Nysak’s Neighborhood

11/11

KingOfAnkh
3 hours ago
1 comment

There are some of us who still remember the sacrifices made by those who gave their today for us to have our tomorrows.

We remember the millions killed before that fateful date, not the couple of thousand killed on 9/11, which has brought us closer to World War then ever. Vengeance never begets a winner.

Every Bomb You Make

Remember them...

I am writing this at a time that I would normally be driving to work. I can't get over this feeling that I am going to be late! I should have left the house 17 minutes ago....but my "work" is now just down the hall! Today is my first day being a "Home agent". After several hours of much cussing and crying last night, I Finley got the computer and phone equipment set up. They did give us a 6 hour training course that briefly skimmed over how to hook it up and use it....but it was not as easy as they made it sound. And thanks to a computer person with no common sense, we were given directions in "tech talk" that totally confused most of us!

I guess I will find out in a bit if I truly have it all hooked up right....if no calls come in I willo know I did something wrong.......Now I am taking my shoeless, sweat pant & sweat shirt wearing self to work! It feels good to wear comfortable cloths and no shoes!!!!!!!!

Stinking Cold

Gift

KingOfAnkh
7 days ago
26 comments

On Saturday a courier tried to drop off a package for me but I was out for the count because I'd been up until 4:30am the previous night at Alton Towers. I had no idea who it was from or what it could be. I asked my family and they said they didn't send anything, not that I expected them to, as a family we don't do that type of thing.

On Facebook I mentioned that there was a package and everyone I suspected would or could send something denied all involvement, until my friend Lorna admitted it was her. She'd sent me a 'little something' for my birthday and that I shouldn't get overly excited, after all, it wasn't a blow up sheep or anything like that.

I have known Lorna since I moved to Gloucestershire, must be around 11-12 ears now. It's no secret that I have had a huge crush on her since I met her. It's been a lot of fun teasing her about it but alas this must now come to an end as she's getting married to a top bloke.

For some reason I never expected a gift from her, I don't know why, she's always been very generous and helpful, I suppose it's just my expectations for birthdays, I never get anything other than cards, perhaps a tenner here or there to buy a drink. So on Monday I arranged for a re-delivery of the parcel and it arrived today. The 'little something' turned up in a box as large as a chair!

Wine Gift Box

Inside the box was a huge helium balloon with Happy Birthday scrawled all over it, it still floated as well, not bad for a balloon that had been in a box for five days, and also a mysterious wooden box.

It wasn't ticking so I was safe enough, so I courageously slid the cover off to reveal a magnum of vintage wine!

To be precise, a couple of bottles of Campo Viejo Gran Reserva 2002. What I know will be a tasty Rioja once I decide to sample them.

For those of you with an interest, here's what the Wines from Rioja, London have to say about them.

Gran Reserva
Gran Reservas are identified by a teal blue on the back of the bottle. These wines are made in the best years, using only the finest red grapes (whites and roses are rare). They must spend 5 years in the winery of which at least 2 years are spent in oak casks and three in bottle. These are the classic and often the most traditional Rioja wines and rank amongst the finest in the world.

Wine Gift Box

I'm slightly taken aback to be honest, this isn't a 'little something' it's a 'bloody big something'!!! Apart for the cost, which I'm sure was rather high, the thought behind it means more to me than its monetary value.

The note says "Hope this makes your day a little happier", I'd say this makes my whole month happier, it's truly an amazing gift!

However, I should have known who sent it and what it was from a few weeks ago. Lorna firstly asked me for my address, which I assumed would be for the invite to her evening party when she gets married. A few days later a message arrived asking about which wines I thought were nice, again I thought this was for her wedding. I do feel like a fool for not putting two and two together, I really should never trust her again! lol

All I can say is thank you from the bottom of my heart Lorn for this very special gift, it really has made my day.

I'm glad it didn't arrive on my birthday though, I might have taken it upon myself to drink them! :D

Drugs? No Drugs?

KingOfAnkh
7 days ago
9 comments

There's been a little spat in the media over the sacking of Professor David Nutt, the chief advisor to the government on drugs. Professor Nutt advised that cannabis, LSD and ecstasy be downgraded to a Class C drug due to the limited harmful effects when compared to alcohol and tobacco.

