I think it may be time...   It seems this blog has become a home to some of this:     And very little else!  So I'm guessing it might be time to pull the plug...?

12.12.06 23:19 Permalink / 7 Comments / comment

Purple Pantomime Purple Productions Proudly Present: THE PURPLE PANTOMIME SNOW WHITE and the SEVEN DWARVES As it's Christmas I thought It'd be fun to put together a ficticious cast of celebrities to star in a Christmas Pantomime. We need some celebrity names to fill all the positions, and I need your help with the casting. Snow White : The one and only FloatyKatja The Evil Queen : The Magic Mirror: Sneezy: Bashful: Dopey: Happy: Grumpy: Sleepy: Doc: The Hansome Prince: Sean Bean Let's try and keep it to British Actors and Actresses if we can. I'd like to nominate Brian Blessed for one of the dwarves, Happy maybe?

8.12.06 14:14 Permalink / 5 Comments / comment

This is me being mean... One of my team is celebrating his Birthday over the weekend, and in time honoured tradition I've bowed to peer pressure, and "trashed" his desk for him. I was fairly nice.... The balloons are attached with elastic bands, so they'll be easy to get off, and the sprinkles are "big" so they're easy to collect. Everyone in the office is prepared with some Party Poppers to "get" him when he comes in the office tho. That's about as mean as I'll allow myself to get, I have to lead by example don't ya know. In actual fact our desks are pretty messy anyway, we seem to be drowned in work at the moment. (My desk is just to the left of this picture for anyone who cares!) Notice all the phones around, those are the whizzy new IP Phones we're rolling out all over the place at the moment. (Ok, Geek moment over!!) Besides, I don't want them to do anything too bad to me at my next birthday! In other news, I managed to get some of my wrapping up done last night... hurrah... only another three or four weeks at this rate and I'll have everything wrapped. I've still got some shopping to do; hopefully I'll get it all finished this weekend, as I'm off on Monday again next week. I've also made a discovery... one of my relatives has always had a passion for this stuff: It's called Irish Mist (just in case the pic doesn't work for some reason), and it's a Whisky Liqueur. I've never tried it, and it seems to be fairly difficult to get in the UK. By some stroke of luck however, I found it in a supermarket, and so I bought a bottle for him as a Christmas Prezzie, and thought - "I wonder what all the fuss is about", so I also picked up a second bottle for myself, which I opened last night. By the time I'd finished wrapping and working last night (I was on the phone and on-line until about 11pm), I was in need of a tipple, and that just hit the spot. One splash of it in a glass and I was feeling quite warm and cosy! l It's really rather pleasant and more-ish, especially for those cold winter evenings. It's described as a Liqueur made from Whisky, Oats and Honey, and is extremely pleasant! I think I know what I shall be drinking this Christmas... now I plan to go back and see if I can get another bottle!

8.12.06 08:58 Permalink / 6 Comments / comment

I'm all excited now! I'm really looking forward to this.... http://www.skyone.co.uk/hogfather/  I can't wait, the trailers on TV look fantastic!

7.12.06 14:39 Permalink / 6 Comments / comment

Our Tree! Ok, so here it is! For everyone *ahem* who asked yesterday! Sorry for those that are "Seasonally Challenged", I promise no more Christmas themed blog entries this week!! It's stuck in the corner of the room in front of some bookshelves that we don't need to get to very often. The PC in the corner does have a legitimate purpose, other than to power the red and orange lights, I promise!

7.12.06 08:57 Permalink / 6 Comments / comment

To the Moon! I've just been having a heated discussion here in the office regarding Nasa's plans to build a manned base on the Moon. In my humble opinion this project is a good thing.  The main thread of the counterargument was that the amount of money that will be spent on achieving this would be better spent on other things. Why should we be reaching out to the moon when there are still starving people in some continents.  To a certain extent I can understand and agree with this, however my view is that the innovation required, and the challenge inherent in achieving a monumental feat such as this will give rise to all sorts of other technologies and inventions which will in time make our own lives easier or better. It's my belief that as a species we respond "best" to challenges such as this, where the goals are so challenging or outlandish, we have to work hard or stretch ourselves in order to hit the targets.  I can't come up with specific examples, but directly or indirectly, Nasa's research in to making strong frames or ceramic coatings for Shuttles from innovative new materials, Aluminium, Carbon Fibre, Ceramics, etc. have had implications over the years in all sorts of areas from Cars to conventional Aviation, and manufacturing processes.  Research in to new fuels or other propulsion for shuttles, and similar areas of research have the potential to be world changing. Sure, it's going to cost a shedload of money, Sure, we may even fail!  But for me much of the point of such a journey is the journey itself, and the associated discoveries along the way. I feel the same about the British attempts at space exploration.  Ok, so our economy is much smaller than the US, and so the sums available for us to fund such speculative investment is proportionately lower, but we still benefit from it in the longer term. I only wish that such things would be more international in their outlook.  I'd like to see talent across the world get involved in a project like this, and all nations to reap the benefits from the research.  Like it or not, we are close to becoming a WORLD nation now, and as citizens of our planet, if we could only grow up and get over the internal bickering, disputes, and squabbling that lead to so much of the conflict that has such a high cost in lives and to the economies of nations that can ill afford it, we could achieve so much more.

6.12.06 12:34 Permalink / 1 Comment / comment

Misleading Pricing? Ok, so here I am, first day back in at work after a 3 day break (NOT counting the weekend, hurrah!) 213 e-mails processed by 10:30, not bad going! Right, on to the phone messages now!  First job is one I'm not looking forward to, I've gotta let down a very agressive supplier, and tell them that I've given the contract to someone else!  I know this guy isn't going to be happy.  Still, it's business, and shit happens, right?  (ooh Hurrah, had to leave him a voicemail!) I'm all Christmassified now, is it too early to put up the Christmas Tree in the office?  When do you think I should put decorations up at home? I've bought some bottles of good champagne for the guys that work for me as a personal thankyou for all their hard work this year.  The more I think about it, the more I feel that Oddbins have ripped me off. This is Bollinger bubbly, and the sign said "1 bottle £31, 6 bottles £26 each"  Now I bought ten bottles, so what SHOULD I have paid? I was charged £280, which worked out to be six at £26 and four at £31. I think I should have gotten all ten for £26 or £260 in total, don't you?  They weren't advertising it in multiples of 6, although to be fair it didn't say 6 or more for £26 each.    On reflection I should have just bought 12 bottles for £312, shouldn't I!  How would you have read that pricing in the shop?   I think the way they were advertising it was rather misleading either way!

6.12.06 10:47 Permalink / 2 Comments / comment

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