So the weather wasn’t really ideal for Geek In The Park, but that didn’t stop the forty or so alcoholic web-types descending on Leamington for a bit of a social and some icon-making, microformat-implementing fun.

Big thanks must go to Trev for organising the whole things, and of course a tip of the hat to One Black Bear for sponsoring it all. Jon and Drew’s talks we’re really informative and great chance to quiz them about their methods.

Of note, I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many iPhones in one place in all my life.

The week since has been pretty intense work-wise for various reasons, and I’m looking forward to some respite - on Wednesday I jet to Spain with Sean to go and upset Devito for a week. Looking forward to it a lot.

Raj interviewed me for a radio production not too long ago and I’m interested to hear the final results sometime soon. I think I was just overwhelmed at how simple it is to get high quality audio using the very expensive stick mic he has. Nice toy.

I went and splashed out on a DualHead2Go last week, and for those not in the know (probably most people), it allows you to add another screen to your iMac or Macbook, that is, when you already have two. The result, three screens. It’s all powered by USB which is useful, but has the unfortunate downside that the two additional screens it allows must sit side by side, turning my dream setup of central iMac with two satellite screens into a total rearrangement of my office. Also, it’s best to attempt it with two monitors of the same shape and size, as my current setup is a little mind bending when it comes to following the cursor. I maybe in the business of buying a new monitor soon. It looks like I’m running the Matrix. Badly.

Today is a beer festival in Worcester, so it looks like I’ll be smashed enjoying it all afternoon.

Just a brief reminder, but Multipack’s free Geek In The Park event returns next weekend to beautiful Leamington Spa (easily accessible from the Midlands, t’up North and dairn Souf by train* or car).

Trev has secured a great line up of Jon Hicks and Drew McLellen to speak at the evening event (the web bit), so this is a great chance to see two highly regarded faces from the worlds of design and development sharing some of their knowledge, costing you nothing more than the price of a journey.

If you’d like to come along (and please feel welcome to bring your family and friends for a bit of a picnic during the afternoon should the weather be good) you can find details on the website, where you can also sign up for more details.

* Trains from London Marylebone cost approx £16 return (return is valid for 30 days!), but please bear in mind the last train is just before ten so you may miss the very last part of the evening event if you have to go back this way. Trains from Birmingham cost just £7 return and take about 40 minutes.

The past couple of weeks have been pretty intense - with a number of larger projects on the boil its been a case of buckling in and getting into some serious coding - something I don’t spend a lot of my time doing, but generally ends up being more enjoyable than I would imagine.

Because of this, I unintentionally and yet completely skipped any mention of the last Multipack meet. I also haven’t mentioned any of the social activity that’s been going on, or reviewed any of the new music I’ve been listening too (however I now have a last.fm account after a bit of pressure). Nor have I mentioned that I spent all of yesterday in meetings in London, and that my phone broke and I spent half a day doing the maths on how to best break out of my contract early (unfortunately my optimism has been dashed. I haven’t even had the opportunity to mention that another friend of mine is to become a Dad (congratulations Dan!).

Things don’t look like they are going to be quietening down either. The next few weeks are likely to be busy too, although I’m hoping I’ve found a solution (at least in part) and ultimately I’ve got a week away in Spain to be looking forward too. That said, I’m still pining for something slightly more exotic, and I wouldn’t be surprised if I don’t make some rash travel arrangements before the year is out.

I’m really looking forward to seeing The Dark Knight.

Like Indiana Jones, yet potentially more action-packed, Multipack’s Geek In The Park 2008 makes a welcome return this year, and will be pitching camp in Royal Leamington Spa on Saturday 9th August.

The format will be the same as last time; an afternoon picnic in the wonderful Jepheson Park (friends and families welcome) will be followed later in the evening by a discussion based event, with some top-notch speakers. We’re not disclosing the line up yet, but rest assured, you won’t be disappointed.

And of course, there is one other reason why GITP is always worth a look in; once again it’s free of charge.

For those wondering how to get to Leamington Spa, it’s easily accessible from the motorway and regular, direct trains run from London Marylebone and Birmingham.

For more details and to sign up for a reminder, visit the Geek In The Park 2008 website, put together so masterfully by Trev and Lloydy.

Last weekend I headed to my second motor sport event this season. I was mainly there for the Formula Renault, but of course the BTCC meet was also on, and some pretty spectacular collisions made a morning for good spectating. I went over with Will, Henry and Alan, but later in the afternoon, Dan, Psycho, Yaz, Chicken and Charlotte arrived to watch the final races, and an unexpected Spitfire fly past. The weather stayed pretty dry, so there was no soaked-to-the-bones repeat of Brands Hatch; just as well really.

