Tis the weekend!

What makes getting to the Friday thus meaning the weekend is just around the corner even better. Why the fact that it's payday weekend and we can bask in the happyness of having a full bank account.

If only for a little while :-)

The only other thing which could have made it better was nicer weather which it looks like we're not going to get as it's just started raining. Quite heavily in fact, Owen had to come back from his walk early! He's now sitting on the landing watching me type through the office door whilst he looks quite sorry for himself.

It was another interesting day at work as the work came in. I know I've said it before but it's really not a cliche to say you don't know whats coming next as you don't.

anyway,

Later folks!

But I wanna watch them now......

Comic-con international may be the ultimate Geek mecha which I'll probably never get to go to but at least you can always guarnetee a flood of material to the internet which will grab the attention of Geeks everywhere. And this year is no exception.

I have seen three trailers today of films I really want to see now! I don't want to wait until next year because thats well next year.

First up was Tron Legacy which looks very interesting indeed. Even if (as I suddenely realised that this is quite a large hole in my geek knowledge base) that I've never actually seen the complete orginal Tron before

Second up was Sucker Punch, from the director of 300 and watchmen. Lets see it features Dragons, airships, B-24, Samurai, Orcs, knights and steampunk German soldiers. Oh and one or two girls who are extremely skills at fighting. Not that I'm sure that last one will be any draw to the intended audience of this movie at all :-)

Last and by no means least was Thor. Based on the marvel comic books as opposed to Legend ( although is it me or do a lot of people seem to be plundering ancient legends for inspiration these days) it might suffer as it's not as well known as Spiderman or the fantastic four, but it's going to be tieing in with the other marvel films ( if you stayed passed the end credits in Iron Man 2 you'll know what I mean) plus it's directed by Kenneth Brangh. And it's got Anthony Hopkins as Odin! The only way that could be cooler is if they had got Brian Blessed!!

no wait scratch that............

The other thing I was amused to see was the constant stream of actresses promoting films at comic con wearing shall we say rather revealing outfits. A lot of of the articles declared that they were obivously doing it to get the geeks attention..... and your point is????
Of course that's what they were doing! That was so not rocket science and if you listen very carefully you'll hear the sound of none of the geeks complaining!

Thinking of buying a Ipad? Apparently a recent survery claims that if you do that would make you one of the 'selfish elite' who has little sympathy for others.

Obivously another survey from the university of we've got nothing better to be doing.

Anyway,

Later folks!

Recharge and regroup

I've had a very long day today. Which if you think about it is really a stupid saying. Seeing as the earths rotation hasn't stopped and superman ( or stupendous man) has pushed the planets rotation the other way this day hasn't been longer then any other.

But I digress.

Or ramble depending on your opinon.

Which I do a lot.

Right back to my original point, it's been a long day.

There were two problems I faced today. Firstly a lot and I'm talking a lot of difficult customers and secondly this was the first day when I had the "full workload" for my role. Suffice to say I was very close to freaking out by mid morning as I tried to get everything together.

Fortunatly a well timed break, a cold drink and a quick mental reshuffle I was able to get it together as it were and finish the day on a high note.

Still I'm glad I only have two more days of the early shift and then there is only two more weeks to my next holiday.

For a "change" I am taking the week of my Birthday off work as lets face it who wants to work on their birthday?

Anyway,

Later folks

Am I bothered? Nope

I've discovered what small tiny problem with my new role. I've now been doing the second "part" of my job for a week now and I'd like to think that I'm doing pretty well ( looks into sky hoping the other shoe isn't about to drop ) but the problem I've discovered is that it's entirely possible to complete three times the amount of work you have waiting for you at the start of the day and still finish the day having more work left then you had at the start of the day.

I'll admit however that, that is a very very small gripe as I am throughly enjoying working on the network desk as it's proving to be a fascinating challenge, as it's not a cliche to say that you really don't know what's going to come next.

I was a bit surprised when I got home to a email from one of my friends asking if I had seen the end of year results from the company I used to work for. I was surprised as I had totally forgotten that it was that time of year. He was asking what I thought of it from my now "civilian" point of view and I have to admit I wasn't really bothered as they seem to be doing well so good on them. It's never good to dwell on things.

I think he was hoping that I would go on a mini rant but I wasn't in the mood to indulge him.

