Men watch out!

As is tradition every four years, today sees an opportunity for unmarried women to take the bull by the horns and propose to their men (or women, um does this mean lesbians can only propose once every four years!!). I caught a snippet of the BBC Breakfast news and there was a emailer who was planning to propose to her boyfriend and was so confident that she had also planned a wedding and a reception for the same day! Just imagine if he says no...awkward! I remember when I proposed to K, that was scary enough without the worry that I'd organised a party that might need to be cancelled!

It's also the day where K has to try her hardest not to go into labour. While it might sound cool to have a birthday once every 4 years I don't think I'd like it so I'm hoping that we go another week yet. Especially as we have defied convention and are away visiting family in Norwich Saturday/Sunday...its that or another weekend in the house going slowly crazy.

Just one week to go and its occurred to me that a number of my reports exist solely in my head and I better get them down on paper if the team has any chance of uninterrupted service when I go on paternity leave!

Roll on the end of the day!

As that will be when my Christmas holidays start!

To be honest I don't intend on doing much work today but I need to keep my phone and laptop on in case of anything coming through (and the fact I'm someone else's contact on their out of office for today). And since I've got my office set up a little better now I can be doing my blog on a completely separate computer without leaving my desk where my laptop and docking station is set up! The problem is I have done everything I needed to do already!

I've been using the last couple of days to practice homeworking and its been quite enjoyable actually...although I need to make sure I leave the house at some point...I've not crossed the threshold for 3 days at least...

So near yet so far

I sit here at 6.50am on a saturday morning wondering what on earth I'm doing out of bed at this hour, let alone updating my blog!

Not sure if its a coincidence but its exactly 6 months gone and 3 months to go. Now we're at this mark I'm allowing myself to get more excited about the whole thing but its still a bt of a rollercoaster to be honest. I imagine having conversations with this new person (sometimes a boy, sometimes a girl) and then I have to remind myself that there is still 3 months to go and they aren't here yet. I don't want to be pessimistic but I know if something goes wrong I will be crushed. A bond has already formed to this person who seems to enjoy annoying K as much as I do! Its hard to put these feelings into words but to be honest March 8th can not come soon enough as far as I'm concerned.

We do still have Christmas to get out of the way first. Due to significant website ordering of presents and the fact that our recycling is collected fortnightly the house is more or less full of cardboard! A trip to the tip is in order today, if only to make room for the tree which we need to put up. Fortunately we have the first of our (very) staggered Christmas's tomorrow (K's dad) so we should be able to start to divest ourselves of presents and make room for the packing that I need to do. In prep for the baby I'll be starting to work from home and currently the conditions for that are less than ideal. The camping equipment, spare bed, and exercise bike are being shipped off to mum's for storage until we move (sometime next year in all likelihood). I still ned to order a van for that...must remember to do that this week!

Luckily work is a little quiet at the moment. A 5 week period means the next set of reporting isn't due until Christmas week and we'll all be off anyway. It does mean January is shaping up to be a nightmare though with back to back reporting for 4 weeks. It should be just the thing to distract though, the baby will be so close and January is very long in money terms as BT are good and pay us early for Christmas. Great in theory but forces you to scrimp throughout January. Speaking of pay it has finally all come together...I've been promoted, got my pay rise as well as my new benefits (health cover, free line rental etc). To be honest I was hoping that it would reinvigorate me and increase my enthusiasm for work but it hasn't really! I think I need to focus on home though so I shouldn't be too worried about work.

In other news I'm typing this blog entry on our new iMac! We needed to replace the old PC before the baby came along and after playing with a mac at the Apple store in Florida I couldn't resist! I personally don't know how they fit it all into the monitor but I know that I absolutely love this keyboard! The only problem is I know need to get a new printer (usb) to connect to this beast. To be honest I quite fancy the look of a wifi one so I can be a bit inventive with the layout of the office. Its going to be weird with my work PC and home PC (oops Mac) next to each other but I can pretend I'm an evil genius with multiple computer screens!

Ooops!

I appear to have been very lax on the blogging front recently...almost a month since I last blogged!

