Nothing like time off for getting in to bad habits, or more precisely, stopping good habits. Thus is my excuse for not blogging.
Not a lot to discuss. It is fair to say that the Scobi clan really prefer to be on holiday doing what they want, and often not a lot of it, than at work or school, doing plenty. The real world does, sadly, remain real for most of us, and so it is back to work today.
Things are fairly quiet, so catching up is not hard. What I will do when things really kick off, goodness knows, but I have to trust that I have stepped up before, I can do it again.
And on that note, I bid you farewell for now. Have a good week, speak later.
Monday, 14 April 2014
What a weekend
We had a great weekend, one not without its issues, but a fantastic weekend nevertheless.
We arrived at Newbury early evening, having been via Ikea for a quick bit of shopping. A lovely evening of food, chat, beer and, towards the end of the evening, vodka with gold pieces.
The following morning, we were up earlyish, but on checking the Dr Who Experience ticket details, Angelina realised she had the wrong tickets, even though she had clearly requested a family ticket. A fraught twenty minutes on the phone resolved the issue, with new, correct, tickets allocated and printed, and a promise to sort out a refund for the wrong ticket on Monday.
We then headed out for Cardiff. The drive was uneventful, though A&B did ask whether I was trying to lose them on the M4. As if.
We arrived at the hotel, and B and LO jumped out (we were double-parked outside) to get directions to the parking. A and I then drove the cars to park, but missed the turning, and whilst doing a lap round the block, got a call from Maggot 1 to say we were at the WRONG HOTEL. Doh! We were given details of the right hotel, and drive there in under 10 mins. On arrival, we explained to the nice man our silly mistake, and he said "yes, we know, ?? rang just now to advise us you were on your way". Now that was above and beyond.
Our rooms were fine, and once we had dumped our stuff, we head out on foot to walk to the harbour area, in which were the restaurants for later, and the DWE studios. The route on the way was initially of urban decay, but from the town centre to the harbour, it was a fairly passable boulevard, with wide pavements and tidy apartments. As it happens, we came back on the other side of the railway tracks, and it was the "other side of the tracks" in many ways; run down, lots of litter and lots of dodgy people. Not that we are horribly middle class, but Maggot 2, always one for neat and tidy, did point out every bit of litter, and some of the bushes were like landfill sites.
We grabbed a quick sandwich in the cafe before joining a tour. It was definitely Dr Who, and quite an experience, so while not quite on the scale and magnificence of the Harry Potter tour, it was well done and fun, with plenty of detail for the OCD, and bit sets and loud noises for the impatient.
My favourite bit was probably a little corner where a documentary video was on loop, with Stuart Maconie, on Delia Derbyshire, the person who was definitely ahead of her time, creating electronic music way before her time, but sadly descending in to drink, breast cancer and death by liver failure. It turns our our Stuart is a bit of a music nerd, and has played the theme on his radio show, and he was also pretty knowledgeable on the background and details. Fascinating how they created stuff not dissimilar to what I create on a computer, but armed only with keys, piano strings (how the Tardis sound was made apparently) and lots of simple analogue synthesisers, tape loops and other barmy inventions.
We then had tea at Strada, where we have more great service from Marcus, our waiter for the night, who, it turns out, is a trainee manager who is going "back to the floor" to see the business from a different angle, and who is, it turns out, about the become the manager of Strada in Newbury. What are the chances? He provided excellent service and was happy to join in with our every increasing exuberence. He had a hair cut that I should get apparently too, so LO even asked if she could take a photo for me to take in to my hairdressers. Hmmm.
Our final bit of excellent service was in Bill's for breakfast. Great service, great food, and as we were paying, the manager came over and presented each of the children with a small bag of sweets, something they sold in the shop. We were overcome with goodwill.
So now LO has to find out "who owns Cardiff" so she can write a very complimentary note to them about the service they give in their fine city.
So, overall scores are in the 7-9 range. Fantastic time had, but not top marks because of small areas of improvement here and there. Service, though, was ten out of ten all round.
We arrived at Newbury early evening, having been via Ikea for a quick bit of shopping. A lovely evening of food, chat, beer and, towards the end of the evening, vodka with gold pieces.
The following morning, we were up earlyish, but on checking the Dr Who Experience ticket details, Angelina realised she had the wrong tickets, even though she had clearly requested a family ticket. A fraught twenty minutes on the phone resolved the issue, with new, correct, tickets allocated and printed, and a promise to sort out a refund for the wrong ticket on Monday.
We then headed out for Cardiff. The drive was uneventful, though A&B did ask whether I was trying to lose them on the M4. As if.
We arrived at the hotel, and B and LO jumped out (we were double-parked outside) to get directions to the parking. A and I then drove the cars to park, but missed the turning, and whilst doing a lap round the block, got a call from Maggot 1 to say we were at the WRONG HOTEL. Doh! We were given details of the right hotel, and drive there in under 10 mins. On arrival, we explained to the nice man our silly mistake, and he said "yes, we know, ?? rang just now to advise us you were on your way". Now that was above and beyond.
Our rooms were fine, and once we had dumped our stuff, we head out on foot to walk to the harbour area, in which were the restaurants for later, and the DWE studios. The route on the way was initially of urban decay, but from the town centre to the harbour, it was a fairly passable boulevard, with wide pavements and tidy apartments. As it happens, we came back on the other side of the railway tracks, and it was the "other side of the tracks" in many ways; run down, lots of litter and lots of dodgy people. Not that we are horribly middle class, but Maggot 2, always one for neat and tidy, did point out every bit of litter, and some of the bushes were like landfill sites.
We grabbed a quick sandwich in the cafe before joining a tour. It was definitely Dr Who, and quite an experience, so while not quite on the scale and magnificence of the Harry Potter tour, it was well done and fun, with plenty of detail for the OCD, and bit sets and loud noises for the impatient.
My favourite bit was probably a little corner where a documentary video was on loop, with Stuart Maconie, on Delia Derbyshire, the person who was definitely ahead of her time, creating electronic music way before her time, but sadly descending in to drink, breast cancer and death by liver failure. It turns our our Stuart is a bit of a music nerd, and has played the theme on his radio show, and he was also pretty knowledgeable on the background and details. Fascinating how they created stuff not dissimilar to what I create on a computer, but armed only with keys, piano strings (how the Tardis sound was made apparently) and lots of simple analogue synthesisers, tape loops and other barmy inventions.
We then had tea at Strada, where we have more great service from Marcus, our waiter for the night, who, it turns out, is a trainee manager who is going "back to the floor" to see the business from a different angle, and who is, it turns out, about the become the manager of Strada in Newbury. What are the chances? He provided excellent service and was happy to join in with our every increasing exuberence. He had a hair cut that I should get apparently too, so LO even asked if she could take a photo for me to take in to my hairdressers. Hmmm.
Our final bit of excellent service was in Bill's for breakfast. Great service, great food, and as we were paying, the manager came over and presented each of the children with a small bag of sweets, something they sold in the shop. We were overcome with goodwill.
So now LO has to find out "who owns Cardiff" so she can write a very complimentary note to them about the service they give in their fine city.
So, overall scores are in the 7-9 range. Fantastic time had, but not top marks because of small areas of improvement here and there. Service, though, was ten out of ten all round.
Friday, 11 April 2014
Something for the weekend
We are off the Newbury tonight, to stay at Brad and Angelina's, so that we can arise early tomorrow to head out for Cardiff, where we are staying the night, and attending the Doctor Who Experience. No idea what to expect with DWE, but we are very much looking forward to seeing B&A and having a weekend away.
This week I have not had any more information from my potential new manager. He advised that they are restructuring, so don't know how or where to use me yet, but that I should be patient, as I said on Tuesday, which means that I have been spending the rest of the week "being patient". I had not realised how tedious "being patient" can be.
In my current role, we have managed a small (to our client) but massive (for those who understand how hard it can be to do new stuff in Starfleet) triumph, having enabled Cloud for our client. This means they can go and build servers and do a whole bunch of stuff without even having to speak to us directly, getting the bill for any consumption at the end of each month. This is on message with Starfleet, and we are near enough the first to have done it, so we have been trail-blazing on an element of technology that is a hot ticket right now, which is nice.
