Manchester, UK

Dear Friends,

This week, I'm spending a few days in the UK.  My primary destination is Manchester - located about 3 hours north of London.  My purpose? To speak at a conference for my company, focused on PC sales.  I had a chance to mingle with some of the top PC sellers in the UK and most of the Nordic countries.  My company asked me to talk about all of the amazing advances we've made with software - to help these sellers show consumers the advantages of buying products based on our technology.

The event was held just outside of Manchester, in a village called Cheshire, at the historic Mottram Hall Hotel. At first, I couldn't figure out why we didn't hold the event in London.  Now, as I see how gorgeous this location is, I understand:

The main part of this mansion was built in 1750 on a very large estate.  By UK standards, it was a simply country house.  Over the years, it's been expanded.  Trust me, as I walk through the maze-like halls...the additions make it an adventure to walk through ; )

The grounds of the estate were a lot of fun to stroll through.  Since this is a resort, they had tennis courts, a rugby field and a championship golf course:

As I arrived a little early, I walked beyond the golf course, to see a little more of the English countryside.  It had just rained earlier in the afternoon, but the sun had finally come out:

I have absolutely no idea what kind of flowers these are...but they grew 12 feet high...

I found a farm next door that had a bunch of tiny ponies in a field - yeah...a field with just ponies in it:

My oldest daughter would have loved these tiny animals...

Behind the main building was a small pond, with some very territorial geese surrounding it.

The next day after I arrived was the actual conference.  The hotel had done a brilliant job of decorating, complete with our logos placed on the windows looking out onto a garden:

The conference had about 100 of the top PC sellers in the UK and Nordic countries in attendance.  I spoke right after lunch - usually one of the tougher times - as people are starting to digest their food and get a little sleepy ; )

I must be making a really important point...

We even showed them how to "overclock" a computer.  This means that you turn up the voltage on the computer to make it run faster.  As you do this, the chips run really, really hot.  So, we pour liquid nitrogen on the chips to cool them down...and we can continue to turn up the voltage.  It's pretty amazing:

During breaks, everyone went outside, as the weather was gorgeous and there was a nice garden to gather in:

The presentations went well and I was able to talk with a lot of our customers.  A great day in a magnificent location!  That's it for today...more from the UK tomorrow ; )