This iteration is quite a lot different to the previous one, and I wasn't sure if it would be a good idea to scrap the old one and start afresh. I'm a firm believer in the "Realign-Not-Redesign" way of doing things, but it just wasn't going to cut it.

I loved my old design when I first saw it, and I still do now. However, it was far too "heavy" for the blog. It needed a few hundred words and a big image at minimum for a post to sit comfortably in the content box. This led to me not posting as much as I would have liked as I didn't think the posts were substantial enough.

This design was hacked together in two days, from my deciding I needed a new theme to going live. There shouldn't be any bugs (I know it doesn't look right in IE, but it's usable. That's good enough for me) - but if there are let me know. It's components have been heavily inspired (pronounced: stolen) from various sites around the web. However, imitation is a form of flattery

I should be posting with a bit more frequency again now, so make sure you subscribe to the RSS feed so you don't miss out

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Back in February or so, I decided that the course I was studying at Leeds University wasn't for me. I tried attending on and off for a few months, but I just couldn't get into the course. Some may argue that I missed too much to fully understand what was going on, but I made sure to catch up before I tried getting involved again. Anyway, long story short we got to June and I decided I wasn't going into my third year, passed exams or not. (As it happens, I passed 3/5 exams without attending all year. I only needed to resit one to get into my final year! )

Once I'd decided not to continue, I discussed my options with a few people. My personal tutor was the most useful of all, suggesting I took a look at Leeds Metropolitan, as I didn't want to move away from Leeds. He also suggested applying for direct entry to my second year. After looking at the module list and talking to people who have attended, I decided I wanted to go there and submitted an application via UCAS.

I kept ringing admissions and asking, but they kept telling me to ring back in a few weeks. Eventually, I found out at 8am on results day that the institution wasn't going into clearing, so my application wouldn't even be looked at. I was disheartened for about 30 seconds, then I started planning what to do next. I really do like the look of the course, and I wasn't ready to give up.

As soon as I got to work, I sent an email to Imran Ali who I'd met at Unsheffield a few months previous. He put me in contact with Linda Broughton at nti on Friday and I explained my situation. I have no idea who Linda spoke to, but when I rang admissions on Monday they knew all about my application, and were amazingly helpful. I was expecting a few weeks of correspondance and maybe an interview to see if they would offer me a place. However, Tony Farrar at admissions chased everyone that needed to see my application, and showed them my emails. By 3pm on Tuesday I'd been offered an unconditional place with entry to level 2.

I was very, very lucky. I have an offer for the course I want to study. However, there is still a lot of work to do. I need to make sure that I know everything from level 1 so that I don't get left behind during any lectures. I also need to sort out student finance so that I can pay my rent and buy food. If I'd been a bit more organised, this could all have been sorted by now.

This experience has taught me two things. I already knew them, but it's really driven the point home.
#1 is that I should be more organised. Leaving things until it's too late is a sure-fire way to be disappointed. However, if you do end up getting to the point where you're not going to get what you want, don't give up. If I'd have given up at 8am on Thursday, I wouldn't be going back to university this year.

Just one more thing... You should all go to as many tech events as you can. Geekup, Barcamps, Hackdays, everything. Meeting people in your field could really help out one day. My experience is proof of that

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Best of the Beast - Iron Maiden

Classic British Metal. Spotify doesn't have this album (as it's a best of), but check out Rime Of The Ancient Mariner and Hallowed By Thy Name

System Of A Down - System Of A Down

A late 90's metal band based out of California. Serj Tankian fronts the band singing about issues important to them, ranging from political statements to just plain wierd. Advised tracks are Sugar and Bounce

Bestwishes - Nightwish

Operatic goth metal. In my opinion, the best band in it's category. They've since sacked Tarja as their singer and replaced her with someone who's not quite as good in my opinion. However, we still have the old material. My favourites are Over The Hills And Far Away (which is a Gary Moore cover) and Wishmaster

Clear Hearts, Grey Flowers - Jack Off Jill

The only band that isn't on spotify. They were an American Grrrrrl-rock band in the early 90's. I've been in love with them since I first heard Fear Of Dying (video with added scene girls!) about 5 years ago. If you like Fear of Dying, you might also want to check out Strawberry Gashes

