Personal
-
The nostalgia is strong in this one. (In both this post and this blogger, in case you're wondering.) It started with my 20th anniversary at Autodesk, but it got worse, last weekend, when I travelled to the UK to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the University of Kent (where I studied, back in the day, about halfway through its history). I'd coordinated with a couple of close friends, so we descended on Canterbury from Switzerland, Connecticut and Windsor, and joined a thousand or so alumni for a really fun, celebratory weekend, revisiting old haunts and sharing old memories. Doubling down…
-
Tomorrow marks the 20th anniversary of the day I joined Autodesk. I know: it's tomorrow, not today, but then you really can't beat good Beatles lyrics (and it hopefully helps reset the cosmic balance after quoting an Olivia Newton John song in the title of the last post ;-). I already used this title – somewhat prematurely – 5 years ago, but hey. As I'm feeling a touch nostalgic, here's a BBC video about computer graphics & animation – and even CAD! – from 1983: it was around this time I first became interested in computers. I recommend watching this episode…
-
So yes, I'm back flying again. I'm not travelling anywhere, though. Some of you will remember my abortive attempts at UAV piloting from around a year ago. My Quanum Nova has been gathering dust, since then (it's also in pieces because I tried – so far unsuccessfully – to install a Bluetooth telemetry module). But I'm motivated to get back on that particular horse thanks to a discovery I made a week ago. On a whim, I bought a micro-drone called the Hubsan X4 H107C. This is an incredible little device: you can pick one up for around $50 and…
-
I've been trying hard to keep up my blogging rhythm, through the summer, but some weeks it's just hard. I'm currently enjoying an extended staycation with the family – and the weather in Switzerland has been simply amazing, this year, thankfully – and this week I just haven't found the time for my usual 3rd post. So here's a quick photo of a local field of sunflowers. Happy summer, everyone!
-
Autodesk sponsors a great event, here in my home town: the Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival (NIFFF). An old friend and colleague from the UK, Nick Manning, typically comes across to talk at the event, as well as to present the Imaging the Future award: 5,000 CHF for the international competition film with the best production design. The 2015 winner was a post-apocalyptic Ethiopian movie called Crumbs. This year's festival – the 15th edition – closed its doors on Saturday. Over the years the NIFFF has really grown in stature, and regularly attracts impressive guest speakers from the film industry…
-
Looks like this week is going to be all about sweat. Hopefully there won't be blood and tears to go along with it. On Friday I drove with my family across to Verona, Italy, for Autodesk's annual football (soccer) tournament. This year was incredible: 20 teams from around the world showed up with around 600 people (between the players and supporters). We had hoped that Google Maps' estimate of the length of the drive would more or less accurate at 5 hours 40 minutes, but – through no fault of Google's – it ended up taking a brutal 8 hours.…
-
In the past I've mentioned the Autodesk Foundation and to some extent the focus Autodesk has on benefiting local communities. Today I was very happy to participate in a charitable teambuilding activity in the office: a group of volunteers spent a couple of hours building prosthetic hands for people in developing countries – very often children who have lost their hands due to landmines. The instructions were straightforward to follow: there were a few tricky parts, but we managed to work through them as a team. The resulting hands will be shipped back to Odyssey Teams in the US, from…
-
From my cubicle in the depths of the Death Star… To celebrate this Star Wars Day, why not build your own Death Star using AutoCAD and 123D Make, or script the opening crawl inside AutoCAD using F#? May the 4th be with you, always.
-
Today's my birthday, which I'm spending with a fairly intense work schedule here in Singapore. My family gave me my present early on Saturday night, before I flew out on Sunday morning. To my absolute delight, it's a Stormtrooper onesy, which I suspect is going to soon become my preferred WFH uniform. There's a reason I'm looking so happy. When I was growing up there were children who wanted to be Luke Skywalker or Han Solo during our Star Wars re-enactments. I wanted to be a Stormtrooper. Which I have no doubt says something very important about my personality. When…
-
Last night the section of motorway closest to my home was closed from 10pm to 6am. They closed it to install a new cycle bridge intended primarily for children from one local village to cycle safely to school in another. Closing a motorway is considered quite an event around here, so a small crowd gathered to watch the proceedings in spite of the hour and the pre-spring nip in the air. Admittedly the drinks laid on by the local government – tea or wine, depending on your preferred approach for keeping warm – didn't hurt the mood. At around 11pm…