On motorways, why are there so many bloody middle-lane cruisers?  Really - this just gets my goat.

When I was driving to/from Enstone for the CRM 4.0 course last week, I was taken aback by how many crappy drivers there are, who are insistent on cruising in the middle lane of a three-lane motorway.

These road-unworthy twats would just bumble along on the middle lane of the M6 (or M42, or M40), regardless of whether the area around them was devoid of other cars.

Now, call me pedantic, but I believe that Rule 264 of the Highway Code states that you should always drive in the left-hand lane, and only deviate onto one of the right-hand lanes if you are overtaking another vehicle (or overtaking an overtaking vehicle, if you get my drift).

So - are all these middle-lane cruisers (who are usually driving crappy MPVs, I hasten to add) just plain stupid (i.e. they've forgotten the basics of the Highway Code) or just plain rude (they haven't forgotten the Highway Code but, fuck you, they're better than you and don't frankly care)?

Really - if I was Prime Minister, I would make it legal to be able to ram/force these drivers off the road.  Yes - a swift clip in the right area (especially in the torrential rain I encountered on the way back up North), and their car would hopefully spin out of control, roll, crash, and explode with the entire family burning alive inside the bent, twisted, metallic wreck.  That would be... acceptable justice for such plain rudeness/stupidity.  I'd be happy to pay for the body damage inflicted to my own car just to be able to dish out such justice legally...

As a tangent rant, I'm glad that fuel prices are rising stratospherically.  People bitch and moan about saving the environment, doing recycling, cutting down on a car's MPG fuel consumption.  But hit them where it hurts - make their budget flights more expensive and raise petrol/diesel pricing - and they all go into an indignant strop.

Oi!  Shut it.  If you can't afford it, then don't fly/drive/whatever.  Join a car pool.  Take a train/bus.  Cancel the exotic holidays.  But don't protest like a whinging wanker just because you can't afford what is, essentially, an environment-raping luxury.

I can't wait until petrol reaches £5/litre.  Yeah - fuel will cost a fortune (especially in the RS 6 I've ordered, with its faintly ridiculous 16.2 mpg average fuel consumption).  But quite frankly, the joy of being able to drive down to the next Firebrand training course on a motorway devoid of middle-lane cruisers (because they'll all have been priced off the road) will so be worth the additional cost of fuel.

Here's another one of those Partner Public Announcement things that I seem to like doing...

If you're a Microsoft Partner and want to skill up, then Microsoft have been running the Partner Skills Plus (PS+) offer for quite some time now.  However, I get the impression that more than a few partners are not aware that this offer exists.  Just to summarise, you get:

• 32% discount on all Microsoft exams from Prometric
• Free practice tests on select exams from MeasureUp
• 60% savings on 60 days of real-time mentoring from Global Mentoring Solutions

Go click here to apply for your saving voucher codes (note that you need a Microsoft Partner ID to apply).

Drop me a comment below if this info was useful - I'm trying to weigh up whether it's a good idea to do these Public Announcement things, or whether I should let you lazy asses find this info yourself... ;p

Yes - bet you didn't know that Microsoft made digital cameras, eh?  Well - they do make keyboards, mice and webcams, after all, so digital cameras isn't exactly a stretch...

I know that Christmas is some way away, but to be quite honest, you're gonna need to give Santa all the notice he can get.  Behold, the Microsoft UltraCamX!

How's this for specs?

• 216 megapixels: 14,430 x 9,420 resolution
• 13 CCDs arrays
• 14 CPUs
• Generates 3GB of data per second
• Memory stick (OK, memory "box") capacity of up to 1.7TB, enough to hold 4,700 images (memory box is swappable, too!)

I wish I could claim to have known about everything that Microsoft does (and often do claim this anyway), but this "better-than-your-shitty-SLR" toy was brought to my attention courtesy of Channel 10, who in turn credited Mark Brown.  Ain't the web a beautifully interconnected place, eh?

...up a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g...

Well, not quite, but Silverlight and SharePoint really do make a good pairing.

Andrew Connell spills the beans on how to get them procreating with each other here...

The end result is some mutant Web 2.0 child that has his SharePoint dad's good build and frame, but his Silverlight mum's sexy-gorgeous looks.

(Or something like that.  My developer analogies are crap.  I should stick with IT Pro stuff.)

