The Woodshed

On the topic of birthday anniversaries, see previous post , it's my sister's birthday today! So here's a special birthday-wish-post to Thurla who is (hopefully) celebrating with Depeche Mode and Carrot Cake from Melissa's. Wish we were there. For our part, however, we managed to source a copy of Life Magazine published the week she entered this world. A rare thing indeed (and thanks to a colleague for arranging the pick-up). Now all that remains, is for us to frame it in glass and send it to you. Keep your eyes on the post Thurl and make sure everyone spoils you today. ;-) All our love XXX

Brown is this year's black. What's hot? What's not? Wired? Fired? In and out. The pace of change today (particularly when you're thirty-something ...) is sometimes dizzying. And blessed be - I'd hate to walk into the office wearing something that's "oh so 80's! dude." (read: those super-naff Hyper T-Shirts that leave an imprint of your hand - or other warm body part). Trend spotting is big. And, up until now, I've always watched from the sideline thinking that the Trends World is dominated by grey trousered analysts crunching statistics. Wrong. My good mate past this on to me this morning: Trendwatching.com . An independent and opinionated trend firm whom scans the globe for the most promising consumer trends, insights and related hands-on business ideas. With a network of over 8 000+ 'spotters in more than 70 countries worldwide you can bet the main meal is mouthwatering. And not only is the content rich, absorbing and useful but the good ...

Yesterday a colleague popped an Mpeg of Steve Job's Commencement Address on the server for me to download. It's the video version of the following transcript which i have kept for almost a year ... as soon as I figure out how to attach movie's to my blog i'll share that too :-) it's well worth a listen. ++ This is the text of the Commencement address by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, delivered on June 12, 2005. I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories. The first story is about connecting the dots. I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out? ...

noun 1 the transmission of customs or beliefs from generation to generation, or the fact of being passed on in this way • a long-established custom or belief that has been passed on in this way. One such tradition in our family is that on your birthday we all have chocolate cake for breakfast. And so it was this morning. At 5:30am, bleary eye'd, I was opening presents in bed with my two boys, gorgeous daughter and beautiful wife. Amongst the spoils were a Yoda keyring, Dark Horse graphic novel of the first 3 Star Wars episodes (stunning!) and an Obi-Wan collector figurine. Spoilt indeed. After the unwrapping the family gathered around the dining table, tea's and coffee in hand, and each helped themselves to a slice of chocolate cake. Happy birthday to me. ;-)