Argh!

I hate b****** Powerpoint! Why does it have to make itself so damn awkward?

Sniff sniff

This heat wave will soon come to an end now that I have given in and spent a small fortune on hayfever treatments. I knew it was time to concede defeat when the wife woke up, took one look at me before saying "you look bloody awful". She's such a sympathetic soul. I'm giving a seminar at the end of the week so would like to look respectable for that. Although red, puffy eyes might distract the audience from the drivel I'm talking about.

Getting on

I'm getting old. I can't stay up 'til 3am talking about absolutely nothing of any importance any more. Of course it's nothing to do with the bottle of wine I got through.

Had a day away from the comp yesterday and spent it painting doors and gates. It was the best afternoons therapy, out in the sunshine, painting the gates in the yard. I was sorry to finish them. I had forgotten what it is like to do a job and see a finished result at the end rather than spend a day working and still not be nearly finished.

While I'm here I'd just like to say that I hope Andy Murray gets left alone to get one with what he wants to get on with. All the expectations heaped onto Tim Henman always seem to end in disappointment, lets not start the same thing with this young lad.

Houses

Have lost count of the number of houses we have seen in the last week, ranging from needing total refurbishment to newly renovated. We decided that to completely gut and refurb a place would be too much work. The newly renovated house was absolutely gorgeous but just wasn't homely. Others haven't had the number of rooms we need, apart from one but the rooms were tiny and a bedroom needs enough space for more in it than just a bed! Some have been absolute shitholes. Saw a lovely one tonight but it didn't have a garden.

Unfortunately on the first night we saw a fantastic home but it is just too expensive. The only other problem with it is that the kitchen is new with integral appliances which will therefore stay so there is no room for the wifes new fridge-freezer which she loves. Yes, I love a woman who is letting her love of a fridge-freezer influence the house we buy! All I can hope is that the price of this house will come down enough to compensate for having to keep her fridge freezer in the garage.

Life in general

I got to do the school run today to pick up a friends kid. It's a risky business, what with small people tripping you up and bouncing off you and having to dodge 4x4s and people carriers. And why does the lollipop lady insist on having a conversation with you in the middle of the road! By the time we had covered the 10 minute walk home, in 20 minutes, we were covered in ice-cream, grass stains and had two grazed knees. I don't think I will be asked to do this too often.

Instead of parenthood as a career I'm considering becoming a taxi driver. I went through a phase where I considered being a pilot but couldn't be doing with the maths and physics, besides I look better in a lab coat than in any sort of uniform. It is still an ambition to learn to fly and to get a pilots license one day. Aviatrix has some interesting stuff to say on aviation related matters.

I'll shut up now and recommend Tuesdays, thought provoking entry over at Waiter Rant.

Random

This article amused me. It's a shame it didn't amuse Tom Cruise as well.

The English have invaded Scotland again and are trying to kill off the local inhabitants.

Cool

Uppsala
Originally uploaded by Holly T.

Thinking cool thoughts. It was -6 deg C last winter in Uppsala, Sweden. It is 26 deg C in my bedroom tonight according to the Galileo thermometer. Replacing the winter duvet with a crisp, white cotton sheet should help a bit but doing so made me sweat again. Oh well, longest day this week so the nights will start drawing in to winter. Oh joy!

Homosexual horses

Will this story about a student being arrested and fined for calling a police horse gay cause trouble between animal rights and gay rights groups? It's hilarious. But what about all of the real cases of discrimination (of any sort) that the police won't do anything about.

Feeling hot hot hot

This was the wrong weekend to spend doing DIY in order to get the house ready to sell, it has been far to hot. As a reward we decided this afternoon to have a barbecue and a few nice, cold beers. Fortunately we started quite early because just as I popped the last bit of sausage into my mouth the heavens opened and this fantastic thunderstorm started. Unfortunately it's not making things any cooler. In place of a cold shower (we haven't got around to putting the shower screen back up) I'd love to go out and sit in the rain but my laptops not waterproof.

All change

We have definitely decided that we are going to move. Not 24 hours after we had been talking about the fact that we could start thinking about it, the horrible kids further up the street were seen climbing on our cars! This is on top of the three new wing mirrors needed between us recently and a couple of other bits of deliberate damage. So we have started looking for houses in nicer areas with off road parking and seem to have got carried away. We have spent hours driving around different parts of town looking at areas we would consider as well as hours on the internet and couple of hours trawling estate agents offices. We have a shortlist of about 8 already and 4 viewings arranged.
I’m excited at finally being able to get on the property ladder and making things more equal between the wife and me (she owns our current home). But at the same time I’m worried that we make the wrong decision and live to regret it. It all seems to have happened so fast. Last week I didn’t know if I would have a job in a few weeks time and this week we are looking at houses and talking about mortgages. It will however be good to make this commitment to each other.

Grand Plans

With the news yesterday about my job and the wifes recent career change, we have not only been talking about houses but children have cropped up in the conversation as well. The wife wants a garden so that she can grow tomatoes the likes while I'm thinking about somewhere for kids to run around. My contract is only for three years, by which time I will be the other side of 30 and perhaps ready to start thinking about reproducing! I seem to have been spending a lot of time with other peoples small children recently but as the wife pointed out, it is a bit different when you can hand them back at the end of the day. Perhaps our forthcoming holiday will convince me one way or another - we are taking two four year olds with us!

(we may not last that long - Big Brother is on at the same time as The L Word which I have been looking forward to all week - sad, maybe, but I don't get out much)!

Yay!

The fools gave me the job and the champagne was very nice thank you. It means that we don't have to worry about moving but it is a huge pay increase which means that we could move if we wanted to (the wife would love somewhere with a greenhouse and has already been looking). It does put the pressure on to finish my current project but relieves some of the financial worries.

