It may surprise people to learn that I really like this time of year. I like the cold, I love the snow (which we’ve actually been getting this year) and I really love the dark mornings when I’m out and about early before most people are even up. It’s a strange but in a really good way feeling to walk through the city when it’s practically deserted.
That said however, I’m not a fan of Christmas. It looms there like a dark cloud to blight what could be a great time of year. For any newcomers to the blog, go and check last Decembers entry for a good old fashioned Christmas rant where I vent a narrow slice of spleen over the glib fetid stench that is the modern Christmas. I don’t cover most of the reasons it’s bad, but I make a start. In this blog however I’m not going to moan about the stolen pagan festival though. It will probably come in a week or two because I know you all love to hear an ill thought out rant on the keyboard. Today I thought I’d pay homage to the little silver lining that comes with being a Christmas grump.
May the force be with you and protect you if you should dare speak out against Christmas. Point out to the most ardent environmentalist that they are using enough electricity on ridiculous lights and ten trees worth of wrapping paper or talk to a dedicated economist about the irony of people getting into debt buying presents they can’t afford in the middle of a credit crunch or mention to anyone that you think 3 tonnes of tinsel is just a bit too much and bordering on tacky and you will invariably be met with one of a limited number of responses. My favourite of these being the wonderful Bah! Humbug!
Bah! Humbug! It’s a great thing to hear. There are a couple of reasons I love it. First is the simple sound of it. How often in the general course of a year do you actually hear someone say Bah! out loud. Never. From January to November you’d be lucky to get this super syllable once, then suddenly it’s everywhere, and Humbug is a great word to say. It feels good coming out of the mouth. Try it yourself now. Hummmm, B’ug, Fantastic! almost as good as carbuncle or dumpling. Secondly and most importantly is the little internal smile I get at the thought of humbugs. I don’t have a sweet tooth. I was the freaky kid at school who preferred fruit to chocolate. But there’s something about humbugs that are just gorgeous. They’re so nice, and again, they feel great in your mouth.
Of course the Christmas bores aren’t referring to the delicious sweets. They’re quoting... anyone? Anyone? Bueller?
Well done, it’s the catch phrase of the awesome Scrooge from Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. But where did he get it from? What does the word mean?
Well from the on-line dictionary we have this,
humbug
Pronunciation: \ˈhəm-ˌbəg\
Function: noun
Etymology: origin unknown
Date: 1751
1 a: something designed to deceive and mislead b: a wilfully false, deceptive, or insincere person
2: an attitude or spirit of pretence and deception
3: nonsense, drivel
4: British : a hard usually mint flavoured candy
and from the first three definitions we can see what Scrooge was getting at. Already in the 1840s, Dickens, through Scrooge, was sick of the crass commercialisation of the Christmas festival and how it had become false and deceptive and drivel and needed an outside force (four of them in fact in the story) to bring back the true meaning. Ironic really that it is now said as an attempt to put down any comments against the nonsense and pretence that has overtaken the modern Christmas. I wonder if it makes Dickens spin in his grave as much as Orwell does every time Big Brother is on the TV. Ahhh to the miss-represented classic. The fourth definition is the best though.
Still, I don’t want to be labelled a grump so I wish anyone reading, happy Saturnalia.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Thing a week 07 - Workers comp’
There’s actually been a lot going on since last week but I’m really not ready to put any of it down in type yet. Good bad or indifferent.
I could make little inconsequential comments on things, I got the skates out again this weekend did a bit of a play. I went out with an old friend, my first proper night out in Liverpool, that was nice. Went out with the housies for one of their leaving do’s, he moves out on Saturday. I did the whole public speaking thing last night, scary stuff. etc. etc.
Doesn’t make for much of a read tho’ does it. I really can’t find the words to flesh things out just yet. Like I said, a lot’s been happening.
Otherwise I couldn’t think what to write. Then I was hit by inspiration by my good friend Jane Doh. I leave it to you to decide whether I’ve allowed her to become my muse or simply stolen her idea. Jane enjoys writing and has put a few paragraphs up on her t’intermaweb blog type thing from her latest work. I liked it. I can’t wait to hear more.
