Born of Frustration

Blog has moved (sort of)

2012-01-04T12:01:00.000-08:00

The eagle-eyed among you have probably noticed that this blog hasn't been updated for a while and that's because I'm now mostly posting over at http://blog.networkedcollaboration.com/ (but forgot to tell anyone, sorry).

If you like Atlassian Confluence, IBM Connections and Social Business please head on over to the new blog and take a look.

Cheers,

Andrew.

Mercurial and MacOS 10.7

2011-07-21T06:29:00.000-07:00

For those early adopters of Mac0S 10.7 (Lion) that also use Mercurial as their DVCS, you may find the update broke Mercurial (it did for me).

If you get errors using Mercurial on Lion there is now a new version of Mercurial available and it works a treat.

Hope this helps someone spend less time head scratching than I did.

Bitbucket Import

2011-02-28T08:58:00.000-08:00

Following the lead of David Hay and starting to blog things so I don't forget them in future.

I'd been struggling with adding an already existing Mercurial local repository to Bitbucket and it turned out to be quite straightforward once I'd engaged my brain.

All I needed to do was create a file under the .hg directory in the root of the project called "hgrc" and populate it with:

[paths]
default = https://<your_username>@bitbucket.org/<your_username>/<your_projectname>

And then just run "hg push" from the top level project directory as I'd already run "hg add" from the same top level directory to add the project files to the local repository.

Seemples.

Tungle + Confluence

2010-10-08T04:24:00.000-07:00

A few days ago IBM announced support for integrating LotusLive with the excellent Tungle.me service for scheduling appointments with external parties. Not being one to let IBM have all the fun I created a User Macro to embed Tungle.me in Atlassian's Confluence wiki.

Register a Tungle.me account
Visit Tungle.me and follow the on-screen instructions.

Create a User Macro

Login to Confluence as a user with admin privileges
Select Browse -> Confluence Admin -> User Macros
Create a new User Macro with the following details:

Macro name: tungle

Macro body: unchecked

Output: Macro generates HTML markup

Template:

#set ($user = ($paramuser))
#if ($user)
  <img src="https://www.tungle.me/public/${user}/busyicon" class="tungle-me" teml="${user}"/>
  <script src="https://www.tungle.me/portal/js/plugins/tungle.mwmWidget.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
#else
  <div class="errorBox">You must specify a <strong>user</strong> parameter.</div>
#end

Add the Macro to a Page
Edit any Confluence page in the normal way and add the following code:

{tungle:user=<username>}

where <username> is your Tungle.me username, e.g.

{tungle:user=sphericaln}

This will give you the following on your wiki page:

and when you click "schedule a meeting" you will see:

If you don't specify a "user" parameter then you will get:

Tungle.me has a number of synchronisation integrations with calendar services - LotusLive, Lotus Notes, Google Calendar, Outlook, Entourage, Exchange - and embedding the widget in your website is a great way of making it easy for people outside your organisation to schedule appointments.

Google Moderator + Confluence Take 2

2010-10-02T05:14:00.000-07:00

A while ago I posted how to integrate Google Moderator with Confluence , but it was a hard-coded solution which would only embed one Moderator series. After (finally) getting off my backside I've now got an improved User Macro which allows you to enter the URL of any Moderator series as a parameter to the macro.

Most of the steps are the same as the previous blog post , but the template for the macro has been changed from:

<div id="moderator-embed-target"></div>

<script type="text/javascript">

var mod = new MODERATOR("http://www.google.com/moderator/[ID of your Moderator series]);

mod.hl = "en";

mod.width = 1000;

mod.height = 500;

mod.embed("moderator-embed-target");

</script>

to:

#set ($url = ($paramurl))

#if ($url)

<div id="moderator-embed-target"></div>

<script type="text/javascript">

var mod = new MODERATOR("${url}");

mod.hl = "en";

mod.width = 1000;

mod.height = 500;

mod.embed("moderator-embed-target");

</script>

#else

<div class="errorBox">You must specify a <strong>url<strong> parameter.<div>

#end

This small change now allows you to enter something similar to:

{google-moderator:url=http://www.google.com/moderator/#16/e=22571}

into the body of a Confluence page, where the URL is just copied and pasted from the home page of your Google Moderator series. This results in:

If you forget to enter a URL parameter by just entering:

{google-moderator}

you will be presented with:

I still need to work on turning this into a "proper" plugin or Open Social gadget, but it's more flexible than the old macro.

FOOTNOTE: I didn't use $generalUtil.urlEncode($paramurl) in the macro as when the URL is encoded the macro fails to render.

