Tuesday 30 December 2008

Christmas 2008

So Christmas is all over and new year beckons. Cath, Emma and I spent Xmas day at home, Caths Dad, came to visit for a few very enjoyable days. As you can imagine Emma got a stack of presents, the highlights being, A till and shopping bag full of play groceries which she is carrying around everywhere, a Happyland School and playmat that she loves, and an "In the Night Garden" play doh factory which she is amazed by. Cath cooked a fantastic Christmas dinner assisted by her dad (While Emma and I played with toys), after lunch we went for a long walk down the thames to work off the excessive food and by the time we got home it was dark. Present wise I got a fab PWEI hooded top, some DVD's, the latest Jasper Fforde novel and National Trust membership so did pretty well. Boxing day it was time to get out of the house properly and blow away the cobwebs, so we went for a walk up the Uffington White Horse, it's very old and impressive and at the bottom of the Hill is a rather strange flat topped grass hill where legend has it George slayed the dragon, Emma got really cold while we were out (it was about 3 degrees but really windy) which she was not happy about at all, so off we went for a little walk around Wantage (Apparently this is where Alfred the Great came from) and then home into the warmth.
The day after that it was time to visit more family so we drove over to Guildford to see Sam and Sarah (Caths brother) and then on to Horsham where we stayed at Caths Mum's for the night. Caths Mum cooked a lovely Turkey Pie dinner for us and Anna and Lee (Caths Sister and husband) and of course we exchanged more gifts.
Sunday it was back to Abingdon via Guildford again, for a quiet evening in watching a film "Bank Job" and guzzling a little more festive cheer :)
Yesterday we went for lunch at the Barley Mow in Clifton Hampden, it's a really old thatched pub which apparently was featured in "Three men in a boat" food was fab and Emma loved the fact the pub was empty and she could run about like a loon. After lunch we dropped Caths Dad off in Reading so he could get a train to Gatwick for his flight home.
Although I have had 2 colds in the last month I'm now starting to feel like I've got that bad flu that lots of other people have had recently just wish it could of waited until the new year was over, but hey I'm sure I'll feel better with a couple of glasses of champagne inside me.

Favourite Food of the weekend. Xmas dinner, especially the fab turkey we got and the organic veg.

Favourite snack of the weekend. Pizza Express Mozarella Garlic bread (mmmmmm)

TV Highlights of the festive weekend, Gavin and Stacey and The Royle Family which were both fantastic.

Seasons greetings to you all.

Wednesday 24 December 2008

Xmas has started

I'm not on call anymore woohooo, I celebrated this by drinking too much wine last night and now have the head to prove it. Catherine's Dad arrived from Holland last night to stay with us for a few days over Xmas, it will be nice to have him around he's good company and Emma will really enjoy having her grandad around over the festive period. So I'm in my final few hours at work, finish at 2.30pm until the 5th of January, then despite my best efforts I still need to go to a shop and buy a present (there's always one left on Xmas eve isn't there) then it's just wrapping to do and I think we're sorted. Present report and some festive pics will follow in the next day or two.
Hope you all have a fantastic Christmas and successful new year.

Sunday 21 December 2008

Last Minute Xmas shopping

Well we are all done but as it was a nice day we thought we'd venture out and have a look round the shops. We went to Henley on Thames, its a lovely place that we did consider living when we moved to Oxfordshire but its a 20 mile trek to work. Anyway Emma continued her desire to walk everywhere, she's come on in leaps and bounds in this area in the last couple of weeks especially now she has started to hold our hands while walking down the street. Anyway some picture of our visit to Henley are here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/brettcarr/sets/72157611423606793/

Guardian Q and A

I generally only buy a newspaper once a week, I used to buy more but never got the time to read them. These days I get the Guardian on a Saturday it has enough to keep me going for a few weeks, its easy to read and not extreme in its views. Lots of different sections, I really like the Money and Work sections but my favourite is the Weekend magazine, I really enjoy the columns by Tim Dowling (god knows how his wife puts up with him or vice versa) and Lucy Mangan at the start, the 'What Women don't understand about Men' and until it's recent demise Stephen Fry's technology column, anyway I hear you say "Where does Q and A" fit into this? Well one of the sections they have is a Q and A of a famous (well not always) person. I thought it might be fun to answer the same questions (as honestly as I can in a public forum anyway) so here goes:

When were you happiest:

From a personal perspective now (I have all I ever wanted), from a work perpsective probably when I started at RIPE in Amsterdam.


