I am torn, was 2009 a good year or a bad year for me, or for anyone for that matter?
Personally I spent the greater part of the year on the dole. For someone who has worked all but eight months for the previous twenty five years or so this came as a shock. Sure I had most of my rent paid, but the dole leaves you almost unable to live. My outgoings exceeded my income every month. I got some part-time work in the Summer but that extra money just got taken away four months later when it had all been spent anyway.
This has necessitated a few changes in lifestyle. I have become a professional happy shopper, with Tescos too far away to walk I have managed on using Somerfield, Aldis and Waitrose. You may wonder about the latter, Waitrose as a happy shopping venue, what can you get there that is cheaper than elsewhere, does my essential shopping list include Smoked Salmon, Stinking Bishop and chantrelle mushrooms? Well no, but Waitrose are value for money for some items and their essentials range has become, well, an essential. Pasta, Pesto, Coffee, Marmalade and Washing Powder are all cheaper at Waitrose and good quality too. Even the Dingle yesterday decided the coffee was adequate and he is such an instant coffee snob as to be unbelievable.
I have been priced out of going to football to a large extent. The pressure to have a competitive team requires higher wages and the bean counters at Ipswich Town increased the ticket prices when many clubs are cutting or freezing theirs. Attendances have fallen as a result. This is sad on two levels. One I love my football and Sky Sports News is no substitute for being there, and secondly as a member of Section 6 my voice is clearly missing at some matches. Sad Days when your number one hobby is denied you by Capitalism.
I have been jobhunting but it has been a fruitless task, agents are mostly arse, full stop. Every job appearing on Jobserve, Jobsite or Jobs24 involves an agency. The agents get inundated with applications and CVs and it is nigh on impossible to get yours to be put forward even if the job fits your CV like a glove. Add in that they make daft comments like "I didn't put you forward because I thought the job might bore you" or "I will not put you in for this job because your salary demands are too low" Hello, which bloody planet are you on, there is a recession, my salary demands are low because I want to be competitive and quite frankly let me decide if I will be bored, not you on the basis of my CV. Arse I tell ye the vast majority are arse. Unregulated, untrained, unknowledgable about IT, why are they allowed to decide who gets their CV put forward when theirs just reads Salesman or Saleswoman.
On the other hand 2009 has been a good year for me socially and artistically. I have improved friendships with many good mates and made some really good new ones. One friend called Steve May is trying to resurrect his sort of Jazz Combo called Trancethon. He used to have a 12 piece band, now it is just him. So having met him last year we sat down and recorded backing tracks for him to use of some of the other parts of his music. Then using Ableton I live Mixed it for him at Eddyfest at the Edwardstone White Horse in August. It worked it went down very well and we are aiming to take this onwards. So I now have an artistic and musical outlet I previously did not have.
I returned to cycling. Given my mate Malcs old bike I have cycled around Suffolk most of the year. I have obviously got fitter, except when I crashed and broke a rib and it "only urt when I larffed" But good to get back on a bike again.
The Brewery Tap has been the bedrock of my social life. The number of times I have been in other Sudbury pubs in 2009 can be counted on two fingers which is incredibly apt. It is a real local, full of real people, not alcoholics, not fighting drunk, just nice happy people and wonderful ale. So many thanks to so many people who have bought me pints in 2009. When I get a job in 2010 I will repay your kindness.
Then there was Festinho. What can I say. I wished I had turned up a day earlier to work there, I enjoyed it so much, there was hassle for sure, but also so much fun. The crew excelled themselves, exceeded last year. Festinho came of age, it became a fully fledged festival and one that Tom, Simon, Ru, Charlie, Mikey, Caro, Piers, Jasper, Susie, Matt, Ben and anyone else in the crew I may have missed can be rightly proud of. I look forward to 2010 already, the time is diaried as time off whatever I am doing. I continue to spread the word. My aim is twofold, to secure the services of enough volunteers to make it all work and work to sell all the Sunday day tickets.
