MCR

I finally got around to checking out the new My Chemical Romance album and video on their website last night, Welcome to the Black Parade. And I've been listening to it for most of the day at work. Not sure about it yet (I figure it's a grower like the last one). Looks from the video for the first single that they have picked up a touch of the Freddie Mercurys. Listen to it Loud!!!

Oh and Russ is going nuts at the moment on my email as NIN have just announced a tour for next year (most of which I'm in Canada for). A very excitable chap indeed.

I checked and MCR also have dates soon but all the ones I can go to have already sold out. I guess I'll just be happy I'm going to the Muse gig in November

Hurrah!

19 Days

That's how much holiday I have left now that additional days for the over time has been added.
Current company rules state that all holiday must be used by the end of the calendar year.
So unless they change it and give me the money or left me carry it over (that would be handy with what I'm planning) I'm not going to be in the office much for the rest of the year!

Project Review

Had a nice little innovation yesterday. A meeting about what we did right and what we did wrong on the project. so we (about a third of the developers) where able to say what went right with the project (scums, working together as a team, the introduction of a wiki) and what went wrong (getting information from the business, had to cut corners due to the deadline, having the sales team keep changing their minds). It's part of the agile developer method and I think it should help in the long run.

Also had a one to one with Richard (the CTO) today and we talked about changes to team structure and he said that there is some of the training budget that he thinks I should have.

Also he hinted at they are planning on introducing more structure into career levels and that it should to my benefit. However he said that the change had to be agreed by the business and so it will be a couple of weeks yet before we have some news.

All positive stuff but I'm running out of time and I am not sure I can wait too much longer.

Live!

It's nearly 3am (ah the KLF) and the site is live...

www.uS****h.com

all the colours are good and the whole thing (mostly) works!

not a bad day; quiet morning, an afternoon picking up leaflets at the Ski show
and a 11pm-3am shift at work.

D

History Blog Entry

http://www.historymatters.org.uk/output/page96.asp

Hi my name is David Dunhill

I'm a white English male, 33 years 5 months 25 days, 5 foot 11 inches, 13 stone and a bit, fitish (go running a couple of times a month) with short blond hair (about 1cm) shaven number 2 at back.

Today I'm wearing blue/grey Salomon trainers, cream Craghopper double layered walking pants, Calvin Klein black boxers, grey socks, blue Abercrombie and Fitch t shirt, blue v neck thin baggy jumper, old denim jacket from Next, Timex Expedition digital watch with compass, bright red Berghaus extrem powder rucksack; containing psp (Wipeout pure racing game), money, book (blood fever by charlie higson), Nike wolly hat, black baseball cap no logo, handkerchief, Bloc sunglasses, umbrella, diary and pen, usb/charger cables for phone, lip balm, keys for home and work, driving glasses, mobile phone with headphones (includes camera and mp3 music player),copy of today's Metro newspaper and my oyster travel card.

and this is how my day went...

Woke at 8:15am with Radio 4 on the radio hearing about the historymatters campaign switched it off when they started talking about stupid politicians again.
Travelled to work across London via a bus and two tube trains. thought about history, stuff I need to do at work, sorting out the details for my weekend away, what I'm going to get people for Xmas and why have purple bins started appearing near home, annoyed by people smoking in the bus queue and slow tourists in Victoria station,
Got to work 9:30 am so late for work (they didn't mind as we've been doing lots of late nights because we have a project deadline on Wednesday night) at a web site company in IT.
First cup of tea 9:40.
Morning was busy sorting out data issues with the project.
Second cup of tea 11:10.
Third cup of tea 12:22.
Lunch 13:30 chicken and Noodle soup, steak and kidney pie both from EAT sandwich shop costing £6.85 eaten at desk.
Fourth cup of tea 14:37.
Afternoon mostly spent talking to business users and developers sorting out last minute problems.
Fifth cupof tea 16:44.
Sixth cup of tea 17:35.
Finished up remaining tasks for the day and left work at 19:20.
Don't think I thought about much on the way home just avoided the free newspapers and read my book.
Home at 20:50 after popping into supermarket to get supper.
Tea was chicken and rice with a bottle of campa viejo rioja 2000.
Played Star Wars Lego on my Xbox for a bit.
Watched stuff recorded on my digital tv recorder; american crime dramas and uk programs about gadgets and cars.
Last cup of tea 22:50 (as you can see I drink alot of tea, so much so, my nickname at work is Tetley).
Packed for friends wedding in Sunderland that I'm going to at the weekend.
Bed at 00:10am.

The Long Day

Well I'm off work the next two days, except for the period 11pm-3am tomorrow night when we go live with the new web site.

So I'm trying to get everything sorted before I leave tonight. We are now in the code freeze (although bits of it have been thawing out all day) and so there's not much to do for the developers. This doesn't apply to me however as lots of little issues seem to be coming from the business which only require small db changes to I've been changing images and switching bit on and off all day.

I was really tired this morning and I'm seriously spaced out now after last nights hard choir lessons trying to get thru the Britten. I'm really starting to hate that man now. That and working the weekend again.

Today is 'One Day in History' blog day were the national archive ask people to describe their day and add it to the archive at British Library's Web Archive in Modern British Collections.
This idea to capture normal life on one day from lots of different view points. A really cool idea, I'll stick my entry up here when I've done it.

D

Crystal's good news / bad news

To go with my good news about the free ticket to the ski show , I got the bad news yesterday.

In the small print for the Holiday I missed the fact that the season ski pass is only for Lake Louise not for all three resorts at Banff. I have the option to 'upgrade' for 260 pounds to the full ticket ski big 3 season pass. B**tards!!

Also since they left it so long to tell me I can't get the early bird deal on the pass and it will cost me 300 dollars extra. OK I can live with the upgrading to the cheaper prices but I don't see why I should pay for their tardiness.

So its pay up or lose two thirds of my holiday.

I believe they call that blackmail

Letter of complaint fired off.

D

1:12:21

Ran the Nike10K at the weekend. OK time 72 minutes. I got a bit bored around 5.5Km and walked between 6K and 7K. Pretty standard for me. Of course I'm a bit stiff now.

I now have a green t-shirt to go with the blue, red and dayglo yellow shirts from previous years.

D

Part two nearly complete

Part two - getting my pension contribution is nearly complete. I just been given the check and will be posting it off to the pension company this weekend. So that should be safe from any consequences.

BTW part one was to book the holiday.

A ski freebie...hurrah!

I got something great in the post last night. A free ticket to the Ski and Snow board show at Olympia.

Problem is its a busy week

Work have asked (or are about too) me to work a night shift on the 18th/19th 4hours 11pm-3am. which may mean I get wed and Thurs off except for the over night bit.

The snowboard show is 18-22nd

I'm off to my friend Julie's wedding in Sunderland on Friday 20th back on the Sunday 22nd (staying with Nick in Leeds)

One problem is that the ski people wanted to meet on the Sat at the show but I won't make it which is a shame because I would like to see what the other people on the course are like.

so I may be able to go on the Wednesday during the day.

Which will be good

Rumours and Hints

Well
It sounds like they have started planning on what will be happening in the department after the big redesign project finishes.

Richard the CTO mention the he knows that I should be official Senior Dev (promoted) and better paid as everyone (who?) agrees that I'm already filling that role in the company.
He had a quick chat with me about the shape of the new teams.

Rob say in the pub the other night about how I'm important to the team and in a Senior position

I was thinking three different things as both these conversations were going on
1) this is all 6 months late
2) I wonder what will happen when I tell them about the skiing
3) I'm still angry about what they did.
4) with this company I'll believe it when I have it in writing.

So things may be happening soon. Fingers crossed
Hopefully before I have to give them the big news.

The factors that are governing that are
1) I don't want them to know until after the (postponed now by about 3 months) review so it won't effect what they say
2) I want my pension check for this half year in the bank so they can't pull a fast one.
3) I have to give them 1 months notice so my absolute deadline is the start of December.

still they are very busy at the minute so I'm not expecting any real news soon...

