Hip hip hooray! Well done Graf!!
dsp
- Wed May 31 23:40:27 2006
hurrah and huzzah. #hands baton to Graf#
kev
- Wed May 31 23:28:24 2006
Hey Graf, welcome back! Should I say sorry to hear your news or are you relieved? How's the "new" Mac?
Nigel
- Wed May 31 23:24:27 2006
Kev: I claim the unemployment baton - I handed in my notice at work at the start of this month, and I'll be taking the summer off, starting in July. I've not been around on the maison much lately, cos it's been blocked at work lately, but that's not why I'm leaving :)
Graf
- Wed May 31 23:22:47 2006
We could requisition Loxe's place (without waiting for his consent naturally)!
Sheri
- Wed May 31 22:11:06 2006
John, Lox, Nigel: we've got to meet for a few days this summer! Say... in Florence! Sure it would be great fun!
Sheri
- Wed May 31 22:09:01 2006
Yeah Lox, I guess he does that when he's pretty bored!
Sheri
- Wed May 31 18:50:27 2006
John: Did you fiddle with the mainpage layout?
Kev: The program return a rather nasty error (exception error) I can send you the copy of the details if you want, but the bottom line is that it's not working... :(
Lox
- Wed May 31 16:22:08 2006
the online, is a bit pf php script that sets files in the kev directory, records name status and timestamp. easy peasy really,. not sure if its too reliable though!
kev
- Wed May 31 13:11:18 2006
jimmy: yep I forgot to anchor the controls. Also the reload just does a refresh, if nothings changed nothing happens. Only really useful if you have long timesout before rechecks
kev
- Wed May 31 13:10:23 2006
Yeah ... it's all very good, but there's nowhere to put my password, and the refresh doen't work. Nor the resizing. However, as a concept I think it's superb! How does it know when people are there? (I mean the icons) Does it just doa timeout since they last posted?
Jimmy
- Wed May 31 10:17:45 2006
What's this box do?
Jimmy
- Wed May 31 10:15:58 2006
I've just got MaisonWatcher! It's very interesting ... but the resizing leaves something to be desired ...
Jimmy
- Wed May 31 10:15:13 2006
KEV: Unfortunately I get a strange error (execptio error actuattly) and it crashes MW altogether... :(
Lox
- Wed May 31 09:52:39 2006
Morning everyone!
Lox
- Wed May 31 09:38:32 2006
Morning! On a training course today - it's not started yet so...
Kev: to stop the anonymous "watchers" I could see yesterday why not make the input of a username compulsory as the program starts? Just a thought...
Nigel
- Wed May 31 09:22:13 2006
So can you see the third "secret agent" out there then? I guess so. Wonder who it is! I wonder if we should somehow limit distribution of your watcher software to just Maison regulars and friends etc. Could be my employer keeping tabs.. :(
Nigel
- Tue May 30 22:41:07 2006
i think the mw whos online needs a bit more work.is really just a simple php script. ....maison.../kev/login.php?user=Kev&state=Online.
kev
- Tue May 30 22:37:05 2006
Ahh! Of course. Logical... Now my icon has a little clock at bottom-right?
Nigel
- Tue May 30 22:35:48 2006
the secret agent is someone who hasn't added a username to post with.blue is online, grey is offline.
kev
- Tue May 30 22:34:20 2006
Interesting... The invisible man has just gone off-line... I feel haunted!! Oo.. and I've gone blue now... :)
Nigel
- Tue May 30 20:39:26 2006
Evening Kev! I've downloaded the latest... I've got three identity icons here: you greyed-out, me also greyed-out and a blue one with no name... Is this correct? If so, who's the secret agent?
Nigel
- Tue May 30 20:34:56 2006
oops that link to MW has a dot at the end so doesn't work directly
Kev
- Tue May 30 20:21:32 2006
On the note of that last post, if any of you fancy surfing anonymously, check out http://www.publicproxyservers.com/ they are daily list that change regularily, some don't always work and are horrendously slow but there ya go!
Kev
- Tue May 30 20:20:05 2006
Lox: I have uploaded a new version that supports proxy servers ;). I think it works, I have only been able to test with public proxies. link is http://www.maison-de-stuff.net/kev/MaisonWatcher.exe.
Kev
- Tue May 30 20:18:54 2006
Jimmy: whats wrong with a rant, isn;t that what the internet was designed for ?
Kev
- Tue May 30 20:18:02 2006
It'll turn into one massive food rant!
Jimmy
- Tue May 30 13:08:02 2006
KEV: PROBLEMS with Maisonwatcher.... Basically I need to have a PROXY autentication as I do not have a direct connectiopn to the internet... Is it something that can be developed?
Lox
- Tue May 30 13:00:31 2006
Hi all... Just being sneaky here... security cameras watching... !! Did I miss something because I notice the Wiki link is not working anymore...?
Nigel
- Tue May 30 12:58:59 2006
John/Sheri: I agree.. for French wines it might be a pain to make subcategories, and it looks FAR COOLER with the map. If John can work around it then we could have the system ready. We will need categories, such as restaurants, pubs and so on though.
Lox
- Tue May 30 10:08:27 2006
But of course, I won't dream to tell you what to do. I'm only suggesting. Wait for my next entry.
Sheri
- Tue May 30 10:05:31 2006
John. Your Google Maps thingy is truly cool. That's not exactly what I have in mind though. I'll show you on my next entry. (tonight or tomorrow morning).
Sheri
- Tue May 30 10:02:54 2006
Anyway, I will have a think about what is the best way to do a reviews thingy... but I probably won't give it much time tonight, as I'm going to be out with one of my colleagues...!
John
- Tue May 30 09:54:51 2006
Ok, Lox. It's just that, as far as French wines are concerned, there are many many many subdivisions ... You have the regions, ex. le Bordelais, la Bourgogne (Burgundy), le Sud-Ouest, l'alsace, etc. Then you have specific areas within those regions, ex. Côte de nuit or Côte de Beaune in the Burgundy region. Then you have the proper appellation like, for instance, 'Pommard' in the Côte de Beaune area. A map for each wine would me more explicit.
Sheri
- Tue May 30 09:52:53 2006
Sheri - have you seen my Google Maps thingy (see here). The nice thing about this way of doing it is that you don't need to edit an image every time you want to add a point - basically you just find the place in Google Maps, copy the URL, paste it into a form on a webpage, and you're done.
John
- Tue May 30 09:49:03 2006
Hmmm maybe the subcategories etc are not necessary for wine itself, but for the overall system it would be nice, because then we could neatly organise reviews of all sorts of things - from toothpastes to aeroplanes.
John
- Tue May 30 09:47:02 2006
John/Sheri: I like the idea of reviewing also restaurants, and movies and so on... It's a good one! I think that subcategouries are good, maps are even nicer but they are harder on the programming side, the way I see it. Categouries, sub categories and blog type entries couldbe a good way to start, but how can we manage it? Greymatter is not very helpful on that side...
Lox
- Tue May 30 08:09:25 2006
Sure, John! But about wines, there is no real need for subcatergories. I think the ideal would be to add a map to our entries in order to situate the wine in question. I can do it using photoshop. All I need is to find a suitable map on the net (with a good resolution) and modify it a little.
Sheri
- Tue May 30 06:30:58 2006
Plus if we can make it general enough, then maybe we could also use the same thing for bar, restaurant and movie reviews...?
John
- Tue May 30 01:19:36 2006
Yes, the wine/whisky review section sounds like a good idea. As always though the problem with getting this sort of thing off the ground is choosing (or writing!) the system to build it. It's almost like just another blog in a way, but we need to be able to categorise entries. Ideally it would be good if the categories were hierarchical (i.e. sub-categories within categories) - like for example "Wine / French / Bordeaux" or something like that. Oh and I imagine we'd probably want to be able to add comments to someone else's review
John
- Tue May 30 01:18:54 2006
Ho, hum, back in the office again....
John
- Tue May 30 01:07:50 2006
John? Any other taker? It could be a nice "Maison Guide to Wannabe sommeliers and whiskey tasters"...
Lox
- Mon May 29 21:38:26 2006
Lox. A pretty good idea! I'm on!
Sheri
- Mon May 29 17:11:03 2006
John/Sheri: HOW ABOUT, we institute a section of the maison where we can REVIEW wines/whiskey when we come across them? It could be nice and it might serve as a reference in the future...
Lox
- Mon May 29 15:40:49 2006
Normally reds are best at room temperature, at least the sort of reds that I have. I do appreciate a noveau wine slightly chilled (12 degrees max). As for Chie looking like a million dollars baby, well you should know she's always around you!!! (nudge nudge wink wink)
Lox
- Mon May 29 15:38:48 2006
Sorry, I have been drinking a bit, so the rest of those posts may well sound like total bollocks! I assure you there is a genuine and sincere sentiment buried in there somewhere, I'm just not hugely capable of articulating it right now!
John
- Mon May 29 15:36:33 2006
Sheri - Incidentally - I really appreciate you sharing your wine knowledge with us! Honestly, I know shockingly little about grape derived beverages. I think we're in an excellent position here for sharing of wisdom - Sheri can teach us about French wine, Lorenzo can teach us about Italian wine, and I would be delighted in return to share with you my modest knowledge of whisky.
I read an interesting article by a whisky writer a while back, which said you can more or less draw a line across Europe - North of that line people mostly drink grain derived alcohol (beer/whisky/vodka), and South of that line it is largely grape derived (wine etc). I for one do tend to revert to my stereotype, and my favourite drink is of course whisky. However, it is great to be submerged in this wonderful cosmopolitan atmopshere on the 'Maison, and I look forward to learning about and appreciating the same sorts of things as those of us from the South.
John
- Mon May 29 15:35:34 2006
(by the way, thanks guys, it is lovely for me to hear nice things said about Chie!)
John
- Mon May 29 15:23:07 2006
Sheri: Yes, the label did mention Pauillac - I am showing my total ignorance by really not having any understanding of the significance of that word! And yes, it definitely did improve with airing. One problem about wine in Japan is that they have a horrible habit of chilling it - and I'm talking about red here. So the cabinet from which I bought mine was something like 10 degrees celsius. Now I thought this might be "cellar temperature" in which case nothing too bad, but even an hour after buying it, it was still a bit too cool for my tastes. So the first couple of glasses were probably a waste. The last glass was probably the most fragrant and interesting.
John
- Mon May 29 15:22:02 2006
Sheri: AHhhhhhhhhhhhh
Bad Sheri: I have to agree there! Lucky John!!!
Lox
- Mon May 29 15:21:35 2006
Lox: appellation (d'origine contrôlée) = Denominazione (d'origine controllata)
Sheri
- Mon May 29 15:00:12 2006
And by the way... about the pics: seeeeeeexy Chie!
Bad Sheri
- Mon May 29 14:57:42 2006
But a Pauillac remains a Pauillac: normally an excellent wine.
You have to 'air' the wine a little, that is to open it at least two hours before consumption. And it has to be 'chambré', i.e. at room temperature.
Usually you drink it on....... red meat (or game)!
Sheri
- Mon May 29 14:56:09 2006
John: Interesting pictures, I think that you and Chie look extremely good and relaxed in them!
