So, it’s been several months since my last blog post, but I’m back and will try not to leave it as long before the next post.
I’ve moved on from the loyalty company I was contracted to at the beginning of the year. I then worked for an online dating company for a few months, adding some new functionality to their sites and now find myself on a three month contract for a major financial institution here in Belgium! This is my first contract outside the UK and so far it’s going well.
I’m working with a nice bunch of people, the work is fun and I’m renting a nice house, about 10 minutes from the office.
I have some new toys: on the musical side of things I have added a 24″ Apple iMac, an Akai MPK49 and Native Instruments Kore2 & Komplete to my studio. The iMac is dedicated to running Logic and is simply wonderful. The MPK is a really nice control keyboard. I looked at quite a few, but settled on the Akai mainly down to the features and it’s build quality – built like the side of a barn! The NI kit is a never-ending source of really usabale sounds and was well worth the investment. I’ve also been using Spectrasonic’s Atmosphere and am looking forward to their new updated offering, Omnisphere, which was released this week.
My Studio
I’ve also just received a Nokia N800 Internet Tablet and it’s just rocking my world! B-> When I was younger, Sci-fi programmes were full of people using these wireless, handheld gadgets to communicate and receive messages etc – that’s what this does and it does it so well! I now have the gadget I always dreamed of owning! It works seamlessly with either wifi or via Bluetooth to your phone and whatever 3G network you happen to be connected to. It really looks the part too.
Nokia N800 Internet Tablet
I’ve been learning some new skills too, both on this contract and on my own time. I’m currently grappling with JQuery and have spent quite some time recently working with SQL Server 2005, rather than 2000, which I know so well. I’ve had some ‘issues’ with the Studio (I’ve been heard to say: ‘I know where this thing is in Enterprise Manager, but where have they hidden it here!’ quite a few times).
At home our bathroom has been ripped out and is being rebuilt from the ground up – we’ve had all kinds of fun finding tiles, finding a bath and shower that would fit, rebuilding walls, knocking those new walls down again, so we could replace the bath with another one that fitted, but was more appropriate for my wife, building another wall – the usual things. We’re also about to have the whole house rewired, including CAT5 cables to every room (At last!).
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Recent discoveries in Film & TV include the wonderful film Hairspray – not my normal cup of tea, but a really enjoyable ‘feel good’ movie. I’ve also been quite gripped by an early 70s animated french film called ‘Fantastic Planet’ – quite simply the freakiest, trippiest film I think I’ve ever seen – lots of psychedelic images and sounds. Also worthy of note is ‘Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace’ – a parody of all that was bad about TV shows in the early 80s – great stuff! I’d thoroughly recommend any of these.
Beardless!
Final news: The beard is dead, long live the face! Yes, I have shaved off my beloved beard – after 15 years, I decided it was time for a change, so off it came. I’m left with a moustache and a ‘Soul Patch’ beard (a small, triangular patch of facial hair just below my bottom lip – sometimes called Brazilian Velcro or a Soup Catcher! B->)
Thats all for now – I’ll post a few more details about some of the things I’ve mentioned over the next few days, if I get the time.
All the best
RustyBadger
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