My dad recently flew over to Athens for a week on some Business and whisked my mom away with him after flying over to Paris the day before (jealous, much?). While in Athens, they managed to attend the Olympic Flame Handover which was taking place to hand the flame over from Greece to the UK at the Panathenaic Stadium, where the first modern Olympic Games were held in 1896.

Princess Anne, David Beckham, Boris Johnson (London Mayor), and Lord Coe (Chairman of the London Olympics organising committee) were part of the UK Delegation taking the torch back to the UK.

After the first torch-bearer came into the stadium carrying with the torch and an olive branch from the oldest olive tree on Crete, she then passed the torch to another bearer and a relay was carried out. The last torch-bearer then ran down to the priestesses who lit the cauldron.

The head of the Greek Olympic Committee made a speech followed by Lord Coe, who my dad thought was going for the Olympic Gold Medal in Speech Length he talked that much.

Princess Anne then walked towards the Olympic Caldron and was passed the Olympic torch by the priestess then walked back towards the UK Delegation. The flame was then transferred into a lantern for the journey back to the UK. The UK Delegation then left the Stadium with Princess Anne carrying the lantern, followed by Boris, Beckham and Coe.

After all the dignitaries left the stadium, the spectators began leaving also. Once outside, people were taking balloons which were around the stadium and releasing them into the air. The Greek Guards then paraded out of the stadium, doing their well-known march followed by the marching band.

Needless to say, because of the rain, my parents were soaking but they enjoyed the event and took lots of photos. Sadly, my mom hasn’t mastered the art of focus yet…. she’ll get there! I wish I saw the handover event myself, I think it’s something that everyone should get the chance to see! Maybe next year

Read More…

Around 7/8 years ago, I checked my bank statement and found that over £200 was charged to Virgin Trains. Not a big deal? Well, I never made the purchase. In fact, I had never ventured on Virgin Trains ever. I was never the type to ever check my bank statements, I used to used them and just put them in a box for another day. For some reason, this particular day I did.

I went straight to my bank and spoke with the manager. I was asked lots of questions, filled out some Fraud paperwork and told that it would be dealt with after an investigation. I started wondering how on earth it had happened, but came to no conclusion.

A few weeks later, the missing money was returned to me, thankfully! I also got a phone call from the police, they wanted to meet up with me to discuss what happened. I was instructed to go to the Fraud Department within Grampian Police (I was living in Aberdeen when this occured). When I met with them, they told me that my card was “skimmed”. I had no clue what being “skimmed” actually meant but was told that when I paid some something using my card, a clone of it was made.

According to Wikipedia

Skimming is the theft of credit card information used in an otherwise legitimate transaction. The thief can procure a victim’s credit card number using basic methods such as photocopying receipts or more advanced methods such as using a small electronic device (skimmer) to swipe and store hundreds of victims’ credit card numbers. Common scenarios for skimming are restaurants or bars where the skimmer has possession of the victim’s credit card out of their immediate view.

The police asked me numerous questions, trying to find out if I had any idea how it happened and then told me that I was one of a number of people that were skimmed by the same person. They arrested the person in question due to the fact he wasn’t a very bright criminal. The mastermind behind the operation basically got others to skim cards and then give him to details. With the details, he would buy football and train tickets to the matches. The problem was, he would get everything delivered to his own house but use fake names. After a sting operation, he was caught after stealing more than £45,000 in a few months.

After making my police statement, signing documents, I thought that would be the end of it. I got my money back after all. But no…

Next thing I know, lawyers were at the apartment interviewing me, asking me questions, telling me that the criminal in question was up in court and that I have been asked to be a witness. I was slightly confused as to me, a witness is someone who actually WITNESSES a crime. I was a victim. More statements given, paperwork signed, court papers through the door… I was ready to go to court. I was nervous, I’d never been to court in my life, going to the police station was scary enough, I myself felt like a criminal while being interviewed.

The day before I was due to go to court, I got a phone call saying the court case was being called off. The criminal finally changed his plea to guilty and he was sent to jail. I do not know how long he got in jail. Looking at our justice system, I’d guess no more than a year.

Phewww… it was over! I could go back to studying, partying and skipping class to go ten-pin bowling…

Sadly not!

