Mike's musings

2010-02-06T20:57:00.002Z

Frogs - and Rugby

We took the girls to see The Princess and the Frog today, which they enjoyed. As did we, in fact. Although the quality of the animation isn't up there with the best, the story was pretty good, the characters fun, the politics there to read if you wanted, the heroine much more convincing than almost any other, and the music _excellent_. In fact, we've ordered the CD.

On return, after some stern words of warning, Moo and I watched the rugby: England-Wales at Twickers. The girls did OK, in fact, and Moo is an absolute star for taking the girls up and letting me watch the last 20 minutes. And we won: some exciting rugby, though some rather disappointing errors. I had one of those "let's be honest, I'm never going to play rugby again" moments. You just have to face up to them from time to time.

2010-02-05T07:24:00.002Z

Functional Specs

(backposting) Now, this may sound strange, but I rather enjoy writing specifications: functional or technical. It can be hard work, and there's usually a mix of dull boilerplate work and complex creative pieces, but I don't mind that. What writing a specification should be about is moving from something which is solely in one or more people's head to a document which shares that knowledge with anyone who reads it. There will be discussion and misunderstanding and rewriting, but I find it very interesting going through that process.

2010-02-04T22:54:00.002Z

Into London - and out again

I go into London this morning at a decent time, and sent a text to my mate Nick to see if he fancied lunch. No reply, so I gave him a call, and he wasn't available, but said that it was a good tactic: giving him a call if I'm in Town. It would be great to catch up with him in person after some 15 years.

So, I left around lunchtime, having really only gone in for some general discussion, and managed to get some actual work done in the afternoon.

2010-02-03T21:32:00.002Z

The Pope

There's some interesting discussion going on around the Pope's visit. The Humanists and the Secularists are against the visit: the Anglicans don't seem to care very much. I'm not particularly happy about his mouthing off against the government for passing a Bill which in my opinion doesn't go far enough to protect people. And I'm not a fan of the changes he's making within the Catholic Church, either. But he's coming, and there are a great number of Roman Catholics in this country who'll be very happy about it.

2010-02-02T21:10:00.002Z

Moo - more work

Well, it looks like Moo's got more work coming. Hopefully not too much this time, and it's actually good that they (seem to) have won (at least part of) the tender, but she's been working very hard recently, and I want to keep an eye on how much she's doing.

Obviously possible trips to Zurich (likely), Sydney (looking fairly probable) and the Middle East (currently conjecture) aren't a _great_ help in this context.

2010-02-01T21:00:00.003Z

St Paul's

(backposting) Left very early, and got to work by around 0802. So early that I thought I'd pop round to St Paul's to see if it was open. I turned up, and discovered that there was a service going on. It was Eucharist, and although I arrived after the confession, I decided to communicate, though I prayed a confession beforehand. A difficult one: sounds silly, but I really feel awkward about receiving communication without confession, and preferably absolution, too. Something I need to think about.

It's been a long time since I visited St Paul's: given that it's only about 5 minutes' walk from the office, that seems silly.

2010-01-31T20:49:00.003Z

Celebrating - with Jojo

(backposting) Jojo came with me to the team service at Gosfield. It was a bit of a toss-up, as I was celebrating, and that's not always gone well before, but we agreed some rules, and she was absolutely fabulous. It wasn't the most interesting service in the world for a not-quite-5-year-old. But she did some writing/drawing, and lots of cuddling of me during the lesson, gospel and sermon. I'd said she could join me in the sacristy for the consecration as long as she didn't interfere, but in the end she decided to stay in the nave and do some colouring. I was very, very proud of her.

2010-01-30T20:26:00.003Z

Thoughtful thoughts

(backposting) A friend of mine, Helen, posted a very interesting blog entry, entitled Searching for meaning in worship. It's a really interesting read, and I've wanted to reply to it, but haven't had the space to think about it. Helen's coming from a very different place to me, in terms of tradition, and I've never really been happy with the "worship song" style of worship. There are some modern songs that I enjoy, but not in the sort of "song sandwich" that she describes.

