I’m on holiday at the moment. Not actually on holiday but not at work (as opposed to doing work, which I am).
Through a link from a link I found this brill cartoon site that just tickled me. Here’s a small selection of my favourites
Maybe I see something of my self here…
We’ve just had a team building day at work. While I didn’t feel like murdering the facilitator I could have damaged some of my colleagues!
This last one just amused me. Have a read at the commentary that goes with it from the site.
Who could possibly design a phone that can’t be tethered? Possibly the company that designed a phone that didn’t do 3G when it had been pretty much the standard for the last 4 years. Could this be the same company that created a phone that can’t do more than one thing at once? I did read somewhere that it can actually multi-task but it just does it differently, one task at a time.
The author does have a point thought. Ever tried to use free wifi in a coffee shop or pub or any of the other places where wifi is supposed to be available? It is certainly not reliable, or easy to connect to in a great many cases. It takes patience, skill and a knowledge of the operating system’s more advanced features (that’s the iPhone out then 
).
That’s all for now. I’m off to delete all the gmail people that register to post comments on this blog. I know they are all spam bots because none of them have websites of their own!
Tags: Images, work
Posted by Louise on Oct 27, 2006 in
PGC,
The job Not my graduation day unfortunately, the students who just qualified in July. It should have been my graduation day of course, if I hadn’t failed the last module. Yes, I am still a bit bitter about this. On reflection (ahhhhhhhhhh) I should have really, really underlined the word “discuss” on the assignment brief. So, I’m not graduating with the rest of my class. I think that is what upsets me more than anything. I enjoyed the time we spent sleeping through some lectures and failing to understand others.
I should get the opportunity to graduate this time next year. I don’t think I will. It doesn’t mean much a full year after I wrote the last word. I guess my next graduation will be my doctorate, if I ever get that far. Sometimes I don’t think I am up to it, but at other times I think that if Ruth can do it so can I. A bit of competition, even if it is not overt, is a good thing. It spurs me on.
Posted by Louise on Oct 20, 2006 in
The job I am teaching the poster workshop this morning, with our new lecturer. I can’t beleive it is a year since I last did this session. Back then I had no idea what made a good poster, I didn’t know how to comment on the students’ posters and I felt a bit out of my depth. Today I am really looking forward to it. I’ve done a PP thingy but it is all images. There is also a stunning handout, well one sheet anyway.
What is worrying me is that the students keep nagging me about puting stuff on accademic share. I just haven’t had the time. I did aim to do this last weekend but then my computer broke down and I spent ages trying to fix it, and failing. I know I must make the effort. I could easily do it but I don’t like putting the raw PP and word docs up there for them to copy, edit or add their own name to. That really defeates the object. I was going to say maybe I could leave early tonight and iinstall Acrobat on the wee laptop at home but I have to get the usual train home as Nick is taking me and his neice out. I wonder if I could install it on the “spare” laptop. I could also give it a bit of an upgrade at the same time. Hmmm. I bet someone would be grateful…
Posted by Louise on Oct 13, 2006 in
The job Well, I’ve just had a fascinating and thoroughly enjoyable day out. As you know I was in Peterborough to visit the radiotherapy department there. I was a bit worried about how enthusiastic it would be possible to be about a department with one orthovoltage/superficial machine. Wow! Were we in for a surprise. We started off with a cup of coffee and a bit of a discussion about what the students get up to when they visit the department there. The department only opens three days a week so on the days they are not in clinical they go to a day centre for cancer patients. I can’t remember its name ungortunatly but it was a great facility. It was a bit like the cancer information center in Norwich but more established. Patients can go there for information, a day of peace and tranquility or some form of complimentary therapy as well as a chat or to meet with friends. It was built from money from a local cattle farmer who bequeathed a significant amount of money on his death.
After there we had a trip to Thorpe Hall. Thorpe Hall used to be a stately home owned by the Cromwell (yes, the battle of Dunbar Cromwell) family. When the line reached an end the building and estate was purchased by Sue Ryder. She spent much money on it, renovated it (including a completly new roof) and turned it into a hospice for the terminaly ill. Not just cancer patients but other diagnoses too. Today it has a variety of inpatients, a signuficant number of staff including nurses, doctors, occupational therapists, chaplin and most of the other relevant professions who are able to make patients’ last weeks more pleasant and bearable.
The building is fantastic, the grounds were wonderful but the service provided to the patients and their families was out of this world. If you you have to spend your last days in care, and hopefuly no one I know will, this is the place to do it. There are plenty of staff so there is time to speak to patients, the medical care is around the clock and the “after care” to the relatives is there for as long as they need it, or untill they can be refered to a more appropriate body. Everything about the place impressed me.
