My blog is exactly two years old today, and I’ve written a lot of stuff in that time, most of it very boring. I use this blog to keep a record of things I’m doing, to try and get my thoughts about a particular topic in some sort of logical order, or jotting down work-related musings for my own benefit. I have no idea how many people actually read it.
One of the areas that overlaps my professional life and personal interests is the use of the Internet (and specifically the World Wide Web) for scientific research – and although in my professional life I work closely with academic researchers, I’m also interested in how the web can be used by non-scientists to make a contribution.
Last week I went to Morocco to spend 3 days in the Atlas Mountains, on a tour organised by Epic Morocco. My aim was to get to the 4167m summit of Jbel Toubkal, the highest peak in North Africa, which would have been the highest I’d ever been, but I didn’t make it.
Between Christmas and New Year I travelled to the Highlands for a short break, staying a night in Fort William and climbing up two summits on subsequent days: Sgor na h-Ulaidh near Glen Coe and Spidean Mialach in Knoydart.
I spent last week attending a two-day first aid course at Lochore Meadows in Fife. It was a BASP (British Association of Ski Patrollers) course, but it was of quite a general nature and most of the course syllabus was applicable to everyday situations.
Last weekend I went walking near Broad Law in the Southern Upland hills near Edinburgh, to look for the remains of a North American Harvard aircraft that crashed here in 1953. I found the site on a ridge of Broad Law above a wood, with excellent views of the surrounding hills.
Last night Lesley I travelled through to the Carling Academy in Glasgow to see a double bill of Motorhead & Saxon.
Last night I went to see the Glasgow band Mogwai at the Edinburgh Corn Exchange. Mogwai are a very strange band – they hardly ever have vocals in any of their music and seem to be willfully difficult to approach on an emotional level. I think half of their music is sublime, trippy guitar rock that manages to be both soothing and energetic, with obvious influences from My Bloody Valentine, Jesus and Mary Chain and perhaps contrastingly, Brian Eno and Moby.
Last weekend Lesley and I travelled through to Glasgow to see Queen at the SECC. Lesley and I are both Queen fans going back a long way, and we have both been a bit fanatical about them at certain points in our lives (me during the early eighties, and her since the late eighties).
I spent last week at Glenmore Lodge, near Aviemore on a Mountain Leader training course. This training course was the first part of the process of gaining the Mountain Leader Award qualification.
I am a software engineer / database administrator / web developer living in Edinburgh, Scotland. In my spare time I like to travel and take photographs (especially of mountains). See my main website here: Eddie's Photo Archive