my ineptitude

i have maintained my current form of screwing shit up this week all the way through till friday. it has not been my finest week proffessionally but it looks like its spreading because there are fuck ups appearing all over the place, so i am no alone in my ineptitude, which is slightly comforting.

my visa to the states got approved, which was a relief. from this year everyone travelling has to fill in a form online and apply for an approval to travel to the US. i don't mind and actually its a good thing having to fill one less form when you are going.

2 weeks till i go and its shaping up to be a busy 2 weeks at work. both the other people are taking time off in that time, so it will be pretty busy. no bother. i have southern californian sunshine to look forward to, which will be a relief. it was actually cold on the way to work this morning. a proper cold snap in the air. summers gone from london not that we actually had one with sunshine.

anyways, i will also start booking hotels and my car now as well. there are some good offers available in san diego and la la land and so will get something sorted out next week. i also booked a ticket to see the LA galaxy while i am out there and i might try and catch a dodgers game as well.

thats all. a mind numbingly boring week has come to an end but only a couple more to get through.

today i have mostly been listening to nine inch nails - only

take care my friend

errors

am starting to make a few mistakes at work. my concentration levels are very low and trivial simple installs are becoming full of errors. my holiday can not come soon enough for me and my sanity. work is ok but its just becoming such a slog and the days are passing slower recently.

i wil also update my cv when i get back from the states. the time to move on is drawing ever nearer and it will be either at the end of this year or the beginning of next year.

a pleasant journey on the train to work this morning as usual. some twat kept bumping into me with his ruksack. do people forget they are wearing them?. stop turning around and bumping into me with it. stand still you idiot. also had some other guy breathing all over me. standing in warm stale air as it is, but now i had this chump exhaling directly on me. its just such a shit way to travel it really is. envornmentally it make sense to take mass transit and if run efficiently, its a great way to travel, but in the rush hour in london, it fucking shit. it just is. a great way to start the week.

new lotus notes admin has started today on the bank of desks opposite me. christ, he must be the 4th one in the last 7 months. they go through them like crazy here. what the fuck is going in that team. maybe they all leave because after a few weeks they have saved enough money to go on an exchange course. ha ha ha!!.

today i have mostly been listening to jamie T - sticks and stones. chav rap. usually i would hate this type of thing, but actually i quite like this song. he has some good lyrics. rap music usually deals with drive by shootings and low riders. this one has things like missing the last train home and having a cup of tea after he finds out his old girlfriend was out with some other guy.

take care v. i might see you in a few weeks.

screaming lights

i am spent. i just can't be bothered to do any work. i have the attention span of a goldfish in a bowl, and i have been living in metophorical fish bowl recently anyway, so it was bound to happen. i just want out. i will feel 150% better once i have had my break but before then there is plenty of stuff to get done at work.

i ordered a travel charger so that i can use it on my phone, camera and mp3 player when i am on hols. i also ordered a book about the IRA hunger strikes in the maze prison in belfast, which will be something to read when i am laying on a beach in san diego. will buy some books when i am out there as well as i have 3 long plane journeys and lot of time on trains as well.

took my new bike out on saturday and sunday and she seems fine. doesn't feel quite as solid as my trek bike that got stolen, but this was quite a bit cheaper and its fine. the resistance in my legs has clearly been reduced but it will be back soon after a few more rides. also was a little saddle sore as well, but i will acclimatise to the new saddle soon and will be riding pain free. i also bought the mother of all locks for my bike. if someone steals it i won't be upset. i will be impressed that they turned up with a blow torch or powered bolt cutters like the fire brigade have to cut people out of car wrecks.

i might be getting a false impression but there appears to be a few more jobs out there in the market for people with my skills set. resume will be updated shortly, although last night whilst struggling to get to sleep at 3am, i was having vivid flash backs of my time at the last bank i worked at. like a traumatic event that has been blocked out sub sconsciously, it all came flooding back and i remembered just how bad things were there. good riddance suckers.

today i have mostly been watching a clip from the film 'in the loop'. "sitting on a collapsing wall like some clueless.....egg......cunt!". ha ha ha !!!

today i have mostly been listening to screaming lights - volts. listen to it on their myspace page. its a wicked tune from a very good new band.

phase plasma rifle in a 40 watt range

went to brixton yesterday after work to see a bike but they didn't have it. was a bit annoyed because if i am going to risk my life by going to that war-zone that is south london, i would at least want to get something out of it.

anyways at lunch time today i went to the bike shop down the road and just ordered a bike. its a bit cheaper as well and not quite as nice as the one i was hoping to look at yesterday, but thats fine. i am not a leg shaving, lycra wearing, stick thin cycling junkie and what i ordered is perfectly fine for someone like me that only rides a couple of times a week.

