Twelve of Twelve

Well another year is almost over, with this it'll be 11 from 12 this year, which I don;t think is half bad dor my first year at this. Hopefully I'll manage a full house next year. I can certainly promise no more "Cremation" pictures next year. I start my new job on January and that'll just be doing work for the "water" companies. So from Fire to Water, there's definately an elemental nature to all of my jobs.

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1. 07:15 Approx
At this time of year, the sun gets more of a sleep-in than I do. So I wake up to this grey half-light when I look out of my window on a morning.

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2. 07:30 Approx
No you're not having a flashback. This is honestly yet another different picture of my breakfast (museli and banana). Thinking you may be getting bored of this by now, I decided to spice it up by taking the picture upside down. Maybe next month I'll set it alight or something.

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3. 07:45 Approx
As well as being dark it's also bloody freezing this morning. Not only am I cold enough to bump into a Yeti, but it was also cold enough for the windscreen on my car to freeze up. I hate scraping the ice and frost from my windscreen. I just want to get from my house and into the car (with a heater) as quickly as possible.

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4. 08:30 Approx
First things first when I get in the office, get the kettle on. The office hot water urn is currently broken so we have to share this kettle for the water for our tea/coffee. I try and get at it first before the queues form. I need a cup of tea when I get in to help me warm up.

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5. 10:00 Approx
The office outside door security system is playing up again. We have a number of doors into the building that can be only accessed by a swipe card. We built the system ourselves as my boss didn't want ot pay a professional company to do it. So when it goes wrong I have to fix it. Today the cards either won't let anybody in, or the doors are letting anybody in off the street.

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6. 14:00 Approx
It's 2pm in the afternoon and I still have the heater on underneath my desk. I hate the cold weather.

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7. 15:40 Approx
Nearly 4pm and the security system is finally fully functional again. As I've been so bust this is only my second cup of tea of the day. What is the world coming too?

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8. 17:15 Approx

This year at work we all decided rather than give out christmas cards to each other, instead we'd donate the money to charity instead. But as the number of ever increasing cards on my windowsill shows, some people have gone ahead and done it anyway. I always feel the need to reciprocate, so I'm having to up the estimated number of cards I'm going to need this year.

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9. 18:40 Approx
At home any recieved cards sit on my fireplace. I haven't yet had any cards land on the doormat just yet. All of the one you see here actually turned up at my old address, luckily my parents still live there!

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10. 18:55 Approx
These are the first and last of the christmas decorations that need to go up this year. It may not look it, but within the hour this'll be my christmas tree.

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* 11. 19:30 Approx
The tree's finally up. It's like one of those Rubik's puzzles, there are a number of different pieces that can only fit together in one way. Needless to say when I first put it together, I had the middle and the bottom the wrong way round. Apart from looking a little lobsided it's managed to survive a year in the back of the garage.

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12. 20:00 Approx
The finished product. I initially the lights wouldn't work, but after replacing a bulb, htye look like they'll be good for another year. They actually twinkle once they've warmed up, but I can't make em twinkle in a photo unfortunately. I did try taking some photo's in the dark, but they all turned out green as if they were taken through night vision goggles.
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So that's it for another month and for another year. I hope you've enjoyed the 132 pictures that have made up this year. Next year maybe 144.

If you have read all of this and have no idea why I did this, then pop over here and read Chad's blog.

Clearing my Head

Can you believe it has been nearly 3 weeks since I last posted? I can! It has been, well lets just say it's been quite an interesting time.

Now, you've all heard my various storied from my job. Some interesting, some gory, but most of them seem to have gone down well. You've also probably heard me complaining numorous times about certain aspects of my job. Well, it's been a good few months since I complained to the hierachy about the problematic aspects of my job and do you know what has happened.

Nothing.

The pressure of supporting customers has increased over the past few months and I have actually done very little of my actual job. In fact over the past few months my job has been almost unrecognisable from what it was when I started. The worst bit was I just couldn't see anything was going to change in the future. In this situation I can quite honestly say I wasn't enjoying my job anymore.

I have always said to myself that when I constantly found myself not enjoying the job, then it was time to consider my options. However this time I didn't really have any options, so I decided to create myself some. I posted my details to a couple of recruitment sites, emailed a couple fo CV's and just waited to see what happened.

And it wasn't long before I had two companies offering me an interview. I arranged both interviews for the same day. The first one was in Leeds early in the morning and the second one was in Nottingham, mid-afternoon. Both were for positions within Leeds, but the company in Nottingham didn't actually have an office in Leeds yet!

Both interviews were actually very similar in tone. Half of the interview was spent with the interviewer trying to sell there company (and the job) to me. As always the interviews turned out to be not half as scary as I imagined them to be. It turns out that there is a shortage of people with my job skills (and my wage bracket). I think being in demand made things easier.

The day after both interviews I was told I had made the second round of the Nottingham interviews and I was offered I job from the early morning Leeds interview. Although the nottingham job was slightly more money and was working from home, I decided to discount that one. It would have meant working in Nottingham for the first few months and then I was unsure as to the support when I was working from home. If they had a leeds base it would have been different, but they didn't so I decided no.

The other job was more tempting, it's actually only a couple of miles from where I currently work, but the job is slightly different. It's actually writing software for the water industry. So going from opposing elements fire to water.

I didn't accept the offer at first. I actually went to my boss and told him I'd had an offer, just to see what would happen. I've never seen the office move so fast, I think the world must have shifted. After I explained my reasons, my boss went to see his boss and then they pulled me up into a meeting to try an convince me to stay. And fair play to them, they have tried to set thigns in motion to try and pul my job back to closer where it started from.

However in the end I couldn't see it changing as much as I wanted it to. So on Thursday I excepted the job offer from the Leeds based company (Saftronics if anyone is interested) and I told my boss I wasn't staying. I intend to hand my notice in officially on Monday.

It's good to have a clear head again. This has been at both the back and the front of my mind for a while now. This has certainly reduced my worries, I think I'm really going to enjoy the Christmas holidays this year.

So this is the start of my final chapter with Facultatieve Technologies. Overall I've enjoyed it and I've definately picked up lots of memories both good and bad, that includes lots of stories to share with everybody. The new story should start in the beginning of the New Year and I'm definately looking forward to it.

Twelve of Twelve

Well if you believe the shops it's already Christmas, but I don't, for which I am eternally thankful for. It's only November and that means we have 2 more twelve of twelves left for the year. This is one is slightly different from most, as it crosses over slightly with another 12 of 12 being typed across from me as I type. It's a very odd experience.

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1. 07:30 Approx
The obligatory breakfast shot. The only thing that differentiates this one from last months 12 of 12, is that there is no milk in this bowl and there are 1 1/2 banana's accompaning it.

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2. 07:45 Approx
My car boot needs a good sorting out. A lot of it used to sit on the back seat and in the footwells, but because I had a car full of cadets last Friday I had to quickly dump it into the boot. I also dumped it in there to make my car easier to search, (which it sometimes is) when we go through security to get onto our local Airbase.

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3. 08:10 Approx
Monday morning Traffic. It's the worst traffic of the week and I really hate it. I find it just an utter waste of time to sit in a car and not go anywhere. What makes it worse is the traffic is not just caused by there being more cars, but due to the very bad design of the junction.

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4. 10:30 Approx
First task of the day is to sort out parts for those machines that have broken down over the weekend. This is a display for an operator, that seems to have died over the weekend. Poor choice of words I know considering the type of machine it is going to be attatched to.

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5. 12:00 Approx
This is another thing that has broken down over the weekend. I'm actually setting up this PC to go out a crematorium on the Swiss/Italian border. Fortunately this version of Windows is in English, but the software is in Italian.

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6. 15:00 Approx
It's over to the workshop for an afternoon of testing various machines. First to be tested are the cremulators. This is a machine that we like to like to test rather thoroughly as they tend to take rather a beating at the hands of customers. The final test is to put a brick through the machine to test the anti-jamming measures. This simulates an artificial hip joint being put through the machine along with somebodies remains. The brick doesn't always survive the test.

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7. 16:30 Approx
I know it looks complicated, but this is one of the more simple machines that we do. This one isn't for humans though. This one is an animal incinerator, although I think it looks like a bank safe from the front. It's designed to a whole cow or even a small horse. And if you're wondering how we get one in there...

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8. 16:31 Approx
... this is it. This is a loading box for an animal incinerator. It is basically a large trough with a hydraulic ram at one end to push the "animal" down the trough and safely into the machine.

