Growth

Having spent the last 3 months dealing with a raft of orders for surgical masks I can honestly say I have changed. The swine 'flu pandemic is something that has pushed my working experience in a totally different direction from the previous 9 months before it began. Whilst I had worked on advanced planning for exactly such an event the pace of work changed dramatically from April 27th onward.

Comfort zones are lovely and cosy but they tend to slow individual growth and I had certainly reached my comfort zone a few months ago. The last 3 months though have pushed me well beyond my comfort zones and have allowed me to develop much faster desicion making skills as well as the ability to improvise and to prioritise work loads.

I will try and get back in the habit of posting here.

Early Starts

My arrival at work on Monday April 27th was unusual for 2 reasons:

1. It takes wild horses to pull me out of bed in the morning and I was arriving at 6.45
2. I was listening to the news on my way to work rather than the curious blend of Hip Hop and county and western that occupies my ipod.

The explanation begins with a phone call I received in admittedly a slighty hungover state the day before. My Dad had called asking if I was in work. I was slightly confused (he has been known to forget things, but days of the week don't usually elude him). The explanation that followed had me practicing a combination of the hurdles, step machine and army obsticle course in an effort to reach my laptop. Following a headless run around the house I found it. (right next to me where I had been using it 30 seconds before my phone rang.) What I read on the internet was the reason for my early start.

Swine 'flu had exploded across the media and I had an idea that would effect my workload on surgical masks, I just had no idea how much...

Great Expectations

Having mentioned my glorious new phone previously I proceeded to lose it... excellent!

The result has been instructional in the ability of expectations to define customer perceptions of service. I lost my phone in Dublin, it was (I am willing to admit) my fault, nothing to do with anyone else and definitely nothing to do with the hostel I was staying in. On the coach home I may have used some industrial strength language (unfairly) to describe whoever had profited from my loss. The gentleman who had organised the holiday received a phone call to tell him (and me) that the phone had been found and that if I paid the postage it would be returned to me by post. At this stage my opinion of the hostel was sky high, they had found my phone then gone to the trouble of contacting my mother and my friend to get details to return my phone to me.

I expected to be reunited with my phone over the easter weekend. I have however only just had an email from my mother to say the phone has been delivered to her house. I am still grateful to have the phone back but having expected it sooner I don't feel the same advocay for the hostel I initially did. Moral of the story? Keep customer expectations realistic.

Back to Work

So after 10 days off work filled with in no particular order... Dublin, chocolate, singing, Guiness, essay writing and trouble causing its back to work. My inbox had melted and my desk collapsed under the post its but I am finally almost back to even and looking forward to the university exam period so that I can relax free in the knowledge that while everyone is stressed I wont have any.

Phone Tocco

So a few days in Birmingham under my belt and the result.... I need a new phone! However in a stroke of the best luck I have had in ages, my old contract had expired so a new samsung Tocco it is, good times is this phone any good? Mine is charging before I can use it.

Amoxicillin

Went to the doc today... got my usual telling off for trying to stick it out without medical assistance. The answer it would appear is Amoxicilin, fortunately it doesn't say I cant drink so I am going to use my day off to annoy the inhabitants of Aston university... see u all on Monday

Reflections

Since starting at 3M I have been extremely fortunate to work for a boss who has encouraged me to work outside my comfort zone and increase my skill set. I have a very good relationship with this guy and I am sad to say that he will be leaving our department at the end of the week.

I thought that this change in my working life might be an opportune moment to reflect on my progress throughout my placement over the year.

Things I have learned (in no order)

• 10 Minutes planning saves 3 hours work
• The Sales and Marketing Manager always wants to know the objectives of a given action
• The Sales and Marketing Manager always wants to know the return on investment
• Putting the customer at the heart of everyday activities is not easy
• Putting the customer at the heart of everyday activities provides a good return
• Getting literature approves takes more than a day so remember that when you plan
• Thinking 2 weeks ahead makes this week harder but next week much easier
• If you don't know then say "I don't know"
• Everyone makes mistakes smart people ask for help putting them right
• Admins control the world so be nice
• Regarding the above a chocolate bar goes a loooooooooong way
• Closing a sale still rocks
• spending 10 minutes a day on this blog is a good chill out.

If you've learned anything throw it up here...

Live for the Present

I am still suffering with man 'flu so the idea of home cooked food combined with my mums birthday and mothers day led to me making a trip to Sheffield this weekend. By way of a present I decided to adopt a hectare of rainforest somewhere out in Ecuador as my mum is a bit of an eco-nut. She seems to think that this was quite a good gift so I thought I would share the idea and the site. http://www.healthyplanet.org

I should probably end by saying that the idea came from the irrepressible genius of a certain Mr Stephen Fry and I thank him for such a fab idea.

Man 'Flu

I am feeling awful so I thought I would do the manly thing and have a good old whinge... My bout of man 'flu is the worst I have had in years (always is) and I should probably use my surgical masks more!

The sharp eyed may notice that I mentioned that I was going to Loughborough Union on Friday and although I didn't drink the lack of sleep probably did me no good. A weekend in Wales left me somewhat run down but I am fighting my way back to health.

Any good home remedies?

That Friday Feeling....

Its been a while so a quick update on life, the universe and everything!

