Checking in one last time before a) our broadband is disconnected and b) we go to Cuba!
The broadband is being switched off tomorrow. Won't have new broadband until a few days before Christmas. Leaving home on Wednesday straight after work to go to the airport to take advantage of twilight check in. Staying in a hotel at the airport overnight and flying early Thursday morning. Back in the UK on December 15th - but as I said, won't have broadband for a few days. I promise to post as soon as I can!
Really, really, really looking forward to Cuba.
A little exhausted right now though. Exams really took it out of me and I've had so much to do since (and still have to do) right up until Wednesday that I have hardly had time to think.
I had a really funny story to post about the vacuum cleaner (trust me, it's hilarious!) but I'm too tired to even think about it right now, other than remembering that I probably shouldn't tell it because it will show just how bad my housewife skills are!
Have three JD Robb books, Janet Evanovich's How I Write book and Kelly Hunter's latest Modern X to read while I'm away.
Fingers crossed I return to good news writing wise!
Happy festive season!
Sunday, November 26, 2006
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
still here
Still here. Just busy. Exam this afternoon. Another tomorrow. Holiday next week. So much to do before we go. Will catch up with everyone's blogs after tomorrow's exam.
Saturday, November 11, 2006
phones
This whole phone business is starting to get me down.
I got my new phone on Friday November 3rd. It wasn't as I expected it to be so I called customer services. They said take it to a shop.
I took it to a shop on Monday November 6th. They agreed it wasn't right but said to try to fix it myself (and risk breaking it) or send it back. So I called the company and arranged for a new one to be sent out and the old one taken back.
So the new one arrives on Tuesday November 7th. It has the same problem as the original one. I emailed customer services (because this time I wanted my question to go to someone technical rather than speaking to the first person to answer the phone).
On Friday November 10th I speak to a customer services person twice; he's read my email so the first call is just to understand what I'm talking about and the second call is after he's spoken to the technical people.
The result: they don't know the answer! They suggest it's either a change the manufacturer has made that they haven't been told about or the manufacturer is sending out faulty phones.
The answer: I have to send my phone in so the technical people can look at it! I received a replacement phone today (different from the one I am using so I have to get used to another phone for a few days) and I have to go to the Post Office on Monday to post my phone back. Thankfully they sent a prepaid special delivery envelope so I don't have to pay anything.
In fairness, they are being very helpful in resolving the problem but I'm getting sick of this. I didn't programme numbers into the second phone and I won't be programming them into the temporary phone which means it's effectively useless. I am almost tempted to say I don't want the phone and cancel my contract. Only that would mean I need to search for another phone. Grrrr!
Ok, enough grumbling. I'm off to do a little bit of study now.
Hopefully we are going to the Lord Mayor's fireworks display tonight. And hopefully that means picking up fish and chips for dinner on the way home!
I got my new phone on Friday November 3rd. It wasn't as I expected it to be so I called customer services. They said take it to a shop.
I took it to a shop on Monday November 6th. They agreed it wasn't right but said to try to fix it myself (and risk breaking it) or send it back. So I called the company and arranged for a new one to be sent out and the old one taken back.
So the new one arrives on Tuesday November 7th. It has the same problem as the original one. I emailed customer services (because this time I wanted my question to go to someone technical rather than speaking to the first person to answer the phone).
On Friday November 10th I speak to a customer services person twice; he's read my email so the first call is just to understand what I'm talking about and the second call is after he's spoken to the technical people.
The result: they don't know the answer! They suggest it's either a change the manufacturer has made that they haven't been told about or the manufacturer is sending out faulty phones.
The answer: I have to send my phone in so the technical people can look at it! I received a replacement phone today (different from the one I am using so I have to get used to another phone for a few days) and I have to go to the Post Office on Monday to post my phone back. Thankfully they sent a prepaid special delivery envelope so I don't have to pay anything.
In fairness, they are being very helpful in resolving the problem but I'm getting sick of this. I didn't programme numbers into the second phone and I won't be programming them into the temporary phone which means it's effectively useless. I am almost tempted to say I don't want the phone and cancel my contract. Only that would mean I need to search for another phone. Grrrr!
Ok, enough grumbling. I'm off to do a little bit of study now.