Fat Firestarter

2010-09-18T08:17:00.000-07:00

I'd previously blogged about the AppFire Firestater and got a comment about it being a tad bulky and its size would mean it would block devices from being able to be plugged into the neighbouring USB port.

It is bulky, it does block access to the neighbouring USB port and I was fine with swapping USB devices for a while, but I use AppFire Firestarter so often that it was becoming a pain to keep having to shut everything down on Firestarter to unplug it so I could use another device.

A quick rummage around my box of cables (all geeks have boxes of cables, right?) and I found this:

a very short USB extension cable which means I can plug in multiple USB devices and is still small enough for me to take my Firestarter everywhere.

Not the most exciting blogpost I know, but shows there are ways around Firestarter's slightly chubby form factor if you need to run multiple USB devices side by side.

I don't know where I got the cable from (would have been bundled with some other USB device I purchased), but if you don't have one then you can buy them separately for around £1.

Firestarter - Part 1

2010-09-12T12:24:00.000-07:00

About a week ago I received delivery of my AppFire Firestarter, which is a portable (USB) wiki appliance that runs Atlassian Confluence and allows peer to peer and remote sync with a Confluence server.

This post is about the basics, but I'll continue the series with how to get the complete Atlassian stack on Firestarter.

For those that don't know what Firestarter is, this is what one looks like:

I love the simplicity of this device, you plug it in and it just works and is a great way of giving you offline access to a Confluence wiki, or even a sandbox for development.

When you plug it in this is what you see in Finder:

then you just double-click "firestarter-start-stop.jar" and wait until you see:

You click the "localhost" link and you're up and running.

Sarah Maddox has a more detailed write up on her blog, but my post is just a starter for 10 as this series is about getting the entire stack on your Firestarter.

The New Thing

2010-09-11T17:12:00.000-07:00

I said I'd keep you posted over at (Time for Something New) on what I was up to and never one to break my word, here's the news.

I've signed with AppFusions, which is an Atlassian partner specializing in everything Atlassian and integrating Atlassian products such as Confluence and JIRA with 3rd party systems.

The AppFusions team are "off the chart smart" and if you are looking for collaboration solutions, project management solutions, helpdesk solutions, content management solutions (we do more, my brain just melted trying to think of everything we do) then you should contact AppFusions.

I am truly privileged to be part of this team and hope I can bring as much to the table as they do.

It's a Team Game

2010-08-30T04:40:00.000-07:00

Walking home the other night I happened to take a detour through Pencoedtre playing fields, which was home to the Barry Wolves football (soccer) team that I played for as a kid and it got me thinking about the team's ethos and how it could apply to teams in general.

Whereas pretty much every other team in the league had strict rules about passing trials in order to be able to join them, identified their stars who would play no matter what and would leave other kids on the bench on match day, Barry Wolves were different. Their ethos was:

No trials
You turn up for training, you play on match day
You don't train, you don't play on match day - no matter how good you are
You don't always have to be goalie if you fancy trying centre forward
No stars, no blame - you win as a team, you lose as a team

We weren't the best team in the league, but the inclusive nature of the team meant that everyone felt involved, there was a real team spirit and we enjoyed being part of the team.

How could this apply to teams in general?

Give People a Chance
You don't necessarily have to make someone prove themselves before letting them join a team. If they're enthusiastic then let them prove themselves as part of that team.

You Don't Learn from Being on the Sidelines
If someone is putting the effort in to learn and practice skills in their own time or outside of an official project then give them the opportunity of working on an official project as they will learn far more on a real project and "being in the game".

It's a 2-way Street
Everyone should be working on developing and improving their skills and if someone isn't doing that then they have no right to complain about not being given a role on a project.

Mix it Up
Just because someone has been a developer it doesn't mean they can't have a go at being a system administrator or a UI designer if they want to. You can learn a lot from trying different roles and giving system administration a go for a while can make you a better developer.

Never Point the Finger
If a project fails it's because the team failed and not because of any one person. Sure someone may have dropped the ball on something, but a team will help that person pick it up to keep the project on track. If you start pointing fingers you fragment the team and increase the risk of failure on the next project.

What I'm trying to say is being involved in team sports as a kid can teach you a lot, but having experience of teams that like to do things differently teaches you even more.

Google Moderator + Confluence

2010-08-16T02:00:00.000-07:00

I'm late to the party on discovering Google Moderator, but it looks like a very easy way to capture, vote on and then prioritise requirements, ideas and suggestions. Which always seems to have been a problem for all the organisations I've worked for, as it was whoever shouted loudest or whoever was the "VIP" got what they wanted rather than development effort being focused on the features that would benefit the majority of users.

