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The Gentle Lamb . . .
29/06/07 09:43 Filed in: School
I sat and nodded. Oh yes, mottos are very important. I have a personal motto which I found late in life. It was my health visitor who passed it on to me after I had David - so I was almost in my 30s before I got it.
But school mottos? Are they important? For a good ten miles I searched the deeper areas of my memory trying to remember mine. I was at that school for four years and saw the motto on every blazer every day. I remembered something about "the gentlest hand" but was it "the gentlest hand is like a lamb" or "gentle goes the lamb" or "be as gentle as a lamb"? It was something about a gentle hand and a lamb - those were the facts I was sure of - it was just a case of juggling the words a little.
Thank goodness for Wikipedia as the school's own official website didn't have the motto displayed anywhere that I could find it!
The motto is ACTUALLY: Lamh Foisdineach An Uachtar, which means "with the gentle hand foremost". I was almost there huh? I suppose, the more I think about it, it isn't a bad motto. It could have been worse, I suppose.
Those of you who know me well will be amused to note that the motto is in Irish! This is the only Grammar School in Northern Ireland to have an Irish motto.
So. School mottos are really important. If you can remember them. I left that school in 1985 and can honestly say I haven't thought more than once about the motto. I hum the school song now and then and can even remember some of the words to it.
When I look at the panoramic photograph of the school pupils on my hall wall I can pick out a handful of the 1100 people there that I still remember the names of. I had a hand picked group of *bff*s who all swore undying love and everlasting friendship to each other. If I had known then that, well before the time I reached 40, I would have lost contact with them all and not even still be on their Christmas Card List I think I would have taken my gentle hand and gently slit my gentle wrists there and then.
The people calling in to the radio had various fantastic mottos and all seemed to think that a few words had had great influence over their lives. Even the 70 year olds were able to quote their motto and then show several examples of when it had applied to their own personal and / or business lives.
"With the gentle hand foremost" . . . you think? Do you think that applies to me?
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My Daughter, The Homeless Person . . .
29/06/07 09:26 Filed in: Jessica
I decided to check further in her own room. There she was, lying on the floor with a blanket over the top of her while her perfectly good bed and duvet lay redundant on the other side of the room.
Then I took a fit of the giggles. She was actually lying with her head inside a cardboard box a la homeless people. I took several photos but this was the best one I could get in the available light. The blue thing in the top middle is the box.
Strange child.
Half Christmas . . . .
27/06/07 14:24 Filed in: Family
Lorna invited a few choice friends round on Monday night to the "Half Christmas Party in The Garage" with instructions to bring "token gifts". I had great fun telling everyone all day that I was going to a Christmas Party later on - the only sour-puss was Iain's Mum, who denounced it all as "the most ridiculous thing she had ever heard of." Obviously she had much better plans pencilled in for the evening!
The children and I arrived with high expectations of being entertained and good craic. As per usual The Garage was decorated far beyond what was expected and the craic was indeed mighty!
I can't really say much more about it all than that - I think I am still a little in shock at the idea of Christmas in June but am starting to love the impromptu Garage Parties that are being Dunn these days. It is so clever to have them in a self contained unit like that - and Dude - you don't have to tidy the house!
Surely the "We are on summer holidays from school" party is going to be a corker. Likewise the "Halloween Is Almost Here", "Halloween Is Only a Few Weeks Away", "YAY IT IS HALLOWEEN" and then of course the five or six "Run Up to Real Christmas" parties will all be wonderful too.
I am thinking (pretty damn seriously) about hiring The Garage for my birthday party this year. Or should I say; Iain needs to be reminded that when he is organising my secret party that premises will have to be booked well in advance for the sheer numbers expected.
Hmmm.
On that note. For those of you who are subtly scouring this blog for subtle ideas for subtle birthday presents for me I have to say that HOLIDAYS are top of the list. WEEKEND BREAKS. Dare I suggest; ANYWHERE THAT EASYJET STOPS OFF WOULD BE FINE WITH ME.
Or.
