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October 23, 2004
Could Have Been Better...
...but considering the week I've had (see blog)I'm quite happy with 14st 11! It's down, and that is what counts - and this is despite one of mum's McDonalds-style salads and eating on Thursday due to depression! I certainly look better - and the big thing is that I can now comfortably go to two notches on my belt for the first time in a long long while! In fact, if I stay on one notch my trousers start to slip!
This week I hope to have time to get back to exercises and stuff (I havn't had the time with running around and then flaking out when I finally got home!) so next week should be better still - I hope so!
I should still manage to hit my original target, and with work, go on to my real goal by Christmas, though the 34" waist will still lurk in the future... I am officially a stone lighter than when I started, but still have 2 stone to go. Time to get down to it for real!!!
Posted by Badgers at 09:12 AM | Comments (1)
October 22, 2004
One Day On And Things Just Keep Getting Better
Remember yesterday's entry? Sure you do. Today's is a descent into misery once again! First I dashed out to see a woman about her doorbell. I have fiddled upteen times, but it still refuses to work at certain times of day. I went early and ended up giving her three of the bloody things. At first none would work, then noe did, then another, then all three. Then I had to take her to Casualty as she had fallen off a bus the day before and now was limping very badly. Probably a just a sprain, but it was worth checking out.
Next I got in to work, dealt with a few emails (including one from the guy who was yelling about why I hadn't been to see him yet (though as it was only allocated to me on Friday...) which I dealt with by phoning and leaving a message saying that I would put him to the top of my waiting list (ahead of 60+ others) and se him tonight sometime after 5pm. I'm so glad I did. After being booted off the computer when a colleague returned (so that I got harld anything done) I set off to deal with 8 people - one of them a fax machine that was needed desperately urgently and was bought from Argos and delivered about 5.30. I eventually got to the guy at 6.15 and did the assessment for a little minitech with neck loop. that's it. £42 of equipment. Oddly enough, the house was big, and he was obviously in the money... so it isn't surprising that he wanted servivce now and wouldn't wait (10 messages including two calls to my boss at Preston... I ask you!!!)
So I'm not a happy bunny again (so what's new?!?) though I did have lots of fun driving home from Bacup in the rain, driving along roads that were virtually rivers. Ah well. See you tomorrow for the dreaded weigh-in!
Posted by Badgers at 07:56 PM | Comments (2)
October 21, 2004
Not In A Good Place Right Now
Well, the reinstallation of the computer took time so Saturday was spent installing stuff and checking that things were working. This was good. This kept me happy. So did JO with a couple of good games. Sunday saw all four of us (eventually) getting up to Nick's, including James with his now working PC. We played a little Rome: Total War, some JO (on a server full of muppets) ahd movedonto the new IL-72 expansion - superb, but certain people named Doof need to realise that it can take hours to complete missions, especially if we are going half-way across the Pacific to Midway... Nick also revealed that he had ordered the same monitor from Aria that I did. An email last night revealed that he was very happy with it...
So, Monday I had one more day off. Mum and Dad were out planting bulbs in the park across the road, so I set to on tiding the bedroom - the bits I did on Friday were just the beginning (and involved clearing out round the PC!). This time I had some furniture moving to do - now it is much tidier, has 3 bin sacks of crap less in it, and I can get into my wardrobe. This, sadly, is where things start to head towards the bad place.
I threw out some clothes as I wouldn't ever get into them (including a jumper I really liked, but as it had in fact been shrunk in the wash - really! - it wasn't to bad.). I found the trousers I want to get into again. They are 34" waists. I will have to work hard to get into them. I now have a new aim - to get a 34" waist again. And be 12 1/2 stone or less. By Christmas. I don't care if I end up not eating for a month or two. I will do it. Obviously this is a little depressing (though weighing myself on Tuesday night gave me a nice boost - let's just say that this weekend should see a nice happier me in the Diet Diary...)
