Dave's Blog

WoVs: Post mortem

2011-09-02T23:47:00.002+01:00

Well, that didn't go quite to plan.
In short: I've been busy! Deal with it!

I think in future I shall commit only to posting when there's something to post about; which if I'm honest there actually has been.

Needless to say I have some footage which I have to upload, and I suspect there will be plenty more because my good friend Matt is on his way over :)

It so happens that the house I'm in is directly underneath the approach.
Let's see if I can capture the approach!

And it just so happens that it's the first Friday of the month, and in Phoenix that means art and such. Really there are far too many opportunities for videoing.

Oh as an aside, I'd like to say well done to the Blogger team for not being as lazy a as me, there latest update is very, very sexy.

WoVs 3: Eating strawberries

2011-08-27T00:41:00.000+01:00

Yep, it's definitely the heat...

Notes:

These are Camel Crush.
Yes, there is such a thing as Strawberry Crush.

You disgust me Phoenix

2011-08-26T22:34:00.001+01:00

Now astute readers will have noticed that I have failed to post up a video each day, but hear me out: You may think this is because I realised that I wasn't doing anything even remotely interesting enough to justify videoing, and you would be correct.

However whilst perusing down-town Phoenix on Google maps I came across this:

I've never posted any OC on /b/ (NSFW),
but I did spend a good five minutes making this
(and another fifteen on knowyourmeme.com (also NSFW)).

Knowing that this arrangement could be on any street corner makes me rather more dubious about walking around filming. If you catch my drift.

WoVs 2: Some chores

2011-08-24T20:11:00.000+01:00

In this rather un-interesting video (I could have picked a better week to decide to do this) Jenna and I go to Whole Foods.

At the end I was rather hoping to be clever and drag out the clip to be 3 minutes and 14 seconds long, as per Martin's observation on my post yesterday; however apparently I don't know how to use video editing software. I decided that I'm going to leave it like this because then 3:14 won't become a tradition and I won't spend the rest of the week carefully timing everything.

Deal with it :D

WoVs 1: A trip to ASU

2011-08-24T00:46:00.000+01:00

Possibly due to the heat¹, I decided yesterday that it might be fun to make and post a video each day this week (a Week of Videos, WoVs) detailing my day-to-day life. Yesterday I took a trip to ASU...

I don't think this is too bad for a first step into the world of video blogging, although I seem to be overly keen on a few phrases. It certainly felt slightly alien walking along talking into my little Flip (which, as you may have noticed, is a version without image stabilisation!), but the self-consciousness was surprisingly short lived as I noticed everyone around me failed to start screaming and pointing at me.

In the evening we went to see The White Buffalo, which was also fun, and of which I made a video that I shall upload when I've cut it up.

¹ I think it's been up near this temperature before, but certainly not for this long, nor actually outside trying to perform activities:

I apologise for it being in Fahrenheit,
despite my best efforts I've had to that
using Celsius out here isn't going to happen.

660: Dust

2011-08-19T02:56:00.000+01:00

First, and quickly: This is my 660th post; what can I do for an extra-evil 666th post?

Second, and quickly: There's dust everywhere!
It looks as if my second substantial valley dust storm is passing over head, and I for one refuse to act like it's no big deal!
Dutifully I visited weather.com for some meteorological-musings, and I was intrigued to see a "Nearby Tweets" section below the forecast. Following a link you can get to a "Phoenix, AZ (85001) & Vicinity Weather Tweets" page, on which I discovered tweeters providing useful and amusing commentary; along with prettiness:

Credit.

Of course, this post has actually been a good excuse to link to an xkcd, which I was reminded of when seeing this feature. Clever use of twitter though, well done (nerds at) weather.com.

Beerconomics

2011-08-17T05:19:00.000+01:00

They're a quarter of the size, so you can have 4 times as many.

Physics on the dancefloor

2011-08-15T18:51:00.001+01:00

On Saturday I had the great pleasure of being taken to one of a well presented pair of adjoined clubs called Axis/Radius. My guides had informed that they had a "very powerful smoke machine", I wondered if it was one of these liquid nitrogen fog blowers I've heard about a few times over the past few years.

It was, and it really is as crazy as it looks:

A little Googling led me to discover that the system they have installed is provided by a company called Kryogenifex, a suitably futuristic sounding name for an experience which both appears and feels like it should be happening on a space-ship:

A rather pleasant side effect of this kit, especially when you're raving the desert, it does cool things off rather quickly, and that's one hell of an understatement.
I suppose it shouldn't come as a surprise knowing that liquid nitrogen boils at 77K (-196C; -321°F)*, but until you're actually in there it hard to describe just what that feels like. After a couple of seconds to enjoy a reprieve from the heat the next sensation is the realisation that you can see nothing. I'd been told that visibility was zero, but I didn't realise it was actually zero; I can see how someone of a vulnerable mindset could become very disorientated by the experience:

I'd like to take a second to point out that during the black periods in that video there is full lighting on in the club, the density of the fog is such that all light is eliminated. Also I apologise for my trusty Flip camera breaking down, but we can't really blame it¹ given the circumstances.

So there you go, if you ever have the opportunity to experience one of these fog cannons I highly recommend you go, and make sure you one the dance floor when they hit. Incidentally you can usually tell when they're about to fire it because (if there's a lull in the music) you can hear the system pressurising as a high frequency hum coming from the ceiling.

Personally I'm extremely satisfied living in a world where we can take our knowledge of physics and utilise it for our own amusement :)

¹ Oh I really do love aliasing, I seem to mention it a lot on here and I think it's an effect that a lot of people observe but never understand, despite it being rather obvious once you know what's going on.

I just discovered this little .gif on Wikipedia and it perfectly demonstrates the situation I explain to people when discussing the wagon-wheel effect.

Backup

2011-08-15T17:27:00.000+01:00

Finally, after so many years of waiting, I suddenly realised that quite by accident I have solved one of those great problems of the computer generation:

What, you didn't have those files backed up?

Now I've suffered one substantial (and self-inflicted) data loss in my life, and you'd think that would be enough to keep me on my toes. But let's be honest here, maintaining backups is a drag, isn't it?

Well I'm glad you're baring with me, even though this post does seem to be turning a little dubious I assure you it is me! So yes fairly recently I was introduced to a service called Dropbox, which on the face of it is just another way to share legally re-distributable data with your friends.
However after exploring their service a little more I discovered two key features, which came together in a realisation:


The desktop component (available for Linux, OS X, Windows and everything else) takes care of synchronising changes automatically.	The web interface shows the contents of your Dropbox directory. It provides 30 days of access to previous versions and deleted files.

This is all seemed rather cool, until I discovered that you can only 'mount' your Dropbox account to one location on your file system. Now that's a pain because I only want to have some directories automatically back up, but not everything.
But wait! Apparently you can do that!

So there you have it, no excuses, for the sake of five minutes effort you can ensure you never suffer that feeling in your stomach (oh how I remember it) when you realise what you've just done.

Convinced?
Then I'd ask you to sign up using this link, because then I get some more free space (and so do you!) for being a referrer :)

Look!

2011-08-08T00:53:00.000+01:00

It's a spring.

Understanding

2011-07-31T02:43:00.000+01:00

Is apparently one of the important parts of maintaining a successful relationship.

I think we're doing it right:

Many thanks to Tobias Brennecke, the create of Combo.fm, now if only everyone was scrobbling we'd never need to worry about party music selection again!

Incidentally, I'm attending a punk rock show with Jenna tonight, urge to wear Britney t-shirt reaching critical level.

America

2011-07-26T23:18:00.000+01:00

I was just grabbing the photos off my phone and I thought I'd share a few images with you, all acquired during my time in the valley.

So without further ado:

It's a common misconception that everyone in America drinks watered-down-entirely-unpleasant beers. Scenes like this in Fry's certainly don't do well to dispel the myth. However just to the side of this monstrosity was a wonderful selection of pick-and-mix beers. The drinking culture (with the company I keep) is more or less exactly at it is in England. A crate of cheap beers for a night in, and perhaps something more special when the opportunity (or money) arises.

The status with food is surprisingly similar. Whilst there are exemplary this is why you're fat images such as this one, it's not entirely an obeseopolis. Again I can only speak for the company I keep, but most people seem at least half sensible, and certainly no more guilty than some of the horrors I've seen in England. One of my favourite places for a quick snack is called Pita Jungle (I had no idea their site was so hideous, how disappointing), and they have a very cool happy hour¹.

I'd like to present this tastefully Gimped² picture I took of the sunset. I really do adore the environment out here, there is something magical about being out in the desert. Perhaps it's just grass-greener-on-the-other-side, in fact it almost certainly is, but I'm very glad to have the opportunity to experience it. On the face of it being out here must look like a very bleak affair consisting of dust and nothing (perhaps the odd cactus), but that's not my experience.

I can't take credit for this, but Jenna found it and somehow it seemed very appropriate for this post. It really is taking things to a new level.

¹ Incidentally, if you weren't aware, happy hour is an entirely different and larger affair than it is in England. Whilst we have happy hours, there are extremely rare by comparison (almost every bar and restaurant out here has one) and last considerably longer. The notion of being amused by a happy hour which lasts two is non-existent out here where happy hour seems to last for the entire day.
On top of this there is then reverse happy hour, a term which entirely confused me at first, and is very prevalent; it is simply a period of happy hour which takes place at the end of the night. This really highlights the difference in drinking culture, apparently American bar owners need to encourage people to stay drinking late. Ha!

² For the sake of comparison, here is the original. I feel the scene as witnessed through my own eyes was somewhere in between. However I refused to get sucked into editing it for ages.
The most striking thing is the range of colours in the sky, considering the sky over England is predominantly overcast and grey. As posted from my phone (I refused to miss the experience whilst typing out a post) I experienced my first monsoon. It was ridiculous. More rain, thunder and lightening in one night than I could experience in ten storms back home!

Monsoon

2011-07-25T06:02:00.001+01:00

At Casey Moore's

10,000

2011-07-20T20:44:00.001+01:00

So if you hadn't picked up on it, today is a special day for me¹.

It certainly a humbling thought to think I've experienced so many days.
And it's overwhelming to consider the range of memories I both recall, and are perhaps forever lost. I thought that to celebrate the occasion I would list ten days, in chronological order, out of my life:

Way back in the beginning I lived in a small village called Uphill, which I recently had the pleasure of revisiting it with Jenna². I went to Uphill Primary School and it just so happened that one day I was stood next to this wall:

View Larger Map
Unbeknownst to me some of the less savour pupils had taken it upon themselves to attempt to remove a brick from this wall. Unfortunately, for reasons I shall never know, I was falsely implicated in this affair along with the truly guilty. Despite my protest I was instructed to spend the whole of several lunch breaks standing in a corridor.
This is when I learned that the world is an unfair place.
Several years later I would find my self attending, for one year only (before my dad's company brought about a family relocation to the Midlands), Broadoak secondary school. I'm rather amused to see it now describes itself as a "Mathematics & Computing College", it appears that despite being separated both the school and myself have specialised in the same faculties.
One day I raised my hand in a class, I can't remember for what reason, but after waiting a considerable time I became convinced that the teacher was ignoring me. She clearly visited everyone else with their hand up, but didn't even acknowledge me.
Early in the day I had been reading the Beano and remembered one of the characters had quipped: "She's a blind buffoon". This seemed an onomatopoeically-satisfying and appropriate phrase as the teacher push around tables and chairs, seemingly oblivious to my plight. So I turned to the kid next to me and remarked that the teacher was a blind buffoon.
This kid, who I subsequently learned was a trouble-maker of the highest order immediately took great pleasure in informing the teacher of my foul and contemptuous language. I was asked: "Is it true, did you say that?", "yes" I replied dutifully, "because I've had my hand up for ages".
During my time in detention I asked the head-mistress why I was in trouble, and whether I would have been in detention if I had said that I did not say that which had been claimed.
The head mistress conceded that given this kid's reputation, taking his word against mine, I would not.
This is when I learned that sometimes lying is okay.
3265 days ago I started a writing this Blog, and so I have (in varying degrees of granularity and verbosity) just shy of one third of my life documented on here. Whilst I know no more about my experience on Sunday, 11th August 2002 than you can gain from reading my first post, it is a day of which I shall be very thankful. Indeed I am equally thankful for every other day I have taken the time to write on, and equally scornful of those days when I intended to write and did not. It a running theme on this Blog, by disappearance and re-emergence, the latter oft signalled with a "I'm back" summary post. It's tragic to think how many things are lost in these holes, of course, I remember things about which I have not posted, but I am equally sure I have forgotten wonderful moments also.
My Dad has often cautioned me, often when I am on one of my purging sessions, convinced that all junk and clutter is best eliminated from ones like, that as one grows old it is important to be able to look back on your life. Whilst my lifestyle doesn't facilitate the accumulation of trinkets and nostalgia-laden items, this Blog is a worthy replacement.
I suppose you could say then, retrospectively, that this is the day I learned the value of memories.
Here's a short and sweet one: On the night of Friday, December 31st 1999, on the eve of a new millennium (yes, I know, not really, for once I'm talking about symbolism and not mathematical rigour, give me a break!) I was in Kenilworth preparing to celebrate with my friends. We stayed up all night and would watch the sun rise over Kenilworth castle, drinks and each others company fending off the cold and fatigue. I suspected then that we would all remain friends for a long time to come, and we did.
This is when I knew how lucky I was to be able to share experiences with friends who would last a life time.

