Here's hoping Knight Rider Rides Again...

In various experiences of my own over the years, and more recently stories from a friend of mine, make me realise that when push comes to shove, having nothing to lose is a bargaining tool.

That is, if you need your job, then you can't act in a way that could see you lose it. Sometimes, acting in a way that could get you sacked for insubordination is the only way to demonstrate the passion and self belief you need to actually get things done.

There's something wrong with this. It's not unique to work, but it makes you wonder about the way we humans are with each other, doesn't it?

Towards the end of last week, my smoke alarm started beeping. This usually means the battery needs changing, except this is a mains powered one. I've checked the fuse and supply, and all is well, yet the bloomin' thing is still beeping.

At the moment it's wrapped in a towel in one of the kitchen cupboards (so I can't hear it as much). Clearly not the intended location for a smoke alarm, but it'll have to do until I can sort it out properly.

A friend of mine challenged me to eat two Subway footlong sandwiches. Seeing as I was absolutely ravenous, I thought I'd give it a go.

Side note: Subway Leicester Square refused to serve a woman a Kids Sub, because she wasn't a child. I later asked, if I told him I had a kid waiting outside, would he serve me? He said he would (and that he'd check the policy). What on earth...?

Anyway, I bought a footlong Steak and Cheese, on Italian, and a footlong Subway Club (because I'm watching the calories), also on Italian. I had both with "cheese on one side", toasted, with lettuce, cucumber and tomatoes and light mayonnaise.

I'm procrastinating... as always ;-)

However, GCB bring us 52 Influencial Photographs (my faves are "Federal Dead on the Field of Battle of First Day" and "Fire on Marlborough Street">. Also, Haggling for Hot Dogs is a beautifully written piece about the gentle arts of negotiation.

Think on, during this fine bank holiday Monday!

After my full-on birthday weekend last week, I went to Grenoble for work for a couple of days. I've had an excellent time - my colleagues are really cool, and looked after me impeccably well (so the pressure's on me when they come to London!). I did my best with my broken French, and found out that even the French make up English-ified words. I'm sure I'll fit right in ;-)

Grenoble's a funny place though - there are some really French bits that look and feel great. Then there are loads of horrible 60s/70s buildings that got put there for the Olympics. That said, almost every street has mountains in view at the end of it, so it's really pretty great. Apparently some mountains even have snow on top of them - already! Hopefully it'll be a snowy season, during which I'll have to schedule lots of meetings in Grenoble so I can go skiing!

PS. Ryan Air were rubbish - "the on time airline" my arse - an hour late each way. Stanstead airport was expectedly crap, although getting there via Tottenham Hale was pretty easy - a tip I'll have to remember. Next time though, I'll go BA to Lyon instead.
PPS. I got paid for the first time by my new employer this week. That feels remarkably good!

Last night I dreamed about being asleep. I even dreamed the act of sitting on a train and having a sleep. I was most annoyed that when I woke up someone had stolen the trainers I'd left in their box on the seat next to me. Thankfully I woke up to find it had all been a dream. What? Yeah, I'm confused too.

Ebay continues to amuse; this time, a man tries to sell his wife's box.

The actual offer is funny enough, but the questions and answers later are just priceless. (Via GCB).

I made it around my dualthon last night: 10K run, 20K cycle and 5K run. It took me 2 hours 35 minutes. Now, I'm exhausted.

Whilst I'm feeling quite proud of myself, I'm seriously wondering if I want to do a proper duathlon event. It requires such an extreme amount of training that I'm not sure I actually want to dedicate that much of my life to it. I'll have to give it some thought...

OpenMoko is a mobile phone. The thing about this is that it runs Linux and a host of other open source software. There's even a developer version of the phone so you can get to work on making your new killer application for it. It's not even that expensive either at $300.

I wonder what weird and wonderful things the world will come up with for this phone. I don't use my phone for much besides making calls and texts, but I'd be interested to see what more imaginative cats come up with! ;-)