Added Value

Today was the first day of the Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) Summit. Before everything kicked off we went for a walk around Seattle.

We found this really cool magic shop. Check out the Elvis Zoltar inside...

I managed to blag a visit to Alan's room. His hotel room is rather high, with some nice views.

Overhead view of the monorail

Seattle skyline, with clouds

Gathering for the opening session. I've never been to one of these before, but the thing that struck me was just how many MVPs there are. This is a big affair. And there are people from all over the world.

This was the gathering before we went in for dinner.

The food, and the company, was excellent. On the way out I grabbed a picture of the view from the conference centre.

Shopping Trip

The quality of the weather dipped a bit overnight, but at least it wasn't raining. Went over to meet up with Boss at his hotel and it looked like they were prepared for him.

Did somebody call the cops?

Turns out the Dalai Lama was in town, and staying in the same place as Boss. These were the outriders for his trips out. We went off in search of breakfast.

This place does good sandwiches

This place does nice peppers

The Dalai Lama hits the road.

Boss and hired car

Boss in hired car

Lego bits, lots of them.

Lego pigs

I nearly bought lots of things, but was actually very good. Perhaps tomorrow.

Seattle in Good Weather Shock

We went out for a look around Seattle. And the weather was lovely. I'm breaking in a new camera (what a surprise). It is a tiny Fuji FinePix F50fd. I was unsure it would improve much on my old FinePix F10. But it does. It has already taken some lovely shots. Fuji seem to put some magic pixie dust or something in their cameras that make them just take good pictures.

Like this

Or this.

We had tea in a super little place on the waterfront. Seattle seems to give priority to the quirky, home grown kind of establishment, and I reckon this is a seriously good move. It gives the place real character.

This is where ate. When I took this picture they were playing a Bay City Rollers track ("Saturday night" if you must know..). If that's not personality, I don't know what is.

It had a good view of the bay too.

After tea we had a walk around.

How tasteful. But not as scary as....

Of course they have skyscrapers

"Pig and Pigeon" Sounds like a good name for a pub.

 
I think Seattle is going to replace San Francisco as my favourite city in the US. Then again, the forecast is for rain tomorrow.....

Hello from Seattle

Woke up this morning feeling much better. So it was off to the airport and on to the plane. I'm going to the Microsoft MVP Summit in Seattle and to be quite honest I'm rather excited.

I've also taken the camera(s).

Obligatory Taxi shot from airport

Seattle skyline

The view from my hotel window. Might be a bit noisy tonight....

Whitby Trip

The weather was supposed to be horrible. Snow on high ground. Roads becoming impassable. Etc etc. But we went anyway. After all, we like Whitby very much. It is a strange place really, touristy in a way that only England can do properly. And we were dead lucky, because the weather, although very cold, was wonderful. Especially for photos.

Whitby church on top of the cliffs, and a few boats

The bay.

Steam Train. Mike knows which one.

Air Sea Rescue

They say Dracula is buried here somewhere. I'm not going looking.....

Union Building

For ages they have been working on the Students Union building on campus. Now that we can see what it is they have been doing, it actually looks quite nice.

And the campus is looking good at the moment too.

Flower Picture

I took this in the conservatory today. Of course, I've no idea what it is.

Pictures of Lisbon

This place reminds me a lot of San Francisco. Same nice weather. Same driving on the wrong side of the road.

Kind of similar bridge

Same amazing skies

..and they had a very nice conference centre too

I had a really good time over here. Next time I'm going to try to stay a lot longer.

On the way back to the hotel I passed a bus full of students who had been at one of my talks and were now heading home.

Frankly, I fear for them....

Hello From Lisbon

After a very smooth trip last night I'm now in Lisbon at TechDays 08. I came along last year, to the sensibly name TechDays 07 and had such fun that I've come back again and to do two sessions. I've just finished the XNA one and it seemed to OK from my point of view (although I'm worried that I might not have mentioned the book enough....)

Where I'm speaking (they have lovely weather here)

As is usual for Portugal, I had a fantastic audience.

Left

Middle

Right

After I told my first joke (the people at the back are sound technicians who are paid to be there....)

