That was a long silence!

I forget why I stopped blogging for a while, perhaps I got busy, perhaps I forgot my password but I'm back. Ok, to get things up to speed:

• I'm still in scouting, having not yet been asked to pretend to be religious
• I'm still lift sharing to university and back when its convenient
• I'm cycling a lot more locally to try to further keep fuel costs down.
• I'm now almost at the end of my first year of university as a student radiographer.

I'll try to keep it mild for my first post back but here is a quick rant:
Student radiographers don't get paid for the hours they work, over the 3 year course they are expected to work between 1000 and 1500 hours. This is 'experience' in order to become qualified, the system works and once qualified you can earn a respectable salary. A student however is not legally allowed to take responsibility for any x-rays performed and so is closely supervised by qualified radiographers who would take the blame for any mistakes the student makes. The result of this means that although patient safety is justifiably paramount, anything a student does requires permission, this can go too far.
It does of course depend on the supervising radiographer, if they are experienced, relaxed, fun and competent then students can learn a lot from them and enjoy their experience. My experience with some of the more newly qualified, more highly stung, less competent and/or slightly evil radiographers is that they can use students to satisfy a thirst for a power trip.

Perhaps the system needs tweaking. Perhaps I should learn to take things on the chin.

Being told you have to ask permission to go pee or go for your coffee break stings a bit though.

Falling into place

I seem to be having an extraordinary run of good luck at the moment. I have now found someone to lift share with on the 50 minute commute I expect to have to and from university. She not only lives only 5 minutes away but is a lecturer on the same site and has a staff car parking token. This will hopefully mean I can cut my expected fuel costs in half, something I predicted would be a major expense.

Other good news, yesterday I met a very friendly radiographer called Jennie who recently qualified from the same university and the exact same course and has given me a bundle of useful books. I'd already managed to get 2 of the 4 core text books off of ebay, the two most important ones as it turns out, plus a few others that looked good and were going cheap. Of the four books Jennie gave me it seems 2 are variations on the other two core text books so I should be ok for books now. That means for a £225 book list I've spent only £65 and got some bonus useful books too. I was going to thank Jennie by buying her dinner but she only had time for a coffee, with luck I'll be doing my clinicals somewhere near here anyway who will pay her back properly when the time comes.

I'm hoping this run of good luck continues!

Death

I was asked today about my opinion of death, a fairly deep topic to be asked about at work but I decided to give it some thought. Firstly my opinion about the existance of a soul is that there isn't one, there has never been anything happen to me first hand that convinces me otherwise. It is unwise to trust the experiences of others without question and despite the countless stories that suggest the souls existance none can be backed up.

With no expectation of life after death people may think that should make me fear death more. I think of dieing as the ultimate relaxation, the deep sleep that never ends. The lead up to death may be painful, ungainly and ugly but death itself is removed from pain, elegance and vanity and is simply an end.

The reason given by some as to why they fear death is that they don't want to die before they have achieved what they want from life. Well since this cannot be helped it may be more benificial to put less energies into worrying about it and instead concentrate on achieving
those things you want from life.

All in all I may be too laid back about the whole death idea, perhaps I remain blissfully ignorant about some ugly factor of death. Until I am presented with further evidence I am quite preapared to say I am not afraid.

You're Fired!

I've just been told I have been fired!
It's not quite as bad as it sounds, my manager is a nice guy and I could see it was something he really didn't want to do. I'm now leaving on the 7th of september whereas I was going to leave on the 21st, this means I have 2 weeks of free time before university starts. More importantly however this means potentially I have 2 weeks less money, I'll have to fish out the ideas book for making some money that fortnight.

Looking for inspiration on the internet I've found a very nice resource regarding Working from home.

Dilema

I’m in a bit of a dilemma at the moment, allow me to explain.

I am a scout, at the age of 22 I’m what is called a ‘Network Scout’ and I have been in the scout movement since I was about 7. I have made many friends in scouting and currently am the head of my local ‘Network’, a position I use to my advantage to make sure we do fun stuff and avoid ceremonies like the plague. We have fun, go drinking as friends and go on expeditions and stuff, definitely something I do not want to stop doing!

The problem lies in the religious side of the scouting movement, its not overbearing and nobody is forcing me to join in with ceremonies but the scout promise is a definite issue. The promise is stated whenever a scout joins, whenever a scout becomes a leader and the promise is renewed occasionally at larger camps. Here is the promise:

On My Honour, I promise that I will do my best
To do my duty to God and to the Queen,
To help other people
And to keep the Scout Law

As I have grown older I have become more and more convinced in the non-existence of god and feel strongly that as an atheist I should not be forced to pray or be a part of any religious ceremony. The trouble is nobody is forcing me to do anything here, it is my own choice to be a part of scouting with the friends I like and doing the things I like.

My dilemma is clear and will require some thought as to what I do next, I cannot continue as it is because it feels too hypocritical to pray as an atheist and the promise feels like a prayer.

PEBKAC USER

A standard phone conversation I had on the phone with a PEBKAC user at the hospital. I'm quite proud of my ability to interupt users from getting into full flow of irrelivant rubbish but it doesn't stop them trying.

Me: Hello, you’re through to I.T., How can I help?
User: Hello?
Me: Yes?
User: Oh hello, yes, well, on Tuesday when I came in Maggie, that’s my boss, said I should print off the work list but…
Me (interrupting): Are you having a printer problem?
User: Well when I tried to print, actually I think it may be my old printer. Can I ask you a question, when I moved would my printer have stayed with me with my personal setting or would…
Me (interrupting again): What is your computer number?
User: Computer number?
Me: Yes, the number of your computer.
User: Where would I find that?
Me: On the computer.
*pause*
Me: On a sticky label near the CD drive usually
User: Oh yes, its 270
Me: Is that WY0270?
User: Yes
Me: Ok, I’ll just dial in to your PC, can you click yes on the screen?
User: Click yes on what?
Me: On the screen, there should be a prompt.
User: A prompt? Oh yes I see it, you want me to click on it?
Me: Yes
User: Ok, OH! It disappeared!
Me: Not to worry, it timed out, I’m in.
*pause as I check printer settings*
Me: Which of these printers listed on the screen is your current local printer?
User: Well you see that one at the top the RXQW…
Me (interrupting): Yes
User: That’s the one that I used in my old job but now I’ve moved downst…
Me (interrupting): So which of these do you use now?
User: The 4350 one
*Pause while I set that to default and send a test page*
Me: Ok, has a test page just printed?
User: Its making a noise, yes its printing out a test page, that’s great thanks.
Me: Is there anything else you need assistance with?
User: No that’s it thanks
Me: Ok, bye.
User: Bye

The beginning

I can barely believe I've decided to start blogging, it was a one of those decisions made by not looking at the concequences too hard so I hope I don't regret it.

I'll briefly introduce myself then post something fun.

I am an enthusiastic and slightly eccentric science graduate with a generous helping of I.T skill which frequently comes in useful. Having recently gained a BSc in Biology and Computing I was eager to get into the biotechnology industry until I actually took a look at the local labs.

Deciding I'd rather be in a job that had more people contact I've just spent a year in IT doing first and second line support for a local hospital. Luckily for me I managed to get out and about to meet the staff and see the different departments which lead me to a desire to work in X-ray.

Now with already 1 degree under my belt I have been accepted for a 3 year course in Radiography to gain a second undergraduate degree which should mean I can become a registered radiographer!

Throughout all this I have maintained a strong affiliation with scouting and kayaking clubs, also internet gaming has given me contacts worldwide that I would class as good friends.