Its Christmas next week and, for the first time I can remember, I have all my presents purchased and wrapped more than a week in advance.  Thank you Amazon.  I've sat between meeti… Read More

Every day, I try to achieve one thing that represents an improvement to life.  It might be something tangible, like putting a shelf up, or it might be some betterment of how I organise… Read More

We took our daughter to the play-park beside our house and met our plumber there.  He got the job of plumbing our house during the remodel and made a really good job of it.  Well… Read More

Its Friday morning and, as is usually the case, I'm sitting in my office.  My last meeting ended at 11pm last night and my first one started at 9am this morning, but I'm in fine form th… Read More

Its late on Christmas Eve.  I only remembered about Warped because it is Christmas Eve and it popped into my mind that I used to leave Christmas messages here late on Christmas Eve.&nbs&hell…Read More

I can understand why Jeff Bezos is rich enough that he can pay for a rocket-ship to be built so he can travel to the fringes of outer space.  Almost everyone uses Amazon and we've all r… Read More

Do you remember flip phones?  There was a stage, prior to touchscreen smartphones, when phones were made to be increasingly small and the best you could hope for was polyphonic ringtone… Read More

Its Monday morning and its the longest day of the year.  The sun is shining and there are little birds darting, from tree to tree, across the unblemished blue sky.  I'm looking out… Read More

I've fallen back in love with ebay.  I used to buy bits and pieces on it, back when I was working on my PhD, and when I started my business.  Basically, I bought stuff on ebay when… Read More

I stayed at my grandparents' house the night my grandfather died. He'd dropped dead on the sofa, suddenly, although we knew it was likely to happen because we were told his heartbeat sounded… Read More

I haven't had much to eat today, so I opened a packet of cookies I had in my desk.  I decided a cookie would go well with my coffee.  The problem is that I can't remember if I ate… Read More

My office, which used to be one of my garages, gets a lot of attention from my international colleagues.  Some of them are working from home in a cramped corner of a bedroom in whicheve… Read More

A few weeks ago, I bought a smart turbo trainer after following some encouragement from a friend.  A turbo trainer, for the uninformed as I was about a month ago, is a device that you b… Read More

I don't know where tonight has gone.  The last I looked it was 6pm and suddenly its sufficiently dark that the screen of this laptop is lighting the room.  Maybe that's a sign I sh… Read More

I've been working up to sixteen hour days lately.  Part of this was because of lock-down, not having nursery to send my little ball of energy to, and because my team is global and has a… Read More

I don't remember the last time we stayed in our caravan in Portrush as a family.  This is odd because I remember the finer details about most things.  Its not important that I don'… Read More

I find it funny when people try to impress others by being up really early and appearing active.  If you're up early its because, by the law of averages, you go to bed earlier than some… Read More

Bella died tonight.  This evening, she was acting strange, sprawled out under a radiator and panting a lot.  I called the out-of-hours vets and they told me to bring her in. … Read More

Its 10:30 pm on the 31st of December 2019.  Only 90 minutes of this decade remains and I am indifferent to its passing.  I have never been able to understand the fascination, or th… Read More

My grandfather died on the sofa, in his home, as he was talking to an old friend who had come to visit.  We knew he didn't have long left, because he'd been having issues and the doctor… Read More

How strange is it that, after all the studying, working, and striving, the most incredible achievement I've ever had is being her daddy Read More

The bins have to go out the night before.  So tonight, before I locked up, I trailed the black and brown bin from the far side of the back of the house, around the side and up the drive… Read More

I am inching slowly backwards into my own little world; a world where my inner voice is loud and the effort to harmonise, with the rest of the society, need not be made.  Enveloping mys… Read More

I fixed a hefty automation design problem while I waited on my car getting new tyres today.  I took my work MacBook with me and worked while I waited.  I was surprised that I was a… Read More

I've been on a lot of work calls over the past few weeks.  The calls are almost all in American time zones so they tend to be in the afternoon, from about 1pm until maybe 6pm.  I'm… Read More