Been hiding under a rock?  No idea what WESS/SBS/EBS are?  If that's you, pay heed to Sonal, who has the following to say:

---

All,

Thanks for your interest in the new WESS products, here’s a quick heads up -

The new Windows Essential Server Solutions (WESS) products, which include Windows Small Business Server 2008 and the all new Windows Essential Business Server 2008, are being launched later this year.  Those wanting to evaluate SBS 2008 can visit the public preview site.  EBS 2008 is also available for evaluation.  The customer facing site, www.multiplyyourpower.com should also be updated later today so ‘watch this space’ :)

Could you please spread the word, and share the news with your peers?  We’ll be sending official updates out through newsletters etc soon

Shout if you have any questions,

Thanks

Sonal

Sonal Gathani | Marketing Product Manager | Infrastructure Server Marketing | Microsoft UK Ltd | +44(0)<snip> | <snip>@microsoft.com |www.microsoft.com/essential |

Microsoft Limited (company number 01624297) is a company registered in England and Wales whose registered office is at Microsoft Campus, Thames Valley Park, Reading. RG6 1WG

---

If you're an IT partner, go spread the word even further...  Ta!

If you happen to be one (a developer, that is), then you need to head over to Microsoft's Professional Developers Conference (PDC) 2008 - taking place in the lovely Los Angeles between 26th to 30th October later this year.  Click on the image below to get taken straight to the preliminary list of sessions - the full PDC will contain more than 160 of them over the four days...

What...?  Still not frantically clicking away and booking yet...?  Then you're not a real developer, are you...?  (You wannabe...)

As we all know, Microsoft Silverlight is going to be (one of) the web's Next Big Thing.

Alas - I'm not a developer.  So, come the dawning of the new era, I will fade away into the background like COBOL programmers.  However, for those of you who nestle away in development environments all your waking life, you may want to think about embracing this... Silverlight.

Behold!  Friendly chaps Mike Taulty and Mike Ormond have created a series of screencasts to help you get to grips with this new-fangled way of working.  Head over to the Silverlight Screencasts page now, before the next generation of young developers mock you like we did the FORTRAN generation before us!

Yay!  I finally have access to Live Mesh!  (Go use that hyperlink to apply - may take a bit of time, but you'll get it eventually.)

What is Live Mesh, you ask?  Well - very briefly, it's an amalgamation of various Microsoft technologies that allows you to sync files between your computers, access your PC from any web browser, and upload files for anytime/anywhere access to the (Microsoft) Cloud.

Getting horny for some more info?  Then visit this page...

I've already added my main Tablet PC (named Wakko - can you get the reference?) and WMC (a Sony VAIO which runs Windows Media Center via Windows Vista Ultimate) to the Mesh - will be using it to sync my recorded TV onto the cloud so I can watch it anywhere...  I can't wait until they have mobile phone access...  (And yes, Mac users, apparently Microsoft loves you too, and there will be a Mac Mesh client soon...)

I'll let you know how I get on...!

