Be Excellent To Each Other

Remember me saying I was going to do this? No? Well.. I did do it and it was great! Both were really hard work but really good fun. The kayaking involved going down a stream and over rapids and stuff. Very cold.

The gorge scrambling was basically us walking down a stream, sliding down rocks, swimming through freezing cold water and throwing snowballs at each other.

I wouldn't do it all the time, but it was great fun!

Had a liver function test this morning (routine). Apparently my liver is functioning significantly better than it was six months ago. The consultant reviewing the results said it's one of only about three times ever where she's seen such a dramatic improvement. "Have you made any lifestyle changes?" She asked. "Yes. I'm drinking quite a lot more than I was then..."

So there you have it, folks. Conclusive proof that wine is good for your liver.

How do I sign up to the Craster diet....

That is great news.

I've had a bit of a Yay...

Basically, about a year ago I got headhunted by someone I used to work with to work at a multinational photocopier manufacturer doing hands-on technical support at a VIP customer site. I was already doing a job I quite liked which was a 10 minute walk away, whilst the customer sites I'd be based at for this one were in another county, so they offered me a decent-ish salary, a company car, phone, laptop and travelling expenses to take the job on. I did, but the job turned out to be a massive dissappointment as there was virtually bugger all actual work involved and it got increasingly difficuly to pretend to be busy in a full-time role that involved an average of about 1 hour of solid work every day. 6 months in and the customer predictably turned round to my new employers to tell them my services were no longer required.

Fortunately, my employer gave me a much better job in their UK 2nd line specialist support centre. I love the job, I love the team I work with, but the office is 50 miles away from where I live and because I'm no longer travelling to customer sites, they took the car, the phone, the laptop and fuel card away, so I now commute 100 miles every day in my own car at my own expense. HR also decided my salary was already competitive, so refused to raise it... since my only other option was to accept redundancy after just 6 months, I was hardly going to say no.

Anyway, I've just been offered a face-to-face interview next Wednesday with a new company and they've told me that, based on my experience and from speaking to them a few times on the phone, I'm apparently their favourite applicant. The company themselves is based in mainland Europe with virtually no UK presence, so I'd be one of their very few UK based representitives. The job would therefore apparently be 20%-40% based working from home (they'll provide all necessary office equipment, like phone and laptop) with the rest based at customer sites all over the South East. Obviously there'll be a lot of travelling involved, but for that they'll give me a car and a company credit card to bill all travel and hotel expenses to. It pays a little more than what I'm currently on too. Apparently my predecessor left because he has a young family and the time spent from home was causing issues, but I've checked and there's no weekend work involved at all, so I'll still be able to see Zioette.

It sounds fantastic, and I need it really as I'm really struggling financially at the moment (I'm spending around £80 a week on diesel alone), but I already like the job I'm doing and I like my team. I'll be working more or less on my own again if I get this job (though I guess I'll be seeing customers a lot).

Things to ponder, I guess.

Sounds like a good opportunity to me!

Result

Sounds good Zio, GL

And congrats to Crasters Liver

Sounds like a Yay Zio and



I think you may need a prescription



(*) substitute for white if you prefer

That sounds like a fantastic opportunity Zio! Fingers crossed!

Good luck Zio!

Sounds great Zio...

Awesome.

And yay for Zio, too.

1700quid tax back from sweden. Yes please!

I had a kind of mini-interview for that job today. It was meant to be a 30 minute informal chat about the role and there may be a second interview if the first meeting goes well, kinda thing.

Anyway, my 30-min meeting overran by 15 minutes, despite the fact the next guy being interviewed was already waiting to be seen. I figure that must be a pretty good sign, right? The whole thing seemed to go really well to be honest, I seemed to be giving the guy all the answers he wanted to hear at any rate. At one point he actually apologised that we couldn't talk for longer but assured me he'd "already formed a very positive opinion of me". So I'm hoping I at least get that second interview.

Having learned more about it, I really want this damn job, it's got to be said. It sounds like exactly the sort of thing I've wanted to do for years - more of a technical consultant role than just a glorified call handler, actually going out to customer's sites and advising them face-to-face rather than remotely supporting whilst stuck behind a desk. There's a lot of flexibility involved and I'd effectively be my own boss - I like that idea too. My dad went self-employed back in the 80's because he wanted that control over how he worked, but it never made him rich because he's a shite businessman, bless him. With this I get pretty much those advantages of working off my own steam whilst also having the security and advantages of a regular paying job with a highly successful company.

