A Catch-Up: Work

Work is hectic as usual. But thankfully now the Lockerbie case is finished with so some sense of normality can resume in the office. I've had a couple of great nights out with the guys from work... not too sure how Derek feels about that lol. I think he'll just have to come to terms with the fact that his Wife is hot!!! *Wink*. Still, nothing wrong with a bit of male attention. He worked with loads of chicks so I think it's fair! ;o)

When I grow up, I want to be a hand model! Lol.

I'm famous!!! Our new work website was launched this week and I'm on it!!! Ok, it's only my hands and arm but it's me!!! I really must stop biting my nails now.....

Here I am!!
And again...
And one more time! :)

Here's my colleague Sarah's hands and Joanne (the more photogenic one of us all *lol*) is posing here and here!

I know what you all are thinking... how do the guys here get any work done with us beatiful ladies around??? ;) HAHAHA!!!

Quick Toronto update: I have my latest Avon invoice in, so with that and my last batch of babygrows, I can update my chart tonight! :D

So bad at blogging!

Blogging is hard... I always seem to come up with an alternative to doing it. And it's not that I don't want to, it's just I never get around to it lol.

So what's been happening?, I hear you cry...

Well, not really much exciting. The sun's been shining a lot, in fact, it's almost been (dare I say it?) Hot!! I was at the gym tonight and even with the fans on, it was boiling!! Still, surely sweating off the weight is good, right? Hahaha, and speaking of the gym, I'm not weighed myself in ages. I'm almost scared to! I don't think I've lost any more weight. Last time I checked I was 6lbs from my target weight which is pretty good. And since I started this routine I've lost 8lbs so I'm more than half-way which is good. Motivation still hasn't really kicked me up the backside yet, but I'm hoping it will soon!

Work is crazy ~ the usual ~ especially this month. I'd better not say too much here though, don't want the press hounding me lol. Btw that reminds me. I found a clip on YouTube of a guy, pissed 'cos his conviction wasn't overturned by us, who had chained himself to the doors of the office here and had to get cut free and escorted off my Police! Lol. It's a mad place!

Ok ER is about to come on, so I'll end here...

Red Nose Day :O)

It's Red Nose Day today! :O) I'm ashamed to say that I don't have a red nose yet... must go buy one at lunchtime.
Lol, for those of you who are non-UK residents and think I've gone mad, click on the big nose above to learn more about this eventful day.
Accross the UK, people are bathing in a bath full of cold custard, men are being waxed, heads are being shaved, cakes are being baked and sold, and literally everyone in the UK is wearing something red today. WHY?? I hear you ask! Well, they're all raising money for thousands of poor and disadvantaged people across the UK and Africa. They're helping them get the help they need to turn their lives around. Whether it be a woman living down their own street who is being abused by her partner or a child struggling to survive on the streets of Africa... all the cash raised is helping to improve, and in some cases save, lives.

We've got a sweepstake going at work ~ a poster with 40 people all dressed in red and white ~ each person costs £1 to bet on. We've all picked people and whichever one is revealed under the scratch-and-reveal nose wins £20 ~ the remaining £20 goes to Comic Relief! Plus there's been donations handed in all week. I'll let you know by the end of today how much money we've raised! :O)

Finally a medical justification for shopping at lunchtime!

There was a front-page article in the paper this morning which has generated quite a bit of discussion here at work...

"Sitting at Your Desk is a Killer!"

NOT to be interpreted as you yourself actually being a killer, or somebody else sitting at your desk about to murder you, but the action of sitting at your desk killing you. Am I making sense lol.

Basically, research suggests that workers who spend excessive amounts of time at their desk could be putting their lives at risk. Researchers at The Medical Research Institute in New Zealand found that a third of patients admitted to hospital with DVT were office workers who spent hours at a computer. The study will be published in the New Zealand Medical Journal if anyone's interested in reading the whole thing. DVT is the formation of a blood clot in a deep vein, most commonly in the legs. The clots can travel to the heart, lungs or brain, causing chest pain, breathlessness or possible death from a heart attack or stroke. Lead researcher Professor Richard Beasley said some office workers who developed clots sat at their screens for 14 hours a day. He said: "Some of them were going three to four hours at a time without getting up."
People nowadays have a tendency to work longer hours than ever before, and often don't take a proper lunch break, preferring instead to eat a sandwich at their desk while attending to emails.

Hands up who's guilty of this! *Putting my hand up* I don't go out of the office at lunchtime. Yes, I sit and eat at my desk... not while attending to e-mails... but while blogging lol. I always get up and walk around though (I go to the printer, the water cooler, to get a coffee...) But starting today I'm going to start going out for a 30 minute walk each lunchtime, at the request of the Chief Exec. He's a Starbucks man so I have a lot of respect for him lol. Mind you, I think he meant a brisk walk, whereas I meant a walk to and around the shops lol.

And just to finish this post on a real downwards spiral, DVT affects about 100,000 people and kills up to 1,000 people in the UK each year!!

The full BBC story can be read here.

Catch-Up

My posts have been a bit thin on the ground the past week and so I apologise for that. I'm back-dating a pile of photos (to the start of February!) so plenty of viewing over in my 2007 Photo Blog!

But ok, a few wee updates for ya...

As you've read, my friend (and quite possibly my most loyal reader) Jen had a baby boy on Thursday! :oD So congratulations to Adam and Jen!! And welcome to the world little William. I have no idea how long mail takes to reach Canada from Scotland but expect a package in the next week or so. :o)

Work's been keeping me busy! I spent 2 days last week doing a course on system development training. Pretty intense technical stuff like learning the scripting for our case management system so I can build a new HR records database (which is both interactive and useable!), setting up data extract reports and other such stuff. I also helped with interviews for our new Admin. Assistant which was pretty cool. Very enlightening - I'm not used to being on the other side of the table lol.

The gym's going ok. I'm still a member lol. Been twice so far but I'm aiming for 3 sessions this week. And I've lost another lb since my Special K diet! Slow and steady..... 11 lbs to go 'til I reach my target!!

Apart from that, what have I been doing? Em, eBay stuff. Been working on that quite a bit actually. I had around 90 listings up and I'm down to 71, so things are selling. I figured that I can make enough with this batch of stuff to raise between 15 and 20% of my total Toronto fund. Which isn't too bad considering that leaves me with another 6 months to get the rest lol. I also have a new business venture idea but I gotta keep it under wraps for now. ;o) All will be revealed in due course... *Mysterious Look*.

What else?? I've been playing The Sims 2 quite a lot. I'm not sure if anyone else (apart from Az) actually plays it, but I'm getting pretty addicted! Please, please, please let me know if you're at all into sim-type games... I think I'm boring Alison with updates ~ it's about time I shared with someone else lol.

Remember, requests are welcome for photos. Charms, I'll get the curtains posted for ya soon!!

All Trained Up!

You may have noticed the serious lapse in posts over the past couple of weeks... well, that's because of two things ~ 1, we've been having serious house troubles which I'll tell you about in a minute ~ 2, I've been in Edinburgh a lot training.
I've endured 4 days of finance courses 'cos my new job is oh-so-important lol. So now if you want to know about journals, audit trails, trial balance reports and budgets I'm your woman! :P But seriously, it was really helpful and the few days in Edinburgh were very welcome.
I won't bore you all with work stuff so go read the other posts...