Happy 4th Everyone

Humor today by the only e-card site that seems worth bothering with these days.

Have a great one today - I'm spending the whole day pretending that everyone else isn't celebrating the defeat of my home country. Alcohol normally works pretty well for this. And Union Jack underpants.

NYC Vacation

Times Square, originally uploaded by Aaron in Denver.

A bit of what seemed like a whirlwind trip to New York is now complete, so I can take a quick breath and enjoy a few days back at home over the holiday weekend before diving headfirst back into work.

The trip started out in usual fashion - plane delayed by an hour, and then circling New York for an hour and a half, before we almost ran out of fuel and had to make a semi-emergency landing at a National Guard landing strip somewhere in Upstate New York. Another hour on the tarmac, and then a short hop in to finally land almost 4 hours after we were meant to. Luckily enough, I had filled the iPod Touch with a good few episodes of Season 1 of Miami Vice, so I wasn't too stressed with the whole ordeal. Something about Ferrari's and pastel suits just makes me relax I guess.

So, all plans for the first night were blown out of the water, but it ended up working out fine - both Kathy and Nick were knackered for completely different reasons, so we got checked into the hotel around 10 and immediately ordered a big steak on room service.

Sunday was a pretty lazy day - first vacation lie in, followed by a quick trip over to Nick and Danni's to watch the footy. It was actually a decent game, which is relatively unusual for a final. And if you're ever lucky enough to go over to their place, make sure Danni does her special nut recipe thing. I can still taste them now - they were great. We then bailed shortly after the game (and the torrential rain had stopped) to go splashing in puddles around Central Park, then had a wander down 5th Avenue, stopping in the Apple store so I could sample the completely see through circular elavator, and take a couple of pics.

Monday was a huge day - we wandered around for about 7 hours (and I'm still feeling the pain from all that exercise now). Top of the Rock, Times Square, lots of shops, including bumping into one of the cast of CSI in FAO Shwartz. We even managed to buy a couple of things, then a quick blast back to the hotel for a shower, and out for dinner with Nick, Danni, Lindsay and Aaron. The place was called In Vino (I think) - a little Italian place down in Alphabet City - great food and wine. We ended up chatting for ages, taking our time with dinner, and eventually closed the place down. It wasn't too late a night, but we crashed big time when we got back to the hotel.

Tuesday we lazed around in the morning, and then just got in a cab and headed for what we thought was a little spanish tapas place. Of course, it had recently shut down, so wandered around for a bit until we found a mexican restaurant that had the best fajitas I've ever had in my life. An afternoon margarita (or 3) to ensure I was in the holiday mood worked a treat, then we jumped in a cab to the Upper West side to see where all the rich people lived. Lots of very nice houses and apartments up there, but I have no idea how normal people can afford to live in that area. Or Manhattan as a whole I guess. The only thing that was cheap all weekend were the cabs (and a couple of things we picked up in the sales).

Tuesday night was apparently my get drunk night, and I succeeded in my task. We jumped straight in the cab after our wanderings to head to Royale, home of the best burger in New York. As luck would have it, it was also just a regular bar, rather than some fancy restaurant, so we hung out in the bar for a while as we were a little early (the first time that happened all weekend). Nick and Danni came by, along with their friend Thomas, and we sampled the burgers and fries and onion rings before Nick's newly arrived Wii started calling his name, and our stamina disappeared with that last gin and tonic.

And then Wednesday we came home. Delayed, of course, but nothing too serious - I think we were both pretty exhausted, but excited to see Fynn again. From the frantic wag of her tail, and the fact that she's followed us around all day today, I think she missed us too. And to think I was worried she might not have wanted to come home after all the care and attention she gets at her own special vacation home known as the Falkenbergs.

The trip was great - nice to hang out with friends in their home town for a change, and New York has so much to see and do. We worked out pretty quickly we'd need about 3 weeks solid to actually do most of the things we wanted to do - it was never going to happen, so we just relaxed and enjoyed what we did do. If we go back, I'm definitely going on a walking training program beforehand though...

Ferrari Friday

If the F430 Scuderia isn't fast enough for you, there's this little gem from Novitec - they added a couple of superchargers on there, along with some other bits and pieces to make sure you stay on the road, and sent it out for some lucky people to play with. Unfortunately, they decided their press car was going to be yellow, which is pretty unforgiveable in my book. And only an extra $74k over the base price? Bargain if you ask me.

