Deep theological questions #1

From the guy in the picture above
" Does it count as cross dressing to dress up as a mummy?"

If you go down to the chapel today your sure of a big surprise

I'll get one eventually

My fruitless search for a name for my "photography" is well............. still proving to be rather fruitless as after coming up with another batch of possiblities for names I found they were already taken.

Grrr.....................

It wouldn't be nearly as frustrating if I was able to get at least one or two possiblities but everything is coming up as taking. I mean there is another "me" already doing photograph ( and I'm not talking about my evil twin from work :-). There's also another "me" running a dance school as well.

Which is rather strange.

Anyway, it's wednesday, which means it's the middle of the week where we are exactly in between last weekend and the forthcoming weekend. and of course it was it's usual "slump" day self in all it's glory and then some.

But then again it's like any job, you get some days where things seem to go very well, somedays when they don't and some days where you just want to hide under the darn table.

Still only two more days to survive until my week off.

Later folks!

Rainbows

For a change a sunset that isn't over geektown

On the road again

So it's now dark when I have to get up which never helps encourage you to get up in the slightest as lets face it, in a perfect world we would all prefer to get up when it was nice and light and it was as warm outside of the bed as inside.

I did wonder if it was a sign of how the day was going to go when I went to prepare my lunch and found that the cucumber had been pressed to the back of the fridge by accident meaning it had frozen completely and utterly solid. In fact so solid the only possible use it would have been was if we had to club somebody over the head with it!

Still despite early unpromising signs it's actually turned out to be a rather good day ( especially for a Monday) especially as I found myself struck with several bursts of inspiration for possible photo projects. I had been going through a little bit of a creative slump as lets face it, there's only so many photos of sunsets you can take before your attention starts to wonder a little bit.

It was also a good day as after putting up with a little bit of a creative slump with my photography I found myself getting several bursts of inspiration today for future projects and as I had my notebook even better I was able to quickly note them down so I didn't forget which was even better.

This is actually a reason why you will rarely see me without a notepad as I always try to carry one after reading a book where one of the characters always carried a notebook in case they got a idea because their opinion was " If you don't write it down it never happened" which I thought was a good philosphy to have.

Anyway,

Later folks

It's a hard life being a dog

Another Day, another sunset over geektown

Epic Fail!

Well the preacher who claimed that the world was supposed to end yesterday must be feeling rather confused right now. But I'm sure like last time he will go back to his calculations, decide he made a mistake and quickly forcast the new date for the end of the world.

Anyway in a effort to do something slightly different today, I decided to get some bitz and pieces when shopping to try and cook something a bit different for tea.

First up were home made potato skins which I'm pleased to say came out very well (even if I have a load of spare potato right now I'm not too sure what to do with) and were rather nice, especially as I used some pancetta and sausage for the fillings.

Second up were homemade potato wedges and at least I now know how to make a plain basic potato wedge.

However in this instance I wasn't making plain basic potato wedges as I had bought some flavouring from the shops to add to them. Now I followed the instructions but the results weren't quite as good as I hoped for.

Or to put it another way Grumpy tried one and his eyes more or less popped straight out of his head as the flavouring was just a little bit stronger then it probably should been.

Still one out of two ain't bad.

Later folks!

Dad! I broke my Ball!

The world is ending........ again

Well greeting loyal readers, I hope you've been making the most of your Friday because apparently is the end of the world. Now we haven't been given a specific time but we have been assured that the world will end today.

However considering this is the 4th time that the person has predicted that the world will end, I think that the odds will be in our favour tt we'll still be here when the sun comes up.

But of course theres the outside chance that it will be 4th time lucky and won't he be happy when he gets the chance to crow tomorrow about how nobody believed him. ...... oh wait no he won't......

