Just like everyone else it seems, I'm penning some new year resolutions to attempt to improve myself. Now generally I'm not one for saving all these changes for the new year - if you truly want to make a change, then start doing so tomorrow, or better yet, later today. Ignoring that here are some resolutions for the coming year, not necessarily every one I will start acting on immediately, but will definitely aim to at some point.
Showing posts with label The future. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The future. Show all posts
Monday, January 02, 2012
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
My Next Car...
Is going to be a Mini Cooper - I'm 90% certain of this. This past weekend, my Uncle finally pulled the trigger and bought a new car. He traded in his 11 year old Focus - a car that is literally falling apart now and would certainly fail its MOT and just in time as well because in a couple of weeks he would have to renew the tax which is what he has been continuously doing for the last couple of months.
He went for a Renault Megane in the end although he had his eyes set on a Mazda 5 (?) for a long time. Whilst I was waiting for my Uncle Geoff to barter with the salesmen I asked someone there about how they put a value on the car you trade-in. I was most interested in whether the mileage of the car comes into play or whether it's just down to the age and model of the car. Turns out (for at least this dealership) that mileage does come into play which is great because my 10 year old Fiesta has not done 60,000 miles and that's even with me greatly increasing the mileage since I've had it.
I had pretty much mapped out to get at least 3 years out of my Fiesta and while I haven't even been driving for 2 years, I've already started looking ahead. I got chatting with my good friend Wilson about what future car I would want. I did reply that I wasn't sure, haven't given it much thought but I've always liked the new Minis. In fact, The most recent (and successful) lessons I took in a Mini One and then later a Mini Clubman (the Minivan one). Of course, if money were no object, then I would probably go for something a little more expensive, but a decent second hand Mini could well be in my price range, and it would totally be a car I would be happy to own. I have a tiny concern that Minis can be considered "chick cars" but if I go for the sporty model I can win back some Man points...
The guy at the Renault dealership did mention that the amount of time left before the car's next MOT will affect how much they offer. If the car needs to be MOT'ed then they're going to want the owner to MOT the car first, or knock that off the offer price. So bearing that in mind, October is the anniversary of my car's MOT so I should probably look for a new car around August time next year. The intention is to start putting some money away right now and then when it rolls round next year, I can put down a healthy deposit.
Of course, I have this year's insurance, MOT and tax disc to pay for in the month of October, so I'm starting to cut back on the spending now so I can afford all of that - the pay raise following this year's annual review will certainly help! (more about that in a future post). One they're out of the way, I'll start saving for the Mini - I would love to have one that has a checked or Union Jack on the roof but will happily have anything within reason. My crazy theory is the colour of my Fiesta seems to attract birds and even when I don't park directly under trees I still arrive at the car daily to find new birdcrap. To this end, I will be avoiding the colour red where possible, probably go for a blue, or maybe racing green.
The insurance may be higher for the Mini - ideally I'd like to get a Mini Cooper S which generally has a 1.6 litre engine versus the 1.25 I drive now. From my next car I really want the better acceleration and less of the body roll which the Fiesta is very guilty of - attacking roundabouts can be scary. Yeah, so the insurance may go up but then, I would have 3 years no claims under my belt (touch wood) and I will be past the age of 25 (I already am lol) so hopefully it won't be too bad. I'm hoping that the insurance for the Fiesta this year won't be too bad. It was Approx £950 the first year, £750 the second year - If I can get sub £600 then that would be great.
What I'm planning to do is sit down and do some proper budgeting, have a look at what I'm spending now and see what I can put aside - it's far enough out I feel that with some proper planning I should be able to afford the Mini of my dreams...
Here's looking forward to a new car...
He went for a Renault Megane in the end although he had his eyes set on a Mazda 5 (?) for a long time. Whilst I was waiting for my Uncle Geoff to barter with the salesmen I asked someone there about how they put a value on the car you trade-in. I was most interested in whether the mileage of the car comes into play or whether it's just down to the age and model of the car. Turns out (for at least this dealership) that mileage does come into play which is great because my 10 year old Fiesta has not done 60,000 miles and that's even with me greatly increasing the mileage since I've had it.
I had pretty much mapped out to get at least 3 years out of my Fiesta and while I haven't even been driving for 2 years, I've already started looking ahead. I got chatting with my good friend Wilson about what future car I would want. I did reply that I wasn't sure, haven't given it much thought but I've always liked the new Minis. In fact, The most recent (and successful) lessons I took in a Mini One and then later a Mini Clubman (the Minivan one). Of course, if money were no object, then I would probably go for something a little more expensive, but a decent second hand Mini could well be in my price range, and it would totally be a car I would be happy to own. I have a tiny concern that Minis can be considered "chick cars" but if I go for the sporty model I can win back some Man points...
The guy at the Renault dealership did mention that the amount of time left before the car's next MOT will affect how much they offer. If the car needs to be MOT'ed then they're going to want the owner to MOT the car first, or knock that off the offer price. So bearing that in mind, October is the anniversary of my car's MOT so I should probably look for a new car around August time next year. The intention is to start putting some money away right now and then when it rolls round next year, I can put down a healthy deposit.
