Full of the cold, head like sticky glue. Pretty fuzzy for the first couple of days, and hardly rocket powered the last couple of days. I'm starting to get more tolerant of myself not always being one hundred percent. Looking back not entirely sure what I did this week, but although I may not have been the most purposeful, I am sure that I was beavering away. All a bit of a catholic guilt, puritan work ethic sort of thing.
Met up with my old boss for lunch, and had a fine time, she is looking really well, and clearly retirement suits her well. We hardly mentioned work at all, which suited me just fine, and as a parting gift, I gave her some of my wife's fine jams, and preserves, including the new favourite, High Dumpsie Dearie Jam.
I was successful in applying for another post recently, so I will need to put my house in order, either get things done, or hand them over to someone else. It will be after Christmas when I move, so that sounds a long way away at the moment, but I suspect that it will creep up on me mighty fast, if I don't start beavering away on stuff. More puritan work ethic stuff going on.
Still persevering trying to find a way to backup my new laptop. I have deleted a lot of old stuff from my laptop, particularly stuff that came from previous machines, I suspect that there is even stuff that I had on my first System 7.1 laptop there. Also got rid of CyberDuck from my laptop. Following a suggestion on one of the podcasts, I am trying iBackup. I did set it to back up everything last night, but was still stalled when I came down this morning. I gave things a right clear out this morning, it backed up okay onto the desktop, so now I am trying to back it up to the external hard drive.
If that works, and I'll be feeling decidedly cocky if it does, then I'll try and run time machine backing up to another partition.
Other stuff, I really will need to start thinking about Christmas stuff properly, but it just feels so alien these days, when everyone has everything they want, it is a bit like that rather gross Mr Creosote sketch, where we are all being encouraged to have just that little bit more. I have that niggling feeling, that with a bit of lateral thinking, something less consumeristic, and more useful could be arrived at.
Otherwise, not much to report, it is really really cold, actually really really really cold,
Friday 23 November 2007
Friday 16 November 2007
The geek as hero, arcana as power, a new alchemy.
quite a lot to report
how I am getting on with my new computer
After much effort doing installations (all trouble free, just time consuming) last weekend, my new laptop is now up and running, with the exception of Time Machine. I even ran software update yesterday, and applied a system patch, but still no joy, now TimeMachine. I've checked out SuperDuper and we are still waiting for an upgrade to that to allow it to ran with Leopard. So my backup strategy is now two-fold
It is now clear that routine maintenance for two computers, which for me, basically consists of doing a weekly backup, and a monthly run of Disk Utility and OnyX will become quite time consuming. However my first two computers both eventually crashed out with corrupt hard drives, which then needed to be reformated and reinstalled, so I am perfectly resigned to doing proper backups.
I also watched the OSX Leopard introductory tour yesterday, and I'm slowly getting my head round the new functionality of Leopard. A lot of it is not gee whizz new, but rather tucked away, and you have to go looking for it. Spaces seems interesting, but I've not quite got my head round it. I guess that I will just have to spend time playing around with the new OS, and browsing through material about it. A lot of it is selling functionality that I did not know I wanted, so there is the task of understanding the functionality, then understanding how to use it.
I ran the laptop, connected upto the internet router via an old ethernet cable, and the Mail worked fine, I don't think that connecting two computers to the same mail account will cause problems actually. Well not with received mail, I might need to be a bit cannier with sent mail though. I'll need to lash out on a longer ethernet cable, but it will be cheaper than buying a wireless router.
At the moment expenditure on IT seems to be a constant item, though in fairness, I am not spending on much else.
It is great being able to run two computers, it also means that I can spend an evening typing away on my laptop, while the rest of the family can use the desktop. Yesterday I was using the laptop, while Hannah was playing away on the Sims, and Sketchfighter.
If I am primarily using the laptop for typing, the screen is plenty big enough, it is light and easy to move around, the power cable with the magsafe link is easy and safe to use. I am persevering using the trackpad, and now quite like using the one finger for moving the cursor and two fingers for scrolling facility. No sure that browsing folders in CoverFlow is particularly quick, but intriguing none the less.
In terms of version control, I'm using the laptop primarily for stuff that does not need the internet connection, while the web-based stuff I do on the desktop. However I might be persuaded to upgrade to a family license for RapidWeaver in due course, just to make life slightly easier. Ditto other applications, probably just as easy buying family licenses for software from now on.
Despite all this positive stuff, with the absence of reliable backups, I am mighty glad that I am not running Leopard on my main computer, and do not intend to upgrade it to Leopard, because it might be a bit of a memory hog, I cannot back it up, and I really want complete no risk/no worry peace of mind on my main computer. Running two internet capable computers does feel a lot more secure than having one, and all the putting your eggs in one basket, that that entailed.
applying for new jobs
Actually quite a worrisome week, doing two workshop presentations on Monday, which was something that I had not exactly done before, though I had done similar stuff. As ever worry worry worry, but when the adrenaline kicks in, you just stick a smile on your face, and become larger than life, breezing through it. Just as well in this case, as some of the audience were really not used to or expecting a presentation from a government official, so there was a fair bit of questions, and issues raised, but between the adrenaline and past experience, I carried it off with reasonable aplomb. You certainly don't do these things for the hearty congratulations for the audience, but I think that we should be out there, being seen, speaking to people, and more importantly listening to people.
