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What's New in Marque My Words

Mark Whitworth, Oman, Mscat, Oman Dive Centre, QatarI suppose I must be getting back up to speed; it doesn’t feel like it though, a heavy cold and continued issues with too much work have left me feeling a bit washed up. Clearly the photograph doesn’t identify either of the points made in the first sentence; taken a week ago by Andrea it shows me relaxing outside a beach hut in Oman. The story of last weekend’s jaunt, to celebrate Andrea’s birthday, is related in Q & A 17, Oman Woman, Muscat Big Splat!

We’re off to California in a week’s time so I’ll leave the last couple of blogs, that from the Philippines and Tanzania Tommy Rides Again, on the front page, where they’ll reside with Creating a Climate Graph in Microsoft Excel , which I forecast will take over from The Curious History of the Hakka and the Tulou as the most viewed piece on this website within a few months. I’ll repeat the advice from my last update, if you have not looked at my Tanzanian Photographs yet they’re mind-blowing.

We live in a cold and curious world so try to behave like a cool cat! Seezya!

Q & A in Qatar 17

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dolphin, splash, Muscat, OmanOman Woman, Muscat Big Splat!

It’s not often I find myself at a completely loose end but the morning of Andrea’s birthday, was certainly one of those times. The sun was shining and the surf was up, but as for snorkelling ...no chance. So, I sat, pondering when I could acceptably order my first pint, awaiting the return of the newly forty-nine year old scuba warrior.

Well, that’s a slip and a half isn’t it! We’ll all have to remember that in twelve months time a year has to be deducted, not added. Got it!

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Q & A in Qatar 16

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Philippines, Google Earth, Moalboal, Cebu IslandThe Philippines – White Beach Moalboal

So finally I sit down at the computer to write something for myself. Ooops...sorry...for my dear readers! I will confess that the last four months have proved a little isolationist in many respects and I’m sorry not to have been able to involve myself in matters other than work. I’ll not go on about that particular matter now, other than to say it’s been a pretty tough period, but work has been significantly better than last year. Hard work never killed anyone, I’ve heard it said, but this belies the number of people taken seriously ill through over doing it, whether this be at the coalface, office desk or in a classroom! Balance is what is required and I have failed miserably to find that since August. I intend to relaunch my blog with a piece on our recent Philippines trip and will attempt to fill in the missing quarter in a later offering.

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Constructing a Climate Graph in Excel

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Instructions for Making a Climate Graph Using Microsoft Office Excel

climate, graph, temperature, rainfall, Microsoft, Excel, Office, 2010These instructions are intended to enable school students to create a climate graph, climatograph, or temperature and rainfall chart, using Microsoft Office 2007 Excel. I will not claim it is the slickest method but it is simple and it does work. There are other versions of these instructions out there so you can pick and chose as to which one suits you. At some point I will produce a variant on this as an instruction for producing a hydrograph; many students would be able to work this out for themselves. Please feel free to post comments; I will use them to make improvements.

Click on "read more" to find out how to produce this Excel climate graph!

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Q & A in Qatar 15

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Andrea, Kidd, Isaac Nfoya, Moshi, TanzaniaTanzania Tommy Rides Again!

Andrea and I thought long and hard about returning to Tanzania; obviously we had enjoyed wonderful times there between 2001 and 2003 but there’s always that niggling concern about going back somewhere and finding you’re disappointed. It also marked the tenth anniversary of our first meeting (almost) and whilst we don’t mark the event as a celebration (it took Andrea ages to find a suitably romantic star lit night) it did seem as if we were completing a cycle. After attempting to get my Dad to come along we finally headed off by ourselves.

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