Boggle eyed

Just finished a long stint on my laptop coding a Lotus Notes application for work, about 8 hours worth (minus distractions from SWMBO). Still a way to go yet but it'll be a slicker, quicker application this time round. Previous years were a bit clunky due to the complexity of the process we were following but this time it's so much simpler so the code will be nice and simple too. :)

Going to bed now but will no doubt pick up again in the morning. Yawn!

Isn't it a wonderful day for a walk in the rain?

Well no actually.  Stunned to have a second fantastically hot and sunny day and it's meant to continnue until at least Tuesday.  Whoo hoo!

Just back from our weekly food shopping.  We're eating more healthily these days so first stop was Grass Roots and then off to Sainsburys in Hamilton as they have the widest selection of organic produce in the Glasgow area.  Costs a wee bit more but with none of those nasty additives I've been feeling much better lately.

Now looking forward to a lunch of chicken and cabbage, stir fried in coconut oil.  Hmm mmm 

The best laid plans...

A well, doesn't it always happen that someone changes the day you had planned and you end up getting nothing constructive done?  Happened today and as a result I'll now have to catch-up over this weekend, just when the weather is starting to turn really nice.

Was at the hospital this afternoon having my frozen shoulder expertly looked after by Shona.  When I got home SWMBO suggested we take a short walk.  After agreeing to this the walk suddenly became a long walk to the shops for some bits and bobs she needed to make tonights curry.  Mmmm.

We ended up coming back a totally different way from the way we went and my poor feet are paying the price.  I'm not built for walking so I'm enjoying putting my feet up while the kitchen wizard chops, dices and mixes her raw ingredients and produces yet another mouth watering dish.  So much better than the shop bought sauces or take away meals from nearby outlets.

Once that has been digested (and I feel a bit more relaxed) I'm going to get my laptop out and see how much of that work I can do tonight.

LCTY09

Spent yesterday in Edinburgh at the "Lotusphere Comes To You" event which was held in the Caledonian Hotel.  Well done IBM for hosting such a great event.

Turned up unfashionably early (08:20) as traffic coming through from Glasgow was unusually light and the threatened traffic chaos due to the Edinburgh City tram project failed to materialise so was able to have a short walk and grab a Costa coffee to get the day started.

Thought I was the only person from work attending, with one of my colleagues from software development meant to be attending but I hadn't had that confirmed when I spot two of them not long after arriving at the hotel.  Then my boss turned up- turns out he was a guest speaker but hadn't mentioned it!

Ed Brill kicked things off with yet another excellent turn (his blog is good too!) and then we listened to two customer cases (one of them my boss) which were illuminating.  It's good to hear what others are doing, especially when their company throws some resources behind the support team!

We then split into two streams, which normally means that my company miss out on tons of information as I am the only attendee, but this time we had it well covered.  Presentations were of good length, so there was a lot of information presented, and as usual were very interesting.  Took lots of notes and will be trying some stuff out today when I get into work.  If I get time (and am allowed) I'll tweet about it as I go along but will definitely post something on my work blog.

Looking forward now to the UK Lotus User Group meeting.

Back for a rest!

Well back from "holiday" in France. Was two weeks of hard work in the garden planting hedges all around the property. 127 bushes planted in that short space of time and with only 1 day off is pretty good going in my book.

Had to lay some "bache" or plastic sheeting first. It's 1.25m wide and 25m long so had to dig two shallow trenches lay the bache over them and then cover the edges back over, leaving a strip of plastic about a metre wide into which we planted the hedges.

Given that the perimeter is about 270m long this meant I had to dig 540m worth of trenches. Then we both layed the bache and covered it over. Some of the bache was laid narrower where we weren't bordering a neighbour, hence the flap shown above. This picture was taken while we were still planting but we did go around and trim off all the excess.

Hopefully when we go back next year the hedging will be about a metre high, although Claude, our non-english speaking neighbour and all round superman, tells us that some of them are very quick growers so we may have a big surprise waiting for us. He's a retired gardener so knows his stuff and is a font of knowledge on just about any practical subject. I think they turn their hands to just about everything in the french countryside.

It wisnae me

Sent a wee e-Mail round a number of folk at work berating them for leaving their PCs switched on for the last week.  Bear in mind here that I can see who is currently logged in and for how long and I still get the moan "it couldn't have been me, I wasn't here all week".  

Ah! so that means you've been running the PC for longer than the week then.  Come on, take the telling off on the chin and be a bit more environmentally aware.  When you have finished for the day and are going home, shutdown Windows and then switch off your monitor.  

Lack of planning

Due to others not planning ahead I'm now being held back in updating information that the rest of my company needs to see. Guess who will be getting the blame for this though, not the people who should have been passing me the data, oh no, the blame will land squarely at the feet of yours truly.

The thing that really annoys me though is that this constantly happens, we never seem to learn our lessons, despite me berating everyone every time this happens.

The long wait begins...

I've now handed in my written examination material and now begins the long wait until December before I find out the results of both this and the effect it has had on my overall mark.  I'm hopefull of getting a good mark and really only want to beat SHMBO's results from last year!  As long as I don't fail I will be happy though.

Enfin!

Just back from my French oral exam.  Think I did quite well actually, it wasn't as hard as I was expecting and everyone else that was in before me came out with a huge smile on their face, perhaps just relief but I think it was because they found it easier than they imagined too!

Got to wait until early December before I find out the result and I still have a written paper to send in by the end of this month.  Feeling fired up now though so not looking as onerous as it did earlier this morning.

Zut alors! French exam looming

Tomorrow I have my oral French exam. Not looking forward to it at all but c'est la vie, something I've got to do. Doing well in all my written assessments so far though with 84% being the lowest mark. This exam counts towards 25% of my overall mark so need to do as well as I can.