I can only say that I've had a lot going on and video games have kept me occupied in the 'Leigh Time' that would usually be used for blogging.

Those games being Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition & Paper Mario on the VC.

Also work has been a bit of a drain recently and I didn't want to vocalise it all on my blog...it would have been a bunch of whining basically. Hopefully there'll be some developments in the next couple of weeks that'll help things become clearer.

K and I have also been talking seriously about our future plans and the upshot is we've started to think about moving house (groan!).

To stave off all the heavy stuff, preparations have been in full swing for my 30th Birthday party on Saturday! (Hmmm...I'll have to think of a new blog name!) We travel to Derby tomorrow to help with the set up, but I need to put the finishing touches to my iPod playlist for the party! Richard sent through a load of tunes to K so I've just got to sort those out and start to gather all the things we'll need for the next few days at my mum's.

I know there is going to be cake, I know there is going to be a whole lamb roasting on a spit and I know about the bubble machine. What I don't know is what K has been cackling about every time she receives mail or a letter from one of our friends/family...hmm I have my suspicions!

In other news we're going to Florida for 11 days in October! A jaunt around Disney, then a couple days in Miami & Key West...hopefully every tourist isn't murdered in some bizarre and scientifically interesting way as depicted on CSI: Miami. I don't so much mind being found dead in a pool of blood but I do worry about K having to put up with some ginger haired, sunglasses wearing Lt. spouting comforting one-liners before gazing off into the sunset.

We've also finished all the flowers for my sister-in-laws wedding! 85 hand folded lilies, nestling in 85 hand-folded day lilies along with 15 orange shrimp. They better like them!

Reverse Blog

Ok the...just finished doing the washing up after enjoying a lovely dinner of pasta with chorizo, onions, peppers & marsala. K away living the high life (shooting things and attending posh meals) so I was forced to do the washing up!

Tai Chi was fun before that although I tend to ache afterwards. We learned how to do 3 'splits' in a row which forms the next part of the form. Very relaxing!

Spent most of today at work marvelling at my new 17in flat screen monitor. The site where I work is suffering a power crisis so they were forced to replace all the CRT monitors with LCD. Amazed at how much easily it is to manipulate bugger large spreadsheets when I can see much more of them at once!

Also had a chat with the person who is going to help me sort out my business case for my role review.

Had quite a good Neverwinter Nights game last night despite dying 3 times! Also caught the last minute of Saturday's Doctor Who. Contemplated buying an Xbox 360 with my bonus (despite already having bought a digital camera) but decided that there simply wasn't enough software I want at this point to warrant a purchase...maybe after Christmas.

Watched Saturday's Doctor Who while stuffing pretzels that K bought me from Norwich...a fleeting chance to chat before she went off to Manchester for the High Life. Told her that I had decided not to enroll on my Open University Digital Photography course as I realised that for a 10 week 10 credit module I would be expected to do 6-8 hours a week work on it! Stuff that....I'm gonna get a book!

Played a lot of Okami while K was in Norwich getting her bridesmaid dress fitted.

We watched Hot Fuzz Saturday night with Becks & Ralph after a day of shopping, eating very large ice-creams and playing card & board games. I must have been feeling off as I failed to win a single thing! Also got my hair cut.

Got up very early Saturday morning to contemplate my role review and write some thoughts into my working record so that I could enjoy the weekend without thinking about it too much.

Watched Hot Fuzz (*raspberry noise and the V sign* "Jog On!") on Friday night with K after realising that Earl doesn't start for a few weeks.

Friday afternoon got a late call from my manager telling me that my role review had been unsuccessful at this time and needs more detailed evidence. Feel surprising fine about it.

Waiting for the phone to ring....

...it doesn't ring!

I want to know about my role review...when will it ring!

Diane's Dead!

Another Thursday, another night in avoiding things I'd planned to do! Tonight was set aside to make a tart and do some tidying up. My mum is visiting us for the weekend and the house is a bit of a tip! I can't even be bothered to do the washing up!

