Something for the weekend

I worked from home on Friday which meant 2 things. No post on here, and the weekend started that little bit earlier. Strange thing about working from home though; although the night at home starts earlier for me, it never starts as early as it could. Although I start working at the same time I always do, I find myself still working over an hour after I would usually have left to go home. With my daft commute this means I still start relaxing earlier, but theoretically it could be even earlier.

We did *stuff* this weekend. We haven't stopped. Saturday I got up, went and had my hair cut (which has been done really badly, it's far too short, and completely un manageable now), straight to a garden centre to pick up another water butt (our current one, like the new one, is a space saving one and doesn't have enough capacity), off then to Mothercare to buy some locks for the higher kitchen drawers, then another garden centre to pick up 24 pots of lavender. We then went to the pub for lunch. Once we got back it was into the garden. I removed a foot and a bit wide strip of grass all the way around our front, and then dug out a trench down to just under a foot deep. I loaded up the car with the grass and called it a day.

Sunday saw us up fairly early, and me off to the tip. Once rid of the grass it was back home, and out to garden centres again, this time for farm shops, edging, and top soil. At home, after lunch, I loaded up all the soil from the trench into the car (plastic sheeting providing much needed protection), then off to the final garden centre of the weekend for more top soil, home to drop that off, and then the tip to fnally get rid of the trench earth. When I got back my fantastic wife had just about finished the planting of the lavender, and my beautiful daughter was having a great time on the lawn playing. I picked up the little one, and we went for a stroll as the planting was finished.

On return, I tidied up outside, then vacuuming, bath cleaning, more vacuuming, more vacuuming, shower cleaning (whilst I had a shower!), sink cleaning, toilet cleaning. After that was dinner (cottage pie,yum), washing up, clean and polish kitchen benches, clean oven, put up coat hook for little one's coats, sort out washing, and then, finally, collapse into bed.

I come to work for a rest!

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Not urgent

I'm tired. For a change. For some reason it feels like Friday too, so tomorrow will be a disappointment!

Today, however, my tiredness is due to more than the usual reasons. Although they still apply too. Todays tiredness stems from working until 20:40 last night.

I left work late yesterday as things had overrun a little, but I'd had a good day. A number of things I had been trying to get done were released, and I was feeling ok. When I finally exited the tube, my phone had 6 e-mails, 2 missed calls, and a voicemail. I settled myself onto the train and started to listen to the voicemail.

Half way through the voicemail the call was interrupted by an incoming call. So I dropped one call and answered the other. What everyone was trying to tell me was that one of my systems, that feeds a number of other systems, may have lost some data. As a result, all those downstream systems may have lost their data.

I then spent the rest of my journey home writing mails and taking phonecalls trying to trace down what could have happened. Speculation was rife. Imagined scenarios getting more dire with each new iteration.

Finally I got home. I remotely connected to work, and started to look through the system whilst responding to more e-mails as they came in. It should be noted that I didn't build the system, and don't know that much about its internal workings. However, after a while I sent a note off saying I couldn't see the problem, we'd have to wait for a developer in the morning, I also couldn't see evidence of the problem, and was there anything else anyone wanted me to do.

The reply came back: tomorrow will be fine, thanks for your efforts. By the way, this isn't urgent. !!!

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Aargh

50 metre walk from one tube line to the other. As our train gets in, the other line is just arriving. Easily made if you move at a reasonable pace (not running, just walking with purpose). The woman in front of me insists on strolling, in the middle of our side of the passage way, with handbag over one out stretched arm, and coffee cup thrust out in the other. No urgency, no purpose. The doors close as I reach them.

Bitch.

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Boring conversations

The guys standing next to me on the train this morning have blathered on for the entire journey about cars. This wouldn't be too bad except they haven't a clue!

Apparently buying a mini is a waste of money, but a BMW Z3 is a "really good motor". Of course you want to look at the MX-5 as they just go and go.

They've discussed whether cars they've never driven have 16 or 17 inch alloys like it makes a difference (although one of them finally decided, with authority, that it had 17, and you should check them out on etires.com.

The various merits of Z3s, TTs, and MX-5s have all been argued. Even though they admitted (at various points) that they have never driven any of them.

Going back to the mini, it will apparently depriciate from day 1, so is a stupid investment (because a BMW is a smart one), and you should get a fiesta! Or a yaris!!

Thankfully I've now escaped to the tube. Peace and quiet has returned.

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Tuesday morning blues

Probably a short one today as I fell asleep on the train! I haven't fallen asleep on a train for well over 6 months. I don't, usually, get a seat, and when I do the journey is only 25-30 minutes, so by the time I've read my feeds (and obviously started writing a blog entry) the journey is over.

Just couldn't keep focussed today though. Felt myself dropping off in the middle of a post, and decided to get a few minutes shut eye. I don't even know why I'm that tired; we've had 2 reasonable nights kip, and last night we even got the light off before 11! However, this morning my eyes feel so heavy, and I can't stop yawning. Probably down to lack of coke, but that's another post!

I'm off, this evening, to the physio. Something is wrong with my foot. Actually, there's plenty wrong with my foot. I pro-nate which means my foot turns too much on my arch side when I put my foot down. I wear various inserts in my shoes to correct this. Recently though I've started to get pain in my arch that seems unrelated to whatever I'm doing. I can walk all day with no problem, or I can cross the office shuffling like a hunchback zombie. I can also be fine until I put my feet up, walking around, doing jobs, once I sit down and relax, pain!

So I'm off to see someone (else) about the problem. No doubt there will be more exercises and inserts of torture. Fun.

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Good morning London

So the bakerloo line is stuffed. Again. Time to get the circle line, change, walk, and arrive a little later. Thankfully I got up on time this morning, so I won't be late for that 9am meeting!

A constructive weekend was enjoyed. We ordered a hedge (that's now next weekend's job), bought some pots, re-potted some plants (and a tree!!), picked all the leaves off the grass, made a casserole, fixed a curtain rail, watched a couple of films, and did the ironing. It's an exciting life.

Swapped trains and lines now. Hopefully no more problems between here and work.

A reasonable week ahead at the minute. Not too many meetings (yet!), but one at 08:30 on Wednesday which I think is rather cruel.

Not much else to say at the moment. Too much Monday morning, not enough brain power!

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2 posts (part 2)

The following is a taken from an article on slashdot:

Over the past few weeks Chinese bloggers and people on Internet forums have been reacting to events in Tibet and the protests disrupting the torch relay. The BBC and Global Voices have interesting insights on the recent happenings on the Net. A western commentator says, 'Lots of Chinese people now view the Western media, human rights groups, and Western leaders' criticisms of their country as part of the Racist Western Conspiracy to Stop China From Being Successful.' One of the most vocal appeals by the Chinese blogs, forums, and text-messages has been to boycott French goods in response to the protests that accompanied the torch relay in Paris. One response post reads, 'Who is abusing human rights? Who is bringing violence to this world?' There also are two versions of music video of the song Don't Be Too CNN, and its lyric has assumed the status of a cult catch-phrase. Sina.com has a popular page: 'Don't be too CNN, fire to the Western media.' Many analysts believe that the protests over Tibet have only served to strengthen Chinese nationalism rather than evoke sympathy for the Tibetan cause. Sina.com has a petition against the Western media which has reportedly accumulated millions of signatures. There is also Mutant Palm, a blog by an expatriate in China who has been watching and commenting on the fallout from Tibet and torch protests online.

And so, at the risk of saying "Told you so", that is what happens when you protest to a nation with no free media. Hands up anyone who thinks they get the full story? The reason behind the protests? The history, the full facts? Now hands up those who think they got an edited version, heavy on violence towards chinese, big on over zealous security forces with a cross reference bit on guantanamo, iraq torture, and anything else that can be pulled up and edited to show human rights violations perpetrated by the west?

Why do all those who think they are doing the 'right thing' fail to see the big picture and the obvious outcome and consequences? Protest by all means, but do it in the right way to the right audience.


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2 posts

For once I have too much to blog (rant) about! So, here is 2 rants in one. The first is new, the second is a follow up to a previous post.

My wife received a letter today from a collection agency. They were asking for over £300 in unpaid vodafone bills. My wife doesn't have a vodafone contract, she has an O2 one. Before that she had t-mobile, and before that orange. She hasn't had a vodafone contract in 7 years, when she had a different name, and an address nowhere near our current one. The previous vodafone contract is all paid up long ago.

She had received a phone call about 2 weeks ago; a cold call asking if she was the resident of 'not our address' or 'also not our address'. She said no, was thanked and thought no more of it.

Then today's letter arrived, threatening CCJs, balifs, repossessions. This is the first of these letters, there hasn't been a simple request to pay, just this one letter. She phoned them up, and was asked to confirm if her birthday was 'not her birthday / month / year', on saying no she was asked if it was similar in any way (not clutching at straws or anything), she replied no. They then asked what her birthday was! Strangely she declined to tell them. The matter is now, apparently, closed. Mistaken identity! Yeah, right!

In this day and age of identity theft how are you supposed to prove who you are without handing enough details over to pose a problem to your identity? Also, why should you have to prove who you aren't? Shouldn't they be working better to find the right person without bothering you? I'm willing to bet their due dilligence in this matter went as far as ringing all those in the county with the right sort of name, and then, on getting no where with that, sending all of them a letter hoping to bully / flush out the guilty party.

Now to write them a nice letter requesting they purge all my wife's details from their database in accordance with the data protection act. I wonder what the response will be.

