keelhaul
To discipline by dragging under the keel of a ship. To rebuke harshly.
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Monthly archive: November 2006
glean
To gather (grain) left behind by reapers. To collect bit by bit.
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When I grow up I want to cut keys
Today I went to have a key cut.
It was a very ordinary, common and widespread house key, so I did not shop around for the cheapest rates. I had noticed a little cobbler-locksmith unit inside Oxford Circus tube station where I change trains to and from work, so on the way home I handed the key, it was cut in about twenty seconds, and I paid five pounds and forty-nine pence.
Five. Whole. Pounds. And forty-nine tiny copper penny coins.
I don't even want to figure out how long I have to work in order to pay for the privilege of having a spare key. I am obviously in the wrong job.
Is this the going rate or have I been had?
quell
To put down forcibly; suppress: Police quelled the riot. To pacify; quiet.
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repast
A meal or the food eaten or provided at a meal. To eat or feast.
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Money makes me do stuff
Last Christmas Dr B. gave me a Sony Ericsson K700i. I had been unlucky with my choice of mobile phones in the past (read: could not afford anything produced this century) and it was the perfect present.
Unfortunately, the joystick got stuck pretty soon, Dr B. demanded a replacement and got a refusal, I took out a contract for the first time that came with a free SDA II (T-mobile branding of the HTC Hurricane) which is a little gem of a smartphone, so it was up to me to take the faulty one back to be repaired, and possibly sell it on. So the stuck joystick became one of those sticky items on my to do list that are carried over from week to week.
Last week Dr B. threatened to give me a cheque ripped in two as a Christmas present this year if I did not take the phone to be repaired. I know him, he's dead serious and so capable of doing just that, so this morning I ignored the hale beating against our windows, braved the torrential rain, ventured into town and handed the phone in. As it has hardly been used, I was reassured that quite probably the repair will be covered by the warranty. It took no longer than ten minutes.
At work I would never dream of putting something off for so long, no matter how unpleasant it is, so why do I let this happen in my personal life? Is money (or in this case the prospect of a present-less Christmas) the only motivation I have not to sit on my lazy arse all day?
holster
A case of leather or similar material into which a pistol fits snugly and which attaches to a belt, strap, or saddle so that it may be carried or transported. A belt with loops or slots for carrying small tools or other equipment.
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What I read to get a job
The other day when I wrote about getting a new job, I also mentioned that I spent a long time and a lot of effort to prepare for the interview.
I knew I had to compensate for a lack of experience in certain business techniques with very clear views and strong ideas on how to approach specific processes.
I searched, bookmarked, read, summarised and revised a lot of material. Here are some articles I found particularly useful (in no particular order):
- Podcast 24: Selecting a content management system
- opensourceCMS.com
- The Importance of Social Media
- Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants (PDF)
- Guardian column: Open-source BBC
- On Wattson and Electrisave…
- TV Networks Need to Wake Up Before Video Boom Leaves Them With Dead Air
- Agile, Multidisciplinary Teamwork
- Bespoke vs Off-the-shelf Software
- Structured Content
- Project Management – Overview
- Stakeholder Analysis
- Software requirements specification
- How to Write a Requirements Specification
- Influencing / Persuading
And to top it all off, I swore by the jobseeker's bible that a co-worker recommended to me: Perfect Answers to Interview Questions.
Phew. Now I can go back to playing Bejewelled2 on my mobile phone while listening to The Best of Girls Aloud during my daily commute.
browbeat
To intimidate or subjugate by an overbearing manner or domineering speech; bully.
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pernicious
Tending to cause death or serious injury; deadly: a pernicious virus. Causing great harm; destructive.
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stealth
Not disclosing one's true ideology, affiliations, or positions.
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I am bursting with job
I went for an interview last week and I was offered the job yesterday afternoon: I am probably going to be working just a few desks away from where I sit now, but I will take on a different role, and this is something that I have been after for a couple of months now.
I failed to get this job during a first round of recruitment (I sucked; the woman they hired dazzled). The disappointment was great and it was not easy to pick myself up, but when I heard that one additional similar position had been created and was going to be advertised for, I did everything that I could think of to get it.
I hardly left the flat after work. I scoured the web for literature both on interviewing techniques, and on the specific subject matter I was going to be tested on. I spent late nights and especially early morning before work just reading, taking notes, summarising and memorising lists, key points, personal achievements and sector trends. I switched treadmills for trade journals and listened to industry-related podcasts on the way to work. I was very focused.
