Day 4 : Fair Ball

Posted on June 3, 2016 by Dave On Film

Lie in! Lie in! Lie in!

Yup we didn’t have to up and about until 10am this morning which was very welcome indeed. 

Pretty relaxing day all around…until the last hour…but here’s the story of the day. 

First up was the Associates Fair. Basically we all got taken to a field in the middle of nowhere and loads of Suppliers had set up stalls and were giving out freebies of absolutely everything! Want a load of Monster energy drink? You got it! As much hot dogs and grilled cheese sandwiches as you can hammer? Yum yum!

We got mixers to put into water drinks, keyrings, pin badges, protein shake bottles etc. It was great. 

I got to ride a NASCAR simulator (I crashed a lot), meet a UFC champion, drive remote control cars, Create a dog tag and pet a Zorse…! 

After the fair we headed to Arvest Ballpark, home of the Northwest Arkansas Naturals who were playing the San Antonio Missions. 

When we got into the ballpark I got talking to some guys who worked there and they were signing people up to do things during the innings breaks. 

And that’s how I ended up stood on top of the Home Team dugout after the 3rd innings singing Katy Perry’s “Roar” to win a baseball and a T-Shirt. 

It was a good game. There was a really questionable call by the Home Plate umpire to let the Naturals go in the lead but it was all good and they won 5-1 in the end. 

Go Naturals!

Then back to the dorms and it was time for Swap Swap where all the international colleagues start swapping all their gear. I met up with Canadian Don from earlier in the week and we did loads of exchanges. I now have a load of Canadian gear!

Then it was time for bed…tomorrow is a 3am start and I needed to pack all my gear. And the problem with having a room on your own AND being a messy bugger is that I had loads of stuff to sort out and pack up! Oops!

Pictures available once I get better reception. 

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Day 3 : Stage-bound

Posted on June 2, 2016 by Dave On Film

The day finally arrived. Today was always going to be the most insane for me. 

It was an early start and the outfit of the day was Harry Potter : 


We all looked awesome in our outfits complete with cape!

This morning was the IAC, the International Associates Conference where we heard from head of Walmart International (and former ASDA colleague Dave Cheesewright) who talked about the whole of the International division which is now 28 countries and if it was a standalone company, would be the second biggest retailer in the world. 

Then we heard from Doug McMillon, the CEO and president of Walmart. 

Then it was time for the country performances. Each country does a small routine to showcase themselves…and as we were all dressed as Harry Potter it made perfect sense to theme it accordingly. We do have a video of what happened next…but I am waiting for it to be sent over. I will share it with you when it happens…but what a feeling to stand in from of thousands of people and actually dance! We got the timing a little off on our dance-off but, but the final dance where we all come together to “Let’s go crazy” by One Direction was absolutely spot on!

Team UK then went on to win the Lip Sync battle with a cracking performance of “Don’t Stop Believing”

Then we met with all the Exec in a session just for ASDA. It allowed us to sit with them and ask questions on an open forum which was really informative. It also was the time when we were going to do our team chant! We had changed the lyrics to “Everybody Get Up” by 5ive. We went first and obviously set the bar really high. We had everyone on their feet by the end of it! 

We finished 2nd so we’ll take that. 

Then this evening it was another concert. This time it was Daughtry and Three Doors Down. I absolutely love Daughtry and the highlight of the night had to be when he was singing “Superman” and a girl called Jade grabbed the back of my Harry Potter cape and started flapping it and I struck a Superman pose…and Chris Daughtry saw it!


Then it was onto the Karaoke bar that was fantastic. It was great to see so many people having fun. It was like a big family party. 

Much more relaxing day tomorrow…but there is Baseball! YES!

Here’s a few random photos from today : 

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Day 2 : In the Walmart World…

Posted on June 1, 2016 by Dave On Film

Just climbed onto my massively high bed after a long old day which has been brilliantly uplifting and fun and inspiring again. 

Up and about early doors this morning and down for breakfast. 7am start for us guys…tomorrow is a 4:45am start…yeah!

