Category: Weekend

something for the weekend – interesting non work related posts

Parking Mad

In a moment of bonding with Kid4 we decided to watch some TV together. Unfortunately there was absolutely nowt on the box. We settled on a programme called Parking Mad.

This has to be extreme desperation in TV programming. We wouldn’t have had the problem when there was only BBC1, BBC2 and ITV. In those days we settled for just having to watch repeats rather than total non-programmes. In fact I still like watching the same repeats these days – Dad’s Army for example.

There is an element of local interest in Parking Mad – some of it is filmed in Lincoln. There’s a bit where the mayor is seen cutting a ribbon around a ticket machine in a new car park. Rent a mayor. A mayor will turn up anywhere there is a bit of ribbon, scissors and a camera. It forms part of their balanced scorecard. KPIs. How many ribbons have been cut in any given month.

The role of mayor is very competitive. Each mayor is measured against his predecessors. How many schools visited, care homes etc. They put a premium on car parks – it’s not often you get a new one opening. Some years you don’t have a single new car park and I can tell you the mayor that year feels really hard done by.

I wouldn’t want you to get the wrong message about Lincoln. It is quite a good place to live really. There’s more to it than car parks though we do of course have our fair share. When we bought our first house it was on Greetwell Gate next to a free car park. As soon as we moved in it changed to a Pay and Display! Swines.

We used to park on the road in front of the house anyway. These was usually never a problem with this because after we had driven off to work other cars belonging to people working in town would arrive and take our spots. The same thing happened in reverse every evening so we always got the same spot right outside the house.

The one time of year we had a problem was during the Lincoln Christmas Market. All weekend visitors would cruise around looking for a free spot trying to avoid paying. Tight gits. We got to the point of arriving home from work on a Friday and just leaving the cars parked for the whole weekend. Christmas Market weekend is quite boozy anyway so a car is of no use.

We began to have guests coming to stay for the weekend to see the market. On these occasions on the Friday night we would park our own cars really inefficiently so that there wasn’t quite enough space between them to park another. It was fun watching motorists pull up along side the gap and curse the fact that we had parked badly thus depriving them of their spot. When our guests turned up I’d nip out and reverse my car just enough to make room for them to slot in. Saw ted.

Come to Lincoln. We have some nice parks and some good pubs and a mayor who likes to cut ribbons. There’s a lovely cathedral too. You should visit.

Not Pink, Not Strong, Not Delicious

Post author By Marcos Campos
Post date Thursday, 17 April, 2014
No Comments on Not Pink, Not Strong, Not Delicious

It’s been 3 days. I haven’t fallen in love yet. I don’t think it’s going to happen. No, I am not falling in love with this new phone. I thought this would be the one.

A female college roommate once told me, “Men learn to like the women they love, whereas women learn to love the men they like.” The point being that men tend to fall in love first…and fast. They know within moments. I’m a man, so I know this to be true. I will never develop feelings for the technology in my hand.

I am in no danger of turning into the Joaquin Phoenix character in “Her”. I already know that unlike Theodore Twombly I will at no point get sexual gratification from my new device, not even if I suddenly discover a Scarlett Johansson voiceover app.

At noon the text came: “Happy Hour?”

My friend Amanda. She just started a job at a hip little engineering firm in Austin that is doing some kind of data analysis on franchise business data. She held her previous job — the one she took straight out of college — for 16 years prior, and for that she used to take a considerable amount of ribbing.

I decide to drop in at Amanda’s new office, which is in an old house downtown where 60-year-old dilapidated houses rent for $300 per square foot. It’s in a part of hip-Austin that is only slightly indistinguishable from dilapidated Austin.

The first thing I see on walking into the living room (the lobby) is a huge monitor that serves as a metrics dashboard of some sort, displaying scrum and defect statistics. The display changes to show another app, one that offers a graph of beer consumption in the office over the last month, complete with a projection of when the beer will run out. The beer of reference is housed in an antique refrigerator on the other side of the living room…. er, welcome area that has been retro-fitted with a spigot that serves to turn the entire thing into a huge keg. First thought? This is a LOT more comfortable than my “office” in the corporate cube farm.

Amanda appears, and soon we are driving the 12 blocks to Arro, a trendy little French restaurant I’ve wanted to try. We sit at the bar, and I begin the conversation, saying “Thanks, I wanted your advice – actually your reassurance about something.” I then proceed to tell Amanda about my having given notice at work, and how I’m unsure about whether to take a leave of absence or just quit. We also talk about her new job, and how refreshing she is finding it to work with smart people who don’t get hung up on egos, and who just focus on the solution.

agricultural End User

Easter bunny – one for the ladies – have a nice holiday y’awl

Post author By Trefor Davies
Post date Thursday, 17 April, 2014
No Comments on Easter bunny – one for the ladies – have a nice holiday y’awl

Yanow I’m a big softie really. This is a simple photo of a display of flowers in my local Tesco complete with Easter bunny. Aww. One for the ladies – I doubt any of my former rugby playing chums would be interested in such a pic.

What do I care? Have a nice Easter weekend. I hope you aren’t stuck in a traffic jam somewhere.

Saturday Snapshot (12-April-2014)

Post author By Kory Kessel
Post date Sunday, 13 April, 2014
No Comments on Saturday Snapshot (12-April-2014)

All week long the focus for the coming Saturday has been easily described: “Captain America: The Winter Soldier”. The film was released in France on 2-April and circumstance and scheduling conspired to keep La Famille Kessel from taking it in over opening weekend, but that would be rectified on Saturday. No doubt, no question, no choice.