Sheri: What do you mean by "appelation"? Is it the type of grapes that are used? Sorry for my poor knowledge of french wines, they are so different from the way we present them (though I have to admit that french people are much better than us at marketing their products)...
Lox
- Mon May 29 14:54:21 2006
Carruades is probably a 'cuvée' produced and commercialized by the Maison Lafite. Pauillac is the appellation.
You probably heard of Château Lafite-Rothschild which is one of the four 'premiers grands crus' in the Bordeaux classification. It costs more than 100 euros a bottle. So, because many cannot afford it, they tend to produce less expensive, more generic cuvées.
Sheri
- Mon May 29 14:51:20 2006
I bought a Carruades de Lafite 2002. It is just a string of words which means almost nothing to me. It did mention Rothschild somewhere else on the label though, which rung a vague bell. I took a picture of it (see here) in an attempt to at least remember what I have had before. It wasn't bad, but my (as yet) uneducated palette really can't appreciate the difference between this, and a wine a fifth of the price (which is what I'd normally pay). Perhaps it shouldn't actually have cost any more than my regular price in the first place!
John
- Mon May 29 14:24:02 2006
John: YOU ARE THE WINNER!! My trousers are beige indeed!! As for the wine what is the brand? I hope it's Italian at least! Work today is quite interesting there are a lot of things to do, from tomorrow is back to the old "crappa textiles" as usual though! :)
Lox
- Mon May 29 12:58:17 2006
hes's probably out of his brain right now on a conconction of fine wines and single malt unable to answer, lying in a pool of his own vomit!
Kev
- Mon May 29 12:30:31 2006
So what is it, John? What did you opt for?
Sheri
- Mon May 29 12:28:09 2006
I reckon you should mix it with coke to make it more palatable ;)
Kev
- Mon May 29 12:04:48 2006
On the way home now.
Have made my wine
purchase, but have no
real idea if it will be
any good. Still, as I
selected it from the
locked cabinet, the
guy asked me if it
was a present. It was
quite gratifying to
grin and say no, I'm
drinking it tonight. Ah,
there's nothing like
mindlessly wasting
money for hollow
gratification!
John
- Mon May 29 12:01:33 2006
Right, finally I can leave the office now... I am going to be heartbroken if the wine shop has closed already!
John
- Mon May 29 11:31:31 2006
Or should I say 'good plan'!
Sheri
- Mon May 29 11:30:15 2006
John. About the expensive bottle of wine: good show!
Sheri
- Mon May 29 11:15:16 2006
Hmnph. I'm still at work. I have to wait for an install to finish. I am sure the software in question is fully aware of this and is dragging its heels quite deliberately.
John
- Mon May 29 11:03:59 2006
Now, you remember the Yahoo! Widget engine thingy I was waffling about before? Well I just downloaded a "widget" to try and I quite like it. It comes from this guy: http://www.philippe-gibbon.eu . Looks a bit like he's based in Sheri's neck of the woods! Though I notice some URLs ending in .lv Anyway, worth a look if you like arty things...
Nigel
- Mon May 29 10:43:35 2006
I think maybe the wine would hae a more beneficial effect!! I'm surprised the economy is "cash-based" given all the technological innovation over there. My economy is based on the "empty pocket" at the moment... :|
Nigel
- Mon May 29 10:35:00 2006
Japan is a very cash based culture, and I don't have any kind of credit/debit card here. So when I go to the ATM I tend to take out much larger sums than I used to in the UK - the equivalent of a couple of hundred quid at a time is not uncommon. So there's a big wad of cash in my pocket and I'm feeling wreckless. Either a very extravagant wine purchase, or maybe I'll just go and put it on a horse.
John
- Mon May 29 10:32:19 2006
The end of a very dreary day is being somewhat brightened up by having promised myself I will go to the department store near the station and buy a really expensive bottle of wine (then tell Chie it cost a fiver).
John
- Mon May 29 10:22:59 2006
Nigel - yes it is about going home time here (18:20 as I write), but unfortunately I do need to hang around a bit longer still.
John
- Mon May 29 10:21:59 2006
Morning all! Pleasant start here.... though it's got that "bank holiday" feeling :( How did yesterday go, Sheri? And John, by the magic of world-time clocks I see you might be on your way home...
Nigel
- Mon May 29 10:18:12 2006
I'd go for a sophisticated blue.
Sheri
- Mon May 29 08:53:36 2006
The system of course can work for anything where there are a number of possible outcomes. For example, what colour are Lorenzo's trousers going to be today? I'd like to claim beige.
John
- Mon May 29 08:14:16 2006
Erm, usually you do it for a sporting event, like the world cup or something. So say there are 10 teams taking part in that event, then each person in your group of friends pays in a small stake (one pound for example) and chooses one team. After the sporting event has finished, whoever had chosen the winning team "sweeps up all the stakes" (i.e. takes all the money), and thus the name.
John
- Mon May 29 08:12:36 2006
What's a 'sweepstake'?
Sheri
- Mon May 29 08:02:56 2006
Let me give you some advanced warning guys, last week's "international crap work week" appears to have been extended into a fortnight - I am now well into Monday and so far it has been every bit as miserable, if not worse. Oh and to top it all, I've just bitten into a "croissant" and it tasted of fish. What is wrong with this country? Any chance you guys would be interested in taking part in a sweepstake for when John finally gets sick of his job/Japan and goes back to Britain? If the entries are month-by-month, then I'd like to claim May 2006 please.
John
- Mon May 29 05:56:59 2006
:)
Kev
- Sun May 28 21:51:19 2006
:)))))))))))))))))))))))
Nigel
- Sun May 28 21:50:50 2006
you can't beat inhouse development for sloppy programming techniques and quick fix patching!
Kev
- Sun May 28 21:48:40 2006
Wow!! Yep, back up to speed again!! Great! Got to say Kev, that's an amazing turn-around cycle!! :)))
Nigel
- Sun May 28 21:47:40 2006
yes
Kev
- Sun May 28 21:45:43 2006
Ok, I will grab it - assume it's same name/place?
Nigel
- Sun May 28 21:45:21 2006
Oops I just saw a major flaw. Best get new version I just uploaded, this one sends status check to the website *every* time a key is pressed in the comment box!
Kev
- Sun May 28 21:43:53 2006
Ok, cheers.
Nigel
- Sun May 28 21:42:33 2006
your right, I am not sure why this is ? must be something wrong somewhere, I will look at it tommorrow
Kev
- Sun May 28 21:40:27 2006
when your at home, its probably woth setting up the checking frequency to be ~30 seconds, that way you see the update asap
Kev
- Sun May 28 21:39:45 2006
Only thing i can "see" that might need a tweak is that the text input seems very slow. I'm constantly out-typing it. My last post wasn't actually finished!
Nigel
- Sun May 28 21:39:35 2006
Ah yes... Well, if it helps, yes I can see the difference now between the identity icons ( hence my earlier post! ) The watcher tray icon confirmed when you came online and tyhen when you posted
Nigel
- Sun May 28 21:38:08 2006
the icons should go grey when the person is logged out, blueish when logged in.
Kev
- Sun May 28 21:36:09 2006
its a bot noddy atm, not sure its working ok
Kev
- Sun May 28 21:34:39 2006
Ooohhhh... You've just popped-up as "OnLine" Kev. Now I understand the difference between the two identity icons... :)
Nigel
- Sun May 28 21:32:28 2006
Yep, most definitely coooooll!! So, does that new little box down-left mean you're on-line too Kev?
Nigel
- Sun May 28 20:46:45 2006
Evening!! Hey, you're spoiling us now Kev!! :)) I'll just download and give it a go...
Nigel
- Sun May 28 20:44:41 2006
Ciao everyone, Kev I can't wait to see the program tomorrow from work! :)
Lox
- Sun May 28 18:49:07 2006
download from http://maison-de-stuff.net/kev/MaisonWatcher.exe
Kev
- Sun May 28 18:09:49 2006
A new version of maison watcher is released. This version(0.4) has a 'whos online feature'
Kev
- Sun May 28 18:08:53 2006
Yep, Nigel! Today is Mother's Day. So help me God! (I'm overdoing it a bit)
Sheri
- Sun May 28 11:19:22 2006
Hi Sheri. Not sure how warm here - I haven't ventured out yet... Is it today you are going to the In-Laws? If so, as we Brits would say: "Stiff upper-lip" :) I think I have to go to the recycling depot, but nothing else planned... yet. That's down to the Memsahib!! :))
Nigel
- Sun May 28 10:46:10 2006
Morning Nigel. 28° celsius here! Not a drop of rain for ages...
Sheri
- Sun May 28 10:43:57 2006
Morning! It's actually not raining this morning!! How strange is that?! :)
Nigel
- Sun May 28 09:38:33 2006
lol
Kev
- Sat May 27 17:49:23 2006
(That was me by the way.... trigger-happy!!) Splendid!!! :)))) ... is what I was trying to type!!
Nigel
- Sat May 27 17:49:10 2006
Kev:Will tryu it on Monday from work! I will definitely let you know my thoughts! :)
Lox
- Sat May 27 17:48:14 2006
Spe
Nigel
- Sat May 27 17:47:57 2006
thats pretty easy, its just another parameter. I'll see if I can add something like that!
Kev
- Sat May 27 17:45:51 2006
Well the only thing I can think of is our passwords for HTML/longer posts etc. Not sure how all that works though...
Nigel
- Sat May 27 17:44:58 2006
If you have any suggestions as to how to improve MW, i'll be happy to try any incorporate them.
Kev
- Sat May 27 17:38:01 2006
lol, the polling is quite light actually, john showed be a tiny url on the maison board that just the date which is updated every post.
Kev
- Sat May 27 17:36:51 2006
I have!! Though I'm only polling at 1-minute - hey, I'm so laid back it's a wonder I don't fall over!! :)
Nigel
- Sat May 27 17:35:57 2006
have you got the latest version that you set to check at seconds granularity, that way you can see posting pretty quickly, else you might end up waiting 2 minutes or more ?
Kev
- Sat May 27 17:34:26 2006
Ah but you thought to use it, which is coooool!! :) I have it set at about a third at the mo, so it's more of a "ghost" on the dektop, as I try to get to grips with a, erm, a... another photo cataloguer!!! :|
Nigel
- Sat May 27 17:33:37 2006
.. actually the opacity is built into XP so its really easy to change
Kev
- Sat May 27 17:26:22 2006
yeah the job centre was one of the more unpleasant aspects, however i never felt i really need to go their it was really just about getting back what I paid in!
Kev
- Sat May 27 17:25:18 2006
Yep, I'm with you on that!! Though I'd like to add I would never want to visit a job-centre again!! Ever.... Never... Shudder... (Oh and by the way I *really* like the opacity setting in MaisonWatcher A bit of gratuitous flashy programming never hurt anyone!!) :)))
Nigel
- Sat May 27 17:24:16 2006
i think i preferred not working though!!
Kev
- Sat May 27 16:46:45 2006
Yeah, mine was much the same last week. Moving to a new office, getting stuff transferred. Nicely my Internet access and email was successful but the inhouse system was not :))). Start proper next Tuesday.
Nigel
- Sat May 27 16:45:57 2006
jobs good, start proper next week. it was a bit of an intro days last week.
Kev
- Sat May 27 16:28:00 2006
Yeah, it's raining here too!! :)) How's the new job then Kev? I know it's very early days... Get any good gadgets to play with?
