Mac troubles

Just before I went away with the family around Easter my MacBook Pro started acting all weird and started hanging and crashing. This caused me untold distress leading up to the holiday and meant that I had to work while I was away and in the car on the way.

I came back from the holiday refreshed (eventually) and ready to go again, but my poor MacBook Pro was not ready to go at all. The problem started getting worse and I had read a whole bunch of forums and support stuff from Apple before I finally threw in the towel and booked an appointment with an Apple Genius in Reading.

Following this appoint we were no further forward really and the crashes kept on coming. So I booked an appointment with Solution Inc in Guildford and Alex there was very attentive and listened to my diagnostics and attempts to fix this. He tried stress testing the machine and it fail for him the following day. The following day he called Apple and they suggested a minimal install config and running the stress test. This included swapping out my SSD for a HDD. The system did not crash or hang this time during the stress tests.

This led me to think about replacing the SSD for something else, but then I remembered that I'd seen this before. Back when I first got my MacBook Pro I had hangs and stalls but not crashes. It turned out to be the firmware of the SSD from Crucial that was still at version 1.0. So back then (late 2011) I updated it to version 9 of the firmware. None of the data was lost and it worked fine from then on. Install Mac OSX 10.8.3 and it starts to fail again. What's the current version of the firmware (April 2013) 070H. That's at least 61 versions later in decimal or 103 versions hex later. 103 versions of firmware later and my MacBook Pro is running fine again.

I have taken the radical step to wipe it and run a clean install from now on. I had too much rubbish on it anyway, so it's a good thing to spring clean every now and again.

I have to thank;

• Cole at Apple Reading for listening and trying a bunch of stuff and reasuring me that I'd checked all the right stuff in the first place.
  
• Liam from the business team at Apple Reading for calling me to see how things were going and making sure I knew that Apple were there for me if I needed them. He also followed up with me today to find out if it was fixed and has promised to pass on the firmware fix to Cole for me.
• Alex at Solutions Inc who suffered lots of chasing calls from me, to keep him on his toes and looking at my MacBook Pro rather than anything else he should have been doing.
• BackBlaze for having a backup solution that is seamless and affordable.

As for now, it's all plain sailing again. I hope I'm not going to regret that statement in the next few days.

Moral of this story?
Check your firmware version on your SSD and keep it up to date.

Social Connections V

I've had the great honour of being approved to speak at Social Connections V in Zurich in June.

I'll be speaking on Project Management and my current role as PM for some IBM Connections projects.

Here is the abstract that I have submitted.

Project Managing a Connections Install
Deploying Connections is easy. 10 days of I.T. effort and then tell the users the url. Right?
Well, No. You are so far away from the truth it might actually be funny.
Let Tim take you through the Project Management (PM) of a Connections project from start to finish and show you all the gory stuff in the middle too.
He’ll explain why you need to PM a Connections project and suggest best practise stages for you too.
Experiences from real world PM from real world Connections install projects.

I look forward to speaking at this event and look forward even more to meeting some new people.

As one door closes, another one opens

As one door closes...

I have had the pleasure of speaking with Matt White since the birth of IBM XPages in 2009. I have made a friend for life in Matt and also learnt lots about creating workshops, materials, presenting, teaching, travel and podcasting along the way.

Stephan Wissel and I took a text file from the very first XPages workshop held in Dublin and turned it to 26 exercises that we delivered in our own regions. Stephan in Asia Pacific and me in Europe. I never did get as far as the Middle East or Africa with it, but I'm sure there are people from those regions that have seen the material.

In January 2010 Matt and I presented at Lotusphere with a Show and Tell session where we created the now infamous 'LOANr' application live on stage in 1hour and 45 minutes. We managed to get through 260 (ish) slides, which I know breaks all the rules about presenting. This presentation was picked up by several people after that and even presented by people inside IBM as their own work. Shame on them. The funniest bit of that little story is a friend of Matt and me asked them 1/4 way through if this was Matt and Tim's presentation from Lotusphere. I wish I'd been there to see that. The LOANr application also turned up on YouTube as part of a competition to build an XPages application that was set for students. This has now been accredited to Matt and I, so that's all good.

