Internet speed

December 14th, 2011

Apparently more and more people across Europe are now using broadband internet, so they can use things like voice over internet protocol (VoIP) to stay in touch and do business. In the EU, it’s said there’s been a broadband increase of 30 per cent to 60 per cent between 2006 and 2011.

Dial-up internet as the mainstream option seems like such an incredibly long time ago now, but there are people still out there using it from time to time. I last used it when our home broadband stopped working for a whole week. That’s an internet service provider I’ve never gone back to! But yes… it was really weird, but it was immediate to set up, which was handy.

Though if it happened again, I’d probably use a mobile broadband dongle instead. It’s so much tidier – even though the speed is a bit unreliable.

The problem is that sometimes, broadband is inconsistent and isn’t necessarily as fast as advertised. I’m lucky because my house is quite close to the local telephone exchange – but in some areas, especially rural ones, it can still be very slow. That must be such a pain. I can’t imagine having to wait five minutes every time I uploaded or downloaded an image, or sent an email! I definitely couldn’t run my computer programming business like that.

Another thing about broadband is what I mentioned above – that if it breaks, it can take ages to sort out. The worst thing is when you’re moving house. My friend Dave moved house last year and the house hadn’t had a phone line for many years, so they had to wait for that to be set up, then wait again for the broadband to be sorted out. It took about a month!

I recommend lots of research and organisation, when it comes to setting up a broadband connection.

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Christmas presents

December 12th, 2011

Hmmmm, I suppose I should start thinking about doing some Christmas shopping, seeing as it’s Christmas Day in just under two weeks’ time. I can’t be bothered, though!

It’s unlike me to be disorganised, but I seem to have a mental block when it comes to Christmas shopping. It’s the sales that interest me! A few weeks ago when I should have placed all my online shopping orders, I kept getting sidetracked by stuff that I plan to buy after Boxing Day. Ooops.

It is difficult, though. I’ve been pretty busy with my home-based work, and then jobhunting on top of that. It’s amazing how fast the week disappears! I might have to go tomorrow or on Friday, though. I think quite a lot of schools finish for Christmas on Friday, so the shops will be a nightmare after that. Saturday will be crazy!

I don’t have many people to buy for, really. Just my parents, my sister and a few friends. Though I don’t know about my friends, actually… it seems a bit girly to get each other presents. I’ll just have to make sure they’re not chocolates or anything. I might give them vouchers for my computer services. Haha!

We always open our presents on Christmas morning – then lots of relatives and friends come round to eat with us, which is great. My mum is cooking a couple of massive ducks, this year, instead of the standard turkey. They’re so much tastier. It’s a good thing we’ve got an oven big enough, as some of the ones I’ve seen at other people’s houses wouldn’t even fit a roast chicken.

Cooking equipment isn’t a bad idea for a present for my mum, actually. She’s been using the same things for years – some of them must be wearing out. I think I’ll find some ideas online and then go to the shops tomorrow.

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The trials of jobhunting

December 10th, 2011

As previously discussed, I’m seeking a part-time shop job, so I can get some retail experience for when I branch out into the electronics retail game to go along with my computer programming.

It’s hard going, though. I don’t mean in terms of tough manual labour or major stress, but simply the monotony of it. The same patterns repeat themselves again and again.

I’ve posted my CV on job websites, to make sure employers can find it. It’s optimised with lots of keywords that recruiters would search for, including a clear statement of what I’m looking for. I’ve also signed up for jobs-by-email, so that I get advertisements sent to me every day featuring whatever is new out there. They come every day – lots of them! They say that times are tough, but there are jobs out there.

The main problem is filtering through to find the ones worth applying for. I haven’t wanted to narrow down my criteria too much, in case I miss something good, but that means I get sent quite a few things that look dodgy or aren’t right for me.

But nevertheless, I trawl through them and make a list of the decent ones – then look at them in more detail, one by one. If they still seem worthwhile, I apply using my CV and a covering letter… though some ask you to complete an application form. Copy-and-paste comes in handy, at that point!

Then I wait. But the responses haven’t been too great so far. It’s awkward because a lot of them are handled by recruitment agencies – and there aren’t many good ones out there. Many of them act as a barrier to getting a job, instead of making it easier! They often don’t have time to deal with all the applications they get, so they don’t bother responding. Or, worse, it turns out the job details were wrong, or were just being used as bait to get more people signed on to their books.

Sigh. I think I’m going to tick the ‘direct employers only’ box next time I go through the websites.

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Choosing a phone

December 9th, 2011

My parents need a new household phone handset, so they asked me to advise them. It’s quite nice to be asked for my expertise, but when it’s your own family, it can feel a bit like nagging!

