pap

Ah, the joys of a full communal washing machine at the end of its cycle - containing someone elses washing.

Do you transfer your housemates' garments to the tumbler, at the risk of looking like a knicker-sniffing perv?  Or do you sidle back to your room clutching washing that will develop sentience if not dealt with?

I'll risk looking like a perv.  Self-aware killer robots are scary enough.  Intelligent socks must be stopped.

Well.

I've been back in Northern Ireland for 24 hours.  Last night was a quiet re-nesting of my old room, which has been left largely undisturbed in my absence.  Anne-Marie was happy to see me, although she did notice that my hair had been straightened, and she did compare me to a "wee girl" :)  An occupational hair-zard, you might say.  Arf!

Managed to pull myself out of bed in a reasonable timeframe this morning.  It's at moments like these that I realise how much my long-suffering partner actually does for me.  Not only did I have to set my own alarm and get my own clothes - I also had to kick myself out of the house.  I become accustomed to this after a while, but today was a big ask.

Still, it was cool to be back in the office with my old colleagues.  Things are definitely not quite as manic, which is a good thing.  There have been numerous changes which'll take a while to absorb.  Not a bad second first-day at BE, and certainly, one that made me realise just how insane the last four months of my life have been.  I was asked if I wanted a lift home at 17:00.  Natural response in my head?  "It's five o'clock.  You what, now?".

My initial remit looks entirely achieveable, and I'm looking forward to getting through it.  I'm keen not to lose my present momentum.  Software development is pretty much a capacity thing.  The more you do, the more you can do - within reason, of course.  Gotta maintain and improve the exit velocity outta Mando, so I can do even better things for them on my return.

I am, of course, missing the family - but Anne-Marie pretty much nailed the situation last night.  "I am sure they'd much rather have you here, employed, and earning money than at home and unemployed".  Doesn't really reflect the likely work situation in Liverpool, but it is a damn fine point nonetheless.

So far, so good.  The travel is an arse, but I'm living and working with friends.  Don't know if you can base a business around that, but it is working well so far.

In precisely one week's time, I'll be moving a small cache of personal possessions back into my old room in Kilkeel.  Yes, I'm returning to Northern Ireland.  Time perhaps, to reflect on the three months I've had back in Liverpool with family and friends.

Overall, it has been a top stay - but I've got the real feeling that I'm leaving on the cusp of something bigger happening.  It's been very cool to be back at the sharp end of public Internet web development.  I've picked up a lot from my time here, which'll prove useful later on.  If nothing else, the experience has reaffirmed what sort of developer I am.  Definitely not the most technically aware fella out there, but can come up with the big ideas when I need to.  I've done more for my own software library in the last three months than I managed in the last two years.  Mandogroup is very good in that respect.

Family-wise, things are great, and it's going to be a wrench to have to leave people behind for a few months.  Having said that, I'm detecting a nice solid rut in the very near future, which'll totally be shaken up incoming developments.  The cool thing about working away is that there is a very clean separation of work and family life, something I don't feel I've achieved in my time here.

It has been very cool working back at Mando.  I've maintained good relations with the people I know from before, but have perhaps put more time into people I didn't work with before.  I don't want to name names, as I'll undoubtedly forget someone and piss them off.  Blakey gets a special mention though.  We've forged a memorable  friendship that'll last past the end of this contract.

Looking forward to going back to Kilkeel.  It'll be good to catch up with house, job and colleagues.

I'm having a night off tonight.  It's been a difficult couple of weeks with stress playing through 7.1 speakers on for 60 hours of the 168.  Doesn't sound like much if you're not a sleep fan, but it's a bugger if your idea of normality involves a night of restful kip.  I think the back is broken on everything now, but as always, there's still loads to do.  Hercules may have completed his twelve labours, but he might not have if he'd been tasked with "The Giant Site of Complexity".  Still, "that's life and there's your wife", as they say.

