The Biggest Social Loser - 2012

During Lotusphere, Victor Kranz (now in the IBM competitive team) suggested that he and I support each other in quitting smoking, and losing 50 pounds in weight before Lotusphere 2013. And that we should call it 'The Biggest Social Loser 2012'. 

Unfortunately, we discussed this in front of the peanut gallery, and before we could stop them, sponsors were being organised, bets were being made, forfeits negotiated. I think we even did a 'This Week in Lotus' interview, but it was quite late, and we were 'tired and emotional'.

Basically, if we smoke between Sunday and next Lotusphere, we donate $200 (USD) to a worthy Childrens Cancer charity. If we fail to make our weight loss - around 1 pound a week (and therefore a sane diet plan), then its another $100 to charity.

Scary stuff indeed.

Well, Victor and I are still up for it. The Domain 'SocialLoser.org' has been purchased and a site placed there in the next few days. The first weigh in - for me - happened this morning and I weigh 265 pounds. My last cigarette was in the early hours of Saturday morning, on my balcony at the Sheraton Safari Suites in Orlando.

As we get the website together, we shall invite folks to place bets on our success (or otherwise) and post more information on the nominated charity.

My impressions of Lotusphere 2012

I have to admit - I went to this Lotusphere firmly believing it to be the last. The sudden inclusion of a 'teeth and cufflinks' business conference - Connections 2012 - alongside, the last minute rush for content in December, and so forth. 

Its nice to be pleasantly surprised. The last statement from Alistair Rennie during the Opening General Session was to announce Lotusphere on January 27th 2013. Sorted.

The OGS itself was a lot snapper. No more 4-person panels - just a 5 minute infomercial from 4 customers during the OGS. Main stage speaker ? Michael J Fox - talking about how social networking helps Parkinson sufferers such as himself reach out to others. Very powerful message.

90 minutes in - we finally saw a Lotus Notes client and Domino server demo. Expect to see the 'waterfall of activities' display from connections embedded in your notes client. Lots of social add-ins to be provided during 2012.

This year I made a point of actually going to lots of sessions, for a change. When you're on a stand, or when you have sessions to present, its very easy to skip all sessions and focus on those activities. So what did I see? Well, lots of xPages stuff, obviously. And very lovely it is too. I saw Wouter Aukema give a brilliant competitive session with Mr Dudding on main stage. Main takeaway? When the IBM Competitive team get involved, they have a 97% save rate. Expect more from these chaps this year. 

I even went along to Ask the Developers this year - and they kindly let me ask for PST Import and Export for Notes clients, to make Exchange to Notes migrations far easier (and cheaper!) for customers. As soon as I had sat down, an IBM chappie thrust his business card in my hand and I have an action to continue dialog with that person. Good stuff.

Closing general session? Well. Some self-important American chef (unknown to me) blathered on about how important he was, about how everything was about himself. I took about 30 minutes of it before departing early, and throwing myself on the tender mercies of the Dolphin Rotunda bar for a few beers. And very nicely they slipped down too, as other attendees dribbled out, nauseated by the speaker and his blowtorching of some live sea thing on stage. 

After that, a monster session in Kimonos where I was persuaded (by Mat Newman himself!) to perform the 'Timewarp' with him. Given I cant sing, and I cant dance, its something perhaps best left to the imagination.

I got to Edinburgh Airport around 8:30am on Saturday morning, slept all weekend (with a horrible hacking cough) and awoke, bright eyed and bushy tailed at 4am. Another Lotusphere - something like my 16th - in the bag. 

Mobile data roaming - the next scam

As you've probably read, I'm a pretty unhappy O2 customer. 

Yesterday reinforced this somewhat. I landed at Newark Airport in the Garden State of Noo Joisey, and thought - why not turn on data roaming for a little while to catch up on email?

So they charge £6. A MEG. (Normally I pay £15 a month for 3 GIG). Okay. And they'll text me after I've burned through £17 worth, and then again at £34. Okay. So no bill-shock of thousands of pounds.

So I turned it on my iPhone, refreshed mail. Then opened my iPhone facebook account. Then opened my iPhon twitter account. Pretty much what runs all the time in the UK.

Within 12 minutes - I got the 'You've burned through £17' text. 12 minutes. Thats over £1 ($1.50, €120,000) a MINUTE.

Sod that for a game of soldiers. My McMerican friends have advised me on various PAYG Mifi options here in Florida, and I'm off on a road trip. I'll update it when I get my device.

So. If you learn anything from this, learn to switch off mobile data roaming. Your carrier will rip you off till your ass bleeds.

Happy Birthday, Ashley

T'was my darling Ashley's birthday this weekend and 40 or so friends and family snuck over to the Marykirk Hotel to give her a surprise party.

Here's the slideshow from the event:

Ashleys50

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Its the end-of-the-year roundup!

This year was a hoot. I started workwise at a bank for the second year, working with a rather excellent group of lads on a hugely complex and important Domino application. Despite plans to outsource development and despite plans (and a budget close to £2m!) to migrate to dot-net, I'm happy to report that my wee application is still running and running. And running on 8.5.2. Not bad considering it was developed on 2000 on version 5. 11 years on the same platform and application? How does *that* ROI work for you?

This year, my rather excellent daughter - Squid - opened her wings and backpacked around the world, spending the majority of her time in New Zealand. Myself and SWMBO (She Who Must Be Obeyed) spent our easter break on a round-the-world flight and spent 10 days down there.

New Zealand is fantastic. Green, lush, warm, friendly folks, excellent food. You should visit sometime before the stupid people find and spoil it. Of course this year was the year that the terrible earquake struck Christchurch - our hearts go out to those folks, still living in a very dangerous part of the world.

On the bright side, three dear friends all successfully had babies this year, and another due in a few months. Fingers crossed, and yet more mothercare vouchers in the post.

Heading towards summer, I found that the bank job was finally coming to an end - a shame, but at the same time looking forward to doing something new. A few months working on an Exchange to Notes migration project kept me busy, and updated some skills in JavaFx - Oracle's attempt at an RIA. 

But - like all RIA's - Silverlight, Flash and JavaFx - it would appear they're all dying this year. HTML5 is the bright new future, and I wonder where this leaves all these Silverlight customers. Up sh*t creek without a paddle, I suspect.

Onto the latest job - helping out a very large customer upgrade from v6.5.x to 8.5.2. Very slick environment, very nice crew, and challenging work. An excellent end to the year.

Now of course we're all looking forward to Lotusphere 2012 and what that might bring. I remain hopelessly optimistic of course. 

So on that positive note, I wish you all a happy Hogmany, and look forward to catching up with everyone next year.