I'm all packed and ready to set off on my second Portugal trip this afternoon. We've a ridiculously early flight to catch in the morning (departure time: stupid o'clock) so we're all heading down to spend the night at an airport near the hotel.
We're there for four days this time and having checked the agenda, I'm hoping we may get to see a little more than hotel rooms and airport lounges. We certainly won't if the our cash advance for expenses is any indication.
I've been playing the Portuguese PDQ cd's in the car for the last few days (one down, three to go) and although I'm not about to become a professional translator, I think I've picked up enough to get me through without resorting to our traditionally arrogant English habit of pointing and shouting at things.
Back Friday pm after which I'll be ready for some long overdue Hobgoblin consumption so I'll probably catch up with the blog next weekend.
In the meantime, adeus...
Sunday, October 30, 2005
Friday, October 28, 2005
Got any O's...
Well there was certainly no shortage outside the pub last night.
Our local is situated a the end of a row of listed buildings; not for their aesthetic qualities as many are run down looking old lock ups, but presumably to maintain some of the original riverside architecture.
All year, the fire brigade have been called out on numerous occasions to extinguish some little pyromaniacs attempt at entertainment by setting light to old pallets, skips, or similar and to date they had all been dealt with without major incident. Unsurprisingly, many of the local businesses and residents requested that our local constabulary may wish to make random patrols in the area to flush out these critters, but it seems they were always too busy chasing local motorists for driving 2mph over the speed limit.
Last night things finally went a bit too far. Within minutes of the first tender arriving, one of the old showrooms was well ablaze. It continued to spread throughout the building for a good hour or so and tied up the services of the incident control unit and at least 6 tenders from throughout the county. In addition they needed to close all of the surrounding roads (including two significant thoroughfares) and as I write this in the early hours of the following morning, they have yet to re-open.
It is a pity that the old building has been so severely damaged, but I sincerely hope that there were no serious injuries elsewhere in the county as a result of all local resources being in use here. All for the sake of a drive of a couple of hundred yards down the lane once in a while.
Coincidentally, the area has been the subject of much dispute of late as developers have struggled to get planning permission to convert these listed buildings into shops and luxury apartments. I wonder if it will be any easier now the "dangerous building" will probably have to be pulled down...
Our local is situated a the end of a row of listed buildings; not for their aesthetic qualities as many are run down looking old lock ups, but presumably to maintain some of the original riverside architecture.
All year, the fire brigade have been called out on numerous occasions to extinguish some little pyromaniacs attempt at entertainment by setting light to old pallets, skips, or similar and to date they had all been dealt with without major incident. Unsurprisingly, many of the local businesses and residents requested that our local constabulary may wish to make random patrols in the area to flush out these critters, but it seems they were always too busy chasing local motorists for driving 2mph over the speed limit.
Last night things finally went a bit too far. Within minutes of the first tender arriving, one of the old showrooms was well ablaze. It continued to spread throughout the building for a good hour or so and tied up the services of the incident control unit and at least 6 tenders from throughout the county. In addition they needed to close all of the surrounding roads (including two significant thoroughfares) and as I write this in the early hours of the following morning, they have yet to re-open.
It is a pity that the old building has been so severely damaged, but I sincerely hope that there were no serious injuries elsewhere in the county as a result of all local resources being in use here. All for the sake of a drive of a couple of hundred yards down the lane once in a while.
Coincidentally, the area has been the subject of much dispute of late as developers have struggled to get planning permission to convert these listed buildings into shops and luxury apartments. I wonder if it will be any easier now the "dangerous building" will probably have to be pulled down...
Sunday, October 23, 2005
There goes another 1000...
A huge thanks to everyone for your continued interest in my humble little blog. Whether or not you were looking for pictures of bunnies or Samantha or Magic Roundabout (which is also ridiculously high in the stats for the sake of one picture, or two if you count this one), I'm never the less proud to have passed the 4000 mark.
No gifs this time, but what better way to mark this achievement than with a picture of a 4k...
No gifs this time, but what better way to mark this achievement than with a picture of a 4k...
Thursday, October 20, 2005
If you're looking for bunnies...
der-der-der-der-de
Then you've come to the wrong place
der-der-der-der-de...
Regular visitors will be aware of my fascination for my page stats (which reminds me, 4k is approaching and 1st blogday is next month so I ought to start my quest for more gifs). Anyhoo, I noticed last night that the top three reasons people end up here from search engines are from Google Image searches; equal first place going to "Samantha" and "Bunnies" with "Janus" coming in a very close third.
Although I think Samantha Janus is obviously very attractive and I've enjoyed her TV appearances in shows such as Game On and Liverpool one, this could hardly be considered a fan site. In fact I linked to one picture of her during a post about one of her lesser successes (which to be fair, she managed to escape after the first series). In fact, to avoid unnecessary attention, I tried to select one of the more tasteful images. Worse still, I tried to replicate the search (with safe search off, just in case) and waded through over 10 pages without finding the picture in question, so where are these hits all coming from?
