aninterestingname.co.uk

November 26th, 2006 by Andy Feltham

It has been a while so this is probably going to be a big post.

This weekend i’ve been doing some jobs around the house. Had a few things to do online yesterday but today was spent on the house. The biggest problem to fix was our new back door which in the weather had expanded to the point where you couldn’t open it. After climbing out the lounge window in order to push the door in from the outside i managed to plane the door down so that it now fits nicely. Although it is now back in, its not perfect and only confirms my frustration with hanging doors. Of course, choosing a stable door was perhaps not the greatest idea because it basically gave me two doors to hang rather than one! After fitting the door i also had the chance to put up the trelis for the rose that is currently growing at an astounding rate.

After going to see ‘Flushed Away’ at the cinema we came back and relaxed with a nice fire. We’ve had quite a few recently and with each they seem to get bigger and better. Unfortunately, it wasn’t long before i wasn’t feeling 100% so headed off to bed for a well needed sleep.

The film wasn’t too bad. Some good animation and a fairly easy to watch plot. As per the Pixar films you could spot all the old characters in the background of this film. In fact there are quite a few films out at the moment that look good. Putting James Bond aside for a minute, there is Borat, The Prestige, and Breaking and Entering to add to the list. We went to see James bond last weekend and i was impressed. It wasn’t a traiditional Bond but in my head that was a good thing. I think the opening sequence with the free-running will take a lot of beating and i only hope that they build on that with another one soon!

Other than that, i thought i’d start using this site for something a bit more than a rant – why not review the things i buy. Recently the two biggest things have been my new phone and the hire car. Lets start with the car. For 4 days this week i’ve been driving a Ford Focus while my Astra was being repaired after the accident. First impressions unfortunately lasted. I got into the car and found it very wide and noticeably bigger than the Astra. The biggest problem for me was the location of the gear stick and handbrake – they were too far over to the left and seemed to be the consequence of taking a left hand drive car and only moving the steering column. Certainly a disappointment for a British car. Having said that it drove very well. I think i must have had a 1.4l which was certainly nippy. I was also disapointed that the focus hadn’t kept with the times. All of the controls, dials and indictors didn’t seem to be that much different from the Escort that i owned previously. Compared to those on the astra that feel good and intuitive, this new focus ( with only 400 miles on the clock ) was something of a let down. All in all i shouldn’t complain, the car did me well and it was nice to drive something different. It has made me very pleased with my decision to get the Astra, and even more pleased when i got it back to find that it had be given a full clean inside and out!

In contrast, my new phone – the Samsung D900 – is superb. Previously i used a Motorola V3 and the transition from Nokia to Motorla was not fun. Both the V3 and the D900 are impressive pieces of hardware.The D900 being slightly wider but not much to differentiate in terms of height or thickness. Where the V3 fails the D900 shines though. Everything on the D900 is better polished and feels better than that on the V3. The display takes up maybe 80% of the phones size ( when closed ) and this is matched with a screen that is bright and vivid. Together with the 3.0 mega pixel camera they make a good pairing. On the phone is a fairly “no-frils” type of menu that is either in a black or a white colour scheme. Despite being no frills, the menu is easy to use and remembers where you were last time with the assumption that frequent tasks will be selected in the menu first. If i had one complaint it would be that the place where you charge the phone has a little cover over it which doesn’t seem all that well attached – i could see this breaking off i not careful. All in all its a great phone and certianly something i’ll enjoy using this year rather than getting anoyed with.

In other news, you may also have seen the links and videos are now back on the left hand side.
Few. And i’m spent.

November 17th, 2006 by Andy Feltham

I know a man called Stacy, a woman called Randy. Names don’t really matter do they? Well nicknames and first names perhaps not, but job names certainly do. This weeks moan is about ‘team leads’. Our deparment has team lead feever at the moment. It seems like pretty much everyone is the lead of something. Team lead, technical lead, test lead, dog lead. In fact, because of the number of projects our department has at any one time, i think there is probably about 5 people that aren’t leading something. Of course other than being a nightmare to manage all that would be okay if the people actually lead something.

Recently the cause of all this has been one lead in particular who is certainly unworthy of the name. A band 8 who is tasked with leading a team to a delivery. A delivery i might add that is 6 months in duration. At the start of this week i was added to this team to help bail them out of the situation they were in, which was as follows :

- 5 months into the project, 0 files changes, 0 installations complete, 0 tests run.
- 5 days until DCUT.
- 3 weeks before GA.

