Philippines

Last year we popped over to the Philippines to see my friends Matt & Cham get married. Here are a few photos from the trip. Wedding photos will follow later (maybe much later).
00:21

Copenhagen

A very little mermaid and a Carlsberg beer or four in Denmark on a wintry day in 2006. Photographs don't really tell you how cold it was.
23:18

Stockholm

It's been erm well over a year since I last updated my website! I got a lot of catching up to do. Let's start with a few holiday snaps from my 2005 trip to Sweden in search of Ikea furniture, Volvos, Ericsson mobiles & meatballs.
18:06

My oh My it's Madrid

Bullfights, porras & churros washed down with chocolate in Spain.
18:02

Canada Come & Go

Hey, I managed to get through Canada without eating a beaver tail or hugging a polar bear. The Poutin was nice but if my doctor ever found out that I had fries with cheese & gravy then I don't think he'll be too happy.
18:45

Married to Michelle!

Surprise, surprise, I got myself hitched at last. The lucky lady is Michelle. The eagle-eyed readers out there will have seen a few of her pics in the Shanghai part of my website already. Thanks for all those who came to help us celebrate such a special day. We loved having you there, we really did. I've uploaded a few (now maybe that's an understatement) photos up for you all to see. I still need to write an introduction page but that'll have to come later - in the meantime enjoy the photos.
22:22

Hats

Who looks the best wearing baby Nina's hat ?

23:43

Scary Scotland

Had a nice time up in Edinburgh. Our friend and tour guide Jim took us everywhere. We endured lots of walking & climbing but it was worth it because we got to see lots in that short bank holiday weekend. Jim was trying his best to scare us with his stories of student suicides & ghosts in his old haunt of the Edinburgh University. Julia wasn't sure whether there was a ghostly man lurking in the bushes outside her hotel room that night or whether it was the rustling of the Edinburgh winds. One of the highlights of the trip was a visit to the undergound rooms below the city where a couple of ghosts allegedly still roam. Fortunately none of us spotted any ghosts on the tour. I was quite glad of that!

23:00

Shanghai Surprise

Just came back from a week & a half in China. Managed to take a few photos for you all to see. Immediate impression you get of this place is the noise of the hooting honking traffic. A hoot is a sign that someone is about to overtake you, or it could be a sign that you are about to be cut up. There is no road rage here. You must expect to be cut up. You must allow others to push in front of you. Courtesy ? No such thing here mate! 50% of the road traffic are taxis. 30% bicycles & scooters, 10% private cars & 10% pedestrians. 'Organised chaos' is probably the best way to describe it all. Never run whilst crossing the road or else you'll get killed. Take it easy, walk slowly so that the cars & cyclists can swerve around you.

21:48

Monte Carlo & Nice

Went away over the Easter weekend to a place which I had never managed to visit on my Inter-rail expedition many years ago. Perhaps it was because I was back-packing at the time and I didn't want to pack a suit & tie - these were (and still are) the dress entry requirements to enter the famous casino. Do they expect us to lose the shirts off our back ? Anyway, here are some balls ....


10:15

Il Mare

Yes, I've uploaded an Il Mare film review. I first watched this Korean film about a year ago. It took me a couple of attempts of watching to get into it. The truncated subtitles didn't help haha. Or was it because I was too busy looking at all the beautiful scenery (ahem, stars the My Sassy Girl actress) ;-).


22:42

Nokia - Good news!

After 2.5 months of rest & relaxation (aka life of leisure, in between jobs, unemployment etc) I got myself a job!

No design work unfortunately which is a shame. Instead I'll be acoustically evaluating mobile handsets which have been returned by the customers for faults. I do hope Nokia make reliable phones because if they don't then I'm going to be a busy man & get swamped with a huge truck load of them to test, lol.

Had my interview a couple of days ago. It wasn't my best performance. Previous ones have been better in my opinion. I wasn't that good at answering all those usual run-of-the-mill interview questions such as,"Give me an example of a time when you felt the project was slipping time-wise and tell me how you tried to overcome it". Erm, erm ..... ! Oh well, it doesn't matter now, I got the job!

For the technical part of the test, I had to set up a phone on a test jig. My interviewers were scrutinising my methods & reasoning. I also had to take apart one of their phones & comment on the acoustic design of it. I coped with these test fairly well (I think).

Since getting the news of the job some my friends have asked me whether I had turned to the dark side. Ha ha yes, it does seem that I've switched allegencies from Ericsson to Nokia but I've now got the chance to work alongside a big team of acousticians for the world's no.1 mobile handset manufacturer.
23:00