Musicalmidget’s Blog

Regular users of Messenger Plus! will no doubt know that Messenger Plus! Live, the first release of a new generation of Messenger Plus!, was released last night.

Windows Live Messenger went public a few days ago, but I intentionally didn’t upgrade immediately. The reason of course being that I wanted to wait for the release of Messenger Plus! Live. There aren’t really any new features in Windows Live Messenger that I’ve been significantly impressed by yet, apart from the nickname feature however, which of course was previously available in Messenger Plus! 3. The new features of Messenger Plus! Live however are indeed impressive.

I’ll probably post in more detail about Messenger Plus! Live once I’ve had a little more time to play with it. In the meantime, I strongly suggest that any users of Windows Live Messenger who haven’t already tried Messenger Plus! Live, download it from here and give it a go.

I think I mentioned a short while ago that I’d been listening to the new single by Keane which is quite popular at the moment. Needless to say, I was quite impressed to say the least. So, I ended up buying the new album Under the Iron Sea. It seemed hard to believe that their new album could be as impressive as the previous one Hopes and Fears, but it was!

It’s a fantastic album from a very talented band. In fact, I’ve been so keen to hear more from them that I’ll be seeing them live in Hull when they visit in October. The tickets were only booked this morning but we’re already very excited!

Roll on October…

If I’ve said it once then I’ll say it again. The summer holidays are great for getting things done I haven’t had the time to do during university term time. Today for instance, I was able to put the finishing touches on a new design for MyBB Mods that I’ve been working on for a while now. You can finally see it in action at the main MyBB Mods website.

There are a couple of new features in todays updates, but most are layout based. Some additional features will be added shortly. I’m delighted to have finally been able to use some icons from the Silk icon set available from Fam Fam Fam in the new design. I originally came across this fantastic icon set when Chris Boulton began using some of the icons on his personal blog. Since then, I’ve noticed them cropping up all over the web, and why not? They’re pretty damn nice and free to use too!

With one large job out of the way today, tomorrow means I’m free to get back to work on something I’m currently implementing into the MyBB 1.2 code. Anyone with access to the MyBB staff forums will probably know what this is. Everyone else, well you’ll see soon enough. I haven’t posted much MyBB related stuff on this blog for a while, but now I’m working more on the development of MyBB again, there’s likely to be more MyBB related postings here in the future.

You can probably tell from some of my previous blog entries that I’m quite a regular visitor at Alton Towers, being a theme park junkie and all. This morning I got an email from the towers advertising the first three long awaited “behind the scenes” tours.

On 22nd July, Andy and I will be arriving at the park for 8 in the morning…it’s going to be an early start, but worth it in the end we hope. On arrival we join some of the technical teams preparing the rides for the day ahead, running the various daily checks and so on. Then we continue to one of my favourite attractions, Hex, to see exactly how it works. It’s then up the old flag tower for a stunning view of the surrounding countryside. All this in just the first part of the day!

We then get the rest of the day free to enjoy the park, with a priority pass for some rides I believe. At the end of the day we get a quick bite , the tour group meet up again and it’s off to see what happens at night, how the attractions are closed up for the night and so on. I also understand there will be an opportunity to look over some of the park archive material.

It really does sound like an interesting day and we’re both looking forward to it. It will indeed be a long day, on the park for 12 hours, with nearly two hours worth of driving at the start and end of the day. Hopefully it should be a great day though, and we’re hoping to take along some cameras, so keep an eye out for some rather rare photography…

It’s been a while since my last post so I thought it was about time for a new one. My last posting was about my last exam at uni, so I suppose that starting with something about that exam would be a good idea. :p The exams went well and I’m fairly confident I’ll be able to do the modules I’ve chosen for next year, including composition which I’m really looking forward to. I’ll also be conducting a wind ensemble at uni in September which will be a new experience for me but something I’m also looking forward. I’m hoping to get a chance at taking the wind band in the second semester. I’ve got my eye on a couple of pieces that the band could make an excellent job of and they’re not too difficult. I’ll know in a few months whether or not I’ll be able to have the opportunity any time soon to conduct those pieces with the band.

So with university out of the way for a year (already?!) I’ve finally got free time. Isn’t that unusual. I do have plans for the long break though, including a trip to Edinburgh with the Big Band from university. Andy and I will also be continuing our theme park tour of the UK. We’ve already conquered Flamingo Land, Pleasure Island and Drayton Manor. We’ve also renewed our Tussauds season passes and had numerous visits to Alton Towers. We’re still to get to Blackpool Pleasure Beach and Thorpe Park however, the two biggest parks remaining on the list. We’re also wanting to try Pleasureland at Southport when we’re up in Blackpool.

Aside from the tripping around the country to various theme parks there are numerous internet related things I have planned. This very blog is due some changes soon. MyBB Mods is going to have a complete re-write with a few nifty new features. Additionally, I’m finally able to contribute more to the development of MyBB, which incidentally is looking very well at the moment. The release of MyBB 1.2 will be a major milestone for the team and we’re all looking forward to it.

I don’t often post music related content here (unless of course it’s to do with my course at uni) but I’ve really had quite an interesting week as music goes. The new single from one of my favourite bands, Keane, was released on Monday and what a fantastic single it is for the band to return on. Their new album is due out shortly and I intend to buy it. The single went to number three on the UK charts this evening. I would very much like to see it to get to number one. Speaking of the number one slot, no more Gnarles Barkley, he’s been demoted from the top slot and about time too. I hated that song, it quite literally drove me crazy! I’ve also heard some tracks from the new Snow Patrol album last week and it sounds pretty good. My feelings towards Snow Patrol have so far being indifferent, but I’m wondering if my feelings will improve somewhat after hearing the latest album. Perhaps I should listen to it all and see…

I’ve also been trying out some new software and websites over the last week or so. I’ll be posting about these things shortly.

So, there’s a short update on my situation at the moment. Stay tuned for more soon.