Rumblings of an Ageing IT Bod

Earning Money Online

noreply@blogger.com (ShauSha) — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 00:10:00 +0000

I've always been one to try and find ways to earn extra income - be it helping friends and neighbours out, be it delivering telephone directories or any number of other jobs that all sound cool at the time.

But now, I'm turning my attention to the internet and seeing whay ways I can earn money from it in my spare time. I have no pretentions of earning a fortune or of even being able to retire, but any extra income will be most welcome.

So naturally one of the first things I need to do is understand the ways and methods and the companies out there providing services that may help. With this in mind I went a Googling (is that a word yet?) and came across DiscountClick whom provide, so their tag line says, Online Marketing Services. Sounds like something I might just need, or least like something I migth read up about to understand my chosen area.

So what do DiscountClick offer? They offer ways for sites to market their products and services online, promote them via search engines, provide link tools, list management tools, seo marketing, online marketing services and more.

Myself, I like the sound of the link building tools and as the cheapest option starts at just $50 it isn't too huge a hit. That said, I'm after making money so this is one thing I'll hold off on until I've earnt the $50 to pay for it.

This is a paid for article for DiscountClick

Top Security

noreply@blogger.com (ShauSha) — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 17:31:00 +0000

Been quiet for way too long, but here's one for you.

When I read this I couldn't really believe the words coming forth.

I have no issue with most of the article, but these lines got me all a quiver: "Don’t even consider ZoneAlarm or Comodo. No one needs a software firewall above the one built into Windows itself".

Ok, so they did soften that a little with "Instead use a hardware NAT router which acts as a firewall".

Whilst accurate the article is very over-simplistic without stating, beyond the obvoius one liner, why people shouldn't consider software firewalls. More pertinently they don't go on to elucidate or point out where one could read up on the alternative he suggests.

I'd agree that ZoneAlarm in its free version shouldn't be used - at least not whilst its performance continues to be well below par of its paid for brother. Comodo gets good reviews and very favourable tech write ups so again the one line dismissal is strage.

At heart is the blogger taking PC World to task for their recently published article on the Top 15 Free Security Apps one should have and use (not necessarily all the time) - at least they had the decency to explain their reasonings as to why they picked teh apps they did. This blogger elected to rip into it with little to no reason or explanation.

As I say, I do tend to agree with him, but telling non techies not to use software firewall is tantamout to touting for business.

A Renewed Start

noreply@blogger.com (ShauSha) — Sun, 17 Jun 2007 09:35:00 +0000

Life took a weird turn earlier this year to the extent that I found it hard to blog.

I have plenty of stuff to write about.
I have plenty of software I was going to review.
I have more of the 5Q's to publish.
and so on ....

I can't even call it writers block, but it was something akin to that. In an effort to restart this, I am planning on moving this entire blog to a wordpress setup. If all goes well I'll be back and active in a few weeks time - at worst after my summer sojourn which this year will be end of July beginning of August.

So do keep checking back .....

Tech Newsletters

noreply@blogger.com (ShauSha) — Sun, 28 Jan 2007 18:28:00 +0000

What Tech newsletters do you read?

I have a few favourites and where they offer it, I also subscribe to them. In most cases the writing, research and running of these newsletters is a one man business and I have to say I am mildly jealous of their success. It is something I have had an itching to do for a while, but every time I look around there is already a better one for the market I'm considering out there.

Is this to say I am not as good or can't be as good (even better) than the current ones I read or is it just that I don't want to swim uphill against the tide? I guess it is probably a little of both, but a lot of it includes the fact that I simply can't dedicate the time I need to make it a success to the project. Initially, like all my favourite newsletters it would be a free only edition with those wishing to subscribe able to do so. If it became popular, then like the ones I read I'd have to make a business decision to either close it or turn it into a business and therefore give up my day to day job. Maybe more of this anon.

For now, I want to list the ones I read and maybe one or two I have given up reading for various reasons.

My all time fave used to be Fred Langa's The Langa List. He was a one man band that had grown up and Fred is someone who has enormous respect for his length of service in IT as well as his depth of knowledge - these coupled with a friendly and approachable writing style as well as the ability to give multiple possible causes (and their answers) to problems made his newsletter very popular indeed. He offered the newsletter in various formats as well as a free and paid for version - with the paid for version getting extra snippets on top.

