an interesting radio programme

 

This is a programme I found interesting regarding Corporate Governance.

hope you enjoy.

Climbing Trains

Wow does time like to fly. It seems like just the other day I was writing about going for a medical. Or other such things, I don’t actually remember what I last wrote about. I wrote a few that ended up put in a folder that never got published, I say a few... I have 3 weeks worth of work at London Midland where I have been keeping a blog every day. I’m not been publishing this because I discuss confidential information about the company and railway industry, so I’ll keep that on to myself. It’s mainly for reflection about what I’ve actually been doing.

So... Last night was the first time in years that I climbed top rope. Man am I feeling it today. I haven’t had this kind of burn in such a long time. it feels good. Yeah basically I went down the old AlterRock last night with a friend and we did a bit of bouldering, the wall was jam packed, having only ever climbed during the day before it was a shock for me to see it so busy. But after bouldering, warming up and getting quite despondent with myself for my weak fingers we thought we’d give top roping a go. So we rented harnesses and off we went. We started on really easy stuff. Stuff that was on the kiddies wall, just a warm up, get used to climbing with ropes and belaying again. We started trying slightly harder routes but fatigue and the bouldering started to catch up with us. There were a couple of nice little falls. One particular fall Tom lifted me off the ground. After that I kept a weight on, although he still nearly took me a couple of times. J we were there for a good couple hours and I’m looking forward to going again. The issue I now face is that I don’t get half price climbing because I can only go in the evening. This coupled with the fact that I don’t think I will be getting a TOC card (train operator company) that would let me travel for 25% of regular price I am now in the predicament of spending A LOT of money a week just in travel.

Well here goes nothing. Fingers crossed for some sort of card and also going climbing more often!

financial musings of a summer

It has been a fair old time since I last blogged. A matter of months in fact.

I have started many, all on interesting subjects such as the differences between trad and sport climbing or the $4.2 billion tax relief illegal workers are receiving in the states. But alas as each of these have been half completed something has arisen and it has been left to finish “on a later date” unfortunately such is the nature of man that “a later date” never arises.

I don't want to bore people with the in and outs of my summer needless to say I have learn the valued lesson taught so often within the church of living within your means, saving and not being frivolous with money.

Those of you who know me, know that we went on holiday to the Dominican Republic this summer and are probably thinking that is neither saving or being thrifty. But everyone deserves a holiday.

No my point is this. While we were at university we were getting money from student finance. Every 3 months or so we'd get a nice instalment and as such didn't have much to worry about. We were working hard part time and so we were continually putting money away, making sure we had plenty in the account where our bills were paid from.

This summer was like a drought in Egypt. After the months of plenty we were hit by no more student finance. Luckily with our savings and our reserves we have been able the weather this “dry season” and in a matter of days our student finance instalments will start up and we can get back to where we should be, :)

ok... so that is what I learnt about personal finance. A simple lesson make sure you have enough money. Here is the topic of concern I have now.

Until recently I have been preparing for my final year of University. The main part of which is my dissertation. A 30,000 word project on an “independent forensic accounting project” now this was the problem... so far the course has focused very little on forensic accounting... in fact all of the modules studied have been either a grounding in accounting or database analysis or looking at mobile technology, all are clear why they need to be studied but none of which are “forensic” based.

How on earth am I meant to be able to gather any information on different project topics if I am unable to pin point anything helpful? I know most people might be screaming at me about what I'm doing wrong etc. but that's ok. I have a year to think about it.

The other week I received a phone call from an internship I interviewed for a month or so ago. I have been offered a 12 month paid work placement with London Midland. Actually I'm on my way to the medical as we speak.

This is something I'm looking forward to. I'll be able to gain experience in auditing, fraud, variance analysis and the sorts. Not only will this look great on my CV but it will give me a year to think about the project I want to pursue for my dissertation. Happy days.

