Dan Makovec’s blog

Contract sorted

As of just before 18:00 tonight (Friday), my contract to continue on at work for another 2 months has been finalized. 4 weeks notice of termination required by either side.

To say that they let a small spherical object slip out of their hands affected by gravity with regards to this issue would be an understatement. The whole affair has completely severed my company loyalty, switching me into “work here but actively search till something better comes along” mode.

Still, on the up-side, I’ve got cash coming in. That settles two of my fights (the contract, and the flat). Now I’ve just got to tackle this flight to Adelaide problem.

On the thaw

Wednesday night, around 5.15pm, I’d just stepped out of the office and was walking up Buckingham Palace Rd. I got as far as the police station when I looked at a man walking about 10 meters ahead of me.

It was a still night, yet just as I looked down at his shoes, I noticed his trouser leg ripple as if it was being blown by a fan or something. I thought it odd, since the night was so still, if a little cold.

It took me about 5 seconds to process this sight, then I looked up and noticed a worm-shaped cloud tunneling down from the sky down the street like a swarm of white bees in slow motion. Then it hit - an instant blizzard, which turned everything white in a minute.

I had to catch a bus up to Victoria station (a distance I normally walk in about 5 minutes) because it was snowing so hard. Eventually I made it to the tube and descended for the very slow train to Wimbledon, where I met up with Brian to check out a flat.

Even though the property was billed as a 10 minute walk from the station, it took us about 20, because the paths had all turned slippery. The flat itself was crap - it took us about 2 minutes to suss that out. We crossed the road and caught the bus back to Wimbledon town centre and downed a hot chocolate, which turned out to be a very good move, before getting on the train back to Earls Court.

About 2/3 of the way back, between Putney Bridge and Parson’s Green, the train stopped for about the 10th time mid-track. Only this time, it wasn’t moving on. The driver informed us of trouble ahead, so we waited. This part of the track is aboveground, so we were sitting out in the cold night air, although admittedly it had at least stopped snowing.

After about 45 minutes sitting there the driver turned the heating off - presumably because the extra load from the heating would fuse the train’s power couplings to the track if left in situ for too long. Then it got colder and colder.

I called Dad back in Adelaide (it was about 7am there, 8.30pm here) to tell him what had happened and that we were now losing all feeling in our extremities. He delighted in telling me that it was a lovely day back home and he was enjoying the warmth.

About another 15 minutes later the driver his super-thick, ultra-reinforced, never to be opened except in total emergencies door, and herded us (there were only 6 of us up front) all down the train to the back carriage, where it was slightly warmer probably only because more people meant more body warmth. We sat there another 30 minutes before the train finally moved again and we got back to my flat.

Apparently we were lucky - several people were stranded for more than 3 hours on trains, and up to 8 in cars. All of this from - wait for it - 1 inch of snow!!!

All this despite warnings for more than a week that we were expecting to be deluged. Yet again, London transport lives down to its reputation!

Still by this morning about 90% of the snow had melted and things had returned to normal. They’re not expecting much more than rain this weekend - just as well, I’m planning a quiet one. With sorting out this contract, the new flat and assorted other crap, I’m beat.

Moving out!

After looking at more than a dozen properties over the past two weeks, Brian and I decided upon a flat to move to last night, and even managed to beat the owners down a little on price.

We’ve got a ground floor flat at Turnpike Lane, about 30 minutes north of London on the Piccadilly line in zone 3. It’s a recently refitted, fully furnished one bedroom flat that’s a little under 10 minutes walk from the tube station and about 2 minutes walk to all the shops we need. It’s got a nice garden and a bit of wooden decking at the back where we can have bbqs, and even a full security system!

Move in date will be March 6th, or about 5 weeks from today. We’re both pretty stoked about it because between us, with the cheaper rental and sharing of costs, we’ll be saving a total of about 460 pounds a month! That money will be going towards more travel at the end of the year, and on my part at least towards an investment property next year.

More social-networking crap

Following up on my earlier Posting, it appears that Wired has caught on to the same sentiment.

Anti-networking sites

OK, I tried a few of them out last year and I’ve reached this conclusion:

Social networking sites like Orkut and Friendster are stupid. They don’t work.

They encourage people who are already introverted geeks with nothing better to do other than sit in front of their computer all alone at night to do more of the same. People who are too shy, awkward, retarded or whatever to talk to anybody in real life hook up with others who are of the same disposition. They exchange smilies and asterisked *emotions*, living exclusively together in an anti-social community where nobody ever meets each other, feeling that this pathetic existence can take the place of real human contact. How sad.

The sites exist on the completely flawed premise that if Bob is friends with Jo and Jo is friends with Mark, then Bob will want to get to know Mark, and probably a whole bunch of Mark’s friends too simply through online chatting!

Now I don’t know about you, but most people I know have separate groups of friends for a reason: each group appeals to a certain part of their persona. Just because Bob and Jo share an interest in computers, and Jo and Mark like death metal, doesn’t mean that Bob wants anything to do with Marks’ taste in music.

The thing that surprises me is how much venture capital gets poured into these wasted attempts at social engineering. Somewhere, some more-dollars-than-sense wannabe dot-com mogul without a clue gets all enthusiastic about making another quick buck and injects a shitload of cash into these drains on society.

This is why I’m so happy to hear about the creation of Introverster, the “online anti-social non-networking community that helps you from ever having to make new friends”. At last somebody has had the guts to cut through all the crap. They spell out the message that should have been hammered into kids heads from the age of 13: Go out and get yourself a life rather than sitting in front of a friggin computer all night!

Places I’ve been, faces I’ve seen

The world truly is a huge place.

Thanks to , I’ve managed to cobble together a map of all the places I’ve been to. Apparently I’ve covered 27 nations, or 12% of all the nations on the planet. Got a few more to cover!

Oh, being a US based site, it lets me fill in the US states I’ve visited. Not doing so well here Still, here it is:

Oh, some obligatory promo material for the guys so they don’t freak out at me for stealing their maps:

create your own visited country map
or write about it on the open travel guide

On the move

From my last entry, the first few days were somewhat grey and depressing for me, only to be refilled with color this week.

I returned to work last Thursday, and spent most of the day in a zombified state. Friday was a little better, and I actually managed to get a little work done. Ingrid’s friend Christina came over Friday night, as did Michael. We sat in the back room chatting about all kinds of things from changes in music taste to the war on terror. It was a nice relaxig night, and completed my 4 day jet lag transition.

Saturday I felt more like myself, and got out of the house in the afternoon. I took the tube to Kensington High Street, and walked through Kensington Gardens up to Queensway at Bayswater, where I checked out a computer market.

My laptop’s hard drive, which at 30GB was huge when I bought it in ‘01, had become full and I needed a bigger one. Unfortunately though, the market was crap and I didnt’ get anything. I consoled myself with a lone lunch at Yo! Sushi then made my way to Lambeth to meet Christina for a brief 2 hour tour of the war museum.

The museum was free (as all museums and galleries are in London), and quite well laid out. I spent a lot of time in the holocaust exhibit, and amazed myself at how emotionally detached I was about the whole thing, while those around me were wiping away tears and gasping in horror at the photos and exhibits on display. I guess I’m just difficult to shock. I went home and watched Birthday Girl” on DVD - a great low budget film from the UK.

Sunday morning I was rudely awoken at about 5.30am by Nick and his friends, in a ketamin and cocaine induced stupor, running up and down the hall outside my room shouting and banging into things. I decided enough was enough, and spent the day turning my entire room inside out, throwing out anything that I didn’t need that would impede a smooth move to a new flat. I ended up filling 3 large garbage bags and leaving the room tidy and very clean. Later that night I caught up with Ed, Marissa and Brett down at a funky little cafe/bar in Wimbledon - they agreed that it was probably time for me to move on.

Monday I was up at 5am and tubed down to Heathrow - Brian was back in town, and I was there to meet him! It was so good to see him after what felt like forever. I could tell from the start that he missed me as much as I had him, and we’ve been practically inseperable ever since. Last night we discovered goings on in his flat that have made now the perfect opportunity for the two of us to move in together, so we’ve started flat hunting everywhere from West Kensington to Blackheath. Hopefully we’ll have a place picked out by the end of next week, and move in around Feb 21.

On the job front, Yahoo! are still dragging their feet, so I’ve given up on them. My CV is ready to go and I’ve got some positions picked out at various companies that I’m going to aim for. I’ll start dispatching letters tonight.

More airport security woes

I just saw a news report that a man was arrested when he stepped off a plane in London, after Heathrow airport security found ammunition in his luggage during a routine baggage scan. He was due to board a flight to Dubai.

His point of origin? Dulles airport, Washington DC - where nothing was detected. Say no more.

Dilbert on travel

I cracked up at today’s Dilbert. It sums up my travel experience perfectly!

Still awake

OK, things are serious. 6.45 am and I still haven’t gone to bed.

I tried, but Duran Duran’s “Come Undone” has been stuck in my head all night. So I turned on the Ipod and listened to it, that usually clears a song from my head. Not this time.

Work starts tomorrow. I need to sort this out pronto.

I’ve decided I’ll just hang around staying up until I feel the desire to go to bed. Then I’ll set my alarm and have a 2 hour power nap. After that I’ll stay awake until 11pm, and try to sleep again.