Well, blow me down if I'm not 31! Thoroughly spoilt by Joan this morning (and her sister last night) with my own family due to visit tonight. Don't think I'm going to list stuff here though cos that would be tedious. Will probably also squeeze in a meal at the pub tonight as well.

Joan's wandering about town yesterday has caused her wounded foot to flare up again, so London on Saturday is now looking unlikely. Still, going there twice for work next week so I'll still manage some capital fun. Then again, she is seeing the doctor about it this afternoon so perhaps some form of miracle cure will be forthcoming. Seems unlikely to me though.

Not actually anything wonderful to say today so I'll stop.

I was right, hurt like Hades. And no actual treatment carried out either - just measurements of how deep my pockets are (in both senses cos its going to cost nearly 80 quid by the end of the treatment) - little needles poked in six times around each tooth. OK to start with but got a bit tedious by the 30th tooth, and ached all day! Never mind.

Joan came into Ipswich to spend money on me today, so we met for lunch, which was nice. After I'd given her a few ideas for other things I'd quite like I had a major greed-related guilt trip and tried to get her to take them back. I don't think it worked but I've calmed down again so am not feeling so put-out now. Why can't I just accept that people like me? Especially my own wife.

Oh, and on the Martians front, have now decided that I wouldn't want to have read the stories as part of the main text as (a) they are not all from the same "reality" and (b) they feature other characters who have no other place in the main narrative which was spread over enough people as it was. Still very enjoyable though and giving a new slant on some aspects of the story.

Time to go home now, so next entry will be on my birthday....(that's tomorrow!)...

Sure was nice out there in the sun. Pity the wind is still so cold when you move into the shade though. Still, spring must be coming soon.

Theoretically, we are being environmentally audited today to ensure we aren't doing nasty things to the outside world. Our section gets done this afternoon but as there are two scheduled interviews not due to finish until 5ish I reckon I could get away with my ignorance! How are we supposed to check that bus companies are disposing of waste oil responsibly or using the right cleaning materials anyway? Especially given that we are not being allocated any additional budget to do this with.

Now I've seen everything in this place. My colleague Danny has just produced a pair of wet trousers he washed at home this morning and is now attempting to hang them in the window to catch the sun and dry. Takes all sorts I suppose.

Anyway, I was talking about music earlier but didn't mention any band names, so I will now. Those I'd never heard of before getting the dish and now either have invested in or want to know more about include: Sum 41 (mentioned below somewhere), Lostprophets, Vex Red, Rival Schools, The Drowning Pool and several others the names of which escape me. Those I did know about but had never heard include Linkin Park and Marilyn Manson (whose cover of Tainted Love is possibly the most ridiculously brilliant thing I've heard for years). It hasn't all been gosh wow though. I have been reassured that my initial thoughts from reading about them only have not let me down when I reckoned that I wouldn't like Slipknot, Kid Rock or Limp Bizkit. So I guess I'm safe for now!

So we are now in the week containing my 31st birthday. I am definitely feeling a lot better about myself than I was at this time last year, when I came very close to the edge of sanity but that seems a long way off now. Not planning anything major this year (last year we had a reasonable sized party) although we are having a day in london at the weekend. Looking forward to that as it seems like ages since we last went down. Will just have to try not to go into too many shops as we really should be saving to get the new bedroom furniture we urgently need.

Joan is off this week but I'm too tied up with meetings to join her for more than tomorrow. And then I'm seeing the dentist (well, Kirstie the hygenist actually) whihc will no doubt be excrutatingly painful. Damn my insufficient bone growth and extra-deep pockets.

Hurdie Ho!

Weekend seemed to go in a flash. I did get online for a while, but not long enough to add anything here so...

Doctor did the trick, and I've now cut the meds in half again. So hopefully a couple more months and I can come off them completely. OK, so I seem to be brewing a bit of a cold at the moment, but otherwise feeling pretty darn good. And the sun is shining too so with any luck I'll get to go out for a wander in it shortly.