However, Fred has now merged with WindowsSecrets and, purely in my opinion, I don't think this was the best thing for his readership, himself or even me if I'm being honest.

I should add that I also read WindowsSecrets and have a paid for subscription to it. However, their approach is very much more formal, less friendly (less Fred can I say) and has multiple writers. This last aspect is probably a good thing, as it means you will get in-depth experience from those that know. The downside is that since the merger the actual content of the combined newsletters is very much reduced when you consider that both Fred's and WS's used to put out at least 3 times the amount they do now separately. Fred has gone from 14 to 20 items, 4 times a month to every other week with maybe 2 or 3 items. WS has just added Fred's bit in and reduced the length of theirs. It is monthly published newsletter.

Replacing Fred as my favourite is Ian "Gizmo" Richards's Tech Support Alert. I like this because he doesn't shy away from complicated issues and in his monthly editorial will usually give some extremely sound advice on a subject dear to his heart. For the last 6 or more months he has spent time and effort researching and testing the best combination of freeware products to protect your PC from all the various nasties out there. Aside from the, one would hope by now, obvious strategy of not getting infected in the first place he gives clear, precise reasoning as to why he advocates what he does.

I can heartily recommend this one. Again a variety of formats as well as paid or not versions are available and in the next month or so he is upgrading his subscription model to make it easier for all of us subbers. This is also published monthly.

The next one I like is Scot Finnie's self named Scot's Newsletter. Scot. like Fred, has spent a lot of time in the business and has been a professional writer for a fair while giving his newsletter that extra advantage. He tends to have one main topic of interest for the month and will spend a chunck of the newsletter going into great depth. Like Gizmo, he does most of his own testing and this can be seen by the thoroughness of his conclusions. As an example of his writing, a recent in-depth research over several issues was trying to determine which was the best AV for him (it was FSecure if you are interested). Scot makes it 100% clear that his results are for him, but that if his investigations help you then great and he also, unlike the others, sticks mainly to paid for apps and issues to do with broadband and OSes - however, he will cover hot topics and has recently introduced a Mac section much to his wife's delight.

Scot's newsletter is 100% free but he happily accepts donations. In line with the other two I sub to, I have also donated to Scot's an amount similar to the annual fees of the others.

Now, here's one I used to sub to but have opted out recently. This one is Marc Liron's XPUpdate. Marc's newsletter used to be a regular, minimum, once a month affair with lots of interesting snippets along with some excellent freebies for those new to the XP OS. What made it interesting and the reason I found it initially, is that Marc is an MVP in Digital Media and I was trying to track something down to do with codecs. The other thing I liked about Marc is that he is British and to date was the only British based newsletter I subbed to.

However, all this has gone by the by and before I say why I should add that Marc's newsletter has always been free. I have fallen out with Marc's approach because he now exclusively uses his newsletter as a vehicle for selling his latest video or latest marketing scheme for (as a current example) "MySpace Marketing Secrets". Secondly his entire approach on his websites (yes, plural) is to very much follow the pattern of the Americans. Long single page websites with lots of text emboldened or highlighted and at least 3 or 4 attempts per page to get you to "secure your copy now". Next, despite being British all of his sales spiel is very Americanised to the extent that the quoted prices are all in dolars.

Sorry Marc, you lost me when you stopped being about "Making Windows XP a little easier". It would have been nice for a British author to stay British and what's more he is a Christian so I had a lot of time for him.

And that folks is about it. There are lots of software, hardware or subject specific stuff I read as well but on the whole none that match the quality of the first 3 or 4 I mentioned. I'll just finish with this.

If you are someone who reads a newsletter on a regular basis and think I should review it - then please drop me a line and I'll look it up. Secondly, if you do read it regular then do you also support it in terms of cold hard cash? If it was your business, how would you feel if nobody bothered to say thanks? One other reason I like all of these newsletters .... they don't generate any other spam for you having signed up and if you want to drop out, then your eMail address is removed promptly and without fuss.

All in all, for all the magazines I sub to or support we are talking a few £10's of pounds for the lot.