• Oww... my head hurts!  Last night was... insane.  So much happened...!  A quick recap of highlights I can remember:
  • Presenting our course instructor with "some bubbly!" (you'll have needed to be on the course to get that reference).  The bottle had a vibrating cock ring slipped onto it (and was actually vibrating when presented), along with a fresh, still-in-the-box one handed over as part of the overall gift from us students to our instructor.
  • Nubile young female Oxford graduates descending upon us.  There must have been a graduation party of some sort - men actually wore top hats, white gloves and walking canes, and women in an assortment of expensive dresses.  Ah - girls in expensive dresses.  Visual nirvana...!
  • The Eurovision Contest - managed to spark various political debates, for some reason (e.g. since when was Russia a part of Europe...?)
  • Tequila Slammers.  Oh dear...!  Ciaran, in particular, was knocking these back like a lunatic - I'm well impressed.  And to think, I thought he was a respectably quiet chat - it appears the Irishman in him broke free and ran riot for the evening!  :)
  • Watching dirty Oxford girls playing on a "Sofa of Pervy Fun" - they managed to lift their skirts up for cheeky peeks, so that their female accomplices could take photos up there!
  • Watching Tom spectacularly failing to pull - he later sat at the aforementioned "Sofa of Pervy Fun", with a full bottle of champagne and several empty glasses, waiting for the inevitable approach from the females.  Rob and I tried encouraging him to join the main group - got lambasted for sitting beside him and scaring away all the girls (of which there was no sight of).
  • Cock Ring races - not quite as exciting as one would have expected!  Tied to champagne bottle corks, they merely vibrated in circles around the drinks table.  Alas - it was also a very one-sided race - one of the cock rings had been broken out earlier on in the week and was, er, used to amuse people...  (Not in that way, you dirty-minded bugger!)  Watch them fight to the death.
  • Debating the principle (or lack thereof) of parking over two spaces.  I maintain that, no matter the cost of your car, you simply can't park over two parking spaces.  Andy maintains that, given the cost of car and possible repairs, you'd be OK to park over two parking spaces.  I accuse Andy of being a cock.  Andy accuses me of having too much money and no common sense.  We agree to disagree... :)
  • Other than that - just much drinking and merriment...
• What a mad, mad week.  It has been a long, gruelling, frustrating, tiring, intense week.  It has also been riotously drunken, loud, fun, laid-back and, well, randomly mad.  I doubt I will ever again attend such an intense training course, interspersed with drunken nights (followed by tough exams the next morning), flying cock-rings, sabotaging the course slides, brilliant food (the mad burgers and birthday cake being the big highlights).
• Overall, the people were, well, just brilliant (and that includes our course instructor).  With the exception of Twatboy and Randomboy (Dave/Pooch/Porch/Paul/Whatever), everyone in our course gelled extremely well - I've never seen a random group dynamic like this before.  Everyone just worked well with each other, and had an insane amount of laughs when we could.  I'm so very glad that I'll be catching up with at least a few of them at the Worldwide Partner Conference in Houston in two months' time...
• I've come back from the course feeling so utterly energised, and in such an ebullient mood!  It has been, for me, possibly the best week I've had for many, many years.  Forgot about work completely (no time to think!), just got the coursework and exams done, and played and drunk insanely.  Very, very much summed up by that old, overused adage: Work hard; play hard.
• I'll pop the photos up on the Home Server this weekend (and will drop a quick blog note), but in the meantime...

• Stressing like mad.  Was at the bar until 00:30 last night, drinking a fair bit (quite a few shots of whisky, triple Southern Comforts) - just couldn't be arsed with the course at that time of night.
• Got up at 6am.  Decided I'm going to give this a stab.  I haven't really taken in any of this course (8912) so far, so I really need to get my head down.  All nonsense though - entities and relationships and shite - do I look like a developer?!?
• Loud music aids study.  That's always been the case, but never truer than today.  Three cans of Red Bull, a selection of loud game and film music, and the ability to be really antisocial and to blot out the world around me.  Excellent - managed to cover the entire course in enough depth to keep me satisfied and guilt-free...
• Trying to get banned from the training centre, but failing.  Each time you sit an exam, you have to empty your pockets and remove excess layers of clothing.  One of the standard questions is "do you have anything in your pockets?".  Last time around, I replied "only a small sidearm, in case I do badly".  This time around, it was "just a vibrating cock ring", although to be fair, I did leave it sitting on my desk (don't ask).
• Yay!  Final pass!  Drinkie-poos!

• Well - succeeded in getting at least slightly tipsy!  Managed to knock back several doubles of Captain Morgans and Southern Comforts.  Left the bar at 02:30 (could have gone on a bit longer, but I think the bar guy was hoping we'd leave so he could go home).
• Back into the training centre at 07:45 to catch up with stuff.  Feeling OK (if tired), and moving onto the next module of the course.  Still - I can't match Tom.  He could barely keep his balance last night (maybe because he was having birthday drinks consisting of triple and quadruple shots), and I believe his vision was blurry.  Yet, he's sitting in the row in front of me just now, digging deep into Dynamics CRM 4.0 and playing around with custom entities and custom relationships on the virtual machines...  I'm slouching on my seat, feeling sleepy and not taking much in.
• Ah yes...  Felt like I'm beginning to get a feel of what I can get away with here... :)  Edited the instructor slides before the instructor arrived for the morning.  Objectives of the module ahead read:
  • Identify the various types of supported relationships that can link system and custom entities
  • Identify the types of relationships that are not supported by the system
  • Understand how 1:N relationship rules control how certain actions taken on a record affect related records
  • Create entity relationships and configuring relationship behaviour
  • Discuss how attribute mapping facilitates data entry when creating new records that are related to a parent record
  • Vibrating Co*k Rings
  • Class took it in humour, and it injected some levity to the proceedings before kicking off this soul-destroying module...
• 13:47 - Stan sleepy.  He's had a massive burger for lunch, and needs a snooze now.  I may have to semi-nap in this lecture...
• 15:14 - Stan trying to ruin instructor's reputation!  As we're taking a break, Stan posted a picture of <censored>.  [What takes place in training, stays in training...] :)
• Afternoon-ish - really can't be bothered any more.  Tired and stroppy.  Bah.  Going outside to listen to loud music instead.
• Had a case study - had to be all "Professional Consultant" Stan for a moment.  Vaguely pulled it off, I think.
• At the bar, going to get drunk!  Jings - I sound like a raving alcoholic!  I've probably spent more time drinking at the hotel bar this week than I've been out since the start of this year!

