Tiger Woods

Hands up who thinks Tiger Woods was rescued by his wife with a golf-club; or was he rescued *from* his wife with a golf club?

Can I get odds on Betfair?

And yes I did tag this as "current affairs".

Run Goodaments

Still running stupidly hot at the tables. Especially considering I'm sticking to the micro levels still.

Perusing Hold Em Manager, my last few sessions of four tabling at $.25/$.50 are showing a win rate of $104 and $199 per hour. If only that were sustainable.

In all honesty I've done nothing more than get lucky in terms of picking up big hands versus idiots, and hitting big draws in multi-way pots. I don't think that level of wisdom is going to earn me a book deal or a sponsorship package just yet.

Today marks a milestone in my career, as I'm pretty sure I passed the first exam I've sat in about 14 years. Which should mean I'm 25% of the way towards being professionally accredited as a business analyst.

What was encouraging about the course was I pretty quickly realised I knew a helluva lot more than most of the other participants. Some of whom already hold down pretty decent jobs in the field.

In their own fields I'm sure they're experts, but the lack of knowledge of what I'd consider general business terms, and the lack of awareness of the economic environment was surprising to me.

Major stress of the week was three days of commuting along the M8. Especially when day one (i.e. the day I didn't have clue where the hell I was going) was possibly the worst day of the year for driving - howling gales, torrential winds, and crashes galore.

I'll be back to the trains as soon as possible.

Resting Between Roles - Update

Quick progress report on how my time off is going.

Good

Ironing - almost up-to-date.
Time with kids - fun.
Training/self-improvement - start a 3-day training course tomorrow. Managed to negotiate a 45% discount from the provider.
Career development - had various enquiries for contract roles, and have a job interview today for a permie position that I might actually consider.
Winning at poker - running ridic good on a small sample.

Bad

Gym - not been! Mix of illness, injury, and other distractions.
Catching up with pals - one big night out. Nothing else.
Playing poker - only played about six hours of four tabling.
Blogging - not written as much as I'd like.

General summary would be by Friday the decks will be clear and my time truly will be my own. I doubt I'll get anything lined up before Christmas but so far it's going well.

Pimp Cancels Rabbi's Drug Fuelled Orgy

Straight from the Department of You Couldn't Make It Up. This truly puts the occasional lunacy you'll see at the poker table into perspective!

In other news, megacorp can GFT, albeit I didn't present the news to them in exactly that format. I may need work in the New Year.

Dilemma

So there I was planning a lovely chilled post about how nice it's been to get a whole list of to-do's ticked off, spend some time with the family, put some career development plans in place, and generally depressurise. Some winning poker sessions have even been booked in Hold Em Manager!

Then I checked my voicemail tonight and found a message from the agency I'd recently been working through...

'Hi, err, we've just heard from megacorp and, err, well, err, they're wondering if you could start back on Monday with a view to working til Christmas?'

It was after five, and I needed some time to think, so I didn't bother phoning back.

Having worked for so long in IT, I've long since come to the conclusion most British businesses are managed by people I wouldn't trust to walk my dog (if I had one).

Generally I'm not someone who panders to fools, though neither do I often seek confrontation with them. I think that's why I ended up as a freelancer.

Career development in big companies requires a degree of politicing, and while I'm smart enough to recognise what's required, I don't always have the inclination to do the needful.

Being a contractor I can tolerate the buffoons for a while then move on to fresh pastures with no harm done to my career, and no middle-managers left lying in a pool of blood and teeth.

However the longer a contract goes, the tougher it becomes to keep the frustration bottled up, and I'd long ago realised the breaking point was looming on my current contract, so I'd already started making moves towards finding something new.

When the end came in this contract a little prematurely it was a surprise but in some ways a relief, and I've felt ten times better for it over the last week.

Now I have the chance to grab another five weeks or so of earnings before the festive period, which in the current economic climate isn't to be sniffed at. It also gives me the opportunity to actually have a conversation with my parents that doesn't involve the 'have you found anything yet?' question.

On the other hand, I've earmarked some of that time for training and re-skilling, and well as general life enhancing stuff.

Plus I'd need to take in a huge box of cakes, as is the convention for people who are given a leaving card and present, only to be re-hired within weeks.

Yes, there is a precedent for this very situation within the department I worked in. Which pretty much sums up their ineptness.

There are other considerations too. Many of the people on the team are friends as well as workmates. Not going back will clearly be leaving them with more shit to shovel (albeit with increased job security); but going back also bails out the idiots who got themselves into a state where they couldn't afford to keep me in the first place.

Decisions, decisions...

Belle de Jour Outs Herself

I did have a little laugh today at the news that notorious London prostiblogger Belle de Jour has outed herself to a national newspaper.

I've not been an avid follower of the blog, but the first book is very well written and highly entertaining.

One of the gems in the article is that after struggling for cash and deciding to become an escort to make ends meet, she did actually manage to get a job as a computer programmer, but 'kept up with my other work because it was so much more enjoyable.'

I have to say, I can't blame her one bit. Indeed in her situation I'd recommend her career path over computer programming for sure.

Alas my, ahem, physical attributes, and personal circumstances, mean that's not really an option for me at present.

Eddie Izzard Mini Review

Went to see Eddie Izzard last night at the SECC.

He was quite good.

The SECC is a shit venue for stand-up comedy.

CV Time

As a freelance IT consultant I should probably be pleased that in a world of 1-month rolling contracts it is four years since I last needed to update my CV.

Numerous renewals and word-of-mouth recommendation has been enough to keep me out of mischief.

Yet it's still a bit of a shock to find myself in that situation, and the timing is somewhat inconvenient. Still, at least I might find some time for the gym between now and Christmas.

My waistline will thank me for it.