It's just struck me that as from the 19th, I'll be working somewhere that doesn't have an AS/400 for the first time in nearly twenty years. Gulp.
I still get Synon/2E gig offers all the time. Here's why.
Truly technology for the benefit of mankind.
I need one of these.
Via Dan.
I swear my iPod takes the piss sometimes. I popped into a record shop on my way home on Monday to pick up Grinderman, only to find that it's not out 'till next week. And my iPod played me two Nick Cave tracks on the way home...
(I did grab Yours Truly, Angry Mob, though, so the trip wasn't totally wasted.)
Get an email today - my new MacBook is in the post!
So, Mac people, Parallels or VMWare?
I'll be at Jez's London Java meetup this evening. I've not been to one for ages - not since September - so I'm really looking forward to it.
Provided, that is, that they won't talk about bloody Groovy all night. I've still yet to be convinced that Groovy has anything that Jython didn't have nearly ten years ago. Apart from closures and inelegant syntax, that is. ;-)
A new venue this time - it's at The Crown Tavern, EC1R 0EG.
Update: Seems Jython was around exactly ten years ago.
I went to Roar last week, and Nick emailed me to tell me that he'd be going as well. I'd not actually met Nick in meatspace before, so I told him how to identify me: I'd be the one in the Sid James tee shirt.
Sure enough, there was another chap there with Sid James on his chest. But it was good to meet Nick in the end.
I can't agree with Nick about the acts, though. Frank Skinner was rubbish, but I loved the rest of the acts. Paul Foot's act wasn't quite as high-wire-without-a-net as last time I saw him, but if the gently surreal works for you, he's still very funny. Jason Rouse is anything but gentle, but he was funnier and less scary and vile than last time I saw him, so that was nice. And he was funny. Barrie Hall and Wes Packer don't stand out in the mind, really, but they were both funny enough at the time.
It's a great tee shirt, BTW. Steve suggested a variation on the theme: Eric Morecambe on a space hopper. Pure class.
I listened to the BBC Backstage podcast this weekend. Lots to think about there. The BBC can't just give away its programs, 'cos it doesn't have the rights, and isn't likely to any time soon.
But then again, DRM can't be the answer, really. Not because it's evil - though it is - but because it doesn't work.
What is a no-brainer, though, is that whatever the BBC chooses to go with has to be cross platform. Mac and Linux users pay their licence fees too, you know!
It's lucky that I have to buy all this stuff, 'cos it's not only bookshelves I've run out of - my CD shelves are all full, too. Hundreds of the bloody things I have. (It's a bloody good thing I won't be working at ThoughtWorks' Holborn office - it's just too close to Charing Cross Road for all the great bookshops, Oxford Street and Berwick Street for record shops, and Regent's Street for the Apple Store. I'd be bankrupt in six months.)
I did love Help! I need somebody to sort my CD collection. It's a real problem. I've gone for grouped by artist, generally random otherwise - though I do have shelves specifically for jazz and classical. Err, classical and baroque. But there's a bit more grouping than that - solo artists are sometimes kept with bands that they've been in - Paul Weller with The Jam, Sting with The Police, Roger Waters with Pink Floyd, Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood with Radiohead, The Raconteurs with The White Stripes. I think you get the idea. ;-)
Naturally, I can never find anything.
And sorting by Genre? That way lies madness. I spent ages fiddling with the genres in iTunes, then just gave up and put 90% of it under Rock/Pop.
Anyway, Recent new acquisitions that I'm enjoying include The Noisettes, Get Cape, Wear Cape, Fly., Jamie T and Jonny Greenwood's Bodysong. Recent disappointments include The Good, The Bad and The Queen and the new Bloc Party album.
Don't forget the London Python meetup tonight. The bloody football's on again (does it never end?) so it'll be heaving. But then, so will everywhere else.
Update: Right, I'm off.
I have my ThoughtWorks start date - The 19th of March. I've really got that starting-big-school feeling now. ;-) In the meantime, I have to:
Expensive. :-(
Part of my role is going to be mentoring, so Helping people make changes is a worthwhile read.
