Surf The Dream

Blog Moved

noreply@blogger.com (Birdman) — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 04:07:00 +0000

I'm no longer updating this blog anymore, you can find my updates over at Surf the Dream where I write about Project Management, Web site performance, and a whole bunch in between.

By far the most popular post on this site was Surfing Barra De La Cruz, but now all my surfing posts can be found on Surfer Mag.

Big Wave Surfing Ireland - Mullaghmore Tow Surfing

noreply@blogger.com (Birdman) — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 09:50:00 +0000

(big wave videos at the bottom of the post)
Last weekend saw one of the biggest swells to ever hit the West Coast of Ireland, and there were only a handful of surfers who braved the conditions. Are they courageous or just plain crazy? A little bit from column A, and a little bit from column B.

So sit back, relax, and watch Team 1 of Duncan Scott and Alistair Mennie and Team 2 of Ritchie
Fitz and Gabe Davies take on the biggest waves ever surfed in Ireland.

Oh, and to help spur on the competitive nature I'm sure these boy's have, leave a comment with the name of the surfer and which was the best wave!

Duncan Scott

Big Wave Surfing Mullaghmore, Ireland - Duncan Scott

Justin | Myspace Video

Alistair Mennie

Big Wave Surfing Mullaghmore, Ireland - Alistair Mennie

Justin | Myspace Video

Gabe Davies

Big Wave Surfing Mullaghmore, Ireland - Gabe Davies

Justin | Myspace Video

Big Wave Surfing Ireland

Justin | Myspace Video

Baby Monkey

noreply@blogger.com (Birdman) — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 10:01:00 +0000

WARNING WARNING WARNING

If you decide to press play on this you will be signing it for the next week.

Baby Monkey, baby monkey, riding backwards on a pig baby monkey

Where good ideas come from

noreply@blogger.com (Birdman) — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 16:43:00 +0000

Today I came across this awesome short talk on how ideas are formed.

If you like the look of the video, and what you're hearing with the talk, then you can pick up a copy of the book at the bottom of this post.

Drama Queen

noreply@blogger.com (Birdman) — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 16:42:00 +0000

Right. Right. Your bloody well right

noreply@blogger.com (Birdman) — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 09:24:00 +0000

I'm sat at work writing a Scope for a University and just had Bloody Well Right blasting through my headphones.

It reminds me of 2001 living with Shep's back in Coconut Grove. Late night Thrusday's at the Nightcliff Hotel..... gold dust!

Domains Galore

noreply@blogger.com (Birdman) — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 22:01:00 +0000

I've gone on a spending spree this year on domain names!
And not just this year, but over the past few years I've managed to pick up more and more domains.

The list now comes in as follows, (*'s indicate ones that I update)

WHUFC *

Surfer Mag *
Surfer Mag TV *
Surfer Mag *

Justin Avery - ME

Surf the Dream *

Director of Lemons*
Guardian
Mysource Matrix *
Mysource Matrix Info
Mysource Matrix Mobile

London Ballet *
London Ballet #2

No wonder I'm so friggin busy keeping all these updated. I would put an explanation on each of them so you could see what they were about, but go and click on them and see.

I've also now started to help out Laura's uncle with his site for Electrical Services in Thame. It's a pretty basic site that won't win any design awards, but it gives you the information.

Guatemala Sink Hole

noreply@blogger.com (Birdman) — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 16:37:00 +0000

A LOT has happened in between posts, but THIS I had to share with you.

Canon 50mm 2.8

noreply@blogger.com (Birdman) — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 14:40:00 +0000

A couple of months back now I went out shopping with Laura for a pair of gloves as the winter cold had well and truely set in and my fingers could no longer bare the pain.

The hardest occasions to get through were when I would go out shooting pictures with my Canon 50D because it's kind of difficult to take pictures with your hands in your pocket.

Unfortunately Laura left me at the shopping center to meet up with friends, which left me a little distracted and wandering around without too much purpose.

I came across a Jessops and decided I'd pop in to have a look at the types of lenses that were available, and ended buying a Canon 50mm 2.8 for a touch under £100.

I've taken a couple of pictures since getting the lens, and it takes a pretty good portrait and gives a nice shallow depth of field.

Here are a couple of pics I took in the last couple of days......

