High Tech Misery

While I was back in Dublin I looked out my old photo album from the loft. I though I had moved it over with me years ago but obviously didn't.

It was nice to look back at those old pictures. One thing is obvious now though - quantity. I took over 120 pictures in Dublin last week, most on one day. I have 9 pics from our first year trip to Kilkenny in 1983, 6 from Paris in 1985, and less that 20 from a week in Normandy in 1986, and that includes a failed funny hat picture with a church steeple!
At some point I seem to have moved up to larger film sizes as I have rolls from things like Engineering Balls (but only one portrait from my Debs) and uni trips. Once I moved to Scotland there are lots of photos and typically double sets as well (but i don't have a lot of those any more)

So I had a brainwave to scan all the photos I currently have. Of course the scanner I have is pants (why I'm keeping it in the loft I really don't know - I think I just bin it). As my printer is a bit on the old side, I thought about an all in one affair. Thing is, I'm particular. I want a laser printer since I don't print that much and toner doesn't dry out. Also I don't want the paper to curl over. No suitable one was in my range so i decided to simply keep the printer I have and borrow the office scanner for the weekend.
Once I got the scanner home and its software was installing I stared to look at all the pictures I had to scan. I certainly wasn't going to be done this weekend, and thats without rotating or cropping.
Of course once the software installed and i rebooted the scanner didn't work. So i followed the obvious troubleshooting steps and tried again, and again. afer many attempts and web hints it seems that you, or me anyway, can't get a scanjet 4400c to work under vista.

So, what now? I looked at scanning services and they looked expensive though fast. As ever, a lot of cost is added via postage, so I decided to simply buy a new scanner. so a visit to the various web sites to make an informed choice (spoils impulse buying doesn't it?) and find out that tesco sell the one I want cheaper, plus I have a coupon for money off if I'm over a limit, which the scanner is by itself. So now I have my new scanner, plus points for Christmas and a coupon for next week's petrol.

So that was last night. Today, amid the Tour de France and F1 qualification, I started scanning.

Not so bad. This was the worst lot as they were in the album from Dublin, and the oldest photos I have. The plan is to scan the rest as and when i get time and even to scan Ciaran's drawings to save me some storage space here and he constantly drawing.

Once I play about I may even be able to use either the Hugin or the Microsoft stitching software to re-assemble larger items like my degrees...

Summer in Dublin

Just got back after a week in Dublin with Ciaran.
We had a really good time but we didn't do all that much as it was difficult to plan with the changable weather. We did spend a lot of time with Michele's brood. As the boys get older the age difference between them becomes less of an issue and they all get on better.

We headed into town on Thursday to do the touristy thing.
We started with "The Body" exhibition. This was a set of real human body parts, dissected. It was really interesting, especially where they can preserve the circulatory system by injecting polymer resin and then dissolving the meat around it. At the same time, just at the back of my mind it was a bit "ugh" but quiet and faint. Ciaran, as ever, seemed to neither enjoy or dislike it. I later heard that the bodies were executed Chinese but I don't really believe that. The website (http://bodiesdublin.com/) notes tht the doners were all Chinese, but I think the executed comes from the fact that some councils etc banned the exhibit.

After having lunch we headed for the key attraction (at least as far as Ciaran was concerned)- Forbidden Planet. After at least half an hour he couldn't find anyhting he wanted enough to spend his money on so came away empty handed.

We headed up the north quay and decided to take the open topped bus tour. Once we got our tickets and found the bus we stared off up towards Trinity College. Once we got there Ciaran remembered about the "Infection" exhibition at Trinity (http://www.sciencegallery.ie/infectious). When asked earlier about going he said he didn't want to - he still hasn't learned about planning - he wanted to go to Forbidden Planet. So we got off the bus and headed into Trinity.