Nigel
- Sat May 27 16:26:33 2006
new version that allows more frequent checking is available. http://www.maison-de-stuff.net/kev/maisonwatcher.exe
Kev
- Sat May 27 13:12:34 2006
i was wondering whether i shoul dmake the check frequency less than one minute ( configurable), I thin kI might since it only used the time stamp that John showed me, which is tiny bytes in size. Await new release soon.
Kev
- Sat May 27 12:56:52 2006
Coo Kev2 - You just popped up!!! Splendid!!
Nigel
- Sat May 27 12:53:34 2006
test please ignore
Kev2
- Sat May 27 12:50:32 2006
...and this is mini-mode!! Very clever, if I may say!! And, as John said before, not a browser in sight!!
Nigel
- Sat May 27 12:23:24 2006
Yo! Well here it is then!! Working splendidly! Thanks!! :))
Nigel
- Sat May 27 12:21:23 2006
oh yes sorry guys i forgot to mention that!
Kev
- Sat May 27 12:10:44 2006
Nigel/Lox: You might need this (the .Net Version 2 redistreibutable): http://msdn.microsoft.com/netframework/downloads/updates/default.aspx
John
- Sat May 27 12:09:51 2006
.. err I mean from home
Kev
- Sat May 27 11:24:08 2006
i use it from mostly, like just now when it told me you made this post ;)
Kev
- Sat May 27 11:23:57 2006
Hi Kev - yes I was going to ask the same... Though I can't use it from work either... I think I'm going to try and slip your phrase "it's a bit Noddy" into some conversation at work next week!!! :)))) Like it!
Nigel
- Sat May 27 11:23:06 2006
Lox: the url is http://maison-de-stuff.net/kev/maisonwatcher.exe its a bit noddy but it works ( mostly ).
Kev
- Sat May 27 10:51:28 2006
Morning all. Well as soon as I set out into the Internet Iwas attacked by six viruses in a row... Thankfully Norton stamped on them all.... But not a good start to the day...
Nigel
- Sat May 27 10:42:03 2006
John. I was drunk indeed. The annoying thing is that I'm all the more clear-sighted when I'm in such a state.
Sheri
- Sat May 27 07:51:56 2006
Lox. I drank a bottle of Viognier, which is (or rather used to be) a local grape variety.
About Californian wines, I 'm not surprised. As I told Travis last week, I tried a Californian zinfandel which, against all expectations, proved to be quite amazing.
Sheri
- Sat May 27 07:49:59 2006
Lox: are you referring to that famous event in 1976 or something more recent?
John
- Sat May 27 07:03:51 2006
John: Thanks fotr te grea night out on Thursday, gotta go to that place again next time...
Kev: I WANT IT, IT WANT THE PROGRAM, please it will be great at work, not having to start the mainpage eevry time to post...
Sheri: Well, allow me my friend to say that I am much more interested in the opinion of a woman than in yours! :) What were you drinking? Are you aware that in Paris at this big Bordeaux blind-tasting competition the best wines were the CALIFORNIAN ones? I propose a ban right away..
Lox
- Sat May 27 06:31:07 2006
Sheri: Not sure I got all that, but I have a feeling alcohol may have been involved?
John
- Sat May 27 03:43:04 2006
Allez! Une sodo et au dodo...! Night-night everyone!
Sheri
- Fri May 26 22:54:44 2006
Sono totalmente ubriacco. Pero, non lo sono abbastanza per gradire il suo punto di vista...!
Sheri
- Fri May 26 22:52:02 2006
Christelle just had a look at your last pictures, Lox. Ti trova carino, sai!
Allow me to think otherwise...!
Sheri
- Fri May 26 22:48:38 2006
ok night JH, I have added the time lookup as you suggested. it was easy.
Kev
- Fri May 26 17:31:11 2006
Anyway Kev - great work, it is a really neat tool. I'm going to have to shut down now, it's 1AM here and I'm falling asleep in front of the screen...
John
- Fri May 26 17:00:16 2006
Hmmm well I'm not totally convinced if the benefit would really justify the development effort (unless it is really, really easy) - my internet connection at home is obviously all you can eat, and the daily version of the board never gets that massive, so it probably doesn't matter a great deal if I'm downloading the whole thing once a minute...
John
- Fri May 26 16:46:51 2006
Hmm, yes that would be better I think, I will have a go a looking at that timestamp before downloading the whole page
.. also going to make return send from the inbuit comment window!!
Kev
- Fri May 26 16:39:09 2006
that might work, the rss feed on the board isn't very good, so I just grab the page and use a regex to rip out each item and then reparse into this webcontrol. probably overkill!
Kev
- Fri May 26 16:37:50 2006
Were you aware every time a message gets added to the board, there's a tiny text file (http://www.maison-de-stuff.net/board/updatetime.html) that gets updated with the time... I wonder if you might be able to use that to check for updates... Obviously the number of HTTP requests wouldn't go down at all, but it ought to reduce the bandwidth (whether or not that actually matters is another issue!)
John
- Fri May 26 16:35:27 2006
just then its not so instant
Kev
- Fri May 26 16:31:33 2006
Yep, for using at home it is certainly a massive improvement over just hitting F5 a lot!
John
- Fri May 26 16:31:23 2006
you can of course up the check time to 10 minutes say to make it less obvious
Kev
- Fri May 26 16:31:22 2006
probably, Thats why I use it at home
Kev
- Fri May 26 16:30:41 2006
There is of course no way round this if the lowest common denominator is basically HTTP...
John
- Fri May 26 16:30:19 2006
Presumably though just about every company keeps an access log of sites you look at whilst at work, and so if they see you going to the same page once every minute (or whatever you have it set to) they're going to think something is suspicious, no?
John
- Fri May 26 16:29:18 2006
Aha yes the edit box in the little popup menu from the tray icon... not anything even remotely resembling a web browser in site, and still I can post!
John
- Fri May 26 16:26:46 2006
#
Kev
- Fri May 26 16:22:49 2006
I know evil isn't it. Check out the box in the tray bar for secret messaging
Kev
- Fri May 26 16:22:48 2006
Your widgety thing is really great Kev, you've turned the Maison into a kind of instant messenger app!
John
- Fri May 26 16:21:39 2006
ok will think about it
Kev
- Fri May 26 16:20:40 2006
By the way, regarding the blog, just let me know if you ever change your mind... I'm sure your life is not that dull! Besides you could always write about new technology etc (i.e. highlighting the things I am going to stubbornly ignore...)
John
- Fri May 26 16:19:39 2006
great, it has a one minute default check so you should see a popup
Kev
- Fri May 26 16:18:44 2006
This is great! I loved the popup thing that informed me when there was a new message.... brilliant!
John
- Fri May 26 16:17:48 2006
Kev, I am using your spangly new tool right now, and liking it very much indeed!
John
- Fri May 26 16:17:17 2006
have you managed to find the file I uploaded to my dir John. No doubt it won't work being a DIY home job.
Kev
- Fri May 26 16:15:15 2006
Also I think you need an ego to or be an extrovert to do it in a worthwhile way and I don't have the first nor am the latter!
Kev
- Fri May 26 16:14:07 2006
my life is not very intersting to blog about anyway. I much prefer to pick holes in others.
Kev
- Fri May 26 16:13:15 2006
Chie's going into her office tomorrow (Saturday!) which means I have a carte blanche for a day of unbridled nerdiness, without any prospect of having to be dragged out to go shopping etc... So if there is anything I can do to get you started with a page on the Maison, this would be a good opportunity!
John
- Fri May 26 16:11:26 2006
it even has a little text entry box in the tray bar so you can secretly write maison message like this!!!
Kev
- Fri May 26 16:08:42 2006
no am too lazy, but i will think about it. have put file there now, needs .net 2.0 but i am sure you have this already
Kev
- Fri May 26 16:07:56 2006
By the way Kev, have you ever considered making a page or something at /kev/ ...? No pressure of course - if you don't feel that way inclined then that's fine obviously! If you ever wanted to have a blog thingy like the rest of us then I'd be more than happy to do the initial legwork.
John
- Fri May 26 16:07:01 2006
ok will do
Kev
- Fri May 26 16:03:20 2006
Kev - that sounds great, I would love to give it a go. You've got FTP access still haven't you? Any chance you could upload it to your bit of the site?
John
- Fri May 26 16:02:10 2006
Lox: Oh and I've just noticed - you went to Starbucks while you were in Japan? Another shocking headline! I imagined you would be really loathed to stoop to that sort of massed produced level, given the standards you are used to in Italy (even the coffee from the vending machine at your company tasted like heaven to me!).
John
- Fri May 26 16:01:04 2006
you can also use it to post ;)
Kev
- Fri May 26 15:54:51 2006
Is anyone interested in my noddy MaisonWatcher program, basically it sits on the tray watching the maison site for new entries and then pops up a little window MSN style to say there is a new maison message. you can then read it through its little mini browser ? I find it very useful for keeping up to date with maison.
Kev
- Fri May 26 15:54:24 2006
Oh and I really like the one in my manager's favourite bar - I've been there like a hundred times now, but somehow have never managed to get a decent picture in there before... good stuff!
John
- Fri May 26 15:53:15 2006
Lox: Great set of pics - you certainly seem to have been to all my favourite places in Kyoto, and you also got some jolly nice shots from our evening out. Strange to think it was only last night, as I write, given that you are already back in Europe!
John
- Fri May 26 15:51:16 2006
Congratulations to Rob & kate on the wedding - about time too!
Have been unable to find any internet access for many moons, so i know this is a little late! Also, i couldn't find any way to contact you at the lab - nice little balls on sticks though!
We are gaining a small child in October - if all goes well!
Boo is very cute.
love
and best wishes
c
xxx
Peter
- Fri May 26 15:10:38 2006
ok
Kev
- Fri May 26 14:40:20 2006
Posting from Frankfurt, gotta catch the flight, write more later! Go take a look at the new pics posted!
ciaocioacio
Lox
- Fri May 26 14:39:41 2006
Jimmy, its not a very clever spambot. I made it as a client side javascript, so it changes any dubious links after the page has loaded. A serverside solution could be done by JH, but hes too busy enjoying his fullfilling job atm ;)
Its more so that casual visitors to the site don't get bombarded with links to unpleasant sites really, and I was annoyed with the 'clever' spammers so I made the script to learn'em!
You must have a slow connection if you can click on it before it changes though!!
Kev
- Fri May 26 13:44:42 2006
About this spambot ... it's very strange. It seems to delete the link only after the page has finished loading. So, while it loads, I can see where the link goes (and indeed click on it) ... but then a few seconds later it get spam-botted. Even stranger is that my IT dept. don't actually block the target site ...
Jimmy
- Fri May 26 13:15:25 2006
yep, but which one of you is gonna drop dead the minute they retire eh? Then who'll be the one laughing?
Kev
- Fri May 26 10:17:33 2006
Have left work at 6
again, oh how the
people at the office
will be cursing the
lazy gaijin scum now!
John
- Fri May 26 10:12:01 2006
Now who removed the link!!!! Doesn't it occur to you that some people might actually be interested to click on it!! Lesbian dating, man, lesbian dating (drooling)!!! :-(
Sheri
- Fri May 26 07:01:54 2006
Kozels - Kev's spambot is right now laughing in your face. Amateur!
