Feb 14, 2006 - Uncategorized    Comments Off on Its Valentines day…

Its Valentines day…

For years I’ve been saying that Valentines day is yet another pointless moneymaking exercise….

…. but not this year!

I’m going out with a really great guy, who makes me so happy, happier than I think I’ve ever been.

We

Feb 13, 2006 - Uncategorized    Comments Off on Ok, so it has been a while…

Ok, so it has been a while…

I’ve been posting over at LJ for quite a while but to be honset I haven’t got on so well with the format and layout. I much prefer the Blogger tools so I’m coming back here. I’ll likely use LJ a bit for the communities but this is just so much better. I wrote a lot more here and whilst no-one ever read it, I enjoyed writing here.

So, I’m back.

Just a follow up to the ‘Guy and Girl’ issue from a few posts ago… Girl got the sack and Guy is doing very well. I love it when I’m right.

May 17, 2005 - Uncategorized    2 Comments

Random rant of the day

I was just reading the local new (because I’m a complete news junkie) and discovered, to my complete horror, that the local council will be probably be removing the free parking spaces over the summer. What a bloody con! How can they justify raking away the free parking when they completely omit a park and ride from the west side of the city. It’s absolutely ridiculous!

If they put a P&R site in, I’d be all for it, but personally object to paying £5 to park for 10 hours! – Especially if there is no real alternative. It’s just another way of making money. Pay to park or pay even more for public transport It’d all about the council lining their own pockets. Yeah, yeah, they say its so ‘real’ park users not commuters get to use but, at the end of the day it all comes down to money. So what pensioners who can’t walk well can’t park anywhere. Half of them shouldn’t be driving anyway. Boo Hoo.

I know this makes me sound completely selfish, but hey could very easliy put some ‘Pay’ spaces in for those and leave other paces open for free. Then see where all these complaining people park!

AARRRRRGGHHHHHH!

ok, rant over…

May 17, 2005 - Uncategorized    Comments Off on Its been a long time…

Its been a long time…

… but I have been really busy.

The end of the third year is fast approaching and soon I will be out in the real world. EEK. I have had assignments and presentations coming out of my ears, so my poor Blog got forgotten in the chaos that has consumed my life recently.

So, only two more proper assignments left. Three weeks until I’m out in the real word.

So what have I learnt during my time at Uni?

  • Take time out for yourself – its not just a student thing, in all of life you need a chance to do what you want, not just what other people expects of you.
  • Don’t do nothing -don’t waste your time – as Grissom says (CSI fans unite) “you need a diversion”
  • Take advantage of every opportunity that is presented to you – if you don’t someone else will!
  • Take risks – people who take risk often reap the best rewards. (Balance this with being sensible and thinking before you act)
  • Enjoy yourself – and be happy

I’m sure I’ve learnt other things. liek a wohleload of stuff to do with Business Studies, and other lessons of life that I haven’t gone into here, but I’m sure they’ll crop up in later postings.

May 16, 2005 - Uncategorized    Comments Off on This is cool!

This is cool!


Your Brain is 53.33% Female, 46.67% Male


Your brain is a healthy mix of male and female

You are both sensitive and savvy

Rational and reasonable, you tend to keep level headed

But you also tend to wear your heart on your sleeve

Apr 29, 2005 - Uncategorized    Comments Off on Who Should You Vote For?

Who Should You Vote For?

Who Should You Vote For?

Who should I vote for? v2

Your expected outcome:

Conservative

Your actual outcome:

Labour -5
Conservative 45
Liberal Democrat -43
UKIP 19
Green -7

You should vote: Conservative

The Conservative Party is strongly against joining the Euro and against greater use of taxation to fund public services. The party broadly supported the Iraq war and backs greater policing and ID cards. The Tories are against increasing the minimum wage above the rate of inflation, and have committed to abolishing university tuition fees. They support ‘virtual vouchers’ for private education.

Take the test at Who Should You Vote For

Apr 2, 2005 - understanding, work    Comments Off on Attitude is everything

Attitude is everything

We have this new person in the office I work in. Well, actually, there are two new people. And they are complete opposites. Call them Guy and Girl.

Guy is really keen to learn. He played his part, asked questions when he needed to, and when he wasn’t sure. He was keen to try the different procedures and just ‘learn’ in general. He was really a pleasure to supervise and teach.

Girl – almost drove me round the bend. I repeated myself, I showed her things half a dozen times. Girl wanted everything handed to her on a plate. She didn’t care about how things work. She didn’t even try to remember things in most cases. Her attitude, put simply, sucked!