Many years ago, prior to my leaving for university, my parents surprised me and my brother to a spectacular holiday, one component of which would be several nights in Tokyo. I can't even begin to remember when this was, although I shall endeavour to find out. It was the first destination of our holiday and after a considerable time on a plane we arrived at our hotel room. My parents and brother were understandably tired, but for some reason I was desperate to get out as soon as possible to explore this new and exciting place as the evening drew closer; so I headed out.
During the plane over I was pleased to discover a "Japanese for beginners" audio-book on the entertainment system. For some reason, despite it not being in my 'nature' up until this trip, I decided to give it a go!

Not technically the same day as my one-man-adventure, but during my time in Tokyo I would also find myself witnessing this famous scramble crossing (new term to me).
We were taking a break in the Starbucks you can see in the building on the left and I remember sitting looking out of the window; wondering what stories and adventures all those people were had, and where they were going.

Since this time I have found more and more I throw caution to the wind, get out there, explore and seek new experiences. I have realised that quite often when you're nervous or uncertain about doing something because you are fearful or intimidated by it, then that is exactly the something you should be doing.
This was the first time I learned how rewarding doing that something could be.

Okay, this one is a little egotistical, but it nicely encompasses my experience of university: During the final year of my Computer Science I decided to take a module called "Functional Programming", and on this module I would discover Haskell, and we know how much I love Haskell.
The end of the semester came and it was apparent that I was one of the people who 'got' the language, I'm not going to try and enumerate the reasons, let's just say it appealed to me very much.
There was an exam, and although I don't remember the contents I do remember the overwhelming sense of joy while taking it. It just felt great to be doing something I really enjoyed, and for it to be so academically relevant. By this point at university I had become aware that I was very lucky³ to be one of the few who had found a course which they really enjoyed.
The exam was by its nature essentially writing code down on paper, and the terse, declarative nature of Haskell meant that this was far from a chore, labouring over syntax, and was an exciting problem solving adventure.
We were permitted to take the exam question paper out at the end and I remember a gaggle of us made our way to the pub. I remember enjoying delicious beer, the company of fun, smart people, and discussion of my recently found passion. What more could I have wished for?
Several weeks later the results were published and I had achieved a record grade, somewhere over ninety-five percent.
This is when I realised how lucky I am to have found something I am passionate about, good at, and can apply to solve problems in the real world.
Here's another short and sweet one:
I was honoured to be invited to attend my friend James' stag do (I'm pleased to say he is still happily married and a father) which was to take place in Hamburg. It was a the perfect destination for such an event and I'd highly recommend it to anyone. We embarked on all those things one does on a stag do and after a night of debauchery we found ourselves enjoying the sunrise at the Fischmarkt:

View Larger Map
By no coincidence many other young, free and well intoxicated individuals had also migrated there and after some time I found myself in conversation with a girl.
In extremely bad form I found myself abandoning my friends for the next ten hours and skipping sleep entirely. It was very fun to just let go and discover all about someone, [redacted], and then part.
So I realised: It turns out that magical things happen when you least expect them.
For those of you that don't know, I worked at last.fm for a year, it really was a dream-come-true job for a graduate straight out of university. Despite the unfortunate end⁴, which I shalln't dwell on, my time there was a wonderful experience, both technically and socially.
In order to get a real feel for how much this job meant to me, I will have to go through the painful ordeal of recalling my time at Viglen. I was placed at Viglen during the placement year of my sandwich degree in Computer Science. From the beginning I must confess I wasn't overly thrilled at the prospect of working there in the capacity I had been interviewed for, but unfortunately the nature of the placement process made it almost inevitable I would end up there (as it was the first job which came back and accepted me). I did however learn one thing from my year of mediocrity, tedium, and intellectual under-stimulation:
Never again would I be stuck in a job I didn't enjoy.
After returning to university to complete my undergraduate degree, and then embracing another year on my masters it was set in stone: I needed a challenging and technical job writing code.
I'd been a last.fm user for several years, and noticed that not only were they offering jobs, but that there was one perfectly suited to me. After a highly successful phone interview I found myself headed down to their office for a second interview which I always remember as the most nerve-wrecking experience of my life. Not because of anyone's actions, but because my determination to get the job was so great, and the fear of failing was so vast.
I learned that you should never make compromises and always go for what you desire.

Now we're going to jump straight to the near present.
I never actually confirmed on here that: Yes! Jenna was only meters away from me, and after a rather torturous wait she emerged through the double doors in arrivals (I wish I'd taken a photo now!) and into my arms.

It's quite something (we've posited it as the best-worst start to a relationship ever) to meet someone and fall for them, but then be separated by an ocean for two months. Conveniently it was during this period that I was free-running with sleep, so we were fortunate to share plenty of awake time together.

A long way.
(5232 Km long).

Jenna digitally attends a party.
This really is the future.

But being awake at the same time isn't really that useful when you are prohibitively far away from each other. At least that was the case before the advent of Skype-esque technologies!
If I may nerd-rage for a moment: I find it hilariously bizarre we have arrived at a state where I can high quality video calls across the ocean for free, and yet still have to pay to use a regular phone line. I mean, that just doesn't make sense does it?
Well I guess it makes sense to some people.

Anyway, having Skype available allowed us to form a relationship in the rather novel way, and it's certainly encouraging if your desire surpasses the inconvenience.
That said, thinking back to all the dropped connections, battery failures and burnt legs, I have to say it's a wonderful thing to simply be in the presence of something else. It's fair to say that from the moment she walked through those doors it has been a weight off our minds. How couples maintain long distance relationships I will never know!
I wouldn't change anything: Some things are worth waiting for.

My final day is a little cheesy, and perhaps a cheap-shot, but bare with me, you guess it, it is: Today⁵. Thinking back over, I don't think this has been a bad 10,000 days, I don't think it's been bad at all!
A quick calculation on my new favourite (although perhaps less so as I age) site tells me that my 20,000th day will be Sunday, December 5th, 2038 (I'll be fifty-four). Now I don't think that date actually sounds too far away. But when I consider what I've done in my first 10,000; and note that for a large fraction of it I was just a child, well I'm actually feeling pretty cheery right now! I can't wait to see whether I'm equally cheery then.
So for my last (I seem to have summed up each of the ten days with a) thought: This whole life is a double-edged sword isn't it: You best not waste it, because you only get one; but then you best not get complacent, because you only get one. I think the only sensible approach is to look at yourself, find the things which make you happy and sad, and work with that.
You change the future!⁶

Incidentally if you are interested in your 'alternative birthdays', I highly recommend this site. I'm rather looking forward to my one billionth minute on Tuesday, November 10th 2015, I'll let you know how that goes!

¹ I tried to create a facebook event to celebrate, but I failed entirely as I will post on if I can recreate the fail (basically it created it on the wrong date).

² There is a pub on the road I grew up on, which I walked past so many times when I was younger, we moved away from the area long before the concept of going to a pub had become available to me. A girl called Felicity lived there because her parents owned it, she was the first girl I ever (to my memory) fancied; she didn't fancy me in return and suggested I leave her alone.
How amusing it was then to return at the age of twenty-seven, with my girlfriend, all the way from America, and enjoy a drink in there. To think that back then I didn't even consider a life with out Felicity! Oh well :)

³ And I was very lucky, because by all accounts I shouldn't have been taking a Computer Science degree; my grades in school weren't good enough! It was only by virtue of there being space on the course and a willingness of the course leader Dave Smallwood (to whom I am eternally grateful) that I was allowed to join on merit and not grades.

⁴ I apologise deeply for posting a TC article on here, and more-over whilst talking about last.fm. It's not the best website in the world, but in this instance that article has strong memories for me because I was on the inside as it was posted and scandal in-sued.

⁵ Ah, well, I have a confession here: Normally I wouldn't do this, but it's actually taken me a couple of days to write this post and I'm going to back date it when I post.
I figure it's better to take my time, right?

⁶ Discuss.

Welcome back facebook

2011-07-20T19:14:00.000+01:00

So I logged on to fb today to see that my Blog is finally syndicating into notes again, which is rather nice. I just hope that it's working for good now, and this wasn't just a batch import to deal with my bug report.

That's right! You can submit bug reports to facebook! Right here.
I first submitted the report back on 27th June, and was amused to receive this in an automated response email:

"Thank you for submitting this bug report and taking time to help us improve the site. Unfortunately, we are unable to respond to every bug report individually, but we are reading them.

Screen shots often help our team diagnose problems that users are seeing. If you did not send a screen shot with your report, please follow the directions listed here".

For the sake of completeness and slightly tongue-in-cheek trolling I obliged and provided them with this informative piece:

And it appears by diligence and patience has been rewarded, albeit twenty-three days¹ later. As to whether post importing will be back to normal now (with post-to-note time of around an hour), well I guess we'll find out now!

¹ And speaking of numbers of days, today is my 100,000th day alive!

To celebrate the occasion I'm going to post a more comprehensive post later today.

Battery woe, tech win

2011-07-15T16:55:00.000+01:00

After publishing my previous post I was so overwhelmed with the novelty of having an Internet connection on a plane that my laptop battery died before I could post up a couple of screen-shots which I took for some of my more technically inclined readers.¹

So, without further ado, here they are:

AirCell appears to be a previous alias of the company which offers the service, gogo.

Despite the huge latency and low bandwidth the service was perfectly usable for web and IM.

The service was wonderfully easy to use:
After being informed we could use electronic devices I powered up my laptop and discovered a single wireless network called gogoinflight. After connecting it has a captive portal (I just discovered that's the name for such a redirect technique) which offered connectivity for the flight alone or a monthly rate.

I was actually very surprised at the price. My biggest concern from the moment I saw the Wi-Fi ONBOARD stickers which adorned the overhead lockers in the cabin, was that I knew I was going to try it, whatever the cost; and the cost was probably going to be high.
But it was only $10.77 for the flight (including sales tax), which whilst high by paid wi-fi standards, isn't to bad for an emerging technology, in my humble opinion.

¹ I'm sorry that sentence was so horribly long and a little garden path, please feel free to suggest a re-wording!

Blogging from a plane

2011-07-14T03:04:00.000+01:00

I am most definitely in the future.

And only about $10 for the whole (two hour) flight, that ain't so bad!

Zomg

2011-06-30T20:15:00.000+01:00

Things are about to get serious¹!

¹ The author has still not quite established how he feels about the increasing significance of going "facebook official", but it certainly is more significant than proclaiming your love to a mutual imaginary friend.

Welcome to England

2011-06-28T13:00:00.000+01:00

Well, this is it, in theory Jenna is now only metres away from me! And
in true British tradition, the plane was late:

And it is raining in the middle of summer:

Oh well, at least she'll be here :D

Let's post while this CD burns

2011-06-26T16:08:00.000+01:00

It's a beautiful day, and I intend to spend as much of it as possible outside, and whilst I'm now wishing I'd bought a copy of my favourite online book, I can fix some sexy summer music up (check out the mixes section).