Posts on Google Moderator tend to be very high-level and the teams I've worked with capture more detailed requirements using Atlassian Confluence so I wanted to have a play with embedding Google Moderator into Confluence - which turned out to be really easy for a basic integration.

Here's what you need to do:

Add the Google Moderator Javascript to a Main Layout

Login as the owner of a Confluence Space
Navigate to Browse -> Space Admin -> Layout
Select Create Custom next to Main Layout

Then add the following to the <head> section of the Main Layout:

<script src="http://www.google.com/moderator/static/moderator-embed-api.js" type"text/javascript">
</script>

E.g.

Create a User Macro

You don't need to do this, but I decided to create a User Macro so people could embed Google Moderator with a simple {moderator} macro rather than needing to know the Javascript code for embedding directly.

Login as a Confluence Administrator
Navigate to Browse -> Confluence Admin -> User Macros -> Create a User Macro
Populate with the following information:

Macro Name: moderator
Macro Body: unchecked
Output: Macro generates HTML markup
Template:
<div id="moderator-embed-target"></div>
<script type="text/javascript">
var mod = new MODERATOR("http://www.google.com/moderator/[ID of your Moderator series]);
mod.hl = "en";
mod.width = 1000;
mod.height = 500;
mod.embed("moderator-embed-target");
</script>

E.g.

Use the {moderator} Macro on a Page

Just edit a page in the normal way and add the {moderator} macro to the page.

View the Results

Next Steps

The above works quite well for a basic integration, but I'd like to have more control over the look and feel of Google Moderator on a page so I'm going to see if I can create a Confluence plugin or OpenSocial gadgets using the Google Moderator API.

Time for Something New

2010-05-24T08:23:00.000-07:00

After 7 years working for Information Services at Cardiff University and 12 years working for Cardiff University in total I've decided it's time for a change and to do something new. There are many reasons why I've decided it's time for a change, but as I struggle to find the words to explain I keep getting drawn back to this quote from Scott Berkun:

"Pick something. Do it with all your heart. If you can’t keep your heart in it, do something else."

It's not the quote that made me decide to leave Cardiff University as I'd made the decision long before stumbling across it, but it describes my main reason for leaving in a better way than I ever could.

Over the years I've had the pleasure of working with incredible people from both within the University and externally and if you're reading this I want to say THANK YOU - I couldn't have achieved the things I have without your help and support and you're the reason this decision has taken me so long to take and the reason that meant I couldn't take this decision lightly.

It's been a wild ride working for Cardiff University and there's only one way I can think of summing up my time at Cardiff. From Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels:

"It's been emotional"

Apache Shindig - Let's Get Social

2009-12-21T10:16:00.000-08:00

As I've been harping on at IBM for them to support OpenSocial in products such as Lotus Connections I decided to have a play with Apache Shindig and the first steps are obviously to get it installed.

I'm using Ubunutu 9.10 and nabbed the following files:

Install Java

user@my-netbook: cp ~user/Downloads/jre-6u17-linux-i586.bin /usr/local/
user@my-netbook: cd /usr/local
user@my-netbook: ./jre-6u17-linux-i586.bin
user@my-netbook: ln -s jre1.6.0_17 java

I want the JAVA_HOME and JRE_HOME environment variables available to all users so I create the following file:

user@my-netbook: sudo vi /etc/profile.d/java.sh

and populate it with the following contents:

JAVA_HOME=/usr/local/java
export JAVA_HOME

JRE_HOME=/usr/local/java
export JRE_HOME

PATH=$PATH:$JAVA_HOME/bin
export PATH

Install Tomcat

user@my-netbook: cp ~user/Downloads/apache-tomcat-6.0.20.tar.gz /usr/local/
user@my-netbook: cd /usr/local
user@my-netbook: tar -xzvf apache-tomcat-6.0.20.tar.gz
user@my-netbook: ln -s apache-tomcat-6.0.20 tomcat

Then check that Tomcat starts ok:

user@my-netbook: cd /usr/local/tomcat/bin
user@my-netbook: ./startup.sh

and check you can access http://localhost:8080, where you should see:

Now shutdown Tomcat:

user@my-netbook: cd /usr/local/tomcat/bin
user@my-netbook: ./shutdown.sh

Install Shindig

user@my-netbook: cd /usr/local/tomcat/webapps
user@my-netbook: mv ROOT/ ROOT.BCK
user@my-netbook: cp ~user/Downloads/shindig-server-1.1-BETA5-incubating.war /usr/local/tomcat/webapps/ROOT.WAR
user@my-netbook: /usr/local/tomcat/bin/startup.sh

Check that Shindig is working by visiting the following URL in your browser:

http://localhost:8080/gadgets/ifr?url=http://www.labpixies.com/campaigns/todo/todo.xml

and you should see:

Hopefully that should be it.

