Demanding Dennis

Project Dennis has a lot of requirements. At present, there are 12 categories, 50 sub-categories and 123 specific deliverable requirements, most of which are being carefully considered by 3 of the 4 short-listed developers we screened over the last few days. We await their quotes/proposals for our prototype Alpha-site with great anticipation.

Developer #4 was labouring under the misapprehension that we would be flying our assigned project manager back and forth between London and New Dehli for face-to-face project meetings. Pensez encore un fois, mon ami. This, combined with the fact that the "business development manager" didn't take a single written note during our 2 hour+ meeting resulted in a courteous email indicating that we wouldn't be pursuing things further.

Interestingly, they were also the only one to request that we sign their own NDA as well as ours. Weird, since we heard nothing worth disclosing even if we wanted to.

Proposals due cob Friday. Watch this space...

Bratwurstdorf Olympiad, 2008

Over half-term we had a spot of bad weather one day, and so we decided to stay in and play some games. Now I won't go as far as suggesting that there is an abnormally wide competitive streak in the Somnambulistic household, but suffice it to say this quickly morphed into an Olympic Game extravaganza.

It was a lot of fun and I only pipped mini-somnambulist I to the gold because, against all the odds, the form book, and to everyone's astonishment, I didn't come last on the Singstar Playstation game. Wonders never cease.

Anyway, we are busy cooking up the rules for the Winter Olympiad this xmas, dans les Alpes Vaudoises...

can't believe I played my Joker on Hotel and came last...

Phriday Photo XIV

While the mini-somnambulists were in town we had a very fruitful discussion on the subject of being careful about who you talk to on t'Internet. Hopefully they are now a little bit more aware about the fact that people you meet online may not always be who they claim to be, or what they seem...

Caution advised when replying to adverts on SuperFitRussianBabes.com...

...or InternetMillionaireBachelors.org

Negativity Fatigue

Markets took a big bounce yesterday across the board. I have no idea whether this signals the base and it's the beginning of the turnaround, or whether it'll be a brief respite before another wave of asset value destruction. The general consensus seems to be that people just got bored of selling everyday and decided to buy, which I heard delightfully described as "negativity fatigue."

What a great phrase. According to TB, our man in Sydney, it's like, OK, we get it. The world is going down the dunny. Whatever. Our stocks are worthless, depression is on the way, the end of the banking industry as we know it, mass unemployment, cats and dogs living together. So, shall I light the barbie? Chuck us one of those cold tinnies, doll, and we'll worry about the rest of it tomorrow....

Had enough of feeling like this every day? Maybe you have "negativity fatigue"

p.s. Happy Birthday to AW... awwww ;-)

World Bog Council

Apparently I have a acceptable bog. Anyway, it's nice to be recognised as a complete member, and more importantly to know that there are people out there who are more deranged than you...

Thank you WBC. I shall try to keep my bog up to the requisite standard.

p.s. happy birthday Sinambulist (for yesterday!)

Temporary Interruption To Service

I apologise for this T.I.... never mind. Blogging briefly sacrificed on the twin altars of mini-somnambulists and Project Dennis.

Normal service will be resumed...soon.

Half-Term

The mini-somnambulists are back! Back in August I predicted that the little sausages would probably return bigger, stronger and smellier. Man was I right.

What I didn't predict was how events would have (or even could have) unfolded in the world since then. Financial crisis, Lehmans failure, the end of the Investment banks, the PRAT package, Gordon Brown's return from the dead, Iceland, Hungary, general asset-price destruction... all in just a few short weeks.

As amazing as the speed and scope of all this is, not everybody's world has been turned upside down. The under-exercised-hairy-one, for instance, couldn't care a jot about all that, and is just over the moon to have his brothers back in town {:op

Crisis! What crisis?