My dream email

I got the following post

We need your help! Please tell us which new LEGO product ideas you like best. Your feedback will help us to decide which products to offer in the future! Go to the link below and give us your opinions by 8:00 PM Monday, October 2nd Thank you for your help!

I suggested some more Lego game tie-ins like StarWars Lego and try and make Lego that can play mp3s. It's the sort of email you wait your whole life for ;-)

Deadline day

It Fat lady sings time at work for the project

The whole redesign project, all our business channels, about 20 developers and 10 odd tester have been madly busy to get to this point. They where in at the weekend (I decided to take it easy and not come in mainly cos I got a bad cold and had big nights out on Friday and Saturday, rather than an attempt at rebelling) and until late the last couple of evenings (pizza on Monday and Nandos on Tuesday from the bosses).

The last two days went amazingly quick with lots of different issues and people wanting information. We were aiming to get all the functional bug sorted for today and then concentrate on the content and styling issues while the testers start regression testing.

So we are in the eye of the storm, so to speak.

Just tidying up

The guys have been working really hard and Gordon (the PM) says he will be organising a wrap party. hopefully I will be able to surprise everyone with the gifts I got for them (may have to get a few more as I only got 25)

Center Parcs

It was a lovely weekend

As I mention before I was my Mum's 60Th Birthday and to celebrate we had a family weekend away to Center Parc at Elvendon Forest near Norwich.We stayed from Friday to Monday, we had a great time, the apartment was away from the main complex and nice and quiet. Well that is apart from the odd bits of noise generated by Ivy and Freddie. This is the most time that I've spent with them and I felt that I got to know them a bit more. Certainly some of their sleeping habit like waking up at 6 am! Freddie has just managed to hold largish plastic balls (a little larger than his hand) and its very funny because he hasn't learned to let go and as he waves hand around he looks someone has super glued the ball to his hand! Ivy is a real dynamo and I don't know how her mum, Emma has the energy to keep up with her.

We hired bikes to get us around and a buggy bike thing for the kids to sit in. Having bike was Ideal as the place is a bit large to walk to every thing but not big enough that you can't easily reach stuff by bike.
The down side to the bikes was that they aren't the best in the world as I found out on Sunday morning. I had gone out to pick up the morning copy of the Telegraph, using a free voucher we got and I decided to have a bit of a tour around the side and some of the back lanes. I had covered most of the park and was doing the loop closest to the flat when the chain popped right off. Bang!
I went straight over the handle bars and landing part on the concrete road and part in the bushes by the side. first to hit was my right elbow and it was this arm that took all the damage. It felt for a minute or so like I'd dislocated it as it hurt and didn't respond to my trying to move it. fortunately I had only badly bruised it and apart from it being sore, the main injury was to take the skin off the elbow. Its amazing how much blood comes from such a little wound, only about the size of a 50p. It bled for hours.

So I gathered myself up and wheeled my bike back along the path. Almost straight away Ed, my brother in law cycled up and was able to guide me straight back to the flat via a short cut. Everyone help me get tidied up and clean the wound.

The paper was fine.

Apart from that, the weekend was great just being together as a family. We didn't manage to do too many things while we where there, partly because everything cost and we didn't fancy anything enough to pay for it, but mainly because it was a holiday for relaxing. Not that we didn't make good use of the pool with its different types of slides and rides. We (well I did) went each evening after most of the kid had gone home for there tea, so we got on all the rides when it wasn't too crowded. Also the salt water pool was good for my elbow!

I hope we do a holiday like this again sometime soon.

My mum loved her present we had all clubbed together to buy her a stained glass round window to go in her hallway. Emma designed it based a bit on art deco and Charles Rennie Macintosh and Sunrises, and Claire organised it from a place near where she lives in Horsham. The window when it's in place will look amazing with the sun pouring through the different colours, gold, red, blue, green and purple.

