My notes from Day 2 of #trulondon

Here is my learning from day 2...

NETWORKING

·         Got talking with Stephen O’Donnell. He tells me his company put up the first job app for the iPhone – Jobs UK

·         He showed me just how many job apps are now out there – he has almost two screens of them on his iPhone – examples Hays, Monster, Total Jobs, Jobsite

·         His assertion is that a lot of these apps are “me too’s” – caused by the rush to get there and have presence

EYE CANDY

Take a look at http://www.twitterfountain.com/ - awesome UI but not personally convinced it’s something I’d use on a primary screen – projected on the wall at an office, conference, event or if you’re lucky enough to have three screens maybe...

SOURCING

A few sourcing ideas from the serious practitioners...

·         Whois search on GoDaddy.com - http://who.godaddy.com/whoischeck.aspx?isc=goazguk3a&ci=8926

·         Whoozy.com – People Search Engine - http://whoozy.com/

·         TinEye – Reverse Image Search Engine - http://www.tineye.com/

·         Egrabber – captures and processes unstructured data such as cv’s - http://www.egrabber.com/

·         pipl.com – people search engine - http://www.pipl.com/

·         Tweepz – twitter search engine - http://www.tweepz.com/

·         TwitterSheep - http://twittersheep.com/ - produces tag cloud generated from the bios of your “flock” of followers... here is mine...

·         Search is only as good as the quality of your keywords, so keyword research is a critical skill in this arena

·         As much as one can admire the skills on display is this kind of deep web search & social sourcing a dark art and do recruiters in the UK generally need this depth of help?

·         Interesting but unsatisfactory debate about data privacy issues raised by this kind of searching

LINKEDIN

·         Yes, it’s a sourcing tool but it’s a network building and business development tool

·         Default view of recruiters on LinkedIn is overwhelmingly negative

·         A profile 100% complete will get 4 times the number of views of a profile only 90% complete

·         QUOTE – The new API is quite restrictive

·         Discussion about profile pictures – company logo’s and cartoons are not acceptable – difficult for LinkedIn to police but if found you will be suspended

·         Interesting thought – are you happy with the profile and pictures of your recruiters on LinkedIn

·         There is value in using the LinkedIn company profile widget on your website

·         Groups are the value add for those not using LinkedIn to look for a job

TWITJOBSEARCH

·         Arguably the biggest job board in the world right now... http://www.twitjobsearch.com/

·         650,000 new jobs posted in the last 30 days on Twitter

ROI

·         This tracks wasn’t what I thought it was going to be, I was hoping for a discussion on metrics, analysis, tricks and tools

·         I wanted more than... “a company should get into New Media because it’s cheap, fast and everyone else is doing it”

·         Great idea I picked up on the track... If you want to see how bad our industry still is, set up a tweetdeck column using “recruiter” as a search term

FINAL THOUGHTS

·         Two days and two blog posts full of learning points

·         I felt it a more comfortable atmosphere in which to network, I usually feel quite uncomfortable at major conferences and pretty much keep to myself

·         Day 2 of the unconference organisationally better than Day 1 but in the spirit of complete honesty...

·         The location was not ideal – it was quite a palava to leave the main room and go to tracks – this ideally should be much easier to do

·         We could have done with slightly more structure around tracks kicking off, what they were going to be about (to start with) and start times could have been more disciplined

·         If these two ideas were implemented I think we might have seen more movement between tracks, more side tracks starting up and more challenging of track leaders – then again British reserve says maybe not

To be fair though a fantastic event overall, congratulations to the organisers and a shout out to @billboorman

Bill and I are running a little tweetup in the Midland “to carry on the conversation” as it were ... 3rd March, Barcelo Hotel, Daventry, 7:30pm sign up http://bit.ly/cTlXvZ #NtonTweetUp. There’s only four of us attending so far so lots of room and it’s free.

I have one last thought. If you read this via twitter and went to #trulondon then I’d ask you to tweet the following...

I went to #trulondon and learnt...

It’s for you to fill in the blanks!

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. @billboorman in full flow at #trulondon

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My notes from Day 1 of #trulondon

I had planned to live tweet from #trulondon but in the end I kind of followed the #trulondon hashtag on TweetDeck on my iPhone and spent the time listening and participating in the sessions. To some extent I’m still processing whether the chaos of the unconference style suits me but I did find the day interesting and engaging. Here’s my learning...

VIDEO

·         Jim Stroud made some excellent points about how easy it is to get into video and pointed to the excellent case studies of military and schools in the US

·         The entry barrier to video is so low these days – just a flip camera and away you go – don’t make it too high tech and it doesn’t need high production values

·         Wander round and ask staff... “What do you like about working at xxxxx” – just 30 second clips and edit them together

·         Example: Microsoft Canada Development Centre = 9000 views

·         You can embed video in LinkedIn via Google presentations (and I think you can now do this via SlideShare as well)

·         The jobs don’t have to sexy – the other example was “Food Jobs in Saudi Arabia” - = 1000 views (but it’s about getting to the right audience)

·         Good sourcing idea that cropped up in the discussion – look at the people who comment on specialist videos e.g. Microsoft SQL videos on YouTube or post pictures of windfarms on Flickr as potential candidates for appropriate roles

REPUTATION 2.0

·         Paul Harrison, Carve Consulting, made excellent points about reputation and the impact of ignoring negative social media comment

·         Asda were singled out as a case study in appropriate response to negative social media commentary

·         TripAdvisor was pointed to as an example of social rating – are we far away from online rating of recruitment experiences becoming the norm?

SOCIAL MEDIA ROI

·         Yes, it’s important

·         Yes, it can be measured

·         Yes, advice is out there on how to do that

·         It’s about tracking both cost AND quality

JOB BOARDS

·         Job Boards probably getting tired of hearing about their “imminent death” – and hold my hands up here, I’m one of the culprits

·         Worth noting that downward pressure on the cost model has halved the recruitment media market from £1.5B to £750M in about 10 years

·         Need to factor in the apathy of job hunters and the fact that candidates will continue to use agencies and it’s agencies that fuel Job Boards

·         Behavioural analysis is key – in the final analysis as much as we blather about job boards we will all go where the candidates go

·         There’s some evidence of online profiles replacing CV’s but it’s not universal

TECHNOLOGY STREAM

·         Make sure you establish clearly what problem(s) you are trying to solve

·         QUOTE OF THE DAY: “Implementing an ERP as an ATS takes 18 months just to get you back where you were when you started”

·         There’s a tendency to over-specify when thinking about the requirements for an ATS – map your core processes and deliver that

·         The Big Three ATS systems named as Taleo, Kenexa and Peopleclick

·         SECOND QUOTE OF THE DAY – “The wrong people in the organisation often make the buying decision (i.e. IT people rather than HR / Recruiter people)”

·         Approach advice was to focus on use cases rather than huge multi-page requirements documents

·         Technology shout outs to: Jobs2Web, Sonar6 and JobVite (who I see for your contact details are offering a free e-book on the “5 secrets to successful social recruiting”)

GEN Y

·         QUOTE: “For the first time a younger generation is an authority on something that matters – they “get” the internet better than the older generations

·         I felt like an old fuddy duddy defending the honour of my generation!!!

BLOGGING

·         Content

·         Passion

·         ROI

·         It’s part of a broader strategy

·         Internal Blogging by the company CEO

FINAL THOUGHTS

·         Get beyond dipping a toe in the social media world and think seriously about social media strategy

·         Make a start by making sure you’re listening

·         We have under exploited video as a recruiting tool

·         SEO is not as well understood as it should be and we could be better with analysis, metrics and ROI

·         Consider ceding control of social media channels to GEN Y employees

 

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#secrettrack at #trulondon

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A different perspective on Alistair Campbell's unplanned moment...

I've been listening and reading some of the utter tosh being written about Alistair Campbell and his "unplanned moment" while being interviewed by Andrew Marr on Sunday morning. Some of the more cynical commentators have suggested that it was some kind of calculated act, some even going so far as to suggest that he was road testing an election ploy for Labour. 

I think something much less sinister was going on. Alistair even pointed to it when he spoke about the fact that he wouldn't take a full time role on behalf of Labour in the election. In his past Alistair suffered a nervous breakdown. I know from bitter experience that the medical profession don't particularly acknowledge the phrase "nervous breakdown" and perhaps Alistair himself doesn't use the term. He has said that he's suffered / is suffering from depression. 

And that's what I saw when Alistair froze. He just lost his way for a moment and his self confidence temporarily deserted him. He experienced an uncomfortable moment of mental tension. It's extremely disconcerting when it happens and I felt sorry for Alistair that it happened so publicly. The media went into a frenzy for the rest of the day, although I think that had more to do with old scores from his days at Downing Street.

I have a lot of time for Alistair in the respect that he's a role model for those suffering from depression and what is possible despite such a debilitating medical condition. He managed to hold down one of the most high pressured jobs in politics for a number of years and has then gone on to be a successful author. There are a great many people who hate him for his politics and his role in Iraq. I take the view that Alistair is a man of principles and deeply held convictions. I might not always agree with him but I respect his right to defend his corner.  

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Any Given Sunday...

I went up to Wiccaweys on Sunday and walked three dogs I’d not met before. Two of them I wanted to wrap up and take home with me immediately and one was a little scamp.

First up was Smokey Joe. What a beautiful and intelligent collie. A little afraid to start with, a bit shy. But what an absolute joy to be around. I had a really good long walk round the cows field with Joe, we sat a couple of times and I got a couple of really sweet collie hugs near the end of our time. I can’t believe Joe will be around long at Wiccs HQ – he’s bound to be snapped up and adopted very quickly.

Second up was a little scamp called Brandy. This is a collie with lots of energy and lots of love to give. A little bit energetic for my taste but a great dog all the same. Brandy certainly cheers you up.

Finally, and on reflection my favourite dog of the day, Tara. As you might expect for a dog that’s been chained up for much of it’s life Tara is a little shy and defensive, but there’s a lovely, sweet collie beyond all that. Although the website says Tara has issues with other dogs we spent the first part of the walk with Max along to keep us company and despite being “in yer face” a bit with both of us, Tara behaved impeccably. She also showed me a fun side to her nature as the walk progressed. Here’s a couple of photos of the lovely Tara...

For those who haven’t read my blog before, on Sundays (when I can) I volunteer at a Border Collie Rescue Centre and walk some of the dogs.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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Candidate attraction and print media #emconf2010

I'm on the train to London and on my way to the Online Recruitment Conference 2010 at the Royal Geographical Society. I'm presenting to over 350 delegates, so no pressure there then!!!

My presentation includes a couple of slides on my predictions for 2010, and one of my thoughts is about changes coming to the newspaper advertising model. At the time i put the slide together my thoughts were largely driven by the pressure newspapers are under as they struggle with online presence and whether or not to hide behind a pay wall. Yesterdays Apple announcement of the iBookstore has the makings of the basis on which some print media organisations will survive and prosper. I think we will be suprised by some brands that take off and some that just won't quite get the changes needed and ultimately quietly expire.

It's going to be interesting to see if print media reading habits are really going to change.

Steve

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A cold day at Wiccaweys, but happy to be back...

With Christmas out of the way it was time to get back in the saddle and settle into the routine of healthy dog walking on a Sunday at Wiccaweys. Getting there was the first challenge but once out of the estate at home, to be honest the roads were pretty clear all the way, there seemed slightly less snow as we got closer to Wiccs HQ than in Daventry (but not by much) and we managed to get the car into the yard at Wiccaweys by just taking it nice and slowly all the way from the gate. As Leisa had come with me we walked two dogs at a time, starting with Ollie and Mikey and then after lunch we had Max and Merlin. Conditions were not unpleasant and the only weather issue was the wind chill so it was decidedly better when the wind was light or non-existant.

Here’s a great picture I got of Ollie looking very puppy-ish... what a nice boy and I definitely could of gotten used to this Ollie as much as the little charmer of the same name who stole my heart before Christmas. Both Ollie and Mikey pull on the lead quite a bit, Mikey (to say he’s so skinny) is very strong. Ollie got to go to his forever home later on in the day and I felt really happy for him.

And here is Max. What a fluffball!!! There’s a good deal of German Shepherd in Max although I suspect not pure as he doesn’t have the body shape and terrible hip problems that seem to beset that breed these days. But a real pleasure to walk, he doesn’t pull anything like as much as the two collies from the morning walk  and a super nice personality. I got several kisses. And he’s as gentle as can be when taking a treat.

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Online Recruitment 2010 Conference

I am speaking at the Online Recruitment 2010 Conference. More information at http://is.gd/5QcmD
I am speaking about life after job boards. What would you expect to hear covered in this session?
If you were thinking about recruitment technology in the era after job boards what questions would you want answered?
The twitter hashtag for the conference is #EMconf2010

Some of them take a little bit of your heart...

Sorry it’s a bit of a belated report but I had another great day’s walking at Wiccaweys on Sunday just gone. If you haven’t been following along, Wiccaweys is the border collie rescue centre where I do voluntary dog walking, generally on Sundays. When I arrived this week it looked like it was going to be pretty ideal walking conditions. The sun was kind of poking out, it was a little chilly but not too bad temperature wise, not much wind and given the amount of rain recently a little wet underfoot. I had barely arrived and got myself turned around when I met Vallie, one of a pair of collies learning to be a little bit independent of each other. Vallie is a gorgeous scamp of a dog who pulled me along for the ride on a pleasant walk to set the day up right. An hour later I was in for a change of dog and Sarah gave me Ollie. So Ollie and I spent the rest of my walking day together, having a great time. I am convinced Ollie remembered me from last week, because we immediately settled in to enjoy the day. Ollie’s just great to walk and has a huge skill so many collies lack, which is when he tangles himself up in the lead he can, without assistance, get himself out of the predicament. What a smart cookie!!! He enjoys his walks, but he definitely walks with you. Yes, he sniffs his way around some of the time and occasionally asks you to give him a minute while he susses out some particularly delicious scent he’s found. He also decides when he’s ready to be fed a treat, coming back to you, tail wagging and giving you “the look”. If that doesn’t persuade you then directly trying to stick his nose in your treat pocket is the signal. He’s exceptionally good with other dogs he meets on the walk. He’s usually more interested in the humans and whether they might be carrying sausage than he is in getting into argy bargy with another dog.

We came in for a break after about an hour and a half so that I could grab a bite to eat. Ollie was a lot of fun as we did this, putting his front paws on my thigh to see what was going on and to find out how much of my lunch he was going to get a share in. What was very sweet was as lunch progressed Ollie put his head down on my thigh and turned his face to mine almost like a child might and gave me such a loving look, he took a little bit of my heart right there and then. I think I was asked three times over the course of the day when I was planning to take Ollie home with me. The honest answer is that I can’t. I could be utterly selfish and take a dog home with me but it would be so unfair on him (or her). Take today – I have to set off by 5:30 am and may not be back until well after 7pm tonight. It’s just not right to leave a dog alone for that amount of time. So I have to settle for what I can at present and meeting dogs like Ollie is truly what I get out of volunteering. If circumstances were different I’d snatch up Oliie in a heartbeat.

After lunch the rains came. But I was ready in my new waterproof jacket, which worked perfectly. I got one of the Berghaus jobs with an inner fleece that keeps you warm and a Gore Tex outer layer that keeps the rain and wind out. It worked perfectly and I stayed warm & dry for the rest of the afternoon. It rained on and off for the rest of the day but frankly it wasn’t a patch on the more torrential downpours of the previous Sunday. I’d had such a busy but wonderful weekend that I was flagging by 3 o’clock so I called it a day, happily tired and having thoroughly enjoyed once again my time with Ollie.

Here is a new photo of the collie gorgeousness called Ollie...

...and again...

...and one last one...

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A wet day's dog walking

It was one of those days that weather wise separates the men from the boys. It absolutely chucked it down 2 or 3 times during the day and there was a distinctly persistent feel to some of the showers, particularly in the early part of the day. That said a pretty good turn out of volunteers for such an awful day. I got to spend most of the day with Ollie, broken only by a relatively short walk with Blue. You can see pictures of both these dogs on recent reports and it wasn't exactly camera weather today so no updated pictures in this weeks report. 

