new school

July 18, 2008 — Si

A quick work update and banking rant:

Whilst the freelance work has been warming up nicely, it’s not yet enough to live on. So I figured it’s time to slide that to evenings/weekends and return to the world of regular work.

I applied for a couple of jobs back at uni that seemed like good fits.  One was Web Programmer and System Admin based in Maths.  The other was a Teaching Fellowship for Evolutionary Computation and AI based in Computer Science.  I was short-listed for the former but not the latter, based on experience.  Go figure.

I figure the WebDev/SysAdmin post has a bunch of advantages. I’ll be learning lots of stuff that’ll be useful for the future.  I’ll be able to clock off at 5pm and have do wild things like go for a beer without feeling guilty on multiple fronts. Plus it’s a change of scenery, which I always find energising, whilst maintaining a healthy geek quotient. I’m looking forward my 1st Aug start – a Friday!

A change of bank is also in order after getting an unfamiliar “computer says ‘no'” experience less than a week before getting the job offer.  I’ve been with Lloyds TSB for 14 years and put up with mediocre services, ineptitude and clunky systems solely on the grounds that I could point to my record if I needed some extra slack. Toss any banking recommendations in comments.

Here are some recent random photos:

Posted in Unfiled. Tags: , , . Leave a Comment »

beer, bread and speed

June 25, 2008 — Si

Monday night saw me at the Malthouse (mistakenly) then the Flapper (learning about Norse gods and the insider’s guide to living on a longboat).  Birmingham Bloggermeets: Great for random topics and predictable hangovers.

I also gave away a computer desk and acquired a breadmaker in the last couple of days.  I’d like to say I mediated these entirely unconnected transactions by the magic of the social interwebs.  Actually, the desk was spotted by a neighbour (whom I utterly failed to recognise when they knocked on the door) when I put it outside for a couple of hours.  The breadmaker was sourced via a random comment at a mini dinner party (for want of a better term – always brings to mind napkins and after eights).

Spent most of last weekat the SPEED training session (seen by Jon).  We learnt more than I can remember but I trust a bunch of it seeped in.  Memorable items included how to give good handshake, dropping words like ‘hopefully’, ‘just’ and ‘please’ (whilst ‘stretching’ other words) and noting that 4/12 attendees were called Simon.

Put in a couple of job applications into the university machine at the end of last week.  Both interesting yet regular work.  Whilst I’m still instinctively wary of the academic vortex, they do seem like a uncanny fits and the coffers could really use the regular charging.

Posted in roundup. Tags: , , , . Leave a Comment »

led crowds

June 12, 2008 — Si

Messing around with crowds the last week or so.

Lent a hand with a flashmob waterfight over the weekend in the centre of Brum.  Lots of kids appeared from nowhere and got fucking saturated for 15 minutes.  It was fun.

Straight after that, we got more hi-tech.  We rigged up a 5ft LED display to an SMS gateway to allow students to semi-automatically text in uncensored naughtiness at a festival.  Lots of students got pissed and made twats of themselves.  Our funky blue parasol went walkies.

Already having a pretty good idea what what possible with technology, it’s worth learning how crowds work.  In particular, how different crowds can be.  A proper blog post is in gestation.

Here are a few photos leading up to the above.

Posted in Unfiled. Leave a Comment »

entrepreneur and wizard abundance

May 17, 2008 — Si

The blogging irony: the more I do the less time I have to write about it. Will attempt to remedy by posting short, pithy updates.

The last couple of weeks have been made interesting by hanging around entrepreneurial types. Earlier, at the Young Entrepreneurs Forum at the University of Warwick. Latterly at the SPEED social at the University of Birmingham. Slightly freaky was a minor misunderstanding by one of the YEF organisers who initially mistook me for one of his tutors on the basis that he had the same not-super-common name.

The second weekend I spent at the parents eating velociraptic quantities of BBQ’d meat and scoring 10 Terry Pratchett books for a fiver at a car boot sale. Is it possible to tire of Pratchett? I’ll find out over the Summer, I guess. First, I want to read The Kite Runner since Naz has just finished it. We both enjoyed the film but she reckons the book is better.

Anyway, here’s the somewhat unrepresentative selection of mobile pics from the period. The 5 A Day experiment is hereby assimilated and all references to it will be purged 1984-style once I get around to it.

Posted in roundup. Leave a Comment »

Monkey On Unicycle

May 2, 2008 — Si

Extra nutrition yesterday.  Would have liked to have also snapped some of the meetings I had yesterday but not quite at that stage of auto-voyeurism yet.

Posted in 5aDay. Leave a Comment »

May 1, 2008 — Si

I’ll come clean and tell you today was a pretty forgettable one.  Knocked up a website portfolio in the morning and then coded in the central library in the afternoon.  I found a spot where you could catch a whiff of free wifi.  Look for British Art.

Posted in Unfiled. Leave a Comment »
« Older posts
Newer posts »