Plan of Action

Rare for being a day ahead, but tonight I am fairly confident that I will be doing some packing. This is for two reasons.

The first is that my flight is at 10:05am (i.e. leaving the house a little after 7am to get there on time) and so I feel that the morning will give me limited time. Tomorrow evening I will be going to the pub after work so that will again give me less time to actually do the packing in.

Second reason is that more than most trips, this one actually requires some thought and consideration over what is put in the suitcase - I actually need to remember the important things, for example. I have already started making a list. We'll see how it goes.

Weather Turning

So as we're now only a couple of days away from October, it's appropriate that I came home tonight in torrential rain and increasing dark. It's what you start to expect for autumnal weather, and I actually took a coat today in addition to my jacket for the first time in ages. It was needed, too.

One of my thoughts as I left the station was that I'm glad in a matter of days I'm off to the warmth of California. I'm still wondering how Chrissi is going to adapt to this weather when she comes here!

This evening was marked by the annoyance of trains - typically, when one is late, and the connecting train is on time, meaning that the connecting train leaves as my first train arrives in a delicious mocking fashion. The following train then was also late, but I did make the last 'regular' bus and get back only about 20-25 minutes late in the end!

Dedication Irony

So this afternoon at work I was at a meeting in central London which finished at 4pm, and by the time I was back to Waterloo it was a little after 4:30pm. Had I been on my own, I would have been sorely tempted to go home, however I was with my line manager / team leader type person. While he suggested I go straight home, I was in my 'I am dedicated' guise, knowing full well that he would be going back to the office, so I claimed I had some things to tidy up too.

Then on the train back, he called our manager just to check on something else, and was told that he shouldn't go back to the office and should go straight home. We were at this point already on a train that took us back to Raynes Park but also on to Surbiton. At this point, I could have gotten home at about 5:15 had I gone directly from Waterloo, but I didn't.

Of course, having already committed to going back to the office to do something, I couldn't very well change my mind now and talk myself out of it. Annoying! So I did get back to the office at 5pm (although I was sorely tempted to get off the train, walk down a couple of carriages and sneak back onto it). I got home a couple of hours later.

Day 1 Achievements

So my day one achievements on my grand list are pretty minimal. I do have a replacement bag though, wich means I don't need to go and purchase one this week. I have also obviously been reminded of something else I need to do this week!

Today was football in the evening and a good game it was, as I put in one of my better performances with some well-timed tackles and a couple of well struck goals, a not-too-shabby performance. As there are people on after us now, we seem to be vacating the pitch earlier - meaning that today I actually got back home around 8:05 and thus have an additional half hour of the evening to enjoy!

Challenge is now to do something with it ...

List for the Week

As I realise time is increasingly counting down, I suppose that I should make a list of things that need to be sorted this week, so that I remember to do so. So this is what I need to get sorted before the end of the week:

1. Money. This one should be relatively self-explanatory, I think. It's about getting the correct currency to spend when I am in the USA, as they do so tend to be intolerant of people paying in pounds.
2. Visa Waiver. I am never sure if this is required or not, but there is something on the ESTA website that needs to be filled out before travel if you are going to the USA, except that it never seems to be required once you go there. I'll look into this.
3. Packing. Most trips I will typically throw the majority of the necessary clothes into my suitcase the day before, or morning before my flight. As I have a little more that probably needs to be packed this time, it might make sense to plan a little further ahead for this trip.
4. Suitcase. This is a surprising one as I actually have a very nice suitcase, which is both easy to move, lightweight and solid. Unfortunately, it has been kidnapped by Rachel on her trip to Turkey, and she doesn't return until after I depart to America. I may need to find a replacement bag - well, obviously I will, but I may need to purchase one too.
5. Any Pre-Wedding Organisation. I have a nagging feeling there should be at least something that I will need to do on this, but I can't for the life of me think what it is. I'll put it down here as a reminder though.

That should be enough to be getting on with for the week at least. I'll let you know as we go through the week how I actually succeed at these tasks.

