When will I...will I be famous....

I've been published....kind of. In the bi-monthly journal-thing for our professional association they have a feature called "My week". The title is kind of self - explanatory. In 300 words, you write about your working week. And, you know, 300 words is not much. Anyway, it's there, and one who knows me well says she doesn't think it sounds like me...in that it doesn't reflect my warped sense of humour...but as I said, it was only 300 words, so something had to give. Paid up memebers of aforesaid association can judge for themselves!

We are the champions...

Laura had her first sports day a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately I was in London, listening to university librarians discuss the future of library management systems.......

I'm tired..

Tired of getting sick. I have tonsillitis for the second time in two months, and the 8 millionth time this year. (I exagerate, but not much). So, the doctor has agreed to refer me to the hospital to have 'em out. Knowing my luck, I'll get MRSA. But the upside is that I'm watching an ancient episode of Hill Street Blues, and I'm going to have a blog catch up....if I can find the cable to link my camera to the computer.

Working 9 - 5

Apparently, my employer has been voted one of the best places to work in IT, according to Computerworld. We are number 51 out of the top 100, zooming up 24 places from last year.

So, that's nice, isn't it?

It's my party and I'll cry if I want to...

My social life is pretty woeful at the best of times - except for a lovely, impromptu night out in Sheffield last week with katie and Jonathan....thank you for listening to my self-pitying rants, Katie (!)....but it is really being put in the shade by Laura at the moment. From this weekend till the end of term she is going to seven birthday parties, including her own. Thank goodness for a quick trip to the Tesco toy department when we were in Christchurch last weekend.

Actually....now that I think about it, I'm not really doing too badly myself. Aforementioned trip to Dorset to see Vronni & team included the obligatory bar-be-que in the gorgeous new garden. The past month has also included a night out in Leiden with colleagues...and I do mean OUT. We actually ate outside which made me and my other english colleague quite giddy with excitement. And, a very drunken evening at the PTA ball. So really I've nothing to moan about, and I'm sure there are some of you out there feeling pretty flippin' jealous right now!

I'm so excited and I just can't hide it...

Not me, I should point out. Laura. She slept with me last night, because Peter was getting up at the crack of sparrow fart to go to London. Anyway, she woke up when the alarm went off (result!), leapt on me, and proceeded to inform me why she was so excited:

1) she is starting packed lunches today. She is absolutely giddy about this. Her best friend, Christina, who is the benchmark for everything at the moment, has packed lunches, and for the summer term, so will Laura. I do feel a little guilty that she is so happy to take sandwiches. Mostly she has had school dinners since starting school because I can't be arsed to make her lunch....ho hum!

2) now this one is a massive working-mummy, guilt-trip jobby. She was beside herself with joy because i was taking her to school this morning. Not just dumped early in pre-school club, but actually taking her to the classroom, and helping her hang up her stuff on her peg. Actually, i enjoy it too. It's nice to see some of the other mums, and the weather was lovely this morning, so it was a very pleasant stroll back to the car. When I did a bit of pick up and collecting after I came back from South America I resolved to try to re-jig my working hours from time to time...y'know...do a long day one day so I can do the school run the next day. But it is difficult to be consistent - I'm off again for three days next week....

Jake the Peg

(Taking the lead from Kate, I am trying to continue my occasional theme of using song titles for my postings....we'll see how it goes)

So, the following morning my knee is swollen to the size..well, of a very swollen thing, and I can't put any weight on my leg. Having had practice when I knackered my knee last time I still manage to get a shower. Well, my hair was a mess and I wiffed of wine (see previous posting).

Luckily the time difference meant I could get travel insurance details from work, and was able to contact our *people* who told me which hospital to go to. It was called "Clinica Biblica" - yep that's Biblical Clinic. Conjures up some bizarre images, doesn't it. Anyway, the nice man in Urgencia (that's Emergency to you and me) got my x-rayed, and confirmed nothing was broken or dislocated, merely (!) strained. Basically I had damaged all the ligaments. And then he put me in plaster from thigh to ankle.....blue plaster!



Said I should keep it on for three weeks, and sent me off with my x-rays as a souvenir. OK - so then I ask the travel company to send me home, which was the point I discovered that you aren't allowed to fly in plaster, and would I mind staying in Costa Rica for three weeks!

So then the hunt begins for hospital who can fit me with a leg brace......more than 24 hours later, by which time I am gettting heartiliy sick of room service and costa rican TV, I am told to report to......Clinica Biblica. Actually, this time I am seeing the orthopedic specialist, who turns out to be a charming Colombian, who removes the plaster with one of those scary electric saw things, then announces I am fit to carry on my travels to Colombia (I think he was biased), but he writes me a note to say I must travel business class...heh heh heh! He also gives me a prescription which includes three injections that I have to administer to myself....injections...that is syringes....with needles!

Anyway, I did go to Colombia (business class), and it was lovely. What a beautiful country! And I discovered the way to jump all the queues at airports.....get wheelchair asistance! oh, except in America. That is still as crap as ever. They even make you get out of your wheelchair to go through the security thingie. Fine for me, but there were some proper disabled people....and they were the airport's own bloody wheelchairs.

