Evil Exam Invigilation

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This morning found me performing an unexpected Exam invigilation in the Sports Centre. I was down as reserve invigilator and when someone didn't turn up I had greatness thrust upon me. I wasn't that keen to be honest, until I saw the content of the paper I was invigilating, which had the wonderful title of "Evil". Thinking I might be good at evil, since I practice a lot at home apparently, I had a look at the questions. They were very thought provoking and I quite fancied having a go at them. The last one was "Is evil art?". Profound stuff.

Then tonight it was down to the pub for the first Preston Foster Appreciation Society meeting in a long while. A great time was had which, to be honest, was not very profound. For some reason I found the following very funny.

"I was feeling a little under the weather last week, so I went to the doctor to find out what it might be. He told me it was raining."

Perhaps you had to be there.

Wedding Daze

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Went to Iain and Suzanne's wedding bash tonight. Good food, good company and good music. I didn't actually dance (I'm not actually allowed to until the court order is rescinded) but it was a great event. I took the little camera and grabbed a few snaps.

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The figures on top of the cake were ace. Although I don't remember Iain having that much hair...

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...and they even had their own branded sweeties for us

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Congratulations, and the best of luck for the future.

ShutterBug

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I seem to be getting back into photography again. I've been selling computers and phones and buying cameras and lenses. And I'm not alone. I was in the newsagents today and there are loads and loads of photography magazines sprouting up.I think part of this is due to the availability of cheap digital SLR cameras, and also sites like Flickr which let you show off your pictures. Either way, it is nice to see, because photography is fun and with modern computer based technology there is no need to mess around in the dark with strange chemicals (unless you really fancy it). At Hull we even have a Hull University Photographic Society now, I'm looking forward to going along to some more meetings next semester.

I've been taking photographs since schooldays, when hiding in the darkroom was a very pleasant alternative to school sports on Wednesday afternoon. I had a developing tank, an enlarger and hands that smelt of fixer. I used to borrow books from the library about photographic technique and learn phrases like "contre jour". In those days taking a photograph was quite an effort. If you didn't have a light meter to measure the brightness of the scene you could use a little plastic calculator to work out the exposure. You gave it the date and time and it worked out how bright the outdoors should be. Then you had to calculate the distance, set the focus and finally fire the shutter. After a session in the darkroom you would get to see your negatives, which you would then convert into prints after another foray into the pitch black. Great fun.

Nowadays you just press the button. The camera decides what you are photographing, sets the focus and exposure accordingly and then makes a noise like old cameras used to do - just to keep you happy. You can look at the picture straight away, and print out copies of the ones you like best, with no darkness at all.

Of course, as someone who used to do everything the hard way, I think this makes it all too easy, but then again you can get nice pictures with minimal effort. I took the new camera and lens down to the marina and had a happy half hour taking pictures. Which I guess is what it is all about.

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Lifeboat

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Boats and tidal barrier

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Flags

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Hull Marina

..just think how much I've saved

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Went shopping for clothes today. Went very well, got a couple of jackets and some jeans It might not seem much to you, but I'm only able to buy clothes a couple of times a year and this was one of them. I'm not telling you how much I spent, but I saved loads...

The weather was kind of interesting and wintry. Asked number one son to poke the camera out of the car window during the journey.

So he did.

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The first shot he took

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True Grit

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Not quite an oil painting, but it could be..

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As could this...

New Year at Hornsea

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We always try to go to the seaside on new years day. We've done this for years, and we are still not sure why. The thing is, sometimes the weather is great and you can get some superb pictures.

Then you have days like today. It was quite cheering to find that there were a few other plucky souls who had ventured out into the horrible weather. I, of course, took the camera to record the occasion.

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Nobody was swimming.....

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Teddy bears

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Snakes and Ladders

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We spent a pound here. In two pence pieces....

Party and Fan Man

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Went to a party today. We had our "office do" at Fudge in Hull. Very nice it was too. Great food, great company, great times.

And no photographs. (I forgot).

