Wheelz Online

After what seems like more time that it actually was, I finally went back to work on Monday morning and was greeted unexpectently.  I had people from different offices coming in to welcome me back to my desk which was a nice feeling really.  Its nice to be missed.  Even though i’m only going to be back for 8 weeks before I have to go back into hospital.  Yes, they have pushed back my operation until the end of November now.  Great i’m going to be laid up over Christmas - arn’t I the lucky one..

I’ve also started to refind my love of programming over the past few weeks when I downloaded Adobe Flex builder 3.  This is a programming language for Flash and my geeky side likes it more than the artistic way you do things in Flash CS3.  So i’ve been reading every book i can get my hands on and I have really enjoyed myself for the first time in months working on a computer.

Myself and my girlfriend went to the townhall on Sunday to look at what they can do in the way of weddings as we have decided its about time that we actually got married rather than just assuming that it would happen on its own.  September 2009 is the general timespan for it to happen although we havent narrowed it down to a date yet.

Apart from that its been quite a normal few weeks; my nephew has started school and he appears to like it, my sister has started back in her second year of midwife course and my brother still hasn’t got a new job yet.

Yep, i’m now in my mid 30’s and feeling old. But on the bright side i’ve still got the best part of 2 weeks off work so thats good. So what am I doing to celebrate my day? My sister is moving house today so I’m off to help her with all the tv and computer setting up.

Just before I go though, I found this video which gave me a laugh this morning. Some enterprising young fellow !?!? mashed up Star Wars and Coming to America to get this funny video.

So (as my posts usually start) its christmas eve here and I’m looking forward to tomorrow more than I had anticipated that I would.  This may be down to the fact that I’ve just returned from Mrs-to-be Wheelz’ parents house and I have just helped her dad empty two bottles of wine so am feeling quite festive.  But even before that I have had this xmassy feeling creeping up on me.  Yesteday me and miss sat down and watched a whole day of movies, starting with Santa Clause: the movie, and ending with the  Muppets Christmas Carol.  Then today I laid on our sofa like a kid watching the Tigger movie ( I love Tigger.)

After the stressfull couple of days (yeah right) it was off to my parents to deliver all the presents.  I know, we are going over there on christmas day but we have a full car and not enough rooms for everyone and the presents.  So we sat there drinking tea and watching “extreme rides” on Sky 3 for the hundredth time.  At about 4.30 my sister and nephew turned up and the little man was eager to show me his scar from his accident a couple of weeks ago. After then he was off to see Santa and we were off to Mrs-to-be Wheelz’ parents for the gathering.  Now over the last few years i’ve always been a little shy at this time of year with her family, but since now i’m pretty sure that she is the woman who I’m going to grow old with, I decided to relax.  It helped that her dad brought out a few bottles of red wine which as noted above I helped him drink - Well it would have been rude not too wouldn’t it?  At this point i need to go off on a tangent.

Her grandad is a great guy and her nan is barking mad (in a good way) and I like both of them, but as with grandparents they will usually tell their grandson/daughter that they like their partner whether or not this is in fact true.  I hoped they did but I wasn’t sure.  Anyway, in there house they had this great little model of a WWII plane made out of a spark plug.  Its really nice and one day here at home I told Sarah that I liked it and jokingly said that when they passed away that I would really like to have it.

So back to the party…

Her grandparents came with a parcel for me and unwrapping it I found inside the very same plane which I have been admiring on their bookcase.  I was stunned.  For me this feels like a validation that they really do like me and think that I’m worthy of their granddaughter.

So this has been one of the best xmas eve’s i’ve had in many years.  Lets hope that tomorrow day is as good.

So its christmas time once again. Out come the drinks, the cheesy music and the realisation that I can have 2 weeks away from hell (or work, whichever you prefer to call it). And at this time of the year I start to think of what I’ve achieved over the last 12 months. And in one sentence, 2 words even… Bugger all!

Well, that not strictly true but sometimes it feels like that. I’ve gone from being in a job which was a little boring sometimes but the people ( read person..) I worked with was a top bloke to being in a portakabin in the middle of winter with people i don’t have anything in common with. I don’t want to be there, they don’t want me there and I’ve lost my way in the world. You see when I was in the other office I was confident, happy and ready to take on the world. I thought I knew what I was all about. But coming here I find I am alone and lonely. I have 2 managers - 1 I haven’t seen for a couple of weeks and only talks to my by email (and i’m sure she copies them to other people on BCC - is it me or is BCC rude?) and the other one has managed through no fault of is own to totally shatter my confidence in all work I have done and what I thought I knew. So for me, the holidays can’t come soon enough. by 4pm on Friday afternoon I intend to be in a pub with my 3 best mates having a nice drink and preparing for that other test - The family over xmas.

I’ve not talked much about my family but they are worth mentioning. I’m 10 years older than my brother who has now finally decided what he wants to do with his life. He informs me that he is to join the army in the new year. Now this is not the career I would have thought he would want or be cut out for. Make no mistake, when Bro decides to do something he makes every effort to do it, but he has many other talents which I think he would excel at (and not be shot at in the process) His writing is very funny and he has a great sense of timing. I’ve got to at this point shout out his blog so you can see what I mean.

Then there is my sister. I’m soo proud of her. She gave birth to my nephew a 3 years ago, is now studying at University and has a house of her own. She’s amazing, as is Bro but in a different way. She works hard for what she wants whereas Bro and me are a little laid back to say the least. And my nephew is a star. He unfortunatly was in an accident last week and is wrapped up like the mitchelin man for the next few weeks, but from seeing him on saturday you wouldn’t think there was anything wrong with him.

So that is the story of my siblings. Along with those, i’m spending christmas day with my mum and dad and grandad. (and not forgetting Soon-to-be Mrs Wheelz). This should be interesting.

Ok, i know its been a while since I last posted, but I was busy on other things, more of which I’ll tell you about later.  But just to bring people upto date with @media.  Day two was a quiet different day and had a different feel to it.  The fist session was by Jon Hicks entitled How to be a creative sponge.  This was a useful session for me as I have the design skills of a dead monkey.  Basically what I need to do is collect crap.  Anything; tshirts, leaflets, prints and then keep it in a big box for inspiration.  I’ve started to do this and I have to say, it has helped a little.

After that I attended a session about the state of WCAG 2.0 by Shawn Lawton-Henry.  I was a little disappointed with this hour as I didn’t gain any knowledge and feel that my time would have been better spent on the concurrent session about accessibility.

Overall, I thought @media was once again a very good conference and I can’t wait until next year again.

Anyway, onto other things.  On Sunday this week, I will have been with my girlfriend for 3 years!!!  Thats 2 years longer than any other relationship I’ve been in.  Over the time I’ve known her, I have grown to love her more and more and I don’t know how I would cope now if she wasn’t around.  And I’m still a mess, still can’t clean up, and I’m sure I’ll never get pressents correct.