The Rockdragon’s Lair

I’ve been playing World of Warcraft almost every day for the last three and a half weeks. I’m now up to level 34 (and 23%). I meant to take a screen shot tonight but the server went down for maintenance before I got a chance. Here are a someof shots of Nathaira at slightly lower levels, at the start of my holiday.

I am bored. I am supposed to be writing an article for Synergy News about the VERT user group last week but I am really not in the mood. I think this is because my holidays are supposed to have started and I have so much work stuff to do. I just don’t feel motivated to do any of it. I am bored and my writing is boring. I don’t want to write reports. I want to write fun stuff. I don’t want to be using my brain at the moment. I want to:

• Empty the washing machine
• Make a cup of tea
• Phone mum and dad
• Do my accounts (told you I was bored)
• Take some photos with my dSLR (in storage)
• Install iTunes (what am I thinking!!!!!!!!!!)
• Play World of Warcraft
• Annoy the dog
• Annoy the husband
• Do some more to the Preparation for Practice website (another story, another day)
• Eat raw peas
• Anything apart from write this blasted article!!

How hard is it to crack a smile and be civil to someone? Is it difficult to be cheery to the person infront of you? The National Express staff in Norwich ticket office think it is. They find it much easier to be rude, insolent and uncommunicative. I have to draw a differentiative line here. It is only the ticket staff I’m talking about here, and some of the platform staff. I am not talking about the actual train crew, who, on the whole, couldn’t be nicer.

Why do we as consumers have to put up with rudeness from the staff who are there to serve us? Would they still have a job in America, or even one of the tourist resorts in Europe? I think not. They wouldn’t even get past the interview.
Take my ticket buying experience this morning. Two thirds of the “express” ticket machines were not working so the remaining one had a queue a mile long. I went into the ticket office and joined the “tickets for today” line Before too long this queue filled up and was snaking out the door - obviously the sole express machine had decided to go off with stress. Being in the today line at Norwich station means that there is a risk of being served by Rebecca so so there is a correlative risk of being sold the wrong ticket. She was busy being rude to the person infront of her so when the normal cashier became free I moved over to her kiosk, where she ignored me in favour of messing about with some papers. I don’t understand how people can be this belligerent to others. I simple look up and smile would have reassured me that she actually knew I was there. When she did dain to serve me she did so with a sneer on her face - ignore the customer = 10 points on the office “how badly can I behave before I get the sack” competition.

Seriously though. I’ve been thinking about this and why she and Rebecca feel the need to be so down right rude and irritating. I ‘ve seen (and still do see) similar mannerisms in hospital and GP receptionists. I think it may be because they take every little comment personally. They don’t see the bigger picture. The picture that includes all the situations that affect the customer, patient or service user. They only see themselves and their job. These are the two most important things in their life - naturally. When someone appears infront of them who has an external issue, and that’s external to the receptionist or customer service representative, they don’t even consider this. All they see is someone getting at them personally. While it may be commendable in the board room to say that your staff care so much about the company it doesn’t really help anyone. A funnel mechanism comes into play. At that one moment in time all of little interactions and stresses that have gone into the customer’s morning funnel down into the one person they are dealing with at that moment in time. On the opposite side of the desk all the previous interactions that the receptionist has had funnel down to the current customer. Bang! You have a collision of a hundred and one different interactions, thoughts and minor annoyances. Sparks will fly, or in the case of Rebecca and colleagues, sparks won’t fly because they would definitely get the sack then. They sit and stew.

Now, I’ll admit I am not totally blameless here. I was irritated because my bus was late and there was a queue for a ticket and I was putting my self at risk of being served by Rebecca but I considered myself to be friendly. I smiled. I’m not taking the blame for this thought. It was a two way intercourse… Actually it was one way. I was being ignored. What could I have done differently? Being conventional doesn’t work. Expecting them to be civil does not work. Smiling does not work when you are being ignored. I need to try something… Out there.

Maybe I should approach the desk and assertively smile and say “I know you have had a hard morning and people come in here and complain about the situations that are happening on the platform. I appreciate that it is not your personal fault, but is there any way you could sell me a ticket in a mature and polite fashion? After I’ve been sold the wrong ticket and had it thrown at me I will ponder this problem again.

