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  • 2021 Goals - How did I do?

    04January2022
    My hopes for 2021 were as about as grim as I predicted and once again I did not quite manage to achieve my goals. However, in November, I discovered a possible reason why I struggled so much to reach my goals and in December it was confirmed: I have ADHD.
    mind body and soul
  • 2021 Goals

    05January2021
    2020 was not a year of succeeding in my goals. I don't share a lot of peoples high hopes for 2021, so these goals will be 'pandemic appropriate'
    mind body and soul
  • 2020 Goals: How did I do

    04January2021
    Wow. 2020 was one hell of a year, right?!
    mind body and soul
  • 2020 Goals

    10January2020
    It's not just a new year, it's a new decade, welcome to the roaring 20's! Let's set some goals, shall we?
    mind body and soul
  • 2019 Goals: How did I do?

    02January2020
    Look at me! I'm doing my how did I do post already and it's only the 2nd of January! That must mean that 2020 is the year I finally start acting like a grown-up, right?
    mind body and soul
  • 2018 Goals: How did I do?

    07March2019
    2017 was a banner year for me. I achived so many of my goals that my life just lurched forward. That made 2018 a tough act to follow. However I did surprisingly well on my goals. Here's how I did.
    mind body and soul
  • 2019 Goals

    07March2019
    Every year, I like to set myself a public list of goals that I then do my best to acheive. Some years it works, some years it doesn't, most years I manage to make this list before nearly a quarter of it is already in the past, this was not one of those years.
    mind body and soul
  • New blog platform!

    20February2019

    OK it's been a long old while since I've bothered with this blog. Part of it (although this is totally an excuse) is that I've never really been a fan of WordPress. So I've migrated it all to a new platform.

    Welcome back! We have a new name, a new design and I've even got a content plan for the future! It's all go at Foxleigh HQ!

    meta
  • What should we expect from the next gen of VR?

    13April2018

    The Vive Pro is out and the Pimax is on the horizon, whilst it's too early to tell what the Pimax will be like, the reviews are in on the Vive Pro and they all seem to be "Meh, it's a nice little bump but hardly gen 2".

    So... What DOES Gen 2 look like?

    technically minded
  • Five things that the future may hold for VR

    09April2018
    With Ready Player One out in cinemas and a few new headsets on the horizon, Virtual Reality is in the news again. I've been a fan of VR since the original Developer Kit of the Oculus Rift (known as the DK1) went on Kickstarter, I remember when I first received the DK1 and tried it out in 2013, my world was changed forever.
    technically minded
  • Where would I be without the internet?

    07March2018
    What if the internet never existed? Where would you be? WHO would you be? Here is an alternate history of my life if the internet had never existed.
    meandering insanity
  • 2017 Goals: How did I do?

    15February2018
    I had a lot of goals last year, how many did I acheive?
    mind body and soul
  • 2018 Goals

    15February2018
    This year has a hard act to follow, in 2017 I smashed all but one of my goals and they were not small goals (Get married, Save 15k, Buy a house, publish a book). I still have goals left to achieve though so let's get them down!
    mind body and soul
  • Top 5 tips for a new dev just starting out

    31July2017
    If you are new to the dev industry, it can be daunting. I've been doing this for 19 years, so here are my top 5 tips.
    digital industry
  • 100 Healthy Days

    29June2017
    I’ve been doing super-well on achieving my 2017 goals so far this year and this is motivating me to achieve as many of them as possible. Goal 1 of my 2017 goals is the same as goal 1 of every other year since I started this in 2012: Get to a healthy weight.
    mind body and soul
  • Let's Kill Capitalism!

    26June2017
    This year is proving to be a great year for achieving my goals. Not only did I get married (goal 4) but I've now just published my book (Goal 5)!
    scribblings
  • Holy crap, I'm married!

