| 7/7/04 Tempus Fugit (and so does Bovril)
It has been just about 6 packs of peroxide, 201 litres of wine and a couple of thousand pints ( a year, roughly) of Blighty livin' and the contract is up next month. Al Brown left Denver in 2002, the first of an eventual exodus. In (possibly) the same fashion Shannon is off in August. Is she the next canary, or does the arrival of David 'mad4it' Campbell nullify the result? Time to figure out what next. Objectives are being set, with "learning to surf very well" leading the list. The debate is "where?" The answer will depend on the continuing validity of my Green Card. If it's still a goer then Hawaii, otherwise Costa Rica leads the list. Thirtynothing it is, then. Spent the last couple of weekend killer couple of events, which only living in London can really afford -- Glastonbury and Wimbledon. In true Britstyle, both were hampered by the weather. In the case of the latter, it worked to the advantage (effortlessly breezing onto Court No 1 for the men's' semi-final). Glasto, however, turned into a marathon sludgefest -- 15 hours of standing up (not done since working as a bag-packer for Sainsbury's), dodging the "mud". Lazing around in the sun with beers on the grass turned into an avoid-the-toilet-at-all-costs kinda thang. Thank gawd for the music, which rocked in that Indiewhiteboy way. He's mad, he's bad, he's, erm, Shiv's roommate: Bazzalives. Overdue player addition. Weddings & such in Boston/Leeds & a hike to the South Downs/Tim-Rachel engagement boozeup.
| 24/6/04 Go, Henm...oh, what's the use?
Just took a tube trip back after watching England be dumped out of Euro2004. A group of girls walked by and one stopped to ask, nay threaten "Isn't Beckham shit?" Encouraged by this aggressive quasi-abuse I responded to the Marylebone train station's homeless geez with an authoritative "Don't even start, mate". Trust the Beeb (and 22 years of consistent results) to pull me through. I'm now watching a program about corruption and despair in Nigeria; things are coming slowly into perspective. So, Henman, feel free to crash out in the second round. Glastonbury, let the rain gods spew forth (if the wind ever dips below 40mph). It's all good. Pix from mid period London , & the country
| 6/6/04 D-Day approaches
The love affair with footy deepens, as a week today commences the bi-annual Henman-esque quest for soccer greatness (i.e. going to end up in heroic failure, snatching defeat from the jaws of victory). Still, to be back in Europe for such Diana-style outpouring of grief will be superb. Forza Azzurri! (well, one has to have a backup & it could hardly be Les Bleus) Pix from Soho Boozing, & Greenwich run & luvvin it in Leicester. Congrats to Giles & Jackie on the latest Penn arrival: Elliott.
| 30/4/04 The Eagle has landed
The nest has been invaded, nay inhabited, by KT. Benvuto! I see ol' Rob Smithson has started up his amoral.org thing, on weblog lines. Not bad but do you really need a job at home? To answer your question about the PennChart, it is a stillborn project from several years ago. Stillborn until last summer, when a band of brothers were going to take it forward seriously. Came up with an architecture and everything. Audioscrobbler beat us there, though, and the only reason I haven't started using it is because it doesn't support my MP3 Player of choice (the wees-on-winamp/wmp RealPlayer). An update on the weather forecast from last week. Neil has stopped downloading music in the US of Attorneys -- must it really come to this? Pix from Camden/Brixton & Selva.
| 13/4/04 The Honeybadgerz Project
A damp Saturday, huddled together in a Marylebone flat overlooking the traffic as it thunders down Gloucester Place. Cooleditpro downloaded, rudimentary thoughts assembled. ("You need a hobby", as one of the brothers Penn derisively commented). But lo, more laughs than a bag of Camden goodies. A unique child, born from 3 unique muthaz. Where to start? With a desperately unoriginal hodgepodge of Avalanches/FBS aspirations. With regard to the latter I was predisposed to go & nab a copy of the British Hit Singles, and start trawling through Soulseek in order to swell my library with tunes ripe for sampling. Thankfully, someone has taken the tedium out of that job with the wunderbar Easyhit -- vielen Danke, whoever u r. Pix from more London nights. While we may console ourselves with climatic tales such as these, weather.com says it all about London...
| 2/4/04 BrysonBlighty
Even as I get sucked in by a Liverpool loss, a documentary about the excavation of Troy & a Tom Baker-narrated expose' on the travails of a restaurant opening (makes IT seem like a dream), I can't help but say; British telly rocks. Bill Bryson has it right; it's the small things about Britain that make it so special. My commute over the park may not seem overly exciting, but where else do I get to watch bizarro duck-geese things fight it out over their patch of turf (larger than my flat, the blighters)? What Mr Bryson didn't have was RyanAir. The ability to escape, for the cost of medium night out, to the Alps/Med. One may not have quite the same climate-based desire to do that in the States but it's just as well 'cos no es possible -- flying in the US of Walmart costs 3x the equivalent of a Sleasyjet sojourn. Wake up, America! I want to come back to $5.99 flights, won on the back of a packet of crisps. Pix from a weekend in Dublin. All the key ingredients were there; Badger patrols, a class (A) JB vanishing act, pavement pizza and dazed Americans. How could I have forgotten Aussie all these years?
| 12/3/04 No more feeling -- work hangover
Having worked through the weekend, losing an insane 70.5 hours to the gods of projectsaviour & moneylust (for the first time since the bad old days of CWIM '99) I am qualified to say; dinnae do it, jimmy. To all people infected with the disease I say; cease & desist. It is debilitating, demoralizing and dehumanizing. Worst of all, there's a sick addiction to it. The first day of release from this hostage situation, I found myself at a loose end, longing for my captors. 11 consecutive days at work has rendered me vegetable-like, a chocoholic quaffing cappuccino topping behind the barrista. An evening-only frosties piccy update (documenting an American invasion and the return of Ron). Oh, London, you are haunted by the Ash prophecy yet. Major update to the players list; incorporating the usual wunch of bankers.
| 04/3/04 Google reports "frosties blob"
The UK is being dragged into the 90s -- Meester Bob has Soulseek, Ron is being made aware of DSL and, whoa, frosties is in the, erm, Old Persean. Whatever next, a corking R'n'Brittrack? Long overdue naffo links page. Almost a proper personal website now, innit. Photographic evidence of the wake caused by Lindsay & her motley croo on their was-it-only-a-week-i-thort-theyd-never-leave trip. Real winter is best served by a short trip to the North East, of course.
| 27/2/04 In the company of badgers
After 5 long, protein-deprived months I have discovered Edamamme. Well, Milo, to be exact. I have to get the players thing going again, if only as gratitude for that one act. The first evening of Baker Street Boozery has been documented in multi-coloured glory; frosties idiocy is alive & kicking. Off to a party as a badger (actually, part of a badger patrol. Yes, yes, it's not a honeybadger but I'm trying to blend in) and thereafter onwards to Dublin, where a night of trying to avoid arrest awaits.
| 20/2/04 Get into the groove
Barrett & Shiv have been safely landed & installed into Al/Jane's fantastic flat and the Schlumber, oops, Atos Origin UK HQ atop Tottenham Court Road. As faceless, grey, corporation-mandated anonymous workzones go it does at least have a not-too-shabby location. Hecticity from the first Pearl St Reunion caused something of a week-long blackout. Impromptu flat party, strolls across the park into Camden, adventures in tuneless clubland, crashing out at JB's, the usual Boxer Short Barry, 99 pence beers, detox chez Bob, crippling costs of champagne at Tower 42 and a mid-week dawn finish. Photies from xmas escapades; Karen's birthday, NYE in Tahoe and assorted outtakes.
| 3/2/04 Take your hands of the wheel...
I have once more chosen volume over quality, getting something out the door over technical purity. Some day I will be punished for not separating content from presentation in this website but right now it's back to basics. Rather than meticulously fix up a bizarrely mixed- up batch of photies (how do digital photos get scattered around your hard-drive in an unsortable fashion?), here are some photies from the October-December timeframe -- Photies from the old country, more yet (and initial touchdown in UK), Autumnal life, fondue, Halloween, two lots of the JB pubcrawl, and a couple of jumbled up assorted xmas ones.
| 25/1/04 Let the Golden Age begin...
After killing off Convergent Group, Schlumberger kept a few hapless souls around in an attempt to man the mailroom & empty the remaining cubes. 4 months after the epoch-defining layoff day, Tonks & Ozzie join the sacked-with-severance club, which was probably some SLB attempt to prove the half-life of a decapitated company. But I digress. Welcome aboard, chaps. It filled me with infinite sadness to miss that Potts day/night. Long live contracting / Enspiria / the real estate business, and may rumour-filled lunches continue evermore. Meanwhile, in other news, the drudgery of doing the architecture part of the project I'm on has drawn to a close. Backup is arriving. About 4 months late and after endless wrangling with SLB/visa places/contracting agencies/INS, the formidable posse of Nixta/Shiv/Barrett are moving to London and joining the project. Barrett, bring the UT disks. We're gonna need 'em. Muhahahaha. Now that I have a router and a diminishing schedule, frosties stands at least a badger's balls chance of being updated once more. For nights out there have been aplenty, from Double-Oh-Flannery nights in Kensington to Caber tossing in Camden...
| 24/12/03 Santa, where's me time machine?
Xmas eve, still at work with a major present purchasing trip on the cards. Plus ca change. I've realised that in London there seem to be 3 things people do: 1) Work 2) Booze 3) Rush, by tube/taxi/nightbus between (1) and (2) Merry xmas/happy nye, any frosties readers still out there. A flat in central London (Marylebone) has been acquired, DSL activated & squillions of photies have been taken; a recipe for the return of frosties if ever there was one. Hang on, I've just got to run over to the pub, "Taxi!"...
| 11/12/03 The Ash Prophecy
Some time ago Chris Ash predicted life in London as being flanked by living in an overpriced shoebox on one side and daylight-free, soggy climatic conditions on the other. As water has fallen from the skies for six straight days & I remain on JB's sofa it appears as though Ash was actually talking through his mouth. Frosties is being held hostage by homelessness. Only a home & DSL is going to restore it to its natural state. I'm not sure if it's a London thing to feel constantly late, rushing from one place to another, but I long for a return to the Caribbean ways of Pearl St. So I've decided to go on the hunt for a flat. $2k/month will get you a flat of 40-odd square meters (!) which may or may not; have natural light, be subterranean, have 5 foot ceilings, be above a curry house. Truly a depressing pursuit, designed to flush the weak out to the suburbs -- where you will get an extra 10 sq meters in exchange for having the life sucked out of you by a head-crushing daily commute. No sank u! So the search continues in the W1/NW1 zone of London, preferably close to Regent's Park. The easy life will return, oh yes it shall, doubting Australians.
| 10/31/03 From Hobophone to Hobophobe in 31 days
As I skipped out of Pearl St with no more than a couple of suitcases and my yoga mat on my back, I felt that sense of freedom that comes with losing the shackles of ownership. It was beautiful. I can out-hobo Shiv right now. No fixed abode, none in sight, staying wherever I can. But no more. So thanks to Steph/Bob/Riffy/Hezz/Al/Jane/Shannon/JB for putting me up over this exhausting, illness-inducing month. Having lived in a sunny, people-less state for so long my immunity to lurghy of the blib-blob-bleeb variety has been all but destroyed and I have been consumed by weeks of perpetual sickness. And not just of the physical variety. Watching Kill Bill the other day also sparked a sharp sensation of "home" sickness for America. Damn that Tarantino character. Having no scanner and having lost my katiecam USB cable, the frosties photy library is currently frozen in time. So I cribbed these pub crawl snaps from Neil & Sean. Just as frosties is entering a slow-down phase, caused by overwork, job-change, country-move and a general lack of scanner/home-based DSL, the competition is breathing down my neck. Hats off to theboylard, ministryofalbrown, a resurgent nixta and even the reheated, refried beans of a site that is tartley. You can all try, but you really can't put a good phoenix-badger of a site down. I vill be back, this ain't no Michael Howard selection.
| 10/01/03 Last Call
If anyone is out and about on Friday (10/3) then drag yourself along to Colfax for one final belching contest. What was the best day of the last 12 months? Layoff day. Think being laid off in tech is new? Think again. New to unemployment? Fret ye not. Maybe you're just in your early 30s.
| 9/23/03 Evacuation proceeding, Catharsis underway
Perhaps people felt this harangued when they were leaving London for the countryside in the blitz of 1940. But I doubt it. The pressures of finding another job, moving country & remaining legal in the eyes of the INS/BCIS do not hold a candle to the mammoth operation that is moving out of Pearl St. Watched a top notch flic, Thirteen, 'tother day. Absolutely fantastic journey into developing yourself (albeit within the heavy handed context of doing it too young). Such discovery was more like thirty for me. Speaking of youth, a couple of overdue additions to the players page. Congrats on the engagement, Bitsy! UYA, JB! Is there anything wrong with stealing other people's photies, only to slyly post them on your own site? Given the impermanence of everyone else's site (Nick's offline for donkey's years, Shiv's GORN, Tartley site hacked by kiddy, Erica GORN etc etc), I think not. In this vein some shots from the last 6 weeks, plus some black&white shots of the same old same old. Another cache of photies from university circa '91, including the ponciest set yet discovered -- predating the AshGQ thing by nigh on a decade.
| 9/10/03 Frosties.com -- end of the road?
For a smidgeon over 4 years frosties has been out there, causing congestion on, and generally adding pollution to, the web. It has saught to detail the events of a few eejits in Colorado, with something of an Anglo-Saxon/Commonwealth tint. However, as has happened with another corking Colorado publication, the flighty critic, it seems as if this particular tale is coming to an end. Or so I thought. For, in coming to clear out Pearl St I have discovered a bunch of photies from '91 & '94 which would appear to be the precursors of frosties. Dossy jobs, easy living, manic escapades, noncing around, life as a vacation, excessive wastage & poncing out., From other scradgers. Just when you think you're flying you get shot down in flames. "Jeremy" from Right Management (aka layoff outplacement organization) just called me with a kill-myself message, along the lines of "We understand that you might not want to face up to being jobless, but come in here as soon as possible so we can face up to the tragedy, together. You're not alone, keep hope." I wish to buy a gun and mow the place down. Probably a typical reaction for which they have an equally sad response. Jaysus. Is this the point at which I chuck a JB/Shiv, and declare employment to be for the weak of heart? I have one employment possibility. If it happens, it happens & London will be home for a while. If not, then the labour market & I will part ways after 8 mostly amusing years. The surf beaches of Queensland/Indonesia will be the new office, joined by Al Brown & KT.
| 9/05/03 Layoff Revoked & the road to Damascus
Upon hearing news of being laid off, there was a part of me which said "I don't believe it". How prescient that turned out to be. The reason was not my undoubted brilliance, nor even the fact that I have a stash of incriminating photos of senior SLB management. Nope, the cause behind receiving 12 phone calls from my former workplace two days later was the fact that the blighters had managed to lay me off while I was in the middle (more the beginning) of a real, live project. And so I blagged my way back into the office for some pseudo-contracting action. Just as well, since former roommates have left enough of their shoddy belongings to Pearl St to give its miserable remaining inhabitants cause to hire a full-time chiropractor. Yesterday afternoon things took a turn for the bizarre. Hunched over my desk and contemplating the lack of computer games action since people were axed, I was summoned to the HR office. What had I done now? <anyone adjudicating my unemployment claim can desist reading now> "We'd like to unlay you off. Come back to work as an employee." "Hmmnn...let me think about that, you want to hire me back because you value me? Because you realized the crazy mistake you made?" Er, no, because you think it may be cheaper that way. A swirl of emotions whipped up around me "Am I crazy?" "Take the severance and run!" "What if you can't find another job?" "It's the last opportunity to leave Denver" "What about learning to surf?" Epiphany: time to prove Nick wrong, I _will_ leave Denver without being fired (although I was fired, but who wasn't?). So, after some Ash-Tonkin soul seeking, the layoff (& severance) remains and my journey to who-knows-where is underway. Bring it on! Snaps from Blighty, including some of the fabled hottest ever day, as well as some steamy pix from the new stock of JB birds.
| 8/27/03 Veni, Vidi, Laidoffi, Bloggi
Commencing in December 2000, Convergent Group started downsizing. We had the Van Larson round (idiots only), the Roger Wilde round (eccentrics) in May 2001, and rounds for JB-Stoppenhagen (slackers please) in June 2002, Gurner in October 2002 (bye bye dot com-era hires), Shiv in April 2003 (adios UT stats manglers), Lance June 2003 (hardworkers) and finally Ash-Penn-Mertz-Scott-Steklac 2003 (heroes & CEOs). A company purchased by SLB for $400m in 2001, now worth <$5m, having required several million to keep it afloat in the interim. 450 to 50 employees. An investment blunder of impressive proportions (even by dotcom mistake standards). So the documented case of the curse of the Vail house has claimed its latest victim: yours truly. 8 years, commencing in GDS, Cambridge in '95, moving onto ArcSystems, Melbourne and EDS, Lakewood before pre-dotcom Convergent Group, post-dotcom Convergent Group and SchlumbergerSema, before Convergent was reformed & finally killed off on 8/25/03. So layoff Tuesday (always a Tuesday, according to urban psychiatry myth and Cvg experience that is the day people are least likely to go Postal on) commenced with aplomb at Potts. With the laid off outnumbering the remaining Schlumberger employees, an atmosphere of all-day drinking quickly set in. At 330pm a group of us were whisked away in a limo to see Radiohead at Red Rocks amphitheatre. Speeding across the foothills, consuming Absolute Shambles on the way to see a band at the top of their (live) game gave the afternoon a surreal feel. The evening, or what I can remember of it, was a top 3 concert and no mistake. The sense of euphoria had indeed evaporated by 9am this morning, replaced by a heavy hangover and nagging doubt of "what now?". Naturally, as JB & Shiv can attest, such negativity is greatly assuaged by the powerful effects of the intense Colorado sunshine. Apparently being laid off is meant to cause a rainbow of emotions from ecstasy to insecurity. Anyway, the day has been frittered away trying to rebuild JB's linux machine with Windows. A plan is beginning to be formulated, which will either involve contracting or surfing in Indonesia/Australia. More as it happens. A week ago I said I wanted to buy a pint for this laptop, on which most of frosties was written, scores of lines of code were composed and squillions of tracks downloaded. Adieu, ppenn2. Tu me manqueras.
| 8/25/03 London, land of global culture, global warming and globally warm drinks. I want in.
Initial reflections on my extended trip to the boozing capital of the world seem to be verified everywhere I turn. Most recently, the Times. In a not so unconscious gesture to justify life in the outdoors, in the week since I've been back I have; swum, played tennis, jogged, bikram yogad, hiked outside Boulder and biked down Keystone mountain. Radiohead at Redrocks tomorrow, and a similarly frenetic week/end lies ahead. I don't remember the start/end date of WWII/I, or pretty much any other date in history. 22nd of August 1485, however, sticks out in the mind as a teabag to a bin liner. Where would we be had Henry VII not prevailed that day? What shape would religion have taken, would Blighty have been ruled by the Hun, or (worse still), another couple of centuries of the French? All of which makes the first weekend of trip the majorly historic zone of Market Bosworth (where the devastating Wars of the Roses were concluded) all the poorer for not making it out to the battlefield itself. I see the RIAA's outrageous attempt to sue the kersquillions of downloaders out there is running into its first (hopefully insuperable) hurdle: the law. In the meantime, like the cowardly dog I am, I've disallowed the "supernode" capability in kazaa and am increasingly turning to the frankly more reliable soulseek. Having paid $50 for a Radiohead ticket, after downloading their album FOC presumably I should be sued on that alone. The 'head will make approximately $20 from my live show ticket, versus the $1 on the album I (never) bought. Logic over. Unfortunately, no matter how many times I listen to the 'thief' album it still seems like utter pants in comparison with the Bends-OK Computer era. But I digress.
| 8/18/03 What a scorcher etc!
Yep, all predictions of England having the usual shoddy summer were obliterated by an insane heatwave. Still gathering my thoughts on the whole affair, so what better shots to display, therefore, than some bollards and dullards from the west coast of North America?
| 7/16/03 Escaping the dog days of a Denver summer
Just got back from a couple of weeks of Mexico/San Diego, sun & surf blighted only by having to stand in the company booth for the ESRI conference and confront the nerds. Proof, as if it were needed, to jump ship from IT. The only interest we had was from Indian IT shops sending their scouts around soliciting us for work. Luckily we have no projects anyway. Denver has been wretchedly, relentlessly hot. The choice not to get air conditioning has proved as wise as Schlumberger's efforts to get into the IT business in North America. How apropos, perhaps*, that I should be about to head back to what will undoubtedly prove to be the wettest August on record in ol Blighty. Yes indeedy, a month or so in Regent's Park is on the Something of a backlog building up, but in spite of that here are some shots of a Wash Park picnic, as well as some more quality photies of a brief trip to England. Meant to post something in the height of Wimbledon but time did not allow. Also wanted to discuss "staring at the fragility of life & the precipice of death from the sinking ruins of a burst inner tube" but perhaps that says it all. No photies were recorded, little but adrenaline-soaked horror as Kelly & I fought for our lives in the snow-melt of a raging river while Seanie laughed on. Made for something of a corker of an evening out. These, it could be argued, are the days of our lives. Watching the telly at midnight -- a distinctly unAmerican time, perhaps -- the Craig Kilburn show comes on. Old Kilbers is actually the most sarcastic chap on telly. He's interviewing equally dry, wry Dennis Miller. The topic turns to sport, and the topic of the Lakers comes up. Not only do I not know whether they are basketball/baseball/football/hockey, I care not. Today HENMAN scammed his way into the quarter-finals of Wimbledon. Go Timbo! In a homogenized, 'globalized', Starbucks spewing, web-wide world it appears as if sports continues to stir up feelings of affinity for Blighty like little else. Wey-aye! * purely for the pomposity factor, Nickles
| 6/26/03 Without Balls: Nick Furness, je t'accuse
Yep, another 16 people march onto the Denver labour market (albeit with a fat redundancy cheque in pocket), flung from the rapidly diminishing ranks of Convergent Group/Schlumberger. The augurs for the day were not good. In the absence of Blighty I have been thrown onto the mercy of friends for lifts to work (Vielen Danke nach Tonks/Seanie/Derren). As someone who prides himself on waking up without an alarm clock, it has been a (pardon the pun, which in American English translates loosely as "literally") rude awakening to cob a lift from someone who leaves before milkmen have brushed their teeth. I have been suffering at the hands of this maniacal insomnia all week, slowly acclimatizing myself to this sleep-deprived existence. Imagine the delight therefore, when, having dragged my sorry post-shiv-birthday arse into my clothes, only to receive the following txt msg: AdamT Mate running late. One hr? Jun 26 07:30AM Notwhatyouwant. Some old todgeslap photies mercilessly wrenched from Seanie's site. Apologies to Nixta for copying files from one side of his machine to the other, but an unshakeable infestation of trouser weasels to him for his recent, inaccurate tales of noncery. Am I afraid to fly in the face of my sponsor's latest rants? Ich denke nicht. Do we at frosties.com regard it with the same level of seriousness as the RIAA's latest display of impotence? Do we scoff at his inability to form the phrase "World's most pompous prat" without a) omitting the apostrophe b) capitalizing the first letter of each word in the style of Tom Bannon? Ich denke so. Of course, old cadger only brought his website out of somnolence to produce page headings such as "Bloody 'ell", "Rants" and "Slaggings". Clearly the irony of an accusation of perma-negativity is a) projection of self or b) post-modern pontification dripping in irony. Assez. (frosties.com is a nixta.com enterprise)
| 6/20/03 Blightymobile est mortus?
Or at least in a deep, Hans Solo-style coma. Is it about to move on to the list of trusty ex-steeds? Je pense que oui. And neverevereverever take your vehicle to PepBoys, not unless you want to be confined to taking a lift with Tonks at some ungodly hour each morning. Could there be a more obvious sign of 'move to a place with public transport?' And so draws to a close the second period of living alone (the first being 6 months in '96, this being a mere 3 weeks). People have consistently told me that living alone is the zenith of their existence. While it is true that it extends nudity, permits still-louder music and leaves the house feeling inexplicably cleaner, I can't quite jump aboard the hermit bandwagon. I just have to think to myself: what would Christopher Alexander think? Was the solo-life part of primitive society, or did it form part of Marx' utopia? Je pense que non. It didn't help that I was haunted not only by the guests of the Kentucky Inn (Denver's sleaziest, just a few steps away from the Pearl St Palace. The sort of place that has its rush-hour between 7&8am as its clientele are coming off the shift. But I digress, and in a snobbish way), but the true ghosts of the house were roommates past. Showers were taken (LC), keyboards tapped on (MM), hair dyed, couches slept on (MM, NF), pans banged around (LC), duplicitous double door slamming (JB). Worst of all: NO ONE TO BARRY AT. The lesson learnt is that one needs an outlet for negative energy. Of course, all that was restored when a bearded Shiv returned from an American-style tour of Europe (21 countries in as many days) and decided to move the spare key to the house (er...the only key to the house) from its position of the last 16 months without telling me. Some antics from Sea Ranch and, erm, Twa's. Recovery at last? My gauge will be David scoring a job...although some say that Rachelle is already in employment. Meanwhile our company is allegedly on the cusp of setting another 50 unwitting souls free. Bonkers Beeb article of the week. Genug.
