Having some major problems with our internet service at home.
Very slow speeds with constant dropped connections.
ISP has been sent the result of speed tests proving we are getting crap service - less than 250kbps on a 2 meg connection, but because of the constantly dropping connection even sending and receiving email is difficult.
Hopefully resolved soon, but for now am restricted to posting from work or from friends places.
It sucks!
Well I was going to go see Denis Jones supporting Efterklang this evening at Bush Hall….
But it has sold out!
Dammit!
To those who have tickets - Enjoy.
I wish I was going to be there.
My employer has a new initiative - Corporate Social Responsibility.
Now before you groan and dismiss it as a new bit of jargon, this one is actually a very good thing.
Today, my entire department of 35 people were all out of the office.
Today, my entire department got wrapped up in warm clothing, and spent what was a fairly cold and wet day clearing leaves, gardening and painting walls and roof beams.
KIDS Adventure Playground in Hackney is a great place, but is in my opinion in need of better funding.
I hope today we were able to do some work for them that makes the place better for the kids and staff that use the centre.
But why spider murder?
Well, normally I don’t kill spiders, but in order to paint the roof beams on the covered area outside the building we had to brush and sponge them down - inevitably there were casualties, but I did try and keep them to a minimum.
The leaf mountains and spilled paint are fairly self explanatory when 35 people set their collective will in motion and what at times was a fairly crowded workspace.
It was a good day and for a good cause - I hope my employer continues this plan.
OK, so I have been feeling under the weather for weeks now - which is why I haven’t been posting much; I just haven’t felt like sitting at the computer when I get home from work.
I have one of those annoying colds that seems to go away, but comes back with gusto, moving from sinuses to chest to throat.
Was feeling much better last week and thought I was finally going to shake it…. But No!
The weather was getting colder as the week went along with our first real frost of the year arriving on Friday morning.
When I walked out of the office into Friday evenings cold air, my chest suddenly seized up. I couldn’t breathe properly and walking back to the boys place for dinner almost killed me. After being indoors for 15 minutes I felt much better but my chest still felt tight.
When I woke up on Saturday morning I felt worse again and decided on a trip to Casualty/A&E/the ER (delete as appropriate for your location).
Turns out I was having my first real asthma attack in 12 years - so I was promptly nebulised for 3 hours and sent home with a new prescription for inhalers and steroids.
Scary at first, but I should really have realised what was happening and gone in on Friday evening.
Added bonus - my cold symptoms are vastly reduced and I feel better than I have done for weeks.
The docs gave me a thorough once over and have assured me I do not have a chest infection, so my cold is most likely viral which I just have to let my body fight off for itself. Small comfort to the people around me who seem to also have the sniffles at the moment.
Anyways, I am feeling loads better, so I should be posting more regularly again.
Still feeling a bit under the weather - this cold just wont quit.
So I am afraid I haven’t much felt like spending time sitting at the computer.
Normal service will resume shortly.
BBC NEWS | England | Flooding ‘may put lives at risk’
Here’s hoping London keeps her ankles dry!
- Click to enlarge.
Saw this guy support The Books at The Queen Elizabeth Hall here in London some time ago. His set ranged from the mellow and melodious to the downright berserk - it was fab!
It’s a quirky album, but it has grown on me very quickly so give it a listen.
The more I find out about this guy the more interesting he becomes. He works not just with music, but also in film and graphic design.
Google him or check his Wikipedia entry to find out more….
I am coming to the conclusion that it is not our teens and youths that are the rudest people that one comes across whilst travelling around London.
It is our middle aged white women!
They seem to think that they have some divine right to push and shove their way on and off the tube without so much as an ‘excuse me’, when they themselves are the first to shout if they get even slightly jostled.
They seem to think that their kids are beyond criticism when making a public nuisance of themselves, while they sit/stand there ignoring it.
They tut and shake their head at those who do not fit their happy little nuclear family ideology, yet nobody seems to remember placing them on a moral pedestal.
Do they somehow think they have paid their debt to society by allowing their wombs to be used for the continuation of the species?
Or are they just bitter about their own lost freedom, not to mention fading looks?
If these are the examples being set to our children, then I despair.
What is it with you women?
Not new I know, but I just found this again - and it is still as brilliant as the first time I saw it!
I lifted the following quote from YouTube….
This display was the work of Carson Williams, an electrical engineer in Mason, Ohio, who spent about three hours sequencing the 88 Light-O-Rama channels that controlled the 16,000 Christmas lights in his annual holiday lighting spectacular (from Christmas 2004).
So that the Williams’ neighbors aren’t disturbed by constant noise, viewers driving by the house are informed by signs to tune in to a signal broadcast over a low-power FM radio station to hear the musical accompaniment.
The rough quality of the video has led some viewers to believe it was put together in stop-action form from still photographs, but that is an artifact of the high compression used in the clip circulated via e-mail.
Carson’s Christmas display proved so popular that it was featured in a Miller Lite beer commercial in December 2005.
Part of me wants to say ‘Only in America!’, but the rest of me wants to shake the guy by the hand.
Genius!
I am proud to say I know this fella - I used to share a flat with his big brother.
Denis Jones’ performances are quite something, and seeing as he is playing up an down the country at the moment you have the perfect opportunity to find out. His gig schedule is listed on his MySpace page.
I will be going to his show on the 23rd November when he supports Efterklang at Bush Hall here in London.
You can pick up his album ‘Humdrum Virtue’ on iTunes, or from his labels online store at Humble Soul.
I hope this guy goes a long way, I am a big fan of quirky songwriters and Denis is not only a very talented one of those, but is a top guy to boot.
If you do nothing else today, have a listen to the tracks ‘Third Song’ and ‘17′, and watch the live video on MySpace.
Lovin’ yer work, Denis.
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