Of course, I have this year's insurance, MOT and tax disc to pay for in the month of October, so I'm starting to cut back on the spending now so I can afford all of that - the pay raise following this year's annual review will certainly help! (more about that in a future post). One they're out of the way, I'll start saving for the Mini - I would love to have one that has a checked or Union Jack on the roof but will happily have anything within reason. My crazy theory is the colour of my Fiesta seems to attract birds and even when I don't park directly under trees I still arrive at the car daily to find new birdcrap. To this end, I will be avoiding the colour red where possible, probably go for a blue, or maybe racing green.
The insurance may be higher for the Mini - ideally I'd like to get a Mini Cooper S which generally has a 1.6 litre engine versus the 1.25 I drive now. From my next car I really want the better acceleration and less of the body roll which the Fiesta is very guilty of - attacking roundabouts can be scary. Yeah, so the insurance may go up but then, I would have 3 years no claims under my belt (touch wood) and I will be past the age of 25 (I already am lol) so hopefully it won't be too bad. I'm hoping that the insurance for the Fiesta this year won't be too bad. It was Approx £950 the first year, £750 the second year - If I can get sub £600 then that would be great.
What I'm planning to do is sit down and do some proper budgeting, have a look at what I'm spending now and see what I can put aside - it's far enough out I feel that with some proper planning I should be able to afford the Mini of my dreams...
Here's looking forward to a new car...
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Man's Best Friend
My Mum has recently been on the lookout to buy a dog. Our dear Jacob passed away early this year and now she is looking for new companionship - something I can completely understand.
Because my Mum works awkward, generally long hours it''s not very sensible for her to get a puppy - she simply isn't about to train it properly. So that means she is looking at older dogs and rescue homes seem to be the way to go. I've been going along with her, my birthday gift to her is to help with the purchase (I like to protect my investments hehe, which translates to telling my Mum not to get a "yappy" Yorkshire Terrier-type dog.
Because my Mum works awkward, generally long hours it''s not very sensible for her to get a puppy - she simply isn't about to train it properly. So that means she is looking at older dogs and rescue homes seem to be the way to go. I've been going along with her, my birthday gift to her is to help with the purchase (I like to protect my investments hehe, which translates to telling my Mum not to get a "yappy" Yorkshire Terrier-type dog.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
The next chapter...
I've been wanting to write this post for a long time. My days in support may be coming to an end. Since the turn of the year I've been concentrating on landing a development role and it looks like my current employer may help realise that.
Earlier this month, I did receive a job offer but decided to turn it down due to it just being too far. I am, of course, still looking for fresh pastures but following a chat with my boss on Monday, it looks like my fortunes may be changing for the better.
Earlier this month, I did receive a job offer but decided to turn it down due to it just being too far. I am, of course, still looking for fresh pastures but following a chat with my boss on Monday, it looks like my fortunes may be changing for the better.
Monday, January 04, 2010
Doing away with new year resolutions...
So 2010 is here and just like countless other blogs, it's time to throw out some thoughts on the year ahead and how this time I will be better/more improved than before.
Actually, I'm thinking of shaking it up, these collection of sunrises apparently hold more weight than the others, but honestly it's stupid to wait until this arbitrary date to make some changes, no matter how small.
What I'm thinking of doing instead is set month goals rather than crank out a list now which can seem so daunting that it's a guarantee that I would not succeed - or maybe that's the whole point and I've missed it and should give up and settle for my current self... nah.
Actually, I'm thinking of shaking it up, these collection of sunrises apparently hold more weight than the others, but honestly it's stupid to wait until this arbitrary date to make some changes, no matter how small.
What I'm thinking of doing instead is set month goals rather than crank out a list now which can seem so daunting that it's a guarantee that I would not succeed - or maybe that's the whole point and I've missed it and should give up and settle for my current self... nah.
Monday, September 21, 2009
0 Days Without Crisps
It's Monday and time to continue a trend of promised new and positive habits only for them to fall apart midweek. Often that involves maintaining a regular (and high) attendance at the gym - there is really no positive benefit to going only once or twice in the week, well that's what I've found anyway. Another positive habit that keeps getting restarted is a better diet which brings me to the title of this post - the countdown ( or up) has started -- today is 0 days without crisps.
Monday, May 18, 2009
I wanna be in America (Again!)
Long time no see Blog. Yes it's been a while, but at least 10 days of my absence can be accounted to my visit to America. It's been about a week since I got back, and well there's loads to blog about, but a combination of jetlag, work and general laziness means it's taken this long to post.
So you can expect my next few posts to cover the fun times that were had during my time in the US, although this post is tainted with sadness. The main reason (maybe joint with just visiting any part of the US in general) for my visit was my good friend Andy's wedding, and having received an invite last year, it's been something I've been very much looking forward to - in fact, I would go as far to say that it's was and has been the highlight of my 2009. The sadness comes that with the trip now over, I must return to my shitty existence with nothing obvious on the horizon to look forward to (There's the trip to France for Le Mans, but that's about it).
