slash

tis my last few minutes at my current contract which has been my longest at 15 months. went and bought cakes and doughnuts for everyone on my floor and have had some nice mails wishing me well for my next job. only thing left for me to do is to get my final timesheets signed off and faxed so that i can get paid for this month.

i also heard back from the new place i will be moving to, and they have finally seen sense and i will be starting there on June 7th which gives me a week off to get some sleep and reset my brain and remember what life feels like with out starting each day on a crowded train packed in with smelly commuters.

one last thing.

at lunchtime i walked about 10 mins from my office to go to a turkish restaurant that does the best kebabs. a couple of doors down is a tv production office. as i was walking up the road i could see 4 guys standing outside it talking in front of a blacked out minivan. as i got closer i recognised one of the men standing there. it was slash from guns and roses. he looked exactly the same as he does on tv. i couldn't believe it was him but it was and i walked straight past him and got a good look.

today i have mostly been listening to guns and roses - night train.

smokin' joe

the tiredness has hit me like a ton of bricks over the last week or so. i feel exhausted. i think its a bit like when you go on a really long bike ride and you feel tired whilst doing it, but its only when you get off the bike at the end that it really hits you.

i imagine its the same for boxers in a fight. was watching the thriller in manilla, ali v frazier on tv the other day. it looked like a hell of a brutal fight in sweltering heat. both fighters looked out of it and when fraziers corner called it off just before the final round, ali collapsed in his corner as well. he had been holding himself up on will power and when he know he had won, the adrenaline faded and the pain and the tiredness took over and his body succumbed to the punishment and faitgue it was suffering from.

thats all a bit dramatic and i haven't taken 50 left hooks in the face from smokin' joe, but since i resigned i think the tiredness from only have a week off in the last 20 months has hit me. the agency called up again and were trying to get me to start next week straight after i finish up here. am getting a little annoyed about it now. i won't actually do it, but if they happen to call me up when i am in the wrong mood and with a short fuse, i could end up telling them i won't do the silly contract and walk away from it. i am tired and need a break. i told them that already about 5 times. this is not a good way to start a new contract and is not the way to start a proffessional relationship. we shall see how it goes.

anyways, only 2 more days left after today. can't wait to leave. can't fucking wait.

today i have mostly been listening to laura marling - rambling man.

last week

sweet jesus of nazareth, it was a hot one this weekend. hotter than spanish resorts and hotter than southern california. it was steaming hot. also a little dangerous for those cycling or those piloting a motorised vehicle because there were lots of nice looking women in short skirts and summer dresses walking around and you end up watching them instead of the road and where you are going. a couple of close calls but we are fine and so were they.

i still haven't completely shaken off the cold i have had for a week. its mostly gone but its still there a little bit. i could feel i wasn't quite a 100% when i was pushing at the gym over the weekend.

i also lost my san diego padres baseball cap this weekend. i forgot and left it hanging on my bike as i locked it up outside the gym and when i got back it had gone. no suprise that it had gone, but you do think who would want to take it, seeing as its got a years worth of my sweat soaked into it. if i saw a hat laying around i wouldn't want it. would you were someone else's sweaty socks?.

its my last week at work, and i can't wait to leave. its not bad here, but i just want to leave and get out now. i had to see the agency that got me the job at the bank on friday, to go through some security checks that you need to get done. they asked if i could start next week. i told them i wanted a week off and wanted to start on the 7th of june at the earliest. they didn't look too happy. they will soon realise that i am not like all their other contractors in that i won't kill myself or sell a kidney just for a few grubby notes.

am still a little apprehensive about what this new role entails as i turned down the job originally and i have been told that this role will be different and not what i did not want to do originally. if it turns out to be good, then that all and well, but if it turns out they are lying then i will just look around for something else immediately. i saw today that they are advertising for the role i turned down even though i was told that they had hired the 3 people they had been looking for to fill the 3 positions in that team. if they get me in and ask me to work in that team, i will leave.

was checking for car hire in LA this morning and i found a place that does camarro's. will keep it in mind for when/if i go out there later in the year. i don't own a car in london but i will make up for it by getting something nice in cali for a week.

today i have mostly been listening to beth orton - stolen car. no video because it has embedding disabled on it, which is not a bad thing because i thought it was a lame video and anyway, it doesn't need it. this song is fabulous so any visuals would not be able to do it justice anyway. enjoy.

scorcher

had a bastard of a cold that lasted all week. i think its in its final throws and its not quite as bad as yesterday. hopefully it will be gone by the time the weekend comes round, as its forecast to be a scorcher, or at least a scorcher by the low standards of london.

