Shifting blogs again.

So many blogs and so little time. I'm shifting over to just using the MySpace blog, rather than posting there and copying here. So, muh as I like this format, this blog will no longer be updated.

If you want to look at the MySpace blog, check this url: http://blog.myspace.com/drawbridgep

And if you want to use RSS, update the feed to this:
http://blog.myspace.com/blog/rss.cfm?friendID=24738794

Cookies are my weakness

I'm not sure where it started, but I seem to have this reputation of a cookie monster. It's true I do like cookies and I usually have (an empty) cookie tin sitting on my desk. And I have fixed a few peoples computer problems for nothing more than some home made cookies. Is this really a bad thing? There are plenty of things worse in this world to be addicted to than chocolate fudge cookies. I don't smoke, I don't do drugs, I don't even drink that much, so I think I have nothing to worry about by eating a packet of cookies in a day. It's not like I NEED the cookies. I can quite happily go for a week or two without them. The other day there was a box of cookies at work and I didn't eat a single one. I'm pretty particular about the cookies. I'm not a fan of Oreo's and really only eat chocolate chip cookies. I like a cookie that I can dunk in my tea without it falling apart or leaving a sludge of crumbs in the bottom which I discover as I drain the cup.

Here's an interesting point. Until I moved to America, I didn't even call them cookies. In England they are all called biscuits. What we call cookies are a very precise type of cookie. For example, Oreo's are biscuits. Oatmeal "cookies" are biscuits, but chocolate chip "cookies" are cookies. Don't ask me, it's too hard to explain. So I guess I only became a cookie monster when I moved to America. Before that, I was a biscuit monster.

Good and Bad

Sci Fi Weekly is an online magazine linked to the wonderful Sci-Fi channel (anyone who doesn't watch Battlestar Galactica needs their head examining) and each week they pick artwork to go on the cover. This week they've picked one of my pictures, so take a look here. (Just this week)

The only niggle I have is the way they've cropped it. My original was cropped in a certain way that I liked, but the way it's been cropped here makes it feel squashed. I think it's lost a sense of scale. You can see the original here

But anyway, I'm on the cover! that's four times this year!!

Out of Control

You see what I mean? I've missed a day already I'm just out of control. I think I'll not go back to missed topics, but just skip to todays, which is "Out of Control" (You see what I did there?)

If you know me, I hope you would find it hard to imagine me out of control. I like to think I'm a calm person and always in control. It's true, people (read customers) annoy me at times, but that's what they're paid for. But I've only once annoyed a customer so much that they came back. Luckily my boss had wittnessed the original discourse and could see that I was right and the lady was wrong and besides that, I didn't lose control. As for being out of control, I really couldn't tell you a time when I have been. Is that a bad thing though? Should I go out of my way to antagonise people? Is that the American way? I don't think so. Most of the natives I've met since I moved here couldn't have been nicer. You're all going to go out of your way to antagonise me now aren't ya?

I stopped at this point since I couldn't really think what else to write about being out of control and started surfing. I came across http://www.deletecensorship.org which is linked to Half Price Books and was skimming through the pages. Now, I'm all for classification in movies and books, but censorship is a totally different kettle of fish. But I approached the list expecting to find material that even I would question should be printed. But to find books that I know and have read on the list was a little surprising.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is that classic that even if you've never read the book, you've seen one of the numerous movies. There's really nothing that can possibly be objectional, right? In 1905 it was banned because “Huck not only itched but scratched, and said sweat when he should have said perspiration.”, but that was 1905 so who can tell what was proper then. It was also banned in 2004 after an African-American student said the book degraded her and her culture. Instead of the school explaining it to her, they banned it.

This one made me laugh - “The American Heritage Dictionary” was banned by the Anchorage School Board (1987) for having slang definitions for words such as “bed,” “knocker,” and “balls.” Which is just crazy! Why else would seven year old boys open a dictionary if not to look up “objectionable” words.

AND “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee” by Dee Brown which is a book i've not read, but the reasoning just makes me shudder, was removed from by a school district administrator for being “slanted.” They were quoted to say, “If there’s a possibility that something might be controversial, then why not eliminate it.”

Now THAT's out of control.

Unreached Goals

Today is the first day of my "try and write something everyday" phase, which will probably last around two days.
I didn't think it would be so hard to just sit and stare at a blank screen and wait for the words to flow.
I do this all too often, I set my self a goal and usually have every intention of trying to reach it, but after one or two days weeks or months, I give up.

