And I’m back in the room!
Ok… I didn’t realise but for some reason my site has been down. I guess I changed a database setting or something which meant the database wasn’t accessible. But…….. I’m BACK!
I’ll start blogging properly again shortly but just thought I’d say hi! 
New lens alert! Canon 50mm f1.8 MKII
Tags: 50mm f1.8 MKII, Canon, digital camera, ebay, lens, photography
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After wanting to buy this lens for about a year I finally stumped up and bought a second hand one off eBay. Cost £68 and fingers crossed it’s going to be worth every penny.
I haven’t used it yet (only go it on Thursday) but I will very soon and if I can make anything good then I’ll post them up. Especially as I haven’t actually posted any of my photography on here yet!!
NOTE: Picture credit goes to www.dpreview.com
Un.titled update
Tags: javascript, JSON, Magento, modules, PHP, prototype, scriptaculous, untitled
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Ok… so I’ve been at Un.titled for just exactly a month and I’ve gotta say, I love it!!!
The people are great, nice and chilled out, the work is interesting (albeit it pretty hard going - I’ll explain more in a mo) and it’s generally a good place to work.
So what I’ve been up to in the last month???
To start off with I wrote an scrolling image gallery with pagination and JSON setup class using the prototype and scriptaculous javascript libraries. Interesting and very challenging (I’d not done much with the two previously).
Next up was a week or so of introduction into the company’s CMS system as I’ll be working with it fairly soon. Including implementing the technical side of the image gallery mentioned ^^
Then it was back to JSON, prototype and scriptaculous. This time to build a live feed system that will update itself from the JSON array. This will have various different application within the CMS system.
The last week or so has been spent on Magento. There are a couple of sites the company has recently finished that use the system so I’ve had to give myself a crash course on writing for it. Next week I’ll be writing new version of a couple of modules that had been cobbled together by a previous developer which means the version of Magento can’t be updated. Common sense FAIL!
All in all, I think it’s been a good start. Hard work and a VERY steep learning curve (I hate that phrase!) but I’ve enjoyed ‘almost’ every minute of it.
I’ll update again soon
Train station etiquette
Tags: anonymity, etiquette, station, train, untitled, work
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This is a strange one. Since starting at Un.titled I’ve been catching the train to work as it’s easier and cheaper. The parking alone would cost a fortune, not to mention the fuel!! (about £25 a day doesn’t sound like fun to me!!).
Train station etiquette has me confused though. No-one talks to each other!
Is there some kind of unwritten rule that says even though you see these same people every day of the working week you have to stand next to them on the platform and not say a word? Instead listening to your iPod or reading Metro.
I’m not sure I really get it, it can actually feel a little uncomfortable at times sat/stood there looking around meeting the glance of other people who look just as uncomfortable. I could kinda of understand it in a big city station where the mass anonymity is a major part of being there, but I catch the train from a smaller station where only about 15-20 other people are on the same platform.
Just thought it a little odd when I was thinking about it the other day, and figured I’d share. So maybe next time you’re on the platform and there’s loads of people looking equally as uncomfortable as you feel, say hello. We’re are sociable creatures afterall
Devon baby!
Tags: beer, devon, flickr, friends, holiday, sunburn
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For the bank holiday at the end of May I went down to Woolacombe in Devon for a few days with some friends. It was fantastic! The weather was unbelievable (proven by the sunburn), the company was great and the nights out and beer drinking was even better.
Thanks to my friends that made it the weekend it was.
I’ve got a full set on Flickr if you’d like to have a look and comment.
Un.titled
Tags: awesome, chuffed, design agency, employment, job, Leicester, new, untitled
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It’s been a while since I posted an entry but I’ve been saving up a good one.
While I was away in Devon I got an e-mail from Un.titled, a full service creative agency in Leicester. I’d previously applied for a job with them as a Senior Web Developer but having got down to the final few applicants I didn’t get it. However, the e-mail asked if I was still interested in a position with them as they had an opening in the tech team (which later turned out to be the exact same position I’d applied for).
I went along for a second interview the day after I got back from my hols and it went really well and got offered the job on the spot. Chuffed hardly covered it!
So. That’s it really. I now work in Leicester city center for an awesome agency creating some really amazing top end websites and applications.
Round of applause please!! 
New Oasis advert - Rubberduckzilla
Tags: drink, Oasis, rubberduckzilla
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I’ve just seen the new Oasis - Rubberduckzilla advert. Awesome!!
Toothbrush robot!
I was browsing on YouTube earlier and found this awesome little fella. How much do I want one?! Anyone wanna send me their old pager?
Using the Zend Framework
Tags: coding standards, geek, MVC, PHP, Programming frameworks, Zend, Zend framework
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WARNING - This is a geeky post!!
It was decided where I’m currently working that a new version of the site should be written. This was mainly down to the fact there’s a lot of legacy and procedural code in various places throughout the site meaning it’s pretty much impossible to maintain to any satisfactory degree.
So, it was time to look into different options for introducing some kind of coding standard to the company. Obviously there are various options available including writing your own ‘framework’ from scratch but I figured it’d probably be more beneficial to look into some of the pre-built frameworks that are available. After all, they are free!
The main ones that I found during my research seem to be the Zend Framework and CakePHP and after looking at the various features of each I decided to look more closely at Zend. Something written by the people who actually write PHP has gotta be a good starting block hasn’t it?!
I like the shear amount of classes/functions that it offers you straight out of the box including a nod towards social networking/bookmarking and interaction with 3rd party APIs (including Amazon EC2 & S3, Twitter, Flickr, Delicious etc). Also, the fact that’s the structure of it is all based around the MVC programming pattern out of the box is very nice.
It was slightly daunting to begin with during the initial setup because I’d not used a pre-built framework in the past but now it’s all setup it’s coming together nicely and it’s actually very quick to develop with, which was kind of the intention.
So if you’re looking for a new framework to develop your PHP with I’d heartily recommend you give the Zend Framework a bit of a look.
Twitter time
Ok, ok…. I know it’s old news but even so. Up until yesterday I didn’t have a Twitter account and could really see the point in it (I still can’t to a certain extent) but figured seeing as every other mug in the world is busy twittering away if you can’t beat them, join them!
http://www.twitter.com/blistereduk if you want to follow me.
Whats more is I’ve already got some followers!
Also worth a mention is Tweetdeck. For those that don’t know it’s an app that lets you track your Twitter account and post new tweets. The latest version also allows you to post status updates to Facebook.