I'm lucky in that I really enjoy liturgy, and I really enjoy music, particularly sacred classical (e.g. choral or organ music). I can become dispirited by bad music, but can use the liturgy, usually, to find the worship I need. And I love a good choral evensong or Sung Eucharist: I find that the music absolutely lifts me. And the theology tends to be pretty good: it's either Bible-based or in Latin (which is fine, though sometimes a little Catholic!). So I do OK. I feel for Helen: the worst I tend to get is dirgeful Anglican hymns, badly sung, but we have a good organist who plays at a decent pace, so that's rarely a problem.

What I really miss is the daily and weekly round of choral music that I'm used to. And there are times I find that very difficult.

2010-01-29T20:21:00.000Z

Good news, but not yet

(backposting) Had a very good day today, workwise. Was in London, had a very good discussion with my boss, and got lots of other work done, too. Even back in time for the girls' bedtime, which was a bonus.

2010-01-28T19:55:00.000Z

All loony for Moo

(backposting) Her job is being rather loony. So, chocolate, coffee, alcohol as required.

2010-01-27T22:42:00.002Z

A great film

It's been a while since I watched the marvellous Hot Fuzz. Moo's working late, and I get the chance to enjoy this genius yet again.

2010-01-26T21:10:00.002Z

The job

Things are going very well at work, and I'm enjoying myself very much. Lots of interesting things, and good things career-wise, I think. Poor Moo's very busy, but I think things are going pretty well with her, too.

2010-01-25T21:06:00.003Z

Back to work

(backposting) And not feeling too guilty about not doing a full 8 hours, given the amount of work I've done over the past few days and weeks. Got into London and had a good meeting with a customer, though.

2010-01-24T20:56:00.003Z

Piano and Avatar time

(backposting) I was in charge of the music for the final Communion service of the weekend, so chose the hymns and played the piano. It was lots of fun, and there were some stonking hymns. I think I must have spent too much time with those Methodists on ERMC, because I discovered that morning (having chosen them around a week earlier) that 3 of the 4 were by Charles Wesley. At least he was an Anglican.

The girls weren't going to be back home until the evening, so I decided that after a long hard week and weekend, I deserved a treat. Avatar 3D. Did the shopping first, thereby assuaging possible guilt, and then sat down to watch it, in a fairly full cinema. It's very impressive, and utterly believable, in terms of the visual effects. Not a stunning good plot or very complex character development, but a good film, I have to say, and I'm very glad I saw it in 3D.

Girls half woke up when they turned up in the car (well, Moo was very awake, particularly after her hour-long diversion given the closure of the A14), so I got to say "I love you", give them each a kiss and put them both to bed. Ah.

And great to catch up with Moo, too.

2010-01-23T20:49:00.000Z

Communion, more sleep

(backposting) I got up in time for the 0800 Communion service - well deaconed by Sally - and breakfast. And then went back to bed - with permission from the organiser - and missed just the one session. One about power without authority: negotiated power, in fact, which is something I know all about. Some other good sessions. I also received a message from a colleague saying that our CTO, with whom I spent some time on Thursday, had given me a mention in his session in the quarterly meeting. Quite chuffed by this.

Should probably have gone to bed before 0130, but at least I didn't drink too much of the neat gin (there was no bitter lemon, and you _know_ I have a bad reaction to tonic...).

2010-01-22T20:39:00.004Z

And home - and away again. Oh, and a clown. Really

(backposting) Home's always the good bit, and I got there around 1400, mainly because the plane had been delayed by over an hour. I had a quick bath, got changed, and headed off to pick up Miri, who was with Victoria as Moo had a governors' meeting. Moo brought Jo back around 1530, and I had about two hours with all of them before they headed off to Moo's parents, and I headed off to the High Leighs Conference Centre for a CME weekend.

This really wasn't what I needed. I was really quite jet-lagged, and the fact that we had a session with a priest/clown in the evening did little to make me less grumpy. Remember that Grumpy was a dwarf: I was a full-size, 6ft 2in grump giant. Although I got the point about leaving work, and enjoying ourselves, where exactly were God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit? Nowhere very obvious, is the problem.