Retiring the Portal Wibble Dance

2009-10-25T06:34:00.000-07:00

This week we finally got to the bottom of a problem that's been a bit of a head scratcher for the last 4-6 weeks.

Our enterprise portal (WebSphere Portal 6.0.1.3) had been standing up just fine with a user base of 30,000 users for over 12 months, but about 4-6 weeks ago it started exhibiting a behaviour I dubbed the "Portal Wibble Dance".

What is the Portal Wibble Dance?

The Portal Wibble Dance is where individual portal nodes started dropping in and out of service with alarming regularity and my inbox resembled a train wreck with thousands of the following alerts:

"node 1 is down"
"node 2 is down"
"node 1 is up"
"node 1 is down"
"node 3 is down"
"node 2 is up"
"node 3 is up"

Luckily we have a 4-node cluster and we weren't getting any service outages as at least one node remained up at any one time when the other's were "wibbling".

So Nodes were Crashing?

Didn't look like.

Notifications that nodes were back up were too quick to suggest that nodes were actually crashing - anyone who's worked with WebSphere Portal knows there's no way a node can restart in 30 seconds ;) - so it looked like the nodes were just slowing down enough for our Netscaler load balancers to mark them as down.

What the Hell is a Netscaler?

The fact that we use Citrix Netscalers as opposed to IBM Edge Servers to load balance has confused people who've worked on our infrastructure and are not used to heterogeneous environments. So an explanation.

Citrix Netscalers are hardware load balancers that balance the traffic to the 4 IBM HTTPD (IHS) Servers. It sends a GET request to /wps/portal and if it doesn't get a response within 10 seconds it flags a potential problem with that server. If it gets 3 failed attempts in a row for a server then it flags that server as down and stops sending traffic to it. The Netscaler then waits 30 seconds and tries the flagged server again. If it gets a response within 10 seconds then it flags the server as up and starts sending traffic to it again.

I get the above email alerts for each "down" and "up" flag and I was getting alerts too frequently for it to be portal restarts.

So Was There Anything in the Logs?

Boy, was there. When portal was "wibbling" it was ripping through 15MB of log files in about 45 seconds - guess that might have had something to do with the slowdowns ;)

There were thousands of the following errors repeating in the log files:

"IWKPC1007X: Could not find an identity for name (resolved reference key): null"

"IWKPY1015X: Unauthorised access by .... "

"Exception is: com.ibm.db2.jcc.c.SqlException: Application must execute a rollback. The unit of work has already been rolled back in the database..."

So What Was the Fix?

I managed to get a fix for IWKPC1007X from IBM Support. It was a known issue which was documented at http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=688&uid=swg1PK60885 , but the TechNote seems to have been withdrawn. I believe fix PK60885 is rolled in to 6.0.1.4 and above, but if you get the above error then request the fix direct from IBM Support.

So That Fixed Everything?

Wish it was that simple, but portal was still doing the "wibble dance", I just had one less error, but it did make it easier to spot:

SESN0016E: DatabaseSessionContext:performInvalidation detected an error. The database invalidation of timed out sessions has encountered an error..<br />

pointing to a problem with the Session Database, but from the database side of things the DB looked fine, no errors, nothing.

So What Was the Real Fix?

Reducing the individual errors eventually led us to a repeating error with the IBM Web Clipping portlet, which we use to surface our password management application in portal using an IFRAME - yes I know IFRAMES are bad and I hang my head in shame.

Looks like there is a session management problem with IFRAMES and what I hadn't realised was that there had been a policy decision to push everyone to portal for password management, which increased the load on the Web Clipping portlet, increased the session management problem, and started causing enough errors to slow down portal enough for the Netscaler to keep dropping nodes out of service.

Our fix for the time being is to disable persistent sessions completely, and we're slowly going to be removing all Web Clipping/IFRAME portlets.

Parting Shot

Don't use IFRAMES kids, they're not big and they're not clever. They're a cheap integration point for a proof of concept, but they will bite you in the ass if you roll them into a production environment.

