UI is AWOL

First!

2009-10-09T10:55:00.004-07:00

You may remember my post a few months back where I guessed from the module results that I probably had a first class degree. Well, now that I've returned from Canada I opened the letter containing my results, and it is now confirmed I have been awarded a first!

Having pursued a programme of study and having satisfied the examiners in
Computing and Information Technology
Dylan Aneurin Evans
was awarded the degree of
Bachelor of Science
with
First Class Honours

Yay!!!

CSI

2009-10-02T15:44:00.004-07:00

If you like CSI and/or bullet time, then you're going to love this. The video is the opening 2 minutes of the 10th season of "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation". Enjoy!

Musics

2009-03-29T18:17:00.002-07:00

Thought I would share something with you lot. Back in 2004 I composed 4 music tracks. I used "Dance eJay 3", which was ancient even then. At the time I was in halls at university, and doing Electronic Engineering (before I switched to Computing). You can listen to them below, and you can also download the MP3s as well if you want. My personal favourite is "Copious Copii" due to the jazzy trumpet samples. Let me know what you think, and enjoy!

First?

2009-02-08T13:01:00.003-08:00

Thought I'd mention that my final university results have been tallied. However, as I'm in Canada I'll have to wait a bit for the official final verdict. That said, it has been revealed to me that I got 67% in my final year project. By my calculations this equates to a first class degree (based on this and the results from my other modules); so fingers crossed this is the case.

On a side note, I hope you all like the new layout/design for the blog. I grabbed the template for it from here.

Driving

2008-12-01T04:15:00.008-08:00

This is a video of the first time I drove my family in my car. I had only recently passed my driving test and was a little nervous. We were coming back from my uncle's place in Ilfracombe, and my brother shot the video, without my knowledge!

Nightmare

2008-10-03T08:06:00.007-07:00

Well, at long last I've completed my university final year project! And I tell you, it wasn't easy!

I started a project at the beginning of the academic year, but could not muster the motivation needed to get on with it.

Eventually it was decided that it was going nowhere, and that I should start a different project after my final exams. Furthermore, due to extenuating circumstances, I would also not be penalised for doing the project later.

The project was basically a web application for a two player strategy games system developed by one of the university lecturers. I submitted the report last week, and did my viva last Wednesday.

So it's over, it's finally over! No more coursework or exams for the foreseeable future, awesome!!!

Celebrations

2008-09-29T04:50:00.012-07:00

Well, it's been an eventful few months. The highlights include my best mate's wedding, and my 24th birthday.

My long-term buddy Lawrence is now married! It was the first time I'd been to a church wedding, and it was very elegant. Lawrence and his wife Leah were really happy, and as you can imagine very busy as well. The reception was fun, and there was plenty of delicious buffet food! I guess it's my turn now!

That was a couple of weeks ago, but more recently it was my 24th birthday. This year I decided that I wanted a good meal out with friends, and a kickass pissup. The meal was at Nando's (an excellent Portuguese themed chicken restaurant) and the food was (as always) awesome! Originally the plan for after the meal was to go drinking in the Guildford town centre. However, it turned out that my birthday coincided with the house-warming of some friends of mine. So it was suggested that the house-warming party become a house-warming/birthday party/leaving do. The leaving do was also for myself as I'm heading off to Canada in a little over a week for an entire year! (See my Canada Blog for more details).

The party was a lot of fun and we didn't leave until about 8 in the morning! Now that's proper partying!

OMGWTFBBQ

2008-07-29T14:50:00.013-07:00

Just thought I'd share this video that I just uploaded to YouTube. It was actually recorded on my 21st birthday back in 2005 by my friend John. We couldn't get the BBQ to light, and ended up using a flare to do the job. Enjoy!

Homepage

2008-07-25T04:02:00.007-07:00

Well here it is, my homepage! I know, it's a blog, but it's so customisable that it can be both!

Life at the moment is a tad dull, as I have to spend most of my time trying to complete my university final year project before the end of August. This however is a self imposed deadline as I want to finish ASAP so I can head off to Canada.

Anyway, back to the grindstone!

Finally!!!

2006-09-05T03:15:00.004-07:00

Well, at long last I have housemates, yay!!! After almost 2 months of living on my own it's great to have some hustle and bustle.

Moreover, I have now started my placement. Basically I'll be working at 2 schools in the Woking area as an IT Support Technician. In the mornings I'll be at a primary school, and at a secondary school in the afternoons. However, on the first day I did nothing, as when I got to the school there was no one there, and after ringing both schools with no response I decided to call it quits and head on home. Today was much more eventful though, plenty of things to do at both schools.

Also the driving lessons are going well, 23 so far, and I have my theory in a couple of weeks. Getting to work will be so much easier once I have a car, I'm looking forward to it.

