The urban diary of an urbane gentleman.

A weekend and a half..........

2012-01-31T09:02:00.000Z

In both meanings.

Hazel and I took the Monday off as well this weekend in order to help with the move - which is due next weekend. Don't ask! In addition, Sal was down for the weekend and was due to return to London on Sunday morning by train. Except that she had booked for Saturday morning by mistake and lost her money. What to do? Well, she decided to quickly book a Mega-bus ticket from Exeter to London and if we took her to Exeter she would be in time to catch it. Well I managed to just get her to the bus station in Exeter before her bus left. But! Although she and Hazel walked past it several times, they missed the window sticker that stated it was a hired bus and not a branded one. So we now have to drive to St Davids station in time to book and catch the next train to London. And then drive back to Plymouth.

It's getting better......

2012-01-27T08:37:00.002Z

Lulu's appetite, that is. Upon enquiry yesterday she was able to admit to quite a few edible items that had slid down over the previous 24 hours. On the mend then!

From the good, so to the bad.

2012-01-26T12:52:00.000Z

I started this week on a high as far as work was concerned. Plenty of logs closed and feeling very satisfied. By today, I am bogged down in a long and complicated problem involving transatlantic VPN links and Firewalls with a MS security update on the side. There are other problematic PCs out there but this one is the biggest pain. On the home front, Lulu is feeling a lot better but only a lot better than dead girl walking which was where she stood last weekend. They have the flat from next Monday and it's not a good time for Lulu to be sick so Ian will be knocking himself out to get everything moved over the weekend.

Living in 'Interesting Times'.

2012-01-23T10:07:00.000Z

Old Chinese curse, brought up to date by Sir Terry Pratchet.

Lulu still not 100% so Hazel and I looked after the grandchildren for most of the weekend. It was a lot of fun and I think they had a good time as well but very tiring and a certain amount of worry about Lulu as well made for a stressful time. Almost glad to be back at work. Denise dropped in on Saturday to collect her Wifi and see Cocky. He was glad to see her but not particularly concerned when she left and hasn't shown any signs of being upset.

Sorted!

2012-01-17T08:59:00.000Z

Not only did I sort out the security on a friends WiFi but I also sorted my struggle with the syntax of the GLCD display yesterday. I went to bed feeling very clever, that'll soon pass, and quite satisfied.

I have also worked out a plan of campaign to persuade the bunny to allow me to pet him. When I give him his treat twice a day, I am tickling him under his chin with my finger whilst simultaneously holding on to the treat for a fraction of a second longer. He is beginning to accept this as normal so I will continue by extending the times very slowly. Cocky had his beak put out a bit yesterday evening as Titch made a nest on me for most of the time I was watching television. The cats and the cockatoo all remain very jealous of each other.

Cups and suchlike

2012-01-16T08:57:00.001Z

running over.

The appointment did arrive and was only two weeks after where it was supposed to be. This, despite the delay, is something of a high score when dealing with the NHS.

I played with the sketches for the display a bit over the weekend but found that lcd functions don't work with glcd hardware..sigh!

Self inflicted wounds?

2012-01-12T12:15:00.003Z

At ten pm yesterday, I took some bits up to the attic and decided to have another go at the Arduino (more about that in the blog). At midnight, I got to bed. Fortunately, I had an easy start this morning so I am feeling more mellow than I deserve to. I must make a note not to do that again!
This morning, I phoned the Royal Eye Infirmary to make my next appointment and was very pleasantly surprised by the helpful nature of the young lady I spoke to. My record with them is not good, as they have lost my papers so many times in the past and, at one point, I was out of the loop for several years with the wrong medication. All I need now is for the letter to arrive with the correct date etc. and my cup will overflow.

Some days are just good.

2012-01-09T16:39:00.002Z

An excellent days work, even if I do say so myself. Five logs down and all for today, not closing from last week. I also had a good result yesterday with the display panel I am playing with on the Arduino. On a bit of a roll maybe, wait for the fall!

No pain, no gain.

2012-01-05T12:09:00.000Z

And what I should like to know is, "When does the gain begin"? I am still getting pain from my sinuses and, so far, have yet to see any gain from it. Life is not fair! The second box of bits arrived this morning and very good it is too. I now have enough to pursue some fairly complicated designs from the basic learning package for Arduino. I have joined forces with a colleague to administer the Arduino blog as we both have lots of links and things to write about.

Back to normal

2012-01-04T15:13:00.003Z

Well, I'm getting back into the swing of things again now. I managed several jobs yesterday and have done even more today so life is settling back to a comfortable routine of work and leisure. At home, I'm having a lot of fun playing with my new toys, the Arduino kit, and interacting with all the animals again. Titch is very happy now I'm back and tries to spend a large part of the evening snoring on my lap or chest. Cocky just wants a lot of love and Rodney has been so bold as to lick me on one occasion. Life is good.

Another year over

2012-01-03T11:12:00.001Z

and deeper in debt.

Well, maybe not quite that bad but things got a bit tight towards the end of last year. We ended up paying other peoples bills on an almost weekly basis. As we had been in these various predicaments ourselves in the past, it was really the only thing we could do. Life for most of our family has now settled quite well and the rest will follow shortly so we are now looking at upping our mortgage payments yet again in order to clear as much as possible while the low rates last.

My own particular cross, over the Christmas, was to have some serious sinus problems which caused me intense pain. Suffice it to say that I was on pain killers until New Years Eve. Not a particularly merry Christmas.
On a lighter note, I have begun a new blog around the Arduino open source hardware and software control system. The link has been added to my personal blogs, below left, and is this

I don't believe it!

2011-12-15T16:26:00.000Z

Well I do, of course, because it's just happened to me. A state of the art HP box suitable for server duty with some serious RAID possibilities has just been misbehaving because of the floppy drive. Why they wanted a floppy in it in the first place is unknown but that's the way it was purchased. Suddenly it keeps flagging disc errors with almost every click on the mouse. I re-installed all the drivers and did the usual checks and, then when I was out of ideas, I remembered having seen something similar once before. I put a disc in the drive and, lo, there was an awakening. Simply switching the dam' thing off in Windows was enough to stop the problem but, after consultation with the long suffering technical officer, I also switched it off in the BIOS. Everybody happy and a feather etc.

Red nose day?

2011-12-14T13:37:00.000Z

It feels like it today. I have had a running nose for two days now and my shnoz is beginning to feel the strain. The strange thing is that I don't feel particularly unwell. I think, and hope, that this is simply the end of the two bad bouts of cold that followed my flu jab. I wasn't able to clear either lungs or sinuses from them and now I am losing from both. Work progresses well, with the usual 'Two steps forward and one back' routine. Today I found a reason why a particular error message was constantly popping up on a PC. After I ran the fix, install dot net framework 2, the problem was still there. Upon checking with Microsoft, it appears that to fully effect the fix, I need to install another two or three updates as well.Lovely!

The post with no name.

2011-12-12T14:26:00.000Z

An interesting week once again. Samuel was with us Friday and Saturday apart from a few hours with his dad Saturday afternoon. He was offered the chance of a special Christmas (other) family meal on Sunday and, like any six year old with a big appetite, went for it. By Sunday evening I was, once again, thick with a cold. This is getting beyond a joke now, I went for years with very few colds and this year, as soon as I had my flu jab, I seem to have had a permanent cold. Strangely, although I still felt bad, this morning I have had no thick head or throbbing headache so I have been able to come to work. Hazel has been having some nasty problems as a result of her medication so, this morning, it was decided to change her over to the injectable version of the drug that causes the problem. This probably means the I will have to give it to her as she is a little squeamish about these things. So am I but I don't let it stop me when it comes to her health.

Oooer missus!

2011-12-09T08:58:00.001Z

I finally remembered to take the HDMI cable home yesterday and, wow! Very impressive. The sound is as I had hoped, much better than on any other still camera I have used before.
I have just spent the best part of eight hours trying to do something, anything, with an Access database. No matter what I tried, there was no way it would allow the PC I was working on to access it with Office 2010 installed even with Access 2007 installed as well and using that to access it. So, eventually, I removed all of the new stuff and reverted to the old Office 2007. It not only doesn't work, still, it has now corrupted and no-one can access it. So I came back to the office with a heavy heart and asked our Access expert to take a look. His conclusions were that it should never have worked in the first place. The 2007 parts were, in their turn, accessing some old '97 files. In addition, all of the usual methods of back door entry for maintenance had been deliberately switched off inside the code to discourage anyone but the original writer from looking at it. The man is a total wazuk! The final 30 minutes or so were much more pleasant, recreating a poster for the uni sailing club.

