It’s the first day without out great leader (although he doesn’t actually leave the company until the end of March, he’s on holiday until then) and I’m interested in seeing what happens next.

We have a manager from another department to fill in until we get a permanent replacement. He’s a nice guy who actually says “hello” or “good morning” when he sees you. It’s just not the same.

Hopefully the new guy won’t become another ‘neck.

BigAl

And it may not be the oncoming train…

To be honest, it’s a very dim light but it is the light of “actually making an effort to get the hell out of Scottish Power”. Well, more realistically it would be “get out of the hell that IS Scottish Power”.

The reason for this sudden flurry of activity?

Last week my health was suffering. It didn’t start as much, it just being a bad cold and a rough cough. As the week went on the cold got less and the cough got worse and moved down into my chest. You know when you get these things that it’s not the end of the world, it’s just an irritation but one that a day of rest usually cures.

Me being me, I stayed at work expecting it to pass in time as these things have a tendency to do. But on Thursday it was getting more than just a pain, my breathing was getting wheezy and I was finding it hard to catch my breath. So, I thought, I’ll just see if I can get away early as the important work of the day had been done and I’m just “spreading the disease” by being here.

Easier said than done.

I was told that as I’ve had three individual absences this year that any further absence may result in my being fired. Even for being sent home sick? Yep, apparently so. Which is interesting as there’s one member of staff in the office who routinely comes in after a heavy night on the piss and gets to go home at lunchtime because he’s feeling “poorly”. (And generally the unoffical rule in the office is that if you’re ill then make the effort to come in and you’ll be away by lunchtime. That way it won’t be marked as an absence.)

It seems that there’s one rule for some and different rules for others. Not a great surprise. So I am a camel and this is the straw that breaks my back. It’s time to leave and find something new.

BigAl

No, not one of the excellent creations by Chris Doyle (who has a full sized Lego Serenity, and a ’snack sized’ Serenity, not to mention the whole crew, and currently working on the hover-mule!) but the work of someone closer to home.

After a challenge by Guy Incognito, Illyria has produced a couple of shots from the Maidenhead Bar from Serenity. She will be putting a few more shots online over the weekend, I believe. Enjoy!

mrBen

Sadly not for JediMoose, but this guys is trying to win a bet (for £1000 no less) that he can get One Billion Page Views on his site.

Every little helps.

mrBen

This Is My Life, Rated
Life:	7.7
Mind:	7.5
Body:	7.3
Spirit:	8
Friends/Family:	5.7
Love:	8.2
Finance:	8.1
Take the Rate My Life Quiz

mrBen

Despite being generally an early adopter when it comes to technology, I’ve been a little bit behind on the whole podcasting phenoma. While I’ve been listening to LUGRadio for ages now, I’ve never taken advantage of a podcatching client to grab it (mainly because I operate a mirror, and so need to grab it a little early….) But now I’ve lept in with both feet

For the unitiated, podcasting is a way of grabbing audio files (although you could include other files instead, if you so desired) of the ‘net automagically. Usually it refers to what are basically radio shows, recorded as MP3s. To grab them you get a podcasting client (or ‘podcatcher’) - Juice is a good one - and it will check periodically for new ’shows’ and will download them for your listening pleasure. (Of course, you could grab them off the website manually, but that wouldn’t be podcasting…..)

There are thousands of podcasts out there, covering all sorts of different topics - everything you could possibly be interested in already has a podcast. I’ve seen some Christian devotional stuff, some for book writing, and loads of tech-related stuff.

Currently I am listening to LUGRadio (as mention), and also a couple of Serenity/Firefly related podcasts, The Signal, and Firefly Talk. There are lots of poor quality podcasts out there, but these two have completely surprised me by having really good audio and edit quality. The Signal, in particular, combines audio from all over the world into a very slick show. (FT also has presenters from all over the world - it’s amazing how they manage to get it together every week)

Anyway - if you have an MP3 player (and who hasn’t?), then check out some podcasts.

mrBen

Yes, yes I am….

mrBen

More questions should mean more accurate? Wonder how it decides between a 3 way tie?

Your results:
You are Zoe Washburne (Second-in-command)

Zoe Washburne (Second-in-command) 75% Wash (Ship Pilot) 75% Dr. Simon Tam (Ship Medic) 75% Malcolm Reynolds (Captain) 55% Derrial Book (Shepherd) 50% Jayne Cobb (Mercenary) 45% Inara Serra (Companion) 45% Kaylee Frye (Ship Mechanic) 40% River (Stowaway) 30% Alliance 25% A Reaver (Cannibal) 0%

Dependable and trustworthy. You love your significant other and you are a tough cookie when in a conflict.

Click here to take the Serenity Firefly Personality Test

mrBen

That’s right people - winging it’s way to me is the Collectors Edition Tin boxset of the film that was top of BBC Film2005 poll. The Australian edition has more features than any other region, and the cost of shipping is surprisingly unprohibitive. Big huggles and luff to the wife for a smashing birthday present.
Roll on the BDP.

mrBen

Best Blonde Joke evaaaar [sic]

mrBen

The Neck in this case refeing to my beloved big boss Eric “Fatneck” Graham, who is leaving at the end of the month.

Whoo hoo!

Life is good.

BigAl