The Fat Duck Experience!

(Photo credit carendt242)

As a present from my partner we had booked a table at the Fat Duck to celebrate my"significant" birthday - however as a result of their problems we were cancelled. I must say they didn't handle that very well, just sending a rather stark e-mail saying it was cancelled. We were then unable to get any reply from the restaurant as we wanted to know what they proposed in terms of re-booking. We were told it was cancelled only a few days before the booking so having made arrangements to stay in Bray we were then faced with loosing our money on the accommodation. After sending a rather terse e-mail we got a response in 24 hours offering us a table for last Saturday night. In the meantime we decided to use the accommodation and had dinner at Cliveden House, and lunch the next day at the Hind Head (Heston's pub in Bray). It was a lovely weekend. So once again we made our way to Bray last weekend. The staff were all very attentive, and we were given a personal letter from Heston apologising for having cancelled our original booking along with a signed book each. My partner had also arranged (long before the crisis) for Heston to sign a copy of his "Fat Duck Cookbook" for me and we were also given that. We opted for the tasting menu - I don't think there is anything else to do at such places. However I think our first mistake was to go for their selection of wines to go with the dishes. That was £90 each! If I had really thought about it I should have opted to have a good bottle from the list - I am sure we could have had something very nice for a lot less than the £180 we paid for the selection. I wasn't overly impressed by the wines - we could have paid more, there were three choices £90, £165 or £195 per head! As I said the staff were good, but most of them were young and french. Often after describing the wine and/or the food for each of the courses we turned to each other and said "What did he/she say?" . Communication was an issue, also with the wine I was lightly falling behind, and had a few glasses stacked-up as to be honest I wasn't all that keen on the selection. After asking if I wanted to keep the wines and replying in the affirmative they were then promptly whisked away! The junior very French Sommelier obviously realised that I was not enjoying the wines so half way through the more senior (easier to understand) Sommelier started serving us, he engaged me in conversation as to what I was unhappy about with the wines, but didn't make any constructive suggestions about alternatives. Only suggesting as I didn't want the Sake that he would replace it with champagne - not an obvious replacement to me - I declined! What about the food - yes it is theatrical and in my view a bit pretentious, a couple of things I really didn't like, froie gras and the snail porridge.  Also its a small restaurant and the tables are fairly close together which was a bit disappointing, we were also surprised at how casual our fellow dinners were dressed, jeans being the order of the day! I can't say I felt that I had had a meal at the end of the 3.5 hours experience (maybe that is good?). On the other hand the petit fours were delightful, and they very efficiently got us a taxi at the end of the evening. Would I go back again - no I was pleased to have gone - but at well over £500 for two for dinner I would rather go around the corner to the Waterside Inn, another 3 star restaurant with a lot less pretension and a more realistic price. I do wonder at the business model of the Fat Duck it must rely on "one-offs",  I don't think they would have much repeat business - but I maybe wrong. Also I understand that the tasting menu has not changed much in the past 3 years! For our next mega celebration I vote we go the the French Laundry - much more my style!

Hubris

(Photo credit - takomabibelot)

Sir Fred Goodwin the ex CEO of the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is not only as proclaimed by The Times the "World's Worst Banker" ( http://tr.im/amkc) but he has brought shame and embarrassment to the proud Scottish Nation. It was a classic tale of local boy makes good - born in Paisley went to the Grammar School and then onto Glasgow University and from there he worked his way up the ladder to CEO of RBS. However in his time at the helm he managed through hubris to bring a once respected banking giant to its knees, although his own personal fortune did better, walking away with over £30 million in salary and a pension pot of upwards of £1.8 million. You can see that the recession won't affect Fred much despite being sacked from the top job. It is a phenomena that I have witnessed all to often in colleagues and in particular men, as they move up the career ladder, get to the top they suddenly start to believe their own publicity and start over-valuing their talents and benefits to the organisation. This usually leads to bad decisions as they surround themselves with "yes" colleagues, over-blown demands for remuneration and conditions, and the use of the organisation to promote them self and their importance. All to often Board of Directors and in particular non-exec members will not take arms up against this type of megalomaniacal behaviour. Often it is the individual that comes off worse, however as far as RBS is concerned it is once again the British Taxpayer that is paying not only for Sir Fred's lifestyle but also for his hubris. Where will all this end and when will these people be brought to book?

