The M-Word

Dear God preserve us all, it’s Monday. For the first time in ages I’m beginning to develop a deep dislike of Mondays. Things just seem to happen, with no good reason.

Last week the powers-that-be decided that the contractors working for them are basically untrustworthy. So now, as well as the timesheet I fill in for the agency (of which the council gets two copies) and and timesheet I fill in within my particular department, I now have to fill in another one which supposedly lists all the time I spend in and out of the office, and also what time I spend on each particular piece of work for the council. Yup, three timesheets. Never let it be said that local authorities are short on bureaucrats and bean-counters.

Of course there’s a problem with this – well actually, there are several. In the spirit of cross-department communication, the two “official” council timesheets manage to be completely different – not just in format and appearance, but even down to the method of time notation. On one you type in the proper time, i.e. “9:20”. On the other, it has to be expressed as a fraction, i.e. “9.33333”. And the two will never add up to the same hours. The one I’ve been using just does (for example) 9:30 to 13:00, 13:30 to 16:30 = 6½ hours. Simple. The other one will end up as 9.5 – 10.75, 10.8 – 13.0, 13.5 – 16.5 = close to 6½, but not quite, because I stepped out of the office to make a phone call. But – and this is where it gets fun – because the fucknuggets want all three timesheets to add up to the same figures.

Mission Improbable.

Geek-o-rama

It had to happen sometime. Westminster Council has started installing CCTV cameras that use a wireless (WiFi) network, instead of hardwired lines. So far it’s only being trialled in Soho, but I can see that it’ll be taken up on a far wider scale before long.

It’s far more cost effective than installing fixed hard-wired cameras, and also means that should it be discovered that they’re in the wrong place, or just need more, it’s a comparatively easy task to sort it out. Supposedly council workers will also be able to use the entire thing as part of a WAN (Wide Area Network) and do their work outside. Knowing local authorities, I wonder how long it’ll be ’til some nice person uses AirSnort to try and get into the network.

There are definite security issues with this kind of thing. Unless the WAN sits in a buffer zone (and again, that pre-assumes IT staff with decent knowledge of wireless networking etc.) then it’ll be possible for unauthorised people to get into the entire council network. Also, it means that the CCTV images will be being transmitted through the air, and are thus catchable (and perhaps editable) by anyone with the right equipment.

It used to be that “with the right equipment” in this context meant “security services”, but now it could be anyone. Even my little laptop has the power and ability to sniff a wireless network, and figure out passwords etc. I know it has, because I’ve done it. (*ahem* only when authorised to do so, of course *cough*) So – in theory at least – it may just be pretty easy to get onto that part of the network. I think it’s something I’m going to have a go at next time I’m down in London…

Weekend Off – Part 2

God, I chose a good weekend to do nothing. It’s been glorious sunny all weekend, and I’ve spent the time mainly outside, going brown. If I’d been in town today, I’d have been limited by the joys of The Great Manchester Run, and quite honestly I didn’t want to be in crowds and so on. So I’ve been happy just outside, reading, catching up on letters and so on.

Next weekend I’ve got The Parents^™ here, so having a break this weekend has probably been an exceptionally good thing. I know I feel a lot more relaxed, and I’ve caught up on some sleep and headspace, and feel about 1000&percent; better than I did during the week.

Now it’s just “looking forward” to Monday. Oh goody…

Passionate

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been looking more and more at people who are passionate about what they do, and have an obvious love of their chosen work. Seeing Michael Marshal Smith and Nicholas Royle was part of that – as I said yesterday, two men who are successful, and love their work. In today’s Guardian (and also in last week’s and next week’s) there have been photos by the photographer Stephen Gill. To me, this man’s work is fascinating – he takes portraits in series, for example of people lost in London and asking for directions, or (from this week’s Guardian) people on one particular train. I love quirky series like this, particularly when it involves normal members of the public, and facets of their lives.

I find myself really quite in awe of people this passionate about their work. In general it seems to mainly involve the more creative disciplines (and it’s just taken me a minute to think of the word “discipline” there) although it can include so many different things – even websites and blogging can be part of that passion, in the right hands. It’s still comparatively rare to see, but to me seeing that obvious passion is a wonderful thing.

Weekend Off

Oh wow, this is nice. For the first time since Easter, and I think perhaps the third weekend this year, I’ve got a weekend off. Fan-bloody-tastic. I can’t deny, I’m still busy – already I’ve been shopping, sorted out some financial stuff, bought a couple of new flower pots (and planted the fuchsias in them – they’re looking happier already) and taken some photos for a new idea/collection I’m wanting to do.

There’s things I could’ve been doing this weekend – and I still could’ve ended up in about four different locations – but yes, for now I’m happy with doing nothing (or at least as close to it as I get) for the first time in ages.

Book Geek revisited

As Dragon asked, “How was it then?” – it was good. As it turned out, it wasn’t just Michael Marshall Smith doing a reading/signing, but also Nicholas Royle, who I must admit I’d not previously heard of, let alone read any of his novels. However, if the sense of humour he displayed during the reading and Q&A session is also in his writing, then I’ll be rectifying that very soon.

MMS was interesting again – he speaks with a very dry humour, and makes for an entertaining Q&A performance. Oh, and in terms of “what does he look like?” (as asked last weekend) last night I kept on being reminded very much of a slightly better-groomed Kevin Bacon. (which was odd, as I then came home and watched Wild Things on C4) I still find it interesting the way different writers work, and how some of them are really quite shy about their books, and about reading from them (Donna Tartt was a prime case in point) whereas others such as MMS seem to love doing it, answering questions from people who obviously know and love books, and really meeting their readers. Both writers answered the questions thoughtfully and raised a variety of interesting points (including the “day from hell” for MMS where he was talking to a cousin who only read one book a year, had picked up the new novel, but wouldn’t read it yet because otherwise he wouldn’t have anything to read on holiday) and thankfully the questions were more than just the standard ‘meet the author’ dreck. In fact, both authors were quite disparaging of cliché-ridden questions. “That was almost ‘Where do you get your ideas?’ wasn’t it?” was used at one point. Instead, questions ranged from their writing methods and “normal” days, through to whether having supermarkets stocking books was a good or bad thing.

For the princely sum of £3 (and even that’s refundable against book price if you’re not a completely sad sod and didn’t buy the book on day of publishing. *ahem*) it was an excellent opportunity to spend two hours in the company of two people who blatantly love what they do, and have a truly infectious passion for it. And that’s got to be value for money.

Shudder

There are many things I could say about Treasure Pebbles, but most of them would be on the wrong side of the upcoming sweary filter, and knowing my luck I’d slag off something that everyone else thought was lovely and cute and blah, blah, blah.

Instead, I’ll just leave you with the link. (And we won’t notice that the page title doesn’t match the site name – that’d just be pedantic)