    03April2017
    In my last post, I mentioned that one of my year goals was to marry my wonderful girlfriend. I also said that it wasn't going to happen this year as we had neither the time nor the money to have a wedding. Well a few weeks after making that post, we decided 'screw it!' and 2 days ago, we got married!
    meandering insanity
  • 2017 Goals

    27January2017
    Each year, once the dust of the last year has settled. I like to set myself some goals, sometimes I even remember to put them down in a post such as this one. Whilst these goals may not be that interesting to other people, I find that committing them in this way makes me more accountable and makes me more likely to work towards achieving my goals. So without further ado:
    mind body and soul
  • So you want to be a web contractor? (Part 2: Essential purchases)

    13December2016
    A few months ago, I posted an article about how to get started as a contractor in the web industry. It proved to be a popular article so I thought that instead of it being a short two-parter, I'd turn it into a series. So here is part 2!
    digital industry
  • So you want to be a web contractor? (Part 1: Tips for getting started)

    28September2016
    If you are thinking of making the leap from permanent to self-employed,Ā then here is part one of my guide to becoming a contractor in the web industry, this guide will not just tell you how get started, but how to flourish.
    digital industry
  • The problem with front-end development recruitment

    24August2016
    I've been building websites for a very long time. When I first started back in the mid-late 90's there wasn't much of a distinction between front-end developers and back-end developers, we all had to know everything, you couldn't specialise as there wasn't really much of a need for that. "Build me a website" was about as much spec as you could expect.
    digital industry
  • How I learned to stop worrying and love task runners

    02February2016
    A year ago I wrote an article on how I didn't see the point in tools like Gulp and Grunt. One year later and I have to admit, the old me was an idiot.
    technically minded
  • New theme is live!

    15January2016
    As you've probably noticed, if you've been here before. I've updated the theme! I finally got around to making a completely customised one based on the 'sandbox' wordpress template.
    meta
  • How the Internet is changing the face of politics

    07May2015
    Today is the day. Today the people of the United Kingdom can vote to change the future of the country for the better (hopefully) but unlike elections of the past, the outcome of this one is being considered too close to call. We have the Internet to thank for that.
    rise against
  • Rapid HTML creation with Emmet and Sublime Text

    13April2015
    Zen Coding (now known as Emmet - which is a terrible name in my opinion) is a suite of plugins for various text editors. It allows you to rapidly develop HTML by writing it with CSS-like syntax and then simply pressing the TAB key to 'compile' it. It's incredibly fast and convenient, here is how to use it.
    technically minded
  • Using graveyard files for better code management

    29March2015
    Front end developers make a lot of changes during builds, especially once the codebase starts to get integrated with backend code. Rather than delete or comment out old code, why not put it in a graveyard file?
    technically minded
  • Head in the cloud - A justified rant about technology

    05March2015
    Now, this is the story, all about how my data got flipped, turned upside down soĀ I’d like to take a minute, just sit right there, I’ll tell you why I moved my storage into the air.
    technically minded
  • Using a taskrunnner

    04February2015
    A few years ago, shortly after moving from Windows to Mac (no regrets!) I discovered an amazing app called CodeKit. This wonderful app runs tasks which are things we UI developers have to do on a regular basis.
    technically minded
  • 2015 - Time to fight the flab and get healthy.

    02February2015
    This time last year, I had just moved to Portsmouth from Leeds. I didn’t know this at the time but 2014 was about to be one of the worst years of my life for health.
    mind body and soul
  • London, Baby!

    13January2015
    I'm officially a Londoner!
    meandering insanity
  • BBQ Digital

    10October2014
    I know, I know. I'm rubbish at updating this blog. In my defence though, I've been busy building a new company!
    digital industry
  • Why content is king

    12September2014
    If you have spent any amount of time in the media industry, you’ve undoubtedly heard the term coined by Bill Gates back in 1996 "Content is Kingā€
    digital industry
  • Farewell to my best friend

    05May2014
    Anyone who says a dog is a man’s best friend never met Puddles. She was the most unique cat I've ever had the pleasure to know. Sadly last night she had to be put to sleep. Let me tell you a bit about her.
    meandering insanity
  • The times, they are a-changin.

