Monday, February 27, 2012

Progress is progress…

So since my little excursion to Greenwich, life has been dribbling along very nicely indeed. I’ve got some plans for updating some websites which I currently run, namely moving the www.stmarybalham.org.uk site over to a php server running WordPress… I’m doing it to get more experience running my own server, and writing php; but also because I wrote the code for this website before I came to university and since then I’ve learnt some better techniques for dynamic website building than I used back then. It’ll be a challenge, but something I’m looking forward to digging my teeth into once this whole university thing is over.

My final project is coming along, it now shows a lot more information and I’m in the process of building a test rig that can assess the accuracy and performance of the system so far for benchmarking and to get some pretty graphs to go into my write up :)

And I got my results last week for my exams in January, I did really well! I got a first in all my modules and I’m averaging 82% for my degree :) Only 30% of my degree left! The end is in sight, finally!

And for those of you who are interested, the next video about my stupid housemates who are living off £1 for food for a month is up:

I didn’t think my voice could go that high for “Top tip of the week”… turns out I was wrong.
  • Happiness. 8 out of 10
  • Tiredness. 1 out of 5
  • Workload. 5 out of 10 (but it’s all interesting stuff…)
  • Last Meal. Fish and chips
  • Song of the day. Red Hot Chilli Peppers - Scar Tissue
  • Thought for the day. Don’t know whether giving my housemates a beta version of my app was a good idea… :p 
  • What I’m Doing Now. About to do some more work… after lunch….

Monday, February 20, 2012

Time for Greenwich

This weekend Charlotte and I went to London for a Mr Scruff gig in Camden. During the day we killed time by going to the birthplace of time itself, Greenwich.

Charlotte and I at the Royal Observatory

The royal observatory is definitely one of my favourite places in London, if not my favourite.

Maritime Museum Greenwich

Greenwich is beautiful, situated by the river with the Cutty Sark, a market, park and of course the Maritime museum. From the top of the hill you can see a spectacular view of London, and although it wasn’t the clearest of days for an uninterrupted view, it was still a feast for the eyes.

View from Royal Observatory Greenwich

The museum itself is fascinating, with the four Harrison clocks on display that changed the way we kept time at sea and on land. It is also home to London’s only planetarium, which projects a spectacular show of the universe and it’s mysteries onto a large dome. And also offered a must needed sit down :)

And being that close to the docklands, who wouldn’t sneak a peek at  Canary Wharf on the noddy docklands light railway :)

Canary Wharf

  • Happiness. 8 out of 10
  • Tiredness. 2 out of 5
  • Workload. 3 out of 10
  • Last Meal. Rice.
  • Song of the day. Mr Scruff – Champion NIbble
  • Thought for the day. Which Islay Single Malt to buy…
  • What I’m Doing Now. Thinking of the layout for my new website (oooh, such a tease :P)

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

The final semester begins…

My last semester of lectures started last week and because of my cunning plan to front load my module choices for final year I only have two modules and my project work to do. While I regretted that decision in January, having to sit 4 exams, coursework and write a report for my project it all seems worth it now.

I’ve got a couple of marks back for coursework already, and they are both firsts, so with any luck I should still be on track. I’ll get my exam results before the end of the month and that will be a really good indicator of how I’m doing since I’ve now completed over 70% of my degree…

My new timetable is only 7 hours a week! 3 hours on Tuesday, 3 hours on Thursday and an hour on Friday. This gives me loads of time to work on my project witch is going really well (thanks for asking :P)

My project, ELROND, can now do lots of the things I explained in this diagram a while ago, and there’s still plenty of time for refinements and improvements which should give me lots to talk about in my final report. This makes me happy :)

At the moment my housemates Will and Mike are attempting to eat for a month on only £1 of food a day. I’m helping make a weekly video diary for MADTV:

That’s my voice in the intro :P

What else has been going on? Well I’m starting to think more seriously about life after uni, what to do, where to live, whether to go travelling for a while before starting work and so on… So far I’m planning a couple of weeks in California with Charlotte before starting work for the rest of my life. I’d also like to go on holiday with my housemates, but that’s just an idea at the moment.

It’s all exciting times, and Charlotte and I are off to London this weekend to see Mr Scruff play at Koko. I went last year with Julie and it was AMAZING! I’m really looking forward to round 2!

  • Happiness. 8 out of 10
  • Tiredness. 1 out of 5
  • Workload. 3 out of 10
  • Last Meal. Kung Pao Chicken!
  • Song of the day. Ed Sheeran’s Plus Album, it’s all good :)
  • Thought for the day. I was there when this happened!
  • What I’m Doing Now. Thinking about buying a Linode

Monday, February 6, 2012

Bath Time

So since exams have finished, I’ve spent my time catching up on fresh air. Firstly with a trip to my sisters for grandma’s funeral. It’s never a good reason for seeing someone, but it was really nice to see my sister and James again so soon as I’d kind of resided myself to the fact that I probably wouldn’t see much of them for at least a couple of months.

What else has happened? I’ve bought a new amplifier for my speaker system. It didn’t come cheap, but the idea is that I can eventually buy new speakers and then have a pretty cool sound-system for whatever abode I end up in after university. I have dreams of a cinema projector, blackout curtains and a big comfy sofa… the day will come.

In other news, I have presented another MADTV video! This year we are producing a weekly news show to summarise the interesting goings-on on campus, and I present the 4th episode!

Listen out for my sign off at the end of the video :P

Last weekend Charlotte and I went to Bath, as in the place in Somerset. Despite the bitter cold and occasional snowfall, I fell in love with Bath. It’s such a small city, but packs a lot of character. And the rooftop pool at the Thermae Spa is ideal for washing your stress away after a busy few weeks of exams!

2012.02-Bath1

Today is the start of a new semester, in fact my last ever semester! Only two modules and a dissertation left and then I’m a free man… I’m already planning a holiday once all this university malarkey is over, and after that the world is my oyster :)