Mostly naval gazing: counting sailors

New Job, a round up.

Alice — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 08:11:28 +0000

Last post: 20th of March? Pfft.

So, I moved to London and started working for Assanka two weeks ago. Working at Assanka is really freakin’ awesome for a number of reasons which I am going to list here:

They are totally pro. If I say “what’s the right way to do this thing in PHP/MySQL/Whatever?” Someone will give me a well thought out answer comparing the options and arriving at a conclusion which I get and am happy with. I’ve already learnt many things that I just wouldn’t have found out from R-ing the F-ing M, and they are always happy to answer my “… But why?” type questions (So far).

I know everybody. It’s a tiny company, 7 people excluding the dog. It’s nice to know that if I wanted to throw something at anybody I work with, that option is available to me, you know? Just in case.

There’s free lunch on Fridays. At a proper restaurant, with napkins and stuff. Every Friday.

There is lots of other free stuff too: coffee, tea, fruit, nuts, squash. Coming from IBM, where you have to pay for tea and coffee and kettles are not allowed for reasons far to complex and sensitive to explain to a mere employee, this is pretty much the best thing ever.

Something only IBMers will understand, and I would like to point out I can see some reasons behind the differences here, I started working on my first day. There was one form to fill in for the company health care plan, and a couple of Wiki pages to read. Everything else was ready for me. No waiting for IDs, no health and safety video, no long rambling security brief, no workshop on how to use Lotus Notes, no million other things that I am immediately going to forget, just go. Boosh. I’m in.

Did I mention there’s a dog? She’s great, and she’s the other girl, and I’m all like “yeah, girl power” and she looks at me like “what? Gimmesomefoodplz”

OK perhaps there are some things I miss about IBM:

“Hoody Thursday” I’m pretty sure the guys won’t go for this idea, one of my coworkers only owns one jumper at a time, which he wears until it wears out, at which point he buys a new one. Alas, it is not a hoody.

Runs to the Cha’ bar. Oh T-Bird, how I miss your big shiny everything. Oh tea lady, how I miss you telling Darren off.

The grounds. Shepherds bush green is just not as scenic as Hursley house and it’s grounds.

The gossip. There is no salacious gossip at Assanka. It is an arid gossipless wasteland. On reflection though, if there were gossip it would be about one of the six people I work with and like too much to gossip about.

It was pretty scary turning down IBM’s Nice Safe Cosy job offer, but I’m glad I took the risk. I wouldn’t rule out working for a big company ever again, but right now Assanka fits me so much better, and I’m glad to have found it.

I’m Not Dead

Alice — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 22:30:39 +0000

Here is one of the many drafts in my wordpress account…

“Nov-06-08
I’m Not Dead. You probably knew this. I’m supposed to be writing a literature review about Human Computer Interface design. I’m using LaTeX, which is not like fun-time stretchy latex but more like being punched in the face over and over again. I think it’s something I’ll grow to love… I’m probably being totally unfair on it anyway, we are being introduced in the context of “write a literature review”. My displeasure at being pushed back into scientific writing is probably impacting the whole situation a little bit.”

I really should stop half writing blog posts and then leaving them.
I did grow to love LaTeX of course.
And now my dissertation if all finished (21,000 words, 70 pages) so I can do other things, like watch terrible science programmes with my dad and catch up with old friends.

Guess Who?

Alice — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 16:12:47 +0000

If you asked one of my nearest and dearest about the (many) great qualities I offer as a friend, good birthday presents would not be top 10, in fact I would go so far as to say not even top 50. Sometimes I forget birthdays altogether (Hi Darren!)

With this gift though, I reckon my birthday karma may be on the up.

This present was over a month late but I feel it was worth the wait.

I sent these cards to Moo to be printed, they are probably my favourite part of the whole thing.

I drew all of the pictures in Apple Paint which took a while.

Pretty much the whole thing is held together with double sided sticky tape- one of my favourite craft tools.

Many more pictures on flickr

The End.

University accommodation and others

Alice — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 12:03:28 +0000

Oh hi… yeah… er.. I’ve been busy. Sorry.

That’s as much of an apology as you are going to get. Well, at least in terms of my absence, I plan on apologising at length about the quality of that last apology to anyone who found it lacking.

So a quick update…

I did Extreme Blue. It was good. In retrospect I wish it had lasted longer, though there were some bits that were just crazy, I really really sincerely enjoyed the work and I would love to do some more fun stuff like that after university.

Then I came back to university

Then I moved rooms because the first room was too noisy. There were people throwing up, people screaming and laughing, and talking to themselves on the loo. And me lying awake hoping it would end. Luckily the lovely ladies at the university fixed me up a nice, if pokey, room in a post graduate building which is lovely and mostly quiet. The nervous eye twitch (seriously) that I developed in the first 6 weeks has nearly all gone. Ahh.

University accommodation is it is SO functional. It’s the Haskell of living spaces (OK, the extent of my knowledge of Haskell is that it’s a “functional” programming language, and that’s as far as this metaphor extends I suspect). I quite like it though, all the signs have quite reasonable typefaces, and colours, and the proportions of all the bits make me feel calm, if a little distant. My new carpet has chewing gum-esque stains on it and is the colour of newspaper pulp, the door colour is what happens when you mix green and grey together. All the university accommodation is painted in colours that were on offer in Homebase (or some such) at the time.

Here are some pictures:

This inspirational view is from my room. Note the student debris: some loo roll, a plastic bag, and some balloons.

Here are the signs that can be found in my room.

These pictures are on flickr if you want to see the notes associated with them.

My first day off, and stuff

Alice — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 21:04:45 +0000

Friday saw the end of Extreme Blue, and also my fifteen months with IBM. I was pretty sad on Friday, a sort of emotional hangover from the past 3 months of highs and lows on Extreme Blue. I had a lot of fun over the last year and a bit, and it’s certainly been a fantastic learning experience. I’ve been writing about the last three months here.

Now, I am a lady of leisure. I have a whole month before I go back to University, and nothing to do (except tidy my bedroom- I know, seriously)

On Saturday I went to the pub to watch the Liverpool vs Man U. My boyfriend was there too, it’s weird because I can’t think of a time I have ever gone to watch football in a pub out of choice, but Lachie swears it was my idea. I do love Stevie G and men in shorts. So he’s probably right.

Today I joined the ladies who lunch in Alresford for a coffee with my friend, then we watched the clouds in my back garden and picked apples. Then I watched a very old episode of the OC and noted how normal Rachel Bilson looked, but also how bad her acting was. Then I folded some washing, and cooked my parents Corn fritters and apple crumble, both of which were absolutely delicious.

Tomorrow I have a dentist appointment- I made it myself today, because I’m an adult, and am responsible about my teeth and such things. Then dad and I are going to Bath, just for funsies. Mum wants a colander, and dad wants new underpants. I have an autumn coat agenda.

The Human Body Book Part Four

Alice — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 12:26:23 +0000

OK, you are now thoroughly educated on the human body, only thing left to know is how do we digest food? And of course, where do babies come from?

The Human Body Part Three

Alice — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 12:19:45 +0000

Pages four and five take us on a tour of the vital organs.

The Human Body Book Part Two

Alice — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 12:17:20 +0000

Having learnt about the curiosities of the human brain, the next stop should surely be the the central nervous system. I don’t quite have the mad skillz on wordpress to get around the need to enlarge these images and the click AGAIN to zoom in so they are readable. You’re just going to have to suck it up. I’m sorry.

The Human Body Book

Alice — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 12:08:18 +0000

When I was little my brother and I shared a laptop, it was sort of grey, and it was an IBM one, and it ran Windows 3.1. The only lasting piece of writing I ever did on it was a seven page book about the human body. I think I was eight or nine at the time. I can remember what my bedroom looked like (bunk beds, and a grotty yellow carpet) and that I went to Sainsbury’s with my mum at the same time because I remember talking about it in the car.

One of the problems with working at the same place as your mother is she has a tendency to bring these kind of artifacts into work. At the time I was slightly horrified. Such evidence of my geeky childhood should not be aired in the workplace. Also, having not seen the book for a number of years, I couldn’t remember exactly what was in it. Luckily it is not full of (so many) adorable spelling errors and nonsensical sentences, and there is definitely some excellent use of Corel ClipArt, so I have decided to put it up here in a couple of installments. Click on the images to enlarge.

Tour De France -Reppin’ since ’97

Alice — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 15:40:12 +0000

This is mainly for Darren’s benefit

I’m a life long fan of team T-mobile (formerly Telekom) in the Tour De France. This is me, aged 10, in Denmark on a cycling holiday.