Damn you to hell

Yesterday was reasonably relaxing, doing very little except waiting in for Mr Postman to deliver a parcel. 2-3 day delivery my arse. Dabs.com, you are a lying sack of shite. Ordered on Monday and still not arrived.

Which meant today was spend in waiting for the parcel that didn't arrive yesterday, which (obviously) didn't arrive today. And since it was for a birthday present and Monday is a bank holiday, it means I'll be heading to the shops tomorrow to spend more on the item there. And if the item from dabs ever does show up, it'll be getting returned unopened. Have I mentioned they're bastards?

Tonight is Kelli's birthday (Happy Birthday you crazy hephalumping so and so) which means a pub visit is in order. And that means when heading to the shops tomorrow I'll bo doubt have a hangover to deal with also. Splendid. Mind you, been too long since the last reason for a good piss-up, so ladies and gentlemen ... On your marks ... get set ... and DRINK!

Freedom? What freedom?

Bet you though there wouldn't be many work posts now, eh? Well, buddy, think again. Sheesh. The last day at work was fairly uneventful. Went out for lunch to a nice Indian and then I spend most of the afternoon figuring out how to fit everything from my desk into my bag. In the end I had to leave the chair and the computer. Managed to pilfer a decent amount of stationary though.

And in the two days I've now had off I've been busier than the last two weeks are work. Mind you, that wouldn't be too hard to be fair. But anyhow, I think I'd have been better off staying in a Full Time job. At least it gave me some time to relax.

So it looks like I'm now involved in about 4 projects in total. 2 of which are due to finish very shortly, and one of which is only about 1.5 days work. But the other one. Gah.

And the reason I find myself in them is because I'm too nice. I really should just learn to say no to people, but I don't. Don't get me wrong, I am getting paid a decent rate for them, but if it weren't for people I know then I wouldn't have got involved. Or rather, wouldn't have felt obligated to get involved.

What's worse, is that I can see all 4 of them coming back to bite me in the arse (or ass for our American readers). Hopefully they won't ... but they all presently have the potential to do so. I'll no doubt go into more detail at a later date, but suffice to say that this break is not very restful as of now.

But, on the plus side, I now have a "2" key on my keyboard again. Cost a whopping £1.84 in total (beats £70 for a new keyboard from Dell) but in typical so close fashion it's a US key, meaning I have 2 @ symbols and no " key. Oh well.

Spuds, would you believe

Friday was the end of the week. No, honestly, it was. It was also the first day I cycled in with the clipless SPD pedals. Now don't get me started on the whole clip and clipless pedals, as SPD pedals have a clip, but don't have a toe strap or anything. So quite why they are clipless I have no idea.

Anyhow, amazingly I didn't fall off once. I came close several times, but managed to stay upright and avoid falling under any passing cars. They were surprisingly beneficial, if a bit tricky to clip in and out of. You'd think they'd be slightly easier this morning, but nope. Still avoided falling off though.

So all in all, they get a big thumbs up. And with all the free time I'll have shortly (tomorrow is the last day!) I should be a dab hand with them in no time.

Speaking of work, the NHS-esque website had its official launch on Friday. Opened by the Health Minister (apparently) at a conference in Edinburgh (to which I was invited, but declined), and it all went swimmingly, with the teams whose website it was, receiving muchos de praise. So that's Phase 1 finished, and it very much looks like there will be a Phase 2 and work from other sources coming out of that if I desire.

Last week I was offered another full time sysadmin position in the city centre, and the Network Systems department here have just asked if I'd do some contract work for them for a month or so, both of which I turned down. Looks like I really do have more offers of work than I could handle, if I indeed wanted to work.

In the meantime I have to decide what to do with the pockets of cash I currently have. Whether to save it so my summer unemployment can last a bit longer, or buy a fancy new bike, or to go meet the travelling monkey in Kuala Lumpur and get my diving certificate. Gah, decisions decisions. Still, better than having to decide what mundane form to fill in at work.

Frogs and fences

Yikes. Been busier than a frog on a white picket fence the last few days. That is, assuming the frog on the fence was quite busy. Most of it is work, in one form or another, which is good in some ways, but leaves less time to faff about. Still, only 4 days to go (and counting).

Both freelance/contracting jobs are due to finish soon, with more work available for both if I so desire. At the moment I don't desire, even remotely .. but I shall see what a couple of weeks off does for the ole' motivation before burning any bridges. Also another couple of opperchancities are presenting themselves.

Odd that I never really considered contracting (freelance style) before as I thought it would be difficult to find enough work to keep me busy. As it happens, there's now more work than I could handle, even if I was totally motivated. Go figure.

And just in case you were concerned, the flat didn't explode. The gas leak seems to have been fixed. At least, I hope. So far so good.

Ok, who farted?

So, another Friday, and not a jolly good one. Tried to use the key for my desk drawer in my bike lock this morning and bent it beyond repair (the key that is, not the lock). So, the start of the morning involved a search of the office for a key with the same number I could pinch. Ho hum.

But that wasn't the start of the badness. Oh no. I woke up to my alarm in my usual sleepy state and padded through to the kitchen to grab a quick drink (non-alcoholic) and upon entering said room stopped as my spider sense tingled, alerting me to the fact something was not quite right.

Took me a minute or two, but in the end I realised the room was full of gas. Bollox. So, opening windows ensued along with searching for the source of the noxious gas. Upon further investigation it appears that my oven isn't switching off completely. Double bollox.

So, I debated turning off the gas, but in the end didn't bother. Maybe my flat will have blown up by the time I get home. But anyhow, looks like I'll need to investigate some more at the weekend, but it's likely I'll need a new cooker, which will be over a hunner quid for an el-cheapo gas one. Either that, or I bring forward my plans to get the kitchen redone, but that'll cost several thousand. And with 7 days of work left it's not the best time to be considering this.

