Last day at work

Yep, last day before Christmas. I'm off home to York tomorrow - depending on lifts!! And I'm taking my PC with me. Then it's Huddersfield from Boxing Day (Sally) and down to London by plane from Manchester - so decadent! yet cheaper than the train and way, way better than driving for five hours - to see Alex, Julian (and Jason??) as New Year tradition demands. I do have a lot of marking, but it's the feedback that takes time, not the marking itself. You know, trying to find something good to say about something at the rubbish end of the scale. Plus, at some point, I'll get to watch the second half of the Hogfather (Sky One). Long story...

So, while I'll be updating over Christmas, Seasons Greetings everyone. :)

The Good, the Bad, and nothing Ugly.

I have a lot of marking waiting for me again. 45 practicals (3,000 words) and 75 essays (1,500 words) to mark before 9th January. Pretty do-able I think, but I stress that I don't actually *want* to do this marking.

Still, on the upside, I paid too much tax 2005/6 and I've just had a chunky repayment. Nice one. :-)

Random comment about no buses for days, then three in a row. ;-)

Gareth's Blog is music-heavy - and rightly so! I very much enjoyed his You-Tubing of Imagine the other day so I thought I'd post something from the past. Who remembers this?

August 23rd, 2008

That's the date of Eddie and Yvonne's wedding so I'm told. By Sally. And she should know, as we were at Eddie and Yvonne's engagement party in Barrow on Saturday night and Eddie pointed out the church and told her so. That's a good week before my 35th birthday [see how I turned that post into something about me. Good eh? ;-)] Thanks to Mik and Karolina for the lift, btw. I very much enjoyed it, and funnily enough, it was my first time across the Humber Bridge in twenty years at least. Cue second fascinating fact of the day - that the stanchions of the bridge are four inches nearer each other at the top then they are at the bottom - purely due to the curvature of the Earth. More geeky facts later? Who can tell.

Anyhow, Hull actually looks somewhat stunning from several miles away. Across an estuary. At night. And only then, probably... ;-)

Christmas is coming!!

Er, is it??

It may just be me, but I'm not seeing many signs. I mean, lights are going up, Newland Avenue is looking suitably festive - or else, it would be, but the sun is hining, some trees even still have leaves, and winter seems just as far away as ever. It's mid-December, and it should be cold, wet, windy and horrible. But it isn't. How odd.

Side note: Did you know that while it's winter, we're closer to the sun that any other time of year. I discovered (though reading a book!) that it's colder not because we're tilting away form the Sun at this time of year, but that we're tilting *towards* it! The angle is such that light rays are being scattered across the northerm hemisphere and are reflecting/bouncing off. Just the kind of fact that does your head in. ;-)

The BPS are here

The BPS (British Psychology Society) are here today, assessing the course to see if we'r still worthy of their thumbs up - which, in the long run, means that everybody graduating with a degree in Psychology here at Hull will automatically gain "GBR", graduate basis of registration. That clear now? Excellent. ;-)

Seriously though, it's all hands to the pumps for collective positive chit-chat. I've just come back froma bit of lunch and a natter and it's an hour until we get our feedback about what's good, what's bad and who's ugly. I'm assuming it won't be me as while I was at the first meeting, no-one asked me anything!! I got to keep completely quiet. There were some good questions and some good answers though, so my hunch is that Hull will be able to keep on trucking.

Here as promised...

... is a picture of Eddie!! Maybe not *the* picture of Eddie, but definately a picture.

I'm pretty sure he'll hate this one, but what the hey. The man has got engaged however, so good luck to you, Sir!

Time for some sweet, sweet blogging

Lots has happened again, as always.

Perhaps the most important of which is that my friend Eddie has got himself engaged to Yvonne. Embarassing picture of the man to follow at some point... I was in Hudders again this weekend - with a not very nice cold either - though Sally and I got out to our usual restaurant and watched a few episodes of Alan Partridge.



"Aha!!" Note, this is *not* a picture of Eddie. ;-)

I actually felt sorry for him in this week's episode. That's quite something as he's supposed to be tow-curlingly awful, after all. I wonder if they'll ever do another series of him. Probably not, as Steve Coogan's gone off to do a different series with a different character - that wasn't as good.

A shame. Alan Partridge, you're sorely missed.

It's been a long time, stranger...

Yep, once again with the ages.

I have been *so* busy. I really have. I still have oodles of marking this weekend, and I'm getting a little fed up of it all. Still, all has to be in - ro rather back - very soon, so perhaps next week will be a lot better.

I still have this Higher Education Training course to go to every Wednesday afternoon - for three hours of fun and frolics - and one of these people is assessing my lecture this afternoon so I'm hoping it'll go well. Here's a random thought, though. The room we were sat in - a different one to the normal - had a big flipchart pad on a stand in the corner. It had "FLIPPY" written on it in huge letters. Weird, I thought. There the lecturer was, going on about the importance of feedback and such, and I was sat there imagining an Australian in cork-ridden hat and shorts standing next to the flipchart, with his hand to his eays saying: "What's that Flippy? There's been a room change and little Timmy has fallen down the well? Strewth!!"

Webmail

Hmmm....

My university e-mail isn't working. The good news: nobody else's is either. This means I cannot answer queries and I cannot contact others. I sense a coffee break coming on. :)

Heya

Heh.

I haven't updated in a little while, have I?

Well, I have had an excuse the last couple of days. Sally and I decided to take a long weekend so I went over to Huddersfield first thing Friday morning, and didn't get back to Hull first thing Wednesday morning. You should have seen my inbox. ;-)

Still, it was a good break. We even squeezed in a trip to Castle Bolton and an overnight stay in a lovely little hotel nearby - The Wensleydale Heifer. Sally managed to blag a much cheaper room that the advertised price since it was the Monday night and so we went, and we very much enjoyed it. Even the little waterfall just outrside the window. Bit of a hefty drive for Sally though, so we needed a hotel room if we were to stick to the plan, and it was good to get something decent-plus. Check out the rooms on the website. They're pretty good. It specialised in seafood too - not my usual thing, but they did it well.

Castle Bolton was good too. Right out on the hilltops, it must have been very cold in the olden days. Belonged to the Scropes, it did. Fabled for being decent sorts, much honour in battle and so on, *but* with a nasty habit of being on the wrong side in every conflict. War of the Roses: York. The Civil War: the King. And numerous other disagreements. The Scropes were on the losing side every time. :)

A history lesson

I got sent this today. I've seen it before, but it's a curious set of facts, so I thought I'd share them with everyone.

*LIFE IN THE 1500'S*

The next time you are washing your hands and complain because the water temperature isn't just how you like it, think about how things used to be. Here are some facts about the1500s:

Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May, and still smelled pretty good by June. However, they were starting to smell, so bride carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor. Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting married.

Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other elder sons and men, then the women and finally the children. Last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it. Hence the saying, Don't throw the baby out with the Bath water..

Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the cats and other small animals (mice, bugs) liv! ed in the roof. When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof. Hence the saying, It's raining cats and dogs.

There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could mess up your nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection. That's how canopy beds came into existence.

The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt. Hence the saying, Dirt poor. The wealthy had slate floors That would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they added more thresh until, when you opened the door, it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entranceway. Hence the saying a ...thresh hold.

(Getting quite an education, aren't you?)

In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while. Hence the rhyme, Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old..

Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special. When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It was a sign of wealth that a man could, bring home the bacon..

They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and chew the fat..

Those with money had plates made of ! pewter. Food with high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.

Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or the upper crust. Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky. The combination would sometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up. Hence the custom of holding a wake.

England is old and small and the locals started running out of places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a bone-house, and reuse the grave. When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive. So they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night (the "graveyard shift") to listen for the bell; thus, someone could be saved by the bell, or was considered a... dead ringer.

And that's the truth...Now , whoever said History was boring ! ! !

Four long weeks

This may amuse some of you (knowing my student days, though I stress that I did "work" during my PhD), but the last four weeks have been the busiest four weeks of my life. Even before then, I was quite busy. I've had 60 business days to get back to the journal regarding the requested changes to my paper, and I've barely even looked at it in the last two months, let alone do the work. I've still got supervisees to see, I have seminars to take, essays to hand out (and collect in and mark), and I've 200 statistics scripts to mark before Tuesday. But, there is light at the end of the tunnel. Right now, I've found time for a cup of tea - though I have no memory of removing the teabag that now isn't there - so things are looking up.

Jase's Blog has commented on my egg-dropping task. A few people have in fact. My workshop yesterday was great fun, with thirty students in six groups. Four eggs out of six landed intact with some cracking ideas. They were all given carrier bags with: cardboard, some string, two 3x5 cards, four rolled-up newspaper pages, a very small piece of jiffy paper, a rubber, sellotape, scissors and an envelope. [And as Jase pointed out in his Blog, they could use the carrier bag]. Some great ideas. One team spooled their package out of the window with oodles of sellotape, lowering it gently to the ground. My personal favourite - who says girls don't have engineering minds? - was a team of female students who suspended their egg with string, wrapped up inside and suspended from a small cardboard trapezium, wrapping *that* inside all the packaging. The most elegant by far. They were even naming their eggs - though Egwina came to a sticky end...