5Q's - Chris Sanders

noreply@blogger.com (ShauSha) — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 19:44:00 +0000

Another hit from another of the blogs I read - this time it's Chris Sanders from the blog of the same name - http://www.chrissanders.org/

1. What are you reading now or what did you last read?
I haven't really had a chance to read a whole lot with all I have hadgoing on lately but I try to make an honest attempt to read my bible every day. Aside from that, I did manage to read "Scripting Microsoft Virtual Server 2005" by Anil Desai a few months ago. It was a pretty good read.

2. What's your best bit of advice?
Working in education I can't stress enough how important it is. I had an opportunity very early to skip college and start at a very popular up and rising IT firm in a lead consulting position, but rather than doing so I chose to tough it out and go the college route. Because of this, I was able to greatly develop my writing skills and now I am more successful than I could have ever been had I not made that decision. If you are going to be very successful I believe you have to constantly educate yourself and put that education first and foremost.

3. Half-full or half-empty?
Always half full.

4. What's your alternative career choice?
This is something I have actually thought about quite a bit. I'd say if I had to choose it would either be a doctor or a special education teacher. I have always had an affinity for trying to help people and make a big difference and there really isn't two other careers where that is any more possible. Every now and then I will get frustrated with a project I am working on and will swear up and down that I am going to go to med school instead.

5.Who would you get to play you in a movie?
I'm gonna have to go with George Clooney. I don't really have a good reason why...other than that I was always a big fan of his character in the early day of "ER". I love that show.

My thanks to Chris.

Blogs I Read - 2

noreply@blogger.com (ShauSha) — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 00:08:00 +0000

In an effort to keep content moving on here I'm making a concerted effort to post on as regular a basis as I can.

http://www.chrissanders.org - this blog first came to my attention because I was looking for some very specific info on packet sniffing, and whilst at the time of my initial look this blog didn't answer my query it did pique my interest enough for me to bookmark it.

Specifically the 5 part series on using WireShark (aka EtherReal) to analyse packets. I have read and digested them all and have learnt from them and I heartily recommend it. Pop on over to Chris's blog and scroll down the right hand side until you find the "Packet Analysis" link for teh series. I note he's also written a book which I just may have to dig out some cash and purchase.

One of the reasons I've stuck with reading his blog is that his professional interests seem to mirror mine fairly closely but I'll admit he seems a far better web designer than ever I'll be. So, give Chris's blog a go, I know I'll be continuing to read.

5Q's - Alexander Kjerulf

noreply@blogger.com (ShauSha) — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 23:50:00 +0000

Another hit ... yeah, this is going better than I imagined. Sugegstions for those you'd like to hear from are always welcome.

This episode of 5Q is from Alexander Kjerulf or PositiveSharing.com

1. What are you reading now or what did you last read?
I'm currently reading an advance copy of The No Asshole Rule by Bob Sutton. That is one excellent book, and it once and for all ends the myth that we need to tolerate jerks and assholes at work. I'm also reading a fantasy book called Ship of Magic by Robin Hobb - it's excellent, if you like that kind of thing :o)

2. What's your best bit of advice?
Be happy at work. Do not settle for a job that is "OK" or "nice" or "not too bad". Make sure that you love your job - or leave and find a job that you can love. If you do, you will find that you become much more productive, more creative, you'll enjoy work more AND you will enjoy life more!

3. Half-full or half-empty?
There is no glass.

4. What's your alternative career choice?
A chef. Or the guy who runs your friendly neighborhood café - the one with the nice employees and the great coffee.

5. Who would you get to play you in a movie?
I'm thinking Zach Braff. He ain't that good-looking either :o)

You've read my email, now read my book - it's even *better* :o)
It's called "Happy Hour is 9 to 5" and you can buy it on paper, as a pdf or read it free online!
Learn more at http://positivesharing.com/happyhouris9to5/

Blogs I Read

noreply@blogger.com (ShauSha) — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 22:03:00 +0000

I admit, I'm a very small time blogger and I'm not really here to make money out of this - despite my recent addition of some adverts (just joining the bandwagon) - but this is the first in a series of posts detailing what blogs I read on a regular basis and why.

