It worked

My first online edition is there (shame I can't link to it).

There are a couple of problems to sort out... Two extra pages have crept in. One is a blank (probably an extraneous page in one PDF), the other appears to be an error message of some kind.

Theoretically, this means I'll have an email telling me what the problem was when I get to work tomorrow. Either way, I'll be re-checking the PDFs, re-sending them (all, from what I remember), and getting the whole thing reprocessed.

A rather time-consuming process but, since I'll be doing it for all of my magazines from now on, it's certainly incentive to get it right first time.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Things

As I write, I'm listening to the second part of the second Penny Arcade D&D podcast, with its special guest player Wil Wheaton.

I found myself thinking that Mr Wheaton sounds essentially the same as he did back in the days of Star Trek: The Next Generation, when he played Ensign Wesley Crusher...

...but about three octaves deeper.

That is to say, the way he speaks remains unchanged... the mannerisms (Wil Wheaton mannerisms, not Wesley Crusher mannerisms) are the same but, when his voice broke, it dropped a hell of a long way.

Today at work was particularly insane. Apparently one of my editors has been complaining about the designer who does her editorial. This is nothing new... but what she said put her boss in fear of asking this designer to make changes yesterday. When he finally plucked up the courage, he was startled only by how polite and helpful she was.

He really shouldn't have been startled by that. Not only is this editor known for exaggerating how rude other people are to her, but she is know for underplaying how rude she is to them. Everyone knows this. It's even been pointed out to her, but it just doesn't sink in.

Her assistant is just as bad, too.

She also complained that our new recruit/Maternity cover designer is "the best", and that she felt she should have him working on her magazine. My boss pointed out that what she and her pointless assistant really want is their designer's predecessor. He used to fawn all over the editors, make them tea, do very little work on ads (and, frankly, very little work on Editorial either) and generally do whatever they wanted, never voicing an opinion of his own if it differed significantly enough from theirs.

In other news, I've inherited a complete shitstorm with the web stuff, purely because the recently-redundant web guy was let go two and a half months before his notice period expired, so there was no crossover with me (as I was on holiday), let alone training. I'm having to figure out what he used to do and how as I do it (normally my favourite method, except when it leads to me being badgered for things I already know I cannot deliver). I think I've got part of the backlog solved... but I'm really not sure.

I guess I'd better stop blogging and go check.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

The Return

First day back after my two week absence wasn't as bad as I'd expected (at least partially because of the Kalms, no doubt). Things were in a bit of a state, and the magazine that was due to go to press on Friday still hasn't gone. My boss is finishing that off tomorrow, so I'm free to tackle the magazine that's due to go on Wednesday (now Thursday).

Flatplanning is a bit behind schedule, but should pick up soon enough. That said, the flatplan for my next magazine is actually put together by my counterpart (I think... I hope...) so that's not so bad. Backups are probably behind as well, but that shouldn't take long to fix.

Having agreed to tackle web advertising, I've already had several enquiries (one manager asked to have a meeting in which I could specify what I'm expecting from them). Nothing I can actually answer until I know exactly what I'm meant to be doing.

Funny how this kind of news spreads fastest to those who least need to know. Just once, it'd be nice to be prepared for the new role before everyone is expecting me to fulfill it for them.

On the way home, my boss drove me to Ikea to pick up my coffee table and, while we were there, I snatched up a couple of rugs for the bedroom, and some oven gloves and a utensil pot thing for the kitchen.

I'm getting there...

In fact, I told my counterpart that, if I don't move in during this week, I'd be aiming to do so at this coming weekend, purely because I'll just keep putting it off if I don't.

Let's hope I can live up to those words.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Half a weekend

Bit of a mixed bag for the end of my holiday, to be honest.

Saturday was quite aggravating.

The first thing that happened was that I tried to watch a DVD, which seemed to keep getting interrupted by phone calls. The first was from the carpet shop, checking that all was OK with the new carpet, that I liked it, etc. Nice touch... but not necessarily the kind of call you want early on a Saturday morning.

Next up, and only a little further into the movie, my mother phoned to say they'd be making their way over shortly to fit my new kitchen light and measure up for the hall shelves... This brought an end to the movie.

Which kind of makes me wonder if I am getting precognitive in my old age... Because, when my folks came by, they decided to let themselves in rather than use the buzzer, even though they knew I was there. I shall have to set those Groundrules sooner rather than later, I fear. I can't have them treating the flat as an extension of their house... It's my place, and they're going to have to understand what that means and both accept and respect that.

