The first thing I would like to do is thank Red Bull and Double Decker for their continued support this weekend. Had it not been for these two items, this post would most certainly not have been written tonight.

On Friday lunchtime I drove down to Banbury (my first ‘real’ outing in the new car - it’s like driving a eiderdown when compared to the old beast) and met Dan and Dave at Wembley in mid-afternoon. Rumour had it there would be some ‘special guests’ (I thought the support act, Supergrass, would be good enough) but most people were thinking Paul McCartney. Dave suggested he’d heard Led Zeppelin might appear, but it was hard to believe, although I did mention as we passed through Gate M that the Foos do specify on their rider that there are only three bands they would ever be prepared to share a dressing room with, one of those bands is the aforementioned Supergrass, secondly Oasis and finally Led Zep. I didn’t really expect it to happen.

Anyway, the gig was superb. Currin had never been to a proper rock gig before, and neither me or Dave had ever been to one in Wembley Stadium, so there was something new for all of us. It was insanely packed in front of the stage and as the two and a half hour set drew on, we all ended up closer and closer to the front. Eventually we all got separated. Dave told me after he got right on the barrier, whereas I was four rows back where the only way to keep upright was to jump as high as everyone else and the sweat was so thick it was like glue. Yes a lovely image, but it’s hard to express how god damn brilliant it was. And then they announced Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones were coming on and the crowd went even more wild. Of course, the presence of Robert Plant might have been nice too, but I’m not complaining; that’s two for the price of one as far as I’m concerned.

I caught a train back to Banbury, then drove the remainder of the way, arriving in Lower Brailes at about half one. A long day. I stayed with relatives, then woke at seven to get back on the road and over to Silverstone for the Renault World Series.

It took me a little while to figure out that the Renault World Series is not just one super race, it’s the name of the event, and all the various classes of Renault motorsport compete on the same day. Will managed to acquire the team buggy for long parts of the day and we spent a lot of time dishing out promotional material (well, our ‘pitbabes’ did, but it’s hard work watching, taking photos for the website and then restocking the girls with more flyers).

Being as Adam’s Formula Renault races were at opposite ends of the day, there was a lot of time to kill between 9am and 5pm, but after qualifying third in both rounds, he snatched second place in both the morning and afternoon session keeping him firmly at the top of the championship.

I managed to acquire my first sunburn of the year, and was quite relieved to make it home at 8pm - a long, long day. Not much relaxing at all this weekend, but really extra special for all of the above. All I need now is roughly 16 hours of sleep.

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I think I knew this day would return, but I had sort of hoped it would happen a bit more slower and obviously than last time, but it didn’t.

On Tuesday Will was using the Macbook for some notes when it suddenly froze up. I shut it down and left it after being unresponsive for over half an hour (really unusual) and when I started it back up the next morning I was faced by the flashing folder of doom.

So I knew it was curtains, but thought I’d better just check, and all the tricks I learnt from the last this happened (a faulty drive going in the first weeks of having the laptop two years ago) just confirmed it for me. Dead drive.

For those curious to know how you can tell whether you’ve got a pretty nasty situation:

• Incredibly long start up wait then the flashing folder of doom (comes complete with question mark)
• Rebooting takes no effect
• Holding down T while booting and linking to another machine via Firewire: if it fails to show a big firewire symbol on the screen/it’s non-mounting as a disk-type device on the other machine
• Booting from DVD setup disks and running Disk Utility demonstrates no reference to the hard disc, only the mounted DVD
• Additional clicking noises are not a good sign (the stylus may have collapsed or similar - potentially scratching the disc face)

If you meet this criteria, you’re probably in for some fun and games.

Luckily, I’ve been using SugarSync for a month, which silently syncs everything up to a big S3 vault, so I’ve lost very little thankfully. That’s damn good timing though - there were some critical files still on there from the last time I remote worked; this time last month I’d have lost it all.

The only other thing affected was my calendar and address book, but luckily I also run a regular automated iSync (using Proximity and an AppleScript) which keeps a complete and up-to-date version of both of these on my phone. Still, it’s a hassle having to transfer it all back into the appropriate multiple calendars. I’m going to start using gCal I think.

Anyway, the new hard drive with five year warranty is in the post. All I’ve got to do now is wait for the fun of installing and configuring every single app again. Hurray.

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My weekend was very good, even by general birthday weekend standards. I spent it in Sheffield with Sean and Tongy, and I think it’s fair to say you’ve all lifted yourself out of studentdom when all three of you decide that the cheapest vodka just won’t do any more. Even at Waitrose.

I went up on Friday in order to spend the day working with Rattle, who kindly supplied me with cake (if only all clients supplied cake) before heading onto West Street for a quick drink with Sean. Tongy met us and we found a bar with a decent view, nicely positioned over the Indian where we had a really decent curry.

Saturday, my actual birthday day, was spent at Meadowhall and browsing the vintage clothing shops. We headed out after a vicious game of Mullets top trumps (yes, it really does exist) and spent some time exploring the bars and clubs. All good stuff.

Getting up early on a Sunday isn’t fair at the best of times, but I had to get a cab to the station for the train journey back. Sisters one and two had bought me tickets to see Buzzcocks host Simon Amstell do his stand-up show in Wolverhampton and it was very enjoyable. I don’t know exactly what I had expected, and was a bit concerned the audience didn’t seem to warm very quickly, but the second half picked up the momentum and it turned out well. The support act Arnab Chandra was also very good, although I did know some of the material already. Still; very good stuff.

I’m looking forward to next weekend already…

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Maybe running my own business is one of those things I’ve taken for granted for a long time. Recently more and more people seem to have been asking me for advice about their own enterprises, talking about their wish to make a break, or just their intentions of one day being able to go it alone.

