May « 2008 « Quit Your Day Job Blog

30
May/080

Just the kind of day I needed

Since the skiing finished I've been working pretty hard to get back on top of all my client work. I finally got there yesterday. All loose ends tied up as much as they can be, and I was exhausted. The idea of sitting in front of the computer all day appalled me, but it's been rainingtorrentially here in Chamonix for almost a week now, and there's not much to do here when the weather's bad. So Sarah and I came up with a great idea, and drove over to Switzerland to go to the Spa at Lavey les Bains.

It was just what I needed. Geo-thermally heated water feeding a big pool system. 3 hours of lazing about in the jacuzzis, saunas and pools. There was even a sensory deprivation room - A darkened room with comfortable seats where you just hang out and listen to whale music. Perfect.

Spas. My new favourite thing, and apparently there are quite a few of them up here in the Alps. It's my mother's idea of heaven. I can't wait for her to visit again so I can take her to one.

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Filed under: Good Food & Health, environment, getting old, holidays

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27
May/082

New Fresh Vision website launched today

Listings Lab proudly announces the launch of a new client website for Fresh Vision. It's not a high-tech website but it is simple, pretty and was put together with better Search Marketing in mind. In a few weeks time, when the Search Engines have indexed it thoroughly the company will see a significant increase in their rankings and organic traffic, which will lead to more business enquiries.

We're quite chuffed that it's finished and live.

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Filed under: Doing the business, Internet/Web Design/Blogging, The interweb, web development

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27
May/080

Débrouillard

According to George Orwell (Down & Out in London & Paris), a Débrouillard could be described as the following.

"It is the pride of the drudge—the man who is equal to no matter what quantity of work. At that level, the mere power to go on working like an ox is about the only virtue attainable. Débrouillard is what every man wants to be called. A débrouillard is a man who, even when he is told to do the impossible, will se debrouiller—get it done somehow."

C'est pas moi, ca.

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Filed under: Learning French

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26
May/080

Anti-Muslim propaganda on the BBC

I'm in the enviable position of not being over-immersed in UK culture. I get my news from only a few very controlled sources (controlled by me). When there is crap in the news I switch it off. But here is something ugly and disappointing from the BBC.

Jail staff 'fear Muslim inmates'

A Prison Service report has expressed concern about problems with the high number of Muslim inmates at one of Britain's high-security jails.

That's the web page of the story. But in the radio world, where the words you use are less set in stone, there was definitely mention of 'Muslim Gangs', 'Out of control', Serious incident imminent', blah blah blah. It had the usual, excellent BBC journalistic balance and I have no problem with that, but something ugly about this story struck me.

I'm not sure what makes me more sad. Is it the fact that any news story with the word 'Muslim' in it is immediately bumped to the top of the pile? Perhaps its the fact that if it appears to tap into an ancient christian fear of the barbarian Islamic hordes, then it's bumped even higher? Both of those are undeniably a bad reflection of the current political climate in the UK, but I think what really makes me sad is that BBC Radio 4 actually led with this story on it's main news programs, including the Westminster hour last night.

Love thy neighbour, people.

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Filed under: In the news, The interweb

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24
May/080

Grande Montet Closing party, episode 1

Grande Montets 2 from chris dorward on Vimeo.

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Filed under: cartoons, films

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23
May/080

Driving by, abusing.

Every now & again you get a new meme in your head, and I've suddenly got a new one that is making me laugh. I've always been a fan of Modern Toss but all of sudden I've become a drive by abuser. What's that? Have a look at these 2 cartoons.

That's drive by abusin'.

So driving through Chamonix today with no radio in my car and the windows down I came across a coach load of German tourists inexpertly crossing the road and causing the traffic to stop. I actually heard myself muttering loudly enough for the tourists to actually hear... "Going up on the little train are ya? Gonna go up the mountain yeah? Yeah, fuckin' looks like it!"

So yeah. Here's my blog version of drive by abuse.

"Reading an Internet blog are ya? Wasting a bit of time, yeh? Yeh, fuckin' looks like it too."

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Filed under: The interweb, cartoons, comedy, drive by abuse

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21
May/080

cute. but thick as planks

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Filed under: life's a bit like that sometimes

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20
May/080

Creepy pet python story

I was having dinner with friends last night and someone told the following story about an acquaintance of hers.

So this acquaintance kept a pet python which she'd had since she was a teenager. She loved the snake and used to let it roam around the house and sleep in her bed and the like. Anyway, at some point she realised that all was not well with the snake. It was off it's food and just acting strangely so of course she takes her pet to the vets. The vet examines the snake and is a bit baffled to begin with, then suddenly stops what he's doing and asks the girl if she has noticed anything different in the way the snake sleeps.

"Yes", says the girl, "He used to sleep all curled up in a coil at the end of the bed but now he sleeps beside me lying out straight". "I'm sorry", says the vet. "I'm going to have have to ask you to wait outside while I put your snake to sleep". "To sleep? you mean kill my snake? Why? What's wrong with it?". "Nothings wrong with it". Said the vet. "It's doing what snakes do, and at the moment it's sizing you up as it's next meal, just waiting till it's big enough to eat you, which could be any day now."

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Filed under: In the news, green issues

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17
May/080

Gone Fishin’

The middle of the inter-season in a ski resort like Chamonix is a strange time. After many months of high-adrenaline winter sports it can be quite a crash to suddenly not have anything to do except pick up the pieces of your life that you dropped during the winter.

I've been feeling that crash, and I know some of my friends have too, so the other evening my mate Mark and I did something different. We went fishing. There's a small lake calledChavant up in Les Houches. It's stocked with a zillion trout and people can pay to fish there. To be honest we were assuming that the game-keeper geezer wouldn't be there and we'dyoink a few trout out of the lake for our dinner for free.

The grumpy old bugger was there however, and came over to give us some grief and make sure that we knew we'd be paying EUR 8 per kilo for the fish we took out. No bother, though - we were happy to pay for what we caught. The lake was heaving with fish - they were flapping about all over the place and all we really had to do was cast a baited hook into the middle of the feeding frenzy and yank 'em out. The hardest bit was not spilling our beers.

So in an hour we had 2 perfect eating-sized trout - 650g in total. We paid the grumpy old git his 5 bucks and were off home to make dinner. Mark gutted 'em I prepared 'em with an improvised chili-Cajun dressing with plenty of lemon and coriander ready for 20 mins of baking in a hot oven. Eaten with a few vegetables and nice bottle of white it was delicious. A proper delicacy.

So thank you, fishies. For providing me with some great entertainment and then dinner too.

Gone fishin'