Inside ASI-AP

I caught up with Ross on Friday night by phone. The official Olympic qualifying period had just ended and Ross did not qualify for the Beijing games this year. It is disappointing for Ross, but in many ways the cards were stacked against him this last 12 months or so, and he showed a lot of courage to dig deep and keep it all going. He is enjoying life in Gent, Belgium and is starting to find a routine with his local fencing club and getting onto the European circuit where there are high calibre fencing tournaments every weekend - and just a train ride or car ride away. He is getting to see a lot of Europe - make sure you follow his photos on Facebook if you aren't already.

With the delays in getting his Belgium visa approved Ross did not really get settled until early 2008, which was a few months after his original plan of somewhere around October 07. Because of that he missed a number of the qualifying events and faced an uphill battle after that.

Workwise, Ross continues his team lead position and already ASI has benefited from Ross' European base when he went to the UK office in April to train the new support analyst John Millar. Ross went up to visit the UK "back office" in Suffolk - also referred to as "the barn" - to train John. Photo below of the ASI office and of John.

He also found some time to tour parts of the UK, and managed to get another great photo for his "Connected World" photo blog on his Facebook page - this time doing some SMR updates at Stonehenge.

Ross now has some time to consider his next move and his assault on the 2012 games in London. I have a feeling he may stay in Europe for a little while yet.