3 is not a magic number

Well it was the penluminate class of the institute summer course this evening and unfortunatly things hit a new low. A new low number of people attending to be precise as three people, that's right just three people turned up for class.

Hopefully the turn out will be a bit better for next week.

With the football a dismal failure everyone has now turned their attention to tennis as Andy Murray has now reached the semi-finals of wimbledon.

Lets hope he desn't bottle it. Or we'll probably have to gone through another round of people harking back to " The good ole days when we used to win stuff".

anyway,

Later folks.

Bware the dangers of False advertising

Is it me or does there seem to be a lot of false advertising these days. Because a lot of things happen in the adverts that don't seem to happen in real life.

I've never gone to the freezer to find a talking polar bear giving me advise on what to cook for dinner.

My washing liquid has never sprung up into the air where it's done a good impression of a firework display.

I've never experienced the feeling of being completely unconcerned for reason as to where the lady in the pink t-shirt has come from or why she happens to have appeared in my house whilst I happen to be spending far too much time worrying about a stain.

A whole chorus of singing nurses in tight uniforms have never appeared whilst I've been washing my hair.

And I've not seen any elephants climbing trees to advertise TVs either.

anyway,

Later folks.

This has surprised even me

Well as the england football team bashing begins the (small) number of defenders of the team seem to be trying to come up with ways of justifying their poor performance. Among some of the defences are " Germany was the better team on the day" ( well d'uh that's how they won), "England was unlucky" and the players were " Tired".

However even I was surprised at one attempt to defend wayne rooneys lack of form as someone noticed he has had his chest waxed and so they've compared him to Sampson ( yeap him from the bible) and claimed that loosing all his chest hair caused him to loose his footballing skill, like when Sampson lost his strength when he lost his hair.

I think I can only say to that... " It's over, let it go, we're not winning this year"

Funnest news story of the day has to go for a NHS Trust who is advertising for a cost cutting advisor. Who will be paid more then our Prime minster as this advisors post has wages of £1000..... A DAY!!

anyway,

Later folks

Now what are the papers going to be talking about tomorrow I wonder?

Well as usual as a country we had such high hopes and as usual these hopes were cruelly dashed in the worst world cup defeat we've ever had. 4-1! to Germany!! Of course you have the people going on about what would have happened if the 2nd goal had been allowed. I can tell you what would have happened the score would have been 4-2 instead.

So the England team are coming home and it's now time for the one national sport we excel at.

The Blame game.

The papers are sure to be full of it tomorrow as we try to find something, anything or anyone to blame for the woeful performance of today. And I can say that as I actually did watch it and watched in disbelief the two goals from Germany inside four minutes.

Anyway sporting disappointments aside it's the start of a new week tomorrow which means a fresh week of challenges and new opportunities to learn ahead.

Later folks!

Just too darn hot

Well the first of the stereotypical english mini heatwaves arrived today and it did indeed keep to the stereotype. It was hot, very hot, in fact it was far too hot! And as you may have guessed Grumpy and I did the other stereotypical thing that most english people do when faced with weather which is far too hot.

We moaned about it all day.

Apparently it's going to be even hotter tomorrow which probably means that it's going to be uncomfortably sticky and warm in church.

The finale of Doctor Who was really really awesome. I'm aware that some readers such as Scully haven't seen it yet so I will try and keep my comments brief and spoiler free as possible! The bits before the opening titles is fantastic and ended with a real " I didn't see that coming at all!" moment. You will be amazed at how the season arc comes together, a alien utters a phrase you'd never expect them to say, one of the characters is a really bad dancer, there is at least one " I never thought of that" moment, somebody gains a new fashion accessory and you'll be left pondering what you can do in 12 minutes as well.

anyway,

Later folks.

I've had worse weeks

Well it was another hot day today with sunshine and blue skies. Not a bad end to what has been not a bad week overall.

No scratch that, it's been a great week. I've started my new job, settled into my new department, made some new friends, learnt a looottttt of new systems and got a very skilled massage at my desk during worktime which was free so it's been pretty awesome week overall I would say.

It's looking like it will be a nice weekend as well. We have the England game on Sunday but more importantly we have the season finale of Doctor Who on Saturday night. Which I've just released is going to be shown on the exact date that they've been referring to " in the storyline" all this season. Which you have to admit is pretty clever planning.

Anyway,

Later folks.

What can we win next?

Work is very target orientated. Yes they keep pushing to make sure that you hit your targets and yes sometimes it can be annoying but when you deliver you certainly get rewarded for it.

