Pieces of a Man Think it. Do it. Be it. Embellish.

67.68.69.70.71.72.73.74.75.76 77.78.79.80.81.82.83.84.85.86 87.88.89.90.91.92.93.94.95.96 97.98.99.00.01.02.03.04.05.06 07.08.09.10

Labels: 2007

The tooth fairy was skating on thin ice last night having forgotten Oscar's first tooth. We went to bed early last night and forgot all about the dental duties so he woke this morning without the expected windfall.

Fortunately I had the presence of mind to explain that since it was still dark outside - it was 5.30 - the tooth fairy hadn't come yet since she only comes just before dawn. Phew! He went and sat for a few minutes downstairs looking out the window for morning break while I sneaked back up to the bedroom and made things right.

Excellent recovery? Nope - today another tooth fell out and I haven't yet thought of a way to explain the possible inconsistency in the fairy scam tomorrow morning if he gets up before dawn and before me. Bugger!

Labels: 2007

Just looked at the fixtures for this week and realised that it's a biggie - away to Luton on Tuesday followed by a trip to Barnsley on Saturday. Both sides are right below us and we're only 3 points off the relegation spots. "Zoinks!", as Shaggy would say!

Labels: 2007

In The Observer today, Paul Wilson argues for bringing terraces back into football;

Standing areas offer the hope of turning back the clock to a time when the cost of admission to a football ground did not exclude anyone, when you could choose your immediate company, make as much noise as you wanted and feel part of a crowd rather than a member of an audience. All the things that used to distinguish football from a visit to the theatre, in other words.

As it happens, I was thinking about terraces yesterday as I watched Glenn Hoddle goals on YouTube. After one of them you can see this insane sight of thousands of fans surging down the terracing and it makes you wonder how those deathtraps lasted as long as they did, before the disasters like Heysel and Hillsborough took us beyond the pale.

On the other hand, most grounds weren't like the Kop or Old Trafford. My main memory of terraces is the old Barclay at Norwich. The injuries were more likely to be to the sensibilities with the racist chant they used to have in the 80s; "Trigger trigger trigger, shoot that nigger" was the whole of the Norfolk boys' repertoire, perhaps because it only took the recall of four words and had a simple rhyming structure.

I could never understand how these morons could be singing that in their hundreds while on the pitch Justin Fashanu was scoring goals like this in front of them. (I wonder if they'd have still turned a blind eye if they'd known he was playing for the pink team as well as the yellow. I doubt.)

Even having the fag in my mouth sliced in half with a coin thrown by an Ipswich fan was just a good war story. The two sets of fans were only separated by a gap of a few metres and being showered occasionally with Suffolk spit just added spice to the occasion, as did getting a mild kicking on Carrow Hill before the Milk Cup semi in '85.

So, in the manner of an old git, I have to agree that terraces 'never did me no harm'. Up at Blackpool recently we had seats but spent the entire game standing without being nagged by stewards and it just felt right.

Labels: 2007

I was interested to read Nick's account of his NHS job interview in the Brecon Beacons. It sounded rather familiar and I thought I'd speculate a bit about what was probably going on here;

It took a while before I began to realise that 'me' didn't appear to matter. The answers I was supposed to give, and that they were expecting to hear, were to be in a form I had hiterto not encountered: nhs-first-post-physio-speak. Everytime I was asked to provide criteria, I was stopped and asked to be more specific. OK Nick, start again, but with more detail. No, no could you provide a specific example from a specific student placement where you demonstrated interpersonal skills, professionalisms, an ability to be autonomous? Ah .. buzz words! I am no stranger to chipping in at interviews with the odd-buzzword, but every line of every response?!

The traditional interview often asks hypothetical questions such as "What would you do if...", and then explores things from there. The problem is that it can benefit people who know what the interviewer wants to hear rather than being an accurate predictor of what that person would actually do in a real situation.

The different kind of interviewing that Nick describes is, I think, criterion-based interviewing and it tries to approach this problem with the aim of focussing only on things that people actually did in the past. We use it at Hallam. What's more, it IS all based on a checklist - the job specification.

In a big organisation like the NHS the job spec gets created in very particular ways before it gets approved and creates a list of things that a suitable applicant will be able to do. Once the interview committee meets they have to choose what sort of thing to ask about based directly on that job spec. There's little scope for going with the flow and responding in the moment to find out what someone's 'really like'.

The actual question wording is then created to that criterion-based template - "Tell me about a situation in the past when...", and then they drill down into it - "What was your role in that?", "What specifically did you to deal with that?" Sound familiar, Nick?

If you're unprepared for this it's pretty difficult to blag it in the heat of the moment. The moral of the story is to pay very close attention to the job spec and have the examples ready. Even if they don't use this approach it will be useful to have them up your sleeve for regular interviews.

By the way, the job spec is also critical to getting the interview. When they shortlist they are basically ticking off items on the job spec. It's not too far from the truth to say that if the job spec says 'The applicant will be able to crank widgets at a rate of 10 per minute', then the application doesn't need to say much more than 'in that job I cranked widgets at a rate of 10 per minute all summer long'. The shortlisting is being done by some time-poor line manager on a Monday morning who's already thinking of their next meeting after reading the first two. Make it easy for them and keep it simple; the rest it just conversation.

Read more about criteria based interviewing

Labels: 2007

I've just finished reading Bryan Gunn's autobiography. For those not pursuing a yellow way of life, he was the Norwich keeper during our golden era in the early 90s and still works at the club as a sort of ambassador and all-round good egg.

Whilst it's definitely 'fans only' stuff, it's a pleasant enough read; fuzzy warm memories of the Bayern Munich season, behind-the-scenes accounts of the scandals of the time, and of course a poignant account of his daughter's death from leukemia. It's a credit to his engaging personality that it holds the attention despite the clunking prose, at its best in this description of meeting his future wife;

We soon made eye contact and exchanged a few coy smiles. I don't know if you'd call it love at first sight, but something certainly stirred in my loins!

Labels: 2007

A big shout goes out today for my brother, Nick, who's just got a First in his Physiotherapy degree. This would be achievement enough in most circumstances, but he's also had to overcome the most staggering incompetence and disregard from some of the academic staff and from the behemoth that is University of East London. Long story - which you can read about in various places on his blog - but let's just say I'd have burnt a few houses down by now if it'd been me. Nice one, bro.

Labels: 2007

From the BBC documentary archive;

The Japanese village of Ogama is so small that it doesn't feature on any maps. But this tiny community, with just eight elderly residents, has become a trailblazer in a country looking to cope with the effects of an aging population. Listen Now

Labels: 2007

Finally got the wireless up and running on the laptop with the help of an upgrade to Windows XP and now I'm here multi-tasking - downloading upgrades, blogging, editing webpages and watching 'Trading Places'. What a classic - Eddie Murphy farting in the tub and demonstrating the Bruce Lee 'Quart of Blood' technique in prison;

Prisoner: "Tell us how you cut him."

Billy Ray: "Hey, I didn't cut him with no knife, man."

Prisoner: "But you told me last night you cut the dude."

Billy Ray: "It was with these I cut him (shows hands). I am a chang belt in Kung Fu. Bruce Lee was my teacher. Watch this. Woop! HAA! Agai! Woop! Woop! Agai! Ayahhhh! Woop! Iguh! Hiya! Woo! Woo! Ha! Ha! Woop! Agai! Bin! Ha! Haaaaaaaaaa... Watah! Tidah! That's called the quart of blood technique. You do that, a quart of blood will drop out of a person's body.

Brilliant, and just what I need after today's 6-hour perfect storm of management meetings left me like a vegetable.

Labels: 2007