| (no subject) |
[Jul. 20th, 2007|08:24 am] |
I've not used this much recently (my life is so boring that there's not much to comment on), but I thought that I'd let you know if I've not already told you that at the end of the year I'm moving to New York.
I'm still working for the same company, and I'm still a headhunter, but this is basically a major promotion as it means I'll end up heading up the whole energy & commodities division across the USA when I've done all of the recruitment for the new division (which will take the best part of 2008). As such this is a fairly permanent move - I anticipate that I'll be in the States for at least five years.
So, some simple questions about the US for the natives and expats:
- can I still get a decent gin and tonic in a bar?
- how about Pimms?
- what all American car should I drive? I'm thinking of a Hummer or a pickup truck at the moment...
- do they do proper cups of tea in America?
- how can I get Premier League football on my TV? Is this possible?
I'm also going to be doing a fair few road trips whilst I'm there - we'll be doing recruitment across the US in due course, and eventually we'll have offices in LA, Houston TX, San Francisco and Chicago in addition to New York, so let me know if you want visiting.
Awesome. Oh, and I'm off to Ibiza with the company for a corporate jolly next Friday, which I'm very much looking forward to. |
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| Voter Apathy |
[Mar. 14th, 2007|09:17 am] |
I'm getting a tiny bit hacked off (I did a funny) with everyone who is running for a position in the Union asking me to join them on Facebook, reminding me that I can vote, or even worse, asking me to fill in an opinion poll as I'm a trusted student.
What? When I was a student I could cope with lurid yellows and oranges papered all over town for a week, but when one left St Andrews this could all be left behind.
However, I can assume now I'll be barraged by campaigning hacks from now until kingdom come, despite the fact I couldn't give a monkeys uncle about the outcome of them. |
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| Earn £500 cash! |
[Jan. 17th, 2007|12:56 pm] |
I'm currently seeking a bright graduate to work for me as an executive search consultant within energy and commodities risk management. The job entails headhunting and client interaction with leading investment banks and trading houses.
My company (Huxley Associates) are an industry-leading search firm, with offices in London, Hong Kong, Paris, New York, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Brussels, Birmingham, Manchester and Reading, and are the leading suppliers to 59 out of the top 60 investment banks.
Candidates should be graduates with a strong drive to succeed, and a track record of success in extra-curricular activities. Additionally they'll need a good degree (2:2 upwards) from a leading university, and have excellent communication and presentation skills. I personally am particularly keen on candidates with a debating or public speaking background.
In terms of renumeration, we offer competitive basic salaries with uncapped commission and the average new consultant at Huxley Associates earns £40,000. There is the opportunity to do substantially better than this - in my first year I earned a fair bit more than this.
We have a target-driven company car scheme where you can be driving a car such as a Porsche Boxter within 18 months of joining, and 3 company holidays per year - Skiing, Ibiza and Las Vegas.
If you know of anyone who would be interested in this and wants to work for a top-tier search firm, please ask them to send their CV to me on d(dot)vinton(at)huxley(dot)com (despammified obviously). If you refer someone to me who I subsequently hire, I'll send you a cheque for £500.
Cheers! |
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| (no subject) |
[Dec. 4th, 2006|07:29 pm] |
Hey dudes, thought that I'd give you an update as I haven't done one in ages.
Recruitment is going fairly well - I've recently been promoted, and now head up a team of recruitment consultants/headhunters working in the energy and commodity markets. I'm trying to educate my new protégés to be just like me. I'll leave you to decide if that is a good thing or not.
One of the downsides to the job is the incessant travel. As far as I am concerned, the only upside to business travel is business class seating on planes. There are simply no other perks to recommend it. However, I am rapidly increasing the number of countries that I have been to, which may be an advantage, I don't know.
If anyone wants to work in recruitment, and earn massive amounts of money, please send me an email or facebook me as I desperately need new people on my team at the moment. Similarly, if you know of anyone who wants to work in recruitment, please ask them to send a CV to me as well.
We've got the company parties coming up, which are going to be blindingly good. The first one is a massive party with everyone in the group, so there are 1,500 recruiters in a massive tent at Battersea Park. It's really awesome, and last year the theme seemed to be Egyptian of some description. I'm pushing heavily for the next theme to be Moroccan souk/opium den, but it remains to be seen how far I'll get with this.