Other than that, I am running a bit of "give back*" work to develop a training course for our offshore new starters. This, to any normal person, does not sound very clever; when a new hire starts, give them some induction training on their new role, so they know how to do it. Indeed, myself and my project partner are definitely not the first to consider this, even in our competency, but such is the nature of our business, the throughput of people and the intellectual capital they build, the constant budget restraints on doing anything that does not bring in the dollars, that this is needed once more. In fact, it is needed even more than in the past, because the newbies are all offshore resources, for whom the challenges and the learning curve are all the more steep.
We pitched to our first line management team (our direct manager being one of them) a couple of weeks ago, and did our second pitch to their manager, the leader of our competency, last week, and again this week to review the final cut. The phrase "pushing at an open door" may well have been uttered, more than once, and that was the essence of the reviews; a bit of polish here, an extra bit of glitter there, but in essence a no-brainer, that is (again) on-message with some higher level improvement programs that are in flight, so we expect to be given budget approval.
And then the real work starts, as we "colour in" the sketch training schedule we have thus far developed. For this, we plan to recruit key experienced colleagues, to harvest whatever we can that already exists, and craft them in to dynamic, interactive and informative training modules.
I just hope I am still here to be part of the training team, since I have always fancied a bit of training.
Have a great weekend, speak next week.
P.S. And . . . relax
==================================
* a strange notion, not unique to Starfleet, where a motivated individual can go the "extra mile" in differentiating themselves from their peers, so they are ranked higher in the appraisal system, so get a better score, Starfleet using the "bell curve distribution" method to ensure the bottom 15% get the bad mark. This seems to be at odds with our overall executive message that "our business is our people" and that we are a "high performing organisation". Put these all together, and each year we have to ditch people who are perfectly capable and motivated, simply because they scored less than their peers.
This week I have not had any more information from my potential new manager. He advised that they are restructuring, so don't know how or where to use me yet, but that I should be patient, as I said on Tuesday, which means that I have been spending the rest of the week "being patient". I had not realised how tedious "being patient" can be.
In my current role, we have managed a small (to our client) but massive (for those who understand how hard it can be to do new stuff in Starfleet) triumph, having enabled Cloud for our client. This means they can go and build servers and do a whole bunch of stuff without even having to speak to us directly, getting the bill for any consumption at the end of each month. This is on message with Starfleet, and we are near enough the first to have done it, so we have been trail-blazing on an element of technology that is a hot ticket right now, which is nice.
Other than that, I am running a bit of "give back*" work to develop a training course for our offshore new starters. This, to any normal person, does not sound very clever; when a new hire starts, give them some induction training on their new role, so they know how to do it. Indeed, myself and my project partner are definitely not the first to consider this, even in our competency, but such is the nature of our business, the throughput of people and the intellectual capital they build, the constant budget restraints on doing anything that does not bring in the dollars, that this is needed once more. In fact, it is needed even more than in the past, because the newbies are all offshore resources, for whom the challenges and the learning curve are all the more steep.
We pitched to our first line management team (our direct manager being one of them) a couple of weeks ago, and did our second pitch to their manager, the leader of our competency, last week, and again this week to review the final cut. The phrase "pushing at an open door" may well have been uttered, more than once, and that was the essence of the reviews; a bit of polish here, an extra bit of glitter there, but in essence a no-brainer, that is (again) on-message with some higher level improvement programs that are in flight, so we expect to be given budget approval.
And then the real work starts, as we "colour in" the sketch training schedule we have thus far developed. For this, we plan to recruit key experienced colleagues, to harvest whatever we can that already exists, and craft them in to dynamic, interactive and informative training modules.
I just hope I am still here to be part of the training team, since I have always fancied a bit of training.
Have a great weekend, speak next week.
