One Out Of Three

This week is a shortened week, with only three days of work. Three days is not precisely accurate - more accurate is 2.625 as New Year's Eve the required work time is only five hours, as we finish at 3pm (or 2pm if you start on the earlier shift).

Having completed one, it is an utter waste of time and I managed to get so little actually done today it is shocking. Barely anyone is in, those who are in aren't that motivated or fussed and it is quite clear that the entire purpose of the day is to do rather little.

I did get some things accomplished. I think this put me far ahead of anyone else. Only 1.625 days remaining in the week!

Pre-Christmas Countdown

So it is four days until Christmas, today being both the shortest day of the year and the Winter Solstice - all good facts.

The snow that has been around for a few days is now starting to abate, and walking around seems a little easier. Transport was running better today, although I will miss my far more convenient snow-adjusted timetable as we return to normal tomorrow. However, I am not missing the benefits of the buses, after walking both in and back to the station yesterday and finding the sitting down approach far easier.

Among other events that have happened since my last blog, I've done my Christmas shopping - successful, attended the work Christmas do - entertaining, and also met up with people - enjoyable.

The Christmas party was fairly standard for work Christmas events - we had a private area of a club/bar in Clapham. It wasn't bad, although the food was overhyped and the music was pretty mediocre - even by club standards. I stayed late with a couple of others as I was sleeping on a generously lent sofa nearby. This meant I returned in the midst of the snow on Saturday, but it wasn't too hard getting home.

Last night - what with Mark and Sophie back down south - I headed to meet them and others who also put in appearance after work, which was an enjoyable evening of talking, entertainment and randomness! It was good to see people again, although some I have naturally seen rather more recently than others. Possibly other social things will take place this week what with people being more around, but as I'm working all week I may not be partaking in them quite so much as I would like!

Unexpected Pub Trip

So having announced that I had absolutely nothing planned for today and that my sole plan - if that - was to return home and do some Christmas shopping online, plans suddenly developed!

I ended up going into London for drinks with work and former work people. It was a good idea and an enjoyable evening and the joy of doing this next to Waterloo is that it's very easy for me to get home from. It took me a little over 45 minutes to get from the pub to my home, which is definitely pleasing.

Besides the return journey, which was admittedly not the highlight, it was an enjoyable evening and good to catch up with people. Person is more accurate than people, considering that there were only three of us total in attendence, illness, laziness and compulsive working claiming the other possible attendees. However, that does not detract from the fact that it was still an enjoyable way to spend an evening.

Not Faking

Today was a pretty busy day at work, although as I look back I can't actually think of anything specific that I either did or accomplished.

However, it was considerably more satisfying than the usual. Someone towards the end of the day noted that I'd been running around a fair bit today and wondered what was going on. I'd said that it was a few things coming together at once - but what a joy it was to actually have things to do and fill the day without having to go through the tedious rigmarole of feigning busy activity for an entire day simply because you don't have much to do!

Raging Dreams

So this morning I was quite tired for little clear reason, but it did mean some hilariously confused dreams as I flitted between sleep and waking. I can ony remember one of these with any clarity.

This involved me standing with someone at the head of a queue in a restaurant or possibly a bar - it's unclear. There were a couple of giggling teenage girls immediately behind us, who were nudging and walking into us and finding this hilarious. After my companion said a couple of times 'excuse me' each time they did it, hinting it might be impolite ... I took the reasoned response of turning around, arms wide, yelling in their faces that they had been told to move back twice, are they that inconsiderate and to show some manners. I thought this was a perfectly reasonable reaction and was utterly unfussed by everyone continuing to stare at me for the remainder of the meal.

Good dream. I have a nagging feeling I may have had some underlying anger issues I wanted to get out there ...

Tired Monday

Today saw a record third or fourth consecutive no-football on Monday - this time both voluntarily and enforced, as I was never going to play after an ill weekend, and then it was cancelled after that anyway.

I've been home for approximately an hour, it's just gone 8:20 and I am ... really quite tired. It's hard to understand why considering that I didn't have an exceptionally tiring day - busy, perhaps, and not deathly quiet, but nothing especially to warrant this level of sleepiness! It's certainly the after-effects of the weekend illnesses. I have a feeling that an early night might be in order tonight!

Homepage

It's not much of a leap of logic to realise that my recent blogging slacking has coincided with me simply leaving my computer on at length. It's probably been on for a couple of weeks now. As I usually blog because it's the first thing I see on my homepage, this is probably why it hasn't been happening when my browser window is left open!

Today I am again approaching the task of tackling the Christmas list. Not much inspiration on my own part, besides the fantastic 'How To Train Your Dragon' film which is now out. Probably some CDs and books to round it off, but not much in addition to that. What I may well do is ask for vouchers at places where Chrissi and I can buy useful home-like things in the future, which is something that may be required!

Any suggestions people make of things that I might like too are appreciated.

Health and General Update

On commenting on Facebook, I realised that I haven't posted for a few days and nor have I provided an appropriate level of update.

The health is a note just because I was off sick on Friday and this seems like the most appropriate point to start. Skip to the red text to avoid the details. I have some nasty throat infection that was resulting in me staying up all Thursday night coughing up some very bloodied mucous. To say I didn't feel good come Friday morning would be accurate! Safe to read again from here without gruesome details! There has been something going around at work, but after a couple of days of rest, being unusually sensible and some cough medicine I feel better at least!

In other events, it is coming up to Christmas, with the various festivities involved in this too. I haven't got a clue what I want in gifts, and nor do I know what others want either. However, as the dedicated reader will have seen this every year for the past six years on this blog, I won't dwell on this point.

