So bad news first so I can finish on a high here! This might be my worse year for hayfever for several years which means that despite taking the maximum dose of my tablets it is always there. It makes you feel like you are about to develop flu but just never do, it stops you sleeping properly and means you sneeze at very inappropriate times, like when you are driving. Driving with your eyes closed is not to be recommended!

I wasn’t sneezing when my car collided with a metal railing outside our office, though I am not sure what I was doing. All I know is that from a moments carelessness I have a hole in the wing of my car and am very embarrassed that I have done such a stupid thing. I have discovered that the front wing of a Renault Clio is made of plastic and not very strong plastic at that. I am talking about a hole of about 10 inches diameter, and when your car is orange a hole in the front drivers side wing is not un noticeable.

For the two reasons above and because I have realised some hard facts about my financial situation and begun to take steps to rectify the matter, it has not been the best week. Worries about money, hayfever sometimes bordering towards what might be asthma (I don’t have asthma, but my chest was incredibly wheezy last night along with a sudden cough) and the dreaded essay have meant I have not been my usual cheery self and people have noticed. I guess I need to be generally less happy, smiley and enthusiastic, because I only have to drop the smile and people are asking each other if Julie is all right. For the record, despite the above, I am fine.

So onto the good. I am up to 3000 words (well almost) on the essay front, so only 4000 or so to go. Even if I do say so myself it is beginning to come together and I have given what I have done to a colleague for some constructive criticism. I will be getting on with it over the long bank holiday weekend though. I also spent some of yesterday with the same colleague putting together our latest leadership / management course which will be for district nurses and Macmillan nurses and will start in June. We also had the time to catch up on gossip, you know who is leaving, who is shagging who (usual stuff). The other good thing yesterday was the efficiency of my insurance company and the garage that will be fixing my car next Thursday. I am suitably impressed.

So onto last night and out for a hen party for one of my colleagues who gets married next month. 12 of us met at a local hotel to give her a good send off into married life. There was good food, plenty of wine and lots and lots of hilarity. Just what we all need as some of us are facing a pretty uncertain future job wise. Have a look at the lovely hotel we went to here. Today I get to go back to collect my car as I got a lift home, so might go for a walk around the beautiful city of St Albans. Oops given away my general location, but never mind.

Now I am off to the land of the essay, and my target of 3500 by lunchtime, hayfever etc permitting!

Thirteen Things about Things I will be doing on the coming bank holiday weekend Essay, a large portion of my time will need to be spent writing the remaining 5000 words! Why am I such a last minute person? Apparently watching Chelsea play Manchester United, Hubby is still reeling from Chelsea’s loss last week, lets hope Man U don’t beat them! Dealing with hubby’s grumpiness if they lose, and probably even if they don’t. He really is becoming a grumpy old man! Visiting a local garden centre to look at plants for the garden. Gardening (weather permitting), more weeding and maybe even planting some plants that I might have bought from the garden centre. Supervising hubby to ensure he properly cuts the lawn. Housework, how comes I have to do this job every week and then it needs doing again? Seeing my parents, and if the weather is good enough having a barbecue; first of the year. Walking, we are really getting into the swing of going for some long walks on Sundays particularly. It is a good way of spending some time together, getting fresh air and exercise. Probably chilling out watching an old film on bank holiday Monday. Acting as some kind of taxi service to teen son and his mates - why should this weekend be any different? Trying to sort out the state of my finances. (More on that at a later date) Better mention the essay again; 5000 words is quite a lot! Links to other Thursday Thirteens!

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

That is what one of my colleagues today said she feels like, and I know exactly what she means. The act of talking up the current NHS changes is challenging and hard work, so is dealing with sad and demoralised staff who are struggling to get on with the job of looking after patients. At the same time we hear and see a constant flow of doom and gloom stories about the state of the NHS as a whole, it’s financial situation and whether nurses and others really know how to do their job. What is more, most people I know are definitely not over paid, yet they are constantly being told that they are responsible for the fact that much of the investment into the health services have gone on pay.

Still it makes me feel slightly better to know that Patricia Hewitt has been heckled and slow hand clapped by Nurses at the Royal College of Nursing annual conference. Today at our workshops on the redesign of the intermediate care service people expressed feelings of sadness, demoralisation, anxiety, stress, being undervalued, feeling they are increasingly unable to meet the wants and needs of patients, to mention but a few. On the other hand, these are skilled and committed therapists, nurses, managers and others and they are committed to providing the best services for patients. They know that some of the changes, for example, closer working between disciplines in multiprofessional teams is a step forward, but what is apparent is that the changes are made not to make the care of patients better, but to try to save money.

Having said all the above, I am really enjoying the opportunity I am now getting to spend so much time facilitating groups of clinicians. It is a great way of finding out exactly what is going on out there, keeping in touch with the front line and what’s more getting a real idea of the development needs of staff. Something you can’t get from receiving a load of personal development plans in the post.
NHS
Change Management

Not a shot on goal, amazing luck as Villarreal couldn’t get the ball in the net and a questionable penalty to for Lehman to save. But amazingly they are through to the Champions League final on 17 May. Tonight I have spent much of the evening on the edge of the sofa, barely able to watch the TV, as Arsenal failed to string more than 2 passes together and gave the ball away time after time. Thank goodness for last weeks goal, as they played out a 0-0 draw tonight.

A combination of a staff members appraisal and facilitating an action learning set this afternoon, with some office type stuff in between and I was tired enough even before the match. Tomorrow we have a service redesign day with the new intermediate care service to facilitate. Who said life as a manager in the NHS was easy? I wouldn’t mind but I am not even that well paid!

Arsenal

I’d like to believe the government’s assertions that the NHS is in the best state it has ever been in, but to be honest, even without all the news coverage, I don’t believe it.

Today’s directive from the PCT told me that we are likely to be overspent again this year, despite having a 7% uplift in income. This bodes very badly for jobs once the PCTs start merging, and looks very gloomy for those of us in an area of work that is probably only too dispensable, i.e. education. As I type this, Tony is on the BBC news telling me how wonderful everything is after all, more patients are being treated and they are waiting less time. I predict that the good times will be over soon because less staff mean less treatment and over spent PCTs mean higher waiting times.

My mood is not helped by the acceleration in my hay fever over the last few days. Late spring flowers and blossoms now collide with on time oil seed rape and I am left with itchy eyes, itchy nose, itchy mouth in fact I am just plain itchy. The good thing is that by the time everyone else is sneezing, my itching will be over. Until then I am dosed up on pills and without my trusty contact lenses.

The essay is not going smoothly, I am confused by what to write and where; I know I need to get down to it but to be honest I am not in the mood.

To top everything I now owe the national debt of a small country to the credit card company, I have decided I am not cut out for credit cards and cannot be trusted with them. I would like to cut mine up, but am sorely tempted to go out and buy something to cheer myself up. Well no actually I am not, because I am now much more sensible and need to act my age. Perhaps my destiny lies in the lottery?

A day to actually catch up on things, and a long ‘to do’ list to get through. As a team we have been working on a few projects which involve organisation, planning and quite a bit of writing up. One of the areas that is beginning to really come together now is the changes we are making to mandatory and statutory training. Because we are a relatively small organisation we buy in some of the more expert areas - fire, moving and handling, infection control - through some service level agreements that were devised 5 years ago. People have been accessing these areas of training separately, going off for an hour here, two hours there a half day there. Not a good use of time, and not cost effective for us who pay the bills or the services. We have now begun to devise whole days of training for clinical and non clinical staff that will enable to meet their statutory and mandatory needs in one go.

There have been challenges, there always are when you try to change things, plus some resistance to something that seems like hard work. I find it tricky to manage people rather than lead them, to me leading is fun, and managing is not. But at times some direct management style has to be adopted and yesterday, when one of my team seemed to be trying to get out of organising moving and handling for clinical staff because it is difficult. I am quite proud that I didn’t back down and made it clear that we are going to do this and for very good reasons.

