Wow. 40,000 views. 

Thank you everyone.

The online lecture was good last night.

Had a 1st stage phone interview for a new job today, but they cancelled last minute, so will be doing it tomorrow instead.

And thank you to everyone who visits my blog of things..  the counter just clocked 39,000... which is fantastic.

The counter really bombs along now. 

So tomorrow night is the book launch party for the micro news organisation the star and crescent.

I did mention that i had work selected to appear their anthology, while ago... if you remember, being published attracts the perk in our house of gaining access to Ros and Ella's secret stash of biscuits.  

I have warned both the ladies of our house that when i get home from the book launch i would like a special ceremony in the kitchen, with acceptance to the published authors secret biscuits club.

Son #1 is coming with me to the launch. He has a Mandarin lesson from 5pm-7pm in one of the other university buildings, so he is coming to the launch party with me... primarily so that he can get a lift home...

The counter hit 37,000.

Thank you everyone.

Crikey, week 2 is dense stuff.

Now we have moved onto balances of income ( flows) both credit and deficit of national economies and the current accounts ( stocks ) of those countries and how flows and stocks are balanced across three main national activities, public, private and personal spending.

This is a very intense and demanding module so far... best pay attention and make sure i set aside re-reading time for the materials.

so firstly, 36,000 views, that's is really awesome.

Thank you everyone, it is much appreciated. Always.

Secondly, i popped onto the FASS website and the PPE and economics forums.

There i exchanged posts with a nice chap called Barry.

Barry is on a different pathway to me, not Q45 Politics, Philosophy and Economics.

The good thing is that Barry is has just finished DD209- economics and is starting A222- Philosophy.

I have just finished A222 and am starting DD209.

So that sounds like an excellent opportunity to exchange experience's and tips.

So my unofficial study group of me, Simon and Stephen would benefit from Barry's advice and hopefully, Barry from ours.

I do like it when things work out like that, it makes me happy.

It is also a good way to help break down the barriers of remote/online study and stop any feelings of isolation when studying with the O.U.

I do use the LINE messaging app on my phone, all i have to do now is convince another 3 chaps, over 40, that it is the best way to communicate as a study group, instead of long email chains, like we currently do.

Got an email from my tutor, so that is sorted and tutorials are at southampton again this year, same venue as 2 years ago with DD211.

So thats sorted.

Wow, DD209 chapter one is hard... CPI,GDP calculations, inflation, real wages verses monetary wages..

Formulas, difference between percentage point change and percentile change.

From week one the first thing that becomes clear is that notes are going to be important, i am going to have to add in 3-4 hours every week to produce the revision notes... they do provide a downloadable revision note template, i am going to be using that plenty.

But wow, what a lot of algebra and formula's to take in...

I also found out the my Mrs is going back to uni on a part time basis on Wednesday.

Her work are paying for her to do a ASYE this year, so that she can assess and mark social work students in the workplace.

So whilst son #1 and i lurge through our undergraduates degrees, the Mrs is doing post graduate!!

Each year i join the facebook group for the module and each year i rage quit them by Christmas...

This year i have joined the DD209 october start group.

Yesterday i nearly quit on the first day of the module start date.

Some smart arse posts, on the day the module planner opens, about some thing they don't understand in chapter 3...

FFS, no one is impressed by your passive aggressive gloating about chapter 3 on day 1 of the course... thats 48 hours of study, or 3 weeks, away... of course you didn't understand it, you have compressed 48 hours of study into an 8 hour period....just because you think it will impress your fellow cohort... it does not impress us... some of us work full time,study and have 3 kids...

Did not rage quit the group, despite the gloating first post...  

Sitting here at lunch break from work.. and its only Tuesday... fed up already.

Might be time to chuck my c.v out there again and see if i can land a new job.

Contract management is very boring... and i am very bored doing it.

33,000 views or as it is known in slang ' a double carpet... in the old days if you had done 30 years in the nick, the guards would buy you a 3 feet square roll of carpet for your cell. Hence 3 is known as a 'carpet' so 33 is a double carpet..

So i have hit a double carpet of bags...

A bag of sand... a grand.. one thousand.

Hence 33,000 is a double carpet of bags.

Stick another neves on and it would by big plymouth of bags...

Anyway i want to say thank you to everyone who has visited my blog.

For 34,000 thousand we can go with some more details about slang counting, perhaps look at jacks, stripes, bottles, scores, ponies and cockles...or even half'a'bar.

For advanced counting slang we could switch for phonetic Cantonese?

Yat = 1

Ee= 2

Sarm= 3

Say=4

Mmm=5

Low=6

Chat=7

Bah=8

Gow= 9

Sap=10

It goes in the 10 unit style... so for example 33 is said as 3 10 3... so 33 is sarm,sap,sarm...

Anyway, thank you for visiting my blog.. it makes me happy to know that you do...

Thank you everyone... the counter just rolled through 32,000. How amazing is that !