I only broke the day with Ollie whilst he met prospective adopters. Sadly for Ollie it wasn't to be his day. The family that came to see Ollie were interested in a collie with what I would refer to as breed standard collie colouring and funnily enough a dog with more energy that Ollie - so closer in behaviour to a little Brynn or the appropriately named Zippy. To be honest I have some sympathy with the issue of colouring. If people have a mental picture of the breed then that's what they are going to want. It's an easy thing to say that this is a bit superficial, but we all make many choices in our lives that are about superficial look or feel. I also believe that given time and exposure people can eventually see past the superficial and find that some of the finest of the breed in terms of intelligence and companionship are the least like the breed standard in terms of looks. I know I'm biased but I have formed quite an attachment to Ollie and he will make a wonderful companion when he finds his forever home. The bit that didn't compute was that they wanted a high energy dog, because that was what they had experienced when meeting the breed previously. Their mental picture was of a dog whose temperement was closer in spirit to Zippy. As much as I love Zippy who has a super, super, personality I personally would want a forever companion much more like Ollie. Zippy is a dog that would have you forever on the go with a capacity for exercise that somedays you could just never meet. Ollie is much more of a companion animal. Someone who settles down into a walk with you. Ollie also has great skill in untangling his lead. There are some dogs you walk that you have to constantly do this for as they tie themselves up in the lead. It's not that Ollie doesn't sometimes do this himself, it's that most of the time he can also untangle himself. And there's a great sign of wicked intelligence. He's also a very gentle animal. Very considerate when you give him a treat, he doesn't snatch at your fingers like some dogs and worry you if you're still going to have your fingers when the treat is taken. And Oliie just gives the warmest collie hugs. In short he's a magnificent animal and the family that he chooses will be lucky to have him. Don't let Paul & Sarah hear me saying this, but I was almost glad he didn't go today so that I may get to spend time with him again. It won't last though, Ollie is sure to go soon.

What I did find out today was that my Nike Air "Michelin Man" coat is not as waterproof as my mental picture of it is. For short showers or a bit of time in rain, it is basically waterproof. And very warm. But there seems to come a point if you spend a protracted period of time in the wet that it becomes sort of waterlogged and the waterproof protection seems to give out or be overwhelmed. So the coat was fine until about two in the afternoon, when suddenly I found myself soaked through. The good news was that I had my change of clothes with me so didn't have to drive home feeling wet and miserable. So a visit to an outdoors shop to get a new coat for the winter season seems on the cards. A young lady who has become a very special friend in a short space of time has commented (adversely) on my usual (non rain) walking attire - which is a bog standard cotton traders fleece - so I will have to arrange for her to accompany on the trip to pick something that whilst waterproof is also aesthetically pleasing, or at least not a fashion disaster. What has worked out really well is my bargain walking boots, also from Cotton Traders. First off, and quite importantly, they are what they said on the tin. Waterproof. And three weeks in, I think I finally have them broken in. I was having a bit of trouble getting used to the ankle support but I think I'm past that now and found them incredibly comfortable over quite a long walking session today.

Anyway, got back home safe and sound. Felt great after a long hot shower and have settled in to have a catch up with Strictly and the X Factor. I think both show made the right choice this week.

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It's Sunday, so a dog walking report...

Another Sunday at Wiccaweys. It could not have been a better day weather wise. I suspect the volunteers yesterday were blown about a bit in the wind and probably got wet, today the sun was out (although you would not describe the day as warm) and there was almost no wind. Almost perfect dog walking conditions, with the exception of slightly wet ground and a muddy and slippy conditions in the a couple of places on the usual walking routes. We started slightly late but I stayed till the end today and walked four dogs, and I was really lucky to have spent the day walking the cream of the crop in terms of a lack of pulling. All four dogs today, once settled on the walk, were exceptionally good company and pretty much walked with me, rather than dragging me along on their walk.

First up was Ollie, who I walked last week...

Then, a dog I’d not met before called Storm. I not sure why but the name really suits him. If the circumstances were different I’d wrap him up in my arms and bring him home in a heartbeat. What a terrific personality. And just look at that face. Playful without being unruly, he sits and puts up both paws for his treats. What a lovely, lovely dog.

I almost didn’t go back in to change dogs, had I not I would not have met Blue. Blue, as you can see isn’t a collie. I believe she’s an Australian Sheep Dog. If I got that wrong I’m sure someone will correct me. Collie or not, another lovely dog. Eager for the walk but with intelligence to kind of look at me as if to say, if that’s all the pace you can do I’ll look after you. This is a dog that I suspect may have some difficulty being homed because of her looks. It’s not that she’s not a good looker, it’s just that she’s so unusual. It doesn’t however take long to look behind that to find a charming, well behaved, young lady with bags of personality.

I’m obviously beginning to find my stride because I still had some energy come three o’clock so I took Blue back in and Merlin out for a last walk. Merlin is one of the kennel stalwarts, he’s a lurcher and a beloved favourite of many of the volunteers. He pulls like the dervish when he first comes out on the walk, but he does settle in after about 5 or 10 minutes. We had a lovely last walk in the setting sun.

So, for me, a fine day’s dog walking. Sadly the day was somewhat marred by the fact that one of the dogs got loose and when I left to come home, despite the best efforts of the team, we have a poor soul who’s missing in action. Everyone is devastated and tonight I have my fingers and toes crossed and my thoughts are with Paul & Sarah.

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Finding my inner rock god...

I think I have found my intellectual level on the Wii.

Air drumming!

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Time...

I've just de-duplicated my iTunes collection. 

It's possible I have too much time on my hands.