The Bigger Banking Scandal

(Photo Credit Matt from London)

As we all know the press for the past 12 months have been full of the so-called Banking Crisis, or perhaps more accurately entitled the greed over common sense crisis. Anyway lots of words, pages and books by people eminently more qualified than me (albeit that as a UK tax payer I am supporting a lot of these institutions now!) to comment have been written. However a headline in the Financial Times caught my eye on Saturday "Lloyds in $350 million US Settlement", here's the link to the story http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a3905d28-dea6-11dd-9464-000077b07658.html. Whilst I can understand that greed took over the banking world and that led to the sub-prime debacle, what I find absolutely shocking about this story is that it was pre-mediated and very deliberate. I am sorry - I was under the impression that Banks were upholders of the law. Not only is the intial act shocking but it further compunded by being covered-up. Now once again the UK taxpayer is paying the price in the form of this massive fine. Lloyds says that it has increased its compliance but is silent on who or what was to blame for this and what action has been taken against individuals. It seems to me thatLloyds shareholders (I am not one) and the UK taxpayer are due an explanation and assurances that those complicit in this have been dealt with appropriately. Also it would be good to know just where the FSA and the Bank of England as regulators were when these crimes, and cover-up were being perpetrated. What seems to be clear is that the Banking sector, and by that I do mean all of the sector, is not only financially but also morally bankrupt. Its about time something was done! The regulators of banks need to wake up and get regulating not be asleep at their desks with cosy relationships with those they are supposed to be regulating. If necessary the Government needs to impose further regulation on the Banks and make them far more accountable.

Restaurant Service Charges

(Photo Credit - Cielokatie)

Always a bit of an issue with me when they just automatically stick it onto the bill and especially when it gets into three figures! At out staff Christmas Dinner I took issue with the level of service charge on the bill, not least because it was over £100 but also because the service was very poor. The waiters didn't know what they were doing, service was slow and I waited over 30 mins for the bill! I spoke to the Manager and he said he would take off the service charge, which he duly did. The irony is that had the service charge not been automatic I would probably have left something, but as it was automatic and over £100 I was sufficiently annoyed not to leave anything. To complete the evening when I asked for my coat I was pointed in the direction of a room downstairs and had to sift through a pile of coats just plonked on a table! This after paying out nearly £900 for a dinner! Call me old fashioned but that is not the kind of service I expect. At the time I didn't look closely at the bill, but now getting round to filling out my expenses for December I looked at the bill again to discover that although he took the service charge off he didn't credit me with the deposit that we had paid (£130). I am therefore going to have to go back to the restaurant and speak to them about the error. I am quite sure they are probably aware of the error, as in the past on the very rare occasions that I have been undercharged I have usually heard from the restaurant within 24 hours. Anyway I'll scan and e-mail over the details to the restaurant and see what response I get. Not a great experience and not a restaurant I think I will be back to anytime soon.

Exercise

I'm back, absence can be put down to work, Christmas hassle, building works at home and generally not enough time! I intend to try to rectify these issues and try to post on a more regular basis (getting it into my GTD process). As someone who has see-sawed in weight all her life, I am back in the need to lose it mode. In the past I have done a lot of exercising, but with work pressures and domestic life changes over the past 4 years my routine went from 5-6 hours cardio per week to 1 hour. With no resulting drop in calorific consumption, that led to the inevitable slow but gradual weight gain. So in October I decide that action was required. No longer having the iron will that I once had, and having more domestic responsibilities I decided that what I needed was a Personal Trainer - someone to keep me on track and honest with myself. Well three months later and I've managed to lose 16lbs with another 12lbs to go by the beginning of March (my reward is dinner at the Fat Duck). My general fitness is now better and with that in mind I'm going to my first spinning class on Saturday! Actually I'm looking forward to it - well more accurately I'm probably looking forward to the end of the class!

The Love Affair Continues!

(Photo credit Declan TM)

All went according to plan and I got the playlist loaded onto the my iTunes on the Mac. Also loaded content to the podcasts and that was quick - I am really impressed by the speed of he Mac. Microsoft home edition Office 2007 has also been loaded and that all went smoothly. We bought two copies from Amazon as we thought we would each need a copy only to discover that the home edition comes with three licenses, so the unopened one is going back to Amazon. I have also loaded Evernote. I blogged about this programme and my thought about it versus OneNote. At that time I didn't have a Mac and I preferred OneNote because it was much better with inking. However the internet up-dating in Evernote is good and I am looking at it again as a method of sharing info and list between home and work.

iTunes Fun

(Photo credit existentist)

In an effort to integrate my data onto my Macbook I decided to attack the age-old issue of transferring iTunes. I should say that I had a problem at work with the iTunes on my laptop. Although the data on the iTunes amounted to about 20GB the file was showing 37GB. As a result and because of space issues it had to be moved to an external portable hard drive. At the time I felt that there must be a simple answer, and when I set about transferring the files to the Macbook I discovered it. I download and watch a lot of videocasts, some up to 50 mins in length. Once I have watched them I delete them. They disappear from the podcast section and I fully delete them from the recycle bin. However I have discovered that iTunes still keeps a copy in the folder for that podcast. Hence the additional space being used! Anyway got the music and podcasts transferred, only slight issue is that according to the iTunes store I have now authorised 4 out of 5 of my allowed authorisations! I think I will need to find my old laptops and de-authorise them (if I can). The remaining issue is the playlists, although I think I may have solved that, will need to see if up-loading the text files works tonight!

The Apple Experience Continues


(Photo Credit halidCan!)

The great Mac experience continues. Ages ago I purchases a Seagate 500GB external drive, as we only had PC's at the time it was formatted in NTFS. I wanted to be able to use this storage with the new Macs, so I had to move the files and re-format the drive. In my research for the project I read a lot of horror stories about the process, however its as easy as pie. Formatted to FAT32 so that we can still use it with the PC's we have lying around, in various stages of sickness, and the new Macs. Re-formatting was quick and then moved files back and hey presto the Macbook sees the files. Great - now how long would such a process have taken with Vista and how many attempts would it have taken to get the job done? One can only speculate! Got Office for Mac on order, I know that's a bit anathema on an Apple machine but as we all know too many of the rest of world use Microsoft software and we need to be compatible.

Macbook

(photo credit Just a Guy who likes to take pictures)

What started as a quick run into town to look at a possible new computer for my partner resulted in us buying two Macbooks! My partner had been struggling with a Samsung Q1 (remember, one of the first umpc's), it has been gradually been getting slower and slower and the fan has stopped working - so it now closes down when it gets too hot. So a new computer was needed for an up-and-coming dissertation and general business admin. We discussed many options desktop/laptop/PC/Apple. As my partner is a keen iPhone user I knew that a Mac was going to be a possibility so off we went - just to have a look! We don't have the luxury of an Apple store near us, but we do have a re-seller. We had a look around and saw the new MacBook 13 inch titanium with LED screen - it was gorgeous. We chatted to the sales assistant about using Office on the Mac, and he mentioned that he had one of the old 13 inch white MacBooks left - highly spec'd and going for knock-down price of £700. So I ended up buying that one and my partner got the new titanium model. So from a zero mac household to a two Mac household in about an hour. As we bought two we got a very nice £30 sleeve thrown-in. Now just getting to grips with a different operating system, which I'll blog about later.

The BBC

(Photo Credit Peter Daniel)

It is amazing how much of a pickle the BBC got itself into with regard the Brand-Ross-Sachs incident. Lack of leadership, no urgency in dealing with the problem all lead to an amazing public and political outcry about the incident. I must say I agree with Louis Walsh (X Factor Judge) who recently commented that it was about time that Jonathan Ross was reined in. He does seem to think that he can do and say what he likes and get away with it - not to mention all the Licence Payers money that he receives. For Andrew Sachs and his Grand Daughters sake let's hope this is where it rests and Ross mends his ways when he gets back on the air. He has three months to reflect, I hope he uses it wisely.

