Tomorrow is my birthday. I'm going out with Alan and some friends for a late Sunday lunch.

Pancakes. Must have pancakes. Must. Must.

I cleverly made sure to add Canadian maple syrup to my shopping list and bacon and little sausages. This is the grocery shopping I have Waitrose deliver every other Saturday morning, the heavy stuff I don't want to drag home and up the stairs. Things like tonic water and household cleansers and canned chick peas. The fresh food I mostly pick up on my way home from work.

The only thing I was not clever about was milk. I should have ordered another liter of milk. So now I'm trying to figure out how to make the pancakes with npot enough milk but I do have cream. I do have a container of milk in the freezer but that will never defrost in time.

And yes, I -AM- too lazy to go down to the corner show and pick up more milk now. Especially because it is cold and raining and gray outside.

No sane adult moves to the Bay Area for lifestyle; they move there
because they think they can make money. So, while I think it's nice
people like to ski, hike, bike, climb, surf, and golf, I don't care. I
want people who are greedy, competitive bastards who would move to
Fargo in January to make money, and who don't know any other way to
work than hard. The rest of it is a distraction.

I baked a huge and absolutely gorgeous Christmas cake yesterday. Yes, with booze. Cognac actually. And loads of pecans and cherries and pineapple and other good stuff. And then drizzled it with some more scotch whiskey. Yum, it smells wonderful!

In other news, I still feel totally beat up from my nightmare commute to work every day.

I'm off to bed at a bit past 9:30pm . Getting up at 5am is a real bitch.

Yay! The US election and Yay! the US voters! I'm proud of you but expected no less. And yes, I'm one of you because I absentee balloted.

So, still working, still making my insane 2+ hour commute each way, every day. I'm going to try a bus alternative to the trains tomorrow. I don't expect it will be that much quicker but it's worth a try to see if it is gentler on my body. I feel so beat up and bruised from the enormous amount of travel.

Yes, I still love my job. It's still interesting, exciting, and challenging.

I was able to buy some basic work clothes. That makes a HUGE difference. Oh my god, what a difference that makes. We're only talking about a few bits and a pair of shoes. I hadn't realised how worn out and awful my old clothes had become. I feel actually human once again.

Last night Alan and I went through our clothes and threw out all the old crappy stuff we would never wear again except in desperation. Threw out a full, large shopping bag. There was also actually stuff that didn't fit but was still in good shape, and that is folded neatly into a bag to go to the local church.

I'm off to the supermarket now. I'll be online later. Need some time to hang out online.

See you all soon!

I finished my 2nd week at work yesterday and...ta da! I got paid! Yes, everything managed to go right and a big lump of British Pounds Sterling (paper version sterling) was dumped into Alan and my joint checking account Friday. (They call that a current account here in the UK)

So I dragged myself home from work and we went out to dinner with Ron & Hillary and Pete & Laurie. Very nice evening. Excellent food and really interesting discussions. The only problem was that both Alan and I started fading by 10:30pm and finally Alan called a cab to take us home. We get up at 5am all week and leave for work at 6am so by the time it's night, we just can't stay up that late. We'll have to stick to weekends for social outings.

So- of course with my first paycheck sitting in the bank, I finally was able to get some things I desperately needed - like a small but reasonable selection of smart business wear for work. We also were able to get food and household stocks in this morning. And I picked out Andrew's birthday present and ordered it online.

Next week I get my 2nd paycheck and that will be a full one. I'll use that one to start paying back money I owe family and friends. I ant to get everything clear eventually.

And, Alan was able to order a stack of books he's wanted for while - AND the CCNA textbooks so he can start studying and preparing himself to add a major new set of skills to his professional array.

Yay! Completed my first week at my new job! (Ok, it was only a 3 day week but still...)

I completed my first week at my new job yesterday. I really like the work, like the people I work for and with. The only real negative is the nightmarish commute but once I have a car and a UK drivers license it'll be golden.

