Notes from a bemused canuck
One thing I learned from Dave Gorman’s PowerPoint adventure was that, at some point in the past, a marketing executive decided that clocks set to a “happy” time (i.e. the hands were in a semblance of a smile) were more likely to sell so now every time I see a clock display like this, I giggle.
It’s also why all of HTC’s phone adverts have 10:08 as a time display on the digital clocks :)
I’m making a Christmas cake and Bean’s my official taster/helper. Personally, I can’t stand xmas cake but I like making it so it works out ok.
Plus, it’s always fun to ask a 3-year old questions like “does this need more booze” and getting an emphatic “yeah!” as an answer :)
In the past few weeks, I have been working on the planning of:
– the PST group xmas party
– the main EBI xmas party
– mince pies & mulled wine for 100 people at work
– booking 50 tickets for Stomp
– booking 150 tickets for a cinema screening
– getting 500 mugs printed for work
and a boatload of smaller tasks, none of which are actually my actual day job.
It’s been stressful, to say the least but the good news is that everything is now done and over. The office paella potluck went down a treat. It was held at the Great Chesterford community center and the comments about the food and the venue were uniformly positive (many thanks to the paella chefs!). The day had a rocky start with a trip to Addenbrookes A&E after Bean dropped a chair on his big toe but bounced back once the food started being served. We already had all of the food prepped and packed in the car, but there was a ton of last-minute stuff we needed to deal with. Still, with a few phone calls, everything got sorted out and in the end, we were in and out of Addenbrooked in about an hour and a half. I have to give mad props to the guys who helped clean the place up afterwards, it was a big help!
The EBI xmas party was last night, at La Raza in Cambridge. The comments I got on the night were also very positive, with people saying that it was a better party than in the past couple of years. I can personally vouch that the food was not only feckin’ plentiful, but very very good as well. Given all of my allergies, the fact that I was stuffed at the end of the night was a very positive fact IMO. The jalapeno poppers were great, but those beef and horseradish yorkie puds were pure crack! Plus, you know, 5 drinks for a fiver is a deal you can’t beat :) The only critiques I would give for the night was that the music the DJ put on wasn’t what I would have preferred for a xmas party. Other than that, and the totally unfounded rumours of a rigging of the raffle draw (hehe!), the night was a success in my books.
Becky had a bit of karmic retribution when Bean woke up at 11 and, realizing that we weren’t there, cried for an hour before getting himself back to bed. Becky was a bit frazzled when she called, I think…
So now, I only have one more week of work before I get some leave time to chill out and cook stuff for the holidays. I’ve already started tonight, with a braised beef topside and some chicken stock that I’m going to use to make a hamhock terrine in the near future. Katy and I are trying to finalize the list of all the recipes we want to try out for new years :)
The prezzies are mostly all bought and just need wrapping, so that’s a load off as well.
Go us, for being productive!
Bean’s cough tends to be worse at night, when he kicks off all his blankets and gets cold. I went in to cover him up and put a bigger blanket on him to keep him warm and, as I was leaving his room, I heard a small sleepy voice saying “daddy, want big kiss”.
As much as I want to throttle him, those little moments make up for it.
Squeee!
In the past few weeks, I’ve been able to get my grubby little hands on copies of:
Manhattan in Reverse (which rocked!)
Kitty’s Greatest Hits (which did not disappoint)
REAMDE (which I am currently reading and really getting into)
and now I’ve found:
Children of the Sky
Pirate King
Both of which I’ve been waiting to read for ever and can’t wait to start.
See this? This is my happy face :)
Between organising the group xmas paella, the EBI xmas party and various other events and cabs and mugs and groceries and presents and booze and whatnots, I’m getting a bit frazzled and I’m really looking forward to the holiday break.
The group paella is this weekend, the EBI xmas party is the week after that, and then I’m on holiday from the week after that still. And then it’s xmas, woohoo!
Still, we’ve managed to get a few bits of pre-xmas cheer already. Katy, Bean and I went to see the Victorian Christmas at Audley End house last weekend. Bean got to see Santa (again) and see real life reindeer, and a few not-so-real ones! The stable yard was really cool, because it had a Victorian market recreation, with people dressed up in period costume hawking period wares. There was a gentleman selling a miracle tonic who was simply hilarious.
Best quotes:
See that greyhound? It was a whippet before having some of my elixir!
See that hirsute man with the huge beard over there? He was bald before taking but a spoonful of my elixir! Now, he’s stuffed more than 12 cushions with his excess hair!
hehe :)
We also went to Leicester to see a Bill Bailey doing his Dandelion Mind show at De Montfort Hall. We’d seen in before in London but it changed quite a bit, and he’s always fun to see live. He completely lost the plot a few times when his microphone went batshit (hey! let’s disconnect the Hippie!) and when he tripped doing his Gary Newman “Cars” rendition on the honk organ. His cover of Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” was brilliant though.
We also discovered some really cool (but stupidly expensive!) prints from Doug Hyde in a gallery in Leicester. We fell in love with one, but sadly, we didn’t have the £700 to buy it (it’s cheap, considering that the original is going for about £20,000). Still, dang.
you read the following phrases in a newspaper article:
“A Dutch researcher has created a virus with the potential to kill half of the planet’s population. The virus is a strain of avian influenza H5N1 genetically modified to be extremely contagious”
and
“It’s just a bad idea for scientists to turn a lethal virus into a lethal and highly contagious virus.”
When attending a meeting with dignitaries from all the countries that make up the ruling body of your employer in a room that might prove very warm and stuffy, it might be wise to not wear a t-shirt of an insanity prawn yelling ANUS! under your long-sleeved top.
We have a ginormous xmas tree in our living room that will, hopefully, survive the cats and the bean unscathed. We have a xmas display that keeps on getting bigger and bigger despite my best efforts.
We still need to trim up the rest of the house, but Lenny the reindeer head is already up and we’ve made a good start :)
http://www.flubu.com/various_pics/xmas_2011/decorations/
This weekend would have been perfect if the Bean wasn’t coughing and feverish :(
