Been a while...

Its been a while huh...

Well what have I been up to? Not a lot, why? well Im overdue for my green belt by a substantial amount, I had done sufficient to qualify 3 months back now, and arguably could have had it then, but no, the regional manager wont let me grade so now Im 3 months behind others I train with and Im reassured its not because Im not good enough, which is just spit in my eye really. Oh, and the guy holding me back said he would grade me end of this month, well thats like next week, so, does 2 whole weeks *really* make that much of a difference? I doubt it.

Ive crochetted loads - I finished the blanket for my friends wife, see below (the copyright liz is deliberate)

Im now working on a new blanket for an equally german friend its pattern looks like this:

I started at the bottom of the picture, and Ive just started his head, so, Im just about half way.

Ive had a lot of headaches over the last month, partly stress, hence Ive been a bit quiet, headaches leave me very drained, that and its winter, and Im never enthusiastic over winter..

Charlie has been having swimming lessons - hes doing really well. Its great to see him have so much fun and have totally weighless exercise which is so good for him. The bone crunching lady has let him off crunches till the new year, the vets pleased enough Charlie can have odd little short walks on the lead again, and the swimming people are pleased at how well his swimming and confidence are doing.

Hes a good boy.

Theres also been some trouble brewing at work, it seems with the uncertainty of how jobs are going a few members of staff are making most of the opportunity to shine at other collegues expense, not necessarily mine I should say, but, various examples of withholding info, and trying to blame others where it could not be their mistake seems to be growing. The latter does apply to me, I had a week off, someone did something while I was off, it was wrong, a huge crap-o-gram was sent, to me I should point out from the effected people, and I apologised but apparently the person who made the mistake is mad at me.. I guess coz I hadnt stopped them? despite my absense? The mind boggles.

Well, I only have 4 more days of work this year (bar being on call), each day is hard to be got down too much now because in a few days I can rest almost till the new year, being on call shouldnt be bad as we have a prime response person who should get all the calls and only if important pass them on, this is a good thing. Otherwise there are various areas who wouldnt fake importance, but would make out the importance is far greater than it is.. eg, they cant print something, their collegue could do it, but, no no, its a life threatening priority 1 that *they* cant.. you know the kind of thing.

Well, we'll see how the rest of the week goes.

So.. it looks like winter..

IUts just turned 5pm and its blacker than a dark cellar out there.. :( and we already converted to daylight savings.. Exceedingly soon will be the go to work in the dark, come home in the dark rigmarole we hate..

It hasnt quite got to the cold wet stage, but this time of year was deffinately made for hibernation, something which we humans could learn a trick or too from, its certainly the time of year we seem to find we want to sleep every afternoon!

Yawn the weeks that fly by..

Well its the 4th November, a friends birthday, and the last year has flown by.

While I may have accomplished things, it doesnt feel enough for the time thats passed, I got my yellow and orange belts in karate, but apparetnly green is not a soon coming thing - despite being the right time frame - because Im still being judged as a sempei, rather than a student (which is all I am.. so the major depression and annoyance continues there), Ive made some nice crochet peices, peices Im really proud of, and of course, Ive learnt c#.

Things I havent made the dent in I hoped was: Getting lighter - my weight hasnt really gone down this year much at all, despite eating less, more karate.. so frustrating, no offense to being thinner and fitter but I dont want that to be all I do with my life, I want a life other than feeling amazingly hungry (like I do now) and spending it walking, cycling and karate-ing and I want time to do ME stuff, after all, I learnt c# to write apps and I learnt crochet to make things, whats the point if Im spendingn 8 hours a day walking and cycling just to burn off a couple more pounds! OK, reality I spend currently about 8 odd hours a week exercising at a sweating rate... I personally thing thats a good start and should have more effect than it is.

Christmas is rapidly heading towards us, and so a new year will follow.

My job safety is still teetering on the fence, the news earlier this week was that there would be (a wonderful phrase this) "Job Eliminations" and, given my bosses words to me were if he was asked if he wanted to keep me he would say no.. I cant help but expect to be on that list. Frustratingly, not because Im not likely to be a useful person, but because my boss has spent the last 18 months of my employment (eg since he got there) seemingly telling everyone that Im a horrible person, and keeping me out of things I am good at leaving me with stuff that, well, to be honest, is deathly dull and so not striking my imagination, and any warnings I throw to him of impending doom.. he ignores.

And, I just spotted we ran the sunday month end backups on saturday and the saturday ones on sunday.. now to you and me thats really not that bad a deal as long as they work, sadly, if a certain app goes down a company get called out (and seem to take a couple of hours to run 1 command and go "Oh yes backups are running") and charge my employer for the privilage (license to print money, no one makes them prove why they were called out...!!) so I bet I get a shooting monday.

Welcome to the jungle

On wednesday night a film was on, called "Welcome to the jungle" I saw the first chunk of it, but got distracted, and the bit Id seen seemed fairly amusing.

So, on thursday when I flicked through the tv and found it was on (again!) I thought, cool! I'll watch that..

So..

My dad rang..

Yep, you guessed it almost the same millisecond it started.. so.. you guessed it, I missed it.

Thankfully, it turns out hubby has it on dvd, so Im watching it now.. Its not a *great* film, but its certainly better than plenty Ive seen and amusing, and no offense but funny stuff never seems rediculously funny any more, so, Im guessing if I had seen this like 20 years ago, Id have probably died of laughter.

Certainly a good film I think to watch, rated 15, so, theres no real swearing, no sex, nothing like that, its kinda a standard adventurey type film, when good comes out in the end.

Is this them?

My mother left our family to go off with some guy she had known a few months, she since married (we are lead to believe, especially if the last card I got from her a few years ago is to be believed..) We know they moved to the isle of wight.. Well, theres only 1 man there with the right name.


D.M Llewellyn
Tel: (01983) 873315 - Text Number
25 Paddock Dv, Bembridge, PO35 5TL - Map


Is this my step dad (wow that seems weird saying that) and my mother? She hasnt contacted me in a couple of years now, but, I cant help but wonder if this is them! Dont get me wrong, in many ways I dont want to find out, after all she is the woman who on a legal form wrote she had had no children.. so I now dont exist huh?? (no I wasnt adopted) She did so many things the wrong way, and could so have remained at least on speaking terms with her friends and family, but no, she chose to be crewl and vindictive towards every single one, including her best friend. So, I guess, she deserves to not know how things are with people she once cared for, but, at the same time, I cant help but wonder occasionally why she did it.

Photos

You may recall comments on photos.. So, heres some:





In fact, I will be posting my photos in general on Zooomr its a great site, and like so many good things, its free, or you can choose to pay such as I have.

I laughed so much, I cried

Now, the following 2 are I think, very funny



and

A ray of hope

I recently bought a new digi camera as you know. I debated long and hard, too long, too hard, bored so many people about it I think if I so much as mention cameras they kinda look for quick exits or glaze over and go into that "Yes dear" kinda nod..

So..

Here goes another bit on the camera saga..

My biggest trouble is what lenses to get for my nice Canon Rebel Xti (or EOS 400d as its called) as it takes lenses with an "EF" or "EF-S" fitting. My old film based camera, a Canon AE-1P doesnt, it takes FD fittings and so the big set of lenses I have for it are only good for the film one.. While potentially I could trade in my old lenses, then Id have none for the film camera should I want to use it..

However, hope has come! A friend knows of a canon EF-M that maybe thrown out! (See which is basically a newer version of my AE-1P but with the added advantages of the same lenses as the digi camera, resulting in meaning I could trade my lenses in *AND* still have a film based camera!!!

Heres to hoping (I would still have to be brave to trade those lenses in!)

How low can you go?

I went through a fairly severe depression around a year ago, now I feel like Im heading there again.

Reasons to be miserable:

1. The company I work for was bought out, they havent as yet decided who or how many they are keeping. Uncertainty has never helped anyone, you like to have money coming in at a reasonable rate. How is a new company going to honestly decide if Im able to be a future employee if a) they dont really know what I do now, b) dont know what I want to do, and c) (more to the point) have no idea what Im capable of, as no one has my CV!! (HR dont have one, due to the way I was taken on board - apparently)

2. One rule for one, one rule for everyone else.. This has always made me frustrated and angry and miserable, and well pretty much any instance of it can bug me, but the bigger it is, the harder it hits me. More recently like back in May and June when I didnt get my new karate belt and finding out in the beginning of August it was because the guy in charge had believed something that was never true, and didnt think to ask, now means its circling round again, now, once more, a bunch of people who *did* get to do their belt in May/June are now looking at their next one, and Im not because he was holding me back because of this misunderstanding, now I have to wait at least 2 more months before I can get mine, although its quite clear Im certainly as good (if not better than at least 1) as they are.. So, bascially this means its all screwed from here on out, I will now always be at least 2 months behind. This is making me very miserable, to the point if I hadnt prepaid for a year, Id have quit in the last few weeks.