the weather today was beautiful. hot and sunny and long may it continue. it wont though. forecast is for it to get cool and showery on tuesday. oh well.

i think i broke the record today for the longest single conference call ever. 4 hours and 45 minutes on the phone troubleshooting an issue. i shall not go into details but lets just say that there are some people who work at my company that are idiots.

i didnt go football or the gym in the evening after work this week because i was feeling ill. will need to empty the tanks tomorrow and sunday.
its the european cup final tomorrow and inter milan are playing bayern munich. i shall be supporting inter. its going to be wicked.

have a lovely weekend

today i have mostly been listening to funeral party - NYC moves to the sound of LA.

pearl jam

had to work this weekend and i just needed to copy some files over from one server to another. to do this i had to wait for a guy in the madrid office to plug in an external hard drive and then i could start. on friday we agreed to do this at 2pm on saturday and as we are in the same time-zone as madrid, 2pm in london is 2pm madrid.

i came in to work on saturday and waited for the all clear from his side to start at 2pm. no call. it got to 3pm and i called him on his mobile. he was in a restaurant having lunch he said and that he would do it after lunch.....at 5pm. 2 things to note. first, what they fuck are you doing in a restaurant at 3pm when we agreed you would be at work at 2pm because i am waiting on you to do something. second thing to note is, when the fuck did lunchtime finish at 5pm. anyways, i had other work to do as well so i said i would be in the office till 5pm. 5pm rolls around and nothing. i go home at 6pm and am waiting for a call or email and nothing. eventually at 8pm he mails me and says i can start.

what a prick. why say 2pm when you had no intention of doing it then. i could understand if something had come up, but to be chilling all day and stuffing your face when people are waiting on you, is just rude. christ no wonder the economies in southern europe are on the verge of bankruptcy because with lunch breaks lasting till 5pm no one gets any work done. talk about playing up to a national stereotype or what.

anyways, no bother. its not been 100% confirmed but i think this is my penultimate week. had a chat with my boss and he told me he might be looking around and he also told me how much or little he earned. its shocking. he is being exploited. i will be earning double what he gets in my next job. i told him he should get his cv out there and walk as soon as he gets something good. i told him i got taken for a ride like that in one of my previous jobs, and i decided i wouldn't let that happen to me again. i will walk away from any job if they screw me around or try to take advantage by low balling on salaries. we don't work this hard to take shit, and besides, we don't have to because we do work hard and are good at what we do.

anyways all that meant my weekend was quiet. managed to get my self down to the gym. i cycled on saturday morning, but took the bus on sunday because it was raining and cold and i don't like to ride in the rain. it was also proper cold. like winter. i was wearing a scarf. looks like it didn't protect me because today i have a cold. i checked the forecasts and its due to get progressively warmer and sunnier as the week goes on. in fact its going to be warmer than southern california this week. i will believe it when it happens.

today i have mostly been listening to pearl jam - nothing as it seems. great song.

cypress

my departure has thrown a bit of a spanner in the works for the other 2 people that work in my department. they are just going through their diaries working out what days they want to take holidays and if there will be someone here that can cover. from what i can gather it seems my boss has booked a weekend away on what seems like every single bank holiday weekend in the year, which is no good for the other person who also likes taking holidays.

i must be even weirder than i thought. i know only taking a week holiday a year is lame and less than most people but in my department the other 2 people take at least 2 what i would term big holidays a year (australia, US, carribean) and then around 4 or 5 shorter breaks in france or italy or spain. when i told my boss i was resigning he mentioned to me that he was looking around as well, although he did mention he quite liked working here. i think he might struggle to get something elsewhere if he requested this much time off and a new employer wouldn't be happy. am not sure a contractor could get away with taking this much time off work.

anyways, work is ok. am struggling to do anything which is bad news because i have to work this weekend on some stuff. i just can't be bothered with any of this stuff now.

had football last night and it was good. got into a bit more than last week but its still not quite as much fun as usual. probably because its so cold in the evenings when we play. mid may and it was freezing cold last night, especially afterwards when i was on the train home. where are the nice warm evenings with a cool breeze. not here.

today i have mostly been listening to cypress hill - rock superstar. decided to randomly select some songs on my mp3 player instead of listening to the same playlists i have on there. it ended up playing songs in alphabetical order of artist name. it meant i listened to cyndi lauper, cypress hill and daft punk.

