Bloody sinuses are playing up again. Totally ruined my weekend. Not that it wasn’t off to a bad start anyway.
I had no work until Thursday. Then they rang me up and said they wanted me in at 2100 to do a run to Chester. I thought that was probably bullshit. Why would they call someone in to do a 32 mile run?
It was bullshit.
*surprised face*
I had to run down to some place (still don’t know the town) and follow a hastily drawn map. OK.
The starting point for said was to come off the M6 at junction 33A. Fine. I set off in the fog, having no idea where I was going. I got to junction 33, peachy. 34… WHAT?
I pulled off at 34 and was driving down the exit slip road when suddenly a bunch of those sharp turn chevrons leapt out of the fog! SHIT! I stood on the brakes and nearly crapped myself. I thought I was going through the barriers. It turned out they’d posted the signs in plenty of time and I was fine. Apart from the heart attack.
I pulled up on an industrial estate (you’d be amazed at how few convenient parking spots there are for an artic and trailer) and checked the maps on my ‘phone. There is no junction 33A. Ace. I rang work, they were insistent it was 33A. I worked out it was 31A, primarily as that actually existed.
I got to the first drop and the guy said I had to wait while they assembled my order of newspapers. Then I was to do two more drops, no stopping for breaks, on a timed schedule. To places I didn’t know. So ace.
I pulled the curtains back on my trailer, got loaded eventually, hopped back in my cab, turned the key…. nothing. The bastard battery had died (it turned out).
I rang work, they said “It does that. Give it ten minutes and try again.” If they knew, why wasn’t it sorted?
Anyway, due to the timed nature of the drops I had to open my curtains again and they put my load onto someone else’s truck. Then I had to wait for an hour for the recovery geezer to come and give me a jump. No-one wanted to give me a push. Back home and in bed for 0515, back in work for 1400. Bah.
At least I was doing ‘my’ usual run on Friday. Crewe, Cowley. Coming back I got to Brum and they’d closed the motorway! Ah! I was cursing them roundly as if I’d have known I could have used the M5 route and joined the M6 after the roadworks. Thanks for letting me know, you bastards! Then I got up to the roadworks and the warning sign was up, it’s just I hadn’t been that way all week so I hadn’t seen it. Oh. Still annoyed.
I finally got back to Warrington, off the motorway with just 5 miles to go and the coppers had shut the (A57) road! Goddamit! I had to go to Birchwood, M62, M60 and on to the A57 from the other end. By the time I got to bed it was gone 0400. By the time I got up (1315) the day was nearly done. And then my sinuses started playing up. Most of yesterday in pain, same again today. I didn’t get to my Sunday Kung Fu class. Again.
On the bright side, all of my previous put-off tasks have now been done. Allotment, Visa, sent my T.A. kit back (I’ll wait for them to process it then send the resignation form back) and my tax.
Go me!
Now I have new tasks I have to stop putting off. The car needs MOT-ing by the end of the month. I’ve got to get back to my French studies. I need to get cycling, go to the swimming lesson with Warrington Tri, start banging in some serious hill work on my runs, and preferably get a second life so I can have time to do it all.
I’ve achieved some more landmarks with the running. I was struggling with the new plan of putting the treadmill on 1% for my 6 m/m runs. I managed a mile and a bit then flaked and had to drop the incline and then the speed. That was pitiful. I girded my loins, set my face as flint, and tried again. I put the treadmill at 3% for 6 minutes (at a reasonable pace) to warm up then set it to 1% 6m/m. I did 3 miles though it nearly killed me, then kept the pace but had to drop the incline to ½% then shortly after to flat. Even so, that’s 4 miles uninterrupted at 6 m/m and 3 of them were at 1%! That’s pretty good for me.
Then I do a half hour on a ‘hilly’ setting on the bike, then come back and put the treadmill at it’s max speed/ hills for another half an hour. Sweating like an offensive thing in an inappropriate setting. I was sweating that much it had soaked my sports top and the it was dripping off my top onto my legs.
