Author: philemery

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tickets for last night of the proms

Why post about the last night of the proms in May? I’m off to a wedding in the UK that happens to be a few nights before the last night, so I’ve started doing my research on getting hold of some tickets without having the time to be a full season ticket holder. My first option is gonna be the open ballot. Second option is going to be a resale website somewhere. Third option – dont know yet (but I might queue all day if the weather is dry and try for a promer ticket)

Theres a few other proms in the series I may try and head over for if I can get tickets which go on general sale May 13th. Prom 34/35 is John Wilson and his orchestra performing Oklahoma. His take on big tunes is fantastic and his musicians adds a huge sound to anything they perform.

MykReeve at the English language Wikipedia [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)], via Wikimedia Commons
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kanban for home

Kanban was an idea by Taiichi Ohno from Toyota, which has adopted by Agile & Devops projects alike to manage workload.

Normally people keep this kind of method in the workplace, but has anyone used it successfully at home? Friends of mine used it on a project to build a new guest house in South Wales (The Grange) – but I wonder if its a suitable tool for me trying to organise my life here in Munich?

By Jeff.lasovski (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Thoughts or comments on the back of a postcard to the usual address please.

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minieggs at easter

Cadburys Mini Eggs. Some people call them lush. Some people call them addictive.  Those same people liken them to the crack cocaine of the easter chocolate family. Since living in Munich – Cadburys mini eggs are not easy to get hold off.

Pre-Easter there is a big office collective order via Amazon UK. When supplies run low, its then what I can get in my car when I make my UK visit over Easter.

Have a thought. Spare some compassion Cadbury and send mini eggs to Germany.

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Happy St. David’s Day

Happy St. David’s Day! 

By James Petts from London, England (Daffodils on St. David's day) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
By James Petts from London, England (Daffodils on St. David’s day) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
For those who dont know, St. David is the patron saint of Wales.

St. David died on the 1st March in 589, and we have celebrated since the 12th century since he was made a Saint.

Google recognised the day with a special doodle in the form of a welsh love spoon. Richard Osman posted a great extract on twitter from his book “The Pointless History of the World”

“Wales is awesome, I think that is universally agreed. Quite apart from anything the Welsh are charming, funny and self-depreciating, and yet still manage to have a dragon on their flag. That is ballsy beyond belief.”

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phoenix – barrio cafe

I’ve been on the road the past two weeks and the usual work madness in Phoenix got turned up a few levels. Out of the office we always try and hit a few different restaurants including some new ones – this time it was Barrio Cafe.

We had tried and failed on a previous trips as they dont open on a Monday 😉 but we went around 6pm and got seats in a place that takes no reservations. By 7pm the place was full with a queue outside.

I had the Sopa de Chile Morron to start. A warm/spicy pepper & corn soup which had a gentle warmth and gave you a giant hug as your sipped it down. For a main I had Cochinita Pibil. I know this in a small taco version from Wahaca in the UK but here its full sized. A great marinated and slow cooked piece of pork, with sharp picked onions on top. The pork breaks down really well and is served with a great rich sauce, which the onions cut through fantastically.  Fantastic food had by all of us there!

P.S. Park around the back – they have some fantastic spray art on the walls in their lot.

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the oktoberfest poster 2017

each year the oktoberfest poster is announced and people (including me) criticise the choice of the “experts”. this year the muenchen town council have decided to allow the general public (i.e me and you) to help with the deselection process.

people can vote on their website and it will help take the choice down from 49 posters to the top 30. a jury of experts will then make the final choice.  using the general public to narrow down from 49 to 30 is really not that much of an influence on the outcome – but I guess its a start.

the final winner is announced on feb 1st.

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new tv on an old tv

most new tv’s are coming with apps included for viewing youtube, netflix etc – but if you have an older tv without this feature what can you do?

at home I have an older Sony LCD. so I just got hold of a windows PC on a HDMI stick. add a small bluetooth keyboard and you have a working PC on your TV. you can view whatever you can watch in a web-browser. perfect for netflix, amazon prime, zattoo or any other media service you may want to you.

i am also a big fan of smart dns proxy. if you are looking for such a tool – here is my affiliate link (thanks)

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that picture of me

if you are wondering who captured that picture of me at the top of the blog – thanks go out to Celticon Photography based in Munich.

Roger caught me while I dropping off Stadtkapelle Germering for the start of the Trachten- und Schützenzug during Oktoberfest 2015. (hey Phil – look at the camera before the police move our bus on).

Roger takes great pics – the majority of my facebook profile shots come via him.

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hello blogging, my old friend

I’ve come to blog with you again

So I stopped blogging when social media exploded. I got used to writing 140 characters and then getting a bit frustrated when I ended up with a -4 and still had to remove grammar and punctuation (not that I could ever use either properly).

So now we’re back again. I guess it wont be daily posts, but there will be at least some thoughts shared at least a few times a month.

Enlightening, thought provoking – don’t get your hopes too high.