Chat about anything else...

Yeah, Happy Birthday Paul for whenever...I don't tend to tell people my birthday and put a false one down because you know the international man of obscurity that I am want to keep it that way

Sj

Weird, my birthday grats showed up as the first chat instead of the latest. Anyway, Happy Birthday in a couple of days.

To our hardworking and inventive GM, Happy Birthday in two days!

Ah great news! Thanks for letting us know

Not much I can suggest about the pain in the neck (other than the usual 'women can often be a ' jokes). Since the car bump I had in March I've had sciatica down my right leg which is ongoing. Gets crippling sometimes and stiffens me right up so I can barely walk. I'm on Ibuprofen (usual stuff) at 800mg a day which is probably bad for my liver but better that than being bedridden. Chiropractor may be a possible option?

DavidMcMahon wrote:So when I get the certification, around Thanksgiving time, I will alert my boss and she can tell our agency director.

All sounds good Dave, hope that it proves to be the case when it comes to it. All this seems unnecessarily heavy handed given what you've said. Hope it all works out ok.

Sj

Well just got an email telling me that my certification has been approved and my certification will be mailed to me in the next 5-7 business days. So that's a relief.

My current job description says that AER certification is preferred, not mandantory. Which is good because AER stopped certifying people over ten years ago. The current certification body is ACVREP and there is not one word in the job description or requirements that say a thing about having that certification. That's my legal case if they try firing me or doing any disciplinary action against me.

My immediate boss asked me if I was ever TOLD that ACVREP certification was ever mandantory and I said "no" and being TOLD something is not the same as having it in writing legally speaking.

So I'm feeling better and may post tonight or tomorrow at the latest.

Now my only problem is my neck. Think I have another degenerative disc in my neck. Making me tired and rundown and sore. Hard to sleep as parts of my body go numb or tingle. I see the PA on Thursday to see about getting an MRI or something to determine the problem and then go from there.

So when I get the certification, around Thanksgiving time, I will alert my boss and she can tell our agency director.

I'd have thought you have grounds for a legal case if they do fire you, but don't know the details/ins/outs of employment law over there. At the company I work for, we have a layer of middle management that throws the word 'professionalism' around like it's supposed to mean something, yet act like kids when employees need support or they feel a certain employee needs taking down a peg or two. I don't know if that is the case with your bosses David but unless there is some reason like gross misconduct, theft, violent conduct or breaking company rules, I wouldn't have thought they could just let you go, but rather that they'd have to train/retrain you?

We have a guy working for our place who is not well thought of by his colleagues because he's lazy (he is, have worked with him, I can see the bosses point of view there). He has had a number of run ins with bosses over absenteeism and his refusal to perform certain tasks on health and safety grounds. They've tried to sack him, failed, and been (successfully) sued by the guy for wrongful dismissal at least twice. He then had a Spad (signal passed at danger - basically running a red light on a train, which is a bad thing as opposed to getting a ticket and a fine) so the bosses suspended him and tried to fire him for gross misconduct. Well, he's got them again, because they haven't done their homework. Gross misconduct is theft, violent conduct, sleeping with the bosses wife (I assume) and so on. He's been suspended - on full pay - for over 1 1/2 years so basically gets paid $80k a year to sit on his ass. General consensus is he's unsackable because of all the previous attempts they've failed at. Even a neutral would say 'why are you picking on this guy?' and that's what tribunals say before they hand him another $30k (have a US keyboard so all in dollars) in damages.

I'd get hold of your employee handbook if I were you, and go through it with a fine tooth comb, your contract of employment too. If they aren't sticking to the letter of what is written down, you have them - I've seen it time and again where the bosses don't play by their own rules and fall short because of it. My best friend is the union rep and he has the bosses swearing and throwing pens about in a rage (like kids) because he represents people (all the time) and simply points out how the bosses have failed, again, to abide by their own rules, regulations and guidelines. Yes, it is a 'them and us' situation where I work, and it's not nice. I hope your employers see sense.

Best of luck with it anyway - keep us informed and anything I can do (yeah, ok, from this side of the pond ain't great...) even if it's to provide moral support, then I hope I can help.

Cheers, Paul

Just heard back that I am going on 30 days investigative leave with pay while the review the case and see if my points are valid or not. So I have at least one more month of pay to live off of.

