As promised, a pic from St. Pattys. More to follow soon. The novelty hat I'm wearing is actually the 2006 version, I earned a 2007 one by drinking Guinness. But the 2007 version is one gigantic pint, whereas you can see the 2006 was three pints on my head. What can I say, I wanted to stand out in the crowd ;)
Monday, March 26, 2007
Slainte!
As promised, a pic from St. Pattys. More to follow soon. The novelty hat I'm wearing is actually the 2006 version, I earned a 2007 one by drinking Guinness. But the 2007 version is one gigantic pint, whereas you can see the 2006 was three pints on my head. What can I say, I wanted to stand out in the crowd ;)
For All You Beer Lovers
an article from Men's Health: "32 Things You Can Do with Beer"
including:
Beer BBQ sauce
Steam Clams or Mussels
Boil Shrimp
Kill Slugs
Find Due North
Catch Mice
Build Delightful Patio Furniture
Tie a Fly (as in fishing lure)
and much more!
including:
Beer BBQ sauce
Steam Clams or Mussels
Boil Shrimp
Kill Slugs
Find Due North
Catch Mice
Build Delightful Patio Furniture
Tie a Fly (as in fishing lure)
and much more!
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Short week coming up
Wow, time flies, especially when you don't want it to! Okay, that's unfair, I'm really looking forward to being home for a bit, Boston and the wedding, going to Peru, and seeing my grandfather. But I'd rather be coming back to my job on the stroke unit, than to starting afresh on orthopaedics. Speaking of, today I finished and submitted my application for Senior 2 at Whipps...they will be short-listing while I'm gone, and interviews will happen the week I get back! Hopefully not on the Monday I get back!
I have a "new" bike...it's actually an old one that a bike mechanic fixed up and sold on gumtree (UK's version of Craig's List), so I can now cut my commute time in half. And Nicole expects me to join her on the London to Brighton bike ride in June now as well. I wonder how long 60 miles takes on a bike?
I have a "new" bike...it's actually an old one that a bike mechanic fixed up and sold on gumtree (UK's version of Craig's List), so I can now cut my commute time in half. And Nicole expects me to join her on the London to Brighton bike ride in June now as well. I wonder how long 60 miles takes on a bike?
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Water world
Well, we have our third housemate situation sorted out again. An OT who started working at Whipps about 6 months ago came to see the room and house last night, and came back tonight to put down her deposit. So all that wall punching was for nothing, considering how fast the situation was resolved.
I am just back from a girlie night, which is becoming a regular Thursday thing, and attracting more people as we go along. Laura and I had been talking for awhile about meeting up for a swim at my gym once a week, and combining that with dinner or a movie or something, for a girlie night each week. Last week we decided it was high time we put our plan into action, but we called the gym first to check on swimming times, and learned that there would be an aqua aerobics class that night, or water workout as I think they called it. After the first ten minutes or so of laughing ourselves silly, we settled into what really was a pretty good workout. And afterward we had a great dinner and bottle of wine at her flat afterward. This week, Angelica joined us, and I'm just back from the pub...now we didn't undo all our good work, we each only had a half a pint, but it was nice to relax and gossip for a few hours ;) I won't be around for three weeks now for the class, but by the time I get back I think there are at least two more girls who will have joined us...I think we've really started something here!
Tomorrow is my leaving do :( I still have Monday and Tuesday next week, but Friday just seemed like a better night, so we're going out for drinks in Canary Wharf, and dinner at this Thai restaurant that Cecilia has been trying to get us to go to since I started on the unit I think. I'm looking forward to another fun night.
Only 13 days left until Peru!
I am just back from a girlie night, which is becoming a regular Thursday thing, and attracting more people as we go along. Laura and I had been talking for awhile about meeting up for a swim at my gym once a week, and combining that with dinner or a movie or something, for a girlie night each week. Last week we decided it was high time we put our plan into action, but we called the gym first to check on swimming times, and learned that there would be an aqua aerobics class that night, or water workout as I think they called it. After the first ten minutes or so of laughing ourselves silly, we settled into what really was a pretty good workout. And afterward we had a great dinner and bottle of wine at her flat afterward. This week, Angelica joined us, and I'm just back from the pub...now we didn't undo all our good work, we each only had a half a pint, but it was nice to relax and gossip for a few hours ;) I won't be around for three weeks now for the class, but by the time I get back I think there are at least two more girls who will have joined us...I think we've really started something here!
