Filed in "me"

I’ve just released the latest iteration of my “professional” site, stevenwilkin.com. There’s the possibility the designers I’m working with will think my design-fu is weak, but the site badly needed something as it has been barely put to use in the years I’ve owned it. I don’t know how the Steven Wilkin web experience will evolve but the words of Eric S. Raymond are ringing true when he mentions not hiding behind a hacker-style alias so I may put more emphasis on this domain in the future.

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There have been times in my life when my job description could well have been best described as being a professional coffee drinker. These days however I’ve found gainful employment but continue to consume vast quantities of the stuff and even use coffee nomenclature to name my new *nix boxes. During a caffeine-fuelled session with my domain registrar I happened to lookup professionalcoffeedrinker.com; it was available, all sense went out the window and my money and myself were swiftly parted.

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It seems like I’ve survived another year :) I’ve just finished processing my email and am reflecting on the goals I wrote this time last year: continue bodybuilding write more code blog more increase Linux skills get a “real” job Here’s the outcome: I put a lot of effort into training and nutrition last year and found that when vanity is my motivation then happiness will not be mine. I’m still trying to find a long-term strategy with this

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I picked up a new bicycle earlier today after probably a decade of not as much as even getting on one. I’m suprised how quickly it all came back to me, almost instantaneously in fact. It only took me 10 minutes to get home from Sainsbury’s with a pannier bag stuffed full with groceries. My life has taken on new meaning!

Yesterday, the project I’m working on turned into a full-time gig. I start Monday as a full-time developer and can finally sign-off after nearly 6 years on state benefits. It works if you work it!

It’s now a week into the new year and to heighten my perception of the passage of time my birthday fell on the 3rd, making me a ripe 27. I’ve been thinking long and hard about what I want to achieve this year and the essence of my ruminations was progression: my goal is to make progress in all my hobbies and interests and, of course, life in general. Some prominent points which came to mind are to:

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I had the joy of going for a dental checkup this morning and I must admit I was a tad on edge, but thankfully I got the all clear and there will no repeats of the root canal work I had done earlier in the year …and I managed to get a quick snap of the x-ray which was taken when I was in quite a bit of oral distress and had just signed up with my dentist:

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I was out and about with my sponsor on Saturday and we were walking up Stranmillis Ave and Friars Bush happened to be open for tours. My good friend Nicky K lives in one of the gate-keeper’s cottage, but in all my time living in Belfast I don’t think I’ve seen the place open to visitors and so I’d never been in it before. When I was a wee lad I used to live right next door to the graveyard of the local church so walking amongst the graves brought me back a bit.

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Over the past couple of months I’ve been working at removing machine weights from my training regime but up until last week I was using machines exclusively to train my legs. My mate Tony had shown me how to squat a good few months ago but not only was I afraid of injuring my back with improper form I was downright intimidated by this, the daddy of all exercises.

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I put in my monthly expenses claim yesterday morning and decided to follow through on a plan that had been on the back burner for a while now: getting myself some new footwear. After sorting out the new firewall at the office I strutted my way down to the Doc Shop and bought a new pair of 8-eye Doc Marten boots. Here they are fresh from the box and laced up (photos from my phone unfortunately):

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My photo has appeared in not one, but two newspapers today :) This is the clipping from page 14 of the Daily Ireland. I appear by myself (and in colour) on page 8 of the Belfast Telegraph and when I get the chance to scan the photo I’ll post it here. This is the second occasion I have been in the media as a consequence of my involvement with voluntary work.

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