Where there is a Will

Last week I started a new job as a full time Python developer. Prior to that I worked for a computer games company called  Evolution Studios. Evos - as it is affectionately known by employees - achieved a great deal of success with its latest game, Motorstorm, and it looks like they are set to keep producing hit games. There are a lot of great things about working for a games company, and being a games programmer gets you a lot of respect amongst certain circles (i.e. game geeks). So why give it up? Well over the last few years I have fallen in love with Python and I use it at every opportunity. Consequently I have been idly keeping an eye on the Python job board for Python related work and came across a job that I was perfectly suited for. It listed requirements for skills that I thought were incidental, and the work I would be been doing is not dissimilar to the type of Python coding I do to amuse myself in my spare time. Not sure if I can tell you about it yet, I would have to clear that with the boss. Did I say ‘boss’? I meant client, because now I am now self-employed!

It was still a difficult decision though, but working from home swayed me. I can avoid a perilous drive up the M56 murderway and look after myself a little better (crunch time is not good for the waist-line)!

Working form home is not without it’s challenges, but I have done it before so I think I know what I have in store for me. Here are my top tips for ditching the rat race and making a living developing software at home. I’ll leave out obvious ones, these are tips that were hard lessons to learn.

1. Get some sun. It’s difficult to shake that groggy feeling and start work in the morning. I found that my brain just didn’t kick in till after I had gone out for lunch, so I self medicated with ever increasing quantities of caffeine. This was folly. Caffeine is poison. Rich aromatic poison that goes down easy. But poison none the less.  Far better is sunlight. All I had to do was open the damn curtains to trigger some kind of brain chemistry change that made me far more alert. Even in Scotland on a cloudy day there enough UV light to trigger wakefulness.
2. Stick to a routine. Start work at the same time every day, but more importantly finish work at the same time. If you are working from home you will have more spare time. Use that time to look after yourself. Eat well, get some exercise and have fun. Otherwise you may as well go back to the 9-5.
3. Tidy the frick up. Working from home is less fun when you are working in a pit of indescribable filth. Dishes should be cleaned within 24 hours (48 at the most) to avoid a health hazard. Rubbish (trash if you are American) must be taken out as soon as a bag is filled. Do not stock pile them until you can’t get in to the kitchen. If you are a natural slob like me, you must train yourself to be tidy and hygienic. If you have a tidy friend go to his / her house and mimic what they do.
4. Take long lunch breaks.Take at least an hour for lunch, 2 hours is even better. It makes the work feel like less of a stretch. It also lets you avoid working during that period after you eat where the body deprives your brain of oxygen because it has moved it to the gut. And if you can walk for a good part of your lunch break you wont get fat. Ever seen a fat postman?
5. Blog. A new one on me, but I intend to do it more. You can delude yourself that people are remotely interested in what you are working on. It’s also a good way to practice writing - an important life skill! And may help you make professional connections for future contracts.

I spent most of 2006 working on Motorstorm, one of the first ever PS3 games. Work gave me a free copy of the recently released Japanese version. If only I had a PS3 to play it on!

Congratulations to my colleagues at Evolution Studios for all their hard work.

Today I played chess with my good friend Will. I had fun but after a dozen draws I got bored. It turns out we are quite evenly matched.

In my new job I just don’t get the exercise I used to. Sure I can do a little resistance training at home so I don’t look too out of shape, but you have to do a little cardio if you want to stay young and pretty for as long as possible. So I decided to resurrect a hobby of mine from my youth and bought a bicycle from a local shop in Chester. It really is true what they say; you never forget how to ride a bike - although my legs did seem to have forgotten they were strong. So I have spent the last 2 weekends cycling about Chester in glorious weather, and enjoyed it immensely.

Even though it had been raining most of the day I set out to find a route down to the river Dee, which is a stones throw away from my flat. On the way there I am free-wheeling down a fairly steep hill and even though it had started to rain I’m feeling pretty good. Nearing the bottom of the hill it occurs to me that I’m travelling a little too fast, so - naturally - I apply the brakes. At the same time I notice that I’m drifting towards the kerb and I compensate by turning the handle bars in the opposite direction, but I must have over compensated because now Im heading in to the road, so again I try to compensate. This little wobble, combined with braking on a slippy wet road at speed led to a situation where the bike slowed down but I didn’t. So I find myself leaving the bike and completely at the mercy of the laws of physics. Fortunately my cat like reflexes saved me and I managed to hit the pavement (sidewalk if you are American) and roll to safety. Only my right hand sustained an injury. I don’t think anyone saw the fall, it was a quiet road, but a local did stop his car to say “y’aright?” - they say that a lot in Chester. I suppressed my natural instinct for inappropriate sarcasm and replied in the affirmative.

My camera was in a pouch on my belt secured by a stud, but it had managed to come loose during the fall and bounce on the road a few times. Fortunately, unlike my hand is was unscathed. And was still able to record the horrible horrible injuries I received. If you are the squeamish type then frankly it is too late, you have seen the thumbnail and are probably thoroughly revolted by now. Otherwise click the thumbnail or visit the set on my flickr page to seen the pictures I took. Now you will have to excuse me, I’m going to walk down to the video shop to get a tub of ice-cream and a movie.

My cousin Mirren got married recently, and I went to her wedding. I’m not going to bore you with details of people you don’t know - this is not one of those blogs. If you are interested though, have a look at the pictures on my flickr page.

I love this photo I took - it could almost pass for one of those classic computer graphics images with spheres reflecting spheres, that you would see on the walls of students bedrooms in the 90s. Thank you Sony Cybershot!

Day 2 of my pseudo-holiday led me to the Blue Planet Aquarium, near Chester. Now since I was at an aquarium, you may be expecting pictures of fish. A perfectly reasonable assumption, but you would be dead wrong. It turns out that taking pictures of fish is actually quite difficult to do. The flash reflects off the glass and water, and the little buggers wont stay still. Fortunately there were also bugs* and amphibians to snap.

*Technically speaking, none of the above are bugs. A ‘bug’ is actualy an insect with sucking mouth-parts. This is one of those little facts that you can quote verbatim in order to appear smarter than you actualy are. I know I do.

One more blog-worthy event occured today, and that is an encounter with a surley swan. No doubt its ill temper was due to the beetle that was crawling around on its beak.

My sister visited to day and it gave me the opportunity to go out in Chester and take a few photos with my digital camera. Im not going to bore you with tourist snaps, I’m going to bore you with pretentious arty photos.

My cactus is in bloom. That’s all I have to say about that.