| 6/12/03 Get a pail, IT's time to bail
Lots of doom & gloom articles about the sorry state of IT and how things can only get worse. The prevailing school of thought espouses the old Ash argument that all tech jobs are moving to India. Only face time will save us. Scradgers. Notice to Travis -- they're coming for financial services next... Still, not all is wrong with the world -- this is the most hilarious thing I've heard since that stormy Saturday night in that cosmopolitan centre of culture, Indianapolis. Events of a tamer nature from Lindsay departure night -- the camera failed to snap the 2am ralph-onto-the-front-lawn antics. Looks like I'm making some progress on trying to return to Blighty, which is only enhanced by reading a load of old badgers, including the following insight into business in Britain: One older worker complained bitterly to researchers that 17-year-olds "have fairy hands, they don't want to graft" and said younger workers would be turn up with debilitating hangovers or take sick days "because it's raining".
| 6/8/03 Slippery Slopes
Went to see the Matrix Reloaded last weekend. I have recently become somewhat obsessed with the first one, which can only mean that I'm a) philosophically challenged (or not enough) b) I'm trying to identify with the geek-as-hero image or c) the film really is something of a Fightclub-style perfect blend of thoughts/action . Any road out, it (the sequel, not a patch on the original but an interesting advancement of the plot) has become the first flic that I've downloaded from Kazaa. I felt that sense of naughty, semi guilt-laden exhilaration that I experienced 3 years ago with my first MP3 from Napster. Yum. I used to think that moisture fell from the skies every month or two. This year it seems as if Colorado is rivaling the west coast of Scotland. To that end, went camping/rafting on the weekend, where the water seemed to form itself in walls. Crashing, face-smashing, boat-tipping walls. Probably had more adrenaline flowing than Uma Thurman in Plup Fiction after the needle-in-chest incident. Yikes.
| 5/29/03 Old Skool
Fotes taken from a hitherto lost disposable at the time of JB's going-away pub sprawl. Gives some meaning to the term 'blind-drunk'. In a (day-long) fit of boredom, I reluctantly signed onto friendster this week. The basic premise seems to be listing your friends, who list their own friends, who list theirs etc. So for example on my list is JB, who lists the slappers of south London, who list their tennis partners', who list their STD-yielding ski fling in Val D'Isere and BOOM! everyone's snogged everyone anyway. Still, it is faintly intriguing to know how the whole world knows is inter-networked. Quite a funky thought. Of course, as Maura points out, it's really more of a match.com-lite. With a strong flavour of classmates.com / friendsreunited, it's probably just another one of those things you may sign up for and then forget about. MauraMail.Subject: What in the hell is this, Phil? I'm appalled. Date any of your friends? I think not. And it's called friendster.
| 5/19/03 Geek me up
More shamelessly stolen snaps from Rannery of a couple of recent happenings: more people leaving the world's most transitory city. <GeekWarning>After years of struggling with PL-SQL and its poorer cousin T-SQL, I found myself down the pub with a a dodgy mate of Ash, Campbell. Turns out said horse humper workded for Oracle. On a whim I mailed him' and tried out SQLJ. Holy cannelloni! A 'real' programming lingo, and it works on the client & server -- with jdeveloper it even debugs. On ne peut pas demander de plus. TonksMail.Subject: ...premonition... TonksMail.Body: Quote from myself after the first drink at about 9.10pm last night....... "This night sorta feels like the night Iro and I went to Potts one time, y'know, a little tired, middle of the week..... then we went ahead and drank 29 Jack and Cokes between us". So, we only did 39 last night (plus Phils girly vodkas) but not bad, all told. Thank fark there were Hot Pockets in the fridge and Advil in the cupboard. Nope, haven't done any research on slashdot about it but my machine has been recently running like a dog (and a dead one in a ditch at that) recently. I found a google_dcc process (actually, 3 of them) consuming over 50% of the cpu. Having killed them and deleted the executables I thought no more of the matter. But lo, they reappeared. After repeating the exercise and removing the directories I thought, "surely they're gone now". But like Matrix/Terminator-style self-creating, indestructable creatures they just came back. Presumably "dcc" stands for "diabolical cloning clusterfark". Then I uninstalled the google toolbar and it all went away. Ability to see my frosties.com google rating 0, Ability to listen to music once more 1. Result.
| 5/6/03 Madonna Mia!
Oh, Madge, did you really have to go and try to flood the internet with profanity in the name of making yourself even richer? Still, there is the challenge of downloading the non-counterfeit album (is there irony in an artist spreading a counterfeit version of their recording? penso di si'). Such effort is making up for the fact that most reviewers seem to think Ms Ciccone has produced another Bedtime Stories, so maybe she's out-Petshopboysed the PSB themselves. Speaking of music, 102.x bites the dust -- another nail in the coffin of Denver radio. Some photies themselves illegally posted before their time by Flangey. Where is the PIAA when you need 'em?
| 4/18/03 Everything's gone green When I arrived in the States I was shocked by our then-CEO and his blunt approach to motivation. Money. That was the beginning and end of the matter -- issues such as the people you worked with and the the interest of the job were barely (if ever) mentioned. Now that the recession has brought my career down to its knees (wage slave), I figured "why not concentrate on that aspect of the job?" 'Introducing' the frosties money clock -- watch your wages accumulate before your very eyes (the salary is entered in password format so as to prevent straying eyes from figuring it out). And, for the hell of it a second salary level can be entered so as to exacerbate tension/soothe your worries away. Painful photies from the "Shiv" round of layoffs aforementioned. 4/18/03 The curse of the Vail house... A little over a year ago I moved out of the Vail house. Let's take a peek at people in on that jaunt who've subsequently lost employment; Michael Ellis, Jay Fishel, Kevin Terp, Elizabeth Sargeant, Bitsy Schneider, Steph Reed. Working in the cushty area of healthcare, I'd always thought that Renee was insulated from the rigors of the IT slump. Apparently not, as she becomes the latest statistic in the 100,000+ layoffs of the past month. As I see JB planning bicycling adventures around the UK I ask, when's it all going to end? Casting my frazzled memory back to the last recession, which began 1990 and didn't really finish 'til 93 I fear that even if we're on our way out, statistically, the employment sitch is gonna be screwed for at least 12-18 months. Ho hum. Some sepia shots from Steph's Aspen celebration. 4/11/03 Man down! (Shiv)...layoffs continue SBL Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf tells remaining staff that lay-offs did not happen. "No, there weren't another 30-something people let go, and the office has not shrunk from 430 to 100 since acquisition. Exciting new projects are starting daily, brought to us by our talented team of sales people. Responding to allegations made by remaining employees of the influx of cardboard boxes recently ordered by HR he retorted "They (the remaining employees) are going to surrender or be burned in their cubes. We made them drink poison last night and the CEO's soldiers and his great managers gave them (the employees) a lesson which will not be forgotten by history. Truly." He brushed off an institutional investor's suggestion -- reflected in the sinking share value -- that it was time for the management to surrender. "God will roast their stomachs in hell at the hands of these dissenters. Faltering forces of infidels cannot just enter a company of 70,000 people and lay besiege to them! They are the ones who will find themselves under siege." Reporters had seen outplacement agencies lining up for the juicy contracts brought about by the degenerative state of the company. "Don't believe these invaders and these liars. There are none of their forces in the office. Never!" the minister told reporters at an impromptu outdoor press conference. Finally, answering the charge that oil companies should not dabble in IT he concluded "Please, please! The... (critics) are relying on what I called yesterday a desperate and stupid method." We found that views differed with so-called former employees. "We discovered that all that the SBL information minister was saying was all lies," said Ali "Shiv" Hassan, an SBL employee in Cairo, Egypt, gazing into his severance package, estimating the number of Jack & Cokes he could purchase from the final cheque. Kris Prohbsh A-shhmysta was heard to be giving advice of the "don't chuck a Hartley" variety. We sincerely wish Mr Hassan all the best in his traveling & tennis careers. Last of the wintry photies. 