am going to play football tomorrow night after all. my foot feels much better and i dont i will stay late at my friends leaving drinks tomorrow night. will give it a couple of hours and then be on my way. besides, i really miss playing football.
ordered myself one of these today. should be a nice bit of kit. obviously its for work and not for surfing the net and watching films on.
today i have mostly been listening to man without country - puppets. the video is not that great but the song is very good. i think this is their debut single and its very good indeed.
Wednesday 28 March 2012
Monday 26 March 2012
baba
its warmer in london than it is in los angeles or san diego right now and the sunshine lasts till thursday according to the forecast. i cycled on saturday and sunday and i didnt need my jacket or gloves of hat. it was lovely. it must have been the weather but i trained extra hard this week and i feel bigger today. you can get into that trap of training and not really pushing yourself and i had fallen into that over the last couple of months. this weekend i hit it hard and i feel better for it.
work is work. no one is giving me hassle and i am not under any pressure at all, but i just tend to get frustrated with myself when i dont feel like i have produced enough work or achieved anything. anyways, i am slowly getting into it and if the other guy ends up coming back from holiday in about 10 days, i think the job will be easy money as i will have someone to ask stuff. its just the little qwerks that take time to work out. once you get your head round them, things tend to be plain sailing......mostly.
i didnt play football last week as my foot still hurts from injuring it a week before. i am not going to play this thursday either because one of the guys from my last job at the hedge fund is leaving and its his leaving drinks. he was a permie and had been there 10 years. in my time there, i think i managed to reassure him that its always a good thing to start something new and he has taken the plunge and got a new job. like i tell everyone, i have never regretted leaving a job. i have regretted not taking some jobs offered to me, but you never have an ounce of regret about leaving.
today i have mostly been listening to the gaslight anthem - baba o'reilly.
work is work. no one is giving me hassle and i am not under any pressure at all, but i just tend to get frustrated with myself when i dont feel like i have produced enough work or achieved anything. anyways, i am slowly getting into it and if the other guy ends up coming back from holiday in about 10 days, i think the job will be easy money as i will have someone to ask stuff. its just the little qwerks that take time to work out. once you get your head round them, things tend to be plain sailing......mostly.
i didnt play football last week as my foot still hurts from injuring it a week before. i am not going to play this thursday either because one of the guys from my last job at the hedge fund is leaving and its his leaving drinks. he was a permie and had been there 10 years. in my time there, i think i managed to reassure him that its always a good thing to start something new and he has taken the plunge and got a new job. like i tell everyone, i have never regretted leaving a job. i have regretted not taking some jobs offered to me, but you never have an ounce of regret about leaving.
today i have mostly been listening to the gaslight anthem - baba o'reilly.
Thursday 22 March 2012
emmylou
the reason they wanted me to start my new job so quickly was that the other guy in the department was going on holiday and they wanted to give me a handover. a 1 day handover. it usually takes about a month before you get up to speed properly at a new place as you get your head round their processes and standards. i got 7 hours.
needless to say i have been sat at work the last couple of days very frustrated. it seems that there is very little documentation and the other guy who had been there 4 years, just pretty much did what he wanted and made stuff up as he went a long. today i had to work out how to set up network load balancing on an F5 hardware load balancer. i have never used one before and there was no documentation. 4 hours of google later i figured it out and i got it done. in fact, it looks to me like their config is not as optimised as it should be (given my extensive approx 4 hours of F5 experience) but i just did it the way their other configs were done to keep it consistent.
now normally i would be thinking of leaving a shambolic situation like this, especially as i am on my own for the next 2 weeks and the thought of it just fills me with horror, but the fact of the matter is, they pay me too much to walk away. i would like to think i had some morals and i can not lie and say i am worth that much money and that i enjoy the job, because i am not and i dont, but in 5 days i earn the equivalent of 2 months mortgage payments. when i think of it like that it makes me want to stick it out, at least until something better comes along. in the meantime i will take the money.
anyways it friday tomorrow. only 8 more hours to struggle through and shake my head in bewliderment as i wonder why they have presented every LUN to every host in all 4 of their ESX clusters, and why 5 intel Xeon blades with ESX and in maintenance mode have been added to a cluster containing 4 AMD ESX blades.
the techies will understand what i am on about in the above paragraph. for the others, i shall just say you should present the same LUNs to all the ESX hosts in the same cluster. they should not be seeing LUNS that are used in other clusters. there is no need, its messy, and its a needless risk if something breaks or someone makes a mistake. also you cant have mixed Intel Xeon blades and AMD blades in the same cluster. you cant vmotion across AMD and Intel, so why does it look like you are planning to have them in the same cluster. thats a no no....and is basic shit.
