Gone to London to meet the Queen

Symbian recently was awarded the Queens Award for Enterprise, and I was one of the people randomly chosen to go to Buckingham Palace for a reception and to meet the Queen herself.

I felt terrible not telling anyone, but I just didn't believe it was going to happen. Or it would be some boring sit-down ceremony. Or just a huge practical joke by the company at my expense (we're still waiting to find out if the Nokia acquisition was some huge Finnish practical joke).

And after filing into Buckingham Palace it starts to get real. The sheer amount of red carpet and gold edging does that to you eventually. There were huge chandeliers and big paintings, and rooms large enough to fit a house in. Or two. And I had a weird revelation - everything in these rooms is the real thing - there are no copies or fakes here. Everything is probably worth a fortune.

After quaffing some drinks we notice that people in the room seem to be creating a queue, in the great British tradition. So we joined in, thinking it was time to take our seats. But no, about 5 meters down the queue is that sweet little lady you see on the news. And sure enough we were formally introduced, I shook her hand, said hello and moved on. Prince Philip was there too, he even seemed to vaguely remember the name Symbian. But the queue was moving, and we returned to the masses, feeling stunned at what had just happened.

I found out later the right thing to do is to say "Good evening, your majesty." But as an Australian we're not trained in Royal etiquette. Come to think of it, we're still trying to oust her as head of state. At least I didn't say G'day mate. Oh well, next time... mate.

We were browsing the art (oh look, a Rembrandt) when Prince Philip came over with a fantastic opening line "you must be the eggheads." Originally thinking he was referring to our software background at Symbian, it turns out he was highlighting that three of us were follicle challenged. We laughed, chatted, showed our phones, promoted our company and he mingled onwards. Clearly these people are masters of the social art of mingling.

Bridie felt a bit abandoned at home. Partly because she is more interesting in art than I am, partly because she would appreciate the champagne better than I, but mainly because there are unicorns all over the Royal Coat of Arms and therefore around the palace. And they wouldn't let me bring home souvenirs.

The weirdest thing was walking out of this palace / national monument / art gallery and not walking through a gift shop on the way out. Of course we weren't allowed to take photos. Though apparently some will become available for a small charge. Stay tuned.

Overall a great night that just zoomed past. Big thank you to Symbian for the chance, and Liz for having us over for canapes.

Mexican wave

P1010993, originally uploaded by skate roggie.

Led an impromptu mexican wave on the skate last Sunday. Why are they so rewarding?

Taking coals to Newcastle

We headed up to sunny Newcastle this weekend for the gorgeous wedding between our friends Sarah and Simon and got our first look at the Gateshead Flasher (AKA the Angel of the North).

In training for the arrival of Ichi, we went up by car with friends Jo and Mike and eight month old Charlie - who was an absolute little gentleman the whole way there and back.



Bridie's bump also got it's first real social outing - although close dancing isn't so close anymore!

Replication

Again, from the XKCD

http://xkcd.com/387/

Project Ichi on target

Well, today we had our second scan with Ichi - after having all Ichi's features pointed out (except for the gender - we turned away at that point) - nose, eyes, mouth, chin, heart, kidneys, fingers and toes - and yes, everything's there and in the right proportions, we watched the party from the inside - the kicking, the moving, the arms flailing - even playing peek-a-boo with his/her hands.

The bit that made us both go AWWWW was when Ichi yawned - a nice big one. Obviously with no TV or books, Ichi's finding things pretty boring down there. His/her entertainment is mostly how to surprise Bridie with a well placed kick.

More project updates as they come to hand...

Secret Ichi Party

Yesterday was the first day I felt Ichi move. I am now in Proud Dad mode.

Bridie, on the other hand, has been on the invite list to the Secret Ichi Party for a while now - when she's at work, on the bus, lying down, or whenever. It seems Ichi likes to Salsa and quiet times are the best for a bit of internal tickling.

Seaworld

Just got back from San Diego for a boring conference about SD memory cards - those fiddly little cards that you use in your phone to store photos, video and toonz. Not much exciting to report there. To summarise - If you want to store a whole bunch of stuff then use a small thin block of plastic jammed into the side of a phone.

But I was stuck in San Diego for the following day, so we went to SeaWorld! This is Shamu...

Shamu likes to splash - spraying the first 14 rows of the stadium with water at regular intervals. This turned out to be a bit dangerous for those of us with cameras as it is not a light spray - those tails give a good soaking.

It turns out that Shamu isn't just one Killer Whale - it is a generic title for all the Orcas at Seaworld. Surely that must be confusing for the poor whale.

Snow in April

It's snowing!

This time last year we were having a heatwave.
This year the plants gave up on the winter freeze, and have decided to bloom. Poor daffodils... all confused.

Steve passed his MBA

Woohoo!

The London Photography Meetup Group

Went along to the London Photography Meetup Group yesterday. Once a month they meet at a small pub in Soho for a social chat. Members range from professional to people who are 'in between cameras.' There was a little bit of Canon/Nikon banter, but generally a nice bunch of people.

