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Michael Gumbrell

Adverts

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Went to the cinema yesterday... to see The Meg..

Silly film but you can't go wrong with a bit of Jason Statham.

But that not the point... which is, they had an advert for the OU before the trailers, plus seeing adverts on the TV quite alot.

Perhaps it is my age creeping up on me, but i don't seem to remember seeing quite so many adverts to study with the OU before?

I wonder if it does drive admission numbers... or is it just a reflection of the fact that the recently ousted vice-C used to work in television and media before he fucked up, sorry, joined the OU.

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Michael Gumbrell

Views

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Blimey 27,000 thousand views.

Thank you everyone.

The counter fairly races along now...

I might hit 30,000 by the time i start my next module in September.

In other news it is Friday tomorrow... and then i am off from work for a week. It is a big week for son #1.

Wednesday is his 19th birthday, Thursday is his A'level results and Friday is upgrading his offer to unconditional with Portsmouth Uni, or if he misses an A'level grade..  then a day spent in UCAS clearing.   

Plus Sunday would have been my dads 74th birthday, which will mark 18 months of the anniversary of his death.

So it might well be an emotional week, next week.

If it is not too hot i am doing more work on my deck on the monday.. so with any luck i might get to sit down for a couple of hours on the Tuesday... with any luck..

 

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Michael Gumbrell

Wednesday

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Lunch time on a Wednesday.. half the working week done... and i am off next week. Nice

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Michael Gumbrell

What a test match

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Edited by Michael Gumbrell, Saturday, 4 Aug 2018, 19:06

What a first test match against India. A win by 30 runs. Very exciting... however a full test match should take place over 15 sessions over 5 days... this one finished in 10 sessions... not even a full forth day played.

Come on chaps... the ball in the test match is red... the test is over 5 days, please respect that and leave the white ball stuff to the ODI's.

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Michael Gumbrell

Blimey, 26000

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26,000 views.

Thank you everyone, i am made up by that.

You are very kind for listening to my ramblings...

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Michael Gumbrell

Getting bored in the evening

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I bought some economics books to read in the evening.. but i am getting bored now.

What with it still being July i have so long to wait until the study planner opens up and i can get year 4 underway.

I think though, trying to do a September and February start would be to much for me.... especially as the February start would be a level 3 module.

So i am stuck with the part time pathway and the long summer wait to get going again.  

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Michael Gumbrell

Still raining.

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It is pretty solid rain today and most of last night.

My garden is saved.

Now hopefully is a weeks time, all that straw yellow grass in parks and verges all over the country will be able to green up again.

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Michael Gumbrell

Rain....

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It's raining!!!!!!!

Will it be enough to save my garden.

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Michael Gumbrell

Views versus temprature

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The counter is about to hit 25,000 views...

25,000 which is also the current temperature in Fahrenheit.

Cannot wait for the storms tomorrow night, my garden cannot wait for that rain.

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Michael Gumbrell

My poor garden

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It is now 6 weeks since a single drop of rain fell on my garden.

The nice happy people on BBC weather tell me it is not going to rain this week either.

My poor garden is being burnt to a crisp.

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Michael Gumbrell

Doing the facebook thing

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I don't know, i have the facebook thing.. but i don't seem to enjoy it.

It just seems full of arguments and aggravation. 

The is so little humour or wisdom in any of the posts. 

No i don't wish to sign your petition..

No i don't think we should ban Trump from entering the country...after all that's playing into his phobia.

No i do not wish to attend the boutique fair this Saturday

No i do not need to share a picture of someone with a dead lion that they hunted.. after all i can express contempt for those people without sharing pictures of them with the animals they kill.

I am probably best served by my current policy of going on facebook once in a two week period and hardly ever posting on there.

Facebook seems to be becoming a race to the bottom of the barrel... especially any page that starts with the title,

Spotted....

So many of the pages, groups and comments seem to have become little franchises of hatefulness.

Like so many things in life.. the internet was a good idea, that got filled with people and people's unkindness.

It's sad really.

Permalink 2 comments (latest comment by Michael Gumbrell, Tuesday, 24 July 2018, 13:09)
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Michael Gumbrell

Wow 24,000

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24,000 views. How fantastic.

Thank you everyone.

It might be a sign, but 24 was the age i was the last time England went out of a world cup at the semi final stage.. 

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Michael Gumbrell

Uniforms

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William finally got his air cadet uniform ready for the final parade of this term, which was tonight.

