My cake making competitions have become very popular. The strange thing is that I get people I’ve never met before coming up to me saying that the posts I write about these competitions are amongst their favourites. Well one person did last week at the LINX meeting anyway.
I’m not sure what that says about my other posts but in answer to this huge demand I am happy to report the winner of the August competition – this time for the best cheesecake – is Paula Davies (no relation afaik).
The carrot cake competition was so successful that I was asked to organise another bake-off but this time with chocolate cake.
The 5 entries, shown below, were all top class and there were on 1 1/2 points separating the first and second place cakes.
the 5 entries for the Timico chocolate cake competition
The winner, with a fine triple decker offering, was Head of Product management, Andrew Massing – shown below being presented with his certificate.
Andrew massing (left) is presented with his certificate for "Best Chocolate Cake, 2010"
Below is me during the judging. This is a highly responsible job that has to be taken very seriously as you wouldn’t believe the competitive nature of the entrants:)
trefor davies judges the Timico chocolate cake competition
I walked in this morning to find that the wallpaper in the office had changed overnight. Being Welsh and with no real interest in the football World Cup other than the fact that I have drawn Chile in the office sweepstake it took me a bit by surprise. Having said that everyone is excited and the whole tournament (at this early stage before anyone has been knocked out) has lifted everyone’s spirits.
The video below is a quick scan around the office to show off the decor. The bit at the beginning is where the Network Operations team sits. Note no flags here. They are all uber-geeks who care only about tech stuff and are only vaguely aware that there is a sport called football. They will still celebrate a win with everybody though. Work hard and play hard.
Great day out with KCOM yesterday at their annual Charity Golf day at Forest Pines.
The weather didn’t put us off and the company (Steve, Steve and Chris) was great. The Timico team came in fourth, which considering I had probably the worst game of my life, was a credit to the others. I did win an umbrella in the raffle.
The charity being supported was The Stroke Association which is a very valued customer of Timico.
Photographed below are the team with the Pines as a backdrop. I can recommend the course although it is amusing to note that online the club announces itself as being “near Brigg” whereas in reality it is “near Scunthorpe”. Maybe of interest is the fact that down the road is Holme Hall Golf Club which, unless I’m very much mistaken, is where Tony Jacklin started his career. End of travel agent spiel.
from left to right Steve, Tref, Chris and Steve
Final part of an interview recorded for BT for their FTTC launch.
Announcing the Timico Carrot Cake Competition. Entries need to be submitted to me during Monday morning. Judging will take place at 1pm on Monday in the Tech area on the first floor. Entry is free.
The cake must have been baked by the entrant who must in turn be a Timico employee (apologies to readers re this – if there is sufficient demand I will conduct an “Open Carrot Cake Competition” at a later date). Fake entries from M&S etc will result in naming and shaming of the entrant.
The winner will be awarded the title of Timico Carrot Cake Cook of the Year 2010 and will receive vouchers entitling them to 1 year’s unlimited viewing of Trefor.net.
Judging will be by a top panel of gastronomes renowned for their carrot cake tasting skills. For security purposes the names of the judges will not be revealed until just before the tasting.
Happy baking and good luck to all entrants. Results will be posted here on Monday. You read it first on trefor.net.
All work and no play…
Part 2 of an interview recorded for BT as part of their FTTC launch.
First in a series of videos recorded by BT as part of their launch of FTTC.
Today two Timico group companies have obtained a total of six nominations in the ISPA awards. Timico is finalist in both the Best Business Fixed Broadband and Best Internet Telephony categories. NewNet is finalist for Best Business Fixed Broadband, Best Consumer Fixed Broadband, Best Dedicated Hosting and Best Shared Hosting.
6 years ago Timico was founded with the ambition to become the first choice Communications Provider for business in the UK. Lofty ambitions and hopefully this endorsement shows that we are heading in the right direction.
The awards are in London on the 8th July. See you there. I’m the guy in the dinner suit.
Richard Baxter of Neos Networks bravely took up the challenge of playing the NetOps guitar when visiting the Timico office last week. Watched by colleague Gary Waterman he entertained the Tech Support teams with a virtuoso performance of Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez, or at least I think it was 
This was such a successful event that I’m thinking of creating a new guest guitar spot on trefor.net. Don’t get me wrong. It doesn’t mean that all suppliers have to entertain the team in the same way in order to get the business. But it might help…
Anyone else wanting to appear in front of a particularly uncritical audience should get in touch. Next time we will have the audio recording facilities lined up and post it on YouTube.
Rodrigo Baxter plays Concierto de Aranjuez at Timico NOC