The second party is the office Christmas party, which is tremendously messy. It starts at lunch and goes all night....
In other news, I've started sailing again, I'm going skiing in Switzerland in Feb, and I've now moved to Greenwich. |
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| Famous British Eccentrics |
[Oct. 8th, 2006|05:40 pm] |
I'm a big fan of British Eccentrics. One of my favourites at the moment is this chap on the far right, who was a well-known London wag back in the day. William Horace de Vere Cole was born in 1881, and is without doubt, awesome.
Whilst he was at university in Cambridge, he dressed up as the Sultan of Zanzibar, and introduced himself to the university to make an official visit. William was wined and dined along with his entourage (other Cambridge students) by the top university brass. During this time the Sultan of Zanzibar had been in London, although de Vere Cole did not make this known until he had graduated, which is probably very wise indeed.
The most well-known of his pranks is in a similar ilk, when Cole and five friends in 1910 (a party also containing the young Virginia Woolf) disguised themselves as the Emperor of Abyssinia and his entourage, and were given a full VIP tour of the British warship, the H.M.S. Dreadnought.
On February 10, 1910 the trick began. Cole had an accomplice send a telegram to HMS Dreadnought which was then moored in Weymouth. The message said that the ship must be prepared for the visit of a group of princes from Abyssinia and was purportedly signed by Foreign Office Under-secretary Sir Charles Hardinge.
Cole with his entourage went to London's Paddington station where Cole claimed that he was "Herbert Cholmondely" of the UK Foreign Office and demanded a special train to Weymouth. The stationmaster arranged a VIP coach.
The British Navy, keen to meet their distingushed guests, came out in full colours to receive their visitors who were dressed in costumes, with dyed skin and hair, and speaking a language they were inventing on-the-fly.Unfortunately, nobody had found an Abyssinian flag, so the navy proceeded to use that of Zanzibar and to play Zanzibar's national anthem. Their visitors did not appear to notice.
The group inspected the fleet. They distributed cards printed in Swahili and talked with each other in a broken Latin. To show their appreciation, they yelled "bunga bunga". They asked for prayer mats and bestowed fake military honours on some of the officers. One officer familiar with both Cole and Virginia Stephen failed to recognize either one, possibly because he heard the interpreter's strong German accent and was worried in case a German spy came onboard.
When they were on the train, Anthony Buxton sneezed and blew off his false whiskers, but managed to stick them back before anyone noticed. Cole told a train conductor that he could serve royals lunch only with white gloves. This was, of course, to avoid the problem with the make-up.
In London, they revealed the ruse by sending a letter and a group photo to the Daily Mirror. The Royal Navy briefly became an object of ridicule and demanded that Cole be arrested. However, Cole and his compatriots had not broken any law. The Navy sent two officers to cane Cole as a punishment—but Cole countered that it was they who should be caned because they had been fooled in the first place.
However he was not just a fan of offical visits. Once there was a rather trumped up play in London that was absolutely terrible to watch. Coe, being the enterprising sort, bought everyone of the seats in the stalls, which he distributed to his chums. As soon as the lights went up, everyone in the stalls could see a rather naughty word spelt out on the heads of strategically placed bald men in the stalls.
The Time-Life Library of Curious and Unusual Facts reports that “Cole often targeted his peers. For example, playing on the innate good manners of the well-bred English gent, Cole would pose as a surveyor on the street and politely ask a passing swell to help by holding one end of a string for a moment. Then the prankster would disappear around the corner, find another man to hold the other end of the string, and walk away". The genius of this prank isn't in the walking away, but the watching. After a period of time, one chap would follow the string to find where Cole had got to. On the other end he would find an equally bemused chap, watched, no doubt by a sniggering Cole from a distance.
My favourite de Vere Cole prank is where he happened upon a crew of workmen who didn't seem to have a foreman. In his most authorative tones, he led them into Piccadilly Circus, where he instructed them to start digging a deep trench. A local bobby turned up, and started directing the traffic away from these roadworks. It was several hours before these roadworks were stopped, by which time there was a massive gorge in the centre of Piccadilly Circus, and de Vere Cole was nowhere to be seen (naturally). It took a team of workmen a week to repair the damage that Cole caused.
