What I Did Last Week (ending 2012-01-15)

Monday 9th: I had a frantic morning before work, moving the last few bits onto our bed before the decorations started. When I got to work, it was a quiet work day, which I was glad of after a hectic weekend. It was quiet in more ways than one – my bluetooth headset died, so I ordered a duplicate as a replacement. I nearly bought a Sony Ericsson LiveView at the same time as the price was nearly what I had previously considered paying, until I read the reviews! Had a couple of emails from my dad which were similar to the conversations I’d had with him Friday Night (see last week for details!) Sent a very emotional response that didn’t seem to make a dent. Never mind. Once Daniel had gone to bed, Jules and I curled up in the bombsite of our living room and watched a couple of programs before going to bed. I then finished “Daemon” 5*s, and I bought the sequel “Freedom TM” also by Daniel Suarez. I started reading “Cyberpunk Stories” by William King which I picked up today. While I was reading, Daniel sat up in his sleep and then fell over, Jules and I think he might be a sleep walker, which will be fun – even more cause for fitting stair gates! One final chat with Dave Lee about Powerline adaptors before going to sleep.

Tuesday 10th: I booked Wednesday off work, and plan to make the most of it. Forgot to set my Out Of Office messages before leaving for the day, so needed to dip back into my e-mail once I was home. Jules and I watched TV for a bit before going to bed, and I realised that I’d got about 6 tracks to submit to cchits (three from a google alert I’ve got set up for CC licensed music, one from a recommendation on statusnet, and two that were played on the Crivins podcast), however, I’m staying offline this week in the evenings as much as possible, so they’ll have to wait until I’m releasing my self-imposed blockade. Posted the powerline adaptors to Dave Lee, hope they help him out! Finished “Cyberpunk Stories” 2*s and then read “Freedom TM” 5*s which is an amazing twist on the “Daemon” book… I think if the author ever collaborates with someone like Cory Doctorow, for the futurisms, or better yet, Charles Stross, for taking a scary concept and making it both funny and deeply understandable… well, let’s just say I want to see what else comes from this author. While I was reading, Daniel sleep-sat-up again twice, bumping his head the second time around. Oh well, maybe he’s just disturbed by all the decorating stuff.

Wednesday 11th: Day off!! Yey!! Early start then off to Head-over-heels, a soft play centre near Hanforth Dean. Daniel had his morning nap while I was driving us there, so Jules jumped out and did some shopping while I listened to “How governments have tried to block Tor” video from 28C3 which was at the recommendation of a colleague. Ironic I’d not heard of it, given that I’d done a presentation on Tor at the first OggCamp. Spent 2hrs at Head-over-heels including getting lunch then went to the Trafford Centre. Daniel had his afternoon nap en-route to the Trafford Centre, so I dropped Jules off at the Trafford Centre and carried on listening to the Tor talk. Very little I’d not heard before, but great to have it in context. Picked up the full Father Ted box set, plus the “X-Men: 1st Class” DVD after having heard some great reviews. Daniel got a new pram book from Waterstones, which he then spent the whole rest of the time there flicking through it. Jules picked up two new lego board games “Sunblock” and “Race 3000“. I swear we’ve nearly got all of the lego games now. Got home to find wet-paint walls in the dining room and wet skirting boards in the lounge, so Daniel and Jules or I spent the whole evening except for dinner in his room. Once he went to bed, Jules and I played a couple of games each of Sunblock and Race 3000, then Jules went to sleep. I bought three new books for my Kindle “Beloved Weapon” by Jonathan A. Price, “The Windup Girl” by Paolo Bacigalupi and “Empire State” by Adam Christopher. I started, and am 38% through “Beloved Weapon”, and although there’s a fair bit of gratuitous and graphic sex scenes, it’s a pretty good superhero story thus far. While I’ve been typing this up, Dave Lee’s been in touch to say that the Powerline Ethernet adaptors I sent him had arrived and we did some diagnostics around why the throughput was low. At the same time, Daniel’s been stirring a lot again. I’ve had to help him back down from sitting up twice already tonight, and that’s not counting the times he’s sorted himself out. Oh well. Today overall has been a good day.

Thursday 12th: really rubbish night, with Daniel waking after sitting up and falling and banging his head, and then not settling for over an hour. Got into work to be told that while I’d been off, a serious issue had occurred with something I’d implemented (which didn’t make sense, as we’d created accurate documentation based on the data I’d entered into the devices in question). Those two items together sent me into a bit of a spin and left me questioning myself for most of the day. Finished more-or-less on time. When I got home, Jules asked me to lower the matress on the cot as Daniel is getting proficient at pulling himself up on the side. Doing this meant I also fixed the under-cot-drawer which had been broken within a couple of weeks of us building it (before Daniel was born!). We played with Daniel until his bed time, and then once he was down, we had Chinese take-away and then played Upwords until Jules was tired. After Jules went to sleep, I finished “Beloved Weapon”. It had, frankly, a rubbish end and barely rated the 2*s I gave it. Personally, I think it paid too much attention to the sex and physical relationships between the characters than it did to any background, non-physical relationships or plot. I probably wouldn’t read anything else by this author. Started to read “Empire State”, but only managed a chapter before I got too sleepy.

Friday 13th: Yet another disturbed night. Jules had promised to take care of Daniel all night, but about 2 hours after I’d fallen asleep, he woke up screaming. Jules couldn’t calm him down and asked for some help. I went in and finished calming him down to just crying, while Jules went downstairs and got him some Calpol. After he’d taken it, he settled well, and Jules put him back down. He then woke up at about 6 and woke us both up. When I got into work, I was covering a collegue while he was on a customer visit, in addition to my normal accounts. One of my normal accounts scheduled a two-hour conference call starting at 12:00 and then at 16:00 (when I was due to be leaving) I got a call from my collegue’s account asking me to implement an urgent change for him. So I ended up leaving 40 minutes late. When I got home, the work downstairs is all finished, so Jules had pushed the sofas out to the edges so Daniel could play, and for the first time in a week, we both sat down with him and played too. When he went to bed, we watched some tv and then I spoke to my brother on the phone for 30 minutes. Jules went to bed at 9:15 and I listened to the live Bugcast show from my phone (I’d not had my laptop out at all this week) until the end of the show, when Dave proposed doing a Google Hangout. Out came the laptop and headphones and I ended up going to bed at about midnight. No reading tonight, straight to sleep – busy day tomorrow.

Saturday 14th: up at 6:45, breakfast and then I went out to get a radiator cover. When I got back, I built it and then loaded up the car for the tip. Jules’ Mum and Dad arrived and started emptying our room into the dining room. When Daniel woke up, the work started in ernest… By 1pm, we’d got most of the stuff down we were ready for, so I took Daniel to his swimming lesson, via the tip and a nap enroute to the class. Lesson went well, but I cut my foot during the lesson (banged it against the steps) but didn’t notice until I got out and, while I was getting dressed, I was bleeding all over the place. I swear, it looked like there had been a massacre in there! Asked the teacher for a plaster, filled out the accident form and went home. Daniel had his dinner then while I put him to bed, Jules nipped out to pick up dinner from the supermarket. We had pizza and watched “Take Me Out” (a guilty pleasure), then the after-show follow up on ITV2. It’s funny how obvious it is that they must pre-record it weeks if not months in advance, as a scandal broke out about the show after last week’s episode, that one of the contestants of this game show used to be a prostitute… And she was completely cut out of the show, even though she’s there in all the video clips and is there in the after show, but they don’t talk to her. Sad really. Early night.

Sunday 15th: not only is my cut foot stinging like crazy, but the ankle on my other foot has gone gout’y again. Aargh. Jules let me have a lay in until 9 AM then while I put Daniel down for his nap, Jules went shopping. When she got back, we all went to do the food shopping for the week, something we’ve not done together for months. Daniel was hungry while I sorted out paying for our purchases, so she fed him in the cafe, then when I got in there I went over all funny. Jules bought me a sandwich then I went out to the car and felt really sick. Jules dropped me off at home and then drove Daniel around so he could have a sleep without disturbing me. When they got home I was feeling much better, so I put the shopping away while Jules sorted out dinner. After dinner, I bathed Daniel, we played with him before bottle and bed and then Jules and I snuggled up on the sofa. We watched TV for an hour or so, and then went to bed. I’ve not read anything tonight, but I did catch up on some social network updates I’ve missed. Tired though, do an early night for me!

JonTheNiceGuy

He/Him. Husband and father. Linux advocating geek. Co-Host on the AdminAdmin Podcast, occasional conference speaker.

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