Written by: paul

It’s a hot day today. Perhaps this is why people have been cranky on the phone? Had a really shitty day at work, with an above average ‘sanctimonious fool’ call rate. Also a general lack of back up to queries has not assisted my mood any. Matty packed it in & walked out yesterday. Still… I don’t suppose I care so much now as I am on the train home & no longer have think until tomorrow. My thinking capacity has been somewhat impaired recently. Picked up another cold/cough, am tired, it is, as mentioned, hot. I’m just a dumb-ass jack-ass – don’t ask me nuffink.

Work seemed to stabilise to yesterday. Back to there being not just me on the phone & a more normal level of work – not insane. Much relief & stress petering out.
No decorating last night. Had to do form filling for “Working Family Tax Credit” – which is the only thing that makes the job I do up to a reasonable (living) wage (I wonder how often i bleat that?).
“Tech support – gosh, that must be a well paid job?”
“Ummmm….”
Well, we have taken on more work (customers), responsibility & have taken on administration work, but, we are still paid less than accounts. I should complain – Alex, who does more work than me, gets paid less. Go figure – it’s the modern workplace – innit! Just in case you think this be all bad, I do quite like a few aspects of the job & I certainly like the hours I keep… Well, sometimes as the alarm nags me at 5:30, I do wonder, but that’s just sleep trying to hang onto me.
Jack woke last night. He said that he had, had a wee-wee before getting into the bath & we took him at his word… as neither Louise or I saw him do it. He probably had not as that what woke him & he woke confused & had a shout to us. I dashed upstairs to see what was wrong & his complaining woke Eve – so she started to complain as well – so there I was in a dark room with 2 wailing kids. Louise quickly came to the rescue & took charge of settling Eve, & I took Jack off for the wee he should have done earlier. That done, he was off to sleep, straight off. Jack has never wet the bed – which I consider pretty brilliant, really. It took Louise to point that fact out to me for me to realise something that I take for granted.

Here’s me trying to remember what we did Saturday…?
Ah, that was it… not much :)
A bit of moving things up from the front bedroom to the attic. I was planing a haircut, but we did not get the kids marshalled until too late in the day for that.
Sunday was going to be a big decorating day for me… Try to get some progress on the front bedroom. Louise’s mum was going to come over & they were going to go off & leave me alone in the house to get on with things & concentrate. Louise’s mum was late though, & just when we were giving up, she arrived… with the news that the trains were not running… So, That scuppered the plans that they should go off somewhere. Past the initial frustration & the repeated explanations & incredulity from Louise’s mum (justifying & over justifying the situation) we did settle into a routine that let me do some decorating. Did not get as much as we would have liked done, but this is the nature of things, especially when Jack insists he wants to help (when he hinders, so he cannot) & gets upset that it is not possible. He is interesting in that respect. He is not good at accepting no as an answer & will continue to ask & plead when something is out of the question, & then get upset. It’s a common kiddie tactic, which parents can generally be worn down with until they concede something. It actually rarely works for Jack (with me) as I will either yes or no. Louise will compromise or distract on some extreme occasions (as in reality I may do). On the whole though, this tactic does not work, yet he still persists…
Anyway – I got the polystyrene wallpaper covering the outer wall (reason required: a couple of cold spots that attract condensation probably caused by ‘joining stones’). I had intended to start papering over some of the polystyrene paper put up earlier with lining paper, & might have managed it if I had not mixed the paste so badly it was as lumpy as porridge. Had to dash out to buy some more.
Papered round the window & radiator too. That polystyrene stuff is easy to put up… I doubt that the lining paper will be so easy. Then having taken the manky curtains down, I put some more respectable ones up. Had taken down the manky plastic curtain rail too, & needed to replace that with one from another room (downstairs back – wooden venetian planned there). Had to go & scrounge a drill off my neighbour, Andy (Hamish daddy) as having literally searched high & low in my house for my drill, I found nothing. Moving things about so much is perhaps going to make things seemingly disappear until you straighten yourself out properly again.
Upshot: Well, it’s really weird how much more neat a room can look with a uniform wall and a good pair of curtains. By no means finished, but the transformation is quite satisfying. I have to try to transform this satisfaction into something more akin to momentum to actually finishing the job. i’ll never get anywhere if I do not.
At least I managed to get ZUM! #10 archived onto the ZUM! site (albeit in what you might call a ‘beta’ stage – so no real links yet). Still a goodly amount of work to do, but a good start.

Not feeling especially Inclined to actually be writing at the moment. No real reason other than a nagging feeling of discontentment, that has no reason for being there.
Humbug – even the Train conductor is over cheery this morning.
Eve was awake at me going to work again this morning. I recall a time when Jack used to wake early as well & I’d have Louise & Jack waving me of to work. Now Louise & Eve… no doubt in a few years, it will be the new kid – which Is a good thought (unlike actually going to work).
Hurumph – I was totally on my own again yesterday – which Is a bit like old times in a way… When we were less busy than now, I would spent a lot of morning shifts as the only person answering the calls, (with no one in sight for asistance) but now with a larger business minded customer base, things are tougher & the customers more arrogant & demanding.
One of my last calls yesterday was from a reseller, or a small time design consultancy who were in the process of moving their site away from us (thus we no longer controlled where It was pointed) Unfortunately for them it also coincided with our server moves, resulting in the website dropping of the web, but our not really having much we can do about that (as we no longer control it). The transfer of control of the domain not being complete – they name Is between 2 stools & all in all – there’s not much that can be done. I need the holes In my logic fixing, as I am aware there are some assumptions that I feel are incorrect, & specific information on areas that I am lacking. I have a basic honesty problem… I cannot bullshit completely; I can wing it on shaky knowledge, but I cannot just fob someone off.
Hmm… ranted on a bit there. Cannot say that I feel any more content – but then, perhaps this is what is bugging me… That & the feeling that I am not getting on with things as well as I would like to do.
Oh, reading the headline on someone else’s newspaper on the Train. That old schadenfreude… :) Jeffrey Archer Is going to jail. Funny – innit – the UK would like to think of Itself as a civilised county, but It Is jailing It the last government administration fraudulent shysters. Corruption just like the countries we like to look down on.

Again travelling to work with a hope that things are at last calming down… Again, we will see… but I am less optimistic of the prospect today.
Eve woke early again. She was stirring as I came out from having a shower. As everyone seems to have ended up in our bed last night, I plucked her out & took her downstairs with me. We could have breakfast together, & Louise & Jack could sleep some more. She seemed less interested in her “cereal” this morning though. She did offer me some, as I offer her some of mine, & thought it fun that I accepted. She has a cheeky grin she uses often at the moment – it seems to convey pure delight as she uses her whole body; going rigid & hunching her shoulders at the same time as a big teeth clenched grin. Oh, & she has also,in the past couple of weeks learnt how to jump. Jump & get both feet off the ground. It seems something that little kids take a particular delight in & find very satisfying. When waking & running is mastered this one seems the next ‘step’. I remember when Jack was 1st doing it as well… Hips still have a little of the baby swivel & there’s a balance thing like a skiing pose, but the delight at being able to do it!
This early rising on Eve’s part is starting to look like a habit. Perhaps she is undergoing a change in her general sleeping pattern as Louise said that she did not have much of a daytime nap yesterday. It is more likely she is either teething, or a little under the weather. Jack’s cough seems to be abating. I only say that as he was not coughing in his sleep before Louise & I went to bed last night. On the whole they both slept better.
At the moment I am reading Jack to sleep with a paperback children’s book… Not short stories, but something that is taking a while to get through. If he calms down for sleep (not ‘fiddling’) then he doesn’t usually manage to get to the end of the chapter. I’m not sure of the name of the book, but It’s by the Albergs & something like “The Bear That Nobody Wanted”. Louise & I are also enjoying the story.