Today was one such day as to celebrate gaining a certificated level of service plus placing very highly in the global mystery shopper program, we had a number of "surprises" which as well as a dress down day, included the largest cake I have ever seen. What can only be described as a industrial sized choclate fountain in reception. A free lunch which was a hog roast, a free Ice cream in the afternoon for our last break and drinks delivered to our desk.

But that's not all! They also hired a number of massage therapists to come round and give us at our desks. Which was oh so good even if it was short. A number of people were joking running around the building to find another desk and trying to past themselves off as their twin siblings as this were some talented massage therapists!

So a lot of people want to know what we can win next to earn ourselves another reward day

Plus it was my first day " On my own" as it were taking calls and answering queries using the new systems and I'm pleased to say it went very well indeed.

So overall a pretty awesome day.

Later folks!

Ready or not, it's time to go

Well the nice weather has arrived and it's actually been quite warm today. However the downside to this is the best route to work passes a couple of farms and several fields and they are say we say quite "ripe smelling" in this weather.

So it looks like I'm going to be left with a choice. A short but smelly route or the longer but nice smelling route. As leaving the windows and sunroof closed in this weather is not a option as I would have melted by the time I got into work!

Speaking of which it turned out that my days worth of training was only a half day so I spent the rest of the day on the phones for the first time, which wasn't quite as nerve wracking as I thought it would be. The main issue is that I have a lot of new systems to learn which is going to slow me up until I get to grips with them.

But I was expecting that, even if it is a bit frustrating.

The other thing I am trying to adjust to is the change of pace. Not to say that my new department isn't busy, it's a "different" kind of busy if that makes any sense. Or to put it another way you have a lot more autonomy in how you work and manage your own workload. I like it a lot as you can imagine.

anyway,

Later folks.

Saxon to the rescue!

Shortly after finishing my Blog post last night I got a urgent call from Grumpy. He had taken Owen for a walk over the fields ( now filled with wheat) and through the woods and was ready to come home. But he had a problem he had managed to loose Owens Lead and seeing as it was green it was going to be almost impossible to find it!

So I had to hussle up to the fields to meet them with our spare lead. Whilst I bought Owen home, Grumpy decided to retrace his attempts in a brave but futile attempt to find the lead. Meanwhile I discovered why our spare lead was the spare one! It was a bungie style lead that is supposed to pull Dogs back if they try pulling too hard. Great theory, doesn't work in practise when it meets a Springer spaniel who is far too clever for his own good and and has the ability to almost pull me over! By the time I managed to get him back to the house I was left with a very sore shoulder and a worried dog who was wondering why we had left Grumpy !

It's been another interesting day of work as I spent most of the day listening into other members of the department getting a handle on how the department operates as a whole and the different systems interact. I have another day of training tomorrow and I will be on the front lines as it were for the first time on Thursday putting all of the theory into practise.

anyway,

Later folks.

Mooo ving on

Well in almost eight years of driving I have been caught in more traffic jams then I care to remember. Short one, Longs ones, Very long one and insanely long ones caused by anything from sheer weight of traffic, to accidents to being caused by no obivous reason at all.

However the traffic jam I was caught in one the way to work this morning was a new one. It was caused by a rather large herd of Cows moving down the road! And it wasn't a little side country road either, it was a main one! Still the jam didn't last too long and I was more bemused by it then angry.

Work was extremely tiring today mainly as I spent all day in training and it's difficult to stay focussed for a whole day especially when theres so much to learn! Still I think I have the basics as the new system overall is quite good, all I need now is some more practise.

One good side of training for a whole day is that you get an increased lunch break of an hour. However I've got so used to only having half an hour for lunch I wasn't sure what to do for most of it!

anyway,

Later folks.

That Darn ole Dawn Chorus

I've come to the conclusion that the entire "Dawn chorus" of birds in the local area have decided to perch on the roof above my bedroom as every day this week, every single day I've been woken up around 5.30am, that 5.30AM!!! but a chorus of tweeting and birds singing etc.

It's starting to get really annoying...

Well my new job starts tomorrow. Bright and early, well not that bright and early as it will be 9 to 5 but still earlier then say a job that starts at mid day....

Oh look it I'm rambling again..

Well it was Fathers day today here in the UK, I'm not sure if was the same in the USA as they do have a different mothers day date from us for some reason. I left church early so I could surprise Grumpy by cooking Sunday dinner for him. And what do you know? I managed to actually do a pretty good job even though my cooking skills are a bit rusty.

anyway,

Later folks.