4/3/03 Liberated! A couple of years ago I tried the web browser Opera. Nasty UI, dog-slow performance and embedded adverts caused me to run for the uninstall option (which probably crashed). It sort of reminded me of then Jon Hartley -- bloated, bumbling and bally useless. But so sick of popup adverts for classmates.com & 'security' cameras designed to scroll down cleavage, a never ending stream of Alt+F4 clicking for sites like eonline, msn and any newspaper led me to interrogate Tartley on the state of the non-Mickeysoft browser market. I can't believe I waited so long. Mozilla is not in the same league as IE -- it does have History and Alt+D puts you in the address bar (listenup, Netscape), but Ctrl+Enter is farked, the middle mouse button doesn't bring up the multidirectional cursor. And a few sites it doesn't seem to work on. And the annoying non-background print dialog. But the freedom of never seeing scores of cheapflights windows is exhilarating beyond belief. I feel as though I've cheated the internet of her great scam, as though somehow I'm flying through the web. Or something. Try it. Some fantabulous black & white Coral room photies, as well as some previously lost skating snaps from Nikki's b'day. 3/25/03 Moore On at the Oscars While there was some value to his statements, Michael Moore's oscar outrage was just that. Condensing the themes of the Bush (s)election, war with Iraq and the exaggeration of terrorism into 45 seconds didn't really deliver any message beyond Moore-as-politician. Isn't that sort of thing meant to be debated in the nation's political institutions? Maybe that was the point. Even though I was HP to see Nicole Kidman take home the Best Actress thingy did she really have to blubber like Gwyneth Paltrow? Bad things really do seem to come in threes -- queen of egos (Julia Roberts) was there yet again. Some dog-eared photies from Breck & SF. Guestbook, courtesy du Nixta, which is semi-functional. 3/20/03 SchneeFest! Biggest snowstorm in 20 years or some such. It began on St Patrick's Day after a rousing Coral/Supergrass gig at the Bluebird. Strolling down Colfax at 1am in search of the ever elusive Denver taxi was not the perfect introduction to the storm. But lo, our gracious lords & masters have allowed us to "work" at "home" for a 4 precious days. Work has included shovelling, sitting around, snowballing and snowfort construction. But mostly sitting around. Cabin fever has been combated by wandering out onto Washington Park, watching surreal telly and caning various bevvies. Results of day one and impromptu party on day two have been captured by the KatieCam. 3/17/03 Kumbaya - debate in Denver Just got back from a lame-as anti-war demonstration. OK, a candle-lit vigil was never going to be a radical, stirring, politicized rally designed to make a difference. But after listening to a few hundred people sing Michael Jackson's "We are the world" I was ready to leave. As I cycled away some articulate, courageous chap floored his SUV past the flock screaming "F*** you, Bomb Iraq!" Not a good advert for middle America. Hmnn...I see George Bush invited Gerry Adams for dinner at the Whitehouse the other day. Not sure where that fits in on the 'war on terrorism'. A few snowy photies from a family outing to Armida's / Keystone. A few new players. 3/11/03 Au Revoir, JB 5 long years have JB & I been housemates in Denver. Every emotion, from elation to exasperation, has been experienced in the Knackers(Breakers), Gaylord & Pearl St. Fare thee well, JB. With layoffs coming at the end of this very week and/or a transfer in the offing it may be a short period before I'm back in the U of K. A traditional Colfax-based pubcrawl was thrown on the last snowy day in Feb. One suspects that there are many more photies to come, and perhaps one could argue that my library is turning into nothing more than a Rannery-redux. Care factor is, predictably, low. 2/25/03 Whammy the Grammy Sorry, but if rehashing a well-worn 60s formula (see Dusty Springfield's "Breakfast In Bed" for a better version of "Don't know why") wins Norah Jones a Grammy over Eminem's "Without Me" then the recording academy (or whatever it's called) needs a boot up the harse, as well as a reminder that innovation and, frankly, a good tune should provide the bedrock of such an award. Cue "Spiderman" to win Best Picture. Crazy, crazy night for Nikki's b'day commenced with a BYOB at Asian Cafe. as well as antics from a farewell to the Gurner. 2/18/03 Sucked out So Joe Millionaire es finito, gone in a mélange of forced fantasy and financial fecundity. The cultural glue which bound my existence together to everyone from taco DJs through aspiring actors is no more. Wherefore Monday nights? Back to another teevee thang or time to learn the conversational arts? The Vietnam Inn, depicted in a joyful moment mere days before its demise, is depicted within, as are scenes from layoff Tuesday and the ever photogenic Lime. 2/11/03 Jerry Maguire meets Bridget Jones Debate of the week, or my life right now: which book to read next, Don Quixote or 'What colour is my parachute?'. Scrappy old photies from Vail & Breckenridge weekends. 1/31/03 Stock-in-trade market montage Been meaning to put together this homage to BBC stock market photography for a while. Luckily global stockmarkets are obliging nicely. More photes from tail end of last year and the noo year. Still figuring those resolutions out. 1/24/03 Congrats to "Big" Andy D Is this the first engagement announced on frosties? Credo di si'. Well, wherever in Connecticut you may be have a goodie... Pictures from the tail end of the last year, including a Thanksgiving in SacTo and CatieB's b'day. The DigiElph bought it last week after only one week in action. How to take Amazon's increased profits and self-congratulatory stance on the 'customer experience?' 1/17/03 Frostless New Year Frosties has been taking a back seat to the nascent spainisfun website (a parental venture which is teaching me CSS/ASPX) and, for the first time in a long time, work. Yet in spite of said pick-up, lo, more redundancies are in the (lay)offing. I'm getting back to that real programming man's man's programming language, C++. It is surely a matter of time before I morph into one of the scary characters who adorn the sleeve of the book I've had to read cover-to-cover. Hawaii action from Jim & Liv's wedding, as well as a particularly sticky Pearl St fondue session just before xmas. Best xmas gift? Digielph beats off Grombich's rather fantastic Story of Art. Listening to Euphoria Gold. Yep, first CD bought in 2 years. The RIAA would be proud. 12/17/02 Frosties.com 2002 awards Frosties is proud to present the first and probably last golden flake awards. Mille grazie to Kraka for the frosties logo. Scenes from San Francisco and assorted antics in CO. Katie has some piccies up. 12/11/02 Deja Vu And so it came to pass, that after 40 days and 40 nights, the great Snowfighter beast was slain, SQL Server examinations were smoked and Thanksgiving celebrations were attended to. The snow has been decreasing in quality but many ski trips have been had. Dodgy night out in Lime, weekend up in Vail to celebrate the birthdays of Ash/JB/Kelly. As Mr Ellis has scathingly commented, these piccies could have come from any time in the last x years (although these particular gems came from Percy's camera, through the eye of the Flange). Riposte. 12/04/02 Falling Down? Finally got around to scanning in the houseboat pictures, whose quality is an advert for buying a digital camera, or any sort of camera. Even sketching would be better. While scanning the puppies in Kraka was doodling -- his mind is messed up. Suburbia beware. 25/11/02 Groped! The INS, in their efforts to ensure that I am genetically pure enough for assimilation, have sucked my blood. No HIV for me. Kelly has been involved in some modelling shenanigans. Dani MullOfFurnessCintyre has pointed me in the direction of popbitch. Speaking of muzak, I see the Mercury Prize has gone to Ms Dynamite, rather than the fantabulous Streets. The same prize-giving institution that awarded "M" People's Elegant Slumming over Blur's Parklife. Exactement. 15/11/02 Houseboat horror The photies of the houseboat are so shockingly bad that I can't be dealing with scanning 'em in right now. But here's one anyway. I had to get up at the crack of dawn to go and retrieve my cellphone from YellowCab's HQ up in the northern suburbs. It may as well have been Fort Collins, such was its distance from Denver. Perhaps they UPSed it there. Still, got a tour of their office including the call center, where 20 women were cooped up like chickens (albeit phone-answering chickens with desks and chairs). People in really shoddy jobs share a camaraderie that the rest of this shark-eat-shark world do not understand. This is rude, but not as rude as this. Mr Furness would be proud. This is for Ballgame, in search of Glenn Hearse. He's the bloke with the moustache. 9/11/02 Webcam in ashes of Phoenix shocker! It's back. Well, not exactly back full-time as we've lost the extension cord, but whenever I can be arsed to connect it with the lappy the page should be back. Check out its reincarnation. 230pm on a mid-week afternoon. NME/Dotmusic/BBC/NYTimes/WashingtonPost have all been thoroughly examined. You wander onto MSN from a link on your (s)hotmail browser. What are you rewarded with? Utter trollocks. Final pix from summer trip in Europe. 7/11/02 Old-School After a slew of pseudo-healthy looking photies, what relief it was to get a camera back with nothing but jello-for-liver written all over them. 4/11/02 Back from Ha-Wye-on-sea A mere couple of drops, of the Slovenia and Croatia types, in the ocean of photies taken at the Nixta's wedding. More to come. Following each round of layoffs there arrive a flood of emotional emails along the lines of "It's been great knowing/working with you". This one was a bit much. 16/10/02 Homage Linkage Ms Winkler has created a website with frosties influence. Imitation, flattery, sincerity. "A man's character can be judged by the frequency of his updates" -- keep it up. Al & Jane have passed on yet more shots of Edinburgh/Cambridge. 