As I hadn't blogged for nearly six months, I've just re-read my earlier entries... apart from the odd typo, it reads quite well.

So, what's been happening -

1. We've replaced the flooring at home.
   Let me first of all say, this wasn't our original intention. But when the dish-washer that we'd had for nearly 10 years started to play up, it seemed natural to order a replacement. However, as I had to connect up the new machine, I failed to insert the rubber washer and it started to leak!
   After about 6 weeks, we discovered this and rectified the problem but now we had a duff floor in the kitchen.
   OK, this flooring was also 10 years old and we started to look at new floorings for the kitchen AND the bathroom.
   This, in-turn, got us looking at the carpeting in the rest of the house.
   £3000 later and a new vacuum cleaner later. we finally had replaced the flooring at home.
2. I've been on holiday!
   Having been to Italy twice and watched it rain both times, we decided on Gozo, the sister island to Malta.
   Not a drop of rain and plenty of sunshine!
   Also, plenty of diving, beer, good food & doing nothing.
3. I've replaced my phone!!
   I've never liked the phone I got back in February, so, I've just got myself a newer better phone.
   Let's see if this is really better than the old one.
4. I've ordered my new car!!!
   Back about 3 year ago in the summer of 2001, I came out of the company car scheme and purchased my first car for over 15 years.
   I figured it was time to replace this car and I'm now waiting for my new Peugeot 407 SW to be delivered complete with it's GPS, cruise control & other assorted toys.
5. I've heard that there's been "more pain of change being felt"
   Yes, I did here about Dave and Pete and a couple of others all feeling the pain of change. While, some people may think I enjoy hearing this news, I know that this is a difficult time for them and if I can help...
6. Oh, and I'm enjoying my role as a DBA!!!!
   Yes, strange at it seems, I'm really enjoying my new role as DBA. The chaps I work with know a lot about the company systems but not too much about the software being used. While I know a lot about the technology and too little about the company.
   Sounds like a match made in heaven!
   And it is.

Well, if you've managed to read this far, you know about about what I've been up to. I still keep in touch with people I've worked with and am always interested in knowing how things are going. Drop me a line...

Keep going, keep looking

Just a quick update.

As my previous blog said, I've now got a "proper" office setup at home, so I should be more able to blog, but...

We've just returned from a week over in Ireland. We managed to watch the England v Ireland rugby in a bar full of locals all supporting their home team. They started quietly, then became noisier as they began to realise England weren't playing at the top of their game. Towards the end of the game, we had to accept defeat and say things like "...if you've got to lose, then losing to Ireland isn't too bad...", "...we played crap, you played great..." and "...at least it'll stopped us going on about winning the World Cup...", etc.

Ireland was quite pleasant, it didn't rain and the Guiness / Beamish / Murphys tasted fine.

Last Wednesday, was a big day at work. The "interview" for the role of Data Warehousing DBA. The technically questions weren't too difficult! and I was offered the job within two hours. I'm now a DBA.

And as we all know, DBA stand for Don't Bleeding Ask!

So to celebrate, I've upgraded my organiser!

I now have a really cute IPAQ 2210. And I spent all weekend installing software and playing with it!

I need to get out more.

Well, it's one year on from that happy day when I emptied my desk into a bin-liner and "left the building".

Overall, I think it was for the best. I'd probably been there a couple of years longer than I should have.

Enough from me, keeping looking.

Wow, doesn't time fly, it's been just over a month since my last "confession".

What have I been up to?

Well, as I mentioned previously santa didn't quite get me want I wanted, so I had to go shopping for myself!

I've finally got my home office sorted. I now have a proper desk, a proper chair and I've finally gone completely wireless!

Yeap. I checked the shops, internet, etc and got myself a flat pack desk & chair from Staples, a wireless card from ebuyer and a cordless keyboard and mouse from a well know personal computing retailer with world wide ambitions.

This now means that my scanner is now plugged in ready to go and I can find all my software without spending too much time looking for it.

Having a proper sized keyboard is such a boom that I can't understand why I didn't get one before.

We've finally booked our March holiday - it's Ireland, driving around Cork and Dublin - and now we need to think about next September!!!!

I've had another request for help on the CV front.... maybe I should start charging!

Oh well, that's enough from me...