....and besides, its less money lost if it gets stolen. if this one gets nicked i think i might go shopping again but for maybe something else instead of a bike.

work is ok. no complaints at all. 1 month to the day till i go on holiday. my soul is screaming out for a break. i haven't left this city for over a year, and i need to get out bad.

today i have mostly been listening to nine inch nails - something i can never have. take care V

bad calculation

errr, i actually added it up wrong and its 24 working days from today that i go on holiday. thats ok. its not like got it wrong and its actually 124 days till i go.

anyways its the start of a new week here in london town. i am on earlies all week so will probably feel more and more tired with each passing day, but it does feel sweet finishing work at 4.30 on a friday afternoon, so that is something to look forward to.

i have found a shop that sells the bike i am after but its in brixton. i shall try and not get stabbed or shot by the shady characters that hang around the train station and on the high street and will go see the bike. if i do buy it, i am not looking forward to cycling though brixton to get it home....but i haven't bought anything yet, so thats for another day. i hate south london. its a dump.

been looking at car hire for when i am in cali. i found a place that rents mustangs so that might be cool. will see how it goes. parts of the trip are coming together. my friend in san francisco is going away but will be there for the last 2 days of my trip, so i might go and visit. i was only going to go to frisco for a couple of days anyways as i have been there before and seen quite a bit of it.

today i have mostly been listening to motley crue - saints of los angeles.

PS: i take it all back. all is forgiven microsoft. have spent most of this afternoon applying a service pack to 2 SAP application servers. it took sooooo long to do, it was painful.

first impressions make a mark. i had a bad experience with a DELL server in one of my first jobs and it put me off Dell servers for life. i only bought HP servers after that and they were for the most part, bullet-proof.

the first time i saw VMware i was amazed at what it could do. it was like voodoo magic when i first saw vMotion and DRS.

i have had some dealings with a couple SAP servers recently and its been so painful applying service packs and patches and all kinds of other shit. if i never use SAP again in my life, it will be too soon.

23 days

its been a long week this week. i really can't wait for it to be over. found out that i will be on my own one day next week as the other 2 people in the department have taken the same day off and then in the first week of september i am on my own for the whole week because the other 2 have booked holiday for that week as well.

you would think that in a department of 3 people, you wouldn't let 2 of them take holiday at the same time......you would think, but you would be wrong.

...anyways 23 more days at work till go on holiday. will countdown everyday. will look around for and see what the job market is like, when i get back. its got to be done.

last night i had a dream that i was cycling in what looked like it could be the tour de france. a couple of nights before i dreamt i was in beunos aires watching boca juniors play. there is a sportman inside thats bursting to get out behind this facade of working in IT. anyways i found a really good video all about mark cavendish at this years tour. inspirational stuff....if you are into cycling.

anyways, back to the real world and the weather is hot and humid but dark and cloudy at the same time. its not nice.

today i have mostly been listening to janes addiction - 3 days. this performance is identical to the one they did at the o2 arena a couple of weeks ago. dave navarro killing it on guitar. its wicked. take care my friend.

booked it

booked my ticket and i leave on sept 12 for 3 days in new york and then 10 days in california. it looks like it will be the only chance i get to have any nice warm sunny weather this year seeing as its been another shit summer in london town.

i also need to get out to refresh my brain. i have worked every day (not counting weekends, although have done a few), since sept 29th last year when i got a job at the bankafter i got back from cali last year.

anyways, in new york i can get around by subway but it looks like i might need to rent a car when i get to LA, because things are a bit more dispersed there. i might also be heading up to san francisco for a couple of days and i plan on going to san diego for a few days as well. will have to plan everything out well so i don't waste any precious time, but i think i will get to do and see everyone and everything i need to do.

i also found that i have to update one of my exams to the new version and that i have to do that before the end of the year. thats good because it gives me something to focus on when i get back and i will also see what the market is like.
was talking to one of the external consultants at work and she was saying why i was thinking of leaving a job at a nice company, in a nice building, in a nice part of town and working with friendly people. i couldn't really give a good reason apart from that i just feel like moving on and thats just how i feel.

as my bike got stolen i have to take public transport on the weekends to go to the gym...... i would take the tube, but they are doing engineering works on it and its shut every weekend...... so i decided to take the bus today.......but the bus broke down and we all had to get off. welcome to broken britain. nothing works.

today i have mostly been listening to nine inch nails - i'm afraid of americans. he did this song orginally with bavid bowie but they played it live for the first time on the tour they are doing this summer.