Tired

I am so very tired.  I think it is my age, and I should probably desist from doing stupid things like the party on Saturday.  It was fun, but knackering. 

We have actually been to bed each night since at 9pm, just coz we are so very very tired.  And perhaps a bit down after the business and fun of the build up to the party, and the party itself of course.

We are away for 5 days from Saturday, in the 'van, to London, for Half Term.  We had planned a number of days out, but I will be gently, but firmly, campaigning for less days out and more days in, so that we can chill and recover.

Maggot 2 has a disco tonight.  As a year 3, he can choose to go to the early Year 2/3 disco, of later to the Year 3/4 disco.  It appears that he prefers the older woman, because he is going with to the later one, mostly because tonight is the night that he asks out Abby, apparently.  He explained to me this morning that his friends had said to her friends that he fancied her, or something similar, and in his eyes they are all but married.  I suggested that perhaps he should wait until he has spoken directly to her, and she has agreed, before he jump to too many conclusions, however the recklessness of youth prevails, and he is now saving for the dowry (I may have neglected to tell him that bit, and the way he is with his money, that may change the complexion of things).

Maggot 1 is away at a school trip to the Isle of Wight, lasting three days and two nights, and covering lots of activities.  It is a Year 7 bonding session really, and one that, based on previous years, is pretty successful.  I hope he comes back happy, and not too tired. 

I would like to stay and chat, but my bed beckons.  Oh, forgot to say, LO had a dual-zone, super fluffy electric blanket for her birthday from her folks.  She is loving it for her side, making a not that warm bed stupidly warm.  I plan to wait until it is much colder before I consider having mine on, though I do think that come the cold months, having my feet get in to a warm bed might be very nice, me suffering from cold feet (but a warm heart) regularly.

Until tomorrow.

Saturday morning

"A small party last night for LO's actual birthday, for family and close friends".

I think that is broadly how I reported it yesterday.

This is what really happened.

All arrived when they should have, presents from Nic's folks were opened, I also got a dressing gown, and a measure of my age perhaps, but that was just the ticket.

Once everyone had arrived, E and I started setting up the sound system.  This consists of gear very reminiscent of my gigging days, with a large Bose speaker in each room, and a 05m square amp and effects box under the food table.  By the end of the evening, it was on quarter volume, and the foundations were shaking. 

We had food.  We had drink.  Then we had dancing, with Gee Gee even getting up for a dance, being led astray by A who, as hoped, was the dancing life and soul, giving Samantha a run for her money.  In fact, the "dance off" between A and Samantha was quite something to behold*.

At around 10.30pm, we decided drinking, music and other excesses needed to end so that we could preserve our energy for the main event tonight.  It was at this point that mother-in-law's glasses were discovered as missing.  Much over-dramatic searching later, and all guest left, they were still not found, then suddenly father-in-law remembered he had them in his pocket.  The air went blue, so we rushed the Maggots up to bed, and the in-laws left with much raising of voices, and one can only imagine the atmosphere and words in the car on the way home.

Bring on this evening.

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* if you have heard of twerking, that will paint the picture.

And . . . relax

A big weekend ahead of us.

LO is celebrating a significant birthday.

Tonight we have a small, informal gathering for family (those onshore) and a few friends.  Low key, not late, not too much to drink, which always has the potential to turn in to something that is anything but.

Tomorrow will be spent doing the finishing touches to the party preparations, before we then go and have some fun.  8-10.30pm includes selected children, and the special guest*, they the in-laws and children depart and the party starts.

We have E's sound system, which is a mini PA system bigger than many of the venues I played in my band days, so while the volume does start at 1, I fear that certain individuals (not least my little Welsh friend who is a fiend for sneakily turning up the volume) will ensure it is on its way to 11 later on.

We have a bar, and a food selection area, and 2 waitresses to collect coats and to distribute nibble and drinks.

We have enough booze to sink a battleship.

And we have our costumes.

Let the festivities begin.

Have a good weekend, will update you on all the shenanigans on Monday.  Or Tuesday.

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* it is secret, so more on Monday

Engerrrland

A nervy but ultimately successful final game seems England top their group, guaranteeing us a place in the World Cup next year.  It was my birthday yesterday, and in lieu of any other presents, it being agreed (happily by me also) that I would not be having any particular day due to the extensive event schedule for LO's major event party, this was not a bad way to spend an evening.  We are not, so the commentator told me, seeded, which means that things will be tougher or something, but regardless of any nay-sayers, I am happy, and it must surely be nothing more than a mere formality before we are lifting the cup.

We are at Wednesday, and the party to-do list is getting there.  Snooker table and football table in the shed.  Check.  Clothes rail down from the loft.  Check.  Decs and lights up.  Check.  Just awaiting the arrival home of LO so we can go together through any other activities that must be completed this evening.  Then it will be last night's curry remains for tea.  Lovely.

Songs

I am currently testing a theory that all the wisdom you need in the world is contained somewhere in song lyrics.

My testing methodology will be to attempt to provide advice and guidance using only the power of the lyric.  My conclusions will be published in Unscientific Weekly for peer review.

Nevermind.

And . . . relax

Another week is over, and looking back:

• I've lived a life that's full
• I traveled each and every highway
• And more, much more than this, I did it my way.

I have also had a success this week.  My process improvement project, the thing that may we define my tenure (as long I keep all the other aspects tamed), has delivered its first tangible improvement.  It is for a revised process for doing something that our competitors have always been willing to do, so in that sense it is just catching up with the pack, but for Starfleet, and for our account, it represents a real improvement.  This process was used in anger on a recent bid and we got a "thanks" from our customer, which is fairly rare, and more importantly a "to turn that round in a week is a game changer", which is much more profound.  The fact that that latter comment was delivered last night by our Starfleet account leader was the icing on the cake.

We are also up to see Brad and Angelina this weekend.  Very much looking forward to seeing them, indeed this is the first time since Riverside Lakes, but, much more importantly*, we will get to see their new kitchen.

Have a great weekend, and speak next week.

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* A joke, perhaps of the smaller variety

New machine

My new machine is now fully up to speed with how I like to do things, and I have to say I am liking it very much.  If I am brutally honest, there is not a lot different from the old one, except it is cleaner, faster, the USB sockets all work and can sustain as main USB devices as I plug in, the volume bar shows on the screen, the applications open a lot quicker, it goes to sleep quickly, it wakes up quicker, and it is quicker overall.  I guess I am feeling the need for speed.

We had a busy but fun weekend.  LO went to Southampton to buy a dress, which took all day and was anything but fun.  On Sunday was Maggot 2's birthday celebrations, which started with a trip to Planes at the local cinema, the plane version of Cars, which was actually much more fun than I had expected.  Whether Kermode was wrong, or his poor review set my expectations very low, I am not sure, but we found it thoroughly enjoyable.  To be sure there were bits when I thought "that is just a plane version of the ??? car character", however there was plenty of funny moments, for us at least, including "for flying out loud!" and "you just crushed my FlyPad".  "Don't worry, there is a new one being released in 2 weeks".

We then had 2 hours of tennis.  This was an interesting time, with varying degrees of capability all vying for attention, but we had fun, and ended up with the "how high can you hit it?" game. 

Part three of the day was a late lunch at the Smith and Western restaurant.  Not surprising considering the name, but this is a cowboy-themed restaurant doing the pretty standard burger/ribs/onion rings/fajitas fare, but all done with great service and, to be honest, we always have a good meal at the place.

Then it was a matter of getting everyone home before returning to base for chores and snores, all to a backdrop of Strictly, X Factor and Homeland.

Next week we are off to Brad and Angelina's for the weekend, which will be fun.  We have not seen them since Riverside Lakes, so have a bit of catching up to do, and some planning for LO's up-coming "significant birthday" party.

Have a good week, speak later.

And . . . relax

Another week under the belt in the new job.  My own school report makes the following comments:

• Improvement project - Scobi makes a positive contribution in all classroom discussions, is making good progress.  A-
• Team management - leading the team will take some time to bed in, but making good progress.  B. Management of team's workstack and priority still needs work.  I fear that Scobi does not enjoy this part of the role, so comes to it reluctantly.  He needs to get stuck in and get a grip of things, or be seen to not be in control. B-.
• Stakeholder management - Scobi is well engaged with his immediate manager, able to support him as required, and maintaining a good communications channel with him so that they are acting cohesively.  B+.

Head's comments: Scobi is [doing well/not so well/terribly], and [needs to keep up the good work/work  harder/take a long hard look at himself].  he's a terrible singer though.

Have a good weekend.

Ooh ooh ooh

Oooh, I have a new machine.  Actually spent since 5pm last night getting it up to Scobi standards, which are very exacting standards, I have to say.

It is good to have a machine stacked with memory, for once, and also one that is shiny and new.  Actually, it is matt and new, but let's not split infinitives.

I have all my data over, I think, and have just about installed all the apps I really need (rather than a whole heap of junk that one time or another I thought might be useful).  I have even tweaked all the little tweaky bits that make my machine just that little bit different from everyone else's, in a good way of course.