Well it's five weeks until convention and remarkably the amount of emails we're now receiving about it has gone up! I really want to send a email back saying " I'm coming already, please leave me alone!"

Although at this point I still don't know if I'll be driving up by myself or if I might get passengers this time. I really, really would like passengers this time, even if it's only one! Half the fun of going to activities is being able to talk them through with someone on the way home.

Anyway,

Later folks!

That's what bothering you?

Emmerdale one of the oldest soaps in Britain is currently in a bit of bother it's been slammed by parents, parents group and media watch dogs for showing something what a lot of people considered inappropriate. One outraged mother that she said she had to cover her young son's eyes so he didn't see it, another mother said she was stunned as her seven year old Son asked her to explain. And what's got everyone up in arms, screaming at the heavens and searching for their pitchfolks and touches? Could it be a overlong bedroom scene, a gay storyline, stalkers, incest, plane crashes, bus crashes, lorry crashes or chimeys falling off roofs and crushing people. murderers, bodies being buried in the woods, adultury, spousal abuse, assault or even a good old fashioned round of fisticuffs.

Nope none of them. Which you need to remember have all happened in this soap.

What has got people up in arms is a shopping list ( no I am not making this up) which was shown in the background and among "food items" contained the items pile cream and Jam rags. Now Jam rags is apparently ( and I didn't know this) a slang term for Female Sanitary towels. Now there was probably no reason for this term to be in the scene and someone was obivously hoping to the reaction I got but what I found the most scary thing is there are parents with seven year olds and younger who have no problem with seeing anything else which I listed but have objected to this!

I think that some peoples time might be better spent considering their viewing habits as a whole!

anyway

Later folks

The Games afoot

Well it was a "light" day at church with lots of nice and cheery topics like the Word of Wisdom, how to identify wicked leaders and avoiding the dangers of pornography.

Not that I'm saying that these aren't very important topics because they are, it's just they can be a little.... heavy going for want of a better term.

I did try in Sunday school one last attempt to encourage people to sign up for the YSA convention. When I pointed out that this could be the last one for some time I was told "good" by one of the other YSA. Which I couldn't quite understand as I couldn't see how anybody could see that as a good thing.

There had a new version of Sherlock Holmes on BBC 1 this evening. It's a moderisation of the story, i.e it's set in the present day. It was actually surprisingly rather good and there were some great one liners " Whenever you open your mouth it lowers the IQ of the whole street"

Well I'm on the early shifts this week. So I get home early but it does mean I have to get up a lot earlier. It's also my first early shift in my new department so it promises to be a quite interesting day.

Later folks!

One jail break coming right up

We had to go and collect Owen from the Kennels this morning. Grumpy had gone away for a few days and we couldn't leave Owen on his own all day whilst I was at work.

Due to short notice Grumpy wasn't able to get Owen into his usual kennels so took him to some new ones.

Now I have the feeling that Owen might not have enjoyed the stay there. Call it a hunch, call it a guess, call it a gut reaction or call it a deduction based on the fact that when the guy went to get Owen, Owen legged it as soon as the kennel door was opened and hurtled into the reception so fast that I was almost sent flying, and when the guy came back into reception Owen proceeded to hide behind the Grumpys leg and growl at the guy before then going for the door leading outside and tried to open it!

Not exactly what you would call evidence to a postive stay is it?

In the news today Simon cowell is being sued for a cool 2.5 million by someone who appeared on Britains got talent and states she was ridiculed and humilated on national tv. Obivously A she had never seen the show before and B she has a huge ego and self belief when it comes to her own singing abilities. There was at least a paragraphs worth of excuses which she used to explain why her singing was so poor.

anyway,

Later folks.

No I don't need a thank you.....would be nice though

It's been an interesting day at work. Firstly there was a rather major technical malfunction which caused problems for the first couple of hours and for once it wasn't the computers.

Secondly today was a dress down day at work. No biggie there as all Fridays are now dress down days but this was intended to be a dress down day before all Fridays became dress down days which meant we still have to pay for this dress down day even though all dress down days are now free.

Clear?

No? never mind. I think I might have actually confused myself there as well.

And thirdly Friday is always a interesting day because of all the usual " oppotunities" that you face are lent that sudden urgency by the rapidly approaching weekend and peoples urge to get out of dodge and get back to the barn. Or leave work and go home for those of you who don'rt speak in military cliche.

