aninterestingname.co.uk

September 24th, 2007 by Andy Feltham

Tonight was no exception to the decorating that needed to be done before the weekend and this evening it was sanding. We wanted to paint on Tuesday so the walls needed to be sanded and washed ready for the next day. Tonight however was slightly different. After meeting my brother at the weekend i was reminded that he often does DIY with an iPod. Given that i needed to be in ear defenders and face mask i thought i’d give it a go.And, really you have to try it. It is so strange hearing nothing but Chilli’s, Jet, Razorlight, Jason Mraz or Killers while dust is flying all over the place and creating what can only be described as a really bad sauna.After all was said and done, i looked like this. Does it make you wonder at all? Seriously though, if you have do to something similar i highly recommend some tunes to drown out the noise!

September 23rd, 2007 by Andy Feltham

Twisted bathroommaster. I had a crap day on friday. I couldn’t concentrate ( on things i needed to ) and as it turned out there was lots i need to concentrate on. Systems down, products to test, things to do, people to see – the usual story really. I’m not one to give up, so after a tactical ‘chinese’ and some sleep i decided that the weekend was going to be all about the bathroom and god help anyone that should stand in my way of actually getting something done.

Alarm was set for 9am and by 9:05 ( ish ) i was up and wiring the new lights in the bathroom. By 11 o’clock i had completed the lights, and was already moving on to the extractor fan. I had a bit of a dilema here in that i needed to cut a bit of trunking that was already in situation – do i take it down and risk not putting it back, or try and cut it in place? Well, as i mentioned, nothing was going to get in my way so out it came and withing 20 minutes, back it went! Nothing could stop me now!

Nothing that is, apart from forgetting bits i needed to order / buy.

Every week i do this. Why? How? Why is it there is always something else? Its so frustrating. This week, it was a connector piece for the ducting. After a semi-quick trip to B&Q, Tops Tiles, Wicks, the worktop place and a quick bucket of balls it was back to work.

Sunday was much the same, up at 9 and start on all the quiet things. I’ve finished this weekend feeling so much better. I’ve actually done something which is much more than i can say for last week. All in all the list i did for the bathroom included : fit lights, plaster ceiling around light, cut trunking, fit extractor fan, finish plasterboard by extractor, remove sink, cut worktop, fit worktop + sink, remove shower head, fix leak in shower, replace shower, new wall by shower, ployfil walls and shower area, remove radiator, add legs to bath, and secure floor boards. Not bad going i hope you’ll agree.

Whats the point to all this i hear you ask? Well, its to demonstrate two things. Firstly, i’ll quote Back to the Future when i say “you can achieve anything if you put your mind to it”. And second, a break doesn’t have to be to do nothing. Its difficult to get over the ‘i’ve just finished work syndrome’ but if you really want to, and really put your mind to it, doing something different can be as replenishing as a holiday.

September 19th, 2007 by Andy Feltham

I’ve done many a course in which the use of spoken language is expressed as a powerful tool if used correctly. Recently though i’ve been interested in how badly the written language can be if interpreted in the wrong way, or simply ‘your way’. As you will know i’m not the biggest fan of warnings to protect those involved and remember the case where an American took McDonnalds to court because he hurt his lips on the ‘Hot Chocolate’ which was too hot! And yet, while some things are really obvious other wordings and phrases are less obvious and we just take them for granted. Take the phrase ‘Free Gift’ for example. It was pointed out to me a while ago, when is a gift not free?

The reason i am now mentioning this is because of some DIY i was doing last night. I had a wall to plaster and after applying the first coat a week back to get it flat, i now had to get it smooth. This was done using some finishing plaster. As i was mixing it up i noticed on the packet it said :

Provides a smooth finish suitable for decorating

… or something along those lines. Provides? How does this provide me with a smooth finish? Surely it enables me to create a smooth finish but doesn’t provide me with one. My utility companies provide me with Gas, Water, Electricity etc and that is only because i pay them, but this plaster surely doesn’t make itself!¹ All in all this made me wonder two things… 1) Could i at least ask for my money back if because of my incompetence the wall wasn’t smooth? 2) What else is there that we take for granted because we know what they are trying to say?!

Note ¹ : Although i’ll stick with what i’m saying, the plaster actually did start applying itself while i was mixing it. Splashed out the bucket and kindly covered a large part of my kitchen wall. Now if it had only done that in my bathroom!

September 17th, 2007 by Andy Feltham

I had an abnormally relaxing weekend this weekend ( and yet i’m still shattered ). With the arrival of the new Nintendo Wii it was always going to be games rather than DIY but it still ended up being very relaxing. I have to admit that a lot of this may be due to spending time in the New Forest @ my parents house ( parents away, Sal running half marathon ). Having said that we just seemeed to do what we wanted, when we wanted and not worry about things we had to do or places we needed to be. Still playing golf at 1:30am was probably testemony to that!

Putting the pleasantries aside for a second, the Wii in itself is cause for conversation. I’m still dubious about how much i will use it, mainly because after a weekend i feel like i’ve done everything there is to do on it ( someone proove me wrong ). Having said that there is no doubt how easy it is to start using, and how playable the games are. Where Nintendo have spent less on the graphics its clear that they have spent more on the interface. Really small movements are picked up with the Wii remote and everything from Lobs, Drop shots, Chips, and even uppercuts are possible thanks to a series of gyroscopes. Where i think the Wii is currently lacking is over the selection of games. With an interface such as this, in theory, ANYTHING is possible. I was trying to think of a sport that couldn’t be coded using this interface and didn’t come up with many  ( gymnastics and wrestling were the two i came up with ). And because anything should be possible it really is a market that Nintendo will have over all the other consoles. Despite that the games that are out are really just repeats of old games using a new interface. Certainly disapointing and i hope it’ll change. Still, all that said it is great and i have a lot of time for playing a round of golf in my living room with a bottle of Pinot!

