I've loved my time at Michael Hill over the past three years. A truly special crew have made it a great environment to grow professionally and personally. There were lots of fun times, a few tiring times and literally a bucket load of food consumed through it all. It's a sad thing to say but I've felt for a while now that it's just about time to move on to see what else there is out there.
Today I've submitted my four weeks notice and am very happy to announce that I'll be starting a new role at Flight Centre on the 2nd of June. It's a software development position in a pretty large IT group (about eight times the size of Michael Hill) with some pretty exciting upcoming projects. I'm especially stoked at the thought of getting my mitts on trying out Test Driven Development which I've been trying to push at work with no real success for a while now.
Other perks that I'll be looking forward to include an individual training budget, CBD location and travel/holiday discounts. I'm practically salivating with anticipation.
Thursday, May 01, 2008
Sunday, April 20, 2008
House guest
Alison and I had fun on the weekend as we had a chance to play host to Rudi for two days. It was a sadly short visit with less than ideal weather but we did our level best to showcase the nicer sides of Brisbane, knowing that little could live up to his death defying and suicidal experiences in kiwiland.
The rain persisted through most of Friday despite our shallow promises to the weather gods but thankfully our planned activities weren't ruined. As is traditional on our practised Brisbane tour, Mt Coot-tha made an early appearance on the itinerary accompanied by a politely received lecture on the geography and history of our little city. This was followed by an afternoon on the City Cat and walking through the city proper where our resident tourist picked up a strikingly Australian Akubra. Well... to be precise I believe it was a knock off but I'm sure no one back in Malaysia would be able to tell the difference.
For dinner we'd booked a table at Tukka where we sampled local flora and fauna in a gastronomical treat. I'd only been there once before with mum and Cel so I'm glad to say that the second visit didn't disappoint. Our selection for the evening was somewhat less adventurous than my last visit and while possum wasn't on the table this time I think we were quite happy with our selection of Emu and Wallaby dishes.
Saturday morning saw us returning to more honest fair with a heart clogging Bacon and Egg roll from the local bakery. Freshly nourished we raced away to the Gold Coast in hope of beating the predicted heavy showers. By the time we got to the beach I'd describe the landscape as definitively drenched although that would not deter Rudi from having a play in the water. Alison and I were happy enough to sit back and enjoy the show and though the final outcome certainly looked painful, I'd like to think that Rudi had a good time in the waves. I've been meaning to have a little play with Comic Life and dedicate the following short strip to our brave albeit accident prone friend.
After tending to his wounds, we drove up the coast to Southport to get some fish and chips. The fish mongers were over populated with a placid flock of pelicans that were patiently awaiting feeding time. Alison held up remarkably well and pushed her ornithophobia aside to focus on the meal at hand.
Some of the birds opened wide to take advantage of the rare Brisbane rain and have a quick drink. Rudi thought he'd see what all the fuss was about. It wasn't long then before we had to take Rudi back to the airport for his flight. We said our good byes and were left with the promise of more frequent visits in the future.
Sunday was fairly uneventful although I had a short surge of excitement when I discovered that the local Harvey Normal at Indooroopilly had a Rock Band demo set up for use. I got to try the drums and wowed surrounding eight year olds with my purposeful percussion, well constructed and definitely great fun. The guitar on the other hand was far too spongey for my taste compared to Guitar Hero 3 though I'd assume that one would grow accustomed to that over time. None of the staff seemed to know exactly when the game would be released in Australia though reports indicate sometime in September for the shiny sum of 300 AUD. Time to start saving me thinks.
The rain persisted through most of Friday despite our shallow promises to the weather gods but thankfully our planned activities weren't ruined. As is traditional on our practised Brisbane tour, Mt Coot-tha made an early appearance on the itinerary accompanied by a politely received lecture on the geography and history of our little city. This was followed by an afternoon on the City Cat and walking through the city proper where our resident tourist picked up a strikingly Australian Akubra. Well... to be precise I believe it was a knock off but I'm sure no one back in Malaysia would be able to tell the difference.
For dinner we'd booked a table at Tukka where we sampled local flora and fauna in a gastronomical treat. I'd only been there once before with mum and Cel so I'm glad to say that the second visit didn't disappoint. Our selection for the evening was somewhat less adventurous than my last visit and while possum wasn't on the table this time I think we were quite happy with our selection of Emu and Wallaby dishes.
Saturday morning saw us returning to more honest fair with a heart clogging Bacon and Egg roll from the local bakery. Freshly nourished we raced away to the Gold Coast in hope of beating the predicted heavy showers. By the time we got to the beach I'd describe the landscape as definitively drenched although that would not deter Rudi from having a play in the water. Alison and I were happy enough to sit back and enjoy the show and though the final outcome certainly looked painful, I'd like to think that Rudi had a good time in the waves. I've been meaning to have a little play with Comic Life and dedicate the following short strip to our brave albeit accident prone friend.