… but its okay… its a Java product! Rrrrrrrrubbish. The installation didn’t work and the product didn’t support the new platform ( hard coded ). So in the space of a week i’ve had to port a complete product. That is understand it, get a build environment, make the build work, and make the changes. And the rest of the people in the ‘team’ don’t have a clue. In fact the team lead sits in a meeting in the corner of the room, says nothing and then leaves right after the meeting. How can you call that leading?

When i left work yesterday i realised that in the last 48 hours, i had actually been in the office for more than 24 hours. Now i’m not saying that is leading either, but if someone had done their job right, i wouldn’t have had to do this.

Needless to say i’m looking forward to the weekend. Sleep especially but also the new James Bond film that we’ll be going to see. A lot of people have slated it right from the start because of the new bond, but personally ( and in recent circumstances ) i’m looking forward to just relaxing and being entertained. Plus there is always the two crates of wine we have to relax with.

November 7th, 2006 by Andy Feltham

A colleague of mine says that what happens to you on monday will determine how the rest of the week goes. Good day on monday, good week. I think my ‘decision day’ is Tuesday and from what i can tell, this week isn’t going to be a good one.

This morning on my way into work i had a car accident. Fortunately this wasn’t my fault, and more importantly no-one was hurt. It was a foggy morning and as usual i’m taking the back roads into work. As i’m approaching Romsey i’m coming to a T junction ( going left to right along the top bit of the T ). When i’m getting closer i could see it happening. A young lad in his dads car over cooked the corner ( turning left from the bottom bit of the T ) and ended up in the middle of the road. Although i had my foot on the brakes as he was coming round, he was still going a fair pace and we collided. Although we now have to go through all the insurance process, he did at least admit blame at the ‘crime scene’. Rather strangely the front of my car didn’t crumple quite like i imagined it would.

If that wasn’t enough, Tuesdays are ’status day’ and at the moment we have both status meetings for the Wave 1 products as well as the Wave 2 products. Given that i’m working on 3 Wave 1 products and 2 Wave 2 products, today wasn’t a productive day to say the least.

Its 6:30 and i’m still at work. I’ll be heading home to catch up on a few jobs once Ration Functional Tester has completed its upgrade to 6.1.1 ( which at the moment its taking a looooooooooooong time ). I’m looking forward to a nice chilled bottle of white that i have in the fridge, but also want to know where my new crate of wine ( well, okay 2 ) is from Virgin Wine… its been almost 2 weeks now!

November 2nd, 2006 by Andy Feltham

The last 18 hours or so have not been the best i’ve had in recent days but this morning i was left with that feeling that there was that one decision, and in this case, we made the right one. This week that decision was over the choice of flooring in our kitchen. Let me explain…

… when i got up this morning i was faced with a cold shower, and quite frankly there is nothing worse. Fortunately ( while wrapped in a towel ) i found that the boiler pressure had dropped adn was probably the cause of the cold water. So, while half asleep i re-pressurised the boiler and after had a very nice hot shower. While having the shower there was part of my wondering why the pressure had dropped, but i didn’t really think anything more of it until i got downstairs.

When i got downstairs, and walked into the kitchen ( still half asleep ) i was rather suprised to find myself walking through a pond! As it turns out, the new kitchen radiator that i had left on the wall but not connected, was actually connected. It had a thermostatic valve on and from what i can tell, the kitchne must have been colder than it has been before – cold enough to open up the valve – and leeked water all over the kitchen. Needless to say i’m now regretting the decision to not connect up that radiator while i thought about it, but still, while wading around in water i was still pleased that a) we had chosen floor tiles and b) how flat the new floor was! ( all the water was just sitting on the tiles and not running anywhere – something that would never have happened in the old kitchen! )

And there was me thinking that todays post was going to be a rant about how difficult it was to migrate my blog over to the new server. I mean, its not as if i had to install it 5 times or manually copy over all of the posts or anything! grrr.

November 1st, 2006 by Andy Feltham

i don’t know who said it, but i think given the tone of the last few posts its time for something different – a little more light-hearted. And i’ve been preparing this post for quite some time really not because its a difficult post to write but more because i’ve been spending too much time on other things. What’s ironic ( ish ) is that is the subject of the post. hmm.