All sorts of daft arguments ensued while my father was fitting the light - not least the final one, where he asked which way round I wanted the fitting to be (it features three spotlights, and can only be attached to its mounting in one of two ways), only to leave it fitted the easiest way rather than the way I asked, arguing that he didn't see what difference it made. Next up, he spent far longer than necessary ascertaining that most of the hall is a real wall on one side and, consequently, could have shelves mounted quite easily. Only a small portion - near the bathroom door - is plasterboard... and we knew that already.

Afterward, the three of us went off in search of a sofabed place I found online, who have a showroom in easy travelling distance from the flat. Sadly, no-one thought to either bring the map (easily available on their website) or note directions... so we got hopelessly lost. We took a wrong turn straight out of the station and just carried on going. My mother "was sure it was straight on through the shops", so we were trusting her sense of direction. My father vocalised his frustration far more than I did, and my mother ended up calling 118118 for directions.

Sadly, she couldn't remember the name of the place (it is rather a silly name), so they weren't able to help... And if they were, she wasn't able to hear them anyway. Calling on a cellphone, right by a roundabout, on a Saturday afternoon, isn't the greatest of plans.

So we headed back to the shopping centre and, from there, the station to head home. The whole thing was a complete waste of time and, as it turned out today when I went back for another try, we had walked in basically the opposite direction.

My trip today had a dual purpose. First port of call was the flat, so that I could drop off the painting I'm going to hang in the lounge and collect my wash kit and book for the week ahead.

I briefly entertained the idea of staying there overnight, and heading to work from the flat... but in the end, it just didn't seem practical. Yet. Nearly there, though.

Before I headed off in search of the sofabed place (a task made much easier by the directions I'd keyed into my cellphone), I stopped off for some lunch in KFC. The last thing I wanted to do was give myself a headache through not eating before doing something stressful like wandering around somewhere I've never been before...

But, bizarrely, I didn't even need to refer to my phone. I got all the way to the business park and only checked there because I wanted to make sure I'd got the right place (because it looked deserted, being a Sunday and all). Nevertheless, I quickly found the showroom - quite a small one, as it happens, but nicely set up. The woman minding the shop was very helpful, knew the products well (always useful), and made a few points I might otherwise have forgotten about.

I left with a handful of fabric samples, but a nagging feeling their sofabeds wouldn't necessarily fit. My lounge is quite narrow, and the measurement for the extent of the bed sounded suspiciously close to the full width of the room (not that I remembered it exactly). The last thing I want of to have a sofabed that doesn't leave room for anything else. That said, a corner sofa might work out better... I'll need to check the measurements.

Heading back into the shopping centre, I put Plan B into action and started browsing for (a) a washing bin, (b) something to put my Ikea cooking utensils in that isn't the drawer they're in now, (c) a knife rack and (d) some Kalms (now that I'm using them again, I found I'd all but run out)

A to C were a bust. While I found plenty of washing bins, none were quite what I was after. Storage for cooking utensils and knives tends to come with its intended contents (damn you, Ikea... why didn't you think of that?). The Kalms, thankfully, were far simpler. Easily found in a branch of Boots. The girl behind the counter asked if I was aware that they were part of a '3 for 2' offer, and I replied (seriously, until I was halfway through the sentence) that I wouldn't need that many. She pointed out that it was '3 for 2, mix and match with other similar products', but I declined.

On the upside, when I returned to the flat to collect my backpack and bring things back to the house, I popped into the shop of useful nicknacks and bought myself the kind of washing basket you unload the washing machine into.

Which is something.

Returning to my parents' house, I found my mother had returned to bed - This would generally mean (given that she was out when I left, and the only contact I had made during the day was a text message to the effect that I'd found the shop) that she was upset with me and pretending to be ill - and that someone had printed out the map from the shop's website.

Perhaps I was wrong about her being upset - it's possible she had a headache, or just felt tired - because she seemed quite perky later on.

Watched Being Human, as usual... Quite a dark episode this time round, with Annie confronting her murderous ex-boyfriend and finding him completely unphased, Mitchell learning a nasty truth about Herrick's master plan, and three staked vampires. Gripping stuff... even when the main story arc looms, there's still a large human element to the drama.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

New Carpet...

