Category Archives: Tech

A week passes

So, I’ve seen a few more films: we saw The Grudge at the flicks onWednesday: a few well signposted adrenaline rushes, the kind of nasty jump you know is coming but that makes you jump any how. It was our third choice film but everything else was sold out.

Last night was Predator, courtesy of LoveFilm. Didn’t know quite what to make of it — have always assumed it was in hardcore SF, but it seems to better fit generically speaking with army-buddy, Nam movies.

This weekend Paul’s in Cardiff visiting friends. Diary mix-ups meant I agreed to go leafleting this weekend and missed out on the trip to Wales — but did manage to be still in Nottingham when old uni friends came up for a visit. Which was nice. Paul phoned from outside the Cardiff Millennium Centre to let me hear massed voices singing Guide Me O, thou Great Redeemer. Not sure what the good people of Clover Green thought to hear their Lib Dem councillor singing a bass line into his phone whilst delivering leaflets.

I took delivery of a new computer and printer during the week; accessories should arrive on Monday. There is now a network of three computers on my desk — this has got to stop. The new computer has a problem with its network card and won’t connect at 100 speed, according to the blinky lights on my crappy router. The denizens of Cix, Out and the Acer call centre have pronounced: problem with onboard LAN. Acer want me to ship the machine back for repair, which might take 10 days. I think it might be easier to spend a couple of quid in Maplin for a new PCI NIC…

I signed up for SmartStamp despite my scathing review of it, and have been happily printing my own stamps for a few days. Paying for the privelege, of course.

This week I learned about Jainism from two sources: our new MP Parmjit Singh Gill mentioned in his maiden speech that Leicester has the only European Jain temple. Meanwhile in a conversation about dhals in cix:\gourmet, discussion on how some people didn’t like onion brought up the strict dietary habits of Jainism: eat no living thing. Including onions. Some Jains sweep the ground before them so they don’t accidentally tread on insects, and wear veils to stop flies going into their mouths. They are experts at cooking lentils.

Tony Banks has been rude about his constituents, according to a an interview on the BBC website. Their complaints are “tedious in the extreme,” he says. Dealing with the correspondence that elected representatives get is a big job. I have a small amount of experience on MEP and MP casework, and of course I get some myself as a councillor. The council queries are of course entirely up to me; but I’m glad I’ve never been the key person responsible for fielding mountains of queries for representatives at higher levels. It has however been fascinating participating in the process. It does strike me as churlish to stand for election, and then complain about the mailbag that goes with holding public office. Answering letters and helping with people’s problems is a big part of the job.

5am again

Body clock, aargh.

I’m looking for web dev programs right now. Anyone got any bright ideas? Nvu looks like it might hit the spot…

Some pointless facts to wile away the time. We haven’t had bullet points here for a few weeks.

  • I’ve redone the network in my office so that all the main machines use the same 100 speed switch. Much quicker for moving huge files around.
  • I’ve finished watching Alias series 3. I liked it, but it’s not what you might call intellectually stimulating.
  • Paul came back from the dentist exhausted. On a selfish note, I am so glad that my teeth were sorted with a brace when I was a child, and my wisdom teeth don’t need attention.
  • I’ve joined an online DVD rental scheme, lovefilm.com, courtesy of friends. Watched The Day After Tomorrow. Schmaltzy crap.
  • If you want in on the DVD rental thingy, drop me a line–both of us can get a free month that way.
  • I’ve been playing with the Royal Mail‘s SmartStamp trial software, and am coming to a similar conclusion I did last time I looked at it a few years ago. Basically, “They want a fiver a month for that pile’o’crap?!?” Yes, being able to print your own stamps has its advantages, yes, being able to use a variety of different franking logos would be fab, BUT the software is not good, and seems to rely on you paying a sub to use it, AND using expensive, strangely shaped Avery labels, or a limited range of envelope sizes. It wouldn’t be so much work to include basic Avery sizes, or custom shaped envelopes, now, would it?

West Wing

Well. I’ve just sat here and watched the two most recent episodes of the West Wing back to back. Most recent in America, that is. Very few people in the UK seem to be watching series six and it’s killing me not having anyone to talk to about it. The events that have just unfolded are storming, the most interesting things I’ve seen on WW in years — and Channel 4 is still on series 4! Argh! I shall mosey on shortly to see what TelevisionWithoutPity thinks of the most recent ones, but they were unjustifiably a little sniffy about the first two, for reasons that I have to be vague about here in case my avid readers construe my pearldrops as spoilers. TWP hits the spot more consistently with Alias, I think.