For the next Lotusphere we decided to try borrowing an idea from Paul Mooney and created the XPages Blast, as well as another show and tell. We trialled it at ILUG in 2010 and submitted the abstract for Lotusphere 2011 where it got accepted and was an instant hit. 30 top tips on developing XPages applications delivered in 45-60 minutes, seemed to be the way to go. It took us 2-3 days to create the presentation ideas, slides and practise runs. The Show and Tell on the other hand took about 20 man days to come up with the ideas. create the application, tear it down into manageable chunks, rebuild it taking screen shots of everything, creating the slide deck from the hundreds of screen shots and then practising it at the wall 3 or 4 times until we knew it inside-out.

We ran XPages blast at LUGs and again at Lotusphere 2012 and Connect 2013 and each season had a new set of tips and we always got positive comments on the content and presentation style.

Our last presentation together (as far as we know) was last week and it was a webcast for TLCC and Teamstudio of the XPages Blast. It was our first webcast of the XPages Blast and I'm glad it will be our last. Every time that Matt had a slide to present the webcast software would die on his machine and I had to finish the slide and in most cases his sentence. That is an experience I don't want a repeat of as it's way to stressful. But technology has a way of making me think on my feet like nothing else, and that's probably why I'm such a geek/nerd.

So as this door closes on my involvement with XPages I'd like to thank a few people;

Matt White, for all the help, support and good times.
The Dublin Development team (Philippe, Eamon, Tony, Martin, Maureen and others), for the countless questions they have answered from me and the rest of the XPages developers.
Stephan Wissel, for allowing me to tag along and create something useful in the X-Cast.
Paul Withers & David Leedy, for joining me on the X-Cast as co-presenters.
Everyone else that has watched a presentation or workshop I gave about XPages, your comments good and bad have made me smile and get better along the way.

Thanks for watching. It's been a great ride on the XPages Express!

...One door opens.

I'm now a full time project manager and working still around the yellow bubble. I've been asked to present on PM best practises and experiences for an event in June (more on that next week).

So I'm not done with this presenting stuff yet and I'm sure I'll be at many a LUG and/or Connect in the years to come.

Customer service is king

Everyone recognises bad service when they get it, but what make good service good?

In my experience it can be distilled down to a few key points.

Set expectations
Tell people what you are going to do and then do it. If you are going to be late with the delivery of something confess early. It's so much easier to have a conversation about what the new expectations should be rather than apologising all the time for missing deadlines.

Be honest
If you don't know the answer to a question, say so. Go and find then answer and then come back to the person that asked the question.

Go the extra mile
'The extra mile' is very rarely a mile, more often than not, it's reminding someone of something they may have forgotten, or even answering the same question again for the third time with a smile every time.

It's a very simple formula that should keep you and your customers happy.

Speaking at IBM Connect / Lotusphere 2013

I have been honoured with a speaking slot along side my very good friend and XPages guru Matt White at this years IBM Connect / Lotusphere in Orlando, FL.

Matt and I have been speaking together since XPages was first launched. We have done many classes, session and events as a double act as well as on our own. Matt also runs the hugely popular XPages 101 video training site. Ask him for a discount code at Connect and you'll be amazed at the quality and depth of training on offer.

Enough plugging for Matt, this post is supposed to be about me!

Back this year is 'XPages Blast' where Matt and I will be running through 32 top tips and best practise for your continued XPages development success. It ranges from the simple to the insanely brilliant. Working along side Matt sometime I have moments where I feel like an apprentice watching a master craftsman and suddenly the light bulb goes on and I get it. Those insanely brilliant bits of code that I have watch Matt craft are coming your way. AND ALL FOR FREE.

After our session we will post a demo application that has all the goodness from our presentation. As well as a pdf of the slide set that you can take right to your desk and use immediately. Even if you are not going to Connect / Lotusphere you can download it all in one zip file from my presentations page right after the first run of the presentation.

You can download the file here

NEW this year for me is the chance to try a very short 1 slide presentation at the Nerd Girls Spark Idea Sessions.

Spark Ideas is a chance to bring together a group of our colleagues to discuss what inspires us. We’ll share our experiences, inspiration, challenges, etc., during this compilation of five minute talks. Talks could range from how you were inspired by your math teacher to go into computing, how you juggle your busy job and coaching little league soccer, dealing with stress, or describing a hobby or family project.

