Today we were an oiled machine at the BDTA exhibition, which was even busier than the previous days. The weight of free gifts and bags that people had to carry increased during the day – with the more enterprising having brought trolleys to save their backs.
I did manage to continue my search for more photographs during the lunch time lull. Then it was back to the stand until the pace slowed to a drip at around 4pm.
Mr Viesteg had already left for his flight back to Ireland. I stayed till just after close at five, bade my farewells and then took the long walk along NEC corridors to Birmingham International to catch the train home.
Mrs T picked me up and I was back in my own home by 9:30pm
Showing posts with label exhibition. Show all posts
Showing posts with label exhibition. Show all posts
Saturday, 22 October 2011
Friday, 21st October. NEC & Birmingham City Centre
I shared a room with Mr Viesteg, our stand's German dentist (who spoke with a delightfully impeccable Irish lilt) a circumstance which on German terms immediately put us on the informal Du. With us both being snorers, it also put us on equal footing for the night – in separate beds of course.
The Elmond guest room we were staying in had the remarkable feature of the bathroom being bigger than the sleeping area. Downstairs, we found that we were the first to breakfast – but soon the others joined us and we returned for the second day at the NEC.
It took a while for the visitors to trickle through from the main entrance and then it back into our routine. It was good that we had practiced yesterday as there was a greater flow and often all five of us would be busy talking to dentists, dental nurses, students, lecturers.
Towards five pm, the masses had disappeared and things became quiet again. I set out with the camera to take pictures of interesting close up details at other stands.
Tonight, we took a taxi to the centre of Birmingham, to the canals by Broad Street for a meal at the Handmade Burger. Afterwards, Mr Heker took us on a tour of the near vicinity, displaying an embarrassing knowledge of the area as a German, compared to myself as the only Englishman of the team.
At 11pm we returned to the agreed pick-up point where the canal crosses Broad St where people were massing for the pubs and clubs. In addition to the police who, in pairs, were keeping an eye on events, there was a patrol of City Pastors. They were there to also offer their own form af human assistance to anyone who needed it.
Both Mr Heker and I tried some photography; with the small camera, I was only really able to photograph two exotically dressed figures outside Walkabout, who were amusing the queue to enter to what they told me was a giant bouncy castle! I almost wanted to go in.
We thought it was busy, but one of the bobbies drily informed me that it would get busier, they were there till five am – and you should be there Saturdays!
Mr Viesteg and I had been moved to another room, which was, sizewise, the antithesis of the previous night's room; it was in the eaves and the bathroom was very much smaller.
We were amused first by a sign: “Notice to all Guests. Please do not take curry meals back to rooms as the sauce destroys the bedding”. Then we we could only fill our kettle for a late night drink from the shower – once we had worked out how to operate it.
The news headline of the day was the capture and death of Colonel Gaddhafi , apparently found hiding in a drain in Sirte.
The Elmond guest room we were staying in had the remarkable feature of the bathroom being bigger than the sleeping area. Downstairs, we found that we were the first to breakfast – but soon the others joined us and we returned for the second day at the NEC.
It took a while for the visitors to trickle through from the main entrance and then it back into our routine. It was good that we had practiced yesterday as there was a greater flow and often all five of us would be busy talking to dentists, dental nurses, students, lecturers.
Towards five pm, the masses had disappeared and things became quiet again. I set out with the camera to take pictures of interesting close up details at other stands.
Tonight, we took a taxi to the centre of Birmingham, to the canals by Broad Street for a meal at the Handmade Burger. Afterwards, Mr Heker took us on a tour of the near vicinity, displaying an embarrassing knowledge of the area as a German, compared to myself as the only Englishman of the team.
At 11pm we returned to the agreed pick-up point where the canal crosses Broad St where people were massing for the pubs and clubs. In addition to the police who, in pairs, were keeping an eye on events, there was a patrol of City Pastors. They were there to also offer their own form af human assistance to anyone who needed it.
Both Mr Heker and I tried some photography; with the small camera, I was only really able to photograph two exotically dressed figures outside Walkabout, who were amusing the queue to enter to what they told me was a giant bouncy castle! I almost wanted to go in.
We thought it was busy, but one of the bobbies drily informed me that it would get busier, they were there till five am – and you should be there Saturdays!
Mr Viesteg and I had been moved to another room, which was, sizewise, the antithesis of the previous night's room; it was in the eaves and the bathroom was very much smaller.
We were amused first by a sign: “Notice to all Guests. Please do not take curry meals back to rooms as the sauce destroys the bedding”. Then we we could only fill our kettle for a late night drink from the shower – once we had worked out how to operate it.
The news headline of the day was the capture and death of Colonel Gaddhafi , apparently found hiding in a drain in Sirte.
Thursday, 20 October 2011
Birmingham NEC with Mr Heker and Friends, from wine to beer
An hour into my train journey from Cambridge to Birmingham saw the sun rise briefly colouring the morning sky gold before a bank of clouds took over. A regular change of passengers sitting beside me occurred, beginning with a cycling student to parents off to Cadbury Worls with three young girls actively crayoning pictures to pass the time.
At the NEC I met up with Mr Heker and party at stand Y06, hall 5, BDTA Exhibtion. Whilst today was a gentle day in terms of visitors to the Hall, we had a sufficient number of dentists, dental students and journalists on whom we gradually honed our pitches on the benefits and examples of double crown attachments. With a dentist, two dental technicians, girl Friday and myself as communicator, we soon worked as a team,
Weary of standing by the end of the day, we checked into our Guest House in Solihull and then went out for a meal in the nearby Harvester.
Our conversation started soberly on Europe and the current crisis, to be enlivened by the arrival of wine in a carafe shaped like the urine waste collectors in hospitals and with a straw coloured liquid that the service assured us he had filled himself.