2nd post to follow once I get the web browser on this phone to work properly!

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Another week ...

Here's a ponder; waiting for the train in the morning, 2 arrive pretty much together. For some reason the station announces the later train first. Everyone who has read the depatures board is waiting for the earlier train. When the late train is announced the early train is visible, and about to start moving down the platform (as is the late train). Even though people can see the train, they move platform. Why? There is no delay. Neither train is packed (although you'll get a seat on neither). Both trains will arrive on the platform at the same time, and chances are the earlier train will leave first.

Ok, so today is interesting so far... It's not yet 8 and I've already spent over £4000! Such is the cost of commuting for a year. The marks another point in my conversion to permanent. I have never bought a long term ticket as a contractor because you can never guarantee your employment for the life of the ticket. Going permanent hopefully offers a bit more security. Also, my company offers you a loan for the cost of travel repayed from your salary over 12 months before tax is calculated. So at least the money is tax free. Now all I have to hope is that my paperwork gets processed properly, and the loan arrives early next week!

In other news, we bought an olive tree last weekend, and it arrived yesterday. It looks good sat on the patio, and will look even better once I've re-potted it this weekend. After a pause around Easter and beyond, our internal painting has restarted and entered the final stage. Almost everything is primed, undercoat and gloss to follow. Then carpets and flooring. Then we're done! All that remains is the planting in the garden.

Sleep continues to be patchy. Managed about 6 hours last night, not enough really. We need to work on getting little one to bed earlier so we can do the same. Easier said than done of course. Bed time is set by nap time which is set by meal times which are set by my daughter! We have very little say in the matter!

Techie thing. Why is my linux box capable of playing a movie out of the box while my windows machine requires me to faff around downloading codecs and apps, (blindly as it gave me no clue as to what I needed) and re-booting before it will finally play (with an average cpu load of 70%!) All those who ask when linux will be ready for the desktop; I ask, when will windows! It's not even a new format of video either, the codec I finally got to work was released in 2004. Surely windows media player 11 could have had it built in.

Oh well, I digress. The tube whips me ever nearer to work, and the end of another week. Here's to a good weekend.

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Portishead

A place towards the end of the M4 (possibly). Also, one of the best bands around.

I 'discovered' Portishead, like most people my age, at uni. 'Dummy' was one of the soundtrack albums to my year in dorm, and a constant companion thereafter. Listening to 'Roads' at high volume after I dislocated my shoulder and ruined the summer of canoeing and windsurfing I had planned is probably partly responsible for making me who I am today! The album still sounds fresh today, and even after all this time, and more listens than I can recall, there are no tracks that get skipped.

The second album came along, the first track a huge dissonant noise, the rest an assault on all the senses. Poinant lyrics set against looped samples and distorted guitars. It was fantastic. It's never had as many listens as 'Dummy', but it is a staple of my collection.

It was followed by the live album. A fantastic collection of there 'best' songs delivered with a huge string section, and a lot of effort put into the production. If you haven't heard any Portishead, this is probably the place to start. The only annoyance is the audience starting to cheer before 'Roads' is finished, interupting a clearly heart felt song with their applause.

Then, nothing. For years.

Now, the third album is due (named 'Third'). Finally. It says something about Portishead that even after all these years, and my dwindling interest in music in general, this can still get me excited.

I have managed to get an advance copy of the album, and have nearly finished the first listen. I won't, however, offer an opinion at this point. One listen, on a crowded train, does not do it justice. I can say that I have heard enough to look forward to the next time I have a free evening, when I can turn the volume up, get a glass of wine, and lose myself once again in Portishead.

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Spaced

I'm finding it increasingly difficult to write something this week. In a morning I seem to be a spectator to the life going on in front of my eyes. Decisions and cognitive thoughts take time to arrive, moving through my brain like icebergs! (I mean, just look at that analogy!)

I should be getting enough sleep; although we have been a bit late getting to bed. My daughter has been sleeping through, and there have been no disruptions (more or less) until the alarm goes off. However, this week has been incredibly tough so far.

Things are coming together nicely at work. There are still deadlines, and stresses, but nothing like last weeks emergencies.

All in all, I think more good nights are called for. An attempt to get to bed earlier. And some sort of lie-in (8am!) At the weekend would be nice.

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Not liking trains

On reflection, I probably dislkie those people and circumstances that make me late for a train. However, the fact that they only run every 30 minutes is useless. If I arrive at the same time as the train, I've had it. 30 minutes of radio 2 in the carpark. It's a useless service.

Also, why is the train always late when I'm early, but never when I'm late?

I was rather pissed this morning. A few choice words. Starting with the stupid woman at the roundabout who wouldn't accelerate, and stopped at an orange light. It's a very good job she couldn't hear me. Then as I turned the corner and the train pulled in, Terry was rather drowned out for a while.

When I've got up, made the effort, and done everything I should need to do to get there on time; then events conspire against me, the world seems rather an annoying place to be.

Oh well, on my way now (have been for a while). It'll all be forgotten by lunchtime.
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Quick one

Haven't got long this mornng. 21 posts to read after the weekend have carried me almost to work.

It's Monday, I'm tired (for a change), but this week *should* be easier than last.

Maybe I'll write a bigger post on the return journey.

I usually find it easier to write in the morning (despite the knackeredness!), I guess the day hasn't yet dulled the brain. (Although if this morning is anything to go on, my brain will have shut down completely by the time it's done a whole day!) Oh well, I'll see if I can come up with something.

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How the ....?

I shouldn't be here. I should be cold and shivering on a platform in deepest Berkshire. Instead, I'm on a warm train heading towards work.



I didn't get up this morning. Tough night (following the foreseen tough day) meant the alarm got snoozed, then turned off and ignored. Somehow I managed to wake again at 06:41, 10 minutes late at best. I dragged myself from bed, showered, cleaned my teeth, dressed, put the bins out, and got to the station in time for the 07:02 train. My usual. How? I don't know. I didn't speed (other traffic in suburban areas sees to that). Everything else takes a finite, and usually fixed, amount of time. And yet I made it.



The majority of me wishes I hadn't bothered. Caffeine (sorry hunny) tastes acidic; a sure sign that my body is too tired to accept a stimulant. I know I have another tough day ahead of me. All I really want to do is roll over and sleep a dreamless sleep.



Which reminds me. (Warning, this is a very sad reflection of my life) My dreams last night were all about SQL, statistics, and spreadsheets. Everything was about numbers, pivots, data. I have recollection of it being stressful too! What has my life become?! Unfortunately, it was a fairly accurate prediction of what my day will be like.



Roll on Friday evening. Bring on the duvet.

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Tough day

Inspiration has left for the day. Motivation is lacking too. I know I have a day with almost back to back meetings ahead of me. I also have an operational crisis to avert. Doing both in the same day may be tricky to say the least!



Even with all that ahead of me, the temptation to roll over and hide under the duvet was fairly easily ignored. I guess they DO pay me enough to get out of bed in a morning!



Thankfully my daughter slept through last night, and went down fairly early too, so I got to lights out at 10:40. Still, the weeks (months) of disturbed nights, including a couple this week, don't disappear after one nights kip (especially when you have to get up at 06:23!) so I'm still on the knackered side. It's bearable though, like an annoying itch, not a missing limb!



People issues are going to make today extra special. No details, suffice to say politics and incompetence (or possibly laziness) will come into play at various stages.



On reflection, maybe the duvet was a better option after all.



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Loud mouthed muppets

Commuting this morning (for a change), waiting for a train. There is the usual game, working for position in the approximate place where the door will stop. Nothing is guaranteed, so there is always some jostling for position as the train arrives. A couple of people are doing the doorway shuffle when a voice is heard; high, mighty, definitely Daily Mail reader, "He certainly wants to be on first doesn't he." I look across, as I'm not the one jostling, and personally couldn't care less about getting on first (more on that in a month), and there is a rather large, older bloke looking all high and mighty. Carrying a copy of the Daily Mail. Who's he talking to? A companion? A workmate? Nope, just the world in general. Wally.

We all get on, and I head for the buffet. Experience has taught me that the passenger cars can be a dangerous route. Head in and you may get a seat, but if you don't, you're trapped. There is nowhere more uncomfortable to spend the journey than trapped in the aisle. You have nowhere to lean, nowhere to go. The next option is to wait in the vestibules. If you're on quick, you can lean against the door, in the corner supported on 2 sides. It's not bad, and better than what usually happens; being stuck in the central area of the vestibule with only a bit of partition to lean on.

Option 3 is the one I go for. Head for the buffet. If you're quick, which I usually am, you can get to the counter, a proper place to lean, with arms crossed, and legs extended. As the corridor is a bit cramped at this point it discourages over crowding, affording you a little space. I make myself comfortable, at the end away from the till, out of the way of where people get served. A couple of other people are at the bar, one's been there a while, has the paper out, and a coffee on the go, the other is ordering coffee. Another person turns up, and also orders coffee. There is, it should be noted, room for at least 2 more people at the bar.

I become aware of a presence at my right shoulder. Someone standing off the bar, to my side. I'm oblivious really, I start reading my blackberry once I get to the bar, and I'm used to people queueing around me as they wait for their turn to order. Then that voice again, "Are you ordering?" I look up. Daily Mail reader is talking to me. I look at the buffet staff, indicate negative, and go back to reading. There is room for 2 people next to me, and plenty of room to get round. "Well would you mind moving so the queue can get served?" A tone of indignation. I look up again. There is a look of expectation on large man's face. I look round him, there is no queue, only him. I look to my side, at the obvious space (closer to the staff and till I should point out), shrug, and move over. Fat man gets his coffee. He then moves slightly round the corner, vacating the space. No one takes his place. No one else wants to order anything. " Not much of a queue then was there?", I say, quietly, to no one in particular. Quiet, but I know he heard me.

