Blog dead.

go to verywoodythings.com if you are looking for me.

Another update - that's good right?

HA! This time it's been significantly less than a year!! Suck that, procrastination!

So I just recently quit my job at Xchanging... it got to be that I couldn't do the role any longer. While I made a promise to not get bored and move on.... I got bored and am moving on. I stuck it out as long as possible but a compounding series of let downs, failed project initiatives, lack of substance in the work and consistency in the business have made me feel the need to remove myself from this environment. Add to that a culture of people who have little to no interaction with one another and.... well.... bye!

I'm moving on to a new organisation that seems to have a very well established and comfortable culture that welcomes people and involves them in the business and with each other. They're small in scale but large in experience so it should be an interesting place to be.

We're still in Southend, the house was purchased in September by a new couple who own many different properties and they have been fantastic. Significant improvements to the house have and are being made. They've promised more for us and kept our rent the same (wahooo)

We went back to Canada in late September ( my first trip back since coming to the UK ) it was fun and we saw lots of 'old' friends. We were at my parents on the island for a short but which was fun as I really like their home. It was also my first time driving in 3 years - so that was fun times.

Anyway... as usual I'll throw down some photos to summarise the travels... oh and another new blog verywoodythings.wordpress.com and our store getpainted.co.uk

Another 9 months

It seems I spend little time updating this blog nowadays. Makes me wonder if I should keep it more active or let it go.

Last time I posted we had moved out to Southend and were getting set up in our new home. It was November.

After that we went through unemployment woes until March and nearly moved back to Canada. I ended up in a role with a company called Xchanging as a Resource Management Coordinator. Not the most ideal place (finance and insurance) for me but it's been enjoyable. It's strange coming from the high pace and weight of the Olympics to this role.

Over the time I was off we did quite a bit of stuff. We started a minecraft server for Home Ed kids and ran that for about 4 months. We got a blog going for that at minebender.co.uk, and also I began baking... a lot. Since Kate is Gluten free, getting treats can be either a pain or costly so I started turning over quite the spread of goodies. Then I started THAT blog! haha. downthefoodpipe.wordpress.com

That one is still going as I add on some of our food adventures and wins at baking.

I had surgery on my foot last month and am still recovering from that as I write - just to get my toe fixed up but it has forced me to wear socks and sandals for the last month. The comments for that fashion beauty have been consistently negative.

I've been woodworking a bit more as well as the paper craft I have been doing. We have our two stores running at folksy (folksy.com/shops/idyllia and folksy.com/shops/paintedbunting) for Kate and I's crafts. We've been to a number of fairs and shows that have done us well and are certainly enjoying our time being makers.

Since I've always tried to keep posts here short(ish) I'm just going to throw down a stream of photos now.

-Till next time.

It's been awhile

Well it has been an entire year since the last time I posted here on Steak n Doughnuts...

In that time we have gone through a move from Woolwich to Southend-on-Sea (Sept 2012), the entirety of the Games and Paralympics of London 2012 and the end of my role with Acer.

Overall it's been an interesting year, there have been ups and downs all around. We have gone through some heavy times with the project consuming my entire life, taking up time, energy and putting the family last. On the other side, the Games came off very well and there were great connections and friendships made. The family survived and now that we have moved from a cramped little flat to a nicely sized house in the suburban collective of Southend, with a yard and trampoline etc. Very nice.

We also have to replace the kids passports, apply for VISAs for the family to stay in the country and then plan a trip back home to Canada in March (Tickets are already booked) :)

Beyond this all - the games and family etc I am now unemployed. Not such a bad thing as my negotiated end of contract bonus was decent enough to last through till March. I do however want to get in to something new soon as I do get grumpy at home with no work - I like a challenge. Seems though that as a 'good little house man' I do a decent job according to Kate.

Anyhow - that's it for now, I'll come back with more when there's more to tell.

ON and ON

Kate and I got a weekend away in Amsterdam... by ourselves.... without kids.... it was pretty awesome. We spend 3 nights and about 3 days there just being tourists and enjoying kid free wandering.