Train home now… Work was not too hectic today – thankfully. Back to a level where stress is not completely mad. The ‘angry’ level seems to be calming down as well & our normal callers returning.

What joys will today’s work bring? Sigh…
Eve woke up as I was going. She was alone in our bed, Jack having got Louise to come to him earlier in the night. It was not one of her better wake ups – probably confused, & because of that a bit mad. As I was headed upstairs to relieve myself on the toilet, I though it a better course of action to try to comfort her instead. She did her ‘I’m mad – don’t touch me’, “no!”. She wanted Mummy, so I let her get off the bed & head down the hall. At the end of the hall she didn’t quite know what to do so turned round to be with a, “daaadee” & arms aloft wanting to be picked up. She did not see that Louise had emerged from their bedroom, until I had picked her up & immediately wanted passing over. All this must have been a tad confusing for her & we went back to our room with her to see if she might calm down. Not really. She now wanted me again, but I really needed to go to the toilet – so I went – much to her consternation… I have to head off for work in a couple of minutes… this, um, has to be done… Much crying & wailing & protestation & I do not have peace. While I sit on the toilet all the noise wakes Jack & he wants to know if Eve has “been sick?”. “No.o.o.o” – Resounds the shout back. Eve is starting to calm down a bit & I give her a cuddle before I go – which upsets her again as she was rather hoping that I would take her downstairs.
So… by the time I get downstairs & leave the house I turn back to see everyone, (Louise, Jack & Eve) at the front window waving me a pyjama bye-bye. Eve seems calmer (not red faced from crying) & she gives me a wave as I head off down the street.

Home from work; it was busy. Marginally less so, but enough to be able to see patterns in the things that were still wrong. Have the odd minute pause between calls… Either that or I am frighteningly getting used to another level of stress.

Busy. Very Busy. Brain numbingly busy day at work. I guess I knew it would be, but I was rather relieved not to have many really idiotic people taking it out on the sap that answers the phone. Had at least one, “Well, I will need to call out the engineers & it will cost me…” to which my response is: “your point being?” Would that it were… I’m too polite.
Major changes to a network as have had to be done always have some knock on effect even if it’s meticulously planned, let alone…
Still, I’m going home now. I only had one fizzle-pop point, but that was probably due to information overload. I am now enjoying just staring out of the train window with no obligation to think. Nice day – sunny – a few menacing clouds just to add that interest to the sky. Nah, sorry – cannot be arsed to write more.

Heh… playing with the eMate again…
I’ve loaded an application called ‘newtscape’ – which is browser for the Newton OS. Catch being; it’s on the card, not the machine itself… & yet to use it on the internet I’d have to put the modem card in… DOH!
Hey, this does not worry! The theory is to look at it & try to figure out what to best use it for. The idea is to see if it assists in the writing of HTML – which it might look good for. Unexpectedly it has given me the option to save general documents as HTML… converting them to tagged text – which is useful. It’s play & familiarise time.
Jack woke up before I set off for work this morning. I heard the padding of feet across the hall upstairs as I was finishing my pint of tea at about 06:15. Met him at the top of the stairs & he asked me if it was Saturday (presumably I would be staying). Had to disappoint him. Told drowsing Louise he was downstairs as I went to give my daily “seeya/loveya” goodbye kiss. Left Jack snuggled in front of The Hoobs jumping about on the telly. He is going to be jiggered when I get home; he was awake in the night a little with his cough, & is probably a bit short on sleep in general at the moment because of that cough. He was tired yesterday evening, but coped well with it – was not an excessively grumpy & obstreperous.

