Archive for October 20th, 2007
I can’t let this splurge of Dan-posts go by without saying how much I love our new bathroom. That it was assembled with great care by Olly and Artur in August while we were in Poland shouldn’t make you think I wasn’t appreciative then. The time that has passed hasn’t dulled my enthusiasm. It is a joy to behold.
That Alison and I chose all the things to go in it and designed it to within centimetres shouldn’t detract from how chuffed we are with the result. I’m used to planning and designing something in two dimensions, but it’s the first time that I’ve used that architectural training to take a plan into 3D. I must say, it’s pretty good.
So, if you want a peaceful bath in a boutique setting, bring your Moulton Brown toiletries and we’ll supply the hardware (bathroom) and software (Egyptian cotton towels) and you can enjoy light green reflective tiles and recessed dimmer lighting. Or if you want a similar look, we’ll let you have our list of suppliers. Pictures to come soon. Maybe.
October 20th, 2007
Okay, so I admit it. I’m a Mac Geek.
I’ve had two weeks where I’ve bought an iPod (Black, Classic, 80Gb), visited the Apple store in Glasgow and resolved to get Leopard as soon as it comes out. For those who don’t know what Leopard is, don’t worry, I’m not going to bore you.
The fact is that Macs have made my life easier. I had a rare moment a couple of weeks ago while writing an important proposal when my MacBook froze (ie crashed) and I thought I had lost an hour of pretty cogent, reasoned argument about why a company should choose Inigo.
I recovered my work, but I was a little shaken. It was like the time when I realised that one of my favourite teachers at school was able to make mistakes. It was a bit unreal and I didn’t want to admit to myself that Macs are really just cool PCs.
Sorry Steve, I don’t like writing that, but it’s true. Beneath the gloss, beneath the usability, a MacBook is still a personal computer, even if it’s not running on DOS/Windows. Machines aren’t invincible. To add insult to injury, my iPod crashed within a week of bringing it home, but that too is because it’s a machine.
We place far too much trust in machines, even cool ones that save us time and make things better. It will be nice to spend a couple of weeks away where the only machines I’m trusting in are ones that run on rails.
October 20th, 2007
So, it’s that time of year again; heading off to somewhere sunny and/or friendly for my birthday. How I’ve managed to escape having a 30-something birthday party is mainly down to getting out of the country. Perhaps I’ll stick around for number 35 (Oct 31st 2008 - will take bookings online), and we can celebrate then.
As we’re due to be in the South of France from next weekend for a week, Alison suggested that we head to Monte Carlo - the seat of the principality of Monaco - for my birthday. Top idea and somewhere that I’ve wanted to visit since I was 12 and heard all about it from my best friend at school.
He had lived there from 7-11 while his dad worked for Barclays. The enduring image was that his school playground was on the roof of a fifteen storey building and I’m going to try and seek it out. Google Earth may be useful too.
At the age of 12 my over-active, unrealistic expectation would have had me relaxing on a motor yacht in the harbour and living it up by my mid-30s. Life is harder than that, though a picnic on the side quayside is fine. The challenge will be finding a baguette that doesn’t break the bank.
This time next week, we’ll be looking out over the Med. If that doesn’t keep me going this week, I don’t know what will.
October 20th, 2007
I’m sorry. I’ve not been away. I’ve been busy.
Some would think that this is Alison’s blog and Alison’s alone. It is not! Let me squash those rumours right here, right now. She does a good job though, don’t you think?! I enjoy reading her posts much more than my own.
I wrote a little while ago of building blogs for clients and not having much time for this one. Well, that’s come full circle and I’ve been told by a number of people that I need to blog more, if only for work and to show that I can and do write posts.
We’re off on holiday next week, so I intend to say “I’m still here” and post a few before it’s head down and work full tilt up to Christmas. Yes, Christmas, it’s not far now. Birthday first, can’t think about Dec 25th until my birthday is done. Cue next post…
October 20th, 2007
Back to another of my families, the work one, and some fairly momentous news. Not only are we finally gaining one new post (or rather, half the time of two different people), I get to give away some of my work…
It’s been pretty full on for the last three years, one way or another. Former devotees of my birthday parties may have noticed there hasn’t been one for a while, partly due to the combination of work deadlines around the same time…and so on.
Finally, it seems, we’ll get to stop running a big course we normally do in July, I’ll stop doing my Ireland work (and so avoid hanging out with demob happy teachers over a weekend in early February…), and even give away probably around a third of my workload of students.
Two or three days on from the announcement of the work plan by my manager, I’m getting used to the concept. Less time away from home. Fewer deadlines hitting me all at the same time. Hopefully no budget to run for a while.
There is a loss to these things too. It can become too easy to base your image on what you do, and when you show you can cope with silly amounts of work, it can also become an identity, even if not a very healthy one.
However, it should hopefully mean, among other things, that I can become a little friendlier to our students again, because there’ll be a little more of me to share around c. 500 of them than there is around c. 750. Still too many, really, but more people to take the strain, which should be really good.
I will miss having an overview of all the countries we work with. But I can finally do some of what I’ve been asking to do: start offering opportunities up to new people coming in, gain a bit of enthusiasm back from them as they start to get to know the work.
Maybe I’ll do some new stuff. There’s plenty of communications work that I can see needs doing. But perhaps I can work out how to keep a bit more of a balance. In the past, I felt compelled to do stuff because I ’saw it needed doing’. The last few months in particular have made me more wary, more keen to conserve energy for other things.
This evening we went to see the film ‘Ratatouille’ at the cinema. It was funny, it was clever, all that great Pixar stuff. But it was also about passion, about the things we love doing, and are good at, and doing those whole heartedly.
I love cooking, so the film was a happy message as far as I was concerned. But I also love writing. Music. Reading. Being with family. Going for walks in the sunshine on autumn days (as we did this morning with my parents). Because there is time for these too. There should be. And thankfully, it looks like there will be.
October 20th, 2007