Into August

Right! Time to post a catchup on a few things I hadn't got round to posting about yet. Once again! Well you should all know by now that I am probably one of the web's most irregular posters...

Birthday Weekend
Hehe, anyway, my birthday weekend sometime ago started on Friday 25th July. My birthday was littered with preparing for Saturday, which I shall explain about shortly, but we did take some time out to provide me with a selection of presents, most noteworthy being quite a lot of PSP-based games. I was also promised a new iPhone, although O2 stocks were low and so I was unable to get one on the day.

Saturday was our Jarrett Family's Summer Party, representing our celebration of Summer, and my Dad and my Birthdays. It started at 12:30 and finished around the same time 12 hours later. And it was awesome! We had our usual large bouncy slide, and smaller bouncy castle. In addition, we also had a large marquee which housed the food that our lovely caterers offered. And we had near perfect weather. There wasn't much else we could ask for!! Thank you to everyone who attended and I hope you enjoyed yourselves!!

Sunday was our day of cleaning up, followed by rest. The party on Sunday left a lot of mess, and so the morning was spent tidying and dealing with the recycling, while the afternoon and evening spent in relaxation.

Monday 28th July dawned early, as it was my Dad's birthday. His presents included a new BBQ, delivered to him before the party started, and a few other things of course. He also managed to get his new BMW M3 delivered on the same day! So all around, it was a pretty awesome weekend.

Past Weeks
As promised, a review of the past weeks is in order. Work has generally been the same, with a few new websites being brought into the mix. I may post more about that in a later blog entry. As for my room, the carpet has been laid, the lights installed, and all that needs to be completed now is a few paint jobs, the curtains (the last thing on my list now) and the LCARS accessories. I may soon post a few pictures up onto the web to show you what my room looks like now!

Then, there is the Avatar: The Last Airbender finale! Oh, awesome was an understatement. I don't think I've ever seen a more perfect ending, as there was only one slight niggle from my point of view (that being Zuko's mother... what was the point of bringing up that question moments before the end?) But other then that, it was brilliant! And the way Aang defeated the Firelord I thought was perfectly fitting, despite some criticism I read on the forums.

Anyway, I'll post more about my University and other matters in another post.

The Present
Right now, I am on holiday in Paris, France. I will be starting to write an offline diary (unlike my previous holidays and more like my first real recorded holiday) and posting them as and when I get Internet time. So until then... au revoir!

Exam Season & Catchup on Stuff

Yeah, I know. I haven't posted another Blog entry for quite a while. So, I guess I've been too busy doing some other stuff, right? Well, I guess it's time I bring you up to date.

In this blog entry:

• My New Mac (and why)
• My New Bedroom (and progress)
• The end of the second year at Uni
  
• The end of a wonderful Anime series

My New Mac
So, let's start off with my new Mac. Yes. Let me repeat that for all out there: I have a new MacBook. So, why am I brandishing a lavish new MacBook? Well, the official reason is that I am now creating applications for the iPhone/iTouch. That's right! I get to learn the wonderful language of Objective-C.

For those who are interested, let me tell you that (from a newly-become Java developer) that Objective-C, apart from it's annoying memory management process (where's the garbage collector?), and the fact the interface and implementation is split, it is not a bad language. I love the Smalltalk-style syntax it uses for messaging; it just so beats everything hands down. And of course, it has all the benefits of Object-Oriented Programming.

What I don't like, is XCode. Apples programming tool. Sure, I have to use it, because at the moment Eclipse does not support Objective-C. But, compared to Eclipse, XCode just doesn't pull it. It is like going back in time; because it feels like I'm using some clunky old machine. Sure, it may do things Eclipse can't, as well as a few things that Eclipse can do, but it's just so difficult to use compared to Eclipse that those things don't matter much.

My advice to Apple: have a look at Eclipse and get into gear. It's time you caught up with how the rest of the world develops.

Moving out of development, and my MacBook is an awesome machine. You heard it from me: Mac OS beats Windows hands down! So, does that mean I'm a convert and am going to switch over to only using Mac? ... No. I still think Windows has a lot of huge advantages to it's OS. Not mentioning the wide use of the OS, the biggest advantage it has is the PC Game market. The amount of games on sale for PC just completely outstrips that of Mac: most major games developers who ship on anything but consoles ship to PC over Mac. Not to mention my Mac lacks a graphics card...

So no, I'm not ditching my Windows. But I do think Mac is better. Kapeesh? Oh, and perhaps when I get my website sorted out, you may see a few good Mac Apps that I like appearing there.

My New Bedroom
My bedroom is coming along nicely. The walls are done, the bed is in, and the wardrobe and carpet and soon to follow. And that's all I really have to say on the matter (yay! I love king-sized beds!)

End of the Second Year at Uni
As I said earlier, it's exam season. That means, for the next one and a half weeks, I will be revising hard! And for the next one and a half weeks after that, I will be revising hard and taking exams too! After the 14th May, I break up. That's when it's all over!

I can't wait!

But I must concentrate on getting past these exams and doing well. Remembering all the little things that matter in each subject. Practicing past papers. And doing work over playing with my Mac (and any related games).

Then I can concentrate on things like LCARS Terminal (RPG and Starship Commander), EVE Online (my trading), my various projects (such as my website), and the last thing to talk about, Avatar...

The End of Avatar: The Last Airbender
This July, the two-hour four-part finale of my first and by far favorite Anime series that I've really taken a heart to takes place. Avatar: The Last Airbender comes to a close.

For those of you who haven't started watching it yet: I suggest you watch the first few episodes (and I mean watch episodes 1, 2 and 3) to see if you like it as much as I do. It may look childish, but it has a lot of adult themes running through it, it's well animated with an absolutely delightful story.

There are whole websites and forums dedicated to the Anime, and a huge fan base (compared to similar titles), as well as my family and a few of my friends (who maybe aren't as big a fan as I am). But anyway, I leave you with the trailer, as well as a way to watch the series online if you're interested.



Watch Avatar: The Last Airbender episodes