My Dreams ;-)

I share my dreams with you :-)

Click on photo for a larger view.

First Regional Meet of the Year!

Also my first regional meeting as a committee member! As meetings go it was a good one and lots of things got discussed and action points moved forward. I learned some apalling realities about migrant workers and how trade union officials are treated in some other government departments... Oh and apart from feeding back at the meetings about our local action group activities I seem to have picked up some more jobs ;-) Newsletters and web page updates!!! at least another name was put forward to help me with this;-)

Awaiting Visitors

Click on photo for a larger view.

Hangover

This is such an amazing visual that Sati has created I just had to share it with you. What do you think?

I would like to say I have never seen anyone look like this ;-)

Hangover, originally uploaded by Sati K..

Windows 7 Pushed Forward

I just spotted this article on the PC PRO website. If it is true after all the problems I have had with Vista I will find it quite annoying! I think that Microsoft should invest some time in getting it's current operation system working properly. But then I guess they wouldn't be making quite so much money...

"Reports are suggesting that Microsoft is considering pushing forward the release date of Windows 7, its successor to Vista.

APC Magazine claims to have seen Microsoft's roadmap for the operating system, and reports that the software giant is gunning for a 2009 release to manufacturing, a year earlier than initially planned.

The roadmap apparently contains three distinct milestone builds for Windows 7, with the first build, M1, apparently already shipped to partners for code validation.

M1 is reported to be English language only, but is shipping in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions. M2 is slated to ship in April or May, while M3 is expected some time in the third quarter of 2008.

The rumour would certainly fit with Steve Ballmer's statement last year that he wants to speed up the turnaround between new operating systems, though Microsoft refused to be drawn on the rumours.

"We're continuing to work with our customers and partners on the development of Windows 7, the next version of the client operating system," the company says. "We're not sharing additional information at this time; instead, we're focused on helping customers today get the most value from their PCs using Windows Vista, and we're encouraged by the response and adoption so far."

Though details on the operating system are sketchy, Microsoft is apparently looking at creating a more streamlined kernel. A wishlist of features was also apparently leaked onto the internet last year.

The report comes just as Vista's fortunes appear to be turning, with strong sales of PCs beginning to drive demand for the operating system.

Stuart Turton"

World Without You

This title and image give food for thought. One thing is for sure I wouldn't want or enjoy the world without my friends xxx

world without you, originally uploaded by snjegovic.

In Need of a FUTAB Moment!

I think I deserve some chill out time ;-) Well I have used all my years leave up mostly on work and house repairs!!! And I still have 3 months of my leave year left... AaaaaHH!

Wireless Networking Update.

Well the project manager took over ;-) so I didn't need to do anything! It is looking a bit like the ISP has stopped the connection even though they say they haven't!!!

The Quirkyness of Wireless Routers

A friend has been having problems with his internet connection for some time now. BT say it's not them and the ISP say it's not them either!!! So now international rescue has been called :-/ Personally I think the router has packed in. I have had 3 of that make of router and they all broke, one most spectacularly about a week after it was installed! Even when they weren't broken they kept dropping the connection and forcing the dynamic broadband into ever decreasing speeds that ended up being slower than dial up. I resorted to a different make of router and bingo... so much more reliable.

Wish me luck ;-)

Another one for you ;-)

OK just for you ;-) Another photo from my weekend away!

Click on photo for a larger view.

The White Cliffs Keep Calling!

So where have I been? The white cliffs again???

Well there was a triple family birthday celebration down south and whilst I was there the white cliffs seemed call for my attention ;-)

Click on photo for a larger view.

First Birthday Party with a Difference

A year ago today my Cosford colleagues learned that they had lost their bid for the Defence Training Review. They still face a gloomy future as many are unwilling or able to make the move to the proposed site in St Athan. But they are still campaigning hard to prove that the decision is flawed and does not make sense. To highlight the first birthday of the decision campaign events took place in London, Wales and more locally Cosford. So today I attended a first birthday party with a difference! and yes there was cake ;-)

Battling with Vista

You might remember that a few weeks ago I had a struggle with Vista. I hadn't been able to face trying to fix it... Yesterday I had to try, I needed it to demonstrate some knowledge for my NVQ today!!!

I uninstalled Photoshop Elements 6 deleted all its files and then reinstalled it. Aaaahh! it still had the same error! Eventually I managed to open up organiser so that I could restore the catalogue. Ninety minutes later still no catalogue on my laptop, by this time I was well annoyed so I turned it off and gave up.

I am sure Vista is alive and taunting me because this morning I tried again and it worked first time. So whilst I was onto a good thing I deleted all the weird short cuts that kept telling me 'you do not have permission to access this folder'. The ones that linked to 'MY documents', 'MY videos' and 'MY pictures'. How can I not have access to files that are supposed to be MINE???

Well now that has been sorted whilst I am still not friends with Vista we do at least seem to have a truce for now ;-)

Union Renewal

I came across this interesting blog today, it covers the trade union movement workplace issues from around the world.