Beating the Counter

So unlike my typical Saturday or late night posts, this one is utterly genuine and is in fact being posted a fraction before midnight. In fact, it is being posted at 23:58 as opposed to the official "oops, I forgot until after midnight" time of 23:59.

I nearly didn't make it though as for the third consecutive week I was dozing off during Match of the Day. Today I didn't fall fully asleep though, just dozed a little and found myself closing my eyes at times. I think it was during the highlights of the Blackpool-Blackburn match, and it was a case of I'd close my eyes and something would happen then, so I'd have to open them to see what it was.

My increasing tendency to doze during this does somewhat suggest though that the football this season is struggling to hold my attention!

For Better, For Worse

So if I'm honest today was a much worse day than yesterday. Although there may be some light at the end of the tunnel, but we will see on that one.

I did manage to get WoW downloaded and installed though. Not a great amount of consolation really, but there it is - that much at least is done. It does look pretty with full graphics and on widescreen, that much I can say.

One of Those Days

This evening I was meant to be going out after work - I was going into London with a couple of work people and would meet other former work people for a drink and general convivial conversation and so on. However, this plan did not transpire.

Mainly because I had a not-so-good day, which meant I was not in the mood and recognised this fairly well, which was unusually smart of me. Several irritating things happened today at work which I am trying to put down to a day of bad coincidences and not an overwhelming landslide of annoyance.

Also, it was raining torrentially at lunch and I got absolutely soaked through. I didn't have my umbrella with me either, although I don't think it'd have done to much good anyway - it was that torrential. This was the only time throughout the day that it would do that too.

Then when I got home, I found the answer to my WoW patching issue, about five minutes after I'd uninstalled WoW and deleted all the libraries in an attempt to start all over again. So we start the whole process from scratch!

As I said - one of those days!

Positive Prognosis

Well, it has now been over 24 hours since I set up the new computer and fired it up, and as it is still running and has yet to have an issue, I am happy and declare that the problems are probably fixed.

This means any small level of productivity I may have attained over the past month or so will now utterly disappear. Especially as I downloaded World of Warcraft again last night and it is currently patching ...

Potential Success!

So today at work I received delivery of a graphics card, and exchanged the existing graphics card for this new gift. Upon returning home I then installed the new graphics card.

As opposed to the frequent crashes on booting, in odd moments, it has been working okay. It's now been on for about two and a half hours, and nothing in terms of a single issue. Hopefully this is the death knell of the computer issue, but I will resort to cliche and not count my chickens before they are fully hatched!

Football Report

So after a week off last week due to insufficient people (5 people makes one 5-a-side team but not much of a 5-a-side game), this week football was on again, with actually enough players to have a proper game too - ten turned up. I had one of my not terrible games, which is rare enough, and also put a lot more into it than my previous game - i.e. it actually counted as exercise rather than me strolling about and occasionally kicking a ball!

My journey home was interrupted by annoying train issues, meaning it took half an hour longer than necessary. Frustrating but tolerable I suppose, in the grand scheme of things! Since being home I have completed my one compulsory task for the evening, that being the packing of my graphics card to take to work tomorrow to - hopefully - complete the final piece of the jigsaw puzzle and have a working computer tomorrow night.

Could it be? We will see!

Speedier Sunday Update

Today's update comes at the relatively early time of 11:43pm and based on the past couple of days, is a pretty impressive achievement.

Less impressive is the list of things I've done today. I did manage to do a fair amount of ironing, but that never feels particularly impressive. I also watched some West Wing, which is most entertaining but never actually a real achievement.

I am aware that over the next few days and weeks I will need to do a little more. I've only got another fortnight in the UK before I fly out, and then I have two weeks in America. I have many things to get sorted out before then, none of which I am working on with any amount of speed! Perhaps I should make a list, so that I know what I need to procrastinate on.

Potential Solution

So for the second day running I am blissfully late with my blog posting - this is brought to you a little after 3am, after I fell asleep for the second week running while watching Match of the Day!

The potential solution outlined in the topic is a reference to my computer. Having phoned up and spent some time chatting describing the problems, the error messages I was getting and so forth, they think the problem is the graphics card. This could well be correct, based on the fact that it's the display drivers that keep falling over.

