New arrivals in the house

My bike turned up! Woohoo. The UK has an excellent government scheme called something like bike-to-work, where the cost of the bike is pulled out of the pre-tax salary over a number of months. Works for me.
I picked it up on Tuesday and am absolutely loving suicidally throwing it around, certainly cuts the travel time to work (15-20mins cf 60min walk). Just went for a nice long ride around the countryside on an absolutely glorious summers day. Down small lanes, including the delightfully named Pudding Bag Lane where I found yet another small cricket pitch. It was a bit exciting at times when tarmac roads turned into very loose gravel while heading downhill, but no harm done. Yet. Found a bike only track heading down to Belton area, watched some cricket and read the paper. Then came back, so a nice 90min ride, 30 min break, and then a very much required shower.
I really had forgotten how much I missed the freedom. The speed, the wind, the sweat (!) - awesome.

I've finally sorted out my network problem, and am redoing my iTunes library this weekend. That's about 24hours of importing. I've done A-M, and am halfway through N-Z. Got some writing to do this afternoon,  but currently I'm considering some lunch and reading the paper.

So here's a picture of it, and some bike themed music.

Love,B

CVs, tips and suggestions

Over the past few years I've had to do a lot of interviews. The current round, this past Monday, drove me nuts. By far the worst session I've had to sit through. I've also been lucky that I've had some excellent role models on how to interview people. Recently I've worked with someone who had done a lot contract worker interviews, and previously I worked with someone who was very good at putting people at their ease (they pulled me in to be the grumpy voice of reason, no idea why...).

What pissed me off the most was one applicant who had an excellently written CV, so we gave them an interview. they barely comprehended English, so obviously the CV was written by an agency. To make matters worse, the first question (the generic, why do you want this job opener), was answered well. But once we got on to job specific questions, we got answers that even sounded coached and generally had nothing to do with the question. No matter how many times we rephrased questions, we got nothing useful. It was a total waste of our time, and reflected very poorly on the applicant.

Also had some idiot who was basically a making up examples on the fly, and not relevant answers. Also talking too fast, with very little content behind the words - think radio DJ.

The role is targeted as an entry (ish) level one, so we weren't too nasty, knowing that for many of the applicants it was probably the first time they've written a CV and probably their first formal interview as well.
But even so you'd expect the following:
- dress well (one guy turned up in t-shirt and jeans)
- look interviewers in the eye (I was particularly looking for this as it's a customer facing role)
- address the (E)ssential aspects in the job description specifically in their application (it's why they are there FFS)
- keep your answers direct, and use personal pronouns
- don't hide things in your CV, put it in the covering letter

Generally the day left me a bit discouraged. We figured that most students wouldn't be looking for employment until later in the year when they are heading back. So we'll advertise again.

It wasn't all doom and gloom, two of them were OK and I could work with them, so we've put them on a reserve list. And one was excellent, exactly what I was looking for. Admittedly their application was good (not great), and if someone hadn't recommended them they wouldn't have got to the interview list (I'd dumped them in the longer shortlist).

If there's one thing doing all this has taught me over the years, is how to structure my own CV and covering letters. Given last time I was applying for jobs, I had 4 interviews from 7 applications (once the tier1 came through), I think it's working.

B

Cooking with Bruce: Spicy Seafood Paella

This started off as a reasonably subtle mussel paella, and it works well as that. However I was feeling a bit more spicy this evening and it worked perfectly. Obviously being paella, you can dump anything in it, I used fish and some prawns.

300gm fish chopped into squares
1/4c white wine (or white wine vinegar)
1.5c fish stock
olive oil
1 medium onion chopped
3 cloves garlic chopped
1c arborio or carnaroli rice
1t paprika
1t spicy cajun mix of your creation
2t oregano
2T chopped parsley
few strands of saffron
grind blackpepper
tabasco sauce

(yes ok, I made up some quantities there)
1.preheat oven to 220C, mix the white wine and stock.
2. on a medium heat fry the onion in olive oil under it goes clear
3. add the rice, spices (incl saffron), garlic, black pepper anda bit of salt and mix until the aromas develop.
4. pour in stock and boil for about 5 minutes until it's kinda gloopy.
5. add the seafood, mix for a bit. Then pour into a pan and bake for 15 minutes.
6. remove from the oven and let it rest for 5 minutes before devouring.

Admittedly, given how hot it is here, a salad may have been a better plan.

Love, chef B

Zombie reviews

A few weeks ago a three pack of zombie movies for a fiver popped up on Amazon, based on previous purchases or browsing. A fiver seemed a good price, and so I ended up with these three. I'm currently suffering a dose of patriotism(homesickness) and typing this while gearing up to watch the NZ game against Italy while listening to the prog-metal band Redemption.

Days of Darkness: the rise of the flesh-eaters
It looks cheap. Even from a b-grade perspective. Dialogue is stilted, actors seem confused, and it's essentially a box-ticker based on the Romero zombie list. The characters take their cliches and stumble enthusiastically through the clumsy script. There is tension, there are issues, love, babes, babes with guns, black guy. Oh and it drags,badly.
On my b-grade scaling it's a solid 5. Quite watchable, but make sure you have some booze and food. And kudos to the director for making an 86min movie seem too long.

Next up was The Zombie Diaries, advertised as 'the best UK horror film of the year' and 'dark, uncompromising and frighteningly real'.I can only assume it was a weak year for UK horror. If Days of Darkness dragged, then this grabbed me nuts and dragged them over rusty nails. The plus side: the zombies act well. The downside:everything else. Interesting concept, post-zombie apocalypse some video diaries are found. You'd think that should provide an excellent movie, or at least a base for one. Nope. 81mins of oh god I want more booze. It's not just me, S2H was online while I was watching and laughed at me having sat through it previously. I think this one has to hit 2 or 3 on the viewing scale. It really was painful. There's deleted scenes on the DVD, and I haven't gathered the courage to view them, suspecting that it's unlikely the good movie is hidden there.