I enjoy writing. When I’ve got the time, which is rare of late, and the inclination I really enjoy stroking my creativity and letting the juices flow. For the past few years especially it’s mainly been scripts. They rarely get finished. Even rarer that they get read by someone other than me. Even rarer that they’re any good. None of that matters because they serve no other purpose than giving me pleasure while I write them.
So after that preamble and a thanks to Jane for the inspiration of which this blog entry is born, I commit to the net the first act of something I started writing almost two years ago and actually do still work on every now and then. I’ve still got no idea how it’s going to end. It’s changed completely at least three times. If anyone reading this is overly religious easily offended by inoffensive things, please remember, this all happens in a tiny universe in the corner of my imagination and not the universe that you live in. I’m not picking on you. Please don’t start picking on me. That said I’m always pleased to have a rational debate over anything. Oh and sorry about the jpeg thing but it was going to be a pain to get the formatting done.
I could make little inconsequential comments on things, I got the skates out again this weekend did a bit of a play. I went out with an old friend, my first proper night out in Liverpool, that was nice. Went out with the housies for one of their leaving do’s, he moves out on Saturday. I did the whole public speaking thing last night, scary stuff. etc. etc.
Doesn’t make for much of a read tho’ does it. I really can’t find the words to flesh things out just yet. Like I said, a lot’s been happening.
Otherwise I couldn’t think what to write. Then I was hit by inspiration by my good friend Jane Doh. I leave it to you to decide whether I’ve allowed her to become my muse or simply stolen her idea. Jane enjoys writing and has put a few paragraphs up on her t’intermaweb blog type thing from her latest work. I liked it. I can’t wait to hear more.
I enjoy writing. When I’ve got the time, which is rare of late, and the inclination I really enjoy stroking my creativity and letting the juices flow. For the past few years especially it’s mainly been scripts. They rarely get finished. Even rarer that they get read by someone other than me. Even rarer that they’re any good. None of that matters because they serve no other purpose than giving me pleasure while I write them.
So after that preamble and a thanks to Jane for the inspiration of which this blog entry is born, I commit to the net the first act of something I started writing almost two years ago and actually do still work on every now and then. I’ve still got no idea how it’s going to end. It’s changed completely at least three times. If anyone reading this is overly religious easily offended by inoffensive things, please remember, this all happens in a tiny universe in the corner of my imagination and not the universe that you live in. I’m not picking on you. Please don’t start picking on me. That said I’m always pleased to have a rational debate over anything. Oh and sorry about the jpeg thing but it was going to be a pain to get the formatting done.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Thing a week 06 - the search for week 5
Hello again. Welcome back to my little corner of the blogosphere. Come in, make yourself comfy.
The regular readers out there (and I like to tell myself there are some) may have noticed that my thing a week project to post a blog every week at around the same time hit a small snag last week, namely there was no blog. Thing a week 5 was mysteriously, erm, missing. Well there’s nothing mysterious about it really. I just didn’t post one. That’s right, 5 weeks in and the project’s already falling down, ho-hum.
However it hasn’t fallen down, at least not in spirit. The point of the project was to form a habit of writing a regular blog. While the old nattars would have missed the blog, not written anything for months on end then come back with an excuse and an apology and a promise it wouldn’t happen again until next time. The new nattar blog isn’t going to give you an apology, not even an excuse, this time I have something better, I have a reason.
Last week my faithful little macbook, after years of loyal service and beautiful friendship, eventually gave up the ghost and died. On Tuesday my fine silver friend passed over. Or at least so it seemed, after a little cajoling I eventually brought the old girl back to life, at least in part. The keyboard and superdrive are dead and gone but the heart of the machine is alive and kicking and ready to play. So I had no way to post the blog last week. I was mortified. I even thought to myself, damn, I’ll miss the blog. So The habit is forming and the project survives.
The repair bill for the Mac was going to be in the order of £400, so that’s not going to happen especially just before the evil christmas, but she’s fighting on. She has the electronic equivalent of a pair of crutches, namely an external keyboard and dvd player. Good old usb. She’s more of a desk top than lap top nowadays anyway so it’s not that big a deal really.
So that’s week 6. A reason for week 5. Now my tea smells like it’s ready, posh fish and chips. Potato wedges and salmon steak. It smells lovely so I’m off. Hopefully I’ll do a retrospective blog latter in the week to make up for the missing one but I’m not going to promise anything. In the mean time, please offer get well soon wishes to my poorly puter.
