Cycling at Aldi

Bike Radar have already mentioned this but I have just been to Aldi to pick up some cycling clothes at stupid prices. I’ve missed these sales twice before.

Now Aldi and Lidl have their critics, some say the equipment is “crap.” Of course, Bradley Wiggins is hardly going to pop down to either shop and pick up a pair of shorts, but then again he doesn’t have to. The great thing about these outlets (and Tesco to a lesser extent) is that they make this gear accessible to those that wouldn’t normally go into a bike shop.

I picked up 2 pairs of shorts, 1 top, 2 pairs socks, 3 pairs of gloves for £32 - last year I bought a pair of shorts for £20 in a well known cycling chain store - you work it out and on close inspection between the shorts I got in Aldi and those last year, they look incredibly similar, right down to the coolmax insert and grips on the legs.

Only a couple of months ago I picked up a pair of cycling shoes in Lidl for £14. I cycle a fair bit but didn’t want to spend £40 or £50 on a pair of shoes plus whatever for new pedals. I have to say I’m really pleased with them.

Fine, if you want to stick to your Specialized gear at 4 times the price, good luck to you. For the masses this represents a real bargin and a way to get people back on bikes and out of cars.

IBM HackDay v5

With Forrester Research telling everyone they are going to be spending billions on social networking and mashups in the next 5 years it was great timing that yesterday (April 25th) was IBM HackDay v5.

The event runs for 24 hours rolling across the globe and this time took in more than 300 teams.

Internally it got more coverage than we managed to previously. Not only did we get the top slot on w3 but we also had a hacked w3 logo. Whatever the success of the hacks that people developed the awareness of the event has gone way beyond anything before.

“This time everyone hacks” has been a tag line for the event with an increasing number of people coming up with non-programming hacks and we had Radio HackDay thanks to the guys in Dublin, which consisted of interviews with hackers and music written and performed by IBMers… it truly was the soundtrack to the day and so awesome.

See some photos from HackDay 5.

I’m rocking today

Mainly to NIN and Gorillaz but also feel a lot better than Monday and Tuesday.

Also to The Charlatans “You cross my path” another freebie… Alan McGee says it is the best album they have done in years, but he is their manager.  Anyway - I love The Charlatans and this is a good album.

Nine Inch Nails give away free music

I once used to walk around with long hair, ripped jeans and a green NIN shirt. And for free I might do it again.

Trent Reznor and his pals have come up with a great bunch of tracks - the first 8 for free. You can get all 36 for $5 with no DRM.

Just go to ghosts.nin.com and click on Listen - in the pop-up click on free download.

Looking into the black hole

When standing on the edge of a black hole it is so tempting to jump in, even if you really don’t want to.

It seems the more you try to get out the harder it sucks you down. People talk about rational thinking and positive state of mind, how can you have these when the forces pulling are so strong and seemingly out of your hands.

The silent scream inside your head is so deafening, anything positive is hard to find or recognise even when it is found. It isn’t that you look at the bad side of things, there just isn’t any good side. Breathing is a chore.

I’d scream out loud if I could, but where is the energy? It’s only there to self destruct, just to see what would happen because the way things are they are just too painful. That is no reflection on my family - my wife and kid(s) are what I live for, what gives me the strength to get up each day.

My profile on-line

I’m on holiday at the moment but just checked my work email as I was expecting something but found that my profile has now been published on ibm.com under the experienced hire category.

When I was asked to write something for this my heart sank, I’m pretty bad at talking about myself but actually this was quite easy and very useful as it was just at the time I needed to complete my PBC (personal business commitments) this year. Actually I talk a lot about podcasting which oddly enough I have done little of recently for one reason or another. What I failed to mention is the amount of “stuff” I get asked to talk about on calls - just the things I do each day - which is fun and encouraging as it seems what I’m interested in also has a lot of value in the business and for my colleagues.

Anyway, back to vacation…

London hosts “International Employee Communications Summit” in June

This year Ragan Communications are holding their Employee Communications Summit in London this year (June 4-6).

This is a great conference for communications professionals which covers hot topics, like social media, by IBM’s very own, Ethan McCarty. In fact there is quite a lot about on-line communications, from intranet redesign to social media and engagement and video podcasting.

I would love to go to this but not sure I will at the moment as we expecting a baby round that time, however, if you are interested I can pass on your name to the conference Director, who may be able to help you on the price - I can’t guarantee anything.

We are used to the likes of Meclrum so it would be nice to see this from what I think are an American outfit although many of the companies are British based, such as the keynote by BT on - you guessed it - intranet. I so want to go.

The summit is actually on 2 days, with a pre-summit workshop….. well before it. Not sure what is in that.

Photos arrived

The journalist that came to interview us last week sent us a few photos he took.

Not sure when this will appear in the local newspaper as I just sent back the last change this morning, but may be sometime in April - I think he said he was commissioned to do a series on transport in the Sutton area for SmarterTravelSutton.

Another interview

It is odd how a decision to do something ripples out in time to other events.  When as a family we went to Move it in the Manor and ended up one the cover of Sutton Scene and in The Times.

Today I’m being interviewed again for a newspaper about the Sutton Smarter Travel scheme.  From The Times to the guardian.. well actually this time it is the Sutton Guardian.  Spoke to the guy last week how tried to contact me while I was on holiday. He is also a travel writer so I’ll be asking him if he has any jobs too.  Sounds aright character so looking forward to that after lunch.

I don’t think we shall be going outside for any photos (may be we will) because the wind is blowing like a typhoon out there this morning.

Back home

Been back almost a week now. Just getting back into the swing of things, sleeping, cleaning, shopping and working.

It takes a while, forgot all those passwords, what I do, how I do it.  Surprising how slow it is to remember some things yet cycling to work has been oddly easy.  Perhaps all the walking we did kept strength in my legs - it certainly didn’t do a lot for all the food I was eating.  So much of it and so nice.

Quite easily the most enjoyable time we have had in Taiwan.  May be it is having the kids grow up or just feeling more at home their or even understanding more Chinese than I used to, which is only thanks to my daughter who is totally fluent now with a great accent too.

A couple of days before we left I was chatting to a mummy in the park, she lived in Canada previously although born in Taiwan, where she had been working for the last two years. The opportunities she mentioned were quite eye opening.  She even offered to introduce me but I was leaving two days later and then she was off to China to work on a new business project.  Shocked I could earn more in Taiwan than here in the UK (and also get to learn Chinese which is one of my person goals.)

May be after a few weeks the dream will fade?