Month: November 2008

It’s the morning after now, so how was the party ?

Let’s start by listing the films :
First up was Mars Attacks, a bit of insanity by Tim Burton where the Martians come to pay Earth a visit. Hilarious film and those Martians are totally evil on the level of a prank loving 5 year old 🙂

Next was Over The Hedge, which is an animated film from 2006 where a rascally raccoon gets himself in trouble with the local bear by trying to steal all the food the bear had laid in for after he came out of hibernation. I missed this one in the cinema first time around and discovered it courtesy of the movie channels. Well worth catching, if the photos on Imdb (link above) are anything to go by, the voice actors had great fun putting this one together and that really comes over on screen.

Third up was Cars, courtesy of a happy CQ 🙂 Another animated classic, with attention to detail that goes all the way down to aircraft leaving contrails in the form of tire tracks and the insects on the windows being miniature VW Beetles. The climax near the end also makes this one of the few films that gets me choked up. Must acquire this one for me some time 🙂

And last, after all the kiddies (except for RCA!) (and I’m due a thumping for that comment!) were safely in the bus heading back to Chez Aginoth, was scary movie Constantine. Not a bad story on this one but let down a bit by weak performances by the two lead actor/actresses. Worth catching this one but it’s guaranteed to upset people who may be sensitive to parts of the content.

After Thursday’s dusting exploits (next time before attacking room with brush, I’ll get a mask!) I wasn’t feeling too great, with lots of breathing problems and a big headache that had been building at work. The headache got the DGI (Damn Good Ignoring) treatment and I didn’t have to be too energetic so the breathing was just an annoyance.

Since the last time I had visitors, the people I was using as my barometer and inspiration for all the effort in cleaning up were the little people … I have a semi photographic memory and one of the images that stuck was that of a little girl who burst into tears at the sight of my loo … That image has been pretty much exorcised now because the bursting into tears happened at home time instead ;-).

Breakout – current iTunes track is “You Only Live Twice”, from the Bond film of the same name and sung by Nancy Sinatra. One of the best Bond themes 🙂 (Nobody Does It Better and For Your Eyes Only are also massive favourites) Kinda fitting seeing as we’ll be seeing Quantum Of Solace soon 🙂

My Puppies were a big hit with the little ones :

Thought I might lose one for a bit but they all survived 🙂 And I now have an excellent idea for what to acquire for the little ones for Xmas. Those three live on the back of my sofa and I think I’ll be introducing people to the rest of the fluffy menagerie some time in the future. By the way that’s Aginoth’s jumper that I’m holding hostage until Monday. I have more hostages ! Let’s see :

CQ’s pen : is now in briefcase waiting for work on Monday
Aginoth’s jumper
Kat’s congratulations card – Kat’s now a qualified Charted Accountant – big grats there 🙂
CK’s bottle opener
Various munchies

Most of it will be held to ransom, although ransoms tend to be limited to a wave 😉 The munchies however are MINE, ALL MINE ! (CK told me I could keep ’em 🙂

What did I get for this part of my birthday ? First one – Iron Man film and an Iron Man figure. Iron Man was one of the best films of this year, with Robert Downey Jr making an excellent Tony Stark. Iron Man 2 (2010) and The Avengers (2011) should both be amazing movies if they carry on the form from Iron Man. Next is HitchHikers Guide To The Galaxy from the BBC, which stayed true to the humour in Douglas Adams’ novels far better than the recent Hollywood production did. I also have Blakes Seven series 3 to watch, to catch up on something I was a little too young for the first time around, plus The Complete Robot collecting stories penned by Isaac Asimov.
(all links above will take you to IMDB pages)

Thanks to the Crazies for a great party and all those presents 🙂 Although my sore head settled down towards the end of the night, I hadn’t been feeling too human before then.

PS We had pizza delivered from the Pizza Hut over the road, they get a stay of execution this time as the pizza was just right. Shame their website keeps triggering virus warnings on this PC though … something to keep an eye on.

Update – Just finished watching Iron Man – definitely as good the second time around !

i love the smell and feel of a clean house!!

have a great party

I have something staring at me at the moment.

It’s covered with brown cardboard with various Amazon logos on it … I WANNA OPEN IT ! But I must resist. It must be saved until tomorrow night’s party. But I still wanna open it 🙂

Hoping that people will enjoy tomorrow night’s party. House is pretty much to the best state I can manage, although that isn’t quite the state I wanted it in. As in, it ain’t perfect but it’s a hell of a lot better than what it was 🙂 There’s still work to be done like moving a little furniture around but that can wait until tomorrow. Also gotta do some washing up and clear some space in da kitchen …

Oh and get some sleep tonight, although I’ll need my lungs to settle down before I can think about decent shuteye. I did the vacuuming earlier, plus a bit of ill-advised scrubbing of the floor because the vacuum cleaner needed a little “persuading” (the pipe were blocked so it wasn’t sucking). All that dust coming up into the air isn’t very good for someone with dust sensitivities 🙁

But seeing shiny surfaces instead of mucky ones makes it worth it, as does seeing a clear surface where previously elements of the Dust Bunnie Army was on parade. What will make the work totally worth it is if the kiddie visitors go away happy, instead of one particular small visitor being reduced to tears by the state of the bathroom …

It’s been busy and rather strange at work this week too – our project moved across the site to a new set of offices. The aim is to gather similar projects together so we can benefit from each other better. Whenever a move happens, there’s always a bit of friction associated and a bit of awkwardness too. Things like people taking stuff that they really didn’t need or could have got recycled because they have it on soft copy anyway … People are very definitely creatures of habit. There’s also friction due to certain elements not thinking of team issues but we’ve worked around those two people.

