Heart Shaped Box

Oooh... Looks like I've been slacking on the Blog front, doesn't it? Probably because I have, although at least I suppose it's proof of being busy. ;o)

Anyways, today is Christmas Eve, a day on which it is notoriously difficult to get into a working frame of mind. Which is why I'm sat here, Blogging. As you can probably guess from the lack of updates here, work at HEXUS has given me plenty to do, which is most definitely a good thing, and is still providing plenty of enjoyment on my end. Aside from that, life goes on as normal, aside from the prospect of needing to find a place for me and the wife to live within the next few weeks, a process that will gather pace once Christmas is out of the way. It's hard not to get stressed about that, but I'm sure everything will slot into place in due time.

Today's entry title comes from (obviously) the Nirvana song, pumped to me as I write this courtesy of Last.FM - Possibly the greatest Internet radio service ever. To explain, the site is partnered with another great site - Audioscrobbler. The basic principle of Audioscrobbler is that you download a plug-in for your favourite media player, which then notes the mp3s you listen to and collates them in a central database under an account you've set up on the site, then displaying your listening habits and so on and so forth.

Last.FM takes this one step further by offering you an Internet radio station which chooses what songs to feed you based around the music in your profile. It works incredibly well, and rarely gives you a song that you'll hate. Even if it does, you have 'Love', 'Skip' and 'Ban' buttons to denote songs you really love or hate, and your profile will thus become more specific to your tastes from there. I can't praise the service enough (They have a pay service too with some extra functionality, which I'm seriously considering forking out for), so anyone with an interest in broadening their musical horizons or simply listening to some damn fine music should check it out at least one. See? A Pixies song has just come on. Yes, it's that good.

Finally, this is my opportunity to wish anyone reading this a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. I hope you all have a great time, and stay tuned to everything I do through 2005! ;o)

This is traditionally a time to start taking stock of the year just gone by, and I can safely say that 2004 is the best year of my life. Great new job, fantastic wife, and plenty of good friends out there. Some (if not all) of you reading this have played a part, big or small, in making this a great year for me, so to you goes my heartfelt thanks and gratitude.