Ow!!! Woot!! Almost :(

Yesterday was a long and stressful day for me.

It started with trying to get ready in time for my third southern laser session.  I got there (exactly) on time and except for the fact that Amsterdam was a standstill with Easter traffic it was not too bad.

Until she started.  Previously the anesthetic cream has worked wonders, not feeling a thing and everything being numb to the point where I could just have a chat with her.

Not this time though...  It seems that by concentrating on making sure there was enough cream at the back that I didn't concentrate enough on the front.  From the first zap I felt it, and it grew and grew for the first ten minutes.  Really ow!

But once she worked her way backwards it seemed fine.  And suddenly she went to the freezer for an ice pack.  We can't be done this early I thought...  And we were not.  There were two spots that reacted very strongly to the laser.  So I now have two small burns and three different sorts of creams to help it heel quickly.

For the first time I was in serious pain driving back from the laser place.  And for the rest of the afternoon.  It's still sore now, but getting better!

And it being sore in the afternoon was a bit of a problem...

You see before I left for laster I had managed to read through most of the course work for the PSPO I (Profesional Scrum product Owner I) exam I was planning to take on Monday. I decided that once I had everything there were two options.  Read through it all another two or three times trying to cram as much as possible in my head (something that didn't work at uni and I don't expect it to work now...) and spend the next two days (the whole long weekend!) stressing about an exam.

Or I could realise that I had all the information I was going to get for now and just take the test when I thought I was ready.

I decided on the second option.  Finished the course notes, tried the preparation exam again (100%) and decided to go for it.

Stressed to hell I went through the questions, blitzing the easy ones, and working hard on the difficult ones.  Got to the end of the exam with only 20 minutes gone and started from the beginning again and checked my answers.

In another 10 minutes I was back at the end of the exam.  Hmm... There are a few questions that I am not sure about, but I don't expect to find the answers in the next half hour.  Finish, confirm finish.

And the results come onto the screen.  Results that I have still not got my around yet.

I passed.  And I didn't just pass, I *passed*.

But...  Last year I did my PSM I (Professional Scrum Master I) and got 96%.  Should I ever want to in the future that would allow me to progress to get my Trainer certification.

This time I only got 92%.  3% less than you need should you want to go forward.

So I am in a kind of ug place with it.  On the one hand 92% is not bad, and on the other it's not what I wanted!  But then being a trainer would be lots of consultancy work and travelling which is something I hate in a job.

But still.  It's bugging me!

I may wait 6 months and pay the $100 exam fee and have another go just to get that last 3%.  I have an idea where I lost them.  As I said after the training I am not a product owner.  I am a Scrum Master I solve problems, and I think I was trying to solve too many in some of my answers rather than stick explicitly to the framework.  The exam is evil that way.  Sometimes they want explicit answers, and sometimes they ask what leeway there is in the frame work.  And which one they are after is not always obvious!

But for now my boss is telling to me enjoy the 92%, my parents and Mrs Stace are telling me to enjoy it so I think I am going to have to try and listen to them!

Right...  Time to get changed for running, finish of the Easter breakfast bread I started last night so it can do the final proving whilst I run, and then go for the run!

Oh - and it seems that my email is screwed (again!) for the last few days. It seems that I have not received anything since Monday.  No spam in my Spam filter (which is odd as I have about 100 a day come in on that one), not in my catch all account that I use for online shopping, nor in my home account.  I think that outgoing mail is working I sent some mails last week to my work account that seem to have arrived.  I think it may be time to start using my new email addresses with people... This is the third time this year that it has gone wrong, and no word from the provider on it.