• Huzzah.  Retired at half-past midnight, and read a bit more.  Spent another hour or so reading, so got 5(ish) hours sleep tonight.  Still in a bad mood, though.
• Re-sat exam MB2-632.  Passed.  Still wrote a bunch of stroppy comments to Microsoft as feedback.  Deliberately answered some questions wrongly, because although I know what the "correct" answer was for the exam, it was not the correct answer for the final release of the software.  Scored a low pass because of this (well, that's my stroppy excuse anyway).  At least I had time a second time round to finish writing my rants about the exam questions.  The buggers.  I've now sent an e-mail to the Manager of Microsoft Dynamics for Scotland to let him know that I'm unhappy about the course content.
• 10:26 - currently feeling mixed between happy and stroppy.  Having a short break at the moment.  Planning to get horrendously trashed this evening at the bar.  Even our Microsoft rep is coming to the bar (bottle of champagne being mooted).  It's also Tom's birthday today, so it'd be nice to get wrecked!  :)
• 11:00 - Hayley (our resident Microsoft PTS) has informed us that Microsoft is aware, and rectifying, the content for MB2-632.  The course material and some exam questions will now be revised and re-issued by June (which is pretty fast escalation, considering the size and complexity of Microsoft).  Everyone in our class is getting an apology e-mail and exam vouchers.  That was quick, considering the majority of feedback came to Microsoft only yesterday...!  I am now considerably less stroppy... :)
• Music truly does soothe the soul.  Spent the lab time listening to the Halo 3 soundtrack while working on CRM on virtual machines - that was most relaxing.  Had to just sit back and close my eyes for the final track (Bonus Track: Finish the Fight).  Then started listening to the Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess soundtrack.  The final End Credits (Part 1) track was so moving, I had to take my headphones and Tablet PC outdoors, sat back and just stared at the countryside, listening to the track on loop.  What an uplifting experience - made me feel much happier about things, and put this course into a bit more perspective.  The music actually brought a small tear to my eye... (sad to say!).
• Finished "early" (at 19:30) today - everyone was getting to frazzled, so we broke out early today to do personal study and lab time.  Andy, Tom (it's his birthday, after all) and I headed out to the hotel bar to start drinking.  Other people flitted in and out over the course of the evening, but the three of us pretty much held up the fort...

• Slept for all of three hours, once I had tried to do some fairly drunken last-minute cramming.
• Starting to sulk.  Mainly because I haven't spent the time I needed to cover the course material.  Took one of the outdoor chairs, roamed into the wilderness around the training centre, and just sat for a couple of hours studying.
• Finished studying.  Feeling better that I have done all I can do to sit the exam (for the moment).
• F*ck.  Failed exam.  Hope it wasn't because of last night.  Having said that, I don't think it was due to the massive alcohol intake - I personally felt I couldn't have gained anything further from the (shoddy) course material.
  • No-one passed, which made me feel a tad bit better.  This included our Microsoft reps and twat-boy (although they did score slightly higher than me).
  • Apparently, global pass figures are extremely low.  Corp (MS head office, to those not up to speed in Microsoft-lingo) is already aware of this and is putting things into motion to sort this out - doesn't help with the fact that we failed the exam, though.  Only a couple of people have passed this exam in the UK.
  • First exam I've ever sat where I ran out of time (15 minutes) writing comments on the questions - there were some seriously bad wording and types of questions.  If this were a Windows Vista exam, this would be an equivalent question:
    • Question: You want to see the contents of the local C:\ drive.  What is the most efficient way to do this?  (Choose one correct answer):
    • Option 1: Click the Start button, click Computer, double-click the C:\ drive
    • Option 2: Press WIN+E shortcut key and navigate to the C:\ drive
    • Option 3: Click the Start button, and type C:\
    • Option 4: Click the Start button, and type Explorer.  Double click the C:\ drive
    • [As you can see - all very similar and get the job done.  So, do we really need pedantic questions like these to prove we know the product inside out?]
    • Enough about the exam, though.  It was... shite.
• Toys.  Pram.  Am (becoming more) aware that I very quickly go off in a sulky huff when I don't get what I want.  Personalised business cards with irrelevant job titles (although I eventually got those), exam passes...  it's getting easier for me to get in a right strop in my old age.  I just tucked my head into my hoodie for the rest of the afternoon, absorbing the next course through the fabric of my clothing.
• Went on a (mini) piss-up again.  a couple of shots of whisky - really want to re-sit the failed exam tomorrow morning, y'see, so can't get blindingly drunk.  Discovered that powdered hot chocolate from Cadbury's is actually quite nice...!
• Bar staff - what a nice bunch.  Sat down with us for a drink, and related some of the more entertaining stories on what's happened in the bar in the past (gays, fights, gay fights, insurance conventions, etc).
• People update:
  • Dave: Turned up late today.  Did the exam in 10 minutes (out of 100 minutes), failed, and had actually buggered off from the course by the time I got out.  Decided that he is definitely a wanker - what a waste of time and money.  He was generous, in a "look at me, I have lots of money and eat in The Ivory" way.  I know I'm quite a bit like that, but he crossed the line.  Glad he's gone, but I'll give him this, he was a comedy character.
  • Twatboy: Right - have decided he really is a twat.  A handful of folk who are planning to re-sit got together to discuss the areas that we were weak on, without breaching Microsoft's NDA on exams.  Twatboy hung around for the first few questions, then stood up, announced that he got the answers he now needed to pass the exam, and promptly left.  The rest of us were sharing our collective knowledge on CRM for the next 3 hours, well into 22:30 in the evening.
  • MB2-632 Study Group: Bonded really well with the rest of the study group - the five of us (plus instructor) got on really well - probably the most productive 3 hours spent in the entire week so far...
  • Richard2: Found out he was training to be a lawyer - bar exam coming up very shortly!  Admirable, doing long night-shifts and studying intensely at the same time.  Puts my 8-day jaunt to shame!

• Didn't get much sleep (around 4 hours, I think).  Ah well - that's what these courses are for.
• Spent the entire day going over course material.  Starting to lose ability to retain information.
• Got reasonably drunk.  There was only a small group of us at the bar (understandable, considering the exam tomorrow).  Six of us, plus instructor.  Look at the booze...!

• It did get a bit out of hand in the latter part of the evening.  Tom and I decided that it was the right moment to buy... The Toy.  Oh - how the frivolity ensued.  The Toy was chucked around the group, wrapped over the neck of a champagne bottle, posed alongside various study members, and entertained us by wobbling violently over the ice in the champagne bucket.  How juvenile we were (well, maybe a select handful of us, I'm sure everyone else was just embarrassed!).  I'll pop the full set of photos up on the Home Server when I get, you know, home, but in the meantime...

• People update:
  • Dave: Called Poncho, real name Paul.  We just call him Dave, because he seems like a Dave (everyone knows a Dave).  Not sure whether to like him or not.  Bought two bottles of champagne, and ultimately spent about £250 at the hotel bar.  Generous, but maybe a bit too extrovert?  Related a story of how he planted Rohypnol on one of his sales guys at a night out, called the police, told them his sales guy was spiking drinks, and got him arrested for a laugh.  Had to pick him up from jail the next morning, and confessed he had planted the drug as a prank.  Don't know if it's true or not, but basically made me suspect he is a wanker.
  • Sally: Despite the slight age gap, I admire her ability to join the lads at the bar and get reasonably plastered, the night before an exam!  Living proof you don't have to "grow up"...
  • Ryan: Decided that he's very down to earth, fun, yet sensible enough.  What more can you say...?  :)
  • Tom: Jesus - he's loud.  In a most amusing way, though.  Can maybe irritate people during course and lab time (well, you really do need quiet time during these sessions), but an excellent laugh all round.  Has the same mental maturity level as me (i.e. pre-pubescent teenager), so we both behave like children!
  • Adrian: Our instructor out again...?  He's turning out to be an excellent laugh!  Helps make the serious 14-hour training sessions more bearable and entertaining...!
  • Cockboy (my title for Andy for the evening): Actually, he's alright (despite my new label for him)!  Seems sound enough, and a good laugh.  Gets on well with everybody.  Still, I'm calling him a cock because:
    • He drives a BMW which, as everyone knows, is driven by arrogant sales buggers and other general cocks
    • He professes to always parking over two parking spaces.  That's just cock-ish behaviour!
  • Bar staff! (Richard1 and Richard2): Both sound guys - had drinks with us after closing time (we were all settled comfortably on our sofas).  Both agreed that Dave was a bit of a wanker.  I bow to their superior experience with human interaction (my thoughts is that you have to be a dab hand at this to serve at a posh hotel bar), so has only strengthened my opinion of wanker-status.

• Distinct lack of sleep, but as it's the start of the week, I'm still faring very well... :)
• Sat the first exam (MB2-633) this morning.  Passed.  Only a handful of us did, though (less than 50% of our class), so I had to be pretty courteous and not celebrate too outrageously.
• Started Course 8913.  What a load of shite.  Student manual - shite.  Presenter slides - shite.  I feel sorry for our instructor - he has to struggle with this content, trying to second-guess exactly what Microsoft means (remember, what Microsoft means is not related to the real-world a lot of the time, so our trainer's extensive real-world experience doesn't always help us for the artificiality of this course).
• Whole day spent doing intensive training.  Nothing else to report... :(
• Ended up at the hotel bar (this looks to be a recurring theme for the week...).  Had a few drinks (three/four double-shots of Glenfiddich, a double-shot of Baileys as a night-cap).  Staggered back up, and studied some more.
• People update:
• Nunzio (Microsoft Malta): What an utter sex encyclopedia!  Knows far too much about the porn industry (drilled double-dildos used as yacht moorings - well I never!).  Our conversation descended into discussing how Microsoft technologies has helped the on-line porn industry (streaming video technology and DRM, specifically).
• Tom: Went to the main hotel toilets - found that the vending machine is stuffed with fun!  What interests me most is the vibrating cock-ring - never knew such tools existed!  So tempted to vend one out for a laugh - only £6.00!
• Adrian: Cool - came out for some drinks!  It's very cool when Instructors can wind down as well and get involved with the more social side of things - even though some of the conversation was very techie (well - we're all in the IT industry - what do you expect?).

No time to write massive comprehensive essays on the minutiae of my life here in the CRM course.  So - welcome to the Executive Summary of my life for the next week:

• Continued Course 8911.  That was it, really.  Started at 08:30, finished at 22:15, headed to the bar, then studied afterwards.
• Started to get to know people.  Quickly skimming over everyone:
  • Twatboy: In IT courses, there's always one person who seems socially dysfunctional and can't interact with people properly.  Luckily for me this time around, there's someone worse than me in this respect!  To be honest, I haven't really spoken to the guy, so he could be very sound.  In the meantime, though, I'll go by first impressions - arrogant twat.  Thumbs down...!
  • Hayley: A spy amongst us, planted by Microsoft!  Hayley is a PTS in the Dynamics team based in TVP.  (If you don't know Microsoft acronyms, you're not likely to care.)  Seems really enthusiastic and helpful.  Thumbs up! (I'm not just kissing Microsoft ass, honest!)
  • Pam: Very quiet, mature lady.  Very pleasant and polite.  Thumbs up!
  • Ciaran: Been an IT professional for some time.  All very sensible, professional and mature.  Slightly intimidated by his "proper" behaviour - dunno what he'll make of me (we sit next to each other)...  Thumbs up, though!
  • Ruth: Bit more outspoken than Pam.  also very pleasant and polite.  Will probably be mortally offend her by the end of the week with my usual antics.  Thumbs up!
  • Rob: Haven't really spoken to him at all.   Seems cool, though.  Thumbs up!
  • Mark: Owns his own consultancy company down somewhere near Cornwall.  Very much an outdoors type person, but turned family man.  Thumbs up!
  • Sally: Pretty much lumped with Pam and Ruth...  Is very quiet and polite, and most likely to be pissed off with my loutish behaviour before long...!
  • Tom: Well - it's a relief that I also won't be the loudest and most disruptive here - that prize goes to Tom.  Other than that - seems to be as mentally immature as I am, which is good in my books!  :)  Thumbs up!
  • Andy: Works with Tom - obviously a bit more senior, as he's a bit more responsible.  Still a good laugh, though, so another alright guy.  Thumbs up!
  • Ryan: Another Scots (and yes, I know my claim to being a Scot is somewhat tentative, given my pigmentation).  Hails from Inverness, and seems to be one of those scary developer-types (I'm frightened by all developers - their minds are too methodical and logical.  I reckon they're all robots slowly taking over our planet).  Very laid back and funny, though.  Thumbs up!
  • Nunzio: Comes from Microsoft, but their Malta office (of all places!).  He's a PTS in ERP and CRM there - seems to have consulted on many large scale projects.  Thumbs up!
  • Adrian (our Trainer): Spends his professional life doing CRM deployments for mid-sized and enterprise companies, so knows what he's talking about.  Seems very down-to-earth, and a generally laid back instructor (which is good, given a course this length and intensity).  Thumbs up!
  • Randomboy: Turned up a day late for our course!  Was still in the pub this morning - obviously didn't realise that although the course technically starts today, it actually started at 6pm on the Sat (we were warned about this in the induction material which Randomboy didn't read).  He's Random because I don't know his name.  He calls himself Porch, which is just silly.  Thumbs... wavering...

