A great place to bring your kids up

Stupid Book Titles

2005-08-10T09:29:00.000+01:00

I've been carrying around a book for a few days called "The Mac OS X Command Line" or something similarly geeky. I was carrying it around because I thought it was going to be a useful resource for developing some *nix shell scripts that I need to pull down files from suppliers on a daily basis, extract their contents and then shove them into our database. Or remove stuff that suppliers no longer supply. In any case, you get the idea of the thrill and excitement that I was in for.

However, after finally having a poke around the book last night, I've realised it wasn't the book I'd intended to be carrying around. It was far too basic.

Embarrassingly, the book I'd intended to have with me was "Wicked Cool Shell Scripts" (WCSS). WCSS was not a frivolous purchase. Actually it wasn't a purchase at all - I did some work for a pensioner last year, and I couldn't bring myself to charge him my normal rates and also add on the VAT. I did some research and felt that I needed to add this book to my library - I asked him to purchase it for me in lieu of payment.

I did tell the guy that I felt the title was stupid, but the content was important. He humoured me.

One thing I never anticipated was that I would some day be reading this book on a train. In front of God and everyone. This is very embarrassing. I think I might make my own book cover with some kiddie birthday present wrapping paper. Or something.

Shell scripts are interesting and functional. "Wicked" and "Cool" are two superlatives that shouldn't be in the same sentence as shell scripts, and putting both of them together like that is just plain ridiculous.

The company I keep

2005-07-13T09:28:00.000+01:00

I'm currently sitting across from a nice looking woman who appears to be assessing an essay entitled "A Review of Recent Corpus-Based Methods for Evaluating Information Ordering in Text Production".

The lady sitting next to me was watching me type, so I stopped for a while. Eventually, the nice looking woman got up and disembarked at New Street.

I took the opportunity to switch sides of the table for a bit of privacy. The lady sitting next to me was nice enough but I did feel restrained.

However, a chunky guy now sat down next to me and is picking his nose and eating it. I don't care if he's reading this. You're a foul person. So there. I guess I told him. I hope he sees the humour.

It's not only a train journey

2005-07-05T11:30:00.000+01:00

As well as the train journey from Leamington Spa to Wolverhampton, the final bit of my journey is a bus ride from Wolverhampton bus station to my house. Tonight's ride was interesting, as it was the first time I had ever spoken to someone in the bus shelter. It went like this:

Me: "Could you put out your cigarette, please?"

Her (all of which is said in .5 seconds): "I'll smoke if I want to. I was here before you. Why don't you move? There are plenty of other places you could sit. Everyone else smokes."

Now, guess her age.

I'll describe her like this - she's a middle aged version of the Vicky Pollard character on "Little Britain" - Yes but, no but, yes but, no but...

This thought crept into my mind immediately. I said, "You are so full of shit. You know that character called Vicky on "Little Britain"? You're like a middle aged version of her."

Surprisingly, our conversation ended then. I know it fuelled the rest of her evening however. When we boarded the bus, she sat in the back and a friend boarded not long afterward. The discussion was all about smoking, and how considerate she was by not smoking in her house. For example she wouldn't let her 15 year old smoke. That even though she only let her older child smoke in the house when he/she/it was 18, although he/she/it protested from the age of 16. That "even though I have asthma, I'll smoke if I want to".

Once again, the train journey from Coventry to Wolverhampton...

2005-06-29T19:00:00.000+01:00

Once again, the train showed up late. So late, in fact, that I've taken an earlier train. An earlier train that was supposed to be later than the one I originally intended on taking. Except the original train has still yet to arrive. Funny that.

I've noticed that there are many more laptop users on the trains than there were two years ago or more. Not that I've been a big time train user at any stage before now. It would appear that a large number of these laptop users have DVD drives in their laptops and they're using them as DVD players. Excellent! They even have headphones to listen to the stereo sound. Maybe I should consider the journey as time where I can watch some movies, eh?

Interestingly (define interestingly, eh?), I remember my initial fascination with computers as allowing me to control what is displayed on a TV screen. I'm not kidding. It struck me as I was growing up that I was part of the generation of American kids which was given free reign of the TV when we got home from school. All baby boomers can claim this. I wasn't necessarily fascinated by computing, but I think I did feel restless in my teenage years - restless because the TV was dominated by adverts of horrible crap I didn't want and re-runs of TV shows that I had seen several times before.

I wasn't conscious that my desire was to control the TV. However, in the early 90's I read a book book by Robert X. Cringely, called "Accidental Empires" (and it had the best subtitle ever: "How the boys of Silicon Valley battle foreign competition, make their millions, and still can't get a date"). In it, there were many memorable passages and reflections by the movers and shapers of the high tech industries in Silicon Valley, and the sociological subtext in which they lived. You don't have to be a techie to read this book. Conversely, I suspect that many 20-something-product-brainwashed computer geeks might not find it interesting.