The Economy

(photo credit Poolie)

Depressing as it seems we are all still in the midst of the US Congress stand-off. Purely as an outsider it seems that a number of US Politicians are playing politics with the global economy, but what do you expect from politicians - rarely are they our for anything other than themselves. It is fascinating to watch the arguments range across the political spectrum in the US, I think for once the UK politicians are taking a better line with things and making hard and difficult decisions quickly without too much need to "score points". We are all truly in this together and we all need to get along and assist each other. The whole basis for this crisis is the behaviour of Banks and other lenders lending to the sub-prime market. This, I understand stems from Clinton de-regulating some banking rules. It seems to me that the ire of the US taxpayer should be turned not only on the fat cats who made the money and ran but also the politicians and the regulators who didn't see any of this coming. It is tempting to say that money is the at the root of all evil - but greed and excess is not attractive at the best of times, not to mention face-saving and a whole lot of baloney. Let's just take the medicine and move on. After we UK taxpayers are also paying heavily for some Wall Street Fat Cats!

iTouch Problems

(Photo Credit Chispita 666)

I got a iTouch last Christmas and was really delighted with it, that was until I started up-dating the software to the new releases! It started with the 2.0 update (which I had to pay for!) - it froze the iTouch, after more than an hour on the phone to Apple the problem was solved. It was then with some trepidation that I recently up-dated my iTunes to version 8 and then the iTouch to version 2.1. Again the software update to the iTouch froze and locked it! On the phone once again to Apple - but they could not help. They gave me a number to go to the store and get the iTouch replaced. They originally told me that I would need to make an appointment, but that the earliest was two days away and not convenient. After a lot of badgering from me (after all the problem only arose when I updated to the new software!), they said I should go to the store and they might change the iTouch , as the error I had was an acknowledged problem. I went to the store and they were extremely helpful (more so than the telephone support) and gave me a new machine. However as soon as I tried to sync that - more problems started, back on the phone to Apple, who after a lot of re-setting declared that the new iTouch would need to be replaced! I got the necessary reference from them, but persevered myself and have actually got it working, although maybe the next time I come to update the software I will have issues? Can't wait. i think I'll stick with this machine for the present.

My conclusion from this is that I suspect due to demand and economic factors Apple are getting a higher percentage of sub-standard hardware and this I can can be borne out by the comments I have seen elsewhere with regard to the iPhone. Despite the hassle and because of the really excellent service at the shop I am not too disgruntled - just angst ridden about the next up-date. On the positive side sue to the up-date I have at last managed to connect the iTouch to wireless networks and the software is an improvement, although for some reason some of the album art seems to have attached itself to the wrong albums, but is suspect that's called progress and will be fixed on the next up-date!

Office GTD Set-Up Part 4 - Moleskine


I use this Moleskine Notebook as my general note taking device. I have tabbed it with the latest Post-It Index Tabs and printed the subject matter on labels and attached them to the tabs. I have been using these tabs for a couple of weeks and they are robust as you can see and stand up well to general wear and tear. I like the Moleskine format, it is robust and the paper quality is good - which is essential when you use a fountain pen. I carry this notebook around with me all the time and keep notes and general information in it. I don't keep reminders or "To-Do's" in it, it is essentially reference information. Mobile capture device is the DA pocket notetaker. I have one of the newer style larger softback Moleskine on my desk at work. I use it essentially as a "Day Book" in that I capture my voicemail messages, telephone numbers details of conversations or general notes and then process them either directly or into my Outlook Tasks. I then review all these notes on a weekly basis during my Weekly Review. My preference in all my Moleskine notebooks is for the grid format pages.

Office GTD Set-Up Part 3 - Tickler

When I first read "Getting Things Done" I found the concept of the Tickler File the hardest to get my head around. However after seeing the Great Man himself at a Roadmap Seminar I resolved to try to incorporate this idea. I made my own files with my trusty label maker and started to use it. It was nothing short of a revelation for me, both at home and work (I have a tickler at both locations). At work its great for filing papers that I know I will need to refer to again, at home I primarily use it to keep track of when I need to pay bills. I found some mesh boxes at my local Staples to keep the tickler set of files in and this works really well at both locations. Some months ago I treated myself to a DA tickler set of files and they are great - sturdy and robust. I have yet to up-grade my home set - but will do in time. I would encourage anyone maybe struggling with the tickler concept to give it a try - it has helped my cope and be more organised with my paperwork at work.