As the wine and beer flowed, talk migrated around ever increasingly ludicrous tales of travel by air and sea to end on the serious subject of German beer.
The different beers and ales had been served in glasses frosted on the inside base with the mark of the brewer. This raised consternation amongst my merry German friends. Surely this would cause the beer to go flat quicker!
The German beer purity laws were invoked with warnings of dire consequences if such mistreatment of glasses and deflation of beer were attempted there. The outrage segued into a soulful reflection on the true origin of beer - as food for fasting monks - becoming the endnote of the meal and evening's putting the world to rights as we returned to our rooms for the night.
At the NEC I met up with Mr Heker and party at stand Y06, hall 5, BDTA Exhibtion. Whilst today was a gentle day in terms of visitors to the Hall, we had a sufficient number of dentists, dental students and journalists on whom we gradually honed our pitches on the benefits and examples of double crown attachments. With a dentist, two dental technicians, girl Friday and myself as communicator, we soon worked as a team,
Weary of standing by the end of the day, we checked into our Guest House in Solihull and then went out for a meal in the nearby Harvester.
Our conversation started soberly on Europe and the current crisis, to be enlivened by the arrival of wine in a carafe shaped like the urine waste collectors in hospitals and with a straw coloured liquid that the service assured us he had filled himself.
As the wine and beer flowed, talk migrated around ever increasingly ludicrous tales of travel by air and sea to end on the serious subject of German beer.
The different beers and ales had been served in glasses frosted on the inside base with the mark of the brewer. This raised consternation amongst my merry German friends. Surely this would cause the beer to go flat quicker!
The German beer purity laws were invoked with warnings of dire consequences if such mistreatment of glasses and deflation of beer were attempted there. The outrage segued into a soulful reflection on the true origin of beer - as food for fasting monks - becoming the endnote of the meal and evening's putting the world to rights as we returned to our rooms for the night.
Friday, 7 October 2011
Thu, 15th Sep.: Quick response to web site hijack Then off to New Wood Green Business Exhibition
The last leg to complete a vital project report on a year's work to help with the invoice submission in conjuction with my other collaborative partner.
Not a day for interruptions really, so naturally a major one had to come my way.
Mr Heker, checking out my company website, queried the e-mail. I went to have a look and found that my site had been hacked – e-mail address and telephone number changed and a whole set of articles on tobacco and cigarettes added!
I was onto the telephone to Mr Beal like a shot; his company hosts my website. Fortunately, we had already been working on an upgrade to my site. This was the time to change the site username and password and replace the old with the new upgrade.
The new site is not perfect, but I now have the impetus to work on it. Returning to the report, I managed to finish by about 5pm.
A quick change into business dress and it was off to Wood Green to check out a new Business Exhibition, organised by Mr Cooney. The ambition was to be a new concept, not only having businesses networking and educational presentations but also including entertainment acts.
Whilst there were a number of familiar friends and faces, exhibiting and wandering around, there were also a number of companies who would not have been at other business exhibitions. Returning back home, I wrote a short blog article - New Business Exhibition at Wood Green - to go on the Miltoncontact blog.
Mr Heker, checking out my company website, queried the e-mail. I went to have a look and found that my site had been hacked – e-mail address and telephone number changed and a whole set of articles on tobacco and cigarettes added!
I was onto the telephone to Mr Beal like a shot; his company hosts my website. Fortunately, we had already been working on an upgrade to my site. This was the time to change the site username and password and replace the old with the new upgrade.
The new site is not perfect, but I now have the impetus to work on it. Returning to the report, I managed to finish by about 5pm.
A quick change into business dress and it was off to Wood Green to check out a new Business Exhibition, organised by Mr Cooney. The ambition was to be a new concept, not only having businesses networking and educational presentations but also including entertainment acts.
Whilst there were a number of familiar friends and faces, exhibiting and wandering around, there were also a number of companies who would not have been at other business exhibitions. Returning back home, I wrote a short blog article - New Business Exhibition at Wood Green - to go on the Miltoncontact blog.
Sunday, 7 August 2011
The slight disappointment of Whipsnade
Thursday, 28th July: The whole family made our outing to Whipsnade zoo. Having visited Banham zoo and Colchester zoo in the past years, we did have high expectations of this zoo as part of the Zoological Society of London.
The tone was set with the entry price which included an optional donation that one had to actively opt out of, the map we were given to find our way around contained inaccuracies and there was no indication of the feeding times of program of events given at the outset.
However, with warm and mainly sunny weather and cameras in hand, we made the best of the day. The impressions that remain from the day were the Maras and small deer that ran around freely, the pigmy hippopotamus mother with her calf, the antedeluvian appearance of the White Rhinos and the lively action at the end of the day at the elephant enclosure.
The tone was set with the entry price which included an optional donation that one had to actively opt out of, the map we were given to find our way around contained inaccuracies and there was no indication of the feeding times of program of events given at the outset.
However, with warm and mainly sunny weather and cameras in hand, we made the best of the day. The impressions that remain from the day were the Maras and small deer that ran around freely, the pigmy hippopotamus mother with her calf, the antedeluvian appearance of the White Rhinos and the lively action at the end of the day at the elephant enclosure.
Fishy photography at the Aquazoo
Sunday 24th July: Sunday had promised to be a dull wet day, so Mr T, Mrs T and my good friend Mr Lingnau visited the Aquazoo – Loebekke Museum in Duesseldorf. The route there was somewhat convoluted as the usual Rhine Ferry was not in action and we ended up queuing in the rain with the hundreds of other visitors who had made the same decision.
Mr Lingnau and I were armed with our cameras and took up the challenge of photographing both static and moving marine and freshwater exhibits. We spent a couple of hours wandering around the circuit, not departing till closing time at 18:00h.
Later that evening, we reviewed our photographs, amazed at the success of some and accepting that others were simply blurred due to the long exposure times.