Woken this morning by Bella the Cat and the call to breakfast (again, “À Table!”), my first thought that didn’t involve body function was “Captain America: The Winter Soldier”! Hot coffee? Crave it, and not for the caffeine. Orange juice? Cold and sweet and slightly fizzy on my tongue (I mix it 1:1 with Quézac, or whatever other cold sparkling water is lurking in the fridge), every morning I revel in the marvelous contrast it offers to that other beverage. Some edible or another, depending on the day or location or mood or availability borne of desperation. Breakfast, yes, please…but let’s not forget “Captain America: The Winter Soldier”, OK?

Just as I was breaking the surface into full consciousness My Missus says to me, “This morning we need to replace the broken lamp, and I want to go to that Indian furniture and accessories shop we walked into last month, to buy a birthday gift for my sister.”

But…yes, OK, but…but…”Captain America: The Winter Soldier”? Mind you, it is not yet 9h30 and we decided days ago that we would go to a late afternoon showing at a nearby cinema, but…but…”Captain America: The Winter Soldier”?

I polished off breakfast, helped my cups and plates and such into the dishwasher (which has needed replacing since Kevin Feige produced his first flick for Marvel Studios — that would be “Iron Man” — in 2008…and perhaps the subject of a future all-too-compelling “Saturday Snapshot” in this space?), splashed water on my face and over the part of my head that once housed my once-signature bushy brown locks, figured out the clothes and shoes thing, and declared myself ready to do what had to be done. Somewhere in Paris there was a cheap halogen lamp just waiting to be brought home, and Indian curios in the 11th Arrondissement to be picked over.

End User fun stuff gadgets mobile apps phones wearable

Cycle Gear

A long time ago I used to cycle everywhere; then I learned how to drive……. then I learned how to drink and how to hail (and afford) a taxi….. then I moved to the countryside with idiot drivers like me that didn’t really look out properly for cyclists….. then I moved to the Surrey / London border and the quack told me to stop abusing my joints.

But now, I have an all clear and the realisation that there is some epic cycling country around here. I write this, for example, after following National Cycle Route 4 pretty much from home to Tower Bridge this morning, through Richmond Park and substantially along the river (including past Craven Cottage, home of the mighty Fulham Football Club). I am now editing it a few days later after a 25 mile blast from home to Richmond Park to say hi to the deer.

Of course, being in telecoms means such a venture cannot be undertaken without some degree of geekist equipment. So, I have my bike, a Specialized Crosstrail. Hybrid, obviously, because (1) I don’t want to be associated with the LycraLouts that ride two abreast on main roads and (2) becasue there’s no way a roadbike can handle tow paths at speed.

There’s the Moon LED lights that charge from a microUSB socket, which is incredibly useful. They have a multitude of settings, which I cannot master despite them having only one button. Oh, and they’re bright, which I suppose is the main thing. There’s also the generic Chinese reverse engineered wireless speedometer, which is essential for knowing just how fast the idiot BMW driver that missed you with a nanometre clearance was going relative to you…. and, more importantly, how far it is to the pub for pie, chips and ale.

Which pretty much just leaves some form of mapping solution. And for that, I have two essential pieces of kit. The first is my iPhone; the second is something to put it in – for which I have this handle handlebar bag. It is importantly water resistent (to be fair it only gets mildly moist even in a monsoon downpoor). It’s large enough to hold a wallet and a battery pack (essential for mobile mapping, for reasons I have previously written about) and has a clear plastic cover on top and a pouch for your iPhone (apparently other devices are allegedly available). There’s also a neat slot for a headphone cable, though I for one would rather hear the idiot in the BMW coming than listen to my playlists.

Tags cycling

End User fun stuff

4 blades or 5 – the official verdict on which razor is best #wilkinson #comparison

Post author By Trefor Davies
Post date Sunday, 13 April, 2014
1 Comment on 4 blades or 5 – the official verdict on which razor is best #wilkinson #comparison

This week I’ve been on holiday in the Isle of Man and have not shaved with a view to testing whether 4 or 5 blades are best for shaving. In theory I guess the 5 blades should give a better shave but there is also an argument that the fifth bade may be redundant.

The sequence of photos takes you though it. I order of appearance:

1The tools – including the King of Shaves shaving gel. Best in the game in my experience. 2 Close up of the razor heads. 3 Nivea aftershave – don’t normally use the stuff but thought I would for this test. 4 Before the shave. 5 Lathgered up. 6 the 5 blade result. 7 Half way through. 8 The finished job. 9 The 4 blade shave.

The result is buried amongst the photos. Manipulating photos in WordPress isn’t easy and the text is where the text is:)
king of shaves

the blades

The result: Mrs Davies Senior thinks the 4 blade was smoothest. The current Mrs Davies preferred the 5 blader.

I think I might marginally prefer the feel of the 5 blader when shaving but tbh there isn’t much in it and if the 5 blades are significantly more expensive than the 4 then it’s a non starter.

Voila…

End User travel

Rod and chains and fishing boats

Post author By Trefor Davies
Post date Saturday, 12 April, 2014
No Comments on Rod and chains and fishing boats

Other travel posts from the Isle of Man:

The empty sea
Chandlery
Signs of Danger

Back in the office Tuesday ish in case anyone’s wondering.

End User travel

Peel Hill

It’s worth the 501 foot climb to the top of Peel Hill. From there you can see pretty much the full length of the Isle of Man. Out across the sea can be seen Scotland to the North and the Mountains of Mourne to the West.

When I was a kid in one field on the side of the hill you could see a large 3 legs on Man planted in clover by Italian prisoners of war during their WW2 internment. It’s sadly not there any more.

On this occasion someone had left a bunch of yellow roses at Corrin’s Folly at the top of the hill. Made me wonder what was the story behind it. Will probably never find out.

501 ft might not sound that much to the expert hill climber (eg Snowdon is 3,500ft or so) but you still need to take care and take the right gear. The weather can blow in from the sea at very short notice. On our way up yesterday we encountered a couple going in the other direction. He wore sensible walking boots and she a flimsy pair of sandals. Probably looked a lot nicer in them than in boots!!!

They looked as if they had come from Glen Maye which is a few miles further along the coastal path. This trip is was easy to persuade the family to come on the walk. The last time we did it the kids were younger and far less enthusiastic.

Having got them to the top I decided we might as well carry on for a bit as it was mostly on the flat or even downhill. It’s a wonderfully scenic coastal path although if it does skirt dodgily close to the cliff edge from time to time. We found ourselves once or twice climbing into a field to find safer ground. Were those cows or bulls in there…

Eventually coming down to the beach (pic right) in Glen Maye we realised how far we had walked and were forced to take shelter in the pub at the top of the glen. My dad had to come and pick us up in the car. Close timing as he had been about to crack open a beer.

The video below was taken on this trip. It’s the waterfall in Glen Maye. V scenic and a v relaxing place to take a stroll.

Other travel posts from the Isle of Man:

The empty sea
Chandlery
Signs of Danger

End User travel

The dredger – latest in the weekend series of interesting nautical posts

Post author By Trefor Davies
Post date Saturday, 12 April, 2014
No Comments on The dredger – latest in the weekend series of interesting nautical posts

Sometimes people have to be told what is good for them. You have to get your opinions from somewhere. That’s why they have leader columns in newspapers – to present ideas for you to mull over and chew and either spit out or swallow.

This is why it is good to be able to dip into the weekend section of this blog and be presented with subject matter that has been pre approved as being interesting.

In this case it is the dredging operation being carried out at Peel Marina. The post contains two videos shot live on location in the Isle of Man. The first is of the dredger scooping up silt from the marina “floor”¹. I didn’t know that’s what a dredger looked like. In this case it is just a big digger. I’d always assumed it was something dragged along the sea bed scooping up large quantities of gunge and depositing it via a chute into a waiting barge. Maybe there are different sorts of dredgers.

The second video, at the end of the post, shows the bridge across the river at the entrance to the marina swinging open to allow a couple of boats through. The boats are very colourful. I do somewhere have a video showing them lifting the bridge into place when it was first installed. If I come across it you will be the first to see it:)

In between the videos you are presented with some pics out of a sequence showing the muck being emptied into the barge. Note the glorious weather. Why holiday anywhere else?

Look out for other interesting weekend posts on trefor.net.

Chandlery

Some shops have magnetic properties. They are able to draw you in to extract the cash from your wallet. As if there is someone from a Harry Potter book pointing a wand at you and sucking out money. Almost certainly one of the Dark Lord’s sidekicks. B4$^4£). Earn yer own money.

A ship’s chandlery is one such shop. Very fortunately I don’t own a boat¹. So whilst I can’t pass a chandlery without feeling it’s hypnotic lure once inside all I can do is gaze jealously at the arrays of cleats, hooks, pulleys, blocks, ropes (of all sizes) and other useful artefacts of a nautical nature realising that the purchase of any one item would be totally unjustifiable.

I don’t think Mrs Davies would appreciate me coming home with some useful links of chain saying I thought it would look good on the mantelpiece. I will one day but I need to have a garden shed to keep this kind of stuff, where it will be appreciated. A classic yellow souwester would look just right hanging on the back of the shed door innit? Don’t know if they still do those. Will have to nip back and check…

This particular emporium, purveyor of useful seagoing supplies, sells mainly to the fishing industry – there are 20 vessels working out of Peel, harvesting crabs, queenies and scallops. You never know when that information is going to be handy in a pub quiz. I found that out from the bloke behind the counter yesterday. To get the most out of a visit to a ships chandlery you have to chat to the bloke behind the counter. What’s selling well this season? Is the catch up or down on last year? All good stuff:)

Anyway enjoy the pics. Splice the mainbrace…

¹ Every time we come to the Isle of Man I’m tempted and start looking at online yacht sales sites.

Engineer fun stuff servers

Stop Looking At My Finger, Silly Dog

Post author By Marcos Campos
Post date Friday, 11 April, 2014
No Comments on Stop Looking At My Finger, Silly Dog

My friend manages to piss me off and it’s not yet 8:00 in the morning. A thought flashes across my brain, “Maybe he’s not the root cause.”

This morning, the first text I see: Priority 1 emergency ticket.

Damn. I hope the server isn’t down.

As usual, my alarm went off this morning at 6:00. I look at my phone and see a text message that was sent late last night, an automated message from our Linux server passing along a support ticket. A surge of anxiety rushes through me. “Oh no, I forgot to re-enable the submit button in our application!” A suspicion, though I don’t really know yet for certain. I jump out of bed.

I check the emergency ticket’s timestamp. About 10 hours ago. “Oh please,” I pray-but-do-not-say as I head for my computer, “Please let it be that someone jumped in and handled this last night.”

Last night we performed a software upgrade to the server. The entire team on the phone, dialing in from multiple geographies, talking through headsets and typing commands on the server, a virtual everyone-from-home Mission Control. All talking on the same call, as we’ve done dozens of times before. The launch pad ready, countdown begun, I was walking us through the checklist and then gave the go ahead to deploy. But wait! There’s an error, a build error that is picked up by the programming group doing the deployment. We investigate and discover that the server is offline and end users are waiting. Finally, we call it. Abort.

End User food and drink google

Collaboration using Google Docs “simplifies” ordering of takeaway curry

Post author By Trefor Davies
Post date Friday, 11 April, 2014
2 Comments on Collaboration using Google Docs “simplifies” ordering of takeaway curry

Last night we decided that tonight, Friday night, would be curry night. The only problem is that not everyone here likes Indian. Some prefer Chinese. Actually not a problem. The Chinese and Indian restaurants are next to each other on the street of a ~~thousand~~ three restaurants (the other one is a greasy spoon). People can order their preferred ethnic takeaway and I’ll pick both lots up near simultaneously. Simples.

What’s more we can mix and match. You’d prefer a Chinese starter and Indian main? Sure, gofrit.

Now then the only problem here is that juggling menu options starts to get complicated. It’s all very well writing it all down on a piece of paper but with so many possible combinations of nosh people keep changing their minds.

The solution? A shared Google Doc. Everyone has a gmail account or so it transpires. Even non google domains were resolved to a gmail address when an invite was sent. After dinner last night everyone sat round with their laptops editing the Google Doc – six persons at the same time (I did mam and dad’s).

This was pretty cool. ~~You can check out the creativity of the end result here.~~ I was going to share the doc publicly but the process of securing permission from 4 offspring was going to be too onerous and almost certainly cost me more than a curry so I haven’t bothered. A little interpretation is necessary as may be seen from the header photo and not a little simplification but it worked and there can be no quibbling over who ordered what.

A couple of links were included in the doc: The Poppadom Song and a hippo showing the after effects (presumably) of eating a curry.

Collaboration using Google Docs – not just for business 🙂

End User travel

The empty sea

Saw someone on the beach yesterday. Was a bit of a surprise because it isn’t exactly high season in the Isle of Man. We have grown used to finding signs saying “Opening 12th April”. We are off back to the mainland on 13th so that’s a lot of things we will have to cram in on our last day. School holidays don’t start here until next week.

I took a look online for potential visitor attractions. I note that there are three films on at the cinema in Douglas and Peel has a Pilates class running on Friday. Seven quid. The local pool is closed this afternoon for schools swimming lessons.

The upshot is there is nobody around except for a few pensioners whiling away their days and one or two kids over from the UK staying with grandparents (ditto us).

There is bingo on Friday night but by popular demand we are off to the Royal India, one of the world’s great curry houses which happens to be just around the corner from where my ma and pa live. Handy that.

We still have fishing to do and a walk up Peel Hill which holds spectacular views for those who have made the effort. We are saving those activities for tomorrow when the weather is supposed to be at its best.

The header photo is a picture of no boats out on the sea. If you want boats you will have to use your imagination because here they are all safely tucked up in harbour. We did see a lone kayak yesterday but it was too far out to photograph. I could only see it through my binoculars. Bit dodgy I thought, being that far out in a kayak on your todd.

This morning we are off to the Sound to see the Calf of Man and thereafter for lunch at the caff at the far end of the beach in Port Erin. It’s a goodun.

Catch ya later.

PS I’m still alive (see previous post)

End User travel

Signs of Danger or Dangers Signs – latest in holiday series where Tref reports having a good time

Post author By Trefor Davies
Post date Thursday, 10 April, 2014
No Comments on Signs of Danger or Dangers Signs – latest in holiday series where Tref reports having a good time

Felt a bit of a rebel taking this photo. It’s a sign on Peel breakwater listing dangers, prohibited activities and precautions that must be taken when passing the spot.

I was taking the pic with my Samsung Galaxy S4 and am clearly not wearing a hard hat. Hadn’t noticed that my eyes were shut when the shot was taken which at a stretch could be interpreted either as me being in denial about the dangers that lay ahead or pretending not to see the sign.

For completeness I should also mention that I wasn’t wearing high visibility clothing (unless the white legs exposed by a pair of shorts counts for high viz) , am not aware of being authorised but can reassure you that I was not smoking.

You will have to wait to see whether I post again after this to find out if I survived. Wish me luck as you wave me goodbye. Fingers crossed…

Allow location use #GoogleNow

Post author By Trefor Davies
Post date Wednesday, 9 April, 2014
No Comments on Allow location use #GoogleNow

I’ve just allowed Google to use my location. Up until now I’ve always rejected the request. Having mulled it over for a few years (I don’t like to rush these things) I’ve decided I’m ok with it. It will enhance online services for me. I don’t care about whether others know where I am or not. My location is pretty obvious if you read this blog.

Location data is useful to me when I use Google Now. I’m happy that it is able to give me hints about things in my locality. Currently it shows photos of nearby places. V handy I’d say.

Years ago when we were working on the commercialisation of SIP one of the things it was going to bring to the party was presence. Presence wasn’t really just about whether you were online and available or not. It was also about where you were online.

Getting off a plane in a new place was going to be made easy by automatically telling the hotel you had landed and pointing out good bars and restaurants you might want to hit. Only possible with location information.

I think I also like the idea that all my photos will have location information in them. Why not? It’s hard enough finding photos. Why not make it easier by telling you where the photo was taen?

Embrace the future. The future has the presence. The future is here and Google Now.

PS I’ve written about GoogleNow before. Had forgotten when writing this article. I don’t think I’ve had location switched on as standard before though.