Dysfunctional

I now officially have something more interesting than chicken pox in my medical records, a dysfunctional liver. After months of tests my GP has decided that I do have Gilbert's Syndrome and let's face it, if I have to have a syndrome this seems like a good one to have as I don't have any symptoms (as far as I am aware). Although it could explain why I need at least 8 hours sleep a night and regular feeding - well that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it! (And perhaps Gilberts is why it takes me a 24 hours to recover after a whole bottle of cheap wine - but this hypothesis needs more testing) Apparently as it's an inherited hyperbilirubinemia which means that I may occasionally go yellow and can blame my mother/father and not the cheap wine. I appreciate that some people may experience unpleasant symptoms but this site does seem a bit like hypochondriacs reunited and scared the poo out of me at first. I will however, just this once, trust my GP when she tells me it is harmless.

Secrets

I recently found PostSecret, a great idea for a site. Some of it is quite moving. It reminds me of the Museum of Me which was on in London a few years ago, an interactive exhibition where you got to fill in various bits of information about yourself, things like putting dates important to you into diaries, and sealing a secret into a jar. If I remember rightly this was all built into a wall, like a time capsule, which will be opened after 50 years. I will have to remember to go back in 2049 to remind myself of what was important to me when I was 21. Six years on that secret doesn't matter as much now. A case of life goes on, time being a great healer etc.

Ringtones

I want a new ringtone for my mobile phone. I'm sick of chopsticks which is the best I have at the moment. I certainly don't want that ding ding ding ding ding dinging Crazy Frog. Or monkeys or chicks or any other irritating cartoon character. What I would like is a ring ring which sounds just like a telephone ringing. I know it sounds mad but that's what I want. Oh and if a ring ring ringtone would go to the top of the singles chart as well that would be good.

Waiting

How long does it take to decide who gets the job? It's been a week now and about time I knew one way or another, preferably that it's coming my way. I really want this job for two reasons. Firstly I really love the work it involves and it is a continuation of my current project, which I get the impression is quite rare. People seem to have to move onto different areas in order to get a job. Secondly, there are few opportunities in this subject area in this region and so I would probably have more success with a move back to London, or at least to the south-east. This is out of the question since the wife has too many commitments here and I wouldn't want to go back to the Smoke anyway. Samuel Johnson said that "a man who is tired of London is tired of life'. But I'm afraid I enjoy life up north too much (Cheaper, slower, more free time). And the people are nicer, you can't stand at a bus stop here and not have someone talk to you - (when I first got here I thought I was about to be attacked by a mugger who wanted a polite discussion about the previous nights football first).

If I don't find someone who wants to employ me soon I shall have to go for plan B and start thinking about having babies. That will please my mother and she might stop asking when am I going to stop being a student and get a proper job.

Dear Ms Kelly,

I have 9 GCSEs, 3 A-levels (in the sciences, which you are now trying to encourage students to take), a degree and I am soon to complete a Phd. I always went to school because I enjoyed it. I didn’t disrupt classes, worked hard and have achieved all that set out to do (yes, some may say I was a swot). As a consequence I have thousand of pounds of student debt and can only afford to live at the moment thanks to a caring and supportive family. The government is not providing sufficient funding for research in my subject and so there is a real possibility I will have to take my skills abroad in order to do what I have trained for years to do. If you were to give me an iPOD it would really help me to finish my thesis? And if the government could spare another £50 a week I wouldn’t have to rely on my family who have better things to spend their money on than my rent, bills, food etc.

Yours sincerely

Nutters

Why is it that when the sun comes out every other driver turns into a nutter. The number of times I was either cut up or had someone nearly go into the back of me on my way to work this morning was mad. And no I don't think bald headed men in shades, with the roof down are cool! (Although these are quite cool).
I was interested to hear on the radio yesterday that people in the UK buy more convertibles than anywhere else in Europe yet get far fewer days of sunshine (50 days per year I think it was). Are we a nation of posers or are the rest of Europe more sensible and find air con more effective? Or perhaps we just like to enjoy the odd bit of sun we do get.

Daydreams

People at NASA are controlling a robot on Mars so why can't I get a robot that is capable of doing routine, boring lab work leaving me to sit in the sunshine eating ice cream. I would be quite happy to log on to my laptop from home in the morning and set the robot running then check back later in the day for the results. In the mean time I could be doing something else. The technology probably does exist so could someone just make it affordable.

Interviews (and other rubbish)

This last week has been a bit mad with all sorts going on and me not knowing if I’m coming or going. The interview went ok but I think they already know who it is going to go to. The application procedure was so detailed that the short time I was in there can’t make that much difference. At least I don’t think I did anything to put them off if they were considering me. But in those situations where there is a panel interviewing there is always one who asks the most stupid questions. Either she was being stupid or she was trying to catch me out, in which case perhaps they don't think I'm that good because it really was a stupid question! Time will tell. But in the mean time I'm working like mad trying to finish my thesis just in case they offer me the job.
The wife was going to go along for the ride, do some shopping and then we were going for a meal after my ordeal. But she ended up staying at home to argue with the mortgage people, who don't know their arse from their elbow! So it was just a flying visit north of the border. Although I did get to sit for 5 minutes here and enjoy the castle.

In other news, summer must be here as we had a BBQ this weekend (is it wrong to eat 6 sausages in one day?).
Oh and we have booked a holiday and I think we both need one. We were supposed to be going somewhere hot and sunny but financial constraints have limited us to a caravan a bit closer to home. I think this will be better, there will be more to do.