Golfyball's Blog

There's no denying that the latest incarnation of google plus on the iPhone / iPod is awesome. It looks beautiful and for reading the streams that your circles provide it is one of the most georgously constructed apps you could ever wish to have....

Unfortunately that is where my love for it ends.

Don't get me wrong, you can post from it too. And in fact, if you just want to pop out a photo with two or three lines of blurb with it, then it does a pretty good job of that as well. It even does a decent job of attaching your location - and one thing it does better than the desktop version of G+ is of course check-in's.

But, (and as the actress said to the bishop - it's a big butt) the problems start when you want to do something a bit more useful.

Managing the sharing of pictures is a breeze - and a well thought out process, so why is there is still no satisfactory way to share a link to a web page. I'm begrudgingly using a bookmarklet from Safari on my iOS devices, and to be fair this does a pretty decent job, but I want (sorry, would like - want never gets you anything), I would like, the same functionality as appears in the feature rich desktop version of G+. I would like to be able to paste a link, and choose whether to include a picture or text snippet from that page before I post. Posting a link in the app works, but it just posts a link without the associated rich context.

In a similar vein, the same is true of posting a video. In fact, posting a YouTube video in the app is even worse than a URL. On an iOS device just getting the appropriately formatted YouTube URL in the first place is a minor mission. I've taken to opening the video in the native YouTube app, clicking "share via email" and then copying the URL in the body of the message to paste it into the G+ app - a right old faff, I'm sure you'd agree. Again, it works but no thumbnail of the video leaves it looking bland and unenticing

These are two of my grieviances with what is otherwise a beautiful piece of code and a worthwhile frontend to what is obviously the most superior social network on the Internet. There is however, one more issue that I have which is far far more serious than the other two.

The complete and utter lack of acknowledgement that the iPad exists.

Now this really is a major failing on Google's part. I'm sure they don't want it to be the case, but the iPad is the definition of tablet computing and as such the definition of mobile computing (at least in the social space - as well as many others) so why would you not craft a universal app?

Look at all that for gorgeous screen real estate waiting to be filled with G+ goodness... Someone, somewhere is making a very very bad call.

I don't think I'm asking for too much - and I have said I would like, not I want.... So come on Google - fix it up and fly right.

Naturally if your an Andriod user (Haters gonna hate - rise above it), your concerns are far less, but I'm sure you want your OS' parents to look good on any platform don't you? Sexy-code sells....

Adieu.

That's a fair old long weekend...

Here we are on Monday night, and it's one of those very special, very English Monday's - a bank holiday Monday. Bank Holidays are a revered day in the UK, because they're a free holiday (for most people) and who doesn't love a day off. However, they come at a price. It is almost the law that any given bank holiday in the UK must involve copious amounts of rain, so really you can't expect to do much with them. Decorating is usually the norm, or watching films / TV, eating good food, drinking too much (of anything within reach) or sitting in the car park at B&Q feeling fat and forty... ish.

Max Farquar has it illustrated just about right....

Here: http://www.maxfarquar.com/2012/04/british-bank-holiday-blues/

Luckily for me, I never really experience the last one - I couldn't care less how old I am, and I'm cuddly, not fat, so that's all good. There will be a bit of decorating, but more on that in a moment, there was at least three quarters of a film but most importantly there's a slap up roasted lamb shank in a red wine sauce that is simply to die for.

First, lets go back a little bit....

I see from my blog that the last time I bothered sharing anything was almost 10 days ago. I'm going to have to keep an eye on that, or I'll be slipping back into the world of stretch Armstrong and his "amazing empty blog of nothingness". Instead, let me try to recount some of the goings and comings that have happened in the meantime.

April the 27th was a Friday. Actually a Friday just before a golf quarterly. Those of you that have heard about these will know that they are generally entertaining, if a little messy and always very tiring. This one was no different in all respects. Shep played two holes and went home because of his Spanish archer (El Bow) and the rest of us endured (and I'm honestly not making this up) 58mile per hour winds. How anyone can actually play golf in such conditions is beyond me, but we persevered and in the end everyone had an enjoyable day in stupid weather conditions. The evening was equally enjoyable with the afore mentioned kangaroo court in full swing and enough ale that no one felt left out, or even in the mood for any more for at least a couple of days.

Sunday meant some light recover time, and then we had the in-laws for dinner. They're a bit chewy, but generally very digestible. (the old ones are the best - and don't you forget it)

Sure as eggs are eggs, Monday arrived exactly as predicted and the badman and I trudged ever onward through a whole load of nothing much in particular.