It’s perhaps not healthy being quite so involved with the senior staffers in Bartlett’s Whitehouse. I spent the first part of today in Long Eaton at a real political meeting; it would be nice if the Regional Exec fired me up as much as the West Wing does. Amongst other things, I was given the planned running schedule of some training I’ll be helping to deliver in the New Year. It’s good to get a chance to put into practice some of what I learned in London last weekend.

What I learned involved some very brief looks at NLP (but didn’t find out what kind (V/A/K) of communicator I am) and some Honey/Mumford Learning Styles work (apparently I’m a ‘top-tips’ kinda gal, a pragmatist). It was an exhausting two day course, with less than ideal chairs which meant come the end of it I was acheing to get out. Literally. Maybe my introvert side was showing through also, having to spend an entire weekend in close proximity to people with no time at all to myself, not even the evenings, since I was cadging a bed from my brother and spent the evenings catching up as best we could before he flew to Stornaway in the early hours of Sunday morning. Introvert, one part of Myers-Briggs INTP, which apparently is me. Google it yourself!

But there were some real high points to the course, and it was certainly useful. I’m strating to have flashbacks to the six months I spent delivering other people’s IT courses and wondering what I put my former students through.

A little technology update: I think I mentioned the new phone, a shiny Nokia 6230, now updated with Shell Island wallpaper and thanks to the kindness of eBay, a swanky bluetooth headset. I was discussing artwork with a PPC whilst chopping garlic last night. Seamless. Although of course reaching to click the button meant I got root vegetables in my hair–something that would not have been a problem only six months ago, but now, with my flowing golden locks, something I should take more notice of. The kind vendors of eBay have also furnished me with some killer Christmas presents, of which more later. ie after Christmas.

I’ve just downloaded a new killer ap — a POP3 client for my system tray, to bolt onto my increasingly complicated mail arrangements. It now sits there, on my permanently connected desktop, flashing in hideous colours to remind me when I should check hit ctrl-U in AMEOL and ctrl-E in Agent on my laptop. Lordy me. Right now, there are 169 mails waiting in three accounts. I’m not even going to mention the 13,000 unread messages in rec.travel.europe that I’m probably never going to read. And now is certainly not the time to do anything about the 120,174 unread messages in 93 conferences on Cix. Oh dear.

And one day, I’m going to get this office tidy enough for me to hoover it.

How could I forget the technology?

I have a new mobile phone — a Nokia 6230. After years of dicking me about, Orange acquiesced to all my demands: new phone now, better contract. Hoorah. Bluetooth here we come.

And it has a camera: this is a bit of video footage from the ringing tour. Dunno how many players there are going to be for 3gp format stuff.

My KVM idea isn’t working too well — for some reason, I just can’t get the existing keyboard and mouse to work with the docking station. Oh, well, it’s almost geekier to have two monitors on the desk, and the keyboard isn’t so very bad.

Fish

I wasn’t planning on getting more fish, I had in mind scrubbing out the aquarium for one last time and putting a small ad in the post office to flog the lot off at bargain basement prices.

However, Paul missed the flobbalob of tiny gills, and I gave in. Today the tank is filled with golden life again: five tiny goldfish and two swan mussels that seemed like a good idea at the time. Now, all I need is a wireless web cam to share our enthusiasm with you dear reader… no! enough technology now!

The KVM switch finally arrived today and I’ve been playing with that. No sign of docking station yet, however, which limits scope for using KVM somewhat.

Saw Collateral earlier in the week with the Orange 2-4-1 deal. Quite liked it. Reminded of Nicole Kidman’s comments about stopping going out with Tom Cruise meant she could wear high-heeled shoes again without worrying about being taller than him.

D’oh the technology

Fab weekend spent in Grimbsy and Cleethorpes. The Rumble Band put in a good performance and my mates danced like loons. I’m not much of a dancer, but the music was good. And two sets of friends’ parents very kindly fed us over the weekend. Lots of fun in the car both ways with some CDs of radio four classics: Sunday Format from1999, The 99p Show from goodness knows when and some Clue.