P.S. And . . . relax
==================================
* a strange notion, not unique to Starfleet, where a motivated individual can go the "extra mile" in differentiating themselves from their peers, so they are ranked higher in the appraisal system, so get a better score, Starfleet using the "bell curve distribution" method to ensure the bottom 15% get the bad mark. This seems to be at odds with our overall executive message that "our business is our people" and that we are a "high performing organisation". Put these all together, and each year we have to ditch people who are perfectly capable and motivated, simply because they scored less than their peers.
Tuesday, 8 April 2014
Career
I can definitely now call this the Year of the Career, and my potential new boss just responded to an email I sent (did not want to hassle him too much, but did not want him to think I am the kind of person who never hassles people - tricky balance) saying:
=============================
* Name changed to protect the innocent.
In light of the new organization announcement I need to talk to Stanley* to see how best and where best we can bring you on board. So some patience please as there is much going on in term of organization changes.Nice.
=============================
* Name changed to protect the innocent.
Friday, 4 April 2014
And . . . relax
Today is the last day of term for the Maggots and LO, and it is fair to say that we are all looking forward to having a couple of weeks out from the daily routine.
Tomorrow, we are hosting the 65th birthday party for LO's mum, and that means curry for twenty odd people and a fair amount of organisation, most of which falls to LO to sort. I will obviously provide the brawn, but there is no doubt that LO is the brains of the outfit.
Sunday is likely to be the laziest day we have had for a while. We may not get up until lunchtime, and we may stay in our PJs for the WHOLE DAY, and we may well watch a number of highly dubious* films.
I still have not had the follow up meeting with my potential new manager, mainly because he is so very busy. I have hassled him a couple of times, and will do so again on Monday, since if I am to move, I want to do it quickly so that I have a good part of the year to establish myself in the new role before my performance is appraised. As mentioned by The Gorse Fox, this process is almost universally disliked, and tends to worry about things that are not important, in favour of things that are, both by measuring things that are definitely measurable, even if they are not relevant, and also by using a ranking process that means perfectly good people get marked down because they are "outside the top XX percent". It does seem to take the "person" out of personnel. Not sure that totally works, but what I really mean is that it is fairly inhuman and forgets that we are, largely, sentient beings with feelings and a wealth of untapped potential, if only they asked nicely. Oh well, I guess you just have to like it or lump it.
Have a great weekend, and speak next week.
===============================
* I would not want you getting the wrong idea here. By "dubious", I mean that they are films, the watching of which is unlikely to be shared with anyone we know. Mamma Mia might be an example.
Tomorrow, we are hosting the 65th birthday party for LO's mum, and that means curry for twenty odd people and a fair amount of organisation, most of which falls to LO to sort. I will obviously provide the brawn, but there is no doubt that LO is the brains of the outfit.
Sunday is likely to be the laziest day we have had for a while. We may not get up until lunchtime, and we may stay in our PJs for the WHOLE DAY, and we may well watch a number of highly dubious* films.
I still have not had the follow up meeting with my potential new manager, mainly because he is so very busy. I have hassled him a couple of times, and will do so again on Monday, since if I am to move, I want to do it quickly so that I have a good part of the year to establish myself in the new role before my performance is appraised. As mentioned by The Gorse Fox, this process is almost universally disliked, and tends to worry about things that are not important, in favour of things that are, both by measuring things that are definitely measurable, even if they are not relevant, and also by using a ranking process that means perfectly good people get marked down because they are "outside the top XX percent". It does seem to take the "person" out of personnel. Not sure that totally works, but what I really mean is that it is fairly inhuman and forgets that we are, largely, sentient beings with feelings and a wealth of untapped potential, if only they asked nicely. Oh well, I guess you just have to like it or lump it.
Have a great weekend, and speak next week.
===============================
* I would not want you getting the wrong idea here. By "dubious", I mean that they are films, the watching of which is unlikely to be shared with anyone we know. Mamma Mia might be an example.
Friday, 28 March 2014
I have made the observation . . .
. . . that I only blog about once a week these days. This must stop at once.
Oh, there you go, sorted.
Oh, there you go, sorted.
And . . . relax
Another week drawing to a close.