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Olympic Torch

2 posts in one day! What's going on? Not much really. This mornings post was a bit mediocre, and I thought I'd post on the farce that is the global journey of the olympic torch.

As far as I can gather, from paying next to no attention, the olympic torch is lit in Greece, by sunlight no less (symbolises purity apparently), and then paraded round the world being extinguished and relit many times by the same 'flame' kept safe in the modern day equivalents of miner's lamps.

This year, China are hosting the olympics. China have made a few dodgy foreign and internal policy decisions in the past. Some people think that protesting during the torch ceremony will change those policies.

There, for me anyway, is the disconnect. Exactly how do those protesting think this affects the Chinese government? How is a banner, or a bit of pointless violence, 15 minutes of (in)fame(y), going to influence Chinese policy? Internally the Chinese control all the media; television, internet, newspapers, all controlled. There may be some activists that get some external access; but for 99.9% of people, they have no idea what's going on except for what the government tells them. Externally, why do the Chinese care? Their market and economy go from strength to strength whilst the western ones crumble. They make and export a huge percentage of goods the western world wants, they import very little.

Given that we, both as a people, country, nation, and demographic, can't influence the Chinese government as we have nothing to influence them with (are we ALL going to stop buying Chinese goods?), and the only people who can influence the Chinese government, the Chinese people, can't hear our message, what is the point of disrupting an event that is meant to symolise world unity?

I feel it's important, at this point, to state that I disagree with Chinese policies both foreign and internal. The attrocities in Tibet shouldn't be allowed to go unpunished, and the human rights violations the Chinese are reported to have committed demand reproach. I just don't believe that hanging some banners, argueing with policemen, and disrupting the passing of the Olympic flame will achieve anything.

Change can only come from within. External factors, especially when backed by nothing more than empty threats, won't do anything at all. Throughout history it has been shown that the ordinary people of a nation won't stand by and let attrocities be carried out in their name. Information is the only weapon the west has, and in these days of all pervasive access we forget that not everyone has access to that information.

I don't have a total solution, nor an answer, but I do know that running encrypted proxies and gateway servers, investing the time and energy to create as many holes in the wall of misinformation, allowing ordinary people access to the same information we have will achieve far more than hanging a banner from a bridge.


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If life gives you lemons...

...learn how to trade them for something nicer.

Can't think of much to write today. Same old, same old. Broken sleep at 12:30, nothing major, but it seems to have knocked me a bit. It's probably Sunday night catching up with me.

Up early (on time), and commuting again. Another day, another early night. (I can hope can't I?!)

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White Monday

Why is it that the further south you go in this country, the more likely it is to grind to a halt at the first sign of white on the ground?

Train signals freeze, roads are gridlocked, small animals are sacrificed to the sun gods.

Up north, 3 foot of snow? Chuck a spade in the boot and head off.

Down south (like this morning) 3 mm of snow? Stop everything, grind to a halt, roll out all the excuses about cold / freezing conditions / snow.

Anyway. That wasn't what I was going to write about this morning, but as I am currently 45 minutes behind schedule due to it being a bit fresh I'm a little pre-occupied!

Variable sleep over the weekend, fairly good Friday and Saturday, but last night was a non-starter. The usual indicators; not enough food eaten at tea-time, and a bit of a sniffle. Little one went to sleep easy enough, but definitely didn't stay there. Cue Daddy walking up and down stairs at 03:30 for rice cakes and beakers of water. My poor wife had already been up once at just before 1, and hadn't had the best of sleep anyway.

Earlier in the day we had gone to Next to exchange a pair of jeans (I know! How I get through all the excitement I'll never know), and I'd wandered around the shop with little one toddling beside me holding only one hand. Later we went to the park, and after palying on the swings, she walked most of the way home pushing her little trolley. Fatherly prediction: she'll be walking in weeks (not months).

Other than that, I got my wife's voicemail working on her iPhone, cut the lawn (first cut its ever had!), and finally indexed all the photos taken this year. So a reasonably productive weekend.

Hope you all had a good one.

Good luck to Abi in her new job too.

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Films

My Mother-in-Law is visiting, so my wife and I got to go the cinema last night.

A quick rant! Why do cinemas insist on playing films at about 19:30 and 21:30? Very little starts between those times. 19:30 is an impossibility for us, and 21:30 is really a bit late.

We ended up seeing (and what a poor choice of films there is at the minute) 'The Spiderwick Chronicles'. A film, admittedly, for children. It was, however, good fun, and reasonably scary in parts. Given the PG rating, it was surprising to see children in peril, legs getting bitten, and some out of left field shocks that make you jump. It was nice to get out of the house and do something a bit different.

We rarely get to watch a film these days. By the time little one is finally asleep, and we've cooked any of the time critical ingredients for dinner, sat down, and started to eat, the most we can usually manage is an episode of a TV program. I get entire series of programs, either on DVD, or saved on the Sky+, and we work through them. Torchwood at the moment, Heroes before that. The chance to watch a whole movie is rare. The last time we tried was with 'Ratatouillie', and that ended up taking us 3 nights to watch!

Even more of a luxury, we are off to lunch tomorrow. Just the 2 of us. Looking forward to it!

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Feeling groovy

I'm feeling a little strange actually. I got some sleep last night. Uninterrupted sleep.

It wasn't the earliest of nights. My daughter woke just after 10, and was very snuffly. We fed her some calpol, and I left her getting Mummy cuddles whilst I did the washing up. After finishing up downstairs, I went and checked on them, and then got ready for bed. My wife appeared a short while later, and off to sleep we went. It must have been about 23:20. Next thing I knew the alarm was going off.

It's amazing the difference a nights sleep can make. Especially one where you aren't woken at 1 in the morning. The headache that has become a constant companion is dulled this morning (I had hoped, initially, that it might be gone. No such luck), I feel capable of more than one thought at a time. Things are generally better.

Still feel a little weird though, not quite right. I can't put my finger on it. I feel slightly warm, but internally; I also feel as though the humidity level is high; and a feeling of having eaten well (not too much) which is strange as I didn't have a big dinner, and haven't eaten since.

I can put up with this though as I definitely feel better overall. Another night like the last one, and I feel I can face a weekend!

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In other news

Shocked to read, this morning, about a new breed of fish found in the toxic outflow near one of the local factories. The water is so dense and unpleasant, the fish has evolved without eyes.

They're calling it a fsh.

Oh dear.

Seperatly, what do you call a three eyed fish?

Fi-i-ish.

I may need help.

UPDATE: Google has updated their software syncing outlook with google calendar. It finally works. With my already working method of syncing google calendar with the blackberry, I have acheived sync heaven!

If they could work on contact sync next, that would be great.

The red arrows flew over our office block yesterday. Something to do with the RAF turning 90. Impressive looking, but it was over quickly, and disappeared from view behind another building.

Right, that's it for today. Less tired than I have been, and content too; but a bit spaced and achy. More tomorrow.

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Inspiration

Writing a blog regularly is sometimes harder than I thought it would be. I do pretty much the same thing day after day, and I'm fairly sure it would get boring if I blogged about it continually.

As I only write in the morning, anything interesting that happens during the day has to be interesting enough to be remebered overnight. Things that interesting don't happen very often!

An example (that has happened this morning, so it's fresh). We left the station on the way into London a minute or so before another train. 5 minutes into the journey, there was the sound of a horn, and the train was overtaken. That was strange enough, but less than 10 minutes later, our train overtook that one. (See how exciting my life is!)

The journey into London takes about 25 minutes and there are no other stops for us. There are 2 lines in, a fast line, and a local line. We were on the fast line, the other train on the local. When it overtook, I assumed it was going to change lane further down onto the fast track and that would be it. When we overtook it was still local. At some point it would need to transfer or it will be stuck behind local traffic all the way to London.

Hopefully I'll be able to find something more interesting to talk about tomorrow!

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Changing time

Why do we insist on messing around with the clocks twice a year? It doesn't give us any more daylight. It doesn't help farmers (they still get up with the sun no matter what the clock says). It doesn't do anything useful at all. It gives me a headache, and it causes a 1 year old to get completely out of sync.

I know that the story is about a man riding on a horse thinking that everyone should be enjoying the daylight, so he proposed moving the clocks. Sounds like rubbish to me. If you want to enjoy more light, get up earlier.

Every year, for as long as I can remember, I've had a headache at the end of March when the government plays around with the clocks and my internal one can't cope. I don't know why 1 hour has such an effect. Personally I think it's a sub-concious issue with mid-day not co-inciding with the sun being at it's highest. Whatever the cause, I always feel a great sense of relief come October when things get back to normal.

I'm finding it doubly difficult this year. As an adult, you can set the clocks the night before, get up the next morning, swear, and then adjust. Babies don't work like that. My daughter wakes with her body clock, needs a certain amount of time before her nap, a certain amount of time before tea and bath, and then bed time. She isn't going to get up an hour earlier, she certainly isn't going to go to bed any earlier. So, we're stuck. For the next how ever long it takes, we're going to have to chip away at her rising, nap, and bed time until we're back where we were before someone decided to mess with the time.