And home. Paul has choir this evening, so I’m re-routing my office in line with my plan to spend more time up here rather than elsewhere in the building. I am very pleased to have finally sorted out the network problem that has been bugging me since I wired the house. Laptop can see that desktop (which is elderly, but has 100GB on three hard disks) exists but cannot connect to it. Both are fine connecting to the internet through the router. Desktop cannot see any machines on the net. The solution is depressingly simple: add the network IP range to the Trusted Zones in ZoneAlarm firewall. But there’s a real reason why this has not occurred to me in months: since getting the router, I’ve not been running the firewall on this computer at all. It seems that its security settings apply whether or not the program is running.

Finally getting file sharing across my machines working is a godsend: I can at long last back up the mission critical stuff on my laptop, and burning CDs of work stuff no longer involves slow uploads of zip files to temporary web space before downloading them again on the machine that has the elderly 4-speed CD writer.

Since file-sharing is now on the menu again, I’ve decided to re-do the network up here. Using the wireless network really slows thing down, so I’ve dug out an un-used 24 port 10base-T hub out of my redundant technology crate and now have a wired network on my desk. I’m so proud. Flashy lights at eye-line and everything. Of course it could be so much better if it was a 100base-T switch… but I’ve managed to spend my pay in a record number of hours, and anyway, yesterday’s order at e-buyer is already closed.

If I’m spending more time up here, I’m really going to have to tidy up a bit and clear my desk. And start the five year filing backlog that has followed me through three house moves. Eep.

Alarming news on the home-brew front: the pressure barrel wasn’t quite up to the pressure generated over the weekend, and beer has been forced out of the tap. Opening the tap led to beer coming out at an unbelievable speed and foaming all over the bathroom. So, tilted it a bit so that only air was coming out and let some of the pressure out. Now the whole lot is in the cellar. I misread the instructions the first time; it now needs to sit and settle in the cold for 14 days.

Now that we’re done with 24, I’m moving on to Alias-2. But Paul is less keen so I’m watching these on my own.

Tonight’s bread is Olive Bread.

D'oh the technology

Fab weekend spent in Grimbsy and Cleethorpes. The Rumble Band put in a good performance and my mates danced like loons. I’m not much of a dancer, but the music was good. And two sets of friends’ parents very kindly fed us over the weekend. Lots of fun in the car both ways with some CDs of radio four classics: Sunday Format from1999, The 99p Show from goodness knows when and some Clue.

And home. Paul has choir this evening, so I’m re-routing my office in line with my plan to spend more time up here rather than elsewhere in the building. I am very pleased to have finally sorted out the network problem that has been bugging me since I wired the house. Laptop can see that desktop (which is elderly, but has 100GB on three hard disks) exists but cannot connect to it. Both are fine connecting to the internet through the router. Desktop cannot see any machines on the net. The solution is depressingly simple: add the network IP range to the Trusted Zones in ZoneAlarm firewall. But there’s a real reason why this has not occurred to me in months: since getting the router, I’ve not been running the firewall on this computer at all. It seems that its security settings apply whether or not the program is running.

Finally getting file sharing across my machines working is a godsend: I can at long last back up the mission critical stuff on my laptop, and burning CDs of work stuff no longer involves slow uploads of zip files to temporary web space before downloading them again on the machine that has the elderly 4-speed CD writer.

Since file-sharing is now on the menu again, I’ve decided to re-do the network up here. Using the wireless network really slows thing down, so I’ve dug out an un-used 24 port 10base-T hub out of my redundant technology crate and now have a wired network on my desk. I’m so proud. Flashy lights at eye-line and everything. Of course it could be so much better if it was a 100base-T switch… but I’ve managed to spend my pay in a record number of hours, and anyway, yesterday’s order at e-buyer is already closed.

If I’m spending more time up here, I’m really going to have to tidy up a bit and clear my desk. And start the five year filing backlog that has followed me through three house moves. Eep.

Alarming news on the home-brew front: the pressure barrel wasn’t quite up to the pressure generated over the weekend, and beer has been forced out of the tap. Opening the tap led to beer coming out at an unbelievable speed and foaming all over the bathroom. So, tilted it a bit so that only air was coming out and let some of the pressure out. Now the whole lot is in the cellar. I misread the instructions the first time; it now needs to sit and settle in the cold for 14 days.

