Twenty-three

Today I celebrate having existed for twenty-three years. The word celebrate is used lightly, as I don't do anything particularly special to mark the occasion - which suits me perfectly. As with Christmas, I don't know what I want so I don't ask for anything. Nice and simple.

This year I received money as usual from my parents and grandparents. My sister bought me the Peter Sellers Pink Panther Film Collection. This includes the five films he was in, some of the cartoons, documentaries and other little goodies - spread out over six DVDs. I love the cartoons, though still find the films very funny. As an extra, my folks bought me a book called Animation Art which features the history of cartoon, animé & CGI animation. In the past I had seen a documentary charting the history of animation and the book looks like an in-depth version of this documentary. This'll keep me busy...

You're probably wandering what the two little cartoon characters are. Click them. This is a totally random sketch drawn for me by Emily, a cartoonist in America who created The Peeps. Just a little fun - I'm flattered to be honest :)

Well that's about it for today. Another thing I don't celebrate in any big way is New Years. Big deal, those who think I'm boring and dull for it will get over it in time. My intention is to be in bed reading more of The Rain Maker by John Grisham. Haven't read it before and it has been keeping me up late into the morning for the last few nights. This is one I've borrowed from Tom's large collection ((he's a fellow Grisham fan and doubles up as my boss)).

Christmas 2004

Already it's only two days before my 23rd Birthday and six days before I return to work. Fifteen days before my college thesis presentation. Holidays go by far too quickly if you're me. Christmas is no exception. I'm sure it happens to the majority of us but having decided on a list of things to do, some being more important than others, it's unlikely there'll be many, if any, crossed out on my list. Part of the problem might be that I suffer from mild burnout due to long periods of frenzied work interspersed between moments when there seems to be nothing to do at the office. There are those in this world who'd love nothing more than not to have to do any work but I'm not one of them and instead my reaction is to wind up and grow increasingly frustrated. No such thing as nothing to do in my office. No such thing at all. There'll always be a pile of work I haven't been given yet, which I should have been given weeks ago, that I'll be given at the last minute. Therefore in the evenings and most weekends I honestly don't have the willpower to do anything. Same goes for holidays. Sadly.

Christmas isn't about gifts
This season I only bought one present, for my sister. I don't believe in a need to buy people gifts for the sake of it being Christmas and prefer to buy useful gifts where possible. My parents never want anything which is difficult for me as I often feel bad about how much they do for me and how little I seem to do in return. I don't have the sorts of friends one would buy presents for, which is a mixed blessing I suppose.

I'm easy because I never ask for anything. I always receive a cheque from my parents and to my surprise I'm still receiving money from my grandparents; more this Christmas than ever before. I received a £50 note from the office, which is step in the right direction for the £1100 or so they owe me still. Mum keeps up the tradition of buying Naomi and I two Terry's Chocolate Oranges. Naomi bought me a book.

My Thesis
I've done some work on my thesis and will probably try to finish most of that off before I start work on the 4th. Luckily my sister agreed to help me conduct a Roding grid survey of the land on which the proposed building is to be situated. She was remarkably patient with me considering she didn't have to do this when it should have been my colleagues. Lazy bastards. Just have to keep reminding myself that for all the work they're not doing, I'm earning more and more marks. For them to simply say "oh yes that's good Matthew" isn't doing themselves any justice. We're presenting for a planning application on the 13th and I'm hoping everything goes smoothly - it'll be a little embarrassing if I get a refusal though a conditional acceptance would be alright. I'm aiming for unconditional.

The movies
I've been to see The Phantom of the Opera and The Incredibles both of which being very different yet come as highly recommended & essential viewing.

Technology et al
Trillian Pro 3 has been released and is a nice upgrade, visually. There are, however, some major flaws with the software. MSN and ICQ transfers are still buggy and video calls aren't working, so I have to switch to the real MSN client for those. There are several other minor bugs or missing features, such as there being no option to disable notification alerts for individual users and no global option for the default size of toolbars. A lot of the changes to the software where a waste of time and sadly Cerulean Studios are running the risk of going down the path of the official AIM, ICQ, MSN and Yahoo! clients in terms of bulk. Trillian was not only about bringing the different mediums into one single client but also relieving the user of pointless bulk and on that count, they're slipping.

deviantART has been suffering technical difficulties lately with Notes and Comments being sucked into the vacuum of virtual space. Christmas is a terrible time of the year to have issues on websites of this scale. Still, with any luck they'll fix the issues and content will start to reappear once again...