Watched the end of Masterchef which means I can have a lie in tomorrow if I fancy it (while BB is on K and I have been recording and then watching Masterchef over breakfast), especially as I'm working from home.

Then got sucked into EastEnders which is very easy to lose 30 minutes watching. Then Holby City came on! I'd forgotten it's on on Thursdays at the moment (until pointless police show spin off, HolbyBlue ends its run) so I was forced to watch that for an hour. Not that it takes much forcing to be honest! Yes its very soapy but I really enjoy it. I don't know if its the overacting or the comedy moments or the good story lines at the moment but it is currently unmissable! I'll probably watch it again with K when she catches up with it. It was Diane's swan song tonight and was only slightly disappointing when she died off camera. To be honest though Paul Bradley doesn't have much luck with news over the phone. I remember in years ago in EastEnders, when his wife Debbie went the same way!

Had quite a good day at work although the spectre of my role review is still hanging over me. Apparently there should be some feedback in the offing next week but whether that will be good or bad who knows? I am stuck in a dilemma and I really shouldn't write about it as it will start me thinking about it agian. If it comes back and is a 'no' should I take on even more work/responsibility to try again in six months? Or should I just say "Fuck it" and reduce my workload to the level I'm paid for and then start looking for another job?

In other news I was all ready to make Elderflower cordial but a confluence of circumstances has meant I either had the flowers and no citric acid or the acid and dried husks of slowly rotted flowers. Must try to track some down tomorrow so I can make some for Dad for Mum to take back with her on Sunday. I keep seeing trees by the side of the road but I'm not sure I'm fantastically keen on exhaust fumey blossoms for my drinks.

Job Satisfaction?

We went to visit R&R in Norwich yesterday and had lunch with K's Aunty Pat as well as Gerry & Chrissie.

Quite a good time was had by all I think and we even enjoyed some of the fruits of my labour in the form of home grown radishes. It was a little awkward though when we were talking about jobs and I could muster up absolutely no enthusiasm for my job at all! There was a time when I actually did enjoy it but mainly I feel ground down by it at the moment. Obviously the ideal situation would be a job you love and get a good wage for it but thats where I come unstuck. The security and quality of live that my job affords me makes me want to supress my indifference to it and focus on the good bits of my life outside of work, but thats quite difficult too. I think its going to be even more difficult if I get my promotion...but then again it may re-invigorate to focus on what benefits I can bring to the role. It certainly has done that in the past.

Is it better to have a job you're indifferent to and get paid really well or a job you love but have to struggle to feed yourself?

Friday Fun

Thanks to a post from Alex I now know that the interestingly titled 'Demetrius and the Gladiators' was on the telly as my mother was giving birth to me. Looks quite epic to be honest!

You may have noticed that its Friday daytime and I'm blogging...that's right I have Friday off...AGAIN! What with work dull-o-rama and masses to do next week I thought I'd take advantage and have another day's leave. Hopefully work will get interesting again soon as I can't afford to keep taking days off!

The sun yesterday fooled me into thinking that I might do some garden work today but since its cold and raining I have put that off. I did however manage to put together my wormery and hopefully my worms are now feasting on an apple core left over from lunch! I'm actually quite excited about making dinner and all the veg peelings it'll produce!

Finished reading the Alias graphic novel that Richard lent me and muct say I really enjoyed it. It's not at all to do with Sydney Bristow and spys and rather the title of a comic based ini teh Marvel universe. really well done and it casued me o stay up a little too late on a number of nights this week wanting to find out what happens next. It looks like some of teh characters will be continuing in a comic called 'The Pulse' so that's been added to my wish list!

My cookery course finished this week but I didn't go in the end. Not really keen on scallops and couldn't find any to take so had the night off instead (and watched Kath & Kim!) I'm trying to choose my next course at the moment. Not sure if I'm that keen on mediterranean cooking, but there's a Japanese course that looks quite good. Failing that it's Digital Photography with the OU.

Brrrr!

I don’t know whether I’m manic depressive (probably not) or just really affected by the weather but my mood has been up and down these past few days. An unexpected warm spell has meant it’s been sunny and warm and I’ve been formulating lots of plans to sort out the garden.

