Intrigued
Posted: Mon 28 January, 2008 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Cynicism, Thoughts, Work-related | Leave a comment »Occasionally, one really has to wonder how your name has come up in a search.
This morning I’ve had a call from the HR department of a massive international company – and we’re talking seriously big, I have to say – asking about the work I’d done with the company I worked for in 2006 (the one that moved from Wokingham to London, and was run by AB) as they were launching a team to do a similar type of thing, and wanted to know if I’d be interested in working with them on doing so.
It’s something that would definitely be of interest, I have to say. And when they mentioned the money, I’ve become very interested. Just have to see what they say, now.
But I’d love to know where/who they got my name from…
Something New?
Posted: Mon 28 January, 2008 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Work-related | Leave a comment »Tomorrow is going to be a busy day.
In a deja vu kind of scenario, yet again I’m now doing multiple interviews in one day (rather like one day in April last year.) although this time it’s only two, rather than three. Still, it’ll keep me busy all day – there’s one in the morning and one in the afternoon.
On this occasion, one is for a permanent role with a company I would be seriously interested in working for, and the other one is a contract role for a company where I could add some bits to my skillset/CV which I haven’t done before. (but that aren’t exactly rocket science)
So, just have to see how it all goes tomorrow. Woo Hoo.
Luck of the Devil
Posted: Fri 25 January, 2008 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Customer Services, Cynicism, Weirdness, Work-related | 1 Comment »Today, I’ve had to park on the road outside the office, there being no available parking spaces on their forecourt. Not an uncommon occurrence- but the road is all parking-meter type things, where the maximum duration is two hours. A bit of a pain in the tits, but I just set the alarm on my mobile for five minutes before the ticket is due to expire, go down, renew the ticket, job done.
Only of course today I haven’t got the phone with me.
The parking charges start at 9am (which is another good reason for coming in early – if I get in at 7.30 or so, I get 3½hours parking in the morning for my £1.20, rather than the standard 2 hours for the same amount) so the first reminder is at 11am.
With no reminder, I just looked at the clock on my PC and thought “Oooohh, tits” , as it was 11.35. Yep, I’m so going to have a parking ticket. Bugger. Working two days a week it’s actually more economical to drive in, even including the petrol and parking costs, than getting the train. Except when I get a parking ticket. Then all economy goes out the window.
But I get down to the car and lo, no parking ticket. More than half-an-hour over my limit, and nothing. I really don’t know how I’ve managed that, but I’m not going to complain!
Of course, now I’ll go down at 13.40 (the ticket expiring at 13.35) and I’ll have a ticket…
Missing Tech – Again
Posted: Fri 25 January, 2008 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Customer Services, Domestic, Work-related | Leave a comment »This morning, due to being even more of a twonk than usual (Fridays at the moment are a total killer for me – I’ve spent three days waking up at normal times and working from home, followed by a 5.30am wakeup on a Friday. Blech.) I’ve left my phone at home.
Work being work, they’ve also blocked my ability to send a text message to my phone from the O2 site, which is even more annoying. Grrrr.
Still, I’m sure I’ll find some service or other that can do what I want…
USB Sticks – Update
Posted: Tue 22 January, 2008 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Geeky, Own Business, Work-related | 1 Comment »Following on from yesterday’s loss of USB stick, we found it today.
In the washing machine.
Thank the lord for solid-state technology, which just shrugs off things like getting washed. It’s dried out,
I’ve just put it in the laptop, and all’s fine, the entire thing is working well.
Happy Day.
USB Sticks
Posted: Mon 21 January, 2008 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Geeky, Getting Organised, Work-related | 1 Comment »One of the things about working in at least two offices on any given week is that I do tend to carry a lot of current stuff around on a USB Stick (Memory Stick, Pen Drive, whatever) so that I’ve got the information where/when I need it.
Fortunately, it’s all encrypted – and for a good reason. Basically, I find that while they’re really convenient to use, I occasionally lose or mislay them.
It’s happened again today. I know the damn’ thing is in the house somewhere. However, ‘somewhere’ is the operative word. I’ve already checked the places where it should be, so it’s definitely somewhere else. The only real concern is that it may have been in a pile of papers which went in the recycling bin, which will have been collected today.
All told, it’s a pain. There’s nothing that I don’t have backed-up, and in multiple other locations. It’s just a pain for the moment. With luck I’ll find it when I get home. Otherwise, it might turn up in a month’s time. Or maybe never. There are at least two silver ones that I had back in Bracknell, and have never been seen since.
Maybe I should attach the drive to my keys or something – but then it just becomes more of a pain to use the stick. I don’t know, I’ll think of something, I’m sure.
Delusional
Posted: Fri 18 January, 2008 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Cynicism, Thoughts, Work-related | 4 Comments »As I’ve said in previous years, I watch Masterchef when it’s on. (I tend to avoid the ‘Celebrity’ version, but I quite like the normal version)
Now, while I understand that the competitors are non-professional (The Masterchef site says “If you’re over 18, have no formal chef training, and think you’ve got the culinary potential and determination to be the next Gordon Ramsay or Jamie Oliver, then this is the competition for you!“) I do think that a lot of the competitors in the first wave are also truly delusional.
When they do their little interviews at the start, so many of them say “I want to be a chef, I want to feed people” and all that guff, believe they’ve got the potential to win the competition, but they’re still working as merchant bankers, solicitors or whatever. Even more amusing, when you see the ones who bang on about how great they are, and how they’re going to win the entire thing, you can predict that they’re the ones who will sod it up in the first round, and be off before we’re halfway through the heat.
But if they’re so great, and so convinced of their greatness, I don’t understand why they don’t make the effort for themselves, and do some work in a pub or hotel kitchen.
If it were me, and I wanted to aim for being a Masterchef (or even being on it) I would start off by taking on part-time work in a local (or near-local) pub or restaurant, so I could learn about cooking professionally, and know whether I could actually do what I wanted to or not.
But maybe I’m just more realistic and practically-minded, rather than just assuming I’m going to win a competition on TV.