I can do techie stuff (programming, configuring, debugging, fixing) fairly consistently. I have good and bad days, but I never get to work and discover I’ve lost all ability to write Java applications.

As we don’t have any proper graphic designers in our team, I sometimes end up doing bit of design for people. It’s usually icons, logos or banners. I’m not that good at it, but I think I have a slightly better eye than average for what looks good and I can sometimes put an alright looking banner/website/piece of branding together. I’m pretty good at copying someone else’s design. I actually quite enjoy doing it as it’s a nice break from doing code. The problem I have is that I’m really inconsistent at it. Sometimes I’ll do something first time and I’ll be happy with it, other times I’ll keep trying and I just can’t make anything that I like. We needed a long title banner for a board on our office wall and I tried to do something, but it just didn’t look right. I ran out of time and it needed to be printed, so I had to send it off. I was really disappointed when it came back from the printers as it just didn’t look very good.

People keep suggesting that I should do something more creative at work. That I should do some more of the branding/production stuff, but I just can’t do it consistently, and when you see someone who can really do this stuff, there’s a massive difference.

The clocks go back from BST to GMT tonight in the UK, which means we get an extra hour this weekend. I know we’re supposed to do this because of something to do with school children or Scottish farmers, but I don’t like it. The time seems like one of those things you shouldn’t really change. We don’t alter the temperature scales to make us feel warmer in the winter. We don’t actually get any more hours of light because of it, why don’t the farmers just get up an hour earlier?

I’m back up North for a long weekend. I was planning on having a rest but
I’d been through the door about five minutes (after a six hour drive) when
Dad was taking me off to the driving range. I really can’t play golf.

Today we went to watch Blackburn play Birmingham. We won 2-0, but it was a
strange atmosphere because it was so early. It was Sky’s lunch time game so
it kicked off at 12.45. I don’t know what it is, but the atmosphere is
always better the later in the day the game is. Night time games are always
more exciting. I suppose it’s the same with other things too, I never like
daylight concerts either.

Tomorrow is Alton Towers.

A few people at work have noticed this odd label on Tropicana’s orange juice, as part of the government’s eat five portions of fruit and veg a day campaign. Apparently, it recommends that you “Just Eat More” and then as a kind of after thought suggest maybe it should be fruit and veg that you eat. Weird.

I always used to struggle with sandwich packaging. UK designs specifically, as other countries seem to have different packaging completely. The little triangular plastic cases used to open only down a single side. That meant it was often quite difficult to get the sandwiches out, especially if it was thick bread or it had a lot of filling. Admittedly nobody else seemed to find this a problem, they’ve had this design for years, but I did complain a lot about it.

So, I was really pleased to see Marks & Spencer’s new sandwich packaging. Now a pull strip opens the packaging on two sides, which fold out to make it easy to pick up your sandwiches. Also, you end up with a disposable plate to eat them off.

I’ve become a big fan of Flickr, I think it’s mainly the ease of use and speed that does it. I don’t think there’s an easier way to share your photos online.

Being inspired by Flickr and needing to decorate a very beige wall in our office, I decided to go for a real version of Flickr. I already had a few photos up, so it was just a case of printing some more (I had loads from New York) and spending a day attaching sticky magnets to the back of them. I also did a little Flickr-esque logo to complete the look.