Odd Thomas Odd Blog

Just lately, I've been spending a liiiiiittle too much cash ... possibly using the up-and-coming holiday as an excuse!! The latest addition to the shopping trolley is a Sigma 70-300mm APO DG Macro lens, which arrived today. Admittedly, its not the one I originally wanted, but I don't really want to be taking an expensive lens away with me and it is my first zoom lens, so I forked out for the cheap version to get some experience before I get the better one. Unfortunately, you can tell this is the cheap version! Okay, I've probably been spoiled by paying for silent drive motors and image stabilisation in the past, so hearing this lens grind and wheeze its way to focus like an asthmatic nympho came as something of a shock. However, you get what you pay for, and I paid for something to feel comfortable travelling with, so I took a little hike out into the country at lunchtime to try it out... Tring Church Poppies Ahoy! Purple Plumes Tomorrow, I can look forward to the snorkel...

Blimey, I've only gone and done it! "Done what?" I hear you ask. I've only gone and joined the Facebook revolution ... well, more of a band-wagon than a revolution, really! I had joined a couple of months ago, but decided that I didn't need yet another site to maintain, so dropped the account within a few minutes. Then I overheard a number of friends discussing it at the BBQ at the weekend and figured I might as well try it again ... it had to be better than the abysmal MySpace experience I had a couple of months ago: in their defense, I happened to pick a day when they were having overload problems. Darn it if I'm not now addicted and distracted!! But how long before the initial addiction wears off and it becomes just another site with not a lot happening?? Only time will tell... One thing I didn't realise is that there is something of a class war going on between Facebook and MySpace . Apparently, MySpace attracts the more hip'n'happening c...

For my birthday this year, my cousin bought me a great t-shirt with the phrase 'I see Dumb People' emblazoned across it, which I am considering either having blended with my skin as a permanent fixture or copied as a tattoo! Okay, in fairness, I can occassionally be one of those dumb people if I'm not thinking straight, but working in IT you get to meet more than your fair share of people who managed to somehow stumble into the gene pool. Yesterday, I had a call out of the blue from a customer we had finished doing work for three months ago, wondering where we were with fixing an issue they raised in May. Um ... considering we responded with a series of questions and never heard anything back, we're not likely to be anywhere with it, are we?! Especially as they are not paying us for support!! *sigh* Anyway, I said I would look into it and asked them to send me the creation scripts for the database configuration in order that I could duplicate the situation in developm...

Cor blimey guv'nor, 'as it been that long since last we spoke?!?! I guess I've been a bit out of it lately, disappearing off on one of my lows. Or as my old friend Michelle would say, off having my monthlies: all the mood swings only without the gore. Unfortunately, I've been pretty quick to anger these past couple of weeks, and have snapped at my family, my colleagues and my boss, though there is still a part of me that thinks one or two of them deserved it! As I went to see the docs about my asthma which has been playing up for the first time in about five years (so I am now back on the ventolin *sigh*), I figured I should ask about my mood problems. He felt that it wasn't family that was the problem, but work (won't argue with that), and said I need to take some time out ... what a stroke of luck, as I'm off to Sri Lanka next week for my cousin's wedding! Though if I don't come back in a better mood, I need to go back and see him... So, I guess a...

Sorry, but this posting is going to be a whinge! Hopefully, that old addage of a problem shared is a problem halved will be true - so as I appear to have four consistent readers, perhaps it will be quartered?!?! Just lately, things have not been going all that well: a couple of weeks ago my washing-machine-slash-tumble-dryer went tits up for the fourth time, giving me an F-13 error again; my Wii gave me not just a disc read error, but a proper full-on error, followed closely by the replacement I got last night; and my home computer now reboots itself after five minutes with an error and no warning of what caused it. Add to this a customer that doesn't have a clue what they want and a boss who [edited rant here!] and I'm sure you get an idea why I'm reaching the end of my tether. Oh, and there is a REALLY annoying alarm going off outside the offices at the moment, that doesn't want to stop. All of which explains why I currently have a face like a bulldog chewing a wasp!...

This morning, for some unfathomable reason, I joined the ranks of the breakfast club runners! Admittedly I was at the bottom of the heap as it took me nearly half-an-hour to run just over 2¾ miles - an awful time considering what I was managing last year. Anyone who knows me well, knows that I am not a morning person, so it is something of shock to actually be getting up at 6am. Despite the multitude of alarms that ring through my place first thing, it still takes me over an hour to drag myself out of bed after the first alarm taps at my sleepy head. I keep expecting Doc Emmett Brown to knock on my door to admire my clock collection ... either that, or the police to tell me to keep the noise down! Mind you, I did sleep through most of Pirates of the Carribean on Saturday, so I had probably caught up with what I needed! That's not to say it was a boring film, for all I know, it wasn't ... I wasn't really awake to make that judgement! So what triggered this gasp-inducin...

Pirates of the Carribean Cath's Birthday More Wii probs Running