Bro's come and gone.

So I managed to completely fail to post while Laurence was over for an all-too-short visit. 6 1/2 days and 6 nights of catching up, drinking, darts, theme parks, drinking, bus tours, drinking, observatories and museums (?), drinking and eating meant I've not really had much time to sit still. We had a blast when he was here, and hopefully he'll get Pam over sometime soon so they can both enjoy the weather, scenery and beer and wine . . . .

Summer's here and the time is right . . . .

. . . for dancing in the street! It's Paddy's day today and the weather is -ahem- BRILLIANT! I had to throw in the Guinness quote - I love those ads . . .
Anyway, we took a trip to Small Claims Court today to try and get money back for the costs incurred after Corrie got attacked by a (large) Airedale Terrier last year. We've been trying to get the owner to stump up the ~$2k we spent on two surgeries, another day a the vet, and sundry costs for painkiller and antibiotic injections and we've been getting nowhere. We turned up this morning and Helen was urged to try mediation (waste of over an hour!) and by the time the case came in front of the judge he only had about 10 minutes to preside over ours and another case. Needless to say the first chance he got he cut it short and asked for some more paperwork - he wanted ours and the owner's Vets to talk and agree that the costs were incurred as a result of the attack. The other owner has been claiming sub-standard care by our Vet and we obviously don't agree. I reckon the judge has already determined that she is liable for the cost and now he's trying to get the Vets to agree on the costs so he can award to us. We're back there tomorrow afternoon to (hopefully) wrap it up - watch this space!

50 miles (again!)

Managed to squeeze in yet another 50 miler this weekend - I have to get out more during the week though to catch up on the lost weeks when I was traveling and sick. I'm up to 250 for the year but should be at ~500! Gotta go - the road is calling .. . .

FaceBerry

I've added Facebook to my BlackBerry. All I need now is Linked In and Twitter and I'm all set - I'll never need my laptop again!

Clocks going forward this weekend

I just got a reminder that the good old US of A is sticking to the "let's move to summer time before everybody else" idea they had least year, so our clocks will go forward this coming Saturday night/Sunday morning. That means as of next week I should be hammering round Fiesta Island every Tuesday night (that I'm in town) with my friends as I start my training for ETT in November. An eight month training schedule may sound crazy, but I need to lose 20 lbs and get way faster going uphill if I'm going to hang with the big boys and finish the 109 miles in under 5 hrs . . . . . wish me luck!

Santa Ana, baby!

Well it's going to be a hot one here today. Santa Ana time again . . .
But I still have to sit inside and work, gazing at the cloudless sky and bright sunny day. Ah, life in southern California :)

The weekend starts here!

. . .after I'm done talking to people on the phone all day. Calls should wrap @ 1 pm today so I can finish early and enjoy the traffic in San Diego with my lovely wife. Tomorrow sees us hitting the road on two wheels (each) for a ~50 miler as we continue our journey towards 2500 miles plus this year on our bikes. As long as the weather holds - I get a but whiny when it drops below 55F . . . .

Planning time off

In the world that is Alan, the prospect of taking time off to relax and do non-work things has fallen by the wayside in recent months. With the end of my employer's financial year coming up in 32 days, my time will be concentrating on closing up the year with some good deals. Once the mayhem is over however I'll be ready to run away for a few days and avoid all contact with work. I've never really been able to do that in a long time so it might be a little challenging.
My brother is coming to visit in a few weeks so that will help set the mood for April and beyond. He hasn't visited since we moved here in '98 although I've seen him in the UK a few times since then. It'll be cool to have him around albeit for 6 days - I need to get in drinking shape for that . . . . .

New Year Resolution . . . .

. . . was to spend more time on this site. Didn't get very far, did I? Well I've decided that fromnow on I'm going to spend 15 minutes a day updating various sites that I use for networking, blogging and keeping in touch with old friends.
Life in SoCal is pretty good right now - I've been home every night for close to a month now which is a complete turnaround from January. At one point I was in Carlsbad for about 36 hours in 18 days! Maybe that's why the resolution never got going . . . . Work is fun, the hours are not. I've been covering the whole US for a few months now and the 5 am starts and 8 pm finishes are catching up on me a bit. I can't complain - it will get better in April after we get past the end of our year.
The dogs are fine these days - I haven't posted in so long that I just realized I hadn't mentioned previously that Coire got attacked in November when I was out of town and we ran up pretty hefty Vets bills getting him fixed up again. We have spoken to the owner of the dog that attacked him and she's backing off compensating us so we're taking her to court. Our date is March 17 so keep your fingers crossed for us!
Helen and I are back out on our bikes again after a forced layoff due to my travel and subsequent 4 day bout of Flu. My plan is to average at least one 50 mile ride each week with a view to getting at least 300 miles per month. So far I'm behind the ball for the annual target of ~3500 miles, but when the days get longer I'm sure I'll be out riding a lot more.

blackberry rock

I love this. I'm sitting in a bar in Hermosa Beach and posting with a blackberry. Maybe I'm a geek but the fact I can do this is cool to me. Beats having to use Outlook for email :-) And living in SoCal is cool too!

