BlogLeisure interests
I don't really like to draw a sharp line between my work and my leisure time. I enjoy my work, and like to take it home with me. If I find something interesting enough, I will often spend my own time on it. Typically, this will be something that is perhaps peripheral to the main thrust of my work which I could not justify spending time on at work, but which nevertheless will make a contribution to it.
I usually have several software projects of my own on the go at any one time, some work related, some not. At the time of writing, I am working on an application for a particular niche market that might one day see the light of day as shareware, though a large part of my motivation for doing this work is to keep my hand in when it comes to Java programming.
I was once considering writing a program to convert COFF (Common Object File Format) files into Intel OMF (Object Module Format) files, but that project got shelved in favour of other things.
Apart from technical interests, I sing in the tenor section of the Akademischer Chor Zürich (ACZ) (Academic Choir of Zurich) and until January 2008 also sang in the Neuer Zürcher Kammerchor (NZüK) (New Zurich Chamber Choir) of which I was at that time also the secretary.
I also like eating out, the cinema, cooking (I don't claim to be particularly good at cooking, I just like doing it) and reading. I am also interested in the study of Heraldry, and in particular the language of English blazon (i.e. the language used to describe English heraldry.)
Whenever I'm at home on my own, I have the radio on. Usually Swiss Radio DRS4News, or BBC Radio 4, specially for 'The Archers'.
Before I moved to Zürich here in Switzerland in 1996, I lived in England, at Didcot in Oxfordshire. I was a member, and at one time secretary, of the Oxfordshire Branch of the British Computer Society (BCS). I also used regularly to attend philosophy evening and weekend courses at the Oxford University Department for Continuing Education (OUDCE). I continue to be interested in philosophy, particularly the philosophy of mind, and remain a member of 'The Philosophical Society' of the OUDCE, attending one of their occasional international meetings in Trier a couple of years ago.
I also fairly regularly attend the Zurich Salon.
Last updated: 2020-05-27
