Sometimes

Sometimes... breakfast in a hotel is a relaxing start to the day. On other days it's a pain in the neck. Today it was the latter. Orange juice ran out just before I got there. Sugar shaker had gone missing, so couldn't sprinkle on my ever soggier rice krispies. (hope my doctor doesn't follow me as i'm a diabetic, but honestly it's just a little shake). The table, of course, has cube sugar. I ordered cooked breakfast with white toast, forgetting this is a "make your own toast" establishment. They could have told me when I sat there like a lemon and ordered the damn toast. Which gave me the dilemma of hot breakfast with bread or cold breakfast with hot toast. What's that expression... Oi Vey.

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I am a free man

I am not a number, I am a free man.

 Am very much enjoying my trip to Rotterdam. Logitics very smooth, hotel different but quaint and most importantly bed awesomely comfortable. Have slept like a baby for 2 nights. Conference day yesterday was interesting and prompted some thoughts. Will cogitate for a couple of days. Definitely need to draw. Amazingly liberating feeling not to have laptop with me. This will probably be the longest stretch I have been unplugged from work in 5 years.

 Met an extraordinarily nice lady from Denmark at the conference and ended up just the two of enjoying candlelight dinner at very nice Italian restaurant. I have made a new friend.

 Am just wondering around the shops in Rotterdam today and looking forward to a few hours in Amsterdam tomorrow before the flight home.

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Anyone have any good icebreakers or team building exercises for a senior team?

I bought a book of these ages ago but would you believe it, just when it would come in handy I don't have it to hand.

 If anyone has any simple icebreakers or team building games, could you let me know.

 Thank you.

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Is this what we have become

I went out for a quiet Sunday lunch today, and bought a newspaper to linger over, as you do, only to read a very sad story about a beloved family pet that has been put down after yobs fed cannabis to it. The drug caused the animal to have repeated seizures, which left it blind and deaf.

 What kind of sick society have we become. Its stories like this which persuade me that sometimes animals are more deserving of compassion than people.

 Stringing the perpetrators up by their nuts is too good for them.

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Police overtime - I'm in the wrong job as usual

Police officers are able to double their salary by working 60 or 70 hours a week. I do understand they do a difficult job at times but I wish I had the same capability to influence my salary. I usually pass the 40 hour mark sometime on Wednesday or Thursday.

 And you have to ask: is it safe? The worst I could do is grump at someone in an email. These guys could get themselves killed.

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And here is the truly awful hotel

Shhhh... Don't tell anyone but this place is magnificent. If you spread it around everyone will want to stay!

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Slumming it...

The hotel I'm staying at this week is truly a wonderful place. Have just been for a swim and I'm now talking a walk around the grounds. Tucked away is this lovely little garden with a Koi pool.

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How to feel stupid in one easy lesson

So there I am, minding my own business, looking for a coffee, and reading a large advertisement for luxury apartments in London (and choking on the asking price) when... BAM... walked straight into a lamppost, face first. Boy does that hurt. Doesn't do much for one's dignity either. I bled for a while, the little shop across the road sold tissues but not wet ones so ended up arriving at one of our London HQ's looking like I'd been in a brawl. Not such a good start to the week.
 
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Jon & Kate, WTF

Sometimes cultural references just pass me by, and if anyone mentions this might have something to do with my age I'll slap them.
 
I finally read a newspaper article that explained the background of Jon & Sue plus 8 (US based reality show about couple with twins and sextuplets). Apparently it's all gone a bit pear shaped in the marriage and the whole sorry saga is major news.
 
I guess I'm just one of the 56% of adults (according to the BBC survey) who don't want to watch reality TV shows.
 
 
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Among other things was Nixon a dumbass

Another bunch of Nixon tapes were recently released, reminding us all of the Watergate scandal.
 
I can kind of picture the conversation when Tricky Dicky first arrived at the White House about how awesome it would be for his presidency to have a permanent record.
 
You have to wonder why it never occurred to him a few weeks, months or years in why this was such a bad idea. I mean, he was there, making all these dumbass comments. Surely the thought must have crossed his mind that the reality didn't really match the high expectations he might once have had. Dumbass.
 
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Salads not so healthy

It seems that some supermarket salads contain more fat than a Big Mac and fries.
 
I've never been one to bother much with what's the "right" thing to do, which might be why I'm heavier than ideal but to be honest I think I'm better off for the not worrying about it. On the whole I'd rather eat what I like than what someone else tells me is what's good for me, especially when what's good for me seems to change every five minutes.
 
Middle aged rant over.
 
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Farrah

US actress Farrah Fawcett, famous for her role in TV show Charlie's Angels, has died of cancer at 62.

I seem to remember having quite the crush on Farrah at one time.

How very sad.  

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Bumper Sticker

Saw this on the car in front of me while queuing to get on the motorway earlier today: "If you think this car is dirty try a night with the driver". Even better, the car was being driven by a rather attractive lady. If only I was 20 years younger...
 
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Sting...

I've known for a long time that I come from the same town as Sting. I didn't know until today that in 1991 he played a gig 500 yards from where I was born and brought up for the first 18 years of my life. Small world...
 
http://www.sting.com/news/news.php?uid=4523

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Is this the funniest joke ever?

Clement Freud is a sad loss. He told this joke on a radio programme and many consider it the funniest joke ever told. It's at least partly funny because you don't expect someone like Clement Freud to tell a joke with this kind of punchline. You have to be made of stone if you can't at least raise a smile to this:
 

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Britain finds another talent...

Hot on the heels of Susan Boyle the Britains Got Talent show discovers Shaheen Jafargholi. Check out this video on YouTube:
 

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Diabetes Type 2...

Excellent basic description of my diabetic condition - type 2 -
 
http://www.patient.co.uk/showdoc/23068721/

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mikeyy: Second Twitter Worm on the Loose

Useful to have this to hand, contains useful advice if you do get infected...

http://mashable.com/2009/04/12/mikeyy-another-twitter-worm-on-the-loose/

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Probing inappropriate rage...

Interesting Harvard Gazette reported study probing links between rage, depression, diabetes...
 
http://www.hno.harvard.edu/gazette/2004/08.26/01-anger.html

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What really offends David Mitchell...

I thoroughly enjoyed this exceptionally well written and well targeted rebuke aimed at some of "our nations finest" by David Mitchell.
 
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/apr/12/david-mitchell-jonathan-ross-russell-brand

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