Next up is the new California, moving it's roof gracefully from open to close. I think I want one now....



And that's it for now. Posting may be greatly reduced for the next 5 or 6 days as I take some much needed vacation, which will include leaving my laptop at home for the duration, so I can really relax and get some rest. Lots of photos to show at the end of next week no doubt though. And if you're around NYC and want to meet up (and we haven't already discussed it), I can always be contacted on Twitter if it manages to stay up....

Freddy Shepherd, Quote Machine

Always one for a classic quote, Freddy Shepherd, former Chairman of Newcastle United came out with this one today, in response to questions about him buying a stake in (dirty, dirty) Leeds United.

"It's in my blood. You can get rid of the wife or the bank manager, but a Geordie can never get rid of Newcastle"

TVRs - Nice Cars Those Were

Sometimes you forget how amazing TVR's look until your brother sends you a car park shot. And two of them in the same place? I just love the fact that the bonnet looks like it's covered in shark fins, especially in that color.

The book that saved my life

Well, not literally, but maybe saved my sanity. The last 6 months has kind of been a blur, with loads of different things going, both at work and home (especially work), as I tried to get used to the new job title, still keeping up with the old job(s), and generally trying to make some progress. Somedays it just felt like there was way too much going on.

This last couple of weeks things got pretty stressful, so by a complete fluke, Getting Things Done was the next book on my reading list. Combined with new found passion for reading, based solely on having my fantastic and shiny new Kindle in hand, I've pulled a couple of things into my daily schedule that mean I'm keeping up with everything going on a lot better. I still haven't finished the whole thing, and still have plenty of work to do before I'm following all of the steps, but I'm getting there, and this week has definitely been a lot better than 2 weeks ago. Progress is a wonderful thing.

Alfa Mito GTA

Following on from the posting on the Alfa Mito last week, here's what looks like the Alfa GTA version. Rumored to be pepped up to around 230 bhp, it's definitely a looker for me.

Award-winning comedian George Carlin dies

I know Mr Bland won't be too happy about this, given he was one of his biggest fans.

Award-winning comedian George Carlin dies - CNN.com

Speed Racer - the bike

This concept from Daniel Bailey (which I found here) is probably one of the coolest I've seen in a long time. I'm still not quite sure where you sit though....

Small Cars for America

With gas (petrol) prices finally getting up to the prices I used to see growing up in the UK, I'm not alone in hoping to see a few more cars come over from Europe in the next couple of years. Obviously, my wishes are driven more by the fact that they have way better hot hatches over there, so our motives may be slightly different.

Anyway, the new Alfa once again works it's way into my heart and soul. MiTo, you will be mine

Mercedes iPhone Dock

Confession time - I put in my order for a new 3G iPhone yesterday, so only a month or so to go before I get my hands on (please, please let the exchange synching work like a dream). Obviously, Mercedes were thinking about me when they announced this little toy yesterday - the iPhone dock. It charges your phone, hooks it into the phone system in the car, and allows you to get at your music from the hifi. Now all I have to do is work out two things - can they retrofit it to existing cars, and can the wife survive without the CD space....

Telemarketers Bothering You?

An absolute classic, courtesy of Mr Ketchledge, a strong proponent of the random Friday Video, which has become a part of our culture here in the office since we started the company a few years ago.

Posting every day lasted one day!

What a surprise, although given the week I'm having this week, the fact that I'm still alive to post this today is something of a bonus. And the fact that it's Friday, which means I can grab a little sleep tomorrow morning.

So, to make up for my abject failure, I'll attempt to save the planet with one post. This thing here is a portable power pack, that you can charge in the sun. Sounds perfect for the camping world if you don't want to get way out without some method of charging your iPod. Obviously, this thing isn't recommended for camping in The Lake District, but up here in The Rockies it should work just fine. It's even got a USB slot, in addition to a couple of regular plugs and a car charger type thing, plus it's real and buyable today - available from Amazon here

Dear Steve

You know what I really want from your new service, that's meant to keep the mobile and not so mobile life in order? I want a way to keep all my music files in synch across my home and work machines. Trying to remember and then copy up to .Mac the individual music files that I bought (from iTunes I might add) on one computer or the other, then download and import, is slowly driving me crazy. And that's before I even get into the "is it on my computers hard drive, or on the connected external hard drive" conversation - you need to work out a suitable Apple easy and it works solution for that too so I don't get duplicate tracks, and can easily "checkout" files from my main library so they're on my hard disk when I hit the road.

