I'm not married anymore!

I kinda lost interest in this here blog. I mean, no one was reading it. And I'm lazy.

Anyhow, in the two years since I last posted, I've:

• Got a job as a Trainee Accountant at a small local firm. I like the work, they like me, and as soon as they're sure I'm free of the wobblies they'll pay to further my training. Wobblies? read on...
• Passed my AAT.
• Got separated, and moved back in with Mum and Dad. Hence the wobblies. I'm not talking about it - it's water under the bridge, and this blog's about me now. Besides, I have a lovely girlfriend now, who inspires me. I still see the girls regularly.
• Not done all that much to the TR7, but I've recently restarted, now that my ex has cleared the garage in her new home where she's kindly allowing me to keep it.

So I'll try again to keep this blog up to date. I'll use it to document the TR7 work as normal, and also my attempts at writing apps for my Nokia smartphone using Qt.

Tum te tum...

Many sunrises have passed since I last blogged. Not much has happened to tell the truth. I'm a week or so away from my AAT and payroll exams. I think I'm pretty ready.

The jobhunting has stalled, pretty much. I did have a second interview, with a major construction company looking for accounts assistants for a major road project. Needless to say, I didn't get the job. The three people they took on had specific construction industry experience. Fair enough, but it doesn't help me. I do believe that I have made a big mistake looking for a job a year earlier than I had planned. It's coloured my view of my course, and it's made it harder to get motivated to revise. It's strange, because I can do it. There are people out there doing the same course who are in work, and seem to be struggling, or who don't seem to have got it as quickly as I have. It's frustrating.

Lies, damned lies and no statistics at all.

Stepdaughter #1 and I were photographed for the AAT Magazine article today. Which was a slightly bizarre experience. How so?

Well, for a start the dress code was 'smart casual'. Now I'm a jeans and t-shirt or work clothes (which with my work history, tend to be some sort of uniform) kinda guy, and so I'm not entirely sure what smart casual is. I therefore took myself to that high class gentlemen's clothing emporium that is Asda, and bought a couple of polo shirts and a pair of chinos. But Mrs MnG told me that I should never wear shirts with horizontal stripes, as they'll make me look fat. So I put on a grey short-sleeved shirt I already had, and took the polo shirts as spares.

We did three sets of photos. The first set took place in one of the computer suites at college. If you've already done AAT Foundation, you'll know that there's no computer element to Intermediate, so SD #1 doesn't even have a Burton College login. No matter, as Johnny the photographer had carefully arranged the computers to show the bright blue Windows XP login screen, with us sat on chairs in the middle. The next few minutes were a montage of Johnny photographing us, getting SD #1 to smile, and running round wiggling mice.

Next up was in the library, where we were photographed in one aisle, whilst Johnny was in the next aisle, poking his well-endowed Nikon through the books. For composition, don't you know...

Finally, we were shot actually studying, or at least pretending to. I was doodling, then pretending to read a text book, when the fire alarm went off. "Just a couple more shots..."

It was fun, and Johnny told us that he'd got some good shots. And hopefully, some accountant somewhere will see my gurning mug, and think "I'll give that man a job." Possibly. Maybe.

I'm a media star!

Sort of. Kind of. Darling Stepdaughter #1 and I are to be featured in a forthcoming issue of AAT Magazine, as part of a feature about families studying the AAT. Watch this space...

Warning: venting in progress.

I'm seriously getting fed up with looking for a job. I know there's a recession going on, but still. It's just that I've had a couple of knockbacks recently, and it's affecting my confidence.

Knockback one was a phone I had on Monday, the day before I had an interview with a local council. Interview cancelled, due to a recruitment freeze. But it was knockback two that had me in tears of frustration. I saw a job on a well-known recruitment agency's email for an AAT Semi Senior in Leicester. Unusually, this job seemed not to require even the six months experience that trainee accounts positions seem to require. (Why is that? Surely someone looking for a new job with only six months experience is showing a lack of commitment?) So I applied, and unusually for me as I'm not a fan of phones, I phoned the agency to show keenness.

The lady on the other end told me that the client had specific requirements, and that even someone commuting from Loughborough (a town halfway between leicester and Derby, where I live) would not be considered, and so he would not even look at my CV. Apparently he's been burned before by people who commute on the sort of salary a junior accounts trainee would earn.

Well, excuse me, but give me some flaming credit. I know that entry-level accounts positions pay jack all, but we're managing on the mix of NHS student nurse bursary and tax credits we get at the moment, so I'm prepared for the low wages for the right job. I can read, and I do know the relative distances between Derby and Leicester, and I'm prepared for that. Here's the thing. If I wasn't prepared for the commute, I wouldn't have applied!