one plus side of my job is that i spend 45 minutes on the train in the morning and in the evening which means i get to read for an hour and half every day. am flying through my book about patrice lumumba and i think i will have it finished in another 4 or 5 days. they never taught us this in history lessons at school and yet this was one of the greatest men of the last century who everyone should know about be informed about how western colonial powers and UN conspired for him to be murdered.
its why i find patronising and racist films like the one made by the american 'charity' about joseph kony (KONY 2012) and the lords resistance army in uganda so distasteful. these people should be turning their attention to what they can do in the society they are in. they should highlight what has been US policy towards Africa for decades.
the US support for the murder of the democratically elected prime minister of the Congo and the support for dictators like Mobutu and Mubarak and the racist regime in south africa. they choose not to do this. they instead highlight shocking crimes of black africans against each other and not the crimes commited by western neo colonial powers. the same powers and people that pretend to care about child soldiers but that let a million Rwandans die in 94 and let 5 million people die in eastern Congo between 1998-2004 at the hands of Ugandan and Rwandan forces which invaded Congo. the same people that conveniently overlook the fact that US ally and president of Uganda, Museveni, also used child soldiers.
anyways, enough of the history lesson. i encourage everyone to read about africa. a fascinating continent which has had great leaders and culture and will hopefully have more in the future if only our governments in the west would allow african nationalism and democracy develop and stop looting their countries.
today i have mostly been listening to first aid kit - emmylou. enjoy.
needless to say i have been sat at work the last couple of days very frustrated. it seems that there is very little documentation and the other guy who had been there 4 years, just pretty much did what he wanted and made stuff up as he went a long. today i had to work out how to set up network load balancing on an F5 hardware load balancer. i have never used one before and there was no documentation. 4 hours of google later i figured it out and i got it done. in fact, it looks to me like their config is not as optimised as it should be (given my extensive approx 4 hours of F5 experience) but i just did it the way their other configs were done to keep it consistent.
now normally i would be thinking of leaving a shambolic situation like this, especially as i am on my own for the next 2 weeks and the thought of it just fills me with horror, but the fact of the matter is, they pay me too much to walk away. i would like to think i had some morals and i can not lie and say i am worth that much money and that i enjoy the job, because i am not and i dont, but in 5 days i earn the equivalent of 2 months mortgage payments. when i think of it like that it makes me want to stick it out, at least until something better comes along. in the meantime i will take the money.
anyways it friday tomorrow. only 8 more hours to struggle through and shake my head in bewliderment as i wonder why they have presented every LUN to every host in all 4 of their ESX clusters, and why 5 intel Xeon blades with ESX and in maintenance mode have been added to a cluster containing 4 AMD ESX blades.
the techies will understand what i am on about in the above paragraph. for the others, i shall just say you should present the same LUNs to all the ESX hosts in the same cluster. they should not be seeing LUNS that are used in other clusters. there is no need, its messy, and its a needless risk if something breaks or someone makes a mistake. also you cant have mixed Intel Xeon blades and AMD blades in the same cluster. you cant vmotion across AMD and Intel, so why does it look like you are planning to have them in the same cluster. thats a no no....and is basic shit.
one plus side of my job is that i spend 45 minutes on the train in the morning and in the evening which means i get to read for an hour and half every day. am flying through my book about patrice lumumba and i think i will have it finished in another 4 or 5 days. they never taught us this in history lessons at school and yet this was one of the greatest men of the last century who everyone should know about be informed about how western colonial powers and UN conspired for him to be murdered.
its why i find patronising and racist films like the one made by the american 'charity' about joseph kony (KONY 2012) and the lords resistance army in uganda so distasteful. these people should be turning their attention to what they can do in the society they are in. they should highlight what has been US policy towards Africa for decades.
the US support for the murder of the democratically elected prime minister of the Congo and the support for dictators like Mobutu and Mubarak and the racist regime in south africa. they choose not to do this. they instead highlight shocking crimes of black africans against each other and not the crimes commited by western neo colonial powers. the same powers and people that pretend to care about child soldiers but that let a million Rwandans die in 94 and let 5 million people die in eastern Congo between 1998-2004 at the hands of Ugandan and Rwandan forces which invaded Congo. the same people that conveniently overlook the fact that US ally and president of Uganda, Museveni, also used child soldiers.
anyways, enough of the history lesson. i encourage everyone to read about africa. a fascinating continent which has had great leaders and culture and will hopefully have more in the future if only our governments in the west would allow african nationalism and democracy develop and stop looting their countries.
today i have mostly been listening to first aid kit - emmylou. enjoy.
