Persistent

Poker Night

Tomorrow night is the first NBTS poker night at my house.
So far we have four players most of whom have hardly played.
If I can't find some poker chips tomorrow we will be playing with matches or we may ask Jason to bring his box of pennys.
Whatever happens its a night in with the lads at my house and there will be booze and nibbles and manly talk about, well things. Who knows we may even play some poker.

Seahouses

Why on earth did anyone ever think of building a town in such a wet place?

Descriptive writing

Some of the best descriptive writing as sent to a well known UK publishing house.

1. Her face was a perfect oval, like a circle that had its two sides gently compressed by a ThighMaster.

2. His thoughts tumbled in his head, making and breaking alliances like underpants in a dryer without Cling Free.

3. He spoke with the wisdom that can only come from experience, like a guy who went blind because he looked at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it and now goes around the country speaking at high schools about the dangers of looking at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it.

4. She grew on him like she was a colony of E. Coli, and he was room-temperature British beef.

5. She had a deep, throaty, genuine laugh, like that sound a dog makes just before it throws up.

6. Her vocabulary was as bad as, like, whatever.

7. He was as tall as a six-foot, three-inch tree.

8. The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn’t.

9. McBride fell 12 stories, hitting the pavement like a Hefty bag filled with vegetable soup.

10. Her hair glistened in the rain like a nose hair after a sneeze.

11. John and Mary had never met. They were like two hummingbirds who had also never met.

12. Even in his last years, Granddad had a mind like a steel trap, only one that had been left out so long it had rusted shut.

13. Shots rang out, as shots are wont to do.

14. The plan was simple, like my brother-in-law Phil. But unlike Phil, this plan just might work.

15. The young fighter had a hungry look, the kind you get from not eating for a while.

16. He was as lame as a duck. Not the metaphorical lame duck, either, but a real duck that was actually lame, maybe from stepping on a land mine.

17. The ballerina rose gracefully en Pointe and extended one slender leg behind her, like a dog at a lamp post.

Invest 07 Dire

Yes, Invest 07 as powered by Zinc events has to be the biggest disaster of the year.
Of an expected 3000 to 5000 expected visitors we got.........................
About 250.
Yes, over two days, of what was apparantly a highly advertised event we got less people than go into the average sweetie shop in a morning.
If anyone ever wants to hear anything about the disaster that was Invest 07 by Zinc events (this is all in case it gets googled at another time) just read it here.
WASTE OF MONEY!!!!
So bad that most of the businesses packed up and left on day one (approx 185 visitors) and on day two they organisers sent people out with a list of adverts saying "look we did advertise it" well you "may" have but it didn't work.
Here is a photo of Invest 07 at the busiest point.

This was taken at 2.30pm on Saturday. The girl walking away is an exhibitor, so is the man standing at the back of the picture. The other two worked on that stand and were just sitting down enjoying the peace.

Hey if any exhibitors read this blog, leave a message ok.
I now wait to see if Zinc events describe this as a success.

???????????

Nice people, good interview, i was stronger on the people management side than the IT side. they have a much larger and more complex network than any I have ever worked on. Now we wait and see.
I am not optomistic.
On the bright side, another recruitment company called today......

So....

There seems to be some wondering as to my lackof blogging.
I'm not blogging at the minute because I am feeling smug. The reason I am feeling smug is that for months I have been saying that I hate recruitment companies.
The reason I hate them is that they keep deciding to not put me forward for jobs; and when I ask why they state that I dont have any experience doing a thing that is very plainly written on my CV.
So...on Wednesday when some idiot woman aged about 19 who doesn't understand english (ok she doesn't understand IT terms but they were written in english) said I didn't have any of the experience that her client needed even though it plainly said that I did. I decided that as she was stupid and left the name of the client on the email I would apply direct and save them having to pay her.
Now I have an interview on Thursday, and while reviving my brain on IT based thingys (thats a technical term) I have absolutly terrified myself at just how much I have forgotten. And I need too (by Thursday) convince these people that I have the technical knowledge to run a nationwide network,the management experience to run an IT team and I have to do a powerpoint about managing people through change.
Then I am at invest 07 for a few days.
So if its ok with everyone I will blog on Monday.....

Baaaa ck to Cumbria

On Saturday morning I had a meeting with the boss and a potential investor in his business just outside of Cockermouth.
Cockermouth is a little town in Cumbria about 6 miles west of Keswick which is at the mouth of the river Cocker where the Cocker-mouth joins onto the  river Derwent.
I feel I have to go through all of this as there was much joviality at Andy's party last night over Cockermouth.

The long and short of of this Cockermouth story is that from the ages of 24 to 30 I used to live there, so the chance to have a look at where I used to live took over yesterday and today you lot get to see my old home, so get used to it.

On the way I stopped off at Haverigg stone circle in Keswick.

Haverigg circle has been there for many years now and it was nice to see it had survived the last 20 years without any vandalism. I reckon that the builders of these stones had a lot of foresight with todays social problems and that is why they put them on open moors, or at the top of cold misty hills or just generally at least 30 minutes away from the nearest off licence or 15 minutes brisk walk from a bus stop.
They knew that laziness is the ultimate in anti vandalism.

After the meeting I popped into the Kingfisher which is the pub that was next door to my old flat. 14 years ago I was living here on the top floor.

They were the very stairs that I used to trot down after work and I would get Guinness delivered over the wall and sit at the bottom of my garden (seen here) looking at this.

That little stone outcrop on the left behind the fence is the bottom of the garden where I used to sit.

Before I lived in that flat I used to be married to Julie and we lived here, in Hewthwaite Hall.

This is just outside of Cockermouth on Isel road. Not too far from Isel hall which was the home of lady Morris (of Morris Motors & Garages)
She was on the other side of the river behind the house, so popping in for a cup of sugar was awkward, and dangerous as she did believe in the Monty Burn's form of canine security.
This house was fun, it said above the front door about the house.

John Swynburn and his wife made the house in 1581, well thats not true, the house was built in 1152, they added the top floor in 1581, thats why the windows are different.
That was quite a place to live, big fireplace.thick walls inner doors about 5ft high, beautiful atmosphere. and we had a priesthole and a hidden well.

I wanted to buy some Cumberland ausage to bring home, but it was 1pm and all the butchers were closed.
It reminded me of why I moved....