Finally got round to starting a new book - The Martians by Kim Stanley Robinson. Having recently finished the main mars trilogy I was looking forward to this as I didn't want to reach the end of that. They were quite deep in some places (a bit too much science and not enough story perhaps) but I still wanted every page to be a few words longer. So the chance to fill in some of the gaps in the narrative is quite nice. I wonder what the overall result would have been if these "leftover" bits had simply been inserted into the main trilogy and that extended. Anyway, let it just be said for now that I am enjoying catching up on bits of the "past" that were only hinted at before.

Didn't actually listen to any coherent whole albums over the weekend. Music mainly came from the assorted appropriate channels on tv, although many of the tracks encountered that way were archived to mini-disc so will get listened to again soon. I used to be a real addict for new bands, but then had a period of no spare cash and no spare time and no decent radio stations to find them and just enjoyed what I had. But getting the sky dish has really fired my imagination again. Everywhere I turn there are bands I've vaguely heard of but not experienced before and I'm finding I like them all. Which is good in the short term but could damage the wallet eventually!

Right, now for a walk in the sun.

Yes! Wonder what the problem has been.

Anyway, feeling almost back to normal today. Still no idea as to a real cause of the mid-week dip, but not too bothered about finding one. I am still finding my way through them after all this time, and discovering new ways of coping or even enjoying them. Usually needs the chance to be on my own rather than at work to really benefit from it but even now they seem new and different nearly every time. I do find myself wondering now if I'm expecting too much. Just because I can't recall being such a gloomy git in the past doesn't necessarily mean I wasn't one I guess. Maybe I just didn't realise it so clearly. OK, better do some work now.

Can I get posts to appear today?

Feeling a bit more human today (although nearly lost it all again waiting for Blogger to open up, some serious slowness this afternoon!). Last night went really well, and we all had a good laugh so that helped. Plus today I had the sense to bring some music to work, so was able to wander the town at lunchtime assisted by my portable mini-disc player and a compilation of various stuff featuring loud guitars. Of course, I shouldn't really have that as yet cos it really is my birthday present from Joan, but hey, we are just too nice to each other. And it is also Valentine's day so love is flowing everywhere and feeling gloomy wouldn't fit in.

Tonight is once more a DIY and ER-fest so that should keep the spirits high. I might even find time to slip in a bit more reading on the magazines. New book info soon.

I think that will do for today as I really ought to go home soon. Perhaps I'll think of something interesting to fill this with in the future rather than just a few odd comments. Suggestions welcome!

Mood has lifted a fraction, but nothing to write home about!

Joan's Boss is coming to dinner tonight, so I hope I can at least contribute to the conversation. Will probably make a bid for "freedom" and lurk upsatirs if they get on to work too much or something else I don't want to know about.

Time to go home I think.

Feeling pretty down today. I'd like to be able to say it was caused by the "sorry, thanks for your interest but we don't want to give you an interview this time" letter from the East of England Tourist Board that came this morning, but I wasn't in the best of spirits before the post arrived. Just one of those woke up with it days. If they happen on a weekend I don't mind cos I can just ride out the gloom listening to suitably down music and not having to worry about interacting with people. Unfortunately today means work meaning people to try and get through. Oh well, the morning's done now in one long meeting/listening to other people while trying to stay awake session so only a few more hours to go.

We are involved in a huge database transfer project at the moment which has been ongoing for well over a year now and still sees no sign of ever coming to an end. There are stacks of other smaller projects and even jobs hanging on the outcome and I just want to get on with them rather than the continual hanging about while they try to fix another problem. I seem to be in a perpetual state of oscillation between manic panic-stricken deadlines to meet using outmoded software and late information and hanging about trying to find things to do. It would be nice for stuff to come in a steady stream, but I don't reckon much on the prospect of that in the near future. And we are always fighting against the opposing realities of having to get information out to the public in time for them to make proper use of new bus services or changed routes but not getting hold of it ourselves until a few days before services start. The upcoming change in notice period from 42 to 56 days will help, but how much is still in the realms of guesswork.

Anyway, seeing the doctor on Friday. Was hoping to say I was feeling great and can I start coming off the meds yet, but after today I don't think that would be such a good idea after all.

Hmm, this is making for gloomy reading, so I'll stop and maybe come back later if I get anything more uplifiting to say.

I was wrong - meeting turned out to be very interesting and useful after all. And then a nice lunch down the pub afterwards so I now have a smile on my face. Can highly recommend the Lord Nelson to anyone in Ipswich looking for a bite to eat.

