Odd Thomas Odd Blog

I think I might be earning myself a reputation in the office block, though perhaps not a good one! I have the good fortune to work for a company that doesn't mind what you wear to work, so long as you wear business dress when visiting customers - a good philosophy, I think. Of course, this is within reason - wouldn't want people turning up in their bathing costumes in Summer. Certainly not with this lot: 5 guys and 1 lady, none of whom I have any desire to see even an inch of flesh, thank you very much. Yesterday, I wore these brown casual shoes which started to make my instep ache, so I took them off for most of the day. It was such a nice feeling, that I didn't bother putting them back on when I went to the gents. Normally, you would expect that putting yourself in a position to get hurt is just tempting fate, but not one puddle or scout stone did my sock-clad feet find - try saying that pished! It had to happen, someone entering the gents just as I was about to lea...

One of the first things I did when I bought my new computer ... broke it ... re-installed it ... broke it again ... repaired it (I said I was in IT, not good at IT) ... was to sign up for the SETI@Home project. I know, I know, there's a good possibility we'll never see anything come of this in my lifetime ... but aren't you just that little bit curious? Not even just a teeeeeny little bit? Well, I am! Mind you, perhaps we should be looking for something a little closer to home. We could call it Settee @Home and start with calculating the average intelligence of the couch potato; though as names go, it sounds more suitable for a project to work out the best way of providing instructions for flat-pack furniture. And before anyone complains about signing up for what, in their mind, is a worthless exercise, I've also signed up for Rosetta@Home ... so ... nerrrrr!

I don't know what it is, but there must be something about me that attracts unwanted attention, and its not like I'm wearing outrageous clothes or jumping up and down like Donkey shouting "Pick me! Pick me!". If there is anyone out there hoping for the least attention, it is me. That said, why am I blogging?? Hmmm... Anyway, if I'm not being followed by security guards, stopped by police (that dog had an attitude problem), or 'Raaaaaaar'd at by little chav lings, then its babies. Not following me, mind - that would be really freaky if they leapt out of their prams and started crawling after me like little Chucky wannabes. No, with babies, its staring. Non-stop. Without blinking. How do they do that?!?! Two babies in two days, both with blonde hair and massive blue eyes (much like this little looker ), have had some kind of strange fascination with me. Odd little things. Made me feel a tad broody though ... but only a tad.

I hope I am not tempting fate by saying this, but since moving offices to Tring, I have discovered a wonderful thing, something only ever heard of in urban myths ... teenagers with manners! The first time I experienced this was a shock. I can only liken it to the first time you catch your parents practising their own unique version of the Kama Sutra: you're glued to the spot, dumb-struck, wondering if you've over-done the Red Bull and your senses have gone into overdrive. It only lasts for a second as you mentally adjust to a new view of the world, and then its old news; though in this case, it actually left me happy. Of course, I've never been out in Tring at night, so I don't know how different things are to the daytime. However, I have been out in Berkhamsted at night, with the naive belief that such a high brow place would be similar to Tring, and that it would be a nice place filled with nice people. Wrong. Coming out of the town hall after salsa last Friday, I ...

As I think I mentioned before, I've been looking forward to the release of the PS3, but with the glitches and the delayed launch I figured I would leave it until later in the year - which also helps with studying due to fewer distractions! Anyway, today I got my first glimpse of the console for real when I walked past the Sony Centre and saw their display machine ... and couldn't help thinking they were playing into the hands of the XBox 360 or Wii camps or the Sony nay-sayers. Can anyone else think of another phrase for "Dummy Console"?!?!

So, finally the day arrives for the PS3 launch. I've been looking forward to this for a long time, though I'm still going to wait a few months before I get one - don't want to get distracted from my studies! According to the BBC , the London launch at the Virgin store in Oxford Street started at midnight last night, where everyone who bought a PS3 also received a FREE 46-inch HD TV!! How jealous am I ?!?! Bugger!

Anyone who knows me, knows that I totally hate being unshaven: I am of the opinion that I could model for a Crimewatch photo-fit when I haven't had a shave for a couple of days. Just stick a beanie on my head, and perhaps a scar down one side of my face, and the picture would be complete. And yet here I am, sporting a short goatee ! For the past year, I have gotten used to the idea of shaving every other day as it gives my skin a break from all that scraping, so shaving when you have a couple of days growth is ideal for experimentation ... which is exactly what I did last night. I've experimented before, but then continued to shave everything off. Last night, I thought I would leave it for the night to see how I felt about it this morning, figuring that I would be getting rid of it anyway. What I didn't take into account, which you would think I should know by now, is that I wouldn't get up to the multitude of alarms I have going off around the flat ... hey, I like ...

