It has been a long, but good, day. Maybe our luck has changed at long, long last. The application for a new credit card has been approved today! Given that we are dirt-broke at the moment a new credit card may seem an unusual thing to be pleased about, but we've got it on a honeymoon deal - transferring the full amount of our existing card to their one at 0% interest for six months - that gives us 6 months respite to try to get the balance down. Then after that the new company's standard rates are way below what we're paying now. Couple that with passing the audit at work yesterday, and maybe - just maybe - our fortune is changing.
Nearly time for home.
Cheers
Friday, 29 April 2005
Thursday, 28 April 2005
Audit Day - we passed!
It's over, and we passed the Audit. A very tense day for everyone. That lovely accent was actually South African! I really couldn't pick it! When we met again this afternoon for the debriefing it was fairly obvious. The boss has said that we will all be taken out for a meal to congratulate us for passing so well. I feel quite drained. I have scouted about my favourite websites, and now I'm going home.
Cheers
Cheers
Audit today...
Had to happen, didn't it? I've been waking up between 5.30 and 5.45 for weeks, and today, when I actually have an 8am appointment, AND I need to be in early to prepare for it .... so ... I slept in. I woke at 7.05am, and had to be gone by 7.35 just to be at the meeting, much less get stuff ready for it.
I'm not really good for the first half-hour or so after I get up, so that was a really stressful 30 minutes. I was out of the door spot on 7.35 (and ended up taking the car because I couldn't afford the extra time to get in and out of the motorbike gear), drove a bit over the speed limit all the way here, and arrived at the meeting with everything in hand (although distinctly unprepared) at 8am.
Still, I think the boss is feeling OK about what I've been doing and his responsibility for it - he certainly seemed happy with my work today, and has been for several weeks.
We met the Auditor at 8.45am - pleasant enough chap, younger than I expected with an odd accent: I thought he sounded English at first, but on further listening he may be Irish. That's really beside the point. In the first 15 minutes he asked several insightful - and rather probing - questions. I'm glad that I've been really careful with my documentation.
So now he has our original documents, and we are all sitting in the office just waiting to be asked to retrieve documentation or justify data/methods. It's a bit intense. I'm having trouble concentrating on some work..... Time to go and try to do some.
Cheers
I'm not really good for the first half-hour or so after I get up, so that was a really stressful 30 minutes. I was out of the door spot on 7.35 (and ended up taking the car because I couldn't afford the extra time to get in and out of the motorbike gear), drove a bit over the speed limit all the way here, and arrived at the meeting with everything in hand (although distinctly unprepared) at 8am.
Still, I think the boss is feeling OK about what I've been doing and his responsibility for it - he certainly seemed happy with my work today, and has been for several weeks.
We met the Auditor at 8.45am - pleasant enough chap, younger than I expected with an odd accent: I thought he sounded English at first, but on further listening he may be Irish. That's really beside the point. In the first 15 minutes he asked several insightful - and rather probing - questions. I'm glad that I've been really careful with my documentation.
So now he has our original documents, and we are all sitting in the office just waiting to be asked to retrieve documentation or justify data/methods. It's a bit intense. I'm having trouble concentrating on some work..... Time to go and try to do some.
Cheers
Wednesday, 27 April 2005
'Click' go the stats...
The statistical work has 'clicked'! I'm so happy to see sigmoidal curves (and that is a sentence I never envisaged writing). It's a bit of a tortuous path, but apparently it's the correct way to do it, so I am making progress at last.
I am tired. Lots of moderately late nights, with rather early mornings and very full days, are taking their toll on me. I decided this morning to draw the line on long days - I've been coming in at 7.15am, and going home at 7pm. I'm re-drawing my work-load schedule so that I can work from 9am to 6pm. I don't take lunch most days so they're still getting a good deal from me. I really enjoy this work, and I get really passionate and involved, but I am so drained. I made this momentous decision this morning, and then found out that the Auditor will be here from 8.30am tomorrow, and that we are required to be in at 8.45 to meet him. So I still have to come in early (by the time I'm out of motorbike gear and got the hair tidied up: I'd have to be in at about 8.20 or so) - just not as early as I have been.
Tonight I'm going to make dinner and then I think I'll cook something nice - maybe a cake, muffins or some biscuits. Something easy to make, productive and mindless....
Cheers
I am tired. Lots of moderately late nights, with rather early mornings and very full days, are taking their toll on me. I decided this morning to draw the line on long days - I've been coming in at 7.15am, and going home at 7pm. I'm re-drawing my work-load schedule so that I can work from 9am to 6pm. I don't take lunch most days so they're still getting a good deal from me. I really enjoy this work, and I get really passionate and involved, but I am so drained. I made this momentous decision this morning, and then found out that the Auditor will be here from 8.30am tomorrow, and that we are required to be in at 8.45 to meet him. So I still have to come in early (by the time I'm out of motorbike gear and got the hair tidied up: I'd have to be in at about 8.20 or so) - just not as early as I have been.