What is your greatest fear:

Unhappiness for those I love. Premature death (sorry for the morbidness the rest of the answers are much more cheery)


What is your earliest memory:

Watching the men landing on the moon on the TV, which would make me 1, but then it could of been a repeat.


Which living person do you most admire and why:

Anybody who puts their own life/happiness on the line to make the world a better place.


What is the trait you most deplore in yourself:

The ability I have to wind other people up without realising I am doing it.


What is the trait you most deplore in others:

Selfishness and Ignorance.


Aside from property whats the most expensive thing you have ever bought:

A car we bought nearly new in 1998 about 7,000 pounds I think.


What is your most treasured possesion:

My memories.


Where would you like to live:

I'm really happy to be back in the UK, but would love to spend some time in Australia and if I was super rich maybe a place on an island in the Indian Ocean.


What would your super power be:

The ability to learn and retain anything instantly.


What makes you depressed:

Death and hunger in the poor parts of the world.


Who would play you in the film of your life:

John Simm if he can do a Yorkshire accent.


What is your most unappealing habit:

Not putting the lid back on the shaving foam.


What is your favourite smell:

Freshly cooked good quality bread.


What is the worst thing anyone has ever said to you:

Youve been made redundant (I'm sure there is something worse than this but its the only thing I could think of)


Cat or dog:

Cat, without a doubt, I like dogs too but they just don't compare.


What do you owe your parents:

My attitude and outlook on life.


What or who is the greatest love of your life:

My wife and kids :)


What was the best kiss of your life:

Le phonographique Leeds, November 1997, she knows who.


Have you ever said I love you and not meant it:

Definitley but I didn't know it at the time.


Which living person do you most despise and why:

I'm not really a despising kind of person, I never really give that much hatred much thought.


What is the worst job you've done:

First job when I left school, I was a mechanic working on trucks, it was cold, hard, dirty work and I only did it for 2 days. Potato picking was probably much harder work but I remember that fondly as I got on well with the people I was working with, its amazing how much of a difference that makes.


What has been your biggest disappointment:

At the time the breakup of my first marriage, and in particular the affect that had on the relationship with my kids, I'm kinda glad it happened now because of where it got me.


If you could edit your past what would you change:

Nothing without my past I wouldn't be where I am now.


If you could go back in time, where would you go:

December 25th 0000 Israel to see what all the fuss was about.


When did you last cry and why:

Reading the 999 transcript article in the Guardian the other week, there was a story about a woman who gave birth on her own while on the phone to 999, it was very powerful and moving.


How do you relax:

Watching films and TV generally, playing video games sometimes.


What single thing would improve the quality of your life:

A lottery win.


What is the most important lesson life has taught you:

Expect nothing, and be excited as you have no idea where you will be this time next year, life is a rollercoaster ride.


If you feel like it please reply with your answers I'd be very interested to see them.

Thursday 18 December 2008

Full Flow

So Christmas preperations are in full flow, presents seem to be arriving on a daily basis (mostly for Emma) I got a surprise xmas bonus which was nice (and is already spent).
Today was secret santa day at work and I got a drumkit in a box, basically its a book, dvd, pair of drumsticks and a rubber pad to practice on, this is atcually really cool as I've wanted to learn to play the drums for years and this is a way to start off without being too noisy. Anyway I seem to of got over the flu now (although I did think I'd caught something again for a few hours yesterday) so hopefully I will be able to post a bit more in the coming days, I'm oncall until Tuesday though which means my sleeping patterns can sometimes be a little erratic. Missed three gigs this week which I would of really liked to of gone too, Levellers in Oxford, NMA in London and The Damned in Oxford, these kind of weeks always seem to fall when I'm oncall. Well thats all for now, next maybe a post with more of a point and some coherence.

Saturday 6 December 2008

Blueeergghhhh

I've got flu (of the man variety) and feel like crap, so normal posting is suspended for a few days.

