Michael's Meanderings

So this month I took over the duty of putting the rubbish bins out for collection, which means getting up 5 minutes earlier on Tuesdays!
On the first Saturday I went in to London to the Science Museum, as this was my last chance to see the exhibition “Robots - The 500-year quest to make machines human”, well worth the time and money, the exhit book was also good value reduced from £25 to £15 (same price as ticket).
Dance classes on Tuesday continue with a completely new cha cha routine, which is cool - but makes my brain and body hurt! Dance practice on 1st & 3rd Friday of the month and Social dance on the last Saturday.
I’ve been watching Who do you think you are? and Astronauts: Do You Have What It Takes? Both provide a self learning experience for the participants - in different ways. Also watching Midnight Texas - and listened to the audio edition of the original book and it’s fairly unlike the TV show - the big bad is totally different. Strictly Come Dancing has started - meaning that autumn is definitely here.
The SF Book Club book this month was “The Peripheral” which again I didn’t finish, there was a lively discussion though.
Managed to post my Worldcon report (in addition to my monthly blog!)
Took a day off to help D with packing, also was able to see “Dunkirk” at the Orion Cinema - Golden Years only £2.50 inc tea and biscuit!
Renewed season ticket using 13 delay repay voucher (£33.50 refunded).
Managed to chip one of my teeth, and got an “emergency” appointment right after being fitted with a 24 hour blood pressure monitor (my dentist and doctor are about 100m apart).
My physio appointment at the Princess Royal Hospital finally came through, must exercise ham strings, which are then affecting my back, no yoga this month - 2+ months without classes.
Went to visit parents & sister and had a very busy weekend. Arrived on Friday to discover Dad may be suffering from Alzheimer's. Mum wanted to close her Force 9 account, so had to copy her website to an archive location on my site, and redirect all email and web pages to new locations. In the evening my sister took Mum and I to an Americana evening with line dancing (though floor area was not large!) First time mum went out in the evening for months if not years. the following afternoon went into Horsham where the town celebrated an American day - weather was lovely and tw one hour line dance demos were given by Flying High Line Dancers (inc my sister) I did stand up and dance in the “audience participation” part of the performance.
My iPhone stop syncing my diary with dropbox (after an iOS update) on the last Thursday of the month. When I tried to force a sync the app crashed so I lost all the written records for a week. I have been able to recreate some details but others have been lost.

So first weekend in February was Quarter Tone the 25th UK Filkcon held at the Ramada Grantham Hotel in Lincolnshire
This was it's usual friendly self and in fact the only convention in the ear where I stayed away from home.
As usual I signed bi-weekly at the Job Centre and danced with K every Wednesday
I also had to attend Job Club regularly at CDG in Crawley, this was mandated by the Job Centre but at least I got my travel costs reimbursed.
Also got my broadband upgraded to unlimited fibre, which was faster and unlimited (obviously) but not excessively fast. Also my website www.dendarii.co.uk was wiped and I didn't notice for a little while!
Also saw the ISS (International Space Station) travel over head for the first time.
Picocon 30 took place over the weekend of 16-17 and this was my last con of the year (away from home)
I even managed a short visit to the Science Museum to see the Turing Exhibit.
I continued to volunteer at Susses Oakleaf
I had to order a new TV, a reconditioned Toshiba (which has worked well all year), used it successfully with my Raspberry Pi
I had to return my kobo ereader for replacement as it had a fault on the screen. It was replaced at WHS (where I'd originally purchased it)
Last Saturday in the month the regular Social Dance in Crawley dancing with K.
Visited parent the following day, just for the day though.
On the last day of the month I retook my ECDL test and unfortunately the system crashed part way though so I didn't finished. Booked a date to retake the test again.

While I did manage to include most happening I did forget a couple of thing I really should note.

The Weather! It seems to have been raining for months, and feels more like February or November than July. This is supposed to be summer guys! We recently go so much rain overnight that the TV signal from the Sky satellite was interrupted for an hour, we also had puddles 10cm deep in the garden.

Talking of the garden last Sunday D helped the neighbour install 2 new fence panels and then later, I helped him cut down the last tree growing in my back garden. Using the newly purchased chainsaw the actual felling went like a charm. Unfortunately I fell over while examining the cut in the trunk and pulled a 1.5cm strip off my right index finger and the tip of my left middle finger got mushed. The latter is almost healed a week latter, the former not so much.

During the last three weeks, I also got my hair cut, a regular 6 weekly occurrence, now I don't have a pony tail. Again I got a clipper cut for half the price of a scissors cut!

Last time I mentioned a ukulele class, and since then I have usually managed to spend 5-10 minutes a day (occasionally longer) noodling, mostly trying out chords and tying to remember which ones are which. I've just made up some chord flash cards from ukulehunt.com. Unfortunately they aren't all the same hight so I've had to do some adjusting. I'm now trying to play some tunes, with mixed success.

Receently on TV I've been watching Dynamo: Magician Impossible, which is impossible, in the last episode he walked down the side of a building!!!!

The Sunday after my last post I helped The Friends Green Circle Network to trim a hedge in Bedelands Farm. Spent two hours cutting withies, (there was also a bonfire), then completed an hour's walk around the site.

I've recently rediscovered PortableApps.com where applications have been modified so they will run from a USB drive without installation. Quite like the 1980 when that was how DOS worked!

It does mean I can use programs at work which I can't install on my supplied laptop (mostly graphic tools and OCR).

On the work front, when we started we had to generate nearly six thousand template reports, there are less than a thousand to complete now (I did nearly two hundred). We have just started to peer review each other's work. This may take a while!

Last week I went to the cinema to see Hugo, based on a book (not really a novel though) it concerns the film pioneer Georges Méliès in his later life. I enjoyed the story even if the fact and fiction have been blended, possible Hugo material?

Last Friday I took the but into Crawley, as I'd just discovered some of my library books were overdue and one couldn't be renewed online. I got that sorted out and bought another pair of earphones.

My EDI Technical Certificate in Principles of Business & Administration Level 2 arrived on Friday exactly 2 months after passing the last module in the course. So I now have the paperwork proving my qualification.

Peacock (clothes shop) has gone into receivership, but is still open for business, I I bought another black shirt at 20% off, and also got some woolly socks at half price from the shop opposite!

I've been watching a number of new programs on TV including: Dancing on Ice, )as usual I don't recognise most of the contestants but....), Hawaii 5-0, NCIS: Los Angeles, Sherlock, Earthflight, Body of Proof, Lost Girl, NCIS, The Story of Musicals, Stargazing (a once a year series on BB/C2), Gadget Geeks, Suits, Unforgettable,

Just got back from the cinema. I saw The Artist at Cineworld in Crawley, first time I've visited this 15 screen cinema.

So it's Chrismas Day and I have been catching up on my blogging, the last eight months have been extracted from my diary so don't have a lot of character ;-)

My volunteering at Sussex Oakleaf had a change, as the work I was doing for the Finance team had been completed, and they didn't have any new stuff for me to do for the moment. So I got re-assigned to another project at The Yews, first helping re-format some teaching documentation, then helping create some graphs in Excel.

I've been watching a fair amount of TV including Haven, Warehouse 13, Alphas, Bones, Fringe, The Secret Circle, Frozen Planet, The Mentalist, Rissoli & Isles (started reading the books too), Lost Girl, not to mention Strictly Come Dancing and it's companion It Takes Two.

What now appears to be my last book club meeting discussed "The Tenderness of Wolves" by Stef Penney, once again I haven't finished it, but I still have it on loan so I may do so eventually.

I took my duvet and under-sheets to the nearby laundrette to get them washed, while there, there was a short power-cut, but the wash cycle continued on power resumption. I then put all the washing in the drier (which was the main reason for going. If washed at home it wouln't dry before evening).

In the first week of the month I got an email from Deekay Recruitment indicating that there might be a job available for me if I was still looking. I replied in the affirmative and then the next week was sent a contract to start on 19th December in Crawley. This without any interview, just on the basis of my CV. I wasn't even told what the actual job was!

Since I still wasn't sure what the job was I signed on for the last time, and was told my next sign on day was 10 January 2012 due to the Christmas holidays. So I have to notify them before then.

I had a morning of admin at Sussex Oakleaf and was able to to provide some final assistance, but then had to say I wouldn't be back, at least for a while as I'd got a job! Thought they were sad to loose my expertise, they were happy that I was soon to be employed.

I also notified CDG as I had an appointment at their new office (they had moved in early December).

Last weekend I went to see Puss in Boots in 3D followed by Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows at my local cinema, both fun in their own way.

