I forgot to mention on the money front - as well as spending a huge amount on my car, with my days off I also went to the dentist, which cost me £45 for the 15 minutes it took (they did some x-rays, but also I'm now private), but I also got some new glasses.
I've needed some new glasses for a while - the coating on my current pair has started to crack, which gets picked up in direct sunlight, but also I think my prescription has changed a little. I also wanted to get a new pair with Canada looming - partly to have a back-up, but also as part of refreshing clothes & stuff.
Anyway, point is, part of the reason I've put off getting some new glasses was the expense - I usually expect to spend at least £250 and often around £400. This is partly as frames are quite expensive (it's one of those areas where you pay more for less - if you get cheap glasses, they're often big thick things, but the more you spend, the lighter and thinner they get!) but also, my prescription is so powerful I have to get the thinner lenses.
Well, I don't have to get ones as thin as I usually do, but I do have to get thin ones because the curve on cheaper lenses would make them impractical - I wouldn't be able to see out of the sides as the curve would distort things too much. I'm so short sighted that when they do the test, I can literally only make out the biggest letter (which is about 8 inches high) by squinting!
So I'd put this off for a while, expecting ti to be expensive, but in the end I've paid less than £75! And that's for a full test, frames that cost £85 and lenses of exactly the same thinness as my current pair (I recall these were about £130 on their own last time). It's weird and I'm not entirely sure how he worked it out, but he basically applied a bunch of discounts/vouchers I wasn't properly eligible for. So here at least was good news.
It's the Bahrain Grand Prix this weekend. It's apparently being held at night this year, though I'm not sure that will improve the racing at all. The BBC's coverage is very thin - it seems they're not even covering the practice sessions on the radio.
The Beeb's coverage does seem a bit lacking this year. Gary Anderson has gone, Eddie Jordan isn't going to be there until the fifth race (so a quarter of the way through). I'm wondering if they've cut the budget even further - they also seem to be a bit lacking in special features, which you'd have thought they could do loads on with the new regulations.
Friday, 4 April 2014
Thursday, 3 April 2014
job interviews
So I've had 5 job interviews in the last couple of weeks.
The first was with a small training consultancy company based just outside Guildford. This proved to be a gigantic waste of my time. And I don't just mean it wasn't the job for me, but they had me undertake all sorts of exercises and hoop-jumping crap. These used up around two weekend's worth of my time. When I eventually got to the interview they made it very plain that my "personality type" wouldn't fit.
I should perhaps explain they had me to do a Meyers-Briggs test. These are mostly bullshit, but it does give some broad indicators - in particular, for me, they show I'm an introvert, which I am. So at the interview she basically said that they have meetings where, in essence, they lose control and only the loudest people are heard.
Now obviously I wouldn't enjoy that anyway, but why ever would I want to work for a company that can't control meetings? Especially a company that's supposedly doing management consulting for other companies. I phoned the agent that had contacted me and withdrew as I was walking to my car. I'd actually wanted to pull out as soon as the Myers Briggs test had been mentioned, but she encouraged me to stick with it.
The second interview was with a big defence company. And it hadn't really been a good idea from the start, if I'm honest. Unfortunately, the recruitment person did not appear to be entirely competent (you'll notice a bit of theme with this) - the initial job spec she sent me had the job down as being based in Guildford, with occasional days in London.
However, it turns out the job is entirely based in London with no time in Guildford at all! She also booked the interview for me for 4:30PM, but booked it with them for 4PM, so when I turned up they thought I was half an hour late! I'm guessing she booked the extra half hour so that they could prep, but didn't communicate properly with either of us - particularly since one of the interviewers had to go by 5PM, so they left half way through.
To some extent, this was all beside the point - I went to the interview seeking to be convinced that it was a good enough job for me to put aside my desire not to work in London, and I was not convinced. I actually closely monitored the journey time in particular, and if I was to take the job I would be spending 4 hours each day commuting. The problem is this line - it's a very slow service (1 hour 10 mins) and only has two trains an hour - and I could move, but it's always going to be horribly busy commuter trains.
Since the interview I've heard jack shit, despite chasing. As noted, I'm not really interested anyway, but it's just another example of how badly all these recruitment people behave. I had thought maybe it was just the agencies, but this was an actual employee of the company, and she's acted just as poorly.
The third interview was bordering on a farce.
It was with a company that is quite big and well known for one thing, but this was for a different, much smaller, division. It's quite engineering focused; however, I have to confess I'm not sure it is really that interesting to me. Not that I really had the chance to investigate - the agency they were using was shocking: terrible communication and the agent didn't seem to have any common sense.
To give you an example, she fixed up the interview but only told me the location/gave me directions on the day of the interview. Now to be fair, the interviewer messed things about no end - it went from a face-to-face meeting to a telephone interview, back to a face-to-face, then moved from daytime to evening - but the agent did not help matters. I didn't even know it was this particular other division until a good way into the process.
The interview itself was also a bit of a mess - because it was in the evening and I had to go up the motorway I basically rushed there and that put me in a bit of a manic frame of mind, particularly as I'd had a coffee quite late in the day and it had been a busy day at work. I rabbited on like I was on speed :/
On this one I've also heard jack shit - hmm, one of those patterns, perhaps?
I'll continue this later, I think - the other two interviews were after a gap anyway.
The first was with a small training consultancy company based just outside Guildford. This proved to be a gigantic waste of my time. And I don't just mean it wasn't the job for me, but they had me undertake all sorts of exercises and hoop-jumping crap. These used up around two weekend's worth of my time. When I eventually got to the interview they made it very plain that my "personality type" wouldn't fit.
I should perhaps explain they had me to do a Meyers-Briggs test. These are mostly bullshit, but it does give some broad indicators - in particular, for me, they show I'm an introvert, which I am. So at the interview she basically said that they have meetings where, in essence, they lose control and only the loudest people are heard.
Now obviously I wouldn't enjoy that anyway, but why ever would I want to work for a company that can't control meetings? Especially a company that's supposedly doing management consulting for other companies. I phoned the agent that had contacted me and withdrew as I was walking to my car. I'd actually wanted to pull out as soon as the Myers Briggs test had been mentioned, but she encouraged me to stick with it.
The second interview was with a big defence company. And it hadn't really been a good idea from the start, if I'm honest. Unfortunately, the recruitment person did not appear to be entirely competent (you'll notice a bit of theme with this) - the initial job spec she sent me had the job down as being based in Guildford, with occasional days in London.
However, it turns out the job is entirely based in London with no time in Guildford at all! She also booked the interview for me for 4:30PM, but booked it with them for 4PM, so when I turned up they thought I was half an hour late! I'm guessing she booked the extra half hour so that they could prep, but didn't communicate properly with either of us - particularly since one of the interviewers had to go by 5PM, so they left half way through.
To some extent, this was all beside the point - I went to the interview seeking to be convinced that it was a good enough job for me to put aside my desire not to work in London, and I was not convinced. I actually closely monitored the journey time in particular, and if I was to take the job I would be spending 4 hours each day commuting. The problem is this line - it's a very slow service (1 hour 10 mins) and only has two trains an hour - and I could move, but it's always going to be horribly busy commuter trains.
Since the interview I've heard jack shit, despite chasing. As noted, I'm not really interested anyway, but it's just another example of how badly all these recruitment people behave. I had thought maybe it was just the agencies, but this was an actual employee of the company, and she's acted just as poorly.
The third interview was bordering on a farce.
It was with a company that is quite big and well known for one thing, but this was for a different, much smaller, division. It's quite engineering focused; however, I have to confess I'm not sure it is really that interesting to me. Not that I really had the chance to investigate - the agency they were using was shocking: terrible communication and the agent didn't seem to have any common sense.
To give you an example, she fixed up the interview but only told me the location/gave me directions on the day of the interview. Now to be fair, the interviewer messed things about no end - it went from a face-to-face meeting to a telephone interview, back to a face-to-face, then moved from daytime to evening - but the agent did not help matters. I didn't even know it was this particular other division until a good way into the process.
The interview itself was also a bit of a mess - because it was in the evening and I had to go up the motorway I basically rushed there and that put me in a bit of a manic frame of mind, particularly as I'd had a coffee quite late in the day and it had been a busy day at work. I rabbited on like I was on speed :/
On this one I've also heard jack shit - hmm, one of those patterns, perhaps?
I'll continue this later, I think - the other two interviews were after a gap anyway.
