Wednesday, May 31, 2006
Number3
I've put a hit counter on my blog, because yesterday Mr C and I were discussing it, and how many people look at it. I think very few, so I am going to see (presuming the counter works ok). It would be nice to have more readers, but then I would have to worry more about what I write!
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
New acronyms!
Mr C has just coined two new acronyms:
- IBS - "Infuriating Book Syndrome"
- ABS - "Annoying Book Syndrome"
He used the former to describe the effect The Subtle Knife, by Philip Pullman, had on him. I do not share his experience.
Back to work
It wasn't too bad, going back to work after the weekend. I actually like the routine of workdays, and feel a bit at a loss on odd days off, such as Bank Holidays. I have started cataloguing my book collection on LibraryThing (see sidebar). It is fun, but maybe only for those who have a librarian-like mind.
Had another email from my mentor, so that was good.
The swing gate on the desk has been replaced. It had fallen off, after D walked through it. Ironically, it had previously survived him vaulting over it and attempting to squeeze under it, but gave up the ghost when he just strolled through normally. The cause of fall was given as 'not screwed in properly'. Apparantly the workmen had said they would be back to screw it on with electric screwdrivers, but this never happened. Whether they have done this now remains to be seen.
I wonder how long it will take me to catalogue all my books...
Had another email from my mentor, so that was good.
The swing gate on the desk has been replaced. It had fallen off, after D walked through it. Ironically, it had previously survived him vaulting over it and attempting to squeeze under it, but gave up the ghost when he just strolled through normally. The cause of fall was given as 'not screwed in properly'. Apparantly the workmen had said they would be back to screw it on with electric screwdrivers, but this never happened. Whether they have done this now remains to be seen.
I wonder how long it will take me to catalogue all my books...
Monday, May 29, 2006
Meetings and a mentor
Today I got an email from a lady saying she would be my mentor for my chartership, so there's some good news. Hopefully things can now get going a bit more.
Last week was fairly busy - a couple of meetings and a few interesting incidents. We had the meeting for the evening and weekend team people. This went quite well, considering that they had somewhat of a right to be grumpy. I just came out and said that I abdicated responsibility for the mess-up with the rota (which had led to them having to make up their hours) because I wasn't even in employment at the time the decisions were made. Anyway, everything seems to be sorted out now, although there are still discussions to be had about changes to opening and working hours next academic year.
The university has gone through the HERA (Higher Education Role Analysis) process, and people's pay has been re-evaluated. It's supposed to make the pay scales clearer so that we will all be on grades and not spinal points. To be honest, I'm not all that sure how it works, as I hadn't joined the university when it was started. The new scales come into play on 1st August.
The university are also making changes to the way the working week is structured for support staff. We are going to be working '5 out of 7' days, which means that we can be asked to work any 5 out of 7 days, including Saturday and Sunday. Apparantly academic staff are already doing this. We're going to have meetings (yet more meetings) about this over the next few weeks, where we can ask questions of the people who made the decisions. I would like to know what happens if you say you can't work on a Saturday (or Sunday, or any other day I suppose) for religious reasons. I would have thought this would be contrary to legislation about religious discrimination. Maybe I should look it up.
We also had a meeting about the changes within Library Services since ISS has come into existence and about changes that are going to take place in the near future. We didn't really find out much information, except that the remaining library people in our office will have to move rooms before the beginning of August.
Our neighbours seem to have suddenly increased the volume of their TV over the last week. I have no idea why this should be, but I hope they turn it down again soon. Maybe I will have to write them a note. Aggh.
Last week was fairly busy - a couple of meetings and a few interesting incidents. We had the meeting for the evening and weekend team people. This went quite well, considering that they had somewhat of a right to be grumpy. I just came out and said that I abdicated responsibility for the mess-up with the rota (which had led to them having to make up their hours) because I wasn't even in employment at the time the decisions were made. Anyway, everything seems to be sorted out now, although there are still discussions to be had about changes to opening and working hours next academic year.
