and off we go!

The smiles say it all!

Turning is no problem!

Catch me if you can!

In other news, I got my dungarees today and we built a den. Life is good.

While there are of course software packages out there that are very good at working with a single voice dictating, even those can sometimes struggle. I know this, because I’ve edited work that has been dictated in this way – and it can often be rife with homophones.

Why use a human transcriber?

I’ve been providing transcription services for several years now. While a machine might be suitable for taking down the words of a single, non-accented speaker enunciating clearly into a good quality recording apparatus, with no background noise, no interruptions and no acronyms or jargon, the projects I’ve worked on have included some or all of these features:

• High levels of background noise – interviews in cafes with espresso machines whooshing and spoons clinking in cups
• People talking while they’re eating and eating while they’re talking
• Interruptions from waiters / room service / other members of the band or group
• High levels of tape noise leaving me straining to hear what anyone’s saying
• Multiple speakers including many people with similar voices around a conference table
• Overlapping speech
• Non-native English accents or heavy regional accents
• Very technical content – jargon and acronyms galore
• Creative content – album names, track names, novel titles, band names, author names
• Requests to provide the transcription missing out ums and ers through to smoothing the English to make it read as standard English

As a native English speaker specialising in working with music journalists and non-native speakers of English, I can cope with all of these, with some rewinding and checking. I doubt that the most sophisticated dictation software could do so, as yet. I might be wrong of course (let me know if I am!).

Understanding what’s being said on a transcription

The first issue is actually hearing and understanding what’s being said. I have a good ear and a native English speaker’s ability to predict what will come next in a sentence / how sentence structures work, plus my experience working with speakers of and texts in non-native English allows me to do this for native Arabic, Chinese, Eastern European language etc. speakers. My ear can filter out background noise where sophisticated software can only go so far. And I can hear around the clink of teaspoons or glasses chinking to grasp what’s being said.

Checking the content in a transcription

When one of my journalist clients sends me a tape, I check who the musician / band is and look them up (usually on Wikipedia for the general information, as their own websites are usually a bit harder to plumb for information). When I’m working on an international conference I will seek out or be given a conference schedule, list of attendees, etc. When I’m working with technical content I will look up information on that topic.

All this allows me to produce a transcription which the client will not have to check for themselves, or if they do check it (which I do recommend), there won’t be too much to change. And I won’t be embarrassed by too many mis-hearings. Just try popping a few names of country leaders, bands or albums into a Word document and running a spell checker and imagine what an automated dictation program would do with these terms!

Speech on a tape to words in a document

Very occasionally I’ll be asked to record exactly what the people on the tape say, including ums, ahs, repetitions and pauses. At the moment, I’m transcribing some roleplays for students learning how to operate a telephone helpline. Here it’s important to capture all the nuances of the conversation and I’m splitting the utterances into sections, numbering them, and including all the ums and ahs.

Normally, my clients will require some smoothing out.

• Most of my journalists like to have an indication of when their subject slowed down or had to mull over something and ask me to include notes of those pauses.
• Business people producing podcasts and telecasts often want a fairly accurate transcription, but smoothed out to eliminate ums, ahs, pauses and repetitions, so they have a good product to sell or include in packages for their clients.
• Some international conferences want to avoid embarrassment for their delegates by having their English rewritten as I transcribe to appear as close as possible to native British (or American) English
• I have worked with authors who start off with a tape and want it to turn into something they can publish as a book (this, unlike all of the other options, involves two processes: transcription and then heavy editing and rewriting).

Why should I use a human transcriber and not a software program?

I think I’ve answered that for you now. You should also consider using a human transcriber who’s a native speaker of the language you’re having transcribed: there are websites out there where you can find very cheap transcribers; they are often not going to be native English speakers and while they will get the gist of the tape down, I’d be unsure whether they could give you the service you needed.

I’ve written another article about how to get into transcribing as a job and how to prepare yourself for what is often a fun and rather creative area of work, and one about the technology transcribers use.

In the meantime, if you’re thinking of booking in a transcriber, do have a look at my page about my transcription services, and get in touch if you want to ask about what I can do for you. I hope you’ve enjoyed this insight into a transcriber’s work! Do leave a comment if you have …

Amy stepped off of the lift and leaned against her snowboard.

“Where’s your coat?” I asked, noticing the lack of her fluffy white, down coat.

“I got hot, left it at the bottom of the hill,” she explained, “hope no one takes it.”

“You should have tied it around your waist or stuffed it in your snow pants,” I recommended. Amy laughed. I wasn’t joking. For a moment I thought about asking her if I could stuff her coat down my pants but we’d only just met and I didn’t think it was appropriate.

Wincing I sat myself down on my sore behind and strapped my feet into my snowboard. I took a deep breath and leaned back onto my elbows. With a sigh I looked down the mountain and surveyed the resort.

I’m not a skier. I think that I could have been, but, growing up, my family wasn’t a ski family. We went to Alpine Valley in Wisconsin a couple of times when I was little and I have distinct memories of taking ski lessons with my sister, Lizzy, riding the chairlift with my dad sandwiched between us and walking barefoot in the snow to get to the hot tub in the evening. I remember liking it: the thrill, the cold air against my cheeks and, of course, the ski pass attached to my jacket that I confidently wore to school for the remainder of the winter months. Pretty badass.