Professor David Nutt graduated in 1972 and is a neuropsychopharmologist specialising in the research of drugs which affect the brain, he's the leading professor at the University of Bristol and he also holds a chair at Imperial College London. Amongst other things he's also the president of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology. So one would expect that this guy knows his onions.

So in the wake of a paper that the government asked and paid for which advised that certain drugs be downgraded, the Home Secretary, Alan Johnson, fired him and went against his recommendations because he knew better than an eminently qualified professor.

Let me tell you a bit about Alan Johnson. He passed his '11 Plus' exam and his best achievement on record from his schooling is that he attended school, no qualifications to speak of. He left school to stack shelves and later became a postman. As far as I can see it, he's only in his position of power because of his union connections and by his own admission his Marxist leanings.

But this isn't the first time this has happened, back in May 2008 Jaqui Smith, the then Home Secretary went against her advisers about drug policy. This is the same Jaqui Smith who by her own admission smoked cannabis during university. At least she has an education, albeit a reasonably poor one as she initially went into teaching, and we all know that those who can't, teach! We also know that she's as corrupt as they come, allowing he husband to claim pornography on public expenses and paid her sister over £100.000 in public money for a house she didn't live in. This is also the woman who has slowly been responsible for eroding our civil liberties since 2006 in the name of protecting the public.

Now our illustrious unelected leader, Gordon Brown, has jumped on the bandwagon, as he does a week or two later, it takes him that long to make a decision. He's backing Alan Johnson saying that he was right in firing a man who knows more than he does on a subject because it's not Professor Nutt's place to comment on political policy. Well hang on a moment, didn't you ask him to write a paper and give his opinion on the subject of grading illegal drugs?

Professor Nutt only answered media questions after he'd been sacked, in response to Alan Johnson's vicious attack upon his reputation and credibility, and we all know how esteemed Professor Nutt is regarded by his peers, holding several professorships over the planet as he does.

Do we need to be ruled by these bunch of corrupt and idiotic Ministers who do not take advice from their own inquiries and only have their self interest at heart? I don't think so. We need out civil liberties back, we need the right to put justice before idiocy, but above all we need to be governed by a leader we elected.

Just so you know, I have been known to smoke a spliff now and again if offered, but overall I don't take drugs in any shape or form, I even forgo painkillers until the pain is so acute a hospital is required. I agree that the drugs I have mentioned in my post do cause some disruption in society, but not as much as alcohol does and it seems silly to me that we're not reaping the 17.5% VAT on these drugs if we made them legal. Legalising these drugs would mean that the criminals interested in importing them into the UK would lose interest as they would be freely available to whoever wants them by legal means, I suspect they would be cheaper too. There will not be a rush to try these drugs by our youngsters, in all likelihood most of them already know a shady dealer and have tried most drugs by the time they are 18 anyway. If you are that way inclined to abuse any substance, whether it be alcohol, cannabis or chocolate, you are going to do so if it's legal or not, and lets face it there are a lot of fat people in the UK so perhaps we should re-classify chocolate and chips as a Class B.

Halloween 2009

KingOfAnkh
7 days ago
8 comments

Another birthday has come and gone, I'm now 35, as someone pointed out, potentially halfway through my life.

So what did we all do on Halloween. Well, first of all SmilingGrump and I went to Cheltenham, mainly to look for Halloween costumes. I was pretty much sorted as I'd already bought my contact lenses a month ago and I had some make-up left over from a few years ago. All I needed was some fake blood and some different colour eye make-up. Lee however didn't have a clue what he wanted to go as, so we popped into the fancy dress shop and found that although they had some great wares, they were horrendously expensive. I suppose it was to be expected, buying stuff on the actual day and that places like that make all of their money on that day. Anyhow, after walking up and down Cheltenham for a couple of hours we managed to get away with finding what we needed and I also bought a copy of the entire series of 'Black Books'. That was my birthday present to myself.

Me & Lee

As you can see from the photo, Lee went as Beast from X-men, however everyone thought he was a demented Smurf. I don't really know what I was, sort of zombie come dead thing, but everyone was impressed by our efforts. The funny thing was that nobody recognised me at all. I could stand next to people who I have known for years and they would stare at me four or five times before the penny dropped. Who would have thought that taking off my glasses would have such an impact!