I love my camera!

2011-12-08T12:11:00.001Z

If you knew how long it has taken me to create this version of the post..................

The basic system cannot fit five pictures in one line even though there might be room for them so I have altered the HTML slightly.

I went mad with the camera the evening before last and took about 90 shots of the animals. I'm particularly pleased with the pictures of Fluff as it has been almost impossible to get a decent shot of a black and fluffy cat until now. Cocky has a new game, where he sticks his head in the bag and roots around cracking shells until he runs out of breath. Rodney has now trained me to give him a treat every evening when I go in to say goodnight and this is him, expecting it............

All pictures were taken in available light.

The meaning of words

2011-12-06T16:44:00.001Z

The word adobe is Spanish and refers to a building material that is, to put it politely, organic mud..............

I have just spent two hours removing CS4 and installing CS5 and, believe me, I can really relate to the meaning of Adobe.

I had some fun yesterday with Cocky. I set up my new camera and attempted to take a close up of the birdie. He was so intrigued with the lens that he stuck his head inside the lens hood. It made for a fascinating picture.

English as she is spoken. 3

2011-12-06T08:59:00.001Z

You know, I just find it very, you know, difficult to express myself without, you know, indulging in adding extra, you know, expressions into my speech, you know.

You may feel that I have exaggerated the problem in that sentence above but the truth is that I have counted the recurrence of those words as spoken by people being interviewed on television lately and most of them were much worse. I remember when the newsroom of the radio station I worked for began to change over from tape editing to computer based editing and my job was to convince the editor that it was quicker and better quality. We each took an interview and began to remove all the 'ums' and 'aahs' and 'you knows' and within about three minutes, I had done the job. Malcolm had only reached his third cut. He was convinced.

A quiet weekend

2011-12-05T13:34:00.001Z

For the first time in months, a nice gentle couple of days. We spent Saturday poodling about getting some bits and pieces of shopping for next week and Christmas and on Sunday, I finally managed to persuade Hazel to start driving again. She did very well and has a lot more confidence now she has driven the new car. Today, she drove us in to the office and, once again, did very well. My camera arrived this morning and, "Oh boy!" it's even better than I was expecting. It obviously has all of the features it is advertised as having but it's difficult to see just how good the 16 mega-pixel resolution is until it's right in front of you. Also, the video is much better than expected as the camera has two proper microphones for stereo recording and can be switched between several different resolutions for different uses. The other big surprise was just how good the panorama setting is. Even sitting in a swivel chair and panning around in it produced some very acceptable results.

This is our office. The distance between the monitors on the left and the right of the picture is about 15 feet (5 metres).

On a roll?

2011-12-02T15:04:00.001Z

Yesterday was great and I came in today all fired up and have finally cracked my long standing struggle with the laptop loans database. Based, in part, on my learning experience yesterday and then built on with what I have learnt over the past couple of months, I have now constructed a very usable database system with a gantt chart attached for visual checking purposes. As all of this was built via SharePoint, I didn't have to get my hands dirty with Access at all and it's all the better for that.

Hazel and I decided yesterday that I could buy the Fuji HS20 camera I so much want so I have now ordered one from Amazon. It should be here on Monday.

I've started so...........

2011-12-01T13:21:00.001Z

I'll finish.

Off with a bang this morning, three logs down in one, long, visit. Another at two that might kill two more. We shall see.
An amazing day, seven logs completed and the last one was for a SharePoint web part that I managed to create and implement myself. Gosh but I'm proud.

Some days, you just can't win.

2011-11-30T16:50:00.001Z

Today, I have done really well. I have cleared three logs and set up visits for the rest of the week as well as sending out termination emails for logs that should be closed. Busy, busy day in fact. So how come when I find I have a log relating to Word, which I not only hate but don't know the first thing about either, everyone has partaken of the wee wee? In the traditional manner of my office, I have had a day of references to obscure and obsolete word processors.

English as she is spoken. 2

2011-11-29T09:00:00.001Z

Well, at least one person agrees with me in principle about my rants over what has and is being done to the language, thanks Russ.

I don't want to give the idea that I am against all changes though. Many people are not aware, for example, that quite a few words and phrases that we think of as 'Americanisms' are invented by them and therefore wrong. This is not always true. Our cousins have a language that split from ours three to four hundred years ago and, in many ways, is purer than our version of the language. It may sound strange, but it isn't wrong. There are also many regional anomalies that crop up all the time that we should be able to absorb with little complaint. I would also include the curious dichotomy of the correct pronunciation of the letter 'H' as, at least, understandable. The correct way is 'aitch' but many people have difficulty with this and say 'haitch' with a strong emphasis on the leading 'h'. This is wrong but I am prepared to live with it because these people would probably find it nearly impossible to change. However, what I find extremely annoying is the voice-over talent on a certain digital channel who is using both versions in one trailer. The man is a pilloch!

Roll on 10. o'clock.

2011-11-29T08:38:00.001Z

Not this morning, tonight. That's when I get back into bed. I've been up for over an hour now and feel the need to return. I'm not quite sure what is going on but it feels like a hibernation wish to me. I found out yesterday that Sal has ordered mega stuff from 'The Book People' and sent it to her Plymouth address by mistake. This means, of course, that dear old dad will have to organise collection of said boxes from the courier company as they won't be able to deliver during the day. Cocky has settled again after his nibble at Hazel on Sunday and is taking nuts from my fingers again. He, either accidentally or deliberately, managed to make her finger bleed like a stuck pig when she pulled away from him after trying to give him a peanut. I'm not sure who was most upset but I dare not say that to Hazel...........

English as she is spoken. 1

2011-11-25T10:48:00.001Z

Over the past few years, I have become very disenchanted with the way we in the UK are killing our own spoken language. When I was at school, many years ago, we were taught how to pronounce words and string them together to make a meaningful sentence. Over the years, I used these simple rules and seemed to get along fine with most of the population speaking in the same manner. However, about twenty years ago there seems to have been a breakdown in teaching that has produced the appalling use of language we are now being subjected to.

Top of my hit list is the use of the word 'Absolutely'. I asked my sister-in-law what she thought it meant and she explained to me as though I were a child that it was another word for 'Yes'. "So why not just say yes" I queried. "I don't know" was the answer. To clarify, 'Absolutely' does not and never has had any connection with an affirmative statement. It is an adverb and means 'in an absolute manner, esp completely or perfectly''. My fellow Brits have corrupted it and now it even appears in dictionaries as an alternative to 'Yes'. Why not just say yes?

That's it for this post but expect more to come.

I must be getting better........

2011-11-25T10:33:00.001Z

Because, this morning, I actually wanted to wake up and get out of bed. I spent the final hour at work yesterday with some serious sleepiness and when I got home, slept for an hour and a half. I then felt much better on waking. and went to bed feeling better. Young Titch managed to get to my keyboard at some point yesterday and managed to do things I didn't even know were possible. It took me longer to get everything back to normal than I suspect it took her to trash everything.

I decided yesterday that, although I have forsworn the contentious blogging that others seem to do so much of, I must begin a thread to try to protect the English language that I was taught at school and still try very hard to use. So be warned, there may be a few sparks flying here soon. All these posts will be under the same title in order that you may skip them if you so wish.

Urrrrrrgle!

2011-11-23T15:11:00.001Z

Well, I made it back to work this morning after three days of blocked tubes and slime. When I woke this morning, I really wanted to get back to the office and the feeling didn't wear off until about an hour after I arrived. Despite that, I have managed to function well today until about half an hour ago when, suddenly, I had a major headache.

Aaaaaaaaargh!

2011-11-17T14:47:00.001Z

I have spent several hours, on and off, putting together a tool in SharePoint for us to use whilst loaning hardware. By yesterday evening, I had a very rough, but working, system. Today I began refining it in preparation to building a complete new version on a different area. Slowly and inexorably, it began to fall apart. I kept putting it back together again but it was like trying to stuff a family of kittens into a small sack. I stopped and tried to build the new version and, although working, parts of that are missing too. I have obviously forgotten a step that I did correctly the first time around. Until now, this was a good day, Hazel and I both had good INR results and don't have to have another test until after Christmas and I have finally got my prescription back to normal with a repeat every two months on all items.

Busy, busy, busy.