Trying not to feel down, it kinda feels like the start of a new year, or more accurately a restart. The break gave me an opportunity to refocus on my goals for the year. I set myself 3 main resolutions, and well progress hasn't been great. Those resolutions being: Learn to drive, Get a new job (ideally in the Shropshire area) and get a lot fitter with the help of the gym. Honestly, only the third one I've made any progress in, and to be honest I have been quite slack in the weeks leading up to my trip.
To that end, I leave you with a pic I snapped in my first visit to a Walmarts (proving that I still am really juvenile) and to watch this space for more US trip related posts.
So you can expect my next few posts to cover the fun times that were had during my time in the US, although this post is tainted with sadness. The main reason (maybe joint with just visiting any part of the US in general) for my visit was my good friend Andy's wedding, and having received an invite last year, it's been something I've been very much looking forward to - in fact, I would go as far to say that it's was and has been the highlight of my 2009. The sadness comes that with the trip now over, I must return to my shitty existence with nothing obvious on the horizon to look forward to (There's the trip to France for Le Mans, but that's about it).
Trying not to feel down, it kinda feels like the start of a new year, or more accurately a restart. The break gave me an opportunity to refocus on my goals for the year. I set myself 3 main resolutions, and well progress hasn't been great. Those resolutions being: Learn to drive, Get a new job (ideally in the Shropshire area) and get a lot fitter with the help of the gym. Honestly, only the third one I've made any progress in, and to be honest I have been quite slack in the weeks leading up to my trip.
To that end, I leave you with a pic I snapped in my first visit to a Walmarts (proving that I still am really juvenile) and to watch this space for more US trip related posts.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
What's your Green Karma?
I got the idea for this post whilst on the commute into work. For those not in the know, part of my commute consists of a bus journey. Getting closer to work, and I more often than not see a queue of cars in the other direction and as I go by pretty much every one has just one person in the car - maybe 1 in 20 there is a single passenger. Anyways, this got me thinking, that whilst I am tied down to public transport, I'm doing my bit to save the environment as opposed to these non-carpoolers.
Before I get shot down, I'm not claiming myself to be some kind of eco-warrior here - whilst I do subscribe to the public transport, I have a host of power-hungry, and no doubt world destroying, electronics at home, so there is some kind of balance. To answer the question I threw out there: What's my green karma? I'd probably argue that considering the above, I'm going to argue it comes out at about neutral. To help swing the pendulum in my favour I also buy fairtrade bananas from Sainsburys, so check me out...
That being said, as soon as I (finally) pass my driving test, I will ditch the joy of sharing a rickety and sometimes smelly bus full of noisy kids, chavs and drunken bums and become one of those lone occupants in the queues of cars I see. Does that make me a hypocrite? Probably. Am I ok with that? Oh yes.
Before I get shot down, I'm not claiming myself to be some kind of eco-warrior here - whilst I do subscribe to the public transport, I have a host of power-hungry, and no doubt world destroying, electronics at home, so there is some kind of balance. To answer the question I threw out there: What's my green karma? I'd probably argue that considering the above, I'm going to argue it comes out at about neutral. To help swing the pendulum in my favour I also buy fairtrade bananas from Sainsburys, so check me out...
That being said, as soon as I (finally) pass my driving test, I will ditch the joy of sharing a rickety and sometimes smelly bus full of noisy kids, chavs and drunken bums and become one of those lone occupants in the queues of cars I see. Does that make me a hypocrite? Probably. Am I ok with that? Oh yes.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
You can't change your family...
And myself, I wouldn't want to. My family are awesome, I love them very much. Just this weekend, I moaned/reported to my family the grief I've been having with some DIY issues in my house. Namely, a broken door handle that has been so for what feels like forever, and recently the handle of my toilet shearing and snapping off, leaving with having to operate the toilet within its very bowels (pun intended). I had a go to fix both myself, but as it goes, I lack the misfortune to purchase replacements which don't quite fit exactly, and the tools to put them right. My family jumped to the rescue and said they would come visit the following day - awesome!
An afternoon of DIY-oriented fun with my Grandad, and the rest of the family helping clear up my neglected garden was the outcome and am very happy with the results. It also has become tradition for them to bring some supplies, amongst which are a number of quiches cooked by my Nan (again awesome!). It's not said enough, but I very much appreciate the support and efforts of my family. As anyone who knows me quite well, they would describe me as being close with my family, and that has grown with the events of the last year; me living on my own for the very first time and the accompanying ineptitude to make new friends in a strange new county. I am on the phone much more often, and although I do tend to regress back to a child in their company, it's still really nice to be around them.
Although my family don't fully understand the tech/computing stuff I want to do for a living or looking into the past, my wish to take Computer Science as a degree, they are(were) in support of all that, and no doubt will continue to do so in the future, whatever decisions I decide to take.
Just a short and sweet post really to say how much my family rock. It's a little cliched (and kinda broken logically) but you don't miss it till it's gone. I think the lesson to take away is a reminder not to take things for granted, and remember to show credit where it's due.
