Andrew

I don't know why but three separate people have asked me recently who my top five famous women are, so:

1. Nelly Furtado


2. Linda Barker


3. Lisa Rogers


4. Liz Barker


5. Jane Middlemiss

A disparate selection I know and one that many people will find very very strange! I haven't included film stars but if I did I might say Cameron Diaz, Demi Moore and Reese Witherspoon.

Hope that clears that up.

It’s Friday at last, fantastic.

During today’s lunch break I popped into Farnborough shopping centre and bought Wizard of Oz on DVD. Yes, you read correctly. I prompted myself to do this after DB mentioned during the week that he had the Dark Side of The Moon album by Pink Floyd. It made sense, having heard the old rumour that the film and album are perfectly synchronised, to part with the cash and check the theory for myself.

The first track of the album must start exactly on the third roar of the MGM lion. I admit that there are some uncanny coincidences, such as when:

• Dorothy balances on the pigpen to the line “balanced on the biggest wave” and falls off to “you race towards an early grave”.
  
• The tin man, holding an axe aloft, is found to the lyric “you raise the blade”.
  
• Dorothy and the Scarecrow stroll off the yellow brick road and get attacked by trees to the lyric “got to keep the loonies on the path”.
  
• The song The Great Gig in The Sky lasts exactly the same length as the tornado sequence in which Dorothy’s house is flying around in the sky.
  

All the way through, the feel of the music fits beautifully to the visuals but given that home video systems were invented long after Pink Floyd produced the album, and given the vast number of dissimilarities where the film and music bear no correlation whatsoever, I’ll have to say that it’s just a coincidence.

While I’m busy sharing opinions…

My housemate, John, bought Grand Theft Auto: Vice City the other day and I’ve been playing it all too much recently. I admit that at first it didn’t really look good having played GTA3 for so long. In particular, the colour scheme (pink and blue) used for the various indicators is quite irritating though somehow reminiscent of the 1980s. The frame rate is slightly down, which is probably attributable to the higher complexity of the 3D environment. I was also annoyed by the fact that it doesn’t take much to get landed with two criminal points.

However, game play is great and includes lots of new features. The other vehicles seem more intelligent now and don’t just stop when you run in front of them. It’s also possible to jump from speeding cars, which is particularly useful when they catch fire! But best of all is the inclusion of motorbikes and mopeds as they are superb for stunts and driving around narrow alleys where cars don’t fit. A top game and one that will keep me occupied for many more days (weeks?) yet.

It’s been too long since my last update! I can’t begin to describe all the nitty gritty details of what’s been going on so here’s a synopsis.

I resigned from QinetiQ, where I’ve worked since June this year, on November 15, so with 30 days’ notice less the holiday owed to me I should finish on December 4. I’m due to start work at 3Dlabs on January 2.

I’ve eventually updated the vlib Web site after 18 months of promising to get round to it. For those that don’t know, vlib is a volume graphics API which I specified and implemented as part of my PhD. The new site can be found here.

I’ve seen 28 Days Later at the cinema TWICE because I think it’s such a good film. The second time I noticed that the streets of London aren’t quite so deserted as someone carrying shopping bags (or something like that) can be seen in the distance. Still, it’s a fun film but like Yorkies, it doesn’t seem to be for girls.

I watched The Autopsy on TV last night, which is a recording of an illegal public autopsy performed in London yesterday by a German pathologist. It was sheer entertainment and hardly educational at all. I admit that I wanted to see the autopsy live but thought I wouldn’t be able to get in so didn’t bother going to London to try. I’d like to see the same pathologist’s Bodyworlds exhibition in London.

I’m on a mission to find Wizard of Oz and Dark Side of The Moon by Pink Floyd so I can check out the old theory that they’re synchronised. DB in my office mentioned that he’s got the CD so I’m contemplating buying the DVD of the film.

I played squash with Peter at work today and lost 3-2, which I think is a perfectly respectable score. We provisionally arranged another game for next week and I HAVE to beat him! Especially as I won’t be around too much longer!

Time for a Chinese I think. Yes, meal, what else?

Yesterday was interview day! Talk about bad preparation. When I woke I discovered that my wardrobe didn’t contain any clean shirts. I hadn’t revised properly. My cupboards were empty so I had nothing to make lunch with… It was a bit of a mad scramble but I managed to pop into work for dinner at 12pm wearing a clean shirt and a suit.

I arrived at the interview slightly early and sat in reception reading some of their publicity material and the FT. It’s relieving to see that my Tracker ISA has recovered to what it was when I bought it earlier this year. I digress…

The interview went reasonably well. I was asked why I’d turned the job down in June and why I wanted to terminate my current position. It wasn’t easy to answer this but I explained in the best way possible without, I think, sounding like a total idiot.

The hardest thing about any technical interview is not thinking of the answers but understanding the questions. I was aware that the technical interviewers were driving at something with their questioning but couldn’t quite see what it was. I had an inkling but could see a fundamental flaw in the algorithm they appeared to want me to write out on the board. I sat frustrated with head in hands for a few seconds but having no better ideas I wrote it out and apparently got it right. I then demonstrated the problem with the algorithm using a trivial example…

The entire interview was only 2 hours 15 minutes, compared to 4 hours last time. I drove home and immediately had a phone call from the agency to say that they’d already had a decision back and I’d got the job! I’ll resign from my current position as soon as I’ve signed and returned the contract from my new employers.