The constant toil has put leisure activities at the forefront of my free time.   After much deliberation ( approximately three minutes outside the Liverpool Science Park ), the XBOX 360 climbed several places up the family wishlist.  Jo and I sniffed around Liverpool One for the best bundle.  Gamestation eventually won out with their two-game premium bundle.  We got Fable 2 and Left 4 Dead with the deal.  Charl and I played Left 4 Dead together.  She's dabbling with emo and asking to watch frightening films.  This game was right up her street.

Ginge and I have both created characters on Fable 2.  It's a really good game, marred only slightly by the fact that I've been playing first party or lead SKU stuff on the PS3 - which maintain a better frame-rate than F2's Albion.  The scope is much larger, so it's real easy to forgive.

One very cool aspect about reacquiring a 360 was discovering I could re-download all my old XBLA games gratis, which is nice.

I'll be returning to Northern Ireland in a few months, so I'll be taking the console with me, hopefully having slightly more to do than get squiffy and play cards in the evenings.  Just have to sell Ginge on getting an HD monitor.  I'm sure that explaining the relative difference between a new screen versus the cost of keeping me in boredom-driven Asda trips will do the trick.

I've had a knackering month back in England.  The strains of running a real business are not unknown to me.  I'm putting in around eight or nine hours a day for my main client, and am also doing a couple of extra hours in the evening on other jobs.  It requires quite a bit of motivation and self-discipline, and I have had the occasional night off - but I type this as I complete another set of tasks, ready for it all to begin again tomorrow.

I can't complain.  There are plenty of people looking for work right now and I still enjoy what I do.  I used to feel guilty about whiling away hours on videogames. Not anymore.  It's a good release at the end of a long day.

Right now, I'm trying to decide between Warhawk, GTAIV and restarting Fallout 3 with something more of a clue.  Or I might just watch 24.  Whatever I decide to do tonight, I've earned it.

Like, yah, my office is in my home
It's the 27th of December and I'm already "back to work", although taking place entirely at home.  Space is at a premium in Garthowen, losing ground to kids that refuse to stop growing and shit we keep hoarding.  Christmas certainly hasn't helped the hoarding situation.

Following our living-room switcheroo, I've set up shop in our back room, sharing the space with Jo's computer, a Nintendo Wii and a dog which keeps on trying to climb onto my lap.  All things considered, it has been a pretty productive day.  The dining-room table is awash with computers, cabling and the two speakers I rescued from Charlotte's windowsill.  They used to live in the old office in Wavertree Technology Park.  Seems fitting that they're with me as I cut more code for Mando.

Speaking of Mando, it has been very good to be back there - a good mix of old friends, new faces and familiar code.  It can often be easy to forget the minutiae of your work after it's out of the way.  Not so much with computer code.  Entire thought processes get laid down and are crystalised.  Quite weird staring back at yourself in the logic, but if nothing else - it gives you an idea of what direction you've taken.

I'm still doing work for BE Aerospace on a part-time, which is both good and bad.  The money and the projects remain interesting.  Not being able to enjoy the craic at the same time sucks.  It'd be good to get back over in the next year.

LitteBigPlanet
Kira has spent the majority of the day making a level in LittleBigPlanet.  While it's no Mario 1-3 ( surely a good thing given the amount of Mario levels online ) you can actually finish it - if you don't make mistakes and happen to push a certain block in a certain direction.  However, she's got one definite "45 slope of upward boredom" and a broken skateboard.  She'll need to sort that.

Charlotte's effort is less impressive.  Vast tracts are passable by switching into another LBP plane and legging it through.  This relative ease is somewhat countered by a huge dinosaur with a sombrero glued to its head, which entirely stops all progress within the level - clearly influenced by those maddening 1980s computer games which were technically impossible to finish.  I have shouted at her over it, when it transpired that Kira affixed the aforementioned mexican headwear in a heinous act of sibling sabotage.

LittleBigWar takes its first casualties.

