Sunday, December 04, 2011

De-Beard-ification!

So, I was lazy during October and November so I ended up growing a beard. When I eventually decided to remove it, I of course *had* to take "progress report" photos along the way. Enjoy its ridiculousness...

debeardification

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Microsoft, Microsoft, Microsoft

At work I do an unfortunately significant amount of development for Microsoft products. This usually results in building solutions in Visual Studio, which is their preferred manner of building solutions, since it is of course their own product.

Today, I had to work out how to build a solution for SharePoint, and I was presented with the most glaringly obvious example of how Microsoft are lost in their own mess of products.

To break it down, here is what I was trying to do:

Develop using Microsoft Visual Studio
Develop in Microsoft Windows 7
Develop for Microsoft SharePoint

Now, bearing in mind that VS 2010 comes PRE-LOADED with a SharePoint development environment, how hard can it be? After all, everything here is MS; no 3rd parties, where I could see integration being a problem.

However, I cannot actually start a project without SharePoint installed. OK, I'll install SharePoint. But I'm not allowed to install SharePoint without running Windows Server as my OS. Some might think "fair enough, it's a server-based application", but others, like me, thought "how many developers log into a LIVE server to develop on a different machine??". Or "insanity!" for short.

What made the whole situation amusing, was this: a step-by-step guide, written by Microsoft themselves on how to essentially fool Microsoft SharePoint into thinking you have Microsoft Windows Server instead of Microsoft Windows 7 so you can use Microsoft Visual Studio. It involved installing lots of Windows "hotfixes". The whole thing sounded like one guy at MS, tutting to himself going "nice work guys, none of these work together... and who has to save the public? Muggins here...".

Of course, even though I have everything I need locally, I can't actually connect to our external server to read data, nor can I deploy any solutions directly to the server.

The indication to me is that Microsoft, so large following their success in the 90s, have too many teams, too many products, and too little help. Huge ranges of products may provide businesses with out-of-the box solutions; but they definitely lack a "uniformed interfacing" approach when it comes to development. After all, how can any developer be expected to integrate Microsoft systems with their business, when Microsoft can't even integrate their own systems without their own special brand of "hotfix glue"...?

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Relax Before The Rush

Right before I rushed off on holiday (more on that later - I really need to catch up!) we were taken on a little treat at work...

A Relaxing Time

I say rushed off. I mean it: by the time we finished for the night I had 3hrs before a taxi to the train station! So I tried the best I could to enjoy the peaceful surroundings and amenities of Babington House, in Somerset.

The House

It's reportedly popular with the celebs for a bit of getaway; we took the entire company (minus one, who was there in spirit as well as cardboard cut-out form..) and rented out the place. And then had a sports day! How nostalgic!

A Good Throw

But of course, when the sack races, egg-and-spoon races, and well-throwing was done, we got to enjoy the heated pool, the free bar (FREE BAR!), a delightful meal, and one great party! I was remarkably tired, and with a plane to catch, I was a little disappointed I couldn't enjoy my amazing room for a lot longer!

Bedroom of Awesome

Room of Awesome

See the whole set here.

Sunday, September 11, 2011

10 Years Ago

It seemed apt to post some thoughts today, on the 10th anniversary of the attacks on September 11th, 2001. I don't want it to be cheesy, or disrespectful, or anything like that. So no pictures.

I remember the day well; it's hard not to remember "where you were" when you first turned the TV on. I was hanging about at home, with no job as I was preparing to head off to University for the first time a couple of weeks later. I was talking to friends online, who suddenly went quiet except for demands that everyone should turn the news on, right now. I remember looking at the twin towers, one on fire. I didn't think too much of it; fires happen all the time, right? Then I saw the replay of a plane flying into it... That set the whole air of disbelief for the entire day. The other plane, news of attacks on the Pentagon and other planes coming down, until the towers themselves came down. It somehow never seemed quite real; you couldn't really get your head around the scale of what was happening.

In fact, I never could quite comprehend, even from all the news cameras and amateur footage, the size of the buildings as they were toppling - never mind the amount of people they would contain. I had never been to New York, nor had I been to any city even remotely as "tall" as New York. Only once I visited New York for business last year, did I try to get my head around the size of what happened. I went to Ground Zero; not deliberately (I was merely playing tourist around South Manhattan); and it was looking up that made me realise that something so huge was so very missing, in a sudden wide open space.

Our New York office has now moved into the new WTC 7 building - I've seen the view from pictures, across the site of the original towers and the memorial pools in the old footprints. A few of the colleagues I have there; even those not from New York, and mostly unpolitical; reluctant to get into any debate on "conspiracies" or "the war on terror"; have said they find it hard to take in. I think I'll find it difficult if I'm ever there, looking over the site and still remembering so much from 10 years ago.

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Glastonbury Festival #6

This summer, like every summer since 2005 (except from the year it wasn't on), I went to Glastonbury Festival. It's a yearly occurrence giving a good group of friends the chance to catch up, sleep rough, drink cider, and see bands. Here was this year's "crew":

The Crew!

If you enjoy music festivals, I can't recommend Glasto enough. Once you go, you will be comparing every other festival to it for the rest of your festival-ling days! So many good places to eat, a great atmosphere, a sea of tents (as modelled by myself below)

Alan and the Tents

...and of course, the music. We weren't too thrilled about the lineup this year, but there was still a decent amount to see. My particular favourites were Eels, Queens of the Stone Age, and a long-term favourite of mine, who I'd been waiting at least a decade to see, Pulp!

Jarvis Sings

Ah, Jarvis... your banter, your "moves", and your songs are still tremendous.

The mud and rain were quite horrible at times, especially as it took 6 drenched hours to get into the site, but we battled through. As always, it was worth it. We will have to think of something else for our "Glasto friends" group to do next year, as they're having another off. But I certainly won't rule out a return in 2013... or 14...

Check out the full set of pics here!

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Let's Play Catch-up

I've been busy! I've been on holiday, and have loads to post about, but before that, I need to catch up with some smaller things that have happened.

Let's start at the end of May, when we went to see Belle & Sebastian at The Roundhouse. I bought the tickets as a Valentine's Day gift, so it was a long wait for the actual romantic night out! They're one of L's favourite bands, so they made a perfect gift; and this was my 3rd gig in the venue, which I really do like.

B&S Dark

Next up, a trip to the zoo. Late! In the summer they open the doors in the evening to adults only, allowing you to spend the end of the day looking at animals, with a drink and a bite to eat. Talking of eating, I think the burger I had was the best part of the evening. The zoo started closing the animal houses and sectioning off the park way earlier than I would have expected, so I was rather disappointed to be ushered away from areas before I had even seen half of the zoo. Still, they had a cool penguin area, and who doesn't love marching penguins?

Penguin March

We then had a small workmate gathering one weekend to say "cheerio" to one of our team. David (middle of the below pic), headed back to Spain a few weeks ago now - a thoroughly nice guy who could never quite work out my Scottish accent. We headed to "Queen's Skate and Bowl", where you can, clearly, do both of those things. And also drink, eat, and partake in karaoke. Interesting venue! We didn't sing, but did try and regain our skating legs.

Cheers!

There was one final catch-up before the holiday, where I headed to the homeland to catch-up with my Dad. I hadn't seen him since November, which is very sad. But he has a new job, which is happy news! I'm quite proud of him really; laid off from his engineering job which he's had or changed for at least a couple of decades, he decided to go back to college and finish his career in an area really enjoys: nature! And what better way to illustrate this than post a picture of him crawling after a blackbird?

Blackbird Stalking

Whilst up there, we took a trip to his "office" - Kailzie Gardens in the Scottish Borders! It's most famous for having a live feed to a family of nesting ospreys out in the woods. Dad's the project head of "KLAWED", where he's aiming to attract both more wildlife and visitors to the area. He's really excited about it, and so am I! It's a very pretty place, even in the rain.

Hanging Bunch

So, now I'm pretty much caught up... except for the two summer trips: Glastonbury Festival and the big ol' jaunt to the USA. More to follow, promise!

Wednesday, August 03, 2011

Lovely Construction

Our office is high up. Really high up. For London anyway. We moved in back in September after a massive amount of growth; both in reputation and in staff numbers. Almost immidiately, we realised we would need a new space; so we've taken the shell next door.

The view is equally amazing in both. To our wonderful sights across the Thames, towards St Pauls, the Eye and beyond, ie this:

Sunset Over the Thames

we are adding this:

Axe

The office starts as an empty shell, so we have to kit it out. It started out just like this:

The Shell

We did an amazing job in the first room; with glass meeting rooms; a tonne of flat-screen TVs showing the states of our systems; and modern, spacious desks. This one will be no exception; though it is to be catered towards the Engineers (like me!). This means more screens. Ridiculously large, flat screens from Samsung:

Stupidly Flat

Seriously; these things are soooo sexy. 55 inch screen, 1 inch thick. We have a series of smaller screens too, though constructing their wall-mounts seems to be causing our Infrastructure guys some headaches:

TVs Give You Headaches

We also have entire wall, floor-to-ceiling whiteboards. Essentially walls with special paint which you can draw on with whiteboard markers, and it washes right off. Pretty nifty! Oh, and we'll also have an arcade. Yes. An arcade. With at least 9 proper retro 80s machines, fresh from bidding wars on eBay. These ones were moved into the room whilst we carpeted the arcade room and painted it black.

Machines

It's nearly finished, but I'm off on holiday! So I will post the results up in a few weeks; hopefully everything will be fully constructed, and super-sexy. Then it's on to building the new New York City office...

Sunday, July 31, 2011

The Thames Path

The Thames, whilst far from being the bluest, cleanest river I've ever seen, is still a delight to wander around. We're lucky enough to live in a building right on the Thames Path, so it's really easy for us to pick a direction to spend an afternoon heading in.

Just Left Home
Ours is the blue one!

For those who haven't walked any of it before, the Thames Path runs from source to sea on both banks. Due to the amount of London which is situated right on the banks of the Thames, walking even a small part of the Path can take you through different sights and sounds of London life. Also, as some things do block the path at points, you do occasionally have to head inwards a bit.