Woohoo! Got home today to find a cheque for £100 from Canon as part of their cashback campaign for buying their fantastic 30D camera. Okay, so its not the lottery jackpot ... and the price of the camera has plummetted since I bought it ... but hey! Just need to learn how to take decent pics now!

The astute amongst you will notice that I have now added a page counter so we can all have a laugh over how few hits I get ... lets face it, its not exactly the Comedy Store here, is it?! I figured that the only time the counter would go up, would be when I previewed a post, making me popular with myself, which just isn't right. So imagine my surprise when I discovered that I had two visits today that were not caused by me! A whole TWO visits! Cheers, Cath ! :-)

My Mum can be one of the funniest people I know, and often comes out with little nuggets that keep me chuckling for days. Unfortunately, its not intentional! Unlike others I know of their age, my parents have embraced technology and regularly buy goods and gadgets that make their lives simpler or more exciting. In fact, they are now ahead of me technology-wise, and I work in IT! The latest gadget to hit the household is a webcam. For the past few years, I have been pushing the idea of them getting a cam so we can still 'see' each other when I can't visit for long periods, but its taken the brothers and sisters having the same tech to motivate them to take this step. Installing the camera yesterday, we hit the point where the microphone was to be configured, and a window was displayed with a button in the middle stating 'Click to configure mic'. What would you do if presented with this option? Click the button. Not my Mum. In that strange older-person's logi...

What a long couple of days. Awake at 4am Thursday morning, peeking through the gaps between my eyelids, to sort myself out for the trip to Glasgow. I'm not a great one for travelling, mostly because I don't do it all that often, so I spent most of Wednesday in the gent's. For the time being though, I was distracted, so I managed to get myself sorted out pretty quickly. My bag was packed, but it was certainly the lightest I had ever travelled. Having never been through the new security checks, I worried about taking toiletries so figured I would see if I could get some travel ones when I got to Glasgow. All my bag contained was: My folder with all the documents in I would need, along with a memory key with copies of the scripts 1 shirt 1 tie (couldn't wear the same tie twice!) 2 boxers 2 pairs of socks 1 toothbrush I don't even travel this light when I go to my parents for two nights! Through security at Luton just after 6 without setting off any alarms: hoorah!...

Is it fair, when asked if you have a problem with flying, to respond with "Only if we fall out of the sky"? Okay, I didn't actually say that, but I did think it. My mouth seems to be working on automatic, with generic phrases like "Yeah, that's fine" and "Not a problem" popping out in place of inappropriate witticisms. Which is a shame, cos when I want to be funny, my mind blanks ... so I must have a strong desire to amuse, as I draw a blank most of the time!! It seems that next week, my boss and I are flying off to sunny wee-Glasgee to train another bod in the technical aspects of the application I developed: I can't say 'we' as there was only one developer ... me! This should be interesting as I haven't done any work on the app for over a month now, so a refresher is in order next week, me thinks. All of which means we can look forward to the free-for-all window seat-grabbing, that nervous feeling you get as you realise you are...

Did anyone see Panorama last night? "Go Green or Else" I believe was the title. I only caught a very small snippet as I was supposed to be studying, and it goes to show how good my timing can sometimes be to catch this little gem... Justin Rowlatt and his family were tasked with going green for a year. The point I came in was where Justin was picking out a live turkey which was to be the family's last bit of meat. For some reason, they named it (we'll call him Ken, as I can't remember what they actually called him). Show a shot of Justin picking out the turkey and presenting it to the guy that was going to kill it. Cut to the kitchen table, the family eating dinner, and the little girl pipes up: "Where's Ken?" "On your plate" came the all-too-blunt reply Welcome to the real world, kid!

...it's been a while since I last posted an entry... Happy New Year!!

For a while now, I've been considering a career change: policeman, photographer, builder, gardner, anything that would be a complete change from my current work, something fresh. Today, I realised that I could create a totally new role: Zit Farmer! Okay, it wouldn't really make me much of a living but I could win awards for sheer size. Currently, I have managed to cultivate two - one just under my mouth and one on the side of the bridge of my nose - and both would rival Rudolph's nose on a foggy night! That just gave me a mental image of flying through the air being whipped by Santa...very disturbing! *shudders* AAAAANYWAY! Spots. As you've probably grasped by now, these aren't the little ones that can be executed by a little squeeze and a quick face wash, and I'm not talking about the face-volcanos that explode over the mirror with the slightest squeeze and a satisfying crunch - graphic maybe, but you know what I'm talking about. No, these are the ones...