In search of cheap deals

I know I only got back to the rain and greyness of Manchester last week but I am feeling like I need something to look forward to. I have been scowering a few websites looking for deals, I usually use expedia travelocity and airmiles (I used to get quiet a few airmiles with my fuel when I commuted to Accrington for work each day).

I detect that the price of online trips might have risen a little since I started using them a few years ago, however I still think the value is slightly better than travel agents. I have seen a few deals to Turkey and to Tunisia. I had some carry over holiday from last year so even with my trip to China I have still got quiet a lot of holiday left to use this year. I think I might take another trip soon and get some rest, and sun.

My big boss was up in these parts today I picked him up from another one of our customers, and we went for a coffee and a chat. He is basically very happy with my performance and told me a little of the plans for the future. He wants to employ someone else to take over my current role, and over the next few months have me train them up and slowly move to another project. I might be working on a web project we have which is all about providing information and reporting to people. This would be a pretty big increase in my responsibility and so would mean some extra cash and an expanded role. This is great from my point of view as I don't really feel there is much room to grow in my current role. Unfortunately it wasn't all positive I need to shape up my interpersonal skills more as its felt I am not very good under pressure. Personally I think this is somewhat down to experience, I am at a customers site, and I am lacking in backup as to know how to handle people as a representative, I think I have done pretty well but could do better on this score. Tomorrow is another day so hopefully I can start to try to improve and connect with the customers better :)

This evening I went out for a couple of pints with Bruce, we had a chat about his house, which is going well, and course he has been on. He is currently wiring up his new pad it seems to be going well if a little slower than he expected, I still haven't seen the place I might go take a look this weekend. Apparently he has had to rip a lot out in order to get started so its going to be interesting to see. It was nice to have a relax and a drink and have a natter Bruce is always good company.

I have an upgrade to do tomorrow so I better get to bed.

Employee of the month

After last night enjoyment today was a little flat, I didn't really achieve much. Finally managed to solve a little html issue which means I can start the revamp of my website proper expect to see the "facelift version" soon.

I found out Firebug is a very powerful tool for examining webpages its a free plugin for Firefox. It is a excellent helper when examining pages.

I cleaned out the fish tank I think the heater is broken its making thing tank too hot, even on the lowest setting its running at over 30c far too high. That causes all sorts of other problems with faster growth of algae on the glass, upset fish not eating and faster decomposition of the plant matter.

I watched the film "Employee of the month" basically about a guy drifting with his life until he is inspired by the arrival of a new checkout girl at the store where he works. It had some funny parts but like Talladega nights it was a little over done with a lot of unfunny sequences and an overall message that made me squeamish. I guess maybe I identified too much with the guy drifting along not fulfilling his potential. Talking of potential I realise in order to move on I need to be able to prove my worth with the newer technology. As it dosn't look like I will be working on those projects after all I think I might have to go on some courses and get the certificate instead. I priced it up at around £3000 for the MCAD course. I just need to work out it the money is better spent on that or on some other investment. Or do I invest in myself or do I look for something to invest in like some shares?

Heavyweight Champion of the World

I finally started to feel like myself again today, I have felt so ill the last few days it great to be me again. Though I felt better I tried to keep it low key today just read and watched TV. Watched Pirates of the Caribbean - Dead Man's Chest. I felt they whilst there were some great moments, the comedy was well timed, the film was filler. Like Back to the Future II, not quiet a great film in its own just a glue in between the first and the next film.

It pretty good that I am feeling better, as I had been asked to go for a meal tonight to celebrate Martin's birthday. Part of the lyrics from the song that inspires this post title repeat the phrase "Be like everybody else". One person who is certainly unique is Martin, who wasn't on top form tonight but he seemed to enjoy the fact we all turned out to wish him well.

The evening started with us meeting up at t the farmers arms in Poynton. Present were Endo, his girlfriend Jo, Simon, Adam, Steph, Bruce, Nina, Phil and myself. The event was supposed to be a surprise, though I am not sure how surprised Martin was to see us there when he turned up with Charlotte.