Hmm, must stop using the phrase Highly Recommend here. Trouble is, I don't tend to have indifferent opinions - I either like something a lot or hate it and if I like it I assume other people will too. Basically, if I mention a film book or whatever on here it will be because I have enjoyed it thoroughly and hopefully you will too.

Speaking of films, we finally got round to seeing Lord of the Rings last Sunday. I was suitably impressed. At first I was just knocked out by how close to my personal vision of the Shire etc Peter Jackson and his team had got with their visuals and also by how the effects were great at reducing the hobbits in size etc. But then I just got lost in the whole epic nature of the thing, stopped looking for how closely it matched the book and suddenly it was three hours later. OK, so I would have liked ot have sen them attempt Tom Bombadil, but I can see why that section was left out. Will definitely end up buying all three on DVD for protracted re-watchings in the future (and no, they won't stop me re-reading the books every couple of years).

I think I've been at work long enough now so time to go home for pancakes and some tv-related vegetation. Holby City tonight and we need to know if Sam will do the decent thing and tell Alex about the vodka....

Urk, two whole days without sticking anything up. What can my excuse be? Actually, I don't have one other than laziness! So, what was the weekend like?

Finished the encyclopaedia and now catching up on a few magazines before deciding what to pick next book-wise. First up is F1 Racing. I used to be an ultra dedicated fan of the fast cars, but I have to say my interest in watching the races on TV has waned somewhat since ITV took over the coverage. Those adverts just get on my wick. I also wish they'd cut down on the pitstops (and overtaking within them) and get back to some proper racing with lots of real on-track battles. I do still enjoy reading the analysis and interviews though. And the pictures are uniformly excellent.

Following F1R will be SFX and Classic Rock. Well, you have to keep abreast of music, books & films somehow.

Today we are supposed to be receiving visitors from Norfolk & Cambridgeshire to talk about working together on publicity and the like. Trouble is, Norfolk have already had to cancel so it won't be much of a meeting at this rate. We shall see.

Not a lot else to add for the moment really. Didn't really do anything spectacular on Sunday. Most exciting thing was a bit more clearance of the spare bedroom prior to attacking it with the paint and rollers. Then when that is finished we can do our room again and finally get the new wardrobes we've been promising ourselves for 5 years now! More on that when it happens.

Hey, it seems to be Saturday and I've got this running at home too now. Not for long today though as I have to go pick Joan up from work. Just thought I'd get connected here and mention that today's CDs have included:

Guns 'N Roses - Appetite For Destruction (first play in about 2 years) and
Aerosmith - Pandora's Box Disc 2 (A Christmas present I'm enjoying slowly)

And I also did a DVD commentary with the ironing - The Mummy. Quite interesting but not the best commentary I've heard as yet!

OK, got to go.

Just read a few articles about writing these things and tend to agree with them on one key theme: this really is a doddle to use. I've been thinking abput setting something like this up for a couple of years now, but never had the time to really give it a proper go. The few attempts I did make fell down through my non-existent knowledge of FTP getting in the way. Even when I tried to follow what looked like very simple and clear instructions things all went to pot. So, here I am doing it the easy way using someone else's inspiration and skills. Thanks to everyone else out there!

Getting in to gear for the weekend now. Joan, my good lady wife is working both days so I will be alternating between the PC at home and the ironing board if previous experience is anything to go by. Which also means that when PCing there will be CDs playing, and when Ironing the TV will be on. So expect comments on more music and tv and possibly even some films soon. My main aim is to watch some DVDs with the commentary tracks rather than the normal sound as I'm quite intrigued by the whole film-making process.

Adios, for now.

Meeting was actually quite interesting, but nothing worthy of putting on here. However, office network is refusing to behave today so about all we can do is send email and surf the net. Not particularly productive but better than roaming the streets.

Getting back to the cds mentioned earlier... It will obviously take a while for me to go through my entire collection and acquisitions so it could be a while before the full, balanced picture of what I like emerges. But do stick around, you might just find something you like. Which is a round about way of explaining thrash metal, mixed up world music and contemporarified classical all in one tranche.

Oh, I'm also happy to answer questions, talk to people reading this or whatever. If you came here via a link I sent you then you have my return address already, otherwise try ask-lola@talk21.com for now. I might even explain who Lola is some day...