Anyway, I've got my fingers crossed. Which has made typing all this a fucking nightmare.

Good luck mate.

Best of luck.

Sounds very positive. Fingers crossed.

Mega-yay, little Griff has had his 1st birthday!
There was a time we didn't think he would ever make it this far, but he is doing really well :-)

Happy Birthday, Griff!

How is he getting on now?

He is now eating normally, but doesn't get the idea of drinking so he still has the ng tube. The doctors genuinely have no idea how it will turn out liver-wise, but for now it is working well enough that he has caught up on weight & size (he was on the 0.5 percentile in September, so 99.5% of babies his age were heavier) He us now on about 55%! His next main checkup will be in this September when he will get a full ultrasound, and with luck he may get an all clear depending on how the scarring is arranged (i.e if it is restricting any blood flow or growth then he may need a transplant still), but for now he is doing better than anyone hoped. :-D

That's fantastic stuff.

Happy Birthday Griff!

That is awesome...

Superb!

Awesome stuff!

Want a pic!

That's really nice news to hear. Happy birthday little fella.

Yep, great stuff! Happy Birthday, Griff!

Happy Birthday, Griff!

By comparison, my monster is on the 99.5 percentile for weight

And head size

Ditto. Where are all the tiny babies to balance them out?

Awesome news Mr Dom! Happy 1st birthday, Griff!!

Amazing news! Happy Birthday Griff

Happy birthday Griff! So glad to hear how we'll he's doing.

Only thinking of you all yesterday when I plonked my burger change in the charity box at McDonalds.

Yeah, I was in a McDonald's for the first time in years a couple of weeks ago. I can't really eat anything from there because I am gluten free but I was getting my nephew something, so I stuck what I would've paid for a meal into the box. Then, at a party on Tuesday night, we somehow got talking about Ronald McDonald house and I was bigging them up. A lot of my friends didn't realise what the donation boxes were for (like me until you told us!) so I explained and now they've all vowed to drop money in
It's wonderful to hear how we'll he's doing

Just had a cheeky check of my personal email and saw I have a message from the recruitment consultant asking me to call them, as they have some "good news" following my interview on Wednesday. My lunch break really can't come round fast enough!

Oooooh, fingers crossed!!!

Cheers for all the b'day wishes. Unfortunately just after I posted, i had to take little Miss Dom to the doctors, and ended up at the hospital again till about 9pm with her - suspected appendicitis, possibly just an infection.
Was not fun spending the day there tho, brought all kinds of stuff back...

How's little Miss Dom now, Mr Dom?

As for me, second interview is a go-go. Only problem is that the next interview is going to be over Skype, as it's with one of the bigwigs in Europe. I've had to do a Skype interview once before and it was utterly horrendous, so I'm not especially looking forward to it. Also not sure whether or not I should take time off work and do the interview from home, or work as normal and do the interview from my car in work's car park. My mobile data is unlimited and actually significantly faster and more reliable than my home broadband, so there's no technical reason I can't do it from the car... but perhaps that's not a very professional venue.

Thoughts anyone?

For my current Job my initial interview was done by mobile phone and I did it in my car over a lunch break - it was a quiet location and did not cause any problems.

Assuming your signal is fine for Skype then that may be a better option since it also removes the idea of you taking the day off and worrying about the call beforehand.

I'd do it from home, You'll be able to concentrate more focus on your answers.

Also don't make the mistake of putting a shirt and tie on with no trousers.. They might ask you to stand up.

Heh, I did think about that as, though I dress smart for my current job, I don't wear a suit. Turning up in one for one day would look properly suspect, but would I get away with sitting in the car with the 'newsreader' portion of my body suited and booted and the bottom half in my normal work gear?

If you do it at home, you can have key phrases and points you wish to make stuck on the wall so you can use them to remind yourself what you want to say.

That's actually a pretty tremendous idea!

I'm waiting for her to let me know what time she wants to do the interview, so I'm just going to take it from there I guess.

Of course it is.



Sounds like a date, dude!

Something something pregnant...

Just been offered a job as a support worker, mostly working with teenagers. I've accepted the fuck out of it, natch - been unemployed for a depressingly long time now, and the job sounds totally non-heinous.

That's one for the Yay thread! Well done!

I really need to get on the case with my job hunting.

Cheers!

Good work, Yog.

[edit]Literally, I guess

Excellent.
Shame you couldn't have got it a week or two earlier to stop you playing Flying Shark.

*Dual air guitar solo!*



[edit] That's right. Dual solo.