So what has been going on? Well…

first there was the play…

I’ve been to the mayflower four times now and I’ve only had to pay twice! This time it was Buddy and the lead (buddy) was the brother of Oliver who we ski with. I don’t know if you expect less when its free or if it was just a welcome break but this was REALLY good. Not only did Eliott act and play very well but the whole thing was very good. There was the music obviously but the direction was also great. Seeing some standing on a dubble bass while still playing it was pretty impressive but not quite as impressive as buddy standing on it, again while still playing the guitar. All in all pretty impressive and certainly got the crowd on their feets.

then there was the weekend in lymington…

Unfortunately we didn’t have a) the weather or b) much time to take off from work but the weekend we spent as Lymington was certainly a welcome break. A bit of squash, some time in the sauna and of course the steam room. I think i went back to work more tired than when i left but still worth doing.

there is always the first patent application …

This week sees the first of my patent applications submitted. Together with Brian Peacock and Duncan Winn we’ve submitted a patent about … well i guess that’ll be telling. Anyway, lets hope it gets accepted. I have another one in the pipeworks for this week, and hopefully another one the week after that. One of them is BOUND to get published!

and not forgetting the big-o-list-o-jobs…

Trying to remember all the things that i have to do is prooving difficult. I’ve left things to the last minute and i’ve not made time to do the things that i want to do. Because i this i’ve created the biggest list of jobs you could ever imagine. This is a big spreadsheet complete with colours, owners, marcos and other pointless things. Of course it begs the question, could i have done half the jobs using the time i spent creating it but really i dont care. The job list currently totals 73, although i’ve done 23 of those ( which now have a rather pleasing green background ). There is still a lot to do, but at least i now know what i’m doing.

and i’ll leave you with…

.. something to amuse you with. This is something for you to try at home. Recently i’ve found this particularly helpful (?) as when i leave work, my car seems to be the only one left in the car park. I can see it a mile off and yet the range on the remote means that i can’t unlock it from a mile off?! That was until i found out that brain waves actually increase the power of your car remote! It sounds daft but its true. Next time you are walking to your car try it. Pick a random distance that is a fair distance away and try unlocking your car. If it doesn’t work, try putting you key behind your head, pointing at you car and try again. Unless you are actually a mile away from your car you may find that as if by magic the car unlocks.

Its quite impressive and i have no idea why it works. For me though this does make for some interesting questions.

• If i put my keyboard behind my head and type will i work better?
• Do mobile phones work on the same policy?
• Will this stop me having to replace the batteries in my remote control?
• and, more importantly, does this proove or disproove the theory that two heads are better than one?

… perhaps one day we’ll find out the answers to these questions.

November 1st, 2006 by Andy Feltham

Harry Houdini was a genius. Not a magician. A genius. Same with Thomas Crown ( yes i know he’s a fictional character ). Create a lot of noise over hear so you can take a 100 million off the wall and walk right out the front door. Its the difference between perception and reality. What you percieve to be true can quite often be very different from the actual truth. I don’t think its uncommon for the perception to be different from the reality but what i’ve come to notice is the bigger the differnece between perception and reality the more you trust someone.

trust is obviously a good thing and everyone needs to trust in themselves and others but i can see where it can let you down.

I think a lot of people trust me. Where does it get you if everyone trusts everything you say? There is certainly a bigger fall when things go wrong, thats for sure. Its also true that there are less people to turn to when things do start to go wrong. I’m sure its probably just me but half the time its easier to tell people versions of the truth so that they know what they need to know, and why wouldn’t they trust you. I think my problem is that i make too much of a noise over there without listening to the music where i am.

It also goes to show that what you write on a blog, is very obviously ‘true’. Why wouldn’t it be? I had to laugh becaseu i was in a meeting the other day ( although this has take me a while to write ) in which someone said to my team lead, “I know you know what X means because i’ve read your blog ranting about it”. Oh how trusting people can be.

Its a case of waking up to the real world for me. Everyone else may think this is stpuid but when you are used to the difference between whats percieved and what is actually happening not being that large, its quite a shock when there is a big difference and everyone thinks things are going okay!

November 1st, 2006 by Andy Feltham

What a crappy day. Well what a crappy week really. I’m sure everyone has shit weeks but what is a blog for if not to rant. I would imagine that everyones version of a shit week is different. It depends on what makes you tick. Shit weeks are when the battery gets taken out and everything stops ticking.For me, my battery is doing things. Being active, having lots on the go, juggling, doing new things and working. At the moment the last week or so has felt like not only one but a number of batteries have been taken out. I’ve become lazy and can’t be bothered to do anything. I don’t get out of bed and when i do most things are an effort. In times like this its hard to motivate yourself to do anything, and that makes it even harder to get new batteries. This morning i thought that i had got back to some normality by getting to work at 8:20 ( rather than the 9:00+ that it has been ) but alas no. I couldn’t get started on anything and i gave up at 4:30pm.Am i tired? Well, yes. Bored? Yes. Frustrated? Yes. Going to do something about it? Definately.I don’t know why but for some reason i thought of Fight Club and the power animal. I began to wonder what my power animal would be. I have no idea why, its not as if i would believe it would do anything but it just goes to show how much my mind is wondering at the moment. Maybe a shark… no… stop it… Time doesn’t help. Sleep certainly won’t. And it most definately isn’t going to be a god dam penguin. No, i know that only i can sort this out and sort it out i will. Its time to go back to basics, and stop being late. Its not all bad, i have managed to do a few things during this time. Most noticably i have repaired the wall by the new back door and done some work on two websites, the EUC 2007 site, and a new site for the clubhouse.

