nothing but dirt and twigs. My subjects would worship me, and I’d get to have one day eating nothing but marshmallows.
wibblywobbly ~ wibblywobbly ~ wibblywobbly
This idea, the law, not my sudden ascension to becoming grand poobah, leader of etc etc (although, why not?) came to me the other morning as we were driving into work through the sleet and snow. The weather had changed suddenly and as soon as the first flakes appeared I immediately started thinking about the driving conditions and that I’d maybe have to scrap the ice off the car later on and how the journey home could, if it kept snowing, be a royal pain in the arse, and so on and on…
The thing is, I can still (just) remember a time when all it took was a single snowflake to flutter down from the sky to illicit a single thought, in a distinctly pavlovian manner, from my brain. SLEDGE!
I miss those days. I want them back. Hence the “when I am grand poobah… new law… etc etc”.
Who’s with me?
Come on, let’s start a revolution. Don’t you miss quaffing entire Sherbert Fountains in one go? Playing catch with a tennis ball for hours on end? Spending entire afternoons exploring the local burn?