Although it's hard to see in the photos, to achieve the overall effect I took a shaver to my head and took clumps of hair out for creepy effect. The upshot of this is that I had to shave my head the day after so I'm now as bald as a coot! At least I had total commitment to my costume.

Me & Lee

As the evening wore on and more drink was consumed, we all got rather loud and had a lot of fun. The band was pretty good and Lee, the bastard, asked them to drag me up to the performing area and got the whole pub to sing me happy birthday! Quite embarrassing I tell you. Another round of power cuts meant that the music stopped early, story of my life that weekend, bloody power cuts everywhere, but it didn't spoil my evening.

The rest of the evening is pretty hazy, the free drink started to flow and I hate to waste anything. Luckily for me Old Rocky was kind enough to drive me home, I doubt I would have been able to walk all the way on my own. I'd hasten to add that Rocky is a doddering old bloke who's nearly 70 and his driving skills leave a lot to be desired. The mile home was scarier than any ride in Alton Towers!

Also I met a lovely lady who makes jewelry, I showed her my design for a ring and asked if she would be able to make it for me. She said it was no problem, just depended on how much I wanted to spend and she'd make it accordingly. So once I have a job I'll make a beeline for her door and get that sorted out as well. Amazing who you meet down your local.

Sabar in Nottingham

http://chandramoon.efx3.com/2009/10/31/sabar-in-nottingham/

Alton Towers

KingOfAnkh
Oct 31, 2009
7 comments

Yesterday, as a birthday treat, Smiling Grump took me to Alton Towers with his cousin and a few friends. I'd never been to a theme park before and I've been looking forward to it for ages. Although I have been on a few small rollercoasters over the years, Alton Towers has the reputation of being one of the best places in the UK for such rides.

The day started off great, got out of bed for 6:30am got everything sorted before setting off and only once slightly getting lost due to Smiling Grump's £25 iPhone Sat Nav App losing its GPS signal and having to resort to me reading a map. Once there we debated the merits of which rides to go on and how we should go about tackling the park, this was a recurring theme for the next few hours.

However, during the afternoon we managed to experience the Tower of Terror, which was actually rather surprisingly good, actors dressed up in a dark castle, lots of frights and scares. We also managed to go on The Nemesis, although it was a good ride I thought it wasn't quick enough. Having now queued for over two hours for just two rides we decided to have a bit to eat then we split up to try and get as many rides as possible under our belts.

We managed to get on the Oblivion, which was short but it was a great rush due to the vertical drop, very much like the sensation of a bungee jump. Then went to queue for Rita, the most popular ride by the waiting times. We'd queued for about an hour before the entire park was hit by a power outage, nothing was working for a time, so we decided to stick it out in the queue we were in in the hope that the power would be restored and that we'd get on the ride. However after a long time standing in the dark it became apparent that nothing was going to happen.

Power was restored to one part of the park, the family area, so the rides there were a bit twee, but because we had nothing better to do we went on a couple of the kiddies rides and visited their aquarium, which was impressive in my mind.

In the time we'd been enjoying the water features, power had been restored in other places on the park, but by the time we managed to walk back to the main area for the good rides it was already closing time! :(

We did however have two more things to do, another couple of scary themed fright experiences, which were good, but not as impressive as the first one we went to at the beginning of the day.

So that was the end of the day, it was close to midnight and we'd managed to take in as few rides as possible due to the power failure but once we got back to the car we discovered that one of our crew had lost his car key. Much drama ensued, I just stayed in the other car and went to sleep.

Apparently he'd left the key in the door when he locked the car in the morning, a security guy found it and got it secured in the safe of the hotel, but having the safe unlocked took about an hour, not that I noticed as I was catching flies.

The drive home was uneventful for me, I was snoring peacefully, but it took much longer than usual due to an excessive amount of night-time roadworks along the motorways. I think we got home about 4 - 4:30am, secure in the knowledge that Smiling Grump will most likely be able to claim back the ticket fares due to nothing actually working at the theme park and aching all over due to walking miles all day.

