Busy and tired

No posts for two working days because I got caught up in Registration on Monday and preparing and delivering sessions yesterday.  It's always a bit of a nightmare when the students arrive as we never seem to be fully prepared for anything.  Monday was a case in point.  Despite my repeated requests that all the PAC folders were given back to returning students, when I checked on Monday lunchtime, it turns out that the Stage 2 students hadn't received theirs.  I was very surprised by this as I had told Maureen where all of the PAC folders were but she was convinced that all that she could find were last year's Stage 2 and 3 folders to give to this years Stage 3 and 4 students.  I asked whether she had collected the folders from the ACE's office and just as she said "But those are Stage 1 folders" the penny dropped!  I'm not sure about Maureen sometimes - she's lovely and very organised in many ways, but she doesn't always seem to listen to things that are said or to information provided.  Ho hum.  It just means another logistical session of giving folders back when we could have ensured that they all went back on Monday.

Tuesday wasn't too bad - a deathly presentation from the Dean, with David Myatt in the audience for some reason, followed by Nigel's welcome to the Stage 1 students which I slipped out of to see Jayne about moving some tables out of the Mackinder lecture theatre as it looks a mess.  I do try to miss Nigel's presentations wherever possible as they are quite annoying (he's really not got to grips with what our degree course is about) and badly produced (despite 12 years in academia!).  So, I didn't get too put out by what was said.

Russell produced a lovely email yesterday to all Stage 1 tutors which I asked if I could plagiarise for Stage 3 (he was happy to let me).  So, generally things are going OK.  However I'm very tired this morning and have a headache.  One that has made me take some paracetamol which I hardly ever do.  I hope it's not a cold brewing because I have to go to London on Friday.

On that note, I have received my appraisal from Jo Martin and, although I was dreading it, it was surprisingly positive.  Quite rightly she has identified that I perhaps didn't get assigned to the correct type of visits last year to observe as I didn't see a full reaccrediation, only a Step 2 and a Step 3.  So I'm observing for one more visit before becoming a full accreditor.  I'm pleased with this as I didn't feel ready and would like the chance to participate in a full reaccrediation before being placed in the position of asking questions formally.  Extra time to get inside information on our forthcoming event anyway!

Haven't really got a Hurrah and AAAAAARGH! list today - I'm too tired to think of one.  I'm sure something will crop up though.

Adventures in post-land

Didn't write an entry yesterday (Friday) because I was sooooo knackered when I got back home from work (about 7).  Being in the car was useful because I could just quickly dump my bag and go with David and the boys for a walk.  Lovely evening - quite warm, fantastic sunset - and Diesey on top form which was great.  It's lovely to be able to go a decent distance with him again.

I nearly fell asleep in front of the TV at about 8 pm and David's serving of tea was the only thing that really sparked my attention at all!  I managed to stay awake until 10, but really had to give up at that point and go to bed.

Annoyingly, I had another interrupted night last night (as with every night so far this week) with a night-sweat at about 1 am.  I don't know what's causing it, but it's enough just to disturb my sleep and leave me feeling very tired in the morning.  Even more annoyingly, I woke up at 6 and couldn't get back to sleep.  I ended up getting up at 6:30 and going downstairs for tea, radio and reading.  David got up at about 7:30 so I had another cup of tea and we were ready for dog walking by 8.  Diesel came out again very happily so another good walk was had.

After feeding the boys, we went into town to get bits and pieces.  On the way to our final destination (Lakeland), we were walking down Mardol when David pointed out a new version of my Beemer.  I wasn't really concentrating, turned to look at it and, CLANG, walked straight into the metal pole of some street sign or other.  OUCH.  It's the kind of thing I find really funny and I was stuck between laughing (because it is funny) and crying because it really hurt.  Still couldn't make up my mind by the time we were in Lakeland.  David was very sweet and didn't laugh at all, but when we got back to the car and I got a chance to look at the lump on my head, I could see why.