I've been playing Lord of the Rings : The Battle for Middle Earth which is incredibly cool. Sadly I've just reached a stage that has me stuck in my tracks. No matter, I'll work it out someday. Armies of Exigo sits here on my desk waiting to be played which may happen soon if LotR continues giving me too much grief. I partook in the closed beta for Armies of Exigo and was greatly impressed with it's solid traditional RTS game play and beautiful graphics. I must admit these are games I've acquired online via torrents, although this means of sharing data is slowly being attacked by the MPAA. Thankfully it's impossible to collapse the technology without turning off the Internet and let's face it, that's never going to happen.

So...
I hope you're all enjoying the season, whatever it is you make of Christmas, and that you spare a thought for our friends in the East who are suffering at the hands of nature's awesome power.

Blogging future

I can seeeeee the future!!!

I'm going to stop being lazy in future with my blog posts and try being a little more creative/constructive with my writing. That's about it really. Hope everyone has had a good Christmas.

survey

My sister and I head for Plymouth this afternoon and conducted the first stage of the survey I need to complete as part of the college thesis. We conducted a rodding survey to a 10m grid from which I'll be able to calculate contours and have sufficient data to slice the site up as I please. I'll have to go back another day to collect other data and to relate it all from one of two nearby benchmark stations nearby but for now at least; I have the most important information I need. Aren't I lucky to have such an amenable sister?

rambles...

My sister Naomi returned home this week, from University to spend Christmas with the family. She is spending most of her time eating and using the Internet, though sadly her computer has died and she has to use mum's computer.

Work has been hectic - I've had quite a lot on my plate. Windward House is an old persons retirement slash nursing home and we're designing two new wings that triple the overall size of the building. There's Roborough Surgery which requires a whole new administration suite, along with additional surgery/treatment rooms. It's a remodelling exercise as well as being a large extension project - and being a surgery required to keep its doors open - everything has to be phased ((not fun trying to work out)). There were smaller bits and pieces here and there but the biggest problem has been the random absence of the secretary; leaving me to drop everything to answer the phone every five minutes and listen to people complain about the two partners. Joy..........

I reached new levels of pain with my fellow project members, regards the college thesis we're working on ((and the other project team come to think of it)). The area needs surveying and yet still no one wants to do anything about it - leaving me having to do it sometime before we reconvene next year to make our submissions. Great! No really... *sigh* On Thursday they spent the morning moaning about the prospect of having to do some work, before running off to the pub for the afternoon. This course isn't cheap - you'd think they'd at least try. No matter, uber marks for me...this whole thing is thankfully marked individually so the more work I'm lumbered with serves me better in the long run. Perhaps the others should consider this?

Back at home, our kitchen has now got a new tiled floor and it's looking very smart indeed. The boiler cupboard door and the skirting boards under the work-units need trimming because the floor is now higher than it used to be but otherwise everything is now finished. This morning I've woken up to find that my back is dead, having shifted the washing machine back into the kitchen from the hall. Problem with this is that I was hoping to get out and survey this plot of land ((for the college thesis)) this afternoon so it's done and out the way. I've enlisted the help of my sister. Not sure I'm feeling up to it right now, so I may ask for time out of work to do it ((seeing as the office are paying for the course)). See how I feel after lunch...

OH the pain X|

Ahh ah ahh ahh...eeks, I've burnt myself this evening and I'm running to the bathroom every five minutes to run my hand under the cold water tap. Urgh, remember kids - wear oven cloves before taking baking trays out the oven...

Ahhh the weekend...

For me an average Saturday wouldn't normally have begun until ten or eleven o'clock, as I recover from a week in the office. This morning, however, I was having a fight with the alarm clock, set to get me up in time to beat the Saturday morning grid lock that consumes our small, yet popular town. I posted some letters before heading for the barbers to be scalped. With it being nine o'clock the place was empty, save for the three barbers chatting over the morning's paper. Paul ((my barber for over fourteen years)) gave me my usual and as ever, made a great job of it.

On the way home I ran my car through the local car wash centre and stopped off for fuel at our local Morrisons ((who have dropped their UL fuel to under 80p/litre would you believe)). Since getting back home I've spent the morning winding down to the sounds of Shajarian Ahang-Vafa as well as random drum and bass. Talk about contrasting tastes!

Tom leant me John Grisham's 'The Rain Maker' so I'll probably make a start on that over the weekend. I've got episode 5 of The O.C. season 2 to watch aaaand some college coursework to complete. Oh joy.

This week at the office

Monday: I've mentioned already this week that I had to submit an additional seven full sets of a large planning application submitted just the week before. Being sore from redecorating the house, followed by a trip to the chiropractor, this wasn't very welcome. Dammed planners should get their own large format copying machine, or learn to work off digital copies of the plans. Bastards.

