Difficult to print an A0 poster in Leeds...

On Sunday night I finally found the time to design my poster, representing the Centre for Creative Technology. I thought it would be easy to find a shop which could print it in A0 size. But when I looked at the Fedex/Kinko site, where I had printed that nice poster for the 2005 AXMEDIS conference, I noticed that they are no longer in Leeds, only in London. I had asked the day before at Staples, but they only print A1, and laminate only A2. I could split the poster, but this would be only an emergency option. A friend had told me about a copy shop near Leeds Uni. As I pass it, it appears to be closed for holiday. In many of the online directories, one company was mentioned: Baskind Imaging. I had tried their website, but I only had gotten their reply "website cannot be found". I had called their phone number, but nobody had picked up. When I finally went to their address, 54 Otley Road, there was a sign that parking is only for Baskind Imaging customers. But the actual store was not there. I ask the clerk of a printer cartridge shop which now seemed in its place, and he told me that they have moved two blocks futher. Ok, I walk there. No sight. I go back to the car and drive along where the clerk had told me the shop would be. No avail. Only private residences. some churches. Am I stupid or what? This search for a simple print job becomes quite frustrating.

I have to go back to my office and search the web again... There I find something promising: Printer In Leeds. They have a nice online chat. I sign on to ask if they can do the job. Alice answers, yes they can, but it would take a while to ship it to me. Can I not pick it up? No, because they are - in London. So what about their name "Printer in Leeds"? Yes, they are currently looking to hire a representative in Leeds.

I feel like I am in a parallel universe, where everything that business do is aimed at getting no business. What kind of attitude is this? Who came up with that business name? Why not call it PrinterInLondon? I am getting desperate. Find another company, get a quote, is over 100 pound. Ok, I am willing to pay this, would be reimbursed from my EU grant.

But then I finally hit the jackpot: Deepblue Digital. Here is a company who is willing to do business. Of course, they could make the music on their web page an optional item, instead of forcing the viewer to listen to it, but they respond quickly to my inquiry. I had called them, get a call back that they can do it. I send them the PDF and the Powerpoint File around 12:00 noon, and at 16:45 I get a call back that the poster is ready. Printed and laminated, and trimmed to my specifications. Great! I drive there to Roundhay Park to pick it up. Price: 19.90 £ for the A0 print (which is extrodinarily affordable) plus another 19.90 £ for the lamination. Plus VAT. In any case, they have the lowest price I had found, and they were actually able to do it. I can recommend them highly! And the poster looks great. Aside from my own mediocre design for it ...

My last day at work

Today is my last day at Rockwell Scientific. Since April 1996 I have worked here as Research Scientist / Program Manager, and I enjoyed working on software technology developments and interacting with customers.

Now I move on, to a new environment, to a new country.

I have lived in the US for almost 10 1/2 years - quite a significant portion of my life. Originally coming from Germany, I studied for one year in an exchange program at SUNY Buffalo, and later came back to work in the high-tech industry. I always
appreciated the openness and entrepreneurship that is so prevalent in US society.
But as life goes on, a new opportunity came across: working in academia as "Professor for Creative Technology". To accept this offer, I would have to move to the UK, to Leeds. This is quite a step, from the sunny warm Southern California (vicinity of
Los Angeles) into the cooler Northern England. But it is also a step towards being closer to home and to the European cities, to which I like to travel so much.

Well, I will miss all the friends from my work. It has been great working here in the US, and I might come back some day. But now I am ready to move to "Yorkshire".