oo-de-lallyd | golly, what a day!

Class rep & campaign for HE Communications Officer

September 30, 2011 by lallyd

I started back at college last week and lessons properly kicked off on Tuesday, and it turns out my college timetable means I only have to go in one day a week!
Whilst this seemed great at first, I’ve quickly come to the realisation that I’m going to have a lot of free time, even with the time spent doing assignments from home.
Obviously my first thought was to get a job. However it seems those aren’t that easy to come by, not that I’ve been trying very hard either.
So instead of investing time in the pursuit of a part time-low pay job, I’ve decided to get more involved at the college.
The hope is that being more involved will give me a better chance of getting onto the PGCE after graduation, as well as looking good to prospective employers.
This week I nominated myself as class rep against 3 others from my class. The votes fell 8 | 5 | 1 | 1 in my favour and the person with 5 votes was chosen to be the deputy rep.
Whilst a lot of people have put me off being class rep, saying it’s hard work for little return I think I could be good at it, and I’m determined to get behind my class and try and improve our experience of education.
I also nominated myself yesterday for the position of HE Communications Officer at the student union. This weekend I will be creating my manifesto and posters to display around the college to try and get people to vote for me!
I really want this job, as it involves communicating with the student body via twitter, Facebook and other social media platforms, as well as the student union website and possibly a magazine and radio station.
I think that I may actually be the only person who’s applied for that particular post, but I still need the votes to get elected and campaign week starts 10th October so I’ll blog again about my manifesto and how campaigning goes.

It anyone has run a campaign for a position on the student union or has any tips or general advice, please leave a comment!

Lally.

Category Education, Ramblings | Tags: , blackpool, campaign, College, communication, election, Fylde, officer, student, union, university, vote | 2 Comments
Comedy debut @ Barcamp MediaCity

September 18, 2011 by lallyd

So.

A couple of weekends back, I attended Barcamp Media City, hosted by the BBC at Quay House. It was a brilliant Barcamp, despite a small hiccup with sleeping arrangements. I made lots of connections, got some great ideas for my dissertation and even appeared on an internal flyer promoting the event;

Click on it for the full size image.

The most exciting part of the entire weekend for me (perhaps second to the home made Yorkshire puddings on Sunday actually) was my attempt at a bit of stand up comedy! As part of a “mid-night surprise” the event organisers had booked a young comedian from Blackburn, who I’m not sure if anyone caught the name of?
However, he arrived late which was not a great start as far as the audience were concerned, and due to the change in sleeping arrangements many people had to leave by the time he arrived. I digress. So he had prepared a bit of material, none of which I thought was very topical but I chuckled a few times, but unfortunately felt disappointed by the over all performance. To be fair, most of the audience were drunk and he did get a few heckles, which went a bit too far and I think that toppled his confidence somewhat.

After the booked act finished, the “compere” (read: guy with the mic) asked if anyone else wanted to try there hand at a bit of stand up, and Dom (The Hodge) being the guy he is was cajoled into doing a 5 minute routine. By this point, I was on my 3rd bottle of Peroni and was feeling a bit brave, so started writing a bit of material whilst Dom was chatting away.

When Dom finished, nobody put themselves forward to go next, so I sheepishly put my hand up and on I went. I started with a joke which was a true story about my niece and what happened when my sister took her shopping for Tiger Balm. I told it because it really made me laugh when I heard it, and it was one of those “from the mouths of babes” type stories. To my utter surprise, other people found it funny too. That really spurred me on, so I just started talking about my life, and different observations that I’ve made about my 7 year old niece and the way she interacts with her friends. From there I got talking about my boyfriend and his obsession with his Mac-book Air and that seemed to resonate with the people in the room, about how attached they were to their computers and how hard it was to prize them away from just one more line of code. So I carried on with the geeky stuff, and talked a bit about how the Apple store sucks you in and you end up spending all your money on shiny stuff that you end up having to take to free events, because you’ve spent all your money in the Apple store!