We headed off for a meal at the nearby Italian restaurant the Tarantella. The group had grown from the original booking so we had to wait a little while to get a big table despite the booking. Once we got sat down it seemed like everyone was having a birthday, the lights dimming and the birthday song played for each one. Martin and Steph (we found out its her birthday tomorrow too) got theirs when we ordered desert. Cheesecakes with sparklers!

I had garlic bread to start and a seafood Spaghetti, my food was very tasty and I from what I could tell everyone enjoyed theirs, it is a slighty more expensive place so its a good job it tastes nice. We chatted, I bored people with my Shanghai stories, Adam Martin and Simon swapped work and technology stories, Philip talked about Japan and Martial arts. I felt a little tired towards the end even the coffee hardly picked me up I guess I am still a little sick.

I got home and found an album I just bought from ITunes was already in my collection on another pc! Oh well I guess its better I gave the artists some money.

Getting better all the time

Well today I finally start to feel better, it really wonderful not to feel so ill all the time. I haven't got much to write about though as I have just been resting. I did start a little facelift for www.johncooke.info, I would be interested to know anyone's thoughts on it.

Photos from Shanghai

I have finally finished uploading all of the photos from Shanghai please take a look here

Oriental Pearl Tower

Ill

Oh dear I am feeling so sorry for myself, since coming home from Japanese class on Tuesday I have had a really bad bug. I had the shakes I haven't been able to hold down food and I ache all over. I guess it is some virus. I spent yesterday in bed unable to do anything, today I feel a little better but very fragile, so I called in sick.
It's been pretty horrible either sat in bed or in the living room but not able to properly relax because of the uncomfortable ill feelings.

Last night in Shanghai

I sit here in my room having mostly packed my bag, just got a few more bits to squeeze in there. Today has been a strange day really, I visited two places of worship, eaten more different things, and went bowling.

The first place we went to was Saint Ignatius Cathedral, this is a Christian Church built by the Jesuits. It is a rather striking building, this totally western Church next to the hear of Shanghais computer retail sector. We arrived just in time for Sunday mass, and Lulu said she wanted to stay. So I sat through something I haven't attended for a very very long time, I never even got to be confirmed as a Catholic so it was a strange for me especially as the service was conducted in Chinese. I could make out the tunes of some of the hymns so it was weird to hear them in Chinese. I tried my best to explain how the service worked to Lulu seemed pretty interested in the process, but it has been so long it was very hazy to me. I cant say I felt any sort of rapture for going, I did feel peaceful afterwards.

As we were in the area we went for a walk round the technology park, it was very interesting, one part of it where they sol computer components reminded me of the computer shows back in the good all days, when you really could get bargains and any sort of computer part you were after. After looking about a bit we found a Vietnamese restaurant for lunch, Lulu ordered pork balls, clam and eels. I was a bit worried about the ells but they actually turned out to be ok, much better than frogs!

From the Christian world of worship we now headed firmly firmly back to Chinese tradition at the Jingan Temple. This is a traditional Buddhist temple, part of which is wonderful the other part looks like some sort of concrete nuclear shelter. We bought some incense sticks and made a prayed to the Buddha's there then wondered around. The bell room and Buddha's were very ornate and interesting, I cant say I really understand it but I can see the beauty and power in it.

Near to Jingan Temple is a little park where and a the first building Lulu worked in, the Apollo building. The park is very beautiful and ornate, full of lovely little places to sit and enjoy the day. Apparently it is a favourite for couples to take their wedding photos; in Chinese society wedding photos with the bride and groom are usually taken before the wedding in a specially staged photo shoot.

We had some time left over before Lulu had to depart and visit her cousin before he left to go home, so we went for a walk around an older district of the town, then hit a few shops. We planned to have a game of badminton or tennis but there were no courts available so we went bowling instead. I totally sucked and Lulu beat me in the first game. In the second I won but more due to her throwing it away then my good bowling.

