I am NOT SWISS and I DON'T SOUND SWISS either!

i'm a crazy welsh person (who grew up and lives in switzerland)





Wednesday, January 30, 2008



bizarre job title

monster's just sent me it's weekly collection of jobs i might be interested in. it's definitely getting better at deciding what i'd like. but the latest one made me laugh: the actual title of the job:

Microelectronic designer (incl company car)

are they trying to employ a company car? ;-)

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Sunday, January 27, 2008



some people haven't got a clue!

the club president just sent me another email (see my last post). this time she says 'i tried to adapt the introductory text to suit me, but then the problem is that the rest of the website is only about your team. but i'm sure you'll find a solution'... ??? that's the whole reason i never added the info about the seniors in the first place! does she think i am now going to spend ages changing the whole website, now that the club's suddenly taken an interest in it?! she can go jump off a bloody cliff!

it seems she tried to send me the text as she wants it, but she managed to send me some random word temporary file or something. it won't open anyway. what a shame...

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Friday, January 25, 2008



depressing volleyball

just got a very annoying mail from the president of the feldmeilen volleyball club about how i haven't added the stuff about the seniors to the website and also that i should say that it's a club and they're always short of gymnasts and not just volleyball players. so it's fair enough that she's wondering why the website still doesn't say anything about the seniors' team, i 've been meaning to do it for ages. but i designed the website around the one team. it took me ages to work out the concept and how to organise all the information. no one else was in the least interested, so eventually i just did it the way it made most sense to me. now i'm supposed to add information that has nothing to do with the team i designed the whole thing around, so to me it called for adding an extra page and thinking about how to do it, so that the whole site is still user-friendly (or at least no less so than at the moment). it's just been to much for me, i couldn't face it. and now i've lost the information.

but now she wants to add stuff that's not even about volleyball?! fine. whatever. i've asked her to send me all the information she wants added in the format she wants it to go in and i'll just stick it in where-ever. i've completely lost the will to care. i hate volleyball right now. and that email's just killed my motivation stone dead (and i was doing so well!) so i'm going to post about last night (with the meilen team), i meant to anyway.

it looks like i'll be looking for a new team end of this season. or maybe even a new sport. i don't want to continue in either of the teams i'm in now. but i guess i'm looking for something that doesn't exist: a team full of people who want to win and are willing to put in the effort, but at the same time don't freak out and start verbally attacking each other when they have a loosing streak. we lost again last night. crud. but not particularly surprising. what was surprising (and rather horrifying) was the way that after the match some of our players accused the rest of us of not trying hard enough, of going on court with the attitude 'we're going to lose anyway' and not bothering to play our best. obviously, that's not such a horrifying thing to accuse someone of, it was their tone. just vicious. i don't deal well with vicious tones. it makes me either want to attack back or sulk. especially when i'm being told off for something i didn't do! i can't go on court and not try my hardest even when i've got a broken finger! i want to punch something (or someone). how dare they. i'm not sure i want to go out on that court again with people like that. i don't mind losing (obviously i mind a bit), as long as i know we tried our hardest to win and i always do (try my hardest to win, not lose)! but i do mind when...

it was suggested that somehow, team spirit was what we were missing. well, my spirit for that team just left. i quit. as soon as possible. damn! i hate looking for new teams!

there goes one of my reasons for looking for a job in switzerland. stupid volleyball. what other sports are there? football - i'll kick myself as soon as the ball; basketball - i only hit the basket when i'm aiming for something completely different (for instance if i'm trying to play volleyball); hockey - similar problam as in football except more dangerous to other people with the stick... i'd only be any use in either of them as goalie and i need more exercise, not less; handball - lack of aiming ability again a problem... crud. i like volleyball really. there's just something wrong with my teams. oh dear, it's probably wrong with me, not them. double-crud!

the other team (feldmeilen) have decided to try and pull themselves together and actually make an effort in training. peter (the coach) read my blog and they discussed it are trying to fix the problem. what a horrible moment when he told me he'd read it! and told them about it! but i went back over everything i've written and it turns out i was very... restrained ;-) thank goodness for that :-)

so hopefully things will be getting better there. but i can't imagine i'll change my mind about quitting once the season's finished. although i can imagine being to cowardly to actually do it. aw crap. i hope not!

it's typical: last time the matches clashed, i'd promised to play for feldmeilen even though i'd much rather have played with meilen. in a couple of weeks there are two matches on the same night again and this time i've promised to play with meilen. but after last night, i'd rather break a leg than have to go on court with them again... seriously.

