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).

Good news

Oh, and some good news.

I've just found out that my contract will be extended from Jan 22nd to May 31st. So the worrying is over. And even better than that, the rest of my marking doesn't have to be handed back until the New Year. *phew*

Anyone for chess?

Oh heck, I'm out of brown sugar now. Well, no worries. For some reason, it makes the coffee taste slightly better! :-)

Anyhow, anyone for chess? Some of you will know that I've been playing on www.redhotpawn.com for a while now. Yes, it's a *CHESS* website. [Honestly, some people... ;-)]. I'm playing as Caffeine King. And since you can play six concurrent games for free, I have three slots available at the moment. If anyone fancies their chances playing me, why not join up (it is free) and challenge me? Just don't forgot to tell me who you are...

Irritating things...

Wow, things more irritating than Kevin Costner?

Yes, they do exist. Gripe number one is the fact that the students have left. Now I know that some of you may think that having the students go home - post exams - for Christmas is a good thing, but it also means that all the eateries have closed too, including my coffee bar. Disaster!! I'm down to the emergency Nescafe instant. It's horrible... :-(

Also irriating, but much more fun, is this brainteaser - just move the blocks down to the right. If you can do it, tell me how!! If you can't, then I'm with you in spirit. :-)

EDIT: Actually, I've just done it. 176 goes, rather than the 161 it can take. Anyone able to top that? (I'm guessing yes).

Here's a thought...

Slowly but surely, more and more people are reading this thing.

Who are you all? :-)

Still, as I randomly mutter on about utter nonsense - apparently one of my strengths - you can rest assured that I can't slag anybody off. You'll be reading it!! lol. Actually, can I slag off Kevin Costner? I don't even know why, but I can't abide that man. Maybe it's the wife-beating, or the way he fills the films he directs with long, lingering shots of *himself* staring off into the sunset, or maybe it's simply because he managed such a piss-poor English accent in "Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves". Hmmm..., I think it's the last one.

Oooh. Talking about films - and I rarely do as I rarely go - we saw "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" on Saturday. Since this was one of my most favourite chidrens books, I just had to see it. It's pretty darn good. I'm not sure about Ray Winstone's Mr Beaver and his "Aslan is a geezer, you muppet" accent, but it was good for a laugh. But the White Witch? Since when did she become such a dangerous swordfighter? And with two at once? Don't remember that in the book!! :-)

Time, and the whizzing past thereof

I never have enough time these days. Which is bizzare really, as I never seem to be achieving anything. There's a lot of activity, with a lot of clock watching going on in the quiet moments. So since I was sent this link by my friend Craig, I've taken to checking it more often that I'd like. It's strangely addictive. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Human Clock.

Part of the reason this site has been quiet lately is that things just keep falling into my lap - and that's in a "needs doing" way, not a "ooh, that's nice" way. I found out last Monday that I had an interview for a lectureship at Sheffield Hallam University on the Thursday and I had a 20mins presentation to write (+10mins for Q&A) - finding out what that was to be about on the Tuesday. Needless to say, I didn't get the job as I'd have mentioned it much earlier if I'd have done so, but the feedback continues to be good. In the end, it was the same sort of stuff I got when I went for the Leeds Trinity post. Nothing to fault at interview (nothing they could suggest to help me improve), and a specific mention that my presentation - to a room full of lecturers - went down very well indeed, with the people there asking the poor guy who had to phone me up and let me know I didn't get it to make sure that he passed that on. Alas, my research just didn't dovetail as well with the current lecturers as some of the other people there. In other words, a very successful failure. :-)

I just hope something else crops up soon. This particular contract of mine ends in late January...