No posts on any of the blogs for the past couple of weeks, as we have been on holiday in The Maldives. We've never been there before - one reason being the long travelling time.
I had not given too much thought to what it would be like there. Everyone associates it with idyllic beaches and so on, and in fact it is stunning.
What I had no idea about before going is just how different the geography is to most places - even compared with, say, Caribbean islands.
The key thing is just how small and flat the inhabited islands are. Our resort was on a piece of "land" that was about 700m long and less than 20m wide. And the highest point of the landmass is about 2metres above sea level !
The other really remarkable thing is how clear and shallow the sea is. It's about 3 - 4 feet deep for as far as you can swim. From the air, you can see how the individual islands are sitting in these shallow lagoons which are doted around in the deeper Ocean surroundings.
And the colour of the sea is literally aquamarine. Very beautiful.
Saturday, 31 May 2008
Sunday, 11 May 2008
Awards Season
Last night was presentation evening at Brickhill. We went last year, of course, when Harry unexpectedly won the Most Improved Player award in the U-11 team. This year we went for the last time, since Harry has decided to retire from the team.
We know the parents of the team much better now and we hope to keep in touch with them since they are a great group to know. The social aspect to the team is a really strong feature.
Karen, along with Andy & Rebecca (and Sarah who wasn't there last night), did a really top-class effort on the Hawks tombola. We were not able to buy any tickets, really, since 80% of the contents was ours to begin with ! If you are reading this blog then there is a fair chance that some of the content came from you originally at a birthday or Christmas !
Karen also helped out with the behind-the-scenes presentation work.
Harry was obviously not in the running for any footballing awards, but Sandra arranged for him to be presented with the matchball, signed by all the playes and coaches etc - which was great. I even got a departing-reporter gift which was a nice thought.
We are sad to see Harry leave the team but we are glad he was part of it for nearly two seasons.
The full report of the award winners etc is on the Hawks Blog.
We know the parents of the team much better now and we hope to keep in touch with them since they are a great group to know. The social aspect to the team is a really strong feature.
Karen, along with Andy & Rebecca (and Sarah who wasn't there last night), did a really top-class effort on the Hawks tombola. We were not able to buy any tickets, really, since 80% of the contents was ours to begin with ! If you are reading this blog then there is a fair chance that some of the content came from you originally at a birthday or Christmas !
Karen also helped out with the behind-the-scenes presentation work.
Harry was obviously not in the running for any footballing awards, but Sandra arranged for him to be presented with the matchball, signed by all the playes and coaches etc - which was great. I even got a departing-reporter gift which was a nice thought.
We are sad to see Harry leave the team but we are glad he was part of it for nearly two seasons.
The full report of the award winners etc is on the Hawks Blog.
Wednesday, 7 May 2008
Window on the world
Recently a friend gave me a 2nd-hand PC to replace the one I had to return to work.
This was certainly useful, as choosing a new PC is a pain. The difficulty was that the PC had been gathering dust in an office (the previous user having moved on) for a while. In the meantime, everyone had forgotten the password.
Attempts at remembering or guessing the password failed. It was becoming rather a frustrating problem. However, I was pointed to a tech forum which gave instructions on how to reset the administrator password.
I have obviously heard how windows is supposed to be rather leaky from a security perspective, but never gave it much thought.
Quite a revelation ! This was a completely legitimate password reset, but it was still rather amazing what can be done with the right knowledge.
The procedure required no more equipment than an original Windows XP disk. It then involved rebooting the PC and interrupting the boot with a particular sequence of keystrokes. This led to a "secret" menu where, indeed, one could reset the administrator password (and do other low-level tasks).
Obviously, with a new admin password, the whole PC is opened up and I was able to proceed as necessary.
This was certainly useful, as choosing a new PC is a pain. The difficulty was that the PC had been gathering dust in an office (the previous user having moved on) for a while. In the meantime, everyone had forgotten the password.
Attempts at remembering or guessing the password failed. It was becoming rather a frustrating problem. However, I was pointed to a tech forum which gave instructions on how to reset the administrator password.
I have obviously heard how windows is supposed to be rather leaky from a security perspective, but never gave it much thought.
Quite a revelation ! This was a completely legitimate password reset, but it was still rather amazing what can be done with the right knowledge.
The procedure required no more equipment than an original Windows XP disk. It then involved rebooting the PC and interrupting the boot with a particular sequence of keystrokes. This led to a "secret" menu where, indeed, one could reset the administrator password (and do other low-level tasks).
Obviously, with a new admin password, the whole PC is opened up and I was able to proceed as necessary.