Choosing the right phone is really important, though. It depends what you want it for and how you’ll use it.

For example, my parents will mostly use it for business reasons. They also have a storage facility that’s in an outhouse at the back, so they need to take a cordless phone with them in case someone rings while they’re doing stuff out there. It needs to be quite tough, too.

I’ve suggested the BT Elements model, as it’s got a really good reputation. It’s weatherproof and really effective at distance range, so my parents can keep the base station in the business area of the home, but also carry it with them out to the outhouse.

My requirements are a bit different, because I don’t stray far from my room when I’m working – but even so, it’s good to have a tough handset for your landline. A lot of models get damaged really easily! All it takes is to accidentally splash it in the bathroom, or drop it on the stairs, or splatter some food on it in the kitchen, and it can affect its performance. That’s no good when you rely on something.

With this particular phone model you can also send text messages, which is really handy for a landline! I think it’s great.

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Life without electricity

December 8th, 2011

I heard today that there’s been a power blackout in Scotland affecting thousands of people, because the storms have been so bad. The wind and rain have been pretty mad all over the country, apparently. It certainly sounds that way from what I can hear from my room, anyway! I wanted to buy a pint of milk earlier, but decided to do without.

I can’t imagine having the power cut off, these days. I’ve been lucky as it hasn’t happened to me since I’ve been working. I remember it happening a couple of times when I was a kid, though – it was awful. I couldn’t watch TV and my mum couldn’t cook our tea. And there were problems with the hot water too, because it was connected to the electric somehow.

It would make my working life impossible to not have electricity. But some people in some countries live without it all the time, don’t they? I suppose if it did happen to me, I’d just have to find something else to do for the day, like practising my cooking, or my karate!

A lot of people say it’d be quite relaxing to live without power for a while. I don’t agree! It’s bad enough when the internet goes off for some reason. But to be stuck without EVERYTHING is just no fun at all. That wind is pretty strong, though. I’m wondering if I should stock up on some candles, just to be on the safe side.

I suppose this is just winter, starting belatedly. It hasn’t been very cold during November, but it’s here with a vengeance now. I wonder if the snow will be as bad as last year?

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Alternative career choices

December 3rd, 2011

I often find myself thinking about what I might have done if I hadn’t gone into computer programming. I’m also aware that I’m still pretty young, so could change careers several times in the future, if I wanted to!

I wonder whether I’d have survived in a challenging environment, doing physically difficult work. I might have done, but I think I prefer having the comfort of a cosy office and regular cups of tea!

Some people do some crazily scary things, though, like police and security work. If I’d been more serious about my karate, I could maybe have been a bodyguard for a famous person. That could be fun, getting to see a lot of behind-the-scenes action and being witness to all kinds of weird secrets.

Then there are some jobs that you don’t see much of, but they’re really important, like subsea engineering. It’s part of so many different areas – like underwater mining, wind power, marine biology and geology… and so on.

I think I’d be most interested in the biology and geology part. I think it’s fascinating that there are parts of the sea that no one has ever seen, despite the fact we’ve explored space! There are deep sea life forms that look like aliens that don’t even have names. Also, a massive 71 per cent of the Earth’s surface is water, meaning that us land lubbers only exist on the 29 per cent of dry stuff. That’s so weird.

A lot of oil and gas stuff goes on in a subsea environment, allowing workers to drill down and access energy to keep us all ticking over. There are massive systems that have taken decades to develop. It’s all just awesome to think about.

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Festive films

December 2nd, 2011

I love this time of year… and I love American stuff, in general… but what I’m not keen on are American Christmas-themed films. Ugh, they’re so soppy it’s unbelievable. Four Christmases, for example. Nooooo.

Though having said that, some British films are even worse. Take Love Actually. It’s just horrible. Not only one gooey storyline, but about a hundred of them, all underdeveloped in the plot department and yet overspilling with sentimental yuk.

I prefer yuk of a sci-fi variety… like the Alien series. Yeah, okay, they’re not seasonal – but they make me think of Christmas anyway, because there are so many blockbusters on TV at that time of year.

The best films in recent years, for me, have to be the Transformers movies. The effects are absolutely awesome. I’m not really too bothered whether it’s Megan Fox or Rosie Huntington-Whiteley in the leading lady role, as they’re both a bit too vacant for my liking. I like my heroines with a bit more grit. But the autobots and decepticons are so well realised… and there are some fantastic action scenes.

I’m looking forward to seeing Super 8 on DVD, because I missed it at the cinema. I know everyone else in the house will be going mad for Harry Potter. I don’t mind that too much, but it’s not really my thing. It’s better than Twilight, though! Ugh.