My plan during this next year is this. Look for forensic accounting opportunities. During my interview I was questioned a fair bit about my plans for the future and why I was studying what I am. I was a little bit worried that a forensic accountant wasn't what they were looking for in a financial analysts position, but they then said the magic words, “I'm sure we'll be able to help you find some way to gain experience in auditing if not forensic accounting” -score

basically the placement is flexible enough that I can gain experience in the areas that I'm looking for. Instead of just being a coffee boy (which is good because I have it on good information I can't make a good tasting coffee to save my life.)

Wish me look.

I'd better sign off as I'm about to start a 20 minute adventure across England’s 2^nd city to find a train station to take me where I want to be. :)

So... it's been a while. I like to keep my blogs rare and interesting. well, interesting is a matter of perception.
Recently V and I have been having a bit of a Blockbuster fest. This being said it must be one of our most hated stores. We love films so we keep going back.
If any of you have been in our living room you will have seen on the top shelf of the bookcase by the TV is full of TV boxsets. We love TV series. Blockbusters is the place. We are currently watching the 3rd series of Heros. This led to an interesting conversation.
which power would you have if you could? 
I kind of made a bit of a cop out. I said I would have Peter Petrellis'. So totally have all of them. I'm sure that would say something about my personality but whatever. V said she wanted to have the power to heal or the power to run really fast. But what power would you have? I mean the sky is the limit. There are so many different ones. They haven't as yet made an invisible man or someone who can change size, most of the super heros have been made though. even Shiresh became spiderman for a while. There are plenty of people who can fly, shape shift etc etc. 
I think that's why I want the ability to gain any powers other people have without doing a Silar and cutting their brains out. That leads me onto another thing... what's with Silar becoming good? I don't know if Heros has taken it one step too far. It was really good in the first series. The second series I'm assuming came out around the same time as the writers strike in the states because it like so many other series is mega short.
This series is maybe a little bit... stretched. they have played around with saving the world so many times by jumping forwards and backwards it's all getting a bit silly. But we'll continue to watch and lets see if it picks up. :)
On another note, V and I joined a gym. I'm feeling that. combined with climbing earlier today. I'm a wee bit stiff. But I'm sure I'll write more about that another time.
Well I hope you all are powerful and enjoying TV!

The Great Escape

The last couple of days have been set aside by V and myself as a getaway.

We had planned everything out. We would leave on Sunday after church. Go out into the peak district to a camp site which just so happened to be close to Birchen Edge near Chesterfield. There we would relax, play cards, eat dinner and enjoy each others company. Monday morning we would go out to Birchen Edge where I would boulder away while V chilled out enjoying the beautiful Vistas etc etc. Tuesday come home all relaxed ready for the week ahead.

How it actually worked out was somewhat different. 

We got there late afternoon. It was about a half mile walk to the camp site which isn't too bad but it was up hill and we managed to pack so much stuff it became a 2 trip fiasco. We finally settled down having pitched up and everything. but here is the issue. No waterproofs, no games, no warm clothing, a lighter almost out of gas, no hot drinks, V had lost her hiking boots.

We were pretty much thinking we had made a mistake by not planning properly. I think the words I heard on several occasions were..."what are we doing here? We're so city" and "This was a stupid idea we don't know what we're doing" haha 

BUT we persisted and Sunday afternoon we went for a walk up Birchen Edge and watched the sun set. We spent a stormy night in the tent which said it could fit a double air bed, but didn't say that was all it could fit! So we had all our bags and things piled on top of us. We must have woken up in the night about a million times because the wind was so strong we felt like we would be rolling down the hill in no time.

Monday morning was miserable. unlike the beautiful day before, it was overcast, windy and drizzling I was told very bluntly "You'll never be able to light the stove in this" Being the stubborn man that I am, while V was in the toilet I set about subtly taking the odd rock from the farmers wall to build a shelter for the stove. Then after much effort I managed to get some bacon under way. We had some nice bacon butties while we decided the weather was not what we thought it would be, we didn't have the right clothes for it and so we packed up and came home. We were a little disappointed, I didn't get to climb and we kind of felt like we were copping out but we came home and had a nice day together instead.

