It must be getting easier??

either that or the beer/wine is helping!!

Sunday was another tiring day. Did webcam to Karen/Sarah first thing, it was good to be able to see them. Then it was studying for the first part of the morning, then a quick food shop to stock up for the week, before lunch and then more studying in the afternoon. Went in to the classroom late afternoon to meet up with others and do some lab study. Breaking up the day and different study methods helps.

Went out for a quick chinese (and 1 beer) and then watch a little TV before hitting the sack.

At the Chinese we got fortune cookies. Mine said something like "you will succeed at something that another has failed at", the obvious though around the table (there were 3 of us) was that this meant I would pass the exam. Now here is the deep thought for the day. Given that I don't beleive in luck/fortune telling etc. does this mean that I will pass or fail. If I pass is it down to the fortune cookie, and if I fail is it because I don't believe in them? - answers on a postcard please :P

Today was again lectures and labs, although not quite as deep as last week, or it may be that as it was scripting, which is something I have been doing for the last few months I found it easy. Home for tea and then more studying. I am now on my second glass of wine!!

I am still worried about the exam and qualification lab. I am sure I most probably know it, but will I remember it, so prayers please.

End of second week!

I'm not sure if being the end of the second week is good or bad. I am still not sure I know enough to pass the exam :(

Early finish on Thursday was nice, but it left Friday a bit of a squeeze and today we had a practice exam and then the second half of the migration lab. I am now very tired, although as tommorrow is a day off (ha! ha!) a group of us went out to eat. It now means I still have to catch up with my revision/write ups.

Being very tired also meant no chance of trying to watch the England game, although having scanned the news reports, perhaps that was the best thing.

Tomorrow is a day off, but in fact means study/revision. Most of us plan to get together mid afternoon to do some group work after doing individual study in the morning. Next week is a slightly different week, 3 days of sessions/labs then Thursday is revision day, Firday is exam day (4 hour exam in the morning), Friday afternoon is recovery time before Saturday which is an 8 hour qualification lab. Then retire to a pub to celebrate or drown our sorrows.

I am now just very tired and missing home, but only a week to go.

Early finish!!!

Well sort of.
5pm finished in the classroom, but still had to write up notes/revise. It makes up for yesterday, which was another long day (hence no blog). It does mean I should get some well needed relaxing time later this evening.

I am starting to think I might actual know things again!
It is a strange experience, coming here as an "expert", then realising that you know "nothing" and then learning loads, and realising that you might be an "expert" again.

I am feeling better about the prospect of the exam and qualification lab at the end of next week. I will still need to do loads of revision, but I am starting to feel I might actual know what I need to know. Whether will be able to remember enough to pass is another matter.

Now the big question is can I find a way to watch the England game tomorrow night. (that will be Saturday morning for the UK).

Mango :)

The latest version of Window Phone (codename Mango) has downloaded and installed on my phone :)

For some reason I had some spare time tonight as I thought I had copied the slide decks for today to my laptop, but when I went to look at them to write up my notes they weren't there :( It now means double work tomorrow night. It did mean though that I got to play a little with the update :)

How can time pass so quickly?

Another full on day. The longest (in the classroom) so far. Doug (the instructor) was brilliant, but where did all the time go? We had presentations/discussions for the first part, until 3pm and then went into lab time. Suddenly Doug says it 7pm does anyone need any help before he goes!! I was well into the "extra" tasks by then, but still didn't finish until 8pm.
If was a very clever lab, complex enough without being over complex and also in such a way to keep some things easy. For me it was an area I know well, so I found the lab fairly easy. In fact I spent some time helping out the person next to me.

Then home and time to eat, before revision, was great as I suddenly had a eueka moment, and now I know how to work out Erlangs !! For those not into how voice works (well all the people reading this really) it is a measure of voice traffic that allows you to work out how many phone lines you need.

On the subject of food, I have been staying "relatively" healthy, except today in the canteen I had "junk" food as the queue for the sandwich bar (deli) was very long. For tea it was curry, as I said relatively healthy. We have been doing meat and cook in sauce, pasta/rice type stuff, or meat and veg etc. I would like to know though where you can get Naan bread in the US, as they don't seem to do it in the shops we have been in. We have adapted what they call soft taco, which is like we have as fajita, but Naan and popadoms are no where to be seen (I don't count popodoms which are just Pringle type crisps!!).

A day off ????

Well today was meant to be a day off, and in some ways it was. I did a bit of studying this morning and then went out for lunch, did some shopping, watch some NFL and then a bit more studying. By 5pm I was feeling really tired!! so went and had a lie down for an hour. For those that know me, you will know this is unusual. Some more NFL, evening meal and now watching some TV.
So as a "day off" it has not been too bad, a combination of some studying and some relaxing. but given there is 2 more weeks of this I will be exhausted by the end. I also had a good chat with Karen on the phone this morning, which was a great way to start the day :)

so much in 24 hours!!

I managed to watch the rugby last night, an no not on the porn (pay to view) channel. I rigged up a proxy to the UK so I could watch it on ITV player. (not sure how much spam I will get from the registration, but I used one of my junk email addresses so not to worried). Great game, England playing at last. It meant though I didn't get to bed until 1am :( I really didn't want to get up this morning.

Morning start with a practice test, and that didn't go too well. My only consolation is that was true for others, and also a fair bit was on stuff we plan to cover next week.

We then spent the rest of the day on a migration and merger lab. Basically speding lots of time implementing and fixing things. Very time consuming, and I managed to get to roughly where I wanted to be. (we complete the lab next Saturday). Didn't finish until 8pm though :(

A few of us decided as there is no class tomorrow to go out for a meal rather than eating in. Good idea, we really need some time to relax. Not sure what we are doing tomorrow, but I suspect it will be a combination of revision and some time out.

So the first week is basically over. It has been full on and tiring all week as I expected. I am worried about the test and qualification lab at the end as not many people pass both first time :( but I am coping with the pase.

I have missed not being there for the bible reading, although having the odd facebook update from Anne during the "night" stint has been fun. I like the pictures of the cupcakes Sarah made, again sad not to be there. That being said overall I am fairly happy with how things are going.