I'll also be at the Spark Ideas BOF on Wednesday morning, bright and early at 7am. Oh my days, what have I signed up to. ;o)

My speaking agenda

Monday 11:00-12:00 Dolphin Southern Hemisphere IV-V = BP208 XPages Blast
Tuesday 8:15-9:15 Swan 5-6 = BP208 XPages Blast (repeat)
Tuesday 11:15-12:15 Swan Mockingbird 1-2= NERD101 Spark Ideas: Sponsored by Nerd Girls
Wednesday 07:00-08:00 Swan Toucan 2 = BOF
Thursday 10:00-11:00 Swan 5-10 = GURU101 GURUpalooza!

Back to the day job?

Since leaving IBM back in 2011 I've had an easy transition into the life of being a contractor. GSX were gracious in offering me a 1 year contract and I am very grateful for the time and lessons I have learnt from them. Whilst I was finalising my days at GSX I decided to formalise some of the skills I have learnt over the years. Having been in the IT industry since leaving school in 1987 (some 25 years at time of writing), it's been interesting to work with some amazing technologies and see trends come and go and come back around again.

One of the skills that I have learnt is project management and really just by osmosis and watching what others did that worked and didn't work. Learning like that is my preferred method of learning. Watch, try, question, try again and so on. The Open University introduced me to Kolb's cycle of learning which pulled all that together for me nicely.

There is a different version that talks about it being a spiral as you never 'do' the same thing again so you move 'on' from where you were.

I like learning like this, but sometimes you need to formalise your thoughts and experiences into something more solid. This is where PRINCE2 comes in for me. I had heard lots of people say, "You need to have PRINCE2 on your CV or you can't get a job these days". I thought that was pretty harsh and I had no experience of being a formal project manger in the past, although I had led many many projects in my time. Some had been successful and some not. Knowing what had worked and why was beyond me, so I thought that formalising my previous experiential learning couldn't be a bad thing.

I was right. On lots of levels.

1. Formalising my thinking into a the PRINCE2 structured framework has been beneficial in helping me understand why some things worked and some didn't
2. The framework is so generic that it can be used on anything
3. Having it on my CV that I am a certified PRINCE2 practitioner has got me more interest in the job market
4. It's proving a very useful framework for the current project I am working on for Collaboration Matters

Over all it was a very worthwhile week and two exams to learn this and get certified in it. I would highly recommend anyone taking this course and the exams.

Starbucks relent

So I got this mail back from Starbucks Customer First team.

Dear Tim,
Thank you for sending the email, unfortunately it came without the attachments.
However, I was able to find a co-worker with Strarbucks App and was able to see the incorrect message you were referring to.
I apologise for this inaccurate message, and I have added 35 Stars to your account.
Please be assured that our MSR programme team is working on resolving this issue.
... ... ...
Once again, thank you for getting in touch and we look forward to welcoming you into your local store soon.

Yours sincerely

That looks like an admission of guilt to me. So I urge you all to tell Starbucks that they are wrong and give you back your Stars.

Call the customer support line and ask for them back.

If you would like to speak to our customer care team, you can call us on 020 8834 5050 - We're here to help Monday to Friday 8:30 to 17:30.

Have a nice day! ;o)

Taking on Starbucks and their wooly FAQ

I'm not the world's biggest coffee drinker. I like White Chocolate Mocha, when it's done properly and stirred before the milk is added. I also like technology, so when Starbucks came up with an app to pay for your coffee, by scanning your barcode on your iPhone I was right there at the front of the queue.

However, Starbucks decided to add some reward levels to this new payment method to reward it's loyal customers how top up their cards/app and therefore gift Starbucks their money before they need to spend it. It's like a savings account with no interest but coffee as your only form of withdraw.

When they instigated this Green and Gold level of reward, they gifted the Gold level to anyone who had an account for the first year. To maintain your gold level you have to get 50 stars (1 star = 1 transaction) before your gold level anniversary date.

I missed the 50 transactions but the anniversary date (I had 35 stars) and I got dropped, quite rightly, back down to green level. I am not complaining about that at all. I think it's right and proper that people who spend lots of money in Starbucks get rewarded for their loyalty to the brand. What I do have a problem with is that on my anniversary date I lost all my transaction stars too. Even more galling is that in the FAQ in the iPhone app (v 2.5.3) it states the following:

Do my Stars expire?
Your Stars will remain on your account as long as you have any activity in the past two years. However, if you do not qualify for the Gold level again by your anniversary date (the date you qualified for the Gold level), your Stars will no longer be applied toward helping you earn free drinks, but they will count toward helping you re-qualify for the Gold level.

