The sun is shining, the weather is good. I am happier.
I am heading to being employed - barring problems with the company's contract, I will start just after the beggining of June. The company is interesting. They do train modelling.
I got on well with the interviewer, and we have been reading a lot of the same software engineering books lately. I am impressed with their
practices, and they deliver software, as well as doing some
technically cool stuff (e.g. 'simulated annealing' to produce a
near-optimal train timetable, which is a problem a lot like the
travelling salesman problem).
They have a cool GIS thing - you can start with a map of the UK, and
zoom down and down to show every points on the tracks at any given station. A trainspotter's wet dream.
In the mean time I am phoning my other leads, seeing if I can use my new bargaining power to trade up to something better paid. However the pay here is adequite.
Yesterday I visited IKEA to get a catalogue, to pore over and decide what to buy when I have money. My small room can accommodate 1 additional item of furniture – will it be a chest of drawers for my clothes, currently still in cardboard boxes, or will it be a computer desk for a home PC?
The sensible thing is tomorrow, much anticipated. Hope the weather holds!