Strawberries and cream

Today was a good day. A rather nice aquaintance at work (and his wife) offered me a choice of one ticket for Wimbledon today, two for Saturday, or two for Sunday. As I have to work today, and the Monopoly pub crawl is on Saturday, I chose the Sunday tickets.

Did I forget to mention that it's also the day of the finals? Well it is.

Unfortunately the tickets don't allow me access to Centre Court or Court One, but the others are all open. I've invited Damien, as the whole thing was spawned by me mentioning to said nice aquaintance that my room mate was thinking of queuing early in the morning to see some of the games. Needless to say I will be taking Champagne, and strawberries and cream, and doing the whole thing the way it needs to be done. Hopefully we'll be able to catch some of the other minor games on the day, and then the final from the big screen on Henman Hill.

Not a bad week coming up then: Pub crawl (drinking). Wimbledon (drinking, I guess). F1 demo race through London. Resign from work. Adrian's braai (drinking). Party in the Park (no drinking... boooo!). Church (the drinking one). Dublin (drinking). New job.

BRING IT ON!

This week is Smashing Pumpkins week

As bands that defined my generation go I rate the Smashing Pumpkins above all others. And yes, that means above even the hallowed 'Nirvana', which people who never even saw the 90's through the eye's of a teenager always seem to regard as generation defining. In fact I'd say that I rate them as far superior to Cobain's legendary soundmachine, but let's not get into a discussion on taste here because it would just end in bloodshed (and I was a Nirvana fan anyway). These days, for me at least, it's a case of like or not like, and although my tastes have stayed relatively fixed through the years (maybe just mellowed a bit) the tendency toward musical obsession is gone. So the Pumkpins are my favourite band by virtue of them holding that position through my teens, and until I no longer find myself identifying with bands to the same extent.

But that was a tangent. After seeing a quick clip of Corgan playing a cover of 'I Want You To Want Me' on Liquid Generation (which I do not read on a regular basis) I have just realized that I haven't listened to any of his music for what must be about a year. So this week is Pumpkins week - I'm queueing all of my old SP CD's and getting hold of some other Pumpkins offerings in an effort to make up for lost time.

What band do you think defined your generation, or teens at least? Let me know, even if you're one of those readers who just peruses from the shadows but never makes him/herself known. After my site went down for a few weeks I discovered that there at least a few of you out there.

PS. It seems Corgan has also joined the blog community.

PSS. For those of you out there who are, or where, also Pumpkins fans check out Billy's site and click on '02.17.04' message link. Very interesting, if a bit harsh maybe.

Lifts with strangers

Nothing really makes me as uncomfortable as using a lift with a complete stranger. I always feel an overwhelming need to make intelligent and interesting conversation... but never actually do. Instead I concentrate as much as I can on breathing very very quietly... because that kind of thing sounds really loud when you're in an elevator with a stranger... but no matter how quiet I am I always think I sound like an asthmatic rhino after a quick sprint.

Ok. It's at this point that I get the feeling the rest of you are looking at me like I'm a bit weird. 'Touched' in the head maybe. So moving on.

Bill Bryson mentioned a great idea in his book 'Noted from a Small Island'and feel the urge to mention it on here, and urge you all to join me in taking it up. So the next time you get junk mail in the post with a prepaid return envelope all I ask is that you rip the offending letter up, place it in the return envelope, seal it, and post it. It'll have so much more impact if there are thousands of us doing it.

I'll leave you on that note.

The good and the bad

The good: Damien and I are booked on the Monopoly pub crawl VI happening on the third of July. After both bailng before reaching the end of the MPC V we've decided to take up the challenge once again... and this time do it properly. So there will be no 4am parties the night before, which saw us late, hungover, and hungry at the last crawl. Instead there will be an early night, followed by a nice big greasy breakfast to see us off on the right note, and hopefully to the end of the crawl.

The bad: After having a quick check through my inbox I've just realized that my Dashboard Confessional tickets are booked for a Tuesday night, and chances are I may not be anywhere even approximating London on any Tuesday in August. From mid July for the following four months I'll most likely be travelling all over the UK, and spending all my time (apart from weekends) in hotel rooms. So start begging now, because if I can't sort something for the twenty fourth of August I'm going to have to give the ticket (it's only one, sorry) to someone. Or sell it on e-bay.

Irrational

As unfounded as it is, and even though I've received calls from the new company letting me know that everything is on, I still keep getting these completely irrational thoughts that someone is going to call me up very soon and tell me this has all been a big mistake and that they are in fact retracting their offer of employment. It's bloody annoying. More so because I know it's unfounded, and I know it's irrational, and even though I know all this I still can't get it out of my head.

Having said that, I'm still getting all the purchasing for the new position out of the way. My wardrobe needed an upgrade, and another suit added to it. New work shoes were bought after close inspection revealed that the current pair had seen their best days already. And my luggage needs to be replaced after some kind person at Heathrow ripped it apart (and bent the metal reinforcers?!) after my last trip to South Africa. Generally it just means I'm spending a load of money at the moment.

