I’m not feeling too well right now. Really sore throat and generally grotty (at least it didn’t happen last week whilst I was away).

Unfortunately I was joking at work today about a meeting I wanted to get out of, and suggesting I might pretend to be ill.

Bum.

So, we were due to have a 2 year “update on how the business is going” meeting. To make it a little less dry, management had decided to theme it - in this case the theme was summer. You could turn up in shorts and bright shirts, bring a rubber ring with you, etc.

Naturally, someone takes it a bit further and suggests that young Scott should have an all-over spray tan. After a quick whip around for some cash, he was booked in. Strangely, he was looking forward to it, not realising the devious mind behind it all (no not me), who was already arranging for it to be emulsioned on, so he would come out looking like David Dickinson.

The end result…

Apparently, as the evening went on it went a number of shaded more orange. It got so bad he had to wash a lot of it off.

But, hey, it’s worth it for the laugh…

I’m not too shabby when it comes to the ability to doctor pictures. However, after a work colleague recently sold his prized Mercedes (and probably going to buy a large family car to replace it), then it was too tempting not do something. These aren’t bad, considering the limited tools I had to hand at work…

My favourite. Was this. It’s titled “The Mercedes Benz badge was fooling no-one” (and it comes complete with it’s own private plate)…

eBuyer got back to me. They wanted me to send the unwanted product back, upon receipt they’d send me the correct one. So I told them this wasn’t good enough. They told me to ring their Support Number <sigh>

After get through a queue of 19 people, I got the answer I was looking for… they’d arrange pickup of the memory card tomorrow and delivery the missing USB hub. Hoorah.

Although this only came after a protracted argument when they couldn’t find my work address on their system. “Well you sent it to me at that address in the first place” was my argument. It worked.

Meantime, another problem struck. Just before Christmas I ordered a TomTom Home Dock. This is basically a little docking station that your TomTom can sit in on your desk, keeping it charged and updated. Nice. I bought it from a seller on eBay with a good rating.

When it turned up the USB socket on the dock was slightly out of alignment so my TomTom wouldn’t go on it correctly. I contacted the seller who supplied a return address for it. Oddly, it wasn’t his but the name of the company who made it - VIVO. I’ve had other TomTom products from VIVO.

So off I sent it last week. However, I was interested in how I was going to claim back my postage for having had to send it back, so I contacted VIVO at the address I was given. There was the problem… That VIVO make mounts for TV’s and have nothing to do with TomTom accessories. So who have I sent it to?

I’ve sent off an email to the eBay’er asking him what’s going on. If I don’t hear from him or I don’t get a satisfactory answer, I’ll be opening a dispute on eBay <bigger sigh>

And, just to top things off, the main car park at work today was completely full (I’ve never known that happen before). I refuse, as some people do, to park on the pavement or in a disabled space, so I ended up at the far end of another car park (which was nearly full). Not that it was far away, but it’s in a different Council area.

Someone remind me to make my next post a lot lighter and happier?

Now, I don’t normally Blog personal issues. Well, I did, but removed them - first of all because I know prospective employers often look at peoples Blogs (and I’m on the job market) and secondly because I’ve recently had a member of my own family misuse information in such a Blog entry against me. So, all-in-all, it’s bad news.

But today I’m going to talk about work.

I don’t think it’s giving anything away to say I’m unhappy at work right now. The problem, as I see it, is that I’m a support manager in a development team. The company has a separate support division, headed by a Service Director, and a development division, headed by a Delivery Director. Our team report to the latter. This means the emphasis is not on support and work is, well, lacking as most support activities go on within an area that we have no links with. Most of the time I’m doing administrative work - presentations, skill profiles, etc.

My manager is away this week and I have some work I can do (not a great deal, mind) but it’s so mind-numbingly bland that I’m struggling.

Now, other than personal Blogs, the other thing I don’t do is bang my own drum/blow my own trumpet (delete as appropriate). But, damn it, I’m being absolutely wasted. My IT knowledge is superb, as is my ability to learn and adapt. I do web development in my own time as it’s creative and interesting - something my work-day isn’t.

A good few years ago I did a personality test (the Belbin Team Inventory), along with the rest of the team. It neatly divides you into different skills areas. Everyone had multiple skills. Except me. I had all my scores in one area - what was called a “plant”. This means…

Plants are creative, unorthodox and a generator of ideas. If an innovative solution to a problem is needed, a Plant is a good person to ask. A good plant will be bright and free-thinking. The Plant bears a strong resemblance to the popular caricature of the absent-minded professor-inventor, and often has a hard time communicating ideas to others.

Well, spot on, except for the last bit. Which is good, because I’ve cracked the one down-side. My communication, particularly of technical terms, to others is excellent. The idea is that you take a “plant” along to a meeting, whether they know the subject matter or not, and they’ll ask questions, make suggestions and, yes, generate ideas. My manager made advantage of this and took me along to his meetings after that. He’s not my manager now, but of my team-mates from back then, now in a senior position within the company, still “borrows” me every-so-often for just this reason. Unfortunately, it’s not recognised any wider.

Cards on the table… I am imaginative, creative and naturally gifted at IT. I’ve been programming since I was 12 for a start. Unlike many who came to IT because they saw a career in it, and possibly saw good salaries, IT chose me and it was natural for me to do it. It’s rare for someone to find their exact niche in life, but I did. Now it’s being wasted.

Meantime, I can just spend my spare time (including my lunches) indulging a little of my passion. Web development mainly, but I’m also writing an IT article which I hope to get published. I’m also designing an OS (not coding it, but design on paper. I may very well patent many of the ideas). I get to sleep most nights by designing things in my head. Ahhh, yes, the perfect TV, MP3 player, PC, etc. are all in my head! I should patent those actually… a modular PC idea that I had some time ago has recently been announced by an Asian company.

So my work problems aren’t due to not being able to do the job, but a simple lack of inspired and interesting work. I recently went directly to the Service Director and told him of my concerns and a possible solution. Since then I’ve been tasked with putting together details of this idea and turning into a formal presentation for management. It will free up the other support guys in the team to do development (which is what they want to do, and what they business needs) and move me into the support area. Great. Except my manager has ideas of moving someone else (who doesn’t want to go into support), and forcing me back into development. Do you think he doesn’t get it?

Why support and not development? I always loved coding when I was at home and college. And I love doing web development now. But I’ve never liked development commercially because of its constraints. I need to be able to use my imagination and flair but that’s stifled when I have to follow someone else’s designs. Support is great because its so random and you have to use some real imagination to get to the root of a problem quickly.

Oh well. I’m feeling a bit grumpy today because I woke up this morning feeling like I hadn’t got a wink of sleep. Probably spent too much of it subconsciously sorting out the online aspects of my OS….