It all kicks off with a friendly family orientated picnic with fun & games in Jephson Gardens followed by an evening of talks by web industry leaders Jon Hicks and Drew McLellan at KoKos. Jon Hicks will present "Pixel Pushing: An Introduction to Icon Design" and Drew McLellan will talk about "What Brian Cant Never Taught You About Metadata". If that isn't enough to tempt you, don't forget the event is free.

See you there!

Holding the paint brush was Paul Lloyd who created the mock-ups for the website and logo--which I'm particularly pleased with. Trevor Morris has done a brilliant job of implementing the design into html adding in Microformats and parsing all popular external feeds where possible.

We also have a new forum that Ross Riley has configured and there are a few others working behind the curtains making sure everything stays spick and span.

There will be no excuses for people not knowing where and when things are taking place either, as we now meet up every second Saturday of each month at the Old Joint Stock with the premise of moving out further afield within the West Midlands a couple of times throughout the year.

So whether you're an existing member or not, register on the forum and get the details for the next meet from Upcoming and I'll see you there!

Keep watching for some interesting forthcoming events…

Here are some things that have surprised me.

Age

I always thought it was a young mans game. Young man being male/female 18-25 years old. Looks like there is a few years left in this old dog.

Gender

Maybe this is based on me being in the West Midlands, UK but 1 in 5 of my peers isn't female.

Geographic region

There was 20% answered from the EU (except the UK) and 11.2% from the UK. There seemed to be a high percentage of people who answered from the UK compared to the EU, maybe this was a language issue.

Type of organisation

I was surprised to see about a quarter of people are either self-employed or freelance, that seems quite high for any industry

Years at current job

Looks like people move around often, I'm in the 3.6%

The Rules

• You have to post these rules before giving your facts.
• Players state eight random facts/habits about themselves.
• At the end of the blog post, you tag eight people and list their names. (Don't forget to leave them a comment telling them they're tagged, and to read your blog.)
• People who are tagged need to write about their eight things on their own blog and also post these rules.

With that over and done with, here goes…

1. When I was 8 I left my SuperTed teddy at The Natural History Museum and cried all the way home when my friends Dad said we couldn't go back to get him, I think I left him with the Neanderthals. I'm not sure I've ever totally got over this.
2. I have a trophy for coming first in a BMX race as a member of Wordsley BMX Club, however there was only me racing in my class.
3. I hate spammers and think I should build a web app so people can muddy their data/contact form with incorrect contact details.
4. I have scored a goal from the half-way line while playing for my school against Wolverhampton Grammar School, something even Pelé didn't manage I might add, though the level of opposition may have been a factor.
5. I have no patience for DIY especially flat pack furniture, it has got so bad that the family go out when I have something to build and don't come back till it's done, go figure.
6. My Granddad designed the wheels/tyres for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
7. I passed my BTEC National in Art and Design at Matthew Boulton College with a Distinction and was named student of the year by the companies sponsoring the course - however I spent most of the time in the pub playing pool - for this I feel quite guilty, but not too much.
8. My first exposure to the Internet was through CompuServe around 1991 surprisingly I actually liked it.
9. I can't count and don't like rules.

I told you I would bore you!

Right who to tag, hmm

• Ben Ward
• Gareth Brown
• Jon Roobottom
• Matt Machell
• Nick Harris
• Owen Gregory
• Ross Riley
• Trevor Morris

Right I’m off to care for him, shocking really isn’t it?

I ignored you in the beginning, abused you for a while but now I fully embrace you CSS, so have a great 10th birthday you make maintenance so much more easy than the tag soup I used to create, thank you.

Update: I recently cancelled my policy with them and I've now received a letter off them to arrange payment of the balance, however this outstanding balance is because they had credited me this amount in the first place! Calm down, dear my arse!

There has been uproar this week over alleged racist remarks aimed at Big Brother contestant Shilpa Shetty. It is the staple diet of the tabloids and TV news reports currently; and the PM has discussed it in his Question Time.

If there has been any racist remarks than they need to be brought to book, but surely condemning democracy and praising the Taliban for killing British soldiers should be the focus this week!

I ignored you in the beginning, abused you for a while but now I fully embrace you CSS, so have a great 10th birthday you make maintenance so much more easy than the tag soup I used to create, thank you.

There has been uproar this week over alleged racist remarks aimed at Big Brother contestant Shilpa Shetty. It is the staple diet of the tabloids and TV news reports currently; and the PM has discussed it in his Question Time.

If there has been any racist remarks than they need to be brought to book, but surely condemning democracy and praising the Taliban for killing British soldiers should be the focus this week!

Youngest – When we bought our house how did they carry it, did they use a big lorry?

Eldest – No don’t be silly, this house was here when we moved in, we moved because our old house was messy.

Kids

Youngest – When we bought our house how did they carry it, did they use a big lorry?

Eldest – No don’t be silly, this house was here when we moved in, we moved because our old house was messy.

Kids

• Universal away ticket price of no more than £15 for all Premier League (FAPL) games with £10 for concessions.
• A three-season freeze of prices at 2006/7 season levels for both season tickets and individual match tickets for seasons 2007/8-2009/10 imposed by FAPL rule. Encouragement of clubs to cut ticket prices in cash terms over and above the freeze, particularly at the low end.
• The facility fee received for all FAPL televised matches to be used to subsidise tickets prices for all attending those matches.

Their main objective is – …to ensure that football again becomes the “people’s game”. Prices across the board in this country are absurd.

Show your support by signing their supporters’ online petition today, and even if you don’t give two hoots about football, go sign it anyway, may help reduce the amount of money I’ll have to pay in the future.

• Universal away ticket price of no more than £15 for all Premier League (FAPL) games with £10 for concessions.
• A three-season freeze of prices at 2006/7 season levels for both season tickets and individual match tickets for seasons 2007/8-2009/10 imposed by FAPL rule. Encouragement of clubs to cut ticket prices in cash terms over and above the freeze, particularly at the low end.
• The facility fee received for all FAPL televised matches to be used to subsidise tickets prices for all attending those matches.

Their main objective is – …to ensure that football again becomes the “people’s game”. Prices across the board in this country are absurd.

Show your support by signing their supporters’ online petition today, and even if you don’t give two hoots about football, go sign it anyway, may help reduce the amount of money I’ll have to pay in the future.