John
- Fri May 26 06:37:03 2006
This is the 4th or 5th server Blogskins has ever lived on, and it's by far the beefiest.http://lesbiangirlsdating.pisem.net
I'm hoping that it's able to handle the massive load that you people are able to deliver.(lesbian dating)
Kozels Baranz
- Fri May 26 03:15:48 2006
....hmmm maybe he's not going to have time to get on to the internet while he's there though...?
John
- Fri May 26 01:10:15 2006
Well I guess Loxy boy
will probably be at the
airport now. I wonder
how the lounge is
suiting him today...
John
- Fri May 26 00:43:06 2006
Great pictures - appauling cheese!! :)
Nigel
- Thu May 25 20:16:31 2006
But you know what? I'm jealous. You seem to have had a good time.
Sheri
- Thu May 25 20:02:52 2006
Lox. I maintain what I said a few months ago. Man, you are uuuuuuuuuuuuugly! ;-D
Sheri
- Thu May 25 19:51:14 2006
Rob: You didn't give me a good 'ole shoeing when I tried to lick YOUR missus! :P As for thepictures I will try to post them from NARITA tomorrow... well... actually today... Oh WTF!!
Lox
- Thu May 25 19:27:44 2006
My sentiments pecisely, Rob.
Jimmy
- Thu May 25 16:55:13 2006
You don't seem phased, Hawkins! I would have given him a good shoeing if he'd tried to lick my Missus! Can't trust them Italians.
Rob Lang
- Thu May 25 16:10:46 2006
(good use of the red exclamation mark there Rob - now that is the sort of issue that does deserve to be marked as important!)
John
- Thu May 25 16:09:13 2006
! damn lack of preview on the posting system.
Rob Lang
- Thu May 25 16:08:42 2006
Looking forward to seeing your pictures too Lorenzo! (especially what with them being from the shiny new camer and everything!).... for now though I'm off to bed - hope your flight is ok tomorrow... Good night!
John
- Thu May 25 16:08:29 2006
!
Didn't you notice, mate, that smooth BASTARD IS TRYING TO LICK YOUR MISSUS!
Rob Lang
- Thu May 25 16:08:03 2006
Didn't you notice, mate, that smooth BASTARD IS TRYING TO LICK YOUR MISSUS!
Rob Lang
- Thu May 25 16:07:21 2006
QUALITY PICTURES!!
Lox
- Thu May 25 15:56:34 2006
In fact the pictures are on the web now, less than an hour after the last one was taken (see here).
John
- Thu May 25 15:32:11 2006
! Ah Lorenzo, yes it was great to see you this evening! I think I should have tonight's small set of pictures uploaded in barely a minute or two....
John
- Thu May 25 15:30:57 2006
Just said goodbye to John and Chie, I am quite drunk (as you would expect) but I am also overly happy since I saw them! GOOOODDD STUFF!
Lox
- Thu May 25 15:15:20 2006
John: I hate Outlook period. I forward all of my mail from school to gmail so I don't have to mess with it.
Travis
- Thu May 25 14:14:40 2006
Don't the weeks go quickly - I'm off in five minutes until next Tuesday. Have a good weekend, let's hope the weather is not too bad.
Mad Mumsie
- Thu May 25 13:37:02 2006
There's that damned exclamation mark again. Does it come in other colours?
Mad Mumsie
- Thu May 25 13:06:57 2006
! Oh yes I have.
dsp
- Thu May 25 13:04:55 2006
dsp: Have you SEEN the way he dresses?
Mad Mumsie
- Thu May 25 13:01:30 2006
Rob: Danger Danger! That's very voodoo-esque as it's quite close to printing out photos of people and setting fire to them. Which we all know is intrinsically evil and tantamount to devil worship. Step away from the line.
dsp
- Thu May 25 12:56:35 2006
Who's a happy pyromaniac then?
Mad Mumsie
- Thu May 25 12:54:16 2006
I've found out a way to take out anger on digital things. The problem is that with digital things, you can't actually harm them. Well, you can. If you really want to harm something, print it and then set fire to it. I did this to some code the other day and it made me feel much better.
Rob Lang
- Thu May 25 11:59:34 2006
Always happy to oblige John!!!!!!!
Mad Mumsie
- Thu May 25 11:39:55 2006
Thanks guys, this is
better than I could
have hoped for! My
train journey home has
been deeply enriched
by this outpouring of
hatred for that
sodding exclamation
mark...
John
- Thu May 25 10:44:45 2006
Mr Barracuda, you obviously mis-interpreted my can of worms comment. In the right place, they are very beneficial - I refer of course to the immense use they are in the garden. A can of worms there can give you the most beautifully aerated soil. (Phew think I got out of that one OK - some worms are SOOOOOOOOOOOOO sensitive)
Mad Mumsie
- Thu May 25 10:43:49 2006
Derm Mrs. Mumsie, I do not understand why you are so against Cans and Worms altogether. I am a faithful reader of this messageboard and I find rather offensive your latest comment.
Barracuda the Worm (from the can)
- Thu May 25 10:32:16 2006
I also hate the messages that will send back a "confirmation" to the sender... Ain't it crap?
"Do you want to send Lox a confirmation of receipt of the previous message (Y/N)"
Lox
- Thu May 25 10:27:29 2006
Oh John, you seem to have opened a can of worms here.
Mad Mumsie
- Thu May 25 10:01:24 2006
! I agree, I hate this little bastard. It's not so bad in the small company I work for now but previously it was used badly by a lot of people.
Rob Lang
- Thu May 25 09:50:09 2006
We use Lotus Notes and you can get all sorts of icons next to the mails... But fortunately nobody marks "importa" messages when they are sent to many people... Oh well my boss does, but I'd better not start complaining about him again... :)
Lox
- Thu May 25 09:40:58 2006
IMPORTANT! John: Thanks to my colour blindness, I had never realised it was red. Thanks for ruining that for me. There's a fella at my company who has 'important' set by default for all his emails. Oh yeah, and he's a twat too.
dsp
- Thu May 25 09:06:43 2006
And why should you John, when it hasn't got a red exclamation mark :)
Mad Mumsie
- Thu May 25 09:01:27 2006
(...and yes you can of course take this opportunity to complain about DRM, but I'm not giving any promises that I'm going to listen to you!)
John
- Thu May 25 08:52:06 2006
...besides it isn't really the product I'm complaining about here - it is the way people (mis)use it. There's a certain arrogance about declaring your email as highly important, especially when you send it out to thousands of people, and that is at the root of what annoys me... OK you could argue that the product shouldn't have that feature in the first place, but then instead you'd just get people putting [IMPORTANT] in the subject lines, or something equally irritating.
John
- Thu May 25 08:50:36 2006
I don't work for (that company you mentioned), I work for (a well known software company) who must remain anonymous.
John
- Thu May 25 08:47:47 2006
MM: Glad I'm not alone! Maybe I'm just stupid, but no matter how many times I see the little red exclamation mark, I still don't seem capable of just ignoring it - so I'll always have at least a quick look at those mails... and ninety-nine times out of a hundred it isn't in the slightest bit important at all. Afterwards I feel like I've been manipulated somehow, a cheap psychological trick to get me to read their boring waffle.
Yes I agree, high importance should be reserved for "Come to the big boss's office to get some free money" or "the company's gone bust so you might as well all go home"... anything else just doesn't deserve the attention!
John
- Thu May 25 08:45:38 2006
Sorry, this message was too obscene.
Betty
- Thu May 25 08:44:23 2006
John- while I sympathise with your opinion, I feel compelled to point out that it is a Microsoft product, and you're the one who works for Microsoft. Why whinge to us? Should it not be t'other way 'round? And if so, I'd like to take this opportunity to complain about DRM ...
Jimmy
- Thu May 25 08:43:22 2006
John, I'm with you there. And what's more when you delete this highly important message it goes to the top of the deleted box as well. If it was saying, have the rest of the week off on us it would be different, but it's usually something mindless they send to all staff (all 8,000 of us), when it probably doesn't apply to those not working in a particular building. Grrrrrrrrrrr.
Mad Mumsie
- Thu May 25 08:38:47 2006
Does anyone else use Outlook for mail at work? I have a real pet hate, and it's that little red exclamation mark you get on some mails - "This message was sent with High importance.". What annoys me is that the sender makes this decision. I get loads of internal company bulk mail crap, all sorts of dreary newsletters about stuff that doesn't concern me in the slightest bit, and every so often the person sending out this kind of mail (clearly suffering delusions of grandeur) will mark it as "High importance". I am always tempted to reply, saying no, I didn't actually find that important, in fact I found it to be meaningless and a waste of space. It is a stupid little thing, but it really winds me up.
In my ideal mail client/server setup, there'd be some way of voting when you got this kind of mail. If enough people object to it being marked as highly important, then the sender would lose the right to use that flag. Oh and if they were really persistent, they'd lose the right to send mail out altogether.
John
- Thu May 25 08:17:43 2006
On a somewhat more bitter note, I've just found out what the basic rate of pay is at my company's HQ in the US, which is somewhat different to what they pay the cattle out here in Tokyo. I am quite pissed off, and I think to balance the discrepancy I ought to mindlessly waste a significant portion of my working day. That'll learn 'em.
John
- Thu May 25 02:54:12 2006
I bet worst case
scenario Kev has got a
job as a risk analyst
for a very conservative
company. He tells them
it'll never work, and
that's always exactly
what they wanted to
hear. Oh and they
probably make chemical
weapons or something,
but just like Schindler's
list, thanks to Kev's
constant poo-pahing
they never actually
output a single halmful
commodity. And they
all give up their jobs
and go and live in a
hippie commune
somewhere in Norfolk,
and Kev is their
undisputed leader, only
by then he's changed
his name to Moondonkey.
John
- Thu May 25 00:58:48 2006
Sorry, this message was too big.
John
- Thu May 25 00:58:07 2006
jimmy, well we just moved to a new building this week (very swanky) And they are still putting in desks etc, so its easier to work from home tomorrow. the research is top secret, under nda and all that, can't post in publi forums etc. but its pretty cool, will tell more in a few weeks.
kev
- Wed May 24 23:20:30 2006
Research is underrated.
Travis
- Wed May 24 23:00:50 2006
Kev- time off to do research? That sounds too good to be true! What are you researching? And (I'm feeling nosey now) why not from work?
Jimmy
- Wed May 24 21:01:39 2006
Sounds pretty civilised there, Kev!! Glad it's all ok! :)
Nigel
- Wed May 24 19:01:35 2006
Great MM. I started today at 12:30pm and I left at 4:15pm. I have tommorow off to do some research and I go back on Friday. Hurrah.
Kev
- Wed May 24 16:52:47 2006
John: SORRRYYYYYYYYYYYYY I didn't call but I only came back now from a very long dinner.... :( You still up for tomorrow yeah?
Lox
- Wed May 24 15:00:45 2006
Kev: How's the job going.
Mad Mumsie
- Wed May 24 11:14:51 2006
John, I hope you are not considering taking up the baton again!
Kev
- Wed May 24 10:58:14 2006
Morning all! Well what about this then? The office doesn't open to the public until 10am today and all bar a few of us have gone out (in the rain) to visit the new place. So, no one is watching and I'm having a sneaky surf!!!! Hope I don't get spotted...