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9. 17:05 Approx
Work is over, but I don't leave straight away, that would mean sitting in more traffic. So I usually bob around the internet and wait out the traffic. At the moment I am playing a game of online scrabble against my boss. I'm winning, just, but he is clawing some points back in these final few turns.

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10. 18:33 Approx
Standing in the freezing cold at Micklefield Station waiting for a visitor. Who you may ask? Well you'll just have to search the other 12 of 12's to find out. Although it's probably not hard to guess. Yes I am mean like that!!

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11. 20:45 Approx
This is the table which sits by my door. It's my "Too Remember" table. I put things on it that I need to take with me to work, or to other places. For tomorrow I need to remember to take these Jaffa Cakes into work, so my boss doesn't go hungry. I've got Wednesday through to Friday off and he'd jsut starve if I didn't stock up the biscuit urn. It is also where my wireless router sits, because I haven't got a long enough telephone cable for it to go anywhere else.

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12. 22:15 Approx
Boy she moves quickly. You go to take her picture and by the time you've got your camera she's gone. Sorry folks I wasn't going to make it that easy. ;-)

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BONUS PIC: THANKFUL

Digital TV. ;-) The best place to find re-runs of TV programs you can't stop watching again and again, like Top Gear. I've lost count how many times I've seen the same episode from the show, but I don't care, I still find it funny.

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If you have read all of this and have no idea why I did this, then pop over here and read Chad's blog.

Hey, This Ball's an Odd Shape.

And no I'm not talking about Simon! ;-)

So this weekend is one weekend I've been looking forward to since the middle of the year. Earlier this year I managed to get hold of tickets to see the American Football. This was after spending 45 minutes going through various pages on Ticketmaster (at work no less). And for once, I didn't have to leave these shores. This is because the NFL was coming here, they were staging a regular season game outside America for the first time. American football was coming, to wembley no less!

Just so you get some idea this is the equivalent of the Premier League, taking a league game to America. The teams coming across were the Miami Dolphins and the New York Giants. This technically was a home game for the Dolphins, although they were a long way from home.

Notice I mentioned tickets. I had also managed to drag Simon, Dave and Mike into this adventure. Although drag isn't really the right word. Mike is a very big American Football fan, Simon and Dave aren't big fans, but were interested all the same. And for the three of us, it would be our first ever trip to the new Wembley Stadium.

I'll say it now, Wembley isn't the easiest place to get to, it's badly situated if the truth be told and is only where it is now due to nostalgic reasons. After failing to get National Express (coach) tickets, earlier in the month, we (Me, Simon & Dave) had hatched a plan involving me Driving, A Train and the Tube. And then last Monday, I tried the National Express Website just on the off chance and managed to get Tickets. I count myself very lucky.

Because Simon had to be at work on the Monday we started/ended out journey at his house. I drove across to Stoke-on-Trent, picking up Dave on the way on Saturday Evening. On Sunday, the journey begins. The first leg was to walk from Simons house to the Coach station, which takes about 45 minutes. When we started out it was raining lightly. After about 10 minutes this turned into an absolute downpour. By the time we got to the coach we were completely drenched. All our clothes were soaked and some of our possessions as well. I had a number of books in my bag for the journey and they were all completely soaked. One is still not dry even now.

We left Stoke about 11am and the coach took about 3 hours to reach Wembley. This was the first time I'd been on a coach for over 10 years and my first time on a National Express Coach. The journey seemed long, but went off without incident. We met Mike outside Wembley, and after having all our bottles of drink confescated, were allowed to enter the Stadium. We took our seats quite early as there was very little to do inside the stadium (unless you drink).

Here is our first view of the Stadium from the inside. At this time it is very empty. It's a very impressive stadium and the Newness hasn't really had chance to fade yet. We did take our seats rediculously early. Although some people were completely the opposite and there were whole tiers that were sparsly populated with just 5 minutes to go.

Which is a shame, as one thing you get with American Football, over Football (I refuse to call it Soccer) is the Pre game. Here we get to see the New York Giants warming up.

And here we have a medley of Songs by the Band "The Feeling".

Finally with the Razzmatazz the Americans are none for the Miami Team take to the field. Cue the customery Fireworks.

The teams had honorary captains for the day. Martin Johnson, represented the Dolphins (and got a loud cheer), John Terry the Giants (Solidly booed) and the coin was tossed by one Lewis Hamilton (a very loud cheer).

The game was on.

Highlights of the game include the atomosphere, which was brilliant. We got that English tradition the streaker (sorry ladies no pictures I'm afraid) and also that the Dolphins brought there Cheerleading Squad to a very Wet London. Surprisingly I did manage to get one picture of them. ;-)

The game finished Giants 13 - 10 Miami. I wish the game had a higher score, but most of the points were scored at our end of the field so we did get to see quite a lot of action. The game finished abour 20:15 (after starting at 17:00). We got to our coach quite quickly, but had to wait for others to arrive, so we didn't leave until 21:15. We also had to negotiate a Crash coming out of London as well, so we didn't get back to Stoke until half past midnight. Factor in the walk and we didn't get back to Simons until 01:15am.

Poor Simon had work to go to (thankfully just a teacher training day). I however, had managed to take the day off and slept soundly until mid-morning. Was it worth it, I would have to say definately Yes!

Life has a Sense of Humour.

At times life can be a complete pain in the rear. In fact at the moment it is definately a complete pain. My boss has unfortuantely had to go on a business trip to holland for the rest of this week. This leaves just me in the office to "Man the fort" as it were. I'm really hoping that there are no disasters this week. I'm behind enough with work as it is at the moment without having one of these rear there ugly head.

And then there is the otherside of life. As part of our installations we insist on a seperate telephone line to allow us to provide remote support for the machinery. Now you know the sort of places we deal with. Well when I enquired if one of our new installations had a line installed yet, the person at the other end of the went a little quiet. They then informed me they had, but they wanted BT to change the line before we could use it.

When I enquired as to why it was because the number they were given wasn't suitable. When I enquired what wasn't suitable about it they eventually told me that it ended with 666. When they complained BT obviously relented and decided to give them a new number.

Something that put a smile on my face at the end of last week.

Twelve of Twelve

I must give a thousand apologies for this. I believe this my first 12 of 12, not actually written on the 12th. Nothing wrong with that I know, but still I can't help thinking that I have failed in my mission somewhat. ;-) Still I must get over this months laziness and get on with the show.

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01. 07:15

Breakfast. I don't think this will ever change. I've never been the sort of person who can face a day without it. I've grown rather partial to Museli and banana's so I don't think I'll be changing this anytime soon.

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02. 08:15

I'm at work already. I left this leaflet by my phone as a reminder to me that I'm expecting a delivery today. It's be a private delivery firm thankfully, with all these postal strikes I'm not expecting the usual mail so any post is welcome (except maybe bills).

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03. 09:00

This is our testing area. We like to test each of our cremators as thoroughly as possibloe before they leave the factory. However there is one obvious way in which they cannot be tested in the factory. However we have in the past tested our machines by filling a wooden box with lard and water to simulate the consistancy of the human body.

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04. 10:15

As part of the control system for each machine we use a flue gas analyser to test the oxygen and CO content of the gases leaving the cremator. We use these figures to control the cremation process and to try and keep it as environmentally friendly as possible.

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05. 12:05

Although I'm expecting a parcel, I'm actually sending more than I recieve. These 2 parcels are both destined for our engineers in the field. I'm not very good at packing parcels as anyone who has recieved a birthday or xmas present can probably attest to. However there should be enough parcel tape on these to see them through there journey.

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06. 15:45

This is the cremator we saw earlier being loaded for it's journey to it's new home. They all travel by lorry as they weigh upwards of 20 tonnes. Those going to far off countries also travel by container ship. We've sent machines to as far as America, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates.

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07. 16:25

My delivery finally arrives. No very big I grant you, but it contains some very important items. These are my tickets to see the Miami Dolphins play the New York Giants at this months game at Wembley. Myself and 3 friends are going to the new Wembley for the first time.

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08. 17:15

My gas boiler that supplies all of the heating and hot water for my house. The covers off so I can see if it is currently lit or not. Every year I've lived in this house the heating has failed every winter. So far so good, it's holding it's own this year.

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09. 17:16

I have a bit of time before I have to go to Cadets, so I break out the book I'm currently reading. I've read this so many times I've lost count. But it's one of my favourites and I haven't given it, it's annual airing this year.

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10. 19:25

It's a friday night and we would usually be playing sport at cadets. However it coming up to exam time for the cadets so tonight we're back at our HQ for lessons. The cadets all take part in subjects to do with aviation, the ATC and the RAF. Usually I teach subjects such as Principles of Flight and Air Navigation. However it's not my turn tonight so instead...