What a surprise

Unless you live under a rock you will have heard about Englands poor performance in their match last night. So I was less then surprised when stopping off to get some petrol on the way into work this morning to see the absolute barrage of headlines from more or less every paper ranting on about it.

Now I'll admit that performance wasn't that good and people have a right to complain but the newspaper that paraphrased churchill might have been ranting on just a touch too much.

It was pretty much a stereotypical Saturday morning at work really. Even the knowledge that this was my last Saturday shift didn't help time move any faster! Still at least it was only half a day. It could have been a lot worse!

The first part of the two part season finale of Doctor Who was shown tonight and it was very good indeed. The way it tied in plot threads from earlier in the season was fantastic and the cliffhanger was very cruel! I don't know how I'm going to be able to wait until next Saturday!

anyway,

Later folks!

Almost at the finish line

Well today was my last "full"day in my current role. I just have tomorrow morning to get through and that will be that as they say as my new job starts 9am Monday morning! I'm kind of feeling equal parts excitment and nervousness as it's going to be quite different from what I have been doing and there's a whole new system to learn. But it will be fun and at least all of the challenges will be interesting ones.

I've just seen the new trailer for the Scott Pilgrim versus the world movie. This film looks so very very good. I wanna watch it now!

It's been confirmed that Torchwood is coming back. However in what could possibly be a troubling development it's been produced by several international TV channels working together which means it will have a "global" scope, i.e filming locations and stories all over the world ( It's a safe bet USA will be in there somewhere). Admitially it makes sense as Aliens are unlikely to always invade cardiff but that gave something to it's identity which could well be lost in a more global setting.

I've heard the official world cup song for the first time. I thought it was a wind up at first as I couldn't believe that you would have a "official" song which actually had the chorus line " Wakka Wakka".
That sounds like the catchphase of a cartoon character!

Anyway,

Later folks.

Like totally bizarrio man

well it's currently quarter to ten and it's still light. Really light as a matter of a fact which seems really bizare. And it might also be the reason why my body clock seems to be out of tune at the minute as I have woken up at 5.30am for the past three days running!!

Still I suppose we should enjoy it while we can as the longest day will be here soon after which it will get darker, more dreary with lots of rain and bad weather. So no real chance from the English Summer really.

Asides from being a lot darker.

In the news today the top story for That's just plain unlucky/ you shouldn't find this funny but you will a Woman who was trying to cure her life long fear of Primates was attacked by a pack of of crab eating Macques ( their monkeys if you hadn't guessed).

The top story for " Official who needs a reality check" is the head of a new Primary school who is insisting that the children take off their shoes from outside, or put plastic bags on their feet to stop the school carpets from getting dirty.

and finally the top story for " nobody cares" is anything to do with the latest series of big brother. Seriously I haven't seen a story about it in days!

I'm also worried that I'm next in line to have a "silly moment" as it were. As Grumpy managed to go into the wrong bank whilst trying to do some banking ( surprisingly enough) and only realised when the cashier pointed it out and Owen was so intent on following a plane in the sky that he managed to fall over backwards when he kept following it. ( although I'm sure he'd claim it was on purpose)

anyway,

Later folks

You Learn something new every day

They say that you should learn something new every day. Well here's (if I were to take all of it as true) is what I've learned today

• Vietnam is the capital city of Thailand
• You don't need to have a postcode or town name to send something to the USA. You just need to put the persons name and USA for the address details and it will get there.
• " Standard decoder box size" is apparently a recognised unit of measurement.
• Theres no plausable reason why you couldn't get something from the UK to Australia in under 12 hours.

Later folks.

Beware the evils of Daytime Tv

Well as I'm working a Saturday this week I had today off, as when you work a Saturday you get a day off in the week to "balance" things as it were. The only problem with having a day off so early in the week is that you don't have much to do. As you got your shopping on the weekend just gone so the cupboards are full and most new magazines, books etc don't comeout until the end of the week.

So what does that leave you?

Well if your really bored the evils of daytime TV. I made the mistake of switching the TV on around lunchtime and after flicking around the channels seeing the "chat show" loose women, Some sort of antiques show and a repeat of friends for what must be the 800th time i thought thigns couldn't get anyworse.

But I was wrong.

One channel obivously in a attempt to save money and attract the student crowd has started showing the Jerry Springer show again. That's right Jerry springer.

