Fit to Blog

Hello Bloggy Readers,

The next week looks a bit mad, so I apologise in advance if I can't get on here to post all those things so essential to you all, like my shoes, and my lunch, and my fat cat. I've got that 'riding the wave' feeling right now.. so much to do before I'm on that plane, but I'm somehow managing to do it. I believe I am keeping an almost serene demeanor, apart from the occasional freak out- but that happens in the privacy of my office, so nobody needs to know, oops. I'm sure that being more-or-less off the caffeine is helping me not to boil over. Also, my morning exercise is no longer a luxury. It's an essential part of getting myself into the right frame of mind. The 'I can cope' frame of mind, which is preferable to the 'hiding under the bedcovers for half a day' mindset.

I'm attempting to get all of my first assignments, and most of the second assignments, done before I leave on the 26th, which is really 'quite ambitious'. Then, just when I'm thinking 'I can do it' I get an email from the NZFSA (New Zealand Food Safety Authority) informing me of some urgent-as-in-today-or-tomorrow changes that need to be made to a Food Safety Program (FSP) I thought was long approved. Obviously the wheels move slowly around there. Amending an FSP is a bit major. You have to re-issue the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) -which is signed in triplicate on every page- adjust all the documents that relate to it, withdraw the previous version, record it all under change control procedure and, in this case, re-send it to the NZFSA for approval. Just what I needed to fill in those few spare nano-seconds between trawling the Psychinfo database, pestering my tutors and sending out Sana orders (the last of which I seriously enjoy, so no worries about that). What bugs me is that I have to re-write the training SOP because of one little fact. I did not mention the magic words 'Food Safety' enough. That is, in spite of the fact that the training SOP details how to train the Food Safety Program, I did not repeat myself enough. So, instead of saying 'the correct procedure', I have to say 'the correct Food Safety procedure', every single time. This also in spite of the fact that this SOP is basically a template that I adapt for each client and it has never been a problem before. Dealing with the government.. always more fun than you can handle.

So, if I do not get a chance before, next post will be from Prague, or possibly Korea if there is wi-fi and I'm not asleep. There will be many, many pics. Guaranteed.