Events: London Expo 2009 - DSCF3039.jpg
Welcome to the blog section or Steven Mapes .com. The blog area of this site is very much in a vain of most personal blogs with entries by myself about anything that I find interesting or want to write about. If you are looking for photographs, IT help desk entries or coding samples then you're looking in the wrong place. Each of those can be found under the other areas of this website.
Having used PHP for many years I decided that I would have a go at the Zend PHP 5 Certification. So I booked in last Tuesday for yesterday in Twickenham. I went along ot take the exam and can say that I passed first time.
A few things for those looking to takw the exam, some of the questions are very badly worded. At least one had no correct answer. I knew what answer they wanted, but it was still not correct. When taking the exam
make sure you leave comments on and and all questions that you feel are unclear and/or have no correct answer.
The exam itself covered PHP basics as well as bits on OOP design, XML, DOM, HTML, regular expression and SimpleXML. A lot of the examples like to use pass-by-reference which as any real-world PHP developer would tell you, is a bag of evil and should
be avoided at all costs.
Anyway it means that I have now completed five certifications this decade. For those wondering they are:
CCNA (Cisco Certified Network Associate)
MCSE (Microsoft Certified Systems
Continue to read the full I am now Zend Certified entry. Created on Sunday 18th of October 2009 06:26:00 PM.
The BBC have an article in their Science and Environment section on a new find in China that is believed to be the oldest relative of moderned day birds, a Dinosaur completely covered in feather!
Continue to read the full Anchiornis huxleyi unveiled. entry. Created on Friday 25th of September 2009 02:20:20 PM.
Below you will find the latest press release from Auto Assembly regarding the opening of bookings for next years premier European Transformers Convention
Auto Assembly 2010 Bookings Open!
With the record-breaking Auto Assembly 2009 still fresh in everyone's memories, we have been busy behind the scenes and we are now pleased to announce that Auto Assembly 2010 is here! Europe's largest Transformers convention is returning over the weekend of Friday 13th - Sunday 15th August 2010 to celebrate its 10th Anniversary and once again it is aiming to be bigger and better than ever before!
As before, the convention will be spread over a weekend mainly running on Saturday and Sunday (with bonus programmes on Friday and Saturday evenings for full weekend attendees) and will feature a whole host of activities, dealers, guests, a party, live band, a script reading with our voice actors, charity auction, video screenings, art and kitbash workshops, costume competitions,
Continue to read the full Auto Assembly 2010 Bookings Are Now Open entry. Created on Tuesday 15th of September 2009 08:24:24 AM.
Back in Jan 1987, when I was seven, I found out that I needed to wear glasses. Since that time my eyesight has become weaker and is currently something like -7 to -8.5, depending on the eye, with an Astigmatism in both eye. Back in 2002 I went along for a free consultation for laser correction surgery with Ultralase and was told, at the time, that I if i had the surgery I would still need glasses all the time so I decided to wait and let the technology catch up. Fast Forward to June 2009 and I returned to UltraLase to see if the technology had advanced enough, which it certainly seemed to according to articles on the Internet. I was told that "yes" I could now have the surgery and that I would require the LASIK with Wavefront, so I booked in for surgery in August which was the first available time for the surgeon which they recommended. Well that's now tomorrow, so this could well be the last article I write when I need glasses :). Though I am a little concerned that something could go wrong,
Continue to read the full Laser Eye Surgery tomorrow! entry. Created on Tuesday 4th of August 2009 10:47:47 AM.
Auto Assembly 2009 Releases Final Single-Day Tickets!
With Just 20 days to go before Auto Assembly 2009, we are now releasing the FINAL batch of single day tickets for those of you unable to attend for the full weekend...!
We have now released a further 45 single day passes for the Saturday and Sunday and once these have sold out, the only way you will be able to get a one-day pass will be as an on-the-door attendee and these will be sold on a first come, first served basis subject to availability. We do have plenty of full weekend passes available still and these are not subject to any restrictions on sales numbers so if you want a full weekend pass you still have time to book these, but as the convention is getting closer, you don't want to miss out...
The cut-off dates for pre-registrations are looming ever closer and for those of you living within the UK, you MUST get your bookings in by 10th August 2009 to allow us enough time to process them and post your passes out to you. If you live outside
Continue to read the full Auto Assembly 2009 Releases Final Single-Day Tickets! entry. Created on Sunday 26th of July 2009 12:02:02 PM.
On Friday the 12th June 2009 I attended the FDA Press Screening of Transformers Revenge of the Fallen at The Oden in Leicester Square London England. This was the worlds first screening of the final cut of the second live action Transformers film. Yes, the cut shown at the World Premier in Japan wasn't the final cut. How did I get to go? Well I'm a huge Transformers fans and have been talking to Paramount Pictures on a semi-regular basis since 2006 which has led to me attending several press events for the first movie, the FDA Iron Man screening and RotF. I actually ran a competition to give away 100 tickets to the first live action Transformers film :) Anyway I've posted a small review on my main Transformers website, but want to say thanks to Debbie for inviting me and a few friends along to the event.
Continue to read the full Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - Review entry. Created on Saturday 13th of June 2009 08:00:00 AM.
This website is currently being re-constructed from the ground up and as such not much is available at the current time. Please bare with me as I am extremely busy with work and other projects at the moment so the time I have to spend on this project is very much limited. I will get back to it, so you'll just have to check back at a later date.
Steve.
Continue to read the full Site Under Construction entry. Created on Thursday 7th of May 2009 11:12:13 AM.
You know those times when you see something family and it triggers a memory. Well that happened again to me today as I was riding into work. I starting thinking about the late friend of mine Brett. Brett died on the 7th July 2006, a year on from the infamous 7/7 terrorist attacks here in London England. I met Brett through my website Transformers @ The Moon, and we use to meet up at different conventions, pub meets as well as chatting regularly online. Brett's sudden death came as a heavy shock to me, and I could not, and still can't, help but partly blame myself. I had not spoken to Brett for a few weeks and was wondering how he was due to him feeling low over affairs of the heart.
Well the 7th Jan marked 6 months since Brett's passing, and its dragged back a lot of the feelings for me. Being at the halfway stage, I still can't help but wonder what Brett would be up to today if he were still with us, and what his thoughts would be on the recent Transformers teaser trailer.It all came back as I
Continue to read the full Where has the time gone, thinking of Brett entry. Created on Friday 12th of January 2007 08:30:00 AM.
Two new species of Plesiosaurs have now been found in Australia, one has been named Umoonasaurus demoscyllu and the other Opallionectes andamookaensis. They lived 115 million years ago when the now baron continent had massive icey lakes.
You can read more about the discovery on the BBC News website.In other related news, UK scientists belive they ahve discovered why some of the acient flying reptiles had crests on their head. 'A rare skull specimen found in Brazil shows the crest
appeared at puberty, suggesting it was used to attract attention from
the opposite sex.' Again, you can read the full article on the BBC News site.
Umoonasaurus demoscyllu
Continue to read the full Two new plesiosaur species found & Flying reptile mystery 'solved' entry. Created on Friday 28th of July 2006 01:27:11 PM.
Keeping to the music theme, I thought it was about time I put up an entry about
STARS in EXILE an
unsigned UK band which includes a good friend of my twin brothers Neil Harris.
Back in December their debut album Luminosity broke into TuneTribe.com's top 29
unsigned albums. You can hear samples on their website
(www.starsinexile.com), their
MySpace site
(www.myspace.com/starsinexile)
and Pure Volume (www.purevolume.com/starsinexile). Good luck guys.
Continue to read the full STARS in EXILE entry. Created on Thursday 27th of July 2006 07:45:30 PM.
On Monday, I took my girlfriend Sarah to Tweeters2Studios recording studios in Leatherhead for a four hour recording session that
I bought for her 21st birthday a few months ago. It was a fun day out. Sarah hadn't been in a recording studio since college and so was
a little very but relax more as the sessions went on. I've uploaded a wma file of her singing You Gotta Be from the session. That was a one take recording, which was handy as time was running out. If you like what you hear, Sarah is looking for a band, and can be contacted through me via the contact me page.
Update: Nov 2008
Sarah and I have no split, and so if you want to get in touch with her contact her new partner Adrian Crickmer AKA Ade Orange at The Origial Vibe pub in Epsom.
Continue to read the full Sarah's First Studio Session entry. Created on Wednesday 26th of July 2006 04:25:22 PM.
This morning I had to do a hard thing, pass on the news that a friend of mine Bret AKA Toughboot AKA Primus AKA Jammie! Jammie! passed away on Friday 7th July aged only 28.Brett was one of the funniest people I'd ever had he fortune to meet. I first met Brett as a pub meet for my Transformers website, a couple of years ago, and I'll always remember that first meeting, and the endless jokes that followed. Much like my brother and myself, Brett's sense of humour stood as a highlight of the gatherings, for someone who likes making quick gags and puns, Brett was perfect for bouncing jokes off and I'll miss our punning sessions.Brett was also an avid writer, with quiet some talent, something he had sadly been unable to capitalise on fully before his passing.Like many people, Brett suffered from the weight of his problems, which would get the better of him, and ultimately resulted in him taking his own life.Brett will be missed sorely by all whom knew him, either in person or online.
Continue to read the full The passing of a friend - RIP Brett entry. Created on Monday 10th of July 2006 09:34:00 AM.
From today I am officially a certificate MySQL 5 Developer, having passed both of the beta exams. To say I'm please would be an understatement, it feels great.
I've not been using MySQL 5 that long, and in fact have only really touched on a couple of the new features (subqueries, a few new functions and one stored routine), but since I use MySQL both professionally (Journeys Travel Insurance, Travel Staff Journeys Insurance, InsureMore Travel Insurance) and at personally (Steven Mapes.com, Transformers @ The Moon, The Visionaries.net, Lucky Draw Transformers, The Transformers.eu: Trans-Europe Express) I have plenty of reasons to dive deeper into its features.Gaining a MySQL certificate is my second non-Microsoft certification, and take my tally of IT certifications obtained in recent years to a CCNA, MCSE, MCDBA and MySQL 5 Developer. My next certification aim will probably be either some sort of Network Security, Linux / Unix administration or PHP one. I just have to decide.
Continue to read the full I'm now MySQL 5 Developer Certified!! entry. Created on Thursday 25th of May 2006 02:31:03 PM.
Just a brief entry today to help warn people to be on their guard against phone calls from the above number (08719101001). The scam works like this. That number will ring your mobile and hang up as soon as you pick up the line. They don't withhold the number as the idea is that you will call them back on that number. If you ring them back (which I didn't) you will hear a message "You have one new message".
0871 is called a special rate number which and can cost anything from 6p a minute to 10p a minute, with no peak or off peak times. The owner of the numbers can make up to 6p per minute from your calls.
Continue to read the full Telephone Scam Numbers - 08719 10 10 10 entry. Created on Wednesday 10th of May 2006 10:31:56 AM.
Eventually you will find lists of recent additions here as well as links to some of my other websites and other things of interest and/or importance