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Life feels good - I hope it's not a bubble

I’ve been dog walking at Wiccaweys. I spent the morning with Ollie and the afternoon with Paddy. Ollie is wonderful to walk; he’s not one of the high energy pullers so once we settled in he was the perfect walking companion. I set my iPhone on shuffle and mellowed out for a couple of hours. This is Ollie:

After lunch I switched over to Paddy. Pre-warned that he was a puller I was ready for him but he still almost managed to pull me over before we’d even left the yard area. Paddy might be high energy but he’s also a real love. When I stopped for a sit, I got a right royal cuddle session; although this partially driven by his desire to find the pocket holding the gravy bones. As it had rained overnight the ground was a bit damp and a little muddy; so my clothes are covered in muddy paw prints pretty comprehensively from shoulder to knee. Good job I’m using a set of old clothes exclusively for the task and they go straight in the washing machine as a job lot when I get home. This is Paddy:

I love that eye patch look although I’m partial to Collies with “naughty spots”.

After the upheaval of the last several months, life feels good again. I’m completely off the anti-depressants and feeling really good about that. Am starting to do something about the weight that I gained whilst on the anti-depressants. I’ve made a very conscious switch from buggering about to trying to remove the majority of sugar from my diet. I have NO full fat coke in the fridge, have replaced the bowl of sugar for tea and coffee with Splenda and have only a very limited amount of sweets / chocolate in the house. I think I am finally following the advice I was given by my doctor when first diagnosed as diabetic – everything in moderation. Between that, the exercise from the dog walking and the Wii Fit Plus I’m trying to take better care of myself.

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Fleetwood Mac live...

Am coming down from an awesome performance by Fleetwood Mac at Sheffield Arena. If you have a chance to go see them I most heartily recommend. Can't sleep yet so I thought I'd record a few thoughts for posterity.

It was my first time at Sheffield Arena, what a great venue. I much prefer it to the NEC. I managed to trade my two tickets at the back of the arena for 1 ticket just 12 rows from the front plus cash. So had a fantastic view. The only marginal downside was being sat next to the scouser from hell. Clearly short of the odd marble he kept shouting at Lindsey Buckingham to play "Go your own way", which was the last song of the main set, so he kept it up most of the night.

Such minor annoyance could not detract though from the greatness of the Mac. Lindsey Buckingham really is a maestro. I can't think offhand of a better guitarist that I've seen live. Even when he went off into guitar solo heaven he held a meaningful tune that you could not help but tap, sway or dance along to. Contrast that with most solos that show off guitar competency but really aren't musical. Case in point Mick Fleetwood and his drum solo, ok so it proves he can play but I just wanted it to end and them to move onto a song.
Stevie Nicks was fantastic, she's still got one hell of a voice and together with Buckingham they belted out all the great anthems.

Mick Fleetwood and John McVie provide a solid backbone to the band and with supporting cast the delivery was faultless. The only missing member of what you might consider the classic Mac line up was Christie McVie.

I don't know what's happened to the average British concert goer since I last went to a gig, but when did they start all sitting like lemons? You can't go to a live gig like this and not dance! What's the point of shelling out £60 for a ticket if you're not even going to try being moved by the music. If you just want to watch them play competently buy the DVD. Have we lost our soul or is it just good old British stoicism? Have to admit I got up and boogied. Showing my age I guess.

An electrifying night that will live in my memory for some time to come.

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On my way to see the Mac

Just setting off in plenty of time to see Fleetwood Mac at Sheffield Arena tonight. Classic night in prospect. iPhone is primed for a Mac fest on the drive up.

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Postcard from an iPhone

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Postcard from an iPhone

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Postcard from an iPhone

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A work of art...

I probably won’t ever get to see my Lassie again, so I’m converting my favourite picture of her:



into artwork...

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Eau de Brynn

He looks like butter wouldn’t melt. This is little Brynn after my fairly unsuccessful attempt to wear him out by walking him for a couple of hours. When we started the day he already had poo on his hind quarters and he managed to find and roll in fox poo when I wasn’t looking. It’s impossible to be mad at him though.

He was as affectionate as ever, particularly when I got the gravy bones out. I got a hug and a cuddle but I’m really glad I didn’t get a French kiss because if you look at this photo you can actually see the fox pooh on his cheek. Yuk! And boy did he smell bad again. Vintage “Eau de Brynn”.

I also spent a bit of time with a new arrival at Wiccaweys. This next photo is Tipper, who looks a bit like Martha Jones. Quite the gentleman, very affectionate and put Brynn in his place firmly but fairly when the youngster tried to nip in and steal a gravy bone.

Three weeks in and I’m still enjoying my time volunteering at Wiccaweys HQ on Sundays. If man’s inhumanity to man wasn’t bad enough sometimes, his inhumanity to these wonderful creatures beggars belief.

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Windows 7

I'm installing Windows 7 and I feel like such a daredevil, as typically I'd wait until SP1 with an operating system. That said I have found Vista to be clunky, so I'm hoping the pre-publicity that this is a much smoother OS is right. Too late to back out now though!

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What a difference a day makes...

This cheeky chappy is Brynn, one of three border collies I took for a walk today as a volunteer dog walker at the Wiccaweys border collie rescue centre.

Right now every muscle in my body aches from about 5 hours of non stop walking. My clothes are covered in mud and dog poop. But these dogs are magical creatures. When Brynn and I stopped about half way into his second walk I sat down on the grass and I swear to you that dog gave me a hug, a cuddle and in true collie style a wet kiss.