I finished after what I think was about 5 or 10 minutes of material, but I got lots of laughs and an awesome round of applause at the end. I’ve never felt so high as I did when the adrenaline pulsed through my body after my mini-set.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem as though anyone recorded, or took pictures of me doing it, so I’m not sure whether I imagined it all in a sleep deprived stupor, but I sincerely hope not! The next day a few people commented on how funny they’d found me, which was really kind of them. So for me, Barcamp Media City was where I made my debut as a model and a comedienne and that’s something I’ll never forget. So thanks for the beers BBC!

Lally.

Category Events, Ramblings | Tags: , barcamp, barcampmediacity, BBC, bcmcuk, city, comedy, debut, media, stand up | No Comments
Barcamp Media City

September 14, 2011 by lallyd

Next weekend (16th & 17th September) I’ll be attending the first Barcamp Media City, being held at the new BBC development at Salford Quays. I’m really excited about the event, and looking forward to seeing some familiar and new faces.
Most of all though, I’m exciting about seeing the building! I’m not into architecture or anything, but by all accounts it’s a very impressive building, so it’ll be fascinating to see it in real life, as well as seeing it come to life with an event as great as a barcamp.
Having spoken to some of the people involved at another event recently, it sounds as though this barcamp is going to be a little different from the typical technology barcamps, with attendees from all different walks of life and creative backgrounds being encouraged to come along, an invitation was even extended to my Mum!
As always, I’ll be headed along with Michael, but we’ve cajoled an old college mate of his to come along as well. This friend is soon going to be starting an apprenticeship as a junior developer with a company in Blackburn so we’re encouraging him to get involved with the tech scene in the North West in the hope that he’ll meet some new people who will help shape his future career and even get inspired to learn more than just PHP/HTML as part of his apprenticeship.
So here’s hoping for a fantastic event to get the ball rolling at Media City!

Lally.

Category Events | Tags: , apprenticeship, barcamp, manchester, media city, salford quays | No Comments
Level Three BSL

September 13, 2011 by lallyd

Unfortunately I found out today that my Level Three BSL course has been cancelled, as there was not enough uptake for places on the course.
I was really disappointed when I found out, but I think it’s happening for a reason. When I decided to sign up for the course, it was with the knowledge that it would be a difficult year ahead with trying to study for my BSc IT at the same time, so in a way it’s a blessing in disguise as now I don’t have to worry about dedicating lots of time to BSL whilst I’m trying to studying for my degree, and in addition I don’t have to put away another £600 of my loan to pay the fee!
So, I think it’s just a sign that now is not the right time for me to undertake level three, but that doesn’t mean I won’t still do it in the future, when the time is right.
Really looking forward to getting back into studying, sounds a bit lame but I’ve really missed having topics to research and understand and learning new things. Enrolment is tomorrow morning, and hopefully I will also get my timetable so I’ll know how much time I have for my other pursuits.

Lally.

Category BSL | Tags: , Blackburn, BSc IT, BSL, Karma, Level Three | No Comments
Alex Hulme – There Was A Boy – EP Out September 23rd

September 3, 2011 by lallyd

So last night I went to see a local act named Alex Hulme at the Prince Arthur on Lord Street in Fleetwood.

Support was provided by Steve Aldridge & another great guitarist whose name I didn’t catch, as well as the fabulous Steph Fraser, a talented student of Rossall School.

The venue was good, the toilets leave a bit to be desired but cheap and decent pints with a good sound system for the band and a friendly atmosphere.

I was really blown away by Alex, he uses a loop pedal in a similar fashion to Ed Sheeran but produces a very different style of music. He sang a few songs from his new EP There Was A Boy, as well as some of his older stuff including a song called Drifting which was beautiful to listen to, about his grandmother who suffered with dementia before passing away a few years ago.

As well as his original material, Alex put his own spin on a few covers, with a spine tingling rendition of Smile, and a funked up Bittersweet Symphony.

Alex has a great vibe and a certain charm about him which builds a great connection with the audience, with them being so pliable half way through the set that he was able to get a little sing along going to a rarely aired original.

It’s great to see local talent being showcased in Fleetwood, and I hope to see more of both Alex and Steph who played a couple of originals and a cover of Dancing in the Dark.

