First off a Happy New Year!

2010 was a life-changing year for me. At the start of the year I met my current partner, Daiana who has in some ways turned my life upside down! As an example I now find myself spending a significant amount of time in Oradea, Romania, so much so I've been told it has turned into a second home! That's not the only major change I experienced the past year.

2010 was also the year I finished my BSc Computing degree at UHI Millennium Institute. As part of my degree course myself and two other students completed a project called;ToiletFinder. The purpose of ToiletFinder is to share, rate and review publicly accessible toilets. The aim of this is to improve provision of publicly accessible toilets and increase the quality of current toilets. The original idea came from a local hospital consultant and UHI Professor, Grant Cumming. ToiletFinder became such a success Moray College UHI, a UHI Millennium Institute academic partner decided to fund further research on ToiletFinder. This research is due for completion in February 2011. February 2011 is also another important date for ToiletFinder. Development of ToiletFinder has been taken over by OpenFinder, in February they will be launching a completely rewritten version of ToiletFinder to cope with the continued growth!

During the summer, UHI Millennium Institute gave myself and two other students the chance to attend the Web Science Summer Academy at the University of Koblenz-Landau. This involved spending 1 month in Germany studying, exploring, socialising and living in a different country. I had a fantastic time at the summer academy; living in Germany was a completely different and new experience and one that I loved. Living in a completely different country from the one you normally live in is an experience filled with excitement, trepidation and enjoyment, all at the same time and in almost equal measure. I met such a wide variation of people during the summer academy; there were students from Kazakhstan, Morocco, Ukraine and India to name a few. Academically it was great learning from some of the "masters" of the web science world. Although I had prior knowledge of some subjects I still learned so much. The academy also had an interesting course on the legal aspects of the Internet, web applications and commerce within this field. Personally for me this was the most enjoyable course from the three, it was also the least technical.

After my time in Germany was over I spend almost 2 months travelling around Romania. Romania is a warm, welcoming country which when you dig a little deeper in the surface has some real hidden gems, one of them being Brasov in Transylvania, in the heart of the Carpathian Mountains. Brasov and the surrounding area are astoundingly beautiful. It is a city full of character and charm, despite being a popular tourist destination, the centre of Brasov is still the same as it was hundreds of years ago during the Austro-Hungarian rule, sometimes you even think you're in Germany such is the building style. While there I went up Bucegi Mountain (pronounced Bushten), this was simply breath taking. My journey up was in a 4x4 Toyota, the kind used by the BBC in remote regions of the world. This made all the difference when the boy inside comes out. At the top it was simply amazing. In stark contrast to the peace and tranquillity offered by Brasov, Bucharest is at the other end of the scale. Bucharest is a hectic, bustling city. 

Returning from Europe, Myself and another student were selected to participate in a pilot student incubator project with HIE and Horizon Scotland. With this we now have an office at Horizon Scotland. Being in such an inspiring place had been great for work. Professionally I have learned so much in a short space of time. I have met an extremely wide range of people during this time as well, some of which have been inspirational. I have also been part of the aforementioned web science research being carried out by Moray College UHI. The research has been an interesting and at times turbulent which I’m told is normal for research projects.  OpenFinder has also been a learning curve for me. In education and research your focus is very much on producing the very best idea that has the most benefit, moving into the commercial world this isn’t the case. Suddenly you must focus on what ideas will make money and in the shortest period of time. The open authentication standard idea I have just won’t cut it in the commercial world.

The year rounded off by a short break in Florida and the Caribbean. Before zipping on to Christmas and to the present day, Oradea Romania, where I am now.

2011 for me will be full of exciting commercial prospects, product launches and who knows what in my personal life. 2010 has certainly been a year to remember by any standards. When I will have a year that can beat this I do not know. I have to thank a few people in particular for making 2010 what it was. To Daiana for her laughter, support and being my travel companion. Mark McConachie for his continued support, both professionally and personally. Stanislav Nedkov for the fun times during the ToiletFinder project at UHI, all the best Stan! Finally to Grant Cumming for his wit, guidance and medical insight, many evenings with you have been funny, insightful and profound. These people have made 2010 amazing. Now to see what 2011 brings!

I leave you with a few photographs that for me symbolise 2010. (click to view them full size)