How To Achieve Real Transparency

2009-10-10T07:00:00.000-07:00

I keep getting told in work that we have this thing called "transparency" and everyone is open and honest and there is clear communication from the top down. Well, sorry to burst your bubble, but we don't. There are silos, there are Ivory Towers and there are a confusing number of senior management groups with confusing acronyms - SME, ITPB, ITPO, MWE2 ITPB - and people don't really know these groups' remits or which group a particular issue should be raised in.

So how do we fix things?

SME (which stands for Senior Management Executive) have taken steps to address some of the issues in sending out regular bulletins of things that have been discussed and actioned at SME meetings. This is a big step forward in addressing some of the confusion around SME, but that's just one of the groups, what about the others?

So how do we REALLY fix things?

This is where I see E2.0 / Social Business Networking / Call it What You Want making a real difference and adding real value.

We happen to have chosen Lotus Connections as our platform, but you can pretty much substitute any E2.0 platform you like - it's not about the technology, it's about the mindshift.

So in our organisation what if:

We had a Community visible to all of Information Services?
We had Wiki defining the remit of each group?
We recorded meeting minutes on the Wiki?
We had Blog post updates from all of the above mentioned groups?
We added project proposals to Files?
We had a Forum for seeding new ideas for projects?
We templated Activities for every task required to move a project through the system?
We used Activities as a light-weight management tool for managing a project that had been approved?
We give it a shot?

Use Case 1

Everyone in Information Services can see projects moving through the system and know at what stage each project is at. It shows that the system works, even if people don't have projects in the system at the time.

Use Case 2

People understand the remit of each group, what is being discussed where and where they need to raise issues.

Use Case 3

Frank sees that Joe's project (which Frank didn't know about) has been rejected, but is important to Frank so Frank contacts Joe to help with getting the project re-submitted.

Use Case 4

Joe sees that Frank's project (which Joe didn't know about) has been accepted, but the project impacts on Joe so Joe contacts Frank to ensure project proposal is adjusted to reflect Joe's team effort.

Use Case 5

Andrew has had a lot of projects rejected, but sees that Mike has had a lot of projects approved. Andrew contacts Mike for advice on how to submit projects.

Use Case 6

Mike has had a lot of projects accepted, but sees that Andrew has had a lot of projects rejected. Some of the projects are of interest to Mike so Mike contacts Andrew to offer advice.

Use Case 7

Bob starts a thread on the Forum to ask if anyone is interested in helping him with a project proposal to reduce storage costs. Andrew responds offering help and invites Paul and Rhys to contribute to the discussion.

Use Case 8

Rebecca is a new employee within Information Services and has never submitted a project proposal before. Rebecca uses the Activity Template for project submissions and has a clear set of steps, tasks, milestones and documents to help her through the process.

Use Case 9

Andrew and Simon have their project approved and use Activities as a light-weight project management tool to share and complete tasks, track milestones and share relevant documents and emails.

The Reality

I know getting the mindshift to do this is not going to be easy, but it has to be worth a shot doesn't it? We keep talking about business change, so let's change, let's do things differently.

The Expansion

This post is specific to Information Services, but I guarantee that the same structures and problems exist with every School or Directorate in Cardiff University - and I bet this solution fits for all of them.

The Conclusion

I honestly think this would work and if you want to see this happen then let me know.

I also accept that I am "politically naive" so if there are stumbling blocks to what I'm proposing then shout - but if you are a CU senior peep then if you shout against this you don't really believe in transparency ;)

What Am I Not Getting?

2009-08-14T04:09:00.001-07:00

First blog post in a very long time as I'm normally more of a blog reader than a blog writer, but something has been bugging me lately that I just don't get - and when I get bugged I normally turn to Twitter, but this needs more than 140 chars :-)

We're currently in the middle of a programme of work called the Modern Working Environment (MWE) at Cardiff University which is introducing a suite of social networking, collaboration, messaging, business process and integration tools to try and improve the way we work, make people more productive and improve communication and collaboration.

One of the problems we're facing is that we've been getting a lot of feedback recently that people are confused by the number of tools that we've released to date as part of MWE and people don't understand what tool to use for what task. The feedback has even gone as far as suggesting that we should be providing a prescribed matrix of tools versus tasks and that you should always use "tool X" for "task Y" - and this is the bit that's bugging me as the prescribed approach doesn't map to any other work or non-work task.

In my mind the chosen tool for any task is based (mainly) on:

* Appropriateness
* Context
* Availability
* Personal Preference
* Group Preference

e.g.