After tending to his wounds, we drove up the coast to Southport to get some fish and chips. The fish mongers were over populated with a placid flock of pelicans that were patiently awaiting feeding time. Alison held up remarkably well and pushed her ornithophobia aside to focus on the meal at hand.
Some of the birds opened wide to take advantage of the rare Brisbane rain and have a quick drink. Rudi thought he'd see what all the fuss was about. It wasn't long then before we had to take Rudi back to the airport for his flight. We said our good byes and were left with the promise of more frequent visits in the future.
Sunday was fairly uneventful although I had a short surge of excitement when I discovered that the local Harvey Normal at Indooroopilly had a Rock Band demo set up for use. I got to try the drums and wowed surrounding eight year olds with my purposeful percussion, well constructed and definitely great fun. The guitar on the other hand was far too spongey for my taste compared to Guitar Hero 3 though I'd assume that one would grow accustomed to that over time. None of the staff seemed to know exactly when the game would be released in Australia though reports indicate sometime in September for the shiny sum of 300 AUD. Time to start saving me thinks.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
It's all about rhythm
I've been a big fan of music games for years now and rarely pass over a new offering no matter how expensive or unwieldy the necessary peripherals might be. Just this morning I downloaded Phase for the iPod hoping to further appreciate my newly culled iTunes library. Fun little game and I thought it would pass the time until Harmonix decides to release Rock Band in Australia (which is going to be so cool).
The most common question I hear after I've subjected someone to gush vomit of my latest rhythm game du jour is "Why bother spending so much time with a music game when you can just learn an instrument?". Personally I think this is really missing the point of playing music games in the first place as I find it to be a completely different experience (in a good way) to plucking on my six string.
Playing "real" music in my opinion, for better or worse, just feels more cerebral. Composition, dynamics, emotion are all driven off decisions that you make as the musician and while thoroughly gratifying can be emotionally and mentally draining in long sessions. Rhythm games on the other hand are a more passive experience by comparison which usually involves entering a receptive state of mind where the "notes" just wash over you as you react unconsciously by pressing the appropriate buttons or stepping on the marked foot pads. Anyone that's felt an uncontrollable urge to physically respond to music (I've been known to gyrate embarrassingly on occasion) whether it be tapping a foot or head banging will hopefully catch a glimpse of my elusive point when I suggest that Rhythm games offer a structured framework within which the player can "safely" participate. Wildly strumming an air-guitar with (paradoxically) a physical guitar.
To force one last awkward analogy on the subject, I'd liken playing a musical instrument is like driving a car on a race track while a music game would be sitting on a roller coaster. You get to go really fast in either case and have heaps of fun but the fear of dying horribly in a crash should hopefully be minimised when you're on a track.
Anyway, the trigger for this introspective mood of mine was stumbling over this game called Guitar Rising which is currently under development. It's the closest thing to a music game with real music instruments that I've seen... well ignoring Keyboard Mania and Drum Mania. So it's the first music game I've seen for real instruments that I can actually play then. Excitement all round!
The most common question I hear after I've subjected someone to gush vomit of my latest rhythm game du jour is "Why bother spending so much time with a music game when you can just learn an instrument?". Personally I think this is really missing the point of playing music games in the first place as I find it to be a completely different experience (in a good way) to plucking on my six string.
Playing "real" music in my opinion, for better or worse, just feels more cerebral. Composition, dynamics, emotion are all driven off decisions that you make as the musician and while thoroughly gratifying can be emotionally and mentally draining in long sessions. Rhythm games on the other hand are a more passive experience by comparison which usually involves entering a receptive state of mind where the "notes" just wash over you as you react unconsciously by pressing the appropriate buttons or stepping on the marked foot pads. Anyone that's felt an uncontrollable urge to physically respond to music (I've been known to gyrate embarrassingly on occasion) whether it be tapping a foot or head banging will hopefully catch a glimpse of my elusive point when I suggest that Rhythm games offer a structured framework within which the player can "safely" participate. Wildly strumming an air-guitar with (paradoxically) a physical guitar.
To force one last awkward analogy on the subject, I'd liken playing a musical instrument is like driving a car on a race track while a music game would be sitting on a roller coaster. You get to go really fast in either case and have heaps of fun but the fear of dying horribly in a crash should hopefully be minimised when you're on a track.
Anyway, the trigger for this introspective mood of mine was stumbling over this game called Guitar Rising which is currently under development. It's the closest thing to a music game with real music instruments that I've seen... well ignoring Keyboard Mania and Drum Mania. So it's the first music game I've seen for real instruments that I can actually play then. Excitement all round!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)