Dawit is back!

This morning I woke up early, suffering from:

(a) Drinking too much with my brother and sister. My sister (+ husband and two year old daughter) visit London a couple of times a year and we have traditional family get togethers at my brother's place where Charlotte (my brother's wife) cook fantastic food (the baked pink trout last night was superb) and we drink heartily. Unfortunately last night, we got a little carried away and I missed the last tube home (by a whisker) and had to catch the night bus to Elephant & Castle and then walked the last mile home at 1am - dooh!

(b) Yesterday I started some weight training - I've been doing a little too much aerobic exercise recently which is good for the health but I want to build-up a bit now. In the past, I've not been very good at weight training - I'll do it for a while and then get bored (fortunately I love aerobic exercise).

(c) Psychologically, I'm a bit sad about the Tory rout of Labour and in particular by Ken (who I liked) being beaten by Boris ...

The good news is that Dawit is back from Africa! And that he is fit and well :) Dawit's he is an old friend of Nadjib's. A great guy, but we have been concerned when he went to Africa to visit his family and didn't appear to be coming back? Anyway while my family where arguing about politics and getting drunk, Dawit's and Nadjib were having pizza and messing up my rubik cube.

Recently at work I have been on a "management / accelerated development" training programme (running over 12 month), this is mostly good health stuff: some management theory, a little psychology, lots of team exercises, the odd assault course ... Anyway one of the modules was about "selling you brand" (glorified CVs) and not surprisingly we had to describe "our greatest every achievement". Now my 8+ year relationship with my boyfriend may be my greatest achievement but that is not really suitable for "selling your brand" as IT technology specialist. Having solved the rubik cube, developing my very own solution from scratch (I didn't read the solution from a book!) at the age of 11 seems ideal. It was not the most elegant solution, a bit slow (typically 30 minutes to 1 hour) but it was my own solution and I was still at middle school!

Last year I picked up a rubik cube again and I was a bit sad when I couldn't remember how to solve it. However the rubik cube is ideal for the tube (I can even block out being packed into the jubilee line during rush hour - a rubik cube is a lot small than a newspaper and rush hour is too distracting for me to read a proper book). Anyway after a couple of weeks of enjoyable struggle, I finally solved it again - for the first time in roughly 25 years! This was quite a rush of excitement. I went on to complete my rubik cube 14 times in total (over a six week period) - and by the end I had the time down to about 1 or 1.5 hours.

Anyway I'm now studying my SAP notes everyday on the way to work (I may have to find a new job if my company want me to move back to Brighton / Worthing - officially I'm currently only in London on a temporary basis) and so I have put my rubik cube aside and go through my notebook (typically I learn a few interesting / useful new things about SAP and/or IT in general every day at work) . This is very effective for making sure I don't forget all the good stuff I learnt a few weeks / months before.

This morning while making an early morning cup of tea, I found my rubik cube undone, beside some pizza remains (young children and adults after a few drinks, can't resist a completed rubik cube). I was delighted when I solved it while making a cup of tea (under 10 minutes?). I'm sure there is an element of luck here but I am definitely getting better at the corner pieces (the difficult part). Last month after a visit by Nathan and his two year old daughter, it took my about half an hour to complete the cube. This is only the 2nd time I solved the cube this year but I am still getting better :)