Guess now is the time to see if I have any ability to become a writer like Victor, who is starting up his own publishing company [who played the Mummy for a short time], tells me I have the talent for.

Of course, 30 days leave could still result in me being fired. Not sure how many people come back from something like that.

I'm sitting in my office waiting to see if I get the axe or not. Just came out of the prelimanry hearing and my boss and the other witness is currently going to our agency director's office to talk things over.

In my defense: I never signed any kind of form that states I had to maintain certification or lose my job.
My original job description says the certificiation is preferred not required. Even the newest one says that.
The Office of Personnel Services describes my position as preferring certification but not required, years of experience [20+ for me] can be substituted.

On the negative - somewhere in the disciplinary manual it states something about firing folks who do not maintain certification for jobs that require them. But then again, my position didn't require it so it shouldn't apply.

So my boss is hopeful. I'm hopeful.

Because if this fails, I am fired. Being fired, I do not qualify for unemployment benefits which means I'm out on the street at the end of the month begging for handouts.

So I sit in my office with nothing to do while waiting to hear my fate.

Arggh, hope your employers see sense and you get it sorted out David, fingers crossed. We'll still be here in any case so real life comes first as usual

Cheers, Paul

DavidMcMahon wrote:Well HELL! Arrived back into the office late this afternoon after seeing clients to be told that I'm scheduled for a pre-disciplinary conference with the recommendation that I be fired! That was a shocker.

David

Oh Dave, that is indeed bad news and not at all what you needed to hear at a time like this. I hope that sense with prevail and that this isn't some kind of personal thing. Hopefully your defence will hold water and the thing will blow over, one can't help but think that there ought to be checks and balances long before you get to this point, whereby a warning that something needed attention would be given before going this far?

In the UK, if needing to be certified became an issue, normally people are given good warning and ample time to sort it out. Hope that things work out well for you, do let us know how things go. Prayers are with you mate.

Sj

Well HELL! Arrived back into the office late this afternoon after seeing clients to be told that I'm scheduled for a pre-disciplinary conference with the recommendation that I be fired! That was a shocker.

I let my certification lapse back in March and in the process of being recertified but they tell me that they can't keep me around since my licensure is invalid. Been doing what checking I can on my job description and it doesn't say I have to be certified so that will be my defense tomorrow. SO right now, probably would have ANyman go all dark powers and destroy the universe by himself so I think I will stay away from the game for a few days. At least until I find out if I will be living on the streets or back at work.


David

I just found a funny thing about Horatius or Horatio at the Bridge. Give it a look. Shows the military and politicians mindsets well.


http://www.s2company.com/files/readings/horatio_at_the_bridge.htm

DavidMcMahon wrote:This is just so sadly hilarious:
Just think how many porno tapes and videos in lap tops that our intelligence boys are now going to have to go through to see if more plots are afoot in them!

It's a dirty job, but someones gotta do it *looks at the 10,000 long queue for the position*

This is just so sadly hilarious:
Al-Qaida Tapes Show Plans for Seizing Cruise Ships, Europe Attacks
Monday, 30 Apr 2012 05:56 PM


German investigators seized a treasure trove of al-Qaida documents — some encrypted inside pornographic videos — from an Austrian last year that indicate the terror group had plans to seize cruise ships and wreak havoc throughout Europe, CNN reports.

The 22-year-old Austrian, Maqsood Lodin, was detained May 16, 2011, and searched by investigators in Berlin, who found he had digital storage devices and memory cards in his underpants.

Buried inside them was a pornographic video called "Kick Ass" — and a file marked "Sexy Tanja."

After decoding the devices, investigators discovered encoded inside the actual video more than 100 al-Qaida documents that included details of the group's biggest plots and future operations.

Among them: Seizing cruise ships and new attacks in Europe similar to the attacks in Mumbai where 10 gunmen killed 164 people in a three-day rampage.

U.S. intelligence sources told CNN that the documents are the most important since the trove discovered during the killing of Osama bin Laden last year.

In the attacks on cruise ships, the documents talk about holding passengers hostage to create public pressure, dressing passengers in orange jumpsuits, like those worn by Guantanamo prisoners and videotaping their executions.

The documents, according to CNN's report, indicate al-Qaida is under pressure as Western intelligence agencies become better at foiling attacks, and suggest the terror organization in the short-term would try to mount smaller, low-tech attacks in Europe and elsewhere while planning bigger, more deadly attacks in the long-term.