Task - "I need to ask a colleague a question"
Now for this you could visit them at their desk, phone them, email them, send them an instant message or even schedule a meeting, but people instinctively know which is the right tool to use and are easily able to realise when they need to switch tools if they made the wrong choice. E.g. starting what you thought would be a quick instant message exchange that results in one party sending "i'll phone you".

Task - "I need to travel somewhere"
Where are you traveling? You could walk, take the bus, take the train, drive, liftshare, cycle, run (if you're late for a meeting), fly, take a boat, or any combination of these to get to where you need to. Again people know which tool they want to use and will easily switch tools if appropriate, e.g I liftshare or drive to work in the main, but will switch to buses or trains depending on appropriateness and availability of these tools.

Task - "I need to track/report project progress"
What are you reporting? Who are you reporting to? Within INSRV we're currently tracking and reporting project progress using MS Project, MS Word, MS Powerpoint, MS Excel, Jira, Infra, Confluence and even JPG images. The point is that people know what they want to use, how they want to use it and, again, will switch tools when necessary, e.g. switching from an MS Excel tracked burndown chart to an MS Powerpoint when the information needs to be reported.

Task - "I need to do some DIY"
What are you doing? Knocking down a wall? Building a bookcase? Opening a tin of paint? If you're opening a tin of paint how many people would use a screwdriver? Is that the designed and advertised use of a screwdriver, no? But is it the most appropriate tool for the job, probably?

Task - "I need to make a reminder note"
What do you use here? Post-it note? Scribble in a notebook? Write on the back of your hand? Add to Notes To Do list? Create a Connections Activity? Record an audio note on your mobile? Add to your Remember The Milk account? People know when and what to use and don't use the same one tool everytime they carry out this task.

Actually I lied earlier and the real thing that is bugging me are why the above examples are so easy, but people are finding the suite of tools that we've released so hard in terms of what to use when?

What makes the above so easy? What makes these MWE tools so hard to understand? What are we doing wrong in not making things easy? What could we do better?

Is it knowledge of how to use the tools? Is it experience of using the tools? Is it that technology will always be horrible and scary to a lot of people?

If you've embarked on similar projects have you faced the same challenges? How did you overcome them? Did you overcome them or did your social networking projects die on the vine?

Thanks for reading - my blog posts may get more coherent with a bit more practice at writing :-)

Goodbye Tremblant

2008-02-04T07:59:00.000-08:00

Well the trip's nearly all over and it's time to say goodbye to Tremblant. I've had a blast here, the conditions on the slopes have been great (apart from that one really bad Wednesday), the Pedestrian Village provides fantastic apres ski/board and the hostel (HI Tremblant) was fantastic.

I'm going to miss the people, the slopes, "beat the clock" at the Caribou, the Sambuca Death Chambers at the hostel and the general vibe of the place. Only thing I'm not going to miss is *that* Wednesday - but on the positive side I think I can safely say that I've ridden in the worst conditions that I'm ever likely to experience, so everything from now on can only be better :)

Next stop Montreal...

Tremblant Digest

2008-02-02T13:38:00.000-08:00

Have been a bit slack on the posting front since I got to Tremblant - not because there's nothing to write about Tremblant, but the slopes and apres ski have been keeping me a bit busy - so here's a bit of a digest of this week:

Weds - worst conditions ever, I can't believe I went up the mountain in freezing rain, it was like trying to ride on glass and rocks - not a fun day.

Thurs - better conditions and spent the whole day boarding with a skier that was staying at the hostel - who promptly dragged me on black runs because "you have to push yourself". I survived the day and, despite the fear, had a really good time and was glad I gave the black runs a try.

Fri - conditions getting even better with fresh snow ahead of the full on snow storm. Was riding solo, but still had fun and I think I've finally gotten out of my nasty habit of carving the tail end of the board too far on each turn.

Sat - just got back from probably the best day this entire trip. The snow storm brought 40cm overnight which made for excellent conditions today. Had fun riding moguls and landed my first jump - well, I say "jump", it wasn't intentional, but there was definitely nothing but air between the board and the mountain and I landed it, so I say it counts :)

Was going to have a day off the slopes tomorrow to recover a bit, but the conditions are looking like they're gonna hold so my body is going to have to put up with another consecutive day of being hurled down a mountain before it gets a rest :)

Top Tip for Tremblant

2008-01-27T08:28:00.001-08:00

If you're heading to Tremblant for a ski/snowboard holiday then get yourself a HI (Hostelling International) membership card - available from all HI hostels in Canada.

