Possible new job?

An e-mail was circulated around the office this week from the head of the Genesys support team, looking for interested people to join them.  It’s two grades higher than my current post, but seems to be a similar job, just on a different platform.

I have had some experience working with the Genesys guys, as their kit frequently connects via the Symposium platform we support.

I spoke to one of the engineers in this post, and it does seem to be an interesting change of direction, and they seem to work well as a team. So I registered my interest.

Yesterday, the manager of the team called me, and after a long chat, I was asked to spend a day working with Sandy, who is based in Stockport, to see if I fancy the job.  There are 7 people interested, but apparently I have the closest match of skills to their ideal.

I called Sandy, and after a chat we agreed on 9th October.

The grade carries a “business needs” car, an annual “on call” allowance (1 in 5 possibly moving to 1 in 6), and an end of year bonus.  I have the option of working from home, or taking a desk in Brindley Place (I would prefer a desk, home working is a little too quiet for my liking), but you have the flexibility of hours to avoid travelling in rush hour traffic.

It’s nice to get a bit of excitement back into my working life again, just hope I can get the job now!

Finally...

After years of trying to get Alex to ride a bike, he finally decided that it was time... I suspect a not inconsiderable amount of "peer pressure" was responsible.

It only took about 1 hour, and he was peddling away quite happily. Cornering, starting off, and stopping safely still need some practice though'.

To celebrate, Alex is now the proud owner of a nice chrome plated BMX bike - £80 from Hawk Cycles

Happy Birthday to me

47 Today!

BTW, this is one of the first photographs taken on the new IXUS 85 ;-)

Well, not a great start to my 48th year… My back is killing me this morning!  Not sure if it was the golf, or the gardening yesterday, but either way its no fun getting older!

Update – X64 Vista

Took longer than I expected, I thought I had a dual X86/X64 version of Vista, but mine was x86 only!  So, I have borrowed the MSDN subscription copy from work for testing.

I have installed Vista Ultimate, but without using the Product Key, so I have about a month to play with it before it expires, but that should be long enough.

The HDD I used was actually a 250GB unit, so plenty big enough to install a few applications as well for a more complete appraisal.

Initial reaction? Well all the hardware works, so drivers are no longer a major issue, performance seems to be just ‘a tad’ slower than the x86 version, but that may be down to the fact of it’s running on a slower disk drive.  When it was first installed it was really slow, but that was sorted by installing the latest graphics drivers (GeForce 7 series) from Nvidia’s web site

Update – Wireless Networking

The BT HomeHub2 arrived this week, and installation was just about as simple as it could be.

The main PC was back on the Internet, with no obvious changes in minutes.

The Laptop within a further 10 minutes (I had to change the security on the router from the default WPA/WPA2 to WEP as that is the only thing the laptop understands)  Signal strength is now 5, was 4.

Amy’s PC took another 10 mins to install the Belkin 802.11n USB dongle, and get connected. Her reported connection speed has doubled from 32 to 64 mbps, and the signal strength has increased from ‘1 or 2’ to ‘4 or 5’

Conclusion – Result!

Update – Foot / Golf

managed to play 9 holes at Himley today, at the end of the round my foot was rather sore, but not painful.  So it seems that it’s just about healed.

The golf on the other hand, well it showed that I haven’t played for almost a month!  The only good thing to take away from the game, was there were no ‘truly awful’ shots, just a lot of ‘not quite good enough’ ones.  The putting was terribly too, three or four on every hole.  The alignment was quite goo, I just could not judge the weight of the shot.

X64 – Time to Try It?

I have been reading with interest the every increasing numbers of people running X64 Vista as an everyday work machine, and am now ready to give it a try.

One reason, is that I hope to upgrade/Replace my existing machine in the next 6 months or so, and as I would like to fit a lot of memory into it, X64 is the way to go…  But only if it runs OK for me…
Plus, apparently, the next version of Photoshop will be available in a X64 version…

So, I have found out my old 80GB HDD, and am going to install a copy of X64 on that drive in my existing PC, install a few of the basic ‘Essentials’ on it (Dreamweaver, Photoshop, Office 2007) and run it as a test for a few days.
I hope to do that sometime over the bank holiday weekend ;-)

BTW, seems the reason that X32 cannot see all of the 4GB of RAM you install, is that the “Total” address space is 4GB, so the more memory you have on your Graphic Card(s) the less RAM you can actually use…  Thought it was odd that a 32 bit OS couldn’t read 4GB of RAM!

