This whole “working for a living” thing is coming as something of a shock. I’ve been asked to head up a proposal for a new client, gathering information about our experience and credentials in a specific industry using a number of products. It isn’t rocket science, but like most companies, we don’t manage our knowledge terribly well. There’s a lot of chasing and networking to actually find the information that I need. And some of the information comes from the US, so I need to work across time zones in order to speak to all the right people.

Which means that I’m working some long days.

So I decided to have a quiet night in this evening. Daisy didn’t seem to mind, spending most of the evening sleeping on my leg. She wanted to say hello.

Calypso decided that she’d relax in the Jacuzzi. She’s not a normal cat, is she?

Managed to blag my way along to dinner with the old SAIC/Pfizer team last night. It was good to catch up with them, even if it meant eating at the Belgian restaurant around the corner twice in one week. I mean seriously, there’s only so many mussels you can eat before you want a change of pace.

They do have some nice beers, though. Which may have something to do with this picture I took of Marc.

Sometimes, when the perfect photo opportunity presents itself, you just can’t resist.

Just for the record, commuting along the M25 every day isn’t much fun. This is pretty much what I see for two hours every evening.

I can’t remember the last time I was up, dressed, and ready-to-go before 7am. I’ve inherited my mother’s nocturnal streak, and have never been accused of being a “morning person” in my life. So I thought I’d take a photo to prove the point. Otherwise no one would believe me!

For those who are keeping track, this is a ‘non-sleigh-bed’ hotel room. Still, I managed to sleep just fine.

But I’m insisting on a sleigh-bed as we get closer to Christmas.

I’m off to see my client first thing tomorrow morning, so I’m spending the night in London tonight.

Well, if I’ve got to spend the night in London, I might as well enjoy myself. So I decided to ring my friend Graeme, who agreed to meet me for dinner.

Had a few quick beers before dinner, then braved the pouring rain to get to an Italian place near him.

Not much of a story, is it?

Woke up early this morning to spend a day with my new client in Uxbridge, not far from our offices in Egham or my hotel near Heathrow. After a little disagreement with the GPS system in the car (which wanted to take me into the middle of the countryside), I finally found the client site:

I’ll be working here for the next few months, until February or March 2006. We started today with a kick-off workshop. Don’t we look productive with our yellow stickies, collaborating and building buy-in from our customers?

Actually, all kidding aside, I enjoy workshops. They’re a lot of work to put together, but generally yield lots of good stuff in a very short period of time, if they’re run successfully. They’re also a nice change from the routine of paperwork and Powerpoint presentations.

Oh yeah. And I get to use magic markers and draw a lot. And scissors. They even let me use the scissors on workshop day.