I’ve joined the gym again and am really enjoying it.  One thing is bugging me though.  The only music they seem to play is ancient stuff which is 20+ years old!  I’d quite like to hear some new music, some modern music.  Something that I don’t know all the words to.  If I wanted to listen to Hits 3 or Now 5 then I’d put on the tape (we didn’t have CDs back then).  The music may be good to dance to, and I don’t deny that it is, but it is crap to work out to.  The beat is too slow.  Maybe the 20 year old personal trainers there think that anyone over the age of 30 isn’t capable of rowing or jogging or cycling to anything faster than… I don’t know.  It is all so bland then I can’t remember any of it!

De de de deee, de de de… De de de deee…, de de de. De de de deee, de de de, de de de, de de de, de de de….

Just watched Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. What a film! You know, that theme tune is one of the few bits of music that brings a smile to my face. Is it because it is a great piece of classical movie music or is it because Harrison Ford was extrememly cool and sexy in the film? Neither. I think it reminds me of happy times as a child. I was 11 when the film was released (1981) and I must have been about 12 or 13 by the time it came out on video. Those were the days when there was at least a year’s wait from cinema to video. It was actually one of the first videos we saw together as a family. The first was a cartoon version of Black Beauty and the second was Heidi. I think Indy was the third. We watched it all together then rewound it, then fast forwarded to the scene where the swordsman is showing off his skill, swirling his sabre in a skillful way. Indy just draws his gun and shoots him. All four of us just thought this was great and we had to see it again. In the years that followed Helen and I watched that film countless times. I can practically speak the script. Nick was amazed how much of it I knew.

The new Indy film is released here on the 22nd May. I’ve told my dear husband that I expect the full Odeon gallery works complete with glass of sauvignon blanc and nachos and popcorn (not all in the same glass). In return I’ve got to go and see Iron Man with him. That is no great hardship as Robert Downey Jr is in it and he was a top 80’s brat pack member.   Remember Wierd Science, Back to School, The Pick-up Artist, Less than Zero, Chances Are, Soap Dish etc. Then there was Air America in 1990 with Mel Gibson. All films typical of the 80’s when I was growing up.

The 80’s seem to be very fashionable at the moment. Strange since they are 20 years ago. But then is it so strange? In the 80’s the 60’s were cool. La Bamba was the film of the moment and the music of Buddy Holly and the Beach Boys were what we were listening to. I’m really not looking forward to the 2010’s if the music of the 90’s is going to be in fashion. It was mostly crap! Maybe those younger than me will beg to differ…

This might not seem strange as I am normally about to head out the door on my way to the station at this time, but today I am going to the gym.  I’ve rejoined Greens.  I always liked Greens, especially the swimming pool and steam room but unfortunatly working at the NNUH and laterly at University Campus Suffolk (UCS) has prevented me from having the energy to go to the gym in the evening.  It is hard to motivate yourself after you wake up from a train journey.  Now I am working from home three days a week I am intending on going in the morning, hence I’m up early when I don’t really need to be.

I really struggled to find a gym tee shirt to fit this morning and my leggings are decidedly less loose that they were when I bought them.  My work trousers are also a little tight.  I think I may have developed a bottom and hips.  My aim is to get rid of them a quickly as possible.  Not sure how I will go about this but hopefully one of the instructors will have some idea.

Right, less blogging and more getting started!

I’m on my way back to Scotland at the moment. Sitting on a train can be relaxing or hell. Today has been relaxing. I have had seats to my self on all three trains today. The bloke on his mobile and the one with the tinny ear phones were slightly irritating but they left us at Newcastle.
What is great about this train is the free wi-fi. Why can’t National Express East give us free wi-fi. It is the same company.
The other thing I don’t like about trains is the temperature. The companies seem incapable of heating them. I know there is a slight problem when the doors open but generally they are shut and a bit of hot air would be lovely.
Despite my complaints I do like travelling by train. You get to see parts of the country you would never normally see from a car. Tonight I have a west facing seat and have been watching he sun set. I prefer and east facing seat in the daylight on this route because I can see the wonderful view over the cliffs near the Scottish-English border, just about the location of Siccar Point. I must get there one day. Maybe if I don’t get to Hadrian’s wall I will do some home based field trips in Scotland. I could do Arthur’s seat too.
We’ve just stopped at Alnwick and I looked out the window and saw the conductor picking his nose!!! Someone should tell him he really shouldn’t do that when there is a huge train of people watching him! I think he saw me looking at him, I’ll have to be careful if he wants to check my ticket.
Anyway, back to trains and my journey. Only one more stop to go (Berwick upon Tweed) before Dunbar.
I can’t believe that there is still light in the sky here. I am sure it would be dark back in Norwich.
I’m running out of things to say now so I will sign off and post this, my last English post untill Monday.

