June 28, 2005

Complaints! and not about my T-shirt suntan!

Well, it appears people do read my ramblings as there have been complaints about the lack of post recently! What can I say in my defence? Well, I have been particularly busy, work-wise and socially. Been going all over the shop for peoples birthdays (you know who you are ;-)) as well as visiting parentals for occasions such as father's day (begging the question, why is there no kids day?). So not really been here. On top of that the weather has been far too good recently to be sitting inside and writing posts, especially when I could be outside with a nice cold beer...

Suffice to say the be all and end all of the last two weeks has been A LOT of work, mixed in with a couple of eventful visits to schools, which went well, but proved you can't beat a good upbringing. The job progresses well, been busy engineering properly (standing between 2 blocks yelling instructions) and pointing out to architects JUST HOW RETARDED THEY ARE! Though they seem not to be listening, maybe I need to talk more slowly and use smaller works, rather than incompetent and remedial!

Socially, fathers day proved to be less painful than expected, though met a total random on the train who I have now swapped numbers with. This for now I'm counting as an extra mate, of which you can never have too many, though it may prove to be useful in getting another mate a job! The strangest things do happen to me! Someones birthday proved to be a relatively low stress afair, despite meeting of other family members, restaurants being either burnt down, shut for refurbishment or completely booked. Overall though went rather well.

On the horizon looms a trip to Nottingham, a work "touchy feely get together", a formal dinner and of course the holiday! Currently building up quite a nice base tan... Shame its only on my forearms! To top it all off I'm also going to try and squeeze in a trip to see War of the Worlds this Thursday. Only hope its as good as the original, rumour has it its supposed to be a bit of a stonker!

TTFN, promise I'll post again soon.

Posted by Russ at 06:42 PM | Comments (0)

June 15, 2005

The end draws nigh

Today had its highs and lows. The tunnel form progresses into its final throws of death. I think we may have to bury the shutters as they look pretty screwed at the moment! Got the "pleasure" of setting out the final datums for tomorrows pour, the last of 141. Can't wait to get rid of it, will free up no end of time to do other things without knowing that at 11am I need to go do a pre-pour inspection and that at 12:30, 13:00 and 13:30 someone will come and ask for the next days levels. As if I didn't know they needed doing!

Had a fairly lazy evening tonight, couldn't really be bothered with much after last nights escapades. Did the classic dinner, TV, blog thing. The only highlight outside work was having a little race home against a peugeot containing 3 girls, who were obviously out for a bit of fun. I toyed around for a bit and then had them down the right-hand side under braking at a roundabout, then firmly placed boot to floor and watched them receed into the distance, unlucky ladies, try harder next time!

Our great leader, man of vision and provider of money is supposed to be visiting tomorrow, but I'll believe it when I see it! So I best be getting some rest, as I get the feeling it'll be an early start and a stressful day for all concerned. Means I'll have to cancel that whiskey I was hoping on before bed :-(.

Posted by Russ at 11:03 PM | Comments (0)

June 14, 2005

Working up the appetite for some afternoon delight

Well, my late start was evened out by a late finish. Preached to school kids for the best part of the day and judging by the feedback quite a few were swayed to the dark side of engineering and construction. It would appear me and O'Connell make a formidable team! Quite enjoyed it too, some of the questions were quite engaging and reminded me why I decided on this as a career in the first place.

This evenings late return was due to a meeting of the ICE Graduate & Student committee. This did mean meeting some new people, which is always fun. It also meant I wasn't the newest member of the committee, which was quite relieving! Some interesting ideas got thrown about and next years calendar looks pretty good. Getting to set the topics for future civils meetings at least means I'll be interested in them and be more likely to go, as its likely to only be me on my tod! Have also committed myself to a few actions regarding visits to schools and stuff and seeing if I can get other Engineers to come along for the ride. Get to go to events with free beer too! Which should be good. Also slyed the email of a reasonably good looking lady :-).

Tomorrow is back to the grind stone, will be the big "STOP IT AND TIDY UP AND THE BIG BAD NO!" as someone important (well extremely) is comming to visit on Thursday at work. All I have to do is keep my mouth shut and avoid the P45! Dinner calls, its 21:30 and I haven't eaten since 18:15, something quick and easy required, probably a steakwich...

Posted by Russ at 09:27 PM | Comments (0)

June 13, 2005

A good day for me, a lucky one for Jacko!

Today was generally all round good, happy and decent. Was relatively well rested for a Monday, made it in on time, despite traffic. Achieved what I wanted to and soem more during the day and left at a reasonable time. My experiment has definately proved its worth, question is do I reveal the details to you all, or do I patent it first? Oh ok then...

