h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Thanks for dropping a message on my latest journal. I've missed hearing from you. I wish I could keep up with your blog, but we're not allowed to access them at work and I just hardly ever get online at home anymore.

How's tricks? Have you settled back in in Cork? How's the job? The wee ones?

Hi PC,

Yes all very well here - It's been great to get back down to Cork and I'm settling into my new job very well. I'm program managing a whole lot of projects in a very well known computer company, and I have to say that I am loving it. It's busy as hell, but terrifically interesting.

My kids are keeping me going! They are in great form. My eldest was 9 just a few days ago. Hard to believe he's half-way to being an adult. Where does the time go? He got a Nintendo DS, so he's pleasantly happy with his trawl of presents.

Right at this time I have more books than I can cope with. I keep clicking the "Buy Now" button on Amazon - something I'm going to have to do something about. However, I am making my way through "Devil in the White City" which is a remarkable story about life and death in 1890's Chicago.

I've been fairly quiet on H2G2 now for a while, but it's nice to drop by every so often.

Glad things are going fairly well for all of you!

Colm

I've read "Devil in the White City". I found it especially interesting as many of the location and street names were familiar to me.

I'm glad to hear you and the kids are all keeping well and that you're happier in your present job. It's a lot easier to be busy as hell when your work is interesting rather than mind-numbing or soul-destroying.

Yes, I'd noticed you'd been quiet on H2G2, and I have to admit I am just awful at maintaining email contact. Why I can find time for this and not that is beyond me. But good to see you anyway.

Talk to me about needing to lay off that "Buy Now" button. I've got a stack of books (at least a couple dozen) recently myself. Been reading "Gravity's Rainbow", but it's too heavy to carry on the train , so I'll probably pick it up again while on my vacation.

Take care. Hope to "talk" again soon.

I had a nice long break before starting the current job, so vacations are out of the picture for the time being. My kids might not see it that way though.. They are out of school now until the beginning of September.

A railway is being built between my home town and where I work. It's pretty tempting to think that I will be able to commute to work in the not too distant future (and then get some reading in)..

It was a drag, as a kid, having summer vacation when my dad had to work. My sister and I wound up dragged off on road trips with just my mother- that wasn't quite the same thing.

It would be wonderful if they complete a commuter line so that you can get to and from work by train. I absolutely love commuting to work, even if I gripe about some of my fellow commuters (people really can be asses).

My vacation time starts the 21st. I took a week last year, but I have 30-odd days to use up or I won't accrue any more after December. So I'll need to take another week later this year plus at least six sick days, in addition to my two personal days. I've no idea why I never get around to using my time off.

I heard somewhere recently that 25% of Americans don't get statuary vacation, and another 25% don't take their allotted vacation. The stats are probably completely off whack but there may be a grain of truth there somewhere.

I get about 21 days off, plus public holidays, each year. I don't go overboard - I hardly ever take off more than a week - but even still, I find myself running very close to the maximum.

I've had jobs that didn't offer paid vacation or sick time. I've also had jobs that offered sick time, but paid it out at the end of the year if you didn't use it. I'd personally rather take the payout rather than take all the time off, but my employer doesn't offer that. It just caps out until you use some and then you accrue some more.

Starting next year I'll get 15 days vacation, twelve sick days and two personal every year.

I guess part of the reason I have a hard time taking the time off is that I hate playing catch-up when I get back so I always try to take time off when nothing's going on... which is practically never. It's that Scandinavian work ethic I got from my dad. Work till you fall over dead. They'll roll the body out of the way and get a replacement in if you croak on the job.

How many public holidays do you get? My company pays us for nine.

Yeah, I think it's about 9 days. My American colleagues used to feel we got far more, because during the summer there is almost 1 public holiday every month.

We get two for Thanksgiving and two for Xmas and New Year's, so that leaves only five for the rest of the year, so it might seem that way.

It's so warm and humid here right now.

Thunderstorms on a daily basis? My kids have a) practically never witnessed a good lightning storm and b) practically never seen snow.

I'm also dealing with something else that has my blood boiling: a local evangelical has announced that there is going to be a kids show in our park next week. Lots of face painting for the kids, games and bible stories. I will be at work so I can't take them somewhere else for the day. Get them while they're young, eh?

Yeah, I know what you mean. When I was a kid, a lot of the neighborhood churches did Vacation Bible School programs on weekdays so they could indoctrinate the kids while their folks were stuck at work.

If I could send a thunderstorm or a good snowstorm over I would. The best I could do is a photo here and there.

When my sister's kids were small I would gather autumn leaves and mail them to them.

You'll have to send my kids some snow this winter!

I've done a blog entry on the evangelical thing: that's the way I work. I might not blog for ages and then I get something into my head and I feel I have to write about it. For mild mannered me, it's pretty strong, even if I say so myself.

Ok - the yawnies are upon me. I'd better get some sleep or I'll be a sad sight tomorrow at work..

Talk soon!

I'll make a concentrated effort to read that blog entry! Wish I could read them from work, but I'm sure I can finagle some computer time at home soon.

Will do my best to send some snow. If I can get any good video I'll send it. The real stuff might melt before it arrived.

Sleep well. I'm off to bed myself. Looks like I'll get a fair bit more sleep than you though, since I don't have to be up for nearly eight hours.

Yep. I was pretty drained this morning. I had a dream that the Beatles were my best mates...

When I'm really tired I have weird dreams, too. Usually in animated format.

Hope you're having a nice weekend. Is the weather pleasant in Ireland this time of year? It's been in the 27°C-32°C range lately, fairly normal. Some rain but not too much, and not always terribly humid. A reasonably mild summer I suppose. Though now I've said that, it'll probably take a turn toward the oppressive.

Nothing much else going on- which is probably for the best. Five more working days till my "vacation".

The weather is not great here. We tend to get wet summers but every so often there are the exceptions. This year unfortunately is a wet one, so most people are grumbling.. The average temp is about 18 degrees. I don't think I ever remember the temperature getting up to 30 degrees. It's theoretically possible. Theoretically...

I managed to get in a bit of hillwalking over the weekend. We had some rain, but nothing too bad. It was a lot of fun. And my twins got a pair of scissors and proceeded to cut each other's hair.. Never a dull moment!

Oh, I gave my sister one of those haircuts once. I wasn't able to sit down again for the better part of a week once my mother found out, but it was worth it.

(My mom had cut my hair and did a really awful job... stupid little sister laughed at me... eventually, she went to sleep, and I chopped both of her stupid pigtails right off...)

Hope that you're able to trim a bit and make their hair look OK again. Or maybe you can get them both buzz cut.

They do sound like a handful!

The walk sounds nice. I haven't been doing much leisurely walking outside lately- the humidity makes me wheeze too much.

Photos of the two rascals on my blog - I had to give them a "3" - which, if not a buzz cut, is pretty close. Their mum actually started crying when she saw them rush through the door..

I'm hoping to do a bit of time-lapse photography over the next few weeks: my camera comes equipped with an ability to take a frame once every two seconds. I've been trying it out on cloud formations but we'll see. If I manage to take something nice, that's another thing that I will be posting about soon.