My kinda God....

Spot the odd one out

President of the Institution,
MD of the company,
HR director,
My business unit leader,
Another business unit leader,
Senior Technical Manager,
Future Leader, Inspirational Leadership candidate,
Technical Expert and my supervising engineer,
Me.


How did I get myself into this one? We’re all going for dinner at a posh hotel and discusing the state of the industry.

Important things not to say: "Not sure why I'm an engineer really" "well, I suppose it is an ok company" "well, you'd expect that from HR" "not that bothered about getting chartered really"

This is going to be interesting. :-s

Branded with the cross.. and a seatbelt

I went to Norwich over the weekend. It's a great city! We drove up on Saturday morning and it was beautifully sunny. It takes 3.5 hours to get there and I had the window open. So I arrived with one red arm, a red neck and chest… and a small white cross and a white line where the seatbelt sits. As I arrived at Annette's it wasn't too bad. By the time we went out Saturday night it was really very very funny. Thankfully by Sunday it had all calmed down as it wasn't actually burnt!

So what did we do on Sunday? Go to the beach. I'm still not burnt, but you can tell I've been out in the sun …

Norwich is great though. Well worth a visit. It has the most random street names I've ever seen. Upper Goat street, Lower Goat street, Golden Ball Street, Rampant Horse Street...! Seriously.

And they have the best waffle house in the entire world. Mmmmmmmmm. Could barely move afterwards but oooooooh it was good waffle.

Two people face each other across a crowded room. There is no other way to resolve this, they turn and walk away from each other - 50 paces each.

They turn

They fire

"So can you do Tuesday?"
"So can you do Thursday?"


Diaries at dawn.

Did I mention I was going to do a very long walk?

I did it! I took part in the Playtex Moonwalk on the 20th May which is a 26.2 mile walk. The walk takes place overnight and involves 14000 women and 1000 men all wearing decorated bras. I started walking at 2335 on Saturday night and finished at 0735 on Sunday. By which point it is fair to say that I hurt. Quite a lot.

However, as the photo to the left shows, at the beginning I was quite cheerful about it all.






The event was amazing, although it did take me the best part of a week to recover. My name was in the Daily Telegraph so that makes it all worth while :-s I've also raised about £800 which is a far better outcome. Thanks to all who supported me…

To prove I did it here are some photos. And no, I'm not doing it again. Nor am I running it next year.
The Team bra decorating night. Bras and Butterflies everywhere!

The team before we started, left to right, Mary, Barbara, Bethan, Janet, Judith, Helen. All in matching pink bras with lots of butterflies on them!

And we all got to the end, Left to Right, Bethan, Helen, Barbara, Janet, Mary, Judith. Note the amazing pink tent in the background - they called it Playtex city and it was the first time I've ever seen a baby pink circus tent!!

After this photo was taken we all went home where I slept for 16 hours out of 24.

More photos from the telegraph

Productivity.

Given that I am only productive in the morning OR the afternoon I believe that I should be allowed to leave the office at lunch time if I've achieved anything in the morning, as experience suggests that I won't get anythign done all afternoon.

The fact that I would quite like to listen to England drawing the cricket is nothing to do with it.

IQ tests

Got sent through a link to a IQ test. The numbers are meaningless to me, and to be honest, half the test involves spacial awareness and identifying patterns which I ought ot be able to do for work anyway, so it's a bit of a nonsense but this one comes up with a comment about you that is quite interesting.

Your unusual talent of being equally good at both mathematical and verbal skills, paired with the way you learn through experience, makes you an Inventive Inquisitor. You understand the world by "learning through living" and are able to teach others by taking them through actual experiences.

Most people search their brains for previously stored information that might help in a given situation, but you are open to an unusual amount of change and take things as they come and see things as they are.

What is interesting is that it actually sounds like me... although there is an implication that I don't search through my brain enough! :-)

(BTW I have an IQ of 127 according to this test)

I like people.

This weekend I went up to Birmingham. By train. Now, trains are great. However, the complete chaos of knowing when and how you're going to get to your destination does allow for a certain amount of unexpected excitement in a journey. And that's putting it nicely.
Got up to Brum and pottered along to the pub where I was meeting a mate for lunch. It was closed. Felt like a student all over again as I pottered around Selly Oak with a Rucksack and then sat outside the pub waiting for it to open. At this point a different mate turned in to the pub to turn the car round, enabling me to organise myself into another pub trip later in the day. Really felt like I was back at uni . Although, of course, I did more than socialise in the pub at uni (I also worked in the pub).

I organised my weekend around food, so Saturday was pub lunch with Andy, and Balti with Dave and loads of others in the evening and Sunday was roast dinner at Newman House. On each occasion it was great to socialise with people and actually chat about how things are with them. I suppose it's inevitable that it's easier to meet up with people in Brum when I have no other responsibilities or demands on my time than it is at home, but it is a little frustrating. Need to get my priorities straight.

Newman House was great too. Mass at Newman is one of those things that never fails to inspire. Maybe it's because I don't have to worry about organising anything there these days! Had an interesting sermon too, which I actually managed to remember (which is unusual for me - I just don't learn from being talked at. I take in pretty much nothing at all.). It was all about how after his conversion Paul was so enthusiastic that churches he visited desperately tries to get rid of him. It was an image that is very easy to identify with, and gave me some interesting things to ponder about being overenthusiastic and trying to do too much.