Work is busy, e-business project continues to flourish and is gaining momentum, it is good to see pages finally taking shape and I will post some links to them when they are finished.

Social life is busy too... Loughborough student union beckons tonight and then a 7am start to travel to Wales for my grandfathers 80th Birthday.

A brief catch up as I said hopefully next week I will get back to daily posts.

Holidays

Right it is steaming up to 3 o'clock and I will be out of here when it arrives. Birmingham is calling for a hockey team AGM, I don't play (well) but I am looking forward to socialising! Then it is back for the bosses birthday lunch... Unfortunately he is off to another department and I am genuinely sorry to see him go, all the best to him.

Best boss i've ever had... how about anyone else?

Summer Sun?

Its been a while since my last post... heavy week last week but a short week this one as I will be on holiday Thursday and Friday. Unfortunately no white sand baked in the red heat of the sun, no sweet fruity cocktails with little door mouse umbrellas beckon... I will be in the paradise of Birmingham for 4 days. But as I am looking forward to this and in chipper mood I thout I would share some happiness by posting this link to one of my favorite blogs http://sheinchina.blogspot.com/
Have a read I really recommend it!

Sibling Rivalry

I'm struggling to keep my eyes open today, this is not entirely unheard of on a Monday morning, but today I feel a little more justified. I spent Friday Saturday and Sunday at Hohne Military base and only flew back into the UK at 11pm last night.

My "little" brother William is a recently commissioned 2nd Lieutenant and it was him I went to see in Germany. I was attending his pre-deployment ball... He along with other members of his regiment will deploy in Afghanistan in late March and will complete 1 7 month tour.

I can honestly say I have never met a group of young men and women I trust so implicitly with my safety and I was reminded of the below quote by George Orwell.

"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men (and women) stand ready to do violence on their behalf."

As Army Medical Services members, these "rough" men and women also heal the wounded and contribute to the moral core of the mission in Afghanistan. I am proud to have met them and wish them well.

Getting in shape

Having decided in January that I was going to get fit, I appear to have managed absolutely no exercise what so ever. I used to be an avid distance runner as a younger man and ran some decent times but it has now been nearly a year since I went running and probably 18 months since I competed. So... the plan is to start tonight and to run 3 times a week even if it is cold and wet! Time to man up really.

On a lighter note I actually searched for a photo of me doing anything sporting but the closest I could get was a shot of me playing hockey. I'm not very good at it but it is good exercise. The problem with the photo is that I am holding a pint in one hand and the stick in the other... oh well!

Couldn't really write this post without mentioning the running club that my mums mates set up, you can check it out at the below...
http://www.freewebs.com/spinkhill_striders/photoalbum.htm

Fancy dress ideas

Monday again!! Having spent the weekend in somewhat unproductive fashion I find myself back in work and looking forward to a week that should hold some interesting challenges (more on those later in the week.)

I have a bit of an extracurricular challenge as well... This weekend is Astons Fairy Tale Ball (FTB)! I need costume ideas that meet 2 criteria:

1. The outfit must be cheap and easy to create

2. The outfit must not make me look like a total cretin

Since I will be travelling up with my good friend ball it would be nice but not essential if whatever it is comes in pairs.

Useless email

Since I am still technically a student this year I try to check my university inbox every couple of days just to make sure nothing too exciting is happening... I went on just now to find 17 emails, this is not too unusual but today like everyday it annoyed me. This is because I deleted all 17 without ever opening them! I have never asked to hear from any of these people regarding optometry lectures or missing USB sticks. I happily subscribe to an excellent blog by Seth Godin
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2009/02/which-comes-first-the-product-or-the-marketing.html

I get emails regarding the blog and I am delighted with them but why can't I unsubscribe to university emails and why is it so hard for them to create groups for different subjects?

Snow fall and Standstill

As someone who has travelled to a number of different countries I am always amazed by Britain’s inaptitude when dealing with snow fall... I am aware of the hard work and commitment shown by public servants and the emergency services, but in comparison to the USA and other countries in the EU Britain seems to deal badly with what should be a mild inconvenience. The "standstill" outside my house for large periods of yesterday evening made me wonder, what is the cost of snow? and how it can be offset?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7866294.stm

Snow, shoes and a fall

Bit of a shock when I opened the curtains this morning... the entire garden is to quote a song "a winter wonderland," unfortunatley walking prooves more difficult than usual and I wonder if the person responsible for designing my work shoes likes disney as I slide around like bambi on ice... An undignified fall later and I see that at least school children haven't changed, I'd like to say I saw the funny side straight away, but that would be untrue! On the plus side the snowballs they decided would make my journey more pleasent were largely off target. An interesting portent for the rest of the week perhaps.

I am working on a piece of literature at the moment, a process that always brings a smile to my face as it is this kind of creative process that is the reason I got into marketing. Seeing something in print that I designed is gives me a real rush

Pandemic 'flu continues to dominate my thoughts and work at the moment. I wonder to what extent people have forgotten about the threat of "bird 'flu" since the great burst of media coverage a number of years ago. It is interesting to think that many of humanities technological advances have increased the potential of a virus to spread globally.

Back to work

Having finished Jury service, I am now back to work... Mostly I am working on a large project which is designed to help protect customers against pandemic bird 'flu should it strike... Having read up on the subject the idea worries me more than it previously did, funny how chickens can scare you!