I'm getting a new graphics card sent to me at work on Tuesday - I need to remember to take in the old graphics card so the person delivering can do a swap with me!

Technicalities

So this one is technically not today, what with it being 1:50 as I write this - but I'm post-dating it to just before midnight as in my mind, it's still Friday.

I write this after returning from a rather geeky evening with people from work - playing computer games for most of the evening. Quite enjoyable - featuring Mario Kart (which I was as usual pitiful on, besides for on average 1/3 laps when I would somehow do okay, then lose it on the rest) and also the epic Halo 3.

This was exceedingly fun, and after taking probably a couple of hours to familiarise myself again with how it works, I was getting better once more. Not as good as the two people who own it, however. But still not terrible. Although it's hard to tell - as the evening progressed, were my skills being honed, or were others just degrading as they consumed more alcohol?

Either way, it was a hilariously enjoyable night and became far too comically competitive at times too. Yelling at the screen, each other, far too much excitement. Most entertaining though!

Irony Strikes

So today I took the afternoon off work to have a go at fixing my computer. The reason for the half-day off was so that I could access the support as well while I do it - all very sensible, I'm sure you agree.

I got home at 2:30ish and did little for a while besides grabbing lunch. Then I went upstairs to have a go at fixing it. I thought I'd try a couple of things myself just to confirm it wouldn't behave - which sure enough, I was correct with. However, via an option hidden in startup repair I managed to get back in and load a system restore point.

I reinstalled programs, experiencing no issues. However, a short while ago an issue befell me. It was the same that had affected me before - the light blue screen over the top of everything. This time I had a warning just before and it recovered, which helpfully points that there's something not quite working. Sadly, I didn't realise what it was and so didn't note the error message that told me it had recovered from an error.

So this is the scenario now. My computer is back where it was - i.e. nowhere. The error appeared again, but with at least a little more of a clue as to where it comes from - and after 5pm, so I can't even call for support.

I will have to pick this up on Saturday most likely, fortunately they have a support open on the weekends.

Day Behind

So after yesterday's blog I have a feeling that this week I may be an entire day behind with each of my blogs. On the plus side, if this does happen and I don't have anything to talk about for the previous day, I can talk about the current day instead.

This time, however, I'll instead talk about the next day and the rest of the week, utterly reversing the trend. Tomorrow I have the afternoon off, and I am intending to spend it on the phone with the computer people to try and either get my PC working or - alternatively - get a collection organised for it to be fixed. Friday evening I will be going to a workmate's, along with other workmates, to have silly electronic-based fun and games. Very IT geeky, I know!

Another Miss

So yet again I was remiss yesterday with posting, odd considering I had again intended to and even had a few things to talk about. The first was that I had a very long Monday evening courtesy of not playing football - it's hard to get a 5-a-side game going when there are only 5 players available. It doesn't really work with just one side.

In the evening I had the obvious and very belated idea to move the nice powerful RAM from my stricken old computer into the old struggling downstairs computer. Like the shock to the system you would expect, it suddenly performs a lot better when you quintuple the RAM from 256MB by throwing in a 1GB stick.

Shame I didn't think of it a few weeks ago! Today, though, I have nothing to share from. Sorry!

Good and Bad

So I missed out on my blog yesterday which was a disappointment after a solid run. I had intended to do it, as well, but it just never happened. I put it off, forgot, then watched Match of the Day, had still not remembered and by then it was well past midnight and I went to bed.

So, a recap on yesterday in a Good/Bad format follows.