Now, I'm off to do it again this morning with a different set of students. :)

Time for a quick Blog

Ironic really, as I don't actually have all that much time. :)

But a quick word to prove I'm still alive. Plenty on, including a series of "Problem Solving" workshops that I'm giving to the first year. Their task, with a carrier bag of string, bits of newspaper and card - and the mighty sellotape - is to drop an egg out of a second story window, using their stuff to see if they can stop it breaking. Ought to be a laugh.

Well, I hope it will be!

Back to the Grindstone

Well then,

Fresh from a weekend with Sally, it's back to work and blogging. In my absence, North Korea have detonated a nuclear bomb, England sucked badly against Macedonia on Saturday, and there's something in the paper about the Royal Mail getting even worse than I thought possible. There's honestly a story about how in the early 1900s, there were 12 London deliveries a day and you could post a letter form work saying "I'll be home for tea" that would get there before you did. How the mighty have fallen. :)

Elsewhere, Sally's friend Leanne found this. Suffice to say, I can believe it. Still, there are mitigating excuses. Hull Local Education Authority is perhaps the worst in the county. Two years ago, there was a four page story in the local paper saying how wonderful it was that they were now fourth from bottom. Since then, they've slipped a bit...

Ho hum.

Big Day

Also, it's a big day today.

Curtains up as it's my first ever lecture. Well, not my first, I've given several "proper" ones and hundreds of large (100+) workshops, but it is my first lecture as module manager dictating what needs to be taught. So, I'm in charge as it were - ie. I'm responsible. So, from now, regularly, I can turn up to the lecture theatre at 3.15pm and talk to (at?) 190 undergraduate students about what the hell I like. ;-)

The rest of the time, I have to follow other people's instructions. Boo!

Cry for help (Battlestar related)

Hi guys,

A lonh time between blogs and I'm planning for two to come along at once... :-) But this first one is likely to be the most important of the two. Alas, I've had to cancel my Sky subscription as I've moved to a second floor flat. Outside the flat, between me and the Astra satellite are some gigantic trees that will block the signal unless I put a dish on my roof. Alas, it's not *my* roof so I'm not allowed. I'm currently investigating other options but with the added complicated of a Kingston Communication phone line - not a BT one - it's terrestrial TV for me at the moment. Now, I'm distraught at the prospect of not being able to see Battlestar Galactica Series 3. There is hope in that I can get someone else to record it - both Sally and my parents spring to mind - but I have no idea when it starts. Can someone tell me when Galactica Season Three is trasmitted on Sky so I can do something about it? I know that sneaky types can download episodes and watch them, but with my hearing, I need the subtitles - which can be recorded if watched through a Sky digibox. If anyone out there can offer assistance in allowing me to watch Galactica (w/subtitles) in any way whatsoever, I will be very, very grateful - and far less tense. ;-)

I'll make it worth your while!!

Public Speaking

At the risk of being unsensitive - me, unsensitive, with my reputation? ;-) - what with poor Jase finishing his job soon (see Blog for details), I thought I'd put up a few words today about how much I love my job. I certainly love the public speaking. Maybe it's the buzz that I get after a talk - I've had to talk to three audiences this morning of over a 100 people each (third year registration and first year induction twice - running between next-door lecture theatres) with annoucements and things at 20mins a pop - or maybe it's the fact that since they've all paid £3,000 to be here, that they're all looking so keen to learn. They certainly seem like an interested year this time round. So I've got a real buzz from this mornings work and I'm still on a high an hour or so later.

Alas, I've got a lecture that I have to sit in this afternoon, a two hour one about how to teach. Level Two now, since I'm a lecturer not a postgraduate tutor any more. It's ironic really as these teaching lectures are among the most boring ones I've ever sat. A few years ago - Level 1 - even had a lecture about font size.

"This is 12 font - can you see how hard it is to read?".

"This is 14 font. It's a little bigger isn't it? But still a bit hard to read."

"This is size 16 font..."

Arrggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! :-)

Another burning issue

Well, actually, not a burning issue at all. Quite the opposite. And not that much of an issue as if I really, really cared, I'd check myself, but I thought I'd take the lazy option and ask you guys. Plus, I can't really do this in my own fridge back at the house (And everyone was so helpful with the queries below).

But this morning, I discovered that my "office" milk had gone off several days earlier than it should have done. I blame the fridge we've got here for not being set high enough. So, my question: If fridge controls are labelled from 1 to 6, does turning it *up* - i.e. stronger, cooler - involve turning the controls to six (for more power) or to 1 (for less heat)?

See, if I really cared, I'd crank it up to six and check again later. ;-)

Your advice please

Two queries, people.

(1) I'm having to write the questions for the First year Pub Quiz. I do it every year, but quite frankly, it's hard to come up with questions that hit the right level. Suggestions please: serious questions that could tax - yet not flummux - 18 year olds. Two or three music questions wanted especially! (That's you Gareth).

(2) I like castles. They're great. Since Sally and I will be managing a bit of time off in a few weeks, we'd like to go see a castle. Preferably one that's not too far away from Huddersfield (so not Edinburgh Castle) and one that's an actual castle (so not Castle Howard - which is nice, but not a castle). I was thinking Nottingham castle. Anybody else have any suggestions??

Cheers in advance. :-)

Sons (and daughters) of Hull

The thing about this Blog is that I don't think it should be a diary, more a "what's on my mind at the moment" kind of thing. Good job really, as with the moving house business, my weekday life has been very full, yet boring recently!! Luckily, Sal and I have Huddersfield (and occassionally Hull) on the weekends - as you'll see on Sally's Myspace, we did manage to get a few drinks down us this weekend just past. :-) Since I've been quite busy lately getting the flat ship-shape, I haven't had the time to get worked up into my disgruntled-of-Hull frame of mind. There were some mentions of Hull in the news this week though. Hull doesn't have too many famous sons. You can count "The Beautiful South" - the drummer of which owns a lovely little restaurant just round the corner from me - but you're really left with Philip Larkin [the poet for those that don't know ;-)], Amy Johnston [the female flier], John Culshaw [yay!], John Prescott [boo!] and William Wilberforce. Oh, and Dave 'Devilfish' Ulliot, the professional poker player. The latter being a bit of a t*** to be honest.

Still, where was I? Ah yes, William Wilberforce. Here's a picture of the 102ft staute of him in the centre of Hull. They decided to light up earlier this month for the very first time - and they keep the lights on every night now. In March 2007 it will be 200 years since since the ‘Abolition of the Slave Trade’ Act. William Wilberforce, son of Hull, led a long and arduous campaign against the slave trade, resulting in the abolition bill in 1807. Since it'll soon be 200 years since we were the first country to abolish slavery - both in Britain and in the Empire at large - Hull is building up to quite the party. Great excuse for a piss-up if you ask me.

Argh, I'm so slack

It's been a funny week. One of those back and forth ones with a lot of activity, certainly a lot of leaving/returning to campus three times a day-ness, and I haven't really updated much - as you've surely noticed. I wouldn't mind so much if I'd got a lot done. Which I haven't.

But I thought I'd take the time to point out that I've linked to Sally's Blog, bizarre picture of my dozing on Sunday morning - or something like that - included. From earlier comments, looks like Jase tracked it down himself, but for the less tenacious among us, the link is to the right. :-)

Happy Weekend everybody!

A new Blogger

Plus, giving in the inevitable, Sally has a blog of her own now. I'll link us up once she's got the ball rolling - and if she wants me to. :-)

Too much to think about

Ah, lots to sort at the moment.

So much so: boiler, sky engineer, TOC, LTAC, SSC (don't ask), lectures, Fresher's Week, house jobs and so on, that when I came back from a lovely weekend at Sally's, I clambered out of the taxi with my bags - including bathroom shelf and bedroom ceiling lampshade - and I left my wallet behind.

Crap!

Next day, cancelled my cards only to have a generous soul - bit monosyllabillic but you can't have everything - ring the university to let me know he'd found it. I was able to go round to his place of work (a reception at a local hotel) and get it back. Shame about the fact that I don't have any bank cards until Friday, but you can't have everything, eh? But I did get my wallet back, and my Boots Advantage card and my Staff card and the odd rail ticket. Could have been far worse!

A YouTube experiment

After seeing YouTube videos on Jason's site (and Gareth's, I think), I thought I'd best get to work and figure it out myself. As it turns out, it's a doddle. Plus, I think this is quite cool - though it's a four minute long video. It's a bit of Buffy the Vampire Slayer mixed with the Fighter video from Christine Aguilara.

