Security System Situations
May 22, 2009
Oh my god, this morning I had a mare getting into work. The access control security systems seemed to completely give up. I stood in the pouring rain, desperately swiping and swiping my ID card to no avail.
My day has pretty much gone from bad to worse after that. Now however, it’s Friday afternoon and all is not that bad in the world. There’s just over two hours left of work and a 3 day weekend ahead of us. No clients, work or access control security systems to contend with. Though, my door key has gotten very stiff in its old age, so I’ll probably have to wrestle that to get into the house.
Never mind that though, the weather outlook is good and for three days the world is my oyster. I’m going to do some shopping, drinking and sleeping, and then try to stay out of trouble.
Then when Tuesday morning hits us like a tonne of bricks, it’s going to be business as usual. Slipping back into the lifeless lull of the rate face shouldn’t be too much trouble. I think it’s fair to say that the rate race is getting me down. Down, down to China Town!
Lists and Commercials
May 19, 2009
Gaah, how does my number get on business telemarketing lists?! I can’t sit in the sanctuary of my own home without some random company calling up to see if I want to buy something. Obviously I don’t want to buy anything as I’m sat in the comfort of my own home, watching television and making the most of the little time I get on my own. I do not want my program to be interrupted by a complete stranger blagging my head!!!
The amount of adverts is getting worse too, I remember when watching a film didn’t take up five hours. Now there are so many adverts breaks; advert, after advert, them telling us that we want things that we don’t need. It’s ridiculous!
Ha, I have found a way round all this advert business. It costs me more but I now subscribe to Sky Plus, record everything and fast forward through the commercials. I no longer loose cumulatively, days of my life to media companies and adverts.
I need to get myself on an exempt business telemarketing list to get them to sod off. I will find away to get round this business! Let’s face it; it’s just another invasion of our privacy which we need to deal with.
Towel Warmers and Other Exciting House Wife Things?!
May 19, 2009
We have just moved into our new house which is bigger and better than our old house, I am most impressed (as daft as it seems) with the towel warmers in both the family and guest bathrooms. It seems like such an obvious invention, but it warms the whole of the bathroom brilliantly, as the towel warmers surface area is far greater than the cast iron radiators of the past. Plus you can neatly fold a number of towels that will be toasty and warm for the whole family for after their showers and baths.
The garden is massive and our Siberian Husky loves it. I don’t think he likes it because it’s aesthetically pleasing like the rest of the family, but that he can dig it up and completely ruin it for me! Luckily, we are yet to buy our new carpets, so that fact that he keeps treading mud all over the place, though is annoying is not the end of the world.
Since when did I turn into such a house wife?! It wasn’t that long ago that I had so many things going on in my life that a towel warmer would have been the last thing in the world to get me excited!
Oh well, to middle age and onwards.
The State Of Things In The Office
May 18, 2009
I know that we are in the middle of a recession and everyone’s purse strings are tighter but I am sure that we are running out of office furniture. We have had so many new people start that there is a massive shortage of office chairs and I am sure that people are sneakily steeling them at night so that they don’t end up with the nasty, tatty ones.
I know it sounds odd that we are increasing the number of staff on chairs, when everyone else seems to be making redundancies. It’s baffling me too and I still think that we are understaffed; I know that I am being worked like a small mule!
It seems that everyone is between a rock and a hard place at the moment, under so much pressure and so stressed. You only have to turn on the news to see how black things are at the moment. Please don’t get me started on the politician’s fiasco!!! They sit there on their chair of authority, making decisions for us hard working, taxpaying, no expense receiving idiots.
I for one am sick of the state of things at the moment. I want to move somewhere hot and live off the land, or at least by simple means. The rat race is just too much to handle at the moment.
Google Street View Technology Controversy
April 23, 2009
The UK Information Commission has ruled that though Google’s Street View Technology brings a small privacy invasion risk, it should not be stopped.
Google Street View Technology shows photos of locations on maps but received complaints that it breached the Data Protection Act.
A privacy watchdog spokesperson said that removing the technology would be:
“Disproportionate to the relatively small risk of privacy detriment”.
According to reports residents of Broughton, near Milton Keynes blocked the Google View vehicle and prevented it from taking pictures of the village. Residents said that they should have been consulted and that the vehicle was intrusive.
Google have said that they obeyed UK laws and only took pictures from public places.
It’s all very controversial!
Unhappy British Children
April 21, 2009
Reports in the news today say that British children are among the unhappiest in Europe, according to a well being study done recently.
The report suggests that there are large numbers of youngsters with parents not working, living in rough areas with many not in education.
In the report Britain came 24th out of 29, and considering that Britain is allegedly one of the wealthiest and developed countries in Europe, this is not good to hear.
The study gave Dutch and Scandinavian children as the happiest, with Germany in eight and France in fifteenth.
Other reasons resulting to the British low score was that UK children are more likely to report ill health and have a poor ability to communicate with their parents.
The government are saying that they’ve sorted it as usual, but I think we all know they’re pretty incompetent regardless which party they’re on.
The Future Is Electric…
April 16, 2009
The government have announced this week that they are encouraging people to buy electric or hybrid plug in cars to lower carbon emissions. The £250 million investment plan, seeks to give people subsidies of up to £5,000 for swapping.
Eligible cars are unlikely to get to showrooms until 2011 so it is won’t take affect for a while. The strategy which will see £20 million invested into getting charging plants and other infrastructure set in place are somewhere in the pipeline.
The feeling is that though this is a gesture in the right direction, the fund is nowhere near enough to generate a real culture change. Hybrids currently on the market, such as the Toyota Prius are not eligible for the scheme as it only involves fully electric and plug-in electric hybrids. Basically, any such cars on the market now are not included in the scheme.
Electric cars on the market now have been held back by poor performance. The range is limited to approximately 40 miles, they take around 7 hours to charge and mainly have only two seats. Top Gear ripped them apart! However, the government seem to think that the real technology will be available on the market in two years.
World’s Oldest Living Person
April 7, 2009
The Guinness Book of World Records has officially recognised Gertrude Baines as the oldest living person in the world. She celebrated her 115th birthday with a big cake.
Gertrude from Georgia received a letter from US President Barack Obama wishing her a happy birthday.
Ms Baines father was the son of slaves and saw the invention of the car and first flight. She was 18 when the Titanic sank.
Ms Baines never smoked, drank or fooled around and says she owes her “longevity to the Lord”. She has said that she never thought that she’d see a black man become president and was in the news in November when she voted. Controversially saying in these times, that she backed Obama “because he’s for the coloured”.
Baines title as oldest woman came as a Portuguese died at the age of 11.
4,800 Calorie Burger - Only in America
March 31, 2009
West Michigan Whitecaps Baseball Park is now offering a 4,800 calorie burger. Apparently trying to cook up comfort food amidst the recession. The offer is that if anyone is daring enough to eat the monstrosity of a burger they will get a free t shirt with it.
The burger contains five beef patties, chilli, salsa, sour cream, nacho-style cheese, Frito chips, lettuce, tomato, 5 slices of American cheese and a massive bun to hold it all in.
According to Scott Lane, Whitecaps president:
“Besides being unique and large and bizarre, it tastes good,” Whitecaps president Scott Lane told the Grand Rapids News. I’m sure there are going to be crazies that come down and try to eat the entire thing.”
The burger weighs more than double the recommended daily calorie intake; the burger contains 300 grams of fat, 744 milligrams of cholesterol and over 10,000 milligrams of sodium.
Scott Lane added:
“At home, people eat healthy. When they come to a game, they might eat a hot dog.”
So that’s why American has such an obesity problem, because everyone eats so healthy?!
Online Sales Out Do The High Street
March 29, 2009
Online sales continue to boom, while high street stores continue to struggle with fewer sales. According to a recent survey of top 10 UK favourite retailers, Amazon came second and Ebay also made it to number ten, only 3 years ago Amazon was in 21st position.
As more and more people shop online, internet retailers are becoming more popular than many long established high street shops.
In the midst of the recession shoppers are finding it easier to price compare online, from the comfort of their own home, to ensure they get the bargain they’re looking for. Plus online retailers generally have far lower overhead costs and so are able to remain more liquid while others are having cash flow troubles. Lower costs are keeping internet sellers more competitive where everyone is more price sensitive than ever.
There are also promotional vouchers and online discount codes offered on a variety of products and services including fashion, gadgets, books, CDs, DVDs, hotels, travel and food. The offers range from money-off to free delivery and customers are taking advantage of online bargains compared to in-store promotions.
Struggling high street stores should look to improve and increase their online offering to keep up with the game.