The Bear Minimum

We know there’s quite a few things, but what specifically would we need?

My wife and I are both professionals, I’m a psychologist whilst she’s in admin, so we could both use a home office. My wife especially could benefit as there is much of her job that she could do from home, given the right equipment, so we are considering what we’d need.

Obviously there’s the office equipment basics of business phone system, fax, photocopier, computer capable of handling a heavy load on a very regular basis, as well as the furniture necessary, a more ergonomic desk and chair - the ones we have at the moment are more about comfort than about working for long periods of time - and we’re both sure we’re forgetting things in that area.

There’s also the issue of motivation. Should we work from home, in the same office, will we actually get any work done, or will we chat and look at funny internet memes? We’re thinking that a lot less would get done if we were able to work in the same room, and whilst I don’t have a heck of a lot of work that can be done from home, I think the work that could be would take four times as long.

It’s a wonderful idea, though, and you can’t discount how much nicer it would be for us to not have to go into our respective offices for the little things. My wife, for instance, has had to go in on the weekend more than once because she had a specific document in a file in her briefcase instead of in a file at the office, and had she a fax machine that would never happen again. It would also be more economically sound if we were to work from home when we could as we’d be saving on fuel.

Still something to think about and not hastily decide about one way or the other.

My wife and I just finished watching Once Upon a Time in the West and that immensely enjoyable experience has sparked us to take up a quest to re-watch the classics of cinema.

It has been many years since I last watched the film, many, many years, so I’d largely forgotten much of it, though I clearly remembered thinking it was fantastic. It happened to come up in conversation with my wife a few days ago, and now that she’s laid up for the next little while, we decided to put in some good hours with the old Blu-Ray player.

Earlier today, after my having spoken about this film, my wife asked me if I could grab it in town and tonight we watched it. She enjoyed it immensely as did I. We both agreed that the slow pacing of the film gave it a feeling of standing on a precipice, for the whole time, and not in some cheap way, but something that really keeps you interested in watching and paying attention.

After sitting through close to three hours of fantastically paced classic film, my wife and I have decided that we’re going to have to go and revisit many old and beloved movie classics over the next few weeks. One that my wife suggested, as it was one she remembered enjoying immensely the first time she saw it, was The Manchurian Candidate, and I concur, it was a very enjoyable film!

I suggested that we also watch North by Northwest and my wife loved the suggestion. She’s quite fond of many of the Hitchcock classics, as am I, and many more of that era. There’s something so immensely satisfying about those movies, some ineffable essence that does something to the viewer, it makes it more of a full meal than simply watching a movie.

Though we’ll not only be watching the classic, great films of that era, no we’ll also be re-watching those great films from all of the previous few decades. I myself am looking forward to watching Marathon Man again, whilst my wife is looking forward to Singin’ in the Rain. There’s so many to go through! Rear Window is another we’ve just added to our list. That was a fantastically intense watch the first time!

For a new and worthy book to read. Shall I find one?

I’m in the mood for something a little different. I’ve been reading The Dragonbone Chair by Tad Williams, but after starting it and then stopping reading it for a while I find that I want to read something else before returning to that series.

After some investigating online, I’m thinking of giving The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher a go, as it seems to be a bit of a divergence from the more traditional fantasy I’ve been reading of late.

The series is centred round a detective (or private investigator) who’s also a wizard, and his investigations into the supernatural wrong-doings in modern-day Chicago. Well it’s certainly different, no? The book was also made into a television series, but from what I understand that series doesn’t really stand up to the book series.

I don’t think Butcher’s won any awards with the Dresden Files, but there does seem to be a fairly full readership and mostly positive responses to the series as a whole. I first heard of the books some time ago when my wife was talking with a colleague who was reading the series. Whilst it didn’t immediately jump out at me as something to try, now that I’m in a mood for something a little unfamiliar I think it should work quite well.

There are a few books that I am still waiting to read, the next Song of Ice and Fire book, for instance, along with the final books in the Wheel of Time series, which I’ve decided to not read until the final three are all available. I’ve not read the prequel, either, nor the last two or three books as I want to wait until all are available and then read them start to finish again.

Of course, since deciding that I would read the Dresden Files, I’ve called every book store in my area and have been told that they’re not stocking it, but if I’d like to wait around ten days they can all order me a copy. Yes, well, I’m not a patient man, dear reader, so no, no I shan’t be waiting. I’ll buy them off ebay!

My wife was in an accident last week, and I’m thanking my lucky stars that she’s okay.

My wife was in a car accident last week, though thankfully she’s not too sore. Her car was hit from the side by an oncoming driver who drove through a stop-sign and hit the front side panel of my wife’s little Toyota, which thankfully is a very safe car - which is why we chose it - and it protected her, though due to the impact her knee was hit by the side of her car being pushed inwards and it’s quite badly bruised and she has to stay off it for a few days at the least.

Since the accident we’ve been going through the ubiquitous insurance issues, filling in the necessary paperwork for car accidents, and a claim for compensation, too. She’s not going to be working for probably a fortnight, and she’s quite adamant she doesn’t lose earnings (or vacation time or sick days) for the negligence of the fellow who struck her.

With the rise of car insurance fraud insurers are becoming more and more thorough in determining whether or not they’ll pay out on a claim, and we actually have had to have an insurance company representative round to see my wife’s injuries and her car. The signed by the doctor photographs were not enough for them, which I suppose I can understand, but it’s just such a frustrating task.

My poor wife should be able to relax at home and watch, what she loves to call ‘dodgy day-time TV’. She’s more patient with all this than I am, but I just want her to be able to rest and recuperate. I love my wife dearly and the thought of losing her is beyond my words to express. I’m furious with the young man who hit her, who was speeding and not paying attention to road signs, and I’m so very thankful that my wife is okay.

Independent games are a different kind of game. A unique experience!

An independent game is one that has no funding from a game publisher. These games often get little in the way of advertising, but that doesn’t mean they’re not good games. Without a publisher a game has a lot less in the way of funds to work with, and often those who make the games don’t get all that much in return.

Some independent games do make a fair amount of money in return, but not a lot in comparison with the big name produced games or franchise games such as Halo, Madden, or the new Rockstar title, Red Dead Redemption.

A week or so back I happened upon the Humble Indie Bundle, and whilst I didn’t purchase it (I was meaning to but was unfortunately side-tracked for a few days and missed my chance) I have been checking out some of the games via demos available. Samorost 2 was added late in the game, and is quite enjoyable. It’s a web browser game so no need for instillation, and whilst the art style is not my favourite, it is done very, very well. Gish is a highly awarded game, but I didn’t find it to my liking. There are other physics based games out there, and whilst this one had a few neat ideas on the basic premise, the art style and music were both quite lacking.

Aquaria is fun, and I like some of the game play elements, but overall I feel like it’s aimed at a younger, more feminine, audience. World of Goo, however, was very, very enjoyable to play. I thought the graphics style was fun and clear, and I liked the take on the physics based game. Very entertaining and one I have purchased the full version of.

In my search for more independent games I also happened upon Continuity, which is a Flash game, and is fun and quite a unique game, and I’m about to have a go at the Max and the Magic Marker demo, as well.

All in all I strongly recommend a foray or two into the world of independent games.

I’ve long been awaiting Super Mario Galaxy 2 on the Wii, and a review was posted today for it on IGN, a particularly good review.

A perfect 10 in fact, from my favourite gaming information site, IGN. Now, earlier today when I clicked on that blessed review link for the brand new Super Mario Galaxy 2, I had to skip down the page to where the actual score was listed. To my astonishment there was a perfect 10 sitting there, awaiting the opportunity to bask in the glow of appreciation from gamers the world over.

A perfect 10, the ‘Masterful’ score, has been awarded only twenty-four times in IGN’s illustrious history. Twenty-four times out of around nine-thousand-and-twenty-five or so games reviewed. That’s .2% of overall games reviewed. Ever. At first I was somewhat sceptical, thinking that surely this wasn’t the case, that not every aspect of the game could be reviewed at 10 points, but I do believe that that’s exactly what they’ve done! I’m terribly excited that a game I was highly anticipating has gotten such an admirable score. I’ve not yet watched the review, but I’m going to right now, then I shall report back.

Okay, I’ve watched the review. The game looks amazing, bright and fun in the same style as last time. Mario gets a few new suits which look like a lot of fun to try, and finally we’ve got Yoshi back! He’s got a few powers of his own in this game, and it really does look like a vast amount of fun. Apparently the game is larger over all, and there’s a heck of a lot on offer in terms of collecting and unlocking things. The story-line is bare-bones as usual, but it’s nice to see Princess Peach back.

There have been few titles on the Wii that I’ve found to be enjoyable to the same degree as I found Super Mario Galaxy, so I’m looking forward to cranking up my rather unused Wii to have fun with another Mario game.

I love seeing those who deserve it getting their comeuppance!

Earlier this year my car was broken into. I was at work, and had parked in the parking complex as normal, and during the day someone busted the lock on my car and broke in.

Luckily for me, I don’t keep anything valuable in my car. I actually like maps, so have no need for a GPS in there. I take my laptop into my office as I need it each day, and the same can be said of my mobile phone which goes to the office with me also.

So, the fellow who so boldly risked his freedom to break into my nice car in the end got absolutely nothing out of it. The most expensive item in the car that was actually removable would have been the spare tire in the boot.

I was irritated that I had to go and have the lock repaired, but amused that the fellow got nothing for his troubles. The parking complex I leave my car in has, like so many others in this country, CCTV monitoring systems. This means that on the day my car was broken into, footage was taken of the fellow who did it, and thanks to that footage, he was picked up the next day by the local police.

For some unknown reason, he entered a not-guilty plea when the case went to court last week. He was of course found guilty - there was clear CCTV footage of his face as he broke into my car - and will be sentenced next month.

Ahh, it’s delightful when you see the ‘bad guys’ caught and prosecuted for what they’ve done, and even more delightful when they’re found guilty!

I’m not a soft-touch when it comes to criminal activity, and often I feel that sentences could be a little stronger, so it will be interesting to see what the result of his sentencing hearing will be next month.

It’s been so very good to write again.

Since I finished my doctorate at University, I’ve not done a heck of a lot of writing. I’ve spent most of my professional time with patients, and haven’t really done much in the way of papers and such. My leisure time has been filled with activities with my wife, with reading and gaming, and with an assortment of other things, but not a lot of writing.

Since starting this blog - even with my intermittent neglect of the poor thing - I’ve found my love of writing refreshed and reinvigorated! I’ve so enjoyed the luxury of writing about any topic which takes my fancy, even just that writing takes my fancy!

There’s such liberty in blog writing. I do wonder how significant the position of the newspaper columnist is now that blogging has reached the wider populace. There seems to be, to me, an overlap here. You’re a columnist if you’re post goes in a paper, but if you publish that same piece online you’re a blogger. It’s interesting to me that the traditional roles of journalists are now… challenged by the freedom of information online and with the growing ability and desire to seek that information out from sources other than the news outlets we’re familiar with.

Blogging also offers greater insight into the wider opinion and knowledge base of an area. If you find ten blogs from British people, you’ll most likely find that some of them have written about the current election going on and from that you could extrapolate what they think about which candidate and so on. Now, that’s a very small group to choose from but you can still gain a good idea of what these respective people - and therefore, quite possibly, the social groups they’re a part of - are thinking.

From the perspective of a blogger, the anonymity is also enjoyable. Sure you know a few things about me, but what you do know is actually very little, really, and that allows me to feel safe to blog about what I blog about. Of course, I never blog about a patient without discussing it with them, first.

A post to talk about the dangers for practising psychologists.

As a practising psychologist, you’re asked to take on clients and then help them with whatever issue is troubling them or disrupting their everyday lives. In most cases you’re able to help your client come to a much better place in life. Sometimes, however, you can’t. On those rare occasions where a person is past my ability to help them, where they may require medication - as a psychologist I don’t medicate people, psychiatrists do that - or even hospitalisation.

If one can’t help a patient, occasionally families will blame the psychologist, even patients may do this on occasion. That’s where we can run into dangers. Remember those ambulance chasing solicitors who are famous for pushing people into ridiculous civil law suits? Well, at some point in the previous decade those same ambulance chasers set their eyes on the mentally ill, and it’s certainly not difficult to convince an unsatisfied mentally ill patient that it’s my fault they’ve not recovered yet.

They set themselves up as ‘no win no fee solicitors’ and make a habit of going after the vulnerable. I’m not saying all these lawyers are bad people, or that they don’t believe what they’re doing is right, but there are those who are on the nefarious side, and who are taking advantage of people, and those people have my ire!

There are other dangers faced by psychologists, also. Occasionally patients can become overly attached, which is usually quite easy to deal with in the office, but if a patient somehow finds out where you live? Well then things can get quite awkward.

Those are the most major of outward dangers. Inwardly a psychologist can beat himself up for not being able to help people, or, after a particularly emotional session with a patient, a psychologist can feel worn and sad and a plethora of other emotions. It is a rewarding profession, but it’s not without some down sides.

Oh I do like a little bit of pun humour, there.

Last Summer I was treating an older lady who had a rather unusual phobia. Technically she suffered from a sub-set of entomophobia, but more specifically, she was afraid of caterpillars. I’ll set the scene for you.

She was an avid gardener, and had been since her retirement. She was 60 when she retired, and 67 when she came to me for assistance with this phobia. She told me that around the age of 65 she had had a shock one morning when she’d been pruning her rose bush and have overturned a leaf to find a caterpillar looking up at her. That’s her description, not mine, though I do find the anthropomorphisation of animals quite enjoyable.

She said that seeing that green caterpillar in her hand for some reason quite disturbed her, and she’d had a very hard time since then being comfortable in her garden. This was all very understandable and we had a very productive few months of sessions where we managed to completely cure her of her phobia. It was delightful to work with a woman of her years and wit, she was very funny and very easy-going about talking about the problem, and very enthusiastic about resolving the issue.

As I type this, dear reader, it’s been quite some time since she and I have had any sessions, but as this is the first sign of the good gardening season she’s been in touch to let me know how she’s finding being in the garden again. She says she’s doing very well and she popped in my office to give me a nice bunch of early flowers from her garden.

It’s such a satisfying feeling, helping people with these sorts of problems. Seeing someone come in distressed and upset and seeing them leave happy and confident. For now I must bid you adieu, dear reader, for I’m expecting a patient soon.