I think I am a banana tree

Well its now been almost 3 months since I moved to cheltenham.  The plus points are I am nearer family and friends, I am not doing silly long journeys to visit the nam, I have good housemates, and have made a few ne friends along the way.

The big problem.  Is my new job.  I wanted to work for a company completely opposite to my previous job and I have certainly got that.  This has been a learning experience at least.  The issue is in my previous job learning was activwly encouraged and people had a willingness and ability to learn.  I am now dealing with people who are for the most part completely the opposite, who have no appreciation for computing at all.

Perhaps I am getting tired of this work, I mean what other industry do you follow all the instructions and still have something not work.  But then thats down to the lack on engineering standards in software development (I mean just because your code compliles doesn't mean you can ship it as a product).

Anyhow I managed to survive christmas.  Just a few pleasent days visiting my mum and new year was fun (what I can remember of it anyhow.

As I look back on another year passing I hope 2007 will bring you everything you want.  As I look back on the spam I have recieved over the past few weeks I think this one is particularly relevant since I actually had this conversation in my previous job concerning greetings like these:

 I wanted to send you a holiday greeting, but it is so difficult in today's world to know exactly what to say without offending someone. So I met with my lawyer colleague yesterday, and on his advice I wish to say the following:

Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low stress, nonaddictive, gender neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced with the most enjoyable traditions of religious persuasion or secular practices of your choice with respect for the religious/secular persuasions and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all.

I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2007, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make our country great (not to imply that Turks & Caicos Islands are necessarily greater than any other country) and without regard to the race, creed, colour, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wishee.

By accepting this greeting, you are accepting these terms:

This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It is freely transferable with no alteration to the original greeting. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for her/himself or others and is void where prohibited by law, and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher. This wish is warranted to perform as expected within the usual application of good tidings for a period of one year or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first, and warranty is limited to replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wisher.

Disclaimer: No trees were harmed in the sending of this message; however, a significant number of electrons were slightly inconvenienced.

Well the first week of my job is over and it has been an interesting week.  A number of things are obvious.  The private sector expects results and you are expected to put the hours in.  Not that I wasn't expecting this mind. Although having to get up at 7am ready to dirive into work for 9am is still taking a little getting used to.  My boss is rather too busy to show me anything for very long but that will change as he will have to deligate some jobs to me.  I also bought a Tomtom Sat Nav which has meant I have been able to find all these little companies that my company contracts for.

The job is quite a learning expereince seeing what small companies actually use in their IT.  I mean the lack of investment in what for a lot of these places are now critical systems is surprising.  Most of these companies only invest when everything has broken down.  Also Windows 2003 Small Business Server is one of the most challenging products I have ever used, I mean your meant to run OS, Exchange, SQL Server, Printing, Licence Server etc on one server.  Well perhaps you can but not on a home built PC for £300 you can't.

Cheltenham is a lovely place to live now I am all settled in.  Find myself a routine is perhaps.  Although as predicted having a decent alternate/rock/metal club that serves real ale has perhaps a little worse for wear over the past couple of weekends (well that and attempts to chat up cute 19 year old girls).

Have fun people.

Well I have spent the past weekend in London catching up withphrixus_nyx and zeke_hubris. It was a quiet weekend mostly spent talking and drinking in many establishments including a Thai meal on the saturday night that made a welcome change. Of course the drive up to London and back was about 5 hours each. Which is reminder of why I never want to go anywhere near london unless I absoutly have to. Karen gave me a load of band t-shirts which was nice since that saves me buying new t-shirts.

In other news I am finally all moved in. Everything changed over and now after 2.5 weeks ready to start my new job which will be this friday. I am looking forward to it. Highlight of the change over was a refund from my car insurance a whole £9.74 (I won't spend it all at once).

Have also downloaded Semagic which will make my updating of livejournal even easier.

Well I think I have done more work over the past 5 days moving into my new room than I have done at my previous job over the past 6 weeks or so.

Well on Friday got the van delivered a Nissan Kubistar that was remarkably easy to drive and managed on the Saturday morning to load all my stuff into it in one load.

Saturday involved moving two van loads of CJs stuff out of the house and so far two van loads and one car load to the tip. I have the room at about 95% the way I want it. Have built a chest of drawers, and got wireless internet working, and visiting my mum has got me all the linen and bedding that I need. Just the printer to buy tomorrow and I should all be set.

Sorry to all the Nam crew that I haven't been in contact yet. I just want to get everything sorted out first....

Well I am mostly packed and the van is being delivered this afternoon. A quick trip to Swindon to pick up some stuff and then onto Cheltenham. An observation I make every time I move, is that ever since I left home to start University I have been living in one room. I find it an interesting comment on my life that I can pack all my worldly possessions in the back of a small van (and thats one smaller than a transit). But I have never really been a materialist.

Well I have just been told at work that my final day for working is this Friday. Going out with work collegues tomorrow and then moving to Cheltenham on Saturday. By the end of next week I will never see Wallingford again.....

