2005 Entries
2006 Entries
2007 Entries
2008 Entries
| 24/06/09 |
Serious embarrassment today as I was due
to attend a 9 am meeting - but didn't wake up this morning
until 9:40 am! After offering profuse apologies I got
into work at 10:10 am and had to take the sarcastic "good
evening" comments with good grace! The reason for
oversleeping was delayed jetlag after getting back from the
USA, but the moral of the story is that if you are suitably
apologetic and take your "punishment" in good spirit, people
will always forgive you. |
| 23/06/09 |
.I got back from Washington yesterday
afternoon, tired, but having had a fantastic time. The
weather was pretty well perfect, the sights were great, and
I think the only thing that was missing really was some
company to enjoy the trip with me. The ESTA process
seemed to make getting into the USA easier than previously,
which was good. I took about 750 photos, and I
anticipate getting another 30 or so web pages in the
not-too-distant future! All in all the trip was a
fantastic experience and one that I would love to repeat at
some stage in the future. It's a pity that I have lots
of work to keep me occupied in the coming months! |
| 08/06/09 |
The excitement is starting to build for
my holiday in Washington next week. I have my
excursions booked, I have my ESTA travel authorisation, and
I think I've done all the other things that one is supposed
to do these days before travelling to the USA. I
expect to have a great time there. |
| 05/06/09 |
Somewhat belatedly, I can report that I
had a lovely time in the Lake District last week. Too
bad that my visit coincided with school half term, meaning
that the place was crowded. Nevertheless, the hills
and lakes were just as pretty and spectacular as ever, and
so the holiday was a success. I'm off to Washington
next Saturday, which I am very much looking forward to.
I have a fair amount of work to do before I can go, but that
shouldn't be too much of a problem! I booked up some
excursions last night, and I should have a great time. |
| 26/05/09 |
Had a great time in London, helped in no
small measure by the fabulous weather. I especially
enjoyed just sitting on the banks of the Serpentine (in Hyde
Park) listening to music, watching the people go by and
enjoying a few beers in the sunshine. Life doesn't
really get better than that! I'm off to the Lake
District for a few days tomorrow, and it has a lot to live
up to, especially as the weather forecast is not good! |
| 18/05/09 |
Had my annual appraisal today and all
went well - in fact the whole appraisal took less time than
in previous years, even though it is supposedly more
complicated than the old system. I can't help thinking
that our appraisals are rather like getting your school
report, including a score to indicate how well you've done.
Oh well, it's a bit more scientific than being given an A,
B, C or something like that. |
| 15/05/09 |
Next Wednesday I'm off to London for a
few days, and I hope that the weather improves a bit from
what is has been over the last few days - wind and rain.
One thing that's been very nice over the last couple of
weeks is that there have been no rushes at work, so I have
been able to actually think about what I'm doing, instead of
thrashing out project work as quickly as possible. I
have my annual appraisal on Monday morning, which hopefully
will go OK! |
| 08/05/09 |
I'm very relieved to see that the swine
flu has not been in the news very much over the last few
days, which means that perhaps it is under control now and
that I will get off on my holidays without any trouble.
Serco is taking it all very seriously - yesterday we were
all given a box of tissues, to make sure that we use a
tissue when sneezing! I don't approve of the "nanny
state" this country has become, but I think in health issues
such as this it is as well to take all reasonable
precautions. |
| 29/04/09 |
Booked up the Washington and Lake
District holidays today, and am looking forward to them.
As I'm typing this, the news is reporting the escalation of
the swine flu outbreak - I hope that doesn't affect my
travel plans! Also had fun building my new lawnmower
and giving the back garden a much-needed mow! |
| 27/04/09 |
Well we had a lovely holiday in
Lincolnshire. The weather was just perfect, and
Lincolnshire is a very pretty county - though not
necessarily geared up properly to cater for visitors.
It was very peaceful and quiet though, and that was just
what I needed after many months of hard work. I've
just booked a few days' holiday in London for the end of
May, and I expect those few days to be a bit noisier!
