Travelling The Country

July 27th, 2010 No comments

Over the last two months I have travelled over 1000 miles for work, from Glasgow to Slough to Leeds and London several times. I have started staying in Marriott hotels enough to warrant a loyalty card and already have nearly enough points for free night!

Travelling for work is hard, it means early mornings, late nights and a lot of eating alone. I don’t think I will ever really get used to booking a table for one. Although it’s a tough life and I am glad I only have to spend a day or so a week on average away from Leeds I am starting to enjoy certain aspects of it. The variety of the work is something I really love, along with meeting all sorts of characters. It is amazing to think that I spend a lot of time chatting to strangers in the hotel bar or at service stations whilst I am refuelling on relentless.

I am starting to look at moving on from my current job as I want to progress my career, but I am starting to think that I don’t want to move somewhere where I lose the opportunity to travel and experience the things I have experienced over the last few months.

I mean, as I write this I am chatting to a really interesting guy that works in real estate. he is currently setting up a deal to buy a warehouse and turn it into a contemporary opera space in East London.

What I have been up to this week 2010-07-25

July 25th, 2010 No comments

What I have been up to this week 2010-07-18

July 18th, 2010 No comments
  • Sod #wordcampuk and the #lasanwich tonight is about #wendy #
  • RT @gibmasterflash: RT @playcom: Green Zone. Blu-rays. Giveaway. RT http://bit.ly/ae2FF6 by 5pm to win one! #
  • Apparently its #wordcampuk today. Its not like its all @kieranoshea has talked about forever or anything :-p #
  • Gah, why does interesting stuff always happen when I'm at work?! #
  • Outkast – Ms Jackson just came on my iPod. forgotten how much I liked it when I was still in short trousers! #oldskooltune #
  • Friday is such an awesome day. #
  • Starting to wish I hadn't stayed up past one this morning :-( @malahath was always a bad influence :-p #
  • Had a good night with @chrisworfolk and @malahath and @BinaryMage . Steak was excellent from Blackhouse :-) #
  • Totally forgot to do my homework last night :-( gonna have to blag it 1999 style! #
  • Bloody haxored! #
  • Hmm, @leedsatheistsoc 's members are tardy. #
  • Also, epic lulz… RT @jackofkent: Have now formally emailed @gillianmckeith re my upcoming #BadLaw article on her libel of @bengoldacre. #
  • Wtf!! Spoons is busy?! #
  • And I want all that at frenetic pace. Too much to ask? #
  • What I want from football is chances, box to box action, tackles and goals. #
  • Don't get me wrong, its technically awesome and spain do it better than anyone else, but if I wanted art I would go to gallery. #
  • Can't sleep :-( which is weird after watching spain bore me to death with passing. #wc2010 #
  • So who's gonna win #wc2010 today tweeps? #
  • #ahs agm weekend almost over. @chrisworfolk james and I will be leaving bristol soon. #wc2010 final on later tho :-) #

What I have been up to this week 2010-07-11

July 11th, 2010 No comments
  • Recovery steak is full of win :-) #
  • Bed time for little old me. If anyone can tell me when I'm supposed to be up that would be awesome!! #ahs #
  • So apparently I'm too clingy. #
  • So 30 mins of talking then an hour break. That's why the #ahs never gets anything done!! #
  • And so we begin #ahs #
  • I really hope there are some @warwickatheists and people from edinburgh at breakfast today. Need to resurrect #challengewarwick #ahs #
  • I really hope there are some @warwickatheists and people from edinburgh at breakfast today. Need to resurrect #challengewarwick #hs #
  • In my room, hopefully gonna get some work done before sleep. Anyone would think I was on holiday. #ahs #stupidworkonholiday #
  • On the M5. Not far now :-) #ahs #
  • Me, @chrisworfolk and james leaving Leeds now. Be in bristol in 3.5hrs! #
  • Ooh, #eng v #ban odi is on at bristol on sat when I'm there. Might go if #ahs is doesn't go to plan. #
  • Well the late finish wasn't too bad :-) well worth the 1.30 finish on Fri!! #
  • So, working til 9 tonight :-s but means I get Friday afternoon off :-) #
  • The extra 100ml in the new bigger 7up bottle really makes a difference. Not sure if 600ml is too much for a little bottle. #
  • W00t got sky again :-) #
  • First day in the office for CWF today. #
  • Final fantasy 13s new battle engine is pretty awesome. Loving the party dynamics management system. :-) #