There’s plenty more coming up at the Prince Arthur in Fleetwood (locally known as the Bug) over the next few months, hopefully they can live up to the standard that Alex & Steph in particular set last night.

Lally.

Category Events, Music | Tags: , alex hulme, EP, fleetwood, loop, music, pedal, singer, songwriter, Steph Fraser, There Was A Boy | No Comments
Barcamp Blackpool 3 needs sponsors!

August 26, 2011 by lallyd

So, this week I’ve been helping the lovely Gem with getting some sponsors interested in Barcamp Blackpool 3.

So far I’ve sent off a handful of emails and have already had an encouraging response from the local college, and am awaiting responses from a few local businesses.

I’m really passionate about Barcamp Blackpool, and feel really honoured to be allowed to help in organising stuff for this year’s event. I think Barcamps are a fantastic way to bring together like minded people to share their knowledge. At the last Barcamp organised by Gem, I learned about bitcoin, artificial intelligence, knitting, tattooing and soldering and that was just during the talks. In the evening I got chatting to some new and familiar faces and discussed everything from the pros and cons of Google+ to the difference in the taste of water between Lancashire and Yorkshire!

I’m really hoping that lots of people from the local community will come along to this year’s Barcamp, and as a result those people will also get to hear about Blackpool Geek Up, which I blogged about earlier this week. To be able to convert some of the attendees into regular Geek Up goers is my personal goal for the weekend!

What Barcamp Blackpool is lacking at the moment, is not the people to attend the event, or the talks to engage the attendees, but the funding to keep those people fed and watered for the weekend. The sponsorship that we’re hoping to raise will help further establish the importance of Barcamp Blackpool to the local community and hopefully engage new people with our existing events, like Geek Up!

So what will sponsors get? The sponsorship packages are available to view on the website, but more than just having your name or company logo around the venue, you or your staff get the chance to engage with local people who are potential customers for your business. Explain to them what it is you offer and how that can be of benefit to them in a relaxed and friendly environment. Set to rest any worries people might have about your products or services and most of all have fun!

Barcamps isn’t a trade show, and the attendees shouldn’t feel like their being sold to but equally, it’s a great platform to spread brand awareness. In the last 12 months alone, I’ve taken home branded merchandise from eBuyer, Brightbox, North51, Esendex, Adobe, Minutebox & Starbucks not to mention many more, and as a result I now know what those companies do and have even recommended them to people off the back of being sponsors for some great events!

So don’t hang about, get in and sponsor a great community event and reap the rewards!

Email gemma.cameron@gmail.com, call 07766695302 or tweet @ruby_gem

The sponsorship packages are as follows;

£50 – Funny Girls Logo on opening and closing presentation
£100 – Winter Gardens As above with link and logo on website
£200 – Pleasure Beach As above with logo displayed on schedule and around venue
£500 – Golden Mile As above with thank you tweets before, during and after the event and logo prominently displayed around venue. Also logo prominently displayed on back of t-shirts (should enough funding be raised)
£1000 – The Big One As above, with additional link & logo on eventbrite page and option to set up tradeshow signage and/or a small booth/stand at the event

Lally.

edit; There are a handful of tickets left for this event, which you can register for here

Category Events | Tags: , barcamp, blackpool, community, event, geek, geek up, investment, lancashire, sponsor, sponsorship | No Comments
Blackpool Geek Up

August 23, 2011 by lallyd

So last night I attended the second ever Blackpool Geek Up (#geekupthetower).

For those that don’t know what a Geek Up is, it’s a “grass-roots knowledge sharing and networking social for folks involved or interested in all forms of technology and creative media.” Which has kindly been organised by Les Pounder.

Unfortunately I wasn’t around to attend the first one, but by all accounts it was a success, and I was pleasantly surprised to see how many folk turned up to this month’s event. Although I would liked to have seen more familiar faces, as there are plenty of geeks whose absence was noticed (ahem, Jaime, Steve & Dan)

The monthly meet ups are being held at Gillespies on Topping Street in Blackpool which seems a decent spot, with friendly staff, reasonable facilities and a decent selection of drinks including non-alcoholic ones for anyone driving. There’s street parking available on many of the surrounding roads which is free after 6pm and a 5 minute walk from the train station for those coming in from further afield.