Work today was interesting because well it's a Friday and work is always interesting on Fridays plus I was once again on the move as I changed desks. The slight downside on changing desks so frequently is that your denied that " Oh I forget that was there" moment when you find something you had forgotten was there.

anyway,

Later folks

Even to me that makes no sense

Well as I now have my camera and now a rather large selection of shiny extras to go with it, I have been concious that I need to know how to use all of the bits not just individually but together to get the best photos possible.

Or otherwise lets face it, I'll just be left with a set of rather expensive paperweights.

So I have been investing in quie a few photography magazines which in the same way as lot of things until you actually start looking at them you don't know just how many there are! Anyway this means that there are now quite a few photo magazines starting to appear around geek towers along with multiple dvd's of how to do various things in photoshop. ( which I really need to get at somepoint but as usual I am digressing.)

Despite most of my photos so far being either of landscapes or owen ( he doesn't complain, he's always around plus he likes it when the cameras appear when he goes for a walk as he knows it means he's going to get a long one!) I am starting to like the idea of doing portraits. However I'm finding myself with a lack of suitable or should I say willing subjects.

However in one of the articles on portrait taking it advised of a website which it recommended everybody should try out as it was apparently very good and for the simple reason that it had a very simple operating goal.

Basically the idea is that it provides a "networking site" for aspiring models, photographers, photo editors and make up artists to come together. For example if your a aspiring model and don't have lots of money for shots, why you simply contact a aspiring photographer who is looking to expand their porfolio. You both help the other out, everyone goes away happy and as the saying goes the"jobs a good un".

Sounds good right? especially as it's free to join?

Well a little too good as it turns out as the entry requirements for photographers turned out to be completely baffling. As remember the site is intended for aspiring photographers, i.e ones who haven't been doing it for very long. Yes in order to register on the site you have to provide four portraits of four adult "models". Which seems totally counter productive to the whole point of the site because lets face it, if I had access to that many willing volunteers to being with to take that many shots, I wouldn't be really visiting this site to begin with!

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Oh well, time for plan B I guess.

Not that I have a plan B right now, my plan C is to get a Plan B.

Wait, now I'm confused.....

Later folks.

Maybe you can look that up on the internet....but only when you get home

Wednesdays are always difficult for two reasons. Firstly that as it's the middle of the week it's always seems much longer and harder then other days and secondly it really does seem to turn into a anything and everything could happen kind of day.

Anyway, one of the girls from my team ( who is the massively outdoors one, does rafting, canoeing and all sorts of other things ) was talking about that she had run into a old aquaintence from school on Saturday night whilst she was having a night on the town. ( she used a slightly different turn of phrase which I won't use as it was depressingly chavish.)

Which in turn reminded me of a time I ran into somebody in the supermarket who greeted me warmly, asked how things were etc all the time I was frantically trying to remember who he was. It was only later that day that I suddenly remembered he was in my form at college. But I digress which are regular readers will know is not uncommon in the slightest.

Right back to the story, yes the girl then started to relate how the guy she ran into was asking her questions about life etc, etc, before suddenly asking her if she was librarian. When she then related to us she could understand him making this mistake as she wears glasses, wears her hair up most of the time and can look quite nerdish when wearign a skirt and blouse at times ( those were her words not mine and that loud bang you just heard was probably nemesis's head exploding when she read that :-)

Anyway, the girl then added that it was the guys next assumption that really surprised her as he then asked
" Are you still a lesbian?"

Which really annoyed her ( she isn't one in case you were wondering) because as she explained " who meets a person after several years and asks them almost straight away if they are some kind of Lesbian Librarian?

And it was at this point one of the guys decided to interject with a question, and the rest of the conversation kind of went like this;

Guy: What would one do anyway?
Girl: What?
Guy: What would a lesbian librarian do as part of their job?
Girl: Why are you thinking about this?
Guy: Well if that's their job title, what must the job entail?
Girl: Why are you asking me?
Guy: Because I'm just wondering.
Saxon: If you really want to know I'm sure there's plenty of information on the internet.

