Log
Friday 1st April 2005
I thought my car was april fooling me this morning. I got out to post a letter and my damn exhaust is blowing again. It's the last piece that i haven't replaced - that makes sense. Fortunately it is just a pipe, so shouldn't be expensive, i'll see how much kwik fit wants to sting me for it tomorrow. I'll patch it up tonight though.
Ahhhh, Friday afternoon with the sun out, keeping busy, not bad at all today. I'll be working tomorrow morning, then i'll try and find somewhere to sort my exhaust, maybe sit in a pub garden in the afternoon if the suns out. Sounds good.
I ache today. I've done my early morning exercises like i said i was going to the last couple of days, it actually wakes me up really well - and as you're so tired when you're doing it you it flies by. I'll keep it up for a month and see how i feel. Good thing i have some strong will power, i know some people who wouldn't get out of bed even 5 minutes earlier than they had to!
Sunday 3rd April 2005
Yesterday was busy. I worked in the morning and then drove straight to kwik fit to get my exhaust sorted out. They had the part in stock so they got it done. While i was waiting i walked to B&Q and bought a few lampshades. I went and had a couple of drinks then just chilled at home last night.
I had a lay in this morning! In fact, it was the afternoon by the time i got up. Did some washing, dusted, yeah, that's right - housework. Weather was nice today, shame i missed most of the day... ah, nevermind.
Monday 4th April 2005
Made it home in record time today, just before 10 past six. It's one of the best feelings, getting home from work and just being able to relax at home, no hassle, no stress. I went across to the shop and bought some things for chicken tikka, didn't have that tonight though - i also bought a pizza to throw in the oven as part of my lazy night.
The fire alarm went off again at work today, not sure who's fault it was this time. The box in reception continued to beep all day long, must have driven the girls on the desk crazy. As i walked in to the building today i bumped into one of the girls that works for one of the other companies in the building, not bad, not bad at all - she even held the door open while i was getting out of my car till i got there. Might have to try and bump into her again sometime.
Tuesday 5th April 2005
What is up with the weather. A few weeks ago it was sunny and warm, then it rains - as usual - and today they actually said on the radio that there was a chance of snow. I can't see it happening, but they still said it!
Mom has sold their place in Spain and should be moving sometime in June. I'm going to see if i can try and get some time off work to go over before then, just very difficult at the moment with the amount of work i've got on. Lots of deadlines and not enough time.
Going to have an early night tonight, not that it seems to make a difference recently - as much sleep as i get i'm still tired.
Thursday 7th April 2005
Mom's new place sounds nice. It's a house in Alhaurin, all marble, white wash, classic Spain. A big roof terrace with a view over the mountains and even part of the house is into the mountain side. Should be heading over there in a couple of months hopefully, work might have settled back down to just busy and not crazy busy then.
Can't believe it's friday already tomorrow, i think i say that every week now, but the weeks are just flying by.
I'm so tired.
Friday 8th April 2005
This week has been a mad one! I'm gonna be in tomorrow, this afternooon i've gained a few more tasks to do. Now people have noticed i come in on the weekends i get asked "as you're in tomorrow, would you have time to do...." - dammit.
This week I've been told that i am a cut above the rest for my age - although he didn't say how far above. And by someone else i was told that i'm the most sarcastic person they know, not in a bad way, but it's probably true. I need to wear some sort of t-shirt to warn people of my sarcasm, maybe with "[sacasm]" on the front and "[/sarcasm]" on the back.
Sunday 10th April 2005
Went to a pub quiz tonight, hadn't done one for a while. We thought we'd try a different place, i think they stopped liking at us at the other pub after we won a couple of times in a row. It was just the 2 of us, most of the other teams - i think one wasn't a team, just a guy - but the other 5 or so teams were big groups. Who came out top? We did!! Yep, you could have cut the tension with a knife. Well, maybe cut it with a stick.
No beer from this one though, shame. Instead a "goody bag". It had a ton of sweets, a glass, a cap and some other stuff. When we collected the prize the Dj actually said that we'll have to do a karaoke for winning... urm, no thanks, we were out of there once we'd finished our drinks.
It's late.