2011-11-16T10:03:00.001Z

After a very productive day at work, I spent yesterday evening sorting out the problems with the vehicles. The Simoniz pen works a treat and it has really covered the scratch well with very little sign of it ever having been there. The graffiti, I treated with a hot soapy wash to remove the surface dirt and top layer from the spirit pen marks. Then I went over it all with T-Cut which has removed the lower layer of spirit pen and made the paintwork white again. When I checked this morning, there were still a few spots I had missed but they should be easy to remove in daylight at the weekend.

Cocky had a ball yesterday. He felt bold enough to leave his cage and ride around on my shoulder. Unfortunately, he had not realised just how difficult it would be to get back into the cage when he had finished his fun. It can get very tiring having a cockatoo on your shoulder and / or wrist for a long period. The bunster was equally busy when I went in to clean his toilet out and sniffed me all over. Not surprisingly, we went to bed early.

Happy bunny - happy birdy.

2011-11-15T10:17:00.001Z

The bun appears to have recovered well from his unintentional drought, he is now back in his usual routine and scoffing for England again. I must remember to not only clean out his toilet but also the rest of his hutch and playpen tonight so that he has a nice clean area again. The bird is having a wonderful time now he has remembered me again. Yesterday evening, I removed the top of his cage and he spent the evening in the lounge with me watching TV and being tickled. He also ended up having a lot of small food type treats as the evening progressed. By bed time, he was one very happy cockatoo. At this rate, he won't want to go home.

Strike two...................

2011-11-14T13:26:00.001Z

Difficult to believe though it may be, both our vehicles appear to have been vandalised over the weekend. The Soul has a scratch in it's brand new paint and the Merc has been 'tagged' by a spray can artist. The scratch will probably be fairly easy to cover, I have ordered a Simoniz cover stick that should arrive tomorrow. The tag may come off easily as the van was pretty mucky to start with so it probably got sprayed on a greasy surface. I suspect some T-Cut will do that job.

What do you write about when nothing happens?

2011-11-10T11:53:00.001Z

I could write something contentious and try to whip up interest............No, not my style.

I could write a short story about a bunny............................................Not me.

I could just fill the window with pictures and photos............................Nah!

I could just witter on about nothing at all and bore everyone stupid......Tempting.

I could compose a list of things to do and reject them all......................Suits me!

Continuing fair.

2011-11-09T12:48:00.000Z

Weather forecast.

The brush supplier has now replied to my message as well, apologising for a faulty delivery and hoping to do more business with me. I probably will. Ian and Lulu will have moved by now, I just hope all goes well in the new place. I know it's still only temporary but it could be for a long time so let's hope they get somewhere permanent soon. Hazel is off for one of her many Christmas lunches today. I got the runner up prize of a packed lunch made by her fair hand.

When in Rome....

2011-11-08T17:05:00.000Z

Well, I got a reply to my carefully crafted email to the ebay seller who sent me too much. He is of a foreign persuasion and ignored my words to ask what the problem was and could I forward a photograph of the damaged goods????? So I said not to worry, I would sort it out myself and give him excellent feedback. This I did and, lo, he has also done this for me. It's been quite a good week so far. Today we heard that Ian and Lulu are being moved to a proper flat. Not a permanent one but much better than currently. I had a busy afternoon struggling with a virtual application that wouldn't work due to a previous one not being completely removed due to.etc, etc. I just went in mob handed, killed the old stuff dead and re-installed a non virtual version so the poor chap could work again.

I can see clearly now,

2011-11-07T16:34:00.001Z

Image by B_Zedan via Flickr

My new lens has arrived.

My latest acquisition is a large lens on a headband with clip in extra lenses for even closer viewing. It's great, I can actually see things without squinting. My new brushes have also come. I found a supplier of very small - #000 - brushes suited to painting on finger nails and bought a couple of sets. They also look terrific. The supplier made a mistake and sent me someone else's order as well and I will be buying that too as it's a set of coloured varnishes that may well be perfect for my models. We shall see.

Too much can be a bad thing

2011-11-04T11:45:00.000Z

Especially when it's magnification.

I have a hobby, I build and paint small, 32 centimetre, figures. As a Discworld fan it seemed a good idea to work on characters from that series. So I bought two witches, Granny and Nanny, and some brushes and paint and started work. All was fine but I soon realised that my eyesight wasn't up to the fine detail. So I bought a magnifying lens and tried again, not good enough. Next, I purchased, from China, a special loupe that has a 20X magnification, very good but just too powerful for anything except very, very fine detail. So, back to ebay and I now await a set of wrap-around lenses that can be mixed and matched for up to 5.5X magnification and a set of incredibly tiny brushes normally used to paint artwork on finger nails. I should add that none of this was expensive. In fact most of it was stupidly inexpensive, the big drawback has been the time taken to reach this point.

I have just heard that my clever daughter has secured the job she went after. She is now the staff manager for a training company in Hampstead. Already, she is wanting to spend money. A printer / scanner seems to be first on the list.

Is somebody reading my blog?

2011-11-03T08:53:00.000Z

After yesterdays catalogue of things that are just wrong with the road works around my home, I have to report that the main areas of complaint seem to have been addressed. The sign-age has been changed to all show the correct instructions at last and we no longer have a police presence stopping almost every car. The awkward layout for locals will always be there but at least, without the bluebottle bottleneck, we were able to slide through with no problem this morning. So, "Thank you", whoever it was sorted it out.

By the way, my friend Fred thinks it should be 'Pea soup' and not 'Booze up' in yesterdays posting. At least, I think that's what he said......................

New roads.........................Pah!

2011-11-02T14:44:00.000Z

For nearly twelve months we have had major road works taking place here in the east end of Plymouth. They promised us a quieter life and much improved local access as a result of the new road layout being built. They promised us a better gas supply as a result of the gas works. They neglected to promise us chaos as a result of the whole lot being done simultaneously. "Never mind", we thought, "it will end soon and all will be calm and we will have improved local access". Not so as you would notice. The new road layout began yesterday with traffic backed up everywhere. The police had two men speaking to every single driver that drove down Embankment Road and that really helped.......NOT! The new bus lane is, obviously, on the left side of the road but splits at the fork where Embankment Road joins Laira Bridge Road with bus lanes in both directions. This is fine for cars going in the Plymstock direction via Laira Bridge Road. Those of us who have no option but to use the Embankment Road side before turning left in order to reverse our direction now find ourselves squashed between the buses turning right and the cars turning right with no other choice but to stop dead in our tracks. And the police were back again this morning................... And our street was one way west to east and was due to be changed last Friday east to west. This didn't happen and yesterday we had people coming at us from all angles. Today, I checked the sign-age in the street and we have, possibly, the smallest stop sign I have ever seen, and only on the one side of the road. Of the internal signs, one is correct and the other still points in the original direction. The new entry sign appears to allow two way traffic and none of the original road markings have been deleted. The expression, "Booze up in a brewery" springs readily to the lips. Or something like that anyway.

Some days, things just work out..

2011-11-01T13:21:00.002Z

My intention, today, was to spend a lot of time sorting and reducing the logs I inherited as a consequence of the move to Office 2010. Well, the first thing that happened was I picked up a log that took nearly an hour to research and then seemed very simple to fix - I hate it when it looks easy and it took all that time to find and make look easy. Then I took an urgent call to check out a PC which may or may not have had a dead power supply. Went to the building, climbed two flights of narrow stairs, panted a lot and said "Yes that is a dead power supply" before heading back to the office to call in the engineer. Eventually, I was able to sit down and compose my clever email to check on the state of the Office 2010 moves. Once sent, I had lunch and then the replies began to arrive. And lo, most of the problems have magically sorted themselves out and gone away.

Sometimes things just work.

The lost week

2011-10-31T12:40:00.002Z

Well, a whole ten days without turning up at the office and I feel worse for it. When I left on the Friday, I had my ankle still playing me up and my hip going into spasm on a regular basis. By the Sunday, the ankle was a bit better and so was the hip. On Tuesday the ankle was almost gone and the hip was obviously going to get there as well. On Wednesday we went to visit friends who live on a boat and the walk and climb was a struggle but we made it, there and back. On Thursday, our cockateil fell off the perch and had to be given a decent burial in the rubbish bin. By Saturday, I was trotting to the boys room a lot, eight times in fact, with a severe case of the runny squirts. I took to my bed for most of the day, mainly because it's next to the bathroom. By Sunday I was a bit better and today I am back at work and somewhat glad to be so.

