A bed of roses

CIO's line manager asked for help with filling in a spreadsheet showing all our current projects (all stages) from the Strategy Support Office - so CIO delegated it to me and the Portfolio Manager. I took a look, shuffled a couple of lines around, updated all the lines, added a column (in response to something CIO's LM asked for) and filled in the exec sponsor column.

Portfolio Manager complained later that it was a complete mess and there were projects shown in 'discovery' that are really in 'delivery', and they were going to have to spend loads of time on Monday getting it all right. Remember, this is after I, the Keeper of the Portfolio, had edited it. I was going to let them do whatever they wanted. After all, they are technically the 'owner' of the portfolio (hence their job title). Part of the problem is the definition of 'delivery' - to them, it means 'a PM has been assigned', so they will declare a project is in delivery that hasn't even got an agreed scope! But, according to our new framework (which they have seen and signed up to!!!), delivery only kicks in when we start development; before that is discovery.

On the way home, I decided I'd have another go. After all, there were lines under 'discovery' that are really 'pre-discovery' - they've been signed off by the prioritisation body but there's no PM assigned. So, I split off the pre-discovery stuff and added a bit of explanation under the group headings. I also trimmed back the updates, so it's at least possible to read them. I then resent the spreadsheet to CIO and Portfolio Manager with an explanation of the headings being in line with the framework. Hopefully, Portfolio Manager will appreciate my efforts.

I also had a meeting with former LM and their new report about a slide deck I created a month ago - although it had completely gone out of my head because a) I've slept since then and b) I've had a lot of head-changes. Anyway, between us we worked out what information it was trying to show and what we needed to do to update it with their information. It's one of CIO's brainwaves that makes perfect sense to them, gets thrown to me to make something of it, and then I have to explain it to everyone else. Anyway, the discussion was really helpful and I've updated the slides and resent them, moving the deadline from tomorrow to next Friday - at which point it goes back to the CIO to decide what to do next.

Then there was a project board, followed by writing minutes to FFVII OG OST <3 As I was about half-way through, one of the PMs came over asking why they couldn't assign a resource to a task. Turned out they were searching on first name and this person was listed under surname. For some user records, either works; for others, you have to be precise. Stoopid system is stoopid.

Before I could get back to the minutes, LM asked me about my objectives from last year and the new ones they wanted to give me for this year. Which is all great - but it's a conversation for my annual review! 'Can I close these off, then?' NO!!! We will discuss it properly, and sign them off properly, at. my. review! Love that they love working with me, love that they want to get my new objectives set up early - but there's a PROCESS here...

Got back to the minutes, sent them to the PM who signed them off, updated the action list and sent the minutes on to the chair.

This afternoon, I decided to look up a review of the BG&E Remaster - and found Rosie from Playstation Access was doing a livestream! She was accompanied by Amy, who has been doing 'behind the scenes' work at Access for a while but has been getting front of the camera a bit lately - and loves BG&E so much she has a tattoo of Jade! I threw up a few comments, including saying I had to head off - and not only did I get a 'goodbye, Rosa' but a discussion on whether Heartlily is a reference to Rinoa! It almost makes up for Rob missing my comment about my birthday on Dave's livestream a few weeks ago - he signs 'Happy Birthday' as Gollum; it has to be seen to be believed.

When I got home, I ran down to the neighbour's house to collect grandson #1's book.

After tea, I made a bit of progress on Tunic. Used the guide to find some secrets, uncovered another all by myself! It really does pay to try walking through every wall and behind every column in that game.

And I rounded the day off with a couple of episodes of Psych - a murderous lesbian and street racing.

Had a really nice walk with husband this morning. Warmer than yesterday but still quite overcast. We walked past the Uni of's student encampment to protest the war in Gaza. Power to you, brothers and sisters!

When we got home, the pots and soil for my bonsai had arrived. Husband bought me a 'grow your own bonsai' kit for my 50th and of the many, many seeds in the kit, only two have made it to this point. I had to disentangle the roots because the pots they were in had got so full of weeds - I'm sorry, little trees! But each is now in its own proper bonsai pot, its roots wrapped around a stone from the garden, because those are the type of bonsai I like best. I've always been fascinated by miniature things - dolls houses, bonsai, tiny boxes.

Grandson #1 bought me a 'grow your own flowers' kit for THIS birthday, and I've planted some of the sweet pea seeds in the tin cans (washed out and painted red) that are scattered around the 'frog pond' - which is a green ceramic bird bath with a ceramic frog in it that USED to be a fountain until the solar panel gave out. I've given up trying to get sweet peas to climb around the fence because it just doesn't get enough sun, but these seeds are in a nice sunny patch, so hopefully they'd trail instead!

On the other hand, the ivy growing around the old gate really doesn't mind being in the shade! In a year or two, we'll forget there IS a gate there, I think :D

Then husband and I sat in the garden in the sunshine and just enjoyed our green space. We work on it in patches and fits of enthusiasm but it's a precious little oasis that we both love.

I think I've finally hit a metaphorical wall in Zau. I've got a skill that lets me freeze water, which caused some frustration, but I could see what I needed to do - it was just a case of doing it at the right millisecond. But now I've got to jump and dash and jump and dash over a patch of sharp rocks, with more sharp rocks in the ceiling. If I wait too long to jump, I land in the lower rocks. If I jump too soon, I hit my head on the ceiling. And if I get across, Zau doesn't seem to want to do the final dash, so I land in the lower rocks right next to the solid ground on the other side. This is why I don't platform! And why I'm unlikely to put myself through the Plat because I might have to redo stuff like this. If I don't get across it tomorrow, I will admit my chat buddy is right and it is Too Hard and watch a LP, instead.

I've just watched the first part of a series about new excavations in Pompeii. They found a house with builders' tools laid out neatly in one of the rooms and brand new roof tiles stacked in the entrance hall, and decided they must have been undergoing renovations following the earthquake 17 years earlier. They also found a fresco showing what looks very like a pizza! You can take a virtual tour of Pompeii here - Pompeii | BBC Partnership (open.ac.uk). History is another of my many interests :)

And that's all for now. Tomorrow's pleasures beckon :)

Daughter rang to say they were going to visit this afternoon to bring husband's birthday present down. Well, daughter, sil and grandson #2 did come - but left the present behind. She's got maternity brain <_< We had fun with the baby, telling him all the animals on our shelves (elephant, cat, dolphin, another elephant, another cat, the first elephant) and watching him stand unaided whilst he wasn't thinking about it. He also walked quite a few steps from one person to another - then went back to crawling to get across the room :D At one point, he tried to get something out of the bin and all four adults said 'no!' in various tones of disapproval, which shocked him into tears. ;( Then our son came in from work and tried putting his leather coat around the baby which scared/shocked/something him again - daughter had just been telling us how he doesn't like being wrapped up and won't have a blanket on at night, so maybe it was that? - which had him in tears again. THEN I wiped his nose a little too enthusiastically (he's ALWAYS got a runny nose - thanks, nursery) and he cried AGAIN. We decided we'd seen more tears from him in a 90 minute visit than his whole 15 months put together! But he was all smiles and cuddles again before he left. So, husband will have to wait for the family meal next Sunday for his present. I did a roast dinner for tea tonight, which met with general approval. Tomorrow, I make my patented chocolate orange marble cake - yummy! I've also played quite a bit of Carto, today - I have 5 trophies for completing chapters. There are also some 'hidden' trophies, none of which I've managed to obtain. I usually leave checking out hidden trophies until the end of the game to avoid spoilers. It's one of those games that requires a certain amount of lateral thinking at times but the answers are always there. It is also very creative, with bits of the map being reused to provide new puzzles. It's definitely a good 'downtime' game after the gloom and anguish of FFXVI - and it has a nice cartoony style that will age very well. And now I'm heading to bed. I've got tomorrow off work, so I've turned the alarm off, but I want to spend some quality time with the husband as well as making that cake!

Monday, the husband cooked and washed up all day. The only thing I needed to do was play LoD and make chocolate orange fairy cakes in lieu of birthday cake.

Otherwise the week is a bit of a blur - but a whole week off can be like that. There were walks with the husband and a bit of tidying up in the garden - and a lot of LoD :D

I also watched 'Queen Cleopatra', which was interesting. And the second series of 'Welcome to Eden', which continues to be intriguing; looking forward to the third.