Our outfit of the day was this cracking Bobby outfit :
Jumped on a bus straight to the Walmart Museum in the Bentonville Square. The square is literally like Hill Valley in Back To The Future. It’s lovely and picturesque. 

We went around the old 5-10 that became the first ever Walmart. It’s now a museum that tells the life story of Sam Walton and the setting up of Walmart and how it boomed massively to become the biggest company in the world. 

When we came out, they were giving out copies of Walmart World, the official Walmart magazine…and I opened it up to see this ugly mug staring back :


Amazing!

We then rocked up to an arcade which we had free reign of. We went on a Laser Tag battle against the Argentinians, I had a Dance-off with Esther on the dance machines and we played another insane game that saw us belting around a small room hitting coloured panels. I was knackered!

After that it was on to the Home Office to have a tour around. It’s great to see our Walmart colleagues in Home Office. Bumped into Josh Tindall who moved from ASDA to Walmart this last year and was my Team Leader for Shareholders last year too. 

We then went and did some shopping at Walmart before heading back for tea and then down to the Bud Walton Arena to see American Authors and Goo Goo Dolls performing in concert. 

I literally did not sit down and danced and clapped the whole way through…part of the reason why my legs and feet now feel like they are on fire. 

Went back to Pomphret Hall and found a T-Shirt buddy called Don who, like myself, has plenty of body to go around. We said we will sort out swapping a load of gear with each other on Thursday. Should be good fun…I’m gonna be coming home dressed like a Mountie!

So tomorrow it’s an early start and there’s going to be lots of fun going on…it’s gonna be a long old day. 

…and it’s highly likely that tomorrow’s blog might get delayed as we are going to be back VERY late. 

See you tomorrow. 

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Day One : Stepping Out

Posted on May 31, 2016 by Dave On Film

After all yesterday’s travelling and after a decent night’s sleep it was time to get things underway. 

The morning started at 7am…a relatively late start compared to what’s coming…

I was whisked away along with everyone else who will be part of the International Associates Conference to go see the arena we will be “performing” in on Wednesday. We ran through all the moves and did it a fair few times on stage to get used to positions and everything like that. 

It all went really well, despite forgetting a few steps here and there…but I am sure that all will be fine on Wednesday morning…it should be…it WILL BE!

Met back up with everyone just as a huge storm hit. We were stood underneath a tree at the time. We soon got out from under that. 

Met a few of our International colleagues today too. Started all the pinbadge trading. I even got a Canadian Power Ball. Do you all remember power balls? I love them!

Headed off to the Walmart and the Mall for some shopping. We ended up on a bus late so didnt have time for any shopping at Walmart but we should be back there tomorrow. Bought Althea some Converse. 

Headed off to Crystal Bridges tonight, a museum owned by the Walmart family. There were some really great pieces in there. Some of them really needed to be seen in person to be appreciated, like the woven threads piece. 

Then it was party time. Bit of a buffet and a few drinks…and of course Karaoke. Esther wanted me to do Chico Time again…and not wanting to disappoint, I went for it!!

Everyone was singing and belting out tunes all night. There was a great atmosphere and everyone had fun. 

Early 6:45pm meet tomorrow morning for tours around here, there and everywhere…

Pics to follow when I have a service on my phone that will let me upload them!

A few of us are in a Fitbit challenge too through the week. Today I walked 23637 steps…

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Planes, Trains, Automobiles & Rollback Coaches

Posted on May 30, 2016 by Dave On Film

I do love a bit of travelling. I’ve never been the type to moan too much about “Are we there yet?” or “Why are we stood in the queue for another three hours?” so today was a day I was looking forward to.

Today we would be heading from Manchester to Arkansas using almost every mode of transport available! The night is still young I suppose so I might head out to see if I can jump on a boat, a bike and a helicopter just so I have all bases covered.