Not just with artistic endeavors either. Exercise is a great example. There was a time when I bought a set of free weights and for the first month I followed the plan religiously. I measured and weighed myself, wrote down in the little chart and then did the exercises and by the end of the month I could see the changes. By the end of month two, the weights were gathering dust under the bed and my belly was gathering size. When I moved out, I actually put them in the trash can and wanted to see the garbage man try to lift it, but alas I missed him.

I bought a set of watercolours a year or two ago with every intention of trying to take up traditional painting again. I've painted maybe two picutres and I'm half way through a pen and ink render and now, the really nice art box is sitting gathering dust on a shelf behind me.

In my adult life, I've had four guitars and with each one I fully intend to learn how to play. Twenty years later and I still barely know more than three major chords and can play two songs. Ok, maybe four songs, but only two that anyone would recognise. So now the guitar sits in the corner, taken out on the rare occasion that I'm waiting for the computer to do something.

I currently own three bicycles, all of which are hanging in my parents garage four and a half thousand miles away slowly rusting away. One of them was really rather expensive and to be fair, I did actually crank up a lot of mile. But moving to America isn't my excuse for not using it. I didn't cycle at all for the last two years thay I lived in the UK.

I'm sure it's not just me who has this problem. I would also think that the owners of eBay are glad we all have this problem. Just imagine how much smaller ebay would be if it wasn't selling unwanted Bowflex Extremes, Jack LaLanne Power Juicers and trampolines.

Prompts and Practices

I've checked out a book about writing today. It's a simple little book with a few pointers and then suggestions on what to write about each day of the year.
It has a few guidelines which I like the sound of:
Don't stop to edit
Don't worry about rules (grammar, speeling etc)
Tell the truth(ok, maybe not that one)
and few others that I may apply when I feel the need.
So, I'm gonna try an post a blog each day. Which, to be frank, ain't gonna happen. But at least I'm going to try.

phillipdrawbridge

I've had a domain with Easyspace for a few years now and today I got an email saying it was up for renewal again. This time it's going to cost $50 to renew. Which seems a bit steep. So i've shifted to godaddy, which is at least half that. BUT they can't transfer a .org.uk domain, so I've created a new domain phillipdrawbridge.com which kinda makes sense now that I don't live inthe UK.

So email and website have both changed to phillipdrawbridge.com

Kentucky

Sorry about the previous few posts. I'm crap at keeping this blog updated, so thought I'd play catch up.

Kentucky

I'm back from helping out at the Sir Barton store. I'd like to say what an amazing experience it was. but I can't. It was hard dull work. Normally, at our store, we get two pallettes of books. At Sir Barton, we had 25! Then most of the rest of the first day was spent putting shelves together. The second day was spent sorting, pricing and reboxing books for each section. Dull!

The hotel was FREE, which makes it hard to find problems. but I will. It was souless. The walls of my room were just painted. no wallpaper. Which gave the room a strange echo. The bed and furniture were fine, but mass market produced dullness. There was nothing special about the hotel at all. just a place to sleep.

The drive was fine. Pretty simple drive down and teh hotel is really near the interstate. Even I didn't get lost.

Accents: I've just got used to the Indiana accent and I think indy has just got used to mine and then I'm thrust into Kentucky, which is a whole new ball game. It was quite a job to order a beer in the first place we went to...
"Do you have Stella?"
"Doowhat?"
"Stella?!, Or Kronenbourg?"
"Kronenwhat?"
"DO YOU HAVE ANY IMPORTS."
"We got some hiney-kin."
Then had to have a conversation about where I was from. The guy probably had never heard of England, let alone met anyone from europe.

One of the temps was an artist and a photographer, so we had something in common. He told me he was going to take a course at the U.K. which surprised me. I asked where abouts in the UK, but he actually meant the Univeristy of Kentucky. So we had a chuckle about that.

Hey, it's all fun. Just glad I was only there for two days.

August 26th

blah, didn't get it. :-( But I have no issues at all with the newly appointed shift leader and my alliance with her will carry on.

There's always next time.

August 25th

The Promotion

Puts on a deep Hollywood announcer voice
There is a place, where books are sold and people who sell them. For this group of people, this day would be like no other. For one of these colleagues will be given.... The Promotion.
cough

Sorry. So yeah, the interviews are done, the questions answered, the speculation started and finished and the day has arrived.
Today we find out who the new shift leader will be. I was pretty confident after the interview. I think my experience in management put me in good stead. But now I'm not so confident. I was asked if I was still interested in going to another store to help with the opening and I'm almost positive that shift leaders don't go to those things. Why would Madhavi ask me if I'm still interested to leave the store less than a week after getting promoted? BUT maybe I'm wrong. At this point I think it's 99 percent certain that I haven't got it.