Office GTD Set-up Part 2- Folders

This is my Feldon folder stacker from DA. I keep files in this that I am currently working on or need to refer to on a regular basis. Although the picture doesn't show it, it is tiered and has seven sections. Each section takes two averagely filled files. As you can see I use the DA files and like any good GTD'r I have my label maker handy! I would recommend this product or something similar for files you need to keep at hand. I know there has been some comment that the DA products are expensive (all the more so for those of us in the UK who have to pay overseas shipping and customs) but I think they are worth it - well produced, stylish and they do the job. Good tools promote good work!

Office GTD Set-Up, Part 1


This shows my set-up at work. I use a Lenovo X60 Tablet PC which is on an adjustable easel and attached to a larger screen. I can then use the actual laptop to ink on whilst still giving me the flexibility of a larger screen for word processing and the like. I also have attached to my system an old HP palmtop machine that sync's with my Outlook mail, contacts and calendar. I have the Netcentrics GTD add-in for Outlook 2007 and that really works well for me. I try to keep my inbox with as little as possible in it and file off e-mails to other folders or make them into tasks with assigned categories through the add-in. I tend to take quick notes into a large Moleskine, but review them on a daily and weekly basis (via my weekly review) to make sure that they have got into my system. I like using MindManager for ideas generation and outlining problems. I also keep a master map which links to a lot of smaller maps which encompasses my whole life! - work, home, hobbies, projects, relationships, life etc., etc! I use the DA files (they are great) and I'll talk about my filing and Tickler system in the next post, as well as a few other DA goodies that I have bought.

Cigars

Had a very nice Sunday morning in the garden tasting this cigar. Its a Por Larranaga Petit Corona. A brand that has become more easily available recently in the UK. I purchased it from CGars (http://cgarsltd.com/), its 5 1/8 inches with a 42 ring gauge. I bought it as a single and it cost £6.80, although it is also available in 5's, 10's, 25's and 50's. I thought it was an excellent cigar, nice looking construction with a good cap. It gave an even burn with cedar and spice notes. I would class it as a mild-medium smoke with a good aroma. Generally a good quality small cigar worth spending time with, not a quick smoke and good to the end. On my 100 point scale it came out with 84. Time didn't allow me to taste the Jose L. Piedra, but that is next on my list!

Photo credit http://flickr.com/photos/da_ladd/)

Cigars

During the week I got a nice selection of cigars from my usual merchant http://www.cgarsltd.co.uk/. I plan to taste two of them over the weekend, Por Larranga Petit Corona and a Jose L Piedra Petit Cazadores and post my reviews here. I plan on using the Cigar Aficionado 100 point rating system which is as follows:

• Appearance - 15 points
• Smoking Characteristics - 25 points
• Flavour - 25 points
• Overall Impression - 35 points.

Hopefully the weather will be kind and I'll get to sample them in my garden with a nice glass or two, if not it will be the conservatory!

(Photo Credit http://flickr.com/photos/arbron/)

Note Taking with Technology

I am a big fan of One Note (I use a tablet PC) and I am currently testing Evernote to see if that provides a better solution. It's early days, but whilst I like the ability in Ever Note to synchronise notes by using the cloud, I don't like the layout and UI as much as One Note. I'll keep persevering for a few more weeks and make a decision at that point.

(Photo credit Paul Worthington)

Technology

After lots of trial and error I have finally got my GTD system into some sort of stable framework. I am an Outlook (2007) user and have the Netcentrics Add-In which is excellent, so use that for all N/A's and categorising both tasks and e-mails. Kelly Forrister (see my Blog links) has produced an excellent White Paper on how to set-up Outlook without the addition of an add-in. It can be purchased from the David Allen Company http://www.davidco.com/.

Paper

I use a Moleskine for work notes and one for personal notes. In both my office and my study at home I have In-trays and reading trays along with a Tickler File. I must say originally I was a bit unsure of these, but they are great for filing papers that you will need in the future. While for many years I made do with tickler sets that I had made myself - I can highly recommend the ones that the David Allen Company now sells, in fact use the above link and see all the cool gear that they are now selling - along with the tickler I particularly like the files, zipped folders and file rack. On first glance they may seem a bit expensive - but are superb quality.