ABSOLUTELY ANYTHING FROM THE APPLE STORE OF YOUR CHOICE.
And here are some brands I particularly enjoy.
NIKON. NIKON. NIKON. TAMRON. AND NIKON.
Does that help any?
Don't say I didn't give you any help - or plenty of advance warning. You remember the date don't you?
Don't forget - Iain doesn't know how to get in contact with you all - if you want to be invited you are going to have to tell him you exist! Don't be shy.
Perhaps we ought to have a "Over Half Way To My Birthday" Party. I'll see if The Garage is available!
The Eight Thing . . .
19/06/07 23:15 Filed in: Memes
I've been tagged by The Bog Standard
Blog.
1. I have to post these rules before I give you the facts.
2. Each participant posts eight random facts about themselves.
3. Tagees should write a blogpost of eight random ficts/facts about themselves.
4. At the end of the post, eight more bloggers are tagged (named and shamed).
5. Go to their blog, leave a comment telling them they're tagged (cut and run).
So here are my EIGHT things:
1. I saw this tag last night and went to sleep knowing I had to post this today. I dreamed of eight very interesting things I could tell you all about but knew that I was having my eight hours of sleep and that I would forget them when I woke up at 8am so I came up with an interesting way of remembering the list. I numbered the list ALL beginning with the number 8. That'll do the job every time.
2. Quite often I doodle the number 8 over and over when thinking, bored or staring in to space.
3. Eight years ago I was pregnant. Not everyone can claim that one.
4. I have just realised that I probably don't have eight friends to tag.
5. I currently have eight pairs of shoes in my wardrobe that have only ever been worn once.
6. There are eight different sections to my back garden.
7. I used eight pritt sticks during my last college project.
8. I have eight programs open on my Powerbook right now.
Going on the theory discovered in Number 4 above I am going to break the cycle and tag this lot:
1. You.
2. You.
3. You.
4. You.
5. You.
6. You.
7. You. And yup, you've guessed it
8. You.
If you see yourself there, consider yourself tagged. If you do a post send me a link to it so I know you read here! It's getting kinda lonely over here.
1. I have to post these rules before I give you the facts.
2. Each participant posts eight random facts about themselves.
3. Tagees should write a blogpost of eight random ficts/facts about themselves.
4. At the end of the post, eight more bloggers are tagged (named and shamed).
5. Go to their blog, leave a comment telling them they're tagged (cut and run).
So here are my EIGHT things:
1. I saw this tag last night and went to sleep knowing I had to post this today. I dreamed of eight very interesting things I could tell you all about but knew that I was having my eight hours of sleep and that I would forget them when I woke up at 8am so I came up with an interesting way of remembering the list. I numbered the list ALL beginning with the number 8. That'll do the job every time.
2. Quite often I doodle the number 8 over and over when thinking, bored or staring in to space.
3. Eight years ago I was pregnant. Not everyone can claim that one.
4. I have just realised that I probably don't have eight friends to tag.
5. I currently have eight pairs of shoes in my wardrobe that have only ever been worn once.
6. There are eight different sections to my back garden.
7. I used eight pritt sticks during my last college project.
8. I have eight programs open on my Powerbook right now.
Going on the theory discovered in Number 4 above I am going to break the cycle and tag this lot:
1. You.
2. You.
3. You.
4. You.
5. You.
6. You.
7. You. And yup, you've guessed it
8. You.
If you see yourself there, consider yourself tagged. If you do a post send me a link to it so I know you read here! It's getting kinda lonely over here.
Running With Scissors . . .
19/06/07 22:55 Filed in: Family
My brother has a blog. He usually keeps it Friends
Only and I am lucky enough to be in that category.
Sometimes he can be funny. He gets that from me.
The other day he stuck in one of those email thingies that you get and I just replied to it. I am kinda annoyed I can't just send you the link to it so I am going to copy and paste (I would be lost if they ever bombed C&V again . . . oh never mind - it is an old Northern Ireland joke - I'll tell you it some day but I don't expect you will get it) it in here with my replies injected in to the appropriate places.
CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THE KIDS WHO WERE BORN IN THE
1930's 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's !!
First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us.
Your mother tripped over a hose that someone left lying out in the back yard *whistles innocently* and broke her leg while she was carrying you (probably smoking AND drinking at the same time). I remember watching her try to take a bath with the leg in a cast hanging out over the edge of it.
They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes.
I think we threw the blue cheese in the bin as soon as it started to smell. . .
Then after that trauma, our baby cribs were covered with bright coloured lead-based paints.
You were lucky to have a crib/cot - I was to be found wearing your baby-gro and lying in your cot. God knows where YOU were.
Also - we had bunk beds and you had to lie on the top one so that mother could change the bottom one EVERY night after I wet it out of badness. I remember quite distinctly having a case of the runs too when I thought it was just bad wind. . . .
We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking .
It's a shame we didn't have childproof lids on the medicine bottles back then - cos then we wouldn't have had to take you to the hospital to have your stomach pumped that time.
I had a go-cart which we took to the top of the hill and ran it down to the seeeeeeeeeea splash. . .
As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.
Ummmmmmmmmm. . . try "As a child I was pushed from a moving vehicle by my sister".
And. . "As a child I sat on the arm between the front seats facing backwards and that was "my" seat."
We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.
We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.
We ate cakes, white bread and real butter and drank pop with sugar in it, but we weren't overweight because......
We weren't?
WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!!
No we fecking weren't. *I* was outside playing while *you* were up at the police station with your nappy hanging off you waiting for someone to come and claim you AGAIN.
We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.
Or the Blues and Twos. . . .
No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K ..
We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem .
Or to swim.
We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, no video tape movies, no surround sound, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms..........WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!
We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.
We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.
No - but the chewing gum we scraped off the road is probably still inside us. (I still remember spitting out the stones.)
We made up games with sticks and tennis balls and although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.
Not until some of us made friends with people who had guns, that is. . .
We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them!
Football teams had trials and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!
Hmm - I don't think I ever got over that actually.
The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!
This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever!
The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.
We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!
And YOU are one of them!
Some of you. Some of you *only just* and some of you *not so much* !
CONGRATULATIONS!
Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it?!
The other day he stuck in one of those email thingies that you get and I just replied to it. I am kinda annoyed I can't just send you the link to it so I am going to copy and paste (I would be lost if they ever bombed C&V again . . . oh never mind - it is an old Northern Ireland joke - I'll tell you it some day but I don't expect you will get it) it in here with my replies injected in to the appropriate places.
CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THE KIDS WHO WERE BORN IN THE
1930's 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's !!
First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us.
Your mother tripped over a hose that someone left lying out in the back yard *whistles innocently* and broke her leg while she was carrying you (probably smoking AND drinking at the same time). I remember watching her try to take a bath with the leg in a cast hanging out over the edge of it.
They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes.
I think we threw the blue cheese in the bin as soon as it started to smell. . .
Then after that trauma, our baby cribs were covered with bright coloured lead-based paints.
You were lucky to have a crib/cot - I was to be found wearing your baby-gro and lying in your cot. God knows where YOU were.
Also - we had bunk beds and you had to lie on the top one so that mother could change the bottom one EVERY night after I wet it out of badness. I remember quite distinctly having a case of the runs too when I thought it was just bad wind. . . .
We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking .
It's a shame we didn't have childproof lids on the medicine bottles back then - cos then we wouldn't have had to take you to the hospital to have your stomach pumped that time.
I had a go-cart which we took to the top of the hill and ran it down to the seeeeeeeeeea splash. . .
As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.
Ummmmmmmmmm. . . try "As a child I was pushed from a moving vehicle by my sister".
And. . "As a child I sat on the arm between the front seats facing backwards and that was "my" seat."
We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.
We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.
We ate cakes, white bread and real butter and drank pop with sugar in it, but we weren't overweight because......
We weren't?
WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!!