Tuesday saw me going back to work. Annoying as usual. Wednesday was the kicker though. I havn't been feeling too well (sniffles, aching ankle after all the work over the weekend and a painful foot as I dropped a bookcade, cds, books, etc on it on Monday). I find I can't get on the computer to make all the entries I need to for the visits I had done, then when I did I find 50+ emails - most of them from admin upstairs giving a stage-by-stage report on the carpeting of the building, car parking, Children in Need, lift, etc), some people who were cancelling visits, and messages from 4 people asking why I hadn't visited them. None of these people I knew about until another system came back online so I could actually get the cases that had been allocated to me on Thursday and Friday. Obviously, the fact that I hadn't been in may have caused a few problems, but the real problem was that they hadn't been allocated to me until now and had been waiting for about 2 weeks. And of course, the emails from admin put it all on me. This got me in a bad mood. As did another in capitals as a woman with a portable doorbell (that is working fine) had called six times and I had to talk to her. And another case popped up - a guy who manages to break his personal listener all the time. And one who was screaming that his special alarm clock hadn't been replaced when he called in about it on Friday. Remember in an earlier blog when I mentioned 'not creating an expectation'? This, two telephone calls and Barbara, a colleague stressing me to go to a dance thing on Halloween (and to bring a friend!!!!!(!!!!)) didn't help. I felt crappy, I dashed to the toilet and cried. For 20 minutes. I may not be the most manly of men, but Zarquon' Holy Singing Fish, I don't cry much. And this was the time. But do you know what really broke the camels back? In my opinion it was a message from my boss saying he would come over Friday afternoon as he was worried that I was having too much piled on me. Y'think?!? I found thirty (!!!) cases waiting for me when I logged in - this on top of the ones I still had to deal with. No-one, not even the girl who does Fylde& Wyre has that sort of thing, and she just got a part timer to help! Luckily I had to see people so I got out quickly and dealt with five people (including most of those 'urgent' cases). A little driving and some Tenacious D helped stop at least some of my sniffles.
Luckily last night brightened me up, though the lack of decent sized servers on JO was a pain in the arse! I ended up playing Tiger Woods 2005 instead. Today wasn't too bad despite feeling crappy still. Now I feel better, and I've got a plan to get the comics on track. And to hand in my resignation, but that is hoepfully as near a last resort as I can make it!
Ah well - see you at the weekend for (hopefully) a successful Diet Diary (despite mum making a 'salad' invoving salad stuff and some hot sopicy chicken things from Morrisons... kinda like McDonalds - "That's no Salad...!"
Posted by Badgers at 06:05 PM | Comments (0)
October 16, 2004
What Do You Mean "System Disk Error?!?!"
Just a quick entry this week from me...
It's not been a terrible week, all told, but it has been the sort of week that throws out plans for doing comics! Work-wise things havn't been too bad (two days actual working (including a bugger of a tidy out of my cupboards in the basement at work now I can get down to them without gagging on smoke) and one out visiting people. Wednesday saw me at Longridge on an 'Away Day' - otherwise known as a series of talks about the changes coming to our team and how we can meet them. Nothing too stressful there, then! I had Thursday and Friday off though, partly to do some comic stuff (which just hasn't been done for a good reason or two) and partly because my PC had started really acting up! The error in the title of this entry is just the beginning! Random crashes out of games, the inability to stay stable enough to do any colouring in Photoshop, the constant disc checking at boot-up... Something had to be done!
I already had a plan to replace the HDs with others in November, but the problems of the last week or so meant I brought it all foward, and I'm glad I did! Now Kyoko has a huge HD for storage (at last) and Ayumi has two large SATA drives. And a 17" TFT monitor from Aria - well worth the money in the special offers section this month! Of course, it took all of Thursday (and much of the night!) to copy the stuff I needed to save from Ayumi to Kyoko, so I was knackered early on Friday morning when I put the new drives in Ayumi and started installing Windows XP with SP2. So far there are no major problems (except maybe that I'm having a bugger of a time getting my iPAQ to be picked up by the computer - and it was so easy last time - ah well!). I'm now happy to say that everything is running fine, and I even managed a hour on Joint Ops last night! Unlike Nick, who has been on the game all week. Take a break, dude!
Oh, the idiots - yeah. Last Sunday was just the three of us (no James as he was working and getting his PC back together) and so it was Joint Ops (surprise)and an ogle at the stunning Rome: Total War - this series just gets better and better!
Oh, and I'm in the middle of a tidy-up which is annoying as it means making a hell of a mess during it (I can get to my bed now, at least!) - James might be happy to know that the 'clutter' is not as cluttery any more...
