Bumpf

The Wheels Keep Turnin'

So having departed my last contract position without a tear in my eye, I've managed to land another contract position.  As usual with contracting, it's reasonably lucrative but more importantly than that, it's a better location.  It's still some distance from home but so far this week I've mangaged to cycle twice.  Cycling doesn't really save me any time but it does save me money and will, hopefully address the 10 or 12 kilos that I've acquired in the last two years.

As for the other wheels on the cart, our builder has our heart broken and despite our best efforts not to go down the litigation route, it seems the only option left open to us.  I'm really hoping that we don't have many more revolutions to go before we're back on a straighter path to change.

Career?  That wheel? Wha, ha, ha.  Its bearings need some greasing but as long as our recalcitrant builder is taking up our time I'm not sure how much attention that will get.  The current contract will keep me tipping along for now.

My poor wee mini is still sitting neglected by the side of the house but it's getting harder to ignore now so I feel like it will be the next big expense I take on.  To get her back on the road will be expensive but having her there will bring a relatively cheap smile to my face every time I turn the key.

I'm blogging from a cafe - not sure about writing from work yet-  and with one eye on the pricey timer, I'm going to sign off now. 

That Helped Settle the Nerves

I just contact the agency who  submitted my CV for this job I'm interviewing for today.  It turns out, that while I was honest and disclosed the fact that I'd interviewed for this role before, they haven't bothered to advise the client of that fact.  Had I not called them this morning, it's quite likely that I'd have walked right into it at the interview.  Nice.

To add insult to injury, the agent then proceeded to ask me if I'm wearing a suit. Someone needs a good slap around the head.

Nervousness...oooh, that's new

I've got an interview today and I've actually got butterflies.   I'm normally quite okay with interviews - I seem to have gotten to a point where I know that I'm more confident when I'm relaxed and so I'm more relaxed knowing I'm going to be confident.  When I get nervous - usually because I really, really, really want the job - I tend to try too hard.  I don't think I go so far as to be fawning but I'm that kid that's trying to hard to be liked - you know the type, too eager, too happy, too talkative.  He's the one that if he'd only dial all of those attributes back a couple of notches he'd actually be good company.  Well, that's me when I'm nervous.

Why today?  Well I interviewed for this job last year and got it.  The problem was, while waiting to find out I'd gotten it, my existing employer offered me a renewal.  I took the renewal - bird in the hand and all that- and a couple of days later I was offered this other job.  I politely declined because having told my employer that I'd stay, I felt it was wrong to go back on my word... even though the new job offered significantly more money.

Today I'm being interviewed by the same guys, for the same job.... for less money.  I don't want the opportunity to pass again

All Change

Seems life's river has hit a sluice gate again.  Swirls and swooshes of turbulent waters abound.  Some are already smoothing out and some are spinning still.  Still waters have no appeal for me, I love the burble and gurgle of flowing water but just now I'd like some steadier streams.

Woohoo ...... boo hisss

I entered a pact in January with a couple of friends to lose weight - 7lbs by Easter in fact.  Now, me and She went to Weight Watchers a few years ago and realised one of the big motivational tricks was the weekly weigh-in.  With this in mind our strategy was to be simple - restraint and exercise and virtual weigh-in on Monday nights. 

The other trick was to set an attainable but, nonetheless, meaningful goal.  That's why we settled on 7 lbs.  We were giving ourselves in the region of 10 weeks to lose 7lbs.  That means that even with a "bad" week or two it would be easily attainable and there's no doubt that being able to say "I've lost half a stone" is a meaningful achievement.

Anyway, tonight I lost another 2-ish pounds.  Woohoo.
On the downside, it appears I've also lost part of the latch on my beloved PowerBook..... boo  hisss.  I've had this  lovely laptop  for 2 years and it has given me  hours of pleasure and no  heartache.  Now it's  broken.

Sniff, sniff

Relax Dear Bank Manager

I'm back on the the payroll.  I started my new job this week.  I'm back DBAing, back commuting (1 hour 2o minutes each way, I weep), back learning and most importantly of all, back earning.

These first two or  three days have been relatively easy.  Nobody's had a great deal of time to talk to me or show me anything.  That suits me just fine.  Me head is bunged up, me eyes watering and my throat is croaking as I write this (I often read aloud as I type).  I've been grateful for the lack of serious training in these early days as I'm not sure that I could drag both my brain and overburdened sinuses up that learning curve right now.