I also met Martha Jones, a bit of an old relic like myself. We thoroughly enjoyed more what you'd call a stroll than a walk. I could tell Martha was enjoying it when half way round her walk she prestented her belly to me for a good rub.

Charlie was the third dog I met. Far too much energy for me, but what a playful character.

What an awesome day!

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Sometimes

Sometimes... breakfast in a hotel is a relaxing start to the day. On other days it's a pain in the neck. Today it was the latter. Orange juice ran out just before I got there. Sugar shaker had gone missing, so couldn't sprinkle on my ever soggier rice krispies. (hope my doctor doesn't follow me as i'm a diabetic, but honestly it's just a little shake). The table, of course, has cube sugar. I ordered cooked breakfast with white toast, forgetting this is a "make your own toast" establishment. They could have told me when I sat there like a lemon and ordered the damn toast. Which gave me the dilemma of hot breakfast with bread or cold breakfast with hot toast. What's that expression... Oi Vey.

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I am a free man

I am not a number, I am a free man.

 Am very much enjoying my trip to Rotterdam. Logitics very smooth, hotel different but quaint and most importantly bed awesomely comfortable. Have slept like a baby for 2 nights. Conference day yesterday was interesting and prompted some thoughts. Will cogitate for a couple of days. Definitely need to draw. Amazingly liberating feeling not to have laptop with me. This will probably be the longest stretch I have been unplugged from work in 5 years.

 Met an extraordinarily nice lady from Denmark at the conference and ended up just the two of enjoying candlelight dinner at very nice Italian restaurant. I have made a new friend.

 Am just wondering around the shops in Rotterdam today and looking forward to a few hours in Amsterdam tomorrow before the flight home.

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Anyone have any good icebreakers or team building exercises for a senior team?

I bought a book of these ages ago but would you believe it, just when it would come in handy I don't have it to hand.

 If anyone has any simple icebreakers or team building games, could you let me know.

 Thank you.

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Is this what we have become

I went out for a quiet Sunday lunch today, and bought a newspaper to linger over, as you do, only to read a very sad story about a beloved family pet that has been put down after yobs fed cannabis to it. The drug caused the animal to have repeated seizures, which left it blind and deaf.

 What kind of sick society have we become. Its stories like this which persuade me that sometimes animals are more deserving of compassion than people.

 Stringing the perpetrators up by their nuts is too good for them.

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Police overtime - I'm in the wrong job as usual

Police officers are able to double their salary by working 60 or 70 hours a week. I do understand they do a difficult job at times but I wish I had the same capability to influence my salary. I usually pass the 40 hour mark sometime on Wednesday or Thursday.

 And you have to ask: is it safe? The worst I could do is grump at someone in an email. These guys could get themselves killed.

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And here is the truly awful hotel

Shhhh... Don't tell anyone but this place is magnificent. If you spread it around everyone will want to stay!

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Slumming it...

The hotel I'm staying at this week is truly a wonderful place. Have just been for a swim and I'm now talking a walk around the grounds. Tucked away is this lovely little garden with a Koi pool.

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How to feel stupid in one easy lesson

So there I am, minding my own business, looking for a coffee, and reading a large advertisement for luxury apartments in London (and choking on the asking price) when... BAM... walked straight into a lamppost, face first. Boy does that hurt. Doesn't do much for one's dignity either. I bled for a while, the little shop across the road sold tissues but not wet ones so ended up arriving at one of our London HQ's looking like I'd been in a brawl. Not such a good start to the week.
 
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Jon & Kate, WTF

Sometimes cultural references just pass me by, and if anyone mentions this might have something to do with my age I'll slap them.
 
I finally read a newspaper article that explained the background of Jon & Sue plus 8 (US based reality show about couple with twins and sextuplets). Apparently it's all gone a bit pear shaped in the marriage and the whole sorry saga is major news.
 
I guess I'm just one of the 56% of adults (according to the BBC survey) who don't want to watch reality TV shows.
 
 
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Among other things was Nixon a dumbass

Another bunch of Nixon tapes were recently released, reminding us all of the Watergate scandal.
 
I can kind of picture the conversation when Tricky Dicky first arrived at the White House about how awesome it would be for his presidency to have a permanent record.
 
You have to wonder why it never occurred to him a few weeks, months or years in why this was such a bad idea. I mean, he was there, making all these dumbass comments. Surely the thought must have crossed his mind that the reality didn't really match the high expectations he might once have had. Dumbass.
 
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Salads not so healthy

It seems that some supermarket salads contain more fat than a Big Mac and fries.
 
I've never been one to bother much with what's the "right" thing to do, which might be why I'm heavier than ideal but to be honest I think I'm better off for the not worrying about it. On the whole I'd rather eat what I like than what someone else tells me is what's good for me, especially when what's good for me seems to change every five minutes.
 
Middle aged rant over.
 
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Farrah

US actress Farrah Fawcett, famous for her role in TV show Charlie's Angels, has died of cancer at 62.

I seem to remember having quite the crush on Farrah at one time.

How very sad.  

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Bumper Sticker

Saw this on the car in front of me while queuing to get on the motorway earlier today: "If you think this car is dirty try a night with the driver". Even better, the car was being driven by a rather attractive lady. If only I was 20 years younger...
 
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Sting...

I've known for a long time that I come from the same town as Sting. I didn't know until today that in 1991 he played a gig 500 yards from where I was born and brought up for the first 18 years of my life. Small world...
 
http://www.sting.com/news/news.php?uid=4523

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Is this the funniest joke ever?