PPS Off for a stroll now. There are places to see within 14 minutes walk! 🙂

End User travel

Holiday videos, wink wink ;) Peel Castle IoM

Post author By Trefor Davies
Post date Wednesday, 9 April, 2014
No Comments on Holiday videos, wink wink ;) Peel Castle IoM

We present for your entertainment and delight three short holiday videos. The first is an artistic work filmed on the rocks surrounding Peel Castle. Whilst the video requires no commentary the small element of speech inserted towards the end serves to draw the viewer’s attention to some of the key environmental content.

The second video was taken during a weekend break a few weeks ago. The weather here is very different. The filming was done at Fenella Beach on the other side of Peel Castle during a violent storm.

This final video shows a working fishing boat unloading a sack of crabs at the quayside at Peel breakwater on a bright sunny day. The skipper had called ahead and the lorry arrived at the quay just before the arrival of the boat.

Look out for more evidence of good times being had on trefor.net.

Images of Peel

I like a good sign. This one is a particularly fine example at the end of the promenade in Peel, Isle of Man. It is a very helpful sign especially if you are looking for a tourist attraction.

We have visited each attraction many times. I particularly like the chandlery which has lots of useful supplies for the seagoing type: ropes, pulleys, blocks, sou westers etc. Although the sign mentions “Town Centre” Peel is actually a City because despite only being a small town it has a cathedral.

The panorama is the view towards the beach from the breakwater in Peel. The view has changed very little since Victorian times. The @harbour_lights cafe and the Davidsons ice cream parlour are just right of centre. Clicking on the image brings up the full size 6ish Megs original and you might be able to zoom in.

Look out for other holiday snaps from the Isle of Man during this week’s vacation:)

Turn, Turn, Turn, A Time to Every Purpose

Post author By Kory Kessel
Post date Monday, 7 April, 2014
1 Comment on Turn, Turn, Turn, A Time to Every Purpose

19.11 GB of 471.48 GB – About 6 hours

Roughly 8 minutes ago I fired up my brand-spanking-new 3.5” hard drive enclosure (complete with newly-installed and formatted 4TB 3.5” hard drive), navigated via Finder to my bursting-at-the-seams 500GB 3.5” hard drive (also happily enclosed, and for over 5 years now), nimbly hit Ctrl+A to highlight everything, and dragged the highlighted contents over to begin the process of copying the data therein to its new home.

31.41 GB of 471.48 GB – About 6 hours

Speaking only for myself (though I suspect my words will ring true for a great many, if not the majority), I am not at all surprised to find the act of upgrading my external storage to be akin to cleaning out a household “junk drawer”. Generally speaking, I know what I have collected on Compote – the original 500GB drive – over the years, and yet many surprises abound.

55.10 GB of 471.48 GB – About 6 hours

Before I go any further, I should come (somewhat) clean by saying that not all of the flotsam-and-whatnot that resides in my digital universe has come into my possession in a pure and unassailable manner. Without admitting anything that could be used against me in a court of law (somewhat mad I am for “Law & Order” in its various flavors, and it is especially good when viewed in pristine .mkv on such-and-such device at my leisure), I will just say that I am, have been, and always will be a music/film/TV junkie and leave it at that.

Windfall Status

So I am seeing that all kinds of curious things are moving over to the new neighborhood (Windfall be its name, and in case you aren’t paying close enough attention, yes, I do use a certain fruit as the basis for the network drive naming convention at Chez Kessel). To offer just a hint of flavor, these were the last three items I saw go by:

BBC.Pink.Floyd.1of3.The.Story.of.Wish.You.Were.Here.x264.AAC.mkv
Stevie Ray Vaughan And Double Trouble – Texas Flood (1983) [FLAC] (2-CD) {2013 30th Anniversary Legacy Edition}
Marvel chronology disk 11 v2.0

A part of a television documentary, lossless Stevie Ray Vaughan music files, part 11 of a Galactus-sized collection of Marvel comics in .cbr format…any moment now I expect to see a box of old staples, a airline-issued personal sewing kit, and a too-well-thumbed and dog-eared deck of cards!

125.45 GB of 471.48 GB – About 5 hours

Just to fill in some of the backstory here, Compote is actually only one of three long-maintained “junk drives” whose contents will be making their way over to the oh-so-shiny-and-sparkly Windfall today (and from the looks of it, into tomorrow). Decorum restrains me from naming the other two, but suffice it to say they don’t fall very far from the tree, and each one is chock full of the same kind of gotta-have-it-and-someday-I-will-get-around-to-doing-something-with-it digital entertainment media detritus.

161.02 GB of 471.48 GB – About 4 hours

To be clear, I am not what used to be called a “packrat” or what today is more readily referred to by the darker and far less cute-sounding “hoarder”. No, I actually have real purpose in maintaining the nearly 2 TB of this-that-and-the-other that is currently undergoing consolidation onto the honker of a hard drive that is Windfall! You see, the center of my aforementioned digital universe, AppleKory (feel free to take a short break here to point fingers, cover your mouth, and enjoy a giggle at my expense), is sacrosanct, and new content must be scrubbed and polished before being allowed to cross the barrier into the vast media libraries I am forever building there. Thus the external drives? Holding pens of a spinning platter order.

206.26 GB of 471.48 GB – About 3 hours

Insight and useful lessons are no doubt popping off of these pixels, different depending on the individual reader (none of whom, I hope and pray, has the legal standing needed to commit me for observation or my own safety). I do want to share one last piece of information, though, to anyone out there who is finding inspiration in my personal data migration exercise and is now considering moving down their own amalgamation road: make sure the enclosure you have or will buy is capable of handling the new hard drive. SATA is SATA is SATA, right? Well, no. The SATA enclosures I bought years ago for my soon-to-be-pensioned 500GB drives were only able to handle the new 4TB drive up to a maximum of 1.8TB, a key fact I learned only after the shoes and socks were off, the screwdrivers were pulled out, the hard drive was relieved of its antistatic bag and installed into the enclosure, and the whole schmear was connected up and awaiting formatting.

258.14 GB of 471.48 GB – About 3 hours

<sigh>

Related posts:

fun stuff

Lincoln 10K – Support

After a bit of training, a few blog posts, and a little apprehension, here is my result from yesterday’s Lincoln 10K:

Pos.	No.	Name	Gun Time	Chip Time	Chip Pos.	Gender	Gender Pos.	Cat.	Cat. Pos.
3200	1466	Paul Tyler	1:06:52	1:02:29	3090	Male	2211	M35	292

The race itself was remarkably pleasurable. As I’d suspected, the start was tricky, as after lots of waiting around the gun finally went off and I got to watch the people who are better runners than me speed off, knowing they’d be taking the places in the pubs for Sunday lunch long before I would.

I won’t go through the whole race here as that would be about as interesting as listening to a work colleague describe a dream. I will simply say that it took me a good long time to sort my pace out, then there was a bit of a lull in the middle, and I enjoyed a better-than-expected second half.

Though it may be something of a cliché to gush on about the support you receive en route, it truly does make the race not only achievable but worthwhile. I’ve been a spectator at many races and I know that for most of the participants it requires a lot more effort than simply walking to the edge of your driveway with a cup of tea to see what all the noise is about. The effort from the supporters is worth every stride taken, and it provides quite an ego boost as well!

I want to offer a huge thanks, too, for all the support I’ve received from trefor.net and from those on social media. You all helped to push me over the line, and I am happy to share the feelings I have of pride and accomplishment with you.

So for the time being, quite simply, thus ends the subject of the Lincoln 10K. THANK YOU.

Paul Tyler presents Lincoln A to Z on Siren FM, and the audio he recorded at the Lincoln 10K will be broadcast soon.

@lincolnatoz

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End User travel

A roaming, a roaming it’s always been my ru i in

Post author By Trefor Davies
Post date Monday, 7 April, 2014
No Comments on A roaming, a roaming it’s always been my ru i in

Off roaming again. Mobile roaming that is. The Isle of Man. A place which will be all about relaxation, healthy walks, tea and scones in the @harbour_lights cafe, fishing boats, fishing from the breakwater, a stroll along the prom, ruined castles, seals, guillemots, rock pippits, basking sharks, meals out, meals in, great food and drink, sleep.

I might call in on Manx Telecom for a chat. Check out the latest developments in offshore telecom. I made a call over the Manx 3G network before it was introduced in the UK. Few years ago now. Was quite a cool thing to do. The Isle of Man was a test bed for O2 at the time.

The beauty of our modern world is that we can work from wherever we are. Although this is a holiday I like my job and can spend a couple of profitable hours each day doing stuff. Travel time is also time that can now be usefully spent rather than just staring out of the window wondering how much longer it will be before we sight land – something to break the monotony of the journey.

The hotel had WiFi. There was 4G in Liverpool whilst we queued to get on the ferry, the ferry has free WiFi, at least where I am sat. My mam and dad’s place has WiFi, the Harbour Lights Cafe has WiFi. The Whitehouse pub doesn’t have WiFi but who on earth would want to waste good pub banter time by staring into a screen.

I switch off mobile data roaming because the cost would be ruinous and there is in any case plenty of connectivity. I’ll settle for ruining my waistline.

It is now 11.49 and we would appear to be out of sight of land. The windows in the lounge have steamed up so we wouldn’t be able to see anything anyway:) All is quiet.

End User travel

Level crossings and the quirks of the taxi fare system

Post author By Trefor Davies
Post date Monday, 7 April, 2014
No Comments on Level crossings and the quirks of the taxi fare system

When walking to work I have to cross a railway line. There is of course a set of barriers that come down every now and again when a train comes by. I find myself picking up my walking pace as I get nearer to the crossing so that if the warning the barriers are about to come down starts to sound I can get across before my way is barred. I have sometimes had to wait 4 minutes before a train comes. Not good.

Whilst I normally walk I have had occasion to take a taxi home. If I get the cab to pick me up from the side of the level crossing nearest my house the fare is £4.20. A pick up from the side nearest the office, that’s the side with the Tower Bar in the pic, costs £5.40!!!

I have for your information and education taken photos of the queues caused when the barriers come down. Enjoy:)

The view from the office

Business travel

The view from the office – Lincoln Cathedral seen from Sparkhouse

Post author By Trefor Davies
Post date Monday, 7 April, 2014
No Comments on The view from the office – Lincoln Cathedral seen from Sparkhouse

Gotta tell you Sparkhouse is a great place for an office. It’s attached to the University of Lincoln and is slap bang in the middle of town. A pleasure to walk there every day. This is the view from the front door. The river to the right is the Witham.

agricultural End User fun stuff Weekend

Saturday Snapshot (5-April-2014)

Post author By Kory Kessel
Post date Sunday, 6 April, 2014
5 Comments on Saturday Snapshot (5-April-2014)

Yanked to the surface of consciousness on this Normandy morning by the potent combination of bright sky warmth-providing orb, insistent cat, breakfast aromas (coffee, toasting raisin bread), My Missus yelling “À table!”, and the promise of the Saturday farmer’s market in Lisieux (gotta get there before those Orbec mushrooms are gone!).

April in Paris? Schmapril in Schmaris!

** I do plan to return to the whole “April in Paris” in a positive, musical sense in these pages quite soon, but let’s stay on point, shall we? **

Basket in hand, car keys in other hand, shoes on feet…OK, I’ve got the appendages covered (rest of the body too, as the last thing this American wants to do is throw a fright into scads and scads of provincial Frenchies). A few coins in my pocket, and a rough-but-working-itself-out lunch scheme forming.

Our late arrival at the market had My Missus and I worried we would go Orbec-less this weekend, but I am happy to report (and indicate via photograph) that this was not the case.

800 grams of the finest and freshest Normandy-grown Cremini mushrooms secured, our market wander could take on a more relaxed pace and did, leading us to various vegetables and to our lunch plate protein of choice, which today we had decided would be a few nice sole. With no less than five fish mongers hawking their wares at the Lisieux farmer’s market, the selection and pricing is usually in line with expectation and today was no exception (though our score – five good-sized sole for just 10€ — certainly could be described as ‘exceptional’).

agricultural End User Weekend

The yellow flower

It’s a yellow flower at the weekend. The green leaves around it look quite manky but the flower shines through. I’m ashamed to admit that I have no idea what make of flower it is. What brand. Wouldn’t surprise me if companies try to register flower names as brands.

If I saw a rose I could name that. Tulips and daffodils I can also identify. Otherwise I begin to struggle. I’m ok with grass. I quite like grass although our lawn needs some seeing to. It’s not worth the effort as it gets hammered all year round by kids.

I quite like mowing the lawn in the summer followed by lighting the barbecue and cracking open a tin or two. It’s not often the weather is good enough for us to sit out to eat but the conservatory is fine. We have a nice conservatory opening out onto the back garden and the table will seat ten or twelve people if we open out the leaves so it’s a good place for a relaxing Sunday barbecue that lasts all afternoon.

We also have a couple of gazebos that can come in handy both when there is a threat of rain and conversely it is too sunny. Anyway hope you enjoyed the picture of the flower. It’s the weekend. Make it a lazy one 🙂

PS if anyone has a favourite flower do let us know:)

End User fun stuff Weekend

The kecks are ready

Just had Waitrose on the dog and bone saying the kecks are ready. They didn’t actually use those words. I translated for you. The woman on the other end of the phone actually said “Mr Davies it’s Waitrose dry cleaners here. Your trousers are ready to collect.”

I’ve started to use a lot more natural language on this blog. Eased into it. I don’t think you could be reading through back issues of posts and say to yourselves “hey he’s started to change his style”. There wasn’t one of those transformational moments.

Makes you think about the use of language though. In one sense it surely doesn’t matter what words are used. As long as people understand what you are trying to say. Wft, fyi, btw, atb, brb, lol,swalk. Most people will know what I’m on about there. At least most people whose native tongue is English. Oh and below a certain age, except for the last acronym in which case it may well only be people above a certain age that get it.

The extent to which the language used almost depends on how far you can push it before people begin to not understand what you are trying to say. knowworramean? Grammatical conventions should also evolve. why does it matter that we have to use upper case for the first letter after a full stop (that’s a period for those over the pond – I realise that I overstepped the limits if comprehension there for some). the full stop informs that the end of the sentence has been reach thus allowing the reader to draw mental breath.

I may still chose to start someone’s name with upper case but it isn’t absolutely necessary. tref or Tref. You still understand what I’m trying to say.

In the interest of research I herewith request that you leave a comment with an alternative word for trousers. One go per comment. There are two prizes on offer. A pint of beer goes to the person with the most variants and another pint goes to whoever leaves the last comment with a word for trousers. All entries must be in English and in the event of a dispute you must be able to somehow prove common usage of your word. If beer is not your thing I’ll stretch to a small sherry. Prizes must collected in person.

More good reeds:
rong spelins

End User fun stuff

The darling buds of April – latest in a fun series of posts on nothing in particular

Post author By Trefor Davies
Post date Saturday, 5 April, 2014
2 Comments on The darling buds of April – latest in a fun series of posts on nothing in particular

All you tech heads out there think your stuff is cool don’t you? Your tablet computers, new phones, operating systems and other stuff my grandmother would not have heard of. No new product introduction can compare with what you see in this picture.

It’s new life coming into the apple tree we planted in our back garden a couple of years ago. It will grow and produce apples. More apples than the two we got last year. They were two good ones. Two of the best.

The only good Apple is one that grew on a tree. Read into that what you like:) It’s the weekend and what does the weekend mean? Jobs list. Jobs that don’t get done during the week. Things like clean out the car¹ because we are off on holiday. Mow the lawn for the first time this year. Take Kid4 to a badminton tournament.

When all that is done I should be able to relax a little. Maybe stroll into the Bailgate. Bump in to a few people I know and talk about nothing. Look in a shop window.

I do ~~need~~ want to buy a Leatherman. I had two but they both got nicked. With a leather man if you have a bit of string that needs cutting there is no problem. Need to tighten a screw? Hey that’s easy. Simply chose the correct screwdriver bit and you’re away. Stone in your horse’s hoof. The Leatherman will have something for it. Chop down that enormous tree that gradually grew in the middle of your back garden and before you realised was taller than the house…

My memory was jogged re my Leatherman shortage when strolling round the new GO Outdoors shop that’s opened just down the road from us. Doing a bit of bag procurement I was. There is a half decent range of ~~Leathermans~~ Leathermen on display. I noted the top of the range model had £30 knocked off if I had a discount card, which I do. However a quick search noted that I could get it with a further £30 knocked off from Amazon. I didn’t make that impulse buy.

