Coke And Code - Java Games and Games Development - Cathy

Autumn in August

Sat, 30 Aug 2008 09:48:36 +0000

Boy are the seasons screwed up this year. We have jumped from spring to autumn bypassing summer. Furthermore, I have proof. There is a tree out side my office window that has already got lots of yellow brown leaves and when the wind picks up they blow all over the place. The tree thinks that its autumn!

I think it's probably autumn as well. The months don't dictate the seasons, the weather does and lets face it the UK sucks for weather. We had a warmer than normal February which brought all the flowers out early only to be killed off by the frost in March. We had a hot May, at least for about 10 days, and that was summer. Now we have autumn weather in August and the trees agree with me.

Since seeing this tree in work I've spotted lots of other trees turning as well including some opposite our house so I guess it wasn't a one off. No wonder we've been wearing sweaters all through August.

Finally, a good nights sleep

Sat, 23 Aug 2008 19:42:56 +0000

As some of you will know, Meg hasn't been sleeping for the last month and we're not sure what has upset her. Of course the knock on effect is that Kev and I haven't slept much either. In fact Kev and I looked so bad last weekend that Mam and Dad felt that they needed to step in. They took Meg overnight last night for us. We needed it so badly. And would you believe it but Meg slept from 8 to 8 for them! Typical!

So I'm sending a huge thank you to Mam and Dad. All the presents in the world can not equal giving us a full night of sleep. I think this must be why we live long enough to be grandparents, so we can save our kids from their own kids! And boy, did we need saving.

Mam, Dad, thank you.

I'm so excited, and I just can't hide it...

Sat, 23 Aug 2008 19:35:34 +0000

Last weekend we caught up with friends of ours who came out to Cali with us. They stayed a year longer than us so they have only recently got back to the UK. It was wonderful to see them again. I don't think I quite knew how much I missed them.

They had some great news as well. They are pregnant!! I am so excited for them. They were there for us all throughout my pregnancy. I just hope I can be there for them.

The last time they saw Meg she was about 6 weeks old. Obviously Meg doesn't remember but we showed her photos of them together. Unfortunately she doesn't realise that the baby in the picture is her.

Meg made us all laugh though. She really took to Rach and took her by the hand, led her up the stairs, found a bed and got in to go to sleep. I can't take her anywhere!!

Hopefully we won't have to wait 18 months to see them again. It's great to have them back.

Alone in a sea of people

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 18:12:56 +0000

I know it's an odd title but that's how I'm feeling in work. There are fifty plus ppl in my office yet you could hear a gnat fart. I'm willing my phone not to ring as I don't want to be the one to break the silence! Some days I wonder 'if someone were to die at their desk, how long would it be before anyone realised?' How do I know it hasn't already happened? I'll have to check everyone in the morning.

I was really hoping that I would get to meet some ppl who are local who I might get along with but frankly I'm getting bored of making the first move. I'm feeling very alone at the moment. My team are in London so I'm spatially isolated and I'm not the same breed as these guys so I'm socially isolated. Hey, I wouldn't be surprised if I were also somehow temporally isolated!

Civil servants are odd. Or am I the odd one? I guess it's all in your perception. Either way we don't speak the same language. They either use sonar or they don't speak at all. No one even takes a coffee break. Everyone is obsessed with flexi time and take as short a lunch as they are allowed and leave exactly the minute they can get away with. What's really disturbing to me is that I can feel myself becoming a clock watcher as well and those of you who know me will know how much I hate clock watchers. But I haven't got stuck into anything challenging yet and there's no one to keep me interested so I want out as soon as possible.

I said that I would give it a year and I would like to think that I will but I would rather not being hating it. I'm sure things will pick up. My group is relocating to Newport from London but the ppl are going to be new so I'll probably end being the one who knows how things work. Great! Who's going to tell me in the meantime? I really need another member of my team in Newport so I can bounce ideas off them. I keep getting stuck in a rutt. I get the distinct feeling that once I transfer to another team things will improve. Really I would be of more use in the health division but they are over run with ppl at the top end and I'm not going to drop down the ladder any further. I already feel that I may as well be working in Tescos.

Shit have I done the wrong thing?

To Auntie Kate

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 19:18:42 +0000

Meggie made this flower picture for her Auntie Kate. She just had cousin Joshua and is still in hospital so we photographed it before the flowers died too much.

I hope you like it Kate.

One week later

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 15:54:26 +0000

So I've been in my new job for a week now. I'm still not sure what I'm supposed to be doing but its early days yet. I think my job is a cross between research, statistics and journalism. My only problem really is that I'm really not interested in the subject I have to report on. Problem.

I spent 2 days last week in London where I met my line manager and the remaining few in my unit. 2 more leave end of the month. I really can't get going though until my Newport line manager is back from annual leave next week.

I'm reading through old journals to get a feel for the style of writing I'll have to do. I'm going to write a chapter for this years edition of one of the ONS publications. I'm now at the stage where I have to do some digging around and decide what data to request for further analysis. The only problem really is that most of the ideas I've had are included in other chapters!

I was feeling quite down this afternoon thinking that I had made a mistake by going there then one person was all it took to lift my spirits. She sits behind me but we hadn't been introduced. She followed me out and introduced herself. It turns out that she is in much the same situation as I am. We both grew up in the area and moved away. We seem to have had similar experiences at uni etc and have come back to find that things have changed more than we would like. So my work day ended with an invite to lunch later in the week from someone else who is looking for personalities in civil servants!!

