Nick Jordan

Earlier this week, while taking my usual lunchtime stroll around Camden Town, I was stopped by a guy who asked if I’d be interested in being an extra in a big Hollywood film. When I said yes, he took some details and a couple of photos and said his casting agency would be in touch if they decided I was right.

Yesterday I received an email saying that they like the way I look (they’re after guys with long hair) and could I come in to the agency for more photos and a chat. So, I’ve booked the afternoon off work next Friday and arranged to pop by. I have to say that I’m quite excited at the prospect of being in a proper film, even just in the background or whatever, and also by seeing something of the process of making a big-budget movie. It’ll be an experience.

I shall keep you posted on my progress and, if I get to be in the film, I’ll try to write some stuff here about what happens.

I’ve knocked up a quick extension for the Google Chrome browser which allows you to highlight text on a web page and then search the Juno Download website for it. It’s a bit rough around the edges right now but I hope to improve it. You can get it here.

I really dislike littering in all its many and varied forms, but the form of it that really gets my goat at the moment is newspapers, particularly the ever-increasing number of free ones, left on trains. You want to sit down in a crowded tube carriage, there’s a free seat, but it’s got a paper on it. You’re not a litterer yourself so simply throwing it on the floor feels wrong so you try to balance it against the window. Inevitably, it won’t stay there and falls over your shoulder into your lap or down between your back and the seat from where it’s almost impossible to remove it without elbowing your fellow passengers in the face.

I’m not sure what the answer to this problem is. Perhaps, on seeing someone leaving without the paper they brought onto the train, everyone else in the carriage should refuse to let them out until they return to their seat and get it. Perhaps someone should roll said paper up and give the miscreant a good whack over the head with it first. However it’s done, we need to put pressure on these anti-social gits to take their litter with them and put it in the bin. Preferably the recycling one.

All suggestions gratefully received.

I watched the first episode of Gareth Malone‘s latest exploits on BBC2 last night. In Gareth Goes to Glyndebourne, the ever-charming and delightfully enthusiastic Gareth follows the now-familiar pattern of taking a bunch of ordinary working-class kids and introducing them to a whole new world of music and singing, in this case by getting them to perform in a specially written opera at the world-renowned Glyndebourne opera house.

Yes, we’ve seen similar stuff before, and in the hands of almost anyone else it’d be quite boring by now, but somehow Gareth Malone manages to keep our interest. A great deal of this has to be due to his infectious passion for singing and his refusal to give up in the face of the kids’ initial indifference. It really is lovely to watch, despite a certain predictability. I’ll be glued to the remaining two episodes and to whatever Mr. Malone comes up with next.

It won’t surprise those who know me when I say that I hate football. This isn’t something new, I’ve always felt this way. To clarify a little, it’s not the actual game that I detest, more all the fuss and hype that surrounds it. Is it really that important who wins? Will your life never be the same again? Even at my most sports-fanatical I’d never claim that Valentino Rossi crashing out of a race could force me to take to my bed and spend the rest of the weekend wallowing in misery, so why do so many football fans behave as if their sport matters so much?

Anyway, the point of this ramble is that despite my loathing of the national sport and the consequent dreading of the World Cup that was my initial reaction, a thought has occurred to me. While the England matches are on, especially if the team make it through to the later stages of the competition, the streets will be blessedly, delightfully empty. I shall be able to amble around London without having to keep stopping or changing direction suddenly. I shall be able to get a seat on the Tube. As long as I’m safely off the streets by chucking out time I’ll be able to pretend that some sort of ghastly, Survivors-like plague has struck and I’m one of the lucky few who’s still around.

So, unlike my behaviour in previous years, I shall be cheering the home side on (mentally, at least) with as much gusto as the most excitable enthusiast can manage. And if they make the final I shall be utterly delighted.

Sorry I haven’t posted here for a while. I’ve been a bit busy with one thing and another. You know how it is when life gets in the way.

I was made redundant recently. The good news is that it only took me a couple of weeks to find a new job, and also that the job I found is particularly great, working for an online music  and DJ equipment distributor in Camden. The bad news is that being out of work for a bit has left my funds rather depleted (oh, OK, nonexistent). It’s going to take me a little while to get back on my financial feet.

