http://www.fordata.biz en-gb fordata.biz 2012-4-2T00:00:00Z fordata.biz http://www.fordata.biz/page14.htm#115733 Reading Half Marathon 010412Bright but cold start to the day. Up and out by 0645 to be greeted by a nice covering of ice on the car. Drove to Chippenham and picked up a mate that was running it as well then onto Reading.Arrived and was surprised by the scale of the event it seemed huge in comparison to the Bath Half a few weeks ago.Got a great parking spot and walked with Graham to the runners village. It was very well organised and the mood amongst everyone was great.The walk to the start was quite a way and got slower and slower as we got to our starting point. This time I was number 10185 so thankfully I was well down the field.It took about 10 15 minutes after the starters pistol to get to the start but the timing chip on my leg was going to give me the exact time anyway so that didnt matter.We set off at a sensible pace and after a few turns found ourselves at the foot of a hill something that there wasnt much of in Bath. Climbing this was not the nicest but Im very glad it was... 2012-4-2 10:32:47 http://www.fordata.biz/page14.htm#114423 This was the one that geve me the idea for the 12 12sId applied to do it but there were no places left until a friend of my brothers Paul Salmon confessed hed signed up for 2 half marathons on the same day. I hastily snapped up the chance to run it so please be aware if you check any of the timings youll see its Paul Salmon that you are looking for not Martin Ford.... but it was me honestIn the time between the last half and this one Ive joined the local gym to try to shed some pounds Being around 18 stone is clearly going to stop me ever from running at a decent pace.Today started off beautiful from home but by the time wed got into Bath there was a thick blanket of fog.This brought the temperature right down and unfortunately to get into Bath it really needs the park and ride the organisers suggested that we got there by 0830.... even though the run didnt start until 1100.So we were there at 0800 and in the runners village by 0820. It was pretty well deserted.We met up with the lo... 2012-3-11 11:55:49 http://www.fordata.biz/page14.htm#114419 Well after last months crawl I have been hoping for a better time this month.To inspire me a little further Ive asked a friend who will be running the Reading Half Marathon to join me.Ive recalculated the route and have found that theres a more sensible one that is only just over the half Marathon distance... httpwww.mapmyrun.comroutesview71076614We set off at a speed that was quite a bit faster than I was used to. Trust Graham to be mega fit.I really struggled for the first 3 or 4 miles and then seemed to get a bit of a boost.... however not for long. We got to the 12 way mark together but then I started to fade quicky. I saw Graham disappear into the distance and there was nothing I could do but keep plodding on.I suddenly realised that Graham didnt know where to turn off the road and he would carry straight past the turning so I really pushed to get back to him. He came into view as he passed the turning he was meant to take so I yelled whistled and shouted until he looked round ... 2012-2-25 11:23:38 http://www.fordata.biz/page14.htm#114414 The problem with running a half marathon every month of the year is finding one thats in your location every month of the year.As it is in January its pretty hard to find one anywhere.So for the months where there isnt one Im going to map out my own. The only criteria is that it has to be at least 13.1094 miles long. Any more than that and its my fault for not working it out properlySo today 29th January 2012 I did the first run you can see it here httpwww.mapmyrun.comroutesview66504548It started off fine very very cold mind you.I chose the route and to do it this way as it was one of the training runs I did in the summer last year for the 20 mile run that I did in June. However in that training snow most definitely hadnt shown its face.It got colder and colder as I ran until the 7th mile when I started to get the odd snowflake hit me. This was quite serious Id obviously become a little damp with perspiration... but now the temperature was dropping like a stone it felt like my shirt w... 2012-1-29 11:04:54 http://www.fordata.biz/page14.htm#114412 Well Id like to thank the ForData bosses for allowing me to use their blog space to update everyone on how my half marathons are going. To be honest it was never going to be a problem as I am the boss but even so this isnt exactly something to do with IT support but will hopefully make for interesting reading...So a little about what Im doing and why.Ive lost friends and family to cancer. Lots of them. Too many. So Ive decided I really need to try to do something to help out. This tied in with a lifelong love of the outdoors and strangely.... music lead me to a Charity called Love Hope Strength.This Charity was formed by Mike Peters of The Alarm. He found he had leukemia and started recruiting other musicians