Which one will succeed – Guy. Which one will not last – Girl. Every time you meet new staff, you can (usually) tell whether they will last or not.

It was quite interesting to see such contrast. That said. Concentration is key to being a success, especially when you are new. But if you have a positive mental attitude, you can be a success at anything. And if you struggle, a positive outlook ill make other people more likely to help.

Attitude is so important, it helps build workplace relationships (both internally and externally). It creates a positive working atmosphere and at the end of the day – its all about teamwork. People are key.

Ramble Over

Onwards and upwards.

Mar 29, 2005 - Uncategorized    Comments Off on What was I thinking?

What was I thinking?

I’ve been perusing the net, and came across a website that I haven’t been to for a while, an editorials like this: What difference does make? [And no, that is not grammatically incorrect.] … makes me wonder why on Earth I stayed away. And this guy certainly hit the nail on the head.

Its always the way in society – people with unusual interests are marginalised, and subjected to the pressure to ‘conform’ to what is perceived as ‘normal’. I know what that is like. I watch Desperate Housewives (Ok, its not that bad and its beginning to grow on me), Eastenders, and a variety of other soaps. I enjoy Sci Fi and crime drama. It takes a lot for people to get inside my comfort zone where I will openly talk about what I am actually interested in.

And I know that’s wrong.

A few weeks ago this kind of conversation came up, and I discovered (maybe the wrong word because I’ve know these people for ages), two Trek fans, an SG-1 fan and a group of people who knew what we were talking about. It’s a pity the topic didn’t come up sooner.

Oh well, lesson learned this time I think.

Random Note: Check out SF Crowsnest . Its a really cool site with loads of news and reviews all on the Sci Fi, Horror, and Fantasy theme.

Back to random browsing …

Mar 26, 2005 - Uncategorized    Comments Off on Back to the grind…

Back to the grind…

Well, for one day at least. (or half a day if you are going to be pedantic!)

This also translates as: despite my love of having a day off work, sometimes I hate bank holidays. You’d think that people want to enjoy having the long weekend off, so then I have to wonder why the world and his wife think the world is going to stop if an office is shut for two weekdays. I suppose its just a pity that Easter Saturday isn’t counted as a bank holiday as well. Because our office was incredibly busy today. God, if I didn’t work there, I wouldn’t be there at any point on a Saturday morning!

Random confusing thing. I understand the who idea of the procession on Good Friday, the one think I really wonder is: why my local town seemed to be having a service outside the public library. Not really very significant is it?

Random comment of the day: Remember: You are not a salmon.

Mar 25, 2005 - the apprentice, tv    Comments Off on Apprentices…. or how not to act

Apprentices…. or how not to act

So because the normal discussion board where I usually post on this subject is down, I’ll have to think about The Apprentice here instead.

The task this week was relatively straightforward, designed to demonstrate ability to delegate and manage a team with different projects, alongside a fundamental understanding of marketing. In my opinion, the winning team deserved their win, whilst, to be honest, the entire losing team were appalling.

  • Paul offered no sense of direction to his team. He got completely immersed in ‘his’ part of the project, and didn’t control what the other team members were doing. And he was so arrogant about ‘the best part of the whole thing’ which in his opinion was (suprisingly!) his part.
  • Siara – Was very dominating, always interrupting. Got way too involve in meaningless things like setting up the room, and had the gall to blame the Mac-man (sp?) for the pathetic advertisement he came up with due to lack of direction. She also completely cut out Rachel, and didn’t exactly do the best possible job.
  • Rachel – wasted so much time, complained of being ‘tired’, then spent ages cutting and pasting useless ‘ideas’ board that served no purpose other than to make her look like she was doing something. She distanced herself from the team and didn’t really try to get involved. I wasn’t surprised that she got fired, because she made very little contribution to the team.
  • Raj – Not really sure because he didn’t seem to be doing anything. In my opinion, he got off very lightly.
  • Impact -Zero direction, zero communication, zero commitment. 100% blame. Zero ability to accept responsibility = 100% Failure!

On the other hand, First Forte, maintained good communication, maintained direction, and had a very effective team leader in Miriam. She kept an eye on the major aspects of the project, managed to delegate, and was able to problem solve and think around the problems that arose.

All the team members played their part, and contributed.

The result – a campaign that looked good, and was integrated across the whole ‘campaign’ with a relevant strapline. I was quite impressed.

What is really good is that it demonstrates good and bad behavior qualities and provides a useful look at what is expected of people in the business world. – And I think that is where some of these people have fallen down.

Roll on next Wednesday!