See if proves what I've said that daytime tv can be summed up in one word.

" evil".....


Later folks

Going nowhere fast

Knowing that the local music festival was finishing today I decided that I had better give myself some extra time to get to work. Of course the problem was not knowing how much time to leave myself! I decided to err on the side of caution and leave a lot of time. If all else failed I could always go to the canteen and read a book.

As it turned out the book was un needed and the caution well founded as my usual 13 minute trip into work turned into a 5o minute trip! So I wasn;t what you could call a totally happy bunny by the time I got to work but it could have been worse. At least I wasn't late!

I also got to meet the new team I will be working with today in one of those whirlwind introductions you get when joining a new place/department where you try to remember everyone's names and will probably fail miserably for at least the first two weeks. I found out I will be classified as "training" for the first four weeks which means I get found weeks of 9 to 5 shifts.

Not too bad if I do say so myself.

Anyway,

Later folks.

A change is as good as a rest

Well it was sort of a "all change" point for Loughborough YSA today. Physics will be going home this week for the summer and won't be back until October and we got a brand new teacher for our YSA Sunday school class.

Not that there was anything wrong with our old one mind you it's just we had, had him for a very long time and as the saying goes a change is as good as a rest because with our fail you always get something different from a lesson depending on whose teaching it.

Well I have one more week to go before my new job starts. However as it's a saturday shift run this week it means I'm on extended shifts every day which although annoying is not the end of the world. It just means I have to maintain my focus for just that little bit longer.

Anyway,

Later folks

Not so Last after all

Well I was all mentally prepared for my final day on the frontlines as it were today and was really keen to make sure that I went out on a high.

However you know what they say about the best laid plans of mice and men.

Yes I got to work to find that due to some staffing issues in my current department that myself along with several other people who were "moving up" have now got to wait a week before we can move. Which meant we all felt a bit strange today as we had all psyched ourselves up " to go" but we're not going anywhere for another week.

Which although annoying is not the end of the world. Even if this does mean I will still have to do my saturday shift next week!

Still it was a good day over all as I seemed to be getting good karma today as after the rudest customer ever yesterday I got nothing but really really nice customers all morning.

It got a little busier this afternoon. Well at least until the first game of the world cup started when there was a surprisingly noticeable slow down and it wasn't even a england match!

It was once again cold this morning but it did brighten up a lot this afternoon, just in time for when I left work as a matter of fact. Theres nothing better then to improve that Friday feeling then some blues skies and sunshine when you knock off for the weekend.

What is concerning me though is getting to work on Monday morning as the Download music festival will be finishing so apparently the roads will be extremely packed! I'm just going to have to make sure I leave in plenty of time.

anyway,

Later folks.

If it's not one thing it's another

Ah time, How you doth fly! For some reason I'm finding it very hard to keep up with the regular blog posting that I have done in the past this year. No idea why it just seems to keep happening that I can't find the time to do a post.

Anyway, as it turns out despite my secret fear of completely stuffing up the interview for the other postion I didn't as I was offered that postion as well! And then found out from my teams leader that I was considered to be the best applicant for both postions!

After much consideration I decided to go with the second postion as it will give me much more scope to bring more of my skills into play. Plus it's more of a backline role as opposed to " front line" which will be a change. Assuming nothing changes I will be starting in my new role on Monday.

Hopefully just in time for some nicer weather to get here! All it's seemed to do for the past couple of days is rain, rain, rain and rain some more! That's when it not been so cold that I've shived when I've got up in the morning. That's right shivered! And we're in the middle of June! What the heck is going on with the weather right now!

The new series of big brother has started and it seems like pretty much no one cares in the slightist!

Which in my book can only be a good thing.

It was also a quite odd day at work as I had to do with the rudest, most nasty customer I've ever had the misfortune to deal with! On the plus side it was the last call of the day so although it did put a dampener on the day at least I didn't have to deal with anything else after it!

Anyway,

Later folks.

Feeling just a little bit pleased with myself

I got some good news at work today. I have been offered one of the two postions that I recently interviewed. I haven't yet heard about the other postion but I will know about it tomorrow. The boss of the department who has offered me the new job has said he's willing to wait until the other department makes their decision before needing a decision from me as to whether to accept or not ( like I wouldn't if I get turned down for the other one). So I could well be in the fantatic postion of being able to choose which job to do. Both have their pros and cons.

So what does this mean for everyone favourite Saxon? That's me if you haven't guessed.

