emchi.co.uk

Well interesting few days.  I spent Friday and Saturday in London attending the Nielsen Norman Group conference on Intranet Usability.  Really interesting, best thing I’ve been to in a very long time. Hopefully I’ll get to apply some of what I learnt to my job.  Still it was exhausting, lack of sleep the night before, and staying up late talking to my best friend, all but did me in. 

Today I’ve done a mad dash to find puppy food (as she’s stopped eating the food for older dogs we were told to feed her), done the food shopping, watched the Grand Prix and baked a cake.  Yes, all in that order, I’ve still got the housework to do yet.

Brilliant Grand Prix today, Lewis deserved to win.  Which leads me onto something interesting I read on auto blog.  Apparently, Richard Hammond is going to be the F1 presenter when it goes to BBC next year.  If it’s true, then rock on!  Now all we need is someone like Suzi Perry to do the pit commentary.  I wonder who will do race commentary, I hope Martin Brundle moves, I like his commentary.  Perhaps Murray will come back?  Who knows. 

Anyway, I’m thinking of some blog posts on usability following the conference.  More soon!

Wow, I’ve moved to the country and all I’ve got to talk about is the weather.  Well that’s what it seems like.  We are however living in a miniature tornado alley here.  Seriously, I think the areal is going to fall off the chimney. Which in all fairness wouldn’t be a massive loss as it picked up bugger all when we were using it for about four days (well in less you count really great static an not a great picture, then sure, it’s the best areal in the world).

Anyway, I braved the weather this morning to go and do the grocery shopping (apparently it doesn’t do itself… which is a huge shame).  Firstly I got assaulted by the wind as I stomped about 3 meters to my car (trying my hardest not to sink in the bog our garden now is), then tried to get the car out.  Lets just say it REALLY needs a good wash.  Then I got assaulted by the big white cross as I came out of the village.  Is there some kind of religious thing going on this weekend? JOKE (I don’t know why I bother putting Joke after the end of that, if people who read this know me, know that’s the kind of thing I would joke about and those that don’t obviously need to unclench their arse cheeks a bit).

So anyway, I managed to get to the supermarket and I think on the way (it’s a fifteen minute drive before you get carried away), I think there was rain, sleet, hail, snow, sunshine and an almighty gale.  Quite amusing.  Has anyone else noticed that sleet looks an awful lot like dandruff? Cue lots of jokes about being covered in dandruff when in fact it’s just sleet.

Right, believe it or not I’m typing this on my big G5 as I’ve sorted out my desk area at the top of the stairs (there’s a little alcove at the top of the stairs, and my desk fits in perfectly, as if it were made to go here, the pitched roof is limiting the height of my monitor a bit but even so it’s still more comfortable than my desk at work.  I also forgot how much I like using LastFM, I don’t have it loaded on my PowerBook, so I always forget about it.  Currently scrobbling music by BT, and it’s brought back some really nice tunes.

OK I’m now just burbling random shit now so I’m going to go do something constructive (and incredibly anal), changing ID3 tags in iTunes.

My body seems to attract illness like it’s going out of fashion.  Anyway, can I just say that the medical experience in Wiltshire is about a hundred times better than the experience in London.  For starters the drive to the surgery is through lovely winding country roads to the next village over, then the practice building is a big newly built place with a chemist on site.  The doctor was, dare I say this for fear of vilification, English… He took a lengthy medical history and was very pleasant.  Oh and he even used that alcohol gel on his hands before examining my stomach, something that they never did in London.  Asked about my asthma and said that I could make an appointment to have a review even if it was less than the recommended time between my last appointments.  I was very impressed with the level of service.  They seemed to have more time for people and are less harried.

I’m not about to get into a massive diatribe about the politics of NHS doctors, nor to the point where I had to complain about the treatment by one in London.  Everything about the surgery in London seemed over-stretched.  No time for appointments, no time to see anyone when you do get one, no communication, rude receptionists that sit behind glass partitions.  It was like a war zone.  I’m sure from the kinds of people sitting in the waiting area at the surgery in London the staff were tired of what they were seeing and the treatment they got from people.  The new surgery is a polar opposite. No glass on the receptionists desk, polite and friendly staff who had a smile for you, and more time with your doctor.  OK so the surgery did seem to be filled with more affluent people but why should that make any difference?  Why people feel it’s acceptable to treat someone who’s trying to help you badly is beyond me. 

Anyway, I’m now on the sofa, having done my shopping (online), emailed a couple of people and now going in search of my sheepskin boots to keep my tootsies nice and warm.

I got asked today to rate my stress levels on a scale of 1 to 9… I didn’t specifically answer, but I did say that things that caused me stress in London, don’t seem as stressful in the West Country.  I’m not saying things don’t stress me out, but they don’t seem anywhere near as hellish as they would have. 

I don’t know what it is, perhaps it’s the thought of coming home to a pleasant home, to the sunshine pouring in the window waking me up in the mornings, the nice commute to work, the people I work with… who knows what it is, but being out of London seems a lot better all round.  Even the thought of doing the grocery shopping doesn’t seem to be anywhere near as much of a chore as it was in London.

I can’t wait to get our puppy, to be able to get out walking at weekends and enjoying the scenery on foot.  Summer here is going to be good, lazy summers on the village green, long summer evenings on the (yet to be completed) patio and the fresh air all year round.  This is home, it feels like home, for the first time in just over ten years, it feels like I’m home.  The South East and London were never home.

