Breathalyser

 

Ethel was a bit of a demon in herwheelchair, and loved to charge around the nursing home, taking corners on onewheel and getting up to maximum speed on the long corridors.

Because the poor woman was one sandwichshort of a picnic the other residents tolerated her and some of them actuallyjoined in.

One day Ethel was speeding up onecorridor when a door opened and Kooky Clarence stepped out with his armoutstretched. "STOP!," he shouted in a firm voice. "Have you gota license for that thing?" Ethel fished around in her handbag and pulledout a Kit Kat wrapper and held it up to him.

"OK" he said, and away Ethelsped down the hall.

As she took the corner near the TVlounge on one wheel, weird Harold popped out in front of her and shouted"STOP! Have you got proof of insurance?" Ethel dug into her handbag,pulled out a drink coaster and held it up to him. Harold nodded and said"On your way, Ma'am."

As Ethel neared the final corridor,Crazy Craig stepped out in front of her, Butt- Naked, and holding his"You-Know- What" in his hand. "Oh, good grief," yelledEthel, "Not that Damn Breathalyzer Test again.!!!"

 

Soft skills to help you excel in IT

I received this piece by email and thought I have to share it. 

ITprofessionals know that the development of technical skills is fundamental andnon-negotiable in the development of their careers.  The degree to which these technical skills are achieved and applied can beeasily measured through tests.  They can also be noted at a glance by simply finding out what tertiaryeducation the professionals have done and what qualifications were achieved atany one of the country's 21 universities.

At the Cape Peninsula University of Technology alone, there are 25 000 studentsdeveloping their technical skills and preparing for the working world by comingto grips with the technologies, theories and histories of their chosen careers.  But learning about and mastering the subject matter is only one of thenecessary talents every IT professional must cultivate.  There is a strong human component: essentially eight soft skills that must alsobe mastered for industry players to excel in their chosen technology fields.

Energy

Whether yourtechnical skills are average or above- average, applying a positive attitudeand energy can improve the working environment and your career prospectssignificantly.

Be energised about how you view problems, be positive in your approach tosolving them, and show conviction.

Attitude and energy applies as much to what you do as it does to how you do it.It also applies to the interpersonal skills you bring to the workplace.

Simply because you are a friendly person does not mean that you automaticallyhave the energy and attitude to be successful in your chosen IT career.

Communication

In anyprofession, communication is important. The more communicative you are, themore you will find yourself surrounded by people and projects that help yougrow your career prospects rather than bog you down with problems and hurdles.

Communicating ideas is important; doing so in ways that the people you aretalking to will understand is even more so.

In IT, however, there is an added need for written communication as it isimportant to provide users of systems or products with manuals and informationon how to maximise the solution.

Perspective

Keepingperspective when faced with major obstacles is a must.  It enables you to see complaints, compliments, issues and non-issues for whatthey really are.

Understanding the context in which things occur is also important. If neitheris done, it becomes difficult to overcome issues, little problems can be blownout of proportion and solutions mismatched.

Without context, you could find yourself scrambling to chase away the smokerather than putting out the fire. Worse, without perspective you could befuelling the fire instead of fighting it.

Business savvy

To ensurea successful, prosperous and long career in IT, it is important to understandthe business as well.  It is necessary to get a grip on what drives the business, to understand whatthe business's objectives are and what your role is in getting it there.  To effectively do your job, it is necessary to know what your managers anddirectors want of you and what the company's clients expect of you.

In coming to terms with the business, you must align yourself with it. If youfind that alignment is not possible, it is best to move on as you serve no oneworking for a company that you do not understand or appreciate.

Control

Control relatesto how you approach leadership. There must be an understanding and respect forthose in positions of leadership in the business.  They must be used as mentors to expand your skills and knowledge on as manyfronts as possible.  Occasionally, management decisions should be challenged, provided the businessstands to benefit.

