Holidays

A couple of highlights today...
First. Finding that some of my wild ideas for the HPV design have actually commercialised already (that is, other dudes in Germany already thought of the stuff independently). That's pretty cool considering some of the comments I got about one idea in particular - a gear system that works by expanding the sprocket rather than having a cassette of sprockets. So I was about 4-5 years too late on that one.

The other thing that I found was independent gearing for each person in a tandem HPV. That has already been done - but quite differently to our proposal.

I think I found other stuff that was useful, but I can't remember what it was. So tomorrow will be an exciting day when I stumble across it again and rediscover it.

And I was very excited because I cracked 3mins for 1km. I ran 2min56.8s. So I knocked 6 or 7s off my pb. I was quite chuffed. And I also managed to get through the rest of the training session, (we had 10*400s after that) without too many troubles.

It's 9:45 and I'm ready for bed.

Jobs: Flirting with the Big Wigs

I ummed and ahhed my way through my telephone interview with BHP today. It felt awful. But I managed to say that I didn't want to work for TEMCO (in Launceston), I was happy to relocate anywhere else. I said that I wanted to be a leader, that my long term goals involved making a difference. But how??? There was a long pause. Then I had a little rant about how I wanted to be a part of a sustainable future. "Frontiering Engineering". Yes. I mentioned "Frontier Engineering". I also bemoaned the fact that industry has a bad public image, and I wanted to change that public perception... I want the communities to see BHP operations nearby as a positive thing for the community. Then there was the question about strengths... My writing is a strength. And I'm a creative thinker. But I am also do engineering, so I must have some strengths in logical thinking. I was careful not to say that I was a particularly clear thinker. That would have felt far too dishonest at that point in time. My head was going everywhere by that stage. The clincher must have been when they asked me about the areas that I would like to see developed (read "weaknesses"), so I said, that I would like to improve the way I present orally (with a few more mumbly umms and ahhs). I, of course mentioned the fact that I was nervous. Already making excuses. It's a good start. So I get the nice spiel on how it's something that you develop and that being nervous was par for the course.

One of the hardest questions I found was "What is your greatest achievement?" So I mentioned being dux. But that felt crap, because it wasn't as if I had any competition for that - not like there has been in recent years. Nor is it something that I particularly care about. So I talked about my umpiring and put the lady that was interviewing me to sleep. I decided that my greatest achievement was umpiring the premier league senior grand final in 2005. That was extremely depressing when I could think of nothing to surpass that. It was a fantastic day, a great honour and the New Norfold crowd is not something that I will forget in a hurry, but was it really "The Highlight", the pinnacle of my achievements to date? I tried to justify it again. I talked about how I wasn't a natural athlete - which I'm sure is completely meaningless to the poor woman who was trying to interview me, but I think she got the idea that I had triumphed against all odds. Aww shucks. And there's something in there about my perseverance. A greater show of perseverance would be to get to the top again, with stronger competition, having slipped a little with my own fitness. But that's by the by.

The upshot of it is that the interviewer was very happy with how I went and reassured me that I had done very well. She told me that I was being advanced to the next stage in the interview process. So, I have to perform a 1h online test. If I achieve an acceptable level in that, they will send my application to my first preference location who will either fly me across for an interview or say, "Not interested" in which case they pass my application on to the next location on my list of preferences.

So, all rather exciting. May well get a trip to Perth in the relatively near future!

I also spoke with a bloke from the DMO. He gave me a good idea of what would be involved working with them. Essentially, it involves reporting on the various projects and signing off on stuff. So, that seems down my alley, as far as I can tell. So that is also an exciting prospect.

And GHD is also an exciting prospect, being an international company with offices in Hobart. But alas, no news from them yet. They should get back to me in the next few weeks.

Hasn't this been a long and boring post.

I haven't even talked about Zinifex (didn't make their shortlist), SKM (haven't heard anything from them) and Hydro (they're always a bit slow on the uptake). It's all a bit of a raffle, because a lot of people are applying for a lot of jobs, but they can only take one job, making it difficult to get a good gauge of who will end up where.

So who knows. God.

Making up for lost time...

I wonder if I can flag my own blog for "Objectionable Content"?


I was umpiring today.

Highlights:
- I was throwing the ball in near the road at Kingston Beach Oval. A guy in a car on the other side of the fence had a water pistol. He squirted me. I said "Bugger off". He said "Love your hair". I said "Cheers".

- I got to umpire with Justin. Justin is a legend and I haven't had the chance to umpire with him since his return to the boundary this year.