Well – the new version of Newton ATA support is out, & despite yesterdays problems, it does seem a bit better. I managed to create error on the card yesterday. I think that adding to document stored on the card may not be such a bright idea at the moment. This is no big deal really, as it can be worked round. Difficult to say if that is where the problem lies, but time will tell. It is, after all software that has not yet reached the beta testing stage as yet. It works well – but there are the occasional upsets when the unexpected happens. I imagine it should be an essential for every Newton device when it’s complete. Imagine, being able to change the profile & functionality of the machine depending on what applications you have active in the additional memory stores. It can even act as a web server at the moment.. a handheld computer running the pages you view a website on, & with the potential capacity these cards can offer, it could be a substantial website.
Yeh – anyway… how are the kids getting on?
Well,I was saying the other day how much Eve seemed to have grown of recent… well, in the last couple of days her language has taken one of those ‘little leaps’ as well. There is more involvement in what she says. She is linking more words together. The problem is, at this stage, interpreting what she says. She does not really have crisp consonants, thus it can all sound a bit mumbly, even though she proclaims things loudly. Her words for things are not complete – ‘phan’ for elephant for instance. Hmmm trying to think of a long syllable word, I can only come up with dinosaur – which she nearly manages.
She woke up in the night , upset, last night. Louise went to her & she thinks that she must have been dreaming. She was not up for being consoled (heh – Jack is always, no matter what, up for a hug, whereas Eve, if she is mad & upset, will shrug away from a hug… this is a trait that Louise can do as well…). Eve was, through floods of tears, asking after Jack & I… but in the middle of it all wanting a tissue as well. Sweetie. She gets a tissue forced when she is upset to dab her tears & wipe her nose.
Jack has a cough at the moment. We were late to bed last night, & a we were dropping off to sleep, Jack roused from his room to join us in our room. His coughing kept us awake that little bit longer. Partly it’s concern for him, partly it’s the fact he’s leaning into you coughing into your ear. What with that, & Eve’s major upset an hour or so later, I’m feeling just that little more jaded than I should do today.

Eve fell asleep in her high chair on Sunday night. She had not had her normal daytime snooze. She missed her chance when we went to the supermarket. We dashed off, perhaps earlier than we had planned, as Ruth (Hamish’s mum) had taken Jack, Hamish & her others to the park. We took it as a good opportunity to do the Sunday run for shopping. Poor Eve. I had changed her nappy before tea, & she was not happy about it at all; too tired & a bit of a sore bum. She was contemplating the possibility of snoozing when I was putting her back in a “happy-nappy” (turn over, eye rub). She was still grandly upset though,so I picked her up & cuddled her downstairs. Tea was then ready – so into the high chair for the distraction of food! She does love her food. Heh – yesterday we were out on the backstreet when Louise proclaimed from the kitchen that tea was ready. Eve immediately dashed off inside. She knew what was going on there. Anyway – as tea dispersed on Sunday, Jack went off into the front room to watch the pop archaeology programme ‘Time Team’, (“look how much mud they’ve dug now!”) I followed,& Louise started the tedium of tidying up after tea. Eve was happy enough to stay in the chair. Left a few minutes unattended Louise motioned me into the back room a few minutes later. There’s poor Eve struggling to stay awake with the last of her tea still in front of her. Not long later she had dozed off… Louise got her into her cot a few minutes later (sans shorts) & she was off for the night (just a little earlier than usual). Jack got to stay up later than he usually would as having a bath might have disturbed Eve; their bedroom being next to the bathroom & Jack not being a quite sort of lad, it seemed prudent. I read to him downstairs on the sofa, where he was keen to sleep, he thought for the night – but no, we took him upstairs to his bed.
Eve must just have had a growing spurt. She seems that bit bigger. It struck me when Louise took her upstairs asleep. She’s got to that stage where she cannot quite be comfortably carried as a baby any more. A parents cradling arms are not enough – legs seem to dangle as if off a too small bed. Caroline, our neighbour, also commented that she seemed to be bigger when the kids were running about on the back street before tea yesterday.. Feet seem bigger, (that’s just the new shoes) legs seem longer – that sort of thing. Kids do that to you though… it’s like anything that gradually changes, but is constantly observed I guess – there comes a point when the realisation of change dawns.