And when I say beautiful, I mean still not hot enough:
(I'm really getting into these side by side pictures¹)


Weston: Hot.	Phoenix: Hotter

And on that note, my CD has finished burning, so I'm heading outside.

I mean I was thinking about going running today, but it would be irresponsible in this temperature. No, much better I relax on the balcony ;)

¹ It's probably because I spent so damn long fixing up the formatting.
Oh and while we're on the subject, yes I did change the appearance of my Blog!
I thought something a little lighter better suits the summer time, and I threw some extra width on because it seems silly to have beautiful code and then be forced to display it with ugly wine-wraps. I have standards damn it!

Hello world

2011-06-26T05:31:00.001+01:00

Since my last post's title was indicative of an update on my social situation and ended up being all about code, I thought I'd write another with a code-esque title and details of a more human nature.

I think part of the reason my Blog has fallen by the wayside is facebook. Often I'll find myself posting pictures and short updates on there, when they probably constitute a Blog (especially given my Blog imports to facebook anyway).

Excluding my previous post earlier today, my last two were made from the Midlands and Somerset respectively. Why is this of interest? Because the two posts straddle my parents (and by extension, me) moving house. That's right, in case you didn't know I am now back only a short distance from the house where I lived until around twelve (A being where I am, and B the road I grew up on).

View Larger Map

It's certainly a fun exercise to consider the boy I was back then¹ and the man I am now². To celebrate the occasion I posted a couple of photos on fb, but I'll put them up here for completeness:


Before	After

So there you go. It's certainly a very exciting and transitional period of my life, and to keep you all date with versions: As mentioned I consider 7.0 a non-starter, 7.1 the period during which I had my (unfortunately ill blogged) jaunt around America, and 7.2 the time since I returned and have been hauled up at my parents. I won't labour too much on 7.1, I was supposed to post a picture Blog, at the request of Matt (sorry Matt!), I do have a bunch of photos I want to up so it is coming!

Focussing on 7.2 I have to say things are going rather well. Living with my parents isn't so bad, and thankfully the new house is a little more conducive to my current sleeping pattern³ as it doesn't feature quite so many creaky floor boards!
My parents have also graced me with my own little 'office' to work in, which is just what I need as I have now entered the world of working on oDesk. I must confess that despite the potential problems I am relishing the opportunity to work on my own schedule³ with a language I adore.

Aside from location and profession, I couldn't get away without mentioning love-and-such, and: Everything is wonderful. I had the pleasure (and extreme luck!) of meeting Jenna, who is quite the catch. It's been a little tough on account of the dis-union which results when you fall for someone who lives on the other side of an ocean. But, in a matter of days (and I can hardly believe it) we shall go:


From this...	... to this.

And after that? Who knows!
But once again I shall certainly try and document it here, because I suspect I'm going to want to look back on this period for a long time to come :)

Oh and, happy summer two-thousand-and-eleven everyone, I hope you are all enjoying yourselves as much as I am!

¹ A shy, awkward boy who rarely understood what was going on.
² An extremely happy man, with many wonderful friends and plenty to look forward to.
³ I will be writing a follow-up post about my sleeping shortly, for the moment it is suffice to say that since 'desynchronising' with the 24-hour cycle I feel great!

Pete was right!

2011-06-26T03:02:00.000+01:00

Yesterday¹ I had the good pleasure of speaking to my friend for the first time in too long. I always think it's always a shame when friends mutually forget to speak to each, but I suppose it's inevitable with the busy lives we lead.
Thankfully (or perhaps worryingly) in this instance facebook was there to remind me that we're friends.

One item which did come out of the conversation, and is pertinent to you the reader, is that I'm still not blogging as much as I used to. This is always a shame.

And much as I'd like to bore you with the details of my life, I'd much rather bore you with the details of my code! Some code which about which I was actually thinking "damn I need to post this", and I feel here is the ideal place:

For reasons which I may or may not detail in a forthcoming Blog, I am overjoyed to report that I have been writing a lot more Haskell again recently. After writing it for so many years I can safely say that I am still in awe of the language!

Let's have a look what I was up to:

keepOneIn n xs = getRandomRs (0,n-1) >>= return . map fst . filter ((==0) . snd) . zip xs

Now if you're not immediately jumping for joy, that's understandable, but if you are interested I'd like to walk you through this.
Firstly: What does it do?
Well, you give it a number (n) and a list of things (xs), and it will keepOneIn n of xs.
What does that look like? Well let's have a look at me using it in ghci:

Prelude> :module + Control.Monad.Random
Prelude Control.Monad.Random> let keepOneIn n xs = getRandomRs (0,n-1) >>= return . map fst . filter ((==0) . snd) . zip xs
Prelude Control.Monad.Random> evalRand (keepOneIn 3 [1..30]) (mkStdGen 0)
[2,5,7,8,10,14,15,18]

Here were see I am in ghci, I load the module Control.Monad.Random (which has the tools to help us to do things with randomness, I paste in the definition of keepOneIn from above, and then I have a go at using it. Because the keepOneIn function is "doing stuff with randomness" I have to evaluate it and that requires a psuedorandom number generator, hence the evalRand and then (mkStdGen 0) (the 0 is the seed for generator).
I have decided to keepOneIn 3 from the list [1..30]. We can see from the output the numbers which have randomly been kept, roughly one in three of the numbers from one to thirty.

And they say randomness in Haskell is hard work!

¹ Well, I'm not sure if it was a day ago. To be honest words like "yesterday" have somewhat lost there meaning since I desynchronised my sleeping from a 24-hour cycle. More to come in a later blog!

TERMINATES HERE

2011-06-10T15:41:00.000+01:00

I just can't help but think there are more pleasant ways of putting
it. How about: "Ends here", or "End of service", or perhaps "No
further stops".

Globalisation, it works, bitches

2011-06-01T14:12:00.000+01:00

Here was my simple plan:
Go into Leamington Spa and kill a few hours having lunch, and enjoying free wifi at a local pub.

Total failure:
Quite a few places did actually have 'offer' wifi, but unfortunately because Leamington Spa is in Britain nothing actually works.
So the best I got was, "sorry it's broken at the moment, but try..", I suppose it was optimistic.

A solution:
Tempted as I was to go and get drunk in the park like a normal unemployed person, I quickly located Starbucks, everything worked and the day was saved.

Summary: Hazaa for globalisation!

Two updates

2011-05-28T09:42:00.001+01:00

Hi all, I've been determined for get these posted for a few days, so here it is:

With reference to my adventures in sleep, I'd have to say the results are pretty inconclusive. Having been at a LAN party and then failing to adhere to my own conditions (drank caffeine and alcohol, didn't run) while in Leicester for a few days I'm going to call that a write off.
I've still generally been getting up and sleeping very erratically, but seem to be drifting backwards falling asleep later each 'day'. I'm definitely averaging over eight hours sleep a per twenty-four hours; however I only napped from six until eight a.m. this 'morning'.
The positive news is that I generally feel good all the time, at least I haven't observed any of the usual unpleasant symptoms which result from a forced schedule.

Secondly I'm proud to announce that my brother offered the winning suggestion in my plea for a word. Whilst some people debated whether it was necessary, or indeed different from any other accident (interesting stuff, thanks for that), I feel that this was the best:

Prankcident

Interestingly Google finds (as of today) exactly one usage of the word, here.
So while we can't claim it's an entirely new word, it certainly isn't widely used; that is where you come in!

I give up!

2011-05-17T22:04:00.012+01:00

Okay, I've been thinking about this for sometime, around ten years.
It has been mentioned many times on this here Blog, and as of this moment I am announcing:
I can no longer attempt to stick to a twenty four hour sleeping pattern, I give up! You win!
(I'm not entirely sure who 'you' are, but, damn 'you'!)

Aaah, so that's a little better.
My unemployed but settled status this really does seem like the ideal time to see what happens when I abandon alarms and such¹ in the quest for a 'normal' sleeping pattern. Well ideal aside from the fact I'm staying with my parents who are 'temporally normal', and this house conspires to make my every move known to all its occupants; hopefully I won't cause too much frustration.

I am actually very glad for this opportunity to get lots of activities done. I believe that contrary to the impression it gives, my being a slow and agitated person when forced to wake up before I am ready does not make me lazy and work shy. Which is exactly the attitude adopted by most people.
I'm not sure why it is, but the worker arriving fresh-eyed and alert at seven in the morning and leaving promptly at three in the afternoon, is always regarded above someone like myself, more suited to twelve hour stints on and a proportional twenty four hours off. At the risk of going off context here: In an office where you have a team this certainly makes sense; you want people to be around at the same time. But for me as a programmer maybe that is not only unnecessary, but actually harmful.

Regardless of whether this actually 'exists' and I actually have it, or I am just a lazy, unprofessional slob, I might as well be scientific about it.

I've briefed my parents, I'm going to keep a 'sleep' diary, and stick to the following lifestyle:

No use of any sleep intervention device (mechanical or human), except as an emergency backup when I do have an existing engagement.
No caffeine, except when I need to be alert for an existing engagement.
No alcohol, except in (I'm going to try) moderation at the weekends.
No smoking. Although it's worth noting that I was smoking fairly regularly up until around ten days ago, so it's possible nicotine withdrawal could have an effect.
I will try to get out for a run of at least half an hour during each substantial awake period.
A generally healthy diet, I'm pretty much a vegetarian, I get my five a day and drink lots of water, etc.
I'm not going to do any heroics with regards to trying to stay awake, if I'm feeling tired I'll get ready for bed and read my book or engage in a similarly relaxing activity.

Slight caveat: I'm going to a LAN party this weekend, the emphasis of which is entirely staying up and the consumption of caffeine. I'll let myself off with that, but from then on I will attempt to follow this lifestyle for four weeks.

Here we go!

¹ For your amusement here is a list of all the 'cures' I have tried to date, off the top of my head:

An alarm.
Several alarms.
An alarm set to many times.
Several alarms set to several times.
Alarms in/on/under/away from my bed.
Having people call me to wake me up.
Having people in the room wake me up.
Exercise; both first thing after I wake up (horrible), in the afternoon, and before bed.
Abstaining from caffeine (I went for four months).
Drinking caffeine first thing in the morning.
Setting an alarm early, taking some pro-plus, and then going back to sleep.
Abstaining from alcohol (well aside from a few pints on the weekend, I'm human..)
Being a non-smoker.
Being a smoker.
Creating a 'relaxing' environment: Candles instead of a computer, etc.
Keeping the curtains open/closed to allow/eliminate natural light.
Changing beds.
Sleeping on a sofa.
Sleeping on the floor in a sleeping bag.
Sleeping naked/fully clothed.
Forcing myself in to the shower out of bed (I can easily put myself back to bed afterwards).
Drinking plenty of water.
Taking one-a-day vitamin pills.
Meditation.
Rehearsing the act of getting out of bed and leaving the house when I am awake.
Ensuring everything I need (clothes, bag, etc.) is ready so I can leave the house immediately.
Having a television / radio / music come on automatically in the morning.

Phase 2: Settling

2011-05-11T15:05:00.003+01:00

Okay so I've now completed my little jaunt around the south of America, met (some old, some new) truly wonderful people. Had a lot of fun.

Now I'm settling back at my parents house (at least for the meanwhile, we may be leaving Kenilworth shortly) to refresh (okay, yes, I know, I holiday to recover from a holiday is pushing it a little..) and get down to some serious coding.
Me coding. Actually improving my skill set and enjoying it.

I'll let you know how that works out, for now, it's all about this.

Living at home does has it's advantages (I'm saying that now, so that when I'm losing my mind a a fortnight you can refer me back to this). I'm getting myself out running everyday again around a nice leafy route, and, there's delicious food (thanks mum!):

Help me invent a word

2011-03-29T00:02:00.004+01:00

Today my friend Matt posted this link in response to a status update I had on facebook, it reminded me of something which I have been meaning to follow up with a Blog:

For a long time (back until at least university, three and something years ago) I have been asking people, when it arose in conversation, if they knew of a word to describe these kind of situations:

I jokingly stick my foot out to trip up a friend, they actually trip and break their nose on a table.

Or: I shout "boo" from behind a friend while we're in a bar, in surprise they drop their drink and end up getting thrown out of the bar.

Or: I frape a friend while at their house, suggesting that they have a drug problem, their employer reads it and they lose their job.