Monday 19 March 2012
hold on
i went down for an interview this afternoon at the other place that wanted to see me and it seemed to go ok. they didnt ask me anything i didnt know and it was a nice office in a part of london i havent worked in before. its near places i have worked but its always good to have a change and get off at a different station, even if its just 1 stop down from where i have been already.
they called me this evening and they offered me the role and i start tomorrow morning. had i got the contract at the investment bank i might have been in a pickle. it was a longer 12 month contract but it paid quite a bit less. this place is paying the equivalent of my mortgage extra every month. also if past jobs are anything to go by, i tend to get bored after 6 months and i could imagine myself possibly itching for a move in 6 months time had i got the job at the bank. this place i got the offer from have given me a 6 month contract and thats good for me. it takes me towards the end of the year and if i feel like a move i wont feel so bad about jumping ship midway through a project. everything appears to have worked out ok so far.
the other bonus is that like the hedge fund i worked at before, they are casual dress, which means i dont have to wear a suit every day. thats a lot of hasssle after a few weeks. also, 6 months from tomorrow takes me to september 20th and that is the perfect time to fly to california.
today i have mostly been listening to SBTRKT - Hold on.
they called me this evening and they offered me the role and i start tomorrow morning. had i got the contract at the investment bank i might have been in a pickle. it was a longer 12 month contract but it paid quite a bit less. this place is paying the equivalent of my mortgage extra every month. also if past jobs are anything to go by, i tend to get bored after 6 months and i could imagine myself possibly itching for a move in 6 months time had i got the job at the bank. this place i got the offer from have given me a 6 month contract and thats good for me. it takes me towards the end of the year and if i feel like a move i wont feel so bad about jumping ship midway through a project. everything appears to have worked out ok so far.
the other bonus is that like the hedge fund i worked at before, they are casual dress, which means i dont have to wear a suit every day. thats a lot of hasssle after a few weeks. also, 6 months from tomorrow takes me to september 20th and that is the perfect time to fly to california.
today i have mostly been listening to SBTRKT - Hold on.
Friday 16 March 2012
ill manors
you dont get a call for a couple of days and the 1 hour you are in the gym is when agents try and call you back. i had 2 missed calls on my phone when i checked my phone. the first one was from the agent that was dealing with the role at the investment bank that i got interviewed for. i called him back and he said that i didnt get it. oh well, whatever.
the other missed call was from an another agent and he said that a company wanted to see me on monday for an interview and only wanted to see people that could then start the next day. i said i could and he sorted out an interview there for me. its not an investment bank but i dont think that is a bad thing. i dont know why i keep going for jobs at big banks. i always feel so relieved to leave after 6 months because i am bored out of my mind and dont like working in a environment that teaches people not to think.
despite not being an investment bank, the place i am seeing on monday is paying miles more than the bank that turned me down and more than the hedge fund i worked at (although over the last few weeks i did find out that i was the lowest paid member of the whole team there). will see how it goes. if i get offered it i will start on tuesday. if they dont like me i wont be starting on tuesday and will be going to the gym instead. it would work out well if i did get it. it would mean exactly 6 months later it would be mid september and that is california holiday time.
today i have mostly been listening to plan B - ill Manors. any song that calls the prime minister a stupid cunt is fine by me. we have a right wing conservative government in power at the moment whose core principles have been to cut welfare, cut social services and cut taxes for rich people. when riots happen they just throw kids in jail and use it as an excuse to continue their economic war on poor people and cut their services and support even more. i wonder how much jail time david camerons best riding buddy from eton will get for perverting the course of justice. probably none or close to it because he can afford high powered lawyers and has friends in high places and definitely not as much as a teenager stealing trainers from a sports shop.
the other missed call was from an another agent and he said that a company wanted to see me on monday for an interview and only wanted to see people that could then start the next day. i said i could and he sorted out an interview there for me. its not an investment bank but i dont think that is a bad thing. i dont know why i keep going for jobs at big banks. i always feel so relieved to leave after 6 months because i am bored out of my mind and dont like working in a environment that teaches people not to think.
despite not being an investment bank, the place i am seeing on monday is paying miles more than the bank that turned me down and more than the hedge fund i worked at (although over the last few weeks i did find out that i was the lowest paid member of the whole team there). will see how it goes. if i get offered it i will start on tuesday. if they dont like me i wont be starting on tuesday and will be going to the gym instead. it would work out well if i did get it. it would mean exactly 6 months later it would be mid september and that is california holiday time.
today i have mostly been listening to plan B - ill Manors. any song that calls the prime minister a stupid cunt is fine by me. we have a right wing conservative government in power at the moment whose core principles have been to cut welfare, cut social services and cut taxes for rich people. when riots happen they just throw kids in jail and use it as an excuse to continue their economic war on poor people and cut their services and support even more. i wonder how much jail time david camerons best riding buddy from eton will get for perverting the course of justice. probably none or close to it because he can afford high powered lawyers and has friends in high places and definitely not as much as a teenager stealing trainers from a sports shop.