Anyway,

Later folks

The spirit is willing but the sunset is not

Well the path to becoming a fantastic well anything is rarely a easy one and I was taught a lesson this evening that no matter how willing you are if the weather, sunset and landscape does not co-operate your not going to get good pictures no matter how much you try.

As I had anticipated that with the weather being very nice all day we were going to be in for a very nice sunset and we were. Which I'm sure I would have been able to see if I was on a hill, but I wasn't and after spending some time trapsing over the open fields round geektowers I was disappointed to find that my view was all but blocked but a rather sizable wood.

Leaving me with a viewpoint that only allowed me to grab a few disappointing shots thatw ere nothing new and not especially inspiring.

But still at least as Grumpy says there's always another sunset so I can try another day and at least it proved a useful learning experience in the sense of I discovered that the tripod I have inherited can not cope with my camera when it has the wide angle lenses on which puts a new tripod to the top of the "need to get" list of shiny new toys rather then the " would be nice" list of shiny new toys.

Yes I really do have both of these lists. Well it gives me something to aim for.

Not that my photographic kit isn't already approaching a impressive size. I now have my camera, a additional flashgun, three and a half lenses ( the half is one I went half's on with Tap Dance. There's a nice advantage is having the same camera as other family members) a remote trigger system for the shutter and flash, uv filters for all lenses, a polarising filter plus a large and small camera bag with built in all protection.

Which gives me the ability to pretty much takes pictures inside, outside, in daylight, in the dark, next to the camera, away from the camera. I can als take pictures of pretty much anything from a small flower, to rafts, to helicopters to portraits.

There's only one small problem..........................

I'm currently struggling to think of things to take pictures of. So any suggestions of ideas for shots or even any ideas for photo projects will be gratefully received.

Later folks

The sky didn't fall, the world didn't end and nothing blew up. Bring on Tuesday then I guess

It's been a interesting day at work, mainly as they introduced a brand new all singing, all dancing system that was supposed to make everything far more effective and easier for everyone.

However what everybody tends to forget with any ( it based ) system that is all new, all singing, all dancing and is intended to make life more effective and easier is that when it first goes on line it is far from the all singing, all dancing system that will make life more effective and easier. There is always one or two teething problems.

So this is why for the couple of hours we had a whole lot of technical people running back and forth trying to make sure that any issues which did surface were rapidly stomped on.

Which went really well untl one of the guys from our team asked a innocent question that not only confused one of the technical people, it managed to confuse 5, yes 5 of them in one go! Which did lead to a rather amusing moment when our manager came round the corner and almost stopped in mid stride with a sheer look of panic on her face wondering what one of her guys had done to need the attentions of 5 technical people!

However this was quickly followed by another amusing moment when a sixth technical guy arrived and promptly solved the issue within 15 seconds.

Still at least everything ( touch wood, cross fingers, etc, etc) seems to be running okay now and after all it did make this monday far more entertaining then a usual monday.

Later folks

Just hanging around

So I was wondering if I was starting to think that I was hearing things at church this morning as when I sat down I heard a loud and rather odd buzzing sound. Physics who had just arrived at that point had already seen it was the alarm for the disabled toilet and it was a probably a false alarm.

But after a couple of minutes he declared that maybe someone should go and check it anyway as if everyone was assuming it was a false alarm, there could be somebody who really did need assistance.

And then he failed to come back which started to worry me, so I went to look for him and strangely enough found him standing in the disabled toilets with a big knife trying to help Bro Y who does lots of building maintence as he was trying to find out why the alarm wouldn't turn off ( the knife was becuase nobody had a screwdriver in case you were wondering). After much indepth analaysis he managed to fix the alarm in the only way he knew how...... he cut the power to the buzzer and will come back and fix it tomorrow.

I then noticed that the walls and door from the top foyer have gone, leaving it all open plan. When I pointed this out to physics he looked and me confused before informing me they hadn't been there last week!

So church had barely started and I was already believing that I was hearing things and had a epic failure of observational skills!

