Wednesday 28 March 2007

Late Night

Well, I've come to the end of yet another late night work session. I feel I've been quite productive with the new JPWMedia.com website - I'm well on the way to a credible design for the main site now... should be good.

Anyway, today was a pretty dull day to be honest, not much really happened. Oh, I heard the first few ideas of Chris's composition in music tech - it's going to be good... very different ... but good. Looking forward to Sunday now - should be meeting up and (hopefully) sorting out the multi-track recording of Goddess on a Highway.

Anyone who knows me will know that I hate working in silence - I always have to have something in the background, music is alright - but a film/tv show is perfect. For that reason, I've got my hands on seasons 1 to 5 of "Alias" and I have to say, it's quite good. It will no doubt join "Lost", "The Apprentice (US)" and "Prison Break" as regular viewing material.

Someone asked me today what my most used software is... so here's a basic overview...
  • OS: Windows XP/Media Center
  • Programming/Coding: Notepad++ (like the usual notepad, but with syntax highlighting)
  • Graphics: Photoshop CS2 (Fireworks 8 if I have no other choice - like at College)
  • FTP: WS_FTP Professional
  • MySQL Management: PhpMyAdmin if I'm developing, and EMS SQL Manager 2005 if I'm just doing data entry.

Monday 26 March 2007

JPW online


Having tweaked the design a bit, I've now put the JPW Media coming soon page online. Take a look.

I'm pretty certain I'm going to base the full site on the same sort of idea - we'll see.

Good news!

I have good (but random) news. I don't actually need to get above an E in Computing A2! Joy of joys! Goodbye coursework. I did a check and my projected UCAS points look like:
  • A2 Business - A - 120
  • A2 Music Tech - C - 80 (likely to be higher)
  • A2 Computing - E - 40
  • AS Psychology - B - 50
  • Organ Grd 8 - 75
  • Drums Grd 6 - 40
Total: 405

Well, I'm sorted!

On another random subject, I've started work on the new JPW Media "feel" - the general look that the main site, and all of the stationery will have. Here's the new coming soon page...

It should be online sometime this week. Very minimalistic, but I like it. Although saying that, it's more than likely to change before it gets anywhere near the www - after all, it was only 30 mins work in Fireworks! (I really really do not like Fireworks, hopefully Adobe will phase it out with the new Photoshop launch).

Monotony and Jazz

Once again another day comes around and I seem to be locked into auto pilot. I get up (much later than I should) get ready for college (get dressed, shower etc) leave and catch the coach. Then it's actually once I get to St. Brendan's that the true monotony begins, especially on Mondays! It's times like this I really start to wish that the college was closer to home - but I'd rather be here than at the "college" that actually is closer. I use the inverted commas for a very good reason, "Downend Post Sixteen Centre" could only be called a college in extremely loose terms. To be blunt, it gives little to no real life experience as your still kept in the protective cocoon of a school maybe with the delusion that you are becoming in some way independent - oh what a shock the people going there are going to get when they are "released" into the real world! Plus, the staff are not dedicated solely to AS/A2 which means they're never going to be able to give all of their time and resources to you. Of course, there are some perfectly reasonable people there as well, and to be truthful I feel slightly sorry that they have to put up with the sub standard education - thankfully these people undoubtedly have the skill and mental agility to get great grades regardless of their institution.

Anyway, looking back, I have to say that going to St. Brendan's was still one of the best things I've done.

And now onto one of my more recent discoveries to break up the monotony of free periods... "Jazz FM" and "The Jazz". These are two great digital radio stations I've just started listening to online and they play some great music (as long as you like jazz that is!!), and thankfully it's not blocked by the college's filters. Jazz FM is great for newer tracks, and The Jazz plays an uninterrupted stream of jazz classics. Well, worth a listen - especially if you're bored!

Oh, and just before I sign off again, that girl I mentioned at the end of my last post (the one that has been messing with John's head) was laughing and giggling on the coach this morning - bitch.