Then there are people in fleeces. Save your money and watch telly stood up.
The good news is the guy at Crewe reckoned they were going to be mad busy this week so I should be in work. Not that I want to work, but this is the time when I most need some money.
Enough of me, lets talk Twitter;
As usual the DM Reporter was abreast of affairs;
DANGER: One in five Britons may call themselves non-white by 2072 if current trends accelerate at seven times their current predicted rate.
ENVIRONMENT: Friends and family of this reporter all agree "it’s felt a bit colder this year", throwing doubt on climate change evidence.
This week’s Daily Mail Cancer List: Mon) Snow Tue) Cocktails Wed) Earwax Thu) Paloma Faith Fri) Pi Sat) Shadows Sun) Cures for cancer
WEATHER: Grit shortages threaten to release 500 dangerous paedophiles into the community.
MAIL LIFE: Engineer travels 400miles to turn off pensioners burglar alarm only to discover nest of cannibal badgers
Theological musings:
Last night my mate @LukeSmith214 turned wine into barf.. your move Jesus.
I’d imagine St. Peter – who was crucified upside down – would really feel for these Catholic priests who see equal marriage as persecution.
Saint Stephen, too. He was stoned to death. The first martyr. Probably thinking "Well, at least there weren’t any queers getting hitched!"
"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn’t go away" Philip K Dick
Random observations;
Ninety-nine percent of lawyers give the rest a bad name.
"A ‘just war’ is when you don’t try to resolve the problem you just fight" #marking #gcse #RS #ohdear
“@sanguinturtle: @williamshatner loved you on boston legal. have you ever done anything else?” No, that’s the only thing I’ve ever done. 😉
Dear PETA, Every time you photograph a naked woman, I personally skin a mink.
"porn gives young people an unrealistic and unhealthy idea of how quickly a plumber will come to your house"
I donate blood 5 times a year just so I’m less and less related to some of my relatives.
I once had to spell my surname over the phone. "M for millipede…" I then proceeded to spell out ‘millipede’. Idiot.
Do you ever just wanna grab someone by the shoulders, look them deep in the eyes and whisper, "No one gives a fuck".
"Want a boyfriend for these cold winter nights" …Shut up you slut go buy a coat.
GOP: "We’re all saddened by the deaths of children, so we have a plan to stop these shootings by depriving gays and women of their rights."
Sometimes I awake from a nap at my desk and my face is flat against the keyboard. My sleeping features have typed "MOTHER." over and over.
Just finished babyproofing my house. I must have spent over £5,000 on barbed wire alone, but there’s no way a baby is getting in now.
Lesbian isn’t a race. RT @SarahAdaaalia: Sorry I’m not racist, but I’m not afraid of gays, I’m afraid of lesbians.
The Vapor Rub is in full effect. I CAN* SEE THROUGH WALLS!!! *artist’s interpretation
Best Blue Plaque ever:
In Tory Scum we were spoilt for choice;
In which @OwenJones84 is angry, eloquent, and correct about the Welfare Bill and just how damn horrible Tories are: http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/the-welfare-bill-a-government-of-millionaires-just-made-the-poor-poorer–and-laughed-as-they-did-it-8443619.html …
Having problems logging into jobmatch? Save time and click the new "I give up. Just sanction me." button for quicker & easier sanctioning.
Have you registered for Universal Jobmatch? Our new benefits sanctioning site. Join now and lose everything. #jobseekers
IDS thinks it’s unreasonable for anyone to receive more than £35,000 p.a. from the state, yet he claimed £98,000 in expenses in 2011.
"You plebs can survive on £71 a week, you just arent trying if you can’t. That’s why we deserve £1653 a week instead of £1250…" – Our MPs
MPs calling for a 32% pay rise. Do you think they’re just trolling us in to having a Les Mis style revolution by the end of the month?