The regular readers out there (and I like to tell myself there are some) may have noticed that my thing a week project to post a blog every week at around the same time hit a small snag last week, namely there was no blog. Thing a week 5 was mysteriously, erm, missing. Well there’s nothing mysterious about it really. I just didn’t post one. That’s right, 5 weeks in and the project’s already falling down, ho-hum.
However it hasn’t fallen down, at least not in spirit. The point of the project was to form a habit of writing a regular blog. While the old nattars would have missed the blog, not written anything for months on end then come back with an excuse and an apology and a promise it wouldn’t happen again until next time. The new nattar blog isn’t going to give you an apology, not even an excuse, this time I have something better, I have a reason.
Last week my faithful little macbook, after years of loyal service and beautiful friendship, eventually gave up the ghost and died. On Tuesday my fine silver friend passed over. Or at least so it seemed, after a little cajoling I eventually brought the old girl back to life, at least in part. The keyboard and superdrive are dead and gone but the heart of the machine is alive and kicking and ready to play. So I had no way to post the blog last week. I was mortified. I even thought to myself, damn, I’ll miss the blog. So The habit is forming and the project survives.
The repair bill for the Mac was going to be in the order of £400, so that’s not going to happen especially just before the evil christmas, but she’s fighting on. She has the electronic equivalent of a pair of crutches, namely an external keyboard and dvd player. Good old usb. She’s more of a desk top than lap top nowadays anyway so it’s not that big a deal really.
So that’s week 6. A reason for week 5. Now my tea smells like it’s ready, posh fish and chips. Potato wedges and salmon steak. It smells lovely so I’m off. Hopefully I’ll do a retrospective blog latter in the week to make up for the missing one but I’m not going to promise anything. In the mean time, please offer get well soon wishes to my poorly puter.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Thing a week 04 - What politics?
Well, it’s happened. A mere four weeks into my thing a week project and I can’t think of anything to write about. If only there was some great historical event in the news today. How I wish that every media source ever invented by humanity would scream at me a single message in a billion voices. Why oh why can’t some monumental change come into the world?
I jest of course, as you may have guessed from the title this blog will be about politics, however I will try and mention the American election result as little as possible. I’ll just say thank you to any Americans reading this for electing Barack Obama as your president. From the rest of the world in general. Thank you. Of the rich privileged lawyers who were running for president he was by far the better choice.
What I will do for this forth blog is ask you for a favour. I know it might be too soon in this little project to be asking for things, too early in this relationship to be making demands, so I’ll demand nothing. I simply place this before you and humbly ask that you consider taking action.
In 2006 at the United Nations 153 governments voted to develop an arms trade treaty to implement international control of the hideous and evil international arms trade. That is a massive amount of congruity for the United Nations. 153 countries agreeing on something is outstanding. There’s only 192 member states in the club, all out for themselves, so for that many of them to agree on something is nearly miraculous.
So, 2 years later, you might be confused as to why nothing’s happened. I am. If you’d like some background info, here’s an extract from an Amnesty UK article.
Every year, millions of people suffer as a result of the irresponsible global arms trade. In 2006, 153 governments voted overwhelmingly at the United Nations to develop an Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) to control this deadly trade. Two years on, we are still watching and waiting for governments to honour this promise to deliver a treaty.
The ATT is due to be debated again at this year’s United Nations General Assembly in October 2008. At this meeting, we need governments to commit to start formal negotiations for the ATT and for them to ensure that it is delivered within the shortest possible time frame necessary to help bring an end the current arms crisis. 1000 people a day die as a result of armed violence caused by small arms alone (rifles, machine guns and pistols), and millions more suffer from the consequences of armed violence.
Throughout 2008, a group of experts from 28 countries has been meeting to discuss the content of the treaty. Now is the time to turn words into action and deliver an Arms Trade Treaty strong enough to save lives and stop irresponsible arms sales.
A small minority of governments is opposed to international controls on the arms trade and are determined to block, derail and delay any further progress on the treaty. As a key supporter of the ATT, the UK government must take further action to ensure they do not succeed.
