"I am The Master"

Time for another update, eh? We've been mad busy with all the usual shennanigans, but time for us to share...

Last week saw us frantically doing the proofreading, fact-checking and editing of the session notes in order to be ready for the sending of the seminar CD to the pressers. (Is that the right word? Really not sure, but it'll do for now - I'm sure there's some kind of pressing involved somewhere in the process.) This sees the presenters beginning their resocialisation into the real world after weeks of solitary research and writing, so we're busy re-learning social skills and niceties again before we're let loose on you.

At the same time we see Lesley about as frazzled as she gets, since she's the one who has to do all the proofreading and editing for style: if our notes actually read nicely, then you've got Lesley to thank! Despite this critical role, it doesn't necessarily mean she's always 100% happy doing it, as evidenced by the photo below... (Spare a thought for her though, she has to read her way through tens of thousands of words of technobabble and turn it into English.)



It all came to a head on Friday, with the last of the "PDFed" notes, and the associated flyers, catalogues and bits and bobs all pulled together. A session of creaky HTML bodging by me later, and we have our CD Master (which perhaps explains the tenuous Dr Who reference in the title of this entry. Sorry, I can't help myself). You can see the result in the photo, beautifully modelled by Dimi, who has done a very good job of surpressing the "I'm so excited I could burst" expression he's been wearing for the days leading up to the release of GTA IV...



Right, that's all from me for now. You should be seeing another posting in the next day or so, this time a guest blog from official New Boy, Mr Michael Oakes. Hopefully he can give a bit of an insight into what's it's like joining the team. Either that or crowing/moaning about the Liverpool-Chelsea semifinal tonight...

Geeks will be geeks...

How's your weekend going? Bit of DIY? Time with the family? Nursing a hangover? Spare a thought for the seminar presenters, who are spending it working late, getting their notes finished in time. (Except for Mike of course, who is continuing his campaign of winding up me and James by finishing early and taking some holiday.) I've just finished for the night - spare a thought while you're finishing that pint, eh? The picture below gives an inkling to where I've been, among a pile of machines, cabling and network devices in what any sane person's house would be the spare room.



The reason for the post is something that made me chuckle earlier. Around teatime, James and I were on the phone discussing our respective sessions, throwing round some ideas for tweaks and changes. All very earnest stuff, I'm sure, and about half an hour into the discussion there was a sudden silence, then the sound of James swearing very loudly. I panicked, wondering what disaster had befallen his planning:

"What is it, mate?"

"It's gone 6.20, Dr Who's already started!"

*sound of two phones being put down immediately*


Good episode, too ;)

Stress City, Tea and Kittens

Hello again the blogiverse,

Time for a proper update, now that I've got the hang of this thing, and the temporarily overenthusiastic SafetyNet filtering has been rectified...

We're in the last week of note writing here, and as you might expect, the presenters are just a little bit stressed out as the Big Bad Scary Deadline (tm) comes flying towards us. Where last week cheery queries of "Want a tea?" from colleagues going on a hot water run were met with a smiling thanks, now they're being greeted with staring eyes and a growled "WHAT DO YOU WANT?". James simply has no toys left in his pram.

Meanwhile Jodie is doing her usual impression of some kind of bionic life form able to control and coordinate five bazillion things at once as she ensures all the venue bookings, your places, the hotels, the hire cars, the lorry, the catering and the positions of the planets are all just exactly as she'd like them to be. From our dullard male perspective, this seemingly easy female multitasking thing looks horribly complicated...

Bill is freshly back from holiday in the States (just about over the jetlag) and is getting stuck in to all the various shiny pieces of kit, demo and display equipment which need to be ordered, repaired, encased and configured.

I took the liberty of taking a few phone camera pics of everyone in the office yesterday to show you, so here we go (and fingers crossed I can insert images into this post without getting it wrong):


Here's James, doing his best not to look stressed, and continuing in his lifelong aim of getting a sponsorship deal from any company which makes Earl Grey teabags. In the spirit of assistance, I'll pass on his recommendation of the particular brand gripped in his hands - apparently, Tesco Finest is "the best Earl Grey in the world". ("Other teabag brands are available"). Personally, I think it's just some bizarre kind of Jean-Luc Picard worship which allows him to say "Tea, Earl Grey, Hot" as often as possible.


This is "The New Boy", Michael Oakes. You will note that he isn't having to pretend to be happy. He is worrying both me and James, since he seems to be impervious to the stress and angst which overcomes us during writing, his writing is good, and most terrifyingly of all, he seems to be funnier than both of us. Clearly, some elaborate form of revenge is to be planned here...


This is me, not doing a very good job of pretending to look relaxed, but a much better job of holding my gut in. My mug is, you will be happy to hear, filled with normal tea, not the crime against nature which is Earl Grey.


Bill wasn't actually in the office when we took the pictures, but here is his permanent legacy to our 'pod' in the office - the Calming Kitten. Whenever anyone gets too stressy, we stare at it for a little while and everything is right in the world again. (Those of you who are also Mighty Boosh fans will understand the 'photo of kittens' approach to stress management, after its efficacy was proved by Naboo.)


Jodie here, not so much pretending not to be stressed, more barely hiding her "The second you put down that camera Day, I will kill you" expression. She's not great about having her photo taken, so in deference to her I have provided an alternative version below which I think she'll be happier with:

Hello!

So whose clever idea was this anyway? Ah yes, mine... I suppose I've learned some kind of lesson about mentioning ideas in team meetings :)

This is an opening (and test) post for the blog - the idea being we'll update this as often as we can with anecdotes, stories and little pieces of wisdom (or just embarrassing stories) from the Spring 08 seminar round.

If I've set everything up correctly, you should be able to comment on any of the blog entries, and we'd encourage you to do so (keep em clean, eh?).

See you on the road!
Chris