No we fecking weren't. *I* was outside playing while *you* were up at the police station with your nappy hanging off you waiting for someone to come and claim you AGAIN.
We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.
Or the Blues and Twos. . . .
No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K ..
We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem .
Or to swim.
We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, no video tape movies, no surround sound, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms..........WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!
We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.
We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.
No - but the chewing gum we scraped off the road is probably still inside us. (I still remember spitting out the stones.)
We made up games with sticks and tennis balls and although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.
Not until some of us made friends with people who had guns, that is. . .
We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them!
Football teams had trials and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!
Hmm - I don't think I ever got over that actually.
The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!
This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever!
The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.
We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!
And YOU are one of them!
Some of you. Some of you *only just* and some of you *not so much* !
CONGRATULATIONS!
Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it?!
It Rained ALL Day . . .
Walking away from the school with Jessica
holding my hand tight and both of us keeping
our heads down against the wind and rain, I asked her
how had her day been. It's a stupid question, I
suppose, dude - she was at school all day - how COULD
it have been?
"It was ok, apart from the part where it rained ALL day."
For some reason this gave me a fit of the giggles for a few minutes and we discussed how I find her so funny. I can't explain to her why I think she is so astute.
Iain has taken my car apart - part of the dashboard is sitting in the rear seat. A guy was supposed to come to work and pick the car up to fix the air conditioning in it. I was in work at 9.30am on Thursday and he never turned up. I was less than impressed.
When we got to the car Jessica asked what had happened to the "glove department" and why was it lying open like that. When I told her Daddy had done it to help the man she nodded and told me that "Daddy is very very good at that sort of thing." I was pleased she was able to see that. Until she continued with "It's a pity he takes so long over doing some things though isn't it?"
Oh how astute she IS!
While we were watching Britain's Got Talent earlier on (my FAV program at the moment!) it was a little risqué at one point and the judges started to comment on the sex life of the married couple taking part. The words "sex" and "sexy" were used. Jessica turned to me and, wide-eyed, asked me what "sexy" meant. Where was Iain when I needed him? Thankfully my answer must have satisfied her as she didn't go on to ask what "sex" meant.
David slipped in beside me as I was watching Ross this evening. There was a photo of a naked woman on the screen. "Ew! Ew! Ew! That's GROSS!" I tried to distract him but it only served to remind him of something he had seen recently.
"Mummy, you know the newspapers Daddy puts down for Bailey at night? This morning when I looked at the paper there was a page which had a lady on it and she was NAKED! EW! EW! EW!"
It wasn't long ago we didn't have to worry about that sort of thing. Perhaps I need to encourage Iain to read a better class of paper from now on!
"It was ok, apart from the part where it rained ALL day."
For some reason this gave me a fit of the giggles for a few minutes and we discussed how I find her so funny. I can't explain to her why I think she is so astute.
Iain has taken my car apart - part of the dashboard is sitting in the rear seat. A guy was supposed to come to work and pick the car up to fix the air conditioning in it. I was in work at 9.30am on Thursday and he never turned up. I was less than impressed.
When we got to the car Jessica asked what had happened to the "glove department" and why was it lying open like that. When I told her Daddy had done it to help the man she nodded and told me that "Daddy is very very good at that sort of thing." I was pleased she was able to see that. Until she continued with "It's a pity he takes so long over doing some things though isn't it?"
Oh how astute she IS!
While we were watching Britain's Got Talent earlier on (my FAV program at the moment!) it was a little risqué at one point and the judges started to comment on the sex life of the married couple taking part. The words "sex" and "sexy" were used. Jessica turned to me and, wide-eyed, asked me what "sexy" meant. Where was Iain when I needed him? Thankfully my answer must have satisfied her as she didn't go on to ask what "sex" meant.
David slipped in beside me as I was watching Ross this evening. There was a photo of a naked woman on the screen. "Ew! Ew! Ew! That's GROSS!" I tried to distract him but it only served to remind him of something he had seen recently.