11/10/02 Blogged out The frequency of updates to this page implies that, like Tartley before me, I'm turning into a blog-bore. Apologies. A mighty scan operation is underway, not exactly the TREX of its time but something of a project to get the WorldTrip photies in. Strange & beautiful places. 8/10/02 Bloodbath! 33% of the company slashed, 50% of our own group cast astray. The layoffs keep coming. Some layoff thoughts/terminology: dead man walking, cannibalising, wearing a dead man's clothes, safe, alive, hit and 'got'. Thinking of coming to sunny/snowy Colorado? Think again, it has the worst job prospects in the US. More pics from summer trips to Cambridge and Edinburgh. 5/10/02 Let the Golden Age begin... The layoffs continue. Our own fate appears as though it will be sealed around the middle of this month, though rumours escape every 10 mins, run amok for several hours before returning as "it's confirmed <xxx>day, xxx% of the company to get it". Methinks I'll be needing this soon. First photies update in a couple of months, including snaps of Shiv's b'day and July 4. Biking noncery in Winter Park and some legendary kayaking in Summit County. New kid on the (non-chopping) block? Happy 21st, Libbs. 26/09/02 Soapbox for MP3 sharing Do they really believe getting some hyperpaid entertainers to be patronising is going to get us to stop getting music for free, or to stop understanding that $10 is an insane amount to pay for MP3s with no distribution costs? Bark on, Britney. Let me confidently predict (with a nod to JB) that the winner will be music, made by people who love it, consumed by people who love it and, bad luck chaps, freely available. Swimming against the tide of history. I'm sure Marx would have had something to say about it. The era of capitalist music production is drawing to a close. As advertised by Shiv, if Kazaa is the new Napster then Soulseek is most assuredly the new Audiogalaxy. Someone needs to add a plug-in to automatically mail the artist after each download, telling them of the increased likeliness of your going to a gig. Yes, I didn't pay for the Strokes album but, yes, I did pay $20 to see them on a couple of occasions. Am I missing something? 24/09/02 Resume/CV is up & limping Into which pastures will this glittering career lead me next? Techy advice nugget of the week: Don't use Word for doing your resume. 17/09/02 Swamped Updates are suspended while I try to figure out the second mortgage that will be developing the 10 or so disposable cameras. Digital Elf, where art thou? Still, mountains have been climbed, weddings attended, plays viewed, clubs danced in, foreign tongues abused, seas frolicked in and oceans crossed -- and all shall be documented in the timeless frosties fashion. As surely as the leaves turning brown, the Pearl St posse is back and more daft adventures await. 8/08/02 Happiness makes you cry Success at UT proved to be fleeting, a two day summit of fulfilled promise. Details of a quick trip to Baja, Meheeeco, and more mundane matters here. Last of the new players? Aiiiieeeeeeeee! Off on an LA-Scotland-London-Cambridge-Slovenia-Croatia 3 week hiatus. Back in September, after much capering. Laters. 7/31/02 Numero Uno (no, not Pizzeria) History has been made. This will probably not last...but for right now I'm the reigning champion at UT. Which was the winner? Hard to say, the British version's daft stories of wandering canines or the World edition's tales of koala corpses? Caught the over hyped Vines at the Bluebird yesterday. While not exactly the Suede of their day, still a step-up (or back) in the live stakes over Doves. Comedy pseudo Who-style destruction of equipment at the end made up for the lack of killer melodies. Yet more photies from pre-summer, including the infamous flowerbed scene. 7/23/02 Still un(der)employed So the Beeb is splitting its website to UK and World editions. Which to use...? Think I'll go with impersonating the former so that I can still catch quality stories about feline phobia and (checking today's edition) "Help mum! My lip's stuck in the scanner!" Joelonsoftware reports that a legal music service, listen.com, is out there for $100/year. 15,000 albums but no Madonna? I'll stick with Kazaa just for now, in spite of its infinite inferiority when placed next to Audiogalaxy. If AG was the Roman Empire of music systems then Kazaa is the Middle Ages. Roll on the Renaissance... Bit of an events backlog at the mo', here's Adam's nonsmoking birthday from a while back. 7/3/02 Midsummer muddle Independence day is upon us, so in the spirit of praising my host nation I thought I'd put up a quick, not-too-serious analysis of a why-stay-in-america list cribbed from the grauniad (with some sanity checks from yours truly). The sedate version of Shiv's birthday, a trip to Yosemite and some time in a dodgy club in Oakland. Another new player on the scene, another member of the extended Penn clan has also arrived. 6/14/02 In the middle Everyone goes through lulls at work. Mine is coming up for its 6 month anniversary, and reached the stage where I'm doing searches on friends. To that end, searching on JB seems to be turn up some previously unknown -- and yet incisive -- responses from some slashdot geezer. What's the response to this job-based ennui? Raging. 6/7/02 High Schnell! Before the Euro2000-style fall from grace (scarily reminiscent of the 1-0 defeat of Germany before falling foul of Romania), it's time to exude the euphoria. England have gone some way towards making amends for the slights of '86/'98. So excited was I, that I had to go off & translate (courtesy of google) an Argentinian article, "The Bitter Breakfast". Muhahahaha. Oh to be in Blighty right now. Scenes from the train wreck that was the Pearl St official housewarming. Glenn Goodrich has set himself up with the most homepage page's homepage in the Deep South. 5/31/02 Low A new frosties low. Ahead of scores of people with half his IQ, JB's been laid off (somehow yours truly escaped the noose). It's been a destabilising event of obvious magnitude, and the aftershocks have yet to kick in. The house that Barry built, not content with dispatching Kelley from its evil clutches (whilst sucking Shiv in), may yet spit us all out onto the street, across the road to be Kentucky Inn regulars. Still, new piccies available of weekends past. It has been noted that there is a lack of sunlight in the frosties photies of late, and that it cannot be blamed on the winter any longer. First new player to be borne solely under the Pearl St banner. 5/17/02 Scalped OK, no one really told me that dying your hair red/orange and then black was going to cause my scalp to peel for two weeks, causing diminished follicular supplies (much needed). And according to Ash I now look like a C++ developer. Snadgers. New website from the Northern Nonce. A couple of non-Shiv snaps from Adam's party & assorted goings out. Sorry, Shiv, but it's frosties 2 allshiv 1 at the mo'. Musings on life from the part fantastic, part flawed architecture/life book. 5/10/02 The world goes down the swanny... Suicide bombings, continued Al-Qaeda activity, Archduke Ferdinand-style Euro executions, Come back Clinton, all's forgiven. Oh, except for this pretty perturbing statistic I just read: in 1999, the most recent year for which statistics are available, 28,874 Americans were killed with guns. Reflect on that for a moment. That Star Wars sequel had better be head & shoulders above its laconic predecessor. Some photies including the debut of NG. Cheers to Niall for sending on some reputable Garrett wedding photies. Having expanded my newspaper umbrella from the (London) Times to the New York Times, Washington Post & Grauniad, I have a chance to pit the NYT against its older sibling. A daft story of pesky pike in Northern California eluding human attempts to be massacred provides an interesting comparison. Round one: The Times 1, NYT 0. 5/8/02 Another one bites the dust... A disposable camera was lost in the thick fog of the Pearl St Housewarming. No amount of laser light has led to its whereabouts. If anyone's seen it, I appeal to you to let the public see the beauty of that particular night. Meanwhile, if you're out there in deepest Philly, Shiv, take a gander at the stats -- Skankmeister is on the ascendant. Where is FlatEric? 5/2/02 Usurped! Shiv has outfrostied frosties itself, in a brilliant display of wry-comments-with-expandable-thumbnail-photies, focusing on Adam&Simon's party. Worth a visit (after 5/2). The DJ set went without hiccup & was critically acclaimed but not exactly popular. Perhaps it was missing a fog machine/laser? This weekend should prove that particular experiment. Recent UK trip documented here, including the worst wedding shot of my (not inconsiderable) photographic experience. No photos from this morning's comedy experience This morning JB & I left the house to find a pigeon spinning around on its legs kebab-style, unable to move other than in a circular fashion. JB spotted a puddy cat with feathers in its mouth at the end of the garden and chased it away. The sight of JB in high speed pursuit of this feather-loving feline villain was one that will remain with me for at least the remainder of the day. Another new player? Wolf Camera has upped its prices to an extortionate $16 per set of photies+cd, so if anyone has any ideas for photies lettuce no, or else it's snapfishhereicome. 