Another Day Another Dollar Euro Pound (insert own currecy here)

So I am at hard at work!! Yeah right that's why I am writing my blog from work because I am working sooo hard!

Yesterday was manic I didn't feel like I had stopped from morn till noon. Today however is a different story completely.

Today's tasks (so far at 4 PM) Install piece of software on loan laptop so Ads can run the PA from it. Install PA drivers on laptop cos Ads didn't realise that it would need me to do that. Clean density scanner on printer.

That's it bar taking about 4 sales calls for various things. Nowt else, nothing zip and bugger all.

What a bore it is on days like this especially when I had a crappy nights sleep, waking up every couple of hours and would much rather be doing lots and keeping busy than sitting around reading things from twitter.

At least the sun is shining now though and this is a beautiful place to be when the sun is shining and not terrible when its not. The view down to the river dart is spectacular and there are even kingfishers to be seen.

Ay well I am going to go off for a walk and see if anyone grabs me to do something interesting - sometimes its worth going to find the problems rather than waiting for them to come to me

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Dartington - Its where I work

Dartington College of Arts

The wikipedia says  Dartington College of Arts is a specialist arts institution near Totnes, Devon, South West England, specialising in post-dramatic theatre, music, performance writing and visual performance, focusing on a performative and multi-disciplinary approach to the arts. In addition to this, lecturing staff are all in some way active arts practitioners. The college has an international reputation for excellence, and aims to promote a critical self awareness in contemporary arts practice, and as such is firmly entrenched in post-modernism.

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Its a bit of a way from home but will give me the chance to learn, get experience and hopefully do some exams too as I have lost impetus in my MCP course right now.

Its a lot of fun here very relaxed, lots of odd muso and other arty farty types and plenty of old hippies. Which is good for me cos they, in general don't have lots of IT knowledge so I am busy with both silly little issues and the larger ones too.

I took a walk yesterday and took some photos by the river Dart which I will post in the future

The main issue here is that University College Falmouth and Dartington College of Arts are due to merge. Merge is the term but it involves moving the Dartington college from Dartington Hall to a new building in Falmouth for the start of 2010 academic year. A lot of the line management has however already moved to Falmouth in advance of this move and it causes disquiet as the usual and well rehearsed ways of doing things have been forced to change.

Hopefully I can remain outside of these politics as much as possible although there are many things changing that will reduce the amount we are able to do from here as Falmouth IT support take over runnign of Active Directory and Management info systems

Still, the merger gives me hope that I can remain here till August 2010 as there will b plenty of IT issues and all the equipment will have to be moved around as well. I shall just carry on with my learning and my exams and hopefully this will be a good place to be in the meantime

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On My Own - Can I fix it?

So.................

I have a new job!!!  :-)

and now after 3 weeks I can squiggle my way into writing a bit whilst doing some work!!!

It all happened a bit quick. I got a call from my stalker (as the woman at the recruitment agency is known due to her frequency in calling when something is afoot) explaining about the job and could I call the IT manager for a chat and then poss go for an interview on Monday (this was Thursday).

Sure I said and phoned Tim the IT manager and we chatted for about 15 minutes. Mostly about stuff that has nothing to do with IT or work.

My interview was supposed to be at 10-30 but was pushed back to 2pm. I was under instructions from Tim not to wear a suit as it was not needed.

My god the problems that caused. As you know I am a large bald beardy looking type who looks ridiculous in a suit so in some ways it was a blessing but what to wear. I was like a housewife before a dinner at the Ritz. OOO cant wear that, maybe that oo no not that. In the end a black t-shirt (from the tidy end of the black t-shirt scale) and black jeans (the only 'smart' pair I have)

So I set off for Dartington via Newton Abbot to get some tyres. They couldn't do the tyres so I ended up at the college an hour and half early so I wandered around taking in the mediaeval hall and the old church and the gardens and wondered if I could be working here

Sure enough after a shortish fairly nondescript interview I was sent to the canteen while they talked about me before Tim came and said congrats and can you start now!

So there I was at work - for the firs time in 5 months - It was a good feeling.

On the Tuesday Tim left for a 20 minute meeting at 10-30 and returned at 1pm!! Then he uttered the immortal lines

Will you be ok here by yourself for the rest of the day? Ummm yeah I guess

How about the rest of the week as I have meetings all over the place? Will you're phone be on?
Yes.
Well I'll give it a go!

So that's how I ended up supporting the staff at an arts college alone after 24 hours in the job!!

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