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11. 19:30

... I find myself doing the paperwork instead. You would not believe how much paperworj there is to keep this organisation going. Risk assessments, forms for this, forms for that. If this organisation went paperless I think whole forests would breath a sigh of relief.

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12. 20:45

Paperwork is finished for this evening so I go to watch one of the lessons. This is CWO Alsop (the highest ranked cadet on the squadron) giving a lesson on basic navigation. This is how to use a map and compass when hill walking. For some reason it also has a section on clouds.

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Well that's it for another month. Hopefully there will be some extra special pictures for next month. But you'll have to wait until next month to find out what they may be. If you're wondering what possessed me to do this. Well it's all the idea of a man named Chad Darnell. Hop over to his blog to find the instructions on how to take part and find other blogs of a similar nature.

Dead Products Society

Am I just to rough with things? That's the question I find myself asking after I look back at the last fortnight. The first thing to break (again) was my car. But this time rather than breaking down at a convenient time (like when I'm at home or at work), it instead decided to strand me on the hard shoulder of the M1.

I'd just got onto the M1 and then took a look at the engine temperature gauge. It was quite quickly heading to the red zone so I had to stop on the hard shoulder. I opened up the bonnet to be greeted with the comedy cloud of steam. Looking at the coolant level and it was just non existent. Somehow it had disappeared somewhere.

One quick call to roadside assistance later. And I'm stood on the M1 awaiting an engineer. Boy was it cold. You're not supposed to sit in the car while it's on the hard shoulder (in case of accidents) so instead I was stood in the freezing wind, with no shelter.

For an hour.

Finally the engineer arrives, and tops the coolant bak up again. But we can't see where, the coolant has gone. So I restart the engine only to find it starts to pump the coolant directly out of the bottom of the car. The pumps cracked. So I then need to be towed to the nearest mazda dealership. That was a new experience for me. I've never been towed before in my life. It was a very tiring experience as I had to concentrate much harder than usual.

It took the dealership a weekend to fix my car (mainly because they had to wait for a new pump), but thankfully they sorted me with a loan car for the weekend and I was able to keep up with my planned rendevous with Simon & Dave, all the way in Sunny Stoke-on-Trent.

Next to break was my PDA. No matter what I try to do it just won't turn on. You never know what you've got till it's gone. I now know how much I've come to rely on my PDA to let me know what my plans are in the coming months. It's all stored on the outlook on my office PC, but I can't take that with me. I'm having to use my brain again at the moment. Hopefully I'll be able to find somone who can fix it for a reasonable price.

The final thing to break was the interent. I have been without a reliable internet connection for the past week. However I discovered this was not due to my ISP. Instead this has been due to my wireless hub. It seems fine now, but I have no idea what caused it to have so many problems last week. I'm suspecting windows has something to do with it. I find that if all else fails, it's windows fault.

All I need is for my central heating to have it's yearly breakdown and then the circle of life will be complete.

Last week was also a very ATC intensive week for me. Tuesday found me escorting cadets as we participated in a door to door collection for the RAF Association. This is the organisation that supports former members of the RAF. We particapate in 2 collection nights a year to help raise funds. It's amazing the characters that you meet on these collections. They range from the generous to those that just peer at you from there living room window.

Thurday found me in my best uniform for the Lord Lieutenant's Cadet presentation. Each year a cadet from each of the services is nominated as the Lord Lieutenant's Cadet for the next year. The Lord Lieutenant is basically the Queens representative in North Yorkshire and the cadets can act as his escorts for various functions throughout the year. This year the award for the ATC went to Flight Sergeant Jade Lawson, one of the cadets from my Squadron. It was an excellent evenign and we are all rightly proud of her.

Friday found me as the adult supervision for a cadet night out. We took the cadets out bowling and also to play laser quest. Although I didn't particiapate it still can be quite a handful looking after 25 cadets. Luckily I was supported by other members of staff.

Finally Saturday found me in a local Morrisons supermarket, packing bags. Yes, we took part in that great fund raising tradition, the bag pack. I have no idea how much we made during the day. All I know is that I didn't have as much change in my bucket by the end of the day as the rest of the cadets.

I blame the fact that I'm not as cute as the cadets! Especially in uniform!!

The Internet is a Scary Place.

No really.