Well which ever postion I go for they will be on the next "rung" of the career ladder at work which means it will be a promotion, a nice pay increase plus a new job that although customer service is quite different to what I have been doing so it should be a good challenge.

I also start on Monday. When things move at work they move fast!

It also made me realise that my career path for the last eight months has been pretty impressive. I've gone from being made redundent, to getting a temporary job, to changing to a permanant postion in under two weeks, to passing my probabation to then getting a promotion!

Not bad if I do say so myself.

Anyway,

Later folks.

I know I keep saying this but....

It there was one word to describe today it would be "mental". Everything at work went ballistic from the moment we opening until almost pretty much the end of my shift.


We don't know why it did. It just did. Of course with us being rushed off our feet the computers decided to do what all good computer networks do when your really busy and need them urgently.


It threw a world class hissy fit for nearly five minutes refusing to work before then mysteriously starting to work again.

One of my friends at uni came up with the theory once that all computers have secret emotion sensors insdie which measure the mood of the user and the more in a hurry or tense you are the more uncoperative it knows to be. It was one of those theories which sounded crazy but can appear to be all too real sometimes.


My second interview today went okay, it's hard to judge sometimes. I did find out that they'll be putting the decision back until Wednesday so I won't know until then.


Keep thinking good thoughts for me guys!


Later folks

Groundhog Day

Well despite my guess which lead to the interupted blog postyesterday we did not loose power although the lights did flicker a few more times and we got a pretty impressive lightning show as the storm finally broke. Before it stopped. Then started again sometime around dawn this morning waking me up with what can only be described as a loud sound like somewhat practising their drumming skills againist the window as it was raining so hard.

Of course with it being a Sunday, one of the days of the week when I actually get a lie in I was unable to get back to sleep "fully" as it were, as I seemed to keep waking up up 10 minutes or so. I finally gave up around 7am and read a book until it was time " To get up".

Well tomorrow will be a start of another new week and I'm on earlys which means a depressingly early getting up time but a nice early getting home time as compensation. I also have my second interview tomorrow for one of the openings in the next department "up" on the career ladder. It's a good job with a lot of potential and would allow me to learn a lot more. I'm hust going to give it my all and all other cliches you can think of and see what happens.

I'll know by Tuesday if I'll be moving on or if I'll be staying put for the time being.

Think good thoughts for me folks.

Later!

Nice weather for a BBQ

It's been hot today, very very hot and also very sticky so I was once again grateful whilst we were out shopping for Grumpy having got a car with AC in!

However the hot weather hasn't lasted and it started raining this evening. In fact whilst I time this I can actually hear thunder in the distance so it looks like we're about to get one heck of a storm!

Or as much a storm as you can get in the UK as I remember when I was in the USA and I saw what a "real storm" is like.

I've spent most of the afternoon having a bit of a tidy up and basiclly not doing too much really as it's been far too warm

anyway I've leaving it there as the lights have just flicked twice so I have the horrible feeling we're about to loose power.

Later folks.

On the go

Just when you things couldn't get any more crazy or busier.

Lo and behold they do.

I've had a couple of extremely manic days ( which is why no bloggage for yesterday) and it's likely to stay manic for another couple of days too.

Why all the manicness? ( if that even a word) I hear you ask. Well several new postions have opened at work in another department at very short notice and my boss recommended that I go for them as they are in the next "rung" of the career path at DHL. So I have been rushing around like a lunatic trying to get ready for the two interviews I will be having in two days.

Either of the jobs that are vacant would be good as they will allow me to use a lot more of my skills on a day to day basis then I do now. Plus the pay increase won't be bad either.

So please wish me luck or think good thoughts for me. I will as always let you know how it goes.

Later folks.

Now that was a weird one!

Even by the standards of my experiences today was well pretty weird. Not in a " it's really quite strange quick call Mulder and Scully" kind of weird but it wasn't normal either. I know I'm not really making a lot of sense as I randomly scrabble for words but it's been that kind of day.

It was also busy, really really really busy. It didn't really let up until about 4pm and even long term " veterans" seemed to be bemused about how the day had gone.

It's also been quite rainy today as well but that does always maek it interesting to watch the plans landing as they send out whole clouds of spray when they land which can be really quite pretty.

I've just seen the new trailer for Scott Pilgrim vs the World. I've never heard of this comic before ( surprisingly enough) but I am now planning to catch the film and it looks really funny.

anyway,

Later folks