So the first I'll tell you about is:

The self-styled Chief Happines Officer and in particular one post that really resonates with me. This site is all about the belief that we can be happy at work and I for one applaud that. I'm frequently (at least once a week) accused of being "far too happy" to be in work or some other similar phrase.

Had I not found this site then perhaps I could have taken up this sort of blog, but I do enjoy a moan or two so this is probably not me. The man behind it, Alexander Kjerulf, strikes me as being of Nordic descent and maybe he's even Danish. The only reason I raise that is scientists have recently discovered why Danes are the happiest nation in the world and it is all due to their low expectations. Because they never shoot for the moon, they never fail and thus when the proverbial happens it is always a bonus - and we all know a bonus makes most folks happy.

So, why do I like the post I mentioned above? It's about the simple things in life. The things we should all do and it is the lack of these which are ultimately responsible for most of the world's ills today. The first two are "thank you" and "I'm sorry" - neither of which are hard to say and we all make a song and dance when somebody doesn't do them to us ... but what of when we need to say thanks or I'm sorry? Do we do it straight off without struggle or do we resist like a surly teen?

I have 3 children - the eldest at 17 still struggles with the simple concept that when he's done something wrong then the quickest way to calm me or his mother is to say sorry. However, his 4yr old brother know the magic of a lightning fast 'sowry daddy' .....

The next in the list of four is knowing when to ask for help or better yet when to accept an offer of help. I was taught by a very wise old egg when I first started in computing that (within reason and dependant on the specific job) "one should never go more than 45mins without questioning whether you need to enlist help" - thanks Ian if you're reading this from your eternal resting place. Let me clarify ... the intention of this advice was that if you are stuck at the same point for 45m then you really ought to seek help.

Finally, he says the words - Yes, And - when used in response to a suggestion are better than No or Yes, but. Rather than attempting to rewrite his words, go and have a read yourself and whilst there have a good nosey around. It's all good stuff.

5 Q's - Robert Young

noreply@blogger.com (ShauSha) — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 22:15:00 +0000

Here are Robert Young's, currently of GigaOm residence, answers.

1. What are you reading now or what did you last read?
I'm very partial to biographies. Just finished "When Hollywood Had a King" authored by Connie Bruck... about Lew Wasserman & MCA (now known as Universal Studios). Prior to that, I read "In All His Glory" authored by Sally Bedell Smith... about William Paley & CBS.

2. What's your best bit of advice?
For Internet entrepreneurs... view markets in a counterintuitive way. It will often show a path to disruptive innovation.

3. Half-full or half-empty?
Right now... half-full. We are at the cusp of another cycle of extreme wealth generation.

4. What's your alternative career choice?
TV producer... I admire producers who are intelligent & complex, morally-conscious, sentimental, and visionary, like Aaron Sorkin ("West Wing", "Studio 60", etc.).

5. Who would you get to play you in a movie?
Hate to say this, but probably Rob Lowe.

Thanks Robert.

5 Q's - Randall Munroe

noreply@blogger.com (ShauSha) — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 03:34:00 +0000

Another hit - this time Randall Munroe of xkcd fame.

1. What are you reading now or what did you last read?
The Starship and the Canoe, by Kenneth Brower.

2. What's your best bit of advice?
Talk to strangers, even if you're shy. It's where 90% of the good things in life come from.

3. Half-full or half-empty?
Half full. Possibly even nine-sixteenths full, because there's always measurement error to hope for!

4. What's your alternative career choice?
Doing a webcomic IS my alternative career choice. I used to be a roboticist.

5. Who would you get to play you in a movie?
This is hard. I'd love to hear all my lines spoken by Jeremy Irons. Also Don LaFontaine. But I guess I'd pick Jim Carrey. But like in Eternal Sunshine, not Ace Ventura. I've always been convinced he was a good actor, even before he started doing serious things. What about Janeane Garofalo? But I don't know; I'm so boring in real
life. I can't imagine any of those people just sitting at a computer and giggling occasionally. It would be such a waste.

Thanks Randall.

Goal Setting

noreply@blogger.com (ShauSha) — Tue, 02 Jan 2007 22:33:00 +0000

I've been reading a lot recently about goal setting - and this is not linked to the fact that we've just had a new year and traditionally folks make (and then break) resolutions.

