Who doesn’t like a long weekend?

Long weekend’s, I love them. But that’s easy for me to say as I don’t have to work them at the moment. In the UK they’re called Bank Holidays which has an interesting history and Britpop legends Blur wrote a song about it.

In NSW I was essentially always on call so couldn’t really relax just in case something went pear shaped. In the UK at Carlsberg I was on a 24/7 roster. In my 18 months there I think I worked all the public holidays. In my double life as a project leader and student, all I have to worry about is me, and if I want or need to work over the long weekend in either of my roles I can.

I do appreciate how sucky it is when you see an update from family and friends mates and there’s nothing you can do about it. So if you have worked this weekend I hope it wasn’t too hard, you had some benefits and fun from it.

Vac week. What an interesting concept. No lecture videos to catch up on, no PASS sessions and no tutorials. The chance to catch up and hopefully get ahead of the curve. To be honest I tried, but not very successfully when I consider what I wanted to get done.

With the swimming season over the whole family has been around and doing things with them is far more amusing than restating financial details and reading Chapters 5 and 6. Though I have managed to complete the first draft of my LAWS11030 assignment and finish off my ASS#2 step 1, if you want to read it it’s here. Paul Feasey ASS#2 Step 1

We did go up to Rockhampton see child #1 on campus. Students in Rocky, you are very privileged. What a great campus! The halls are great, the food for the res students is amazing, the sports facilities are great and the gardens are lovely. When I went to Uni the only facility we had was a common room with a TV.

We used the BBQ’s in the gardens for our sausage sizzle. Absolutely fabulous. Public BBQ’s rank in my estimation as one of the greatest societal benefits of all time.

Alice is in a great spot to study. I’m happy she’s there, though she’s got a lot on, with balancing an RA role, adjusting to being an adult, having a social life and intense study. Dentistry is not for the fainthearted or lazy. Very proud of my eldest (takes after her mother in awesomeness)

Family BBQ Easter Friday

As there’s no work today I’ve caught up on some blogs. Amazing how we all interpret the chapters in different ways. Maitland’s blog made me laugh, Lisa has managed to break herself, Kyle is working on centrifuges and sugar, and Caitlin has new cows. This all links into Chapter 5 when Martin starts talking about relationships. As a distance student I doubt we’ll physically meet many of our fellows, but reading blogs does give an insight into how we all tick.

It looks like I’ll be getting some more study time in. I had a great run before parkrun on Saturday morning. Just shy of 8k in the dark and the pouring rain. I haven’t run in the rain or in the dark for ages. The Zombies, Run mission was great and I was soaked to the skin. It was awesome. Though it was a bit painful.

morning run saturday 20 april

About three months ago there were indications that something had come adrift internally. After much abuse by Mrs Feasey and my work colleagues I finally went to the doctors and I have an ultrasound next week. This means unfortunately I’m going to have to stop running for a week. Hopefully it’s nothing too drastic and I can get back out soon. I do get a bit rangry (grumpy due to lack of running) if I have too much of a gap.

This gives me some increased study time. Speaking of which, while everyone else is slowly rising in the Feasey household I’m going to have another cup of tea and read Chapters 5 & 6.

Happy Studies folks.

It all adds up, except when it doesn’t

I have spent an entire evening on my spreadsheet. I’ve watched the videos, more than once. I’ve read the chapter, many times. I’ve looked over Martins examples.

I’ve identified my O’s and F’s. I’ve put all the numbers into all the spreadsheets. I’ve done the checks to ensure that the component parts correspond correctly to the source data. Shouldn’t be a problem. But it is a problem!

The NFA + Equity calculation doesn’t match the NOA! and The total comprehensive income for the year is out as well.

I don’t know why! It all adds up, until it doesn’t and I can’t work it out. I think it’s a calculation error as I’ve a lot of negative numbers in the sheet. I can get it to work, though I’m not entirely sure if I’m going about it the right way. It’s quite possibly a silly error that I’ve overlooked from staring at it for too long. I would like to find it though.

If anyone would care to take a look and guide me in amending the error I’d really appreciate it.

GALLIFORDTRY Company Spreadsheet FEASEY

From desperation comes motivation

In chapter 1 of the study guide Martin makes it really clear that in order to succeed in this course you need to be spending 12.5 hours a week on the subject. I think I have spent more than that just trying to untangle Chapter 4 and that’s before I start on the restated financial statements.