The move should be good for us, the scenery is definitely better. From my desk, instead of seeing trees blocking the view, I can see all the way out to the front gate. It should look good come Spring and Summer, although hopefully not enough that I gaze out the window instead of gazing at Windows on my desk. Oh – my stalker of last year might be working for the team that moves in next door to us, which could make life interesting 🙂

I’ve been doing a decent amount of the grunt work too this week, which is definitely good for my psyche. I’m a bit frail and pick up injuries easily, so doing something that lets me use my muscles and therefore confirm that I can still lug things around is excellent for my confidence. Plus it means I get smiles and thank you’s from our very own Wild Thing (name acquired through slip of tongue on Monday and no I ain’t tellin’ !) and from a few other people.

Key Leadership tenet – You should never ask someone to do something that you are not willing to do yourself. Which translates into not shirking the physical stuff because you can’t be arsed or you feel that you’re too important to be bothered with it.

Right – had a shower not long ago and my too-long hair takes time to dry. Time to chill out to some music while Taking Over The Galaxy ! I started a Moo2 game on Tuesday and it’s gotten down to just me and the Sakkra. Victory or Death !

PS Being right close to the best canteen on site (we have 4 plus a shop that sells sarnies) is definitely a bonus to the move.

Thanks so much for your Good Wishes on my Anniversary!
It sounds like you are doing MAJOR MAJOR Work! I applaud you! I know how easily things can get out of hand and then, how used to it we become….I’ve got a number of places like that in my house….(HELP?). Much Much good luck with what is still, to do!

Oooo – acid and alkali mix … always good for something that’s likely to fizz and pop 🙂 Must add the combo to the shopping list for this week so I can try that.

Gotta keep control over those wires 🙂 Two unexpected bonuses for today – I found my Sky repair plan info plus I found the PIN for one of my credit cards ! Tidying up can have unexpected benefits …

Thanks for the visit 🙂

Before you go to bed, poor a whole bottle of white vinegar in to the loo and leave it over night. In the morning, pour about half a pot of bicarbonate of soda in it then flush. It will get rid of anything grotty, limescale, smells, everything!

Keep up the good work and watch those wires, they will breed like murlocs when your not looking.

I’ve been blitzing the house for the last half a week or so to get it ready for the Crazie Party on Friday. It’s been much needed because since my last relationship broke up a few years ago, I’d been a bit static and not really looking after things all that well. Which includes myself plus the house. Also, the chores arrangement before the breakup hadn’t really worked that well. Evil Ex was supposed to be looking after the general cleaning type stuff while I did maintenance and surprise, surprise, washing up and cooking. So the house had got into a fairly poor state.

It’s happily a bit different now. I’ve not been on the cleanup job all hours except sleep and work, keeping a little bit of time back for games, film and relaxation. But I’m pretty happy with the progress so far. There’s still work to do though, the vacuum has been waiting to come out until most of the clutter is out of the way. No point picking up the clutter to vacuum if the clutter is going to get put right back again.

Bathroom – it’s not done yet but that room is starting to freak me out a bit. My loo has been described as requiring napalm, a hammer and complete replacement (beyond hope I believe was one description). I’d gotten kinda used to that, so to see a 90% clean loo is a bit disturbing to a brain that likes to see the same patterns ! But I can live with being freaked out by that and my brain will quickly adjust to a loo that I wouldn’t be ashamed to get used by other people. There’s still work to do though and I need some stronger scrubbers …

Living room – there’s a clearer path through now ! Although my pooter corner behind the sofa is still cluttered. This is the room in heaviest need of the vacuum cleaner, which will be Tuesday’s job when I’m not in work. However, it’s easier to get to the back doors now and all 3 of my soft chairs are available again and by Friday, I’ll have them moved into positions where they can see the telly. Electronic clutter has been moved out of the way too, I gather wires to connect anything to everything and most of those are now out of the way.

The light fitting is now not hanging off the ceiling by one screw (out of two!) and my two PC Box Boxes are now clear of garbage. I use the boxes that PC cases come in for tables beside the sofa. They’re just about the right size for a pint glass and a packet of biscuits without being Too Big. By the way, my Dining Table just happens to be a plank of wood from the back of my desk that had to be be removed to allow a PC to go in the bit that a PC is supposed to go in. It works … especially as there’s not really the space in my living room to get a proper table in.

I’ll still be keeping the two PC Corpses in the room. One is perfect for standing on to change lightbulbs (they don’t make ’em like they used to!) and I’ll put the side plates back on the other. They’ll both be available on Friday as tables for drinkz n popcorn n feet. It’s going to be a shame to chuck out the Quality Street and Liz Shaw mints but with Best Before Dates of 2005, they aren’t going to be around where little kiddies can get their hands on them. (And so Big Quality Street Addicted Kiddies can’t be tempted either !)

Kitchen is also on the list for blitzing and I started on that tonight with some overdue scrubbing of the sink … That’s another one that’ll benefit from far better brushes than I have available at the moment but I have time to get those later in the week. Tesco better have some good stuff in stock on Wednesday 🙂

So – good progress so far, house is no longer in a Repel Boarders state but there’s still lots of work to do. Next job after this one – clear the back yard enough to let someone in to fix the SkyDish. But that’s something that can wait a bit.

It’s long overdue but it’ll be worth it when it’s done. 3 years is far too long to stay rooted in a routine that allows fixing the neglect to become hard work. It’s always easier to keep up with the chores than to be forced to put excessive effort into cleaning up later.

PS I’m not so sure that scrubbing the sink with cleany type stuff was such a good idea considering I have a bit of a poisoned finger ! Time to get that under the hot tap to make it feel a little better.

Hiya TBB 🙂

I don’t really have any comments right now….other than to say “hi.” 🙂