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...