Portsmouth

I traveled down to the IBM laboratories in Hursley on Thursday and Friday for a closer look at their Websphere and Workplace WCM products. It is a terrific campus, part of an old estate complete with a huge manorhouse.

I stayed at a terrific B&B called Pyesmead Farm (a real working farm) and took in some nice food and real ales down at the Shoe Inn... get it, shoe in? Actually one of the owners is from Holland so their sign has a big wooden shoe on it. The pub itself has been around since the 15th century, existing once as a toll booth.

Saturday I took a look around Gunwarf quay before heading home. This is a really nicely built up harbor that is buzzing with activity. There are ferries moving in and out constantly. Also there is a naval base and you see some impressive warships on display, both past and present. The most amazing, to me, was the HMS Victory. It had about 100 canons and carried about 1000 men.



Sure beats riding around in one of these...


I also went up the Spinaker tower which dominates the skyline and is really beautiful.


The view is terrific, obviously!

Dorr Street Rally

Its really good to see some organized action in support of the Dorr Street Corridor. Here is a Blade article regarding that area of town.

The demise of COSI Toledo

I'm still a bit in shock over the failure of the COSI levy. I find it incredible that Toledo voters would throw away millions of dollars of investment, an excellent resource for regional schools, and a great magnet to downtown Toledo. And at what cost, 5 or 10 bucks a year? What can I say... other than we'll be making even more trips to Ann Arbor when we move back to the area, as we have a tendency to spend a Saturday afternoon at a hands on museum about every month or two.

On a more positive note, thanks to those who supported organization, and more importantly thank you to the workers and the board members of COSI who have given us some great times over the years and touched our lives. We especially loved the Halloween parties.