What I have been up to this week 2010-07-04

July 4th, 2010 No comments
  • First time ever? Just got 100% deposit back from landlord!! #
  • Accidentally bought a new suit. #
  • Forgot to get my dry cleaning done yesterday. Any one know of a 24hr dry cleaners in Leeds? #
  • Project at work is making my brain hurt :-( stupid quality control. #
  • So apparently I'm not fluffy enough. No wonder all our managers are shit!! They want fluffy people who don't need to know anything. Grr. #
  • Picked up new Final Fantasy game and ashes cricket (both for ps3) for 15 quid today :-) also got stardust and 300 on blu ray. Total < 40quid #
  • Random guy on the sofa this morning. Definitely not there when I went to bed. Why can't random hot chicks appear instead?? #
  • Pink wine and The Devil Wears Prada. Anyone would think I lived in an all guy house, lol. #
  • Just bad. They deserve everything @gibmasterflash is gonna throw at them. #

Chicago Fire

July 2nd, 2010 No comments

The Fire have had a tough couple of months, failing to win in May and struggling in June as well. The team played in the Sister Cities Cup,a friendly tournament between Chicago Fire, Red Star Belgrade, Legia Warsaw and Paris St. Germain. Fire lost in the semi-final to PSG and then lost the 3rd place play-off against Legia Warsaw. Belgrade went on to win 7-6 on penalties in the final. The team also failed to win in the MLS during May and suffered a 1-0 defeat to AC Milan in a friendly.

The team broke its bad run by beating New England Revolution 1-0 on the 27th June. Chicago have only lost two of their games this season but have been guilty of drawing too many (six in total now).

Team USA didn’t take any Chicago players to South Africa for the World Cup so hopefully the team will benefit from having a full squad to choose from for the rest of July with some big games coming up, including the start of the SupaLiga.

What I have been up to this week 2010-06-27

June 27th, 2010 No comments
  • Beer, sun and good conversation. Life is pretty sweet right now :-) #
  • Early lunch on work days suck, but am hungry so will have to manage. #
  • Free drinks, pizza and cake in Glasgow today :-) I do love free stuff!! #
  • Yum. Black pudding, haggis and lorne sausage for breakfast :-) bet @gibmasterflash would be proud, lol. #
  • Well I'm in Scotland. Sunny all the way the border' now grey and murky. #
  • Still can't get used to 6 forward gears in my hire car. Also 50mpg is pretty sweet. #
  • Busy few days ahead. Off to Glasgow via Preston for 11am Wednesday, then prob not getting back to Leeds til early hours Friday. #
  • Who would have guessed it would take 3 cleaners to sort out Chris's place!! Crazy. #
  • The South American contingent at #wc2010 look good. Europe be afraid!! #

