Don't Nobody Go Nowhere

Moving forward but building upon many of the issues raised in my previous posting, I found myself in a very strange world. Each morning I awake, looking forward to going into the office. Why is this? The people I work with are a crucial factor. In a very short space of time, I feel I have not only become a respected and valuable member of the team, but the technology division of the company. For as long as I can remember, I have enjoyed helping people, providing them with the assistance they require. There is nothing more reassuring that to hear the words, "Thank you" after spending an age speaking a frustrated user, trying to get their software to work. Job satisfaction comes two fold, in this arena, from your immediate colleagues but also the sales personnel, managers and head office contacts.

The week began with a site visit on Tuesday over in Oxfordshire. My time working away from the office, gave me the opportunity to come to terms with exactly how the industry operate. Of all our clients, this was one of the smallest teams with a handful of reps covering the whole of the United Kingdom. Size is not everything (no matter what your girlfriend/partner tells you) the experience of visiting a client and meeting representatives in the field, is always worthwhile. Luckily I was accompanied by a developer to ease some of the burden. The task was quite straight forward, installing V2 of our software onto a half a dozen laptops and two desktop machines. The most difficult task was obtaining the passwords to gain access to Windows. Although I had been hoping for a laid back day, the prospect of returning to the office as indeed we did for 3pm was a slight shock. My hopes of visiting a shopping village in the heart of the English countryside, where somewhat dampened.

My working hours have been extended, to provide some relief for a new client, who rolled out in the final week of February. Most of the companies I have worked for, I have gone the extra mile and mucked in with some extra hours. In my last position, this became, not a bone of contention, but barrier to perhaps permanent employment. Back then, my working hours were extended to ten hours and my door to door day was almost fifteen hours. The journey was the killing machine, grinding me down, on weekly basis, especially when there were delays. Now, I have nothing to worry about, with an average journey cost of £2 per day, covering seven miles. Although I will be carrying out detailed research on my exact mileage expense in the coming months. Tonight is a case in point, I came onto the dual carriageway, put my foot on the throttle and cruised at 70, all the way to a stop at Handy Cross. That just would never be the case when I left the office at 6pm on the dot, or if I was working the earlier shift and finished at 4.30pm. Although I have come to realise that as tempting the prospect sounds of an early shift, you never leave at 4.30pm, because the phones are just about to get melt. The late shift, just works for me at the moment. I get to drop off my Mum and sister at their respective schools, and cruise into work with plenty of time to allow for delays building up on the M4. Maybe in the summer, when the weather improves, I will want to make the most of the day. Then again, maybe I won't.

Today was an average day, if there is just a way to describe working on a help desk. Everyday is different and I learn new things almost with every call I take. At times I feel I am overwhelmed with calls, all at sea with no sign of a response to my distress signals. Then there are moments, when I feel confident, in control and actually know more than the people I'm speaking to (as always should be the case). With various technical glitches taking place, as would occur with any major move for a company, I found myself yesterday afternoon and for the best part of this afternoon taking calls on a company mobile. Not ideal, but at times I was frustrated with the situation, with every message I picked up, users explaining their problems, almost pleading for a return phone call. For every call I took or returned, there were another four to six voicemail message left. I only have two hands you know, I thought to myself, staring at the 6310i. Falling into a spell of despondency, I seriously considering, is this truly the job for me?

Instead of continued fire to fuel these negative vibes, I just got on with the job at hand and watched the final few minutes tick away on my Windows system tray. As I locked up and left for the day, the cool breeze hitting my face for the first time, since the morning, giving a small sigh of relief. One of the managers, was also heading for his car for the journey home. After asking how I was, he entered into a quick conversation of how I was finding this on the support desk. His final words, brought a smile to my face. "It's worth sticking it out Andrew, and several doors of opportunity will open for you." For a split second I tried to take in what had just been said, before giving my response, "Don't worry, I'm not going nowhere". Suddenly my meaningless pondering, just over an hour ago, melted away, to be replaced with a warm glow of what tomorrow may bring.

Less Swings More Roundabouts

It has been a while since I posted, finding the process of juggling two blogs extremely difficult. Particularly as my personal blog is the full on, unrestricted experience, therefore taking up much more of my time. Another reason, or rather excuse is the fact that little has been happening at work to warrant a posting. Although, let me give you a quick roundup.