    25April2014
    At the very beginning of last year, several amazing things happened to me, none of which I could ever have anticipated:
    meandering insanity
  • Becoming a contactor

    21May2013
    Becoming a contractor can be a daunting experience for anyone, I am currently going through the early stages of it so I am going to document my successes and failures here in the hope that I can help other people take the plunge and guide them on their own journey to freedom.
    digital industry
  • Diary of a new contractor

    21May2013
    Becoming a contractor can be a daunting experience for anyone, I am currently going through the early stages of it so I am going to document my successes and failures here in the hope that I can help other people take the plunge and guide them on their own journey to freedom.
    digital industry
  • 2012 Goals: How did I do?

    02January2013
    Last year I set myself a few life goals and whilst IĀ didn'tĀ do too badly, I did not do anywhere near as well as I wanted to, this year I have some different goals and a continuation of some of the same ones. Let’s see how this year plays out.
    mind body and soul
  • I moustache you a question

    23October2012
    For the third year running, I am going to take part in Movember, the international charity which encourages men all over the world to grow hideous facial hair in return for sponsorship money.
    meandering insanity
  • Leedshack - 18 hours in!

    29July2012
    We've now been hacking for almost 18 hours straight. It's fair to say that I am utterly knackered, we've made some amazing progress though, after a fairly shaky start (More on that later).
    technically minded
  • Introducing Textagotchi!

    28July2012
    Our leedshack project is well underway!
    technically minded
  • Leedshack begins!

    28July2012
    This weekend I have decided (against my better judgement) to not sleep for 18 hours and instead to attend the excellent 'Leedshack' event.
    technically minded
  • Textagotchi - We have a screenshot!

    28July2012
    Here is the first peek of our Textagotchi webapp! Let us know what you think!
    technically minded
  • Harry's Song and the power of free

    20July2012
    Several months ago I wrote a short story called ā€˜Harry’s Song’, it will go down in history in my writing ā€˜career’ as the first story I ever actually completed. I put it on Amazon for free and it just exploded.
    scribblings
  • A beginners guide to depression.

    21April2012
    It has been said by many that depression is the black death of the 21st century, In 2001 I was diagnosed with clinical depression. Here is how I learned to cope with it.
    mind body and soul
  • AFTER THE VOID

    12March2012
    Here is a little snippet for a short story I am writing, as always, your feedback is appreciated :) :
    scribblings
  • Ten Tips for throwing a great party

    20February2012
    I'm not generally one to blow my own trumpet (it's a ribcage thing) but it has been said that I throw excellent parties, after a few years of doing this I started to get asked for advice on how to help people throw their own parties. As I have no desire to become a party planner, I have put together this handy guide containing all of my top tips.
    meandering insanity
  • The Leeds Writers Group

    12February2012
    I've started a writing group!
    scribblings
  • Cover Design for Emily Bell

    11February2012
    A few months ago I had an idea for a cover for my novel, it was a photo of Emily holding on to her mothers hand in the rain, it was quite a strong image but it related to a part of the novel which wasn't really all that significant, it was also a little bit 'in your face'. Whereas this cover idea that I've had says a hell of a lot (once you've finished reading the book) but is done with a lot more subtlety.
    scribblings
  • It's a dogs life

    03February2012
    Again this was another short story written for a course assignment, it is a little rough as it has not been edited yet. I'll try to give it an edit soon:
    scribblings
  • Mist

    03February2012
    I wrote this as part of an assignment last week, the assignment was to write a scene which linked two action scenes: a scene where a demon eats a young girls family and a scene where the demon returns to finish the job by eating her. Ā Here is the scene I wrote:
    scribblings
  • 2012 Goals - Progress so far [FEB]

    01February2012
    I've not exactly made leaps and bounds with my 2012 goals but I have made some progress and they are coming along nicely. Here is what I have done so far:
    mind body and soul
  • 2012: Not the end, the beginning!

