The Hodge Blog

Well, the last couple of days could not probably have gone better. Again, the guys (and me) have run a great conference on Excel at Microsoft’s HQ in London. Around 85 people attended both days so the room was pretty full and most comments we got on the feedback forms was very positive. The challenge now is to change up the format for next year to make it interesting and different for what will likely be the same delegates. It also had the spin-off of starting the possibility of holding one in Cyprus for our ‘guest presenter’. That would be fun.

The weekend is almost here although it will likely be a strange one for me as we have the computer work to do at work, so I suspect I could be in both days and for significant parts of both days. Still, I suppose that’s my pay back for the last two days, although the last two didn’t seem much like R&R.

Stopped in Stalag 9 overnight on Wednesday. It was the Travelodge in Farringdon near Kings Cross. I made the mistake when asked where I would like my room by the receptionist of saying “as close to this reception as possible”. (Normally when I check into hotels in a town, my room appears to be in the next one!). He put me on the first floor, facing kings Cross Road and the window wouldn’t fully shut. Geez, that road never stops, screaming, shouting, ambulances, lorries, street sweepers, I don’t think i got a wink of sleep. That may of course had been a good thing as it made me concentrate on repairing my files for the presentation on Data Exchange the next day when i realised after rebuilding this machine I had no database to work with…oh dear.

On this day in history and last year…

Weather = That’s about as cold as it’s been. I think it may have been below freezing in Scotland?

Mood meter = Weekend coming up, but doesn’t seem like it

Phew…scraped through by the skin of our teeth yesterday against lowly Torquay. It was a wretched night at St Mary’s with a constant slow drizzle and with only just over 9,000 fans and two stands open it was tough to support the boys. We went 2 goals down in the first half, but with a couple of substitutions at half time things picked up and we were soon back in it at 2-2. This trophy, at this stage has not extra time, so it was straight to penalties. We converted all 5 of ours with Kelvin saving one of theirs, so guys, bit less stress next time please, although I suppose, that is what supporting saints is all about?

Off to London for a couple of days, so don’t be surprised if there is no post tomorrow. i am off to Microsoft in London for the second of two Excel User Conferences myself and a few other MVPs have organised. We had the one back in April and have filled this one from reserves from that. So that will mean another audience of just about 100 for the two days. Should be fun.

Anyhow, I’m off early on the train with Lindsay, so gotta go…

On this day in history and last year…

Weather = It’s warm, but wettish!

Mood meter = Next two days should be fun

Hot news of yesterday, in fact it ended up in a comment from yesterday’s post is that I have been renewed again as a Microsoft MVP for Excel for another year. This will mean that, barring when Microsoft decided the program was not a good idea for about 7 days back in around 2001, or rather an over zealous legal employee did, I have been continuously awarded since 1999 a span of ten years. Actually, for good or bad, it seems much longer than that. I certainly remember my first summit back in 2001 in the US and meeting all these people who I had only met online and even then, unlike Facebook and stuff today, no pictures. It was fun thinking wow, I never thought John Walkenbach looked like that!

Thankfully it’s Friday. I have a really strange couple of weeks coming up. A single colleague arrives from the US on Monday, followed by two day using my award and presenting to 100 people at Microsoft in London with some fellow MVPs and on my return Friday there will be another two US colleagues and two from a vendor who will be working with us over the weekend to test install a new, more efficient ERP system to run the Company with.

Loads of stuff yesterday revolving around football. Firstly there was a BBC blog post about the full story behind the Saints’ takeover back in July and then an article which shows the rivalry between us and ‘them down the road’ headlined ‘Pompey fan ‘hung’ in Southampton’ and because of that a highly amusing one about their players not getting paid. It is laughable that they appear to have found a new owner who is the only skint Arab in the World! I have to say that whilst people would see me as a bit fanatical, John Westwood (Westie to his friends), so I’ll call him John, takes it to a whole new level. I really do get the feeling we are now destined to meet in the Coca-Cola Championship (one higher for us, one lower for them) next season and it will be great.

On this day in history and last year…

Weather = It’s cold but the heating is on!

Mood meter = Well, at least it’s Friday

It seems really strange when people pass through your life out of context, but that happened to us yesterday as fellow MVP, Ken Puls, Dee, Anneka and Ken’s parents came to visit. I normally see him on line and them at the summit once a year or so at Microsoft in Seattle. (Well actually at the Rock Bottom Brewery there, but that’s another matter!).

It was great to see them and glad they could stop a few hours as we showed them around the place and did our own mental health good as we went through some of the early pictures to see how much we’ve done. I was annoyed after they left that I didn’t take a picture of them here so I could put that on here to prove it, but I am sure Dee will send me one, she took loads.

As Ken has stopped with his travelogue about a week ago, they seem to have had a great time for the last couple of weeks, visiting MVPs Richard, Bob, Roger, Andy, etc and also getting the length of the UK from Inverness to Dorset. They travel home on Sunday.