I had a great time promoting the book and VerySillyGames. I've got another session this afternoon. Wish me (and the audience) luck.

Return of the Ex Grads

Today was kind of special. We had some of our ex-graduates come to see us. These are people who are now working in the games industry, and they popped by to say hello and see what we are doing. Unfortunately I was moving at speed, having to pick up the pieces that seem to result if I go away from the office for a couple of days. So all I managed to do was grab photographs. There was no time for much chat. I'll fill in the details when Jon lets me know who's what.

The chap on the right (who's name I completely forgot to note down) is an ex-Hull grad who now works for Blackrock Studios. The game that is being played on the big screen is a yet to be released title they brought along to show off. From what I saw it looked pretty darned good.

Now, some of these people I do know. In amongst this gathering are the Electronic Arts posse, including Steven Yau (third from right in dark blue). He was once a project student of mine and is the chap who wrote the article about how how to break into the video games industry. It seemed to work for him.....

Finally, these two look pleased because they are team D&D, who have made it into the next round of the Microsoft Imagine Cup XNA Game Development competition. You can find out more about their entry here. Well done folks, and good luck.

Making a Pitch in the Imagine Cup

Today was pitch day. But before Team X got to strut their stuff we had a talk from Andrea Blakersley from Mudhut. She did a session to help the teams how to make their pitches stand out and how to structure their presentations for maximum impact. This was excellent. I don't know how much Mudhut were being paid for the session today. But I do know that the session and the support that was given was worth it. First class stuff.

I've been presenting for a while (although I've never given a venture capital pitch) and Andrea managed to come up with some insights on the process that gave me cause to think about what I do. Wonderful stuff, and just what the competitors needed at this point. I don't think that many of the students at the session actually realize how lucky they were to get tuition at this level, but I do, and you were big winners today folks.

Dave from Rare (industrial mentor) and Anthony, Johno and Jon from Team X

Team X went through the rehearsal, got some feedback, incorporated it into their material and then sallied forth for the big pitch. They were excellent. These are first year students, who joined us in September. They have not even finished my programming course yet. But the way that they sharpened up during the day, and their professional approach to the competition bodes really well for these people. Whether they win the cup or not. The other three teams from Hull were also working away during the day (to my eternal shame I forgot to take pictures of you all - for that I apologise).  I think they all got a great deal out of the event, and thanks to Microsoft for setting it up.

Just before the big pitch....

The next phase is to work up an entry and get some code running, ready for the next part of the competition.

Posh Living in Manchester

We are in a ultra-posh hotel in Manchester. Microsoft really do look after you in these competitions. For some reason I've been upgraded to a posh suite, which has a patio, huge bed and all kinds of extras (and like a proper hotel also has a kettle and stuff for making tea). Excellent.

I arrived in Manchester just in time to meet up with the team and have a look at their presentation. Things had been coming along quite nicely (as is usually the case until I turn up....)

Anyhoo, after we had to move out from the hotel meeting room to make way for the Guitar Hero setup, of which more later, we repaired to my room for a planning session. We got set up, and were just about to get to the important stuff when all the lights in the room went out. Yours truly, the suave, globetrotting traveller had forgotten to put his room card in the switch at the door, which meant that all the power and lighting had timed out. So it was a series of muffled curses and stubbed toes as I made it the length of my suddenly enormous room to put the lights back on.

So, after that we met up for a Guitar Hero competition. People seem to confuse me owning a game (I've got lots) with me actually being any good at it. This is a common mistake, in that I don't actually spend too much time dwelling on my abilities in the games (just as well), but it did mean that I ended up playing my round of the competition on the "normal" mode, as opposed to my preferred easy setting. I made a right idiot of myself, but fortunately as we were being ranked for the competition I only had to play once..

Johno from our team turned out to be quite the guitar whizz, and finished third. He took away a really nice webcam. The winner, a chap from St. Andrews, was a well worthy champion, with amazing axe skills. He got an Xbox 360. Then, after a few more tunes, it was time for bed.

Anthony and Johno getting to grips with the guitar.

