David in Uganda - NEW Blog

Our eldest son David is off to Uganda on 3rd September for a 6 week medical student elective.
See : http://davidinuganda.wordpress.com/ to find out how he's getting on.

Tiscali - just DON'T do it !!

In a vague attempt to save money on my phone and ADSL bills, I decided to an alternative provider to BT was the order of the day. I looked around and decided against Carphone Warehouse (too many negative comments) but went for a supplier that I also found negativity for, but some customers reporting good service.
Mistake - cos I chose Tiscali.

Day 1 - ADSL account dropped by BT - but phone was working OK… so I thought.
However, no account set up details from T, so tried a few options with no joy. Called T but was told welcome pack would arrive the following day. What good is that? - a welcome pack delivered the day ‘after’ the service is provided.

Pack did arrive, but when I tried it, there was no ADSL.
Tried calling support line (5p per minute) - and told it would be OK in 24 hours. No joy next day, so tried again. Decided to check phone line - and discovered the number had been changed, despite everything telling me I’d keep the same phone (PSTN) number. Called T again - advised that in 24 hours it would all be OK again. Do you see a pattern emerging here… if you wait 24 hours, the magic Tiscali Fairies somehow ‘should’ magic something up… apparently ! Get real… there are no Fairies in the world of telecoms, and so, as expected, nothing actually happened.

Got very cross, and demanded a call back to tell me what they were doing… no call !
However, after ONE WEEK, finally managed to get to speak to a 2nd line engineer who immediately diagnosed the problem, and told me the same thing I’d been telling them… that there was a crossed connection in the local exchange. T got a BT engineer to pop into the exchange and hey presto, only 8 days after the service went live, I got my ADSL line back.. and a phone with the same number that all of my friends and family actually know.

So - not a happy experience, but we’ll see how it pans out over the next few weeks. Any problems and my wife has demanded we go back to BT.
Watch this space…..

The new boy

First day at a new job - feels like the first day at school !
Had a nice day though.... lots to learn and it's going to be a steep learning curve but already been assigned a project and so am in at the deep end. I do need to go through some serious training - hopefully very soon.
Will be careful not to mention too much - so wont include any names here... sorry !

Change ISP - increase your Carbon Footprint

'How does that work?' I hear you say...

Well - I decided to change from a BT Phone and separate ADSL contract to one with Tiscali - an all inclusive package. In the past couple of weeks, I have received SIX letters from the two organisations (and a few phone calls), telling me that it's going to happen early next week, and I suspect more will follow once the conversion is completed.
Now - does it really need that many notifications - each one on several sheets of paper and an A5 envelope? One from each would have been fine by me.....

I'm sure someone will warn me that moving to 'T' is not a good idea - but on paper, it's going to cut my costs in half - most of the cost of the phone is rental as we don't make that many calls. I'm also getting unrestricted Internet traffic - better than BT's 10Gb which I was getting close to or exceeding in recent months, mainly due to the BBC iPlayer which will only get worse as more and more content is pushed that way.
I'll let you know how it pans out.

A new month, a new job

Further to my posting of yesterday, I just wanted to say thanks for all the messages of support and congratulations that I got from so many people, by email, Facebook updates, phone calls, and good old fashioned face-to-face communications.

The last 6 months has been an interesting time, with 3 months of it as ‘garden leave’ (still being paid not to work is quite nice – up to a point) and then a month of being ’signed-on’ at the Jobcentre, followed by a month of working for the Post Office, and another month almost to the day of being ‘unemployed’ again. The Post Office work, as many of you know was slightly frustrating, and following a time with my outplacement company contact yesterday when we looked at a what sort of skills I like in a job, I can see why I found the old-fashioned and out-dated procedures a tad testing.

Anyway, back to the present……… the new role is as a Project Manager with a nice small company based in Bournemouth who develop and supply Air Traffic Control and Fighter Control simulation systems. Should be very interesting, if not a steep learning curve for me, but involves some clever technology to get to know, and the company appear to employ some great people that I be working with. I start on Monday - it's all very quick.