It's laid, and it's wonderful.

It's a nice red, so the place looks warmer already. The vile beige on the walls almost looks orange (think peach white), so there's some improvement.

I was somewhat shocked by the state of the floor underneath the old carpet and underlay. Littered with screws, nails, cigarette butts... and the underlay was actually stuck to the hardboard in one large patch near the door.

Popped into the Estate Agent to get the details of the new Management Agent for the block, to see if I can get the hall ceiling/roof looked at. Having a leaky roof right by my fusebox ain't good. While the guy I need to speak to wasn't in the office today, I should be getting a call back tomorrow.

On the upside, I now have a load of books and most - if not all - of my DVDs moved in, along with some of the larger TransFormers. A few more runs and all the important stuff should be there, and I can probably technically move in... Though I really must make a start on the phone setup tomorrow.

While I was at the flat - just after the fitters arrived and got to work (about an hour late!) - I had a visit from a power company - neither of those that are my current supplier for gas or electricity. Although it struck me that he went from "I'm here canvassing" to "Sign here and we'll get you switched over to us" without seeming to go through any point in between, when I asked for an explanation, he was more than forthcoming, and the arrangement seemed like a better deal than I'm currently getting. Not only are the bills likely to be lower (anything would be lower than my last bill from EDF), but I get side benefits in the form of discounts from various shops.

The main sweetener to the deal was that my current suppliers, being based in Continental Europe, are charging their UK customers a bit of a premium, particularly in the areas in which they have a kind of monopoly. The supplier I switched to today (yes, I signed) won't be charging that premium.

Interesting, the way these things work...

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Continuing Apace

Well, today got off to a reasonably good start...

Missed a call from the carpet people, asking if they could do the carpet tomorrow rather than Thursday (turns out they're overbooked for Thursday), which is pretty damned cool.

Most of the wiring at the flat was completed yesterday - only one more set of sockets for the lounge remains to be done today, and that requires that we replace the socket covers in the kitchen because we didn't get enough. Strange that we have 'extras' in the form of covers to be replaced by nice steel-effect things in the kitchen, but I guess that's my mother for you.

I really need to make a list of things that need doing, so as much as possible gets done this week. All things considered, this has been quite a well-used holiday so far... I just wish the electricals had been done last week, so we'd be that little bit further along the process now.

So... In no particular order, we have:

Display cabinets to be moved from Parents' House to Flat (+1 more cabinet to be added)
Computer desk to be moved from Parents' House to Flat
Shelving (unit?) in lounge in corner above TV to be bought/made
Coffee Table to be bought (Ramvik @ Ikea)
Sofabed to be bought
Shelving to be added to hall (custom made by my father?)
Bookshelf to be bought for bedroom
Damp patch in hall to be mentioned to Managing Agent (wasn't roof redone?)
Bathroom to be redone
Repainting hall, lounge, bedroom
Get phone connected
Transfer Broadband to new phone

...and, you know, I think that's about it.

Apart from moving all my stuff, that is.

Work is apparently a bit hairy at the moment, with three people now off sick - the 'floater' designer (the one who's supposed to cover other designers during sickness or holiday... turns out she's rather seriously ill, but neglected to mention that in her interviews), my counterpart Production Mananger (hopefully not pneumonia again) and one of the copy controllers (who had supposedly been coughing up blood over the weekend).

This means my boss is (a) covering me, (b) covering my counterpart and (c) covering the copy controller. Nice.

We probably won't be getting back on track as swiftly as I'd hoped.

With any luck, though, at least two of the folks off sick will be back later in the week.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Odd...

While this cold persists, the congestion is worse (more intrusive, more noticeable) in my bedroom than it is anywhere else in the house. I suspect mold.

Must make note of how it feels at the flat... I seem to remember it was OK, which is a good sign.

I hope.

And while I can't feel the Transvasin at work, it certainly seems to have loosened me up to some extent. Will hopefully feel much better tomorrow...

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Two More Wintery Haiku... And Stuff...

In response to my London Snowman Haiku, my sister wrote:

"I passed a drunk-looking snowman at the end of my road on the way home this afternoon. I think part of his bottom had melted and the weight of his head had pulled him over sideways. Write a haiku about that, if you dare!"

Never one to pass up a challenge:

Drunken snowman leans
carousing, merrymaking,
yet frozen (in time).