Grr, back to going to work pre dawn.

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Short one

Nothing really grabs me today. End of the week, and my last day as a contractor. Just looking forward to the weekend. A chance to 'relax'. Big week next week. The first in a month always is, but this month has a huge number of changes happening early on which will make things interesting.

My daughter slept through last night. I still had to take her out for a drive to get her to sleep, but I put her in her cot at 20;50 and we didn't hear another thing until 07:15. Bliss. I hope it lasts.

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The need for sleep

There are occasions when I think this blog must be marking one mans slow decline towards madness following limited and disturbed sleep. Then I remember that my wife gets less than I do and start feeling guilty. Then I remember we're both knackered and just feel sorry for us both.

Whether it's seperation anxiety, a growing awareness of the dark, or just the loss of the ability to soothe herself back to sleep, my daughter is not sleeping through. Not even nearly. 3 weeks ago we could get her down for 8 in the evening, and not hear a peep until 8 the next morning. Now, it takes a huge effort to get her down for 9ish (last night it was 21:30 after a drive around Berkshire) and she's up again at around 01:45. What happens then is down to the fates. Placating may be possible. Feeding may be required. Worst case (usual case) is to bring her into bed in the spare room, feed her to sleep, and soothing strokes if she stirs.

In all cases, a broken nights sleep is guaranteed.

My wife is fantastic. During the week, she will be the one who gets up, and retires to the spare room with the distressed little bundle. This allows me to roll over and go back to sleep; stiring at each squeak, but generally getting some rest. At weekends, I do what I can. Fetching, carrying, soothing. I'm not really adding anything, just relieving a little of the burden.

It's now Thursday, of a short week, and I'm tired beyond belief. I have another day of meetings ahead, and somehow I'll get through. I always do. Something kicks in during the commute, keeps me going, and drops off later in the evening. The crash! I'm good for nothing then. Last night I couldn't stand properly; everything needs breaking down into small tasks. I'm surprised me wife doesn't give up on me, but she doesn't. She understands. She's great!

Ever onward. Another day, my penultimate one as a contractor. Just don't tell me "It's just a phase". It doesn't help.

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Reading blogs

Wow! Four day weekend, and a day working from home. No wonder I'm knackered!

Back on the train now, and pondering blog reading. Late last week, one of the blogs I read moved to a redesigned site. Now, I'm sure it is a picture of well designed lovelyness; with css this and ajax that, but all of that is irrelevant to me. I read blogs using an RSS reader, on a blackberry, whilst commuting (underground for half the time). Browsing to a website is a visual nightmare on a blackberry at the best of times; and a technical impossibility underground.

I have a program that connects to the internet at regular intervals, checks all the sites I'm interested in, and downloads the text of any new articles from those sites, storing them for me to read at a later date. I get news and technical information from the usual sources, but the majority of what I read is blogs. Normal people, writing about their stuff.

The problem with feeds is truncation. Most blog sites have 3 options when it comes to packaging your content. The default is usually to send out the post whole. Another option is to send out just the title (useless really). The third is to send out the first paragraph with a link at the bottom to "Read more". This is the one I hate. Just enough text to get you interested, and then bam! A link I can't follow. This is a deal breaker for me.

As someone with a wife, and small baby, and a job that gives me no chance to catch breath; the only place and time I have to read blogs is whilst commuting. Which means the blackberry. Which means RSS only.

So, why do people choose the truncation option? I can understand it for the magazine blogs. The ones from infoworld or the register. RSS feeds get just text. Some pictures (although they don't work underground as they are downloaded at read time), but no ads. So, for blogs that are there to draw in readers in the hope of moving them to other content, and getting a few ad impressions past them I can understand. (The fact that deep linking via google, and ad blocking programs make this method of getting money useless is irrelevant)

However, for personal blogs I don't get it. Surely all you want is for people to read your text? Who cares if I don't see your selection of font, and your beautiful backdrop. I certainly don't. This leads us to where I came in. A blog I have been reading for a long time has had a redesign, and in the process has moved from full posts to truncated ones. I wrote to the blogger pointing out the problem (I've done this twice before and the blogger wasn't even aware of it. In those cases, their new site had given a default of truncate), and was told that it was by design. They believe RSS feeds are there to alert you to a new post which you will then go direct to the website to read. They hoped I would catch up on the post once I got back online, and hoped I would continue to read. Well I can't. My life doesn't allow for blog reading at a computer (it's everything I can do just to get the daily dibert some days!), so their blog has gone. The really annoying part of this is that the blog in question was one of the best; well written, funny, one of the ones I scanned down the list for in the hope that it had updated. And now it's gone. Oh well.

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Why is it so flipping hard to sync?

Ooo a tech post. I haven't done one of these in a while!

It's a bit of a rant actually, but hey, what's new.

I have a blackberry. It's great. All these posts are written on it. I can read rss feed offline. It accesses facebook, google talk, automatically gets my e-mail, and has a calendar and contacts system. And it's these last two I have a problem with. The calendar on the phone is not my main one, the contacts system is not my only one. They can't be. The phone can't deal with meeting invites from various systems, and doesn't have the integration of outlook or gmail / google calendar; and because it's sometimes easier to send mail from a pc, or look up an address, my contacts need to be elsewhere.

My setup cannot be that unique. I have outlook integrated with exchange at work, gmail and google calendar at home, and a blackberry everywhere else. On google I have my calendar shared with my wife, my wife's calendar shared with me, and a personal one to remind me of anniversaries or the need to buy presents. For the purposes of syncing, I'd be happy with just my calendar syncing. On outlook, there is just outlook. I want those meetings available elsewhere.

Blackberry comes with some sync software. Connect your blackberry to a pc, and it will sync the calendar with outlook, and the address book. It's the connect bit I have a problem with. I get up to 10 meeting invites a day (some of them updates, not all new!), and keeping things in sync is a major pain. However, I can live with this.

Syncing to google is another matter. First, I thought I'd try using the blackberry as the "man in the middle". I can already sync with outlook, so all I need to do is get those changes pushed to google. At the same time, pull anything new from google, and next time I sync with outlook, I'd be back in sync.

It doesn't work. I paid real money for some nexthaus software, and an account with goosync, and set everything up (this was after 2 other abbortive attempts with other rubbish software). The software gets all changes from google, and pushes all events from the blackberry IF I created them ON the blackberry. If I sync from outlook, these events are missed unless I initiate a slow sync. Also, if an event is updated to a new time, the old event is not deleted. This is especially fun with recurring events.

Then cames google sync for the blackberry. Finally, I thought, google have stepped up. If anyone can fix this, the guys who own the api must be able to. Nope. Worse problems. Intermittent syncing (if I was not the originator of the meeting it wouldn't sync), and duplications. I tidyed up the system and went back to nexthaus.

Then, a new solution google sync for outlook. I don't have problems syncing with google using nexthaus, just syncing outlook events via the blackberry to google; so if I sync all the outlook events to google, the system will then pull them from google to the blackberry. Great? No. Doesn't work. If the meeting is addressed to me internal username (as all internal meetings are) the program won't sync it because it is looking for my full e-mail address. This begs the question, why? If a meeting is in my calendar, I want it synced. I don't care WHO it is addressed to, it's my calendar, only mine, and I want it synced.

So, I'm stuck. Stuck waiting for one of the tools to get updated and fix the problems. Then, finally, I might know where I'm going, and when, no matter which system I look at.
All of that hasn't even touched on the address book! This one is simpler though. It doesn't work. I can't get either outlook, nor the blackberry, to sync with my google contacts. Useless.

Add into the mix my wife's iPhone. The google calendar interface on that is rubbish. You can't add or change an entry. There still is no way to sync contacts, and the whoe thing is a mess.

Is it really so difficult to have a synced up address book and calendar across a few devices? It's really beyond belief that I can't sync a couple of hand held devices, devices that live and breathe on the net, with a web platform and a desktop system that the majority of the corporate world use.

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What a beautiful morning

So, here I am. On less than a perfect nights sleep (although only broken once for half an hour, it was at 04:55 which just seems to hurt more), and heading in for a day of meetings with some tricky responses to some overnight mails to write. However, isn't it a beautiful day. Not a cloud in the sky, that crisp, fresh feeling in the air, the sun casting its glow over the world. Makes you feel good to be alive. Which is just as well.

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The daddy drive

My daughter is unwell. Thankfully, not seriously unwell. She has an infected finger from over sucking, and badly aimed teeth!

I washed her hand after breakfast, and there was no sign. By 16:00 there was a large yellow lump right in the middle of her favourite suckling finger. This causes major problems.

My daughter soothes herself to sleep by sucking her fingers. Bedtime routine involves a bath, a cuddle, a feed, and a longer cuddle while she drops off enough to be put in her cot. With no fingers, the frustration levels means she doesn't drop off. She also complains bitterly if you put her in the cot awake. The problem is worsened if she wakes during the night. In those twilight moments, she can put her hand in her mouth and drift back to sleep without waking Mummy or Daddy. No hand, no drift.

To say that Saturday was a bad night would be something of an understatement! I had put a makeshift bandage on, and covered her hand with a mitten. She was not happy. We finally got her to sleep at about 01:00 she woke at 01:42! About 04:00 was when we started to try to get to sleep ourselves, but the wired state my wife and I were in meant a delay until the small hours. We were back up before 08:00.

