These days, the abbreviation ‘ATM’ is an everyday part of our lives (and maybe even bigger in Greece, at the moment!). But, ‘back in the day’ (and what now seems like a lifetime ago) when I was working full-time for Sainsbury’s, it meant something quite different – Area Training Manager. In my duties of looking …
Read More
Category:Business
Be More DoGGGG!
I travelled down to London today to catch-up with Sally B and Diana D. Mostly social, but we did talk a bit of business too! Thanks for lunch Sally – Carluccio’s was scrummy. Whilst I was in St Pancras International, I took the opportunity to slip into ‘geek mode’ and see if the phone would …
Read More
Last Chance!
OK, in a few hours, you won’t be able to access my business website anymore as it’ll be digitally ‘airbrushed’ from the business world forever. Go on, you know you want to – take a look at www.StevePalmerAssociates.com one last time! Thank you!!! Too late – it’s gone!!!! Steve PalmerI got into blogging quite …
Read More
Taxidermy
Is ‘Taxidermy’ 1. A ‘skinny’ mode of transport? 2. The craft of preserving dead things? 3. Getting ‘stuffed’ with a tax bill by the Taxman? I’m opting for ‘3’: My last obligation to the Business is sorted – I’ve paid the final Corporation Tax bill this morning! Steve PalmerI got into blogging quite late …
Read More
Judging, Pussy and the Plasmas
Judging, Pussy and the Plasmas – no, not a Cowell-esque moment for a feline rock-band with a preference for protons, but a snappy title for today’s activities! The day began with me dropping Ann at Kettering Station so she could re-visit John Lewis in Leicester and make a judgement on bedroom furniture, carpets and wallpaper …
Read More
The Office Transformation – Clearing the C***
David and I made short work of the office transformation today. Within an hour, most of the office storage furniture – a bookcase, two filing cabinets, two printer stands and one of the desks had been removed and deposited in the resident super-skip. Now all was needed was somewhere to put all the stuff that …
Read More
The Only Way is… Tooway
OK, after years of constantly below-par broadband speeds here, I finally ‘bit the bullet’ and did something about it. For as long as I can remember, it seemed like everyone else (apart from the rest of the neighbours in our immediate area) were getting faster connection speeds than us. When the houses were built 20+ …
Read More
London Calling – 2
..and down to London again today to meet up with Nigel and Denise from The Career Practice. Looks like we might be able to do some business together! We had lunch at the Spaghetti House just down the road, and then a quick spell at their offices before heading back to St Pancras International to …
Read More
It’s almost Christmas! :)
Now that the business Christmas cards have arrived, we can put those with the personal ones and next week, continue the writing marathon. It all seems a bit rushed this year with the wedding coming up as well. So, the sooner we get …
Read More
Lunch with Keith W
After meeting up with Tim C for a (very useful) business meeting at Victoria Station, it was onwards to the other side of the station to meet Keith W for lunch. We decided to head for Zilli’s in Dean Street, where we’d been before back in March 2009. It was a gorgeous day, but our …
Read More
Another manic Saturday
Here we go then… deep breath… 7. 45am – Lee to the local Parcels office to pick up mystery parcel. CHECK 10.00am – Front path and side path pressure washed. CHECK 11.15am – OCA Magazine final design, final proof read and signed-off for printing. CHECK 12.00 noon – Truckloads of little jobs to sort relating …
Read More
Another busy Sunday!
Remember when Sunday was the day of rest? No, me neither! More’s the pity! 🙁 Ann spent most of the day in the garden trying to rescue us from the ever-invasive weeds and then planting out bulbs for the Spring. Meanwhile, I was in the office trying to get ahead for the week because I’m …
Read More
That Syncing Feeling
Most of us have more than one PC these days – you’ve probably got one at home, and the other is your laptop or netbook. On each of those PCs you are probably using email at different times for different things. I’m the same, and the major frustration for me, is that some emails that …
Read More
Business Blog
For a while now, my business blog has been sitting happily on a WordPress, domain (WordPress provide our free blogging facilities). However, for visitors, it must have seemed a bit strange to suddenly be whisked away from the main SPA Ltd site, to a page hosted elsewhere. I’ve therefore been thinking about how, technologically speaking, …
Read More
Personal Website re-launched
A bit of a quiet week here business-wise, so it was a good opportunity to finish off the re-design of my personal website. Actually, I’d been tinkering with it all week but for some reason, I’d not being particularly productive with it all. So, with grim determination, resulting in some significant re-design along the way, …
Read More
Ahh, that’s nice!
