Developer, entrepreneur, husband, dad, cyclist, sometime triathlete and anything else I can squeeze in. I'm cursed with a short attention span and only 24 hours in most days.
I'm CTO of Esendex the business messaging service provider I founded with Julian Hucker back in 2002.
At the weekends, when I'm not hanging out with my family, I can generally be found on my bike with Beeston Cycling Club or competing in triathlons, bike races or challenging myself in various other ways.
I'm also sharing my progress towards the goal of becoming a Cat 3 bike racer on Bunch Riding
Found this great tutorial on creating an HtmlHelper extension to automatically create an HTML Dropdown list in ASP.NET MVC.
Worked a treat. http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ukadc/archive/2010/06/22/asp-net-mvc-creating-a-dropd...Last week I tweeted about what great support I'd had from Vodafone UK. I'd needed some help setting up a new Blackberry on Monday and the guy on the support desk was great. He was informed, helpful and keen to ensure my BlackBerry was fully setup.
Tuesday morning brought a surprise in the shape of the iPhone 4 I'd ordered. I was porting my number and knew from previous experience that this could be a fragile process that had to be done in absolutely the correct sequence. Tempted though I was to plug in, activate my phone and start playing, I made sure I called Vodafone first to ensure I was following due process. Lucky I did because it seems the porting request and PAC code I'd entered on the web site when I'd ordered the phone hadn't got through to the porting team. No problem though, the support guy took the SIM number and sorted it out. I was on the porting queue. Disappointingly this wasn't to be until Thursday but these things happen. I just had a squared off iPod Touch until then. Importantly, I'd confirmed with the support guy that I'd done everything I needed to do and I could just sit back and wait until Thursday. I'd also explained that was leaving the country on Thursday evening for a few days so we checked that all international bars had been lifted. Meanwhile, the SIM activated with. 'temporary' number and I had a phone. Bonus! Or so I thought. Come Thursday my service with O2 ceased first thing in the morning and I waited for the port to happen. Nothing by around lunchtime so I called up and was told not to worry until four thirty. If it wasn't done by then I should call back. Five thirty, still nothing so called up support. Turns out the port and been rejected because the new SIM had activated before the port and wouldn't accept my number. I needed a new SIM. I was leaving for France in 90 mins. The local Vodafone shop was shut. I was kippered. My number was dead to anyone that called until I came back to the UK and activated a new SIM So Vodafone, a couple of suggestions. a) If someone calls up asking exactly what they need to do to ensure a seamless port of a number. Tell them exactly what they need to do. I can only assume that I wasn't supposed to put the SIM in the phone until porting day? b) If a port is rejected, phone the person up on another number you have for them (you had at least one more for me) to let them know. It might be that they can sort it out. Porting numbers shouldn't be difficult.Yesterday was to be the culmination of 9 months effort and training. From the moment i got back on the bike after having surgery to repair a broken collar bone, La Marmotte was my goal.
Training for La Marmotte ended up consuming the whole of my training focus. After a winter battling through icy conditions to get the miles in, 3 hour turbo sessions and then a spring and early summer of more and more hills. A positive feedback loop ensued. I got faster up hill, enjoyed them more, did them more, got faster, etc. Racing, triathlon and time-trialing all played second fiddle to the pursuit of a decent time in the Alps. Despite a virus affecting my last couple of weeks taper, I arrived on the start line in Bourg d'Oisans yesterday feeling ready. This was borne out by the first ascent up to the Col du Glandon. It went really well. I felt strong, rode within myself, passed lots of people and felt stronger the further up I climbed. The descent from the Glandon was neutralised which meant timing stopped at the top and started again only when you reached the bottom. It's a dangerous descent upon which several riders have died over the years so this meant everyone could get down safely and start racing again when it was safer. Unfortunately not everyone seemed to understand this. My race was unceremoniously brought to end with a 40 mph crash as another rider decided to try and undertake my on a sweeping corner and clipped my handlebars with his thigh as he went through. La Marmotte had become all consuming and in an instant I was sat shaking and bleeding on the side of a mountain, soon to get Abandonée marked against my name. I'd let the training for the one event subsume me and the event had spat me out unceremoniously This was a taste of what Olympic athletes go through, except they have 4 years between events and they give up everything and rest everything on that one performance. It was a valuable lesson. Achievement is great if you achieve and while I am driven by achievement, pastimes should also give oneself a break from constant self-improvement. I'll be back next year, but it won't be my only focus.Yes, I upgraded and yes I regretted it almost immediately. Ponderous, sluggish performance ruined any joy derived from new features.
Luckily Lifehacker came to my rescue: http://lifehacker.com/5572003/how-to-downgrade-your-iphone-3g%5Bs%5D-from-ios...