I celebrated in the evening, after recovering from my thumping headache, in the standard manner. I popped to Holmes Place for a jacuzzi, then grabbed something to eat in Pizza Hut (a pizza, no less) and met up with Matt et al in Fleet for a beer. Life is sweet.

It was mentioned this afternoon that those who frequently use the word "I" think about themselves too often. As a result, today's journal entry shall be free from this word. However, tomorrow shall be back to normal.

The chauffeur car was on time this morning thus causing Andrew to sit waiting in the window for ages. He didn't want a repeat of last week when the driver arrived early while he was still in bed.

For those who don't know, a chauffeur car picks Andrew up once a week as he volunteers himself to the Centre for Human Sciences (CHS) as a drug subject. It's only antihistamine - none of the hard stuff!

The afternoon was pretty standard as far as the drug study sessions go. However, this week Andrew became slightly aggitated by Rebecca, the girl who keeps her mouth shut other than to moan - he finds this annoying - plus he doesn't like the way that she changes channel on the big TV without a majority vote. He vented his anger by explaining this dislike to Helen, with whom he shared a car home.

Andrew is becoming nervous about his interview tomorrow. He'll post one update to comment on his thoughts and another with the decision when it comes through.

Andrew feels silly talking about himself in third person.

It’s been a fun filled, action packed few days! OK, compared to last week anyway.

I was off sick again on Monday but took the time to send my CV to a recruitment agency advertising a 3D device driver developer’s position at an anonymous company. An agent phoned me shortly afterwards and as it turns out, it was the same job that I applied for but then turned down at 3D Labs in June. They still haven’t filled the vacancy and are now offering slightly more money (£30-40k) and I want the job! It sounds very appealing.

I’m happy with the salary and benefits package I’m on at the moment but the work doesn’t stimulate me and I’m not growing as a person. I’m losing valuable skills and I’m not developing new ones so, after four months of thinking about it, I’ve decided that I must move on. I’d only become a dribbling vegetable eventually if I stay where I am.

I drove to Egham in Surrey where 3D Labs are based on Tuesday evening. It’s 14 miles along the A30 and took 30 minutes both ways during rush hour, which is acceptable. I drove past a Ferrari garage and wondered for a moment what life would be like if… dreaming again, sorry.

I hope they want to employ me after I turned them down. I don’t particularly like the taste of humble pie but it keeps me from starving. I didn’t put them second though, it was just that I’d already agreed to start work elsewhere. Anyway, I’ve got a second interview with them on Friday at 2pm.

I was honoured yesterday to discover that Sitsofe, a former Swansea student, has mentioned the encouragement that I gave him to finish his degree on his Web site. If I understand correctly, he never submitted his dissertation and consequently hasn’t yet graduated. He’s a clever boy with a lot of potential and will definitely regret it in the long term if he doesn’t finish up in university.

I was back at work yesterday and explained to my Business Group Manager (BGM) that I’m not happy and pinpointed the problem precisely. He asked if I want to move elsewhere in the company but right now I don’t feel as though I want to. I won’t say more about this or the meeting because I’ll probably land myself in hot water!

I order The Office on DVD on Monday and it arrived today! I can’t wait to watch it…

I was still sniffing and coughing today so I decided to take some flexitime and go off to Holmes Place during the afternoon to relax in the spa. It was great. I went back into the office afterwards, worked for a while and then played squash with Matt, Neil and Jane at the Garrison in Aldershot.

Prof. Chen, my PhD supervisor, e-mailed me yesterday and invited me to write a paper with him for VG03, a conference to be held in Japan early next year. The deadline for submission is mid-December so we’ll have to press on with it. I’d originally wanted to slightly modify and submit a chapter of my thesis but maybe I won’t do that now. It’s all down to time at the end of the day and I don’t have too much of it.

My housemates and I had our Guy Fawkes celebration this evening. It basically consisted of syphoning petrol from Chris's car and using it to set fire to the pumpkin, which we then catapulted over the hedge with a homemade trebuchet.

There are too many bored engineers in this house...

I dared to leave the house last night and went to Pizza Hut with John. Mental note to self: he owes me £5. I ate enough but I'm still not back to my usual bottomless pitted self.

I downloaded my CV from my university account earlier, you know, just in case I choose to send it off to anybody at any point. I currently work for a large research organisation developing a helicopter flight simulator for the MOD but I'm not getting my hands too dirty with computer graphics or low-level algorithms and the work has nothing to do with my PhD - which bothers me.

Anyway, stay tuned for another exiting installment.

I've found the perfect time to write my first entry now that I'm home ill in bed. I haven't been ill in ages and I'd forgotten just how much it sucks.

I feel hot but I'm shivering. I can't breathe. To add to the ghastly crisis, I've run out of tissues.

Why couldn't I be ill at the start of the week like most working people?