The card is $24CAD for a year's membership and gives you $4 a night off your stay at a HI hostel, so if you're got a 6 night/7 day trip then you've already broken even. The real bargain is that if you've got a HI card you can get your daily lift pass at the HI Mont Tremblant for $57CAD instead of $75CAD - bon marche, oui?

Tripped out by Tremblant

2008-01-27T08:15:00.000-08:00

Have been in Tremblant for a few days now and I'm still a bit spun out as although I've only traveled across Canada it feels like being in a completely different country - and not just because of the language, there's a whole different vibe here.

I'm coping with the language (just) and my incredibly poor GCSE French is slowly coming back enough for me to get by if I combine it with gesturing and pointing :)

The hostel is great and although it doesn't have a cafe, it does have a bar with a great selection of local beers - one of the most popular being "Le Fin Du Monde", or "The End of the World", which is a bit of a skull-smasher at 9%

The resort itself is kind of trippy as well as it's a man-made faux village, with a selection of bars, restaurants and shops, which is almost Disney Epcot-esque (though not quite as cheesy).

Anyways - good snow, good hostel, good people, good times :)

Goodbye Louise

2008-01-24T16:32:00.000-08:00

Well I've now left Lake Louise and the West(ish) coast and have headed over to Mont Tremblant on the East coast. More on Tremblant soon, but I have to say a goodbye to Lake Louise and a thank you to all the people that made the last 2 weeks a fortnight to remember.

Too many people to name, but if I met you in Louise-Banff-Sunshine-Kicking Horse over the last two weeks then a sincere "Thank You" for what is probably the best holiday I've ever had.

Norquay

2008-01-22T20:44:00.000-08:00

Last day in Banff-Lake Louise so headed out to Norquay today to do the last of the "Big 3". It's a smaller resort than Lake Louise and Sunshine, but it had some nice, mellow green runs for me to practice my turns (and not do anything too reckless and risk breaking something).

Snow was not as compacted as it has been at Louise over the last few days, which made for a fun and relaxing last day and the temperature was warmer as well at around -3c to -5c.

Definitely have to get better on this board so I can come back and try out the park and some of the black runs as they looked like a blast if you knew what you were doing, and incredibly painful if you didn't ;)

Last Day on the Hill

2008-01-21T17:46:00.001-08:00

Today was the last day on the Hill at Lake Louise so I decided to make the most of it with a solid 6 hours of boarding (okay I did stop for lunch) taking in both the North and South faces - steered clear of Larch because the word on the street was that the snow was crap on that face today.

Temperatures on the chilly side again today with it being -29c this morning, but it warmed up to about -14c in the afternoon - it does still make me smile when the weather is announced as "warming up" to -14c :)

As mentioned, Norquay tomorrow where things are looking quite a bit warmer with a high of -3c - that's shorts and t-shirt weather 'round these parts :)

Another Fine Day at Lake Louise

2008-01-20T16:53:00.000-08:00

My last but one day at Lake Louise and another fun day on the slopes - and I've finally got my bindings how I like them :)

Temperature was a bit on the cold side at -20c, but an investment in a gator stopped my nose from freezing off and once you got going the temperature was more than bearable - especially when the sun came out this afternoon, though I'm kicking myself I didn't take the camera to the slopes today as the views in the sunshine were stunning.

Will be hitting the hill at Lake Louise again tomorrow for the last time on this trip and then heading out to Norquay for the day on Tuesday. After that it's the early morning coach to Calgary on Wednesday to fly across to Montreal for part II, where I get to do it all again on a different mountain :)

Sunshine Village

2008-01-18T18:30:00.000-08:00

Took another short road trip today to the Sunshine Village resort which is about an hour away from Lake Louise. Of the "Big 3" resorts of Louise, Sunshine and Norquay, Sunshine is the only one that doesn't need snow machines as it gets so much natural snow and is at a higher elevation (I think) - well you do have to take a 20 minute gondola ride from the resort to get to the actual slopes :)

Conditions were good on the slopes and there was plenty of powder if you ventured away from the crowds.

So that's 2 down and 1 to go of the "Big 3" with a trip to Norquay to complete the trilogy planned for either Saturday or Tuesday.

First Outing

2008-01-17T19:44:00.000-08:00

I love my new toy :) First day on the slopes with my new board and I am a very happy chappy. It's so much more responsive (and forgiving) than the rental board and the Burton bindings purely and simply rock.

I'm still tweaking the settings on the bindings to find the best setup for me right now, but I'm already very impressed. The capstrap over the toe of the boot is way more comfortable than a traditional binding and the adjustable high-backs mean I can force myself to ride low - ride high and die they say, so riding low is a good thing.