Along The Top

One such section of the Path which can be quite busy, took us from the South Bank, via the Tate Modern (and the wobbly bridge!) to London Bridge.

Up The Chimney

Last weekend, L and I headed west from our home in Battersea, about 6 miles to Barnes. We then crossed over Hammersmith Bridge for a pub dinner, before heading home (by bus though, our legs were mighty tired!) in time for a nice sunset over the Thames.

Back for the Sunset

If you find yourself with a nice afternoon and you want to explore some of London's riverside delights, then I fully recommend picking a chunk of the Thames, and let your legs take you places...

Full Flickr set for "Battersea to Barnes" here.

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Starting, Again

Quick announcement: I'm actually going to blog!

I'm actually going to post things on here. They may be brief rambles which are too big for Twitter, they may be photo journals. But there will be *something*.

The latter will definitely be true, as I head off to the US for two weeks - I'm totally planning a photo blog. But, since I've announced it, there will definitely be things appearing here soon. Also, I should probably settle on a design nicer than "meh, just black"...

Monday, February 28, 2011

I'm Up To Date!

I just realised... this is the first time in probably 2 years I have been up-to-date with my photos online! My latest Flickr uploads were my latest photos, and I have nothing left in between. Maybe... this is the start of something good. Maybe... I'll actually keep it this way. Maybe... people will even actually look at them?! Who knows! But I'll give it a shot if you will?

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Adventures

When I first moved to London I was introduced to bar in Battersea called Adventure. This was mostly due to the fact my friend, already in London when I moved down, used to live with the co-owner. As it was near our respective flats it became a popular meeting place, and still is amongst a much wider circle of friends.

Nearly 4 years later and the bar has now developed into a chain of four. Our usual place is very small, but there's a bigger one in Balham where I have spent an extremely intoxicated birthday. I have (sadly?) never been to East Dulwich; but to complete the four they now have one in popular Covent Garden. It seemed apt that we'd go to the new bar for the aforementioned mate's birthday.

The style of Adventure is, certainly at the weekends, loud and busy. It's a cocktail bar with an insanely large selection of cocktails, served by fun, chatty, and sometimes a little drunk, bartenders. There's also bottle and spirits if cocktails aren't your thing. We went armed with a tonne of vouchers courtesy of Living Social, meaning we got 65% off when buying 4 cocktails; perfect for drinky-fun party-times. The site offers different deals each day designed to generate business for bars, spas, restaurants and the like in the form of cheap and one-time-only deals.

We had fun, and many drinks, and I'm sure we'll be meeting there again soon. For more reasons than the fact I still have 5 vouchers left...

So, we went to Windsor

Being a teacher, my girlfriend had the last week off. Being in need of a short break, I also took a couple of days off. Being a nice day, we wanted to go some place new and take photos and such. Being a little short on cash we decided to go somewhere which was only a short journey from the nearest train station. So, we went to Windsor.

First off we visited one of those touristy places which has always been there but seemed to be ignored despite it being 45 minutes away on the train: Windsor Castle. It was very photogenic in the sun along with its well-kept greenery.

Greens & Blues

We then enjoyed a long walk down "The Long Walk" before crossing the bridge to Eton, where we had a nice pub dinner.

Windsor & Eton Riverside

Suffice to say the sun was a welcome change to the grey and damp which has been prominent in the UK in 2011 so far. I for one can't wait for it to start actually giving us some heat as well as nice skies and good light.

Friday, February 25, 2011

Christmas & New Year: Stateside

I've been catching up with the photos I took over the festive period; a time which I spent between New York City and Wisconsin. I was at my company's New York office and apartments up til a week before Christmas, before jetting off to spend Christmas with my girlfriend and her family in WI. Then it was back to New York for New Years eve! Well, sort of - there was some crazy snow, fog, and flight problems to make it all seem a lot more hectic than it actually was.

I managed to get 3 distinct sets on my Flickr out of the best photos. The first of these includes the week up to Christmas Day and the few days after. Everything was beautifully white and I was in the middle of some delightful countryside and farmland.

A Wintery View

The second covered Christmas Day - which was spent with a large portion of my girlfriend's family - which was really nice as I missed my own family terribly having never spent a Christmas away from them before. They all made me feel very welcome!

Family Gathering

This also marked a change in my (thus far) fairly amateurish photography. L and her parents gave me my first DSLR camera! So I apologise for the first few sets of photos as I get used to the wealth of features suddenly at my keen fingertips...

Thirdly, I have a few snaps from New Years eve which we spent in Central Park. Mostly I took pics of fireworks, but the lighting and snow seemed to enjoy my camera so there's a few shots through snowy trees and such. However, I was just glad to spend a fun time of the year with L in her homeland!

Shadows of Us

Happy 2011 :)

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Well, hello there.

I've never had a blog before, nor a website to myself. I enjoy Flickr and Twitter so have decided to make a "proper go" of it and start rambling and posting stuff and things on here as well. Let's see how it goes and, indeed, how long it lasts...