I'm more and more coming to the idea that self-employment is the way to go. Especially since my move!! I've just been told the desk I'm at is where all the fleas show up....
Must go now........!
Nigel
- Wed May 24 09:18:01 2006
John- surely you're not detting disillusioned ???
Jimmy
- Wed May 24 08:36:08 2006
Very quiet in the office today, it's our company meeting today (for the Japan offices at least) so everyone's gone off somewhere in Tokyo to listen to big cheeses drone on and on about how great we all are. The second most famous person from that well known software company I work for is over from the states for the meeting. It might have been interesting to see him speak, but in the end I thought the whole thing would just annoy me so decided not to go. I'd be standing at the back shouting "Give us more money and better offices you stingy bastard!", it probably wouldn't go down too well.
John
- Wed May 24 05:53:09 2006
Lox: www.archive.org
John
- Wed May 24 00:29:23 2006
Guys there was a page where you could see OLD pages from all around the net that have been discontinued... I was trying to retrive my old website back in the reading days but I can't remember the address of this site... Maybe some of you know it?
Lox
- Tue May 23 23:32:22 2006
Evening all... Travis - that does sound a horrible impostition for your wife. At least in the call-centre I worked in we were allowed to warn the caller we would hang up if they continued being abusive etc.
John: Thanks for the words of support. You can believe I am seriously looking for another job...! I can't afford to pick up the baton of slothfulness, attactive though it seems right now!! :(
Kev: If the new job starts tomorrow - hope it's a good one! Make sure you get some spanky new PC you can tell us all about etc!!
Nigel
- Tue May 23 20:25:26 2006
Rob: our Simon would be pleased as punch to hear that!
John
- Tue May 23 16:18:56 2006
John: Programmer's notepad is all I need. Without it, I'd just give the fuck up. That's why I bought Simon a CD (on his shareware program thingy). I'd be shafted without it.
Rob Lang
- Tue May 23 15:52:08 2006
Travis- that's dreadful. Nobody should have to put up with abuse like that!
Jimmy
- Tue May 23 14:41:59 2006
I like my job. Sometimes the librarians can be a bit thick and my heart sinks when one or two people come on the phone, my boss can be a real sweetie, not often though, most of the time he's like a bear with a sore head, but he usually comes round - I just ignore him when he's like that. The other four guys are pleasant (what an awful word) and we all get on very well, most of the time.
Mad Mumsie
- Tue May 23 14:36:04 2006
My week is just very busy. I have a few more days off from work. My wife's job, however, is total crap. She works in a call center. She is not permitted to hang up on anyone, even if they make sexual comments, scream obscenities at her, etc., but if her average call time is above six minutes, she gets into trouble. Ridiculous.
Travis
- Tue May 23 14:25:08 2006
My week is rotten too, btw. The numbers simply don't add up, and I *really* can't see where the error is :(
Jimmy
- Tue May 23 14:08:19 2006
Hmmmmm. Perhaps not applying to anyone on this web site ;)
Mad Mumsie
- Tue May 23 14:07:02 2006
poor = people forced to work minumim wage by this guvm'nt policies regarding immigration, thats native brits, and those that have come here to work from EE or wherever ( which I have no problem with btw )
Kev
- Tue May 23 13:57:02 2006
Kev: Define "Poor"!! :)
Mad Mumsie
- Tue May 23 13:08:42 2006
Also, its the only way to 'beat the system' in so far as to get back some of the National Insurance that I have paid in. Most people who work all their lives never see any of what they pay in. So they way I look at it I wasn't a dole scum scrounger, but instead a Robin Hood type character taking my hard earned tax money back from the corrupt guvm'nt ( except I didn't give any of the cash I got to the poor but instead spent it on myself! )
Kev
- Tue May 23 12:41:01 2006
Well, all I can say is taking a few months off work is something to be recommended, although since I have no commitments like a mortgage or rent to pay there were no worries for me. Not sure I would like going down to the dole office every other thursday if I didn't have any real income or savings to fall back on!
Kev
- Tue May 23 12:37:07 2006
Kev - it looks like the baton will have to lay unclaimed for a while... Possibly you and I have set a level of slothfulness that the rest of them simply don't feel they can live up to!
John
- Tue May 23 12:20:17 2006
Well, I will let you all know if i can contribute anything to weallhateourjobs.com on friday. Inthe meantime I have just enough time to catch the last bit of daytime tv. The Holidays are over. Boo hoo. So who is going to take over the baton I wonder ?
Kev
- Tue May 23 12:11:31 2006
Incidentally, I noticed just now that "weallhateourjobs.com" is available for registration.
John
- Tue May 23 11:15:11 2006
By the way Rob, are you using any tools to aid you in that Herculian task? I'm not sure what to suggest exactly, but maybe if you Google around for "ASP debugger" etc, you might find something that will ease the pain at least slightly. The Express edition of MS Visual Web Developer is free, not sure if it will help in your particular situation or not, but thought it might be worth a mention just in case.... Oh and I think you're already using Programmer's Notepad - "Find in Files" plus some nifty regular expressions can save hours!
John
- Tue May 23 11:12:57 2006
Is anyone having a good week at work? (actually if you are, you'd probably better keep quiet about it!).
John
- Tue May 23 11:07:20 2006
Blimey it is starting to sound like "International Shit Job Week" - poor old Kev is going back into employment for the first time in several months in this rather unfortunate climate!
John
- Tue May 23 11:04:44 2006
John, I've got a shitty day too. Manager was fired last week - the last piece of technical knowledge in the whole company. Now I have to find a bug with no starting point in 8000 asp files that are uncommented and the business logic might be within one of or separated between 500 Stored Procedures on the 8 SQL databases.
Rob Lang
- Tue May 23 11:01:24 2006
Nigel - it sounds awful... I really think you ought to start looking for a new job! Even if you do get used to the snarling and threatening (which you shouldn't have to in the first place) then it still sounds like a waste of your abilities. I don't think anyone can look down on you for leaving that hell hole, given the circumstances!
John
- Tue May 23 09:39:13 2006
Ok I'm posting here before anyone notices I'm using the Internet! Travis/John - this is frankly horrible! Not only de we get threatened and snarled at but I'm expected to enjoy it! I've been shown around the new place we're moving to and I decided I want to work for the company that does office refits - that's where this government's money's gone! :( Oh dash, the doors have just opened.... Here they come....
Nigel
- Tue May 23 08:58:50 2006
OOOhh! I am not!
Mr Bean.
- Tue May 23 08:41:14 2006
Travis. How about Mr Bean. That's a myth too.
Sheri
- Tue May 23 08:29:38 2006
Nigel: I may be complaining without good reason though - it sounds like your first day in the new role was much worse! At the extreme I would classify my day at work as annoying - I get the impression from the tone of your last post that your day at work was more along the lines of "soul destroying"...
John
- Tue May 23 08:03:13 2006
Actually I meant "panicking", but pan-kicking works too.
John
- Tue May 23 07:56:09 2006
Well my day at work is going pretty suckily - they're all running around pankicking at HQ, putting on their firemen's helmets and ringing alarm bells, and as a result they want me to join the herd of bug monkeys. There's a whole gamut of weird tools we have to use for going through the bug fixing process and I haven't had any training on any of them. On top of that I can't get the product installed, and it is taking hours and hours to resync with the source code. So to sum up I can't see what the bugs are, I can't get at the code to try and write a fix, and even if I got over those hurdles I couldn't test it. Oh and there's no-one to ask for any help, because HQ are all asleep, and everyone at the Tokyo office is too busy with other things. Ho, hum.
John
- Tue May 23 07:47:19 2006
The Rhyme is probably the most famous the English poem out there, the myth is not much the Mariner, but the poem itself. As for other sources of inspiration I will think about them, it must be something that taps into the collective imaginary world.
Lox
- Tue May 23 07:02:03 2006
Lox: I don't know Rhyme offhand. Star Trek was a tradeoff...that or Star Wars. I prefer Star Trek, to be honest, but Star Wars is probably more popular around here. A good suggestion, though. Thanks!
Travis
- Tue May 23 04:19:16 2006
Kev: There needn't be a kernel of truth to the myth; generally, they do involve some sort of social importance, however. I'd say that even if they don't qualify as myths per se (but there are no precise definitions, unfortunately), they are at least presented in the mythic style or have heroes who follow the heroic pattern set forth by the Greeks.
Travis
- Tue May 23 03:26:29 2006
Travis: I am impressed I wanna sign up for your classes!! I love mithology we used to do a bit in High School... Very nice! Personally I would add a tyny bit of S.T.Coleridge (Rhyme), though it's hardly a modern thing, my English teacher used to make it "worth" the class attention by playing the Iron Maiden song!! Marvellous!! As for other myths I would consider Star Trek (Omer's Odissy link there maybe?)... And I'll try to think of more later! Now gotta go out for work!
Lox
- Tue May 23 00:35:40 2006
travis, is a myth not something based on a smidgen of truth? does tolkien and lucas meet this criteria, or am i wrong?. how about modern urban legends, do they qualify?
kev
- Tue May 23 00:34:04 2006
Haha...though that post appeared between two of mine, I assure you, it's not my post. I was too busy putting in another entry.
Travis
- Tue May 23 00:22:29 2006
Nigel: I'm sorry, I see that you've left your job...are you now on a new job that you don't like? Was this mandatory / your choice?
Travis
- Mon May 22 23:48:12 2006
Thank you - beautiful use of a beautiful site... I think I'll test it on your tip. :)
I get an "Access Denied" popup box here http://gayfriend.finderinn.com . Any ideas?
I have tried this gay sex, but this box tool
remains greyed out after I enter the above information. Any hints?
Gay man
- Mon May 22 23:45:19 2006
Guys and gals, I have a request. I'm teaching a mythology class over the summer (well, two of them). At the end of the class, I'm including a few more modern myths (it's basically classical mythology). I plan on including the following: Arthurian Myth, Beowulf, Tolkien, Star Wars, and Dune. Anything more entertaining/pertinent that I'm missing? Thanks.
Travis
- Mon May 22 23:44:37 2006
Too right Kev! There's no tipple big enough however! I guess if I'd chosen this myself I'd have only myself to blame - as it was a compulsory transfer I resent it. It seems to be happening a lot though - send staff to positions they won't enjoy in the hope they'll disappear through "natural wastage". Remember the government has sworn to cut 30,000 regional staff? Well, I'm not unemployed but am now looking...
Hope your experience is better! I'm pretty sure it's got to be!!! :))
Nigel
- Mon May 22 22:07:52 2006
Sorry, to hear that Nigel, although I kind of expected you might feel this way! Perhaps I might suggest a small tipple of guiness to calm your nerves.
Kev
- Mon May 22 21:17:13 2006
Evening all! Well I'm in shock. And though I'll have to stay a while, I'm certainly looking for a new job! This is *not* the way to go... :*(
Nigel
- Mon May 22 20:40:37 2006
Lox. I wanted to create a new page with a password. A password which I would give to all the members of the Maison who wishes to read my next script. But... hem... well, I'm totally lost. And I'm no longer sure it's worth it.
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;301464
Sheri
- Mon May 22 17:10:43 2006
What seems to be the problems with ASP? Can I help at all?
Lox
- Mon May 22 16:35:27 2006
Sheri - Yes ASP is a bit of a mess at first, but I'm sure you'll get the hang of it! It's bedtime for me here in Tokyo, but I am quietly confident that by the time I wake up you'll have it all figured out!
John
- Mon May 22 16:10:34 2006
John. Thanks for helping me with the password. But I'm completely lost...!
Sheri
- Mon May 22 14:58:31 2006
I have just arrived in Tokyo now... 10,30---- HOW CRAP IS THAT!?!? Will have to have intercourse (both social and physical) tomorrow with John... :D
Lox
- Mon May 22 14:37:02 2006
It only increases the desire! (Am I going too far?)
Sheri
- Mon May 22 14:03:39 2006
Unfortunately Lox's meeting in Osaka ran late, and he may not even have arrived in Tokyo yet... so we've postponed until another night.
John
- Mon May 22 13:45:09 2006
It must be approximatley 10 o'clock in Japan. By my calculations, John and Lox are just starting with foreplays...
Bad bad Sheri
- Mon May 22 12:51:10 2006
And don't use too much make-up!
Sheri
- Mon May 22 11:07:16 2006
Lox. I hope you both will behave...!
Sheri
- Mon May 22 10:05:50 2006
Hi all! Just a having a"quick sneaky browse"... Can't get on to the work system (I'm meant to be trying!!) so thought I'd nip by.
Kev: I never realised what you had to put up with... This is appauling...
Nigel
- Mon May 22 09:52:28 2006
He everyone!! With good luck and if viruses and germs will allow me, I WILL MEET JOHN TONITE!!!! :)
Lox
- Mon May 22 02:36:22 2006
Oh rats!! My first priority is to join the "tea-fund" and suss out tea-breaks... Well I am a Civil Servant!! :|
Nigel
- Sun May 21 15:43:59 2006
Nigel, I cut my own hair with clippers, bought a few new shirts etc, and I don't start till Wednesday so it looks like you will be the 'new boy' before me ;)
Kev
- Sun May 21 14:32:08 2006
OK Kev... Been to the barbers? Polished your shoes? Ironed your best jeans - nice, sharp crease!? Or do you just cruise in to your new job in fatigues, stick your segway in a corner, crack a tin of Red Bull and say: "Does it look like I'm bovvered? - and then go on to write four thousand lines of assembler which compiles perfectly first time ?? :)))))
Nigel
- Sun May 21 13:34:15 2006
... and incidentally, you've got to nip over to http://www.lordi.org/main.html - it's 18+ onlt though. And then the Extras section. "Would you love a monsterman?" I knew that girl was no good... (Shudder!)
Nigel
- Sun May 21 09:34:26 2006
Morning all! Kids up early here so I'm having to pretend to eat knitted cakes... It's along story...!
Yes, Finland! John, I hope you've seen their performance! As REM sang - "It's the end of the world as we know it..." !!! Well, Eurovision!! :))
Nigel
- Sun May 21 09:13:39 2006
Clearly there can be no grudge born against the Finnish - from what I saw of the line-up this year they seemed to be head and shoulders above the rest. Anyone fancy a weekend away in Helsinki next May?
John
- Sun May 21 02:41:09 2006
So the UK came 18th - another miserable ranking. And clearly this has far more significance than the forthcoming world cup, or the Olympics or whatever. It never ceases to amaze me that the UK exports so much more music than any other European country, and yet never, ever wins Eurovision (unless you hark back to the days of Bucks Fizz, and frankly, who wants to?).
John
- Sun May 21 02:39:00 2006
Oh well I've just got up and it seems like the streaming channel thingy has stopped - I was hoping they might just repeat the whole thing cyclically for the benefit of people like me in awkward timezones.... ho, hum.
John
- Sun May 21 02:28:03 2006
Well it's finished.... Got to say Eurovision justs gets better !!! (I won't spoil it for any late viewers!!!)
Nigel
- Sat May 20 23:02:43 2006
... and on a fashion note - you haven't "arrived" unless you wear a bottom-lip moustache!! Er... not for me...:)
Nigel
- Sat May 20 22:32:12 2006
Ok, it's half way through and I've got to say : "GO FINLAND GO!!" Absolutely bonkers!! Totally mad!! Mental! If you've not yet seen it, all I can say is hide your children!! To be honest I know I'll not pick a winner, but my tops were Lithuania, Germany and of course Finland!
Nigel
- Sat May 20 22:13:16 2006
Thanks for the tip, Sheri! I'll look into it. There are actually two vineyards in Lubbock (which is strange), so there is a fair selection of wine here.
As for singers in other languages, I don't know any French singers offhand, at least their work. I've heard of Alizee, but only because of her...antics.
Travis
- Sat May 20 16:40:54 2006
Travis. I know it's all a joke. My comments are part of it...! As for the wine, I would recommend you a few bottles of Romanée-Conti. It's a nice cheapo red Burgundy. Ask a wine dealer for it.
Sheri
- Sat May 20 16:08:36 2006
Easy, John! I was not having a go at you! You should know me by now...!
Sheri
- Sat May 20 16:01:19 2006
Sheri: I wasn't saying everyone should sing in English, just that it was interesting that many countries often happily switch between their own language and English, but France never sings in anything but French. Nothing wrong with that of course! Just interesting that most other countries don't seem to care either way, but France presumably wants to make a point, or something.
John
- Sat May 20 15:33:54 2006
Sheri: I don't have a problem with being from the US. I will make the joke fairly frequently that I'm "but an American," but it's just that...a joke. As for wine, I'm still searching for anything. Give me some suggestions, US, French, Spanish, etc. Doesn't matter.
Travis
- Sat May 20 15:23:40 2006
one more test post
Kev
- Sat May 20 14:20:53 2006
sorry just testing a new app I am working on
Kev
- Sat May 20 14:20:21 2006
Ignore Test - sorry for spam!
Kev
- Sat May 20 14:02:23 2006
.. and whats is this nonsense with the Eurovision Semifinals ? I don't remember them doing that before ( or maybe there are now so many channels they have to fill it up with some crap-or-other! )
Kev
- Sat May 20 13:53:12 2006
Yes Wogan is the prime reason to watch live, I have to agree! As for the languages - in a way (athough I am probably a bit selfish!!) I agree the songs should be sung in the native tongue - but then *I* would have such a hard time understanding Finnish!! :)) Don't know who decided it had to be - mostly - in English. For me though, it really is the pan-European thing I like :)
Nigel
- Sat May 20 11:27:29 2006
And why should we sing in English, pray tell! Why should we submit to anglo-saxon imperialism! Never! Allons enfants de la patriiiie, le jour de gloiiiiire est arrivéééé....!
Sheri
- Sat May 20 11:17:31 2006
Anyway, who gives a fuck about Eurovision?! Don't tell me you do, John!
Sheri
- Sat May 20 11:04:11 2006
Zat was supposed to be a Frrrench aczent.
Sheri
- Sat May 20 11:02:33 2006
I rrreckon it would be a bit of a prrroblem if we werrre to sing in English! Imagine Inspector Clouseau!
Sheri
- Sat May 20 11:01:08 2006
It has just occurred to me the live webcast is going to be a Pan-European thing, and therefore won't include Terry Wogan's derisive comments. It hardly seems worth it now...!
John
- Sat May 20 11:00:07 2006
The Finnish entry looks entertaining! Oh and isn't it always interesting how so many countries sing in English, but the French never, ever do?
John
- Sat May 20 10:35:19 2006
I've found there's some sort of webcast version done using Octoshape. I'm watching the Eurovision channel now (just looping through all the entries basically). I wonder if there is any way to record it (probably not I imagine!). It would be great to watch tomorrow sometime, but 4AM-7AM Japanese time is just about the most inconvenient time I can imagine!
John
- Sat May 20 10:28:52 2006
Morning all! Another wet and gloomy day here... Yes Eurovision! I am happy to admit I rather like it all (well at least the first half anyway) I get to see parts of Europe I have otherwise not seen. Occasionally the music's good too!
Nigel
- Sat May 20 10:22:01 2006
Hey boys and girls - it's the Eurovision song contest tonight! I think I would have to stay up until 4AM to watch it here (and that's when it starts), so it looks like I'm not going to see it again. Ho, hum.
John
- Sat May 20 10:09:59 2006
Saturday working.... Sorry guys I missed all the discussions lately... I have a little cellar (read: Closet) with a lot of red wines (the whites are in the fridge), some of the bottles are actually pretty expensive (around 60 Euro), but I tend to look for small unknown productions that are a little bit more on my "expense area" (read MAX MAX MAX 15 Euro)... But since I cannot drink by myself (I don't like it too much) I wait for people coming to the house to open them... (anyone wants to come?)
Lox
- Sat May 20 09:04:37 2006
... or so I believe!
Sheri
- Sat May 20 06:37:50 2006
Negative waves, Travis. Always negative waves! ..................... Be positive! Being American is NOT an original sin!
Sheri
- Sat May 20 06:36:22 2006
Sheri: if you drink a good wine from the US, let me know the winery please. I would be much indebted to you.
Travis
- Fri May 19 23:51:56 2006
thats rather fortunate then!!! Is it really expensive, Getting your teeth done in the UK can cost a bomb unless you are lucky enough to have a NHS dentist and even then its pricy!
kev
- Fri May 19 19:07:38 2006
Praise be to the Lord, no!
Sheri
- Fri May 19 19:05:09 2006
Did you need any fillings Sheri ?
Kev
- Fri May 19 18:31:20 2006
Thank you MM. It was a mere check-up which required a bit a scaling. Pas de quoi en faire un fromage! (nothing to worry about!)
Sheri
- Fri May 19 17:59:18 2006
Travis. Your latest entry on your blog: quite an issue, really!
About the cellar. You said you couldn't find any good wine. I must protest and I reckon American winegrowers are no less competent that French ones. A while ago, I opened a bottle of Zinfandel (a grape variety name Primitivo in Italy) 'made in USA': I was impressed!
Sheri
- Fri May 19 17:56:51 2006
Have a good weekend everyone.
Mad Mumsie
- Fri May 19 16:57:17 2006
Sheri: Hope the dentist wasn't too painful.
Mad Mumsie
- Fri May 19 16:03:03 2006
Travis: in our borough we have compulsory recycling. I've often wondered how this works. Does someone go through the rubbish in our wheelie bin before emptying it, to see if we have put in any glass, tin or paper - no card or plastic bottles please. Taking this to an extreme, anyone with a grudge against you could load your bin with all sorts of recyclable rubbish, and as it has to be left on the curtailage the night before collection, well I leave this to your imagination.....
Mad Mumsie
- Fri May 19 16:00:54 2006
Yes, what astounds me is the fact that someone is driving around looking for miscreants and sticking tickets on doors! Crikey, when you look at the amount of rubbish bowling around UK towns, unchecked, dumped at the sides of roads... All I can think is that Texas must be a very clean place! It has to be said though, if I leave a box of rubbish beside my bin the bin-men just plain refuse to go anywhere near - almost as if it was nuclear-waste, or something....
Nigel
- Fri May 19 15:25:27 2006
Travis- fines for putting your rubbish in the wrong place?! I bet if there was a nutter trying to burn down your house, the police woulde be "Busy".