This evening it was a flash back to the first day of the trip as we went back to the mall we visited on day one, as I have been struggling with chopsticks all week Lulu decided we should go for stake so she could see if I could use a knife and fork. Twan Twan, Lulu's boyfriend joined us for dinner. He was explaining about the martial arts traditions in China, and that I had been by no means adventurous with my choices of food, snake. boiled monkeys head, pigeon and various body parts should also be tried! Unfortunately our food wasn't very good the stake was tougher than old boots, however the company was nice and a great way to spend my last evening.

I am now sat in my room I have pretty much packed and ready for tomorrow mornings flight, I must admit I never would have thought it after the pain of the culture shock but I think I am going to really miss Shanghai, and I hardly even scratched the surface. Lulu asked me one word to describe it, at first I thought crowded, but on reflection I decided enigmatic. This place is a riddle, I have take a look at it but I am far from solving the puzzle.

Nearly over :(

I just got back from my first foray alone on a night out in Shanghai. I have been a little bit of a coward o far not really wanting to go out alone. In the end it was quiet enjoyable, however I guess I did not find the right places as there wasn't really much happening (perhaps I went out too early?).

Anyway more about going out later, I have had a strange day today. Lulu and I visited two temples, ChengHuang Temple(Town god's Temple) and Longhua Temple Fair. At the Cheng Hang we saw the bridge of nine turns and many market stalls where I bought a few gifts for the people back home, and got myself a really nice stylised "Cookie" sign. The temple structure was very pretty and well worth looking around. I threw a coin onto a tree in the centre for good luck with my career I hope it will come true ;)

At the second temple we went in to see the Buddah's, you could not take pictures but they were very ornate and different well worth seeing. There were huge crowds at both of the temples though, got jostled and pushed around the place.

For lunch went went to a Shechuan (not sure on the spelling) diner near Lulu'ls old college. The food was very spicy and quiet nice, except in an effort o spice up the meal she ordered frogs. They came served in spices on hot pebbles. I have to say I found them tough and not very tasty, though Lulu's opinion was they were not well cooked.

Lulu wasn't feeling the best today so she went home early, and why i ended up going out by myself into the city. I was quiet worried about it, Lulu has been my guide, she has made up for my lack of Chinese. So I was worried I wouldnt be able to function without her. Fortunatly using my guide and some poinitng at things I managed to get into the city, walked around the shops on the South Chongqing road, then went for a few beers in some of the bars on Yandang road. I didnt managed to meet anyone though wih was a shame people seemed mostly in groups and it wasn't really very busy.

Its kind of strange today is the first day I am getting a little bit of a handle on Shanghai and yet my trip is nearly over. Its a very different place, the customs are strange, Anglo-Saxons are a minority. Life feels like someone turned up the volume and the colour's especially at night you are bombarded with neons, horns, shouting and noise. The smells are very pungent, with the cooking, the rotting waste, the smells of the many construction sites. I cant even describe the crowding its unreal! Yet for all that Shanghai has a charm, a real spirit, I feel very alive, possibly because I feel lucky ever time I make it from one side of the road to another. I think its the most varied place I have ever been too there are whole different sides to the place, different sights and sounds and feelings to experience. I have been here a week and not even scratched the surface of Shanghai, one city in a country as big as the EU with a population equal to one quarter of the world, with a culture established when western Europe lived in caves so there is a lot to see, do taste and experience.

I got home about 23:15 tonight, just been sitting here blogging, and a storm started up, first the wind picked up, whistling though my (closed) windows, then rain now lightening. Being on the 25th floor I am getting quiet a show :)

Xitang

Today the plan was to go and visit a "traditional" Chinese village called Xitang (pictures here). I got up at 6am as we had to catch the bus at 8am from the stadium about 6 stops away on the metro.