Southway

2006-07-21T02:00:00.004-07:00

Well, it's been a very busy week for me, as I just moved house! Now I'm closer to the university and town!

I'm now living with a bunch of chemists, at least I will be when they decide to move in. Little bit too quiet here on my own, but at least I'm busy, what with setting up the internet/phone/tv, and sorting out other new house stuff.

Hopefully I'll have housemates soon, and then the fun will begin!

Handover

2006-07-04T04:30:00.005-07:00

Well last week I had my handover period for my placement. Basically I was working alongside the current placement student, Ben, so I could find out what would be expected of me when I start in September.

I personally think it went very well. I got to see both the schools I'd be working at, Pyrford Primary and Bishop David Brown Secondary. The day is split over the two schools, mornings are at the primary school, and afternoons are at the secondary school. The primary school seems more chilled, but I would be on my own looking after the IT, so it'll be seat of the pants time! At the secondary school I have a bit more support with me in the IT department, so I'll be able to get help if I don't know what to do.

I thought the kids would be a problem, but they weren't. The primary school kids were great, they had loads of energy, but tended to just get on with their work rather than bother me. The secondary school kids just got on with their socialising and pretty much stayed out of our way. However I did get some whistling from a couple of the girls when we were lugging some monitors around, hormones.

Anyway, I reckon overall the placement is going to be fun, but maybe a bit scary. I'm looking forward to it!

Mountain!!!

2006-06-26T05:00:00.009-07:00

Well, it was tough, it was a challenge, but we finally climbed to the very top of Snowdon!

As you may know from my blog post last month, the Blockbuster crew of district 52 attempted to climb Snowdon, but weather conditions meant it wasn't possible. However, this time round I wasn't even a member of the crew, I was a mere civilian, but it didn't stop me having fun with the gang.

First off I should mention that we started the climb at 11:30am on the Thursday, and that I had been up since 9:30am on the Wednesday, so that made things a little more interesting.

The climb itself started very steep, and most of the crew were finding it tough from the get go. They'll hate me for saying this, but I found the climb up great fun, and didn't really start to feel the burn until the journey back down. One person who was finding it a little tough was my friend and ex-assistant manager Dru. I stuck with her for moral support and we had a good old laugh, that's when we had enough breath to that is.

When we finally reached the top there were some stone steps up to the plaque that sat at the very top. Normally I would have said no to the steps, especially seeing as visibility was next to zero due to the cloud around us, and that there was no railing and that it was slippery. But I had come this far, and powered up the steps. We hugged the plaque, and I could have kissed it, but decided against it. Getting back down the steps was the amusing part. Dru was a touch scared and decided to go back down them on her ass. I just powered down them, and gave a huge sigh of relief when I reached the last step.

Now was the journey down, which we had planned to use the railway for, but surprise surprise, it was closed! On the walk down we met up with all the other members of the crew. We were so glad that everyone was going to make it to the top, as some were struggling, but we all did it!

The evening was alot more quiet that it had been the last time, due to the fact that almost everyone was pretty much destroyed. Nearly everyone was in bed by 11:30pm, but a few of us stayed up for longer, and all I have to say is...

"I NEVER ..."

Results

2006-06-12T22:00:00.003-07:00

Well, my exam results are finally in. Here's a quick rundown.

Modelling Multimedia Information - 73%
Algorithms and Data Structures - 62%
Modelling and Simulation - 90%
Marketing Principles - 53%
Usability Engineering - 62%
Computational Perception - 83%

Aggregate Mark - 72.3%

Some of the marks were not what I was hoping (such as my piss poor marketing result), but as long as my average is above 70% I'm happy. Well on my way to a first class degree.

Now all I've gotta worry about is my placement year.

Lessons

2006-06-06T08:00:00.004-07:00

Well, at long last I have started driving lessons! My first lesson was on Monday. The first half of the lesson was basically going over the controls and some safety aspects. Then came the actual driving. I only bumped the curb a couple of times, but other than that the lesson went very well I think. However, I was pretty terrified.

I've been planning on doing driving lessons for a while now. Originally it was because I wanted to get to a particular remote location on a regular basis, but now it's because it will help if I can drive for my placement that is starting in September. I don't think I'll pass my driving test before then, but I might, fingers crossed.

Freedom!!!

2006-05-29T05:45:00.005-07:00

Well I have finally ended my employment with Blockbuster, freedom is mine!!! My last shift was the Saturday evening just gone, and I tried to avoid serving the idiotic customers, but failed. 20 months of returns and retarded fuck-wit customers, and I am very happy to be leaving. But I will still miss my colleagues, it was fun working with them. We may be sane when when we first start, but that soon changes. Us Blockbustarians are crazy fuckers, it's the only way we can survive!