Rare moment with Laura letting me get a snap

Zoomed in picture of Lady Bug in my room

Non zoomed version of the above image

Cropped and slightly enhanced image of same Lady Bug

My next purchase could possibly be the Canon 100 - 400mm lens for our trip to Morocco. It's great for surf pictures, and has a hell of a zoom on it.

I've been in at Aperture Cameras in Museum Street London today trying it out, here are a few examples of the pictures I took outside.

Reebok Bums

noreply@blogger.com (Birdman) — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 20:02:00 +0000

I'm just chilling at home watching a preview for "Kick Ass" starring McLovin.... but the coolest bit was the ad in between.

Reebok have released a new product, Easy Tone.

I'm not all that fussed about what it does, but boy oh boy were there a LOT of buttocks.

Nuff said.

West Ham United vs Stoke

noreply@blogger.com (Birdman) — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 13:38:00 +0000

I'm forever blowing bubbles.......

That was how this weeks earlier game against wolves started off, and finished with the players looking for a way out of relegation.

They were put shone by what should be a lesser side, but showed on the day a bit of organisation and some simple football goes a long way. 3-1 in fact!

Today the Hammers are up against Stoke who have been playing well of late.

I'm on the way now to meet up wit Bart, not Simpson, for what will be his first taste of premiere league football and I'm hoping both the players and the fans can show him a good time, unfortunately I west ham play the way they have been the crowd will show Bart just how harsh they can be when the home side gives up.

Im fairly optimistic a out today though. Following a team like west ham is tough because there are a lot of lows, but when the highs are there BOY are they HIGH!

COME ON YOU IRONS........

Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast - Comes the Messiah

noreply@blogger.com (Birdman) — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 22:14:00 +0000

It's always good every once in a while to come across someone that is a genuinely nice person.

I've been writing a few articles for SurferM.ag during this years Quiksilver Pro, and always need to grab an image to go along with the article.

I usually trawl through the Flickr Galleries searching for Creative Commons images and giving credit where it is due.

Simon had some great shots, but unfortunately all were copyright. After a quick Flickr comment, then a follow up email and he was happy to share his image in exchange for a link or two.

So check out the flickr image, his blog post, Comes the Messiah, or the gallery of images on Swellnet.

West Ham Bobby Moore Anniversary

noreply@blogger.com (Birdman) — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 13:27:00 +0000

Today marks 17 years since the Bobby Moore passed away.

I'm happy to say that every other week I head to West Hams Upton Park and take my seat in the Bobby Moore stand.

What follows from that really depends on the performance of West Ham on that particular day, but I'm always sure to join in with the other 10,000 supporters in the Bobby Moore stand a few heckles of the opposition, the ref, the slow fat bloke on our team, and of course to sing along to "I'm forever blowing bubbles"

Christmas in England

noreply@blogger.com (Birdman) — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 13:12:00 +0000

There were two brilliant Christmas presents from what I can only describe as my English family. No more tangible then the paper they are written/printed on, but all the more special because of it.

One from my wonderful girlfriend Laura, a story of how we arrived at Christmas day that spans nearly 3 years, 22 pages, with still much more to be added as we go.

The second was from her Nan who recited a poem for me on Christmas morning.

So we welcome Justin for Christmas
From that Aussie country way down under
If he think we are having cold turkey & salad
Then he is making a terrible blunder.

For her we have hot turkey & pudding
We need all the warmth for our tummy
But even he must surely admit
Hot mince pied covered in cream are yummy

He can drink some lovely mulled wine
Or if he prefers a cold beer.
A few nice chocolates & some nuts
Will be eaten by all of us here

If Alf hasn't chewed all the presents
That are piled up under the tree
Don't know what Santa has brought him
But there might be one there from me.

Now I don't know what he does in Australia
But here we play sports quizzes & games
And I bags he will be on my side
For he must know all the footballers names.

I do hope you enjoy your Christmas
For we Thame folk are glad you are here
So it just remains for me to wish you
Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year.

Thank you very much to Nan and the Anderson Family, especially the beautiful Laura.

Post boxing day stroll in the country

Mini Christmas Tree for my room (thanks for the pressies everyone!)

Can Parko win the ASP World Surfing title - Surferm.ag

noreply@blogger.com (Birdman) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 17:13:00 +0000

24 Ways

noreply@blogger.com (Birdman) — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 09:01:00 +0000

There must be 50 ways to leave your lover, but December brings us 24 ways to impress your friends.

http://24ways.org/ is a website that updates it's content 24 times a year, and it all comes out in the lead up to Christmas.