I have been back in Liverpool for just over a week now.  So far, so good.  It has been pretty hard work so far.  I'm getting up early most mornings to do some work for another client before riding my bike into town for a solid eight hours of web development.  Most nights I'll check anything that has gone on during the day, and respond if things aren't too hairy - and I've worked a block of hours over the weekend.  Many would moan at the workload, but I know that I'm lucky to have the work.  Not all are so fortunate.

Going back to Mando has been cool.  My Northern Ireland exploits were interesting, but oftentimes, I found myself waiting on knowledge that was held in the minds of mainframe experts.  In contrast, I know pretty much all I need to know to work a front-end web project.  I'd kinda forgotten that I knew so much about it, but it has all come back very quickly.  Another thing that I'd thought was long-gone was the knowledge of Mando's software.  That came back pretty quickly too, alarmingly loud.  It has just been cool remembering that there is an area of professional knowledge that you're close to being expert on.

I've long been amazed at how humans can adapt to new situations easily.  Going to Ireland was a case in point, especially when I came back to Liverpool.   The first day back in the house was always strange, while the first day back in Northern Ireland became a bit of an emotional low-point - as I'd miss the girls.  One day later, I'd be fully back in the swing of things.  Adaptation is weird like that.

The same sort of thing has happened to me on coming back to Liverpool this time.  At times, it's like I haven't really been away.  Ginge is moaning about my music, the kids lament the loss of the flat-screen to Playstation3 and I'm still buzzing like a bee in a beer-can when something is being released to the world at large.

Two and a half days back in the office are on the cards before we break for Christmas.  Looking forward to them already,

I've met a lot of interesting people this year with some interesting things to say. One maxim is particularly memorable.

There are three types of people in this world. People who make things happen, people who watch things happen and people who wonder what the fuck just happened.

Which type are you?

Even when you're packing up a lot of stuff, and even if you really need one, it is never a good idea to ask a lady if she has a large box.

Work
Whew.  This week is going faster than I'd like.  I'm trying to savour each moment, but am dealing with a bunch of East Coast mail first thing, documenting through the morning and catching up with my friends on the Eastern Seaboard in the afternoon.  I've got a plethora of hours in the bank, but like your basic Weakest Link contestant, gonna lose them before I use them. 

Still, the office has its charms at seven o'clock in the evening.  I am not going to complain.

I'm starting to realise that each time I see somebody, it may be the last time.  That's not easy.  Two of my colleagues are in Winston-Salem for the next couple of weeks.  Won't see them again.  Graeme is off in England until Friday evening.   Speaking of which, the denouement of my time will include a big office party in Warrenpoint.  People have been telling me I should have gone there for the last fifteen months.  Finally, I'll get there.  Better late than never, eh?

My landlady told me last night that she was going to miss me, indicating that it was nice to have an "intellectual" in the house.  Told my buds in work this morning.  First question somebody asked was "Was she drunk?".  She was.

World of Warcraft ass-hattery
The evenings have seen a renewed commitment to World Of Warcraft.  I have a love-hate relationship with this game.  I love the lore, the look and the loot hunts.  What I love slightly less, are the encounters with real people.

On Sunday, I was gunning for a highly contested resource surrounded by about five enemies.  I flew in and started to take them out.  As the last one was about to croak, another player crept up behind and attempted to steal the thing I was going after.  She failed.  I said :-

"Nice ninja" ( ninja being a term for anyone who nicks stuff from under the noses of other players in World of Warcraft )

She called me an "asshat".

Nice, but in this case, entirely untrue.

Eleven.

I have eleven working days left before I'm done in Northern Ireland.  After that, I'm returning to England and will be in Liverpool until April 2009.  I'm going to be doing some work for Mando Group, a company with a special place in my heart.  Personally and professionally, I'm really looking to going back.  I've got a lot of dear friends there, and I'm keen to take new skills back and apply them.

