The A/R Off Topic Thread

BeepBeep67

tunguska wrote: »

You're all mad running in the snow. Seriously folks its not worth the risk, hit the treadmill instead. You can have a great session on a treadmill if you're creative enough.

I'll be on treadie tonight for some aerobic miles and will program a hill session into it for tomorrow just in case.

kennyb3

Thankfully i live on the coast no fear of slipping on the beach,no way id be running on the paths no matter what footwear i had

TheRoadRunner

tunguska wrote: »

You're all mad running in the snow. Seriously folks its not worth the risk, hit the treadmill instead. You can have a great session on a treadmill if you're creative enough.

agreed but running on parkland covered in snow isn't as bad as the footpaths. Having said that I nearly broke my ankle two days in a row on rabbit holes that were hidden by snow

Pherekydes

Anyone watch Barca demolish Real last night?

The looks on the faces of Ronaldo and Mourinho were priceless.

rainbow kirby

Pherekydes wrote: »

Anyone watch Barca demolish Real last night?

The looks on the faces of Ronaldo and Mourinho were priceless.

Beautiful

metamorphosis

ARTists - i need some really really honest and sage advice

Got a call this afternoon for job interview Thursday in a sales and marketing firm. If i were to get it, which is pretty unlikely (no degree in the area, just lots of customer service work experience behind me) it would involve me re locating to a small town.

Now - the problem - im currently working part time,enough to get me by and i love my work even though it can be a balls sometimes. Im not sure how long my current work is going to last tbh. This interview - is in an area where i would be dealing with large corporate clients and im not fully sure its my cup of tea at all at all and is an area i wouldn't want to work in for life but i feel given every thing thats going on in the country right now that i would be stupid not to go for the interview, i mean i could pass by my only opportunity really, couldnt I?. Same time i feel claustrophobic as im not even sure its an area id like to work in but im not really in a position given how the country is right now. AHHHHHH. Mind****. But the thought of re location and fresh start appeals to me too.

I was told there would be 2 rounds of interviews. If it were a job i like or even could gravitate too id jump straight in but i dont know - over thinking it i think. I dont even know what im asking for anymore!

/ rant.

BeepBeep67

ULstudent wrote: »

ARTists - i need some really really honest and sage advice

Got a call this afternoon for job interview Thursday in a sales and marketing firm. If i were to get it, which is pretty unlikely (no degree in the area, just lots of customer service work experience behind me) it would involve me re locating to a small town.

Now - the problem - im currently working part time,enough to get me by and i love my work even though it can be a balls sometimes. Im not sure how long my current work is going to last tbh. This interview - is in an area where i would be dealing with large corporate clients and im not fully sure its my cup of tea at all at all and is an area i wouldn't want to work in for life but i feel given every thing thats going on in the country right now that i would be stupid not to go for the interview, i mean i could pass by my only opportunity really, couldnt I?. Same time i feel claustrophobic as im not even sure its an area id like to work in but im not really in a position given how the country is right now. AHHHHHH. Mind****. But the thought of re location and fresh start appeals to me too.

I was told there would be 2 rounds of interviews. If it were a job i like or even could gravitate too id jump straight in but i dont know - over thinking it i think. I dont even know what im asking for anymore!

/ rant.

2 pieces of advice:

1. Only go for the interview if you think you would except the job if offered, otherwise you are wasting your time and the company's time.
2. If you think you would accept the job if offered, treat the interview as free career advice.
   • Get your interview experience
   • Ask questions on how you performed
   • What would they advise you to do differently next time, etc

Priceless to get that feedback IMO.

RoyMcC

ULstudent wrote: »

ARTists - i need some really really honest and sage advice

I think you'd regret not rolling up for the first interview. Like BeepBeep says it's invaluable experience and I wouldn't be bothered about wasting their time - you've been invited. Nothing lost only a couple of hours.

If you can market/sell in this climate then you'll be in demand.

geld

If there is nothing else happening then give it a go and see what happens. The experience and feedback that BeepBeep mentions from the interview is invaluable, If you get the job then the experience of working in that area won't go to waste. As you say yorself the relocation bit is attractive.

BTW this is not meant to influence your decision but I am sure that there are a number of boardies reading this who would love to be going for an interview.

metamorphosis

Cheers lads

After thinking about it - i am going to go for it and give it my all. It was the fact that it came out of nowhere that knocked me back a bit but the thought of moving away from here, new job, new area would also do great things for me mentally. Il give it socks on Thursday or do my damned best.

--amadeus--

Late to teh party as usual but for what it's worth...

I left college determined I wanted to be a journalist. I applied for - and was accepted onto - a very good MA program in International Relations that would have left me in an excellent position to go into political journalism, the field I wanted to work in.