It's funny how things move forward so quickly. Onwards and upwards I say.

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape.

He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as knowing when to come in out of the rain, why the early bird gets the worm, life isn't always fair, and maybe it was my fault.

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you earn);and reliable parenting strategies (adults, not children, are in charge).

His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place.

Reports of a six-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.

Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job they failed to do in disciplining their unruly children.It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer Panadol, sun lotion or a sticky plaster to a student; but, could not inform the parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.

Common Sense lost the will to live as the Ten Commandments became contraband; churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims.

Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar can sue you for assault. Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realise that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.

Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents, Truth and Trust;his wife, Discretion; his daughter, Responsibility; and his son, Reason. He is survived by three stepbrothers:I Know My Rights, Someone Else is to Blame, and I'm A Victim.

Not many attended his funeral because so few realised he was gone. If you still remember him pass this on. If not, join the majority and do nothing.

Hello all, still alive at this end despite everything conspiring against me but I digress. The last couple of weeks have been the same old, same old. Celebrated CJ's birthday and have been out night clubbing a few times but nothing interesting.

Work still in the same state. Still don’t know about redundancies as yet. Although today they are beginning to talk about a 100 day plan. Let’s hope this is slightly better thought out than Stalin with his 5 year plan…. Haven’t found another job yet so plugging away at it as always.

At least for this week I will be attending Malestrom from Thursday onwards. Got my character pack today. Lets say Rhyolite the Facet and dedicated follower of the huntress will be fun to play. The only problem may have is the last time I played LARP the other people took it far too seriously. Let’s hope my fun is not spoiled this time.

Just found this article on the web. Together with the smoking ban coming into effect next year we may all soon have to hang out at a library or something:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2295384,00.html

"It's got game in the title, games are supposed to be fun"

I do RPG stuff because I have fun while doing it. It seems that several of the people on mailing lists I have been part of no longer understand this. This is "fantasy" people. Most RPG worlds allow you to have magic users alongside big dragons with a 50ft tall robot for backup. It doesn't matter that the chamber pot is the wrong colour (recent Ars Magica list conversation). Ok I would expect a world like D20 modern to at least show lip service to modern physics but in the end of the day its a fantasy/sci-fi world, not everything will be as it seems.

Ok I knitpick as much as the rest of them but theres knitpicking and then theres knitpicking.

In other news this made me fall out of my chair at work this morning:

http://www.goodiebag.tv/video/do_you_take_it.htm

Have fun everybody......

Today is System Administrator Appreciation day. Everybody should go out and buy there local Sys admin a pint for all the good work he/she has done over the past year.

In celebration I found this little video:

http://www.deadtroll.com/index2.html?/sysadmin/~content

Also the following Lord of the Rings inspired video is just so wrong I had to share it with you.

http://macbros.dnsalias.com/blog/they-are-taking-the-hobbits-to-isengard/

Oh well it appears that I didn’t get the job I wanted. Just had feedback from the employment agency. Apparently they interviewed two candidates (including me) and the other person had considerable industry experience (with smartcard technologies). They could not fault me in my technical knowledge or interview technique. The other guy ticked all the right boxes. The agency says this sometimes happens and he will keep looking for me.

The question I have is how do you break into these industries. I have had several job specs pass by my inbox recently they say (ideally will have x years experience in financial services/smartcards/audio recording etc). How exactly do you break into what I currently see as a closed shop.

Never mind back to looking.

Well the weekend before last was spent up in London with zeke_hubris and zellah we were later joined by a sebastian_lux. We all travelled down to B-Movie where much drink was drunk and danced to a few silly songs. Spent most of the Saturday just chilling out and we all watched the Neil Gamien film Mirror mask which was good. Haven’t spent much time down in London and it was good to catch up with many of the people I bumped into.

Still no news from work, but I have had three job inter views over the past week and a half. Two jobs were basically 2nd line tech support type jobs. One of which was meant to be working for Gloucestershire county council but I didn’t get it (I was up against one person with at least 10 years more experience than me). The other interview I went to where I was offered a project engineer job. But I didn’t take it, for the simple reason that something didn’t sit right with me about the company and/or the person interviewing me. When I get a feeling like that it is best not to take the job.

I have also decided a plan of attack when I move. Which basically means renting a van, and moving in one day. Sometimes it is actually good not to have much stuff to move (throwback to my student days). But then again that is down to much of my stuff still being in storage.

I am still waiting on job one response which I hope to hear from by the end of the day. This weekend will be spent in quiet contemplation, getting ready for next weekend’s goatfest.

Well still here despite the world. Have spent the past few weeks in no particular order, celebrating my birthday, running around Oxford hitting people with rubber swords and getting drunk enough so that I cannot remember how I got home (somehow I managed to get home 15 miles from where I started).

