Labcoat Laboratory
Saturday, July 30, 2005
I got back from Lufbra last night after whisking up a fast tuna/jacket lunch, waiting for a money drop from Tongy and then catching a cab to the station. This is a flamboyant method of transport for a student, but it was knocking on 2pm and I didn't fancy hanging around for much longer, knowing full well the trains would be slow.
There was an unusually but not unexpected number of police everywhere near the stations, and I caught myself wondering about it a number of times. I truly hope this isn't something we have to endure for much longer. On the remarkable upside I chanced upon a paper stand at the station and caught up on the morning's news; whilst all this other 'terrorism' is going on the persistent problem of the Irish Question finally makes a significant milestone in apparent disarmament of the IRA. Most people in Britain have no idea of the complexity or deep-rootedness of this problem, but maybe, just maybe, we are finally seeing a significant shift. I might even go so far to hypothesise that maybe the way that terrorism has taken a turn for the worse (in the most pragmatic sense; terrorism can never be good) that the dissident groups now understand that it simply is not effective to wage a physical argument, especially with this new horrific standard set. Hopefully my cynicism will be disproved and we will find the people who run the IRA and other violent organisations made this decision on their own, good natured and sensible prerogative.
The train journey gave me time to lap up some interesting design wisdom from a magazine I picked up on Thursday in town. I used to buy Computer Arts and Computer Arts Projects regularly a couple of years ago, and it has done wonders for my self education of the profession(s). However, I stopped buying so often when articles started to repeat and now I just buy the occassional publication when something that interests me appears. The carrot in this issue was the sheer galaxy of pros who they had managed to assemble and hand over valueable nuggets of insider information. I was suitabley impressed and think I've learnt a thing or two. Six quid well spent.
I stopped off at Derby to make an instant change then arrived in Birmingham New Street. It was at this point I thought it might be a good idea to phone the parents and let them know that I was on my way home, and they might like to pick me up. No such luck. The house was empty bar Sister Two and the mobiles were all turned off. I ended up carting my considerable travel case through Brum while thinking of ways of getting home.
To pass the time (and satisfy an ambition), I located the Apple Store in the Bull Ring and took some time to browse the neatly thin shop. I never go in with an ambition to buy, and I never leave with anything either, but it's fantastic to have a play and see what's what in the World of White. I was particularly impressed by the 32 inch dual display workstation. It dwarfs my 19 inch and 14 inch flat panels, but realistically, who has the space? Well, me; if you gave to me them for free.
I eventually arrived back in Stourbridge by train (I gave up on the parents). After 5 hours the whole thing had become a little tiring.
This morning I answered a phone call from an enthusiastic DDS. He has yet another bright idea, this time in the form of custom lab coat sales for our department. I worked on the artwork this afternoon and I think I'm nearly there. Hopefully I won't get lynched by the staff for an element of cheek in the design, but I'm quite pleased on the whole.
I've spent the rest of my time emailing until my heart's content and sending proofs here, there and everywhere. Rich had kindly supplied me with a full set of Magno paper swatches which is fantastic, and Asykric is making leaps and bounds. Tomorrow I will start to build a file upload system into it.
I am certainly busy.