Posted: Fri 24 October, 2008 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Geeky, Getting Organised, Web Development, Work-related, Writing |
Over the last few days, I’ve spent a fair amount of time setting up the PC at the new workplace, so I thought I’d do a bit of a dump of what’s gone in – and, as a corollary, a dump of the development tools and software that I find essential.
Browsers
The first thing to get installed was, of course, Firefox. This is just essential – particularly when the company’s default browser is still the incredibly shonky IE 6. Following on from there, the following Firefox extensions got installed…
- WebDeveloper – just an essential tool for web developing, couldn’t do without it
- AdBlock Plus – not for web-development, but just for blocking adverts on sites. It was weird to see sites with Ads, I’m so used to Adblock Plus now
- FoxMarks – as a user of multiple computers (home, laptop, work) I love being able to synchronise my bookmarks between all three machines without needing to repeatedly export them from one machine to another. I used to use Google’s BrowserSync, but that doesn’t support FF3, so FoxMarks is a suitable replacement.
- FlashBlock – similar reasons to AdBlock Plus, but as download of the Flash plugin is also blocked, I might as well just block Flash entirely. Works for me, anyhow.
Then we get onto the development tools.
PHP – I’ve put on two text editors
- Crimson Editor
and
- phpDesigner 2008, which I’m getting to like.
CSS
- BradSoft’s TopStyle – my CSS Editor of choice. Yes, I can (and do) use text editors to do the CSS, but when I get lost to what’s doing what, TopStyle’s the place to go
MySQL
- MySQL’s GUI Tool suite is always useful
Others – there are probably some more things I’ll add in over time, but for now the only extra bits I’ve added on are:
- Open Office 3.0 – always a joy to use after experiencing MS Office again
- CeltX – For the writing side of things, just in case I need some diversion tactics to take my brain off PHP for a while
And that’s it – for now at least.
Posted: Thu 23 October, 2008 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Domestic, Driving, Thoughts |
Once again, my poor old car’s in the garage. Not for anything major, I hasten to add – just that it’s now on it’s 90,000 mile service.
Thankfully, I don’t mind about the mileage – as I’ve said before, the car’s going to be driven into the ground, I don’t expect to get anything more for it when the time comes than trade-in value, so I’m not fussed that it’s coming up for going round the clock.
The courtesy car that the garage has given me this time is a little 1.25 Fiesta, which comes under the heading of “comedy car” in my opinion. Although in fairness, they’re a lot roomier than they used to be – I can actually fit in this one (although I’m sure it still looks funny from the outside) without needing to go into bizarre contortions in order to get behind the wheel.
The only thing that annoyed me in fact was that the garage supplied it with (according to the gauge on the dash) enough fuel to go thirty miles. Needless to say, adding fuel was a priority as the journey to work runs to about 28 miles…
Posted: Wed 22 October, 2008 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Geeky, Photography, Thoughts, Weirdness |
One of the things that has surprised me on my photography course is the number of the people on it who haven’t really played with their cameras at all.
For instance, the great majority still even have the default (and highly irritating) beeps, clicks and whistles that accompany every keypress or option change. During the course, as the tutor describes certain options, you can hear them beeping through the menus, trying to find the things he’s talking about.
Now I have to say that as well as being bloody annoying, I do find that this is quite inconsiderate – both to the tutor, and to the other people in the class. For me, those sodding beeps are really distracting – and I’m sure I’m not the only one on the course who finds them so. But while they’re going through the menus, they’re also not really listening to what the tutor is saying next, which means he’s either got to repeat it, or they’ve missed it completely.
I think sooner or later I’m going to go and silence the cameras in question – but we’ll see.
I suppose that I just find it strange that people seem to be happy to buy a new device/gadget/whatever, and not fiddle with it and try all the options. And yes, I know, I’m a techie geek, and thus fiddling with new things is always going to happen with me, but all the same – wouldn’t you want to try out most of the options on a new camera as soon as you got it? And/or figure out what these arcane settings like Av, Tv, ISO etc. actually do?
Posted: Wed 22 October, 2008 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Cynicism, Own Business, Thoughts, Work-related |
I’ve just realised that my new employer has made a significant error with my contract.
I’m (as some of you may have noticed along the way) a web developer. Normally, a web developer’s contract will include stuff about Intellectual Property (IP) so that anything the developer creates for Company X still belongs to Company X when the developer leaves – and thus the developer can’t sell that same product to other companies.
Guess what my Company X has forgotten to do?
Yep – no IP clauses at all.
I’m not complaining – the main thing I’ll be writing for the next few months is something that is exceptionally saleable, and I can already see a fair old market for it outside the company. So, that might make life a bit more interesting over time…
Posted: Tue 21 October, 2008 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Animals, Cynicism, Domestic, Thoughts |
I must admit, I hadn’t realised that USAF Lakenheath had stopped doing night-flights, considering the way they were flying over the house at half-ten last night.
But apparently they had, and will now be re-starting ‘night flights’ in order to train flight crews with night-vision equipment.
I suppose Winter is a good time for that training, as they can be flying from 6pm through to about 6 or 7am, however I know Hound won’t like it. She’s not keen on the overflights at the best of times, although she’s much better with the F15s from Lakenheath/Mildenhall than she ever was with the Jumbos and airliners from Heathrow when we were in Bracknell. (I don’t know why, although I assume it’s to do with the pitch of the noise – the whine from the airliners used to drive her crackers, whereas the more bass rumble and roar from the fighters seems to be less annoying to her)
Still, all part of the joys of living out in the arse-end of nowhere.
Posted: Tue 21 October, 2008 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: D4D™, Work-related |
Oh, and it looks like I’ll have at least some internet access while at work, so things should be OK with keeping D4D™ up to date with thoughts and the like.
I won’t be writing loads during the day, I suspect, but at least I should be able to write things as and when I want to.
Clouds, silver linings, and all that jazz.
Posted: Mon 20 October, 2008 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Thoughts, Work-related |
So yes, the first day of the new job went OK. I’ve done the first bits of the induction process, and things are starting to come together.
I’m never a great fan of first days – and in this case there was a significant amount of corporate rubbish getting spouted as well. Never something I get on with all that well. And there’ll be a whole bundle more of it, I’m sure.
But there we go, that’s life in the world of the ‘proper job’, I suppose.