June 9, 2009 @ 22:17
It’s been a big few months, hence the lack of blogging!
In the this time I have:
- Left my job at Mendeley working on a cool piece of research software. It was time to move on to other things and there are no hard feelings on either side, hopefully my work on there will continue to be well received and more Linux people (although Windows/Mac are also supported) will check out the cool Qt/C++ reference manager.
- Moved back from London to Edinburgh. I’d been away in Ipswich and London since leaving university and the call of Caledonia became too strong to resist!
- I proposed on the top of Cairngorm to my beautiful best friend and girlfriend. It was here that we’d had our first long chat while walking down seven years ago this summer. She said yes so we’re now planning the wedidng for 2010 and are both very excited!
Here’s a picture of us a few minutes after getting engaged (more and bigger photos to follow on my Flickr):
All this stuff has got me thinking more about the future so I’m trying to do the following:
- Plan my wedding and try to find a marital home for my fiancee and I. Also, buy a very cute puppy for us to have.
- Nail the currently freelancing I’m currently doing for my secret dream employer so that it will become a permanent position.
- Not install Linux on my new Macbook as it’s not fully working yet and I want to try and avoid wasting time fiddling and force myself to help the KDE Mac project.
- Stop wasting time messing unnecessarily with my computers when they work fine. Stop reading blogs that aren’t incredibly interesting. Stop following people on Twitter that aren’t incredibly interesting. Possibly stop using Twitter altogether for this reason
Generally I just want to try and start to make the most of my life a bit more, focusing on the things in life that matter (my faith, my fiancee and meeting actual goals with KDE/bass-guitar-playing rather than messing about).
It’s a bit of a random time for resolutions but hopefully this is a time when I can turn over a new leaf and start being a bit more useful again. If I’ve not achieved anything public in music or software in a few months then I want someone to slap me!
Posted in My Life
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March 14, 2009 @ 13:45
Some of you may have read about the protests of returning troops to England from Iraq last week. They were greeted by a friendly welcome by the majority with a minority holding signs describing them as “Butchers” and “Terrorists“.
I read this and felt torn. On one hand the protesters are voicing their complaints against the British Army’s part in death of thousands of civilians. On the other hand they are raising the issue in a hugely polarising way which probably does more damage to their cause than aid it. After this brief pondering I returned to my week.
Over the following days the typical figureheads gave their sound-bites to the media about how awful this was and about how the protesters should be ashamed of themselves. Gordon Brown made one of his stereotypical comments, trying desperately to prove that he can do something right to a increasingly disappointed public. Basically, an fairly expected reaction.
What was unexpected was today’s story about David Davis MP calling for it to become a crime to incite hatred of serving soldiers. “Inciting hatred” is the clever new way to sweeten further restrictions of our free speech in a way the public will seemingly happily accept. David Davis admitted personal concerns about the war but insists that British soldiers are “our finest young men and women, the cream of society“.
Personally, I believe that most soldiers are brave men and women. I don’t think that they are necessarily finer people than the doctors or members of the emergency services who save lives daily but that’s another debate. I’m came pretty close to joining the military myself. I had several successful interviews with the British Army and was one away from a university bursary which would have got me a place in Sandhurst after graduation. Despite my current pacifist leanings I respect the opinion of those disagree and I respect those in the military.
The initial reasons given for the Iraq war have been revealed as mistaken at best and outright deceit at worst. Iraq is turning into a nightmare with thousands upon thousands of civilians displaced or killed. There are several accounts of Iraqis describing Iraq under Saddam as a better place to live. If more of the military had been men like Malcolm Kendall-Smith and Ben Griffin then perhaps we wouldn’t have this disaster our hands.
This is why at the next election I will be voting for a party that campaigned against the Iraq war and is putting forward a bill to repeal some of the laws that have reduced our civil liberties. It’s time to take a stand against these attempts by Labour and the Conservatives to further reduce our freedom and increase their power. It’s time for the government of this country to be led by a party that stands for the rule of international law and respects the rights of the citizens of this country.
Posted in Politics
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February 18, 2009 @ 22:21
Normally I despise these things but I found this a fairly interesting Facebook meme to be going round at the moment.
Rules: Once you’ve been “tagged”, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be “tagged” (on Facebook). You have to “tag” the person who “tagged” you. If I “tagged” you, it’s because I want to know more about you. (I’ve only “tagged” people on Facebook).