Clement Freud is a sad loss. He told this joke on a radio programme and many consider it the funniest joke ever told. It's at least partly funny because you don't expect someone like Clement Freud to tell a joke with this kind of punchline. You have to be made of stone if you can't at least raise a smile to this:
 

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Britain finds another talent...

Hot on the heels of Susan Boyle the Britains Got Talent show discovers Shaheen Jafargholi. Check out this video on YouTube:
 

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Diabetes Type 2...

Excellent basic description of my diabetic condition - type 2 -
 
http://www.patient.co.uk/showdoc/23068721/

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mikeyy: Second Twitter Worm on the Loose

Useful to have this to hand, contains useful advice if you do get infected...

http://mashable.com/2009/04/12/mikeyy-another-twitter-worm-on-the-loose/

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Probing inappropriate rage...

Interesting Harvard Gazette reported study probing links between rage, depression, diabetes...
 
http://www.hno.harvard.edu/gazette/2004/08.26/01-anger.html

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What really offends David Mitchell...

I thoroughly enjoyed this exceptionally well written and well targeted rebuke aimed at some of "our nations finest" by David Mitchell.
 
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/apr/12/david-mitchell-jonathan-ross-russell-brand

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Diabetes 'impact on brain power'

I could have done without stumbling across this news. Although I don't suffer from hypos I am diabetic and have known for years that my memory is getting worse. Trying to be a little positive I suppose that the medical advance the research represents means that they are a step closer to understanding the issues even if a cure remains beyond reach...
 
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7937947.stm

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Perceptive Commentary

Michael Portillo makes some interesting comments about the Prime Minister in today's Times. I certainly empathized with the observations about the public being pretty fed up with banker bonus payments and the like. There is no doubt that there is a feeling that we have returned to an era of sleaze but I don't get a sense of the rage that was present the last time we experieced ongoing revelations of snouts in the troff which signalled the downfall of the Major government. I wonder how this percieved lack of rage will translate at the ballot box if Brown can maintain the illusion that he is not at least partly culpable for our economic problems and that his Treasury experience makes him the man to steer us to calmer waters. Cameron is not Obama and I can't see him delivering victory simply on a "time for a change agenda... 

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A rabbit is not just for Easter...

I'm more of a dog person myself but all creatures deserve more respect than this...

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Court fines mother for phoning son too much...

It always uset my mum when i forgot to call her... looks like this mom found a different response mechanism...

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Bored

Is anyone else tired of the whole Lohan / Ronson saga?

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Remembering

Now I remember why I didn't regret moving to Manchester from London all those years ago. This was taken after the worst of the morning sardine behaviour.

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I want one...

Degree of desire 100%
Chances 0%
 
Doesn't stop me looking though.

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Watching progress

I'm definitely liking the National Rail app on the iPhone. This screenshot shows live progress of the train I am on as we head into London.
 
Awesome customer service entertainment from the driver who apologised for late running of the train, blamed his train operating company and hoped they would get their act together before they lose the franchise.
 
He's even made the time up and looks like we will be right on time!

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Interesting: Google is just an amoral menace

Here is the link to the Guardian article. I think it's from the print version of the Observer.
 
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/apr/05/google-internet-piracy
 
 
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Long Day

This morning I felt a little sorry for Rick Wagoner, CEO of GM as he stoically accepted a "request" from the President of the USA to step down. This afternoon I can see why he was so calm about it when his payoff totals 23 million dollars.
 
Don't ever tell me there's only one set of rules. Between the golden parachutes, the scandal of bankers bonus payments for failure and MP's expenses we have entered another golden era of sleaze. What's got me confused is the seeming lack of anger from the general public. I'm going to be paying for this mess for the rest of my life and if recent stats hurled around by financial journalists are to be believed so are the next generation. God help them. As if they won't have been left enough of a legacy with global warming.
 
It feels like it's been a long day. I came off a lazy weekend, and had a bit of a non stop day with meetings, I ran my first demo / workshop to introduce twitter to some of the team at work, then into a quiz night to raise money for a child who has a terminal illness. After that drove 2 hours to hotel I'm staying at tonight in Bristol prior to a client visit tomorrow. So now it's heading towards midnight and I'm winding down trying to feel tired enough to sleep. I guess I feel weary rather than sleepy.
 
My quiz team finished 4th out of 11 but we woz robbed! Honest guv!
 
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Ultimate Guide to Twitter

The people at webdesigner depot have published a great guide to Twitter titled "The Ultimate Guide for Everything Twitter" .

And if your not on Twitter, why is that?

Steve

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Spring has sprung...

Not sure the iPhone camera does the view justice. Lassie and I are watching the sun set by the lake. The tragedy of dropping my phone and cracking the glass is on the way to being sorted. I have an appointment at the Apple shop in Leicester on Friday.

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A bit proud of myself...exchange to iphone synchronisation

I've managed to sync my exchange calendar at work with my Google calendar using Google Calendar Sync.

I've then managed to sync my Google Calendar with my iPhone using Nuevasync. NuevaSync allows direct, over-the-air, native synchronization of the iPhone with calendaring services including Google Calendar. OVER THE AIR i.e. no need even to dock my iPhone.

That's what I call a good days nerding.

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Cold and windy today...

I'm sitting by the lake, watching the world go by. It's started to rain so I think we will head home. The wind is bitter!

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Isn't she beautiful

This has to be one of my favourite recent pictures

That's the two of us putzing in the garden.

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Reports of our demise...

Reports of my demise have been greatly exaggerated. I know, I know, it's been months since I wrote on my blog but it isn't supposed to be burden. We should write when we have something to say, right?