But now it’s dark and cold and snowy and my gardening plans have been thrown into to disarray and I feel quite down. I guess it’s not just the weather but it seems to be reflecting my mood at the moment. Unfortunately I know have a wormery and live worms on their way and I’ll be forced to go outside and sort it out otherwise all my worms will die!

The bad weather (coupled with some Saturday laziness) means we haven’t geocached this week. We need to make sure we do it again otherwise the 2 we have done will end up costing £35 each (the price of the receiver split in 2). Especially as we have a travel bug that needs to be on its way…



Had a good time at my cookery course last week, we made Normandy Apple Tart and I must say it was the best pastry I’ve ever made! I tried to replicate it with some savoury pastry for a quiche at the weekend but that was less than stellar. Fortunately K’s mum and sister seemed to like it. We had a visitation partly for Mother’s Day but partly because K was playing in a concert. It was the annual Cool Classics for Kids concert with IOS and was quite good in the end. I’m always surprised at how few piece of music I recognise in the programme but then recognise when I hear them!

We also went to a 30th birthday party in Nottingham on Friday which was pretty good. I discovered that the Games Workshop Head Office has its own pub! And it was decked out like a medieval tavern (shields on the wall, low beams, long tables and benches, the works). But next door to that was the gaming hall that had loads of tables set up for war gaming and a fantastic castle theme. Super!

Some things don't change...

...like me spending too much money! Had to do an emergency transfusion from savings to current this week and we've still got 2 weeks to go before I get paid again...gulp! And yet the urge to spend is undiminished...

The good weather and the spare time have made me think about what i want to achieve this year. On the work side of things I want to try and get my promotion and then take it a bit easy. At home I'm determined not to neglect the garden this year. Last year there was so much going on that when I did have any free time I was too exhausted to do anything. And because I never do anything by halves I'm gonna need an injection of cash to get it all sorted...time to raid the joint savings methinks!

Things that need doing...

* Replace gate. This is actually quite urgent as our next door neighbour thought we wouldn't mind him popping into the garden to creasote the fence! Don't know whether to be grateful or affronted! The problem is the new fence has posts in different places and I don't really know anything about gates. Added to that is the fact that gates seem so bloody expensive that I might be forced to try and improvise or salvage the old gate. I'll still need to get some sort of post to fix it to though.

* Paint the panel that was creasoted and the panel that wasn't (yes that's right, the neighbour only creasoted one of the fence panels...don't ask!). This will probably hav eot wait until the garden gate is fixed but the good news is that I already have a pot of garden paint!

* Empty out all the containers that have dead things in them! We have lots of small containers which is good for variety but not good for healthy plants as they dry out and die if you turn your back for even a minute!

* Work out if we could manage if I set up a raised bed (1m sq) on the patio. I want to try and grow veg this year and this seems to be the best way to go about it. I can split a larger bed into small sections and the whole thing shouldn't dry out quickly. There are kits that look pretty easy to set up.

* Buy a wormery. This is the most expensive item but it would assuage my guilt every time I dump a load of green kitchen waste in the normal bin. It would also produce fertiliser and compost. Do I have the space though?

* Assuming all of the above, plan out a vegetable growing season and what exactly I'm gonna grow over the year. I bought a helpful book for this.

I'm off again tomorrow so hopefully I can start to think about this properly.

Not bad all in all

Despite my fears for a terrible week it was OK to be honest. Started some work I wasn't looking forward to but got stuck in. Had an argument with the president's PA but seem to sort that out and best of all finished my business case. Not sure when it'll be submitted but at least I can stop thinking about it now.

Just not sure what I'm going to do on my day off? I could do some gardening but...meh! I'll probably walk into town and spend money from my savings when I've already spent my disposable income for this month, last month.

I'll probably also do some cooking...hmmm cakes!

Mondays

I can tell it’s going to be a long week at work.

Firstly I have no ‘proper’ deadlines this week which means I’ll spend a good portion of time avoiding the things I am able to put off because no-one knows how long they should be taking me. This is not good. When I am busy and slightly hassled I work much better and can thunder through my outstanding to do lists.