Great to see lots of friends, and particularly good that we had all 3 years of curates there. Less grumpy by the time I got to bed, and went to sleep nice and quickly.

2010-01-21T10:48:00.004Z

The congregation's expectations

Helen asked a very interesting question about my post on BCP services, and I thought I ought to respond. She wanted to know "How much do you feel bound by the expectations of the congregation when you preside?"

It is an interesting question, and I'm not quite sure to which part of my post she was referring. There were a number of areas of practice which were not my usual last Sunday, so I guess I'll cover them one by one. I think there are 2 important points to mention first, however. The first of these is that I'm still in training, and am therefore very aware of the fact that I need to be very careful about making decisions or trying to introduce change without discussion. The second is that I wasn't in churches which are part of my team, but in a different benefice, so was very much a guest.

But to cover the particular points that I think Helen (and Sally) might like covered:

use of the Book of Common Prayer: I have no problem with the BCP, and, in fact, love using it. It's what was expected, and that was fine.
facing East for the prayer of consecration: well, I don't think I really had much of a choice: I didn't fancy celebrating from the North, and I don't think there was even room at Foxearth. I'm not sure whether I should have been facing East for the rest of the time I was up in the sanctuary, but with no microphone it would have been hard, and it felt wrong anyway. It was hard enough.
elevation of the host for the Fraction: here's the interesting one. As is my usual practice, I didn't elevate at the consecration, but I did, however, elevate at the Fraction (breaking of the bread). I had a memory of a discussion with my father about this being the one time that the congregation should specifically be able to see the host, and, on re-reading the rubrics this morning, I found out why. They say:

When the Priest, standing before the Table, hath so ordered the Bread and Wine, that he may with the more readiness and decency break the Bread before the people, and take the Cup into his hands, he shall say the Prayer of Consecration, as followeth.
So, it seems clear that the Bread should be broken "before the people", so that they can see it. I like this. If the rest of the act of consecration ends up being hidden from view, the sharing part of it is made visible. I'm not sure how it looked, and I've not yet had the opportunity to discuss it with my boss, but I'd be very interested in other people's views.

There's a larger question, also, of the extent to which we should follow the expectations of the congregation. There are a number of issues here, one of which is that it's their church - even if we're the incumbent - another that we have a duty to be true to doctrine - as we understand it - and true to ourselves and our faith. But we must also make sure that we're not mindlessly or unintentionally upsetting people, and should always be prepared to defend our practice.

I think there's more discussion to have here, and I look forward to having it.

2010-01-20T01:56:00.000Z

Post 1750

Ooh, that's an awfully big number.

Spent much of today thinking. I did some billable work, too, but it was great to have an opportunity to do some unhindered thought, and I'm pretty pleased with what came out of it. I had a good meeting with some of the folks from Tech, which I think will yield fruit - some soon, some later. And I now have a couple of major things to present to two different people tomorrow. In fact, I'm also giving a presentation to all of Professional Services - and hopefully lots of Tech and Support, too - on security tomorrow. Rather looking forward to that, I have to say.

Today's been a gouty day. I had some on Monday through Wednesday, but not too bad. Last night I had some lovely rare steak, and the gout transferred to the other foot, with extreme vigour. Ow. So, I've drunk a lot of water today, and hobbled.

And this evening, I went to my first Stitch 'n' Bitch meeting. I was the only male knitter there (another guy turned up with someone, but wasn't a knitter, and left), and everyone was very welcoming. I have to say that if there are any single guys out there looking to meet women, then taking up knitting would be a great way to do so! It really wasn't bitchy at all: just lots of women (and me) talking about knitting and everything else besides (I managed to avoid hearing much of a conversation about genetic counselling which was going on near me). One of the women there was also using a drop spindle, and I took a video of her doing it, with commentary, to show Moo, as I gave her a drop spindle for Christmas, and I think it should help her get the most out of it.

2010-01-19T01:48:00.000Z

In HQ

Up at 0530, finished the Pynchon book (reminded me of the untamed half-dream/half-hallucinations I sometimes have when I'm running a fever), and finished off a bunch of work before getting into the office by 0800. Met Midge, who trained me in August, and spent the day meeting other colleagues and doing other work, too. Spoke to the girls around lunchtime, and later on, phoned Moo back, who managed to help me get email back up, which was a relief.