Not only have there been changes in the office location. Personnel are also moving on and that is not a reference to the Human Resources department. It is a sad moment, when an employee decides for whatever reason to leave their job for another. While you always have to respect their decision, the sense of loss is evident from the first day, they are no longer on hand for support. As human beings, I think we tend t to rely on the experience, wisdom and even judgment of our colleagues. Although I am learning a vast amount about the software everyday, the knowledge that there was always a cheerful figure to turn to when the going got tough, was reassuring. Particularly when you have an angry, frustrated representative on the phone. However, we learn to cope without them and move on. With one departure, brings forth the arrival of another, although even I am beginning to believe in the curse of the Help Desk. In terms of the move, my office space, has only been beamed up a single storey, with a new larger desk, 15" TFT screen, new keyboard, and a workspace, in the form of a free desk next to me. Now all I need to do, is convince the IT department to sign me off a new desktop PC. Will keep you posted on these changes, as for it is not until the final week of March that move is finally completed.

Returning the focus back to work. Yes, I do actually carry out some task while in the office. The situation I find myself in now, is difficult to explain. If I was a firefighter, my job would entail constantly putting out small scale fires, while the towering inferno burns in the background. At times, I feel I know less than that people I'm speaking to, which is frustrating. Adding to the difficulty of leavers, as noted above, it is not a simple of case of transferring the call to another member of the support team. On Thursday 17th March, I will not only be the longest serving member of the desk but with that label, the most experienced. Just do not ask me how, I find myself in this double edged sword scenario. While it is great to be at the focal point of such great responsibility, it may be a case of too much too soon. Time is what I need. Time to learn and understand. While this working on a helpdesk, is in itself a learning experience, sometimes I feel tied down to the red tape. Can you name another industry, which is as bureaucratic? Where you create the work for yourself, by physically logging the call on the computer and watching as your open calls, jump from a measly twenty, forty, then seventy, then over one hundred. There is no problem following standard procedure, but at times, there is no documentation, so you are discovering the rules as you go along. Is bureaucracy such a bad thing? Sure, systems need to be in place and the details need to be recorded. Yet, in my current circumstances, with an totally unmanageable call queue, I afford logging yet another call unless it is completely necessary, or I know it can easily be passed onto a colleague. When I try to go through systematically and try and close closes (should that be proactive in resolve the problems) I find the following dilemma occurs. I will close a handful, maybe five old calls on a good days, only to find myself logging at least double that number into my queue. In which Western civilization is that progress?

Virtual PC

Friday, came around, as it always does. Although today, the final day of the working week was different. The decision had been made to act, and I was going to follow through with my plans. Something had to be done and I was not alone in holding such a strong opinion. The alternative which had been suggested, even used at times was impractical and time consuming. Yet, I had a workable solution which could give both support and the testing element of development some much needed assistance.

Virtual PC is a Microsoft product, if by brand name only. The original technology was designed by the Connectix Corporation, which was then eaten by the Seattle computing giant. The software emulates multiple operating systems on one host PC. In essence you can have Windows 95, 98, ME and OS/2 running on a standard Windows XP system. (All dependent on available hard drive space). The beauty of the software is that it is completely independent of the host, and therefore gives you the freedom to manipulate the configuration with no risk of damaging other programs or settings of the host computer. If you are wondering what I could do a Virtual PC, let me explain.

Version three of our software is built on SQL architecture, leaving behind the world of Visual Basic and Access. A minor SQL database running locally on the user's laptop thanks to Microsoft Database Engine. The nature of the product means it can only be exist in one instance on the operating system. This would be fine, in an ideal world, if each client release was identical. Of course, this is not the case, and each client has a slightly different version customised of the product. Therefore, if customer A calls with a query on a report and I have customer Z software installed on my PC, there is no other option. I have to manually uninstall the product and then install the software for customer A, then look into their query. There had to be another way, an answer.

Well, until I find that answer, this will have to be patch. My plan is to create a base image of Windows 2000, updated with Service Pack 4 and then install a copy of v3 for each client into their own Virtual PC. This will take some time, but I the objective is to be able to load and access a working version of the software on my PC within minutes and be able to replicate exactly the issue the end user is experiencing. With some way to go, as this personal project takes place in the background, in between answering calls, reconfiguring Personal Digital Assistants, loading laptops, and beginning the laborious but nevertheless necessary task of documentation.