An afternoon of DIY-oriented fun with my Grandad, and the rest of the family helping clear up my neglected garden was the outcome and am very happy with the results. It also has become tradition for them to bring some supplies, amongst which are a number of quiches cooked by my Nan (again awesome!). It's not said enough, but I very much appreciate the support and efforts of my family. As anyone who knows me quite well, they would describe me as being close with my family, and that has grown with the events of the last year; me living on my own for the very first time and the accompanying ineptitude to make new friends in a strange new county. I am on the phone much more often, and although I do tend to regress back to a child in their company, it's still really nice to be around them.
Although my family don't fully understand the tech/computing stuff I want to do for a living or looking into the past, my wish to take Computer Science as a degree, they are(were) in support of all that, and no doubt will continue to do so in the future, whatever decisions I decide to take.
Just a short and sweet post really to say how much my family rock. It's a little cliched (and kinda broken logically) but you don't miss it till it's gone. I think the lesson to take away is a reminder not to take things for granted, and remember to show credit where it's due.
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Ma First Daiye....
Hey, so here we are, long time no blog but it's time to share again.
A lot has happened in the last few weeks, especially considering how little I've been blogging in these last couple of months so it's a bit of a mystery what's actually happening right now.
I'm sure I'll be able to expand on the events of the past another time, but in a revision session, catch up type thing, it's best just to spell out the simple facts so that you can pass the exam (There is no exam). Basically, off the back of this JBC Course in Coventry I have managed to get a job hurray for me! Yeah, today was in fact my very first day, so it's pretty scary to finally be part of the rat race proper.I am working for Prestwood Software based in the Stourbridge area, who offer financial planning software, and my job is to provide support for this software product to its users. Also somewhere down the line, within a year or two, I will be able to move into the programming side of things, which is what I really want to be doing with myself so feeling pretty optimistic.
I have had my first day, indeed the first day of five week's worth of training, to get me upto speed with the software product, how the company operates and more generally the, frankly scary, world of financial services. Yep, I have my own desk and PC in the offices. The PC itself is running Vista so that will be good to get some hands on experience with that. My first day started off with a crash course in financial services, learning what endowments, annuities etc are. I was asked a few times how I was getting on, what I actually wanted to say was what a mindfuck all this information is - I was feeling really stretched and my concentration levels seemed all over the place.
The main reason for that is probably the living arrangement I am currently engaged in, and other arrangements I am chasing. Simply put, Stourbridge is too far to commute from Wem so I set on sorting out my own place. Unfortunately time spent chasing this other job in London (more on that later), I was only able to spend Tues to Fri of last week flat hunting. That being said, I've done rather well I thought and with the help of my good friend Wilson [picture missing] I've decided to go for this house in Kidderminster. Kidderminster being a short train ride from Stourbridge for those geographically-challenged people (like myself). I sent the application off for that on Sunday, and if all goes to plan I could be moving in this Saturday. I am very pumped about that, my very first place plus being in Kiddy I am quite close to Wilson so I won't be in a new strange land completely on my own, which is a bonus.
Yeah, so currently I am shacked up in a B and B in Stourbridge. It's not too great, put simply it's a room with a bed(double) in, an ensuite bathroom and a TV, the TV being a big surprise. The only proper benefit is the price, this place being cheap. Money is getting very tight, and the whole application process and the required deposit all adds up to a small fortune. Yeah, so slumming it a bit in this B and B till Saturday when it hopefully should get a load better. I should be contacted on Thursday with regards to my application but hopefully it should be fine and I'll be in my very own place before I know it.
Continuing my trend in offline blogging I will no doubt build up a backlog of blog posts while I seek to find ways to spend the time at the B and B, especially lacking the money to go out, have a pint or two, go watch a film etc... It's ok, as you may have guessed by now, I've brought my laptop and my trusty external HDD to provide with TV based fun to keep me sane.
Here's taking the first steps in becoming a working professional...
A lot has happened in the last few weeks, especially considering how little I've been blogging in these last couple of months so it's a bit of a mystery what's actually happening right now.
I'm sure I'll be able to expand on the events of the past another time, but in a revision session, catch up type thing, it's best just to spell out the simple facts so that you can pass the exam (There is no exam). Basically, off the back of this JBC Course in Coventry I have managed to get a job hurray for me! Yeah, today was in fact my very first day, so it's pretty scary to finally be part of the rat race proper.I am working for Prestwood Software based in the Stourbridge area, who offer financial planning software, and my job is to provide support for this software product to its users. Also somewhere down the line, within a year or two, I will be able to move into the programming side of things, which is what I really want to be doing with myself so feeling pretty optimistic.
I have had my first day, indeed the first day of five week's worth of training, to get me upto speed with the software product, how the company operates and more generally the, frankly scary, world of financial services. Yep, I have my own desk and PC in the offices. The PC itself is running Vista so that will be good to get some hands on experience with that. My first day started off with a crash course in financial services, learning what endowments, annuities etc are. I was asked a few times how I was getting on, what I actually wanted to say was what a mindfuck all this information is - I was feeling really stretched and my concentration levels seemed all over the place.
