Excursion to Derby

Well, there would have been more, if I hadn't have gone out for Christmas lunch with the office...

Thursday afternoon was quite a useful trip to the Derby Royal Infirmary, Radiotherapy Physics depertment. There is a lower-grade position available, but the section head doesn't know if he has to formally advertise it, and accept new applicaitons, or whether he can appoint from the 'left-overs' from a previous advert (i.e. me and one other!)

It sounds like a good job, and quite interesting. A radiotherapy physicist can get directly involved with patient treatment planning, discussions with doctors about treatment regimes, dose rates, regions of interest and regions to avoid (e.g. eyes, spinal cord etc) along with QA of the linacs*

I (just) have to keep an eye out for the advert, or badger him occasionally.


* - Linac = Linear Accelerator = radiotherapy machines.

Some Anagrams

I thought I's share some topical anagrams with you (from an e-mail I received from What The Papers Say:

David Blunkett - Bland Duvet Kit
President Jacques Chirac - Chap rejects Iraqi dunces
Saddam Hussein - Human's sad side
Steven Gerrard - Grave Stern Red
Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe - Perspire spiffily cheek torturer
Iain Duncan Smith - I Sin and ain't much
Sky Box Office - Bye! Sick of Fox

More later on my outing to Derby...

At last, a lead!

I applied for a job at Derby Hospital back in September, heard nothing for about a month, until I called them and was told they'd be short-listing soon. When I again heard nothing, I assumed I had been unsuccessful. It now turns out that this was partially true.

Charlotte got a random phone call yesterday afternoon at home from a bloke in Derby, so she phoned me, and I (obviously) called him straight back. It turns out that they were wanting two people, one at the upper end of the band, and one lower down, but didn't get anyone suitable with the right training background. I presume that it's taken this long to get permission to employ someone on a training grade, so they called me.

I'm going for an informal chat, and visit on Thursday afternoon, where hopefully, they'll explain what they're after, and I'll explain what I'm after, and we'll meet in the middle somewhere.

:-)

AAAAARRRRGGGHH!

Warning - Rant approaching!

1. Why, in an office that produces SO MUCH paper, is there no recycling facilities (see previous post about the state of the environments!)
2. Why, after paying £3840 for my master last year, am I pulling paper out of lever arch files and binning it in between drinking copious quantities of tea?

AND - why is everyone getting all 'festive' already - Christmas is still over two weeks away!

Also, Why does the word 'Christmas' so often get shortened to 'xmas'? I REALLY hate it when it does. To me, it totally removes the whole meaning of this time of year as a celebration of the birth of a baby boy over 2000 years ago.

I think that's all for the moment!

Christmas is Coming...

Well, as Mad pointed out yesterday, AAARRGGHH December has arrived again, and that means Christmas is coming.

Yester was spent with C wandering around Meadowhell trying to be inspired about what to get people. I think we've now got something for the vast majority of people. I do however need to go back and buy something for Charlotte as I didn't get chance (or even ask for a chance!) to get anything for her. As the aforementioned shopping centre is open 'til 10pm for the next few weeks, I'll pro'lly go over there one evening after work to get something for her.