Never Ending Cycle

Despite having to take a pain killer last night, I managed to trawl my way out of bed nice and early this morning. Before leaving for the day job, though, I had to take care of a few things before my lunchtime meeting with the new web client. I ran through and printed off copies of his requirements, as well as copies of my contract, pricing sheet, quote form, and design prompt sheets so I could take them with me.

I also finished recreating my GDR 2008 document in MS Word (see footnote 2) that had got blown into oblivion somehow. With all that done I had no time to start anything else so I shot to work – as fast as one can with a gammy leg.

Day job was slow but it was good to see my long-term sick colleague return to very light action. For how long, one can only guess.

Once I’d clocked off for lunch I met up with the new web client; a nice bloke who’s into the property game at home and abroad, and who is looking for cheap and simple websites to promote his businesses, with a view to developing and growing them as his businesses expand – with me as his long-term web guy. It’s a good contract with long-term prospects, and both sites are interesting ideas.

I had a meeting with my new boss after lunch – the one I start working for on Monday – another nice bloke with fresh ideas and lots of energy. Unfortunately, he’s asking the same questions we started asking 10 years ago. He’s about to discover how difficult it is to integrate our team into anything, despite the fact we do offer a valuable service. So instead of going round and round in wee circles as we have been doing, I now see that we’re really trapped in a very large circle that takes 10 years to get round. And as of Monday, we’ll be right back where we started.

I also discovered that due to space restrictions we won’t actually be moving anywhere. So on Monday, I’ll be in a new company division new department, with new colleagues and managers, and within a new budget code – but I’ll be doing the exact same work from the same old desk that I have been for the last few years. Don’t be surprised – I’m not.

The UEFA Cup final was played out tonight by Zenit St Petersburg and our own Scottish club, Rangers FC. The build up to this game has been massive; having a Scottish club in a major European final is a big thing here. The media have been all over it, with the Scottish tabloid section going into over-drive with their attempt at hyper-exciting coverage as if trying to convince the world that Rangers fans are all their for the carnival spirit, the fun and the frolics. The broadsheet section was trying to dumb down its reporting of the unfolding events in Manchester, yet still appealing to their normal audience. And the broadcasting brigade sent young fresh-faced reporters to cover the fans’ buiId-up, who wouldn’t know what the off-side rule was if it came up and kicked them in the arse. I wasn’t convinced by any of it.

The game ended up with Rangers getting beat 2-0, and although I missed the match through work, I tuned in just in time to see all the tears and hysterics, as if the 25,000 Rangers fans in the stadium had all simultaneously lost their entire families in a series of massive car crashes and fatal accidents.

“Rangers are our life”; “I love the club more than my family”; “I’d do anything for Rangers”. Get over it and get a life – it’s a fucking game!

While the blue nosed twats from Ibrox were wondering how life would ever be the same again, I was busy with other stuff.

I prepared the quotes and contracts for my new client and sent them off. I also updated my web design site to reflect a couple of new websites I completed for other clients recently. You can see the updated site here: Colin Galbraith Webdesign

I ran through a bunch of possible freelance gigs and sent off queries for 3 of them, so I have quite a few circulating at the moment. I’ve started putting myself forward for a few website gigs as well. I’ve done so much work locally that I reckon I can move outward with that side of the business too.

Footnote 1: Everything I said about Rangers applies to Celtic too.
Footnote 2: JT – GDR stands for Golds, Dreams, and Resolutions. It’s an annual guide that me and some of my writer pals do, which lists what we want to achieve within our writing life and personal life. We all handle it slightly differently, but I like to break it down into monthly targets then review them each month. The GDR idea can be used for anything, no matter what or who you are – it’s just a guide that asks you where you are, where you want to be, and how you get there.