The past four days seem to have dragged on like an eternity. I thought the last time I had managed to blog was over a week ago, but it turns out it was only Monday when I penned my last entry.

Over these past few days I thought of loads of things I’d wanted to write about; reams of insights, asides and footnotes to fill this article with, but can I remember any of them? No.

I’m not sure where all my thoughts have disappeared to, but I will try to salvage the last few ones that became attached to my brain with static or happened so recently that not even my goldfish memory could forget them.

In an unusual turn of events, the first three days of this week I spent in the offices of other designers.

On Monday I met Paul and Sarah, a local design firm who have asked me to help out on some of their future projects. All on a freelance basis, it’s another source of work and I’m looking forward to some collaboration in the future.

I spent Tuesday and Wednesday waltzing with Microsoft Powerpoint, creating an important internal presentation for a chain of hotels. I suppose that opting to juxtapose a graceful dance with a Microsoft Office application is like choosing to use concrete as a sandwich filler. The two things almost certainly don’t belong together. An added strangeness (like deep-fat-frying your portland butty), the whole process was carried out on a Mac.

This particular brief was an outsourced project from the firm that keeps Gaz and Ross off the streets, so for those two days I had to dig myself out of my bed at 6am to ensure I could catch the train into Sutton Coldfield. It’s not like 6am is unreasonable in principle; just one of the definite benefits of a home-based business is the ability to throw yourself into your office almost directly from your bed. Contending with thinking before 9am can be considered something of a novelty, and added to the whole ‘proper-job’ experience. I was both surprised and delighted at the pub-to-office hours ratio.

There maybe a few loose ends to tie up tomorrow, but essentially that’s now finished, clearing the way for me to bulldoze on with the remainder of projects that are still on my desk. Thankfully my phone has now fully switched onto the new network so normal voicemail service has been resumed and things are looking up.

Oh, and one last thing, I designed Nature’s campaign poster this week (she’s running for a Union Exec. post in Lufbra) and it was the first time I’ve drawn anything in ages. It was brilliant to get back on a sketch pad (see above).

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I was quite looking forward to going to the chiropractor today, but due to heavy snowfall, they cancelled my appointment and so my back pain will continue to be a mystery to me until tomorrow.

Thankfully my new phone arrived to cheer me up, and although I can’t make or receive any calls on it for a week, it has been thoroughly played with today (as any new toy should be).

There have been a number of twists and turns in the past two days regarding my activities including travelling, money and client work, although all totally unrelated to each other. It’s making things a little unpredictable for the moment, but my best guess is that is will all converge again within the next two or three days, which is good because loose ends are the last thing I need to be chasing.

I got a call today to do some work on-location next week, so for three days I’m going to be commuting to Sutton Coldfield and back. It should make a good change from being in Stourbridge 24/7 and the trip through Brum is going to make it easier to get my Indian visa application sorted too as I need to visit the consulate.

Oh, and it only took about a week, but my Italian domain name finally came through and it’s working so I’m a very happy, quite relieved, chappy.

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For weeks I’ve been agonising over what comes next with regards to my phone. I currently have a rather spiffy SonyEricsson W800i, which although has the aesthetics of a flattened Irn-Bru can, does everything I need. The reason that I decided to go onto contract last year was based on a need to make more calls, and my time with Orange in the past 12 months far surpassed anything that T-Mobile ever managed to offer me on pay as you go for the previous five years.

Well, it’s that time of year again, and I’ve got the chance to upgrade. I’ve been angling quite heavily for the K800i, another SonyEricsson, and with the fundamental benefit of a camera upgrade – the key selling point for me on my last three phones.

I had been contemplating just not getting a new phone, and simply picking up a fantastically cheap, if not practically free contract and hold off on the new handset until maybe something shiny and O-SXy turned up (see what I’ve done there?), but temptation surpassed me tonight and I’ve gone and ordered it.

In a way, it is a necessary upgrade, and like all my significant purchases, the effects of my purchase trickle back down the line.

