Back again. Survived the first week of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, at work tomorrow then off in a couple of days to Hacking At Random 2009 ... hopefully to see more than 3 lectures this time. It'll be good to be surrounded again by a few thous

I finished the Night Angel trilogy a few days ago and I'm well impressed. Really good story, awesome characters. Well worth it :)  Slightly gutted that it's over, but still. Just started a new Alastair Reynolds - "House of Suns"

It's been so long since I wrote.. but here I am.Ensconced still in an unlikely software house on the outskirts of Manchester, I write.This weekend was good for enjoying the early delivery of summer sun as I found myself down in Oxford. A big barb

Ohio gozaimass. Finally making a concerted effort at giving up nicotine. I have the enviable support of my bunch of Manchester mates who are giving up as well. Keep your fingers crossed. The psychology of smoking has been driving me mad for a while.

Been spending time getting some of my old sketches scanned in and submitted to deviantART. If you're interested, check out the dA link from www.fractos.comaFx

Absolutely, truly, definitely given up nicotine.No more.

Busy times at work... spent the last week writing a proposal for what to do with the internal systems format and that was presented today.Mike rang to say he and Stacey were expecting again! Very good news apart from knowing he'll have less time on h

Week 2 of being a technical writer and I've just about met everybody in the firm apart from the MD. However, he's making some time later on today and seems personable enough. The company itself is a weird mix of many, many developers (all of whom are

Definitely given up nicotine.

All good[Tunes - Dizzee Rascal - "Boy In Da Corner"]I managed to find a new job after two months of anxious searching! Scarcely believable that it took so long to even get an interview. Recruitment agents are, in general, a pile of shit, th

Given up nicotine. Effective: Immediate

Finally I feel that I have something to write about.Reaping what you sowAt the beginning of this year I put the idea into my friend's head that what he really wanted to do was to start a record label. He's just had his first kid with his fiance and w

So much has happened since I last wrote. I've been ill since June, been working my arse off trying to keep me solvent, and I've hardly been able to be in London at all. The Ariza project has completed it's first stage and I am awaiting the beginnin

[Tunes: Murcof - Martes] So I'm listening to the programme on Alpha and watching the girl in the front row cock her head to see if it makes any more sense at 25 degrees to vertical. Something's wrong and it's itching like a speck of dust behind my

[tunes: none] I needed to do something other than eat, sleep and breathe code for a few moments and I find myself here. It feels early but I know it's just a trick of the brain as the light filters in past drawn curtains. Another day waking up on

Filling in a bit of time between brain states... London can't make up it's mind if it is hot or cold. Such meteorological vacillations seem Hell-bent on freezing me solid or overheating me due to the amount of luggage I'm carrying. The exc

The time has come to put another major effort into the Ariza project. It's been a good few days of relaxing, practicing mixing and catching up with myself. Overview has been re-established and I am grateful. Feeling ready, feeling sharp. dev-Zero-2

We can abstract it for you, wholesale.   [Tunes: MTV Extreme:Glacial Beats]   Recovery from a heavy week of coding, travel, dental fears and exhaltation finds me alone on this rainy Sunday. The true value of a weekend is appreciate

We struggled through the day and the following night - and we have achieved our goal. dev-Zero-1 The demonstration was dispatched to the relevant parties at 12-noon GMT+0 yesterday with a whole heap of 'getting to know it' emailed instructions.. In

And so, from a beginning shrouded in dream and hidden graft, it began to take shape. We are close now.. and all the effort seems worth it. The sun is setting and we're knuckling down. This could be a very long weekend... It seems a shame - I love

Birds call out biologic prayer for another bright day, as starshine spills off whitewash and chestnut leaves. Today seems like it's over-specified, and I am no nearer breakfast or resolution. We attempt - to prove the impossible, once more.&nb

I was born on this day in 1976. I do not know if it was as sunny as today. I do not know if the world felt so unsafe as today. In fact, I have very little information about the day I was born, save for an entry I once found in my father's diary. He s

Just for posterity, I would like to say that watching women's fashion finally come around to something I really like - namely the current trend in comfy-looking suede boots - is absolutely fantastic. Girls in thief-boots... Ahhh, how long have

Quick scan of newspaper headlines indicates that we are in a state of war. You have to wonder how many of today's blogs begin with a line like that. In this new world of global communication, I wonder how the news will spread. From the last Gulf Wa

So, after more than a year spent away in the North, recharging, I return to one of the most compelling of cities. London... how I have missed you. After graduating in the summer of 1999, I moved down to Surrey to join the BBC's Internet Servic