So on Monday morning I got a weekly season ticket to Gatwick Airport and then walked in the cold morning to the Amey office where I discovered that there were 15 other people starting on the same job at the same time. It was a new project relating to the administration of railway inspection! But we didn't actually find out what the job entailed until Monday lunchtime.

The first two days were mostly training then we started report writing. By the end of the week I'd just managed to complete 25 reports! On Thursday I started to suffer from a cold/flu despite my flu shot.

We were let out early at 3:30pm and I then took the bus to Crawley, where the traffic was jammed, and it started to rain heavily with strong winds. My umbrella blew apart! Then train to get picked up by my sister then on to her home!

This is the first time I've had a short term contract and/or worked through an agency. I wonder how I'll cope!

Last Wednesday, was the last in the month, and so was the night for Science Museum Lates. This time it was celebrating the science of genius.

Arrived at 6pm after getting a 6" sub for dinner. After 50 minutes waiting went straight it.

Renewed my Plus+ membership, which got me a free drink (I had a bottle of Mangers cider usually £3) and this also gives me access to the IMAX and exhibitions for free. It also gives advanced access to the workshops and talks, at the smlates without queueing.

The first thing I went to, and the best thing of the evening, was a demo of The Babbage Difference Engine No 2. The noise was awsome, and even the printer was Babbage's design.

The next talk was about the history of IQ testing, with example of physical tests, some from decades ago, to the most recent.

TruFact the first testing of intellegence, with statistical analysis, occured at the site of the Science Museum over 100 years ago!

I then checked out the Tenori-On demo a rather strange electronic musical instrument. (there are iPhone apps that simulate this behaviour).

And the final item was The Guardian's Science Weekly podcast Live! With A twitter feed broadcast behind the participants. It over ran til just after 10pm so we has to be escorted out, as the event had already closed! Oh yes I met someone fom the ZZ9 fan club!

Over the Bank Holiday weekend I upgraded my PC operating system to Linux Mint 9, which is the third version I've had installed, which means that I've been running Linux now for over six months, possibly even a year.

Mum phoned to let me know she'd just got back from Spain, having once again put out her hip and having to spend most of her time in hospital. fortunately she was at church when it happend so there were a lot of people to rally round and help. (It was almost exactly a year ago that a similar problem with her hip put her in hospital, in Spain.)

On Sky1 there was an excellent two part adaption of Going Postal by Terry Pratchett. Charles Dance as Vetinari was chillingly perfect, though I'd not previously imagine the patrician as a blonde. The Clacks were just wonderful, as was the smoking gnu!

I used my slow cooker to make rice pudding, the first use since I got the replacement pot (rice pudding was the first thing I'd cooked previously too). I also made some bread. I really must get back into the habit of bread making, there is nothing like fresh bread and butter.

And then back to work today!

On Friday I got my copy of Nameless by copperbadge which is a Lulu.com published short novel or long novella, originally published online. .It's a very nicely produced book (and was, despite the info page, printed in England).

On Saturday I was intending to go to the Circus (part of the Brighton Festival) but circumstances intervened and I arrived in Brighton two late to see my intended film and still get to the Circus (I'll try again next week).

Instead I saw Star Trek the re-imagined start of the franchise. Using a time travel twist we got a total re-boot of the series, without incurring any retconning! And Zachary Quinto manages a perfect Spock (though the actor playing him as a young boy is also excellent. The other main cast were also very good.

I followed this by watching X-Men Origins: Wolverine which was a much slower paced story and more of a drama than a SciFi extravaganza. I'm not an X-Men fan but I did enjoy the way the story gradually unfolded, including trust and betrayal. But then I think Logan / Wolverine is my favourite.

I finally succumbed to two purchases. I bought a new flat screen 32" TV, and it arrived yesterday. It's really cool, has all the possible audio/video connection know to man and it's surprisingly big. I connected my laptop and at once I could see the display on the big screen. It has built in Freeview (which I'm not using) and analog too. My Sky box is currently connected via SCART but will move to HDMI when the wire arrives. I'll also be able to connect the DVD player directly too!

The other purchase is for new floor tiles for the kitchen, and once that's done replacement cupboards. Photo should appear here too!

The last two weeks manages to include 3 juggling classes. And things have been getting good!

The first class of the term we got 2 new people and one not so new person joining, which kept the numbers up and meant the class could continue.

The day was nice and sunny so I walked to the school (new location meant that I can actually get there, if a lift isn't available. Managed some work on club passing with P. Self Pass pattern is now getting solid.

Week 2 weather was less nice so got on the train for the short hop to town. Did some more jugging with P and worked on the 3,3,10 pattern (this follows the pattern, self, self, pass x 3 then self, pass x 3 then pass, pass, pass x3+1 (ie pass 3 times in one pattern, 3 times in the second pattern and 10 times in the third pattern) The best we managed was 3,3,8 ;-( We did however manage to throw 10 passes on their own (so I knew I could do it) We also tried triangle passing with three of us, catching from one person and passing to the other, not too successfully (but that we tried....) We did manage self, pass, with 16 passes though.

The previous week end I decided to try my hand at fire club juggling again (ie I tried but got nowhere last year, I wasn't really a good enough club juggler then). Unfortunately the flames were rather excessive when I started, and by the time the flames had died a bit when I did juggle most of the flame died out. I'll have to try again later (possibly with better clubs!)

Week three P and I managed 10 passes and stop a number of times, though we kept failing on the elusive 3,3,10 until finally success was achieved! I did the happy dance I was so pleased.

This was one of my goals from the start of term, the first to improve my club passing had already been achieved. Getting past twenty passes with self, pass is another (that's in my grasp). Passing in groups of three or more, while not lasting very long is improving and then there is success at the 3,3,10 pattern. Now I have to be able to do it with other partners!

K and I did some self, pass passing. We aren't as well synced as P and I but D joined us as we managed some fairly consistant four person + passing.

On to other topics, this last 3 weeks I've been on the backup rotation at work, which isn't the most interesting, logging success or failure of backup jobs and changing tapes is fine one week in four or six but palls after two plus weeks!

I'm in the process of upgrading my kitchen, and I've also ordered a new 32" flat screen TV (my current one I got second hand nearly 20 years ago!) Sky+HD have just updated their program interface, and you can now see you currently selected channel while looking through the program guide (I believe TiVo has had this for years). It also stacks series so material you record doesn't take as much screen space. You can choose to record a single program or the whole series. But you still can't select anything that is more than 7 days in advance.

Last Saturday I saw Coraline in 3D in Brighton (after visiting my chiropractor). After my Imax experience in Bradford it was a bit of a disappointment, the glasses didn't work as well over my glasses and there was less use of 3D WOW! factor. Later in the Bank Holiday week end I watched The Hunt for Gollum which shows what amateurs can achieve when they sets their minds to it.

I've finally caught up with Dexter series 2. It's been resident on my Sky+HD box for months and since they started showing series 3 last mont... It's one of those show that once you start watching you wonder why you didn't catch it when it was broadcast. Ive got the fist few of S3 to look forward too!

I almost forgot, with the good weather, I've managed to get in a walk around the Bedelands farm area both week ends. Last Sunday I saw half a dozen rabbits, a magpie and a number of black birds though if they were crows, ravens or blackbirds I couldn't tell. I took some photos which may appear at some future time. The change from leafless winter to current spring time leafy greenness has been wonderful to see.

The last two weeks manages to include 3 juggling classes. And things have been getting good!

The first class of the term we got 2 new people and one not so new person joining, which kept the numbers up and meant the class could continue.

The day was nice and sunny so I walked to the school (new location meant that I can actually get there, if a lift isn't available. Managed some work on club passing with P. Self Pass pattern is now getting solid.

Week 2 weather was less nice so got on the train for the short hop to town. Did some more jugging with P and worked on the 3,3,10 pattern (this follows the pattern, self, self, pass x 3 then self, pass x 3 then pass, pass, pass x3+1 (ie pass 3 times in one pattern, 3 times in the second pattern and 10 times in the third pattern) The best we managed was 3,3,8 ;-( We did however manage to throw 10 passes on their own (so I knew I could do it) We also tried triangle passing with three of us, catching from one person and passing to the other, not too successfully (but that we tried....) We did manage self, pass, with 16 passes though.

The previous week end I decided to try my hand at fire club juggling again (ie I tried but got nowhere last year, I wasn't really a good enough club juggler then). Unfortunately the flames were rather excessive when I started, and by the time the flames had died a bit when I did juggle most of the flame died out. I'll have to try again later (possibly with better clubs!)

Week three P and I managed 10 passes and stop a number of times, though we kept failing on the elusive 3,3,10 until finally success was achieved! I did the happy dance I was so pleased.

