Kevin Lilley RIP

Kevin was in the same hall as me in my first year at uni. He was one of the same crowd as me, but I've not really seen him much since graduation. It's weird to think that he isn't about anymore, but good to know that he benefited from the charity set up in memory of another friend, Bryony, from the same group of friends and hall of residence, who also died of cancer.

Skittles. A very English game. And a slightly random one.

It’s good fun though – and I’m not just saying that because I won a pack of biscuits. The fact that I wasn’t drinking may have helped, that and the fact that I was hitting the skittles rather than those people at the far end of the alley. Rubber balls may be quieter than wooden ones, but wooden ones do have the advantage of not bouncing.

But it’s ok, of all the places to risk injury in a room full of 30 odd first aiders is surely a good place to do it….

And when I say odd, I really mean it.

USB gadgets

For Christmas (or was it for birthday ?) my brother gave me a USB powered heated coaster. The idea is that you plug it into your PC and it heats up. Any mug you place on it is therefore kept warm and you never have that horrible mouthful of cold coffee.

Great so far.

It may be a little gadgety – but hey, I’m an engineer. I’m not as gadget orientated as say, the electrical or mechanical guys, but they’re still fun.

It’s currently on my desk next to my USB powered fan, my mobile phone holder, my helicopter shaped pencil sharpener (when you press the tail the rotors spin round - and all supporting the Air Ambulance!)

Now the only problem with the USB powered coaster is that it doesn’t actually keep my coffee warm. A significant oversight. Apparently it only works if you have a steel mug. Now, the only time I would consider using a steel mug would be when camping. And, despite appearances, I don’t actually live in the office.

So I’m trying to work out how to set up the heating element of the coaster with the USB fan so that I have a sort of portable heater.

Problem is that since we ‘engineered’ the fan blades for grater efficiency (post it notes attached to each blade to provide a greater surface area) it now tends to fly across the desk when you switch it on unless you’ve selotaped it down first.

The trials of work. I don’t know how I cope...

Questionnaire

1.How old will you be in five years? From now? 31. But I feel the question needs more clarrification.

2. Who did you spend at least two hours with today? My colleagues, the Net Leaders and anyone else who makes it to the pub

3. How tall are you? 5'7"

4. What do you look forward to most in the next six weeks? Sleeping more?

5. What's the last movie you saw? The Holiday.

6. Who was the last person you called? Dad, to let him know what I’d volunteered him for in his absense.

7. Who was the last person to call you? A supplier for work

8. What was the last text message you received? ‘There is also chocolate’

9. Who was the last person to leave you a voicemail? no idea.

10. Do you prefer to call or text? Depends on what it is for. Normally text.

11. What were you doing at two last night? Sleeping

12. Are your parents married/separated/divorced? Married

13. When was the last time you saw your mom? Last Night for food

14. What time did you wake up today? 6am.

15. What are you wearing right now? Brown trousers, brown and blue stripey jumper, white shirt, brown boots.

16. What is your favorite christmas song? That Elton John one.

17. Where is your favorite place to be? I’ve been told before that just saying ‘bed’ to that one gives the wrong impression.

18. Where is your least favorite place to be? Anywhere where I have to talk into a mic.

19. Where would you go if you could go anywhere? other than the answer to no. 17???

20. Where do you think you'll be in 10 years? Still in Reading, a Chartered Engineer and, hopefully, married with kids

21. Do you tan or burn? Burn.

22. What did you fear was going to get you as a child? Using the telephone.

23. What was the last thing that really made you laugh? Trying to get a cork out of a corkscrew. Using another corkscrew and then a socket set. I’d explain more, but you mostly needed to be there.

24. How many TVs do you have in your house? Currently 3. All in the living room. 2 of them even work.

25. How big is your bed? Double.

26. Do you have a laptop or desktop computer? Desktop

27. Do you sleep with or without clothes on? I wear PJs.

28. What color are your sheets? Orange

29. How many pillows do you sleep with? Two

30. What is your favorite season? Spring.

31. What do you like about fall? Colours

32. What do you like about winter? It being acceptable to go to bed early.

33. What do you like about the summer? Daylight!

34. What do you like about spring? Smells.

35. How many states have you lived in? one. New England.

36. What cities/towns have you lived in? Reading, Boston, Wokingham, Birmingham

37. Do you prefer shoes, socks, or bare feet? Socks

38. Are you a social person? Ish. Depends on how much sleep I’ve had.

39.What was the last thing you ate? Porridge with golden syrup.