I had a phone interview on Wednesday for the new Cloud role in which I have expressed an interest. It is exactly what I hoped it would be, and so it is just right for my next role, but for one important aspect; the role will involve some travel, likely international.
I subsequently spoke to one of the two people currently doing the role, both in Germany, and he said that it is deal dependent, that some months he rarely travels at all, other months he can travel every week, and that it would typically be 2-3 days per week away from home when he is travelling. It is meant to be a consultancy style role, so in, advise the local team, and out, but as with all things in the modern world, with resources stretched all over the park, there is always the risk that we get sucked in to the team to fill a void. Also, by expanding the team from two to three, the load can be spread, and in fact the manager wants the team bigger than that, so perhaps adding numbers will dilute the challenge.
So, that becomes the main issue to consider and resolve. I think it comes down to the fact that there are very few roles in Starfleet that do not have some level of travel, and I know I am fairly spoilt where I am, since I can within reason dependably do the school run on a Monday and Friday, and can flex things round to accommodate the odd parents' evening here and ad hoc maggot collection there. So I can choose to remain where I am, lookout for the pipe and slippers, and have the home life flexibility, or push myself, take up a new and exciting role that has future-proof written all over it, but suffer a little on the home life.
We would need a robust and reliable support network to manage things at home, and we do have a few options, so I think we can make it work. LO, as always, will support me in any decision I make, and that is both a blessing and a curse, since it means that it really comes down to me, whether I can hack it, and whether I am happy with the change in the home situation.
Right now, I am slightly cautious, but mostly I think I am up for the challenge. I need the weekend to give me some space to think it all through, and discuss with the family, and then on Monday I will have my decision.
Have a good weekend, and speak next week.
I had a phone interview on Wednesday for the new Cloud role in which I have expressed an interest. It is exactly what I hoped it would be, and so it is just right for my next role, but for one important aspect; the role will involve some travel, likely international.
I subsequently spoke to one of the two people currently doing the role, both in Germany, and he said that it is deal dependent, that some months he rarely travels at all, other months he can travel every week, and that it would typically be 2-3 days per week away from home when he is travelling. It is meant to be a consultancy style role, so in, advise the local team, and out, but as with all things in the modern world, with resources stretched all over the park, there is always the risk that we get sucked in to the team to fill a void. Also, by expanding the team from two to three, the load can be spread, and in fact the manager wants the team bigger than that, so perhaps adding numbers will dilute the challenge.
So, that becomes the main issue to consider and resolve. I think it comes down to the fact that there are very few roles in Starfleet that do not have some level of travel, and I know I am fairly spoilt where I am, since I can within reason dependably do the school run on a Monday and Friday, and can flex things round to accommodate the odd parents' evening here and ad hoc maggot collection there. So I can choose to remain where I am, lookout for the pipe and slippers, and have the home life flexibility, or push myself, take up a new and exciting role that has future-proof written all over it, but suffer a little on the home life.
We would need a robust and reliable support network to manage things at home, and we do have a few options, so I think we can make it work. LO, as always, will support me in any decision I make, and that is both a blessing and a curse, since it means that it really comes down to me, whether I can hack it, and whether I am happy with the change in the home situation.
Right now, I am slightly cautious, but mostly I think I am up for the challenge. I need the weekend to give me some space to think it all through, and discuss with the family, and then on Monday I will have my decision.
Have a good weekend, and speak next week.
Friday, 21 March 2014
And . . . relax
Cloud is consuming me. As a guru, I need to pursue with vigour all the knowledge out there, since there is a lot of it, albeit very fragmented. The fragmented nature of it is indicative or the newness of it all, and for me, that is an opportunity, since while I may not know much, I know as much as many, more than a fair few, and am acquiring knowledge at a great rate.
I also have a phone interview for a potential new role within Starfleet. I can't wait.
This weekend we are doing nothing, since I don't feel well, oh except we will be meeting Brad and Angelina in Moors Valley on Sunday.
Have a great weekend.
I also have a phone interview for a potential new role within Starfleet. I can't wait.
This weekend we are doing nothing, since I don't feel well, oh except we will be meeting Brad and Angelina in Moors Valley on Sunday.
