Some time ago The Zozo and I ate lunch in an Italian in the centre of Norwich. The restaurant itself was nothing special, but what was special was the chilli oil. Most chilli oil you buy is pathetic but this had bite. Not only that, but one of the little chillies in the bottle fell out onto my pizza while I was pouring the oil on and it was seriously hot. Needless to say I found out where i could buy this stuff and ordered a load for home.
Since this chilli oil contains really chillies it actually improves over time and I’ve taken to keeping the old chillies and just adding more oil and more chillies to the bottle. The oil is now so hot that I can’t even use it for cooking if The Zozo is having any. It’s good stuff!
To celebrate the arrival of Willow (and to also congratulate the team on some big releases we’ve got out – but mainly Willow) I’ve decided we’re going to have Pizza at work for lunch today. In order to maximise the pizza experience I’ve also bought in my bottle of chilli oil. I haven’t decided what pizza I’m having yet, but I do no that whichever one it is, it’s going to be hot
Having effectively missed two Mondays on the trot it’s only really to be expected that Monday was going to be out to get me when I returned to work. Such is its desire to ruin my day it’s completely hijacked Friday, an otherwise benevolent day. Yes, it’s back to work for me today. And it sucks. Mightily.
Despite the fact we haven’t been anywhere or done much for this holiday it’s been up there on a par with the honeymoon and I’m not ready for it to be over. People at work all said I’d be desperate to return after the two weeks were up but I can categorically state they’re wrong. Monday has stolen Daddy Cuddles and it’s going to be 11 hours until I see my family again. This makes me sad. I’ve said it before and I shall say it again, if we do this again I’ll be taking my full entitlement of paternity leave and butting as much holiday up to it as I can. To hell with the cost and to hell with work.
Not content with taking me away from my family, Monday has also inflicted physical injury upon me by way of paper cut (or more precisely, foil cut) from, of all things, a pill blister pack. You know it’s stooping to new levels there, but then I think it feels threatened. Tomorrow is Saturday after all, and there is absolutely nothing Monday can do about it. I just need to make it through another two weeks and I get to spend another week with my family again. In the mean time I need to have a word with Camelot about them holding up their end of the bargain so I can retire and live the life I’d like to become accustomed to.
At some point today the worlds population will hit 7 billion people, which, in theory, means that Nubbin has a chance of being the 7 billionth person alive. In practice we know this will not happen for the simple reason that it’s Monday and there is no way in hell that Monday is going to willingly hand over a new child with such a unique milestone without major repercussions. Monday is a bastard like that, always has been, always will be.
No, the seven billionth baby will be born somewhere like the Middle East where the weekend is Thursday/Friday and Saturday is the evil start to the week. It’ll be in one of those countries where Monday is more like our Wednesday, a benevolent day that celebrates our having made it to the halfway point of the working week. Or it will happen in some overpopulated slum where every day is as evil as Monday and Monday will simply take pleasure in knowing that the parents have no idea that their baby is such a huge milestone. Failing that it’ll be somewhere further east where Monday will have given way to Tuesday.
The one saving grace I have is that being called away from work today would actually be seriously awkward. Monday may see it as an amusing prank to have me make it into work, get started and then have to leave again quickly leaving lots of unfinished things that others will have to pick up. It all depends on whether Monday feels that would bring it more sadistic pleasure than having me deal with the whole day at work. Whatever it chooses I’m sure it’ll be creative. Monday always is.
Yesterday was our first wedding anniversary. It was also the 3rd anniversary of us dating. We celebrated with a lazy morning, breakfast in bed and then a boat trip on the broads that The Zozo had organised for us. I was given control of a 7 man boat and we pootled along the river for a couple of hours. As we cruised along we enjoyed a small picnic and watched the sights as the rolled by. We were even lucky enough to see a kingfisher and an otter. The latter, being very rare, made The Zozos day.
The day was topped off with dinner at Cley Windmill where we had been married a year before. The was only one other couple having dinner so we were able to enjoy a quiet time together and have a chat with the chef who had also done our wedding meal.
Despite being out for dinner, we weren’t home too late but the day must have worn me out because this morning I slept through the alarm with The Zozo gently nudging me awake. It was Monday. It was windy. It was dark. Unlike a year ago we weren’t going on a two week adventure of a lifetime. Instead I had to get ready for work. My phone is running on fumes which means the music playing duties may have to be offloaded to the iPad and I really just want to snuggle up to my wife and fall asleep again. Sometimes I just hate mondays.
The Zozo, Nubbin and I went school last night to learn about what to expect when Nubbin arrives. With the aid of sone drawings, fake pelvis and baby doll I now know all about what really happens during labour rather than what Hollywood has taught me.
I had rather been worrying about being at work. While I know it’s not really “waters break, baby is delivered 30 minutes later” like the films I did think that once I got the call I’d be jumping in the car (having driven into work just in case), dashing home, grabbing The Zozo and bags and dashing back into Norwich to get her to hospital as we’re looking at a couple of hours round trip.
Having had the first lesson it seems more that when things start The Zozo can give me a call if I’m at work, I can finish what I’m doing, get the next train home and then load her in the car at some point over the next however many hours.
Should we get aid all notice then taxis and/or ambulances can be involved.
One of the perks I get at work is £80 to spend on wine a quarter. If you’re frugal you can get a case with that, however, I’ve been leaving my money to sit and accrue. After over a year I realised I had nearly £300 sat in my account so yesterday I decided to spend it.