Very nicely done (by someone with too much time on their hands, I think).

Megatron is lame... Long live Starscream!!

Actually, Soundwave was my favourite by far, but I digress...

I know this PvP strip is a few days old, but it's a situation I've been in more and more since most of the people around me are resolutely eight-ten years younger than I am.

The postman doesn't knock, does he/she?

One of those silly little posts today.

I've moved house, I've got my broadband back and my telephone sorted. The less said about my struggles with the utility people, the better. ;-) Slowly, things are finding their place, boxes and being put away in cupbroards and even tesco.com will turn up early tomorrow with food for the shelves. One thought on my mind - save that I have no hot water until the boiler people get their act together later today/tomorrow.

How does the post get in? I have a post box. You get through the front door into a small lobby with the postboxes (mine is flat 7). Then another door into the hallway and the staircases, then up to the top - so I need three keys to get into the building and my flat itself. Now, the postman can't leave the post outside. He can't post in through the the letterbox as there isn't one (it's a security door thing). Yet the post gets inside and into my postbox - also requiring a key to take things out. Does someone let him in every morning? Or does he have keys - a huge *massive* keyring of keys for every such property down here?? (And there are a few) Or even more exictingly/bad, does he/she have a muggable master key? Most confusing...

Happy birthday to me (ish)

Well, as Jason pointed out in the previous comments, my birthday is on Friday. Thanks to Serena and Gareth for the birthday wishes. I came into this world at 9.40pm, September 1st, 1973 (Fussy Virgo, that's me). I thought I'd mention it today instead as I am midway into the "Great House Move" and my internet access is spotty at best. I'm in the office at the moment, to get a little work done between trips, but all I've managed to do is sort my inbox. My broadband is being moved my Kingston Communications (takes up to six days??) so no real internet connection for a while. I'll be in Huddersfield tomorrow - as my flat will still be a tip - but it anybody would like to have a drink in my honour at 9.40pm, knock yourself out. I can guarantee that I'll be having a drink at the same time. Let's get that dopamine flowing!!

Dopamine: "Dopamine appeared very early in the course of evolution and is involved in many functions that are essential for survival of the organism, such as motricity, attentiveness, motivation, learning, and memorization. But most of all, dopamine is a key element in identifying natural rewards for the organism. These natural stimuli such as food and water cause individuals to engage in approach behaviours. Dopamine is also involved in unconscious memorization of signs associated with these rewards."

Appropriate approach behaviour: reach for wine bottle. Bottoms up. ;-)

Unsung Landmarks

The BBC (website magazine) is having a vote on Britain's unsung landmarks. The final eight are here.

"What's an unsung landmark?: For every classic, tourist-friendly landmark, such as the London Eye, Big Ben, Liverpool's Liver Building, Stonehenge or Edinburgh Castle, there are dozens of lesser-known but equally loved notable buildings and structures across the UK. But rarely, if ever, do these figure in tourist brochures or Richard Curtis films - their fan base tends to be among locals, rather than foreign travellers or out-of-towners."

So, on behalf of Hullonians everywhere - yep, Hullonians is the proper word even though I still stress that I'm from York - I urge you to go to the site and vote for the Humber Bridge. (Number 8). I pass it every week on my way to/from Sally's and it's striking thing to see.

Thundercats are... crap.

Whoa! After finding a link on an unrelated site, I came across news of this travesty. A true horror story for all Thundercats fans of yore. Still, the good news is that the page lets you play the original credits in a video file. Ah, memories. :-)

IKEA

As some of you will know, I'm moving house next Tuesday. Well, collecting the keys at least. Since I'm going up in the world, I'm moving away from the world of the partially-furnished student hovel to a fashionable - unfurnished - Avenues pad [The Avenues being the snazzy part of Hull near all the good restaurants and the ice-cool, too-expensive-for-students bars]. So, short of furniture, it was off to Ikea (Leeds) yesterday. Now it's a good hour drive for us (my flatmate Dave and myself), but I still wasn't expecting to set off at 1.30pm and not get home until 9.45pm at night. It's bloody huge, utterly soul-destroying and with most things I wanted being out of stock. Still I bought a wardrobe (and a new not-IKEA bed in Hull this morning). Overall, I'd put my first shopping experience of IKEA - note, I've been before but not buying - in the negative. As Dave said "We can buy great big pictures of Audrey Hepburn for our living room walls, but no chairs to sit on". (And no, we didn't buy any pictures of Audrey Hepburn). :-)

British Industry

Something in the paper again today about the decline of British (Manufacturing) Industry. Did you know that there are 10,000 shipbuilders in the country, along with 9,000 building and cilvil engeering technicians and over 209,000 software professionals?? Seems like a lot to me - but come to think of it, I'm sure that most of you reading this are software professionals!! :-)

"Christ - it's my Father!"

Well, it looks like Jason is running out of steam on his Blog - though I'm sure he won't mind me saying so. However, never let it me said that I'll run out of random rubbish to entertain/bore you with. Plenty more left here. ;-)

As it turns out, when I was born, my Mum thought I was the spitting image of her. About an hour later, she'd decided that I looked more like my father. And some time after that, when Dad had come from work, he rushed in, saw the very young me for the first time and uttered the immortal phrase "Christ - it's my father!" I went back to York Tuesday/Wednesday for a quick break and being at home reminded me of this. I was just struck by the idea that when it comes to faces, different people are struck by and notice different things in the same face at different times, dependent on a whole host of other factors. Might be the psychologist in me, but I think it's all very interesting.

Plus, I get to say "Gestalt". ;-)

Fantasy Football

Oh, and on something entirely unrelated - probably for the best as it's not going to be a cheery sort of day (see below) - I've joined the Daily Mail fantasy football league. Which is free. If you fancy your chances against my "Caffeine Addicts" team this season, try:

http://fantasyleague.mailonline.co.uk/

There's money to be won (£50,000 in fact).

Terror Threat

Looks like MI5 have stopped another terror attack, and if the BBC has got the right details (as of 9am) it looks like a grand total of ten (TEN!) planes were in danger. For some reason, this is spurring me into a rant. I can grasp/understand us being in Afganistan, even if British soldiers are outnumbered and under-equipped for the task (and as such dying, possibly needlessly, due to overstretch); as the Taliban were major sponsors of terrorism, kept Bin laden safe, and were growing opium out of their eyeballs. (Out of interest, what is the stance of Sharia law on class A drugs??) But Iraq? We should never have been there. (I've always said so). There were never any weapons so I don't understand the reasons behind the invasion - and anyone can surely see that it is simply a running sore that is inflaming Arab and Muslim opinion against the West. The only justification was that Saddam was "bad", a pointless arguement as no-one can convince me that more people were dying daily under his regime than are dying daily now. He was bad - and mad - but he kept a secular lid on things and that's what Realpolitik is all about. Less of the white hat, black hat crap. And as a direct result of Iraq (and our slavish toeing of the US line over the Israeli/Lebanon crisis), we might as well paint a great big target on every British Airways flight and London landmark.

Ooooh, I'm furious.

Large Institutions

Thanks to my "promotion", I'm now a module manager. What this has meant is that I need to get access to some of the interactive computer stuff - namely "Blackboard" - and this requires passwords and what-not. The departmental IT guy sent me to the Computer Centre who, in turn, sent me to e-learning. Now, campus is pretty big. In fact, the University is the largest employer in Hull - a city of 300,000 people - and even pointed to the right building, it took ages to find it this morning. No-one knew where their office was and when I found it, I was stunned to have stumbled into the worst-signposted, most cunningly-hidden offices I've seen in my life so far. And then, as things would have it, I should have been told by the Computer Centre to send them an e-mail. So I was quickly pushed back out the door again with an e-mail address to write to once I got back to the office. Two hours later - no reply. Tsk!

Anybody else out there work in a big, big company?? (Or institution).

New job

Oh, and I had a job interview on Monday. Didn't mention it as didn't want to jinx it... Anyhow, I've finally escaped those four-month contracts. I am now offically a "Lecturer" here at Hull (rather than Teaching Assistant) with a hoist up the pay scale, modules to manage and my very own office - no more sharing. A two-year contract. I'm really chuffed!!

Never say I don't respond to my comments! ;-)

Ok, Ok, I admit it. This is just an opportunity to prove that not all photos of me are bad (see comments section to previous post). This was taken last weekend when fresh from Reading Sally and I hit Scarborough - and rode along the sea front on an open top - rip-off(!) - bus.

Reading and back - the evidence

Just to repeat myself... I'm back. ;-)



Seriously though, this Blog was born about the time of the last PsyPAG conference. I was reading through the abstracts and noticed some research on the "Glass Cliff" phenomenon and lo, this Blog was born. To celebrate that fact, a gratuitously pointless photograph of me in Reading...

Tuesday is Yorkshire day.

It is, it really is. Check this out.

