I'm having huge difficulties in getting my thoughts together after a huge break from my blog (made worse that I've just lost an hour's work already and I'm not sure what I've pressed). Also slightly worrying that I'm feeling more inspired to write about non-work related things rather than work.
Firstly, after a month off from formula one, the Spa Grand Prix lived up to expectations and my crystal ball was right that the 2 worst drivers Grosjean won't make it to a lap and Maldanado will crash/incur some kind of penalty and the world's most boring driver (yes I'm criticising a fellow Brit) Di Resta will eek out a point without bothering to overtake anybody and letting quite a few cars overtake him. Yes, I know he gets the car home in one piece but so can Joe Bloggs get their car from one place to another in one piece. Take your rosy-tinted glasses off BBC!
The start of the football season has been an anti-climax for the ever-frustrated Stags fan. I was expecting better things with lots of interesting new signings with footballers that had good reputations of being able to play football, I was going to think that Paul Cox had had lessons from Billy Dryden, Steve Parkin and Keith Curle over the summer and they had all shown him how you can get your team to play good football. Unfortunately Paul continues to study the John Beck manual of football - pinching players from the local rugby team, intimidating the opposition and stopping them playing and missing the middle of the pitch out in play (at least most of the pitch will still be in pristine condition at the end of the season as it doesn't get touched) though even worse this year, he's forgotten 2 crucial elements - to win, teams have to score goals and stop other teams from scoring. Hopefully he'll continue in this vein and get the sack soon. I can't even make any Lincoln jokes at the moment.
What else can I talk about before I have to think about work? I managed to catch some of the Reading/Leeds Festival last week. Favourite parts - Crystal Castles, Sbtrkt and before I get accused of being a dance freak - Mark Lannegan Band, At the Drive-In and Black Keys. Least favourite - toss up between The Vaccines and Florence and the Machine (just plainly awful), also quite a few non-descript indie-bands which all sound the same.
It feels like an end of an era as probably our most well known reader to all of the RNIB passed away last week. He used to ring up most days so it's like losing an old friend. It was sad that he spent his last weeks in hospital and none of us had a chance to speak to him there; I think his closest friends in his latter years were the RNIB Library Staff and Customer Services.
50 Shades of Grey has divided the readers, although achieving the largest waiting list for a book by reaching 126 requests, some have eagerly phoned back and made enquiries about the rest of the trilogy, others have been just as quick to say no more. One lady thought it was called 50 Shades of Green and it was going to be a nice family story set in Ireland. Couldn't get further from the truth! I think the best positive comment was from one customer who was just pleased to be able to get hold of this book in an accessible format and being able to join in the conversations with their friends and family. A nice example of social inclusion!
Showing posts with label F1. Show all posts
Showing posts with label F1. Show all posts
Wednesday, 5 September 2012
Monday, 26 March 2012
Agent Zig Zag, Portfolios and Romain Grojean - March 19th-23rd
A bit late this week, by 2 weeks!. The truth is I haven’t much to report workwise. The calls keep raining in and everyone around me are dropping down with sickness bugs and colds at home and work. It’s just been one phone call after another with the in-tray in between calls.
I’ve had no committee work to do though I’m still madly working on my portfolio – making sure I’ve got my evidence together and reflecting on everything. I went to see my mentor Kate on Friday and was pleasantly surprised not only how far ahead I was with my portfolio but also that I was on the right track with my idea of what needs to be in it.
My mentor gave me a copy of her portfolio which included her CV, a record of her professional development and her audit sheet which she recommended using as it asks the questions what did you learn from this activity and how would you apply this to your workplace. She had further separated this into different sections which I thought was a good idea. Also included was her personal statement where she had highlighted her five main professional development activities with the main learning outcomes and a summary of what has been learnt in 500 words maximum. There was also a copy of her job description and about 13 examples of evidence of professional development with a summary piece on each in turn relating it to one of the three criteria set out on the CILIP handbook as there isn’t a word limit in the appendices. I have also done this so I was quite pleased that I was ahead of the game on that. After looking through my sample portfolio, I’m worried about the quality of my professional development – there’s no restructuring staff, doing presentations at conferences and contributing to books and anything else impressive.
One thing we did discuss was the dates of my 3 year cycle. I was using Nov 2009 to Oct 2012 but Kate suggested bringing these dates forward, particularly as I was ahead with the portfolio. I’m pretty sure that I have got some evidence of professional development for the preceding months. The only worry is that I have emailed my log in with my dates already so I’m not sure what they would think if I suddenly send my portfolio through 4 months earlier! I also need to go through my evidence and decide which ones I want to put in my portfolio and pick out the ones I want to feature in my personal statement.
