Who?
Ian currently spends his days in an office affectionately known as the chicken shed where he designs things and spends time on the web imagining being anyhwere else. Out of hours he can be found living in a two-bedroom semi near Coventry decorated in the 'Scandanavian Style' (i.e. mostly empty). At night, if the sky is clear he is often seen peering through a telescope a faint fuzzy things many light years away.
:: welcome to The-way-to-the-centre :: bloghome | contact
::
This is my blogchalk: United Kingdom, Coventry/ Cambridge, English, Ian, Male, 26-30, Astronomy, Archery.
:: Thursday, December 18, 2003
:: more coincidence
Yesterday I went to a very interesting talk given by Chris Luebkeman who is the current Director of Global Foresight and Innovation at Arup.
At first, Chris outlined what the group did, including the Rumsfeldian'knowing we don't know that we don't know things' before going on to the optimistic audience participation with 14 offices from Poland to Botswana.
Starting out, we identified principle drivers for the previous decades (1920's onwards) and then looked forward to future at likely influences and how best to respond to them. Of particular note was the mention of the Hydrogen economy as a replacement for oil, and discussion of the impacts of a 'connected' future society. Focusing on Smart Mobs, SMartieS (parties organised by SMS messaging), the ability to mobilise large numbers of people through sites such as MoveOn.org and the use of the internet to combat threats (e.g. SARS the virus).
I would add more but I can't recall the details and the presentation isn't on our intranet yet.
Following my previous comments, after Christmas I am going to see if there is any way that I can get involved.
:: Wednesday, December 17, 2003
:: five (or more) in one night
In a few minutes I will leave work. Looking up I will see Mars fading from its summer brilliance. To my left Venus will be bright enough to be mistaken for a landing aircraft. Mercury might be visible on the horizon (but I doubt it). By the time I get home, Saturn will be rising in the east, followed after midnight by Jupiter. With a small telescope Neptune and Uranus could be found. Only Pluto will not be visible. I wonder how many people know that they could see five of the planets before bedtime - Mars, Venus, Saturn, Jupiter, and you are standing on number five.
Located where I can walk/cycle/mass transit to work
Which probably means in a city, so:
Probably not in the UK
Challenging - I like to use my brain
Enough salary to give reasonable expendable income
I have a MEng in Civil & Environmental Engineering but would not limit myself to this field.
I have no idea how to find this job; but I know I don't
have it at the moment.
Wednesday
As mentioned previously, Tom McRae was playing at the Junction on Wednesday night. I managed to get there with plenty of time to spare and even get back from the bar before the start. Beth & I managed to secure a spot stage right that gave us a fantastic unobstructed view of Tom and Olli (the cellist), unfortunately the other Olly (on keyboards) was hidden behind the PA. Starting with the wonderful 'Hidden Camera show' we enjoyed over an hour of fantastically emotive music and between-songs chat:
Tom's introduction for the song 'walking to Hawaii' - This started out as a love song. For the first 2/3 it was going really well, but by the time it was finished it was about the Third World War. Sorry.'
Thursday
We went to the Prince Regent to watch Harvey playing his regular slot. As good as ever although it was pretty quiet, and my brother was there too which was good. I found out that Harvey does 'No one knows' by Queens of the Stone Age, which I will have to get him to do next time.
Friday
Beth and I saw Touching the Void at Cambridge Picturehouse. A very good film, though unable to capture the terror found in the book. It was also good to see not an 'artistic license' Hollywood version but a true account with the three involved (Simpson, Yates and Hawking) describing events as they happened. I was especially amused to look round the cinema during Joes description of his injury [lower leg driven up and through the knee], to see 100+ expressions of horror.
Saturday
Took my girlfriend out for a huge meal at Cambridge's Slug & lettuce in honour of her getting a Teaching English as a Foreign Language job. In Beijing.
Sunday
I found out that fresh ground Monsoon Malabar coffee makes excellent Espressos (with lots of Crema). Trying the first one at midnight was a bad idea though.
