Wireless Printing

Posted: Sun 30 September, 2007 | Author: | Filed under: Cynicism, Geeky, Getting Organised | 1 Comment »

Because of various changes in the set up at home, it means we’ve now got three computers in use, and only one printer – which needs to be connected to the PC. OK, it’s fine if the PC is connected, but in general either one or both of us is using a laptop, and we don’t use the main PC.

So the time has come for the printer to go on its own little wireless print server, which should mean we can print without needing to have the main PC on.

And that’s one of the things I’m going to be doing today, getting the wireless print server set up. Depending on how things go, swearing may ensue…

Mince Pies

Posted: Sat 29 September, 2007 | Author: | Filed under: Cynicism, Festering Season | Leave a comment »

Bah, HumbugYesterday, while stood in a queue at the Marks and Spencers food store at Cambridge Railway Station, I noticed that they had mince pies on the shelves. In September. Hell, the “use by” date was the end of October.

The garden centres we use have been stocking up on Festive Tat, and their Christmas departments both open next weekend. Yes, October 5th/6th.

It’s going to be a long three months…

CAPI_Worker module

Posted: Fri 28 September, 2007 | Author: | Filed under: Customer Services, Geeky, Getting Organised | 18 Comments »

A while back, I upgraded my phone to the Sony Ericsson K800i. Once I’d received the phone, I also installed the Sony-Ericsson PC Suite, so I could synchronise the phone and my PC (something that’s always a pain in the arse anyway). Ever since then, I’ve had an error come up every time I start the PC, telling me that the CAPI_Worker module has crashed. It’s not a big problem, but it’s an annoying one, because it also meant that while I could connect my phone to the PC for moving files around and the like, I couldn’t actually sync it – I synced OK the first time I installed the PC suite, but then it wouldn’t connect any more.

Anyway, last night I did some furkling (also known as “fucking about on t’internet, and searching Google in particular”) about the problem, and then had a play on the PC. Sony Ericsson themselves insist there’s no problem, and that if the CAPI_Worker module is crashing, you’ve got a dodgy install of Windows. Only that’s not the answer at all – fortunately, I read someone else’s post about that before I tried re-installing Windows. But I did find a fix. After the more link, it gets a bit geeky…
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DIY Ringtones

Posted: Fri 28 September, 2007 | Author: | Filed under: Domestic, Geeky | 3 Comments »

No, no, it’s not a spam-post!

I’ve been playing of late with Audacity, an open-source sound editor, taking in an MP3 file, editing it, saving it back out as a new MP3. (or a .wav, or a .ogg- not that that’ll mean much to a lot of people) It’s a very cool bit of kit, and it came up as part of another project.

Anyway, I’ve been sodding about with Audacity, and ended up making some new mp3 ringtones for my phone. I’m really not into a lot of the current music when it comes to ringtones, but also I wanted something that’s non-standard, so messing about some music files for tracks that I love anyway? Well, it seemed to be a good plan.

So I’ve been playing. And now I’ve got some great ringtones – although my current favourite is a snippet from Depeche Mode’s “Personal Jesus”, which is just the line “Pick up the receiver, I’ll make you a believer”. It seemed pretty apt, and amused me. Whether it’ll stay in use for long, well, I don’t know.

And when I get bored? Well, there’s a couple of Sisters of Mercy edits, the intro to Yello’s “Oh yeah” which trimmed in beautifully, and three or four others that’ll be fun to use as well. Plus, well, I’ve now got the software, and about 60Gb of MP3s I could play with if I want. I’m not sure that’s a good thing…

Self Defence

Posted: Thu 27 September, 2007 | Author: | Filed under: Cynicism, Domestic, Thoughts | 3 Comments »

Apparently, Jack Straw wants to overhaul the self-defence laws, and “eliminate the grey areas in the law”. Personally, I have no problem with this, and fully agree that it needs doing.

However, rather than simply clearing things up, I personally would opt for the following:

Anyone who breaks into your house absolves all their personal rights at that point

In other words, anyone breaking in accepts responsibility for their actions, and has no personal rights once they’ve broken in, and the householder can take reasonable action to protect their property.

Works for me, anyway.

Contract Extension / End Of Year

Posted: Wed 26 September, 2007 | Author: | Filed under: Thoughts, Work-related | Leave a comment »

It’s now been confirmed that I’m now going to be in the same workplace ’til the end of this year. Not bad, considering that the initial contract was for three months, and that started a year ago yesterday.

In many ways it’s not too bad here – the journey is easily doable, the work is OK and getting better now that the main frameworks are in place, and I can start developing other add-on bits that make the various relevant departments go “Ooooooh” , or even on one occasion “Bloody hell, I didn’t know you could do that!”. (which is always satisfying) At the same time I’m adding in a lot of functionality and groundwork for the future, figuring stuff out, and doing a lot of funky bits. (Which reminds me, I really must update my CV with some of this rubbish before I forget) And the people are… OK, that’s the sticking point.

I get on OK with most of the people in this area of the office, and in other related bits of the company. That’s fine. I just don’t get on with a couple of people, I simply clash with their personalities. I manage it as professionally as possible, but it’s still noticeable. These people also don’t get on with a lot of others, and it’s noticeable when they’re not in the office, because stuff just gets done without all the drama. I know the manager of the team notices this too, and has commented on it several times.

So I’ll stay, particularly while the work is again interesting, and we’ll just have to see how the minority bits go. Because that’s all they are, a minor input on the day. And really I can handle that for the most part. And if I can’t, well, I’ll just go and sit outside, take a breather.

Yes, life could be worse.

Building Regs

Posted: Tue 25 September, 2007 | Author: | Filed under: Domestic, Getting Organised, House Work | 1 Comment »

So we got told yesterday that the Building Regs application for the stuff we’re wanting to do on the house has been approved.

It means we can now start to go ahead with knocking the current bathroom and toilet rooms together- and removing all the bloody horrible green tiles and avocado bathroom suite. Ah, the 70s, don’t you just love them?

I don’t yet know exactly when we’ll go ahead with the work- we’ve got to find a reliable plumber first, which appears to be quite a challenge in itself- but at least this is the final stage for the moment in getting everything organised and ready to go. Happy day.

Of course, once the work starts we’ll still have some kind of site visit to organise with the Building Regs people, but that’s a way down the line yet. For now, well, it’s just good that we’ve got everything we need (except for the bloody plumber) in order to get us started when we’re ready.

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