Decadence - Head Automatica

I'm not too sure how to describe Head Automatica. All I know is that if I'm ever feeling a bit tired, a healthy dose of Head Automatica will get me back on track. There's a few slow tracks on the album, but I prefer The Razor and I Shot William H. Macy

Horrorscope - Eve 6

Spotify only has one Eve 6 album available in the UK. Fortunately, it's this one! Eve 6 are a pop-punk-ish band from the states. I don't know what draws me to them, as their songs don't sound that special, but it doesn't stop me knowing every word. Amphetamines lead to being On The Roof Again

Devildriver - Devildriver

Without a doubt the heaviest band on the list. Also the most intense band I've ever seen live. My favourite is I Dreamed I Died as I could actually hear the words the first time I listened, but Revalation Machine has really grown on me.

Does This Look Infected? - Sum 41

Finally, the band I've been listening to the longest. I remember working on a market stall at 6am listening to Over My Head (Better Off Dead) years ago. DTLI? comes with some bonus tracks. You can skip to about 1m30 before the song starts, but check out World War VII (part 2)

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For those of you who don't know him, Barney is the main character - let's admit it, people watch it for him - in a comedy called "How I Met Your Mother". Portrayed perfectly by Neil Patrick Harris, he's a suit-wearing, womanising, quick witted bachelor in New York. He spends his nights socialising with Ted and Marshall, hitting on any woman he can see under the age of 30.

So he's to Barney! Visionary, and Legend...wait for it... dary!

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After some wrestling with the WordPress theming system, I finally bent it to my will. There's a few bugs in IE, but as the site is still usable (and you guys should all be using a decent browser anyway ) I'm not going to fix them as, as soon as I get time I want to recode the design using HTML5 with the aid of some plugins I'm intending to develop to make theme development easier. But until then, welcome to the brand new Michael A Heap .com

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As some of you know, I'm not very creative. This posed a pretty big problem when I decided I wanted a blog theme that no-one else would have. Sure, I could have paid someone to do it (I like Ryan Taylors design on the hodge's blog) but I'm a student, and what money I do have is needed to buy gadgets!

Also, there's something rewarding about designing it yourself and seeing it all come together.

As I said, I'm not too creative, so I designed it by working through the sections I need. There's the occasional decent post every now and then, but I tend to bury them with quick posts. My focal point for the new design is featured articles, which will stay on the front page for a while.

Once I had that in place, everything else just slotted around it. The hardest part was designing the single post page. I needed to emphasize content while providing as much meta data as possible. Finding the balance between content and data was pretty difficult, but I eventually decided on twitter, lastfm (titles only) and a set of links.

I know this doesn't really constitute a post, but I've not posted in weeks, and some of you were beginning to worry that I was dead (or worse, had lost internet access!) - hopefully this'll explain why. I'm either working (full time), designing or sleeping - which doesn't leave much time to read up on fancy gadgets or anything. However, it will be financing a new Macbook Pro for me next month, so I should be making a few posts about moving from a pc to a mac, and my experiences as a user, and as a developer.

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Usually in one of these lists (I'm intending to share more), I'd link you to each person's account and explain a bit about what they tweet about. However, I'm just gonna link you to Coed Magazine's list of Pornstars that Tweet and call it a day

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$ sudo apt-get install cowsay
$ cowsay "Your Message Goes Here"

And that's about all it does, so here's one I made earlier:

$ cowsay "Exams Are Over  "
 ___________________
< Exams Are Over   >
 -------------------
        \   ^__^
         \  (oo)\_______
            (__)\       )\/\
                ||----w |
                ||     ||

Seen as exams are over, aiming to get a few more medium length posts out a week, starting Monday. Don't forget to check in tomorrow for a beginners guide to Google Reader

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Did you know that while on a terminal with apt installed, if you type:

apt-get moo

This appears:

         (__)
         (oo)
   /------\/
  / |    ||
 *  /\---/\
    ~~   ~~
...."Have you mooed today?"...

And that's about all Just one of those small easter eggs that makes me smile whenever I remember about it.

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