The main reason for that is probably the living arrangement I am currently engaged in, and other arrangements I am chasing. Simply put, Stourbridge is too far to commute from Wem so I set on sorting out my own place. Unfortunately time spent chasing this other job in London (more on that later), I was only able to spend Tues to Fri of last week flat hunting. That being said, I've done rather well I thought and with the help of my good friend Wilson [picture missing] I've decided to go for this house in Kidderminster. Kidderminster being a short train ride from Stourbridge for those geographically-challenged people (like myself). I sent the application off for that on Sunday, and if all goes to plan I could be moving in this Saturday. I am very pumped about that, my very first place plus being in Kiddy I am quite close to Wilson so I won't be in a new strange land completely on my own, which is a bonus.
Yeah, so currently I am shacked up in a B and B in Stourbridge. It's not too great, put simply it's a room with a bed(double) in, an ensuite bathroom and a TV, the TV being a big surprise. The only proper benefit is the price, this place being cheap. Money is getting very tight, and the whole application process and the required deposit all adds up to a small fortune. Yeah, so slumming it a bit in this B and B till Saturday when it hopefully should get a load better. I should be contacted on Thursday with regards to my application but hopefully it should be fine and I'll be in my very own place before I know it.
Continuing my trend in offline blogging I will no doubt build up a backlog of blog posts while I seek to find ways to spend the time at the B and B, especially lacking the money to go out, have a pint or two, go watch a film etc... It's ok, as you may have guessed by now, I've brought my laptop and my trusty external HDD to provide with TV based fun to keep me sane.
Here's taking the first steps in becoming a working professional...
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
On my way... (backdated 23/07/07)
Hey, lack of book and any other means of viable of entertainment has lead me to dish out the laptop and blog blog blog like some obsessed person, No but seriously, thought I'd share how quietly nervous I am, about the whole training scheme. As I said to Carl last night, I'm getting all stressed about the packing and living somewhere completely new, and there's also all this learning I'm expected to do yikes! (note to self: bring back the word yikes!)
As mentioned before, these people like to run a presentable ship, so I've been stressing about making sure I've got enough formal shirts, trousers etc, but I also have to be paying attention, learning etc, let's just say I would never have made the previous start to the course 4 weeks ago.
I am currently sitting on a train in Shrewsbury, waiting for it to leave for Birmingham New Street. Thanks to the recent onslaught of rain, plus what seems like regular "random" engineering works that occur on Sunday, it means that I will be taking a bus from Brum to Coventry. Now as you all know folks (also bring back folks...) the one thing I can't stand more than riding trains is riding buses. To make matters worse I am with suitcase, so the whole thing is gonna be one stressful ordeal. This truly is the calm of the storm, thanks to the infrequent trains that run on a Sunday, I've had to spend just over an hour doing nothing on the platform. Looking at trains and scaring pigeons away gets old really quick.
I'm not sure if it's an omen or not but I forgot to pack my "lunch". Yep, a snack and my precious final can of pepsi which was carefully put aside ready for this trip and I went and bloody well forgot it. I was getting a little worried that I may forget something pretty darn important. I only remembered to pack towels just before I was gonna go out for a quiet farewell drink. Yep, they stressed it in amongst the bold type of the rules of my stay that they would not be providing towels. I think that's where a lot of this nervousness(ness) comes from, the fact that the open day went by so fast, and a lot of details are still unknown to me.
One important detail is how many days of the week does the training consume. Ideally I would like it to be Mon - Fri, but Saturday is considered a working day so can't help but feel that perhaps there is no, or less, structure to that day. The smart dress, shirt + tie is mandatory on weekdays, but on Saturday, they'll let us get away with no tie - oh those rebels!
Another area of concern, probably the least largest, is the accommodation they're gonna set me(us) in. Yep, I will be living in shared accommodation with some other people on the course. It's not hugely important that I get on with these guys (they will be guys...) but the whole experience would probably be more enjoyable if I did. Here's hoping that a lot of other facilities are provided for us, i.e. cutlery and cooking equipment as I decided to risk not packing any, plus no more stuff would fit in :s. As they state, fresh linens are provided every day, which is quite smart, not unlike halls at Uni, and I assume this will be done when we're all out learning hard LOL. Although this is great, I hope this service extends to keeping the communal area tidy and of course the providing of toilet paper. One of the few downsides of the Red Faction house was how messy the shared areas got and it was always fun waking up and discovering there was no toilet paper just when you needed it, which spurred an impromptu visit to "the shop" to get some. Those were the days...
Anyways, to be more positive, this training course will give me the skills, both those specific to jobs and improved interview skills, which should guarantee myself a job at the end of it. The course itself lasts just 7 weeks, so by the time I truly get used to the new digs and the routine of the day, it will be soon over. So yeah, the ultimate goal to come out of this is a nice new shiny job that pays well enough for me to move out, comfortably live on, and start getting on with my life, like learning how to drive etc, so we'll see.
Friday, July 20, 2007
A New Chapter...
