Birthdays and Recognition

Not nice being unable to give J a hug on his 14th birthday today, nor F on her 10th last month. Not nice at all. I was rather downcast at work this morning. I hope J had a nice day. He sounded cheerful when I spoke with him this morning and this evening.

By this evening I was quite cheerful too because I'd received some noteworthy recognition of my SAS blog (www.NoteColon.info or NoteColon.blogspot.com) (the blog is named NOTE: for reasons understood only by SAS programmers)...

Chris Hemedinger is a senior manager in R&D at SAS and he's editor of the SASdummy blog - an official SAS blog (and he wrote the SAS for Dummies book). In his post today entitled "Other SAS Blogs of NOTE:", Chris wrote:

Hello Knowledge Thirsters,

Today I discovered that the NOTE: newsletter (pronounced /note colon/) has migrated to the blogosphere. I'm pleased and humbled to admit I've already learned a few things by reading it.

This site and others like Angela's SAS BI blog, the "SAS Tips" site, and the cacophony of voices on sasCommunity.org all contribute to the growing number of excellent resources from real-world SAS users.

And of course, you can always count on me here to provide an insular SAS perspective. I'm happy to be one voice in the chorus.

While I've seen a pleasingly increasing number of people reading my blog over the last few weeks, it's nice to get some recognition from SAS themselves. Unexpected, and appreciated all the more for it.

TC@CM Photo - Coffee and...

The Crown at Celtic Manor

Crap day. Will nobody make a constructive contribution that eases us to delivering this project? I'm looking for an evening that delivers some degree of comfort and sympathy. I try The Crown at Celtic Manor and it delivers in spades.

The Celtic Manor is Newport's top star hotel (and resort). Towering above the M4 like a smiling Colditz, it's unmissable for anybody travelling the South Wales autoroute. Home to the Ryder Cup 2010, its golf courses are a prime feature (but, at a reputed £200 per round, I've not sampled any of them).

The Crown at Whitebrook is Wales's only Michelin-starred restaurant (only 40 mins from Newport, but I've not been there). TC@CM is its junior sister, but a well-developed sister nonetheless.

CM is an impressive location with its huge underground car park, imposing reception area and wide range of eateries. TC@CM is modern in decor yet still welcoming (photo).

Imaginative canapes were enjoyed in a comfie archair in the lounge/bar area. At table, a tantalising amuse bouche began the proceedings. I had chosen the 4-course weekday (Tue-Thurs) menu at £28. It proved to offer value for money, running from the Confit Salmon, Horseradish and Cucumber Tagliatelle, through Chicken with Sweet Potato and Smoked Jus, then Goat's Cheese, Honey, Pickled Walnut and Green Apple (photo), finishing with Chocolate Fondant, Roast Pineapple and Coconut Ice Cream.

Service was attentive but not over-powering Coffee was accompanied by a fab selection of sweet items (photo).

All-in-all, my crap day is forgotten. Thank you TC@CM.

TC@CM Photo - Goats Cheese

TC@CM Photo - Decor

J28 Pictures

Junction 28

Dinner straight from work at Junction 28. Hidden round the back of Tredegar Arms and the church. An old (ex-) railway station. Thanks Dr Beeching. It's a well respected eatery.

Plenty of free parking this early evening, but I know the large car park gets full later in the evening. It's a large place, yet it still feels welcoming and intimate.

Sat in the whicker chair of the lounge, I relax and allow the atmosphere to waft over me... music, decor, staff attire... I'm in my childhood, enjoying a visit to an expensive restaurant.

Frank Sinatra croons, Richard Clayderman tinkles, The Carpenters harmonise. The waiters are for the most part men in white shirts, black waistcoat and trousers, slight midriff bulge, (fake?) italian accent, aged 30+. But, there's no prawn cocktail nor black forest gateau on the menu. It's a good, varied selection of meats and fish in European style.

I skip starters (still feeling quesy over the broken cam belt) and select monkfish with king prawns and basil ravioli. The combination of prawn, basil and pasta is very good, leaving the monkfish as a poor sibling. I skip desert and request a coffee. This is delivered with the offer of cream. The subsequent, unprompted offer to refill my cup is welcome.

It's cheaper before 7pm, but not by much - the prix fix menu is 16.50 instead of 19.50.

All-in-all a pleasantly relaxing end to the working day and start to the evening. A welcome trip back to my early teenage years. Now, have I saved enough for that Sinclair ZX81 yet?