Well it's another day, another email from this years national convention organisers who have sent out a email breaking down the cost for this years convention to try and persude people to sign up as apparently people are still whinning about it! It's actually quite sad that their having to go to these lengths. What's worse is apparently rumours have started that all of the commitee members are getting paid for organising the conference and getting a discount!

Speaking of money issues however it appears that no one is above the effects of the recesion as Darth vader robbed a bank in the USA.

Well the insurance company probably didn't pay up for the 2nd Death star.

Anyway

Later folks!

Random thoughts

I was in the middle of thinking how to get a point across clearer to a slovakian person ( true story not a set up for a joke) during work today when I suddenly had a random thought.

There's been a advert on recently for a eye spray which is suppose to "vitalise your eyes/improve the moisture" it's in a handy little spray bottle which you have to spray on your closed eyelids. But how do you know where to spray with your eyes shut. Do you try and line it up and then quickly close your eyes or do you just try and line it up whilst hoping that your not going to poke yourself in the eye with the bottle?

Random thought over it was time to get back to my difficult slovakian.

Yes as you may have guessed it has been one of those days at work but in a way it also hasn't. Which is once again a very obscure pronouncement I know but that's just the way things were. I'm really enjoying the new part of my job as it's a great challenge but also a great learning opportunity as well. It doesn't seem like it's only been four weeks since I've joined the department but I've learned so much!

anyway,

Later folks.

I know what I'm doing

I have the uneviable task today of having to explain to a customer for a good five minutes that just because we couldn't do what he was demanding it didn't mean I didn't know what I was doing.

In those sort of situations I have found after a lot of trial and error that simply keeping your voice soft, level and just repeating the same infomation is the best way to get your point across.

He was disappointed in the end however as I'm fairly certain he wanted a fight but I wasn't going to indulge him in the slightest!

I'm still receiving emails extolling people to go to this years national YSA conference which I guess means the numbers of people who have signed up are still low. One line in the latest email which I found a bit upsetting was that this may be the last conference for a while ( and this one was a legimate email!). The conferences have been such fantastic events and it's not a nice thought that due to diminishing support they may be stopped for now. It means theres many ysa who could miss out on something which had been one of the highlights of my year for the past few years now.

Anyway I suppose I shouldn't dwell because if this is to be my last one then I best give it my all to make sure it's the best one I've been to!

Later folks.

Fiddle, fuddle, fumble

We're having a team fuddle tomorrow at work ( it's basically a buffet where everybody brings something) for no other reason that we decided too. Well that and the team had decided that it had been too long since they had one.



Can't really argue with that.



Well you could but you'd just end up sounding really stupid.



We were also treated to a fly past of the new boering dreamliner today as it did a circuit of the airport. A lot of people did go to the windows to have a look but a lot of people didn't. One girl who didn't summed her feelings up when somebody asked her if she wanted a look by answering

" Come and look at the aeroplane? Well I was considering it as it's not like we see planes all the time..... oh wait"



I got my first letter from Elder Engineseer today who seems to be having a great time on his mission. Especially as they had just passed a flat inspection. I guess that must mean that his companion did the cleaning :-)



Not that I can talk when it comes to cleaning



anyway,



Later folks.

Good Morning, good morning

As part of my new job there has been a host of new standard operating procedures to learn. One of those is that I have to use a new "greeting" when answering the phone.

Easy right???

Erh no...

You see habits are habits for a reason and thats why their difficult to break. After nearly nine months of answering one way it's proven to be frustratingly difficult to change. I was about ready to start smacking my head on my desk at one point.

Which might have been a bit difficult whilst on the phone to someone :-)

Still urgings to smack myself round the head aside it's been a pretty good day. I started the " next stage" of my job as it were today and I think I did quite well for a first day. Plus I think I'm going to enjoy this part even more then the first part I was doing as it's going to give me a great oppotunity to use my problem solving abilities.

The YSA Family Home evening went very well this evening and the girls running it had a surprise for the activity afterwards. A BBQ! yes it was third time lucky as we finally had our YSA BBQ.

I did find out however that two people who were going to national convention are now not, which means it looks like the attendenance from Leicester stake this year will be 3.