After just over an hour on the bus we arrived in a really run down town, walked a little down the road then the narrowest street I have seen in some time. So narrow we had to hide in a door way as one of the tuc tuc style bikes pasted through.

Xitang is a maze of small streets separated by rivers, with a large collection of bridges of all shapes and sizes. The bridges are both useful as Xitang sprawls over the river but also beautiful adding a real magic to the place.

Just walking around is amazing the sights and smells, the constricted space on the pavement and the crowds of tourists give the place an otherworldly, sad but proud feeling. The bridges and buildings are wonderful to look at. The places stinks, and not just the tofu, rotting garbage and the river smells and looks horribly polluted.

There are many little exhibits to view whilst walking about, a wine museum informed us the Chinese have over a millenia of wine making tradition. There is a Buddhist temple, a place called the Drunk Room home to some excellent calligraphers, and a grand house complete with courtyard, rockery and splendid Chinese architecture.

The trouble with chopsticks for a western guy is that whilst the Chinese have used the sticks since they were young, I am struggling with the sticks themselves and with the fact its normal to chew food and spit bits out, something that is no-no in the UK is normal practice here. Today i was trying to eat shrimp, I found it very difficult Lulu torn off the her in her teeth, spat it out, did the same with the tail then stripped the rest of the shell in her mouth and spat it out. I found it difficult and unusual, ended up eating mostly the salad and other bits.

There were many little stalls selling all sort of traditional Chinese goods, foods, and curiosities. I bought a rather natty Tea set with a spout shaped like a dragon. I also bought some nice Chinese paintings depicting Xitang in the four seasons. I also sampled smelly tofu, a rather foul smelling fried tofu, it actually tastes pretty nice especially with a little sauce on.

The poverty of Xitang is palpable, from the people working the stalls to the townspeople outside, it is very different from Shanghai. I was approached by a shoe cleaning women whilst we were sitting waiting for the bus, she cleaned my shoes for 5 Yuan then went off looking for more customers. I guess underemployment must pretty high here.

This evening we were both tired after the early morning, so we went back to the apartment and cooked up some of the leftover dumplings from the party. Along with an Elizabeth melon and some crisps.

It was early evening so although slightly tired Lulu took me out to Xintiandi. It is a modern shopping complex built inside a renovated Shikumen (stone houses) part of the old French concession. The place is full of trendy shops and restaurants and had about the most western faces I had seen so far on the trip. I think that maybe goes along with the western prices!

We grabbed a coffee, at one of the brand chain coffee houses. I had to go and order, first time ordering anything, it took ages but not because for me more due to the queue inside. I think Lulu thought I was messing about! We sat outside and had a rather deep and meaningful conversation about life which was rather enjoyable, however we were both tired. So Lulu went off home and I was so tired I went to the apartment and crashed out.

Hidden Skype

My friend Kelly sent me this link to some hidden Skype emotions.

Just in case it goes offline here is a listing

(tmi) Unsure looks like peekaboo
(fubar)
(swear) Skype swearing
(bug) Skype bug
(poolparty) Skype Pool Party
(bandit) Skype Bandit
(headbang) Skype Headbang
(banghead) Skype Headbang
(mooning) Skype Mooning
(rock) Skype Rock
(ci) Skype Smoke
(smoking) Skype Smoke
(toivo) Skype Toivo
(drunk) Skype Drunk
(finger) Skype Finger
(makeup) Skype Makeup
(kate) Skype Makeup
(heidy) Heidy
(myspace) MySpace (latest skype)
(flag:ca) Skype Flag Canada
(flag:us) Skype Flag US
*Update pretty much any flag can appear just use (flag:xx) where xx is the two letter code e.g. (flag:gb) or (flag:eu)

Oriental Pearl

Thanks to the fact it was so busy yesterday we decided to get up early and catch the Oriental Pearl as it opened and avoid the queue. We arrived at 8 and we able to just walk in and head up to the viewing platform. We had tickets to the second highest level, I decided the extra 50 Yuan for a few more meters didn't matter so much at there was a little cloud / smog in the air, plus the guide book said it really wasn't worht the extra money.

