Welcome to lanther.co.uk

Welcome to my website. Please feel free to browse at your will, using the menu on your left. The main page below is home to my (long neglected) weblog for those of you that are bored enough to take an interest in what's going on in my life :-). I'm currently a Principal Scientist at Adobe, working on the architecture for asset management and collaboration in Creative Cloud. Prior to this, I was the lead developer for Creative Cloud Libraries - a revolutionary new way of sharing creative content between different applications, devices, and people. I previously helped to develop Adobe Scout, which was a visual profiler for Flash and AIR applications. Prior to this, I was a researcher in the Language Based Technology group at the Technical University of Denmark, Copenhagen. I was part of the MT-LAB project, which is a collaboration between DTU, Aalborg University, and ITU, investigating formal verification techniques for advanced software systems. My particular research was concerned with probabilistic and stochastic analysis of distributed systems. I did my PhD in the Laboratory for Foundations of Computer Science, University of Edinburgh, supervised by Professor Jane Hillston. Previously, I studied at Robinson College, Cambridge. I originate from Bridlington, a little sea-side town on the Yorkshire coast. In the summer of 2005, I was a Senior Technical Associate at Fraser Research, in Princeton, New Jersey. Non-academically, I've been studying Japanese since January 2006, and I have been playing the fascinating game of Go since September 2006. I was previously the president of the Edinburgh University Go Club, and was a member of the Japan-UK 150 sub-committee for Scotland. My current grade is around 3kyu. Other than that, there's not much else to say. Feel free to enjoy the site! 楽しんでください！ Michael Smith

Monday 16/08/04 @ 11:02 pm

A week far away from TCP

I just arrived back in Cambridge yesterday, after spending a week back home in sunny Bridlington with my wonderful family! I now have just over three weeks of work left, before I finish my internship...

So, I left work a little earlier than usual on the afternoon of the Friday 6th, catching the bus home as usual. Of course, in my last-minuteness, I hadn't finished packing yet, so I rather hurriedly crammed a week's worth of clothes and belongings into a suitcase, and rushed off to catch the 5pm train from Cambridge. Luckily, I narrowly avoided missing it, and crammed myself in like a sardine in the bustling carriage. The Gods were gracious however, since a large number got off at Ely, and I was able to find a seat for the rest of the journey to Peterborough. Chugging through the countryside, in progressively smaller trains, was remarkably uneventful. I continue, however, to laugh uncontrollably as I stand in Doncaster station, and watch the decrepid two-carriage Arriva train struggle in... the last leg of my four-hour journey home, in a train that's on its last legs ;-)

9pm chimed Big Ben, far away in the Southern Hemisphere (according to local folklore), as I stumbled off the train into Bridlington station. There, I met Alex, in her shiny new car (having traded in the pink land-rover), and we promptly drove to (have a guess) the pub (you guessed, didn't you ;-). Recovering from my journey, and catching up on the exciting local events that I had missed, I supped on a pint of cyder - in the distinct absence of my brother, who decided he would rather stay at home watching le Grand Fr�re. The antonym of happy comes to mind. In any case, after the pub, I watched Love Actually with Alex - having this time remembered to pack it, despite my haste!

The next day, I did recover some sleep, not so sadly missing the beautiful Yorkshire sunrise by a considerable margin. That afternoon, my grandparents came to visit, which was nice, and my grandmother was quite delighted to look at photographs of San Diego in a holiday guide... later confusing both herself, and dear mother, with talk of having preemptively viewed my holiday snaps. In any case, it was nice to see them :-). That evening, Alex and I toddled over to Manor Court, to dine in style (or at least as much style as you can find in Brid). We had a lovely three course, and highly fattening, meal - and why not revel in your gluttonous side every once in a while, is what I say! Bloated and happy, we met up with Davina (an old work-friend of Alex's) for a few drinks, then retired for the night.

Sunday was a jolly fun day, though tinged with that element of adventure (think Alex, think cars), we all know and love! Our aim was to go and visit Carl in York for the day, and to set off at around 9am. However, due to a combination of Alex running late, and me oversleeping (I bow my head in shame), we failed to set off until a quarter to ten! We arrived in York shortly before 11am, and headed over to Carl's. Alex clipped the kerb whilst parking, causing her hubcap to fall off, and me to end up with grease on my hands. Due to her violent threats of retribution if I were to tell Carl, however, this led to a rather amusing mistaken innuendo, in which Carl thought that my talk of grease and washing hands was a slight at his house ;-) The misunderstanding was cleared up, however, though I was sorely beaten by Alex after I broke our little non-disclosure agreement!

After a much needed cup of coffee, we drove to the park and ride, catching the bus into the town centre. There, we grabbed a cornish pasty for lunch, and went and sat in the wasp-infested gardens of the Yorkshire Museum. We managed to avoid being stung, then headed over to Clifford's Tower. I'd never been in there before, but although there isn't much to see, there are some really good views from the top. We headed back into town, as Alex wanted to go off and do girly clothes shopping, so Carl and I wandered around gadget shops and book shops for a little while. We then met up with Alex again, for a drink. Walking through the busy streets, we came across a street entertainer, who seemed to be doing a good job, so we stayed to watch. He put on a really entertaining show (hence deserving his title), doing some flaming torch juggling, and escape artistry - he managed to escape unaided from a straight jacket, in 50 seconds, which was pretty impressive!