So this is a bit different to the experience I have seen in my app.
On the phone to Starbucks customer care and they said that I have experienced what they expect to happen. What? Really? You expect customers to work towards a goal and then have it all taken away from them if they don't make it.

Sure I can earn another 50 Stars to get me back to Gold level, but the 35 I had are gone?
WTF?
How on earth is that good customer service. It's a smack in teeth to anyone who is anywhere near the 50 transaction limit. I bet there will be a lot of pissed off people who have 45+ Stars on their account and have seen them wiped out overnight.

What is more troubling is that when I called to ask what's happening, the member of staff I spoke to, did not have access to the iPhone app, or even the contents of it in a reference book. I've had to send in screen shots of my phone to show them what their FAQ says.

Just one more thing. The website has different wording to the iPhone app and even that is not clear if the Stars expire or not. I'm no legal expert, but this clearly does not say one way or the other what happens to your Stars.

Do my Stars expire?
If you are Green level your stars will remain on your account as long as you have any activity in the past two years.  However, if you are Gold level and you do not qualify for the Gold level again by your anniversary date (12 months after the date you qualified for Gold level), you will revert to the Green level. If you earn 50 stars again within 12 months you’ll move from Green right back to Gold. This does not affect the stars you are collecting for your free beverage, which keep adding up until you get your next free beverage.

So I wait for Starbucks to come back to me and tell me what they are prepared to do about this little disturbance in the space-time continuum. I'll keep you posted.

IBM Connect 2013 - XPages Blast

I will be speaking again this year with my very good friend and XPages guru Matt White. We are in the Best Practises track and we are doing XPages Blast again. This is the 3rd year they have run this very popular session and I hope you find the new content interesting. It is ALL NEW for 2013 and encompasses all the at we think is current best practise for develeoping your XPages applications. As soon as I know which day it's scheduled for and which room we have I'll make sure it's posted here.

Back again this year is the companion application that demonstrates what we will be talking about in the presentation. Whilst we won't have time to demo any of the tips and tricks live we will be posting it to our blogs for you to download after the session.

Matt and I are busy creating the content right now and we look forward to seeing another packed house for 2013

IBM Champion

Yesterday IBM announced it's Collaboration Services Champions for 2013, and I'm one of them!

What a fantastic honour to be recognised by my peers in the Lotus world as someone who goes above and beyond for the sake of the ICS world.

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone in Orlando and raising a glass with my fellow Champions.

tc-soft.com is dead, long live tc-soft.com

Welcome back to my blog. A bit of a website relaunch in time for the new year and the relaunch of TC Soft Consulting.

I've been busy since leaving IBM working for a software company as their global technical services manager and getting officially certified in ITIL v3 and PRINCE2. Both of these certifications were skills I already had, but didn't have the time or money to get certified in. I have managed to find both the time and money to do both and I'm so glad I did.

ITIL has solidified some of my thinking around delivering IT services to the organisations I work for. It has added the framework of structure to all of my thoughts, beliefs and experience that I have gained since starting out in the IT industry in 1987.

PRINCE2 has been a bit of a revelation to me as I have realised that I was already wanting to do all the elements and principals that PRINCE2 specifies. Now I have another framework to fit all that stuff into. It's been great to get other peoples opinions too on the way that things should be run, but mostly it's just added structure to what I did already.

Both of these skills have refreshed me and speaking to lots of people from lots of different industries has also made me realise we have the same challenges in most organisations, just different names for them.

So it's onwards and upwards with a new website and new frameworks to work through. I still use Getting Things Done (GTD) as my task management methodology so a least one thing is staying constant here.

The Olympics are coming

This summer London will be awash with people, excitement and sport. To make this massive sports show happen that comprises of 39 Olympic disciplines and 21 Paralympic disciplines.To make all this happen is taking thousands of people employed by London Olympic Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG), about 6000 and then there are the 70,000 volunteers that will do masses of the work front of house and behind the scenes. My journey to the Olympics 2012 started back in 2010 when I completed an application for to volunteer at the games. February 2011 I was interviewed at London's eXcel Centre for a place on the Technology team. The interview went well and I got offered a "Games Maker" role of Printed Results Distribution Team Leader in November 2011. Why did it take so long? Something to do with the 250,000 people that applied to be Games Makers might have something to do with it. It took a long time to interview that many people and decide who would get what roles. Then it's a case of working out what events these people are going to be assigned to and getting them up to speed on what they are supposed to be doing at the Olympics themselves. This process has been a series of events called "London Prepares" and there are still a few of them left to do. As I write this, I'm in PRD2 at the Aquatics Centre on the Olympic Park waiting for a print job to come through so that we can distribute it around the event. The 18th FINA Diving World Cup 2012 is a big event and a real eye opener for me. I've been involved in several large events in my time, a few Lotuspheres and some local national events, but never before behind the scenes at a major sporting event. The amount of people needed is truely amazing. Hundreds of people to make it all happen in media, TV, VIP relations, merchandising, printed results distribution, scoring, officials, governing body members, trainers, physios and so on.... So what am I doing here this week? Printes Results Distribution is a very behind the scenes role, but it's really important. Without it any competition would never get past the first round. And probably not even that far. With all the technology around you would expect that there was not much need for sheets of paper to be sent around the place. But you'd be wrong. The IOC mandate that no results are official unless on paper, so there is an awful lot of printed results that are needed by different areas in and around the venue. Venue Media Centre, Family Lounge, Sports Information Desk, Press Tribunes, Competition Management Office, Sports Presentation, etc... It can be very hectic at times when lots of results come through, dive lists and lists of judges but at other times it can be very very quiet. The great news is that I've met some great people and some that I will be working with during the games later in the year. It's a great job to have because you sometimes get to see the sport or field of play.

I'll be utilising all my team leadership and management skills during the summer so that I can keep my team happy and motivated.

I'm very gratefull to GSX for allowing me to take the time out of the business to be part of the Olympics and I'm sure the experience and skills I learn doing this will serve me well back in my business.

BP103 - IBM Lotus Domino XPages Blast is now available

The presentation file from LS12 that myself and Matt White gave is now available to download from the presentations page. If you want to suggest updates, or new tips to this then please myself or Matt White know and we'll do our best to incorporate that in our next edition.

My first Lotusphere as a non-IBMer

The annual yellow-wash this year was my first without a staff badge and lots of people asked me what it was like to not be an IBMer. At the time I could not tell them as it was Sunday or Monday and I had not really experienced it yet. Now it's finished and I've had chance to evaluate it a little bit I can tell you that it was different but not as different as it could have been.Working for GSX (an IBM business partner) meant that I was still working on the product showcase floor. Talking to customer about our product set and seeing familiar friends from previous years. This felt familiar to me as the IBM Innovation Lab that I worked in previously was located in the corner of the showcase too. This all leads to my work week being in familiar surroundings. Also this year I was presenting again and the presentation I did with Matt White, XPages Blast!, was very well received and the feedback so far has been very flattering. My third year presenting with Matt and I'm honoured that Matt still agrees to present with me. We compliment each other well and get lots of technical content into a presentation that is structured and digestible by most people. So what was different? Not working in the labs this year was kinda strange, I really missed working with the lab management team, such a great bunch of personal friends now. Not getting enough time to spend with them was the hardest part of Lotusphere for me. Spending quality time with the people in GSX was great, breaking bread and sharing wine, I've really got to know some of folks that work in different locations to me. They've also had the chance to get to know me a little better, and being relatively new to GSX, that's a good thing. Not having to work on the weekend before Lotusphere starts meant that I could go riding motorbikes with the annual LS Hog Ride. Another new family to join, and wow, what a bunch of great characters. Being a business partner this year, meant that I didn't get a staff shirt, but that's fine as I don't need any more t-shirts. But that also meant that for the first time in seven years I officially got the backpacks, which for the first time is not yellow on the outside. On the whole I feel that this year was a great Lotusphere for me. Great to see old friends, meet new ones, try new things and not have to do some of the stuff that was a drag in previous years. I hope I will get the chance to be there again in 2013. Will I see you there?

It's that time of year again...

