Things To Remember not to Forget

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Don't forget there are a couple of things coming up soon....

Global Gamejam and Platform Expo: The next Global GameJam is at the end of this month. Sign up at the registration site. This is a great way to get experience coding and is also part of the Platform Expo running in Hull.

FameLab: Famelab is a chance to get noticed, and also a chance to practice speaking in front of an audience. The pitches are very short - what could go wrong in Five Minutes? Find out more here. 

For Hull students we've had a meeting today (I do love meetings) to sort out the Seminar plans for the next semester. There's some interesting things coming down the tracks....

Happy New Year at the C4DI

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What with today having really quite nice weather we went out for a walk. I took number one son to show him the new C4DI headquarters down at the waterfront. I think it is a stunning looking building, and a great visual compliment for "The Deep" which is just across the river.  I'd like to think of this as a metaphor for all the great things which are happening in Hull just at the moment, with a burgeoning local software scene and some fascinating trajectories for developers who want to live and work in lovely Hull. 

Oh, and I'd like to wish all my readers a happy and prosperous New Year.  I hope you have a happy, healthy, fun-filled and prosperous 2016.

Meanwhile....

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... at a secret rocket and cheese production facility in the North of England....

... I'm making special "Space Cheese Mining" marker awards for all the folks who helped out with the First Year marking this year. I'm going to give them to Kevin, David, Phininder, John, Bailin and Brian to say thanks for their assistance in giving all of our students a great assessment experience and some splendid feedback. Guys, I'll have them for you for Monday.

Printer Bashing

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This had better keep working...

You should never try and do anything when you have jetlag. Especially print things. Today was the day I needed to print up all the materials for the Three Thing competition. Like I did for the last few years I fired up my printer and, like it did for the last few years, it promptly proceeded to jam up with paper.

Some things about the modern world confuse me. We can put men on the moon (although that was a long time ago). We can fathom out the deepest mysteries of science. We can create vast and powerful networks that span the globe. But we can't make a device that reliably feeds paper into itself.

Up until now I've just fixed all the paper jams and carried on, repeatedly printing until I get all the copies I need. But today I had jetlag, which reduced my tolerance of such foibles to avery bare minimum. So that, and the realisation that I'd have to do exactly the same thing next year, and the year after that, made me pick the printer up, throw it in the car and take it to the tip.

Then I went on to Staples and picked up a replacement printer. I think I may have annoyed the staff by the way that I went along the row, typing product numbers into Amazon and looking for a device with a set of good reviews. Turns out that there aren't that many in that situation. Which confuses me. (see above)

Anyhoo, the HP Envy device that I selected was well reviewed and comparatively cheap. It will cost a huge amount to keep going - of course - but I'm hoping that it will print reliably for a year or two.

The University Bookshop Rocks

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Bottom row on the left, if you are interested....

Bottom row on the left, if you are interested....

We are very lucky to have a bookshop right on the university campus. It's been through a number of names while I've been here. It started as Haigh and Hochland, then changed to Bowes and now it is Waterstones. I've not been in for a while, and I must admit to my eternal shame that I only dropped in last week out of vanity. Someone had mentioned that they still had a copy of my XNA book on sale, and it turned out to be true, which I found amazing. Now we just have to get someone to buy that copy and see if they restock....

Anyhoo, the bookshop is great. Like most bookshops it has branched out a ways, and along with course books there are is now a goodly selection of games and other bits and bobs. They've even got a copy of the awesome Cash and Guns board game. And a big shelf full of graphic novels that I don't remember seeing last time I was there.  And lots of other stuff that would make good presents if I ever find myself in the position of needing something to give away in a hurry.

If, like me, you've not been in for a while, go take a look. If you are new to the campus it's a very useful resource. Bookshops are taking a hammering thanks to scarily useful services like Amazon, but we really should support their business. Starting by buying my book.....

Sorry is the New Black

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I think the marketing people have discovered the apology as the latest tool to get you to engage with them. I've recently had quite a few companies getting in touch and apologising for not having been in touch with enticing offers. Ebay recently apologised profusely for something that I don't remember them doing and offered a special discount to make things up. Which I'm sorry to say I haven't used.

V. Busy Open Day

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On the way out of the carpark I found this leaf on the ground.

On the way out of the carpark I found this leaf on the ground.

We had our first University Open Day of the new academic year today. The place was mad busy and it was nice to see everybody having a good time in the sunshine. I did two talks. I promised to put the pictures up on my world famous (in my world) blog, so here they are.

This is the first cohort being told what to do by Mike

This is the first cohort being told what to do by Mike

..and this is the second, slightly smaller, one.

..and this is the second, slightly smaller, one.


Mr. Game and Watch Amibo

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I had a kind of highlight last week at the New Students Welcome Party. We were playing 8 player Smash Brothers and I, much against the advice of the "experts", decided to play as "Mr Game and Watch".

And I won.

This will probably never happen again, but it was rather nice. On Saturday, to celebrate this accomplishment, I invested in the Mr. Game and Watch Amibo. It's rather nice too. It comes with four different character poses which you can slot into the base, depending on your mood.