The photos are now part of the large collection taken in Germany and will need a quiet day to begin selecting and editing the best.
Mr Lingnau and I were armed with our cameras and took up the challenge of photographing both static and moving marine and freshwater exhibits. We spent a couple of hours wandering around the circuit, not departing till closing time at 18:00h.
Later that evening, we reviewed our photographs, amazed at the success of some and accepting that others were simply blurred due to the long exposure times.
The photos are now part of the large collection taken in Germany and will need a quiet day to begin selecting and editing the best.
The Gasometer and it's 616 stairs.
Saturday, 23rd July: Today we did successfully make the trip to the Gasometer, which is actually in Oberhausen, to see the exhibition “Magic Places - Natural and Cultural Monuments of the World” (http://www.gasometer.de/en_GB/index.php?pid=3_1).
The exhibition featured large panels of photographs of natural and geographic features, interspersed with mineral and fossil samples on the ground floow. On the next level, there were beautifully recreated cultural artifacts from the Gipsformerei der Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin (Replica Workshop of the National Museums of Berlin). The low light was a challenge for photography, but I persevered in attempts to capture the bust of Nefertiti.
The centre of the hall was dominated by the giant sculpture of a rainforest tree that loomed up into the vast space and was illuminated by gradually changing lighting.
On the way in to the exhibition, I had noticed that the the outside stairs leading all the way from the bottom to the top of the 100m high gasometer were actually open to the public. After wandering around the exhibition, I moved outside to take up the challenge of making the ascent. An initial rush soon changed to a steady pace. I started counting steps but soon gave up as the stairwell had a varying number of steps around each quarter. I later established that there were 616 steps to a height of 115m (the total height of the Gasometer is 117.5m), making this one of the largest industrial stairs in the world.
At 30m, I was already looking down on a tree-top climbing activity. The view gradually expanded to take in the river, railway and related exhibition areas. The wind also picked up and my ears were beginning to freeze. It took me more than 20 minutes to make the ascent, breathless but with a feeling of achievement.
The exhibition featured large panels of photographs of natural and geographic features, interspersed with mineral and fossil samples on the ground floow. On the next level, there were beautifully recreated cultural artifacts from the Gipsformerei der Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin (Replica Workshop of the National Museums of Berlin). The low light was a challenge for photography, but I persevered in attempts to capture the bust of Nefertiti.
The centre of the hall was dominated by the giant sculpture of a rainforest tree that loomed up into the vast space and was illuminated by gradually changing lighting.
On the way in to the exhibition, I had noticed that the the outside stairs leading all the way from the bottom to the top of the 100m high gasometer were actually open to the public. After wandering around the exhibition, I moved outside to take up the challenge of making the ascent. An initial rush soon changed to a steady pace. I started counting steps but soon gave up as the stairwell had a varying number of steps around each quarter. I later established that there were 616 steps to a height of 115m (the total height of the Gasometer is 117.5m), making this one of the largest industrial stairs in the world.
At 30m, I was already looking down on a tree-top climbing activity. The view gradually expanded to take in the river, railway and related exhibition areas. The wind also picked up and my ears were beginning to freeze. It took me more than 20 minutes to make the ascent, breathless but with a feeling of achievement.
Last Open Studios day and completing work for Business Startup interview
Sunday, 17th July: The last day of my Cambridge Open Studios was accompanied by a steady stream of visitors, with a break over the lunch period. Today's guests were more sight-seers than serious buyers and it was good to see some younger families too.
At the end of the day, I was astonished to find that I had had about 120 visitors over the Open Studios weekends. Now it was over and the pictures came down, the studio turned back into a garage – until the next year.
The startup business notes expanded into 12 separate pages of an illuminated book. Writing a couple of relevant paragraphs took me into the night. I used the BBC i-player to view the Apprentice Final. This allowed me to skip over the filler repeats within the program. It was interesting to see the business plans by the four finalists be presented and taken apart. I was delighted when Tom, inventor and the one person who seemed to almost be out of place due to his positive, constructive and just plain likeable attitude, actually won on merit.
The notes were finished as a PDF book, sent a copy to the Andie Harper Show and uploaded to Issuu for good measure to share with anyone interested. I'd watched the Apprentice Final and, at 4am felt sufficiently well prepared for the Monday Radio interview.
At the end of the day, I was astonished to find that I had had about 120 visitors over the Open Studios weekends. Now it was over and the pictures came down, the studio turned back into a garage – until the next year.
The startup business notes expanded into 12 separate pages of an illuminated book. Writing a couple of relevant paragraphs took me into the night. I used the BBC i-player to view the Apprentice Final. This allowed me to skip over the filler repeats within the program. It was interesting to see the business plans by the four finalists be presented and taken apart. I was delighted when Tom, inventor and the one person who seemed to almost be out of place due to his positive, constructive and just plain likeable attitude, actually won on merit.
The notes were finished as a PDF book, sent a copy to the Andie Harper Show and uploaded to Issuu for good measure to share with anyone interested. I'd watched the Apprentice Final and, at 4am felt sufficiently well prepared for the Monday Radio interview.
Monday, 11 July 2011
Understanding sunflower seeds
Catch-up. Filtering 100+ e-mails. A quick comment on the COS blog. Booked a hire car for busines trip later in the week. The afternoon passed quickly – yet not sure how. Mr Straus had enquired whether he could drop by with his new partner in business and life, Ms J, and arrived for a coffee and conversation in the garden.
Most notable for me today was the late and repeated Imagine television program on the Chinese artists WeiWei. His childhood as a member of a “black” family (ostracised by the cultural revolution) and living underground. Rebellion and emigration to New York. Returning to China after the Tienanmen massacre and becoming part of the new avant garde. It gave me a much better understanding of the sunflower exhibition at the Tate Modern that I visited, and also left me feeling slightly cheated, that I had not been able to walk upon the seeds, touch them, feel them, bury in them as initial visitors had been able to. I could not touch or gaze closely at an individual seed in my hand. Because of safety concerns.
