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It’s not hard to notice that websites and messageboards are slowly filling with people who feel obliged to write their messages in ‘txt spk’, as if they were writing a text message in shorthand.

I mean, I can understand people who write SMS messages on their phones like that because I find them incredibly difficult to type on, and one of the reasons I still own a Nokia phone with worn plastic, crack screen, and it’s one redeeming feature - a fold-out keyboard! But last time I looked, most computers came with a full size QWERTY keyboard, and even people who hunt and peck can type full sentences reasonably speedily on them!
Of course, as I write this, I realise that the majority of people who are writing ‘txt spk’ style online, are younger than me, and this whole entry is just me realising that I am getting old. I only hope they are able to form proper English sentences when they are using traditional, more analogue forms of writing.

Like many geeks, my house is full of numerous pieces of technology. In my living room in particular they concregate under my television, waiting to be used. That is, if I could find their corresponding remote control.

Gah, how I wish someone could invent some form of universal remote that could control all these devices without being over complicated, and portable enough that I could have it with me at all times, so I couldn’t ever lose it. Most of the time they disappear down the sides of my sofa, or when getting up to put a DVD in the player, I inadvertantly take one of them with me, and then leave it over by the television. Of course I only realise this when I have walked back across the room and settled myself into the chair once again.

I actually only have five remote controls at present, six counting the tiny one that came with my MacBook and that I am constantly scared of losing. Also, as I sit here I look up to notice that one of the remotes is for a device I don’t even use anymore, unless you count gathering dust in the cupboard useful!

Today I started learning “Ruby on Rails”, the framework that was originally built by the people at 37signals, who wrote some of the web applications that were soon adopted under the umbrella known as “Web 2.0″.

I hope it lives up the hype. I’ve tried working with frameworks before, and found them too strict to use in the real world. A colleague of mine once structured a project we were working on around a complex MVC (Model, View, Controller) framework that baffles me even to this day. I just couldn’t see how the pieces go together, and I ended up hating frameworks altogether.

Worst still, every HTML form element was generated automagically by some mystery form builder. The only way to get it to generate nice, clean XHTML-compliant code (with proper end tags and lowercase attributes), was to hack the hell out of it.

But anyway, back to Rails. I’ve never used Ruby before, but it seems pretty straightforward. I’m hoping that learning the framework at the same time as learning the language will help be structure my code better, as I tend to code chaotically. Hopefully some structure will do me some good!

Well, I’ve now compiled and installed Ruby and Rails onto my MacBook, and have a copy of “Agile Web Development with Rails” sat next to me - so, wish me luck! I’ll be sure to keep you all updated on my progress.

Well, I’ve had my MacBook for just over a week now, and tonight thought it was about time that I would have a quick browse through the PDF user guide. After scanning through many of the pages, I reached an interesting disclaimer that seems rather strange to have on a portable computer with wireless capability:

Wireless Radio Use
This device is restricted to indoor use due to its
operation in the 5.15 to 5.25 GHz frequency range to
reduce the potential for harmful interference to co-
channel Mobile Satellite systems.

Bizarre indeed.

I write this a whole day after Puntcon, which was a rather wonderful day full of picnicking, punting and conversation in Cambridge.

I somehow reached the advertised meeting place in good time, just before midday on Sunday. I paced about until I spotted Bill, who was the organiser of whom I recognised from the photos of the previous years event.
From then on it was somewhat of a whirlwind of meeting and being introduced to all these new faces, many of whom had known each other through other events etc, but they all made me feel very welcome it must be said.

As soon as we had sorted ourselves out, and taken account of an absentees, punts were organised and we then made our way along the River Cam. The weather was excellent, and the conversation was to, even if I did feel a tad out of my depth at times.

(Photo courtesy of LoopZilla)

When we reached the picnic site and met up with the remainder of our party (they had charged ahead into the distance), we settled down to our picnic. Bill had brought plentiful supplies along, and through his encouragement no one returned to the boat who wasn’t suitably stuffed! I suspect we sat slightly lower in the water on our return.

