17 February 2017
Some of our work numbers are regularly targeted, plagued by unsolicited callers wanting to talk about a recent motor vehicle accident. I’ve been spared, luckily. Until today.
A colleague politely hung up on one… and then my phone rang.
It:
“Hello, this is [unintelligible name, company name] calling about your accident.”
Me:
“What’s the name of the company?”
It:
“Hello, this is [unintelligible name, company name] calling about your accident.”
Me, rather louder than I intended to:
“Listen: go fuck yourself.”
And then I replaced the handset, carefully, aware of an unaccountable increase in the hubbub, the level of mirth around me.
As a spectacle, not much, I’m mindful of being in work. I’ve done better…
Some time ago (I may already have written about this) I was unlucky enough to pick up at home; someone telling me my router has a virus. Yeah.
I began by insulting him, calling him a parasite, the usual insults I usually keep to myself when my family is with me. Interestingly, it went a bit downhill towards the end as he traded insults with me.
Here goes.
Me:
“Listen, your name really isn’t ‘Mike’ is it.”
It:
“No, you couldn’t pronounce my name.”
Me:
“Go on then, I’ve a few Asian friends who aren’t bottom-feeding parasites like you, go on, give me a try.”
It:
“[Utterly fucking unintelligible name.]”
Me:
“Ok, ‘Mike, you got me th”
And then I replaced the handset, carefully, aware of an evening of the score, a stalemate.
Yeah.
16 February 2017
I have a theory: that Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy was close when wondering that, if the secret of the universe was ever found, it would be replaced by something even more improbable.
It happened, someone found it, or at least the secret of the bit over which humanity believes they have a loose measure of control. Why else would our world be changed daily beyond our understanding upon awakening‽
Douglas Adams:
“If you try and take a cat apart to see how it works, the first thing you have on your hands is a non-working cat.”
Prompted by @der_jeff:
“Has the world come to an end yet?”
15 February 2017
In the hurry to leave the house for this morning’s school run and journey to work I forgot my lunch, I forgot cash (the cash my wife got for me yesterday evening) and…
Having nothing edible in my desk drawer for the first time in weeks I’m sat here now looking at a vending machine ‘Hot chicken soup’, and wondering if its calorific value will be adequate to sustain me for the next 5 hours.
Hey, a bonus, this time it’s actually not heated water with bits of green stuff floating on the surface layer of micro-froth.
(sips slowly, smacks lips, mmmm…)
13 February 2017
Ah… I remember the days when getting home and having one meant chomping on a nice, brown biscuit sandwiching a buttercream filling: the Bourbon Cream.
Nowadays I see and hear an amber-coloured liquid sloshed carefully into a thistle-shaped glass, with an ice cube lovingly plopped on top. Things are very different now.
11 February 2017
I’ve been messing about with computers since 1981, on the internet since 1997 (yes, even that is 20 years!) and so it was a surprise to find, by chance, a bookmarking service that made sense to me. Tags: I know what they are, but the things never clicked until a week-and-a-half-ago. I’ve used GTD (Getting Things Done) in various forms in a personal and to a lesser degree work capacity, but this is different.
Pinboard.in has been around since, I think, 2009. It has a mature, sensible interface; maybe one that takes a time to master, but it works well. Apart from when it doesn’t.
I signed up for an Archive account, one that costs a yearly fee of USD$25 and entitles the user to practically- unlimited, searchable, taggable bookmark storage. The Archive account is an extension of the Basic and gives full text search within the pages the Pinboard system crawls then archives. Sounds impressive.
I say ‘sounds’ as I’ve not yet had the opportunity to test the full-text bit. It simply didn’t work for me and another new signup. After a week of no response to my 2 emails, several tweets, it emerged that Pinboard’s hard drive was full. Oops, what bad timing!
Ok, the support could easily have been better, but the site owner has generously offered a small extension for the trouble I’ve had.
The good news, I spent time checking that the bookmarks could be exported in non-proprietary formats and, crucially, reimported. And I’ve spent time tagging like crazy.
And here are the fruits of my labours, a bit of a mess for now, but eminently usable:
https://pinboard.in/u:bazbt3