A little time off

For the first time since Feb I going to be away for the next few days. Work and all it's crazy deadlines and missing bits of development can wait until next Tuesday when I come back. I can decide whether it would be better if people find they need me and want answers to things while I'm away or that I'm not needed because I've done a good job in educating people about my Customisation system and left it running in a very stable state.
Customisation hasn't had an real bug raised against it during the whole of the testing process so far. A couple of issues raise for bits of extra functionality but a 'clean sheet' for the stuff we created before testing started.

Anyway I digress, I'm off to Centre Parks on holiday with the whole family. Mum and Dad, Emma, Olly and Ivy, Claire, Ed and Freddy. That's Seven Adults and Two kids so I hope its a big chalet. We sorted out a great gift for my mum and should have a top celebration. I'm planning on mostly running, swimming and sitting around.

Should be great!

It's all gone to seed

Had a bit of a weird day yesterday

1) Last night in the supermarket I decided to get some more seeds and dried fruit. I take them to work as a healthy snack. So I selected a couple of different things including sour cherries, lovely, and then carried on shopping. A couple of minutes later down the other end of the shop I spotted a bag of mixed seeds which looked quite tasty but when I picked them up it was a bag of bird seed. D'oh! as the saying goes all this healthy food stuff is just a load of bird seed.

2) A cool tag line for an advert I saw in tube this morning. It was for Burger King and it said
'Eat like a King and not like a Clown'. Whether or not you like Murder King you have to agree they definitely scored one against Maccy Ds with this one.

Al Bean

Last night after going into work (Sunday) because our project deadline is today, I got the opportunity to hear speak, Al Bean, one of the Moon Walkers.

He was the fourth person to walk on the Moon as pilot of Apollo 12 and since leaving NASA he has devoted his time to being a painter. So I had two reasons why I wanted to hear him speak my interest in all things Space, since a little boy and including getting a degree in Physics, and my hobbies in Art, including evening classes for the last couple of years.

It was a really uplifting experience as he is a delightful speaker with warmth and a great sense of humour and he gave some insight to how human, and down to Earth (sorry!) the other Moon walkers are. Like talking to Neil Armstrong about which hand he used to steady himself before the first big step (micro gravity is very difficult to stand in until your body learns not to overreact when you start to lose balance) and Harrison Schmitt wishing he had drawn his daughter's name on the side of a boulder while he was up there.

He spoke about the feeling of travelling with out moving in space where as there are no mile markers the journey is very still and feels motionless with just the Earth moving away quickly at the start and the Moon rushing to meet you at the end. And he spoke of the desire to try and look over the top of the Moon to see if he could see the far side.

The talk gave some insight into the fear and excitement he felt through the experience and brought the whole subject down to a very human level, where you could image yourself trying to balance in the Lunar gravity or being in awe at the size and beauty of the Earth.
He describes the Earth as paradise and is very thankful to have made it back and at the sheer wonder of the everyday things, like simple ordinary people, that he sees around him.

The main message he had to give was make the best of your opportunities as your won't believe what you can do if you try and everyone has a 'song' or a story to tell and if you don't try and make it happen then it will never be heard in all eternity.

Very positive and I for one am very glad I had this once in a lifetime change to hear him.

Deadlines and Spacemen

It the Friday before the Monday project deadline and it's all getting fraught around here. Most people will be in at the weekend. I'm doing Sunday cos you get 1.5 Holiday rather than Sat where you only get 1 day and is no reward at all.

Still Sunday should be a brilliant day because in the evening I'm going to a talk by Al Bean the fourth person to walk on the Moon. I saw one by Buzz Aldrin a couple of years ago and it was very interesting. A once in a lifetime experience and no mistake. Also full marks for my Mum for telling me about it otherwise I would have missed it.

Right its Friday and time for the Pub. Bizarrely there's a big carnival music event happening in the shops by the office right now so I'm going to look at that too. Free finger food! and it makes a change to be typing away with a musical (sort of) accompaniment.