Hey peeps, it's been quite neglectful of me not to mention what is in fact a new chapter in my life about to begin. That being that as of next week, I would have started on a training scheme which should (here's hoping, although the family is that tiny bit more) lead to a nice shiny job in computing.
The training scheme is being put on by JBC Computers which as it happens are based in Coventry - it really is a small world, and if I'm a little honest was a tiny added motivation in going for the scheme. The scheme itself is training myself to have the skills to fill a desktop/network support technician role. So that goes right from the hardware of PCs, networks, servers etc, right through to the software aspects like configuration and security issues.
Now, I am cautiously optimistic about the scheme, the main worry is my financial situation which is looking in pretty dire form right now. Moving on from that I am really looking forward to it, and the new skills and experiences the whole thing will bring. I am a little apprehensive that it is not software development training, as that area was what I did (still do) want to go into. But saying that, how much actual programming have I done in the last year since graduating? The answer is very little, and pretty much all of that has been web programming i.e. HTML, CSS, PHP etc
After going to the open day in which they practically offered me a place, I didn't feel I had to earn it, or convince them - which is a good thing. The place I have been offered is a sponsored place, and thus all of the fees for the course are void - which is also a good thing, as it would cost upwards and beyond of £5000 depending on which modules are done :S. That being said they do offer discounted accommodation which I have taken them up on, as well a commute from Wem every day is just silly, and probably not even possible, especially in the morning. Yeah, so living in their accommodation, which is very much like the place I stayed in back in Uni - the good ol' Red Faction house. We got shown one house that the company owns, and that was literally across the road from their main premises, so making it in on time shouldn't be too tricky.
Also including in the scheme, which is very enticing for myself, is the grooming of ones self in preparation for interviews and then job beyond. Cleaning up my CV, and those crucial interview skills are something I feel that I could benefit a lot from, so I'm hoping that aspect works out especially. The whole course is over in about 7 weeks, with the option for the company to keep tabs on you as you/I progress in my new found job and continuing the learning process with more exams and the qualifications that go along with it. Although it's probs unlikely, but if I went for every exam they offer, I think I would gain something like at least 7 qualifications in various subjects like A+ networks, Windows Server 2003 etc.
To repeat my newly set facebook status, if you do see me in Coventry, then do not hesitate to tell me how tubular my tie is. That being because, they are pretty strict when it comes to dress code, so I'm gonna have to look pretty smartish a lot of the time, but that's no real problem, it may sound a bit weird but I actually am more uncomfortable in jeans now than I am in my work trousers, mmm.
Here's waiting for his transport to the real world. hope the movie is a good un...
Thursday, May 24, 2007
..Being vague and noncommital [Dated 08/05/07]
Hey, I was meaning to post Friday evening, but well it seems very easy to pre-write off the evening before I even attempt to do something productive. Anyways, moving on from my questionable motivation (oh dear!), and Friday was a bit of a weird day.
I don't know what it was about the day, but I was in an incredibly good mood, probs one of the best ones I've been in for quite some time. I don't think it was just one thing, but a number of things - first off the shower, yes the infamous shower has finally been fixed. For those not in the know, I kinda bust the old one sometime last year, so the task was taken up by my Uncle and Grandad. The new shower was a present for my mother at Christmas, and work started after local plumber favourite Mark installed the new shower, only for my Uncle and Grandad to remove it when they gutted the wall - crazy I know. Anyways, about 3-4 days of the week, my Uncle and Grandad would come along and spend about 3 hours working on retiling, buying new shower bases, new shower doors etc, and during that process, discovering new and exciting problems to extend the length of the job through a combination of the "uniqueness" of my bathroom and poor planning on their part.
I moaned about it a lot, and pretty much gave up the hope of having a shower at home ever again, but enough complaining about that saga, as of Friday I was given the all clear by mission control, and off I ventured into territories unkown. The shower feels smaller than it used to be, despite a solid brick wall removed, and replaced by a glass panel. The doors open on the corners which is fine, but I feel sorry if you're a large person, cos well I'm slightly on the large side, and there's not a lot of room. If you're wider in either direction, whether that be across the hips or have a beer belly, then you may have fun getting in and out. There was also a problem with the shower itself as the nozzle didn't actually point down, combined with the new pressure, meant that some parts never got water to put it mildly. But, using my skills, I "attacked" the shower, and taught it a new dimension, so now it does indeed point downwards. That's me 1, shower 0. Anyways, enough of the new shower review, I will end by giving it 3.5 Jonny stars.
That could have been it, but I didn't feel amazing till I got to work. That day, I also started on these multivitamin tablets. Yes, I am/did get a little concerned about my questionable diet at times, so I decided to opt for some of those, to keep me topped up on what the body needs etc. It actually says on the label that it shouldn't be used instead of a well-balanced diet. That's fair enough, it's not a get-out-of-jail-free card in terms of health, but if you did have a well-balanced diet you probs wouldn't need to take vitamin supplements - you would probably get what you needed from your pr0 diet I'm thinking.
