Another of my annual birthday snapshots. What’s going on in my life at the moment? I doubt you’re interested, but I am. So there!
Home
Well we stopped thinking about the loft conversion and went ahead and had one done. What a nightmare that turned out to be. Dust, mess, and disruption I was expecting. Incompetence I wasn’t. The builders mis-measured the dormer extension with the result that they had to widen it once the stairs arrived to be fitted. They did the widening last thing on a friday, didn’t waterproof it properly and we suffered a bad leak. Too me best part of a day to get someone out to temporarily fix it.
General mismanagement, and slacking off, meant things went from bad to worse. A 4-6 week job turned into about 10 weeks. We suffered further leaks, terrible disruption (no roof means no heating), and general apoplectic rage, right up until 23rd December.
At least its done now and, in the end, we’re happy with the finished job. Maybe this is how all building projects go, but I doubt it. The friends who recommended the builder didn’t have anywhere near as much trouble, but I’d think twice about using these guys if you’re looking for a builder in Bath.
That aside, home life at the Dodds’ is pretty sweet at the moment. Ethan is really enjoying nursery and has taken to it without any problems. Martha seems to be growing up rapidly and constantly amazes us with her vocabulary.
Work
I finished that big application delivery from last year, although the latter phase slipped (business, rather than project reasons). It was a bit of nightmare summer though as I worked a lot of long hours. I’m adamant that this summer will be very different.
Despite this success, there’s not much else to add about work. Mainly because anything I write will probably get me into trouble as none of it is positive. Consider a veil drawn.
Current Obsessions
Flickr is my main obsession at the moment. I’ve been enjoying publishing the family photos, tagging, arranging and playing with them.
I’ve just finished reading The Baroque Cycle which totally absorbed me for several months. It’s a fantastic series of books, and has prompted me to purchase several biographies as a result. I’m halfway through one on Robert Hooke, with Isaac Newton to follow. More on this in another blog entry I think.
I will note that its made me pine once again. Still can’t afford to go back to Uni, but maybe there’s a way that work and personal interests can be brought closer together.
Miscellanea
I’m speaking at XTech at the end of May and looking forward to catching up with folk in Amsterdam once again. I’ve organized a whole posse of friends to come over too — we’re meeting up after the conference for a long weekend in Amsterdam.
Big Chill tickets bought. As usual can’t wait.
Lost Boy 