40. <---- where'd it go!?

41. What is your favorite ice cream? Have to be in the right mood for ice cream – no particular favourite. Just not cherry.

42. What is your favorite dessert? Chocolate.

43. What is your favorite kind of soup? Depends on the soup. Turkey soup was good but I also like Potato and Leek

44. What kind of jelly do you like on your PB&J sandwich? Probably Strawberry.

45. Do you like Chinese food? Yes. Mmmmmmmm.

46. Do you like coffee? This is a trick question? YES!

47. How many glasses of water a day do you drink? Depends. 2 or 3.

48. What do you drink in the morning? Water at home then coffee at work.

49. Do you sleep on a certain side of the bed? I have no idea. I’m asleep.

50. Do you know how to play poker? No, never really needed to learn,

51. Do you like to cuddle? Yes :-)

52. Have you ever been to Canada? No

53. Do you have an addictive personality? Not particualrly.

54. Do you eat out or at home more often? At home

55. Do you know anyone with the same birthday as you? Yes, at least two other people in my office. We have to make sure we don’t all bring cakes on the same day.

56. Do you want kids? Yes

57. Do you speak any other languages? Complete rambling nonsense. And some french.

58. Have you ever gotten stitches? No

59. Have you ever ridden in an ambulance? Yes – but only volunteer ones.

60. Do you prefer an ocean or a pool? Pool

61. Do you prefer a window seat or an aisle seats? Window

62. Do you know how to drive stick? Does that mean manual? If so, yes.

63. What is your favorite thing to spend money on? Books.

64. Do you wear any jewelry? Yes. A necklace and earrings.

65. What is your favorite TV show? Firefly or Doctor Who.

66. Can you roll your tongue? into what?

67. Who is the funniest person you know? I get the giggles with my housemate a lot – does that count?

68. Do you sleep with stuffed animals? sometimes. Mostly they sit on the shelf these days.

69. What is the main ring tone on your phone? Ringing.

70. Do you still have clothes from when you were little? No

71. Closest red thing to you? Coffee mug.

72. Do you turn off the water while you brush your teeth? Yes

73. Do you sleep with your closet doors open or closed? Closed

74. Would you rather be attacked by a big bear or a swarm of bees? neither?

75. Do you flirt a lot? I don’t know. Don’t think I do these days.

76. What do you dip a chicken nugget in? nothing

77. What is your favorite food? Chcolate.

78. Can you change the oil on a car? No

79. Have you ever gotten a speeding ticket? Yes.

80. Have you ever run out of gas? No

81. What is your usual bedtime? I aim for 2200.

82. What was the last book you read? Fiction: Winter in Madrid, Non Fiction: God’s Big Picture.

83. Do you read the newspaper? The Online versions of several.

84. Do you have any magazines? I get my professional one – the NCE.

85. Do you watch soap operas? Hollyoaks. Sadly.

86. Do you dance in the car? no

87. What radio station did you last listen to? Radio 2

88. Who is in the picture frame closest to you? I’m at work, I don’t have any pictures here.

89. What was the last note you scribbled on a piece of paper? Some actions from a committee meeting

90. What is your favorite candle scent? no real preference

91. What is your favorite board game? Again, no real preference. I like jigsaws and they’re on a board. Or maybe backgammon.

92. When was the last time you attended church? Last Sunday.

93. Who was your favorite teacher in high school? one of my maths teachers.

94. What is the longest you have ever camped out in a tent? Two weeks.

95. Who was the last person to do something extra special for you? Dunno. Probably Alice who organised some gig tickets for BNL and Tim Minchen.

The voices in my head...

OK, so how do I stop doing things? I couldn't sleep last night because all the things going round and round in my head were getting too loud. I've been told recently that I'm doing too much, but I don't quite know how to stop...