I really enjoy what I do, and it’s not just working with great clients, or on exciting projects (which are big factors) but also I think learning by doing is one of the most engaging processes and keeps the job fresh. It’s been just over five years since I first became self-employed, and after thinking I knew quite a lot about running your own affairs, I then decided to incorporate this year, and it’s brought along whole new basket of activities and concepts to learn.

Administration is not my favourite pastime, although I do like knowing how it all works and why you have to do it. Last week (with the aid of Stacey and Tim) I set up a payroll, and it struck me that this isn’t normal for a 22 year old - in fact most 22 year olds probably haven’t ever filed a tax return I would guess. I think sometimes I get too engrossed in what I’m doing to pay attention to the bigger picture, so over the past few days I’ve tried to do that. It’s only ever made me more excited about what the future holds. I can’t say I’ve really been planning anything, but just having a think about what might happen next.

This probably has all been triggered since I bought my car, although as anyone who has spoken to me about it knows, I can’t actually bloody drive it for another week and a half which is driving me insane. I’d been aiming to get this sorted for so long (my sole goal since January) that after I’d done it, a giant vacuum appeared and I’ve had to start reappraising my medium-term goals and targets.

Aside from all the business stuff, I’ve got a really good few weeks lined up. I’m spending next weekend in Sheffield over my birthday, then going to see Simon Amstell do stand up in Coventry. The following weekend I’ve got Foo Fighters in Wembley (my first visit there) and then over to Silverstone for the Formula Renault the next day. Good stuff.

The bank holiday has been pretty well spent already. Will and I spent the afternoon with some bevvies sat on the grass in Mary Steven’s Park on Saturday, then yesterday George, Tom and myself met up in Wollaston. Everyone should finally be coming back home in the next few weeks, and then the summer really can begin in earnest.

Oh, and one final thing - if you haven’t seen Mad Men it’s just finished showing series one on BBC4, but is definitely my hot recommendation, so if you get a chance, watch it.

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Like Indiana Jones, yet potentially more action-packed, Multipack’s Geek In The Park 2008 makes a welcome return this year, and will be pitching camp in Royal Leamington Spa on Saturday 9th August.

The format will be the same as last time; an afternoon picnic in the wonderful Jepheson Park (friends and families welcome) will be followed later in the evening by a discussion based event, with some top-notch speakers. We’re not disclosing the line up yet, but rest assured, you won’t be disappointed.

And of course, there is one other reason why GITP is always worth a look in; once again it’s free of charge.

For those wondering how to get to Leamington Spa, it’s easily accessible from the motorway and regular, direct trains run from London Marylebone and Birmingham.

For more details and to sign up for a reminder, visit the Geek In The Park 2008 website, put together so masterfully by Trev and Lloydy.

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Last weekend I headed to my second motor sport event this season. I was mainly there for the Formula Renault, but of course the BTCC meet was also on, and some pretty spectacular collisions made a morning for good spectating. I went over with Will, Henry and Alan, but later in the afternoon, Dan, Psycho, Yaz, Chicken and Charlotte arrived to watch the final races, and an unexpected Spitfire fly past. The weather stayed pretty dry, so there was no soaked-to-the-bones repeat of Brands Hatch; just as well really.

On Wednesday I met up with George and Will again for what is becoming a semi-regular comedy fixture. After probably the most disappointing pub meal I’ve had, we went to see Perrier-nomintated Daniel Kitson in his new two-hour standup show at the Wolves Civic. I’ve seen some interesting comedy routines over the years, but Kitson’s was certainly the most intense I’ve ever witnessed. It was delivered with no interval and no bar-access once it started, plus the themes were mainly societal. When it was all finished and I felt like I’d just been to a lecture or talk - that’s not to say it wasn’t funny - Kitson mixes humour with poignancy brilliantly, but it was hard to keep up sometimes because of the speed and complexity, and it certainly wasn’t a relaxing experience. I think I’ll need some time to wind down before I’m ready see him again.

Saturday brought good weather and May’s Multipack meet. We ended up on the Waters Edge at Brindley Place enjoying the sunshine until impromptu rain forced us inside for food. Once again a good turnout and plenty to catch up on.

I still feel like I’m juggling finances, paperwork and car, but things are looking brighter, and the summer appears to have started (at least for the meantime) so roll on next week.

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Not much could have been worse after Monday, and as luck would have it, it wasn’t. Since then things have been going far more smoothly.

After work on Tuesday I headed down to London for a few drinks with Swan (probably a few more than a normal weekday). As he’s spending most of the coming month on the Costa del Holiday, and the folks are taking a few days in Venice I was pining to get out of Stourbridge so thought it was a good opportunity to catch up and relax, even if it was midweek.

The great thing about train travel between here and London are the sockets. Laptops just don’t die, and even without wireless I can get on with things, rather than waste two hours wondering why my iPod runs out of battery after half an hour, or skips tracks intermittently.

I’ve finally also had the opportunity to get some design work done this week. That might sound odd coming from a designer, but for some reason it seems like an age since I have been asked to do anything really creative (I mean from scratch - there has been plenty of tweaking and editing).

I also managed to catch up with Jon yesterday too, before he heads off on a three month polo-truck driving mission. It sounds too much like a lot of socialising with a little bit of commuting in between - potentially finishing up in Spain, so you won’t be surprised to hear that I’m even more itchy to get some travelling in. A year ago today I arrived in Pokhara to discover Sammi and myself had been featured on sitting on an elephant on the front page of a Nepali national newspaper. In contrast, today I enjoyed a delicious chicken and bacon pannini. I can’t help thinking the level of exotica in my life is currently at a low.

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