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I’ve actually been putting off updating my blog for several days now. The reason? So much has been going on recently (both at work and outside work), so I’ve been dreading how long it will take me to type everything!

Where shall I start? Last week I had to do a presentation at work. My department was having an “away day” which is when we spend a day at a local conference centre and they organise presentations, talks and interactive sessions about various work-related issues. Each individual team within the department had to deliver a presentation about what they have been working on and their plans for the future. As my team is fairly small, and the other team-members were away that day (one was on holiday and the other was off sick), I designed the presentation and delivered most of it (although my manager helped out with the introduction and the first Powerpoint slide). I was quite nervous, as I had never delivered a presentation to such a large group before. There were only about 25 people there, but the most I’d ever presented to in the past was 10 people. I got through it OK though, and I received good feedback from the audience, so I was pleased about that and I think it has boosted my confidence. Then in the afternoon of the away day, we had a couple of SQL training sessions, where we went through the exam paper that we had taken a few weeks earlier, and the course leaders explained the correct answers.
A few days ago I received my certificates for passing my CII course. It means I can officially use the letters “Cert CII” after my name!

I’ve been out for a ridiculous number of meals in the last week or so! The Townhouse restaurant where my Mum works has closed down temporarily for refurbishment, and when it re-opens it will be a carvery (which I’m pleased about because I love roast dinners!) So on Thursday the 19th of June we went to the final curry and quiz night before it closed down. I think they still plan to do the quiz when it re-opens, but there probably won’t be any more curries. Then on the Saturday Mum and I went to the cinema to see the new Indiana Jones film, which I enjoyed. Afterwards we had a meal at Malaysian Delights. Then on the following day – the Sunday – I went for a carvery at The Cottage restaurant with Mum, Terry and my grandmother. On Thursday evening Mum and I nipped in for a meal at the Riverbank Chinese buffet restaurant. So that means I’ve had 4 meals out in the space of 8 days!!

I had a couple of days off work this week, as I have several days of holiday to use up before the end of the year. Mum has been at home a lot more since the Townhouse restaurant closed for refurbishment, so I thought I may as well use some of my holiday allowance so that we can go out together. On Wednesday afternoon we went to the cinema, intending to see the latest Chronicles of Narnia film. It was reviewed in the newspaper and it sounded good, so I was looking forward to seeing it. Alas, when we arrived at the cinema’s ticket desk, the woman behind the counter said, “I’m afraid it doesn’t start until tomorrow.” The UK release date was June 26th, so we were a day too early. Therefore we had to choose something else, and we ended up seeing “Wanted”, which I enjoyed anyway, as it had plenty of action in it.

On Thursday Mum and I went to the Royal Norfolk Show, which was good as it was the first time I had been there since I was about 8 years old. My favourite part was the flower show and I took several photos which I plan to upload soon.

Last weekend was a bank holiday weekend, so on Sunday we went out for a meal at the Townhouse for a Sunday roast. Then on Monday we went to Blickling Hall for the afternoon.

As mentioned in my previous post, I had my SQL pre-exam a few days ago. It was much more difficult than I had expected. I thought it would just be a matter of writing a few simple SQL scripts, so the evening before the exam I read through my lecture notes which I’d kept from my university course way back in 2004. It actually turned out to be based on an official Microsoft exam for database administrators, and the first few questions really confused me. Even though they were mostly multiple choice questions, I found it difficult to choose between the answers as it had been such a long time since I’d studied the concepts in any great detail. But as I progressed through the paper, several concepts started coming back to me, so I was able to go back and correct some of my earlier answers. By the end of the 2-hour exam, my mind was buzzing. I could barely find my way back to my desk after the exam had finished, as my mind was so frazzled! I dreaded to think what mark I might get, although I wasn’t too worried as I knew it was only a pre-exam and it doesn’t really count for anything, except to give the tutors an idea of what to focus on in the main training sessions. It was one of the most difficult exams I’ve ever taken, and I thought I’d be lucky if I got even a quarter of the questions right. Anyway, I was told my mark on Wednesday, and to my amazement I’d got 50% and it turned out to be the highest in the team!

On Friday I had my final CII Certificate in Insurance exam. As it was an online exam, I was told straight away that I’d passed, although I’ll get the full results in the post in a few days. I was relieved as there were a few tricky questions. It means I have now finished the course, after studying it for almost a year. At least now I’ll be able to concentrate on my SQL course.

On Saturday afternoon we went to Wymondham, where I had a nice raspberry milkshake and a cake in the Creme cafe. Then we had a walk around the town, whilst it was still sunny.