The university has gone through the HERA (Higher Education Role Analysis) process, and people's pay has been re-evaluated. It's supposed to make the pay scales clearer so that we will all be on grades and not spinal points. To be honest, I'm not all that sure how it works, as I hadn't joined the university when it was started. The new scales come into play on 1st August.
The university are also making changes to the way the working week is structured for support staff. We are going to be working '5 out of 7' days, which means that we can be asked to work any 5 out of 7 days, including Saturday and Sunday. Apparantly academic staff are already doing this. We're going to have meetings (yet more meetings) about this over the next few weeks, where we can ask questions of the people who made the decisions. I would like to know what happens if you say you can't work on a Saturday (or Sunday, or any other day I suppose) for religious reasons. I would have thought this would be contrary to legislation about religious discrimination. Maybe I should look it up.
We also had a meeting about the changes within Library Services since ISS has come into existence and about changes that are going to take place in the near future. We didn't really find out much information, except that the remaining library people in our office will have to move rooms before the beginning of August.
Our neighbours seem to have suddenly increased the volume of their TV over the last week. I have no idea why this should be, but I hope they turn it down again soon. Maybe I will have to write them a note. Aggh.
Sunday, May 21, 2006
GUCH
GUCH is the "Grown Up Congenital Hearts" Patients Association. I am a GUCH. I'm not keen on the term GUCH though, I think they could have thought of a better name. Anyway, in the latest GUCH News magazine they were asking for people to write stories [presumeably non-fiction] about their experiences as a GUCH. They're hoping to publish them in a book. I'd like to write something, but I'm not sure exactly what to write about. I don't want it to turn into my life story. I should think of a specific time or incident to focus on, but I can't think of what would make a good 'story' or be interesting for other people to read. At the moment I have several things I am thinking of writing about:
- School
- Having an MRI scan
- University
- Having a CT scan
- Having children (or not)
None of them sound particularly interesting do they? Oh well, I will keep thinking.
An alternative view of 24
This article was in The Guardian in January this year:
The depraved heroes of 24 are the Himmlers of Hollywood
"The message of the TV series, that torturers can retain their human dignity if the cause is right, is a profound lie "
I thought it was very interesting, and it made me think about what I'm watching, and what message it is giving out to people. Having said that, I'm still watching season 3.
The depraved heroes of 24 are the Himmlers of Hollywood
"The message of the TV series, that torturers can retain their human dignity if the cause is right, is a profound lie "
I thought it was very interesting, and it made me think about what I'm watching, and what message it is giving out to people. Having said that, I'm still watching season 3.
Saturday, May 20, 2006
Meetings and [no] mentor
Someone has commented on my post "This week at work". I am a bit worried it might be someone at work - hope I haven't written anything bad about my lovely work colleagues and library on here! If I have I am very sorry! Eeek.
We're having some more meetings this week. One about the evening and weekend rota for next year (which I have mentioned before), and one about the integration and what's going to happen in the library. Maybe after that confusion won't be reigning quite so powerfully?! We will see.
My latest would-be mentor turned me down, so I am still on a mentor hunt. I've written to another possible person, but no reply as yet.
We're having some more meetings this week. One about the evening and weekend rota for next year (which I have mentioned before), and one about the integration and what's going to happen in the library. Maybe after that confusion won't be reigning quite so powerfully?! We will see.
My latest would-be mentor turned me down, so I am still on a mentor hunt. I've written to another possible person, but no reply as yet.
