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Stuart Ashby

All About Stuart

Stuart

Hi ! I'm the guy on the right. If I look like my brother that's because we're Twins If you haven't worked it our already, I'm an IT geek into badminton, music, coding, games, hacking, fast cars and occasionally skiing and sailing. Strictly on holiday only of course..

In police terminology I'm 1m 70, 62Kg, hazel eyes, short hair, glasses. Definite axe-murderer material. [That's 5ft 7 and 9st 8lbs for all you imperialists out there.] I prefer 'cute' myself.. Just don't call me 'skinny' or I'll have to kill you.

Here's what I'm like:

Here's the low down. It get's better. Honest !

Play

Serious playing requires a little time away from the office, and a social life. I try to make time for that, but I've got this lot to contend with first:

  • Love Life

    Hooray! I am presently going out with a loverly Cornish girl called Gayle; I suspect she might be a piskie so I will have to watch my step:)

    I am happy to say I am still friends with Marie after we finally went our separate ways.

  • Music

    I am a Practicing musician; well perhaps 'practice' is too strong a word - perhaps 'fools around' is more accurate!

    I am presently trying to get a new band together! Flushed with the sucess of a recent outing as the bass player in a Xmas party band at work, I lust again after the heady excesses of rock and roll(!) stardom..

    I USED to I play guitar in an 'electric folk' kind of combo; think Pentangle but more Irish. Here is a sample of our studio output; a little ditty called Daily Bikini [Copyright: 1996, Simon Phoenix and pH5]

    I also try to write/record stuff and I have a little project studio in my back room. Digital of course :)

  • DIY

    I make stuff; furniture mostly, in a rather modern, modular kinda style. Think Tapley, if you know that brand, but with more handles..

    I also try to keep my house sorted, and the car, and the PC network, ... current projects are to renovate the garden into a Zen-like low maintainance area, and re-build the digital studio with Linux instead of Uncle Bill's nightmare O/S

  • Interests

    I do other stuff, too; I play social Bridge with a bunch of friends to help keep the grey matter ticking over, I drink decent wine, real ale and single malts, I cook at dinner parties for people 'cause it's fun, and I might just get back into electronics as a hobby since I don't do it for a living anymore..

    I used to be a Greenpeace local campaign group leader; I've supported their cause since 1987. I'm still concerned about the ethical and environmental consequences of peoples actions, but I lost faith in the effectiveness of local involvement so now I just donate to the national campaign.

  • Sports

    I run around an' stuff; I do a few sports when I get the chance; I particularly enjoy:

    • Badminton; especially doubles
    • Cycling; touring and MTB'ing
    • Windsurfing; only in the Med..
      --- and when it's not too windy ---
    • Skiing and other playing in the snow
    • Beach Volleyball; preferably topless (!)
    • Skinny Dipping; **[censored]**

    Err.. was I getting a bit carried away there ? Sorry. I'll go and lie down somewhere.

Work

Well, dammit I still haven't got that £100 grand a year 2 days a week company director's job - but I'm working on it.

NEW! Now one step closer :-)

  • NDS

    NDS

    NDS are a Digital TV systems supplier and integrator. They supply DTV service information generators, scheduling systems and conditional access systems to TV broadcasters around the world. They also do a nice line in interactive TV services, systems and applications.

    I provide the systems architect role in the UK headend team, working with a range of set top box middlewares and headend technologies, including:

    • OpenTV
    • Liberate
    • NDS Mediahighway Core
    • NDS Mediahighway Advanced [MHP]
    • WebLogic, Tomcat and other J2EE servers
    • Linux, HP-UX and Windows NT development platforms

    to design innovative pay-TV, security and interactive TV services for the next generation of TV viewers.

    Before that I used to work for..

  • [WP]

    Gameplay [was:BT Wireplay]

    Wireplay was BT's on-line games network; started in 1996 to conincide with the Euro'96 world cup. Sold to the Gameplay group in August 1999 for £5m, it subsequently went under as the whole Gameplay.com edifice crumbled.. shame.

    I was a systems developer in the technical team, working on client-server communications protocols, games networking support tools and device drivers for Windows, Solaris and VxWorks. Later I moved to the London office of Gameplay to take on a whole new web systems development role and built the new ATG Dynamo driven e-commerce system with some help from my colleagues in the Berlin office.

    I also did all the network/router/modem configuration, and managed the callout team.

    Easy Life!

    NB: Contrary to popular opinion, I did NOT get paid to play games! Honest :-) No, really ... look; us professionals call it testing, OK.

  • My Full Career History

Saab 9-3 Vector Sport

My Cars

Woot! This is the new toy in the stable :) A nice shiny new Saab 9-3 Vector Sport 1.9TiD (150BHP) Airflow.. **DIESEL**? Yes! It's a damn sight more efficient than the GTV and still faster - at least for the day to day driving I really need it for. It's also chock full of toys to make life more comfortable; cruise control, steering wheel controls for the ICE, ESP, traction control, 6-speed gearbox, and the same engine as the Alfa 156 diesel. And it should still be worth a load more than the Alfa after a few years. He he..

It's from those Scandinavian Saab people; you know the ones that make Fighter Planes like this Viggen or these Grippen :) Mmm..

Oh that also means both my cars are now turbos.. cool.

And here is my other toy; a little something for the weekend..

Dax Rush Turbo

This yellow terror is a Dax Rush Turbo from DJ Sportscars.

0-60 in less than 4 seconds tells you all you need to know.
It actually scares me to drive it! It certainly scares any fool stupid enough to sit in the passenger seat..

Still, what do you expect when you put a 2 litre Cosworth Turbo engine in a car that weighs half a ton :))
..and then tune it to over 330 BHP!

Alfa romeo GTV

Ex-cars

Ahh, sad but true, the Alfa GTV has now gone.. it was great fun but finally it started to show signs of true age - suspension all shot, wheel alignment gone, everything rattles inside, various cosmetic bits broken, engine sounding a bit rough, needed a major service and a new exhaust section. Not worth maintaining:(

It's from those wonderful Alfa Romeo people, and is an absolute classic, styled by Pininfarina. BUT it has been superceded by the GT and Brera, so these are now really cheap to pick up. I know; I got virtually nothing for it part-exchange!