As for the bunnies, this was another attempt at being humorous during a post about Easter and there is a link to one photo, which again I thought was quite tasteful (in the context of the rest of the post). Again, I was 6 pages into my search for the same so people are hardly landing here by accident.
I realise that this post is probably only compounding the issue , so if you have ended up here looking for either of the above, let me help you out:
Click here for info about Samantha and here for the best site on the web about bunnies. If you were looking for either in lesser attire then you really must try harder - it's hardly rocket science (apparently). I'm amazed you ended up here and it probably serves you right...
Then you've come to the wrong place
der-der-der-der-de...
Regular visitors will be aware of my fascination for my page stats (which reminds me, 4k is approaching and 1st blogday is next month so I ought to start my quest for more gifs). Anyhoo, I noticed last night that the top three reasons people end up here from search engines are from Google Image searches; equal first place going to "Samantha" and "Bunnies" with "Janus" coming in a very close third.
Although I think Samantha Janus is obviously very attractive and I've enjoyed her TV appearances in shows such as Game On and Liverpool one, this could hardly be considered a fan site. In fact I linked to one picture of her during a post about one of her lesser successes (which to be fair, she managed to escape after the first series). In fact, to avoid unnecessary attention, I tried to select one of the more tasteful images. Worse still, I tried to replicate the search (with safe search off, just in case) and waded through over 10 pages without finding the picture in question, so where are these hits all coming from?
As for the bunnies, this was another attempt at being humorous during a post about Easter and there is a link to one photo, which again I thought was quite tasteful (in the context of the rest of the post). Again, I was 6 pages into my search for the same so people are hardly landing here by accident.
I realise that this post is probably only compounding the issue , so if you have ended up here looking for either of the above, let me help you out:
Click here for info about Samantha and here for the best site on the web about bunnies. If you were looking for either in lesser attire then you really must try harder - it's hardly rocket science (apparently). I'm amazed you ended up here and it probably serves you right...
Wednesday, October 19, 2005
Rather like buses...
It's not that I hold any special fondness for that particular mode of public transport, nor for that matter do I have anything against it. Anyway, I'm rambling already - all will become clear shortly. "Who are you calling shortly?" (OK, I'll get on with it)
Work today proved to be full of surprises. Not the long overdue pay review or the promise of staff replacement, but the prospect of an interesting new challenge over the next few weeks.
We are in the process upgrading the computer system from our antiquated AS400 to the much loved and admired (!) SAP. The more the project unfolds, the more time it consumes and it's suddenly quite apparent where the name SAP comes from. I knew from the outset that I would be involved to a certain extent but following some unfortunate news one of my colleagues received this morning, I have now been upgraded from "Key User" to "Power User". I did ask, but apparently it doesn't involve me wearing a lycra outfit (huge sigh of relief from anyone who knows me).
What's involved? Largely co-ordinating team actions rather than just taking part, lots more distractions from the usual nine to five (nine to five? - I wish) but most importantly, the chance to influence the way we change our business processes rather than just being told what's going to happen (how naive is that? We'll see in a few weeks).
Ironically, I successfully bid for a Linguaphone PDQ Portuguese course last night (bargain - less than a tenner) on the off-chance that there may be some business requirement for it and today I learn that the above responsibility involves spending a full week at our Portuguese site. Two weeks later, we're all back again for another week. So as the heading would suggest, I waited thirty nine years for a trip to Portugal then three come along at once...
Work today proved to be full of surprises. Not the long overdue pay review or the promise of staff replacement, but the prospect of an interesting new challenge over the next few weeks.
We are in the process upgrading the computer system from our antiquated AS400 to the much loved and admired (!) SAP. The more the project unfolds, the more time it consumes and it's suddenly quite apparent where the name SAP comes from. I knew from the outset that I would be involved to a certain extent but following some unfortunate news one of my colleagues received this morning, I have now been upgraded from "Key User" to "Power User". I did ask, but apparently it doesn't involve me wearing a lycra outfit (huge sigh of relief from anyone who knows me).
What's involved? Largely co-ordinating team actions rather than just taking part, lots more distractions from the usual nine to five (nine to five? - I wish) but most importantly, the chance to influence the way we change our business processes rather than just being told what's going to happen (how naive is that? We'll see in a few weeks).
Ironically, I successfully bid for a Linguaphone PDQ Portuguese course last night (bargain - less than a tenner) on the off-chance that there may be some business requirement for it and today I learn that the above responsibility involves spending a full week at our Portuguese site. Two weeks later, we're all back again for another week. So as the heading would suggest, I waited thirty nine years for a trip to Portugal then three come along at once...
