Covered on this page are interests and hobbies I possess and achievements I have made.

Interests

I possess a wide range of interests from day to day ones to others I have made an effort to learn. Most predictably is my interest in computers and in particular programming and web-design. Although I studied these at university and I work with the former in my chosen career, I still like to practice these in my free time too. I use my home computer regularly for many different activities such as entertainment, document work, record keeping and as mentioned above, programming; this is primarily in Java, HTML, CSS or PHP. As well as my third year dissertation software, I have also created a prime numbers generator. This Java program was optimised to be as efficient as possible, while still being simple enough to comprehend. Additionally I have also created a Su Doku solver, which can solve many instances of the well known game (unfortunately it is not a complete solver yet) and a very simple lottery numbers generator. These are all available in the Downloads section of this site. Most useful of all though is this website, which I have created entirely in my spare time.

Another interest I have is in the visual design of 3D images. I first acquired this interest at university whilst doing my Computer Graphics module and also by discovering the brilliant site digitalblasphemy.com. Being quite a creative person, I have attempted some simple images myself and hope to take this interest further by teaching myself - using web tutorials and so forth - how to create complex 3D renders. In time I hope to post some of these images on this site.

Two much more regular interests I possess are in music and film. I have a very varied taste in music and enjoy listening to many different genres, from classical and chillout, through indie, pop and dance and on to rock and metal. My interest in films is to a lesser extent compared to my love for music, but I still enjoy seeing new movies both at the cinema and on television.

The final interest I have is in financial markets. This interest has been growing since university where I researched various careers and found that the financial markets seemed like a good place to work for someone with my skills. Over time this interest moved on from just a match to my skills and I actually became intrigued by the markets' patterns and behaviour. Being keen on Mathematics is another driving force for this interest and has helped me to comprehend the markets and progress this interest into a career.

Hobbies

Although I have many interests I possess fewer hobbies, but where I do have them I am completely dedicated to continue with them. The hobby I take most seriously is health and fitness, for which I do numerous activities. This includes cycling a 10 mile round trip to and from work and using free weights as well as body resistance techniques for various muscle exercises. I also usually go long distance running on a regular basis, however this has been put on hold for some time due to an injury caused in December 2005. Just before I got this injury I had also decided to start playing badminton again, as I used to play it in high school. However due to this injury, it again means that this has been put on hold. To help accompany this exercise regime I also maintain a healthy yet balanced diet.

Snooker and pool are two other hobbies I am committed to. I play on a regular basis at my old local snooker club and at various pubs. As well as playing snooker I also enjoy watching it when major tournaments are being played, as I do with many sports such as football, cycling and the World's Strongest Man.

Achievements

Throughout my life I have made several accomplishments which I am quite proud of and which I believe are worth noting. Quite a standard achievement was gaining my driving license, passing both the theory and practical components first time. More highly regarded are my third year university results, where I attained the highest marks in the year for two sub-modules: Multi-Agent Systems and Distributed Computing. In addition to these high marks I am also very proud of the coursework I produced in the same year, which included a Language Design and Compiling assignment at 83%, two Parallel Computing assignments at 95% and 70%, a Distributed Computing assignment at 89%, a Computer Graphics assignment at 86%, an Advanced Topics in Artificial Intelligence assignment at 81% and two Multi-Agent Systems assignments at 85% and 80%. Additionally in my second year I received 85%, 85% and 90% for my three Networking assignments. Lastly, I believe that producing this website is also a substantial achievement, considering that it was written entirely by myself from scratch. It is not only a personal achievement but also has a practical use for employers since it allows them to find out more about me without even having to make contact. Producing a website which looks professional and also has a practical use is something I have wanted to do for sometime now.