Pieces of a Man Think it. Do it. Be it. Embellish.

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We reach! A week at the Weltermeisterschaft with Leo Beenhakker's red'n'white army. See the pictures...

Labels: 2006

Today's the day - off to Germany for the World Cup! It's come around very quickly and I'm hardly prepared at all for the assignment that I need to submit a week after I come back, but we'll cross that bridge later. Right now, my concerns are where to get face paint.

Following Trinidad and Tobago in the tournament so far has been fantastic. The draw against Sweden was much like watching Norwich draw 0-0 at Anfield in 1988; completely against all expectations and a cause for great outpourings of footballing joy.

I've had a 5ft x 3ft Trinidad flag obscuring my office windows for the last few weeks so everyone at work knows about the trip and is suitably envious, especially since following England is such a dire experience so far.

I hate to say 'I told you so', but I've always thought that Eriksson is a charlatan. I can see winning Serie A over a season as a practical application of his Swedish efficiency, but he doesn't have the balls to win a tournament, even if his current state of demob happiness has added a few sparks; too little, too late.

The team is still confused over it's shape for a start;

The truth is that England have no real strategy beyond a reliance on the individual qualities of their big names, on the most rudimentary tactics handed down through the English game for generations, and, now, on an almost random infusion of youthful zest. Ask them to play their way from one end of the pitch to another with co-ordinated passing and movement, and they are lost. (The Guardian)

After about 6 years of this supposed golden generation gearing up for 2006 it's still an incarnation of Sven's indecision; he doesn't have the bottle to drop Beckham or Owen, has fudged the choice between Lampard and Gerrard, and is playing an unfit Rooney as last roll of the dice.

Even though they beat the Soca Warriors 2-0 on Thursday, it was pitiful watching them panicking as the game wore on, the first half goal-line clearance (left) at the back of their mind as they tried to figure out what to do.

I couldn't believe my ears near the end hearing the Trinidad fans taunting the mighty England with an Olé for every touch as it was still heading for 0-0.

Honestly, taking 84 minutes to crack T'n'T - and then only doing it with a 6ft 7 striker holding a defender down by the dreadlocks - they should be ashamed of themselves. Still, I'll get behind them like everyone else as they go out to Ecuador next weekend.

Anyway, the plan for next week is to join the 'FanFest' and follow the games in a north-westerly arc from the München bierhalle to the banks of the Main;

Labels: 2006

At work we had our departmental away day yesterday, an opportunity for venting of the organisational spleen. This year someone had the idea of a vote for a song that summed up feelings about our newly merged library-and-computer entity. Top came Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now by The Smiths, followed by D-Ream's Things Can Only Get Better. Ouch!

(My personal favourite was the entry by a friend of mine - Two Tribes (go to war) by Frankie Goes to Hollywood.)

So, as you can see, work is a pretty unhappy place for a lot of people following the various restructures. There was a leak of an internal report to the Times Educational Supplement this week which, although it refers to other parts of the university, could equally apply to my bit (Learning & IT Services or 'LITS');

Staff at Sheffield Hallam University have delivered a damning indictment of senior managers in an internal satisfaction survey leaked to The Times Higher.

Asked to judge overall management, staff found "many aspects unsatisfactory". Management issues that were identified as "very important" to staff but also "unsatisfactory" included leadership qualities, organisational management of the university, the ability to manage change, support and communication and openness and transparency.

There is dissatisfaction across all faculties with the ability to manage change and support and communication during times of change. There appears to be a perception that staff are not involved in decision-making. Comments showed staff having little faith in the focus of the university and a belief that senior management have a totally different view of how the university runs to other staff.

A separate report on my own department called us 'a sick organisation'. Initiatives have been started to address the issues, but I think staff are more interested in first getting some heads to roll. A long, hot summer is ahead...

Labels: 2006

Our little man was 5 today and says he had his "best birthday ever"! The highlight was the party with all his classmates at the local play centre. Just like last year, his excitement at being crowned king for the day was priceless. More pictures...

Labels: 2006

Piccies from 'Knights and Princesses' day at Chirk Castle near Wrexham;

  

Labels: 2006

The Soca Warriors lost their 3rd warm-up game in a row today but continue to be everyone's favourite other team. There's a long and interesting article in the paper this weekend that covers everything Trini - from Carib to Calypso, Lara to Latapy, Soca to Sex life (Dwight's). Some interesting history on past campaigns, too;

(The play-off was) a daunting task: an away leg in Bahrain, after only drawing 1-1 at home. Worse still, those with memories knew the team had twice before blown it from a similar position. In 1973, they lost 2-1 to Haiti, despite putting the ball in the opposition net five times, in a match that led to the Salvadorean referee and Canadian linesman being banned for life.

More bitter still was the experience of 1989, when a buoyant T&T team, nicknamed the Strike Squad and featuring the young Latapy and Yorke, needed only a draw at home to the US to progress to the finals in Italy. The crowds in Port of Spain were so large that day that the T&T team had no time to observe their ritual of stopping off at church on the way to the game. Distracted and overawed, they lost 1-0.

It was a case of third time lucky, though. In the second half, the 6ft 7in defender Dennis Lawrence ambled up for a corner, rose above the melee and headed home. The final minutes were bedlam, with the referee manhandled after disallowing a Bahrain goal and a home player called Ali Baba shown the red card. But T&T hung on. More...

Labels: 2006

An old acquaintance of mine in Japan, Garr Reynolds, writes a great blog about presentation design called Presentation Zen. His latest post likens the effective presentation to the food on bullet trains;

A good bento, like a good presentation, contains high-quality and appropriate content which has been carefully selected, nothing superfluous, nothing arbitrary. The quantity is sufficient to satisfy and to please, but not so much that it ends up undermining the overall quality of the experience. The goal is to have just enough, but no more. More...

Labels: 2006

This week's Guardian Technology supplement has an interview with Jakob Nielsen;

Guardian: People either love or hate you. Have your methods helped you?

Jakob: There probably are some people who are beyond reach because they don't want to listen. It's kind of like being an astronomer and you're looking up at the sky and saying that it looks like the earth is revolving around the sun, not the sun revolving around the earth. You can report it and the Pope can like it or not, but it doesn't change what's going on. It's the same here: I'm reporting what average people find when they visit a website. If you don't listen your users will suffer and your business will suffer. You have to fight for the people.

Labels: 2006