Saturday 10 March 2012
the joy formidable
had my second interview at an investment bank on thursday. it seemed to go ok and i should find out sometime next week if i got it or not. i also got calls about a couple of other jobs and they actually sound better and are for more money, so we will see what happens with them.
had football on thursday night and i hurt my foot after 10 minutes after some new guy accidently kicked me and i spent the rest of the game hobbling about. not fun. i managed to cycle to the gym and it doesnt feel too bad when i am pushing pedals. only when i walk.
thats all folks. i get the feeling the next 2 weeks might be interesting and something might come through. i can sense it.
EDIT: clearly i dont read my own posts because i posted REM country feedback again, even though i posted it on my previous post as well. well i have been listening to it recently. you can tell the days and weeks are starting to merge together in a big blur. its not good. 2 weeks something will happen. mark my words. :-)
anyways, here is something as good.
today i have mostly been listening to the joy formidable - whirring. i have posted this before as well, but this is a live performance that was on letterman last summer. i havent listened to a lot of really new music recently. am getting bored of the radio to be honest. its just playing generic guitar indie music and its getting so boring. i am sure there are lots of good bands out there but radio just wants to play the same old stuff from razorlight and foo fighters, arctic monkeys and all that stuff. they have had enough exposure already. they dont need much more.
enjoy this.
had football on thursday night and i hurt my foot after 10 minutes after some new guy accidently kicked me and i spent the rest of the game hobbling about. not fun. i managed to cycle to the gym and it doesnt feel too bad when i am pushing pedals. only when i walk.
thats all folks. i get the feeling the next 2 weeks might be interesting and something might come through. i can sense it.
EDIT: clearly i dont read my own posts because i posted REM country feedback again, even though i posted it on my previous post as well. well i have been listening to it recently. you can tell the days and weeks are starting to merge together in a big blur. its not good. 2 weeks something will happen. mark my words. :-)
anyways, here is something as good.
today i have mostly been listening to the joy formidable - whirring. i have posted this before as well, but this is a live performance that was on letterman last summer. i havent listened to a lot of really new music recently. am getting bored of the radio to be honest. its just playing generic guitar indie music and its getting so boring. i am sure there are lots of good bands out there but radio just wants to play the same old stuff from razorlight and foo fighters, arctic monkeys and all that stuff. they have had enough exposure already. they dont need much more.
enjoy this.
Saturday 3 March 2012
country feedback
had a telephone interview a few days with an investment bank. was warned that they would be giving a tricky technical test. turned out to be not too tricky at all and they have called me in for a face to face this coming thursday. i hope i get it. its another investment bank to add to my collection as i work my way round them in the city of london, and i really could do with doing some work now as well. i feel ready to get back into it...and it would be nice to top up the bank balance a bit as well, even though i have been very sensible.
i figure if i can work constantly for the next year i should be able to pay off what is remaining on my mortagage. that would be cool to be completely mortgage free. who needs a big flashy car or an expensive stereo or a flashy watch. i will be free from owing the man the anything and thats better than any trinket or car. all you suckers out there in your range rovers and audis will have to work to pay off all these pointless and unimportant possesions and things and will still have to slave away for the man. not me hombres.
10 pounds says that whenever i do land a new contract, after waiting a couple of months to land one, i will suddenly start getting lots of calls for other more lucrative contracts in other places. you know its going to happen. we will go from famine to feast, although i wont be able to feast because i will have already accepted something.
have been going football every week and have been going to the gym as well. not much else going on....aside from a couple of friends of mine making themselves look like idiots on facebook. they really should have a safety feature on there where if you post a status update it doesnt get pulblished for 10 minutes, so that you can then consider it and in a lot of cases delete it because it makes you look ignorant/bigoted or just needy and desperate for attention.
thats all folks. will update later in the week. today i have mostly been listening to REM - country feedback. my favourite REM song. this is fantastically good.
i figure if i can work constantly for the next year i should be able to pay off what is remaining on my mortagage. that would be cool to be completely mortgage free. who needs a big flashy car or an expensive stereo or a flashy watch. i will be free from owing the man the anything and thats better than any trinket or car. all you suckers out there in your range rovers and audis will have to work to pay off all these pointless and unimportant possesions and things and will still have to slave away for the man. not me hombres.
10 pounds says that whenever i do land a new contract, after waiting a couple of months to land one, i will suddenly start getting lots of calls for other more lucrative contracts in other places. you know its going to happen. we will go from famine to feast, although i wont be able to feast because i will have already accepted something.
have been going football every week and have been going to the gym as well. not much else going on....aside from a couple of friends of mine making themselves look like idiots on facebook. they really should have a safety feature on there where if you post a status update it doesnt get pulblished for 10 minutes, so that you can then consider it and in a lot of cases delete it because it makes you look ignorant/bigoted or just needy and desperate for attention.
thats all folks. will update later in the week. today i have mostly been listening to REM - country feedback. my favourite REM song. this is fantastically good.
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