Odd Thomas Odd Blog

...or the spark that ignites the rocket? Okay, a tad cryptic there but I'm sure you can work out that what is to follow on from today is either the start of everything going wrong or the start of a very exciting adventure ... I am REALLY hoping for the latter here!!! For a few years now, I've been getting a bit antsy about working in IT, whether because of frustrating colleagues, irritating customers or incompatible tech, amongst other things.  When we went through the TUPE transfer last September/October, I was offered what sounded like an amazing opportunity when compared to the cuts I would have to make if I stayed with my previous employer.  Who would turn down such an opportunity??? For the cynics amongst you: congratulations, you are right.  The amazing opportunity had all the substance of an air guitar and I have ended up essentially just doing support work on applications that are so badly coded they should be sent to bootcamp: the 'big project' I accepted...

Going home at the end of the working day seems to be something that other people do. It is rapidly approaching 8pm on a Friday night , by which time you guys will either be propping up bars or cuddling up on the sofa with something other than a hot cuppa ... and I'm still sitting in the office.  Waiting. With a semi-hot cuppa.  In a plastic cup. So much for going on a training run tonight. *sigh* Ah well, since I have some down time, it's probably a good opportunity to ramble aimlessly through another post.  If anything, I can at least take some joy in the fact that it will make my colleague have to stay longer than he wanted to, after just telling someone that I'm giving him a lift home ... and he hasn't even asked me if it's okay.  Cheeky fecker. Anyhoo, speaking of down time, last Sunday saw Pygmie and I back down at the bottom of Vobster Quay quarry, in water cold enough to instantly chill a six-pack ... and certainly a darn sight more than that if i...

After the events of last week and the rather late night at work on Friday*, I figured on pretty much sleeping the whole of last weekend.  My body, on the other hand, had other ideas and decided to wake me at the unhealthy hour of 9:30am, my bladder nagging at me to shift my backside in the same way women nag their men: incessantly. With my body still not quite in gear, I headed back to bed, scooping up my not-so-white-any-more MacBook on the way so I could log on to see who was online.  Since it looked like the weather was going to be the best so far this year, it was time to make an effort to get out somewhere, even if I was supposed to be on call**.  Luckily, my mate Foshie was online, in the middle of getting ready for heading down to Brighton and invited me along.  Bingo! Despite this being a great photo opportunity, I was really keen on just chilling out, so pocketed my funky little camcorder, the Sanyo Xacti VPC-CA9 : Photo from the VPC-CA9 product page...

After the frustrations of work this week - and every other week since the beginning of March, if I were to be completely honest - taking Friday off for a day trip to London was a very much needed break. This wasn't a spur-of-the-moment trip as I can do that any weekend.  This was a trip with my cousin to the London Diving Chamber down at the Hospital of St John and St Elizabeth, St John's Wood, in order to undergo our Fit to Dive medicals as we both suffer with asthma , and ready for returning to diving this year along with an intended trip back to Sharm El Sheikh with Emperor Divers in October - Icelandic volcanic ash permitting! * As per the medical back in 2008, it was a general discussion about our asthma and a few tests, such as spirometry tests , pee tests and nervous tests, the last of these being to ensure I have no problems with musculature control, not to see how I react to the doc shouting "Boo!" at me from various angles.  In case you were wondering...

When I first announced back in February that I had gotten through the general ballot for this year's Great North Run , the first question I was asked - with distinct undertones of irony - was when I would start training.  Still bouyed by getting through the ballot and raring to go, my immediate response was, "Next month!" Hmmmm.  I guess the person who asked the question knows me better than I thought as the next month came and went in a bit of a blur and the most I was able to do was repeat, "Next month" to myself whenever I thought about starting. Well, April is the next month and I finally took the opportunity provided by the Easter break to crack open the new Nike+ kit and don my rather grubby trainers* for the calibration run.  I figured a nice one mile run followed by a 500 metre walk would sort the new kit out.  Well, it did, but it nearly sorted me into the back of an ambulance at the same time. It's been two years since I last ran anything mo...

Don't you think?

About 1.5 weeks ago, I started working at another customer location, leaving my friends and colleagues behind for a new adventure; unfortunately, the work seems to be following me, even if the people aren't! During this time, I think I have learned some pretty valuable lessons... 'Teamwork' is insular Up until now, I've had development environments all to myself.  Being the only Immediacy and .NET developer in my previous position meant that I could work on any code/project without impacting on anyone else's work, or vice versa. I was King of my domain ... alas no more :-( Now, it's more like a civilised playgroup, where the 'kids' play with the things that keep them happy which ends up annoying others who, instead of showing their frustration by bashing the culprits round the head with plastic toys (which you have to admit would be fun to watch), instead express themselves with various sighs, grunts and gestures that would make a Neaderthal feel a...