Another week over. Not that much to report. I have a new email system. Not such astounding news I hear you cry, and you are right, and wrong. This is "email reinvented", and it really is changing the way I work, for the better. I am basically aiming for "inbox zero", and am using the various workflow and task management features to achieve this. It is bizarre, but I am really enjoying using it to manage my work.
At home, we are wresting with a much more serious problem, that we are invited out on Saturday night, when ENGLAND PLAY WALES IN THE WORLD CUP. Do people not know there is rugby on.
I think I am going to start to rub down the woodwork in the utility room in preparation for glossing. That will start in the afternoon, with the mornings taken up with the usual sporting obligations, with the addition of drumming lessons for Maggot 1. LO is also away for a few hours, visiting the site that will host her school's Year 6 away-day trip, so it will just be us lads until mid-afternoon.
Have a great weekend, and speak next week.
Monday, 21 September 2015
Better late then never
I just plain forgot. To blog, that is. It may be seen is a sign. Or it may just be something else altogether.
We had a good weekend. Maggot 2's team won 4-2 against a local team who, in the closed season, beat us 4-0, so it was with some satisfaction that the final whistle blew. And when it did blow, I got a further small insight in to the machinations of junior football. The ref was provided, as is standard protocol, by the home team, and he managed to make 3 minutes at the end of the match last for 9 minutes, presumably in the hope his team could close the gap. Our dads, certainly those who have been on the scene for a while, were very vocal, since apparently this particular ref has defied the space-time continuum in the past. Anyway, we won, after a shaky start, and the victory was very much enjoyed by all. The opposition team, according to Maggot 2, were not so sporting during the post-match handshakes, employing all sorts of "intimidating" actions, such as sqeezing hard, banging shoulders, and for three of the team, crying a lot. It is going to be a long season.
Otherwise, we did not do much. We had A&E over for dinner Saturday night, and as is often the case with our sociable friends, we perhaps over-indulged in the social juice, so Sunday was, after football, a bit of a washout.
I did manage to watch some rugby over the weekend, and now am definitely a Japan supporter. What a magnificent game. With time over at the end of the match, and a penalty awarded to Japan, they could have kicked, and drawn the game, but oh no, they chose to scrum, twice I think, before then ran in a try to win the game. Such audacity, such sound belief in their abilities, and a great never-say-die attitude. Can't wait to see more of that. It is going to be a long, but very enjoyable, six weeks.
I hope you had a good weekend, and have a great week.
We had a good weekend. Maggot 2's team won 4-2 against a local team who, in the closed season, beat us 4-0, so it was with some satisfaction that the final whistle blew. And when it did blow, I got a further small insight in to the machinations of junior football. The ref was provided, as is standard protocol, by the home team, and he managed to make 3 minutes at the end of the match last for 9 minutes, presumably in the hope his team could close the gap. Our dads, certainly those who have been on the scene for a while, were very vocal, since apparently this particular ref has defied the space-time continuum in the past. Anyway, we won, after a shaky start, and the victory was very much enjoyed by all. The opposition team, according to Maggot 2, were not so sporting during the post-match handshakes, employing all sorts of "intimidating" actions, such as sqeezing hard, banging shoulders, and for three of the team, crying a lot. It is going to be a long season.
Otherwise, we did not do much. We had A&E over for dinner Saturday night, and as is often the case with our sociable friends, we perhaps over-indulged in the social juice, so Sunday was, after football, a bit of a washout.
I did manage to watch some rugby over the weekend, and now am definitely a Japan supporter. What a magnificent game. With time over at the end of the match, and a penalty awarded to Japan, they could have kicked, and drawn the game, but oh no, they chose to scrum, twice I think, before then ran in a try to win the game. Such audacity, such sound belief in their abilities, and a great never-say-die attitude. Can't wait to see more of that. It is going to be a long, but very enjoyable, six weeks.
I hope you had a good weekend, and have a great week.
Friday, 11 September 2015
The sun is still shining . . .
I am very much enjoying what is probably now officially Autumn sunshine. I suspect it will not last, so all we can do is enjoy it while it does.
On the work front, nearly all my team are back from holiday, so that means that we are at the start of getting back in control of our group's workstack. There is always a bit of a lag while the bronzed returners pickup their work and make progress, but we are getting there.
My potential new job seems to be fading in to the sunset. Or so I thought. It started with a conversation with my manager, a person who does not really manage me*, suggested that these are "tough times" and he would resist any departures from his area. It ended with me having a chat with "my new boss", and he was a bit more chipper on the whole subject. I learnt from other sources that one of my colleagues, someone who I worked with when I first started my role, someone who works in the same office area as "my new boss" and knows him well. It seems she may have been offered one of the roles, which makes sense since she is more of a known entity. I happen to know she is caught up in the same "no departures" issue.
Knowing she has been offered a role gives me hope, that there is something tangible out there, and also slightly concerns me, someone else already has the role I want. As always, things move mysteriously as well as slowly, and if I have learnt anything, and the jury may well be out on that, it is that you cannot force the rhythm of someone else's process, least of all in a large corporation that exists in its own space-time continuum.
At home, we are trying to get used to normal life. This weekend is a fairly normal one, football, tennis, football, but with the addition of a family party for my father-in-law, who is seventy.
Maggot 2 is loving his new room. I am likely to be given my Autumn Schedule of tasks, which will include, amongst other things, replacing the silk with gloss in the utility room, which equates to three doors, my favourite, although one is a sliding door, and not quite worked out how I will paint the hidden bit yet. I suspect getting it off its rail is the only option, but time will tell. I will also do the skirting and two windowsills as well, just so the whole lot is done.
Anyway, that is me. Have a great weekend, and speak next week.
===================
* Google "matrix management" to get a view on what this means
On the work front, nearly all my team are back from holiday, so that means that we are at the start of getting back in control of our group's workstack. There is always a bit of a lag while the bronzed returners pickup their work and make progress, but we are getting there.
My potential new job seems to be fading in to the sunset. Or so I thought. It started with a conversation with my manager, a person who does not really manage me*, suggested that these are "tough times" and he would resist any departures from his area. It ended with me having a chat with "my new boss", and he was a bit more chipper on the whole subject. I learnt from other sources that one of my colleagues, someone who I worked with when I first started my role, someone who works in the same office area as "my new boss" and knows him well. It seems she may have been offered one of the roles, which makes sense since she is more of a known entity. I happen to know she is caught up in the same "no departures" issue.
Knowing she has been offered a role gives me hope, that there is something tangible out there, and also slightly concerns me, someone else already has the role I want. As always, things move mysteriously as well as slowly, and if I have learnt anything, and the jury may well be out on that, it is that you cannot force the rhythm of someone else's process, least of all in a large corporation that exists in its own space-time continuum.
At home, we are trying to get used to normal life. This weekend is a fairly normal one, football, tennis, football, but with the addition of a family party for my father-in-law, who is seventy.
Maggot 2 is loving his new room. I am likely to be given my Autumn Schedule of tasks, which will include, amongst other things, replacing the silk with gloss in the utility room, which equates to three doors, my favourite, although one is a sliding door, and not quite worked out how I will paint the hidden bit yet. I suspect getting it off its rail is the only option, but time will tell. I will also do the skirting and two windowsills as well, just so the whole lot is done.
Anyway, that is me. Have a great weekend, and speak next week.
===================
* Google "matrix management" to get a view on what this means
Friday, 4 September 2015
And . . . relax
I have had some fun at work, and son anti-fun. These have appeared at each end of my week, separated by a Wednesday, because as any physicist worth her salt knows, if you mix fun and anti-fun you end up in Scunthorpe.
That reminds my of the old "Acrington Stanley, who are they?" advert.
At home, we have finished decorating Maggot 2's bedroom, which is looking lovely, so lovely in fact that a smile almost broke out on Maggot 2's face, something the teen police are investigating as a potential case of excessive exposure of teenage joy.
We have a wedding this weekend, just for adults, starting with a "quiet" couple of beers and a curry tonight, and all day tomorrow from 2pm. I am even wearing a tie, which does not sit well with me, but a necessary evil to gain access to all the free drink.
Maggot 2 has football training Saturday and a "friendly" match on Sunday, against the team now named as our number one nemesis. Let's call them The Team Who Cannot be Named. We are due a win, and after last week's positive showing (by effort if not score) against the team who will likely be top, or near the top, of the league this coming season, we hope to give The Team Who Cannot be Named a right tonking.
If the weather stays fine, I may even cut the grass.
Have a great weekend, and speak next week.
That reminds my of the old "Acrington Stanley, who are they?" advert.
At home, we have finished decorating Maggot 2's bedroom, which is looking lovely, so lovely in fact that a smile almost broke out on Maggot 2's face, something the teen police are investigating as a potential case of excessive exposure of teenage joy.
We have a wedding this weekend, just for adults, starting with a "quiet" couple of beers and a curry tonight, and all day tomorrow from 2pm. I am even wearing a tie, which does not sit well with me, but a necessary evil to gain access to all the free drink.
Maggot 2 has football training Saturday and a "friendly" match on Sunday, against the team now named as our number one nemesis. Let's call them The Team Who Cannot be Named. We are due a win, and after last week's positive showing (by effort if not score) against the team who will likely be top, or near the top, of the league this coming season, we hope to give The Team Who Cannot be Named a right tonking.
If the weather stays fine, I may even cut the grass.
Have a great weekend, and speak next week.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)