Friday, 2 May 2008
Blind Justice
Matt and Harry continue to be very taken by the table tennis. I enjoy it too and it's fairly close between the three of us.
Yesterday during a winner stays on series, I was playing Harry whilst Matt lay on the lawn face down. Matt was able to score the match by sound alone. He had to be told when there was a let, but apart from that he could apparently follow the progress of the point from the sounds of the ball hitting the bat and table and the rhythm of the rally, which is is obviously broken when the ball hits the net or is not returned etc.
Harry believed Matt was in fact peeping and could see, but as a non-skeptic I am inclined to accept the feat on its merits.
nb - Harry was the big winner last night with a 5-match streak.
Yesterday during a winner stays on series, I was playing Harry whilst Matt lay on the lawn face down. Matt was able to score the match by sound alone. He had to be told when there was a let, but apart from that he could apparently follow the progress of the point from the sounds of the ball hitting the bat and table and the rhythm of the rally, which is is obviously broken when the ball hits the net or is not returned etc.
Harry believed Matt was in fact peeping and could see, but as a non-skeptic I am inclined to accept the feat on its merits.
nb - Harry was the big winner last night with a 5-match streak.
Thursday, 1 May 2008
Good Form ?
Yesterday I had occasion to fill in a form for an online bank account. Name, address .... OK
Occupation ?
Lots of choices offered, but which is correct ?
Unemployed ?
Retired ?
Homemaker ?
Self-employed (in which case, professional or non-professional).
Studying ?
I went for Other in the end.
Occupation ?
Lots of choices offered, but which is correct ?
Unemployed ?
Retired ?
Homemaker ?
Self-employed (in which case, professional or non-professional).
Studying ?
I went for Other in the end.
Tuesday, 29 April 2008
Officially Speaking
Today is actually my last day as an employee of Bear Stearns. Although I resigned 3 months ago, and left on gardening leave over 4 weeks ago, today is really the end of that chapter.
Monday, 28 April 2008
First in Class
A "first" for me ...
Over the years, I received a fair few class-action notices which invited me to apply for compensation in a lawsuit against companies whose shares had fallen sharply. Typically these came from the dot-com days.
Until now, I have universally binned these forms for a number of reasons.
One reason is that I do not agree with the principle of it. In my view, equity buyers know what they are letting themselves in for - shares can go down, sometimes precipitously. And if the reason was mismanagement, or even fraud by the directors, well that is one of the risks of share ownership.
Also it is profoundly illogical to sue company X to seek compensation for shareholders of X.
Other reasons included the fact that the amounts involved were somewhat small - my losses were modest (a few thousand dollars at the most) and of course the recovery in the lawsuit would be a fraction of that. Plus, it would take years to come through, if at all. I think 5 - 15 years from suit-to-cash is about the range.
But, when I received a class action notice relating to Xerox (the suit was filed in 2000, relating to trading in 1998 - that's how long these things take !) I decided to give it a go.
In this case, the lawsuit itself seemed slightly more meritorious and KPMG are held partly to blame and are putting in some of the money (although most of it, still, comes from Xerox themselves - I still do not see how that makes sense). Plus, my loss and expected recovery seems like it will at least cover the postage (£1.22). I think I might get about £200 eventually although I would not count on receiving it for another 2 years at least.
I need to get income from whatever source these days !
Over the years, I received a fair few class-action notices which invited me to apply for compensation in a lawsuit against companies whose shares had fallen sharply. Typically these came from the dot-com days.
Until now, I have universally binned these forms for a number of reasons.
One reason is that I do not agree with the principle of it. In my view, equity buyers know what they are letting themselves in for - shares can go down, sometimes precipitously. And if the reason was mismanagement, or even fraud by the directors, well that is one of the risks of share ownership.
Also it is profoundly illogical to sue company X to seek compensation for shareholders of X.
Other reasons included the fact that the amounts involved were somewhat small - my losses were modest (a few thousand dollars at the most) and of course the recovery in the lawsuit would be a fraction of that. Plus, it would take years to come through, if at all. I think 5 - 15 years from suit-to-cash is about the range.
But, when I received a class action notice relating to Xerox (the suit was filed in 2000, relating to trading in 1998 - that's how long these things take !) I decided to give it a go.
In this case, the lawsuit itself seemed slightly more meritorious and KPMG are held partly to blame and are putting in some of the money (although most of it, still, comes from Xerox themselves - I still do not see how that makes sense). Plus, my loss and expected recovery seems like it will at least cover the postage (£1.22). I think I might get about £200 eventually although I would not count on receiving it for another 2 years at least.
I need to get income from whatever source these days !
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