I keep sitting down with the intention of assaulting you with another blog post, but something keeps happening and I end up not.  Sometimes the things that happen are actual things that… Read More

The pace of life is such that I can't focus on anything for more than a split second before its gone.  Not that there's a lot to focus on except for my daughter changing from a newborn… Read More

There's a large mug of cold coffee sitting on my desk.  It was sitting there, front and centre, as I walked into my study.  Whatever was going on yesterday, I left it with hardly a… Read More

At one point I thought I was never going to get this site back to normal again.  In a moment of madness, I had set everything to private but, as time passed, I realised how hasty I'd be… Read More

Logging in is now a thing Read More

I've spent the majority of Easter weekend building my new office.  What used to be a garage has now got a new levelled floor from a ton of sand and a third of a ton of cement.  I'v… Read More

I had to fool one of the cats to get her into the house tonight.  I let the cats into the house every evening so I can catch them and put them into the garage at bedtime.  I wasn't… Read More

Everybody is talking about Game of Thrones.  The first episode of the last series aired a few nights ago and people are excited.  We watched it, long past a sensible bedtime, becau… Read More

We have a gardener.  I never thought I would ever be the sort of person who has a gardener, but here we are.  Its not that he, and his cohorts, will be cutting every blade of grass… Read More

I should be asleep, but I only got home about 15 minutes ago and the food I just wolfed down is still settling in me.  I was at a meeting, of sorts, tonight and it seemed like it was ne… Read More

I've spent the past few hours trying to get a price for patio doors and windows.  I never imagined I'd be the sort of person who spends hours trying to buy patio doors.  I'm conver… Read More

Did you know that Norway owns an island called Bouvet, which is situated close to Antarctica?  Nobody lives there and its used as a base for Antarctic exploration.  I still find it… Read More

I am often bemused about the change in attitudes in people as they age.  People become more callous as they grow older.  I don't exclude myself from this phenomenon.  The quie… Read More

Married life takes on a very functional reality.  The focus is almost entirely on bills, cleaning, gardening, working and an hour in front of the TV each evening.  Married life, wh… Read More

I saved myself for breakfast today and had it at about 11:30 am.  I suppose it wasn't breakfast at that time; in fact it was almost lunch.  It was brunch then - I had brunch. … Read More

Sometimes people forget to dip their headlights.  It used to be that this was a no more than a form of irritation but, with the advancements in vehicle bulb technologies, an undipped fu… Read More

There was a girl in my life for a portion of it.  She was with me for a part of my life where I developed a lot and so a lot of that development was around her.  She came from a ve… Read More

"We had nothing to do", my father said, "Aaron did everything".  I did take control when my brother died.  I did it because it was easier for me to do it than not to do it.  N… Read More

I did all I could to help a friend get a job in with me.  I advised him to apply, I went over his CV, I gave him a reference, I told him what to expect in the interview, and I gave him… Read More

I go into work for 8 am every morning.  This means that I can leave around 4 pm.  I like to leave at this time because it means that I don't have to deal with heavy traffic coming… Read More

These are the mountainous years.  Life is spent climbing and aspiring to reach the glorious heights in the distance.  We can see others reach the peaks of the mountains and we envy… Read More

I've hurt my shoulder tonight.  I don't know if its actually my shoulder or if my back is slightly misaligned, but I have a sort of joint ache in my left shoulder and running down to my… Read More

There was a time when it was fashionable to have two fluffy dice hanging from the rear view mirror in your car.  This was before my time, you must understand, because I was a child when… Read More

I am, by nature, a positive person.  I have a positive outlook almost all the time and, even when things don't look so good, I've been able to take some good out of the situation. … Read More

I am, by nature, a positive person.  I have a positive outlook almost all the time and, even when things don't look so good, I've been able to take some good out of the situation. … Read More

You don't feel any different as you go through the years.  I don't feel any different now than I did when I was fifteen, or twenty or thirty.  My attitudes have changed, my perspec… Read More

