I actually bought biscuits today.

A packet of digestives for $3.49.

OVER 2QUID FOR A PACKET OF MCVITTIES

but they are imported.

I'm not sure they are that far off £2 for McVities anyway.

I have just been routinely buying Jaffa cakes and throwing them at trucks, because I can, because they sell them here.

@Coopers_Green kind of mentioned something cool about his job to me on the Twitter yesterday, but I didn't press him on it as I was busy.

Now I feel bad.

wonderbanana wrote:

Liveinadive wrote:

Are you really just one of those guys who demonstrates Mer at car shows?

Thats quite funny since we own Mer in the UK now

You're the Mer man?

The advantage of being in charge of rostering and recruiting (for casuals anyway) and being part time where I am is that I have a heck of a lot of employment companies hitting me up and a fair few connections. One of them also happens to be a friend of a friend. Helping me out with fixing up my own resume and networking.

Time for a big change with the baby on the way (and because I'm ready for a change). The Helping Hoops volanteer work has also given me some foots in the door for other stuff which will start off unpaid but could quickly turn. Some stuff helping recently arrived refugees get work and further basketball coaching stuff. (The missus is going to love me being out another couple of nights a week! Not.)

Exciting times.

foots. wtaf.

Good to hear face.

That is awesome news Face, big up.

But more seriously, cheers for the well wishes both of you.

The volunteer stuff I'm working on has re-energised me over the last 12 months, but in particular the last couple of months.

It's even made my paid work more bareable.

*chops Dante in the gob*

Excellent Face, I was wondering how that was coming along.

Did you know so called volunteers don't even get paid!?!

Seriously though nice one Face. Doing something that makes you happy for work has to be the ideal in our society right?

At the moment it's all good. I get to city work before 8 anyway. Then midday drive to Carlton. There's a few ways to sneak home too. Through north Melbourne and such. At around 4.30 you miss the worst of it.

Someone talk to me about how to use Linkedin. I have done that thing where you sign up to a network and then not touch it. ('sup, google+)

It seems like it should be a good thing to be on. I've even added some of you. I've barely had time to scratch my arse since signing up though. Tell me stories of dos and don'ts and also tell me if it's actually gotten any of you anything.

Facewon wrote:

Boom. First day at Work and Learning Centre in Carlton on Wednesday just gone. Can handle all their regularly used software easily, as it's basically windows based and the same as the payroll stuff at my current job. Lots of positive interaction with people in the area too.

Volunteer at first, but 90% of their full time staff start that way, and it's pretty much a gauranteed reference, and you get first dibs at their internal job listings.

Potential to have A LOT of overlap with what I've been doing with Helping Hoops too.

Crossing everything.

Another three days in Carlton, was a great week last week. Loving it. Pretty sure as soon as something FT pops up it's mine. Just need to double check on required quals. may need to do some part time study to get where I want to be, but a cert 3 or 4 in community work doesn't seem that outlandish to get.

I'm hoping though, considering I'm already doing what their qualified staff are doing, that we can skip some of that palaver.

Still have everything crossed.

And while all that has been going on, the basketball work I've been doing is looking closer to getting into a paid position also. Still a longer term prospect, and we're talking in years not months, but I can see good things coming from what I've been doing, and if it keeps going as it is, there'll be FT money coming in from the BsL and PT money coming from basketball.

Oh yeah.

Just skimmed the whole thread. Nice to see a couple of (general/life) actuaries on here (even though StrayAndroid has probably become a lurker now), I have to deal with your bastard cousins the pensions actuaries almost on a daily basis. You see, I work in the pensions trusteeship field, having worked previously in pensions admin. Boring crap, all of it, but alas the job chose me because I was too lazy to do well at uni (Computing at Imperial) and land a better job. Thought of starting actuarial studies to become an actuary, but lost motivation and was too lazy to study anymore. Those CT exams didn't look bad, but fuck me if I could've passed any after them, though.

JonB's post was very interesting, I likd the sound of what you did/do.