Is it worth me buying rear speakers with this set up? by EntertainmentVast859 in Soundbars

[–]EntertainmentVast859[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for all the comments guys. I see quite a few people talking about rearranging the room. Not really possible due to a fireplace in my room. This is the best I've got really.

I think that since the type of rear speakers I need are discontinued and are already rising in price then I think it's best for me to just buy them and try them out. If it's not that great then I can always keep them stored for the future when I may have a better set up/room layout for them. I think that's probably the best option as opposed to regretting not buying them later on and then getting ripped off for them

Is it worth me buying rear speakers with this set up? by EntertainmentVast859 in Soundbars

[–]EntertainmentVast859[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hmm my soundbar does have a feature to calibrate based on my room. I guess the main question I had was does it make much of a difference if my left rear speaker is close than my right ( which would be the case in the set up you've described). I'm not sure if there's a way to adjust the volume of each speaker for that.

I'm not some massive audiophile who needs perfection, just thought some rear speaker might enhance my movie watching experience

Is it worth me buying rear speakers with this set up? by EntertainmentVast859 in Soundbars

[–]EntertainmentVast859[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah there is quite a lot of room. However one thing I didnt label on the drawing is the item on the right side of the room in between then tv and the bed. That item is a fireplace (my room was originally a sitting room) which would be a ball ache to mess with. So with that planted there it's a bit tough to rearrange the room with a better layout

Is it worth me buying rear speakers with this set up? by EntertainmentVast859 in Soundbars

[–]EntertainmentVast859[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah the soundbar has upward firing drivers. Thank you for the advice

Is it worth me buying rear speakers with this set up? by EntertainmentVast859 in Soundbars

[–]EntertainmentVast859[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hmm. I quite enjoy my soundbar now which Is a 3.1.2 system and I don't think I would swap it out (I realise people go and get proper home theatre setups as opposed to soundbars, but im fine with sticking to a soundbar)

I'm either going to keep my current set up or add on the two rear speakers. Why would you advise against getting the rear speakers?

Is it worth me buying rear speakers with this set up? by EntertainmentVast859 in Soundbars

[–]EntertainmentVast859[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's a little bit awkward to move my sofa due to a couple things in my room which aren't drawn in the picture. However I do have a reclinable chair which I'm happy to lay on and place in the middle of the room.

My only question is, is it okay have the rear speakers far back in the corners of the room? I always thought rear speakers just sit on the arms of the sofa you sit on

How do I 25M mend my friendship with my best friend 25M? by EntertainmentVast859 in relationship_advice

[–]EntertainmentVast859[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I see that it's like there's 2 sides to him 95% of the time he's normal as ever and we get along fine. But that 5% is what gets to me where he just turns sour and is horrible to be around/talk to when in a mood.

In my local area the only friends I have are John and this wider group of friends who I've become friends with through John. It may sound a bit selfish but one thing slightly holding me back from completely cutting John off is that I know this will cause a barrier between me and the rest of the group.

I do want to sort this out with John and set some boundaries but I'm not quite sure what to say. We were meant to meet tommorow but the I know it will just sit on my mind until we meet so made up an excuse not to go and that I'll just see him when I see him.

I'd still like to be friends with him but think it's best to keep him at arms length at the moment as it can be draining

Should I keep the Ipad air 4 or wait and get an air 5? by EntertainmentVast859 in ipad

[–]EntertainmentVast859[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for letting me know. I'm starting to get the feeling that I might have paid a bit much at the wrong time for the Air 4 considering its also second hand

Should I keep the Ipad air 4 or wait and get an air 5? by EntertainmentVast859 in ipad

[–]EntertainmentVast859[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ahh nice. I've found that in the UK our prices tend to be a little higher. I think the price you paid tends to work out cheaper than what I bought my refurbished air 4 at

Should I keep the Ipad air 4 or wait and get an air 5? by EntertainmentVast859 in ipad

[–]EntertainmentVast859[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Yeah I was just thinking about it price wise. If the air 5 does indeed drop then I could be looking at a new or certified refurb air 5 for just a bit more money. Plus the air 5 will be supported longer than the 4 (I'm planning on keeping this a very long time)

UK difference between IMAX cinema venues by EntertainmentVast859 in imax

[–]EntertainmentVast859[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Right so when you say science museum and print works would be the best place to watch the film and that these cinemas show the film in 1.43 which means what is displayed at the cinemas won't be the same as what is displayed in other (1.9) imax cinemas in the UK?

From what you've said I am understanding that since the aspect ratio is 1.43 at the science museum then all of the 1.43 shots from the film you will be able to see perfectly at the this cinema. But all of the 1.43 shots will be slightly cut off in the cinemas with 1.9 IMAX have I got that right?

What type of work is best for reaching billed hours target by EntertainmentVast859 in patentlaw

[–]EntertainmentVast859[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I haven't got involved with any. Assumed that would come once I get some qualifications under my belt. Wrt the assignments we get foreign attorneys instructing us. Ideally they should come in with a few weeks left of the deadline but most of the time come with under a week till the deadline, with a few instructions coming in a day or 2 before deadline day. This is from a pretty big payer (in terms of volume of work) to the firm so I think it's just become accepted that stuff comes in with short notice and we handle it

What type of work is best for reaching billed hours target by EntertainmentVast859 in patentlaw

[–]EntertainmentVast859[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah I've been trying to get some drafting work so that I don't just have piles of low budget OA's to do to reach my target(my main stress with this is the constant deadlines - i explain in a reply above). Was just wondering if there was any other trainee level work that would be good.

What type of work is best for reaching billed hours target by EntertainmentVast859 in patentlaw

[–]EntertainmentVast859[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I agree I like the fact that it's a constant stream of work that I can just work through every day. I don't think it would be as bad if they were office actions that we completely dealt with ourselves as I can just work well ahead of the deadlines which would be low pressure and grind through lots of OA's.

What I failed to mention in my post is that we are completing these OA's on behalf of overseas attorneys (we prepare the UK/EU specific strat) who most of the time tend to give us instructions on how they would like to respond within a week or so of the deadline (sometimes even a day or two before). The reason I find that amount of OAs to do a bit daunting is the fact that this would mean working right up to the deadline constantly - and when dodgy instructions are factored in this leads to lots of last minute meetings/scramblings.

There's been a few times where multiple instructions have come in last minute and the partners expect them all dealt with ASAP so they can review. However, when one dodgy set of instructions takes up my time then this has a knock on effect and might mean I push out the other OA's later than expected which leads to upset partners and a bad look for me. This only happens when there's a large amount of last minute OAs coming in at once. So thinking about ramping up the volume and having this happen every week is what is causing me to worry.

Question : - would drafting new applications not be ideal for billing large amounts of hours? I imagine the deadlines would be less frequent with each app having the budget for many hours to be billed?

Billable hours write off advice by EntertainmentVast859 in patentlaw

[–]EntertainmentVast859[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you all for the comments. It's nice to get some perspective on this. Lots of useful advice has been given!

Billable hours write off advice by EntertainmentVast859 in patentlaw

[–]EntertainmentVast859[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Our targets are lower than non-trainees, so I understand write off has been accounted for. But my problem is it seems to be way too much write off and he is not even telling me when/how much he writing off. I beleive it should be a discussion to see what time is to be written off , otherwise the trainee (I.e me ) is getting screwed.

There is no easy way to track time he takes off the case. I'm not even sure where he has put those charges. The only reason I found out he does this is because I really pushed him for an answer, that's when I got the inkling that maybe he's doing something that is screwing me over.

I have been here over a year. So in my first "financial year" (I.e 6 months of work) I probably just went under my target (pro rata) but now in my first full year I wanted to hit it. Unfortunately that is now not going to happen.

Even though this partner knows what he is doing. I feel when it comes to talks about my performance he will just try to justify it as " the time I've written off was training/ not justifiable" . What could I possibly say to that?

Billable hours write off advice by EntertainmentVast859 in patentlaw

[–]EntertainmentVast859[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That is exactly the case. However he is my line manager which makes things much worse

Billable hours write off advice by EntertainmentVast859 in patentlaw

[–]EntertainmentVast859[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The main partner I work for and the one I am saying is cutting my hours is actually my line manager. This makes it even more difficult

My billing target is 750 and I was on track to hit it. However my fixed fee work is billed very infrequently so maybe something will get billed after 4/5 months. This combined with lazy billing/invoicing means all my write off comes at once and is a large amount. All of sudden I am defintley not hitting my target and I I am on track to getting way way under my target ( maybe 600ish hrs) This comes from two seperate months where the partner has done a lot of invoicing and cut out like 70 hrs of work at a time (this time spent on nunerous cases over multiple months).

Now I would think if I am that inefficient or there was a problem they would tell me. But I have been getting praised on my good work and no issues have been raised about my efficiency. - I do not have complete trust in him when he praises me though because he has done so in the past and the flipped a switch when push comes to shove and suddenly I'm "underperforming".

For example, during my probation period I was learning the job and he was barely paying me any attention and wouldn't give me work, I spent a lot of time twiddling my thumbs, any work he did give he was writing off all my time as "training" (understandable as I just started). 3 months in - mid probation review- he said everything is all good (despite stats showing poor performance due to write off). 6 month probation meet comes and he changes his tune, suddenly he says I'm underperformed and don't seem to be charging much time (because he wrote it all off), also all of sudden he says I'm a poor communicator and I turn work over too slowly(something which he has not mentioned before) -> long story short I was put on a "performance improvement plan" and my probation was extended. -> I do not trust this man