Wednesday 3 December 2008

Think the internet is safe :)

Some of you may know I do DNS for a living (amongst a few other things), there was a lot of activity in my industry earlier on this year when a huge hole was found in the DNS system by a researcher called Dan Kaminsky. Below is a link to a story about this in Wired, you don't have to be technical or even know about DNS for this to be an interesting read, if you are an internet user and think you are safe then read away, its fascinating and scary :)

http://www.wired.com/techbiz/people/magazine/16-12/ff_kaminsky?currentPage=all

Tuesday 2 December 2008

Travel

Well they say that travel broadens the horizons and I won't argue with that. I am just at this very moment filling in my first ever passport renewal, yes I have only had one for ten years which considering how much I have used it feels kind of strange. I was a very different person ten years ago when this first passport was issued (I applied because Catherine and I were going on our first ever holiday abroad together, we went to Nice in France for a long weekend) .
I am pleased to say that even though I'm a bit fatter and wrinklier I'm much happier with the passport photos I took today than the one I have been living with for the last 10 years (maybe I won't be saying that in five years time). It's reflections like this that make me incredibly excited for the next ten years and what it has to offer, if it's half as exciting as the last ten then it will be incredible. So it's a short post but one with me in a very happy state of mind. I'll leave with for posteritys sake a list of the stamps in the departing passport.

New York: April 23 2004
Amsterdam: April 27 2000
Chicago: July 23 2007
Vancouver: November 5th 2005
Malta: June 22 2003
Tokyo: February 23 2006
Seattle: November 11th 2006
Hong Kong: March 6th 2006
Melbourne: February 24th 2006
Dallas: March 18th 2006
New York: June 3rd 2008
Bangkok: August 27th 2002
Sydney: March 6th 2006
Register Amsterdam: February 7th 2001
Dutch Immigration: January 5th 2001

Top wishes for destinations in the new passport.

South America
Africa
Australia
San Francisco

Sunday 30 November 2008

A cooking good weekend

I said cooking :)

I did quite a lot of cooking this weekend, I really really enjoy cooking but do tend to do the simpler things. On Friday night I did an old favourite "Pasta Pie" it was kind of made up and invented by Cath and I years ago, you can see full recipe and details here:
http://www.opensourcefood.com/people/brettcarr/recipes/pasta-pie
On Saturday evening I did steak and chips, again pretty simple but I do like to add some work into simple recipes so I'm quite careful about how I do the chips, boiled a little first, a splash of oil and some pepper and/or chilli flakes then in the oven for 30-40 mins. The steak is just fried in the pan for about 4 minutes on each side in some butter mmmm :) Top this off with some nice salad and you can't go wrong. Tonight I did shepherds pie, my own touch to this is to add some chillis to the mince when frying it and be sure to add some good quality cheese to the top before putting it in the oven, I did Emma a portion without Chilli's though as she's not so keen.
Catherine and I normally share the cooking at the weekend and she does most of it during the week, I really enjoyed cooking this weekend though. I think the most important part of cooking is the quality of the ingredients you use, this weekend we did shopping at Waitrose which really makes a difference. Waitrose is probably the best part of living down south :)
If you have any (simple) recipes please feel free to leave them as comments.

Saturday 29 November 2008

A walk in the park.

As some of you may know, Catherine is really into babywearing, this basically means that whenever we go out she carries Emma either in a wrap or shoulder sling or in a baby carrier on her back, this is a rather brilliant ideas as Emma loves the closeness of being next to her mummy all the time, and when we go out it is much easier and more convenient than lugging a push chair around everywhere. Anyway Catherine is also involved in several communities of other Mums and Dads who do the same thing and in particular helps to organise Oxford Sling Meet. A couple of weeks ago it was national baby wearing week so we went on on organised walk around Oxford, through a lovely park and past some of the really nice colleges and then to a church hall where we had tea and cake and the kids had a chance to run around like maniacs, despite the dampness of the weather it was a really lovely day, it even made the local paper and there was a short story on the ITV local news about it as well. I have put some pics up of the day here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/brettcarr/sets/72157610388608177/ and when I get a moment I will also upload the video of what was on the TV as it has a gorgeous shot of Emma waving at the TV cameras.
By the way for those wondering I do occasionally carry Emma as well but only on my back and I need Catherine's assistance to get her up there and back down.

Friday 28 November 2008

Friday already?

Christ it's Friday already, where the hell did the week go, power cut at work today and the generator failed we finally got power back after 1.5 hours but it was a bit worrying up until that point. Nice few beers out with people from work tonight. Apologies for the short post something more substantial later in the weekend hopefully. Oh Emma's a bit better today (lots of beans) which is nice :)

Tuesday 25 November 2008

London (Again)

So I went to London again today but this time for work. Won't bore you with the technical details but basically I was powerpointed for the morning, that was after paying 47 (yes 47) quid to stand on a train all the way to London. On the way home there was tube chaos as tfl had suspended the circle, district and hammersmith and city lines, which leaves just the one (bakerloo) going into Paddington, it's times like these you realise what a pure work of genius the London Underground map is (try working out that kind of detour on the tokyo one). Anyway got home eventually albeit 2 hours later than I thought I would.

Emma still has a cold but is looking a little better. Her words are coming on nicely. In the bath tonight, Me: "Time for a wash Emma??" Emma: Mmm a zash?

Mmmm time for a beer or two I think.

Monday 24 November 2008

Kristen at the borderline

Abingdon is just far enough from London that going to a gig there is possible but a bit of a pain logistically which means to be honest it's only going to happen when something special is going on. That said gigs by Kristen Hersh (or one of her other guises, Throwing Muses, 50 foot wave) are generally very special, she's one of the few artists that I would still drive up and down the country to see several times in a row if I didn't have family responsibilities.
So I left home at 5.30 yesterday and drove to the Metropolis that is Didcot, ( in truth Didcot seems like a bit of a hole to me, it sits beneath a large cloud created by one of the UK biggest power stations, and just seems quite run down, but it has a very well connected station, with frequent trains to London that take less then an hour, shame they arrive in Paddington, where there is mmmm nothing) So on arrival I find that tfl have closed the district and circle lines mmmm great start, luckily the bakerloo line is still running and is almost as conveninent anyway. The gig was at the Borderline, which is just a little down Charing Cross Road from the Astoria (Where Uriah Heep were playing last night, my god are they still going) I'd never been to this venue before but I was vey very impressed, probably enough to say it's now the best one I've been to in London, it's tiny with a very low stage and plenty of bar area, the toilets are a bit miniscule but hey you can't have everything. I got there by 7.30 and K was not due to start her first set until 8.00 the venue was still pretty much fillng up, so I got a very good place right down the front. As usual 8.00 turned into 8.20 but hey was worth waiting for (although hanging around at gigs on my own like Billy No Mates is not really my idea of fun). Kristen played two sets of about 40 minutes each, the first set was all Appalachian Folk music http://www.mustrad.org.uk/articles/appalach.htm, this is traditional American folk music which I believe was taught to her by her grandparents, seems to be centred around murders a lot which she did make a joke about between songs. Kristen looked a little tired but I'm guessing she was jetlagged to hell having only flown from the west coast a few days earlier, but her voice and guitar skills were up to their normal selfs. There was a small break of about twenty minutes and then she came back and did a second set of her own songs some very old, some more recent but all instantly recognisable, I preffered the second set but the first half did have it's moments. I'm not sure if there was an encore as I ran out to catch my train at the end of the set (Kristens manager had set two sets of 40 mins to me in an e-mail earlier in the day so I have a feeling there wasn't going to be an encore anyway) I rushed back from central London to Paddington to catch my train and got on it with about 3 minutes to spare, there is one later but it would of meant hanging around Paddington for an hour which is not really what I want to be doing. Finally got home at about 5 to 12 and was pleasantly surprised to find Catherine still up and awake with amusing stories of Emma and eggs maybe I'l tell you a little more about that tommorow.