What I have been up to this week 2010-06-20

June 20th, 2010 No comments
  • Gonna enjoy me some football today and chill out. #
  • Sorry but whoever decided not to have KFC in Leeds city centre is a prat. #
  • Somebody somewhere must be up for a nightcap?! #
  • So I've given up. I'm not strong enough to deal with the chuckle brothers in public yet. Driven me to drink. #
  • At Wendy House in school uniform. Main test now is how to deal with tweedle dee and tweedle dum. Its been a while since last bar fight. #
  • 2 full days off now :-) first time in quite a while!! Part of me thinks I should chill out, the other wants to finish unpacking. Hmm. Tough. #
  • Station to home in 4 mins ? #
  • So fucking close to Leeds but train now sat waiting for no discernible reason. 13mins to KO. #
  • East Coast trains wifi sucks ass!!! My £250 ticket should guarentee fucking internet access. Seriously pissed off now. #
  • Just finishing up in London. Wined and dined by Sapient for last two days :-) If I'm lucky I will be home for England game! #
  • Off to London (tho technically been off to London for an hour as I left Leeds at 6.40). #
  • Gah, 2 packages delivered today whilst I'm at work :( not gonna be able to pick them up til Sat at earliest :-( #
  • RT @bengoldacre: 6-story Jesus statue in Ohio struck by lightning 8 minutes ago: if these are the end times, you heard it on twitter #
  • Just finished gym induction, managed half a dozen boxes of unpacking and 20mins on the treadmill :-) now for steak night, lol. #
  • Train and hotel booked for London, car booked for Glasgow. Expenses incurred so far – 500 quid!! #
  • First night done and dusted. Getting up at 7am for work is still a novelty :-) The real hard work starts tonight – unpacking :-( #
  • First night done and dusted. Getting up at 7am for work is still a novelty :-) The real hard work starts tonight – unpacking :-( #
  • First night done and dusted. Getting up at 7am for work is still a novelty :-) The real hard work starts tonight – unpacking :-( #
  • First night done and dusted. Getting up at 7am for work is still a novelty :-) The real hard work starts tonight – unpacking :-( #
  • Moved into new flat, just settling down to first night (well first night as a tenant!!) #

End of a chapter

June 17th, 2010 No comments

Quite a lot of stuff has been happening over the last six weeks or so, I gave a presentation at Enquiry 2010, I moved in with Chris and George and Liz left me.

I will deal with the Liz situation first as it is the hardest one for me to write about and I am hoping that writing the second two bits will cheer me back up. About six weeks ago now Liz told me that she had had enough of being in a relationship and that she wanted to experience some of her life as a single woman so that she could really develop herself and come to terms with where she wants to be in life. I was gutted when she started to explain this to me as these ‘breaks’ are almost always permanent. The more she explained herself though, the more I came to understand where she was coming from. Liz has not been single since she was 17 and 7 years of solid back to back relationships is pretty intense. The way she argued her corner was something I respected too. She really sold the idea to me, that this was a key part i her growing as a person and that it was the right thing to do for me to let her go. In the back of my mind I thought that after a suitable length of time we would be able to rekindle the romance and get back together, but I was wrong. So very wrong.

We split up on a Sunday and by the following Saturday she was shacked up with another guy – John-George Salter (someone I considered a good friend until all this kicked off). After everything Liz had said to me, she had left me for another man. Apparently this had been obvious to everyone but me so i guess I didn’t know Liz as well as I thought. Her speech to me the week or so earlier had been a lie. The worst thing about all this? Well, Liz and John might have got together so quickly after we split up but they didn’t tell me about it for another three weeks!

I could probably go on spouting venom and vitriol about the situation – which has really thrown me off course if I am honest – but neither Liz or John or worth it. They are both small people with small minds and no grace, dignity or honour. I shall leave that at that.

The second major event over the last few weeks was Enquiry 2010, a two day conference in Birmingham run by the Chris Worfolk Foundation. I spoke on the need to reinvent the branding and marketing strategies of the atheist and humanist movements to better suit today’s marketplace. I will post the text of my speech soon.

The final big thing was moving house. Obviously I needed a new place after Liz moved in with John. Initially, I looked at Morley as it is close to work, relatively cheap and totally away from memories of Liz. However, as time ran out I still hadn’t found anywhere suitable Chris made me a offer I couldn’t refuse. He offered me the box room in his flat in the city centre. For many reasons I felt this was a great choice. First up, I get to live with Chris and George, which is going to be fun! Next was cost, it will work out really cheap to live with two other people. Finally, it means I am not on my own. I have a history of not dealing with personal issues particularly well and I think the inbuilt support network of flatmates will really help offset my traditional head in the sand approach to my own issues.

What I have been up to this week 2010-06-13

June 13th, 2010 No comments
  • #worldcup starts soon. Got 12 cans of lager to last the day at work. Gutted I got to watch opening ceremony and 1st game at work :-( #