I’m not keen on buying for the sake of buying, but the K800i significantly improves on night-time photography over my current phone, and because good captures are essential for my state of mind, the ol’ 2MP camera is just not cutting the mustard any more.

The old phone will probably end up being pimped out to Father, or if not a lucky eBayer or one of my many fan clubs who I’m sure would love a piece of AAJH memorabilia for their display cabinets.

Whatever happens though, I’ll be a very happy chappy come Thursday morning, especially in the knowledge I managed to persuade the company to cough up a cheque to cover the remaining 15 days of my old contract (tell them you want to buy today, but you don’t want to miss the offer… they all work on sales-now commission).

In other news, I tried to encourage Swan to get a job. Despite being one of Loughborough’s most recent mathletics (Maths and Sports) exports, he has been unable to settle on any one job as yet (partially due to sleep, and mostly due to partying). Only time will tell if he ends up working as a high profile betsmith in the city, or more likely, an Umpa Lumpa at the Zeppelin Cider factory.

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As this was the last time we’d all get a chance to see Irish Johnny before he flies off to China for a year and a bit, most of the old Loughborough crew descended upon London this weekend for the football, the rugby and a couple of nights out.

I travelled down on Friday evening and met up with Swan, Duffy, Johnny, Johnny’s sister and her mate at a bar in Covent Garden. We had a few cocktails and then went back to Duffy’s for some food and to get ready to go down to Old Street.

Ambrose arrived mid-evening and we left for a bar and pool at some local pub. Johnny rejoined us after having food in Covent Garden and we then spent the rest of night making a nuisance of ourselves and visiting several nameless bars, pubs and clubs.

On the way home there was plenty of amusement provided one ‘horrible man in a hat’ who looked like a slightly lost pirate wondering around Dalston in a bowler hat. He turned out not to be that horrible at all, and was quite chatty, but his nickname stuck.

The next morning we went to watch the football over the road from Duffy’s then went back to his flat to watch the rugby. The score was wider than I thought it might be (and if you think that if Wilkinson’s try had been disallowed, it wouldn’t have been), and I think it was a little unfortunate the shining stars were the old schoolers. Clearly I wanted nothing more than a sparkling return by them, but it was obvious without them England would have been lost.

The Face had joined us by now and of course all the usual banter was returning. We caught the bus to Liverpool Street managing to keep a few of the passengers amused, and met up with Danny, Fish, Greg, Seany and Geordie. Mike and Noel arrived later. By now the full complement of Towers massive had arrived, and so we went to the night’s final destination; Leicester Square.

Needless to say, it was one of the more interesting nights I’ve had a in a long while, and it was really good to see everyone out together somewhere that wasn’t Loughborough. It’s also the first and last time I want to be doing Sudoku, left handed, at 3am in the morning on a night out.

The next day Mike managed to wake me up when he kicked me in the head thinking I was a pile of clothes, when in fact it was me rolled up in a deflated air bed. Probably not the best start to the day.

About midday I arranged to meet with John outside St Mary’s for some food and we ended up going for a curry. Sammi and I were going to meet up to discuss travel plans, but she ended up getting stuck in East London and so I took the early train home which thanks to the wonders of modern transport arrangement, took me to Bicester and Banbury before it got anywhere near Birmingham, let alone home. The delights of travelling on a Sunday.

Today hasn’t really worked out as intended. I’m hoping tomorrow is a little more successful.

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Today marked a milestone in my life. I sent my first fax. I think I may have actually sent my first fax when my Dad had the office, but this was completely independently, using the old fax machine that’s been in a pile of things to go to onto eBay for months. What made the whole experience more executive was that it was international too.

Thinking I am above the con merchants and rip off artists in the domain trade, and needing to purchase a ‘.it’ (Italian) domain name, I decided to dodge the UK vendors who sell at £30 a year, and instead go direct to the people at the top. The Italians.

