Here comes the weekend...

With the launch of hedkandi.com just a week away, it's good to have Lee beside me at Ministry of Sound for the week to manage testing. After recent events, the last thing I need is to launch a site with any undiscovered bugs (although, I suppose if they went undiscovered until September it wouldn't hurt that much... only joking - I'm a pro, remember?)

And Lee provided the good news story of the week. A call on Wednesday afternoon, interview on Thursday morning and starts work next Thursday at the world's most famous department store. They're going to become even more famous when Lee gets his teeth into the website.

A sunny weekend is forecast so that means plenty of barbie action.  I'm picking James up at the end of his first year at Uni on Saturday, and if I'm very lucky will get to meet his hot new girlfriend.  

And of course it's Rangers v Falkirk in the Scottish Cup Final.  Football's truly coming home...

The weekend

I had a really good weekend. On Friday evening Wenge and I went to one of our regular haunts - Pradera in Hornsey, for some excellent tapas. On Saturday we walked down to Crouch End to pick up some ingredients for an Indian chicken recipe that Wenge saw on TV. Apart from that it was a catch-up day although I did have a lengthy transatlantic phone call with Steven about all things Mac. I still don't get spaces...

I managed to stay injury free at footie, where we had a good 5 v 6 game.

James arrived home on Saturday night, understandably tired from partying all through the previous night then playing football for the university team. Those were the days...

Actually, one of the highlights of the weekend was James showing us some photos from uni. A large proportion of them seemed to involve him surrounded by assorted babes, which drew interesting and differing reactions from Wenge and me.

The mother's reaction was: "That's it. You're not going back to university with all those girls"

Mine, by contrast, went more like: "Get back to Surrey and make sure you send pictures".

Today has been tough, as most Mondays are. Negotiating the terms of my new contract; meeting with the development team; fleshing out requirements with the e-Commerce team. I even had time to talk to a headhunter about an interesting role (which would, however, require me to be an expert in SEO). I've got a feeling that it's going to be pretty intense from now on as I try to manage stuff at Ministry of Sound while keeping active in the job market. But I'm thankful that I do have some work, so I'm not complaining.

Meanwhile, Lee emailed to say that all zavvi head office staff were made redundant today. Good luck to everyone.

Need a fix, man

It's been two days without a post, and just as in my new favourite thing The Wire, two days is too long to go without a hit. Last night I finished Series 1 so looking forward to starting Series 2, which Ana is very kindly letting me borrow. We live no more than a couple of miles from each other so we're catching up at Starbucks in Crouch End tomorrow morning.

Today was the big interview day, not just for me but, it seems, for half of zavvi. I had a decent interview with the large US retailer I mentioned (OK, you all know it's Best Buy, who are building an eCommerce team from scratch), caught up with Marc (who's already there) for a coffee and then bumped into Lee, Suzanne and Glenville in reception - and we're not the only zavs (I just coined a new term) speaking with Best Buy. So, interesting times - it would be fun to get the old team together for another go...

So what else has been happening since Tuesday? More of the same; phone conversations and meetings, but with more research and specific preparation needed now. Yesterday I met with a startup digital entertainment company - I'd worked with the people while at zavvi - that may be an opportunity, and a recruitment agency specialising in the digital entertainment space. I met Stevo briefly at Chancery Lane afterwards.

I also had a call from an old colleague about some possible project management work, which could be fun. And I've been trying to schedule a call with someone from New Zealand about a possible opportunity, but the time difference has proved challenging to date. So the quality of conversations seems good although I suspect I may need to up the quantity to keep the momentum going.

In the meantime, I'm grateful to all the friends and colleagues who have been in touch, recommended me or passed on opportunities and contacts.

I'm pleased to say that there have been a few new additions to the melvtopia family this week - good to see The Arch, Allison ( now there's a blast from the proverbial past...) and Ana on board. For anyone who has just joined, here's what this is all about.

Job Centre tomorrow - damn, I forgot to check the Muswell Hill Journal for senior management posts in eCommerce or internet related businesses... how will I explain that to my 'employment consultant'?

The office

Weird, going into the office this morning. Suddenly the place I worked in every day was a strange, empty place.

And a horrible place. They've started to clear out our side of the building so there was hardly anyone there. It was good to bump into a few friendly faces but frankly, I couldn't wait to clear the rest of my stuff and be out of there for good.

Had a nice lunch at Frank's with Lee, Suzanne and Steve, bumped into Ana on the way to the tube, and made my weighed-down way home...

I'm due to speak to a couple of recruiters this afternoon so Project Melvin starts in earnest now.