New Year, New Start?

I always have great plans for new year resolutions, I have in recent years made smaller but still promising ones, the high of the new year carries me to around the end of January if I am lucky and then I am left adrift in my failure and just want to hibernate, last year I had plans on getting my world organised and doing much in my work all of which fell over.

During the early summer I stumbled on am american website that was supposed to de-clutter your home, and get your life on track. I may add that my shelves are full of how to organise and get going type books, and my computer is full of book marks of how to save time and how to get things done. I am very scathing of folk who always find another to blame their issues on, I know that any solution has to start and finish with me, but if there was a quick way! Back to my american website, this has a few home truths that I know but was nice to see up front, only you can do your own work, only works if you do it and not just plan it, and my fave was get off your bottom and do it now. I would like to say it has sorted my whole house out for me, but in reality it has given my the tools to sort my own house and life out. I am getting there, some areas are now clutter free and I have stopped the trying to buy my way out of clutter that had just about sunk me. If your interested it is The Flylady but while it is working for me it may not for others :-).

I have got half way through the couch to 5K but then lost the impetus, which is part of my keep going problem. I joined a crochet along to make a blanket, had great plans to make a double, then chose to keep it simple and stuck to the single, and yes you guessed it, the group came, did and finished and I am still getting through the blanket, I need some time to just sit, but that has been harder to find than ever. I think I need a timetable, so I do not just plud at home, I do not just work through my day and get no extras out. I am finding the joy of getting up and doing things from the de-cluttering I now need to apply this to the rest of my life. Easy.

Work is getting myself sorted for my first fellowship meeting with my mentor, which despite knowing them is kinda scary, been trying to get my paperwork sorted out but again I run into time issues, so I will be organising bits better and allowing my sedentary habits only limited space to spread. I have not had to write a CV in years and I am not getting it very well sorted, but The My World of Work has been well worth using as a tool to help bring out what I need to use. The website is aimed at kids and students but has increasing info for the professional user and a great CV builder.

To start my year off I have a new phone, sadly I do not have the right SIM, which just goes to show there is too much ICT to keep up with all of it :-) I will just keep using my old phone till the new card arrives. This does allow me a little longer to enjoy the pictures I took over Christmas.

 The ice rink at Somerset house.

 Crossing the Thames on the Woolwich Ferry.

Happy New year and hope your attempt at resolutions goes better than mine :-).

Public Information broadcast or something similar

I was lucky to get to a day of information and last blogged about the third sector and how it has an effect and how it can affect Libraries and society. This week at work I have been helping host a student who is here to see about active teaching and active learning. I know that is not really my area but she is an ex pupil and I was her return point to come back and make a difference. Why I mention it is because we got into a big discussion on society and who has control and how we change and what we can do or can't to affect change, I covered some aspects of sociology in my degree course (which the type I did seems to have gone west now :-( all BSc based rather than BA) and my one change I would make in life on a redo would be to do a BA in sociology and then an MA in libraries (or MSc) as I loved the whole idea of sociology and how we see and are influenced by the world and society.

This introspection has led me to actively participate in a cause that I do feel strongly about but I may have not bothered last week more due to apathy or too busy syndrome. The Cilip are leading a drive to get the rules changed for e-books, to get them more widely available and to get them free for libraries to loan. I have signed up and will be shouting about it on and off, because in that old adage, if your not part of the solution your part of the problem!

So feel free to skim over it but if you get time do click the link and join in the drive to get things changed, it is part of the whole who runs our world and how sets the rules. We can make a change. (climbs down off the soap box).

The same day of information I was shown a Website that is fab! the skills development Scotland team have set up a web site to help them get 48 hours in every day :-) as we need them more there seem to be less of them so they have a site that allows you to get much more out of their information and support your own life. They have set it up for schools initially and more recently have expanded it out to all those who may want support int he jobs market or even to just keep check of what you have in the jobs market. The web site is called My World of Work and includes a 'DNA' test that looks at what your suited to and what you like as well as a My Strengths section that helps you tailor you choices and interests! Even with a job I found it interesting and it allows me to fill in the CV section and update as I go. The website has recently been revamped to help the post school user get more from it and I was amazing just how much is online, from how to apply for a job to how to dress for an interview and how to practice your answers etc ahead. The point of showing us was the fact that it is a tool that can be used to keep track of job searching as part of the universal credit and current job seekers requirements. Well worth a look and a try, and if your a librarian or other partner worker they have an extra section that allows you access to more tools and info to support other better, amazing tool.

I remember when I was a child getting programs on the TV pre-political broadcasts which were noted as Public Information Broadcasts I wasn't awfully aware as a small child about these but they seemed old, boring and stuffy, I know wished I had listened more :-) but this is my version of it. So in time honored fashion I now end with a note that; This is the end of the Public Information Broadcast. Thank you and Good night.