We then had to go the the vets to pick up Diesel's meds.  However (and I had a gut feeling about this yesterday), despite my explicit and carefully given instructions for 2 months supply of co-codamol, prednisolone 5 mg and prednisolone 25 mg, when I got there only 7 days supply of 25 mg pred. had been put up.  Very annoying.  Saturday mornings are not a great time to try to get medication done and it took nearly 45 minutes to get everything I needed.  By this time I was sporting a major headache and just wanted to get home.  But we had more stuff to do.  First stop was the wool shop, but my wool wasn't there (hopefully next week), then Tescos (I stayed in the car) and then Battlefield to get meat (and bonus beer).

By the time we got home, I just wanted a cup of tea and some cake.  But as we were parking up, Mom's car appeared.  She'd been over at Bro's for Rachel's birthday so I should have expected it really, but I wasn't and I really didn't want to be bothered.  She'd bought me some flowers which is her way of saying sorry, but I do wish she would just let things go sometimes.  Our family has a tendency to keep hold of hurts and grudges and I do work hard at not doing so, but this doesn't help at all.  Anyway she stayed for nearly two hours, but left a bit more cheery than when she came.  We didn't get any lunch until 3 pm.  She also didn't notice the bruise forming over my left eye!

I've put some arnica on it; it only hurts when I move my forehead (frown, laugh, any non-Roger Moore acting etc.).  My cheek is also sore but doesn't appear to be bruising up.  I can't wait to tell Marion about it because she will laugh so much and she so understands me!

Villa beat Man City 3-2 this afternoon after being 2-1 down.  Cool.

Long day and almost completely pointless?

Well, I am so glad today is over and I'm back at home and relaxing after a nice cup of tea.  Today was a day of back-to-back meetings some of which were of questionable value.  

First up was MCC which was chaired by Simon for the first time.  Not a bad meeting overall - a lot was got through and it finished on time - but Simon did make a massive cock-up at the beginning which, hopefully, won't linger for too long.  We had agreed before hand that something needed to be said about clarifying the need for people to speak out in meetings and not mutter about things being stitched up afterwards.  This is a throwback to the August exam board fiasco involving Mark's suggestion that students should be reassessed in all elements of the Professional Development strand regardless of what they had already passed within it.  

However, Simon didn't exactly couch things at all diplomatically.  He started off with a statement that we were in a new era and that everything was going to be transparent and there would be no more stitch-ups.  Following the meeting Mark called Simon aside and I knew that he wasn't going to be congratulating Simon on how well he handled his first meeting.  Simon came to see me about 10 minutes later, visibly upset.  I really felt for him because he realised he had screwed up and he had never seen Mark like that.  I reassured him that Mark would get over it and that although it probably wasn't the best choice of words, it would blow over with time.  Also that it doesn't matter if Mark holds a grudge because a) Mark is the ultimate professional and b) he's more pissed off with higher-ups within the school.  In the end I advised him to send Mark a nice conciliatory email as it would make him (Simon) feel better in the short and long term.  It's a horrible feeling knowing you have done something quite badly wrong, but we've all learned the hard way at some point and he will be all the better for it (I hope).  It might make him think about his "bull in a china shop" approach to things which will ameliorate his management style in the future.

Next up was a pre-team leaders team leaders meeting with Pat, Lizzie and Simon.  This was OK as Pat was able to update us on the application situation (encouraging) for the two vacant posts.  It seems that Maria is considering applying for SL - I'd love to have her back in the clinical team, so I can but hope.

Then there was the team leaders meeting which was basically just a list of instructions given by Nigel over a 60 minute period.  We were all so knackered that none of us present actually made any comments to anything until Nigel asked about the frequency of meetings.  Lizzie and I had been briefed about protesting about having more than one or two a year, but Alan beat us to it and we just agreed.  There was then a bit of a circular discussion about how many meetings there are currently scheduled for us all and the frequency of all of these.  There was a decent conclusion though - we agreed that no more than one team leaders meeting was necessary per year and this one was it.