Then a quick briefing of the Minister, which I was leading, but I made sure that I was well prepared, and knew the points I wanted to get across, and the Minister was a real pleasure to meet. So after the initial worry that too went well.
Final worry out of three, for the week, was a job interview on the Thursday. Once again made sure that I was well prepared, even setting aside some time in the office to make sure that I was thoroughly prepared. I did apply for one other post recently, but this was the one that I really wanted, even although the other one would have paid better. This one fits in with my career plan, which is to find a post with elements of project management, working with external stakeholders, and negotiation skills. The team also looked to be a really good mix of people, and the actual work area seemed interesting. It rather reminds me of work that I was doing a while back, that was mad busy, but high profile, challenging, but you were learning so much all the time.
The job would offer a mix of building on skills that I already have, but also enhancing areas that I feel that I need to develop.
The interview went okay, not one that I felt that I had aced, but okay nonetheless. My problem being that it is difficult to demonstrate that you can do something that you have not done before, so I was delighted to be asked at the outset why I wanted the job, so I could say, probably in a gushy/enthusiastic sort of way, that I might not have all the experience on paper, but I wanted to get the experience, I thought I could do it, and I wanted the chance to prove that I could.
We use competency based interviews, which means that you have to talk about similar tasks that you have successfully done, which means that you want good high quality work to demonstrate what you can do, getting bogged down with low quality work makes it difficult to move onto a decent job. Just another aspect of the need to focus on work that delivers significant outcomes, and think carefully about what you put your time into. I am constantly amazed at the high quality of some staff, and that they are not better paid for what they have to do. I might be good at what I do, but there are a lot of really excellent people, so although the work suits me well, I won't rise effortlessly to the top.
starting to write Losing Definition
I have made a start on losing definition, writing it on VoodooPad. To date I have taken stuff that I have written in a previous start on RapidWeaver, only a few pages, and notes from my notebooks, and some poetry from the blog. I don't intend to duplicate the blog in Losing Definition, but it might have stuff that I can use. At present there is a lot of stuff there, that is just working notes, and will get edited out in due course, but I'm still not too sure where it is going, so it is not too obvious what is irrelevant yet. I'll push on with writing stuff, and trawling through stuff that I have already written to find suitable material.
I think the real art will be in the editing, rather than the writing, maybe there is an Ezra Pound who could create a Wasteland from my prose?
In any case, it will take a lot of work and iterations to arrive at something that I am happy with, but it will be a pretty dense mix when it is finished, Giorgio DeChiroco wrote a fishy paste of a novel, called Hebdomeron, which I have never read, and only just remember hearing about, but I feel like I am struggling to create some such 'mythical work'.
Context is of course everything, it will take shape, and it is time for me to get writing, rather that waffling on about it.
Just like magic
There is a famous quote from Arthur C Clarke about any sufficiently advanced technology will appear to be magic. I think that the new Apple operating systems are approaching that level. In some sort of Harry Potter way, we can gesture, and make short incantations, to create magical works.
The geek as hero, arcana as power, a new alchemy.
Nowadays it seems like every home needs a geek, to provide technical support, the new BT adverts with Kris Marshall certainly seem to be going down this line, that there is something attractive and useful about geekery.
My first computer, a Powerbook 165c (introduced in 1993 and running System 7.1) was capable of being understood inside out. There seemed a pretty finite limit to the functionality, and the files and folders. Even adding in a works package like Clarisworks, you still had a pretty manageable degree of functionality, useful, without being confusing.
However skipping forward to my new laptop an iBook running OXS 10.5, the number of files and folders is probably over 800,000, beyond what any reasonable person would know or understand. In terms of functionality, there are now numerous perfectly legitimate ways of achieving the same end. You can customise and enhance, there is no single standard user experience. I can learn tricks and shortcuts limited only by my ability to remember them all, I can add on functionality like QuickSilver to create further magical abilities to shortcut through the complexity.
You really would need to be a genius to understand all of this, or even a decent chunk of it. Computing has therefore evolved into an art, where you need to make qualitative judgements, subjective decisions, balance issues, there are no single right answers, merely strategies that are more likely to succeed.
I often wonder who the future belongs to, it may well belong to those who can master these things. In the past work did not place a great premium on brain power, but increasingly you will need brainpower, and will be responsible for keeping your brainpower upto date, relevant and useful.
I have probably written this before, but I don't think we should be talking about information workers, but about understanding workers. It won't be about having the qualifications, or seniority, it will be about being able to do things.
- how I am getting on with my new computer
- applying for new jobs
- starting to write Losing Definition
- Just like magic
how I am getting on with my new computer
After much effort doing installations (all trouble free, just time consuming) last weekend, my new laptop is now up and running, with the exception of Time Machine. I even ran software update yesterday, and applied a system patch, but still no joy, now TimeMachine. I've checked out SuperDuper and we are still waiting for an upgrade to that to allow it to ran with Leopard. So my backup strategy is now two-fold
- for my desktop computer - continue to run SuperDuper each week to back up the entire system into a partition on an external hard drive.
- for my laptop computer - all newly created documents to be kept in the same desktop folder for ease, and to be backed up from there.