The talks last night were on Android and IT in Education. I was thoroughly engaged by both speakers, despite the commentary for Tottenham vs Man Utd blaring from a speaker above my head. There was even a projector made available for the evening, although I didn’t manage to get on the wi-fi whilst I was there, but maybe that was my mistake? Anyway, 3G served in it’s absence.

Two observations about the attendees, 1) age and 2) gender; the crowd was predominantly male and over 30. Other than me, and a female friend I had asked to come with me there was one other lady who I didn’t get chance to speak to representing the fairer sex among a group of maybe 20 people.

As a bit of a barcamp veteran I’m fully aware that guys out number girls significantly at these sorts of events, but I was disappointed that there weren’t more women there, especially as the event is in it’s infancy and hasn’t been established as a guy-zone?

I’d really like to encourage more women to attend these types of events, to prove that there are women working and studying in science/engineering/technology in Lancashire and that they do want to be part of the community. When I go back to Uni in a few weeks I’ll definitely be telling my classmates about the event and encouraging them (but especially the girls) to come along and check it out, and maybe even contribute in time.

The other observation is the age. Not that I particularly think that the age of the people attending affects the success of the evening (nor would I say that gender has an affect) but it would be nice to see some younger faces in attendance and again, when I go back to Uni I hope to encourage a few of the other students to take part in local tech events.

The next one will be held on 26th September from 7pm & hopefully I will see some of you there!

Lally.

Category Events | Tags: , android, blackpool, education, geek, geekupthetower, gillespies, Technology, up, women | 3 Comments
Tasty food for dieters?

August 11, 2011 by lallyd
So, it seems that being on a diet and having a sweet tooth don’t mix.

Since Monday I’ve been trying to lose weight by keeping a food diary, doing 30 minutes of yoga every day and avoiding all “junk” food, ie; crisps, chocolate, fizzy drinks, cakes etc as well as aiming to keep my calorie intake under 1500k per day (recommended daily for women is 1940k, 2450k for men) but anything under 2000k a day is good by me, as long as it’s the right types of food; fruit, vegetables, lean meats etc.

Unfortunately for me, trying to avoid sweet things is like asking a dog not to bark! So I’ve been on a mission for the past couple of days to find a healthy but tasty treat to make, and here’s what I found; Banana Flapjack.

Now don’t get me wrong, it’s still a high calorie snack, but the combined calories for the batch is about 2000k and I plan on getting about 10 slices out of it, so at 200k per piece it’s roughly the same calorie content as a packet of crisps or a chocolate bar, but lower fats, saturated fats and salt (in fact, no salt at all). Not to mention that flapjack is much more filling that a packet of crisps so likely to quash hunger pangs for longer, as well as being a high energy combination, good for after a work out.

The calories break down (roughly) thus;
- 75g margarine (I used butter) = 500k
- 2 tablespoons honey =150k
- 75g soft brown sugar = 400k
- 1 large banana mashed = (I used 2 medium) = 180k
- 200g rolled oats (porridge oats) = 800k
Would you believe that the highest calorie count is the oats at 800k for 200g!? Since keeping an eye on calories, I’ve been astounded by the high calorie count of most high fibre foods, eg; 1 slice of granary bread is approx 150k, a 50g bowl of muesli with nuts/raisins is around 300k. I’m trying not to get too bogged down in counting every calorie, and if I don’t know the exact figures I’ll just guesstimate but it does make you take stock of what you’re eating and whether you need to of not.

The flapjacks are currently cooking in the oven and smell delicious and hopefully will do the job of substituting chocolate and sweets for a while.

Please add a comment if you know any other low-cal recipes that I can try.

Lally.
Category Food | Tags: , banana, calorie, diet, flapjack, honey, low, oats, recipe | No Comments
Leeds Hack 2

August 8, 2011 by lallyd

So, this weekend I attended the second Leeds Hack, which is an event organised by Dom “The Hodge” Hodgson. The purpose of a Hack Day such as this is for teams of people, usually around 4 per team to get together and create a “hack” for example a web application, a mobile app or maybe even just a simple site in just 24 hours. This year’s main sponsors; Esendex, Affiliate Window, eBuyer and Coding Futures all provided prizes for the teams to compete for which involved using the services laid on by the sponsors as a part of the hack.