Monday, October 17, 2005
More beer and music...
Well we've just enjoyed another fun-packed weekend at the 2nd Tap and Spile Acoustic Beer Festival. The format was pretty much the same as last time with a huge array of local talent displaying their musical wares and a wide selection of local ales to help the occasion along. I'll apologise in advance for not listing all of the performers or all of the ales but as there was absolutely nothing to disappoint in either category, I don't want to risk missing one and offending somebody.
That said, some special mentions:
Si Nicholls made a welcome return with Boddington and turned out an excellent couple of sets interspersed with a number of jokes that my mother didn't really ought to be laughing at.
It's always nice at one of these events to discover new beers and this weekend I have been introduced to Fugelestou brewery based just down the road at Fulstow. They've only been brewing for a couple of years but I personally think they can give a lot of better established breweries a run for their money.
On this occasion, they were only out-done by the Bateman's Victory Ale which was in outstanding form. Weighing in at an impressive 5.9%, pale in colour but full in flavour, I'm afraid I had rather too many for a schoolnight.
Finally, it was good to see that despite the amount of alcohol consumed, that Seany character didn't attempt to entertain anyone again although I worry about about how much longer he can get away with it...
That said, some special mentions:
Si Nicholls made a welcome return with Boddington and turned out an excellent couple of sets interspersed with a number of jokes that my mother didn't really ought to be laughing at.
It's always nice at one of these events to discover new beers and this weekend I have been introduced to Fugelestou brewery based just down the road at Fulstow. They've only been brewing for a couple of years but I personally think they can give a lot of better established breweries a run for their money.
On this occasion, they were only out-done by the Bateman's Victory Ale which was in outstanding form. Weighing in at an impressive 5.9%, pale in colour but full in flavour, I'm afraid I had rather too many for a schoolnight.
Finally, it was good to see that despite the amount of alcohol consumed, that Seany character didn't attempt to entertain anyone again although I worry about about how much longer he can get away with it...
Wednesday, October 12, 2005
Well that was fun...
Got back from Porto late last night after a very interesting trip.
Flights were pretty much as scheduled, the taxi got us to our hotel in good time and boy, what a hotel. Apparently due to regular bookings, our company has negotiated special rates with the Porto Palacio Hotel, a five star residence which is by far the poshest place I've ever stayed. They need a few lessons in which beers they should be selling (although I'm ashamed to admit that the Super Bock wasn't exactly unpleasant) but beyond that the accommodation was absolutely superb. Let me put it this way, it was good enough to be entertaining the Portuguese national football team who arrived for a three night stay while we were there. OK, they booked an entire floor but I was more than happy with my room. All this luxury for around £65 per night!
We were on a pretty tight schedule so we made the most of the evening there and went to the superb Don Tonho restaurant on the Douro riverside in the shadow of the magnificent Ponte D. Luis I bridge (notice the Eiffel influence?). The food there was probably amongst the best I have ever tasted and what an excellent choice. A huge variety of starters to pick from including squid which I had always promised myself I would try. I opted for veal for the main course (another first for me). I know it's wrong and I shouldn't have, but I've always been curious and wanted to try it whilst in the company of people who wouldn't give me a hard time over it - sorry, but it was every bit as tasty as I had hoped for. For dessert I chose the creme brulee, another one that I'd heard plenty about but never tasted and we finished off with a 10 year old Tawny Port (what else) and espresso coffee. First class food throughout, first class service, first class portions (plenty) and it cost less than £150 for the four of us including aperitifs and two bottles of local wine.
Oh and the all important presentation the following morning - did I sell my soul? Not entirely, but Mr Johnson* could you pass me that guitar please...
*should anyone at work be reading this, I'm referring to the legendary Robert, not our Site Manager...
Flights were pretty much as scheduled, the taxi got us to our hotel in good time and boy, what a hotel. Apparently due to regular bookings, our company has negotiated special rates with the Porto Palacio Hotel, a five star residence which is by far the poshest place I've ever stayed. They need a few lessons in which beers they should be selling (although I'm ashamed to admit that the Super Bock wasn't exactly unpleasant) but beyond that the accommodation was absolutely superb. Let me put it this way, it was good enough to be entertaining the Portuguese national football team who arrived for a three night stay while we were there. OK, they booked an entire floor but I was more than happy with my room. All this luxury for around £65 per night!
