mike[space] dot net

I guess the relative silence on this blog is indicative of how I am adjusting to life back in the fast lane. It's not that I don't have downtime, it's more that I just can't be arsed to spend more time at a computer than is really necessary, and when I am at a computer, the chances of me having time to write anything here are slim to none! Overall though, life is progressing well, although work could do with being a bit less stressful - too much to do, and definitely not enough time to do it in!

I have kept up the cycling, roughly doing two round trips a week - it's still very enjoyable, and it's a great way of clearing my head of work issues, and my body of the various toxins I still like to partake in. This weekend was a classic example of the latter, with two Christmas parties back to back, sandwiching one of the worst hangovers I've had in recent memory. The work party on Friday was a riotous affair at All Star Lanes, involving many white russians, a lot of bowling and (apparently) some bad dancing. There's also a blank spot of a good five hours or so, with 3 hours still pretty much unaccounted for (left the place around 2, got home at 5 ... I only know this because Ro assures me I was very insistent on letting him know I had returned home!) The hangover was completed by the presence of Sam (Ro's 8 year old); he's a great kid, and really fun to spend time with, but if he hadn't been there, I would have been quite content to lie in bed feeling sorry for myself instead of bouncing around playing the fool and mario kart in roughly equal measure.

Saturday evening, was the Ice and Fire christmas do for the Warwick Uni gang, which I think marks 11 years of Christmasses now! It was a really good evening, starting at Below Zero for cocktails, before heading to the Firevault for dinner. There are some pics up, which sadly don't do the restaurant justice at all ...

On my return, it was time to try out the Nintendo Wii, which was a brilliant idea, and is a brilliant, brilliant machine. It did kill my sleep patterns though, as Ro and I wound up playing on the damn thing through till 9 in the morning, which probably wasn't the most sensible plan! We mainly played the bowling, but we've also indulged in some boxing and golf, all of which are brilliant. What's been really interesting is that so much of what I have read has proven true - creating a Mii for yourself is genuinely fun and immersing, and completely wins over sceptics (we are two for two at the moment). The bowling gets everyone interested, and basically it's all just an absurd amount of fun that you can really imagine getting everyone involved in. Definitely the must have toy of the year!