Plan A, Plan B, plan ...

Getting tired again now.

Currently chilling out at home to Siberia, it's a pretty naff tv series actually about a group of reality tv contestants who are in a last person standing game where they are dropped off in the middle of Siberia. Or so they think ... it quickly becomes apparent that the tv crew supposed to be looking after them has disappeared and there's something Very Nasty out there that would like to do horrible things to them.

Bit naff but still watchable, partly for the developing story.

Plan A was to go see Mad Max today. Not a film for everyone, actually probably not a film for many but the trailer was spectacularly epic and I want to see it. However ... today's showings are either :

Director's Hall in town - nah. That's extra money that I don't think gives me any value. (If I was going with someone though ? Yep, definitely treat her to whatever shinies they have in the Director's Hall)
3d showings - nah. Maybe I'll watch films in 3d at some point but to be honest ? More unnecessary spend.
Mall cinema ? This one had potential but they're digging the roads up around the Mall and I don't particularly want to be anywhere near that ...

It'll keep for a bit. I suspect Mad Max will be in cinemas for a little while.

I'd kinda like to go to the cinema with another little lady who I took to Hobbit 3, I don't think Mad Max is her kind of film but ... I'd kinda like to see Far From The Madding Crowd or even Home. There's a few more coming too, I have plans to watch Jurassic World and Terminator Genesys when they come out and I want to see both of those series before I do.

Another partial plan today was to go check out more places for bathroom scouting. Wickes at the Mall have been fired now, whenever I go in after work their kitchen/bathroom design people have already gone home. Machines dark, lights off, everything put to sleep. That's really bad ... They're missing a prime market by not being able to catch the people who are working all day, with their only chances to visit these places being after work. Yet they're not around to take their (my) money.

Their loss ! I'll go to either another Wickes (we have a few), there's a Jackson and Ikea is also a possibility. I've scouted B and Q as well but their stuff looked rather dingy (even though it probably comes from the same place as the others!)

I've left the bathroom scouting for another day. I have the tireds.

But I'm coping with it.

Work has been insane lately. We were busy before but it seems like that's ratcheted up a few levels. And it's not just me thinking that either, it's a pretty global feeling. It gets worse too as people get upset, they leave and that leaves more work for the rest of us. That's compounded by people who have jumped over the wall to being contractors, they come back for a "visit" which is actually them headhunting the people they used to work with here.

That's unprofessional, a disgrace and they should be ashamed of what they're doing.

We've already seen a few people recruited out of the team by one particular individual (let's call him KB) who I had no respect for while he was with us - he was sweary and inflicted his own inability to do the job while he was with us on his colleagues. We're better off without him but he shouldn't be coming back in to unsettle people.

It's definitely a case where reputation does not match their actual quality. In my opinion at least.

We've seen this with a few more people who go outside too, they'll come visiting as contractors and they'll be fishing for work. That's not the way it works ... it short circuits open competition and potentially gets us in an extremely awkward position. If we don't obey those open competition rules (blindly), then we can be fired. I'm kinda glad I don't have to use all the rules when I'm buying stuff for me, they slow things down so much. They're there to make sure bad decisions aren't made (by incompetent people - but then we get our disastrous IT update) but they don't allow for memory.

What do I mean by memory with getting people to do stuff ? I refuse to get anything by Asus now after getting two motherboards which weren't feature complete (various things, plus surround sound that ... wasn't). That boycott is extended by what happened with their Asus Transformer pad.

I have other boycotts too with the techie stuff. I had one on Gigabyte for a while for selling boards which were effectively beta (not fully tested, not complete) standard. Another was on nVidia for disastrous driver support for their graphics cards but ... ATI/AMD are now worse.

I detect ranting ...

Which another sign I need a bit more chill out.

Or good company. Being around people has a good effect on me. It has me looking away from problems, towards seeing if I can cheer up the other people. That doesn't have to be actually seeing them, it can be swapping the messages as well. Sending crazy thoughts to people to see how they respond.

I think I've rambled enough now though. Closing thoughts :

MCM Comic Con in London next weekend ! I'd like to go again but not on my own. These are far better when you're with other people. Besides, London events tend to be very long days and I'm wrecked afterwards. I'll still do Lords but will take the Friday off after.

If anyone would like to come to Comic Con with me ? (And I have a particular person in mind who I think will be booked up already!) Yep, I'll go again.

Tired and have a poorly back. It could do with some TLC again. But I'd like to be properly fixed again before I try that. It's getting closer ... More repairs to do though.

Quiet weekend to come ... although ... I hear in the background that domestic things are happening ... (the washing is in the machine and the cycle is just ending). Cya !