Slideshow Update 2

I have everything completed bar the music. The music was supposed to be provided last Friday by the person who asked for the slide show in the first place. None of the previous types of music were suitable. There are two of us do these slide shows and apparently the music we use on them is very fuddy duddy and old fashioned. We are told we need to be embracing young members! What young members? They all left with the job cuts, all that is left is us old fuddy duddies ;-)

So tomorrow the music arrives, I dread to think what it might be...

Slideshow Update.

You might recall that I have be tasked with an 11th hour slide show.

Over the weekend I organised my TU pictures into a single file in date order onto my laptop and set up a show template. Today I met with my colleauges who are doing a presentation that ties into the slide show. It took 3 hours to choose the pictures and think of the headings to go with the pictures.

There was a sudden backtracking on the extra work they wanted from me (a powerpoint presentation). Hmm, there isn't going to be time for that is there? Mmm! no I told you that!

I wonder why people just don't listen to me in the first place ;-)

I worked a bit more on it later on my own and it is still nowhere near finished and I am in Birmingham on a meeting all day tomorrow :-/

The Plight of Mrs Carr

Fellow blogger Calum Carr is fighting for proper NHS treatment for his wife. Mrs Carr suffers from eating disorders and for more than a year the mental health service has let her down quite badly and she has failed to get the treatment she needs so badly. The local MSP has also taken up the case, but NHS Lothian have still be unforthcoming with their answers.

"I have spoken to 5 national treatment centres and all have said that Mrs Carr is the type of patient they should see but we can't access them. On the basis of two self-reporting questionnaires one centre said that Mrs Carr scored highly for the relevant disorders and should have a full assessment. This has been denied to Mrs Carr by NHS Lothian.

I should make clear that I am not taking the line that Mrs Carr has Disorder Z and that I won't rest until she is diagnosed with it. Her history and symptoms fit with Disorder Z; national experts believe she should be assessed for this disorder but NHS Lothian remains silent on their diagnosis and reasons. Until NHS Lothian is open and honest with us I will not rest. This is all I ever wanted; openness, honesty, trust in clinicians so that Mrs Carr has an opportunity to improve. What we have encountered is coldness, closedness, callousness, obfuscation, delay and a refusal to engage in any serious discussion of Mrs Carr's problems.

The minimum NHS Lothian should do is tell us the truth. Then we can either accept their version or fight it but by refusing to engage with us (or our MSP) they leave us struggling in a vacuum. How can we accept a diagnosis if no-one tells us what is the diagnosis? How do we challenge a diagnosis if no-one tells us what is the diagnosis. How do we fight for assessment if no-one tells us why they won't make a referral?

Even worse by not engaging with us Mrs Carr has been left ill and, apparently, unwanted, for an additional year with no likelihood of effective assessment or treatment and the rest of the family has been left with the stress of caring for Mrs Carr and of seeing her continue to suffer unnecessarily."

Please take time to visit his blog and support him in his campaign.

PhotoHunt - Free Week

These are taken in the grass maze at Ephraim Gardens, Faversham, Kent. At this time of year, it is quite easy to cheat at the maze because the grass is not at full height. The gardens are well worth a visit if you are in the area!

Click on photos for a larger view.

For more of this weeks PhotoHunt pictures check out tnchick.

The Twilight Zone

Look into my eyes ;-)

Click on photo for a larger view.

Oh No Not Again!!!

Last night was my book group meeting to discuss My Name is Red. But I shall tell you about that another time. I had to rush away at the end of the meeting to attend an emergency get together with some TU colleagues. We needed too discuss a presentation that is needed for a fringe meeting at the PCS national conference, which is only one week away…

When I arrived it was like walking into a whirlwind of thoughts. It’s OK they said we have nearly finished. In my absence it had been decided that I needed to compile a completely new slide show on our local campaigns to go with the presentations that two of them will be doing at the fringe meeting. They meant one of my slide shows! To make a slide show from scratch takes 5 hours or more, but they seem to think it takes far less time than that.

Now although I do enjoy doing the slide shows I don’t really want to spend all of my leisure time next week on one. The only option seems to be to install the software on my laptop and try to do it at work. The two guys doing the presentation said they would help me choose the photos so that the show matches what they will be talking about. Then all I need to do is compile the photos, captions and music into the show, sounds easy doesn’t it ;-)

Oh and on top of that I was asked did I think I would be able to manage a PowerPoint presentation too?

Aaaaah!!!

If I get it done in time I will share it with you here, the last one I did was to big to put on my blog.

Me in the Sci-fi World

Nunyaa wants to know what Sci-fi character I am. Do you think this is like me?

Princess Leia

A strong-willed herald of causes against injustice, you passionately strive to right the wrongs around you.

Somebody has to save our skins!

Leia is a character in the Star Wars universe. See her character entry at the Star Wars Databank for more information.