'never look a gift horse in the mouth'

Oops now that I have some new readers . . . lol – perhaps I’ll have to change my content and style . . .then again maybe not . . .

Photo’s – all taken through in Edinburgh – whilst visiting Judi last weekend. Prince's street; Judi; Theatre Royal Bar; what I referred to as the lighthouse . . although I'm assured it is not one . .Actual names of buildings etc., Hmm you got me there _ I’ll try to find out and then add them as we go along.

So what happened last week – let’s see . . . ah yes – well it started off with a rather special weekend; a day off – then back into loads of work so here goes

Special weekend - well visited Judi in Edinburgh and have to say we had a lovely time – seem to be getting on really well . . . – now you may be thinking Edinburgh - Dumbarton, how practical is this etc., - Let me just say I’ve never really been a practical person . . . and don’t let minor details stand in my way! I made it here from South Africa remember . . .

So Monday was a free day – worked on my Information Retrieval assignment and have come up with the idea of testing a whole lot of online search engines – Google; Ask.com; Alta Vista; Live Search etc., with an idiom – Monica, our lecturer had offered to look over our assignments if we handed them or a draft in at least 1 week before it was due. So I immediately thought ‘never look a gift horse in the mouth’ and got to wondering what the actual meaning and origins of this idiom was. So that has become the essence of my assignment – typing this in on various search engines and seeing where it takes us – drawing up some fancy tables and then quantifying the results etc., I sent in a draft and Monica gave some suggestions and we are rolling.

Tuesday always kicks off with IT in business – we had an entrepreneur who shared his business model with us – which on face value seems to work very well – based on an analogy of a helicopter and goes something like this - well the blades are what lifts the helicopter of the ground; but it needs a motor to turn them and then the fuselage to keep everything together – kinda like the components of the business; blades – customer acquisition; motor – execution (running of the business); lastly fuselage – Admin. Very clear, and concise way of looking at a business – and analysing whether an idea is viable. Guy has obviously had some run in’s with labour issues kept referring to labour as one of the most expensive components of any business and how they will sue you at the drop of a hat and steal your stock as well as not working when they are supposed to . . .lol – def. some employee issues in the past.

Then it was Internet programming which is PHP – with which I am lost and way out at sea at the moment – priority-wise just absolutely no time to look at it – our web site we have to work on is only due in on January 15 or somewhere round there and there are just so many other priorities at the moment – so have to leave it on a back-burner – we do have a blog we are supposed to complete but I am sorry to say it just ain’t going to happen at the moment.

Java on Wednesday was a one of the most useful classes I have had in a long time. Had my 3 classes (part of project) completed and everything seemed to be working fine – managed to grab Colin (our tutor) and we discussed the next class Manager – we went through it together and he left me trying to implement an iterator. Something new and it works like this – I have a team of employees and businesses being what they are at some stage you’ll have to remove someone from a team – a resignation or moving to another team etc., - In real life you will look person up in spreadsheet and delete them - I needed to write a programme which performs the search and deletes the person – also then rearranges the remaining team. Managed to more or less work it out – with a little help from 1 or 2 people – Wolfman & Murvin . . .just as we were leaving Colin asked how I had got on – we sat down and looked at it and with 1 or 2 minor adjustments we had it sorted – he claims if I can do that I can do the rest of the project. So I was really feeling chuffed . . .I did put in hours the night before on some theory . .

Went to see the Bond on Wed evening – it was a great movie – I think that Daniel Craig will stay in the role for quite a while . . . great opening sequence – I recommend it. Arran was upset with the fact that they never asked him where he wanted to sit – I got him a seat next to me but as he sat down the guy opposite said it is reserved seating – well that was it Arran was off – took my keys to get in and he was off . . .

Ok Thursday was predominantly Java again but this time theory with Reuben – still not going too well there – spent most of the period speaking about implementing things – which suggests to me there is a hint there with regards to the project – all n all it was a waste of time – I could have stayed at home and worked on the project – we still have to do a test which should have been written on 13 Nov – but we’re still not sure when we will write it – probably week 12

Friday is Information Retrieval – Monica – shame she has recently migrated to PC – PowerPoint instead of transparencies – (must be some deal with Apple all lecturing staff seem to have apple notebook – high on my wish list now but that depends on funds – if your listening Santa) and she was struggling with the data projector – now between you and me – I’ve dealt with a few stroppy data projectors in my time @ Communities Scotland I was the heavy (nothing to do with my weight) to sort out many a data projector . . .so anyway I stepped up and – voila! Pressed a single key (it was flashing no video detected) i.e. set it on to RGB and we had slides . . .should be worth a few extra marks in my assignment or exam (you think??) . . .lol

We ended off the academic side of things with Enterprise Architecture – really getting into what it is – another assignment due in 2 weeks – TOGAF; Perks & Bevridge – just really a whole structure and outline of how a company should plan things – follows business principles to a large extent – map where you are – where you want to be – do a gap analysis – and then a migration plan – put some governance into place and go for it . . .well in simple terms really that is what its all about . . .but of course there are books and chapters dealing with each component . . .

Ended off with a student reps meeting – And & myself for CIT (Computer & Internet Technologies) Idong IM (Information Management) and Catherine ILS (Information Library Services) – this is so we can forward a agenda for meeting with the directors Friday next week 1 December . . . Dec already . . . frightening. Somebody had spoken to me about graduation ball and that we should go away in to the Highlands for a weekend . . .this is for Nov next year . . .I suppose its not really all that far away . . . .lol

Oops and locked myself out the flat on Thursday when I went to Blue Chip computer club . . now where was my mind . . .lol

That’s all folks . . .

What is coming up next week – no doubt more Java adventures; PHP dilemma; Info Retrieval assignment to be handed in; 1^st Students Rep meeting – some thorny issues / some suggestions / some improvements / some unhappy students . . .but hey that’s all in next week’s episode . . also Arran's imminent departure