Wednesday, 2 April 2014
australian & malaysian gps
The formula one season is under way!
I used an exclamation point there as it seems like the last season only just finished. Indeed, the Australian Grand Prix was actually a few weeks ago, and we've also already had the Malaysian Grand Prix and Bahrain is next week!
Of course there are some big changes this year - there's the whole new powerplant, with the V6 turbo engines and all sorts of clever engine recovery systems. But there are also some key changes to things like wing sizes and what they can do aerodynamically.
The new engines are very torquey (after all, they use a lot more electric power, which is instant) and the two seems to have made the cars a lot more skittish. You can see them skidding and sliding as they fight to control the cars, which I have to say I quite like.
It would be possible to make cars that almost didn't need a driver. Indeed, at several points in F1's history new technology has been introduced that meant the driver was "compensated for", and much of this has ended up in road cars - anti-lock brakes and traction control are obvious examples.
However, generally, F1 has tended to ban these, partly to keep the driver an integral part of the sport (as well as reduce costs and complexity). The problem then develops that once everything gets banned everything ends up the same. For a long time now the engines have almost been a non-factor, but now they're suddenly at the forefront of the sport.
Of course there are down-sides - the ear-splitting noise (which no matter how much you tell people how loud it is, you had to experience to really know: some of the old f1 car was as loud as a jumbo jet, but you can't really appreciate that unless you went to a race) is gone. But then it's been replaced by sound you can understand - you can hear the tyres squeal, for example. And while the screaming of the engines was an experience, you couldn't ever be at a race without hearing protection, and on some levels that's a bit pointless when you think about it.
Anyway - we've had two races, so what have I thought?
Well, I have to confess I was a bit worried after the testing that very few cars would finish. The reliability seemed very low, and a race where only 6 cars cross the line can be a bit disappointing. However, I've been pleased to see things haven't been that bad - sure retirements have increased, but not disastrously so. It's also pleasing to see some of the lower teams have taken advantage of this aspect and scored a few points.
The Australian race was okay. To be fair, Australia is not the best of circuits, as it's a "sort of" street circuit and hasn't tended tend to produce great races. Generally the most interest comes from seeing the new cars in action.
However, Malaysia was generally better. It's quite a good circuit - certainly one of the better Tilke circuits and has places where overtaking is possible. If I'm honest Malaysia had a bit of a lull in the middle, but picked up towards the end.
The Mercedes would appear to be the class of the field, both in terms of the engine itself and the team. Clearly they put a lot of effort in from quite early last year, which obviously hurt them last year but is paying dividends now.
The opposite seems to have been true for Renault, who with Red Bull were clearly focused on last year's championship. However, aerodynamically Newey's Red Bull seems as good as ever - it certainly narrowed the gap in the rain, where engine performance was negated.
I used an exclamation point there as it seems like the last season only just finished. Indeed, the Australian Grand Prix was actually a few weeks ago, and we've also already had the Malaysian Grand Prix and Bahrain is next week!
Of course there are some big changes this year - there's the whole new powerplant, with the V6 turbo engines and all sorts of clever engine recovery systems. But there are also some key changes to things like wing sizes and what they can do aerodynamically.
The new engines are very torquey (after all, they use a lot more electric power, which is instant) and the two seems to have made the cars a lot more skittish. You can see them skidding and sliding as they fight to control the cars, which I have to say I quite like.
It would be possible to make cars that almost didn't need a driver. Indeed, at several points in F1's history new technology has been introduced that meant the driver was "compensated for", and much of this has ended up in road cars - anti-lock brakes and traction control are obvious examples.
However, generally, F1 has tended to ban these, partly to keep the driver an integral part of the sport (as well as reduce costs and complexity). The problem then develops that once everything gets banned everything ends up the same. For a long time now the engines have almost been a non-factor, but now they're suddenly at the forefront of the sport.
Of course there are down-sides - the ear-splitting noise (which no matter how much you tell people how loud it is, you had to experience to really know: some of the old f1 car was as loud as a jumbo jet, but you can't really appreciate that unless you went to a race) is gone. But then it's been replaced by sound you can understand - you can hear the tyres squeal, for example. And while the screaming of the engines was an experience, you couldn't ever be at a race without hearing protection, and on some levels that's a bit pointless when you think about it.
Anyway - we've had two races, so what have I thought?
Well, I have to confess I was a bit worried after the testing that very few cars would finish. The reliability seemed very low, and a race where only 6 cars cross the line can be a bit disappointing. However, I've been pleased to see things haven't been that bad - sure retirements have increased, but not disastrously so. It's also pleasing to see some of the lower teams have taken advantage of this aspect and scored a few points.
The Australian race was okay. To be fair, Australia is not the best of circuits, as it's a "sort of" street circuit and hasn't tended tend to produce great races. Generally the most interest comes from seeing the new cars in action.
However, Malaysia was generally better. It's quite a good circuit - certainly one of the better Tilke circuits and has places where overtaking is possible. If I'm honest Malaysia had a bit of a lull in the middle, but picked up towards the end.
The Mercedes would appear to be the class of the field, both in terms of the engine itself and the team. Clearly they put a lot of effort in from quite early last year, which obviously hurt them last year but is paying dividends now.
The opposite seems to have been true for Renault, who with Red Bull were clearly focused on last year's championship. However, aerodynamically Newey's Red Bull seems as good as ever - it certainly narrowed the gap in the rain, where engine performance was negated.
Tuesday, 1 April 2014
weight
I mentioned this yesterday, but I unfortunately gained two pounds this last weigh in.
I therefore now weigh 20 stone 10 pounds.
I cannot confess to be surprised by this outcome. The last couple of weeks I have been eating quite badly. I've had quite a lot of shop-bought sandwiches and also lots of cakes and various other treats (I've been quite weak when it comes to cream eggs, which have of course become more prominent with it being near Easter).
However, I've also not been doing quite so much walking. Owing to having the interviews I've had a few half days and haven't wanted to get sweaty, so my number of steps has dropped quite a lot. The interviews have also been a reason for eating badly - both in terms of having to grab something to eat quickly, but also comfort eating when they've not really been very positive.
I'm actually thinking I will put the whole job hunting on hold until after Canada. It is proving something of a distraction and messing about with my schedule. I'm not sure yet if I will fully stop or be a bit more selective, instead. Because I got so unhappy at work (and there was the fuck up so I was worried I might lose my job) I've been applying to most everything that looked a possibility, rather than the heavy filtering as I did when I looked before.
I also had some slight issues with minor "injuries" - this is too significant of a term to use, to be honest: what I mean is I had a few aches/pains/tweaks/bad night's sleep that meant I decided to take it easy with walking on a few occasions. This has not been anything long term at any point, and I'm still way above target in terms of steps, but I think it probably contributed to some of the fluctuations.
It's also become apparent I really need a new set of walking shoes. My current pair the outermost layer of the sole on the bottom has worn through in a few places - indeed, in some places the entire tread is worn away. I'd been hoping to hold off until my birthday, but I think I will need them before them.
I therefore now weigh 20 stone 10 pounds.
I cannot confess to be surprised by this outcome. The last couple of weeks I have been eating quite badly. I've had quite a lot of shop-bought sandwiches and also lots of cakes and various other treats (I've been quite weak when it comes to cream eggs, which have of course become more prominent with it being near Easter).
However, I've also not been doing quite so much walking. Owing to having the interviews I've had a few half days and haven't wanted to get sweaty, so my number of steps has dropped quite a lot. The interviews have also been a reason for eating badly - both in terms of having to grab something to eat quickly, but also comfort eating when they've not really been very positive.
I'm actually thinking I will put the whole job hunting on hold until after Canada. It is proving something of a distraction and messing about with my schedule. I'm not sure yet if I will fully stop or be a bit more selective, instead. Because I got so unhappy at work (and there was the fuck up so I was worried I might lose my job) I've been applying to most everything that looked a possibility, rather than the heavy filtering as I did when I looked before.
I also had some slight issues with minor "injuries" - this is too significant of a term to use, to be honest: what I mean is I had a few aches/pains/tweaks/bad night's sleep that meant I decided to take it easy with walking on a few occasions. This has not been anything long term at any point, and I'm still way above target in terms of steps, but I think it probably contributed to some of the fluctuations.
It's also become apparent I really need a new set of walking shoes. My current pair the outermost layer of the sole on the bottom has worn through in a few places - indeed, in some places the entire tread is worn away. I'd been hoping to hold off until my birthday, but I think I will need them before them.
