http://www.mayerblog.com/blog Nicola, Andy, Joel and Anna Sat, 16 May 2009 20:28:37 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Just got back from an awesome week at the Las Vegas Hilton. I spent three days at the conference and then took two days off to relax. The conference was a great opportunity to learn more about web development and the art of programming - it was very inspiring to ... http://www.mayerblog.com/blog/?p=43 Appologies for the lack of posts since Feb - this is due to our business which has flourished  immensely in 2008 - and thus dominated much of it too. Despite the credit-crunch, we’ve grown to five full time employees, a placement student and a couple of part timers including a finance ... http://www.mayerblog.com/blog/?p=42 With two small children Nicola is used to so-called night terrors where the child wakes up terrified for some inexplicable reason... Anyway, last night it was my turn. I woke up at 1am with a start, convinced that the bed had been shaking as if in an earth quake. I was ... http://www.mayerblog.com/blog/?p=41 We had a great family Christmas and New Year in Sheffiield - mostly spent chilling out at home playing with new toys. Converse boots for Anna, and Lego Mindstorms for Joel. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2fFLtN3KXk] As you can see from the video above, Lego Mindstorms is a very cool toy! It's basically a system for ... http://www.mayerblog.com/blog/?p=40 Sorry for the lack of updates. Right now I am sat in the office at 6pm waiting for a courier to deliver four Herman Miller chairs for our new office that we are moving into on Monday. Since returning from Berlin work has really exploded. We've won a significant R&D grant ... http://www.mayerblog.com/blog/?p=38 I'm currently at RailsConf 2007 Europe which is a conference for Ruby on Rails programmers run by O'Reilly. It's the final day tomorrow, and I must say it's been amazing. David Black opened the conference with a keynote speech worthy of Steve Jobs. He challenged software developers not to think ... http://www.mayerblog.com/blog/?p=37 Back in Sheffield now after a fantastic two weeks in Cornwall. The weather was beautiful with blue skies and the fish was fresh and plentiful. The kids really enjoyed the family time. Highlights were seafood BBQs, scallops with black pudding, sandy beaches, rock pooling, high speed sea safari, pottery lessons, ... http://www.mayerblog.com/blog/?p=36 Just a quick post to let you know that we are away on our summer holidays, and will be back later in the month. I've just bought a new Mac Book Pro because my other was full to the brim with gorgeous family photos and video clips... so expect to ... http://www.mayerblog.com/blog/?p=35 Yesterday saw Sheffield get the most rain since records began. I left work early, but the traffic soon became gridlocked so I walked home in the soaking rain. Fortunately we live on a hill and Joel's school is nearby, and so we were soon safe and dry in our second ... http://www.mayerblog.com/blog/?p=34 Quote from the Sheffield Institute of Sport website, about an event I am entering tomorrow: South Yorkshire’s finest fencers will battle it out against competitors from across the UK at a prestigious tournament taking place in Sheffield. More than 200 fencers are set to take part in the Sheffield Open Fencing ... http://www.mayerblog.com/blog/?p=33