Monday Morning Blues

Where do I start on my Monday morning............what a bloody day!!!!

The train turned into a bus because of the landslip, so that cheered me up no end! then after a tour of central scotland on a 15 seat minibus we arrived at Shotts (for Shotts read middle of nowhere) where we were dumped and then the bus drove away. We all hurried round the corner to the train station to find.........nothing. No train waiting and none due for 40 mins!

I mean...the trains are only running from Glasgow to Shotts then its a bus to Livingston, where the train then takes you to Edinburgh. So why did the train that couldnt make it to Edinburgh not wait until our bus arrived rather than returning to Glasgow fekin empty? I may go to church on Sunday to ask the one person who knows!

As it is, I arrived fresh for work over an hour late (11am).......am I a happy bunny? Answers on a postcard.

Summer's here!

What a day!

Suddenly there was a tough decision to be made.

Do the housework or wash and oil the bike and then let 'er rip?

No decision really.

Soooo after washing and a wee bit of bike maintenance it was off on the highway.....with my daughter riding pillion.

There has not been a better day this year. Cruising along, wind in your hair (well wind in your helmet.....oo errrr) and Gemma waving at the other two-wheeled stallions enjoying the day.

Off we went - from Livingston down to South Queensferry via Uphall and a nice wee twisty back road. Then along the dual carriageway to Edinburgh....then the shock!

I had forgotten to take my wallet out of my jeans! Bollox!

So the planned stop at the Crammond Brig for a shandy...and a soft drink for me (ahahahaha) was scunnered.

Oh well.....we kept going. along the Maybury road and then past the Airport and then back along to Broxburn, and then home.

All in all a great day out.

Paying through the nose

I for one think the Royal Mail do a great job.

Yes there are times when things arrive a tad late, or in a state of disrepair. However 99.9% of the time it arrives when it's supposed to and in a good condition.

Now let me talk about couriers.

Not the individuals themselves per se, but the organisations they work for. I detest having to send or receive something by using their services. I mean, whats the point of spending extra on delivery to then have to go and pick it up from some warehouse yourself?

I have waited for two items recently. One small enough to fit through the letterbox and the other a parcel. Neither of them were delivered as they could not gain access to my door (I live in a block of flats).

Aha! I hear you cry...its your own fault then!

Not at all. I asked the courier if they had tried any other buzzer on the entryphone and they said they had. I checked with my neighbors – two of which were in all day – and they heard nothing.

So I asked them to redeliver the packages in a couple of days, and to be sure to ring the buzzers to gain entry.

Ha! Still nothing awaited me on my return (except for letters delivered by the aforementioned Royal Mail).

Again the answer was the same......nobody in the whole block was home.

It seems the only way I am going to get this delivered to my satisfaction is to PAY to have it delivered by a certain time in the morning. Now wait a minute. I have already paid to have it delivered, so why do I have to pay again?

Apparently its because I am interrupting their normal delivery pattern which is to drive round houses and flats and leave calling cards).

So, they had better be there when they say they will or I will ....... well......probably moan on this blog again!

What else is there to do?

Quickr Upload problem

SOLVED!! By adding the domain to the 'bypass local addresses in the proxy area' its sorted.

This seems to happen intermitently. I go to upload and HTML file which has been uploaded previously successfully, and I get an error.



I have checked file size allowed, UTF-8 settings. If I disable Active-X then I can't edit my HTML form....

Any ideas folks as it's driving me nuts!

Cheers.

Social Networking

OK I admit it.

2009 was the year that I became a convert to social networking and as a developer it's been a godsend.

Here's why....

Since starting out on Domino development on version 3.33 at Standard Life I have always been a 'lone' developer. Mostly it was because I was the only developer in the team/department/company. Now although that I was able to find help using the Dev Help Guide (paper format to start with) and then onto the Client help...it was still only me.

After Standard Life..there was a brief job with a small firm in Stirling (FDF Infonet) and then my first contract job with IBM in Greenock.

Great (I thought) finally working with other developers with whom I could share ideas/thoughts/code....err nope.

I was stuck diagonally opposite where the Notes team were working..on my own. No space in the team (apparantly - although I did sniff my armpits...just in case). Further bad news....no work for me. I sat for 3 months on contract rates...surfing - which sounds great..but is REALLY boring and depressing. Every morning I would ask Chris if he had work for me..and every day he said 'soon'.

Soooooo no contact with the team and no work.

After this easy but depressing job..I soon got other contracts until I hit the motherload (in terms of contracts). Started a 4 week contract with Scottish Courage Brands and left there 7 years later.

I will still on my own though :-(

The it was a perm job with Campbell Lee. Great - other developers. The problem with this job is that as a consultancy, we were mostly away working on other stuff and very never working as a team on a development.

Stay with me...it will come together soon.

It was at this point that the guru's from IBM started showing us Social Networking. Dogear, Activities, etc. I couldn't see a market opportunity in Scotland for it and dissmissed it. I think I did this primarily as both my boss and the MD were of that opinion and I just went along with it.

WRONG!

Since starting my new job with the Scottish Qualification Authority (SQA) I have been introduced to Twitter and Facebook (and Blogging) as well as the Domino/Quickr and other wiki's.

Finally I can interract with other Developers and get help and offer help - Get hints and tips and offer in return.

Seeing how other people are using the products is making me a much better developer. I think I have learned more in the last 6 months than in the last 6 years - simply by using Social Networking.

There is a great big world out there full of developers..and now I have access to their knowledge (and they access to mine)....and its great to feel like a part of the family!

OK enough with the gushing..put the hankies away.....and lets Develop!

Tales and Planes

Getting up on Saturday morning was a shock. The sun was out and looked like it might be out all day.

Was I going to miss this opportunity to get on my motorbike? No sirreeee.

Got the leathers on and headed out with no particular destination to start with, when I remembered about the National Museum of Scotland Airshow at East Fortune. Well I thought, a bit skint and not paid 'till monday..but I could watch the show from a surrounding road....they would be in the air so should be easy to see.

I set off along the Edinburgh Bypass and was confronted by a queue of traffic at Sherrifhall...no probs on the bike though....weaved my way through the middle of it...god its good to be on the bike :-)

After that is was down the coast road to East Fortune...cutting inland about Longniddry and finally on a little road just outside the show itself.

A line of parked cars greeted me....parked alongside the 'No Parking' signs put there earlier in the day by the police.

I thought to myself that this could be problematic later in the day, and so found a private drive with an elderly gentleman sitting in his car. He said OK to my question about joining him at the end of the drive...and so off the public road. Another biker joined us and we sat watching the airshow and swapping stories.

Turns out that this gentleman was in the Home Guard stationed near Macmerry during WW2 and it turned out that my fellow biker's dad was as well. I had tears in my eyes listening to the stories that both came out with.

Like the time they were detailed to blow up a small building during an exercise. Noone had explosives experience, so they got some from a miner that worked the coalface. On hearing how much they put in the building, the regular army officer said they should 'run' after lighting it. They did.

The building was blown into the Forth!

At the same time we watched the motorcycle police moving on all the parked cars...and eyeing us carefully. Private road though....couldnt touch us.

After the Avro Vulcan bomber had done its bit, it was thanks to the old chap and back on the bikes for the ride home (weaving in between the traffic at the roundabout again).

Great chat, good show and a fantastic ride......thats what makes a good day.

1977 v 2009

I have been thinking (dangerous I know). How much easier it seems these days when you are 13.

My son (Craig) is off to watch Harry Potter with his 12 yr old friend tonight (and staying over), but normally he would be here with me playing the Xbox and chatting with friends all round the world.

Now, as a conscientious dad I try to ensure that he is chatting with peeps his own age ( and it sounds like it) and I start to wonder how much easier it is today.

At 13 and at 9pm I would be in the house, possibly watching Warship or Triangle(god please not) in 1977 and that would be it. No TV or stereo in my bedroom so it was either me in my room or some (frankly) god-awful prog that my parents were watching.

Great choice.

Now my son is chatting with kids round the planet, and really enjoying himself. I have even joined in (a little) and been part of it - when playing RockBand - and they are having fun.

He has (dare I say it - Aspergers Syndrome - but only very slightly) so I was concerned about him making friends.

After 10 mins on the Xbox with him - that was dispelled.

He has 30+ kids playing with him...from cousins to complete strangers(to me), and with the Xbox hooking in with Facebook this year..it will only get closer/tighter.

I look back on my teenage years and I still think they were great......but oh to be 13 in 2009!

Wonder if it will rain today?

I have to say I love this country, but why does it have to rain almost every friggin day?

I have started a new job with the Scottish Qualification Authority(SQA) in Glasgow - 33 miles from my flat, and the journey is mostly great on my 250cc Yamaha Virago.

Except......in the rain.

For those who don't know about the 'baby' Virago.....its light. Very light. Which is great for fuel consumption...but crap when going round corners in the rain. Every corner is a skid-pan. So I thought I would stick with the motorway...in Glasgow.

OK for motorway at rush hour in Glasgow...read car park. Its safe I suppose. Doing 5-10mph for 5 miles...you can't get hurt.

Anyway the forecast for this week is damp....so maybe I will pay the king's ransom and get the train to work.....

Who knows.