Good snow on the slopes today as well mean, to quote Ice Cube, "Today was a good day" :)

I ain't gonna be taking down Shaun White in X-Games any time soon, but I don't suck quite as hard on my new board as I have been doing on the rental clunker.

My New Toy

2008-01-16T20:27:00.001-08:00

After doing some calculations and realising that it's crazy to carry on renting a board for the length of time I'm over here for I now have a new toy - a Rossignol Sultan 2008 board with Burton Custom 2008 bindings.

It may seem a bit impulsive, but this little lot was cheaper to buy brand new than it would be to carry on renting the clunky board and bindings I've been riding for the last week.

Can't wait to give them their first run out tomorrow :)

Fresh Snow :)

2008-01-16T20:04:00.000-08:00

After a bit of a dry spell there was 15cm of fresh snow at Lake Louise on Monday night which made for some excellent conditions on the Mountain on Tuesday.

Things had quietened down o the slopes after the weekend so the combination of fresh powder and hardly any queues for the lifts meant that a great time was had by all - well I say "all", but I really mean me, I didn't really ask how other people were doing as I was having too much fun :)

Kicking Horse - Kicking Ass

2008-01-14T19:57:00.000-08:00

Another day, another room mate and another resort.

Snow's been a bit patchy at Lake Louise for the last couple of days and the arrival of a new room mate on a whistlestop tour of the Rockies brought an opportunity to head to Kicking Horse in British Columbia today. Three of us jumped in his 4x4 and headed the 80km or so for some much needed powder.

The snow at Kicking Horse was fantastic and is dubbed "Champagne Powder" - with good reason. It wasn't the knee high powder that they've had over the last couple of weeks, but was still way more fun than the icy conditions at Louise over the weekend.

Photos of this excellent day out are available here.

In your face Mountain!!

2008-01-13T15:54:00.000-08:00

It's all starting to come back to me now and today I managed several runs without falling - which may not sound like a big deal, but I'm chuffed so back off :)

Conditions weren't great as there hasn't been much snow over the last few days and this combined with the influx of Calgary weekenders means the slopes were packed and very icy - ice is definitely not a friend of the snowboarder.

Things should calm down a bit tomorrow once everyone heads back to the city, but it doesn't look like there's any fresh snow on the way anytime soon so a trip to Sunshine might be in order as it looks like they've been getting lots of fresh snow of late.

A Day Off

2008-01-12T13:46:00.001-08:00

Following a bit of a spill yesterday I decided to take a day off the slopes and head a little way up the mountain from Lake Louise Village to the actual Lake.

The place is absolutely stunning and photos will be appearing here as soon as I get chance to get them uploaded, but as a taster (and to prove I'm actually here), here's me at Lake Louise with the HUGE Chateau Lake Louise in the background.

Now with photos

2008-01-11T19:36:00.000-08:00

Not many photos available so far, but what there is can be found at http://picasaweb.google.com/andrew.frayling/Canada2008

NB: above URL now corrected

I've given up on Flickr as I got stuck in YahooID/Non-YahooID password reset hell - which means I can't access my Flickr account anymore and it won't let me create a new one with my existing email address - bunch of arse.

Yeah that was just stupid

2008-01-10T15:20:00.001-08:00

Note to self - when in a new resort, read the resort guide to find the best trail for your skill level. Do not just jump in the heated Gondola with no idea where it's going to take you.

First run of the day (and therefore for 2 years) and I decided to jump on this. Which drops off at the far right trail at the top of the peak.

I did make it down - just - but stayed with more sensible runs for my current skill level for the rest of the day.

Day one on the slope

2008-01-10T15:10:00.000-08:00

Today was first day back in the saddle after having not strapped a board on for 2 years and I'm glad to say, I survived :), though I am now very, very sore.

Was a bit of an eye opener as to how rusty I was so it's lessons booked for tomorrow to try and brush up on how not to fall over and how to pay attention to the trail signs so you don't accidentally go down a Black run - yes that very nearly happened today.

and so it begins

2008-01-09T20:21:00.000-08:00

Well I've made it to the resort after a minor skirmish with customs for trying to bring a banana into the country, but I got over that and now all is right with the world.

Have only been at the resort for a couple of hours, but already it's a mixture of great food and great people. Next stop bed (I've been up for over 25 hours straight now) and then onto picking up board hire and lift passes in the morning.

Definitely looking forward to getting back on the slopes after a 2 year break and I'm not going to be leaving it that long between ski trips again.