Well it's still a 50% increase on last year.

anyway,

Later Folks.

So near and yet so far

Well it was our rescheduled YSA activity last night and suffice to say it was as successful as the first time we tried it.

Or to put it another way it was once again a complete failure as nobody turned up.

The rest of the presidency seemed to be quite depressed over another failure but I just shrugged and accepted in with the weary resignation of thats how things seem to be these days. It's seems to be next to impossible to get people out to schduled activities.

Weather wise it has been an extremely mixed bag today with it changing from sun to rain back to sun again seemingly at the drop of a hat! Which made going out for shopping a extremely interesting exprience of timing when you left a shop as you would otherwise get a soaking.

I invested in a new games for my nintendo DS today. It's a collection of classic Sonic the hedgehog games back from the days of the Sega Megadrive.

What do you mean you don't know what a megadrive is? Is what my generations x-box!

And that's made me sound really old.

Speaking of which it's just over a month to my Birthday which seems to have got her really really fast this year. On the plus side it should be a little easier to decide what to ask for now seeing as I don't work for the company which makes my hobby. It used to be pointless to ask anyone to get me anything from there as I could get it a lot cheaper.

Anyway,

Later folks.

Get Ready for Take 2

Well it was raining again today. Quite heavily as it turned out and apparently according to folklore as it's rained today it's supposed to rain for another forty days!

So usual British summertime weather is restored I guess :-)

Which is annoying as our rescheduled BBQ and waterfight for YSA is tomorrow night. We'll just have to keep our fingers crossed that the weather holds off but even if it doesn't at least we have our back up plan. As they say plan for defeat and hope for victory!

Wait I think might have got that wrong.....

It was another interesting day at work, I'm now feeling happier with my progress especially after my first one to one meeting with my manager today and found that my kip score for the month was 3 percent over the target score we're supposed to get. I'm going to be moving onto the "advanced" training as it were next week now that their happy I've got a firm grasp of the basics.

Anyway,

Later folks.

Unexpected bonuses

In my current job I've found that I've had to raise my customer service skills for dealing with difficult customers to unprecidented levels and quite frankly I've had to deal with customers who are far and away more difficult then anything I've had to deal with before.

What I hadn't realised is just how well I've managed to do this and the pay off in that I'm far more capable in controlling my reactions and staying cool calm and controlled.

I discovered this, this evening when I came closer then I had ever done before to loosing my temper in a church meeting. A few months I probably would have let in get to me and lost my temper but now, I just stayed cool, calm and collected when somebody called me something which by the strict definition of the term may have been technically correct in the context they used it in, I felt that it certainly wasn't used in any way which could be considered flattering or complementry. In fact I was so shocked I asked them to repeat it as I was sure I had misheard it!

Now I'll admit that my description there is a bit vague but I can't explain any clearer without going into a lot of detail which wouldn't be appropriate in the slightest.

of course in the great scheme of things it probably one of those situations which I'm sure that no one will remember in a few years, it was more shocking today as it was so unexpected. Things like that usually don't have in church metings!

anyway,

Later folks.

I is down withz the cool stuffz init

I was somewhat perplexed this morning when a email came round work advertsing the latest Asain festival. Asain? I wondered. Is the latest thing the kids are into these days? Am I no longer with it?

It was actually more that I was no longer with it in the sense of actually thinking as it was simply a case that someone has mistyped the title of the email and they were actually advertising the Asian festival.

It was probably a case that my brain had just gotten damp from the rain.....

Yes I know that sucks as a excuse but it's my main defence and I'm sticking with it :-)

As you may guess it's been a very long day.

Work was good, even if the weather was a bit miserable again today as it rained for most fo the day. I have to admit that original enthusiasm for the rain is slipping slightly as even though you are in work so it shouldn't matter it's still a touch depressing to see grey skies.

anyway,

Later folks

I don't mind, I don't care

Usually rain on a Monday morning seems like the universes way of rubbing in the fact that the weekend if over and it's time for another week of work.

However this morning I decided to take a different view in that I didn't mind the rain whilst I'm in work as it's not like I'll be going out anywhere and quite frankly we need some rain becasue despite all of the talk about possible hosepipe bans I never really believed that we needed that rain that badly until I happened to notice a patch of yellow dried grass yesterday whilst we were taking Owen out for a walk and now I can't stop noticing the darn stuff everywhere.