Finally, I met with Helen Ratcliffe to talk about the project management of the Accreditation process.  I think I'm really going to enjoy working with her - she's very direct and very organised and will chivvy me along like I need to be.  We'll see how it pans out, but I don't think it's going to be a chore with her.

Before I could escape, I was visited by Mark to talk about personal tutor allocations and Jihong about a student appeal.  That's what's so wearing really - everybody wants a piece of me all the time.  The message about Simon being co-leader hasn't really got through to people and so they come to me.  It's flattering (I'm secretly quite pleased) but not useful as I can't get anything else done.  Hopefully it will calm down a bit next week once term starts and we all get back into our routines.

Anyway, now for the good and the bad.

Things that made me go "hurrah" today:

1. Diesel is back to being perky.  He came for a really long walk tonight and has the appetite of a horse.  We'll keep an eye out for an attack of OVD as these seem to come on once he has had a decent run around.
2. Simon made the balls up with Mark, not me.  Sad, and not a nice trait in me, but true.

Things that made me go AAAAAARGH:

1. Four back-to-back meetings
2. The GPhC wanting to cancel my hotel for next Thursday.  Joanne Martin has scheduled the training day for 11 - 4 "to avoid having to try to get there through London rush hour".  Trouble with this is that people who have to travel will have to deal with the rush hour at their end to get to the trains.  Plus the fact I'd already booked my ticket which means that I'm going to be out of pocket.  I left it in their court after making those points and I'll see what they say tomorrow.
3. Just being generally tired.  I've not done any exercise this week and it's starting to show.  I shall try to go for a run tomorrow night at least.

There's probably more about today, but at the moment, I can't really remember it!

Feeling efficient

Not a good start to today.  Diesel was amazingly perky yesterday - he went for a full walk in both the morning and afternoon, ate like a horse and was playing with us yesterday evening.  This morning he wasn't so keen on going out - not surprising as the weather was very dank - so I stayed with him by the drive whilst David walked Turbo.  I'm so glad I did, because after about 10 minutes, Diesel lay down and then had some kind of fit.  He was twitching and he'd got terrible nystagmus.  He was desperately trying to stand up, but I managed to keep him calm and lying down and gave him lots of hugs and strokes.  He let me cuddle his head after a few minutes.  Then, just as David came back down the road, the nystagmus passed off and Diesey perked up at David and Turbo.  He could stand, but was very wobbly so David carried him into the lounge and put him down on his blanket.  While we were busy taking off boots and coats etc. Diesey came hopping back through into the hallway and took up his usual position on the mats there.  He was very keen to take his ham/tablets but wasn't too keen on breakfast - again nothing unusual there - and appeared to have recovered very well apart from his head having a distinct tilt to the left.  We decided it wasn't necessary to take him to the vets and just to keep him quiet at home where he feels safe.  It's worrying me though.  

However, a quick Google search has found this: Did My Dog Have A Stroke? and it would appear that Diesey didn't and that he may just have Old Dog Vestibular Disease which, according to the article, is a recognised medical condition (abbreviated OVD).  So, I shall try to stop worrying too much.

Rode to work in some quite persistent rain, but it's still warm so no complaints there.

Good things about today:

1. Diesel probably not too serious - just needs TLC.
2. Tony and I managed to do the Stage 1 student lists so that's one big task out of the way.
3. Crossed two things off my Things to Do list: book train tickets and order tyres.  I did the train tickets yesterday afternoon and managed to get first class quite cheaply which is good for evening travel to and from London as I'll get fed.
4. Just remembered I've also done the Pharmaceutical Calculations workbook so that's another thing off the list.
5. Very productive meeting with the team that are going to be designing and building the BNF app.  Getting slightly excited about that.

The efficiency mentioned in the title is the speed at which I have managed to turn around the new Course Regs about number of attempts at assessment.  Simon and I met with Laurence Fuller and Dorothea Ross-Simpson yesterday lunchtime to discuss what was needed. By the end of play on Tuesday (yesterday) I had the new regulation ready and Lindsay Bashford on board to give Chair's action from FLTC.  This morning, I got Chair's action from Steve for SLTC, sent the document to Lindsay and am pretty confident that, following MCC tomorrow, I should be able to send it to Dorothea.