So, I'm back now...obviously...still limping and a bit stiff in the knee area. Going to the hospital next week. Good old NHS. Back in this country 5 weeks after a serious knee injury, and have to wait all that time to check I haven't actually done any lasting damage to myself. What do you want to bet I have to wait anothr 5 weeks for the MRI?

Just for you, Kate!

And because I happen to have an hour or so to kill in the BUSINESS lounge at Atlanta Airport.

OK...so....I had to go to Central and South America for a couple of weeks. We have abunch of customers out there who are way overdue a visit. Plus, my new company has a division to manage the whle region, so we are working on some other stuff too.

Meeting in Costa Rica, then a 10+ day tour of Colombia. Got to admit, was not madly keen on the Colombia bit, but hey ho..it's a job...it pays the bills (just).

Anyway..I shoulda known it was going to be a bad trip when I split wine over myself at the beginning of an 11 hour flight. Then I managed to break my watch trying to adjust the time. When I finally arrived in Costa Rica my colleague was nowhere to be seen. My flight was an hour late...but even so....Turned out he had emailed me instructions, but as he has a Blackberry and I DON'T (that's another story) I was left at San Jose airport, not speaking the old lingo, and fending off eager taxi drivers to the best of my ability.

Anyway...eventually rolled up at the very nice Marriott San Jose. It's about 10.30pm by now. And then, about approximately 11pm, I trip over my laptop case, go down lack a sack o' potatoes....and an excrutiating pain in my knee. Who remembers my fateful pregnancy, and my dislocated knee at 6 months? Well, this is very similar! I am freaked, but realisingly it's not actually dislocated this time, I decide to go to bed (well, i'd been traveling for 24 hours plus at this stage), hoping it would all be fine in the morning.

What do you think? All better? No need to call the travel insurance company? WRONG!

And.....that's part 1, Kate. Tune in next week for more tales of our intrepid heroine as she intrepidly continues her travels against alal odds, and has to give herself injections...yes, injections...with a needle.

A taster....

Soon to come...a tale of woe in Costa Rica....highlights include a critique of the Costa Rican health care system....experiences in a plaster cast.....and how to jump the queue at airport scurity!! Those of you who read my facebook page as well as my blog have a head start....

It's all in the genes!

As many of my friends know, my main passion is family history. Oh I can bore for hours on the in and outs of family history research. As I sit in my little study I have two shelves full of research material.

I have been doing research on Peter's family as well as my own, and his has been so much more interesting and exciting. (That's interesting and exciting for a family historian, not normal people, btw) He has a couple of bigamist's, one who ran off with his step-daughter, a reasonably famous sculptor, and a couple of family rifts.

But now I am thrilled to announce scandal in my family tree. One family of the Leeds Irish bunch who emigrated to Boston - three sons in prison at the same time, for different crimes.

We have Samuel imprisoned for assault with intent to maim and disfigure (nice). Edward was imprisoned for larceny of property. He only got 6 months....so maybe it wasn't terribly valuable property?

Then we have my personal favourite (says she, on her third glass of wine and it is only 8.15pm)- James - arrested twice in 1900 (and they are his second and third arrests respectively.) On April 30,1900, at age 20, he was sentenced to a 3 dollar fine for Drunkenness and released on May 7. He was sentenced again only 8 days after his release, May 15, again for Drunkenness. This time he was sentenced to 30 days and was released on June 13. I also believe he was back in prison in 1910, and I'm waiting for the lovely archivist in Boston to tell me about that!

Month end catch up - fully illustrated!

Well, it has been another busy month chez Robinson, or chez this particular Robinson. I spent a aweek in The Netherlands, a week in Dublin, Ohio and then a week in bed with tonsilitis. Any connection, d'ya think?

Dublin was snowy. In fact, they'd had the worst snowfall since 1910 the weekend before I arrived. Anyway, usual round of looong meetings, but lovely company in the evenings. First pic of a fantastic evening at Jennifer and Scott's home, complete with homemade Missisippi Mud Pie in honour of Jenny's (not Jennifer the hostess) b'day.



The week ended on a bit of a frustrating note......the short version includes the clocks changing in Ohio, but not in Colombia, a videoconference, changing flights and the equipment breaking down. End result - an extra night in Dublin, but a visit to a lovely french restaurant! Bet you're intrigued now! HOme, and the afore mentioned bout of illness, and then.....it was Easter.


Laura's hair is now long enough to scrape (!) in to the world's tiniest pony tail. This makes her very happy:




We had an indoor easter egg hunt this year ( and yes, she is wearing shoes with her nightie. We bought them the day before.)



Mummy got a very big egg for Easter:



And it snowed:

Let it snow, let it snow....

Coloumbus, Ohio, has had the biggest snow fall since 1910 this weekend. Guess where I fly to tomorrow?

Can this much introspection be good for you?