Baby steps first - how about just keeping track of the music I bought on iTunes and allowing me to download it again at some point in the future if it's not already on my machine? Amazon let me do this with books I bought for my Kindle. And the copyright protection still exists - the files still need to be ran on the machines I've authorized, so it's not like I can do something naughty with it. Please Steve. You normally answer my (gadget inspired) prayers. Don't let me down now.

2009 Audi A7

I realize I've been slacking a little lately, so I'm going to make an effort to get out at least one post per day (on weekdays, just in case).

First one in my new routine is an alleged spy shot of the Audi A7. Apart from the fact that it could realistically be anything under there, this has to be the best camo shot I've seen. The old cover the thing in a weird black rubber/plastic at key parts (similar to the Colorado obsession with those hideous black 'bra' things they cover the front of the car with to prevent stone chips on their paintwork) is obviously old school now. Not sure how the sack is going to survive under high speed (meaning over 20mph from the look of this thing) testing, but that's not really our problem, is it.

Source: The German site Bilder

Birthday Party

Birthday Drink, originally uploaded by Aaron in Denver.

After a year on hiatus, we once again mobbed the deck at Fado's to have the joint Aaron and Tonks birthday celebration. The night started off in a nice quiet and controlled manner (and some nice person was even offering free shots of Newcastle Brown Ale), but of course quickly degenerated into the usual shot drinking, word slurring extravaganza.

Luckily for me, the wife extracted me at the right time, and I made it home all safe and sound. Special mentions go to Batsukh for making it all the way down from up north (on public transport as well!) for his first work related night out, and the boys and girls who made it to Pete's Kitchen and Denver Diner for post closing breakfast.

I took a couple of pics here (and definitely more than Tonks, who's camera died on the first attempt due to a lack of battery), but I'm sure there were other people there who took more than me (I'm talking about you Colleen), so if I can dig them out, I'll add a link.

Euro 2008 Permutations

Hmm, today brings the first real test of Euro 2008 - working out what combination of results (and actual scores for that matter) will do to the qualification of individual teams from Group C.

If you think it's easy, here's a (hopefully correct) rundown

The Netherlands have won Group C and will play the Group D runners-up in the quarter-finals.

Romania will qualify for the quarter-finals if they beat the Netherlands, eliminating France and Italy.

If Romania fail to beat the Netherlands, the winner of France v Italy will go through.

If France and Italy draw, a point against the Netherlands would be enough to send Romania through. France must win to have any chance of qualifying.

If France and Italy share a score draw (1-1, 2-2, 3-3 etc), Italy will go through if Romania lose (by any score). In this scenario, Italy, Romania and France will be level on two points each but Italy would have scored more goals in games between the 3 teams.

Romania will finish bottom of the group if they lose and France and Italy draw 2-2, 3-3 or 4-4. France will finish bottom if they draw 1-1 unless Romania lose 3-0 or by a four-goal margin.

If France and Italy draw 0-0, Romania can lose by one goal, two goals or by a three-goal margin other than 3-0 but still qualify. In this scenario, Italy and Romania would have identical head-to-head records, but Romania would have better goal difference in ALL group matches or, in the case of the three-goal defeats, goals scored. France would finish bottom, having scored fewer goals head-to-head v Italy and Romania.

If Romania lose 3-0 to the Dutch, Italy would qualify with a 0-0 draw against France because of their superior coefficient points. France would finish bottom as they would have scored fewer goals head-to-head v Italy and Romania.

If Romania lose by four goals or more and the other game ends 0-0, Italy would proceed with a better overall goal difference than Romania. France would finish bottom as they would have scored fewer goals head-to-head v Italy and Romania.

If France and Italy draw AND Romania avoid defeat, then Romania go through.

Old School Ferrari Dash

Old School Ferrari Dash, originally uploaded by Aaron in Denver.