Talking of Owen it's his "2nd Birthday" in two days. That's right he has been a member of the saxon household for two whole years now and we're still not sure who has managed to train who!

For a Monday it was quite a odd day at work as there were periods of extreme quiet followed by periods of intense activity.

As long as that doesn't continue all week I'll be happy.

Later folks.

Getting Warmer

Running somewhat on auto pilot this morning I almost put my security pass for work on when leaving to go to church. Basically as I was still half asleep I automatically went to put it on as well I wear a shirt and tie for work now more then I do for church.

The weather this morning did make me wonder if we could ever have a "dress down day" for church as it was hot and humid and not the right weather for wearing a suit and sitting in a building without air con.

Before anyone has a go at me for even thinking that or listing the reasons why a dress down day wouldn't be possible. I know all fo that. It was just one of those random ideas that tends to cross my mind when my thoughts wander due to things like heat funnily enough.

Well it back to work tomorrow with a full week of opportunities to solve ahead.

Later folks.

Look out for Ninja saxon!

Way back in the deep mists of time when people didn't tell me that I no longer counted as a YSA due to my age and was on my "way out" ( and no I'm not making that up somebody actually said it to me at church a couple of weeks ago) the company I worked for ( i.e my last job) was producing a card game that uses a lot of characters from certain computer games. As part of marketing activities they produced a series of "promo cards" which contained images of staff members. Although I had a photo taken, no card was made in the first set of promos and with the transfer of the card game to another company I quickly forgot about it.

Cut to this morning when whilst in my local Games shop I mentioned to one of the staff members in there after seeing the card game on their shelves that I had a set of the staff promo cards. He asked how many copies of my card I had.

Sorry my what now??...................

He proceeded to show me a online database of cards for this particular game and to my immense surprise he showed me the image for " my card" which according to him like all of the staff promo cards was much in demand.

Cut to this evening where after some sleuthing on the internet I found out why my card was much in demand from collectors wanting the full set. As it seems it was never printed despite the image of the card being released. That was a little disappointing but not as disappointing as it would have been to find out that this card was out there and I had never received a copy. As to why it was never printed? Don't know, don't care, and don't want to know as I'm sure it would be a petty reason and it's long in the past.

I just find it amusing that if things had turned out differently people could have been using my card againist well known computer game characters. And I'm not talking pokemon, I'm talking beat em up computer game characters.

anyway,

Later folks.

Nowt as funny as folk

Sometimes it gets a bit depressing when you get a difficult customer who despite all your best efforts you can't please and you have to pass onto a manager as they demand to speak to your supervisor.

Still today I found a certain way of feeling better after this situation occurs. Watching you manager have exactly the same problems dealing with said customer ending with said customer then demanding to speak to your managers manager.

It did make me wonder exactly how far "up the chain" somebody could go if they kept asking to speak to the next manager up.

And on now for something totally different. If aliens were to visit Earth where would they go? Well if you believe the news reports China apparently.

I'm sure that this sighting will lead to one thing and one thing only.

A load of jokes about aliens going for takeaways.

It's the weekend now anyway, two whole days all to myself.

Anyway,

Later folks.

It's always nice to have a fan

It's been another hot day and it's supposed to get even hotter in the coming days with the temperature likely to remain at aleast 20 at night. Still in the midst of this bad news there has been some good news.

The AC at work is fixed :-)

Speaking of which work was really busy today but I seemed to deal with everything okay ( to my eyes at least). The one trouble I've kept having though is that it's just " me" who is new in the department so I have no "meter stick" as it were to measure myself. No way of knowing if I'm picking things up faster then other people or indeed slower.

I'll admit on the grand scale of things it's a pretty minor worry, but it's still something that I find niggling. I suppose that despire all my gains in confidence and new abilities at the end of the day I am still my own worst enemy when it comes to doubts.

Most deluded comment from a "celebrity" of the day. " I'm not a gold digger" insists the women posing for a "photoshoot" who no one has ever heard of before she had a affair with a footballer.

I've seen a new trailer for the movie inception. It's looking veerryyyy interesting. Especially as they've kept the plotline for the film almost totally underwraps.

Only one more day to the weekend.

Later folks!

Too True Deja Vu

I was quite shaken this morning when I saw what I thought was one of my colleagues from my former work place arrive with a group of new trainees! As it turned out it wasn't her but you know that saying that everyone in the world has a twin well this was her's. They looked so alike it was scary!

It got me to thinking ( see I do think sometimes despite what people may think :-) Which made me realise it's now been almost nine months since I left my last job and it's precisely a year since I was on secondment to a retail store in Nottingham town centre. It seriously doesn't seem like a year ago but I suppose that's probably down in part to what happened since then as it certainly has been an adventerous year.

Work was better today although a bit warm as they were having some problems with the AC. I supposed they hadn't tried the engineers approach to the problem...... hitting it with a hammer. Although if nothing else works that might be their last option.

anyway,

Later folks.

It was gonna happen at some point

I've been quite lucky in my new job so far that I've had a lot of good days but I was aware that no matter how positive my attitude sooner or later I was going to have a "bad day" with lots of " oppotunities" to overcome.

Well I had one of those days today and was feeling quite fed up by the end of the day.

Still I'm feeling positive about tomorrow. As after all one bad day does not a bad week make.

And my week so far has been pretty good.

Besides we got free muffin and pop yesterday to celebrate the day after US independence Day. Quite why we were celebrating the day after US independence day, or US independence day in general as after all we're not in the USA I'm not sure but nobody was bothered as after all, we had free muffins.

Fridays are also going to be permanent dress down days from now on plus I also found out I had won a prize as my former department is in the middle of a another external mystery shopper program and as part of that program the bosses had been doing some internal mystery shopper calls just to check we were doing everything right. I was nominated as one of the top eight people in the department for my excellent customer service and soft skills during one of these calls. So I won a mug, a mousemat and a box of Heroes choclates. So I was doubly happy yesterday as I had a free muffin, drink and free chocolate.

The Elders taught our lesson at the YSA FHE last night. I have to admit it was the first time I had seen someone use a christmas tree to teach a gospel principle.

so anyway,

Later folks.

C'est la Vie I suppose

Well we've finally discovered the secret to getting Owen to sit quietly in the car. Let him stick his head out of the window! Yes someone has to keep holding him to make sure he doesn't make a break for it but it beats him barking his head off and half deafening us!

Although the funny thing was after all the fuss he made in the car he wasn't bothered in the slightist when he got his shots. He didn't even flinch.

I think he was confused when we bought him home, then went out again leaving him here all before the time I usually get up on a Saturday morning.

Yes, no lie in for me today.

Maybe I can have one tomorrow. It's not like I have anywhere I need to be....... oh wait.

Speaking of which our YSA activity tonight had 100% attendence..... from the presidency. Nobody else turned up which meant there was no activity and there was no one there to have it! Still it was a useful learning experience and we now know some different things to try to hopefully improve attendance for the next one.

Anyway,

Later folks!

And thats that for another summer

Well the nations hopes of sporting victory have ocne again been crushed for another year as Andy Murray has been beaten! To be fair though he did get to the semi finals and he was beaten by the world number one so you can't accuse him of not giving it his all.

Unlike a certain team who kicked a certain spherical object around who were just rubbish.

And whose coach has just dodged being axed as the football association can't afford to fire him due to the pay out they would have to give him. What the heck?? Did no one read that contract before they gave it to him? No wonder he didn't seem to bothered about the bad performance at the world cup as he knew he wasn't going to be going anywhere!

It's been a couple of interesting days at work. We had a dress down day yesterday to help celebrate the launch of a new iniative, we also got free strawberries and cream delivered to our desk so as you can imagine people we're rather pleased.

We also had a dress down day today although this one was for charity so we had to pay a £1. Some people didn't want to pay up so still came in their uniforms which always make them seem a bit scrooge like. I'm fine with paying a £1 as it is for charity after all and it's worth it not to have to go through the hassle of ironing a shirt.

Yes I know I am firmly embracing a male stereotype there. But theres a reason that you get stereotypes to begin with.

Well it's the weekend now, so two whole days to myself. Although we do have to take Owen to the vets tomorrow so to get a fresh round of shots. Putting him in the car is always a interesting experience. I'm just hoping I can convince Grumpy to let me drive while he sits in the back!

Anyway,

Later folks.