There was a sad moment, the tears I shed for the mighty memory of Sir Bobby Robson was the worst. It was truly like losing family. So very sad.
So what do I hope for for 2010. Well a job obviously. I need gainful employment so shameless plug, if you know anyone who needs a Network Engineer or all-round support person, get them to contact me.
I also hope we get a good government, I sincerely hope the Tories fail to gain a majority as their incompetence will destroy the limited good work of the last 12 years and I would not employ George Osborne to open my piggy bank let alone manage a developed economy. Maybe we will get the electoral reform this country so desperately needs to breathe new life into politics.
Clearly I want Ipswich Town to improve, climb the table and in an ideal world make the play-offs. Not that I really want to see Premiership football that much, it really is overhyped too expensive and quite a dull experience. Roy Keane is really growing on me though.
I would love to get more involved in music making. There is a lot that could be achieved, we just need the luck, hard work and determination to make it happen.
Oh and I wish all my friends family and acquaintances a fun, happy, prosperous and auspicious 2010 and decade. It this next decade going to be held in a bivvy bag or a Marquee as it will be "the Tenties"
Thursday, 31 December 2009
Friday, 11 December 2009
Simon Cowell and his famous dancing machines.
I am no fan of the X Factor, in fact with a few exceptions I am no fan of any band or artist doing cover versions. Hence the X Factor is not my cup of Tea.
But the X Factor goes deeper than that. If 16 million people do indeed tune into this drivel then the world is in a sad state. There are so few music programmes on TV that promote and play original music, Channel 4 does it's bit as does the Culture Show and Jools Holland, but that, sadly is about it.
The problem is that the influence that the X Factor has on it's audience in accepting musical drivel as entertainment, and worse still going to pubs and clubs and expecting more of the same. I notice that clubs now have X Factor nights, karaoke is in, and a whole generation of teenagers will see this as what entertainment really is. That will be really bloody sad.
RIP Real Music, RIP originality and RIP most sadly the long tried and tested route to market for so many bands and artists, namely gigging. There are so many venues that only ever book tribute and covers bands, many but not by any means all of whom do imitations of the original songs and usually without any passion. Now add to that the X Factor nights and karaoke boom and there are precious few places to play.
Simon Cowell is upset. He says the campaign to get Rage Against The Machines "Killing in the Name of" to the Christmas Number one is stupid, he argues
Simon let me fill you in on a few truths, the reason that none of these people would get a sniff of a recording contract is simple, they are simply not good enough. Pete Waterman puts it more succinctly.
That from a man who "manufactured" the likes of Rick Astley in the 1980's. He knows how cynical the music industry is and especially how brazenly cynical the X Factor is. Not that every talented and original musician gets the success and fame their work and talent deserve, indeed there are bands out there who will forever stay on the periphery, but most if not all have a loyal if small following, and most persist, hoping for a break, sadly none of these acts would ever get near the X Factor, original music is out, covers by rote is in. How sickening.
I turn to the words of an always original musician, not averse to a few covers, who was a maveric critic of the music industry, that goes some way to explaining why the X Factor is so successful, I give you the words of Frank Zappa RIP.
and from the same source.
In the last quote lies some semblance of hope, which will be reflected if Rage Against the Machine get a Christmas Number 1.
But the X Factor goes deeper than that. If 16 million people do indeed tune into this drivel then the world is in a sad state. There are so few music programmes on TV that promote and play original music, Channel 4 does it's bit as does the Culture Show and Jools Holland, but that, sadly is about it.
The problem is that the influence that the X Factor has on it's audience in accepting musical drivel as entertainment, and worse still going to pubs and clubs and expecting more of the same. I notice that clubs now have X Factor nights, karaoke is in, and a whole generation of teenagers will see this as what entertainment really is. That will be really bloody sad.