The view was really good despite the poor visibility. You could clearly see the Bund in a lot better detail than from the Jan Mao.
After a good look about we made our way back down. At the bottom of the tower the queue was already beginning to grow.

Next stop was people square, when the communist took power they took what was a racetrack and turned it into an area for the people. A sort of soviet style park with the museum in the middle. The museum has "unique architectural form of a round top with a square base, symbolizing the ancient Chinese philosophy that the square earth is under the round sky" - Shanghai Museum. It is actually pretty impressive and had some nice exhibitions of Chinese art in, I enjoyed the paintings, th caligraphy and the statues but the currency and seal
exhibits were a little dry. They also had an exhibition of American art, from the 20s, and 30s so a lot of pop art, realist paintings from the Guggenheim. These stylized art if mostly not to my tastes although the odd the piece stands out some I just thought were jokes, I deformed (poorly drawn) circle in a square canvas, is that really high art?

After the museum we headed down Nanjing market it was very very crowded though. We gave up before long in the face of massive crowds, and went for lunch. We went to a rather tasty diner I had a spicy beef dish it was lovely.

In the afternoon Lulu arranged for some of her friends to come to my apartment, and prepare a Chinese meal. I even helped with the preparations! We prepared dumplings, I think I got quiet good at making them in the end. We had a hot pot on the table into which went all manor of food, prawn balls, port, vegetables dumplings and vermicelli . The food was good but it was hard for me, they were all chattering away in Chinese I had no idea what was being said or what was happening, they seemed a nice enough bunch was just a clique not including me. I felt a bit bored after they left though. Lulu said they needed to get home as they lived far away, though I doubt it somewhat, they didn't want to go for a drink so as of 9pm I was alone. Chinese people seem very different, if i got invited to a party I would expect a few drinks and some fun not just food and home. Tempted as I was to go out I'm up very early to go on a village tour to Xitang, I saw some pictures and it looked very pretty.

How many people!

Today I woke up early, too early in fact. I think it must be down to the jet lag.

Lulu arrived and brought breakfast, her Grandmothers Yuanxiao dumplings. They were incredibly tasty sticky rice balls with a filling. We set out for the metro line on route to the Pearl TV tower. Unfortunately on arriving at the metro line we got the first taste of just how Crowded Shanghai can get. The trains were totally crowded. When I say full I mean so full you could not physically fit in another person. In fact we saw two people injured on the trains. One guy got his hand trapped in the opening door, and a girl passed out on the station. In the end the crushed were to bad so we got a taxi.

The taxi took us to the Bund on the wrong side of the river. So Lulu bought us combined tickets for the tourist tunnel, Jin Mao Building and the Oriental Pearl TV tower.

Across the river from the Bund is Pudong, this is the special economic zone which has helped to power Shanghais incredible growth over the last decade. In a total contrast to the Bund Puong is full of new buildings, mostly skyscrapers. The Oriental Pearl seems to be the centre piece to a showcase of huge imposing corporate monsters.

In order cross the river we used the Shanghai tourist tunnel, this is basically an underground car which goes under the river. To jazz it up they have added some weird special effects like you on some sort of weird acid trip.

The Oriental Pearl TV tower is the third tallest tower in the world and the tallest in Asia. It has multiple viewing platforms, you pay more the higher you want to go. We joined the queue, and waited, and waited and waited. After an hour we realised the line stretched all the way around the building and inside. We asked how long and were told at least another 30 minutes maybe an hour. This was too long we were hungry by now so we decided to go for lunch and see what the queue was like later.

We ate lunch in the shopping centre opposite the Perl. Its called Super Brand Mall, nice Chinglish name ;) Inside the mall you could almost be somewhere like the Trafford centre, apart from the odd more authentic restaurant and shop the brands and names are global.