accepted

i ended up accepting the offer from the bank. i have a couple of other potential jobs that might be coming up and i figured that if one of those came through and it was better i would just take them and blow out the job i have accepted. am also dragging my feet a little with the security checks for the bank mainly because i am hoping any start date gets pushed back and i have a few more days off. part of me almost wanted to decline the job so i could have a month or two off, but i have to be a bit more sensible.

looked around to see if any good bands were playing in LA in the week i could go and its only really mumford and sons, and both shows are sold out. i might just stay home instead and go to the gym and take saunas and steam rooms everyday when i am there, and just get myself thoroughly chilled and refreshed. i just feel worn out. 1 week off in the last 20 months will do that to you. i might take a proper planned trip to cali in september and make sure i can see lots of bands and sports and get all the tickets booked in advance.

work has already turned into a struggle. motivation has completely evaporated and i can't be bothered to do anything, which is not good because i have quite a bit to do. i feel very tired.

today i have mostly been listening to kings of leon - knocked up.

3 weeks

i took the bus home yesterday evening as london transport likes to randomly close train stations at rush houir as and when it feels like it, even if its oxford circus and its probably one the busiest stations in the world.

anyways on the bus i got a call from the agent representing the bank i interviewed at 2 weeks ago and he said they wanted to offer me that alternative role they were going to come up with. er...ok i replied, i haven't seen a job spec for this new role and i am not sure what they want me to do, i said. the agent said it was good money and they wanted to move quickly on it, and i told him i would be inclined to accept but only after i got clarification on what the role is. the agent said he would get back to me.

why are agents such idiots. probably because a lot of IT contractors are idiots i suspect, who just chase money. well quite frankly, thats not how we roll.

i would be inclined to take it if it turns out to be a good role. it does mean that all my plans for staying home and having a break and watching the world cup would be over with. it would also mean i might not have any time to take a holiday if they want to move quickly. i also got a call yesterday about another contract at another bank which sounds interesting. i told that agent to put me forward for it. my world cup dream looks like its over and the only thing that can salvage it would be being discovered as utterly incompetent by my new employers or for me to turn everything down. neither of those things are likely to happen. i need to be responsible and sensible.

i resigned this morning and it all went smoothly. in fact i asked if i could bail in 3 weeks and not 4 and they were happy with that and will try and sort it out for me. i wasn't really bothered about staying 4 weeks but depending on how all these various things pan out i might try and see if i can get a week in los angeles before i have to start a new job. i looked at tickets for new york but there is very little available and the prices seem very high. lots of brits probably looking to do bank holiday weekend in the big apple i reckon. i do need to get away for a little while to freshen my brain up a little. i hate going from one contract straight to the next with no break. you want to be fresh when you start a new job and not still carrying tiredness from your previous job.

anyways, as always, we shall see how it all pans out.

today i have mostly been listening to the arctic monkeys - brianstorm. they are a really good band and they still make some decent tunes, but i just feel myself becoming a little less interested in them with each passing album. i suspect they may have peaked on their first album. this is song from their second album and shows they can still knock out a good song, when they get their act together and stop trying to be too hip for their own good.

facebook philosophy

Thousand of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared, remember that.

these are aren't my words. this is the facebook status of one of my friends. what is the fucking point of writing shit like that as your facebook status. lets be honest, most facebook status messages are mundane, but when people start coming out with horse shit like this, its even worse. i nearly commented and sarcasticly said i liked his greeting card philosophy and where did he google it from and if there was a whole website of shit like that, but i didn't. he is a mate after all. also one of his friends replied " you and me bro are living proof of that". that makes 2 idiots.

the other day his facebook status was "i need a massage", to which the same male friend said he was really good at giving massages. i nearly replied " i think you have pulled mate".

anyways lets see how it all pans out. as far as i know he is not gay ( i have met his previous girlfriends ) but we shall see how this man on man flirting with an audience of hundreds on facebook pans out.

had another call about a contract and once more they sounded a bit hesitant when i told them i would be able to start in 4 weeks. anyways, i will resign tomorrow. my boss is back today from his holiday and i will let him get settled in before i tell him the news and let him know he will be spending the next few weeks going through cv's and interviewing.

i can't wait to quit. i could do with some time off work and a holiday even if i don't end up going away abroad somewhere. it will be interesting to see how they take the news. when you work in a huge bank with hundreds or thousands of employees, they get used to people coming and going. here, between the unix, networks and the windows teams which consists of 12 people in total, i am the most recent hire (15 months ago). they don't have a high turnover of staff and everyone else has been here for at least 5 years.