Friday, May 19, 2006
Webbing
Yesterday was full of annoying people, disputing fines, loans etc. Also a meeting about library documentation and webpages. I went on a course about authoring university web pages on Tuesday, which was interesting and useful. Learning how to use FrontPage. I think I might buy it to put on my own computer, but it will depend on how much it is. We're re-designing the library web pages at the moment, because the uni web pages are now created to a new template, and our pages aren't in the new template yet. Apparently we have 363 pages of stuff on our current site, so some (lots) of this needs to go! Lots of it is duplicae information, so we can get rid of it. I'm looking forward to getting the new site up and running - it will look a lot better and hopefully be much easier to use. This week we just looked at the main headings for the homepages - the side menu headings and the short cut links. We're hoping to have images for the short cut links. It was actually quite difficult to decide what to have as the main menu headings, and as the quick links. Some things were obvious, but it was hard not want to put everything as either a quick link or a menu heading!
It's quite a slow process, and we don't really have very long to do it, given the amount of work there is to do. The site has to be up and running by September, when the new academic year begins. I have the second and last session of the course this coming week. I think I'm the only person in the group that has edited a page in the new template (even if the page was only a trainng page), so I had better pay attention! I think some others in the group have done more web editing in general though, so hopefully between us we should be ok.
No plans yet for this weekend, apart from the usual housework excitement. Currently watching Season 3 of 24.
It's quite a slow process, and we don't really have very long to do it, given the amount of work there is to do. The site has to be up and running by September, when the new academic year begins. I have the second and last session of the course this coming week. I think I'm the only person in the group that has edited a page in the new template (even if the page was only a trainng page), so I had better pay attention! I think some others in the group have done more web editing in general though, so hopefully between us we should be ok.
No plans yet for this weekend, apart from the usual housework excitement. Currently watching Season 3 of 24.
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
Brick Lane
I have now finished Brick Lane. Well, I say finished, but I actually skipped through most of the last third. I am sorry to say I just got bored. I got bored before the last third, but ploughed on, hoping something would happen. But alas, nothing did. OK, things did happen (obviously) but just not enough to hold my interest.
Maybe I missed something. I sympathised with Nazneen, her family and especially her sister back in Dhaka, but there was not enough 'meat' in the story to hold my interest. It was a bit of a shame, as the themes were interesting. I suppose the story reflected Nazneen's life for the first years of her life in England - the boredom and repetitive routine, but it didn't make for a story I really cared about very much.
Even in the later parts of the book, after she meets Karim, I didn't really care about what happened to them. I found it quite unbelievable that their affair would have begun in the first place, and when it did happen it was just there, seemingly without any warning. Maybe that is how it was supposed to come across. Maybe that's how these things happen sometimes, or, again, maybe I just missed something. The ending was at least [moderately] happy, but also slightly cheesy and formulaic, especially when Nazneen starts dancing around the flat.
The writing style was ok, but not what I expected from a book that had such rave reviews when it was first published. It seemed like Ali was trying to copy the style from other books she had read, but it didn't really work for me.
One thing I will say, the book did a good job of highlighting the horrible conditions endured by immigrants coming into the UK, and the dangers and hardships of being a Muslim woman (both in the UK and in Bangladesh).
I'm sorry I didn't like this book. I wanted to. Maybe Monica Ali's next offering will be better...or maybe I'll just 'get' it next time? I don't know why I'm criticising anyway, I can't do any better!
Maybe I missed something. I sympathised with Nazneen, her family and especially her sister back in Dhaka, but there was not enough 'meat' in the story to hold my interest. It was a bit of a shame, as the themes were interesting. I suppose the story reflected Nazneen's life for the first years of her life in England - the boredom and repetitive routine, but it didn't make for a story I really cared about very much.
Even in the later parts of the book, after she meets Karim, I didn't really care about what happened to them. I found it quite unbelievable that their affair would have begun in the first place, and when it did happen it was just there, seemingly without any warning. Maybe that is how it was supposed to come across. Maybe that's how these things happen sometimes, or, again, maybe I just missed something. The ending was at least [moderately] happy, but also slightly cheesy and formulaic, especially when Nazneen starts dancing around the flat.
The writing style was ok, but not what I expected from a book that had such rave reviews when it was first published. It seemed like Ali was trying to copy the style from other books she had read, but it didn't really work for me.
One thing I will say, the book did a good job of highlighting the horrible conditions endured by immigrants coming into the UK, and the dangers and hardships of being a Muslim woman (both in the UK and in Bangladesh).
I'm sorry I didn't like this book. I wanted to. Maybe Monica Ali's next offering will be better...or maybe I'll just 'get' it next time? I don't know why I'm criticising anyway, I can't do any better!
Sunday, May 14, 2006
This week at work...
I was working Friday night and Saturday morning this week, which wasn't good. We sent the letters about changes in hours and the end of term out to the part-time staff this week. The whole situation with people's hours is so complicated that I get confused when I try explaining it to people. We have a meeting about it all next week, which I am not looking forward to at all.
Otherwise, things are ok. People got their letters confirming their positions. Got to know the desk staff a bit better, due to the fact that I was on the desk a lot at the end of last week. They are all nice, which is a good job really! I think things will be a lot easier when we (the helpdesk and the library desks) are properly integrated and open at the same times, all staff dealing with all enquiries (library and computing) etc. At the moment it is quite confusing, for us and the students. We should be integrated on 1st August, but until then...confusion reigns!
Otherwise, things are ok. People got their letters confirming their positions. Got to know the desk staff a bit better, due to the fact that I was on the desk a lot at the end of last week. They are all nice, which is a good job really! I think things will be a lot easier when we (the helpdesk and the library desks) are properly integrated and open at the same times, all staff dealing with all enquiries (library and computing) etc. At the moment it is quite confusing, for us and the students. We should be integrated on 1st August, but until then...confusion reigns!
24 Season 2
We are now watching 24, season 2. Yep, I have got Mr C into it too. In fact, he has been watching more closely than me, as I've been meandering around the Internet at the same time. Always multi-tasking - must be cos I'm a girl.
Anyway, I've been reading some interesting stuff about the B'nai Noach (sons of Noah), people who keep the seven laws of Noah, the Noachide/Noahide laws. The Noachide laws are seven laws passed on to all people. They're called the Noachide laws, as according to the Hebrew scriptures, all people are descended from Noah. According to the Talmud the Torah (law) is a truth for all humanity, both Jewish and non-Jewish. These seven laws are seen as "the pillars of human civilization" (Aish.com). According to the Rabbis, any person who observes the Noachide laws because of love for God and desire to live a holy life can acheive a place in heaven. The Noachide laws are:
1. Not to worship idols.
2. Not to blaspheme.
3. Not to murder.
4. Not to steal.
5. Not to be involved in illicit sexual behavior (adultery, incest, homosexuality, etc.).
6. Not to eat the limb of a living creature [not to be cruel to animals].
7. To establish courts of justice to enforce these laws. (see AskMoses.com)
Non-Jews are also free to keep any of the 613 mitzvot (commandments), apart from the following:
Anyway, I've been reading some interesting stuff about the B'nai Noach (sons of Noah), people who keep the seven laws of Noah, the Noachide/Noahide laws. The Noachide laws are seven laws passed on to all people. They're called the Noachide laws, as according to the Hebrew scriptures, all people are descended from Noah. According to the Talmud the Torah (law) is a truth for all humanity, both Jewish and non-Jewish. These seven laws are seen as "the pillars of human civilization" (Aish.com). According to the Rabbis, any person who observes the Noachide laws because of love for God and desire to live a holy life can acheive a place in heaven. The Noachide laws are:
1. Not to worship idols.
2. Not to blaspheme.
3. Not to murder.
4. Not to steal.
5. Not to be involved in illicit sexual behavior (adultery, incest, homosexuality, etc.).
6. Not to eat the limb of a living creature [not to be cruel to animals].
7. To establish courts of justice to enforce these laws. (see AskMoses.com)
Non-Jews are also free to keep any of the 613 mitzvot (commandments), apart from the following:
- Keeping Shabbat (the Sabbath)
- Keeping other Jewish holidays
- Studying parts of the Torah that don't apply to the Noachide laws (however, one Rabbi has said that most of the Torah does apply to the Noachide laws)
- Writing a Torah scroll
- Wearing tefillin
- Putting a mezuzah on the doorpost
- Other laws that are a sign between God and the Jewish people specifically, e.g. wearing tzitzit
(Please click on the links for more information about Jewish terms)
Sunday, May 07, 2006
JFK
I'm watching JFK at the moment. I've never seen the whole of this film (at least not that I can remember) because something always stops me from seeing the ending. The same goes for The Pelican Brief. I have no idea why this is the case. Poor Kennedy is about to be shot (it's quite near the beginning).
Yesterday we went to Wagamama's for lunch. I had chicken curry, Mr C had ginger chicken with noodles. That wasn't what the dishes were called, but I can't remember the proper names.
I've done quite a bit of shopping this week. Probably not a good idea, but at least I now have some things other than work clothes, jeans and t shirts to wear. I even bought a skirt and a dress. People moan about Marks and Spencers, but I do sometimes find some good stuff there, that I can't find anywhere else. Anyway, Mr C and my friends will be pleased as they are often complaining about my lack of feminine clothing. I also went to H&M earlier in the week. I never usually find anything I like there, but I did this time. Good for my wardrobe, not so good for my bank balance.
It's been really warm during the day today, but now it's getting quite cold. Must go and concentrate on JFK, otherwise I won't have a clue what's going on.
Yesterday we went to Wagamama's for lunch. I had chicken curry, Mr C had ginger chicken with noodles. That wasn't what the dishes were called, but I can't remember the proper names.
I've done quite a bit of shopping this week. Probably not a good idea, but at least I now have some things other than work clothes, jeans and t shirts to wear. I even bought a skirt and a dress. People moan about Marks and Spencers, but I do sometimes find some good stuff there, that I can't find anywhere else. Anyway, Mr C and my friends will be pleased as they are often complaining about my lack of feminine clothing. I also went to H&M earlier in the week. I never usually find anything I like there, but I did this time. Good for my wardrobe, not so good for my bank balance.
It's been really warm during the day today, but now it's getting quite cold. Must go and concentrate on JFK, otherwise I won't have a clue what's going on.
Another Sunday
Which means, alas, that it is nearly Monday. But that's ok. I don't hate my work. Of course, things annoy me, but it could be a lot worse.
Last week was quite exciting, because the new desk was finally finished and up and running. At present we are at the "co-location" stage, as opposed to full integration, so library and computing people are working side by side on the desk, but not together as such. Does that make sense? That's what we wondered. It's working, but we felt a bit sorry for the computing people, who weren't introduced to anyone and had no idea who we are, who does what and how our rotas work. They only have slightly more idea now, thanks to library staff introducing themselves when they had the chance, and an 'impromptu' chocolate sharing session in our office. I expect the communication side of things will get better. Hopefully the computing people will get some sort of induction soon.
Meanwhile, still no news on what is going to happen to RS - how jobs are going to be divided up etc - or how they are going to work the staffing situation. It would be nice for those that applied to new jobs to actually know officially whether they have been accepted or not. We always seem to be waiting for information. Communication is not the institution's strong point. Or rather, it's not the strong point of the people in it, I expect the institution is crying out to communicate...but what could it be saying?!
I am getting a bit fed up of people thinking that I know all the answers to problems that have nothing to do with me, and the people in question should be asking management staff, whose job it is to sort these particular things out! Maybe I am just the nearest 'management' person, even though I am not a manager at all! In theory, I just "oversee" the office. This is according to my job description, which is not realistic anymore, however. Maybe I have missed something?
Mr C has disappeared into the attic. Hopefully he will be back in time for tea. I don't know what I'm going to make...