Whilst the blogosphere has been busily reporting it's own demise and others think it's just a slowdown there remain many corners of the globe, uk, corporate sector that don't know what blogging is, or if they do they haven't embraced the idea of blogging. I'm trying to figure our whether or not I should have added "yet" to that last sentence because I'm still trying to figure out if this sector is ever going to embrace the concept.

And then I read Jeremiah Owyang's post today on how blogs can help corporations.

I intend to shamelessly steal the following ideas:

(1) Here’s how corporate blogs can help a company:

Soften or improve brand
Rapid Response tool
Intelligence gathering
Build better products from two-way conversation
Encourage advocates, embrace detractors
Sales Tools: Education or conversation starter
A living White Paper
Sales lead
One of the ways to evolve the irrelevant corporate website

(2) In a few years, blogs will be issued like email accounts.

Damn; so much to do, so little time.

How to merge multiple documents using PDF Creator

It had completely passed me by that Microsoft had dropped Office Binder in Office XP and beyond, because "usage studies... revealed that Binder was not heavily used". It's annoying though, isn't it, that just when you have a need for a feature that it's not there anymore.

A quick hunt on Google tells me more than I need to know about Binder and there is even a pretty scary tutorial on how to add Binder to your system from a previous version of Office - scary because the final instruction is about checking registry entries and undertaking a "repair" of your current installation.

What I wanted to do didn't feel like rocket science. I had four or five source Word documents that I needed to be able to print out in one step, in the right order, whenever required. The formatting of the various documents did not allow me to create a merged document by embedding each source document within it.

What I finally came up with was to print the documents using the "Wait - Collect" function in PDF Creator, then use the PDF Creator Print Monitor to combine the documents, then print into one single PDF file. Bingo, one document created from the source documents with formatting of each individual document perfectly preserved, and the objective achieved, which is the capability to print out the source documents in one step in the right order.

STEP 1

Print the first document, instead of using "Save" as you normally would, use the "Wait - Collect" option. Repeat with the second and any subsequent documents.

STEP 2

In the PDF Creator print monitor use the toolbar function to "combine" your documents, and then the function to print, which will output a single PDF document.

There's probably a number of ways of doing the same thing but this method has two distinct advantages:

(1) I already use PDF creator as my usual facility for creating PDF's so it's always have it handy

(2) PDF Creator is free, although I encourage you to make a donation if you find it as useful as I do


Tags: Office Binder, PDF Creator

A Ton of Love...

I love this heartwarming story for all kinds of reasons...

Six months ago a lion named Jupiter was rescued from a life of abuse and malnutrition in a traveling circus in Columbia. According to an AP report, a woman named Ana Julia Torres, who runs a shelter for injured and mistreated animals in a poor neighborhood in Cali, Columbia, saved him, along with 800 other "recovering creatures."

"Here we have animals that are lame, missing limbs, blind, cross-eyed, disabled," said Torres. "They come to us malnourished, wounded, burned, and stabbed, with gunshots."

People are shocked and amazed to see Jupiter lavish long hugs and kisses on his rescuer, notes a report on Channel 6 News in Florida, who carried the story. "It is amazing to see an animal like that be so sweet and affectionate," said Torres. "This hug is the most sincere one that I have received in my life."

Tags: Lion, Lion Hug

Are you a "Booger" too?

I subscribe to the bLaugh RSS feed and generally have a good chuckle at the comic. Today's comic is hilarious...



This is from the bLaugh About Us page:

bLaugh is already being called a… “MAD Magazine for the Blogosphere.” But since our moms are the ones who said that, it doesn’t really count. What us, worry?

This is the (un)Official comic of the blogosphere - colorful, satirical, and comical. Expect parodies of “A-List” bloggers all the way down to the meme of the day - no holds barred. Brad Fitzpatrick is bLaugh’s artist, and Chris Pirillo is its creative writer.

Technorati Tags: bLaugh, fun

What did Google do to deserve this...

Looking at the front page of Techmeme this morning you'd be forgiven for thinking that the bell has been tolled and the eulogies written to signal the end of Google.

Michael Arrington questions whether the Official Google Blog is entitled to call itself a blog.

Nathan Weinberg at Inside Google picks on the accidental deletion of Gmail Inboxes, Orkut having an outage and a hiccup in the ranking of some prominent sex blogs.

The New York Times features the next in line of the so-called Google killers. Yawn.

Don Dodge had the anchor story on Techmeme regarding the controvery over Google promoting it's own services in search results pages. Simply put, Google is being accused of hypocrisy, having criticised Microsoft in the past for employing similar tactics.

Wow, did we all get out of bed on the wrong side yesterday or what?

I look on 2006 as the year when I've embraced more Google services than ever and see 2007 as the year in which Google are likely to capture ever more of my attention rather than less. I think the biggest change in my online behaviour of last year was moving from Newsgator to Google Reader and finally embracing reading feeds in a river of news fashion.

I predict that in 2007 Picasa Web Albums will probably develop far enough to see me move from Flickr.

I predict that in 2007 Google Blog Search will lead to me spending less time at both Technorati and Techmeme.

I predict that in 2007 Google will do something big in the arena of either online presentations or online drawing (in other words a Powerpoint or Visio killer).

I think it's fine that we hold Google to high standards but this sniping at the "do no evil" motto and suggestions that Google have reached some mythical "end of the road" are stretching credibility a bit thin for me.

Technorati Tags: Techmeme, Google, Michael Arrington, Techcrunch, Inside Google, nathan weinberg, New York Times, Don Dodge, Newsgator, Technorati