It's the classic lack-of-experience vicious circle. It has been suggested to me that I write to accountants and offer to do some work experience, or volunteer for charity work. I'm a bit leery of the charity work, as I'm half expecting that once I've done some volunteering that the recruitment agencies will turn round and tell me that the experience is 'the wrong sort of experience'. In addition, there's the question of childcare. If I was being paid child care wouldn't be so much of a problem, as we have got an arrangement kind of set up for if and when I do get a job. But I'm not sure I can get childcare for swanning about like a schoolboy doing work experience with no guarantees at the end of it.

By the way, the study is going fine. In Unit 5, we started overhead absorption. To be honest, I've been told that Intermediate is much harder than Foundation, but that's not my experience. I'm finding it all straightforward and logical. And the same goes for Level 3 payroll. There's another rub. I'm understanding this, and able to do the work. Elsewhere in the class, there's students who are working, and they're struggling. I can do this! Give me a job!

And breathe...

Ein ganzes Jahr

So it's been a whole year since I posted. Sorry, just haven't been arsed. A quick recap:

• Passed AAT Foundation and Payroll (with an A!). Now on AAT Intermediate and Level 3 Payroll, which takes some juggling as two of the classes clash.
• I've been looking for a job since the summer, but with not much success. I have had a few interviews (where they said I interviewed well, but the job still went to someone with more experience), and I have had a four-week stint temping in an office, which was really good. I'm stuck in the no experience vicious cycle, which will take time and persistence to cure.
• Mrs MnG has started on her student nursing.
  
• The TR7 is moving s-l-o-w-l-y. I've mostly got the LH front floor in, and I have all the parts to do the LH rear floor. Trouble is, I've not much time to work in. I have got hold of a big gas cylinder, though.
• We bought a big family tent, a Vango Colorado 800DLX, and we used it at the TR Drivers Club national weekend in July, and the Suzuki Owners Club AGM in Ashbourne in August. We're not in the SOC, but my in-laws are, so they let us camp, and we took the little ones to a nearby agricultural show.

I've found out how I can send pics and posts to this blog from my phone (both by email and by MMS) so you might see more on here. I've also linked Facebook to the blog, so new postings go on as Facebook notes.

Skillz and stuff

I've been busy practising for my first AAT skills test, and it's going pretty well. The only thing that's really giving me trouble is are the 'pay up or else' letters.

I've also signed up for Facebook, as my Auntie Kirsty (she hates that), post pics of her family in New Zealand on there. I've put a Facebook badge on the right. I've managed to get back in touch with many of the people I used to shout at work with at McDonald's. One of them even asked me to be their friend. Cool.

Some good news

Remember my post about fellow TR7 nut Ally's death? Well, her boyfriend Simon's taken over her Triton Green DHC KBA. As we speak it's in to have it's fuel tank replaced. Read his blog here.

In other news, I've been discharged from the shrink. My college course is going so well, that I've gone full time. At the moment I've more money than time, so for 7 hours extra a week, I get my AAT registration and my textbooks paid for. To make up my hours, I'm working my way through CLAiT certification, and doing payroll.

Another one bites the dust

What is it with my course? I went to college yesterday, to find another guy had died. Very sad. On a brighter note, I learned about trade discounts, cash discounts and VAT. Apparently, if a cash discount (for prompt payment) is offered, it reduces the VAT payable. I always thought a cash discount was there to avoid all that VAT nonsense, ifyouknowwhatimean.

Today, I've been fiddling with the website for my wife's business. I've found out that the 'house font' (Tempus Sans ITC) is available on just under 60% of systems, so a quick tweak of the CSS file, means it's used all round the site. I've also installed a CSS buttons add-in, so no more fiddling with Photoshop. If you haven't got Tempus Sans, then the site will try Verdana, so it will look like it did before.

On the TR7 front, I've managed to secure a deal offered to members of the MIG welding forum for a big bottle of Coogar welding gas. At 1.5m tall and weighing 80kg, it should last a fair while. I just have to buy a new regulator and take my paperwork to my local Air Products distributor. I hope it will fit in the car...

Bad things come in twos

It was a shock to hear when I went to college on Monday that one of my fellow students had died over the weekend. Coupled with Ally's death, it's a bit disquieting. People younger than me aren't meant to die.

Other than that, I'm enjoying my course. I'm getting the hang of double entry, and the health & safety stuff I'm learning is a piece of cake after running the H&S circle at MaccyD's all those years ago. And with accounting, not only do I get the good job with the £££s at the end, but I see the £££s all the way through!

Bargain!

The one problem I've found with my Astra is nowhere to put my mobile. There's nowhere to put a stick on holder within reach of the driver, and the ones that clip on the vent rattle too much. That's why I was pleased to find a Brodit Proclip for 99p + postage on Fleabay (They're normally £20!). These are vehicle specific brackets that fix solidly to the dashboard with no screws, using sticky pads and/or jamming into the gaps between dash panels. Brodit also sell phone specific holders that fit to the proclip, but as Mrs MnG has a different phone to me, I'll fix a universal holder to it. It's in exactly the right position for the satnav on my n73. Lovely.

Oh, and I've also enrolled on my AAT Accounting course at Burton College. I start Monday. I'm a student again!