"Mummy, you know the newspapers Daddy puts down for Bailey at night? This morning when I looked at the paper there was a page which had a lady on it and she was NAKED! EW! EW! EW!"
It wasn't long ago we didn't have to worry about that sort of thing. Perhaps I need to encourage Iain to read a better class of paper from now on!
Whirlwind Weekend . . .
11/06/07 21:53 Filed in: HolidaysFilms
and Movies
Jacqui came to visit for the
weekend. It was really just an excuse for
her to have a look at my ART! while it was still at
the exhibition but we managed to squeeze in a couple
of movies too. A chunk of her weekend was lost due to
a delay in her flight to us.
On Saturday we went over to the exhibition with Jessica and had the pleasure of the company of one of the guys working there. He wandered round with us and gave us his opinions on many things. Including the ART! We were just looking at one of the framed exhibits when Jessica sneezed and had a nose bleed at the same time. She doesn't have a great track record with art!
We had a great moment in Subway when one of the staff "moved on" a young guy who had saved himself four whole seats for him and "his mate" while we were having to stand to eat.
Last week Iain and I took the kids to see Pirates of The Caribbean with neither of us realising that I was the only one us with any chance of understanding any of it as the kids had never seen the second film and after a little head scratching it was discovered that Iain had never even seen the first one!
Thankfully Jacqui and I had better luck with Oceans Thirteen - I hadn't seen Twelve but it didn't seem to matter much. It was a grand film - probably wont need to see it again soon but it was a good way to sit through a very large bucket of popcorn!
On Sunday Iain packed a picnic and we headed off to walk the dog round a lake. Bailey was cool enough, being able to swim in the water but the rest of us slowly roasted ourselves to a crisp.
After tea we headed up to the airport only to be told there was another huge delay on Jacqui's return flight. A quick chat with the easyJet girl (who was bored out of her skull) got a free transfer to Monday morning rather than Sunday night so we headed back and rented Casino Royale for the three of us to watch when the kids went to bed. Jacqui and I had seen it before but it was a first viewing for Iain and I *think* he enjoyed it. Perhaps it was better on the large screen though.
Today, in work, I had a great shoot with a mother and her ten month old wee man. Some of the photos turned out well, but the best bit was knowing that I had looked after her properly after she had had a terrible shoot with my main competition in the town. i took time to show her some of the photos on the laptop before she left and she genuinely seemed delighted. Hopefully she will spread the word. That gave me a little (work) lift which has been much needed.
Tomorrow is the Feedback / Final Marks / Lunch Out with the Tutors / Last Day of the Whole Course EVER and I am feeling rather emotional about it all. It is hard to think that I wont be seeing these people on a weekly basis from now on and I have to admit to feeling a little lost and "at sea' now, knowing that the tutors wont be there to give me the support that they have been providing over the last couple of years.
It is unlikely that I will get through the lunch without a few tears.
On Saturday we went over to the exhibition with Jessica and had the pleasure of the company of one of the guys working there. He wandered round with us and gave us his opinions on many things. Including the ART! We were just looking at one of the framed exhibits when Jessica sneezed and had a nose bleed at the same time. She doesn't have a great track record with art!
We had a great moment in Subway when one of the staff "moved on" a young guy who had saved himself four whole seats for him and "his mate" while we were having to stand to eat.
Last week Iain and I took the kids to see Pirates of The Caribbean with neither of us realising that I was the only one us with any chance of understanding any of it as the kids had never seen the second film and after a little head scratching it was discovered that Iain had never even seen the first one!
Thankfully Jacqui and I had better luck with Oceans Thirteen - I hadn't seen Twelve but it didn't seem to matter much. It was a grand film - probably wont need to see it again soon but it was a good way to sit through a very large bucket of popcorn!
On Sunday Iain packed a picnic and we headed off to walk the dog round a lake. Bailey was cool enough, being able to swim in the water but the rest of us slowly roasted ourselves to a crisp.
