mcsheepie

Yes, the subway pass is a great idea (just remember that some of the trains are express ones and don't do all the stops, this has happened to me several times, the last time was on the day i was rushing back to the hotel before heading out to the airport, instead of going to 96th street i ended up at 145th. Oh and if you get the subway to the airport be careful, there are 2 A trains, and yes i got the wrong one, its a good job i'd left heaps of time to get there.)

And the Brooklyn Bridge is worth walking across (wear comfy shoes though!). We walked over just as the sun was going down so got sunny views on the way over and sparkly lights and great night views on the way back.

You could go see the Intrepid Air & Space museum too, i spent a while going round it looking at all the stuff. And if you like rides n' stuff there was a flight simulator in there that you got to control (was a great laugh just doing lots of loops and spins)

If you've got the money you could do a helicopter ride (best to book in advance though). And if you want to see anything by boat do the Beast speedboat tour, a half hour trip down to the Statue of Lib and back, great if you haven't hours to spend on a slow cruise boat.

The NBC Studio Tour is also good, and keep your eyes peeled for film crews. Saw a film being made one day, didn't spot any famous people though.

Great gig, support bands were good too.

I timed that perfectly, they started playing just after i arrived.

They were really good, can't get the sofa song out of my head, wish i had tickets for tonight.

We Are Scientists - With Love and Squalor

Ladytron - The Witching Hour

I think everyone with the good speeds must be stealing it from me. I have a 2MB link that is currently downloading at... wait for it, 750 bytes/sec!

Maybe i need to reboot.

sorry' date=' i was reasonably vague about the 2007 thing. when i said come into effect i meant the pay freeze, just didn't phrase it right.

i don't work for the council but i've heard a few things from reliable sources(the lift thing definitely happened but possibly only on the first day). i don't understand what you mean about getting the job description right either, the idea was that issuing the letters would begin a process whereby the staff facing cuts would work with the personnel department to adjust their job description(by my understanding anyway) and get up to the pay they were on before the re-evaluation not to just tell them a whole new job description(which would no doubt be just as unpopular). i'm not claiming by any means to know all the ins and outs or saying the council are doing the right thing, i'm just going on what i've been told and i've been trying to understand the situation a little better as it's interesting. no matter what the council did they are in a no win situation here.[/quote']

Ok, people with cuts were given the chance to redo their job descriptions, add extra responsibiliies etc (supposedly to get the pay increased and more in line with the current scale), but personnel were not helping (at least in our departments case, they didn't turn up to a meeting to discuss things(at their own desk)and other things).

I think that the council would like the public to think that they are trying to get their staff fair deals but people will lose out. They can't re-evaluate the jobs to get them back to their original pay, where would they get the money to pay the underpaid people? Thats my main problem with the whole thing, it is not an actual evaluation process, its more a 'we have x amount of money lets rejig the scales/jobs to fit'.

Want an actual example of the flaws? I was given a pay rise last year, i got a letter saying that the director of personnel and my department got together, discussed my case and decided to pay me what i was worth. My provisional new pay is less than that amount. The majority of my department took pay cuts, over 80% of us (and a lot of them by more than 15%).

Anyway.its basically not as straightforward as some people make out, take all the council press releases with a pinch of salt. Why didn't they just increase the underpaid people's wages and leave the rest of us alone?

the pay cuts wouldn't come into force till 2007 or something. plus they were initial paycuts based on their current job descriptions. the idea was that it would open discussions up with the staff losing money so that they can assist in rewriting their job descriptions to keep their pay the same. in other words they were being paid more for doing less compared to others in their line of work(based on their job descriptions not what they actually did) and this was being put right. plus i'm led to believe that those at the bottom of the ladder in the council would not have lost out as much as the press made out' date=' for instance reports on grampian showed pictures of binmen and leisure attendants who were either gaining money or staying the same. every council in the country has to implement these changes because there's a lawyer going round the country encouraging council workers to sue their employers under equal pay law, where aberdeen council messed up was not communicating properly with their employees so that they fully understood the situation. should be interesting next year when aberdeenshire council tries to implement these changes.

it was so bad that people wouldn't press the button in the lift for anyone working in the personnel and organisational development department of the council.

as for this slogan i'd imagine the money is indeed from somewhere completely seperate from the wage budget which is probably voted for by a seperate committee or something.[/quote']

Um, where did you hear all that? The pay cuts are supposed (if the council gets its way) to come into effect next April. People who got pay cuts were going to get their pay frozen for 3 years (or until they caught up with the new pay scale). In some cases, after 3 years they could still face a cut if the new scale hadn't caught up with their old one. The problem has nothing to do with a lack of communication with staff, we know whats going on, the whole evaluation process is flawed. For example, why not get the job descriptions right before issuing the first provisional letter? And as far as getting the descriptions right, there is now a 32? page questionnaire for people that got a 15% or more cut that has to be done (with the wonderful disclaimer that any member of staff that writes something false in it knowingly or otherwise will face disiplinary action, make a mistake, you're screwed?) Oh yeah and if jobs are re-evaluated and come out at a higher level than the provisional grade there could be knock on effects which will decrease other jobs (Call me stupid but that sounds like they are just balancing money, not doing an actual job evaluation?)