It is now clear that routine maintenance for two computers, which for me, basically consists of doing a weekly backup, and a monthly run of Disk Utility and OnyX will become quite time consuming. However my first two computers both eventually crashed out with corrupt hard drives, which then needed to be reformated and reinstalled, so I am perfectly resigned to doing proper backups.
I also watched the OSX Leopard introductory tour yesterday, and I'm slowly getting my head round the new functionality of Leopard. A lot of it is not gee whizz new, but rather tucked away, and you have to go looking for it. Spaces seems interesting, but I've not quite got my head round it. I guess that I will just have to spend time playing around with the new OS, and browsing through material about it. A lot of it is selling functionality that I did not know I wanted, so there is the task of understanding the functionality, then understanding how to use it.
I ran the laptop, connected upto the internet router via an old ethernet cable, and the Mail worked fine, I don't think that connecting two computers to the same mail account will cause problems actually. Well not with received mail, I might need to be a bit cannier with sent mail though. I'll need to lash out on a longer ethernet cable, but it will be cheaper than buying a wireless router.
At the moment expenditure on IT seems to be a constant item, though in fairness, I am not spending on much else.
It is great being able to run two computers, it also means that I can spend an evening typing away on my laptop, while the rest of the family can use the desktop. Yesterday I was using the laptop, while Hannah was playing away on the Sims, and Sketchfighter.
If I am primarily using the laptop for typing, the screen is plenty big enough, it is light and easy to move around, the power cable with the magsafe link is easy and safe to use. I am persevering using the trackpad, and now quite like using the one finger for moving the cursor and two fingers for scrolling facility. No sure that browsing folders in CoverFlow is particularly quick, but intriguing none the less.
In terms of version control, I'm using the laptop primarily for stuff that does not need the internet connection, while the web-based stuff I do on the desktop. However I might be persuaded to upgrade to a family license for RapidWeaver in due course, just to make life slightly easier. Ditto other applications, probably just as easy buying family licenses for software from now on.
Despite all this positive stuff, with the absence of reliable backups, I am mighty glad that I am not running Leopard on my main computer, and do not intend to upgrade it to Leopard, because it might be a bit of a memory hog, I cannot back it up, and I really want complete no risk/no worry peace of mind on my main computer. Running two internet capable computers does feel a lot more secure than having one, and all the putting your eggs in one basket, that that entailed.
applying for new jobs
Actually quite a worrisome week, doing two workshop presentations on Monday, which was something that I had not exactly done before, though I had done similar stuff. As ever worry worry worry, but when the adrenaline kicks in, you just stick a smile on your face, and become larger than life, breezing through it. Just as well in this case, as some of the audience were really not used to or expecting a presentation from a government official, so there was a fair bit of questions, and issues raised, but between the adrenaline and past experience, I carried it off with reasonable aplomb. You certainly don't do these things for the hearty congratulations for the audience, but I think that we should be out there, being seen, speaking to people, and more importantly listening to people.
Then a quick briefing of the Minister, which I was leading, but I made sure that I was well prepared, and knew the points I wanted to get across, and the Minister was a real pleasure to meet. So after the initial worry that too went well.
Final worry out of three, for the week, was a job interview on the Thursday. Once again made sure that I was well prepared, even setting aside some time in the office to make sure that I was thoroughly prepared. I did apply for one other post recently, but this was the one that I really wanted, even although the other one would have paid better. This one fits in with my career plan, which is to find a post with elements of project management, working with external stakeholders, and negotiation skills. The team also looked to be a really good mix of people, and the actual work area seemed interesting. It rather reminds me of work that I was doing a while back, that was mad busy, but high profile, challenging, but you were learning so much all the time.
The job would offer a mix of building on skills that I already have, but also enhancing areas that I feel that I need to develop.
The interview went okay, not one that I felt that I had aced, but okay nonetheless. My problem being that it is difficult to demonstrate that you can do something that you have not done before, so I was delighted to be asked at the outset why I wanted the job, so I could say, probably in a gushy/enthusiastic sort of way, that I might not have all the experience on paper, but I wanted to get the experience, I thought I could do it, and I wanted the chance to prove that I could.
We use competency based interviews, which means that you have to talk about similar tasks that you have successfully done, which means that you want good high quality work to demonstrate what you can do, getting bogged down with low quality work makes it difficult to move onto a decent job. Just another aspect of the need to focus on work that delivers significant outcomes, and think carefully about what you put your time into. I am constantly amazed at the high quality of some staff, and that they are not better paid for what they have to do. I might be good at what I do, but there are a lot of really excellent people, so although the work suits me well, I won't rise effortlessly to the top.
starting to write Losing Definition
I have made a start on losing definition, writing it on VoodooPad. To date I have taken stuff that I have written in a previous start on RapidWeaver, only a few pages, and notes from my notebooks, and some poetry from the blog. I don't intend to duplicate the blog in Losing Definition, but it might have stuff that I can use. At present there is a lot of stuff there, that is just working notes, and will get edited out in due course, but I'm still not too sure where it is going, so it is not too obvious what is irrelevant yet. I'll push on with writing stuff, and trawling through stuff that I have already written to find suitable material.
I think the real art will be in the editing, rather than the writing, maybe there is an Ezra Pound who could create a Wasteland from my prose?
