Week 2

Up at 5.30am. I had to load the car with a load of stuff we are going to store at Harry and Margaret’s house while we are selling ours. I set off at 6.20am and got onto the M6 at about 6.30am. There were already several miles of traffic tailing back on the southbound carriageway. Luckily, leaving Birmingham was a lot clearer.

I got to Chester at 8.30am and unloaded the car at Harry and Margaret’s before heading in to work. The flexitime system they have there is a real boon. As long as I get in before 10am, it’s fine. I felt knackered all day though.

After initially feeling nervous about being chucked straight into a project at work, I was getting really into it this week. Apparently most new developers spend the first two or three weeks just reading documentation, and familiarising themselves with the company’s web framework, working practices and standards, etc. I think I have probably learned more, by having some work to do.

End of the First Week

The first week went a lot better than I could have hoped for. My work on the project has gone well, and I do not feel as out of my depth as I assumed I would. Also people do seem impressed with the stuff I’ve turned out so far.

My first week living with the in-laws went ok as well. I am going to get too used to having my dinner cooked for me every night. I really missed Lou and the kids though, and it felt really good to get home on Friday evening. I set off from work at about 4.30pm and got home about 7pm. Jamie and Caitlin were in the bath when I got in, so I was there in time to help with that and read their bedtime story.

Also this week we put an offer in on a house in Blacon (Chester), and it was accepted. Now we have to get a move on with our decorating to get our house on the market.

This weekend was a blitz of preparation and painting. We did the kitchen and upstairs hallway, but it all needs another coat, and all the woodwork still needs doing. After working late on into Sunday evening, I decided not to travel back that night because I felt too tired to drive. Early start then, for Monday morning.

Day 2

I was to be drafted into a project which had been running for a couple of weeks, with just one other web developer and a senior developer (responsible for the complicated stuff). Happily I discovered that the page I was assigned to updating required mostly cosmetic html and style sheet changes. There was also some database driven stuff, but nowhere near as complicated as I had feared, so I was able to get on with it.

I also had to attend a short project meeting, which was a first for me. It showed me how projects are run and managed, and I was impressed with how organised it was compared to the way things ran at the last job. I was introduced as the new Web Analyst Programmer. The other Web AP was described as a web expert (I later found out from him, that he had only been there a couple of months and was hoping I would be able to help him out with all the stuff he didn’t know how to do).

Day 1

The first day was a gentle introduction to life at my new workplace. I was one of about ten new starters and we spent most of the morning sitting through an induction session. Many idiosyncrasies of the company were revealed, including the value and importance of car parking spaces, an extremely harsh internet and email usage policy and a very cool flexitime system.

Just before lunch I was dropped off at my new desk, and introduced to my Buddy. All new starters are assigned a Buddy to look after them during their first week, and to show them the important stuff, like where the local sandwich shop is. Your Buddy is also given up to ten quid to pay for lunch on the first day, which is a pretty cool idea.

The afternoon was spent getting my PC set up with all the necessary software, and just reading through company literature. The sheer size and complexity of their web site and framework was a surprise. I could tell it would take a long time to get my head around it.

Just before I left for the evening, my new manager told me that they were going to do something radical and throw me straight into a project on my second day. I went home feeling quite nervous about it.

During my interview for this job, I had demonstrated massive gaps in my knowledge of asp.net coding, and was surprised when they actually offered me the job. I had considered turning it down, because I was so worried that my skills would be inadequate. Then I reassured myself that they had assessed my capabilities and offered me the job anyway, and that they would probably provide training and support. Then they chuck me straight into a project, and I felt like it would be a case or sink or swim.

Last Day AT Work

Almost five years to the day at started working at Volvo, I finally finsihed working there.

The morning was very busy, as several people asked me to get things done for them before I left. The afternoon was a bit more relaxed, as I spent my time packing the stuff from my desk and wandering around to say goodbye to people.

I got the obligatory little congregation around my desk late in the afternoon, and a short speach from my manager. They had gave me a bottle of champagne. which was nice of them, and then waited for me to do my speech. I didn't know what to say, apart from thank you for the champagne, so it was very short.

I've got to admit, that it felt quite sad to be leaving. I have known some of my friends there for five years, and even though I will keep in touch via email, I will probably never see them again. Of course there was also the nervous feelings, and self doubt creeping in. I might have been bored of Volvo, but at least I knew what I was doing. I was in a comfortable rut for a long time, and the thought of starting a new job, away from home was a bit scary.

Walking away from work for the last time, carrying my box of stuff to the car was bittersweet.

LinkedIn

Four days to go at Volvo. I told a few more people that I was leaving today, including a colleague in Sweden. He was sorry to hear I was leaving and offered to send me an invitation to join his network in LinkedIn.

LinkedIn.com is a social network site for professionals. The idea is that you create your own network of colleagues, who in turn have their networks, and you end up with a vast network of professional people, who all come with a personal recommendation.

To be honest, I'm not sure if it will be of any use to me, but I accepted the invitation, created my profile, and then sent out invitations to few friends and colleagues. The lads from Volvo joined straight away (any distraction from work), and it least it is one way of keeping in touch with them.

