Closure

I met Suzanne for drinks tonight, and the subject of melvtopia came up. Suzanne, bless her, has been faithfully checking for updates, and so it seems I've been letting her - and perhaps others - down by just stopping posting.

SJ also pointed out that my last post was about Josh, a Ministry of Sound colleague who was tragically killed in a motorcycle accident. A sad, sad post but maybe not the way to properly end a blog that, after all, was founded on seeing the positives in life.

I've written before about the fact that it's difficult to write without having something to write about, which is why melvtopia has run it's course - for now at any rate. That's a cheeky little tease just in case I change my mind - but don't wait up...

Our mutual friend Dan quoted Samuel Johnson, I think, saying something along the lines of "a happy or busy man can't keep a diary". Well that's where I'm at right now. I'm happy, I'm busy, and I don't have anything that drives me to write.

You don't want to hear about my day-to-day life - you can follow that on Facebook, Twitter or Google+ (oh yes, still a Social Media trendsetter...). So it's time to bring the curtain down on what was, for a brief moment in time, quite meaningful to me. I hope it at least provided some interest to my readers.

If you're reading this, thank you for sticking with it all this time. It's been a blast (and I'm sorry about
the shite stuff).

And so it's over and out. I leave you with one final message: whatever happens, the glass is always half full in melvtopia.

Thank you and goodnight.


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Too young for words

Social media took a different slant for me today when I learnt on Facebook about the death of an ex-colleague from Ministry of Sound.  Josh was on holiday in Vietnam when he was killed in a motorcycle accident. He was a fun loving, smart kid who died far too young.

I found out just after reading an article that 40% of over 55s now manage a social network, and I guess it's a precursor of one way in which social networks will be important in years to come.

From a professional point of view it struck me that while, through Facebook, I and others were able to learn the sad news very quickly, and could enter a shared conversation about Josh, the language of Facebook is inadequate in these circumstances.  Do you 'like' a post about someone passing away?  If not, how do you share it with others?  Maybe a grown-up Facebook needs some more grown-up sharing options.

I was of course reminded of the Facebook newbie who added 'lol' to a post about her daughter's  friend who'd passed away - thinking that it meant 'lots of love'.

RIP Josh

The beautiful game

I had feedback from a melvtopia follower recently that she had stopped reading my posts because I had started talking about sport and football too much.

Well soz Suzanne but I can't look back at this week without mentioning one of the highlights - watching the best team performance I've EVER seen as Barcelona destroyed Real Madrid 5-0 in 'El Classico'.

This video nails it.

Highlight two: an incredible show by Arcade Fire at The O2 on Wednesday night.  Brilliant from start to finish, and the best sound I've heard at a gig for a very long time.

It would be nice if I'd saved the best till last: today I had an interview for a very exciting role at a major record label.  It felt like it went really well but I'll have to wait and see - fingers crossed...

Back in the game

The understandably dwindling number of regular readers of melvtopia will be aware that I've been pretty crap at posting updates.  My excuse?  Under pressure and too busy at work, leaving little time for writing, let alone writing anything interesting.

Well. all that's about to change.  The busy at work bit at least, and hopefully the posting bit too.  After almost two years at Ministry of Sound I've decided to move on.  It's been a tough shift -  some fantastic highs but too many lows, and too much relentless pressure, for me to feel that I want to continue here.

So a couple of weeks ago I put a proposition to the business: I'd work 3 days a week until Christmas then they could make me redundant.  For Ministry, it was a convenient way of cutting costs for 2011, against a background of difficult trading conditions.  For me, it works perfectly as it gives me the chance to have meetings, talk to headhunters and work on my next move, but with a bit of a financial buffer.

And since I agreed the deal a weight has lifted off my shoulders.  The pressure is off, I'm enjoying going into the office and I'm determined to finish on a high by delivering what I've agreed to deliver before I leave.  Oh, and I need to find a new job, but more on that another time.

And the timing is perfect.  My last week coincides with the Ministry of Sound Christmas party.  I'm really looking forward to that, especially as the next day isn't one of my working days...

Last of the Summer Wine

This weekend was what melvtopia should be all about: finding positive from negative.  At noon on Thursday, I was preparing to leave work and head to Luton airport for a weekend of footie, tapas and sun in Lisbon.  Then, thanks to the cheese eating, surrender monkey French air traffic controllers, our flight was cancelled.  The transfer option next morning was full, so very quickly the weekend unravelled and we had no option but to cancel.

And then, out of the jaws of defeat, Soapy retrieved a victory, with the offer of a weekend at his holiday home in the Isle of Wight.  A round of phone calls later and it was game on - so on Friday afternoon Soapy, Simon, Nigel, Ian and I boarded the ferry to Yarmouth and a weekend of outdoors, fresh air and - as it turned out - plenty of sunshine.

After a few beers in Yarmouth we headed to the house in Freshwater, which is stunning, with plenty of room for all of us.  On Friday night we ate at a local pub where we enjoyed conversation which veered between raucous and melancholy.

Saturday saw full English breakfasts all round followed by a drive to Ryde where we played bowls (Chiswick Casuals official records will show that I won both games) and then pitch and putt (played in glorious sunshine) that Nigel won with style.

Dinner was at the Blue Crab, a pleasant hour's walk from the house, but the highlight of the night - maybe the weekend - was the bus drive home. The bus driver may have looked like a mild mannered, bespectacled woman but must have really been Damon Hill in disguise - she drove like a demon with little regard for anything or anyone else on the road.  It was like a scene from Harry Potter, and either exhilarating or sick-making depending on your point of view.  A nightcap at The Vine and that was our Saturday.

This morning we rose relatively early so decided to go for an earlier ferry than originally planned, and shared a ferry with none other than the ginger spice girl herself, Geri Halliwell.  Which is fitting because what we wanted was a trip to Lisbon, but in the end what we really really wanted was a weekend away with good mates, and we got that.  I hope you see what I did there.

The key to pedantry

Since I wrote off my Saab last Christmas we've been a one car family - one Ka as it happens.

The Ka is a fine car - compact, reliable and a decent drive. But there's one thing that has always disturbed me about it (OK, disturbed is a bit too strong - let's say 'exercised my mind').

In my job usability is a big thing. We're always thinking about customer journeys, and making sure that things we deliver intuitive, consistent user experiences on our websites.

So you'll understand why I've always found it strange that to unlock the driver's door you turn the key anti-clockwise, but to unlock the boot you turn it clockwise. Why would they do that? What usability expert would have thought that made sense?

And then, this morning, the answer smacked me in the face. I was loading a few things into the car in preparation for a trip to Leek for the Bank Holiday weekend. The car was parked just outside the house and as I put the key into the passenger's door to unlock it - kapow! I turned it clockwise and it opened! That's right - just like you do to open the boot. My mind now in overdrive, I suddenly realised that in any other country this would be the driver's door, and everything finally made sense.

Now I can get on with my life.

Bowlska

I hold a team meeting every month, where we review the previous month and look forward to the next one.
Today we did it differently. I booked a couple of tables at local pub The Libertine and did a six-month review, followed by a 'Lizard's Den'. The format was that everyone had two minutes to pitch an idea, which we all voted on. Amongst some very good ideas the winner was the notion of offering a free download with every CD purchase, which earned Ben a signed Basshunter poster and two moleskine notebooks.
Afterwards we went bowling at Elephant & Castle, followed by some hearty food at a Polish restaurant.
Good times.

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