Sunday, April 30, 2006

Fairhaven

Big shout going out to the one like Buck who popped down fo tea & toast with Lil and I this morning.

There will be pictures tomorrow as I'm having her again for a couple of hours...I'm saving them all up for you :-)

In the meantime, please check out the video below. It's the kind of school I wish I'd been to...only not in Amerika!

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

When all is said and done...

...I fell asleep listening to my Buddha Machine after reading a bit of my all time favourite book. Which is, when all is said and done, a lot more Old Skool than I have been recently [cf. geeking out on Linux and the new Mac Mini I got]...

The gig last night was odd...crap support acts, a strange mix of people and very smoky, and I had a couple of rum & cokes with Ricola(F)

I think I may have actually made a mistake in getting the micro-freeview thingamuhickey added to the mega-system....not having had a TV for nearly a year I was expecting great things (in terms of sitting on the sofa entertained), but lo and behold, it is still all absolute c***ing s*i*e!



Mind you, I've basically just backgrounded it with a schedule of things to record, and made an Automator script to copy recordings to the correct directory (based on show info, e.g. Documentary, Film (with genre) etc) on the external hard drive when done. In the meantime, Knight Rider is dl'ing for Hen & since he suggested it I think I may enjoy watching again too...

So, with a day off work what did I do? Tried building more bits of Stealth Video Cams for ZSL & Joe...then I took Lil to the park for a bit before coming back to mine for some singing!



My cuz Chris has updated his website (and got maxxed out in the process ;), but you really should check out this!



Dear Jarn, please calm down about the Mac/Linux thing....you know that I know that we all know that I am right!

Sunday, April 23, 2006

BLEEP!

OK OK I was wrong.....look around...Bleep Player should be here somewhere...

Now you can thank JP for me assualting your ears as well as your eyes!

Parp!

I have also updated the Digg links thing on the right....no longer is it Main Page...just my Dugg stuf...and that's only cos I have no memory (they're all in my Bookmarks too....somewhere).

W00t!

Cocktails with Pants tomorrow, then off to see Babel...Wednesday off work!

Where the hell is my EyeTV!

Hmmm Camino....?

...some odd browser behaviour from Camino....maybe I'll just have to get the Blogger widget instead and bypass all this old fashioned browser nonsense ;-)

Anyway...great morning with Lil today. Here's some pics of the pigs she seems to love.




Hanging out with Dad....


Oh and in case I haven't said it today: Mac's Rule (but so does Linux)!

Saturday, April 22, 2006

Thiiiis oooonnneeesss ffffoooorrr Jjjjaaaaaaaahhhhn!!!

Sung in a high-pitched ghey voice.

Your 'Mr Piss' Bleep Odeo was funny but wrong. I cannot 'syndicate' (that is the word you were looking for) such a feed....I have however added it to my Bloglines in that whole Web 2.0, "let's share" kinda way.

Hopefully I'll be arsed enough tomorrow to post some pics of Lil; not sure what we're up to tomorrow...depends on the weather really.

BTW Buckle, your car still rules the roadz!

Just that I rule the I [dot] T [dot] Sh1zzle!!!1!1!!

Oh noes, the Mac is amazing and my other PC is still Linux and all are happily talking to each other...if only I can get Frontrow to use DivX/XVid AVI I'm a laffing!


END!

Friday, April 21, 2006

I got Mac...

...no Windows in my house, except those I use to look out of.



Wooo!!1!1!!!...I am mildly confused by the current 2 Monitors,2 Mice & 2 Keyboard thing...keep typing on the wrong thing...thats the Mini on the left, remote in front of it, Gumstix to the right (under the 19"monitor)...2 Mices...2 Phat phlat screens!!



Hey, thank the mo' for Apple hardware/Software though! I wont be leaving the house for weeks except for the essentials: work, food, air and sun....

I've yet to take a pic with the Craptop added to the mix! It usually sits on myleft...

Look at that mini Mac! (mini Linux machine also shown...next to an old-skool Valve!)

Thursday, April 20, 2006

There are no pictures today.

Evening.

I feel a rant coming on; brace yourselves for typos, probable swearing, and generally....well ranting and punctuation in inappropriate places.

So, the other night I decided I would have a preview of the next release of Ubuntu (Dapper Drake Flight 6 to be precise). Now, I know I have been a bit of an advocate of Linux in general recently and Ubuntu (and, sort of by default, Debian), but there were two completely unexpected outcomes of trying this...one of which was probably down to me (OK, was down to me) and the other definitely down to knowing more than just the basics when "f*cking with the system".

A favourite hobby of mine.

PRECONDITIONS:
i - I use an external USB 250Gb Drive for storing 90% of my media, personal and work files.
ii - I backed up /home (that's like "My Documents" and more for you Windows only people)
ii - I downloaded the LiveCD (that means it all runs from the CD)
iv - I am scared of messing with Boot Loaders (see GRUB)

METHOD & RESULTS:
1 - LiveCD Torrent downloaded very quickly and burnt [45 mins total]
[Take that Mico$oft!....did I mention that cost me nothing]
2 - Dapper is fast! Even with the LiveCD it's a little faster for many things than than my Breezy install.
[Breezy runs faster than XP on my machine!....Take that Bill!]
3 - So I ran the "This is GREAT! Install it" application linked on the Desktop. No problem....took about 30 mins [*bof*], looked good....restarted.

Everything was broken! Not even an Operating System.

Stuck the Breezy CD in, rebooted, waited an hour, ran Automatix, waited an hour.

[ *quak*]

Edit a file. Bobs your uncle all back!

CONCLUSION:
A - Learn a little more than the basics about your computer or find someone who does and that you trust.

B - F|_|cK Microsoft! Not literally....but why use them? Human usable Linux distributions do exist and they are not difficult to setup alongside or in place of Windoze! But make sure you get a Linux distro you can use as you want!

C - None of this cost me anything except a bit of time and a desire to go to the pub! If I'd been using Windows and it all borked I'd probably have had to pay (or steal) some of the software along the way! And it would have taken longer!!!

Some other fantastic news. Bristol Wireless have moved to the St Werb's Community Centre so I am hoping to get my CANtenna built at last....then I can connect for free at about the same speed as I have now....however I personally have some qualms about using a free access point, regardless of the professionality of the installation. I'm still going to do it though, if not at least so I can connect R (who has been thinking BBand)....wow, how about a repeater station on R's roof to a secure access point at mine, that connects back to the StWCC?!?

My brain hurts.

In other news, I removed the pink sofa from my lounge to the bin area for it to be collected tomorrow morning (for 15 notes to the council) on my own, but then collected loads of old boxes and big crap from neighbours and added it to the pile. A clean yard is a happy yard! Now I need to buy a dining table that can double as another work area (or vice versa)...

Tomorrow is the official day of conception of GuriNet...fully-fledged GuriMedia will be here with the arrival of EyeTV ;) and getting a decent WLAN bridge together...explanation and pics to come.

Scheduled a massive p!ss-up in Bruxelles for early May to celebrate the launch of a platform I had nothing to do with at the time....way to go I say!

Lil has more teeth coming so is red-cheeked and grumpy, but we had an OK time today....Sunday might be harder.

That is all.

Friday, April 14, 2006

Un Post pour Yasmina

This post is for Yasmina from Paris, who was intrigued by mention of The City Farm here in St Werburghs...the nearest translation I can come up with is "Ferme Citoyenne"....Citizens' Farm.

Anyway the pictures pretty much speak for themselves. But I just want to say that I love the fact that this resource is available pretty much in the middle of the city.



The farm sits in the hollow between lots of hills...a pearl at the bottom of the teacup.

There is a wonderful cafe with a small adventure playground.

Little Pigs....the massive pig was not there today.

There a couple of sheep, ducks, turkeys, chickens....

My personal favourite...Goat!

Lots of useful shops near my house!

This is the park that I can see from my window...Lil's favourite is the swings!


And here's a bad shot of Lil in the harness :)




In other news: The desk is finally built and installed with all the gadgetron required....except I went a bit mad this week and bought a Mac Mini....I know, I know...but it's sooo small and I can use BootCamp to run Windows XP on it too if I should be so mad.....Miniscule (16.5 x 16.5 x 5 cm) Home Theatre PC here I come!



Here's Lil before we set off.

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Filles est Mignon!

Not Steak!

That's a French joke that.

Anyway, work....continues. It's still interesting, and I do enjoy the technical/managerial split, but what's with the politics? Crumbs. I mean, I'm not the most socially adept person in the world by any means; there appears to be no cut-off between my thoughts and my mouth most of the time. I'm trying really hard to be all diplomatic-yet-firm, but I still can't resist slipping in lines like "and if the integrator says that 'all functionality will be preserved' in one document and then says 'oh. that is not in scope', then I will personally fight them...with my fists."

Still, nobody disagreed with me.

I just typed a massive rant about work politics here....but on retrospect it was a bit too harsh, so i removed it. ;)

So.....without any further ado:



And pretty much the same thing happens here... ;)



That is all.

!UPDATE!

Huntley sent this (pre-shave) photo from Sunday....thanks Huntley!

Sunday, April 09, 2006

Buggy Woe

Got a flat tyre on the mega-buggy, so I stopped off at a bike shop and they lent me a bike pump...Lil and I went up to The Caff this morning, met up with Huntley, and Buck & Gazatron came down for a bit too. Lil seemed a bit subdued with all the new people; Louise and Nellie were there too, but there was no great trauma. Gave her some milk and she played around with some toys while I had a coffee.

Stopped off at Redland Park and played on the swings for a bit and then she lay back in the buggy, sang "mumumumum" for a minute or two and then dropped off until the exact instant I stopped outside Rose's.

Friday, April 07, 2006

Swing

Short post. Tired....going out later (see post below)

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Babbling 'bout Babel

Going to see Babel on Friday night!

w00t!....you can check out their MySpack site too ;)

Plus I will be accompanying the wonderful female Ricola...

w00t w00t!

Brought Lil round for half an hour to play with some toys....played a bit of "boinky boinky boo" (might explain another time...or video).



Back to work today :(

154 Emails in 2 days, even with the "Out of Office" thingie on. Did, however, manage to get out of going to Lyon for 3 days during easter week.

Saturday, April 01, 2006

Babies + Trains = OK!

As you can see my desk is a bit cluttered....still not got round to putting up the new uber-desk...



Anyway...those are bits scavenged together for Lil's Robot! The current plan involves a snazzy light up cyclops eye, record and playback 2-3 seconds of sound with big push buttons...i might even get round to installing a spinning thing somewhere...

There's also a PIR and a couple of camera lenses from the "Stealth Cam" project...which seems to have ZSL in something of a tizzy!

We took the train up to Clifton this morning for a quick coffee and to show Lil off to anyone that might be in Tapas...so today we met Meesh, Super Al, Wierd Old Man, and Barny...might do the same next Sunday. No train though, so super-buggy it will be!



...unfortunately neither Uncle BuK nor Teh Berber managed to get up in time. But Lil seemed to enjoy it all nonetheless. First time on a train (I think...must ask R), and certainly the first time playing in a highchair with daddy & the magic cube. I even managed to sneak out for a quick smoke without her getting upset. Not a worry the whole morning! :)

Off to Gazatron & Lovely Kerry's engagement thinguh tonight....meeting up with Teh Ricola (both female and male) for a pie and a pint at the P&S before we all go to the do at 130.

Here is the lucky Tronmeister!

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