FINAL THOUGHTS:
I wish they had Photoshop CS2 in the library - I don't like Fireworks!

Sunday 25 March 2007

I lied... first post now!

I lied, so sue me! I've decided I might as well post my first proper entry now.

Now, where would be a good place to start? Well, I'm currently lying on my bed typing this on my laptop - my new laptop that was bought for me by Stuart from JPW Media, and I guess that's probably a good thing to talk about first - JPW Media. Well, I'm now a contracted "senior developer" for the company, meaning I basically oversee any web-based projects - In July however, my employment gets formalized and I actually become legally employed. One of my first major projects "OrganFax" is nearing completion and is now plodding on nicely, although it's opened my eyes to quite how pedantic some people can be - especially in an industry as relatively small as the home organ and keyboard scene. However, now that's running smoothly I've started on a few smaller projects: I've finished Sarah Foley's website and I'm just starting work on another little site for a rental-cottage in Linton which is allowing me to experiment a bit with a different style of design - semi-transparent PNG graphics for one! But yes, the JPW side of my life seems to be going quite well.

Anyone who knows me will also know that the music industry (namely the keyboard market) is steadily playing a growing role in my life. Work at Swift Music is going very very well and the next few months are going to be quite fun - several new product releases are on the horizon and it's turning the industry into a large scale Chinese whispers ring - as if it wasn't anyway! One of the products I'm actually allowed to talk about is the VIMA (Video Interactive Multimedia Application) piano from Roland. I have to say, when I first heard about this I thought it didn't have a place in the UK market - I thought it was a gimic for Roland Japan, but as I've been doing some more research (talking to more people and looking at it from a different perspective,) I think Roland may have once again hit on something a bit special. The VIMA isn't a player's piano in any respect and it certainly doesn't fit into the market I usually operate in, it's for those people who simply want to have some fun - it's multimedia functions are huge! It's 100% compatible with modern MP3 players, DVD players etc etc etc and it's got some nifty technology of its own built in. What's more, there's a chance I could be the demonstrator to do the first public UK launch for Roland in April which would be really great! (Fingers crossed).

And now, onto the third section of my life - college. College seems to be going OK-ish at the moment. It's getting to the point now where deadlines are no longer on the horizons - they are right in front of me, and it's causing me a small amount of stress. I'm confident I'll have all my work sorted for Music Technology and Business by the deadline, but Computing could be another issue. The thing is, I'm hopefully I'm on the way for an A overall in Business which means I would only NEED a D in computing, so to be honest, I'm not that worried.

Well, that's pretty much an overview of how my life is at the moment. Things are generally good. I'm looking forward to the new UK Apprentice starting on Wednesday - I wonder if once again, it will flop in the wake of the US version. Although, saying that, Donald Trump seems to have really over commercialized the current series (which I'm following - along with Lost and Prison Break) to the point where it's sickening to watch. Let's just hope that season 3 of the UK Apprentice will be as enjoyable as season 1.

One more thing... I'm kind of pissed off with a certain girl who will remain nameless for purposefully (it would seem) messing with my friend John's head... silly silly cow!

Anyway, I think I'm going to see what films are lying about and settle in for a relaxing evening. I'll probably catch up with the blog tomorrow. Goodnight.

Here we go again...

Well here we go again... another year another blog, this time however I hope this one will actually last!

I must admit, when I got to the page where it prompted me for the "blog title", my mind instantly started racing - looking for a witty, or insightful name. Unfortunately, nothing came to mind, so I settled for the simple "Ian's Blog" ... ooooh what an anti-climax.

The whole point for me starting another blog is simply to give me somewhere to empty my thoughts - not all of them (somethings are best left unpublished) but most. So please don't suffer any delusions that I think anyone will read this - and if you are, please ask yourself "why"!

Anyway, I have quite a few free periods tomorrow so I think I'll leave my first proper post till then. So, for now, I'll say good night. See you tomorrow.