Thanks again for your prayers – please continue to pray for those who are still facing unemployment, uncertainty and change in this difficult time.

Answered Prayers

Having been to the outplacement agency today and organised the next steps to securing that elusive next role...... I had a call at lunchtime to offer me the job for which I had an interview last week. So it's fantastic news and I just wanted to say a big THANK YOU for your prayers and concerns for me over the last few week and months - and of course to Him upstairs for answering them.

I'll post more info later - but suffice to say for now that it's working as a Project Manager for a nice little local company who make Air Traffic Control simulation systems . I start next Monday providing all goes to plan.

Map My Run

Having been on another run to the beach this morning, I thought I'd check out a webpage recommendation from a colleague and see how far it was.

Having tried other similar products, I found http://www.mapmyrun.co.uk/ to be far superior in that it allows you to 'auto-follow roads' rather than have to keep on clicking on a route. If you're like me and follow a number of roads on a run, then this makes it so much easier to use. Also, you can click off this when going 'off-road' and it changes the setting immediately. I also found it much quicker than a previous product I used and the account set-up process so you can store routes is very easy to use.

So it gets 5-Stars from me.

Twittering

Met a colleague yesterday who is researching the careers market and who suggested that I really should get my LinkedIn profile sorted... and also start Twittering.

So I came home after another meeting and sat down to half-watch BBC1's Hustle and promptly did both of the above. LinkedIn is useful in that recruiters and hiring managers are supposed to be looking out for good people, so I'm hoping that my updates and 'puffs' will make the difference to my job situation.

Twitter.com provides immediate updates on what is going on, so I set up an account and am 'following' a number of sites and people, including some job agencies. This in theory means that I will receive notice of postings of new jobs the moment they are released. This could mean that you (or at least 'I') can apply before other people do. Not sure if this will make any difference, but it's worth a try.

Of course, now all I need to do is to keep a watch on twitter all the time - but I have so far resisted the thought of getting SMS's to my phone - I really don't want to be a slave to that, having been a previous Blackberry addict in my former life!!

Agencies... don't you just love em?

Had a voicemail from a job agency yesterday (they called when I was driving so I didn't take the call - how good was that ? - yes, I know it's the law!!) about a job I applied for.
When I called them back this morning, the guy I spoke to did eventually manage to find my CV and then asked me loads of questions about what I was looking for etc, despite the fact that all applications I make have that information. He then told me he had loads of jobs that would be good, but then seemed to home in on one that wasn't what I was looking for at all, and then said he'd call me back with some more information.... so I suspect that that's the last I'll hear from him! However, unusually for an agency I do actually have his number as he left me that message - why is it that they always use 'number withheld' on their calls I wonder?

Oh well - off to do a few other 'tasks' now - including one for a friend who has had a new cable broadband install done.The Virgin installers (the 'company' not the disposition of the actual person you understand!) wouldn't take up the paving bricks, so I lifted them (all 10 of them) the other day and now they need re-laying. As it's nice and sunny, seems like a good idea to do it today.

Google Hacks

Picked up a book from the Library at the weekend - an O'Reilly Hacks Series book called 'Google Hacks'. Loads of stuff I really don't understand, and probably don't want to either, but there are a few neat tricks that look useful.
Once example was the way to get a Google Map on to a web page - using the http://mapmaker.donkeymagic.co.uk/ site. Just zoom to the place you want to be at - add a marker if you want to, then copy the Javascript and paste it into your site.
I did this to a map on a site I manage (www.come.to/st-pauls - see the 'Help' page).
I shall be looking through the book and pulling out a few other simple ideas ..... and if i find anything really good, then I may well post it here too.

