Hi everyone. I have been asked a lot recently about my website, especially who hosts it and about the fact that I have it monitored 24/7 for uptime and reliability. Basically late last year I had lots of issues with uptime of my blog, so moved to Host Gator. They have been amazing. The server is quick, but the support has been even better. Even while a hurricane battered their data and call centre the support tickets continued to be answered. Below is a link to their site if you're interested, trust me they are cool and about 10 of my friends host with them now, they consistently rate high on "Best To View More >>

Yesterday I let you know that I was going to take the "31 Days To A Better Blog" challenge and I am getting more and more excited. Day 1 The task for today was to write an "elevator pitch for my blog". This was something that had been on my mind for a while, as I felt I didn't have a strong focus around what I wrote. I genuinely think I could go "toe to toe" and hold my own in a discussion on most of the issues I write about, but I wasn't providing any depth of information. We have deep experience and knowledge in HR, IT, Marketing, Relationships, Leadership, Strategy etc but I didn't want to To View More >>

All day I have been trying to find a moment to publish a quick post, giving a shout out to Google for another awesome product that's in the works. We already use analytics, webmaster tools, gmail etc and think this is probably one of the most exciting announcements since search. As a company this offers us exciting collaboration options to supplement what we already have, but it's even more exciting when you consider the integration with our wider community. Well done Google ... simply awesome. Mashable have 4 great articles on Google Wave http://mashable.com/2009/05/28/google-wave-guide/ the complete To View More >>

  I asked a few friends, colleagues and my family a weird question, which was ... What do you think I am an "expert in"? What I was curious about was, how do people perceive me? What did they think I was an expert in, and where do I add value? I've long been the 'go to guy' when you have an IT problem you can't beat. My knowledge is both deep and wide and when you combine that with my ability to quickly research, while looking at the big picture and delving into the detail there aren't mainly small to medium size IT issues I can't resolve. Not trying to big note, but it has always been my To View More >>

On Thursday I called our Prime Minister, Helen Clark a mad cow, and I want to say sorry. LOL Ok I was going to say that's not fair on real cows and their unfortunate condition, but that would just be another cheap joke at someone else's expense. Funny thing about my blog is not many people leave comments, in fact almost never, but I get quite a number of emails directly and comments from friends and family. On Friday at a party Dad told me I was being a "tough customer" and my Sister said that it "wasn't my style, and would come back to bite me when I was Prime Minister." Something about Karma? To View More >>

Hi Everyone. I have been away for a while, so am sorry for the absence of blog entries and thanks to those who wrote to see if everything is ok. Basically it was so busy through Europe that attending to email from home took priority and work has been silly busy since our return. The amazing thing is so much has been going on so hopefully I can catch up and share some of the stories soon. Stay well and look after yourself Stephen To View More >>

One of the incredible blessings of working in the Queensberry Group is the wonderful people we get to spend our time with, and few are more inspiring than Peter Haythornthwaite. [flickr]photo:3099049094[/flickr] I was sitting at the kitchen table about to take a photo of this wood pigeon when I got an email from Peter commenting on my blog. Amongst other things he said "I guess a natural 'other' would be small videos of family discoveries at the beach - your area, your 'forest' area, your Titirangi - why do you live there etc." The timing made me smile as this beautiful bird perfectly symbolizes To View More >>

In addition to work, I get hundreds of personal emails a week, and have got myself into a situation again of "email overwhelm" on my personal account and Facebook. Today I decided to catch up, and although I haven't got through the 500 odd emails completely I am stunned by what I have come across so far. - an email from an exchange student that lived with us over 20 years ago. - 2 emails from old friends remaking contact. - an email from an online friend telling me that her husband has passed away. - a tirade of emails ... first saying hello and then a number asking why I haven't replied, escalating To View More >>