Blimey, after a legitimate recruitment process over 100 MPs ended up with close family members as assistants. What are the chances eh?!
MPs can claim £400 p/m food allowance on top of their £65k salary plus other exps. A single person on JSA gets £71 p/w. #allinittogether
Jobseekers, exercise is very important in keeping a healthy body & mind. Why not walk to your local foodbank?
The public sudsidy to House of Commons for champagne is the equivalent of £176 per MP. If you care for someone 24/7 you get £58.45 a week.
"IMMIGRANTS FOREIGNERS IMMIGRANTS IMMIGRANTS LOOK OVER THERE BE FRIGHTENED IMMIGRANTS", says Eric Pickles.
Finally, Twitter says “awwww”;
A sloth hugging a girl:
Snow paws;
Brains! Carrots and brains. Mostly Brains.
And a baby Musk Ox
Final, final thought has to be with this petition (and response) started on the official U.S. government website;
Secure resources and funding, and begin construction of a Death Star by 2016.
Those who sign here petition the United States government to secure funding and resources, and begin construction on a Death Star by 2016.
By focusing our defense resources into a space-superiority platform and weapon system such as a Death Star, the government can spur job creation in the fields of construction, engineering, space exploration, and more, and strengthen our national defense.
Created: Nov 14, 2012
Issues: Defense, Job Creation, Science and Space Policy
total signatures
34,435
Official White House Response to Secure resources and funding, and begin construction of a Death Star by 2016.
This Isn’t the Petition Response You’re Looking For
By Paul Shawcross
The Administration shares your desire for job creation and a strong national defense, but a Death Star isn’t on the horizon. Here are a few reasons:
- The construction of the Death Star has been estimated to cost more than $850,000,000,000,000,000. We’re working hard to reduce the deficit, not expand it.
- The Administration does not support blowing up planets.
- Why would we spend countless taxpayer dollars on a Death Star with a fundamental flaw that can be exploited by a one-man starship?
However, look carefully (here’s how) and you’ll notice something already floating in the sky — that’s no Moon, it’s a Space Station! Yes, we already have a giant, football field-sized International Space Station in orbit around the Earth that’s helping us learn how humans can live and thrive in space for long durations. The Space Station has six astronauts — American, Russian, and Canadian — living in it right now, conducting research, learning how to live and work in space over long periods of time, routinely welcoming visiting spacecraft and repairing onboard garbage mashers, etc. We’ve also got two robot science labs — one wielding a laser — roving around Mars, looking at whether life ever existed on the Red Planet.
Keep in mind, space is no longer just government-only. Private American companies, through NASA’s Commercial Crew and Cargo Program Office (C3PO), are ferrying cargo — and soon, crew — to space for NASA, and are pursuing human missions to the Moon this decade.
Even though the United States doesn’t have anything that can do the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs, we’ve got two spacecraft leaving the Solar System and we’re building a probe that will fly to the exterior layers of the Sun. We are discovering hundreds of new planets in other star systems and building a much more powerful successor to the Hubble Space Telescope that will see back to the early days of the universe.
We don’t have a Death Star, but we do have floating robot assistants on the Space Station, a President who knows his way around a light saber and advanced (marshmallow) cannon, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which is supporting research on building Luke’s arm, floating droids, and quadruped walkers.
We are living in the future! Enjoy it. Or better yet, help build it by pursuing a career in a science, technology, engineering or math-related field. The President has held the first-ever White House science fairs and Astronomy Night on the South Lawn because he knows these domains are critical to our country’s future, and to ensuring the United States continues leading the world in doing big things.
If you do pursue a career in a science, technology, engineering or math-related field, the Force will be with us! Remember, the Death Star’s power to destroy a planet, or even a whole star system, is insignificant next to the power of the Force.
Paul Shawcross is Chief of the Science and Space Branch at the White House Office of Management and Budget
Buck.