I didn’t compete in any of competitions and I wasn’t officially hacking, so instead I decided I’d try my hand at learning Ruby. With much encouragement from many of the other people at the hack day, and with a small group of others trying the same thing I had a go at using Try Ruby and Hackety Hack to create simple bits like a Hello World! I really enjoyed using Ruby, but the environment wasn’t quite right for me to really learn anything as there was far too much other exciting stuff to do like chat to people about what they were hacking, and filming Dom being wrapped in bubble w rap!

The hack day was a brilliant event, which brings together so much knowledge into such a small space and encourages people to share and use it over a 24hour period. The final product of the team hacks (although a few people crept off before the presentations) ranged from a dieting/food diary web app (which I’m going to try out myself over the next few weeks) to a wire-framing app, an app that allows you to text via an interface on your computer and the hack that I contributed to by pointing out flaws and providing moral support – PleasePledge, which is an app that helps charities to get the things they need by appealing to their supporters to pledge money via text.

The hacks that came out of the 24 hours were outstanding, and as many people at the event said I hope people continue to develop them and even take some of them to market.

Huge thanks to the sponsors who provided lots of swag, as well as sweets, drinks, crisps, beer and the funds to attempt the UKs biggest take away order from Just-Eat! Thanks as well to the organisers who did a brilliant job of keeping people motivated, creating a fun and friendly atmosphere and encouraging me to go and learn something new! Finally a shout out to the venue, the Mint Hotel in Leeds who let us come back for a second year, provided some delicious food, a greate venue and have the friendliest staff I’ve ever encountered!

Lally.

Edit: Here’s the link to all the Hacks submitted over the course of the weekend.

Category Events | Tags: , #leedshack, 2011, Affiliate Window, Bare Bones App, Coding Futures, ebuyer, Esendex, hack, Hackety Hack, leeds, Please Pledge, Ruby, Technology, two | 2 Comments
Goats Cheese Pizza

August 1, 2011 by lallyd

So, this afternoon I opened the oven to retrieve the left overs from yesterday’s roast chicken dinner and to my absolute horror, out flew two giant flies! I was planning on making a lovely chicken and mushroom pie, but my plans were scuppered and the lot went in the bin.

So what to do? There wasn’t much else in the fridge bar a few leftover ends of cheese, a packet of bacon and the bag of mushrooms.

We’ve also recently harvested a bumper crop of home grown potatoes, so I wracked my brains for a recipe that would combine these ingredients (and avoid a trip to the shops!), but nothing came to mind.

I quickly searched on BBC food website for goats cheese and found no inspiration, when I stumbled upon a recipe for a goats cheese pizza!

Another quick google search for “pizza dough” led me to this recipe which I realised I had all the ingredients for.

So following the instructions (but using a combination of 1/2 plain white and 1/2 strong white bread flour) I made the dough, although I cheated and used a mixer instead of kneading it by hand. I did knead for the final 5 minutes to get the right consistency, I also found I used a considerable amount of extra flour to stop the dough feeling too sticky.

After allowing the dough to rise for about an hour and a half and taking great pleasure in punching all of the air out of it I spread the dough over two cookie sheets, about 1cm thick on each and topped the dough with pasata, then goats cheese, fresh vine tomatoes and mushrooms and finally a rasher of bacon cut into 1cm strips on each base.

I covered the whole lot in about 100g of mild Cheddar (50g on each pizza) and put in a preheated oven on Gas Mark 6 for 20-25 mins.

I swapped the two pizzas over about half way through the cooking time and this is what I ended up with (x2):

On reflection I would add a few herbs to the pasata next time. To serve I just ground a little bit of black pepper over the pizza and accompanied it with some home made coleslaw (Mum’s secret recipe) and a beetroot and tomato salad. It was nommy!

Lally.

Category Food | Tags: , baking, dough, food, home made, Pizza, recipe | No Comments

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