These are situations where I do something which is clearly malicious, but the result is far worse than I had anticipated. I am hesitant to use the word accident because that implies too strongly that what happened was an unintentional or unexpected result of my action. If I try to trip a friend up, and they are tripped up, it's not an accident, but I didn't intend on hospitalising them. Similarly with the other two examples, I was certainly being mischievous, but my intention was innocent.

To this day I haven't found anyone who could give me a word, in any language, which describes these kind of situations, yet they arise surprisingly frequently.

So I am asking one last time, if anyone can think of a word, again in any language, which describes specifically this situation. I would expect it to have both a noun: "I can't believe he was thrown out, it was just a ______", and a transitive verb: "Hey, I'm really sorry I _____ed you, I can't believe your boss thought it was serious".

If we still can't think of an existing word, then I propose I invent¹ a new one. In doing so I'd like for it to have some reasonably sensible etymology, so please put forward any suggestions if you can. Perhaps we can vote on it :)

¹ I can't really post this without also admitting that I have a motivation for inventing a new word. It is number seventy of the 101 Things To Do Before You Die: "Invent a Word That Makes it into the Dictionary".

Tattoos, knives, guns, trucks

2011-03-28T06:01:00.000+01:00

Phase 1: Dreaming of code

2011-03-23T22:18:00.002Z

It's now twenty days since I last wrote code.

Aside from losing my mind, one of the reasons I left my last job was I lost my love for coding; getting home burnt out and frustrated doesn't exactly inspire one to take on personal projects, and I like having personal projects!

So I decided that I should enforce a no-code period, during which I can establish whether I:

Still love code, and it is exactly what I want to do forever.
Need to change.

As of this morning option 1 seems considerably more favourable, I woke up dreaming about code, hazaa. To be honest I never really had any doubt ;)
Now I'm going to continue resisting the urge to code until it becomes unbearable, perhaps then in the future I will appreciate being able to do it professionally again. An encouraging start though.

Non-geeks, or those wishing to live a drab uninspiring life (you're both the same to me!) may wish to stop here...

Okay, so I was thinking about a problem which came up a while ago, I believe while I was talking to my friend Pete, and it is this:
Suppose I drop you at a random station on the London Underground. Because I am kind I have given you a stopwatch, a pen and a note book, but because I am malicious I have removed from the underground all maps, and all signs which tell you what line you are currently on.
When navigating the underground you know your current station name and how long it takes to get from one station to another; if you decide to change lines at a station you can do so, but all you know is that you have changed to another, randomly selected line.

Your task is to deliver me a map of the underground (and for bonus points: in the shortest possible time).

There may be no (clever) solution within the constraints I have given, so please don't waste your lives doing it. Discuss.

Some emperical data on my laziness

2011-03-23T01:31:00.003Z

So a running theme on my Blog here is the fact that I have disproportionately more difficulty waking up early than normal people, a condition which is usually called being lazy.

However I consider myself a person lazy only of sleep and not lazy of mind, and as such I have spent a fair amount of time researching why this might be. For a fair while I have been aware of non-24-hour sleep-wake syndrome, it bares the closest symptoms to the ones I have of any syndrome I have been able to find. However it's all a little fluffy when I try to justify lateness in the mornings most people (understandably) tell me I'm just lazy.

Well here's something interesting: Today I woke up naturally at 2pm MST (GMT - 7).
That means when I woke up today it was 9pm in England, and I left England two weeks ago.
And thinking about it, since I arrived in Houston (now on CDT (GMT - 5)) I have gradually been waking up later and later. So, time to move to Mars?

One more time

2011-03-23T01:09:00.001Z

Okay, this has been getting a little silly.
You may take 'this' to mean both my failure to blog in a timely fashion, and my life in general.

Well the good news is that I'm taking steps to sort this out, well at least the former definition of this, at least in accomplishing the former I shall document my progress on the latter.

That is all I am going to say for now on the subject, because I am always weary of the amount of time I spend actually writing content compared to the amount of time I spend writing about my failure to write content.

Observant readers will note that I have just exacerbated the situation further by introducing a 3rd level of meta-blogging; wasting even more time by discussing the amount of time I spend actually writing content, compared to the amount of time I spend writing about my failure to write content.

Observant readers will note that I have just exacerbated the situation further by introducing a 4th level of meta; using up even more time discussing the amount of time I spend
discussing the amount of time I use for actually writing content, compared to the amount of time I spend writing about my failure to write content.

Observant readers will note that I have just exacerbated the situation further by introducing a nth level of meta; using up even more time discussing ( (n-3) × ("the amount of time I spend
discussing ") )the amount of time I use for actually writing content, compared to the amount of time I spend writing about my failure to write content.

You should not be here.

Dave 7.0, 7.1, 7.2

2011-03-03T00:48:00.001Z

Well I had rather planned on posting a spectacular Blog tonight, introducing with much excitement and potential, the beginning of a new Blogging season and a new life full of love and wonder.
Unfortunately, because shit got a little fucked up, 7.0 is a little bit of a non-starter.

As it would be wrong to reassign version numbers, I am branching 7.0 to 7.1 which we'll be running on for the immediate future.

The good news is that life's always full of little surprises.

Tobacco

2011-01-16T17:28:00.002Z

Further to my previous post, it occurred to me that nothing complements a cup of Chai quite like a smoke, and this got me thinking about a discussion I had in the pub last weekend about smoking.

I was trying to explain to someone, who reacted to me getting out some tobacco, that I shouldn't smoke because it was bad for you. Fair enough.

What troubled me was their second statement: That people only smoke because the need to alleviate their addiction, now this I disagree with, and I cite myself as an counterpoint. I only choose to smoke just now because I happened to have some tobacco left over from last weekend, and that smoking would (and was!) be a pleasurable experience.

At the time I couldn't think of an analogy to drive home my point that being someone who smokes is necessary, but is not sufficient¹, for them to be addicted to smoking.
Now, after mulling it over for a while, I believe I have one:
It would seem absurd to me, to suggest that someone visiting a casino one night with friends and playing on the roulette wheel, is sufficient to state that they are addicted to gambling. Yet in my mind this parallels with my position with smoking: Both activities necessitate a net loss (one in health and one in finance), both can be addictive, and some people find both enjoyable.

¹ Regulars will spot that this is once again confusion arising from that Dave's Blog classic: Necessary and sufficient conditions.

Tea

2011-01-16T17:21:00.001Z

I just opened a new box of Chai and was delighted to see the people at
Twinnings had printed this treat on the inside of the box:

It's reassuring, in this crazy world, to know that such simple pleasures exist :)

Planning to plan

2011-01-14T00:33:00.002Z

Plans are a terrible idea anyway, I like to think of them more as guidelines.

Guideline is an improvement, the wiktionary provides a definition which is more amicable:
"A non-specific rule or principle that provides direction to action or behaviour".

But I still don't like the fact is has the word line in it, guide I'll allow, but line is far to definite; following a line should lead you straight to somewhere and that it not the case.

No. I propose that instead of planning the future, I will instead employ a series of unit vectors, generating new ones when new options become available. I shall point in the direction which seems to make sense at the time and weight the current situation far more heavily.

As such, please disregard all my previous posts :)

Whilst researching this Blog I happened both upon these quotes, which far more delightfully describe this Blog's subject matter:

Happiness is not a goal; it is a by-product
(Eleanor Roosevelt)

Happiness is a direction, not a place
(Sydney J. Harris)

Now you all have that warm and fuzzy feeling, I shall leave it there.
Short and sweet.

Music!

2011-01-07T00:03:00.005Z

I was um'ing and ar'ing about whether to post because it is late and I'd do well to get to sleep whilst I'm tired. I seem to be through my little insomnia phase, I think it may have been nerve related on account of Claire flying back to Houston, and knowing how much she dislikes flying I was praying everything would work out. It did, she's safely back, and I discovered that watching someone fly away from you at six hundred miles an hour is both interesting and incredibly upsetting. Still, no pain, no gain!

My principle subject for this Blog will be music.

Firstly to deliver a long overdue update on my quest to command a violin.
It's going rather well! I had my first lesson of the new year yesterday and was pleased to discover that despite a short break over the festive period I was able to settle back in quickly. I think the break may actually have helped.
I'm now learning and playing tunes at a fairly decent rate and the days of strained and awkward finger and bow action are long behind me. It's funny to think back to how difficult and unnatural holding a bow felt at first, when contrasted with the effortless hold I now have; holding a pencil is the closest approximation I can make.

I would love to make another video, but aside from it being late I have another problem: I am now without a violin. My teacher has been kindly lending me one for the last year - would you believe it, it's exactly a year in ten days - but the time has come for me to relinquish it to a new student. Which is good because I'm probably long overdue getting a nicer one for myself.

Searching on eBay I was delighted to find this piece of engineering (I'm not sure how long that link will persist):

Whilst I am tempted, I think I should go for something a little more traditional for my first one. Also I don't think my house mates could ever forgive me :)

Also in the world-of-music I rediscovered a band today.
Whilst listening to a friend's Last.fm radio on my iPhone (still can't enough of it) I heard an artist which reminded me of the long lost artist in question. After struggling to remember the name of this artist for most of the day I took a punt of looking at the new band's similar artists; sure enough there they were! Hooray for statistics!

And the artists in question are called Fischerspooner, and I sat grinning ear to ear as I watched, for the first time in a long while, this beautiful video. Very satisfying.

It also brought upon an epiphany: Since losing my mohican I have been at quite a loss as for a stylistic direction, but it is clear to me now. This is the Dave of 2011:

So, I just need to grow my hair, re-bleach, and acquire a garish out fit and some white face paint. Easy. Of course, once I'm looking this fresh I'll be needing an attractive and interesting new girlfriend. Since we're on the subject of violins I'll take Emily Autumn please:
Cheers!

Hello 2011

2011-01-05T02:18:00.009Z

Well, another year has come to pass, another relationship has dwindled;
and so it's only appropriate for me to return here to where it all began, the Blog shall be re-born!

Yes quite, well after that rather overdone sentence, let's get back to it, and firstly, some context:

So those of you who have been following my Blog for a long time will note that once again it has followed the pattern of this, then this, then this. As for the former two I think we can all agree that it's all rather disgusting and most of you have been there before (and to those which haven't I would ask you to read this). The latter most 'this' is interesting for two reasons:

It is incorrect. Observant readers will have noticed that I have posted several Blogs consisting of pictures with limited or no text.
I don't really like doing this, insomuch¹ as whilst I can look back on these pictures will great insight or amusement, they are entirely without significance to most readers, and I'd suggest that is not considered good practice.
So I feel I owe you an apology for that.
But let's be honest, I posted them because I was still getting off on the fact that:

I discovered that you can E-mail in a Blog;
I now now have a phone from which one can easily send E-mails.

There seems to be something intrinsic to my being in a relationship which results in a Blog hiatus. I'd like to think that this is because it is impossible to put into words the enchantment one feels in the bounds of love, although the computer scientist in me concludes this isn't a bad effort.
But hell to it: I've had a few beers, and I don't really want to commit to spending the rest of my professional and academic life niggling over details; so I'll just accept that it's hard to be introspective when there's something occupying your mind.

In any case, Claire, the subject of my affection in this once-again-short-lived-tryst is departing in mere hours to Texas, to pursue enlightenment in the study of the human biology; a cause which I take my hat off to.
And as if only to affirm my suspicion that our paths will cross again, she delivered unto me a trojan horse of a gift: A book detailing 101 Things to do before you die, clearly the gauntlet has been laid.
Also I should note that Claire took the time to write a message in the front of the book. In the last year I have come across several books with messages hand written in them, and several more books which describe such a thing; and I think that it is a good thing which more people should engage in. Presently I feel there's little more heartfelt in this world than the gift of a book.

Amidst the frenetic emotions of the last six months I've also solidified my love of what I suppose could be deemed contemporary classical, a canonical example for me being this album.

And so that leads me to this rather delightful quotation on music, attributed to Samuel Johnson:

"It is the only sensual pleasure without vice."

And a link to this album, which I shall leave here as a youthful reminder (for only two people, and in a capacity which I shall spare you) that even men who should establish such works as A Dictionary of the English Language can make gravely inaccurate observations.

I'll cautiously suggest that is all the contextualisation² which needs to take place.
I'm still working at Codies, I just realised that I somehow managed not to Blog about the fact that my first game went to All Formats number 1, but you know I wouldn't want to brag.

We're now just out of the festive period, and I must confess that a couple of videos, which really should form part of this tome of my life, have been primarily uploaded to facebook.
I should really check if it will import videos embedded into this Blog, because that seems (to the purist in me) the 'correct' way.

¹ I know! It's really a word! It still cracks me up!
² Now, contextualisation, that's a word.

Christmas 1

2010-12-15T19:57:00.000Z

Drinking in Abbey Fields

2010-09-25T15:58:00.000+01:00

Mmm, traditional mead :)

OSS

2010-09-16T15:04:00.003+01:00

It might take a while, but damn it, one day it'll be perfect!

What makes it even more amusing is the bug was created in April 2007.

Marketing

2010-09-07T20:15:00.000+01:00

Scooter

2010-09-03T23:08:00.000+01:00

A late summer evening

2010-09-01T19:09:00.001+01:00

Sat outside with a glass of red, girlfriend in the kitchen.
I think I finally understand the definition of awesome :)

Lecker

2010-08-28T12:03:00.000+01:00

Happy

2010-08-25T22:08:00.000+01:00

Everything is wonderful :)

31st July 2010

2010-07-31T19:30:00.003+01:00

Today is a special day.

Having once again failed to wake up fresh and early this morning I fell into my clothes, cursed the myself, and staggered down the road to work (we're doing lots of over time at the moment, I said I'd go in today).
However after approximately three minutes I realised that this wasn't the way to spend the last Saturday in July, so I returned home.

Since that decision the day has been a blur of emotions: Cleaning, relaxing, and reflection.

It's traditional that every Blog I write contains the statement, "I've been wanting to write a Blog for ages", so: I've been wanting to write a Blog for ages.

In the last three weeks I entirely failed to ruin things with the girl I kissed, and I actually kissed her many times more, that's by far the most significant news. It's been a rather crazy period :)

Of iPhones and bridges

2010-07-02T01:09:00.002+01:00

So yes apparently you can email a 'secret' address and have the email
auto magically published to your blog!
But, "why would you want to do that Dave?" I hear you cry.
Well, it's time I came clean, I went and bought an iPhone off a guy at work didn't I? So yup, that's it.
All I have to say is: Pete it's really all you fault ;)
Lol they are kinda fun though aren't they?
I realised that my current phone was just about at the end of it's life (trying to listen to music, whilst walking, required one to carefully hold both cable and adaptor in some tantric arrangement) and an iOpportunity arose :)

So yeah I was extremely worried when I discovered there was no blogger app, thankfully this email to blog seems to provide an adequate replacement. So yeah, here's my first photo blog from an iPhone, performed by taking a picture and hitting: "email this".
It better work!

Tragically last week the bridge of my violin pinged out of place, breaking one of its legs in the process. Dutifully I went online and ordered a replacement, only to be informed that they're a real pain to fit. Undeterred I picked up some sand paper from Tescos (they actually sell everything!) and went about shaping and fitting it.
After a few close finger/knife calls and some manic sanding I am proud to reveal, I did it :)

So, can I really...

2010-07-02T00:44:00.001+01:00

... email to my blog?

Growing up

2010-06-29T21:59:00.011+01:00

I actually planned to write this Blog back on Sunday but didn't get the chance to, so here we are now:

Whilst tidying my room up a little at the weekend I happened upon my old Young Persons Railcard wallet, containing all my previous railcards. I abandoned this wallet with the latest incarnation (noticeably renamed to: "16-25 Railcard"), and evidently left it lying around.

So for aesthetic reasons I lined them all up:

Now as part of my no clutter policy I know I have to throw them away, that's just the rule.

But so as not to forget all the wonderful (and, lets be honest, some very sad¹) journeys those railcards afforded me I couldn't resist putting them up here.

Also we can see that my current, and final card expires 8th March 2011.
It is on this day that I will renounce the title of: "young person", and generally grow up.
Five days after my twenty seventh birthday, put it in your calendar:

Now I'm not entirely sure I know what growing up entails, some of my friends seem to be trying a variety of: Babies, houses, living together with their partners, and getting married.
You'll note that these all (in some sense) require one to be in a relationship, so to be honest I'm not getting my hopes up :)

Still it'll be a good excuse to have a little cry about getting older and the good old times being long gone!

Another event pertinent to growing up is (or rather, was) my beard.
I decided to partake in the, "don't shave while England are still in the World Cup" arrangement, primarily because I'd always wanted to test run a beard.

For future reference here is the difference, on the left is sixteen days of beard (it really felt like a lot longer, I'm surprised it was that little time), and on the right immediately after (a rather prolonged) shave:

I think we can all agree a beard is not for me :)
(And I will never again curse having to shave, damn that thing got itchy towards the end!)

Finally, I kissed a girl: Currently losing at 65%.

¹ The most tragic example of this thus far being a journey back to Leicester, from London, many years ago. Pete, and I, having just seen off Sarah and Ness to their travels were both somewhat in shock.
Interestingly Sarah is now back in the arms of Pete, and Ness is somewhere in China, I think we know who the nicer guy is :)

Not quite the full Glastonbury experience...

2010-06-25T20:35:00.001+01:00

... Still I have a beer and a cigarette, so basically there :)
(It's hard not to smile when you see that many people having that much fun!)

Drinking beers, beers, beers

2010-06-24T22:02:00.000+01:00

Just a quick one to keep you in the loop r.e. my attempt to 'fix' my morning 'problem'.

Firstly I'd like to extend my thanks to those for have messaged in with their suggestion; including a few on Buzz, which I completely forgot:

Existed;
Syndicated my Blog.

I have to report that today was a write-off.
Our studio head Alex graciously gave everyone the afternoon off to go and watch the football yesterday, and since I'm now apparently a football fan I did my duty and watched the game; and drank through the evening sun.

Not surprisingly then I woke up this morning in considerable pain.
That said I did make it in on time, but I don't think binge drinking from 3pm is a sustainable strategy to combat morning blues.

I got all hot and frustrated at work today as well, which was a little bit sad.
Must maintain a more relaxed state of mind.
Starting, now.

Once more, with feeling

2010-06-22T22:59:00.002+01:00

Okay so it wasn't a total failure this morning.

I didn't manage to stay up, this we know.
But I did make it into work on time, and enjoyed a leisurely, self satisfied walk through the sun to get there. This will be my key motivation: Must remember that sometimes you have to have the, "ouch" first and the, "fuck yeah" later.

Also I've been hearing an advert on Spotify for Lynx over the last few days.
It has some girl speaking, who I assume I'm supposed to want to fuck, asking me to click on her advert. I was about to rage about this, because it's all making me out to be an empty, sexually insecure man (and damn it, the feminists would be pissed if was the other way roundhttp://www.theapofcrap.com/2010/05/lynx-rise.html).

But then I saw this advert, which, I agree with the poster, plays exactly to its target market, which is me, and now I just regular hate myself for being a man.

But then this song came on Spotify, and I was at peace and in love with the world :)

Some people say fickle,

Well yes, I failed

2010-06-22T08:55:00.001+01:00

So I managed to sit staring at my computer for some finite amount of time.
Enough to put on some music and apparently start copying some backups back off my portable Weizenbaum¹ onto Eliza (I remember part of a dream where it died and I lost everything).

Not an entirely wasted experience then.

But which resulted in me going back to sleep on the floor next to my desk, and then crawling back into bed my arm started to go dead.

¹ My rather sexy portable HDD, which I certainly hope doesn't die. But it's hard to imagine something with that little protection, and so much road time, can't be on the way out :|

Trivia: It's named Weizenbaum after the author of Eliza (and, Eliza is the name of my laptop, for other reasons...)

Man

2010-06-22T06:32:00.001+01:00

Well that was a stupid idea; is everything supposed to hurt this much? :(

Let's start again

2010-06-21T22:46:00.001+01:00

Okay, so I've really failed to uptake blogging again, despite several attempts.

It's summer solstice and that seems a good date (being wholesome and science based, of course) to have a restart. Since the only thing which is truly troubling me in my life at the moment (existential crises aside) is the increasing pain of getting up in the morning, I'm going to target that.

I have established the following:

People on the Internet have documented this problem;
I have tried many of the solutions offered, some of my favourites being:
- Sleeping on the floor in a sleeping bag
  (my morning brain moved me into bed, or I just slept through late anyway)
- Drinking lots of water before bed
  (uh, kinda just needed the toilet in the night, and straight back to bed)
- Keep a flask of coffee and set an early alarm thirty minutes before up time
  (motivation fail, woke up, though, "yuck", back to sleep)
- Don't smoke, or drink, and do lots of exercise
  (well, through my winter cycle I stopped smoking, and a few times drinking in the week, and went running or swimming most days, still a fail)
Clearly it's psychological.
When I finally get up I (nearly) always remember that when my alarm woke me I was in a dream, and that not wanting to break from that dream is the reason I didn't get up.
I should also factor in my awareness that bed is comfy and getting up means aching muscles and a headache.
This surely points to some deep rooted depression.
Well, firstly I don't buy into that so much, I mean (ostensibly at least) everything in my life is going well, as I alluded to earlier: My job is cool, I have a nice place, it's the summer time, and I even managed to kiss a very cute girl recently.
I'd like to think it's my unconscious brain being smart enough to figure out that, sure, reality is okay, but damn it, in my dreams I can fly :)

So I guess all I can do is set my alarm for early.
I've been shooting for 8am recently but that's been a total failure, either just alarms get switched off; or when I do make it into the shower I stumble back out and fall asleep again in my towel.
Thus I hope that by affirming it here, having the significance of the solstice, and hopefully getting a good night's sleep, I'll be able to make 7am tomorrow.
My final plan is to try and write a Blog explaining how I feel in the mornings. Perhaps that will provide enough of an activity to get me out of my morning brain and remember that rushing, un-showered, to work is the way to start the day.

Here goes nothing.

.... Oh and if you ever want to call me at 7am and remind me about this, please do :)

Oh

2010-05-27T01:24:00.001+01:00

And I forgot to say, "we miss you Sparkledaze".
Simple things :)

Whilst mixing a white russian with my toothbrush

2010-05-27T00:38:00.005+01:00

Just over a month, that's not so bad; I guess I have been very busy.
But since all the things I've been doing are probably documented on facebook I shall say only this:

I've spent the last couple of days doing over twelve hours at work again, and although it's actually quite fun at the time (I like it when everyone's gone home and I can get in the zone¹) I'm never sure if I like the half hour walk home afterwards. The mental drain does put me in a rather empty and desolate place, and I think this has only been exacerbated by the still fresh memories of being in America, and sitting in parks.

So to summarise, I decided whilst walking past the shop that the only sensible strategy was to break my no (heavy) drinking at home rule and pick up some cream.

My box of "not to be touched unless one has company" spirits now lies out beside my bed.
I guess rules are there to be broken aren't they :)

Okay, I just noticed my battery is low, and I don't know if the Ubuntu community got around to putting a safe shut down in yet; so I'm going to play it safe and post now².

¹ I haven't actually listened to SomaFM in a long time, I'm going to, and I'll let you know how it works out. I'd like to get one of their t-shirts one day, for nostalgic reasons.

² Read: I think I just realised that having two white russians, whilst in an emotionally compromised state, is not conducive to 'save blogging' :)

Hello

2010-04-23T09:11:00.002+01:00

I've been silent for a while now, and I think I'll keep it that way because sometimes all you need is a screen cap to explain everything:

And because we made our alpha at work (and apparently some people are rather nice about these things) I should be enjoying some beers this afternoon right in the thick of it :)

I just made it start raining...

2010-03-25T00:38:00.001Z

... That's how sad the piece I'm learning on the violin at the moment is¹.