to join him and raise some money to give as grants to local hospices hospitals and other institutions that needed funding for cancer care research.Theyve done some pretty amazing things in the past climbing Snowdon Kilimanjaro and up to Everest Base Camp. Each trek ends in a con... 2012-1-28 10:47:45 http://www.fordata.biz/page14.htm#109034 2011-12-21 12:41:22 http://www.fordata.biz/page14.htm#106890 2011-11-15 15:44:52 http://www.fordata.biz/page14.htm#99554 Martin Ford the MD of ForData took part in a sponsored walk on the 9th July 2011. He chose to run it to make more money for the charity. Weve asked him to write a piece about the run and his reasons for doing it so here it is in all its glory Avebury ROCKS Im Martin Ford. 44 years old 68 tall and a little too rotund for my liking. By the time you read this Ill have run a 20 mile off road course from Avebury to Marlborough up to Barbury Castle and back down the Ridgeway to Avebury. A number of residents from the Take 5 area have been kind enough to sponsor me so I thought it would be worthwhile giving an account of what how and why Ive done it. For a reason that will become obvious the story starts just before Christmas last year On the 12th December 2010 Id just picked up a rather fine Christmas tree. Id gone through the somewhat ritualistic attempt at getting it into the Christmas tree holder a process that involves shaving off bits of the stump of the tree for what seems lik... 2011-7-9 11:37:00 http://www.fordata.biz/page14.htm#90019 2011-3-24 07:30:53 http://www.fordata.biz/page14.htm#109035 To sign up to our newsletters please click here ForData Spring Newsletter 2011 A HUGE amount has been going on behind the scenes at ForData. Weve got new starters new phone numbers ways to get our unbeatable service at a lower cost and loads of fantastically useful information that should help you get the absolute best out of your contracted support. If you dont have contracted support then read on and see what you are missing James on Board in April ForData are very pleased to welcome on board our newest member of staff. James Robinson. James will be joining us in April bringing with him no less than 22 years worth of experience in the IT industry specifically based around looking after SMEs and the issues they run into. So when you next call the office and find yourself speaking to James please welcome him and be gentle with him Reducing your contract costsSo you are part of the ForData family of supported customers. Hopefully you are enjoying a warm feeling of being vi... 2011-3-15 12:45:42 http://www.fordata.biz/page14.htm#80651 Small Business Server is a product sold by Microsoft that combines the latest server technologies together in one box specifically for small businesses. Its designed for Small businesses and as such has all the features that they will need. Small Business Server 2003 has really had its day now the technologies have changed the functionality has been superseded and the machines running 2003 are really now starting to get a little old. Moreover files are getting larger and the servers that were built to hold data back in the days of 2003 well theyre all filling up quickly with documents images and media files. The problem is Small Business Server is the at the very centre of a small business.... If its not running youll have trouble even logging in to your computer.... and rather awkwardly Microsoft have set these machines to shut down if they detect another Small Business Server on the network. This means that if someone decides they want to move from one version to the other th... 2010-11-18 16:35:03 http://www.fordata.biz/page14.htm#63514 Zeus a virus that steals online banking details from infected computer users is more powerful than ever warns a web security company. Have a look at the BBC report here.... httpnews.bbc.co.uk1hitechnology8634356.stm Its definitely worthwhile making sure your Anti Virus Anti Malware and Banking protection software is up to date. 2010-4-21 15:42:03 http://www.fordata.biz/page14.htm#63500 Thanks John for the title of my first blog. Im sat here contemplating just which task to do next but am acutely aware that I promised myself the need to start creating a blog to go onto this shiny new website. So Ive chosen to do this instead.... because I can. So heres a question in what two ways can computer support or any form of support for that matter be handled Answer Support can be proactive. Or Support can be reactive. The difference is much MUCH bigger than you may think. We feel proactivity is by far the best.... The work here is coming in thick and fast. Not through problems although there will always be a few but through our Healthchecks where we check the health of each of our customers machines using monitoring software and a HANDS ON approach so we can see identify react to and resolve issues.... before our customers are aware they have them. Why do we spend SO much of our time doing this Simple. I hate the phone ringing. I dont like the unexpected and so if... 2010-4-21 13:40:24