Today is not a good day to buy a hard drive for your PC due to the floods in Thailand. Eggs in one basket springs to mind................

This is not Feathers, this is an anonymous male photographed by Dan. RIP Feathers

Aaaaaaah, Soul

2011-10-21T12:06:00.000+01:00

We picked up the new car this morning and reality hit me as I put our things in the boot. This is just too easy! I have never before experienced the thrill of owning a new car, or any car, with so little hassle. I know that, strictly speaking, the car belongs to Hazel, not me, but I am the driver and the feeling is awesome.

I spent my lunch break going through the handbook whilst sitting in the car and managed to set up the Bluetooth system for my phone. I have never used a voice recognition system that is so easy to use and works so well. The next thing I do will be to set up Hazels phone as well. Even the radio is simple to tune. I do realise that there is a fair chance that all modern cars have equally good electronics but this is the first time I have used this stuff myself and I was impressed.

Finding her feet........

2011-10-20T14:01:00.000+01:00

is our Sal. She signed on with an agency on Tuesday and has an interview for a full time job today so fingers crossed. We have done a bit of video chatting using ooVoo and, as all worked well, I will be moving some kit into the kitchen in order that Hazel can talk to her. Yesterday was bad, Hazel had so much pain I had to stay home as well to look after her. It's awkward because I like being with her and looking after her but, all the time, I am thinking I should be at work. Yesterday has come out of my leave so no real problems but I wonder what will happen when I run out of leave?

A new lifestyle

2011-10-18T15:32:00.003+01:00

Sal has arrived and is settled in. We had a fairly tearful phone conversation last evening but she is much better off than most young people looking for a job in London so she will be fine. I have been looking around her neighbourhood courtesy of Google Earth and I am very impressed. Just a casual look reveales so many intriguing places to see and all within a short walk. The temptation is great to visit and spend days just taking photographs.

One more time......................

2011-10-17T10:50:00.003+01:00

Another weekend come and gone, we only saw Samuel for a brief time as he had been naughty and was sent home early. As I was not having a very good weekend anyway, this came as a bit of a blow to me. We learnt on Friday that the new car will be ready for us to collect this coming Friday morning so Hazel is really looking forward to that. I am seeing it as yet another step closer to losing our camper. On Sunday, I made pasties and these were the best yet. I got everything just right and they turned out a treat. Perfect appearance, perfectly cooked and great taste. I must get around to writing down the recipe soon because I suspect very few people outside Cornwall and South Devon, apart from Russ of course, will have ever eaten a real pasty like these.

On Friday, I received my Kindle copy of the latest 'Discworld' novel, "Snuff". By Sunday, I had finished it and put it back in the archive so I could assign it to Sally. She will, undoubtedly, begin it tonight.

If I was reviewing "Snuff", I would say that it's a fascinating story with mainly well known characters in a very new situation. It knocked me off balance for the first few pages until I got into the rhythm of the story. As usual, Sir Terry manages to imbue the story with morals and themes based on our world but subtly changed to a Discworld perspective. Guess who the Goblins are? Despite my first impression, this may well become one of my favourites.

Image via Wikipedia

Sal is off today to begin living in London. She has a flat share in Soho and, although she has no job yet, she has enough money to stay for up to six weeks looking for one.

Defying logic

2011-10-14T12:33:00.003+01:00

Yesterday, I told of the painful patch on my left leg. I have just discovered it seems to be getting better..........

This probably has nothing to do with the research I have just finished on our university implementation of SharePoint 2010. I have spent a few hours over the last couple of days testing how the 'Alert' option works within the Tulip and Scolar system. In short, it's, as always, very logical (For a given definition of logical) and seems to do what it wants to do. What it doesn't do is what the users want it to do. I can understand why but I can also understand the users frustration when it doesn't do what they expect. However, thanks to my research, at least I now know the limitations and strong points of it.

Let's get medical

2011-10-13T11:50:00.001+01:00

This is a bit like the old joke about the chap who went to the doctor and asked about a pain in his hand. "Does it hurt there?" he was asked, "Yes", "Does it click if I move your finger like this?", Yes", "That's funny, I have exactly the same symptoms, I wonder what we have wrong with us".

So, I have a very tender area of skin on my left leg, just below the knee and slightly to the outer side. Not very big and no outward signs or redness but extremely painful when rubbed or put under pressure. I have just looked on the Internet for any conclusions and found dozens of people with almost exactly the same problem. Many have been to their doctor only to be told that they, the doctor, have no idea what it is. It could be stress or something viral, shingles maybe but no one has an answer yet. Good, innit?

Maybe, possibly.............

2011-10-12T14:48:00.002+01:00

The eagle eyed amongst you may have spotted a small change to yesterdays post. It seems I didn't get the full story until late yesterday so I was happy to set the record straight this morning. The second and, hopefully, last box of books from The Book People has now arrived. More Christmas presents for lucky boys and girls.

Hazel off to the specialist this afternoon and Sally with her. Sal didn't get the job she interviewed for last week so when she returns to London at the weekend, she will be job hunting in earnest.
I had a phone call yesterday from my old friend Bob. He has moved from his old address after goodness knows how many years and is now living just around the corner -ish from me in the Barbican area.. We plan a get together soon.

And wait................

2011-10-11T15:00:00.001+01:00

Well we got a reply of sorts about the car but not until today. and Sally isn't due to hear about the job until today either. But we had a good time with Corey anyway. Yesterday, they told us they couldn't get the car very quickly but they would let us know this morning. And so they did. According to the distributors, there were two silver diesel automatics available in six weeks and nothing before. So Hazel said a reluctant "Yes" to one of them. Five minutes later they call back, the distributor has sold them. At this point, our sales lady got a bit bolshie and told Hazel she would sort the distributor out good and proper. She went to her boss and told him how desperately Hazel needed the car and he then rang the distributor and, lo, he managed to find another dealer with a red model and hopes to have it by the end of the month.

Fait accompli

2011-10-10T12:32:00.000+01:00

We went for our flu jabs at nine on Saturday, intending to go straight on to do our weekly shop. Well we detoured a trifle and went to the Kia garage at Brixton in between. We checked out the Soul and found it to be a very nice car with much better access than any other we have looked at. After shopping for the week, we took it home only to discover the letter of acceptance for Hazels disability living allowance had arrived. So she rang around the two branches of Rodgers to find out the exact situation and, to cut this off at the neck, we went back to Brixton and ordered the Soul2 diesel automatic in red. We even got a test drive in exactly the same model and we loved it.

In the meantime, Sal was travelling back from London to pack her things and go back to London where she is sharing a flat and may even have a job by now. Ians birthday today and we are looking after Corey so his parents can go out for the evening and have a quiet meal together.

As one door closes...................

2011-10-07T15:50:00.003+01:00

Image via Wikipedia

We are waiting for a decision from the powers that be about whether Hazel qualifies for the Disability Living Allowance. We had our eyes on a very nice Hyundai i30 5 door diesel automatic. Sadly, the new prices for 2011 - 2012 have placed it out of our range now. The i20 is still OK but it is quite a bit smaller and we are both quite tall and need good leg room. So I have been looking at the other cars again with particular interest in the new ones. When I was looking before, I was impressed by the Kia range but they didn't come into our price range for the size we needed at the time. There is now, however, a new Kia available which looks a much better proposition, The Soul. This looks very nice indeed and has a lot of headroom by the looks of it. It ticks the same boxes as the i30 and also fits the original parameters we were looking at. We need to have a look at it but, so far it may be our best option.

Traumatic fun?

2011-10-06T16:44:00.002+01:00

Just spent a difficult couple of hours looking at yet another SharePoint problem. The customer wanted to have a particular display style for her 'Announcements' web part. Easy peasy.............not. Every time I changed it to the way she wanted it to be, the whole darn page re-positioned itself. So I got the boss involved and it did it for him as well. Eventually we came to the conclusion that it was one of the site graphics causing the problem, shifted it and lo it all worked properly. When I contacted the customer, she expressed joy and said, "I always thought there was something funny about those pictures, they didn't work properly for me either.....".

Things to come

2011-10-03T15:44:00.001+01:00

A pleasant weekend with the children again. We had Samuel and Keane on Friday evening and Saturday morning. Then just Samuel until the evening and also the following morning. Sally went off to Lunnon on Sunday and dropped into a bar to hand over a CV and landed a trial out of it so she may be ok there. The final hearing of the court case today, all ended well. We should be able to start work on the house within the next couple of weeks with luck. I wasn't there but the judge was, apparently, very helpful to all concerned and made sure all parties were happy with his time scale. Now, our main worry is that Ian and Lulu get a reasonable home to move into whilst we work the oracle on their old one. The whole job may take as long as ten years but, eventually, it will be theirs again.