Despite the suffering and poverty fuelled by irresponsible arms transfers, there is still no comprehensive, binding international treaty on the trade in conventional arms. By contrast, there are international treaties governing the trade in, for example, Dinosaur bones and postage stamps.
Since 2003, the Control Arms Campaign has been calling for a strong and effective Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) based upon all government’s obligations under international law. If properly implemented, such an ATT would reduce the human cost associated with the proliferation and misuse of conventional weapons, by ensuring that all importers and exporters or arms are abiding by the same high standards regarding the use, management and transfer of military equipment.
The UK government announced its support for an ATT in September 2004, following a prolonged period of intensive campaigning by Amnesty International, Oxfam and others. Since then, the UK has been a crucial champion of the ATT, working with a core group of like-minded governments to help drive the process forward.
Well the arms trade treaty is on the cards to be debated again at this years UN general assembly in October. I’d ask you to do one small thing for me. I’m not asking that you join Campaign Against the Arms Trade, though it would be nice if you did. I’m not asking you to move your pension into an ethical investment policy, but you could take a look at what your fund is invested in as a large percentage do invest in arms companies because they are seen as “safe”. All I’m asking is that you write a letter or an email asking the people in charge to do something they promised they would because, well, they promised they would. If you can’t think what to write, here’s the sample letter from Amnesty.
Dear ......,
I am writing to urge you to take swift and decisive action to deliver an effective international Arms Trade Treaty (ATT). The continuing loss of life and tremendous human suffering caused by extremely poor regulation of the international arms trade makes it vital for the UK government to redouble its efforts and mobilise international support to ensure that an effective treaty is negotiated as quickly as possible.
Two years ago, 153 governments voted overwhelmingly at the United Nations to start work on developing an ATT. I am delighted that the UK’s support for this initiative has been central in moving it forward. However, two years on from this vote we have yet to see governments commit themselves to negotiating the treaty. It is imperative that the ATT is not allowed to slip from the international agenda. Considerable efforts are now required by supportive governments over the coming months and years if the goal of an effective ATT is to be realised.
I also wish to thank you for your work in securing the new landmark international treaty to ban cluster bombs, agreed in Dublin in May 2008. That this robust treaty was agreed after just an 18-month discussion period shows what can be done when governments unite with a common purpose. We must now see the same political will brought to bear on the ATT process.
The UK’s strong role in supporting an international Arms Trade Treaty demonstrates a deep commitment to preventing irresponsible arms transfers that risk contributing to serious abuses of human rights and international humanitarian law, and to armed conflict and poverty. A small minority of governments remains opposed to tough international arms controls, and will continue a concerted effort to block and delay progress towards an ATT. I urge you to do all you can to prevent any attempts to undermine these humanitarian aspirations.
Sincerely,
If you’re in the UK the best person to send it to would be David Miliband at the Foreign Office. His address is
David Miliband - Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
King Charles Street
London SW1A 2AH
or you can email him at msu.correspondence@fco.gov.uk
It would also be good if you could contact your local MP and ask them to put some pressure on. If you don’t know who that is you can find out at They Work For You. It’s a great site for pestering our elected representatives in actually representing us.
If you don’t live in the UK I’m sure you can find your own politicians to mither, maybe you have a new president you want to test out.
Anyway, think about it. Please and thank you.
I jest of course, as you may have guessed from the title this blog will be about politics, however I will try and mention the American election result as little as possible. I’ll just say thank you to any Americans reading this for electing Barack Obama as your president. From the rest of the world in general. Thank you. Of the rich privileged lawyers who were running for president he was by far the better choice.
What I will do for this forth blog is ask you for a favour. I know it might be too soon in this little project to be asking for things, too early in this relationship to be making demands, so I’ll demand nothing. I simply place this before you and humbly ask that you consider taking action.
In 2006 at the United Nations 153 governments voted to develop an arms trade treaty to implement international control of the hideous and evil international arms trade. That is a massive amount of congruity for the United Nations. 153 countries agreeing on something is outstanding. There’s only 192 member states in the club, all out for themselves, so for that many of them to agree on something is nearly miraculous.
So, 2 years later, you might be confused as to why nothing’s happened. I am. If you’d like some background info, here’s an extract from an Amnesty UK article.
