Blogging Suspension

I just wanted to let everyone know that I will not be blogging for the foreseeable future. You may have noticed over the last couple of months that my blogging has become more and more sporadic. This is for several reasons one of which being I need to decide where I want to take this site next. It started off as some where to moan about my final year project whilst at uni and since has encompassed virtually everything I have to say about anything!

I will still be maintaining my website and will decide over the next few months how I want to proceed with this blog and which direction I am going to go in.

So until then thanks for reading.

Off the radar....

Wow, I just realised it has been nearly a month since my last post. I think that is the longest since I started blogging. So here is quick round up of my life over the last month.

Starting with work - I have been working in the North East for the last month on an Apex project. Since I have been on site and in hotels in the evening internet access has been limited hence part of the reason I have not been blogging (I wanted to spend the weekends with the family, not my laptop!), this was until I discovered that I could get internet access in my room, anyway, I have finished up north for the time being now.

The work itself was very interesting and challenging and revolved around resolving message failures when XML data was being parsed into a Customer Datahub:

The application had to be able to be used to review failed incoming XML messages and compare them to data in the database that had been reassembled into XML format using XMLDB. The messages could then be edited and validated before being resubmitted to the queue for parsing.

A monitoring page was provided to display extracted data from various AQs in graph format along with the output from a cronjob that gave extra information about the state of the system.

The final part of the application extracted data from a set of staging tables that were used to send summary data to a proprietary Business Intelligence system. These data were again extracted, formatted and displayed along with the original XML message to help with viewing the audit trail.

The application makes extensive use of XMLDB for both building XML and extracting information from XML documents using XPath.

Its this work that has been keeping me off the streets for the last month, even to the point of not really doing much training. Ok, thats work done, I'll post the rest over the next few days.

Newcastle

It has been a while since my last post because I have been getting used to my new routine and role in Durham. I'm hoping to post more regulally now that I am more organised.

Work is going well on the application, although there is a lot of it! We have the bones of an application now and I have written the code to generate the more technical parts of the report and am now in the process of integrating this into the application.

The location I am staying in is very nice right opposite the Tyne bridge in Gateshead. Last week I attended a local karate class as well which I enjoyed, and has helped to keep the evening boredom at bay! I have also made a point of attending the gym as frequently as I can.

Anyway until next time, bye for now.

Durham

On Monday I start in my new role. If I am honest I am more than a little nervous. I mean rationally I know I have the skills and ability, but irrationally I feel like I have to prove myself all over again. Im sure it will all be fine once I have got Monday over with but until then I still feel a little unsure.

For the last couple of weeks I have been collecting pdfs of all the documentation I think I might need as I have been told that the internet connection on the client site is dial up only, and I don't want to spend large chunks of my time looking for info on the internet. I have also spent some time reviewing the MD070 build document and trying out things that I am unsure of.

On top of all the change at work it also means a change in my homelife for the next 6 weeks as well, as I will be away from home Monday - Friday and won't get to see my wife or children.

Anyway fingers crossed for Monday, I'll keep you posted as to my progress...

Karate Grading

Today I ache, a lot, even more than that! I graded to 7th Kyu Orange belt yesterday and can honestly say it was the hardest karate lesson I have ever done, and one of the most exhausting days of my life (including when I ran from Carlisle to Keswick in 1 day)!

The grading started with a warm up followed by some combinations that included a lot of stance work, and this is what gets the leg muscles tired. Changing stances, ensuring the stances are correct and also executing techniques over and over and over again. After about 45 minutes we had a 2 min break and then lines up for some more challenging combinations again so that by the time we got to kata we had covered all the basics in various stances and transitions, very tiring.

Next up was kata and as I was grading to orange I had to perform 1st and 2nd kata to grade, as well as demonstrate Saifa (3rd kata) which is required for my next grading. After this we were aloud to stand to one side and watch the higher grades perform their katas, and I was very grateful as I was dead on my feet at this point.

Finally we lined back up and 4 of us were called out for sparring, so there I was 8th kyu yellow belt, exhausted from nearly 2 hours of continuous training, sparring with 2 black belts and a 1st kyu brown belt! By the time I got to the 3rd round of sparring (after having my ass kicked twice) I didnt even have the energy to attempt to block my opponents techniques, even though I wanted to. I nearly ended up on the floor more than once! I am glad though as this kind of match up reminded me that I know nothing and have a lot to aspire to!

Still I am now looking forward to progressing towards my next grade which will be 6th kyu green belt.

New Project on the Horizon

With my current project rapidly drawing to a close I have been wondering lately what I will be doing next or whether I would be in for a spell 'on the bench'. The answer came last week when I was given a new role on a project in the north of England. The role is for 6 weeks and builds on the skill set I have been developing in my current position. I will be developing an Apex application to act as a diagnostic app for another custom application that the project team are developing.

It sounds like an interesting role the data/message will be provided in XML format that the app will need to extract and then interrogate the database for associated data, before displaying the results in report format. I don't really have to much detail other than that but I am quite excited about it and can't wait to get started.

The only downside is it means 4 nights a week away from my family but its only for the short term, so hopefully it wont be too hard.

In the mean time I will be giving my web services presentation on Thursday at the UKOUG Dev Eng SiG in Birmingham, so with this in mind I'm off to practise!

GKR World Cup Review

The world cup is over for another 2 years and what a spectacle! Before we get on to my individual performance (that should give you a clue as to how I did!) I would like to talk about the event itself. Although I only attended the Saturday I was very impressed with the quality of the events organisation. The opening ceremony was something else, it was really spectacular and to be able to walk in hearing the MC announce over the tannoy that we were representing the UK was a massive buzz. I felt so proud singing the national anthem before the official bow in ceremony.

Now onto my performance..... I am not so happy :(

I thought my kata performance was good, and both my senseis who were there said the same. I did Taigyoko Nidan (Second Kata) and I can't think of too much I would change. I made a few little errors, but overall I felt it was a good strong performance. However I got scores of 69, 69 and 71, so didn't get through to the final.

I was less happy with my kumite, I got knocked out in the first round. I was like a rabbit caught in the headlights and didn't come alive till the last 30 secs. Then with about 15 secs to go i went forward with a series of about 4 or 5 punches and the last one I hit his guard (which was loose) and his hand went into his face, and he went over like a premiership footballer, grrr. That really has annoyed me a little, because he was 1.5 to 0.5 up anyway at that point and there was no need for anything funny because to be honest although I felt the judges missed some of my strikes (they cant see everything) the other guy was probably the better guy anyway overall.

Still narked though. My brother video'd it and its hilarious when he does his play acting!

I still enjoyed the experience though and would like to be back for another go! So now I have to start thinking about training for the regional champs, in September, as these are the qualification event for the National Championships in November.