I was accepted into a Computer Science Internship with a huge Engineering company and was told I was starting the following week. I had no “work” attire. Frantic calls to my parents who were still living in Kuwait and realising that any money they sent me to buy new clothes for my internship wouldn’t be cleared in time, I was stuck. My mom then said to me “Why don’t you try get a store card from Dorothy Perkins? Then when the money we send clears, pay it off”. So I did. I went to the store, signed up for the card, filled out all the paperwork and then after she called all the data through to headquarters, I was rejected. Flat out rejected.

The finance team instructed me that due to various factors, one being the fact that a fraud investigation was carried out, I couldn’t apply for a store card. They then told me to go online and do a free credit score check to determine what my credit rating was & try and improve it. In the short term, that didn’t help me out, I ended up getting a £100 emergency loan from University to buy clothes and I paid it back when my parent’s money cleared.

It wasn’t until 2 years later that I was finally accepted for a store card and my credit score improved dramatically. Looking back, getting a store card was the worst thing I could have ever ever done. I had a £250 limit and could never seem to pay it off. Interest grew and grew and it took me a good year to pay it off. I cut the card up and vowed NEVER to get a store card again. I’m still too scared to own a credit card, even though I know that actually owning a credit card boosts your credit rating (for some random reason!).

Til this day, I have no clue how my card was skimmed. I’ve very wary about who I give my card to. When I visit ATM machines, I stare at them to make sure no skimming devices have been fitted and I never leave my debit card with anyone without being in full eye contact with it. It’s sad that someone stealing money from you, you being a victim of fraud, can damage you and your credit rating, resulting in you facing years of repair.

Let’s hope it never happens again!

Have you ever been in the same situation? Have you had your card details stolen? Have you had a bad credit rating and spent years repairing it? Let me know!

“People universally tend to think that happiness is a stroke of luck, something that will maybe descend upon you like fine weather if you are fortunate enough. But that’s not how happiness works. Happiness is the consequence of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it. You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings. And once you have achieved a state of happiness, you must never become lax about maintaining it…”

IT is a crazy industry. I learnt that during Day 1 at University studying my BSc in Computer Science & Business with E-Commerce. There are so many areas you can specialise in but how on earth are you supposed to know the area of IT you want to get into when you haven’t been exposed to the industry yet or have experience?

That is one of the biggest hurdles I have faced. An Undergraduate BSc and an MSc at Graduate School later, I can honestly say that it wasn’t until a good 3 years ago that I knew exactly what I wanted to do within the IT Industry.

While at University, I was lucky enough to have an internship with a huge worldwide Engineering company. In fact, I was the only one put forward for it by my University. It was during that time that I really started thinking about what direction I wanted to take. I did Software & Hardware IT Support for the entire site; slaved hard drives, replaced broken computer components, fixed software issues, helped with network ports, designed websites… I pretty much did it all. I loved it. However, at the end of the internship, I still had no clue what I *really* wanted to do.

After I graduated, I couldn’t find an IT job at all. Most companies wanted more work experience in IT rather than a fresh graduate. So I went in a completely different direction. I started working on Bids & Tenders for an Oil Company. Even though I loved my job, I was a Computer Geek at heart so I decided to do my Masters. I quit my job, moved cities and went back to school.

By this time I decided that I loved the mixture of IT & Business so I did my Masters in Information Management with the aim of eventually getting into IT Project Management or Consultancy after specialising in Desktop Support. Hard for someone with pretty much no hands on IT experience, but at least it was finally an aim!

Then I graduated…

The job market crumbled.

I applied for pretty much every IT job going even if I was under qualified for it. Money wasn’t important, I just wanted the experience. I did temporary agency work doing Audio Typing or basic Admin work just to get some work experience even though it wasn’t what I wanted to do. When I was applying for jobs, I was told I was either too over qualified education wise for the job or I was too under qualified work experience wise for the job. Now, how is a fresh University graduate supposed to get work experience if they are deemed too educated? It’s a Catch 22 situation which affects near enough everyone, no matter what degree they studied.