I didn't manage to take any pictures of last nights gig as my camera mysteriously stopped working but I've found some online already here:

http://wildvanilla.ning.com/photo/photo/listForContributor?screenName=2jxwi6ca9g98x

and a video here:

http://wildvanilla.ning.com/video/20081123_kh-1

Sunday 23 November 2008

Sunday Excitement

I was pretty annoyed last night to find that Kristen Hersh is playing in London tonight and it's sold out, why the hell hadn't I noticed she was playing earlier. Anyway after some hurried and frantic e-mailing and with great thanks to Billy Kristen's manager I have blagged a guest list place (Not so much blag as I'm a member of cashmusic http://kristinhersh.cashmusic.org/ but it was good he could sort me out at the last minute). I also really have the most fantastic wife in the world who didn't mind me springing this on her at the last minute, despite a lack of sleep last night (thanks Cath). So I'm off to the borderline tonight and I'm (very) excited.
More tommorow (with photos)

Friday 21 November 2008

Top 100 Books

Thought this was quite interesting, thanks to Jez (I nicked it off her livejournal)



According to The Big Read, the average adult has only read 6 of the top 100 books on their list.

Y = Yes read
(Y) = Loved
? = will probably read at some point
M = own but never got round to reading
X = Never read


1. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen = X
2. The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien = ?
3. Harry Potter series - JK Rowling = X
4. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee = (Y)
5. The Bible - = X
6. Wuthering Heights - Emily Brontë = (Y)
7. Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell = Y
8. His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman = ?
9. Great Expectations = X
10. Little Women - Louisa M Alcott = X
11. Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy = X
12. Catch 22 - Joseph Heller = X
13. Complete Works of Shakespeare - Y (some of them)
14. Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier = X
15. The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien = Y
16. Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks = X
17. Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger = (Y)
18. The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger X
19. Middlemarch - George Eliot = X
20. Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell = X
21. The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald = X
22. Bleak House - Charles Dickens = Y
23. War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy = X
24. The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams = (Y)
25. Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh = X
26. Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky = X
27. Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck = X
28. Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll = X
29. The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame = X
30. Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy = X
31. David Copperfield - Charles Dickens = X
32. Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis = X
33. Emma - Jane Austen = Y
34. Persuasion - Jane Austen = X
35. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis = X
36. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini = X
37. Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres = X
38. Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden = X
39. Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne = Y
40. Animal Farm - George Orwell = Y
41. The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown = ?
42. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez = X
43. A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving = X
44. The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins = X
45. Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery = X
46. Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy = X
47. The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood = X
48. Lord of the Flies - William Golding = Y
49. Atonement - Ian McEwan = X (Hated the film so not much chance of me reading the book)
50. Life of Pi - Yann Martel = X
51. Dune - Frank Herbert = X
52. Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons = X
53. Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen = M
54. A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth = X
55. The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon = X
56. A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens = X
57. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley = X
58. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon = X
59. Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez. = X
60. Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck = X
61. Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov = X
62. The Secret History - Donna Tartt = X
63. The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold = X
64. Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas = X
65. On The Road - Jack Kerouac = X
66. Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy = X
67. Bridget Jones' Diary - Helen Fielding = Y
68. Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie = X
69. Moby Dick - Herman Melville = X
70. Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens = X
71. Dracula - Bram Stoker = X
72. The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett = X
73. Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson = Y
74. Ulysses - James Joyce = X
75. The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath = X
76. Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome = Y
77. Germinal - Emile Zola= X
78. Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray = X
79. Possession - AS Byatt = X
80. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens = X
81. Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell = X
82. The Color Purple - Alice Walker = X
83. The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro = X
84. Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert = X
85. A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry = X
86. Charlotte's Web - EB White = X
87. The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom = X
88. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle = X
89. The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton =X
90. Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad = X
91. The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery = X
92. The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks = X
93. Watership Down - Richard Adams = X
94. A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole = X
95. A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute = X
96. The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas = X
97. Hamlet - William Shakespeare = X
98. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl = Y
99. Les Miserables - Victor Hugo = XI

100 and 3 seem to be missing for some reasoin

So I scored 12% double the average but still pretty bad eh :)
Now if it were IT books :)
Leave a comment with your score.