Two of my team need appraisals next week, so I spent a while thinking (and writing a few notes) in preparation. One should be straight forward, the other less so (see paragraph above!)

Over lunch I met with one of the team I have been facilitating through a leadership course, who said she wanted some advice. She has been through an awful 6 months which involved a group of health care assistants taking out an unfounded grievance against her pretty much because she did her job and wanted to know what they were doing and why. Again the issues seem to go back to poor management at a higher level, but she is now wondering whether to come back to this service or move onto another job she has been offered. I am not sure I was able to offer help in her decision making process, but we certainly discussed the pros and cons of both options.

Back to the office and the opportunity to make some essay progress; I am pleased to say that at last something reasonable is coming together. Just got to carry on with it over the weekend. The journey home was again pretty tortuous, I don’t know what they are doing out there, but every road, main or country seemed to be clogged up. Still home to a nice glass of rose and a relaxing evening - who can ask for more?

Image from:www.teamfrontline.com/images/fl_cartoon.gif

I am not an out and out royalist, but I have no problem with the Queen and her family. Generally they are reasonably good value for money, and people seem to like to go out and see them and wave a flag or two. It is a sign that I am getting old myself, that the queen who has always seemed pretty young, is suddenly 80 today. I think she looks pretty good on it, and seems, from the pictures on our screens to be enjoying every minute of the celebrations. Apparently she has no intention of abdicating, so poor old Prince Charles looks like he will have to wait till he is 80 before he becomes King!

Back to real life. I received the clearest indication yet, yesterday, that when the reorganisations of the PCTs gets properly underway, I am likely to have to re-apply for my own job. Or at least one similar to it, as I am not sure that any job will be quite the same. I feel slightly nervous about this on one hand, but on the other a little excited at the prospect.

Also yesterday, my journey up to London to meet my student colleagues was nothing short of tortuous. Firstly the venue was changed at the last minute which meant we were meeting in Trafalgar Square rather than in Baker Street, this involved a different Tube line. The journey started with a decision on my part to drive to my home town and get the train from there, this was to enable my journey home to be shorter. The trouble was that my decision to go on the M25 was a slow and obviously wrong one. Next I found the station car park full, and having had to walk further, missed my train. Next, the Piccadilly Line was not working, so I had to make a detour along two tube lines. Finally 45 minutes late, I arrived, luckily, the meeting had been moved to a pub, so I was able to enjoy a rather nice glass of Australian white wine. A bit of essay discussion ensued, along with a bit of tutor slagging (they are not very well organised on our course), then chat. I have to admit, that while it was enjoyable, my time might have been better spent at home actually writing the thing as I still have about 5800 words to write! That will be my weekend accounted for then.

Post Graduate Studies
The Queen

Thirteen Things about Julies Week

1. Friday and we were up at 6am, hubby is obsessed about the prospect of traffic jams and likes to leave early to go anywhere. We left home just after 7am and headed off to Brighton. Found a brilliant cafe once we arrived for a hearty breakfast which set us up for the day.
2. As regular readers will know I am struggling big time to lose weight. This is caused by weak will power, excessive food, a love of wine and probably being 43. We did loads of walking over the weekend though, so much so that on Saturday afternoon my legs ached big time.
3. It had paid off though because I have lost 4lbs this week, and am determined to stick to the diet exercise thing in the run up to my holiday in August.
4. On Sunday we had a great day out in a place called Arundel, home of the Duke of Norfolk, leading Catholic in this country. The castle was an amazing combination of ancient and modern, wonderful views from the keep and then the striking castle living quarters which have been updated over the years. Great pizza in Pizza Express in town too!
5. We were home on Monday by 12.30, having set off from Bognor at 10am. The traffic was pretty light again and so we had the afternoon at home.
6. We spent Tuesday morning in the garden, weeding, cutting the lawns and generally tidying up out there. I need some new plants now, as things look a little bare now the trees have gone and we have tidied up out there more than in a long time.
7. My parents and niece and nephew joined us for lunch at our local pub on Tuesday, a kind of ending to the long weekend.
8. I now have a massive pile of ironing to do, is this the same pile of clothes I had this time last week? More than likely!
9. Today I am off to meet up with my student colleagues to compare progress on our essays. I am not making great progress myself, and really need to get stuck into it this weekend!
10. Hubby picks up his new car today, so I guess I will have to go out and say nice things about it later!
11. The Champions league match last night was extremely nerve racking, 1-0 lead to carry over to next week. Wonder if my nerves will cope with it all!
12. A week to pay day, I could do with it today - slight over spending last weekend!
13. Struggling with number 13, just today to get on with!

