Early Risers.

[Tony_S]

Morning all.

It was quite sunny when I put the recycling out but it is getting cloudy now as forecast.

Have a good day.

Tony

[jamie92208]

Morning all from a somewhat overcast village.  The house is quiet as the boss left early to help run a fat club (Weightwatchers), I have several potential tasks for the day.   I need to finish off the ironing.  I did about half of the overflowing basket yesterday and hope to finish the rest shortly, once I have chosen some suitable music.   Then I plan to take a car load of stuff to the container as we continue to work on emptying the house.  I might even get some modelling done later though at some point I will be summoned to Leeds to pick the boss up.

 

Congratulations to Junior NB, well done.   I didn't manage to get a degree, having enjoyed myself too much, but I still managed to retire on a good pension 15 years before my classmates. 

 

Regards to all.

 

Jamie

[TheQ]

I've put a like for Jamie as there isn't a jealous button, 6 years till retirement....

 

I think Norwich City supporters are as happy as Cardiff's the've not let in any goals for 5 matches.. Norwich alway used to let goals in even when winning a league...

[grandadbob]

No degree here either as I didn't go to university although like Jamie I managed to retire early (at 55) long before the great majority of my friends.

[The Lurker]

Degrees - we called a 2:1 a "Made in". It's probably lost its immediacy as other places have overtaken Taiwan as manufacturers of cheap electrical goods. I am not sure we had a nickname for firsts; they were reserved for the truly brilliant. One of my housemates got a first - same course as me. Last time I came across him he had become something in the rail industry, having been, amongst other things stationmaster at Littlehampton.

 

Thinking of things that now seem old fashioned, I was making sure Elder Lurker had put the requisite homework effort* into an old maths GCSE paper from sometime in the last millennium and noticed that one of the questions related to the prices of videos. I doubt he remembers what those were...!

 

Morning all - its misty here at London Bridge and it was thicker in Sidcup.

 

Work progresses; we're coming up to year end and bracing ourselves for the onslaught of the auditors. Or giving them just enough information to allow them to complete their files, whichever way you want to look at it!

 

*translation - I was trying to help him because he is in GCSE year and he has put b*gger all effort into schoolwork for a few years, and it shows in his maths. Having said that, if he is relying on my skills, which have lain more or less unused for 35 years.....

[AndyB]

Morning all and it's a misty one hereabouts. 

 

I think I viewed my first degree as being a route to getting a job - and that's how it worked out. 

Years later I had the chance to go back to uni and undertake specialised research and was fortunate to undertake a couple of sabbaticals. 

Second time around it was very much more about the educational value rather than the result. 

 

Anyway to the here and now.

Less than a week ago I was having a phone (2nd) interview and am now choosing between the company's pension fund schemes.

It's been a funny sort of week.  

[TheQ]

Without the degree I wouldn't have gotten the interview for he job, Once you are inside the company, you find they rate you as semi skilled...

[NGT6 1315]

Mawnin' awl. Cloudy but dry so far. I suppose a walk to the supermarket looms and work doesn't start till 1619!

 

To further illustrate the "middle of nowhere" tag line from last night:

 

 

2194-2062-941 at Hamburger Straße. This area is almost exclusively a business district, and thus sees relevant ridership figures only in daytime. However, it's the only location for switching between Lines 1 and 9, as well as the most convenient cross-boarding spot for rail replacement buses.

 

Have a good one…

[Horsetan]

....I didn't manage a Desmond when I graduated in 1969, having to settle for a Third. ....

 

When I was looking for a position as an articled clerk, I learnt that a Third from Oxbridge was apparently worth more in some circles than a Desmond from a Poly-turned-Uni.

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Put the new baseboard together with a dry run, everything fits as it should but its back in its box now until I can create more room to work on it.

 

 

I think Norwich City supporters are as happy as Cardiff's the've not let in any goals for 5 matches.. Norwich alway used to let goals in even when winning a league...

But they still have to put the ball in their opponents goal. Their arch rivals Ipswich are still knocking on the promotion door even with a game in hand.

[The Stationmaster]

Morning (just) all,

 

No degree for me as I went from school straight to work - firstly in a fill-in job time in a brewery (quiet at the back there), then onto BR - and redundant & retiring, on a pension, from there at the grand old age of 52, long before most of my contemporaries got anywhere near drawing their pensions.  Which gave me a bit of time to work on a zero hours contract and get in another pension (no excitement please, it's £12.50 a week after tax).

 

Reasonable weather at present but rain forecast for this evening and overnight, something to do with something called Maria perchance?

 

Have a good day one and all.

[TheQ]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Put the new baseboard together with a dry run, everything fits as it should but its back in its box now until I can create more room to work on it.

 

But they still have to put the ball in their opponents goal. Their arch rivals Ipswich are still knocking on the promotion door even with a game in hand.

I wouldn't know, I don't follow 22 over paid men chasing a bit of leather round some grass mostly plastic. I only mentioned it because they were making a big fuss on the radio when I came to work this morning.

[Horsetan]

....get in another pension (no excitement please, it's £12.50 a week after tax)....

 

Wow, as much as that? 

[Tony_S]

My State Pension is supposed to be paid in a couple of days. I have had a couple of letters this week which lead me to believe this will happen.

I have been following Matthew's flight. I didn't know that 737s were used for transatlantic flights. I suppose I do know now.

Tony

[Smiffy2]

I wouldn't know, I don't follow 22 over paid men chasing a bit of leather round some grass mostly plastic. I only mentioned it because they were making a big fuss on the radio when I came to work this morning.

