A Moment of Glory @Vendorcom Card & Payment

Today, I had my moment of glory speaking @Vendorcom Card and Payment Conference in Olympia, London. It also provided a glimpse on the dire state of the world's economy as the conference was suppose to be a part of The Retail Business Show which was cancelled due to firm behind the show has been forced to call in the liquidators. It is very saddening to see Olympia exhibition hall deserted...

J.

P.S.:For those who are interested, I have discussed the issue of Call Recording and the PCI DSS.

Why Fly When You Can Take a Train?

Now, that is what I call "service"!

As I'm writing those lines, I'm on a Virgin Train service from Preston to London and there is nothing better after a long, hard day in the office than to relax in a comfy seat (quite coach) with a drink (tequila sunrise for me please) and a freshly prepared braised beef with herb dumplings. And, we are not talking about plastic trays and forks, but a proper silverware. Oh yeah, there a desert following... Why fly when you can take a train?!?!

Enjoy, John.

And Once Again… I’m On The Road

After a relatively quite week (had to travel to Reading everyday, but...) after vacation in US, I’m back on the road. During the next few weeks, I will be travelling through Preston, Liverpool, Edinburgh, Leeds, Sheffield, Hook, Stockholm (yeah… Sweden) and Riga.

If anything worthwhile happens, I will keep you posted. Meanwhile, anyone has suggestions where to go or what to visit there?

Ciao, John.

Christmas and New Year in US

OMG! New York, Miami and New York again; what a vacation…!

In those 3 1/2 week, we have managed to celebrate Christmas (or, shall I write Hanukkah?), New Year and more importantly, change our perception of North Americans (Barak Obama has nothing to do with it). I won’t bore you too much since there is nothing to add to those photo albums: http://picasaweb.google.com/alla.markh/20081222Miami http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5007234194756178426&hl=en http://picasaweb.google.com/alla.markh/200800101NewYork

Enjoy, J.

P.S.: Can someone please explain why it feels colder in London (-1..+2C) than New York (-6..-2C)?

Skyscanner Flight Search Engine

Before I take off to US (3 ½ weeks vacation!), I would like to introduce a new flight search tool I have added to my blog. It is not a secret that Skyscanner has the quickest and most convenient (at least in my opinion) search engine online. And the fact that they are not travel agency but independent search engine (you get a link to a travel agency or directly to airline/hotel) is a major plus point.

The End of a Benelux Era

“Bonjour monsieur”… “Bonjour madame” … “Comment vas-tu?”

It is over… it is finally over! For the last two month I was working most of the time in Luxembourg and Belgium, and boy… they all speak French! It is not like I have any problem with it, I just don’t speak the language… and I’m a bit tired of living in hotels.

Last week, instead of flying to London, I took a train from Luxembourg to Brussels to spend the weekend there. Since we already been in Brussels and out friend were busy on Saturday (during the day), we went to Bruges (couple of photos here: http://picasaweb.google.com/john.markh/20081213WeekendInBelgium).

That evening we were in for huge surprise: Christmas festival on the Brussels main squire. Although it was packed with locals and tourists, the music, lights, dances and the atmosphere were brilliant! I took two short movies with my new (and green, literally green) camera: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1228114364154268444&hl=en http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-73156388038689574&hl=en Then, after the festival (well, we didn’t really stay till the end – it was too cold), our friends (N & A) took us to a local gem: a pub with history! The place is run by Moroccan grandpa who collected “stuff” (there is no other word to describe the collection) and randomly placed in through the floors. It includes paintings, posters, broken sewing machines, statues, lamps, etc. And, they serve delicious raspberry flavoured wine which can make you really “happy”...

Well, time to go... John.

Acer Aspire ONE

Not so long ago, I have bought a new netbook... and now, my wife is following my steps. She wanted to have a pink version of Acer Aspire One , but since pink is nowhere to be found we had to go for the white version: