Wednesday, July 30, 2003

As I dog owner living in an urban area, or should that be urbane I'm not sure, I have noticed that a significant number of fellow canine enthusiasts don't clean up after their charge had discharged. I always leave the house with plenty of 'dog's doo bags' to ensure the public footpath remains a clean and navigable. Why can't others do the same?

Friday, July 25, 2003

Now I’m back here’s a few more thoughts around the trip to New Orleans and my first Microsoft corporate love-in. After a six hour wait to catch my connecting flight back to blighty I know now why they call it Dulles. Yes I know I should have organised my connections better but neither Expedia or American Express could or would let me leave New Orleans at a more civilised time. On the two and something hour flights between Washington and NO I flew on some dinky Canadair RJ’s. They are the smallest commercial aircraft I’ve been on, they seat about forty people and it’s the first plane I’ve been on where if I stand in the aisle my head touches the ceiling. You can just imagine what it would be like if they replaced the normal seats with some big comfy ones and a partially clad Kylie Minogue was handing out drinks. Er…sorry drifted away then. Overall MGB is a better organised version of IBM’s EBU. It still suffers from the problem of technical types who when they present cure insomnia at the same time, however just like IBM there’s some really great presenters as well. I’m the first to admit I’m not the most sylph like person in the whole word, but I’m might reconsider after some of the larger individuals I saw in America. Good lard...sorry lord…SUV’s don’t seem such a silly idea after all, normal cars just ain’t big enough. Maybe they should in fact drive one of these. It even has a fan club. Bonkers! As economy class goes United Airlines aren’t so bad, the service was friendly and everything pretty much took off and landed on time. I think there was a bit more room than both BA and Virgin. Another drink I was introduced to in New Orleans was ‘The Hurricane’…oh dear. Next time I’ll go to more of the marketing and sales sessions. The content is more relevant to my job and the audience is more attractive. A warning to anyone thinking of buy gadgets in New Orleans, best go to a proper chain store rather than the local shops. They don’t tend to put prices on things and make up said prices as they go along. There’s a particularly dodgy store in the Riverwalk mall next to the convention centre. If you’re looking for jeans they are however a bargain. I have to mention this again. It was hot, not just hot but very humid as well. I’m not sure you could ever get use to it.

Sunday, July 20, 2003

I was watching the TV in my hotel room, as you do, channel hopping as much of what was on was awful. That's what happens when you let market forces run rampant in TV land, where's the public service broadcasting 'fer christ sake. Anyway I digress. I stopped flicking when I found what looked like an American version of 'Top Gear' and I thought I'd get the low down and what's hot and what's not car wise this side of the Atlantic. After about ten minutes I became suspicious as a bunch of talking heads kept on about how great GMC (General Motors Corporation) SUV's where, in fact what I'd stumbled upon was a 30 minute infomercial. I should have sussed 'em earlier when one guy suggested that the GMC Yukon, please take a look and you'll see what I mean, was a thing of beauty a vehicle that turned heads; stomachs maybe but not heads. It's a garden shed on wheels, OK a shed with lots of chrome but still a shed. Maybe 'barn' would be a better description.

Saturday, July 19, 2003

Anyone who knows me will appreciate I have a very sceptical view of large companies. Firstly because I saw at first hand what a big company does to a small one when it ham fistedly attempts to integrate them and secondly I experienced being made redundant a number of years ago which meant my introduction to corporate life was not a happy one. Then there’s the endless stories we have all heard and read about how ‘the most important asset’ companies have is treated in a way that they never would the buildings, car parks and other inanimate objects. It doesn’t have to be this way. I was expecting that after the initial rush of joining a new company I’d soon find the same practises and approach to it’s employee that my previous employer and many other companies have. It hasn’t happened.

Friday, July 18, 2003

Rather than write a long missive about the MGB (Microsoft Group Briefing) I thought I'd do a bullet list as stuff comes to mind to give you a flavour of the "Deep South". • New Orleans is very hot in July. Very hot. • I've seen the "Monkey Dance"…'nuff said. • Bourbon Street is worth a visit; well probably more than one, 'The BBC' and 'Cat Mieow' are not to be missed. • Bill Gates surprised me. I was waiting to be unimpressed, I wasn’t. He’s almost cool. • I want a 'Windows Media Center'…it's very, very smart. • Funny how SUVs look normal on American roads, probably 'cos every other four wheeled vehicle is an SUV. • 'Longhorn' looks amazing, it really does. • Not sure I'm allowed to talk about 'Longhorn'. • Way too much junk food. • The proper food in the restaurants is not bad though, especially the fish. • Microsofties are generally an enthusiastic friendly bunch. • Who is Ernest N Morial and why does he have a convention centre named after him? • Americans get excited far too easily. Must be the sugary food. • I’ve discovered Spiced Rum. The relationship will not be an easy one. Oh for those of you who remember him I saw Trevor Ward the other night, he’s just joined as the ‘Group Leader: Information Worker’. Might have to start a club here for ex-Loti, more and more seem to turn up everyday.