Then it was back to Paul's, where he strapped a propeller on his back and tried not to fly around his garden. No. Really. Paul is a recent convert to paragliding, having just helped to create the world's first paraglider simulator. He wanted to show us his new rig and was offering drinks and sweeties, so we were all round there like a shot. So it was that, drinks in hand, we watched as he fired up his machine and tried to use it to blow cast iron garden furniture around. Now this I did get a picture of.

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Fan man

When Paul bought his house, it came with a collection of plates. Including this one.

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I'm not sure if it is dishwasher safe, but it does have a unique style.

After the party we wandered back to the office for some gaming. I had to zoom off early and do some other bits and bobs, but I did manage to win at Wii tennis (although Warren beat me at Guitar Hero).

XNA Fun and Games in Dublin

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We were up bright and early for a "Breakfast Round Table" discussion with academics from all over Ireland about the teaching of XNA and Computer Science.

Some of the delegates had got up at scarily early hours to travel here and take part. Once I got over the disappointment that the table wasn't actually round a great discussion was had. It was interesting to hear how the computing scene in Ireland is not that different from the UK.  Quite a few places are getting their students to write games as part of their teaching, others are starting game development courses. At Hull we have been doing this for a while, and so I delivered a bit of insight into how we make things work. And gave the book a good plug.

Then the student presentations started. Due to popular demand we were running two tracks and so everyone gave their sessions twice.  I took some pictures of the audience looking happy at the start of my sessions (I always take the pictures at the start, in case it all goes horribly wrong).

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The audience for session 1

The first session went really well with a great audience. Then I staggered out of the lecture room and into the second session.

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The audience for session 2, how they appeared at the start....

However once I got the laptop working on the projector things settled down a bit and I was able to focus on the job in hand....

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Another superb audience.

I had another great session with these folks, and then it was off to the airport for a flight back to Hull.

The XNA European tour goes on tomorrow to Vienna. You can find out how they are doing on Charles Cox's blog here.

Sunday in Dublin

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The hotel had some really posh flowers

Sunday finds me in Dublin, for the XNA European tour. This evening I met up with the tour team, who face the enticing prospect of seven European cities in as many days. Charles and Dave from the XNA group were amazingly chipper, despite having arrived only today and being deep in jetlag country. We had a splendid meal out and talked technical and non-technical (including my delivery of the "Orange for a head" joke - which probably represented the low point of the proceedings).

I'm just around for the Dublin event, I'm giving a couple of sessions tomorrow. Should be fun.

York Trip

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What a way to start the day

Today we headed off to York for a family get together. I had a plan to get yet another camera (don't ask) and in the process rationalise my camera collection a bit. The weather was pretty horrid, and I wasn't very hopeful of any nice pictures. Nice sunrise notwithstanding.

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York Minster and Moon

Seems like I was wrong. We ended up going on the York Wheel at the Railway Museum. You really should go there - the museum is free and wonderful and the York Wheel, while no London Eye, is really good. And you do get some nice pictures.

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York Station

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The Wheel

Yes, I did get another camera. If anyone wants to buy a Canon EOS 300D (lovely camera, just not quite as nice as my new one) then let me know.

Micro Framework Fun and Games

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Today Dave Baker and I strutted our Micro Framework stuff in front of our TechEd audience. Someone had rather kindly told Dave that "He must be mad to present with Rob". If I had a pound for everyone who has said that.....

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We had some very nice toys to show off

The talk went very well, in spite of the fact that I told my favourite and second favourite jokes. I'm saving my third favourite for the talk tomorrow. We gave away a bunch of T shirts, a copy of the book and a complete development kit, so there were some very happy delegates. We had loads of questions, which I reckon is a good sign.

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At the start of the Dave and Rob show

After the talk I headed off to "Ask the Experts" and spent a happy ninety minutes admiring all the new .NET Micro Framework platforms that seem to have appeared since I last looked, and meeting up with Roger and Colin, who had come al the way over from Seattle to run some porting classes and talk to delegates.

The way that Microsoft are prepared to send over the people who actually make their stuff always amazes me. Delegates can actually talk to the programmers who actually make the products they are working with. It must be hugely expensive in time and effort, but I'm jolly glad they do it.