"Infectious" was really cool - better then the Bodies anyway. It was a simple enough exhibit - just some info about how viruses spread, microscopes, etc, and a simulator where you could control a virus outbreak and specify what type of response there should be and see the impact on both infection and recovery. There was an edge - When you arrive they give you a unique RFID wafer to wear. The hall was in the middle of an infected zone - a bluetooth virus had infected one of the RFID and was being passed onto the other visitors. You could check your health by the flashing light on the wafer or by displays on the wall. Basically as you moved about the exhibit you stood a good chance of being infected with the computer virus. There were disinfection points which weren't always effective. It was really cool to look at the live wall maps of who was where and if they were infected.
I got infected and Ciaran wouldn't come near me.
Apparently this was all real research. They had tried it before at seminars, but the nature of those meant everyone was infected quite quickly.

Back onto the bus for the rest of the tour. I had hoped to get to the Jameson Distillery but when we got to the Guiness Brewery Ciaran asked to go in, and who am I to argue with that type of request? We did a quick tour and then headed up to the "Gravity Bar" for its views and a pint.
By the time we were done and back onto the bus it was too late for any more visits. So we just continued on the bus as it made its way though Dublin, up around the Phoenix Park and back t O'Connell street where a short run had us back on the old 41 for the trip back to Swords.

While we were over it was my cousin's 40th so we headed out for that. It was good to see some cousins who I hadn't seen for a while and the porter was great (That's at least 3 times I've had beer at the Guinness brewery and not enjoyed it as much as in normal (non uk) pubs!)

Flew back on Monday night. Almost shoplifted from the gate side shop - a ryanair steward with a thick eastern european accent paged virtually my name. It was only as I told Ciaran we were being paged that he said I couldn't take those things!

Happy 4th of July

Had our first BBQ of the year tonight.

Our main problem was a lack of outdoor table se we bought a picnic table before we headed to Arran.

Of course it took a few attempts to get it assembled (and the purchase of a new 13mm socket wrench) but we got it up and tested by late afternoon with enough time to light up the disposable BBQ and get grilling.

I tested the smoke alarm inside by cooking the burgers and then Ciaran took over by bringing them outside to the fire.

As Ciaran isn't a salad fan (he'll eat green salad but no mayo or cold pasta) it was simply burgers, hotdogs, corn on the cob and cold cucumber, washed down by Belgian lager and pepsi.
Ciaran then roasted his cucumber and corn.
The weather was great (still, again) and we got a few games of swingball in.

Final day

Had a pretty easy day today. Had to be up and out of the hotel by 11.00. Not that early compared to the previous days, but having a deadline always adds pressure. The day was slightly overcast with chance of rain and suited our just taking it easy attitude.

Ciaran is still into collecting rocks so we had a drive around to the usual places and he managed to get a piece of something exotic. I also managed to get some cheese and despite Ciaran getting something from the Chocolate factory I was able to resist, though the fudge shop seems to have closed.

The warship we saw last night was still lurking about. They were flying helicopters off it to a smaller boat. We took some pics of it but nothing that will give a name, the zoom is just not powerful enough. After looking at the pics and comparing them to whats on wiki it might be one of the new type 45 destroyers. Its hard to tell from the picture, but the helicopter could be a lynx, but its certainly not a Merlin. It was playing about off Corrie for most of the morning.

After lunch we headed south to Kilmory. The plan was to walk out to the cairns but there was no where suitable to leave the car so we headed back towards Kildonan. We parked up there for a while while Ciaran did some more rockpooling.

Of course, one of the things you have to be aware of while at the beach is the tide. It going out isn't that much of an issue, but when it comes back in you should be prepared. Ciaran didn't nad got cut off. The thing was I had told him to keep and eye out and had told him to take his socks off. Short wade and he was back.

It was then back to Brodick and onto the ferry home. We ordered chinese on the road homw and collected it when we got back to Troon.

All in all, a great holiday.

Rockpooling

Today was a more restful day. Since I got to choose yesterdays activity, I felt it was only fair to let Ciaran choose todays: he went for rockpooling.
After stopping off to buy a bucket and a net we headed off in the Lochranza direction, stopping in Glen Sannox for a bit.
Ciaran made a beeline for the water while I followed at a more sedentary pace.


We checked the map and there was a nice walk along the burn up to waterfalls and the info board in the car park had a return path via the "Witch's Stairs" but since it was Ciaran's day we decided not to do the walk. I have to admit, my thighs were still aching so it wasn't a long discussion.

Within a few minutes of Ciaran getting to the water he had dropped the bucket. He maintains he threw it to me but that will never stick. Thus began the great bucket race of 2009. The pool was actually quite deep so Ciaran wasn't going in after it. So he prodded it with his net, but hadn't learned by then that you don't tip an empty, floating, bucket over because it fills and sinks. Luckily there was enough buoyancy in the bucket for it to float just at the surface and move slowly enough that he could chase and catch it. By then he was stuck on the far bank. To my great amazement we managed to leave there with all our possessions and still dry.

We then headed up to Newton Point in Lochranza where Ciaran could do some rockpooling while I watched.
Now this is what holidays are all about. While Ciaran hunted small aquatic life in the various pools I could sit and enjoy the weather and the simple fact that we had no deadlines to consider.
After spending much of the day and having our lunch we then decided to take a short cruise - the ferry to Claonaig runs from Lochranza and takes about 20 minutes to get across. Despite me not being great on boats we decided to head over and see what was there.

The ferry is a pay on board so we climbed on and bought a return ticket. The sea was incredibly calm and even I didn't feel queasy.

It was the first time I had seen Arran's west coast.
You get so used to seeing the same side - the island faces the house so every time we head into the village we can see Goatfell et al, so it was nice to see the other side. Clanaig though is basically a shallow spot on the coast. Still the trip over was fun, the weather great. Once on the far side we went down for a paddle until the ferry came back for us about an hour later.

Once we got back into Lochranza we headed up to the distillery (you have to visit a distilery when in Scotland) but it was near closing time and the last tour was already done. So we simply bought ice cream and drove back to Brodick.

We tried the new pool in the hotel this time. Unusual for a new built pool - it was deep, from 0.9m to about 2m. We swam until dinner time and then after dinner headed back to the spa pool.

Goat Fell : 0 Dermot & Ciaran : 1

6 hours to the minute - from 1020 until 1620. From sea level to 874m. From reasonably comfortable to absolutely shattered and sweat soaked. But we did it, made it all the way to the top and back without mountain rescue and under our own power!

After our hearty cooked breakfast (another reason to stay in a hotel - cooked breakfast) we set off into Brodick to get some lunch materials and then off to start the climb.



The climb is basically in 3 parts. The first is a woodland walk of about 3km from the car park at sea level up to about 300m, basically the level of the ridge in the picture on yesterday's post. It ends with a the path crossing a small burn and a deer gate. The second part is about 2km over open moorland with a lot of scattered granite. This bit climbs from 300m to about 650m with the peak on your left the entire time. The path ends on the ridge over the Corrie route with a very steep drop back down to the valley floor.
The final bit is a scramble up to the top. 200m pretty much straight up.

We started off easy enough, the forest walk is one that we have done a number of times now. This time both of us had rucksacks and its the first time I have ever seen Ciaran sweating as it was warm while still being somewhat overcast. We took a welcome break in the burn at the top and refreshed headed onto the moorland path. This bit is also pretty easy but being so open it drains the life from you as you can see how much you have done and how much more you have left.
Finally, we got to the ridge and the start of the final ascent. By now I was pretty tired, but Ciaran had gotten his second wind adn went bounding on ahead. He is sitting at where we had to give up last year. We didn't know it at the time but its about another 40 minutes from where he is.
It was hard work those last 200m, but the view from the top, looking northwest is pretty amazing!

We made it to the top in about 3 hours (based on the timestamp on the photos) and stayed on the peak for about 40 minutes just taking in the amazing view. Sadly it was quite misty, you could hardly see Brodick but on a clear day you can see Ireland. Ciaran was well chuffed that he was above the clouds.

Now for the descent and the walk back to the car. Watch that first step, its a killer. We let the peak at about 1400. In the picture you can see the path crossing from left to right, part 2, but we still have to get down to it. The climb up was hard on the knees, but the climb down is a killer on the ankles and heels.You are tired and that old bugger Gravity keeps grabbing you by the shoulders and pushing.



Although the climb was tiring you had the excitement of "getting to the top". The walk back is the anti-climax. Plus you can see where you have to go. By the time we got to the bottom of the steep descent we could see the path back to the burn stretching across and away from us witht he tree line marking the end of the moorland and the start of the final walk down the mountain.

By 1620 we were back at the car and headed straight back to the hotel. Once we got there we changed into our swimming gear and headed to the pool for a few hours just being restful (and pampering with the footbaths). After dinner we headed back to the pool for more resting before bed.
Two tired but happy little hikers.

Welcome to Arran

Arrived on Arran this afternoon for 4 days.
Main objective this year is to get to the top of Goatfell, the highest peak on the island. Last year we had to turn back due to worsening visibility. Basically I couldn't see my hand in front of our faces and thats not the time to be still going up. Other than that, Ciaran and I plan to have a relaxing time and to enjoy ourselves.
We are staying at Auchrannie again, quite a nice hotel. We choose the hotel because its a bit of a treat for Ciaran and because it has some nice leisure facilities. To be honest, its also a bit of a treat for me and the pool and spa are great after a day walking.

Weather was overcast so we couldn't even see the summit of Goat Fell. This picture has another 500m of mountain completely missing from it so after some lunch we headed off for a spin. Arran basically has a coast road, located conveniently on the coast, and an inland shortcut which cuts from Brodick west across to Blackwaterfoot. We took the inland shortcut, known as "The String" to have alook at the west coast.

The poor weather seemed to be caught on the ridges as the weather on the west side of the island were much better. Spent the afternoon over at King's cave, on the south west coast. These are impressive sea caves and sea cliffs, though with "bounceback" after the last glaciers left the sea level is much lower and they are some height above sea level now.

It was about an hours walk from the car to the caves and about the same back, though we didn't stop for any pictures. We drove back into Brodick for some food and then back to the hotel for a swim.
Attempt on Goat Fell tomorrow, weather permitting.

Water water...

Back from my workshop on water management.
It was actually pretty good.


All right, the room was tiny, only slightly bigger than my cubicle back in the office, and in the basement. Of course, Edinburgh is a strange town like that - basement on one side can often be second storey on the other side, but this was just a basement.

As soon as the event started I was worried. We were told that after each session we would have to change seats so that we didn't interact with the same small group for all the tasks. I wasn't expecting tasks. It ended up not being too bad though and by the final day I was actively participating despite having no actual experience in the subject matter.
Certainly the work group idea was very useful - almost all of the presentations had an interactive part "Any ideas as to what we did next?" "What could have caused this?" which meant things settled into your head better than just listening does. The final day was pretty much a single exercise. We were introduced to an oilfield and had to suggest how it could be developed. Once we had our ideas we were told how it actually was developed and split into teams based on our 'experience'. Each team was given a limited set of data and told to solve the production problems. Once each team reported the teams were shuffled so that at least one from each original team was in each new team and we were asked to make a proposal for the future of the field.
Absolutely brilliant.

As an added bonus, I got to meet up with an old pal who I hadn't seen since the end of 2001. Anne and I used to travel together when we both lived in Edinburgh. Once I moved to Troon we used to meet up once a week for lunch and gossip. However she changed job as the commuting was taking too much out of her (100 miles a day). It was good to catch up and natter on about the old place.

Camping Weekend

Back from a weekend at Lochgoilhead with the Cubs. Lochgoilhead is at the top (or head) of Loch Goil which is off Loch Long, just to the west of Glasgow, about 70 miles drive from Troon. Our dorm was the one in the middle of the three. There were 12 cubs, one scout training for his leader badge, me and another parent (pseudo-leaders) and the 2 official leaders. Because of the school holiday in England the week before we had the place to ourselves (apart from Friday evening and Saturday morning but we then got a better breakfast as the English scouts had a long drive home).


View Larger Map


It was really great. The weather was perfect (actually bordering on the too hot, but I don't want to say that too loud in Scotland). Its incredible to see scenery like this this close to a city. Glasgow is the 3rd largest population in the UK but this is barely out of the city centre. These are the bonny bonny banks of Loch Lomond as seen from the bus at 50mph.

Activities were archery, bell boating - 8 of us in a twin hulled canoe trying to beat the breeze and the waves, despite some of the smallest cubs I know, team building - which was a lot of fun; it started out as simple games and ended up with all of us getting pretty wet, and 3 stack on Saturday. On Sunday we had abseiling - where we were eaten alive by midges, a ramble - about 4 miles in all, and power boating.

The 3 stack was the most frightening thing I've done in ages. Basically its a 40ft high arrangement of logs and wires. One side, the wooden side, consists of a log ramp up to a vertical pole. You climb the pole to stand on a log suspended by chains from the layer above. You have to walk across to the other side - of course its too wide to be able to hold on to both ends. Once you get to the other upright you climb to the next level and 'simply' walk across and ring the bell. Once you've done that you just walk back to the middle of the top row and abseil down. Hiking boots and small staples done work too well and by the time I got back down my arms and fingers were sore from holding on so tightly. (also called for dear life).
The other side, the wire side, had a cable to walk across. You held onto a barrel suspended from above for balance. Once you got across you went up to the next layer and went back across on the cable this time using swings for balance. The third layer had knotted rope to balance with. sadly time meant could have a go on this one (this is the official position, being scared s*@#less had nothing to do with it)

Saturday night was a long one though. Once we got the cubs to bed and things quietened down we decided to get to sleep ourselves. Just after we had all settled and were falling asleep there was a retching and splashing sound. Sadly one of the cubs was violently sick all over his room's floor. We got him out and into the toilet and started the clean-up as he continued to be ill. We were just about done when a second cub came out, asked what was going on, and vomited all over the floor. We finally got that sorted and put them back to bed with spare sleeping bags, a bucket at each bed side and a towel on the floor. Once we were all back in our beds we were like gunfighters with hair triggers, pouncing on the slightest sound. Finally we were right as a third cub was ill. By now we had our patter down pat and it didn't take too long to get him back into his bed. The 2 ladies went back to bed while the 3 lads stayed up drinking tea and eating biscuits. Finally at 0400 we decided that there wasn't gong to be any more drama and headed off back to bed. Sunrise is 0410 and that's when the birds started so it was about 0430 before I got to sleep. We all slept in til 0830 when we headed for breakfast. It was the worst hangover I've ever had without the pleasure of actually having had anything to drink.

We did implement a new rule - no more sweets til they got home. It was unpopular to say the least. We wanted parents to see just how much their kids had been eating, other than the supplied meals. It surprised the 5 of us.

Another fine day though and we went abseiling. Good fun but a lot of waiting about for something that was over quite quickly. One thing about Scotland is the midgie - a vicious predator that lives in Scotland. Being about 1mm long they don't get the press that say bengal tigers do, but thay are nasty. We were eaten alive. As we had all morning there, most cubs had as many goes as they wanted while the others were being eaten. It finaly went to a vote but then Cubs isn't a democracy as they were soon to learn.

The rest of the day was a ramble along the southern slopes of whatever hill that was, ending down by the jetty. The cubs went onto the boat and I escaped back to the lodge for a feets up rest.

The trip home was quiet and uneventful We stopped for chips which we all enjoyed but got stuck in traffic which was appreciated somewhat less.

Playing with Windows Live Writer

As part of Vista’s update process, I was given the option of downloading some of the Live tools. Most of them are not for me as I’ve already got better alternatives, but I was intrigued by the Live Writer.

This is on offline (not really sure as the desktop has broadband) tool for constructing posts.

Not sure if its worth the bother, especially if it needs the connection. If its an off line editor then it may be worth leaving around. Of course, since the desktop at home has always on broadband I don’t need it there, and the eee is a Linux flavour. I guess I’ll just have to try Win7 on the eee. (which will be the 4th OS I’ve tried there)

Aberdeen

Currently in Aberdeen at a produced water conference. So far not so bad.

Just had to buy a wireless access card for this w'eee pc I've got. It all seems to work quite well. I haven't really used the eee too much yet (mostly as I've been changing the OS again and again) but the little I have used it has gone well.

Have to say though, I still don't like trackpads and having to use one on the eee is bugging me. I will have to find a nice small portable mouse.

Downtown Snodland

Another trip down to Kent, to Snodland (yes, that's the actual name)
Flew down with EasyJet to Gatwick. I've never had much luck with Gatwick as a waypoint. There was that 4 hours in a small room back in my uni days, but the last time I was through Gatwick the pilot arrived at the wrong terminal and we were all stuck. Domestic passengers cannot pass through international arrivals, but once you go through that door from the plane you cannot go back. It took them over an hour to sort it out. On the way back a fire alarm went off, just as the beers arrived. I was quite pleased this time - no Gatwick problems yet.
Hire car though. Went to collect my car and there was a lot of damage noted. Nothing serious, just scrapes and dings. While I was checking it all I noticed the flat tyre. I got a different car quite quickly (with a similar list of damage) but this one had air in all its tyres.
Only got minorly lost as well, and just at the end. It turned out I was basically circling around whereI neeeded to be.
Had a good meal and 2 good pints locally and 1 more back at the hotel. Why do all the locals roll their eyes when I tell them where we stay?

w'eee

Bought myself a webbook mini pc on saturday. An Asus 900 in black. Quite nice. Not used it much yet, still trying to get used to it. Not having wireless in the house means I'm tethered by my Cat5 cable which is only 1m long.
Have spent the weekend trying to replace the supplied OS with something a little more powerful. Specifically, I have been trying to build a bootable USB key with Ubunto 8.10, to no avail. I am hoping the app I am using just doesn't like vista cause I just can't figure out why it didn't work. I will have to try again from an xp machine.

'S'no Joke

We have some snow. Of course, living by the sea there's not very much, hardly more than a hard frost, especially not after the light snow in Michigan last year.
Anyway, once Ciaran saw how much there actually was he knew there would be no time off school, or even a chance for a snowball fight. Of course East Kilbride would be different and he knew it and wasn't pleased. I told him I would take some pictures for him.
East Kilbride, like Troon, has its own little micro-climate. Sadly, it tends to be miserable most of the time. Today was no exception. We had snow and sun but no disruption (except for the project managers who all buggered off early, some by 11 am). The view from my pod was suitably wintry though...

By the end of the day, some of the snow was actually lying, and before I could leave I had to clear the car off.

Luckily I wasn't down south. This amount of snow would have left the car completely trapped in the car park - I would have driven around for a while before sliding into the only lamp post of course. But we are a hardier bunch here in Scotland. I simply cleared all the snow off the car (that's all the snow so that none slides down the window when I'm driving or off into the following car's windscreen - that's care for me and courtesy for others), got in and drove off carefully (ie not sliding into the only lamppost).
All in all the journey took the same amount of time as usual.

Nero 9

I've finally gotton so fed up with Nero 7 saying it couldn't recognise the DVD in the drive that I uninstalled in and am currently 15% through the clean install of Nero 9.

About an hour later...
Finally installed and not impressive. The actual quality of the video playback is appalling and this is from a store bought DVD. If I turn off multimonitor support and turn on film affects then it says the disc is corrupt. Upgrade methinks!

300Mb download!!

About another hour later...
Installed the update and it doesn't fix the problem. I don't know what the issue is as nero7 had great quality (when it could read the DVD)

Chrome - not so shiny

Just downloaded Google's new browser, Chrome.

So far, not that impressed, though it does seem a bit lighter than IE7 or firefox. Sadly though browser sniffing hasn't caught up as some site, eg hotmail and photobox say the browser is too old and I should upgrade.

I think it will be a good one though. At least my websites look alright in this early build

Its Raining again

Just to say, its raining again.

dajm

Sent this in via email, so that is working. All in all this is quite sophisticated stuff! I don't let it go straight up though, I edit it first and remove the email-ly things like sigs, but still pretty cool.
Also added an image, of me playing with low-light pictures. Still getting the hang of this. As you can see, the photo is not of the same night, as it isn't raining.

Finally, a Start

Well, finally a start to all this blogging stuff.
Will I find anything to say? I don't know, but I hope that the act of rambling here will get the creative juices flowing and then who knows what may happen.
Once i've played about I will see if I can add older entries. If I can I'm sure I can find items to enter.

dajm