And then today, when I popped into work to visit the Publishing Expo at Olympia, I saw a few clumps of snow remaining here and there in grassy areas, and composed the following:

Persistent snow clumps
remain as wintry islands
in spring's verdant seas.

Quite pleased with both, though the second is far more poetic.

Today has been quite painful, in more ways than one. I woke up with much the same hip pain as I've had over the last week or so but, after a couple of hours sat at my desk at home, the pain magically transferred to my right shoulder, and has remained there all day, despite numerous attempts to shift it.

I put on one of those heat patches before I left the house, but barely felt anything from it - I assume it was duff - then, at the flat, sat up against the radiator while my father fixed the new light/ceiling fan in the lounge and, earlier this evening, tried Transvasin, one of those 'heat rub creams'. I actually felt the cream more on my hand (and my face, where I'd been leaning on that hand!) even after washing the remaining cream off... so I may end up making an appointment with the Chiropractor next week.

Work at the flat went OK today. The new light is fitted in the lounge, but the spare bulb we had was too large - a larger size than the one we got for the bedroom. Hopefully a similar wattage will be available in the smaller size, as the bulb that's currently fitted (sans the glass dome) is equivalent to an old-style 100 watt bulb.

When I arrived at the flat, I'd expected my parents to be there already, but I had quite a wait for them. Seems my mother went back to hospital for the X-Ray that was interrupted yesterday by a fire (Northwick Park hospital actually made the news because of it!). By the time they arrived, daylight was already much reduced by cloud, so we were using a bedside lamp for light to finish off the fitting.

I'd hoped work on adding the new power points would have started today so it could be finished tomorrow... but that hasn't panned out. Since I have plans for tomorrow night (which may or may not be curtailed by my aches and pains), I asked how much work is likely to be done tomorrow. Since I'm planning to stay at the flat, I'll be needing electricity, so doing some wiring and leaving it exposed and the fusebox switched off ain't going to be an option... So it may transpire that tomorrow's work will be laying the groundwork for the wiring, with the actual wiring to be done sometime between tomorrow and next Thursday, when the carpet gets laid.

The Publishing Expo was pretty small... Far smaller than the one I went to a couple of years ago at the NEC. The show occupied about half of the ground floor (another show occupied the other half, I guess), with talks and panels going on downstairs. One of the exhibitors opined that, were it not for these talks, one would only spend about half an hour at the show. I'd tend to disagree, if only from the freebie-collecting point of view. I walked out with a large stick of rock (courtesy of the Pagesuite people), a pen (someone is always giving away pens!) a mug (from our Printers) and a small packet of mints, alongside the usual bumph one collects at these things. One of my designers went yesterday in her lunchtime, and reported that there weren't many freebies - she'd only managed to score a mousemat. I suspect they tailored everything to the job title on everyone's badges. Sweets were quite freely available, as was booze on a couple of stands, but I guess cool freebies were a bit thin on the ground.

Interestingly, there were two online flatplan solutions... One - Intelligent Flatplan - was pointed out to me by a reader of this very blog. The other - Blinkplan - was new to me, but similarly intriguing. Were it not for the fact that we will, eventually, be forced into using a 'homebrewed' solution that connects with our Accounting systems, either one would be worth investigating. Neither, by the looks of it, have logins that allow users to see but not alter, though both allow flatplans to be exported as PDF. Their solutions to our usual problems (page cuts at the last minute, late sales that aren't communicated by Sales to Production, conflicting promised positions, etc.) are either nonexistent or inelegant... but clearly the developers have been putting lots of effort into their respective products.

Amusingly, the scattered clumps of remaining snow now have lots of company - snow started falling again this evening. In these parts, it's already melting again... but who knows what the night will bring.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Tasks Accomplished:

Set myself up on Monthly Direct Debit for gas, thus avoiding any and all future bill-paying mishaps. Since my usage was so far below what they were estimating, it was suggested that I may have trouble inputting my actual meter reading to their website (yes, EDF have that feature too... and it's not even hidden away anymore!), so I may have to phone them and have the low reading 'forced through'.

Made an appointment with the Dentist: 10.30am on Tuesday 3rd March was the earliest they could fit me in. The recent snow probably lead to a few cancelled appointments, and one of the dentists tends to take the school half-term week as holiday, so that makes this time of year rather full. I really shouldn't have waited so long to call them, but I just haven't had time at work.