Links to other Thursday Thirteens!

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

I highly recommend the 5 day weekend, not to mention the 3 day working week! Because it had been the Easter break, there were just a few emails in my in box, and so I was able to get on with preparing for this afternoon’s teaching session pretty early in the day. Today’s session with the group I have been working with was about groups, teams and the leadership there of. I am trying to take a positive stance with this group now, as there is only so many times you can complain about the way you have been led through the current changes and harp on about the past. They have a job of work to do and are beginning to realise that they need to get on with it.

The traffic was awful today, the main route I take is now subject to major roadworks so I think that I will be taking the country route from tomorrow onwards. I am not good at sitting in a car edging forward at half a mile an hour, I like to get where I am going at a reasonable pace.

Teen son struck lucky today, as the school seemed to have some kind of water problem which involved men digging up the street as they arrived. They were all sent home and so his day has involved chilling with his mates, a trip to town and lunch in pizza hut! He will be back to earth with a bump tomorrow I predict.

So we have an evening of football to look forward to, Arsenal have reached the semi final of the Champions League for the first time ever, fingers crossed!

So Butlins is not cool, but it is fun! I took this picture of the sea front this morning. As you can see today was the best for weather, and that lasted till about 9am. One of the great things is the lovely sea walks, mind you that is after you have managed to escape through the gate to the high perimeter fence. I don’t think they want you leaving In case you spend your money outside!

Highlights of the weekend - the accommodation, well I expected basic (we booked deluxe, but I was worried), and got pretty good. Spacious rooms, a little sitting room, fridge, reasonable bed and nice powerful shower.
Great company - hubbies family and friends were great and really good fun. Entertainment - especially the Freddy Mercury sound alike on Friday and the guy from the 70’s group Shalamar last night. Bucks Fizz - not so good. The watersplash pool in Butlins, great fun, slightly scary at times though why the 10am -5pm opening times?

The lowlights - well, the food to be honest. Our best meals were had in Brighton on Friday morning and lunch on Sunday in Arundel. I think I am past poor quality canteen food, and also like to eat in reasonable surroundings. Also, who with a child over 5 eats before 7pm while on holiday? The dining room was only open between 5.30 and 7pm each evening, which led to us eating just pudding one night and soup and pudding on another - I just wasn’t hungry.

A great weekend though, and brilliant fun!