Over a year later, I finally got the golden phone call. I got my first proper IT job. It was nothing like I expected it to be. Everything I learnt at University doing my undergraduate and graduate courses was thrown out the window. Everything I had learnt was no longer relevant. It was all about experience, common sense & figuring it out for yourself. The job? Remote Accessing users machines to resolve software issues. I dealt with everything and anything you could think of, from users who didn’t know how to set up an email account to users with nasty viruses from visiting dodgy websites. It was then I finally realised what I loved about IT. Fixing things, problem solving & learning new things every single day.

After nearly 2 years of working at that company, I was headhunted by a huge IT company to work within a new department they were setting up here. Talking to the HR Team & a Technical IT interview later, I realised that this was my dream IT job. It was exactly what I wanted to do and the job was mine! It’s now been 7 months since working for the company & I love it. Once again, everything that I studied at University has never once been used. I was trained up for 2 months on the various systems, the ins & outs of the role then set loose. A lot of what I do is from my own knowledge of IT and fixing things, things I learnt in my old role but a good 60% is new things that I constantly discover & learn about.

Knowledge, Discovery & Constant Learning are key to working in IT. IT is extremely fast paced and as a now Infrastructure Systems Administrator, I have a constant need to keep up to date with all the latest trends in IT. I need to keep learning new skills, increase my knowledge on a variety of different aspects and of course, share the knowledge with my co-workers. That is one of the biggest elements of team work after all.

Was University a waste? Not at all. I doubt that if I hadn’t been as educated as I am, that I’d end up where I am today. I came to realise that even though I may have had less work experience than others in my old job, I was actually paid much more than my co-workers purely based on the fact of my education. Do I think being female in a male dominated field hinders me? No. Sure IT is pretty much male dominated but slowly but surely more women are getting into the industry. Salary differences between the sexes? I got paid much more than 90% of the men in my old job. I don’t think being female has put me at a disadvantage. I think it has actually helped break into the market, opened a lot of doors for me career wise, even if I still get odd looks from men when I tell them what I do for a living.

You need to keep yourself educated within IT & that is why I am hopefully going to eventually do some direct learning courses to get more Microsoft Certifications under my belt. Due to the fact IT is so competitive, it’s a must these days. The good thing about my current job is that we have an online learning portal where we can access pretty much every single IT certification study guide online, do mock tests and learn about different subjects for free. The only thing we’d need to pay for are the actual exams.

So those of you expecting to stop studying, learning & sitting exams when you leave school are sadly mistaken.

It’s a never ending battle! A battle to better yourself and I wouldn’t swap it for anything.

On Sunday, I turned 30 *gulp* and my mom wanted to take me out for dinner, with my choosing any Restaurant in Glasgow to eat at. I choose Bo’Vine after hearing good things about it from my friend Stephen and then recommending it to my parents before I even tried it. It was about time it was my turn!

Before going to a Restaurant, I always check out the menu so I can drool and with Bo’Vines, I did just that! Everything looked great, but I was in the mood for steak AND lobster. Since I was the birthday girl, why ever not!

We arrived around 6:30pm, the Restaurant was pretty quiet. My parents who had been at Bo’Vine on a Saturday Night a few weeks prior, said the Restaurant was fully booked. I’m always very wary about going into a Restaurant when it is nearly empty, but because it was a Sunday, it wasn’t abnormal.

In my head as I looked through the menu again was lobster, a whole lobster. I wanted the Chateaubriand with Whole Lobster, to share… naturally. Best of both worlds.

That’s when lobster-gate occurred…

Bo’Vine had no lobsters left, they all sold out the night before. Unfortunately, when handed the menus, we weren’t informed that there were no lobsters left, which is the norm. My birthday cravings were dashed. After silent cries inside, we settled for the Chateaubriand (Medium) with Triple Cooked Chips, Rocket & Parmesan Salad and Fiery Peppercorn Sauce on the side for our Main Course. For Starters, I ordered the West Coast Scallop, Smoked Ayrshire Pork Belly, Pumpkin Puree & Pickled Walnuts. My mom ordered, Stornoway Black Pudding, Poached Hens Egg, Pancetta & Red Wine Jus.

When our starters arrived, I loved the way they were presented. My mom grabbed her fork and was ready to dig in before I let out a scream “NOOOOOOO I haven’t taken a photo yet!”. My mom, of course, is now used to me taking food photos so much so that she just responds with a little sigh and says “Hurry up, have you taken it yet?”.

