bwh

Read soubrette's journal to find out some of what we've been doing for the past 3 months.

My contract with Symbian is over - sadly the project came to an end and the group I worked with did not have the budget for me (or that's what they told me, anyway!). So I'm looking for work again. The agents aren't calling me this time (with one exception), whereas back in September I got a lot of calls. I think this says something about the state of the IT job market. However, an employer saw my CV on Cambridge Network (it stands out because I took the trouble to include HTML markup) and got in contact last week. I've had one interview and will have another tomorrow. So, fingers crossed, I might get an offer (which would be for a permanent job).

I bought a new computer (or rather, bought parts and fitted them together) so I and the other half no longer have to fight over who gets to run graphical programs. We named it bunthorne. For some reason Scan added a sound card and external radio tuner to the delivery for free, so I put the sound card in zzumbouk (the older PC) as a replacement for the cheap-ass sound card I originally got for it. Also, I claimed a Sun Sparcstation clone that someone in Cambridge was disposing of. Haven't made use of it yet as it has an antiquated network interface that needs an adapter, and we need another table to put it on.

Back in November we were obliged to see Nattie's family for her cousin's baptism. This was a weekend break as we couldn't take time off work, and after subtracting travel time we only got 24 hours there. Despite the churchy bit and the shortness of time it was very enjoyable. I found I could follow a bit more of the conversation in German though I still don't feel able to say much myself. See the other half's account.

Other familiness: I have introduced Nattie to more relatives at family gatherings in Nottingham (mother's side) and London (father's side) where I also was introduced to a distant cousin. I beat my second cousin at pairs even though she was moving the cards around... but then, she just turned 4 today. We stayed with my parents for Christmas and had all the traditional food and gift unwrapping on Christmas Day.

Other stuff happened, but I can't think of it right now. I could resolve to write more often, but it's too far into January now.

Thought for the day: in yesterday's interview, when asked about interests out of work, I realised that the answer was "cooking".