Is it just me, or has this Obama bloke actually got some? I know I don't normally "do politics" but this seems more interesting than usual... or am I just falling for the Obama hype? I dunno. The chap looks promising, insofar as one can attach that adjective to a politician without sniggering. The prospect of Gordon Brown having the cojones to apply such an unceremonious boot to the head of a large corporation (and, probably, party funding contributor) in similar circumstances is, to put it mildly, somewhat unlikely.

Am suffering from unexpected and rather Scroogesque dislike of the Arctic weather conditions currently prevailing here in Blighty. Normally I would be bouncing up and down like a rubber wallaby at the appearance of so much snow, and indeed I spent much of last week introducing my kids to the joys of snowball wars (like snowball fights, only with strategy and barricades) and building very small igloos. However, while attempting to get to work on Friday I managed to introduce my car to the Lighthorne Heath roundabout (they got on smashingly well) on account of icy road surfacings, so the resulting minor whiplash and large dent in the front of my beloved Pastamobile have rendered my feelings somewhat antipathetic towards all things wintery.

Lest the words "humbug" and "bah" should find themselves wandering towards this post, not necessarily in that order, I shall stop here and go and apply something warm and soothing to the back of my neck.

After a truly whopping number of years plugging away at miscellaneous unruly servers for the same client, I am legging it away off to a brand spanking new job. I am hoisting the mainsail, singing yo-ho-ho to several bottles of rum, stowing the anchor and sheeting the yardspoon.

Okay, maybe not the last one; it's been a while since I sailed anything larger than a bath sponge.

Given the volume of job-related crap which has been dumped upon my long-suffering noggin in recent months, I'm quite pleased about the prospect, as my will to live was seriously considering faking its own death and buggering off to Panama. But, no longer; I'm now positively brimming with vim, vigour, verve, vivacity and other fizzy-sounding words beginning with "V" which are surely just dying to leap out of a nearby thesaurus and attack this sentence.

I have sent out my "so long and thanks for all the fish" email. I have arranged the traditional farewell steak-pie-and-half-a-shandy lunch at the local pub for this Friday. All of my electronic offspring have been handed over to their new guardians. My desk is clean and my drawers are as empty as a hermit's social calendar. All that remains is for me to try and get as much as possible of the contents of the giant economy size tub of Marmite sitting on my desk onto the eight slices of toast which are sitting next to it. I suppose I could always take the jar with me, but where's the fun in that?

Exciting times, citizen!

Am suffering stomach-grumblings on account of eating too many sunflower seeds. It's not my fault, they taste really good and they're incredibly more-ish. Also, they are very good for you, what with being low in salt and packed chock-full of magnesium, which probably means that if you were to light a taper and apply it to my tongue I would burst into fizzy white flame. Cool.

Suspect I may be turning into a budgerigar.

Can one reasonably dub something "Thai beef noodle soup" by virtue of having, basically, boiled up a few cans of Campbell's minestrone, dropped what looks like a pack of Tesco's Value minced beef into it, and shoved in some lemongrass stalks and a tablespoonful of chilli powder? I highly doubt that any of the ingredients of what I'm now consuming have come within an elephant's fart of Thailand, unless of course Campbell's have moved their worldwide soup manufacturing facilities there without telling me first. Also, given that most Thai food (in my not even slightly humble opinion) tastes wonderful, and given further that the soup in question tastes like it has been boiled in a troll's vest for a month, albeit a troll given to liberal use of the new Lynx "Lemongrass and Chilli" deodorant range, I am equally sceptical as to the provenance of the recipe.

Our office canteen gives "false advertisement" a bad name.

Memo to self: Trying to wire up audio-visual equipment, move large items of furniture, lay phone cabling, affix bookshelves to walls and/or install coat hooks is not recommended when you are simultaneously trying to keep an eye on two hyperactive children who are on the last day of their Christmas break and who are therefore determined to (a) play with every single toy obtained in the previous two weeks, and (b) leave aforementioned toys strewn around the house in unpredictable and above all tripoverable locations.

The only bits of me that don't hurt right now are the small patches of skin just above my knees.