Marianne's 31st Birthday

It was Marianne's Birthday on Saturday.

Owing to child sickness, our plans to join the family in Loughborough were abandoned.















Figure 1: The Birthday Meal

Ben swept into creative lead role organizing the party and telling me which pink tablecloth was most suited to Marianne's impromptu evening part. It was good fun. Especially the part games.



Figure 2: The Dancing Competition

Mersault

Having enjoyed this wine a great deal at the first Christmas party of Design By Intent at the Hotel du Vin in Winchester, it was with much happiness that I found another bottle to enjoy last weekend at home.

How do the French get this kind of result out of a Chardonnay? I know very little about wine, but this surpasses all the other New World Chardonnay wines I've enjoyed.

Highly recommended.

Cabin fever

I have cabin fever. I managed 5 hours into the day, but sat on my own
in a room without daylight or windows, I cannot design another thing,
I am going bonkers. GET ME OUT OF HERE. I think I may need to make a
run for somewhere with some fresh air and then brain dump and find
some inspiration - time to consolidate a little. I have a whole pot
of Starbucks coffee I'm working my way through. Conversation, please,
somebody.

Beautiful San Francisco

Okay, I take it all back, The Financial District may be ugly, especially in the rain and fog. But the rest of San Fran' is very very nice.

On Saturday I jogged/walked ;-) for miles and hours, to the top of the City where the really lovely residential houses are - of numerous styles, many like a sort of 1900's England, with wide streets, and bonkers hills.

The quiet, the space, the designs of the houses were peaceful and calming. I found an area of woodland and jogged down the 2 mile 'lovers lane' towards the Golden Gate Bride.

The bridge was cool, but less impressive than the hills, houses, and woodland. For someone who is scared of heights, I found that the pain of running distracted me on the way over, but on the walk back the other way I found the experience a bit more distressing! Back over the bridge I walked along the promenade by the Pacific Ocean - just amazing.

It is so strange to have time to just do stuff and have the head-space and luxury to let the mind wander or not think at all and just look and enjoy the view.

I wish Marianne had been here to do the same, and I bet she would have had the strange sensation of frequently wondering that she had forgotten something - like housework/location-of-the-boys/church-meeting. I miss her so much, it's not that I feel guilty to be enjoying these moments on my own, it's just that every moment feels tinged with a kind of sadness that she isn't here holding my hand just being together and enjoying all of this.



I love you Marianne.

Starbucks 'third place'

Interesting article on Starbucks and their 'third place'

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article3324451.ece

In San Francisco Day 3

I only find the will and inspiration to blog for fun when I'm away from home. I realise that probably only my wife reads my blog, perhaps twice during my travels, so I think it is more a tool to help me remain connected.

Following my 18 hour working day (11 hour flight and then another 7 hours in the office straight away!) I arrived in San Francisco, and so far have not seen any blue in the sky and certainly no sun. Currently it's raining, it's dreary, it's a concrete jungle in the bit in which I'm working (Financial District), and I'm here with one other guy (my boss) who doesn't really do the relationship thing and seems to talk in sentences containing only buzz words and wildly ambitious targets.

In short, I wish I wasn't here. I am being very much of a grump! I loved traveling to Asia, the people were so humble and kind and considerate, and the weather was usually very warm, and everything cheap. The U.S. is a little different in all of these considerations!

I'm hoping the 'boss' won't insists on another late night in the office (9.30pm and 9pm so far), so I can get my head together, read a book, get to the gym and have dinner before they stop serving. However, my money is on being told how to do my job and deliver a great 'wow' factor with awesome 'customer delight' at approximately 9pm.

I must bite my tongue, last night I had to make a run for it as I began to tell him what I really thought of his approach...

Weirdly I feel far more of a forginer here than I do in China or South Korea. I wonder why.