The Relentless Stream of Consciousness » personal updates

Excessive travel

Guy — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 22:46:37 +0000

Just a quick post to note that I won’t be able to blog over the next few weeks. I’m just back from a business trip to Weybridge, then I’m off to Kiev on business all next week, then a week in Mallorca for my first proper holiday of year, then a few days in Ibiza spending all my money on overpriced booze and overpriced clubs! *Phew* Wish me luck in not collapsing from exhaustion, and assuming I’m not asleep for the whole of next month I’ll be back to blogging once I’m back in early September. In the meantime, follow what I’m up to on Twitter and see where in the world I am on Dopplr.

Guy

BarCamp review soon

Guy — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 22:47:28 +0000

Better late than never, I’m back to blogging after going to BarCampLondon4 at the weekend. Somewhat ironic that I was possibly surrounded by the highest concentration of laptops in the world, and yet I’ve only just got round to writing this Anyway, in a nutshell, I had a great time - met lots of really interesting people and attended some fascinating talks and discussions. If you’re interested, look out for a full review on Friday morning - I’m off to Scotland for RockNess, and (assuming I stay awake) the train journey seems like a good time to sit down and write it

Lifestream and BarCamp

Guy — Fri, 30 May 2008 00:16:09 +0000

Just a couple of quick things I wanted to post.

First off, I’ve edited my About page recently so that it now includes a lifestream. This means that not only does it list my profiles around the Internet, but also aggregates information about what I’ve been doing on all of them onto one page. Check it out here if you fancy stalking me

And second, hot on the heels of BarCampNorthEast last weekend, I’m off to BarCampLondon4 tomorrow (can’t wait!). While I’d like to blog from there, my laptop’s from the prehistoric age and about as portable as a large lump of concrete. If you want to know what I’m up to, follow me on Twitter - or, indeed, the aforementioned sparkly new lifestream. Slides (subject: “The Geography of Technology”) will be posted sometime next week.

That’s it for the moment. Ciao!

Re-blogging

Guy — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 10:35:57 +0000

After much delay, I’m going to start blogging again. Really, I am What with one thing and another I somehow fell out of the way of it, but I’m going to make a concerted effort to make sure I keep it going this time. Just a quick disclaimer, though: my posts might be slightly fewer and further between than previously, as I now have a day job rather than sitting around all day - er - “studying”

Guy

I’m alive!

Guy — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 00:05:54 +0000

No, really, I am… although you could have been forgiven for thinking otherwise, considering I’ve not written on here for over two months

Since moving to Newcastle to start my new job I’ve not had a chance to blog much, what with work, being out more in the evenings (I go rock climbing now!) and having to use my friend’s PC because mine kinda died. I’m hopefully getting a new computer (shiny shiny MacBook) next month, and once I do I’ll endeavour to start posting regularly again

Until then, why not follow my thoughts on my Twitter?

Guy

Busy, busy!

Guy — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 22:51:07 +0000

Sorry I’ve still not blogged anything since I got the site up and running. I’ve been busy getting stuff ready for the next couple of weeks, as I’m off on holiday with my mate this week, then moving to Newcastle to start my new job straight after. All of this means that I won’t be blogging for a wee while longer, but bear with me and I’ll be back on here as soon as I can

Guy

Five day party!

Guy — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 12:30:11 +0000

As the title suggests, you shouldn’t expect any posts on here for at least the next five days as I’m off to a party at my mate’s house. Chilling, drinking copious quantities of beer, going out, playing paintball, trampolining and driving around the Yorkshire Moors on an old London Routemaster bus are all on the agenda Though, not all at once… Can’t wait!

The timing fits in quite well really, as next week I’m planning to take the site down for maintenance for a couple of days to make lots of changes. Why not use the next few days to catch up on anything you’ve not yet looked at? I’ll be back up and running about halfway through next week.

Guy

P.S. If you want to follow the party shinanagons, check my Twitter feed. My current status is now also displayed at the top of each page on my site.