There are a few things I've been wanting to achieve and I've decided the best way to go about this is to set myself goals. I've never really been into this aspect of life and if anything actively avoid it. However, I have finally accepted that my active avoidance has converted itself into helping me not achieve things I've wanted to do - and this has been backed up by numeroud articles and books I have been reading.

So today, I started my first goals list and this one specifically is to do with weight loss or more accurately restoring my health and my body shape to something more closely resembling what it was when I was in my early 20's.

The main things I've learnt about goal setting are:

Write then down
Make them current tense even though you haven't achieved it *
Read them at least once a day if prefereably twice**
Split the goals up into daily, weekly, 3 month, yearly and long term***
Constant update and adaption

* Apparantly this is one of those things that causes your subconcious mind to reprogram itself from interpreting negative comments even though you may be stating positive ones. If you state "I am happy I am now 180lbs in weight and look fabulous" is far better than saying "I want to be 180lbs and look better" - the mind then can create this mental picture that sees itself as you want to be and not as you are.

** It takes 21 days to change a habit I'm told, so constant repetition of the positive goal(s) is the one to aim for

*** Look at it this way - if you just had a long term goal of weight loss then you can easily put it off for another day or two ... or three and, well you get the picture. By having daily goals you pick immediate and easy things you can do such as "I have reduced my intake of sugar".

The weekly goals are similar but would contain stuff that isn't a daily aspect such as exercising for example and you might phrase this such as "I am happt to have achieved 3 x 20m cardio sessions this week"

Monthly goals would include "I have lost 1lb in weight" or "I have dropped an inch from my waist"

The big one, I've read, is the 3 month goal as this is near enough that the mind and body needs to react now but far enough away as to make objectives achievable. Here you could list stuff such as (keeping to the weight loss theme) "I am ecstatic to have lost 14lbs" or whatever you pick as your target(s).

There, enough to get you started at least I guess and as for me - well I can already tick several of my boxes including rduction in sugar; starting cardio workouts (only acheived 10mins but it's a start) and have read my goals twice today.

Money Earning

noreply@blogger.com (ShauSha) — Tue, 02 Jan 2007 22:04:00 +0000

I'm sure, like most people, I'm always on the lookout for ways to make a few more pennies.

In my time I've tried all the usual stuff such as gambling (not really but it is an option), MLM, Pyramid schemes, sign up for surveys (only to find you never meet their criteria), and various other ways. I've read loads of postings about how to make money but the problem with most of them is they are anti-Europe or specifically anti-UK.

I guess that is probably a little harsh butthe reality is that most of these PTR (Pay To Read) sites and their ilk and based on you beign in America or one of its chosen subsidiaries.

Therefore I'm on a bit of a mission, once more, to genuinely see if I can find site/s that will pay out, without too much hooplah and without too much brain ache on how I actually earn from them. Shoudl I find success then I will report back here ....

5Q's - Steve Huffman

noreply@blogger.com (ShauSha) — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 20:12:00 +0000

Another success from the team over at Reddit These guys are tops and despite the issues of the past week are still prepared to indulge unknowns like myself.

1. What are you reading now or what did you last read?
Biggest Brother : The Life of Major Dick Winters, The Man Who Led the Band of Brothers by Larry Alexander

2. What's your best bit of advice?
0x1

3. Half-full or half-empty?
Half-full, but my glass was recently stolen and was later reported to have a crack from which it's leaking.

4. What's your alternative career choice?
Lots: High-school teacher, helicopter pilot, mechanic

5. Who would you get to play you in a movie?
Whomever is also currently playing James Bond.

5Q's - Strikeout

noreply@blogger.com (ShauSha) — Tue, 12 Dec 2006 11:57:00 +0000

Had my first strike in the 5Q's - interesting to note that this strike is from one of the founders of Digg, a major competitor to Reddit

Striiiiiike

December 2006

Kevin Rose - digg.com
Om Malik - GigaOm.com

5Q's - Alexis Ohanian

noreply@blogger.com (ShauSha) — Mon, 11 Dec 2006 12:16:00 +0000

So, I have my first success in the 5Q's - here are Alexis Ohanian of reddit fame - not bad 2 days for my first ever reply with something I wasn't sure would even fly. So now I'm encouraged to keep trying a little longer at least.