So it's been two weeks since my last Blog, and I've basically been falling in love a lot.
Now I know I have (for reasons which are fully justified) perhaps a slight tendency to fall in love with people instantly, so this might not carry so much weight; and if you're thinking that then consider it as no more than a conduit for the following anecdotes:

I was in the rather pleasant situation of having to use up two days off work this last fortnight, or face loosing them on 1st April. Previously I would have rued myself for not making optimal use of my time off and incorporating them into an adventure of some kind, but based on the two days I've had I must disregard that sentiment. I took this and the previous Monday off with the rational that I'll find something to do, and boy did I find some thing to do:

The weekend before last I spent the whole time in Leicester, partying, hard.
As seems to be the way I managed to meet all those wonderful girls who I never meet in Birmingham, accept that it wouldn't work out because of the distance, and spend the night drinking and dancing. I do love drinking and dancing.
I went karting with the LAN society, and won both my races.
It's a good rush though, I like karting a lot, and I love the feeling of pushing it closer and closer to the edge. I think it's high time I started pursuing some more adrenaline inducing activities; I've been slacking off lately.

This Friday I went down to London to see Claire.
Yeah, I think I'm probably still a little bit in love, but that's okay, isn't it? Yes :)

Then on Saturday I went back to Leicester and did it all again (minus the karting).

Now this week (well for the last several actually) it's getting a little exciting at work as deadlines loom and I find myself spending more and more time there in the week. But I don't mind, I love to code :)

¹ Discuss.
(Thanks to Martin for reminding me of this lovely distinction)

The highs, and the lows

2010-03-10T00:22:00.001Z

Should I stay in my current house?
It has nice rooms, and is within a thirty minute walk of work. But is in the least cool area I have ever lived in ( including Uphill Way¹), and all my current house-mates are moving out, no doubt to be replaced with quiet, uninspiring types.

Or should I move to somewhere more, me?
Somewhere with attractive, fun people, and pubs within walking distance.

Also apparently Codemasters are releasing an F1 game this year, and it looks really good!
In unrelated news, work is stressful, I don't like stress :(

It's no surprise then (I think it must be stress related) that I'm back in a rut with my not being able to get out of bed in the morning. I'm sure given the number of ridiculous traits which are deemed a 'condition' these days I should be entitled to something to compensate for my chronic 'laziness'.

Here's hoping I don't get fired...

Oh but if I do, violin is coming long nicely; I'll be sure to Blog the lat/long of the bridge in Berlin I set up on, and look forwards to seeing you all / all your donations :)

¹ Uphill Way being location of the first two houses I ever lived in.
Sure Uphill isn't the most happening place ever, but it had a few pubs if I recall, and if you follow Links Road West you'll find the beach!

Größere Kartenansicht

Good bye, twenty five; hello, rest of life

2010-03-02T23:24:00.002Z

These posts are always the most emotional; I need to stop attaching so much reflection to arbitrary dates. Actually, no, hell, it's my birthday, I'll attach whatever I want to it :)

So this is going to be my last post of twenty five, and what a lovely day to end it on.

This morning was beautiful, having the sun out makes such a difference.
Things went well at work, rewardingly so.
By lunch time I was so overwhelmed with joy I accidentally sent a text to an ~~ex-girl~~friend.
(I'm totally still in love with her; it's nice)
Towards the end of lunch I snuck on last.fm for five minutes and discovered that Bran Van 3000 released a new album. I dutifully bought and downloaded it.
It's just right for overly romantic people, who have difficulty deciding what genre of music they like the most, and have a short attention span (and like to dance on the bus).
This evening I went swimming and so I'm all fresh.
Now my heart is beating very slowly because I'm listening to this, also I have a new oil pot/stick thing which smells wonderful.
I discovered that five of my six house-mates are moving out in the near future.
As such I'm going to move out of my really-too-big-for-me room on the ground floor and into one tucked away in the roof, with an en-suite.
This will be much better for my new twenty-six's girlfriend¹ and I to spend all day in bed, but also clean :)

I'd be lying if I didn't say I felt slightly out of control.
I think I want to move here in ten years².

¹ Who I will find tomorrow and be in a relationship with for fifty-two weeks, before agreeing that happiness is what's already happened and we'd be better off never seeing each other again.

² My new game: Find somewhere random on street view, decide to move there. Who's in?

Violin #2

2010-02-21T23:13:00.002Z

Hey, so those of you who didn't catch my previous post might not know that I've starting learning the violin.
Naturally I failed to post a week later as I suggested in that post.
But it's now a month on and I've been having fun practising this evening, so I thought I'd share the love. Enjoy:

You might have noticed the shiny metal object, atop the bridge of the violin, that wasn't present in my previous video; this is my new metal mute. I was rather hoping it would stop the mic getting blasted and the audio being so squeaky, but it seems not to be the case. If I ever remember to bring my headset back from work I'll have to try that...
Either way we can be sure I definitely sound at least 1000% better in real life :)

And just for reference, here's what the two tunes sound like, when performed 1000% better:

The britches full of stitches, and;
Egan's polka.

Inspiration

2010-02-15T22:40:00.001Z

So I've been watching the Winter Olympics a little bit; okay, twice.

This evening I just switched on the TV and the boardercross on, wow.

Guess what I want to do now :)

Epic!

(How the hell people fit relationships in to their lives, let alone kids, I will never understand!)

I hope I don't get hit by a car tomorrow

2010-02-11T23:00:00.001Z

Okay, I'm just, wow; isn't everything awesome :)

For the last, well, eight years I have been diligently following the rules set down by an ex-girlfriend regarding stepping on manhole covers in the street, specifically square ones with zero or more adjacent. The rules were simple:
You should always aim to step on a single one.
Twos and Threes should be avoided.

Somewhere along the line I also picked up a habit of not walking under things, for example raised road signs, supported by two legs.

Today I decided to stop. It felt pretty special.

I like walking around laughing at all the miserable people, I swear I didn't see a single person smile today outside of the office and gym.

Then again I'd be miserable if I was in Birmingham for any substantial amount of time!
Oh wait, fuck. Yeah I'll let you know how that works out.

Summary: Don't ever move to Birmingham unless you have a really really good reason.

I should probably go and get some food.

I'm having one of those wish I was in a shack moments again, it seems to be happening more and more since I got my new speakers; I guess beautiful music delivered over fibre does that to a man :)

We party all night

2010-02-09T23:43:00.001Z

Today has been rather typical of mine lately:

Alarm went off, switched it off unconsciously.
Woke up late for work, manic rush.
Arrived at work more unsettled than I'd like to be, take all morning to get in the zone.
Picked up in the afternoon, really start getting down to it.
Had to leave at eight to make it to the swimming pool before it closes.
Walked home, lay down for five minutes quiet time.
Practised¹ violin, which is far less troublesome now I have a decent mute to avoid upsetting my house mates.
Sat down on eliza, accidentally put loud music through my headphones.
Started rocking out in my seat.
Now I want to stay up all night again.

I just can't deal with this twenty four hour day!
I've been trying for over ten years now, I've never been able to get up easily and I'm always just getting started when it's supposed to be bed time.

The annoying thing is there is a solution!
But I'd rather keep my job :|

¹ I swear we weren't taught this at school. I only picked up on it last week because I spotted both spellings being used in some code at work and wondered what the correct spelling was.

Your Amazon MP3 Music purchases

2010-02-04T17:35:00.002Z

I'm at work and I'd like to listen to an album I bought last night, in MP3 format, from Amazon.

Unfortunately I can't download it:
Your Amazon MP3 Music purchases can only be downloaded once.

So I thought, okay, I'll have to return the copy I bought at home, get my money back, and then buy the MP3s again from work.

But unfortunately I can't return them:
As indicated in the Amazon MP3 Music Downloads Terms of Use music downloads are not returnable once they have been purchased.

This is what happens when you try to mix anything which existed without the Internet with anything which exists with the Internet.

:(

Okay, I just don't get it

2010-01-31T18:42:00.002Z

So pretty much, I don't post much negative stuff on here, most of you know that.

But I just can't take any more football. Arrrrrghhh!

Phew, I was going to elaborate.
But finding and watching that clip just made it all okay.
I will endeavour not to revisit this topic again on my Blog, but it is sufficient to say that all the "situations of non-optimal joy" I have experienced in the last few weeks¹ have been caused or at the very least emphasised by that blasted game.

The tragedy is I'd probably stand half a chance of enjoying watching it, were I not contending with the ideology that football is the single most important achievement of mankind ever.

On a subject which is much closer to the quite undefinable most important achievement of mankind ever I found this video, The Known Universe by AMNH. I'm pretty much going to say that if you think football is more beautiful than that we can never be friends².

Oh and I should probably, lest I get in trouble for plagiarism, qualify that link with its source; the endless source of amusement that is pub paris porn. I totally forgot about it until I was thinking about my days at last.fm and suddenly remembered how much joy it brought me :)

¹ Which is if I'm honest, perhaps, four, maybe five; and really nothing to complain anyway.

² Okay, we can be friends, but I reserve the right to draw a wry smile every time I see you watching a match and getting overly excited about the whole affair :)

So this is what music looks like

2010-01-29T02:03:00.001Z

I just pulled my new TOSLINK (no I'm not over it...) cable out the back of my monitors and was surprised to see it glowing a very sci-fi red.
Now I know TOSLINK = fibre and fibre = light, but I didn't think for a second it would be as intense as it is, and red!
It was even more of a surprise then when I pointed my camera phone at the end of the jack and saw this pattern appear on the screen; all very exciting :)

Why am I not living in a shack¹, in a field, in nowhere

2010-01-29T00:14:00.001Z

Aside from the fact that it would make practising my violin less traumatic for those in the immediate vicinity; and yes, I still need it, hence the lack of the "something approaching a tune" which I rather over confidently predicted at the end of my last Blog).

My main reason for this title is that some new purchases just arrived today:

A USB sound card with S/PDIF, from a company with a pretty logo / name.
A cable to connect this to the sexy new monitors I received gratefully from my parents for Christmas.

Of course this has taken a while because I have been trying to make the order without breaking down laughing at TOSLINK. I think I'm finally over it :)

However everything is a little crazy at work at the moment so I've been staying late; and even when I haven't been staying late at work I've been getting back late. As such I am quite overdue spending a session sitting around 2 meters from my speakers listening to offensively loud computer noises.

However I just discovered this is on next Friday.
Which is convenient because I intend to be there in preparation for going to a LAN in Loughborough on Saturday morning. It's shaping up to be an exciting weekend :D

¹ Here, for example. Anyone want to find it and live there with me for six months?
We can get drunk, and fuck, and learn the entire Scrabble dictionary; it's a win, win, win proposal!
(I'm sure we can figure the whole food / heat / sanitation situation out when we get there...)

A multimedia experience!

2010-01-17T19:59:00.002Z

Okay, before you watch this I need to clarify a few things:

I don't get the whole video blogging thing, I'm not very good at it :)
I assure you that while the sound is terrible, it doesn't sound that terrible in real life.
Okay yeah I'm using the whole blame it on the laptop's on-board mic routine.

Woo, so yeah, there you go, it's all rather exciting.
I've wanted to learn for quite a while and just before Christmas I was lucky enough to meet a girl called Laura who not only is a teacher, but had a violin spare. Very cool.
I had my first lesson last Monday, so those rather special eight notes you were just subjected to are the product of my first week's practise.
Now this isn't going to come as much of a surprise to you all I'm sure: It's really hard!

Well specifically I'm having trouble getting the grip of the bow down, and then holding for more than five minutes without my hand starting to ache like a bitch.
I have another lesson tomorrow so hopefully this time next weekend I'll be able to post a video with something approaching a tune :)

What a beautiful day to be alone

2010-01-17T13:31:00.002Z

So I've had a rather delightful weekend so far.
On Friday night I did a party.
On Saturday night I did relaxing.
And this morning I got up and went swimming.

I hadn't been swimming at my pool on a Sunday morning before, and it didn't cross my mind until I arrived that when I normally go - in the evenings - it is adults only. Wow I just don't get children.
Apparently they are required for the continuation of civilisation, so I guess as a society we really have to have them around, and sure I suppose a world with out children might be little upsetting.

However on a personal level I just can't imagine what possesses people to want to have a child!
I'm sure there are some pleasant moments¹ and such, but my observations seem to suggest that at least ninety percent of the time is spent enduring distinctly unpleasant moments.

Now this is an ideal juncture at which to introduce the, "bless, you probably just haven't met the right person yet" argument². However walking home from swimming, in a quite spectacularly zen state of mind, I once again had that self affirming sensation that I am actually rather happy on my own. Sure I've had some rather super cool³ girlfriends, but I think there's a lot to be said to spending some quality time on your own. I think a lot of people would do well to realise that; and I have reason to believe that there are a lot of people in the "oh my god I just can't bare to be on my own why does no one love me" category.

The other great advantage to not having a child or a partner is that you have lots of free time to do things like produce an exciting multimedia post about my new hobbie. Oh yes, be sure to check back later this evening for that :)

¹ I was rather amused at the following dialogue which I overheard in the changing room between a father and young boy:
"C'mon now, make sure you get all the chlorine washed off",
"What's chlorine?",
"Chlorine? It's the stuff the put in the water to make it clean".
This made me smile.
Unfortunately the boy didn't retort with, "but if a shower's purpose is to make me clean, and chlorine makes things clean, then why do I have to wash it off?".
I'd like to think that he was able to resolve this inconsistency in his head, but I suspect the fallacy was beyond him :)

² Of course, it could be that I have met the right person, and that person is me.
I suppose there's no reason, in theory, why I should reject myself as a potential partner; aside from the fact that I'm not aware up until this point in my life that I'm bisexual :)
I'm going to stop this line of reasoning immediately because I've been lead to believe it's not a particularly attractive quality:
"I don't see us being together, I'm not going to break up with myself to be with you, when you're not as cool as me".

³ And by super cool I mean more the last lines of True Romance cool and less amorphous solid cool; and quite possibly, though I haven't read it yet, and having just discovered it clearly have to, You're So Cool by Lee Young-Hee cool. Which judging by the cover is about as cool as it gets :)

C'mon guys

2010-01-09T12:09:00.004Z

Ha, so I just saw this advert on a site.
I figured, "wow, Google are hiring, awesome", so I dutifully clicked on the link.
It goes to this even more spectacular site (it's safe, just some annoying JavaScript), I particularly enjoyed the, "as seen on", box, complete with all your most trusted company logos.

Still, nice touch with the city name substitution¹,
I bet that gets a lot of people :(

It upsets me that people do this.
Why can't we all just get along.

¹ Here's the clever little script.

Gutenberg + J2ME = More books

2010-01-09T00:16:00.001Z

So now I have Pollyanna on my phone, and it was easy.

The Internet is basically amazing isn't it? :)

I'd heard about Project Gutenberg before but never given it much thought.
Suddenly being able to download the JAR of a book, dump it on my phone and read it; everything makes much more sense.

I'll let you know how I get on reading a book on my phone...

It just gets better!

2010-01-08T23:48:00.001Z

Ha, today has just been spectacular.
This Blog is fast becoming insufficient to explain my amusement at the world.

It's just so easy when you realise what to do :)

(I need to read those books, I really hope they aren't a let down, since it's my life model)

Things

2010-01-08T00:07:00.001Z

Now, I have a self enforced rule about not hoarding things.
And generally I'm very good about it, I have no box marked, "memories", for example :)
So this item is now in the bin. But I couldn't risk the memory fading; it's from my trip to Berlin, a trip in which I was having too much fun to take any photos.

Computer scientists will inherit the earth

2010-01-06T20:46:00.002Z

For reasons of power socket placement I had to set up my new speakers with the left and right the wrong way round.

Now I do love music, and I'm just about persnickety (amazing word, just discovered it) enough for that to be an issue, so being a computer scientist I knew there must be an easy solution.

I reinforced two conjectures during this process:

I am an idiot.
Linux will never catch on because transfers responsibility to the user.

So yes, clearly with regards to the first one the correctly solution is to switch round the phono inputs to the speakers; and not to, as I did, search for a software solution. I honestly did not think of this until reading a post in which someone suggested it on a forum¹ . Wow.

Perhaps more interesting is the second point quite elegantly demonstrated by these two posts:

The solution for Ubuntu.
Note the witty retort to the "Swap the speakers?" comment and single concise answer.
The not a solution for Windows.
Note the, "I'd vote for closing, for being a stupid question that should not get out into the public" trolling.

¹ I have consumed zero units of alcohol tonight.

A tale of fail (x2)

2010-01-05T21:45:00.006Z

Well, I have failed to achieve the two (non work related) goals I set out to accomplish today:

Purchase and consume non-dairy cheese.
So for reasons primarily concerning veganism and my love of cheese I decided it would be interesting to try some. I quickly confirmed that it does indeed exist and then headed off to the large Tesco as soon as my lunch break began.
They didn't have any :(
There was literally a wall of cheese, a million¹ of them; and yet not a single one dairy-free. I asked the woman in the shop, who after confirming that they do exist informed me that they used to be stocked but appeared to have, disappeared. Most unfortunate. Still I shall persevere and report back when I have acquired some.
Go swimming.
Those of you in England may have noticed that it's been snowing like crazy lately. This evening was no exception and I took the cold and snow as even more confirmation that going swimming was a good idea; there's no finer way to warm up. So I adopted my usual strategy, get the bus from right outside work to the swimming pool, then walk the half hour back from the pool to my house.
That was a stupid idea :)
So after waiting at the bus stop forty minutes I finally cracked and headed back to the office to warm up, before walking straight home.

However it wasn't at all a loss.

I did experience one of the most bizarre and beautiful sights of my life, right here in Birmingham, on my way home. I've mentioned the reservoir on here a few times, I walk right past it coming back from work. Despite being freezing and having started loosing the feeling in my toes again I couldn't help but sneaking in whilst walking back; something didn't look quite right in there.
Then I realised: It was completely light! But, not completely light...
It was around half seven by this point (yeah, I work late) so it should have been pitch black, I know this because I've tried to run around there at night and I assure you it is pitch black.
But through a magical combination of the light pollution and, I presume, the white snow atop the frozen reservoir, everything was visible.
Visible in an orange sky above a deathly black and white scene way, which coupled with the silence (neigh the occasional siren in the background) created quite the the desolate environment.
I'd quite like to revisit there now, but you understand my bed is terribly warm...

I did try to take a photo, but it turned out completely black.
It's a shame really that I can't convey the experience, it really was quite something special; one which I would very much like to have shared with at least one other person, but I'll still take it on my own any day. Said other person would probably have been complaining they were too cold or something.

Unless of course they were my new girlfriend, who were she to exist, would enjoy exactly that kind of moment, along with Robot Chicken and attending this with me².

Oh and before I disappear:
Happy two thousand and ten kids!
Why not do something special with it.

¹ Okay a million maybe an exaggeration.
But I was amused to see that on the Wikipedia page British cheeses get their own list. Win.

² I'm not entirely sure that is the ideal place for our first date.
I really just spotted it now by virtue of being in Berlin (auto-love) and containing the artist to which I am currently listening (new-love).
Although it's hard to be subjective about music since I set up my new speakers.
They stand two foot away from, and pointing directly in to each of my ears.
The music is inside my head and I don't want it to leave :)

Last Blog of the year 2009

2009-12-31T18:06:00.002Z

I'm feeling in a terse mood, so here's an unordered list:

I just learned that there is a name, actually several, for that pesky last comma in a list; which either should, or should not be omitted, depending who you talk to.
For the first time in a long while I (or give full credit, my mum) bleached my hair last night.
Not entirely you understand, just the pointy bit :)
In 2009 I think I had less sex than in any other year before, since I started.
For this I entirely blame Birmingham, it is definitely nothing to do with me.
I'm more confused than ever about how one is supposed to go about falling in love, what that actually means, and whether is actually a good idea at all.
Whilst shopping for said bleach in Leamington Spa yesterday I purchased a book called Freakonomics. Having started reading it I already have a more amused outlook on life; you have to laugh at the hopelessness of all don't you :D
I donated £10 to Wikipedia, you should to.
Unless you're one of those people who bounce around saying Wikipedia is a terrible idea and that everything is wrong, in which case you need to be punched in the face (or read something like this).

And that's it!
I am off to bring in the new year with my friends shortly; and remember kids, it's not that complicated, just:

Jamp (day 3)

2009-12-30T13:17:00.002Z

Wow I forgot how much hard work open source software can be.

So firstly the good news, I have a repo up on git and did my first commit to it.
I also successfully grabbed the latest release of Eclipse and the latest Java SDK; and had a "hello, world" up in pretty much no time at all.

That's where the joy ended. Three things are now causing me grief:

Sony Ericsson's SDK has a known installer issue in Windows.
I've been going in circles in this one for a few hours, it really takes it out of you.
The viPlugin I enjoyed in Eclipse many moons ago seems to have fallen into disrepair.
As noted by someone in #eclipse,
" viPlugin is obviously only used by mentally unwell people"
Curiously the website seems to indicate that there has been recent activity, but it's just another thing to chase up..
I just discovered the prerequisites for EclipseME, the plugin which made developing for a mobile phone so easy when I was working on WordSolver. Looks like I'll be rolling back to an ancient version of Eclipse then, no doubt bringing more problems with it. Sad face.

Still, considering this is my first time trying to do this on Windows I suppose it's not too bad.

However, I'm bored now so I'm going to play some TF2, which, since I switched the language to German now technically counts as a learning activity :)

Friends

2009-12-30T00:40:00.001Z

= awesome

Jamp

2009-12-28T15:03:00.002Z

Okay so the Christmas period is officially over and now it's the period of purgatory before the new year begins. So I've decided (granted a year later than planned) I am going to write Jamp and there will be a 0.1 on Github by New Years eve :)

Aside from that I have to report that I've had a lovely Christmas etc.

Everything is rather nice, as always.

Catching a train to London in the snow

2009-12-19T13:59:00.001Z

It really is almost insultingly pretty out there!
Next time I resolve to spend all day in bed (as occurred yesterday) I shall immediately go to the train station instead :)

Eh, uh

2009-12-19T02:20:00.005Z

I really wanted to write a Blog, but I can't get it together to write everything I want to say.

So instead I'm going to post this picture of Brody:

Damn right we're gonna be together one day.

Until then, I'm cool with my new pet rat:

Wow, so you know those times when you just think "what the hell am I doing with my life".
Yeah...

Last.fm fun

2009-12-14T23:20:00.002Z

I haven't written a post about Last.fm in a while so here's two fun new features I've discovered:

A rather supercool playground app called Tube Tags (link is a pdf).
It's fun trying to remember/guess what inspired different genre spikes.
A way overdue hack to normalise your most played based on song length rather than number of scrobbles.
I'm pleased to see that my favourites The Field have jumped up eighteen places, not surprising when my favourite album consists of four fifteen minute tracks :)

I finally finished the first book of the book I was reading, and promptly took it straight back to the library. It was fun but I'm just not optimised for long novels...

Cancelled: My relaxing Sunday evening

2009-12-14T00:30:00.003Z

Ha, so here's a little story for you:

Around 5pm I got back to my room in Birmingham having spent Friday and Saturday night away.
I decided to have a little nap, then do some chores before settling early. It was a sensible plan.

Thankfully, and I don't know what inspired me to do this, I awoke around 6pm and grabbed my laptop; I ended up checking facebook and last.fm. Upon viewing the latter I noticed this.

"Ah yes, I'm going to see Marilyn Manson this evening, now I remember".

Don't you just love it when that happens!

Needless to say it was a little or a rush to get my shit together, eat, have a couple of beers and make it to the gig. But, crucially I was able to change my mood from one which would see me lazing around the house all evening to one which would see me confronted with this:

And so I was thinking, perhaps that's why I'm generally okay all the time, perhaps it's because I can (most of the time) adapt my mood to suit the situation :)

I will engineer this into something more than a wild musing when I don't have to go hit my bed right now. But be sure to check back soon for exciting news about my new rodent friend.

Awoken!

2009-12-10T00:18:00.001Z

Well I survived another night, and day.

Everything is going well, last night was pretty special.
For reference the mix I was listening to was this one from Ben Watt, I think I first heard it around Autumn last year.
Things were different back then, but it still makes me cry a little!

I also just had my last German lesson last night, hopefully there will be enough interest to run another course in the new year; I'll be on it in a second.
Standing waiting for the bus to the swimming pool afterwards I enjoyed a rather euphoric moment; it was pouring with rain and everyone looked sad.
I couldn't help but smile. Don't you just hate people like that? :)

So my building at work had some children singing carols and other festive ditties (there's a word I've never used before) in the downstairs foyer. I learned that it is not possible to practise German whilst listening to children; and that I never want children. Ever. Probably¹.

