Team work and communications workshop

Just over a week ago, I spent a couple of days in Forest Park Hotel in Platres, as part of the Team work and communications workshop.  The company I work for – Easy Forex – organized it for about 20 people.  We had a good mix of people who work together on a daily basis, across several teams, from both Cyprus and Israel.  There were a few issues to sort out, a few things to improve, a bit to learn, and also some fun to have.

I’ve been to a few similar events before, but none of them even comes close to how useful and interesting this one was.  It wasn’t boring, it wasn’t “motivational” as in “look within to find yourself and your path to success”.  It was practical, to the point, and as much individual as it was team-oriented.  Two people who were hosting, organizing, and managing the event were Paris and Deano from Open Box Communication.  And I have to say that they really know what they are doing.  Most people went in skeptical, closed, and maybe even slightly aggressive.  The change in attitudes was obvious even a couple of hours in.  Two days later we left as rather different people altogether.  At least, the way I saw it.

Here is a little YouTube video they composed with a few highlights.  I know it’s probably irrelevant to most who weren’t there, but for me it will be a nice reminder to go back to once in a while.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKfRtlYYpu0&feature=youtu.be]

If your team has any issues you should definitely consider these guys.  If you think you don’t have any issues, I strongly recommend to consider them anyway, as they will bring out a lot of things that you’ve probably never thought about.

Out of sync

Yesterday, I’ve spent a considerable amount of time trying to figure out if Crowd Favorite had yet released an update to the FavePersonal WordPress theme that I am using on this site.  It’s been quite a while since I installed it, and I didn’t remember any mentions of newer versions coming out.  After some searching across their website, I decided that there has been no update released yet.

Today, I see a notification in my WordPress administration interface of some updates available.  Guess what?  You are right.  Indeed, a new version of the FavePersonal has been released today.  But that’s not the end of my lack of sync.

I rush to the Crowd Favorite website once again, trying to find some kind of Changelog that would describe the changes that went into it.  And once again I fail.  Surprisingly, a company that does so many awesome things for bloggers, doesn’t have a blog on its own site.

Just as I am switching tabs away, getting slightly disappointed, I open up my Gmail and there is an email from Crowd Favorite with release announcement, changes, and all.

Now, if that is not me being out of sync, I don’t know what is.

P.S.: Please don’t take this post as bashing of Crowd Favorite.  It is not. It’s just me ranting about timing issues.  Crowd Favorite people and products are awesome.

Once again, it’s been a very long time since I pla…

Once again, it’s been a very long time since I played Quake 3.  Today, had a duel with a colleague.  Plain old Quake 3 with no mods, no configs, no tweaking, no warm-up.  My eyes were tearing, hands shaking, heart racing, but I won none-the-less – 20:2!  Even managed to squeeze a humiliation in there.  Old school FTW!

He means …

This is just too good not to share.  But before I do this, consider the disclaimer – it (allegedly) happened at Maxim’s school, he then (allegedly) told the story to my wife, who then told it to me.  So there might be a few inaccuracies.  Anyways …

It’s Monday.  The kids are back in the classrooms after a sunny weekend.  The teacher is asking them how they’ve spent the weekend, what they have done, and so on.

Maxim’s friend: I was out with my parents.  There were a lot of hot ladies at the beach…
Teacher (stunned): What?
Maxim: Hot ladies.  He means – sexy!
Teacher: (blink blink … what the … ?)

Just so there is no confusion, right?