Monday 11th April 2005
Classic monday. All was going well till i woke up. I hit snooze a few times, got up too late to do any working out. Shooting down the A41 as usual, nothing special, 75mph following some vw polo or something. Then i see this panel fall off the bottom of the motor in front, like a flat panel with a side on it. No way was i gonna get out of the way without spinning out, so *whack*, straight over the top it. A second later i could feel i'd lost my front nearside tyre. Managed to pull over and still leave both lanes free - i know what chaos is caused by blocking one lane at that time of the morning. My jack would go straight through the mud where i'd parked so got the AA out to put my spare on - which actually had a brand new tyre on it! Of course it's not an alloy like my others though. While i was sat there cars were just queing up after hitting this thing, must have been 4 or 5 cars pull over and just waiting.
Funny though, i was going to get a new pair of front tyres at the weekend. Glad i didn't, i would of been pissed if i'd done that with a new tyre. So i've got a new pair of tyres now anyway. It could have been a lot worse, when i looked at my tyre it hadn't just punctured it, it had actually split from the wheel all the way to the edge, like a knife, i'm surprised the tyre stayed on at all.
And then i got to work.
Thursday 14th April 2005
Did some damage to my back the other morning, just over did it i think, my right shoulder was (and still is) very tender. Ah well, least i know i'm doing something - no pain, no gain. Or some crap like that. I noticed the other day driving past the gym by me that they are doing a membership for £24 a month. That's about half what it was last time i looked. I'm thinking about it, i'd like to do it but i think it'd be boring on my own so i'm going to see if i can find someone else to go with. And i might have to buy an iPod then... damn.
And to the driver of a BMW 525 estate, reg plate RL54 ANO, driving from Hemel to Aston Clinton down the A41 last night, you're a prick. And i don't usually remember number plates, so you must have really pissed me off - i guess it could have been when you cut me up on the roundabout, then cut about an inch infront of me as i was about to go past you on the bypass, AND THEN BRAKED! Oh, and nice manoeuvre when you wanted to leave the bypass, try getting inlane less than 10 yards before the actual exit - dipshit.
Saturday 16th April 2005
Yeah, this is my "flaming" week! Grrrrr. I got a letter from Crabtree Property, the guys that "maintain" the building my apartment is in. I say "maintain", all they do is have a guy come round, maybe once every 2 weeks, or less? i'll have to check the sheet that they put up for him to sign... Oh, they sometimes replace the bulbs in the lights when they blow. And they... oh, no, i can't think of anything else. The paths out by the shops are covered in litter, they don't seem to clean the windows or anything like that (but i didn't expect them to). They also charged us for bin hire, urm, the bins are provided by the council. And they do all this for the tidy sum of just over £1,300 a year - bargain...
Crabtree Property also take care of the land rent that I pay annually. I sent my £150 cheque off to pay it last month and today they send me a letter. Apparantly the cheque i used was from a book belonging to a closed account?? riiiight. If that is the case then ok, i'll sort it out and pay by another means - no problem. But they just like icing the cake, they also charged me £30 for the pleasure. Thankyou Crabtree Property! I'm sure it cost you that to send me that letter, perhaps you could just have sent me an email?
If i could find out what they spend all our maintenance fees on i might be a little happier, but when we tried to find out they pretty much just shrug it off.
Sunday 17th April 2005
Had a bit of a quiet weekend, worked saturday. Wasn't sure i was going to be able to though, they're running power tests or something at work so there was a chance that the power was going to be cut. It wasn't, and all i had to do was plug in the switch that someone had switched off..
I was knackered after work - i had only gotten about 3 or 4 hours sleep friday night - so i got home and crashed out. Today i went over to my dads and had a nice sunday roast at their new dining table.
I'm saving a few bucks to be able to afford to go to London at the end of the month, and with things like what happened last week it ain't easy!!
Monday 18th April 2005
I hate leaving work in the middle of something. Happens a lot at the end of the day when you're deep into some code fixing a problem (or creating a problem) and then you look at the time and it's half 5... It's usually ok, i'll get back in the morning and fall right back in to it. The worst problem is if there's a been a long powercut and my ups dies, computer resets - then i'll have trouble remembering!
Gran gets back from Spain on thursday, i must remember to find out what time she flies in - perhaps mom'll read this and let me know. I'm thinking about taking a half day thursday, i've got a lot of things i need to do at home. Thing that can't be done at the weekend and get forgotten about during the week.
Wednesday 20th April 2005
My back is hurting again today, i really have got to stop overdoing the weights. I'm sure it's not doing me any good, i'm getting used to it now, just roll out of bed and get on with it. I was reading something about a new alarm clock that wakes you up only when you're in light sleep - it has a head band or something to know what state of sleep you are in. I think it said that from light, deep and REM sleep takes about an hour and 40 minutes and cycles through the night. So, if you wake up just a little before your alarms about to go off you're better off getting up than falling back to sleep and being woken in deep sleep. I only read it yesterday so i've not been able to put this into practice - if i wake up at 5am i am not getting up.