IXUS 85 it is….

 

After a little shopping around, I have just ordered my IXUS 85 from Amazon.co.uk and a Canon soft leather case to suit for the grand total of £179.

There were a few cheaper places, but they were either small sites that I don’t have any experience of, or larger name sites charging £7 to £10 delivery!  In the end Amazon was only £3 more expensive, and is the same as the “in store” jessops price – Without a case.

Should be here early next weeks – Bloomin Bank Holidays!

MUTV for Three Months

Just had a call from Sky, and have taken advantage of a half price MUTV subscription for three months at £3 per month.

Seems the channel has just re-launched… so time to have another look, before cancelling again mid November ;-)

Updating My Router

I am currently using the BT Homehub that came with the BT Broadband service, and whilst it has it’s flaws, it is easy to setup and works just fine… except that Amy’s wireless connection couldn’t be further away from the router, and still be in the house.  She has a pretty poor connection speed, and it does drop connections occasionally.

I had been looking out for a suitable alternative, especially as the 802.11n draft boxes are pretty stable now, and was quite pleased to see that BT now offer a ‘new’ Homehub 2.0 which is in fact a 11n device.

It should be delivered early next week, so I need to get a 11n USB dongle for Amy’s PC over the weekend…  Looks like I have to start researching all over again :-(

Pictures from Holiday

Can be found on my website

The first lot are from Alex’s SCUBA diving lesson, the few remaining ones are all I managed to take before the camera died!

Back after a small break

In more ways than one!

1) Yes it’s been almost three weeks –again- since my last entry.

2) Just back from a weeks break at CenterParcs in Penrith.

3) Managed to break my digital camera (The compact not the SLR!)

4) Managed to break my toe!

 

For #1, I have no excuse except that I am lazy, totally pre-occupied with watching seasons 1 to 6 of Highlander on the PC, and am generally a boring person with not much to say, but #2 meant I had no PC/Internet access for 7 days, so a valid reason there for at least a portion of that time.

WRT #3 Whilst away, my Nikon compact digital camera ‘just stopped working’…  It’s a little over two years old, and after taking three pictures, the forth attempt sounded the shutter release noise and then just suffered an apparent total failure!  The lens stayed out, but no amount of poking, forcing, disconnecting and replacing the battery had any effect on it!  Looks like it’s time to replace it, and the current favourite is a Canon IXUS 85 – (Anything between £160 and £200) it’s a 10 MegaPixel camera with Optical Image Stabilisation and Face Recognition. (See Steve’s Digicam Review – lt is known as the SD770 in the US). Originally I was looking at a IXUS 82, Similar but 8Meg and £30 cheaper, but this seems to be some sort of ‘Jessops exclusive’ so I may well go up a model and be able to shop around.

Finally #4, working my last shift before breaking up for a two week break from work, I managed to kick (very Hard!)the corner of a metal filing cabinet with the little toe on my Right foot.  A trip to the hospital was inconclusive, it was definitely not dislocated, may be just badly bruised, and was possibly broken.
If bruised, would be better in approximately seven days, if broken about three weeks.  No treatment, just pain killers.
That was on the 9th, it’s now the 19th, and I still have a slight limp, and cannot wear trainers for more than an hour or two!

So, a week at home, and I can’t even swing a golf club – Oh Bugger!

Best 18 hole score yet…

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	HOLE
4	4	5	3	4	3	4	4	4	Par 35
4	5	9	3	9	5	9	5	7	56
10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	HOLE
4	4	4	4	4	3	3	4	4	Par 34
6	5	6	5	7	6	4	5	5	49

That’s a total of 105, and most of the damage was done on just three holes (3,5 and 7)

Beedle the Bard

Well, Amy has managed to spend £50 of her birthday money already, and it’s not till December!

Once it was announced that J.K.Rowling would be releasing “The Tales of Beedle the Bard” in December she was excited, when she realised that it would be released on Dec 4th, the day before her birthday – she was hyper.  Then when she saw the ‘Collector Edition’ package from Amazon – well….