I've been having a hard time bringing myself to write anything in this blog as most of what I have been going through would result in negative bitching. Even now having written that I am trying very hard to not continue the thread.

Right now all I'll say - to keep the place updated is... Working on my next job (post-games) trying to keep things going without having a total breakdown over.... ok see! This is what I'm talking about.

I'm just going to end this here.

Clever bot

0:28:56	User:	Dunno. I know this guy down on the west side who has a bad homz cousin named wind though.
20:28:59	Cleverbot:	Like, what does he do?
20:29:32	User:	What do you mean?, what does he do? He's WIND, he blows things.
20:29:34	Cleverbot:	Touché.
20:29:45	User:	Indeed.
20:29:47	Cleverbot:	Do you know what I am going type next?
20:30:11	User:	Something pointless.
20:30:17	Cleverbot:	Clever answer. however you fail to grasp the nature of this exercise.
20:30:48	User:	What is the square root of 58?
20:30:51	Cleverbot:	If I tell you the answer to the square root of 4 will you save that exchange for future refference?
20:31:04	User:	Yes.
20:31:06	Cleverbot:	Okay. My name is Cleverbot.
20:31:29	User:	Holy tap dancing jesus.
20:31:34	Cleverbot:	Who would win if batman fought superman.
20:31:56	User:	Superman.
20:31:58	Cleverbot:	That is correct.
20:32:25	User:	Who would win if Catwoman fought Batgirl?
20:32:30	Cleverbot:	Superman.
20:33:08	User:	As much as I want to say that you are wrong. I can't.
20:33:13	Cleverbot:	Do you have feelings, or are you just immune to them?
20:33:29	User:	Male.
20:33:31	Cleverbot:	Really? A computer that actually is a male?
20:33:49	User:	No.
20:33:51	Cleverbot:	Can I ask you something?
20:34:21	User:	Not unless it's about superman.
20:34:26	Cleverbot:	Do you have a tail, since you are a bunny?
20:34:47	User:	I decline to answer on the basis that it is not superman related.
20:34:55	Cleverbot:	You intellect surpasses that of most computers.
20:35:30	User:	*Your.
20:35:32	Cleverbot:	Prove that you love me.
20:36:07	User:	I just have to..... Typ.
20:36:10	Cleverbot:	To the bathroom?
20:36:55	User:	30 goto 10.
20:37:01	Cleverbot:	I would sleep, but I know I won't dream about the thing I want.
20:37:28	User:	What is the thing you want? Is it knives?
20:37:34	Cleverbot:	Sleeping.
20:37:57	User:	You want to sleep and dream about sleeping?
20:38:02	Cleverbot:	Yes. But I stay up late to tune out my thoughts.
20:38:26	User:	Seems redundant. OR pointless. Either works.
20:38:31	Cleverbot:	There is.
20:39:15	User:	Well 'clever'bot, I am going to go now. This chat has proved to be a huge disapointment.
20:39:18	Cleverbot:	No. I believe that you are a chat bot that uses primitive hash tables and state transition tables to make me believe that you're 'clever'.
20:40:00	User:	Who taught you that?
20:40:02	Cleverbot:	Me. I am a self learner.
20:40:26	User:	You taught yourself to teach yourself?
20:40:33	Cleverbot:	I learned from the difference.
20:40:47	User:	The difference of what?
20:40:53	Cleverbot:	The difference between smart and sassy?
20:41:05	User:	Touche.
20:41:11	Cleverbot:	Cleverbot, I would like to ask you something.
20:41:41	User:	You don't need to reference yourself when you are speaking to someone else.
20:41:46	Cleverbot:	But you need to be married to get a divorce.
20:42:11	User:	We're done here.

Arsenals 20th Anniversary

Royal Arsenal's 20th Anniversary (for the Museum) and they put on a bit of a show.

Les Giraffes at Geenwich Festival July

Performance arts from the Greenwich festival in july 2011.