The infection had doubled in size overnight, so, given it was Sunday, we went off to casualty. 3 hours later my daughter had a lanced, dressed and bandaged finger, and a course of antibiotics. (getting antibiotics into someone who can't rationalise the awful colour and taste with feeling better is not a fun experience!) Now all we had to do was get some sleep!

We tried cuddling, soothing, easing her into her cot, but nothing was working. In the end we bundled her into her duvet, and headed for the car.

I've done this before, and it's fairly common knowledge that babies fall asleep in cars. Lulled by the motion. I headed off, M4, M25, M3, and back up to complete the loop. She woke up as soon as the car stopped! She was, however, relaxed now, so a couple of cuddles, and we got her into her cot. Late, but she slept through (guess she was almost as tired as my wife and I).

Yesterday was a failed dental appointment for me, and a new dressing for her. Also, 3 lots of antibiotics. Yuck. (I worked from home hence no post.) Last night, another drive. Another loop. This time via Basingstoke. Another rested baby. Not such a good night though. She woke at 03:42 (it's amazing how you remember the exact time), and there was no rest for us until after 05:00. We've been told to expect a large improvement for Wednesday when the dressing is changed again, and we are hopeful that the finger will be back in action for the weekend. Until then, Daddy will be out driving the wilds of Berkshire every night until she drops off.


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Working from home

No post yesterday because there was no commuting. It took me less than a minute to get to work and start working. I was doing the working from home thing.

The reason behind it all was the need to look after my daughter for an hour at lunch time as my wife needed to go out, and, in this particular instance, taking a baby with her wasn't really an option.

So how does it work? Well, I roll out of bed, pull some jeans on, and sign into works network through the internet. Whilst the external system logs me in and runs its logon scripts I finish getting ready, grab a drink, and enter the study properly. Shutting the door. I now have a version of windows running inside a web browser on my PC. This version of wndows is connected to my work's network, and allows me to appear like I'm just logged on there.

Actually, the system I get access to is to basic to do anything other than chat and e-mail, so I run a further connection program to get access to my personal desktop. This is exactly the same one I use every day at work, left in exactly the state I left it in the previous day. Now it's like being there.

Except it isn't. In the past working from home was much like working from the office except there were fewer interruptions. I worked largely alone, and the privacy, comfortable atmosphere, and instant commute made working from home more productive (in most cases) than working from the office. Now, I have staff, I have meetings, those interruptions are important as they are usually to ask me for a decision. This doesn't mean working from home doesn't work for me anymore. Far from it. Everything that used to make working there a bonus still stands. I got more paperwork done, and filing sorted yesterday than I've managed in weeks. It's just that I couldn't do it every day anymore.

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Why write?

I can't put my finger on it. For some reason I get on the train / tube every morning (ok, only recently) and I tap some words into my blackberry, mail it off, and hopefully someone reads it. Although, that last bit doesn't have any influence over the effort it takes to write in the first place.

For over a year I have travelled on this train reading the news, and generally not doing much. I hope this is a more worthwhile use of my time, but I'm not sure it is.

So, it started last week. I have got incredibly bad at replying to mail. I get so much of it that I can't track it all, and things get forgotten. Except they don't. I have a reasonably good filing system, and that takes care of most of the dross and informational mails, so the ones I need to reply to still sit in my inbox. Hounding me. Taunting me with their unreplyedness. Last week I answered a couple!

It didn't take long, but I did write quite a bit. And I enjoyed it. The chance to put my thoughts in order, to write something down. My life has changed so much in the last couple of years, and so much of what I do is transient. I flit from one thing to another like a humingbird, carrying huge amounts of stuff around in my head, or quickly scribbled notes in my notepad. I move from one agenda to another; each one wanting to know what I'm doing for them. Balancing priorities and deliverables. Somehow it all works; things get done, most of the people I deliver to are happy most of the time. My mind is a mess though.

I've always had the ability to context switch. Order my thoughts, file them, and recall them instantly. Even if I was working on something completely different. Just file, save, recall, go! That ability is being pushed to its limit now. Some things are slipping. The recall is flaky, or partial. I'm learning to cope. To rely on other people to take their bit of responsibility. It's difficult. It's a large change for me. Fixing computers, then servers, or even delivering large tech projects was easy. Finite variables that could be made firm, and delivered to. Life is now shades of grey. Variables stay variable. I can't control everything.

So this blog let's me put something down. To crystalise a thought (although not very well as this post demonstrates!). For the moment, that's enough. A small amount of control in my otherwise uncontrollable day.
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Bloody-mindedness and the British reserve

Another transport tale of woe! My train was delayed today. This is the station that only has one train every 30 minutes, and all those trains were held up due to animals on the line (polite way of saying horse jam). No woe on this score, these things happen; at least we have a nice warm station building to stand out of the elements in. Also, the guy who runs the station is a really nice bloke, who gave us all regular updates from his console and phone calls to control.

One of these updates was to let us know the other company that uses the track was going to stop for us. Usually they shoot through at 50 mph, but today, for the first time anyone can remember, they were going to stop. Hurrah!

Out we all trooped into the cold morning light where we watched the sun peak above the industrial units, and presently the train turned up. Here's where the problems began.

The people who regularly use the train all have their favourite places to stand, their little talking circles, and they weren't happy about interlopers. The doors opened, and there was a corridor of people into the vestibule area, and enough room for 2 people. There were 6 of us, and I knew we'd be stopping at the next station which has the ticket office opposite the door that I was using. This wasn't going to work.

I got on the train, and looked into the carriage itself. There were 2 people standing. Right by the exit. Not showing the slightest inclination to look up, acknowledge the problem, nor move down to create more space. At this point, the crowd shuffled a little, the guy in front of me decided he could stand over his briefcase, and maybe it didn't need a space of its own, and we managed to get on.

The complaining now started. "We can't stop at the next station, how will everyone fit?", "We're going to be stuck waiting for a platform", and then my favourite, "Why do we have to stop to let all these other people on?". Pillocks. I calmly explained that there were no other trains, and we wouldn't be stuck waiting for a platform as there were no other trains, and we couldn't have got anywhere without this train as there were no other trains. The reply? "Hummph"!

Just the we arrived at the next stop. The doors opened. 10 people. Did any of the regulars finally move? Give a little bit of space? Move into the practically empty first class section? Finally move into the aisle of the carriage? Not a hope. It was all just one big inconvienience for them.

Just a little aside, it only takes 9 minutes from my station to the final destination when everyone gets off. We're not talking about a serious issue here!

Finally, myself and the bloke who'd got on behind me snapped. The reserve was broken. He pushed his way into first class, opening that route up, and I pointedly asked the people in the aisle to move up. The response? A raised eyebrow, and a shuffle of maybe 1mm. Twit. I allowed the crush behind me to move me into the aisle forcing the moron to finally move up. Amazingly (note the sarcasm) we all fit. With room to spare. Who'd have thought it!?

Gits.

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On commuting

Where to start? There are so many facets to this topic that I'm sure I'll return to it from time to time. Today, though, it is delays that are top of my mind.

It was a bit windy last night. Today, all the trains are delayed. Anyone see the connection? I was late traveling today, well past the morning rush. Well into the working day. The trains were running, so there weren't blockages. The wind had died down, so there weren't worries of more blockages, and yet my train was 28 minutes late (the trains run every 30 minutes), and when it did arrive, it didn't stop! I had to wait another 10 minutes for the second trains; itself now 8 minutes late.

Once I changed train the departure boards at my interchange were full of delays. However, there are so many trains at that point I just caught a delayed train at the right time! We then set off to London.

The journey to London is not exactly stimulating. Lots of warehouse and industrial type buildings, and not much scenery. So why did they put a 50 mph speed limit on? This speed limit started at my station, all trains were fast until then. There was no wind, nothing to get blown over anyway, the train are diesel, so no problems with overhead wires, so why the speed limit?

Once I hit London, there are sever and minor delays all over the board. Most of thse trains are underground! What exactly causes a weather related delay underground? The staff couldn't give me an answer either.

Every week there is a broken train, or a faulty point, an intermittent signal, and what do we all do? Work around the problem. Try to find other routes. I caught 2 trains I wouldn't usually get to work around the severe delays this morning. I did it automatically. I just switched into avoidance mode and off I went. The fact that I am even more delayed as a result didn't enter the mind. It rarely does.

Resistance is futile? Acceptance is depressing!
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Marking the occasion

Today I turn 30 something for the first time. 30 didn't bother me that much; I was sick of my 20s and ready to move on. 30 something on the other hand, that's tweaking the old sub-conscious.

Part of it, I'm sure, is down to signing away some perceived freedom yesterday, and agreeing to go permanent in my job. I thought it would be a bit of a gesture. An end of era moment. It was. Doesn't change the fact that it is a fairly significant event.

I decided, right back in 2004, that I was done with office politics, the career long haul. I was extremely lucky when I started work to get a fantastic bunch of colleagues, and a good working environment. Challenges were there, but so was the comradery. Out-sourcing, mergers, and life changed things over time, and eventually I just had to accept that those times were over.

I moved around a bit in the organisation, looking for the right dynamics, the right team. I couldn't find it. I found what most people complain about when they whinge about work. I found a bunch of people who happened to share a job. Having come from an environment where colleagues became friends, this was something of a shock!

I also found office politics. People out entirely for their benefit. I'd come from somewhere where people moved up and around because of an open desire to do so, and their proven ability. The idea of fighting for position by putting your colleagues down was one I still can't understand today. Those people you push away today are the ones you need to support you tomorrow. One upmanship is, in my view, the reason most people don't have the working environment they should have.

