Stinking Cold

Hottest days of the year, month, millennium etc etc.

Me with stinking cold. Most unfair. Only got rid of one around a month back and now it seems to have returned. I'm once more carrying around fists full of full tissues, sneezing in meetings and wondering why my brain runs out of... of... thingy right in the midle of.... of.... thingy.

Margot's new car

Margot's new car
Originally uploaded by RobMiles.
Margot came to see us all a-flutter today. Seems she went out to buy a bag of sugar (or something like that) and came back with a brand new car. As one does. Apparently it "dragged her across the garage forecourt and forced her to buy it".

I'm inclined to agree with this. It does look kind of cute.

It's in the wrist action

Actually got Portia to fit onto the docking station today. Once you figure out the little twizzle you have to give her as you fit it on the back panel (which I can now do two out of four times) it is kind of easy. And I am well pleased.

Hmmm. Little things please little minds, but then again if I had a big mind I wouldn't be able to do anything to please it......

Edit: It has occurred to me that if I did have a bigger mind I might be able to think of bigger things that I could do to please it. I wonder if this means my mind is growing. Heaven forfend.

The Only Man In A Suit

Went to a Teaching Fellowship event today. The university has given me a Teaching Fellowship award to do some work in improving the learning environment for our students. With a bit of luck and a following wind I want to get customisable student learning resources and Tablet PC marking in place for next session. Go me.

I was just about the only person wearing a suit, apart from the big boss (or Deputy Vice Chancellor). Oh, and I've found out that Vice Chancellor isn't nearly as much fun as it sounds.

Anyhoo, going from last week's Imagine Cup final, where I was the only person not wearing a suit, to being one of the few sharp dressed guys does imply a kind of symetric nature to fate I suppose. My line on this is that when people are giving me money, I turn up in a suit to collect it....

Pack that Backpack on your Back

Geoff came round today to pick up a laptop backpack. I used it precisely once when I went through my "Cycling to work might be fun" phase. This lasted one trip. Three things must you know about riding a bike:

When it is hot you are hot.
When it is cold you are cold.
When it is wet you fall off.

Perhaps if my bike wasn't made of the same material they use for anchors and paperweights I might be more inclined to use it. It also has super knobbly tyres which make it very hard to pedal. Actually, with its mostly flat nature, Hull is very good for bike riding. But not good enough for me.

The Sound of Silence

Found a lovely feature on the BBC coverage of Wimbledon today. If you use the fancy match selection thingy you can sometimes find a game with no commentary. No people saying things like:

"He must really regret missing that serve"
or
"I'm no expert, but I don't think he meant to do that"
or
"If he doesn't win the next game, he might not win the match"

I watched an hour or so of play and it was wonderful. Just the players and the game and the score. Even the crowd was well behaved. One of the players was Spanish and the other was Greek (I think) and so they didn't quite know who to root for.

I've never quite understood the need for commentary. If you go to see the game live you don't get it and we don't get people commentating on other things:

"..and here comes Miles into the lecture theatre now. Running only two minutes late, a record for him. And yes, he's going for the laptop. Let's see if it will boot first time, or if he'll have that blue screen problem like he did back in 2002 in that memorable data structures seminar. I think that was also the time that his green marker pen ran out, but I may be wrong on that one. Anyway, I see he's found the remote for the video projector, and turned it on at only the third press. I think we could be in for a good session here. The students on the back row have opened their copies of The Sun already in anticipation of a glorious display of teaching at its finest. What do you think Graham...."

A week with Portia

I've had my new tablet PC for nearly a week now. I got it from Max after advising him to buy it. So far it has worked fine. I've loaded a bunch of software on and I have had no problems at all. Love it. In fact I've decided to call her Portia the Portege. The docking station I am going to call "The Devil".

It is as if at Toshiba they had a meeting and asked the engineers to line up, smartest on the left, dumbest on the right. All the engineers on the left went off to build Portia. All the engineers on the right went off to build the docking station. When Max was showing me how horrid the docking station was I noticed that he had to roll his sleeves up prior to beginning the process of putting the machine onto it. You do. The process goes like this:

1. Shut the tablet down.
2. Close the tablet so that the screen is not facing you; i.e. it is in the position where you would not want to use it on a docking station.
3. Remove the dangly bit from the docking station.
4. Insert the left hand docking fitting into the left hand peg on the dangly bit.
5. Insert the right hand docking fitting into the right hand peg on the dangly bit.
6. Notice that the left hand peg has now come out, so return to step 3 and repeat a few times.
7. Now that you have got both pegs lined up and are fairly confident that the things are sort of lined up, apply sufficient pressure to force the tablet onto the dangly bit. You have to push hard to get all those tiny gold pins to fit together, more than hard enough to bend one or two of them I suppose.
8. Assuming your nerve has not failed, and you now have the tablet clipped on to the dangly bit, attach the dangly bit to the main base, making sure to line it up carefully or the whole thing will crash to the floor, smashing the tablet and pulling the cable off the end of the dangly bit. Oh, and be careful not to accidentally twizzle the thing into the landscape mode as this makes it hard to handle and, if the tablet is not properly fitted, will also cause it to plummet to the floor.
9. Remember that you really wanted to see the screen, so get the dangly bit back off the base station and turn the tablet round and then put it back.
10. Turn on the power and wait for the tablet to boot, all the while hoping that the connections are good.
11. Note that the display is now the wrong way up but the tablet pen has X and Y transposed. Spend a mind mangling two mintes trying to press the correct button to log in and have the screen sort itself out.
12. To remove the tablet, first press the special release button and wait for it to go green before continuing or Bad Things (tm) will happen. Then pull the mystery lever, just like the one that lets you rotate the tablet around but on the other side, to have the precious device catapulted into your lap.

This is in sharp contrast to my previous docking station for the Fujitsu tablet, which had a fitting procedure which went like this:

1. Put the tablet on the docking station.
2. Pull the lever.

The good news is that I am going to practice on this until it I've beaten it. The better news is that with Portia having a keyboard of her own there is no particular need for the docking station at the moment. Perhaps I could sell it on eBay to people who've never seen one...

Depressed of Wimbledon

Watched a bit of tennis on the telly today. A english player got beaten. It seemed like he was having difficultly coping with the fact that the other guy was a better player then him. And the crowd, watching weren't much better.

When I was a lad (gosh I sound old) the audience at Wimbledon viewed the game in respectful silence, allowing themselves a sharp intake of breath and perhaps a ripple of clapping at a particularly excellent piece of play by either person on the court. This rabble cheered every time the english player got a ball back and applauded wildly whenever his opponent hit a ball out of the court or double faulted. I ended up rooting for the other guy. And he won.

Once the game was over there was non of the "...and now moving over to the game on court number one.." business of the old days. We had to have an interview with the winner, asking him how he feels about winning (my guess would be pretty pleased - but I'm not a professional tennis commentator). I left the room before they had the interview with the bloke who lost so they could ask him how he feels.

There seems to be an obsession with finding out how people feel these days. Not impressed. I want to watch people playing tennis, not explore the feelings of someone I'm never likely to meet. Ho hum. And I do miss Dan Maskell.

Verity Stob Lives

Went to Foyles today. Spent far too much on books. One book I just had to buy. The collected writings of Verity Stob. She is a legend. Many years ago a new magazine called .EXE, written by programmers for programmers, hit the stands with a regular column by the aformentioned Ms. I remember looking forward to the magazine just to turn straight to the back and read her bit.

Very clever, very funny and very clever (have I mentioned that she is very clever). She now writes for Dr. Dobbs. And you can buy a book of earlier writings. If you have any computer leanings you should read her stuff. And you will laugh. And you will thank me. So go. Follow that link now. Shoo.

Back here? Sorry about that. The Dobbs people stop you from reading much. Never mind, there is always here for a little bit more. I guess you'll have to buy the book. After all, I'm afraid I'm not going to lend you mine.

A Cup of Imagination

I've been sort of associated with the Microsoft Imagine Cup student programming competition since it started a couple of years ago. A couple of years ago I had the great pleasure of seeing a team of Hull students give their all in the competition and come third in the world. Today I saw another set of keen and knowledgable folk strutting their technical stuff in search of glory.

And one of them is number one son. I'm a bit concerned. I've taught him everything I know (took a surprisingly short time) and this might not be enough.

Needn't have worried. The lad done good. Not a winner, but pretty darned impressive (and I say this as an unbiased parent) and a very good start in the business. I think he will be around again next year...

I took a load of pictures. The event took place on top of the BT tower and I think I made a bit of a fool of myself at the event with my big camera and the 130 photographcs I took. Ho hum. I've put some of the better ones on my flickr account (just click on the moving picture thing on the right of this page to find your way there).

Then back to Kings Cross to my little hotel. Meeting up with number one son tomorrow to go to the best bookshop in the world and also the Gizmondo shop.

Preparing for the off

Going to London tomorrow as a guest at the Microsoft Imagine Cup Finals. Going away always worries me. What to pack? Which gadgets to take? Will I have room for any clothes in the bag? I want to take both the new (and very well behaved so far) Tablet PC and the big camera. But I also might need a clean shirt. Such complications.

Zoo Keeper - Match those Hippos

The Nintendo DS is a great toy. It actually takes gaming into a new place. Some of the games are just plain silly but they are not like much else and they are pretty compulsive. Like Zoo Keeper, now available for less than you think and great fun. The premise is very simple, swap animals around in a zoo grid to get lines of more than three and so trap them and put them back in their cages. (I'm not sure if this would work in real life, but the lion has a completely square head and so I don't think we are talking about super realism here).