This shit has got to stop

Nine days of work on the trot and they give me a day off. One day. Sorry, but that's bollocks. I may be in my final few weeks there, but come on, let's not take the piss. There will be words had tomorrow.

Cloning

This interesting article on cloning, which was excellent in it's own right, also included a cheeky little reference to Aldous Huxleys' book by capitalising the title, Brave New World, in the body of the article.

I'm slightly in the doldrums regarding cloning. I see the potential benefits, but understand the risks at the same time. However, as a pro-choice male I tend slightly toward the pro-cloning argument. The benefits of gentically identical stems cells are almost infinite. Although having said that, I find the idea of cloned individuals being allowed to come to term quite distressing.

Chop sticks

After work and a few pints last night I came home, grabbed a small meal (small because it was 3am), and crawled into bed with my current book, Letters from a Small Island. My page average for these nightly reads is probably around the 5 mark because it's usually not too long until my eye's droop and I drop my book over the edge of the bed, waking myself up again in the process. Last night, before falling alseep, I came across a short paragraph that made me laugh and think at the same time. I'll quote:

"I find chopsticks frankly distressing. Am I alone in thinking it odd that a people ingenious enough to invent paper, gunpowder, kites, and any number of other useful objects, and who have a noble history extending back 3000 years haven't yet worked out that a pair of knitting needles is no way to capture food."

Funny you might think. But what got me even more was that I'm one of those people who insist on using chopsticks when I eat out at a Chinese. I'm westernised male, I should know better. And I have zero skill with chopsticks anyway. So really I spend more time trying to grip them in the correct manner than actually eating. It's all a bit strange... not that I'll change.

Hmmm... other news. The Party in the Park line-up now also includes Alanis Morisette.

Well I got the official nod from the new company a couple of days ago so my resignation is now official (I had to pass the company medical exam as well as get some references in). So the 8th if May is my final day of work with my current employer, who I've been with just shy of two years now. I don't regret my time with them at all really, even though I've been working in a trade which was never going to hold long term prospects for me. I think the biggest reason that I've enjoyed my time with them is that the nature of the work I've been doing has enabled me to move around England a fair old bit and live in different areas, and experience those areas through the eye's of a resident rather than those of a day-tripper.

So in the last 2 years I can add to my list of experiences: Living in a village with a population of less that 400 and being bored for the greater part of 6 months; going beating on a pheasant shoot; skinning and cooking pheasants; plucking and cooking pheasants; seeing the gathering of a fox hunt; roasting chestnuts on an open hearth; living in the English countryside through spring, summer, autumn, and winter; being in my first real snow; living in a town with a population of a few thousand (I think); watching the V-twin/Moto Guzzi rally come through the town; seeing the Shaftesbury carnival; seeing Stonehenge; seeing the Avebury stone circle; seeing a good few churches; seeing one castle (where they filmed Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves); dating one English girl; seeing the madness of Bournemouth and Poole in the summer; being ditched by said English girl; and finally moving to London. There's definitely a whole horde of other experiences missing from there, but all of the ones which I've mentioned have stuck in my head as things I'm happy to have experienced.

With the new job starting in mid July I feel that I'm embarking on a new era in my life. I feel it's more career orientated, which is what I've spent the last 6 months looking for in London, and I'm happier for that. I also see it as an opportunity to do the day-tripper thing for a while now. I'd like to do some travelling a bit further abroad in the coming months, but we'll have to see how all of that pans out.

In the mean time I'm trying to get through the slog of my final three weeks of work before my holiday, and then new job... and it's proving damn hard. There's just something about knowing this is my last few weeks before I start with the new company that's making every single day a mission to get through.

FUTBOL

Jenson Jenson Jenson, what were you doing on Sunday? Did no one ever tell you that the best way to show your support for your national football team was not to stand on the English flag while having a pre-race interview? Maybe it's just me, but by age 14 I knew that a nations flag should never even be allowed to touch the floor, nevermind be used as a mat.

Other than that, how the hell did England manage to give that game away? Sure, Zidanes' dying minute goal was pure magic. But as one of the highest paid players in the world you would have thought that Becks could have made a slightly better attempt at the penalty. And that backward pass to James a minute into injury time? WTF? But on top of that I'm sure a top-flight keeper should know that the rule is 'play the ball not the man'.

I'm not even English, but even I felt gutted at the way they lost their Euro 2004 opener.

I came across the Clean Sweep life test after following a link to Dive Into Mark. My final score was 81, which I'm quite happy with (although some of the work related questions were answered knowing that I am starting a new job soon).

Things I'm bearing in mind after the test are:

1) I don't consistently have enough enough time, space or freedom in my life. This is mainly work related and due to change come July.
2) I never backup my harddrive.
3) I don't drink nearly enough water
4) I do not have 6 months living expenses saved in an easily accessible account. I do have a credit card though, and the balance is nil so there's a fair bit of flexibility there.
5) I have no insurance. My assets have no insurance.
6) I have no will (and have never even contempated writing one).
7) My earnings are nowhere near commensurate with the effort I put into my job. However, when I start with the new employers in July that will change.
8) I use loads of caffeine. We're talking coffee, tea, and chocolate on pretty much a daily basis.
9) Giving up sugar is not an option. I measure sugar in my cereal by pouring it on... spoons don't hold enough. Is this bad?
10) Giving up alcohol is even less of an option than giving up sugar. I drink. It's my one vice. Leave me that at least.
11) I do definitely not consistently have evenings, weekends, and holidays off. In fact it would be more accurate to say that I almost never have those times off. Again, this will change in July.
12) I gossip. Sue me.
13) I have been known to lie. Usually white ones though.
14) I'm critical of others sometimes.

Things I'm happy with after the test:

1) I am not tolerating anything about my home or work environment. In fact I've successfully gained a new job.
2) I am consistently early or easily on time.
3) I currently save at least 10% of my income.
4) I am on a career / professional / business track which is or will soon be financially and personally rewarding. Come July at least.
5) I never miss work due to illness.
6) My weight is within my ideal range.
7) I have no habits which are unacceptable to me.
8) I am aware of the physical or emotional problems or conditions I have, and I am now fully taking care of all of them.
9) I laugh out loud every day. I give credit for this to the great people that surround me in my current professional and personal life.
10) I walk or exercise at least three times per week.
11) I have let go of the relationships which drag me down or damage me.
12) I have communicated or attempted to communicate with everyone whom I have hurt, injured or seriously upset, even if it wasn't fully my fault. This is in fact something I've always been proud of.
13) I have a best friend or soul-mate.
14) I spend time with people who don't try to change me.

Ignorance can be bliss

Well I seem to be making some progress on the design side of things. The only hitch is that I've recently been made aware of the fact that Internet Explorer and Firefox use different methods to interpret margin commands in css. As I firstly code for the browser that I use, which is Firefox, all the alignments and spacings are displayed correctly in that browser. Explorer on the other hand is messing something up somewhere, which is why the first column appears at an incorrect width under the header graphic. I'll get around to finding the offending bit of stylesheet code soon, I just don't have the time right now. I found it. It's the padding settings, not the margins. I think IE works out the padding width from the borders inward, while Firefox works them from the borders outward. Hmmm. I may have to resize the header.

Will be back after work. In the mean time draw what conclusions you will from my bedside drawer.

Post Script: All is now good in both browsers.

Back from blog limbo

So after a brief sabatical away from the blogging world I'm back. The site is slightly changed, which is quite apparent really. Natalie and I have chosen to keep our blogs separate for a while and see how it goes. While Foolstop has been down this last month Natalie chose to set up her own interim site to keep up her blogging. In the process of doing that she got a bit more into the design side of blogging, and being a design student herself it was quite obvious that she was going to enjoy it. So her decision to take control of that aspect of her own site was quite a natural one, and so we see the birth of 'surrogate-rockit'. At the same time, having to fit two blogs onto one page was using a fair bit of screen space and holding me back from implementing some interesting ideas I've had over the months. I've subsequently forgotten what those ideas where (I can assure you that they rocked though!) but I'm hoping they'll find their way back up from the depths of my mind at some point. The only other note then is that the site is under real-time redesign and will transform slowly over the next few weeks. I'd like to say days, but I feel that would just be a bit too ambitious given my current work load.

My last post before the site went down mentioned a job interview that I had just been to, and me waiting to see if I had got through to the final interview stage. Well I can now reveal... ...that I did go through to the next stage, and that I did in fact GET THE JOB! So come the 19th of July I should be starting a week long induction course in the north of England, before getting my company car and spending the next 4 months of my life travelling around England working. For those 4 months I'll only be home for weekends, but I'm looking forward to seing some more of the country. After the 4 months are up I should settle down into my own area, which is west London, and build from there. It's a great position, with a superb company, includes phenomenal perks (err... like the company car), great prospects for the future... and... well, it's ideally where I want to be right now. It completely justifies my move to London 6 months ago. So after going through the companys' medical exam 2 days ago, all that remains is for them to check my references, which should all come up sparkly, and then send me the contract.

I've also planned it so that I have a week and a bit off between leaving my current job, and starting the new one. During that week I'll be going to Party in the Park, visiting the Church for the second time, and hopefully making the trek up to Dublin to catch up with Bronwyn... and binge drink. And then there's also Adrian's braai on the 10th. And Snow Patrol are playing in August and I'm so tempted to get tickets for that too.

And then there's the Oktoberfest in Germany in September, which gives me loads of time to save for it.

Yikes... I need some more time! Getting this new job has morphed my life from 'work all day/night/weekends/have no time to do anything' to 'more money/more perks/more time/more prospects/more happiness'.

Life has a rosy red glow at the moment.