So, thanks to some spectacular mis-management, and general dis-gruntledness with office politics. I left. I went contacting. The life of the constant visitor. I could turn up, do the job, not become a threat, and therefore not be affected by the background noise that blights the office environment. And now I've signed it away.

Have I rediscovered the good old days? No. However, I have discovered the next set of good days. Once again I have found people who will talk about their lives, share lunch, do favours. In time it may be as good as my early working days. It won't be the same, but it should be good.

It's still a significant event!
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How life changes

I often find myself contemplating the huge changes that have taken place in my life. Seemingly simple things at the time compound each other, so that looking back on the course of things I often wonder how I managed to cope.

A simple 5 years ago I was about to turn 26. Life was good, if a little predictable. I had my job, my house, my friends and my routine. Ok, so I was pulling massive amounts of overtime, coping with huge amounts of stress (I thought!), and falling into a comfortable rut, but I was happy.

Within a year I had changed job within the organisation, moved 200 miles, and was living in rented accomodation with a new set of friends, a new predictable routine, and the ability to go back home and find most of my old rut waiting for me.

3 months later I had ditched it all. Thanks to some spectacular mis-management I decided to go contracting. This co-incided with some changes around my friends lives which dissapated my comfortable cushions and forced me to strike out afresh.

I moved to a new city, set myself up in a shared house with a bunch of strangers, and started working as an infrastructure architect to a group of developers. I'd always previously worked with other techies. This was very different. This was fun.

3 years ago at this time I was engaged. That's what leaving your comfort zone does for you! I was also in the process of moving again. This time about 450 miles to yet another city (a BIG one this time), a new contract, and a new set of challenges.

Just 2 years ago I was a few weeks away from being married, we'd moved again (our last for a while I hope), I'd changed job again (the life of a contractor!), and we were slowly establishing a cushion of our own. One that has a bit more permenance about it.

(You never realise when you're living in it, but the warm envelope of familiarity we wrap ourselves in is made up of so many elements we have no control over.)

Just last year, my daughter was less then 2 months old, I had changed job yet again, and life was chaos! Comfortable familiarity and predictable routine? With a baby? Not a chance! I'd love to say life was fantastic, but at that point, life was lived (although some days, life was survived!). I was certainly happy somewhere underneath it all though.

So, here we are, today. I haven't moved, I haven't changed job (although I am about to go permanent which is yet another huge change that seems small and logical at the moment), but life has changed yet again. My daughter changes every week. There is always a new discovery, a new facial expression, a new noise. Some predictability has returned; the morning and evening commutes anchor my day. My family is there to return to, my safe, warm cushion. And I'm certainly happy. Which is all that matters really.

So, that was 5 years. As I lived it, it was just life. Looking back, however, what a huge change! Here's to the next 5!
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On changing times

When I started this blog, it was only because I wanted somewhere to say how bad I thought the new microsoft search was. It was then somewhere it could talk about google calendar, and then other facets of my technological life.

Things have changed. Not that anyone reads this, but you may have noticed a lack of entries recently! This is because I don't have anything special to write about. I have changed tack. I no longer work in a purely technical environment, and I no longer have time for cutting edge technology. I haven't bothered to install Vista since RC2, the first MS OS that I haven't been completely up to date with since windows 3.0.

I may run kubuntu at home as my main system, but everything is installed via apt, and the system is now about the work it can do, not the shiny technology. I first installed Linux in 1995 (ish) and at that time I compiled a new kernel almost every week (day!), built all the apps from source code, completely tailored the system. Apart from providing a platform to write code, the system was a learning tool. Now, the work is the important thing, the OS and window manager are just the means.

So, what does this mean? Basically, I'm getting old! I still read slashdot, I still look at the shiny, but it doesn't consume me the way it used to. The man who queued up at midnight to get an x-box is only just about to get a wii! I still don't own an HD TV, and I have sat out the HD-DVD / Blueray wars safe in the knowledge that I don't care.

So, the blog has to change, if I don't write, what's the point in having somewhere to write? If tech doesn't give me something else has to. I commute for 3.5 hours a day, and whilst I spend some of that time reading RSS feeds, the rest of it is wasted doing sudoku puzzles that I always complete. Hardly a challenge. So, the plan is to drop the sudoku, and pick up the writing. Topics are, well, anything really. Whatever is on my mind. I'll see where this gets me.

If anyone is still there, thanks.
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Blogging from Google Docs and Spreadsheets

Up until now, all my blogs have been done in gmail and then sent to my blog account via e-mail. A further trip is then necessary to check the formatting, fix any broken links and generally check things over.

This posting is different. I am using Google Docs and Spreadsheets to write this and then publish it directly to the blog. Hopefully this will allow me to sort out the formatting and the links in situ, and have the completed post arrive without need of further assistance.

I have used the spreadsheet side of Docs and Spreadsheets before with much success. The collaboration aspect is fantastic for myself and my accountant to work out my tax finances together, on the same doc, at the same time. As changes are made, they are visible to the other person immediately. This makes pointing things out and working through problems remotely as easy as working next to each other.

I can see how companies have taken the Google application suite on-board. Combine the collaboration aspects of this tool with the functionality it offers, and the integration with mail and calendar, and I really can't see a compelling reason to use Office in 80% of scenarios. There will always be a need for complex macros in Excel, but the vast majority of the stuff I do is already available in Google's offering.

Now, to publish and see if this works...

Some command line shortcuts

I know it's been a while, and this is only a short one, but I wanted to get these down.

I've been experimenting with the command line strengths of Linux, combining commands to perform powerful statements. The first is:

find -name "*.JPG" -exec rename 's/\.JPG$/\.jpg/' {} \;

This command will find every file within a tree structure from the point the command is run that has .JPG as it's extension and then rename it to .jpg. Linux automatically recognises .jpg to be a picture but not .JPG. For someone like me with over 3000 pictures in numerous subdirectories this was a huge productivity help. It is simple to modify it for other file types too. Obvious ones spring to mind like .AVI, .BMP, .MPG etc.

Another thing I wanted to do was increase the rights on a tree structure for all files whilst removing execute. I know from painful past experience that chmod -R 0664 * has disastrous results with directories! However, combining find and chmod allowed me to produce these 2 commands:

find -type f -exec chmod 0664 {} \;
find -type d -exec chmod 2775 {} \;

The first only finds files and then changes the permissions to give the user and group read and write, allow everyone read, and removes execute across the board.

The second finds directories and changes the permissions as above (whilst allowing execute because they are directories), and also changes the permissions on the directory to ensure that every new file is given the group ownership of the directory, and not the user creating it.

As I continue to play with regular expressions and the command line I'm sure I'll find more of these gems. I'll probably put them here too.

For now, one more:

find -name "*.zip" -exec unzip -o {} \;

OK, one more:

rename 's/^\d+_//' *

This will remove the leading number and underscore from files or directories such as those that have been downloaded using .nzb files from newsgroups. Useful for tidying up your downloaded directory structure. (Or at least useful for tidying up mine!)

The Google factor

One of my earlier posts (not that there are that many of them!) was on the announcement of Google calendar. All in all i thought it was a good idea. It's been released now for quite sometime, and I've been using it since day one.

It's not the only Google service i use. In fact it would be easier to list the services is use regularly that aren't Google. None that spring to mind (websites (and RSS feeds) not included. I have Google's personalized homepage as my first port of call on the web; i use Gmail as my main e-mail system; Google calendar keeps me from forgetting whats coming up; Google groups gives me an indispensable resource for support; blogger is owned by Google and allows me to spout off to the world; picasa sorts out my photos, and, once the Linux version catches up, will allow me to post my pictures direct to here, and to web albums for my friends and family to view; there is also, obviously, search. All in all, Google has it covered.

So, how do i go about using these services? Well, the personalized homepage is my first stop. This service just gets better and better. With plug-in modules, and tabs, it allows me to see everything that i have an interest in at one shot. On every tab, I have the ubiquitous search engine, and a corner box giving me 1 click access to all my services. My first tab gives me my latest mail, my coming calendar week, an up to date view of my most visited google groups, and some witty quotes. The second tab is all RSS feeds from my most visited sites (and this gets easier by the day as more sites give one click access to their information). I can see at a glance what is going on in local and world news, technology, music, and gadgets / hardware. All with one click access to the underlying stories. The final tab has some jokes, some direct website links (my transportable favourites) and a pacman game for those non-existent dull moments. All in all, a veritable one stop shop for the web.

Gmail started off great and just got better and better! I have my e-mail where ever i have Internet access. It is all categorized automatically, extremely accurate at detecting spam, and searchable in any way i have needed to date. I have just downloaded the Gmail app (you need to use that link from a mobile phone) for my mobile phone, so i can access my mail anywhere i have a signal. (This and the last entry were both written on my phone). Gmail also gives me direct access to Google chat. Not my most used feature (most people i know are on MSN), but still useful when clarification is needed on a recent e-mail, or a conversation needs more back and forth than really suits e-mail.

A number of years ago, before Google was synonymous with search (yes, such a time existed!), there was a web site called dejanews. This was a great resource for accessing newsgroups from a website. An absolute necessity for office support workers. Newsgroups are an extremely valuable source of real world information. Google bought this company, and slowly re-branded it Google groups. In time they added mailing lists and posting, expanding this already fantastic resource. Google groups is always my second port of call for support once a normal web search has failed to turn up an answer.

