Category Archives: Observational

Internet, Miscellany, Observational

Digital ancient

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I had an email from Yahoo! the other day thanking me for being a user for the last 12 years.

I mostly use it as a spam-catch these days but find it astonishing that I signed up for it that long ago. In times before that – I had a Hotmail account (which I still use for IM) – that’ll be going back 17 years.

Holy heck, I seem to be old. Does this mean I’m no longer a Digital Native? Or that there’s some kind of ghastly Digital Native 2.0 out there?

As edgy and down with the kids as I try to be perhaps I should accept the crushing inevitability of it all, get a pipe and smoking jacket and start being irate at young people these days…

General update, Observational

The routines and rhythms of a country gentleman

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I seem to be turning into a country person. My surprisingly enduring passion for running has been joined by a not-insignificant-interest in gardening (at least insofar as it results in food), instead of drinking I’m more often driving, BBQs have become a regular occurrence, and every room in the house is fast acquiring its own ‘project’ – whether its painting a wall, putting up shelves or insulating.

Is this a mark of middle age? Maybe. Am I embracing it? Hells yeah, this is massive fun. Maybe at some point a year or two after we moved in we’ll ‘finish’ but the received wisdom seems to be that these things are endlessly cyclical…

There are limits to this, though. I don’t own any tweed, will never own a gun, and don’t plan on taking up hunting or fishing. Golf, however, may happen again at some point…

Dadblogging, Observational, Shopping

Observations on baby clothing

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Inspired by my good lady wife, this post.

1. Buttons are fiddly. Push-fasteners would be better.

2. Fasteners should be on the front or side of clothes. Things on the back are annoying.

3. Anything that requires pulling over a baby’s head is almost automatically less good than anything that doesn’t.

4. Anything that requires actual tying is optimistic at best, except with shoelaces and even that’s a bit much.

5. There’s this thing – velcro – which is awesome. Apply liberally.

6. Thick clothes need more wiggle room – baby’s arms don’t bend like spaghetti into tight spaces.

7. Emily’s really enjoying the extra freedom she has from being a bit, erm, nakeder, in the warm weather here in Malaysia.

…I’m sure that there are fashion designers out there would would read this with disdain, saying “fasteners are so last year, dah-ling,” but as a Dad I’d pick practicality and comfort over style every time. This isn’t an argument I’ll win every time but it’s nice to voice the thought.

Observational, Technology

Windows 7–ready for touch screen interface?

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In a word, no. I tried HP’s all-in-one touchscreen HD machine briefly today and whilst it is a stunningly put together piece of hardware – almost of Apple-esque proportions – the Windows7 UI is absolutely hopelessly adapted to touch. There’s little Touch specific UI, no friendly icon driven interface like the iPhone has, and doing anything with touch alone (with the exception of zooming into and out of stuff) is hopelessly fiddly.

HP & others – Apple has been slower on this stuff, but when they come in (and now that they have the AppStore on OSX it’s only a matter of time), they will be good. Don’t believe Microsoft’s bullshit marketing (‘To the cloud’ my ass, you’d be lucky to hit the browser bar with a finger), Windows 7 can’t do this by itself. Do what HTC did, skin the OS to a point of usefulness, and THEN you might find you have a sleeper success story on the cards.

But I doubt it. There’s a lot to do…

More of my thoughts on the future of human/machine interaction soon.

Miscellany, Observational

Defeating SAD

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There’s a lot of winter I don’t love, but particularly the dark morning/dark evening routine. Where I grew up, the story went that they shifted the time zone so that people wouldn’t have to commute in the dark (I can’t find evidence this is true on the internets, so must have been an old wives’ tale).

So it has been a growing relief that I need to fumble less as I head out for work in the mornings, unlocking garage doors and making my way through the (semi) darkened corridors and the like… and amazingly, today I left work to birdsong and returned without having to wait for 10 minutes for the car to demist!

Bring on the sunshine and sandals – summer’s practically here!

Food, Observational, Television

Should you keep milk in the fridge door?

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fridgedoorSo I know this is a burning question many of you have, reading the blog of a lactose-intolerant sci-fi loving, pr-consulting, soup-eating technologist, but hey – if I learn a valuable lesson from ‘House’ I like to pass on the love and help clear up the common misconceptions of this world.

The answer is no, as Dr Wilson revealed in a recent episode. His point – the fridge door is subject to the greatest variability in ambient temperature, so if you want to keep your milk fresh, stick it at the back of the fridge. I keep telling you, Karla, it’s the only medical drama worth watching – even though it’s never lupus, it’s both entertaining (Hugh Laurie is legend) and educational, apparently.

And whilst I do cope with a splash of regular milk in my tea, for all serious milk-drinking, baking etc., we get in the Lactofree – a genius invention for people like me and Curtis Donovan – and will keep you safe from the lactokinetics of this world (Misfits fans…).

Music, Observational

Christmas en route

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I normally get a bit frustrated with the commercialisation of Christmas; carols playing in September, lights up from August, freelance Santa Clauses job-hunting from June… but this year, due to my ongoing refusal to shop on any high street, I’ve not really noticed anything.

In part to help recover from post-holiday anticlimaxia (a well known condition), I have bought the Barenaked Ladies holiday album, which I listened to on the way in to work this morning.

Made me smile.

Of course, I then noticed the second Christmas thing of the season… An Ann Summers windowfront with a Sexy Santarina in it. It seemed somehow apt.