Do The Right Thing

I’ve been watching El Zappoman’s progress toward clocking up 5,000 bike miles this year. He’s nearly made it, but it looks as though the weather will pip him to the post in the end. Cold, icy weather and cycling don’t mix too well.
And I have to sympathise - it’s been a while […]

Filed under: Cycling, Fitness, Newcastle | 4 Comments »

Right now I’m working with a firm to help improve their production output. They’re suffering from the usual problem - too much work in progress (WIP), caused by a production manager who wanted to ‘get ahead’, by manically over-producing at the start of the process flow.
The line manager I’m working with understands this, and has […]

Filed under: Business, Lean | No Comments »

Almost the end of 2006 - a year in which I entered no (none, not a single one, zero, etc) triathlons. So I am no longer a triathlete
But this year, I did decide to cycle for work. Seeing as I work as a management consultant (dirty word, I know), I tend to travel to […]

Filed under: Cycling, Triathlon, Fitness | 1 Comment »

I read on the Macworld site about syncing Windows Mobile devices with a Mac. So you can have a smart phone to go with your Mac, and keep the two in step with third party software, like Missing Sync for Windows Mobile, or PocketMac Pro. Of course, there is the whole question about why you’d […]

Filed under: Business, Technology | No Comments »

BBC NEWS | England | Hereford/Worcs | Police look for have-a-go women
Just heard about this on the Jeremy Vine Show. It turns out that we live in a country where people will get involved, and stand up for what’s right.
Three women - apparantly strangers to eachother - tackled a runaway criminal who was successfully out-running […]

Filed under: News | No Comments »

Yesterday’s sunrise was something to see! I couldn’t resist stopping as I passed Roman Fort, Segedunum in Wallsend (the clue’s in the name), to photograph the silhouettes of the cranes in the now-closed Swan Hunter shipyard beyond. Click the image to get a full size from sxc.hu.

Filed under: Photographs | No Comments »

This week I’ve been doing some work at a local company, which involves working ‘regular’ hours - 8 ’till 5.
For the last year, I’ve been cycling to all local appointments (those within a 30 mile round-trip). I’ve managed to schedule meetings so that I could do travelling in daylight, and carry only small lights for […]

Filed under: Cycling, Ranting | 5 Comments »

I found this article by Kathy Sierra on Creating Passionate Users via Pivotal Personal Best.
Aparently, if user manuals were treated more like marketing materials, companies would get a lot fewer complaints and tech support calls, as users would RTFM (Read The Firkin Manual, in case you didn’t know . . . ) The logic is […]

Filed under: Business, Marketing | No Comments »

BBC NEWS | Magazine | Wi-fi worry
Yes folks - the luddites are at it again! Health concerns over the electromagnetic radiation of WiFi is causing a big switch-off in schools. The reported symptoms of this dangerous radiation are headaches and skin rashes.
The funny thing is that I had both of those as a teenager too, […]

Filed under: News, Business, Technology, Ranting | 1 Comment »

Forrester research & The Register report that iTunes music store has experienced plummeting sales this year - reportedly down 65% since January.
It seems that despite the price advantage of digital downloads, consumers still buy the majority of their music on CD. Yet sales of CDs are down 20% over the last five years.  Josh Bernoff […]

Filed under: News, Music, Technology | No Comments »