Today is Friday, but not just any Friday, but the last Friday of the working year, before I have 11 days off.
Bloody hurrah.
It is fair to say, this year has over-stayed its welcome, and I am very happy to be saying bye and getting on with, as I have said so many times I may start to be filed under "senile old timer", eating my own body-weight in mince pies.
Today sees my doing a lot of tidying up of loose ends. All those little to do items that are important but not urgent, and so as a rule do not even get a look in. It is actually quite satisfying, in lieu of simply doing nothing and eating mince pies, and I hope to be in rude health with my day book having just a couple of things that will need to be done in the New Year, not so much because I don't do it this year, but more that I need to remind myself of anything and everything I may need to take on in the new year.
I hope you all have a fantastic Christmas and New Year. See you next year.
Thursday, 20 December 2012
New Stuff
As we set about our unplanned renewal of many of our household appliances, this week sees us take ownership of a new hoover and a new cordless DECT phone. The former is a mighty fine piece of engineering, I am sure, but to be honest, all I should really report is that it picks up dirt, and is much easier to move around than the old Dyson we temporarily borrowed off my parents.
The latter is a thing of beauty. Actually, to be precise, it is fine as a DECT phone, however we have come to realise that with all the smartphones around these days, your average DECT phone looks just that - average. Nevertheless, it does all the things a phone should do; it rings people, has an address book, you can ring the other extensions (we have 3 handsets) and you can transfer external calls to other handsets - hold the line please caller - and you can do hands-free.
This final feature is my favourite. When I work from home, I spend around 3-6 hours per day on calls. In know, bonkers, however that is the nature of a remote organisation such as Starfleet. Anyhow, as a result of often hours of back-to-back calls, a chap does not have much time to do the essentials in life, such as have a pee, make a coffee, answer the door and make lunch. So, I can often be seen with the phone on speaker, microphone muted, and the phone tucked in the collar of my shirt. This provides me with a hands-free experience for life's essentials, whilst enabling me to nominally keep in touch with the discussion, to avoid those "what do you think Mark?" embarrassing silences.
Otherwise, I have been limbering up on the mince pie challenge. I had two yesterday, just to loosen up the muscles, and my goal is to eat my own body-weight by the new year. Wish me luck.
Until tomorrow . . .
The latter is a thing of beauty. Actually, to be precise, it is fine as a DECT phone, however we have come to realise that with all the smartphones around these days, your average DECT phone looks just that - average. Nevertheless, it does all the things a phone should do; it rings people, has an address book, you can ring the other extensions (we have 3 handsets) and you can transfer external calls to other handsets - hold the line please caller - and you can do hands-free.
This final feature is my favourite. When I work from home, I spend around 3-6 hours per day on calls. In know, bonkers, however that is the nature of a remote organisation such as Starfleet. Anyhow, as a result of often hours of back-to-back calls, a chap does not have much time to do the essentials in life, such as have a pee, make a coffee, answer the door and make lunch. So, I can often be seen with the phone on speaker, microphone muted, and the phone tucked in the collar of my shirt. This provides me with a hands-free experience for life's essentials, whilst enabling me to nominally keep in touch with the discussion, to avoid those "what do you think Mark?" embarrassing silences.
Otherwise, I have been limbering up on the mince pie challenge. I had two yesterday, just to loosen up the muscles, and my goal is to eat my own body-weight by the new year. Wish me luck.
Until tomorrow . . .
Tuesday, 18 December 2012
Mid-week is the new [blank]
You are free to fill in the blank with your own word, but mine is "can't be @rsed".
Don't get me wrong, some stuff is getting done, but not with the usual vigour. I really hope that an overdose of mince pies will sort me out, and I can start the new year with gusto.
In the meantime, there are a few final purchases to be made - sadly, mostly to replace failing household appliances, the latest being the hoover and the phone.
Otherwise, it is just a matter of waiting for Friday when School's Out, and so is Scobi.
Don't get me wrong, some stuff is getting done, but not with the usual vigour. I really hope that an overdose of mince pies will sort me out, and I can start the new year with gusto.
In the meantime, there are a few final purchases to be made - sadly, mostly to replace failing household appliances, the latest being the hoover and the phone.
Otherwise, it is just a matter of waiting for Friday when School's Out, and so is Scobi.
Friday, 14 December 2012
And . . . relax
I am a self-fulfilling prophecy in that Bad Man said that the Scobi would end up blogging only one a week, and had even invented "doing a Scobi", and here I am doing just that.