Secondly there’s talk of changing one of our recording methodologies. This is a nightmare to be honest, but as we’re at the start of a new financial year the best time for it to happen if it has to. The problem is we spent months last year changing it to the current system and I don’t particularly want to do it all again.

Thirdly, I’m supposed to be putting together a business case to justify my promotion to a higher level (for the work I’m been doing anyway for the last 6 months). The problem is that from an outside perspective I think I do a fairly easy job (compared to say a fireman or a soldier) and get paid a lot of money (especially compared to a fireman or soldier), but then when one looks internally at my company I see morons and idiots getting paid far in excess of me and I want part of the action! The issue lies in selling oneself in terms of the requirements and making the case for promotion. The problem is I recognise that on balance I enjoy my job and I’m good at it so even if they don’t promote me I’ll stay doing it….probably. Let’s hope no-one from work is reading this!

At least I have this Friday off! I’ve got excess leave to use up before we flip over to the new holiday year and there’s only so much I’m allowed to carry forward to next year. Not sure why I’m hoarding it all up to be honest…perhaps I’ll have a holiday emergency and have to take loads at some point. Oh well!

It's the Weekend!

Hooray!

Another busy week behind, not helped by the fact I've taken on a new project at work, trying to put together a business case for a promotion and being off ill yesterday. Back on track today though and managed to power through my list of stuff to do. Next week should be busier though as I'm covering the work of a colleague as well! Heigh Ho!

We went to see Chicago last week at the Norwich Theatre Royal and it was really good. I still think I enjoy the film more but its really interesting to see how they use the limited space on the stage to convey everything. And the level of fitness of the company (well apart from the chap playing Amos) is something else.

Had my second Cookery class this week (mussels and illness ensued) and looking forward to next week's Pork with Camembert.

Still addicted to Dragon Quest 8 (bought the soundtrack CD & a poster to put in the study this week) and neglecting everything else. Although I am still keen on the Everybody votes channel. Although I must admit my prediction accuracy is only 66.6%...must do better.

Going to a Dallas themed party tomorrow, K has yet to locate a costume but I ordered myself a stetson off the 'net so I'm all ready to go!

Blue

Feeling a little down today and not sure why. Perhaps its the rain, perhaps its work or something, I don't know.

Trying to fill some time by downloading even more music to iTunes. It seems no matter how much music I put on it, there never feels like enough on my iPod when I'm at work. Perhaps I should have got the more expensive (read: higher capacity) model for Christmas. Anyway, G&S is flavour of the day at the moment and I've just put The Mikado & Yeomen onto it. Its a bit weird considering that this year I don't think I'm going to sing with the the local society. I want to try something new but I haven't quite worked out what yet. I think it'll very much depend on what show they decide to do. If its one I like, I might sign up again. The problem is I feel a weight of responsibility...I'm young and a tenor...something which is prized in local societies like ours. The problem is that I start to resent being there when its 2 or 3 times a week, especially when work is being poo.

Finished the Ultimate Galactus graphic nvels Richard got me for Christmas last night. Really enjoyed them but got a little confused with the Ultimate Silver Surfer (if that was indeed him) and wasn't sure about the teenage Ultimate Fantastic Four. And Nick Fury seems far more arrogant and personifying what is bad about americans in these than in the actual Ultimates books themselves.

Anyway better dash, she's home and I want a kiss!

Poor Wand'ring one!

The novelty of my iPod has yet to wear off and for that I am glad. Listened to a good section of The Pirates of Penzance on my walk back to the car from the office. It was that bit where the ladies first come on and they meet Frederic and then sing about the weather...super! While I remember there's a Radio 2 documentary running on Sunday evenings about Gilbert & Sullivan....missed the first but should be able to get it on Listen Again.