Thirteen Places I have been to on holiday I decided to list places I have been to on holiday because tomorrow we are off for our Easter weekend trip to Butlins at Bognor Regis. Not quite a holiday (a short break I guess you would call it), but a trip away from home none the less. So here goes. Tenerife - One of the canary islands that we travelled to last year with my brother and his family. We stayed in the most wonderful apartment with its own plunge pool. Trouble was it was in the middle of a concrete jungle. We travelled up to mount Teide (highest point on the island), but it was closed due to high winds! Cyprus - We have travelled to this Mediterranean island several times, most recently for Christmas 2004. It is steeped in history with ancient ruins and mosaics to visit, and is just a lovely place. I would like to return and perhaps stay in one of the less populated areas, I would also like to visit the northern area that is occupied by Turkey. France - We have been to this particular part of south west France several times as a friend has some property there. My favorite trip was in 2004 when we travelled through France by car. It would have been nice to have taken a bit longer than 2 days as we saw little on the way, but it gave us a taste of the countryside some of it pretty striking. We will be going back there this summer, though not by car this time. Las Vegas - My only visit to the US and a brilliant though unexpected trip paid for by my inlaws who wanted us to go with them. We packed masses into just a few days including a trip over the Grand Canyon. I am not a gambler, though I enjoyed watching and of course the slot machines. Hubby wants to return for his 50th birthday Tunisia - I didn’t choose to go there but was persuaded by my sister in law that it would be a great holiday, which it was. We stayed in a great hotel on the beach, and did things like camel riding (not recommended, they are very smelly animals!) Camping in France - We had 2 holidays here when my son was small, and camping was great fun. No actual putting up of tents was involved, so I guess it is kind of cheating. There was also a large fridge and beds with mattresses (well a girl is entitled to her comforts)! Cornwall - One of my favorite places to travel to in England. It is rugged and at times remote and just a lovely place. We have spent hours trying to get there (the roads once you get into the deep west country are narrow and often crowded), but a couple of years we went by plane. A trip that took just 40 minutes - it took longer to get to the airport! Norfolk - This is a county in the east of England and is characterised by a sandy coast line and the ‘norfork broads‘ a large waterway. I have been for a holiday on the coast, though I am sad to say it rained every day, but also have been for a trip on the broads over a weekend which was great fun. Scotland - In our youth (ie pre teen son), we spent 2 weeks traveling around the north Scotland. The countryside was fantastic, and surprisingly the weather and beaches were great. We went to Loch Ness but saw no monster! Bath - A city we went to as part of our honeymoon. Set in the Somerset countryside it is another extremely historical place (Roman). I have fond memories of both the city and the rolling hills surrounding it and particularly remember Cheddar Gorge. Calpe in Spain - Another place we visited pre teen son, infact the photos I have from them show me as extremely skinny. This was mostly a beach holiday, and if I ever (god forbid) developed skin cancer, this would be the kind of holiday that was to blame. Low factor sun oil (we though oil would make us browner) applied very infrequently. Also we thought you needed to burn to get that tan. It is a beautiful place though. Malta - One of those places that is very built up and full of Brits but another place we travelled to in the early years of our relationship (before we were married even). I do remember a striking coast line though and a wonderful day trip to a small island called Gozo. Portugal - The coastline of Portugal is very much like Cornwall, but it is much hotter there! My main memories are of a morning on the beautiful beaches followed by a lunch of sardines grilled in the open air. Probably my first experience of anything barbecued. Links to other Thursday Thirteens!

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Take it from me, that is a very painful thing to do, especially if you are bare foot. The laptop bounced and seems undamaged, I was left bouncing around in pain and now have a throbbing right big toe. Limited sympathy was received from hubby who stated that 1) it might be broken 2) you’ll probably lose that nail and c) put some ice on it. Thanks for you sympathy I thought as I got my own ice from the fridge.

This was the final chapter of a day that had involved a panic stricken phone call from teen son, to tell me his computer was broken, that there was an error message and where were the windows disks. Sadly he was unable to find the box with these unaided, so it had to wait for my return and then finally we worked out how to fix the thing and set about doing just that. Why though do these things tend to take such a long time. I suggested he find out more about computer fixing and perhaps take it up as a part time job. He briefly thought this was a good idea before he returned to the challenge of discussing football with his online cronies.

So I have just a couple of days before the weekend away and haven’t completed the ironing I was going to do last night. Still I am out tonight (a colleague leaving), so perhaps the ironing fairy will come along in my absence. Ah a pig just flew past the window, time to get up!

That is pretty much the flavour of this week at work, with Easter approaching a lot of people are already taking a break. Sending emails means a few out of office auto replies, but not enough yet to prevent things from getting done. It also means the chance to spend some time in the office, to get things finished off and to get other things started. At home, I have finally made a start to the essay, and have just about made it to the first 1000 words. I am struggling with the structure at the moment, but hopefully that will come in the next week or so.

A reasonably quiet worklife is just as well, because home is pretty hectic, what with our weekend away approaching and all the preparation that involves. I am wondering if I should have taken Thursday off to get everything ready, but with meetings already in the diary that is not possible now. Still I thrive on leading a frantic life which is just as well.