Every year, millions of people suffer as a result of the irresponsible global arms trade. In 2006, 153 governments voted overwhelmingly at the United Nations to develop an Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) to control this deadly trade. Two years on, we are still watching and waiting for governments to honour this promise to deliver a treaty.
The ATT is due to be debated again at this year’s United Nations General Assembly in October 2008. At this meeting, we need governments to commit to start formal negotiations for the ATT and for them to ensure that it is delivered within the shortest possible time frame necessary to help bring an end the current arms crisis. 1000 people a day die as a result of armed violence caused by small arms alone (rifles, machine guns and pistols), and millions more suffer from the consequences of armed violence.
Throughout 2008, a group of experts from 28 countries has been meeting to discuss the content of the treaty. Now is the time to turn words into action and deliver an Arms Trade Treaty strong enough to save lives and stop irresponsible arms sales.
A small minority of governments is opposed to international controls on the arms trade and are determined to block, derail and delay any further progress on the treaty. As a key supporter of the ATT, the UK government must take further action to ensure they do not succeed.
Despite the suffering and poverty fuelled by irresponsible arms transfers, there is still no comprehensive, binding international treaty on the trade in conventional arms. By contrast, there are international treaties governing the trade in, for example, Dinosaur bones and postage stamps.
Since 2003, the Control Arms Campaign has been calling for a strong and effective Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) based upon all government’s obligations under international law. If properly implemented, such an ATT would reduce the human cost associated with the proliferation and misuse of conventional weapons, by ensuring that all importers and exporters or arms are abiding by the same high standards regarding the use, management and transfer of military equipment.
The UK government announced its support for an ATT in September 2004, following a prolonged period of intensive campaigning by Amnesty International, Oxfam and others. Since then, the UK has been a crucial champion of the ATT, working with a core group of like-minded governments to help drive the process forward.
Well the arms trade treaty is on the cards to be debated again at this years UN general assembly in October. I’d ask you to do one small thing for me. I’m not asking that you join Campaign Against the Arms Trade, though it would be nice if you did. I’m not asking you to move your pension into an ethical investment policy, but you could take a look at what your fund is invested in as a large percentage do invest in arms companies because they are seen as “safe”. All I’m asking is that you write a letter or an email asking the people in charge to do something they promised they would because, well, they promised they would. If you can’t think what to write, here’s the sample letter from Amnesty.
Dear ......,
I am writing to urge you to take swift and decisive action to deliver an effective international Arms Trade Treaty (ATT). The continuing loss of life and tremendous human suffering caused by extremely poor regulation of the international arms trade makes it vital for the UK government to redouble its efforts and mobilise international support to ensure that an effective treaty is negotiated as quickly as possible.
Two years ago, 153 governments voted overwhelmingly at the United Nations to start work on developing an ATT. I am delighted that the UK’s support for this initiative has been central in moving it forward. However, two years on from this vote we have yet to see governments commit themselves to negotiating the treaty. It is imperative that the ATT is not allowed to slip from the international agenda. Considerable efforts are now required by supportive governments over the coming months and years if the goal of an effective ATT is to be realised.
I also wish to thank you for your work in securing the new landmark international treaty to ban cluster bombs, agreed in Dublin in May 2008. That this robust treaty was agreed after just an 18-month discussion period shows what can be done when governments unite with a common purpose. We must now see the same political will brought to bear on the ATT process.
The UK’s strong role in supporting an international Arms Trade Treaty demonstrates a deep commitment to preventing irresponsible arms transfers that risk contributing to serious abuses of human rights and international humanitarian law, and to armed conflict and poverty. A small minority of governments remains opposed to tough international arms controls, and will continue a concerted effort to block and delay progress towards an ATT. I urge you to do all you can to prevent any attempts to undermine these humanitarian aspirations.
Sincerely,
If you’re in the UK the best person to send it to would be David Miliband at the Foreign Office. His address is
David Miliband - Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
King Charles Street
London SW1A 2AH
or you can email him at msu.correspondence@fco.gov.uk
It would also be good if you could contact your local MP and ask them to put some pressure on. If you don’t know who that is you can find out at They Work For You. It’s a great site for pestering our elected representatives in actually representing us.
If you don’t live in the UK I’m sure you can find your own politicians to mither, maybe you have a new president you want to test out.
Anyway, think about it. Please and thank you.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Thing a week 03 - I’ve been developed
For those of you that don’t work in a caring sharing modern company environment it may be necessary, before I start, to explain a few things about the modern company family I’m a part of. They aren’t a bad company to work for, truth be told. They’re worse than some, better than most, the pay sucks. As far as modern touchy feely company policy goes they are really good. Not up there with the likes of Google and been bags in the office but a long way ahead of a cola bottling plant intimidating its workers with violence. For a middle sized engineering company in the UK they are ahead of the pack as far as employee friendly policies go. Pay still sucks though but I suppose every thing’s a trade off. Better conditions = Worse pay.
In a modern workplace such as this there are certain hoops you have to jump through every now and then. One of these is the PDI or personal development interview. If you don’t speak “human resources” this is where you go in to a quiet office with your line manager who you talk to everyday anyway and bullshit each other about what you’ve done the last year and what you will do next year. I go in saying I want this or that training and here’s how it would be good for the company and I want more responsibility blah, blah and they’d reply blah etc. At least that’s how I thought it went. Yesterday I had a PDI of an entirely different flavour. This time things happened.
While I’ve been with the company I’ve been unlucky with managers. They’ve moved on or what not and with one shining exception they haven’t given a damn about me or my career. I don’t think I’ve had two PDIs with the same person and generally resulted in nothing much happening apart from me wasting a morning. My latest manager is one of the good guys I think. He’s smart, knows the job inside out and I think I’ll learn a lot from him, that said he’s still fairly new to the company and doesn’t know the staff management procedures so one of the big bosses came down from our head office to do my PDI yesterday with my new manager sitting in to learn the ropes and it was a whole different animal. I went in there with my now habitual cynical attitude to the whole process, said where I wanted to go in my career and he did something completely unexpected. He listened, worse, he paid attention. He even gave reasoned and reasonable responses. He even put things into action there and then. I’d say I needed this training and he said, “I agree that’s a great idea. That would help us on these jobs, I’ll book you on it. That confused me a bit, then I asked for more responsibility and he said, “Yes That would help the team if you could take some of the management tasks off the seniors, how about you take over this, this and this on these jobs”. I was on the ropes by now. Then he hit me with the knock out punch. Honesty. All this was good and would help the company and would I also consider doing some more extra training and going for professional charter-ship because it meant the company could charge more for me and get more money, It would mean more work but as a result I’d likely get a bigger pay rise. I was floored.
So today as well as my usual tasks I dipped my first little toe into staff management with some of my new responsibilities and it felt great. I’m not completely sold on the PDI idea, but at least now I know that they can work. And yes, I do feel on my way to being a bit more developed.
In a modern workplace such as this there are certain hoops you have to jump through every now and then. One of these is the PDI or personal development interview. If you don’t speak “human resources” this is where you go in to a quiet office with your line manager who you talk to everyday anyway and bullshit each other about what you’ve done the last year and what you will do next year. I go in saying I want this or that training and here’s how it would be good for the company and I want more responsibility blah, blah and they’d reply blah etc. At least that’s how I thought it went. Yesterday I had a PDI of an entirely different flavour. This time things happened.
While I’ve been with the company I’ve been unlucky with managers. They’ve moved on or what not and with one shining exception they haven’t given a damn about me or my career. I don’t think I’ve had two PDIs with the same person and generally resulted in nothing much happening apart from me wasting a morning. My latest manager is one of the good guys I think. He’s smart, knows the job inside out and I think I’ll learn a lot from him, that said he’s still fairly new to the company and doesn’t know the staff management procedures so one of the big bosses came down from our head office to do my PDI yesterday with my new manager sitting in to learn the ropes and it was a whole different animal. I went in there with my now habitual cynical attitude to the whole process, said where I wanted to go in my career and he did something completely unexpected. He listened, worse, he paid attention. He even gave reasoned and reasonable responses. He even put things into action there and then. I’d say I needed this training and he said, “I agree that’s a great idea. That would help us on these jobs, I’ll book you on it. That confused me a bit, then I asked for more responsibility and he said, “Yes That would help the team if you could take some of the management tasks off the seniors, how about you take over this, this and this on these jobs”. I was on the ropes by now. Then he hit me with the knock out punch. Honesty. All this was good and would help the company and would I also consider doing some more extra training and going for professional charter-ship because it meant the company could charge more for me and get more money, It would mean more work but as a result I’d likely get a bigger pay rise. I was floored.