The only bit that is not right is my login name.  I created the same one as last time, which I thought was standard, but while it is a Administrator, it is not THE administrator, so things keep defaulting to the "elevated Administrator" user - a couple of apps used the My Documents under that user as their default for example.  I need an expert, and luckily I know a few of those.

Golfy?
 

Is it ". . . and relax" time already?

One blog a week says it all.

Very busy at work.  A lot of it is thrashing, due to my lack of local knowledge, but in the panic there has been the odd bit of productive work.

I even had a min melt-down the other night.  However a quick beer put that right*. 

My progress and integration is about where it should be, but I think I am just a bit impatient with it all.  Having come from a very similar role on another account, with frighteningly similar issues and challenges, I feel like I should be doing more and better than I am, but that is just foolish talk.  I need to just keep on doing what I am doing, and slowly the bits will fall in to place.

The one part of the role on which I can really contribute is the process improvement stuff.  The problem I have is that I just am not getting any time to spend on it, since all my time is spent (ineffectively) trying to do the administrative/management piece of my role, at which, as I have already said, I am not yet totally proficient.

Oh well, it is Friday, the weekend beckons, and we have dinner at A&E Saturday night and lunch at my parents and my sister's family on Sunday, which will be nice.

Have a great weekend, speak next week.

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* Some of the less salubrious papers have hinted that it may have been a ruse to beat the mid-week beer ban.

And . . . relax

Quick post today.  Was in the office 3 days this week, some kind of record for me, a lazy week for most others.  Summary of the week:

• everything is very much the same
• everything is completely different
• we are swamped with requests, and I am in the middle trying to sort them out, but with staff out it is tricky, and with no local knowledge, I can be dangerous
• I am embarking on a whole lot of process improvement, and that really is deja vu all over again.  I plan to, as much as possible, rehash all the good stuff I did on my last account.  At the moment, one meeting in, we have a very disgruntled customer, and I appear to be something resembling a sort-of rough version of an expert.  This position is most exciting, and I will be milking it for as long as it lasts, which is probably until the third meeting.
• Tales of dis-function on my new account seem to be slightly off the mark.  There is one individual who could be problematic, and I am not sure I have all the strategies required yet to handle them, however so far so good, and too much anticipating what might happen coz of what other people have said can often stop a chap from cracking on with what he is doing in the best way he knows how.  What I mean by that, coz it does not make sense,  is I prefer to take people as I find them, and so far I am not finding this particular character at all.
• I am very tired, have stuff on my mind the moment I wake up, whether at 2am or 5am, and so I am very glad it is the weekend.

We are over at David and Samantha's on Saturday night, which will be nice, and I think my mum's for a family get together Sunday, which are always "interesting".

Have a great weekend, speak next week.

P.S. Forgot to mention that I had a lovely quick chat with Golfy.  It is always good to catch up with the old bu$$er and hear about all his fancy exploits.  He even advised me to go iOS7 without further ado, and being an obedient chap, I am now doing so.

80% of my time

We had a great weekend in Brighton with A&E, marred only by the girls unaccountably gaining a two thousand point lead in Canasta.  We blamed the unusual weather patterns and the prevalence of pairs of men with Scottie dogs, with both men being called mummy.

We should have had a fair amount of rain, but as is the norm with our trips, none of it materialised, so we were not even unduly wet.  Add in the new TV and an aerial connector on the power post and we could even catch a bit of Come Dine With Me for an hour in the afternoon.  Now, I need to explain this.  As campers turned 'vanners, we vowed not to introduce twenty-first century technology* to our weekends away, and I know that, were they dead**, that Brad and Angelina would be turning in their graves, but the truth be told, adding a tiny weeny little bit of TV to the mix has only enhanced our experience, with no loss of the really important stuff like losing the Maggots for hours, eating egg baps followed by tea and cake and winning, or in this instance losing, at Canasta.

On the work front, I am now 80% on my new account, and staring to get embedded in all the meetings.  It will take some time until I have sufficient local knowledge to be useful, but that will come in time, and my boss is reaching out to various bits of the account team to provide some on-the-spot training for me in various aspects including the contract and architectural standards.  Exciting stuff, I know, and I can almost feel my life force leaving me as we speak.  Joking apart, this is critical stuff for me to get sufficient appreciation to be able to lead the team.  I can do all the soft leadership stuff I think, it is just the technical/contractual leadership that will take a bit of time to master.  Luckily, I will be getting a handover from an expert, and the only issue will be getting enough of his time to do so quickly.

Have a good week, speak later.

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* OK, so maybe most of it is twentieth century
** Both are, you will be pleased to hear, in rude health, so this imagery is used purely for effect, so no offence meant B&E