Occupation: Student

It’s a lovely Summer Sunday outside, and here I am typing away in my musty (don’t get Bex started on that one) bedroom: why is that? In the words of a 1980’s TV program, “Why don’t you go outside and do something less boring instead”? Although TV, not the PC, was the evil interior monster then.

I must feel guilty for not doing this blog for so long, and it’s the last thing I want to do after a days “work” on the placement (which involves a musty room and a computer too). Also, I don’t think my blogs would have been too interesting, “Today I did a bit more work with database x/program y/person z….” so I’ve confirmed my own belief that life tends to stagnate when “working 9 to 5”. It’s not like “learning for a living”, which is how I would describe my years at university so far, probably the best of my life. In fact the learning that the job entails (vb.net/asp.net)is the best part of the job! I think what this is leading to is this: I’m not someone who’s going to University “so I can then….”, I’m someone who’s going to University.

Is work important, or isn’t it? I think it depends on what you mean by important. When I think about my Dad, there’s not much I remember about him, but I don’t know anything about what he did for work, other than where he actually did work. It’s like, other than the fact that you do work and provide for the family, what you do at work isn’t important outside work: and outside work is where you live. I don’t know if the same can be said for politicians and the like, but I think this compartmentalizing of work and non-work life is natural (although this doesn’t mean that you should have a “work” face and “work” standards, and a different face and standards at other times: this overly compartmentalized brain is one of the methods which allowed many Nazi concentration camp commandants to kill mercilessly at “work” and enjoy a happy family life at “home”). I think the Greeks had the right idea, sitting around and debating life all day. It’s a shame they had to (what other way would there be?) use slaves to allow themselves to be able to do it. Perhaps the truly happy man is truly as Jesus said, not toiling and seeking after money and food, but relying on God to provide for him, as he is "working" for (or serving) him, after all. Of course, that beats even the Greeks way of life, but who knows how to serve God the way God wants? That’s another blog entirely.

Becky’s belly is getting big, there’s a photo of it below. Compare it with the one in an earlier blog (May 11th). Nearly half way there! It’s funny - Joni is convinced it’s (it is an it, isn’t…it? Until we know) going to be a boy. She says (quite often, just having grasped the Male/Female concept) “Mummy a girl, Daddy a boy, Joni a girl…baby a boy!” I’m not fussed either way, honestly. I did want a boy (before Joni) but Joni’s such a beautiful, inspiring, intelligent and loving little thing that I really wouldn’t mind another girl at all.

I’m actually suffering as I sit here: today I ran 9.3 Miles, a record for me, and I feel like the life-force has been drained from my body. The Great North Run is four weeks today, so I had to run something like the above mileage to give myself confidence for the day. I’m confident of one thing: I’ll need a week in bed afterwards!!! More sugary tea please….I am chuffed at today’s run though, at 1hour 40mins I think I’ll run the GNR in about 2Hrs15, as long as it’s not too hilly (I don’t think it is).

There’s some photos below which I took on Saturday, when we went to the “Lord Stones” on the edge of the North Yorkshire Moors, on an escarpment which affords some spectacular views over the surrounding countryside. In the photo of Bex and Joni watching the remote-controlled glider (lots of them there, and real gliders too), you can see to the left of Becky’s head the locally famous landmark, Roseberry Topping.

Oh! Almost forgot - how could I? We've booked tickets to see one of our favourite bands, the newly reformed Pixies, at Manchesters Carling Apollo. Got them off e-bay, £72 the pair, and good seats too (we have to go for seats with Bex being pregnant). The concert is actually the day before our Third anniversary, so we've booked a nice hotel (a best western for £43 from here!) too; any ideas for a romantic day in Manchester anyone? ("yes, first of all head out of Manchester.... " ;-)

Speeeeeeeed....

Just as I was getting used to life in the, well, at least middle lane of the broadband motorway, NTL have announced that they're giving all their customers 10Mb connections as standard. Coming at a time when I'm getting my head around newsgroups, subscribing to these services, and discovering one can download a DVD in 5 hours at 2Mb/sec...the prospects of doing that in an hour are mind blowing! I suppose it depends on the speed of the news servers (and whether they're based in Europe as trans-Atlantic speeds are measurably slower at these dizzying levels of speed), and for the internet in general there probably won't be too many content providers who can pump stuff out at 10Mb/sec, but time will tell....I'm considering, for two reasons (one should be obvious but I'm not going to state it) cancelling my LoveFilm subscription, and migrating to the 3Mb NTL service (the second reason being the cost of LoveFilm is about the cost of the 2 to 3Mb upgrade), as these customers will be given the 10Mb lines first. The only worry is how strictly the cap will be enforced (a 75GB cap has been mentioned on this forum), and how much NTL will charge for their "pay for what you use" service. I'm guessing I'll be paying £37.99 (the 3Mb price as of today) then, so why not get used to it now? I have only one obstacle. Her name is Rebecca.

My Little Girl

I thought I'd say a few words (from my hospital desk) about Joni's little-girlness. It's hard to put a finger on it, but just as she's growing physically, she's also growing mentally, and it's hard to see either processes. I just know that she's the boss now: when did that happen???! She says things like "just a second" if you ask her for something, or "hold on"! She's so polite though, "squeeze me" (excuse me), "peas" (please), and clear "thank-you"'s are a bit part of her conversation. Even when Bex puts her dinner on the table - "thank-you Mummy".

The nicest thing Joni's said recently though was the other day when Bex picked me up from the hospital - as I get into the car Joni says(from her car seat) "I love you Daddy. I love you Daddy. I LOVE you Daddy". Makes everything seem worth it: the foot in the face as she sleeps horizontally across our bed (which she prefers to her own), the (so) early mornings, weekends included, when she "want to watch telly Daddy" or "want to read a book" - accompanied by the throwing of the covers off me, and the tugging of my hand/arm/hair/face (until I comply). Makes all that worth it.

Testing...

So I've decided to test the "mail to blog" feature of Blogger, as I realize with shame that my blogging days have become blogging weeks - so I'm going to combine the problem with the solution - blogging from work, blorking I will blork! (Don't tell on me will you?) And the reason I'm using the mail-to-blog feature? This is the page you are presented with if you try to access blogger (or any blog) on the hospitals intranet. You can substitute personal for "mature", "criminal", "sexual content", "high bandwidth/MP3", "webmail" ... and you have an idea of the frustration using the hospitals intranet brings (probably most of the internet is excluded)...this godlike John Dobson rules with an iron fist, his virtual monuments are many, but dictatorships and monuments fall ;-) I joke of course, if there's a keylogger running on this machine or if the network security crew are watching me. Or maybe John Dobson's watching me???? My final words on the subject: I love John Dobson.

It's probably the same for most organizations, but there are ways around these things, though not very good ones. Of course there's this for blogging, but also for instance you can view (this service is hit and miss) a blocked web-page via e-mail by mailing GET (your barred page) in the content of a (no subject) e-mail to "web@pagegetter.com". Pretty cool.