Time for an update -a hole in one

 Can believe I have been retired 3 years and looking back I am so pleased I made this decision. 

Just had to share my progress with my viewers that may wander onto one of my old sites.

My handciap is now 18 which I never thought was possible and it is still in a downward trend, with some subtle disturbance (sorry some controls terminology crept in )

More importantly I managed to achieve what many golfers never achieve, yes a hole in one. I never saw it go in on the 8th at Gillingham because the flag was hidden at the back of the green. Hence I couldn't find my ball thinking it may have just gone of the back of the green. Then to my surprise one of my playing partners checked the hole an there it was. As it was a competetion GGC gave me a contribution to the bar bill. 

The 8th green with the pin at the back in a particularly difficult position, well it was a competition :-)

And so to retirement

 I retired in April this year and this time last year I resigned from my teaching role.

No regrets I am now playing golf three times a week and filling my life with  many things I had no time for when I was working.

My golf has improved and I treated myself to a Sim 2 driver and some Calloway Irons, never bought new before and what a difference they have made. My handicap is also improving very quickly thanks to playing consistently. Breaking 90 is a common occurance so next target is 80 which I will be aiming for in the spring.

I have much more time for my family and friends and pub lunches are a common occurance. I cancelled my gym membership when covid came along and bought a spin bike so I can afford the odd beer without it appearing on my waistline.

As expected my colleagues manage fine without me, believe me there is more to life than work. I thoroughly enjoyed my job but not as much as I'm enjoying retirement and the freedom it gives. 

I have to go, the suns out and I'm off to the first Tee.

What a year

Covid came along and changed the whole way of working. Thankfully my OU experience put me in a good place to move my face to face teaching online. Quickly adapting to the available tools and continuing my teaching online.

MS teams came to the rescue and practical applications of electronics in the lab was replace with visual simulation tools such as Falstad. Circuit Simulator Applet (falstad.com)

The use of my blog  Https://slecitec.blogspot.com  enabled the rapid sharing of videos and lesson material and enabled successful completion of the subjects. It was inevitable that the final project would need to wait until we could return to the college which of course happened in May.

Of course all supported by the lesson material on the college moodle site. I guess all that hard work over the years finallypaid off.

I have seen colleagues retire, workload increase dramatically and stress levels reach something I had never witnessed before. Top this off with a dose of covid and the second bout that really knocked me off my feet and on reflection I am not quite sure how I have seen this year out.

But here we are, bring on 2021its likely to be the year of my retirement.

Time to bow out of the OU system I think.

Its been fun and I have thoroughly enjoyed teaching the OU way but with the ending of my current module and its replacement becoming a half module it's become the excuse I needed. 

No complaints on my part I met some fantastic students and formed good friendships within the OU community. All part of the plan as I move into retirement to reduce the workload and focus on the things that really matter.

I started as an OU student on M101 in 1990 and finished with a BSc MA ODE and 15 years as a tutor in 2018, thank you so much !!

PLE Update Version II

I thought I take another look and contrast how my PLE has changed in recent years.

Probably the most significant change has been the shift away from learning in the last twelve months and more towards consolidating and updating my knowledge within Electronics and Controls. This was neglected as I pursued my Masters and then QTLS. However surprisingly I still use a lot of these tools.

Facebook is moving outwards as I don't trust this application and only use it to share with some immediate family and old friends. In place has appeared WhatsApp which is a better way of communicating  I feel. Evernote is starting to charge so has disappeared and I make greater use of google docs these day because I can control the security better.

Current research is around the family tree and has become a bit of a hobby and several additional apps are now in focus including MyHeritage but again these sites charge for their data.

My sites are still up and running although I don't tend to add a great deal at the moment but it surprising how often I get hits.