Yet another time I go to bed in discomfort.  I feel a twinge of burning pain if I move too much in any one direction.  Bending down to pick things up from the floor has become a te… Read More

I've had two good weekends in a row.  This past weekend surpassed, in terms of quality, any weekend I've had in many years.  We spent it up north, between Portrush and Portstewart… Read More

Homer Simpson had lots of jobs.  Yes, he works at the nuclear power plant in Springfield, but he's had lots of adventures as Mr Plow, an astronaut, a country singer manager, a boxer, et… Read More

A number of my laptops have gone unused over the past few weeks.  I have no inclination to use a computer when I come home from work.  I spend all day with my new work MacBook and… Read More

We've had a fallen out this weekend because I wanted to take myself out for a coffee for half an hour on Saturday morning.  My wife was away for most of the day visiting a friend. … Read More

How is it that someone first discovered that they could fix their poor eyesight by looking through a very specific thickness of glass?  Maybe it was an accident.  Maybe they just h… Read More

My little rocket ship doesn't have a spare wheel.  Instead, there is some kind of pump under the carpet in the boot.  I think its one of those foam filler things for re-inflating y… Read More

The transition is going to be in recreating a personal identity.  Forgetting about the great salary and all the perks (which, by the way, are designed to be the means by which we are en… Read More

Today was low key.  In fact I would go so far as to call it an anti-climax.  I had built myself up for going into this company with all guns blazing, to be on my toes and to be cha… Read More

And so it is done.  I own a little red rocket ship.  It was in sport mode when I picked it up and I think I'll leave it at this setting because it growls and snaps like a pint-size… Read More

I had to drive wifely-deluxe to the city airport this morning for 6 am.  I was away last night, so it meant getting about 5 hours of sleep.  I felt fine when I got up at 4:30, but… Read More

If there was an easy way out, I would take it.  Shutting down a company and getting a job is not for the faint of heart.  It is a horrible, methodical process of tearing down every… Read More

When my brother died, I bought a very expensive graphics card for my computer.  In fact I'm still using it right now to type this.  I installed it into my computer, along with a ne… Read More

Oh to be young and filled with hope.  We all become a lot more contemplative as we get older.  When I say contemplative I really mean cynical; or if not cynical then at least "real… Read More

This morning was supposed to be when "the company" called me to go over my technical challenge.  I had an email yesterday to organise a chat this morning.  What I didn't know is th… Read More

No posts for weeks on end and then two in the space of a few hours.  The company, with whom I am applying for a position, did reply to me about my technical challenge and a phone call h… Read More

I am currently failing at life.  I've been sitting here for two days doing nothing, or at least close to nothing.  I had two job interviews with a company, then completed a technic… Read More

Today, for the first time, I heard the heartbeat of my unborn child.  There were ultrasound images as well, but they were at best a series of blurry blobs.  I heard the sound of so… Read More

I haven't got dressed today.  Its been years since I've went a full day without getting dressed.  I've had lots of coffee, eaten pancakes and played a guitar until the flat tips of… Read More

The door between the hallway and the living room isn't level.  It always eventually falls closed.  It takes maybe four seconds before you hear it tap against the door frame to brin… Read More

Its been a while since I posted here.  Part of the reason has been that I forgot my password, and part of the reason was that, when I opened the floodgates of my mind, not even a trickl… Read More

I was at the opening of a hall at the weekend and, inevitably, got talking to people I know.  Some of the conversations were fine and others were awkward and disjointed.  I find so… Read More

I'm not sure if Lorraine is still on ITV in the mornings.  It seems like she's been gracing our screens for many years.  I'm at home this morning, although I'm not really supposed… Read More

I can remember my ex girlfriend sitting with me and telling me that we didn't have a future together because her family and friends thought I wasn't good enough for her.  Its strange th… Read More

I took my parents to pick up their new caravan today.  The new one is slightly longer than the old one and it has a large bathroom at the end.  The bathroom is not much smaller tha… Read More

You don't think of ice cream as being something that would induce stress.  I got to thinking about ice cream when an ice cream van pulled out in front of me as I was walking back from a… Read More

There's an annoying knocking sound coming from the clutch in the Vauxhall.  Its even more annoying than usual because the car is for sale and, only a few hours ago, I told a man that th… Read More

We need a third person.  When I say person, I mean man, but its not politically correct to specify "man", even if it is true.  We installed a large telecommunications mast last wee… Read More

Hello.  I'm sorry I haven't been writing.  Life has been a little bit mad with the whole "taking over the world" thing.  Anyway, I haven't forgotten about you.  Text me… Read More

I've lost my ability to watch TV.  It used to be that I could get through a box set in a few weeks, but lately I can't manage more than a few episodes of anything.  Its as if I can… Read More

This is a time of fury.  Its not that I am furious, in fact I'm nothing ever more than agitated right now, and quite often I'm indifferent to the fury that imposes itself upon me. … Read More

Generally speaking, with networking equipment, if lights are flashing then everything is fine.  Also it looks cool.  Right now, as the sun has set and the light is low, my workshop… Read More

I've given up watching World Cup football.  I see it on TV and I'll settle in to watch whatever remains of a match.  I don't care who wins any of the matches, but I'll pick a side… Read More

I love plain clothes Fridays.  Today, I get to dress like a normal person instead of the obligatory blue polo shirt and black work trousers with 400 pockets.  Not every Friday is p… Read More

The men came to finish installing the new fascia, soffits and guttering today.  They had been on Monday, were supposed to come back on Tuesday, didn't come back on Tuesday, and were sit… Read More

Last night I dreamed that I woke up with tattoos.  I had a huge one on the outside of my left bicep and one down my right forearm and across my hand.  The one on my left arm was so… Read More

We walked miles today, maybe 8 or 9.  We walked between Helen's Bay and into Bangor today.  Walking is good, the seaside is good, its all good.  The only thing is that its unp… Read More

I spent the past 20 minutes playing with the cats upstairs.  I sit behind a door and stick a cable tie under the door.  I push it so that about an inch comes out the other side of… Read More

Employing people is an eye opener.  A potential employee is attracted to an available position and will go to great lengths to sell themselves for that position.  They'll show an e… Read More

After all my big talk about what was going to be achieved today, I actually didn't get half of it done.  My new guy turned up for work sick and it put the dampeners on most of my aspira… Read More

I'm having serious hassle trying to stop swallows nesting under the roof of my house and garage.  Normally I don't mind them building, but the fascia is all being replaced soon and I do… Read More

There is probably a point, between your middle years and the moment you realise that you're dying, when it dawns on you that you maybe weren't that special after all.  You need to the p… Read More

Have you ever watched West World?  Its a series in which a pretend world is created.  The pretend world is built in a huge area covering many miles and its time is set back in the… Read More

As soon as I woke this morning, I knew it had rained during the previous night.  Its been bright and sunny for quite a while now and the air had become dry.  I could taste a refres… Read More

Its 7:14 am and I've already been for a run.  When I say run, I'm partly correct because I ran about half of the 3 miles.  I had to walk the rest because I haven't been running sin… Read More

I didn't eat a lot yesterday evening and I've woken up hungry at 3:30 am.  I'm now on the sofa at 4:13 am with a slice of toast and a mug of tea.  I'm not really annoyed at this un… Read More

I'm trying not to rant.  I was planning on posting something random on here, just like I love to do.  I just let my mind wander and it flits about and words come out.  Instead… Read More

I'm in the office tomorrow on my own, which will be pleasant.  Nobody will be around and I'll have peace to do whatever I want.  Its funny how getting time to yourself becomes a va… Read More

Sometimes I throw things out, things that I have been holding onto for ages, but things for which I have no use.  I hold onto them because they were things I had when life was more comf… Read More