Have a great weekend.
Friday, 14 March 2014
And . . . relax
Still chasing Clouds, and now have a concrete proposal with which to apply what is now very clear is my paltry knowledge. I cannot even complete the (admittedly complex and multi-layer) installation of the tools to enable me to access the Cloud portal. Quick not to their helpdesk will hopefully sort that.
Otherwise, we need a bit of family time, and space, over the weekend to reconnect and to rebaseline.
Have a good weekend, speak next week.
Otherwise, we need a bit of family time, and space, over the weekend to reconnect and to rebaseline.
Have a good weekend, speak next week.
Friday, 7 March 2014
And . . . relax
I am back to work after my two days in the Netherlands. The training was fantastic, and has inspired me with a very clear and viable new career option, something I intend to pursue with some vigour over the next few weeks, and will tell you all about it if anything comes of it.
On the subject of The Netherlands vs Holland, here is a very good, and fairly amusing, video to help you understand it. I for one am now totally clear about it.
I am now sitting on a call about Cloud, my new specialist subject, and while I am very clear that I know next to nothing, that seems to be at least as much as others know, and with my desire to learn as much as I can as quickly as I can, I really can see a pathway opening out in front of me.
It is the end of the first week for Brad, and I am hoping that he is finding his feet in the new role.
On that note, I will bid you farewell, and speak next week.
On the subject of The Netherlands vs Holland, here is a very good, and fairly amusing, video to help you understand it. I for one am now totally clear about it.
I am now sitting on a call about Cloud, my new specialist subject, and while I am very clear that I know next to nothing, that seems to be at least as much as others know, and with my desire to learn as much as I can as quickly as I can, I really can see a pathway opening out in front of me.
It is the end of the first week for Brad, and I am hoping that he is finding his feet in the new role.
On that note, I will bid you farewell, and speak next week.
Thursday, 6 March 2014
Training
half way through day two, and things are getting clear and more confused all at the same time.
I am liking the idea of being a guru, so will be buying some sandals and a loin cloth to complete the look.
It is about to start, gotta go.
I am liking the idea of being a guru, so will be buying some sandals and a loin cloth to complete the look.
It is about to start, gotta go.
Tuesday, 4 March 2014
'Dam
Here I sit in some faceless business district in Amsterdam, writing this blog, and feeling content after 3 pints, a pizza and chips and an overpriced chocolate treat.
The beer was good - Heineken Extra Cold, which is cold and wet and tasty enough for a mid-week drink.
The pizza was really poor. Biscuit base rather than crispy dough.
The fries were good.
The salt was very chunky, so looked good in the dish, but did not coat the chips particularly well.
The black pepper grinder was quite exceptional.
The "salmon and cucumber" with a bread roll starter was very nice.
The view from the window was very pedestrian. Think the junction for Havant exit and the A27.
The restaurant was very European - spartan but sort of chic. It had the most enormous brass or copper shades, maybe 1m diameter, over each table. I did have to just check the fitting looked sturdy.
The chocolate was very expensive, but as a weak captive audience, it is all I can expect.
I hope that Brad is getting his feet under the desk of his new job.
Not spoken to Golfy or Bad Man for a while, maybe need to do that when I am back in Blighty.
The beer was good - Heineken Extra Cold, which is cold and wet and tasty enough for a mid-week drink.
The pizza was really poor. Biscuit base rather than crispy dough.
The fries were good.
The salt was very chunky, so looked good in the dish, but did not coat the chips particularly well.
The black pepper grinder was quite exceptional.
The "salmon and cucumber" with a bread roll starter was very nice.
The view from the window was very pedestrian. Think the junction for Havant exit and the A27.
The restaurant was very European - spartan but sort of chic. It had the most enormous brass or copper shades, maybe 1m diameter, over each table. I did have to just check the fitting looked sturdy.
The chocolate was very expensive, but as a weak captive audience, it is all I can expect.
I hope that Brad is getting his feet under the desk of his new job.
Not spoken to Golfy or Bad Man for a while, maybe need to do that when I am back in Blighty.
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