So today as well as my usual tasks I dipped my first little toe into staff management with some of my new responsibilities and it felt great. I’m not completely sold on the PDI idea, but at least now I know that they can work. And yes, I do feel on my way to being a bit more developed.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Thing a week 02 - Once more unto the bard dear friends once more...
Or how education is controlled by idiots and wasted on the young.
The main thrust of this blog is something we Brits tend to be very proud of and most of us completely ignore, namely the works of William Shakespeare but there's also an undertone commentary on the regular complaint of the politician and tabloid on a slow news day about children not reading anymore.
I'm a big fan of the works of Shakespeare (though not the man himself, do some research and you quickly realise he was a bit of a git), it doesn't matter how, reading the books or watching the plays performed I'm hooked, but I wasn't always.
Like most high school pupils in the UK I had Shakespeare rammed down my throat at about the age of 13 or 14 and I hated it. The national curriculum force fed us two of his plays, in my case Romeo and Juliet and Henry V, and I hated them. Now they're two of my favourites. I was simply too young to get them. They didn't appeal and I couldn't relate. It put me off the bard for far too long.
In fact the whole reading list was fairly dire and for the most part obviously not aimed at the young teen audience. Which brings me to the second point. Books forced on children at school are so often the choice of middle aged committees based on "classics" they think children should be reading rather than good books that they will enjoy reading and will encourage them to read more so that they will carry on reading throughout their lives and find the classics on there own. Thankfully because of the wonders of comics and a great library I was an avid reader despite my education so I still read lots now. Most of my old school friends don't.
So how did I fall in love with Shakespeare. No surprise there. It started with a girl. A little over ten years ago on my first stay with a University. I was studying chemistry at York and got together with a young thesp. In an effort to impress, I borrowed her books and read with all diligence. The relationship was short lived and when it ended I was heartbroken. Now I would have to buy my own copy of the complete works of Shakespeare. No mean feat for a poor student. Then, six years after being put off Shakespeare for life by a misguided education system I had rediscovered and become smitten with Shakespeare while studying chemistry. Education is truly wasted on the young and it would be great if we could just let people learn things instead of teaching them until a person knows what they want to be. Sadly impractical though.
And how better to end this blog than with a couple of the great turns of phrase from the master wordsmith, firstly the first Shakespeare I learned by heart to impress the young lady (and it worked and hasn't failed to raise a coquettish smile whenever I've tried it since)
Take all my loves, my love, yea, take them all.
What hast thou then more than thou hadst before?
No love, my love, that thou mayst true love call,
All mine was thine, before thou hadst this more.
and lastly how the git with a great turn of phrase wanted to be remembered,
If thou survive my well-contented day,
When that churl Death my bones with dust will cover,
And shalt by fortune once more re-survey
These poor rude lines of thy deceased lover,
Compare them with the bett'ring of the time,
And though they be outstripp'd by every pen,
Reserve them for my love, not for their rhyme,
Exceeded by the height of happier men.
O then vouchsafe me but this loving thought:
"Had my friends Muse grown with his growing age,
A dearer birth than this his love had brought
to march in ranks of better equipage;
But since he died and poets better prove,
Theirs for their style I'll read, his for his love."
The main thrust of this blog is something we Brits tend to be very proud of and most of us completely ignore, namely the works of William Shakespeare but there's also an undertone commentary on the regular complaint of the politician and tabloid on a slow news day about children not reading anymore.
I'm a big fan of the works of Shakespeare (though not the man himself, do some research and you quickly realise he was a bit of a git), it doesn't matter how, reading the books or watching the plays performed I'm hooked, but I wasn't always.
Like most high school pupils in the UK I had Shakespeare rammed down my throat at about the age of 13 or 14 and I hated it. The national curriculum force fed us two of his plays, in my case Romeo and Juliet and Henry V, and I hated them. Now they're two of my favourites. I was simply too young to get them. They didn't appeal and I couldn't relate. It put me off the bard for far too long.
