Who I am?

A thirtysomething economist who also has a degree in Computer Science. If I weren't the non-obsessive type, I'd be a geek. As it is, I potter around the the edges of geekdom, admire the usual Open Source suspects, handcode my HTML and try to use CSS, even if this one is basically Zeldman's Mr Moto from Blogger. I can write a decent computer program, recently I've done more of this in the shape of ASP.NET and SQL stuff at work which I'd certainly classify as programming, even if the UI is a browser. My actual dayjob though is in Derivatives Trading.

A big part of this site are my holiday photos I've had some amazing holidays but my absolute favourite was the five weeks I spent Down Under in '00, and the one day in Barcelona in '99.

I blog at http://bfrb.blogspot.com/. I wrote in English for a while but switched again to Icelandic as I got more linked into the Icelandic blogging community. After I started blogging I thought I might start writing more things down, so now there is a brand new ramblings section. Can't say it's extensive.

Reading

Any good sci-fi, thriller, or detective novel will keep me happy for a few hours. Iain Banks is the best of the current writers, but in recent years a good crop of UK hard sf writers has emerged. Pratchett used to be my favourite but he slumped a little for a while. Always good though and thanks to him I have numerous friends all over the world and go each year either to the Discworld Convention or the Clarecraft Event, sadly now history. More bookthoughts can be found here.

Thoughts on the world

I'm a right-of-centre, equality supporting atheist. For quite a while now I've been in the political wilderness up here, and in the strange position of being the most left leaning of my work collegues, but in blogging circles and among my UK friends I'm on the right side. This sometimes colours my arguments.

Other people

Until this blogging lark started, only friends of mine who had web pages were those who I've met through my more than decade long connection with afp and its various offshoots. There are even some collegues, past and present with blogs. ore about afpers.

My guilty little secrets and pleasures

I have a sweet tooth that needs watching, have twice had to resort to strict measures to get my weight down. Once upon a time I drank 3 litres of Coke a day, with chocolate bars and crisps to add. I managed to quit Coke for 6 months and since then I've at most fallen into a litre a day habit. But that's really too much. I like to think of myself as a good cook, but am far too lazy to cook something complex for myself and don't have guests over often enough. I like malt whisky, although my favourite is actually Midleton's, an Irish whiskey I first tasted at the first Discworld Con. My favourite 12 year old is Macallan and some of their older versions are the pride of my cupboard. It can almost be said that my first introduction to alcohol (at around 21 years of age was a Napoleon cognac, and I've always loved fine cognac, so fine that I hardly drink anything but XO, Remy Martin by preference. Coffee is another joy. Last year I finally got myself a super automatic espresso machine ( Saeco Incanto), which at the push of a button will give me a fantastic shot of newly ground espresso or even a decent ristretto. This means I actually drink coffee on weekends so that the Sunday afternoon headache is a thing of the past.