The last of series Dr Who on Saturday was pretty good and there looks to be a good show starting on Sky1 this evening, "Terra Nova" is produced by Spielberg so it should be pretty good. It's claimed to be the most expensive TV series ever so I expect to see the money on screen.

"Kof Kof!"

2011-09-30T10:35:00.000+01:00

A week of unalloyed pleasure, not! Sunday and Monday with a fever - not pleasant on a hot day - and Tuesday sleeping it off while turning into a chesty cough. The cough is still with me and seems likely to continue until the end of the weekend. I have, however, managed to clear a fair few logs this week so my averages are up to normal again. I also managed to begin my Christmas shopping and have already procured four presents with plans for three more.

Hazel has been pretty good until this morning and is even beginning to pick up again now. She is still changing her drug levels though so nothing is safe yet. Like me, most of her medications are not intended to be taken with any of the others. Dispensers cringe when we walk in to the shop.

but looks as though she might!

2011-09-23T12:02:00.003+01:00

Thanks Max, always one of my favourites.

It's been a busy day already with several major jobs finished and packed away. My eye is still a bit painful but much better than yesterday so I live in hopes of tomorrow. Hazel was good again this morning, if only we could find out what causes either the good or the bad days we could do something about her pain. I had the unusual pleasure this morning of sitting in an office with a good view over the main campus and watching the university wake up. It was fascinating to see how the various groups arrived and began their day. The workmen from the building site first, then the staff of the union shop followed by huge swathes of school children on guided tours and, eventually, a few bleary eyed students.

Is the girl who says she never does.....................

2011-09-22T14:42:00.004+01:00

One more day!

It's sad really, I'm getting more fun out of the poem than I am from anything else at the moment. Hazel was not well this morning and, due to changing my eye drops, I have been in some pain as well. Not the greatest day of our lives. The final roofing project is just brilliant though, I was moved to say that it looked beautiful. It's a very light grey and just stunning as a very large area. Once the cats get at it, however, it will quickly turn to dark brown spots. The job yesterday was tiring but ultimately satisfying until I checked one of the modules this morning. I then began to notice just how much was missing from the front page. I tried to pull it back but gave up and have handed the mess to the web team.

And I think you'll say I'm right.....

2011-09-21T15:36:00.000+01:00

It's coming.............

I have just spent about half a day correcting a mistake made by one of our lecturers on a module site. The thing that really got to me is not that she made the mistake but that the software was not protected so that she couldn't do it. When a site is created for a module site, a few very important parts of it are coded into it. These parts are not always where the new owners of the site want them but, as they don't work anywhere else, tough! Until they try to move them..................... Then the small cuddly bear hits the windmill. The parts can not only be moved, they can be cut and pasted. This makes them totally useless immediately. Well done guys, instantly useless web site. Even after we worked out how it had happened, we had to work out how to reinstate the code in such a way that it worked and didn't interfere with any of the code still in place. This took a lot of thought and clenched buttocks to test it out. Fortunately, we got it right and were able to document the whole sorry mess in case, or when, it happens again. There must be some way of stopping access to this code, surely?

But the girl I like the best.....

2011-09-20T14:38:00.001+01:00

Still Maxey.

Well, what a turn up for the books, Hazel felt better this morning and is much more comfortable at present, let's hope this is a trend. I managed to clear more than ten logs this morning thanks to a run of logs in the same area and my list is now looking more manageable at last. Also, Hazels doctor completed her various official forms for insurance and DLA this morning so she is now just waiting for money in one case and an allowance in the other. If she gets the allowance, then we will use it to get a car and then, sadly, sell janis.

I hate the girl who says she will and then she says she won't......

2011-09-19T13:42:00.000+01:00

Third line.
An interesting weekend, a lot done but not much to show for it.

I went through the house and re-batteried all the clocks and also moved some around for better sightlines. I now have the very elegant clock with Roman numerals above the TV and Hazel finally has a clock in her current bedroom. I also spent some time communing with the bunny. He is beginning to accept me as a friendly being and has sniffed me all over on Saturday. He has even allowed me to touch his back without running away a couple of time now. Sally has a job this week working as a bunny as part of a corporate day here in the university so she is working up an act about her being a stage struck bunny who got a job with a magician and is now fed up with having to spend most of her time on stage inside a top hat. I admit to being biased but it's hilarious. She really should do more stand up.

I like the girls who don't...

2011-09-15T15:56:00.000+01:00

Cover via Amazon

Second line etc.

Yesterday the new Kindle arrived for Sally. It had a much later OS than the one that the first two have just upgraded to?????? However, she is over the moon with it as she will be doing a lot of travelling soon and it will keep her sane on the long journeys. Yesterday also, I bought a large rodent cage in order to turn it into a run for the bunny. I thought it was a good idea and so did Hazel. Sally said"It's much too small and I don't want him outside from now on as it's going to be too cold....................". Collapse of parents.

I like the girls who do.....

2011-09-13T16:21:00.000+01:00

Image via Wikipedia

First line from a Max Miller verse. Second line next time.

Life is just plain hard work at the moment. Both of us are feeling very tired and having to wake early and go to bed later than we want to. We are just killing time until Hazel has her next specialist appointment and, following that, her next Drs appointment.

One third of the wall is done!!!

2011-09-12T14:51:00.000+01:00

Still some tarting up to do but now covered in a layer of new render that will be easier to keep clean and won't harbour small animals. It also means that I can set up the wind break and move the bunny hutch over to it's proper position. I will construct a gated doorway in the hutch and then the bunny can move in.

I shall then clean the floor along the rest of the wall and build the bunn runn for Rodney.

You know that feeling.............

2011-09-06T14:03:00.000+01:00

Not really depressed, just a trifle, sort of, well ......... widdled off, if you know what I mean. I have spent two days doing repetitive jobs on computers to slight avail. The job I started yesterday has gone a bit sour because I was asked to re-image a PC that shouldn't have been and I can't finish off the main job until we have a decision about what to do next. So, today, I have been doing some fairly simple jobs on three lectern computers that have required thawing and then freezing again. If you have ever had to do that, you will know why I am so widdled!

Long Weekend

2011-09-05T14:35:00.000+01:00

Well, we went to Paignton for the family reunion and drove up in the hired Ford Fiesta once I had taxed the van online, as the new Registration document arrived very early. A very nice car but a trifle small for my taste. For the trip to Torbay and back, it was fine but any longer in such a small car and I think I might have got a bit claustrophobic. Not all the party didn't find it perfect though. Samuel went with us and thought it was brilliant! Mind you, he also enjoyed sleeping on the floor of our room in a sleeping bag because they had run out of family rooms. The sun was deceptively bright on Friday and, playing golf with Samuel, I ended up with a bad case of heat exhaustion. I managed to hold out until Philip and Kristie had left and then retired to bed until the following morning. I caught up with Russ on Saturday but was so tired, I ended up finishing early and falling into bed before ten. By Sunday I felt a lot better and did the taxi run for the whole family in the Fiesta.

Where does it all go?

2011-08-31T14:57:00.001+01:00

Time, that is.

I am so busy at present that I am having difficulty keeping up with normal everyday stuff, let alone the bigger picture issues. The van needed the brakes sorted and, at the same time, the tax was due. So I booked in the van and then couldn't find the renewal form.......or the logbook. Oh joy, van is fixed but will be unusable for as much as ten days whilst various documents are sorted out. The brakes, however, are now working fine again and they cost less than the estimate too. I must say, Mercare are very good with price, service and timing.
The wall is coming along but I will need at least another two bags of ready mix to finish it off properly. The problem is that the part of the wall I have to do first is also in the worst condition. Once I have finished it, I should be able to get on much faster with the rest of the wall. But also, of course, once this part is finished, the bunny gets his new home and we all get to spend some time with him. There will be pictures.

This time, things did get better............