On Wednesday I met up with George and Will again for what is becoming a semi-regular comedy fixture. After probably the most disappointing pub meal I’ve had, we went to see Perrier-nomintated Daniel Kitson in his new two-hour standup show at the Wolves Civic. I’ve seen some interesting comedy routines over the years, but Kitson’s was certainly the most intense I’ve ever witnessed. It was delivered with no interval and no bar-access once it started, plus the themes were mainly societal. When it was all finished and I felt like I’d just been to a lecture or talk - that’s not to say it wasn’t funny - Kitson mixes humour with poignancy brilliantly, but it was hard to keep up sometimes because of the speed and complexity, and it certainly wasn’t a relaxing experience. I think I’ll need some time to wind down before I’m ready see him again.

Saturday brought good weather and May’s Multipack meet. We ended up on the Waters Edge at Brindley Place enjoying the sunshine until impromptu rain forced us inside for food. Once again a good turnout and plenty to catch up on.

I still feel like I’m juggling finances, paperwork and car, but things are looking brighter, and the summer appears to have started (at least for the meantime) so roll on next week.

I thought I’d managed to kick the habit getting too busy with stuff to not write for over a week, but it turns out I was wrong.

Last weekend was Multipack once more, and as well as the usual faces there were some new ones too - Sam finally made it down, but I’m unsure how much he had reckoned on debating the correct height of a building you need to throw a cat off (don’t worry - it was all theoretical - but the answer is 7 stories). Si bought along Flickr stash which naturally went down well, and Tim bought along Site Doctor stash too, so my bag was packed full off goodies by the time I got home.

En route I had an opportunity to also see Tim’s ridiculously large media system, complete with (and I think I get this right) a 96” screen. It is vast and completely stunning in full HD.

Aside from collecting things and watching home cinema, I spent most of the rest of the week filling out forms, in the bank and asking questions about insurance and accountancy. Not what I would consider truly gripping, but a necessity unfortunately.

On the flip side I got to have a few drinks earlier in the week, and a new book of Moo stickers arrived which can’t do anything but put you in a good mood. Not even a up-until-four-in-the-morning work stint for an emergency brief managed to really dampen my spirits, although I’m really hoping I get a chance to see some people I’ve not seen in a while soon. It occurred to me that my travels to London have not been so frequent of recent, so I want to correct this.

Mike got in the paper.

If you are looking for something to amuse yourself for a while today - check out this awesome site by Uni-Qlo. I generally don’t do these sorts of things, but this one is just so ridiculously catchy…

Last weekend was the largest Multipack meetup that we’ve had for a good while. As well as a good turn out of regular faces, there were also a large assortment of new ones, and despite some awkward seating arrangements and the lack of rugby being shown (the projector was broken) it was a very good afternoon.

Talking of rugby, I can only be pleased at the final England game in the Six Nations, however the disappointment at our general/earlier performance doesn’t inspire confidence. I’m prepared to be a bit more optimistic, but really, how did we manage to go and lose the Calcutta cup? Come to think of it, I’m glad the projector was broken.

I’ve got a mountain of forms to be filled out this week. With what can only be described as a marathon event of bureaucratic gymnastics ahead of me, changing one or two details with Companies House is clearly not as simple as I had hoped.

A client invited me to a business seminar earlier this week, and so I asked Will if he wanted to come along. We had to get over to Villa Park, but it was a good evening, and it provoked some in depth discussions about the types of work we are both involved in. I’m not one for schemes and things, but the psychology and profiling techniques were fascinating and I definitely was able to gain some perspective on my own situation right now.

I’ve made a couple of gem-like discoveries this week on the software front. BluePhone Elite has solved my problem of writing text messages quickly while working. I believe it can also allow me to take calls through the iMac too, but I’ve yet to figure out how to do that. It does pop up and tell me who is calling though. If there is one thing about phone communication that inspires a rage in me, it’s txting, especially when speaking is a more effective method of communication. Admittedly, there are times when a text works - a time, a number, a two word confirmation, but my inclination to create an essay or use long words make predictive text and tiny keys only confirm that these are the tools of Beelzebub. I bet he uses text messaging for every piece of communication.

The second piece of software that has solved a problem that until now I couldn’t explain fixes a niggling problem with my Macbook. I didn’t realise, but the having to wait up to thirty seconds for my laptop to go to sleep isn’t a consequence of age - it turns out that it has to save all the memory to disc at the moment. As a matter of course I put in the full amount of memory possible into all my computers, and didn’t realise this is why the process has become agonisingly slow of recent - it’s moving 2GB to hard disc every time I close the lid.

Well as a person who’s laptop spends more time on his desk than on the road, this is something I’m prepared to cut out, and with the SmartSleep preference pane the Mac now (once again) sleeps the instant I close the lid. Of course, on the move it’s more important to use the hibernate feature, so when the battery power drops below 20% it automatically turns it back on for safety reasons, but it’s bliss once again being able to flip the thing closed and put it directly into the carry case without having to wait for it to brace itself for some kind of nuclear disaster.