Just thought I'd post a bit of a piece before bedtime. I've been busy tracking down my old blog articles and getting them on here so that they're all in one place. They're mainly about World of Warcraft and Guild Ravenswing (which I was a senior officer of, whether I am or not I'm not sure bearing in mind that I haven't logged in for a number of months!)
I've got quite an interesting week up ahead of me which I'm looking forward to. I've got three days at work (mostly in the office no less - it is something of a standing joke that even when I'm "at work" I'm not in the office!) which includes Wednesday afternoon meeting the Construction Sector Network and the Association for Project Management to discuss an initiative that I'm involved with called G4C.
G4C (Generation For Change) is an initiative to gear up the future leaders of the construction industry with the skills and knowledge that they need to revolutionise the industry. I'm particularly involved with the Yorkshire & Humber region, where I've been trying to do stuff for about 2 years now, with varying levels of success. Short story is that I've been far too focused on organising and doing everything myself (plus making some defendable but ultimately questionable decisions) and the other regions seem to be taking off better than mine. So to address this I'm setting up a committee of people that will work together to organize things, and basically do bigger and better stuff than I could achieve myself. I'm really looking forward to getting the committee going and seeing how things go - plus I'm aware (as the name of this whole blog indicates) that it is getting harder for me to declare myself as a "newcomer" to the industry and one day I will need to hand this thing onto someone else, and the committee should be an ideal vehicle to keep the initiative going. Obviously if you are in the construction industry and based in Yorkshire / Humber do drop me a line if you'd like to get involved. We've also got a LinkedIn group at http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=4075124
Apart from work on Friday myself and my dad (Ravanna/Oshune to WoW folk) are heading off to Robin Hoods Bay for the day. Bay is a little fishing village just south of Whitby in North Yorkshire, about 2 hours drive from my home. It is really nice and lovely to relax there and since I was 13 we've probably been almost every year to Bay for a break of some sort, be it a week or just a day. The thing that differentiates Bay from other places is that it has a really nice community feel to the village, you really do feel as though you're coming home when you come to Bay.
© Copyright Rob Newman and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons LicenceAbove is a pic of the bay itself, missing from this picture is the usual ice cream van! The main issue I've got is where do I want to go for lunch - the normal choice is the Dolphin, an excellent pub on King Street which delivers a fantastic menu of food and a good choice of ales as well. However, I have been for a few days in the mood for fish and chips, so on this occasion I may vote for the chip shop instead. Hard to decide! (But a nice problem to have)
Wherever we eat we'll have to include a visit to the Laurel before we leave. The Laurel is a tiny pub halfway down the big hill (the only bad thing about Bay really, walking up the hill!) which holds special memories for me, spending afternoons on holiday in there, talking nonsense over a few pints. One of the things that I never used to be particularly good at was going into pubs by myself, generally I'd only go if I was going to meet up with some people or going with someone. But the Laurel is so welcoming (as to be fair is one or two other pubs in Bay - perhaps it's the location) that I could happily wander in, have a drink and a chat and be on my way.
Typically, when I'm in the mood to write, reality breaks in. I've got to be up for work in about 8 hours so time to get some sleep! Stay tuned for more...um...words!