There was shag all going on in Ireland so I went to London for the summer to earn some money (I'd have to pay for the MA). Working part time in an industrial bakery wasn't putting much money in and I went to a recruitment consultant who said (and I quote ) "You're over confident and loud. Have you ever thought about sales?"

So I went into a sales job, earned good money, did ok, deferred the MA for a year and never went back to it. It took the guts of three years to get out of sales, which was a job I despised from pretty much the first day. But every time I applied for a job it was "oohhh, you have sales experience, we need a sales person...". It was literally years before I got a job I enjoyed and only now that I have established the other project that I am back doing (for fun) what I wanted to do for a living.

Not that I should complain - I earn very good money doing what I do and I only work 20 or 30 hours a week. I enjoy the work and I know how lucky I am to even have a job.

Moral of the story? Work out what you want and what's important. Is money more important than a job you love? Are you willing to do something you don't like for a period of time to get to a higher goal or to pay for your hobbies?

And while I'm in old git advisory mode go to TED.com and look up Steve Jobs talk on how he wound up where he is, very inspirational and thought provoking.

/sermon

W.B. Yeats

ULstudent wrote: »

ARTists - i need some really really honest and sage advice

Got a call this afternoon for job interview Thursday in a sales and marketing firm. If i were to get it, which is pretty unlikely (no degree in the area, just lots of customer service work experience behind me) it would involve me re locating to a small town.

Now - the problem - im currently working part time,enough to get me by and i love my work even though it can be a balls sometimes. Im not sure how long my current work is going to last tbh. This interview - is in an area where i would be dealing with large corporate clients and im not fully sure its my cup of tea at all at all and is an area i wouldn't want to work in for life but i feel given every thing thats going on in the country right now that i would be stupid not to go for the interview, i mean i could pass by my only opportunity really, couldnt I?. Same time i feel claustrophobic as im not even sure its an area id like to work in but im not really in a position given how the country is right now. AHHHHHH. Mind****. But the thought of re location and fresh start appeals to me too.

I was told there would be 2 rounds of interviews. If it were a job i like or even could gravitate too id jump straight in but i dont know - over thinking it i think. I dont even know what im asking for anymore!

/ rant.

A few short thoughts that I have

1. Life's too short to be doing something you don't want to do, I had a great job earning a lot that I hated, I left it and it is amongst the best decisions I have ever made.
2. You don't sound convinced that you want this job so decide now whether this is something you would want to spend your limited precious time doing (there seems to also be an issue re location (+Ve and -ve from how you've written it and that's also an important consideration)
3. "Given how the country is right now" is you emotionally blackmailing yourself. Give that up sharpish. It's bad enough that your parents, gran, siblings, relatives etc do that without doing it yourself

Now if you want practice at interviewing then go ahead and do the interview and get all the feedback that you can, however it will probably be transparent enough that you aren't interested in the job so that will come across and colour the feedback you receive.

Only do that which makes your heart sing
My tuppenceworth only.

gerard65

Drove from Crumlin to Rathfarnhan half an hour ago during that very heavy snow fall, roads were brutal driving on. But what made it worse was gangs of idiots throwing snow/ice at cars. Would have loved to been able to stop safely and administer some quick justice.

racheljev

gerard65 wrote: »

Drove from Crumlin to Rathfarnhan half an hour ago during that very heavy snow fall, roads were brutal driving on. But what made it worse was gangs of idiots throwing snow/ice at cars. Would have loved to been able to stop safely and administer some quick justice.

Same here. Drove from Marino to Cabra, took 95 mins, normally takes 15-20, kids in the back. Scariest car journey ever, even scarier than driving them to school this morning (Cabra to Marino again, camped in parents house at the minute cos we have no heating at all and it's colder inside the house than outside) Car slipping and sliding all over the camp, so much that middle child started crying with the fright of it all. And the little sh**s who were throwing snowballs? And who ran alongside my very slow moving car to make sure they hit me? And laughed at my scared kids in the back? May the fleas of a thousand camels infest their skanger armpits and may they all suffer nuclear wedgies.

W.B. Yeats

racheljev wrote: »

Same here. Drove from Marino to Cabra, took 95 mins, normally takes 15-20, kids in the back. Scariest car journey ever, even scarier than driving them to school this morning (Cabra to Marino again, camped in parents house at the minute cos we have no heating at all and it's colder inside the house than outside) Car slipping and sliding all over the camp, so much that middle child started crying with the fright of it all. And the little sh**s who were throwing snowballs? And who ran alongside my very slow moving car to make sure they hit me? And laughed at my scared kids in the back? May the fleas of a thousand camels infest their skanger armpits and may they all suffer nuclear wedgies.