Grrrr

Bad nights sleep again, was all going fine but then the Central heating came on about 2am. The boiler in our house is located in a cupboard in our bedroom (how nonsensical is that?), so we need to make sure the heating is turned off at night time, I forgot therefore it's my own fault :)
Fixed a problem I was having with compiling some software yesterday (thanks to a developer) so that made me very happy indeed :)
Work is full of political wranglings at the moment:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/10/29/berr_nominet/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/11/10/nominet_resignation_call/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/11/13/nominet_director_resigns/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/11/14/nominet_no_resignations/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/11/20/berr_nominet_meeting/

So it's kind of a strange place to be. That said I still love working here, not quite as much as RIPE but a close second and sooooo much more than Merrill Lynch.

I love Fridays, I get to spend the weekend with my two favourite people, relax and best of all today I get to finish work at 4pm, hey I love work but I'd still rather be at home.

I don't think we have any specific plans for the weekend, but rest assured I'll keep the blog updated on our movements.

Thursday 20 November 2008

Two things to keep Pete Amused

Well that was going to be my last post of the day however I then found two things which I thought might keep Pete amused (He's working in Libya at the moment)

Create some beats within the browser

http://www.themaninblue.com/experiment/JS-909/

Need a laugh? Monty Python now have their own youtube channel

http://uk.youtube.com/user/MontyPython

Brett (spending far too much time on the internet)

Thanks to Al for the beats :)

A normal day in paradise

So now to the art of blog posting, do you need to post something new refreshing and interesting every day or just a chronicle of your life, well I guess it's much easier to do the latter than the former but not so interesting for you dear readers, I'll try and do both but please if it's too boring give me a nudge, push or kick.
The day started with tiredness, I had a bad nights sleep, I don't know why it was just one of those nights, but that coupled with a cold morning and a warm bed/wife made it pretty difficult to get up :) Emma was pretty quiet first thing but soon livened up when i gave her some "crispies" Emma and I usually enjoy starting breakfast together while Catherine showers then she joins us halfway through, it's our morning routine and works really well, off to work then where my ongoing project work has been interrupted by a flood of Solaris related tickets which mostly involve building new packages, Solaris is a pretty cool OS in a lot of ways but it is probably my area of least expertise and I find it's user unfriendliness really frustrating, so there was a fair bit of swearing at my monitor today. Anyway I got a fair amount of it done in the end but have an issue which I have raised in a support forum so hopefully I'll have an answer on that tommorow when the US have had time to read it, this really is one of the best parts of having a worldwide Internet the colloboration and support oppurtunities that it opens up are endless (see the book wikinomics how mass collaboration changes everything) Anyway I seem to be drifting off into geekdom, (sorry) I'm finishing off this post while Emma is about to go to bed, in the last few weeks she has started consistently happilly going to bed in the evening while still awake without any mis-behaving or crying and I'm really proud of her for it.
So tonight a relaxing night in front of the TV beckons I think, Sundays Top Gear and the new series of Lead Balloon being the highlights.

Favourite Emma things at the moment

kisses
beep beep
The Emma language she is developing and inane chatter, (apparently sar sar=finished)

Least favourite Emma things at the moment
Sofa climbing with no fear

Currently reading: Traders, Guns and Money by Satyajit Das
Currently listening to: Pigeon Detectives

Why the title

I'm sure somebody will ask why the title? When I decided to create this blog I was installing Solaris for about the 100th time this week and I was at the prompt "Part of a subnet?" and it kind of stuck. I'm currently researching virtualisation solutions for Nominet and hence am looking at LDOM's which is a hypervisor solution for the sparc processor, quite interesting stuff but does have the knock on affect of having to do lots of OS installs which is a little tedious. However this has just been interrupted by a ticket to build some solaris library packages (which is even more tedious)

Away from techy things, I have a headache which is probably caused by drinking german beer while watching England beat Germany last night, wayheeeey.

So trying to blog again

Inspired by friends (you know who you are) I decided to get in on the act and do a little blogging. I'm not really sure exactly how this will go yet so expect nothing and hopefully you will get something. I thoiught it would be quite nice to have something Emma could read when she's older and get an insight into what her dad was up to while she was growing up. I will however try very hard for it not to be all about Emma but also include work, interests and opinions as I feel like it at the time. I'll try and do a (small) update each day but my life's not that interesting so don't expect gripping entries every day.