No, I'm not talking about the bloody operating system. I wouldn't touch that with a rolled up copy of the Mail.
No, it's a work thing. This morning, I handed in my notice, and in a month or so (exact date TBC) I'll be starting at ThoughtWorks.
Exciting, and a bit scary. I'm looking forward to working with the ThoughtWorkers - I think I'll really learn a lot. It's going to be a struggle to keep up.
But I've been with my current employers for a long time, and it's a wrench to leave. The people are lovely on the whole, and I've really enjoyed my time here, but I do need to move on if I'm to keep learning at the rate I want to.
Update: Oh, and congratulations to Andy, too.
Further update: I'll be having a swift celebratory half in The Light, Shoreditch this evening. All welcome.
I don't think I'll be able to make QCon, London this year - my current employer doesn't really see the point of conferences. Which is a shame, 'cos it could have been designed for us. There are an uncanny number of speakers relevant to us: Jeff Sutherland ('cos we Scrum), Gavin King ('cos we use Hibernate), Rod Johnson ('cos we use Spring), and Alex Russell ('cos we use Dojo), plus movers and shakers like Martin Fowler, Werner Vogels, Kylie, and Dave Thomas. I might be lying about one of those, though.
Never mind - there's always PyCamp!
And who knows - I might win a ticket. ;-)
I hope the weather doesn't disrupt Roar this evening, since they have a very special guest this week. A guest I've been asked not to mention, though word of the embargo doesn't seem to have made it out to all parties. (And yes, Nick, the management have great connections.)
Even in the absence of "big names", though, Roar is always worth a visit if you are nearby. I don't always like every act, naturally, but I've never come away from the night disappointed.
You'll usually find me on a stool by the bar - best seats in the house!
Made it in to work today despite the snow. The local news reported that my branch of the Northern Line was suspended, which was a good sign, since they are always wrong.
And sure enough, the station was open, and trains were running, though according to a hand-written sign, "Severe delays is occuring to all services." Grrrrr...
Seven now. Has someone taken Jeremy Clarkson's dabs?
Update: By using letter bombs the perpetrator is effectively saying: "I am a fringe wacko of some sort."
"Jeremy Clarkson is not a man given to considered opinion". Fab.
Interesting discussion of Steve Jobs’s "Thoughts on Music" essay by John Gruber at Daring Fireball, the upshot of which is that DRM is really driven by the record industry and that Apple would gladly drop it if they could.
Me - I'm a CD in the hand sort of a bloke, and I'll probably remain so. I'll certainly never buy DRM encumbered stuff - I want to buy it, not rent it.
Update: The Economist: "Indeed, scrapping DRM would probably increase online-music sales by reducing confusion and incompatibility. With the leading online store, Apple would benefit most. Mr Jobs’s argument, in short, is transparently self-serving. It also happens to be right."
One if the most interesting things I've noticed reading engadget is just how unreconstructed the Far East is when it comes to using skimpily clad models in ads without even pretending justification. Not that the UK is immune, but this kind of thing is becoming rare these days, thank God (or the imaginary friend of your choosing).
(Yeah, I know, subscribing to engadget? It's no wonder I get nothing done.)
Update: Err, perhaps things aren't improving all that much after all. :-(
Oooh, exciting, Michael Sparks (of Kamaelia fame) is thinking about organising a UK PyCamp. If the dates are right, I'm there.
Firstly, congratulations to Mum for her Blogisattva Awards nomination. Go Mum! (I have asked - apparently, nobbling the opposition isn't very Buddhist, so that's out. Shame. And they won't let me vote 'cos I'm a godless, non-spiritual, positivist, Dawkins-loving atheist.)
And secondly, Welcome, Dougal, to the blogsphere. Now stop shouting. Dougal is my aunt's husband. Err, that makes him my uncle, doesn't it? Weird.
We'll have to re-think a few things:
Superb.
Via Media Influencer.
I've arranged another Python meetup for Wednesday the 21st of February at The Porterhouse, Covent Garden. See London Python Announce for details. Err, not that there are any more details than I've just given you. ;-)
We had around thirty people last time, so fingers crossed for another good one.