Be Excellent To Each Other

No.

We want a office room in the garden. It needed the ground prepping. The salesman for the office room said just get a local firm to do XYZ. Which is what we did. However the firm only did X and Y, so we asked the original firm if they could do Z for us, they said they could.

So the building company came round yesterday and said that X and Y were all wrong it should never had been done, so it had to be undone and ABC should have been done instead.

So we wasted money getting XYZ done, we wasted money in getting a skip to take away the mess and we probably have to pay for the company to do ABC anyway!

grumble

Malc

I'd be checking some terms and conditions there. Is there anywhere that says in the sales literature that ground preparation should be carried out by others? What was the company...?

We basically wanted a large room on a raised platform that wasn't big enough, so we had to build up an area about 3m 4m by about 60cm.

It wasn't just about uneven ground or something simple like that.

We will be complaining, and as it was their salesman that told us we should it do it the wrong way, then I am hoping they will discount the final cost by the amount we are out of pocket.

Malc

What's the name of the garden room company, Malc?

I'll let you guys know when it's done.

Malc

On a similar note, I've had to cancel some work we were having done to the back garden due to selling it now instead. 25% cancellation penalty as it's outside the 14-day cooling off period. Bah.

Would the work not add to the value of the home enough to make it worth it?

Interview went ok. As usual, feel like I gave some great answers and some that could have been improved. Happy with my performance on the whole though, so just waiting for the phone call.

Top interview tip: remember to ask for your passport back when you leave. Had to dash back to the venue 20 minutes later when I realised they still had it. Oops.

Decided on my way back to drop into the Bodliean Library and get a new reader's ticket, after retaking the obligatory oath not to burn the place down.

No. It would do if we stayed there for another 3 years or so, but we'd be losing money if we had it done and sold up immediately. There wouldn't be enough equity to quite pay it off.

What kind if interview requires a passport?

I suppose it saves HR time if they ask candidates for them to photocopy on interview day, rather than wait until they pick someone then find out they can't work legally here.

We have just had an internal job description go around. The first (and therefore most important) item in the Required Skills and Experience list is:
Experience in other fields which require strong communication and organizational skills will be considered.

Detailed stuff.

Isn't that basically saying 'even if you've got no experience doing this, we'll consider you if you have relevant experience elsewhere'? Which seems fair enough. I'd have put it at the bottom of that section, mind.

yeah, which is good, but the order is questionable. I guess my perception is coloured by working here.

Cozy.

That's a bathroom with a bed in it.

This one:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to- ... 28464.html

is clearly the inside of a doll's house

You're better off being put in prison, at least you get a toilet in your own room.

There's no toilet

Move the mattress...

A radiator and an oil heater? Luxury!

Hey there, men. What's a good watch for a man...? I don't want to buy something lame. It's intended for daily use, and it's daily use will involve building sites, rain, mud etc. But as it's a gift it can't just be a watch for the sake of it, else I'd just get a £10 Casio. Also also, it needs to be a bracelet style one, metal strap. Also also also, he has massive hands and wrists so I don't want something that's going to look like a girls watch on him.

Don't get a watch as a gift. Get him a Dremel or something.

I really like my Seiko Kinetic because I never need to wind it up or worry about batteries. Whether it would survive the rigors of building sites and whatnot is a different matter mind...

Why would you need a watch, when everyone carries a phone these days? Pointless things.

Yeeeah... I'm not gonna do that



He doesn't use his phone in the day. Even if he did, they mix with building sites even fewer well than watches do.

The main reason I want to get him one is because his was pretty fucked, then last week he dropped it on the drive and cracked the glass so it's even more fucked now.



He'd definitely wear that. We were in Marlow at the weekend for a wedding and I made him a daisy chain crown, which he wore for the rest of the afternoon - even when we went into a coffee shop.

I think I love you.

I loved my kinetic, until my eldest son (when he was teething) decided to use it as a soother and then it stopped working!

Not sure it would have survived a building site if it couldn't survive the inside of a toddler's mouth!

Malc

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Unlocked-ROVER-ANDROID-2-0Ghz-SMARTPHONE/dp/B00AZFX8HM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1399658901&sr=8-1

In "actual help" news, it's hard to know what to get him without a budget, but if you have all the money you could get an Audemars Piguet :
http://www.chrono24.com/en/audemarspigu ... urerIds=18

Liminox Watches are mid-point between "silly money" and "practically tough":
http://www.amazon.co.uk/LUMINOX-Fiber-R ... 271&sr=8-6 (lots of different styles if you scroll down)

If you want a super-tough watch that won't bankrupt you, get the Military-spec G-shock:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Casio-G-Shock-P ... 160&sr=8-2

Or the normal one:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Casio-Gents-Wat ... 219&sr=8-1 (lots of different styles if you scroll down)

If he prefers an analogue watch with no fucking poncing around, the Traser H3 is a nice choice:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Traser-Army-Wat ... 365&sr=8-2

Ooh, I like that last one

Festina.

My budget is more in the range of the Liminox one, could go slightly more for the right thing.

Good selection Grim... thanks for the research

Like DavPaz, I like the Traser. I think their tagline is "It just tells the fucking time".

I have a Citizen EcoDrive. It doesn't need replacement batteries and keeps time to the atomic clock. I love it.

Is it Ruff and Tuff, though?

I am tempted by one of these.

You totally suck

Watches are the sign of a weak mind

Yo!

This is my watch of actual current usage:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B000J34 ... 1399480762

I have one of those on one of the bikes. Great things.

We went to see Derren Brown last night. It was magnificent. Really amazing.

That's just what he wanted you to think.

Basic TAG Heuer has lasted me 12 years and counting. Constantly on building sites, gyms, saunas, swimming etc, no previous watch even lasted me a year.

Did you go on stage?

No, I opted for an interval loo break. It was pretty impressive, though. I can't work out the random level of detail that he managed there on no interaction.

I was delightfully surprised that I was affected by the audience participation but, though, as I've never been affected by any of the TV stuff. I think if I'd gone on stage and he'd somehow managed to dsy something relating to me I would have cried, though I know it is nonsense and a trick, because, y'know, I'm a bit soft.

Mrs Grim... did go on stage, so I can tell you how he did that, but it would probably spoil it for you.

The participation bit didn't really work on me - although it felt weird and I started to have some trouble breathing(!), when he said "you can't move your arms" it turned out I could, so I sat down.