blog.sparetomato.com

Well, yes, it’s been a long time since I blogged. We are already 1/4 of the way through the year of 2008, and I’ve not posted a single update.

There has been a good reason, however. A lot of things have happened in my life. Most significantly has been the change to becoming self-employed.

I’ve been looking for a new challenge from work, and my previous employer was really unable to provide this for me. It was a shame - I did enjoy working there, and I liked the people I worked with. Sadly they couldn’t provide the opportunities that I wanted, so I decided to look elsewhere.

Amazingly, I was contacted by a recruitment agent hiring for a customer of my previous company, using the software I had been writing for the last 6 years. It was a contract position, so I was a little apprehensive in making the jump, but I figured that I needed something new, and the switch to contracting provided that extra challenge.

I’ve been self-employed now for just over a month, and I am enjoying it. I am naturally a dedicated hard working person, so I’m not working fewer hours, but I am able to dictate when I work, so I’m enjoying that flexibility.

As for whether I’ll stay on the contracting route, I don’t know in the long term. The pay is nice, and the opportunities are there. It’s nice not being involved in office politics, but there is always the thought that the contract could end before the stated 6 months.

So- other things… well… Satchel Blue are through to the second round of the Surface Unsigned Music Festival (Mainly by virtue of the fact that three of the bands didn’t turn up - but we’re not going to let that minor point sour what was by all accounts a thoroughly average performance.) If we are to progress further, we need to pick up our game a little bit - I need to make fewer mistakes than I did…

I also had my first lesson flying a light aircraft - that was immense fun. I’ve been a passenger in one, and I’ve played Microsoft Flight Simulator for longer than is probably healthy so it was great to be at the controls of a plane. I was a little nervous I suppose, but despite the turbulence, I didn’t feel scared. I’ve always wanted to be a pilot, so maybe this could be the goal I’ve been missing for the last 6 months.

I’ve recently upgraded to an XBox 360. I never thought I would, as I really loved playing on my XBox, but now that no new games are being written for the old XBox, I thought it was time to upgrade. (The fact that Guitar Hero 3 is on the 360 had only a minor persuasive element to it!). Looking at the additional features of the 360 though, I do rather get the impression that the XBox 360 is what Microsoft really wanted to release with the original XBox… once I get it on my home network, I can see it turning into a proper media centre.

So, I’m now up to date with my trivial blogging… almost… I’m trying Microsoft Live Writer as an alternative to blogging through the web, so I’m probably going to be writing more on the train on my way to work when I have more spare time, I’ve got a few draft blog posts on the go, so hopefully in the last 3/4 of 2008, I will be a little more prolific.