Mike's musings

Communion, more sleep

(backposting) I got up in time for the 0800 Communion service - well deaconed by Sally - and breakfast. And then went back to bed - with permission from the organiser - and missed just the one session. One about power without authority: negotiated power, in fact, which is something I know all about. Some other good sessions. I also received a message from a colleague saying that our CTO, with whom I spent some time on Thursday, had given me a mention in his session in the quarterly meeting. Quite chuffed by this.

Should probably have gone to bed before 0130, but at least I didn't drink too much of the neat gin (there was no bitter lemon, and you _know_ I have a bad reaction to tonic...).

Labels: drink, sleep, work

39 today!

Yes, it's my birthday today, and I'm 39 years old. I woke up too late to make it to the 8 o'clock service, and decided that spending time with family was more important that the canon law requirement to receive Communion every Sunday. So, we headed off for brunch (I'd had pirate cake for breakfast, and had a knickerbocker glory. We then headed off to Freeport where I bought more shirts and a pair of trousers for work. The girls started to lose it, and Miri slept all the way home, and for 20-30 minutes even after we got back.

And then, a birthday party. It turns ot that one of Jojo's pre-school friends, Amber, shares my birthday, so we went there for a children's party. I took the pirate cake (I'd just have ended up eating it all over the week), and everyone had a great time. However, towards the end, Miri put her elbow out again. It was pretty obvious, and _this_ time, I managed to put it back in, which was an enormous relief.

The girls just about managed to stay awake until bedtime, and then Moo and I did more Wii Fit work. It's really impressive, I have to say, and I'm really getting into it. I did some ironing as Moo did her work-out, and then barbecued some lovely steak with a lovely bottle of red wine from James and Ruth (thanks!).

Tomorrow, I start my first day in the new job on a customer site - in Huntingdon, as it happens. Exciting, with some trepidation. It'll be good, I think.

I've had a good birthday, even if Moo's not finished knitting my present (a pair of lovely socks)...

Labels: birthday, drink, food, knitting, party, work

Fete

(backposting) There's something very English about a fete, and we went to the Clare one today. It rained a little, which is important for a fete, but only started raining properly just as we left, which was helpful, but kind of disappointing in a weird way. The girls had their faces painted, I had a pint of local bitter (Augustinian from Nethergate, since you asked), tasted another (also Nethergate - Essex Border, very nice, and I'll keep an eye out for it), courtesy of Cura (who seem to deserve a shout, we had fresh doughnuts, that sort of thing.

I'm shattered at the moment - and often being moved out of our bed, sometimes there to be joined by Jojo, if she wakes up, too, and am usually woken up some time before 0600. I had a bit of a doze just before lunch, but it didn't seem to make much difference. Neither did going to bed around 2100 tonight. Oh, well.

Labels: drink, girls, sleep

Alpha, and a quiet pint

(backposting) Tonight I attended a meeting about Alpha: it was a chance for those in the area who are thinking about running Alpha courses to get together, meet each other, pray, and hear from Bethan, who works at Alpha International, and spoke very well.

Afterwards, I asked Geoff if he fancied a pint, he agreed to come, we met James, invited him, and he invited John. So the four of us had a quiet pint - and lots of crisps - in the Dog Inn. It was good to chat and unwind.

Labels: drink, friends

My own fault

(backposting) It's probably kind of OK to have a beer and then some wine with my meal, but it was definitely a mistake to go back to my room and unpack the bottle of Ardbeg. Kudos to Cady, who put up with my ramblings. So, that was last night, and so I took things easy today.

Had a very good meeting with the CEO, and talked about future directions for the company in Europe, which was very positive. I also had a good meeting with my (temporary) boss over dinner, where he probed me really quite hard to find out what I'm looking to do in the short, medium and long term, and how we might get there. Very cheering indeed. Our CTO turned up while we were in the bar, and we stayed chatting to him. My boss left after a while, and the two of us who remained chatted some more. I do like Certicom: I think we're a good company, and there are opportunities to make a difference, doing stuff that I enjoy and I'm good at, and that's excellent.