Tonight I'm going to make dinner and then I think I'll cook something nice - maybe a cake, muffins or some biscuits. Something easy to make, productive and mindless....
Cheers
Displacement activity - stats, stats, stats
I don't know what happened last week, but the site seemed to be reverting to an older version. Anyway, it's OK now.
I had a frenetic weekend - birthday dinner for the husband Friday night, work Saturday Morning, driving practice with the teenager (a 390km round trip) to my mother's Saturday afternoon, back to work 'for a few hours' (just to try to finish some stuff) at 9.30pm..... But I didn't go home until 8.30am Sunday morning. I have been tired ever since. I did get through it - so it was worth the effort.
Mum judged at her first ever appointment on Monday (Anzac Day), and I think she did OK - at least, I agreed with her decisions ... I don't know how the exhibitors may have felt (although I didn't hear any complaining)!
I am still struggling with stats and biochemistry - I thought I had a handle on it, then discovered all the bits I still didn't know. So that's what I'm getting back to now.....
Cheers
I had a frenetic weekend - birthday dinner for the husband Friday night, work Saturday Morning, driving practice with the teenager (a 390km round trip) to my mother's Saturday afternoon, back to work 'for a few hours' (just to try to finish some stuff) at 9.30pm..... But I didn't go home until 8.30am Sunday morning. I have been tired ever since. I did get through it - so it was worth the effort.
Mum judged at her first ever appointment on Monday (Anzac Day), and I think she did OK - at least, I agreed with her decisions ... I don't know how the exhibitors may have felt (although I didn't hear any complaining)!
I am still struggling with stats and biochemistry - I thought I had a handle on it, then discovered all the bits I still didn't know. So that's what I'm getting back to now.....
Cheers
Friday, 22 April 2005
later on - still his birthday
It has ended up quite a busy day.
My husband had to take Rani (above) to the vet because we thought the plate in his leg was causing him a problem. This was put in after a break a few years ago - there was a long debate about whether to remove it or not, and in the end we left it. Turns out he has a little arthritis, and the plate will stay in place. He is over 8 years old, but compared to an IGs life expectancy (about 15 years), he seems young to be a bit arthritic.
Tony also took the last puppy to her new home with Merrie & Raj. All concerned seemed pretty full of joy. I'm glad they paid because today is Tony's birthday, and the bank account is pretty bare - looks like we'll be going to Everest (Fairfield's fabulous Indian Restaurant http://www.everestindian.com/). I really enjoy their food, and it is a 5 minute walk from home - so we can enjoy a few drinks without fretting over the driving.
I did a heap of stats on my data today and my Coefficient of Variation was fabulous - 3-5%. they were expecting me to clock in at about 15% because I had never done the assay before. Unfortunately I couldn't get back to the lab until late this afternoon, so I've got several assays to be done (and the numbers crunched) before the staff meeting on Tuesday. Given that it's Tony's birthday I'm going to go home now, and come in tomorrow morning to do the benchwork.
My husband had to take Rani (above) to the vet because we thought the plate in his leg was causing him a problem. This was put in after a break a few years ago - there was a long debate about whether to remove it or not, and in the end we left it. Turns out he has a little arthritis, and the plate will stay in place. He is over 8 years old, but compared to an IGs life expectancy (about 15 years), he seems young to be a bit arthritic.
Tony also took the last puppy to her new home with Merrie & Raj. All concerned seemed pretty full of joy. I'm glad they paid because today is Tony's birthday, and the bank account is pretty bare - looks like we'll be going to Everest (Fairfield's fabulous Indian Restaurant http://www.everestindian.com/). I really enjoy their food, and it is a 5 minute walk from home - so we can enjoy a few drinks without fretting over the driving.
I did a heap of stats on my data today and my Coefficient of Variation was fabulous - 3-5%. they were expecting me to clock in at about 15% because I had never done the assay before. Unfortunately I couldn't get back to the lab until late this afternoon, so I've got several assays to be done (and the numbers crunched) before the staff meeting on Tuesday. Given that it's Tony's birthday I'm going to go home now, and come in tomorrow morning to do the benchwork.
Darling Husband's 48th Birthday today...
Just a glorious Autumn morning in Melbourne! The mist, heavy on the ground early, is already burning off to a clear blue sky, and it's going to get to 25C. I love this time of year.
At work I have been trying to improve some data techniques, and have just had it explained to me why I can't change mid-study after all. Bit of a bugger, 'cos I think the current acceptance criteria distorts the data. Any way, better get on with it.
At work I have been trying to improve some data techniques, and have just had it explained to me why I can't change mid-study after all. Bit of a bugger, 'cos I think the current acceptance criteria distorts the data. Any way, better get on with it.
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