2011-08-25T13:32:00.001+01:00

It's been a while 'cos I've been busy but.............I'm back. The annoying Zemanta panel on the left has gone back to the right side and my formatting is back so that's good. I have updated all the software etc on Dees laptop and all is well there, apart from the fact that it is running Vista because the drivers don't work with anything else. Fluff, cat, was very in need of loving this morning, every time I walked past her,she slapped me with her paw. As usual, Titch was still up on Sallys bed. The heavens opened this morning just as we arrived at the uni, I dropped Hazel off outside her office and drove to my parking spot and I had to increase the speed of the wipers to maximum in order to see where I was going. Then, as I parked, most of the downpour stopped and within only a few minutes, we had a clear blue sky. The wind is still high but all the water has gone and it's quite warm now.

I have been playing with the beta image of Win7 for staff this morning. It's very good apart from the convoluted security measures that are in place as a result of uni requirements and the new extra security that Microsoft have put in place on Win7. It took me twenty minutes to work out how to make myself an administrator and then install some pretty basic software. It works fine now and the software is very useful but, if I had known how many hoops I would need to leap through, I would have installed it on my XP PC. The Win7 beta is the hybrid image so it's pretty small and runs very well.

Things can only get better...........Part two.

2011-08-22T10:31:00.000+01:00

Things are now getting better, in some areas at least. The wall is beginning to look clean and workable and Ian helped me collect the first three bags of ready mix on Sunday. I have rebuilt the tap assembly and it no longer dribbles and I have bought a cheap shovel and used it to clear up the rubble and stuff left by the cleaning so far.

I am currently getting annoyed with Zemanta/Blogspot as I have lost my formatting tools due to a re-placement of the Zemanta window within the editing area. You will notice that this post is not justified, this is due to the formatting bar appearing and then immediately being replaced by the Zemanta tools taking up residence on the left rather than the right side of the screen. That ir'tates me (deliberately spelt wrongly).

Flooded!

2011-08-18T13:09:00.003+01:00

Well it was bound to happen, we had torrential rain for over an hour and my rainwater drain got blocked with all the gunge from the various roofs and from the wall I am cleaning. I should have done it manually yesterday evening but we were late home, had a visitor and I eventually gave up and had a night off. This was not a good idea as this morning I couldn't even get to the drain to attempt to clear it for over an hour. The most annoying thing of all is that when I did get to it, it cleared within 30 seconds..Doh!

Bloods this morning followed by my bi-annual visit to the eye infirmary to have my glaucoma checked out. Major queues and long waits for all but I actually saw the senior man this time and he has given me a thorough seeing to................. I am to try a new type of eye drops that might improve the stability of my glaucoma and make it less of a bumpy ride than it is at present. Also, I have to organise another visit in six months time, yippee!

Water, water, everywhere.....................

2011-08-17T15:05:00.000+01:00

I had fun yesterday evening. I began the big clean up of the yard and wall. The wall has to be completely cleaned as I will be putting a render coat on it as soon as possible in order to strengthen it and further protect it. The first third had it's first power wash and much better it looks now. I then sprayed the remaining vegetation with a bleach mix so that I should be able to take out the rest tonight. I am gradually moving along the wall and should soon be able to start the render. I am also going to run a small gutter along the bottom of the wall in order to catch as much rain as possible from the run off and channel it to the drain.I fixed the final drain as well yesterday so that as little rain water as possible hits the ground and it all goes straight to the drain. This water problem has been a constant pain in my butt, pun intended, since the roof was put on, and I am hopeful this will cure the final few areas that remain.

The bunny remains at large up in Sallys front room. I go up and feed him etc but I never see him, he is apparent only by little scuffling noises every so often.

Back from the dead.......again!

2011-08-15T14:05:00.000+01:00

I am really getting fed up with being ill and having to take time off work. First of all, I enjoy my job and like to be busy at it. Secondly, and more importantly, I am obviously losing ground with my health issues.

In the past twelve months, I have had 17 days sick leave. It's bad enough to flag me up on the uni system as a persistent unwell person. This is not good, but, it also flags me up on my own personal system as having been sick for 17 days when I was not functioning properly. This is worrying. I seem to be getting bad colds on a regular basis and, with my medication problems, I am unable to relieve the symptoms.

I spent my latest enforced absence sleeping a lot, it seems to be the only thing that helps, and planning the work on the covered yard area. By Sunday, I was well enough to nip out to Wickes and pick up a couple of plumbing joints and then fit an enclosed outlet from the sink and dishwasher instead of the old, constantly overflowing, surface one. My final effort before collapsing into an armchair was to dig out the power washer in readiness for an attack on the old wall.

At that point, after a nap, I watched some excellent TV. The Sunday Prom on BBC4 featured Percy Graingers music and finished with a clog dance and immediately after was the documentary about the Flash Mob clog dancers in Newcastle which I missed the first time around. Then, over to BBC HD for a re-run of Glorious 39 a very dark conspiracy story set amongst an aristocratic family just before the second world war. And so to bed.

Busy, busy, busy!

2011-08-09T16:10:00.002+01:00

One helluva weekend again, Hazel and I spent at least five hours of it preparing to go to the hospital, going to the hospital, Hazels bloods being taken and coming home from the hospital. Spread over the two days. All very tiring, especially in the humid weather. Missed Russ on Saturday but did fit a ginormous 2 Tbt drive to the Sagem Freesat DVR in the lounge. As this replaced a 250 Gbt drive, you will understand the massive improvement. The old drive is now under examination to see whether it's possible to extract the movies on it and convert them to a normal system. No luck so far, and some confusion as well as what appears to be the video files don't fill enough of the drive to qualify as 86% full. I have spent some time with .trp converters and players and no joy so far. But, I have all the time in the world so I will plod on.

24 hours of fun............................NOT!

2011-08-04T15:29:00.002+01:00

Some days, it doesn't even pay to go to bed. Yesterday, whilst on my way to bed, I chanced to go to the French doors in Hazels bedroom to pick up something. Whilst doing that thing, I received a few drops of water down the back of my neck. Upon inspection, I was able to see that a fair amount of liquid had already flowed and didn't look likely to stop any time soon. So I ran up the stairs to the room above to see where all this precipitation was coming from. The room above is currently used by our daughter, Sally, and the window sill was running with water which was dribbling down from the edge of the ceiling. I dropped a bath towel onto the sill and grabbed a bucket from my bedroom to catch any further drips. Then I went to bed after checking to see whether my own personal bedroom leak had flared up, it hadn't so off to bed. I awoke at 05.00 to the sound of dripping. My own little waterfall had begun. Plymouth had a lot of rain overnight and quite a fair proportion of it ended up in my house.

This morning, after dropping Hazel and Sally to the hospital, I called our roofers. They were pretty upset themselves and went straight to the house. No one can be absolutely certain, but it certainly seems that a wandering seagull happened upon our roof and saw a piece of flashing that had been placed there as a temporary measure in order to shield us against the incursion we sustained last night.Said gull appears to have moved the flashing to a new position and instead of water running off the roof and into the gutter, it was, for one night only, channelling the stuff into the roof. The really sickening thing is that today was the day our roofers were due to come and finish off the various jobs that were left.
Of course, the rain this morning was so heavy that they wouldn't have been able to do them anyway but, as I always say, "If there was no such thing as coincidences, we wouldn't need a word for them"!

Flying time

2011-08-03T12:40:00.003+01:00

Had some things to do and did them between then and now!

Went to a funeral and, against all the odds, rather enjoyed myself. Well, at the wake I did anyway.

Then on a short holiday to the West Midlands. An area I used to be very familiar with at one time but lost touch over the years and had some fun re-discovering. We spent a couple of days at the West Midlands Safari Park and had a great time with the animals. I also spent a day on the Severn Valley Railway with Paul, my brother-in-law, and we had a pretty good time there as well. The site we all stayed at was great apart from the unfortunate problem of phone access. None of us could get a signal unless we left the farm area and that meant a two mile hike. As an added bonus, Hazel began to have a lot of problems with her leg and ended the holiday in considerable pain. I had to play the heavy handed husband in order to persuade her to see the Dr on Monday morning and by midday on Tuesday, she was heading for the Hospital with a letter in her hand. The upshot was that she has a clot in her lower leg and is now on DVT injections and warfarin tablets. She is, however, beginning to feel a bit better so "Fingers crossed"

And sows had silk purses

2011-07-21T16:10:00.000+01:00

I have no idea, I read it on a bubblegum card.

The lads are really motoring now, the top coat and bottom six inches of black were all finished yesterday and about a third of the scaffolding was removed. The rest of the scaffolding is set to go today and a few remaining bits and pieces to be painted. Then they will away for a few days to fulfil another contract. When they return, the terrace will be sorted out and that's it for now. There are several other jobs we would like done but we will have to save for them.