After lunch we went to the Jin Mao building. It has an observations deck on the 88th floor, which includes a post office where you can send a postcard to the people back home. There was a little more more queuing, but nothing like at the Pearl. The view from 88th floor was great but due to the haze (I am not sure if the haze was weather or pollution) it was difficult to take a decent picture. The Jin Mao has a central atrium running all the way to the top its a vertigo inducing look down from the centre of the observation deck.

After the Jin Mao and some time spent gaming inside the shopping mall. We won a pair of chopsticks, which was quiet funny as Lulu was only laughing at me trying in vain to eat my lunch with them earlier. Then went back to the Pearl, but the queue was bigger than ever. They did however have a free outdoor show we watched. Traditional Chinese entertainers, I think they said they were from the circus world troupe, which I went to yesterday. The also had some fantastic Russian dancers from St Petersburg.

We left the to meet up with a friend of Lulu's. Taking took the tunnel back to the Bund and walked along the riverside. It's quite amazing view at night, everywhere lit up with neons the Bund buildings one side Pudong's great skyscrapers on the other side of the river. The only problem was there were so many people it was a like a river of people. Difficult to stop and take pictures you just got pulled along in this big mass. It was also very difficult toto find a taxi then its so busy, eventually we made it back Lulu's friend Twan Twan was even kind enough to shout us dinner.

I will post all the pictures when I get back. Pictures here

Days to go zero, arrival!

Ive been ticking down for a month and yesterday am was the beginning of the epic trip. I arrived at Manchester Airport for 9 and from there hit Helsinki then Shanghai on time at 7am in the morning. I sit here typing this at 9pm Shanghai Time. I haven't slept since

The filght was somewhat long and uncomfortable. Airbus A380s suck compared to the Bowing 747s I have traveled on. The Finnair staff were helpful and Polite and the food only sucked as much as usual. Two things really sucked the lack of parental control over the two brats sat in the aisle next door, and the two old women in front talking loudly enough for people in China to hear them.

Without any sleep i arrived in Shanghai tired but willing myself to go on. Lulu met me in the arrivals lounge it was great to see her there. We then rode on the Maglev train into the city, it cost quiet a bit 50yuan for a 10 minute trip but it is petty funny seeing the speed race upto 300kph.

Had to catch the metro train from the Maglev station this was cheaper but packed. We arrived at the apartment just before 9. I was quiet impressed it needs a clean and is quiet compact but no more so than some of the ones in Manchetser. The finish on the fittings an design is a little poor now. I nice place to have a holiday but not to live in I think.

We went together to the Circus, I thought it would be a nice relaxing and simple thing to do and its right nearby to the apartment. They had lots a of trained animals, bears, tigers a lion, dogs and lots of clowns. It was very entertaining, though I felt a little sorry for the animals the tigers in particular looked drugged.

Sent the afternoon walking about with Lulu, we visited the Shanghai university where she used to study. Its a modern mega university purpose build in the 1990s. We walked round the amply sized grounds, ate a meal int he canteen and fed the huge fish that live in the river snaking through the campus.

By this time I was fading fast, my eays can hardly keep open but im desperately trying to go to bed a normal time and get into the Shangahi timezone. Next to the campus there is a large shopping area we walked round tried some miniature lobsters nd killed a bit of time before heading back to my apartment. I just wanted to write something to help clear my own head its been a real head mash all the traveling then the culture shock. It really is a different world, people were staring a little at me as I walked around with Lulu. On the metro and in the circus I hardly saw any westerners.

< 1 Day to Go

Tomorrow morning I am heading to the airport to catch an 11.15 flight, 18 hours later I should be in Shanghai. I have just about got everything packed up and am ready to go. I am really excited but at the same time a little worried, it is going to be a really different experience for me.

I am taking my laptop with me as apparently I have internet access in the apartment. Unfortunately it is unlikely I will be able to write any blog's or upload any photos until after I get home as I believe Cookies World is not allowed past the firewall. I might catch people on MSN or ICQ though.