Now it’s been about 20 years since I was last on skis. I don’t know when I first wanted to learn how to snowboard, I think it was in college, but it made it to the list. I did a little internet research before jumping in the car for my spontaneous trip last week and found a pretty good deal at the Boyne Mountain Snowsports Academy. For $60 a wannabe snowboarder like myself can get a 2 hour group lesson, equipment rental and a lift ticket for the beginner area. Not bad. I inquired about the 10am lesson and was contacted about an hour later by Curtis to confirm. Boyne Mountain is only about a half hour away from Charlevoix so on Wednesday morning, after giving Essie a good run in the snow, I jumped in the car and arrived at the Boyne Mountain Ski Resort in plenty of time to rent my equipment and watch the small children zoom down the bunny hill on their boards.

Like learning a new language, snowboarding should be learned when you’re a child. It isn’t impossible to learn as an adult, just a helluva lot harder.

“Are you sunbathing?” Jordan asked as he hit my board with a snowball and brought my attention back to the task at hand. With his blond curls and scruff Jordan looked more like a bleached out surfer than a snowboard instructor.

“I’m icing my ass.” I joked, tossing a snowball in his direction and missing him by a mile. The last trip down the mountain had been a rough one, including two hard falls on my poor tailbone. I was trying hard to smile and joke through the pain. “How long have you been doing this?” I asked him, part stalling, part making conversation.

“This is my first year.”

“Teaching?”

“No. Snowboarding. And teaching” There goes my theory about learning as a kid.

“You’re crazy.” I smiled as I ungracefully rolled in the snow and unsteadily stood on my board.

Jordan came up behind me and gave me some pointers. “You’re riding too much on your toes… bring your hip out more… you’re using your calf muscles too much…” His number one rule was that snowboarding was about relaxing but each fall made me more and more tense. “You’re shaking.” He observed. Just chill.

I took a deep breath and jumped so that my front food was was parallel with the bottom of the mountain and took off, a moment before I was ready. “Just chill.” I repeated Jordan’s advice to myself and could suddenly feel my calves loosen up, my body relax slightly. Bringing my front shoulder across my body I turned my board parallel with the mountain and leaned forward to stop.

“Woo, yeah girl!” Jordan’s cheers brought a smile to my face. “That was great, now do it again!”

Without a word I repeated the steps, this time allowing myself to get a little more speed. Another successful stop. I looked up the mountain toward Jordan helping Amy get to her feet. I waved up at him, giving a small “woo!” and allowed myself a little celebration. A little too much celebration. Down I went, back onto my sore rear. At least he didn’t see it. I’ve always been a good student and have always sought approval and a pat on the back from my teachers. Quickly I righted myself and traveled the rest of the way down the mountain cautiously and without drama.

When I got off the lift again I found Nick sitting much as I had been. I sat beside him and strapped on my board. “You seem to be really getting it.” He said, smiling.

I couldn’t help but laugh. “I’m glad you think so, but I’m pretty sure the bruise on my ass tomorrow will disagree.”

He chuckled. “Yeah. I’m sure I’ll have a few there, too. Battle wounds.”

The next couple of times down the mountain went smoother. I felt more in control, like I could better communicate with my board. Still, watching the seasoned boarders coming down the hill baffled me. Practice, practice, practice. Like anything in life, that’s what makes perfect. (Unless you’re like Jordan, then you’re probably a natural and will be doing tricks by the end of your first ride. But that’s the exception, not the rule.)

One of my favorite part of travel is trying new things. Whether it’s new food, a new way of doing something, new skills or tackling a new challenge I’m always game. Snowboarding was a bucket list item for me, and as excited as I am to cross it off, I’ve by no definition mastered it. I know I’ll be back for more! And THAT attitude is why I’m the ideal girl to win the Biggest, Baddest Bucket List competition! Have you voted for me? Please do! Voting closes in 3 weeks and, despite my best efforts, I’m trailing a bit!

As I mentioned from my previous post on the Talisman game, a bunch of small grey plastic figurines come with the game as players’ pieces. I bought the newest expansion set to the game recently and it came with six new figurines. As with the rest before, I painted them. There’s a process I use to help the keep the paint on and make the final product look good.

The first thing I did was wash the figurines in warm water and soap. I did this to remove any fine powder residues or oils that may be on the figurines which were used during the manufacturing and moulding process.

When dried, the next step was to spray down the figurines with a grey primer. The photo left below is just for show – I sprayed the figurines outside on my balcony, not on my kitchen table!

With the primer dried, I applied the paints. I tried to match up the colours from the character card art to the figurines as much as I could. Some of this can be challenging because the details can be very small since the size of the figurines vary between 1-2 cm. I didn’t have all of the colours either, so I had to improvise a lot of new colours by mixing up the colours I already had. For instance, a combination of white, red, yellow and a tiny bit of green will yield a fleshy colour!

With the paint dried, the final task was to spray down the figurines with a clear matte finish. This eliminates the glossy look I don’t want (except when I want a glossy look in some cases) and provides an extra layer to help protect the paint from the rubbing off. Here’s a sample of the final product:

I make little repair jobs every now and then, but the process works quite well. I have painted a total of 58 figurines since I got the original game. Each figurine can take quite a bit of time so it took me over a year to paint them all!

Well, the Canon Powershot S95 isn’t quite as fearsome as the Martian tripod invaders from H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds, but they’re great at taking photos. The camera isn’t quite new either, having bought it about two years ago.

It’s a great little camera. Before purchasing it, I did a lot of online research to find the best point and shoot camera and the Powershot S95 was probably the best one I could find. Its only flaw is that it eats up a lot of battery power quickly, but I would just keep extra batteries handy if I need them. The little tripod is handy too for shots where I’d make use of the timer. I once used its flexible legs to attach it to a tree branch so I could photograph myself cross country skiing.