Mallorca and my degree

Guy — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 22:39:34 +0000

I got back from Mallorca yesterday after a great week chilling out, diving, drinking and just having a laugh with my friends. However, I spent the whole week slightly worried because my exam results were due to come out the day before I came home and I really thought I’d totally screwed up my exams. In the end, I decided not to get anyone to text me my results because I didn’t want it to stop me having a good time. Turns out, I didn’t need to worry - the suspense got to me and I checked my e-mail on the tarmac at Edinburgh airport on the way home, and to my shock and surprise (not to mention happiness) I got a 2:1. So, all in all, a very good week

Guy

iTunes rental call

Guy — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 01:49:35 +0000

I had my call played on CNET’s Buzz Out Loud podcast today, which excited me no end because I’m a total geek. It has, however, served to emphasise that I hate hearing recordings of my own voice. Anyway, my point was this: Apple are rumoured to be planning a movie rental store, which would require modifications to the FairPlay DRM allowing files to expire after 30 days. While Steve Jobs has so far strenuously resisted the idea of a music subscription service, if Apple are willing to consider a movie rental service what’s to stop them doing the same with music in the future?

BOL episode 493 is here, with my call around ¾ of the way in.

Finals Fear

Guy — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 18:25:21 +0000

About 17 minutes ago, Finals Fear kicked in big-time. My finals are in about 5 weeks, and I still have tonnes of work to do for them so this is just a quick note to say that my blog’s going on holiday for a wee while. I might post intermittently but don’t expect regular words of wisdom again until the end of May. Please feel free to carry on commenting, though, and I’ll reply when I have time.

Guy

P.S. Keep me in your RSS feeds… I’ll be back

I’m a geek

Guy — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 18:14:01 +0000

You know you’re a geek when you dream that you’re in an episode of Buffy then Vampire Slayer. I can’t remember much, but I do remember that a monster (disguised as a blonde woman) kept turning Willow into a chicken’s egg. And then Willow kept hatching out of the egg as a frog, which I suppose means she was hatching out of herself. Weird. What made it especially geeky, however (aside from the fact I dreamt about a Buffy episode) was that the monster travelled around via RDF feeds (none of this RSS or ATOM nonsense) and predicted the future using the Internet.

Does anyone know a good shrink?

Headshavening

Guy — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 13:22:53 +0000

Gina raised about £270 for charity by shaving her head last night. All of that will go towards building classrooms and providing sanitation to a school in rural Nepal. A great cause, and a brave girl! From YouTube, here.

Caption competition

Guy — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 19:22:11 +0000

Photo by Ben Reyes, released under Creative Commons. Original here.

Back from BarCamp

Guy — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 18:19:37 +0000

I got back from BarCamp on Sunday night, but just haven’t got round to blogging since. It was really great… I learnt tonnes and met some really interesting people (geeks are people too!) and will post some thoughts on presentations when I get a chance this week.

There’s photos on Flickr here, videos on YouTube and Blip.tv here and here, and presentations on Slideshare here. There’s also more info on the BarCamp website here.

BarCamp presentation

Guy — Sat, 17 Feb 2007 01:25:15 +0000

I’m presenting at BarCamp (kinda an ad-hoc technology conference) this weekend, which I’m looking forward to. I’m going to be presenting on the subject, “Offshore Outsourcing and the Value of Test-Driven Development”, based on things I learnt while working as an IDS (IT systems analysis) intern at Procter & Gamble over the summer.

The BarCampLondon2 wiki is here. My presentation (liable to change) can be found on SlideShare, here.

Child soldiers

Guy — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 23:50:34 +0000

~~I’m aware that the parent category of “banter” is far too flippant for this post.~~

I’ve just got back from the cinema where I saw Blood Diamond, a film set in Sierra Leone in 1999. It was, when it comes down to it, a typical Hollywood movie - romance, action, a quest, good guys, bad guys. It was all harrowing and moving, but especially notable for its portrayal of child soldiers. It’s a horrific thought that, according to the film, there are 200,000 child soldiers in the world today. I’m not even going to express how terrible this is, as anyone with any kind of empathy will surely not need convincing. All I ask is that you consider visiting the website below and donating to help stop war and human rights abuses stemming from conflict diamonds.

Blood Diamond Action is here.

Update: The “banter” category has now been renamed to “updates and info”.

Five things

Guy — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 10:47:14 +0000

Five things you might not know about me:

I used to “sing” in my school choir.
Contrary to popular belief, I once held down a relationship for a whole 9 months.
I got the highest Advanced Higher Geography mark in Scotland in 2003.
When I was younger, I used to be obsessed with Star Trek. Not only did I have VHS box sets, I even had a Geordie-style visor I got at a Star Trek exhibition. When you looked through it, it acted like a prism. Cool…
I canoed along Loch Morar and Loch Nevis in 2005 on a four-day expedition. I don’t think I’ve exercised since.

I was tagged by Meri, whose most excellent blog is here. I tag Christine, Mugford, Andrzej (I spelt it right!), Kenners and Rob.