- One of the biggest hits of the season happened. New Norfolk guy running full pace. Kingborough dude doing the same. Bone crunching collision. "Play on" was the call. Fantastic.

- The game was relatively competitive, despite Kingborough being cellar dwellers and New Norfolk flying relatively high.

I'm sure there were others, but it was oh so long ago... (It's becoming obvious that I am a useless witness at the tribunal)

Exams.

Hmmm. Fluid Mechanics 2 on Thursday. Environmental Engineering on Friday. It is a little worrying that I try to follow the examples in my notes and simply cannot. I find something in there that just seems wrong, so I spend hours looking at it, trying to comprehend it. Who knows if it is correct or not. And who to ask when you're alone at your desk. Predicament. And mum doesn't really know a heck of a lot about fluid mechanics. Despite the fact that she is bilingual, a teacher, a magnificent cook (she doesn't wear the funky chef hat) and generally mum. I love her despite her lack of knowledge of things fluid mechanical. Same can be said for dad. Except he is generally dad, rather than generally mum.

My Bachelor of Table Tennis is on hold. The table in the uni bar was removed. Shattered. The story goes that one of my engi mates was severely hampered in his mental judgements due to the bar's responsible service of certain beverages. As a result of this coffee high (or whatever it was), he found it incredibly amusing hit table tennis balls at people all evening. That is the story I heard. He may or may not have been found up a tree later that evening.

Another major impediment to justice and right-ness has been invoked. Ok, I probably shouldn't blog about it, however, I am concerned, so I shall share. The issue is simply that at Kidz Bizz the kids spent a Sunday morning at a nearby church... a church that had splintered from my own many years ago - at least 10 because they were already separate when I arrived. They also have more charismatic tendencies...The concern is against false teaching etc etc. Fair enough. And we are responsible for the kids as teachers.

Apart from the fact that reformed doctrine itself is not perfect and what we hear from the pulpit is at times dubious, it seems heavy handed to outright ban the working together in kids ministry of churches because theological differences "might" be present. I think this is the case for several reasons. First, the gospel presented to kids is very simple. Deviations from the truth are easily spotted, provided that we are there if anything dodgy does happen. We are then in a position to correct them. Secondly, the event in question was a "special event", one which probably would not have happened without the support of several churches. Thirdly, the issue of reciprocity. We encourage many young people from various churches to join us in programs such as 2o3 (our church youth group). Surely we're risking bad things by heavy-handedness.

I might also add that the decision was made more frustrating by the fact that Session made the decision entirely as a reaction, without consulting with kidz bizz leaders, let alone attending any of these events.

In any case, that has frustrated me.

Gee, so much has happened...

I also had a job interview last weekend. And I had a lengthy discussion with the IT guy at university. Maybe a separate post for each.

Jobs Jobs Jobs

Well, who'd have thought that after reading through pages of my tiresome self-acclaiming literature that people would actually want to talk to me.

In fact, the DMO (civilian part of the defence force that does all the procurement) actually wanted to fly me over to Canberra... on the day of my last exam.

I have a theory that it was actually a bunch of Tasmanians who were sick of me that are pitching in for a one-way ticket to the capital.

Anyway, being that super-keen little snicket I am, I organised to get one exam moved to the morning and the other exam deferred, only to find that the Friday timeslot had been taken.

I was shattered. I have three exams. One early and then two in two days at the death. So by deferring my last exam, it would mean having only one exam to study for at a time. Sounded fantastic.

So, I got on the phone and punched out a few emails asking if they could put me down in the Friday slot anyway.

It turns out that they are happy for me to do the interview with the Victorian engineers in Melbourne. Why I wasn't already classed with them, I cannot say. Either way, their interviews will then be the week after exams.

Then I got a call from Zinifex. One ten minute interview later it turned out that I had been long-listed and I would be informed at the end of the week if I had been short-listed.

Then, finally, with GHD, a consulting firm. They also called yesterday afternoon. Could I do an interview next Wednesday. No problems.

So, I still haven't heard from SKM, Hydro and BHP (I don't hold out much hope for them).

Anyway, it will be fun and games.

Ughh

I am on the verge of finishing my last assignment for the semester. This may seem quite trivial, because, it is.

It has been quite amusing to rock up to the PC lab at uni after training, still wearing shorts. Is it unusual to flaunt ones legs when they are so hairy?

Things start getting a little strange at uni between one and two am.

By jove ole chap, I can't for the life of me think anymore...