Before I go on vacation this summer, I hope to learn more about the camera’s full capabilities. I know many of its features, but probably not enough. I want to know what features are best to use in a given situation to get the best possible photo. For instance, a common problem I’ve noticed is over-exposed photos on bright sunny days. I’d like to take better shots of fast-moving objects too. Over the next few months, I’m going to take some practice photos and test the camera’s features.

Every so often, I take a photograph that’s postcard quality. In a few months, hopefully I will improve on that frequency.

Just £1 per session.

Just call Arts Tutor Andrea for more information on 0207 607 7701 or drop in to Drovers Centre to say hello anytime!

• how to stop your first page displaying a page number
• how to have page numbers in different formats in your document

This will be particularly useful if you’re formatting the page numbers on a PhD or other thesis or dissertation – many of my student clients don’t know how to do this, which is what inspired me to write this series of articles.

How can I have different page number formats in different parts of my document?

Imagine that you’ve written a thesis or a book – something that has a title page (red), a contents list (blue) and then the main body of the text (yellow). It’ll look something like this …

Now imagine that you’d like to have different page numbering for different parts of the document – for example, no page numbering on the title page, Roman numerals for the contents pages, and then the numbering continuing in Arabic numerals for the main body of the text. Look at a non-fction book or someone else’s thesis and you’ll see that this is how they’re often laid out.

How do you do this? First of all, you need to divide your document into discrete sections, using section breaks. Let’s learn how to do that …

How do I see what formatting I have in my document?

If you plan to insert section or other breaks in a document, it’s useful to be able to see what breaks you have in there already. In the document I’m using an example, I would suspect that the aurhor has added some sort of breaks to make the contents page and then main text start on new pages.

How do we check this? Make sure you’re on the Home tab and then press the Paragraph button in the Paragraph section …

Once you’ve pressed the button, you’ll find all sorts of strange marks appear. You can also see that the new page has been started by inserting a Page Break (and not using the Enter key – hooray. If you want to know the reason for the “hooray”, read this article.

The paragraph mark indicates a return, and the Page Break label shows that a page break has been inserted here. That’s great if you just want to start the next chunk of text on the next page, but we want to format each section differently, and this requires a section break rather than just a page break.

How do I insert a section break?

In order to insert a Section Break, we need to delete the page break first. Highlight the page break and press the Delete key or place the cursor just to the right of it and press the Backspace button. As soon as you do that, you’ll notice that the text which sat neatly at the top of the next page has jumped up onto this page. Don’t worry, it will disappear again …

To insert the Section Break, you need to be in the Page Layout tab (not the Insert tab, confusingly). There you will find an area called Page Setup which includes a Breaks menu:

When you press the Breaks button, you’ll see a menu offering several different options for the break you wish to insert – including our old friend the page break and our new friend the section break.

The one we want is Section Break – Next Page. As the text explains, this will insert a Section Break and start the next chunk of text on the next page – exactly what we want to do. Choose that option and hey presto …

… a Section Break (Next Page) appears on your page. And the Contents page has moved back to Page 2.

Note that in this example, we’re dividing the document into three sections, using two section breaks, so we need to add one at the end of the contents list, too …

So now our document is divided into three sections – 1, the title page, 2, the contents list and 3. the main body of the text:

How do I add different formats of numbers to different sections of my document?

Now it’s time to add those page numbers, remembering that we want no page numbers at all on the title page, the Roman numerals on the conents pages followed by Arabic numerals for the rest of the document.

We’ve seen how to add page numbers before, using the Headers and Footers on the document. We’ll do that in a moment. But this time we need to do something else first: we need to remove the association between each section and make tat sure each one is independent. This will allow us to assign different page number formats to each section (and other formatting – I’ll write about this another time, but it’s the way you get your document to let you have certain pages in landscape rather than portrait orientation, etc.

How do I stop my footer having the same format as the previous section?

The trick here is to make sure that the footers do not simply copy the previous section of the document. if they do, you will have trouble making each section different. We now need to go into the second section of the document and disconnect its footers from those of the first section.

So, first of all, go into the Design tab or just left click on the bottom part of your page, below the text. In both cases, the Design tab will display and you need to look at the Navigation area. You will see that the footer automatically decides to be Same as Previous – we need to disconnect this footer from the previous one. Up in the Ribbon, Link to Previous is highlighted, reminding us that this section’s footer is linked to the previous one and providing a handy hint as to how to stop that.

If you press the Link to Previous button it will turn from yellow back to white, you’ll notice that the Link to Previous note in fhe footer has disappeared. This means that you can format Section 2 independently of whatever’s going on in Section 1,

Note that the Header has its own ability to Link to Previous, which is separate from that of the Footer, which means that you can keep any header text you’ve added to the document working throughout the document without needing to re-insert it into each section.

Before we start getting excited about adding those page numbers, make sure you’ve done the same to Section 3, disconnecting it from Section 2. Changing Same as previous in one section won’t have any effect on the next section:

Remind me how to add page numbers …

Now we’re ready to add the page numbers to the document. Ignoring Section 1, which doesn’t need a page number, we can go into the page number add part of Section 2. Just to remind you, that’s on the Page Number area of the Design tab, and in this case we want to add a page number at the bottom of hte page, so we select Page Number then Bottom of Page and the particular position we require, so as to set up the page number position before formatting the actual numbers.