Alexis's answers start below the line.

____________________________________________________________

I'd be happy to answer your 5 questions, thanks for coming up with such an eclectic set :-)

1. What are you reading now or what did you last read?
I recently finished A Perfect Mess (great if you're messy) and I'm currently reading Lolita (great if you're...uhh...nevermind).

2. What's your best bit of advice?
Don't take any advice from a 23 year old.

3.Half-full or half-empty?
Half-full, unless I'm thirsty, then it's just empty.

4. What's your alternative career choice?
Someone to help bring habeas corpus back, I miss that dude.

5. Who would you get to play you in a movie?
John Krasinski or Christopher Walken

Best,
Alexis

5 Questions

noreply@blogger.com (ShauSha) — Sat, 09 Dec 2006 04:26:00 +0000

I have this idea ... I'm going to try it out and see if it flies.

The idea is this:

I approach people** - probably via eMail and ask them 5 questions. That's it, no more, no less and then I publish their answers here. The questions themselves may be the same each time or they may be based upon the person being questioned.

Whether these folks elect to answer some, all or none and how they answer is entirely their choice - I will simply create a new post with their answers.

I may also keep a strike list of those who don't reply and a hit list for those that did reply but declined

** These people are liable to famous if even only very slightly so for some reason or another. Be they a Bill Gates or someone who became infamous beacuse of something they did or that happened to them.

It must be Comms

noreply@blogger.com (ShauSha) — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 23:47:00 +0000

I've worked in IT now for 3 decades which doesn't necessarily give me a good insight into the behemoth that it is and there are still many, many things about it I don't understand; like SAP.

But the one thing I really don't understand is why everything is always the "fault of comms" and why we, in comms, have to prove it isn't before the other sections of IT will even consider looking at an issue. The other aspects that go with this thinking fall into vague areas, such as ...

can I ping it
can't I ping it
don't know what else to do so will dump the call on comms
it must be a network fault

Whatever, the call is coming our way irrespective of the answer. Only yesterday I had a call passed into the "comms queue" with the words - I was able to term serve to it and ping it and all applications appear to be ok - perhaps comms can shed some light on it - or maybe it is just me?

Perhaps someone can shed some light on this. After all, I'm happy to accept there may be a comms fault and that I or one of my team need to investigate it, but surely to God folks should do their own homework first and if the call comes to them prove all is ok.

Here's another one from yesterday's queue .....

Our website has the following message on:
You are seeing this page because we are experiencing difficulties at present and normal service will be resumed as soon as possible.

Yup, you guessed it, this ended up getting logged as a fault and sent to the comms queue with the immortal words of - are there any comms issues? Let me see, how do I explain this one .... NO you numb nut!

Cyber Stalkers

noreply@blogger.com (ShauSha) — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 13:46:00 +0000

... or perhaps more accurately I should entitle this as cyber hasslers.

A bit of history first off: I have been into penpalling since days eons (at least it seems that way) before computing ever took off and it required, thought, tact, intelligence and a reasonable grasp of the other persons natural language. This last was my main reason for sticking with English speaking penpals and to be fair, my penpals mostly came from personal knowledge. What does that mean ... simply that I already knew the person to whom I was writing as a friend or at the very least 'a mate'.

Since then, many things have intervened for me to lose contact with most of these folks such as leaving school, getting married, moving country, lack of replies and so on and I then moved on to 'doing my penpals via eMail'. This in itself produced issues and broadly fall into the following categories ....

1. I become the next best buddy to mail all your crap too - no, I don't want to see the dancing frogs AGAIN.
2. We become, through no lack of effort on my part, occasional 'how are youers' because you don't know what it means to build a relationship yet you get offended if I stop writing.
3. We hit it off such that we feel like we know each other intimately and have been best buddies since the year dot.
4. You are a total fruitcake and stalk / hassle me non stop.

I can cope with those who fall into the 1's, I just filter your email into the bit bucket. Likewise those of you in the 2's are teetering on the verge of being auto-deleted, it is simply a matter of how often you write me two lines and then complain that I only wrote 30. Those in category 3 ... I need more of you, I love you all .... and finally category 4, the cyber nutters.

