Monday 2
Posted: Tue 7 November, 2006 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Thoughts, Work-related | Leave a comment »You know, there’s one major problem with having a long weekend away, and then returning to work.
It means that you have two Mondays in one week. And that is never a good thing…
Resolutions – A New Year
Posted: Sun 5 November, 2006 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Own Business, Photography, Work-related | Leave a comment »While I still intend to keep up a kind of ‘to-do list’ of resolutions, I think I’m going to change the time of year that I decide them at. (I know, that sentence is teetering on the edge of ungrammatical. Live with it) So, rather than going for the entirely arbitrary – if traditional – January 1st, instead I’m going to go for the equally arbitrary (and in some ways more sensible) November 5th. Which also, conveniently, happens to be a personal anniversary, so it makes sense on that score too.
The resolutions I had for this year (i.e. 2006 in general) have worked out pretty well once I got my finger properly extracted, so I’m hoping that the same will be true for the new set. And also it’s the start of the five-year plan I’ve been looking at for a while, so there’s some stuff that’ll relate to that as well.
Anyway, the list for 2006/7 is going to be as follows…
- Photography
- Get a Macro Lens
- Get a Wide-Angle Lens
- Finish the Portfolio website
- Sell/Publish some stuff
- Join a local club
- Writing
- Finish at least one piece of writing
- When a piece is finished submit it to the right people
- Just see how things go
- Write more on d4d™? Maybe.
- Work / Websites
- Keep on going with Where’s Good
- Build and work on the other ideas I’ve got in my head
- Work (as always) on smaller sites, and do as many as possible
- Sort out permanent job for the first part of ’07 while we’re house-buying etc.
- Redesign d4d™? It’s about time…
- Education
Sign up with Open University– initially for a refresher course, and work from there- Look at an official course/qualification in Photography?
- Other
- Restart the Archery once we’ve moved
- Complete the move to Norfolk – first a rental, then the house-buying
Chaotic
Posted: Wed 1 November, 2006 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Cynicism, Weirdness, Work-related | 4 Comments »In some ways you just have to love my ex-employer, if only for their crapness.
It’s now a solid month since I left – and I have to say that so far, even with the joys of travelling etc., it’s been a bloody good month. But this morning, just for the hell of it, I tried to log in to the servers at my ex-employer.
You see, I had this nagging feeling that – despite all the company’s protestations that they knew what they were doing, and were a professional organisation – my account, username, password etc. would still be active. They’d promised to delete my account – and let’s be honest, it’s a pretty standard procedure, that if someone leaves a company, their username/password is changed or deleted so they can’t get on to the system and do anything nasty. The same thing applies to giving back your office keys, security pass, or whatever.
But with my ex-employers, nope, I can *still* log in to all the systems, into my work email, and on to all the servers, websites, and databases.
It really is fortunate that I’m not the kind of malevolent nasty person who would delete things, or change data, isn’t it?
Rental Car 2
Posted: Sat 28 October, 2006 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Getting Organised, Travel, Work-related | Leave a comment »The rental went OK – I’m quite pleased, as it’s the first time I’ve rented a car (and I’ve only been able to do so at all since August, 1 year after I passed the test) and everything so far has gone smoothly.
I got an upgrade for some reason, so ended up with a Peugeot 307 – and I have to say, I wouldn’t buy one. The entire thing feels really spongy, everything has a lag to it, and I’m really not impressed. But I got back to Bracknell fine, and all’s been well. Not actually any quicker than using the train, which is interesting – and with the extra insurance cost to bring the excess from a fucking atmospheric £600 to a much saner £100 – the train’s also a lot cheaper in the long run.
But anyway, an interesting experiment, and then it’s just to brave the journey back – 6.30-7am on the M25, on a Monday. I suspect it may take considerably longer to do the journey than it would on the train. But hey ho, it’ll be fun.
Tossers
Posted: Fri 27 October, 2006 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Customer Services, Cynicism, Work-related | Leave a comment »Regular readers may recall that a good few months ago, I had an interview with a certain mobile telecoms company. At the time it went really well, and would’ve been great to change jobs and do a year with them – working within a huge corporation is something my CV currently lacks, as the last one I worked for was back in 2002 or so.
Anyway, following the interview, the feedback was really positive, and they said to the agency I’d applied through that they wanted to offer me a job. And then it all went quiet. Calls weren’t returned, nothing got confirmed, and indeed the telecoms company failed to communicate with either myself or the agency at all. So I ended up looking around again, and at the same time the decision was made for us to move towards Norfolk.
I got a call today from that agency, asking if I was still available for work. The telecoms company had come back to the agency, wanting me to work for them. And was I available to start next week?
Quite honestly, in the face of an attitude like that, even if I were available, I wouldn’t want to work for a company that was so blatantly disinterested in people, and so contemptuous of anything except themselves. Just unbelievable.
Time Flies
Posted: Fri 20 October, 2006 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Travel, Work-related | Leave a comment »Blimey, as of Monday I’ll have already been in the new job for a month. That’s really quite scary, the way time has zipped through like that.
Thankfully all’s still good, according to the review I’ve had today I’ve settled in OK and most people seem to like me. Don’t quite know how I’ve managed that one, as I normally land in a new job with all the tact, charm and subtlety of a small nuclear device. But apparently I’ve managed it this time.
Of course, I’ll be happier (and life will be considerably easier) once we’ve moved up this way, and then I can just do a daily commute instead of a weekly one. But that won’t be happening ’til at least the start of December, and I’m beginning to suspect that it may actually end up being the start of January. Hmm, moving over the Christmas break – that’ll be fun…
Getting Organised
Posted: Fri 20 October, 2006 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Domestic, Getting Organised, Travel, Work-related | 1 Comment »My organisation stuff is now really getting a little bit worrying.
This morning I’ve sorted out train tickets for the first two weeks of November for getting to work, and I’ve also sorted out the accommodation side of things. All my paperwork is up to date, and so are all my finances. The people I know who have birthdays coming up are all sorted, cards in the post, presents dealt with, and all that crap.
Work-wise, I’ve got everything done that I need to, and I’m ready for going home.
There’s got to be something I’ve forgotten. But what?