So who should get it? Who knows? It was quite an extensive field and I'm, sure they had to think long and hard. I'm sure they made the right decision for the store and I'll resepct that and I'll, although be sad, will be happy for the new shiftleader and I'll do whatever I can to help their new role.

There's always next time after all

August 20th

IMDB is THE website, so if you're in it, does that mean in some small way that you're IT?


My IMDB Entry

August 17th

A blog should be inner most thoughts, but people that read this probably shouldn't be reading my inner most thoughts.

I REALLY want the promotion at work, but I want to not want it so much since I don't think I'm going to get it. I think I should get it. I've been a manager before and I think I have the maturity and nature to make a good shiftleader. But, there are a lot of qualified people, and even though I think I'm up there, it's pretty likely that someone else will get it. I guess the thing to do is not worry about it. If I don't get it, then things won't really change. But if I do, the extra little money alone will sort out a lot of problems for me. Not that I want it from a financial point of view, I want it since it's a progression and that's a good thing. I'll never run my own store if I don't start progressing.

Nothing to do but wait for the interview, do the best I can and see.


Previous Blog -

Idol

Tonight we're going to go see the American Idol concert. Right now, I'm not excited. Gale booked the tickets in the middle of the hype and now I'm not even sure she's too wound up about it. But we'll go and who knows, maybe we'll have a good time in amongst the thousands of screaming teenagers.

I'll let you know tomorrow.

Personal - 15th August

A blog should be inner most thoughts, but people that read this probably shouldn't be reading my inner most thoughts.

I REALLY want the promotion at work, but I want to not want it so much since I don't think I'm going to get it. I think I should get it. I've been a manager before and I think I have the maturity and nature to make a good shiftleader. But, there are a lot of qualified people, and even though I think I'm up there, it's pretty likely that someone else will get it. I guess the thing to do is not worry about it. If I don't get it, then things won't really change. But if I do, the extra little money alone will sort out a lot of problems for me. Not that I want it from a financial point of view, I want it since it's a progression and that's a good thing. I'll never run my own store if I don't start progressing.

Nothing to do but wait for the interview, do the best I can and see.

Charlie Brown Bass

I found ths bass player and thought he was really rather good.
Stick with it through the Charlie Brown stuff to the end.

Photo Shoot

Today, Gale and I went on a little road trip to find something to take photos off. She has a new camera, which is awesome, and I get to use her old one, which is also awesome. We went down to the Bloomington area. There are a few state parks there which have waterfalls.

I wanted to get a shot of a waterfall taken at quite a long exposure in order to blur thewater into etheral glowing er... water, which meant a tiny apparture. But today was pretty bright out and I couldn't really get shots as long as I wanted and ended up with this:



Which is a little washed out. Luckily, I took it in raw mode rather than jpeg. Most cameras store pictures in jpeg, which is highly comrpessed and a lot of information is removed to reduce the size. With raw images, there's a lot more information stored in the photo. So with photoshop I was able to access a lot of this info and managed to bring the exposure down to a better level and managed to create this:



Which I'm totally happy with. I took quite a few photos, but this is probably my favourite. Gale also took a load and seems very happy with her new camera and lens.

All in all, a good day.

Zombie - Dilana

If you've not been watching Rockstar:Supernova, then you're missing Dilana! Probably the greatest female rocksingers inthe world today. If she doesn't win, then the competition is fixed.

Artsy Fartsy

I have returned from Ann Arbor. Gale (for those that don't know) is a photographer, collage artist and sells collage sheets and bits for other collage artists. Paperwhimsy

Last weekend Gale attended a alteration show in Ann Arbor with two reasons; To sell her collage sheets and to attend a few classes. Since she had classes all day for both days, I ran the booth and sold the art sheets. We actually did really well, she had a lot of interest and sold a ton of sheets. Easily paying for the booth and the classes she took and got her name out and about. I'm not saying it was hard work. Since I basically sat playing with my PSP for 10 hours the first day and 8 the second and chatted to the odd women that came looking at the booth.

Another interesting thing,... My parents were laying in bed the other morning when an owl flew straight into their window. They got up to see it flying away 9albeit at an odd angle) so it seems OK. Anyway they took this piture which shows the impression it left onthe glass. I can't help thinking of a cartoon. You can even see the impression left by the feathers.

DIY Sunday

This morning wife and I are putitng up a new light fixture. It has little end nut things that are little brass balls. They hold the light in place, so pretty important.