RIP Real Music, RIP originality and RIP most sadly the long tried and tested route to market for so many bands and artists, namely gigging. There are so many venues that only ever book tribute and covers bands, many but not by any means all of whom do imitations of the original songs and usually without any passion. Now add to that the X Factor nights and karaoke boom and there are precious few places to play.
Simon Cowell is upset. He says the campaign to get Rage Against The Machines "Killing in the Name of" to the Christmas Number one is stupid, he argues
These three people, who under normal circumstances would find it really hard to get a recording contract, suddenly have got a shot.as some kind of warped justification for one of the three winners getting a Christmas Number One.
Simon let me fill you in on a few truths, the reason that none of these people would get a sniff of a recording contract is simple, they are simply not good enough. Pete Waterman puts it more succinctly.
I haven't ever seen any of the finalists. I haven't heard them sing. But I can guarantee they all have decent but unremarkable voices, no discernable personalities - and some heart-rending tale to tell about a granny who's died, a distant cousin with a drug habit or some other such sob story.
That from a man who "manufactured" the likes of Rick Astley in the 1980's. He knows how cynical the music industry is and especially how brazenly cynical the X Factor is. Not that every talented and original musician gets the success and fame their work and talent deserve, indeed there are bands out there who will forever stay on the periphery, but most if not all have a loyal if small following, and most persist, hoping for a break, sadly none of these acts would ever get near the X Factor, original music is out, covers by rote is in. How sickening.
I turn to the words of an always original musician, not averse to a few covers, who was a maveric critic of the music industry, that goes some way to explaining why the X Factor is so successful, I give you the words of Frank Zappa RIP.
Some scientists claim that hydrogen, because it is so plentiful, is the basic building block of the universe. I dispute that. I say there is more stupidity than hydrogen, and that is the basic building block of the universe.
and from the same source.
Music is always a commentary on society.
In the last quote lies some semblance of hope, which will be reflected if Rage Against the Machine get a Christmas Number 1.
Monday, 7 December 2009
Save the World - But who are the Cheerleaders?
This was in response to a thread in TWTD http://www.twtd.co.uk today
The thread started with someone wondering how much carbon was released in getting all the delegates to Copenhagen and all the protestors. There was little sensible debate thereafter...... so I pitched in
The facts are simple, since we stopped polluting the atmosphere with soot and other particulates which effectively offset the effect of increased levels of CO2 in the first eight decades of the 20th Century, the levels of CO2 have been rising but also the global temperature trend. The important word is trend, for those who do not understand the word, if for example you take a set of any figures against time and graph them, the trend, is the overall gradient of the slope eliminating the peaks and troughs of the individual figures.
The trend for global temperatures is upwards, the only plausible explanation (and all the cosmic ray/Sun Activity data does not work btw) is that this has been caused by human CO2 emissions. Historically the earth has warmed and then CO2 levels have risen with a time lag of a century. The current situation is different the CO2 levels are rising and so is the temperature AT THE SAME TIME.
The solutions are not easy. We need to cut CO2 emissions by an extraordinary amount maybe 50% or more in as short a space of time as possible, and it needs to be done on a global scale hence we need the agreement of EVERY country and industry in the world.
This is unpopular, it means change, the stupid hate change while the clever welcome change. We shall now find out how many are stupid and how many are clever. The stupid may want the status quo to remain as they get rich in the short term but they will all lose out in the medium to long term. The clever look to the longer term, they see the sense in pain now for gain later, whether that is in terms of money or not drowning or not starving or whatever.
The carbon points is a big red herring, you cannot offset your carbon emissions by someone in Brazil saving a few metres of rain forest or planting a tree. The CO2 in the atmosphere has a half life of many decades, best not to put the CO2 there in the first place.
In response someone suggested we could never build enough wind turbines my response was....
Renewables are but part of the solution.
Other solutions include:
Increasing household and other property insulation to the very highest standards and replacing all out of date and innefficient technology with more energy efficient technology would save at least 35% of all energy usage. These improvements include better roof insulation, low energy light bulbs, Combined Heat and Power home energy units, energy efficient transport (i.e. Hybrid/Electric/LPG) Switching to Public transport, energy efficient TVs etc. etc.
