Journal

Don't even think the 'b' word. I hate it, I don't really know why, but I do. This is an 'online journal', ok? Just somewhere to share some random thoughts about what's going on in my life (ok, and possibly a few rants too).

Speaking of the 'b' word, here's a few of my friends': Anton, Chris, James, Iain, Lewis, Matt, Michael, Paul.
Old journal posts can be found here. If you're looking for my Sun b***, it's at blogs.sun.com/lamsey.

To add this journal to your newsfeed reader or website, use this address: http://www.lamsey.co.uk/journal.xml

Hard work, this work business
Sun 20/7/08 (Link to this entry)

It's been a while since I last wrote anything in here, partly due to lack of time but mainly due to lack of inclination. One of the main things I've been doing at work is a large amount of web-based documentation for our software tools and, as is usually the case when I'm doing hard writing-related work, the journal suffers as a result.

Not that I've got many exciting things to talk about, really - through me working overtime and James being away most weekends, I haven't done too many exciting things lately. The highlights include a few nights out to the pub (including my birthday last week, which was very enjoyable) and what was quite possibly the world's wettest barbecue the week before that:

As is often the case, the pouring rain doesn't come out very well in the photo but hopefully the various people cowering under the gazebos should give you an idea of what it was like. The rain kept gathering in little pools on the tops of the gazebos and spilling out every so often, which was quite amusing until it happened right down my back. Despite this the night was very enjoyable and thanks as always must be directed to Tim, who played host and chef admirably (and Michael, who did his part cleaning up the extra food).

Settled in
Sat 28/6/08 (Link to this entry)

The past week has gone in pretty quickly. I had forgotten how fast the days go in when you're working full-time - it seems like once I've cycled home, showered, cooked and eaten, it's already nearly time for bed. Accordingly, I've spent most of today slugging around the house (I had intended to do some work but that's going to have to wait till tomorrow). Despite that I still somehow managed to miss Doctor Who (first part of end-of-season special, too, dammit)...

I've been quite surprised at how easily I've slipped back in to routine down here. Working in the lab is all flooding back to me more easily than I'd expected, which is just as well given that we've been short of numbers most of the week. That's due to change shortly - Anton's back next week before heading out to France, and the following week will be the first for the new interns. Jay should be around next week too, which should hopefully result in some badminton. Between all this and living with James, I'm definitely not going to be lonely down here :-)

Catchup
Sun 22/6/08 (Link to this entry)

Well, I'm now back in Camberley for my three-month contract with Sun. I've spent the last couple of days getting my room sorted out and catching up on all the stuff I've been having to leave until I could get access to my main PC and server. It's going to be fun staying here, even if it is the first time I've not had alpha geek status in my place of residence! Below you can see my room - once I'm gone it'll be an office, but in the meantime I get to plunder the use of the big desk :-D

Now, a couple of items which have been on my to-do list for a while (along with the archery websites, which I'll be getting stuck into later today). First up is a daft video cobbled together from two pool-playing sessions with my mates Gus and TC. My intention was to get a good collection of snazzy trick shots, funky camera angles and impressive examples of break-building; in reality, the blooper reel has ended up being the best bit of the video - due in equal measures to my propensity for potting the white, Gus' oft-outrageous jam, and TC's lack of respect for the traditional two-dimensional approach to the game.

The other main bit of catchup I've done today is sorting out my photos from the Arrochar Alps, in particular the panoramics (with which I am rather pleased). These are the pictures from when I climbed The Cobbler and Beinn Ìme with my dad as I described two posts ago. As is my custom, I've put together a page of my best snaps from the day in my Photos section - do check it out, I'm quite pleased with the panoramics in particular (I'm slowly getting the hang of taking the component shots properly).

After a couple of fairly relaxing weeks for me, it's all go from now on. I'm in work bright and early tomorrow morning and I'm expecting a busy week reacquainting myself with all the pleasures that the Camberley area has to offer (mainly good company, the town itself is a bit crap really) :-D

Camping stories, photos, and videos
Sat 21/6/08 (Link to this entry)

Note: this post was written on the 6th but I forgot to upload it before packing my PC up to send it down south (as described in the "Argh" post here), which is why it's about two weeks late :-p

I'm back from camping and saw James off on the train today (only to be driving down to his place tomorrow with stuff to be moved down south - seems crazy when you look at it that way). We had a great time out in Glen Etive, back at the same place where we went last year. This year ended up being more about doing crazy stuff than clambering up hills, but there's plenty of time yet to bag some Munroes this year.

l. to r. Ford, Fraser, James, TC, Gus, Sròn na Creise

The above was taken during one of our slightly quieter moments; the rest of the trip seemed to mostly involve doing dangerous and/or stupid things whilst getting munched by swarms of midges. The daft stunts were great fun but the midges were less so, with the result that we ended up abandoning traditional firelighting methods in favour of quickly producing some smoke to drive them off. You can see how (and more) in the video below.

One of the nice things about Glen Etive is that it's almost totally devoid of any human influence; a single-track road and a telephone line were just about the only man-made things within about three miles of our campsite (apart from the cable bridge, which was close by). It's a nice change from the urban wastelands that are modern cities and towns (and also the reason we could get away with driving around with firewood hanging out the back of a car). I've whacked a few pictures from the trip onto my Glen Etive photos page, so you can see some of the wilderness for yourself.

Past entries archive

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