~Back To Uni....Sort Of~

There's little that gives me more satisfaction (well, apart from the obvious things **nudge, nudge, wink, wink, say no more**) than learning new things.

I've spent 5 out of the last 7 years on part-time college courses. Obviously, I didn't do them for thier own sake. There was the ulterior motive of building a personal training business.

I would have liked to have enroled on an aromatherapy course this year, to broaden the scope of my massage service, but I simply couldn't afford to lose another weekday eveinig to do it.

My 'CYQ Level 3' qualification had a 4 week module about nutrition, but didn't go into as much detail as I would have liked. It's one area in which I would really like to study in some detail.

So....

I've decided to enrol on an Open University course in 'Understanding Human Nutrition'. The OU courses are pretty flexible in that you work from home, with your learning materials being mailed to you and available online.

I may well qualify for a fee concession too....which is nice...:-D


TODAY'S MOOD: Scholarly

SOUNDTRACK: T-Rex - 'The Groover'

Marc Bolan, he who weren't no square with his cork-screw hair, once wrote a song about me.....

I'm The Groover honey......



FOOTNOTE: I'm going to pick up the newly repaired Bad Boy now too....deep joy.....:-)

The Petrol-Legged Groover

~Flacid~

The Bad Boy is more poorly than I first thought.

He's been in the shop today to have his rear shock-absorbers replaced.

However, the shock-absorber mounts need replacing too. Unfortunately, the only place the mechanic can get them from is BMW, who can't get them to him until Tuesday.

So, it appears that my rear suspension will be knocking away until the middle of next week.

It's also going to cost me an extra 60 quid. Thankfully, the guy isn't going to charge me any more for labour because he can replace the mounts as he's replacing the shock-absorbers.

I can't believe I just wrote that...it musy have been SOOOOOOOOO boring to read.


TONIGHT'S MOOD: Disappointed

SOUNDTRACK: The Dandy Warhols - 'Bohemian Like You'

The 'uncensored' version, featuring gratuitous shots of a rather shapely young lady laying on a skateboard and of a particulaly gaunt, pasty-looking young man with a flacid penis and slightly disturbing pubic hair.



FOOTNOTE: Ooh ooh ooh......

The Keep-It-In-Yer-Pants-Son Groover

~Liberation~

I'm still a member at the 'Fitness First' club that I used to work at.

I had a chat with one of the Personal Trainers there yesterday about the state of the PT business within the club. It reminded me (if I needed reminding) of why it wasn't for me.

I spent 12 years at various levels of management, the last 7 of which were spent as a logistics manager for 'Lear Corporation'.

I never felt truly at home within the corporate environment. I hated all of the brown-nosing and office politics that went on. I managed to keep most of it at arms length, but it's impossible to not get drawn into the fracas at some point.

When I went into personal training, one of the main attractions for me was the feeling of getting out of the rat race. I'd got no boss to answer to, no conterparts trying to undermine me.....bliss.....

However, once I'd settled in at 'Fitness First', I realised that the rat race was very much alive, only this time it was FAR, far worse that before.

Now there were a dozen other self-employed PT's, all scrambling after the same pool of clients. The fact that we were only allowed to train clients who were club members made it a closed shop as far as potential business went. The scale of the bitching, the gossip and the back-stabbing was truly biblical.

Obviously, now I'm freelance, I still have competition from other PT's in the area, but at least my success or failure depends on me, my own marketing skills and my own ablilty, rather than my enthusiasm in sucking up to the boss and shafting my colleagues.

Rock 'n' Roll.....

Well it ain't noise pollution mate!



TODAY'S MOOD: Liberated.

SOUNDTRACK: AC/DC - 'Rock 'n' Roll Ain't Noise Pollution'



FOOTNOTE: Life is good.....well....most of the time....

The Free-Lance Groover

~Eureka!!~

An explaination.....

Last night I thought I'd cracked the YouTube 'embedding disabled by request' conundrum.

At first, all seemed well; there was a still of the video in the embed window.

Unfortunately, my merriment was cruelly dashed when I clicked on the video to play it.

Have a click yourself.....


TODAY'S MOOD: Thwarted.

SOUNDTRACK: Velvet Revolver - 'Slither'

Well, it would have been :-/



FOOTNOTE: Grrrrrr.....

The Foiled Groover

~On The Mend, Finally~

I've had a pretty grim few days.

They culminated in my having to call the NHS Direct helpline last night, then driving over to Birmingham for a midnight appointment at an NHS centre to see a doctor about my rapidly inflaming throat.

He examined me and gave me a course of antibiotics to take, which seem to be working wonders so far.

I had a badly inflamed right tonsil and glands on the right side of my neck, apparently. I couldn't even swallow my own saliva, it was so swollen.

I've actually managed to eat solid food today, which was nice :-)


TONIGHT'S MOOD: Thankful for the NHS.

SOUNDTRACK: Joy Division - 'Shadowplay'



FOOTNOTE: People knock the NHS, but I didn't have to put my hand in my pocket ONCE for anything they did last night.

The Thankful Groover

~What To Do?~

I was just getting used to it here at blogger.

I was learning to manipulate my page.

I liked that I could type my post in HTML rather than use a restrictive editor.

I had found a decent proportion of the ex-JSers.

I also liked the fact that there are so many other journals here besides the ex-JSers.

Then the 'new' JS appears.

It looks like the bastard son of MySpace and FaceBook (while one of them was having a fling with WordPress).

I opened an account there, but I'm not sure whether I'll be using it much yet.


TODAY'S MOOD: Curious

SOUNDTRACK: The Teardrop Explodes - 'Reward'



FOOTNOTE: I wonder if anyone will actually read this today?

The Undecided Groover

~Hit By A Train~

I'm lucky enough to rarely be ill.

Even when I am, it's not often that I have to give in to it.

When I had to have my broken right foot pinned back together a few years ago, I still managed to get around pretty much normally.

However, I've picked up a flu/cold type thing over the past couple of days and, I have to admit, I feel like I've been hit by a train.

One of my CLIENTS actually finished her session early today because, in her words; 'you look like death warmed up'. Luckily, she's one of my hard-core clients, so it won't be a black mark against me professionally.

I had an inkling that something was afoot ealier in the week when I got a cold-sore on my lower lip. If I get a cold-sore, it usually means that I'm coming down with something.

I've got my Uncle's 60th birthday bash to attend tonight, so I think I may well try to get some kip this afternoon and see if I can reduce the size of that train!


TODAY'S MOOD: Sickly

SOUNDTRACK: Paul Hardcastle - '19'

This came up in conversation earlier today. I hadn't seen the video in years, so I thought I'd have a gander on YouTube.

It's still as disturbing today as it was back in '85.



FOOTNOTE: Things never really change, do they? :-/


The Under-the-Weather Groover

~Swings & Roundabouts~

It's been a day of swings and roundabouts.

I picked up 2 new clients.......which is nice :-)

But I also lost a client because her hubby has been made redundant :-(

I also lost an evening's work at the gym I go to on Monday and Thursday evenings because the January 'New Year Resolution' rush is yet to materialise and there wasn't a single client booked in :-(

I've got that achey-flu feeling coming on too, so it's 2 ibuprofen and bed for me, I think.


TONIGHT'S MOOD: A poorly sausage

SOUNDTRACK: The Stone Roses - 'Fool's Gold'



FOOTNOTE: In one hand, then right out of the other **sigh**

The Achey Breaky Groover

~Settling In~

I have to say that I'm getting rather fond of 'Blogger'.

Now I've found out how to tinker with things, it's much better than I first thought.

I just wish I knew how to increase the width of my entry column. It's a tad narrow for my liking.

I've looked at the HTML, but I can't find the tag to change it :-/


TONIGHT'S MOOD: Alcoholic

SOUNDTRACK: Suede - 'She's In fashion'

Whatever happened to these guys?

They did some classic stuff back in the mid-to-late 90's.



FOOTNOTE: This 'Teacher's' is going down a treat....

The Satisfyingly Busy Groover

~Oh Bugger~

What a wonderful way to start the New Year....

I had to get the nice man from the RAC to rescue me and The Bad Boy yester-evening.

It would appear that the suspension on the rear passenger side is 'buggered', to use the technical term.

What a pisser.....


TODAY'S MOOD: Not a happy bunny.

SOUNDTRACK: Chris Rea - 'Road To Hell'



FOOTNOTE: Looks like spending a jolly afternoon phoning around getting quotes :-/

The Perturbed Groover