Union Renewal

One of the authors of the blog (Dirk Kloosterboer) has also written an interesting book called "Innovotive trade union strategies" which covers successful examples of how trade unions meet the challenges of the 21st century. The book can be purchased or downloaded in PDF format from here.

Workspace View

Click on photo for a larger view.

Internet Explorer and CSS

I thought my blog page would be much more interesting if I added a nice image to the top of the page to go under the title. Easy I thought, blogger has a special widget to do this :-) I found a nice image and worked out what size it should be and uploaded it!!!

Hmm! Not showing properly in Firefox, it left a gap in between the border and the photograph! With a little bit of advice from the blogger forum I eventually realised that it did show correctly in internet explorer. Now life is far to short to figure out how to get the blogger CSS code work for both browsers (and blogger have written the code for IE)... So I cheated and altered the image by adding borders to it ;-)

That's Microsoft for you, can't even get it's web browser to conform to the proper CSS standards.

If anyone wants to see how I did it the forum thread is here.

& Still...

BUSY that is!

At work a steady stream of Trade Union work was coming my way. I hardly had any time to think. Then lunch time was our Action Group meeting and I seem to have picked up rather a lot action points from that too...

& I still have to burn lots more CDs/DVDs.

Mmm! got to dash - busy, busy, busy ;-)

Busy Busy Busy Again or is that Still!!!

I thought campaigning was hard work! But now we have won the campaign there is so much more to do!!! Maybe it's just so much needs to be done in a smaller time scale. Sending thank yous and messages to people who still are campaigning for the same things that we did!

My colleagues and I have been to and arranged lots of meetings, sent lots of letters and made lots of phone calls too... and personally I have made a slide show of the campaign activities. I was rather moved by how my friends and colleagues took this, I had no idea it would have such an impact on them.

Festive Table

Well I think that there has been far too much of this over the festive period!!! The DIET starts today!!! Well mabye tomorrow ;-)

Click on photo for a larger view.

Let's Party :-)

Click on photo for a larger view.

The Peace Poem

What a beautiful concept:

The Peace Poem - children around the world were invited to submit 2 lines of poetry about peace to the United Nations. The lines were then collated together as one big poem and published on the web.

Ce long poème consacré à la paix, fruit de la réflexion et de la conviction de milliers d’enfants de par le monde, est pour moi comme une guirlande d’espoir qui, par la vertu des nouveaux moyens de télécommunication, ceint notre planète, en se riant des nationalités et des frontières.

In their wisdom, the children whose intermingled voices gave birth to the Peace Poem know that peace is far more than the absence of war. Children know that peace comes from the heart; it lives in the way we see others; it survives in the respect we show our neighbors every day. They also know, often better than adults, that today’s world is a global village and that we are all neighbors.

Sepamos escuchar a los niños poetas. Sus palabras sencillas y elocuentes nos recuerdan las verdades esenciales, pilares sobre los que sustentan la paz y la concordia : conocer y aceptar a los demás y, en ellos, reconocer nuestra humanidad común.

- Kofi A. Annan

Many Faces!

I am struggling to choose the best picture for this weeks '52 weeks photo challenge' how sad is that? I asked my flickr friends to help me. Would like you to tell me what you think too?!!!

Click on photo for a larger view.

Now I have had Time to Reflect!

After my far too hectic Christmas/New Year thing I have at last had some space for my thoughts and time to reflect on how I feel about the Sapphire House decision. Check this Previous post for the good news and my thoughts are below.

For me the symbolic start of our campaign was the day we held our 24 hour candlelit vigil outside Sapphire House in November 2005. It was very uplifting to stand with my colleagues including many from other local departments. Even the local MPs came along on the day to offer support and talk to Sapphire House staff. This positive start was needed as there were many setbacks along the way and we had to try different and new angles to make ourselves noticed and get our voice heard.

When the U-Turn decision was finally announced 2 years later it was a relief to know that our campaigning had paid off and that the right decision had been made for everyone. Our experience shows that by standing together and being prepared for a long campaign it is possible to make a difference and I hope that friends and colleagues from other departments who are facing similar threats will gain inspiration from our success.

This is one of my favourite pictures from the day, I can't take the credit for the photograph though, it was taken by someone else ;-)

On Christmas Day in the Morning

This is my Christmas week photograph for the 52 week portrait challenge on flickr. I know it is a little late now ;-) but I have only just been able to get onto my computer to upload my Christmas photographs. In fact this is the first day I have had on my own for a long time. Guess what it's nice and peaceful ;-) :-) I have managed to laze about and do all sorts of things.

Another nice surprise was that someone researching the same family history branches as me phoned my back about some information I had sent him. He first phoned just as I arrived back from France which resulted in my sending him the information that I had. After a bit more investigation I think I may have something more of interest so I need to head for the scanner to copy the information!

Click on photo for a larger view.

2008...

...is waiting ahead....
Let's cross the entrance trying to hold some faith of a better time for us and the world...

This is Dani's beautiful message for 2008, I thought I would share it with you :-)

2008..., originally uploaded by CasallArt.