I also managed to do most of my Christmas shopping, which is unusual, I am normally a Christmas Eve last minute shopper.
:: Ian 3:35 PM | Permalink |
::
according to the Telegraph, this years must-have christmas is the iPod. Considering that the cheap? 10Gb model is £250, and I would probably go for the 20Gb or (ideally) 40Gb model (£300 or £400) all I can conclude is that some people have a lot of money to throw around at this time of year. I would be interested to find out somehow how many people need an iPod just because it is this years must-have gift, rather than as a result of an informed choice, based on thier requirements and the capability of said device.
That said, I want one - I would love to have access to all my music on one device, and they are a design classic. Unfortunately I neither have the cash nor the computer so will be happy with my 1st Generation Sony MiniDisc (a format that sadly never seems to have taken off) player. Currently my (rather long term) technology-development-plan is: 800MHz iBook, then IXUS400 digital camera, then iPod (by which time they should be bluetoothed, wi-fied, video-playing, 1000Gb monsters).
If all goes well I will be in Cambridge tonight watching him play. I am optimistic of getting from Birmingham in time, but as it is cold and foggy at the moment it could all go horribly wrong. It seems that a lot of people loose the ability to drive as soon as the temperature drops below 0.
Last nights archery was a scored Portsmouth (5 dozen arrows at 20 yards) as part of the West Midlands Archery Society postal league. I managed a respectable 492. However, I am not sure if the improvement was due to pie and chips I had for tea, or the fact that my toes were sticking out of holes in my socks.
:: Ian 10:25 AM | Permalink |
::
:: Tuesday, December 09, 2003
:: new toy
On Saturday, the girlfriend and I took a trip over to Leamington to spend my hard earned profit-share on a Shiny Thing from the nice people of Whittards. Early experiments are promising though I think I will have to build up to drinking espressos (being a serious tea drinker I am not quite used to cup-of-coffee-in-a-thimble, and I can't make it well either at the moment), Cappuchinos seem pretty foolproof though.
Unfortunately after I got in from Archery, I was up until 1am reinstalling IE5.0. It decided to die, but I got it back eventually.
:: Ian 12:59 PM | Permalink |
::
good
Last night I got in from work to find an envelope on the mat. Opening it I found 2 wristbands to go and see Tom Mcrae at the Junction in Cambridge next Wednesday. Unfortunately this will mean I will have to take Thursday and Friday off (no point in driving from Coventry and back, only to do it again on Friday, shame).
Since I will be in Cambridge on the Thursday night too (that being where my girlfriend lives) I will be able to see friend Harvey of the band Nermal playing in the Prince Regent. Probaby should do some Christmas shopping too...
At archery I knocked up a reasonable 451, made all the better by a pretty bad first 30 arrows for 207 followed by the second 30 for 244 which was a pretty good save.
:: Ian 12:36 PM | Permalink |
::
:: Monday, December 01, 2003
:: correction
Writing the last entry I found out that Bloggers' spell check offers to replace 'Stansted' with 'Satanists'. Almost as good as MS Words' offer to replace 'boreholes' with 'brothels'.
Any others?
:: Ian 6:08 PM | Permalink |
::
Renault Clio Vs. Boeing 737
On Saturday night I was supposed to meet my girlfriend after her flight from Prague landed at 10:45pm. Reckoning it would take 45 minutes to get to Stansted I intended to leave at 10:00. After a shower & shave etc.. I thought it prudent to check to see if her flight was going to land on time (after all, it was only a 2 hour flight which took off on time, so it would land on time, give or take 5 minutes). So 9:50pm, check the online arrivials board: flight EZY3628 - expected 10:19pm. Oh Cr@p.
There followed possibly the first duel between my 1.2 litre internal combustion engine, and the 16,000lb-thrust turbofans of a passenger jet in an attempt to get to arrivals before my girlfriend did (and not get booked for speeding). Luckily I made it with a few minutes to spare and was at the airport just long enough to incur the £2.50 parking charge.
