Monthly Archives: January 2009

shameless self promotion

So… this week bought a first.

Something that I thought I would never do.  Although I have been known to make quite strong statements - and then later find myself doing the said never-ever… so.. I bought the FT this week. That little pink paper that people who wear pinstripes, and work in the city read.

The motivation was completely selfish, although as one very kind emailer noted – it could be considered stylish to have only bought it when you have in fact penned a contribution –  itsy-bitsy as it is!

That’s right my little thesis on Women and the MBA appears to have made it to pink pages.

Just click here…..

brussel sprout jobs

Brussel Sprouts are not a favourite vegetable for me, they were and remain, always something that I eat because they are good for me. The cliche – about something being character building always springs to mind.

Now as a kind of odd segway – I have been thinking about my job and in a wierd connection in my brain; it has become my brussel sprout job. It is good for me, it will make me stronger, it is going to have long lasting effects and yes it is character building. I say these things because I spend too much time at my computer, too much time on excel (yuckity, yuck, yuck!) and not enough time talking to people or working with a team. It is like having to eat brussel sprouts every day.

The MBA experience has raised my expectations of my job. I do want to really, really, really like it. Loving it seems a bit to extreme. One of the team, in the MBA did warn me that it would be a shock to go back into the working world, it is true and I don’t think I am alone. Having chatted to friends.

So I guess I will continue to have my daily dose of brussel sprouts with the view that they will build my skills and abilities for the next job which will an entirely different vegetable, possibly even a fruit!

tube ads

When you are sitting or more like it squished into the tube, I am always searching for something to read. Sometimes I have something on me, sometimes I have to take sneaky peeks at my neighbours paper and occassionally I read the ads stuck above the windows. There were the wonderful poems a few years ago, now it is mainly insurance companies or vitamins.

However, this one has caused quite a stir. Some bus drivers are refusing to drive buses with the ads! It reads “there’s probably no God. Now stopping worrying and enjoy your life.” I like it.

Not because I particularly wonder about God on the tube – but I do like the idea that someone is telling me not to worry and to enjoy my life. Not many ads fulfill that function!

i’ve been thinking ……

It is true I have been thinking. I went along to a Breakfast meeting today and listened while munching on salmon of the smoked kind. The speaker was Julian Le Grand, rather an esteemed guy who has views on loads of stuff.

The topic was basically whether the government, policy makers have a role in solving what are social problems, well in my view anyway – smoking, obesity and drinking. The trifecta of modern living maybe?

So what do we think?

The successful examples of Nanny State style intervention – there are some. Seatbelts. In Australia the slip-slop-campaign had a good effect on sunbathing behaviours, Life be in it also worked for a while. The curious thing about these two are they were very much the product of a social movement. It wasn’t so much about the government saying the population should do anything – it started with the community first. Interesting. So Nanny state stuff not entirely helpful.

What was intriguing in the listening to the conversation is that people in the UK, when considering health, without fail look to the USA. I have noooooo idea why! The population is different, the politics is different and the healthcare system is completely and absolutely not the same. It happens all the time where I work also. It is odd, wierd, confusing.

I most certainly do not know the answer to such problems or such intreging comparison. It is however interesting to think about these things in the morning.

squished

ugggg….

I traveled to work in someones arm pit today and traveled home with someone else’s back pack jammed in my back. It is hard to describe the joy of a tube commute on a wet day. It would seem that at the slightest sign of rain it appears that everyone gets on the tube.

Grim, grim, grim

tighty whities

Shocking, absolutely shocking!

It has taken me all day to overcome the horrible image, blotted on my retina it was. Just like when you look at a bright light for too long.

This morning I was leaving my room for work and had the misfortune

of glimpsing my flat mate dashing between bathroom to bedroom in his tighty-whities.

No one should ever have to see that first thing in the morning, never, ever,ever!

wobbly bits

Where do the wobbly bits come from? I know that women are meant to have wobbly bits, curves – yippee for Botticelli and his curvey women – I guess it is important to acknowledge those that  are into the heroin chic, stick-insect look, so well represented by people like Kate Moss and the new one… Agne Deyn.. I think.

The extra wobbly bits weren’t there a while ago….Definitely not there in October I am sure. They seem to have snuck onto my thighs and tummy when I wasn’t looking. In some of the holiday photos I seem to have a little spare tyre…careful cropping required for that little photo selection! My clothes are just that little bit tighter. hmmmm

So something must be done to avoid a more extensive, drastic and waist widening heathrow injection.

hurrumph

The fun is over – back at work today…………..

Forgot my Oyster card for the tube this morning – annoying

Got dark at 4pm

Cold all day

LA moments

A man in a white Cadillac convertable listerning to Brittany Spears,

a non-fat-half heat-tall-small foam cap (so very LA story),

27 degrees Celsius in winter,

teeny-tiny dogs in every colour and size, with sparkly collars and

enjoying healthful, flavourful meals (hmmmm creative? Putting their mark on the English Language in the 2000′s) are just a few of the favourite LA moments in the last week.

LA is one of the stragest cities in the world. There is no consistency in the surrounds – ubiquitous low flat ugly houses sit next to strip malls, next to a lovely white 50′s flat block, dry dirt tracks lead up to views of snow capped moutains and the Hollywood sign, homeless next to Diamonds. It is generally unappealing. That being said everytime I visit my friends here I have an absolutely “awesome” time, and it is quite possibly that when you stay with locals – you learn not to judge this city by its cover.

As once you stop doing this you can just laugh, smile or drop your draw at the LA moments that occur around you!

two places at once

Wouldn’t it be lovely to be able to be in two places at once?

Snap your fingers and you can be at a party in London, while also seeing a film with your Mum in Melbourne.

I am so lucky to have friends and family scattered all over the planet. However, this international network also means that you constantly feel that you are in the wrong place.

I am not certain that there is a solution – well unless I can convince everyone to move to the same town. I may have better luck with the finger snapping strategy!