Now I'm looking forward to my first paycheck. Yay! Shopping ;)

I completed my first week at my new job yesterday. I really like the work, like the people I work for and with. The only real negative is the nightmarish commute but once I have a car and a UK drivers license it'll be golden.

Now I'm looking forward to my first paycheck. Yay! Shopping ;)

I completed my first week at my new job yesterday. I really like the work, like the people I work for and with. The only real negative is the nightmarish commute but once I have a car and a UK drivers license it'll be golden.

Now I'm looking forward to my first paycheck. Yay! Shopping ;)

I completed my first week at my new job yesterday. I really like the work, like the people I work for and with. The only real negative is the nightmarish commute but once I have a car and a UK drivers license it'll be golden.

Now I'm looking forward to my first paycheck. Yay! Shopping ;)

I start my new job tomorrow. Have to leave the house damn early to catch the 6am train since it's the first day and I'm not sure of the timing.

Stop the presses!

Yes, I have a job! I start on Wednesday. Yay!

You lucky readers of this blog will be relieved to learn there will be no further moaning about the soul destroying horror of job hunting.

It's a very nice job, indeed. (You can email me for details, they don't belong on a public blog.)

Alan woke me this morning before 6am to inform me there was a power outage (read: blackout) but he was sure it was only local and would soon be back on. Umm right thanks, I'll return to my regularly scheduled sleep, thank you very much. I guess he wanted company in the dark as he got ready for work. Fair enough. A couple of candles did the trick since he'd already managed to make coffee before the power went off. Shaving would have to be a writeoff since his razor is electric. His office will survive. Outside there was a faint light as the false dawn began.

As soon as he left I went back to sleep. Twenty minutes later I was woken up again as one of the laptops started beeping and compaining that its batter was failing. I don't touch Alan's kit so I let it beep and just closed the door. Another 20 minutes and the power went back on at about 7:30 am.

My exciting morning ;)

I expect to get either a job offer or a rejection from 2 companies today. It's in the hands of the gods. Meanwhile, I got a call for an interview with MTV; they found me on their own. We'll see how that goes. I keep making it through several rounds of interviews and testing and just not getting the final nod. But sooner or later that will come.

DON'T EAT THAT SALAD!

I'm disgusted at the recent Big Lie campaign targetting crisps as a vile, disgusting food by showing some girl slobbering down a liter of oil and proclaiming that if you eat a small packet of crisps a day for 1 year you would be ingesting 4.something liters of oil a day.

Well, using that same logic - DON'T EAT THAT SALAD, EAT THE CRISPS!

If you eat a small salad with a minimal amount of salad dressing, daily for 1 year, you would be ingesting 5 and 1/2 liters of oil a day!

So using their insane logic, you are better off giving your child or yourself a packet of crisps rather then a fresh salad. That's playing by their rules.

I hate bullshit like this from supposed do-gooder groups. Come the revolution, those helpful groups should go up against the wall even before the lawyers.

As my son Andrew noted in his blog, it was just Yom Kippur. A time of self-reflection and renewal. Time to grieve over the losses of the past year, to forgive hurts, to undertake to be a better person in the coming year. I hope all those who shared in this day had an easy fast and wish everyone a healthy and happy and prosperous new year.

I've started this new year with a fresh start myself. I've finally moved completely out of my former flat and now moved in with my other half. It's a real squash here since the place is so small. It's officially rated for 2 adults and others in this development live in idential flats with 2 adults and a child. But that's them and it's not us. I'm going down to Coop Homes today to talk with them about moving up to a larger place.

Anyway, it's ok so far. Two days and we haven't killed each other yet ;) Nah, only joking. We know we have very different personal lifestyles and that the real solution is just to have enough space to allow us to do what we really need to do and not prevent the other from doing what they need to do. Once I'm working we'll sort things out.

It's been a while since I posted here, mostly because I've been deeply depressed by job hunting.

It's not that I don't get responses to my CV, I do. In fact I get a high response to my CV and I get a large number of interviews. The interviews also go pretty well since a large number of them produce an invitation to return for the "shortlist" 2nd tier interview. But, after all those successful steps, I keep failing to succeed at the final stage where I would get a job offer.