In any case, it will take a lot of work and iterations to arrive at something that I am happy with, but it will be a pretty dense mix when it is finished, Giorgio DeChiroco wrote a fishy paste of a novel, called Hebdomeron, which I have never read, and only just remember hearing about, but I feel like I am struggling to create some such 'mythical work'.
Context is of course everything, it will take shape, and it is time for me to get writing, rather that waffling on about it.
Just like magic
There is a famous quote from Arthur C Clarke about any sufficiently advanced technology will appear to be magic. I think that the new Apple operating systems are approaching that level. In some sort of Harry Potter way, we can gesture, and make short incantations, to create magical works.
The geek as hero, arcana as power, a new alchemy.
Nowadays it seems like every home needs a geek, to provide technical support, the new BT adverts with Kris Marshall certainly seem to be going down this line, that there is something attractive and useful about geekery.
My first computer, a Powerbook 165c (introduced in 1993 and running System 7.1) was capable of being understood inside out. There seemed a pretty finite limit to the functionality, and the files and folders. Even adding in a works package like Clarisworks, you still had a pretty manageable degree of functionality, useful, without being confusing.
However skipping forward to my new laptop an iBook running OXS 10.5, the number of files and folders is probably over 800,000, beyond what any reasonable person would know or understand. In terms of functionality, there are now numerous perfectly legitimate ways of achieving the same end. You can customise and enhance, there is no single standard user experience. I can learn tricks and shortcuts limited only by my ability to remember them all, I can add on functionality like QuickSilver to create further magical abilities to shortcut through the complexity.
You really would need to be a genius to understand all of this, or even a decent chunk of it. Computing has therefore evolved into an art, where you need to make qualitative judgements, subjective decisions, balance issues, there are no single right answers, merely strategies that are more likely to succeed.
I often wonder who the future belongs to, it may well belong to those who can master these things. In the past work did not place a great premium on brain power, but increasingly you will need brainpower, and will be responsible for keeping your brainpower upto date, relevant and useful.
I have probably written this before, but I don't think we should be talking about information workers, but about understanding workers. It won't be about having the qualifications, or seniority, it will be about being able to do things.
Saturday 10 November 2007
Time Machine - well that's a few hours of my life that I won't get back again
Yesterday I made a start on getting my new laptop all set up.
My plan of attack, and results are as follows
then installed Leopard - which went smoothly, and seemed to launch up okay and everything. By this stage, I was probably coming in at slightly under my half day estimate for the work.
Set up the new 320GB LaCie external hard drive, connected it up with the FireWire 400 cable and set Time Machine running.
Various attempts, various tweaks, it hung overnight. Took off Desktopia, which alters the desktop, amended the settings to the laptop so it did not sleep, or go to screensaver, checked the name in system preferences shared - various tweaks to TimeMachine, checked permissions, and verified disk for the internal hard-drive. Partitioned the external hard drive, as directed by apple support. Still no joy, the first backup via TimeMachine would start off okay, then just hang, and you could not even Force Quit out of it.
As ever various checking of the apple support page, other forums, a check on Technorati, and the blogs. My impression is that TimeMachine users fall into three categories,
1 works perfectly with no issues
2 works after some tweaks
3 won't work
I do have a problem with Time Machine, in that it does not, to my knowledge create a boot-able drive, in case of disk corruption, rather it provides a ready source for stuff you might have deleted in error.
Well, Duuhhhhhhhh
with huge disk capacities nowadays, why delete anything at all, ever???
And - an internal hard drive will always corrupt eventually, in an office setting you would not keep much of anything on your C-drive, all your data would actually be on a remote server, with proper backup routines. In a home setting you rely on the internal drive, and back that up to a single external hard drive. In the case of an office setting, if your C-drive corrupts, then it is a simple reinstall, and nothing personal is lost. In a home setting you have the worry about getting the operating system and all your purchased software up again, and the issue of your personal data. Backing up a useable system along with your data is much the best option.
So having persevered with Time Machine, I got to the point where I figured that I was in the stubborn group three, who was not going to get it working. In any event, it did not do what I wanted it to do anyway, and continuing to try using it, with the machine crashes, was more likely to corrupt my system, than provide anything that was a useable backup.
Therefore, the wheee - fun - of playing with Time Machine has been abandoned, at least until a few patches come out, and I've just partitioned the external hard drive up again, and I'll use SuperDuper to back up to partitions, as I have done before.
Time Machine does look to be a triumph of style over substance, if it could not work with a straight out of the box laptop, and straight out of the box LaCie external hard drive, both bought from Apple within the past month, then it does suggest that the pre-release testing must have been cursory in the extreme.
I'll report more fully on my experience with leopard in due course, initial impressions are that the changes seem pretty subtle, but experience may reveal more.
My plan of attack, and results are as follows
- backed up my desktop computer - still running Tiger, using SuperDuper
- Ran Migration Assistant to move files across, but only copied across the accounts for myself and my wife
- plugged in the usual ethernet cable, and the new laptop was successfully on the net, running via my router
- ran software update, which fixed a glitch where my iTunes was not accessing the iTunes library - created with a different version of iTunes
- ran the EFI firmware update - which came with detailed instructions!
- checked all my key applications, which are listed in the dock, except for Mail which I won't use on the laptop, as my emails will get all out of sync.