Tomorrow is my leaving do :( I still have Monday and Tuesday next week, but Friday just seemed like a better night, so we're going out for drinks in Canary Wharf, and dinner at this Thai restaurant that Cecilia has been trying to get us to go to since I started on the unit I think. I'm looking forward to another fun night.
Only 13 days left until Peru!
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Brrrrr
Happy first day of Spring! After our beautiful sunshiny and warm weather all week last week, this week we're back to chilly temps and biting winds. Haven't really used my scarf all winter, but I needed it today. How ironic.
We celebrated here by finding out that the girl who was supposed to be moving in with us in a month is backing out. I wasn't happy about it, and I let her know that I thought she handled the whole process poorly...after swearing up and down that she wanted to save money for a year to buy a house and that she was definitely going to take the room, she then applied for a loan through the NHS and local Housing Association, and is now trying to buy a house asap. However, I do understand that we all have to look out for number one and do what is best for ourselves, and Nicole and I do have a month to find ourselves someone else. The lesson learned being to keep showing the house and advertising the room until someone puts down a deposit, and no exceptions even for friends.
Now my crazy housemate on the other hand, the one who is moving out end of April, she came home with her wrist wrapped up in some crazy sort of homemade bandage. Yes, she apparently punched a wall when she got my email about the physio backing out and how we'd have to advertise for a housemate again. Nicole and I were rather incredulous and queried anger management issues-- her reply was, "Well what must I do with my anger? That was my anger management!" Considering her moaning and groaning and complaints about swollen knuckles tonight, it's going to be a long second half of the week.
However, for me the countdown is on for a week until my flight home, and a week and a half until our flight to PERU!!
We celebrated here by finding out that the girl who was supposed to be moving in with us in a month is backing out. I wasn't happy about it, and I let her know that I thought she handled the whole process poorly...after swearing up and down that she wanted to save money for a year to buy a house and that she was definitely going to take the room, she then applied for a loan through the NHS and local Housing Association, and is now trying to buy a house asap. However, I do understand that we all have to look out for number one and do what is best for ourselves, and Nicole and I do have a month to find ourselves someone else. The lesson learned being to keep showing the house and advertising the room until someone puts down a deposit, and no exceptions even for friends.
Now my crazy housemate on the other hand, the one who is moving out end of April, she came home with her wrist wrapped up in some crazy sort of homemade bandage. Yes, she apparently punched a wall when she got my email about the physio backing out and how we'd have to advertise for a housemate again. Nicole and I were rather incredulous and queried anger management issues-- her reply was, "Well what must I do with my anger? That was my anger management!" Considering her moaning and groaning and complaints about swollen knuckles tonight, it's going to be a long second half of the week.
However, for me the countdown is on for a week until my flight home, and a week and a half until our flight to PERU!!
Monday, March 19, 2007
A Mancunian Weekend and more
Grrr, I am not having any luck with festival tickets this year :( We had five people online and on the phone tonight, desperately trying to get Reading Festival tickets (for the 3-day bank holiday weekend at the end of August), and they were sold out within 15-20 minutes. And considering the number of tickets now being sold for exorbitant prices on ebay, they weren't sold to people who actually want to go, but rather who wanted to make a profit. Again, grrrr.
I've also been trying to purchase travel insurance this evening, which I have found to be equally frustrating-- it's difficult to figure out who is giving the best deal for the money, since their policies are all slightly different. Oh, and then there's the whole malaria and yellow fever conundrum...it wouldn't be an issue at all except that Viv and I are spending the last bit of our Peru trip in the Amazon basin. The general consensus seems to be that yellow fever vaccination is recommended but not required, and I was able to buy malaria pills at Boots today, but they are not the same kind I used in Africa (since I've taken those before, I know I wouldn't have any side effects), and one of the two types included in this Boots box is known to be ineffective against the strain of malaria found in the Amazon basin. So I don't know whether to bank on the effectiveness of the other type in the box, or just get a prescription for the kind I've used before from my GP. Well, anyway, 10 days till my flight home, woohoo!