From Amazon.co.uk:

Offered Exclusively by Amazon (Available in Limited Quantities)
In December 2007, J.K. Rowling unveiled The Tales of Beedle the Bard, a very special book of five fairy tales illustrated by the bard herself, embellished with silver ornaments and mounted moonstones. Amazon was fortunate to come into possession of one of the original copies, and it was our privilege to share images and reviews of this incredible artifact. Now J.K. Rowling is giving millions of Harry Potter fans worldwide cause for celebration with a new edition of The Tales of Beedle the Bard (available December 4, 2008) and Amazon is thrilled to exclusively offer a luxuriously packaged Collector’s Edition designed to evoke the spirit of the handcrafted original.

Tucked in its own case disguised as a wizarding textbook found in the Hogwarts library, the Collector's Edition includes a handwritten version of J.K. Rowling's new introduction, as well as 10 additional illustrations not found in the Standard Edition or the original. Opening the case reveals a velvet bag embroidered with J.K. Rowling’s signature, in which sits the piece de resistance: your very own copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard, complete with metal skull, corners, and clasp; replica gemstones; and emerald ribbon.

Wow, has it been that long ?

Just realised it’s been over three weeks since I last posted here, where the hell does time go??

What’s been going on? I hear you ask as one (probably because there is only one of you, but hey – it’s my blog and I’ll use poetic licence when I want to!)

Well,  Amy stared in the school production of ‘Grease’ as ‘Miss Lynch’, and was excellent (as was the entire production by the way).

I have played golf a few times, and seem to be getting worse at the moment, I have obviously changed my swing in some way, and the slice is back… but buggered if I know what I am doing differently!  My short game and putting has improved immensely, but the overall scores are still rubbish, as I almost always end up in trouble off the tee!

I have tickets, not just for Katherine Jenkins at the NIA, but also for Hayley Westenra at Birmingham Town Hall (Nov 13th).

I have been on a site visit from work to one on the NHS Direct call centres – at exotic Merry Hill, and attended a three day course for AudioCodes in even more exotic Coventry!

So, overall nothing too exciting there… Sound about right!

Euro 2008 is almost over

 

Said by some to be one of the greatest tournaments of recent times:
we've got the small matter of Germany-Spain, with the promise of a classic final to put the cherry on top of a tremendous three weeks. If Carlsberg did tournaments they'd struggle to come up with anything better.
Chris Charles on the BBC Sport website

But, I am sure that not even Carlsberg could have produced a penalty kick to match this one for sheer class!
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=hP9DJYq54YI

But, NO ONE takes a pen quite like Beckham …

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer

“Tickets for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's testimonial match against Espanyol on Saturday 2 August are now on sale to the general public.

The Old Trafford friendly will bring Ole's epic career to a close, with the man himself set to play one last game in the famous red shirt.
The occasion gives fans a chance to give the popular striker the send off he deserves after 326 appearances, 126 goals and countless happy memories.”

From ManUtd.com

I have tickets for Myself and Alex, also Neil, Ryan & Nial Sankey. Our seats are on the 2nd row, block 2404, North stand - This is the view from there -

It took 45 minutes of getting busy tone before I was even queued, and then another 50 minutes to get answered! I am not sure I want to ever listen to ‘Take me Home (United Road)’ again!!!  When I did finally get answered, I spoke to ‘Gary’, and he could not have been more helpful.

More Training!!

Seems that I have been chosen, along with two of the other support guys to be the prime for a new product that BT will be bringing to market in the coming months, and that the servers will all be Linux based…

As such we are all to be ‘Linux Trained’ to and ‘Advanced Standard’. Not sure I know what any of that means, but it could be fun!

Minor New Toy

As Amy needs a larger memory stick that her current 512KB one, I decided the best thing to do is give her my 4GB one (I have suffered from lack of space recently too), and I can get a new one… ;-)

So today I have ordered a replacement 16GB – yes 16!! Dane Elec zMate thumb drive from 7dayshop for the grand sum of £36 inc VAT and Postage.

Latest Scores from HGC

I have now managed to get two 18 hole rounds in, and am still yet to beat Neil, but I am getting closer only a few shots in it now.

Scores below:

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	HOLE
4	4	5	3	4	3	4	4	4	Par35
6	6	9	6	8	4	7	5	6	57
10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	HOLE
4	4	4	4	4	3	3	4	4	Par34
7	5	6	8	7	5	3	5	7	55
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	HOLE
4	4	5	3	4	3	4	4	4	Par35
5	8	6	6	9	5	6	4	6	55
10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	HOLE
4	4	4	4	4	3	3	4	4	Par34
7	5	6	8	5	5	6	5	5	52

I really need to practice holes 3, 4, 10, 13 & 14…