A completely self indulgent post to tell you there's probably not going to be too many updates over the weekend. It's my getting older day tomorrow, so unless the pics are too spectacular from tonight not to post, I'll be staying away from the computer for a whole weekend.

Have fun! I know I will be.....

Show your bits, get on the plane

Apart from now having to pay to get your suitcase checked (United, now do you realize why I stopped using you last year), the TSA has decided it's appropriate for some of their staff to pretty much see you naked before you're allowed onto the plane. Are people really so put off by the "pat down" that they'd prefer to have some stranger take a look at them in all of their glory instead? Somehow I don't think so.

My real question is whether the TSA has been conned by the company that used to make the x-ray glasses - is it just a big box with a red feather in the wall? Now that would be funny.

ABS-CBN News Online (Beta)

Happy Birthday Rach

Aaron makes Rach get the round in, originally uploaded by Aaron in Denver.

As usual, I'm crap, and this is instead of a real live card ;-)

Hope it's a great one (alcohol free of course)

Apologies in advance to Mr. Hamilton | dooce �

When my website grows up, I'd like to have guest posts that are as entertaining as this week's Dooce posts. In fact, if they were that good, I could probably retire forever and ever from this posting thing. But what would be the fun in that?

Apologies in advance to Mr. Hamilton | dooce �

IPhone 3G Video Conferencing

For all those people disappointed at no formal announcement of a front camera and videoconferencing support for the new iPhone, it looks like Apple might have come up with a solution.....

IPhone 3G Video Conferencing: Apple Introduces iPhone 3G Videoconferencing Kit, ZOMG!

Big Day Today

Not only is it my Dad's 60th Birthday (Happy Birthday Dad!!), but Steve Jobs takes the stage for the Apple Developer Conference. Expect the new iPhone along with all those new apps sitting on top of it (Exchange synch makes the likelihood of me getting one of these things increase 10 fold), and maybe if we're lucky some new machines as well.

And of course, there will no doubt be a Twitter outage when Steve's on stage. I've been looking at Plurk in the last week to see if it's any good, but still undecided. If you join, I'm in aaronindenver on there as well, so say hello.

WWDC 2008: What's in store for Apple | CNET News.com

Denver Exotic Car Show

Ferrari, originally uploaded by Aaron in Denver.

I managed to spend a couple of hours (rain free) down at the Denver Exotic Car show. Plenty of great cars there that could have easily kept me entertained for hours. I took a few photos (subtle understatement) and they're here.

I was going to tell you I met Mr Wallace there, but after the last photo he seems like he's gone publicity shy, so I'll keep it to myself.

Gardening

IMG_1424.JPG, originally uploaded by Aaron in Denver.

Well, not really me - more the wife. But the plan is to get some planting boxes to arrive before the week is out, so these young things don't grow out of there little spots.

We've got some trees to plant as well, that should not only give us some pears, cherries, and nectarines, but might actually prevent the nosey neighbours from next door peaking through our windows when they think we're not watching....

Gangsta Rap - Geordie Stylie

Not really safe for work so you've been warned, unless you're wearing headphones. Thanks to (big) Neil for the link (ages and ages ago, but just getting to it now - I know I owe you an email or 6...)

Wallace is popular?

IMG_1175.JPG, originally uploaded by Aaron in Denver.

For some reason, this was the most viewed pic on my Flickr stream yesterday. George, are you sending links to this to your family? ;-)

AP: Obama clinches nomination - The Denver Post

He's in - let the real race begin

AP: Obama clinches nomination - The Denver Post

RMCBMWCCA Spring Driving School

IMG_1384.JPG, originally uploaded by Aaron in Denver.

So the day finally arrived, and I got to spend the whole day (well, a lot of it) driving pretty fast around the track in Pueblo. George came along with his Porsche, and was grinning nearly as much as I was.

Technically I guess it was spring, but it certainly felt like summer, and my face is red enough to prove it. Rumor was that Sunday was going to be even hotter, so I'm glad I hadn't picked that day in the end (although doing both days is always tempting).

We had a few visitors come down to watch, and luckily they also took control of the camera for the day, so there's a small subset of the photos they took here. There were about 600 in total, so loading them all up on Flickr didn't seem like a practical approach. If you were in Group C or D, I've probably got a shot or two of your car, so let me know if you want me to take a look and send them direct.