Also on the radar for the next few months are trips to
Washington DC and the Lake District, and I intend to try and
book those up fairly soon. |
| 17/04/09 |
Today I achieved something that I have
been looking to achieve since about November last year - I
managed to send off the final report of the last of the
batch of projects that has been on my plate since last
November. I can now look forward, at least for the
time being, to a slightly easier time at work. But
first things first - we are off to the Lincolnshire Wolds
for a week tomorrow - keep your fingers crossed that the
weather stays fine for us! I actually feel quite
"empty" at the moment. Thrashing through projects is
hard work, but not without its pleasures, not least the
satisfaction of finishing and delivering a good piece of
work. |
| 13/04/09 |
Hmm, nearly two weeks since the last
diary entry! Hard work as usual last week, when one of
our customers decided that they wanted us to submit a piece
of work earlier than we were expecting to have to do it.
I have to deliver another project this Friday, and then -
hopefully - the work rush will be over for while! In the
next couple of months I intend to take some holiday. A
few days in London, the Lake District and Washington DC
should do nicely! I hope all my readers had a good
Easter, mine was very pleasant, even if I did have to do
some work! |
| 01/04/09 |
The work continues this week, and I have
a feeling I will be asking for a further extension on the
project that is currently occupying me. Installed my
Bluefin ECU upgrade at the weekend, and was astonished when
Superchips called up to say that they couldn't modify the
engine maps further as the car had already been upgraded!
I think I may take the Audi to Superchips' rolling road, to
see just what power and torque it is developing.
Finally, am looking to book a holiday in Washington DC for
the end of May / beginning of June. |
| 25/03/09 |
Last Sunday was Mother's Day here in the
UK, and luckily I remembered it this year and got my mother
a card! We went out for Sunday lunch, marred only by
the fact that it took 40 minutes to drive the five miles
into Moreton, due to the fact that they had decided to dig
up Moreton high street on that particular day. More
good customer feedback this week, and another piece of work
submitted. I'm now on the last piece of work, which
has to be done by Easter. This will be a challenge,
but the task could be much harder than it is. |
| 20/03/09 |
Quite a good day today as I managed to
get another piece of work submitted on time. That now
leaves two items to cover before the end of March!
Last night I bought a Bluefin ECU upgrade for the Audi, so I
will loo forward to that arriving in a few days time, and
the Audi becoming an even better can than it already is.
Mother's Day is this Sunday in the UK, and I could only find
a horrible lovey-dovey card for my mother. Oh well,
she'll see the funny side when I explain it to her! |
| 18/03/09 |
Lots and lots of work over the last few
days - after all, we are approaching the end of the
financial year here and so most work has to be complete by
then. Had some nice feedback on a piece of work we
strained to get submitted a few weeks ago, which makes it
all worthwhile. I have a house inspection tomorrow,
where the letting agency comes to see that all is well with
my rented house. So I've been doing plenty of cleaning
this evening and the house looks as good as new! I
hope I pass the inspection! I usually do, so there
shouldn't be a problem. |
| 08/03/09 |
Long weekend for me this weekend, while
the car was serviced in Stratford. Rob and Wendy came
down to visit too, which of course meant plenty of beer
(plus Rob nicking many of my smokes!) and
a slightly sore head as I'm writing this! Have an
awkward job to do at work first thing on Monday, which I put
off from doing on Thursday last week. Now of course I
wish I'd done that job on Thursday instead - it just goes to show
that procrastination is never a good thing! |
| 02/03/09 |
Quite a good week at work last week, I
had three projects to finish and I managed all of them -
though we will wait and see what the various customers think
of my efforts! March promises to be busy too, as I
have four projects to finish. That means no meaningful
holiday this month. Other than work, there isn't very
much to report from my little part of England. The
weather is good, and my car goes in for a service and MOT on
Friday - I wonder how much that will cost! |
| 23/02/09 |
Yesterday was a special day, as it would
have been my father's 70th birthday. To commemorate,
my mother and I went out for Sunday lunch to a restaurant
that he always enjoyed visiting. Luckily the weather