So I'm on another aircraft this time heading for Chicago, IL. Since I left IBM I've been flying quite a bit. Back and for to Geneva, Nice and Buffalo and whilst I enjoy air travel, being away from home is more of an issue now than it used to be. Having two children turn up in our lives has made Marissa and I value our time together even more. I'm also very involved in the kids daily routines so I miss it and them when I'm not there.This flight to Chicago will then join a flight to Buffalo so that I can spend the rest of the week meeting with the USA teams of GSX. Being the Technical Services Manager means that I have to do annual reviews and I prefer to do these face to face if at all possible. I think it's important to get the feeling from your team members as to how they are performing and feeling about their jobs. If any of them are reading this, then I hope you realise how important this is to me.

After my week in the office meetings, a couple of dinners and some sleep I will head down to Orlando, FL for a week in the "Happiest place on earth!" and the extremes of Lotusphere 2012. But before all that kicks off, I get to indulge one of my vices and go ride motorbikes with friends. Now that I don't work over the weekend putting together the excellent Collaborative Solutions lab I get to go play for the weekend. So I get to join the, now annual, LS hog ride. But anyone that knows me and knows that I won't ride a Harley Davidson by choice. So I have rented a Triumph Thruxton for the weekend in answer to all the American metal I thought I'd bring some pure British beef to the table. More on that at the weekend.

So this year I hear that the team are doing great things with the Collaborative Solutions lab and you really must go and see them up on the Europe corridor in the Dolphin hotel. I have no idea what they are doing in total this year, but I know the team and they will make sure it's something special. From XPages to Sametime or Portal they will have quite special tricks up their sleeves and what's more, they will show you how you can do it too. I will certainly be making an early stop in my LS schedule to find out what's new.

Really looking forward to the challenge of the next few weeks, whether that is meetings with the team or trying to stay awake long enough to present at Lotusphere on Wednesday and Thursday. Yes the Matt White and Tim Clark show will be rolling back into town again. This year we are just doing XPages Blast in the Best Practises track. Matt and I are really looking forward to sharing another 30 top tips with everyone again. See you there!

Mobile device week of shame

Let's start with Blackberry. I have the wonderful Bold 9900, lovely phone, great mix of touch screen and keyboard, great size, nice screen. Shame it's connected to the Blackberry BES service that can be down for 3 days, including the Blackberry innovation Forum in London.  Oooops!

And then on to Apple.

YES Apple. Who'd have thought that releasing a new iPhone, new iOS and iCloud service all on the same day would bring their download servers to their knees? My iPhone 4 has been a trusty partner that just works. Like all Apple devices the user interface is simple and normally a pleasure to use. The only fly in this ointment has always been iTunes. Needed to start your phone up (activate it) and last night it proceded to brick my iPhone trying to upgrade to iOS5. Apparently the Apple servers were too busy and my update failed half way through. Thus I have a blank iPhone with the "Connect to iTunes" image on it.

So not the best week for mobile devices then!

GSX are looking for a Junior Support Analyst in UK

I am currently recruiting for the following position in the UK. If this could be you, or someone you know, then please apply with your CV/Resumé to tclark at gsx dot com

Job Title	Junior Support Analyst
Location	Farnborough, Hampshire. UK
Description	Junior Support Analyst wanted for rapidly expanding Collaboration Software management vendor. The role will involve Post Sales technical support, working with customers to identify and resolve issues and also working with development in identifying and resolving any code issues. GSX's suite of products operate across multiple collaboration technologies and in many disparate architectures so this is a very challenging technical role with exposure to multiple environments and technologies. The successful candidate will be required to work closely with customers, support team, sales team and development team to ensure that customer expectations and product quality is upheld to the highest possible quality.
Roles and Responsibility	Closely monitoring all inboud tickets, managing all customer communications through resolution Work closely with account management, senior technical services team and Development team to identify and resolve issues Ability to work alternate hours as needed
Experience	Knowledge of Microsoft Windows operating system 1-3 years experience with any of the following IBM Domino / Lotus Notes, Traveller, Quickr, Sametime Blackberry, RIM Microsoft Exchange Messaging, a bonus but not required.
Skills	French an advantage German an advantage Spanish an advantage Able to monitor and rapidly resolve issues in a an Exchange and Blackberry Server environment Soft Skills Conscientious and dedicated work ethic Methodical and logical thinker Autonomous self managing and self starter Experienced in handling difficult or sensitive issues Any of the following accreditation's would be highly desirable: IBM Specialist Microsoft MCP Blackberry Certified Support Specialist Blackberry Certified Systems Administrator

Can I be a GoogleWhack?