Now it’s time to format the page numbers. So its back to the Page Number button but we choose Format Page Numbers …

You will see on this example that the page number has automatically inserted itself on the first page of the contents (Page 2 of the document), but it has defaulted to being in Arabic numbers and to helpfully inform us that we’re on page 2 of the document. However, we want Roman numerals, AND we want it to start with Page 1. So, into that Page Number format menu, and there we can …

… choose Roman numerals (top) and start at page 2, not page 2. Press OK to set those …

And look – as if by magic, the page number is now i instead of 2.

Now, for section 3, the main body of the text, we want Arabic numerals which continue from the last number in Section 2. So in this case we choose the Number Format to be the default, Arabic, opion, and tick Continue from previous section. In this screenshot, I’ve already pressed OK, so look at the bottom of the page …

and there’s a lovely figure three.

So, to you what weve done in a colourful and dramatic way which is a bit more over the top than what we would actually want our document to look like, we’ve done this:

And while individual institutions’ formatting rules still take precedence, this is what most of my PhD students like their thesis page numbering to look like.

In this article we’ve learned how to add different kinds of page number to different parts of the document, and more complicated formats for page numbers. If you need more of a recap on the basics of page numbering, see the article on that topic.

If you have found this article useful, please share it using the buttons below, and leave me a comment!

If you’re at all interested in my anti-cholesterol diet book which I used as an example in this document, find out more here.

This is part of my series on how to avoid time-consuming “short cuts” and use Word in the right way to maximise your time and improve the look of your documents.

Please note, these hints work with versions of Microsoft Word currently in use – Word 2003, Word 2007 and Word 2010, all for PC. Mac compatible versions of Word should have similar options. Always save a copy of your document before manipulating it. I bear no responsibility for any pickles you might get yourself into!

Find all the short cuts here …

‘What!? Are you nuts!?’ was the reaction I got from Huw quite fairly I guess when I told him last night. There were a lot of circumstances piling up against us and when push came to shove we both wanted to stay (rather than catch 4 buses over 2 hours to get to the airport at 5am for example).

Aisha and I joked during our ‘I’m so glad you feel the same way!’ conversation that we wouldn’t tell any one we were still here and just pretend to be on holiday. Although I ruined that plan by going to my university class this morning and I have not been to any museums, drunk any Polish beer or slept in a sleeping bag, I have listened to about 4 episodes of This American Life, made the sewed goods above, done some yoga, cleaned my bike and rearranged my room a bit. I’ve also enjoyed eating the leftovers of the roast chicken that me, Ryan, Jake and Zoe had yesterday because all the vegans are away.

This is a sewing project I’ve been meaning to start for a long time but still needs a few more hankies. Alas, this will have to wait until after Easter when I’m back to charity shops.

Tomorrow I am going to catch up on lots of reading for university, and maybe because I’m on holiday time, I am actually really looking forward to it. Taking a holiday in this context means taking a break from myself – the worried, distracted and stressed version of myself – and hopefully in time I’ll learn how to take little holidays every day during my meditation!

Sweet dreams,

Beth x

p.s. I’m going to be a guest baker for this event of sordid bike and cake based love spreading in a few weeks. I’ve got delicious plans.

Drumroll … and … Ta-da! My very first website!

This is just a snapshot of the future homepage of kaitlincarpenter.com, but a lot more has been going into it than meets the eye. I’ve used several different resources to start learning Ruby on Rails, like this Skillshare class, as well as just playing with it, searching for examples and seeing if I can make them work in my application.

That isn’t to say it hasn’t been frustrating or difficult – those have been present in abundance. After all, this is an entirely new skill to me, and even when the answer is simple, it can take me a long time to find it or figure it out.

All the same, I’m excited to get this live soon, and to continue learning!

The impact of Crossrail on the UK economy and employment is revealed today as new statistics show that businesses from right around the UK are benefitting from work connected to Europe’s largest construction project.

Crossrail has been awarded direct contracts with a value of more than £5.5 billion, which in turn are contributing to the creation of at least 75,000 business opportunities covering the project’s direct contractors and their supply chains.

New figures published today by Crossrail show that throughout the project and its supply chain it is estimated that enough work will be generated to support the equivalent of 55,000 full time jobs.

Of the contracts monitored by Crossrail, 43 per cent of businesses winning work are based outside of London and the southeast and 62 per cent are based outside the capital.

It’s not just large companies that are benefitting. To date, 58 per cent of businesses in the project’s supply chain that have been monitored by Crossrail are small and medium sized businesses (SMEs).

Crossrail is also urging businesses around the UK to seize the opportunities that the project has to offer. The majority of contracts throughout the supply chain are yet to be awarded as the project’s main contractors still need to buy a wide range of goods, works and services from companies of all sizes.

Andrew Wolstenholme, Crossrail Chief Executive said: “Crossrail is proving to be a much needed boost for a range of industries, creating and safeguarding jobs and providing tens of thousands of opportunities for UK businesses.

“Crossrail will not just benefit London and the southeast – the project’s economic benefits are being felt well beyond the confines of the M25. Firms right across the UK are winning business on the back of Europe’s largest construction project. Work is set to peak over the next two years, so it’s vital that businesses continue to seize the opportunities that Crossrail has to offer.”

The Rt Hon Dr Vincent Cable MP, Secretary of State for Business said: “Crossrail is the type of project that will help the UK build a stronger economy by improving our infrastructure and creating jobs across the country.

“With over £5.5bn of contracts awarded and 75,000 business opportunities throughout the supply chain, this is now the time for the UK’s small and medium-companies to capitalise.”