was near perfect - in fact, it was so nice that you could
easily have believe that spring had arrived. I always
enjoy spring time, since it reminds me of holidays and trips
to London or the USA. |
| 16/02/09 |
The snow has now finally cleared away
from the southern part of the UK, and life is now back to
normal. It was very nice to see the snow, but I am
glad to be able to see the green grass in my garden once
again! Not too much happening here at the moment, work
is progressing in a steady manner, without the ridiculous
load that was present a few weeks back. I still have
seven projects to finish by the end of March, but I think we
will make it without too much trouble. |
| 06/02/09 |
The prediction in my previous entry
turned out to be correct - the last couple of days here have
shown almost unprecedented levels of snow here in the south
of England and Oxfordshire. The snow has been so bad
that I have not been able to go into work for the last
couple of days, though some people were brave and made the
effort to go in. Luckily I can work from home, so it's
not a big deal for me. The forecast is for a couple of
clear days over the weekend, and then more snow on Monday
and the early part of next week! |
| 02/02/09 |
After a mad rush and something of a
strain last week, we got our report submitted to the
customer by the end of Friday - literally! The report
went in at 10:30 pm, and then we could all go home, feeling
very tired but satisfied that we had done the best we could
under the circumstances. For those who are interested,
the report is about the probability of a criticality event
in a radioactive waste repository. Interesting, huh?
Things will be slightly easier this week, but the talk of
the country at the moment is the weather - we are gripped by
Arctic conditions and snow, and it is supposed to get worse
before it gets better! |
| 26/01/09 |
Had a very pleasant weekend, we had lots
of rain but it all came down on Friday and Saturday nights,
leaving us with sunny days. Had some fun chopping down
a tree for my mother - I intend to see what else there is to
chop down next weekend! Today and for the rest of this
week I am going to be very busy with work. This seems
to have been going on for months now, but it keeps me out of
mischief, and since my current project MUST be delivered on
Friday, I should get some relief after the end of this week. |
| 21/01/09 |
We're rapidly approaching the crunch
point on the major project I am working on at the moment.
It has to be finished by the end of January, but will we
make it? The answer is yes we will, but whether we
will produce a piece of work to be proud of, well that's
another matter! Just had a good idea for this website
- I will record a "video introduction" for it, but I'll do
that tomorrow! |
| 18/01/09 |
A beautiful day today here in England,
with blue skies and reasonably warm temperatures.
Funny, but we had storms yesterday and will get more of the
same tomorrow. How fickle the English weather can be!
Intended to do some work this weekend, but as yet haven't
got around to doing it - and I have the strong suspicion
that I probably won't. A few glasses of cider have put
paid to that idea! |
| 12/01/09 |
Well at last the cold weather has
departed and we have slightly warmer temperatures here in
the UK. The only problem is that the wind and rain has
also come with those higher temperatures! At least I
had a good day at work today, in spite of the weather.
I have lots of projects to finish before the end of January,
and I got one of them out of the way today, and I can now
see the way through another of them, so young David and I
will be able to get through that quite quickly. I hope
the rest of the week proceeds in a similar vein! |
| 09/01/09 |
Not much to report at the end of this
week, apart from the fact that there is some respite from
the cold weather coming up over the weekend. It looks
as though wind and rain is going to replace the cold though,
so I'm not sure if that's better or worse! Work was
quite hectic this week, so no easy ride for me after the
Xmas holidays! |
| 06/01/09 |
First of all, a VERY belated happy new
year to everyone who reads this page! I hope you all
had a good Christmas. My Christmas was very low key
and quiet. My brother came down from Leeds and he and
I spent it with my mother. On other matters, the UK is
in the grip of Arctic weather at the moment, and I saw -8
degrees Celsius in Blewbury this morning on my way into
work. We're expecting the same again this evening.
I've been back at work for two days now, and have got
straight back into the swing of things, with plenty to do
and a new colleague to work with. |
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