I have a long standing principle with my penpals ... on first contact I tell them up front what I am like (yes grumpy, yes boring at times, but get to know me and I'll be a lifelong friend who'll fight tooth and nail for you) and I make one, note it well only 1 guarantee. And that is that I won't just disappear without a trace unless I can't avoid it but don't take my silence as not wanting to write, just my life at present precludes me from being able to do so.

So I have this one, whom no matter how often I remind them, insists on ending the friendship because I don't care, don't like them, have no thought for their feelings and so on. So after >15 attempts over a period of a year to say don't be so silly I have finally had it. So I told them ... I'm not fighting you or your perceptions anymore and this is goodbye ... since then I've had at least 2 eMails a day asking me to tell them to f%*@ off, to forgive them, to give them another chance, that I ate them, etc ..... if this continues I'll just set up a filter to push them straight into the bit bucket or maybe one cruel step further I'll just re-route the mail back to them.

C'est la vie

What's new ....

noreply@blogger.com (ShauSha) — Tue, 23 May 2006 13:38:00 +0000

I was on blogger.com's frontpage when a link rolled past. It meant nothing to me, it still doesn't but for some reason it attracted me in. Anyway, it took me to ...

http://lcmglife.blogspot.com/

Which appears to be a very new blog and with only two posts so far but I have to say that the article on a child safe internet was a very interesting read and the second blog that it linked too was also a good read and both broadly match my views.

What else ... oh yes ...

https://anonybrowser.com/login.php looks interesting, especially in the light of the above two mentioned blogs. For a paltry $4 a month one can have unfettered access to the internet ... or is it too good to be true? I personally am not concerned enough about my privacy to need to hide behind an anoymous company who may disappear tomorrow.

The Apprentice

noreply@blogger.com (ShauSha) — Fri, 12 May 2006 09:53:00 +0000

I have questions ....

1. Why does Alan Sugar insist on having himself called Sir Alan?

- Yes, I know he's a Sir but this smacks of having to 'Lord' it over others because you can because you have a title and a bit of money and in this case because you are looking for sycophants.

2. Was it just me, or did Badge come over as being someone who doesn't need molding or training and in which case she in no way meets the criteria for an apprentice?

3. Are all the apprentices just a little bit - ok then, a lot - anally retentive? I haven't watched the series avidly but to a person they are all totally full of themselves and in need of personalities.

Is life really a better place because we have these over ambitious self-centred achievers appearing on our TV?

For my part I will walk away from anybody who comes over this way as my life doesn't need the grief. If this makes them happy then fair enough it's their life - but you only had to look at each of their faces as they were fired to realise that not one of them are happy. Is this what they (and here they becomes more generic to represent anybody like this and in my time I've met a few) believe they are here for? Is it their sole purpose to climb the corporate ladder? come the end of the road, will they look back happy that they've made it? What is their legacy going to be?

I'm only asking these questions because I now work with somebody whom I can see has similar traits and I'm trying to work out what it is that drives them. This person - let's call him/her Z - had to go on a grad course recently and was so anti it you'd have thought that Z had already been on the course and knew it's content. Well surprisingly Z has come back from this course with an entirely different attitude and is determined to move on - that's good for Z but what I spotted as Z regaled us with stories of the course was shades of 'The Badger' - arrogance and over-confident attitude dressed up as competence and ability in a young package.

And since Z's return to work Z has done precisely nothing in terms of what they are supposed to be doing. Z has spent time eMailing new mentors (found from the course) and studying. Neither of which is a bad thing when we have nothing to do .... I'll leave it to you to figure out if we have nothing to do.

Don't any of these people realise that life is so much more than our achievements?

HDDLife - An Update

noreply@blogger.com (ShauSha) — Fri, 12 May 2006 09:08:00 +0000

I was so wanting for the folks at BinarySense Ltd (aka HDDLife) to not respond to my post and to not supply their promised license but I was also determined not to let is slide too easily.

So I persisted, filled in their form several times and eventually - though I held no hope for an answer - sent them a personal eMail via their only locatable eMail address.