D

Got my hair cut yesterday, not really news but you'd think people had never seen short hair at work.
OK it may have got a little long (collar length) and I did get my head shaved but everyone made a joke. of course it could just mean I populate and what I do gets noticed. nah!

Messages thru the mists of time

so I managed to mail my friend jis back and some up my life at the minute ...

I suppose the first thing to say is sorry! As you know part of the human male condition is our tardiness when it comes to replying to letters, etc. but half a year is pretty bad.
As to why I haven't replied I guess it was mainly because I wanted the email to be interesting and was waiting until something interesting to happened so I could mention it. Pretty silly really as that's a recipe for never getting around to it.
So although nothing Earth shattering to report, Hello!
(...ooh I've just noticed how simular to the start of your email that was freaky)
So what's been happening to me the last few years. Well I'm still living in London, I've now been in my flat and owner since 1999. It's located in the Docklands part of the city and I now own it up to about shoulder height of it. It's a good area with lots of stuff that has opened in the past few years so there's plenty of things to do.Its also pretty handy to get anywhere in London which is one of the main reasons why after all this time I still like being there.
My current work is in Victoria which is the other side of London and it only takes about an hour. Of course if you ask an Londoner how long it takes to get to somewhere in London they will tell you about an hour no matter where it is, but its a fact it takes about an hour. The company I now work of and have been for nearly two years, is called uS****h.com. They are a web site were you can pick out better deals on your gas supplier, broadband connection, current accounts, etc. Not a bad place to work as I have a very good view of Buckingham place and the park from the office window (still!). Actually you may of heard of our parent company as they are American. They are called S***pps, I believe that they own Dilbert, Snoopy and most of the local newspaper in America. They bought us about 4 months ago for a silly amount of money around about 180 million pounds.
On the social side of things I'm currently single and don't have any kids. however I do know a bit about what you where talking about of how kids can effect your like as I'm now an uncle twice over, a boy and a girl. Ivy who is a bossy one and a half and little Freddy who is a very jolly seven months.
My big plans for the future, well near future at least, revolves around skiing. This January for three months I'm planning on taking a break from work (they don't know yet) and spending the time learning to become a ski instructor. I've chosen a course based in Banff which should polish up my skiing to a high level and get me through half the Canadian Instructor grades in three months. So I'm already getting a bit excited about it and I've been doing training running around London in preparation, well trying to. This means I'm trying to work out the best thing to do with my flat while I'm away. If I'm lucky I should have no problem renting it out to someone who works up at Canary Wharf and, hopefully, cover my mortgage and most of my trip expenses.
The other unusual event I have coming up is to do with a choir I've been singing for, for a couple of years now.This Christmas we will be doing Benjamin Britten's St Nicholas with about two hundred other people. Its a full Cantata with professional tenor and amateur choir (us) and a mixed orchestra. Not really my taste in music but should be an experience to be in the middle of the choir and orchestra.
Well that's some of the thing happening to me at the moment. I do also have some items of news about people from Uni. that you may remember
I see a fair bit of Big Phil and the other guys from my house in Leeds and some of them where only down a coupleof weekends ago to go to the CAMRA British Beer Festival at Earl's Court. Of course we are all a little wider than we used to be (must be the beer) except Phil who cut quite a slimish figure these days.
Also Colin Mortimer and his wife Clare are good friends and are living close to me in London just across the river from me in Rotherhide. So I see them very often.
Next week Paul Ryan and his wife Rachel are having the baptism of their second kid, Sam, and I going up to Darlington for it. I should meet up with a couple of the lads from Leeds and hear what they have been up to.
Also if you can remember Julie Thomson, well she's having wedding do next month. Not the actual Wedding that was last January in Algeria (Husband's Country) it's more of a wedding blessing but still a good excuse for a right old knees up.
...um it sounds quite exiting now that I look at it all on paper!
Anyway hope life is well with you and your growing clan. It does sound your have an exciting time of it and arestill the dynamic go getter I remember from that TV program.
Cheers
D
P.S. Nearly forgot my contact details!

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