Anotherblog

Template fixes

I *have* managed to get a little time to fix the templates for Anotherblog and FF - and my procrastination on the Snakes On A Plane FF has almost worn off, so there really could be some activity on that front soon…

Can’t talk about things

It’s fairly enduringly frustrating that I can’t talk about lots of things that I’d like to talk about at the moment. Still, that’s how it is, and although many interesting things have been happening, it’s really much better for me to not talk about them.

Um, things that I can talk about: this week is the MUMs Puzzle Hunt, and our team is doing very well. We gathered yesterday lunchtime and attacked the problems with gusto, and I was rather pleased at having gotten a difficult step myself, vital in solving the hardest of yesterday’s puzzles. Hooray!

I’m doing well in the most recent Magic draft (Time Spiral + Planar Chaos) - currently coming first, haven’t dropped a match, and if I beat Mr. Karlov, I will win overall with no chance of being beaten. After a couple of tournaments in which I haven’t done well, it’s nice to be up there again! I’d like to thank my team of thallids…

And archery, as always, is a great mind-clearing activity, something that truly makes me feel serene even when there is bad stuff happening elsewhere. I haven’t been doing particularly well lately - I think I’ve got a cold coming on, and my arms are feeling a bit more feeble, which is *really* noticable in archery - but it’s still hugely enjoyable.

Fear not, gentle readers! I am doing well, and hopefully will be able to say more and happier things!

Archery

Why don’t I start creating some categories? That would appear to make some kind of sense. Then you can see at a glance that I’m talking about archery again (because a curious and specialised kind of stroke has rendered you unable to read titles) and skip over it.

I took Doug to archery on Sunday, and it went well. I shot at 20m to keep him company, and it was interesting to see how easy it was to shoot all golds. I got a 59, equalling my top score ever, and it was only a centimetre from being all tens. My average was about 57, probably three or four higher than the last time I tried. It’s a nice bow, I’ve gotten stronger, and my technique is better. Hooray! Still, obviously, enjoying it a lot.

New Life

I’ve finished a week of SVG working group hosting, and it was fun and went well,. “Fat Tony”, the new working group representative for my company, also attended the meetings, and was happily accepted by the group. He quickly picked up the aforementioned nickname, with which he was rather pleased.

And that’s it for me! No more late night teleconferences; no more overseas trips. I have passed the baton (literally - I made up a baton, decorated it with various bits of svg, and gave it to “Fat Tony” in a ceremony) and am moving on to different stuff at work. It was a little sad, in a way - certainly, the best thing about the working group is the people in it, and I’ve made some rather good friends along the way, with whom I hope to keep touch.

This is going to mean a definite change in lifestyle. The working group did take over my life to an extent - the thrice-weekly late night teleconferences and frequent travel (which lost me quite a few weekends to sitting on airplanes) meant that I never quite felt like I was away from work, and I can’t help feeling that quite a few of my projects suffered, particularly Film Forensics. Hopefully soon everything will have settled down and I can get back to something approaching my version of normality…