You know, on t'internet. ;-)

I'm back!

Yep.

Not that exciting I know as I'm sat in the office and all my pictures and what-not are on my PC at home - so don't expect too much today either! - but we should be updating again shortly. Failing that, there's always something to moan about. For example, my office has been switched around. I've come back to find that my books are all out of order, my blinds have been fiddled with and my tea making facitilties have been hit. Coffee has moved. Sugar has moved. Spoon is missing.

There is no spoon!!

Out to lunch

Sorry folks, away at conference (in Reading) until next week. Normal service will be resumed on Monday. :)

Free stuff

Plus, I've got hold of a few more free books. One of the old lecturers in the department is retiring - though to tell you the truth, he hasn't been in psychology for years now, as he was a big cheese in the Faculty (i.e. upstairs in the literal sense). Still, it does mean that he's had an office full of books to get rid of so they were bought over here and dumped in one of the rooms downstairs. We're all been swarming over them and I've managed to get my hands on "Human Memory - Theory and Practice", a "Cognitive Psychology" text book, and a "Biological Psychology" text book. I'll probably never read them but like all lecturers, I crave books to fill up my shelf space and make my office look more impressive. :-)

Brine is thicker than blood

Of interest to me is the news in the paper that we - the British - are genetically identical to the Germans, or at least, those Germans from Friesland, Holstein and Jutland. Still, the concept of a "people" is more than just flesh or blood. The difference, it seems, is due to the geographical fact of us being seperated from Europe, and as such, we've avoided the otherwise certain conquests by Philip II of Spain, Louis XIV of France, Napoleon and Hitler. Whereas we've gone 940 years without being succesfully invaded, the French have had five republics, two empires, two monarchies and three occupations since 1789. The Germans have had two republics, a monarchy, an empire, a dictatorship and two occupations. Spain has had three monarchies, two occupations, a dictatorship, two republics and a civil war. And so on. In return, we've had one monarchy. 21 miles of English Channel, we thank you. :-)

On another note, I was out for a few drinks last night at "Sleepers", one of the new wave of trendy pubs hitting Hull. In case you're thinking that I'm being a bit patriotic in the first paragraph, I'd like to point out that you can't beat a Czech lager. Or three...

Hottest day ever?

According to my Tory Rag (The Mail), today *could* be the hottest day on record, with temperatures hitting 102f (39c) in the South-East... Thank God I live in the North-East. (Note: Roll on September). Still, it's 5-a-side football today. It's hot, and we had a possible "Chair" (an academic one, not a four-legged one) give a presentation at 1.30pm, so it got set back until 4pm. Imagine my distress on reading this in the paper:

-----
"The day is usally warmest not at noon, as many might think, but at around 4pm. This is when buildings and the ground, which have been warmed all day in the sun, are radiating heat back into the atmosphere."
-----

Bugger.

Still, all is not bad news. Important alcohol-related facts are evident. Whilst a cold beer will reach bathwater temperature in 15mins at 100f, chilled white wine will be undrinkable in ten minutes. [Ice cubes are recommended. :-)]

Perils of an open microphone

Taken from the BBC news website:

-----
Forget prime minister, Mr Blair, or even plain old Tony. The new way to address the prime minister, we learn, is "Yo Blair". That at least is how George Bush greets the PM in private, according to unguarded remarks they both made in front of an open G8 microphone.

We also learn how Mr Blair refers to international commerce as "this trade thingy".

And there was some strong language used as well. The US president apparently believes the Middle East conflict could be ended if only pressure were put on Syria "to get Hezbollah to stop doing this shit".
-----

Since Jason also mentioned the whole Israel vs Hezbollah in Lebanon thing, I thought I would, even if only to discuss the above perils of nattering away in front of activated microphones. Is it just me annoyed to find that the leader of my country is referred to as "Blair" - as in "Yo Blair!" - by George Bush. Adds a certain hierarchy, doesn't it? I mean, if I was at a conference and my head of department, sprawled across a chair, called me over with a "Yo Jackson!", I'd be miffed. Having said that, I didn't mind the "trade thingy" at all, as it makes Tony sound a bit human - rare for someone tucked away in the Downing Street bunker for nine years - and Geroge Bush was actually talking a little bit of sense there too.

But "Yo Blair"? Grrrrr.

Aha. Found it. Just click on the video.

An in-joke

'Nuff said. :-)

My continuing quest...

It doesn't sound like much but I've been on a mission these past two weeks to get my Staff card updated. Like many places, you need your staff card to swipe your way into the library and the teaching labs. Fact is, mine has never worked since I got a new one and I've always knocked on the door and had students let me in - but enough is enough, eh? While taking some students around on an Open Day, and not getting into the library *again* (I rarely go btw, as I request stuff from document supply or get it electronically), I asked "Why doesn't my card WORK?". Turns out, it had a number missing, and that the barcode thus didn't match. After the hassle of making it, it turns out that I had 599765 underneath, not 599765-1. So, I went over to Admin - far far away across campus - and got a new one. I also asked if I could get it changed from Mr James Jackson to Dr James Jackson - well, you would if you had the opportunity, surely? No, oh no, we can't do that - they said. Why not? Well, this was University Human Resources, not Faculty Human Resources. Only they were allowed. Anyone can change it, but only Applied Science and Technology Human Resources were allowed to do so for me. So off I went - all the way across campus. Now, I actually know these people, so I asked to be upgraded on the system. Of course, they said. I remember you handing your completed PhD in. Well done. Do you have any proof? But you know I passed! Yes, but we need proof... So I stomped back to the department. Find PhD, photocopy PhD, get it signed by Head of Department - took a while to find him - and then back to Faculty. Updated, yay! Can I get my new card now? No, sorry. It takes 24hrs for the system to be updated, you'll have to wait.

So bugger that, I left it for a week. I went this morning (back to University Admin all the way across campus). Guess what? This very morning, they're moving the card generation/printing software to another server so it can't be done. "Can you come back tomorrow??"

Argh!!

Hmmm...

I have to admit, I'm curious as to what Materazzi said to annoy Zidane so. From a peek on the BBC website this morning, it was "something very serious". Wash your mouth out with soap and water, that man!!

Today's most pointless e-mail (so far)

Dear James Jackson ,

Your O2 bill for 06/07/06 is ready for you to view online. The balance on your account shows that you do not owe us any money. You need take no further action.

Doctor Gear - or is that Top Who?

Try as I might, I can't get these photographs to stand side by side. Blogger just doesn't seem to let me...

Still, as Doctor Who draws to it's season climax, is it just me, or do David Tennant (Doctor Who) and Richard Hammond (Top Gear/Brainiac) look *slightly* similar?? Sally says no, but then she would as she fancies the former, but not the latter. ;-) Still, I maintain that if you grew Richard Hammond another foot (of height), and added some better teeth, then there you are: a Time Lord!! Thoughts anyone??

And no, I have no idea who is standing next to David Tennant... - I mean Richard Hammond - in the second photo. Best one I could scrape up from Google Images. :-)

And so it ends...

Yep, England's World Cup dream is over in typical fashion. An average start, Wayne Rooney skillfully running past three defenders in a moment of brilliance, shortly before being sent off. Half of the second half and extra time spent defiantly holding on while a man down, and then losing on penalties. England through and through, eh? No-one ever said that watching England play was easy... Still, Doctor Who was on aferwards and we had cybermen and daleks in the same episode. :-)

Let's put things in perspective though. It's only a game, however much we were all swept up in it. July 1st was also the anniversary of the first day of the Battle of the Somme (1916). The blooidest day in the history of the British Army. 20,000 men killed in a single morning as they went "over the top". My grandfather was almost one of them, as he was shot as well. In fact, when he staggered back to the starting trenches, he had to hold his bloodied hands high above his head so that the Military Police would see he actually *was* wounded, and not shoot him out of hand for cowardice. (He went on to be shot twice more in the war, but survived into a grand old age, passing away in the mid/late seventies, a few years after I was born). Getting knocked out of the World Cup or fighting in the Battle of the Somme? I know which I'd pick.

Day One

Well, I've come back to York.

And importantly, went to the hospital this morning for a hearing aid fitting. Firstly, aren't hospitals big places?? Secondly, upon the fitting and leaving the soundproof room - it's was WEIRD!! These new hearing aids are six years more advanced than my old ones. And as important, they're also brand new. I don't know quite what I was expecting from them, but everything is radically different already. Don't forget, I lost my hearing when I was 17-18, and that was a good 15 years ago. Suddenly - yet again - I have to adapt to noises I haven't heard in all that time. Apparently, it's going to take a month or two to adapt to the new aids, but the good news is that they will be a lot better.

I am hearing so much more. There are now sounds within sounds, if that's the best way to describe something so subjective. I'm not hearing much that I didn't hear before, but all these sounds are suddenly more complex, and more rich/lilting. When I left the hospital and was out in the street, I was pretty disoriented as I was hearing more traffic noises than I have in years. It was confusing and hard to judge what was what and where it was coming from. But I'm going to get better and better. Plus, these things have a Mode 2 for noisy environments. Note to self: must try the pub tonight. ;-)

Commonalities

Definately a football-less Blog today as I'm being drained by the stress of the whole thing. I wonder what it'll be like if you were actually *playing*? Anyway, it's a lovely sunny day. I'm beginning to figure out the nuances of my new mobile phone, and it's pay day soon!!

Today, I'm reading journals about chronic pain. *Cheery stuff!* Or more accurately, about cold pressor tasks. Those ones where you have to keep your hand in a bucket of cold water (0.5c) for as long as you can, while pain tolerance (in seconds) and pain intensity (on some sort of scale) are measured. It's not quite my area, but I'm looking for a journal or a paper that supports the arguement in mine: simply that while a task can distract you from the feeling of pain (read: tinnitus), it works both ways - that pain (read: tinnitus) can distract you from the task at hand. And pain is linked very strongly and has many commonalities with tinnitus. It sounds obvious - but without a reference, I can't say it in my paper. :-(

England 1 - Ecuador 0

Oh my giddy aunt...

What is it about England matches? You look forward to them (as I did) and then once they're about to start, you dread them (like I did). I think The Times summed it up best:

"Without Beckham's strike, England would have gone out, and the World Cup would have been written off as a disaster. With it, England go lurching on, like the clown car at the circus, with elliptical wheels, lopsided frame, and a tendancy to shed bits of itself with loud explosions as it keeps on going."

Stolen toffee apples

I know it's the next England match tonight (verses Sweden - 8pm), but I thought I'd leave the football talk until the great victory/horrible defeat aftermath tomorrow. Sally was in Hull this weekend rather than me heading over to Huddersfield, so we went to Beverley for the heck of it. We also saw "The Omen". Quite good actually. It stays loyal to the original, and as you'd expect from the director of one of the Final Destination films, there are some *unlikely* deaths. But fair's fair - the little boy was rubbish. I mean, there I was, fervently trying imerse myself in the story and believe that this kid was the Anti-Christ, and he was being played by a young boy looking like someone had taken away his toffee apple. Couldn't take him very seriously, and Sally kept giggling whenever he glared at anyone. Still, very slick production and worth a laugh/fright.

Oh bugger. My printer (office) is out of ink again.

England 2 - Trinidad and Tobago 0

Oh, that game was awful.

I think England can lay claim to be the worst team to have won every game in the tournament so far. We may have qualified, but unless we get better, we're going home early!!

I'm also badly hungover. :-)

27 degrees and rising

Apparently, for every degree over 27 celsius, the number of incidents of violence doubles. It's not quite the same, and I certainly didn't attack anyone, but I was extremely hacked off with O2 (the mobile phone company) yesterday. After three years of decent service, I asked them for a PAC yesterday - not sure of, and not particularly bothered by what it stands for ;-) - in order to take my mobile number with me now that I'm transferring to Orange. Well, looks like the Call Centre people are under instructions to keep business through the hard sell. First of all, the guy wouldn't accept that I wanted to change firm. Secondly, he wouldn't accept that I wanted an older phone (a Nokia 8622 which is the upgraded version of my old and now fading phone) on the grounds that it was an older mobile. That may be Sunshine, but it's a *new* older phone and works just like my last one, save that it has a camera. He then started going on about how I should wait for the next new model coming out in a few months, though he couldn't give me a date. No, I said, I want to change now. He also asked about the deal I would be getting (roughly the same as the one I'm on now). He said I could have 750mins of talktime per month for £30. I said I'm deaf and can't use a mobile to speak on. He says he'll give me 750 texts per month for the same - I currently pay £25 for 600. I said I don't need the extra texts, if anything , I want to waste less money. I may have misheard but he then offered me the same deal for £5 less. (a) That's insulting as he was treating me like a gullible idiot a few seconds before and because I wasn't having any of it, he was now attempting to get on my good side; and (b) he wasn't grasping the whole "I want a phone; you don't stock it; therefore I'm leaving" angle. Lots of too-ing ang fro-ing, the long and short of it being that I had to spend 35mins on this phone call, mainly on hold as he sought advice at his end on ways to make me stay *while I was sat in the sweltering heat of my office*, with him treating me like a wally for not wanting a brand new, top of the line phone with gadgets and flashing lights that I didn't want. All to get that code number so I could happily leave. Note: no address on their website or way of contacting them to leave an O2 contract so you have to put up with this crap.

Quite frankly, I'll never use O2 again. They suck.

Rant off. :-)

Australia 3 Japan 1; Hull *too warm*

Ouch. I was lucky enough to catch the last 30mins of this game on one of the big lecture theatre projectors. We were erm... testing it. Japan played well, I think, but lost out. With ten minutes to go, they were 1-0 up. Elsewhere, it's *hot* today. My office is roasting - so a good excuse to go test the projector. Caught the slightest edge of a rainstorm in Huddersfield early this morning, but once on the train, no sign of it. On a random website:

Hull: Partly Cloudy; 28°C; Feels Like 30°C

Feels like 30°C?? - that's humidity, I'm guessing? Tonight - a thunderstorm. :-)

Double take

Dear me, I almost completely mis-read a sign this morning. It was a local newspaper board outside a nearby newsagents. The sign read: Jobs blow for Jackson's staff.

Strike Over - back to normal again

Yay, the lecturer strike is over. The AUT (soon to be the UCU) has decided to ballot it's members on a 13.1% increase.

The increases agreed as a result of these negotiations are as follows:

* August 2006 greater of 3% or £515
* February 2007 1%
* August 2007 3%
* May 2008 greater of 3% or £420
* October 2008 greater of 2.5% or RPI (as at September 2008)

Always thought it would be. I mean, who'd notice lecturers being on strike in the Summer? :-)

So what are our chances?

The World Cup is getting nearer and nearer. And as such, I've discovered another advantage to being a Teaching Fellow at a University. Our HoD (Head of Dept) is a sporty man, and as should, has asked (ordered?) the technicians to link the lecture room projectors to the TV for the football to come. Nice one.

The papers today are full of Wayne Rooney, or rather, news of his rapidly healing foot. The Mail calls it a "Metatarsal Miracle". For some reason I'm actually starting to believe we can win - but I think that's more an effect of reading it/being told it by others. But it'll be a hard slog even if we do. And even though we beat Jamaica 6-0 on Saturday, we can't take too much to heart. In all fairness, Jamaica weren't all that good. We may have fired six goals past them, but they're a team so disorganised, their management could only rustle up three clean towels for their last friendly - and Sven and Co. seem to think they're now masters of Planet Football. [Alex may have read the same article as me as we're both Daily Mail readers]. Still, we have faith - faith being the voice in your head telling you to listen to the voice in your head. :-)

Surnames

There's an article in my newspaper today about surnames, or rather, about distribution of surnames. Have a look here to see where people with your surname live (in the UK). If you have a look at "Jackson", you'll see we're mainly gathered in Yorkshire (and the NW). Sounds about right - even though most of my father's family is down in Nottingham these days. Apparently, there are 102,037 Jacksons in the UK - or there were in 1998. However, I can get round that by saying that my name is "popular", not "common"! There are (or again, were) 559 men out there with Jackson as their forename. As a first name, rather posh, it seems. Pointless research? Possibly, but it's an excuse to look at maps. I like looking at maps...

PS. Hugo wins, Sally. There are only 446 of you out there. Watch yourself though. We outnumber you 229-to-1. ;-)

Some work

Got a work task today. I was ordered to put together the departmental sweepstake. With a massive £32 in the offing, I've ended up (witnesses present) with Holland. Could have been worse. Poland and the USA have also gone. Also played football again today. Was referred to as "Chopper" Jackson at one point. That's for the tackling, btw. Not the tackle. ;-)

PS. Have just noticed that I'm now a link on not only Jason's Blog, but also the Ayers Family Blog (the continuing adventures of Lauren, Serena & Jason). As such, here's a brand new link. -->

ITEs

Took most of last Wednesday off - as I had a hospital appointment in York at 9.45am the next day and it seemed a good excuse to wander off early and see the parents. Appointment went well. My hearing isn't good - as we all know! - but it hasn't got any worse either. Even better, I'm going to get some new digital hearing aids (RRP £1,7000 each) on the NHS, the downshot being that I'll have to wait 3-4 months for the fitting. But this is great as they're ITE (in the ear) and I thought NHS ones would have to be theose horrible behind-the-ear ones - and that I would have had to go private (again) and pay through the nose for ITE. So, Thursday was good. Sally had a job interview in Leeds on Friday morning so I joined her there straight afterwards - fingers remain crossed - before we went back to Huddesfield for the weekend (and Spring Bank Holiday). So, barring a little bit of work on Wednesday morning, I haven't worked at all from Wednesday 24th May-Tuesday 30th May. Now that's pretty good - or pretty bad, considering. Even better, I've had my contract extended. I thought I would be out of a job come end of this month, but I've had a stay of execution until end of July. Two whole extra months.