Things that made me go AAAAAARGH today:

1. Not a lot to be honest.  It's been a relatively quiet day and quite productive.  Getting things done slowly.  From next week it will be better as we will be into term time and the old routine returns.

Slightly frustrated

As the title suggests, today is slightly frustrated compared to yesterday.  Which is better I suppose.

Things that have made me go AAAAAARGH today (so far):

1. I had a meeting set up with Chris Little about the DKC.  He didn't show.  At least I think he didn't - I don't actually know what he looks like!
2. Simon has upset the IT guys - he has a tendency to fly off on one.  This time about timetables and calendars, when it turns out that there wasn't a problem after all.  This is something that will need to be ironed out over time.  I think it's the tone of his emails rather than anything else.
3. My mom.  'Nuff said there.
4. I keep forgetting to do things.  I must book train tickets for London next week.  I must ring Tony Moss about tyres for the Beemer.

Good things about today so far:

1. Diesel went for a proper walk this morning.  Cautiously optimistic.
2. Marion and Anna have picked up on one of the things I have forgotten to do - Cracking the Code.
3. Cath Bucher has agreed to be my informal mentor - she is lovely.
4. Clare emailed me about an admissions meeting just after I finished yesterday's post - cool.  Meeting up today.
5. I've made a start on typing up some meeting notes which, hopefully, I will finish today.
6. I was approached after Nigel's inaugural lecture last night to thank me for inspiring a student with no idea of what to study at Uni into deciding upon pharmacy.
7. A returning 3rd year said the reason she was coming back is because I am an inspiring lecturer.  Hold that thought.

To do today:

1. Tyres
2. Tickets
3. Cross at least three things off the Things to Do list.

A way to empty my head

As I appear to have been sort of promoted to a place that I thought I wanted to be, I find instead that my head is just too stuffed full of stuff to be able to do anything remotely useful.

I've been thinking about writing a private blog for a while, but this morning started odd so badly in my head that I think thee time has come to start.  As it is completely (I hope) private, I'm hoping I can just go AAAAAARGH in here on a fairly regular basis to get things out of my system.

So, here we go.  AAAAAARGH things for today.

1. Too much stuff to do and not enough time to do it in.  I find myself spending most of my time answering emails rather than doing any prep.  
2. Too tired to be bothered.  Some days, like today, my head is too tired to want to think about difficult things.  Ideas pop into my head but I don't follow them up, which is poor.  Emails that seem too intellectually taxing go unread and unanswered which just leads to a massive build up of unread and unanswered emails which just perpetuates the situation.
3. Too many meetings.  Either to attend, arrange or type up notes of.
4. Nigel.  Doesn't know anything about the MPharm or about the state of pharmacy in the UK. I veer between thinking he was a positive appointment as he does get things done and he does appear to back me up, and that he is rubbish as a HoS as he knows nothing about the MPharm.
5. Steve.  Useless.  Knows nothing, does as little as possible and then badly.  Duplicitous and lazy.
6. Me.  Although I live by lists, I don't seem to be able to make them shorter.  Must make a habit of turning off the email and just getting on with stuff.

I left home in a bad way this morning following a quite hurtful text from Mom.  I feel I really can't deal with her because I want to hit out verbally but know this will get me absolutely nowhere.  In fact it would just make things ten times worse.

Hurrah things about today?

1. Clare Hoskins.  So enthusiastic and reliable.
2. Ditto Anna, Marion, Kerry and Val.  
3. Ditto Emily.

All of the above can make life better!

Things to make sure I've done today:

1. Set up meeting with Clare re: admissions.  I need to sort out the BTEC situation ready for next year.
2. Email Cath Bucher about being an informal mentor.
3. Something little from my list of Things to Do.  Get one crossed off at least!