The rest of the stuff arrived today and is well up to expectations. I have also resurrected my micro SD card that got washed,.......twice, in the washing machine and I will be using it on a roller coaster soon..............

If walls had . . . . . . paint.

2011-07-20T08:53:00.007+01:00

Came home yesterday to all walls painted with the first topcoat. Very impressive and the colour looks a lot better in bulk than it did in isolation. Indeed, John has had enquires from neighbours about work and the same colour. The first of my ebay purchases arrived yesterday, a clapper board for Sal, she is always making videos, whether her own or acting for someone else. I look forward to the rest of the stuff, possibly, arriving today.
Part one has come, no secrets revealed, I am now able to crumple up a fiver and float it in mid air.

Image via Wikipedia

Weekends can be fun

2011-07-18T17:01:00.000+01:00

A lovely quiet weekend with my wife and very little distraction. The roofers worked both days to clear all the rubble from the house and have very nearly finished the two roofs now. Today has been good at work apart from the rheumatism in my right hand, very bad today. I have been holding it under the warm output from a laptop fan to get some relief. The motherboard and RAM for Denise' laptop arrived first thing and Dave had it installed and working by midday. The big deal is that the new board is better video quality than the original and coupled with double the ram, this laptop is now flying. I went a bit mad on ebay this afternoon and I must have spent nearly £15.00 on small bits and pieces for presents and a couple of cheap magic tricks.

Things can only get better

2011-07-14T16:36:00.000+01:00

Title of popular song until the politicians got hold of it.

The old basket is getting better now but it took a while. The roof was nearly finished yesterday, just a few bits and bobs to go.The paperwork is now down to a dull roar in the background and I am closing logs again. It's funny about the paperwork, 'cos one of my reasons for wanting to move to this office was to get away from paperwork and now look at me. It's a better class of paperwork and a lot more interesting but it's still paperwork............

Wrong again!

2011-07-13T08:59:00.001+01:00

The roofers know more than me about their work. In fact, what they did was to tile the attic roof first in order to be able to do the blend into the main roof in such a way that it remains waterproof. Doh!, I should have thought of that. They are now hoping to have good enough weather to be able to finish off the main roof today.
Apart from the roof, yesterday was not a great day. It started when Hazel gave me a fried breakfast. Not having had one for many years, it went straight to my stomach and just sat there festering. At the office, I had a big day organising a particularly complex move around of a whole lab full of computers. Just as a colleague and I finished the clever stuff, labelling each piece of kit to show where from and where to, we received the news that the van to transport all of this heavy stuff was going to be very late arriving. By the time we had moved the major part of it that was staying on campus, there was no time to deliver the odd eight that were moving to the Science Park. When we got home, Hazel made a special meal which I couldn't then eat due to acute indigestion brought on by the fried breakfast and the heavy labour of the afternoon. I went to bed early and slept right through, couldn't face any breakfast and have arrived at the office, still, with indigestion and making embarrassing noises.

What a difference a day, or two, makes....

2011-07-11T13:39:00.000+01:00

Yet another song title, I'm showing my age.

I neglected to mention that our roofers had not only removed all the old slates from the rear of the house roof, they had also repaired the structure and put in the new membrane as well. Not bad for one day. They should be able to finishthe roof today and may even be able to start on the attic roof as well.

It's all happening...........

2011-07-08T16:28:00.000+01:00

Yes, the scaffolding was up yesterday and our lads had made a bit of mess. Not too much at the back but plenty at the front where they are preparing for the new paint job. Today may well see some work on the rear of the house roof as well with luck.

Not the greatest day health wise sadly. Hazel not great this morning and I have had a sore neck most of the day, probably tension 'cos Hazel was not well etc.

Colour me drab?

2011-07-07T14:17:00.002+01:00

We have almost decided on 'Olive' as the colour to paint our walls. Olive sounds OK but it's the same colour that in the US is called 'Drab', and it is. My beautiful Oxford blue door will have to go and be repainted in some horrible green colour. No-one fell off or through the roof yesterday so that was good and the scaffolding is going in today. When I get home, I fully expect to see that the roof has been worked on and a right old mess made in the yard.

Up on the roof.

2011-07-06T14:02:00.000+01:00

Song title.

Our roofers have now finished the front roof of the house and are beginning to work on the rear of the main roof. The problem, as I see it, is that we have no scaffolding on the rear of the house until tomorrow............. So we have three men cavorting around on a steep incline with no safety net and at least part of the roof ready to collapse under their feet at any moment. I just hope their insurance is all up to date.

Yee Haw!!

2011-06-29T16:39:00.005+01:00

On a bit of a roll today. Not just me either, Derek has also had his successes.

I suppose it's all a bit silly really but, when things go well it's a big boost to both ego and logs. My only problem is with MS ActiveSynch, it just won't install properly and I can't synch up my phone with my calendar now. The reason it was removed is a whole different story.

Yee Haw!!! again. ActiveSynch has just installed correctly at the fifth attempt and is now working.

'Ot innit?

2011-06-28T08:59:00.001+01:00

Well, it was yesterday. And it probably will be today too. I spent a goodly part of yesterday evening moving stuff around in order that our roofers can get to the lean to roof and remove the panels this morning, ready for the scaffolding tomorrow. I also managed to do some more work on Sallys stage set. I have finished off the first pillar unit, apart from painting, and also started the first joiner component. These are going to be slightly complicated as they need to be built with a ply panel in the middle for longevity.

Me and the 'Happy' pills. Part two.

2011-06-27T13:14:00.000+01:00

Shortly after writing the previous post, I began to feel distinctly dodgy. I did, in fact have a powerful case of the trots and even went to the extreme, for me, of going home early from work. I had further problems at home that evening and woke on the Tuesday morning feeling like death with a very bad head and wobbly belly. I stayed at home for that day and returned to work on the Wednesday, still feeling bad but head better and not so wobbly. I decided to take some leave and asked for, and received, Thursday and Friday as paid leave. As Wednesday wore on, I began to feel better apart from a feeling of total lethargy and lack of will power.

By Thursday, I began to feel a little more human and on Friday I felt well enough to drive Hazel to the hospital for her Occupational Health interview. It all went well, we did some shopping and had a pleasant meal later.

On Saturday, I began to cut the 3 ply sheet for Sallys new set and also put together the first tower section. It's good to see my idea works and is also very strong. This week I hope to build the second unit and the various joining pieces in order to test the system. Once that hurdle is jumped, it's just a matter of mass producing the lengths of wood on the chop saw and cutting the rest of the four foot strips of ply.

Me and the 'Happy' pills.

2011-06-20T14:51:00.001+01:00

I have had some twinges of late, mainly whilst relaxing at home but, in general, at any time or place. Then, on Tuesday last, the small furry bear hit the windmill. I awoke at 04.00 in some serious pain and was obliged to leave my bed immediately in order to stop the pain increasing. Even when I achieved a vertical position, the pain was still very pronounced. Pronounced, in fact, owwwwwwww! As a direct follow on to this state of pain, I later visited my Dr who ................that's my Dr, who gave me some pills for the pain and some 'Happy pills' for some reason of her own. For three days, I religiously downed six pain killers and two happys each day. On the fourth day, I decided to drop the 'happy pills' and, guess what? I was just as happy! They appeared to have had no effect at all. So then, over the weekend, I began dropping the pain killers as well and lo, there was very little increase in pain but an immediate increase in brain power. So the pills have all been kicked into touch and I am back at work with a little pain but such faculties as I have left after twelve years of my other medication, back on form.

The revenge of The Flumps

2011-06-03T11:27:00.003+01:00

Revenge is sweet when cold and delicately extracted. Suffice it to say that the perpetrators of the Flump attack on my PC have had some very subtle things dropped into their PCs that won't even surface until, maybe, next week at the earliest. Woohoo!

Movin' on up.

2011-06-02T14:07:00.000+01:00

Line from a popular song.

Today's the day that my PC gets the upgrade. I took it up to Office 2010 at long last. Woohoo!

Sorry about that but this has been a long time coming. My beta version expired last October and I have been suffering withdrawal symptoms ever since. It's all a bit nerdy I know but I really loved the beta and wanted to get the real thing on my work PC as soon as................

Are we a Quora?

2011-05-31T15:50:00.000+01:00

I have just found Quora, an intriguing site of questions and answers. It's not about "What is" questions, more on a broader canvas with no definitive answers to most queries. Very philosophical and good natured stuff. I have no doubt that hackles will rise at times but the members seem more 'Grown up' than on a lot of sites.