Men like this made Britain great. I will tell you in later installments of Lord Rokeby of Hyde, who loved water so much he spent the majority of his life floating in a glass tank, or of Francis Henry Egerton, eighth Earl of Bridgewater, who preferred the company of dogs to men and had 12 dogs dressed for dinner eating with him every night, or William John Cavindish Bentock Scott, fifth Duke of Portland, who spent his life digging and living in 15 miles of tunnels under his home. |
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| Books |
[Aug. 26th, 2006|09:20 pm] |
1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 23.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next 3 sentences on your LJ along with these instructions.
'On deck there' hailed the lookout at the mast-head. Naiad's showing a waft, sir'.
'Hands wear ship' said the lieutenant of the watch, more from form than anything else, for not only did the Lively have a crew that had worked together for years, but she also had carried out this manoeuvre several hundred times in this stretch of water and the order was scarcely needed. Routine had taken the edge off the Livelie's zeal, but nevertheless the boatswain had to call out 'Handsomely, handsomely with that bleeding sheet'; for the crew had been brought to such a pitch of silent efficiency that the frigate ran the risk of darting her jib-boom over the taffrail of the Melpomene, her next ahead, whose talents and sailing qualities could not have reccommended her anywhere.
Patrick O'Brian - HMS Surprise
5. Don't you dare dig for that "cool" or "intellectual" book in your closet! I know you were thinking about it! Just pick up whatever is closest.
6. Tag five people - no. |
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| (no subject) |
[May. 1st, 2006|09:22 pm] |
1. What time did you really get up this morning? 11.45am - it's a bank holiday!
2. Diamonds or pearls? diamonds
3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? I haven't been in ages - I think it might have been Narnia
4. What is your favorite T.V. show? Top Gear, Match of the Day, Beauty and Geek (I'm the latter)
5. What did you have for breakfast? toast, marmalade, orange juice
6. What is your middle name? Jonathan
7. What is your favorite cuisine? Thai, Brick Lane Curry
8. What foods do you dislike? I don't like veggie foods that pretend to be meat
9. What is your favorite Potato chip? Kettle Chips - the cheese ones
10. What is your favorite tape/DVD at the moment? Lord of War - I like that one
11. What kind of car do you drive? Learning at the moment, but in a month or so Golf GTI '06
12. What is your favorite sandwich? There's a London sandwich shop called Eat that does a beef and rocket one I'm addicted to
13. What characteristics do you despise? intolerance
14. Favorite item of clothing? rugby shirt
15. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, it would be: iceland
16. What color is your bathroom? white tiles
17. Favorite brand of clothing? Thomas Pink
18. Where would you want to retire to? Next to the sea, probably Cornwall
19. Favorite time of day? 3pm, for no good reason
20. Where were you born? Helensburgh, Scotland
21. Favorite sport to watch? Football, although cricket is up there
22. Who do you least expect to send this back?
23. Person you expect to send it back first?
24. What type of detergent do you use? Toilet Duck. Don't mess with the Duck.
25. Coke or Pepsi? Coke, although I'd rather have a cup of tea
26. Are you a morning person or night owl? Oh, night
27. What size shoe do you wear? 11. You know what they say about people with big shoes - big socks!
28. Do you have pets? No
29. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share with everybody:
Two squirrels are sat at a bar. One turns to the other and says "I slept with your mother". "I SLEPT WITH YOUR MOTHER!"
The other squirrel says "Go home Dad, you're drunk".
30. What did you want to be when you were little? A helicopter pilot
31. Favorite Candy Bar? Firstly, it's chocolate. But probably Green and Blacks. I don't eat much chocolate, I'd rather have a sandwich
32. What is your best childhood memory? Sailing across the Channel for the first time (at night)
33. What are the different jobs you have had in your life? Paper Boy, Shop person, DJ, English Teacher, Recruitment Consultant
34. What color underwear are you wearing? Purple and white striped
35. Nicknames: Mr Comedy, Comedy Dave, Royce, Dirty Old Uncle Dave, Vince, V-Man (this is the work one at the moment, which is far more popular than my actactual name), DJ Comedy, there's probably more
36. Piercing? No, I don't want to do that. Although I think it can be cool on girls (within reason)
37. Eye color? Blue/greyish.
38. Ever been to Africa? No, but I'd love to
39. Ever been toilet papered? No. I don't even know what that means.
40. Ever Loved someone so much it made you cry? Yes
41. Been in a car accident? Yes
42. Croutons or bacon bits? Croutons. Although I'd probably opt for both given the choice.
43. Favorite day of the week? Friday
44. Favorite restaurant? Coq D'Argent at the moment. Or Curry Capital in Brick Lane.
45. Favorite flower? Lillies
46. Favorite ice cream? Again, don't eat much of this, but any with loads of fruit in
47. Disney or Warner Brothers? Pixar.
48. Favorite fast food restaurant? Subway. The Sub rules. Or the Brick Lane 24 hour bakery
49. What color is your bedroom carpet? Cream
50. How many times did you fail your driver's test? Still to take it.
51. Before this one, from whom did you get your last e-mail? Christie
52. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card? I wouldn't max out a credit card, but I like Paul Smith at the moment
53. What do you do most often when you are bored? Watch cable TV or play on the PS2
55. Who are you most curious about their responses to this questionnaire? I couldn't give a monkeys
56. Last person you went to dinner with? Jenny Liddell, I think
57. Ford or Chevy? Neither. Aston Martin please, preferably the DB9 or the new baby Aston
58. What are you listening to right now? Rage against the Machine
59. What person have you learned the most about life from? Me
60. How many tattoos do you have? A large "Vote Blue, Go Green one on my ass. Actually, none at all.
61. How many people are you sending this Email to? I'm not.
62. Time you finished this e-mail? 9.40pm |
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| FAO Dr Covino |
[Mar. 7th, 2006|12:20 am] |
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Dr C., I would very much like to borrow a graduate gown for the purposes of rectorial installation and debating on Friday. Would you be able to help me, or point me in the direction of someone who could? |
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| (no subject) |
[Mar. 2nd, 2006|01:21 pm] |
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I'll be back in St Andrews on the 9th. |
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| Happy |
[Feb. 5th, 2006|02:01 am] |
Firstly - What makes me happy?
1) hot baths
2) a nice cup of tea
3) making people laugh
4) mountains
5) boats
I thought that I'd tell you all that I have moved flat. I was living in this absolute hole when I first moved to London, which was really rubbish. It was reasonably convinient for the underground, but apart from that it totally sucked. It took me the best part of three hours to clean the bathroom, I had no internet and the bed was broken (despite me fixing it twice). And the people that lived there were like the shiftless dead, and didn't seem to have any jobs (which would explain the speed garage music at three in the morning, and me constantly being destroyed at work).
But now I have moved to a new flat, which is in a gated community type thing. I have this small remote that opens the main gates automatically. I don't drive yet but I keep opening the main gates when I leave because it looks so cool. That's a really infantile habit, and I imagine I will get over it soon. And I have a nice bed, wireless internet (which took hours to set up using things on my computer I didn't know exist), and my own bathroom with one of those showers that throw you back against the wall when you switch them on instead of dribbling on your head in a half-arsed way. It's also closer to the climbing place that I go to a lot, 15 minutes from the office and nice and warm. The only downside is that Gorgeous George is now my MP. |
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| Teh Interweb |
[Jan. 31st, 2006|10:50 pm] |
Box advertising - "Connect to the Internet in 3 easy steps!"