Being a lovely hot day, we decided to jolly along to the riverside, and hop on a tour boat. It was rather pleasant, riding through York, with a fairly interesting commentary of the surrounding architecture. The next port of call was, however, destined to be a pub, and so there we went for a quiet drink to cool down from the heat outdoors. So there we were, nice and relaxed, until we looked at the clock and it was getting on for 6pm. Knowing that the park and ride was locked up at 6:30pm, given that it was a Sunday, we quickly scurried to the bus stop, and sat down to wait. We waited. And waited. The bus didn't seem to be coming. Then Carl had the bright idea to notice the sign that explained in bold letters that the last bus was at 6pm. In other words, we had just missed the last bus, and had 20 minutes to get to the park and ride before it was locked up. We thought about getting a taxi, however Carl didn't know any numbers, and even when Alex managed to weasel some out of a guest at a nearby wedding, they were all either engaged or would have taken too long. So, resigned to our fate, we walked all the way from the centre of York to the park and ride, arriving there at around 7pm. We did manage to get the car out, but only after phoning for some guy to come out and charge us �25 to open the gate!

Tired and befuddled, we drove back to Carl's place. Lacking the energy to go out for a meal, we called for a Chinese takeaway, which we ate in front of the telly, in true student style. A little later, Alex and I made our farewells, and set off back to Bridlington. Luckily, there was a petrol station open, otherwise we would probably have run out of fuel on a dark country road, half-way back. We weren't too late back, though Alex had to go off and pack for her trip down to London the next day. So it was that I took my rest, at the end of a tiring but enjoyable day.

The next four days were somewhat less exciting. I pottered around, went to see a few people, and basically did very little ;-). I did see Paul though, and visited my grandparents. I also saw my uncle, who came up to visit with his wife, earlier in the week. There is a certain enjoyment, if interlaced with boredom, in not having anything to do, so I made the most of it, and caught up on a little bit of reading, for one. Of course, there is always the inevitability of finding one's arse plonked in front of the tv for certain proportions of the time ;-).

On Friday, my Mum and Dad were both off work, so we had a day trip out to... Scarborough! I don't particularly like the place, though there is marginally more to do than in Bridlington, and we had a nice walk along the seafront down into the town. On the plus side, we did go clothes shopping, and I got some much needed new shoes amongst other things! I also took the opportunity to have a decent coffee, since one can only stand that instant stuff for so long... In any case, it was a nice day out, and I got to spend some quality time with my parents, if I can say that without sounding clich�d.

That evening, I met up with Alex (who had just got back from London) and James (an old friend of hers), for a few drinks. We had a fun time, and I must admit I was a little tipsy after four pints of cyder. We weren't out too late though, since Alex was tired after her train journey, but we planned a suitable encore for my last day by the sea for a little while.

Saturday morning came, and then early afternoon, when I headed into town with Alex. We started by having a nice lunch at Goldings (a nice little tea rooms, which would be all the nicer if they served proper coffee) - just a light salad, to keep us ticking. I was then promptly dragged around a number of clothes shops, and Alex seemed rather worryingly keen to get me into a bikini... Bridlington was spared the horror, however, and instead we went and had a drink, sitting on the harbour wall. The harbour is as grotty as ever; at least you can look the other way, out at the prettier scenery along the bay. The seagulls soon became too much for us though, and we headed for safety. In fact, we headed to the cinema, and watched the new Garfield film, which was very entertaining, despite the hoards of screaming children jumping all over the seats in front of us!

That evening, we met up with Davina and Andy for an Indian, which was a really nice meal. Of course, we all ate too much I think, but that is some fundamental theorem of curry-eating that cannot be swayed. After the meal, we went to Corrigans for a few drinks (which is now called something else, which I can't remember). We were attacked by a large yellow blowy air-man thingy, but other than that it was pleasant to sit out on the balcony overlooking the sea. Also, I saw Matt, which was nice! As it started to get a little too busy to be comfortable, we migrated to a nice little bar/restaurant place on the harbour top, where we met up with Davina's brother. All in all, a nice end to the week!

Of course, the next day was Sunday, and that involved packing up again, and trundling off back on the four-hour train journey back to Cambridge. I'm back now though, and here I shall stay for the next few weeks!

Wednesday 04/08/04 @ 12:23 am

A Punny Story...

As I sat at my desk one december,
Gazing out at the wintery land,
My mind did erode between snowflake and code,
Adrift in a mountain of sand.

O Camel, I'm trying to call you so why,
Into faceless retreat do you hide?
Our functional marriage, now basic and savage,
Has callously pushed you aside.

"Come out of your shell" said the python,
"For your pearl is as white as the sea!
Disassemble your pride while you're true as the tide,
For transient times befall me."

Saddened I nibble at four bits of thought,
To evaluate all that my memory lacks,
Unprompted I gawk at the mindless small talk,
And the rubys that glisten like wax.

When your wall is on sychronised fire,
Don't return with that sweet accolade.
Interpret your way what the scripture doth say,
And remake from the source what was made.

So whenever insanity does overflow,
Don't bash out alone in the shade.
Between short and long lies this integral song,
To remind you that you're underpaid.