Birthday season is coming. Next month there are 5 or 6 birthdays, then June there's me and a couple of others and July has mom's. Emailing someone today who has their birthday next month, she's funny about birthdays, doesn't like them at all. I'm not really that bothered about my birthday, happens every year, but she really doesn't want to think about her birthday. She's about my age, so it's not the age thing getting her down - we're young! I'll have to speak to her and see if i can get her to do something for it, break this annual cycle of her not liking this 1 day in the year.
Picking up Gran from the airport tomorrow, got the time... urm... somewhere - crap. But i've taken the afternoon off work to get some other things done too.
Thursday 21st April 2005
This afternoon was gorgeous! sun was shining, windows down in the car, sunroof back. That happened last time i took time off work... hmm. Picked gran up ok from the airport, once i got there. The traffic was crazy on the way, i managed to get around it on the way back.
I got my hair cut again today, can't believe it'd been 5 weeks since last time. The weeks really are flying this year. It's May soon!
This week i wrote a todo list, i've managed to complete 4 out of the 6 things i'd written down. I'm carrying those on to next week. I thought i'd give it a try, sometimes things just don't get done - don't have time, get forgotten about. But writing them down and having them staring me in the face seems like a good idea.
Monday 25th April 2005
I've been a bit awol from here recently, bit of not having time to write anything and a bit of not really having anything interesting to write - yeah, i know, i don't write anything interesting anyway!
What a monday morning. again. Draw the curtains and it was pouring down, just gets you in the mood for going to work, eh?! Seems people forget how to drive when it rains, although they did do a very poor job on the newer part of the A41, it's just like a mile long puddle. If i didn't have my new tyres i would have been doing 60mph like everyone else, but my tyres were cutting through it no problem.
Need to arrange this weekend, not sure where i'm staying yet. I just realised it's a bank holiday as well!! Guess i should really go out and get all the birthday stuff that i'll need next month.
Wednesday 27th April 2005
I noticed something weird that happens when i'm driving yesterday, i've noticed it before. So, yesterday, on my drive home i was getting on to the A41 as usual, it's pretty busy - it's rush hour of course. Just as i'm going up the hill and onto the round about and onto the A41 i'm singing to some crap on the radio - as usual - then i'm checking all mirrors, blind spot, changing lanes and all in a split second. All my concentration just goes into driving and i've stopped my awful singing and anything else i might have been doing. I guess it's good that i focus everything on my driving at that point, it does get busy there and trying to see what everyone else is doing can be tricky. I trust my driving, it's the other drivers that can cause the problems 
I remember one time, I was chatting to someone on the phone - handsfree before you shout at me - while i was sat at the traffic lights before the magic roundabout (that's a 2-way roundabout with 5 mini roundabouts around it). I got to the roundabout and some arse cut me up and i had to pull some tricks to stop any accident as someone else was very close behind. I get that sorted and carry on driving. Next thing i know there's someone talking in my ear asking if i was ok... oh yeah, i was on the phone.
Thursday 28th April 2005
My monitor at home is knackered. To start with it was just wobbling in one corner when set to it's highest res (a whopping 1280x1024). Now it's started wobbling everywhere on all resolutions and trying to work on it just gives me a headache. It's about 2 and a half years old i guess, and it's only a cheap one. So today i bought a brand new Dell 20" LCD monitor!!! Read up a load of reviews, customer reviews, specs and all that. Plus it's on sale at the moment. I can't wait for it to arrive, i haven't bought anything like this for years! Should give me a little more desk top space too (on screen and off).
The weekend plans are about sorted now. Got a place to stay in London, me and a mate are heading down there after we both finish work. All we need to do now is figure out how to get back to where we're staying from town.
Friday 29th April 2005
Well i feel a lot better this morning than i have done the last few days. I got home last night and just fell asleep on the sofa, i don't even remember watching Hollyoaks. I woke up and made something to eat, then fell right back to sleep again. I must have been in bed by about 9.30, just completely crashed. Too many late nights, too much work, i don't know. But it felt good to just sleep! My computer didn't even get switched on last night.
Friday! Finally. This weekend should be a good laugh, i might take my camera, i haven't decided yet.
