Journal Entries
Rockhound’s NaJoPoMo 16th Nov
Posted Nov 16, 2013
Well that was quite a busy week... I was out on site a few times, saw a deer with some very fine antlers while I was sampling on Wednesday. The valley was beautiful that morning - russet red and gold all up the sides, and mist in the bottom rising from the river. The mist was echoed by the steam rising from the cooling towers behind, and higher up a faint waft seen from the stack. The dogs in the kennels on the other side were doing their usual chorus, maybe they get fed at about that time, as it always seems to be about 8-8:30ish that they're audible? Then driving up around to a different part of the site, watching the trains shunt the wagons round, slowly creeping forward as each in turn drops the fuel into the chutes below. Big blue diesels, barely ticking over; the driver in the one waiting has his feet up and is reading the paper. The pops from the overpressure valves on the plant that takes the fuel from the store to the power plant, and the whirring of conveyors and fans. Two guys wandering up and down the tracks checking the points and clips, the metallic clang echoes off the buildings each time they wallop* one to see if it's in place with a long bar.
*I'm sure wallop isn't the technical railway term 
This time of year is always really busy, as well as getting the final sampling rounds done for the year I have to write the end of year reports summarising the trends and any issues we've had (thankfully very few). That and doing some work for my professional society (memo to self, never volunteer!), coming up with some Christmas tree ideas for the choir's entry into the Tree competition and all those usual mundane thingamys that make up life.
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Latest reply: Nov 16, 2013
Rockhound’s NaJoPoMo 9th Nov
Posted Nov 9, 2013
Ahhh, must be early November, all the Christmas ads are on the TV. Apparently I *need* a new sofa, shed-loads of food, quite a selection of new clothing, and sparkly snow falling while seasonal music plays in the background. 
A regular column/blog I read, Tuesday Morning Quarterback (TMQ for short, mostly about American Football, but wide ranging in the other topics that come up) had a recurrent section on the 'Unified Field Theory of Creep' noting how events and things were advertised ever earlier e.g. Easter eggs in January, Back to school in July, Halloween in September, Oktoberfest beers sold out before it's even started, Christmas at Halloween, Spring at Christmas. Each week they'd record instances of this creep, but it's so bad in the case of Christmas that Gregg Easterbrook (the author) has retired it on the basis that "Christmas Creep has gone from sporadic to all but required by law". I understand advertising and getting the message out there, but it seems that we miss some of the joys of seasonal changes, by bringing them so far forward, we don't enjoy them as the anticipation trumps the actual event itself.
*I realise I've missed another day or two. Ah hey, so i won't get a badge and complete the challenge, but I quite like this ethos (from a healthier living group I'm a member of elsewhere on the internet: IF YOU MISS A DAY, THEN PICK IT BACK UP. DONT WORRY ABOUT GETTING BEHIND - JUST DONT QUIT! ... 
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Latest reply: Nov 9, 2013
Rockhound’s NaJoPoMo 7th Nov
Posted Nov 7, 2013
When I was young I wanted to be an architect. Actually, before that I wanted to be a long distance lorry driver. I wanted to be Long-distance Clara from Pigeon Street http://www.pigeonstreet.com/about.php but that's not important right now. Before I wanted to be a geologist, I wanted to be an architect.
I had a book called 'House by Mouse' which I loved. Henrietta Mouse was an architect who made these amazing homes for all her animal friends, all detailed and arranged for their individual needs. The book had really detailed cut-away style drawings of each of the dwellings, all the little touches that made it just right for the spider's recording studio, the otter's "ship-shape and Bristol fashion" house-boat, or the mole-hill with the spiral stair. Many sheets of used printer paper that Dad brought home from work for us to scribble on the back had my rather improbable designs for everything from underwater palaces to space stations and desert ranches. Looking the book up online just now I'm not the only one with fond memories, and copies go anything from £40 - £400, I hope my parents still have the copy in a box somewhere!
I never did become an architect, but I still love architecture (managed to make my A-level art project about the architecture of the London Underground), love looking above the street-level to the little details hidden in full view if only you look.
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Latest reply: Nov 7, 2013
Rockhound’s NaJoPoMo 6th Nov
Posted Nov 6, 2013
Ahh, well there went the posting everyday thing - was having t'interweb issues at work yesterday, and then blind forgot when I got in later 
Was at a conference in London today... nice venue, good food, really interesting topic (fracking) and what's more they were running to time all the way through - which is very rare! Had a bit of a wander around Regent's park before it started. I hate being late, and usually leave a b****r factor to allow for delays so I often end up with time to spare before and it's nice to do a bit of exploring.
I lived in London for a year a while back, but Regent's Park wasn't somewhere I'd been. There are lovely manicured gardens just round the corner from where the conference was; some of the roses were still blooming, while several acers were turning red and gold, blazing against the greens of the other trees. Autumn is my favourite season, the colours, the smells, the crispness in the air (and snuggling under a warm blanket)...hmmm 
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Latest reply: Nov 6, 2013
Rockhound’s NaJoPoMo 4th Nov
Posted Nov 4, 2013
When not staring out of the window at the wildlife of the East Midlands, or watching Asgardian action movies, I am often found staring instead at my computer. Today has been all about migration*, in that my employer is finally dragging itself into something approaching up-to-date and we're moving from Windows XP to 7, and they've *finally* worked out ways of moving the legacy apps from IE6 (yes, I know *sigh*).
Migration is being rolled out in phases, presumably so that we don't annoy the IT guys all at the same time. It's also being 'user-led' so for those of use with laptops or desktops that don't have a fit of the vapours at the the mere thought of Windows 7 we have to go through the process ourselves, being led by various documents, tools and videos, which just about manage not to contradict each other. Just. The other lucky sort get shiny new hardware ready-to-go and the old ones taken away, no buttons to press, no boxes to check. I dutifully watched the video, then had to watch it again as I got distracted by trying to work out where the narrator's accent was from (oddly mid-Atlantic). Then I managed to produce an 'interesting' error message. Finally I managed to get it started on the preparatory processes, just in time to go home
Hopefully by tomorrow it'll have finished all the preliminary things and I can finally press the button on migrating, and then leave it to do its thing while I'm in London at a conference on Wednesday 
*I keep expecting to hear the hushed tones of Richard Attenborough when it gets mentioned.
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Latest reply: Nov 4, 2013
Rockhound
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