    12January2012
    There are a lot of posts on the Internet at the moment about the Mayan prophecies and all that rubbish, I have no doubt that life will go on after 2012 and I want it to be better than it currently is.
    mind body and soul
  • Creative writing course

    11January2012
    Last year I attended the first part of a three part (hopefully), creative writing course. Part one proved itself to be invaluable as it gave me the push I needed to start writing my first novel as well as affording me the opportunity to meet some great people.
    scribblings
  • How to get started in blogging... [Part 1]

    08January2012
    This is part one of a three part tutorial on how to start writing a blog, this part will cover learning to 'get over' any issues which may be standing in your way, part two covers the technical approach to blogging (i.e. Which tools you should use, how to submit a site toĀ GoogleĀ etc...) and part 3 will offer some general tips that I've discovered on my travels.
    scribblings
  • What type of Twitter user are you?

    04October2010
    Twitter has risen quite quickly over past few the years into something of a social phenomenon. Its attraction is mysterious to some and obvious to others, however we all have our own ideas on what Twitter is useful for.
    meandering insanity
  • Five months later: A (disgruntled) re-review of the Motorola Milestone.

    24August2010
    As you may remember, back in March I did a review of the Motorola Milestone. This was the non-US equivalent of the popular Motorola Droid. Five months later and I am not happy...
    technically minded
  • The Rise and Fall (and rise again?) of Classic 2D Adventure Games.

    06June2010
    About 12 years ago, computer gaming discovered 3D graphics, and whilst in principle this is a great advancement, it rang the death knell for the golden age of Role Playing Video Games. Classic titles such as Monkey Island, Simon the Sorcerer and Discworld were no more. We aim to start a campaign to bring them back.
    technically minded
  • Top 10 Android Apps for UK Users

    30May2010
    As you may know from my previous post I have recently replaced my old iPhone 3G with a shiny new Motorola Milestone. One of the first things I have realised upon using this phone is that there is not a great deal of focus on it from the UK community. I’ll start with the best 10 apps I’ve discovered so far which are available in our country.
    technically minded
  • EventGhost - the little automation program which can change your life

    18May2010
    Every now and again when scouring the internet for new and interesting information I find a tip or program which changes the way I live. EventGhost is such a program.
    technically minded
  • The Fully Automated Media Centre (Windows Only)

    18May2010
    A few weeks ago I wrote a post about how to use EventGhost to begin to automate your PC. Now we are going to take things a step forward and use EventGhost alongside a few other free programs to set up an amazing and fully automated Home Theatre PC.
    technically minded
  • Android update for Milestone finally hits the UK

    13May2010
    After a fairly long wait behind the rest of the west, the UK Milestone finally received the update to 2.1. Here is a quick rundown of its new features and instructions on where to get your hands on it.
    technically minded
  • Rip your movies with ease using DVDFab (Windows)

    05May2010
    I often hear praise for software applications such as HandBrake and DVDShrink, but after using them myself in the past I found myself wanting a simpler solution. I didn’t really see why in this day-and-age ripping a movie to your hard drive should take more than a few clicks. Then I found DVDFab...
    technically minded
  • Adobe CS5 Launch - The Creative Suite Feature Run Down

    13April2010
    With the recent release of the 40 minute video from Adobe promoting their fifth incarnation of their Creative Suite software, we compile the greatest features on offer to web designers and developers.
    technically minded
  • Why a quality website is more important than you realise.

    09April2010
    For many clients the true value of their website is not realised, often it is just thought of something you should have without any real thought as to why. This article attempts to explain the reasons a website is important and why you should aim to create a fantastic website instead of merely an acceptable one.
    technically minded
  • It is 2010, why can you still not use a computer?

    22March2010
    It is time to face facts - its 2010; computers have been around for over forty years and have been ubiquitous for at least five. We ask "in 2010, is there any excuse for not being computer literate?ā€.
    technically minded
  • REVIEW - Motorola Milestone (UK)

    12March2010
    There is a fantastic phone running on the Google Android platform called the Motorola Droid. Though this device is only available in the US, its twin brother the Motorola Milestone is available in the UK via Expansys and Mobiles.co.uk
    technically minded
  • Taming the Wild, Wild Web

    10March2010
    On the sixth of August 1991 one man changed the world. His name was Tim Berners-Lee and all he did was plug a cord into the back of his computer. This man is the inventor of the World Wide Web and is the reason you almost certainly have the internet in your home.
    technically minded