Just in time, a final playlist to see out 2013 and ring in the new year. Have a good one!
My suspicion is that us humans are designed to hibernate during the winter months. At least that's what I tell myself as I begrudgingly resist my natural instincts and crawl out of bed on these dark, frosty mornings.
The tail end of November brought some exciting news which certainly helped to perk me up. As of January, I'll be hanging up my part-timer hat and joining the team at Mediaburst full-time. I'm really chuffed and looking forward to getting more involved in the continued improvement of apps Textburst, Clockwork, Timetastic and Florence. Roll on 2014!
Here are some songs to warm your winter cockles:
If the clocks going back wasn't bad enough, some bright spark thought it would be a great idea to further mess with an already broken circadian rhythm by attending a 24 hour hackathon. Genius.
I wasn't alone in my error of judgement. Three of my ClockworkSMS workmates joined 230 caffeine-fuelled hackers at the Museum of Science and Industry for HackManchester.
The details are a little hazy but I am reliably informed that our personal budget app Moolio was nominated for two awards. Celebratory chest-bumps were postponed until after we'd caught some shut eye.
In other exciting news, I bit the bullet and updated the Hackintosh to OS X Mavericks. I'll admit that the update process is not as pain-free as updating a Mac and there are some minor, lingering sound issues but tonymacx86 always comes up trumps.
If all this "hack" talk has you confused, don't fret. Just let these sound waves vibrate your ear drums:
September saw the Stiff family host the last BBQ of the season in celebration of our youngest child's third birthday.
Apart from BBQ tending duties, I had the truly terrifying job of holding the piñata while violent young party guests swung at it/me/each other with a plastic cricket bat. It was like a scene from Aphex Twin's "Come To Daddy" video.
I'm still traumatised.
The following tracks are helping with my rehabilitation:
I started August getting over the fact that I'd just turned 39 and attempting to cope with the emotional turmoil that post 20s birthdays apparently bring.
Meanwhile, the Stiff household experienced a series of plagues including fruit flies, snails and slugs. We're still waiting for rodents but the neighbours assure us that we can expect them. It might be time to get a cat.
Work highlights included the launch of Crackle with my pals at Mediaburst. It was my first experience of designing an app for Windows - admittedly an alien environment to a Mac user of 20 years! I also had the pleasure of creating the app branding and a simple marketing website.
The month ended on a high with an awe-inspiring performance by Sigur Ros, live at Jodrell Bank.
As if that wasn't enough, there was also plenty of new music to catch my ear:
You would be forgiven for thinking that I've been sat on my hands of late. I'm painfully aware that this humble website is looking a little sparse on the work front and heavy on the playlists. I'm not about to buck that trend but rest assured, I am still beavering away on stuff and will share it in the near future. In the meantime, listen to this.
I spent a large part of June working with James Inman on an iOS app for Timetastic. When I wasn't doing that, I was designing some prints and T-shirts which I hope to unleash soonish. I was also listening to these here tracks:
Another month, another playlist for your aural pleasure. Don't mention it.
Tracklist:
The first half of April was spent enjoying some quality time (and rain) with family in Hong Kong.
The latter half marked the start of part time employment at Mediaburst where I've been working on some exciting projects. More about that in another post.
Thankfully, plenty of music caught my ear this month so compiling a playlist was no hassle. The tail end of April also saw Boards Of Canada fans treated to some material from their forthcoming album "Tomorrow's Harvest", due out on 10/11 June on Warp Records. The internet broke.
Listen with your ears:
Just in time for Easter, here's my playlist for March.
Enjoy!
Tracklist:
Bonus Easter Eggs: