The Trouble with Facebook

Its been almost a year and a half since my last post. Why?

Despite having a full time job (which involves sending at least a couple of dozen emails a day) and three kids which leaves me little inclination to type anything further each day, and little time to do so, respectively, I have found the vast majority of things that I want to share with people will be more likely to reach them if I share them with Facebook rather than on this blog.

So I am more inclined to post something on Facebook than here. So much so that I haven't posted anything here for a long time. Why is that a problem?

Because as well as the frivolous stuff I occasionally think of something which I think deserves expounding on:

• Is Apple's dominance of the high end mobile market unhealthy?
• Is the West exploiting the cheap labor market of the developing world or is such trade a vital way for these countries to lift themselves out of poverty?
• Is there an asymptotic limit to which GDP per capita can grow?
• Should there be greater incentives for preserving standing forests rather than reforestation?
• Is there an optimum balance for the allocation of resources betweenthe free market and the state?

However Facebook is not the place for these discussions. I'd say watch this space but may be being overly optimistic.

09 August, 2009 New Job, New Car

Its been a while. Guyana proved to be a bittersweet trip: lots of goodbyes interspersed with frenetic activity. Moving 6.5 years worth of accumulated matter into a 20' container over one weekend was probably a bit ambitious. Nonetheless, some 36 hours after waking on Monday I finally had the chance to throw my head back and get some sleep as the Boeing 777 made its way across the Atlantic.

Things are exciting here, moving to a new house on Friday, starting new job two weeks Monday. Yesterday I bought a second hand car, somewhat nerve ranking spending so much money. I guess after a house its the biggest purchase most household's make. I got completely lost driving back from Kingston, for some bizarre reason I thought Sutton was closer to London than it is and thus routed south around it. Bad move - it turned out Sutton lies smack bang between MostpurPark and South Croydon. Finally, in desperation I spotted a sign to Epsom. At least I knew the way from there from my B&W days. Looking at the map I realised I probably drove four times longer than I needed to! Maria's delight at seeing the car made up for the frustration caused by the unplanned detour.

Centerparcs

We just came back from a mid-week break at Centerparcs with my Mum. What a brilliant concept: a huge glass doomed plaza housing a swimming pool with loads of water slides sorrounded by chalets in the middle of a forest. The location was very different from the other ones I have been too: much much hillier. In a way, this was a bonus too.

They fitted my bike with a towable two seat buggy. After cycling up to the plaza every day with two kids in tow I am feeling rather fit...Now I just have to find something else to maintain my current level of fitness!

There were a lot of restaurants too, including a pancake house and Huck's grill. Huck's was outfitted with a soft section for toddlers; children's play-gym attached and a suite of iMac G5s. The G5s were not, as a niavely assumed when I first saw them, so the parents can check their email. Rather, they were all running games like The Incredibles and Cars to further entertain the kids. Needless to say we returned.

Judgement Day is coming, the answering service is calling back

Not less than a couple of hours after I touched down at Gatwick aiport the phone rang. "Must be my Mum" I thought. Imagine my shock when the answering service starts up at the other end. That's right, no longer do companies have the decency to get someone to call you to sell you something, now they just get a machine to do it. At least I hope so, else the answering services have become self-aware and they will soon take over the internet and then the world judgement day style.

What I can't understand though, is how they can have got a wrong number. No I am not Mr James, and no I have never had an account with Nothern Rock (nor has any one else who has ever lived in this property AFAIK). So why on earth does this machine keep calling up?

Answers on a postcard. (Or use the comments section if you prefer.)

It's been a while

Got caught up in job hunting so missed the chance to blog about a lot of cool things we did in St Lucia.

Highlights in a nutshell:

Bay gardens beach "resort". They have really made the most out of what is quite a small lot. Our patio opened out onto the pool - 10 steps and you are in. The other side of the pool was Rodney Bay which is one of the best beaches I have been too. The only downside was the mix-up over the breakfast plan, they ended up double charging us. Simple solution, we cancelled the remaining days and did not buy anything else from them the rest of the stay.

Brig Unicorn. Krista and Sean kindly looked after baby while the four of us cruised down the West coast to Soufriere. Lots of Hydrogen Sulphide (think rotten eggs) and even a Caldera (collapsed volcano). Swinging on the rope on the way back was great, I managed to free dive to the bottom to extract some seaweed to smother Mer's hair in. I did my "Treasure Island" moment at Marigot Bay where we left a bag a few days earlier. Dived over the side; swam ashore (alas no bag to be found) and swam back and was helped aboard just as the ship completed its turn. Most Satisfying. The kids loved the roping swinging and the huge water fight at the end.