Monday, 31 March 2014
unhappy
I've been feeling down for a while.
I'm finding work to be quite an unpleasant experience. I find the lack of any clear direction, the lack of common sense and, in particular, the lack of any ability to make change for the better very frustrating. I have known for a while that I disagree with some of the things they seem to have decided on, but even then I'd be happy if stuff was actually happening - I'd kinda be happy to be proved wrong, but the whole "limbo" aspect of things is just not fun to be involved in.
Of course I've also been more proactively looking for a new job again. This hasn't been going too well. I clearly have a good CV - at the least it is good enough for me to get interviews.
I've now had a total of 5 interviews, though these have not been all they could. I'll hopefully blog about it separately, but I don't really see myself getting/wanting those jobs.
And of course I'm back to the old situation of no apparent prospect of a salary improvement at work (it's now getting on for 2 years), despite my rent and various other costs going up, so I'm struggling financially again. Particularly since I desperately need to save money for the Canada trip. This last month or so I've had to spend a fortune on my car:
£450 for a complete new set of tyres
£200 on a service & MOT (plus some replacement parts)
£250 on insurance
£175 on Car Tax
So that's over £1,000: I only take home about £25K a year, so I've had to spend nearly 4% of my entire year's salary in one month!
I've also been struggling with the weight thing. I decided I was going to lose a few stones in preparation for the Canadian Grand Prix and blogged about the "progress" here, but just recently ti stagnated and then, while I wasn't blogging, it actually went into reverse - I gained 1 pound a few weeks ago (although I lost it again the following week), but this week I'd gained 2 pounds.
The problem - and it's been a problem all my life - is that when I feel down I eat. I am the very definition of a comfort eater, and since I feel down quite often, I eat quite a lot. Of course it's a vicious circle - when you get very big and find it difficult to do things like walk up flights of stairs that becomes a source of unhappiness, prompting me to eat more.
The other problem is I've not really gone about it by sticking to a proper diet. I've increased the amount of exercise I do, which has been helping to keep the last few weeks of not eating well in check, but I've also slipped back into some of my weirder habits. In particular I've been "multiple buying" again - this is where I buy several meals worth at one shop, then for some reason buy stuff for the same meals at another.
So, specifically, while I was away I had several meals to buy for and bought cheese on toast, hot cross buns and some mini-sausages plus buns as meals. Only if you do the maths while I needed 4 meals worth I had therefore actually bought 7 meals worth. Since none of it was particularly long lasting, that meant I had to eat more meals than I needed and for those meals to be bigger.
And to be honest, I didn't really need to buy any of them - I have stuff in the freezer and cupboards that I really need to get rid of (and, of course, would, therefore, effectively be free meals instead of spending more money).
I think I need to introduce some will power and/or start actually thinking about stuff more.
I'm finding work to be quite an unpleasant experience. I find the lack of any clear direction, the lack of common sense and, in particular, the lack of any ability to make change for the better very frustrating. I have known for a while that I disagree with some of the things they seem to have decided on, but even then I'd be happy if stuff was actually happening - I'd kinda be happy to be proved wrong, but the whole "limbo" aspect of things is just not fun to be involved in.
Of course I've also been more proactively looking for a new job again. This hasn't been going too well. I clearly have a good CV - at the least it is good enough for me to get interviews.
I've now had a total of 5 interviews, though these have not been all they could. I'll hopefully blog about it separately, but I don't really see myself getting/wanting those jobs.
And of course I'm back to the old situation of no apparent prospect of a salary improvement at work (it's now getting on for 2 years), despite my rent and various other costs going up, so I'm struggling financially again. Particularly since I desperately need to save money for the Canada trip. This last month or so I've had to spend a fortune on my car:
£450 for a complete new set of tyres
£200 on a service & MOT (plus some replacement parts)
£250 on insurance
£175 on Car Tax
So that's over £1,000: I only take home about £25K a year, so I've had to spend nearly 4% of my entire year's salary in one month!
I've also been struggling with the weight thing. I decided I was going to lose a few stones in preparation for the Canadian Grand Prix and blogged about the "progress" here, but just recently ti stagnated and then, while I wasn't blogging, it actually went into reverse - I gained 1 pound a few weeks ago (although I lost it again the following week), but this week I'd gained 2 pounds.
The problem - and it's been a problem all my life - is that when I feel down I eat. I am the very definition of a comfort eater, and since I feel down quite often, I eat quite a lot. Of course it's a vicious circle - when you get very big and find it difficult to do things like walk up flights of stairs that becomes a source of unhappiness, prompting me to eat more.
The other problem is I've not really gone about it by sticking to a proper diet. I've increased the amount of exercise I do, which has been helping to keep the last few weeks of not eating well in check, but I've also slipped back into some of my weirder habits. In particular I've been "multiple buying" again - this is where I buy several meals worth at one shop, then for some reason buy stuff for the same meals at another.
So, specifically, while I was away I had several meals to buy for and bought cheese on toast, hot cross buns and some mini-sausages plus buns as meals. Only if you do the maths while I needed 4 meals worth I had therefore actually bought 7 meals worth. Since none of it was particularly long lasting, that meant I had to eat more meals than I needed and for those meals to be bigger.
And to be honest, I didn't really need to buy any of them - I have stuff in the freezer and cupboards that I really need to get rid of (and, of course, would, therefore, effectively be free meals instead of spending more money).
I think I need to introduce some will power and/or start actually thinking about stuff more.
Monday, 24 March 2014
just two months
Meant to post this Friday, but I forgot:
So I appear to have only managed two months of (fairly) constant blogging, before going silent again.
Unfortunately, not blogging seems to have a bit of a momentum to it. That's why I often try to pre-write entries, so that if I don't have the time / can't be arsed to do a blog on a day I have something to fall back on.
However, as my last post attests I got pretty busy with work for a while. That actually ended a while back, but unfortunately then I was into the post-overwork phase where I just can't be arsed to do stuff.
I'm actually on holiday three days of next week, so I'm guessing normal service won't resume until April. I'll try and use some of the time I have to write a few blog posts. I've certainly got a lot to post about; it's just finding the time and summoning the energy to do it that's the problem, as always.
So I appear to have only managed two months of (fairly) constant blogging, before going silent again.
Unfortunately, not blogging seems to have a bit of a momentum to it. That's why I often try to pre-write entries, so that if I don't have the time / can't be arsed to do a blog on a day I have something to fall back on.
However, as my last post attests I got pretty busy with work for a while. That actually ended a while back, but unfortunately then I was into the post-overwork phase where I just can't be arsed to do stuff.
I'm actually on holiday three days of next week, so I'm guessing normal service won't resume until April. I'll try and use some of the time I have to write a few blog posts. I've certainly got a lot to post about; it's just finding the time and summoning the energy to do it that's the problem, as always.
Friday, 28 February 2014
working weekend
Looks like I'm going to be in working this weekend.
I really didn't need this, but people have let me down left, right and centre. If they'd done their fucking jobs properly and on time it wouldn't have been necessary.
But of course they haven't so I need to work the weekend to do what needs to be done in time. Funny how it's always me that has to do this shit. Give other people two fucking weeks to get their jobs done and they fail to make the deadline, and what they do produce is horribly written drivel. But of course it's no problem - obviously I can sacrifice my weekend to rewrite the entire fucking document.
The bizarre thing is that this is the exact same thing as where I had the situation that led to "the problems". People doing their jobs which they've had weeks to do last minute, so then I have to sort out the mess afterwards.
This time, though, I'm not in the situation where it's last minute so I have to make a panicked decision. No, I get to do that next weekend, I'm sure.
I really didn't need this, but people have let me down left, right and centre. If they'd done their fucking jobs properly and on time it wouldn't have been necessary.
But of course they haven't so I need to work the weekend to do what needs to be done in time. Funny how it's always me that has to do this shit. Give other people two fucking weeks to get their jobs done and they fail to make the deadline, and what they do produce is horribly written drivel. But of course it's no problem - obviously I can sacrifice my weekend to rewrite the entire fucking document.
The bizarre thing is that this is the exact same thing as where I had the situation that led to "the problems". People doing their jobs which they've had weeks to do last minute, so then I have to sort out the mess afterwards.
This time, though, I'm not in the situation where it's last minute so I have to make a panicked decision. No, I get to do that next weekend, I'm sure.