Last night I watched 'Films Stars Don't Die In Liverpool'. Most of the filming was done in Liverpool, which managed to stand in for London AND New York :D

And today it's 'Last Night in Soho' - love Anya Taylor Joy <3.

Today is the husband's birthday <3

Yesterday, we had the family over to celebrate both our birthdays (mine is just over a week away). We provided lots of food - some of which got eaten. My mother produced a very nice cake that went down very well.

Grandson #2 is now three months and becoming much more interactive. He just gets more and more adorable.

Husband and I took some of the leftovers out for a long walk around the parks, enjoying the warmth and sunshine. The bit of Sefton Park that we always referred to as The Fairy Dell has been changed :( But we did some reminiscing about the Peter Pan statue and the pirate ship.

I've hired a Rug Doctor again. The rugs in the living room and the stairs have been cleaned - just the landing to do. But I may go over the rugs and stairs again. And I really want to do the couches. I hired it for 48 hours but had it delivered on Thursday, meaning it doesn't go back until Tuesday thanks to the weekend AND May Day bank holiday.

Yes, my life is that exciting :D

Bank Holiday Monday meant that last week was another short one.  It turned into one of those weeks that look quiet at the start but somehow fill up as they go along.

Another pebble (or it might be half a mountain, we're not sure yet!) has been chucked into the pond that is our Big Important Project.  Basically, the business want to put information into the system that it isn't designed to hold, but made the decision without consulting the project team.  Just instructed the relevant person to add the records to the list.  And they just did it, without any pushback or passing the information on.  They are also not embracing the system with whole-hearted enthusiasm, meaning that they will probably never use it to its full advantage.  But that's on them - our job is just to implement the damned thing.

This comes on top of a throw-away comment about changes to the university's regulations - but they won't impact the project.  Well, technically, no - they apply to assessment and the new system manages programme structure, so they're at different ends of the student journey.  BUT the people who will have to manage the fallout on the MAIN system where the changes will have to be made are the same ones who are helping to integrate the two.  So, there'll be a personnel impact.  Same person (who has been at the university longer than me!), apparently oblivious to any connections.

*facepalm*

The other Big Important Project (with a side order of anything between Quite Scary to Absolutely Fucking Terrifying) continues to gather momentum.  Here, we're looking to build a system that tracks where students are in one of two basic scenarios - doing a work placement or studying abroad for part of their programme (including foreign nationals coming here).  On the face of it, managing the two groups looks pretty similar - but as someone pointed out to me this week working and studying are not the same thing.  So, we might want one system that holds ALL the data for both groups (and can handle blank fields) OR two completely separate ones.  And the governance structure for the project will reflect that.  There are pros and cons for having one or two project boards in both scenarios, actually.  I shall ask the project manager what they think on Monday.

And next week is another short one!  It's the husband's birthday on Friday, so I've taken the day off.  And I'm off all the week after because it's the Bank Holiday week.  Very much looking forward to a nice, long break :)

I finished work on Wednesday and have already had two nice, quiet days.  And a whole week stretches ahead with promises of cleaning and gaming.

Thursday was the husband's birthday, so I made my signature chocolate and orange marble cake (still haven't quite cracked the marbling... ) and we had a take away for tea.

Yesterday I thought I was getting my first jab but I hadn't done the booking properly, so I got all the way out to Speke and had to come all the way back again.  But I did have some stuff to do in town, so I did that then got my money's worth out of the bus ticket by getting the bus home :D

So, now I'm visiting the site every day to try to sort it out properly *sigh*  I'm not really in any rush, since I'm not going out very much and not desperate to do so.

Today, I'm going to leave doing any cleaning because I'll be doing that all week, but I desperately need to do my washing and the sun's out, so that's my main task.  There will be time for TT, too, of course!

And I also discovered that Nathan Fillion is The Rookie.  How did I not know this before?!  I was aware that the programme existed but not who the star was.  Anyway, I am rectifying the situation by watching the first series, which I am enjoying A LOT.  Love all the characters, the acting and writing are really good - it's just REALLY good.  Lost Girl (which I took a while to warm to, anyway) will have to wait.

So, that's where we are at the moment.