I spent today tidying a few things up, I made some changes to Becky's website, I was pleased to be able to add the google maps, hopefully its what she was after.

I even managed to get a bit of jogging done hopefully it will help loosen me up for tomorrows flight.

This evening I had a quiet one and watched Hero's with Phil and Bruce. Its gone very confusing the plot is far too convoluted, in an obvious attempt to play like Lost its almost surpassed it for twisting storyline's.

2 Days

I did something very bloody stupid this evening and compounded it by avoiding the issue. Only the future will tell if its going to come out.

Tonight I went out with Jo's Friday night pub club, I arrived at 8.30pm only Jo and I were there. I continued to drink until other people arrived. I was challenged with people I hardly know and people I frankly wish I could have avoided. Together with the earlier stupidity just wished I could dissolve. I felt so depressed I just wanted to disappear, this is not the mood I wanted to be in before Shanghai but unfortunately I messed up and here I am.

I arrived at 8.30 to find Jo sat on his own. The Governers house was not as I remembered, it seemed full of pretentious women in their late thritys, showing too much cleveage and waering too much makeup.

Nick and Becky joined us, she was telling us how dangerous riding can be. Apparently earlier that day a girl died on the horse riding course that she is competing in tomorrow, I hope she is more careful. Then Leon and Wally turned up, Leons girlfirend looked bored and I found it hard to strike up conversation. Then Liz G and her friend turned up, I just downed a few more pints and wished I could vanish.

Street Hawk / 3 Days to go

Becky came over this evening to talk about some updates for Cheshire Horse Box hire. She gave me some photos and ideas to add, and hopefully jazz the site up a little. I am not sure I will manage to get much done before I go away though.

After having a chat and reminiscing over old photos, Nick bobbed over and we headed to the revamped Unicorn. It has been shut for a couple of week so we were interested to find out what's new. Basically not a lot the outside bit has been remodelled with a heated seating area I guess mainly for the smokers and in readiness for Summer. Inside a lick of pains new carpets and seats, but mostly the same. Its kind of strange because it is so similar but different enough so as you notice.

Julie was working, she basically made an effort to ignore us until the end of the evening when Becky made a point of chatting to her. From that point on they renewed their friendship and chatted about life love and the universe for quiet a while. Nick and I sat and chatted about the life money and women.

I was having a stress as so far this week three people have accused me of being gay. I mean there is nothing wrong with being gay its just I don't have any attraction in that way. My problem is the sort of women that seem to like me hold no attraction for me. Whereas the women I won't seem not to notice me at all. Perhaps I am setting my sights too high, its just I don't want to end up in a loveless relationship just for the sake of being with someone, I want to be with the right someone. In my opinion at least one of my friends is in a relationship more through inertia than love, or even affection and I know deep down I would be made deeply unhappy by that (even more unhappy than I am single).

My little empire / 4 days

Sorry for the recent dearth of posts, I have been very, very busy. I have let a lot of people down, but work has been crazy and I have fixed my friend laptop (which turned into an epic on which I am working on an article).

Recentl at work everyday is a battle, I am really looking forward to break from it, to be honest I am not sure how long it can continue. The atmosphere was pretty combatative to start with but now its ridicules. In between being the main representative for my company and training a guy how is paid twice as much as me to do less than the same job and having no support from management I just feel tired and stressed. It is difficult to know how to behaviour I am often in the unknown to bumbling along. My bosses mum died earlier this week so management direction has been less than usual and I have missed my window to get a review as he is going them next week, when I am away, very annoying.

This evening I went out with Bruce and Nina, kind of a rare treat these days. We had a chat about their impending house purchase, its all very stressful what with bit of the house built without planning and organising things it sounds s real mission. Nina seemed happy though, positive about the new house and the future. She seems to be enjoying her job at total fitness.