Anyhoo, the game is great. Number on daughter has now taken ownership of my DS and has been matching hippos for the last hour. She says she blames me for her "touch screen cramp".

Number one son came back from Durham today to rehearse his Imagine Cup presentation for the final next week. Looking good.

Nissen Dorma and Buy a Table

Took the old Nissan out today. First time in a while. I'd forgotten just how much power there is in the old warhorse. Took off like a rocket at the line and then wrapped it around the first lamp post on the corner. Not good. Fortunately I was playing Gran Turismo 4 on the Playstation and not messing around in real metal, plastic and rubber. I won a few races and took part in some enormous car wrecks. Lovely. Then I popped it back into the garage for a week or so.

One of my minor ambitions is to take a proper fast car out somewhere (rallying would be best I reckon) and just see how much of my racing experience maps accross in to the real world.

Then we went out to buy a fan (v. hot today) and came back with a table and four chairs. I don't think we have ever bought a table intentionally. It was, of course, the last one in the shop and suitably reduced in price.

One Man's Poison..

Some time ago Max asked me for my honest opinion about Tablet PCs (this implies that I have a dishonest opinion as well - but we'll let that pass). Anyhoo, I gave him the good word, which is that slate Tablet PCs are great to rest a paper notepad on but pretty much useless in real life unless you are doctor doing ward rounds or a ticket officer on a train. Max is neither of these as far as I am aware.

"What you really want", I said with the voice of one imparting great wisdom, "is a convertable Tablet PC where you can twiddle the screen round to get the tablety writing goodness but also make it into a proper notebook so you can actually use it to get things done. And the best of these..." I continued, building nicely to a climax "... is the Toshiba Portege M200". Max listened, took notes and then went out and bought one.

This morning the phone went. It was Max. He was not happy. To say he was displeased with his M200 would be an understatement of gargantuan proportions for which no suitable analogy has presented itself yet. Apparently nothing works properly with the device. Nothing. Devices come and go like ships in the night. Programs crash for no reason. The docking station (a hugely impressive edifice of plastic, metal and thick cable) does not dock properly. If his office was on a higher level I really think he would have thrown it out of the window. And it was all my fault.

Hmmm. The funny thing is that I've been saving my reach out pennies to get myself just such a device. So I bought it off him. In the face of tales of woe, a screen backdrop of a lemon on the device and streams of invective about it which would make a stoker blush. I've got all the bits. Thing is fully loaded and just like new. Which it very nearly is.

There is nothing like getting a new computer to set you off on a stream of displacement activity of the highest order - although I did write some exam questions whilst I re-imaged the machine from the back up DVD. It is OK so far, and Max is very happy 'cos he can now go out and buy something made by Sony.

I wonder if he will ever ask my advice again.

Time for Toys

I buy toys. Not season tickets for football teams which probably won't win. Not cigarettes that will probably kill me. Not alcohol which may well do the same. But toys. Got a new one today.

For some time I've been considering getting an external disk drive for my computer. I have no particular need for this I supppose, but I do have this ability to convince myself that I do. And I can kind of make a business case to myself because I do sometimes need to move files around.

So off down to PC World and look at what they had. The had a bunch of cute little disks that nearly hit the spot, and one rather interesting gadget from BNI. The Personal Media Drive is externally just like any other external disk drive. You plug it into your computer and chuck files at it.

But it has a couple of little extras. A socket to plug the telly into and a receiver for the remote control that comes with it. You see this little box of magic can hold videos, pictures and music (after all they are just files of data) but it can also play them. I copied a few files onto the disk and pretty soon we were watching Scrubs. It works wonderfully. If you are looking for a 40GB external drive you would be mildly bonkers not to get one of these. And PC World had it 30 quid off. Talk about fate.

Too Much Power

I've replaced the batteries in my car key. The car alarm remote is now so powerful that when I used it on the way home tonight five cars in the carpark unlocked instantly. And two of them were not even the same make as mine. And one did not have remote locking.

The beam that comes out of the key is now so strong that I've managed to give my left hand a rather attractive tan simply by using pointing the remote at it for five seconds. And if it goes off in my trouser pocket the effect has to be seen to be believed.

Actually, none of this is true, it is simply written to make me feel better about spending eight pounds for a couple of batteries....

Lack of Displacement

I've got to write a bunch of exam questions and resit courswork specifications to write. So of course I've knuckled down tidying my windows desktop, emptying my recycler bin and moving bits of paper around in my desk. I'm running out of displacement activities at the moment or, and this is more worrying, most of the displacement activities that I've found - for example tidying my office - look like harder work than actually doing the job in hand. Ah well, at least there's always writing blog entries.....