RANT

OMG how much do I hate Outlook. I have been a Lotus Notes and Thunderbird user for a long time now but my job requires me to use M$ Outlook. What a piece of junk! I've been sitting on the other side of the fence for so long I expected to see a completely intuitive, user friendly, business class email client but all I get is a gazillion menus and items scattered all over the place. Maybe it's just because I have been using two different clients for so long that I am missing the whole "Outlook is fabulous" mentality, but WTF? M$ bigots are always going on about usability standards and ragging on IBM/Lotus for their use of F5 to activate a security feature and F9 to refresh screens (M$ products use F5 to refresh) but Outlook has keyboard shortcuts that make *no* sense whatsoever, and contradict their holier than thou stance on standards.
Show me the M$ product that does *not* use Ctrl-F to initiate a search. Outlook! To start a search you have to use Ctrl-E, which everybody uses to Edit. And Ctrl-F? Creates a new message! Ctrl-M (most commonly used to create a new message in email clients) performs a send/receive.
And don't get me started on the freaking calendar. It's a POS. 3 or 4 clicks to get to the point where I can view other people's calendars and then the default view settings mean that you have to request that the user opens up their calendar just to see if they're busy or not!
Jeez. This thing is driving me nuts. I guess I need to stop thinking like a normal person and start drinking the Kool-Aid.
/RANT

Managed to sneak in under 6 months . ..

I hadn't realized how long it has been . . . . but have I got a lot to talk about!
Since the last post much has happened - some good, some not so good. First off, I got a job and am now working for a major software company in the IT Management space. The self employed thing was fun but the security of a regular paycheck was a very nice option and I can still do some work on the side as it doesn't really compete with what I do for my new company (more on that in a subsequent post .. .) Still riding - now training for El Tour De Tucson in November - and on a diet to get me down to a decent weight to race next year. Might even buy a track bike again.
Unfortunately a close family member has been suffering from Leukemia for some years and has recently been diagnosed with Aesophogeal (sp?) Cancer. He is to undergo surgery next week in Scotland so Helen is going back to see him after the op and I might be able to make a short trip myself (my new boss is very cool with the situation but there is some product training I need to get that happens the week after the surgery).

Back woes

So I threw my back out after I got home from the 'Fear. Not the best start to the new business year for me, as it has resulted in much pain and not a lot of work. Got a diagnosis of bulging discs in the lower lumbar region, and some arthritic sign in the lumbar/sacral region. I guess I'm getting old! I've decided to learn the Alexander Technique to tackle the many issues I have with my back and the resulting impact on my health and fitness. I went to my first session yesterday and I'm looking forward to another one next week. It's too early to tell for sure, but I am feeling a little different already. My only concern was a hip problem I got after spin class last night - we'll see how things go on Thursday before I start to worry!

I am unique! !! ! !!! !

HowManyOfMe.com

There is: 1 person with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

Live from Lotusphere . . .

I've been sitting in sessions here watching other folks tapping away on their laptops so I figured I'll join them. I'm waiting for the start of AD301 - How to use Calendar and Scheduling in your Applications, having just listened to Ed Brill & Julian Robichaux talk about Selling Notes inside your organization. LS2007 has been a revelation for me, and I am determined to attend for as long as I work in the arena. Having missed 5 straight (thanks to employers not fulfilling promises, and being too busy!) I realize that there is far too much information that I miss by not attending.
Anyway back to the point of this entry. I'm going to use this as a technical blog for the time being until I get a new site setup to support it (at which point it will resume its former life as a conduit to get info to my friends & family) so I apologize for those of you who check in to see how our life is in San Diego (we're doing great by the way).

New Year Resolution #1 . . . . .

. . . . is to actually update this thing more than once a month (did I even average that last year?). So here goes. We start the year by getting our new TV and Surround Sound system installed in the Family Room as it's too frickin cold to go outside! WTH is up with freezing temperatures in San Diego for crying out loud? Anyway we're on our way to having the whole setup completed in time for the SuperBowl (now that the Chargers are out of the postseason, I'll have to root for DB in N'Awlins).
I'm heading off to Orlando at the weekend to attend Lotusphere for the first time in 6 years . . . and I get to catch up with some old friends.
Helen is still going strong in Real Estate, with a promising start to the year. It's a strange market (prices are running up and down at the same time and people are buying and not buying .. . )
I'll update from the East Coast over the weekend . . .

What the H . . . happened?

OMG it's been waaaay too long since I last posted. What with work, another TNT program, and the wonderful weather I've not had time to sit and ponder the vaguaries of life . . .
Still enjoying it here, riding our bikes and walking the dogs. Work has been crazy lately, but it looks like I'll be settling in for a relatively relaxed holiday season, with just some part time stuff going on at a couple of clients. Helen's been real busy with listings and stuff, but the real estate market has certainly taken a turn.
I've bitten the bullet and registered to attend Lotusphere (on my own dime) for the first time in 6 years. Can't wait!

Old Fart . . . .

So I turned 40 last week, and we had a party on Saturday. Fun! Merciless teasing from friends, but much Single Malt was received, so I did OK in the end :-) Back to reality now and life isn't much different.

Hot, hot, hot

I know I shouldn't complain, but it is getting too hot for comfort around here now. We've been hitting the high 80s and the normal onshore breeze has been sadly absent - most of the time it's blowing up from Mexico so it's not even that cool. I got all the electrical work done over the weekend so we now have a ceiling fan in the family room. Hopefully that'll help reduce the bill as we'll not be running the AC as much. And the tub is just at the right temperature (I reckon it's been less expensive to run as the ambient temperature is higher).
Planning (hah!) has started for my 40th birthday party on Saturday - I just sent out an evite to about 50 of our friends today so we'll just have to see how busy peeps are and if they can make the party of the year!

Hello? Anybody there?

I'm probably typing this for my own benefit . . . . . . back from a trip to Scotland to see family, and now I'm back home in the heat getting ready for another bike program. I've been busy(ish) getting yard work out of the way before my Saturdays are taken up with riding for the team again. Two new trees planted at the weekend, and I've made my first of two visits to the chiropractor as a result :-( We're getting a new ceiling fan in the family room on Saturday so we don't have to run the AC as often (I'm dreading the electricity bill) and we might even get the final permit for the Hot Tub.
Back to work, and loving it. I almost typed that with a straight face!