As I was hoping in a much earlier post, Google calendar has been the answer to the majority of my needs. I have 2 calendars, and access to my wife's. Between these we can keep our lives in check. As already mentioned, Google calendar plugs into my homepage. There is also text messages whenever an event is due to start. Wherever I am I know where I need to be next!

I am also signed up, obviously, to blogger. With the new release this is tied to my Google account, so I have single sign-on to my services. I also have access to docs and spreadsheets, a portable version of basic office functionality. It's not there yet, but functionality is increasing all the time. Charts in the spreadsheet app will make a huge difference, but the lack of code will make it impossible for me to use frequently.

On the sidelines is Google earth and picasa. Google earth is pretty, but not something I use much. I am glad they ported it to Linux though, eye candy is always welcome when showing off an OS that isn't windows! Picasa, on the other hand, is an app coming into it's own. With the addition of picasa web albums, and the direct access from one to the other (hopefully coming soon on Linux) you can keep all your photos catalogued, and share them with your friends and family from one app.

I've touched on Google chat from an internal mail perspective. I also have Google talk and Google desktop installed on the majority of windows boxes i use. These 2 tie together to let me search all my local documents, the web, my local mail, and my gmail from one easy interface. They also inform me of new mails, and new news on my frequently visited websites. Not as heavily used as it could be ( a FireFox tab is always available for searches), but part of the whole package.

Finally, for this post, there is search. What more can be written on this?! I can, and regularly do, search the web, individual sites, pages, images, news, purchases, newsgroups, mailing lists, videos, and probably a couple I've forgotten. One worthy of a mention is Google local. Allowing me to search for businesses in an area easily, and tying it into a detailed map of the area allows me to plan excursions and awkward shopping trips far easier than I used to. I know that without Google we'd all still be using Yahoo, or Altavista, or Hotbot, but would it be as good? Probably not.

So there you have it. My life is run by Google! Do I feel happy about this? Yes. Would I let anyone else do it? Probably not. I for one hope they go from strength to strength, and the functionality just keeps getting better.

Downloading files from usenet

One of the most common questions i get asked is how to get files off of usenet and into a useable form. These files can be any number of things, but the purpose of this entry you can think of them as legit. :)

A little background first. Usenet predates the web, and allows anyone to post information to one of many newsgroups. These are distributed all over the net, and are synchronized automatically. Everyone has access to usenet via google groups. It is easiest to think of them as large forums or mailing lists. All usenet groups have size limits on the files posted up to them. For text groups this isn't a problem, but before the web and downloading there was no easy way to transfer files to other people (this was well before people ran there own servers or had "always on connections"), so someone came up with the idea of converting a file into a number of smaller files, converting those (in a reproducable manner) into text and posting them onto the newsgroup. Anyone interested could then get all these bits of file, re-combine them, and turn them back into the original file. This was at a time where if you were connected you knew how to do this. Geek would be the word you're thinking of!

Fast forward to now, and usenet still exists. It deals with huge amounts of traffic every day, and it is still a repositry for files. The difference is that normal people now use the internet, and they haven't a clue what usenet is, never mind how to use it! That's where this comes in.
There are a number of ways and means of doing this, but i'll cover the ones that work for me. First, you have to find the files. Each newsgroup is made up of millions of messages, and each message has a header. Think of this header as the to, from, and subject part of an e-mail. If you want to know what's in a newsgroup you have to get these headers. As you may need to go into a number of newsgroups, and each one has millions of headers, you don't want to do this. You want an index. Searchable, simple ways of getting exactly what you want. Luckily one exists. Go to newzbin. Here comes shock one. You have to pay (it won't be the first time) if you want to make this useful. You can search newzbin within any of the categories, but that will only get you the existence of the file and the newsgroup it's in. If you're cheap, you can go to the newsgroup and get all the headers, then select the ones you want, and download them, but that is a lot of hassle. It is better to pay newzbin (about 20p a day if i remember correctly) to become a member, you can then get an option to download a newzbin file (extension .nzb) which contains exactly what you need to get the file.

Once you have this file you need to use it, for that you need a program that can read and understand it. I recommend one called binary newsreaper. Once this is installed you need newsgroup access. You probably have this through your internet provider, but that probably doesn't have binary newsgroups and will have terrible retention (how long you can get a file for, newsgroups are purged after a period of time) and completion (there is no way to know if something is there until you try to download it. Bad completion means lots of wasted effort). Once again, it's time to part with some cash. I use newshosting which offers unlimited downloading for $14.95 a month. Pay up, get the access details, and follow the newsreaper instructions to get connected.

Once you're up and running, newsreaper has an "import nzb" option. Choose it, select your nzb file, a destination, click ok and then watch it go. It may take a while depending on the size of the target file.

When it's finished downloading you can look in your destination folder. You probably have several files ending in rar, par2, or r and a number (r01, r02 etc). Not very helpful. Step one is to confirm all the files are complete. That is what all the par2 files are for. Download a free program called quickpar, install, and you should then be able to double click a par2 file and have it automatically check (and repair if necessary) all your files. Once that has completed, get a copy of winrar and the rar files can be clicked. Always choose the .rar file, or the part01.rar file. The program can deal with it if you pick another file, but it's best to make it simple.
The unrar process will leave you with you file(s). All the par2, rar etc. files can be deleted now.

(K)ubuntu update

It's been a lot longer since my last post than I had anticipated, but a new job, and a child on the way conspire against my free time!

I said I would update once I had established myself with kubuntu, so here I am. The experience has been interesting. Initial installation was a dream, one click, 6 questions, easy enough partitioning (managed to keep my home and data areas whilst wiping everything else), and away it goes. First impressions on first boot, it's not as pretty us SuSE. The boot loader for kubuntu (or ubuntu for that matter) is a basic text with DOS style letters. SuSE has a nicer box and a more graphical feel. Once booting, SuSE gives you a nice splash screen, and gives you the option of pressing escape for more information (which appears bordered by the SuSE splash screen headers and is colour coded, uses a nice font and is exceptionally well laid out). Kubuntu gives you a splash screen that looks like it was knocked up in 30 seconds, some default information as things start (but no information as to how they got on), and then half way through the boot, the splash screen disappears and a text screen appears using a 640x480 resolution which can't fit the information on to the screen,. The information is just the default linux messages, but with no formatting, no sizing. Basically, it's a mess.

Once booted and logged in (default KDMs are as nice as each other and irrelevant as I change it to my choice anyway), I was presented with my desktop. Thankfully this was the same one I had under SuSE, so the settings had transferred nicely. A few things were missing, but as I had added them to SuSE I wasn't surprised with the need to add them to kubuntu. And there in lies the only major difference between the systems.

Package management (and when all else fails, manual package installation, or, heaven forbid, source compilation). SuSE uses RPM, kubuntu uses DEB. This is irrelevant. kubuntu uses adept, SuSE uses YAST. This is the difference. There is much debate on the web over the brilliance that is the .deb package management system. It is, without a doubt, superior to .rpm, but you don't need to know this with default system packages. Everything should have been chosen and tested to work together, so all that counts is the ease of choosing applications. The first thing to realise is that non of the distributions come with packages to do everything you want. The most glaring deficiency is the lack of support for most media, meaning you have to add new repositries. Within SuSE this is fairly graphical and easy enough. Within kubuntu you are editing a text file. It may try to pretty things up, but essentially you are editing sources.list. I don't mind this (in fact I edit the file manually at the command line), but it isn't very user friendly.

Side note: I have now found an application called easyubuntu which modifies your sources for you and installs the applications you probably want. It's still not as easy as it could be.

With your sources modified you have to choose what you want to install. With both distributions, there really is a need to know what you want. To me though, SuSE's search options were more intuitive the kubuntu's. Once selected, things install and generally work.

What happens if you can't find an app in the repositry? You need to install it manually. Within SuSE and kubuntu if you find an rpm or a .deb, then things are easy. Double click the file and away you go (not strictly accurate, kubuntu defaults to unpacking the file in ark instead of installing it, but it is negotiable). If you only have source to go on here comes the fun part! Within YAST there is a helpful option on the menu that allows you to install all development header files for all the libraries you have installed. One option, one click, that's it. Kubuntu needs you to know what they are all called, and then you select them manually. When you are compiling something complicated (for example hugin an open source panoramic photo editor) there are dozens of library files needed, and no one tells you up front what you need. You have to run ./configure again and again letting it fail slightly further each time as you install the dependancy it's missing. Boy is that fun!

And that is it. For my own use, the distributions are as similar as they need to be. Some things are in different places, but it's easy enough to work out. Both distributions are capable of running everything I need. There is slightly more support for (k)ubuntu the SuSE, but not enough to worry about.

There is a 'but'. Isn't there always! I have an AMD 64 bit chip as my main machine's processor. On SuSE and kubuntu there is equal support for the main OS. However, application providers don't have the same support. Within SuSE they get round this by installing the 32 bit libraries alongside the 64 bit ones. If an app can only run on 32 bit, there isn't a problem. Kubuntu doesn't have this option. I ended up wiping the OS and installing the 32 bit version. It hasn't made a difference to performance, but it doesn't feel right. It 'should' be easy enough (I don't know I'm not a developer) to install the 32 bit libraries, why can't kubuntu do it. I did find instructions to setup a '32 bit chroot', and tried this, but it broke after an update, and it was too much hassle to keep up to date.