We lose one. Hunting around on hands and knees for a while, we decide to go buy some, so drive all the way to the store. Knowing full well that sods law will be in full effect and as soon as we get home we'll find it. We had to buy four, even though we need one.

We get home and I put the light in place using the newly aquired nut things. Then I try to put the bulbs in and one wont screw in. "Strange" I think and take the bulb out and sure enough, there's the nut!

So if anyone wants a set of 4 decroative nut balls, I have them.

Mothers Day

In the US it was Mothers Day yesterday. I surprised my mum back in England with a phone call wishing her mothers day (which was two months ago). And yesterday afternoon, with no food except a frozen chicken breast, in the house, we decided to go out to eat. Not a hard decision really. "How about Ruth's Chris" says Gale. Which is a restaurant I love, but you can't realy call it cheap. The tip alone would have paid for a nice meal somewhere else.

We all had steak, of course. Which was as incredible as always. As was the bill. But hey, I don't need to eat again this month.

Busy Day On

As summer approaches, people seem to clean out the attic and garage of all the moldy old trash and anything that vaguely looks like it once have been some printed material they bring into the book shop to sell to us. So we have to sift through 14 boxes of rotting pulp, probably should wear full haz-mat suits, in order to find something that anyone else could possibly want to buy from us. We make the offer:

"For ALL these books?!" they reply.
"Well, the offer is for everything, but there are quite a few that probably won't sell very well for us." motioning to the festering pile of wood pulp steaming behind them.
"You're welcome to take those back and the offer would remain the same."
They then look at the dusty slop...
"My friend bought 2 books in last week and you paid her $40 for them."
"I find that very doubtful" you want to say but instead you say "It does depend a lot on how popular the books are. Sorry I couldn't offer you more."

Yesterday was crazy. We had one hour that had 17 buys! And another guy had maybe 12 huge boxes. And when the offer was made, he wanted a count! AND asked why we wouldn't take the 4 boxes of books that were rapidly falling apart behind him. Which he took back (thank God)

AND another chap wanted a break down of hard backs, vs paperbacks that he'd bought in. I said the offer was for everything. he said that the "other" store (47) gave him a breakdown of book by book. Which is really annoying since they shouldn't do that. "Don't split buys" Rule number 1.

I tried to explain that the offer is for all the books and that if he just bought in the hard backs, the offer may be different to bringing in the hardback with the paperback. He looks at me blankly...
"OK, one sec." I count the books and then divide that into the amount I offered.
"30 cents a book"
"You just averaged it out"
"yessir"
"So you can't tell me how much I got for the hardbacks."
I try to explain again that it doesn't work like that. He explains that at 47 (I presume) they broke it down and paid 75c per hard back. So then I have to explain that they are book club editions, but I've paid for them because they are large print.

OK, you're not reading anymore, I can tell, so I'll stop my rant there.

Hey, I love my job. Really I do. But some customers go out of their way to make me change my mind. So far, I'm winning.

Busy day off.

We've been remarkably busy today. Last week someone knocked over our mailbox post. The mailman is a great guy and goes out of his way to make sure we get the mail, but it's not his job to come to the door. So we had to get it replaced.

This morning we head off to Lowes with the intention of getting a new post and mail box. A cartload of flowers later and we have no room for the post. So we return home and then to lowes again and this time get a mailbox post and a new track lighting get up for the great room.

I get home and my neighbour, Derby, helps me dig out the post. It took well over an hour. We dug deeper and deeper and finally with a lot of brut force we managed (or Phil did at least) to pull out the 3 feet of post! It was so deep that when the new one went in, it was only about a foot off the ground so we had to fill the hole a bit. SO anyway, I felt we accomplished something there.

Then I installed the new light fixture. And more importantly (and remarkably) didn't electrocute myself or blow the fuses for half the neghbourhood.

Gale was also very productive. She planted a ton of plants and they look fancredible. Once they're all done I'll take a few pictures.

Then the other story was the baby bird. Phil found a baby bird sitting on our path. Old enough that he had feathers and looked like a little bird, but young enough that he couldn't fly. It was getting cooler and we were sligtly worried. Phil prepared a small box with tissue paper and a hot water bottle (I kid you not). I picked up the birdie and put him in the box, but he didn't like it and jumped out. A few hours later we kinda gave up and he had hoped down the road somewhat. Then just now I was putting the car in the garage and noticed the little bird asleep under the car. So once again I tried to put him in the box, and again he jumped out. Right now he is asleep huddled in a corner by our front door. I just hope he lasts the night and his mum finds him and somehow he survivies. I'll let you know tomorrow what happened.

