Up fairly early as I have a long day today – travelling down to London for an overnighter. It is, by happy coincidence (as these things often are!) also LONAP‘s 10th Birthday Party this evening too, at The Old Bank of England on Fleet Street.

The train journey is uneventful, and I’m sure the 3G service that I use (O2) is getting worse. I manage to sustain a connection for a few minutes, but the signal is so shonky that by the time I’m at Chesterfield it’s gone. I can’t even connect up directly on my phone. Crap. So, I spend most of the journey guiding Birmingham City through the mires of a underachieving Premiership season in Football Manager 2008. I wonder how long it’ll be before the board get sick of me and give me the boot?

The afternoon meeting I have scheduled with our datacentre account manager is pushed back until tomorrow, which is both a blessing and a pain – but it gives me some time to catch up with work, before heading across the city to Temple station for this ‘do’.

Networking, in the social sense, that is, is something I’ve never ever been any good at. I think it’s a trait that most geeks share – there are comparatively few technical people who’re comfortable in these situations. Which makes the LONAP Birthday Party quite an odd event – a room full of geeks with poor social skills attempting to ‘network’! It’s largely unfounded though – after a few ESB’s people’s tongue’s loosen and even I manage to ‘mingle’ and spread the love for the behalf of my employers. It’s a good night, and I make my way back at about 11:30, somewhat inebriated.