Lunch at Newman is always good for a laugh too, and the discussion over lunch pretty much sums up the gathering. We chatted about married priests, female priests, condoms, captain pugwash, apples, alcohol, cathsoc, how to cook potatoes, Bach (the profane works), abortion, how to find and use the Catholic Catechism (which was only got out once, along with the Canon Law) where the cables in the building go, and if anyone knew where the milk had gone. I really miss the kind of randomness that Newman house has always had. There aren't that many places where you can meet complete strangers along with old friends and have that kind of variety of conversation!

Michelle and Chike's Wedding

Wow. It's always great to see lots of old friends, and Michelle and Chike's wedding on Saturday was a case in point. I knew most of the guests!

Michelle looked beautiful and Chike looked handsome. A lovely couple. Halfway through the reception they disappeared and reappeared in Nigerian traditional costume and cut the cake making it a real blend of the two cultures that they combine.

I did a reading, and managed not to mess it up or trip over the altar steps, and made it through the 'till death do us part' line.

It doesn't seem real to see Shell married, but then we're all growing up now and she's definitely found her Mr Right.

And I'm still looking for that millionaire….

Grandad's funeral

Grandad's funeral was on Friday. It was a really nice service and a beautiful church. Mum used quotes from here in the eulogy which took me by surprise, but apparently the image of Grandad with a glass of wine and the New Scientist was one that most of the congregation could relate to.

But despite the funeral being a time to say goodbye to Grandad it seemed to me to be more about the rest of us. It was far more to do with recognising a landmark in our lives and understanding that things had changed for us in a way that could not be reversed. Life has changed, but then, it always does.

It served as a marker to say 'what am I doing and why am I doing it?'
To which the only answer can be 'ummm….?'

Grandad's obituary is here

Would I mind helping out at the Fire Station...?

Apparently they were surprised at how fast I answered that question! Like there was some sort of a choice to make; Fire Station = Firemen (in this case Blue Watch)

Unfortunately, it is further evidence of that minor problem I've developed over many years of not being able to say 'No' when asked to help with something.

Maybe I should take it to confession and then call the Saturday morning at the station 'penance'.

RIP John Dunster

Grandad faded out today.

Again, as with Grandad Wells it's hard to be that upset about it. He wasn't really himself anymore and definately not the man who I have memories of with a glass of wine in hand and a copy of the New Scientist. Or, for that matter, the younger man I remember crawling about on the floor pretending to be a lion...

He'll be missed, but I'm glad this horrible period of undignified fading is over. Praise God for that.

Exercise.

So how is it I can walk 21 miles last weekend and not hurt, and yet I play ‘it’ with 5 other people at Fusion last night and can barely move today? It can be nothing to do with the fact that 11 year olds are faster than me and the walls are rather hard when you run full tilt into them..

And yes, you unbelievers, I did walk 21 miles without serious after-effects last weekend. We walked all around Windsor Great Park, round Virginia Water twice, and to the Castle and back. I’d forgotten how pretty it is round there, and actually how close it really is to where I live!

I really should make the most of these things. Maybe this weekend – although going to Windsor on the weekend of HRH The Queen’s birthday might be a mistake.

Chances of me doing anything much this weekend seem to be diminishing due to laziness. If I’m not careful I’ll actually do some of the Continuing Professional Development, and that’s just not healthy… although perhaps a good idea to hit one of my work objectives this year….

Lifestyle advice from the pub

I found a notice in a pub.

"A popular and distinctive premium beer, brewed with finest malt and hops for a well-balanced character"

So that’s where I’ve been going wrong; To become well-balanced I must drink.

Cheers.

Everything is fine.

So I'm told. Seems like a fairly wide ranging statement so I thought I should pass it on to the rest of you.

Everything is fine. There is nothing to worry about.


(unless of course you get between me and the chocolate.)

No, just no..

There is an article on the BBC today about people being buried with their mobile phones. More worryingly, people now apparenlty sometimes want to be cremated with them.

The concept of being scared that you'll be buried alive is fair enough where burials must happen quickly, but cremating a phone is just bizarre.

Whether you're religious or not you surely can't believe that having a phone amoungst your ashes is going to help you in some way? And how do people get so attached to their phones that they even consider it?

There's more to life!

Get thee down the pub and talk to people face to face!

How rumours start

While talking about the Moonwalk

Stefan: So when’s the big one?
Me: 20th May

Andy: You’re getting married?

I am still alive!

Things seem to be easing off. The clock changing has meant that I’m actually awake, and the 18 mile walk on Saturday has left me with no lasting injures except for strained abs. I really wish I knew how I’d done that as I was expecting sore legs...

The Moonwalk

In May I'm going to be walking 26.2 miles.
Through London.
At night

It's for Breast Cancer causes and I'm looking for sponsorship..

so if you feel so inclined follow the link below...

My Fundraising Page

I know it's mad and a long way to go. My training hasn't been going so well recently due to it being rather cold a lot of the time at the moment. So any helpful incentives would be much appreciated! :-)

Quotes

One has to watch out for engineers - they begin with the sewing machine and end up with the atomic bomb.

- Marcel Pagnol
Critiques des Critiques

Or in my case, they begin with a simple problem and suddenly develop a horribly complicated solution that noone wants to build. Apparently exploding pipes are generally considered to be a bad thing. Some people have no sense of fun. Just because it's big enough to drive a landrover with a canoe on top through this pipe changes all the safety parameters (oh come on, we have to scale it all somehow!).