Barry Island Last Week

I went to Barry Island last week but forgot to post photos. It was a nice sunny evening. Nice beach and view over to England, but the place was shut!

-Andy
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Mob: 07714-719206
Sent from my Windows Mobile device

Convention Centre

The hotel's just a few minutes walk from the convention centre. Actually it's a Resort Hotel and Convention Centre. I think it opened April 2008. It's very large. It has five or six floors, 2,000 rooms, and has an enormous atrium that's got shops and eateries. Very nice a light and airy. http://www.gaylordhotels.com/gaylord-national/

Steve O'D and I have a speaker's briefing at 4pm and then Futrix forum at 5pm and then opening session at 6:30pm and then we'll find some dinner after that.

We're presenting our paper at 2pm on Tuesday, so I'd better find time to remind myself of the content beforehand.

My first paper is at 8am tomorrow morning. As usual, it's an early start.

Breakfast was nice this morning: Asparagus and cheese omelette.

I'm hoping you all have a good week. I hope fencing trip is good.

ttfn

Washington #1

The breakfast in Ramsay Plan Food at Heathrow terminal 5 was very good. Not large, just one sausage, a couple of rashers of bacon, half a tomato and a few slices of mushrooom, but it was well cooked and immensely flavoursome.

Food on the plane was average, and the leg room and elbow room was limited, but livable. The entertainment system is digital - not games, but a big choice of videos and TV shows, all of which start when you want to watch them, so you don't miss the beginning if you join "late". I watched Control (film about the life of Ian Curtis, lead singer with Joy Division) and then saw an episode of Mitchell and Webb show. Both were interesting, for very different reasons. Ian Curtis's story was rather sad; M&W was funny (Robert Webb won the Red Nose Dancing program, remember?). I finished my book (David Peace, Red Riding 1974) just as we landed. Good timing!

We got a pre-booked car from the airport to the hotel. The photo shows Juggie leering from the back window!

The hotel is nice. I have a nice river view plus two double beds and an enormous bathroom - see the other photos.

We're not very close to central Washington. Apparently, the convention centre and neighbourhood were built recently on reclaimed land on the side of the Potomac river. It's a funny area: just rthe convention centre, hotels, touristy shops, and restaurants. No sense of community here. Anyway, it's nice and clean and new, and the sun is very bright - though not quite as warm as the brightness would suggest.

Washington

I arrived in Washington yesterday, had dinner with Steve M, Steve O'D, Juggie and Jag. Nice breakfast this morning, and I've now registered for the conference and found a wi-fi area.

Monday morning again

Just leaving Leigh Delamere. Heading to Severn bridge and payment of £5.40. Yes, you have to pay to get into Wales along this route. But there's no charge when you leave :)

Having paid £4.50 for coffee and cake, I shall be £10 down before I even get to the office!

Sorry to see J was ill last night. I hope you're feeling better this morning

Mussel Chowder with Safron

The SAS boys are largely finished and so there are none staying here this week. Plus, Richard (my B&B companion) finished last week, so I'm all on my own! Well, not quite because Richard's replacement is somebody I know - I used to work with Ellen at Barclays. She's staying at a different B&B, so not a regular companion, but we had dinner together Monday evening. Tredegar Arms; I had sausage & mash, which arrived with nothing else but sausage and mash, not even a tomato garnish; disappointing. Ellen had Hunters Chicken (chicken with a rich gravy and covered in cheese); it looked greasy and horrid but she politely said she enjoyed it.

Last night I took myself and my laptop to the nearest pub (Rhiwderin Arms) and had a nice steak & ale pie with peas and new potatoes. And made a start on my book.

Tonight I'm at the Ruperra Arms. Nice atmosphere - quiet music Simply Red followed by Rod Stewart Sings Songs From The American Songbook. Food has been lovely: mussel chowder with safron to begin, then braised ox cheek with herb mash (very nice rich gravy, but cheek was a little lacking in taste). I'm using an unsecured wi-fi connection. I don't know who it belongs to (maybe a neighbour!)

I'm looking forward to being home tomorrow evening (yes, Thursday). And looking forward to duck :) Weekends so far have disappeared too fast. It'll be nice to gain the extra day.

Monday morning

Up at 5.10, out of the house at 5.50. Not bad

Having brekkie at membury services for a change.

Have left my office pass in my old bag. damn

Richard's last night

Busy day today. Met Andrea and Dave at office at 7:30 (no brekkie), Andrea drove us (3 hours) to office in Titchfield near Southampton), attended five 1 hour meetings back-to-back, then Andrea drove us back to office (another 3 hours), then I drove back to farm, changed cloth, picked-up Richard and drove to Cardiff for dinner.