Andy and Dave from Microsoft giving it their all

My digital home from home. I just like the shadows.

Early Radio

As luck would have it I was due to do an early radio thing this morning. With added jetlag. Fortunately things worked out quite well, as my whacked out body clock had me wide awake at five in the morning, and I actually got to the studio early. Things seemed to go OK, and I staggered into work for a rest. Or something.

Bright and early Hull

Back in Blighty

I got back bright and early this morning. And then spent most of the day asleep.

Getting rid of the last of the silly pictures, I wonder what the aircraft cleaners will make of it?

Thanks to these folks for making sure that I had some legroom on the flights.

Quite a nice SF sunrise to finish off with.

Night Views

Warren and John's hotel faces in a much nicer direction than mine. And they have a balcony. Cue Rob turning up with a tripod and a winning smile.

Straight out from the balcony

Looking towards the bay

Down and Flat in San Francisco

I blame the jetlag. That and an over-confidence in the abilities of lithium ions. Anyhoo, whatever the cause it resulted in me not bothering to charge the camera battery last night, on the eve of our walk around SF, with the opportunity, nay obligation, to take hundreds of pictures. So, of course, ten shots into the trip everything shuts down and the camera becomes a paperweight. Wah.

Fortunately we were on our way to Best Buy, and I had intended to get a new battery at some point anyway, so I would have a spare in case this kind of thing happens. Yes, they do have a battery. It won't be fully charged, but it beats the heck out of nothing. And they also sell travel chargers at a sensible price. And Nigel, once he hears my sorry story, is even willing to plug the charger in for a few minutes to get me back on the road.

Go and buy lots of things from this man.

This was service above and beyond the call of duty. Thanks very much for that. And so it was off for a coffee at the local diner.

They have everlasting coffee cups here

Artistic use of mirror on way to bridge

The money shot

The view from the beach

Playtime

These folks asked Derek to take a picture with their camera.

Just a few kites

Game Developers Conference in SF

This is a graphics heavy post. Rob is on his travels again...

Up bright and early today to catch the 6:20 am flight out of Humberside Airport for San Francisco. It's a tough life. But mostly OK, right up to the point where I tip wine all over my travel documents on the plane. I also managed to fill one of my shoes with the drink of the chap sat next to me. I offered to let him finish it off from there, but he demurred.

So it was a squelchy walk through Homeland Security and into the land of the free. I had a plan to buy an 80 Gbyte Zune. I bought a little (30G) one last year, and I liked it so much that I planned to get another one as soon as we arrived. Bad things plans. They let the gods know what you are thinking of doing..... The first blow was that my favourite shop in SF, Comp USA, was closing. Really closing. I could have bought a yard of shop counter if I'd wanted, but no Zunes. After some research I've discovered that these devices are pretty darned popular over here. Everywhere I've tried so far has been out of stock. Derek and I went for a walk to find BestBuy, we didn't find the shop, but I took the big camera, and grabbed some snaps.

Funny thing photography. I've got a little camera that will take great photographs just by pointing it in the general direction of the scene and pressing the button. The big camera is a bit more tricky. However, once you have taken the picture and spent some time in Photoshop you can come up with some really nice results.

I just like the car

..and another car

..and a fire engine

I think their turn lights are broken

Lovely colours

..what happens if you point a wide angle lens up in the air

Fine Diner

More pictures tomorrow, or today, or whenever.

Durham Daytrip

Went up to Durham today to see Number One Son. All seems to be going OK. I took the big camera and lens, in search of happy snaps.

Birds on the roof

Against the light

Durham Indoor Market

On the way back we stopped off to see Number One Daughter in York...

Lovely sunset

Picture 4000

This is my 4,000th picture on Flickr. No idea why I took it. Apparently they are doing two for one on shower products.....

Friday Four Fifteen Club

I'm starting a new club for first year students. It is for those "lucky" enough to have the 4:15 pm slot on Friday afternoon. The weather on Friday was horrid, and by the end of the day most of us felt like we had done enough for the week. Thanks for turning up folks.

This is not the entire group, I've left part of the room off so that you can claim that you were really there.....