4/11/02 eJay Badger me if I'm not finding myself writing a utility for converting a RMP file to M3U. Did 2 mins of surfing & thought it would be easier to write one. Anyway, the reason? The Honeybadgerz project (OK, more an attempt to emulate the Avalanches than the animal itself) has kicked off in earnest. Get it yourself. Corporate Whore? What for? Some utterly non-descript noncery based around Kelley & Steph's joint (but distinctly separate) birthday on April 2. A definite lack of photographic editing. Must get the digital camera fixed for such scenes ("Let's get another angle on my double chin!"). Player du mois? Click ici. Le Pen in second round? Zut alors! 4/11/02 Under a lobster red sky Life is swings & roundabouts at the mo'. Job is in the toilet, but personally things are nae so bad. Just came back from a glorious trip to Blighty blessed by constant sunshine, family/friends and good chocolate. Last night I found myself under a typically never-ending Colorado sky playing footy for Madras. Tonight Spiritualized/BRMC in town & tomorrow off to San Fran for the w/e. Well well well, if it isn't our old friend Mr Pearl St Party (more a soiree than a party in truth) disposable camera, previously considered lost. New housemate as player? Whodathortit? 4/4/02 Spring forward The Oscars were generally pants again this year. Yes, yes, great to see the racial imbalance addressed etc, but did Halle Berry nearly have to outannoy Julia Roberts in the overreaction department? Just when you thought things couldn't get any worse, the scrawny dullard appears herself (in the guise of giving an award to Denzel Washington) to blubber forth with "Oh God I love my life". Here's to her career going the way of George Lazenby's... Quite how we had such a large gathering and only made off with one photy is something for its organiser to lament. Anyway, for the conclusion of all things luvvy go ye here. 3/28/02 "Though my body gets tired... My mind does it no favours at all/And there's so little time/To do something, something, anything more" [J Pierce]. Words have scarcely been more apt for the last week (and beyond, perhaps). "Have a real good life". Another new player with a Scortish surname? Shorely Shome Mishtake, Miss Funnyfanny? 3/22/02 Bill Peden RIP Bill Peden has died. He will be sorely missed by anyone who knew him. 3/13/02 Settling in Last ever Gaylord photies from the hasty exit party & a trip to check out the snow in Lake Tahoe. JB & I found ourselves in the misery of a Kmart shopping trip for house stuff the other day. Just as we were feeling sapped of the very will to live, a (middle-aged female) angel came from the adjacent aisle declaring that she was "so happy". After JB inquired if the lady in question was "high on life, or other external influences" the woman defended her felicity by exclaiming that "I'm so happy to have all these savings". Joy is clearly a subjective emotion. 3/1/02 And so it came to pass Along with noncemanchild Tartley, I failed to organise the DSL in Pearl St. Apparently the phone company (Qwest) requires 2 weeks until they can find the lever to pull the switch (the house already having had DSL a few months ago, it must be a particularly tricky operation). How we managed to move house on the day of a 10 inch snow blizzard is something the gods of misfortune can only be smirking about. Anyway, a thousand grazie, as usual, to Nixta, who has come to frosties aid in a time of (Tartley-induced) need. The Vail house has seen a continuous party of varying repute. An old-but-new player? 2/20/02 End of an era All that romance stuff is done with, now it's time to get down to business. To wit, the end of Gaylord Central is within a hair's breath. A final batch of mulled wine will see the old place off. The question remains as to whether the landlady considers vomit stains to be an impediment to returning the deposit intact. As of late Feb 28, the site will be down for a few days while Tartley figures out the DSL in the new house. 2/8/02 Debt Ahoy! Some January japes based around Ash' Bachelor thingy & various related happenings. It's at this point that I have to reveal that I've decided to join the great society of debtors, in spite of the obvious folly of such an idea. The Gaylord Massive is relocating, expanding as fast as the EU and renaming itself to the Pearl Street Posse. 2/4/02 February Frugality Large changes are looming on the frosties horizon. Yet more xmas (or thereabouts) events. Is that a new player I see before me? 1/23/02 Christmas Hangovers Pre / Post-xmas excitement, xmas itself and New Year Noncery. I fear it's the end for the public NYE celebrations. Other than the usual Champs Elysees crowd-crushing, one of our group got attacked for an expensive camera. After successfully repelling the potential larcenists the scene turned surreal. Water pistols were shot through the freezing air in our direction as a general "fous la camp". The problem was that they contained some sort of WWI liquid acid weapon, causing temporary blindness, beesting pain & general nausea. C'est la vie, eh? 1/11/02 Clearing the backlog No recession in the frosties photo vault. A monster night out for J.Be's b'day (the big three oh) back in December. Not a spewfest as promised but an EU-surplus amount of booze was necked as numbers swelled into the forties for this 12 hour pub crawl along the seedy side of town (E Colfax). I've tried on several occasions to get a photo of each pub/drink, and this attempt was every bit as unsuccessful as previous efforts. 1/8/02 Bonne Annee / Alles Gut in Neue Jahr In spite of lost film (featuring Great Ocean Road footage), everything from Thanksgiving to Melbn / Sydney and in between. Something of a frantic last month, Australia & Europe trips, J.Be's b'day, Christmas in Blighty, moving into Vail house, skiing. Time is being crunched, the Honeybadger project is being delayed. 12/17/01 Bah! humbug Life's been a tad blurry of late, but not even I could forget a couple of Autumnal trips to San Fran, including the birthdays of Alexis &, but a mere 7 days later, Alex. Things have been getting pretty ugly in the recently-emigrated friend department, as an IMHO Rant can attest -- whatever happened to the xmas spirit? New player? 12/05/01 Paradise Lost Just come back from a 10 day sojourn of sun in Sydney & mayhem in Melbourne, where an entire roll of film, a gem in the frosties.com crown, was lost at sea. Expect an outpouring of emotion on a Princess Di-like scale. Just as well the court photographer, Percy, managed to shoot off an extra roll at the nixta departure party, after I had done the first one. 11/16/01 Something in your eyes Was so inviting...something in our voices was so inciting. In addition to Halloween horseplay in SF, Karaoke clumsiness at Armida's straight after an inaugural salsa lesson. It was a seemingly perfect karaoke venue, just outside downtown and sketchy enough to detract 'professional' singers (the looks of Celine Dion, the moves of a koala and the sound of a strangled cat). We were practically escorted off from such a serious K place the last time ($300 to the lamest, er, most talented singer). But even a seedy location couldn't save us from a bewildered crowd, unsure whether to laugh, cry or take to the hills at such stock manoeuvres as writhing around on the floor uncontrollably, or the old going-into-the-crowd-for-an-impromptu-lapdance move. 11/06/01 Nick Furness -- setting sail at last Still recovering from the latest Gaylord party, Nixta is finally orf this week. This means that nixta.com is down the pan (specifically, it's speeding through the Autumn night in a van bound for NYC driven by Vinny & Jimmy) and with it the hosting of my site is finito. This has forced me back out onto the vagaries of the market. Specifically, I've had to settle for second best -- that's right, Linux lurks beneath the frosties sheen. Still, this threatening cloud might actually have the silver lining of a fully functional GaylordCam once more. Stay tuned. 'Til then, check out this Autumnal Action. Ye gads, what's going on with the climate this year? Denver, city of sin & snow, feels globally warmer than it should (every day is 70F in November, confusing the aviary population into decamping to Canada for winter). We'll just have to compensate for the lack of snow. To: The usual crew Subject: Bi Celebration Message: A man of wit, intelligence and discretion. Not exactly a description to conjure up images of the Nick Furness we know today, but it was a long, long time ago...before a debilitating condition, known as Gds-ArcSystems-Convergent-Schlumberger syndrome, took a hold of him in late 1995. As a final measure to break free from the illness, he has decided to decamp to the little-known northern spa-town of New York, where he is hoping to cure himself with long walks in the clean air & frequent baths in the hot springs. A quiet family gathering is being held in his honour, Friday Nov 2 commencing at 9pm 1114 S Gaylord St (303 777 8925) located in the salubrious district of Washington Park. By the purest of coincidences the meeting will be combined with an effort to welcome Lindsay Campbell into our humble abode and into our hearts. If you can find it in your soul to put in an appearance, perhaps a parting medical gift, this world will truly be a better place. Tea and cucumber sandwiches will be provided, and if we're feeling frisky we might crack out the sherry. My sincerest apologies if you receive this twice, I want to be sure to spread the love. 10/31/01 Nightmare: Groundhog Day Anyone going to the BBC/CNN/whatevershoddynewsserviceyouuse -- allow me to introduce the news for the forseeable future:- "Allied Northern Alliance Anthrax Air Attacks Pounding High Alert Stronghold Ground Troops". I know, I know, it's all important. So in the spirit of this unchanging headline, frosties has yet more photies from the London trip as its own ode to repetition. 10/24/01 October Zest Just when I thought the photographic diarrhea was over, it appears to be defying the season and blasting through autumn. There is still another batch to do. As ever, thanks to Al & Jane for sponsoring frosties.com for the London weekend. Will be looking for Al & Flange to commit in Oz come Thanksgiving. Ooh, looks like there are a couple of new players on the scene, including a canine character larger than his frame, as well as a bouncy bird with a long tongue. Shocking. More IMHO Ranting & Music action. 10/18/01 The fear Fortunes have waxed and waned a tad over the last week. After a blinder of a trip to Blighty (family/club/pub type activities -- photies to follow in due course), I came back to feel the force of an as-yet-to-be-determined illness which exhibits flu-like symptoms. Could it be the big 'A'?? Anyway, 'til the Blighty ones stream through feast yer eyes on Elizabeth's birthday. The fate of Real Madras now hangs in the balance, mere weeks after the crowning triumph of our league victory. After a series of what I believe is termed 'disappointing results' (15 consecutive losses), team captain and all round oirish legend Ray "tatties" O'Connell has thrown in the towel. In his own words to the team, "you're all sh**, I'm quitting" and the great man feels he cannot muster up the strength to carry on. Crowning of another kind occurred within the confines of my mouth yesterday. Smoke was billowing out from the rubble of my teeth as the dentist went "crazy with the cheezewiz" in the drilling department. Note to self: go back in time and cut down on 1.5 litres of coke per day consumption between ages 15-25. The jumper hiding my mouth now serves a purpose. 10/10/01 Flying overseas, no time to feel the breeze There simply can't be a safer time to fly than now. So in my bid to get enough airmiles to go down to Australia for the wedding of Captain James "SoftCock" Sanders, I'm off to Blighty for the weekend. Should anything untoward occur, know ye this -- Labour Day weekend was celebrated in Californian quasi-white trash style on a houseboat. It's time to whinge about our cleaner. Not content with being a thieving gypsy (where oh where did my goggles go?), she's moved into slyly repositioning things like bread into the bathroom and condoms onto the, erm, bookshelves. Perplexing. And Nick says she's jammed the plates in so tightly that he cannae get them out. 08/10/01 Emerging from workathon Been a bit holed up, deep in the salt mines of SchlumbergerSema for a couple of weeks. Occupational hazard of being a button-pusher. A few straggly photies from a trip to Carmel/SF and the awe-inspiring victory of Real Madras at the tail-end of summer. Is the recession going to affect frosties.com? I fear so...IMHO Rant to follow... 21/9/01 Dinner Party Malarky A dinner party to celebrate the arrival of autumn and empty the wine stocked in our fridge. Nickles brought the sound recorder for posterity...there are some mp3s that should offend anyone between the ages of zero and two hundred. And a piccy or two of an amusing Winter Park biking misadventure. Spot the new player. 14/9/01 More Birthday Buffoonery One would have to reach back possibly even further than 1970 to find the DOB for Mr R Younger, aka the Iron Monger, but no further than the Wash Park Grille to see birthday-type activities. Cathy also threw a pink slip party (amongst other things) all over Steph's house, which comically nearly ended in fisticuffs ("I'll take 7, er, 4 of you on!", youknowwhoyouare). Rant spot of In My Humble Opinion (IMHO) is up & ready to court controversy. 3/9/01 Birthday Bash 1970, a vintage year for celebrating thirty, erm, one years later, after some noncing around in Georgetown/Idaho Springs. The music section of In My Humble Opinion (IMHO) is kind of up, general rant page still todo. Television -- not sure how much we use ours, but I have noticed that, upon switching it on a few times in the last week, the channel always seems to come up in Espanol. Neither Sean nor JB speak English fluently, let alone a foreign tongue (though Seanie obviously tries). What is the allure? I have a flatmate who is content to gawp at the 1880s sexism that is Latin American / Italian TV (read: 50 year old suited, plump bloke flanked by birds spilling out of luminous dresses) without understanding a word. Next time, use the DSL (Direct Sleaze Link). As Nbci, former webhome, have ditched their lovely little counter service I was forced onto the vagaries of the open market. We live in harsh times, where customers have to actually part with (ten) hard-earned (somewhere) dollars to get a newie. Anyway, it's all back on, so I know not only your browser type & operating system (JB, Linux is up to 40 out of twenty seven thousand hits), but also your shoe size and childhood memories. 26/8/01 Red Rocks Romp Ron/Mel/Emily visit from Blighty, as well as the tail end of the trip to SF. What to do with people from England who choose not to visit in ski season? Dispatched Ron & Mel on an Aspen-Ouray-GrandCanyon-Santa Fe circular road trip. Denver itself is not exactly replete with touristy things to do beyond going to sports games, but Red Rocks/Lookout Mtn does make an amusing afternoon out. Especially when boosted by a "Chariots Of Fire"-style scampering up the amphitheatre seats race with JB. Rounded off with a Wash Park picnic. Photies from waybackwhen (March/April). Plug for friendsreunited (only for Blighty folk), with the reservation that they try to fleece you for a fiver to see other people's email addresses. Workaround: stuff your address in the notes section & use <> before "." or "@" (or some similarly cunning scheme). 17/8/01 Looking for America A never-ending road trip from Denver to San Francisco, passing through Wyoming, Salt-Lake City, a jolly big desert, Tahoe & Sacramento. Driving 19 hours straight to Tahoe gave new meaning to the term "Redbull Hangover" (the jitters accompanied by the feeling that your mouth has been dissolved by hydrochloric acid). Washed down by a luxury stay in Lake Tahoe & a boozy party in SF, where Libby was on the last leg of her world holiday travels. Some leftovers from the Nebraskan noncery / Ouray adventures, sort of an Amnesiac (ie better than the first crop). 10/8/01 Summer moves on A far out trip to deepest Nebraska results in sunburn, spiritual enlightenment and the marriage of John "Foobar" Fowler to his rather attractive bird, Nickie. My first land trip east of Denver and I'm not sure if there's enough incentive to make the sequel. Didn't catch sight of any wigwams, but there is a stench to die for on the Colorado/Nebraska border. Particularly if you happen to be a cow. Lexington proved itself amply in the American small town department. We waited in the square beneath the clock tower but no Libyan terrorists came rushing by in a VW van. What's all this, then? Some new players. Yes, yes, it's in need of a scrubbing but hell, this is a personal website and is not meant to have been updated since January 1996. And where's the black border & midi file? More Ouray/weeding photies are still at the cleaners -- never take your ex-flatmate's film out of the fridge, only to discover that it's slide film requiring processing to be done by a 96 year old blind woman in southern Sicily (cheers, Al). JB & I are going the knuckle on hotornot. 2/8/01 A Midsummer Night's Scream A party to celebrate the departure of Katie was dragged into the mud by some powerful fruit-on-the-outside/firewater-within concoctions made by her erstwhile flatmate, Lindsay. Inevitably, the police wanted a piece of the action and events were terminated in the wee hours. Still got Nebraskan wedding, fondue & Californian road trip photies coming out of the wazoo. Thanks to the efforts of my web presentation tutor Justin Thomas (mailto:athomejt@hotmail.com), the site is undergoing metamorphosis, shedding its 1980s HTML 1x skin and slipping into something more slinky, albeit firmly rooted in the last century -- Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). Although undoubtedly stylish (and certainly handy for making sweeping changes), the name seems to conjure up images of sheets billowing down from damsel-holding mediaeval towers. Computer language inventors are compulsive liars. Hypertext doesn't really warp past your eyes, Java doesn't herald from misty mountains in the Andes and XML is certainly not going to get chopped by censors. 19/7/01 Back in the Gutter Not many people could tell me what it was about, but celebrations took place on & around July 4. Either way, the fireworks do not hold a candle to Nov 5 in Blighty My coworkers, congenial intellects that they are, have been flexing their, erm, wits and catching me in unreal positions. And then humiliating me. not 19/7/01 See Archive for old stuff Old scraps are in Archive (not) 07/12/99 Phil "eas" Penn is back After a six month hiatus he's back. What's the story? All will be revealed in Back and in need of food. Coming soon: Marmite Cooking Adios: Praise me (like you should): Suckered so far: Last edited: 07-Jul-2004