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Currys Website Has Queue for Black Friday Deals

I saw a Currys Black Friday advert on TV earlier, so thought I’d check the offers on their website. Whether you go to their specific Black Friday landing page, or just their homepage, you get directed to a queueing system.

Currys Website - Black Friday Deals page queue

Though I can’t tell if this has a function (i.e. to reduce server load), or it’s just a marketing gimmick.

Let’s see.

2013 – The Year in Review

What a year it’s been.

New puppy

My parents have had a few different dogs in the past, but we decided it was time to have a black labrador. So to kick off the year (well, towards the end of Spring), we ventured to Cambridgeshire to collect the puppy! She’s called Mischa, and here are a few pics from the first weeks of us having her:

black labrador puppy  black labrador puppyblack labrador puppy  black labrador puppy

 

I then passed my driving test mid-June, and finished my two-year IT course at the end of June with a Distinction for my first year, and a Distinction* for my second and final year.

 

Events

Some of the best things I’ve done this year include having the opportunity to volunteer for a few events, including –

Campus Party London

Campus Party Europe London 2013 panorama

This was an incredible experience I’ll be sure to remember for years to come – a 24/7, week-long technology event at the O2 Arena. An awesome environment full of coders collaborating on projects during the day and night. I was volunteering, so got the chance to see behind the scenes at the O2 which was a great experience.

The Lincolnshire Show

Lincolnshire Show 2013 quad bike

This was my third year working at the Lincolnshire Show as a Health & Safety Steward, although this year I had a quad bike for the first time, which made the experience rather fun! 🙂

Zombie Run UK (Lincoln)

Zombie Run UK - Lincoln 2013

 

Zombie Run UK Lincoln was an awesome event, and a rather unusual one too!

 

Lincoln Grand Prix Cycle Race

Lincoln Grand Prix Cycle Race 2013

 

Conferences:
This year was the first time I had the opportunity to help out at a conference (Social CRM 2013 in London). With speakers from companies such as Sony and eBay, it was a great experience for me.

I also attended my first ever IT industry trade show; IP EXPO.

IP EXPO 2013, Earl's Court 2 Exhibition Centre, London

 

London
If you’re a regular on my blog, you may have noticed that London features regularly in my posts. I don’t know why, but I feel an attachment to London, and so it’s somewhere I’d like to visit regularly for a number of reasons.

Google HQ, London Oxford Street, London King's Cross Station, London Earl's Court Tube Station, London

Oh and I tried sushi for the first time, and didn’t really like it..itsu sushi

 

Bitcoin
I’d heard of Bitcoin about a year ago, but at the time had just seen it as a passing fad. However, I’d come across it again towards the end of October, and after doing a bit more research, I decided to buy some Bitcoin. Rather than investing in traditional stocks/shares or oil (which I believe will only bring substantial profits to those with millions already), I chose to ‘invest’ in Bitcoin not only because of the potential profits to be made, but also the potential for it to become a “digital curency”.
Bitcoin is something of an asset class of its own, so you can’t really compare it to stocks and shares, however it proved to be a worthwhile investment.

(Read more about my Bitcoin adventures here if you’re interested!)

 

So overall, the best year of my life so far.

So that’s a wrap for this year. I hope to be blogging even more in 2014 – I’m aiming to publish a post each week! See ya’ll in 2014! 🙂

Christmas 2013

I love Christmas! Now that I’m a bit older, I tend to see Christmas as more of a family get-together type occasion, although don’t get me wrong – I still love giving and receiving presents! 🙂 I just feel it has become too commercialised.

Anyway, this year we were invited to my half-sister’s house for our Christmas dinner! Here are a few photos of Christmas Day:

DSCN1509Handmade Christmas Cracker DSCN1575 DSCN1476

NatWest suffers IT problems on Cyber Monday

Monday was Cyber Monday, the busiest day of the year for online retailers.

The same day that NatWest and RBS suffered a system crash, which affected all methods of payment – ATMs, online e-commerce payments, online banking and their mobile app. What’s more, their online helpdesk couldn’t cope with the traffic and also went down..!

Meanwhile, there were reports of “SOS” text messages from NatWest Managers offering ‘unlimited overtime’ for the Tuesday ‘chaos’ shift.

https://twitter.com/ultramacky/status/407602733085360130

Even worse, they don’t seem to be bothered with updating their ‘Service Status’ page to inform their customers of the issues.

https://twitter.com/ritchmedia/status/407613491080462336

Considering this is the third time this has happened in the last two years, NatWest clearly don’t seem to be able to learn from their mistakes…

Have a great Christmas party, NatWest IT guys!

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