A stressful week!
My week started badly when I had a accident in my company van and hit a lorry in London. The whole side of my van was smashed in, and yet there wasn't a mark on the lorry. I waited three hours to be recovered and then had to move all my tools and spares into a new van while mine is being repaired. I've only had a couple of accidents in my 24 years of driving, but its always a stressful experience and makes me overcautious for weeks after the accident.

I'd just got sorted out and back into a normal routine when I was told I had an assessment with a CORGI gas inspector on Thursday - our work is checked periodically to ensure we are working safely and to the correct standard. It was another nerve-racking experience that lasted about two and a half hours, but it seemed to go OK. I now have a break from normal work for a few days while we carry out stock checks at our head-office - four of us are staying up there in a hotel. Now that I've completed a degree I'm applying to join the Institute of Incorporated Engineers (IIE) as an engineering technician (EngTech) - I'm hoping that my collection of various qualifications and experience will be enough to allow me to join.

I was disappointed to hear from the Crowther Fund that my application for funding (MSc course fees) was rejected, but I'm still determined to go for an MSc even if I have to fund it all myself. I've caught up with my OU studies and completed the end of course assignment for the S193 fossils and the history of life course. My S260 geology course is going OK, I'm hoping that I can get the hang of the map work at the summer school in Durham.

I'm hoping to fit some diving in before our holiday in Malta, I want to do a couple of refresher dives and then the PADI rescue diver course. I found a useful freeware program for my Tungsten T3 pda called Aqua DiveLog. It has plugins for various computers and seems a handy way of logging dives on a Palm OS pda. I also want to brush up on underwater photography so I've enrolled on an online course covering my Sea & Sea MX10 still camera. I also have a Sony digital camera and housing to try out.


- posted by Bill @ 12:03 PM

 
Easter
It's been a busy month! I enjoyed my work trip to France, and the weeks holiday in Cornwall. I got a speeding ticket on the way to Cornwall though, my first one in a car - I've only ever had one on a bike before. We went to the Eden Project, which seemed a bit too commercialised, but still an interesting day out. It was good to get away from it all and relax, the weather was good all week, I should have taken my wet suit and gone swimming. Came back from holiday to find that I was staying in a hotel and working in central London, with the hassle of congestion charges, parking and finding sites. But it didn't turn out too bad as two of us were working together. There have been some changes at work, all seem for the better, including a pay rise.

My OU studies have taken a back seat for a while, which is reflected in my first S260 geology assignment - I only got 65%, my lowest mark ever. I'm used to 90+ for computing and technology courses, but I'm enjoying studying geology, I know where I've gone wrong, and have room to improve? I'm hoping that my biggest downfall - interpreting geological maps, will come together on the summer school in Durham, where we will get to relate features to the ground on field trips. I haven't done much on my fossils course either, but I hope to catch up on both courses over Easter.

I've just bought a PDA - the Tungsten T3. I've never had a pda before, it's mainly for work, but I should find some other uses for it. We've booked a holiday to the same place in Malta for June. I'm looking forward to the Scuba-diving, hopefully I will get to do the wrecks this time.
- posted by Bill @ 7:19 PM