Wednesday, 26 February 2014
flatline
I've not had the chance to blog just recently, and this may be my only post this week.
I thought I'd give a quick update on the whole diet & weight situation. I mentioned last week that the problem was going to be temptation, and I roundly failed in resisting that temptation.
Just to give you a "for instance", I ate 6 cream cakes last week. And we're talking big cream cakes - 2 large éclairs, 2 chocolate cream doughnuts and 2 cream buns (like giant profiteroles). I also ate 4 custard tarts, which I don't count as cream cakes, but are in the same ball-park.
So not good diet-wise. With the interviews I have to confess I was also expecting the walking to go badly (in the sense that I don't want to be sweaty for an interview, and also it takes time to prep that ate into time I would usually go for a walk. Well, this didn't prove to be the case.
I also had a few bad nights sleep, due to nerves for the interview, but also the usual semi-insomnia stuff I get bouts of, where I fall asleep no problem but then wake up at 3AM (or similar).
While the latter isn't a good thing, it does seem to eat calories, so I'm guessing the fact I did sufficient walking and this must have counteracted the poor diet, because my weight remained the same - 20 stone 8 pounds.
This makes the third week at this weight, which is good in the sense I've not gained weight when I could so easily have done so, but very bad in terms of the targets I'm aiming for for the Canadian holiday in June.
Part of the problem I'm experiencing is that I'm okay all week (though not this week, to be fair) but then Friday I get a sort of attitude of "having a treat", only the problem is I get several treats (Friday is my shopping day) and basically then spend a chunk of the weekend eating badly too. And this seems to counteract the good part of the early week.
Well this week hasn't been too bad, although I'm going to be a bit down with the walking, so we'll just have to see.
I thought I'd give a quick update on the whole diet & weight situation. I mentioned last week that the problem was going to be temptation, and I roundly failed in resisting that temptation.
Just to give you a "for instance", I ate 6 cream cakes last week. And we're talking big cream cakes - 2 large éclairs, 2 chocolate cream doughnuts and 2 cream buns (like giant profiteroles). I also ate 4 custard tarts, which I don't count as cream cakes, but are in the same ball-park.
So not good diet-wise. With the interviews I have to confess I was also expecting the walking to go badly (in the sense that I don't want to be sweaty for an interview, and also it takes time to prep that ate into time I would usually go for a walk. Well, this didn't prove to be the case.
I also had a few bad nights sleep, due to nerves for the interview, but also the usual semi-insomnia stuff I get bouts of, where I fall asleep no problem but then wake up at 3AM (or similar).
While the latter isn't a good thing, it does seem to eat calories, so I'm guessing the fact I did sufficient walking and this must have counteracted the poor diet, because my weight remained the same - 20 stone 8 pounds.
This makes the third week at this weight, which is good in the sense I've not gained weight when I could so easily have done so, but very bad in terms of the targets I'm aiming for for the Canadian holiday in June.
Part of the problem I'm experiencing is that I'm okay all week (though not this week, to be fair) but then Friday I get a sort of attitude of "having a treat", only the problem is I get several treats (Friday is my shopping day) and basically then spend a chunk of the weekend eating badly too. And this seems to counteract the good part of the early week.
Well this week hasn't been too bad, although I'm going to be a bit down with the walking, so we'll just have to see.
Thursday, 20 February 2014
final mu
These are the other three series I've been watching on crunchyroll, and I've kinda saved the best for last, in that I like these three more than the others I've talked about so far.
Witch Craft Works
Witch Craft Works kinda took me by surprise. Reading the premise and watching the first couple of episodes I thought this might be a fairly standard harem anime, however, it isn't really. I mean, there are lots of things in the series you've seen before, but this particular mix is somehow quite fresh and interesting. It's not a harem, although there are lots of girls in the show. It's also almost totally devoid of fan-service. I mean, some of the characters have big boobs, but I've not seen a single flash and the main character never gropes them; and many of the skirts are short, but I've not seen a single flash of panties; no-one has been to the beach (so far) or taken a hot springs bath. It's also beautifully animated and both the story and characters are interesting and the funny stuff is genuinely funny.
The Pilot's Love Song (Toaru Hikuushi e no Koiuta)
Unfortunately, unlike Witch Craft Works, the animation on this show is quite lacking. It's clearly being done on a much lower budget and there are some very glaring moments - in the beach episode (unfortunately, this one also complies with many anime tropes, and some of the ones it picks are a bit unfortunate - the whole beach episode is horribly shoe-horned in) there's a scene where the layer with the swimming costumes doesn't align properly with the bodies, so you get some weird jutting-out angles. I mean, it's not all horrible: the flying stuff is pretty good, but it doesn't help. The story is a bit contrived if I'm honest and as I say does utilise too many tropes; but it's really the characters that make this one - the central romance is quite interesting, particularly when you learn the full truths about who everyone is.
Nobunagun
If I'm honest, I think if I was sampling for purchase, rather than watching it all on crunchyroll, I think this is one of those series where I'd have watched the first two episodes and put it down as a definite purchase... but then been a bit disappointed by the rest of the show. I mean, obviously we're only half way through, but it got a little bit less interesting when it moved into proper monster-of-the-week and team-of-weirdoes territory than when it was just the one military otaku given unexpected powers. I mean, don't get me wrong, I've enjoyed it; it's just not quite the awesome-fest the first couple of eps implied.
Witch Craft Works
Witch Craft Works kinda took me by surprise. Reading the premise and watching the first couple of episodes I thought this might be a fairly standard harem anime, however, it isn't really. I mean, there are lots of things in the series you've seen before, but this particular mix is somehow quite fresh and interesting. It's not a harem, although there are lots of girls in the show. It's also almost totally devoid of fan-service. I mean, some of the characters have big boobs, but I've not seen a single flash and the main character never gropes them; and many of the skirts are short, but I've not seen a single flash of panties; no-one has been to the beach (so far) or taken a hot springs bath. It's also beautifully animated and both the story and characters are interesting and the funny stuff is genuinely funny.
The Pilot's Love Song (Toaru Hikuushi e no Koiuta)
Unfortunately, unlike Witch Craft Works, the animation on this show is quite lacking. It's clearly being done on a much lower budget and there are some very glaring moments - in the beach episode (unfortunately, this one also complies with many anime tropes, and some of the ones it picks are a bit unfortunate - the whole beach episode is horribly shoe-horned in) there's a scene where the layer with the swimming costumes doesn't align properly with the bodies, so you get some weird jutting-out angles. I mean, it's not all horrible: the flying stuff is pretty good, but it doesn't help. The story is a bit contrived if I'm honest and as I say does utilise too many tropes; but it's really the characters that make this one - the central romance is quite interesting, particularly when you learn the full truths about who everyone is.
Nobunagun
If I'm honest, I think if I was sampling for purchase, rather than watching it all on crunchyroll, I think this is one of those series where I'd have watched the first two episodes and put it down as a definite purchase... but then been a bit disappointed by the rest of the show. I mean, obviously we're only half way through, but it got a little bit less interesting when it moved into proper monster-of-the-week and team-of-weirdoes territory than when it was just the one military otaku given unexpected powers. I mean, don't get me wrong, I've enjoyed it; it's just not quite the awesome-fest the first couple of eps implied.
Tuesday, 18 February 2014
opportunity beckons
So I've mentioned I've been looking for a new job and I appear to have 3 interviews in the near future.
I say "appear" as one of them has gone oddly quiet after sending me a message saying they wanted to see me for an interview. I've had this sort of thing before, actually - a message saying they want to interview me, I ask what scope there in in terms of dates available, there's silence and then they tell me actually the job no longer exists.
The bit about scope for moving the date is because I've noticed an interesting phenomenon when companies propose dates for interview - they're almost always mid-week: almost never on a Monday or Friday.
However, Friday and Monday are the most convenient days to take as leave - it just looks like you're taking a long weekend for whatever reason. A day off mid-week is much more suspicious / unusual.
I also think Monday is the most sensible day for sick leave if you need to use that as an excuse. To me it sounds more reasonable that you ate or drank something that's disagreed with you while you were out and about over the weekend than during the week.
These three being so close together has actually made it a bit inconvenient. The two that are talking to me I've had to juggle them to try to get them all on the same day. Well, I didn't have to, but this seemed the least disruptive thing to do. Whether it's a good idea in terms of the quality of interview I give, I'm not sure.