Good: My new computer arrived, and after much unpacking it was shiny.
Bad: After a quick call to identify the problem, it became apparent they'd failed to include a VGA/DVI adapter in the pack - i.e. I couldn't actually connect the monitor correctly to the graphics card, only into the motherboard (and it had to go via the graphics card).
Good: I managed to wander up the village and get a DVI lead within about ten minutes of this problem.
Bad: Had issues with the drivers for my wireless card. I needed to be online to get the correct ones to work with Windows 7, and couldn't connect to this without having the drivers for my wireless card.
Good: Managed to get them from my reserve computer, burn them onto a CD and then transfer onto my new computer. Worked a charm.
Bad: After returning to my computer after an interval of 10-20 minutes, there was no screen input.
Bad: On attempting to fix this and eventually having to just restart the machine, it wouldn't load Windows.
Bad: Further attempts to load Windows met with the same problem.
Bad: System Repair found no problems. There was clearly still a problem as nothing would start - not even the boot menu.

This does not bode well. To have this much collapsing within about three hours of using it suggests there may be a little problem here. Have a feeling I will be computerless for a good while again until this is sorted.

Plus Seven, Minus Thirty

So in another interesting date note, today marks two things, hence the pseudo-cryptic title today.

Firstly, seven up. In other words, today marks seven years that I've been with Chrissi. Quite a respectable achievement, I have to say. Not sure what the seventh anniversary theme is - anyone else aware of it?

The thirty down refers to the (allegedly very girly) countdown to our wedding. I didn't realise the groom wasn't allowed to look forward to it too! Anyway, 30 days to go - or if you prefer, one month as today is also the tenth! Astounding!

Home Again

Well, as promised yesterday Rachel is now home once more. It seems to be a case of settling straight back into the same old routine! Tomorrow evening we are going out for a meal, where we will also hear many stories of the last year I'm sure! She flew back on the shiny double-decker A380 from Singapore - although only on the lower deck! More on her experiences this time tomorrow.

Tonight was also poker, where I finished a respectable third place. In other notorious number news, this is the 136th blog this year - equalling my best ever annual tally. And it's only September too!

Enlarged Family

Tomorrow is potentially exciting as not only is it poker night - always a cause for excitement, as you can imagine - but also Rachel returns home. It's been a couple of weeks shy of two years that she has been away and by this point it'll be a shock for her to return, I'm sure!

While she is playing up how hard it will be and how little she wants to return, she's not really coming back for long. After a couple of weeks, she's going out to Turkey for her best friend's wedding - and then she arrives back from that the day before she flies out to the US for mine! It won't be until mid-October when she gets back properly, so there's at least another month of her travelling lark to come.

To bring this blog back to me, where it belongs, today was another rather long and somewhat boring day. I went for a run in the evening when I came home, which was a sign of success. I also received confirmation my computer is ready for dispatch, so that should be winging its way to me this weekend. All going according to plan, then!

Spurred On

Today at work was dominated by a very health-themed agenda, and I am not sure precisely why. Three of my colleagues at lunch encouraged each other into going to the local-ish gym and signing up for three months. A steep membership cost (£95 per month!?) but allegedly worth it, with nice facilities and so on.

I myself was not part of this dedicated gym fad. I know myself too well that it would be an utter waste of money, as I simply wouldn't get the gain out of it I should.

However, I do think it pushed me back into my own fitness regime as I went for a run again this evening. Successfully too, no aching knees to report, although I'm sure there's time for that before tomorrow's entry. The goal is to make it two days in a row, but we'll see how that goes as usual.

Blow By Blow Updates

So while I commented last week - although perhaps not here - about the somewhat amusing nature of receiving an automated status update at 3am about how my new computer was progressing, I am now going to switch to a more favourable viewpoint.

Both today and yesterday I have received updates as to the progress. First I got an update that it was being built. Today I got an update that it had finished being built and was now undergoing testing. On the order tracking on the site, not only can you see how it is progressing, but who is actually undertaking the various tasks. This is a nice touch.

At the current rate, it's likely that I'll have my computer for the coming weekend. This pretty much books out the weekend in getting it up and running, installing software, setting things up and basically then having done that, going back to full-time online procrastination.

Should be fun!

Wedding Jukebox Selection

So a rather arbitrary blog today, based on the discussion Chrissi and I are having about music and songs to pick for our wedding. We have about a week to make our minds up, having procrastinated on this for a little while. This gives me the fun of picking songs I like!