Ordered my carpet, and have a tentative fitting date of Thursday 19th - next week! Considering my original choice of carpet came with at least a 3 week lead-time (2 weeks to order the carpet, 1 more to get it fitted), this is a huge bonus. It'll be nice to have another part of the flat completely finished by the end of my holiday.

In other news, I'm finding YouTube quite useful for looking into videogames. There are so many walkthroughs available, it's almost as good as playing the game myself, only without the need to buy it, install it and... erm... play it. Some of the commentaries are a little unnecessary... and occasionally highlight reading difficulties in the 'host'. One in particular featured a line of dialogue that was so hard for the player to read, he ended up choosing a different line. Oh well.

It's actually quite a neat way to look at some games I'd otherwise be unable to play, either due to the performance of my machine, or the fact that I don't have the right machine to play the game anyway - I still haven't got a console newer than my old faithful Sega Saturn!

Blogged with the Flock Browser

A disappointing end

I suppose I should write something about the thrilling climax to Demons...

...It's just difficult because, no matter now hard I try to like it, all it does is disappoint me. It has potentially interesting characters, a fairly brilliant premise (rendered somewhat silly by its reliance on the name Van Helsing), and some halfway decent effects (mainly the prosthetics rather than the CGI)... What it doesn't have is talented writers.

What they consistently fail to explore is the question 'why?' We are expected to believe that 'half-lives' are all bad, and do bad things because they're 'half-lives'. We are expected to believe that Luke is clever enough to fight them, yet dense enough to be blind to his faithful friend's infatuation and, in the final episode, believe that his mentor is one of the bad guys.

OK, sure, the character of Rupert Galvin isn't exactly the most sympathetic... But, frankly, the only reason there's a hint of a hidden agenda is that Phillip Glennister is a good actor. There's bugger all in the script other than veiled half-hints, but there's something about the twinkle in his eye and the set of his jaw that says "Yes, I am keeping secrets... and do you know what? They're going to stay secret."

And I truly hope that, should there be another series, Ruby decides that Luke isn't worth the hassle because even when he's not being a prick for the sake of the story, he's still being a prick.

So. The thrilling climax. Mackenzie Crook returns as Gladiolus Thrip (even though he was apparently killed in the first episode), ditches most of the Captain Jack Sparrow mannerisms, and uses a medium (another almost funny joke - she advertises herself as 'the Happy Medium') to convince Luke that Galvin is a half-life of some kind, and killed his father.

And Luke believes it.

For no reason.

No-one can convince him any different, because he's been hit by some glowing green goop from the balls of a Pyromancer (stop that sniggering at the back). This Pyromancer looked like a clown.

For no reason.

This goop causes prophetic dreams... or, more accurately, causes memories to surface. Memories of when Luke was a baby, and in the car crash that - according to Galvin - killed his father.

To cut a long story short, and relieve the pain of actually having watched it, it ends with a Mexican standoff between Thrip, Galvin and Luke, soon joined by Ruby and Mina... Who drinks the tainted blood we saw her pocket earlier returning her to her Vampire form. She spouts some pompous nonsense at Thrip and attacks him... and he dissolves into a puddle.

Because only a vampire can kill a vampire, according to episode three.

It has to have been one of the most anticlimactic climaxes of all time, revealing that, yes, Galvin took Luke away from the crashed car without trying to save his father, but this was because - for no discernible reason - Luke's father had decided that 'the future' lay with Human/Half-Life hybrids, and he was intending to hand his infant son over to the enemy.

Oh, and the final scene suggests that Mina's staying as a vampire for a while.

For no reason.

Happily, there was far more reason to Being Human. Quite a full episode, too... Mitchell's thread about the vampire uprising shifted into the background while he tried to control his most recent convert, George had a date with the nurse who seemed to hate him last episode, and Annie discovered the truth behind her death. The best bits in this episode have to be everything surrounding the misunderstanding between George and the nurse he fancies, over his 'condition'.

After he blurts out that he has trouble containing himself, she gives him a lecture on methods of non-penetrative sex that can help prolong his experience... while he's fighting off his full moon-induced transformation. This, coupled with the fact that the lecture - delivered in a calm, soothing and non-judgmental voice - turns him on, leads him to throw the nurse over a desk and, judging by the look on her face, give her the best sex she's had in ages.

Afterward, in a mad panic, he throws on his clothes and runs to his 'safe place' in the hospital's basement, while she slides off the desk, completely blissed out, and mumbling "you're a dead man".