It was good that I had something to listen to as the North Gate was closed when I left and I had to trudge around to the main gate. Usually I wouldn't mind the extra time but it was cold , dark, windy and wet and every extra step was resented. To be fair it was my own fault for skiving off early but a conversation with M at work had left me wanting to get home to make dinner. We had a couple of chicken thighs left over from Saturday (Cous-cous and pine nut stuffed, chicken thigh, baked and served on a rocket and herb salad with orange and mustard dressing) and my mind was reeling at the possibilities! Chicken & sweetcorn broth with quinoa is simmering on the hob as I type! Yum!

Managed to finish the story mode on Rabbids yesterday and unlocked a load of extra challenges. Hopefully they'll fill some time before some more games come out. I'm tempted to get Marvel: Ultimate Alliance despite its mediocre ratings as I know K and I will have a blast playing it but I've got to watch my cash as we seem to be spend, spend, spend at the mo. And thats not even thinking about K's upcoming 30th birthday, the plans for which are very definitely afoot but need some additional effort on my part to fully coalesce.

Phew!

Its Friday and I have the weekend stretched out in front of me.

To be honest I'm not sure how I'd have managed a full week this week, my body is trying to acclimatise to getting up and keeping focussed on work! Although the weekend does involve a bit of work as well. Painting mainly and ordering new carpet. That's right folks, its DIY time!

In other news I managed to finish Zelda last night...a tip for anyone is to leave yourself a good 45 minutes for the final boss. What with cinematics, the fight and credits we were forced to stay up until gone 11 while it finished. Was bloody good though. It managed to take around 40 hours which for a game these days is good value. Not sure if I'm going to go back to a previous save and try to collect everything...will have to see if I get bored with Rayman.

First Day Back!!

It wasn't too bad in the end and even managed to do a heap of work. It did drag rather in the morning but then zipped along as I got engrossed in manual reassignment of resource request properties for the monthly dashboard (yes, my job IS thrill a minute!)

One thing that is better about being at home rather than at work (apart from all the obvious things) is that you can fart without fear...I was holding them in like no-one's business today, although I think one may have slipped out! My car does stink a bit though. Apologies if I've offended anyone but at least I'm not contemplating an online poo-diary (or log-blog, if you will) like someone I know!

Got great use out of the iPod as well and have just spent the last 30 minutes making some new playlists for it...exciting!

Thank you Mr & Mrs Palmer....

...for I think I caught something from you on Sunday!

Should be back at work today but full of cold so have decided to get rid of it proper before venturing out and back to work tomorrow. Although can't say I've missed much as my work email has received only spam so far today.

Sunday was the now traditional New year's Eve murder party where I got to play the lovely Lucy Loveless who turned out to be the murderer! Hooray, first time for me!

You can check out the rest of the holiday photos over on Flickr.

Nor to Battle the Strong

This is going to sound crazy but I swear I'm dreaming about the Wii now. Or maybe its just the first thing I thought of when I woke up this morning? Either way it's a problem. I've even commandeered the blackboard in the kitchen to show a running countdown until it arrives (48 days in case you're interested).

Such is my obession that I'm thinking about rearranging the living room to accommodate it. This includes wondering whether we should get a new TV (smaller and more HD ready) and shifting the massive coffee table (how else am I going to be able to stand and play on it?) I guess a part of me also wants to spend money before we get to a stage when money would be better spent on other things (for example a new house or children) and isn't as freely available as it is now. And in case you're interested, this is the TV I'm looking at.

I seem to be getting over the cold I had (well at least I'm not waking with a sore throat) which is good news as I can't possibly be sick this week, we're too busy at work. One of those nightmarish weeks where not only do I have a ton of work o do, I also see to have a large share of meetings to go to.

Went to Ikea yesterday and spent a goodly portion of time stood around while Becks & Ralph decided which futon and lamps to buy. We came out relatively unscathed at only £60 and managed to get a clothes box for the bathroom stury enough to double as a seat for those chatting to the person in the bath moments.

Popped into town today and managed to get myself some new walking shoes. I was looking for something a bit more casual and less heavy than my boots and I think I succeeded! Handy for when we're only away a couple of days and I only want to take one pair of shoes. Have also started to seriously think about Christmas. Kath is pretty much sorted in my mind, as is my brother but everyone else, my parents included, it's a bit trickier.