- all my applications worked okay, though a few wanted to update keychain, and some had upgrades. The only one which had a problem running on two computers, was RapidWeaver, which seems fair do's and as with Mail, there would be version control issues if I was using it to update the same site from two different unsynchronised computers.
then installed Leopard - which went smoothly, and seemed to launch up okay and everything. By this stage, I was probably coming in at slightly under my half day estimate for the work.
Set up the new 320GB LaCie external hard drive, connected it up with the FireWire 400 cable and set Time Machine running.
Various attempts, various tweaks, it hung overnight. Took off Desktopia, which alters the desktop, amended the settings to the laptop so it did not sleep, or go to screensaver, checked the name in system preferences shared - various tweaks to TimeMachine, checked permissions, and verified disk for the internal hard-drive. Partitioned the external hard drive, as directed by apple support. Still no joy, the first backup via TimeMachine would start off okay, then just hang, and you could not even Force Quit out of it.
As ever various checking of the apple support page, other forums, a check on Technorati, and the blogs. My impression is that TimeMachine users fall into three categories,
1 works perfectly with no issues
2 works after some tweaks
3 won't work
I do have a problem with Time Machine, in that it does not, to my knowledge create a boot-able drive, in case of disk corruption, rather it provides a ready source for stuff you might have deleted in error.
Well, Duuhhhhhhhh
with huge disk capacities nowadays, why delete anything at all, ever???
And - an internal hard drive will always corrupt eventually, in an office setting you would not keep much of anything on your C-drive, all your data would actually be on a remote server, with proper backup routines. In a home setting you rely on the internal drive, and back that up to a single external hard drive. In the case of an office setting, if your C-drive corrupts, then it is a simple reinstall, and nothing personal is lost. In a home setting you have the worry about getting the operating system and all your purchased software up again, and the issue of your personal data. Backing up a useable system along with your data is much the best option.
So having persevered with Time Machine, I got to the point where I figured that I was in the stubborn group three, who was not going to get it working. In any event, it did not do what I wanted it to do anyway, and continuing to try using it, with the machine crashes, was more likely to corrupt my system, than provide anything that was a useable backup.
Therefore, the wheee - fun - of playing with Time Machine has been abandoned, at least until a few patches come out, and I've just partitioned the external hard drive up again, and I'll use SuperDuper to back up to partitions, as I have done before.
Time Machine does look to be a triumph of style over substance, if it could not work with a straight out of the box laptop, and straight out of the box LaCie external hard drive, both bought from Apple within the past month, then it does suggest that the pre-release testing must have been cursory in the extreme.
I'll report more fully on my experience with leopard in due course, initial impressions are that the changes seem pretty subtle, but experience may reveal more.
Friday 9 November 2007
the dog hates fireworks
Another fairly eventful week,
my new laptop arrived, so I have got it unpacked, charged up, and played around a little. However it runs system 10.4.10 which is the OS I'm familiar with, so nothing new there, I've not yet set it up to connect up to the internet either.
I was surprised to see that it arrived with some extra disks, including the new OS Leopard. I suppose in theory, Apple say that all new computers ship with Leopard, so even although it is a refurb, it ought to have Leopard, but it had never occured to me. Also a demo disk for the new iWork, which I may or may not buy. I currently run Appleworks, which used to be Clarisworks, back when I first bought a computer in nineteen oatcake. Apple stopped supporting it quite a long time ago, and it runs sluggish, but basically does all that I need.
I'll set aside a half day this weekend to
As laptops are eminently nickable, I would prefer not to fill it with personal information, likewise, I don't want version control running wild, so I will probably use the laptop as a typing machine, where I want to do a lot of typing, and then simply transfer over the finished document. Therefore need to think carefully about exactly what software I will install, and how I will use it. I have already decided not to copy across all the family accounts. I might just set up as myself/administrator, and guest.
Another thing that had not occured to me, I'll need to find a secure spot for it to sit, when not in use, mainly so that it does not suffer from bags of shopping, hot mugs of tea, etc plonked atop it, when no one is looking, it is a busy house.
Another thing that had not occured to me, I'll set it up to run timemachine. I have already bought an extra external hard drive, and I might as well try out timemachine. To be honest, my preference is to just stick with SuperDuper for day to day use, as it backs up the entire system, but figuring out timemachine will really require running it, so running it with non crucial stuff, seems fair enough.
Other stuff this week,
getting awfy dark, and the dog hates fireworks, poor soul.
Monday - Day of lectures on older workers on Monday, really first rate, good lectures, and every conversation I had throughout the day was fascinating. The sort of day that I would have paid money for, rather than having to be paid for.
Tuesday - over in Glasgow for some lectures, also interesting, and catching up with some people. As ever a trip to the AppleStore, and picked up a sleeve for my new laptop. Bedlam at the tills, what an odd shop, but always worth a visit, and always busy.
Wednesday - more meetings, useful catch ups.
Thursday - saw an advertising agency. Always a bit wary of advertising and marketting types, but impressed by this lot. They had done their homework, I'm used to dealing with researchers, and once commissioned, they do their homework, and almost instantly seem to know more about the subject than you do. These advertisers actually employed people from a social research background, and commissioned external social researchers for some of their work. All in all very impressed.
Friday - a couple more quick meetings.
All a bit spaced out with all these meetings, getting a quiet day to lay into the emails is invaluable every now and then.
I'm starting to think about maybe doing some more studying, around the social policy area, I've been dabbling with the subject for quite a while now, and it would be useful to have an academic basis to my understanding. The brighter and more capable people all seem to have a lot of qualifications these days, so there is a degree of running to stay still!
The OU stuff all looks expensive, but I'll have a look round and think about it.
my new laptop arrived, so I have got it unpacked, charged up, and played around a little. However it runs system 10.4.10 which is the OS I'm familiar with, so nothing new there, I've not yet set it up to connect up to the internet either.
I was surprised to see that it arrived with some extra disks, including the new OS Leopard. I suppose in theory, Apple say that all new computers ship with Leopard, so even although it is a refurb, it ought to have Leopard, but it had never occured to me. Also a demo disk for the new iWork, which I may or may not buy. I currently run Appleworks, which used to be Clarisworks, back when I first bought a computer in nineteen oatcake. Apple stopped supporting it quite a long time ago, and it runs sluggish, but basically does all that I need.
I'll set aside a half day this weekend to
- run migration assistant,
- instal leopard
- instal demo disk,
- transfer over or install a few applications
As laptops are eminently nickable, I would prefer not to fill it with personal information, likewise, I don't want version control running wild, so I will probably use the laptop as a typing machine, where I want to do a lot of typing, and then simply transfer over the finished document. Therefore need to think carefully about exactly what software I will install, and how I will use it. I have already decided not to copy across all the family accounts. I might just set up as myself/administrator, and guest.
Another thing that had not occured to me, I'll need to find a secure spot for it to sit, when not in use, mainly so that it does not suffer from bags of shopping, hot mugs of tea, etc plonked atop it, when no one is looking, it is a busy house.
Another thing that had not occured to me, I'll set it up to run timemachine. I have already bought an extra external hard drive, and I might as well try out timemachine. To be honest, my preference is to just stick with SuperDuper for day to day use, as it backs up the entire system, but figuring out timemachine will really require running it, so running it with non crucial stuff, seems fair enough.
Other stuff this week,
getting awfy dark, and the dog hates fireworks, poor soul.
Monday - Day of lectures on older workers on Monday, really first rate, good lectures, and every conversation I had throughout the day was fascinating. The sort of day that I would have paid money for, rather than having to be paid for.
Tuesday - over in Glasgow for some lectures, also interesting, and catching up with some people. As ever a trip to the AppleStore, and picked up a sleeve for my new laptop. Bedlam at the tills, what an odd shop, but always worth a visit, and always busy.
Wednesday - more meetings, useful catch ups.
Thursday - saw an advertising agency. Always a bit wary of advertising and marketting types, but impressed by this lot. They had done their homework, I'm used to dealing with researchers, and once commissioned, they do their homework, and almost instantly seem to know more about the subject than you do. These advertisers actually employed people from a social research background, and commissioned external social researchers for some of their work. All in all very impressed.
Friday - a couple more quick meetings.
All a bit spaced out with all these meetings, getting a quiet day to lay into the emails is invaluable every now and then.
I'm starting to think about maybe doing some more studying, around the social policy area, I've been dabbling with the subject for quite a while now, and it would be useful to have an academic basis to my understanding. The brighter and more capable people all seem to have a lot of qualifications these days, so there is a degree of running to stay still!
The OU stuff all looks expensive, but I'll have a look round and think about it.
Sunday 4 November 2007
Long rambling blog warning - long rambling blog warning
Long rambling blog warning - long rambling blog warning - please ensure that you do not leave your luggage unattended, and take care when alighting -
Now that I think about it, I'm not actually sure whether alighting, is a-getting on, or a-getting orf a train. You only ever use the word in the context of trains, so it must be particularly helpful advice for foreigners with only limited English.
Various matters afoot.
Finally, finally ordered a laptop, which will bring us back up to a two computer household, the old one went phut a while back, which meant that we have all been queuing up around the single computer, albeit a very fine computer. I'll get another iMac in due course, and the old iMac can go to the girls room, but in the meantime, handy for me to have a laptop. I keep an eye on the refurbished stock on the Apple Store, and was holding out for a decent laptop, for under a thousand. Obviously, if I was looking at a non-Apple computer, it would come in a lot cheaper, and as the new basic mac laptop, is pretty cheap anyway, the savings on the refurbished ones are good compared to what they would have cost new, but less startling when compared to a brand new computer. Plumped for one with 1GB of RAM, which is more than my current desktop, and took out three year AppleCare, as the laptops are more prone to problems than the desktops. All in, not too expensive.
I really don't see the point of having a laptop that is so shiny, new, expensive, that you are afraid to actually use it.
Of course once it arrives, I will need to figure out how Migration Assistant works, and whether I will need to buy Family Packs of software, etc. Oh the life of the family tech support guy, is an exciting one.
It will be one of the white laptops, which I like, though maybe not as manly as brushed aluminium, they seem jolly things. The ones with the really big screens, just don't look like laptops to me. The whole point of a laptop is that it is portable, not carrying about something the size of a easel all day.
Other stuff - been out plenty lately, probably worth a few notes on what I have been upto. Of course the flipside is that I have a vast pile of paperwork for dealing with, today is Sunday, and I'm back at work tomorrow, unalloyed job.