That said, it has been an excellent fifteen months in BE Aerospace, a wholly different challenge - and a chance to meet, work and live with some very interesting people.  First, it has been extremely cool to work in a place where physical things are made.  I still get a buzz when I walk along the assembly lines and see aircraft seats go from metal frames to fully boxed and loaded exports.

The people here have been fantastic, and our office has been golden.  I'm already starting to miss the people in the office, even though I'm still around for another two weeks.  My house has also been a good house, probably better now than it has ever been. 

It has also been weird living in a small place like Kilkeel.  Everyone knows who you are.  Most people know each others' business.  It's a far cry from the almost-guaranteed anonymity that you get in a big city.  You could argue that it's a good thing or a bad thing.  Personally, I like it.  If people see you trudging home with armloads of shopping, they'll offer you a lift.  The shops close on a Wednesday afternoon, and nothing opens on a Sunday until everybody has got back from church.  It sounds quaint and archaic from a city-dweller's point of view, but I love it.  Long may it continue.

To say I have mixed feelings about leaving is something of an understatement.  This has been over a year of my life.  I'm sad to see it end, and if I weren't immediately plunging into the collective bosom of family and friends, I'd be a lot sadder about it all.  In perspective, I'm going to spend evenings and weekends with my girls and workdays with my friends producing edifying work.  It's comforting, but I'm still going to miss all that I've built here.

It hasn't been a good week for Kilkeel.  On Friday, we learned that 95 jobs are to go at BE Aerospace, the company I am currently on assignment with.  It'll be a tough New Year for those affected. 

The weekend brought worse tidings.  Four policemen were killed in a road accident.  Two of them were part-time, and worked at the factory.  The mood has been sombre, and the flags are at half-mast.  My thoughts go out to their families at this difficult time.

I'm trying to get back to Liverpool a little more often.  A traditional stumbling block has been travel to and from Belfast International Airport.  As the crow flies, it is probably about 50 miles away.  On the bus?  Three hours.  In a taxi?  Ninety minutes.  Cost?  Sixty five pounds of Her Majesty's finest.  It's all a bit crap really.

Now that I possess a squeaky-clean driving licence, I rather thought car hire might be the way to go.  And it is.  Sorta.  After a swimmingly good run over in Liverpool at the weekend, it was disappointing to have to deal with the rotund gentleman working at Hertz in Belfast International.

The car cost a measly 105UKP for four days.  At the reception desk, I was asked if I wanted to buy the extra insurance to cover the 550UKP excess.  This was a no from me.  I was then informed that because I'd declined the insurance, Hertz were going to place a 550UKP pre-auth on my card.  Nice.

Me : "So you're going to pre-authorise my card for damage that hasn't yet occurred, for a car I have not seen?"
Dick : "That's why we offer you the insurance"
Me : "Listen mate, I used to sell stuff too.  You and I both know that the only reason you're offering me the extra insurance is because nine times out of ten, it's 100% profit."
Dick : <strangely silent>

So I get the car, and the first thing the lad at the pick-up point does is highlight some scratches on the motor.  This is good for me, as I won't get charged for them.  I wonder if the last person who hired the car did get charged, and whether Hertz are sitting on the money they made. 

Answer?  Probably.

The blog has been a bit sparse lately.  Looking around, it's like the food cupboard of a man who has decided that basmati rice and pop-tarts are a great meal idea.  In other words, it's empty, and it needs to be replenished.

The ironic thing is, there is plenty to write about.  Kira, my daughter, female look-a-like, and geeky protege, turned nine a couple of weeks ago.  She received a visit, a laptop, much love and a well-attended sleepover with ill-behaved contemporaries.  Thankfully, I skipped the last part.  All in all, she is very happy.  Despite being saddled with Windows Vista, there are now three viable permanent PCs in the house.  Two of them have Sims 2 installed on them.  Harmony is assured, which makes Jo happy too.