- I’ve been seeing my girlfriend (Lindsay) since we were both at school. She is amazing and I’m a very, very lucky man.
- I treat life like a software problem. I’m convinced there must be some algorithm for “solving” all the world’s problems.
- I became a Christian at 17 but wasn’t raised going to church.
- I love dogs and hate cats. I want to train all the world’s dogs to eat the world’s cats.
- I exfoliate and moisturise. I am/will be mocked for this but don’t care because my skin is awesome.
- If I ever couldn’t be a software engineer any more I’d become a full-time bass player.
- I have my nipple pierced, resulting in the nickname “Nipples” at school. Most people called me that rather than my name, including a fair few of the teachers.
- Cycling has been my main method of transport for about 10 years so I have an strong dislike of bus drivers and people who beep their horn.
- Deus Ex is my favourite computer game. It is incredible and and you should play it even if you don’t play games. It is a work of art.
- I hate tea and coffee.
- I think of myself as Scottish before British.
- I constantly wish I had enough time to try and help everyone through all their problems.
- I look forward to being married but fear becoming a parent too young.
- Sometimes when I meet random people on nights out I like to convince them I have a really bizarre job. Last time was a paramedic for domestic pets.
- I was one interview away from joining the British Army’s Infantry.
- I have landed a plane. (In real life, not just in a computer game.)
- I think Babylon 5 is possibly the best piece of TV or film ever made and if you disagree then you are wrong.
- I can’t cry and haven’t done so for over three years. This slightly worries me.
- I care very little what random new people think of me unless I’m in a situation like an interview or my good impression means a lot to my coworker/friend/girlfriend/family member.
- I’ve known I was going to work with computers since primary school.
- I think if you are not Scottish you shouldn’t be allowed to wear a kilt (possibly by law).
- My music collection contains almost no female artists, probably because most of it is progressive rock.
- One of the most endearing things someone can do to me is take the piss out of me.
- I relish all criticism as one of my goals in life is to improve myself as much as possible in every area.
- I generally hate romantic comedies unless they have John Cusack in them and then I irrationally love them.
Posted in My Life, Random
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February 9, 2009 @ 23:27
Being a software engineer I feel the need to optimise the crap out of everything. I’m that guy that does the washing up at the same time as he’s cooking, who reads while vacuuming and generally just tries to multi-task as much as possible to make maximum use of my brain at all times. As a result I take the same sort of approach to my relationship with my girlfriend of 6 1/2 years, trying to always become a better boyfriend, improve my communication and help her whenever I can.
As a result of this I’ve taken to sporadically reading relationship-help books and books about the differences between men and women psychologically. The most recent of these was recommended to me by a good female friend; the classic Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus
.
The book basically uses the model of two species from different planets interactions to represent the stereotyped (the author admits this) but often valid problems in the interactions between men and women, focusing this book on those in romantic relationships.
I think a lot of the points that John Gray makes are fairly apt, about how men and women respond to their negative emotions (men tend to want to be by themselves, women tend to want a sympathetic ear but not to get solutions to their problems). We didn’t find this particularly revelatory; after a relationship as long as ours you tend to work these things out for yourself.
What I found interesting was that instead of challenging the fact that neither of these slightly extreme reactions should actually be challenged and improved upon (encouraging men to become more open and women to be more pragmatic when upset) John Gray instead seems to imply that you should just learn to accept that a few days a month (his rough estimate) your partner will act irrationally and selfishly and you just need to let them do that to get it out of their system.
I’m pretty glad I didn’t read this at the beginning of our relationship or I think my girlfriend and I would have developed some fairly destructive attitudes towards dealing with our differences. I think understanding these are a key element in improving a damaged relationship or knowing how to better communicate with your partner but I think blind adherence to John Gray’s advice could actually be fairly damaging for a relationship that doesn’t already have problems.
I’d probably recommend reading this book if you are having problems communicating with your partner but if you are happy and both of you are sharing your feelings and honestly and openly dealing with issues in your relationship I’d say it’s perhaps one to miss. Regardless of your camp I’d personally recommend from following his advice to the letter and perhaps strive for a great relationship all the time and moving beyond your biological impulses to try and become a better partner.
Posted in My Life, Random
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