Category: Life Updates

  • 2017 in Review

    Welcome to my third retrospective in four years. I didn’t bother writing one of these for 2015 as I was glad to see the back of the year, but in hindsight I regret not doing so as it was a formative time for my re-invented business and it is useful to be able to look…

  • A Few of my Favourite Things 2016

    Personal review posts of the outgoing year are becoming more popular and I enjoy reading them, particularly those produced by my peers. However, when I wrote mine earlier this week I purposely left some stuff out as it didn’t seem to fit properly. It’s a list of things that I’ve used – or removed –…

  • 2016 in Review

    2015 ended with me having a panic attack in a restaurant car-park, somewhere in South Bristol. It’s not as bad as it sounds and in hindsight I put it down to that end-of-year, exhausted-after-stumbling-across-the-finish-line thing where your body gives up a bit and is more vulnerable. But still, it was a shame, because up to that point…

  • My Life Reboot 18 Months On

    TL;DR Years of a terrible diet, no exercise and not dealing with my underlying stress & anxiety problems left me a gibbering wreck. I was having panic attacks, experiencing physical pain and I was deeply, deeply unhappy. Enough was enough, so 2 years ago I took control and started making changes. It worked, mostly. This is a summary…

  • Tis the time for lists

    It’s New Year Day 2007, and I’m sure I’m not the only person getting a few goals noted down for the coming year. As a bit of a break from forward-thinking, here’s a quick review of 2006. Biggest happening The combined selling of Exponetic (my first web dev company), moving from London after eight years,…

  • Siftware is go

    We’ve unpacked all of our boxes (apart from all of the ones in my office, it seems), put as many again in the loft, and all members of family Beale are settling nicely into our new life. I’m particularly liking the ability to have breakfast, lunch and dinner with the kids. I’ve also had a…

  • Piano music from the 2nd episode of 2nd series of Battlestar Galactica

    I’m hooked on the Battlestar Galactica remake. To date, I’ve seen everything up to the 2nd Episode of the 2nd series. This episode is called the Valley of Darkness, not to be confused with the Valley of the Shadows by Origin Unknown, which is slightly different. In this episode, Starbuck drops by her apartment in…

  • Akai M-8 Reel to Reel Tape Recorder

    I write this listening to my Akai M-8 valve powered reel to reel tape recorder. It’s playing a random tape that I bought on eBay for a fiver entitled ‘Genesis: And Then There Were Three’. Luckily for me that was obviously recorded over and it contains Jean Michel Jarre’s Concerts in China which I’ve not…

  • Self employed for 3 years

    Exponetic was three years old this week. Originally Acksys Ltd, it was set up after Vardus – the company that I worked at for 3 years as a developer and Sysadmin – went bust. I managed to persuade around 20 clients to come with me and serviced them independently from the spare bedroom. It was…