Next week's update will probably be on Sunday so I can tell you all about how wonderful my birthday was :D

The oven is now a LOT cleaner and there's a cleared patch in the garden awaiting some of the plants that are currently in pots.  I really want to plant some snowdrops, but I think I've missed the window this year.  I'll be more organised next year.  But the daffodils are coming along - every time I look at them they've grown a bit.  And the grey wagtail has appeared again - I am ridiculously happy about seeing her.

I've also posted story #55 for 70x700.  I might even have an edit done of the whole thing by the end of the year!  And I don't think it will need much in the way of editing, bth.

Our Lent services are - fun?  Is 'fun' a good word for Lent?  We're doing a sort of Lent Wreath idea, so we have six little envelopes with 'something' inside.  Last week, it was a piece of purple ribbon to represent 'journey', then we were asked to find something personal that represented our Christian journey.  I found I still had the acorns the previous Rector gave out at his final service 5 years ago.  He was telling a story about a man who'd planted trees in a barren valley and brought it back to life, but acorns are also a symbol of St Bride.  So the acorns represent my church, my call, growth, beginnings, my love for the previous Rector, and the transition to the current Rector.

Really looking forward to seeing what's in tomorrow's envelope!

We also have a morning prayer liturgy with daily readings from 1 Corinthians.  The most recent passage included a reference to 'immorality' and 'homosexuals' but I'm putting that down to the translation I'm using.  My understanding is that NT references to 'homosexuality' refer to power relationships and male prostitution.  And maybe St Paul did mean anyone who comes under the LGBTQIA+ banner - but he was a flawed human like the rest of us.  Whatever, in 2021, I don't believe God cares WHO we love - God cares about HOW we love.

I am (quite slowly) reading 'Lorna Doone' for the first time.  Geez, I wish it would GET somewhere...

And continuing to watch 'Marvel's Runaways', which has lots of interesting relationships and intertwinings.  Alex recently referred to himself as the NPC in everyone else's MMORPG :D

AND - tomorrow is my daughter's 33rd birthday.  I shall send her a picture of the little green spikes that WILL BE her tulips. <3

Right, time to get moving.  Bye for now, DW!

So, today is officially a day for celebration because my baby boy is 30!  There will be take away food from an actual restaurant (Smoke & Dough, which we're trying for the first time) AND cake!

On the other hand, I've just found out the driver who killed our niece has been given 9 months in jail and a 2 year driving ban.  Justice?  No.  And a bit of a pall thrown over our son's day :(

Just listened to the end song of last year's adaptation of 'Emma' (which you must see if you have the chance - it's a brilliant film!), which was written and sung by the chap playing Knightley!  It's called 'Queen Bee' and I recommend it.

Had a bit of a week at work, partly due to the fact that everyone else had been in work a week longer than me and partly because the technology decided to be arsey, just when I needed it to be faultless. 

And something a bit disconcerting...  A data breach has been discovered in an old SharePoint site I set up but for a project I had next-to-nothing to do with.  Someone (NOT me!) added 'Everyone' to the permissions list giving anyone in the university access to some staff details that should be firmly locked down.  I'm not sure if I'm liable for this...?  It looks like nothing bad has arisen from it and the only person to have stumbled across the information has reported it - but it's had to be reported by the university to whoever we report this to.  The potential seriousness only settled on me gradually but it's left me slightly concerned.

But today is a day for celebration.  And cake.  Definitely cake!

So, two things have contributed to the feeling that my bedroom needs to be reorganised.  One is live streaming (both work meetings and leading A Taste of God), and the other is the larger telly.  I have a plan in my head but I have no idea if it's going to work until I try it.  At the very least, I'll get to clear out the stuff that really doesn't belong in here, AND the room will get a proper clean.

Work continues to tick along and I really could get used to the idea of working remotely on a permanent basis, at least for part of the week.  And especially if I get a job that requires commuting.  Next Wednesday is insane in terms of meetings but that's because I had to get them all in before i disappear for a week and a half.

For my birthday, I've settled on 'Dreams' as my 'big' game, with 'Candle: Power of the Flame' and either 'Tacoma' or 'Shape of the World' as the smaller ones.  'Bear with Me' and 'Waking Violet' are currently on sale, so I feel like I'd like to get them just because.  Oh, and 'Journey' - I should get that while it's free.

And that's life at the moment.  Now I'm off to do some more washing because there is sun and wind!