Last post...here

Everything that has a beginning has an end. This is true for this blog. It was started as an attempt to share experiences and thoughts with 3 other friends (hence the s in engineers). Unfortunately, it hasn't happened so I decided to start a more personal blog that I boldly called All about me...and other stuff. Yes, I know, it sounds like I have some ego issues I need to work on but truth be told I think it reflects the content of my posts: things happening in my not-so-interesting life and random thoughts about random topics.

Dinner with my flatmates

This is the second week in a row that I get dinner with my flatmates. They all moved in about 5 months ago and because our schedules/lifestyles haven't allowed it we've never really spent time all together so it's really nice to have a chance to sit down and have some nice food and a few drinks together once in a while. Last week we made some galettes (a typical dish from Brittany/France) and today we had some fajitas. Next week we should get an Italian dinner. It's all good stuff.

Toronto / New York

These are my next travel destinations. My girlfriend is starting university in Toronto early next month. She's in her family in Vancouver at the moment. I'll go and see her the second week of September and we'll spend the first weekend in New York. I'm exited! We booked a very nice hotel and we'll go and catch a show on Broadway while we're there, after some shopping on 5th Avenue that is :). The rest of the week I guess I'll go around Toronto and maybe we'll have a chance to stretch to the Niagara Falls before I fly back to London. I'm looking forward to the trip.

Investing

Although I work for a company which provide financial services I have to admit my understanding of the laws of the financial world is rather limited.
Also, there is a lot of activity on the market places throughout the world these days. It follows the collapse of the sub-prime market in the US. And because we live in a global economy other countries are affected too. This is all quite fascinating really.
That's the reason why I went down to the book store on Friday to pick up a book on that topic. Ignoring all the books with "millionaire" or "rich" in the title I selected a book published by FT. It seems to be what I was looking for so far.

Catch-up post

I haven't had the chance to post much in the last couple of weeks so here's a catch-up:

• I was in France this weekend and enjoyed it. However it always takes me some time to adjust to speaking French again, and being in the house I grew up in, where there are a lot of memories (some painful). It feels like time-travel.
• Some dude told me I speak French with a slight English accent. Arrrrrg, that really annoyed me!
• I finished the book I was reading and my first impressions were confirmed. A very interesting read indeed.
• I just realised that I've been working in software for over 5 years now. It's been great so far. I hope I'll be able to say the same in another 5 years.
• I'm starting to plan my trip to Toronto to see my girlfriend next month. We're hoping we can spend a weekend in New York and maybe a day in the Niagara Falls. I'm exited!
• I'm a bit uninspired at work at the moment. The bright side is that I have more time to do my own things.
• I got an encyclopaedia of wine for my birthday so I've got some reading to do.
  

Time for bed now!

Cobertura for J2ME 1.1.0 RC2 released

Last night I got a chance to get some work done on Cobertura for J2ME. And after a couple of months I managed to release 1.1.0 RC2. Give it a try!

Football Injury

Last Tuesday evening I went down to Regents Park with a few of my colleagues for a footie. We try to do that every week. I had to skip the last 2 weeks because I was too busy with work but not this week. 10 minutes into the game I felt a sudden pain in my left calf, as if I was hit by something. That unfortunately marked the end of the game for me. The trip back home was quite difficult as I couldn't walk much. I hoped I'll feel better next morning but of course, it wasn't the case. So I went to get it checked and it turned out I pulled a muscle and slightly torn it. So now I have to work at home the rest of the week and take it easy for a couple of weeks. On the bright side, I get to work lying down all day long on my sofa. It's actually good to be away from the office once in a while.

Managing Humans

I'm currently reading a book written by a software engineer turned manager about his experience as a manager. It is an interesting read. I am just starting but the style of writing is enjoyable: humurous and witty. Besides, I can definitely relate to what he writes, having worked as a software engineer for a few years now. Check out the slide show introducing the book, it's quite funny.