The World Has Gone Mad (again)

The world has gone mad. Even madder than last time I noticed it had gone mad. I was watching the telly today when an advert came on which started with the line:

"Gosh Jennifer, that cat food looks like home made...."

This implies a number of very scary things:

1. There are people out there who make their own cat food.
2. There are people out there who can tell the difference between home made and shop bought cat food.
3. There are people out there who stand around in kitchens discussing cat food.

This makes "professional chewing gum" and "the seven signs of aging" look like the work of marketing genius.

Sometimes I fear for the future.

Tasteful snack

Tasteful snack
Originally uploaded by RobMiles.

The Road to Durham Town

Went to Durham today to visit number one son. Durham is a very nice place. Not so nice in the pouring rain, but still nice. Went into the cathedral, which is wonderful. They won't let you take pictures inside I'm afraid, so no pictures today.

Key Fear

A moment of real terror today in the car park. Key remote failed to make the car doors open. With my car this is a problem. You might be able to use the metal key bit to open the doors but, unless you use the remote "blipper" the engine won't start. Actually that is not true, the engine starts and then stops a few seconds afterwards. Some kind of French torture I reckon. Anyhoo, with out the magic key you are magically stuffed. And it seemed I was without the magic key.

A tip: If you are not sure if an IR device is working, be it TV remote control or dodgy keyfob for old car, use the camera on your mobile phone. These can see IR signals. So I had a quick look and all seemed well.

After a little jiggling it all started to work again. Thank goodness. I think that it is time to buy some new batteries....

A Newer Phone than Mine

John has a newer phone than me. Worse, it is a 3G one (why didn't they call the network GGG?). He showed me the phone in a meeting today and it is very nice. It has two cameras, a big display and is very shiny. I think I may be heading for my annual phone upgrade. On the other hand, he can't play my silly phone games...

Car Park Mystery

The semester has come to an end. Summer is here. All around me people are drifting away on exotic holidays. So why is the carpark now full at 8:30 in the morning?

Strange.

Profound Question

When a jellyfish renews his car insurance does he get a "No Claims Boneless"?

Sad Cars and Lumpy Petrol

Last week we went down to a car showroom "just to sit in a new car". The current car is now of the opinion that we don't care about it any more (actually we do, the new versions of my car are almost - but not quite - as nice as the one I have) and so today the car engine went all lumpy on the way to work. Normally in my car you try to go faster and nothing much happens. Today if you tried to go faster it slowed down.

I hope it was due to dampness, and not my unfaithfulness with an '05 reg.

Sunday Coder

Spent most of today writing a silly program. At the end of it I showed number one wife the fruit of my efforts. A little spaceship and a few sliding stars. Oh well....

Science club

Science club
Originally uploaded by RobMiles.

This is a picture I took during my Science Club presentation "Blogs and Spaces" and uploaded to the blog straight from the phone.

Thanks for being a good audience folks. I said during the presentation I'd put some links on my blog to the more interesting sites that I used. So here they are:

If you want to create a blog then you should go to: http://www.blogger.com/start
Blogger is a good blogging service, but it doesn't let you add pictures or other content to your blog.

If you want to upload, store and display pictures you should create an account at: http://www.flickr.com/. The free version has a limit on how many pictures you can upload each month, but it does let you upload from your mobile phone - if the phone supports MMS to email. You can also link your flickr account to your blogger blog, so that you can send pictures from flickr into your blog via email.

If you want to work with a bunch of friends on something, and share pictures and messages, then take a look at: http://spaces.msn.com/ This lets you upload pictures (also from your phone). You can customise your space and decide who you will allow to see it.

The spaces also work well with MSN Messenger, but you need to get the latest version 7 for best effect. You can get that at: http://www.imagine-msn.com/messenger/default2.aspx?locale=en-gb&tduid=3ce2af3515809d86a621ae2be12cb2db If you use messenger, you should get this anyway.

If you want to use tags to find your posts and look for other ones you then take a look at: http://www.technorati.com/

I hope all these pages are useful. And remember, have fun.

Clock

Clock
Originally uploaded by RobMiles.

Sliced Thespians

We bought a new toaster earlier this week. We really only bought it because of the label, which we thought was rather funny.

Perhaps it is for use by actors.

The Server with Class

Gave my Class Server talk at Microsoft Reading today. Class server is a teaching and assessment environment from Microsoft which is really rather neat. I've been using it for a year or so and had some fun with it. And the students like it too.

I was presenting with Romola. She gave a serious and well paced introduction to the subject and then handed over to me. Cue a shed load of levity, bad jokes and fast paced software demonstrations from yours truly who then passed the audience, all breathless and disheveled, back to her to wrap up.

I think we make a good team.

By all accounts the audience seemed to agree, which is nice.