The lesson we have learnt it ALWAYS BE PREPARED. so take everything you might ever need.

We still got some great pictures though. The peak district is breathtaking. We loved it and can't wait to go back.

 All of our stuff bouldering mat and all

 before we were aware of what was going to happen.

 loaded and ready to go

 look at the happiness

 our walk to the camp site

 I ended up with most of the stuff.

 The Devil Cow that kept scaring V

 View from the site

 Our ikel tent

 love the peak district

 My beautiful wife.

 Jelly eating without spoons

 I used a fork.

 walk to Birchen Edge

 Top of Birchen Edge

 A contemplative gaze 

 master photos

 I love this Picture thanks V

 Sun setting

Horses in the next field

To close this long post I just want to say how proud I am of my wife. She is a woman who likes her comforts and she really made me proud with how willing she was to try everything that I wanted to do. :) 

Horsing around

Wow it has been far too long since my last post. If I'm honest it has been out of sheer laziness. BUT I am now finished for summer and with that comes all the holiday spirit. We all think of beaches, vacations, waking up at 11am and all these fun things to look forward to.

All my assignments are handed in. All my revision will hopefully pay dividends as I scrap through my exams. I can't help but feel a little anticlimactic. It almost feels like I started my summer holidays last weekend. I was out on a camp with the young men. I say camp... I've never been on a camp like it. When I think of a camp I picture a field in the middle of nowhere. There is nothing but some tents and a freshly dug out toilet. We spend the evening kicking a football around and throwing the Frisbee back and forth. Finally when it gets dark we have a camp fire. Sit around cooking some food, telling stories and finally the YM are sent to bed while the leaders wait for hours on end for them to fall asleep.

Admittedly this final point was not something I really wanted to replicate. But let me describe this camp...

We arrived at the YM presidents house. I'll describe it as this. My dream house. It was in the country. 2minutes from the house was a beautiful rock outcrop. The kitchen was exactly how V and I had planned our dream kitchen, there was an indoor pool with amazing vaulted ceilings. It was a barn conversion like no other. There was unbelievable attention to every detail. It was amazing.

But that's beside the point, actually is really isn't. The evening had a contingency plan of "if it rains we'll sleep in here" We kicked it off with a swim in the pool. Playing games in a nice heated indoor pool, hardly the being thrown into the freezing lake I was used to. After the pool we had pizza delivered. The YM could eat until they were full. We then went upstairs to a huge projector and screen. We watched a film. Only then did we actually go outside. It was pretty warm. The YM were shattered. When we reached our destination we, at 1am, pitched our 2 tents. One for the youth one for A and myself. They were both 3 man tents. We squeezed 5 YM into one while we had the other.

This was now more like the camping I have experienced. I have always been drastically under prepared and it always shows on a night. I had a nastily thin sleeping bag. I forgot a floor mat, and I was wearing shorts. Eventually everyone was asleep. All except one. Then I heard it... either one of the YM has the strangest snore in the world or there was a horse right outside the tent. It was 3 am by this point and for the next 30 minutes I listened as the horse was moving around.

I eventually fell into an uneasy sleep. I woke up every few minutes until around 5.15 when something hit the tent. I was a little confused until 15 minutes later it happened again. There after it started happening more frequently. Until about 5.45 when A finally woke up to what was either a YM pulling some kind of joke or a horse trying to eat the top of the tent. We poked our heads out the door to see that actually there were about 8 horses surrounding us. One kept stamping on the tent and nibbling at it. We shooed them off and woke the YM up with a nice tent shaking.

 

After we had broken camp we had a nice cooked breakfast in the kitchen. What a camp out!