Here's the reply I received - you can excuse the English as I believe they are a Russian based company.

#00FF00_{Sorry for inconvenience, due to some error in configuration, posts from form don't pass in our automatic ticket system, so we don't see them.

Now all fixed and we parsing posts, your license will be send tomorrow.}

And I am happy to report that I now have my license and what's more my first Whoop Whoop alert which woke me up. The alert is due to me not changing the defaults - which is perhaps one area where this little app could be improved. Default levels for different hardware platforms (laptops always work much hotter than desktops).

noreply@blogger.com (ShauSha) — Tue, 25 Apr 2006 21:45:00 +0000

HDDlife.

Here is one of my rare utility promotions - it's the way my life goes but one thing is certain... if I blog about it then I like it. Anyway the heading says it all I guess. HDD, as in Hard Disk Drive and life as in, well life !!! The companies website front page tag line says it all - HDDlife is the protection of your personal information. In short, this little utility sits there using minimal resources and in it's most basic form will report on the life of your hard drve. It does this using S.M.A.R.T technology built into all modern drives be they SCSI, IDE or ATA.

What in a nutshell does it do then I hear you ask?
It advises on the 'health' of your hard drive. Using the above mentioned technology it determines the likeliness of your hard drive failing and advises you with clear simple graphs. It will also do simple benchmarking, advise on your drive filling up and so on.

What doesn't it do?
It doesn't fix your drives if they have a problem; it doesn't protect your data or back it up. All it purports to do, and so far do it well, is to give a clear graphical idea of if your hard drive is likely to fail.

So, for a simple - yes I keep saying that - utility that takes minimal resources that can give you a good indicator of your hard drives time on this earth then, for me at least, it is a no brainer to purchase. And at $29 for a single license it won't break the bank.

So give me the low down then .....
Fly over here to HDDLife and grab yourself a trial copy.

I guess, if I have to, there is one downside .... the trial version is for 14 days but it doesn't save any settings and after a reboot you will need to reset any choices and the popups can be very annoying. But then I guess something this simple and this good should be registered soonest to remove the annoyance. Go on, give them a try.

Learn details about HDDlife
Publish your opinion in your blog and get a license for free!

Mac AppZapper

noreply@blogger.com (ShauSha) — Mon, 03 Apr 2006 13:55:00 +0000

I have a Mac - I am not a diehard PC fan ..... but them nice Mac folks forgot an App Uninstaller, so here's one that will be free if enough people link to it.

If not, it'll just be cheaper than usual .... anyway, here's my link http://maczot.com/

Oh and least I forget, don't bother after April 3rd .....

Stress Bunnies

noreply@blogger.com (ShauSha) — Mon, 03 Apr 2006 12:43:00 +0000

My posting back on Nov 6th seems to have been quite accurate - I mentioned that I'd asked an innocent and genuine question and ever since it would seem that this person has been seething and probably stressing about it all. Whilst I don't agree with his work ethic I do like him as a person, so I've offered via my go-between, that if it helps him to get over my supposed insult then I'll buy him a pint - lets see if this calms him down as I know he likes his alcohol.

Digg It Man

noreply@blogger.com (ShauSha) — Mon, 03 Apr 2006 12:17:00 +0000

As in Digg.com has been around since November of 2004 and is now regarded as one of the places to go for technology news. In their own words ...

Digg is a technology news website that combines social bookmarking, blogging, RSS, and non-hierarchical editorial control. With digg, users submit stories for review, but rather than allow an editor to decide which stories go on the homepage, the users do.

So what makes this so different to other technews sites such as /.? Good question and simply put it is user power that decides what stories float to the top or in print terms make it to the front page. If a story is irrelevant, not tech based or quite simply just plain sucks then it doesn't get Dugg by its members and will not appear on the front page. There is hotly debated comments system which allows for individuals to post their opinions on the story presented and once you become a member, any story you Digg can be cross-posted to your own blog. The stories are presented as headlines with a brief snippet of the opening lines and a click on the headline takes one off to the source of the entry - usually a blog or news site that was first 'spotted' as carrying the story.

If you haven't discovered Digg yet, then I heartily recommend you wander on over and start excavating.