However, if I'm totally honest I'm not sure either are real contenders. One I'm not sure the company is going to be a good fit - they don't sound like my cup of tea, if 'm honest. The other does, but the job would be based in London.
I've always tried to avoid working in London, as the travel strikes me as being horrendous. The line I'm on is particularly bad as it takes over an hour to go from my closest stations (I'm about equal distance from two) to London - a journey that would take no more than half an hour by car. I'm also miles from either station - it's a good 45 minute walk - and I hat buses.
I could move, of course, but there's always going to be a transition period, and where to? If you live close enough for a decent journey, prices are horrible, if you go far enough out for prices to be reasonable, the journey is horrible.
Well, hopefully if I have the time I'll give the verdict on how both interviews went, though I may be a bit tired to blog later in the week.
I say "appear" as one of them has gone oddly quiet after sending me a message saying they wanted to see me for an interview. I've had this sort of thing before, actually - a message saying they want to interview me, I ask what scope there in in terms of dates available, there's silence and then they tell me actually the job no longer exists.
The bit about scope for moving the date is because I've noticed an interesting phenomenon when companies propose dates for interview - they're almost always mid-week: almost never on a Monday or Friday.
However, Friday and Monday are the most convenient days to take as leave - it just looks like you're taking a long weekend for whatever reason. A day off mid-week is much more suspicious / unusual.
I also think Monday is the most sensible day for sick leave if you need to use that as an excuse. To me it sounds more reasonable that you ate or drank something that's disagreed with you while you were out and about over the weekend than during the week.
These three being so close together has actually made it a bit inconvenient. The two that are talking to me I've had to juggle them to try to get them all on the same day. Well, I didn't have to, but this seemed the least disruptive thing to do. Whether it's a good idea in terms of the quality of interview I give, I'm not sure.
However, if I'm totally honest I'm not sure either are real contenders. One I'm not sure the company is going to be a good fit - they don't sound like my cup of tea, if 'm honest. The other does, but the job would be based in London.
I've always tried to avoid working in London, as the travel strikes me as being horrendous. The line I'm on is particularly bad as it takes over an hour to go from my closest stations (I'm about equal distance from two) to London - a journey that would take no more than half an hour by car. I'm also miles from either station - it's a good 45 minute walk - and I hat buses.
I could move, of course, but there's always going to be a transition period, and where to? If you live close enough for a decent journey, prices are horrible, if you go far enough out for prices to be reasonable, the journey is horrible.
Well, hopefully if I have the time I'll give the verdict on how both interviews went, though I may be a bit tired to blog later in the week.
Monday, 17 February 2014
self-sabotage
Last week could potentially have been a reasonable week, weight wise.
However, I unfortunately sabotaged myself across the weekend.
Basically, it got to Friday and I was really hungry all day. When I then did some shopping I gave in to temptation and bought some naughty stuff.
First of these were some double chocolate muffins. I've mentioned I tend to have pain au chocolate on Saturday, but I replaced it with these muffins that were on offer. I would guess 1 muffin is probably equivalent to 1 pain au chocolate, but there were four muffins, rather than 2 pains, and I at all four across Friday and Saturday.
The second was that normal walker's crisps were on offer, so rather than the lighter crisps, I bought a six pack each of prawn cocktail and Worcester sauce crisps (two of my faves). I unfortunately then had a total of 8 packs (4 of each) across the weekend.
The next thing was that I bought a pack of chipolata sausages, only this had half as much free, so it had 18 sausages, rather than 12. I also obviously bought some large rolls to have the sausages in. Unfortunately, they only had brown bread in one shop, which I bought, but then in another shop I bought some white rolls as well. And double unfortunately these were also on a two for one offer, which I failed to resist.
In other words I had 12 large rolls across the weekend.
Now this wasn't enough for me to gain weight, but it was a classic case of me getting on the scales on Sunday morning and seeing "no change" and thinking "If I'd not gone nuts I would clearly have lost some weight".
My current weight is therefore 20 stone 8 pounds.
I don't really know what's going to happen this week. I'll blog about it later hopefully, if I get time, but basically I'm going to be out and about and there's going to be a real temptation to eat badly. It's also going to restrict my walking, as I'd rather not be sweaty on certain days, and then won't have the spare time to walk on others.
It could be a disaster if I don't resist, and this week has proven me rather wanting in that regard.
However, I unfortunately sabotaged myself across the weekend.
Basically, it got to Friday and I was really hungry all day. When I then did some shopping I gave in to temptation and bought some naughty stuff.
First of these were some double chocolate muffins. I've mentioned I tend to have pain au chocolate on Saturday, but I replaced it with these muffins that were on offer. I would guess 1 muffin is probably equivalent to 1 pain au chocolate, but there were four muffins, rather than 2 pains, and I at all four across Friday and Saturday.
The second was that normal walker's crisps were on offer, so rather than the lighter crisps, I bought a six pack each of prawn cocktail and Worcester sauce crisps (two of my faves). I unfortunately then had a total of 8 packs (4 of each) across the weekend.
The next thing was that I bought a pack of chipolata sausages, only this had half as much free, so it had 18 sausages, rather than 12. I also obviously bought some large rolls to have the sausages in. Unfortunately, they only had brown bread in one shop, which I bought, but then in another shop I bought some white rolls as well. And double unfortunately these were also on a two for one offer, which I failed to resist.
In other words I had 12 large rolls across the weekend.
Now this wasn't enough for me to gain weight, but it was a classic case of me getting on the scales on Sunday morning and seeing "no change" and thinking "If I'd not gone nuts I would clearly have lost some weight".
My current weight is therefore 20 stone 8 pounds.
I don't really know what's going to happen this week. I'll blog about it later hopefully, if I get time, but basically I'm going to be out and about and there's going to be a real temptation to eat badly. It's also going to restrict my walking, as I'd rather not be sweaty on certain days, and then won't have the spare time to walk on others.
It could be a disaster if I don't resist, and this week has proven me rather wanting in that regard.
Thursday, 13 February 2014
more mu
I don't really have time to post this week (although I do have plenty to post about!), but I did do 3 more of the mini reviews:
Z/X: Ignition
As I understand it, this is based on a collectible card game. However, from what I've seen, I'm guessing it must be an electronic version? Certainly the cards in the anime are actually a sort of digital mobile-like thing. I have to confess I'm not 100% sure why I'm still watching this. Generally these types of show are horrible and this is certainly rather wonky in many places, but I dunno, there's an odd charm to it. Certainly you have to ignore the stuff that doesn't make sense (and there's a lot of that), but I don't find it bad enough to drop. Plus the angel character is very cute.
Nobunaga the Fool
I think is probably among the most disappointing shows of the season. It feels epic in scale and it's got a fair amount of mecha action (about the only show that does this season that I've seen). But it also just feels a bit flat. It's one of those shows where they mash up historical characters, but in this case, they feel so utterly irrelevant to the actual characters it basically hurts, rather than helps. Also the characters are way too thin - I really don't care about any of them. However, it does have mecha so that's why I'm still watching, but given how long it is I'm not sure that will last.
Wizard Barristers: Benmashi Cecil
I'm not sure I've really taken to Wizard Barristers. The show is very nicely animated. Some of the battles are a bit CG heavy, perhaps, but generally speaking the action is the highlight of the show. However, if I'm totally honest I don't think that's enough. One of the problems I have with the show is the character designs. I find the way the eyes are done quite weird, and they freak me out a bit. There's also a sprinkling of fan-service that I find a bit wrong. Teh fan-service is all focused on the main character, but she's supposed to be this young girl (she looks a lot younger than her character age) who's quite badly affected by her mother having been put on death row - it just feels weird perving over her, and in such an obvious way. Plus the episode pacing is horrible, and many of the other character sho coudl be interesting are virtually not in the show. I'm not keen.
Z/X: Ignition
As I understand it, this is based on a collectible card game. However, from what I've seen, I'm guessing it must be an electronic version? Certainly the cards in the anime are actually a sort of digital mobile-like thing. I have to confess I'm not 100% sure why I'm still watching this. Generally these types of show are horrible and this is certainly rather wonky in many places, but I dunno, there's an odd charm to it. Certainly you have to ignore the stuff that doesn't make sense (and there's a lot of that), but I don't find it bad enough to drop. Plus the angel character is very cute.