In the study guides I don’t mind a bit of trivia now and again. I do have a passing knowledge of Machiavelli and GK Chesterton, but I’m not going to search out Euclid. To be honest in this chapter these nuggets I didn’t find at all helpful.

A lot of the concepts in Chapter 4 I’m familiar with through experience, having them interwoven with kinder eggs and Ryman Healthcare didn’t help me much. Especially when trying to work out how to play with my spreadsheet.

What I wanted was details of the mechanical process for the spreadsheet, what I got was somewhat different. As I may have mentioned before, if it was easy everyone would do it. So I’ll read the chapter again and watch the video and see how we go.

I’ve got a Law assignment on the go as well and wanted to get at least something on ASS#2 out so I can concentrate on that. So as the title says from desperation comes motivation. What I have attached is probably version 5 of a first draft.

I’m not happy with it. I’m sure it’s rambling, simplistic and misses a hundred points. Take a look, rip it up and tell me where you think I’ve gone wrong. It’ll be a feedback gift I’ll appreciate. I’ll what Studiosity has to say about it as well.

The output of my desperation can be found here. Paul Feasey ASS#2 Step 1

On a more positive note and speaking of motivation. It was a great parkrun this morning with two colleagues from work joining me. Dan worked for me when I was in operations and Kasey is our project accountant. I run with Kasey twice a week and have been encouraging her to get faster, usually by not telling her the pace we’re running at and she’s come a long way since starting regular running in January.

I am really pleased to say that this method of motivation and support has paid off and she ran her fastest 5k at 26:25. Something to celebrate (unlike my draft 😦 )

Happy studies folks.

Chapter 4, what is it good for?

Every time I see KCQ in my head I read this as Keep Calm and Carry On!

Don’t ask me why, I have no idea, but it makes me laugh every time. So keeping calm and carrying on is exactly what I am trying to do.

The feedback on my ASS#1 was to work harder on my KCQ’s which is proving to be a bit of a challenge.

Chapter 4! You are really testing me!

I had four attempts last night to assemble my KCQ’s on chapter 4. The only thing I was certain of is Euclid will likely win me a point in a trivia contest and nothing more.

There is so much information in that chapter and all of it makes sense. The challenge is to make sense of it in the form of KCQ’s. In the end I gave up and restated my SOCIE instead.

Fortunately Step 1 is not due until the 23rd and we have a PASS session this evening. I’m hoping the assembled brains trust will provide sufficient inspiration to get this done.

In the meantime.

acct11059-keep-calm-and-write-kcq-s

Happy Studies!

Keep moving forward*

Come Monday morning all of us should be breathing a sigh of relief at the successful completion of the first assignment. We might even have considered reading ahead and seeing what’s next, or we might not.

I was quite surprised when Gayle popped up on messenger informing the group her ASS#1 had been marked. I hadn’t considered looking as I only put it in yesterday. I went and looked, lo and behold it to was marked and commented upon.

I’m happy with the mark as it stands, though do wonder what else I need to do with KCQ’s to make the marker happy. Fortunately we’ve got a number of opportunities coming up to do just that. With ASS#1 completed, I asked myself the question “what do we do next?” The answer is quite a lot actually.

If you haven’t had a look at ASS#2, brace yourself! ASS#1 was simplicity itself compared to what’s coming over the next 9 weeks. The first challenge being to decipher exactly what is required and when. We’ve all got a lot on and having some clear milestones is a benefit.

What I’ve done for me and I’ll share it with you is tabulate the expectations. I’ve laid it out week by week with study requirements and due dates (if I’ve missed something please let me know). For the full details you’ll still need to look at the full Assignment guide but it may help keep you on track. ASS#2 The Simple Guide

What I’ve also done is quickly knock up the feedback sheets for Step 4 and Step 10.

ASS#2 Step 4 Feedback Sheets

ASS# 2 Step 10 Feedback Form

I consider the best way to succeed in this unit is by planning well, getting ahead of the requirements, really thinking about those KCQ’s and positive interaction with others. If by using my very simple guide helps take away the wonder and worry about what to do next then we all win.

Happy Studies!

walt disney keep moving forward