3. Its appraisal time, last years was never signed due to I feel a lie stuck right in the middle of it, I have no job spec to be compared against, and it will be done by someone who says they dont want me there..

So, Im sorry Ive been quiet, but this has been growing slowly inside and I guess it was time to share it.

James Marsters (aka Spike from buffy)

I have to say this.

OMG HES 45!!!!! He so dont look it.

More photos...

So.. the photos continue..

Saturday saw Charlie and the revenge of the pink flower.

Today saw me back up the hill but the other side.




Theres plenty more :P

A bit long winded.. but.

So, after going on holiday, and cursing my camera for its pathetic battery life.. I took the decision to get a new one.

For most people this would be a simple task. Price vs use is usually a good decision point, features, too..

I ended up with an odd decision.

A canon EOS 400D or, a Fuji FinePix S9600.

The later is a newer version of what I had, the EOS is really semi professional...

For every good point a camera had, it had a down point, and both ended up in my eyes, equally balanced..

Having had a great holiday but returning with few usable pictures, I was determind to get the new one soon. I researched, and read, and bored the living snot out of everyone I spoke to.. (They must be so relieved today)..

The sweetest, kindest man, one of whom listened to my tale of turmoil over the cameras, turned out to be a camera man too.. He had in fact only very recently bought himself a new camera.. A Canon EOS 400D.. This amazing person turned round and offered to let me borrow his for 5 days, in fact till next monday if I wanted.

I got home, I played. A lot of what I produced was blurry.. (Ive since found out why.. I had asked it to create the greatest depth of field, pretty much at all cost, as a result it often picked the background as its starting point, or, the shutter speed was so slow anything including wind, made something move, or I breathed etc.)

But, my decision became clear, it had the most potential.

So, I ordered it on the "GIVE ME IT NOW" option on amazon - not the cheapest, but arguably more reputable than a number of Ebay sellers.. and the tomorrow option even if it was 5.30pm seemed good.

Today came, the call arrived.. It had come.. My kind hubby placed it on charge so when I got to it I could play..

As if in celebration, the sun came out.. I attach 2 photos I took today. I have shrunk them, but in no other way did I alter the picture.



Oh, Ive taken 70 photos so far, so with flash some without, and the battery hasnt even shown signs of not being full yet.. My last camera was doing about 8.....

Back home

Its hard to believe this photo was only taken a couple of days ago, when I sat in a chair in that very garden with the sea wooshing not that far away, for now I am home..

To finish our holiday we had a curry as a take out.. The order came, I thought it was a bit cheap till I realised when it got here, I hadnt actually ordered my food... only the side stuff to go with.. Sigh..

It was a long journey, Charlie enjoyed a swim in the sea, although was a bit scared when waves lifted him up, but fun was had by all (Id like to remind all dogs not to stamp, or grind on their owners paws when at the beach its exceedingly annoying).

We had lovely local fish and local made pasties, lots of sleep and no computers. It was great, exactly what we wanted. I spent more than I expected but I dont begrudge any of it.

Now, back to the rat race.. How disapointing.

On holiday!

Well its lunchtime Thursday, and the holiday is going well, I guess there was an element of disappointment in that the "beach" that was supposed to be 100m from the house is not a beach by anyones standard really, the sea is there but a concrete ramp and a couple of rocks isn't really a beach IMHO



Its nice though to sit on the bench against the front of the house wall and listen to the sea, or at night look up and see a ton of bats, and the night sky in such clarity its so impressive!! You clearly see the multitude of stars and the almost cloud the distant ones form, so much so you can actually find it hard to see the main constalstions because there are just so many stars there and none seem dim so to pick out brighter ones seems impossible!



Today, I sit outside the national seal sanctuary, while hubby goes in, there is a lot of walking to do in there and in a way, not a huge amount to see, well there is a lot to see and make you smile, but the predominant memory is of the walking.



I got some ok photos, but, all the ones of the otters they were moving far too fast, silly things, very active!



I hadn't reallised just how big some seals are.. One they had weighs 350kg!!! Holy fish Batman, that's a big seal, even so, he still looks very cute.



We found a beach for Charlie to play on, mainly sand and this afternoon the plan after getting some food is to go back and Charlie is going to go in and get very wet.

Our visitor

Today we had a visitor, sadly she didnt stay with us too long. I guess it was not sad, but, it was sad for us for she was very nice!

Her name is Amber, I found her, as only I would.. I was on the way to the vets to pickup some vitamin pills for my own furry friends and I saw this poor thing walking down a very busy road, limping like mad.. If you look closely at the picture, you can see her left ear has is all bunched up as she has cauliflour ear.. She had no collar and no chip.. sigh..