Team 5 were up bright and early for breakfast before we hopped in Taxis to Manchester airport. We checked in and I managed to bag a window seat…perfect for my GoPro filming plans…

Then it came to bag checking time…foolishly I left a bottle of Aftershave in my bag so they scanned it and chucked it into the Reject pile where they came out with the gloves on ready to go through my bags. It was obviously the aftershave that caused the problem that led to the second problem. They have to re-scan bags, which is fair enough. The woman who had been checking my bags told me to go to the right and it would be rescanned and come back to me if good to go…20 minutes later and there’s still no sign of my bag anywhere…where the hell was it? I managed to speak to one of the security guys who had been frisking people to see what might have happened..it turns out the woman had sent my bag down the other side and there it was just sat at the bottom of the conveyor belt waiting for me!

We had a really smooth flight across…with the only turbulence being when the Air Steward told us there was no chicken left and we had to have Cheesy Pasta…and then they ran out of Dr Pepper…”What’s the Worst that could happen?” Well it was happening right there and then at the Plane Arse End that we were sat in!

We arrived in decent time and had a small bit of time to grab a pizza and a root beer in the airport before being whisked onto the internal flight to Northwest Arkansas Airport. It was a much smaller plane but the 2hrs we were in the air allowed me to finish off Sam Walton’s autobiography, which was nice to finish just as we touched down in Bentonville.

We started the chanting, we met a bunch of Walmart colleagues and then we were heading off to the halls we’re staying in at the University of Arkansas…until the coach driver got stuck on a hill and could only make the coach roll backwards and not get it to go forward! Brilliant. We thought we would be stranded…until she realised she just needed to press the accelerator…yeah…exactly!

Checked in and found out I had a room to myself, which is great news…but the beds are insanely high…I’ll get photographic proof on the next blog.

So my GoPro video is currently converting into a proper film which I will share as soon as it’s up and running.

Tomorrow morning its all about Breakfast, then Mall Shopping before an evening at Crystal Bridges Art Gallery

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Team 5…Assemble!

Posted on May 29, 2016 by Dave On Film

So this afternoon I made the short trip from home to ASDA House which was great.

The part of it that wasn’t however was saying bye to Althea who started crying as I got into the taxi. Bless her!

Met up with “Mummy” and “Daddy” for the week, Elaine and Chris. 

Headed over to Manchester whilst filming a few bits of video…but the results of that video are top secret until they go live in about 24hrs time…! Watch this space for that!

Met up with the rest of Team 5 in the hotel, plus a couple of ringers who I am sure were being placed to learn out secrets of our chant..but nothing shall be revealed!!!

We had a decent meal and a few drinks before heading off to bed ready for the trip to the airport tomorrow. 

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Out Of Office > ON!

Posted on May 27, 2016 by Dave On Film

So that’s it for another week at work…but more importantly for a week as this weekend I will join up with a couple of other ASDA Colleagues and head out to Bentonville and Fayetteville for the start of Walmart Associates Week (also known as Shareholders Week).

We’re all split up into separate teams for the week. Team “High Five” will meeting tomorrow night for a pre-Shareholders get-together in a hotel at Manchester Airport. We need to be at the airport fairly early on the Sunday morning so it made perfect sense for us all to crash near the airport the night before so we can all have a meal together, get a good night’s sleep and then be ready and raring to go.

Now, some people have been asking me “How the hell are you going out to Shareholders for a second year? You’re only meant to be able to go once…!” Well that is true of course but I was asked back as I got involved with everything and really threw myself into it last year and the great team who are organising it knew I could have a laugh bringing my experiences from last year to this year’s event. Anyone who knows me will know that since I went last year…I haven’t shut up about it. I’ve told everyone everything and probably done everyone’s head in…and in the buildup to this year I have been able to use that to help out. I set up the Facebook “person” that everyone added as a friend to allow us to communicate with everyone and I’ve been invited to meetings with other groups who are going out this year to talk about my experiences last year and what people can expect from it.

But all the talking is done now.

On the horizon are flights, university dormitories, office tours, store visits, concerts, parties, karaoke, international conferences, dancing on stage, chanting, singing, dancing with international colleagues, walking, hills, sharing rooms, surprise celebrity appearances, and the all important business meetings.

All my bags are packed. Spare mobile phone chargers are fully pumped. The GoPro is charged too (oh yes…the GoPro is making the trip complete with all the attachments).

Tomorrow at 4pm, the journey begins again…lets do this!

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Heads Up

Posted on May 24, 2016 by Dave On Film

Downloaded a bit of video editing software called “HitFilm4” tonight and had a bit of a play around with it.

I want to get good and decent at editing and messing about with videos and being able to add crazy special effects to it too. Its something I’ve always fancied mastering but just never had the time to do it…but I need to make the time to learn.

Started things off with adding an Iron-Man style Heads Up Display to a video which tracks and follows my head around properly.

I played with layers and adding overlays. I tracked my eyebrow and the movements it made and tied all the displays into it, which were swivelled on an axis around a point. I created a 3D image from a 2D one, giving depth to my head so it knew how things could swivel around my face with the movements.

And here’s the end result over on YouTube : Click Here To Watch

…now just to figure out how those kinds of life-skills can be put into practice…

 

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SmashCon & other news

Posted on May 22, 2016 by Dave On Film

Today in Leeds saw the first ever SmashCon taking place down at the New Dock in Leeds. It was my first ever experience of attending anything like it…and I was pleased that Leeds now had something like this to go to.

Now…I don’t mind dressing up…but the guys who were there today were taking to a whole new level. There were Captain Americas, Deadpool, Poison Ivy, Bane, Bumblebee, Chewbacca and a shedload of Star Wars guys (the Sentinal Squad did a great job all day)

We were also treated to some great local wrestling. In those small federations its all about getting the crowds going with whatever silliness can be mustered up. Its good fun and great for the kids (and the big kids like me) to enjoy.

I met “Holly” from Red Dwarf…Norman Lovett…he was absolutely lovely. A very nice guy who was happy to chat for a while. He signed my photo “Everybody’s dead Dave” which is a cracking quote from the first series of Dwarf.

Plenty of stalls there to peruse too…it was good to pick up a few items.

I managed to get a seat in the Iron Throne, held a massive snake and got attacked by a Zombie…

GREAT TIME! Can’t wait for SMASHCon 2

In other news…I’m all packed now for the trip to Shareholders next week…yup…all packed up and ready to go. 

Also…crazy news from the movie world today…so first up, there’s going to be a Tetris movie…yes…Tetris…what could that possibly be about? It’s a game about placing blocks in a row whilst listening to some horrendously repetitive Russian music.

They’re casting though, I’ve seen that they’re needing someone for the Yellow square and also for the Blue L-Shape but don’t worry if you ain’t been cast yet…I’ve heard there’s lots of parts…………..

…….they have also announced a Fruit Ninja movie…yeah…that game where you literally swipe on your phone/iPad and slice fruit in half…should be a cinematic thrill-ride.

Saying that, I quite enjoyed the Battleships movie and everyone said that would be the worst film ever made!

Anyway…here’s some photos from today…

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8 to go…dancing shoes on

Posted on May 20, 2016 by Dave On Film

So I might’ve been asked the other day, as part of the Shareholders week, whether I wanted to be part of the on-stage section during the International Associates Convention.

I might’ve been told it would require dancing.

I might’ve said yes.

So today I found myself in the auditorium at work, with 9 others learning a routine that we would be doing on stage during the IAC in just over a week and half time.

The entire routine is hush hush and secret but it’s going to be a lot of fun. We actually learned two dance routines that we will be putting to good use at the event. Its hard not being able to talk about them…but we don’t want to ruin the surprise.

Lets just say, however, that I’m not exactly built for dancing, nor do I have any coordination at all…fundamental basics when you are looking to learn routines.

I will do it…I will nail it and it will be alright on the night…I do thrive under pressure though so hopefully it will all fit into place…just a couple of moments to get right and we’re sorted.

But if you want some real insight into the training for it…here’s a lovely picture of me taken around halfway through the day…feeling the strain :

Sweat

…and talking of feeling the strain…my knee ain’t half giving me some problems tonight….oh dear!

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