Oh, and sorry, no diary entry this week - lets just say I have eaten and am probably the same as last week...
Posted by Badgers at 01:53 PM | Comments (0)
October 10, 2004
Another Week?
Yeah, another week has gone by, annoying me as it went! Last weekend was fine - I read some of the books I bought at Manchester last Saturday, Sunday went well at Nicks (though his 150kbs pipe was a little choked - he'll be fine when the new Set Top Boxes from NTL are enabled for the higher speeds! Of course, the big thing was that the bugger won two matches of Bomberman! And he said that if he won one we'd go out. Git.
The week at work was boring (though I did get one moment of brightness when an old blind lady found some equipment I gave her let her hear so much beter) and annoying (natch!), though I was able to get some scripting done for Quatermiss & The Pit... Sadly I have run into a snag as far as next week's comics go - they need colouring and lettering, and so may not be online from tomorrow - I'll do a double post on Wednesday! Of course, some good matches on Joint Operations didn't help this week (but only played after 9.00!)
So Saturday came round and my plans to get some comic stuff done were scuppered by first the night out (and Nick wanting me to join him on Joint Ops) and James wanting me to take him to Nelson to get a new motherboard as his is finally going totally kaput!
The night out was fun - I wasn't in the mood for dancing (to quote Tina Charles) but was in the mood for some people watching! Lots of people trying to find out how drunk they could get (some were really succeeding!) and some nice girls. Als, we met Stephen Farmer (the bouncer at the Orange House) and found that according to Friends Reunited, A schoolfriend who is working in web design for a bank has just got a second hand red Ferrari. Sigh - I mean, second hand!?!? In Lava we met his (the bouncer's) ex, the lady we have been trying to remember the name of for ages. Amanda (for this is the little vision's name)is still lovely and with a new guy - she is also South African and not from New Zealand as we had previously thought! She was there with some other South African friends, and they were having a whale of a time! And there was a worrying moment when I went up some steps and the rail nearly fell out! It had to have been loose before I got there - a bouncer helped be get it fitted back in the holder...
Still, the night came to an end and I headed home after 22 hours of being awake to sleep until 6 this morning... at which point I burned a CD and installed the demo for American Magee's Scrapland - a cross between Beyond Good and Evil (a top game) and GTA (the piece of crap that it is!!!) but with robots and spaceships - and it's pretty cool!
Ah well - better make a move, I suppose - catch you all later!
Posted by Badgers at 09:52 AM | Comments (0)
Going Down, But Slowly
Another busy week at work, and I have started exercising every couple of days or so - notning major, just getting it started! Walking the canal, early morning situps, sort of thing.
The weight? Well, It's 14 stone 12 which isn't to bad (considering I had to eat a bit this week!) but it's going down and I look better. Maybe it's all the muscle! I'll be better next week, promise!
Not a big entry, but since the weight loss was so small, it doesn't deserve it!
Posted by Badgers at 09:47 AM | Comments (0)
October 05, 2004
OMG! They Forgot Wales!
I'm sure you have heard this, but as far as the Eurostat Statistics Compendium 2004, is concerned, it doesn't exist. On the cover, anyway! Spokeman have said they don't know where the map came from as the cover was not produced by them, but wondered where you would get a Wales-less map anyway! And this book costs fifty Euros! Considering how worried I am that people might notice that that little bit of coastline or island on Noid is not always the same exact shape, you would think they might have been a little more concerned with the proofreading...
News item at BBC News...
Posted by Badgers at 06:04 PM | Comments (0)
October 03, 2004
Phew!
Well, despite having to eat every day this week (!) I have managed to get myself to 14 stone 13lb, which is pretty much the same as I was before my 'gap week'! I have eaten fairly healthily this week except for Tuesday when I ended up with a mountain of chips on my plate at lunch (not my fault!) but I didn't eat half of them (others did) so it wasn't to bad. Overall, I'm happy with the result... luckily I'm the only one who ever sees myself naked, but you can see areas where fat is disappearing... I won't go into detail, but at the moment it means it isn't a pretty sight, but it is happening. Hurrah.
This coming week I hope to get the time to exercise at least every other day and, of course, take a walk along the canal when I can at lunch. I will be in full control of what I eat again, which should mean a much more pronounced weight loss this coming Saturday and a chance to get back on track... see you next week!
Posted by Badgers at 12:15 PM | Comments (0)
October 01, 2004
Chinooks, Training and Annoying Stuff
Well, Nick wasn't on broadband last week, so we went up to Andrew's... earlier this week Nick rang me up, and it seemed that his PC wasn't communicating with the box, as the 'registration' problems with NTL seemed to be for cable modems only... I persuaded him to call NTL and then he called back at about 10pm and he popped up! He was online! Basically, the NTL idiots had enabled a box, but it wasn't his box they had enabled! I managed to persuade him to let me remotely operate his PC and so I set up his email, etc, and watched him set up himself... Now he seems to be online after 9.30 at night to play JO... go figure!
So, this week was, of course, the training course! Four days at Kirkham... but it was actually very good - though it was a little heavy on the sight-impairment side (leading some fellow SSOs to thingk it was part of an agenda) and we were told that we now had to put addressed on our travel claims - of course, this will mean 2-3 forms a month instead of the usal one, but hey, if they want it, they can have it... though Finance will have a barney with three amounts a month having to aded to my salary... mine especially as I have three months to do!!! Ah, the joy! We were also fully staffed, though two members of the team don't start for a month or so... and finally we have a babe on the team - one who has just returned from a round-the-world year with her insane-sounding boyfriend! The food, like last week, was in evidence, but I managed to be very good (though the dinner ladies were out to get me as they piled chips on my plate on Tuesday - more than even my mum would put on the plate!). Of course, you were not allowed in the dining room until they were ready, but that is par for the course with dinner ladies!
Still, yesterday I was told by my manager that he had had a call from a client's daughter asking why I hadn't visited yet (the reason is simply that I dind't know - I was on a four-day course!!!) - it turns out that her flashing doorbell wasn't working. Bear in mind that we were told not to to create an 'expectation' that we would go out to deal immediately as the one time you can't make it within the hour due to a holiday/illness/death you get a complaint... so I was told I had to go out today. To Barnoldswick. I rushed over this morning after making a call last night at 5.30 to let them know only to find out that they had taken a look themselves, and found the box was unplugged. Some people...
The rest of the day was mildly annoying, though it was lightened by one old lady with hardly any hearing... Her social worker asked me to go last Friday, but of course that couldn't happen (see previous blog!) so I turned up - no-on expected me to get in, but I did, and had a good chat to her (once she had woken up). Sadly the equipment wouldn't help her, but at least we tried. I managed to get home (though one visit I should have made last week didn't happen today as I (ulp) forgot who it was I was going to! If they call to moan, I left a message to take the name and I'd go on Monday!!!) and was shattered. Ah well.
One thing that helped was smashing up the kitchen this week! A neighbour was getting rid of his kitchen for a new one, and the units came here - anything is better than the crap we had - and the old units were totalled and the newer ones pushed in place - it isn't perfect (there is a lot more to come, including some cupboards from another neighbour!) but it is far better!
Ah well - all in all, not a bad week for a change... tomorrow I need to draw a lot (not a lot of I.T. done this week due to the course) to make shure that the comic is on time next week (I.T. Goes To War! At last!) and the big Manchester shopping trip... And of course, my car is now mine. Completely. All paid for. Now I just need to deal with the MOT later this month...
Funniest things this week? Well, in the two games of Joint Operations I just played, shooting lots of chinooks that kept hovering in the sights of my RPG was fun (can you say 'multikill? Sure you can!), but I think the two Joint Ops members shooting at each other right outside the bunker I was in has to take the biscuit. Or at least standing in the doorway watching them go at it and then opening up with a big gun on them was! Heh heh!
Letdown of the week? Star Wars Battlefront. Okay, it looks great, with nice environments, but has AI that grab all the vehicles (like in the Battlefield series) and do nothing much with them. And troopers on both sides that seem to run up and down, shoot very accurately and suddenly stop while running to see where they are, giving you a great chance to shoot them to death. What next, Lucasarts? Grand Theft Tattooine?
Ah well - better sign off - see you in the morning to see if I have got below 15 stone again!!!
PS - Well done to Lava Ignite - my favourite place to go for a night out has been voted UK Club Of The Year! I guess we'll have to celebrate it sometime, if we ever go for another night out again!
Posted by Badgers at 09:46 PM | Comments (0)