Feb 27, 2011 | Uncategorized
All that is chrome does not glitter
Not all those on IE are lost
Old code that is strong does not wither
As Google may find to their cost
I’ve been tinkering with the appearance of the page and specifically the right hand column where you can now find links to me on Facebook and LinkedIn (I’m also on Diaspora and Quora but haven’t worked up profile badges yet) and to my old blog in the “Even older Archives” link.
For reasons as yet unknown my old blog pages refuse to load into Chrome although they are fine in Firefox, which is my default, Opera and IE. By the time you read this I may well have worked out what is going on (or some kind soul may have helped) but, if not, then this lets you know that I’m aware of it and am trying to fix it. That old blog was hand-knitted in bog-standard HTML4 so Chrome should not have any trouble rendering it, indeed if you right click on the pages and display the underlying code it is all there. So I’m stumped.
Incidentally, pending Tamsin fixing The Weather Pixie, I’ve added in something similar also in the far right column.
update – A friend writes to say that he can see the old site in Chrome with no difficulties so I’m stumped. I shall resport to the old standby of switching off and on again!
Feb 26, 2011 | Uncategorized
Kirstin and I went to see True Grit last night and I enjoyed it a great deal. It is hard to avoid the shadow of John Wayne and the original but I thought they managed it. Of course the Coens made best use of one of the great strong points of the classic Western – the immense scenery – and it was a joy to hear Iris DeMent singing “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms” at the close of the film.
It has been a funny old week at work as I try to finish off outstanding tasks and sort my way through my accumulated belongings (mostly sorting them directly into the bin). At the same time I seem to have become a kind of non-person as nobody has any reason to include me on emails or call me this close to my departure date. It is also disconcerting when people start to look at you in an “are your still here?” manner.
Having said that my week was also cheered up by my blood presssure getting back into a normal range for the first time in a year. All that I need to do now is properly to resume training and I can make good on my resolution to get back to 10K fitness by the summer.
And so my thoughts turn to my upcoming time “between jobs” which I am looking forward to. One of the things I have noticed over the years in the summer is that if you can manage three weeks holiday then the benefits in terms of relaxation are much greater because you can let any or all stresses float away. It is in this spirit that I am looking forward to March and April.
There are some things to do around the house which have been put off for a long time but my immediate break from work is marked by Kirstin and I going over to Germany for a week’s break. Thereafter, as well as the household things, there are some other tasks I’ve set myself. One of these is properly to reacquaint myself with my guitar and other assorted instruments but the others are to start getting some things together which have been on the backburner for a while. For example a couple of years ago I started, but abandoned, a book on eProcurement: I mean to get stuck into a complete re-write. In addition there are some further thoughts I have been having about eCommerce generally and future directions both conceptually and in product terms that I mean to set out in outline.
Although this sounds like work it isn’t in the sense that it isn’t work if you are doing what you want to do. And this should also provide a useful basis for picking up the reins of my new job.
Incidentally, should any of you be interested, you will now find me on LinkedIn – here.
Feb 23, 2011 | Uncategorized
I have been busy wrapping things up at work recently and haven’t really focused my thoughts on anything blogable. I also read, quite quickly, Allen St. John’s book about master luthier Wayne Henderson. The core of the story is about the building of a guitar for Eric Clapton but life, the universe and everything are gently touched upon throughout. And I like Henderson’s stock answer when asked how he builds his instruments – he takes some good wood and a sharp whittling knife and cuts away everything that isn’t guitar.
It has put me back in mind of instrument building. I like the guitar I built for myself but I am not blind to its faults and part of me is now itching to have a second attempt. There are some things which I would do differently the second time around and I know what they are. So it isn’t an immediate thing but the mind is turning.
Feb 12, 2011 | Uncategorized
recursion
I have a lot of stuff which, as Kirstin keeps reminding me, clutters the place up, notably the attic full of books (I won’t refer to guitars though since guitars aren’t stuff). Every so often I think about a clean out but my natural hoarding tendencies, on a par with those of Smaug, usually kick in. So it was with some interest that I read this article yesterday.