Bollox. (Did I already say that?)

Or ... I can leave it till it explodes and get it sorted with the insurance money....

Hear ye, hear ye

Just a quick update, to keep all you intrepid readers up to date with the goings on in the fun packed uber-exciting life of me. Or something.

Two things worthy of note, really. The first is I am now ahead of schedule in the whole cycling thing, as can be seen on the right there (again, those of you reading via RSS will need to look at the site if you care). Hopefully I can keep this up and be well over the 1000 mile mark by the end of the year. Woohoo, etc.

Secondly, the travelling monkey has also requested a line on the cycle-o-meter(tm) which can be seen below. He's the one not marked as Me, obviously. He seems to think it's some sort of race, and has forgotten the fact that some of us have to work instead of swaning about foreign climes drinking beer. Pesky kids. As soon as he gets bored of it I'll remove it.

Oh what a beautiful morning

Well actually it's well into the afternoon. And on top of that, the morning wasn't that great although the weather is nice. Although, to be fair, today has passed mighty quickly since I appear to have some stuff to do now. Woohoo, etc.

Very nearly bought a new fangled singing and dancing bike, but in the end decided to postpone the decision for another week while I decide if shelling out all those noodles is a good plan. Hmm .. can't take it with you, eh?

Phoned ye olde' umbrella company type thingy ma bob to find out when my contract officially ends. You can imagine my surprise when I was told it finished on the 26th Feb. *sigh* Seems they haven't received a contract extension. And the invoice from Feb has still not been paid. Joy joy joy. Anyhow, by my reckoning a 2 month extension will take me to the 26th April, which is 2 weeks tomorrow. Sweet, only 11 days to go. Whether I'll get paid for the last 2 months is anyone's guess.

Was planning to get a haircut, as I'm beginning to look like a lion, but with messy hair on the top of my head rather than a golden mane sticking out round the side, but you get the idea. Needless to say I didn't bother, although if anyone asks I'll just claim I didn't have time. That sounds like it was less to do with laziness. Speaking of which, must be about time to start packing up. I can stretch that task out for an hour or so.

A brief flurry

Well, I hope it's brief. It's just started snowing. Jolly good. They ride in this morning was lovely, but cold as polar bears fridge. Hopefully it'll stop snowing by the time I'm going home.

Don't ask me why, but I think I've just figured out why this whole IT lark is pissing me off so much. And the reason is? Lack of enthusism. However not, as you may be thinking, mine, but rather the companies.

When I joined this lot the first time round it was enjoyable to begin with. They were a very small company, with big plans and they were excited about their own potential and stuff.

Now nobody cares. There is no excitment. There is no enthusism. People turn up to work, do what they have to to get paid, then go home, trying not to think that they have to return in a few hours.

The previous company I worked for was similar, although they were an odd lot in thay there had been a few redundancies previously. But again it was a fairly lackluster place, with people not believing in their product (apart from those who were activly developing it who were very clique like) and the others doing repetative work.

And with the job that I just turned down, I now realise the reason I felt very unmotivated is that the people who interviewed me didn't seem enthusiastic at all. To me, it seemed like they felt as I do here. Bored and trapped.

In contrast, I had another interview yesterday (No, I don't know why I went for another IT interview either) and the blok who took me round could well have been a salesman. He was really enthusiastic and believed in what the company was doing and excited about the future. And I actually thought to myself I could see myself enojoying working here.

This still doesn't change the fact that I don't want another IT job, but might explain why am I particularly down on this industry at the moment.

Offers

Man, that was weird. I just got a call from the place I had an interview last week to offer me the job. Now that in itself is not off I guess. Well, actually, going by my current form it is a bit on the odd side.

But what is odd, is what I said. It caught me completely odd guard and I think the whole call lasted about 20 seconds. What I said was I was waiting to hear back about another job interview and I'd call him back first thing tomorrow.

Now, I'm not actually waiting to hear about another job, but even if I was I wouldn't have said this. Cause then if I were to accept this one then they'd assume I got knocked back for the other one. What I usually say if I want to think about it overnight. But I'm pretty sure I'm not going to accept it, and I guess that was blatantly obvious from the short call and no immediate answer.

I'm also thinking that I wasn't top of their list since they said they'd get back to me at the start of the week, and it's now most firmly the end of the week, so I guess the other person (people?) they offered it to have also turned it down.

Shame, as the guy who interviewed me was a nice bloke. And the company is a very high-profile lot (at least here in Scotchlandia) and it would be an interesting company to work for. However, the job itself doesn't sound that interesting. Don't think it's the one for me.

How many meals to go?

It seems I'm getting old. I've started planning out what I'm going to eat for the week, like my mum does before she goes shopping. I remember I used to think How dull. Just decide what you're going to eat on the day. To a certain extent I still do, but there's usually a bit of forethought involved. Especially when you're cooking for one <sniff> and what you make can easily do you 2 meals, after freezing or refrigerating at least.

Last night was Lasagne. Mmm ... mmmmmost tasty. If I'd had some blue cheese to bung it, it would have been uber tasty, but I didn't. And since I got absolutely soaked on the way home I wasn't prepared to venture out again.

Got totally drenched again on the way in this morning, but such is life. And only another 3 Tuesdays mornings to go. Most splendid.

Sister set off on her way to Australia on Sunday. Just got an SMS from her from Singapore (where she's spending a few days) informing me she was drinking beer in the baking sunshine. Yeah, cheers for that. That's helped my already non-existent motivation no end.