Crossrail has today issued a three point plan for businesses looking for Crossrail work:

• Sign up to the CompeteFor website. A bit like an online dating service for businesses, the website automatically matches suppliers to opportunities that suit them and allows them to apply for contracts quickly and easily.
• Go to the suppliers section of the Crossrail website where they can see the latest summary of all the direct contracts awarded and download a supplier guide, which is designed to help businesses find out more about Crossrail and how to become a Crossrail supplier.
• Get in touch with their recognised trade association, many of which are in contact with Crossrail about the opportunities available for the sectors that they represent.

Replacing a bathroom exhaust fan is easy when you have attic access, but when you can’t get above the darn thing it presents certain challenges. The first one is the lack of knowledge as to how the existing unit is installed and what is available for installing a new unit. The fact that my building is a commercial building with condos above retail makes it a bit more complicated as it is all steel and concrete construction and all the do-it-yourself information assumes wood stick construction. Secondly without seeing what’s up there it’s hard to know where to cut the hole in the ceiling – and installing from below absolutely requires cutting a hole in the ceiling.

But the darned fan smelled like burning electrical and wasn’t drawing air which was causing problems with condensation on the walls of the bathroom. I had already put so much time and effort into cleaning up the mess caused by the condensation that I just had to replace the darn thing. Time to stretch my fix-it skills.

Now solving problems runs in the family, so there is absolutely no reason to believe that I could not figure this out, but still it was uncharted territory and I had the new fan/light in hand for at least two weeks before I worked up the courage to stretch my skills. Part of it was just plain hesitation, part was waiting to have the money to pay the professional if it turned out to be more than I could manage. My ceiling is drywall attached to a metal grid suspended from a concrete roof structure, so I wasn’t sure exactly what I would need or if I would be to acquire the materials up here to support the unit. And honestly, despite having patched numerous drywall holes in the past, I was a bitsy bit apprehensive at cutting a hole in my landlord’s ceiling. So away I went, knowing at some point I would have to cut that hole in the ceiling, but not sure exactly where to start. So I dismantled the unit from the inside leaving just the housing in the ceiling. That was the last easy part until it came time to patch the drywall.

I wasted quite a bit of time trying to figure out how the housing was supported and trying to extract it without blindly cutting into the ceiling. Finally I got the crowbar and tin snips out and destroyed the housing from the inside out to create a hole that allowed me to peer into the ceiling. The problem that caused the old fan to fail was painful to see. The duct had not been connected to the housing properly and had been bent to a 90 degree angle where the duct attached to the unit, so it probably blew off immediately. The only thing that saved us from moisture in the ceiling was the way the bend in the duct fell across the opening and blocked the airflow from the fan. Unfortunately, that meant that there was no place for the airflow to go, and it eventually caused the fan motor to fail. The decision to replace was a good one!

One good look was all it took to get the creative juices flowing…..It became immediately obvious that I would not be able to use the existing supports for the new unit. I had to reposition the unit to use the existing electrical wires and the new unit was larger by  1 1/4″ both in length and width and used a different method of support than the original unit…..I measured everything then took a trip to home depot to find what I could to engineer a solution for mounting the new unit. I soon found what I needed and it was time to go to work.

I cut the (much dreaded) hole for the new unit which overlapped the existing hole. I figured I would be able to use the bits of the existing hole not used for the new unit to reach up into the ceiling to make my attachments so as to minimize the size of the patch in the ceiling. After many hours and much bad language and all kinds of scrapes and finger pokes and dropped screws I finally had it mounted. It took three days — my day off, much of which was spent at home depot and figuring things out, and two days before going to work.

In retrospect, I should have just cut a big ole hole, large enough to bridge from one furring strip to the other so I could just screw my patch to them and have plenty of room to work on the exhaust fan. If I had done this the entire process would have been very easy! I made it a lot harder than it ever needed to be. Regardless, I got the whole thing in, patched the ceiling, applied the orange peel texture to more or less match the rest of the ceiling and primed and painted!

Now when I walk in and flip the switch I have to pause a moment to make sure the fan is on. I look up to see the new, quiet, efficient fan and feel the air pulled in under the door and I feel an immense sense of accomplishment. Despite being scary, I stretched. And it feels good!

Not as good as maple syrup, but pretty darn good!

Reminds me to stretch every day!

I’ve started writing a blog post every day but then not published them as ‘they’re not quite right’, I can’t find a nice picture, I’m not sure they’re worthy of putting up. However, this is slightly defeating the point of why I set myself this challenge in the first place…namely…procrastination.

My own forms of procrastination come from a worry about not getting things right. As a deadline or a piece of work looms I start to get fidgety, hyperactive and distracted. I take on a very casual attitude to the bit of work but recently I’ve come to see that this is just a cover up. I’m anxious that I won’t be able to do really well, so I just don’t start, then I can’t fail! This sounds a bit odd, but I’m not the only one according to the useful booklets on my college website.

So, this week hasn’t been great for getting over this problem, but there’s still time, Lent last for another few weeks yet. I’ll keep trying, I’ll keep meditating, and I’ll keep replacing cake with hot cross buns at tea time.

Beth x

p.s. Picture because, you know, I’ve just been hanging around. Taken 2009 at ARCAS in Flores, Guatemala.

Why add page numbers to a Word document?

Good question? You might have a perfectly nice, short document, that looks a bit like this ..

And you don’t really need to add page numbers. But what if it’s going to be a book, or you’re going to introduce a contents page or index? What if people are going to want to quote from it, or refer back to a particular section? Even though if they read your document on their Kindle, they might not be able to see the page numbers, these are all good reasons why you might want to give your readers some page numbers to help them navigate their way through your text.

Where are the menus and buttons for adding page numbers?

