Woohoo, got my hair cut

4 months on and my hair is short and sexy again. I wish I didn't have such a phobia, but I guess moving and so on is a good excuse for the long delay....
Other news, I am going for my National Insurance number interview this afternoon. I am a little nervous as i don't know how strict or anything this thing is going to be. And if I get kicked out of the country that would kind of suck...
Saturday night I have been invited to Matt Day's thanksgiving dinner which should be fun - lots of people from work I don't know so I'll have to make a good impression (thank god I got my hair cut :)

little things

Went climbing with Tam again on Sunday - starting to get my skillz back :-) Spent Saturday teaching myself Ruby On Rails - ahead of this weekend's programming challenge.
Last night I wasted playing Dues Ex, which I always regret afterwards.
Tonight I am not climbing :( maybe I will, on my own. hmmmm. we'll see.
Tomorrow I think I am going to cook dinner for Jo and co, then either climb or go to see God Awful on Thursday.
This friday I am going to my NI interview, so I can go to the NHS and pay tax and so on, and then this weekend I will be beavering away on Ruby.
Then next Tuesday I get paid!

Never mind the bullsh*t, it's the Vandals

You know, it was a long time before I understood what the Sex Pistol's album name actually meant, and just in case you didn't realize, I think the title of this post probably gives it away...
On Friday night (after a pint, god I hate those things, beer and a lot of it :( ) I went and saw the Vandals at the Astoria.
First up where an EXCELLENT band called God Awful (which is a poor name for a band, I think). I missed the first half of their set, but they were a 'real' punk band; full of hate, and pain they ripped their souls and vocal chords as they laid all to bare on stage. Awesome (which shares the same root as Awe-full). They are playing again this Thursday somewhere and I am tempted to go...
Then was some Hespanic band who I didn't catch the name of. These guys bored me - some kind of Emo-punk with a terrible singer - couldn't sing, and started every note with a long whine of warm up.
What was great about these two bands is they really tired the punters out - the idiot moshers were pretty much spent by the time the Vandals started, so I could have some fun!
Not only that, but everyone was there to see the band, not to jump around and get stupid. Everyone sang nearly all the songs, and everyone jumped up and down the entire time. The entire time. Up and down, not sideways.
I was one person away from the barrier and I think i was only pushed into them a dozen times or so through the entire show, rather than being permanently crushed as is normally the case.
The boys played all the favorites and I discovered that I know hardly any of the names of their songs. They would say 'how bout we sing song A' and start, and then I would work out which song it was and sing along.
The short guy didn't get his kit off, which was dissapointing.
All in all, the concerts I've seen have just gotten better and better, though I can't imagine the next one will top the Vandals, especially since I haven't even worked out who it is yet.

First Frost!

So it is getting as cold as it was when I left NZ. Still, only 1 month 2 days before the shortest day - and then everything is on the up and up (right everybody?)

Climbing is so hard!

I think that when I have a rest from climbing, and then come back, I climb how I remember my muscles worked - not how they now work. So I will do somewhat more flamboyant moves than necessary which (if I had the core strength) would actually use less energy, but (because I don't) end up costing me more.
Consequently after Tam and I went indoor last night (leading and top rope) I am now wrecked, with large pain in my forearms. It's all good. I am going to get myself a chin up bar, and then I will be super strong in no time :)
(I drank a litre of milk after the climb, so hopefully that 33 gms of soluble protein will help me too)

Jenn and Gran

Friday night I went to the Last Bar None bar for Jenn's Birthday. Found my way straight there of which I am proud! It is in Covent Garden and, apart from the smoke, was really nice. Jenn was good, and I had some really good conversations with her London friends - got on with them all pretty well, could talk climbing and pretend to talk Kiyaking (not that I can spell it...).
Missed the earlier train home again, so walked from Surbiton as I just get so bored waiting 1 hour for the next one.
Saturday morning I went up to Brum with Keith and Anne and stayed with Grandma. She wasn't too bad (she'd had a funny turn earlier in the week). I made her favorite - bacon/tomato sauce with paste (I get those spirals of pasta because she can manage them on her fork). She loves it.
Then I watched bridget Jones' Diary on TV which was great, except the Gran didn't go to bed, and I realised that the heating turned off at 10, and by the time it was 11 it was quite cold.
I think this led to Gran being quite under the weather today. I rugged her up and made her tomato soup and so on. Then I rang Janice to get her to visit because Keith and Anne picked me up to take me home at 1.
On the way home we passed through the village where The Vicar Of Dibley was shot - another tick on my list :) Now I'm just writing this stuff, in anticipation of going to work tomorrow

