by ezs | Dec 27, 2005 | evilzenscientist, Uncategorized, Utah
Sigh – I’ve been looking for ski boots again – and nothing fits.
I’ve tried rentals before – and I’ve always had a really painful few hours with cold, cramped, uncomfortable toes. I’ve tried buying – and nothing seems to work for me.
If anyone knows of any good Utah based ski boot shops that will fit to strange, large feet and calves – let me know!
by ezs | Dec 20, 2005 | blogging, evilzenscientist, Linux, Uncategorized
WordPress 2.0 is close. Release Candidate 3 is now available.
I’ve installed on a non-live server – and things work ok right now. Some testing needed on the plugins – but fingers crossed.
by ezs | Dec 20, 2005 | evilzenscientist, Uncategorized
Looking at the Google Zeitgeist for 2005 and there is one really interesting piece:
Whose News
When news is reported instantaneously, and more people than ever expect to get their news online, which sources do people consult – and for which stories? We took a look at three major news organizations which have come to new prominence for a global Internet audience.

This shows that BBC is outpacing CNN for online news.
by ezs | Dec 18, 2005 | evilzenscientist, fun stuff, ITIL, Uncategorized
As I was in central London I made a special visit to The Stationery Office Bookshop near Holborn.
TSO is a strange beast; formerly HMSO (Her Majestys Stationery Office), now the Office of Public Sector Information – it is the official publishing arm for the UK Government. Everything from Government papers, reports of debates in Parliament to ITIL, Prince and other documents are published.
The TSO bookshop is a veritable hideout of really specialist, non-overlapping information.
I was buying books on ITIL – the IT Infrastructure Library – for my team. Useful and required reading in todays IT world.
by ezs | Dec 16, 2005 | evilzenscientist, travel, Uncategorized
Today is Friday. I am back in the UK -and on the train again. This time heading north from London to Leeds on GNER.
On the positive side – it’s a nice fast journey up to Leeds – no hassle of flights, getting to and from the airport and all of the checkin hassle. It’s also a lot lot faster than driving (probably four hours each way – which would hurt). There is also free Wifi on the train (woo!) – which is actually useful (sync of mail and get some research complete).
On the negative side – the value is questionable. While less than flying – it still hurts to pay so much for a flexible ticket.
by ezs | Dec 15, 2005 | evilzenscientist, travel, Uncategorized
It’s Thursday – I’m in Frankfurt.
I am using guest internet access at the Star Alliance offices here in Frankfurt. That’s good fun.
by ezs | Dec 15, 2005 | evilzenscientist, travel, Uncategorized
Late posting this – but hopefully interesting.
We landed at Heathrow on Sunday morning – and saw a massive black smoke cloud as we were landing. Only after we arrived did we realise that one of Europes largest fires was burning on our flight path.
On Sunday afternoon we all went to the park – the sky was very strange; a wintery sky with a huge black cloud blocking out the northern part of the sky. Very eery.


On the train on Monday I saw the fires more closely. An enormous pillar of smoke covered the sky:


by ezs | Dec 14, 2005 | travel, Uncategorized
Another day in Europe. Today Hamburg, Germany.
Every time I have visited customers in Hamburg it has rained. Drizzle or heavy rain – it always seems to be raining in Hamburg. When I was last visiting customers a Novell account manager told me that was why people from Hamburg had an affinity for English people – they are all used to the rain!
The highlight of the day was visiting Airbus – and seeing the Airbus 380 fabrication building. The scale of infrastructure that has been put in place to build this plane is incredible. There are no superlatives left. Wings are assembled in the UK, fuselage in France, the whole thing is assembled in Hamburg. Seeing the A380 up close was humbling.
Travel back from Airbus is always fun – taking the ferry from the customer site, across the Elbe and then on to the airport by taxi.
by ezs | Dec 13, 2005 | travel, Uncategorized
Today I was in Paris.
I travelled on Eurostar – leaving from London Waterloo to Paris Gare du Nord.
I arrived – and there were no taxis available – and a queue of several hundred people waiting. I resorted to diving into the Metro to travel across to the Novell office in the west of the city – near La Defense.
Turned out there was a strike on the RER – and some RER commuter trains were not running through Paris.
One benefit of taking the Metro is to ogle the timeless 1950’s design of some of the metro stations; Franklin D Roosevelt is one of my favourites – orange, silver and harsh lines; with delightful, gallic station names.
A good set of meetings with customers and partners – this is the first time back in Paris for a few years.
At the end of the day out to Paris Airport Charles de Gaulle – again major delays because ofthe SNCF strike – I have never seen people so crammed into a train.
by ezs | Dec 12, 2005 | evilzenscientist, fun stuff, travel, Uncategorized
Getting a taxi can be hit and miss anywhere across the globe. Too many times I have been let down by missing cars, breakdowns, rude and sometimes downright dangerous driving.
I needed to get a cab this morning at the ungodly hour of 0430. That’s way too early for me.
I booked a cab through the recommended services of Addison Lee – a London cab firm. They have great customer service. While on the phone booking the pickup I was told exactly how much the fare would be – no surprises at set down. That was my first pleasant surprise.
15 minutes before pickup I received an SMS to my phone saying that the driver was on his way; a description and license plate of the vehicle and the cell phone number for the driver. I got a second SMS minutes later saying that the driver was waiting outside to collect me. He wasn’t – just a few houses along; I called him and got picked up.
All cabs seem to be fitted with smart GPS and directions; much like the (much lamented) Hertz Neverlost. Part of me thinks this is a great idea (no more roundabout journeys), the other part laments the loss of ‘The Knowledge’ that is still required for all black cab drivers. I can see times when human knowledge of side routes and less busy roads beats the GPS hands down.
All in all I was really impressed by the service from Addison Lee – if you are in London and need to pre-book – try them out.
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