As usual, there are a couple of ways to access the menus and buttons you need for adding page numbers. But, again, as usual, they lead to the same place in the end.

Method One involves choosing the Insert tab. Once you’re there, you’ll find a section called Header & Footer, and there’s your Page Numbers button:

Method Two involves clicking with your left mouse button in the blank space at the bottom (or top) of your page. Another way to do this is to select the Design tab, but sometimes that doesn’t show up by default. Clicking on the blank bit of the page will bring up the Headers and Footers and your Page Numbers button:

In Word 2003, you can find the page numbers options in the Header and Footer menu.

Now you’ve found the Page Numbers button, it all stays the same from now on, and its menu looks like this:

We’ll look at how to position your page numbers, and then how to format them (it’s best to do it this order).

How do I choose the position of my page numbers?

You will find two options for positioning your page numbers:

1. At the top or bottom of the page

2. Elsewhere in the page margins

To choose the position of the page numbers in the top or bottom areas of the page, choose Top of Page or Bottom of Page (the positions are identical for the two). Here we choose Top of Page:

You can see lots of options for positioning your page numbers, including that fancy “Page 3 of 12″ you’ve seen on other people’s documents. To select the position, click on the example that suits you best (you can scroll down for even more choices).

If you try out Page Margins, you will be given another set of options allowing you to insert your page numbers all over the place:

Again, you can scroll down for even more options.

I find that people have one or two favoured number positions and ignore the others (in much the same way that we only use two programmes on our washing machines). But it’s useful to know how to find all those extra places, in case you’re working collaboratively or with a client who has particular preferences.

Now we’ll look at some basics of formatting your page numbers.

How do I format my page numbers?

This is best done once you’ve decided on the page number position, and you can come back and format them at any time, by finding and clicking on the Page Numbers button. We’re just going to look at the basics here, with more complex choices being discussed next time.

To format the page numbers, find the Page Numbers button and choose Format Page Numbers:

Select Format Page Numbers and you’ll find some more options for changing your page numbers from Arabic to Roman (or Roman capitals) and for where to start the numbering:

If you drop down the Number format list, you’ll find your choices laid out. You are not likely to want to use anything other than straight Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3 …) if you are just using one numbering style for the whole document; the others will come in handy when we learn how to apply different numeral styles to difference sections of the text. But the choices are there:

Again, Chapter numbering and Continue from previous section / Start at are mainly used when you’re applying different numbering styles to different parts of your document (Roman numerals for the contents page and foreword, Arabic for the main text, etc.) but it’s worth knowing where to find these choices for next time.

So, let’s summarise and look at how to apply standard, straightforward page numbering to a document.

How do I apply standard page numbering to my document?

If you just want simple numbers in Arabic numerals at, say, the bottom right hand corner of each page, here’s how you do it.

First, click on the Page Numbers button and choose Bottom of Page, then select the example that best fits where you want your page numbers to appear:

Then, choose Format Page Numbers and make sure your options are set to Arabic numerals 1, 2, 3 … and page numbering to start at 1:

Once you’ve pressed OK, you will be back in the Footer of your document, with the main text still in grey and the page number in black, because you’re in the Footer, not the main text:

Left click on the body of the text, and the page will reverse – the Footer indicator will disappear, your text will be in black and your number will be in grey, because it’s part of the Footer, not of the text:

How do I insert different types of page number into one document?

In this article we’ve learned how to find the Page Numbers button and how to position the page numbers on the page and format them into different kinds of number. Next time, we’ll look at adding different kinds of page number to different parts of the document, and more complicated formats for page numbers.

If you have found this article useful, please share it using the buttons below, and leave me a comment!

This is part of my series on how to avoid time-consuming “short cuts” and use Word in the right way to maximise your time and improve the look of your documents.

Please note, these hints work with versions of Microsoft Word currently in use – Word 2003, Word 2007 and Word 2010, all for PC. Mac compatible versions of Word should have similar options. Always save a copy of your document before manipulating it. I bear no responsibility for any pickles you might get yourself into!

Find all the short cuts here …

Unconscious Incompetence - This is the “Blissful Ignorance” stage.  It begins with a simple notion that you might want to learn a new language or investigate a career in interior design after “communal doormat” (read: customer service) starts getting old.  As the notion sizzles away on your mental back-burner, you manage to psyche yourself up for the impending change.  You know this new venture will require hard work and persistence, but you tell yourself you’re perfectly capable.  Whenever you hear success stories about people embarking on something akin to your desired path, your ears perk up. Every time you see a Paralympian receive their gold medal, you say “If they can overcome such adversity, I have no excuse.” You start looking up inspirational quotes and posting them all over your cubicle.  You finally decide to take a serious look at it, and you start digging up some informational resources. You are optimistic; you are passionate; and you are wildly delusional.

There’s a bridge I’d like to sell you…

Conscious Incompetence - Well, shit.  After making a conscious effort to balance your optimism by acknowledging the inherent difficulty of the task before you, you realize the grave degree to which your “realistic” side undersold itself.  The expanse of knowledge you must acquire is spread out before you in all its intimidating glory.  Your heart sinks and that inner cheer-leader whimpers into silence.  This is the Terror Hump. This is the point at which you become acutely aware of just how little you know, and just how alien this new territory is.  What you imagined as a gateway to a new and exciting future, a lush oasis of achievement and gratification, appears instead to be a gateway to the harsh desert of “What-the-hell-was-I-thinking” dotted with the scrub brush of “just turn back now, loser” and the cacti of “seriously, save yourself the embarrassment.”

