In your face, Big Hill!

I made it all the way up the hill in one go today. I am very chuffed and slightly drunk as I have been drinking champagne :)

I'm definitely going to do my assignment in a bit

I'm having a day off work today to do my OU assignment which is sitting in front of me. It looks like a lot of maths which will probably be pretty difficult judging by what I've had to get through over the last few weeks, and I'm not looking forward to starting. So as always, I'm avoiding doing it by checking emails, playing spider solitaire and mucking about in general. This module has been all about how to build a structure without it falling down, in terms of the forces involved and the materials to use. It's rock hard and very dull and has been pretty arduous. If I get through the whole of this course without having a big hissy fit I'll be very surprised. If I get through the degree I'll be even more surprised - at the moment it seems like a bit of an unsurmountable object.

Things at CAT are great. I'm feeling settled in now and getting some really interesting things to do. I've got a big list of stuff that my boss would like me to help sort out or take control of while I'm here, and in amongst them is some stuff that it will be really useful to learn.

I am getting a bit information-fatigued however, and I'd quite like to do something that doesn't involve thinking too hard. Like walking up a mountain maybe.

There's a couple of things about this area that I really like:
- There are loads of sporty things to do, like walk up mountains (Cader Idris is a few miles away) and bike up hills (I got about half way up without stopping the other day...)
- It's full of hippies. The hippies probably wouldn't appreciate me saying that but it's true and it's really nice. Everyone's really relaxed and openminded and when someone has a party, everyone just assumes that they're invited :) And it means that there's loads going on as well like music and dancing and tai chi etc etc...there are lots of creative people about.

Best get on with that assignment then. Bah.

Oxford, commas, ha!

I've just been writing some notes on OU work and made a list without adding an Oxford comma, which made me happy. Any writers out there will know what I'm on about but basically it's where you add a comma after the penultimate item in a list. As in, Today I talked to Frank, Betty, and Derek (the alternative being Today I talked to Frank, Betty and Derek). It's a tiny little gripe but I find it really annoying and we had to do it for tech writing as part of our Style Guide. No more!

I'm really tired today and quite dirty too because I spent all afternoon trying to pull a ruddy great cable through a 100 metre pipe, with several bends in it. I also had to pick up my car from the garage after the clutch went last Friday (in the rain). At least it's going now, but I could really have done without that. The advantage of course is that I got to bike to work in the lovely sunshine yesterday and have another crack at The Big Hill, which remains undefeated. I got a bit further up than last time though. I've got loads of OU work at the moment too - loads to catch up on and an assignment by 18th April. Too much!!