This was one of my goals from the start of term, the first to improve my club passing had already been achieved. Getting past twenty passes with self, pass is another (that's in my grasp). Passing in groups of three or more, while not lasting very long is improving and then there is success at the 3,3,10 pattern. Now I have to be able to do it with other partners!

K and I did some self, pass passing. We aren't as well synced as P and I but D joined us as we managed some fairly consistant four person + passing.

On to other topics, this last 3 weeks I've been on the backup rotation at work, which isn't the most interesting, logging success or failure of backup jobs and changing tapes is fine one week in four or six but palls after two plus weeks!

I'm in the process of upgrading my kitchen, and I've also ordered a new 32" flat screen TV (my current one I got second hand nearly 20 years ago!) Sky+HD have just updated their program interface, and you can now see you currently selected channel while looking through the program guide (I believe TiVo has had this for years). It also stacks series so material you record doesn't take as much screen space. You can choose to record a single program or the whole series. But you still can't select anything that is more than 7 days in advance.

Last Saturday I saw Coraline in 3D in Brighton (after visiting my chiropractor). After my Imax experience in Bradford it was a bit of a disappointment, the glasses didn't work as well over my glasses and there was less use of 3D WOW! factor. Later in the Bank Holiday week end I watched The Hunt for Gollum which shows what amateurs can achieve when they sets their minds to it.

I've finally caught up with Dexter series 2. It's been resident on my Sky+HD box for months and since they started showing series 3 last mont... It's one of those show that once you start watching you wonder why you didn't catch it when it was broadcast. Ive got the fist few of S3 to look forward too!

I almost forgot, with the good weather, I've managed to get in a walk around the Bedelands farm area both week ends. Last Sunday I saw half a dozen rabbits, a magpie and a number of black birds though if they were crows, ravens or blackbirds I couldn't tell. I took some photos which may appear at some future time. The change from leafless winter to current spring time leafy greenness has been wonderful to see.

I though I'd better catch up before arriving in Bradford.

On Wednesday I did some training, on Thursday morning some of my colleagues did the same course. While this was going on it was decided I had to visit our two new data centres, one in Acton and one in Docklands. So since it was a nice day all of us walked back to the office. It took the same time as using the Tube, and the were a number of stops to get snacks on the way!

So my team mate and I left for Chancery Lane and took the central line to Acton, then walked to to the estate where the high security data centre is located, saw all the new blade servers in their cages then off to Docklands. Due to G20 Bond St was closed so via x to Canary Wharf then back to the office by 17:30 to swap out the backup tapes for the overnight backup.
Since it was a nice sunny day the unexpected extra walking was pleasant, so much so that I wished I'd left my jacket behind.

Note all that week I was on a late shift 10:00am to 6:00pm

On Friday there was a book sale and I of course bought a book (Readers Digest on Digital Photography) and a set of classic audio books on CD for a mere £10 (RRP over £100)

Saturday I got my back adjusted, and while I still get back pain, I have a much freer movement in my legs. One goal is to be able to touch my toes with my legs straight!

After a wander in Brighton I went home to crash out for a bit before going shopping.

On Sunday I went to the local cinema to se "Monsters vs Aliens" (PG) which was great fun. The main heroes were from 50s B movies; the Blob (sorry Bob), the Creature from the Black lagoon (the missing Link) the Fly (Dr cockroach voiced by Hugh Laurie) and the 50 foot woman (Gargantua voiced by Reese Witherspoon) I was the only one to laughed out loud when the credits showed that the President was voiced by Stephen Colbert!

After I got back since it was still sunny I went for a walk mostly around Bedelands Farm. It's surprising how many public footpaths there are and how much farmland so close to town. I saw a dozen butterflies and may have managed to get some photos.

I've been clearing material from my Sky box (so there would be space for recording over Easter) Caught up on Ghost whisperer, Finished Eli stone and Demons.

On Tuesday I sent a birthday card to my sister, and had a walk arould the area. When I got home I'd got birthday cards from my parents and sister and family, and a present from my other sister from the Discworld Emporium (with Discworld stamps) It was a "The Turtle Moves" pin which was very cool, but where I'll wear it I don't know (no suites so no jackets with lapels!)

Yesterday Patricia C Wrede's new book "Thirteenth Child" finally arrived. I say finally as I heard Pat read from it back in August, ordered from Amazon in December and was told it was on it's way on Sunday. I hoped it would arrived before I started on my Easter holiday and fortunately it did. I spent every spare minute reading yesterday and finished it last night. My favourite book read so far this year!