Now we can dig in…

I’m very picky with scallops. I adore them but I’ve sadly had times where I’ve had scallops that weren’t cooked properly and suffered from the consequences à la The Great Scallop Disaster of 2009. I stopped eating scallops for 2 years after becoming drastically ill 20 minutes after eating them at a very famous Seafood Restaurant in Merchant City that shall rename nameless. I’ve never set foot in that Restaurant after the incident. Shame really.

Back to Bo’Vine… My scallops were cooked perfectly. Just the way I like them. My starter tasted amazing. The Scallops with the Pork Belly and Pumpkin Puree worked so well together. I could have eaten it all over again. If I had to find a fault with it, I’d say I wasn’t keen on the Picked Walnuts, but that’s just because I don’t actually like walnuts unless they are surrounded by chocolate.

My mom’s starter could be passed off as a fancy Scottish Breakfast without the Square Sausage, tasting so much better, I might add. The Stornoway Black Pudding was moist and full of flavour, a perfect soft poached egg on top ready for the yolk to be burst all over the plate and a piece of crispy pancetta to complement it all.

Needless to say, we couldn’t wait for the main course.

Perfectly cooked Chateaubriand served in a giant frying pan, complete with a mountain of Triple Cooked Chips, Rocket & Parmesan Side Salads and a little pot of Fiery Peppercorn Sauce on the side. The thing I love about Chateaubriand is the cut of meat is so tender, full of flavour & of good quality. Not to mention, the fact you can build up your own plate full of food; as little or as much as you like.

The meat was so tender while cutting it, just the right amount of pink & tasted great. I couldn’t fault the meat one bit. It was a great cut, full of flavour, seasoned to perfection & melted in my mouth. The Triple Cooked Chips were unbelievable. So crispy on the outside, light & fluffy inside. I so need to try making them at home now. They are worth it! I’m a huge fan of Rocket & Parmesan Salad, so simple but so tasty. The only downside was, the Salad was rather salty. I’m not sure if it was seasoned with salt or another dressing but the taste of salt was evident. I’m not a huge fan of salty foods so the Salad wasn’t as good as I wanted it to be. My mom however, said that the salad wasn’t that salty. This goes to show that everyone’s taste buds are different! Needless to say, I stuffed my face before starting to feel like I was going to explode. But I kept fighting through it! It was my birthday after all

After a good break, I found the strength to want to order dessert. Only problem was, I couldn’t choose. Luckily for me, I didn’t have to. I ordered them all. Oh yes. I ordered the Bo’Vine Grand Dessert for Two which consisted of: Chocolate & Chestnut Brownie, White Chocolate & Caramel Bavoise, Vanilla Pod Crème Brûlée with a Walnut Biscotti, Iced Popcorn Parfait with a Salted Caramel Foam, Plum Crumble, Cherry Oil Cake & a Chocolate Ice Cream Sundae with Profiteroles.

All I can say is WOW! My favourites were the White Chocolate & Caramel Bavoise, Vanilla Pod Crème Brûlée and Chocolate Ice Cream Sundae with Profiteroles. I had no complaints about those 3. I could have eaten them again and again. The others? I wasn’t such a great fan of unfortunately. I found the Brownie rather dry, it needed a cream with it to give some moisture. The Iced Popcorn Parfait with a Salted Caramel Foam was far too sickly sweet. I could only have one spoonful of it before having to move on to the next dessert. The plum crumble was far too sweet for my liking as well, my mom devoured it though. I was now at the stage where I could hardly move & couldn’t face eating anything else so I didn’t try the Cherry Oil Cake. I left it for my mom to try, which she said was extremely nice. I just couldn’t eat anymore.

Would I go back to Bo’Vine? Yes. I’d have the exact same Starter & Main Course. Dessert? If I had any room left I’d choose the White Chocolate & Caramel Bavoise. I would recommend you try Bo’Vine if you’ve never been before, Chateaubriand a must.

Bo’Vine Meat and Wines
385 Byres Road, Glasgow G12 8AU.
Tel: 0141 341 6540
http://bovinerestaurant.com/

I love nothing better than being a lazy butt watching TV all weekend long. I don’t think I could ever get bored of catching up on my favourite TV shows, staying in my PJ’s all day with mountains of snacks beside me, only getting up to go to the bathroom LOL…to me, that’s relaxation heaven!