For all it's failings, kubuntu does seem to be a good OS. It fixed the problems I was having with SuSE (but so have SuSE apparently), and I won't be switching again soon. Stay tuned to know how updating to the next version of kubuntu goes later this month.

SUSE 10.1 and a journey to (k)Ubuntu

I write this with a bit of a heavy heart (not sure why, it's only software!).

I have been an advocate of Novell software my entire working life. I worked with Netware from 3.12 right up to 6.5. I have setup remote access with iChain, installed eDirectory into Windows environments, and, most recently, when I decided to use Linux as my main OS, I chose SUSE 9.2 as they had just been bought by Novell.

I used 9.2 successfully as a dual boot system with XP, and after a successful upgrade to 9.3 I finally put XP onto a VM within Linux and changed to use 100% Linux as my OS. I spent many a happy hour configuring 9.3 and KDE to be exactly the way I wanted it to be, and had the system setup to play music to fit the mood, surf the web the way I wanted, seamlessly switch between all my systems, access my remote file systems as part of the OS. In short, the system worked, and worked well!

I awaited the release of 10.0 with great expectations. I had recently discovered the fun of additional repositories and had updated my system to use the latest toys, but the underlying system was causing me a few problems (USB, networking) and I hoped these would be fixed in 10.0. On the day of release I downloaded the system CD, booted selected network install and upgrade and let it go. I hit the problem that has plagued SUSE (and, from reading around, all distributions including the great Debian which tests and tests until it's right), upgrading doesn't work! Things get left behind, dependencies are problematic. It's not just with the stuff you've installed from source (Although that really doesn't help), even things that have been installed as rpm via yast don't work. Problems really become apparent when you have something newer on your system than is in the distro you are upgrading to. Long story short, my /home is on a separate partition (by design) and a could do a new install without blowing that partition away, but formatting everything else.

10.0 was great! Not perfect, but pretty close. Over the months, I upgraded it to KDE 3.5.2, got the latest amarok, sorted out playing every media format that the web threw at me. In fact, the only problem remaining (which can't be fixed) was flash on the Internet. Maybe, one day, macromedia will finally release a decent flash player for Linux. Until then 7 is what we get, and therefore some things don't work.

As 10.1 approached I was interested in the changed package system. Yast is good, but a bit clunky, other updates were also enough to get me to upgrade again. Surprise surprise, same problem on upgrading as last time! It was expected this time, so one clean install later and here we are.

My experience of 10.1 is not all great! Some things work well. Dependencies with openGL were fixed, changes in the kernel fixed a few niggling hardware problems. Updates to core components fixed some problems I had been having. Updating on the other hand died a death.

As far as I can tell. Novell wanted their Zen suite installed into the OS, but left it late in the day. Zen has been around for years, I've used it from version 2 onwards in one form or another. It's fairly good as a package management system and desktop management tool. What they have put in to SUSE 10.1 is not the Zen I know! There is a botched merger of Yast and Zen that in theory allows you to use the old Yast tools, and the new Zen package system to configure your updates. At first it seemed quite good. A guide I found on configuring it allowed me to add my main repositories and the updates for KDE and Gnome, the system informed me of the updates, and installed them. Rebooting brought them into play, and also removed the update icon. I can't find it now, it's gone! If I head into Yast I get numerous messages about unsigned updates (I'm sure that will change as the repositories get signed and certified), updates are then selected as they used to be. However, if something goes wrong (a package isn't in a repository that reported it had it (something that happens far too often)) Yast dies. Immediately. If you use 'rug in' from the command line, then things fair a little better, and installs work. So far, 'rug up' reports there are no updates, but I live in hope. Every so often though, a rug command results in 'Waking up ZMD...' and that's it. Good night Vienna.

The other show stopper for me is the install of ffmpeg on the packman repositories (although the bug is also in the latest CVS). I have a script that generates DVDs for me, and uses 'ffmpeg -t 5' (and some other switches) to create an empty audio track for the menu. -t is now ignored and defaults to 10000000000 seconds! Not much use!

The main problem is the lack of interest and information from Novell / SUSE. The update problem is a HUGE issue, and it doesn't work anything like as described. An update system that doesn't update is no good to me. Never mind installing new packages, what about security updates. Will it notice them, will it install them. I have no idea, and neither does anyone else. This is not what I want from an OS, so where do I go?

Ubuntu is the distro of the moment, huge amounts of publicity, huge amounts of investment. It's Debian based. My server runs Debian stable. I like it, it works! The update mechanism is one of the most tried and tested systems around. The latest version ( 6.06) has been released, and I'm going to try it. It is available on a 'Live' CD which I'm downloading now, and there are well established updates to take it to kubuntu so I can keep my KDE desktop.

Expect an update soon!

Remote access to your desktop

By far the most frequent question I get asked is, "How can I access my desktop remotely?". I usually, quickly, remind whoever is asking that they mean, "How can I access my desktop remotely and securely?"! And there you have the crux of the problem. What is secure? How do you achieve it? How can you set something up that allows secure access without making it so complicated that you never bother using it? Here is my solution. Unfortunately, it is not a "next, next next, finish" type solution, but it is as close as I can make it.

I always break the question up into 2 parts, secure access, and desktop access. Once you have achieved one, the other is easier. The answer to part 1 is SSH. SSH stands for Secure SHell, and gives you exactly that. For those that don't know, a shell is a command line interface without any of the graphical functionality, but with all the power of the system (not quite if you are running windows). By installing and setting up SSH you gain login access to the system.

I was going to write this for Linux and Windows, but have concentrated solely on Windows for the time being as there are differences in the setup and configuration of Linux (not major, just different), and the majority of people who ask me about this are Windows users.

SSH installation instructions for Windows

I first set this up when I was using Windows as my main operating system. When I first set this up, it involved a very convoluted process with cygwin and Linux binaries. As things moved on however, it got easier, and now all you have to do is go to sourceforge and download the latest binaries installer release (version 3.8p1-1 20040709 at time of writing). Once downloaded, run the installer, accept all the defaults, after all the files have copied, you will get a message about editing the passwd file. Click OK to this and then finish. SSH is now installed.

SSH configuration instructions

The next step is to setup a user account that will be used for logging in to the system. I can guarantee that once the system is open to the Internet you will get hundreds (if not thousands) of login attempts every day from automated script routines running against long user lists. By using a user ID that doesn't sit in one of those lists, and only allowing that ID, all of the attempts against your system will be in vain. The trick to picking such an ID is to use a non standard name or word. Try putting your first and last name together (eg stevenixon) or putting a couple of numbers in front of your surname (eg 23nixon) it doesn't really matter what you go for as you won't have to type it in, as long as it isn't guessable. Obviously, the ID should be given a password! That password should be as secure as you can make it. There are a few schools of thought on password strength. Essentially, it comes down to what's easy and yet secure. Putting in a password like 'p455word#' is relatively secure. It's longer than 7 characters, and it uses a mixture of letters numbers and non-alphanumeric characters. A password like 'This is my password.' Is also good. Which ever you use is up to you, whatever you find easier to remember and type. Just remember, you won't be able to see the password as you type it.

You now need to create a passwd file in c:\Program Files\OpenSSH\etc\ with the correct user ID entered into it. To do this, go to a command prompt, change into the c:\Program Files\OpenSSH\bin\ directory and run the following:

mkpasswd -l -u UserID >> ..\etc\passwd

Substitute the user ID you have setup for UserID.

Firewall settings

Most people have a firewall these days. Whether it is a NAT router, or some software on the machine. In all cases, port 22 must be allowed to reach the machine you want to control. For NAT, a rule must be created to forward the port to the correct IP address, for a firewall on the machine, the port must be allowed to talk to the sshd service. For instructions on doing this, please refer to the documentation that came with your router or firewall software.

Gaining access

The vast majority of people who want access to their machines are coming from Windows machines. The easiest and best solution to remote access for what we have setup is a free program called putty. Download the latest version ( 0.58 at time of writing) and unzip the contents to your USB drive into a folder named putty.

From a machine that isn't the machine you want to control, run putty.exe. Ensure that SSH is highlighted for the protocol and then enter the IP address of the machine you want to access (If local then this will be the internal private address on the machine (eg 192.168.1.2). If over the Internet, then this should be the front facing IP address that you get from your ISP). Then, under Data which itself is under Connection, put the User ID into the Auto-Login Username box. Under SSH put a tick in Enable Compression, and click 2 only for the preferred protocol version. Now click connect.

If all goes to plan, you should get a dos like box with a security banner printed on it, and a prompt for your password. After entering your password you should be at a dos prompt, in your home directory. Type 'dir' and you should get a directory listing. Job done! You have securely accessed your computer.

Remote control

As promised, once you have gained access to the computer, getting remote desktop control access is far easier. Download a program called vnc (at time of writing, 4.1 was the most up to date version). Install this onto the PC you want control of. Setup your firewall to deny incoming requests to the vnc service. Finally, put the vnc client software onto your USB stick with putty.

Now, when setting up your connection to the machine using putty, navigate to Connection - SSH - Tunnels, and enter the port number 5900 under source port, and 'localhost:5900' in destination port. Then click add. When you connect and login now you can run the vnc client software from the remote machine and put in 'localhost:5900' as the destination address. When you click connect, you will be remote controlling your home PC.

If all this worked, congratulations! This has taken far longer to write than I hoped, and as such has been done over a few days. I apologise if it is incorrect, if you let me know, I'll update it accordingly.