The wind blew heavily yesterday, so much so we have a tree down across our boundary and into the horse field. Just what I needed as that will now need to be cut up and the fence repaired. Still, it looks like Rob and Murray will be down on Monday so that will help

Got the sink wastes in last night. They are still to be finally connected as we let the solvent joints dry overnight, but all should be well. Also got the clear silicone around the shower screen and laid the tiles on the window sill. Small progress but it gets us closer to getting to the floor tiles and toilet fitting.

Sad day for the UK today as the last TV manufacturer moves their production to Poland. We may be able to make stuff well to go on them, but we no longer make the tings it goes on, if that makes sense. Sad really.

This isn’t funny really, but it reads as so in the way it is put. It’s the final sentence that did it for me… Let me give you a clue, they were 90 and 91 years old and crashed their car…are you getting it?

A husband and wife have died in hospital a week after their car crashed into a traffic island in Hampshire.

Vera Page, 91, and Robert Page, 90, from Worcester Place, Lymington, were in their Citroen when it crashed on the A337 at Lymington on 19 August.

The vehicle struck a bollard and came to rest against a lamppost.

Passenger Mrs Page and driver Mr Page both died at Southampton General Hospital on Tuesday. The cause of their deaths is still to be determined.

Well, had a reasonable day yesterday, although I managed to lose the spring from the tap’n'go mechanism on the strimmer, just before I had finished destroying the last of the nettles on the drive, typical.

Went on to get re-started on the en-suite and now the bath is fitted (although not sealed) and the electrics, complete with isolation circuit into the bedroom, connected to the whirlpool pump. The tiles are grouted behind the basins and tonight I hope to get the bath and sink unit sealed, the tiles on the window sill fitted and maybe the light pull switch done…we’ll see.

Managed to get time to beat Jo at tennis as well with our new rackets. She was winning pretty handsomely, but lost it when she got bored and wanted to pack it in… When she’s done, she’s done.

Got fellow MVP and blog readers from Canada, Ken and Deanne coming over on Wednesday afternoon, so that will be neat.

So, of course the main event of the day, weekend, year, etc. Is of course that England regained the ashes at cricket. Don’t know what it is about just about the smallest trophy in World sport, but it sure is good to have them back…anything to beat Australia at anything!

On this day in history and last year…

Weather = It’s nice at the minute, but likely to rain later.

Mood meter = It is still a Monday

It’s been one of those good and bad days. The sort that were going just too well.

The two days of the Excel User conference in London could not really have gone much better. The speakers were great and we had a very good turnout, despite it being free and the G20 in town. I think we had near one hundred for both days and certainly our MVP leads, a couple of evangelists (whatever they are, although great people) and a Microsoft PM all stayed longer than they intended. The delegates had a good time, both in the sessions and in the restaurant and bar last night.

We covered a multitude of topics and certainly think that everyone was surprised at how good it was and how smoothly in ran. So there is my high.

Spoke to Jo about the plumbing progress and we now have hot water everywhere and the zones are done. All we have to do now is get the system flushed and we will be done. The shower I fitted is fine and I have just had a shower in the bottom bathroom and it is powerful which was just what we intended. So there is another high.

Now the low. on the way back from the station Lindsay broke the news that one of the chickens is missing! I’ve just been down, in the dark with the torch and indeed we only have three roosting and there are some feathers strewn around the corner of the enclosure. I’m not sure what could have taken it as there is no holes under the fence and the fence is high, although I don’t underestimate Mr Fox, I’m leaning toward something burrowing like a badger or something from above like a buzzard. I’m not sure what other predators we have for chickens of that size, but honestly, I’m pretty devastated how it can happen so quickly and without the ability to see how it got on, so now I fear it returning…damn it!

 Saints sit on the verge of administration and if they fall into it they will be deducted 10 points and certain relegation. It’s hard to imagine how bad the last three years have been but we are now facing an abyss square on.

On this day in history and last year…

Weather = It’s late, but still quite warm

Mood meter = It was , but it’s just dropped by a factor of 10!

Managed some more victories yesterday and also had some bad news. The victories are the patio at the back which is now almost clear and demonstrated with a before/after shot below (click to enlarge) and would you believe a small victory of sealing the bath which means I can now shower. The bad news is on the wall around the walled gardens which is a little rocky in places. We will need to clear the area around to see how far it extends but it could mean pulling bits down and if funds allow rebuilding, as buttresses would be nearly as expensive and have to stick out around 6ft into the area surrounding the wall. We’ll look into that in the months to come.

Before	After

My one regret from the week is not being able to finish clearing the enclosure as time really didn’t allow, so that will delay the chickens, although we may have a day off this week to compensate.

Positively, we made a list with Murray of the building jobs, so once the heating and electrics are done in the next few weeks, we can start putting the place back together, replacing a few windows, filling in some holes, making good plaster and such, leaving me decorating and bathroom fitting, etc.

The weather this week looks set fair and the temperatures rising to nearer spring values. That would help a lot as we cannot apply paint, or lots of other things while it’s freezing.

Need to round up the final tradesmen today to make sure we stay on track to get the cooker back in and the roof, patios and tennis court washed and cleared. We’ve certainly de-brambled and cleared the surface mess, so now they need bringing back to former glories. He will be here to quote on Friday.

Was due to go to the MVP Global Summit at Microsoft in Seattle at the beginning of March, but with everything going on here and at work currently and finances which are undoubtedly to be stretched over the coming months, I have cried off, cancelling my reservation on Sunday.

On this day in history and last year…

Weather = It’s sunny and likely to get to double figures this week for the first time in weeks

Mood meter = It was a fairly successful weekend and now it’s over again!

The comments come in thick and fast on the McDonalds’ salad carton. I really do know all these people. We normally meet up once a year or so at the MVP summit in Seattle and drink a lot of beer, chat and generally act like geeks should. Only this time, as many are not going (likely myself included), they have decided to ‘meet’ on my blog, which is nice. I’ve still yet to find out where they all got their tip-off from, but the chief suspect is Walkenbach(w), as he has lots of staff to help

Saints lost to a 93rd minute sucker punch last night after dominating most of the match, after Sheffield United were reduced to 10 men following an elbowing incident, but once again, they couldn’t find a finish and after equalising to make it 1-1 after 89 minutes it looked as if that’s how it would finish. No such luck, this is Saints after all

It has been bleeding freezing in this house and although the routine is now getting honed, it is now wearing thin. So much so that I have now lodged a complaint with the gas company to find out exactly what is happening. They should call back today, but as we head to another weekend with sub-zero temperatures and snow, we need to see an end to this. Not only that but there is far less you can do to get this all up together when the whole house is 3 below.

Busy at work just now as we plan to get more sales when stuff gets a little back to normal. Sales have been pretty good this week, driven mainly by the weather and heater sales, but we are looking forward to a good spring in the coming months providing the weather behaves.

On this day in history and last year…

Weather = It’s positively balmy this morning!

Mood meter = It’s cold, damp and depressing but my MVP colleagues have cheered me up.

Another Romany day under our belt and still slowly moving to exchange. I am incredibly frustrated with our solicitors, they are totally incompetent, non-communicative and frankly, arrogant. They should try living out of a suitcase and two bags! To cap off my day as I gave up at just before 6pm, very fed up, I walked into a downpour of rain and hail. By the time I got to the station, I was frozen and drenched

Cheered up once I had got home and Emma and Simon came around which was nice. Again we ate well and as I am now getting slightly organised in my new status I had remembered to buy a couple of bottles of red wine which Nick and I demolished over dinner…lovely

Signed up for the MVP summit in March in Seattle. Not sure yet if I will carry that through but I signed up as we can also cancel up to 72 hours before.

Trying to get the ‘job’ done today but how many days have I been saying that.

On this day in history and last year…

Weather = It very cold this morning…that’s a good thing

Mood meter = Gone downhill a little actually

Apart from a few test posts my site over at www.excelusergroup.org is 1 year old today. It has had over 1,000 threads and 3,000 posts on it in that time as well as lots of user posted files and blog posts. It actually has 620 registered users! Thanks to all those that contribute.

Went out for a little longer than planned last night (and incurred the wrath of Jo for it), but it was one of those unusual nights when everyone seemed to be out so there was a ton of catching up to do. I know it this morning though

This is the big weekend for packing up. I have the boxes and the pallet wrap so I hope when the weekend is over, that we will have little left than furniture of our life in Chandlers Ford.

No progress yesterday on the purchase, although we had expected papers through. We need them to be here this morning if we are to have any chance of moving straight in when we move out next Friday. I concede it’s going to be tough.

Saints are away to Barnsley today and I am despairing of them winning at all at the minute so I will say there will be a loss today, but maybe a win next week against fellow strugglers Doncaster.

Off to the pantomime ourselves this afternoon in Southampton. It is Cinderella, starring Christopher Biggins, 2007′s winner of I’m a celebrity, get me out of here! We haven’t bought tickets, they have come courtesy of our auditors at work. it’ll be Jo, Emma, Simon and I going…we’ll see if it’s fun!

The walk home for the pub last night reminded me of my childhood. It was a hard, white frost and I was wrapped up against it. I know my Canadian and US readers will be saying, “Go away Nick, we are 15ft deep in snow and it’s a pain”, but I am really enjoying this cold spell. It’s almost like it’s how it should be, freshening everything up. It was that cold last night I had to breath shallowly so that the incoming breath wasn’t sore on my throat or inside my nose…fantastic! It was a full moon too which I guess helped. It couldn’t have been better for my last walk back from that particular pub!

On this day in history and last year…

Weather = This will likely be the last cold day… boo!

Mood meter = Let’s get it done!