Ah, there is one American Christmas film I like – Home Alone. It gets a bit schmaltzy right at the end, when the kid gets all sad and then his mum comes back, but there’s enough funny stuff before that to make up for it.

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Back to work

December 1st, 2011

Much as it pains me to say it, the meal I talked about the other week wasn’t much of a success. We all had a great evening and my friends were very nice and flattering and all that, but the food just wasn’t as good as my mum’s. It’s something I’ll have to work on – but I think I’ll mostly stick to what I’m good at!

Like… my computer programming. It’s going pretty well, actually – I get quite a lot of work in, mostly from internet sources.

And also my part-time shop job… once I get one, that is. I’m still looking. It might seem odd, when I’m doing okay with the computer programming, but it would be good to get out of the house a bit more during the daytime – and I really do want to gain some experience in running a retail business, so I can apply it to my own company in the future.

I haven’t discussed that with anyone else yet, even though I’ve thought about it a lot, as I think they’d find it hard to believe that I have plans like that! They’d laugh. Because I keep myself to myself, they all think I won’t amount to much – but I’ll surprise them all (unless they read my blog, in which case it won’t be a surprise).

Once I get a job, I’ll need to set up an answering service for my home-based business. I mostly run it using email and the web, but occasionally people do ask for a phone number so they can call me – and I prefer to give the landline than my mobile. It makes it easier to separate my work life and home life… and I can’t really be answering the phone about my business when I’m at another job, can I?!

I’ve been looking at the BT Response 75. It’s really good value and has some cool features – it’ll be so handy. My room is equipped really well for my business. I have to be compact, so I’ve been quite careful with how I’ve set everything up. When I eventually get around to having my own place, I think I’ll miss it, even though I’ll have more space!

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Hosting a meal

November 27th, 2011

To tell you the truth, I’ve been a bit bothered recently about my family and friends’ comments that I don’t get out and socialise enough – and that I spend too much time thinking about computers and stuff like that. I suppose they’re right that it’s important to have balance and concentrate on some artistic areas of life too, not just technical ones!

I’m still looking for a part-time job in a shop – which I think will take a while to become a reality, because, as described in my previous post, I’m what you might call a discerning job hunter! – but in the meantime I’ve decided to surprise them by cooking a meal for a group of us.

Ok, so it’s at my house instead of out and about, but really, I just don’t see the appeal of going out all night to pubs and bars – especially at a weekend. It’s genuinely fun for about 10 minutes… and then you realise that it’s too loud to talk to anyone, so what’s the point?

If you cook a meal at home you can be in control of your surroundings and make sure everyone is enjoying themselves. I have to admit, I’m lucky to have my parents’ kitchen and dining room to use… if I’d moved into my own flat already, it’d probably be small and there wouldn’t be room to feed a group of people! Though I suppose that’s something I should think about when I do start to look for my own place. If I enjoy this cooking thing, I might do it more often.

It’s partly my mum’s idea – I think it concerns her that I don’t have much experience in the kitchen. I even had the luxury of home when I was at university. She’s going to teach me how to cook a few dishes in advance, as a practice session – then I’ll do it for real when everyone comes round next weekend. I’m doing duck spring rolls with a hoi sin dipping sauce to start, then beef chow mein for the main course. I’ll be using my mum’s family recipes, so I can’t tell you their secrets, of course!

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Looking for a part-time job

November 23rd, 2011

I’ve started looking for this part-time shop job I want, now – and I’m pleased to find it’s something I can do almost entirely online! I’m not lazy – I just prefer being in my comfort zone, especially doing slightly nerveracking things like jobhunting.

It’s also because I want to make sure I work at a good place – which means research. There are lots of companies out there which don’t take notice of important things like treating staff fairly. I’ve experienced that in the past and really don’t want to repeat it, especially as it won’t really help me to learn anything if I’m just stressed all the time.

So I want to find somewhere that handles employers’ law issues correctly and is keen on employee development and training. It’s amazing what you can find out online – like which businesses have had awards for the way they run their training programmes.

Some people might think it’s strange that I’m being so cautious about a part-time job – and I should just get one as soon as possible – but it’s not as if I’m desperate for one. My reasons for looking for a job are different to most people’s and so I can afford to take the time to choose carefully.

On most job websites you can enter preferences such as the hours you’re looking for, the salary level and the location – which is great because I don’t want to have to travel a long way. Somewhere I can walk to would be ideal. It’s not just about money, but also quality of life. What’s the point of being miserable because you spend ages commuting every day?! I have quite a few friends who do that and it just seems weird to me. Though I suppose not everyone can be quite so picky.

Speaking of jobhunting, it’s that time of day again when I need to go and look through my jobs-by-email updates…

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