Apple Store - again - another trip to Glasgow, another trip to the Apple Store. Asking about the rumored new chips, but they were all toeing the party line, and saying they knew nothing. A bit of an internet scour, there are new Intel chips coming out, but not clear when they will find their way into Apple computers, and the chip in the MacBooks was updated in early November. Thinking logically, the iMacs are pretty new, so by elimination, wherever they were putting new chips, would not be the desktops.
Bought myself another LaCie hard-drive, which means that I could start backing up immediately, if/when I got a new desktop. My existing external hard drive is partitioned, so could easily back up a laptop on there too.
Police HQ - went to the police HQ a few weeks ago, rather like the school trip to the fire station that I never got. The place was deserted and dark when we got there, strikingly geometric, and squarely lit, we got in by speaking into a speaker at the main door, and were then trapped in a deserted reception, found a door open from there, wandering round locked offices, headed towards a slapping noise, and found a cleaner in the gym, she directed me to a traffic policeman sorting envelopes in the mailroom, and he phoned up to find our host. After a presentation, we saw the large, larger than a basketball court, and tall too, room where all the urgent and routine calls were handled. Relatively tidy desks, but each had two, three or even four flatscreens on them, fixed to metal poles, with different data screens on them. All the time, large monitors at each end, relayed through a series of messages, red tickertape messages too, and a big plasma screen of the News. Whiteboards round the walls with more data. They were constantly logging the number of calls, and longest wait, via big red numbers displayed on the wall, and when pressed, folk would be pulled off tea breaks. Apparently the break during Coronation Street, and after an afternoon of drunken summer barbecues are particular times for high call volumes.
Then went to the CCTV room, eighty or ninety monitors, constantly panning and scanning, all over the county. I suppose you could be appalled at the Big Brother-ish-ness of it all, but there were some drunken folk swaying, one lying down, no-one was calling out the police, and from the images, unless you were wearing your football shirt with your name across it, you would not be too readily identifiable.
Striking features - the whole place was like something out of a movie, empty offices, brightly lit, they could even scan the environs, as if in defence against some attack themselves. The vision of people at desks with multiple monitors, was also striking, perhaps the way of the future. Finally shown round an empty room for running emergencies, all the standard stuff too hand, but impersonal, just a place for getting things done. After all - emergencies are just a job for someone.
Did some facilitation work - keeping my hand in, as I have done a fair bit in the past, so it is good to just volunteer and help people out. On the one hand, enjoyable, but also quite exhausting, with just enough of an adrenaline rush to keep you going. There is nothing quite like a mixed group of people, talking through an issue that they care about. I'll have to make time to do more in future.
A couple of evening meetings, one of local groups, and a presentation for those winning awards for their areas, for floral displays and the like. Some interesting people, and what a wonderful way to regenerate an area, these people are complete heroes. It is the local volunteers that turn round communities, and sustain those that succeed. Unseen, unheard, invaluable.
Local meeting of members,and former members of the Cix bulletin board - kindly got an invite (I'm a former member), to meet up, and have a drink. As any big city evening engagements, are inevitably concluded with the train trip home, trains once per hour, usually leaving five minutes before you reach the station, and drinking and promptly catching trains are incapable of being done in the same evening, I tend to be more anti-social than my general preference would be. I had simply intended dropping in, but had such a good time, the time flew by, looked at my watch, saw it was nearly nine, and had to leave. Around 11.00 by the time I actually got home! However fascinating chatting to people who have been bulletin boarding for so long, IT is surely a means to an end, not an end in itself. I rather like techies. They are trying to Web 2.0 the bulletin board, and it was interesting to look at and discuss functionality and ease of use. In many ways the old bulletin boards, which allow threading of conversations are still vastly better than the rather frustrating comments and forums that abound now.
Finally yesterday at the Scottish Parliament - big meeting, as ever bumped into people I knew, but was not expecting, I don't think I'm a full time meeting junky, and I do think that I get stuff out of it, actually it is a good to catch up with folk that are doing interesting things, and often the mingling is far better than the sitting and being talked at, but it was actually an interesting meeting.
At work on Friday with my boss, started off by discussing what tasks I was to lead on, and what tasks my boss was to lead on, and ended up discussing all that we need to do in the next few months, pretty much agreeing a plan of attack, unexpectedly, and now things seem to be kicking off in a more vigorous fashion. I suspect that I might revert to my old role of project managing the different work strands, which does feel presumptuous when I'm not actually in charge of the work, but has worked well in the past, and is probably necessary again.
Now that I think about it, I'm not actually sure whether alighting, is a-getting on, or a-getting orf a train. You only ever use the word in the context of trains, so it must be particularly helpful advice for foreigners with only limited English.
Various matters afoot.
Finally, finally ordered a laptop, which will bring us back up to a two computer household, the old one went phut a while back, which meant that we have all been queuing up around the single computer, albeit a very fine computer. I'll get another iMac in due course, and the old iMac can go to the girls room, but in the meantime, handy for me to have a laptop. I keep an eye on the refurbished stock on the Apple Store, and was holding out for a decent laptop, for under a thousand. Obviously, if I was looking at a non-Apple computer, it would come in a lot cheaper, and as the new basic mac laptop, is pretty cheap anyway, the savings on the refurbished ones are good compared to what they would have cost new, but less startling when compared to a brand new computer. Plumped for one with 1GB of RAM, which is more than my current desktop, and took out three year AppleCare, as the laptops are more prone to problems than the desktops. All in, not too expensive.
