Mother nature has it in for me..
Or at least, thats how it seems. I noticed something over the summer (well, I say summer, the marginally warmer period between bouts of prolonged rain).. It appeared that everytime I drove under a large collection of trees, something would fall off and smack the car.
And then the birds started.. several times I returned to the car(s) (either of them, made no difference, it just had to be me driving) to find that they looked like some pigeon had a 12 bore cartridge placed up its backside as a poop delivery mechanism. Not the paintjob I was after on any of them... and talking of paint.. there's a new house rule - if any of the other kids want wallpaper in their rooms, they can pay to get someone else to do it. Nothing wrong with a brush and roller!!! And that doesnt waste my entire weekend.
But I digress, I reckon I can get the last laugh on nature.. I'm going to go out and eat more vegetables. Lets see how the plants like that!!!
Never make your lunch in a rush...
Working at home, between calls, so made a quick sandwich..
Red Pesto and cheese sounded nice.
Unfortunately the Pesto was on the same shelf in the fridge as the Thai Red Curry paste.
I'll be back later
Oh well..
Its been a long time since I posted anything - due to both manic-ness at work and also some personal factors that kept me out of the interweb for the best part of February..
However, it's only right that I start off with a rant.
damn work.. and lack of organisation.
Lets just say: "your lack of time and project management capability does NOT automaticaly mean I have your crisis to solve".
Discuss.
:D
bloody roundabouts...
I have no idea why it is, but people that live near me in the UK have no sodding idea on how to use a roundabout.
I know that some of the readers wont be UK based, but its not hard over here. Give way to traffic coming from the right, or that wants to cross your path if from ahead. However, if another car on the roundabout is blocking their way (by, for instance crossing their path) you may proceed.
Sat behind someone this morning for at least 5 minutes while they let all the traffic clear.... from the LEFT!
And she then wondered why the cars she was letting out were getting confused
Hey ho. If thats all that goes wrong today though, it will be a good one
Rules for breakfast in the office..
- Make sure there is enough coffee in the blood before attempting breakfast
- Dont get distracted by the phone/other people whilst making breakfast
- Pay attention at all times
- Ensure that the pot you pick up to put sugar on the porridge is actually the sugar, and you havent accidentally picked up the coffee
- Remember the company doesnt buy expensive brown sugar, so dont act surprised as you see what is on the spoon
- If all of 1-5 still dont work, bring enouh breakfast for a second attempt
Bugger.
why bother calling...
If you are going to hang up after one ring or hang up as soon as i pick up, what is the point?
And then you leave your bl**dy phone number on my line due to caller ID, so dont then get ars*y about it when i call you back and ask what the heck it was you wanted, acting surprised that I have the number.
especially if its a business number that I've googled to find out who you are first.
And next time that personal mobile calls me, I'm going to call it back whenever I wake up in the morning - and as some of you may know, that is usually damn early.
Good luck with that 
aarrgghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Damn that winds me up.
I dragged myself down to anohter company office this morning for a meeting about one of our bigger customers... and the other bloke rings me about an hour into our scheduled time and says "Im running a little late".
Finally turns up 2 hours late, 30 mins after the meeting is due to end!!!!!! and wonders why I look like I'm not in the best of moods
Gah!
Apparently I'm mean...
well, according to my daughter anyway. On the other hand, I always thought it was part of a parent's duty to be mean to their kids.
Its only because we were talking out in the shops over the weekend, and she saw a Christmas decoration that she liked on the shelf in one of the shops. She had been larking about a lot, and she suddenley said "I thought all of these looked like that, and now I'm not sure" (pointing to another very simlar style). My response of "Yes, but I thought you were human but occasionally I'm not sure either" resulted in two things - the bloke behind to cough loudly and laugh, and me to get the classic "You're soooooooo meaaaaaaaan to me". Then again, if you'd seen her dance and heard the song, I think you would be with me on it.
still, she cant be too upset as she said she'd miss me this week whilst she's away on a school trip.
Although my son says he's going to enjoy every minute, but I reckon he's fibbing too.
lemon drizzle cake
So, there it was.. two birthdays to celebrate in a week. May as well combine the job then.
Actually, it was an excuse for 2 goes, one with family and one with friends (the friends with the other birthday in fact).
The first went off without a hitch other than it lashed it down with rain when I was trying to light the bbq. Luckily its a closed lid job so once done, the lamb joint goes on, the lid goes down and the jobs a goodun.
Second one also went without a hitch and involved me becoming a cake maker. It was maccers birthday, and mrs maccer is renowned for her fire-water chocolate cake, so I thought it best to make one in return for his birthday celebration. lemon drizzle cake it was, and the icing enhanced by gratuitous use of limonchello.
The aftermath of the cake is here
which means there isnt a lot left now.
After that, and the fact it was made with limoncello in the icing, meant we had a late and laughable night.
Sunday was a bit of a writeoff, but thats ok. Nothing better than relxing in front of a F1 race..
I.. can.. give.. it.. up... anytime....
Honest.
well, probably.
There is an IT auction at work today and I cant make it. But we are allowed to make closed bids to be opened at the time.
So far, i have managed to break out of my old habit of seeing what is available and putting in an offer (at the last auction I picked up two Dell desktops for less than 40 quid a pop and they're the fastest machines in the house..).
The latest problem is my old Toshiba laptop where the mouse has a mind of its own - the built in mouse nipple thing appears to make the cursor wander so it is a bit of a pain.. and the kids complain. Still, I reckon I can just snip the wire somehow if I can get the lid off and job done.
it might stop the kids complaining, it might not. But at least it will save me 50 odd quid which I can then find a use for in parts for the car I'm sure..
another blat...
Another early start for the day..
So good weather for the weekend and a few of us got together and drove over to Gloucester, then onto Wales to Raglan Castle for some photos. Lots of polish and everything looked nice and clean..
However, what it doesnt show is that we're all shivering in the background. I love days like this though I must admit, bright sunshine and crisp, cold air as the views from the top of the castle were spectacular. It also has the benefit of making a turbocharged car much more interesting as the air over the intercooler is a lot colder. Allegedly.
Then the drive.. so we all head across country for a nice cruise and get on the motorway.. all of which is being videod by my passenger for his school project.
Oops.
There is now a little stutter in the movie as I mention the speed.. Still, it blew all the cobwebs off the intakes I'm sure.
And more impressive was the fact that none of the roads appeared to have the usual Sunday driver issues... everyone was proceeding at a really good rate on the open roads and very sensible in town.
Hmm.. maybe I was dreaming it all up.
aagghhhhhhh
Two things..
1. I appear to be a rain god. Or at least a car-maintenance-will-cause-rain god. Every time I open the bonnet on my car to do some work, it rains. I just about managed to finish wiring my grounding kit over the weekenf before it lashed it down.. and this isnt the first time. It took the best part of 4 weeks to replace most of my hoses, and even when I went round to a mates house, we spent 3 hours replacing his rear camber arms with no problems. As soon as we open my bonnet... rain. He cracked up. Oh well, maybe I need to tell the Mrs that we need an extension to part the car in - I know she wants an extension but I suspect the car idea will have the same response as a snooker table. Where she said the cues should go made my eyes water.
Mind you, the end results were good - i'll put up a pic later
2. The M4.. 3 trips to our Reading office, 3 crashes. in a row. Maybe I should post up when I'm coming this way to let all the other travellers know to go a different route.
Or maybe I'm just being told to stay in Bath and annoy the locals more often. That might be it.
A weekend of fun..
And a weekend of contrasts.
Saturday I sloped off on my own to Castle Combe, the local race track, for a summer performance day. Met up with a few mates there to watch the track action and generally have a laugh. Sam was working sadly, so it was just me and the car which got very, very sideways at one point when I was on the way to the track - I didnt think it was that wet, but it obviously was.. Oops.
There was a very funny point when the drift teams came on - myself and a mate were stood at the end of the back straight next to a family and the boy was being (unfortunately for me) a typical Kevin - stroppy teenager type. He obviously wanted to just see the drift cars as up to this point he was reading on the floor, huffing and puffing away.
Drifting basically involves controlling a slide, by using shedloads of power to the back wheels getting them to spin up and hang the back end out. As you can imagine, a controlled skid like that is a. very noisy, and b. good at getting tyre smoke.
Within two laps, Mr "I want to be a drifter" was standing with fingers in his ears saying it was too noisy and then, another lap or so later "Urg.. it stinks!!". Long discussion with dad then started which was very amusing. Not sure dad will take him next time.. or he'll accidentally fall over. I think the latter is more appropriate
Being in a car mood, when I got home I then added a grounding kit to my engine bay.. and am staggered that it appears to have worked really well. The idle is much better, and much smoother pickup too.
Sunday Sam and I went off to Glastonbury - Glastonbury itself is an interesting place. I love visiting it, but I'm really not sure could live there... its just a bit too different. Its good to see places like that though to make you realise how diverse the world is. Anyway, I've been in the area for 12 years and never gone up to the Tor, and as the weather was so nice it was worth it. Superb views, really clear. Well worth it.
On the way down we met a typically local bunch going up, dressed in a local fashion, with feathers adorning something, somewhere on everyone. And, more interestingly, they were all carrying a single apple.
I can only deduce that they were off up the Tor to perform some ritualistic sacrificing of local apple products. Or as I like to call it, lunch .
Coffee and desk etiquette
3rd post in this season, and its a rant already. Not bad, I was hoping to string it a bit longer but sadly no.
So, I work in an office (or rather, I sometimes work in an office) with about 50 people on the same floow..
My desk is conveniently located near the coffee machine, which has changed from a sachet type unit to a normal filter machine. Now, I know i drink coffee a lot in the morning, but yesterday I made 6 pots. 6. I drank 3 cups of coffee. Several times I made a pot, had to take a call whilst it was brewing and went back to find the pot empty.
It seems that many people dont understand the simple idea of "if you take the last cup, put another brew on". Its not difficult, it is polite and it saves a lot of time and might make people like you and think you are considerate. At the moment, I just think they have no manners and are likely to be the first against the wall when my revolution comes.
And that brings me onto another thing - if you borrow my desk when I'm not there but dont use my docking bay, have the decency to plug the power, monitor. keyboard and network back in. I'm guessing you dont like my trackball mouse, but thats tough. Next time I might insert that network cable somewhere the sun isnt shining and see how lively you get when I plug it into a Power Over Ethernet supply.
V
Two posts in a day??
Amazing or what? So, why the second post in such a short time?
Two thing.. the first is a re-name. I read Gareths comment below and though.. marvellous. I like that. So now we have it in big letters at the top of your web page - "The musings of a crazy man".
Then there's the thought about why I'm crazy? Opinions are welcomed, but I'm guessing the fact that I tend to smile most of the time, do daft things, and take the mick out of most situations/people/events may have something to do with it.
Or it could be my kids. Probably their fault, and as they're not here to argue the point I'll go with that. Or possibly the parents. They don't live locally either so I could pass the buck that way too.
Anyway, the sun is out, the tortoise is in the garden and the builder down the road is angle grinding and putting dust all over the previously clean car. Bugger.
Mad? me? No, but I bloody will be if the paint gets scratched!
Some people think I should act my age.. but hey why? As someone once wrote as their signature on a forum I belong to... "we dont stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing".
And as those that know me personally realise, I dont intend getting old just yet