Our students get the oppertunity to spend time there and to talk to the patients and staff. From what the lady who took us round (and I am ashamed to say I have forgotten her name) most of the students get a lot out of the experience. Some of course do not but I am pleased to say there have been in the minority.
After our tour we went back to the hospital and met some of the other people who help make the students’ placements different from the usual. What struck me was that Liz, one of the Senior I radiographers there seemed to know everyone. It was a lovely friendly hospital and people seemed to have time for the patients and us.
After lunch we saw the treatment machine and spoke to the other two radiographers. They are a really nice bunch. Not only do they treat patients on the orthovoltage machine but there are patients in the clinics who are receiving radioiodine for hyperthyroidism. The students also get a chance to see this procedure. I am not sure they get the oppertunity to observe this within the other three centres. I must investigate.
We left at about twenty to three so I had a bit of time to wait for my train. I went shopping. I didn’t realise there was such a good shopping centre so close to the station. If I had known that there is no way I would sat waiting for trains in the past. I’ll admit to spending a little bit of money on a lovely rust coloured jacket, moss green gloves and a matching scarf.
I am now safely on my way back to Norwich. I think I should be there within about forty minutes.
I will just give a quick description of the train I am now sitting in. The seats have lost their cushioning, it is boiling hot and I am sure someone is smoking somewhere! Hey ho. After a great day I really can’t complain too bitterly can ?I
Posted by Louise on Jul 6, 2006 in
The job I’ve been getting better and better at speaking to people today. What has come over me? Is it new found confidence or just that sending someone an email means I’ll get one in return and that will clutter up my inbox again? Still to hot to self analyse though.
Posted by Louise on Jul 6, 2006 in
The job We have a new lecturer starting in about a month or so. It will be really weird not to be the new girl who doesn’t know anything. I’ll have someone asking me stuff. How am I feeling about this? Well, it will be nice to have someone else to do some teaching. Although September was manageable I would have been very busy. My real concern is that the new person seems a bit loud and excitable. She is a self confessed activist and I suspect she is not a finisher. I will like not being the new person any more though. I really don’t think she will hang around very long. A year or so perhaps. She doesn’t seem like the type of person to stay in a job very long. I suppose you can never tell though.
I was just thinking. I think I may be on holiday when she starts. That is a shame really. I remember my first day. I had a really bad headache by the end of it and was worried that I didn’t have a clue what everyone was talking about! That soon changes though.
One thing that might change is that each of us is supposed to take on and IPL module. The spare one is the third year management module. I can’t see it being very appropriate for a rad with only two years clinical experience to take on this module. We shall see though. Maybe I’ll have to give up communication. Mark gave it up when I came along. Stupid really, I had far more management experience and am probably crap at communication! That’s life I suppose.
Posted by Louise on Jul 6, 2006 in
The job I didn’t have very much to do today but it all seemed to take ages to achieve. I didn’t even manage to get through my email. Most of them seemed to need reading or actioning. I doubt I even got through Monday’s. How am I ever going to get organised for next term if I am still struggling to finish with last term. I’ve had students phoning me about assessments and CLs nagging me about results (you know who you are). I don’t mind nagging about them. I do feel frustrated that I could not send them out when I wanted to, and in a useful format. Anyway, they are out so I just need to deal with the issues now, and the fallout from the feedback.
You know, I don’t seem to remember this being so much hassle last time we had results to go out. I suppose I only had PP1 back last trimester. Now I have all the PP portfolios, and consequently most of the feedback sheets. It may all be a hassle but I do like it. Some parts of the last year were lacking a bit of pressure and stress. They say stress is good for you and to be honest I quite like a bit of stress. It is such a good feeling when it is over and I know everything is done correctly because I have been in control of it or I have been organised. I feel a bit like that with the results. I had everything organised and ready to give out on time. I think I must be mad to enjoy this!
I must try to keep on top of things like this. Life is so much easier if I know I can trust my self to have done something. Then I just have to worry about other people doing things.
Now, what have I still to do tomorrow? I really, really want to get the order number thingy for the conference at Sheffield. Unfortunately I am at the mercy of other people and the speed they do things. This is a little frustrating but I am aiming to get this sorted and finalised tomorrow. Tomorrow is the last day this week I have to get that elusive number because I am in Cambridge on Friday. I really, really want this number because I know other people are waiting on it and I don’t want me to be looking bad. Maybe I am just impatient. Actually one good thing has come of all my trials and tribulations today. I have actually gone and spoken to people to ask them for things I need. I have had to try very hard not to sound irritated though, but just a little assertive; at least that is how I hope I’ve come across.