Tuesday was a much sadder state of affairs. One of my friends lost his mother recently and Tuesday was the day of her funeral. I can't pretend to imagine how painful that situation must be for him, but it is clear from his behaviour that while he's devastated, he's putting on a brave face. The eulogy that he wrote was beautifully put and I'm sure his mum is rightly proud of his words. Mrs G and I came along and supported him, and I can only hope that our presence went a least a tiny way to making things a little less painful for him.

Wednesday morning was a half days holiday and I helped Stan get some cable lengths sorted for his imminent installation of the "TV on the wall" which Mr Brown will be involved with on Friday.

Thursday arrived, and with it a trip to the not so local office to meet up with the badman. As always this was a pleasure and we lightened each others mood somewhat I'm sure. We also came to the conclusion that the correct use of this current crop of spare time should be edumacation. As a result we've found about 26 hours worth (that's a little over three days to me and you) that ought to keep us out of trouble. I doubt it will, but it should. I managed to partake in a coup,e of beers with he WTC in the evening and cycle home before the rain kicked in again. We do seem to have been having rather a lot of the wet stuff of late. Still, it's good for the garden...and the aquifers.

Then of course as a direct result of Thursday, Friday was a day of reading. Honestly, nothing of interest to report on the subject. There were words. I read them. Pah! Mr Brown got Stanlar's TV on the wall, and after some discussion he's now on the hunt for a new Blu-Ray player to get himself proper HD'd up as you might say.

On Saturday morning, I went with the Sniffer to get measured for a suit. He has a wedding coming up in a few months and I'm to be an usher - not the rapper - and not the one with the ice-creams at half time (although fairly similar I think). There was a fair amount of shenanigans involved when he (quite rightly) decided that a wool suit would not be the best of things to be wearing in July - even in England. The ladies that run the shop where a little disorganised but they coped in the end. I'm sure it's going to be a grand day out.

Mrs G got a haircut and eye test. She's not best pleased with the need for reading glasses.

In the evening, Mrs G and I went for a curry at a nearby locale with T&D from the forrest and "them two from up the road". T&D aren't really from the forest. T is a Churchdown lass and D is from up that Laandan, but he moved to the forest some years ago. Hiding out from the mob no doubt. "Them two from up the road" are old friends of Mrs G & T (lol - see what I did there) and they live - you'll never guess - just up the road. The curry was excellent, a good time was had and I felt very overfed even though I'd barely taken any on board.

Sunday was of course the new Saturday, as there was to be a bank holiday. I spent a significant portion of the morning wrestling with a sofa bed. Mrs G had acquired one from a friend of hers and we'd planned to install it upstairs in what will be a spare room. It turns out that our staircase is possibly an inch too small, or the sofabed was an inch too big depending on your point of view. Either way, it wasn't going to fit, and after providing me with an unexpected workout on a Sunday ( I mean Saturday) morning, I was glad to see the back of it. It also meant that the general easing pushing and scraping have left the lower stairs redecorated, and the paint and brush will have to be forthcoming shortly.

The lawn got mowed.

The house got tidied.

....and then it was Monday / a bit like a Sunday. It rained. And then it rained some more. We got up late. I made some breakfast and the got some vegetables to go with, what turned out to be, three superb lamb shanks. I watched a good chunk of "Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol" with that tiny little Tom Cruise in it, and then Aunty S and the kids arrived for an afternoon cuppa. Always lovely to see them and there was chin wagging and giggling. I didn't see the rest of the movie, afterwards, so thats something to look forward to. I did regale Spanish niece with the story of Smaug, of which she was previously unaware. Steps have been taken to ensure she gets some edumacation on the subject, and the man from amazon should be dropping off a package for her within the week.

And that is as they say, pretty much that. It's a cold dark Monday (feels like a Sunday) night and it's still raining.

Oh, and finally, I keep seeing the Prometheus advert on TV and honestly, no matter what happens I will be going to the cinema on June the 1st...

Anyway, I'm hoping he gets a shift on as he has the New West Midlands Dictionary to get written before Monday and words don't just make themselves up you know! They have to be clearly defined and go through all manner of intradecatagorisationary processes - as any dictionary compiler worth their salt would know.

I, on the other hand have far less lofty aspirations for this weekend. A Friday night Chilli for Mrs G and son (daughter is off out gallivanting with Auntie S) and a whole lot of what ever is on the telly (or visualguesstiamation) will start the weekend off. Washed down with a bottle of red, but not a late night (or reduced imbibery-regenerisation as its more commonly known round these parts)

I have to get a decent amount of sleep tonight just because in the morning I have a stupidly early start to go and play golf with the Alleycats Golf Society up in the clouds near Cheltenham. Not only is it at a ridiculous time of the morning to be getting up on a Saturday but the weather forecast is horrendous. Worse still, I'm paying (quite a bit) for the privilege - clearly I must be insane (or just entraframilliond whilst at rest)

That said, a day out with the lads, taking the pish (urinaryextradition) out of eachother, trying to win slightly rubbish trophies and then enduring a kangaroo court with alcoholic charges in the evening is actually a great way to spend a good few hours. This will all be over during the wee small hours of Sunday morning, and so you can't expect me to be up particularly early on Sunday morning.

Not wishing to make life easy for myself though, Sunday morning will be all about prepping for Sunday lunch with the outlaws (boeuf a la fogey) Roast beef I think, so shouldn't be too much of a hassle and perhaps it won't be quite as much of an early start as I imagine, but time will tell.

Before you know it, it'll be Monday again and back to the "wondering what we'll be doing next" job. I'm already sprandled at the thought of it.

(download)

Click here to download:

Let_them_eat_cake.zip (93 KB)

I recognise that grey carpet from somewhere I'm sure :-)

In other news, the cleanup from the party continues, albeit slowly. For example, we found a huge pile of loose change down the back of the sofa yesterday. Always useful but we've done the decent thing and handed it in to the police.... Well, we coughed to it... Ah well, we'll get it back somewhere else I'm sure.

Aside from that, Pooh and I are keeping our heads down and trying to avoid being dragged into some of the bollotics that are floating around the 100 acre wood assisted and nurtured by "one of our number". Pooh has done a great job of informing "one of our number" what he and I have been doing, in a series of meetings that have taken place at least once a day every day this week. It really seems that "one of our number" wastes an awful lot of everyone's time. It does seem to be getting worse. Strange times.

Today was also the big day, but the day of reckoning is a way off yet we believe.

At home, daughter and I made cake. Nothing more to say on the subject other that "We lurve the cake!"

Tomorrow is Thursday, and as such will hopefully contain an outing of the WTC. We've had some sad news of late, with the unexpected passing of the mother of one of our members. We've all been doing our best to help him through, but it must be a very difficult time for him and I can only hope that things like the WTC provide some relief from the stress of it for him.

In the blink of an eye the weekend will be here, and that means a game of golf... In the rain... :-(

Still, it could be worse, we could be in a recession..... D'oh!

Having had a tough couple of weeks it's always odd to hit a quiet patch at full pelt.  

It's a bit like showing up to a party when everyone's gone home.  You know there was something big and busy going on - but now there's just empty bottles of beer / vodka / various beverages and discarded paper plates with half eaten beef burgers on them...  (worth noting that there are no "cheese and pineapples" left - and equally no pork pies - all the good stuff gets eaten first).

Sometimes, it is just that. This current time is one of those. We (Pooh, the bear of little brain and I) are in the peak opposite our trough.  That's not to say we're about to chow down on some lovingly prepared scraps - wrong sort of trough - but more like reaching the terrifying uppermost point of the rollercoaster we're on...  and neither of us are sure if the seatbelts fit properly.

If you've been following his posts you'll know how horrible it's been. Sure there's been some relatively pleaseant coffee on occasion, and of course we are both known to have a good laugh at the most inappropriate times (thank god for small mercies) but that's about the best it's been.

I'm really not complaining - I actually really enjoy my job and working with Pooh is as much fun as I could have and still appear to be professional. I'm sure he feels the same. However, some elements of the work are beyond comprehension in thier levels of stupidity. It seems that no matter how often they're referred to, they always will be.

In my rapidly aging mind, it has now become clear to me, that the same is true in every single job you could ever hope to do. I don't mean to be cynical and dampen the fireworks of the youth (hell if you're just starting out and the only way is up - everyone above you must have got it spectacularly right.... right??)  but believe me - every company (and for that matter, every employee) on the planet does dumb things sometimes - even the really clever ones.

Our constant slog this time is pounding the stuffing out of both of us, but we carry on undeterred. We WILL make this thing work, no matter how broken it might appear to the outside world. In another TV Show, we would have been the mice on the mouse organ.

In conversation with Pooh today, the folowing sentence was heard:

"The problem is these SMI's don't think like we do. Actually that full stop could come a lot earlier in that sentence, just before 'like'."

Given the week we've been having, I suspect the full stop might be a better fit just before "don't"

With that in mind, no sooner have I finished the jobs that were needing to get done for the UK team, I was out of the door of the hotel and yomping towards the park - It was 11am, I needed some food, the UK folks were off on their holidays, I need to be at the airport by 5, so one last hurrah at der grosse appfel - as they probably say in Germany.

Central Park is an oasis of peace in the centre of the Manhattan hub-bub. The difference a few paces makes is astounding, and a huge pleasure. The zoo is just awesome, and while I didn't have time to pay a proper visit, and I'm not particularly a fan of zoos, I will make the effort should I get the chance to pass this way again. The other place to see for me will be Lady Liberty, having missed her on Sunday due to the insane queue to get on a boat.

Before I can blink though, the hour is fast approaching and I have to get a ride off the island and over to Newark for my flight back to good old England. It being Easter weekend, that's far easier said than done, but after much shenanigans I found someone happy to go that way for 80 bucks... 20 less (must be down hill on the way back).

Worth noting that Manhattan taxi drivers can charge whatever the hell they like to go to Newark due to it being in New Jersey. Get a fixed price up front, which is what I did. I'd also suggest that should you be using JFK, you should take the "E" train into or out of Manhattan. 40 minutes and a bargain - or so I'm led to believe.

Flight was delayed by half an hour, but other than that an uneventful escape if you exclude the view. I looked back as we left. I miss you NY, but I have a piece of you with me. (I managed to steal a traffic signal..... Of course I'm joking)

I dozed in and out of sleep on the red-eye flight home. So much so, that I failed miserably to watch the following movies:

War Horse - which while filmed in Castle Coombe (in some very strange light) seemed to be a film about ploughing fields in Devon... Very confusing (6/10 until it gets a proper viewing).

And The Descendants, most of which I saw while we were still sat on the tarmac at Newark. I secretly really enjoyed this and managed to pick up a copy of the book for Mrs G, because it's just her cup of cocoa. (8/10 might be more if I watch it fully awake).

Mrs G was at the airport where I fell.... In this order into, her arms, the car, a light sleep, bed, a deep sleep. I did manage to wake up in the end and very pleased to be back home I am.

Until later...

A 12 month contract, where our clients contract with us with a view to contracting with us. Now of course this sounds a little insane, and would need a whole bunch of intelligent verbiage wrapped around it to make it more saleable. It's just something to consider. Wednesday saw me once more awake at stupid o'clock to manage the UK team. Last nights "couple of beers" to celebrate surviving our client facing period was really just two pints and a bit of nosh, but it was all still most acceptable. In the office the "what happens next" question is greeted with a few "not really sure"'s. one question in particular is "when" and the deafening silence that's surrounding this one is for me the most disturbing.

I really really need to know if we're going to make changes to the when. The UK team will have to make changes to their numbers if the when is going to change, and the general consensus is that it is going to change, but no-one is prepared to say to what. Frustrating to the max. We are all frustrated, including the lead who it's become apparent has to suffer the same pain that we do. Waiting and chasing those who think they know best.... Not fun.

In the meantime I've put the EMEA team on hold. I don't like it, but I don't want them doing it all twice. By the time we leave the office we have some direction. I pass on the info via various emails and head out for dinner with the most senior member present to try and find out what's really going on.... A New York Curry? ... Interesting times.

Tomorrow is Thursday and I'll be heading home. I love New York, but I miss Mrs G and Daughter so it's definitely time.

Plans have been laid out, ideas have been kicked around, questions have been answered in a way that we all think the client would like to hear them answered. All that remains to be done now, is actually meet up with them and answer them.

In the event, it was all a bit of a damp squib. The customers team where led by a helper, who really didn't help much. Our team spoke a lot and explained a lot, very little of which was of any great consequence to anyone who doesn't have a team in World Series Baseball. I did however get to spend at least two minutes having a conversation with one member of the customers team. When I say conversation, What I mean is that I asked a very simple yes / no style question and then listened to a convoluted answer which in short was a yes. The strange thing about this, is even though I was there in person stood in front of this individual who is responsible for actually doing the thing that I'd questioned him upon, I simply didn't believe a word he said.

In summary I've travelled three and half thousand miles to be lied to. By a very very individual. Nuff said.

We trundled back to the office and de-briefed a little, then we managed to grab a bite to eat and a couple of beverages to round off the day. And just like Monday, that meant that it was another bloody long one. The problem with managing a European team from America means a very early start to at least get something done in the blighty. The problem with working in America (at least this week) is that we've been working late into the night to get things prepared. Combine these two problems with a body clock that's only functioning 95% correctly and most of time I'm not sure whether I'm coming or going... For all I know I might even have gone already!

Still, this why we would get paid the big bucks if we got paid big bucks. Ho hum. It still beats my old job by a bazzilion miles, so I'm only moaning for the sake of it.

Adieu