I really don't see the point of having a laptop that is so shiny, new, expensive, that you are afraid to actually use it.
Of course once it arrives, I will need to figure out how Migration Assistant works, and whether I will need to buy Family Packs of software, etc. Oh the life of the family tech support guy, is an exciting one.
It will be one of the white laptops, which I like, though maybe not as manly as brushed aluminium, they seem jolly things. The ones with the really big screens, just don't look like laptops to me. The whole point of a laptop is that it is portable, not carrying about something the size of a easel all day.
Other stuff - been out plenty lately, probably worth a few notes on what I have been upto. Of course the flipside is that I have a vast pile of paperwork for dealing with, today is Sunday, and I'm back at work tomorrow, unalloyed job.
Apple Store - again - another trip to Glasgow, another trip to the Apple Store. Asking about the rumored new chips, but they were all toeing the party line, and saying they knew nothing. A bit of an internet scour, there are new Intel chips coming out, but not clear when they will find their way into Apple computers, and the chip in the MacBooks was updated in early November. Thinking logically, the iMacs are pretty new, so by elimination, wherever they were putting new chips, would not be the desktops.
Bought myself another LaCie hard-drive, which means that I could start backing up immediately, if/when I got a new desktop. My existing external hard drive is partitioned, so could easily back up a laptop on there too.
Police HQ - went to the police HQ a few weeks ago, rather like the school trip to the fire station that I never got. The place was deserted and dark when we got there, strikingly geometric, and squarely lit, we got in by speaking into a speaker at the main door, and were then trapped in a deserted reception, found a door open from there, wandering round locked offices, headed towards a slapping noise, and found a cleaner in the gym, she directed me to a traffic policeman sorting envelopes in the mailroom, and he phoned up to find our host. After a presentation, we saw the large, larger than a basketball court, and tall too, room where all the urgent and routine calls were handled. Relatively tidy desks, but each had two, three or even four flatscreens on them, fixed to metal poles, with different data screens on them. All the time, large monitors at each end, relayed through a series of messages, red tickertape messages too, and a big plasma screen of the News. Whiteboards round the walls with more data. They were constantly logging the number of calls, and longest wait, via big red numbers displayed on the wall, and when pressed, folk would be pulled off tea breaks. Apparently the break during Coronation Street, and after an afternoon of drunken summer barbecues are particular times for high call volumes.
Then went to the CCTV room, eighty or ninety monitors, constantly panning and scanning, all over the county. I suppose you could be appalled at the Big Brother-ish-ness of it all, but there were some drunken folk swaying, one lying down, no-one was calling out the police, and from the images, unless you were wearing your football shirt with your name across it, you would not be too readily identifiable.
Striking features - the whole place was like something out of a movie, empty offices, brightly lit, they could even scan the environs, as if in defence against some attack themselves. The vision of people at desks with multiple monitors, was also striking, perhaps the way of the future. Finally shown round an empty room for running emergencies, all the standard stuff too hand, but impersonal, just a place for getting things done. After all - emergencies are just a job for someone.
Did some facilitation work - keeping my hand in, as I have done a fair bit in the past, so it is good to just volunteer and help people out. On the one hand, enjoyable, but also quite exhausting, with just enough of an adrenaline rush to keep you going. There is nothing quite like a mixed group of people, talking through an issue that they care about. I'll have to make time to do more in future.
A couple of evening meetings, one of local groups, and a presentation for those winning awards for their areas, for floral displays and the like. Some interesting people, and what a wonderful way to regenerate an area, these people are complete heroes. It is the local volunteers that turn round communities, and sustain those that succeed. Unseen, unheard, invaluable.
Local meeting of members,and former members of the Cix bulletin board - kindly got an invite (I'm a former member), to meet up, and have a drink. As any big city evening engagements, are inevitably concluded with the train trip home, trains once per hour, usually leaving five minutes before you reach the station, and drinking and promptly catching trains are incapable of being done in the same evening, I tend to be more anti-social than my general preference would be. I had simply intended dropping in, but had such a good time, the time flew by, looked at my watch, saw it was nearly nine, and had to leave. Around 11.00 by the time I actually got home! However fascinating chatting to people who have been bulletin boarding for so long, IT is surely a means to an end, not an end in itself. I rather like techies. They are trying to Web 2.0 the bulletin board, and it was interesting to look at and discuss functionality and ease of use. In many ways the old bulletin boards, which allow threading of conversations are still vastly better than the rather frustrating comments and forums that abound now.
Finally yesterday at the Scottish Parliament - big meeting, as ever bumped into people I knew, but was not expecting, I don't think I'm a full time meeting junky, and I do think that I get stuff out of it, actually it is a good to catch up with folk that are doing interesting things, and often the mingling is far better than the sitting and being talked at, but it was actually an interesting meeting.
At work on Friday with my boss, started off by discussing what tasks I was to lead on, and what tasks my boss was to lead on, and ended up discussing all that we need to do in the next few months, pretty much agreeing a plan of attack, unexpectedly, and now things seem to be kicking off in a more vigorous fashion. I suspect that I might revert to my old role of project managing the different work strands, which does feel presumptuous when I'm not actually in charge of the work, but has worked well in the past, and is probably necessary again.
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