This week I revisited the Amazon store with a view to making a one click purchase. I didn’t make that purchase because I found out that the model I had my eye on wasn’t the top of the range after all. There was a titanium version. Gordon Bennet! That made sense to me. However the titanium version was about £130.

So this was my dilemma. Feed the kids/buy them shoes/go on a family holiday/pay off the mortgage/fund a cure for stupidity or buy the Leatherman. Well I am going to buy the Leatherman but I will wait until I have a piece of string that needs cutting. Then I’ll feel I bought it because I needed it and it won’t have been such an extravagance.

Anyway gotta go. I have to prepare to take a kid somewhere and then build up the mental strength to clean the car…

¹Whether it needs it or not – actually even I think it needs doing!

End User fun stuff Weekend

Offer to end all offers – free Wilkinson Sword 5 blade razor – something for the weekend

Post author By Trefor Davies
Post date Saturday, 5 April, 2014
No Comments on Offer to end all offers – free Wilkinson Sword 5 blade razor – something for the weekend

Wilkinson Sword Hydro – the ultimate razor?

In the run up to Christmas Kid4 scours the online free give away offers for presents for the family. Very resourceful.

One of these offers has just come through: a Wilkinson Sword Hydro 5 blade razor job. It looks very good quality albeit over 3 months late. I’m not going to look a gift horse in the mouth especially if it is going to give me a shave or two but you do have to wonder about the marketing of this offer.

Either it proved to be more popular than their wildest dreams and they ran out of stock very quickly or their planning was v poor and the execution terrible. If the first was the case it’s interesting to note that their manufacturing lead times would appear to be around 3 months. Seems a lot for a bit of plastic even if it did come personalised.

Whichever is the case I am going to end up using it because I have it, it has 5 blades and it was free. I will of course report back so that you, the unshaven masses, can benefit from the experience. It will be quite annoying if I end up thinking it is good becasuse I will have to go out and buy more blades and you can bet your bottom peseta that they are even more expensive than my usual quad blades.

Maybe I’ll let Anne decide which is best for smooth cheeks. I was going to finish this post with the sign off “something for the weekend?” but I don’t bother shaving at the weekend. A hangover from my old rugby playing days when I needed to look as rugged as possible on a Saturday afternoon.

So on Monday morning you shall know. If I remember.

Ciao bebe (strokes his non existent beard and rides off into the sunset)…

Lincoln 10K – Race Day Preparation

Post author By Paul Tyler
Post date Saturday, 5 April, 2014
2 Comments on Lincoln 10K – Race Day Preparation

In my house I’m known as Last Minute Paulie, as ‘Why do today what you can put off until tomorrow?’ is a motto one could easily associate with me. Rather than get the lawn mower out this week, for instance, I’ve been happily watching the grass grow, employing the ready excuse of it being too damp while bestowing the virtues of a natural meadow look to the chap a couple of doors down who obviously doesn’t approve.

In spite of my proclivity to procrastinate, though, to ensure a good race day experience I am planning to be prepared way in advance. By that I mean sitting on my backside, browsing running websites for tips and not acting on them. As you would expect, of course, the advice to be had is entirely practical. Pace yourself…eat the right amounts of the right foods…make sure to use the facilities before the gun goes off…etcetera and so forth. I know, though, from my limited racing experience that these mostly-helpful websites will fail to mention the following:

Enjoy running on the road. In the first road race I ever took part in I was almost overwhelmed at the realization that the road was closed especially for me and my fellow racers, and with every race since I have enjoyed the same feeling. In fact, this is almost worth the entry fee alone, especially as the local residents have no doubt been moaning about it on social media for a few weeks prior.

Tags 10k, Lincoln, lincoln 10k, running

End User food and drink internet

Ace internet access at Alexanders

Post author By Trefor Davies
Post date Wednesday, 2 April, 2014
1 Comment on Ace internet access at Alexanders

Sat in Alexanders coffeeshop/bar/restaurant whilst kid2 has a hairdo. Alexanders has wifi, fair play. The wifi is giving me 34Megs down and nearly 9Megs up, very fair play.

This shouldn’t be news in this day and age but getting those kinds of speeds is still a delight. It’s made even better by the fact that everyone else in the gaff are of the ladies with idle moments out shopping variety. They are chatting using the old analogue mouth and ears method rather than the in vogue “talk to the person sat next to you via IM”. The upshot is that I have all the bandwidth to myself. Salright innit:)

The last time I sat in a caff with wifi¹ was at the Harbour Lights in Peel in the Isle of Man. We follow each other on twitter (@harbour_lights). I tweeted how good it was and to my surprise the waitress came over and told me the tea and crumpets were on the house. Read that blog here.

Alexanders also has a twitter account @Alexanderscafe but they haven’t used it for yonks so I doubt the same ploy would work again. It wasn’t deliberately planned the first time anyway 🙂 Doesn’t matter. I’m happy to pay for my cuppa. The atmosphere is nice and it’s a good place to hang out whilst a hairdo is being done.

7 a day in a box

7 a day in a home made soup.

7 a day is the new 5 a day. If you’re not on 7 you’re gonna die. Sooner. Bet a lot of you aren’t even on 5. That makes it a lot worse. C’mon. Chips don’t count you know. Especially if they are with a KFC variety meal or a Big Mac. Kebabs might have salad and chilli sauce but the fat content of the “meat” sends the cholesterol meter into a frenzy.

Pull yourself together. You just need to believe you can do it. Your body is your temple:)

‘Course it does help to have a wife who is a wonderful cook and who has despatched me to the office with a container of her home made vegetable soup. I think I detected a few bits of bacon in there too. Yum. Just what you need for lunch after a session in the pool followed by a walk to work.