Nobunaga the Fool
I think is probably among the most disappointing shows of the season. It feels epic in scale and it's got a fair amount of mecha action (about the only show that does this season that I've seen). But it also just feels a bit flat. It's one of those shows where they mash up historical characters, but in this case, they feel so utterly irrelevant to the actual characters it basically hurts, rather than helps. Also the characters are way too thin - I really don't care about any of them. However, it does have mecha so that's why I'm still watching, but given how long it is I'm not sure that will last.
Wizard Barristers: Benmashi Cecil
I'm not sure I've really taken to Wizard Barristers. The show is very nicely animated. Some of the battles are a bit CG heavy, perhaps, but generally speaking the action is the highlight of the show. However, if I'm totally honest I don't think that's enough. One of the problems I have with the show is the character designs. I find the way the eyes are done quite weird, and they freak me out a bit. There's also a sprinkling of fan-service that I find a bit wrong. Teh fan-service is all focused on the main character, but she's supposed to be this young girl (she looks a lot younger than her character age) who's quite badly affected by her mother having been put on death row - it just feels weird perving over her, and in such an obvious way. Plus the episode pacing is horrible, and many of the other character sho coudl be interesting are virtually not in the show. I'm not keen.
Monday, 10 February 2014
one is better than none
So my weigh in this Sunday showed I'd lost one pound.
While 1 pond is disappointing, it's better than staying constant and way better than gaining. I therefore now weigh 20 stone 8 pounds.
I have to confess I was a bit disappointed at losing only one pound, but also not entirely surprised. It was another good week exercise wise, but I wasn't quite as strict with my diet. I mean, I didn't go nuts or anything, but I also didn't stick completely to it.
There was also a slight gross issue last week, which I guess if you're a bit squeamish you should probably not read. But basically it wasn't a normal week so I was a bit puzzled as to what impact it would have on the whole weight loss thing.
I had a weird sort of constipated then not week.
Basically from Tuesday to Thursday my bowel movements were quite dysfunctional and I felt quite "bloated" and backed up. It was a bit like one of those adverts for laxatives aimed at women, tbh.
However, on Friday the dam kinda burst and from Friday to Sunday I had 11 bowel movements (I usually have 2 per day), all of which were significant and relatively "normal". I mean, I didn't get the shits or anything, I just seemed to have all the poos I'd not had earlier in the week.
The weird thing is I can't work out what might have caused it. My food consumption at the weekend hadn't been particularly unusual, and as I say, I hadn't gone bonkers during the week, so I'm a bit lost as to what it was that ceased me up.
While 1 pond is disappointing, it's better than staying constant and way better than gaining. I therefore now weigh 20 stone 8 pounds.
I have to confess I was a bit disappointed at losing only one pound, but also not entirely surprised. It was another good week exercise wise, but I wasn't quite as strict with my diet. I mean, I didn't go nuts or anything, but I also didn't stick completely to it.
There was also a slight gross issue last week, which I guess if you're a bit squeamish you should probably not read. But basically it wasn't a normal week so I was a bit puzzled as to what impact it would have on the whole weight loss thing.
I had a weird sort of constipated then not week.
Basically from Tuesday to Thursday my bowel movements were quite dysfunctional and I felt quite "bloated" and backed up. It was a bit like one of those adverts for laxatives aimed at women, tbh.
However, on Friday the dam kinda burst and from Friday to Sunday I had 11 bowel movements (I usually have 2 per day), all of which were significant and relatively "normal". I mean, I didn't get the shits or anything, I just seemed to have all the poos I'd not had earlier in the week.
The weird thing is I can't work out what might have caused it. My food consumption at the weekend hadn't been particularly unusual, and as I say, I hadn't gone bonkers during the week, so I'm a bit lost as to what it was that ceased me up.
Friday, 7 February 2014
new mu
I've been trying to keep up to some degree with this season's anime.
This has mainly revolved around me making sure to watch the newly released episodes on crunchyroll each week that they come out. I've been doing well, though there are a couple of shows I haven't looked at.
I therefore thought I'd do some mini-reviews as it's about a third of the way through the season. Plus I couldn't think of anything else to blog about.
Hoozuki no Reitetsu
I'll start with one I found quite disappointing. This is a very "talky" show - it's about a middle-manager in hell. I don't mean a middle manager who has been sent to hell, but a demon who is a middle manager in hell. I dunno, there are quite a lot of jokes revolving around cultural elements (both in terms of mythology and management culture) that I basically didn't get, and since that's all it is I basically dropped it.
Tonari no Seki-kun
There are quite a few short shows this season. I don't know if that's normal or if crunchyroll usually picks quite a few up, the three I've watched have all been okay. All three are basically gag shows and this is probably the one I like the most - the idea is it's about a boy who takes time-wasting in class to epic levels and the girl who sits next to him who we see things through the eyes of and usually gets in trouble for reacting to his antics. It's possibly a bit too long per-episode, but it makes me chuckle.
Onee-chan ga Kita
This is one of the other short shows. It's probably the closest to being one of those shows you could see as being a full-length show that actually they've made as a series of short episodes. I mean, each show is self-contained, but could easily be expanded up into a full-episode, or several combined together to make a full episode. However, the shorter length does seem to mean an improved budget, as the show looks good (not true of the other two short ones, where short probably reflects cheapness). The subject matter is a bit odd - big sister (but via marriage, rather than genetically) who is in love with the main character. However, for me it stays just the right side of freaky in most places.
Strange+
This is the last of the short shows, and is by far the weirdest. It's basically a spoof of detective gang shows (I think) - it's very short and tbh is really more like a series of gags strung together. One of the things I'm not keen on is that each episode seems to basically start at the end/middle and sometimes it's too confusing, especially given within just a few minutes the episode ends.
Saki: Zenkoku-hen
I quite enjoyed the original Saki. There's been a sort of off-shoot show, which I haven't actually watched, but this is the proper continuation. And it really is a continuation: it actually confused me to start with as it almost picks up as it it's a next episode and it's been several years since the end of the last series. It also seemed to decide to go on a splurge of introducing new characters, which made me feel a bit lost, as well as constantly throwing them into hot springs type baths. Now I've nothing against that, but Saki is really all about the OTT Mah-jong and so I got a bit bored while it messed around with this. It's back to Mah-jong now, so I'm enjoying it more.
More mini-reviews in future blog posts when I can't think of anything to post about!
This has mainly revolved around me making sure to watch the newly released episodes on crunchyroll each week that they come out. I've been doing well, though there are a couple of shows I haven't looked at.
I therefore thought I'd do some mini-reviews as it's about a third of the way through the season. Plus I couldn't think of anything else to blog about.
Hoozuki no Reitetsu
I'll start with one I found quite disappointing. This is a very "talky" show - it's about a middle-manager in hell. I don't mean a middle manager who has been sent to hell, but a demon who is a middle manager in hell. I dunno, there are quite a lot of jokes revolving around cultural elements (both in terms of mythology and management culture) that I basically didn't get, and since that's all it is I basically dropped it.
Tonari no Seki-kun
There are quite a few short shows this season. I don't know if that's normal or if crunchyroll usually picks quite a few up, the three I've watched have all been okay. All three are basically gag shows and this is probably the one I like the most - the idea is it's about a boy who takes time-wasting in class to epic levels and the girl who sits next to him who we see things through the eyes of and usually gets in trouble for reacting to his antics. It's possibly a bit too long per-episode, but it makes me chuckle.
Onee-chan ga Kita
This is one of the other short shows. It's probably the closest to being one of those shows you could see as being a full-length show that actually they've made as a series of short episodes. I mean, each show is self-contained, but could easily be expanded up into a full-episode, or several combined together to make a full episode. However, the shorter length does seem to mean an improved budget, as the show looks good (not true of the other two short ones, where short probably reflects cheapness). The subject matter is a bit odd - big sister (but via marriage, rather than genetically) who is in love with the main character. However, for me it stays just the right side of freaky in most places.
Strange+
This is the last of the short shows, and is by far the weirdest. It's basically a spoof of detective gang shows (I think) - it's very short and tbh is really more like a series of gags strung together. One of the things I'm not keen on is that each episode seems to basically start at the end/middle and sometimes it's too confusing, especially given within just a few minutes the episode ends.
Saki: Zenkoku-hen
I quite enjoyed the original Saki. There's been a sort of off-shoot show, which I haven't actually watched, but this is the proper continuation. And it really is a continuation: it actually confused me to start with as it almost picks up as it it's a next episode and it's been several years since the end of the last series. It also seemed to decide to go on a splurge of introducing new characters, which made me feel a bit lost, as well as constantly throwing them into hot springs type baths. Now I've nothing against that, but Saki is really all about the OTT Mah-jong and so I got a bit bored while it messed around with this. It's back to Mah-jong now, so I'm enjoying it more.