St Nick

Well that's what some call him, and certainly he has found God - Nick Cave still rocks the house (In fact 'god is in the house')
His concert last Thursday was fantastic - taking what were quite ordinary songs off his latest album and making them amazing. The audience was well behaved too - no moshing, just adoration. I could sing along with a lot more songs than most other people there - except maybe the old germans (there were lots of Germans). When the 'encore' came we were treated to all the golden oldies, but this time with Gospel singers backing up Nick (except for Mercy Seat which was dissapointing).
The night was being videoed for a release, which I'll have to buy to see if they left in any of my yells ('Mercy Seat' or 'Yeah' right in a quite bit :)
The only downer of the evening was my (typically) embarresing and fruitless attempts to get to know some people a little better. Or more acurately one girl (who happened to be German, did I mention there were a lot there?). Girls - if you are going to keep on looking at me, and then when I approach bump me a lot, then don't be surprised if I try to engage you in, um, conversation :)
Oh well.
I even managed to catch the last train home.

Been a busy boy

And not just at work.
Monday I went round to Jo's and had a delicious meal cooked by her Mum, Marg, who is over on holiday with her daughter. They had just returned from Paris, and are off to Athens this weekend. Fortunately Jo's Audit finished last week, so she isn't working 14+ hour days anymore!
Tuesday morning I finally managed to get a photo ID for the tube, paid my £39 and now have a weekly 1-6... a lot cheaper than the £55 pounds I'd have to pay otherwise (or £66 if I use it on the weekend).
Tuesday night I went climbing with Tam and James from work. They've both only recently returned to climbing, so they were stronger than me but not a lot. I hope we'll make a good team.
The gym was crazily busy - mainly bouldering so you'd wait in line at one end of a wall and then join in, moving in the same direction, as the queue moved on...
Then last night I had a bit of a rest, watched the last episode of The Power Of Nightmares (which is really good, I'd love to see some rebuttal) and the beginning of About a Boy (thought it finished at 10:30, but it merely had a news break until 11, and finished at 11:30 so I went to bed :)
Tonight I am off to Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds in Brixton which should be great (though I won't be home until 12:30) and tomorrow I am off to dinner with Jenn as it is her birthday and she is off shortly.
Finally, this weekend I am up to Brum with Keith and Anne to say hello to Grandma.

Blogger working again

Didn't work for a little bit there.
Had a good time last week. They already have me working on my own project, which means I don't have time to be bored like I have been in other jobs.
I went out to dinner with Jenn last Wednesday and she told me all about her trip, along with lots of photos. She had a great time, and it was good to hear all about it, she can certainly take decent snaps. It is her birthday so I am catching up with her again on Friday.
On the weekend I vegged out, finished a few books, played way too much Deus Ex (computer game) and didn't leave the house.
And now it's today, had a little review of my progress which was good, and am off to Jo's for dinner tonight. Also off to see Nick Cave on the 11th. Somehow I have to get up to Brum this weekend, but I don't know how I can afford it - I really need to sell one (any) of my various vehicles - I need some cash!!

Weekend at Grans

Went up to Grandma's on the weekend (Thursday through Sunday). We had quite a bit of fun, I stayed home the whole time because I won't be going back as regularly.
I made Kedgerey on Friday night, which was really boring as I used this ancient recipe of Grandma's that had no flavouring in it at all - just fish, egg and rice. Saturday I made a really nice cream mushroom pasta dish which was delicious. The only thing with that dish is it requires egg yolks, and I had no idea what to do with the egg whites. So I beat them into merangues (spelling?) with a tiny bit of sugar and then put them in the oven. Unfortunately I couldn't remeber if it was 'very hot over, short time' or 'very cool oven, long time' - with the obvious, deflating experience.
I also took grandma for a walk, which she enjoyed, though I did have to coax her quite a bit, and didn't get her out a second time.
Sunday I came home after seeing The Third Man, and thought I'd try and catch an earlier bus than the one I was booked on, but because School term was starting every man and his dog wanted to catch a bus - so I didn't get on any earlier than the 7:00 that I was booked on AND it didn't leave until 7:30 - 1.45 hours after I had arrived.
Then there was traffic trouble, but I did manage to catch the last train to Hampton Court and walked in the door at midnight. Lots of sleep for my first day at work the next day!

First Day

Well I started at BioMed Central today. Everything went well (I was a little late, but then my direct report didn't get in till quite a bit later - Mondays!), I have even started doing some work already: code reviews, which is a good way of getting to know the code base. Tomorrow I have a specification meeting with one of our 'customers' (in house) for a project that I believe is MINE, ALL MINE.
Only bummers are a) 11.40 to buy a return ticket and b) I have to organise a National Insurance number for myself - I thought the employer could do that :(