We were on a pretty tight schedule so we made the most of the evening there and went to the superb Don Tonho restaurant on the Douro riverside in the shadow of the magnificent Ponte D. Luis I bridge (notice the Eiffel influence?). The food there was probably amongst the best I have ever tasted and what an excellent choice. A huge variety of starters to pick from including squid which I had always promised myself I would try. I opted for veal for the main course (another first for me). I know it's wrong and I shouldn't have, but I've always been curious and wanted to try it whilst in the company of people who wouldn't give me a hard time over it - sorry, but it was every bit as tasty as I had hoped for. For dessert I chose the creme brulee, another one that I'd heard plenty about but never tasted and we finished off with a 10 year old Tawny Port (what else) and espresso coffee. First class food throughout, first class service, first class portions (plenty) and it cost less than £150 for the four of us including aperitifs and two bottles of local wine.
Oh and the all important presentation the following morning - did I sell my soul? Not entirely, but Mr Johnson* could you pass me that guitar please...
*should anyone at work be reading this, I'm referring to the legendary Robert, not our Site Manager...
Thursday, October 06, 2005
Seany's on the wireless...
No, don't go reaching for Granny's crystal radio set, I haven't been roped in to do the Radio Humberside quiz on the phone again for the Tap. And even though I've got the drumkit up and running (great fun incidentally), I'm a long way from any record deal that's likely to give Phil Collins a run for his money but no harm in trying eh?. Truth is, I've gone really high tech by my standards (which effectively means I've caught up with the rest of the mobile PC community) and got myself a wireless router so my laptop can now accompany my lap wherever it happens to be around the house, except perhaps for one small room, but surely people don't do they?
Ok, moving on quickly, I've got myself a real fun-packed week lined up for next week. Monday morning I drive down to Heathrow, fly out to Portugal, give a three hour presentation to sell my soul (or at least justify my existence at work) on Tuesday morning, hop on a plane & fly back after lunch to be back at work in time for a training course on Wednesday morning. Question is, when I've told them everything I know about our department and how wonderful we are, what will I say for the remaining 2 hours, 55 minutes? Should be fun!
Note to self: remember to update "30 things" list when I've returned from visiting another country...
Ok, moving on quickly, I've got myself a real fun-packed week lined up for next week. Monday morning I drive down to Heathrow, fly out to Portugal, give a three hour presentation to sell my soul (or at least justify my existence at work) on Tuesday morning, hop on a plane & fly back after lunch to be back at work in time for a training course on Wednesday morning. Question is, when I've told them everything I know about our department and how wonderful we are, what will I say for the remaining 2 hours, 55 minutes? Should be fun!
Note to self: remember to update "30 things" list when I've returned from visiting another country...
Saturday, October 01, 2005
So now I'm back...
From outer space,
You just surfed in to find me here,
With that smug look upon my face...
Yes folks, Seany's back online at long last courtesy of his new Asus A6k. Not without the prerequisite drama of course.
I ordered it online a couple of weeks ago and was more than a little surprised a couple of days later when the order confirmation arrived to discover that it would not be despatched until 26th September. Very generously, I decided that this must be the time required to build and thoroughly check the machine before they sent it out so I didn't pursue the matter any further.
27th September came and went with no delivery and after a couple of phone calls (and several hours listening to their machine telling me how important my call was) I discovered that they would not be able to despatch now before 10th October. Oh and did I mention the £39 delivery charge? For a four week delivery? Unsuprisingly I suggested that they cancel my order as for that price I should fully expect Elvis Presley to ride into town on a unicorn to hand deliver the item.
Wednesday night, I managed to find the exact same machine, £60 cheaper with free bag, mouse, 1gb flash drive and next day delivery. The moral of the story? Don't buy anything from Mesh Computers, do check out the Asus Laptop site if you're thinking of buying one.
So now I have a few days to look forward to re-installing all of the rubbish I had on the old machine and also of course, I must get that drumkit set up and tested...
You just surfed in to find me here,
With that smug look upon my face...
Yes folks, Seany's back online at long last courtesy of his new Asus A6k. Not without the prerequisite drama of course.
I ordered it online a couple of weeks ago and was more than a little surprised a couple of days later when the order confirmation arrived to discover that it would not be despatched until 26th September. Very generously, I decided that this must be the time required to build and thoroughly check the machine before they sent it out so I didn't pursue the matter any further.
27th September came and went with no delivery and after a couple of phone calls (and several hours listening to their machine telling me how important my call was) I discovered that they would not be able to despatch now before 10th October. Oh and did I mention the £39 delivery charge? For a four week delivery? Unsuprisingly I suggested that they cancel my order as for that price I should fully expect Elvis Presley to ride into town on a unicorn to hand deliver the item.
Wednesday night, I managed to find the exact same machine, £60 cheaper with free bag, mouse, 1gb flash drive and next day delivery. The moral of the story? Don't buy anything from Mesh Computers, do check out the Asus Laptop site if you're thinking of buying one.
So now I have a few days to look forward to re-installing all of the rubbish I had on the old machine and also of course, I must get that drumkit set up and tested...
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