Mike's musings

Frogs - and Rugby

We took the girls to see The Princess and the Frog today, which they enjoyed. As did we, in fact. Although the quality of the animation isn't up there with the best, the story was pretty good, the characters fun, the politics there to read if you wanted, the heroine much more convincing than almost any other, and the music _excellent_. In fact, we've ordered the CD.

On return, after some stern words of warning, Moo and I watched the rugby: England-Wales at Twickers. The girls did OK, in fact, and Moo is an absolute star for taking the girls up and letting me watch the last 20 minutes. And we won: some exciting rugby, though some rather disappointing errors. I had one of those "let's be honest, I'm never going to play rugby again" moments. You just have to face up to them from time to time.

Labels: films, rugby

Functional Specs

(backposting) Now, this may sound strange, but I rather enjoy writing specifications: functional or technical. It can be hard work, and there's usually a mix of dull boilerplate work and complex creative pieces, but I don't mind that. What writing a specification should be about is moving from something which is solely in one or more people's head to a document which shares that knowledge with anyone who reads it. There will be discussion and misunderstanding and rewriting, but I find it very interesting going through that process.

Labels: work

Into London - and out again

I go into London this morning at a decent time, and sent a text to my mate Nick to see if he fancied lunch. No reply, so I gave him a call, and he wasn't available, but said that it was a good tactic: giving him a call if I'm in Town. It would be great to catch up with him in person after some 15 years.

So, I left around lunchtime, having really only gone in for some general discussion, and managed to get some actual work done in the afternoon.

Labels: London

The Pope

There's some interesting discussion going on around the Pope's visit. The Humanists and the Secularists are against the visit: the Anglicans don't seem to care very much. I'm not particularly happy about his mouthing off against the government for passing a Bill which in my opinion doesn't go far enough to protect people. And I'm not a fan of the changes he's making within the Catholic Church, either. But he's coming, and there are a great number of Roman Catholics in this country who'll be very happy about it.

Labels: catholicism

Moo - more work

Well, it looks like Moo's got more work coming. Hopefully not too much this time, and it's actually good that they (seem to) have won (at least part of) the tender, but she's been working very hard recently, and I want to keep an eye on how much she's doing.

Obviously possible trips to Zurich (likely), Sydney (looking fairly probable) and the Middle East (currently conjecture) aren't a _great_ help in this context.

Labels: Moo, travel

St Paul's

(backposting) Left very early, and got to work by around 0802. So early that I thought I'd pop round to St Paul's to see if it was open. I turned up, and discovered that there was a service going on. It was Eucharist, and although I arrived after the confession, I decided to communicate, though I prayed a confession beforehand. A difficult one: sounds silly, but I really feel awkward about receiving communication without confession, and preferably absolution, too. Something I need to think about.

It's been a long time since I visited St Paul's: given that it's only about 5 minutes' walk from the office, that seems silly.

Labels: communion