Now of course I could buy 100 on e-bay at £118, but the magic has gone.
Most notable for me today was the late and repeated Imagine television program on the Chinese artists WeiWei. His childhood as a member of a “black” family (ostracised by the cultural revolution) and living underground. Rebellion and emigration to New York. Returning to China after the Tienanmen massacre and becoming part of the new avant garde. It gave me a much better understanding of the sunflower exhibition at the Tate Modern that I visited, and also left me feeling slightly cheated, that I had not been able to walk upon the seeds, touch them, feel them, bury in them as initial visitors had been able to. I could not touch or gaze closely at an individual seed in my hand. Because of safety concerns.
Now of course I could buy 100 on e-bay at £118, but the magic has gone.
Sunday, 10 July 2011
Open Studio, day 2
The (garage) door to my open studio opened slightly ahead of time and I was able to bask in the morning sun for a while before the first visitors arrived. Today was a busier day, though there was a quiet period from about 1pm to 3pm.
Again, there were one or two familiar faces, however many new visitors appeared too, a significant proportion coming specifically to my exhibition. However, many commented on the benefit of having two studios open at the same time, close to one another, and that this was also a major deciding factor. Several independent groups came from St Ives. The furthest origin was from New Zealand, a couple visiting and accompanying their mother who lives in the county.
I was delighted that one young man had seen the invitation to come wearing headgear and be photographed, outlined on my Cambridge Open Studios website entry. He had brought a Fez – I forgot to ask if this was in response to the Dr Who episode featuring one – and wore it unselfconsciously and confidently for the photograph.
A number of parents with mature progeny were also willing to be photographed, mainly mothers and daughters, but I was pleased to also have a father and his two daughters.
The latter had arrived just 10 minutes before the planned close of the studio and it transpired that I was the last visit of a busy day. The two daughters were still college students. Yet they still had such a lively interest and curiosity, that our conversations continued to well after 18:30. It was so refreshing and rewarding, as usually it is the parents that are more vocal, with the youths being more tongue tied.
All in all, there were 57 visitors over the weekend, 19 on Saturday and 38 today. There was lively interest and discussion of the subjects portrayed, however, as in previous years, purchases were on low value items such as postcards. People are also taking the student notes and polarisation info sheet, many of them not students.
The last days of an era are in progress. The last ever space shuttle mission blasted off for space on Friday and docked with the international space station today.
Again, there were one or two familiar faces, however many new visitors appeared too, a significant proportion coming specifically to my exhibition. However, many commented on the benefit of having two studios open at the same time, close to one another, and that this was also a major deciding factor. Several independent groups came from St Ives. The furthest origin was from New Zealand, a couple visiting and accompanying their mother who lives in the county.
I was delighted that one young man had seen the invitation to come wearing headgear and be photographed, outlined on my Cambridge Open Studios website entry. He had brought a Fez – I forgot to ask if this was in response to the Dr Who episode featuring one – and wore it unselfconsciously and confidently for the photograph.
A number of parents with mature progeny were also willing to be photographed, mainly mothers and daughters, but I was pleased to also have a father and his two daughters.
The latter had arrived just 10 minutes before the planned close of the studio and it transpired that I was the last visit of a busy day. The two daughters were still college students. Yet they still had such a lively interest and curiosity, that our conversations continued to well after 18:30. It was so refreshing and rewarding, as usually it is the parents that are more vocal, with the youths being more tongue tied.
All in all, there were 57 visitors over the weekend, 19 on Saturday and 38 today. There was lively interest and discussion of the subjects portrayed, however, as in previous years, purchases were on low value items such as postcards. People are also taking the student notes and polarisation info sheet, many of them not students.
The last days of an era are in progress. The last ever space shuttle mission blasted off for space on Friday and docked with the international space station today.
Saturday, 9 July 2011
The first day of my Cambridge Open Studio for 2011
I had probably not got to sleep before 4 AM in the morning and was therefore less than enthusiastic about the inadvertent sounding of the alarm clock at 7 AM. I managed to sleep for another hour or two before reluctantly clambering out of bed and getting ready for the first of my two Cambridge Open Studio weekend days.
The very first task before the studios opened at 11 AM was to assist Mr Cooper in setting up flags at the end of all road and further along the road towards the main route through Milton, to ensure that visitors could easily find both my studio and that of Mrs Cooper who was exhibiting under her artistic name of Alison Hullyer. We met and chatted with some other villagers on the way, gaining some juicy nuggets of gossip on yet another conflict within a village organisation.
Then it was back to direct our gazebo, under which I intended to sit and paint whilst waiting for visitors to appear. My studio was not only clearly marked with the Cambridge Open Studios flag but also with the banner that Mr Burt of Jamy Ltd had prepared for me a couple of years ago for when I was on the plinth. Walking down to the end of our close, I ascertained that anyone walking past and looking in that direction could not fail to miss the fact that there were two studios open along Hall End.
Sounds drifting over from the playing fields at the other end of the village reminded us of the fact that we were competing against the Milton village fair. I had a scant four visitors before lunchtime. However things picked up during the afternoon and by the end of the day, 19 people had visited my studio, meeting the expected average based on prior experience.
Seated under the gazebo, I took the time to practice my Chinese brush painting. The lack of practice over the past few weeks showed and it took some time to get back into the flow. The gradually improving sketches that were done were added to the special board within the exhibition as examples of practice work.
Now that the first day was over, this Sunday and the following weekend would be less stressful as the familiarity of the open studio set in.
The evening was spent reformatting my now old Asus EeePC and installing the new Natty Narwhal version of Ubuntu. This resulted in a more compact use of storage space and gave me more space for my own files on the little netbook, should I so wish.
Good news by text from Mrs Ekblom – she had returned home and was recuperating after a successful operation.
The very first task before the studios opened at 11 AM was to assist Mr Cooper in setting up flags at the end of all road and further along the road towards the main route through Milton, to ensure that visitors could easily find both my studio and that of Mrs Cooper who was exhibiting under her artistic name of Alison Hullyer. We met and chatted with some other villagers on the way, gaining some juicy nuggets of gossip on yet another conflict within a village organisation.
Then it was back to direct our gazebo, under which I intended to sit and paint whilst waiting for visitors to appear. My studio was not only clearly marked with the Cambridge Open Studios flag but also with the banner that Mr Burt of Jamy Ltd had prepared for me a couple of years ago for when I was on the plinth. Walking down to the end of our close, I ascertained that anyone walking past and looking in that direction could not fail to miss the fact that there were two studios open along Hall End.
Sounds drifting over from the playing fields at the other end of the village reminded us of the fact that we were competing against the Milton village fair. I had a scant four visitors before lunchtime. However things picked up during the afternoon and by the end of the day, 19 people had visited my studio, meeting the expected average based on prior experience.
Seated under the gazebo, I took the time to practice my Chinese brush painting. The lack of practice over the past few weeks showed and it took some time to get back into the flow. The gradually improving sketches that were done were added to the special board within the exhibition as examples of practice work.
Now that the first day was over, this Sunday and the following weekend would be less stressful as the familiarity of the open studio set in.
The evening was spent reformatting my now old Asus EeePC and installing the new Natty Narwhal version of Ubuntu. This resulted in a more compact use of storage space and gave me more space for my own files on the little netbook, should I so wish.
Good news by text from Mrs Ekblom – she had returned home and was recuperating after a successful operation.
Processors, masks and micro beads
Friday - Today was the last day, for the final preparations before the Cambridge Open Studios tomorrow. All the written material that had been generated yesterday needed to be printed out and the pile of written material accumulated on my desk.
This delayed somewhat my departure for the meeting of the Huntingdonshire Business Network, for which I usually permitted at least an hour's travelling time due to the unpredictability of the A 14. It was therefore with considerable surprise that I found myself arriving in Huntingdon on time despite having departed a mere 25 min beforehand. Today's meeting was more of a conversazione, with a number of members having been away on holiday and we just generally catching up on the news. I had also taken along by stereo microscope so that Mr Howell could view the sound sample that he had brought back for me from the Greek island. It also afforded an opportunity to show the other members the lack of detail in the course reproduction of a fake one pound coin.
Progressing onto Mr Beal in Over, the usual Tutor cloud meeting had been deferred due to family circumstances preventing the ladies from attending. However Mr Beal's eyes lit up when I informed him of the presence of a microscope in the car. Mr Beal was battling with the difficult technical issue. For some time now Mr Beal had been purchasing laptops on eBay and repairing them. One of the issues was to reapply sold to the microchips that formed the core of the laptops processor.
In theory the principle was extremely simple. A mask would be oriented over the processor and minute beads of solder would be filled into the mask and then adhered to the processor itself. The practical reality however was a completely different issue. The mask had to be aligned to within the fraction of a millimetre, and also had to be a set height above the processor, so that a single solder bead would fall through the aperture.
Due to the submillimetre size of the solder beads, these were very prone to picking up a static electrical charge that would cause some adjacent pairs of beads to club together. The beads were held onto the processor after having been applied by virtue of thin smear of adhesive. We found that during the heating process, conviction occurred in the liquefied film of the adhesive, resulting in small ridges of liquid that moved the beads across the processor, again causing clumping. We spent a good two hours establishing the facts and practising adjusting the settings to minimise all the complications.
This left a scant 15 min for Mr Beal to inform me of the changes to my website that he had undertaken and how I might myself and new articles and corrections to the same.
Returning back home, my mind was still on the next days open studio. A number of the visitors from previous open Studios have been students who wish to know more about the motivation and background and technicalities of photography through the microscope and how this could be presented in an artistic manner. I thought that I could therefore prepare a short description of the process in advance that the students could take with them, providing them with suitable information for their school projects and minimising the post open studio work that might come my way. The writing and printing off of 10 copies took until late into the evening.
The anticipation of the next days opening of the studio also delayed my getting to sleep.
This delayed somewhat my departure for the meeting of the Huntingdonshire Business Network, for which I usually permitted at least an hour's travelling time due to the unpredictability of the A 14. It was therefore with considerable surprise that I found myself arriving in Huntingdon on time despite having departed a mere 25 min beforehand. Today's meeting was more of a conversazione, with a number of members having been away on holiday and we just generally catching up on the news. I had also taken along by stereo microscope so that Mr Howell could view the sound sample that he had brought back for me from the Greek island. It also afforded an opportunity to show the other members the lack of detail in the course reproduction of a fake one pound coin.
Progressing onto Mr Beal in Over, the usual Tutor cloud meeting had been deferred due to family circumstances preventing the ladies from attending. However Mr Beal's eyes lit up when I informed him of the presence of a microscope in the car. Mr Beal was battling with the difficult technical issue. For some time now Mr Beal had been purchasing laptops on eBay and repairing them. One of the issues was to reapply sold to the microchips that formed the core of the laptops processor.
In theory the principle was extremely simple. A mask would be oriented over the processor and minute beads of solder would be filled into the mask and then adhered to the processor itself. The practical reality however was a completely different issue. The mask had to be aligned to within the fraction of a millimetre, and also had to be a set height above the processor, so that a single solder bead would fall through the aperture.
Due to the submillimetre size of the solder beads, these were very prone to picking up a static electrical charge that would cause some adjacent pairs of beads to club together. The beads were held onto the processor after having been applied by virtue of thin smear of adhesive. We found that during the heating process, conviction occurred in the liquefied film of the adhesive, resulting in small ridges of liquid that moved the beads across the processor, again causing clumping. We spent a good two hours establishing the facts and practising adjusting the settings to minimise all the complications.
This left a scant 15 min for Mr Beal to inform me of the changes to my website that he had undertaken and how I might myself and new articles and corrections to the same.
Returning back home, my mind was still on the next days open studio. A number of the visitors from previous open Studios have been students who wish to know more about the motivation and background and technicalities of photography through the microscope and how this could be presented in an artistic manner. I thought that I could therefore prepare a short description of the process in advance that the students could take with them, providing them with suitable information for their school projects and minimising the post open studio work that might come my way. The writing and printing off of 10 copies took until late into the evening.
The anticipation of the next days opening of the studio also delayed my getting to sleep.
Thursday, 7 July 2011
Dictating v Typing, and the patience of spiders
I was effectively chained to the computer and laptop today, producing labels and other written material for the weekend's Open Studio. Trivial items that still take up a considerable amount of time. However, from this point on, any additions will be icing in the cake.
The activity was enlivened by the use of a new speech recognition software bundled with an earlier purchase, Dragon 11. It is so reminiscent of futuristic fantasies, that when you speak , the words miraculously appear on the screen – with the odd correction or two. I did note that it is still easier for me to coherently type text than to dictate it. I am inclined to believe that this is due to different paths of the brain being used in verbal delivery as opposed to physical typing, though I cannot immediately find a suitable reference. No doubt increased practice will speed up the flow of dictation.
A small item of natural history has been residing patiently in its web on one of my office windows. The specimen is probably a common garden spider, Araneus diadematus, a well known orb weaving spider with a distinctive white cross on it's abdomen. Set up for over a week and tolerated by Mrs T, albeit reluctantly upon my request, It seemed to be in a region particularly devoid of prey.
Today this changed as an irritating slender bodied house fly entered the office, evading capture and eventually hiding in the paperwork by the window. Five minutes later, I looked to the window and saw a triumphant spider dealing with its already wrapped package of a meal with the same body length as itself!
The activity was enlivened by the use of a new speech recognition software bundled with an earlier purchase, Dragon 11. It is so reminiscent of futuristic fantasies, that when you speak , the words miraculously appear on the screen – with the odd correction or two. I did note that it is still easier for me to coherently type text than to dictate it. I am inclined to believe that this is due to different paths of the brain being used in verbal delivery as opposed to physical typing, though I cannot immediately find a suitable reference. No doubt increased practice will speed up the flow of dictation.
A small item of natural history has been residing patiently in its web on one of my office windows. The specimen is probably a common garden spider, Araneus diadematus, a well known orb weaving spider with a distinctive white cross on it's abdomen. Set up for over a week and tolerated by Mrs T, albeit reluctantly upon my request, It seemed to be in a region particularly devoid of prey.
Today this changed as an irritating slender bodied house fly entered the office, evading capture and eventually hiding in the paperwork by the window. Five minutes later, I looked to the window and saw a triumphant spider dealing with its already wrapped package of a meal with the same body length as itself!
Wednesday, 6 July 2011
Hanging pictures for my Open Studio
Most of the day was devoted to my Open Studio preparations. The framed pictures needed to have cord attached ready for hanging. I purchased some fresh white emulsion and polyfiller and then spent an hour in the garage sanding and then filling the holes from previous years exhibitions in the display boards affixed to the walls.
Miss T then valiantly donned protective garb and tackled the re-coating of all the mounting boards with the white emulsion over a couple of hours.
With temperatures in the mid twenties Centigrade, the emulsion dried extremely rapidly, so we progressed to planning the hanging of the chosen collection. Having established a suitable arrangement, we then took another couple of hours to carefully align and hang the pictures.
The slow progress in hanging is due to the need to ensure that there is an underlying structure to the pattern of the pictures, most commonly, ensuing that pictures in a row across a wall all share the same height from the floor at their top side. This gives a clean line to the eye. Second rows and the attention paid to alignment of columns is also critical.
The evening was spent entertainingly at the Huntingdonshire Speakers meeting of our Toastmasters International Club.
The day still left me drained as my body apparently continued to be in recovery from the weekend's illness.
Miss T then valiantly donned protective garb and tackled the re-coating of all the mounting boards with the white emulsion over a couple of hours.
With temperatures in the mid twenties Centigrade, the emulsion dried extremely rapidly, so we progressed to planning the hanging of the chosen collection. Having established a suitable arrangement, we then took another couple of hours to carefully align and hang the pictures.
The slow progress in hanging is due to the need to ensure that there is an underlying structure to the pattern of the pictures, most commonly, ensuing that pictures in a row across a wall all share the same height from the floor at their top side. This gives a clean line to the eye. Second rows and the attention paid to alignment of columns is also critical.
The evening was spent entertainingly at the Huntingdonshire Speakers meeting of our Toastmasters International Club.
The day still left me drained as my body apparently continued to be in recovery from the weekend's illness.
From OCR to Open Studios
Tuesday was a day of catchup. There was an enquiry about a possible translation to be done, based on a PDF containing a news item about Green Ventures in Potsdam. It provided an opportunity to test out the new Omnipage 18 OCR software to convert the article into text.
The complexities included the need to OCR and recognise German text, The fact that the layout of the article included images and text in both fields and columns, plus the start of the article itself began in a column half way down the page and ended with a column at the top, plus additional separate text fields set within the columns; all this made it a challenging opportunity to learn very rapidly how to use the software to positive effect. In the end, the translation was not actually commissioned but I am now much better prepared for similar future challenges.
Yet another interpersonal conflict has arisen, in which I have been involved as an intermediary. Fortunately, fast action and bringing different parties to talk to each other appears to have actually ameliorated a potentially venomous situation.
Today’s news was still full of the impending humanitarian crisis in the Horn of Africa, where 10 million people are being displaced by drought. Save the Children has initiated a campaign which I condone and support.
Dr Maunders dropped by early evening with the prints prepared of my photographs by Mrs Maunders And Miss T assisted in getting these framed and added to the stock of pictures to be displayed at my Cambridge Open Studio this weekend.
The complexities included the need to OCR and recognise German text, The fact that the layout of the article included images and text in both fields and columns, plus the start of the article itself began in a column half way down the page and ended with a column at the top, plus additional separate text fields set within the columns; all this made it a challenging opportunity to learn very rapidly how to use the software to positive effect. In the end, the translation was not actually commissioned but I am now much better prepared for similar future challenges.
Yet another interpersonal conflict has arisen, in which I have been involved as an intermediary. Fortunately, fast action and bringing different parties to talk to each other appears to have actually ameliorated a potentially venomous situation.
Today’s news was still full of the impending humanitarian crisis in the Horn of Africa, where 10 million people are being displaced by drought. Save the Children has initiated a campaign which I condone and support.
Dr Maunders dropped by early evening with the prints prepared of my photographs by Mrs Maunders And Miss T assisted in getting these framed and added to the stock of pictures to be displayed at my Cambridge Open Studio this weekend.
Wednesday, 15 June 2011
Varied tasks, photographic show and missed total lunar eclipse.
A very varied day that included a disappointment, quick modification of a business card design, book chapters to be reviewed, an Icelandic project and planning of a press release!
The evening included a meeting of the Milton Photographic Club, where members congressed for a show and tell of a selection of images. The idea was to review images that could be used for a presentation at the Milton Summer Fair.
Sadly, I missed the total lunar eclipse this evening, primarily due to the cloud cover. However there is the consolation that there will be another on 10th December of this year, though it will not be visible from the UK, as it occurs early to mid afternoon.
The next partial solar eclipse for the UK will be 20th May 2012.
The evening included a meeting of the Milton Photographic Club, where members congressed for a show and tell of a selection of images. The idea was to review images that could be used for a presentation at the Milton Summer Fair.
Sadly, I missed the total lunar eclipse this evening, primarily due to the cloud cover. However there is the consolation that there will be another on 10th December of this year, though it will not be visible from the UK, as it occurs early to mid afternoon.
The next partial solar eclipse for the UK will be 20th May 2012.
Tuesday, 14 June 2011
Elusive client and the consolation of brownies
Chasing an elusive German client with regards to UK visits commitment without success. This contrasted with a positive call from a previous visitor to this island who was enquiring about assistance with another visit and related publicity.
Enjoyed a surprise visit by Mr Little, a trainer in the art of surveying and the technologies involved (see article on “From international boundaries to broomsticks”). I prevailed upon him to stay for dinner.
Evening taken up with a three hour meeting of the Management Team of the Cambridge Open Studios, to assess our progress to date against our objectives and budget. All was working surprisingly well, prior to the actual event of 178 studios opening their doors to the public in July. The marathon event was made more enjoyable by the brownies and drinks provided by our hostess, Ms Lichterman.
Enjoyed a surprise visit by Mr Little, a trainer in the art of surveying and the technologies involved (see article on “From international boundaries to broomsticks”). I prevailed upon him to stay for dinner.
Evening taken up with a three hour meeting of the Management Team of the Cambridge Open Studios, to assess our progress to date against our objectives and budget. All was working surprisingly well, prior to the actual event of 178 studios opening their doors to the public in July. The marathon event was made more enjoyable by the brownies and drinks provided by our hostess, Ms Lichterman.
Thursday, 9 June 2011
Newly published book, QR quilts and inspirational talks
Finalised the data for my Icelandic client and sent of an optimised long list of contacts in readiness for the impending telephone research.
Received a copy of Malcolm Mc Arthur's book that I had published with his dedication today. It was so satisfying to see the final product completed. Ka Sefofane (by aeroplane) the story of Flying Mission was a surprisingly heavy book (600g) yet with a spine of only 18mm in Royal size. The quality silk finish paper and laminated gloss cover giving full justice to the story that Malcolm McArthur, OBE, FRCS(Eng), the founder of the Flying Mission had painstakingly written over the past year. The difference between this, an offset printed book, and digital printing being apparent. This was the ninth book I had published:
Mr Wishart and I had arranged for him to collect me so that we could drive together into Cambridge to the William Art Gallery in Gwydir Street to view an exhibition of quilts, one of which was in the form of the QR code of the artist, Nancy Fève! The remaining quilts were actually more astonishing in their detail, with an excellent combination of fine needlework and patterning matched to the selection of fabrics. Mr Wishart and I engaged in conversation with a number of artists and visitors to the gallery, one of whom would also be going on to the evening's business event at Scotsdales.
We continued on to Scotsdales for The Inspired Group meeting, featuring presentations by Magpas and the inspirational Marcus Orlovsky (see separate articles beginning at http://www.hbn.org.uk/node/2847). This event resulted in a new idea which I discussed with Mr Wishart, who in turn had had his own.
Back home, I wrote late into the night, finishing with this article!
Received a copy of Malcolm Mc Arthur's book that I had published with his dedication today. It was so satisfying to see the final product completed. Ka Sefofane (by aeroplane) the story of Flying Mission was a surprisingly heavy book (600g) yet with a spine of only 18mm in Royal size. The quality silk finish paper and laminated gloss cover giving full justice to the story that Malcolm McArthur, OBE, FRCS(Eng), the founder of the Flying Mission had painstakingly written over the past year. The difference between this, an offset printed book, and digital printing being apparent. This was the ninth book I had published:
- Journey into Solitude by Ann Petre
- Nimrod; A Memoir of Mischief and Mishap by Peter Newman Brooks
- Dear Ruth; A Lament for bygone Africa by Pamela Cotton
- The Lost Priory; A Cambridge Story by Ann Hales-Tooke
- All Saints' Landbeach: The story of a fen-edge church by Ray Gambell
- The Milton Chronicle 1771 - 1901 by R S Tonks
- And Only the Seagulls are Laughing by Norman Setchell
- The Ukraine Carpathians: Europe's last great wilderness by Alexander Stemp
- Ka Sefofane: The story of Flying Mission by Malcolm J. McArthur
Mr Wishart and I had arranged for him to collect me so that we could drive together into Cambridge to the William Art Gallery in Gwydir Street to view an exhibition of quilts, one of which was in the form of the QR code of the artist, Nancy Fève! The remaining quilts were actually more astonishing in their detail, with an excellent combination of fine needlework and patterning matched to the selection of fabrics. Mr Wishart and I engaged in conversation with a number of artists and visitors to the gallery, one of whom would also be going on to the evening's business event at Scotsdales.
We continued on to Scotsdales for The Inspired Group meeting, featuring presentations by Magpas and the inspirational Marcus Orlovsky (see separate articles beginning at http://www.hbn.org.uk/node/2847). This event resulted in a new idea which I discussed with Mr Wishart, who in turn had had his own.
Back home, I wrote late into the night, finishing with this article!
Saturday, 4 June 2011
Return journey to Lincoln and the Architecture Students exhibition
This morning was the last foray to let the chickens of our neighbours before the latter returned from their holiday in Yorkshire. I was rewarded with an egg, pristine and still slightly warm, nestling on the hay where moments before a chicken had roosted.
Toast, tea and a boiled egg later, Mrs T and I set off for Lincoln, to collect Miss T for the summer break after her second year at University.
We traversed the dangerous stretch of the A14 to Huntingdon at a remarkable speed and without incident and left Cambridgeshire on the delightfully six-laned and quiet A1 North. Past Peterborough, the road began to undulate on the increasing but gentle rolling hills. The fields were looking greener here, compared to the severely drought ridden Eastern counties.
Twice, we saw red kites with their distinctive forked tails and slightly raffish wings, wheeling above us as we thundered past at 70 miles per hour. At Newark, we turned off onto the A46 in anticipation of having made good time to Lincoln, only to encounter a temporary queue within a couple of miles of the city.
Miss T kept an eye out for us and directed the car to a small hidden car park, a short walk along the quay to her accommodation for a short break. For lunch we dropped in on Prezzos, for salads or soups according to taste. As part of my campaign towards a reduced waistline, I thoroughly enjoyed the lighter option of king prawns on pizza bread with a good mixed salad. The latter enjoyed all the more in the knowledge that the UK has not been affected by the plateauing E. coli outbreak in Germany, now tentatively linked with a Northern German restaurant in Luebeck and another in Hamburg.
Miss T invited us to view the exhibits by architecture students in their third and fifth years. We spent an hour wandering around and I was increasingly frustrated with the presentation of the otherwise excellent and imaginative displays. In most instances, there was little attempt at clearly presenting a story that the visitor could follow. The exceptions were some of the third year students, who added legible labels and had a clear flow in their exhibits for the eye to follow through.
From my experience of attending Ecobuild and accompanying German companies in the Green, restoration and retrofitting sector, I was also surprised by the apparent lack of obvious major inclusion of energy efficient and other green features in many of the works.
We then returned for a cup of tea to the student lodgings and took on the surprisingly simple task of collecting Miss T's packed luggage and possessions. I was even more surprised that the economy of materials to be returned home left the rear windscreen of the car still clear for visibility.
The journey back passed equally well and without problems, with high cloud gradually coming from the West as a harbinger of the meteorlogical change to cooler wetter weather expected tomorrow.
Toast, tea and a boiled egg later, Mrs T and I set off for Lincoln, to collect Miss T for the summer break after her second year at University.
We traversed the dangerous stretch of the A14 to Huntingdon at a remarkable speed and without incident and left Cambridgeshire on the delightfully six-laned and quiet A1 North. Past Peterborough, the road began to undulate on the increasing but gentle rolling hills. The fields were looking greener here, compared to the severely drought ridden Eastern counties.
Twice, we saw red kites with their distinctive forked tails and slightly raffish wings, wheeling above us as we thundered past at 70 miles per hour. At Newark, we turned off onto the A46 in anticipation of having made good time to Lincoln, only to encounter a temporary queue within a couple of miles of the city.
Miss T kept an eye out for us and directed the car to a small hidden car park, a short walk along the quay to her accommodation for a short break. For lunch we dropped in on Prezzos, for salads or soups according to taste. As part of my campaign towards a reduced waistline, I thoroughly enjoyed the lighter option of king prawns on pizza bread with a good mixed salad. The latter enjoyed all the more in the knowledge that the UK has not been affected by the plateauing E. coli outbreak in Germany, now tentatively linked with a Northern German restaurant in Luebeck and another in Hamburg.
Miss T invited us to view the exhibits by architecture students in their third and fifth years. We spent an hour wandering around and I was increasingly frustrated with the presentation of the otherwise excellent and imaginative displays. In most instances, there was little attempt at clearly presenting a story that the visitor could follow. The exceptions were some of the third year students, who added legible labels and had a clear flow in their exhibits for the eye to follow through.
From my experience of attending Ecobuild and accompanying German companies in the Green, restoration and retrofitting sector, I was also surprised by the apparent lack of obvious major inclusion of energy efficient and other green features in many of the works.
We then returned for a cup of tea to the student lodgings and took on the surprisingly simple task of collecting Miss T's packed luggage and possessions. I was even more surprised that the economy of materials to be returned home left the rear windscreen of the car still clear for visibility.
The journey back passed equally well and without problems, with high cloud gradually coming from the West as a harbinger of the meteorlogical change to cooler wetter weather expected tomorrow.
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