Oh yeah, sure while I'm on the moaning front.  The new job has a "smart-casual" dress code.  There was minimal, due to lack of money, and frantic, due to lack of time, shopping done last week.  I picked up one new pair of trousers and pair of shoes to make up a very tight wardrobe selection for the week.  I'm so glad I bought the new shoes. I have two decent pairs of black shoes, one of which I wore Monday.  The large, bloody  and painful cuts on the back of my heels now remind me why I don't wear those black shoes.  The  slightly less painful and bloody grazings now healing on my big toes remind me why I use the other black ones only for interviews.

We might talk about the job at a later date when I feel less like whinging.  I am glad to have a job .... in case you got the wrong idea.

Dances with Hooves

I went to the pub last weekend with my Dad. It's nothing fancy, just a suburban watering hole on the edge of an unremarkable town.  Normally frequented mostly by men and women in their middle age, last weekend someone's 18th or 21st birthday celebration swelled the establishment to half capacity.

There was drinkin' and cheerin' and the discs of a teenage DJ.  Like so many guys before him with a  bunch of CDs and the get up and go to get a sound-desk, the DJ was there to please the crowd and make a few bob.  I don't know whether he made much money but he appeared to please to crowd.

We got a little hip-hop, a little rap, a little pop, a little disco and for the older crowd, that like to swing themselves around a bit, we got a dance-able "Galway Girl" from Mundy.  I say "danceable" because as I watched couples lock limbs and centrifuge themselves around the bar,  a question struck me:

  "Is it only us Irish that make dancing look like hand-to-hand combat?"

(no claim by the author to kinesthetic grace may be inferred from this post)

Pancakes From First Principles

Yesterday was Shrove or Pancake Tuesday and, partially because I wanted to and partially to shock She I decided to take responsibility for the pancakes.  Everyone on the radio over the last few days has been rattling on about how easy it is to make pancakes so I reckoned I'd avoid the the pre-prepared mix and make pancakes from first principles.

I found the first pancake recipe on the 'net that looked like it would deliver the right product.  Delia Smith provided the manual courtesy of the Beeb website.  Armed with instructions, I assembled the various parts - for those of you that don't know - those parts are eggs, plain flour, salt, water, milk and butter. 

Assembling the mix wasn't too difficult at all. I was hindered a little by not being able to sieve the flour particularly finely leading to small clumps in the bottom - nothing show-stopping but I'm sort of particular, too many hours in the chemistry labs in Uni, I think.  The real trick was getting the mix evenly on to the pan.  I made the mix in the afternoon and tried cooking two or three then to get the knack.

When She arrived home she was really quite surprised. I don't really like to cook at the best of times so for me to make a mix and cook pancakes was very out of character.   So how were they?  The practice session in the morning appeared to work.  Each pancake was reasonably thin and they tasted okay and most importantly  She was impressed.  Even though they weren't as thin as I would have liked, apparently they were very respectable  indeed.

I might just try this cooking lark again.... just don't hold your breath.

Well would you loook who it is.

Yep tis me.  Ye'd swear I'd been busy given the dearth of output here and at Clear Of Cloud.  I haven't been; well certainly not in the gainful employment sense.  I'm still job-hunting which is getting a bit wearying and somewhat financially draining.  Anyone need a SQL Server DBA?

So what have I been doing?  Well I got my pilot's licence in the middle of October, which was slightly anti-climactic because I had no money left to bring anyone flying!!  Still it does give me a warm fuzzy feeling when I think about the fact that I finally achieved something I've talked so much about.

After that I've been filling my days with housework, job hunting and spending time at the airport making contacts and a few Euro doing IT support.  Actually from an aviation perspective the employment hiatus has been quite useful.  I've made quiet a few new pals out in Weston and further afield just because I had the time to spend out there.

Lately, me, She and Sarah made a pact to attack the waistlines. The first goal is half a stone by the middle of March. To that end I've started to look after myself more including taking the bike out for a spin a few times last week.  I've cut down on the food and been doing an easy 10km on the bike when I'm out.  All of this was good. Until today.  Today, I decided to work on my stiff back but I worked on it a little too hard I'm afraid!  One hand went for the Nurofen then other for the physio's phone number.  There'll be no cycling today. Darn

Well back to the job hunting.

So what's new?

It's been busy. I finished up my last contract a little over a week ago. It was a little strange - I'd been there for nearly 2 years which is quite some time for a contract role but it was fun. They were a great bunch of people to work with and I'm a little sad to be moving on.

The weekend of my last week there, me and She headed to Rome for a well needed break. There was loads of walking, plenty of sightseeing, way too much eating and some really good sleeping. I don't think we've ever been so depressed to be coming back from holidays.

There's been movement on the next contract so I'll be back commuting fairly soon. There's flying to be paid for and, if I don't get a positive reponse from the insurance assessors, there will also be mini's repairs to pay for to :-(