Counting Down - 5 Days Left

There is a certain amount of concern around my department now, as people are asking me to get things done before I leave, and document some of the jobs I did so they can hopefully do it for themselves after I've gone.

I had assumed when I gave them four weeks notice, that they would use the time to find somebody to take over my job. It looks like that isn't going to happen, so I am trying to document processes and tasks. However that will only cover the basics. When problems occur, it usually takes experience of the systems to track down the cause. I can write down some of the most common problems/causes, but there's no way I can cover every eventuality.

I'm getting a bit nervous, now I'm into my last week. Moving up to Chester to work at a new place is taking me a long way out of my comfort zone. It has made me realise what a comfortable rut I've been in for the past couple of years. It reminds me of when I left a job I hated at Pizza Express to become a web designer.

It was a dream move away from dull shift work, to doing a challenging new creative job, where I would actually get weekends off. After about a week at the new job, I was having real doubts that I would be able to make it as a professional web designer, and was fantasising about going back to the comfort and ease of working for Pizza Express again. After about another week, I was fine, as I learned the ropes and adapted. I'm sure the first week at the new job will be very similar to that first week as a web designer, and I will have to remember that experience and hope it will go the same way this time.

One Week To Go

After today I will have one week left at Volvo. I told a couple more people that I was leaving yesterday. It is always gratifying to get the same reaction when they hear the news. Its "I'm sorry to hear that / you'll be missed" immediately followed by "who is going to look after once you've gone?".

I can't answer their question. I gave my boss four weeks notice, but I don not know if they are going to directly replace me, or try and pass out my old jobs to various people. They certainly haven't asked me to show anybody anything. Its not my problem, but I can't help worrying about it. Besides, it will probably mean that they will be ringing my mobile while I am at my new job to ask me how to fix the applications that have failed.

New House / Old House

Last weekend we went up to Chester and had a look around a few houses. It was a bit premature really, considering that it will be a few weeks until our house is fit to put on the market, but we thought it would be good to get an idea of what was around.

One of the houses we saw was perfect, and we really liked it. Its on the same road as Paul and Claire (Lou's brother and sister in law), which would be really handy. Plus it is really well decorated and wouldn't need any work doing on it once we'd moved in.

It had only been up for sale for about three days when we saw it. We would really like to put an offer in, but are worried because we haven't even got ours on the market yet. We called the estate agent on Monday to tell them we were interested and to arrange another visit next weekend. Hopefully the fact that this is a slow time of year for the housing market will mean that nobody jumps in ahead of us.

Meanwhile we are working on fixing our house ready to sell it. I replastered and wallpapered the front hallway this week. It looks a lot better. Next week we have a proper plasterer coming to fix the upstairs landing and the walls and ceiling around the stairwell. We need to spend this weekend stripping the remaining wallpaper off so the plasterer can get started. Joy!

Ironopolis

One of the things I will miss about leaving Birmingham is playing six a side football on Wednesday nights. Our team, Ironopolis is currently third bottom of Division One of the Solihull Fox Hollies Wednesday night league run by Leisure Leagues. Despite being rubbish at football, I really enjoy playing. Also it is the only time I regularly see my brother and a few of my mates.

It is also the only proper execise I do, which makes me worry about getting even more unfit when I move up to Chester. The company I am about to start work with has a good discount with the local gym, which may be worth considering. However I am not really a gym person. I know that I would start off going about two or three times a week, and then maybe once a week, and before too long, hardly ever go. Gyms bore me to death, and I much prefer playing football. It is possibly ironic that I might be a bit better at football (and therefore enjoy it even more) if I actually used a gym to get fitter. I was never that quick when I was a kid, and now at 35, I can barely run compared to the younger, fitter players in most the other teams we play against. Still, playing football is a laugh and hopefully there will be an opportunity in Chester for me to get a game.

Two weeks to go

In two weeks time I will come to work at Volvo for the last time. I will do the M5/M42/M40 commute for the last time. I will see a lot of friends for the last time.

I expect I will keep in touch with most of them via email, but realistically I know I probably won't meet up with any of them again. We've very rarely seen each other socially in the past five years because I live in Birmingham, and they all live in Coventry or Leamington, so even if I do come back for a weekend, I doubt I'll see them.

In two weeks and three days I start my new job. My commute will be ten minutes instead of 45-60 minutes, which means I'll regain about eight hours of my life back every week. That's a hell of a lot when you think about it. It is also going to save me a lot in petrol and general wear and tear on my car.

There are significant down sides to the new job, at least in the short term. Lou is going to be stuck in Birmingham looking after the kids on her own from Monday to Friday. She is handing her notice in on Monday, but will have to work until Christmas. In the meantime I will be staying with Lou's Mum and Dad during the week, and travelling back to Brum at weekends. It is going to take a lot of getting used to.

The idea of getting about eight extra hours of free time a week has got me thinking. I shouldn't take it for granted. I have been doing the commute between Birmingham and Warwick (previously Coventry) for five years now. I should make the most of these eight hours and make an effort to use them. I will have to think of something to do with the spare time.