Annie's encounter with morose, eighties-fixated ghost Gilbert has some touching moments, and hopefully her obsession with her fiancé is over.

Today was a rather lazy day, thanks to the rain. I really should have started planning my holiday over the weekend, because I've already wasted a whole day in which I could have been sorting out carpet for the flat and picking out new furniture... or, at the very least, moving more clothes over.

Still, my father didn't rise before noon, so I wasn't expecting him to want to go over and work on the electricals, or fitting the new light in the lounge.

I didn't even call the dentist to arrange an appointment, or EDF to switch to monthly direct debits, or BT about getting the phone set up...

We'll see how tomorrow pans out...

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Past Due

Had a rather terrifying moment earlier this evening, having popped round to the flat to move a few things out of the lounge in preparation for the clearout tomorrow. I picked up what I had thought was the statement from E-On for my electricity... but which, upon closer examination, turned out to be the bill from EDF for my gas.

A bill which was due today.

It's paid now (theoretically - I used their automated phone/debit card system), but... Fuck. I left the damned thing lying around at the flat having not even glanced at it when I received it a week ago, because I got E-On and EDF confused.

This must be my week for being a total muppet.

There's more - work stuff, mainly - but I really can't be bothered right now. I'm tired, I'm feeling slightly ill (and missed out on some mischief-making because of it), and I really wish this week was over.

I'm off work for two weeks as of Friday, so I'm hoping to make some real progress on the flat. Hopefully I'll be blogging some of it.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Further Change

It has been unofficially announced that another magazine is being closed as of its current issue.

By that, I mean certain managers know, and the Copy Controller was today instructed not to chase copy for the next issue, but instructed not to ask why.

This leaves my counterpart with even fewer magazines and even fewer ads to set to run in them. In turn, our boss was concerned that the workload will become more dramatically uneven.

I've been thinking about that over the last couple of days, and considering the dynamics of my team. I have three designers: One cantankerous but excellent, one lazy but reasonably reliable, one new and still fairly enthusiastic (particularly having played a significant role in her magazine winning an internal company award last year). All three have excellent working relationships with their respective editors, all three pull their weight on ads, and there would be huge disadvantages to moving designers with their magazines between teams.

I proposed to my boss today that, rather than redistribute the workload, we realign our Junior Designer so she's ostensibly on my team. She'd still act as a 'floater' and as holiday cover but would be, by default, working on my magazines and ads.

While not entirely convinced, and of the opinion that this gives my counterpart and his team an easy ride, my suggestion has been accepted for the time being... but I reckon I'll have a meeting with my team once the official announcement is made, just to confirm that I've read the situation correctly. It may well mean that we're staying late(r) more often than my counterpart's team, but I'd like to think that my designers are happy with their magazines, and willing to put up with the late press days out of pride in their work.

I really hope I'm right... The downside to keeping all my magazines where they are is that my boss doesn't want to hear any of my team complaining about late press days.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

The London Snowman Haiku

Abandoned snowman
Snowballs rolled large, round... and yet
Muddy, dirty, wrong.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

This is kinda fun...

...And strangely addictive...

This thing started doing the rounds at work today after my boss received one from a friend.

I'm not normally one to spread this kind of thing around, but try it yourself! What words of wisdom will you add to the side of a London bus?

Now you can't say I'm not dropping litter in the Zen garden of your mind.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Snow Day

According to the news, the night brought the UK the worst snowfall in 18 years.

Worst? I quite like it, myself.

Heaviest, certainly, but 'worst' implies it's something bad.

OK, we've had substantially more than the two inches predicted for London, and it's still coming down (after a brief lull earlier), but it's hardly a blizzard.

I spoke to my manager earlier, herself stuck at home because her car wouldn't get through the snow, and her route in was pretty much out of commission due to the inclement weather, and she asked me to call my team and tell them not to even try to go to work.

Having done so, I had another call from her, still quite early in the morning, spitting nails because the Commercial Manager at our office had phoned the MD complaining angrily that no-one had bothered turning up, after he'd instructed all his staff to make the journey.

Um. Right.

Obviously it hadn't occurred to him that asking people to travel to work during the worst snowfall in 18 years, while most of the London Underground is suspended or part suspended and many buses are not running was a downright irresponsible thing for a manager to do. Complaining to the MD just makes him look like an even bigger moron. And why he didn't think to contact any of the other managers, to see what their plans were, is anyone's guess.