 

The last plastic pitch in the English Football League (Preston NE) was removed in 1994...

[TheQ]

Have you noticed that the pitches don't cut up like they used to?

 

 Thats because most are a plastic pitch with grass growing through it.

 

Pitches made from all plastic were banned...

 

http://premierpitches.com/pitch-types/desso

Edited September 27, 2017 by TheQ

[grandadbob]

No degree for me as I went from school straight to work -

 

Me too Mike.

I often hear of youngsters these days having a "gap" year between leaving school and going to university or between leaving uni and going to work. How times have changed.

 

I had a gap weekend! 

Edited September 27, 2017 by grandadbob

[Horsetan]

...I managed to retire early (at 55) long before the great majority of my friends.

 

....and have been entertaining us ever since with ever-more inventive ways to end up in A&E? 

[Ian Abel]

My State Pension is supposed to be paid in a couple of days. I have had a couple of letters this week which lead me to believe this will happen.

I have been following Matthew's flight. I didn't know that 737s were used for transatlantic flights. I suppose I do know now.

Tony

That'd be the 737MAX, they've been FAA ETOPS certified, and Norwegian are already operating them (very recently started) with JetBlue and TAP also planning operations/routes...

 

 

HUMP day greetings from a foggy Long Island.

 

Yesterday also a non-event here although more details are coming to light as to the email server issues, AND it turns out several other servers/systems.

Plonker and flustercuck don't begin to describe it  though the reports are "spotty" and no detailed explanations are being released for obvious reasons - probably to protect the IT geniuses - goes like this;

i) A plan to test the generator backup was in place, and servers/equipment switched over to the generators (unclear exactly when this was, possibly even during business hours  )... result, apparently, but wait...

ii) Confirming above, everything switched BACK to the grid, so far so good...until

iii) Unfortunately the grid chose that time (see #ii above) to go OFFLINE/take a dump/head out to lunch! No problem, UNLESS...

iv) Unnamed plonker(s) apparently had ALSO not managed/bothered/checked that the UPS were on/connected so entire server farm went bye-bye

v) Grid came back on, spiked then went offline again and the servers/network equipment managed simultaneous cardiac arrests - pity the hospital doesn't have an Emergency Room for PCs!!

vi) Apparently the past two weeks have been "interesting" for those involved in restoring some semblance of useful operations

 

The somewhat GOOD news, as I explained to the Finance folks, is that for once, being on "the cloud" with their financials systems was a good thing

 

21 and cloudy/foggy this morning here, expected high 28 with some sun peeking through.

 

Right then, continuing with work, have a good one.

[Ian Abel]

Seems they need someone who knows what he's doing in their IT dept Ian

 

Are they hiring?

Unlikely (to BOTH of the above), besides I PROMISE you wouldn't want to work here...

 

Re: Hiring - given I've been here over two years now, and for more than 18 months we've been suggesting/recommending they actually HIRE someone to take over and continue development/maintain all I'm doing (just in case I a) get hit by a bus, b) retire in disgust, c) get REALLY BORED and request another assignment d) throw myself out the window) and they ignore that and haven't even started posting for the position.

I doubt something SIMPLE like a complete server crash/disaster is going to motivate them either

[Smiffy2]

Have you noticed that the pitches don't cut up like they used to?

 

 Thats because most are a plastic pitch with grass growing through it.

 

Pitches made from all plastic were banned...

 

http://premierpitches.com/pitch-types/desso

 

Well done, you win, etc, etc. Plastic matrix equals plastic pitch. Fine.

[Ian Abel]

My State Pension is supposed to be paid in a couple of days. I have had a couple of letters this week which lead me to believe this will happen.

I have been following Matthew's flight. I didn't know that 737s were used for transatlantic flights. I suppose I do know now.

Tony

Ahhh, just seen your update on Facebook - WestJet operating the flight.

 

Forgot about them,  they run more "normal" 737 -700 -800 operations, and since it's out of Dublin with a stop-over in St. Johns they can operate the flight without the need for ETOPS certification/aircraft. Flight segment is only just over 4 hours, so short enough to not be considered an "over water ETOPS certification required" flight.

On a personal basis, I'm not that inclined to take a narrow-body long-haul (6.5-8+ hrs) flight, but given the longest segment is just 4+ I guess it's no worse than a narrow-body flight across much of the US!

[45156]

Afternoon All

 

Missed a day but have been a lurking, and the now customary generic greetings are on offer to those who need them.

 

Not a lot to report here - finally got the stove cemented, and the kitchen ceiling patched up from the water damage earlier in the year.

 

Now for the musicians among is, this recently appeared in my inbox.  Guitarists might just pick up the the solo in the middle is somewhat brilliant, and also that the chording is not what it seems - it's much more interesting.  Non musicians - here's a pretty song that might just appeal.

 

 

Regards to All

Stewart

Edited September 27, 2017 by 45156

[AndyID]

That'd be the 737MAX, they've been FAA ETOPS certified, and Norwegian are already operating them (very recently started) with JetBlue and TAP also planning operations/routes...

 

 

I wonder why they didn't call it Norwegian Blue?

[Ozexpatriate]

On a personal basis, I'm not that inclined to take a narrow-body long-haul (6.5-8+ hrs) flight, but given the longest segment is just 4+ I guess it's no worse than a narrow-body flight across much of the US!

There's plenty of long transcontinental flights served by 737s.

 

Sitting in the back of a United 737 from Newark to the west coast is unpleasant. Their daily EWR-PDX runs are scheduled for 6 hours and 3 minutes.  Flight time of course is less but given boarding times and ground delays the actual backside in seat time can be considerably longer.