There was a weird moment when the barman tried to convince us to join in th e quiz as he was several teams down. He gave it te hard sell but my brain was well beyond being up for a quizz. I had spent two hour in the gym after work trying to get rid of todays frustrations there was no way I wanted to join a pub stress game.

We had a chat about how Martins hands seem to get way to busy with friends other halves. Bruce is the second person today to insinuate I am going to get arrested (reason unknown) in China. Personally I think as long as I follow the rules it should be safer than Manchester on a Friday night.

Vhcs sucks

Spent the day playing with servers. For a long time I have wanted to move the websites I host to being more of a professional service. On the new server I installed vhcs. It was supposed to make it easier for users to control their sites but in fact its just been a royal pain in the arse from day one. Bruce (see his take here) and I struggled first to get it working at all then with each of the services offered. I finally gave up after finding a major and unfixed security hole advertised on their own forum. Complete with links to a page which automates the hack!

We spent the rest of the evening eating curry and moving to isp control. Its basically a web panel like vhcs but it looks a bit more secure and well maintained. We did finally manage to make a backup of the main webserver though which is a major goal it hasnt been done for months thanks to our lack of access and technical hitchs (like one time we went down to the colocation centre and couldnt get in as the key to the rack was missing.

I cant believe its not gutter

I went bowling with some people from work tonight. The customers people invited me on their annual bowling outing, I played on one of the IT Teams. I am actually pretty rubbish at bowling, I find it difficult to let the ball glide out of my hand. However I did manage not to be the worst player which is the main thing at these sort of events.

I don't know if its because I am not a member of staff or just that I am not a very a likeable person, but basically I find it difficult to mingle with the people I work with. I find them a quiet titghly closed off group. I did enjoy myself though, I rode the bus down there so was able to enjoy a few beers (it probably didn't really help my playing very much). I managed to cadge a lift back withone of the staffers and made it back to Woodford for 9.30. In time to go out with Nick for a few more drinks. He seemed in a strange mood I think he and becky are having trouble and rather than communicate about it they have both rereated to their safe places. For him that mean throwing himself into yet more work for her more time at home with her mum. It is a shame as I like them both I hope they find a way to work out their differences.

I am terrible at working through those sort of problems I have load of advice for others but I find it difficult even to talk to women I am attracted to and when in relationships (rare but the do happen even for me) I am pretty useless at broaching difficult subjects.

Cinderella man / 12 Days to Shanghai

I have now less then two weeks before I leave for Shanghai, it has crept up fast. I been tracking the price of the Yuan but given that the Dollar feel to a 26 year low against the pound I am hopeful for a good exchange rate. According to Google 1 British pound = 15.4315986 Chinese yuan, I guess thats good, tough I have really no Idea what a Yuan buys. I guess I will soon find out.

I have been really busy at work since the new project manager started. So far she is proving to be the best of the three have worked under while in my current job. She has certainly kept me busy though I am not entirely sure we will be able to keep up the pace of the last few weeks but it feels better to have a purpose again. Another quiet disconcerting thing is teaching the new guy things. Given he is older than my dad it feel rather weird when he walks over and asks me the sort of questions I used to ask Mike. As a side note I have become addicted to worse than failure (it is a website for programmers so if your not you might not get it, I am not proficient enough to understand all the WTFs).

I am not feeling too good this evening, had a bi of a stomach bug today. Instead of going to the gym as normal I have stayed in my room and watched the film Cinderella Man. It was a good story though a little saccharine sweet like most Ron Howard affairs. Russell Crowe worked really well as the world weary boxer. I must admit the rags to riches and second chance taken is always a promising story, though it would have been nice to see a little more about the depression rather then limiting the effects pretty exclusively to his family.

None of the contacts I removed have contacted me, it is sad but expected. I was always the one who had to keep up the "friendship" say always nice things to make them feel good about themselves, but in the end they just didn't care too much about me. It is a shame after all the time vested in the relationships but I will try and not let it bother me overly, whatever dosn't kill you makes you stronger right?