So, according to a personality quiz on blogthings, this is me:

You Are An ISFJ

The Nurturer You have a strong need to belong, and you very loyal. A good listener, you excel at helping others in practical ways. In your spare time, you enjoy engaging your senses through art, cooking, and music. You find it easy to be devoted to one person, who you do special things for. In love, you express your emotions through actions. Taking care of someone is how you love them. And you do it well! At work, you do well in a structured environment. You complete tasks well and on time. You would make a good interior designer, chef, or child psychologist. How you see yourself: Competent, dependable, and detail oriented When other people don't get you, they see you as: Boring, dominant, and stuck in a rut

What's Your Personality Type?

***************************************************************************

Right now I am at this Hotel. I am on leadership training (!), and there have been a few of those "what style of ???? are you?" type tests. Apparently, I avoid conflict. I knew that. I didn't need to come here to find that out!

Also, I forgot to bring my little camera that was purchased for the express purpose of taking photos on my (frequent) trips away. So I can't show you that I have a seaview from my room.

Blogging on the go......

Or blogging at a complete standstill. I am at Leeds Bradford airport, where my flight to Amsterdam is delayed by 1 hour 40 minutes. For a flight that takes less than an hour flight time how does that work? And why did they only tell us 20 minutes before boarding? AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.....very frustrated. Can you tell? At least I don't have a connection to make. Imagine how mad I'd be then!

All work and no play

<

...makes Jack a bad tempered old witch, if he is anything like me.

I just checked back in the blog, and I don't appear to have mentioned that I got a new job. Now, that's not as radical or life changing as it might sound. I still work for the same organisation that I have worked for since 1996.....I just got offered (and accepted) a different role in the organisation. Actually...that should read "additional" role. As is typical with my employer I am actually doing two jobs, same money, same hours, etc etc etc! (stay with me...there's a point to this...) So, as well as a management role in Sales, I am now a Product Manager. It's actually a great job, but involves a lot more travelling. So, below, courtesy of the new, tiny (and gloriously pink) camera Peter got me for christmas, are pictures from my travels in January:



This is the train station at Frankfurt airport.


This is to show that I did actually get outside the convention center in Philadelphia.

And this is a view of Chicago, in the snow, from the plane, as I head off to visit the mothership in Ohio.

And, yes, this was all in January. I have convinced myself that laura doesn't suffer from all this travelling I do. She doesn't *appear* to care, so long as she gets a present. My sanity on the other hand.......well, that's another post!

Just exactly how rubbish am I?

And that is a rhetorical question, btw.

So, further catching up is required.

Christmas was good. As it was to be the first year in the new house, with a room big enough to have a really big tree we stayed home and made peope come to us. We tried to make Tom come to us, but to get out of Christmas in the mad house he gave himself kidney stones and ended up in hospital over Christmas. Actually, he spent spent christmas in bed, drugged to his eyeballs, with people tending to his every need! (Note to self for next year.......!!) But seriously, it was a worrying couple of days for all concerned, and no picnic for Tom, either. But, he is 100% better now, and we will be celebrating a belated christmas in a couple of weekends, at the his mum's house...i.e. the first Mrs Robinson. (For those who don't know, Tom is my stepson)

Laura missed Tom very much, but still enjoyed christmas as only a four year old can, i.e. pointing out which presents Santa neglected to bring! No - she was an angel, loved having visitors, loved opening presents with people, etc.

We managed to entice Vronni and family up to the frozen north, which was lovely. They stayed till just after new year, and we were joined by jenny & richard on New Year's Eve...and we all stayed up pastt midnight. Amazing at our age.

Catch up 2007

So, where was I? K & J came to stay. We got a new fireplace. We got Margaret the lovely, ironing cleaner, who comes on a Friday morning....which means we have a clean and tidy house till almost Saturday morning.

Then it was December....oh, and I was in Munich...and it was very christmassy. Then, actually it got to be December, and Laura was in her Christmas Concert. It was all of key stage 1, and she was a star.

Rubbish

That's me, that is. But...not as rubbish as Primeval, which Peter ha sjust made me sit through for the first....and frankly the last....time. And I watched it while drinking an extremely strong margerita...and it was still utter crap.

Yoo hoo....I'm back

I didn't fall off the edge of the world....just moved house. Actually, we moved in about 6 weeks ago. Oh...just checked the calendar, and it 7 weeks, or in fact 8 weeks on Tuesday. The house is great: lovely and BIG. The dining room is no longer yellow. Laura's bedroom is now two shades of pink. We have had our first dinner / stayed over guests, who got to christen the new guest bed...Katie & Jonathan. And, becuase I've waited so long to blog about it, we're starting to have *work* done. This coming Friday we have our new fireplace fitted.

But the biggest news of all is that I finally bit the bullet, and the cleaner comes for the first time on Friday. Yay! And she does ironing. Double yay!

Note to self: must do better

In this instance "must do better" with Laura's religious education. While not being full on, i have tried to bring her up in a vaguely christian...specifically catholic environment..and thought I was doing OK. Till we had this little exchange in bed this morning:

Me: So, what special time do we celebrate Jesus being born?

Laura: (thinks for a minute) At assembly?

Me: No...think again...a special time when we remember that Jesus was born?

Laura: (Again, thinking hard) World Book Day?

Me: (Sigh) No darling, at Christmas. We'll talk about this again.