Week of 12th February, 2001

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Monday, 12th February

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Tuesday, 13th February

I put the wheels in motion for the changeover to BT today - except that NTL are trying to tempt me to stay by saying that I can get free connect time via their line if I connect via Connect 25. This is tempting if I can retain my Demon account and use Connect 25 as a line provider - otherwise, it's out. I don't intend to move from Demon unless there are compelling reasons - such as cable modem.

I said as much to the 'phone slave at NTL and he said, "Well, I could offer you a cable modem, but there'd be no service to back it up..." Thanks, that's about as much use as a chocolate teapot.

Later: Well, that was a waste of time. Connect 25 are one of the new breed of unmetered ISPs. Access is via a Freephone number, with your username and password. They are the ISP, there's no option to use them as a telecom provider as far as I can see. Further, they have a maximum of 1 hour connect time per session, alhough you can redial immediately. No newsgroups (yet), no 'streaming' - which they interpret as no streamed multimedia or big downloads. They charge UKP49 per annum for this restricted service. No thanks, not even with NTL's offer of half-price for the first year.

So it's Demon for me, via BT Surftime (or as I saw in a newsgroup, Smurftime) Installation day is next Tuesday.

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Wednesday, 14th February

I was hoping to meet with one of my pension advisors this evening. Along about 8 PM, just when I was wondering if I'd got the date wrong, or he'd forgotten, I got the 'phone call - very apologetic... This guy works for the Prudential Assurance Co., Ltd., he's just been allocated to advise me (and probably several hundred others like me) about my pension, and the Pru announces about 2,000 job losses nationwide. Guess who is one of the poor goats?

Yep, my new pensions advisor... Very chastened, very apologetic - he'd just just got home after the guillotine meeting, and he was apologising to me for missing the appointment! Any way, we rebooked for next Wednesday lunchtime - now that's dedication. In his shoes, I'd be working hard at pushing out the CV to as many places as I thought might be interested, but no, he's still on the job.

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Thursday, 15th February

I was supposed to give a presentation about "The Basics of Quality Assessment" today... Of course, no-one had the time to sit down and listen to me pontificate. Never mind, I'll do the other shift tomorrow, and see how that goes.

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Friday, 16th February

The presentation today. Went quite well, many comments and jokes on both sides, including a tip for another example of poor quality. I'll include that, with appropriate pithy comments, before I do any more presentations. This latest clip is a programme sourced from the destination for Channel X, and now I'm reminded of it, it is a good example of multi-generation effects in BetaCam SP.


Other than that, I caught up with the cartoon strips I collect, installed the latest beta of Napster on the computer I've been monopolising, and used it to collect some Flanders and Swann songs, including "The Gas-man Cometh", "The Gnu Song", "A Transport Of Delight" and "A Song of Patriotic Prejudice". Anyone who knows Flanders and Swann will be well aware of these - I'll post the lyrics later.

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Saturday, 17th February

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Sunday, 18th February

I had to book train tickets for Sarah's latest University trip today - the trip is tomorrow, so it's short notice. This means that the fares are exorbitant - UKP143 return, because of the required departure time. This is the open return, valid for three months, despite the fact that I've reserved seats for a day return trip. Luckily the train company is running a half-price return fare deal. Even more luckily, it applies to this trip, even though we thought it didn't. I should have booked three days ago, before the deadline for advance booking discounts.

All I've got to do now is make arrangements for Katy and Jenny, who aren't really old enough to be left alone until Jane and Sarah get back from the trip - I'll be at work. 

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