I’ve been feeling a whole lot happier in myself in the last couple of months or so, too. I find that I really enjoy just pottering around my flat on my own, content with my own company. Which is not to say that I don’t appreciate being with my friends – I do. I count myself very fortunate to be surrounded by really good people. However, I’m aware that I’ve been a bit of a hermit recently and am determined to take steps to get out and about a bit more.

Health-wise, I’m in great shape. I’ve put on a couple of stone and I’m eating and drinking better. I’m also getting plenty of exercise in the form of riding my bicycle and taking nice long walks. The additional weight means that I need to invest in some new clothes, trousers in particular, but I figure that’s a small price to pay for feeling as good as I do. I still find myself getting quite tired, although less so now than a few months ago.

All in all then, things are on the up. I promise to try and post here more regularly, too.

I recently took delivery of an iRobot Roomba 505 robot vacuum cleaner. It’s the most basic model in the range, coming in at 1p shy of £200, which I grant is a lot of money for a vacuum cleaner. Having said that, it’s cheaper than a Dyson.

In the box were the Roomba itself, a mains charger, a spare filter and a brush cleaner. The higher-end models come with a base station, to which the robot will return automatically for charging. Some models also include scheduling, but while I’d have liked that I just couldn’t justify the additional expense.

After a couple of hours’ charging the Roomba, which I have named Wanda, was ready to go. Cleaning the floor is a simple matter of placing the cleaner in the middle of the room, switching it on and pressing the big, glowing ‘Clean’ button in the centre of the device, at which point it plays a few notes and starts to move. I was initially impressed by how quiet it is, although I still needed to turn the TV up a bit. Ordinarily, of course, you’d set the Roomba off when you go out, so this isn’t an issue. As well as the brushes on the underside of the machine, there’s a rotating brush which protrudes from the side and does a good job of cleaning right up to the wall.

Initially, the Roomba moves in an outward spiral but this quickly changes to seemingly random motion. I noted a few spots on the floor and was pleased that the Roomba covered them all at some point. Obstacle avoidance is also very good; as the machine approaches table legs, walls and other fixed objects it slows down and gently bumps against them, ensuring that it cleans right up to them.

Once the Roomba judges that it has cleaned everywhere it switches itself off, ready for emptying and recharging. The bagless design is good and the bin, although not huge, is large enough (especially as you’ll be vacuuming more often). It’s easily removed and emptied, important in an appliance whose entire purpose is to save labour. Although it takes longer to clean a room than you would, the whole point is that you don’t have to do it at all.

Overall I’m very impressed and pleased with my Roomba and would happily recommend it to anyone, especially those who live in single-floor accommodation since the one place it can’t clean is stairs. The sheer pleasure involved in coming home to a freshly-vacuumed home can’t be overstated.

I’m no longer an active biker, so the issue doesn’t directly affect me, but I was watching a news report on TV this morning about rising petrol prices and I had to laugh at the interviewee who complained that fuel was so expensive that it was cheaper for him to take the train to work. Correct me if I’m wrong, but surely that’s a good thing and exactly the situation we should be aiming for.

Nobody in their right mind is claiming that reducing car use is going to be painless but most of us agree that it’s necessary. It benefits all of us, including those who still drive because they have no choice.

There’s something fascinating about time-lapse photography. This is just a simple video of me watching a bit of TV in the evening, but the accelerated time makes even this rather mundane activity take on a whole new life.

A quick poll.

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Jim Parsons, the Big Bang Theory’s Sheldon Cooper, plays a huge succession of different characters in this cancer charity video. Joyful, absolutely joyful.

A nice little article about tomorrow’s planned protest against companies like Boots selling this snake oil despite stating that they have no evidence that it works.

Homeopathy does not work beyond placebo, it is a menace to public health and a drain on the limited resource of the NHS. It is an 18th century quack medicine consisting of magical rituals practised by deluded, cargo-cult “doctors” that has no place in government thinking, and it should not be endorsed by the registered pharmacists who are at the frontline of public health in the UK.

Hear, hear!