• Do I stop the voluntary society - despite believing in their principles, and the difference we make to the world?
• Do I stop the church committee - despite believing that there is important work to be done and things that need to happen in our church to glorify God?
• Do I stop the Youth Work - despite believing that young people need places to ask the questions that I never found anywhere to ask?
• Do I stop the paid work - despite needing the money?

Problem is something needs to give because stopping the sleep just isn't working! The alarm going this morning wasn't so bad as it could have been - not as bad as yesterday anyway.

However, lack of sleep and lots of things requiring conflicting emotional responses have meant that whilst I'm technically at work, and have been for 35 minutes, I haven't quite managed to actually do anything useful yet.

Ho hum. Maybe decaf coffee was a mistake...

Something profound.

Ok, so I haven't posted for ages, so I thought I'd break the silence with something profound...

Our cinema has new seats!!!!!!

They're big, and they're comfy! A whole new cinema going experience!

Went to the cinema and saw 'The Holiday' which is a cheesey rom-com. I quite enjoyed it, but then I really like rom-coms. You should see my DVD collection. Only problem with watching films where beautiful people get together against the odds and live happily ever after is that I come home and know that I'm not living that dream.

Which explains why I'm online and have a beer in hand. However, I don't have back ache from bad seats either.

Sick to the stomach

I woke up this morning and felt a bit sick, but it's ok I thought. It's just a morning thing. I'll just put the radio on to check the cricket score.

Decided after much deliberation that work wouldn't appreciate an illness form stating "Sick to stomach due to Ashes score"

Grumble grumble grumble we invented the game grumble

I get paid for this :-)

For the last few days I've had scale cut outs all over my desk and have been trying them in various configurations in order to get the whole thing to fit into the space available. There's something rather satisfying about the result. Other people are less enthusiastic.

In other news we have a church Christmas social coming up. Panic, toys out of pram and chaos. I don't understand why it's so complicated. Maybe I should have just volunteered for the organising group from the start.

And have I mentioned that young people are CRAZY? Almost, but not quite, as crazy as the leaders.

Long time no post

I got asked yesterday what exciting things I've been doing recently.

I'm not sure I've done anything exciting and I can't decide if that's good or bad -I do things because I like doing them, and some things I do because God tells me to do them whether I like it or not. But they're not exciting things. They're just every day things. Aren't they? Should I be excited about them? They never seem to sound exciting when I try and talk about them!

I'm getting paranoid!

The only thing I could think of in response to the question was 'I managed to make my finger bleed on a polystryrene toggle in aquafit'. Not just anyone can do that. And it supercededs my housemates injury with a mechanical pencil last week which, until now, was the most ridiculous injury we'd managed.

it may not be exciting, but it continues to be random. Ho hum. Here's hoping that I manage to work out what I'm doing sometime soon!

HowManyOfMe.com

There are: 2,888 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

Now what's even more random about that is the statistic the site gives me. Apparently in the US 99.66% of people with the first name of 'Mary' are female. Now, by my maths that gives 0.34% of men who are called 'Mary'. With the numbers the site gives that means there are 13452 men called 'Mary' in the US.

Doesn't that seem a little odd? (or am I just prejudiced?!)

Bleugh, I want to go home. Oh, I am home.

The above are the important and wise words uttered by yours truly when I got home last night. It's fair to say that my housemate was very much amused by the statement.

However, it does sum up things at the moment- I'm not quite sure if I'm coming or going!

Went up to Brum recently and caught up with the old Cathsoc committee. It was 2000 that we were in power, although I'm not so sure power is the right word. There are many other words that seem more appropriate. It's weird seeing where we've ended up - two auditors, an engineer and a PhD student. Sounds like it should be a responsible group till you put us all in one place. Ho hum. Was good to see them all anyway.

Also met up with more people down in Reading last weekend in the pub.

When we got home we later spent an inordinate amount of time at home trying to determine how many teeth we should all have. There's something very amusing about watching people try to count their own teeth. Following some research we determined that you should have 32, including wisdoms. Which means that I do have wisdom teeth - I just never noticed them coming through. Which means I am wise and grown up. Which I'm sure you all know anyway...