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Sunday, January 20, 2008



my superhero

i've survived the ten year old aspirin, surely that proves i have super powers ;-) or maybe the guardian angel of all morons spends just spends such a lot of time rescuing me from myself, that a bit of rotten aspirin's a doddle ;-)

i'm not completely better, but i didn't get a headache today (even without any aspirin) and i'm hoping to be miles better on monday and back to my usual perfect self on tuesday, ready for the first match of the week...

anyway, here're my results for which superhero are you?. it's weird, i'm sure it never asked whether i was male or female :-S maybe i am a bit like a female, eh pij? :-)

Your results:
You are Supergirl
Lean, muscular and feminine.
Honest and a defender of the innocent.



Supergirl
82%
Robin
80%
Spider-Man
80%
Iron Man
75%
Superman
65%
Hulk
60%
The Flash
60%
Green Lantern
55%
Catwoman
55%
Batman
55%
Wonder Woman
52%

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Quiz


----------------------

part 2:

i just made tim take the superhero test and thought i'd realised how it worked out it should make me female as i saw the questions again: my answers to the two questions 'do you sometimes wear a pushup bra?' and 'do you often wear thongs' clearly branded me as either female or a man who'd be happy to be called superwoman ;-)

BUT... tim's results appeared...

You are Supergirl
Lean, muscular and feminine.
Honest and a defender of the innocent.



Supergirl
73%
Hulk
70%
Superman
70%
Green Lantern
70%
Robin
67%
The Flash
65%
Batman
55%
Wonder Woman
53%
Iron Man
40%
Spider-Man
35%
Catwoman
35%


*falls off chair laughing*
"i'd rather be cat woman than supergirl!" mutters a highly offended tim... [he would like it to be added that he has never worn and doesn't intend to ever wear a bra or a thong!!!]

what fun :-D

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Thursday, January 17, 2008



you know you're not well when...

you feel like putting your head on the table and crying when the simulator gives you another ridiculous and clearly impossible error message and won't run...

luckily i'm a very clever person and managed to find the real problem, which was in a completely different place, long after line 78 which was where modelsim claimed it was. i guess i should be glad it told me the right file to look in this time...

thank goodness for aspirin, don't know how i'd have survived today without it. i wonder how important use-by dates are on aspirin. i'm sure it's just for the companies to cover their backsides. i hope so anyway, the only stuff i found had a use-by date of 1999... ah well, it's worked fine, and i'm still standing (well, sitting at the moment).

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Wednesday, January 16, 2008



job-search

i'm not well, i think i've got the flu or something. it's horrid, everything aches. i went home early after making myself concentrate hard until 5 o'clock, at which point i gave up and stumbled my way home...

while i was at lunch (before going home half dead. i had a bowl of soup and a cup of tea, my poor throat was most grateful) some guy from this international recruitment agency (based in the UK but specialising in placing people in switzerland :-s) sent me an email saying he'd seen my impressive (no kidding *g*) profile on monster.ch and was looking forward to hearing from me.

the last time i got a message like that i freaked and didn't go back on xing for over a month. in fact, i only went back on again properly this week, and i got the message in november... i'm a very special individual. the reason i freaked was that it sounded like the guy had a a job to fill that would really suit me. if it had been some random thing i really didn't want to do, i'd just have ignored it or written back 'thanks, but no thanks' or whatever. but because it sounds like a real opportunity, i go nuts and bury my head in the sand... well done vicky!

so this time i resolved to answer it like the normal, sensible adult that i refuse to be. but cause i was feeling so awfully icky i thought i'd put it off till tomorrow. that's not too late to answer, 24 hours later, is it?

after brewing myself another cuppa and escaping from stephie (she was bored, i'd've been happy to play with her, but since any sound was causing the jack-hammers in my head to rev up another level, and i just wanted to be horizontal, i couldn't take it for long) i crawled into bed. heaven! but of course i got bored quite quickly and thought it might be a good idea to send ouot a text to the girsl in my small group asking what time they want to come round next monday, since only one of them has answered the email i sent. got out my phone and saw 'new voice-mail' flashing. :-s who could that be? it's the guy, calling from the uk! he's eager! is that normal?

of course i couldn't relax after that (i did try, lay there for another quarter of an hour, but it just wouldn't work), so i got up to draft my reply. as usual, i'm stuck. on the first line. meh. what's the form, eh? he wrote 'Hello Ms G'. do i answer 'Hello Mr S'?

so i've been researching it badly. i haven't yet found anything to help me with this specific question. but have got bogged down in loads of great (-looking) sites with helpful tips on interviewing and general looking for jobs.

here they are:



my head is killing me. i'm gonna have a whack at that stupid letter and then go back to bed. thanks for the tips, pij! oh yes, thomas too :-)

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Sunday, January 13, 2008



my favourite ally mcbeal moment

i know it's late. or rather, early. it's tim's brother... oops, maybe the vodka has affected me a little bit ;-) it's tim, my brother's birthday today. z came round and we got a load of vodka (only the premixed sweet not-so-strong stuff) from the petrol garage (yes, i feel guilty drinking with a 16 year old. crap. but who died and made me the responsible adult? i'm not, i don't want to be, it's not my fault i'm suddenly 24... bah!) and played settlers (the board game).