I also printed off master prints of our as-built drawings for the health and safety file for the nursery we designed for the University of Plymouth. Despite there being a lot of drawings in the set, these don't get copied nor are they folded. Just rolled up and handed over to the client with the rest of the H&S file, so it wasn't too bad. You know, it's twenty steps from my workstation, to the plotter and back. I worked out that for all the master printing I had to do today, I walked over half a mile!

Viv, having a mountain of work to do, took the day off to take his mother shopping.

Tuesday: Having spent most of Monday either printing, copying, folding and delivering sets of drawings, I hadn't managed to get any work done. I had two main jobs on the go, one being two new wings for Windward House Nursing Home and the other a remodelling of Roborough Surgery. I'm elevating Windward, which is proving a laborious task. I've never seen the building for myself, so have to resort to photographs which are never as good as seeing the thing in the flesh. Roborough Surgery is going slowly too - though this is in part due to the fact their brief requires the work to be phased, in order to keep the surgery open. I'd rather close it down, demolish what's there and start fresh. I've plenty of ideas, they're just not working their way out of my head, onto paper. It's frustrating.

Viv, having a mountain of work to do, took the day off to attend to RIBA business, which is a voluntary role better suited to retired Architects who have nothing better to do...y'know, like...work.

Wednesday: Urgh, why did I bother getting up? I'm getting settled into my work and Tom rushes in to the office in a panic. Viv is in an important planning appeal meeting and the accuracy of our drawings has been called into question. Tom was called to get over to site promptly and make the necessary checks. He'd rushed back to the office from another site, got me to prep the drawings we'd need and off we went.

On the way, other than the fear of dying at the hands of Tom's crazy driving, it was dawning on me that I had done all the drawing for the project in question - though thankfully if this vital measurement was wrong, it had been given to me by Viv and he, along with the client and an appeals officer, had been going over the drawings with a fine tooth comb and hadn't questioned this aspect of the drawing. It would be their fault.

Well sure enough, as soon as we arrived on site, it was obvious something had gone wrong. Very wrong. The upshot was that our office looked stupid and the local objectors became more angry about the planning proposal than they had been already. Tom and I kept out of the way for most of the proceedings and eventually managed to get back to the office four hours later. I couldn't settle back into my work at all after that.

Thursday: College. I find our first lecture of the morning boring as sin and by the end of it, I had fallen asleep only to be woken ready for the start of our next lecture. Mind you, how much more interesting is Contractual Administration next to M&E Services? Heck. The rest of the day wasn't too bad. I spoke with one of my lecturers about some work I have had trouble with and managed to stay with it until the end of the day. Last week for this year next Thursday.

Friday: I was running the office myself today. Our secretary had the day off, Viv was nowhere to be seen and Tom was either out on site or so busy he wanted to be left to it without interruption. So hey, I got no work done whatsoever because I was too busy answering the phone and listening to people complain that Viv had promised them things and then disappeared. What a crap day...

Carpet :)

I arrived home this evening to be greeted not only by my dog but by a hall, stairs and landing with carpet! Our new carpet goes well with the paint and has given the spaces outside the rooms of the house a degree of warmth. Meg is now happy to have her bed, toy box and food/water bowls back in their usual spot in the hallway - as well as being able to walk around the house again. We restricted her to the kitchen, lounge and dining rooms after the old carpet went up and revealed all the grippers - especially on the stairs. Wouldn't want her hurting her paws!

Now just to get the paintings back on the walls :D

Ouch

This morning my hands, arms and shoulders are telling me they don't like decorating. Only reason it was tough going was the nature of the embossed paper - and that I found it quicker to use a roller which meant twice the effort as I had to press down hard to fill in those gaps. To top it off, this morning I'm printing another seven sets of a planning application I did seven sets of last week! That's another fifty-six prints to do and fold. Planning Dept. have asked for them so seeing as how Viv has decided it's better to take his mother Christmas shopping than work in the office today, I'm lumbered with it all. My back is gonna die, what with bending over a worktop folding all those drawings. Had an adjustment at the clinic earlier so I'm a little sore from that too. Heehee, what luck...

Ah well, printer has bleeped in the next office for more paper – best get on!

Lazy

Not really too keen on bitching about the week I've had...not really done anything this weekend worth talking about. Other than some more redecoration work - the old carpet is up and the new carpet is being fitted tomorrow - I've finished off the painting.

NB: Painting over embossed paper is a chore :(

I'm in LOVE! Heehee...

Alright, that's a little over the top I'll admit BUT driving into work just now I passed the most beautiful woman I've seen in a long time ((with a few exceptions)). Thank goodness I was driving slowly as she walked past, else I may have driven into a tree or something. I miss having that special someone in my life though know it'll happen one day. Plus with any luck, the next woman to say "I love you" will actually mean it.

*sigh*

Best get on with my work I suppose - can't sit here day-dreaming all day - got a doctors surgery to design...