In my hunt around the web to discover more about Virtual PC and it's rivals of which there are many, I came across this blog by a member of the Microsoft development team. Useful resource to note the limitations and upgrades to the software. In time, I will stumble upon other sites that will aid me in my project, but for the time being, this journal is enough. If you think of anything, let me know.

Ready for a Sequel

Although I was more familiar with mySQL than it's older more sophisticated cousin, SQL I knew the potential potency of the technology. Apart from a basic trainer at University, today was the first time I gained some valuable hands on commercial experience with the back end of our software. My colleague, decided this morning was the ideal time to install SQL server, spending several hours installing and customising Enterprise Manager. Thankfully, the whole process, although time consuming is less complicated than it sounds, I was up and running with full administrative rights. Finally, I would be granted access, given the power and the ability to sound slightly more informed when it comes to the latest version of our market leading software.

Following on from my last entry, weblogs have suddenly once again, come back into the forefront of the media. Particularly online journals such as this, which give an insight into the life of an everyday office job. Now that more and more employers are becoming intuitive, to both the positive and negative consequence of such open, candid reporting from the frontline. Providing a motive for my blogging is difficult. I fell into the routine of updating my personal website, and then over time, emotions, views, personal thoughts and deep reflects started to come across in my writing. As a purely natural process, you can chart, quite visibly the move from a 'latest updates' page, to a comprehensive, roundup of recent events in my life.

Not exactly sure, when or why I decided to create a work based blog. I opened this Blogger account in July 2003. This was promptly after I had finished my work placement and had a brief rest bite before beginning my final year at University in September 2003. At the time, my personal site was in dire need of a makeover and I was hoping to incorporate a dedicated journal, rather than hard coding my own HTML. In the end, I opted to go for the fully customised approach. So the site, http://tegala.blogspot.com (which no longer exists) was left neglected for over a year before the birth of this blog. Not sure why I started writing a second blog (who would really want to double their workload, when they can just about handle the original personal diary). [T3G:2] was getting filled with too many technical entries, alienating many of my readers. This way, I have a home for all my computer related thoughts, reviews and experiences. I think I just need to give this log the opportunity to develop, grow and gain popularity. Then I can judge what course it will take in the months, years ahead. As a great man, Abe Lincoln once said, "If there is anything that a man can do well, I say let him do it. Give him a chance".

Talking Telephone Numbers

I came into work this morning as usual. Checking the Support Mailbox and then turning my attention to the voicemail messages left over the weekend. Six had been left, with two standard calls looking to chase up support issues that had been logged in the previous week. Then the final four came as a shock. All reps usually leave messages with their full name, rather than a title and a surname. The voice of Mrs. Harris and Mrs. O'Donnell sounded unfamiliar, even to my fresh ears. The content of both calls bought some much needed humour to a dull, wet and windy Monday morning. Both women sounded elderly, possibly living alone. The calls originated from the Lancashire area and inquired as to when electricity would be returned to their homes. They were cold, and Mrs. Harris was sure the policeman had told her the power would return by 2pm. Her call had been made at 4.30pm.

How can this happen? Well apparently our freephone support line number is close to within a few digits to a BT support number. I do not recall my Manager mentioning anything about fuel suppliers. Just waiting for the next installment from the strange world that is the wrong telephone numbers. Stay tuned.

Life of Riley

I have been able to observe at first hand the life of a developer. In my previous employment, trips down to the software house were rare and mainly for training purposes. The developers were tucked away, in a dark room towards the back of the building. This came as quite a shock in the second week of my placement, when I was being introduced to all the people behind the office management software. Guided around the building, I was not even introduced to a single member of the development team. Their 'home' was pointed out, and in a extremely geeky attempt to be humorous, was told, "don't worry we feed them". This was my one brush with programmers until now.

The nature of the business I work in, does not allow for a similar approach, with defined roles and employees shoeboxed into their designated area. Support and Development are very much intertwined, heavily rely upon each other. As a consequence, we find ourselves in the same room. So, given an opportunity to observe the development team at close hand, I have deduced the following. Developers are overwhelmingly speaking male. Although this is changing, it is a slow process. They give the impression of independent thinkers, happy to be left alone to their own devices and to be quite honestly, just get the job done. Eyes transfixed upon their individual computer screens, with a few literally plugged in and listening to their CDs / MP3 collections. The business operates a smart come casual dress code, but even this is taken to the limit, with the team wearing to a degree whatever they like. This high level of concentration gives the aura of the untouchables and I was apprehensive to walk over and ask them questions. Preferring to jot down my query in an e-mail, knowing all to well that it would be a few hours before I received a reply and I needed an instant response. Putting a brave face, I headed over to one of them and asked my question, being over apologetic for disturbing them from pressing projects. To my surprise, they were very friendly helpful and gave me the time I needed to understand how to resolve the issue. This small episode proves many things to me not just as an employee but as a person. Never judge a book by it's cover and more importantly, looks and previous prejudice can cloud us from looking at each case entirely on merit.

Now my work blog is beginning to grow, although, I have yet to hear any response from readers, I think it is important to clearly give my writing a purpose. Just to reinterate, the obvious if need be. Mandatory in the wake of recent events, more closer to home. With unshaken determination, I will attempt to uphold the privacy of my employee, work colleagues, and associated employees. For this reason, no real names or locations are given. All observations are my own personal thoughts and not at all the views of my employer or fellow employees. Although giving any corporate style disclaimer on my blog feels so uncomfortable and unnatural, it is essential in the current climate. This blog is not a trade secret, but then again in the same vain is not open public knowledge. Unlike other job blogs, this is not written anonymously, mainly due to the fact that I am constantly craving some sort of publicity, even if in such a shameless self proclaiming fashion.

Let me know your thoughts on this blogging genre and of any blogs you recommend I should read.

Haunted by Insomnia

It was the night before New Years Eve and I could not sleep. Attempts to drift off casually with Up All Night from Five Live on the stereo was proving unsuccessful. So after a few minutes thought, reaching over for the remote, I switched on the television. At this small hour, BBC News 24 was broadcasting with the nightly slot from across the pond. Only a show from America could be called, World Nightly News but unfortunately the main anchor for the show, Peter Jennings was replaced by a female colleague. The final slot was regarding a subject very much close to my heart. Never have I consider myself to be part of an online revolution but it is amazing when you consider how far the media ecosystem or more commonly referred to blogosphere has come. There was a statistic that was mentioned, which opened my eyes to the significance of these online journals, they are much more than just a passing trend. All you need to do is look at some more detailed analysis.

Where as I feel my personal blogging has not changed the world and will never deliver some of the greater good, it is satisfying to know the power of my fellow band, referred to as citizen journalists. To understand the truly historic context of this blogging revolution you have to turn to Time Magazine. Would you believe that they named, President George W. Bush as their Person of the Year, the American Revolutionary. Second place may be the first loser, but for bloggers, the mere thought means some inroads are being made. Scrolling down the list, I personally noted several points which have proved over time to be genuine. If this is just the beginning of the revolution, just wait to see what the future has in store. As it becomes more apart of our daily lives rather than a separate chore.

So the new year brings me back down to earth with a bump. Reality check. Back to work on Tuesday. The holiday is over and with it, any extension to my honeymoon period in the office. Nothing more than I expected, if I am honest with myself. I intend to bury myself in my work, keep myself busy, make friends and ultimately prove myself. I have been here before and cannot under estimate the scale of the task that lies before me. I will do my utmost best and all the trials and tribulations will be documented here (if somewhat edited to save any unnecessary embarrassment). My original aim of creating this new log was to have a professional outlet for my career aspirations and personal development. Leaving the path free for all personal ramblings to be posted on my personal blog.

Do you make New Year Resolutions? I never bother, but I want to set some targets or goals for the coming year, which I will be able to provide evidence for on this blog. If you have any serious worthwhile suggestions, feel free to leave your comments.

Real World Real Christmas

Several years ago, during a Christmas now anything but a distant memory, my cousin Susan said something. It was one of those moments, when the words spoken meant little at the time, but ring so true now, several years later. Unable to recall her exact words, her train of thought headed in the direction of the fact that, "when your working, you'll only get two days off at Christmas". I ignored this comment, well maybe ignore is too strong an objection. I allowed the comment to drift above and beyond my apprehension. At the time I still had major mileage left in the old excuse for Christmas in the form of two weeks away from school. Then of course there was college and University. No need to think about Christmas holiday beyond those simple two words. A celebration of a birth and time away from teachers, books, PE and dreaded exams.

Now look where I find myself. This is my first official 'real world' Christmas experience. Lucky for me, being in the private sector and working for a generous enterprise, I do not have to return to work during the 'in between period' before the New Year. If you discount my experience on placement, which thankfully followed a similar pattern.