Responsibility

On theother side of the control coin, those in positions of leadership must applythemselves to sharing their knowledge and they must lead by example.  Your leadership ambition must be fuelled by energy, but it must be checked byperspective and context, assisted through communication and guided by businesssavvy and control.

Direction

Responsibilityfor your career is yours and yours alone. Companies cannot be expected to tellyou what career you should be following or how to get there. Rather, theyshould assist in your career growth.  This is most effectively done when you align yourself with the business andtake responsibility for yourself, your knowledge and your actions.

Generalisation

Technology requires very specific skills to be acquired, but toensure a successful career in IT, you must complement these skills with ageneralist approach.  Broadening your knowledge and understanding in your chosen field, and coming toterms with the more general concerns that surround it, gives you power to goplaces. 
It makes you more marketable to employers and more sellable to customers. Whilespecialists can make money, generalists rule the world.

 

Home Sweet Home

We landed back home this morning after a good last few days away.

We spent the last few days of last week visiting some more museums and other touristy attractions, and then went for lunch at Hard Rock Cafe in London on Thursday.  DON'T DO IT!!!  R1,500 for four of us, for some of the worst food I've had in my life!

Leigh-Ann also managed to find a shop with a Wii in stock, and bought it for Josh for his birthday, I may be playing with his birthday present as much as him.

On Saturday morning I was out of the house fairly early, and in town around 10.  I walked around the Prologue route making sure that the spot I picked on the map was a good one, which it was, and at around 12 I took my position when I noticed that the railings were starting to get crowded.

At around 1:30 the race caravan started coming around the route, I knew the caravan was long, but I did not expect it to last for almost an hour with continuous vehicles coming past.  Some of these must be very scary & uncomfy to drive for the full Tour route, but they do.

Once the first rider went off it was all action with a rider coming past at least every minute and few seconds, the million and a half crowd going wild every time a british rider came past.

At 6, a few minutes before the last rider went off, I decided to beat the rush, and left my spot to walk back up to Marble Arch to catch the tube back home after standing in the same spot for just over 6 hours, it hurt almost as much as riding for that amount of time, but definitely worth it in the end.

Next time I will make sure that I follow the Tour for a few days, and not only get to watch one.

Sunday was spent travelling back to Paris, and Monday we basically had to get to the airport with all our baggage so we couldn't do any more sightseeing in Paris.

Some London site seeing

Today we spent some time in London city itself, visiting some museums and finally taking one of the open top bus tours.  If this rain would just stop for a bit, maybe we'd be able to do more.

Our first stop was the British museum, where we saw a lot of artefacts from Egyptian, Roman & Persian times.  Quite interesting, but we couldn't stay too long, this place definitely did not interest children.  Next stop was the Natural Science museum, lots more interesting stuff to see, with lots of fossils and other displays.  A day at the museums is not the most interesting place for a five year old, so we had to move quite quickly through most of it, until we got to the T-Rex display, where we spent some time.

For lunch we tried Burger King for the first time, needless to say I will not be doing that again, as bad as McDonalds, if not worse.

The rest of the afternoon was spent on an open top bus, with us sitting in the covered part of the top section because of the rain.  The plans were to stay in London for dinner and then go on the eye, but then rain started getting worse, so we decided to come home and try that another day.

My Sunday was spent doing some gadget shopping, as I was looking for an iPod replacement after mine decided to stop working a while ago.  After visiting about 40 electronics shops and comparing prices, I was very tempted to buy myself a UMPC, but they are still a bit pricy, coming in at around 750 pounds.  I settled on the Archos DVR, which is basically a personal video and music player with 80GB of storage, a 4" display, and the ability to connect to any TV/AV device and record from it, or play back to it, as well as change channels etc when necessary.  I'll be doing a bit of a review once I've had it for a while.  I've seen these second hand on Bid or Buy & eBay for around R2,500, so when I managed to bargain the guy down to 200 pounds I was quite happy, this one came with a remote & tv pod, which the second hand ones didn't have.