Blogging has not been my highest priority over the last few weeks. Let's see what the New Year brings.
In the meantime, both LO and I are ill; not chucking up or listless in bed ill, but ill enough to get to 8pm every night and wonder what the f### that day was all about. We are at Brad and Angelina's this weekend, and we have even fleetingly considered whether we will be well enough to go. I for one will be, but I have to say LO is suffering a tedious and persistent cough that is keeping her awake at night*, and sometimes me, and irritating her beyond belief, even beyond that of which I am capable. She has an important event tonight, the leaving do of her boss and mentor. Here's hoping she is able to get through that without making herself worse. So, hopefully, we shall be travelling north to B&A for, amongst other things, a drumming workshop, something us lads are very much looking forward to.
Have a great weekend, speak next week.
Blogging has not been my highest priority over the last few weeks. Let's see what the New Year brings.
In the meantime, both LO and I are ill; not chucking up or listless in bed ill, but ill enough to get to 8pm every night and wonder what the f### that day was all about. We are at Brad and Angelina's this weekend, and we have even fleetingly considered whether we will be well enough to go. I for one will be, but I have to say LO is suffering a tedious and persistent cough that is keeping her awake at night*, and sometimes me, and irritating her beyond belief, even beyond that of which I am capable. She has an important event tonight, the leaving do of her boss and mentor. Here's hoping she is able to get through that without making herself worse. So, hopefully, we shall be travelling north to B&A for, amongst other things, a drumming workshop, something us lads are very much looking forward to.
Have a great weekend, speak next week.
===============================
* Last night, to add insult to injury, we had what was presumably some drunken d##k-head calling us at zero hundred hours, otherwise known as midnight. "Hello, hello" said I, to silence. Nice.
Friday, 7 December 2012
And . . . relax
Another Friday comes by, and it is, as usual, more than welcome. The working week was more normal, which is nice, and we are slowing getting all our chores done at home in preparation for Christmas.
LO said the other night that we would quite like to get off the hamster wheel sometime soon, since things are soooooooooo full on soooooooo much of the time. That moment will probably be our last day of working this year, which for me is Friday 21 December. Can't wait.
Just want to get in writing that I owe Brad a call. My evenings are at the moment not much more than eat and sleep. I am, as usual for this time of year, very tired, my sleeping is suffering probably caused by the stress of too much work, so it really is Luge Time, lie flat and don't die.
This weekend we are at a school fayre tonight. Actually, sorry, not a fayre, a fair, since it is really just a matter of a few stalls, a bit of tat on sale and the requirement just to attend for half an hour and spend a bit.
Saturday evening we have the in-laws over for tea and Strictly. The Strictly Sweepstake is hotting up, and I have to say my own chances of winning are slim, since I only have Lisa Riley left in the draw, and while she is popular, I think her dancing skills may have reached their limit and she will be voted off either this week or next.
Have a fantastic weekend, and speak next week.
LO said the other night that we would quite like to get off the hamster wheel sometime soon, since things are soooooooooo full on soooooooo much of the time. That moment will probably be our last day of working this year, which for me is Friday 21 December. Can't wait.
Just want to get in writing that I owe Brad a call. My evenings are at the moment not much more than eat and sleep. I am, as usual for this time of year, very tired, my sleeping is suffering probably caused by the stress of too much work, so it really is Luge Time, lie flat and don't die.
This weekend we are at a school fayre tonight. Actually, sorry, not a fayre, a fair, since it is really just a matter of a few stalls, a bit of tat on sale and the requirement just to attend for half an hour and spend a bit.
Saturday evening we have the in-laws over for tea and Strictly. The Strictly Sweepstake is hotting up, and I have to say my own chances of winning are slim, since I only have Lisa Riley left in the draw, and while she is popular, I think her dancing skills may have reached their limit and she will be voted off either this week or next.
Have a fantastic weekend, and speak next week.
Saturday, 1 December 2012
Vanity
I am well aware of the dangers of Googling yourself. The two principles of self-Googling state:
And so it was that the second principle of self-Googling came true. Just check this out for confirmation.
- Why are you doing it? Vanity, fear or self-doubt. Whatever it is, it is probably not savoury.
- What do you hope to find? Chances are, at least something you find will not be to your liking.
And so it was that the second principle of self-Googling came true. Just check this out for confirmation.
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