I am dead chuffed and dead tired now. The fact that after years of contracting I will be an employee again (albeit on a six-month contract) feel like an achievement, and this is odd when you consider that I am going to take home less money at the end of the month. However, I will hopefully benefit from basic rights such as holiday entitlement and sick pay which so far I had to provide for myself and that have been taking a big chunk out of my current contracting rates.
Now I can't wait to go to work today to check that it was not just a dream.
No post today
After monitoring Yahoo! Mail's spam filter for months in case it wrongly flagged mail as unwanted items, and failing to receive only one genuine message (that I know of), this morning I took the plunge and ticked the box that says 'I don't want to receive any messages that SpamGuard thinks are spam'.
Up until now, I had a filter in Outlook that sent all mail that Yahoo! flagged as spam straight to the bin. However, I could not stop myself from manually going through the message headers every day – just in case SpamGuard was being a bit overzealous.
Oh how I dream of the day when I will be able to let go completely and will tick the box that says 'Empty Spam folder immediately'. It now keeps messages for a month before they are deleted. You know, just in case.
buddleia
Tropical shrub having clusters of white or violet or yellow flowers.
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The patter of tiny beats
Today I have received this text message from Dr B.:
'I'm proud to announce that as of 12.37 we became the Legal Guardians of our very own little black baby. At 12.47 the baby was formally handed over to us after the final bit of paperwork was completed. (They stamped "RECEIVED" on the receipt.) Father and iPod-David are doing well.'
jangle
To cause to make a harsh discordant sound. To have an irritating effect.
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Richard, touch me
I was listening to The Best of Depeche Mode, vol. 1 (not bad at all, now that I've cleansed myself for a few years after sharing a flat with a friend who was slightly obsessed with the St. Albans lot) when Dr B. sang along 'Reach out and touch me', to which I said 'No, it's Reach out (and) touch face, or touche base or something'.
Now, you see, Dr B. is right about 90 per cent of the time, and very much able to convince you that he is right even if he is not for about five percent of the time, with the remaining five percent conveniently brushed off with a 'I don't want to discuss this any longer'. This time he insisted they sing 'Reach out and touch me' and supported his argument with the title of the song (Personal Jesus).
The very official Depechemode.com says 'Reach out and touch faith', so it turns out we were both wrong, and that the lyrics of Personal Jesus are often misheard.
But I was a little less wrong than he was.
pail
A watertight cylindrical vessel, open at the top and fitted with a handle; a bucket. The amount that a pail can hold.
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curmudgeon
An ill-tempered person full of resentment and stubborn notions.
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dais
A raised platform, as in a lecture hall, for speakers or honored guests.
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semaphore
A visual signaling apparatus with flags, lights, or mechanically moving arms, as one used on a railroad
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polity
The form of government of a nation, state, church, or organization
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abut
To touch or end at one end or side; lie adjacent. To border upon or end at; be next to.
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Eat humble pie and lose weight
My entire sympathy goes to all the people who every day take the decision do get fit(ter) and step into a gym for the first time. The machinery is daunting, some of the people are scary, you will ache like crazy but if you stick with it you will love it, and love yourself for it.
Yesterday I had my first full workout in two and a half months and I felt like I had been a couch potato all my life. All I could only achieve about sixty per cent (in resistance or duration of exercise) of what I used to do only last August.
This morning I woke up with a sharp pain in my left shoulder whenever I raised my arm (just like Dr B. had a while back, only probably much less serious, and with 300 per cent more whining). Of course, this has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that last night I fell asleep on the couch and the next thing I knew it was time to go to work. It's a two-seater. I'm six foot tall. You do the maths.
It would naturally be very tempting to just be disappointed and discouraged about such a setback in personal fitness, and throw in the towel. However, I am confident enough that with a little bit of self-discipline I can go back to being in relatively good shape (for a thirty-nine year old ex smoker) in less time than it takes to say 'sports-related injury'.
Although it would be absolutely stupid to compare my insignificant ailment with Kylie Minogue's breast cancer; I can still find comfort and motivation in the Holy Words of Our Showgirl Princess of the Outback and Patron Saint of All Things Gay and Gorgeous:
scanty
Barely sufficient or adequate. Insufficient, as in extent or degree.
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