Having left Edinburgh at 08:30 this morning, I arrived at Heythrop Park in good time, although maybe a bit tired...

What I wasn't really expecting was to be launching into our course straight away - our CRM course technically starts tomorrow, after all...

However, between 18:00 and 21:15 today, we've already covered the first three chapters of Microsoft Dynamics CRM course 8911.  We'll be cramming the remaining five chapters tomorrow, with an exam to follow on Monday morning.  Fun!

One gripe though - so anyone working for MSFT and with influence in the Dynamics or Learning spheres, take note...

Yes, I realise that final RTM of Dynamics CRM 4.0 is not more than a few months old.  Yes, I realise that the training material we've been provided is probably less than a month old (in final form).  And yes, I realise that due to time constraints, you've had to modify the CRM 3.0 course material, updating it to cover 4.0.

But please, can you thoroughly check the training material?  We're only a couple hours in, and already I see errors in the student material (someone forget that CRM 4.0 also supports Windows Server 2003 mixed Active Directory Service mode?) and the presenter material (you sure read-only clients don't consume a CAL of any sort... you totally sure about that?).

Well, that's about all I want to get off my (lardy) chest.  Back to the grinding mill - got to review the content so far, and prep for tomorrow's material...!

Well, not quite... :)

You remember when I blogged about that cool big table (which I'm still determined to buy once it becomes commercially available)?  Microsoft Surface - it drove me to use expletives (such was its impressiveness, if you need clarification).

You also remember the "big ass table" parody of Surface?

Parody of Microsoft Surface

Well, there is now an even bigger-ass table.  Only, it's not a table (well, forgive the tenuous link, but you'll appreciate what I'm getting at).

Ladies and gentlemen... prepare to get all excited over TouchWall!

It's Surface's touch computing, only on a whiteboard-style display.  The technology will cost hundreds, rather than thousands, of pounds (although it is purely a touch display technology, unlike Surface's cool ability to do Wi-Fi and all that jazz).

More details at TechCrunch (who also have a funky video of all this working).

Much as I'd like to claim credit for this find, I found out about this from Josh Phillips's blog, who in turn heard about this from Steve Clayton (the one and only!).  Pff - isn't this new-fangled Internet a cool thing, eh?  :)

Well - technically the waiting officially began on the 10th Sep 07, back when I paid a deposit to put my name on the list for one of these:

However, after much "hmm..."ing and "haa..."ing this morning, I have provided a final specification to the dealer.

So - come sometime in Oct/Nov (2008), I'll expect you all to attend my funeral, having died in some tragic high-speed accident involving my new Audi RS 6 Avant.

(Also - while the order was being placed, I had a cheeky look at the dealer's ordering system.  It appears that Aberdeen are getting only 10 of these for the next year - I feel special... :)!

Well, new phone, to be more specific.

HTC announced their Touch Diamond device this morning.  Bah - and I was already waiting for Sony Ericsson to release the XPERIA X1.

So...

  vs.

Having said all of that, I guess this is all rather moot for me.  Y'see - I already carry two mobiles with me anyway.  Currently the HTC Touch and the HTC TyTN II.

I'll let you know when I get my grubby shiny-destroying mitts on either one of these new handsets...