Coding and Cocktails

It's been a crazy busy week as usual. Not helped by my bad planning of putting an astro talk to the company at lunch and then a training session in the evening all on the same day.

On Thursday, I organised a Coding and Cocktails session to introduce SQL to as many people in the business as I could. Especially those who have never done any coding in their lives. The idea is you are taught SQL and complete queries. For each complete query, you get the element of a cocktail (or two) of your choice. (Well, one of the 8 I had recipes and alcohol for.)

We set up a bar in the top kitchen and had about 10% of the company show up, including one of the execs! There should have been more but for various reasons I can't go into, it has been an extremely rough couple of weeks for the company. But the ones that did show seemed to really enjoy themselves!

My team helped out with checking the queries, and making the cocktails, which they enjoyed a lot more by the sounds of them at the end. ("One for you, one for me" maybe?)

Our bar.

Geek joke

Everyone said they really enjoyed themselves (not sure if it was the coding or the cocktails - I am going to go with the combination). Afterwards my team certainly enjoyed themselves making up some cocktails. I have never seen a mojito make someone blink in shock. But they do when made by my team. (At least they weren't giving those portions sizes to the crowd - they would never have done any coding!)

Hopefully we will make it a regular-ish thing. Though as much fun as it was, I can't face organising that every week.

Walk in the Park

Last weekend I got bored at home and took a walk in Bushy Park. This time I went prepared with my camera and zoom lens (I am not getting closer to the deer than I have to). And I was lucky. Not only was the weather lovely for the most part (I missed the rain while in the cafe) but I saw 2 herds of deer out and about.

Scratching their antlers off.

Main walkway through the park. 

I spent some of the time wondering (a little bit lost) through the wooden garden which as very pretty but I think I ended up going the long way on my hunt for the cafe. It is finally becoming more spring like and though not many leaves yet, the flowers are out in force.

Spring. 

White Hart.

On the way from the park, I stopped by Garrick's Temple to Shakespeare. I have meaning to see what it was for a while. I still am not sure. But it made for a few nice photos.