I just don't get throwing snowballs at cars?
Little fúckers did it this afternoon to me? Why?
I remember being young and knowing it was dangerous to throw a snowball at some poor fecker trying to drive.
It appears there is an empathy deficit in this country- oh to have a batman character administering some swift Tazer justice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSYlxzCHvKg

robinph

I want some snow.

RacoonQueen

robinph wrote: »

I want some snow.

Bring a shovel and a big truck. You can have my share.

TheRoadRunner

Snow = snow pints. Work has been cancelled for the roadrunner tomorrow (snow not pint related)

gerard65

Mad evening. Was heading out the door for my run and as I got to the end of the drive I heard this really loud 'sliding' sound, looked over to the house on the other side and the snow on his roof slid off in one go, the whole lot, something you'd see in the cartoons. He opens the window in a panic and says 'what the f*** just happened', I just cracked up laughing. He opens the door and theres a big snow drift across his garden. He saw the funny/bizarre side of it, although half his gutter bent down.
Then I'm having a great run around bushy, fantastic night, weird orange glow suddenly lit up in a blue flash followed by a very loud crack of thunder, nearly pooed myself. I then started getting battered but big hail stones, I reckon my scalp has a load of small bruises.
If I wasn't a runner I'd have missed all that.:)

Woddle

From the weather forum, made me laugh

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Y09YVcCcNs

--amadeus--

Well while you lot shiver under umpteen feet of snow I have achieved an ambition I have had since I was in my mid teens and started listening to Leonard Cohen (I was a cheerful teen)

I'm in a hotel where the dresser has a thin coat of dust on it, there are no curtains ("close the wooden shutters if it's too bright" was the advice), the paint on the windows is peeling and the heat is an ancient radiator that is on or off. "If it's too hot even with it off just open the window..." I was told. Oh, and it has a shared bathroom with at least one other room.

And I love it! It's the Chelsea Hotel, named in the song by Cohen about his relationship with Janis Joplin. Sid Vicious allegedly killed Nancy here. Arthur C Clark wrote 2001: A space odyssey here. There is a story that Kerouac wrote On the road here. Phil Lynott stayed here, as did Brendan Behan and Ryan Adams (Ryan, not Brian). Hendrix, Bob Dylan, Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns... It's the height of BoHo chic. I want to live here, grow long hair and write bad songs on an acoustic guitar. Enough with the corporate whoring, I feel the need to create!

And since I'm here I'm going to swing into Central Park tomm and go to Strawberry Fields, I've never been and with the 30th anniversary coming up in a week it would be rude not to wouldn't it?

In karmic retribution though I got absolutely p*ssed on walking from the office to the hotel I was staying at in Jersey - five minute walk and I had to change every stitch of clothing. And then listen to the driver ranting about the economy all the way here.

But it was worth it

gerard65

Gutters are coming down in my area due to the heavy snow on the roofs. Ours are just hanging on but if the front goes it'll bring down the telephone wire. We're going to be left with a right mess when this is over, but at least builders and roofers will be busy;)

Slogger Jogger

A few bits of wood, a saw, an electric screwdriver and some screws and before you know it you've a sled for the kids.

Krusty_Clown

Slogger Jogger wrote: »

A few bits of wood, a saw, an electric screwdriver and some screws and before you know it you've a sled for the kids.

Pizza shovels? Sleds? you're a regular MacGyver!

Slogger Jogger

@KC. Well I can't run so I have to do something

donothoponpop

Slogger Jogger wrote: »

@KC. Well I can't run so I have to do something

Could you come around tomorrow and fix my gutters while I go for a 10 miler?

Slogger Jogger

donothoponpop wrote: »

Could you come around tomorrow and fix my gutters while I go for a 10 miler?

Fat chance with the condition of the roads. Dug the car out this evening but the snow gods will probably laugh at me this evening and dump more snow down. I think tomorrow will be a day to give the sled a good and decent stress test.

Some gutters down in our estate from the weight of snow. I managed to poke the worst of the snow overhangs down and mine are hanging in there so far.

donothoponpop

Slogger Jogger wrote: »

Some gutters down in our estate from the weight of snow. I managed to poke the worst of the snow overhangs down and mine are hanging in there so far.

Ours were hanging down, I took them down today and will need to assess the damage later. Would you believe I actually put brand new gutters up 10 days ago! "When are you going to fix that leakin' gutter", she says...:rolleyes:

metamorphosis

Had a programme booked in for me at 1.00 today in the gym here at work. Great i thought - 1.40: girl never shows obv. She then shows at 2.10 which means i only have 20mins to spend with her so i advised her that she should book back in as i could bever ever do a prgramme and test her in that time. She went up to do a walk on the treddie in the gym after i booked her back for a programme next week. Popped up to the gym a while later to check everything was okay and there was the same girl walking on the trddie drinking a can of coke

kennyb3

My winter tyres cant arrive soon enough, rwd cars really are a b!tch in snow and ice.