Job as normal is beginning to drive me up the wall and dealing with even more dippy recruitment agencies (does any body know of any good ones?). Still applying for more jobs as we speak. Although it has become apparent that you need a Internet connection to get a new job these days (one job I have applied for has only accepted on-line applications). So for the 50% of the population that has never accessed the Internet in the UK are in trouble.

Saw the movie Ultraviolet at the weekend. My recommendation is go see Jet Li’s Fearless instead. Basically the trailer has all the good parts of the film and it has been shot in a funny art-house style, Equilibrium was a far better film.

Hello all.

Well I have just come back from a long weekend off. With a bank Holiday and privilege days (its sometimes good to be a public servant) I have had a good five days off. Although with everything going on at work were still not up too much.

Saturday was spent in the company of sebastian_lux, and klanrol for their joint birthday party. It was good to catch up with many people who I have not seen in some time. Sunday was spent recovering from the night before and going to the all you can eat Chinese buffet. I found that deep fried squid among other dishes is actually quite nice.

Drove back to oxford only to be phoned by one of the scrap yards saying that a Hyundai Accent Coupe had come in and might have the parts I needed (mostly interior stuff that I refuse to pay £600 for from a main dealer). They had to crush the car the next day so I spent three hours removing all the parts I needed for £30. I spent a large part of Tuesday shopping (and bought among other things new socks, man I know how to live on the edge).

At work I am very much still in the dark as to what is going on, although with union delays it is likely that we won’t find out the results until December.

Finding a new job has taken a bit of the slowdown. I didn’t get through the GCHQ tests. I have been turned a down for one interview with the reason being “I don’t think he will have the patience to deal with our non-technical users”. Although what I do on the helpdesk most of the day is deal with less than computer literate people.

My main problem is getting through to the “necessary evil” that is recruitment agencies. As I have discovered more is that the CV the employers see isn’t necessarily what you send the agencies. A lot of agencies don’t know how to handle IT staff (even the ones that say they do), and getting through to them I want to move to Cheltenham. I may be able to improve the latter by putting a Cheltenham address onto my CV. It also seems nobody advertises directly anymore. I will find something eventually; it’s just frustrating in the meantime. Also I am not saying that all are bad, a few have been really helpful pointing out problems with my CV and interview technique. It just seems a lot of them all they are after is their finders fee at any cost.

Can anybody find me any decent new bands to look into? I have bought the Korn live album recently and the new Angels and Airwaves CD. Although the former Blink 182 front man is clearly suffering from deal singer syndrome. Also Juliette and the Licks CD is surprisingly good (who thought Juliette Lewis could sing). It’s just I don’t want to spend money on coaster materials.

Continuing will all my RPG stuff as normal. Ars Magica 5th is looking to become a decent system, and with the new eBay purchases I might be in a position to start my Cyberpunk Campaign.

Other than that life is treating me well. I just want to get out of Oxfordshire….

Well its looks like my MP3 player battery is about to die on me. Unfortunately it is a older Creative JukeBox 3 which Creative End of Lifed last year. They are no longer selling accessories or batteries for this product. No 3rd party sells them either and they are currently going on Ebay for about £50 (when they actually do come up). At least I can change the battery myself unlike in a ipod. This may mean I will have to buy another MP3 player at some point.

This has got me thinking. Everybody says that the CD is dead and that music/movies will be moving to online distribution over the next few years. However because of Digital Rights Management I may be tied to a particular hardware or software vendor (like Apple with iTunes/ipod). What happens if I am on my 3rd new PC or my 4th portable playback device (particularly if they are from differing vendors). What happens if that company goes under. Could I still access the content I have legitimately purchased.

At worse at the moment I have everything on audio CD which means at worst I have to rip my music into a new format or onto a new device (or to be exact the CD's I have purchased since I last backed up my MP3 folder). As long as something can read a compact disc I am fine. Also under current UK copyright law I can make copies of my collection for backup/archive purposes so I am fine if the record company no longer exists or the title is deleted (providing of course it is for personal use only).

Also tied into this is the size of modern hard disks. Even budget PC's are coming with 200GB or larger hard disks now, how exactly is the average user expected to backup all that data. It would take some 24 DVD's to backup a drive that size, and the situation is not going to get any better. According to a recent study the average male has 178 albums at £10 each thats £1780 worth of music. If that users hard disk fails thats a lot of money to go up in smoke.

As some of you might know I have not really been into computer gaming recently (well for about 6 years now). However following the Nintendo Revolution announcements I having been looking forward to the consoles release, it might actually offer something different over say a XBox 360 or a PS3. Well its been announced today that Nintendo will be renaming the console "Wii" prenounced "We". Although this may seem fine in Japan the English speaking world is holding its head in its hands.

Imagine the following. Walk into GAME ready to buy the console.

Me: Can I have a Wii please.
Shop Assistant: Unfortunately we don't have public toilets in the shop sir.

Does this mean that when you connect several of these together for mulitplayer games can you call them a "Wii-Wii".