Anyway then in priesthood we were having one of those lessons that despite my best intentions, my attention was wondering slightly, so I'm not entirely sure how we got to this poiint but there you go, but one guy started talking about how the generation before his in the church were really strong and yet now you had a generation who thought it was okay to be hanging around and not get married.

And yes I didn't imagine that, he actually said " a generation who thought it was okay to be hanging around and not get married". So they you have it apparently I'm not married because I've chosen to hang around. See you can learn something new everyweek.

But that did remind me of a charming fellow who was at the multi stake activity day last week who came to talk to a guy I was speaking to. He was bursting with pride and wanted to tell him that he had scored a "date with that hot little blonde" who had been in the kitchen. He then announced that he was hedging his bets though by getting another date with another girl already as there was no reason for him to be dateless if the first one didn't go so well. The guy I was talking to then asked him if the second date was with a certain girl. The charming fellow then replied that now that girl was going to be his if all else fails and he can't get another date as and i quote " Because she's too desperate, as she's 30 and will be aware her clocks ticking".

I was kinda glad I was drinking or eating anything at this point as I'm sure I would have started choking as the universe once again showed that it can be dreadfully unfair sometimes as I have oh lets see no dates at present and not only does he have two ( well technically three) all with different girls.

Still I cheered myself up with the thought that if he had ever said anything like that in earshot of anyone like Nemesis or Scully or pretty much any female YSA we'd have probably never found the body.

Anyway, it's Monday tomorrow which promises to be a especially fun day as we're getting a brand new phone system installed which we're all going to have to try and get used to using.

So lots of opportunities this week me thinks.

Later Folks

Charge!

Cool, calm and zen like

Working in customer service I am very concious of when having to deal with other people in the customer service industry to keep nice and friendly as lets face it, I know exactly what it's like to be on the other side of the lines as it were and it's not nice when someone looses their cool.

However I was finding it very hard to keep my cool this evening when trying to talk to member of the customer service team at a certain well known internet anti-virius provider who could have been quite honest and explain that dispite the disputes in some charges, he was having difficulty locating them he would endeavour to solve things as quickly as possible.

What he actually did was for want of a better term, was to hide behind his computer, claim they hadn't done any additional charges, actually tell me I was wrong, ask me three times for the same bit of information before actually using the line " well the computer says no".

Still I tried to remain calm as maybe this was his best. Maybe it wasn't his fault, maybe it was just the level of training he had received? and maybe his supervisor who I was sure he ran off to see when he placed me on hold would prove to be more useful. So whilst waiting I decided to try and pass the team by mentally tallying up every point where he would have been cut off at the knee's in one of my works kpi's.

Fortunatly they were and managed to get things sorted. Which was good as it was getting quite late and I was starting to get cranky.

But at least there's only one more day before the weekend. Although of course with it being a Friday it tends to be either one extreme or the other and based on the week we've been having I'm fairly certain it will be going to the "downright odd" end of the spectrum.

Speaking of work I'm shortly going to be moving desks again as part of another team reshuffle. So this is going to be my 8th desk move in just under two years. Well at least it keeps things interesting even if with the new desk I'm going to technically be being "put in a corner:-)"


anyway,

Later folks.

No, no, no, no, no...errrhh yes? Nope still no

Well I was thinking the other day ( I know, thinking it's a dangerous past time) and anyway I was contemplating of starting my own website to show off some of my photography.

Sounds easy right?

Well not quite as easy as I was hoping as it turns out, as well it turns out there is already a "saxon" photography ( there's also a dance school as well strangely enough). In fact every name I've been able to come up with so far seems to be in use regardless of whether I use Saxon or my "real name".

So any bright ideas would be appreciated as I'm a little stuck right now.

It's also been strange getting on facebook tonAnyway, Later folks

A view from the fields

Why spelling is always important

Even by the standards of work we're having a especially strange week this week. Which may be in part I suppose to the christmas run up starting.