For just over 3 weeks now I have been tailoring the perfect morning CD. Its a combination of uplifting motivational stuff, combined with some slightly more edge bits to give it some real teeth. The idea was that it'd end up choosing what songs go round my head all day and hence influence my mood. It took a couple of trys to get it right and I'm sure they'll be neverending tweeking as I discover better tunes for the job and music taste varies. But so far the 3rd generation version appears to be rather effective. Suggest you all try it. I'll post my track list if I get time, but be warned this is definately a personal choice!

The only other major news is the utter disbelief that Jacko has managed to get off (and not with a child for once!) AGAIN! Americans really must be dumb, though should I end up in court I think I know which lawyer I want...

Posted by Russ at 11:13 PM | Comments (0)

June 12, 2005

Honest, I'm not dead!

Sorry all, been ages. Been running around all over the shop. Been to harrogate, manchester or respective social and work visits, quarterly reports were due, ICE meetings to attend etc... And all this had to be fitted in round the usual things like work, chores and the obligatory drinking of beer. So... Whats the major news?

Well with regards to my holiday, it has occurred to me that plenty of things were required so have had a bit of a shop. I now own a respectable set of sandals and shorts that date from somewhere like today, rather than circa 1980. All I'm shy of is a big beach towel, with something inappropriate written on it and a tub of suntan lotion the size of a dustbin! That said some good weather has lead to whats starting to look like a base tan on my arms, just a shame about the watch mark.

The course in Manchester went well, despite the fact that I now have a vast amount of work to do before the next one, but hey what can you do? Was a rather odd hotel, very 1950's and full of chinz, would have been good for a 2nd world war themed wedding me thinks. Managed to get out and about in Manchester on the monday night and ended up in a pub that happened to have a full on 30 piece band in, which was brilliant and really made the night!

The rest of last week was generally good, progress is being made at a much more satisfactory rate at work and the sunshine appears to have lifted everyones mood. More of the same next week please, so anyone caught doing the usual rain dance will have me to deal with! My quarterly review (much delayed) went well, managed to get a good few objectives signed off and I've finally sorted out my membership to the ICE, so its all official now. 2 fold infact as I've had my training agreement signed off too, so given some monkey sends of a check from Dartford I shall be on the way to CEng status proper. Though other people in the same position have found the zoo down at Dartford to be less than efficient at times ;-).

The weekend has involved a lot fo chores as usual, washing had mounted up again because of all the travelling. Which is really annoying because it means I dont get a lie in on Sunday as my washing machine is about as fast as a snail with a zimmer frame! Nevermind though, least its done now and I'll try make some of the time up during the ironing stint.

The GP this week proved to be quite dramatic, a 2-3 for my ferrari boys, if a little lucky but I'll take it. They appear to be making gentle incremental steps towards victory, bring on the next race. I'm also secretly hoping that there's a big innovation going on in the background that'll bring them storming back to total domination like last season! (I can dream can't I?!).

Other than that this week looks busy, 2 CITB visits, an ICE G & S meeting, work all culminating in the night out with the tunnel form boys! then its off to london for the weekend. Sure at some point I'll get some down time, probably on the train!

Posted by Russ at 09:16 PM | Comments (0)

June 01, 2005

June! You call this JUNE!

Well, the sixth month of the year and what does it do? Rain all day! Grand, just grand. Work has been a bit trying today, definatley not as good as yesterday. Saw two fairly major smashes on the way to and from work. Both outside lane jobs, complete with police cars in attendance. The first one, on the way to work, I managed to avoid thanks to the blessing of traffice alert. The second on the way back, there wasn't so much luck. I got the traffic alert, but by that point couldn't avoid it, so then the radio just taunted me by telling me there was an accident ahead for 15 minutes. It must have done this twice as often as it normally does, I swear to god!

My experiment is generating some interesting results, tomorrow could prove to be a significant result, depending on what happens of course, but I'm trying to be a scientific as possible about the whole affiar. Will definately know for sure by Friday, so will let you all know then, assuming I'm not out on the "toon" like normal.

Got new wiper blade for the car today too. Then spent about 15 minutes looking like a fool trying to remove the old one and fit the new one in its place, whilst outside on my road. Instructions such as "gently remove wiper" when they really mean "place foot on bonnet to generate appropriate leverage to remove wiper" were not particularly helpful! That said, mission accomplished and I will now be able to see clearly through the windscreen, rather than squinting hopefully through it trying to make out if thats a wagon or the road sign I need to read.

Anyways, its that time again, so smoke me a kipper skipper, I'll be back for breakfast!

Posted by Russ at 11:42 PM | Comments (0)