- And you can’t fight the tears that ain’t coming - Or the moment of truth in your lies - When everything seems like the movies - Yeah you bleed just to know your alive- And I don’t want the world to see me - Cause I don’t think that they’d understand - When everything’s made to be broken - I just want you to know who I am

November 1st, 2006 by Andy Feltham

I’m currently watching Match of the day and i’d like to say that Stewart Pearce is an idiot. I don’t him at the best of times but why oh why does he think that he’ll be considered a decent manager by claiming that man city have a good ’stickability’. He’s seen Ferguson manage to get away with ‘bouncebackability’ and thought he can make up his own. Well in my mind this only compounds my thoughts that he is an idiot and a awful manager. He should be shot.

November 1st, 2006 by Andy Feltham

On friday my nan moved out of the house that her and my grandad had lived in for a number of years. They raised my mum and her two sisters there and we had many fond memories of what we all came to call ‘208′ or ’seven long bananas’.

I’m sad that the last time i spent in the house was for my grandads funeral. I guess in some ways all the memories i will have of that house will be of both of my grandparents but part of me will probably regret not being able to say goodbye. It wasn’t through lack of trying to help, but more the fact that we have a big family all of which try to help. I say try because some of them fail miserably. I won’t go into the details but as fortune would have it their shortcomings gave me the chance to help my nann settle in to her new home in Lymington. And today has been good. I’m pleased that i could help unpack 40 or so boxes into what is a very nice flat. Its new and very comfortable so she should be very happy there.

And i will have good memories from 208. Christmas with family, summer playing in the garden and turning wood with my grandad in his garage. Of all the memories i have, none will stay in my mind more than one evening. We were quite keen to play board games in our family and one evening we had taken a ‘Challenge Aneka’ game ( we were young, what can i say ). the game was really stupid though and not very well thought through. If i remember correctly you had to collect a set of task which were depicted as counters which you placed on a card. The trouble was as soon as anyone jogged the table all the counters moved and changed places. It was something that just blatently hadn’t been tested. So, in order to correct this my dad had spent what must have been a good few hours creating a set of carboard pieces to which you could collect ‘pins’ for to stick into the card rather than place on the card. At this point i should mention that my grandparents often had big open fires going during the evening. While some of us were starting to setup the board i can vividly remember my nann picking up on of these boards my dad had made. Without a word of a lie i can remember her picking it up, thinking it was rubbish, and from about 10 feet away throwing it on to the fire. It was a throw that i’d be pleased with if i had a disc but the best bit was the look on my dads face, almost in slow montion as he sees his blood, sweat and tears get thrown on to the fire. I can almost still hear the cries of ‘noooooooooooooo!’

Happy memories. Its a shame to see it go but it has to be done.

November 1st, 2006 by Andy Feltham

I am going to be the one to restore balence to the universe. yes thats right, i am becoming a jedi. Most other people call it sign language but really, i think its more like becoming a jedi.

for the last 3 weeks i’ve been taking BSL 1 class at work. Its a 30 week course for 2 hours a week and so far it has been good but really hard work. Our instructor, Jeffrey, is deaf but speaks a little. Each week we cover something new and basically it involves watching his every hand move trying to understand what he is explaining. But its not all hard work, he’s a fun guy, has some interesting political views but interesting none the less. And its a fun group too. We can all have a laugh and joke, when actually we all know we have a lot to learn.

Of course i’m sure by this time you are wondering how this relates to some of the lost arts. I’ll explain.

or rather, explain i will.

You see, sign language is topic specific. well topic specific and context sensitive. So pretty much all of the important words go first. You are asking ‘what is your name?’ in sign it’s ‘name you what?’. How about ‘How did you get to work today?’. In sign language this would be ‘Today, work arrive you how?’ I could go on with more examples but i’m sure you can see me growing large ears, having a small walking stick and being called ‘yoda’.

It’s true that fear is the path to the dark side. That fear leads to anger, anger to hate, and that hate leads to suffering but why the f**k is month the same as minute, minute the same as mother, and mother the same as monday? I mean what if you wanted to see your mother on the second monday of the month?

Still, when one hundered years old, look as good you will not.