Building local Power stations for local power use, currently at least 25% of the energy created at Sizewell B is lost in the National Grid.
Other alternative energy sources, Windpower, Solar power (panels are now 25% cheaper than a year ago and could drop by half again making them viable) Ground and Air source Heat Pumps, Hydrogen Fuel Cells (once non-industrial manufacture of Hydrogen on a local scale is possible in ten years time), Small household vertical wind turbines (existing technology) Waste CHP plants plus many others.
Low Voltage Household Electricity Circuits for Lights, TV, Computers etc.
There are many ways to save and create energy, windfarms are just one solution and in some ways not the best as energy is lost in transmission.
-------------------------------------------------------
All well and good but just who is going to champion all these solutions, replace an infrastructure based around burning fossil-fuels.
The energy companies pay lip service to wanting us the consumers to use less energy, but actually complain if a consumer uses too little power, my gas supplier queried how I used less than one unit of gas per day on average over three years, the solution was put on a jumper rather than turn up the Central Heating.
The vehicle manufacturers are only now realising that we need alternative fuel sources for vehicles and working to make the technology as viable and easy as petrol and diesel, but what of all the existing vehicles, they may last and be in use for thirty years.
The public transport infrastructure in at least two major industrialised nations, the UK and USA is not fit for purpose and will not be for the foreseeable future, it is too expensive, not integrated, not comprehensive enough and run for profit before the common good. This is a political issue and not one likely to be addressed.
Exactly who is cheerleading the real solutions, is anyone in Copenhagen going to suggest all these things are fixed? No of course not. The devil is in the detail. The detail is probably in the hands of the stupid.
The thread started with someone wondering how much carbon was released in getting all the delegates to Copenhagen and all the protestors. There was little sensible debate thereafter...... so I pitched in
The facts are simple, since we stopped polluting the atmosphere with soot and other particulates which effectively offset the effect of increased levels of CO2 in the first eight decades of the 20th Century, the levels of CO2 have been rising but also the global temperature trend. The important word is trend, for those who do not understand the word, if for example you take a set of any figures against time and graph them, the trend, is the overall gradient of the slope eliminating the peaks and troughs of the individual figures.
The trend for global temperatures is upwards, the only plausible explanation (and all the cosmic ray/Sun Activity data does not work btw) is that this has been caused by human CO2 emissions. Historically the earth has warmed and then CO2 levels have risen with a time lag of a century. The current situation is different the CO2 levels are rising and so is the temperature AT THE SAME TIME.
The solutions are not easy. We need to cut CO2 emissions by an extraordinary amount maybe 50% or more in as short a space of time as possible, and it needs to be done on a global scale hence we need the agreement of EVERY country and industry in the world.
This is unpopular, it means change, the stupid hate change while the clever welcome change. We shall now find out how many are stupid and how many are clever. The stupid may want the status quo to remain as they get rich in the short term but they will all lose out in the medium to long term. The clever look to the longer term, they see the sense in pain now for gain later, whether that is in terms of money or not drowning or not starving or whatever.
The carbon points is a big red herring, you cannot offset your carbon emissions by someone in Brazil saving a few metres of rain forest or planting a tree. The CO2 in the atmosphere has a half life of many decades, best not to put the CO2 there in the first place.
In response someone suggested we could never build enough wind turbines my response was....
Renewables are but part of the solution.
Other solutions include:
Increasing household and other property insulation to the very highest standards and replacing all out of date and innefficient technology with more energy efficient technology would save at least 35% of all energy usage. These improvements include better roof insulation, low energy light bulbs, Combined Heat and Power home energy units, energy efficient transport (i.e. Hybrid/Electric/LPG) Switching to Public transport, energy efficient TVs etc. etc.
Building local Power stations for local power use, currently at least 25% of the energy created at Sizewell B is lost in the National Grid.
Other alternative energy sources, Windpower, Solar power (panels are now 25% cheaper than a year ago and could drop by half again making them viable) Ground and Air source Heat Pumps, Hydrogen Fuel Cells (once non-industrial manufacture of Hydrogen on a local scale is possible in ten years time), Small household vertical wind turbines (existing technology) Waste CHP plants plus many others.
Low Voltage Household Electricity Circuits for Lights, TV, Computers etc.
There are many ways to save and create energy, windfarms are just one solution and in some ways not the best as energy is lost in transmission.
-------------------------------------------------------
All well and good but just who is going to champion all these solutions, replace an infrastructure based around burning fossil-fuels.
The energy companies pay lip service to wanting us the consumers to use less energy, but actually complain if a consumer uses too little power, my gas supplier queried how I used less than one unit of gas per day on average over three years, the solution was put on a jumper rather than turn up the Central Heating.
The vehicle manufacturers are only now realising that we need alternative fuel sources for vehicles and working to make the technology as viable and easy as petrol and diesel, but what of all the existing vehicles, they may last and be in use for thirty years.
The public transport infrastructure in at least two major industrialised nations, the UK and USA is not fit for purpose and will not be for the foreseeable future, it is too expensive, not integrated, not comprehensive enough and run for profit before the common good. This is a political issue and not one likely to be addressed.
Exactly who is cheerleading the real solutions, is anyone in Copenhagen going to suggest all these things are fixed? No of course not. The devil is in the detail. The detail is probably in the hands of the stupid.
Saturday, 5 December 2009
A cycling beer hop in December = knackered Tim and knackered bike
No I didn't crash, read on though.
Had a pretty full on night last night. Spent the day getting a PS3 Slim to talk to a mac over a home network, so that the MAC acts as a media server. Not horribly successful the results were inconsistent. Then got taken on a bike pub crawl. Where, since I am skint I didn't buy a single pint myself all night.
So here goes.
Long Melford to Pentlow Pinkuas Arms. 5.6 miles, several hills, it was cold and my gears are knackered plus I had a laptop to contend with, so stuck in one gear (4th on the middle cog) I made it up all the hills and was glad my bike freewheels so well.
Pint of Shepherd Neame Spitfire 4.2% , which is a lovely beer sweet but malty with some hoppiness, but it went down so quickly it barely touched the sides. Briefed my mates on the just completed World cup draw, then a pint of Woodfordes Wherry at 3.8%. This beer is imperious, this has been the stock ale at Glastonbury in the past, light, flavoursome, flowery, hoppy and as always lovely.
Back on the bikes for a ride accross the plateaux above Sudbury to the West (Sudbury is in a valley, Suffolk is not flat, far from it, admittedly it is hardly Yorkshire, but it has very few flat bits) Another 3 to 4 miles to the Pentlow Red Lion.
First pint was the ever gorgeous Adnams Old 4.1%. This is a dark horse, highly drinkable, indeed I have drank it all evening in the winter in the past, this was really lively as well, the complexity of the beer shone through as did the silky consistency, a very malty beer but not in the least bit heavy, the complexity of it astounds but it never gets too much, a truly and dangerously quaffable beer.
Then to the second pint, Oakhams Inferno 4.0% like Crouch Vales similarly beautiful Amarillo, (there really is only one way to order the Crouch Vale beer, if you can sing in tune) both beers use an american hop called Amarillo, and produce a golden ale that has so much hoppiness but an underlying taste that is unmistakenly that of grapefruit, truly superb, a real thirst quencher and as I discovered later an award winner as well, unsurprised.
My mates told me that it was only two or three miles home, as if, the locals told me it was about six miles. The locals knew best, flat first couple of miles then a long downhill with an inevitable uphill I tried changing gear halfway up to prevent my thighs bursting, Clunky-crunchy-whirr-gedunk-gedunk-gedunk - no gear engaged bugger it and walk. get it back in gear at the top and repeat whole experience twice, by this time it is raining, not heavily but enough to spur you on to avoid giving up and calling a cab. Arrive at Brewery Tap some 75 yards from home.
Pint of Mauldons Bah Humbug 4.9% a lovely beer, fruity and complex, caramel, ruby red but really drinkable. But I am back and even at 10pm only last a pint or two before going home to collapse, exhausted.
My mates cycle the three and a half miles back to Melford. One of them does this every friday night, actually more he does seven miles to Edwardstone then five to Sudbury five to Pentlow and then the 5.6 miles to Long Melford. But then his bike cost a grand and the gears actually work.
This morning I will mostly be making breakfast and fixing a bike.
Had a pretty full on night last night. Spent the day getting a PS3 Slim to talk to a mac over a home network, so that the MAC acts as a media server. Not horribly successful the results were inconsistent. Then got taken on a bike pub crawl. Where, since I am skint I didn't buy a single pint myself all night.
So here goes.
Long Melford to Pentlow Pinkuas Arms. 5.6 miles, several hills, it was cold and my gears are knackered plus I had a laptop to contend with, so stuck in one gear (4th on the middle cog) I made it up all the hills and was glad my bike freewheels so well.
Pint of Shepherd Neame Spitfire 4.2% , which is a lovely beer sweet but malty with some hoppiness, but it went down so quickly it barely touched the sides. Briefed my mates on the just completed World cup draw, then a pint of Woodfordes Wherry at 3.8%. This beer is imperious, this has been the stock ale at Glastonbury in the past, light, flavoursome, flowery, hoppy and as always lovely.
Back on the bikes for a ride accross the plateaux above Sudbury to the West (Sudbury is in a valley, Suffolk is not flat, far from it, admittedly it is hardly Yorkshire, but it has very few flat bits) Another 3 to 4 miles to the Pentlow Red Lion.
First pint was the ever gorgeous Adnams Old 4.1%. This is a dark horse, highly drinkable, indeed I have drank it all evening in the winter in the past, this was really lively as well, the complexity of the beer shone through as did the silky consistency, a very malty beer but not in the least bit heavy, the complexity of it astounds but it never gets too much, a truly and dangerously quaffable beer.
Then to the second pint, Oakhams Inferno 4.0% like Crouch Vales similarly beautiful Amarillo, (there really is only one way to order the Crouch Vale beer, if you can sing in tune) both beers use an american hop called Amarillo, and produce a golden ale that has so much hoppiness but an underlying taste that is unmistakenly that of grapefruit, truly superb, a real thirst quencher and as I discovered later an award winner as well, unsurprised.
My mates told me that it was only two or three miles home, as if, the locals told me it was about six miles. The locals knew best, flat first couple of miles then a long downhill with an inevitable uphill I tried changing gear halfway up to prevent my thighs bursting, Clunky-crunchy-whirr-gedunk-gedunk-gedunk - no gear engaged bugger it and walk. get it back in gear at the top and repeat whole experience twice, by this time it is raining, not heavily but enough to spur you on to avoid giving up and calling a cab. Arrive at Brewery Tap some 75 yards from home.
Pint of Mauldons Bah Humbug 4.9% a lovely beer, fruity and complex, caramel, ruby red but really drinkable. But I am back and even at 10pm only last a pint or two before going home to collapse, exhausted.
My mates cycle the three and a half miles back to Melford. One of them does this every friday night, actually more he does seven miles to Edwardstone then five to Sudbury five to Pentlow and then the 5.6 miles to Long Melford. But then his bike cost a grand and the gears actually work.
This morning I will mostly be making breakfast and fixing a bike.
Wednesday, 2 December 2009
Let me Introduce myself I am a man with a wealth of taste.
Though sadly at present not someone of any wealth.
This blog will ramble, but hopefully ramble in an amusing way. I am not new to blogging, I used to blog on a daily basis in 2001/2 on the subject of Ipswich Town whilst they were in the Premiership, these blogs were called the Daily Summary on the Those Were the Days website.
Ipswich Town are close to my heart, and will be one of the subjects I will blog on. But I will also blog on Technology, on Music, on jobhunting which is my current full time occupation, on cycling and on a not mutually exclusive subject to all of these, beer, specifically Real Ale. I may well blog on other subjects as I see fit, I am not afraid to wear my political heart on my sleeve and I am not shy when it comes to contentious issues.
Who am I? Well in my late forties, I have spent the best part of fifteen years online and the best part of twenty five years working in IT. I live in a small Suffolk Town and have lived here all my life bar 12 years in East London where I did my degree and worked.
So what is really interesting me at the moment.
Well as I said I need a job, I have a good CV and I have applied for at least one carefully chosen job a day either via Jobserve/Jobsite or being contacted by agencies. But I am not getting interviews. Now I know there are loads of IT workers in my situation and every job gets many more applications than an agent could reasonably cope with, but by the law of averages I should have got at least one interview by now. Still I will plug away, some luck will break I am sure.
Just in terms of sheer quantity of jobs being advertised, there is a most definite improvement on say the spring of 2009, then I could barely find one job a day to apply for, but also I had part-time work then.
I don't just sit around at my laptop piling through lists and lists of job specs, I always seem to have a couple of projects on the go, none of them are lucrative. I am currently working on mixing a demo CD for a Jazz musician called Steve May. We did a gig last year with him on keyboards and me live mixing his own backing tracks using Ableton Live, this was at Eddyfest a music festival at the Edwardstone White Horse. We arrived two hours early and drinking water pre gig instead of launching into the more than fifty available ales, was difficult and almost unnatural. I also fix my mates PCs and Macs usually for payment of a few ales.
Have I mentioned I love my beer, well check out Ketsbaias Beer Advent Calendar which is linked to the right.
Bye for now.
This blog will ramble, but hopefully ramble in an amusing way. I am not new to blogging, I used to blog on a daily basis in 2001/2 on the subject of Ipswich Town whilst they were in the Premiership, these blogs were called the Daily Summary on the Those Were the Days website.
Ipswich Town are close to my heart, and will be one of the subjects I will blog on. But I will also blog on Technology, on Music, on jobhunting which is my current full time occupation, on cycling and on a not mutually exclusive subject to all of these, beer, specifically Real Ale. I may well blog on other subjects as I see fit, I am not afraid to wear my political heart on my sleeve and I am not shy when it comes to contentious issues.
Who am I? Well in my late forties, I have spent the best part of fifteen years online and the best part of twenty five years working in IT. I live in a small Suffolk Town and have lived here all my life bar 12 years in East London where I did my degree and worked.
So what is really interesting me at the moment.
Well as I said I need a job, I have a good CV and I have applied for at least one carefully chosen job a day either via Jobserve/Jobsite or being contacted by agencies. But I am not getting interviews. Now I know there are loads of IT workers in my situation and every job gets many more applications than an agent could reasonably cope with, but by the law of averages I should have got at least one interview by now. Still I will plug away, some luck will break I am sure.
Just in terms of sheer quantity of jobs being advertised, there is a most definite improvement on say the spring of 2009, then I could barely find one job a day to apply for, but also I had part-time work then.
I don't just sit around at my laptop piling through lists and lists of job specs, I always seem to have a couple of projects on the go, none of them are lucrative. I am currently working on mixing a demo CD for a Jazz musician called Steve May. We did a gig last year with him on keyboards and me live mixing his own backing tracks using Ableton Live, this was at Eddyfest a music festival at the Edwardstone White Horse. We arrived two hours early and drinking water pre gig instead of launching into the more than fifty available ales, was difficult and almost unnatural. I also fix my mates PCs and Macs usually for payment of a few ales.
Have I mentioned I love my beer, well check out Ketsbaias Beer Advent Calendar which is linked to the right.
Bye for now.
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