fun evening, and we've ended up with an impressive amount of booze. we were a bit greedy when we bought it, but luckily we were not actually stupid enough to try to make a dent in it ;-)

when tim went to take z home, i continued in my ally mcbeal reruns. oops, come to think of it, i just watched the whole second half of the first series! no wonder i'm still up at this time!

anyway, i just discovered the most hilarious moment ever! i cried laughing! then i rewound it and got the hiccups from laughing so hard :-)

it's almost at the end of the last episode of season one. build-up: john cage defends his cousin (willie garson, i know him best from his role as carrie's gay friend stanford in sex and the city) who goes round whacking people on the head with a paddle (for kayaking or something) and claims to be a kind of cupid: crisis brings people closer, by whacking one half of a coupld he speeds up the courtship process... he's found guilty, the sentence will be jail time upwards of six months (but isn't set yet)

ally is standing in the hall in the courthouse with (really hot) bobby donnell (played by dylan mcdermott, yumm *g*), who is trying to tell her that he'd like to go out with her, but he can't, too much baggage and other stuff going on. suddenly you see this huge paddle looming behind him and he gets whacked on the head with it!
next thing you see john cage dragging away his cousin who's yelling 'he was neutral!'

you probably have to see it to get it. tears of laughter... :-D

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Thursday, January 10, 2008



more randomness from facebook

i got an invitation to take a 'laziness quiz'. being a lazy sod who isn't making any progress on her project and has lost all motivation for working on , i couldn't be bothered not to take the quiz ;-) so off i go , clicking merrily on how when the alarm clock goes off i press snooze for the 15th time (3.5 hours / 10 minutes? oops, today it must have been more like 20 or so times...). so of course i'm expected to be told what a lazy slob i am.

well, facebook says otherwise:
Supermom. The ultimate multi-tasker, your productivity is mind-boggling. We can only imagine what else you were doing while taking this quiz...

there we have it. i'm supermom. except without the kids, thank goodness ;-)

it actually asked me when i last tidied my room and it still calls me supermom! he option nearest to the truth was a year ago... it was certainly last year, and more than a month ago. i think one of my friends came round. oh yes, i remember. christine came round before the (volleyball) match on ... the 24th of november. oh wow, it wasn't that long ago! only a month and a half... :-)

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Wednesday, January 09, 2008



my social status

i just got an email from the 'compare people' application on facebook: 'facebook social news for vicky'

Changes in your ranks:
-1: now #1 most loyal
+1: now #3 hardest worker
+1: now #3 most generous
+1: now #4 bravest
+1: now #5 most cuddly
more>>

How others compared you recently:
• "Who smells nicer", you won 0 and! lost 1 time.
more>>


i lost the 'who smells nicer' comparison! i'm devastated!!! i wonder who beat me ;-)

ahh, facebook's always good for a laugh :-D

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Wednesday, January 02, 2008



stupid divider!!!

it has now advanced to generating completely random overflow and divide-by-zero flags and returning all zero quotients and unknown (xxxx) remainders... i'm going to fail my masters project! that was the one thing i expected to pass. typical! :-(

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Tuesday, January 01, 2008



new year's eve

i've survived my last new years at mcdonalds!!! hurray!!! (if that wasn't my last, then i'm in for some huge cosmic screw-up somewhere down the line...)

it was actually quite fun ;-) jacek (pronounced jack), one of the managers, brought some random austrian gold wine or something. it was like champagne, but with 23 carats of gold in it :-s bizarre or what! just before midnight we closed up shop and went outside (why?! it was freezing and we were all in short sleeved shirts...) to drink some champagne and the gold stuff.

new year's eve is the one night we're allowed to drink at work :-) marco (the boss) gave me a beer :-) it was a carlsberg (the only kind we sell) but it was better than nothing ;-)

and most of the customers were happy drunks :-) there were a couple of fights, but none by the tills so that was fine (at least as far as i'm concerned). and there was just the one drunk old geezer who on being asked by sakthi at the till next to me whether he'd like anything else replied he'd like a night with me... how drunk do you have to be... i don't look great at the best of times, but in the mcdonald's uniform... idiot! i told him if he was absolutely desperate he could stand in the corner over there, i'd be around all night. he seemed tempted but got distracted and wandered off ;-)

his friend who had seemed less of a moron (meaning he didn't proposition any of the servers) turned up again ten minutes later complaining that he'd gone to the loo and his mac-chicken had been cleared away... what the f*** do you expect if you just leave a half eaten burger lying there?! with all the drunks forgetting about the food and wandering off half way through, of course it gets cleared away... could have smacked him!

but on the whole it was fun :-)

happy new year everyone!
hurray, bed time :-D