This is soul destroying. To put yourself out on the public stage, the marketplace, day after day and to be rejected time after time. It's a very personal rejection. Because once you make it past the primary interview, they know you have the skills and experience required to do the job. Then it's all a beauty contest. They are just judging you as a person and rejecting you personally. Saying I'd rather work with someone else, I like someone else better.

Think back to grade school where everyone used to line up to be picked for teams and think about always making it to the 2nd or third round and getting left standing there rejected at the end. Then think about if that happened to you day after day for months.

Nightmare, isn't it?

So no wonder I am depressed. Personally rejected by the professional world time after time. And not working means not getting paid which creates a cascade of disasters which further depress me.

And there's no relief because day after day I have to go through the process again and again. Smiling. Smiling and being bright. Smiling and being earnest. Smiling but being dignified. Smiling and being knowledgable.

It's so completely irrational and random and luck of the draw. And the deck is stacked against you. The house always wins.

Very depressing.

Not that anyone cares but I am boycotting Jamie Oliver. Shunning the pretentious, arrogant, condescending, political-correctness overgrupenfeurer.

Fresh criticism of Pope's remarks
Criticism is still pouring in from Muslim religious and political leaders over the Pope's remarks about Islam.
Full story:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/-/1/hi/world/europe/5351324.stm

I'm disgusted but not surprised at the Muslim response. The Muslim attitude for the past 5 years or more has been WE are allowed to insult the West and the Jews and YOU are not allowed to say anything remotely critical of Islam or the Prophet Mohammed. But the West tolerated this outragous hypocrisy. And so it comes to this. I hope the Pope refuses to apologise since he did nothing wrong. I hope the West wakes up and tells the Muslin world that they will just have to deal with it, that the West allows people to speak their opinions.

I hope we ALL remember the following -

First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left
to speak out for me.

Pastor Martin Niemöller

30 questions to elevate your awareness (and literacy) of the greater place in which you live:

1) Point north.

2) What time is sunset today?

3) Trace the water you drink from rainfall to your tap.

4) When you flush, where do the solids go? What happens to the waste water?

5) How many feet above sea level are you?

6) What spring wildflower is consistently among the first to bloom here?

7) How far do you have to travel before you reach a different watershed? Can you draw the boundaries of yours?

8) Is the soil under your feet, more clay, sand, rock or silt?

9) Before your tribe lived here, what did the previous inhabitants eat and how did they sustain themselves?

10) Name five native edible plants in your neighborhood and the season(s) they are available.

11) From what direction do storms generally come?

12) Where does your garbage go?

13) How many people live in your watershed?

14) Who uses the paper/plastic you recycle from your neighborhood?

15) Point to where the sun sets on the equinox. How about sunrise on the summer solstice?

16) Where is the nearest earthquake fault? When did it last move?

17) Right here, how deep do you have to drill before you reach water?

18) Which (if any) geological features in your watershed are, or were, especially respected by your community, or considered sacred, now or in the past?

19) How many days is the growing season here (from frost to frost)?

20) Name five birds that live here. Which are migratory and which stay put?

21) What was the total rainfall here last year?

22) Where does the pollution in your air come from?

23) If you live near the ocean, when is high tide today?

24) What primary geological processes or events shaped the land here?

25) Name three wild species that were not found here 500 years ago. Name one exotic species that has appeared in the last 5 years.

26) What minerals are found in the ground here that are (or were) economically valuable?

27) Where does your electric power come from and how is it generated?

28) After the rain runs off your roof, where does it go?

29) Where is the nearest wilderness? When was the last time a fire burned through it?

30) How many days till the moon is full?

The Bigger Here Bonus Questions:

31) What species once found here are known to have gone extinct?

32) What other cities or landscape features on the planet share your latitude?

33) What was the dominant land cover plant here 10,000 years ago?

34) Name two places on different continents that have similar sunshine/rainfall/wind and temperature patterns to here.