I already went through this concept once, when picking fantastic songs with deliberately silly names for the theme - for example, The Who's Won't Get Fooled Again, AC/DC's Highway to Hell and Meatloaf's I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That).

However, now I have to put on my more serious hat and pick a combination of songs that I like and are fantastic, because after all this is all about me - but also songs that are generally liked too and that other people will enjoy. Gives me something to think about and list this week! Although theoretically I've been doing that the last couple of weeks anyway ...

Improving Mundane Tasks

I admittedly spend most of the time trying to avoid mundane tasks and procrastinate around them instead. However, sometimes I need to actually make the effort - and try my best at the same time to make them fun where I can.

How do I do this, you may ask? Well, let us take cooking as an example. When cooking, I will typically have music on. Because I am a strange person I will therefore spend most of my cooking time actually dancing around the kitchen as well as cooking - before you know it, the meal is ready.

Tonight I took this to an altogether new level of awesomeness. Instead of having your typical music playing, I was instead cooking to the action theme from the latest series of Doctor Who. This gave it a worrying level of fun and comedy. I seriously suggest you try it.

That Friday Feeling

Today was once more a successfully completed Friday, which in turns marks another successfully completed week. Today, in fact, also marks exactly three years since I began my working life. Strange, doesn't feel anywhere near that long! Yet at the same time, it also feels like I've been working forever!

In another bizarre demonstration of how time flies, this weekend is also the last weekend before Rachel arrives back in the UK, having been on her travels for nearly a year! That'll be both really weird and really fantastic. In other weekend news, this weekend will not be when I get my new computer, as it's not been built yet. I anticipate next weekend now, and will be very disappointed it if it isn't considering the estimated 8-10 days and this coming weekend allowing for a total of 14 working days.

As I'm sure you were all concerned, my knee feels a lot better today but still mollycoddling it - so we'll see how it does tomorrow and may give it a bit of a run out then.

Pitiful Run

This post title is both accurate and a terrible pun. I started my plan yesterday with high hopes; however, I have done something quite painful to my knee to the extent that walking with any speed was quite inconvenient. With this in mind, I decided that a run today only to try and prove a point would be a needless exacerbation of whatever is troubling my knee and cause more issues in the long run.

So after a grand total of ONE DAY, my September Challenge fails - not due to my own motivation, surprisingly, but instead due to my knee. I wouldn't have actually bet on either of those endings!

To return to an frustratingly frequent yet irritating theme, I have to have a bit of a rant at the expense of the Evening Standard. This morning, there was an impressive serialisation of Steven Hawkings' newest book on the front of the Times. I read a snippet while waiting for my train - it seemed impressive. An outline of how laws such as gravity would on their own be sufficient for matter to coalesce, for spacial, solar and planetary bodies to be formed.

If this is the case - and being the world-leading expert on this, I suspect Hawkings would be the best placed to say so - it's a pretty momentous thing, laying down the foundations of the universe. Sadly, the only mention of this in the aforesaid paper this evening was the headline 'Vicar rejects Hawking's God theory'. Not only is this a truly bizarre way of reporting this story, but you do wonder on the credentials of said vicar to have such a knowledge of theoretical physics to be able to discredit the theory. Especially only based on a section of the book!

I suspect this one will be cropping up a lot more in the near future. For myself, I may get a copy of the book and try and understand the theories and think on it a bit before forming an opinion.

Not that I really need another book to read when I already have a queue, mind you, but I'm always interested in something new!

September Challenge

This is a random decision to make, however, I have decided that I will issue myself a September challenge. Mainly because today is the first of the month, and I need some motivation to push myself on things.

This challenge is twofold as follows:

1. I will, without fail and without excuses, go for a run every day. A proper run around my official 2-and-a-half-mile circuit. Stopping to wheeze is permitted.
2. I will, without fail and with excuses making up the bulk of the topics, post a blog post every day. This is nowhere near as challenging as the first, but at least some of them have to be interesting.

Besides that, there's nothing more to it. I will try my usual things of being social and/or being better with eating, but these are two definitive and measurable goals that I can - hopefully - achieve.

This post marks the first day successfully completed. On to the second!