No Boat (Video – Click to play)

Posted on June 15, 2009 by Michael Jago
No boat
No boat

Thomas explains how the waterskiing without a boat works. Clearly an opportunity for some cashed up entrepreneur to make some money on Albert Park Lake !

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Posted in 3 months living in Germany 2009 | Leave a comment

Waterskiing – without a boat !!!

Posted on June 15, 2009 by Michael Jago
Thomas-&-Michael
Thomas-&-Michael

On Sunday June 14th, I was invited by Thomas Huebner to go Waterskiing… without a boat. There is a man made lake in Duisberg (about half an hour drive from Willich) that has a pulley system that can pull up to 10 people around the lake at the same time. Fantastic.

 

It was my first time waterskiing, but it's all the same skills as snow skiing, so I had no problems. I was up straight away and had no major crashes (so I didn't embarrass myself… Great fun, even though the sun disappeared and we ended up waterskiing in the rain.  

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Posted in 3 months living in Germany 2009 | 1 Comment

This week in Germany – Sales meeting

Posted on June 13, 2009 by Michael Jago
PA-room
PA-room

Sales-Team

This week we had all our NAM's visit our office in Willich for a 3 day sales meeting. Training was a big part of our focus this week and our product guys setup 3 rooms for lots of hands-on product knowledge training.

The photos above show the PA room set up to compare our entire PA speaker range. The photo on the right is our entire sales team for Europe. Great to have them all together here in Willich.  

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Posted in Michael's work trips | Tagged | Leave a comment

Piens Music Planet

Posted on June 7, 2009 by Michael Jago

Last week Jesse and I visited Piens Music Planet in Belgium. Piens also has one of the major industry web sites that I have watched for many years from Australia, and it was a pleasure to finally visit the store and meet Patrick Piens himself.

Take a look at my video that shows just a small part of this stores very impressive musical instrument division.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Posted in Michael's work trips | Tagged | Leave a comment

Netherlands

Posted on June 2, 2009 by Michael Jago
MJ-UtrechtUtrecht-canalbikesAntwerpenAntwerp-Cathedral

Monday was a public holiday in Germany and the Netherlands, so Jesse and I started today (Tuesday) in Rotterdam this morning, with a meeting at a large dealer called Feedback. We then drove to Utrecht to meet with our BOD partner. (We also took some time out to take a look at the old part of the city. Just beautiful as you can see from the photos). We finished the day in Antwerp. Very late now, need sleep  🙂

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Posted in Michael's work trips | Tagged | Leave a comment

Spain, Germany, Netherlands…

Posted on May 31, 2009 by Michael Jago

Friday was a very long day. An early morning flight from Madrid to Lisbon (Portugal) then an hours drive to visit our distributor, then back in the car to Lisbon airport. No direct flight from Lisbon, so we had to fly Lisbon to Majorca, then Mallorca (German spelling) to Dusseldorf. 5 hours travel. Got back to my hotel in Willich at 11.30pm Friday night.

This week I'm off the BeNeLux for the week visiting customers. Fortunately that is only driving, as I'm a bit sick of planes right now…

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Posted in Michael's work trips | Tagged | Leave a comment

Bull has a victory (of sorts)…

Posted on May 29, 2009 by Michael Jago
Toro large
Toro large

Wednesday night was a big night in Spain. It was the final of the Champions league soccer between Barcelona and Manchester United. Miguel (Barcelona fan) and I went to a busy bar to watch the game on a big screen. The bar had two big screens, one showing the soccer, and the other showing the bullfighting.

Now the bullfighting is very well followed in Spain, but as you would expect not by all. It was mainly the old blokes watching the bullfighting, all the young blokes watching the soccer. But the bullfighting took precedence for 5 short minutes. After 15 minutes of chasing and dancing, the matador always kills the bull. However, bull no. 6, last bull of the night, got hold of the matador (as seen in the photo), as he was stabbing the bull. The bull got him in the ribs and punctured a lung. Luckily for the matador he has survived. I can't say the same for the bull who was swiftly taken care of by the other matadors…

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Posted in Europe - (not Lux) | Tagged , | Leave a comment

This week in Spain…

Posted on May 26, 2009 by Michael Jago
MJ & Jesus11pmbuildingToro largeSeafood

On Monday May 25th, I arrived in Barcelona. I met our NAM, Jesus (pronounced Hesoos), and we have had two busy days visiting dealers. Tuesday, Jesus, myself and our other Spanish NAM Miguel, had dinner at a beautiful seafood restaurant. Above is Jesus and myself at the counter, where you choose your seafood, and they cook it for you. It's a very popular spot, as the entry line was out the door when we arrived at 9pm and was still out the door at 11pm when we left.

Barcelona is a beautiful city and the weather is a warm 30 degrees and remains warm all night. Wednesday we all took the fast train (700kms in 3 hours) to Madrid for the second leg of the tour. Wednesday night was the big Champions league soccer final where Barcelona beat Manchester United. Miguel (Barcelona supporter) and I watched the game on the big screen at a local Madrid pub/eatery. The tour finished in Portugal on Friday.    

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Posted in Michael's work trips | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

A busy week in Italy…

Posted on May 13, 2009 by Michael Jago
Milan-restaurantspisaThe-leanPisa-tower-infoMJ-@-trevvi

Mattheo & I covered nearly 1,500 kms in the week, starting at Porto Ricanarti, driving north to Bologna and up to Milan. Then over the next few days we drove through Pisa and made our way down to Rome. We visited many rather impressive music stores along the way.

In all it was an educational trip and I will look forward to returning to Italy in the future.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Posted in Michael's work trips | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Italy car ferry – (Video – Click to play)

Posted on May 11, 2009 by Michael Jago
Car ferry
Car ferry

Monday night on the east coast of Italy and after dinner with a customer, Mattheo & I are heading back to the hotel when the GPS stops us at a set of traffic lights. If we drive through the traffic lights, we end up in the river.

 We then realised (after the lights stay red forever) we must wait for 10 minutes for the car ferry to come from the other side and pick us up. Click the video to enjoy the ride across with us.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Posted in Michael's work trips | Tagged | Leave a comment