I'm having fun at work. I like my job. I wish more people could like their jobs.
In fact the thing I like least about my job is that I always feel guilty about having a job I like when everyone doesn't seem to.
In fact really I should be mad at you all for not quitting your jobs you don't like and finding something you do, because until you do I'll never be completely happy in my job, for the aforementioned reason :P

Starting next week: More inspiring Blogs, less 'I did this today' Blogs.

¹ And I only qualify with probably so I don't get assaulted with comments saying that I'll want kids when I meet the right person and such :)

From my bed, up

2009-12-08T23:20:00.001Z

I promised myself I was going to write a Blog and letters of love tonight.
However having returned from swimming and layed down in the dark, listening to my favourite Autumn mix I am far too zen to even contemplate such things.
So I opted for a Blog from my phone, which only supports photo Blogs. But the all encompassing darkness is somewhat lost in a tiny square on the screen, and that exactly the reason I'm going to put my phone down now.
I may never wake up..

Staying late at work

2009-12-02T20:29:00.002Z

I think someone is trying to tell me something...
And I assume by, "Submit a console repair request" they actually mean, "go enjoy a delicious ale, you deserve it".
Well, it would be crazy of me to ignore Microsoft support now wouldn't it :)

Another weekend

2009-11-29T20:27:00.001Z

Another empty train back to Birmingham.
It's a horrible evening of cold and rain, I think everyone was smart enough to stay inside with their lovers and/or personal entertainment devices (although I suppose in most regards the latter subsumes the former; a line of thought which probably explains why I rarely have a lover!)
Still in lieu of said lover there are few places I'd rather be than on an empty train, looking out in to the blackness, listening to some exceptionally melancholy music. Unfortunately, because I still haven't started/finished writing Jamp none of it is being scrobbled. I really should get round to writing it because it often occurs to me that most of my music listening (of the stuff which really matters) takes place on trains/buses/foot.
... Of course, this is really just an extend justification of Britney still being my #1 artist :)

Those details of my weekend I promised

2009-11-24T23:30:00.002Z

Okay so firstly I'm becoming more and more aware that my Blog is now a series of "so this is what I did this weekend" posts; so basically an extended calendar. So I'll endeavour to provide a little more depth and insight in future posts. But right now, I had a busy day at work, then my German class and then swimming, so I'm pretty much ready to pass the hell out!

Here's what happened:

On the Saturday I attended another new venue for myself in Birmingham, called Eddie's Rock Club. Random place (carpeted floors, what?) but I was there to see Alec Empire, so that it could have been hosted in a Wetherspoons and it would still have been epic.
Things I obtained from this evening:
- An ATR teeshirt which I have to try not to wear all the time (I need to make up for not having bought one in four years).
- A copy of 60 Second Wipe Out, which makes me feel better because I've been listening it through backed up mp3s of the CD which I assure you I bought and subsequently lost.
  I still like this approach of downloading mp3s and then buying vinyl, even though it is actually illegal.
  On a related note I did try buying digital first the first time last week, I paid for this (admitedly wonderful) album on 7digital, downloaded it and commenced listening only to discover that the last track cut off after one minute (of fifteen); which being basically a quarter of the album I was a little phased by. Thankfully I found the contact us section and reported it: They have still not got back to me, fuckers :(
- A new friend!
  Having reached a point in my life where going to gigs on my own is a nonissue (other than the issue of it usually meaning you drink more) this is always a treat. So yeah, that was pretty cool. It transpired she's from Leicester and studies and DMU, which links rather convienently into:

Saturday I made with haste to Leicester for a night which I have waited all my life for, I'm just gonna go ahead and verbatim this right here:
It caters for your inner-geek. The child in you that still loves stuff like all those cartoons from the 80s and 90s, the music from all the great anime films, and maybe even the theme tune to Pokemon!

But that's not all. Power-up also plays all the great tunes from computer games, ranging from the NES, SNES, Master System / Sega Genesis, Megadrive, Playstation, N64 and a world of PC titles.

Power-up loves game music and tunes from Anime. We're just big geeks who love music, and we love playing it for you!
So yeah, it was a hoot, tripped over there with the Demons and a lot of fun was had.
It was a surreal treat to return to one of my old haunts from my DMU days. I sometimes wonder if I should be moving on and not returning to Leicester; but then I remember that I have awesome friends and awesome times, so I couldn't give a damn :)
Things I obtained from this evening:
- A hang over.
- Endless joy.
- A conversation with Brittany, which is just always so worth it, I need to call her right now even though I should clearly be going to bed.

R.e. My new new girlfriend

2009-11-22T18:17:00.001Z

Could you please look like this, kthxbai x
Also, I have had quite the fun weekend, details to come!

TED

2009-11-16T23:25:00.001Z

I recently rediscovered the TED Talks site, having forgotten about it for a few years.

It occurs to me the more talks I watch more more I become aware that I have not yet fulfilled my plan to revolutionise the world. So I'm going to get right on that.

And what do all people who generally make the world a better place have in common?
They all wake up in the morning! And that is exactly what I intend to do...

I have only succeeded once in getting up early and out for a run, and far more frequently have succeeded in getting up late and having to run to work. Must. Rectify.

My weekend #[2,3,4]

2009-11-16T22:54:00.001Z

So upon parsing the title of my previous post I apologise if I misled you into thinking there was to be several photo Blogs of the weekend; although it does imply that we're on the same level, as posting several photo Blogs was exactly my intention.

Where did it all go terribly wrong?
Well I was actually having too much fun to remember, that is to post a Blog for events two and three, and to attend at all for event number four. Lets see what I got up to:

After returning safely from London, I dispatched an afternoon of chores before heading to enjoy a 'dance theatre event' with my friend Rachel.
I will say two things: Firstly it was amazing and secondly the short video at that link (which thankfully wasn't available prior to the show) doesn't do it anywhere near justice.
Yes, it pretty special; I'd like to go and see more, although I'm not sure how more classical ballet would sit with me. The pace, music, sex and drugs definitely attracted me to this ;)
Oh and I shall have to read the book to, once I've dispatched with my current epic.
Following the theatre I was lucky enough to catch a ride back to Leamington with Rachel and so join my friend Ellie and company in celebrate her birthday.
It was a hat party; an occasion for which I bought a hat.
I've waited a long time for a valid opportunity to (be required to) buy a hat. I was a little uncertain at first, but I think the trick is to first accept that hats are a ridiculous invention, and move on from there. There may or may not be photos of this hat out in the ether. I'll get back to you on that one.
I was scheduled on Sunday to attend an event of retro computer systems, with my favourite DMU society, the Demons.
Naturally however I woke up far too late and missed it, you can't always have everything :(

There you have it!
Now on to the fun stuff!.

My weekend #1

2009-11-13T22:07:00.001Z

Tegan & Sara

Grey, again (misplaced)

2009-11-11T09:50:00.001Z

Rejoice, I did it, somehow. A lot harder than I remember; I guess that's kinda the point..
Unfortunately the grey sky over an entirely uninspiring (miserable) Birmingham doesn't really back the good feelings.
Still, if I close my eyes (avoid walking into a lamp post), and listen to Brody real hard I can almost pretend I'm driving through the middle of the desert, almost :)

November 2009: The soya chronicals

2009-11-11T01:31:00.005Z

Okay my battery indicator gives me twenty minutes, I promised myself I'd commit a decent Blog tonight after last night's rather terse entry.

Note: I've just been doing some German practise (mainly reading people's conversations on facebook, which seems to be a great lexicon for useful words¹) and it's taking a little effort to adjust back to writing in English. I think that's a good sign.

So it's been a little while Since We Last Spoke, and you may be wondering what I've been up to? Well lets have another update list:

Passing through the end or British summer time I spent a weekend drinking tea and deciding that I'd like to move from my current uninspiring location (aside from the resevoir) to nearer where the cool kids are.
I went to Scruffy (don't judge a bar by its website) Murphy's for the first time.
Mainly discovered I like cider and punk-rock-girls.
I had a relaxing Halloween.
Not quite dressing up and going out to get wasted, but rather staying in, watching a few scary (for certain values of 'scary') films and being beaten at Go by a girl who's been playing it for a quarter the time I have. All in all a rousing success :)
Fireworks night is always a time when I like to party.
So I snuck back home to Kenilworth and went to watch the fireworks by the Castle. People really need to get more creative with fireworks; they've kinda lost there appeal :|
I made a more or less last minute snap decision to go to this on Sunday night; it transpired to be a great decision, as all snap decisions do. Although I it confirmed that the venue really does make a big difference, and it seems the NEC is about a soul-less as you can get; I'd like summer and 'real' festivals back please.
I've started drinking soya-milk...

Well you see it was the culmination of two factors:

Oh, yes I switched on to battery half way through that list...

Firstly, the mundane factor: We kept running out of milk at work and I decided that I should take my own in. Then it occurred to me this was an ideal opportunity to try out this soya I'd been hearing so much about.

Secondly, it's winter and that means that I (and I suspect everyone?) is a little more tired and emotionally fragile than usual, so it seems like a good idea to try and inject a change of pace.
But surely stopping drinking milk won't do that?
I'm not sure, I'm acutely aware that I'm now one-of-those-people-who-drinks-Rooibos-tea-with-soya-milk and that upsets me slightly. But, well, some people...

Ah Steve, you've gotta love him, up until the point you realise you want to punch him in the face.
Maybe that's the point)

... have claimed that drinking milk (and I did drink pints of the stuff per day) might not be the smartest move if you want to balance you sleeping/energy levels; and mine are anything but balanced at the moment.

Now whilst this is all fluffy and nice it doesn't quite feel like I'm doing enough to combat the Autumn fatigue/blues, and we know the one thing I'm not going to do is sit around crying about it. So I've decided to re-instantiate going for a run in the morning; starting tomorrow (uh, so now today) morning. I'll let you know how that one goes :|

I'll leave you with this quotation I spotted on the side of the Midlands School of Philosophy a few days ago:

"Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony".

I'm going to go ahead and say that's total bullshit.
I personally invalidate it (by virtue of obtaining think/say/do 'harmony' and yet receiving no happiness) on a daily basis, and as such provide this version:

"Happiness is when you don't need to think about what you say, and what you do just happens"

Discuss.

Okay, damn, it's nearly 2:30am, I think we're beyond the point where some hippie loving mantras and soya can see me getting up refreshed and ready to go.
But, I refuse to be late for work ever again and I am going to get up and get out on that run. Sunrise 7:23am, temperature 5°C, I'm going to be out there, or, possibly not if my bed is warmer :|

¹ Two of my favourites: Krass, and a word I surely could have done with while walking through Berlin: Geil :)

I'm okay

2009-11-09T23:36:00.001Z

Everything is going to work out just fine!

Music

2009-10-22T00:59:00.002+01:00

This evening, well for the past few hours, I have enjoyed an activity I haven't in far too long:
Sitting with a pair of headphones and listening to a shit load of new music, and finding happiness.

Of course this wouldn't be possible were it not for the existence of Last.fm, so yey for Last.fm.

I think I'm actually too relax to fall asleep, if you can imagine such a thing; for right now I don't want to slip out of this entirely real state of content and into the artificial one of the dream world.
(The premise is that my dreams are content and trauma free, I don't think they've been too bad lately!).
And to allay any concerns, I'm not resisting the night for unwillingness to accept that work is in the morning, the Viglen year is truly confined to the past, I'm pleased to say.
Having passed my six month probation today I'm pleased to report it is quite the opposite, I'm working on some really fun stuff at the moment and it's still exciting to see the efforts of work coming to fruition on the screen.

Some facts:

For some reason I keep thinking about a book I read a while ago called Rant.
I have no plans for this weekend or the next one.
Despite being acutely aware that I should, I seem to have no free time at the moment.
I have no free time because I am filling my evenings with activities such as swimming, going to German lessons and staying late at work to build up flexi-time.
This is a funny¹ period of my life.
The world is a ~~terrible~~ beautiful place.

¹ Both "haha" and "wtf?".

LAN

2009-10-17T19:58:00.001+01:00

I hope I never grow out of this :)