I Hate ITunes

I hate iTunes. I quite intensely dislike most apple products but ITunes especially. I find myself writing this because of the enormous lengths I had to go to this evening to try and download a podcast. I'd heard advertised on the radio the latest XFM breakfast show podcast with Danny Wallace starring some of my favourite comedians. I found the link and ended up at a holding page on the iTunes website informing me that I should download it before I could listen. Surely not I thought... a podcast at the end of the day is usually just and MP3 and there must be and RSS/Atom feed somewhere that I can just download it from. Apparently not.

Lidl or Moon

Well, I've just got back from what has to be the most interesting concert I've ever been to. I went to see Kate Rusby at the Lowry and it was magnificent. I somewhat knew what to expect because I'd listened to the gig she did for Radio 2 the a couple of weeks ago by this was even more special. It was unlike any gig is been to before but it's also a very different genre to the sort of music I usually see played live so I suppose it would be!

One of the most endearing things about Kate is the way she intereacts with the audience. Between each song, she'll tell a little anecdote and explain ether something about the song or a little story about herself. The title of this post is inspired by one such story she told about seeing the most beautiful full moon when she was coming back from a gig only for it to turn out to be a sign for Lidl!

Because it's not really the sort of concert you go to sing along with - although we were encouraged to join in for a couple of them - mainly because you've paid to hear one of this country's, ney the world's, most beautiful voices, it's lovely to have that conversational intersection and it makes the whole thing feel very special.

Another of the stories we were told was about a man who had asked for a set list with the key for each song. Slightly confused but wishing to find out more, they obliged and low and behold it was because he had bought a trumpet along with him and wanted to 'play' along and did so too! Apparently he wasn't very good but who the he'll would do that? Unless you were really amazing and were hoping to be invited on stage, the only thing you've achieved is ruining it for everyone else.

So, yes a fantastic night which also included an instrumental piece comprising of the Muppets theme tune and a bit of Rainbow! What more could you ask for?

One Year On

Oh how time flies! On Wednesday I will be celebrating my first year's anniversary working at Heywood. It's hard to believe that the time has passed so quickly but looking back, a lot has happened really. We've had new starters, some leavers and I've learned more about software development than I did in 4 years at university.

I've recently started looking at some Java quizzes and books in preparation for taking my OJCP exam which I have to do before the end of the year and despite having learned a lot, there is still a lot more out there to learn. I'm lucky to have been put on a couple of good projects recently. A couple of nice product enhancements that have had a small enough team for me to contribute to a large section of it. I've also been able to specialise in a couple of areas which is always nice because it finally means that I'm not always asking for work or asking people how to do things and instead work from those areas comes my way and people ask me questions about it instead.

The Olympics

There is now just one more day to go until arguably the biggest sporting event in the world draws to a close. For me, it is probably one of the most productive two weeks of the year (or years) because I have little or no interest in watching it. The other broadcasters know that 99% of the population will be watching the BBC coverage in some form or another and so they hardly bother competing and the schedules fill up with repeats and rubbish.

Walkman

Perhaps I bit later than I originally intended this post to be (as always) but now that I've finished my PMI exam, I have found spare time cropping up here and there that I'd forgotten I had. Regardless of how important or not an exam is, I always have a sense of guilt if I think I should be revising and in fact I'm sat in front of the computer / TV or just generally procrastinating. The last couple of weeks, I've had things spring out of no-where to keep me occupied. Last week I was invited on a spontaneous day trip to Sheffield for a friends birthday celebrations (a trip that ended up costing me far more than I had imagined but was enjoyable nevertheless) a this week saw an organised work social to see the first Die Hard at the cinema as part of the Odeon in Manchester's season of re-showing old films.

Exam Time

It's something that has been coming for a few months now but alas, with less than a week to go before my PMI-RPC (that's Pensions Management Institute - Retirement Provision Certificate to the uninitiated) I have finally come to the end of the notes. Having handwritten now close to 60 pages (double sided) of notes and having typed up only 30% of those so that I can actually read them, I am still feeling fairly well prepared for it - much more so than most of my school or university exams. I suppose with it being a financial sort of thing, I've actually been studying that since I was in year 9 and having done a GCSE and A-Level in accounting and a further certificate in financial studies, I should have an advantage over someone who has come to this without such a background.

Permanent

Whilst I'm waiting for the second batch of muffins to come out of the oven, I thought I'd jot down a bit of an update. I realise that I've not posted in a very long time but if it helps, I've not really been active on any form of social media recently. Until the other day, I'd not tweeted in ages, my facebook status updates are getting rarer and rarer. I signed up to google + as soon as I could but I've only ever posted one or two things on there, mostly just sharing stuff I find interesting or amusing from the 'What's Hot' section which has become compulsory viewing for my lunch hour.

Happy New Year!

Welcome to 2012! But what of 2011? For me at least, it was a year of change - big change. I finished one life as student in Sheffield and have started a new one across the Pennines in Manchester. I suspect this post will be very similar to a post I wrote around this time last year 2010 In a Nutshell. Looking back at it, 2010 was a pretty busy year as well, and was summed up as being one of the best years of my life. Can I say the same for 2011? I suppose I can but it wasn't quite on a par with 2010. I suppose the biggest new experience this year has been living on my own. It's something I've never really done for an extended period of time before and I did fear that I would be quite lonely. As it happens, I quite enjoy it really. I love having my own space - particularly in the kitchen and the freedom to come and go as I please without having to fit my timetable in with my housemates. I won't say there aren't times that I would like a bit of company because naturally humans crave social interaction, but I've found that 21st century technology means that you are only a click away from your friends and family (or those of them that are also living in the technology age).