September 6th, 2007 by Andy Feltham

I’ve  been on facebook now for a while and its about time i ranted… i mean expressed my concerns over it. A little while ago i signed up for Facebook, way behind most of the trends, mainly because one of my old uni mates said i was the worst person for keeping in touch. I signed up in a vague attempt to see what all the fuss was about and to proove them wrong. A month or so into it, i’m still not sure i get the point, nor have i been any more reliable when it comes down to communication. I’ll explain why & what i’ve found.

The biggest thing for me is time. I make myself busy and i understand that a lot of the lack of time, is because of the way i do things rather than facebook itself. Having said that, Facebook ( and all the other community tools ) inherently are time wasters. I won’t start on the number of times i have to add my online status, name, address, DOB etc and yet i could still spend a good few minutes discussing all the other aspects that waste time. Maybe i’m just a cynic, but how is sending Zombie bights to friends increasing a social network? Wouldn’t i rather spend 5 minutes sending a quick email telling people what i’m doing, what’s happened etc or even better going for a coffee? Isn’t that more personal and appropriate? And the list of applications that i could use seems to grow day by day and still i have yet to find one that is actually useful. The ‘places i’ve visited’ is proably the closest i’ve come, but then again there is Plazes for that.

So, the conclusion i’ve come to is that facebook is largely for spying on peoples lives ( and remembering their birthdays ). Obviously by spying i mean understanding their lives without actually being there. I know a number of people, and myself included, who’s sole interaction with some people is via looking at their updates in facebook. This is really evident to me when i think about how many people in my ‘friends’ list i talk to or communicate with on a weekly basis. In some ways this isn’t a bad thing. Its nice sometimes to be able to say Congratulations to people when they’ve had something nice happen but for me, i’d rather find out in person.

Having said that, recently Facebook has helped me to hook up my local Ultimate team with a friendly game, but those occurances have been few and far between. Even if i agreed that this was a replacement for a proper social network, Facebook is still flawed by only being able to perform advanced searches on your own friends! I mean, why would i need an advanced search on the people i know…. i already know them!

Once again, this is just my opinion and i’m sure there are features that i’m not exploring or using. I’m still confident though that Facebook’s primary use is to kill time, and allow others to see what you are doing, without actually seeing them. …. he says, updating a blog.

September 3rd, 2007 by Andy Feltham

Bugs, allergies and wine – quite a combination i’m sure you’ll agree.

Firstly, once again i’m at a loose end with my Mac. I’ve started to notice a couple of applications not start. Most of the main applications work but it seems like its the ‘windows ports’ that don’t. The office suite is a good example. What seems to happen is the icon jumps once and stops. No error nothing. I should point out at this stage i feel like a right novice. “It jumps once”… what kind of an error description is that?! But that in itself is the problem. I’m not familiar enough with the Mac to know where to start looking to solve my own problems and that is not something i enjoy. Any Mac users out there, what would you do to diagnose this?

Allergies – quick mention that the other site i write to Warning, May Contain Nuts.com has been updated. Take a read if you fancy a coffee break. Pass on the news!

Wine – last year i was given a book called the Wine Travel Guide to the World and it pretty much does exactly what it says on the tin. As someone who enjoys wine i think this is a great idea and this year i’ve decided that next year ( confusing isn’t it? ) i’ll visit some of the places in the book. Personally though, i think this kind of trip can’t be done unless its in big chatteaux in France, Italy or Spain etc, soaking up the Sun next to the pool. I wonder if anyone would fancy joining me on some or all of it. No need to bring a bottle!

September 3rd, 2007 by Andy Feltham

I’ve just had 2 days off ( making a 4 day weekend! ) and today is not only Monday, but its the first day back. Double trouble. Coupled with the fact that my mind has been wandering a little bit at the best of times, today isn’t going to be a productive day. However, i’ve been in these situations before and i find that every now and then you need to have some good stuff to be doing that can keep you motivated, but still make real progress. And so today i’m back to work on my ResultsServer. Unfortunately though, even that isn’t helping!

I’m sure this must have been said before, installations and user experiences are so much more important that product function. There is no point having the function if you can’t even get to the point where you can use it. In my particular case it was the lack of features that actually drove me back to the installation!

Part of my ResultsServer requires the use of PHP and MySQL, both simple tools that are standard these days. As it turns out, being a new system it’s got PHP 5 on it, and that means no MySQL. I can’t say i understand why they would separate these two technologies, they go together so well, and yet they have. LAMP will now just be LAP. And so i set about the task of installing the necessary components to get me where i need to be. In case you hadn’t guessed, this wasn’t ( isn’t straight forward ).

I inevitably ended up in a version / dependancy chain that leaves me pulling my hair out that something so simple is taking up most of my day. I can understand that different systems will have different tools at different levels, i just can’t understand why nobody has made it simpler to get bundles of tools to update all the pre-reqs at the same time. Patching an OS can be a similar nightmare and as a result HP have suitably addressed the problem. Rather than downloading a patch at a time, bundles of patches ( all with their pre-reqs ) can be be downloaded and installed in one hit. Now if only i could get this pesky PHP installation to do the same thing…..