As always, no time to do a blog

Just what I thought would happen, I start a blog and don't have the time to actually post in it!

A recap since last post...

New stereo is in the car now, after much effort trying to fit it all in the restricted space given in the car. Even now my hands are still cut up a lot thanks to the tight spaces and sharp edges. But it's in, it's secure, it looks good and best of all, I once again have my iPod in the car along with DVD.

Just need to sort out fitting the xbox/xbox360 (undecided which yet), tidy up all of the processors, switches, cables etc. then decide if it's worth fitting new speakers in the car - I have the genesis 6x9 subs, amp and passive crossover from the MR2 which aren't being used so I may build an enclosure for the subs and fit the kit in the Civic. The current speakers are shit, distored, can't handle the sounds and not of good sound quality - not good enough for the £1300 worth of headunit in there anyway! I think I just talked myself in to fitting it all.

Work has been coming in thick and fast, with a rush job last week which earnt me much more than the standard rates, and this was at the client's request! This client is my kind of client. Not only did they request I invoice them £30 for various drawing changes - which I was doing without charging as it's in the original price, but they tell me they will approve an invoice of £100 for 5 drawings if they are done overnight! The total opposite of another client who currently is trying to dispute £10 because I gave a saving on 2 of the 4 items so they expect the saving to apply to all 4 items. I should not have given the saving, perhaps then they wouldn't question it and I would be £10 better off!

Also have now sorted out the excel document for analysing the figures, storing the information and creating the invoices for all of my work. It took some time to set up but will now pay for itself in the time saving it will do for all future work. Good use of SUMIF, VLOOKUP, IF, SUM, TEXT and a whole load of other functions in excel which are seldom known but very handy (thanks MrExcel)! A simple drop down list to select the client, a few cells for putting down the description of the work and the cost, and the rest is taken care of by excel... it even outputs a chart to show which client spends how much money, over how many sales, for a given time period! I may even market this baby and make some serious money off of it (I've seem what others charge for excel dashboards and worksheets/books).

The next challenge/project is the excel workbook for managing a fleet of vehicles, including milage, servicing info, repair info and pretty much anything else to do with the vehicles. It's something I will be taking care of at B&B so it's another thing that will be built by a person who uses it - always better than these software houses who haven't a clue on what it all means.

Video games wise, you could check out my xbox360's blog, it's on my website, or you could just carry on reading. Got hold of Halo Wars a few days early, not that great a game really, I had it finished (all bar the online rank achievements) by the Sunday after it's Friday release! Online it is boring and has many flaws... depending on who you choose you can either dominate the other teams and win pretty much instantly, protect yourself so much that they cannot win or get totally dominated. There is no real "rock, paper, scissors" to this game online!

Also played through Spiderman: FOF. Again, not a long game and it only took 2 days, so a total of around 4 to 6 hours, to beat 100%. Fun game, don't get me wrong, but not £40 worth of fun!

And now it's on to Smackdown Vs Raw 2009 again (thanks to Microsoft resetting me so I have had to make a new account and play all 114 games again). It's a good think I have always loved the Smackdown! series of games as I have 2007 & 2008 to play through once 2009 is finished. But for now it's time for The Demonic Spaceman to dominate the WWE once again - and soon to dominate the Legends of Wrestlemania once it is out.

Anyway, back to work... lots to do for a consultant who, well, the words "fucking" and "useless" spring to mind... let's see how long it takes for the approval of drawings this time - keep checking back for that one, they were sent last night so they could be back... well, it's still anyone's guess.