Alex Harries's diary

You know those days where you get comfy on the sofa and just, well, vegetate? I tend to do something similar at work - I just park up at the desk and start working through my Never Ending To Do List (TM). Ok, so it's not as relaxing, but I guess it helps to get things done.

Anyway, today started out with my first SAGA meeting. Not the over-50's holiday and insurance company, but the University's Students' Academic and General Affairs committee, which (according to the Uni website - I'm not claiming to know anything about anything here, naturally...) is the Board of Governors' main way of getting feedback on the matters that are affecting the students of Portsmouth, through the Union's Sabbatical officers.

SAGA also makes sure that the information fed back to them via. the Sabbs is properly listened to and actioned. To save me rambling even more than usual, you can find out more from this page on the interweb.

So why have I been annoying people then? Well, after coming back from SAGA with a long list of Really Important Things That I Must Do Right Now If Not Sooner, I had to go round trying to track down the various bits of information to complete these odd jobs.

Of course, pretty much everyone I asked was also up to their collective eyeballs in their own workloads, so I ended up feeling like I was going in circles and annoying people on the way, so my mantra for the next couple of days is going to have to be "stop being so bloody annoying", otherwise I think I may lose my kneecaps...

Today I have mainly...

• ... been to SAGA and learnt lots of new things (which I then promptly forgot),
• ... played about with exporting the AU Dinner video so we can put it on t'interweb,
• ... PDF'd 160 Union Council motions, amendments, agendas and meeting minutes from 2002 to 2007, ready to build a shiny new archive of Union Council goodness,
• ... bugged people to get the AGM agenda ready to go (it's on its way, and my annoyance tactics aren't helping it go any faster, so I'll try to stop pestering now!),
• ... bugged Jodie Austin for details of the AU Dinner awards (sorry!). They're online now, so panic over,
• ... finally put Elle's tenancy deposit news article online (only a month after I was asked to do it - sorry!),
• ... turned on the new Get Involved template (and I'll be polishing the Get Involved pages over the next few weeks),
• ... done some more bug fixing on the site to repair the RSS feeds after the upgrade to the database broke a few things (again, sorry, and a thankyou to hosting bod Clive Garder for helping fix it!
• ... tidied up the AGM pages and found out where the AGM agendas and minutes are kept so we can build an archive of that, too...
• ... and a load of other really boring, boring things no-one cares about, too.....

...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz /al ;o)

It's about half nine on Saturday 5th May. Portsmouth Guildhall is packed full of scrubbed, polished and groomed sports bods. Sports Sabb Jodie Austin is in charge of the mic, and up on stage, a little bald Spanish chap by the name of Fraggy is looking like he's about to have a heart attack as he prays - and prays, and prays, and prays - that the AU Dinner video, the result of two weeks' solid work* from him and Mike Cooter, works first time when he hits "play"...

This year's event was a first for many reasons: it was held in the (very plush) Portsmouth Guildhall, it sold out faster than ever before (and I think more people attended than ever before), I was there for the first time (ok ok, nobody cares about that), and instead of having a guest speaker we were treated to a video of the Union's sporting achievements this year, seasoned with a sprinkling of words by a few sporting bods.

For many people attending, the video was definitely the highlight of the evening's entertainment. As they appeared on the big screen, each club raised a deafening cheer, and the round of applause at the end of the video was testimony to the video's popularity.

I think this could be a really good sign of things to come - bigging-up the efforts put in by clubs and societies doesn't just have to happen through awards - everyone likes a bit of publicity, and if we can improve clubs' and societies' numbers and confidence by getting (good) videos of them played all over the place, and put online, then I'm all for it.

Of course, everyone at the dinner looked Fabulous, Darling, with only a couple of people getting blatantly wrecked (lightweights ;o), and the occasional evil glare between girls who'd worn the same dress. I don't understand that mentality, I'll be honest, but I'm sure someone will explain - with diagrams - why it's such a Bad Thing (TM).

A big well done to Fraggy and Mike for their efforts over the last couple of weeks (and a well done to everyone else who helped organise and run the night so well), and also a thankyou to Fraggy and Mike for opening up a new area of UPSU Media for me to play with/break/push forward. Apparently, I'll have to learn to do this next year: oh dear...

Randomly, during the evening I was once again asked - this time by Sam Wilson (one of my opposition candidates in the elections) - whether I was going to cancel Purple Wednesdays. In hindsight, I think I was lucky to escape with my legs intact when I thought it would be a good idea to wind him up for a bit, saying it was definitely being cancelled (it's not!) - the look on his face was, err, priceless. Sorry Sam!

p.s. The video was great. The Apple Mac it was playing on worked fine, and everyone lived happily ever after. Or something like that, anyway... :o)

* Yes, apparently, Fraggy actually does work. Shocking, but true... ;o)