And, in addition to the drinking, they even get together occasionally for a bit of photography and technical workshops.

Let's see how this goes...

7th wedding anniversary in Cuba

We have just got back from Cuba for our wedding anniversary. But in some ways it is also our last big trip, as Bridie gets more and more pregnant.


We had a great time, spending most of our time in Havana. We sucked up the culture with an occasional Mojito. Or at least Steve did, as Bridie is banned from alcohol at the moment.

We also did some day trips. Once out west to Viñales, a UNESCO protected area. We also checked out the tobacco fields, drying and cigar manufacture areas. And another day to the east in the tourist centre of Cuba, Varadero.

Anyway, check out our photo site.

We're going to be parents

Hi

Well, it's a big news day for us. We're going to be parents.
Woohoo!

It is still early days yet. Bridie is due at the end of September, so we still have six months to go. In the meantime, Bridie is already enjoying pregnancy with all the perks that come with it. While there has been no binge-eating of pickles and ice-cream, there has been the occasional random vomiting (which is never constrained to the morning). And now she has the superpower excuse for everthing - "I'm pregnant!"

It is too early to know the sex at the moment (nor do we have any desire to), but we have a nickname in the meantime - Ichi, from the Japanese for one or first. Why? Mainly because we were staying in the Dai-Ichi Hotel in Tokyo at the time, but also because this would be our first baby. And Bridie decided it would be a good name (see superpower reference above)

Here is your first chance to meet Ichi:Early days, but there's a suprising amount of action going on at this stage. Ichi is only 6.5 cm long, but bouncing around like a kangaroo - it's actually surprising that Bridie can't feel the kicking... yet.

Anyhoo... stay tuned.

Steve has now finished his MBA!

News flash: Bridie is happy to have her husband back. Quote from Bridie "Woohoo!"

Theoretically this means more time, less stress and more life. Let's see how this goes. My guess is that life will expand to fill all the time available, somehow leading to equivalent stress.

I don't care - I'm going out for dinner to celebrate.

Mobile World Congress (ne 3GSM)

I have just got back from WMC/3GSM - the main industry trade show for the mobile phone industry.

It's a madcap few days where geeks from around the world converge on Barcelona, Spain. Effectively turning it into a mobile geek heaven (or hell). Bridie took great delight in people-watching the arrivals at the airport: "geek ... tourist... geek... geek... geek."

All the big names announce their latest offerings, companies try to out-hype each other, and all the suits converge for days and days of meetings. But the reality is that you need to fight to see the new toys, the hype is short lived and the meetings often are not necessary. The idea is good, but it doesn't live up to expectations.

It's a tiring time, with the only positive thing to look forward to are the parties each night. Symbian's party was Monday night in a nightclub called Opium. It was rockin with a band downstairs and a chillout room upstairs. Tuesday I went to a chip manufacturer party with a middle-eastern theme; food, drinks, belly dancers the lot. I even had tickets to the Samsung party on Wednesday night but I had to fly back.

Ironically international roaming wasn't working that well - so I missed a lot of calls. The best voice mail I had was "that thing that is buzzing in your pocket is your phone - you should answer it sometime."

Some photos from one of our corporate blogs

Anyway... home now. Yay!

Christopher Columbus says "pull my finger"

(he was not above low-brow humour)

Photos in Barcelona

Near Santa Eulalia

A unicorn gargoyle.
And... well you can see what this is.

La Pedrera

Bridie has always love Barcelona. Luckily I was going there for work for 3GSM/Mobile World Congress. So we book a hotel and flight and got out there early for a weekend break.

Our mission - to photograph La Pedrera.
(Though all these photos are only Steve's)

This is a building built by the architect Antoni Gaudí. It is a fabulous building with no visible straight lines.
And on the roof at the most amazing sculptures used for chimneys and water storage.

Hakone and Fuji-san

On the last day before we flew to Australia, we zoomed off to Hakone to get a photo of Mount Fuji. Using a combination of bullet trains, ordinary trains and busses we managed to get to the resort town of Hakone - all of which worked effortlessly with Japanese precision.

Hakone is a resort town - full of tourist traps, boat trips, health resorts, cable car rides, thermal springs and nature walks. But we didn't really have time for any of that. Instead we focussed on the task at hand - photographing Mount Fuji.

We were lucky that day. It was a crisp day in winter, and one of the few days that Fuji-san is not covered by cloud.

In fact we showed the picture to the hotel conceirge that had helped explain how to get there and she was so happy. Apparently she had been there 10 times, and had never seen it look so good.

Back at Tsukiji fish market

Well I'm back a the fish market again. Remember my previous post where I found whale meat?

Now it is both Bridie and I, braving the world of wholesale fish - dead and alive.

For example this is the tuna auction. These guys have already been auctioned off and are heading towards a table soon. And this is the reddest animal I have ever seen.

And for the squeemish, some small fish in a large bucket.

Charlie the Unicorn

I couldn't resist sharing this.... if I start quoting this it can keep Steve up all night!