@lindsay.at

So, after weeks of dithering, talking with my colleagues and hearing their enthusiasm for the event provided me enough impetus to attend BBC's Mashed. It's HackDay 2008, basically, and it really felt like I missed something special last year. I've been getting my hack-fu together, and it felt like it would be nifty to go as a team.

But no, said colleagues dropped out almost immediately.

Mother-in-law came to the rescue, though, in offering to take Helena for the weekend, un-prompted. Great! (What? She's now expressing mixed feelings?…) So, I'm committed to going, even if I'm not going to approach it as the young man's game it appears to be. I have a hotel, I have a train, and I will attempt to treat myself right in the process. I want to hack, but I'll be fairly happy soaking up the atmosphere and giving out most of my remaining LOLCODE stickers, if people are interested.

For the rest: we shall see what we shall see.

While in Lausanne for a project meeting, I saw the following scrawled in tiny caps in the grout between tiles in a men's room at EPFL.

I can read it, and in the heart of French-speaking Switzerland, that made me feel a little special. I learned at least some Dutch while in Belgium...