One of the people Cringely wrote about was Nolan Bushnel, who was the founder of Atari, and the guy that invented Pong. When I heard that he wanted to not sit passively and watch his TV any longer, and wanted to have some control over his TV, I realised that was what had fascinated me back in 1981. That, and my discussions with Adam Beguelin, one of my classmates in physics at Centralia High School.

Beguelin, Bushnel and Cringely - you have a lot to answer for!

It's only been this year that I've started to consider the DVD revolution, and that perhaps it's time that I stop trying to control the screen, and re-visit the enjoyment of watching TV again. Having got up to visit the loo, I was able to see that the guy sitting across from me is watching "Lost in Space", the original black and white series that I grew up with, but surprisingly never watched.

Are we operating in Stealth Mode?

2005-06-21T22:16:00.000+01:00

Before I go any further, I'd like to make a further comment re: company policy on blogging. Another new policy has become apparent after our mega meeting last night:

Naughty is ok, but don't be rude.

I think that's a guideline rather than a regulation, because we're clever people with high standards and motivated to do the right thing.

So, is Emart operating in Stealth Mode? Somehow, I don't think so. We've got a clear picture about where we want to go, what we want to do, and how we're going to do our thang. A little bit of publicity never hurt anyone, eh? So, Ms. So-and-so, a little Emart name dropping here and now won't hurt our intentions, and it's about time you start being a little more sporty. spice. Where's your blog?

Get on with it!

... OK, I think you need to know this...

I was sitting on the train home this evening and I was working on some DB normalisation issues. Yes, I lead an exciting life! I was in a "quiet zone" car on a Bournemouth to Manchester Piccadilly train that was supposed to leave Leamington Spa at 19.11, but instead left at about 19.23.

I eventually found that "Coach F" was the best coach as there was greater opportunity to find a space where I could work on my laptop. In case you didn't know by now, I'm a serious Mac head. I love commuting because I'm able to work on a fully functioning Apache/PHP/mySQL platform with the best interface anywhere.

I didn't notice, however, that the person sitting across from me had "Microsoft SQL Server" lovingly embroidered on his shirt. He did seem to be somewhat dismissive of me and my Powerbook. However, my Powerbook and I are pretty thick skinned and know our true value.

Turns out, he works for Microsnot as some sort of consulting developer. Very keen on the .net framework. As he left, he made sure to tell me it was really fun to work with .net.

I'll take his word for it.

I'm reconsidering...

2005-06-20T12:38:00.000+01:00

Having read some other blogs about blogging in the workplace, I'm having second thoughts about my view about being able to write what I want:

If I'm writing on company time, and/or using company computing resources to compose, edit and manage my blog then perhaps the company does have an editorial right;

If I have the urge to spread hate or racism (I'm telling you right now - I don't) the company would definitely have cause for concern.

There are plenty of other circumstances for which the company could have a right to intervene.

Now I need to think about whether company blogs can be of any use, or have any impact on the bottom line. AW is keen from the point of view of generating traffic, and that the traffic would come due to the search engines picking up on words we use about products, and liberal sprinkling of links to the products on the site. I don't dispute that this would work. My concern is whether the possible damage to the credibility of what we're trying to achieve.

There must be some middle ground between authenticity of blog entries and our desires to increase traffic. Surely quality content has primacy over short term goals that can be easily overridden by new searching and indexing features which will evolve through time.

I'm bidding... are you?

2005-06-17T10:50:00.000+01:00

Mark is the eBay king! See his latest auction here.

It's my blog and I'll write what I want to

2005-06-17T09:52:00.000+01:00

I had a somewhat interesting time yesterday while demonstrating how I set up my blog and showing my colleagues how I enter new entries on my blog. It was a bit like trying to herding cats.

I didn't expect it to be anything else to be honest.

What I'm finding most interesting is the variation of understanding of my colleagues about blogging and their aspirations and goals (or lack of) in the blogosphere. Blogosphere is both a stupid word and yet way way more cool than the work cool, don't you think?

My goal in the blogosphere? It's all selfish, really. It's merely a way for me to express myself. I'm blogging for me first. You can always put a comment in and tell me I'm full of shit. I'm a big boy - I can take it. I'm also not concerned if my entries cause me to lose my job. If I can't exercise self-expression via the web due to company policies, I'm not working for the right company.

