Committment to work!

Last week i had all my pre-sales and consultants together for our quarterly off site. This is 2-3 days of learning + a bit of team building. We visit our Cheshire office and normally challenge the tech support guys! Last few quarters we have had go-karting and go ape (swinging from trees!). I deny being involved in the decision making process for the latest activity. I just delegate the job whilst before i went on holiday. Bad mistake! This time some smart Alec had the idea of paint balling. We were not prepared! At one point whilst engaged in this mad activity one of my fellow teammates thought i was a baddy and opened fire at close range (6 feet!). I got shot in various placed. He drew blood on both hands, alot of bruising (hopefully you can see from the crap photo) and i have had bruises on my legs that started as nice red marks, went blue, then purple and now most of my leg is yellow - and its been a week since the incident happened! Good news is there is a bit of post activity "sport" as the guy who mistook me for a baddy realised after the event that he just shot his bosses boss!

Next quarter i think we should just organise domino's or some pub related activity though deep down i know this is not going to happen.

Interesting start to the weekend

Been a couple of eventful weeks. More about that later.

Saturday we decided to go to a local country fair. Family loaded up in land rover. 5yr old in front - everyone happy. End up being 3rd car in line at notorious junction. You can see the junction on the right hand side of picture (we approach junction from righ to left). You've probably guessed where this is going. First car goes across staggered junction, second car (an old volvo estate) waits, takes a look and then proceeds to cross major road. Problem was white escort car approachs out of dip. Difficult to judge approach speed as its open country and no reference points. Estimate the contact at approx 40 mph! Escort t-bones volvo around driver door. Both cars run parallel with the impact and the resulting momentum, mount a grass verge and end up in a field. You can just see both cars in the photo. Not bad when you think it just moved 3 tonnes of metal that far and that high up. You can see the resting place to left of the open door on the Land Rover! The banking is about 5-6ft high at that point. Instinct takes over, i protect vehicles and occupants with land rover (as the road i am parked on is on the wrong side of a dip and is national speed limit and people like to make progress), wife jumps out with first aid kit we carry and starts to check folks and we call emergency services from landie.

Outcome - Land Rover: one shocked and upset 5yr old. There was alot of noise, glass shattering, crumping metal. Volvo: 4 ladies and a dog get out of volvo, shocked but physically ok. Escort: Driver shocked but physically ok. Passenger not wearing seatbelt. Broken noise, neck injury and alot of blood etc. Really struggling to understand why people do not wear seatbelts. The car he was travelling either did not have airbags or they did not activate. I saw where he hit the laminated windscreen. It was not pretty. 20 mins after calling the police and paramedics they arrive en masse. Gave statement and let the professionals to get on with it!

Volvo driver could be had for driving without due care and attention - lack of attention whilst entering a major road. Escort driver could have approached at a slower speed (though i do not believe was breaking the speed limit) and assessed the risks better. At the end of the day there was fault on both sides. Luckily no-one was killed.

An unplanned start to the weekend.

Works tough....

Spent a couple of hours this afternoon working on a special project - playing content around the home! yep, its work folks and i'm getting paid for it!

Looking at bringing in video, music, pictures or text into the home, storing it on Network Attached Storage, PC or say a PVR! From here, we look to either stream it around the home (or move it to other compatible devices in the home). One interesting test case i saw a couple of weeks ago was a Sony Cybershot camera with photos on it. It looks for compatible devices on the wireless network. Camera finds a new digital TV. We could then view the photos (which were still on the camera) on the TV. As you flicked through the pictures on the camera they updated on the TV (via the wireless link). Very cool way for the family to share and look at photos.

All the consumer electronics companies are bringing our more compatible devices. If you interested check out www.dnla.org You find find out how it works and also devices that are out there in the marketplace now!

Not only can it handle photo's, but also music and video. So if you want to watch a video upstairs you can stream it from the PVR or NAS! No more cupboards full of DVD's, or finding the case but no DVD inside. With DNLA you can search all available storage for the title you want!

Good news is that the PS3 is DLNA enabled......and so is the PSP. Mmmmhh. Might have to start looking at funding for the home! Now for that 4 Terrabyte NAS!

Proof that Land Rovers are not monkey proof

Need to write to land rover customer care. They obviously sell Land Rover as an "adventure vehicle" and i am sure Asia is a big market, but the boys in LR marketing obviously have not market tested their Discovery product as it failed the most basic test - The Monkeys of Longleat! Little Buggers. The Monkeys, not the staff at Land Rover! I felt confident that the LR would survive, but that soon disappeared when this chap jumped on the car! Come on Land Rover, take your product testing more seriously!

Normal Service will resume shortly.....

Been to California with business then flew back, got off plane, unpacked, sleep, breakie, pack....then 2 weeks holiday. Couldn't have picked the weather better!

400 piccies to sort through before next excursion to Belfast at the weekend to see the outlaws!

A tool for every job

A friend and i headed out last Sunday in California for a bit of clay sport! I'm always tickled by the fact that some of the guys get around the layout using modified golf buggy's. You can see the modification here - gun rack and space for cartridges. Didn't get a close look but i suspect there was a cooler and a small BBQ on board as well!

Geekville

Been in california for a week with work. Missed all the bad weather! Did a bit of shooting, wine tasting and shopping.

Had to pop into the Apple store in Stanford shopping mall and was confronted with alot of people huddled around the central display? What was it? the iphone. Couple of days later one of the guys at work demo'd his iphone. It is very cool on a number of fronts!

Scots Invade England

Yes, you heard it hear folks. Spotted at the head of the riverbourne taskforce as it invaded Henley on friday evening! The town will never be the same again!

Henley Royal Regatta

Was invited out by friends for a trip up and down the Thames yesterday at Henley. The Henley Royal Regatta was on. Great event. Crews row in gladiatorial style down a 1 and 3/8th mile course down the Thames! It certainly looked knackering from our motorboat. We enjoyed it whilst drinking beer and eating fish and chips. Brilliant fun.

Just Enough Education to book tickets!

We're off on a musical journey again! Just booked some tickets to go to a gig in Cardiff to see the stereophonics in November with two fellow nutters. Saw the band in Brighton about 18 months ago and it was a cracking night out. Plan is (a) few sherbets (b) loud rock and roll music (c) few sherbets (d) kebab!

Who said middle aged men don't know how to party :)