More mini-reviews in future blog posts when I can't think of anything to post about!
Thursday, 6 February 2014
sick
I don't feel very well.
I felt a lot worse yesterday and actually feel better today. However, today isn't help by the fact I woke up at 2:30AM and couldn't get back to sleep.
Quite what's wrong with me I'm not 100% sure. It had some of the symptoms of a cold, but not all.
So my throat felt like I'd been gargling with razor blades, but I didn't actually get a cough. And my head felt muggy, but I didn't have a running nose. I also had hot and cold flushes, but they were very slow motion, rather than the quick changes you usually get when you're not well.
I'll probably be okay tomorrow, but it's all a bit annoying: I wasn't ill enough to stay home, but not really well enough to be at work.
I felt a lot worse yesterday and actually feel better today. However, today isn't help by the fact I woke up at 2:30AM and couldn't get back to sleep.
Quite what's wrong with me I'm not 100% sure. It had some of the symptoms of a cold, but not all.
So my throat felt like I'd been gargling with razor blades, but I didn't actually get a cough. And my head felt muggy, but I didn't have a running nose. I also had hot and cold flushes, but they were very slow motion, rather than the quick changes you usually get when you're not well.
I'll probably be okay tomorrow, but it's all a bit annoying: I wasn't ill enough to stay home, but not really well enough to be at work.
Tuesday, 4 February 2014
not for the chop
As I mentioned yesterday, I'm not getting the boot at work.
I think if I'd not been here so long and therefore not built up quite the history and track record then I would have been in a lot more trouble. It was seen more as a moment of madness (and this is pretty much the case).
But then the flip-side to that whole point is that I wouldn't have found myself in a position for what happened to happen if I hadn't been here so long and gotten sick of it all.
Which doesn't mean I wasn't in trouble. I will be getting an official written warning, which goes on my file, and I have to write a formal letter of apology. And I am sorry - well, sorry for lying to one of the bosses. That was a ridiculous and stupid thing to do.
I'm not sorry for the original event, even though that was what I then lied about. That may seem odd - if I wasn't ashamed of it, why lie to "cover up"? Well, the reason is that I was trying to cover up the underlying motivation for the decision I made, not the event itself.
This is what I mean about if I'd not been here so long it wouldn't have been an issue anyway. If I hadn't known it would have been a gigantic pain in the arse doing something differently in relation to the original issue then I wouldn't have had any of the subsequent problems.
It's all a bit difficult to explain without giving proper detail, but I guess the point is I'm not suddenly going to be plunged onto the scrapheap.
It was also indicated in the meetings that there's a hope a new senior guy who's meant to be coming to the company will "turn things around".
I'm still continuing to look for a new job, though - I don't really care if this new guy really is the second coming or not, tbh. History here suggests that even if he was, he'd achieve nothing anyway.
I think if I'd not been here so long and therefore not built up quite the history and track record then I would have been in a lot more trouble. It was seen more as a moment of madness (and this is pretty much the case).
But then the flip-side to that whole point is that I wouldn't have found myself in a position for what happened to happen if I hadn't been here so long and gotten sick of it all.
Which doesn't mean I wasn't in trouble. I will be getting an official written warning, which goes on my file, and I have to write a formal letter of apology. And I am sorry - well, sorry for lying to one of the bosses. That was a ridiculous and stupid thing to do.
I'm not sorry for the original event, even though that was what I then lied about. That may seem odd - if I wasn't ashamed of it, why lie to "cover up"? Well, the reason is that I was trying to cover up the underlying motivation for the decision I made, not the event itself.
This is what I mean about if I'd not been here so long it wouldn't have been an issue anyway. If I hadn't known it would have been a gigantic pain in the arse doing something differently in relation to the original issue then I wouldn't have had any of the subsequent problems.
It's all a bit difficult to explain without giving proper detail, but I guess the point is I'm not suddenly going to be plunged onto the scrapheap.
It was also indicated in the meetings that there's a hope a new senior guy who's meant to be coming to the company will "turn things around".
I'm still continuing to look for a new job, though - I don't really care if this new guy really is the second coming or not, tbh. History here suggests that even if he was, he'd achieve nothing anyway.
Monday, 3 February 2014
no change
There was no change to my weight when I weighed in on Sunday morning.
While this is disappointing on one level, it actually kinda represents me dodging a bullet. Diet-wise, last week was very bad on the whole, but the increased exercise regime has, it seems, counteracted this. I therefore still weigh 20 stone 9 pounds.
I'm always left wondering with weeks like last week, where one aspect goes well but the other not, what would have happened if I had done okay with that aspect rather than badly.
So why did it go badly?
Well, there were a couple of smaller things. On Wednesday someone came in to the office and bought in a load of pastries - more than were needed for us to have 1 each. I therefore had two. However, also on Wednesday I do my washing and that usually means I buy some shop-bought sarnies to have for dinner, so Wednesday is not a totally good day in the first place.
On the up-side, when I do my washing I go for a short walk and on this particular Wednesday I'd already done a few reasonable walks so I was way over 10,000 steps for the day.
However, Friday was the real problem.
I'll talk about it tomorrow, but that's when I had the review meeting and it turned out I wasn't going to get fired. As such, I kinda let things slip a little at lunch, buying some cookies.
However, I then also bought some cream cakes when I went shopping in the evening. And I mean some cream cakes - these were full-on naughty and they were on offer, so I ended up with four of the things. Each must have been at least 600 calories each (I didn't dare look!) and of course that was on top of the cookies.
I always buy some pain au chocolate to have on Saturday as a mini-treat, and I didn't compensate in any way for the naughty stuff, so I had these too. Overall, then, it was a pretty bad weekend diet-wise. I mean, I did have salad for my actual meals and of course did full walking at the weekend, so even though I consumed at least 4,000 extra calories (the best part of 2 pounds in weight-terms) my weight was unchanged.
Things should hopefully go a lot better this week. It's odd actually, but when I first started my dieting I had some similar patterns - a really good week, followed by a non-week, so I'm not too worried I've slipped already!
While this is disappointing on one level, it actually kinda represents me dodging a bullet. Diet-wise, last week was very bad on the whole, but the increased exercise regime has, it seems, counteracted this. I therefore still weigh 20 stone 9 pounds.
I'm always left wondering with weeks like last week, where one aspect goes well but the other not, what would have happened if I had done okay with that aspect rather than badly.
So why did it go badly?
Well, there were a couple of smaller things. On Wednesday someone came in to the office and bought in a load of pastries - more than were needed for us to have 1 each. I therefore had two. However, also on Wednesday I do my washing and that usually means I buy some shop-bought sarnies to have for dinner, so Wednesday is not a totally good day in the first place.
On the up-side, when I do my washing I go for a short walk and on this particular Wednesday I'd already done a few reasonable walks so I was way over 10,000 steps for the day.
However, Friday was the real problem.
I'll talk about it tomorrow, but that's when I had the review meeting and it turned out I wasn't going to get fired. As such, I kinda let things slip a little at lunch, buying some cookies.
However, I then also bought some cream cakes when I went shopping in the evening. And I mean some cream cakes - these were full-on naughty and they were on offer, so I ended up with four of the things. Each must have been at least 600 calories each (I didn't dare look!) and of course that was on top of the cookies.
I always buy some pain au chocolate to have on Saturday as a mini-treat, and I didn't compensate in any way for the naughty stuff, so I had these too. Overall, then, it was a pretty bad weekend diet-wise. I mean, I did have salad for my actual meals and of course did full walking at the weekend, so even though I consumed at least 4,000 extra calories (the best part of 2 pounds in weight-terms) my weight was unchanged.
Things should hopefully go a lot better this week. It's odd actually, but when I first started my dieting I had some similar patterns - a really good week, followed by a non-week, so I'm not too worried I've slipped already!
Friday, 31 January 2014
the big day of horror
So today is the day of the meeting to discuss my disciplinary.
Well, I think that's what today is. It's all a bit unclear: imagine that - a lack of clarity where I work. It's as if the whole organisation is an appalling shambles!
It'll either go horribly or be horrible.
I guess the real question is over whether I'll loose my job or not.
I'll keep you posted. I guess at least with it being Friday I'll have the weekend to come to terms with it all, though it's been quite unpleasant having to wait so long.
Well, I think that's what today is. It's all a bit unclear: imagine that - a lack of clarity where I work. It's as if the whole organisation is an appalling shambles!
It'll either go horribly or be horrible.
I guess the real question is over whether I'll loose my job or not.
I'll keep you posted. I guess at least with it being Friday I'll have the weekend to come to terms with it all, though it's been quite unpleasant having to wait so long.
Thursday, 30 January 2014
roadworks
Going back even further into stuff I should have blogged about at the time, I've been experiencing quite the horrible time with traffic lights.
It started about 6 months ago when they started doing some work in Farnham.
It appeared to be water works, but it was quite widespread. Indeed, they shut off Upper Hale Road, which is a pretty major route and takes a lot of traffic - particularly at commuting time. There are a couple of ways around, but most are fairly long-winded. They diverted traffic around, but it sent it into the clutches of more of the same roadworks, so the roads got pretty busy for a while.
And then they got worse.
You see, at the exact same time some work was done on the house that's on the corner of that upper hale junction. This necessitated lights as they had to block off one of the carriageways, so now you've got traffic being diverted that's also being subjected to temporary lights, and temporary lights are always a traffic snarl up.
Okay, no problem, I can take a slightly longer route along Weybourne Road that allows me to avoid that whole junction... except they then started some work at the cross-roads there that also necessitated some temporary lights. So you've now got people who know the ways round the original lights adding to the originally busy traffic that's also subject to lights.
To get around these I had to use one of my super long cuts, which meant I still had to go through the lights, but I was coming at them from a direction with a lot fewer cars, so I had one long wait, rather than 3 or 4. However, it was a good 10 minutes plus longer journey time anyway, so I wasn't really saving anything.
And then things got even more fun, as they started some work on the roads near Farnham station and suddenly we've got temporary lights on the A31 and a load of displaced traffic as well.
Honestly, it felt like they were attempting to block me in with roadwork's - it eventually got to the stage that I couldn't even contemplate a super-bonkers "drive in the opposite direction" route to get avoid roadworks as they had some in the other direction as well.
I copied the following pic from a website that shows works. I'm not sure it's 100% clear, but you can see all the roadworks in what is a very small area so you get the point.
The thing is, though, once they'd finished all that in Farnham, they've decided to dig up Alton as well. It's water works again, so I'm guessing they're doing the same sort of thing. They're certainly slowly making their way up a road, but with these Alton works they're doing them across one of the main routes in from the A31.
Indeed, while there are some rat-runs you can use, they're huge extra distance. Plus they're on quite minor roads, and it can be quite painful if cars are coming the other way. I actually swore off using one of them some time ago for these reasons.
With how early I come in in the morning, it usually only adds about 5 minutes to my journey, but in the evenings if I'm not hanging round it can be a good 10 to 15 minutes. On a half hour journey that's pretty significant.
At least with these they're not really doubling them up.
It started about 6 months ago when they started doing some work in Farnham.
It appeared to be water works, but it was quite widespread. Indeed, they shut off Upper Hale Road, which is a pretty major route and takes a lot of traffic - particularly at commuting time. There are a couple of ways around, but most are fairly long-winded. They diverted traffic around, but it sent it into the clutches of more of the same roadworks, so the roads got pretty busy for a while.
And then they got worse.
You see, at the exact same time some work was done on the house that's on the corner of that upper hale junction. This necessitated lights as they had to block off one of the carriageways, so now you've got traffic being diverted that's also being subjected to temporary lights, and temporary lights are always a traffic snarl up.
Okay, no problem, I can take a slightly longer route along Weybourne Road that allows me to avoid that whole junction... except they then started some work at the cross-roads there that also necessitated some temporary lights. So you've now got people who know the ways round the original lights adding to the originally busy traffic that's also subject to lights.
To get around these I had to use one of my super long cuts, which meant I still had to go through the lights, but I was coming at them from a direction with a lot fewer cars, so I had one long wait, rather than 3 or 4. However, it was a good 10 minutes plus longer journey time anyway, so I wasn't really saving anything.
And then things got even more fun, as they started some work on the roads near Farnham station and suddenly we've got temporary lights on the A31 and a load of displaced traffic as well.
Honestly, it felt like they were attempting to block me in with roadwork's - it eventually got to the stage that I couldn't even contemplate a super-bonkers "drive in the opposite direction" route to get avoid roadworks as they had some in the other direction as well.
I copied the following pic from a website that shows works. I'm not sure it's 100% clear, but you can see all the roadworks in what is a very small area so you get the point.
The thing is, though, once they'd finished all that in Farnham, they've decided to dig up Alton as well. It's water works again, so I'm guessing they're doing the same sort of thing. They're certainly slowly making their way up a road, but with these Alton works they're doing them across one of the main routes in from the A31.
Indeed, while there are some rat-runs you can use, they're huge extra distance. Plus they're on quite minor roads, and it can be quite painful if cars are coming the other way. I actually swore off using one of them some time ago for these reasons.
With how early I come in in the morning, it usually only adds about 5 minutes to my journey, but in the evenings if I'm not hanging round it can be a good 10 to 15 minutes. On a half hour journey that's pretty significant.
At least with these they're not really doubling them up.
Tuesday, 28 January 2014
consequences
So they've decided we're going to have some sort of meeting on Friday about the situation of my fuck-up. I think I'll be officially reprimanded/disciplined in some way.
Unfortunately, this can't happen until Friday, as my line manager only does 1 day a week (one of the many classic ridiculous situations my company seems to generate). I've therefore been quite stressed with it all.
My personality type is one of those that focuses on the negative. I do my best to change my thinking patterns and not to dwell, but it's quite difficult. Particularly, I think, given my life is quite a solitary one - my hobbies are generally ones that I do on my own. I understand having more "RL" stuff in your life is quite helpful in helping you get perspective on things.
Anyway, point is I've been quite worried.
Last Thursday, when it happened, I was actually worried that I may get the sack. I am not quite as scared of this as I was then, but I think it is still a possibility.
A big part of the problem really is that the boss managed to make a massive mess out of it. Now I was the root cause of that mess, so I have blame, but a way to think about it is if my boss basically punched one person (normal person level reaction) versus dropping a 50 megatonne "Tsar Bomba" on a city. That therefore escalates the slice of shit I'm required to eat.
See, part of the problem is we should never have been fucking bidding this in the first place. There were numerous points were they'd said "If x does/doesn't happen then we'll no bid". Every single one of those happened, yet we kept going. We also received several other pieces of information that meant we should not have bid, but of course that didn't stop us.
I therefore think my boss seized on this as a way to get the competition pulled, so my boss leapt straight in with heavy boots and of course, it became a giant mess. Now there is a whole strand of argument as to quite what this really achieves - if you want to piss a customer off, getting their competition cancelled is a pretty good way to achieve it, but that's a bit beside the point.
What is the point is that I'm sick of working here.
Unfortunately, this can't happen until Friday, as my line manager only does 1 day a week (one of the many classic ridiculous situations my company seems to generate). I've therefore been quite stressed with it all.
My personality type is one of those that focuses on the negative. I do my best to change my thinking patterns and not to dwell, but it's quite difficult. Particularly, I think, given my life is quite a solitary one - my hobbies are generally ones that I do on my own. I understand having more "RL" stuff in your life is quite helpful in helping you get perspective on things.
Anyway, point is I've been quite worried.
Last Thursday, when it happened, I was actually worried that I may get the sack. I am not quite as scared of this as I was then, but I think it is still a possibility.
A big part of the problem really is that the boss managed to make a massive mess out of it. Now I was the root cause of that mess, so I have blame, but a way to think about it is if my boss basically punched one person (normal person level reaction) versus dropping a 50 megatonne "Tsar Bomba" on a city. That therefore escalates the slice of shit I'm required to eat.
See, part of the problem is we should never have been fucking bidding this in the first place. There were numerous points were they'd said "If x does/doesn't happen then we'll no bid". Every single one of those happened, yet we kept going. We also received several other pieces of information that meant we should not have bid, but of course that didn't stop us.
I therefore think my boss seized on this as a way to get the competition pulled, so my boss leapt straight in with heavy boots and of course, it became a giant mess. Now there is a whole strand of argument as to quite what this really achieves - if you want to piss a customer off, getting their competition cancelled is a pretty good way to achieve it, but that's a bit beside the point.
What is the point is that I'm sick of working here.
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