First things first, I wanted a bottle of something expensive to celebrate Nubbins birth. I believe the most expensive champagne we do is the , a single bottle of which put a £139.99 hole in my account. No idea what it’s like, but The Zozo and I will be cracking that bad boy open shortly after we get Nubbin home.
Next up some “cheap” (when compared to the Cristal) bubbly so we can celebrate with others. I’ve always liked so a couple of bottles of that were shoved in the basket. I’m pretty sure my mum prefers and I don’t think The Zozos parents have a preference so a couple of bottles of that were also purchased so we can also celebrate with then. To round off the order and fill a 6 bottle case a cheeky bottle of was also added. Might save that one for Christmas. After 9 months of being near tee total The Zozo will be able to drink like a queen for a while
Wine choices made I then had to go speak to a wine advisor to place the order for me (audit and fraud prevention means I can’t place my own orders in the office given it’s wide open to abuse). Total cost of the order: £290.94 (with free delivery for being and order over £150). Total cost to my bank account: £0.00. Not going to complain about that price
The downside of having a bijoux residence, such as Little Cottage, is that careful planning needs to be done when buying stuff. If something comes in then something may well have to leave. Normally we’re very mindful of this and, as a result we happily fit in our home. Nubbin, on the other hand, doesn’t give a monkeys about this and is acquiring stuff at an alarming rate.
Both The Zozo and I have been preparing for Nubbins arrival for a while now. We replaced our bed with on that had loads of storage under it. We’ve cleared out things that are not needed and put masses of stuff in the loft.
A few days ago Nubbins bed arrived. It’s a very cool hammock thing that gently rocks Nubbin to sleep and keeps them comfortably wrapped. It’s also quite large. It became quite obvious that, no matter how much we moved stuff about we just didn’t quite have the space.
The elephant in the room here is my ‘office’. One side of the bedroom has my computer, filing cabinet, bookshelf and various other bits and bobs, all of which takes up rather a lot of space. If we could move the computer and pack up the desk we’d get quite a large area back and we’d all fit neatly. The $64,000 question was where would the computer go? Storage was not an option here.
In the end I killed two birds with one stone. I’m forever bitching at work that the hardware I have access to at home is vastly superior to that at the office. Work are also reasonably happy for us to supply our own hardware, provided we support it. A quick chat with my manager later and all was agreed.
Yesterday I drove into work early with the computer and set it up, moving the work supplied hardware to a desk behind me for the time being. I still need to transport my chair to the office and pack away the desk in the bedroom, but for now I have a fancy setup at work and we will soon have oodles of space at home
On Wednesday large metal temporary fencing sections and their bases appeared by the carpark adjacent to the newly refurbished section. Yesterday some of these were erected and signs were put up.
Now, with the last closure, the only signs were on the fence stopping you from progressing and basically said “Welcome to the closed bit. It’s closed. For three weeks.”. Now we have signs at the entrance to the path well before the bit they’re closing and signs on the bit that is about to be closed. These are big, hard to miss signs. They give details of where, when, why and how long.
The where has already been established, it’s the section next to the one they’ve just done up. The when is Monday, meaning I have today to try a new alternative route that could involve more river walking than my old alternative route without having to worry about back tracking. The why is for a new footbridge over the river, which could actually prove useful AA I currently have to walk past work a little bit, cross on the bridge, and then head back. The irony being that if I use the new bridge I’ll be cutting out the refurbished section entirely, so I’ll never get to enjoy it over a summer. The how long is 25 weeks. Yup, all summer. Hence me wanting a route with as much riverside walking as possible. Still, 25 weeks is long enough to reprogram the morning autopilot to whatever the new route ends up being.
Ever since I joined my current company I have been jumping up and down and shouting (quite literally in some cases) about how we Should Be Doing Things Differently™. This is not a poor reflection on where I work, I am simply passionate about what I do and believe you can always strive to improve things. I’m quite happy to put in tiny, incremental changes and have goals that are years in the future. Expecting to do more than this is usually a recipe for failure and disappointment. Occasionally, however, people take notice and change happens rapidly.
Yesterday I found out that the CIO of our parent company wants to investigate some of the methodologies I’ve been pushing, and not in a “could we have a 5 minute chat about how this could work” type way either. I’ve been given budget, free reign to change what I need to change and a month. At the end of the month there will be a pretty hefty deliverable, a demonstration to the higher ups and a decision on if this new way of working gets rolled out group wide. No pressure
Yesterday was a very exciting day for me at work in so far as the IT team closeted themselves in a meeting room and we officially launched what had been a black project as the underpinnings of a Two Year Plan. Now, I’ve been in IT for a long time and I know a project is nothing without a name and this one has many. Overall it’s project onyx which is a nod to it’s skunkworks roots. Internally phase one is nucleus. We’re off to a cracking start if you ask me. The names are cool and they’re lower case. Unlike previous projects I’ve spearheaded though this one involves designers. Oh yes, I have logos. We cannot fail
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Disgusted by @thehut_com customer service. Days between replies and no closer to getting my problem solved. Giving up on them any my money. 17 hours ago
@sallyhinch I don't know, the implication was that it was bad form to run over the ones following the highway code and with hi-vis vests. 2012/01/17
@sallyhinch have you seen the TFL email entitled "Road safety update". One assumes the government now feels they've done their bit :) 2012/01/17
@sallyhinch macs have 5+ hour battery lives (with real world usage) + are hewn from solid bits of aluminium so will take a knock - sorry :) 2011/12/27
@manicminormusic people own Dennis Roussos CDs? Man up and demand to play PWEI! 2011/12/26
Countdowns
Dating The Zozo:
3 years, 3 months, 28 days, 2 hours, 40 minutes ago