Small Changes

Gale has been updating her website and it's looking pretty cool. So I've been playing a little with mine. One thing I've noticed is that over the years I've posted subpages to various websites. drawbridge.org.uk/art for example, rather than making people come through the front door. So I've played on that a little and added a "home" page to both Art and photography, so they stand up on their own. This lead to me creating a layered menu to appear above all pages, including the offsite links such as the guestbook, this blog etc.

THIS in turn lead me to have to update 14000 files which now pointed to the wrong place. Ever wish you never started something? The webserver must be pretty full of junk. I really should clean it off. Simon is kinda enough to not charge me, so the least I can do is not waste space.

ANyway, if you've come via the website, I hope you like it. If you've come from another link, then check it out.

Sunday Drive

A sunday drive, to me, seems like such an English thing. I remember being taken by my grandparents and put in the car and we'd drive around for hours being bored and then stop for a cup of tea and asoggy cucumber sandwich in a layby and then drive some more.

Anyway, yesterday, Gale and I took a drive to southern Indy. We headed for Madison really looking for things to photograph. Gale is an A1 map reader and can navigate us along roads where people live who make moonshine and play banjos.

We eventually got back onto a main road and happily driving towards Madison when I see flashing lights and backed up traffic. I couldn't quite see, but it appeared that a semi had rolled over and the road, the ONLY road to Madison was blocked. There was a girl in front of us asking a few bikers how to get to Madison and she was met with shrugs.

Gale checks the map and we decide to just back track up the Deliverence type road and be able to bypass the truck. We honk the horn and tell the girl in her little aqua marine sports car to follow us.

So, we turn around and start up the tiniest dirt track. Twists and turns for a few miles and I look behind us every so often and stop to allow the girl to catch up. Then I see that the bikers are behind her! Now, driving on this road made of tiny rocks is hard enough in a car, so on two wheels, I hate to think how they were doing it. That coupled with the fact that people avoiding the truck from the other direction were driving towards us every so often made things even more interesting. Especially at points where the road just vanished to one side down to the creek.

We see a ton of things that under normal circumstances we would stop and take photos of. But we have a duty to perform. We finally reach the main road and the girl thanks us as she drives past, as do the bikers and the SEVEN other vehicles that were following us. So we felt good about that.

We then turn around and go back along the track to take photos of all the things we saw.

Ireland Photos

I know i have 400 pictures from my vacation, which is a lot for evern close friends and family to go through. But if you want to look at my favourite 8 pictures, I've put them Here for you.

Here's the URL if that link fails. http://www.drawbridge.org.uk/Ireland

St George

Today, April 23rd, is St Georges day. The national day of England.

The Welsh have St David (a 6th century monk),
The Scots have St Andrew (A fisherman),
The Irish have St Patrick (An Englishman kidnapped to Ireland to tend sheep),
We English have St George The Dragon Slayer. Which is much more impressive I'm sure you'll agree.

Unlike the Irish though, it's not THAT big of a deal around the world, or in England come to that.

How we celebrate - Drink warm beer, eat fish and chips with mushy peas and appologise a lot. So pretty much a normal day.

Since I'm no longer living in England, I cling to these events, even though I never celebrated them when I was in England. If you drive past my house today, you'll see the George Cross fluttering. So, have a pint of warm ale in respect of my country.

I'm BACK

Well peeps, I'm back and I had a fantastic time. England was England. Nice to see my family and had a great time with them. And then Ireland! Stunning doesn't even start to cover it.

You can look through the 400 photos I took, if you feel up to it .

At your age!

I was just looking at Madonna's Myspace page. She gets a lot of comments like "you look good for yr age" and "wow, I hope I look that good when I'm your age." Is it just me, or are these backhanded compliments? "Wow you look great, considering you've just been hit by a bus." It's not a compliment if it's conditional.

Maybe it's because I'm getting older and don't really want a comment like "You look good for a 37 year old." Just tell me I look Hot! You see where I'm coming from? You know where I'm going to? ENGLAND AND IRELAND Buster! See you in a few weeks.

ONE MORE DAY

This time tomorrow I'll be... actually sitting here. But tomorrow we fly off to England!! I'm really excited now. Even got all my stuff ready. Way too many clothes. Certanly more than I normally wear in two weeks. Why do we do that?
I've also filled up my PSP with music. More than I would listen to in a week. Notice that we're leaving Indiana just as the temperatures get into the 70's. Oh well, should be well into spring when I return.