If you haven’t yet come across Show of Hands, here’s a great place to start. I’ve liked this song for a while now, and every time I hear it I like it more. It’s a really good dig at the bankers and politicians who have got us into our current financial mess. Enjoy.

I was made redundant just before Christmas. It wasn’t unexpected; in fact I had a couple of weeks’ garden leave before the redundancy was confirmed. I decided to take a couple more weeks over over the holiday period to relax and contemplate my future, which I think was a good idea. As of yesterday I’m actively seeking employment as a Web Developer, working primarily with PHP and MySQL, so if you know of anything or would like a copy of my CV, please get in touch.

Update: I have now found a job, which I start on Monday 18th January. I’m very glad to have found something so quickly and I’m looking forward to getting my teeth into it.

I hope everyone had as good a Christmas Day as I did. Good food, plenty of booze and great company – what more could you ask for? I also managed to get some lovely presents. Vally bought me something I’ve wanted for ages – an alarm clock from Voco, which features the voice of Stephen Fry and provides a lovely, gentle way to wake up in the morning. I tried it out today, of course. I have to play with my toys.

Today I may be having a wander around the shops before indulging in more nice food and drink. It’s a tough job but somebody’s got to do it.

I’ve been playing with the preview of Google Wave for a few days now and overall I’m quite impressed. It’s still a little rough around the edges but I think that by the time it’s launched in 2010 it’ll be much better. And as developers start to build extensions it’ll become even more useful. I’m already pretty happy to use it for collaborating with friends on small projects and as a replacement for email and IM as Google intend. The only downsides are that it clearly uses a lot of Javascript and users with older machines may not be entirely happy with its speed and that it’s a bit more complicated than regular email and instant messaging.

Incidentally, I have a number of invites to give away, so if I know you and you’d like one, drop me a line.

I have a Nokia 5800 mobile phone, which I really love. It’s easily the best mobile I’ve ever had. I’ve recently been playing with the podcast client, which is pretty good, and also the Last.fm client, Mobbler, which is great. But until Spotify release their client for my phone, something I’ve been awaiting eagerly, I wanted something that would allow me greater control over what I listen to. At this point, step forward MeCanto. Sign up, install the software on your computer and also the phone client and you’re away. Instantly, you can listen to all your music on the move, regardless of how large your collection is. The software uploads your collection (limited to a speed you can control) to the MeCanto servers, from where you can stream it to any computer with a browser or to your phone. And if it hasn’t been uploaded yet that’s OK as long as your computer at home is on, as it’ll grab whatever you want to listen to from there.

The service even preserves the file structure on your computer and allows you to connect multiple machines, so a whole family could share a collection with each other. I really am very impressed. It doesn’t quite do away with the need for an MP3 player, since the 3G/WiFi coverage required isn’t yet universal, but it comes very close indeed. Top marks.

Update: The Spotify client for Symbian phones is now available! Point your mobile’s browser at m.spotify.com to get it.

I’ve been showing this to friends for ages and thought it was about time I shared it with the rest of the world. Enjoy!

Last Sunday I went out for a pub lunch and made a great discovery – Crabbie’s Alcoholic Ginger Beer. It has just the right level of gingeriness to make it a real treat, and a nice kick thanks to the alcohol. A perfect drink for both Summer and Winter, I reckon. Not too far in flavour from Blandford Fly, another very gingery drink, but this time a real ale. If you like one you’ll almost certainly like the other. And the good news is that you can get it in supermarkets, so no hunting around for it.

This morning I had my first psychotherapy appointment, with a very nice lady called Barbara. I arrived at Thorpe Coombe hospital just a handful of minutes early and plonked myself in a chair in the waiting room. I didn’t have to wait very long. We basically had a chat, I told her some stuff about myself and she asked the occasional very open-ended question. She explained that I have to go at the same time every week for the next year, with breaks at Christmas, Easter and in August, and that some of the sessions may be fairly traumatic. Hopefully those particular occasions will be relatively rare as I don’t want to have to take more time off work than is absolutely necessary. Anyway, I left feeling pretty positive about the whole experience, and looking forward to sorting myself out a bit. If anything happens that’s worth mentioning I shall, of course, record it here.