Reflecting on Kira's halfway point, I'm naturally very proud.  Comparisons with my eldest are inevitable and equally avoidable.  All I'll say is that they've both got their own grooves, and it is a pleasure to be on the domestic dancefloor.

Work-wise, things have been a little tougher.  I'm still working and still contracting, in the troubled airline industry, no less.  Still, it's weird how things you hear at the start of your career persist through time and permeate your thoughts.  Specifically, I'm thinking of the Steve Short maxim that "he who touched it last bears full responsibility", and how true it is.  I was only ever supposed to be here for three months.  It's already been a year, and I've touched loads of projects along the way, attracting mechanical lint like some inexplicably potent dwarven technical magnet.   One of the cool things about contracting is ostensibly getting to do other stuff when you're ready to go.  Unfortunately, the combination of good money and actually giving a fuck tends to throw a combine harvester into the works.

I have been pleased to hear the good news of new life entering our fragile ecosphere.  Hairy Stu now has a score of two, with the arrival of young Noah.  Meanwhile, George "That's racist" Lo has something in the oven at gas mark 9.  I am very pleased for both them and their lovely wives.

It is assuredly disappointing to have missed Liverpool in the year that it has been most interesting, but I've spent a year in fine company, and have learned a lot about a lot.  The technically-minded may wish to challenge me in an "SQL dick-waving competition" - most would lose.  Those with a historical bent will have the pleasure of my musings over several pints of ale. 

I cannot say that it hasn't been an interesting experience, but I'm looking forward to an extended return to England in December, and an eventual return at some point.

As usual, the (al)mighty Papster is late to the party, sprinkling the general populace with reviews that are are at least a year out of date.  Still, I've seen stuff, heard stuff and played stuff.  You gotsta know.

Music
As a floppy-haired rock adorer, I'd like to break ranks and praise the work of Robyn.  Let's face it, very few of us got into music because we loved Slash's downright-dirty riffs on Appetite For Destruction.  For most of us, life began with pop, and Robyn's eponymous, self-released opus reminds me of those "toe in the water days".  It is a truly amazing pop album.  It is no surprise to me that most of it has been mixed to fuck on the dance scene.  Good skills.

Film
Two films caught my attention this week, and they'll catch yours too,  The Butterfly Effect was largely ignored by critics, but not by me.  It's the final act of Back To The Future, spread across the last two acts.  Very cool stuff, especially if you've spent any time investigating Chaos Theory.  The second tidbit is Hancock, which is definitely better than I expected.  My eldest daughter Charlotte thinks it's ace, but every film you go to see alone when you're twelve probably is.  Wouldn't quite support the Ace myself, but it can definitely be described in picture-card terms.

TV
Generation Kill.  David Simon's ( of the Wire ) latest project.  An uncompromising, almost unwatchable account of the first days of the 2003 Iraq invasion.   Well worth it though.

I love His 'n Hers, the Pulp album.  Pretty much the last album before they got super-famous, a time when bands still have something to say to their fans.  Different Class is also great, and still speaks to me in the same way.  Somehow, it's a little more expansive in scope, a little less kitchen-sink drama.  I like kitchen-sink drama, and if you do too, His 'n Hers is where it's at. 

"Lipgloss", "Babies" and "Do You Remember The First Time?" are all classics.  "David's Last Summer" is a real album track, and something to be savoured, especially if kitchen sink means more to you than the place where you wash your dishes.

The world of work draws to a close for another weekend, one I get to spend right here in Kilkeel.  There's definitely more of a schedule about this one.  Saints vs Celtic to look forward to in a couple of hours, a potential trip down to the awesome Karaoke competition down at the Kilmorey, and a sizeable snooze off the back of these exertions.

Tomorrow looks to be an emptier affair, so I'm planning on putting some time in on a side-project I'm working on right now.  I've got one Rebus book to get through before returning to a well-stocked bookstore for the next, and if all else fails, there's Albatross 18.

Very giggly day at the office today, resulting in a professional first.  My family is reasonably adept at making reasonably crap songs up on the spot.  I did a number on Billy, characterising his out of work experiences as a computer plumber.  It was done in a Chas n Dave style, and drew plaudits ( if someone saying "I have never met anyone quite like you" is indeed drawing praise ).

The main task will be to avoid falling asleep on Sunday afternoon.  Might be a challenge I'll need to endure for a couple of weeks.  Need to restore the cashflow, and these frequent trips to Liverpool aren't helping.

Our facility was shut-down over the weekend due to the Parades happening over in Northern Ireland.  A good opportunity then, to take some time off and spend some quality time back in Liverpool.  It hasn't been a bad break.

I spent a good deal of Friday discussing a business opportunity.  Don't know if it'll pan out, but it is always good to meet new people who dig what you do.  The afternoon was pretty quiet, consisting mostly of  a "will I / won't I" go out tonight internal struggle.  Such is the way with me these days.  In the end, Ginge pretty much forced me out of the door, ordering me to spend some time with my friends.  Even though I ended up home at the very early hour of 11pm, it was good to get out and catch up with some old buddies.  It was also quite weird to see the scale of human change going on at my former employers' place.

Saturday was pretty crap on the weather front, so I spent most of the time unlocking characters in Super Smash Brothers Brawl.  Charlotte dropped into the odd game to get her arse kicked, while Kira, my normal gaming buddy, spent much of the day zooming outside whenever conditions permitted.

Reflecting, the weekend was strange due to the disproportionate amount of time I actually spent with Charlotte. 

Several factors were at play here. 

• Charlotte was ill(ish), and spent much of her time confined to the house during Joanne's many shopping excursions.  Normally, she is well enough to either accompany her mum or spend sizeable eons of time "conversing" with her friends on MSN in the mystical language of "Scouse yth txt gobl-d-glook". Kira took the reins of Jo's commerce companion, leaving my eldest home with me.
• I've mentioned before that Charly has developed a taste for spicier films.  This weekend, her resolve was put to the test.  Some people would argue that it is irresponsible to introduce a 12 year old to The Evil Dead.   They may be right.  Fortunately, the law is on my side, and The Evil Dead really isn't as scary as it used to be.  She was a tad freaked by the gore, but survived the experience intact.  We also revelled in the pleasures of Doomsday and Predator in HD.  At this age, your kids are going to watch whatever they want anyway.  Best that they experience it with you and in some sort of context.
• After a couple of really tough years, Charlotte and I have connected in that two-bulls-in-a-china-shop way.  This is a very familiar experience to me, with most of my best friends being part-time enemies beforehand.  This is, however, a new experience for her.  Whatever.  We both know what we're like, who we are, and the fact that anytime a disagreement breaks out, it's only the manufacturers of decibel meters who are going to win.  It is immensely cool that we've arrived at this realisation before she becomes a full-blown teenager.  Or in full MSN scouse translation, "dats gud dat".

With Monday looming empty of toil, Sunday really became the new Saturday.  Better weather prevailed, and if were not for the slowly solidifying mass of beef in the oven, we may well have gone Superlambana hunting.  The 24 hour period was one of considerable introspection for myself, not improved by Joanne's continued imperatives and questions.

Frankly, it was a bad day.

Overall though, a thoroughly good trip back to the 'Pool.  Don't do 'em enough, but that's contracting, baby.

Bad weather and bad days seem to coincide at the moment.  At least that's the way it seems with the unrelenting rain and the deluge of things going wrong right now.  The problem with working for a major US corporation is that most of the people about to extricate you from the shit you're in at 9am are actually fast asleep and dreaming to their low-beating hearts' content.  REM doesn't help me in this instance.

Worse still, many people are on vacation right now, meaning that I have to follow a chain of suggested saviours before finally arriving on someone who can truly help.  All sorted now, and tomorrow is a new day.  Cannot wait to get back to England tomorrow night, tho'.