Bless him he looked very smart.

He also passed his duke of Edinburgh award as well. So more patches to go on his fatigue uniform.

Can't believe it is the last day of this academic year tomorrow, a half day at that. Summer holidays are here. 

Except for those of us who have to work for a living..  which is me.

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Michael Gumbrell

Getting the breakdown of your exam score

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Lol. I passed, philosophy is done with... but i could not resist looking at the detailed breakdown of my performance... if i hated A222 before, then i despise it now....

I got 64%, but looking at the beakdown i have 4 out of 12 marked as 'weak' and 2 out of 12 marked as inadequate.

It's a miracle i passed... 

To study Philosophy and A222 is truly a 'special' experience, never to be repeated and never enjoyed.

Now the chore, sorry, experience is complete i can retire the hash tag...

#bloodyA222 is no more

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Michael Gumbrell

Looks like rain..

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It has not rained on my house for 4 weeks... my garden is burnt to a crisp... cloudy skies today... come on rain.. save my garden.

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Michael Gumbrell

satire

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As i mentioned before, i volunteer for a local micro news site as a satirist. They are publishing an anthology of the work all the volunteers have submitted through out the year in October.

Which is very exciting for me, as i will become a published satirist, in print, because being published online does not really count.

The hard bit is that between myself and the editors, Tom and Sarah, we have to decide which one of my satirist infographics go into the book, so far i am leaning towards this one...

i think this one is most on the money


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Michael Gumbrell

and the results are in...

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And the results are in...

64% in the exam.  

60% already from the OCAS...

So a grade 3 pass then..  i will take that considering how much i loathed the course.

I hope everyone's results were good.

Permalink 3 comments (latest comment by Simon Reed, Monday, 16 July 2018, 21:26)
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Michael Gumbrell

Too hot for decking.

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There is a deck outside my sun lounge. It's where i sit and have a fag, think and play guitar.

Six of the 36 boards need replacing. I am doing that this afternoon. It is too hot to really do much work.. however i need to replace them. 

Also Wickes are currently doing half price on 140mm by 2.40 meter boards... 5 pound each. Which is a bargin.

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Michael Gumbrell

soul sold...again

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Hey Hey, just had the email to say that SFE has approved my loan for 2018-19.

There we are , my soul sold slightly further down the river to Student Finance England.

It's okay because i don't have a soul, perhaps to escape my debt i could change my name by deed poll to 'David Hume' and see how long it takes the hell hounds of student finance to find me....

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Michael Gumbrell

4 more days to go...

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My exam result date is Tuesday 17th of July....so

4 more days to go...

Do we get our results on the same day? do some of you get them before or after that date?


Permalink 6 comments (latest comment by Michael Gumbrell, Saturday, 14 July 2018, 15:26)
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Michael Gumbrell

They think it's all over... it is now

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Well that was heart breaking... it took Croatia till 10 minutes into the second half to work out our game plan... once they had, it was heart ache all the way.

Still England gave us quite a ride at this world cup...we thank them for sparking hope within us.

Permalink 2 comments (latest comment by Michael Gumbrell, Friday, 13 July 2018, 20:23)
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Michael Gumbrell

Views

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Very excited to reach 23,000 views today..

Thank you everyone...

23 is also the age i was the last time England were in a world cup semi final... that is a good omen.. hopefully...

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Michael Gumbrell

Ch-ch-ch-changes

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Just saw that q45- politics, philosophy and economics was left unchanged by the academic review.

That is a relief... my heart goes out to any one who has had their course removed or amended.

Hopefully all your courses survived without too much upheaval.

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Michael Gumbrell

Days to remember..

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Wow... a world cup semi final. Well done England.

The open day at portsmouth uni was good. Son #1 has a conditional offer there, so A level results willing, he will be going to Portsmouth Uni to study International Relations and Politics. 

We spent 40 minutes in the library looking through the selection of politics book.

All being well, in the second year he will be able to do a semester at a european university under the Erasmus scheme... or he can spend a semester at a American or Canadian university.

What a fantastic opportunity.

 

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Michael Gumbrell

Appointment conflicts

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Was it only three posts ago i was looking forward to son #1's university open day in Portsmouth?

Then England went and played their way into the world cup quarter finals...

Now we will have to rush back from the open day for 3pm to watch it...

Saturday 7th of July 2018 will indeed be a day to remember....

Permalink 5 comments (latest comment by Michael Gumbrell, Saturday, 7 July 2018, 22:30)
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