Coconut Bay. Wow. The last time we went all-inclusive was the honeymoon, so we kind of knew what to expect. However, this time we were at a place set up for kids rather than couples. Great pool (including pool bar), a lazy river and two water slides kept the kids occupied all day long. Plus a kids club session in the morning and afternoon if mom or dad needs a break.

Who needs a stair climber when you are climbing up real steps all afternoon? Even though they were not very long the slides were quite satisfying for adults too: the secret being the huge amount of water being pumped down them - it has to be the most water I have ever seen on any water slide period.

The food was fantastic, two themed restaurants, a pool grill open nearly all day and then a buffet which changed enough to keep things interesting. The last night the Italian changed the menu and we had lamb which was exquisite. All-in-all a fantastic time, and makes we wonder why Sandals (currently offering 50% off) does not convert one of its three St Lucia locations to "Beaches" so they can get a slice of the family market.

May 12, 2009 L2093-17

Now you may think the L2093-17 is the latest model from Terminator:salvation movie but it is in fact the model number of a ladder. That model number alone should have been enough  to warn me to be careful using this beast.  Never mind the liberal dosing of labels cautioning the user covering every side. Yet I was further instructed about the wickedness of said piece of equipment by Krista - careful Patrick "its the ladder from hell".  "Satan's own step?" was my blithe response.  Now on the box this probably seems like a fantastic idea.  Instead of having to buy twelve different stepping utilities you just need one...until you try and actually form a usable arrangement with it .  Three hinges each side each of which lock in three different positions.  You don't need to be an actuary to work out that that's a lot of different configurations.  Worse yet each hinge has a locking mechanism with a lever that needs to be reversed through a full 180 degrees each time the hinge locks in order to unlock it again.  

Somewhat disturbingly I managed to assemble configuration 2 'step ladder' change the bulb and return to configuration 13 'storage' without a hitch.  I put this down to me being on the highest state of alert for any possible treachery. Until I was walking back down the  garden slope to return the ladder to the shed of course.  Here I was betrayed by simple physics.  A 45lb ladder on your shoulder somewhat changes your centre of gravity.  This combined with the dew on the grass meant I lost traction and ended up on my backside.  At least the ladder hit the ground first before pinning my arm underneath it.  Nevertheless I now have a nice aluminium burn running halfway up my forearm.

I think I am going to attach another warning label to the L2093-17: it will get you when you least expect it

May 08, 2009 Amy Whinehouse in the rain

I am told Amy Winehouse ranks in the recent mtv poll of the top 10 albums of all time.  Up to Wednesday I would not have recognised her if I saw her, nor if I heard any of her songs would I have actually realised they were by her.  Fortunately The St Lucia Voice  carried a front page photo so I knew who to look out for at the Friday night segment of the St Lucia Jazz Fest.  Now, I heard various rumours about the girl: she had got herself sunburned, she had to be moved to a private villa due to her atrocious behavior in public, and that she was in rehab.  Sean and I were laying bets that she would be wasted (100%) and that as result she would be a no-show (undecided on that one).  

After taking 1.5 hours to get there we finally arrived just as Amy was due to take the stage.  Well at least she turned up.  What happened was surreal - just after she stumbled onto the stage (wasted alright) and the set got under the show stops mid song for her to tell us she was bored. Then the heavens opened.  I spent the next two songs huddled under an umbrella with water dripping down my side.  Luckily the camera crew next to us were deemed worthy of saving - another one of the crew brought over a huge Heineken Parasol which offered some shelter for the remainder of the gig. 

 And surreal it continued to be.   She kicked off her shoes and then cussed how she doesn't care she was short.  After that the lights went out, and to her credit Amy soldiered on, though by the time the lights came back up whatever was coursing through her system was clearly too much to handle. The highlight after that point was when she said she was going to sing a song that "isn't very good"  I had to pipe up, "well sing it to us anyway" which brought a few laughs from those around me. And that was the end of the "comeback". Well, while I won't be rushing to the shops based on that performance, I can just about see (hear?) that if she wasn't wasted her voice would be something to behold.

Fortunately ace zouk band Kassav stepped up to the plate next  - two keyboards, two drum kits, sax, trumpet, trombone, bass, guitar and four vocalists made for a high energy set.  Too bad the heavens opened again and we decided enough is enough and it was time to call it a night.