Just think how many porno tapes and videos in lap tops that our intelligence boys are now going to have to go through to see if more plots are afoot in them!

Self taught I suppose. Bought my first PC in the nineties at some point, got bored with it a month or so later and took it to bits. Laptops are same principle, just that you need to have ant sized hands to fanny about with all the cables. Hardest thing with laptops is finding all the screws you need to pull the thing to bits - sometimes you need to take one screw out to get to another to release something that opens the thing you opened first. Most satisfying part of the entire process is not having any screws left over - that's my usual trick

So far this laptop has had 3 keyboards, another processor, hard drive, memory, network card and now a dvd drive. Aside from the motherboard and the lcd, there's not much left to change. Kind of like that old Only Fools and Horses joke. Trigger: "I've been using this brush to sweep the roads for twenty years. It's only had 17 new heads and 14 new handles." Just waiting for the screen to go and have been eyeing up replacements on ebay

DavidMcMahon wrote:The fact you can take one apart and put it back together, expecting it to work when you do, amazes me. I have a hard enough time updating security software, which I have to do tonight as my cable company is switching security virus companies today.

Yeah I would so love to go on a computer course so I could repair or upgrade my machine without having to take it to or have it be seen by someone. Its all good and well having someone else do it, but I like to know what what they're doing, can it be done differently, what other options/components and costs are involved etc.

How did you learn how to do all this anyway Paul?

Sj

The fact you can take one apart and put it back together, expecting it to work when you do, amazes me. I have a hard enough time updating security software, which I have to do tonight as my cable company is switching security virus companies today.

Computers.

Nnngh.

It's 01.46, I just finished putting my laptop back together (after pulling it to pieces - keyboard, screen, touchpad, dvd drive the works) for the SECOND time tonight. A disc got stuck in the slot drive so after trying to fiddle about with old credit cards (actually GAME reward cards - won't be needing them any more as of today ) to grab the disc and failing, I bit the bullet and reached for the screwdriver... Anyway, took the laptop to bits, screws all over the place and wires like spaghetti, got the dvd drive out, disk out, put drive back, all back together... Then found out when it rebooted that the Drive constantly clicked and wouldn't accept discs Grrrr. So that was me, starting again with the complete disassembly... This time was faster though, took 35 mins to strip down and get back together, this time without a DVD dive in whilst I order another. I reckon when I put another drive in I can get it down to 20 minutes, but will be rushing - it's a fiddly job and the cable catches are designed for fairies, not cigar style fingers. D'oh.

So, just a word of warning - beware of computers! They can seriously damage your sanity...

And on that note, bed time. Updates later on today (i.e. when I get up) . Cheers, Paul...

Sometimes, the other groups I haunt come up with great gems like this.

I thought they were staged until I saw the dates! Great detail! Rare insight into the war effort, and shows the vital role women played. Thanks for these...

wow amazing shots and I should know as I am a keen photographer.

Thanks Dave, what a find.

Sj

Check this out. Some old photos that look like new.

http://pavel-kosenko.livejournal.com/303194.html?thread=22669914

very suprised at the clearness and variety of showing the war effort.

Aha! I did send an email to Victor but never got a reply. Activated his account anyway (and pruned a couple of accounts that'd never logged in). Also had one called '18' that never replied anyway, and didn't confirm that one. Welcome Victor, anyway

As for storylines and shifts (heh, a new RPG based on the perils of real life. Sounds awful...) we've been slow this week despite my best intentions. I'm on call for another 4 hours, but the next hour or so should determine whether I get called in. Assuming I'm not, updates for all... for ALL I tell you *bwahahaha* (evil laugh)

In the meantime I'll see what I can do before the family gets home!

VICTOR HARRIS

I just noticed that Victor has FINALLY joined our group. Victor is a friend of mine who I've been telling about this group for ages. I don't think he wants to play as much as read what we've done, since he claims to be too busy to do this.

He has started a budding publishing empire [ebooks right now] and I keep raving about how great our GM is with his storylines and writing and how he pulls it all together even after working long long shifts. So he may be here just to see if Paul has it in him to get Victor rich publishing his books.

But maybe we can actually pull him into the game. It is a hope.