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!
Friday, October 27, 2006
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
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!
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.
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.
Thursday, October 19, 2006
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
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
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
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.
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
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
Monday, October 09, 2006
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
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
I now have a green t-shirt to go with the blue, red and dayglo yellow shirts from previous years.
D
Friday, October 06, 2006
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.
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
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
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
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...
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 ;-)
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 ;-)
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