Went to the vets again today with Lucy the rabbit - got some more medicine (Baytrill as normal) and some cream for her foot. She might have to have the claw removed, but the vet is concerned that as she's nearly 7 years old, having an full anesthetic may not be a good idea!

Those annoying airline safety briefings....

My wife and I have often wondered why it is that every time you get on a plane, you get a safety briefing telling you how to put on a life jacket and get into the brace position. Seeing as 90% of airlines don't even fly over the sea, this always seems like a bit of an unnecessary old-fashioned approach to making passengers feel secure.

However - following the incident yesterday when a US Airlines pilot managed to land his Airbus A320 on the Hudson River in New York, following a catastrophic failure of both engines due to a flock of geese, maybe I'll make sure I listen better next time..........
Well done Captain Chesley Sullenberger - landing on water isn't easy at the best of times.

Photo courtesy of AP - taken by a passenger on one of the ferries which went to rescue all 155 passengers and crew who were able to scramble out onto the wings. See http://twitpic.com/135xa# for the Twitter page of Janis Krums who took it !

See : http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7832439.stm for BBC news coverage.

Jobcentre

It's 'signing on' day today.... been to the JC again!
Still can't work out how they seem to manage to call the first to arrive 'last' and the last to arrive 'first' ! - must be a skill based on some strange governmental criteria I suppose. And they always call a Mr Keely - who has turned up late every time I've been there. And despite the fact that they tell you if you're late then they wont pay you, he still seems to get to see someone before me as they keep on calling out his name after every person they do see. Why don't they put anyone who is not there the first time they call to the bottom of the pile - or am I trying to put too much logic into the process?
Anyway - not got to go back for 2 weeks, so wont stress too much about it!

A Walk in the Purbecks - it beats working for a living....

One of the benefits of not having a job is the fact that when it's nice and sunny, you can do other things - such as walking.

So, seeing as it was a nice day, and my colleague Graham and I are both in the same situation with regard to jobs, we decided a nice walk in the Purbecks was in order.

Parked at Kingston, went down the ridge to Egmont Point, down a steep bit to Chapman's Pool, then back up another very steep bit to Emmetts Hill and out to St Aldhelm's Head (more steep down and up bits on the way). It was very muddy and slippery, but we were saved by the use of a walking pole (a great invention if ever there was one). Then round the head to Winspit Caves for lunch, and back via Worth Matravers and Renscombe to Kingston. Probably around 9 miles total, plus the uppy and downy bits - which according to Naismith's Rule will have added more distance, and lots more effort. The increase in body weight due to the mud also added to the effort required!

Back home again now - had a nice cup of tea and looked at more emails with the intention of applying for some more jobs...... Oh, and it's the Job Centre tomorrow!

Jobs, email and a Run to the Beach

Right... I really must get to grips with blogging in 2009 although I know I've missed a few days already....... so here goes :

It's now 13th January 2009, and I'm still on the search for a new job.

Spent a while checking my email, looking through a number of job searches that I have previously set up. Lots of duplicates (as ever!) and not much that is ideal. Did apply for one role, which is a contract but sounds like it could be a good place to work, and they offer security clearance which a number of other people seem to want.

Updated my CV on Monster.com - after THREE attempts. They claim to have made it easier to update, but that wasn't my experience.... managed it and hope it might start another flurry of phone calls like it did when I first set up the account before the end of last year.

Then decided to go for a run to the beach. Managed to avoid getting wet from the waves - not that Bournemouth beach gets much in the way of surf - but they were higher up the beach than the other day - must be something to do with the spring tides I guess. Anyway - it was a nice run and was very quiet on the beach itself - just a few dog walkers and some people checking out the stones !! Got home for a shower and some lunch.

Also thought that I should start to use the camera on my phone more often, so took a few photos on the beach. Forgot to include 'me' in the picture - so will try and so that so you know it's me....... Include one of them on this page but the others are on my Facebook pages.

Off to do some other chores and stuff - will try and post something after my walk in the Purbecks tomorrow.