Other news.... I WON the poker last night! And I didn't even think I was playing that well. I think it was more a case of people not catching cards. And Doug going all in right at the end when I had an Ace helped. Nice feeling though.

If I don't get a chance to Blog tomorrow, and I don't see any of you, have a nice time without me and I'll see you in a few weeks.

Less than a week

And I don't really feel like I'm going on vacation yet. I'm looking forward to it. LOTS. Get to see my family and England and Ireland, which I've never really seen. And the places we're staying look fantastic. But I just haven't wound myself up into the pre-holiday frenzy that I normally have. Maybe when we actually leave for the airport the excitement will kick in.

That's all. Just thought I'd mention it.

Unlikely

So it now seems slightly less likely that I'll get the promotion at work. Like it wasn't enough to have to compete for the position with at least 5 qualified people, I now have to contend with the fact that the manager of the store where the other posisiton opened up, which meant one of our people would leave our store and I'd go for his job, has already made up her mind that she's going to make an internal promotion.

It sounds like she was just going through the motions when she iterviewed other people. Which also means, I don't really want to transfer to a store where there's that kind of mentality.

BUT I do wonder what would happen at our store if someone from another store applied for the open position in our store. Would my manager be openminded enough to interview them? Yeah, I think she would and if they were the best fir for the role, she would hire them, even if it meant annoying the current staff.

The Law of Gravity

My wife emailed me this morning:

Okay, this morning, one of the people that I work with told me that our balloons are defective. She couldn't believe that when she filled them up (by blowing into them) that they just fell to the floor and didn't float in the air. I told her that her breath is not lighter than the air that surrounds us and the balloon would fall to the floor. That it would need to be filled with something lighter than the air around us in order to float. Like h-e-l-i-u-m.

She swore up and down that balloons float when you blow them up with your own air, and got quite annoyed with me when I disagreed."

Just when I think people can't be any more stupid, one comes along.

Poker (revisited)

Poker night again last night. Pretty much like usual. I won a few hands to start and then watched my chip stack dwindle. Came down to a point where I was getting desparate. I had all my original $25 chips, but was short stacked. So kinda had to make my move, and wanted to steal a few blinds. I risked it 2 or 3 times and went all in pre-flop. Luckily no one had cards to play.

Then I got an Ace 3. Not a great hand. But I was in the blinds so saw the flop pretty cheaply. The board paired. I think we checked and saw the turn. The board got two pairs. So two pairs and my ace kicker. I was pretty sure that would hold up. Especially since no one (Doug) had raised on the flop. Then Doug went all in. I was pretty certain he didn't have the full house. Worst case, he had an ace and we'd split.

I called.

He asked to see my ace, so I showed him. He showed me a King. My heart started to beat faster. I might actually double up here and pretty much wipe him out.
Now his only saving card would be to split the pot with a full house, or the unlikely King.

Guess what the river was?

A close shave NOT!

A man, in his upper 30's, we'll call him Dillip, goes into the bathroom and notices he has quite a few days growth of a beard. So he starts to shave it off with his trusty electic shaver.

About half way through the shaver gets slower and slower until it grinds to a halt.

He has to pull it away from the beard which it's become snagged in. He looks at it. Turns it off and on a few times... Nothing.
He uses his keen intelect and technical knowledge and hits it a few times.

Nothing.

He sighs and looks in the mirror. He now has half a neatly trimmed face.
Mild panic sets in and he looks around for the bag up rasor he knows he doesn't have.
He resorts to hitting the electric shaver again.

Nothing

He checks the time and realises he has time to get a new one and get back well before he need be at work.
Then panic again as he realises he has to go outside, to a shop, with half a beard!

He gets to the shop. We'll call it Mal-Wart. Convinced that everyone is staring at him. He rushes to the place where he thinks the shavers are. Not wanting to have to ask where they are, and picks out a nice new trimmer. He rushes through the checkout, trying to hide half his face in his upturned collar. Thankful that at least it's cold outside.

Getting home, he hurridly takes the nice new shiny trimmer from it's box and plugs it in and turns it on.

Nothing!

He hits it.

Nothing.

He then reads the instructions. "Must be fully charge 14-17 hours before first use"

!

He looks at his face, looks at the old shaver. Swears at it, hits it and....

It starts working.

St Patricks Day

I've often wondered why St Patricks Day is so much bigger over here in the USofA than in Ireland. Listening to the radio this morning and 34,000,000 americans claim irish decent. That's over 8 times the number of people that actually live in Ireland. So hardly a surprise that the parties are bigger over here.

