I'm trying to be positive

My sister said to me the other day that I should be careful about posting negative sounding messages on here in the jobsearch chain: and she's probably right.  I doubt that many potential employers delve round these pages: but if even 1 is put off then that's 1 too many!

So,  OK,  I failed to get through a few interviews: so what am I up to that's not directly applying for jobs but is trying to keep my skills up?

• I've joined up to Code Academy and have started a course on python
• I'm still playing around with different linux distros: just lately I've been looking at LXDE distros: I quite like WattOS and Peppermint
• I'm looking to update my MS Exchange skills: I used to love exchange when I administered it for a law firm: but that was a couple of versions ago: I'm now having a look at the latest versions again to keep my hand in
• I am still rebuilding old laptops and desktops for friends and relations.  A family friend here in Ely passed me over their old laptop recently which had been running windows,  and surprise surprise,  had been slowing down to a crawl.  I set it up again with Mint XFCE (my distro of choice for linux newbies with older hardware) and re imported all their data.  2 days later they got back in touch saying they liked it so much would I mind doing the same thing for their other laptop (actually a netbook).  Glad to oblige!
• I would like to update myself further on ITIL.  I know what it is,  and most of the basics of the standards contained within: but are there any free/very cheap (I'm pretty much totally skint now!!) ways of learning more?  Various googling expeditions so far have not revealed anything much: anyone out there know any more?
• The garden is looking better than it has for a while

So,  all in all,  the last few months have certainly not been wasted.