I have a long-standing hatred of band-waggoning. I'm of the very pushy opinion that the current recession is only as bad as it is because of scare-mongering tactics among the media which gave the whole thing a sense of a self-fulfilling prophecy (not unlike the bank run on Northern Rock). I'm hedging my bets here.
This morning, Microsoft announced a decline in profit since the first time since Windows 3.1. All day, I've been reading blog and newspaper posts about it, most of them spelling doom. This is quite unfortunate. I'm waiting for a drop in share price, because I'm worried it'll follow the same pattern as the recent Nintendo debacle, which I'll summarise as follows: The Wii market in Japan is nearing saturation, and given a thousand different factors, the entire console market in Japan has had a slowdown in sales recently. Nintendo published its figures last week showing that they were ahead in the sales race with the Wii and DS at the top two sales slots, but it was less than last year, and as such, doom and gloom abounding just now, their share price took a nosedive.
Jenny is not pleased.
I'm all for the introduction of new technology, and I simply adore how things make their way to the masses (One day I'll write a post and try to describe the expression I made the first time I saw Google Earth), but at times like this, that niggling voice at the back of my head wonders if there should be a test before you're allowed all this information. That test is rather simple; if you read the Daily Mail, you should be treated like a dangerous criminal and not allowed on the webernet - quite simply, we don't want you clogging up the tubes.
Friday 24 April 2009
Wednesday 22 April 2009
Software design - ur doin it rite
I do the Twitter thing. In fact, I would say I'm a complete Twitter-head. Like most, I too dismissed it initially as 'Facebook statuses' but it has become increasingly relevant, now to the point that the only thing I log into Facebook for is to see if anyone has commented on my status (updated via Twitter), upload photos (done via iPhoto) and play Know-It-All. Guess which one I do most.
Obviously, I don't do actual logging into the website - that's just SO oldschool - so I have tried a number of clients. First, there was TweetDeck - but, as @serafinowicz says, it does feel like being an air traffic controller. It's ENORMOUS. Oh, I tell a lie! First was actually the Dashboard widget, Twidget, which I have never let go of, because it's simply wonderful for just having a quick check on the last two or three updates. It's simple, it's basic, I'll always have it (I am a complete Dashboard freak, I'll post about that another time!).
So then, after noticing that @VoteWoz made a post from twhirl, I gave it a try. It's very, very nice, and clean, far simpler than TweetDeck, so I consigned TweetDeck to the hills. I used twhirl for a long time (at LEAST two weeks), but I did have a few niggles - number one being how tiny the buttons on it were (although I am running at an insanely high resolution on a laptop, so...), and number two that because it's cross-platform, it has a button for Prefs. Which, as I am a Mac user, means no cmd+, TweetDeck had this problem too.
Then, yesterday, I was turned onto Tweetie. Now, as iPhone users know, Tweetie has been around for the iPhone forever, but they've just released a Mac version, and, well, I am a complete convert. FINALLY, the app that I was waiting for. If Apple themselves designed a Twitter client, it would look like this, it's brilliant. Cmd+, for Prefs! Hooray! Also it doesn't auto-scroll when new Tweets come in, so you pick up where you left off and see things in order! It integrates with TwitPic to just load the picture in its own window. And it has a really neat menubar icon that simply goes blue when there are unread Tweets. No popups, no blinging. It's just marvellous.
All this is lovely, but it is what happened after I went for Tweetie that the real excitement for yesterday happened - I discovered Scribbles. Scribbles is atebits' (the makers of Tweetie) little drawing program, and it's just lovely, and fun. Its layering is simple and intuitive. The way it scales in and out is fab. However, the best thing EVER about it is found via a poke around on the website - it has a one-button Publish to the online Scribbles gallery - click on the link.
Go on, click on it. I'll wait here.
Amazing, isn't it? It's just a dead simple drawing program - almost as if MacPaint got very, very drunk and had an affair with Photoshop 7 - but it's clearly capable of epic drawing wins.
And Windows peeps wonder why it is that I choose a Mac. Because nothing this clever, simple and elegant could ever be dreamt up by a Windows developer (I would ADORE to be proven wrong about this because really, it would make the world a better place).
Obviously, I don't do actual logging into the website - that's just SO oldschool - so I have tried a number of clients. First, there was TweetDeck - but, as @serafinowicz says, it does feel like being an air traffic controller. It's ENORMOUS. Oh, I tell a lie! First was actually the Dashboard widget, Twidget, which I have never let go of, because it's simply wonderful for just having a quick check on the last two or three updates. It's simple, it's basic, I'll always have it (I am a complete Dashboard freak, I'll post about that another time!).
So then, after noticing that @VoteWoz made a post from twhirl, I gave it a try. It's very, very nice, and clean, far simpler than TweetDeck, so I consigned TweetDeck to the hills. I used twhirl for a long time (at LEAST two weeks), but I did have a few niggles - number one being how tiny the buttons on it were (although I am running at an insanely high resolution on a laptop, so...), and number two that because it's cross-platform, it has a button for Prefs. Which, as I am a Mac user, means no cmd+, TweetDeck had this problem too.
Then, yesterday, I was turned onto Tweetie. Now, as iPhone users know, Tweetie has been around for the iPhone forever, but they've just released a Mac version, and, well, I am a complete convert. FINALLY, the app that I was waiting for. If Apple themselves designed a Twitter client, it would look like this, it's brilliant. Cmd+, for Prefs! Hooray! Also it doesn't auto-scroll when new Tweets come in, so you pick up where you left off and see things in order! It integrates with TwitPic to just load the picture in its own window. And it has a really neat menubar icon that simply goes blue when there are unread Tweets. No popups, no blinging. It's just marvellous.
All this is lovely, but it is what happened after I went for Tweetie that the real excitement for yesterday happened - I discovered Scribbles. Scribbles is atebits' (the makers of Tweetie) little drawing program, and it's just lovely, and fun. Its layering is simple and intuitive. The way it scales in and out is fab. However, the best thing EVER about it is found via a poke around on the website - it has a one-button Publish to the online Scribbles gallery - click on the link.
Go on, click on it. I'll wait here.
Amazing, isn't it? It's just a dead simple drawing program - almost as if MacPaint got very, very drunk and had an affair with Photoshop 7 - but it's clearly capable of epic drawing wins.
And Windows peeps wonder why it is that I choose a Mac. Because nothing this clever, simple and elegant could ever be dreamt up by a Windows developer (I would ADORE to be proven wrong about this because really, it would make the world a better place).
I am le cursed.
I'll be honest - I liked the trackpad. Then it stopped working.
It's a bit weird, to be honest, I don't know how to explain it. Because 99.999999% of the time, it's ok. But then I wake my computer up from sleep that ONE time... and for some reason, it won't click. So I've had to turn on Tap to Click, which is odd because I haven't used it in so long (and it's terrible for dragging and selecting).
Apparently I'm not alone. Which should be comforting. But it isn't, because it means it's a known issue. Sigh.
(although I think mine got this way by me crying into it, oops!)
Hmmm. I wrote this a few days ago but never uploaded it. I've since discovered HOW to drag and select. It's good, but not great. Must take to Apple Store next time I'm nearby. Hmmmmm.
It's a bit weird, to be honest, I don't know how to explain it. Because 99.999999% of the time, it's ok. But then I wake my computer up from sleep that ONE time... and for some reason, it won't click. So I've had to turn on Tap to Click, which is odd because I haven't used it in so long (and it's terrible for dragging and selecting).
Apparently I'm not alone. Which should be comforting. But it isn't, because it means it's a known issue. Sigh.
(although I think mine got this way by me crying into it, oops!)
Hmmm. I wrote this a few days ago but never uploaded it. I've since discovered HOW to drag and select. It's good, but not great. Must take to Apple Store next time I'm nearby. Hmmmmm.
Friday 3 April 2009
On Technology in our Lives
Less than 24 hours later, and ssh-ing each others computer to make it talk has become part of household life. 'Come downstairs lunch is ready' 'turn the music down I'm on the phone' 'where are you, you and your laptop have vanished!' echo round the house in Alex's dulcet tones. Although he can't pronounce Alicia properly, coming out with Aleesha. Ugh.
The recent furor over Google's Street View here in the UK has given me the opportunity to think technological impacts through, so I'm going to blab about them in a seemingly random, stream-of-consciousness kinda way. It may be a little haggard because I'm going through some VERY serious chocolate withdrawal and as such can't make it to the shop, and my normally-helpful partner won't go for me because he's a big fat EVE online-playing meanie :( *sob*
So, first I'm going to make a statement, which everyone already knows in some form or another: every new wave of technology is proceeded by a wave of fear - however, this fear is not of technology itself, but of each other, and by extension, the unknown.
Yes, sounds a bit silly. I'll prove it. Let's go WAY back.
Sputnik was awesome. I mean, truly awesome. They managed to get a big round ball with sticky-outy pins to float around the earth and go beep. How awesome? Suddenly, we weren't looking at the stars, we were so close to reaching out and touching them. However! What was the general feeling of the populace? Was it one of achievement, excitement, discovery? Oh no. It was fear. Outright, abject fear (this is fairly famous, but in case you don't believe me, go read Sputnik Crisis), not of the shiny metal ball in space, but of what could be done with it that we didn't know. Apparently, in the US especially, the tension could be cut with a knife as people waited for Judgement Day to begin... which of course it didn't. The Cold War stayed, well, pretty darn cold. But it highlighted the fear - the fear of the unknown and what someone else, someone strange, could do with it. The US was terrified of what this new technology they had so abysmally failed to develop could do to them.
Fast forward nearly 50 years, and we have Google Street View - nowhere near as technologically important, but, you know, WAY cooler. Of course. What is it? If you're a nerd, they're just geotagged photos hashed together. This is fairly trifling to those in the GIS industry, as it has been going on for decades, but in the last few years it has been encroaching on the general population, and Street View has really set the nation on fire! Now, of course, there are two amusing things about this, firstly, Street View has been in the US for aaaaages, so if anyone has been hiding under a rock and didn't know it was on its way, well, tough tits, and secondly, the UK has nearly 4.5 million CCTV cameras which monitor us every single day of our lives, so having a one-off picture the front of your house (and not even every house - Street View doesn't do cul-de-sacs) is hardly terrifying.
But oh no! Reports this morning in the Guardian told us that people were willing to form a human barrier and risk looking like complete idiots over fear of what someone might do with something they don't understand. Paul Jacobs, the panic-monger responsible for this laughable act of idiocy, was quoted as saying, "If our houses are plastered all over Google, it's an invitation for more criminals to strike.".
Yes. Like the fact that any potential thief living or travelling near the village wouldn't already know that this village is the very definition of upper middle class (the houses have tennis courts and pools in the back garden). Jacobs also mentioned, as part of his argument for his stupidity, that there had been three burglaries in the last six weeks. Where? In his living room? Or in the whole village? In case you haven't noticed, Mr Jacobs, there is a recession going on - lots of people getting a bit shirty and a bit desperate. PLEASE try to recognise that you might buy your land, but it still belongs to this earth, as does the rest of humanity, to which you in turn belong. Stop whining because someone might possibly see that your door could do with a lick of paint and you hadn't bothered to polish your Porsche Boxter this week, or even, gadzooks, that you hire a gardner to landscape instead of doing it yourself (labour is the new hired help).
Sigh. I realise I drifted into a 'we are the world' argument just there, but seriously, come on. If you have that kind of 'invasion of privacy' things about someone taking a photograph and putting it up online, then go live in a bunker, because *I* for one, want to be nosy and see what people's hanging baskets are looking like (or were looking like, last year!).
Hugs,
Jen
The recent furor over Google's Street View here in the UK has given me the opportunity to think technological impacts through, so I'm going to blab about them in a seemingly random, stream-of-consciousness kinda way. It may be a little haggard because I'm going through some VERY serious chocolate withdrawal and as such can't make it to the shop, and my normally-helpful partner won't go for me because he's a big fat EVE online-playing meanie :( *sob*
So, first I'm going to make a statement, which everyone already knows in some form or another: every new wave of technology is proceeded by a wave of fear - however, this fear is not of technology itself, but of each other, and by extension, the unknown.
Yes, sounds a bit silly. I'll prove it. Let's go WAY back.
Sputnik was awesome. I mean, truly awesome. They managed to get a big round ball with sticky-outy pins to float around the earth and go beep. How awesome? Suddenly, we weren't looking at the stars, we were so close to reaching out and touching them. However! What was the general feeling of the populace? Was it one of achievement, excitement, discovery? Oh no. It was fear. Outright, abject fear (this is fairly famous, but in case you don't believe me, go read Sputnik Crisis), not of the shiny metal ball in space, but of what could be done with it that we didn't know. Apparently, in the US especially, the tension could be cut with a knife as people waited for Judgement Day to begin... which of course it didn't. The Cold War stayed, well, pretty darn cold. But it highlighted the fear - the fear of the unknown and what someone else, someone strange, could do with it. The US was terrified of what this new technology they had so abysmally failed to develop could do to them.
Fast forward nearly 50 years, and we have Google Street View - nowhere near as technologically important, but, you know, WAY cooler. Of course. What is it? If you're a nerd, they're just geotagged photos hashed together. This is fairly trifling to those in the GIS industry, as it has been going on for decades, but in the last few years it has been encroaching on the general population, and Street View has really set the nation on fire! Now, of course, there are two amusing things about this, firstly, Street View has been in the US for aaaaages, so if anyone has been hiding under a rock and didn't know it was on its way, well, tough tits, and secondly, the UK has nearly 4.5 million CCTV cameras which monitor us every single day of our lives, so having a one-off picture the front of your house (and not even every house - Street View doesn't do cul-de-sacs) is hardly terrifying.
But oh no! Reports this morning in the Guardian told us that people were willing to form a human barrier and risk looking like complete idiots over fear of what someone might do with something they don't understand. Paul Jacobs, the panic-monger responsible for this laughable act of idiocy, was quoted as saying, "If our houses are plastered all over Google, it's an invitation for more criminals to strike.".
Yes. Like the fact that any potential thief living or travelling near the village wouldn't already know that this village is the very definition of upper middle class (the houses have tennis courts and pools in the back garden). Jacobs also mentioned, as part of his argument for his stupidity, that there had been three burglaries in the last six weeks. Where? In his living room? Or in the whole village? In case you haven't noticed, Mr Jacobs, there is a recession going on - lots of people getting a bit shirty and a bit desperate. PLEASE try to recognise that you might buy your land, but it still belongs to this earth, as does the rest of humanity, to which you in turn belong. Stop whining because someone might possibly see that your door could do with a lick of paint and you hadn't bothered to polish your Porsche Boxter this week, or even, gadzooks, that you hire a gardner to landscape instead of doing it yourself (labour is the new hired help).
Sigh. I realise I drifted into a 'we are the world' argument just there, but seriously, come on. If you have that kind of 'invasion of privacy' things about someone taking a photograph and putting it up online, then go live in a bunker, because *I* for one, want to be nosy and see what people's hanging baskets are looking like (or were looking like, last year!).
Hugs,
Jen
Thursday 2 April 2009
WOOOOO
I just did the coolest thing I've ever done on a Mac - well, two of them, and they both involved Terminal.
Number 1: I played Tetris via Terminal. It was cool. emacs>escape>x>tetris. All good.
Number 2: I ssh'd Crispin's computer downstairs to tell him to come to bed. This was more difficult than it looked. Although the command when you're on the same network is a piece of piss!! ssh username, simple as that. I went for the remote version first (getting ahead of myself), with ssh -l compaddress ipaddress. It didn't work (while idly wondering how it was supposed to know which machine on the network it was, I forgot that it should have been username@machine, and ommitted the @machine). I figured he'd switched off remote login, so I went downstairs, made him minimise EVE online and turned it on (he hadn't, but I noticed the @machine bit helpfully displayed on the menu, and went 'oh crap'), thus defeating the principle, but anyway - I was on a mission.
I went back upstairs then and did ssh -l username@machine ipaddress, wherein Terminal helpfully added this to my list of trusted peeps. Then it told me bash didn't know what the command for my ipaddress was - so I figured it didn't need it. So, I forgot about the -l bit, and did ssh username@machine, and it worked.
So clearly, I then did the following.
say "it is late, come to bed please". I had the bedroom door open, so I could hear the faint sound of amusement coming from downstairs - but it was nothing next to the smile on my face. Sure, it's a tiny achievement to long-haul command line peeps. But it was a big deal to me. :D
Thanks, MacLife :P
Number 1: I played Tetris via Terminal. It was cool. emacs>escape>x>tetris. All good.
Number 2: I ssh'd Crispin's computer downstairs to tell him to come to bed. This was more difficult than it looked. Although the command when you're on the same network is a piece of piss!! ssh username, simple as that. I went for the remote version first (getting ahead of myself), with ssh -l compaddress ipaddress. It didn't work (while idly wondering how it was supposed to know which machine on the network it was, I forgot that it should have been username@machine, and ommitted the @machine). I figured he'd switched off remote login, so I went downstairs, made him minimise EVE online and turned it on (he hadn't, but I noticed the @machine bit helpfully displayed on the menu, and went 'oh crap'), thus defeating the principle, but anyway - I was on a mission.
I went back upstairs then and did ssh -l username@machine ipaddress, wherein Terminal helpfully added this to my list of trusted peeps. Then it told me bash didn't know what the command for my ipaddress was - so I figured it didn't need it. So, I forgot about the -l bit, and did ssh username@machine, and it worked.
So clearly, I then did the following.
say "it is late, come to bed please". I had the bedroom door open, so I could hear the faint sound of amusement coming from downstairs - but it was nothing next to the smile on my face. Sure, it's a tiny achievement to long-haul command line peeps. But it was a big deal to me. :D
Thanks, MacLife :P
Wednesday 1 April 2009
How My MBP is configured
Ok, so this is just sad, I realise, but I'm sat here with the thing happily on my lap while Crispy plays Blue Dragon, so I figure I might as well get my typing fingers on, innit.
My MBP is an early 2009 model 17" MacBook Pro, with 4GB of memory and a 320GB 7200 RPM. I didn't get the SSD option, and slightly regret it. I cancelled the anti-glare option and am so glad I did as Engadget can go suck eggs whining about the 'glare' option, it looks WAY better. I also didn't pay the £800 to get the 8GB of memory I'll never use :P
My MBP is an early 2009 model 17" MacBook Pro, with 4GB of memory and a 320GB 7200 RPM. I didn't get the SSD option, and slightly regret it. I cancelled the anti-glare option and am so glad I did as Engadget can go suck eggs whining about the 'glare' option, it looks WAY better. I also didn't pay the £800 to get the 8GB of memory I'll never use :P
- I have iLife '09 and iWork '09 installed (more on that later)
- Bootcamp partition to run Serif (for work, I hate the thing), maybe FFXI Online
- VMWare to virtualise Bootcamp Partition. Haven't gotten around to installing Ubuntu, might not bother as wouldn't ever use, only for posing. Lol.
- Candybar to make my Dock look like WALL-E/Dangermouse
- WoW just because. I don't love it, but you have to have an MMO, and it's so easy to get hold of and pay for.
- Handbrake for converting my MPEG-2 files from my Handycam to MPEG-4's that my Mac can view.
- Skype for work :(
- Spotify for its total awesomeness. EVERYONE should have Spotify.
- twhirl for Twitter. I did use TweetDeck, but twhirl is just SO much simpler and shinier.
- Wikipedia
- Weather (so handy!)
- Twidget (for those quick updates)
- Wallsaver (to pose - don't actually use it, is too distracting)
- iStatPro (useful!!)
- Calculator (handy)
- Dice Roller (lol, easy for rolling damage dice while roleplaying, as there are no D5s in real life, and dividing a d10 by two is too time consuming when you're in a sweat up against an Orc with your life on the line!)
- Sticky with my home IP address so I can afp to my home iMac if needs be.
Giving Advice
Today, I realised I was a Mac person. I mean, I knew this already, but I'd always thought of myself as a bit of a wannabe - but to be fair, the other people I knew who were Mac heads are my partner Crispin, whose Mac knowledge goes back decades (literally, DECADES), and of course, Chad, Andrew, Jocke and Yegor, all of whom are so scarily elite that it doesn't actually bear thinking about. I admire all 5 for their complete geekdom, and as I could barely find the Terminal window, let alone ssh anything (I was confused when Crispin me to 'just chmod it' recently, which is a pretty basic command, for shame!), I'd always just assume I'm a basic user.
Which is complete bollox, of course. You don't have to be able to compile stuff to know what you're talking about, and today, when a friend of mine finally got around to setting up the old Powerbook G4 he'd bought for £300 off a friend, he started asking me questions ('How do I delete stuff off the Dock', 'How do I change the name of my hard drive', and of course, 'what Twitter app do you use?'), and then he came back with 'I just asked three Mac people the same question...' He included me in his list of Mac people, despite the fact that I never even USED one properly before just over a year ago (technically a lie - we only had Macs when I was in secondary school, so I've used OS 9 with Cubase, teh awsumz).
Just a silly small thing, but it made me proud.
Which is complete bollox, of course. You don't have to be able to compile stuff to know what you're talking about, and today, when a friend of mine finally got around to setting up the old Powerbook G4 he'd bought for £300 off a friend, he started asking me questions ('How do I delete stuff off the Dock', 'How do I change the name of my hard drive', and of course, 'what Twitter app do you use?'), and then he came back with 'I just asked three Mac people the same question...' He included me in his list of Mac people, despite the fact that I never even USED one properly before just over a year ago (technically a lie - we only had Macs when I was in secondary school, so I've used OS 9 with Cubase, teh awsumz).
Just a silly small thing, but it made me proud.
Oh, the saga.
So, it has been a little while, and that is for a reason - there was a saga. A sad saga. :(
My divinely gorgeous piece of kit was ill! So ill, in fact, that it is now sitting being looked at in Apple, and I have a brand new one. So. What happened, I hear you ask?
God only knows what the actual issue was, because no amount of testing on the Mac support forums could work it out, but it was something to do with the GPU firmware. It was causing lots of vertical purple lines on the screen.
Here is part of my desktop: http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/7267/img6409x.jpg
Here's the whole desktop normally: http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/2628/img6412r.jpg
How horrific! So, obv, first thing I did was Google it, and discovered I wasn't alone (I had somehow missed a post on Engadget about it which I got through Mail, dunno how I missed that one!) - there were a ton of people having the same problem, which they attributed to the NVIDIA 9600M GPU. Now, I had never used the 9600M GPU - only the 9400, because I was all for the better battery life, and figured that for what I use this beastie for, I probably wouldn't need it for a while (which begs the question why I have this thing in the first place, but how and soever). I put in my tuppence worth. I rang up Apple, but had a feeling it wasn't going to be something they could solve over the phone, and boy was I vindicated when the person on the phone asked me to remove my battery.
I lol'd. Lots. Why? You would too, if you'd spent the better part of three days on a train testing the battery life of the new, shiny, non-removable battery, subject of scorn on tech blogs who like hotswapping over actual decent battery life. (there's a video and everything, at http://www.apple.com/uk/macbookpro/)
So. I was NOT amused, and told the guy on the phone, rather snootily as I felt like I was dealing with a complete idiot at this point, that I could not remove the battery, as it was the new 17" MBP with non-removable battery. He was confused. He put me on hold. He went to speak to a Tier 2 support person (I later found out the Tier 2s all work out of Cork and France, how cool is that). He came back to me and told me I would have to go to my nearest Apple store as they could do nowt for me on the phone. I was cross, as the nearest Apple store is in Liverpool. He booked me an appointment. I went to the Apple store and met the lovely James.
The lovely James changed my world - he was a smart, geeky, funny little ginger who knew his stuff. He asked me what was wrong. I opened up my MBP, and he excitedly went 'oh, the new 17"!' I turned it to him and said 'you tell me', at which point he recoiled. He asked if it was a custom configuration from the online store. I said yes. He then started to apologise in an embarassed way for what the Tier 1 I spoke to said, because (as he said) they couldn't replace it in store - it had to be shipped out and customised. I didn't mind too much as he was so nice. I could have taken him home to my Mum, he was so sweet. He showed me many things. I lol'd when he asked me what the FCC of my machine was - he meant the full charge capacity (which means my battery has many millions of powers), I thought he meant the serial code of the certification from the Federal Communications Commission. Too much Engadget. Sigh. The online store peeps emailed him a form I had to fill in. I did so. He emailed it back to them after I went home.
Two days later I'd heard nothing from the online store, so I called them and said 'OI!', to be told that they'd received my email back (via James), and would now process my return but I had to wait for their supervisor to ok it because I wanted it before I had to send back the old one. I said I didn't mind if that was the case :P The girl I spoke to (Michelle) was clearly American, and was so wonderful and 'go the extra mile'-like that if I could have sent her a box of choccies I would have. Then, she sent me a PERSONAL email to say she'd checked and my replacement machine had been sent, and the returns number, and the tracking number, and the date it was going to arrive, and the contact details for TNT in case they didn't contact me to pick up the dead one.
I was so pleased. I backed up the old machine and happily sat and waited (well, I went to Ireland). The new one was delivered last Monday, exactly a week after I first called to say 'wtf?!' Good service? Yes. I should think so.
Except for one thing - they needn't have bothered. One tiny bit of communication between support teams would have told them that there was a firmware update in the works being rushed out to solve the problem - and one day after I received my replacement MBP, what did I get? The firmware update. Which fixed EVERYONE else who'd been told to wait. LOL.
I found this hilarious, so so so hilarious. Oh well! At least now I have a newer machine which is still virgin, and is so so wonderful. :D And has no ugly PAT tested stickers on the power cables (thanks, stupid UK law).
So now I've had this one for just over a week and I still love it, although I was in my brother-in-law-to-be's house over the weekend, and he (being married to an Apple Sales Senior Account Manager) has ten million Macs in his house (his 6 year-old son has an iBook G4, for christ's sake, but it was an obsolete one!), and he'd just gotten himself a brand new 13" Macbook. It was SO cute, like a baby one of my big monster, and I wanted it sooooo bad. I'm so sad, really. I just liked how portable it was, but I really, really appreciate the screen on this baby, so I think I'll be sticking with this one. For a number of YEARS.
My divinely gorgeous piece of kit was ill! So ill, in fact, that it is now sitting being looked at in Apple, and I have a brand new one. So. What happened, I hear you ask?
God only knows what the actual issue was, because no amount of testing on the Mac support forums could work it out, but it was something to do with the GPU firmware. It was causing lots of vertical purple lines on the screen.
Here is part of my desktop: http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/7267/img6409x.jpg
Here's the whole desktop normally: http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/2628/img6412r.jpg
How horrific! So, obv, first thing I did was Google it, and discovered I wasn't alone (I had somehow missed a post on Engadget about it which I got through Mail, dunno how I missed that one!) - there were a ton of people having the same problem, which they attributed to the NVIDIA 9600M GPU. Now, I had never used the 9600M GPU - only the 9400, because I was all for the better battery life, and figured that for what I use this beastie for, I probably wouldn't need it for a while (which begs the question why I have this thing in the first place, but how and soever). I put in my tuppence worth. I rang up Apple, but had a feeling it wasn't going to be something they could solve over the phone, and boy was I vindicated when the person on the phone asked me to remove my battery.
I lol'd. Lots. Why? You would too, if you'd spent the better part of three days on a train testing the battery life of the new, shiny, non-removable battery, subject of scorn on tech blogs who like hotswapping over actual decent battery life. (there's a video and everything, at http://www.apple.com/uk/macbookpro/)
So. I was NOT amused, and told the guy on the phone, rather snootily as I felt like I was dealing with a complete idiot at this point, that I could not remove the battery, as it was the new 17" MBP with non-removable battery. He was confused. He put me on hold. He went to speak to a Tier 2 support person (I later found out the Tier 2s all work out of Cork and France, how cool is that). He came back to me and told me I would have to go to my nearest Apple store as they could do nowt for me on the phone. I was cross, as the nearest Apple store is in Liverpool. He booked me an appointment. I went to the Apple store and met the lovely James.
The lovely James changed my world - he was a smart, geeky, funny little ginger who knew his stuff. He asked me what was wrong. I opened up my MBP, and he excitedly went 'oh, the new 17"!' I turned it to him and said 'you tell me', at which point he recoiled. He asked if it was a custom configuration from the online store. I said yes. He then started to apologise in an embarassed way for what the Tier 1 I spoke to said, because (as he said) they couldn't replace it in store - it had to be shipped out and customised. I didn't mind too much as he was so nice. I could have taken him home to my Mum, he was so sweet. He showed me many things. I lol'd when he asked me what the FCC of my machine was - he meant the full charge capacity (which means my battery has many millions of powers), I thought he meant the serial code of the certification from the Federal Communications Commission. Too much Engadget. Sigh. The online store peeps emailed him a form I had to fill in. I did so. He emailed it back to them after I went home.
Two days later I'd heard nothing from the online store, so I called them and said 'OI!', to be told that they'd received my email back (via James), and would now process my return but I had to wait for their supervisor to ok it because I wanted it before I had to send back the old one. I said I didn't mind if that was the case :P The girl I spoke to (Michelle) was clearly American, and was so wonderful and 'go the extra mile'-like that if I could have sent her a box of choccies I would have. Then, she sent me a PERSONAL email to say she'd checked and my replacement machine had been sent, and the returns number, and the tracking number, and the date it was going to arrive, and the contact details for TNT in case they didn't contact me to pick up the dead one.
I was so pleased. I backed up the old machine and happily sat and waited (well, I went to Ireland). The new one was delivered last Monday, exactly a week after I first called to say 'wtf?!' Good service? Yes. I should think so.
Except for one thing - they needn't have bothered. One tiny bit of communication between support teams would have told them that there was a firmware update in the works being rushed out to solve the problem - and one day after I received my replacement MBP, what did I get? The firmware update. Which fixed EVERYONE else who'd been told to wait. LOL.
I found this hilarious, so so so hilarious. Oh well! At least now I have a newer machine which is still virgin, and is so so wonderful. :D And has no ugly PAT tested stickers on the power cables (thanks, stupid UK law).
So now I've had this one for just over a week and I still love it, although I was in my brother-in-law-to-be's house over the weekend, and he (being married to an Apple Sales Senior Account Manager) has ten million Macs in his house (his 6 year-old son has an iBook G4, for christ's sake, but it was an obsolete one!), and he'd just gotten himself a brand new 13" Macbook. It was SO cute, like a baby one of my big monster, and I wanted it sooooo bad. I'm so sad, really. I just liked how portable it was, but I really, really appreciate the screen on this baby, so I think I'll be sticking with this one. For a number of YEARS.
Wednesday 18 March 2009
Ooh, another MBP!
How marvellous. I've finally seen another human being sporting the same MBP as me, and guess what? They happened to have the glossy screen.
Take THAT, Engadget and all of your goddamn whining about the anti-glare screen. The rest of us actually like how gorgeous things appear behind a glass screen, you smarmy idiots.
I've always loved Engadget, seriously, they're great. But come ON. The amount of whining and complaining that they did when Apple redid the screens on the MB and MBP line was just unbelievable.
A failed freight train! Apparently a failed freight train blocked the line between Warrington and Crewe, but they said it was a signal failure when we were at the station, which just goes to show something I've long suspected, and that is that the 'signal failure' is just a coverall story they spin as people know what it means and can't do anything about it.
Well, I think that Network Rail should invest in some new fucking signals because I have had it with them failing. The fucking bastards.
Take THAT, Engadget and all of your goddamn whining about the anti-glare screen. The rest of us actually like how gorgeous things appear behind a glass screen, you smarmy idiots.
I've always loved Engadget, seriously, they're great. But come ON. The amount of whining and complaining that they did when Apple redid the screens on the MB and MBP line was just unbelievable.
A failed freight train! Apparently a failed freight train blocked the line between Warrington and Crewe, but they said it was a signal failure when we were at the station, which just goes to show something I've long suspected, and that is that the 'signal failure' is just a coverall story they spin as people know what it means and can't do anything about it.
Well, I think that Network Rail should invest in some new fucking signals because I have had it with them failing. The fucking bastards.
Network Rail!
I just got on a train from Morecambe to go (eventually) to West Drayton, which goes Morecambe, Lancaster, London Euston, tube to London Paddington, West Drayton. It's a four hour journey, sigh. But not the end of the world. The service from Morecambe to Lancaster is a little local service that goes from Morecambe to Lancaster, stopping at Bare Lane on the way. It's £1.80 for a single. The train station is very bizarre in that it only opens at seemingly random times across the day, and the ticket price from Morecambe is the same as from Lancaster (no idea why!), but here's the kicker - there's no Fastticket machine in Morecambe. Which is utterly and completely backwards as far as I'm concerned, really. Normally it's not a problem - I get my ticket online, print off my confirmation email to show them I've purchased a ticket from Morecambe, and they let me off with that. Which is fine, works ok for me. Once, a man did warn that my confirmation email wasn't technically valid, but they normally let me off!
This morning was different though. This morning I got on the train having forgotten to print off my confirmation email, which was stupid. Prepared to buy a ticket, I explained my case to the ticket inspector, who told me that my email confirmation wouldn't have been valid anyway. She cited that people do the same from Grange Over Sands, which is a £9 fare (!!), and that loses them revenue when they purchase their ticket online and pick up their ticket in Lancaster. Her next line should go down in history.
"We're losing revenue."
Well, that just did it for me, really. I managed to control myself, thankfully, but that just really made me feel like I was living in lalaland, because it means one of two things: either a) Northern Rail really aren't part of the central train booking network, which is just stupid, or b) this woman had the worst grasp of how the train revenue and booking systems work in the UK, and she WORKS for it, or c) both a) and b), which is also scary, and implies that Northern Rail are money-grabbing bastards and want to sting you when you've already bought a ticket online because they don't make enough from the online central booking system. As it happens, she told me she'd let me off, but 'in future' I should buy my ticket from Lancaster instead of from Morecambe, and pay extra for the ticket from Morecambe. Which is just daft, really.
THEN I got to Lancaster, and went to pick up my ticket from the Fastticket machine. Despite having done this journey lots, just once before I've purchased my ticket online and when I got to picking it up, what came out was a ticket that said Not London on it. Which is just annoying. This time I checked it REALLY carefully, and made sure that it displayed the tube journey. So I was most irritated when what came out had the dreaded words on it - Not London. Well, I marched up to the ticket office and got an excess (which I was charged 2.20 for, seemingly random!!)
Drives me mad! I am travel cursed. I've been afflicted with delays, cancellations... everything. It doesn't matter what it is, I'll get afflicted by it. Which is funny because I have massive faith in the train system in the UK, despite being continually damaged by it! In this case I am cursed with what I like to call the Lynch curse. I have an aunt (who is a Lynch) who, despite working for an airline and being the person I know in the world that travels the most, she still manages to get something happen to her every time. They've broken her guitars. They've lost her luggage. They've delayed her. They've cancelled on her. They've stranded her.
And yet she still goes somewhere fancy and foreign at least once a month (or maybe less - but it seems like that much! Which is cool). So maybe part of the curse is still having faith in the system. Hmmm. At least she's never cross with the booking system, but then, she did work on the booking system design team!!
This morning was different though. This morning I got on the train having forgotten to print off my confirmation email, which was stupid. Prepared to buy a ticket, I explained my case to the ticket inspector, who told me that my email confirmation wouldn't have been valid anyway. She cited that people do the same from Grange Over Sands, which is a £9 fare (!!), and that loses them revenue when they purchase their ticket online and pick up their ticket in Lancaster. Her next line should go down in history.
"We're losing revenue."
Well, that just did it for me, really. I managed to control myself, thankfully, but that just really made me feel like I was living in lalaland, because it means one of two things: either a) Northern Rail really aren't part of the central train booking network, which is just stupid, or b) this woman had the worst grasp of how the train revenue and booking systems work in the UK, and she WORKS for it, or c) both a) and b), which is also scary, and implies that Northern Rail are money-grabbing bastards and want to sting you when you've already bought a ticket online because they don't make enough from the online central booking system. As it happens, she told me she'd let me off, but 'in future' I should buy my ticket from Lancaster instead of from Morecambe, and pay extra for the ticket from Morecambe. Which is just daft, really.
THEN I got to Lancaster, and went to pick up my ticket from the Fastticket machine. Despite having done this journey lots, just once before I've purchased my ticket online and when I got to picking it up, what came out was a ticket that said Not London on it. Which is just annoying. This time I checked it REALLY carefully, and made sure that it displayed the tube journey. So I was most irritated when what came out had the dreaded words on it - Not London. Well, I marched up to the ticket office and got an excess (which I was charged 2.20 for, seemingly random!!)
Drives me mad! I am travel cursed. I've been afflicted with delays, cancellations... everything. It doesn't matter what it is, I'll get afflicted by it. Which is funny because I have massive faith in the train system in the UK, despite being continually damaged by it! In this case I am cursed with what I like to call the Lynch curse. I have an aunt (who is a Lynch) who, despite working for an airline and being the person I know in the world that travels the most, she still manages to get something happen to her every time. They've broken her guitars. They've lost her luggage. They've delayed her. They've cancelled on her. They've stranded her.
And yet she still goes somewhere fancy and foreign at least once a month (or maybe less - but it seems like that much! Which is cool). So maybe part of the curse is still having faith in the system. Hmmm. At least she's never cross with the booking system, but then, she did work on the booking system design team!!
This is late
She works hard for the money, so hard for it honey...
It's been an entertaining day so far. It's now 1pm and I've had a chicken kebab which was mega. Watched some vids. Worked out Mail Merge in Pages (it is SO easy once you work out the first two steps - which is Inspector>Info). I still love my Macbook Pro. It is wonderful. Been printing off envelopes that I've mail merged (which is far more fun that printing labels, and looks neater). About to fold up 100 envelopes and send them out. Then have to spend the next two weeks calling up stores. Sigh. Not happy - am rubbish on outgoings, but we'll see.
FINALLY got the PES store orders done, AND I got a prize sent out that's been bugging me for a while. Life is good. I am going to be poor this month though - expenses taking ages to pay!
Right, so, after a long day's work, I'm back on the train gang, and of course, I'm playing battery game. It was reading at 6:22, but then I turned the brightness to nothing and dimmed the keyboard and it climbed to 8:44, and now it's saying 9:29, which is so blindingly amazing it doesn't actually bear thinking about, really. It's not so dim I can't read it. I'll give it a minute and see if I can screenshot it again, but I've got to be quick. Thing is, I'm using absolutely nothing to get that kind of usage - WI-Fi is off, drive not being used... oh, 9:22. Going down. Best use screenshot now. Be fast!!!
Wasn't fast enough. Went to 8:20 too quickly. Daft thing. It's like rare birdspotting. The Lesser-Shotted Battery Life. Lol.
DAMN 9:29 again. Ok, let's go again. GAH. Missed it again. This is so funny! Ok, I give up. I've seen it at tiny use. It does mean that the trackpad must use a mental amount of power 'cos it spikes the usage whenever I try to do it. Just sitting on the keyboard typing into Evernote uses so little power it's unbelievable.
Engadget got their 17" Pro today to unbox and review. Theirs was the absolute max version - kitted out with the massive 256GB SSD, 8GB RAM and of course the anti-glare screen. I am glad I didn't get the anti-glare screen - it's just the same screen as the previous iterations. Don't like it. Don't really care that I can kinda see my fingers in the screen while I'm typing, love it anyway. Will wait to see what they say about the screen. Hope they'll be pleased by the battery life - I am so far. Although less happy that I've used up 2 cycles so far out of the guaranteed 1,000, and I haven't even let it get below 50% yet. Also that it came with only 98% health. Although some people who got theirs that I read already had 3 cycles out of it. Thanks, iStat Pro :D
I made a tactical seating error - I'm in the same kind of place I was this morning, being crushed by the stupid overly-large coffeecup thing. Why did First Great Western think a triangular table was a good idea? Silly FGW. I could have sat in a corner seat but I thought then I couldn't make observations on the rest of the people in the carriage. Boooourns! Although if my Macbook was a littler one, it would be a LOT easier. Lol.
Just pulled out of Slough, train very crowded now. Well, I'd be squeezing in to get out Slough if I worked there too. Lol.
Mailbox! Open Mailbox!
Not a fan of the sweatmarks that pool under where my palms rest. Grrr.
The two people opposite me are reading the Lovely Bones (read by the girl with the fantastic eyeliner) and a book whose spine I can't see 'cos he's to my right and has only just start the book, but the back has an American flag and proclaims loudly that it's a Pulitzer prize-winning booke (read by the slightly good-looking bloke). Oh, Pulitzer has been put away. Wonder if he caught me looking at him. Meh, so waht.
Can't get into comfy position. Will remember NEVER to sit in this position when want to type again!!!! Hopefully train will emptty towards Oxford and will be able to sptead out.
Wonder if could write Bridget JOnes-style book involving man sat in corner of train blogging on his commute to work. Might consider it. Obv would have some girl comment on it and have their romance grow. That would be such a good idea! OMFG! What a good idea. Might do that! Might start it now. Will start idea and write for fifteen mins. Must not mention Macbook.
***
Well, didn't quite mention it. Is now forty minutes later. Enjoyed it so much couldn't stop. Got to write morning and evening story every day, but for first few weeks will put both up as one post every evening. Will also register several false accounts to make comments with, as part of storyline. Very proud of self.
There was a bloke with a black Macbook looking like me - comfy and groovy, not a ThinkPadMan. Was happy about that. Felt less left out of scary ThinkPad group. Integrated into story. Very proud. Caught Macbook man looking at my Macbook with face of jealousy. Muahahahaha. YAY! FIRST!
She works hard for the money... too hard for it honey! Just about to get home so will turn off Macbook now. On way back to Morecambe tonight so probably won't post this until get home and have time. Until next time!
It's been an entertaining day so far. It's now 1pm and I've had a chicken kebab which was mega. Watched some vids. Worked out Mail Merge in Pages (it is SO easy once you work out the first two steps - which is Inspector>Info). I still love my Macbook Pro. It is wonderful. Been printing off envelopes that I've mail merged (which is far more fun that printing labels, and looks neater). About to fold up 100 envelopes and send them out. Then have to spend the next two weeks calling up stores. Sigh. Not happy - am rubbish on outgoings, but we'll see.
FINALLY got the PES store orders done, AND I got a prize sent out that's been bugging me for a while. Life is good. I am going to be poor this month though - expenses taking ages to pay!
Right, so, after a long day's work, I'm back on the train gang, and of course, I'm playing battery game. It was reading at 6:22, but then I turned the brightness to nothing and dimmed the keyboard and it climbed to 8:44, and now it's saying 9:29, which is so blindingly amazing it doesn't actually bear thinking about, really. It's not so dim I can't read it. I'll give it a minute and see if I can screenshot it again, but I've got to be quick. Thing is, I'm using absolutely nothing to get that kind of usage - WI-Fi is off, drive not being used... oh, 9:22. Going down. Best use screenshot now. Be fast!!!
Wasn't fast enough. Went to 8:20 too quickly. Daft thing. It's like rare birdspotting. The Lesser-Shotted Battery Life. Lol.
DAMN 9:29 again. Ok, let's go again. GAH. Missed it again. This is so funny! Ok, I give up. I've seen it at tiny use. It does mean that the trackpad must use a mental amount of power 'cos it spikes the usage whenever I try to do it. Just sitting on the keyboard typing into Evernote uses so little power it's unbelievable.
Engadget got their 17" Pro today to unbox and review. Theirs was the absolute max version - kitted out with the massive 256GB SSD, 8GB RAM and of course the anti-glare screen. I am glad I didn't get the anti-glare screen - it's just the same screen as the previous iterations. Don't like it. Don't really care that I can kinda see my fingers in the screen while I'm typing, love it anyway. Will wait to see what they say about the screen. Hope they'll be pleased by the battery life - I am so far. Although less happy that I've used up 2 cycles so far out of the guaranteed 1,000, and I haven't even let it get below 50% yet. Also that it came with only 98% health. Although some people who got theirs that I read already had 3 cycles out of it. Thanks, iStat Pro :D
I made a tactical seating error - I'm in the same kind of place I was this morning, being crushed by the stupid overly-large coffeecup thing. Why did First Great Western think a triangular table was a good idea? Silly FGW. I could have sat in a corner seat but I thought then I couldn't make observations on the rest of the people in the carriage. Boooourns! Although if my Macbook was a littler one, it would be a LOT easier. Lol.
Just pulled out of Slough, train very crowded now. Well, I'd be squeezing in to get out Slough if I worked there too. Lol.
Mailbox! Open Mailbox!
Not a fan of the sweatmarks that pool under where my palms rest. Grrr.
The two people opposite me are reading the Lovely Bones (read by the girl with the fantastic eyeliner) and a book whose spine I can't see 'cos he's to my right and has only just start the book, but the back has an American flag and proclaims loudly that it's a Pulitzer prize-winning booke (read by the slightly good-looking bloke). Oh, Pulitzer has been put away. Wonder if he caught me looking at him. Meh, so waht.
Can't get into comfy position. Will remember NEVER to sit in this position when want to type again!!!! Hopefully train will emptty towards Oxford and will be able to sptead out.
Wonder if could write Bridget JOnes-style book involving man sat in corner of train blogging on his commute to work. Might consider it. Obv would have some girl comment on it and have their romance grow. That would be such a good idea! OMFG! What a good idea. Might do that! Might start it now. Will start idea and write for fifteen mins. Must not mention Macbook.
***
Well, didn't quite mention it. Is now forty minutes later. Enjoyed it so much couldn't stop. Got to write morning and evening story every day, but for first few weeks will put both up as one post every evening. Will also register several false accounts to make comments with, as part of storyline. Very proud of self.
There was a bloke with a black Macbook looking like me - comfy and groovy, not a ThinkPadMan. Was happy about that. Felt less left out of scary ThinkPad group. Integrated into story. Very proud. Caught Macbook man looking at my Macbook with face of jealousy. Muahahahaha. YAY! FIRST!
She works hard for the money... too hard for it honey! Just about to get home so will turn off Macbook now. On way back to Morecambe tonight so probably won't post this until get home and have time. Until next time!
Wednesday 25 February 2009
Chasing you back to the daily grind
5:14. After being used occasionally last night. It's STILL going. Them Duracell bunnies have GOT to be jealous of this.
I'm sitting in Reading train station on my way to work. Had a FANTASTIC night last night with pancakes - although poor Alicia, she had a very unenjoyable time. Cried while Crispy was picking me up, poor thing, so was crying when we got to Mike's. Poor baba! Ended up sleeping all night on a futon bed that was comfy but was for the first hour shoved up against the wooden edging on the stairs, so every time either of us breathed heavily it creaked and squeaked. After an hour I made Crispy shift. He wasn't impressed, really, but I needed to sleep!
Panic this morning getting to Didcot Parkway - trying to get my ticket to go from Oxford so needed to get to the train station by 20 past. Got there 24 past, phew! Ticket was £22.50, criminal bloody peak time charge.
OOh, train here, brb.
Oh, I think I just saw Tim Willoughby, but he did not see me. I may have been mistaken. He is such a blogging king. Man, this behemoth machine is WAY too big, it won't fit comfortably on my lap because there is a teeeeeeny little table thing which is useless in EVERY way except as a coffeecup holder. The train layout is the same as yesterday, and this is where ThinkPadMan sat. On the train from Didcot to Reading (too short to blog) was sat next to what could only be described as your classic Business Man - ThinkPad (am thinking ThinkPad is now secret cheap business code), Blackberry, pressed suit. And there I was, reading me Metro (god, I love London. Metro, London Paper, London Lite - semi-trash, sure, but free daily newspapers!? Amazing), in my Ninty hoodie (which is sadly a bit pancake-saturated), my iMac in me bag, me Skypephone that in my head is an iPhone. I was SO much more groovy-funky-channel27 than him, and I loved it. Although he can ACTUALLY afford to live somewhere between Banbury and Didcot, and I am only a pretender, sigh. Soon, soon we will be back to Oxenford!
Ooh, first of three stops before I have to change (again) at Slough. Just pulled into Twyford. There are LOTS of people on the train, it is very full. Might have to move behemoth.
Nah, fuck it. I'm sure it is Tim Willoughby now, I think he's typing. That copycat ;) Actually, that makes me think about funny social tendancies people have! Right now, I am too shy/polite to actually get up and walk over to Tim and say 'oh, hello, how are you?' for a number of reasons, number one that I 'missed the boat', and it is now too late and slightly socially embarassing. Although TECHNICALLY I could have gotten on at a... oh shut up Jen. His coat was nice. I am so judgemental about people it's unbelievable. Everyone on the entire train is dressed better than me. This makes me feel very bad :( I haven't dressed well in ages, stupid blobby tendancy. Should go get nice trews and shirts and feel worky again. Is hard when have baby, key component of clothes is ability to wash at 30 degrees and dry without wrinkling, not look good. Have fallen into sad mummy fashion trap. MUST ESCAPE! Recently dyed hair red for first time since found out was pregnant. Made me feel really, really, REALLY good. Must get posher clothes. Even if from Primark.
Primark wonderful invention.
Realise am now sounding like Bridget Jones. Don't really mind. Always wondered how Bridget Jones must have written in her diary all bloody day as she documents stuff as it happens. Weirdo with a notebook and pen.
Quite surprised by Alicia's strangeness last night. Poor kid's gonna be washed out for the next few days - 7 hours in the car yesterday with all the faffing around Crispy had to do. Poor little girl. She wouldn't even say Lola in Mike's last night, she was so wacked out and couldn't manage to do anything about it. Naaawww.
Apparantly Tim works in Maidenhead 'cos he got off the train. I'm SURE he saw me and was doing the same stupid 'I haven't seen you' thing. God, etiquette is crap. Should've just gone 'dude!'
Wish Macbook had front-facing iSight - am quite amused by familiar sight of Wall of Metro. Everyone on train reading Metro, looks very funny indeed. But no way to subtly capture photo. Sigh.
Hmmm. Must remember to ask Yegor for that Wi-Fi scanning widget that scans for free Wi-Fi.
Ok, after a few mins thought, have thought of list of accessories want for Macbook - TV tuner with recording function, iLap, niftier bag (might return one I have, might not. Is quite comfy handle-wise), CS4. The last one is a stretch but work MIGHT pay for it should the need for me to make lots of shiny logos with it.
Coming up on Burnham now, which means only 5 mins to Slough. What a horrid place name, Slough. Hideous. Perfect setting for The Office.
Still got the Narwhal song in my head from yesterday. Line about Jedi of sea stopping Cthulhu eating ye made me laugh most. Rofl. Rofl. Didn't actually rofl, but sentiment was there.
Oh god, massive stomach hunger pang. Ow ow ow. MUST get breakfast when get to work, hopefully platform shop in Slough. Although only have 5 minutes wait, so maybe not. 11 min wait in Reading a while ago, but Cafe not on platform! STUPID, platform 9 is platform for all trains to London. How ridiculous is that, that's where all the nutcase coffeedrinkers are. Although I guess they mostly start in Reading, and get coffee where they begin their journey. I had no time in Didcot (actually, I probably did, but I couldn't have known).
Train slowing, laptop in bag.
Right, momentary confusion in Slough as to where platform 6 was (was on platform 5, weird layout, one measly sign) but am on final train now. Get to use Oyster card when get off at other side. Actually pleased about this as think Oyster card is most amazing invention and would happily live in London JUST to use it more as is funky. Apparently stopping at Langley. This makes me laugh, Langley calls up images of CIA (or FBI, something where the I stands for investigation). Train driver tells lie, train meant to depart at 7:25 and even if late should be referred to as such, but he said 'welcome to the 7:26 departure for London Paddington'. Oh well.
Wheeeeeeeep lots of whistling as people RUSH for the train, but doors closed and locked now, muahahaha.
Not had breakfast yet. Hungry. Will get something in little shop in West Drayton station. Although not the one IN West Drayton Station because that one is scary and the man inside is a bit odd. So instead little shop just outside. Wonder how both stay in business esp. in economic downturn. Think economic downturn lot of bollox and if no-one wrote about it in such doomy terms then would be fine (realise doomy not word but like it anyway). Hearsay and conjecture responsible for MANY job losses. If were me wouldn't get upset at company, would sue newspapers. All except Guardian, is good.
Train slowing as get to Langley. Love commuting as like reading/playing DS/microblogging/listening to iPod. Wish didn't live in middle of nowhere and got to go to work more than twice a month. Find that odd statement as if did would be in Oxford and would have to find nursery for Alicia. Scary thought - she's growing up.
Langley looks like dive. But then, almost EVERYWHERE looks like a dive from its train station. Nicest train stations in London as have lovely original domes etc. Liverpool St personal favourite, but Paddington also nice. Not been to King's Cross, must see what is like one day. Only been to tube station.
Love the tube. Wish had stop in back garden. Wish had back garden, would grow herbs and vegetables. Would be like Felicity Kendall only with more gadgets. Can't stop being gadget freak. Proud of gadget freakiness. Only gadget in whole world do not have is iPhone. Will be getting iPhone as company phone in October, so do not care. Muahaha.
Wall of Metro more intense this train, could probably withstand a siege. Metro had amusing article about 71-year old rollerblader getting fined and tagged menace to society. Brilliant.
Ooh, train slowing to come into West Drayton. Peace out.
Epilogue - now sitting on floor outside office. Must remind boss to get keys cut today 'cos is ridicularse. But at least can get office Wi-Fi so Facebook it is! :D
I'm sitting in Reading train station on my way to work. Had a FANTASTIC night last night with pancakes - although poor Alicia, she had a very unenjoyable time. Cried while Crispy was picking me up, poor thing, so was crying when we got to Mike's. Poor baba! Ended up sleeping all night on a futon bed that was comfy but was for the first hour shoved up against the wooden edging on the stairs, so every time either of us breathed heavily it creaked and squeaked. After an hour I made Crispy shift. He wasn't impressed, really, but I needed to sleep!
Panic this morning getting to Didcot Parkway - trying to get my ticket to go from Oxford so needed to get to the train station by 20 past. Got there 24 past, phew! Ticket was £22.50, criminal bloody peak time charge.
OOh, train here, brb.
Oh, I think I just saw Tim Willoughby, but he did not see me. I may have been mistaken. He is such a blogging king. Man, this behemoth machine is WAY too big, it won't fit comfortably on my lap because there is a teeeeeeny little table thing which is useless in EVERY way except as a coffeecup holder. The train layout is the same as yesterday, and this is where ThinkPadMan sat. On the train from Didcot to Reading (too short to blog) was sat next to what could only be described as your classic Business Man - ThinkPad (am thinking ThinkPad is now secret cheap business code), Blackberry, pressed suit. And there I was, reading me Metro (god, I love London. Metro, London Paper, London Lite - semi-trash, sure, but free daily newspapers!? Amazing), in my Ninty hoodie (which is sadly a bit pancake-saturated), my iMac in me bag, me Skypephone that in my head is an iPhone. I was SO much more groovy-funky-channel27 than him, and I loved it. Although he can ACTUALLY afford to live somewhere between Banbury and Didcot, and I am only a pretender, sigh. Soon, soon we will be back to Oxenford!
Ooh, first of three stops before I have to change (again) at Slough. Just pulled into Twyford. There are LOTS of people on the train, it is very full. Might have to move behemoth.
Nah, fuck it. I'm sure it is Tim Willoughby now, I think he's typing. That copycat ;) Actually, that makes me think about funny social tendancies people have! Right now, I am too shy/polite to actually get up and walk over to Tim and say 'oh, hello, how are you?' for a number of reasons, number one that I 'missed the boat', and it is now too late and slightly socially embarassing. Although TECHNICALLY I could have gotten on at a... oh shut up Jen. His coat was nice. I am so judgemental about people it's unbelievable. Everyone on the entire train is dressed better than me. This makes me feel very bad :( I haven't dressed well in ages, stupid blobby tendancy. Should go get nice trews and shirts and feel worky again. Is hard when have baby, key component of clothes is ability to wash at 30 degrees and dry without wrinkling, not look good. Have fallen into sad mummy fashion trap. MUST ESCAPE! Recently dyed hair red for first time since found out was pregnant. Made me feel really, really, REALLY good. Must get posher clothes. Even if from Primark.
Primark wonderful invention.
Realise am now sounding like Bridget Jones. Don't really mind. Always wondered how Bridget Jones must have written in her diary all bloody day as she documents stuff as it happens. Weirdo with a notebook and pen.
Quite surprised by Alicia's strangeness last night. Poor kid's gonna be washed out for the next few days - 7 hours in the car yesterday with all the faffing around Crispy had to do. Poor little girl. She wouldn't even say Lola in Mike's last night, she was so wacked out and couldn't manage to do anything about it. Naaawww.
Apparantly Tim works in Maidenhead 'cos he got off the train. I'm SURE he saw me and was doing the same stupid 'I haven't seen you' thing. God, etiquette is crap. Should've just gone 'dude!'
Wish Macbook had front-facing iSight - am quite amused by familiar sight of Wall of Metro. Everyone on train reading Metro, looks very funny indeed. But no way to subtly capture photo. Sigh.
Hmmm. Must remember to ask Yegor for that Wi-Fi scanning widget that scans for free Wi-Fi.
Ok, after a few mins thought, have thought of list of accessories want for Macbook - TV tuner with recording function, iLap, niftier bag (might return one I have, might not. Is quite comfy handle-wise), CS4. The last one is a stretch but work MIGHT pay for it should the need for me to make lots of shiny logos with it.
Coming up on Burnham now, which means only 5 mins to Slough. What a horrid place name, Slough. Hideous. Perfect setting for The Office.
Still got the Narwhal song in my head from yesterday. Line about Jedi of sea stopping Cthulhu eating ye made me laugh most. Rofl. Rofl. Didn't actually rofl, but sentiment was there.
Oh god, massive stomach hunger pang. Ow ow ow. MUST get breakfast when get to work, hopefully platform shop in Slough. Although only have 5 minutes wait, so maybe not. 11 min wait in Reading a while ago, but Cafe not on platform! STUPID, platform 9 is platform for all trains to London. How ridiculous is that, that's where all the nutcase coffeedrinkers are. Although I guess they mostly start in Reading, and get coffee where they begin their journey. I had no time in Didcot (actually, I probably did, but I couldn't have known).
Train slowing, laptop in bag.
Right, momentary confusion in Slough as to where platform 6 was (was on platform 5, weird layout, one measly sign) but am on final train now. Get to use Oyster card when get off at other side. Actually pleased about this as think Oyster card is most amazing invention and would happily live in London JUST to use it more as is funky. Apparently stopping at Langley. This makes me laugh, Langley calls up images of CIA (or FBI, something where the I stands for investigation). Train driver tells lie, train meant to depart at 7:25 and even if late should be referred to as such, but he said 'welcome to the 7:26 departure for London Paddington'. Oh well.
Wheeeeeeeep lots of whistling as people RUSH for the train, but doors closed and locked now, muahahaha.
Not had breakfast yet. Hungry. Will get something in little shop in West Drayton station. Although not the one IN West Drayton Station because that one is scary and the man inside is a bit odd. So instead little shop just outside. Wonder how both stay in business esp. in economic downturn. Think economic downturn lot of bollox and if no-one wrote about it in such doomy terms then would be fine (realise doomy not word but like it anyway). Hearsay and conjecture responsible for MANY job losses. If were me wouldn't get upset at company, would sue newspapers. All except Guardian, is good.
Train slowing as get to Langley. Love commuting as like reading/playing DS/microblogging/listening to iPod. Wish didn't live in middle of nowhere and got to go to work more than twice a month. Find that odd statement as if did would be in Oxford and would have to find nursery for Alicia. Scary thought - she's growing up.
Langley looks like dive. But then, almost EVERYWHERE looks like a dive from its train station. Nicest train stations in London as have lovely original domes etc. Liverpool St personal favourite, but Paddington also nice. Not been to King's Cross, must see what is like one day. Only been to tube station.
Love the tube. Wish had stop in back garden. Wish had back garden, would grow herbs and vegetables. Would be like Felicity Kendall only with more gadgets. Can't stop being gadget freak. Proud of gadget freakiness. Only gadget in whole world do not have is iPhone. Will be getting iPhone as company phone in October, so do not care. Muahaha.
Wall of Metro more intense this train, could probably withstand a siege. Metro had amusing article about 71-year old rollerblader getting fined and tagged menace to society. Brilliant.
Ooh, train slowing to come into West Drayton. Peace out.
Epilogue - now sitting on floor outside office. Must remind boss to get keys cut today 'cos is ridicularse. But at least can get office Wi-Fi so Facebook it is! :D
On the Train (posted a day late)
Note: This took place on the 25/02/2009 - I posted it a day late.
---
So, for the first time in years, I have a notebook that is actually worth a damn while on the train. So I am writing a quick blog post and feeling rather funky, to be perfectly honest! I have 30 mins left as I spent the first part reading the London Paper, and then filling in a Facebook note to publish when I get a net connection.
Ok, so I should explain further than my tired storytellings and slight rantings from last night. I don't understand how people do it - how they actually justify windows beyond the cost. Oh, the gaming. Apparently. 'Cos, you know, there aren't consoles to do that. Oh, you want to actually play Crysis? Well, fine. I bet my Macbook Pro, once it has dualbooted Windows (damn! Meant to get a copy of XP from work and forgot to pick it up!), would run it, as it is amazing.
(oh, just so you know, Apple, your eight hours battery is better than you say. Mine is currently clocking in at 8:18 remaining, so if I were a writer trying to finish my book before my battery died, I'd have plenty of time. Ok now it's saying 9:29. Maybe it's gone mad. I'll ramp up my brightness and see what it says. Ah, now it says 6:47. Phew! I mean, I like being surprised, but that was mad. Ooh, I can get it to put the time in the menu bar instead of just the icon. Shiny. 7:01. Go dimming screen go.
Aha, I'm in Reading. Hurry up train, I have a pancake party to get to.
There is a bloke with an IBM (coughLenovo) ThinkPad over there, typing away. He looks official. I am here in my Nintendy hoodie on my machine that is probably a dozen times the cost of his. Well, maybe not THAT much, but it's an ugly piece of crap. I mean, I love ThinkPads, they are very, very rugged. But seriously?! It looks like he's put it through the washing machine and it's coming out alive but changed forever! But he has a mobile broadband dongle Hmm. Must pay for mine, actually.
Ooh, I can see my reflection in the window. I always look cool while typing. Muahahaha.
I got to use my Oyster card for the first time today, it was SO exciting. Woo!!!
No-one in work was as impressed as they were supposed to be with my virtualising Kubuntu inside OS X. BOOO. And after I paid for (welllll expenses) a copy of VMWare!!! Grrrr.
Ooh, Tilehurst. It looks exactly like Radley. And Ealing Broadway.
Can't quite tell what ThinkPadMan is looking at. It was Google a while ago, now looks like something bookish. Ooh, now Outlook. He has WAY too many emails. I am so nosy.
Oh my GOD 9:40. Shit how do I do a screenshot!?!! NO I took so long faffing trying to take a screenshot that it went down to 7:24. Now is up to 8:19 again. Maybe it will pop back up to over 9 hours again! This is funny. Ooh, 8:49!!!!! Getting there! Come on amazing battery of amazingness.
I think I missed a station stop so I could be legging it off the train to Didcot Parkway shortly. Hmmm. We shall see.
Ooh, 8:52. Come on battery!! You are doing SO well!!!!!! Shall I chance another screenshot? 8:53... Come oooon..... YES success. It went down to 7:31 trying to do the screenshot, but I nabbed it in time.
Ok. pulling into a station now, ooh, it's Pangbourne, I think that's the last one. Perhaps I'd better sign off otherwise I will miss my stop/break my macbook trying to get it into the case so I can run off the train. Neither would make me happy.
Peace out, peeps!
Epilogue - ooh, no. Goring and Streatly came first, and just pulled away from Cholsey, which is DEFINITELY the last stop before Didcot Parkway. After a lidclose-enduced sleep and awakening, we're at 8:49. This is very entertaining, although I wish I'd gotten the amazing 9:40 screenshot. Oh well!
Ah, now at Didcot Parkway, woohoo for free internets. Waiting for a pickup from peeps who went to Sainsbos for more milk. Sigh. 7:41, curse you Wi-Fi.
Lots of children mucking about in photo booth. Actual photo booth. Feel left out so load up Photo Booth and take picture of self looking out the door for my lift. It is not there. Boo. People really annoying with Photo Booth. Wondering if they'll nick my laptop. Maybe better had put it away. Wi-Fi signal is crap anyhow. Where is my lift?!! At the tills probably. Sigh.
Damn, it's cold. I smell of sweat :( so much splash self with perfume. Only perfume in car is male Gucci stuff, but anything better than BO. So will have to do. Hurry up car, I am cold and the bloody doors keep opening, stupid automatic doors.
Man, fuck that Macbook Air. Why anyone wouldn't have this behemoth is beyond me, it is brilliant. WOOO
OH there is my lift!!! Gotta go!
---
So, for the first time in years, I have a notebook that is actually worth a damn while on the train. So I am writing a quick blog post and feeling rather funky, to be perfectly honest! I have 30 mins left as I spent the first part reading the London Paper, and then filling in a Facebook note to publish when I get a net connection.
Ok, so I should explain further than my tired storytellings and slight rantings from last night. I don't understand how people do it - how they actually justify windows beyond the cost. Oh, the gaming. Apparently. 'Cos, you know, there aren't consoles to do that. Oh, you want to actually play Crysis? Well, fine. I bet my Macbook Pro, once it has dualbooted Windows (damn! Meant to get a copy of XP from work and forgot to pick it up!), would run it, as it is amazing.
(oh, just so you know, Apple, your eight hours battery is better than you say. Mine is currently clocking in at 8:18 remaining, so if I were a writer trying to finish my book before my battery died, I'd have plenty of time. Ok now it's saying 9:29. Maybe it's gone mad. I'll ramp up my brightness and see what it says. Ah, now it says 6:47. Phew! I mean, I like being surprised, but that was mad. Ooh, I can get it to put the time in the menu bar instead of just the icon. Shiny. 7:01. Go dimming screen go.
Aha, I'm in Reading. Hurry up train, I have a pancake party to get to.
There is a bloke with an IBM (coughLenovo) ThinkPad over there, typing away. He looks official. I am here in my Nintendy hoodie on my machine that is probably a dozen times the cost of his. Well, maybe not THAT much, but it's an ugly piece of crap. I mean, I love ThinkPads, they are very, very rugged. But seriously?! It looks like he's put it through the washing machine and it's coming out alive but changed forever! But he has a mobile broadband dongle Hmm. Must pay for mine, actually.
Ooh, I can see my reflection in the window. I always look cool while typing. Muahahaha.
I got to use my Oyster card for the first time today, it was SO exciting. Woo!!!
No-one in work was as impressed as they were supposed to be with my virtualising Kubuntu inside OS X. BOOO. And after I paid for (welllll expenses) a copy of VMWare!!! Grrrr.
Ooh, Tilehurst. It looks exactly like Radley. And Ealing Broadway.
Can't quite tell what ThinkPadMan is looking at. It was Google a while ago, now looks like something bookish. Ooh, now Outlook. He has WAY too many emails. I am so nosy.
Oh my GOD 9:40. Shit how do I do a screenshot!?!! NO I took so long faffing trying to take a screenshot that it went down to 7:24. Now is up to 8:19 again. Maybe it will pop back up to over 9 hours again! This is funny. Ooh, 8:49!!!!! Getting there! Come on amazing battery of amazingness.
I think I missed a station stop so I could be legging it off the train to Didcot Parkway shortly. Hmmm. We shall see.
Ooh, 8:52. Come on battery!! You are doing SO well!!!!!! Shall I chance another screenshot? 8:53... Come oooon..... YES success. It went down to 7:31 trying to do the screenshot, but I nabbed it in time.
Ok. pulling into a station now, ooh, it's Pangbourne, I think that's the last one. Perhaps I'd better sign off otherwise I will miss my stop/break my macbook trying to get it into the case so I can run off the train. Neither would make me happy.
Peace out, peeps!
Epilogue - ooh, no. Goring and Streatly came first, and just pulled away from Cholsey, which is DEFINITELY the last stop before Didcot Parkway. After a lidclose-enduced sleep and awakening, we're at 8:49. This is very entertaining, although I wish I'd gotten the amazing 9:40 screenshot. Oh well!
Ah, now at Didcot Parkway, woohoo for free internets. Waiting for a pickup from peeps who went to Sainsbos for more milk. Sigh. 7:41, curse you Wi-Fi.
Lots of children mucking about in photo booth. Actual photo booth. Feel left out so load up Photo Booth and take picture of self looking out the door for my lift. It is not there. Boo. People really annoying with Photo Booth. Wondering if they'll nick my laptop. Maybe better had put it away. Wi-Fi signal is crap anyhow. Where is my lift?!! At the tills probably. Sigh.
Damn, it's cold. I smell of sweat :( so much splash self with perfume. Only perfume in car is male Gucci stuff, but anything better than BO. So will have to do. Hurry up car, I am cold and the bloody doors keep opening, stupid automatic doors.
Man, fuck that Macbook Air. Why anyone wouldn't have this behemoth is beyond me, it is brilliant. WOOO
OH there is my lift!!! Gotta go!
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