Just when you think you've got it all sussed. Something new comes along and waits for you to walk past before jumping out and shouting BOO!

I refer to the interenet phenomenon known only as Facebook. I'll admit here and know I've definately jumped on the bandwagon and followed onto the site. But what I failed to realise what I was letting myself in for. I like to think of myself as fairly clued up, however the purpose of these personal networking site has just passed me by.

My first impressions weren't very good to be totally honest. It just seemed like another place where you could gather with friends (like a forum or at stretch a blog). There also seemed to be a bit of Ego to it. Especially as it allows you to display "how many" friends you actually have. When I initially signed up it wasn't looking to promising.

Now it's taken a frightening new twist. I've gathered up those friends I've been able to find (and if I've missed you don't be offended my time here is limited) and the thing has exploded into life. Oh my good there is so much information going on and messages flying this way and that I have no idea where to start.

I mean blogging is fairly hit and miss for me. I'm very scared that facebook is just going to swallow me whole if I let it. I think all I need is time to get used to it, however I don't know if facebook is going to give me time.

What's also scary about the internet is that it never fails to amaze how stupid some people are. This video is one I'm going to put into my "Combustion Control" traing course, that I give now and again. Remember children Don't play with Fire!

The Ultimate in Bad Taste.

I found this the other day and just had to share it. To me this is the ultimate in bad taste when it comes to Sitcoms. This was the only ever episode that was shown, but rumour has it there were actually eight episodes written/made. It's no wonder British Satellite Broadcasting went bust. My boss actually emailed this to one of his mates workplace in Germany before realising what he'd done.

So without further ado (warning may cause offence)...

Part1


Part 2


Quite aptly blogger is still half in German!

Loves, Labours Lost

I suppose I haven't had a proper update in a while. Believe me I have my reasons, but I felt now the time was right for some retrospective.

When we last left our hero he had just met up with the Big Boss (also known as the Vice President) and although he had come away unscathed the feeling of dread he entered his lair with was still there when he left. And our hero's senses have never let him down yet.

The last month at work can only be described in one simple phrase "sheer hell". Everything that I complained to my boss about reared it's ugly head last month. Lack of communication, more work than I could handle and definately more pressure than I could handle. For at least 13 days of the last month I was the only real technical guy in the entire office. Meaning everything technical came my way.

I have probably left the office on time only once in the last month. So my (slim) social life has been virtually reduced to nothing. And the pressure, oh my god. I know we've all had days where we don't want to go into work, but I was actively dreading it on some days. This is the first time in my life I've really considered taking a "sickie" but my own sense of honesty stopped me in the end.

Also my new medication hasn't helped. I was warned that it might make me drowsy, but oh my god I didn't realise how drowsy it would make me. I have to take it only at night before I go to bed so as to limit its effects. However, there were quite a few days where I wold be falling asleep in the middle of the day. Be it at the lunch table, or even worse at my desk. Thankfully they have decreased my dosage which emans I'm less likely to sleep during the day, but I still have my moments. If I'm active, I'm okay, but if I stop and relax it tends to hit me.

Things have improved in the last week at work so I'm generally starting to get back into the swing of things. People have been returning and my workload has become more managable. I was even cheering up, up until last Thursday.

I got a letter, nothing wrong with that you might think. However this let informed me that the dating Agency I had joined had gone into administration. So after only 2 introductions and 9 months membership, that was it. That was all I was going to get for my money. Galling no?

It wasn't so much the money. That just made me angry. If I'm being honest I'd pinned not a small amount of hope on this company. If not for finding that "someone" but at least improving my local social life and now even that opportunity has been taken away. The final nail I suppose was the fact that it wasn't even through any fault of my own. If it was I probably could except it.

As it is I've had a weekend to absorp it all and I've come to terms with it (my god I make it sound like someone has died). Although I haven't yet decided what to do next.

Oh and why oh why is my blogger suddenly half in English and half in German. Is this some subliminal attempt to integrte me with the rest of Europe?

Catching up With the Bandwagon.

Usually by the time I catch up with a wagon I get there to find...

... that everybody else has jumped ship. And today is no different, but hey why should that stop me having my own little bit of fun. Especially as I've got so many analogies in this post so far. So without further ado here we go.

Thanks first go to my friends Simon, Eileen, Dave, Amanda and anybody else who has taken part, but have yet to read.