After tea we headed up to the airport only to be told there was another huge delay on Jacqui's return flight. A quick chat with the easyJet girl (who was bored out of her skull) got a free transfer to Monday morning rather than Sunday night so we headed back and rented Casino Royale for the three of us to watch when the kids went to bed. Jacqui and I had seen it before but it was a first viewing for Iain and I *think* he enjoyed it. Perhaps it was better on the large screen though.
Today, in work, I had a great shoot with a mother and her ten month old wee man. Some of the photos turned out well, but the best bit was knowing that I had looked after her properly after she had had a terrible shoot with my main competition in the town. i took time to show her some of the photos on the laptop before she left and she genuinely seemed delighted. Hopefully she will spread the word. That gave me a little (work) lift which has been much needed.
Tomorrow is the Feedback / Final Marks / Lunch Out with the Tutors / Last Day of the Whole Course EVER and I am feeling rather emotional about it all. It is hard to think that I wont be seeing these people on a weekly basis from now on and I have to admit to feeling a little lost and "at sea' now, knowing that the tutors wont be there to give me the support that they have been providing over the last couple of years.
It is unlikely that I will get through the lunch without a few tears.
Ring Ring . . . Ring Ring . . .
06/06/07 14:07 Filed in: Customers
Ring Ring . . .
Ring Ring . . .
Customer: Hello?
Me: Hello. Stephanie?
Customer: Yes?
Me: Hi Stephanie, it's Susan from the photography studio.
Customer: Huh uh?
(Screaming kids in the back ground - no real recognition in her voice.)
Me: Stephanie, you were due in for a shoot at 11.30 this morning with me?
Customer: Yea. Why? What time is it now?
Me: It is 12.20.
Customer: Oh shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Would you lot shadddddup!
Me: I'm sorry but I wont be able to fit you in any other time today as I have a client coming in immediately after you. . .
Dead tone.
A few seconds of silence from me while I work out what I want to do. I decide to ring her back - it is possible one of the kids pressed a button . . .
The phone rings so long it goes to ansaphone. I decide I am big enough and ugly enough to leave a message. I tell her I am unable to fit her in today but if she wants to rearrange a date at her convenience I will be available next week.
The weird thing is - she rang me on Monday to remind ME that she was coming in and to ask if it was ok to bring her Mum. I wonder what happened in that house this morning that made it impossible for her to keep her appointment. It had to be today as she wanted to make sure she had a print for her Mum's birthday present.
I don't think I have ever had anyone put the phone down on me in this job!
Meanwhile I blink a lot and get on with some much needed tidying up.
It's time I started taking the sitting fee when they BOOK! Not IF they turn up!
Ring Ring . . .
Customer: Hello?
Me: Hello. Stephanie?
Customer: Yes?
Me: Hi Stephanie, it's Susan from the photography studio.
Customer: Huh uh?
(Screaming kids in the back ground - no real recognition in her voice.)
Me: Stephanie, you were due in for a shoot at 11.30 this morning with me?
Customer: Yea. Why? What time is it now?
Me: It is 12.20.
Customer: Oh shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Would you lot shadddddup!
Me: I'm sorry but I wont be able to fit you in any other time today as I have a client coming in immediately after you. . .
Dead tone.
A few seconds of silence from me while I work out what I want to do. I decide to ring her back - it is possible one of the kids pressed a button . . .
The phone rings so long it goes to ansaphone. I decide I am big enough and ugly enough to leave a message. I tell her I am unable to fit her in today but if she wants to rearrange a date at her convenience I will be available next week.
The weird thing is - she rang me on Monday to remind ME that she was coming in and to ask if it was ok to bring her Mum. I wonder what happened in that house this morning that made it impossible for her to keep her appointment. It had to be today as she wanted to make sure she had a print for her Mum's birthday present.
I don't think I have ever had anyone put the phone down on me in this job!
Meanwhile I blink a lot and get on with some much needed tidying up.
It's time I started taking the sitting fee when they BOOK! Not IF they turn up!
RapidWeaver 3.6.1 . . .
05/06/07 21:39 Filed in: RapidWeaver
Stuff
So RapidWeaver 3.6.1 is here and I have
downloaded it. *looks around* Am not too
sure what is different.
