So long George

Got an early start at work today because I wanted to do some research for a work plan I’ve got cooking. If it comes off we’ll have something that’ll catch the competition flatfooted and bring a little European anarchism to the media – more later.

But the day didn’t start well. Early on the news came in that George Carlin had died. He wasn’t my favourite comic but he was important in breaking down the barriers of convention and secured an important court victory for free speech. Plus he had built a good career in character acting. I’m one of the few people on the planet that thinks Jersey Girl wasn’t that bad, partly because of his performance.

His stand-up was patchy but one routine will always make me laugh - "Me and Richard Prior are great friends. He did cocaine, I did cocaine. He had a heart attack, I had a heart attack. He set himself on fire, and I said 'That's it, you win buddy!"

Had a very interesting lunch of California cuisine with someone at work and I think we can do good things at the company. We have the same attitude to management – if an idea seems good try it out and justify it to the head hochos later. I may have found an ally.

Other than that I finally got a mobile phone – a Blackberry. Still can’t connect it to the email server yet but at least I can make calls and get text messages. It’s a good feeling to be mobile-ready again, one feels so naked without a phone. It came with a belt clip, which will never, ever get used.

Finished work and hit the gym. While there’s a lot of people in worse shape than I over here it’s time to get fit again. Cutting out lunchtime pints at The Ship will shrink the spare (bicycle, not truck) tyre but it’ll take a fair amount of work to get my stamina up again.