Never Trust a Plane that still has a Propeller

I was supposed to fly out to Copenhagen to give a session tomorrow as part of the Windows Embedded European tour. I had all my slides with the snazzy tour template, and a bag packed with hardware to show off.

Instead I went to an airport, sat in a plane for forty minutes, had a drink of orange juice, got out of the plane, queued for an hour, found out there was no way I could get to Copenhagen in time and went home.

We had all watched the plane land, and then were told that "For safety reasons" it was not able to take off again. I reckon the people that we saw arrive in it had a lucky escape.

Such is life I suppose. I tried to be relaxed about it. The only time I got a bit cross was when I was at the desk after an hour wait and the lady there was trying to sort out my travel plans. Having determined that there were no seats on any flights out today, and that a flight tomorrow would have me arrive far too late for my session, I said that in that case there was no point in me going. "So" she said, "You are choosing not to take up our offer of an alternative flight?". I made the point that it was not a matter of choice, if I couldn't get there today there was no reason to travel. "OK." she replied "I'll put on the file that you have decided not to take up our offer". I was too tired to put up much of a fight, and anyway a prominent notice reminded me that anyone who got too shirty would have the full might of KLM to deal with. Assuming they could actually get here of course, what with their transportation technology being so ropey.

I'm very sorry that I didn't make it out to Denmark. I was looking forward to meeting up with the students and seeing some cool Lego tech. Perhaps another time.

Mini-Microsoft and Achieving Senior Level 63

Talking of good blogs to read, I quite like Mini-Microsoft. This is an anonymous manager at Microsoft giving a take on the way that the company is going. It is also sprinkled with detail about life inside Microsoft, and how to get on in the corporate environment.

Mini (if I can use that name) has just posted a good post on how to get to Senior Level 63 (apparently some exalted management level in Microsoft). I've no particular desire to scale those lofty heights, but the post is interesting because I reckon if you follow the advice in it you will do well in whatever field you are in.

Microsoft, like everwhere else I suppose, is mainly interested in promoting useful, effective people and this post gives you an insight into how to be more useful and effective.

Hard Code on the Web

I've mentioned I.M. Wrights "Hard Code" book before on this blog. It is actually written by a bloke called Eric Brechner, who adopts the I.M. Wright persona to write hard hitting, controversial, articles about software development best practice. When I mentioned the book before I said that I thought was worth a look. Having finished reading it I've changed my mind.

You must read this book. It is excellent. The even better news is that I.M. Wright also has a blog that is an equally good read. You can find it here.

100% Perfect

While I was in York yesterday I noticed a beauty salon offering a "100% perfect all over tan" for only 18 pounds. I quite like the idea of having something about me that is 100% perfect.

But, given the choice, I don't think I'd go for my tan.

York Trees

Went to York today to see number one daughter. They have nice looking trees there.

York Trees