Christmas has changed. Nolonger can I reside in the knowledge that I am guaranteed a set number of days away from work. The real world waits for no man and for once I find myself eager to join the Rat Race. Maybe because now finally after hunting high and low, the dream job lands comfortably on my lap. Some people are lucky, they land the perfect position within a few weeks. For the rest of us it takes time, trials and many tribulations.

This discussion took me to along another train of thought. What does Christmas mean to business? Ultimate the work still has to be done, regardless of the time of year. The atmosphere around the office does change, although I have only had limited exposure to this. Colleagues, whom usually appear to be set in their grouchy ways, have an air of excitement even charisma about them. (Shame it only lasts three weeks before the holiday). Sending Christmas cards, an annual tradition which would appear at face value, to be the most simple of tasks. Yet it becomes a battle to see who can send the most elaborate or most expensive. Then we move onto the final element, the Christmas party. Hmmm. The less said about that the better. However, I would like to point out that my firm has taken a fresh approach of making this social event for employees only. Not sure if this from a financial or the ugly result of a feud during a round of office politics.

With the new year, days away I have a few wishes. That 2005 brings with it success and hope for the future. Life has changed but for good reason, so let us make this final transition as simple as possible. Allowing the focus instead to be on the job the lies ahead, full of challenges and uncertainty. All the best to you and yours as the final few hours of 2004 pass us by.

Some People

So work begins to quicken to a heavy pace and I find a collective of my colleagues neatly lined up on my MSN list. Strange. What will be stranger, when I am having conversations with employees based at the other side, rather than those sitting across from my desk.

Moving into a new industry brings with it many pitfalls. An unknown territory always feels insecure. Regardless of the context, we always feel uneasy when driving on a new stretch of road, or walking through a new shopping centre. Particularly when everyone else seems so well at home. Comfortable is the world I would use but when you realise that the office itself has just been converted from a barn and technology thrown in with the people fending for themselves. They refer to the real world as a being a "jungle" out there.

Along with coming to the terms with the striking way the business operates who also have to understand the various aspects of the business. By 'business' I am referring to clients, the very people I will be supporting over the coming few months. Over the past week I have only started to realise the grave importance of my role. By taking the calls, I would be the bridge between the business and the client. Unlike before, when all my customers (such an inappropriate description) were internally based, now I would rarely make face to face contact. Although I will miss this aspect of my previous position, I know that I have to make the most of the opportunity before me here. I see a long hard road ahead and there is only one person able to meet the challenge with not just ambitious dedication but to surpass all expectation. Above all, one crucial element is key to aid me achieve my goals. Positive Mental Attitude. No matter how bad and inreversable a situation becomes, I will have to tell myself. Look where I've been and just look where I'm heading. For once, the future is bright, if not orange, then of course, maruno blue. Always hold dear to your heart the thought that, "Some people dream of success while others wake up and work hard at it".

I began answering the telephones today. Starting anything is always a daunting prospect, particularly when you are still trying to find your feet with the product. Users asking me questions about the product? How do I cope, when I know so little about the product. Then my manager departed the office at 4.30pm and I was left very much to my own devices. For a while, all was quiet and I hoped that the phone wouldn't ring, anxiously watching the clock to tick over to 6pm. Then, it rang. Within a split second my mind switched into over drive. Hot out sheer nerves but seeing an window to prove myself rather than continue to doubt my own ability. This was an opportunity for me to prove myself. The more I spoke to clients on the phone, the more my confidence would grow, as would my speed and exposure to dealing with various support calls. Not sure why I was so apprenhensive about this to begin with. Yet I notice the same reaction surface once again, as it did some six months earlier (to the day!). There is something about being new that puts you in an extremely difficult situation. You want to develop your skills and product knowledge knowing your barrier is only time. You are also cautious to the fact that you want to do things by the book and more importantly correctly.

Just as I am finding my feet and learning many things, not specific to the job but more general to the life in a new position. I stumble upon some very useful advice. Plenty more were that came from, even if hunting down the home grown material is a little more tiresome. Just my luck that such priceless reading is never close to hand the day I need it most. I don't know, some people, just don't have the luck.

Case of the OS

Evolution is an interesting process, in or out of the technology realm. Watching technologies be replaced before your very eyes, is perhaps the most revealing. The best example of this is with everyday consumer formats. In the computing world, there is something more important than hardware that needs to be updated every few years and brings with it, several blessing and pitfalls.