After changing trains twice (I did the twatty thing and got on the 17:49 which doesn’t stop at my station, but the next station up the line so I had to get the train back again), then getting rained on walking down the road, then lugging the shopping up the stairs and getting through the front door to the “Snott Monster” (Aka R, currently afflicted with Man Flu)… I find a letter, a big letter no less. Not just addressed to me but also to R, who has cast it aside in favour of a bacon sarnie and a cup of coffee.

“What is your point?” I hear you cry!

It’s only the bloody mortgage offer!! Resplendent with a million and one conditions… So now we need to find £9100, which is not going to be easy… thinking about the “Please give generously to the Emma & R stamp duty fund”… I’m sure we’ll find it somehow, where there’s a will, there’s a way.

Anyway, we can’t complete until October 2nd at the earliest (long story, but it involves me being on my bestest behavior until then).

What a mad day yesterday was. Firstly got a text from my friend who’s on her Honeymoon in Las Vegas who said she’d been to pick up her copy of Harry potter, 8 hours behind the UK but still ahead of me as the post man hadn’t been.

I managed to drive all the way to Cheshunt to deliver mortgage papers and payment, then go grocery shopping, get home and I read the Harry Potter book from cover to cover.

I’m not giving the ending away. It was what was expected but it wasn’t at the same time. As for two characters dying? well there was a huge body count by the end of the book, the first one coming within a few pages. It answered a lot of questions that remained un-answered in previous books so that was a pleasant surprise. More twists and a roller coaster, but possibly not the best one she’s written. You could sense her anguish at having to finish. The plot carry over from book six, mingled with a new plot and the expected plot from all of the previous ones. A lot to take on board.

… When it means you get to go to the Media Day for the BTCC at brands hatch… oh yes :o) I was even let loose with a Nikon D70. Only I was holding two cameras when Matt Neal’s car came round the corner one way and his wheel went round the corner the other way so no photo of the incident… I will post a photo of them changing the wheel though, the caption will be “how many men does it take to change a wheel?” as there were about 10 of them around trying to change the wheel. It was very funny.

A nice relaxing day knowing I didn’t have to go into work and face my boss who with any luck will only be my boss for another three days. I hate getting out of bed in the morning and I am now actively avoiding him. Anyway… I’m off to do some grocery shopping.

No normal post today… thought I’d share a joke I read in Readers Digest this month… (the subscription was a Christmas present and I like to read it…)

In an Australian school the teacher is asking the pupils what their parents do for a living. The teacher gets all the normal responses, doctor, teacher, IT consultant etc… until she gets to little Billy. She asks what Billys dad does for a living.

Little Billy replies…

Well my daddy’s a con artist, he tells little old ladies that they’ve got something wrong with their house and takes the money off them.

The teacher is shocked and sends the other pupils out to play and asks little Billy if his daddy really does those things.

Little Billy replies…

“Well no, he plays cricket for Australia, but I was too embarassed to say”

In other news, just bought a fridge freezer tonight. Hot tip, if you want to avoid the crowds Christmas shopping, hit Bluewater, late on a weekday evening.

Oooh off to see Mark Thomas in Canterbury on Thursday night, he’s supported by Dave Newman, you know, of the Mary Whitehouse Experience… that’s you that is :oP

The highlight of my weekend was doing the grocery shopping… The highlight of the week is going to be watching Lost on Wednesday night, and trying to find a new job. Still my flat is pretty much impecable, the only thing that I need to do is vacum my bedroom and dust. Needless to say I’ve not got much to talk about at the moment.

Did anyone happen to get the number plate of the bus that knocked me down as I’m having issues getting back up

For some strange reason I thought it would be a good idea to go to Ikea last night (perhaps because if I sat in my flat I’d find something un-constructive to do or start obsessing). Anyway, I needed saucepans and stuff so I thought, ah sod it I’ll go to Ikea. Anyway I’m driving over there with the concious thought that the new one was opening soon, and me being a bit brain dead thanks to a rather nice text message I’d had earlier in the day didn’t remember it was the Wednesday it opened, ie yesterday.

So anyway I’m wandering around the store, hoping I don’t have to get the huskies, compass and map out to find my way out of the show room and down to the level where I could buy the stuff I needed. I finally get there and manage to successfully get everything I wanted with the exception of one thing (tongs - how difficult is it to find a set of tongs? I had a great set but, well don’t any more… grrr…). I am also amazed that I only came away with a couple of extra things that wasn’t on my list.

You know what they should do? they should check your shopping list when you go in, and when you go out, and if you don’t buy anything besides what is on your list, you should get a badge that says, “I went to Ikea and didn’t spend Africa’s defecit”…

Anyway, got into work this morning to find this Now I did see the new members of staff being ushered out of Ikea at Lakeside like lambs to the slaughter… So why go all the way there, queue from 6pm just to get into Ikea… There’s one at Lakeside, or Brent Cross… If you wanted to avoid the queues, then you could have gone to Lakeside, really there was hardly anyone there. Oh and the stabbing in the headline? unrelated… nice work there BBC I like what you did, spread fear and terror into the hearts of people desperate to buy 100 tea lights for £1.50!! Never again will they be able to look at their Ivar book case and not think of the possible loss of life there could have been when they went to buy it at Edmonton…