1. Go to Career Cruising, www.careercruising.com
2. Put in Username: nycareers and Password: landmark.
3. Take their "Career Matchmaker" questions.
4. Post the top twenty results.

Results:

1. Crane Operator
2. Electrical Engineering Tech
3. Electronics Engineering Tech
4. Avionics Tech
5. Civil Engineer
6. Farm Equipment Mechanic
7. Race Car Mechanic
8. Industrial Engineering Tech
9. Heavy Equipment Mechanic
10. Commercial Diver
11. Mining Engineer
12. Cable Installer and Repairer
13. Physical Education Teacher
14. Heating, Air Conditioning, Refrigeration Tech
15. Optical / Ophthalmic Lab Technician
16. Industrial Engineer
17. Special Education Teacher
18. Motorcycle Mechanic
19. Pipefitter
20. Automobile Mechanic

With my sense of balance I do worry about being assigned "Crane Operator" especially if ti's one of those really tall cranes. Also P.E. Teacher seems to stiack out like a sore thumb in that list. Obviously it doesn't have "Cremation Engineering Technician" in that list, but I was surprised that the closest I got I was number 14.

I wonder what my old careers advisor would think if he knew what I was doing now?

Twelve of Twelve

I'm attempting to write this twelve of twelve while watching the second half of the football. So my concentration is wandering all over the place. All I ask is that you make allowances for my usual bad spelling which may be even worse during this one.

So without further ado.

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1. 07:10 Approx
I managed to catch the sunrising this morning. Well, rising over my neighbours houses anyway. I suspect I'd have to get up slightly earlier to catch the true "sunrise".

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2. 07:35 Approx
This is the latest concoction from my doctor to help with my current "digestive" problems. It definately doesn't taste as nice as the alst stuff I was given to try. In fact it tastes down right horrible.

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3. 07:50 Approx
Ah, BBC Radio 2. I always listen to Radio 2 when driving in my car. I find it much more interesting than Radio 1. People say it's a less fashionable radio station, but for me, I wouldn't sit in Rush hour traffic without Terry Wogan.

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4. 08:35 Approx
This is a new oxygen/Carbon monoxide analyser that we are going to trial in the near future. It may look odd, buit that equipment is worth £12,000 and is vital to the efficient running of any cremator or incinerator.

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5. 10:00 Approx
When I walked into the second of my departmental offices this was the site that awaited me. A new shipment of PC's that I need to setup for various contracts. What makes it more interesting is that they are installed with the French version of Windows XP. I find XP is bad enough in English, let alone French.

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6. 16:00 Approx
On my daily wander around our factory I came across this little (?) beast. It's currently in the process of being coated in refactory to make it heat resistant. I left my camera case in there to give you some sense of scale. When complete it'll become part of a machine used to incinerate livestock (mainly horses).

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7. 16:55 Approx
This is the current state of the white board in our office. I use it to remind me of the important things that I mustn't forget. The larger the writing the more important. I had to delete the reminder about "World Domination" as it didn't coincide with company policy.

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8. 17:25 Approx
The Sunday Times Crossword. I always enjoy trying to do the Sunday Times Crossword. Either with my friends Simon and Dave or as was the case this evening with my boss before we brave the traffic going home. Here is the fruit of our efforts for tonight.

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9. 18:40 Approx
Dinner. Living on my own I always find it difficult to cook. I either have to cook a big meal and freeze it or live on more convenience type foods. I also hate the way the portions you buy at the supermarket can't be geared to cooking for one. One meal I have found I am able to cook for one is this: Mushroom stir-fry with noodles and a Hoisin & Spring Onion Sauce. Yum.

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10. 19:10 Approx
The aftermath. I absolutely detest washing up. The nicer the meal, the more washing up there is to do. Suprisingly though, I refuse to buy a dishwasher.

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11. 20:01 Approx
Football! Need I say anymore, I'm a big football fan and I'll watch just about any match that's put in front of me. In this case this is an England international match of some importance, so I don't really have any excuse not to watch it.

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12. 20:50 Approx
I have over the last few weeks rediscovered my love of Teacakes. Especially for supper before I go to bed. These are the last of my teacakes and I toasted them up (becasue you can't eat them not toasted) during the half time of the football.

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So that's it for another month. No more post-amble, there's football on.

If you have read all fo this and have no idea why I did this, then pop over here
and read Chad's blog.