Certainly, Senior Editor North had instructed his team that our office was closed today. Not that most of them would have tried to get in anyway...



There may be a snowman later... Who knows..?

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Weekend blurb

As has become my custom, I spent the night at the flat again on Friday. This time, however, I cooked dinner for myself and my boss from scratch.

A couple of years ago, when my folks were away, she cooked me a salmon teriyaki dish, with spring onions, ginger, garlic and mushrooms added to the stir-fry, and served on a bed of rice. I quite liked it, so I asked her to instruct me on that.

As a bonus, I got to do a baked pineapple dessert - pineapple chunks, butter and brown sugar, baked for 20 minutes, then served with either cream, clotted cream ice cream or good quality vanilla.

It didn't go perfectly. Believe it or not, I messed up the rice (didn't read the instructions properly and so opened the microwave sachets completely, so 2 minutes didn't cook them enough) which lead to the stir-fry getting a little burnt in the delay. The salmon was fine, though, so it was a learning experience. Dessert turned out fine, though.

On Saturday, I woke up late, had breakfast and considered making a start on getting the last bits of painting done in the kitchen, but then remembered my sister was planning to visit, so I made haste for home.

It turned out that, since I'd last spoken to her, the plans had changed.

Rather than arriving at the house for lunch, they were attending an afternoon football match in Fulham (God only knows why... neither are big on football), then coming over for dinner, staying the night, and going back after lunch today, with the option of paying a visit on the flat.

It wasn't a particularly eventful visit - no more bad news on the baby front, at least - but we did all sit down to watch Demons on Saturday night... And what a disappointing episode it was. A harpy that wasn't so much part woman, part monster as much as it was a woman who turned into a dragon at night. Confused? Wait till you consider the 'revenge' plot, where she's out to kill the last of the Van Helsings because one of the previous ones killed her two sisters... a plot which seemed to become confused when the last of the Van Helsings endeared himself to the 'harpy'. I don't know whether it was intentional, or if the actress portraying the 'harpy' accidentally stumbled on something approaching emotional depth, but I got the impression that she was genuinely falling for her prey, and reconsidering revenge.

And so when Luke refused to kill her before she transformed, and blocked Galvin from doing it for him, I thought the writers had come up with a good - if predictable - story.

But the rooftop climax just left me all the more confused: Teary-eyed 'harpy' tells Luke to kill her and, again, he refuses to do so while she's 'human'... So she transforms and attacks him, and he shoots her with his magical 'turns everything into burning paper' gun.

I honestly expected something different, based entirely on the performance of the actress playing the 'harpy', but I think she must have been imagining emotional depth in the story, and so played it too well... The script demanded she be a single-minded monster... and she played it as a conflicted girl who realised she didn't want to take revenge on someone she actually liked.

Shame, really.

After lunch today, my sister and her husband drove me over to the flat - my sister has been there already - before the new kitchen was fitted - but her husband has only heard about it. Both liked the kitchen, even in its still-unfinished state, and seemed quite impressed by what little plans I have for the place. Apparently my bathroom is slightly larger than theirs...

We wandered down the road to a shop that sells a little of everything, because I need a concertina washing rack, a draining rack for the kitchen and a small kitchen knife. Being one of those wondrous shops that really does sell just about everything, I found it all. My sister grabbed herself a draining rack as well, so impressed was she by what they had on offer.

I'd also lugged over the rest of my UK Saturn games (the ones I want to keep for the time being, anyway) and a pair of speakers that were going spare at home, for my CD player/radio.

Slowly but surely, it's all coming together and, assuming everything happens in good time, I may still be able to make use of the van my sister's husband has access to, for moving over some of the larger items.

Watched episode two of Being Human tonight, and it continues to impress. The ongoing vampire uprising story arc is continuing in the background, while this week George met another werewolf. While it's far better written than Demons in terms of character and script, I do sometimes feel it's suffered from editing to keep it to its allotted hour of running time. Much of what happened seemed somehow crammed in... but it made for a very good episode. Some of it goes a little over the top (the 'vampire porn' DVD at the end was less than subtle) but it's generally likable.

Not a bad day, considering I woke up late, have had a headache all day, and slept through a good chunk of the afternoon in an unsuccessful attempt to get rid of it.

Blogged with the Flock Browser