MOT fail / six-pot rant

In the past I would have agreed with you. The vibes this time are
suggesting we will not see a repeat of past practice. We had voluntary
redundancy about 9 months back in the last organisational review - I
know if I had applied then I would have been refused.

You are notoriously frugal though with every last penny being grabbed
via whatever discount mechanism you can uncover. You also know how to
navigate your way through the system to best effect.

1 vote for go.

 

My wine merchants might dispute the frugal moniker. Although, the move
towards quality rather than quantity has been given the thumbs up by my
liver. Blood tests last week show a big improvement in ALT & GGT.

 

On Mon, 23 Aug 2010 19:24:11 +0100, Paul Corfield

snip>

Life for the day and go for what *you* want to do.

I need to stay where I am for a couple more years but once that's done
and dusted they can **** off and if I don't like what I'm being told
to do I'll have a couple of months off and then whore myself out
elsewhere.

10 years ago I'd have probably gone for K2 but now I'm old and
knackered I'll more likely buy the fastest bike I can find and cane
the tits off it before working out my last 10 years to retirement.

 

What did you do at Xerox, I might have known you when I was sorting out
the Sun systems as a contractor with Ed King back in 1999.

 

In 1999 I was working in the Electronics Manufacturing Centre at
Mitcheldean. I had nothing to do with Sun and never heard of Ed King. Xerox
employs over 130,000 people, I guess I interacted with low hundreds in the
15 years I worked for them.

 

Ahhhh - I was at Document Services which was a bit of an isolated unit.
I maybe walked through manufacturing once or twice.......

 

She's not frightened of flying as such - I mean, she doesn't think "Oh
my God, the plane is about to crash" every five minutes - but she does
get a bit claustraphobic and a bit anxious.

I think the fainting episode was born of a very early start, eating
outside of her normal times, the claustraphobic stuffiness of the plane
and triggered totally by the disgusting smell of the food trolley
arriving. Even I felt a bit iffy and I have no problems on planes.

She spent the rest of the flight lying on the floor in front of the
front row seats[1] with her legs elevated[2] and ice on the back of her
neck.

[1] We only found out then that if they can they try to leave a row
free just for medical emergencies. We managed to book the same seats
for the return journey, when she was fine.
[2] Leave it!

 

Oh, forgot: Japan. YKIMS.

 

What he said. Life's short, do the fun stuff now, worry about the rest
later. Or just don't worry and do the fun stuff.

 

On your death bed, which will you regret not doing?

 

Yeah, I'm staring at a higher risk of redundancy but if I
wanted to do it I would.

My options at the moment seem to be:
a) hope The Professor can convince The HoD & VP to give me a 6-month bridging
job until another position becomes funded (I think they have to give me
a big wodge of redundancy pay anyway).
b) not worry about it, take a rest and do a bit of house renovation for
6 months.
c) start serious job-hunting, possibly leading to a need to relocate or
commute more than 10 minutes, and forgo the other job in April.

--
Ivan Reid, School of Engineering & Design, _____________ CMS Collaboration,
Brunel University. Ivan.Reid@[brunel.ac.uk|cern.ch] Room 40-1-B12, CERN
GSX600F, RG250WD "You Porsche. Me pass!" DoD #484 JKLO#003, 005
WP7# 3000 LC Unit #2368 (tinlc) UKMC#00009 BOTAFOT#16 UKRMMA#7 (Hon)
KotPT -- "for stupidity above and beyond the call of duty".

 

Is the redundancy settlement equal to or more than 6 months salary? Bear
in mind anything under £30k is tax free. If so, why work when you can
get the time off to do stuff and not be out of pocket. Come April, start
the new job having had time to do the DIY, have a rest and do a bit of
travel.

 

No - I have been once before but the experience was a bit variable as I
wasn't very well when i was there. This is really a second opportunity
to see more of the place than to experience it for the first time.

 

I'm not sitting chewing my finger nails off as I'm in a decent financial
state even if the axe does arrive. It just feels like a lot of money to
be spending given the possible circumstances.

 

More like six weeks if the Gov't web-site calculator holds. The
rules seem to have changed since I left UCL -- or I misremembered what
happened then. I thought I got 1 week/year then; seems it's (now?)
1.5 weeks/yr at a maximum of GBP380 or so/week. OTOH, I haven't seen the
job description (nor the grant) for the other job yet. OTOOH, six months
without pay won't dent my savings significantly -- renovations might!

--
Ivan Reid, School of Engineering & Design, _____________ CMS Collaboration,
Brunel University. Ivan.Reid@[brunel.ac.uk|cern.ch] Room 40-1-B12, CERN
GSX600F, RG250WD "You Porsche. Me pass!" DoD #484 JKLO#003, 005
WP7# 3000 LC Unit #2368 (tinlc) UKMC#00009 BOTAFOT#16 UKRMMA#7 (Hon)
KotPT -- "for stupidity above and beyond the call of duty".

 

On Tue, 24 Aug 2010 17:51:53 +0000 (UTC), "Dr Ivan D. Reid"

If PC should go to Japan - which he absolutely should.

Fingers crossed for that. I have 18 months left of the current wodge
of funding but I'm starting to look now, outside academia, as I fancy
a change.

You've been there since Auvache didn't smell haven't you?

The first bit works. House renovation is dusty.

How bothered are you about relocation?

 

After being persuaded by The Boy (and not being too keen) I found Japan
fascinating.

We had the advantage of a friend in Osaka who we could stay with and
within easy reach of Kobe, Kyoto and Hiroshima. The second week was in
Tokyo and that was good too.

I'm really glad I did it now. Do it, you're too long dead.

Or maybe you could just get a desk DMT job; I do hear they are
struggling to fill positions.

 

A bit; two of the last three house moves were hell (Switzerland to
New Barnet; Whitehall Close to Pield Heath[1]). OTOH it's nicer to walk
10 mins to work (as here) rather than the hell of buses and Underground
that was getting from NB into Euston for UCL.

[1] Mainly because that one was coupled with buying it. Didn't complete
until Thurs, had to be out of my flat Sunday but also at CERN for a week
that day too. A colleague helped me with a rented truck on the Friday.

--
Ivan Reid, School of Engineering & Design, _____________ CMS Collaboration,
Brunel University. Ivan.Reid@[brunel.ac.uk|cern.ch] Room 40-1-B12, CERN
GSX600F, RG250WD "You Porsche. Me pass!" DoD #484 JKLO#003, 005
WP7# 3000 LC Unit #2368 (tinlc) UKMC#00009 BOTAFOT#16 UKRMMA#7 (Hon)
KotPT -- "for stupidity above and beyond the call of duty".

 

Game on. Prace bets now.

<praces telegraph poles tactfully>

 

<points out NOS advert>