So, top o' tha morning to ya. Don't drink too much.

Resignation

Sorry to go on about the job promotion, but hey, it's big news in my little world and hey, this is my blog.

Looks less likely that I'll get it. I thought maybe 1 or 2 people were interested, but it seems that everyone who's been in the store more than a year is applying. Which makes it really hard, since all started before me. I still hold on to the small glimmer of hope that I actually rock and will get it. But right now, I have to say that I wouldn't be surprised if I didn't get it.

I have formed an alliance with one of the other people going for it. Not sure what we can do to progress ourselves further through. Also doesn't help that she's probably the most likely to get the promotion (if it were my decision).

So, back on the front burner is the other promotion at the different store. I'm trying to think of an analogy. Imagine your job is sitting in a field on a warm summers day with yummy food and a broadband connection and then a chance comes up to move to a field full of posion ivy with nothing to eat but corned beef sandwiches and no broadband, but you'll get more money and be more senior. Would you take it?

Maybe I could get used to cornedbeef.

Resigned

I think I've decided to not pursue the position at the other store. At least for now. I'm going to stay at my current store and if I get the promotion, then that's really cool, really really cool and if not, I'll think again what I want to do.

The other thing that's on my mind is the other person(s) who may go for the position. If I get it and they don't I don't want that to affect my relationship with them. I like all of them and I think it may be tricky if I get the promotion. Not saying I'd turn it down, just not sure how to handle the situation. Low key I think is best. Act as if nothing has changed. Gonna have to play it by ear I think.

Two weeks till I get to go to England!!! Woohoo!!! Which is another worry, since the interview provess may well start when I'm away. Guess I'll have to chat to my boss sometime before then.

Decisions

So what do I do?

#1 There's a shift leader position at another store that I would like. Means more money, more responsibility etc.
But I really don't want to leave my current store. But I should really do what's best for my progression through the company.

#2 There's also an assistant manager at this other store, which is probably going to be filled by a shift leader at my current store. Which means.....

#3 If he gets it, then a position opens up at my current store that I would like. But

#4 There are a few other people that are probably just, if not more deserving of the position.

#5 If I hold out for the possibility of getting the promotion in my store, then it may be too late to apply for the position in the other store.

So, what do I do? Stay at my current store and see if I get the promotion?
Apply for the position at the other store which would be OK, if the bloke I know gets his promotion.

I dunno what to do.

Check my ticket!!!

Gale and I had quite an arty weekend. We went to a large (and quite posh) Antique fair held in the Indiana State Fairground. I've been before and it's pretty cool. Lots of expensive things that are probably overpriced. The people who decide the value should be people willing to buy the things, not the people selling them. A desk is only worth something if someone wants it. It's not worth anything sitting with a high price ticket in some arty-farty antique dealers warehouse. But I like looking at the things. I like the antique prints and engravings. And unlike most "antique" malls I've been to in America, this actually has things that a Brit would consider antique.

I did get to see antique legend (legend who knows antique, not saying she's old) Judith Miller. Which isn't exactly a major celeb, but I used to watch her on various shows in Blighty. Shame I didn't have something for her to value.

It's not a huge show, so we finished early and decided to go to the Indianapolis Museum of Art. We're members, so get free entry. And Puck's restaurant is there which is great. So we had a really amazingly expensive lunch. But it was pretty yummy. But worth the money? Maybe not. It's a buffet, so maybe if you're really hungry you can get a good deal. I tried a little of everything though and it was nice food. Deserts were gorgeous too. If only I could have squeezed in the rest of the lime pie thing.

Then we went around the shop. Which is free to enter for everyone. Then decided to visit the recently opened contemporary wing. Which you do need tickets for, but since we're members, we didn't go to the ticket desk. We just went upstairs, our membership cards at the ready and totally didn't get asked for them. The few members of staff we saw were unhappily mulling around making sure kids didn't get sticky finger prints over the art. I was quite upset. Membership isn't that cheap and the benefit of having a membership kinda disappears if people don't check for tickets. (Last time I went was on a Thursday which is free for everyone anyway). So in the year I've been a member, I've not actually had any benefit to it.

The main exhibition we looked at was Amy Cutler. An illustrator I wasn't aware of before. And I quote "Inspired by stories and images encountered at random through mass media, book illustrations, folktales and personal experiences, Amy Cutler creates exquisitely detailed, enigmatic paintings that obsessively illustrate scenes of women, animals and hybrid beings engaged in magical, dreamlike activities. Her works incorporate references that have been described as "snippets of Laura Ingalls Wilder, Hieronymus Bosch and Masterpiece Theatre plotlines."