And, the lower paid staff could actually still lose out, there is a whole other thing happening at the same time which affects terms and conditions, they will have to work more hours, overtimes being cut etc.

Oh, and i don't know who told you about the lift thing, but i personally had the lift door shut on me twice because people from personnel never held the doors open (not sure if its cos they were scared to be in lifts with other staff or what?).

Don't think much of the new brand either.

has anyone been sent their tickets yet?

Nope, still waiting.

Yeah, Moby was really good, loved all the covers. Went there to see Hard-Fi, who were also great.

Yes!!! Good taste there.

Please tell me you bought the uncut version of Ong-bak?

I just watched Danny the Dog - it's a masterpiece' date=' absoltuely wonderful. Weird how it's filmed and set in Glasgow, but it's populated with cockneys...

btw, I urge you to watch Born to Fight (if you enjoyed Ong-Bak). Another mental Thai title made from the same film crew.[/quote']

Yes, got the uncut version (got the aussie dvd with both versions), great film. Will look out for Born to Fight, thanks for the tip

When did Danny the Dog come out? I didnt notice and I've been looking for it. Filmed a lot of it in Glasgow cos it was cheaper than New York

Its not out here yet, got the region 3 version.

I buy way too many DVDs, the last lot i got was

The Last Picture Show

Murder By Death

The Life Aquatic

Ong Bak and

Danny the Dog

Wow, this threads got quite long. Just thought i let you know I've been spider free for 2 whole days now. Fingers crossed it stays that way, and if one of the big spiders does come back i'll take a picture (to prove they are big and i'm not a wuss)

Granted' date=' from the couple of tracks I have heard I absolutely despise his voice.[/quote']

His voice has been buggin me for a while and i've just decided who he sounds like, aaron neville (he was the one who did that i don't know much song isn't he?)

We Are Scientists - Inaction

Billy Talent - Red Flag

Hard Fi - Living For the Weekend

Autolux - Turnstile Blues

LCD Soundsystem - Tribulations

it's you poofs that hate spiders I loath...what the fuck for ? they are pretty tiny compared to humans and they are not poisonous.

I'm a girl, i'm allowed to hate/fear spiders. They move too fast, have big legs and are after me

you can have mine. seriously. right now. i want it out of this house dead or alive.

And mine, take it too

Ive got a crazy friend who picks up spiders in his hand to put them out the window or wherever. What a nutter.

Does he do house calls?

And are spiders getting bigger? The one sitting beside me (under a tub) is about 2" big

I can finally go to sleep, the stupid thing is under a tub, still alive but contained. Will stay there til i find someone brave enough to lift the box and deal with the angry spider.

karma, do you always have a brick lying around incase of spider attack?

And, as far as spider torture goes. The last spider i dealt with had possibly the most embarrasing spider death ever. It was in a corner, i figured a thrown shoe could easily miss, so i threw a wad of wet bog roll at the thing, trapped it, then squished it.

Ok, my spider fear is no longer irrational, they really are out to get me. Decided to try the deodorant method, stood up and the fickin thing was sitting beside my chair! It came after me, who says spiders are more scared of us than we are of them?

hmmm bit of a dilemma' date=' cant offer any advice really, sorry!

apparently we eat on average six spiders during our lifetime when we're sleeping![/quote']

I'm pretty sure thats just an urban myth. Anyway, needed help not a reason not to sleep tonight. I'm going to have enough trouble going to bed knowing there's a giant spider in the flat let alone thinking i could eat the bloody thing too

Firstly. its too far up the wall for me to swat, and secondly, that would involve going near it. (and thirdly, it is big, not really the swatable(?) size)

I'd hoover the stupid thing off the wall but the hoovers in the kitchen and the spiders just sitting above the door, looks like i'm not going in the kitchen for a while.

Help!

I have a complete hatred/fear of spiders and right now there is a giant one in my kitchen. Any advice on how to get rid of it that doesn't envolve going near it?

Was the 2nd last song they did a cover, cos it sounded really familiar?