So Butlins to look forward to, and a slight apprehension about the whole thing. Butlins is a name that is part of British history, and with only 3 camps left perhaps a dying type of holiday. This is not the kind of holiday I would go for usually, for a start I am pretty much a hotel type person now, or at the least high standard self catering, and we don’t usually choose very touristy places to go to (well certainly not English tourists). Call me a snob, but I don’t like my fellow holiday makers to be too, well, common. But I think this will be fun. I have heard varying reports on whether or not I will enjoy it and the standard of things like the accommodation and food. But to be honest it is the company we are going with that appeals. A chance to have some fun with hubby’s cousins, their husbands and wives and their friends. Not to mention all the kids of teen son’s age and a little younger. Plus a chance to get away from my own mad family, but that is another story I may share tomorrow.

I am in effect counting down to two specific events. One is the dreaded assignment, due on May 8th and so far just a couple of hundred words long (I am going to write some more this morning). The other is Easter and our trip with a large number of hubby’s family and their friends to Butlins. In the mean time we have a weekend that is as busy as they come. My question to myself is this: when will you get the time to clean the house, wash and iron the clothes and do the shopping? Today’s tasks are as follows:

• Take teen son for a haircut and arrange own hair appointment sometime before next Thursday night
• Go to shops that are suitable for buying a sleeveless pullover for father in law, also cards for him and my brother who both have birthdays on Monday
• Do the weekly supermarket shop. We won’t be here for dinner tonight or tomorrow, but teen son is not coming with us today, so will need the fridge and cupboards to contain something edible
• Put some washing into the machine and preferably clear some of the ironing from last time
• Sit for at least an hour and write some of the assignment on Change and Leadership
• Go to visit father in law with card and present, as we don’t have any other time to do it before Monday
• Go to brothers house for his birthday pre show late lunch (see below)
• Go to see niece in dancing show, she is 8 and has been doing ballet and tap for 3 or 4 years and modern more recently and apparently will be in 7 of the shows dances
• Stay for after show party as tonight is the last night

I am worn out just typing this, and am now off for a sleep before it begins……….

Butlins
Leadership
Family

Thirteen Things about my week I am getting used to these short working weeks, a day off last week, one this week and of course Easter to look forward to next week. The focus of work this week has been change management as we are running a series of workshops on this topic. This is bringing me into greater contact with nurses and therapists who are actually out there providing the care. It is giving me an amazing insight into some of the short comings of certain managers in our organisation. As it is the school holidays I have been getting up earlier (no teen son to wait for in the bathroom) and leaving for work earlier. I have been in the office about half an hour earlier too. Today I ran a change session with a specific team who have been going through a very traumatic change situation. Quite a challenge, and pretty tiring. However I think it went pretty well. Today was the first day this week that I have spent longer than an hour in the office, hopefully I will get to spend alot longer there tomorrow as the work is building up! We are going to try to go for a brisk walk at lunchtimes when we are in the office from tomorrow, all I need now is to join weight watchers or something. Arsenal drew 0-0 last night, and went through to the Champions League semi final on the basis of last weeks result. We found out that teen son and his grandad are going to Arsenal’s last match at Highbury on 7th May. We had to go into some kind of lottery thing to get the tickets. Hubby has been bowling twice this week, some kind of tournament with a group of friends. This has meant 2 peaceful evenings when I have full control of the remote control. I have been reading for my assignment (due on 8th May) but really need to begin to write something (only 4 weeks and 7,000 words to go). It has been another dry week, I really need some rain to fall on my new plants which I planted into my front garden on Sunday. We have a hosepipe ban in the area due to a lack of rain over the last couple of years. Contrary to popular belief it doesn’t rain all the time in England. Bird flu has arrived in the UK, we are not to panic and at the moment I am not about to stop buying free range eggs or chicken. Also in the news today, a nurse has been murdered while taking a break outside her hospital! Links to other Thursday Thirteens! Use the auto link, but also leave a message please.

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants