ICBN Business Blast

A Recipe Site Worth The Visiting

Tue, 20 May 2008 20:29:00 +0100

I am a keen amateur cook, and love trying out new meals that I find on the internet.

I used to enjoy browsing though all the recipe collections out there, but then came google adsense, and now every bloody site is plastered with adverts - sometimes its hard to actually find the damned recipes for all the ads.

Well today I found a new recipe site that, at least for now, hasn't got ads all over it.

Recipe Ideas has over 40 thousand recipes and ZERO ads - its a joy to use.

I am particularly fond of cakes and desserts (hey, I wasn't born fat you know :)), and this site has loads. It even has a couple of 'mock' haggis recipes - mock meaning 'not quite as gruesome as the genuine recipes' - which I think I will give a try.

My Vacation in Portugal

Wed, 07 May 2008 14:00:49 +0100

Well, I am badly in need of a break, and once again I have left it a little too late.

Thankfully, I am not a big fan of hot weather, so going out of season is fine by me.

So, after thinking it through, i decided to visit the algarve, in portugal.

Often seen as spains 'little brother', portugal is one of my favourite countries, the portuguese are extremely warm people, but not as excitable as the other med countries. Dining out in portugal is a rewarding experience, and economical compared to the rest of the mediterranean.

Now i juist needed to pick a nice resort in the algarve.

Surfing over the quagmire of 'algarve villa' websites in the google results, I found one site offering algarve villas that seemed better than the others. a site calling itself 'villaretreats.com'. Not only do they offer the normal villa rental service, but also a number of extra services that made all the difference for me. They offer a unbeatable price match offer, a guarantee that they have visited every one of their algarve villas personally, an offer to book your flights for you, emergency telephone support number and the offer to prebook restaurants, taxis, golf courses etc

Being a poor sort of chap, i can't afford all of these but that level of complete service was a deal breaker for me.

I still have to choose the resort though, Quinta do lago, Parque da floresta, Santa barbara de nexe and Praia da rocha all look interesting, guess i will need to consult my wife on that one.

Well done Villa Retreats!

Incompetence in the Workplace

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 23:46:31 +0100

Anyone who is a fan of the Dilbert cartoons no doubt finds them amusing because much of it is true.

But is it really like that?

No, of course it isn't.

Sure, the characters in the Dilbert cartoons are lazy and devious, but they also have a level of predictable competence or incompetence.

What makes the real workplace different is that many of the middle managers have levels of competence that fluctuate wildly on the same damn day.

Someone can be wise, caring and efficient in the morning and yet in the afternoon act like a complete bozo.

Its this unpredicatability that makes most of our lives hell - I am happy to work with a complete fuckwit as long as he or she is a fuckwit in a predictable manner.

I don't require competence, just predicability.