I’m back blogging today after an ISP enforced absence yesterday, which is typical really as I actually had something specific to ramble on about – rather than my usual mutterings about nowt in particular.
Anyway, yesterday’s update was going to be about my trip to the Liberty Stadium to see the Swans one and only home pre-season friendly this year against the Wolves of Wolverhampton. Considering it was only supposed to be a friendly, the game was quite entertaining and rather niggly to say the least.
The game ended 1 apeice, but the Swans were far from overshadowed by their Championship opponents. It’s hard to say what sort of season the Swans are likely to have on yesterday’s showing, but they certainly looked hungry and sharp – Messrs Pratley and Knight in particular. I think it was also the first time EVER that I actually didn’t sing/shout/swear at a Swans game – which was purely down to my throat/chest infection and nothing else I can assure you!
Whilst I enjoyed the footy, Mrs. DDWT took full advantage of the NEXT summer sale with DDWT Junior fast asleep in his Maclaren (pushchair that is not Formula One car).
It is with great pleasure as well that I annouce the details of today’s weighing session – 16st 12lbs … WOOHOO … a whole 4lbs down on last week. I had to weigh twice to make sure I wasn’t seeing things! I can only attribute the loss to what I’ve eaten (or haven’t as the case may be) as I certainly haven’t been training much this past week.
As someone who loves a bargain I felt I just had to share this freebie I came across for 20 free digital prints from Snapfish (until 31st July). Snapfish enables digital camera owners to share, print and store their favorite photo memories at low prices. All you have to do to get your free prints is to register on the Snapfish website (for free) and enter the coupon code FREEPOST and not only will you receive 20 free prints, but you’ll also get free delivery as well!
The lurgi that the DDWT family has at the moment meant that I was off work today having come down with it myself. My voice is so husky I’m sure I could make a living out of doing erotic story telling for a £1 a minute telephone company or failing that I could do a stand in for Sean Connery (Yesh mish munny penni, yore a shite four shore eyes).
Now I don’t usually have a rant on my blog (unlike in day to day conversation!) but I’m going to have one now and it all came about after reading the Tesco magazine (as well as other magazines I hasten to add). What is all this fuss about parents trying to cope (with the kids getting bored) during the 6 week summer school holidays? There’s more for kids to do nowadays then there ever was before and yet the current generation always whinge that “there’s nothing for kids to do these days”. What a load of baloney! With the amount of clubs, classes, events, pools, leisure centres, parks, fields, etc, etc that are available how on earth can kids get bored. Kids need stimulating and that’s where the parents have to use a bit of imagination. What is society coming to?
Its been a weird old day today on the whole as although I felt as rough as a badgers bottom (not that I’ve ever felt one you understand) I decided to go out for a lunchtime bike ride with my duathlete work colleague.
We went for a 11 mile ride (roughly) down to Fortes Ice Cream cafe in Bracelet Bay and back – maintaining a pace of between 17-20mph in the process. Now this speed was just about my limit given my current biking setup (i.e mountain bike with off-road tyres) but the duathlete (complete with racing bike and slicks) found the pace a wee bit on the easy side!! It’s quite funny really as she commented on how I didn’t need a bell on my bike as the ‘whirring’ noise from my trend on the tarmac was enough to warn anyone in our vicinity of our presence.
As the afternoon wore on, the cold I’ve picked up from Mrs. DDWT and DDWT Junior really started to kick-in and I felt even worse than the badgers bottom I mentioned earlier. I think I’m in for a stinker to be honest and antibiotics might be required unfortunately. My appetite seems to have grown however and it’s nothing to do with the old saying of ‘feeding a cold’. So when I got home to be greeted by Mrs. DDWT’s home made shepards pie for my tea, well you can just imagine…. my palate started to dance.
I came across two beauties today whilst using Google (no not that sort) – I’m referring to Google Earth (satellite images from heaven) and Matt Cutt’s blog (one of the first 100 employees of Google and a Search Engine specialist). Both are well worth a visit, hence the plug here.
Went on day two of my Change Management course today, the highlight of which (yet again) was one of the role playing workshops we did. Picture the make believe scenario whereby your stranded in a desert with 6 other people after your plane crashes, you have 13 objects and you have to individually decide the order of priority BUT each of you has a hidden agenda and ‘resistance’ role (Cognitive, Psychological, Status or Ideological) to play.
Still with me? Well anyway, I basically had a psychological role to play which meant I had to convince the other group members that one of the objects (a loaded gun) was of prime importance and that I should maintain control of it, as unbeknown to them one of the others were trying to assasinate me! As you can no doubt imagine it was great fun *smile*
Mrs. DDWT and DDWT Junior returned home tonight but unfortunately for them they had stinking chesty colds. Don’t ask, I mean how could you get a cold in weather like this! Anyway, they’re off to the docs tomorrow to get it sorted.
No not potatoe waffles – I’m talking about Tregroes waffles. I just had to share this moment with you as if you’ve ever tasted one (toffee or chocolate variety) – and I highly recommend that you do – you’ll know why the mere thought of them makes my mouth moist with anticipation. It might also explain why I have problems shedding some of the excess waistline baggage I have as well!
Anyway, onto today’s main topic – the Change Management course I attended (well half attended actually). For the other half of the day, I was fortunate/unfortunate (delete as appropriate) enough to be involved in a meeting with Oracle about their CRM (Customer Relationship Management) product. I’ll leave the latter to the sales people, so I’ll tell you about the change management stuff – albeit not that rivetting either sorry.
I suppose I can look back at the course today and laugh at the fact we had a tutor with a lisp (not that this is funny) but his insistance on saying the word “anchor” all the time was. If you can imagine Jonathan Ross saying “anchor” all the time – you’ll get my drift *smile*
That’s really is about as memorable as it got apart from a few bits of self-analysis where we looked at ‘Change Drivers’ in individual careers and the Thomas-Kilman conflict mode instrument (which isn’t as painful as it sounds!). For the change drivers analysis my driving forces were (in order) – Expertise, Security and Creativity. For the conflict mode instrument peice I came out as a ‘Collaborator’. It’s all quite interesting stuff, but in all honesty if you are true to yourself when giving the answers – there shouldn’t be any surprises with the outputs.
I’m home alone for the next few days as Mrs DDWT and DDWT Junior have gone off to Aberaeron to visit some relatives – thus leaving me to man the fort and get some long overdue jobs done. It’s eerily quiet though without DDWT Junior’s presence in particular and I’d be lying if I said I was enjoying it.