And finally, Zombies Zombies Zombies which managed to give away the entire plot onthe cover 'Strippers vs Zombies'. Bad scientist invents zombie causing serum, which is grabbed in place of crack, gets into human population. And then focusses on the strip club, where everyone decided to hide. I've watched similar movies to this, that were good (Zombie Strippers being the easiest to find). This one falls flat.No real character development or plot, but it does hang together ok. There's a bit of humour in it, but nothing great. Many characters introduced and not actually used, or developed, or taken anywhere.
Probably the best of the three, let's give it a 6.

And at 1-0 in the football, I am going to pay attention to it.

Love, B

Dear England

Dear England,

I think you need to realise that the last two games do accurately reflect your teams ability.
Rather than getting hurt anymore, I'd like to offer a solution - in the spirit of our shared commonwealth past.

Come join us and support New Zealand.

We celebrate everything, team turning up, team running out, team having the ball, and in the more unlikely events, team scoring, team drawing, and the soon to be revealed, team winning.

Here's a guide to NZ football/soccer support:

1. We don't care. Football is a game for penguins and thalidomide babies who can't play rugby.
2. Our hair gel requirements are lower, so team can move faster.
3. Yell loudly, and if anyone harasses you, say you're Australian
4. The objective of the game is to not pick up the ball. Everything else we achieve is a win.
5. Rewards will be great (2500:1 odds).
6. Knowing more than two players is an anathema.
7. Dan Carter could win the WC2010 on his own.
8. Girls play soccer. So our players deny even being at training.
9. Try not to chant 'Hurricanes, mooloo, Can-terr-bree', it's not the done thing.
10. In this case, it is kick it to pass it. Please ignore Air NZ NPC ads.
11. We don't care. Football is a game for penguins and thalidomide babies who can't play rugby.

Love and hugs to the deluded English,
B.

Might track this down

Vampire Girl vs Frankenstein, it's a response to Twilight apparently ;)

Rugby summary

Good weekend for the Southern Hemisphere, and the one Northern team I will be seen supporting.

NZ decimated the Irish. At 38-7 at halftime, the final score of 66-28 was distinctly flattering to the Irish. Two late tries brought some respectability, but really, dunno why they came over.

Aussie v England, where to my surprise I was supporting the Aussies. Well I guess they play decent rugby.   English didn't deserve to win, and no surprises, they didn't. This brings Martin Johnson's record, if one can call it that, to P22 W8 D1 L33, a win percentage of 36%. I know they have a crap team, but surely the coach, who is also head selector, should go. His selections do seem rubbish, and lead to a stilted boring, predictable play.

SA v France. Only caught highlights, but this years 6 nations champs collapsed to a 42-17 loss to SA.

And yay Scotland, who beat the Puma's 24-16. See I said they were the best team in the 6 nations, if not the best or most consistent.

me

mole mole mole

There's an epidemic out there! There are moles!Invading moles!!! Moles digging massive holes (thanks Mercury Rev). They've come to turn our dirt over!

Seriously, there's a mole epidemic out there.

Currently trying to avoid the world cup, well the other world cup. It's all a bit tricky, thankfully I don't watch too much TV so it's not affecting viewing much. The first English game was last night, I escaped by going to Four Lions the Chris Morris jihad-comedy. We need more of those. Then my favourite pub doesn't show sport, so that solved post-movie refreshments.
Now I'm not against football, I've grown to realise it is pretty boring, but I do watch it occasionally. However the overt nationalism here kinda turns me off it. Felt odd, but I was supporting the US. Heehee. There's also St Georges flags up everywhere, marking the neanderthals out for easy avoidance. They usefully mark out their cars, sometimes with two flags (for the slower idiots), this is something I'm not used to. We just don't have flags flying, even during AB matches. Odd. Oh well, NZ are 2500:1 to win the World Cup (boring version)which maybe worth a punt.

me.

Sedentary Sports I won't try

Some sports are good. Some sports involve sitting down doing very little. Some sports involve sitting down doing nothing at all while your skin bubbles away (literally). This the sport of the Sauna World Championships. It's a Finnish sport, explaining why the word 'extreme' isn't prefixed, for this maybe one of the few examples where I would wholeheartedly support its use.

The sauna is set at a balmy 127C, and descriptions of the contests include:
He was the first out, at 4:15, and he was melting like the wicked witch. His forehead, his lips and his ears were giant lumps of pus. His triceps were riddled with pebble-size blisters, dozens of them.


Read all about it here. go on. 

Whisky: 21 yo Mortlach

Been awhile since we had a whisky review, I must fix that. I shall gather the forces and find some whiskies to taste.


Mortlach 21yo Gordon and Macphail 43%

Nose: rubber, cut grass, sherry?, sweet

Palate: honey, sweet, masses of raisins, thick, incredibly smooth, quite delicate, some hint of sherry

Finish: raisins, unbelievable amounts of them, medium, intriguing, and heat grows after a taste or two.

This is the one that hooked me back in late 90s. I've had many more whiskies since then - even some Mortlach (Adelphi, SMWS, etc.), but I thought it would be nice to revisit the 21yo.  So is it worth it? well yes and no. In comparison to many I've had it's lacking complexity and the raisins are very prominent. This may reflect the absence of a cask strength whisky, compared to that a 43% will generally come up short (and yes, we all know the standout exception). The good is definitely that this whisky is going down very very easily, by god it's so smooth. It's very easy drinking, and as an initial malt, I don't think I could have gotten better. Rating: 7.5 or 8/10.