Another day, another load of waffle. ER was indeed a good 'un last night. And I'm several pages further in to the Encyclopaedia. Enjoying that thoroughly even if it is likely to have the ultimate result of a severe dent in the bank balance. Already got Bagpuss on DVD, and thoroughly appreciating the quality afforded thus.

Going back to music, Suffolk Libraries seem to have a darn good selection of cds available and I tend to borrow them on a regular basis and if they happen to end up copied on to mini-discs when I get them home then hey, stranger things have happened. At the moment on loan I have: Bond - Born, AC/DC - Stiff Upper Lip, Megadeth - Risk and Afro Celtic Sound System Volume 1. All most enjoyable. I only wish I had more time in the day to listen to stuff.

Well, got to go to a grenn travel plan meeting now. Thrills or Tedium? I don't know.

Just changed the template cos having looked at this on the web I decided I didn't like the constant colour changing.

Anyway, time to go home from work as there is some serious telly watching to be done tonight. DIY SOS which I'm addicted to (along with any other decent home improvement shows) - loads of inspiration for things we want to do at home. Whether we ever get the chance to do them, money to buy the bits, time to paint them and stuff is a different matter.

Also on tonight is ER, which we also can't live without. The only thing I object to is the fact that currently it is only on E4 here - paying for the satellite dish installation and monthly subscription is OK, but I do get sick of the superimposed logos on most of the channels thus obtained. I just want to watch the show, not a reminder of what channel I'm on. I already know that - I chose it. D'oh! And the constant ad breaks do my head in too. If only the BBC had bought it instead. Still, great to see Dr. Lewis back last week, pity we had to lose Chen though.

More tomorrow.

Started a new book today:

The Encyclopaedia of Cult Childrens tv by Richard Lewis.

I have to admit that its probably a symptom of my age (I'll be 31 in a couple of weeks) but I'm just fascinated with the whole 70s & 80s nostalgia thing. How much of what I think I remember now is genuine memories and how much comes from the books and tv shows is a matter for debate though. Most of what I recall seems like it was good fun at the time when I think about the period, although I did have some pretty bad experiences at school. A couple of people who'd best remain nameless on here would not be welcome at my birthday party!

Anyway, back to the book. It looks pretty good from what I've read so far both in terms of style and content. For those of you who can't obtain it I recommend tv cream on the web instead. You can find that here. Fuller report when I get a bit further in.

Hopefully as this goes on a good picture of my tastes will appear. Basically I'll read anything that people recommend to me, but tend to stick mainly to certain themes so keep looking to learn more!

Musically I will also give anything a whirl. So, I'll be listing all purchases, recent spins in the cd player and stuff too. The last two cds I bought were:

Sum 41 - Half Hour Of Power and
Ginger - Greivous Acoustic Behaviour, Live At the 12 Bar

Both absolute corkers. Ginger I have been a fan of since the Wildhearts first appeared on the scene, and this double cd is very highly recommended for anyone who knows a bit of his musical history. I'm not sure it serves that well as an introduction to the man himself though as it (a) was recorded in fromt of friends and (b) gets very loose due to alcohol by the end. Sum 41 I discovered recently through the Kerrang channel on Sky TV and was instantly hooked. This was a surprise purchase as all the shops were plugging the new album as their first so I was not expecting this one to exist. Well, I call it an album, they refer to it as an EP on the sleeve notes, but as I've got cds marketed as albums that are shorter.... Anyway, they impress me a lot by combining current trends in rock with the older forms of Heavy Metal and doing it very well. Check it out.

That'll do for now. See ya.

Right, I've checked the first load of stuff has come through, so I'm off home now.

Might start adding some substance tomorrow.

Hello to you, thanks for dropping by. This is only the first post so nothing really to say that isn't covered in the intro text (which I hope is elsewhere).

Not sure how often this is going to get updated, but please keep checking. You never know, I might even write something interesting one day.

Anyway, some background to get you going: My name is Simon, I work for Suffolk County Council in Ipswich, UK and live down the road in Felixstowe. Married, no kids, 1 cat, nice house, horrible mortgage.

Likes & Dislikes will follow in subsequent entries.