Hopefully we are going to the Lord Mayor's fireworks display tonight. And hopefully that means picking up fish and chips for dinner on the way home!
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
the whole world is against me..
...at least, it's felt like that today. I have lost count of the number of times I have said I would like my job a lot better if I didn't have to deal with people.
I didn't mean it. I love my job. I'm just really really really busy and had a second day full of meetings today which meant I had to clear two days of voicemail messages this afternoon and catch up with emails, which meant I didn't really get a lot of actual real work done. And with the end of the year fast approaching - and three weeks off before then - I'm feeling the pressure as I try to complete as many of my active projects as possible.
The last thing I need is people ringing me up constantly asking when the items I've ordered for them are going to arrive. I don't know and quite frankly I don't care. They will get here when they get here. Live with it.
In other news, I got a new phone (an MDA Pro) on Friday and had to have a courier collect it and exchange it for a replacement this afternoon, only to find the repalcement has the same issue as the original. Maybe it's meant to be like that but the customer services person I called on Friday said it wasn't, the people in the shop I visited on Monday said it wasn't and the customer services person I spoke to on Monday who arranged the exchange said it wasn't. So why is my replacement the same?
Then the Tesco man was late. When he finally called he told me he was standing in our carpark as he couldn't find us, so I popped out onto the balcony and...no Tesco man. He was in the carpark next door. He grumbled so much about how hard we were to find that I took the groceries off him in the foyer and brought them up stairs myself. I hasten to add that we have had groceries delivered by Tesco here for nearly four years and don't usually have this problem.
Grumble, grumble.
Thankfully, I have the day off tomorrow. Study leave. Will be going to the library first thing to get in a couple of hours of quality study.
Then again, I could really do with being at work so I can get some of that work done!
But there is light at the end of the tunnel. On Thursday morning, I'm going to work via the Cuban consulate as I need to get a tourist visa. Yay! And the holiday is fast approaching!
I didn't mean it. I love my job. I'm just really really really busy and had a second day full of meetings today which meant I had to clear two days of voicemail messages this afternoon and catch up with emails, which meant I didn't really get a lot of actual real work done. And with the end of the year fast approaching - and three weeks off before then - I'm feeling the pressure as I try to complete as many of my active projects as possible.
The last thing I need is people ringing me up constantly asking when the items I've ordered for them are going to arrive. I don't know and quite frankly I don't care. They will get here when they get here. Live with it.
In other news, I got a new phone (an MDA Pro) on Friday and had to have a courier collect it and exchange it for a replacement this afternoon, only to find the repalcement has the same issue as the original. Maybe it's meant to be like that but the customer services person I called on Friday said it wasn't, the people in the shop I visited on Monday said it wasn't and the customer services person I spoke to on Monday who arranged the exchange said it wasn't. So why is my replacement the same?
Then the Tesco man was late. When he finally called he told me he was standing in our carpark as he couldn't find us, so I popped out onto the balcony and...no Tesco man. He was in the carpark next door. He grumbled so much about how hard we were to find that I took the groceries off him in the foyer and brought them up stairs myself. I hasten to add that we have had groceries delivered by Tesco here for nearly four years and don't usually have this problem.
Grumble, grumble.
Thankfully, I have the day off tomorrow. Study leave. Will be going to the library first thing to get in a couple of hours of quality study.
Then again, I could really do with being at work so I can get some of that work done!
But there is light at the end of the tunnel. On Thursday morning, I'm going to work via the Cuban consulate as I need to get a tourist visa. Yay! And the holiday is fast approaching!
Sunday, November 05, 2006
tag
Yikes! It's been ages since I posted. Well, I did warn you that I was busy. Work is frantic and home is frantic too thanks to studying frantically for exams, which are now just two weeks away.
I looked around the place this morning and realised just how messy it is. This isn't a new thing. It's always messy but usually when I'm writing I take a break every now and then to clean, unless I'm really really inspired in which case I just write.
However, studying is a different matter, especially when combined with long frantic days at work. When I stop studying, all I want to do is watch tv and sleep. So I've studied, I've caught up on a load of tv and I've let the dust bunnies grow.
OK, I did sort of clean this weekend. But in the end I just gave up and decided that I will give the place a super clean after exams so that we have a nice clean place to come back to after the holiday.