News-- Carla is pregnant!! I'm going to be Aunt Allison!
And the weekend update: we did indeed do a ROAD TRIP (haven't had one of those in awhile) up to Manchester this weekend. I drank enough Guinness to earn my St. Patricks Day novelty hat (pic coming in the near future)- ok, so I had a little bit of help. We visited The Shambles, Manchester's oldest pub, which was moved twice, literally. The pub was moved piece by piece out of the city during the bombings in WWII. Then when the city was being rebuilt, they moved it back into city centre, piece by piece, every inch of the tudor-style pub with wooden pegs and all. We did a massive pub and bar crawl to celebrate the holiday, which included Europe's largest pub, in Deansgate...it was a Wetherspoons pub, quel surprise. Our hostel was very nice-- I don't like hostels in general, but decided I could deal with it for one night. It was relatively new, and they provided clean bedding (almost unheard of, most are bring your own bedding) with maid service, plus we took up 5 of the 8 beds in our room. Sunday we saw some of the sights, and did some shopping (window-shopping for my part). And then we had an uneventful trip back home...that is if you count snow, high winds, and a massive traffic jam upon entering Leicestershire as uneventful. The snow was pretty, it was sticking to some of the fields, and a lot of the sheep and new lambs in those fields.
Today we got some of that snow here in London, but it didn't stick at all :( I'm on my last full week of this rotation, so I've got tons of work to do, a full caseload of patients to see (ironic since I haven't had a full caseload since November), as well as my supervisor's caseload to cover since she's on a course now for two weeks. Yikes.
I've also been trying to purchase travel insurance this evening, which I have found to be equally frustrating-- it's difficult to figure out who is giving the best deal for the money, since their policies are all slightly different. Oh, and then there's the whole malaria and yellow fever conundrum...it wouldn't be an issue at all except that Viv and I are spending the last bit of our Peru trip in the Amazon basin. The general consensus seems to be that yellow fever vaccination is recommended but not required, and I was able to buy malaria pills at Boots today, but they are not the same kind I used in Africa (since I've taken those before, I know I wouldn't have any side effects), and one of the two types included in this Boots box is known to be ineffective against the strain of malaria found in the Amazon basin. So I don't know whether to bank on the effectiveness of the other type in the box, or just get a prescription for the kind I've used before from my GP. Well, anyway, 10 days till my flight home, woohoo!
News-- Carla is pregnant!! I'm going to be Aunt Allison!
And the weekend update: we did indeed do a ROAD TRIP (haven't had one of those in awhile) up to Manchester this weekend. I drank enough Guinness to earn my St. Patricks Day novelty hat (pic coming in the near future)- ok, so I had a little bit of help. We visited The Shambles, Manchester's oldest pub, which was moved twice, literally. The pub was moved piece by piece out of the city during the bombings in WWII. Then when the city was being rebuilt, they moved it back into city centre, piece by piece, every inch of the tudor-style pub with wooden pegs and all. We did a massive pub and bar crawl to celebrate the holiday, which included Europe's largest pub, in Deansgate...it was a Wetherspoons pub, quel surprise. Our hostel was very nice-- I don't like hostels in general, but decided I could deal with it for one night. It was relatively new, and they provided clean bedding (almost unheard of, most are bring your own bedding) with maid service, plus we took up 5 of the 8 beds in our room. Sunday we saw some of the sights, and did some shopping (window-shopping for my part). And then we had an uneventful trip back home...that is if you count snow, high winds, and a massive traffic jam upon entering Leicestershire as uneventful. The snow was pretty, it was sticking to some of the fields, and a lot of the sheep and new lambs in those fields.
Today we got some of that snow here in London, but it didn't stick at all :( I'm on my last full week of this rotation, so I've got tons of work to do, a full caseload of patients to see (ironic since I haven't had a full caseload since November), as well as my supervisor's caseload to cover since she's on a course now for two weeks. Yikes.
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
A Field Trip
An interesting article in Newsweek about how scientists have used the DNA of body lice (a misnomer, since they actually live in clothing) to determine that 114,000 years ago, humans lost body hair for good and had to make up for it with clothing. Huh. I'm telling you, it's the New Science of Human Evolution.
It was another lovely day, so the new physio Sarah and I took the opportunity to take out one of our patients who is very functional physically but with a lot of higher level cognitive problems. We took her off hospital grounds and across one pretty busy road to a very pretty pond on the edges of Epping Forest. She was able to order some drinks for us from the little shack with moderate prompting and produced the correct change from a palmful of coins independently. After we sat down near the pond, we noticed she was watching the birds. She was able to identify jackdaws and magpies, although we had to take her word for it given our lack of knowledge in that area. We asked her about birds in her garden at home, and she named starlings but then got stuck. We waited for a bit, and then I said we couldn't help her out unfortunately by offering names of birds as we didn't know much about birds. This lady's personality is showing up a bit more these days, and she immediately responded by rubbing her hands, and saying "Well then!" as if she were about to make up a whole list of birds because we wouldn't know the difference anyway. Only she got stuck at starlings again. We were all very loathe to return to the hospital, it was so beautiful, but had lingered long enough we all missed lunch (don't worry, the nurses kept some for her!).
I'm very excited, I get to go along with her for an assessment on Friday morning at the Homerton RNRU, which is a regional unit specialising in working with people who have higher level cognitive deficits. I've heard a lot about it, and am looking forward to having a look at the program in person. Actually, they are currently advertising for a Senior 2 OT, so shhh, don't tell anyone, but I'm going to apply ;)
This lady's husband came in at the end of the day, and was very excited to hear that she could come home this weekend for an overnight visit (she's only been doing short day leaves to home thus far). I took advantage of his presence to introduce both my patient and her husband to the OT who will be taking my place in three weeks' time. And my patient, bless, began to cry because "You're leaving me." I felt my eyes watering up, I was overwhelmed at seeing such emotion from her because she has been fairly blank in terms of emotions up until this point as a result of her brain injuries...I had to rush into the good news about her weekend overnight visit coming up to keep from crying myself.
Man, I really don't want to leave this unit!
It was another lovely day, so the new physio Sarah and I took the opportunity to take out one of our patients who is very functional physically but with a lot of higher level cognitive problems. We took her off hospital grounds and across one pretty busy road to a very pretty pond on the edges of Epping Forest. She was able to order some drinks for us from the little shack with moderate prompting and produced the correct change from a palmful of coins independently. After we sat down near the pond, we noticed she was watching the birds. She was able to identify jackdaws and magpies, although we had to take her word for it given our lack of knowledge in that area. We asked her about birds in her garden at home, and she named starlings but then got stuck. We waited for a bit, and then I said we couldn't help her out unfortunately by offering names of birds as we didn't know much about birds. This lady's personality is showing up a bit more these days, and she immediately responded by rubbing her hands, and saying "Well then!" as if she were about to make up a whole list of birds because we wouldn't know the difference anyway. Only she got stuck at starlings again. We were all very loathe to return to the hospital, it was so beautiful, but had lingered long enough we all missed lunch (don't worry, the nurses kept some for her!).
I'm very excited, I get to go along with her for an assessment on Friday morning at the Homerton RNRU, which is a regional unit specialising in working with people who have higher level cognitive deficits. I've heard a lot about it, and am looking forward to having a look at the program in person. Actually, they are currently advertising for a Senior 2 OT, so shhh, don't tell anyone, but I'm going to apply ;)
This lady's husband came in at the end of the day, and was very excited to hear that she could come home this weekend for an overnight visit (she's only been doing short day leaves to home thus far). I took advantage of his presence to introduce both my patient and her husband to the OT who will be taking my place in three weeks' time. And my patient, bless, began to cry because "You're leaving me." I felt my eyes watering up, I was overwhelmed at seeing such emotion from her because she has been fairly blank in terms of emotions up until this point as a result of her brain injuries...I had to rush into the good news about her weekend overnight visit coming up to keep from crying myself.
Man, I really don't want to leave this unit!
Monday, March 12, 2007
What's in a month? A month by any other name...
For a laugh--I suppose this has something to do with signs of the zodiac? I have all the rest of the months as well, but I'm not going to post them all here. If you're curious and want to see your birthday month, let me know, I'll forward you the email.
JANUARY=SHYNESS
Fun to be with. Loves to try new things. Boys/girls LOVE you. You are very hot. Secretive. Difficult to fathom and to be understood. Quiet unless excited or tense. Takes pride in oneself. Has reputation. Easily consoled. Honest. Concerned about people's feelings. Tactful. Friendly. Approachable. Emotional, temperamental, and unpredictable. Moody and easily hurt. Witty and sparkly. Spazzy at times. Not revengeful. Forgiving but never forgets. Dislikes nonsensical and unnecessary things. Guides others physically and mentally. Sensitive and forms impressions carefully. Caring and loving. Treats other equally. Strong sense of sympathy. Wary and sharp. Judges people through observations. Hardworking. No difficulties in studying. Always broods about the past and old friends. Waits for friends. Never looks for friends. Not aggressive unless provoked. Loves to be loved. Easily hurt and takes long to recover.
JANUARY=SHYNESS
Fun to be with. Loves to try new things. Boys/girls LOVE you. You are very hot. Secretive. Difficult to fathom and to be understood. Quiet unless excited or tense. Takes pride in oneself. Has reputation. Easily consoled. Honest. Concerned about people's feelings. Tactful. Friendly. Approachable. Emotional, temperamental, and unpredictable. Moody and easily hurt. Witty and sparkly. Spazzy at times. Not revengeful. Forgiving but never forgets. Dislikes nonsensical and unnecessary things. Guides others physically and mentally. Sensitive and forms impressions carefully. Caring and loving. Treats other equally. Strong sense of sympathy. Wary and sharp. Judges people through observations. Hardworking. No difficulties in studying. Always broods about the past and old friends. Waits for friends. Never looks for friends. Not aggressive unless provoked. Loves to be loved. Easily hurt and takes long to recover.
Vegas baby!
I started to post some pictures on Saturday, but ran into some technical difficulties. Not Blogger this time actually though. I have this great video of the Elvis impersonator, but apparently it's too big of a file for YouTube to handle, booooo :( On Thursday night, a bunch of us went to a Las Vegas Shownight at "The Floating Chinese"-- literally a Chinese restaurant built on top of the river in Canary Wharf. The MC and the guy who did The Groovy Wonder Years, dressed in a blue crushed velvet Austin Powers suit with Austin Powers glasses, were both pretty forgettable. However, the ABBA Girls had everyone up and dancing, singing at the top of our lungs. They were the best part of the show, although Elvis wasn't too bad himself...the trouble being, when you've got a group of girls out together, the slow ballads just aren't as fun as "Viva! Las Vegas" or "You Ain't Nothin' But a Hound Dog" for example. Technically we were there to celebrate Laura selling her old flat and to give her a work hen do (she's getting married in May), as well as a leaving do for the physio who has now rotated. However, I had just pulled together in two days a major presentation on cognition which I had given that afternoon, as well as being prepared for my supervision and appraisal afterwards. So I was celebrating too! My appraisal continued on into Friday, and I had another major presentation to give today. Both went very well ;) But I'm looking forward to end of this week when all the major work should be done.
Well, that, and I'll be in Manchester for St. Patty's!!!
Not to brag---okay, to brag--- it's been 15 degrees (65 degrees F) and sunny here for the past two days, and is supposed to be 60 and partly cloudy for the rest of the week. Although it felt great, it's very disconcerting (still), as this is normally weather we wouldn't see until May-ish. Laura has a birthday coming up next week, and says she can't remember a birthday celebration where she wasn't wearing scarf, hat and gloves.
Interesting Factoid: Had to do a lot of research on the two presentations I have now given, which included research on attention. Your attention span, as you probably all know or could guess, is the amount of time you are able to concentrate on something. But did you know, the nerve pathways responsible for attention span don't fully mature until the early 30s in humans? (For those of you who know what I'm talking about, these specific nerve pathways aren't fully myelinated until our early 30s. Myelinated nerves pass signals along at a hugely increased speed.) AND, for males, it can be even later!! Hmmm, very interesting. I'll let you draw your own conclusions ;)
Well, that, and I'll be in Manchester for St. Patty's!!!
Not to brag---okay, to brag--- it's been 15 degrees (65 degrees F) and sunny here for the past two days, and is supposed to be 60 and partly cloudy for the rest of the week. Although it felt great, it's very disconcerting (still), as this is normally weather we wouldn't see until May-ish. Laura has a birthday coming up next week, and says she can't remember a birthday celebration where she wasn't wearing scarf, hat and gloves.
Interesting Factoid: Had to do a lot of research on the two presentations I have now given, which included research on attention. Your attention span, as you probably all know or could guess, is the amount of time you are able to concentrate on something. But did you know, the nerve pathways responsible for attention span don't fully mature until the early 30s in humans? (For those of you who know what I'm talking about, these specific nerve pathways aren't fully myelinated until our early 30s. Myelinated nerves pass signals along at a hugely increased speed.) AND, for males, it can be even later!! Hmmm, very interesting. I'll let you draw your own conclusions ;)
Saturday, March 10, 2007
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
A Leaving "Do"
Me and Nicole at her leaving do, a couple of weekends ago. When I first moved here, I used to make fun of housemate Nicole when she talked about hen do's and leaving do's, etc. I swore I'd never switch over to that phrase, it just seemed ridiculous-- I mean "do" is a verb, but it's being used to name an event-- surely it should be a noun, like party, or soiree. I guess that was the English major in me coming out. But sure enough, I talk about do's pretty regularly these days ;)
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Lake St. Catherine
In a recent post I mentioned I've booked flights to be at the lakehouse in Vermont for Fourth of July week, which is something I try very hard to never miss. I don't have a summer pic of the lakehouse on my computer at present, but got this one of what Wissahickon (name of the lakehouse) looks like in the snow from Dad #2, so I thought I'd share it with y'all. (Try to ignore the dirty snow that's been plowed off the road...)
Stress brings out the best...
Nothing like a little rush deadline to liven the day up! I was supposed to do a presentation for nurses and therapy staff as part of my objectives on this rotation. Except my supervisor forgot to check the dates and which unit is assigned to which date (we rotate the presentations among the elderly rehab unit, our stroke rehab unit, and the nursing team), and as she discovered yesterday, I'm out of time. Two weeks from now, the elderly rehab team has a presentation all lined up about Infection Control, and it cannot be changed. For some reason, they don't want me to do my presentation next week (the trainings take place every other week, next week is meant to be an off week), which leaves....this Thursday afternoon. I was given this information this morning, as my supervisor was looking at me saying, now if this is too quick, just say so. But like a deer in headlights I heard myself saying, "No, it's fine, I'll be ready for Thursday." She has given me the afternoon off tomorrow to use some personal study time to prepare, but still! Sounds familiar for some reason-- oh yeah, I had two days to put together a power point presentation for that interview I had out in Bristol a while back.
However, I also got some good news today-- Barbara has received approval to advertise for Senior 2's, so as of next Thursday most likely, the advert will go up on the intranet, and I can apply.
However, I also got some good news today-- Barbara has received approval to advertise for Senior 2's, so as of next Thursday most likely, the advert will go up on the intranet, and I can apply.
Sunday, March 04, 2007
Catching up
A couple of things I missed from last week...Thursday was the birthday of a girl I met recently on the yoga weekend, Jules. Got a text from her on Wednesday to come out for a meal on Thursday night, and I was able to get there for the end of it at least. It was a lot of fun, got to see another new friend from the yoga weekend, Chantale, met her boyfriend, and a lot of other new people.
Also, Thursday (March 1st) was apparently St. Davids Day...St David, or Dewi Sant, as he is known in the Welsh language, is the patron saint of Wales. He was a Celtic monk, abbot and bishop, who lived in the sixth century. During his life, he was the archbishop of Wales, and he was one of many early saints who helped to spread Christianity among the pagan Celtic tribes of western Britain...It is claimed that Dewi lived for over 100 years, and it is generally accepted that he died in 589. His last words to his followers were in a sermon on the previous Sunday. Rhigyfarch transcribes these as 'Be joyful, and keep your faith and your creed. Do the little things that you have seen me do and heard about. I will walk the path that our fathers have trod before us.' 'Do the little things' ('Gwnewch y pethau bychain') is today a very well-known phrase in Welsh, and has proved an inspiration to many. On a Tuesday, the first of March, in the year 589, the monastery is said to have been 'filled with angels as Christ received his soul'. (Adapted from a talk given at OICCU Meeting Point, In Regent's Park College, Monday, 28th February 1994.) So a belated Dydd Gwyl Dewi happus (Happy St. David's Day) to you all! Thanks to Reg for his informative email on the subject, or I would not have known about any of this. With St. Patricks Day and St. Georges Day coming up soon, I figure it's only fair to include the Welsh in my commentary as well ;)
Speaking of St. Patricks Day, looks like I will be joining Housemate Nicole, Dave, and several others on a trip to Manchester for St. Patricks Day weekend. Two of the people going have lived there previously, and I doubt I would have visited otherwise, so I'm looking forward to their guided tour (read: pub crawl with various sights pointed out between each pub).
And I have also been invited to my first wedding over here--a lot of people divide up their weddings, where they will invite a select number of people to the ceremony and sit-down dinner, and then invite a whole lot more people to join them for the party/reception. I mentioned not too long ago that I helped a friend and colleague write out her wedding invitations, and I have been invited to her reception. Unfortunately, it's the same weekend as when I'm supposed to be in Dartmoor National Park, so I'll have to make a decision soon...guilt trips aside from people who are trying to get me to go to the wedding, I think I'm leaning that way anyway, as I don't need others to tell me that weddings are a once in a lifetime event.
I have my appraisal coming up this week, so I've been busy today working on updating my CV (or resume, for you Americans), my folder that contains all the evidence for my Continuing Professional Development (CPD), and the actual appraisal document. Even though they've now tipped me for the Senior II position, I will need to do a good interview and they will look through my CPD folder.
Also, Thursday (March 1st) was apparently St. Davids Day...St David, or Dewi Sant, as he is known in the Welsh language, is the patron saint of Wales. He was a Celtic monk, abbot and bishop, who lived in the sixth century. During his life, he was the archbishop of Wales, and he was one of many early saints who helped to spread Christianity among the pagan Celtic tribes of western Britain...It is claimed that Dewi lived for over 100 years, and it is generally accepted that he died in 589. His last words to his followers were in a sermon on the previous Sunday. Rhigyfarch transcribes these as 'Be joyful, and keep your faith and your creed. Do the little things that you have seen me do and heard about. I will walk the path that our fathers have trod before us.' 'Do the little things' ('Gwnewch y pethau bychain') is today a very well-known phrase in Welsh, and has proved an inspiration to many. On a Tuesday, the first of March, in the year 589, the monastery is said to have been 'filled with angels as Christ received his soul'. (Adapted from a talk given at OICCU Meeting Point, In Regent's Park College, Monday, 28th February 1994.) So a belated Dydd Gwyl Dewi happus (Happy St. David's Day) to you all! Thanks to Reg for his informative email on the subject, or I would not have known about any of this. With St. Patricks Day and St. Georges Day coming up soon, I figure it's only fair to include the Welsh in my commentary as well ;)
Speaking of St. Patricks Day, looks like I will be joining Housemate Nicole, Dave, and several others on a trip to Manchester for St. Patricks Day weekend. Two of the people going have lived there previously, and I doubt I would have visited otherwise, so I'm looking forward to their guided tour (read: pub crawl with various sights pointed out between each pub).
And I have also been invited to my first wedding over here--a lot of people divide up their weddings, where they will invite a select number of people to the ceremony and sit-down dinner, and then invite a whole lot more people to join them for the party/reception. I mentioned not too long ago that I helped a friend and colleague write out her wedding invitations, and I have been invited to her reception. Unfortunately, it's the same weekend as when I'm supposed to be in Dartmoor National Park, so I'll have to make a decision soon...guilt trips aside from people who are trying to get me to go to the wedding, I think I'm leaning that way anyway, as I don't need others to tell me that weddings are a once in a lifetime event.
I have my appraisal coming up this week, so I've been busy today working on updating my CV (or resume, for you Americans), my folder that contains all the evidence for my Continuing Professional Development (CPD), and the actual appraisal document. Even though they've now tipped me for the Senior II position, I will need to do a good interview and they will look through my CPD folder.
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