And before you mention we're only in October and how can the christmas rush possible be starting, I'd just liek to remind you of the advent calenders already in the shops.

Anyway, we received a important lesson yesterday about the importance of more haste less speed and why spell checking is always important as one of the guys was using a instant messaging program to communicate with another facility. What he meant to say was

" It's not out today today then"

What he actually managed to write was almost correct asides from the fact he added a additional T in a very unfortunate place, which as he was speaking to female member of staff, caused a rapid loss of colour from his face and a repeated mantra of " no, no, no" as he seemed to be conjuring up images of a sexual harressment case.

Fortunatly the staff member he was speaking to had a fantastic sense of humour and quickly realised that he had made a simple spelling mistake because when he quickly sent a grovelling apology her response was along the lines of saying that was shame as she was going to ask him out as she liked men who were forward :-)

Our manager also had a sense of humour as when he went to nervously confess what had happened ( before he had got that response) she simply roared with laughter for a good few minutes leaving him somewhat confused.

But anyway, it's only two days into the week so there's a lot of potential for things to get even stranger.

And I'm sure they will.............

Later folks

The sky is falling. Again!

Okay, so apparently another satellite is falling to Earth and of course the top minds in the world, with access to the latest and greatest technology can once again say with great authority.............................

They have no idea where it's going to land. I think the only great mind who needs to sum this up goes by the name of Homer

" D'oh!"

And to add to the fun this one has a special heat resistant mirror which apparently could survive re-entry ( who will get the seven years bad luck for breaking this mirror) which means the falling pieces could not only be travelling very fast but could also be razor sharp. Not that if it were to hit anything that's probably going to mke much difference mind you.

Plus of course the scientists kept tempting the greats universal gods of fate and irony by keeping saying that in 50 years no one has ever been hit by a falling satellite!

There's always going to be a first time!

Things you never expect to hear at church activity 2#

( overheard during the indexing service project at the multi-stake activityday)

Girl: So why does't this women have a job listed
Instructor: Because she probably didn't have one
Girl: Why? ( then she starts chatting to her friend)
Instructor: Because she was probably like a lot of women back then and her main job was being a homemaker and making babies
Girl: You want us to make babies?
Instructor: What?
Girl: You just told me you wanted me to make babies
Instructor: No, I said the women back then were mainly homeowners and made babies
Girl: Oh, I thought you told me to make babies
Instructor: Why would I tell you to do that?
Girl: I have no idea but I was starting to get quite worried about what you actually wanted us to do in this workshop

Things you never except to hear at a church activity 1#

(overheard in a game at the multi-stake activity day)

" No, you need to open your legs wider for it to fit in"

Did you really think about that before you spoke #7

( overheard in the indexing service project at the multi-stake activity day when one of the girls asked a question about one of the names on her list)

"So what gender is he?"

Shhh... they may hear you

So being out and about tomorrow, I had to go and do the usual weekly shop tonight instead. ( yeah I know shopping on a Friday night, going really wild this week aren't I?) That's a rhetorical question by the way.

Anyway, what do you suppose I see in the supermarket. A big massive display of ..........advent calenders. That's right we're in the first week of October and their already selling advent calenders.

Which just goes to prove that old adage that Christmas seems to start earlier and earlier this year.

Grumpy pointed out though when I mentioned this to him if there was really any reason any more for advent calenders to be limited to December. What's to stop someone creating one that covers November and December, or even October, November and December?

My response to him was that either we should keep that idea quiet or quite probably somebody was working on it already.

anyway

Later folks

Would still never watch it anyway

Well it seems that after making some cuts which in the words of the makers " Do not compromise the story telling and keep the level of horror intact" that the "human centipede II" has been given a certificate and will now be released in the uk.

There are two interesting things with this story. Firstly that a member of the British board of certification apparently abstained from the vote to classify this film. This is the same board who said a couple of months ago that no matter how many cuts ( apparently only 2 minutes 37 seconds worth) were made to the film they would not pass it.