Now that we’re done with 24, I’m moving on to Alias-2. But Paul is less keen so I’m watching these on my own.

Tonight’s bread is Olive Bread.

Wow, what a day.

First, can I just say I finally made it back to the gym yesterday evening. I’m so proud. I even managed my full 20 minutes CV stuff without completely collapsing.

However, am now at a new gym nearer my new home (I moved house in May) and all the equipment is different. I don’t recognise half the weight machines and the emphasis is much more on macho things like free weights. There isn’t even an exercise bike! So I’ll have to do another induction. And there’s a bit of lack of decent showers. Whilst the last place was filled with homely-looking men and women with grey hair, the city-centre one is filled with intimidating muscled hunks (one guy managed 30 minutes solid on the rower!). On the plus side, the same centre has a pool and a sauna, which the old one didn’t. I have now found my swimming trunks again, never lost my prescription goggles, so as soon as they fill the pool I’m back in the drink. The, er, good, healthy drink.

Spent much of today properly clearing my in-tray at the council for the first time in quite a while, then came home.

Things have been ending today. The beer has finished its initial fermentation so I decanted it into a pressure barrel for two more days of fermenting, and then it should be ready to drink. Wow. 40 pints. Like that’s not undermining the gym…

And we watched the last two episodes of 24-II. Wow. We’ve promised ourselves III for Xmas.

The last few days I’ve been having aches and pains in my back, possibly linked to the fact that I spent this week working from home, with my laptop, either on the sofa or at the dining room table, neither of which is any good ergonomically. And all this when I have a really good desk and chair in the attic room, that I just can’t drag my sorry butt up to. Paul says it’s important, and he’s right.

So after the cataclysmic events unfolding in LA (can’t help but feel that it would have been a whole lot better with Bartlett…) I came up here, and googled for port replicators for the laptop. And top of the list was something a mate recommended in his blog a day or two ago. www.laptopsuperstore.co.uk can do me the specific docking station to match my laptop for only 7 quid. Unbelievable. www.ebuyer.co.uk can sell me a KVM switch for 15 quid, so tonight, (coincidentally payday) I’m in techie heaven.

Talking of Bartlett, I have a new naff polyphonic ringtone to replace the Rasmus which has been driving people nuts. Thanks to www.free-ringtones-free-logos.com it’s now the West Wing theme. Bartlett IS President!

And here’s a cracking gay website about what to do apart from bars and clubs in London: www.gawhydontyou.com

After a councillor’s surgery in Aspley Library tomorrow, we’re off to see the Rumble Band in Cleethorpes. Yay.

Anyone mind?

I hope no-one minds, but I’ve sold my soul to Google for some adverts on and around my pages. Not because I expect them to generate any income but because I wanted to see what sorts of ads would get served up to you based on my random writings.

And on the first outing, what do I get? Homebrew and washing lines. Uncanny.

Now click, you buggers, click!

Today in bullet points

Today, I

  • got up nice and late, but before midday
  • somehow lost time until 4.30pm
  • didn’t go to the gym, which closed at 4.
  • went out to get my prescription dispensed, but couldn’t find a chemist open (despite the fact that there are 3 within walking distance)
  • went to KwikSave instead
  • bought curry ingredients and more flour. Using a lot of flour at the moment
  • baked worm cake
  • made curry (chicken and cashew nuts in bought sauce)
  • put three different sorts of bean in water to soak overnight for tomorrow’s dinner (don’t know how I’m going to cook them yet)
  • Took cake out of oven. Forgot raising agent so a little stodgy.
  • ate curry
  • stamped and labelled members’ mailing from last week whilst…
  • … watching Malcolm in the Middle episodes
  • lost more time. Paul went dancing, and suddenly it was 10pm.
  • tinkered with computer: installed SpamPal to replace current system of SMB and deleting by hand. But no real spam to test it against yet.
  • tinkered with websites. Looked to see what www.leicester-libdems.org.uk needs doing, and put it off til the week when I can talk to colleagues whilst updating
  • tried to work out what to do with my shiny new g-mail account, courtesy Matt Helmsley, who just spontaneously invited me last week. Signed myself up to my own joke list. Hmmm…
  • had another look at the mother of all doodles: From Heaven To Hell by NobbyNobody

And it seemed like I’d done so little today!