Conscious Competence - I like to call this the “Little Engine” stage.  If you managed to get over the Terror Hump and continue your journey, you are now much like the Little Engine That Could.  The haze of fear has lifted a little, and as you look upon this new information, piece by piece, you realize this journey is composed of a lot of small, manageable steps.  A small measure of optimism returns, and you take your first step on this new path.  Then another.  And another.  Each step requires a conscious effort, but you get stronger as you go.  You start to notice how much closer you’re getting to the end, and if you find this is indeed the road for you, it would be a shame to lose all that progress. You don’t want to be the Little-Engine-Who-Got-Halfway-Up-The-Hill-Before-Giving-Up-And-Backsliding-Twenty-Miles-And-Causing-A-Mass-Derailment. No pressure, or anything. On the other hand, if the road you’re on isn’t genuinely fulfilling, hopefully you have the good sense (and courage) to turn around and find a different road.

And I have nothing snide or sarcastic to say.

Unconscious Competence - At last, my friends, we come to the “Epic Badassery” stage.  All that determined chugging eventually pays off.  You’ve overcome the disappointment of reality, conquered your initial fears, and persevered through the gradual struggle of hands-on learning.  One day, you’re plodding along, your morning coffee is just kicking in, and you suddenly realize you’re accomplishing all these tasks with very little thought or effort on your part.  In fact, you’re now able to multitask where one directive alone used to require your full attention.  You’re solving complex equations while talking about your weekend with the Dean of your college; you’re juggling chainsaws while speaking French; you’re walking and chewing gum at the same time; most importantly, you’re kicking ass while taking names.  You have become a master, a guru to whom beginners come for advice.  You are ninja.

These stages were developed by a psychologist named Noel Burch for Gordon Training International back in the ’70s.  I stumbled upon it after experiencing my own Terror Hump and searching for information on paradigms for learning.  Luckily, I possessed enough confidence (or arrogance, whatever) to realize I couldn’t possibly be as stupid as this new information was making me feel.  As I pushed on, I realized that this intimidating wealth of new information in many ways only appeared that way.  Quality sources are bound to break down the information into many smaller, more digestible pieces.  When you see just how small those pieces are, and realize that at least some of them draw on skills you already possess, the whole picture looks a lot more hospitable.  So, the question is, are you going to let a little Terror Hump stop you?

It’s been in the news quite a lot recently that 50% if food gets thrown away worldwide and that figure still shocks me (more here). For a bit more information about how food waste is affecting us all, I recommend reading Waste by Tristram Stewart and watching Dive! the film. My friend Martin set up our chapter of FNB after reading that book and now works for a couple of big organisations (including for Tristram) like Gleaning Network UK. Below is a relatively small delivery of food compared to some weeks.
Here at Bexley/Lewisham/Dartford FNB we’ve been running for almost 4 years and I’ve been involved for 1 and half since I moved to New Cross and my wonderful friend Georgi invited me along. We cook every Monday and Wednesday and are a mixed bunch of students, workers, retired people and some  current and ex-residents of the hostel. This is my friend George.

I’ve been helping out with some of the organising since I started which is pretty interesting as it’s not always possible to predict how many people will come, what food you’re going to get or how the residents are going to feel about the food. But it’s always good fun getting in the kitchen and making something delicious with what you’ve got.

Do you try and minimise food waste in your house? A couple of things you should know are:

How to store your fruit and veg so they last longest – this is a fairly exhaustive list if you don’t mind Americanisms.

How much you are going to need – think about the week ahead, who’s going to be in the house? Make a list before you go to the shops and whatever you do, don’t go there hungry! You’ll just end up with biscuits. Or is that just me?

Beth x

Always a trusty sign of the garden waking up – Snow Drops! These are popping up in my beds, even under the pallets and cardboard I put down to kill the weeds.

The sturdy mint I was given a few sprouts of by my sister Flo is holding in there despite being mostly eaten by snails in November.

I really thought these bulbs were dead as they had big chunks out of the side – and then poof! Blooms!

And then there are the neglected, hastily sewn salads and herbs that I potted in September after first moving here. I got these from my Autumn Seedy Pen Pal Claire, watched them come up with excitement, enjoyed a few micro leaf salads and then promptly forgot all about them. I don’t think there’s much to be doing with them as I really didn’t follow any instructions whilst potting, didn’t thin them out and they are mostly bolted now. However, I’ll give them a little longer to exist if only because them looking slightly sorry serves as an incentive to ‘be a bit better’ this season. I’ve never done a full garden year and despite my best impressions of my Mum whilst helping out at my University garden (“Oh yes that’ll provide great coverage”, “Composting is an art and a science”) I don’t reeeeeealllly know much about it.

However, I am so excited about Spring – I’ve always been a spring baby (literally and metaphorically) – it’s the perfect time for new beginnings and brightening days and with this amount of enthusiasm I cannot possibly go wrong. Even if that’s just because I am going to fill the garden with so many pots it’s a little jungle!

It’s not quite planting time yet though, so today I have been making a garden plan!

Organising my seeds…

Getting connected with new pen pals;

these are from Joanne and these are about to go off to Suse in Tarbert Loch Fyne.

And just generally getting ready for the new year!

So wish me luck. Any advice in dealing with cats and snails very much appreciated.

This is a picture of my garden in bloom when it wasn’t mine but my dearest friend Georgi’s.