Her work was childlike. She certainly has a skill and an art, but I'm not really anymore a fan than I was before. I couldn't really see any similarities to Bosch. I felt it more had a hint of Gorey (who I am a fan of). A kind of turn of the century feel to it.

We also went around the contemporary galleries. Some I like. Some I just don't get. I'm really not the kind of chap who will say "interesting, I like what the artist did here", I'm more the kind who will look for a meaning and then say "It's just a piece of string". One piece was a piece of red wool stretched from the centre of the floor to a point on the wall. I read the information about it and it had words like "intersecting" and " dividing" but to me, it's just a piece of string.

There were a few pieces I liked though. In a case was an open book with what at first glance appears to have tiny writing on it. But as you look, the writing appears to be moving. Closer and closer I looked until I could see it was lines of people actually marching. The people were projected from above onto the white page. I don't profess to understand what the artist was trying to archive, but thought the idea was cool.

Another piece I liked was a video. An artist (sorry, I'm crap when it comes to remembering names) set up four male actors into poses similar to the old masters. Reminded me of Reubens.
The artist told the actors to go through a set range of emotions over the course of a minute. He filmed them using a high speed film and then played it back on a large plasma screen over the course of 15 minutes. So you had to stare at the screen to be able to see the movement. Doesn't really come across as I explain it, but it was quite fascinating.

I suggest you check out the IMA, it really is worth the entry fee, which seems to be nothing in general. Next time they better check my membership or I won't be happy!

Should we be worried?

It's pretty amazing what you can find on the net. You may have heard of GoogleEarth, now micro$oft are getting in on the act. I found these two pictures. This shows my house from a few years ago. (The lawn isn't much better now). You notice you can even see into the garage! And the other shows the house from behind. Wonderful technology really. You can now really say "Hey, I can see my house from here!"

Some things that are still illegal.

These laws still apply in Indiana -

A person must get a referral from a licensed physician if he or she wishes to see a hypnotist unless the desired procedure is to quit smoking or lose weight.

Baths may not be taken between the months of October and March.

Oral sex is illegal.

A man over the age of 18 may be arrested for statutory rape if the passenger in his car is not wearing her socks and shoes, and is under the age of 17.

It is against the law to pass a horse on the street.

It is illegal for a liquor store to sell cold soft drinks.

You can get out of paying for a dependent's medical care by praying for him/her.

One man may not back into a parking spot because it prevents police officers from seeing the license plate.

Smoking in the state legislature building is banned, except when the legislature is in session.

Check forgery can be punished with public flogging up to 100 stripes.

Pedestrians crossing the highway at night are prohibited from wearing tail lights.

Men are prohibited from standing in a bar.

You are not allowed to carry a cocktail from the bar to a table. The waiter or waitress has to do it.

Drinks on the house are illegal.

"Spiteful Gossip" and "talking behind a person's back" are illegal.

All males 18 to 50 years old must work six days a year on public roads.

Mustaches are illegal if the bearer has a tendency to habitually kiss other humans.

Hotel sheets must be exactly 99 inches long and 81 inches wide.

If any person has a puppet show, wire dancing or tumbling act in the state of Indiana and receives money for it, they will be fined $3 under the Act to Prevent Certain Immoral Practices.

Anyone 14 or older who profanely curses, damns or swears by the name of God, Jesus Christ or the Holy Ghost, shall be fined one to three dollars for each offense, with a maximum fine of ten dollars per day.

A three dollar fine per pack will be imposed on anyone playing cards in Indiana under the Act for the Prevention of Gaming.

The value of Pi is 4, and not 3.1415.

It is illegal for a man to be sexually aroused in public.

It is illegal to bike, roller-skate, skateboard, or inline skate in a commercially zoned area. For these offenses, there is a fine of no more than $5 or the impounding of one's bicycle for a period not to exceed 30 days. (Auburn)

It is forbidden to eat watermelon in the park. (Beech Grove)

It is illegal for barbers to threaten to cut off kid's ears. (Elkhart)

While driving on Main Street you may not have your lights on. (Evansville)

You may not sell or play on a radio broadcast, the record "It's In the Book". (Fort Wayne)

Within four hours of eating garlic, a person may not enter a movie house, theater, or ride a public streetcar. (Gary)

It is illegal to make a monkey smoke a cigarette. (South Bend)

No one may spit on the sidewalk. (Terre Haute)

No one may catch a fish with his bare hands.

Men are prohibited from standing in a bar.