Hull it is. Still. And if this lecturer strike continues, I'll get more work still. :-)

Thunderstorms: Fun or scary?

Didn't get the York St John job, but no worries. Hull plans are - hopefully - afoot. What is certain, is that it's raining outside. Proper rain. One of those "working at your desk and seeing the room darken before your very eyes" storms. I keep reading in the papers about hosepipe bans further south. Not a chance up here... Hey, Hey - thunder. :-)

Marking mountain climbed (stopping for whinge at top)

Phew! I'm pleased to report that I've finished the marking. Just now. It's a real shame that 12.08pm on a Friday isn't the best time to start something new. Besides, I'm off the Huddersfield later to see Sally, so I suppose I'll slack a bit, rattle off some e-mails and have a long lunch. There's plenty to do, of course. But nothing in the "sort in thirty minutes/hour " category. Haven't heard back from York St John, but no worries there: (a) I can easily convince myself I didn't actually want it; and (b), plenty more options left. What I am going to do, is have a whinge about something else. :-)

Battlestar Galactica (the modern re-make). I'm a fan, most of you will know that. But the last in the series - I think - was on this week. 90mins worth. So I sat down to enjoy it (at home in York, the perfect distraction the night before my interview) and, same as last week, Sky didn't have subtitles showing on the programme. In fact, there were subtitles running in the adverts, but not the programme itself. This is starting to happen more and more now and it's hacking me off. (Not just my digibox, but my parents and at friends). My hearing isn't that bad, but I do need the subtitles as a guide to trick myself into thinking I can hear the dialogue. I can also relax, which is what I want to do in front of the telly, not strain every fibre of my being to catch things. Now, it ended on a bit of a cliffhanger, so I wanted to hear what was going on - not guess from the bits of it I did hear. So last night, I watched the repeat on Sky Two. And guess what? No bloody subtitles. I tell you, I'm actually *compaining* to Sky. "Disgruntled of Hull" and all that. It's not fair. And having the advertisement subtitles working normally was just a slap in the face. I'm not one to normally go on about my hearing loss (I hope), but this time I'm so frustrated, it's untrue.

Lazy Sky *%$£"&%!!

So much to do

Has to be a short one as I've a train to catch to York (lectureship interview at York St John tomorrow), but just a quick Blog to complain about all my marking. There's loads. And I mean *loads* - as you can see - and it's all due back by Friday. More on that tomorrow.

Linkage

Something for you Star Wars fans out there. And I'm assuming that most people reading this are Star Wars fans, btw. Mik sent me this and I couldn't resist the urge to share it with you here. Let me know what you think. :-)

It's a funny old game

Played football again yesterday, too. Some people came and went during the hour, but we were managing a stable six-a-side, all skill levels, all fitness levels. Psychology vs. Sports Science/Sports Centre Admin. I don't think I did too badly this time. As it turns out, I can do a mean sliding tackle. I'm not too hot with the ball itself, but I'm more a hang back, pass sideways option for the old one-two. Besides, I simply don't have the fitness to run forwards and backwards all game. Up just past the halfway line, yes. But not all the way! Dave can, and a few of the others, but I have to content myself with right back/midfield. Funny really as at one point, I found myself up on the left. Got a great pass threaded through to me, just ahead of my feet. Got to it, half-controlled it, then suddenly realised I was on the opposite side to normal and was struggling with a daft urge to cross it left and off the pitch, rather than right towards goal (old right-back habits die hard). In that split second of confusion, I paused, shifted my weight onto the *side* of my right foot, stumbled and fell over. Fantastic!! ;-)

It's away

Yep, it's on it's way. What, you may ask. Well, I can announce that after six months of working on it - or rather six months of working on it when I haven't been given anything else to do - I've finally sent off my paper to the Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research. So now I wait for it to be peer-reviewed, rubbished, and sent back. :-)

Seriously, I hope it gets accepted or even accepted on proviso of certain changes being made. I gather that 65% of journal articles are rejected straight off the bat, and right now, academics are at the end of the RAE cycle. (Every few years, your journal articles are counted as proof of your - lack of - research activity). That means that HUGE numbers of lecturers are desperately trying to get their papers published before the next deadline - they come round every four years. Then three years of bugger all, then one year of desperate activity, then... Well, you get the idea. Human nature, isn't it? If you're *really* interested - and I rather doubt it - I can email you a copy, either word document or pdf. (Before some anonymous reviewer gets hold of it and makes me change everything!)

Lack of lack of things leaping out at me

I was about to say that no Blog topic was leaping out at me for today, but that's not quite true. Something did. Dave got back from his weekend earlier. I got back from mine last night (more on that in a little bit), so we were just catching up, chatting away in the office. Not quite sure how long IT was there, but while we were talking, we were suddenly aware of a *HUGE* wasp on Dave's knee. It's a small office too, so Dave and I were scrambling out of the room at speed. Given a little composure, we came back in and killed the little bugger with a rolled-up newspaper and gave it the burial at sea (down the toilet) it probably didn't deserve. Then I remembered, like I do every year and then forget again, that wasps float. Three flushes it took. Three.

Anyway, my weekend. I'll have to rustle up some pictures and ramble on in a way no-one cares (no comments please, I'll just delete them. lol) about Memory Lane at some point, but for now, it's just enough to say that Sally and I celebrated a year together by spending the weekend at a hotel near my old school in York. We're also fiercely resisting becoming some sort of God-awful "Jally" couple. ;-) Whether we'll succeed, only time will tell. However, I can tell you that we concur on one thing at least. Champagne cocktails are great!!

Kean, George and Mini-Eggs

Hey thanks Kean - saw your comment on one of the previous Blogs. I hope you're well, wherever you are (India is my best guess at the moment). [And fellow travellers]. Myself? I am knackered after a sprightly game of 7-a-side football out on the sports pitches. Beautiful weather today so had a great little run-around. I'm not as fit as I was, mind you - some lean, running-machine types (i.e Dave) were sprinting away and leaving me two yards adrift. I also ran out of steam *a bit* towards the end, but not as shabby as I feared. Still, I've not got the frame of mind to write something interesting and thought-provoking, so I thought I'd pass this on for all you George Bush fans out there. Clicky.

PS. Stats exam tomorrow --> Students banging on my door today. Some of them even bought me a free bag of Cadbury's Mini Eggs for my trouble. Nice one. :-)

Faffing about

I've removed The Armstrongs link as: (a) the show has finished and I've lost interest (b) he doesn't stop talking about one specific rock band, and (c) swearing constantly is only so amusing. :-)

I've also added a byline to the Blog title. Jason (and Serena on the Ayers Family Blog) have done it and snazzy it looks too. There is no escape from the Glass Box. See first ever entry for explanation - if you're bothered, that is...

Specsavers... we have a problem

Went to the opticians today. Kind of a saga in itself. Part of my contact lens deal is that I have a contact lens check very so often, and a proper sight test every two years or so. In the past month, I've started to get very *aggressive* letters from Specsavers to let me know that: (a) a sight test is needed; and (b) that unless I go, they'll stop sending me contact lenses. Now, me being me, I filed those letters under "must sort out" and promptly forgot every day when I left the house - only remembering again that evening that it still needed sorting. Anyhow, after much faffing, and three separate cancellations due to other commitments, I actually went today.

Sight test was great. Men "my age" tend to have very stable eyesight, said bloke A. And he was right, it hadn't changed at all in three years. But the contact lens check (they made me stay - hanging around in Starbucks next door for 30mins - for one of those as well) was a bit trickier. Turns out that my left eye isn't getting enough oxygen. I was sensing something was up when he was tutting away as he held my eyelid up - I kid you not - with a bladed stick thing and tutted. Not one for the squeamish - and I can be quite squeamish about other people sticking their fingers in my eye. Then Bloke B said "we've got a problem" and went on to explain "some bits aren't doing as well as they might be". **Some bits?** Eh? Who's the normal clientale for this place? (Don't answer! lol). Still, long story short. It's back to the glasses for a bit while they send off for contact lenses made from a different material. No real harm, no real foul. Just a now-too-conscious awareness that my eye feels funny. That's my mind playing tricks with me. Over-attentuation sucks. :-)

Mmmm... Cheesecake

Some of you will know that World of Warcraft remains my computer game of choice. Oblivion is nice, but until the next patch comes out, I'll be giving it a miss. Now, World of Warcraft (WoW as it is known) is an online game - one you play online with others scattered throughout the world. As such, Alex - with a most persuasive campaign - weaned me gradually away from Guild Wars. My GW characters were Caffeine King and Cheesecake (coffee and cheesecake being two of my most favourite things). Caffeine King is the man for the aggressive hitting of things, and Cheesecake is for those soothing, healing moments. You can spot the logic there, right? On WoW, it was natural to keep these names, and being a priest (a healing type of character) is the most fun - for me. (Besides the game's character creation didn't like the CK brand). So, Cheesecake is my "main" - the character I play with the most. Though I've a Battenburg, a Kendlemint and a Flapjack in there too ;-) Cheesecake has just hit 60th level. This is a *good thing*. Only took four or five months(!) I am proud of my pointless endeavour in a computer generated game world that does not exist. lol. As such, ladies and gentlemen, for your viewing pleasure: Cheesecake righting wrongs in the depths of the "Sunken Temple". (Ooh, creepy).