Although in the back of my mind, what I'm actually hoping will happen is that I'll get a full request some time in the next two weeks. I'll have to put it to one side so I can keep revising but straight after my second exam I'm going to come home and spend every waking hour during the next week (aside from the ones at work!) editing so I can post my requested full off on the day before we go on holiday.
Not much time for cleaning if that happens!
So, anyway, I got tagged TWICE while I was off doing other things. Once by Christina and again by Phillipa. I admit that I'm cheating - I posted my five things on Phillipa's blog as requested and have now also copied it into this post to (hopefully) satisfy Christina.
At the risk of boring you, here at my five things:
1) I used to work as an asparagus picker in the summer in New Zealand when I was a student.
2) I had soooo many accidents that required stitches when I was really little that my mum swears my head would look like a baseball if I shaved my hair off!
3) I'm on a waiting list to get an allotment. I think it's been about two years now. The waiting list was about three years long when I put my name on it so I should get one soon!
4) I've interviewed two New Zealand prime ministers during my short career as a journalist.
5) Also during my career as a journalist, I did a story on a local blood bank needing donors urgently which featured several photos of me giving blood for the first time and explaining the process. Several months later when I went to the newspaper's general manager and asked for a pay rise, he asked me what I'd done to deserve it and I answered "I gave blood for my job". I got the pay rise!
A note from Sharon, the creator of People Collection (which seems to have originated this “Five Things…” list), says:
PLEASE LEAVE THE FOLLOWING IN ALL ‘PEOPLE COLLECTION’ POSTS:
Remember that it isn’t always the sensational stuff that writers are looking for, it can just as easily be something that you take for granted like having raised twins or knowing how to grow beetroot. Mind you, if you know how to fly a helicopter or have worked as a film extra, do feel free to let the rest of us know about it!
I tag Sadie, who can either answer on her own blog or post here.
Back sometime between now and the holiday!
I looked around the place this morning and realised just how messy it is. This isn't a new thing. It's always messy but usually when I'm writing I take a break every now and then to clean, unless I'm really really inspired in which case I just write.
However, studying is a different matter, especially when combined with long frantic days at work. When I stop studying, all I want to do is watch tv and sleep. So I've studied, I've caught up on a load of tv and I've let the dust bunnies grow.
OK, I did sort of clean this weekend. But in the end I just gave up and decided that I will give the place a super clean after exams so that we have a nice clean place to come back to after the holiday.
Although in the back of my mind, what I'm actually hoping will happen is that I'll get a full request some time in the next two weeks. I'll have to put it to one side so I can keep revising but straight after my second exam I'm going to come home and spend every waking hour during the next week (aside from the ones at work!) editing so I can post my requested full off on the day before we go on holiday.
Not much time for cleaning if that happens!
So, anyway, I got tagged TWICE while I was off doing other things. Once by Christina and again by Phillipa. I admit that I'm cheating - I posted my five things on Phillipa's blog as requested and have now also copied it into this post to (hopefully) satisfy Christina.
At the risk of boring you, here at my five things:
1) I used to work as an asparagus picker in the summer in New Zealand when I was a student.
2) I had soooo many accidents that required stitches when I was really little that my mum swears my head would look like a baseball if I shaved my hair off!
3) I'm on a waiting list to get an allotment. I think it's been about two years now. The waiting list was about three years long when I put my name on it so I should get one soon!
4) I've interviewed two New Zealand prime ministers during my short career as a journalist.
5) Also during my career as a journalist, I did a story on a local blood bank needing donors urgently which featured several photos of me giving blood for the first time and explaining the process. Several months later when I went to the newspaper's general manager and asked for a pay rise, he asked me what I'd done to deserve it and I answered "I gave blood for my job". I got the pay rise!
A note from Sharon, the creator of People Collection (which seems to have originated this “Five Things…” list), says:
PLEASE LEAVE THE FOLLOWING IN ALL ‘PEOPLE COLLECTION’ POSTS:
Remember that it isn’t always the sensational stuff that writers are looking for, it can just as easily be something that you take for granted like having raised twins or knowing how to grow beetroot. Mind you, if you know how to fly a helicopter or have worked as a film extra, do feel free to let the rest of us know about it!
I tag Sadie, who can either answer on her own blog or post here.
Back sometime between now and the holiday!
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