Today, a trip to Cheltenham to look for Halloween bits and bobs, most likely a KFC, which I'd been looking forward to yesterday, but along with everything else was closed due to the power issue, and then we have a big fancy dress party in the evening. An eventful couple of days, hope we don't have any issues tonight...lol

Thanks to Smiling Grump though, we did have a good time, even though it went disastrously, but it was obviously nobody's fault so we just made the best with what was on offer. Not an ideal first visit to a theme park, but I certainly wont forget it.

I am the circus puppy......

Little Miss Confused
Oct 30, 2009

I feel like the circus puppy. You know.... the little dog that jumps through hoops just to get a few scraps for a reward.

Well, I jumped through all the hoops master put before me and came out the other end as a "Home Agent"!

I just got the news today from our call center manager that my Internet is good enough and the space I have in my home is acceptable for the work space I need. Two more hoops jumped through.

I'm still a bit nervous about this. They haven't really told us much about how this works. I just found out today that the equipment they are supplying me with will use our phone line. Unfortunately it also means if that is the only phone line we have, no one can use it while I am working, not even when I am on break! I guess once I log into the company system from my home it locks my phone line to them and stays that way until I log off.

So now we are looking into getting a second phone line. Our cell phone service out here in the boondocks isn't that reliable. I would like to know there is a way for some one to call in or out in case of an emergency. That and a reliable phone for hubby to use to keep in touch with his employer. He still doesn't have steady enough work to have a daily schedule. He still has to call in to see if they have work for him or not. I would hate to have him miss out on work, just because they can't call him or because or cell phone didn't have a good enough signal.

I just hope it doesn't cost to much. I would hate to spend all the gas money I am going to save on paying for a second phone line!

I also hope the equipment is easy to set up. They are not sending an IT person along with the equipment. It sounds like we are going to get the stuff Wednesday and have to hook it up ourselves. Then it's work as usual on Thursday!

They are giving us a 6 hour training course on Wednesday and then sending us home!

A few of my coworkers that are also going to be Home agents started bringing home some of their personal belongings from there desks today. It was kind of funny to watch. One lady was hauling out her 2nd box of crap as I was leaving today. As I stopped to hold the door for her she asked why I wasn't bringing anything home yet. All I could do was smile and tell her "I don't have anything except a picture of my dogs, I cup I use for water and a pen!".....I just work here...I don't live here!"

It's going to seem really wierd not seeing these people 5 days a week any more.

Work from home............getting closer!

Every year the call center I work for hires on extra help for the Christmas season. The positions are mostly temporary with a few of the positions turning to to temporary employment after the winter holidays are over. This year they projected to need almost three times as many temporary employees as last Christmas. That means they have hired on almost 70 new people in just the past 6 weeks!

All the new hires means, they all need a place to sit and work, they all need desks and phones and chairs.......More then our little call canter building can hold. We are busting at the seams.

The company also had a very small portion of our call center in the Northern part of our state. It was a very rural area and not much population so it was hard to get and keep employees. So they announced earlier this summer that our northern call center was closing and the customer service reps were going to be working from thier homes. About 20 of them were part of a pilot program to see if the kind of Customer service work we do could be done from home.

There project was a success and now our branch has decided to relieve some of the crowded conditions we are working in by turning a few select employees into "home agents".

We were all told this was going to happen in early July. I have been thinking about how working from home would help out in so many ways since that day.

Not having to drive to/from work during a crappy Minnesota snowy winter.... Being able to be home while a fire is burning in the wood stove, (if you have all elctric heat, you know how much $ that can save!) ... Not having to spend $40 a week to put gas in the van to get to work. .....No more 1 hour each way drive time to add on during the already mandatory 10 hour work days!

I wanted to get one of those Home agent positions when the became available!

Last Thursday the company announced they would be making only 11 Home Agent positions available. The call center manager told us she would be hand delivering the letters to the employees that are choosen for these jobs.......My heart sank. We have more then 100 employees to choose from. Many of them have been with the company since it re-opened in 2002. I have only worked there since last year. Technicly I have not even been employed with them a full year. I was hired as a temp and only official became a company person this past March.

I was sure I didn't stand a chance.

Today at 12:15 pm. The call center manager handed me a folded peace of paper. I opened it and saw "Congratulations! You have been choosen for a Home Agent position. Our desicion was based on your work performance and abilty to work independently.........

WooHoo!

Now I just have to fill out a questionare and hope the house/phone/computer...part of this all qualifies!

One hurdled jumped!