Tomorrow we are going up to Chester to visit Lou's parents and we are taking the opportunity to have a look around some houses that are available in and around Blacon. I'm not sure there is much point in looking at houses yet, as we will not be in a position to buy for several months, but it will give us an idea of what is on the market.

Old Friends

We went up to Teesside for the weekend to visit my family and friends. I arranged with some old mates to meet up in Seaton Carew (near Hartlepool). I had never actually been to Seaton before. Being from south of Middlesbrough, we always used to go to Redcar or Saltburn if we wanted to go to the seaside.

I also took the opportunity to cross the Tees on the Transporter Bridge, which is something else I have never managed to do before. As we sat on the gondola in our car, we could see people climbing up and walking across the top of the bridge, some 180 feet up. Lou, who has developed vertigo in her old age felt sick watching them, but I added it to my list of things I want to do at least once. Talking to my Dad the next day, I found out he did it when he was younger. That made me even more determined to do it myself.

In Seaton we met up with Dale and his new girlfriend Trina. New to me at least. They met at New Year, but he's never mentioned her to me before. They had brought along Trina niece Mia, who at three years old is the same age as our Jamie. They quickly became friends and had fun playing together on the beach.

Chris came with his lad James, who is about ten I think, and John and Linda came with their Ethan, also about three.

So we all played on the beach, then went for fish and chips at Don Bee's before taking the kids into a toddler play area.

It was nice, but everyone spent so much time taking care of their kids that I hardly had time to catch up with any of my mates. It was a bit weird really, though we all had fun.

That evening I drove back up to Hartlepool with Lou to go out with Dale and Trina. Chris was babysitting James, and John was recovering from being ill, and didn't feel up to a night out.

We went into the local Yates. Lou marvelled at how most of the girls were so dressed up, almost as if they were going to a wedding. You get that a lot in the North East, compared to Birmingham, where the fashion seems to be more casual.

I managed to have a proper chat with Dale at least, and feel like I've caught up with one of my old friends. Must make more effort...

Wasting an evening

I tried signing up to play Second Life last night. I went through the registration process, which was fairly quick, and then I had to download the 25MB client software. I almost baulked at that, but decided to go for it. Once it had downloaded I tried to install it and it told me that my graphics card was unsupported and it would not be able to run.

I was a bit suprised by that. My graphics card is a couple of years old, but it is a ATI Radeon 9200, which is not that obscure, and it is powerful enough to run Half Life 2.

Never mind, it probable saved me getting sucked into another productivity void. I just spent a couple of hours on Vice City instead. I have got a thing about buying old games for a about a fiver of Ebay. I already have Vice City for my PS2, but I can never be bothered getting the PS2 out anymore. (I keep meaning to sell it.) I bought Vice City because some clever people set up an online version of it, which you needed the PC version of to be able to play, but I never got around to trying it. In fact I had forgotten about it until just now. I should have tried that last night instead.

Anniversary - a day without Internet

Yesterday was mine and Louise's fourth wedding anniversary. As it was a Thursday, the kids were in nursery, and I took the day off work so that Lou and I could spend the day together. We had a very relaxed day watching DVD's and going out for lunch.

We went to the Lickey Hills for lunch, in a very nice pub restaurant called the Barnt Green Inn.
I might do a proper review later, but I'll just say now that we both enjoyed our lunch very much.

The weird thing for me yesterday was the fact that I went an entire day without accessing the Internet. I can't remember the last time I did that. By the evening I was starting to feeling like I was suffering something like withdrawal symptoms. I was feeling nervous because I had not checked my email all day. I felt very disconnected.

Is it a bit sad that I felt like that? I'm not sure.

Bikes for PSPs?

I noticed a story on the BBC that in the DR Congo, the goverment is extending a scheme whereby gunmen are given bicycles in exhange for their weapons.

Link here

Maybe the British government couple implement a similar scheme, exchanging bikes for PSPs and other games systems. Then maybe we wouldn't have so many obese kids.

How To Appoint A Manager

Lippi resigns Wednesday. The Italian FA appoint a new coach on Thursday.

How come it took our FA weeks to give the job to McClaren?

Oh yes, I remember. The FA is run by a bunch in credulous, useless, negligable tossers!

Zidane Enquiry - What's The Point?

FIFA are launching an enquiry into Zidane's sending off in the final. What is the point?

Let me save them some time. Materazzi and Zidane exchanged insults, Zidane lost his temper (as he is prone to), and performed a bizarre headbutt to Materazzi's chest. Zidane eventually got a red card.

Now can FIFA pay me how ever much they will no doubt be paying the team of investigators who will take several weeks to come up with the same conclusion?

With all the time I have just saved them, perhaps they could investigate why the standard of refereeing during the finals was so poor, and why players are still able to get away with such obvious diving and cheating?

If players can get a suspension for elbowing an opponent, based on video evidence, surely they can get one for a blatant dive? In fact we could make it fun, by giving the divers marker out of ten and basing the length of the suspension on the score. They could make it a feature on Match Of The Day.

"Only two out of ten for the boy Ronaldo's dive, Gary. He'll be disappointed with that!"