In fact the whole reading list was fairly dire and for the most part obviously not aimed at the young teen audience. Which brings me to the second point. Books forced on children at school are so often the choice of middle aged committees based on "classics" they think children should be reading rather than good books that they will enjoy reading and will encourage them to read more so that they will carry on reading throughout their lives and find the classics on there own. Thankfully because of the wonders of comics and a great library I was an avid reader despite my education so I still read lots now. Most of my old school friends don't.
So how did I fall in love with Shakespeare. No surprise there. It started with a girl. A little over ten years ago on my first stay with a University. I was studying chemistry at York and got together with a young thesp. In an effort to impress, I borrowed her books and read with all diligence. The relationship was short lived and when it ended I was heartbroken. Now I would have to buy my own copy of the complete works of Shakespeare. No mean feat for a poor student. Then, six years after being put off Shakespeare for life by a misguided education system I had rediscovered and become smitten with Shakespeare while studying chemistry. Education is truly wasted on the young and it would be great if we could just let people learn things instead of teaching them until a person knows what they want to be. Sadly impractical though.
And how better to end this blog than with a couple of the great turns of phrase from the master wordsmith, firstly the first Shakespeare I learned by heart to impress the young lady (and it worked and hasn't failed to raise a coquettish smile whenever I've tried it since)
Take all my loves, my love, yea, take them all.
What hast thou then more than thou hadst before?
No love, my love, that thou mayst true love call,
All mine was thine, before thou hadst this more.
and lastly how the git with a great turn of phrase wanted to be remembered,
If thou survive my well-contented day,
When that churl Death my bones with dust will cover,
And shalt by fortune once more re-survey
These poor rude lines of thy deceased lover,
Compare them with the bett'ring of the time,
And though they be outstripp'd by every pen,
Reserve them for my love, not for their rhyme,
Exceeded by the height of happier men.
O then vouchsafe me but this loving thought:
"Had my friends Muse grown with his growing age,
A dearer birth than this his love had brought
to march in ranks of better equipage;
But since he died and poets better prove,
Theirs for their style I'll read, his for his love."
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Thing a week - A Tribute 01
Has anyone heard of Jonathan Coulton. He's a musician, very talented, writes a lot of great comedy songs. You should check him out.
Anyway the point is he can attribute his fame almost entirely to the internet and no small part of that was a podcast he did some time ago called thing a week. It's still on itunes for free download. Plug plug. Thing a week was a simple concept whereby Jonathan would give away free a song every week for a year. People like me heard it, liked him, went to his website and bought his stuff. Not a recording giant in sight, not even the toes poking out from under the bed.
Anyway again, the point, I'm often trying to blog more regularly. But, and then, yet...
So this is the project, inspired by Jonathan Coultons' thing a week, I aim to post a blog at about the same time every Wednesday for a year. This means we can be a team. It gives me a week to find something at least mildly entertaining to put on screen (and compose some waffle to pad round it and make it less interesting) and it means that if anyone out there who does start reading this mess has carte blanche to get in touch and chastise me if I'm late.
So I'm not promising length or quality, in that I may be the first honest man, but I do promise to feel guilty and post something if I forget and you pick on me. I've set a reminder on the ical and everything. I have high hopes.
Anyway the point is he can attribute his fame almost entirely to the internet and no small part of that was a podcast he did some time ago called thing a week. It's still on itunes for free download. Plug plug. Thing a week was a simple concept whereby Jonathan would give away free a song every week for a year. People like me heard it, liked him, went to his website and bought his stuff. Not a recording giant in sight, not even the toes poking out from under the bed.
Anyway again, the point, I'm often trying to blog more regularly. But, and then, yet...
So this is the project, inspired by Jonathan Coultons' thing a week, I aim to post a blog at about the same time every Wednesday for a year. This means we can be a team. It gives me a week to find something at least mildly entertaining to put on screen (and compose some waffle to pad round it and make it less interesting) and it means that if anyone out there who does start reading this mess has carte blanche to get in touch and chastise me if I'm late.
So I'm not promising length or quality, in that I may be the first honest man, but I do promise to feel guilty and post something if I forget and you pick on me. I've set a reminder on the ical and everything. I have high hopes.
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