For those of you that don't have an advent calendar (see Bart Simpson on my window ledge) you can still receive a gift of nerdy goodness every morning in the lead up to Christmas.

Apart from having quite a fancy looking site (lots of overlaying divs and use of opacity, need not view in IE6) the site provides good articles from well known webbies such as Andy Clarke, Jeffrey Zeldman and Kevin Yank, covering a range of topics including Accessibility, Wireframes, Pitching, Contracts, Cross Browser, Search, CSS, typeface etc etc.

They are already a few articles in this month including

Happy reading.

Loretta Loves

noreply@blogger.com (Birdman) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 14:42:00 +0000

One of my friends from work is stepping into the realm of websites, albeit one toe at a time.

Lauranza has set up LorettaLoves, a tumblr site that she has set up to keep her life in London documented..... it will very much be worth a read. I can feel a Guardian story coming up on Miss Harvey.

I've recently purchased a few more domains, two that will remain a secret for now, but the other is SurferM.ag. For now there is some really important content there, but there will be more to come.

Venn and the art of religion

noreply@blogger.com (Birdman) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:10:00 +0000

I saw a nice little tweet on this Venn diagram.

I'm not saying it's true, I just thought it was quite funny.

Mushrooms

noreply@blogger.com (Birdman) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 08:53:00 +0000

Today I bring a little of goodness and a little bit of silliness, essentially because that's what was brought to me late last night.

First of the bat will be........

Mushroom Patte Borough Markets

This stuff is so good you'll want to cover anything you can get your hands on with it and eat it up again.

It looks disgusting, but tastes oh so good.

The silliness comes from my good friend Bartek, who jabbered me this this morning

Weebles Toon Shrooms

Shut up woman and get on my horse

noreply@blogger.com (Birdman) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 16:37:00 +0000

The internet is an amazing place.

Today I had meetings about how to integrate an otherwise seemingly archaic software application and wrap a beautifully designed front end to enhance user experience.

I also spent some time reviewing Micro Formats, checking out the XFN format for improved social networking, and ways to do it as discussed in Discovering Magic on Alistapart.

At the same time I participated in a nerdy Forum where we discussed the pro's and con's of Mass inoculation, while finding humor in the fact that many people have similar side tracked thoughts of a mad man, much like my own.

Yet the single most favourite item I found on the internet today was through Twitter. Not only does Twitter contain such classics as @sinnermonologue, a real life Truman show of a work collegue, but it also has "Shut up Woman, Get on my Horse".

Shut up woman, get on my horse - The name says it all!

London in the Winter

noreply@blogger.com (Birdman) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 16:33:00 +0000

It's a sad a depressing time of the year when the sun has gone down just as the clock strikes time to go home..... and the worse thing is that it will go down a minute earlier every day until December 21st.

Still, there are worse things in the world.

This afternoon I'm heading to Lords with my good friend Roland Davies. Roland and I have battled on the cricket ground since we were 10, so it should be interesting to see just how bad we've got over the years.

I was also sat out of the Thames on Saturday afternoon with Chocolate Al for some sunset pictures. The sun let us down (well the clouds did anyway), but we still managed to snap a few nice pics.

St Paul's Cathedral

Chocolate Al

Casino Betting

noreply@blogger.com (Birdman) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 16:14:00 +0000

To celebrate the fact that I've been in Malta all week looking at gambling sites I thought I'd add a bit of gambling fun to the site.

Malta

noreply@blogger.com (Birdman) — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 20:26:00 +0000

It always seems to be the way, no updates on this blog for months and then all of a sudden there's three in one day.

Another bizarre series of events has again landed me on another adventure, this time it's off to sunny Malta in the Mediterranean.

We've managed to land an awesome project at work and I'll be spending a week with the client in Malta going through the in's and out's of what is required, and how we're going to be able to delivery the project in the tight time frames.

If there's time to post photo's, they will follow, but it's likely to be one hell of a busy week.

Ballet Shoes

noreply@blogger.com (Birdman) — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 19:03:00 +0000

Blogger has turned 10

noreply@blogger.com (Birdman) — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 19:01:00 +0000

...so I've added a surfrider foundation box to my blog, each click saves an inch of beach. Make sure you wait for the body glove sponsor and get a look at the video.......... Mmmmm, video.