 

This had been set us off. Even V wants to camp out now. I love the outdoors. We have always planned this summer to be a camping summer but I never really thought it would happen. Luckily we have found a camp site in the peaks and we are going to go next week. We are both really excited and can't wait to spend a couple of days camping for real. Enjoying the countryside and not being woken up by a horse. All that remains to be seen is how prepared we really are for our adventures into the wild.

Code and Exercise

Ok so I have officially broken up for the Easter. It’s the first day off of University, I’m settling down to do work. Not the 3 essays and 3 exams I have to prepare for but a spreadsheet I need to create for the RSPCA. Yeah I get it. I am spending valuable time to prepare for university to spend time for a charity. To be honest the only reason I’m doing it is because I have NO experience in the accounting industry. So I put my keen mind to the task of working out what I was going to do about this... I came up with a solution.

The RSPCA! It’s a charity that my father works for, I gave the ol’ man a call to see if he could pull any strings. I got a phone call a couple of months later from the animal home manager here is Derby. I went in and we discussed what it is they as a branch need in terms of accounting/ financial analysis etc. From then on I have been working on something here or there for what they need. My biggest project that is still underway is the spreadsheet that allows the user to input the sales data from either the animal home or the locally run charity shop and then gives different types of analysis from it. For example; the forecast of the following weeks sales figures for different items/ days of the week. It also tells the user if they are improving over the year or if sales figures are falling. I find it all pretty basic. It is done in Excel and by no means looks good. In fact the VBA is some pretty ugly looking code that could be neatened up. Jag strunta det. It works and I by no means profess to be a programmer.

I am however stuck at one particular problem. Following a meeting with a manager she wants to be able to select x date and y date and have it automatically draw a graph, pretty easy I said. Even in terms of then extending it to let you then select multiple Items to graph them against each other. It has now been 3 months and I still haven’t done it. University has piled up to a huge scale and every time I look at the code it should work. But there is a data mismatch somewhere and I just can’t find the problem. I need to get this nailed!

Below is a copy of the code. I know there are glaring mistakes but not being a computer person I can’t see them. Please review and scream at me...

Oh op_date, end_date and Item all refer to the relevant textbox or listbox on the userform.

Private Sub btn_graph_Click()

'declare all the variants that will be needed for the graph

Dim op_date As TextBox ‘start date that the graph should be drawn from

Dim end_date As TextBox ‘the end date that the graph is drawn from

Dim Item As ListBox ‘is a list box with all the items that are required to be viewed in graph form

Dim op_target As Variant ‘target cells

Dim end_target As Variant ‘target cells

Dim item1 As Object ‘target cells

‘select the range where all the dates are kept.

Range("A2:AV2").Select

‘find the address of the cell which holds the start date

For Each op_target In Selection.Cells

If op_target = op_date Then

Find.Address

End If

Next

‘find the address of the cell which holds the end date

For Each end_target In Selection.Cells

If end_target = end_date Then

Find.Address

End If

Next

‘find the address of the cell which holds the Item

For Each item1 In Selection.Cells

If item1 = Item Then

Find.Address

End If

Next

‘draw a graph from the addresses found

Range(op_target, end_target).Select

                 Range("item1").Activate

                 ActiveSheet.Shapes.AddChart.Select

                  ActiveChart.SetSourceData Source:=Range("op_target,end_target")

                   ActiveChart.ChartType = xlLine

                 ActiveChart.Axes(xlCategory).Select

                 ActiveChart.Axes(xlCategory).ReversePlotOrder = True

                 ActiveChart.SeriesCollection(1).Trendlines.Add

                 ActiveChart.Location Where:=xlLocationAsNewSheet

    UserForm1.Hide ‘hide the user form

End Sub

Happy checking!

Oh ps. Dance work out videos... solid! Not in terms of exercise. Although I’m if you do it properly it would. But I just couldn’t keep up! It doesn’t help that I’m totally uncoordinated. But the ab work out is pretty sweet. J It is defiantly worth giving ago. If nothing else but to show how manly you are as they make you stroke your face... lol awkward!