May you live in interesting times..........

2011-05-27T08:34:00.001+01:00

Wednesday was very interesting. Still no David and more logs than you could shake a stick at. I probably could but I'm a highly qualified stick shaker with years of experience. On Monday we managed to stay ahead of the jobs, on Tuesday we broke even but Wednesday was bad. We both went home with our brains locked up. Thursday, "Huzzah", David came back and we are motoring again.

Much better today with all three of us working like mad things to clear as much as we can before the long weekend. Chris has done another virus run and we had three problems pop up in our area of responsibility. Most appear to be simple to fix but one is claimed to have a root kit so we are probably going to re-image it on Tuesday, just to be sure.

The two of us.

2011-05-24T22:00:00.001+01:00

Pop song title.
Still just James and I in the office. Plenty of work to do and we are just about managing. There will come a time, however, when it will run away with us unless help arrives. Dave and Paul will be back next Tuesday so it's not too great a worry yet.

It never rains..............

2011-05-23T11:16:00.001+01:00

As anticipated on Saturday evening when I was chatting to Russ, we are now two. Annual leave and sickness having removed the other three. James and I are coping within our own capabilities and, so far, all is well. Sometimes life gives you a shove in order to show you which direction you should be heading. Or something like that. Corey came to see us at 7.30 this morning, full of beans and grinning all over his face. The first I saw was him waving to me...........amazing, I thought and waved back. Confusion of small child and he has stopped waving now, Doh! Samuel stayed with us Saturday into Sunday and, it must be said, he was so well behaved and helpful. I find both my grandsons utterly engaging and wonderful, is that why we call it 'our dotage'?

As pay day is this week, I am expecting to buy some wood and set to constructing Sally's new stage set. It should be fairly straightforward to make the first pillar and once that is tested and working, the rest should follow. At some point, I will also have to build one of the Zig Zag boxes to test out the plans and the working of the illusion. That will prove to be more complicated I suspect.

I have noticed a follower called Gerry has registered. As you are pictured with a guitar, Gerry, could it be that you are the chap that introduced Hazel and I over thirty years ago? Why not post a comment, if you are, I know how to contact you.

Lets get 'Jiggy, Jiggy'

2011-05-20T11:18:00.002+01:00

By which I mean, I have re-jigged the side bar to show more information and present it in a smaller area. The old visitor map has died and I have now ditched it in favour of the simple counter you see now.

Last evening, I watched a new show, to me anyway, on channel 5. It's called Impossible and is not only very well produced but a fascinating insight into the psyche. The presenter actually told the two contestants the answer to the final part but because of what had gone before, the declined to believe him and won nothing instead of the six grand in the case. Very easy for me to say that, I was watching from an armchair and have the additional advantage of having worked with quite a few professional magicians in my time. The presenter is a very talented chap who has been working at this for many years and is totally at ease, or appears to be, in that sort of environment.
I just found this on You Tube. Enter the Dragon

Remember "The Flumps"?

2011-05-19T13:40:00.001+01:00

Image by Jacob Whittaker via Flickr

A colleague asked if anyone knew how to get a ring tone of the theme today. I found an episode on You Tube and also found an online audio ripper called listentoyoutube.com. Using Audacity, I edited and normalised the audio and sent it to my colleague. It took about a minute in all. Very simple, all for free and 60% in the cloud.
I have been bitten on the bum for doing a favour for a colleague! I gave the ring tone of the Flumps to Karen and she has infected my PC with it. It just keeps playing randomly. In the end, I called and quoted Derek (Blaster) Bates, "Dear Sir, we know what it is and we know who done it, but for gawds sake tell us where it is!"

And so I did.

2011-05-18T13:22:00.005+01:00

Go home, that is.

I am up to my eyes again, more work than I can reasonably get through and still taking on even more. I must be mad. This has not been a great week for me, I appear to have a form of spiritual clumsiness at present. I'm not tripping over things or making mistakes as such but it seems that things are just happening to me without rhyme or reason. My back went into painful spasm on Saturday after I had finished the job I was doing and I am still having twinges even now. Yesterday, the power supply in my work PC died just too late to be fixed until this morning so I am still catching up with my logs. We ran the first 'Drop in session' in our faculty this morning and picked up a bunch of complicated jobs to do. That sort of thing has been happening ever since Saturday.

Hazel has been allowed to return to work as of tomorrow, Thursday. She is still struggling with her arm but will be 'phased back' at a very slow rate. With luck, this might improve her health as she hates being stuck at home.

As another example of my karma this week, I have just found a note on my windscreen warning me about not displaying my parking pass. A till receipt had fallen on it. Doh!

Do you remember Google Wave? Yes? Well, sadly, it's gorn now but some very clever chaps have found a way of having collaborative spaces that we can use from anywhere as a sort of cut down Wave. Try this game, Colcrop, and this video.

And another week goes by................

2011-05-16T17:04:00.003+01:00

OI, I should have gone home by now...........

That was the week that was,

2011-05-09T16:39:00.001+01:00

it's over, let it go.

So much happened and still very little achieved. Hazel is feeling happier now though, she went back to the physiotherapist today and is now feeling a bit better. I had my dental work done on Thursday, the filling replacement was quick and simple with no needles, woohoo! The hygienist was very painful and I wished I had had a needle or two. Doctor on Friday and got the official results of my ECG and cholesterol tests. ECG was good, Blood pressure is good and pulse is fine for a man of my age on beta-blockers. The cholesterol is much better but she has now cut my thyroxine from 200 down to 175 and I have to go back in a few months to get checked again.

Unbeknownst to anyone, I have begun a small project that involves data collection and inserting it into a series of time lines. I thought of several ways of doing this but finally realised that the easiest way to compile all this data was in a blog. So I now have a small private blog that looks nothing like one but is acting as an online filing cabinet. It's surprisingly accessible and very easy to keep up to date. I recommend the idea.

The second time around?

2011-05-03T22:17:00.000+01:00

Well, yesterday worked quite well. So I will have another go today. I am still finding some words are not always so easy to create. However, the bigger they are the easier they seem to be to produce. It is the small two or three letter words that seem to cause me the most trouble. We had some fun and games today after I left the office. I drove up to the physiotherapist in order to pick up Hazel and Sally after Hazels treatment. When I arrived, I found that Hazel had had a fainting spell and the paramedics had been called. Fortunately, there were no problems and I was allowed to take her home.

A new era

2011-05-02T21:12:00.003+01:00

For the first time ever, I am writing this blog using speech recognition software. This, for me, is a major step forward. I know that many other people have written their words by using this technology in the past but this is the first time that I have felt I wanted to try it out myself. So far, I am very impressed. I have undertaken a small amount of training with my computer and, as of now I have only seen my computer make one mistake. I am also trying out text to speech at the same time as voice recognition. Currently I only have Microsoft Anna running on this computer but I intend to find out whether I am able to use a better voice for my needs.

So far I have only used speech recognition software to create the text and delete words in order to change what I have already written. I have not yet found out how to navigate the toolbar successfully. In fact, I have just spent a very frustrating few minutes trying to place two words into the previous sentence.

I am, however, beginning to come to terms with the rather eclectic method of doing this. Some words, some very simple words, are very difficult for a computer speech recognition system to understand. In fact, it seems that the commonest words are the most difficult of all. I will, however, persevere with this system because I can see many advantages for the future.

Nearly back to normal?

2011-04-27T09:34:00.000+01:00

I had my ECG this morning. I also found out the results of my latest Cholesterol test. Remember, I was always about 4.2 until January of this year when I suddenly went up to 10.1. Panic! Various remedies put into action and another test done about three weeks ago. Well, it's now down to 2.1 and I am ecstatic. I shall, of course, continue to use the fat free diet as my basic guideline but now I can indulge my taste for bacon, eggs and sausage again. At the same time, my pulse has also improved and now stands at 57 bpm which is very nearly back to my usual 62.

Two forward, one back.

2011-04-26T11:17:00.001+01:00

And then forward again.

The updates didn't take anyway so I had to do them all over again. As an interesting aside, how many registry changes do you think it makes updating Win7 64 bit from new install to up to date.....................44290!

The touch screen works really well but now poses another problem, The cable can no longer provide enough power to drive both the monitor and touchscreen. I am now in the process of buying more bits in order to power the thing properly. In addition, cable went down on Friday and didn't come back permanently until Saturday evening.