Hours taken to connect to the internet - 6
However, I do now have 2 gig wireless broadband at home. So I can update you with crap far more often. Hurrah! |
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| Quick thought |
[Jan. 29th, 2006|04:29 pm] |
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I found out today that the London whale drowned of dehydration. Apparently, it was stuck in the middle of London and couldn't find anywhere to drink. You wouldn't find Charles Kennedy in the same situation, would you? |
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| FFS |
[Nov. 23rd, 2005|08:34 pm] |
1. I'll respond with something random about you.
2. I'll tell you what song/movie reminds me of you.
3. I'll pick a flavor of jello to wrestle with you in.
4. I'll say something that only makes sense to you and me.
5. I'll tell you my first/clearest memory of you.
6. I'll tell you what animal you remind me of.
7. I'll ask you something that I've always wondered about you.
8. If I do this for you, you must post this on your journal |
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| (no subject) |
[Nov. 13th, 2005|04:20 pm] |
the Idiot Savant
(42% dark, 61% spontaneous, 47% vulgar) |
your humor style:
VULGAR | SPONTANEOUS | LIGHT
You like things silly, immediate, and, above all, outrageous. Ixne on the subtle word play, more testicles on fire, please. People like you are the most likely to RECEIVE internet forwards--and also the most likely to save them in a special folder entitled 'HOLY SHIT'.
Because it's so easily appreciated, and often wacky and physical, your sense of humor never ceases to amuse your friends. Most realize that there's a sly intelligence and a knowing wink to your tastes. Your sense of humor could be called 'anti-pretentious'--but paradoxically enough, that indicates you're smarter than most.
PEOPLE LIKE YOU: Johnny Knoxville - Jimmy Kimmel
The 3-Variable Funny Test!
- it rules -
If you're interested, try my latest: The Terrorism Test |
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My test tracked 3 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender:
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You scored higher than 29% on darkness |
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You scored higher than 88% on spontaneity |
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You scored higher than 69% on vulgarity |
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Damn straight. Flaming testicles are awesome. |
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| (no subject) |
[Aug. 30th, 2005|09:07 pm] |
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I've found a lifestyle replacement for the awesome Facebook. The new deal is www.linkedin.com/, which is the business style facebook. People put their CVs on there, and I can headhunt them from that. At the moment I am trying to recruit someone who is on a £130k base and put them into a new £150k role. I find my job side-splittingly amusing, especially when I am chasing board-level people. |
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| (no subject) |
[Aug. 28th, 2005|04:30 pm] |
Ho!
That's what the Thundercats do, and seeing as they are pretty cool, I have taken to doing it too.
Still in the London, and I'm really starting to enjoy it (Michael, I'll have a letter away as soon as I can find my pen again). The only down side is that I have a bit of a thing going for mountains and the sea, neither of which London is renowned for. If anyone knows of a rengegade mountain in the heart of London that I haven't heard about, let me know. Although having said that, I did go to the Notting Hill Carnival, which was absoutely insane. I did get the distinct impression that I was stoned just by walking around the place, but never mind. I've also got horribly foody/middle-class and started to frequent the farmers markets, which are utterly awesome.
It also amused me greatly the other day to be reading the CV of Magnus Paterson, who I then called to see how he was doing. We're going to meet up for a pint at some stage, seeing as he only works around the corner. After reading Magnus' CV, I didn't realised that he had accomplished so much during his time as Association Chair. I thought that his biggest achievement was securing tea and coffee for the hack masses. I'll ask him about that one.
On Friday we have the company 10 year anniversary ball, which should be really awesome. We are getting in all the international teams as well, and we have rented the whole of the Renaissance Chancery Court Hotel, which is going to be even better. It's free drink/food/accomodation/whatever all night, and looks like it might turn really messy. Friday is a good day at work anyway, as the MD comes around the office giving everyone cold beer, and we just kick back from 5pm onwards. It's a nice environment to work in as the oldest person in the company is 38, and that's the MD who set the whole thing up. Most people are around 22-25 years old, which means that it's quite different to most companies. It's a tough working environment, but the banter is awesome, so that's good too. I've also been enjoying the calls from headhunters as well, who keep trying to poach me and put me in other jobs. They are all pretty amateuristic though, as half of them don't know my name, and some of them don't even know the company. But it is fairly nice having people ring you up and say "We'd like you to work in this company for £60k + bonus a year", and telling them where to go.
Utter empowerment.
Anyway, I have warbled on enough, but I thought that I would let you all know that I'm alive, well and feeling good. And if you are in London, pick up the phone and give me a call. Cheerio! |
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| (no subject) |
[Jul. 11th, 2005|02:29 pm] |
Hah!
My new boss is called Ben Reilly. |
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