Horrifically busy at work the moment, hence no updates for a while. This week I'm effectively covering for both my SEO and Grade 7. The project I'm working on is moving so fast that you only have to blink and you've missed something crucial.

This week has basically been about trying to broker a deal between 2 operational teams and training, all of whom have fallen out over schedules and material for training courses. I just want to bang some heads together and get it sorted!

To cap it all, by boss is on 3 weeks leave. She ran out of time to finish a key piece of work, but thought we'd be able to make do. The proverbial hit the fan today, so I had to make time to try to pick the pieces up. Sigh.

Trying to decide whether I can justify spending £200 on a Lenovo s9e netbook. I just need to know whether it would run FreeBSD...

Spent last night getting linux to run on my Palm TX. It's fantastic that it works, but slow and clunky. Not really a replacement for Palm OS yet. That said, there's a new version being worked on that promises to make it possible to use the wifi. That would be good, but it also needs to improve the responsiveness of the system.

I'm a huge fan of Palm - the TX is my third after an original Zire and a Tungsten E. It's a great machine, and very usable. But the age of the design is starting to show. I've just bought a Windows Mobile smartphone, and I'm slowly moving my PIM data over. Eventually, I'll probably end up getting rid of the Palm. That will be a sad day for me though. Windows Mobile doesn't feel as intuitive. But it has a GPRS connection, and potentially means carrying one less gadget.

I'm really struck by the software contrast. There's far less for Windows Mobile, and is far more difficult to get it working. With Palm, you just plonk the prc file on the device.

Perhaps if the linux for Palm gets better I can convert that into a proper miniature computer?

Long delay in blog posting, caused mostly by being extremely busy in work. I don't think I've been this busy for 3 years. Still, it has it's rewards. Found out today that I'm being full time onto the project I've been working on (which is what I wanted) and that I'll get 6 months of temporary promotion out of it.

Home is...home. Alex has been quite challenging of late. He's become very wedded to our extension room, where he will play a computer game whilst watching a DVD at the same time. He can get really aggressive when told to stop He's now been to visit his new school (from next year). Problem is he likes it more than his current school...

Jessica is doing her SATs. Urkk. Deb has just gone back to work after her operation. Urkk.

So life is 'fun' at the moment ;-)

"Panopticons" in Lancashire. Fabulous art which we visited at Easter.

Another week at work over.

Deb's recovery seems to be going reasonably well. She's getting frustrated that she still feels so tired though. She is back to doing the school run morning and afternoon.

I'm shattered after my two days away. Need some time to recover. Here's hoping for some nice weather over the bank holiday. The barbeque beckons!

Not much else to report. I'm reading sub-Roman Britain at the moment (some interesting links to Byzantium). I've also acquired the opportunity to go on a one week archaeology 'training excavation'. I'd love to do it, but I don't know where I'm going to find the week off.

On the train again, this time on my way home from London.

It's been an interesting couple of days. I felt that much of the real development work was aimed at people who were younger than me. This meant I went through a bit of a low point this morning trying to see some relevance for me in everything.

That said, I've ended up coming away with lots to think about. I'm not sure how to make the best of this development programme, so that really needs some thought.

It's been very intense, with lots of personal interaction, which has been exhausting in itself. I'm quite looking forward to the journey home to just have some quiet time.

I'm currently on the train on my way to London. I have a two day development session, which is part of this three year leadership programme I've just been accepted onto.

It's come at quite an inconvenient time. Deb has just had her stitches out, Alex is having some trouble at school, and Jessica has decided to get all anxious again about me being away. So I'm just hoping that everything at home hangs together until I get back.

I'm just coming to the end of Jacques Lefort's chapter in the Economic History of Byzantium (which is available online from Dumbarton Oaks). There's some fascinating analysis here of the detail and development of the rural economy of Byzantium. In particular around the trend for the countryside to change from a village commune organisation to a structure based more around large estates, and the interaction between this and economic development. Historically, the movement towards large estates has been seen as a retrograde step, leading to stagnation - and that this was part of the background to political collapse in the 11th. Century. What Lefort does is place the movement to large estates into the context of economic growth and expansion, a natural trend that fitted in a structure that was always a mixture of social organisation in the countryside. He also outlines how this was a rational decision for the peasants, and not necessarily one which involved impoverishment.

Overall then, a fascinating analysis, with lots of implications for the period that I find interesting - that is the transition to civilian rule in the 11th century followed by collapse and domination by a few great families.

On the bus home now. Rough week at work, doing the school run in the mornings and then coming in. I'm shattered. It doesn't help that Alex has been very angry and anti-school all week. It culminated today in a huge row to get dressed. Got there in the end, but it really takes it out of you.

Roll on the weekend!

Picture of Deb after the operation.