I was round Carl's the night before, printing some stuff off and everyone's favourite Sam called, as she does. Anyways, Carl mentioned that I was in attendance, so suprise suprise I recieved a text off her, within the hour, in fact, within 5mins actually *shakes head*. Anyways, without going into absolute detail, she said that she was single and looking for someone, to which I replied that I was the same but had my eyes on some ppl (for new readers, that is hot librarian chick). She assumed that it was someone from work (on a side note, apparently most people meet their future spouses at work, I read somewhere, or it was on the Wright Stuff most likely, back to the story... ), so i decided not to correct her, and have a bit of fun being vague and noncommital - a taste of her own medicine if you will. I asked her to play a game and guess who it is. She went for this and said Becky, and then Vicky when I said no. I thought initially maybe she thought Becky is the most attractive one at work, but slight more thought made me to think that Becky and Vicky are the extent of the female staff that she knows the names of. Anyways, she eventually sent the message saying words to the effect of "I bet you'd like to have your eyes on me". To this, I decided the game had to stop, and I told her straight - not any of the potentially hurtful stuff about her going on and on asking if I like her etc, but the slightly complicated stuff with Carl. Read: Carl and her being exes, and every now and again Carl, wanted to get his end away, arranges to meet Sam to do the nasty, and she has no other, or better offers so she complies cos she's sex-crazy. Or at least that's what I've made out, Carl hasn't said as much, but pretty much confirmed it through phone calls and talking to others etc.
So I told her that I was not interested in starting anything with her while she was still having visits from Carl. I'm in the right, if it's happening before I got involved, there's nowt to stop it happening if and when I do. Evidence to that is Carl continuing to see her every now and again, despite me declaring my interest in maybe seeing her. Although it would be a cheap lay, I cba to put up with that carl business, and her general insecurity would drive me away for sure. I remember reading this drunken rant Marsh did on myspace, one particular part was something along the lines of "If we give you a compliment, don't turn it down, accept it cos we've made an effort to tell you how great you are, and if you keep denying it then we will eventually stop complimenting" - I need to dig that up and with his permission, I'll publish here, cos it is actually fantastic, and I told him so. A lot of the stuff in there I agree with whole-heartedly. Anyways back to the main story, and if after seeing Sam for a bit, and I did say how great I thought she was etc and she kept saying, oh I'm ugly, then I would probably go crazy.
Anyways, this turning down which I'll expand later as I have to go to work soon, came after the comedown of this great mood. I think it all happened when I was chatting to Steve about jobs and the future. Reality hurts I'm afraid, and both of us deciding that going to Uni seems a pointless exercise as we can't get hired by people who can't even form a grammatically-correct sentence, or do their own jobs properly - it's sickening. He also told me that I should move abroad, to Canada we eventually decided the best place being. He also told me not to put too much emphasis on material wealth, him walking out of the stockroom, leaving me to digest these cold, sobering facts - I crashed.
Going back to the Sam adventure, after sending this honest text, she sent back a text simply saying "bye" and then following that up with "me and carl are m8ts jonny and iam single im trying 2 find mr perfectr any way tb"
and then:
"Did carl say anythin about me 2 u plz tell tb iam getting very upset tb"
Do you see what I mean about truth hurting? Anyways, I did my best to clear the waters and replied, saying that Carl didn't say anything bad, just hinted at those two still being very friendly, which is nothing to get upset at, and I actually said, don't worry there's no need to get upset. Anyways, I got this message, now I kinda understand it, but I guess seeing someone who's grasp on the language and who uses text speak probably goes against every core value in me. WTF is "m8ts"?!?!? just type mates, it takes as long, for christ sake.
Anyways, emails pls to what this message actually means pls:
"Me and him r m8ts and have a laugh but i don't think i find any 1 im not pretty or fit tb am i be honnest"
And that's it copied exactly from my phone - lol. I feel a little bad, but I can't help her, and I'd definitely don't want to be dragged into daily calling and inelligable(sp) text messages. The silent treatment sent her away last time, and I can only hope it will this time, and before we forget I'm not the bad guy here.
Take it easy, work calls :s
I don't know what it was about the day, but I was in an incredibly good mood, probs one of the best ones I've been in for quite some time. I don't think it was just one thing, but a number of things - first off the shower, yes the infamous shower has finally been fixed. For those not in the know, I kinda bust the old one sometime last year, so the task was taken up by my Uncle and Grandad. The new shower was a present for my mother at Christmas, and work started after local plumber favourite Mark installed the new shower, only for my Uncle and Grandad to remove it when they gutted the wall - crazy I know. Anyways, about 3-4 days of the week, my Uncle and Grandad would come along and spend about 3 hours working on retiling, buying new shower bases, new shower doors etc, and during that process, discovering new and exciting problems to extend the length of the job through a combination of the "uniqueness" of my bathroom and poor planning on their part.