However, it aint over yet. I'll still see many of my colleagues on the second Snowdon trip. But this time I won't be a Blockbuster pawn! I'll get to laugh and point!

Snowdon

2006-05-23T05:20:00.008-07:00

Well last week was the trip to Snowdon, it was an ... interesting experience. However, we never actually got to climb the damn thing due to the weather, but we didn't waste those couple of days either. Instead of climbing a mountain, we got completely wasted!

We briefly visited the hunk of rock, looked up at it and decided to find a pub. Fifteen minutes later we had found one, and immediately got started on the drinking. We spent several hours there drinking and playing random board games such as Trivial Pursuit and Scrabble (I know, we're fucking wild!). Then it was decided that after we left the pub we would need more booze and some food. So each of us coughed up a tenner and 30 minutes later we had 170 quids worth of food and alcohol. We then headed for the bunkhouse accommodation, which is where things really kicked off!

It looked like we had bought way too much booze and that there would be no way we could get through it all ........ we were wrong. Several hours and multiple drinking games later almost everyone was off their faces and that's when things got kinda outta hand.

Somehow it was suggested that those who went to bed early (a.k.a. the people who didn't drink much, if anything at all) were to be woken up and attacked with toothpaste. I decided not to get involved at that point, and quickly made my way to bed after one of the individuals who had been woken up at 2am made it very clear that they were not amused.

It was 2 hours later before the rest of the drunkards decided to call it a night and headed for bed. However, the room they ALL decided to pile into was the one I was in. Being still very drunk and tired myself, I was not very happy being woken up, so I stormed out and decided to sleep in the kitchen. Safe to say that four chairs lined up together didn't make a very comfortable bed.

When everyone either woke up (the early sleepers, another and me), or were woken up (the drinkers, by the early sleepers) we cleaned up the place and started the journey back, which was a hellava lot more quiet than the trip down there.

When asked for my comment on the trip I responded with "I'm wrecked!".

And we get to do it all over again on the 22nd June. Snowdon Round 2: The Mountain is Conquered, coming soon!

Please note that this blog entry does not depict all the events that occurred during those two days. Those events that were omitted were removed due to either personal reasons, or the fact that they involved individuals in particularly embarrassing/compromising situations. Also all names have been avoided for the same reasons.

Future

2006-05-17T03:00:00.005-07:00

Finally the last exam of the year is over, and it went very well thank you very much. That means I won't have to do another exam for a year and a half, fuck yeah!!!

Next up is climbing a mountain, Snowdon to be exact. It's for the Starlight Children's Foundation, the charity that Blockbuster (my current employer) support. Problem is that I have to get up at 3am, talk about your early starts. However the benefits of the trip may very well make up for this minor inconvenience. Not only is there the raising money for charity, there is the challenge and the fact that it should be fun; and other reasons that I won't go into here.

So here's to the end of the bloody exams and to the future!

Placement

2006-04-27T05:15:00.007-07:00

Well the Future Foundation people never got back to me about that placement, I guess the interview didn't go as well as I thought.

I had another interview with a company called CMed last week. Personally I thought it went near perfectly, but I was pipped at the post and didn't get that one either. After that I was pretty pissed off, and seriously thought I wasn't going to find a placement.

However, I had another interview today for the SHINE Partnership of Schools. Personally I thought I performed really badly, but then I get a phone call 2 hours later with an offer for the job! I couldn't believe it!

The placement will involve me working in all aspects of IT at 2 schools. Should be reasonably challenging. It's going to be weird being in a school environment as a member of staff. I hope the kids are well behaved ... yeah ... who am I kidding?

Interview

2006-04-04T06:30:00.011-07:00

So, at the moment I'm trying to get a work placement as part of my degree. I had an interview today with "The Future Foundation". Their company is based in London, so I had to catch the train in. An hour and a half and 3 trains later I made it there, but I was an hour early. It was either that or 5 mins late, so I thought it was best to go for the ridiculously early option. I used the extra time to get a look around the area.

The interview itself went very well I think, and I'll get an answer by Thursday! That's pretty damn quick! The job would be great as I'll be doing a wide variety of things, and won't be tied down to just one area, and I'll actually have a fair amount of responsibility, so I won't be stuck doing boring menial work.

Well, fingers crossed.

About

1984-09-26T23:42:00.007-07:00

Hi, I'm Dylan Evans (a.k.a. DelboyDylan) and I welcome you to my website/blog. Here you will find a multitude of information about me, including (but not limited to):

What's happening with me.
Links to my pages across the interwebs.
Videos that I've produced.
Contact information.

So, enjoy!