We had our stock familiarisation meeting last week. This time it was the readers’ favourite “I want a good biography of somebody who has done something interesting”. Mine was Ben McIntyre’s Agent Zig Zag – a biography of Eddie Chapman - a double agent spy in the Second World War. I would seriously recommend this book, not only to people who like to read war biographies but also readers who asks for true adventure books and perhaps even to someone who likes a good thriller. Other biographies included As Good as God: the impossible life of Mary Benson which was a highly enjoyable book with very colourful characters and one for the more open minded reader. Greg Mortensen’s Three Cups of Tea was also positively reviewed though probably the Amazon rating of 4 and a ½ stars was a little optimistic. The Hare with the Amber Eyes was similarly given glowing feedback and was also one to put on people’s lists as one that “led interesting lives”.
Huge excitement at home with the new F1 season starting. My son, Matthew, is in seventh heaven though at the moment is looking for a new driver to support as his favourite driver of the last four years, Sutil, has lost his seat. It looks like it’s going to be a good season as well, a lot more unpredictable instead of Vettel winning everything and some new drivers to watch. Our main questions are Will Massa last the season? Will Grojean ever complete a race without crashing? Will Hispania ever be off the back row? It will keep Matthew quiet until end of November, plus before every race he goes on his xbox to have a go on the same circuit so he can follow the driving more closely in the race. Watch out Grojean, if you keep crashing, Matthew will be wanting your seat. Mind you, I think I could even do better!
I’ve had no committee work to do though I’m still madly working on my portfolio – making sure I’ve got my evidence together and reflecting on everything. I went to see my mentor Kate on Friday and was pleasantly surprised not only how far ahead I was with my portfolio but also that I was on the right track with my idea of what needs to be in it.
My mentor gave me a copy of her portfolio which included her CV, a record of her professional development and her audit sheet which she recommended using as it asks the questions what did you learn from this activity and how would you apply this to your workplace. She had further separated this into different sections which I thought was a good idea. Also included was her personal statement where she had highlighted her five main professional development activities with the main learning outcomes and a summary of what has been learnt in 500 words maximum. There was also a copy of her job description and about 13 examples of evidence of professional development with a summary piece on each in turn relating it to one of the three criteria set out on the CILIP handbook as there isn’t a word limit in the appendices. I have also done this so I was quite pleased that I was ahead of the game on that. After looking through my sample portfolio, I’m worried about the quality of my professional development – there’s no restructuring staff, doing presentations at conferences and contributing to books and anything else impressive.
One thing we did discuss was the dates of my 3 year cycle. I was using Nov 2009 to Oct 2012 but Kate suggested bringing these dates forward, particularly as I was ahead with the portfolio. I’m pretty sure that I have got some evidence of professional development for the preceding months. The only worry is that I have emailed my log in with my dates already so I’m not sure what they would think if I suddenly send my portfolio through 4 months earlier! I also need to go through my evidence and decide which ones I want to put in my portfolio and pick out the ones I want to feature in my personal statement.
We had our stock familiarisation meeting last week. This time it was the readers’ favourite “I want a good biography of somebody who has done something interesting”. Mine was Ben McIntyre’s Agent Zig Zag – a biography of Eddie Chapman - a double agent spy in the Second World War. I would seriously recommend this book, not only to people who like to read war biographies but also readers who asks for true adventure books and perhaps even to someone who likes a good thriller. Other biographies included As Good as God: the impossible life of Mary Benson which was a highly enjoyable book with very colourful characters and one for the more open minded reader. Greg Mortensen’s Three Cups of Tea was also positively reviewed though probably the Amazon rating of 4 and a ½ stars was a little optimistic. The Hare with the Amber Eyes was similarly given glowing feedback and was also one to put on people’s lists as one that “led interesting lives”.
Huge excitement at home with the new F1 season starting. My son, Matthew, is in seventh heaven though at the moment is looking for a new driver to support as his favourite driver of the last four years, Sutil, has lost his seat. It looks like it’s going to be a good season as well, a lot more unpredictable instead of Vettel winning everything and some new drivers to watch. Our main questions are Will Massa last the season? Will Grojean ever complete a race without crashing? Will Hispania ever be off the back row? It will keep Matthew quiet until end of November, plus before every race he goes on his xbox to have a go on the same circuit so he can follow the driving more closely in the race. Watch out Grojean, if you keep crashing, Matthew will be wanting your seat. Mind you, I think I could even do better!
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