A good day: new contacts, renewed previous friendships.

2010-01-18T01:39:00.000Z

Off to Reston, Virginia

(backposting) Left home at 0700, having seen the girls, which is always good. Took 3 hours to get to Heathrow, as the M25 was pretty awful. Once there, I was through check-in and security in 10 minutes, which wasn't bad, however you look at it. Failed to get an upgrade, but did get a bulkhead seat, so life could have been worse.

We were delayed by quite a while, but the flight itself was all right. Watched Whiteout (fairly diverting, but fairly obvious), read Thomas Pynchon's "The Crying of Lot 49", and did lots of knitting.

Took a good old time to get through immigration in the States, and then to my hotel. Had a good Thai meal round the corner, and then to bed.

Problems with home email. Hopefully I can get it fixed (maybe with Moo's help) tomorrow.

2010-01-17T21:02:00.002Z

BCP

Today, I took two BCP services - my second and third ever - in two churches I'd never visited before (and which took some finding, as it happened): Belchamp Walter and Foxearth. Two more different churches you'd struggle to find. The first has possibly the best acoustics I've ever come across in a parish church, and the most beautiful wall paintings: the one of the nursing Virgin is stunning, and I'll try to post a photo of it soon. The second is a classic Victorian Tractarian church, with wall paintings in a classic neo-gothic style, a Father Willis organ, and six candles on the altar.

The main thing they had in common was that both had altars against the east wall, which meant that for the first time, I had to celebrate facing away from the congregation, which I found very odd. I need to spend some time thinking about this, and also talking to John, my boss, but I made the decision to say only the actual prayer of consecration facing east, and to face west (and the congregation) for the rest of it. I also elevated the host for the Fraction: something I also need to think about, but which felt right.

Afterwards, we headed out for a Chinese meal with the girls, and then to a doom-laden Sainsbury's trip which was so awful that it was actually funny. And then we got back and said the girls could play outside. And Miri fell in the paddling pool. Through the ice. Jo did a great job: told her to get out (possibly helped her, I don't know), told her to hop up and down to warm up (huh?), and then came to get one of us, and Miri was absolutely fine (stripped off and in a shower immediately), but a great end to a slightly hysterical day.

Moo's done great tidying and cleaning, and I've mainly been in charge of the girls, but a big thanks to Moo.

2010-01-16T20:59:00.003Z

Ballet and friends

(backposting) After ballet (and a bit of time for a clean-up), we had Richard and Ellie (his daughter) and Laura (the au pair) over for a fry-up lunch. Great fun, and we chatted and chatted for ages. Didn't get that much else doing, and we were stuffed till the evening. But good to see them, and the girls had a great play. The new upstairs lay-out, with the bunkbed in one room, and the playroom next door, is working really well.

2010-01-15T20:53:00.003Z

Back in time

(backposting) To see the girls. Oh, and my new watch arrived, hurrah! Well, Moo went and picked it up from the post office. I went with an Accurist one, which I managed to get on points from my credit card, for free. Timezones is the main thing of interest: that and the fact that it tells the time, which means that I don't have to keep asking Moo, which is a major benefit to my having a watch, in her view.

2010-01-14T21:48:00.002Z

Long day

Left at 0620, got home at 2110, which counts as a long day. Didn't help that the train home was very slow indeed. Had a good day, though: one of those "you know, I'm really damn good at my job" days. Got to see Miri for 10 minutes this morning, but not Jo. And I forgot to phone her, which made me rather sad.

Our friend Victoria has painted the girls' playroom (was Miri's bedroom), which means that we can now start doing lovely things with it.

2010-01-14T20:51:00.002Z

Only two days left

(background) Onsite, that is. In fact, today went very well. Was up early for a phone meeting which I took in London at 0800, so left at 0620. And back late, too. Discovered that my phone doesn't know the word "onsite", and suggests "morgue" instead. No comment.