Sure enough Italian domain names are considerably cheaper if you purchase them from Italians. However, not being particularly versed in Italian (wish it though I may), the process is certainly made more complicated by:

1. The half translated ‘English’ versions of the Italian domain websites
2. The requirement to supply tax numbers
3. The need to make at least two international faxes
4. The fact that the Altavista Babelfish translator ultimately turns any sensible block of text into an incoherent torrent of abuse to the delight of the foreign recipient

Therefore when things started to get hazy in the sign up process, I resorted to what creatives do best, I drew a picture, and it actually worked. The guy at support sent me a picture back. Is this the future of global communication? Has today, the day I used a technology that reminds me of the era of the American Psycho, also heralded the beginning of a universal language?

Clearly not.

But it was fun anyway, and the buzz of excitement is still lingering while I try and work out if my money has simply disappeared into an faceless Italian coffer, or I’ve made sufficiently few cock-ups that I’ve actually managed to purchase the damned domain in question.

In other news… I met up with Will last night. It’s been the best part of six months since I last saw him, but it sounds like things are going well for him. It’s the first time I’ve been out for a drink with a mate in over three weeks, as things have been very busy and with travels coming up, a scaled economy have been critical to paying for flights and visas and things.

That is why today I am going to London again. Probably a bad idea for the wallet, but I’ve not seen Swanny or Duffy for a month, and Irish Johnny is off the China for a year in a week, it’s only fair I make an effort.

Once again, a very brief trip. I may try and make a couple of visits while I’m down, but this is s strictly one-night affair as I can’t afford the money or the time London so quickly eats away.

For the benefit of anyone who wants to travel London from Brum (and surrounding stations) on the cheap, Chiltern Railways do a fantastic off peak saver that costs £15 open return for 30 days, with no need to book. It’s £9.90 with a railcard, and called ‘Just 15’. They also have just launched singles to London (and other destinations all over) for £5 (book in advance by mobile or by email). Worth knowing if you do some travelling around the country.

Right, preparations ahoy.

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For some reason the impetus that was picked up at the end of last week is still with me, but it also has rubbed off on some others, yielding the following.

Groove Armada, perennial favourites of mine, relaunched their website yesterday with demos from their new 12” and the upcoming album. I’m really looking forward to this; Andy and Tom never fail to impress and after rumours a couple of years ago that Lovebox might be the last album I was dismayed. Anyway, they switched label and are back on track. Of course I could pick the website to pieces, but I’m not going to.

Jumping on the redesign bandwagon, I got all excited to see Halifax bank had launched a new site this morning. Brimming with anticipation until the moment I pressed the Sign In button, I was sorely disappointed to find they still haven’t implemented the long awaited updates to online banking. If they made the whole process just a little bit simpler it would be great, and the banner saying changes coming soon has been there for over a year. In fact it was just a rebrand of the point-of-sale aspect of the site. I guess we’ll just have to wait a but longer for anything of any substance.

I dug my A3 printer out yesterday, and was pleased to find that only the red had dried out (being that it’s been over six months since I last used it, that’s pretty good). Unfortunately being that it’s such an unwieldy object, the rest of my office space had to be adjusted so it would fit in. Until now, all my files-for-print would stack up until I had time to batch print on the laser in the next room, but it just got annoying and inconvenient, plus I realised £40s worth of ink was evaporating away, so it became necessary. If I’ve learnt one lesson from the experience, it’s don’t work in a room with one corner that’s cut off at 45 degrees for no apparent reason… it makes rearranging furniture virtually impossible.

I had feedback from two clients yesterday that was tantamount to being awarded a knighthood. That cheered me up too.

In other news, I’m playing with some very sophisticated PNG techniques at the moment, which I’ll probably document soon as I haven’t seen anyone else doing similar at the moment.

I also tried to iSync my phone yesterday, and for the first time ever, it threw an error. Upon checking the error message I discovered my SonyEricsson wouldn’t take the calendar task “Buy a new phone”, which might be considered quite amusing if there isn’t much else going on.

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Looks like they’ve recruited Mitchell & Webb to do some UK versions of the Apple Get A Mac Ads .

I’ve got a ridiculous pile of things to deal with today.

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