Beth x

Back in the day, we used to commute up to Barnet together. I’d be reading the latest tome from my TBR, and Paul would be scribbling lyrics on an A4 pad. One of the most memorable features of my time at that company was the off-the-cuff rap Paul did for me at my leaving tea. Since then, he’s devoted considerable time and effort to building his music career, and is now doing Professor Elemental stuff full time – well done, Paul! Let’s find out how he did it. And you HAVE to look at his videos. Remember Tone and his model dinosaurs? This stuff is just as cool. Don’t I know some excellent people!

What’s your business called? When did you set it up?

Professor Elemental is the name of the business and the character that I perform as. I have been working full time as the good Professor since January 2012.

What made you decide to set up your own business?

I was quite happy just rapping as a hobby to supplement my day job, then was lucky enough to enjoy a bit of success with it. As the amount of work as an emcee grew, so did my day job career (as a teacher), and I was forced to choose between the two. Inevitably, being a mad professor was more interesting than being a regular teacher.

What made you decide to go into this particular business area?

It was only as I got more into doing shows and realised that it was a possible way to make money out of rapping without being signed. I’ve always loved emceeing in it’s many different forms.

Had you run your own business before?

Nope. I have done a lot of rap workshops, but never as a full-time business.

How did you do it? Did you launch full-time, start off with a part-time or full-time job to keep you going … ?

I ran the two parallel careers for about a year. This was a very stressful in itself, but did allow me to keep the risks to a minimum when I finally made the jump into ful- time creativity. It feels a lot nicer risking everything when you have a bit of safety net either financially or in terms of other work.

What do you wish someone had told you before you started?

‘ITS LATER THAN YOU THINK! Sort your life out, you lazy sod!’ I would have liked them to have shouted that to me while shaking me by the lapels. I probably would have cried, but it would have been worth it.

What would you go back and tell your newly entrepreneurial self?

I am still pretty new I suppose- but I am definitely learning that people value you more if you value yourself. Both creatively and financially.

What do you wish you’d done differently?

Got started earlier and not been so pessimistic about my chances of doing this for a profession. I might have saved myself a few years of life wasted in call centres.

What are you glad you did?

Working with other people. Working for yourself doesn’t mean that you have to shoulder it alone and having a good accountant, amazing booking agent and brilliant folk to collaborate with makes the whole process more fun.

What’s your top business tip?

Acheiving your dreams is entirely possible. Particularly if your dreams are relatively modest.

Oh, and be nice to people at every level of your business. That really can’t be overstated.

How has it gone since you started? Have you grown, diversified or stayed the same?

I have diversified as much as possible. I’m trying to say yes to as many good things as possible and it’s leading to some brilliant, unexpected places. So far there’s been a comic, a web series and some most unexpected gigs.

Where do you see yourself and your business in a year’s time?

I’m thoroughly enjoying the freedom to take the professor character into some new and exciting places. There are a few things in the pipeline that might change my life completely. And if not, if things carry on just as they are, then I will be very happy indeed.

I don’t usually include people’s answer to the last question in the published interviews, but I had to here …

Are you happy for me to contact you in a year’s time from posting the interview, to see how you’re doing and conduct another short interview?

Yes, unless it has all gone wrong and I am destitute , living underneath Brighton pier. In which case another interview might be too depressing.

Somehow, I don’t think that will be the case! But isn’t it interesting that in the world of rap and the world of editing, we still like to do things carefully, have backup and do things nicely! Good luck to Paul / the Professor and his modest ambitions!

The Professor Elemental website can be found at www.professorelemental.com and I recommend taking a look at his rather marvellous YouTube videos. He’s on Facebook, and of course you can get in touch via email.

If you’ve enjoyed this interview, please see more freelancer chat, the index to all the interviewees, and information on how you can have your business featured.

Then it’s time to get ‘learning hungry’.

Being in the same role can get a bit stale after a while, even if it feels like you are doing the workload of two people, and it’s important to protect your position with lots of younger, cheaper keen people snapping at your heels for your job!.

I have always had an insatiable curiosity to learn new things and my career has evolved as a result, leading me into writing books, articles and creating content.

With all these factors at play at present:

• economic growth slow;
• L&D budgets squeezed;
• informal learning growing;
• more competition for jobs;
• a higher level of skill and qualification for roles than in the past;
• employees staying put for perceived security;
• digital revolution;
• more exacting standards by employers; and
• universities starting to offer free courses on-line

you need to take responsibility for your own career development and strategy if you are going to improve your career prospects. This is important to improve your CV and marketability for a new and better job, whether internally or externally.

This blog, part 1 of 3 shares 10 tips, many of them costing nothing but time to improve your career prospects by building your knowledge, skills and experience.

1. Increase your span of control e.g. decision making
2. Cover for others on leave
3. Get exposure to other departments and roles
4. Do a role swap or Secondment
5. Do desk/web research about a new knowledge/skill area
6. Champion/manage change
7. Volunteer to gain a leadership skill, e.g. raising money for charity, chairing a committee
8. Take on a stretch assignment
9. Spend time with managers cross function
10. Make customer visits

What tips would you add? Doing just 1 of these 10 tips will make a difference over time to your career prospects. It is easy to do nothing or put it off.

As a career, talent, and learning & development strategist and coach, or ‘talent liberator’ I get involved in skill and behaviour change in various contexts with both individuals and organisations.

Ask yourself these self-reflective questions:

• What is my career strategy?
• What are my learning objectives?
• What competencies do I need to develop to improve my promotion prospects and marketability?
• What new skills would broaden my horizons and career options?
• How much time am I making each month to build my skills, knowledge and experience?
• What’s stopping me from making this a higher priority?

For more useful insights and tips, follow us on Twitter. Click on this link:

https://twitter.com/talentliberator