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July 23, 2006
Top of the League, We're Having a Laugh....
Probably Saints' biggest test of the season so far was played out in monsoon conditions at Headingley this afternoon and boy did we come through smiling. Dressed, as we all were, for the heatwave, there was nothing you could do but laugh as we dripped, squelched and pruned through 80 nail-biting minutes. At least it was warm rain eh!
When second plays host to first in the league, it's always going to be a near thing, and it was. Both teams battled hard, it was bloody tough, and a few fists flew at times but it was thrilling and made all the more so by Saints' eventual victory and the six point lead we've now got.
When the players came down to the away end at full time to applaud the crowd, Leon Pryce was punching the air and shouting "come on, come on" and the crowd roared even louder. You could feel their passion, it doesn't half make you proud. They knew they'd had a tough test but I think they appreciated the fact that we had too. It's not always easy to whoop and holler when you're wet through to your undies or your feet have frozen to the terraces.
I think that's one of the things that makes me love Rugby League more than football: that closeness to the team. You're physically close, you can feel the tackle, hear the thud of shoulder against chest and the occasional crack of head against head when Ade and Wello jump for the same ball. You're also close enough to trade wisecracks with the players or egg them on with rallying cries. And they respond to both.
But, off the pitch too, there's another kind of closeness. They might be rugby stars but they're not in the superstar bracket like your Beckhams and your Ronaldos. When you see the players around the ground, they'll always let on and they never refuse an autograph for the kids. I guess they're not stuck up their own backsides like footballers.
The only drawback to the afternoon was Jamie Lyon's red card for a late challenge on Rob Burrow (the little rat.) That's likely to mean he'll miss next week's Challenge Cup semi final against Hull KR and that's not going to help the cause one bit. On the plus side though, I'm going to have to miss next week because I'm going to a wedding, so maybe Jamie can have my ticket!
Posted by lilliebet at 12:21 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 21, 2006
We are the Champions
Our manager keeps appointing "champions". It's his way of dumping crappy jobs on us but, by dubbing us "this champion" or "that champion", he thinks he's got us believing it's a privelege. Balls! It's just a way to dump crappy jobs on us Mike, we're not idiots. Grrr!
Anyway, I'm currently Intranet champion and Stats Champion - all this power will be going to my head I'm sure. The Intranet I can live with. We've recently moved from Tridion (aargh!) to MS SharePoint Server Portal 2003 and it's a breeze to work with.
But the stats ..... they're a nightmare.
I currently have around 200 different Excel spreadsheets feeding into several others which feed into more and so on and so on until all the figures are summarised in just two. It's like spreadsheet spaghetti! Needless to say, someone is always doing something to mess up one or other worksheet and working back through the links to find the source of the problem is nigh on impossible.
So, today, I thought it's time to tackle this. Let's get the whole thing simplified, make it user-friendly and tamper-proof. I knew what I wanted to do but had no idea a) whether excel could do it; or b) how to do it if it could. So I enlisted the help of Ian the Geek. (I probably shouldn't call him that in case I need his help again but, hey.) When I say I enlisted his help, what I did was told him what I wanted to do then sat back and waited for him to come up with a solution. And what a solution it was when he came back half an hour later. The guy's a genius!
And how does he learn all this you ask? By reading the Excel help files that's how. He's had no Excel training whatsoever, he's entirely self-taught but he makes the damn software jump through hoops I tell you. Perhaps now you can see why I call him a Geek?
And for those of you who are saying "well obviously, that's what the help files are for...", try it - go on, I dare you. Trust me, it's like teaching yourself Greek (or should that be Geek?)
Anyway, I took away the formula he'd devised and put it to the test. Eureka! I now have just twelve spreadsheets feeding into the two summaries and it all works like a dream. All thanks to Ian the Geek of course, damn I wish I had his talent!
Posted by lilliebet at 07:46 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
July 17, 2006
Was a hot afternoon, the first day of June....
... and the sun was a demon....
Who sang that? Peter Sarstedt? Bobby Goldsborough? I dunno but it was someone of that ilk. And I hate that song!
Not because of the song in itself. Just because of the way it makes me feel - those first two lines - they make me feel hot and sweaty.... and not in a good way. They remind me of days like this one and the ones we've been having lately. And the damn radio stations insist on playing it don't they? I think they think it's ironic. It's not....it's bloody torture.
They're forecasting 32 degrees for today. But worse,for tonight - 20 degrees. Tonight! I mean, it's nightime, there's no sun, where the hell's all that heat coming from? ( BTW that's 68 degrees in real money.)
Anyone reading this who's currently living in the southern hemisphere is right now thinking "what's the big deal?" But this is Britain, we don't DO eighty degrees. My plants are wilting, my clothes are wilting, I'm bloody wilting. Oh role on work, at least I have a fan in work.
Just do yourself a favour, don't speak to me today. At least, not about the weather!
Posted by lilliebet at 07:15 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
July 16, 2006
Hi Honey, I'm home
Yes, I know it's been ages and ages since I blogged properly. I have my reasons, several of them, none too interesting I have to confess but I think the main one has to be that I need a new computer chair. There's very little cushioning left on this one and I'm feeling the pinch, so to speak. So I've spent a lot less time here than I used to.
Other reasons for not blogging:-
My daughter's been a St Helens season ticket holder for about four years and I've been to the odd game here and there during that time (mostly the big games). But this year I bit the bullet and invested in a season ticket. So every Friday night, that's where you'll find me... spitting and swearing on one terrace or another somewhere along the M62 corridor. There's a lot more to come on this subject.....
Diploma in Management Studies
I started this two year course way back in February 2005 and two years seemed like a very long time back then. It's been a tough slog at times too but the light is now visible at the end of the tunnel and, with only one solo and one group assignment to go, I'm beginning to believe I'm going to get there. Of course, what good it'll do me once I graduate, I have no idea.
The Glums
Yeah, like everyone, sometimes I get downright miserable (and I have a tendency to let everyone know about it.) I try not to blog when that happens but I have to admit I don't always manage it. Not that I've been glum all these months, I just decided to take a break from telling the world all about it.
The Heat
It's been bloody hot here. On and off since May, we've been having heat waves that are reminiscent of 1976 and it saps your strength. Sleeping is difficult, work is difficult, even sitting watching TV is difficult. I love the sun but this ridiculous heat is unbearable. Friends who live in Australia and Texas who have these temperatures constantly think nothing of it but they don't understand how ill-equipped Britain is to cope with extreme weather conditions. Air-conditioning is unheard of in my neck of the woods, trust me!
Work, work, work
Work is always busy. It's one of those jobs that never takes a break but April and May have been exceptionally so. My role is half payroll, half ...um... how would you describe it? Well, I and my colleague Tracey do all the ad hoc support stuff that keeps the whole process rolling. That means we have a lot of "end of year" stuff to do - the end of the tax year being March/April. In fact, just about everything needs to be done urgently at the same time. A team of seven full-timers used to spend all year doing what Tracey and I have been killing ourselves doing part-time. Someone wasn't thinking things out when they wrote our job description I can tell you!
So there you go. I have some excuses, not good ones I know but, what the hell, I'm back now and so here goes.......
Posted by lilliebet at 11:21 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack