The Storytelling Ape

My girlfriend and I got the keys to our first house on Friday. It was somewhat strange walking around the place and finding stuff the previous owners had left behind, which included, amongst other things: a hardhat, 300 cardboard beer coasters and a flashing blue emergency vehicle light that plugs into a car's cigarette lighter socket. We looked in...

I've been asked to put together a large website at work. Microsoft Internet Explorer is the only target browser, and I've been asked to use C# and ASP.NET if possible. I'm thinking this sounds like a job for Microsoft Visual Web Developer 2005 Express Edition, but I've not used it before (nevermind the fact that I'm new to C# and ASP.NET...

...about Nintendo's Wii. The console, the games, the price and the features are all looking very special. $250 dollars for a next gen console? Woot!

Today I reached a quarter of a century. Happy Birthday to me!

I think Pipo stumbled across his early Christmas present.

On a totally different subject, I'm really enjoying the work culture of my new job (I've been there 6-7 weeks now). In the past I've worked in positions that were very closely monitored (how you are spending your time, etc). But the analyst world I am now a part of is a very laid back one....

One of the great bonuses of becoming a staff member is that I get the GDNet+ membership along with all of its benefits for free. As I'd already paid up until August '06 that meant I had 4 or 5 months of GDNet+ time going spare.

A cunning plan formed: I contacted the guys in charge and asked if I could transfer this time to someone else on the forums....

I've been a staff member on GDNet for 5 days and I didn't break it! Woohoo. Of course, if anyone wants to volunteer, I need to practise suspending and banning. I take my role in the Ministry of Propaganda seriously.

Strike back? In real life, the Empire strikes first...

We put an offer in on the house we like last week and it was accepted. On Thursday we applied for a mortgage and set the solicitor/surveyor wheels in motion. It's a big undertaking and a scary one too. Apparently it takes an average of 6-8 weeks to get from the mortgage application stage to the point where you can sign a bit of paper and get...