Tuesday, July 15, 2003

An all too brief IM chat with the G man reminded me just how ugly the new Porsche Cayenne is. What are the guys who made the stunning 917 Le Mans racer or the new Carrera GT thinking of. It's a VW Tourag in drag by all that's holy and that looks like a Passat Estate that has the same problems as a certain Dr B Banner. There's three words that sum up my feelings about the Cayenne...no...no...no. But I know why they did it. To cash on the ridiculous American obession to SUV's and if BMW could do it with the X5 hey why not? The sad thing is show either of these cars more than wet grass on your in trouble. See I'm not the only one who thinks it's silly.
Carl Tyler made some interesting points in his blog the other day about fast food chains why those of use who are overweight shouldn't blame them. I mention this for a number of reasons. First there has been some research which suggests that both sugar and fat can be addictive which strikes me a pretty obvious, rather like saying food is addictive. Also a bunch of large US citizens are sueing the major fat food chains for apparently making them fat, please dear God ensure the judge just laughs and kicks out the case. And lastly I'm off to the US tomorrow and will undoubtedly have the temptation of high fat, high sugar junk food placed in front of me. Any chance New Orleans is the salad capital of the world?

Monday, July 14, 2003

If you work in the IT industry and don't live under a rock and I do know people who fit that description, you can't have missed the on going handbagging between Oracle and Peoplesoft. What had started as your usual corporate take over has turned in to personal slanging match between Larry Ellison and Craig Conway and here's some of the highlights I've stumbled across. It's an object lesson into the sophisticated nature of modern business. "If I said to you, 'I'll give you $10 for your dog and then I'll shoot it,' what would you do? Would it make any difference if I offered you $20?" Conway after Ellison's stated that the PeopleSoft product would be discontinued. "I think Craigy thought at one point that I was going to shoot his dog. I love animals. If Craigy and (Craig's dog) were standing next to each other, and I only had one bullet, trust me, it wouldn't be for the dog." Larry Ellison "Best of Breed is dead, except for at dog shows." Ellison commenting earlier in this saga to push his company's single source message and respond to some bantering between he and Siebel. "There is no condition that I can even remotely imagine where PeopleSoft would be sold to Oracle" Conway to the Associated Press the day after Oracle's initial announcement of $16 per share. "atrociously bad behavior from a company with a history of atrociously bad behavior." Conway "I think Larry saw a wedding, and he showed up with a shotgun because he didn't get invited. It's a page straight out of Genghis Khan." Conway "Larry Ellison, the bearded billionaire behind the software giant Oracle, is a trash-talking, mildly ridiculous, Zen-Master wannabe." The Sunday Telegraph "Craig has said a lot of unpleasant things about me. I don't think I've ever said anything unpleasant about Craig. But that's fine. This is not personal. It's about growing Oracle's business." Ellison "And the No. 1 way PeopleSoft would be different if run by 10-year-olds: CEO would finally be able to relate to Larry Ellison on his level." Internal Peoplesoft document One day these people will learn...on second thoughts.

Sunday, July 13, 2003

Myself and Mrs C went to friends 40th birthday party yesterday and rather that the usual drinks 'n nibbles they had hired a small cinema to show one of the birthday girls favorite movies. It was a small 'art house' cinema in London and with the correct permissions you could I suppose show any film you liked. We kicked off with the Tex Avery cartoon 'Red Hot Riding Hood' and yes we sniggered too. The feature film was Neil Simon's 'The Sunshine Boys' which I'm not sure I've seen before and in usual Neil Simon style was an almost direct transfer from the original stage play and whilst a funny and at times a touching movie it was a pity Sue isn't a Star Wars fan.

Saturday, July 12, 2003

My buddy Darren "Daz" Adams does it again as he discovers this genius site which allows you to build a scale model of the solar system. I did this in the garden, well I tried and only managed the inner planets unfortunately Jupiter was on the far side of the railway line and I think Pluto may have ended up in the Thames. Try it and you soon realise that the solar system is largely nothing and the similarities in this respect are striking with the structure of the atom. Is this coincidence or am I talking rubbish?

Thursday, July 10, 2003

I have a confession to make. I’m currently driving a VW Passat and I quiet like it. It’s well glued together, the 2.0 litre engine has enough go and it drives well, especially on motorways. I had driven an older model 1.8T with a Tiptronic gearbox and hated it so I wasn’t looking forward to driving even an updated model. Would I buy one? No, but if someone was in the market for a largish family saloon they could do a lot worse. Also it’s about to be replaced by a BMW 325 CSi so I would miss it that much.

Wednesday, July 09, 2003

I have got to get one of these.

Monday, July 07, 2003

I've been thinking. Who do you trust? The BBC or Alistair Campbell? Thought so....
Been a bit remiss on the celeb spotting recently but a few days ago saw news reader Trevor McDonald playing tennis at Palewell Park in West London. Trev it would seen has been bitten, like a lot of people this time of year, by the Wimbledon Effect; the one where everyone becomes a tennis fanatic for two weeks before packing the racket away for another 50 weeks. Oh he's crap by the way....

Thursday, July 03, 2003

Being in a reflective mood at the moment meant that the 'Yes' concert I went to last night was rather timely, but having never seen them live before nor having much material post 'Tormato' I didn't know what to expect. This was the classic line up of Howe, Anderson, Squires, White and Wakeman and they were rather good. OK, both them and much of the audience are the wrong (or right side) of forty but with nothing to prove it was a relaxed and assured 3 hours, yes (no pun intended) 3 hours and they only touch the surface of the volume of material they have. To think most bands come and go with releasing that much music.