Publishing your site to the internet couldn't be easier with RapidWeaver's built-in one click publishing. You can publish to .Mac, FTP, SFTP and even locally to your desktop. RapidWeaver keeps track of the changes you make to your site and only uploads modified pages, keeping publishing time to a minimum. We call this Smart Publishing!
That would be nice f'sure. I'll let you know.
Hmmmm- this post was sent for upload at 21:42 and finished at 22:26 so it would seem I still haven't got it right. Try again.
22:43 to 23:30 . . . . changed some settings. Try again.
23:33 to 00:17 . . . . . time to ask for help.
Publishing your site to the internet couldn't be easier with RapidWeaver's built-in one click publishing. You can publish to .Mac, FTP, SFTP and even locally to your desktop. RapidWeaver keeps track of the changes you make to your site and only uploads modified pages, keeping publishing time to a minimum. We call this Smart Publishing!
That would be nice f'sure. I'll let you know.
Hmmmm- this post was sent for upload at 21:42 and finished at 22:26 so it would seem I still haven't got it right. Try again.
22:43 to 23:30 . . . . changed some settings. Try again.
23:33 to 00:17 . . . . . time to ask for help.
Never Rains But It Pours . . .
04/06/07 09:50 Filed in: Apple Geek
It developed a vertical line just over one inch wide down the left hand of the screen. A trip to Apple told me that it was going to be mega bucks to repair it as it would require a new logic board at about £500 plus labour (word of warning - ALWAYS take out Apple Care for a Powerbook!). Research told me that it was a fault found on 17 inch Powerbooks which came out of a certain factory within a certain time span and with a certain three digit prefix serial number. Mine fitted the bill on all three accounts. As the line was on the extreme left of the screen it was still possible to use the machine so I soldiered on.
Recently it has developed a second (more faint) one inch wide line down the middle and to be honest, since that appeared, I haven't actually used it at all - it is too annoying now for me. I use a second hand Powerbook instead.
I have asked for further quotes (the highest being £947!) and watched eBay for logic boards. Apple don't sell these items, rather they exchange them. So you have to send your old one in to them first. That is the reason you don't see any on eBay.
In the last week this little lot has happened:
Iain and I decided to claim on the household insurance for the laptop and the forms came through the post for me to fill out. I have to find two written quotes to send in to them before they consider replacing or repairing.
Engadget chose this week to highlight the fault, giving me the initial hope that eventually they may create enough publicity for Apple to do something about it and organise a recall.
And finally, eBay FINALLY had a logic board for sale that fits my machine! I have bid on it but there is a reserve price set and that could be well in to the hundreds.
It is very unlikely that Apple will do anything about a recall. I read with interest some of the anti-Apple comments in the Engadget thread - but Apple are no better and no worse than other hardware manufacturers when it comes to ignoring particular faults.
When you work in an electrical hardware industry you see it all the time. A really simple illustration would be the Ericsson mobile phone aerials (long before Sony Ericsson) which broke off and left the whole phone un-usable. Time after time we had customers bringing their phone in to us thinking it would be a simple swap out from Ericsson but they steadfastly refused to acknowledge the problem. We lost a lot of customers through that.
It would be nice to find that Apple are above that kind of shirking - but they are a manufacturer and . . .shrug . . Apple Care will not be ignored next time.
Moo Cards . . .
03/06/07 11:51 Filed in: Flickr
The last I looked they still had 27 spaces left to fill, so if you fancy being involved in the first edition of this, sign up now!
I have been trading Moo Cards on Flickr for a while now too and - it's fun! I love the wee cards - they are great quality. If you have photos in your life you ought to order some of these. You don't have to have a Flickr account. Their system is better than it was when I ordered my first batch of ten but not as good as it will be. There are a couple of things I would like changed in the ordering process but at the price they are, you can't argue much really.
I have to admit that since ordering my second batch, I now take photos with half a mind on what they will look like as Moo Cards!