It turns out she regularly wanders off and has to be rescued. Im kinda annoyed by this, shes old, and shes lovely, how irrisponsible do you have to be to not chip her and stick a collar on her (see shes wearing one here and was quite happy in it)

She was pleased to see her daddy when he came to get her. All the limp and stiffness went as she bounced up to see him. It was good to see her happy and back with someone she loves - she didnt seem to mind us too much though, as she wanted to go home in my car. Seemed almost put out to go back in her Daddys.

This is the second dog Ive found with no collar, no chip. The chips cheaper than a few days of food, its painless and ensures should something happen and your dog gets away somehow, they can bring them back to you quickly. Why would you not do it????

Something fun!

So, I thought Id wave this at you - I have the drawing talent of a dead blind squashed worm.. yes, in fact that poor worm would do better than me. However, I found mandala painter it can create far better things than I can show you. But heres somethng Ive made that doesnt look too much like something died...




Oh and in case you're thinking "well she can draw really shes just being modest" .. no.. no no, believe me no.. I draw stick men and people ask me what they are.. Have a go! Oh and its written in delphi, like it could be any other way!

Updates

So.. A few updates:

Charlie is doing well. The pasta is keeping him off his paw as much as could be helped. The incision has healed over nicely, not that hes proud of scars etc.. but you can barely see it..

Brown has hurt her paw now in sympathy! Not entirely sure what shes done, but my bet is on she got her paw under the wheels of my computer chair as I moved at some point - seeing as she loves being there.. and I do try hard not to run her over.

Me? Ive just done my back in.. or tweaked it violently

Its superly sunny out there and once again..
IM IN HERE!!!!!

The blankets for the vets are coming on, Im trying to do the 45" one, but if I dont make it it could be one of the 27" ones needed.. However, the 45 is a good one to do as it is the biggest. So Ive been on the prowl for cheap wool.. At paying around 2 pounds per 100g ball.. and the littlest which was 15x28 took about 1.5 balls.... so, working on that you can imagine the 45 is likely to take 4.5 etc.. its going to work out expensive..

So someone pointed me in the direction of a thing called freecycle, however, they wouldnt let me post my post which read:

Ive taken on a task of replacing blankets lost by vets due to flooding, and would like any wool or yarn to make a torrent of blankets for the vets. If anyone knows of vets who lost some due to flooding, Id be happy to add them to my list.

Im hand crochetting blankets so its not a hugely fast process, but, at the same time, Ive done 3 so far..

Im sure furry animals wont complain about colour, however it should be fairly non fluffy or bobbly..

It was rejected because I havent posted an offer first.. Um, its both.. Considering the floods have been estimated to have cost the area over 500mil in damages, and Im asking to help provide, so its not like I even want it for me.. I feel thats pretty crap considering the purpose of the list, eg to recycle and make better use of stuff.. and its not like Im asking for anything expensive.. people on the list have posted microwaves, wardobes and generally stuff you can sell for good money on ebay...

Pasta Boy!!

So, Charlies had his stitches out now, but to prevent him walking on it we placed a dog poo bag full of dried old pasta in the bottom of his sock of doom.. Its proving very successful.

(Shame on you lot for not reading about him!)

Furbag..

Well, Charlie is feeling a little better, too much better at a guess, hes not supposed to walk on his leg for 3 months.. You tell him.. We've tried. it wont do it any favors either.

Poor Puppy!

As you all know I have 2 dogs, one tends to be talked more about than the other, as well one is more active and inquisitive and so tends to do more iteresting things..

Last year, Charlie hurt his leg, basically a dogs knee is held together by 2 ligaments.. He snapped both and his knee had to be rebuilt, this involves 3 months not walking and then small short walks and so on, building up.. well, he had kinda got to a point where he was able to be nice and active all over again...

As my last post mentioned, it got a little wet round here, and while we were uneffected, Charlie got some grass seeds in his front paw and it went pussy and sore, and so hes been a little down.. Well, bless him, hes seriously down now.

On tuesday we were having our usual walk in the park, and Charlie just stopped, hind leg up, just like last time (except the other side).. wednesday we went to the vet about the front paw and found also he had done his knee in, just like last time.. He had an operation thursday (yesterday) to make it better. Hes now very sore, and miserable and lying on the sofa.

I dont think he can find a comfy place to lie/sit..

It also seems I cant do much to help.. its very hard.. But Im here for him for at least the next week. Please think of him, and wish him well. He means the world to me