weekend was quiet. couldn't cycle to the gym on saturday as it was showery and freezing cold, but did manage to cycle yesterday. there must have been something going on because there were loads of cyclists going round regents park that looked like they were training for a time trial or triathlon. they all had the extended centred handle bars and were in full aero kit with even the lycra shoe covers. saw a couple of lovely cervelo time trial bikes. i am pretty sure one of the guys was riding one of these, but with a deep zipp rim at the back instead of a solid disc. it looked fucking awesome.

thats all folks. its cold outside. am wearing my coat and scarf these days. its horrible. oh, and also apologise if i have ever come out with greeting card philosophy ever in this blog.

today i have mostly been listening to the hold steady - hurricane j. great song.

jane's

the weeks are flying by. i was hoping to be out of here at the beginning of february, and yet we are in may now and i am still here. i think tuesday will be the day i resign. i did wonder about there coming a time when i would look around and months and months would have gone by and i would not have noticed in hindsight. that has happened already. its like i am in the hindisght while its happening, if that makes any sense.

had a meeting yesterday with a couple of agents who are recruiting for the bank i interviewed at a couple of weeks ago, and for the job i was not too keen on. they said the manager there is still working on a way of getting me in to do something more interesting for them. will hear back in the next week or so. in the meantime i am applying for other roles and will be immediately be available come mid june. its got to be done.

had football last night. wasn't really feeling it to be honest. don't know why. just couldn't really get into it. it was pretty cold and the weekend is supposed to be cold as well. lovely stuff eh?. back to normality so need to pack away the coats and umbrellas just yet despite us being 3 weeks away from june.

thats it really. was hoping manchester city would qualify for the champions league instead of spurs, but as usual with city, they were a bit of a let down, so it means i have to listen to spurs fans gloating about making it into the top european competition. nothing annoys an arsenal fan more. my only hope is that spurs go on a spending spree and then fail miserabley next season and don't win anything or qualify for champions league again, and are burdened with huge debts and then go into administration and are then relegated. its always good to look at the positive things in any given situation.

have a lovely weekend

today i have mostly been listening to LA's finest, janes addiction - just because.

confidence

the weekend was pretty much a wash out. found a window of a couple of hours in the afternoon on saturday to cycle to the gym. saw some lovely machines going round regents park again. bianchi, pinarellos and cervelo's. people clearly loving the italian bikes.

a friend of mine is thinking of going to france and cycling up mont ventoux, which is one of the most famous and brutal climbs a cyclist can do. he just did the london marathon and he said it was very hard. i reckon ventoux will be worse. 20km riding up a very steep climb. your legs will be burning after 5 mins.

also i play the lottery sometimes, only when the jackpot gets ridiculously big. last friday it was a £38m ($60m) jackpot. i play it online so i don't have to worry about checking numbers or losing my ticket. anyways on sunday morning when i checked my email it had a mail saying i should check my account as i had won a prize. oooooo!, i already have a house picked out that i want get. its quite modest but costs £3.6m. was it time to order my range rover and nissan gt-r and book the tickets for tokyo?. turns out not. i won £6.20p. this week its gone up to £67m ($100m). keeping my powder dry for this one i figure. i might buy 2 tickets to cover all bases, in case the first ticket doesn't have the winning numbers on it.

i got a call back about that interview i had nearly 2 weeks ago and which i wasn't really feeling. the job was co-ordinating and managing server moves from verious data centers as they moved stuff around following mergers the bank has made. they tried to make out it was a techie role but it just wasn't and i had done something similar at my last bank, which almost drove me crazy.

anyways, the agent calls me back and said that they told the bank the reservations i had about the role. he said the manager that interviewed me really liked me and that i was one of the better candidates they had seen (he actually said i was the best candidate they saw but if i write that, it makes me sound big headed and full of myself, oh.... i did just write it) and he said he would try and hire me in a different role and that they were just creating a new spec.

anyways, that was a bit of a surprise. will have to see what they might be planning and what the new role is. its a nice predicament to be in. had been waivering in my plan to leave even if i didn't get anything lined up to move on to. its something like this that gives one confidence that we are not entirely incompetent at what we do and that someone might have a need for my limited knowledge and that we should take the leap into the unknown. we just sometimes need a little encouragement to give us a little more confidence to do the right thing.

in any given situation in life, most people will know what the right thing to do is. the only issue is if they do it or not.

anyways, next week is a big week. i will have to talk to my manager when he gets back from his holiday and let them know i will be walking, even if this new role at this bank comes through, or not.

take care

today i have mostly been listening to the avett brothers - i and love and you. lovely stuff.