Now I have to say that the notion of a clean out, of travelling light, as it were, is one which does sometimes pass through my mind. It has done so increasingly recently as thoughts turn towards a major change in my circumstances. And the theory that one can take stuff and digitise it and still have it handy is an appealing one, although I am unconvinced by the practical reality.
The notion is quite strong in regard to the vinyl that I still have in the cupboard which I can still play but generally don’t (I think I play cassettes more in fact). And some (though not much) of that vinyl I have already bought on cd.
The problem is that I am something of a sentimentalist when it comes to things because they put me in mind of memories of times and places which I don’t want to relinquish this side of the last great relinquishment. In some sense they are reminders for me of some part of my identity even though, given the rate of cellular regeneration and replacement in the average human body some of them are older than “me”. There’s an interesting philosophical discussion to be had about memory and identity as distinct from the physical body but maybe that’s for another day.
shadows and light
This has come to mind because, as well as the article linked to above, one of the things I’ve meant to do for some time and plan to do in March is to sort out the attic in the sense of putting in some proper shelving and storage capability as opposed to shoving everything in there.
Without question there are books there that I like to have but probably won’t get out to read again. Now in part this is self fulfilling – part of the reason that I don’t read them more is precisely because they are in the attic and not readily accessible – but only in part.
So perhaps an eBay clearance is required both for some of my stuff and for some manga that Amy has been at me for a while to sell for her. We shall see.
As for the rest, my problem with moving from analogue to digital is that not only would I have to copy it but I’d also need to back it up. And generally, in the case of music, the sound quality and dynamic range of the older media is better than the new. This doesn’t matter so much on an MP3 player with headphones but it matters a lot in other contexts, especially when the creators have gone to a lot of time and trouble to master it for high quality sound. Modern pop stuff that has been compressed to hell and back doesn’t matter and I don’t listen to it much anyway except by accident, but the Chieftains’ album I’m listening to on the stereo system at present relies a lot on aural quality and dynamics.
Feb 6, 2011 | Uncategorized
Under the Umbrella
Sunday morning comes around again and here I sit listening to Frank Zappa’s Trance-Fusion which I hadn’t heard previously and which I’m enjoying a lot.
I’m also waiting for a roofer to come out and give us an estimate for some repair work – we had rain and high winds earlier in the week and water was coming in under the windowsill of the spare bedroom at the front. My suspicion is that there was some ice damage a few weeks ago which lay dormant until the high winds but the end result is water in and damaged wall paper.
Meanwhile I am trying hard not to get too de-mob happy at work. Ironically enough I am busier now than I have been for a while as I try to clear the decks of outstanding work to give me enough time to sort out some of the stuff I have collected over the years. I have already disposed of a lot but there is more to clear, mostly to the bin I think. I will be keeping some stuff as I have some photos there and also some of my notes and books from my law degree but I am forcing myself to be unsentimental and to curb my hoarding tendencies.
all on its lonesome
I am going for drinkies on 4 March to mark my departure and readers are welcome to pop by if you are in the neighbourhood – leave a comment if you want me to contact you about it. As best as I can tell the pubs of Edinburgh will be doing a roaring trade on successive Fridays in March with the number of people leaving. You can join some of the dots for yourself about why so many people are keen to go.
One of the things which has happened to my blogging over the years is that I have passed less comment on social matters with an obvious political slant. In large part this has been because, as a semi-senior public servant, I haven’t thought it appropriate to touch on areas which might suggest to the suggestible that the accepted boundaries of professional neutrality have been transgressed.
Although I will no doubt still be circumspect for reasons to do with my new job, I am looking forward to casting off the current set of self-imposed shackles. In recent times I have become increasingly discontent working for the government (any government). This is partly because aspects of working in the public sector have ground me down but is also because there has been for some time now a distinct sense of being unhappy working for The Man (Man!). I am quite keen on keeping my working and personal lives in some sort of ethical balance in the sense that what I do to earn my meagre crust is congruent with my ethical sense of self.
I came to the conclusion several years ago that there was a growing divergence between my working life (in the abstract sense of being a government employee) and my personal attitudes and I determined in 2007 or so that the time was right to go if I could. The circumstances which made that possible came together late last year and hence my seizing of the opportunity.
More on this next month (probably 🙂 ).
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