I’ve been busy starting my VERT job for the last couple of weeks. For the last couple of days I have been trying to figure out ways of sharing my calendar and importing VERT only stuff into my SoR (Society of Radiographers) calendar. I use Outlook on both my PDA and main computer here at home, UCS (University Campus Suffolk) and SoR. All four are different versions which amazingly has not caused as many issues as I though it would, though I haven’t attached my new O2 Stellar (HTC TyTN II) yet.

• Home - Office 2007
• UCS - Office 2003
• SoR - Office 2003 but via terminal server
• iPaq PDA - WM5 (not sure what version of Mobile Office)
• Stellar - WM6 (not sure what version of Mobile Office)

Anyway I have sussed how to share just the categories I want. Microsoft (in its infinite wisdom) does not let users export appointments from individual categories. It is all categories or nothing. Not satisfied with this I did a bit of a search and found a macro that does just that. You follow the instructions to install it and then just select the categories you want to export to an iCal file. It may have been written in 2005 but it works just fine with Outlook 2007.

After exporting the appropriate categories I imported the file into a new calendar (I never even knew I could do this in Outlook!). I then had to publish the new calendar to the internet (right click the calendar and then click publish to internet) I picked publish to Office Online. This may be restricted to Office 2007 but I’m not sure. I followed the instructions logging in with my Windows Live u/n and p/w and hey presto, my calender was published. I then went back to Outlook. My online calendar appears there too. I now have three calendars. You can untick the ones you don’t want to see - the online one. Magically (ok, maybe not magically) when you make an alteration to your category calendar it synchronises to the online version. When you click share calendar and insert an email address Outlook sends a link to people you want to tell about your calendar. If they have Outlook 2007 it appears in their outlook if they pick the subscribe to this calendar option in the emial they receive (very handy for the husband).

Word of advice. Locate the link that your email recipients get sent and save it somewhere safe. It took me two days to find my online calendar again!

Things are starting to dry out now. We have a dehumidifier working for most of the time, and a huge fan moving the air around upstairs. The ceiling in our lovely newly decorated living room is still damp though. This is what the room should look like.

This is what it looks like now

We finished decorating our living room last Thursday and finaly got the 50″ TV all set up on Saturday. I have to say it looked brill.

Today I came down stairs to find water pouring through the living room ceiling! I have never seen so much water where there should be none. It was like a multitude of dirty little waterfalls. Of course my first thought was that something was leaking in the loft. Thankfully it wasn’t but instead it was the radiator in my room which had sprung a leak during the night, which was bad enough. After mild panic trying to find the water shut off I called the insurance helpline and then we waited for emergency help. Two hours later the plumber arrived and the loss adjuster called. Call me daft but I was expecting a speedier response.

The plumber shut off the radiator properly and the loss adjuster can’t visit until Tuesday afternoon. In the meantime we have no lights (water pouring through the living room light fitting probably means it is not a good idea to switch the electricity back on to that circuit).

While Nick mopped in the living room I started mopping the room upstairs and clearing the room. I must have soaked up liters of water out of the carpet. Next Nick started hacking the carpet to pieces. As soon as we lifted the majority of the carpet the water stopped dripping down stairs, well apart from the dripping light fitting. It didn’t stop dripping for some time.

All in all it has been a pretty crap day. I know I was supposed to be tidying up my office room in readiness for my new job and working from home but I didn’t really want to have to do it under crisis conditions.

Things are slightly drier now, though very dark. I suspect that it will take some time for the floorboards and what is under the floor boards to dry. I guess the saying is true, it never rains but it pours.