On Thursday I drove to Grimsby, for a meeting regarding a potential project. Very interesting area, with a mix of industry (oil refineries and formerly fishing) and rural landscape. The motorway was empty, this part of UK appears to be somewhat "off the beaten track".
Later the day more meetings at work. In the evening I attended once again the Creative Networks event. An interesting speaker: Ajaz Ahmed, founder of FreeServe presented "Lessons Learned" about being successful in the IT sector.
And on Friday again two scheduled meetings. Fortunately these are all quite interesting, related to projects that I am working on or intend to. There is good potential for software development on mobile phones.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
The Rain is back
Yesterday the good weather period ended: it began to rain here in Leeds. Today this continued, with some calm periods, but then some showers fell (as can be seen on the Leeds Met webcam).
Busy week, some rescheduling of meetings. Interesting meetings still ahead: about the development of possible applications for mobile phones with GPS.
Busy week, some rescheduling of meetings. Interesting meetings still ahead: about the development of possible applications for mobile phones with GPS.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
An Excursion to Hebden Bridge
Today was again a very sunny Sunday. Brian wanted to visit once again Hebden Bridge. We had been there 2 weeks ago, but he had suddenly to leave. At that time, we had visited the Alternative Technology Centre in Hebden Bridge, which is located right next to the canal.
This time we started in Heptonstall, a small village above the valleys. Visited the grave of the poet Sylvia Plath who is buried up here.
Then explored one of the valleys where remains of the Lumb Mills. Trees have taken back the nature in that valley which 100 years ago must have been a busy industrial place. It is a strange site to see huge chimneys in the middle of a forest...
All pictures from this excursion are on Flickr in this set.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Open Day at Leeds Met
This weekend, Saturday and Sunday, Leeds Metropolitan University is organising an Open Day, for prospective students to visit the campus, talk to lecturers, and inform themselves about studying.
For the first time, the main venue was the newly opened Rose Bowl near the Civic Quarter, across form Civic Hall. For this weekend, Innovation North has their information stands in room 317 and 320. A good dozen of members of staff were present today and will be tomorrow as well. We had quite a good turnout of visitors, despite the weather which was tempting for some outdoor activities, although in the afternoon there was a brief drizzle.
For the first time, the main venue was the newly opened Rose Bowl near the Civic Quarter, across form Civic Hall. For this weekend, Innovation North has their information stands in room 317 and 320. A good dozen of members of staff were present today and will be tomorrow as well. We had quite a good turnout of visitors, despite the weather which was tempting for some outdoor activities, although in the afternoon there was a brief drizzle.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Brief Travel to Germany
Back in Leeds, after a brief travel to Germany. I left Leeds on Sunday evening, returned on Wednesday evening. The weather was nice and sunny. Like here in Leeds actually. The usual end-of-April warm weather period has arrived about a week ago and has warmed Europe up, after the long winter.
Good food - in Germany is now the season for asparagus. In many countries, the green asparagus is popular. But in Germany, the white asparagus is the most widespread. The green one is harder and has a "heartier" taste, whereas the white one is softer, can sometimes have a bitter off taste, but can be exquisitely delicious - especially the thick ones!
(disclaimer: the above pictures were not all taken at one single meal :) )
Good food - in Germany is now the season for asparagus. In many countries, the green asparagus is popular. But in Germany, the white asparagus is the most widespread. The green one is harder and has a "heartier" taste, whereas the white one is softer, can sometimes have a bitter off taste, but can be exquisitely delicious - especially the thick ones!
(disclaimer: the above pictures were not all taken at one single meal :) )
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Resuming Blog Posting
These past few weeks I have been posting nothing on this blog, although I would have some things to post: a heavy flu, a small bump received by my Smart car from the driver behind me (no damage), a few weekend excursions, riding on the footplate of a steam locomotive, taking pictures and videos, and being very busy at work with both the regular routine activities (marking of student work) and trying to get funding for my research and development work. I have resumed active software development for Windows Mobile, .NET, C#, video capture, network access. I also visited a highschool career event and represented our uni there. A group of our PhD students from Austria visited us in March for a Mini-Symposium.
Lately I did a statistics: I looked at the work emails from about 3 days and collected the ones that relate to actual tasks for me: there were about 20 different task strands, linking to a variety of immediate actions to be done. And that were only things related to immediate work - none of my other projects were included there (e.g. my music activities, the impeding web presence update, the work on my book, ...). Usual, what a person can handle simultaneously is about 7 parallel things. So it appears that I do have to do one important thing: prioritise my activities. Well, that is what I did, so I was quite slow in responding to personal emails, in updating this blog, and in getting my photos sorted on Flickr. I hope to have more time in the next few weeks for more frequent updates and for staying in contact.
Lately I did a statistics: I looked at the work emails from about 3 days and collected the ones that relate to actual tasks for me: there were about 20 different task strands, linking to a variety of immediate actions to be done. And that were only things related to immediate work - none of my other projects were included there (e.g. my music activities, the impeding web presence update, the work on my book, ...). Usual, what a person can handle simultaneously is about 7 parallel things. So it appears that I do have to do one important thing: prioritise my activities. Well, that is what I did, so I was quite slow in responding to personal emails, in updating this blog, and in getting my photos sorted on Flickr. I hope to have more time in the next few weeks for more frequent updates and for staying in contact.
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