I’ve got the feeling that this post sounds very muddled. I have been trying to be tactful and not upset anyone that could be reading. Is that constructive? I don’t know. I really don’t feel like analysing my self or my actions right now. Maybe tomorrow.
Posted by Louise on Jun 20, 2006 in
The job Not quite sure what my plans are today. I have nothing in my diary but several things I need to do. Write some more of my essay was definitly one of them. I’d like to sort the feedback sheets so they are ready to give out to the appropriate clinical lectureres at assessment board. That should be a quick job I hope. I’ve also got an urgent task marked and I can’t remember why it is urgent. I guess when I start doing it, it will become clear. I know I have several urgent emails to deal with too. I’ll be lucky if I have time to do my essay!
Things do feel as though they are calming down a bit. The students are only in for another week, then the summer starts! I do feel a wee bit sorry for the CLs though. This is the time of year that we catch up on everything we have not had time to do, that necessarly means us giving the CLs things to do, which is perhaps a little unfair since they have two years in clinical and their summer has definitly not started. Hey ho, glad I’m not there.
Right, better get on and do my daily to do list.
I had some interesting conversations with students yesterday. I was doing some workshops about translation and using translators. There seemed to be this attitude that everyone should speak English when in this country. I’m not just talking about the media folk devil that is immigrants but they were talking about holiday makers or tourists too. Some of them were quite amazed that someone would have the audacity to come to this country without being able to speak a word of English. I gave the analogy back that I am going to Spain on holiday and I can’t speak a word of Spanish. They didn’t get it.
Another thing that I was quite shocked about was the attitude that the translator might purposely and maliciously translate the information incorrectly. Again I tried analogy that translators are professionals with a code of conduct, just like nurses. You would trust a nurse to give the correct drug or treatment so you should be able to trust a translator. Nope, that didn’t work. They seem to think that nurses give the wrong drugs on purpose too.
Perhaps I’d better clarify. When I say “they” I really mean a small minority of three or four out of ten, and not all the same students had problems with translators as had issues with tourists.
I think what I found most amazing was that they felt able to express those opinions in a classroom, with a lecturer who was speaking to them about translation and cultural issues, and they were all nurses, angels and the backbone of the NHS. In fact, they are going to be the nurses who run the wards in ten years or so. If ever there was a need for diversity training it is now.
I am now wondering what my own students would have said or done. I wonder what their opinions are. I am almost frightened to find out. I hope this was just an isolated little group. I certainly never came across these opinions when I did this session last year. In fact the students seemed more… With it last year. More worldly I think is the word. There were more professions in the groups so perhaps the dynamics were different. Not as many people knew each other and had already formed relationships. I might get more of an idea about the group when I meet my learning community this morning.
Posted by Louise on Jun 6, 2006 in
The job I was teaching a big group this afternoon with a couple of colleagues. It all went very well and was an enjoyable session for the three of us. There was one down side of the session though. All of us commented that the students are so rude. I don’t mean in what they say to us, that is absolutely fine. It is just the way they arrive so late and then leave early for a range of reasons. Barely ten minutes before the end one girl left to go to the loo! I would never dream of doing that. It is such bad manners. If my students were constantly doing that then I would have to say something. It is so disruptive for the rest who are staying put for the duration of the session.
They were doing some group work and then had to feedback to us and the rest of the class. A couple of them were sitting on the desks, fine I don’t have a problem with that, what I do have a problem with is the students in question continuing to sit with their backs to us while we were talking. Do they not realise how bad that looks? I hope they are better when they are on the wards.
Apart from learning how rude some students can be I did learn another couple of really interesting things. One of my colleagues was talking and a group at the back were chatting amongst them selves. My other colleague casually strolled up to the back and had a seat on a desk there. The chatter stopped almost immediately! Something so simple and so effective. I will have to try that some time.
Another interesting thing was my voice. They were all doing their group work and I wanted them to be silent so we could move on. I shouted out in my usual voice but not much happened. I then lowered my voice slightly, altering the tone. The difference was immediate. They were quite within seconds. I was reading in one of the Sunday papers that women in the media and business and politics are lowering their voices. The examples given were Margaret Thatcher and Kathleen Turner. I think there are one or two female news readers too. It seems to get the women noticed or at least taken seriously. I am going to experiment a bit with this next time I have a noisy class. This may be in the next couple of weeks as the large class module is still going on.