Greasy Chip Butties

Hmmm... to my horror (see his Blog), Jason is swinging towards Chelsea FC. Time perhaps to redeclare to the world - sorry Eddie - that if I have to pick a football team of my own, it has to be Sheffield United. All together now (to theme of Annie's Song):



You fill up my senses
Like a gallon of Magnet
Like a packet of Woodbine
Like a good pinch of snuff
Like a night out in Sheffield
Like a greasy chip butty
Like Sheffield United
Come thrill me again....
Na Na Naa Naa Naa Naaa Naaaaa, ooo!

And now an explanation for those from foreign climes - i.e. Down South. ;-)

To a native of Sheffield the words are probably self-explanatory; the words celebrate the many pleasures that can be had in Sheffield, culminating in the target of the fan's adoration, Sheffield United. Magnet is a beer brewed near Sheffield. Some people claim that the second line is really, Like a gallon of maggots. Maggots would not be unreasonable, as fishing is popular in the region and hence a gallon of maggots would mean a good day out fishing. Woodbine refers nostalgically to a once popular brand of cigarette. Snuff is ground tobacco for sniffing up the nose.

A Greasy chip butty can be purchased in any of the many fish and chip shops. Butty is a slang word for sandwich, so a chip butty is simply a sandwich where the filling is chips, ideally greasy and sprinkled with salt and vinegar. Generally, a white sandwich bap will be used for the bread. In Sheffield, these are known as "Breadcakes".

Broadband worth paying for

Some of you may have noticed the offer by Carphone Warehouse to provide free broadband access if you take up their telephone packages. Well, here's the response. Big full-page advertisement by BT in the papers today crowing that (BT) Broadband is worth paying for. I've noticed the line:

"Our Broadband is available to 99.6% of the population".

Well, I live in Hull. Which is the other 0.4% of the population. Damn you Kingston Communications!! And damn you fore-sighted Hull elders for setting up your own, independant telephone company in the early 1900s!! *shakes fist*

York

I'm off home to York this evening to see the parents. Then to see Sally (Huddersfield) Saturday/Sunday. I have a program on my PC called webshots (www.webshots.com) that allows you to download impressive photos for your PC wallpapers daily. I decided to have a look for ones of York Minster - since I was only up there with Sally the other week - and found this one.



Suddenly had a huge pang of homesickness. Funny really, I've lived in Hull for six years, but *this* is home.

Easter has been and gone

I've never really understood Easter. I mean, what a mish-mash of religion and pagan-babble? Let's be fair, Spring is a wonderful time. Things that have died come alive again. The world of around us bursts forth with life. And so on and such guff. As such, various faiths from all of history have thought the time around Easter to be pretty darn special (especially if you had to spend Winter in a cave or some sort of mud hut). Lots of Gods, Goddesses and so on to give thanks to. Cunning old Christians thought to tack Easter onto pagan festivals to Oeastre (or whoever she was) to start the ball rolling with lots of christian converts who could keep their holidays, but it's come around to bite them in this day and age...

Shops that should know better are full of Easter tat. Easter bunnies, chocolate eggs. Add in the fact that we get Friday-Monday off (treating Friday and Monday like a Sunday) and no-one knows where they are. I mean, I know it's a Tuesday, but it feels like a Monday. And I had no idea what the date was until I booted up the office PC this morning. Chaos. Total bodyclock chaos!! lol.

Spring mode

It's raining, it's horrible outside, and do you know why? It's because I've gone into "Spring mode". Yep, it's that time of year when the weather gets confusing. Rain. Sun. Rain. Sun. More rain. So much so, that I can't work out in the morning - it's hard at 8am - what the weather will be like. So I've decided that it's time to switch over to the lighter jacket, come what may.

As such, it's been raining three days straight. Sorry everyone, all my fault.

The Armstrongs (BBC2)

Can I point out my shiny new link to The Armstrongs Blog? -->

"The Armstrongs" are the stars of a programme on BBC2 straight after "The Apprentice" on Wednesday evenings (so that's 10pm). I love this show. It's the continuing, toe-curling saga of a couple as they docu-soap their way through life as the owners of U-Fit, the 3rd largest double-glazing company in Coventry. Apologies in advance for the language... lol.

Easter is coming...

Oh, and Sally sent me this earlier. Pure class.

Oblivion and beyond

As you'll be able to see from my companion Blog (Jason), he's having a whale of a time with Oblivion (PC). I'll have to admit it's a very good game - though it needs patching as it's about as stable as Angelina Jolie - and while I like to end the non-pub days with a spot of baddie-bashing, I'm glad to report that I may actually be turning the corner in the world of work too.

Writing this Blog seems to correlate while the the amount of work I'm doing, and to be quite honest, it's been a bit of a struggle to stay motivated these last few weeks. In fact, it was probably writer's block. Which is a problem when you're trying to get some writing done. I've a ton of marking on my desk, but four weeks (nearer three) in which to do it. No worries there then. Just the paper. But for once dear readers, I'm actually getting a grip on it. Almost forgot lunch earlier - my main meal of the day as some of you will know. Back from lunch now, and getting back to the writing.

Jackson, Coyne and Clough (2006): here we come.

Calmer waters - unless you're Dave

I feel much better today. All the hassles of the weekend are gone, replaced by a fascination of the media storm surrounding Dave. I'd best explain it. Unlike me, Dave decided to put together a poster to present down at the BPS conference in Cardiff. He gives good poster does Dave - and lavished an awful lot of time on this one. The BPS press office chose it as one to release in their press blurb and since then. he's been on local radio, Irish radio, in the papers and now Look North. Or at least, he was at breakfast time and lunchtime - and now, he's been persuaded into the Hull studio to do a pre-recorded sofa piece for tonight's programme. 6.30pm tonight (Tuesday) if you're in the Yorkshire/Lincolnshire region. Nice one, mate. It was weird though. I went along to last night's shoot. Took an hour, with one woman doing all the camerawork, questions, everything. Well, everything save turning the microphone on... They had to repeat everything!! Since Dave's stuff is Sports Psychology, they wanted shots in the gym. So behind Dave, a few students were lined up to lift some heavy weights as a backdrop. *heavy* weights. Then they had to do it all again. lol. I felt so sorry for them, they were knackered.

Hell on Wheels

Urgh!

What a last few days. I was down in Cardiff at the end of last week for the British Psychology Society (BPS) Conference - you may all have noticed a few psychology research articles getting into the papers? Including Dave, my office/house mate. He got onto the radio, and into The Sun. If the BPS decide to include your poster in the press release, then next stop: Look North!! I'm not kidding, they're sending a cameraman over for him. Well done, that man. :-)

But it did all involve a lot of traveling. I tried to make it better by going over to Huddersfield to stay at Sally's the night before I was heading down, so that meant 1.40hrs. Then to Cardiff the next day via Manchester, Birmingham and Bristol (5hrs). Coming back on the Saturday (5hrs). Back to Hull late on Sunday should have been 1.40hrs but I didn't count on engineering works on Sunday evening. I had to get a *bus* to Dewsbury. Got off at the station. Nothing there. No-one. Just a sign saying there were no trains running through the station at all. Went back to the bus, turned out it was going on to Leeds and I shouldn't have got off it in the first place (but no-one told me). God only knows what would have happened if it had driven off while I was wandering around at empty station. I mean Dewsbury?? But got back on, and got to Leeds too late for the Hull train. Next one? Two hours wait, leaving at 22.30pm and getting into Hull midnight. NOT ACCEPTABLE. Not knowing anything - as it was Sunday and all the customer help kiosks were *shut* - I jumped on the 8.45pm to York, looking for other options. Thankfully, Sally checked ahead online and was able to text me - just before the batteries went! - that a 21.41 to Hull (no changes) existed and I caught that - took one more hour - and then got a taxi home. Buitching to the driver as we went. By the time I got home, I was *niggled*. A 1.40hr train journey took four stops, the best part of four hours, and ensured that over the last week, I've spent a good twenty hours on the train, waiting for a train, sat on a bus replacement for a train. and so on.

