Hours in the day? 24? Not enough!

For those astute of you, you will have realised that the weekly Zzing newsletter and blog have not been updated recently. Unlike the previous eight weekly updates, I fell short last week and now we are nearly at the end of another week.

The reason for this? Well, I haven’t won the lottery and therefore I’m not currently in the Seychelles sipping champagne and no, I haven’t managed to upset the Microsoft / O2 Broadband techie-geeks and broken my computer or broadband. The reason for my ‘slacking’ in the newsletter / blog department is simply amount of work – yes, PAID work! Can you believe it? No, I can hardly either...

My last update included the market research tender which I had just won. That was for an evaluation / market research project for se2 Partnership which is a Social Enterprise organisation in the South East. So have been designing online survey’s and telephone interviewing their network organisations – what lovely, lovely people they are in the Social Enterprise Network they are. I guess their name say’s it all, ‘Social’, but they really are. Have had lovely chats with many of them – really didn’t seem much like work at all! However, market research does take up acres of my time with the telephone interviewing and then typing up the interview notes – still, all good stuff.

I also got some great news last week. The specialist construction company which I had a meeting with decided that they liked me (without the bribery of homemade brownies I hasten to add) and I start on a monthly contract for 16 hours each week in Alton next week. Again, perhaps I have been hit with a lucky stick, but they are such nice people (or perhaps I need to change my view that all business people will be really scary and shout lots). They want me to work on their PR and marketing their company profile so really looking forward to getting on with that work. One of the directors also plays rugby (for another team) against the boyfriend, so this made me telling them that I’m going to be in Paris for a few days next week (Oui, oui! J’adore Jonny Wilkinson and all that) a bit easier!

Then today, I got confirmation of some more market research work through an introduction from an old friend Andy Knight who works for Incisive Media. I’m going to be working on some qualitative research which is going to be pretty full-on for the next two weeks. I haven’t got the contact list yet so I’m using this time to write my weekly (albeit a bit late) ramblings.

So all in all, a pretty eventful week or so! Oh yes, I am now the owner of a sparkly new Blackberry as I’ll be out and about more and so what have I been doing for the last few days? Yes, on the phone to the ‘service provider’. Well, for a start, I think it’s a slight infringement to have ‘service’ at the start of their title and if I hear one more automated message telling me that they provide the ‘highest levels of customer service’ I’ll scream (they tell you this after holding and pressing 20 different buttons for options to finally get through to a human). However, when you do, you can already hear them eating their breakfast / lunch whilst flicking through various other internet sites as well as your email account. Yes, I know you are a techie and can multi-task various programmes and internet options whilst making ‘uumph’ noises to me, sorting out your fantasy football team, ordering the new shoot ‘em up PS3 game and tap, tap, tapping on your computer – but please....just talk to me in language that I can decipher and not make me feel like some idiot who has possibly not plugged the computer in.

So in essence, I could really, really do with some additional hours in the day. If anyone has an ‘app’ for obtaining more hours in the day (I got offered some from my ‘service’ provider – I pretended not to hear them as I haven’t got a clue why I would use my phone as a compass, spirit level or want to know how to decipher what bird song I can hear – I live in Southampton, if it’s not a seagull, the bird has got lost), let me know.

On a random note, has anyone else tried the new Marmite Cereal Bars? They were handing them out free in Waterloo yesterday. Tried one. Bit dry and tasteless and I sit in the ‘Love Marmite’ camp too. Apparently, you need to post your comments on the Marmites Facebook page. Seeing they only starting handing them out this week, they have over 2,500 ‘fans’ – what a cost effective way of getting feedback on your product.

Anyway, best go, got some survey results to sift through before hockey training tonight (2 matches at the weekend, still aching slightly when I get up and three large bruises and two astro-turf burns to my left knuckle – can’t complain, one of my team mates snapped her tendon in her ankle and is now on crutches).

A bientot! (practising for Paris next week)