Labels: drink, work

The Big Time

Yes, I was interviewed twice for BBC Radio Essex this morning (no, I'm not going to add the link to the "Listen Again" option). 0635 and 0730 (The Dog Inn, Halstead and The Lion, Earls Colne). And then we had a picture taken for the Halstead Gazette for the "Come and See" mission week (21-28 Sept) at 1330 (at the Dog Inn again). And I took the landlady at her word and popped round for a pint this evening after a meeting with John and James (and, officially, with someone for some baptism preparation, but they never turned up).

Also had a good chat with someone about something on the phone. I can't talk about this at the moment, but hopefully it was useful for her, too.

And we've booked a holiday (in the UK) in September. Yay.

Labels: curacy, drink

Today, I shall mostly be ...

• ... sleeping in (but not as long as Jo and Moo)
• ... taking the girls swimming with Moo
• ... spending more money than I meant to in Waitrose
• ... clearing the dog poo off the lawn
• ... mowing the lawn (first time this year, if you exclude the two strims it's had)
• ... stepping in several instances of dog poo that I missed
• ... barbecuing with Si
• ... drinking beer with Si
• ... eating the barbecued food with Si, D, Morgs, Boo, Moo, Jo and Miri
• ... drinking wine with Si and Moo
• ... geeking with Si
• ... whilst drinking more wine with Si
• ... going for a walk with the girls, Moo and Buster
• ... having a bath with the girls (but not Moo and Buster)
• ... putting Jo to bed (very quick!)
• ... clearing around a bit
• ... loading the dishwasher
• ... doing some washing up
• ... and ... finishing my last essay for ERMC. YYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSS!

Labels: drink, ERMC, family, friends, geekery, swimming, walk

Detoxing long walk

(backposting) Up at 0630 this morning with Jo, soon followed by Victoria with Sennon. Victoria and I sat around drinking tea and feeling somewhat sorry for ourselves while the children played. Moo came down after a couple more hours of sleep.

I was planning to get to church with Jo after Victoria headed off, but Jo was adamant that she didn't want to go, and was very, very tired, so I set off on my own. I turned back within 500m, and came back to spend some time with Moo, and support her with Jo if required. I decided that there will be more than enough church next week (the ERMC summer school), and that family should come first. Jo had a big sleep in the end, which she really needed, and Moo and I had some nice time together.

After lunch, we all went to Broaks Wood, the other side of Sible Hedingham, for a bit of a walk. Just planning on 35-40 minutes, we got hopelessly lost (as we _always_ do when we go there - only more than usual, this time), and ended up spending more like an hour and a half there. Miri slept most of the time, and Jo did very well, though she did need some carrying. We collected leaves from various trees for her to do things with tomorrow.

Labels: drink, walk

Off to ERMC

(backposting) I had a meeting with Keith this morning, at which we discussed my personal assessment (some interesting insights from Keith) and the placements. It's looking more and more like I'm going to end up at a hospice, rather than a funeral directors (one plan) or in a mental health institution (the original plan). Just re-read that sentence. Hmm.

Lots of work, and then off to ERMC at Ditchingham. We had an interesting discussion on death and dying in our group D, which I enjoyed. Noone had got round to creating any liturgy for evening prayer (there'd been a mix-up), so we had a quick prayer and said the Grace, led by Clive, which was really refreshing, actually.

I was very good, and left the bar at 2230, after only one drink. As instructed by Moo.

Labels: drink, ERMC

Essay done

Started it around 1800, finished it at 2329. Need to sanity-check it, but I think it's done. Only had one pint of Guinness and one glass of red wine, so it shouldn't be too bad.

Thanks to Sally for the interruptions - allowed me to step back a couple of times. An unwinding drink in front of the TV now, I think, then bed.

Church History: 98%

Mission: 100%

Happiness level: 90%

Labels: drink, essay