Oh yeah, 8 minutes to get home and home before Kev and Meg.

New Job

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 06:46:13 +0000

I'm currently sat at my dining table supping a cup of tea waiting to start my new job at the Stats Office. I keep thinking that I should have some sort of feelings towards today but I don't. Neither positive or negative. I think its mainly because I've been too busy with Meg to really give it much though this last week and partly because I'm not sure what to expect anyway and dont' see much point in second guessing it.

It was strange this morning. I got up later than usual when I heard Meg playing in her bedroom. She had her milk in our bed with the tv on which I think is quite common for her in the mornings. I don't usually see her so I don't know. 45 mins later I actually got up. In other words I got a lie in on a Monday. Bizarre!

I don't start until 9.30 today so I'm now killing time by blogging. I'm guessing that once I'm up and running I will go to work the same time as Kev and Meg go meaning I would start about 7.45 and be home at a good time.

I'm guessing that the next few days will be filling out forms for HR and arranging a desk and computer. With luck though I'll have a desk and computer waiting as this is no longer in the academic sector and hopefully more professional. All in all I'm not expecting much from this week but I'm hoping that my new colleagues will be good to work with.

This is another step in my 'improve Cathy's life' plan. It started with an automatic car so I could drive again and now I'm working close to home so I get more Meg time and hopefully leisure time. I also employed a new cleaner last week and she is a perfectionist! Kev commented in the immaculate ensuite that he should have a shower as he now felt dirty!

I'm sad to leave science behind but hopefully I can train in statistics formally and to a higher level (as I haven't formally been trained since A level and uni) and go back to science if I want to in the future once Meg is in school and I get a more normal routine. Kev says that I have jumped onto another career ladder but I have to say that I feel more like its a job not a career. Maybe I'm wrong, we'll see soon enough.

Crap, I still have another 45 minutes to kill. I don't know what to do with spare time anymore. Have I died?

My sentiments exactly

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 07:25:09 +0000

I'm reading on the BBC website about the 'Uk financial crisis' and I have to say that my favourite part is reading the comments from other reader. This reader in particular is talking about who is responsible for the amount of debt that the average person is in in the UK.

"Isnt it odd that if a smoker risks his life by smoking he assumes the majority of the responsibility rather than the tobacconist, yet when somebody risks their financial well being by overspending they are viewed victims and its the banks fault.Strange world!
Anyway like it or not we are all at risk from passive smoking and a 0.25% rate cut is like trying to cure lung cancer with an asprin."

I love his tobacconist analogy. It is true though. If you don't want to be in financial shit, dont' borrow more than you can afford to pay back. I shudder to think what our mortgage would be if we had borrowed everything that was on offer!!!

Credit where credit is due

Mon, 25 Feb 2008 08:42:11 +0000

I don't think ppl realise just how fantastic a husband I've got. We were talking last night about how no one ever seems to notice Kev in situations but he's always there in the background holding things together. There's a lot of undeserved praise flying around these days and its' understandable that Kev gets Narked from time to time. All this praise about so and so can move house 'nearly' on their own or someone else was oh so fantastic with their pregnant wife until she was about 10 weeks pregnant. For gods sake! Are these ppl seen as so pathetic that they have to get praised for the crap that everyone just gets on with normally?

Back to Kev. He gets a rough deal. I mean, he has a wife who has lots of medical problems meaning that she needs a lot of support, a baby who refuses to sleep at night and is fast heading towards tantrum of the year award, he has a very good job that he has worked exceptionally hard for (that ppl seem to think just landed at his feet, no he's is talented and hard working)and gets on with it all as part of everyday life. Lets face it, my condition is chronic and not going to go away. Kev could bail and create hell but he doesn't. He quietly gets on with it and no one notices.

Comments like so and so even managed to transfer their utility bills on their own (when in their 30s) are frankly insulting to us (and them). We only moved transatlantic twice and once with a newborn baby in tow!! How can they even be compared? Kev is completely under-rated.

Ppl seem to think that I'm the strong one of us but they're wrong. Without Kev's support I would have lost it years ago. He's always been there for me. I might not like what he has to say sometimes but its always said out of love and never spite. The world needs to know that just because I'm the one with medical problems rather than him it doesn't mean that he doesn't suffer them as well. Which is worse? Having arthritis or watching someone you love get frustrated constantly about not being able to do things or live in constant pain. I can tell you that its easier to be the person with the condition rather than the carer.

Give Kev a break, he's my rock and I love him.

Quadbike

Tue, 01 Jan 2008 20:04:32 +0000

Meggie had a bike from Santa.

Santa's li'l helper

Tue, 01 Jan 2008 20:00:15 +0000

Red is her favourite colour.

Santa's cookies taste good.

Tue, 01 Jan 2008 19:56:52 +0000

Meg does however like Santa's cookies and eats them!

Rudolph's carrot

Tue, 01 Jan 2008 19:54:47 +0000

Meg isn't too interested in Rudolph's carrot.

Meg spots the cookies

Tue, 01 Jan 2008 19:52:36 +0000

Meg spots Santa's cookies and Rudolph's carrot.

Making cookies for Santa

Tue, 01 Jan 2008 19:47:41 +0000

Trying to bribe Santa into leaving pressies.