Software, in this world dominated by one man, one vision and one unbelievable way of doing things. (Not always the decision of common sense.) Perhaps if the Big Blue had been slightly more picky about their bed fellows then we would have had perhaps a different story than the one written.

Looking through my more recent, IT related employment history, I see the devil at work. Let us begin with my industrial placement, where I find myself coping with tantrums of Windows 98 some four years after its initial release. Fast forward two years later, I find myself working for the biggest law firm on the planet and my biggest assignment to date. With the new position came not just greater responsibility but a new operating system. My exposure to Windows 2000 had been somewhat limited to this point. Of course, a few friends at University had preferred the stability of this compared to the latest offering from Seattle. When you look deep down at some of the more integral features, the differences are purely cosmetic.

Now the wheel of evolution has turned once more and I am working on Windows XP. Having a standard platform across both my professional and personal landscape makes life much easier on several levels.

Yet to be quite honest, I am still only most comfortable back on the old 'not quite' 32 bit environment. Perhaps because over the years, I was able to rummage around the arteries of almost each byte. Nothing can beat raw desktop experience. (Even if it does effect your quality of your eyesight!)

A New Dawn, A New Day

You know you have arrived at a firm that takes a rather unorthodox approach when you are advised to install and sign into MSN Messenger. This becomes more understandable when you consider the globe as merely a Big Blue Ball. For me this was not an easy task, afterall I had a secret identity to protect. Also there is also the difficult of having a virgin installation of the IM client, which looks like.

Then of course, I have to spend twenty minutes fooling around and reconfiguring MSN Plus. Without the sponsor program of course. Then MSN 6.2 becomes much more bearable.

(These are the actual 'live' images from work, rather than recreations I had stored previously.) Now, just what is the appeal of bespoke applications?. From a support point of view, I was rubbing my hands at the thought of supporting one product and a finite set of issues. Somewhat shortsighted but never the less, not too far from the truth. Maybe open source is not quite, open sesame!

Please note for future reference, when I am signed into MSN as 'Andrew' it is a clear indication that I am at work, so therefore refrain from communicating unless your request is urgent. Normal service resumes when of course, the man behind the mask, returns.

Situation Vacant

Position filled.

Like The Stars

You Still Keep On Shining Down Your Light On Me

For a change, luck is on my side as I have been invited back for a second interview following on from last Friday. Some positive feedback for once and an opportunity finds itself at my door. How different and unique from my last position. Looks like my imposed holiday will have abruptly come to an end. Not a minute too soon.

When Words

Sometimes, I listen and wonder if this man is for real. Words alone, are not enough.

"I am not pleased," said Mourinho. "I cannot be pleased when my team loses because I am a professional. Only stupid people don't understand that I want to win every game. The difference was that motivation, desire and self-belief which Porto had."

The Hunt Continues

Been hunting sixteen days with very little success. There is never an ideal time to be looking for a job but the last few months of the year are extremely quiet. The jobs that are available require at least three years of extensive experience, which has been my main obstacle. Having expanded the scope and avenues of my job search the response has still been somewhat limited. Early phone calls with the promise of exciting roles, have failed to deliver any results. Not all bad news though. I have an interview on Friday and have just found out I have another interview later on the same day. Maybe, just maybe lady luck is looking down on with me smiling eyes.

It's Showtime...

There is nothing more satisfying than getting something finished. Be it an difficult as a A Level assignment, or simple as cleaning the car. One of the greatest sayings to come from my Dad has to be "Get Things Done!". Finally, after months of work I have uploaded my new website. Well it was actually "work" getting in the way of me finding time to work on the site. c00at v3 has become andrewtegala.net. I know it still needs a little bit of tweaking here and there, but the major factor is the site is live and ready for all those visitors. It is funny, that just as you get your job search into 5th gear, this happens.

Time to discover the origins of that so called, Murphy's Law. If anything can go wrong, it will. Glad I'm trying my best to make sure such sayings don't always ring true. If you want to contact me directly with any comments or recommendations for this blog, please use my new address but remember to remove the necessary.

New Kid In Town

Welcome to my new blog. This is my second blog, but my first entirely focused on the world of work. The subject area will be namely IT, though of course, I shall in time digress into other areas which are commonplace in every workplace. A warm welcome to all my new readers along with all the 'old guard' whom follow me regularly on [T3G:2]. Let us see what the next few days bring.