Victoria park alone

I miss summer.

My favourite sandwich

Making a sandwich for me needs to have a good taste:time ratio. Nothing beats a Counties Cheese and Ham sandwich with pickle. That is all.

My new two favourite things

When my fat PS3 gave up on me, a friend lent me their PS3 to tide me over as I didn't have a job so splurging on a PS3 was not an option really. 

Eventually I found employment and bought a new playstation. I also found Ben and Jerry's Caramel Sutra Core ice cream. y.e.s

Playstation

At the height of my unemployment, when applying for jobs and doing interesting free online courses with Harvard was the main content of my day, if the weather was nice enough I used to escape to the park to lay on the grass and watch the clouds listening to music, sketching or reading. This was my time, to get out and see other people, get fresh air, try and be positive. 

When the weather was not so accommodating, I found escape in my PlayStation and I look forward to getting a PS4. It is my winter coping mechanism for sure. That winter stews and mulled wine. I can't understand how people can not like games.

Selling shoes..

I have big feet. Size 8. I occasionally make the mistake of thinking some size 7's will fit me but really I need to come to terms with the fact that this will never happen. 

I bought some cute shoes online and then they didn't fit, and ended up having to sell them on. 

I am a size 8... I am a size 8... 

WDI Week 10

The final week of lessons is upon us and we are thinking about our final projects. It has been an intense 9 and a bit weeks so far, and although waking up and not going to GA feels like a completely foreign concept, we only have three more weeks of that schedule.

Last week Angular was the dream. I wish I had known about it earlier, yesterday we covered 'High Voltage' which was a great tool to reduce the length of the process required to get a new static page in a site. You could just add the page in and it facilitates the routing and you don't need to build a controller. Great gem! I think I'll be using it again in the future :) We also covered 'Prawn' in the afternoon, a gem to convert pages into PDF files, handy when allowing users to download information or print pages and responsive design with media queries in the morning, although technically it was my second time doing that as it was covered on the FEWD course.

Yesterday evening we had to lend some serious thought to our final projects, the initial planning of our projects was usually a process consisting of us coming up with awesome ideas that are really complex and impressive, then being reminded of the allocated time frame and having to reign in our ambition a little. This process was noticeably more serious as this was the first time we had to completely come up with an app of our own, apart from Hackathon, and compared to that a lot more was riding on this as our final projects are the biggest thing we can bring to the table for our Meet and Greet in January. You could almost see the gears turning as everyone bounced ideas off each other.

This course has made me realise that I am a very visual person when it comes to planning and talking about databases and user journeys is so much easier when I have sketched it out.

I am looking forward to seeing what everyone comes up with, and I am also looking forward to having seen a (relatively?) original project from the conceptual stage to it being on-line.

The Death of Derp

This summer, one of our family members was involved in a hit and run accident and passed away.

This is an homage to Derp. A 2003 Nissan Micra and my first car. Gone but not forgotten.

Originally a gift from my parents, Derp was my first taste of real freedom. The little silver bug was exactly what I had wanted at the time. Small and cute he saw many an adventure. 

He was broken into in 2006 in the car park at Basildon Hospital, but never gave up my stereo. 

He hated winters even more than me, he'd have days when he just couldn't face going anywhere. All he needed was a little love and attention, and some extra power to the battery, and he would be as enthusiastic as ever.

He knew his limits, and would alert me with a gentle shudder if I ever accidentally ventured over the speed limit on the motorway. 

He was rowdy, never wanting to let a mere bollard stop him from getting where he needed to go, and wore his battle scar with pride. You had been through a lot, that I didn't even know about, and had lost your airbags in the process. Even in death he answered the question about the constant airbag warning light.

His gear box was tricky at times but he never let me down at the traffic lights, allowing me to sail past even the rudest rudeboy with the cuteness and elegance only a Micra could achieve.

His sounds would rival most clubs, with bass abilities capable of vibrating your brain, and other cars till their alarms went off. His charm started street dancing and head banging alike.

I miss u little Derp. I can only hope to give my future kids a little car as awesome as you were.

Ergo 4000

I have just received my beast of a keyboard and it is taking a little getting used to...

I usually touch type but this is quite a challenge to get used to, although it does feel really nice to type on.

I didn't learn the official way to touch-type so this is proving to be quite difficult, I keep typing in the space between the keys. How am I going to get my speed back up..? I must persevere because RSI is no joke and I don't get paid enough as a secretary/typist for the pain to be ok, and I don't want to take time off to go see a doctor.

EDIT. This keyboard is GREAT! Took some getting used to but it really helped with my wrist pain. I used it in the raised position, and this definitely felt the most comfortable. After a week or so my typing speed recovered from the change and I got great use from the hot keys too.

Microsoft Ergo 4000 

Christmas silliness

This Christmas was the first one with my family in over 7 years. My parents still weren't here.. but there were more of us together than usual. There was a great spread and so much food I ate myself into a coma. I loved it this year and I am not usually a person who cares about Christmas at all! I actually spent time with my cousin's and their children, which is unusual for me because I really avoid children as much as possible as they stress me out. Boxing day was fancy dress and we all got dressed up ridiculously.