I don’t normally cross-post comments from my business blog, but a delegate on one of my recent Workshops was moved to email the client and pass a comment about me: “I would just like to commend Steve Palmer on the course he ran on 9/10th June. I think this was a highly motivational, useful and …
Read More
Angela for a meal in Peterborough
I drove up to Peterborough to meet up with Angela C. She’s running a Workshop there tomorrow. She doesn’t often get this far north :), so it was good to catch up. We went to Prezzo‘s in Cowgate. It was pretty quiet when we arrived but soon got busy. Food was OK rather then great. …
Read More
StevePalmerAssociates.com – Live
At last, I got around to redoing my business web-site – it was uploaded this morning. If anyone spots any typos or other errors, let me know! https://www.StevePalmerAssociates.com (domain closed after retirement, but cached site is HERE) Steve PalmerI got into blogging quite late in life, not publishing my first post until 2004 – well …
Read More
New Blog
I created a new blog for my business-site today in preparation for its major re-design later this year. Steve PalmerI got into blogging quite late in life, not publishing my first post until 2004 – well into my 40s! My lifelong love of technology and communication (in all its forms), together with a fondness for …
Read More
LNG Meeting in London
I travelled down to London with Denise for the last LNG Meeting of 2008. Denise ran a session on Project Management whilst Luke and Philip talked us through a rather good management profiling tool from The Good Boss Company. The venue was Sam’s office just off Piccadilly Circus. The meeting finished around 2.30 which gave …
Read More
Play: “Under Milk Wood”
We travelled over to Stratford upon Avon to see “Under Milk Wood” directed by our good friend and business colleague, Ian McLean of Second Thoughts. We decided to drive over there a bit earlier so we could look round the shops and finish off the Christmas shopping! We were pretty successful, getting quite a few …
Read More
The eyes have it…
Time for my two-yearly eye check-up today. I’m pleased to report that they found two 🙂 and both seem to be working fine – although increasingly, I am struggling to read very small print. Then, it was off to meet my friend Malcolm Levene this afternoon in London. We haven’t seen each other for ages! …
Read More
Visit to Bristol
Here I am in the City-Inn in Bristol in preparation for my visit to a new client tomorrow. Nice room! Free wi-fi plus and iMac in every room!!! I’m meeting up with Angela tonight who by a strange coincidence is also in Bristol tonight and tomorrow. Steve PalmerI got into blogging quite late in life, …
Read More
Alison for lunch in Peterborough
I drove over the Peterborough today to meet Alison W. We used to occasionally work together when running management courses for Nokia in the UK. We reckon we haven’t seen each other for almost 10 years!!Alison is now working part-time and has two kids – Rhys and Bethan. We had lunch at John Lewis’ and although …
Read More
Manchester
I travelled up to Manchester today for work with a client tomorrow. I met up with Dave B who was on his way to a friend in Leicester. We had a good lunch in Pizza Express and then sat outside Café Nero in Piccadilly Gardens and put the world-to-rights! What a great time. Weather was …
Read More
LaserJet 4
…and so, after 15 years plus, of loyal service, I finally consigned the HP LaserJet 4 to the knacker’s yard. It was becoming a little unreliable, but I guess that’s not bad considering I bought it second-hand from my friend, Adrian, not long after I started the Business in 1989. I recall I bought it …
Read More
Last Rites for Ann’s Mondeo/Nicki visits…
Took a trip to the Dealership today to clear-out Ann’s car. We’ve still not heard from the Insurance Company regarding what they’ll offer us, but we’re obviously looking for the best price! This was a really sad moment – yes, it’s only four wheels and a lump of metal, but the car has been with …
Read More
Sweden again…
Another few days spent in Sweden for one of my key clients. Stayed at Gothia Towers’ the largest hotel in Scandinavia – some nice views from my window…Beautiful weather too! Steve PalmerI got into blogging quite late in life, not publishing my first post until 2004 – well into my 40s! My lifelong love of …
Read More
Business trip to Sweden
I’m spending three days in Gothhenberg for some business. I haven’t been to Sweden fdor a few years. Nice people, nice food. The weather I think was warmer than England!! I’m staying at the Elite Park Avenue Hotel. Very nice!!! This is the view from just outside my room on the 9th floor. Steve PalmerI …
Read More