I’m off work on a mini holiday until April 10th. I was supposed to be going to Paris but then passport-gate struck. My poor passport expired & I had no idea LOL. By the time I realised, the flights to Paris were at a crazy price due to it being the Easter period and the cost of renewing my passport at the same time meant I couldn’t do both. So… no Paris for me, for now. Spring time in Paris is my all time favourite as well *sigh*

Instead, I’m spending my time off doing what I love best… being a couch potato! Watching my favourite TV shows which are currently; Unforgettable, Body of Proof, Smash, NCIS & Criminal Minds. Being a bum on our huge leather sofa surrounded by lots of cushions & snacks! I’d rather be a couch potato on that fabric sofa above though! How amazing is that sofa? I don’t think I’d ever get off it though!

Work has pretty much got in the way of TV watching, I’m missing out on new TV shows & lost track on what episode I’ve caught up with after downloading them all! What are your favourite TV shows at the moment? Are you a couch potato like me? What’s your ideal way to spend time off work? Let me know

Now that the weather in Scotland has decided to behave and it’s been really sunny, I’ve decided that it’s about time that I got my butt into gear and finally learn how to use my new digital camera that I bought a few months ago. I haven’t really had time to play around with all the settings because I’ve been too caught up with work and other things, but I’m now making the time.

I bought a book called Digital Photography Step By Step which gives you great information about Exposure, Aperture and Shutter Speed. But to be honest, I’m a little like a deer in the headlights at the moment. With my previous camera, a normal compact digital camera, I only had to point & shoot. Sure, I played around with the limited settings, perfected them and looking at my Flickr account, my old trusty Sony did me well!

But it’s time to grow up! If my budget had allowed it, I would have bought a Canon Camera, especially since one of my childhood best friends is a professional photographer and swears by them. Unfortunately, my bank card would have cried and set itself on fire if I did buy one so I bought a camera with great reviews ‘Panasonic Lumix FZ45 14.1MP’ within my budget & I’m happy with it.

Now the hard work begins! I no longer want to use auto settings or point and shoot. I want to be able to play with the Exposure, Aperture and Shutter Speed and take great photos. I love photography. I love taking photos of buildings, animals and nature, finding the time to take them is one thing, finding the time to take photos and learn how on earth to use all the settings is another thing!

I know that Exposure, Aperture and Shutter Speed mean, I get them. What I don’t get it what the numbers *should* be, what are the perfect settings? I’m sure it will take time to get them right but I’m a very stubborn person and get really annoyed if I can’t figure it out fast enough!

That’s where you come in, yes you! To save me from beating myself up, what are your perfect settings for taking photographs? (Auto is a no no!) What kind of photos do you like taking? What camera do you have?

It’s been just over 6 months since I quit my job from hell & started the long journey of getting my life back. I detested my old job. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t ALWAYS hate it. When I first started, on my birthday in 2010, I loved it. My co-workers were amazing, I still keep in touch & meet up with the majority of them to this day.

The job sucked the life out of you.

I learnt so much technical wise, I loved the fact I got to fix computers day in and day out, getting my head around fixes for the latest computer viruses, the crazy psychopathic customers I used to talk to such as “Mr ‘The Chinese are trying to hack me & steal my money’ X” or “Mr ‘Oh I never look at porn even though I clearly got a porn site related virus’ India”. Who could forget 9am on one Saturday morning when a customer had a webcam problem and while remotely fixing it, it turned on and there he was naked with the camera aimed at his penis. Not something you *really* want to be before eating your breakfast if you can help it LOL

I miss those parts of the job from hell.

I hated the way you were treated like shit 90% of the time, the way the place became depressing, the feeling you got in the mornings when you knew you were working til midnight that day, the way the place made me so physically ill that every month I’d come down with a chest or stomach infection and worse… being diagnosed with IBS and the doctor demanding I take a month off work but saying no as I knew that I would have been fired if I did. The way the management made you feel so guilty for taking a day off ill, being put on “probation” because you were ill, even though it was the place itself running me down. Staff quitting, new staff arriving, staff quitting, a crazy high turnover rate of staff in & out, all saying the same thing.