Secondly is when this was discussed at work of those people who would admit to watching "Human centipede I" all of them admitted that the film had stuck with them and not in a good way. A few of the phrases used were sick, messed up and I wish I had never watched it!

So this should be fair warning for anyone who is intrigued by the media hype and has a " Oh what the heck lets go and see what it's all about moment" especially as the film maker, yes that's right the guy who made both films declared that the 1st film would look like "My little pony" when compared to the sequel.

So just watch a DVD instead. Or even better you know those rectangle things on your shelves which you have picked up in a while and are covered in dust. Their called books, try reading one :-)

Later Folks

Midway to nowhere

Well it's Wednesday which means we've reached that point of the week where everything seems to slump a little as you precisely no closer to the following weekend then you are away from the previous weekend.

Still the CS week of activities we've been having at work has been quite fun, the massage ladies on Monday were very, very good and I really could have stayed there for the rest of my shift with absolutely no problems whatsoever.

Of course the only problem with having all of the stress and tension throughly released from your neck and shoulders is that you then get to experience the "fun" of feeling it all creep back in there.

C'est la vie I guess :-)

But I guess the tension wasn't helped by the fact that I had to go back to hell again yesterday...... err sorry I mean the dentists for the second round of work on one of my teeth. Fortunatly I only have to go one time next week and that ( touch wood, cross fingets etc) will be it because if there's one place that terrifies me like no other in the world it's that place. No matter how many times the dentist tells me to relax and there's nothing to worry about (easy for him to say he's on the other end of the drill :-)

Owen caused me great amusement last night as not only did we find that out of some left overs he had been given after dinner does he not like vegetables, he actually carefully removed them from his bowl and left them in a ring around the outside so he could actually get to his food that he did like.

Of course we would have been even more impressed if he had put them back in the bowl when he had finished but I suppose you can't have everything in life :-)

Later folks

So are you parent 1 or parent 2?

Well despite going very quiet for a while, political correctness seems to have decided to go out and hide out at the passport office as one story which caught my eye recently proved.

It seems that they are currently planning to remove "gender" from passports, i.e you will no longer be listed as male or female as this apparently discriminates againist transgender people.

Of course once this came up it was then proposed by another equal rights group that you should no longer have "mother" or "father" listed as this discriminates againist same sex couples who have children. So instead of Mother or Father they want to have "parent 1 " and "parent 2"

However this of course has apparently lead to another complaint from another equal rights group as if the mother is listed as parent 2 this discriminates againist women as by saying they are parent 2 and the male or "father" is parent 1 by implying that the males always come before females.

So as you can imagine this story seems to bear all of the hallmarks of running on and on in ever decreasing circles. Whilst it does that I'm going to go and hide under the desk and weep for the future of humanity.

Later folks

A world class hissy fit

There's a bit of a standing joke between grumpy and myself at the moment that if we go out we never have to check the letter box needlessly to see if the post has been ( or any number of people dropping leaflets, charity bags of betterware catalogues) as we have always get a very big clue.

You see Owen doesn't like people approaching "his house" and tends to get a little bit upset about it. Now his main weapon of choice for venting this displeasure used to be shoes, which meant we had to move all of the shoes out of the hall as we didn't want to get teeth marks on them as he threw them around in a berserk temper.

Now he uses his bed. Yes you read that correctly, he uses his bed and basically throws it round in a complete temple which usually ends with it upside down and insdie out ( literally).

Well he went one better this morning as he managed to get his paws on a pack of toilet rolls, proceeded to rip open the packaging and proceeded to scatter the rolls throughout the downstairs of good ole geektowers. There were toilet rolls in the hall, the lounge, the dining room and even the kitchen apparently. The only good thing was that he didn't unroll the darn things.

Grumpys suggestion was maybe that we let him watch too much tv and he was inspired by the andrex puppy.

Anyway,

Later folks