Must get back to Hebrew soon. I have probably forgotten everything I learnt before. Aggh.
Last week was quite exciting, because the new desk was finally finished and up and running. At present we are at the "co-location" stage, as opposed to full integration, so library and computing people are working side by side on the desk, but not together as such. Does that make sense? That's what we wondered. It's working, but we felt a bit sorry for the computing people, who weren't introduced to anyone and had no idea who we are, who does what and how our rotas work. They only have slightly more idea now, thanks to library staff introducing themselves when they had the chance, and an 'impromptu' chocolate sharing session in our office. I expect the communication side of things will get better. Hopefully the computing people will get some sort of induction soon.
Meanwhile, still no news on what is going to happen to RS - how jobs are going to be divided up etc - or how they are going to work the staffing situation. It would be nice for those that applied to new jobs to actually know officially whether they have been accepted or not. We always seem to be waiting for information. Communication is not the institution's strong point. Or rather, it's not the strong point of the people in it, I expect the institution is crying out to communicate...but what could it be saying?!
I am getting a bit fed up of people thinking that I know all the answers to problems that have nothing to do with me, and the people in question should be asking management staff, whose job it is to sort these particular things out! Maybe I am just the nearest 'management' person, even though I am not a manager at all! In theory, I just "oversee" the office. This is according to my job description, which is not realistic anymore, however. Maybe I have missed something?
Mr C has disappeared into the attic. Hopefully he will be back in time for tea. I don't know what I'm going to make...
Must get back to Hebrew soon. I have probably forgotten everything I learnt before. Aggh.
Monday, May 01, 2006
Bank Holiday weekend
I've spent my weekend in the following ways:
Mother-in-law came to stay again last week. She's been travelling around the UK. Her main reason for coming over was to see her dad on his 80th birthday, as a surprise. This was accomplished, and she then went to see all of her children, who are scattered all over the UK. A's younger brother is in Glasgow, his sister is in Nottingham, and we're in Kent, so we couldn't have tried much harder to live further away from each other!
A has gone to Wiltshire to do a 26 mile walk, which he actually did yesterday. He's coming back later today. It was quite nice to have some visitors, as otherwise I would have been on my own the whole weekend...apart from the company of Jack Bauer, family and associates. I don't know whether I'll finish the series before tomorrow. I borrowed the DVD from the library (work) and I've already renewed it a few times - this is the first time I've got round to watching it at all!
I'm still trying to get a mentor for Chartership. At the moment I'm re-writing my CV so that I can send it to my mentor with the mentee registration form. I thought it might help the potential mentor get more of an idea about my background etc. I'll try and send the email tomorrow.
- Watching series 1 of 24 (currently on 9.00am)
- Being at work (Saturday morning)
- Going to church (Sunday morning)
- Having people for lunch (not literally, Sunday afternoon)
- Having friend from uni plus husband to stay (Sunday afternoon and night, Monday morning)
Mother-in-law came to stay again last week. She's been travelling around the UK. Her main reason for coming over was to see her dad on his 80th birthday, as a surprise. This was accomplished, and she then went to see all of her children, who are scattered all over the UK. A's younger brother is in Glasgow, his sister is in Nottingham, and we're in Kent, so we couldn't have tried much harder to live further away from each other!
A has gone to Wiltshire to do a 26 mile walk, which he actually did yesterday. He's coming back later today. It was quite nice to have some visitors, as otherwise I would have been on my own the whole weekend...apart from the company of Jack Bauer, family and associates. I don't know whether I'll finish the series before tomorrow. I borrowed the DVD from the library (work) and I've already renewed it a few times - this is the first time I've got round to watching it at all!
I'm still trying to get a mentor for Chartership. At the moment I'm re-writing my CV so that I can send it to my mentor with the mentee registration form. I thought it might help the potential mentor get more of an idea about my background etc. I'll try and send the email tomorrow.
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