I had a hospital appointment tomorrow morning - in York - at 9.15am. Bollocks to that. I'm not moving this week, I'm not bloody going anywhere in the next few days. They can get stuffed!! I'm rung them, but couldn't get passed the automatic phone system. Will they get back to me fairly soon re: my request for a new appointment? I bet they don't.

Here's an oddity.

My mate Chris went on a weekend to Cologne recently. While he was there, he come across this particularly weird looking building. They must make ice cream in there, surely?? Still, it all goes to show that Germans really do have a good sense of humour.

**Stress**

Argh. I've had a bit of a nightmare.

I spent Monday and Tuesday writing a lecture, one that I have to give tomorrow (Thursday). Went back to it a little earlier to print out some handouts, and guess what? File corrupted. Huh?? Cut to scene of technicians running around, threatening to pull the hard drive out of my office PC.

Thankfully - and I mean very thankfully - I e-mailed it to the module manager yesterday and he dutifully put it up on the network for the students to read/print out beforehand. So it still exists!! :-)

I've been e-mailed a copy (an hour ago). All I have to do is pray that it eventually shows up.

Crisis over - I think.

Bloody GPs (and their receptionists)

Lately, I've been feeling really tired. Well, for the last few months. Plus, I've been waking up in the middle of the night, unbelivably thirsty. Considering my family history (well, Dad), I've had this nagging doubt for months that I have or will soon be getting diabetes. Finally plucked up the courage to go to the doctors - I have a tendency to dislike GPs for their smug, general all-round rudeness! - and had a blood test. (Once I got into the place, and past the extremely formidable receptionist. The fact that I had changed address and that paperwork was needed did not exactly endear me to her). But all clear. Thing is, the bloody surgery made me ring for the details and I couldn't hear what my glucose level actually *was* - even though I patiently explained I was deaf/hard-of-hearing, I was once again treated like an idiot. I love these people. Grr....

Still, no diabetes for James. That's good. I must simply not be drinking enough water, mind you. Time to break out the Lemon cordial again. :-)

Research Proposal

I've just had a great idea for a research proposal - making it much easier to get funding and hence, a new job. I've just contacted the Department of Work and Pensions. They've got back to me almost immediately, informing me of the 20 day wait for a proper reply. Yay. Government. All I can think of is that there is somebody out there with a crazy pile of e-mails to respond to, most of them complaints and insults (not mine, I hasten to add).

Plus, gave another lecture today. Non-compulsory turnout: LOW. :-)

Time for a think?

Fact is, the most important thing for my career right now is to finish my paper and send it off to the Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research (some good reasons for choosing that one) for a ritual handbagging. Thing is, I refuse to tinker with it unless I get a good two hours free to lavish on it and it alone. Yes, two hours. 180mins of uninterupted thinking time. When did that last happen? I think it was three weeks ago. *sigh* (EDIT: Julian pointed out 2hrs is 120mins. Quite right too!)

Heh, I'm even getting undergraduates getting up and walking out of their tutored workshop - walking *past* the two postgraduates on duty - and then climbing two flights of stairs to knock on my door for help. Great for the ego - don't get me wrong - but I'll never escape "Teaching Assistant" and become a Lecturer at this rate.

Dr. James Jackson, Teaching Assistant. Sounds a bit rubbish, eh? lol. Professor The Lord Jackson sounds much, much better. I'll have to get working on my charitable good deeds!

And that paper. :-(

Murphy's Laws

1. If anything can go wrong, it will.

2. If there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will cause the most damage will be the first one to go wrong.

3. If anything just cannot go wrong, it will anyway.

4. If you perceive that there are four possible ways in which something can go wrong, and circumvent these, then a fifth way, unprepared for, will promptly develop.

5. Left to themselves, things tend to go from bad to worse.

6. If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked something.

7. Nature always sides with the hidden flaw.

8. Mother nature is a bitch.


O'Toole's Commentary on Murphy's Laws
Murphy was an optimist.

Ack!

More marking? It never ends, does it? Alas, this is the worse possible type to mark. Exellent, concise answers? Good to mark. Large blanks spaces and early exits from the exam? Good to mark. Long meandering answers that are utterly confused and show total lack of understanding? Not good to mark. And you should see the handwriting...

Heh - nah, it's not that bad. A look in the paper today shows that I'm living in the "world's greatest country". Yay! According to Anholt Nation Brands: "Brand UK continues to rank high because its scores are so consistently good in most categories and in most countries. Other countries get better scores here and there, but the UK hardly gets a low score from anyone."

William Shakespeare, David Beckham (?!), Stonehenge, Stiff Upper Lip, it's all there. Not so sure of the stiff upper lip these days, but I did watch the film of "The Battle of Britain" the other day. Lots of 40s derring-do, a fair few "Tally Ho Red Leader!" quotes, and all the rest of it. We may have changed since then, but no-one's noticed yet. :-)

Graduation 2006

It had to happen, didn't it? That I'd finally get round to showing off... ;-) Anyhow, here is a photo of me in my robes. Funnily enough, it's the best of a bad bunch!

PS. This is my Mum (and the newly graduated Dr David Marchant in the background).

5-a-side

A lot has happened in the last week or two, but I'm going to try to update a bit more again for those of you who still check this site! :-)

I'm fresh from a game of footy, if that's the word to use. Actually, I'm badly battered. We started last week, a weekly game between Psychology and Sports Science. Yes, *SPORTS* science, and funnily enough, they're a bit fitter than we are. Last week was ok-ish. I think that out of the ten of us who showed, I was the worst. I'm badly out of shape and was soon puffing and panting. And it was so cold as well. My throat was really hurting about ten/fifteen minutes. I got better eventually though. Then again James "getting better" isn't up there with Pele in his prime(!) This week was a little better, at least I think I was playing better. Ended up playing in goal more this time. Some good dives, one clash with the goalpost (my leg is *hurting*) and one football in the face for my troubles. But I'm much more pleased with my performance. Not crap. Merely below average. Plus, we play on an artifical grass surface. It's a bit weird, with fake grass and fake earth. Odd, little brown bobbly stuff that gets inside your shoes, inside your socks (?), everywhere in fact. It's all over the office floor too!

More tomorrow. Seems rather un-British to mention it but I graduated two weeks ago. So I'll have to put a few photos up when I can. Catch you all later.

Argh!

Too... much... marking...

Must... update. :-(

Weekend but one

As you may have guessed, last weekend was pretty much scratched. As such, I thought I'd talk about the weekend before that instead (now that I'm fully recovered).

Sally and I went to Bradford. Yes, sunny, romantic Bradford!! *ahem*

Ok, ok, who in their right minds would go to Bradford for the heck of it? We went to the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television (here). And pretty good it was too. We went to the IMAX cinema, which is one of those huge, curved screens that shows 3D films. We ended up seeing an educational one about life at the bottom of the sea, but "wow" was it good. Is this the future, or is it just too damn expensive?

It felt like you were really there - and I'm not just saying that. The credits an inch from your nose, it was full-in-the-face even as it started. Copepods right in front of you, I even made to push a fish away from me once when it seems to be getting a little too close for comfort. Possibly as close as I'll ever get to going down into the deep Atlantic in a diving bell (the most annoying part of that being that two American PhD students managed it. The jammy you-know-whats). Anyway, good fun. If you're passing through Bradford, give it a whirl. But perhaps don't go there especially...

PS. How come students always come knocking at lunchtime. They may be free, but that's because it's LUNCHTIME. Why do they never assume that we're having lunch ourselves??

Down but not out

Oh dear.

I was going to update this Blog on Monday but it got so hectic, I never had the chance. Then came Tuesday and a poor selction of things to eat in the Union building. I chose the Pork Stroganoff/rice - not my usual type of choice.

Oh dear x2.

I knew that something was up when I got the *gurgles* half way through it. About two hours later I was in a lot of pain. About an hour after that, I did something I've never done before - end my workshop early - as I was NOT WELL well. I was violently ill on Tuesday night - almost enough to make me miss Battlestar Galactica on Sky One - and since then, I've eaten nothing in 48hrs. Actually, that's a lie. I've just eaten a bowl of soup (Leek and Potato). And it's hurting. Which is weird since I feel much better today. :-(

Happy New Year Everybody!!

Yep, it's 2006.

And I'm back in Hull and trying to get some work done. As you may have guessed, I backed up a few days before Christmas and went back to York. From there - after a few tasteful pressies on Christmas Day itself - in was on to Sally in Huddersfield, and then the two of us off down to Twickenham to see in the New Year with my old school friends Alex and Julian. A good time had by all. The food was plentiful, the drink was everywhere, and sooner or later, I think I'll have to come up with a good New Year resolution. You know, like get a long-term job somewhere, not just deal in short-term contracts. Get a little bit fitter, write a best-selling book and make my fortune, that sort of thing.

Until pigs fly, I wish you all luck with yours. :-)

Happy New Year everyone (belatedly).