It's Richard's last day tomorrow. He arrived at Pentre Tai / office one week after me. He was due to stay until end of March but grandma is v unwell and has no other close family.

So we all (incl. SAS boys) went to Italian pace (Bellini's) in Cariff Bay. I had Caprese for starters (mozarella and tomatoes) followed by steak. It was nice. Sorry to see Richard go, but sadder about the reasons. R's glad to leave Pentre Tai - his bog;s been busted for the last couple of days, and George hasn't been able to fix it :(

It was nice to hear that Hobbit was good, and prize for costume. I'm hoping to leave office earlier than in previous weeks tomorrow...

Early start

I'm already at the office this morning! Andrea (ONS), Dave (SAS) and I are going to ONS in Titchfield, near Southampton. Andrea's driving, so I might get some extra sleep along the way

We went to Spice Merchant in Cardiff Bay last night. Very tasty, if slow. I had tandoori trout to start, and duck main course. Very filling.

Richard (contractor) is leaving ONS and Pentre Tainted tomorrow (his Nan's unwell), so we'll go somewhere of his choice this evening.

Quiz night at Tredegar

Like last Tuesday, we went to Tredegar Arms tonight. Reasonably priced but nicely cooked food, and decent beer too.

We'd forgotten it was quiz night. Last week we passd-up the chance to enter, but informally answered the questions and thought we'd done well. This week we put our money in the tin and entered the "arena". Sadly, despite having the largest team (7 people) we could only manage 5th out of 10 teams. We were joint leaders after round one (theme for the round was food), but couldn't sustain the pace thereafter.

Bah! Perhaps next week

My fish cakes were nice :)

Monday evening

If it's Monday it has to be Friendly Fox - 2 meals for £7.99. Or, in my case tonight, £2.99 for chef's curry, i.e. yesterday's carvery chopped-up and with curry sauce added. It filled a spot. Richard had steak & ale pie, looked nice

Monday arrival

Quite a pleasant journey. Just arrived. The sun's shining nicely. Looks like a lovely day

Monday morning

Brrrr, it's chilly this morning.

I fumbled the alarm this morning and didn't get up 'til 4:55. Managed to leave the house at 5:30.

Traffic's been light, but the low, bright sun has been in my rear-view mirror for the last half hour. Changing lanes is tricky.

Now stopped at Leigh Delamere for brekkie (trade english today, couldn't resist!)

Pongo update

Pongo's being kept in a stall with his Mum at the moment coz he's not feeding properly and is a bit weak. George is taking good care of him

Meet Pongo

Pongo was born yesterday (Monday). Isn't he sweet? :)

Tredegar

We tried the Tredegar Arms this evening. It's the fourth (and most distant) pub on the road from farm to motorway. Food was nice (typical pub menu) and well cooked, but reasonably priced. Might go back later this week.

More sheep?

Here's a picture I took last week but forgot to post. The sheep are fractionally closer than in previous pictures

Monday a.m.

I was up at 4:45 and left home at 5:25. I'm getting-up 15 mins later each
week, but still arriving at a decent time, i.e. near 9am. I expect it'll be
busier this week (end of half-term), so I won't be able to get up any
later.

I had coffee and croissant at Leigh Delamere (arrived 7:30) before
finishing the journey. I think this is the first monday morning I've
been at LD with no snow - last week there were little piles in places, I
think.

I arrived at ONS at 8:55. Tidy!

Good to see Slumdog Millionaire got 8 Oscars. The first British-funded
film to get Best Picture since 1948! 61 years!! I hope you all have a
good cinema trip today.

I've been trying to send some or all of this message since 7:45 this
morning. Some kind of problem somewhere :(

Cold showers

It was nice to talk to you all this evening.

I had a cold shower this morning (and I mean *seriously* cold). It may have been partly my fault coz I had a long shower last night and the water temperature was dropping when I got out. I don't think the water heater is switched until next morning, by which time it's too late to heat it quickly enough for morning showers.

George has managed to drill a hole in the outside wall at last, so he can connect the heat exchanger and generate more hot water. He hasn't yet connected it up, but the hole puts us one step closer.

We're off to Cardiff tonight. Tony, the SAS project Mgr leaves SAS next week and this is his last visit to newport.