Mattresses

Sarah has the most amazing blow up mattress! You plug it into the wall and it blows itself up! You just watch as it pootles away to itself and then there is a fully blown up mattress! And you just reverse the fan to deflate it. It's sooo cool! And, apparently, I'm very easily amused.

The reason for the above discovery was that I stayed over at Sarah's last night for a proper catch up. We spent a lot of time nattering about all sorts of things - jobs, houses, her wedding, how cool her engagement ring is.

We also drank a pizza and ate a bottle of wine.

Which, along with the sleep deprivation, is making today rather more effort than normal.

Toes. Like Fingers but not.*

*Quote from McChicken and THE Chicken circa 1999. (Not to mention a whole lot of the other chickens, although those two started it. They have a lot to answer for.)

I never really think about my toes. They're just random things that are normally inside shoes.

However, since slipping half way down the stairs last night and stopping only due to the supreme effort of toe against banister, I've discovered a new appreciation for the things. I'd never really considered them or how much you use them to walk.

Ho hum.

Monday morning.

So, I'm back at work. Woohoo. And it's everything I remember from before I went on leave. And yet somehow worse. Ho hum. We've been playing 'nick the network cable' all morning as IT still haven't quite managed to provide one for each desk. We're going to be in trouble if the whole desk cluster is in the office at the same time. Various options have been suggested, and there is strong competition on the issue of which person gets to stay home so that they don't need a network cable…

Having spent much of last week asleep I've now had a busy weekend and could do with some more sleep. Such is life.

Saturday went to parents and ate lots of lasagne and met some peoples the parents know from Thornbury way (although now in Oxford). Mum admitted afterwards that maybe me and the boys have calmed down slightly since we were primary school age… Given that we're now all in our twenties this is quite a statement. Maybe it's just because we don't live at home anymore…

And for the record, it's not a good idea to get the giggles with a mouth full of mouthwash. It's messy, a little painful, and all Anna's fault.

Holiday

I'm on leave!

I recommend being on leave. It's far better for one's sleeping patterns than being at work. Apparently sleeping on one's desk is frowned upon. or at least, not advised if you want to progress at all in your career. ho hum.

So I'm at 'the Shed'. This is the new name for the 'other' house down in Bristol. Apparently other men have shed's in the garden. Dad has a whole house at the other end of the motorway but it serves the same purpose.

The theory about coming to Bristol was to get some sleep, some CPD done and to relax.
Sleep - yep. Relax yep. CPD - well, I kinda wrote an essay last night. Anyone want to know about the History of the Institution of Civil Engineers? It started in a coffee house, which is basically the 1818 equivalent of a pub. And that's still where you're most likley to find a Civil Engineer...

I've upgraded blogger. Anything could happen. Please let me know if it all goes pear shaped. Hmm... a pear shaped computer. Noone has built one of those. How do I get a patent?

I just shouldn't be allowed out.

As many of you know I recently got a new phone. My new new phone will be arriving this week after I broke the screen on the old new one. I'm not sure how. I think I sat on it.

This is brilliant. old but brilliant.

YAY! Dangermouse! Woooo!

Dangermouse is coming back to TV :-)

2 hours and thirty minutes, or 150 minutes, or 9000 seconds or 9e+012 nanoseconds

That's how long it took me to get to work this morning. Thirty minutes to get to the bottom of the hill. 2 hours to go about 4 miles across handy cross roundabout.

I've named various traffic cones on the route. Please say Hello to Jack and Tom when you pass them.

I think it's the first time I've been caught up in real gridlock. Something else to cross off the list of 'things to do'.

Then when I got to work, and got myself a coffee the milk was off… Things were just improving. Then I dropped my pen into my mug of herbally infused water.

Please can we rewind and start today again?

Just for Martin...

Martin is the best example of blokeness I have ever seen.

And this is not written under duress. And I'm sure his girlfirend would agree.

He's also asked for semi-revealing photos.

This is a semi revelaing photo...