Jimmy
- Fri May 19 15:14:17 2006
Sorry folk, I have to leave you. Dentist is waiting!
Sheri
- Fri May 19 15:12:09 2006
Travis: I'm not allowed to laugh out loud here but I can do it in writing.. :))))))))))) !
Nigel
- Fri May 19 15:07:12 2006
Sheri: Nice! I read an article recently about preparing a spot in your home, etc., for use as a wine cellar. If I could find any good wine, I would do it.
Nigel: Work, like the condom, is for sailors. Kick back and enjoy your weekend.
Travis
- Fri May 19 15:02:34 2006
Yes, rather annoyingly I had to take a phone call just then...! I think I am probably giving the outward impression of doing work, but the reality is less tangible!! :)) Ooohhh, there it goes again.... :(
Nigel
- Fri May 19 14:54:03 2006
Travis. I've no wine cellar either. A dark cool spot in my flat is being used as one...
Sheri
- Fri May 19 14:53:09 2006
About to post a horror story on my blog...not for the feint of heart, communists, or conspiracy theorists.
Travis
- Fri May 19 14:50:58 2006
Nigel. You don't answer?! You don't mean..... you are ACTUALLY working!!!!
Sheri
- Fri May 19 14:49:57 2006
I wish I had a wine cellar. Or even a basement. They're almost non-existent in Tx. As for alcohol, I've only had one bottle of the aforementioned biere Belgique. Or just Belge?
Travis
- Fri May 19 14:49:19 2006
And by the way, Nigel, welcome to the stiff club! The more the merrier!
Sheri
- Fri May 19 14:40:44 2006
Nigel. I'm not depressed. Just a cheap excuse to appease my guilt (I opened too many bottles lately...)!
Sheri
- Fri May 19 14:39:01 2006
Well may I join youuushhh?!?! Yesh I'm jusht back from the pub-bub-bubbly-bub! .... Actually it's not that bad, but I rarely drink at work so today was a little treat. Garlic mushrooms and Stilton on french, crusty bread, all washed down with... Guess? Yep! Guinness!! Superb! (sorry to inflame any home-sick feelings...:))
Sheri: I hope the depression is suitably relieved!!
John: A hot toddy?! Purely medicinal of course...
Nigel
- Fri May 19 14:36:08 2006
And you dare say you're British! SHAME ON YOU, JOHN!
Sheri
- Fri May 19 14:33:30 2006
Amazingly I haven't had a drop of alcohol all this week! Perhaps even more amazingly I just don't feel like drinking. I think something is seriously, seriously wrong...
John
- Fri May 19 14:27:50 2006
Well... a Château Margaux is a bit out of my league, financially speaking. A mere Margaux (for there is also the 'appellation' Margaux) does the tric.
Sheri
- Fri May 19 14:23:12 2006
Actually, people keep their best bottles for their guests. I do that too. But when my moral is at rock bottom, I have no scruples about opening a nice sexy Château Margaux just for myself. It works fine!!!
Sheri
- Fri May 19 14:19:49 2006
hic!
Jimmy
- Fri May 19 13:49:28 2006
(clink) Cheers...!
Sheri
- Fri May 19 13:47:31 2006
That's what I usually do when I fel tired or depressed!........................... Come to think of it, I think I'm gonna pay an impromptous visit to my wine cellar right now!
Sheri
- Fri May 19 13:46:05 2006
C'mon John! Have a tête-à-tête with a bottle of your precious 'collection' and you'll feel quickly better!
Sheri
- Fri May 19 13:42:43 2006
Nigel: ....but yes I do feel better for the rest, thank you! I reckon I would have been in an awful state by now if I'd tried to do a full days work in that condition.
John
- Fri May 19 13:07:12 2006
Nigel: I was wondering the same thing actually. My body seems to have gone into revolt against Japan this week - not just the "irregular" sleeping, but I only seem to have appetite for English food, and also I seem to have regressed somewhat in my ability to speak Japanese. I think I am suffering a tangible, physical form of home sickness (which really ought to be called "away sickness").
John
- Fri May 19 12:59:41 2006
Ah, but do you feel better for the rest, John? I wonder if when you're ill, but away from your "native" time-zone, your built-in body-clock reverts somehow to it's original?? Just a fledgling theory... :))
Nigel
- Fri May 19 12:32:08 2006
I have just recently
woken up - it is after
8PM here in Japan! Very
unusual for me to
sleep in the daytime,
unless a long haul flight
(or late night drinking
session!) has been
involved.
John
- Fri May 19 12:14:45 2006
Sheri: That sounds very healthy. You are making me hungry! :)
MM: At this stage it doesn't look as though I'll be able to visit during working hours, no :(( Once I get my changed access sorted I'm certain to try though!
Nigel
- Fri May 19 11:04:23 2006
hem... delay, not dealy
Sheri
- Fri May 19 10:32:44 2006
Currently stuffing myself with a jar of pomodori secchi (sundried tomatoes). Cannot stop, too delicious.
Sheri
- Fri May 19 10:31:35 2006
Yep, Nigel. I slightly neglected my studies lately, so I have to catch up with the dealy. Will post a new entry this afternoon.
Sheri
- Fri May 19 10:29:39 2006
Nigel: are you still going to have access to the Maison site during the day.
Mad Mumsie
- Fri May 19 10:22:11 2006
So then - last day on the phones! Doing all those cathartic things like throwing away annual reports, ditching those "vital" bits and bobs you can't do without but have not used for two years...
Nigel
- Fri May 19 10:18:32 2006
Anyway Sheri - you've been rather quiet lately. Are you busy with studying?
Nigel
- Fri May 19 09:15:29 2006
Right.
Sheri
- Fri May 19 09:14:07 2006
Sheri: "I'm laughing so much I'm hurting myself" etc etc...
Oh, and Morning all!! Blooming windy here....
Nigel
- Fri May 19 08:44:50 2006
Lox: "MY SIDES ARE SPLITTTINNNGGGGGG!!!"? Errr... Explain!
Slow-Minded Sheri
- Fri May 19 07:21:00 2006
Lox: I've sent you an email, I'm going to have to go and collapse for a bit, I feel crap!
John
- Fri May 19 06:06:48 2006
Yea sorry Lox, things are not looking that great for this weekend now. I thought I was getting better, I went into the office this morning, but after the first few hours I couldn't stick it. So I have come back home and will probably spend the rest of the day in bed.
John
- Fri May 19 05:40:27 2006
John: If you are not well on Sunday I am going to kill you!!! By the way I am looking at trai table at the moment, will call you today for the final meeting fixing thighy....
Lox
- Fri May 19 05:11:51 2006
So I'm feeling pretty crappy again this morning with my cold and everything, and thought I would cave in and get some medicine. It hadn't really occurred to me how difficult this would be! So I did finally manage to find something which I assumed to be cold medicine, but now I'm a little too scared to actually take it. Maybe I bought rat poison instead?
John
- Fri May 19 03:03:31 2006
John: MY SIDES ARE SPLITTTINNNGGGGGG!!!
Lox
- Fri May 19 02:12:55 2006
I used to be very good
about taking precautions
against sunburn: I
lived in the UK.
John
- Fri May 19 01:24:03 2006
Tonsilitis? Eww. I'm suffering from an unfortunate sunburn. I thought that I had taken the appropriate precautions, but I ended up playing basketball for far longer than I'd anticipated...I'll be in pain for the next few days.
Travis
- Thu May 18 18:21:02 2006
I'm not sure it would be worth the development effort. Monaco is the only lemming-circuit with any sort of water hazard, and the lemmings don't really get up to much of a speed there. Besides, the harbour is so full of yachts that there's very little risk of drowning even if they do plough headlong through the armco.
Jimmy
- Thu May 18 17:13:25 2006
Rob is suffering from a nasty bout of tonsillitis at the moment.
Mad Mumsie
- Thu May 18 17:02:41 2006
I am not sure Frank would be too happy about that Nigel!!
Kev
- Thu May 18 16:35:09 2006
Has anyone seen Rob lately? He was meant to let us know how his the new job shaping up (he seemed pretty critical last time)... Roooooooooobbbbbb?
Lox
- Thu May 18 16:20:10 2006
Mmmmmm I don't know, but we could start an Airbag project based on the green hair... I think it has some ground.
Lox
- Thu May 18 16:03:34 2006
So then, how about some computer-whizz in the motorsport industry devising ABS for Lemmings? I see a possible Nature Conservation award in the pipeline here... :)))
Nigel
- Thu May 18 15:58:33 2006
It's not the senses- their feet have very little traction.
Jimmy
- Thu May 18 15:12:32 2006
John: No, poor "height and abrupt stop" sense....
Lox
- Thu May 18 14:26:56 2006
(I was referring to the lemmings, not Claudia wossername)
John
- Thu May 18 14:23:13 2006
Do they have wheels?
John
- Thu May 18 14:22:38 2006
John: Wait a sec I'll "finish her off" and I call you!
Lox
- Thu May 18 14:22:25 2006
It has been proved that lemmings don't actually kill themselves willingly, it's just that they are crap at brakeing...
Lox
- Thu May 18 14:20:38 2006
Lox: have just emailed you (if you're not busy with Claudia, any time from now on is good for me).
John
- Thu May 18 14:17:41 2006
John: Send me you Mphone number on the usual mail...
Sheri/John: As for the supermodels and Ferrari, please do point me towards that dish-cloth producing factory that sells that way! I do meet famous designers every now and then, but they are nasty like diharrea, not to mention the SCORES of gay people that I seem to attract (nothing against gay people, it's just that I am plain ole straight you see)... Mmm Working 24/7, travelling every 3 days... Don't get me started! Sorry gotta go Claudia (schiffer) is here in my room now... DOH!
Lox
- Thu May 18 14:14:35 2006
Tom's messages have been very single sentencey of late haven't they? I wonder Tom, are you using some kind of very-awkward-to-type-on mobile device by any chance...?
John
- Thu May 18 14:04:59 2006
It's the green hair that gives away a lemming.
tom
- Thu May 18 13:29:25 2006
They don't actually kill themselves at all- it's a myth. However, they might still get depressed when turned-down for a mortgage (who doesn't?)
Jimmy
- Thu May 18 12:27:18 2006
It must be! Poor, disillusioned creatures... Evolution has played such a dirty trick...
Nigel
- Thu May 18 11:35:59 2006
Nigel: do you think it is a vicious circle? The very fact that they're so often turned down for credit makes them depressed, and start to wonder what's the point in going on, when all of the world is against them...?
John
- Thu May 18 11:11:00 2006
What a vivid imagination you lot have.
Mad Mumsie
- Thu May 18 10:44:12 2006
... for example...: "Hello Sir! Could I have your name please?" - "Certainly, it's 'Rabbit'; 'Roger Rabbit'"... "Right; good; thankyou. That's 'R-a-b...' Hold on a minute. You're a Lemming aren't you?" ... etc interview going downhill from there on...
Nigel
- Thu May 18 10:40:06 2006
Yes, good summary Sheri! And Lemmings gets a bad press, don't they? I mean... Just imagine a Lemming going to the bank to ask for a mortgage...? :)
Nigel
- Thu May 18 10:18:37 2006
Good summing up there
Sheri!
John
- Thu May 18 09:54:21 2006
I say 'excessive' altruism because too many take advantage of it.
Sheri
- Thu May 18 09:49:27 2006
In France, right wing = sheer egoism. Left wing = excessive altruism. Very simple, very basic, but very true. Both sides seem to share a common feature: their incompetence and deliberate short term policies.
Sheri
- Thu May 18 09:45:13 2006
I should watch out for those right wing lemmings mind: hard line conservatism with a penchance for throwing yourself off a cliff are not a good combination (actually, no, thinking about it that's a great combination - if only Maggie Thatcher had been that way inclined the 80s could have been so much rosier...!)
John
- Thu May 18 09:25:24 2006
Nigel: probably a spelling mistake, it seems likely to me that it meant to say: "Trimming will follow a blinded lemming right wing". Hope that clears it up for you.
John
- Thu May 18 09:23:36 2006
Morning all! Just received an email with this little bit of management waffle - "Training will follow a blended learning routeway..." Er... right... yes... of course... :(
Nigel
- Thu May 18 09:15:28 2006
Don't believe a word of it Sheri - all that moaning is just a front! Cocktails and super models I tell you!
John
- Thu May 18 08:39:34 2006
Yeah, we all envy our miserable Lox who leads such a wretched life...
Sheri
- Thu May 18 08:31:17 2006
Lox on the other hand doesn't work in IT, but in the fashion industry. So I'm guessing for him business trips are just one long stint of eating in swanky restaurants, driving ferraris with famous designers, and sipping expensive cocktails with super models. Or something like that. :)
John
- Thu May 18 06:47:27 2006
Sheri: it's not that there is anything wrong with the USA as such - it's more the fact that I really hate flying, and business trips in general suck - it's like you're basically at work 24/7 for a week or so. The whole idea of being "sent" somewhere that I didn't choose to go really irritates me. We get stuck in a dreary hotel in a crappy little town on the outskirts of Seattle where there isn't really anything to do, and I have now eaten at every single restaurant it has to offer (none of them that outstanding either, with the possible exception of one Mexican place, but even that loses its appeal after a while). Oh and the day-to-day content is likely to be a series of soul destroyingly banal meetings with management types waffling on and on about "customer focus" and "quality metrics".
John
- Thu May 18 06:44:49 2006
Lox: ah, you're actually in Japan from tonight then (albeit Osaka)...? If you have any free time at the weekend, I could always come down that way - I've been hankering to go to Kyoto for a while, and assuming my business trip is definitely cancelled (I believe 95% that is the case now) then I'm completely free all day Saturday and Sunday.
John
- Thu May 18 06:38:38 2006
John. Is the prospect of travelling to the USA so frightening? Poor Travis. Must feel like an outcast! Must think we all are 'Americanophobes'...
Sheri
- Thu May 18 06:14:07 2006
will callyou tonight when I arrive in Osaka... I think I still have the mail with you mobile, my mobile is now in the hands of Giovanna, the designer who's coming to Japan today... We can meet in Tokyo next week, we should be there on Monday, probably it is going to be THURSDAY NIGHT (the last night) as we are quite full of appointments during the other days (as she is here we'll need to see lots of clients...), keep me posted on the developments of course!
Lox
- Thu May 18 05:26:15 2006
YES!
Lox
- Thu May 18 05:23:50 2006
Lox: so, following on from my earlier message, if it does indeed transpire that I don't have to go to the US after all next week (I don't want to curse it by being over confident, but it is looking pretty positive at the moment), are we going to be able to meet up then?
John
- Thu May 18 03:26:09 2006
Lox: actually the maison spambot was a stroke of genius dreamt up by our Kev, all I did was FTP the files.
John
- Thu May 18 03:24:45 2006
I found out today God loves me. I have been off sick for the last two days (nothing life threatening, just a really crappy cold), and was dreading coming back to work. I have an impending business trip as some of you may know, and was supposed to prepare a million things for it. So I thought I would be horribly horribly snowed under trying to catch up, the weekend would be cancelled, etc. All of that whilst still feeling less than 100%.
So imagine my utter delight upon arriving at the office this morning, and receiving a mail that the round of meetings next week had been cancelled. Now I don't want to go counting my chickens before they've hatched - there's always the chance they might change their minds again, but there's an odds on chance I won't have to go to the US next week after all.
Best of all, that means I might actually get a chance to see Lox next week!
John
- Thu May 18 03:19:42 2006
Errrr.. 2 posts below that should have been a "am I mistakEN"... zorry
Lox
- Thu May 18 03:18:24 2006
For anyone who has kids this site might be nice. Is a free repositry of e-books, most of them are old tales (the few that have no copyright) and I thought that the kids might like to listen to them... http://www.librivox.org/completed-books
Lox
- Thu May 18 03:17:19 2006
John: Am I mistake or you have enforced a MAISON SPAMBOT?! GOOD ONE!!! How does it work? Seems to be working to me!
Nigel: I am still cringing to that joke! :)
Sheri: I Italy we call them a millons names, my favourite one is the northen "GHISA", which means "Cast Iron" (I believe from the colour of the uniforms)...
Lox
- Thu May 18 02:40:50 2006
Great site!! Came across it searching for Oracle help. Lots of cool , useful stuff and links.
Neat layout. The way you organized things is excellent. Derek Kazler. http://casualsexfinder.pisem.net (adult personal ads)
Derek Kazler
- Wed May 17 23:50:02 2006
Tims joke: What did the Policeman say to his tummy? "You're under a vest" !! :)
Nigel
- Wed May 17 23:28:11 2006
In France, policemen are nicknamed "poulets", i.e. chickens, cose of their van which used to look like henhouses on four wheels.
Sheri
- Wed May 17 21:33:20 2006
"OpenGL Super-Bible" was always a good 'un
Jimmy
- Wed May 17 17:15:25 2006
Hmmm, yes John. The emental thing is very similar - "nuttness" is a good description. It certainly goes well (in my limited experience!) with a good red wine as a foil. And as for XML - I have a new book at home "XML Complete" but I've yet to open it...:|
Nigel
- Wed May 17 14:50:21 2006
Kev: Omarisan is the equivalent of the birtish "bobbie" (or american "copper") but in Japan is meant to be quite offensive to the policeman if you call him like that... THere is an even more offensive one "Poriko"...
Lox
- Wed May 17 14:46:11 2006
John: I thought that you were up to a week ago when looking at the picture page, I can see that you are changing the cataloguing style to reflect the "current position" idea. I quite liked that idea myself but I don't get to travel all that much... I'd like though a nice world map where every one of us can stick his/her pin to show where we are and what time is it in that region... It could be nice, it's something that I have tried to do with my every CRAP html skills, and of course I failed (wonder why!...). Keep us posted on the developments!
Lox
- Wed May 17 14:43:48 2006
Kev - ah I see! I didn't really get that - I read the "chees" as "chess", and so assumed it can't have applied to me!
John
- Wed May 17 14:38:13 2006
Kev: I took a look at that exact thing last year some time, and it looked a bit too awkward at the time so I gave up in the end. Maybe I need to give it another go. All I really want to do is have something where I pass it an XML file with a list of URLs, each one with an associated longitude and latitude. Then it will put little pins on the map appropriately, and go to the relevant URL when clicked upon. Doesn't really sound like rocket science does it?
John
- Wed May 17 14:37:11 2006
lox says he was going to grass you up to some matey called an "Omarisan" or have I completley misunderstood.
Kev
- Wed May 17 14:35:56 2006
Kev: is what true about importing cheese? Cheese definitely does get imported to Japan, but there are strict regulations in place that ensure it is only ever crap cheese, which I'm not likely to eat.
John
- Wed May 17 14:34:53 2006
John you need to look at google maps api. I think that would do the trick for you!
http://www.google.com/apis/maps/
Kev
- Wed May 17 14:34:31 2006
Nigel: in a similar vein to that, I became rather partial to emental a while back... but I either can't find it or don't trust it so haven't had it for a while. It is a bit plasticy, and not the strongest flavoured of cheeses, but I rather liked its simplistic nuttiness. Mmmmm.
John
- Wed May 17 14:33:40 2006
John, is it true about importing cheese ? Also if you ever get caught I have a cunning plan involving a white stick and a dog with no nose.
Kev
- Wed May 17 14:33:12 2006
What I want to get it to do eventually is somehow relate to pins in a little map, or something... I have tried this a number of times over the past few years, and always end up failing at the first hurdle. It is more difficult than it at first sounds!
John
- Wed May 17 14:31:45 2006
Don't get too excited though - at the moment it is basically just the same old content, presented in a slightly more convenient way.
John
- Wed May 17 14:30:55 2006
... as for cheese... I've recently discovered Leerdammer (pardon my spelling if incorrect...!) It's rather bland and plastic-y but I rather like it... And that's what counts :)
Nigel
- Wed May 17 14:30:44 2006
Lox - if you are really, really bored, you could take a look at the new page I cooked up recently. I wanted a way to tie together the blog and pictures, and keep a place-by-place log of everywhere I've been recently. Still a lot to do, like everything else it will probably never get finished completely!
John
- Wed May 17 14:29:45 2006
Hi Lox! Well I am winding down here - just two days to go before the move... I'm also doing as little work as I can get away with in a kind of silent rebelion... I'm also reading a book about XHTML and XM to brush up my rusty skills.. :)
Nigel
- Wed May 17 14:24:43 2006
I am technically bored. I decided to forget all the work related problems... now I have nothing to do! SoMEONE POSTS SOMETHING!!!
Lox
- Wed May 17 14:16:55 2006
If you want I can call a general Omarisan and get you done for terrorism or something similar (we know you have imported chees in the house!)
Lox
- Wed May 17 14:13:59 2006
Yea, the police were no stranger to number 2, Radstock Road...! Sigh, those were the days!
John
- Wed May 17 13:57:13 2006
MM: The second time maybe, but the first time I am afraid that it was an outside job... Eventually policemen came to our door saying that they caught the burglars some time after the second raid. Me and Tim were trying (unsucessfully) to hide with our bodies a HUGE sign that miracously walked its way from PORTSMOUTH to RADSTOCK.... We received a warning not to allow the signs into the house in the future....'nuff said
Lox
- Wed May 17 12:39:21 2006
It had to be an inside job, no-one outside would have found anything!
Mad Mumsie
- Wed May 17 12:32:30 2006
Is it right you were burgled at radstock? I vaguely remember John mentioning it. Do you think it was in a inside job?
Kev
- Wed May 17 12:12:57 2006
Dsp: While I do have memory of a TESCO CAR PARK situation where you ashamed yourself falling something short of a million times, I seem to recollect Mr.Hamad and his family (24people) giggling when they passed by, not to mention the burglars that I think said something along the lines of "these people really deserve a visit during the holidays, they have no shame!"...
Lox
- Wed May 17 12:08:35 2006
dasP I have NO memory of it .... I SWEAR!!
Lox
- Wed May 17 11:49:30 2006
Good morning, MM! I know exactly what you mean! :o)
Tim's Mum
- Wed May 17 11:20:19 2006
And NO NO NO it is not drink related.
Mad Mumsie
- Wed May 17 11:12:30 2006
I have trouble staying on my feet WITHOUT wheels!!
Mad Mumsie
- Wed May 17 11:11:58 2006
Any sort of wheels-on-feet and being cool