Dreamweaver Extensions from DMX Zone

2005-06-16T16:38:00.000+01:00

At the end of last month, I purchased a the Mega Bundle Editor PHP set of Dreamweaver MX 2004 extensions from DMXZone.com - a site well known in the Dreamweaver extensions business. Two of my closest web dev colleagues swear by them for file uploading and general content management sections of web sites. Looking at my DMXZone account, I was reminded that I purchased the Pure PHP Image Bundle set of extensions in 2003. As a result, I was given a discount for the new set I purchased in May as it counted as an upgrade offer.

Yesterday, after demonstrating a page I had build with the Advanced HTML extension to AW, he pointed out that I had version 1 of the AdvHTML extension, that it was rubbish, and that I should have got version 2 instead - version 1 was soo old skool, that it should be considered "ye olde skoole". He even remembered a fact that I thought he would consider trivial - that version 1 didn't work with any Mac browsers!

So, I started looking into it in some detail, and it wasn't easy to understand the DMX Zone product range. To say, "it wasn't easy" is an understatement. Eventually, I came to the conclusion that I purchased the PHP Mega Bundle version 1, which didn't have the AdvHTML extension.

At first, I was indignant and considered writing a stiff letter. A letter so stiff, in fact, that it would need to be written on cardboard. Not only that, I was also going to send it.

Instead, I decided to fork out the extra £55 or so, as in the end, the only extension that was different in the new and improved Mega Bundle Editor PHP 2 was the AdvHTML extension, and considering the previous upgrade, I've still paid less than had I bought the new stuff altogether.

There's a moral in there somewhere. I guess it's something to do with not jumping to conclusions because some poorly defined product ranges have hidden gems. Or something. Your guess is as good as mine.

Emart business card and the CMYK blues

2005-06-15T15:36:00.000+01:00

Struggling for ideas

2005-06-15T09:29:00.000+01:00

Here is my day so far (it's only around 9.30 in the morning):

Woke up at 5 - gave in to the call of nature, then tried to go back to sleep

...the bloody cat decided to try to crawl all over my head

...woke up at 6, had breakfast and shower

...got in such a hurry to get to the bus on time, I forgot my belt

...kicked myself for not bringing home my umbrella from work last night

...worked on my laptop in very cramped space on the train from Wolves to New Street

...much more space after changing from New Street to Leamington

...txt'd AW to see if I could get a lift from the station (see "left my umbrella at the office" above)

...after much to-and-fro via txt, eventually speak with AW who agreed to pick me up

...AW gets stuck in traffic on Northumberland Road which is annoying on many levels -

the obvious, in that I was waiting in the cold and wet at the station

I'd been telling him that Northumberland Road was a much more straightforward way to get to the office for weeks, and today was the first he'd tried it

I'm expecting him to moan about it all day

...took taxi to the office and sold the taxi driver on the idea of Emart as a great place to shop on the web

...continued discussions with AW re: pros and cons of blogging, after he set his up last night

Sorry about too much detail. I finished a novel by Steve Martin on the train last night. A book called "The pleasure of my company" which I enjoyed very much. Written in the first person, it's about a guy that has a serious case of Obsessive/Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and has to do far too much planning to leave his apartment. Very well written. And the inspiration for me to provide far too much detail in this posting.

Are you still reading?

OK then, last night on the train home, I cracked the issue I was having yesterday with the MD5 encrypted password in the "staff" table of the Emart db. I've had exactly the same problem on previous sites, but I didn't learn from my mistake. The password's field definition was set to varchar(12). MD5 generates far more characters than 12. I've upped it to varchar(32) but I think it might simply do varchar(255) to ensure I never see this bloody problem again.

Ironically, the character in the Steve Martin novel is a cryptologist.

del.icio.us - Social Bookmarking, and why I keep coming back to it

2005-06-14T14:39:00.000+01:00

Some months ago, while looking at blogs of different web designers and Apple developers, I found out about http://del.icio.us .

The concept of social bookmarking wasn't jaw-droppingly amazing, but it was compelling to me from the point of view that I could get to some of my favourite sites if I wasn't in front of *my* computer, where I had bookmarked specific sites. As with many new technologies and web sites, my enthusiasm waned within 24-48 hours.

In my new role at Emart however, I realised that my colleagues are likely to have much longer attention spans and that we could create a list of favourites, or a combination of favourites from everyone in the company, by using del.icio.us bookmarks. By revisiting del.icio.us social bookmarks, I've rediscovered the true use of the site, and also understand that my short attention span has a purpose. Perhaps it's not really a *short attention span* in the first place.

"Why did you name this blog this way?" I hear you ask...

2005-06-14T09:14:00.000+01:00

I stole it from a part of Frank Zappa's "200 Motels". I've never seen the movie all the way through, but hope to some day. A guy's got to have goals, eh?

Is anyone listening?