"Mifi Reviews" There I've done it. ;o)

So having watched and read Dave Gourman's excellent GoogleWhack adventure I've always wondered if you could innocently engineer one.

Today I search for "mifi reviews" as I'm thinking of buying one. ZERO hits! Hmmmm, does that mean that I could become one by creating this page?

Let's see. ;o)

Time to move on.....

,,,, to a couple of new challenges. Monday 22nd August will see me depart from IBM. My business home for the past 17 years 7 months and 12 days. I started working for Lotus Development UK Limited for a chap called Graham Jons (he's still in IBM somewhere) in the spreadsheet and database support team. Back in the days when we had a UK call centre for Lotus support and we still wrote software like Lotus 1-2-3, Improv, Approach, AmiPro and Freelance Graphics. I remember once whilst on the Approach hotline talking to an old chap about database joins, but he just wasn't getting it. So I asked him if he had thought of getting some training as it's not easy to explain over the phone. He told me that he had been on a training course, at which point I hit the mute button and suggest that he ask for a refund. The manager that was ear-wigging from the cubicle behind me almost fell off her chair. I un-muted and then went on to explain all about joins and we had another happy customer who's database worked again.

I could go on for ages with support line stories, but that's for another time.

I'm going to join GSX (www.gsx.com) a business partner from Switzerland, although I will be working from home in the UK. My role will be Technical Services Manager and I'm really looking forward to the new challenges this new role will bring.

The other new challenge in our lives at the moment is adopting two children who were placed with us earlier this month. So learning to live with two new people in the house, leaving IBM and starting a new job has made August a very interesting month and one I will never forget.

If I've worked with you or met you during my time at Lotus / IBM, then I would like to say a huge "thank you" for making my time there so enjoyable.

A trip to Manchester for UKLUG

Sunday morning started with an early run up the M40/M6 to Manchester for the set up of UKLUG (United Kingdom Lotus User Group). I say early because 8am is not a time I normally witness most Sundays, well for now anyway. I was surprised at the amount of Red Kites that I saw all looking for prey along the M40 corridor from High Wycombe up to Banbury. They are close to the endangered list so it was good to count about 50 of them up the motorway. Arriving in Manchester I made my way to the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) and found some of the team in full swing preparing the various rooms with sound/projection/lights, all the normal stuff that needs doing for a conference like this. I got to work setting up the wifi access points and running 25m ethernet cables in the ceiling space to the 2 access points we had. This is seemed to work fine so we moved on to taking a few pictures around the place while the rest of set up was happening. The bag stuffers were in full swing collecting all the bits of marketing material for each of the conference bags. It takes quite a while to put 20 bits of 'stuff' into 250 bags.

With the set up done in a really good amount of time we all set off for our hotels by about 6pm. The speaker dinner event was happening later that evening with a canal boat tour on the Manchester ship canal. It was a great evening and quite a few drinks were consumed.

Monday morning came around and we were there early to await the arrival of the guests. Everything was as smooth as silk, apart from the wifi that I set up. It turns out that Netgear in it's infinite wisdom would only allow 50 DHCP addresses to be assigned through it's tiny little wifi router. Grrrrrr. Luckily one of the sponsors had a Linksys router that would allow us 220 addresses so we set that up instead and cut down the lease time to about 3 minutes. Luckily for me, Warren Elsmore and Chris Miller helped me sort this out and work out what the best time was. We are also looking at ways to make this work in a much more stable way in future.

Tuesday was fun and we managed to attend sessions and get everything sorted for the XPages taster morning before everyone came in. The wifi needed rebooting again mid-morning so we really know that it's something we have to fix before the next event.

The closing session was the usual prize-fest from the sponsors, and as usual, those who didn't stay until the end didn't get their prizes.

All in all it was an outstanding event. Great attendees, awesome sponsors and a fantastic venue. The only thing that makes all this work is the volunteers who run it and the speakers who spend coutnless hours distilling their knowledge into consumable chunks in the form of presentations. I for one am very grateful to Kitty and Warren for organising it and to the speakers who turn up, unpaid, to impart their wisdom.