The editor posted to a woodwork forum and asked if anyone was going to an auction near to me at the beginning of the year. I figured that it would be a good chance to have a look at a proper auction, so I went along and took the camera. I took a few photos and when I came home I wrote up the experience and sent emailed it off to him.
He liked the photos and asked for a hi-res set on CD which I sent him. I was just expecting him to use my stuff as reference material. However when my subscription copy arrived today I found that he has used the full text I sent him as the whole article and even credited it to me in the title.
After a long day at work that really made my day.
- Mood:
ecstatic
I only work 37.5 hours a week.
And people here wonder why nothing ever gets done...
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heraldis ran the Bristol half marathon this year. After much whining about how I never have time to go to the gym, I finally accepted that running can be done at any time and does not cost anything (both good points when you have two kids). So in September I decided to have a go at running. Now I have not done any exercise in the past seven years and the last time I ran anywhere was when I was forced to do the cross country run aged 15 ;)It turns out that I quite like running, it is calming and theaputic. I get to spend time completely alone and after I stop I feel really good. After the first couple of weeks I bought a decent pair of shiny white and silver road running shoes.
This weekend I decided to have a run in the woods, now as it has been raining and there have been a lot of leaves falling, and as we live on the side of a bloody steep hill this was somewhat of a change of pace for me.
The trouble with running in the woods in autumn is that the leaves fall onto the trail and they cover up all of the deep puddles and thick mud. My shoes came back a significantly different colour than they went out ;)The run was onyl 2.5 miles, but I found out today that the first part of the run up the hill (the first 11 minutes) is also the start of the "Dursley Dozen" which make me even more impressed of the people who can run 12 miles up and down the hills around here.
It may have not been the longest or the fastest I have even run, but it was certainly the hardest run I have done. It was also the most fun. I think I shall be back in the woods when I can get out in the daylight.
- Mood:
energetic
heraldis ran the Bristol Half-Marathon and completed it.A huge hug to her for managing to run 13 miles, and a big thank you to everyone who sponsored her to do it.
The endorphins have now run out and she has gone upstairs to pass out ;)
It turns out that they are still obkiged to replace my current phone. They no longer have any treos so I have a shiny new SPV for two weeks until I get my shiny new Diamond Touch.
I have got it to talk to LJ and it has 2.5g, but the interface is clunkier and the keyboard sucks. But at least in two weeks Heraldis can have a shiny new phone ;)
And yes I am writing this from the phone during the worlds most boring all day meeting...
I had completely forgotten that
cold_hayley had offered her piano as she wanted to make some space.I must confess that I have never really thought about a piano, but now that we have it, it seems quite at home in the dining room. I think it might have something to do with the fact that the previous owners had a piano just there ;)
My obsessive side now wants me to clean it an polish it until it gleams. I was even wondering if we have any Brasso for the hinges. Anyone got any good ideas to restore 120 year old varnish...
- Location:home
- Mood:
curious
4:43 a new record for me, especially as the lst time the poor lady had to hold the needle in place as every time she let go the blood stopped coming out ;)
Everyone in the office is now engaging in friendly one-up-manship comparing how many times we have each given blood. I am quite proud of the fact that I have now given more blood than my dad has used ;)
- Location:work
- Mood:
drained
Depending on who you ask the school was either an old secondary school or a hospital, but it has now been converted into a primary school. This means that it is massive. You could easily fit my primary school (including the playgrounds and sports field) into the main building. The school is so big that the breakfast/after school club is in it's own building
I think what threw me most was the amount of technology. They have better presentation facilities in the classrooms than we have in our office. Interactive whiteboards that you can draw on and manipulate things on, as well as hook up to a laptop as a giant screen. A computer room with newer computers than anything we have in our office. There were also lots of interactive things for the kids to do whilst learning. They had a separate music room, they get taught French from age 7.
It was very weird sitting on the chairs in the main hall being talked to by the headmaster, I kept getting flashbacks of primary school assemblies (everyone sat cross legged on the floor except for the top year who got chairs at the back). Being shown round by these very well put together 10 year olds all of the parents in our group spent as much time comparing this school to their own. As
heraldis pointed out,it is remarkable how times have changed but things still remain the same. Our parents used wipe clean slates to do a lot of work on, we used paper, but our children will use small wipe clean white boards - the modern slate.Despite the lovely premises, the cool gadgets and the lectures from the head, governers and the PTA, the most reassuring thing was that the kids were well mannered, well spoken, intelligent and they genuinely seemed to enjoy the school and the teachers.
The only point that annoyed me was the way that they gradually bring the kids into the school, for the first three weeks they do a half day,after that they might do a half day and lunch, then they might start to do the whole 8:50 to 3:15, just so they do not get scared by the separation from home. R currently does 10 hours a day at nursery three days a week, if anything going and doing 3 hours at school and the rest at home is just going to confuse he more than going straight into school full time.
- Mood:
nostalgic
So they are going to cut between 0 and 8 people from our area, but they are also going to create 5 new management positions. As our team is one of 4 to be split in twain I am in a really good position to get one of them.
I was expecting floods of tears when the first one fell off at speed, but instead there was gales of laughter and then they immediately started to drag it back up the hill again.
I really hope that they get a decent fall of snow one year. The garden is made for sledging.
- Location:home
- Mood: amused
frustratedheraldis bought me a book on making boxes. I said that I wanted to make the first three simple boxes in the book before summer. Well, I have manged to make the first two boxes from the book and a small commission from H.( Pictures enclosed... )
- Mood:
accomplished
Fortunately as we had
cold_hayley and giantitp around last night and their kids stopped over here I had two ready made child minders so that I could sit very quietly and nurse cups of tea and watch the inexhaustible energy of children in envy ;)Here is wishing everyone a better year than they had last year, no matter how good last year was.
- Mood: tired
- Music:Children making toast.
I know that it is not New Year yet, but unless I do this now I am sure that I am going to forget to do this, and I figure if I write these down in public it might give me an incentive to get off my backside and do something ;)
Two resolutions this year:
1 - Interact more with the kids. Feeding R with cake and as much food as we can get in her has helped her sleep in until 8-9 most mornings recently, this plus trying to actually interact with her (rather than stick her in front of CBeebies at 6:30 and then fall asleep on the living room floor because I am too tired to cope with her every morning). Reading them more books, taking them for more walks, not trying to convince them that they really do not want to do painting becuase I can not be bothered to clean up after them, it all seems to be working, they have both been far better behaved recently.
2 - Make three wooden boxes by summer. heraldis gave me a voucher for a box making course with Andrew Crawford for christmas and I want to make the most of it by actually making a few boxes before I go along. Of course this will mean freecycling the dining table, futon and two sofas in the garage, then cleaning and repairing all of the tools that have rusted after five years of exposure in the leaky old garage, then I can see if I remember any woodworking skills other than chopping firewood ;)
- Location:Home
- Mood: cheerful
heraldis says that she is not leaving out nine carrots for the reindeer ;)The presents have been wrapped, the mistletoe has been hung and the turkey has been stuffed. Google Earth says that Santa has passed over already.
Merry Christmas to those of you who celebrate it, and have a nice quiet day for those of you who do not.
[1] Well, he goes around studying his targets making lists then once a year breaks in and then foolishly leaves things behind.
- Mood: tired
Anyway, it is M's birthday so I have been baking him a cake. In ten minutes it should be cooked, then I have to wrap his presents while it cools, and then ice it.
heraldis is out with cold_hayley and giantitp performing carols at the Old Spot (in exchange for free beer I think).- Mood:
hungry - Music:Planet Rock
They announced (quietly) in September that this year there was a budget of £47 per head for Christmas that was to be spent however the directors felt appropriate. Our director decided that as they have to pay 60% tax on gifts to staff that they would part fund a team meal to the tune of £16 (announced after we had already booked and paid for our meals of course, so now we have to claim it back). This leaves £19.38 after tax.
What could you buy fo £19 (remembering that you can claim the VAT back). A nice bottle of whiskey or port; a gift voucher for about £20; a 4Gb flash drive; a couple bottles of nice wine.
What did Orange buy for £19 (ex VAT): a half bottle of the same wine that everyone said was undrinkable when they gave it to us last year, a small box of chocolates and a small box of cookies. Cost to buy in Tescos about 7 quid.
You would think that after the debacle last year that they would have at least changed supplier to someone who was not going to shaft them so obviously.
Top 100 best places to work here we come...
I am not normally one for festive spirit (I object to being told by society that I am a bad person unless I spend lots of money on gifts to tell my loved ones that I care about them. I spend all year caring about them, and I do not like society spending one day a year caring to justify ignoring everyone for the rest of the year). I can not stand shops creating a festive isle in October, and if anyone at work tries to get me to wear humorous antlers there will be blood spilt.
However this morning R managed to melt my heart. She and M are going away to the grandparents for a long weekend so that
heraldisand I can go out for the night (courtesy of elfinessy and our other great friends who got us a hotel room as our christmas pressent). Before I left this morning, R gave me a great big hug and asked in her most polite voice "Daddy, when you finish at work today can you buy a tree from the Christmas tree shop please", Why" says I. "Otherwise Father Christmas will not know where to put the presents".
Part of me dreads the fact that she now understands and expects presents, but the way she asked was the most angelic thing she has done in a long time.
Of course we have the artifical tree in the outhouse... Well, we have most of the tree in the outhouse. I have this horrible feeling that when we moved I forgot to get the centre pole out of the attic in the mad rush that was moving day... So daddy may well be going out this weekend to buy a tree ;)
As I am sure that most of you know, a month ago a put my back out and was off work for two weeks. I finally had my Workplace Ergonomic Assessment (it took my boss's boss two weeks to decide to sign off the £0.00 cost), where a nice lady looked at how I was sitting and working and agreed that I need a new chair, some monitor risers and a wrist rest.
The worrying thing is that making the company buy me a new chair and some office supplies has been the highlight of my working week, and I feel somehow better that I have cost the company money and that I have forced them to acknowledge that I exist...
Am I a bad person?
- Location:Office
- Mood: confused
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