Lambs

The lambs were let out to play before breakfast this morning, so I took a few distant pictures, plus random pictures of farmhouse

Rhiwderin Arms

Hurrah, we found somewhere that serves decent food at a decent price, and it's actually the pub nearest Pentre Tai! I had sausage and mash.

How's half-term going?

A very ordinary evening

Went to friendly fox with richard x 2 and andy k. Had mediocre meals, as expected. Atmosphere was good - tv showing arsenal vs Cardiff

Not bad

Here at 9.10. Not bad - I left home at 5.10 and had a 20 min breakfast stop. Traffic around newport very light - perhaps it settles after 9am.

Surprising amount of snow still in fields around Swindon

Nothing happened

Richard and I went to Friendly Fox again this evening, but earlier than last night. Hence got something to eat: 2 x gammon/egg/chips for 7.99

Now back in room, ready to pack, and mtg in office at 8am tomorrow.

Looking fwd to coming home tomorrow, albeit won't leave 'til 4pm coz Andrea's booked a mtg 3 til 4. I must get her trained! Anyway, I now have everything I need to work from home properly (incl. being able to connect to ONS email)

ttfn

Oh what a night!

Hmmm, disappointing evening. The SAS boys are finished for this week (we only bought 3 days of their time), so it ws just Richard and me, and we had to pay for dinner ourself :(

We went to Ruperra Arms (reputedly the best eatery locally) but Richard didn't fancy anything on the menu (in part because his agency took him for lunch today; in contrast, I only had time for a sandwich), so we finished our beers and went to the Friendly Fox (where we went Monday night - "two meals for 7.99"). But the lazy bag behind the bar, when she eventually condescended to pull herself away from conversation with pals, told us last orders for meals was 15 mins ago.

So, we ordered two packets of crisps and a bag of nuts :( BAH, must do better tomorrow evening...

Ruperra Arms was interesting. It's a nice pub but seems to be frequented by the posh locals; Friendly Fox is more down-to-earth. Nonetheless, i'd like to try the grub for myself - the faggots were tempting, also the "beetroot tainted salmon" (or is that a pretentious description?)

Night, night...

Cardiff Bay

I forgot tonight's piccies!

You can see Roald Dahl Plas, home of Torchwood (look carefully and you'll see the tall
shiny pillar) and home of Welsh parliament (with illuminated writing on the sloping front).

The end of another day

It's been a good day today: my real client returned from her 17-day holiday in Brazil (her home) and she's full of info and ideas. Her absence has been noticeable over the last week. Tomorrow should be another good, focused and constructive day.

This evening we went to Cardiff, like we did last Wednesday. On that occasion we went to Woods Brasserie and had a fabulous meal (I had scallops & beetroot and steak); tonight we went to a cheap Italian (though I had nice bruschetta and then veal). Both meals paid by SAS and hence our client (thank you taxpayers!).

And the weather's been pleasant today: sunny, with no snow and no flooding.

Thinking of you all. Good night x x x

No Snow - Just Sunshine

Phew

Surprisingly, we seem snow-free this morning.

It's very windy, and I had a disturbed night (various noises interspersed throughout the night), but should be no probs getting to work. On the other hand, the South West of England seems to have had mega snow, and one of the Severn bridges is closed.

Adventure Tomorrow

We went to the Friendly Fox tonight: initiation for the new Pentre Tai guest, Richard. But it's already snowing heavily, so I wonder what it'll be like in the morning...

Pentre Tai Farm B&B

Finished work and resting at Pentre Tai. Coincidentally there's a new conactor at ONS and he's staying here too. He's got a Land-Rover Defender, so we should be ok if it snows overnight :)

Here are four pictures of my room (same as last week).

Arrived safely

I arrived safely and was coincidentally followed by my colleague Andrew all the way from the Severn River brige (he lives in Bristol).

Seems Google tracking (Google Latutude) wasn't working this morning, but it is now. Might be new system gremlins - it only started last week.

Better do some work now...

Another week

I was up at 4.15 and left at 5.10 (not sure what took me so long). There's been no traffic on the road, and no holdups except for an overturned van near Sevenoaks.

I've now stopped for coffee at Leigh Delamere services. It is 7.30 and I should be at ONS within the hour! I will be in the office before many of the locals!

There was a lot of snow around Swindon; on the side of the road and in tbeee fields, but blbd on the carriageway. Car park here at services is full of snow an big slippery lumps of ice - very difficult to walk from car to services. Wish me luck on my walk back to the car....

Demo for J

This has come from my phone

First week in Newport

Monday afternoon:

Tuesday morning:

Boy it was snowy!