One thing I did miss due to my illness was a team bowling event, which having talked to someone it wasn't that exciting so I can cope with that. Noone made severe fools of themselves. Which brings me neatly onto the work Christmas party, which is next Friday. As someone who doesn't drink, these are utterly hilarious events as I am one of the few - if not the only one - with a good memory for what happened.

This Thursday just gone was the poker final for 2010, where I started as chip leader and after a topsy-turvy game when I went up and down and up and then down again, I eventually finished second. A third consecutive year in the top two was good, but it was mitigated by failing to defend my title!

Also this week, one thing that did get done was that the documentation was submitted to the British Consulate in Los Angeles for Chrissi's visa application. This completes the final detail that needed to be submitted, following the actual application and her biometric details. I've no idea how long it will take to wait before we find out - people keep asking me - but rest assured, people will know when we find out whatever the result.

Let's hope it's soon and that it's positive!

Hypocrisy Under Pressure

I am sure that someone has undoubtedly said it with far more elegance than I, but it is far easier to condemn behaviour in another than to take the same approach upon enacting the same.

I am referring with this to the current WikiLeaks scandal, and in particular some of the reaction to it. While there is much about the release of the information that is questionable, on the face of it there is no different in this release compared to others in times past. What has changed is the scope of technology changing the volume of what can be easily revealed, and the method of dispersion.

Without modern technology allowing for hundreds of thousands of files to be readily copied and transported, and the internet allowing a convenient place for the dissemination of this information, we are in the same place as every leak throughout history. Had these leaks been passed through folios of paper and published entirely through the printed press, would the reaction have been the same? Would the urge to deny finance and lodging to printing companies be deemed appropriate to punish them for their revelations?

The predominant issue to me is that of hypocrisy. Let noone doubt that the United States of America is passionately against abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press. However, government figures have brought significant pressure to bear to impugn this very freedom. Following the arrest of WikiLeaks' Julian Assange, he seems likely to be transported beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offenses.

Had this leak been of sensative Chinese materials, and the story published in Xinhua and hosted on Baidu, and had the Chinese authorities acted to ensure this material was removed from these sites - again, let noone doubt that the United States' stance would have been passionately opposed to this outrageous 'censorship' of our mirror scenario.

The hypocrisy is unsurprising, but it is nevertheless still disquieting.

Already?

While admittedly it is by now the seventh of December, I had not realised that it was sneaking ever close to Christmas.

The impending holiday season was pointed out to me this evening when I arrived home to my first Christmas card of the year, from Carisa (many thanks). I need to do several things this means, I suppose - send my own cards to people, get presents, get a list of things I want for myself (always a tricky task).

That's about all I can think of right now ...

Launch Day

So this evening was the launch of the latest World of Warcraft expansion, Cataclysm. This does look moderately exciting and I'm looking forwards to getting grips to new content within a short while of it actually being live, as opposed to catching up several months later (like I have with all the previous versions).

The amusing factor is that predictably, under the weight of players desparate to get on and start their levelling (waiting until tomorrow just WON'T do!) - the login servers have collapsed. I am not particularly fussed at this, but the thought of millions of players around Europe angrily raging at their computer does make me giggle.

Highlights of the Week

So as I commented earlier in the week, it's been snowing. This got worse towards the tail end of the week, with some heavier snowfall on the Wednesday night (about 6" or so) which settled. I was working from home on Thursday, and made it into work on the Friday.

As opposed to recapping the week on a day-by-day basis, I thought I'd instead change tacks and do some nominal awards for acts of comedy and blatant stupidity that I've seen the past couple of days:

... Worst Travel Updates
In hindsight it is quite clear that the website of the buses I use is not very well updated. On Thursday, they were allegedly running. Not a single bus went past. Prepared for this, on the Friday, it said they were not running - which sounded more believeable. Except that in both directions a bus went past me. So much for not running!

... Best Reduced Service
I was delighted by the news that the trains were suffering a reduce service and running a special snow timetable. This may sound confusing, but my typical route, the Hampton Court line, was down. Instead, they decided to take the slow train from Woking and give that additional stops. As I get this train normally and have to change at Surbiton, I got to work in the same time without having to bother changing trains. On the way home, the exact same was also the case. It was phenomenally lazy.

... Most Appropriate Emergency Call
This is a story you may have seen previously, but it deserves reposting. A woman from Chatham (where else?) phoned 999 to inform police that her snowman had been stolen from her garden. In her defense, it did have pound coins for the eyes, and £2 is a lot of money ... if you're from Chatham. For the full story, do check out this link, it's entirely worth it.

... Best Weather-Related Decisions
Two contenders for this award:

#1 is the cyclist I saw going down my road on Friday morning, a road not gritted and not fully clear, not covered in snow but very icy. When you consider that my road is a hill - and the part I saw him on was moderately steep at least - it's probably not the brightest move.

#2 and the clear winner is a woman I saw at Raynes Park after leaving work on Friday evening. As I wandered towards the station, I notice that she was wearing a dress with bare legs as she queued for the ATM - a smart move in the cold, but not stupid on its own. Until I then saw she was wearing high heels too, for added grip. I walked past the queue for the cashpoint and got to the traffic lights, and idly glanced back mentally calling her an idiot already, when I saw that the dress was one that had a deep cut down the back so she was mostly bare-backed as well. Not the most well considered garment choice!

... Surprising Common Sense
Shockingly I'm going to take this one myself for my intelligent choice when walking home on Friday evening. I was starting to take the route down the canal until I realised that it was horrendously icy, and as soon as I got out of the main street lights I realised visibility was very poor. Icy path and poor visibility right next to the canal? This was a terrible idea. I took a different route home. Sometimes I can defeat stubbornness.

That's it from me for now, more next week.