The place sucked life away from you.

Then out of the blue, I got a phone call from the HR Manager of an IT Company asking me if I was interested in a job with them. Instantly I said yes, I interviewed for it. 2 weeks later, I got the job after being headhunted.

It was a blessing in disguise.

March 1st will be 6 months since I started with them. I love every minute of it. It took me quitting my old job and starting my new one to finally realise what I wanted to do with my life. I know that I’m on the right track career wise, I am happier in myself. Instead of being ill every month, it was over 5 months since I was last ill, I recently got gastritis and am still on medication for another 3 weeks but I’m so much stronger than I used to be. It’s crazy to think that stress in a job could make you so physically ill.

It’s refreshing!

Refreshing because I’m now in a job I love, I don’t hate a single thing about it, I have no complaints. I’m in a job where they actually treat you like a human being, they don’t make you feel bad if you take a day or two off ill which I did recently. They don’t shout at you like you’re children, I get amazing benefits, better pay, it’s closer to home and I’m learning so much more than I could have possibly imagined. I am not stressed up to my eye balls, we have quiet periods when I can breathe and play some games, read up on tech news, brush up on knowledge base fixes, laugh and joke around. I even get weekends to myself again, which is something I still feel so weird about after the job from hell!

I am finally happy & long may it continue!

It’s easy with men… shirt, trousers & tie and hey bingo, you’re ready for another working day! With women, it’s much more difficult. You can’t really wear the same thing in the same week, you get bored of your wardrobe choices & try to change things up daily with accessories.

In previous blog posts, I’ve stated how much I hate clothes shopping, I get really grumpy when I can’t find what I’m looking for. I generally have an idea in my head & I get it. If I don’t, I give up because I hate spending hours going from shop to shop!

With work clothes, you HAVE to look a certain way, you have to have the correct image & you can’t just throw any old thing on! Don’t get me wrong, there have been times when I just can’t be bothered. I stick my hair up in a ponytail, put no makeup on, wear a tank top & a cardigan along with a pair of my endless amount of black trousers. But, I can’t dress like that ALL the time. Especially with the company I work for (other than Dress Down Fridays, of course!)

Every month when I get my salary, I go work clothes shopping. I pick up a few more tops, cardigans, trousers then look at dresses & attempt to talk myself into buying one for the office, visions of me in a little black dress, a black cardigan & killer heels. But, I’m still trying to talk myself into buying one.

I go to bed at night trying to figure out what on earth I’m going to wear the next day. Tomorrows choice? A purple blouse, black trousers, a black cardigan incase I’m chilly & heels. I’d probably end up changing my mind numerous times until I resort to my original choice. Sucks to be a women sometimes!

Do any of you women have the same work wear frustrations that I do? Do you keep buying new work wear?

Last night I got an email from Starbucks talking about the launch of My Starbucks Rewards and the benefits. Now, every time you pay using your Starbucks Card, you’ll get a star. Every time you collect 15 stars – you will be given a free Tall drink! Not bad.

The app’s loyalty scheme will encourage people to qualify as a ‘gold level member’ to get free drinks. Customers paying with a registered Starbucks Card will get a free drink every 15 visits. After 50 visits they move from Green to Gold Level and get extra benefits such as free espresso shots, soy, syrups and whipped cream. If you already were a Starbucks card holder, you are automatically upgraded to Gold.

Your Starbucks Card works exactly the same, you will still receive vouchers for free drinks during promotional periods and the best new feature? If you have an iPhone, you can now pay for your drinks via the Starbucks App in the UK which is available on iTunes from today. Since the launch of mobile payments in America last January, there have been over 26 million mobile transactions and approx $110 million has been loaded onto Starbucks Cards directly through the mobile app. No more worrying about trying to find your card in your bag or forgetting it at all. It’s about time!

I downloaded the new version of the Starbucks App & played around with it, up until the point where you are barcode scanned. Sadly I am nowhere near a Starbucks at the moment so I can properly try it out, which I am not happy about. Serious caffeine withdrawals!

Looks good & I can’t wait to try it! Triple Venti Caramel Skimmed Caramel Drizzle Caffè Latte anyone?