I moaned about it a lot, and pretty much gave up the hope of having a shower at home ever again, but enough complaining about that saga, as of Friday I was given the all clear by mission control, and off I ventured into territories unkown. The shower feels smaller than it used to be, despite a solid brick wall removed, and replaced by a glass panel. The doors open on the corners which is fine, but I feel sorry if you're a large person, cos well I'm slightly on the large side, and there's not a lot of room. If you're wider in either direction, whether that be across the hips or have a beer belly, then you may have fun getting in and out. There was also a problem with the shower itself as the nozzle didn't actually point down, combined with the new pressure, meant that some parts never got water to put it mildly. But, using my skills, I "attacked" the shower, and taught it a new dimension, so now it does indeed point downwards. That's me 1, shower 0. Anyways, enough of the new shower review, I will end by giving it 3.5 Jonny stars.
That could have been it, but I didn't feel amazing till I got to work. That day, I also started on these multivitamin tablets. Yes, I am/did get a little concerned about my questionable diet at times, so I decided to opt for some of those, to keep me topped up on what the body needs etc. It actually says on the label that it shouldn't be used instead of a well-balanced diet. That's fair enough, it's not a get-out-of-jail-free card in terms of health, but if you did have a well-balanced diet you probs wouldn't need to take vitamin supplements - you would probably get what you needed from your pr0 diet I'm thinking.
I was round Carl's the night before, printing some stuff off and everyone's favourite Sam called, as she does. Anyways, Carl mentioned that I was in attendance, so suprise suprise I recieved a text off her, within the hour, in fact, within 5mins actually *shakes head*. Anyways, without going into absolute detail, she said that she was single and looking for someone, to which I replied that I was the same but had my eyes on some ppl (for new readers, that is hot librarian chick). She assumed that it was someone from work (on a side note, apparently most people meet their future spouses at work, I read somewhere, or it was on the Wright Stuff most likely, back to the story... ), so i decided not to correct her, and have a bit of fun being vague and noncommital - a taste of her own medicine if you will. I asked her to play a game and guess who it is. She went for this and said Becky, and then Vicky when I said no. I thought initially maybe she thought Becky is the most attractive one at work, but slight more thought made me to think that Becky and Vicky are the extent of the female staff that she knows the names of. Anyways, she eventually sent the message saying words to the effect of "I bet you'd like to have your eyes on me". To this, I decided the game had to stop, and I told her straight - not any of the potentially hurtful stuff about her going on and on asking if I like her etc, but the slightly complicated stuff with Carl. Read: Carl and her being exes, and every now and again Carl, wanted to get his end away, arranges to meet Sam to do the nasty, and she has no other, or better offers so she complies cos she's sex-crazy. Or at least that's what I've made out, Carl hasn't said as much, but pretty much confirmed it through phone calls and talking to others etc.
So I told her that I was not interested in starting anything with her while she was still having visits from Carl. I'm in the right, if it's happening before I got involved, there's nowt to stop it happening if and when I do. Evidence to that is Carl continuing to see her every now and again, despite me declaring my interest in maybe seeing her. Although it would be a cheap lay, I cba to put up with that carl business, and her general insecurity would drive me away for sure. I remember reading this drunken rant Marsh did on myspace, one particular part was something along the lines of "If we give you a compliment, don't turn it down, accept it cos we've made an effort to tell you how great you are, and if you keep denying it then we will eventually stop complimenting" - I need to dig that up and with his permission, I'll publish here, cos it is actually fantastic, and I told him so. A lot of the stuff in there I agree with whole-heartedly. Anyways back to the main story, and if after seeing Sam for a bit, and I did say how great I thought she was etc and she kept saying, oh I'm ugly, then I would probably go crazy.
Anyways, this turning down which I'll expand later as I have to go to work soon, came after the comedown of this great mood. I think it all happened when I was chatting to Steve about jobs and the future. Reality hurts I'm afraid, and both of us deciding that going to Uni seems a pointless exercise as we can't get hired by people who can't even form a grammatically-correct sentence, or do their own jobs properly - it's sickening. He also told me that I should move abroad, to Canada we eventually decided the best place being. He also told me not to put too much emphasis on material wealth, him walking out of the stockroom, leaving me to digest these cold, sobering facts - I crashed.
Going back to the Sam adventure, after sending this honest text, she sent back a text simply saying "bye" and then following that up with "me and carl are m8ts jonny and iam single im trying 2 find mr perfectr any way tb"
and then:
"Did carl say anythin about me 2 u plz tell tb iam getting very upset tb"
Do you see what I mean about truth hurting? Anyways, I did my best to clear the waters and replied, saying that Carl didn't say anything bad, just hinted at those two still being very friendly, which is nothing to get upset at, and I actually said, don't worry there's no need to get upset. Anyways, I got this message, now I kinda understand it, but I guess seeing someone who's grasp on the language and who uses text speak probably goes against every core value in me. WTF is "m8ts"?!?!? just type mates, it takes as long, for christ sake.
Anyways, emails pls to what this message actually means pls:
"Me and him r m8ts and have a laugh but i don't think i find any 1 im not pretty or fit tb am i be honnest"
And that's it copied exactly from my phone - lol. I feel a little bad, but I can't help her, and I'd definitely don't want to be dragged into daily calling and inelligable(sp) text messages. The silent treatment sent her away last time, and I can only hope it will this time, and before we forget I'm not the bad guy here.
Take it easy, work calls :s
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