The more spontaneous of our group decided to take an impromptu swim in the River Cam much to my amazement. Word has it that the river was surprisingly pleasant to swim in. They were no alone, as we had passed may swimmer braving the water, including one man who had decided to swim in exactly zero clothing!

On our return to the punt hire station, we said our farewells to several members of the group who had to make their way home. I decided to stay, and was certainly glad I did. Ended up in a student bar slap-bang in the middle of Trinity College. It was quite an honour to be able to see some of the courtyards that are normally off-limits to us mere-mortal members of the public!

After more conversation on the grounds, with the time fast approaching 9pm, I said my goodbyes and made my way back to my car.

All in all, an interesting day indeed. Plenty of people I hope to stay in contact with. I’m sure they’ll be back again next year, as will I - for PuntCon IV.

My only regret is not having a go at punting myself, which did look like a lot of fun. I really shouldn’t have let my fears get the better of me so often, but I know I’m not the most co-ordinated person, for which I blame partially on my high centre of gravity.

Tomorrow afternoon, I’m off to Cambridge to the The Fifth Great Geek Punt Picnic (aka Puntcon III). I have no idea what to expect, but it sounded like fun and a great way to meet some new geek-types!

I heard about it on the formerly weekly, formerly fortnightly, email newsletter “Need to Know” that I’ve been subscribed to for several years. They’ve been a number of events I quite liked the sound of posted on there in the past, but either they’re miles away, fall on the wrong day. Mainly it’s been a lack of confidence that’s stopped me, but I’m making an effort to sort that out by trying new things as often as possible.

So, it should be fun, and Wi-Fi access permitting my next entry should be posted from Cambridge - fingers crossed!

So this evening, I went and saw the touring version of Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s musical “Starlight Express” in Norwich. I had previously seen the West End version a couple of times, and was quite interested to see how such a big production could translate onto a smaller stage.

I wasn’t disappointed, the full spectacle was still there with additional songs and some 3d-glasses (of the non red-green headache inducing kind) made up for the roller-skating action that just wouldn’t fit into the theatre.

I guess I should try and stay on topic, especially since I’m only on my fourth entry so far. Being the geek that I am, I spent a few moments during the “3d” sections of the show trying to figure out for myself how the glasses worked, and failed miserably. Luckily, the URL of the manufacturers were printed on the side, so a quick visit to their web site revealed that they work using polarizing filters.

I knew being shy had to have some positives, and it’s seems new research has found one. Interesting stuff indeed.

Last year I bought myself a Mac Mini, as I quite liked the idea of a computer that was almost completely silent, and had always been curious to see whether Macs were as great as people kept telling me.

They were all entirely correct. It may still crash or chuck a fit on occasion, but it’s seems altogether better made. You get the impression the operating system is properly capable of multitasking, whereas the sluggish speed in which the start menu on Windows opens when performing other tasks seems to imply that the Microsoft product isn’t so much.

Anyway, at the weekend I drove down to the Apple Store to get myself a MacBook. Sadly for me, the nearest store to me is at Bluewater Shopping Centre, which is a good 90 minutes from home. Now you may be wondering why I decided to drive to the store rather than simply ordering it from the Apple website?

Two words - Glossy. Screen.

I’d heard some really bad things about the new ‘glossy’ finish on the MacBook’s LCD panel, with many reviewers saying it was almost like having a mirror in front of you, so wanted to see the screen for myself. It seemed perfectly acceptable to me, so went ahead and bought it.

It has been an altogether enjoyable experience so far. The MacBook is full of those nice little design features that other manufacturers don’t pay enough attention to. The MagSafe power connector is an ingenius idea, and has already prevented a potential disaster when I clumsily tripped over the power lead!

Well, I’ve finally decided to scrap the old site and start again. Firstly, I hadn’t updated in an absolute age, and secondly, because I had been plagued with bucketloads of comment spam.

I’ve upgraded to the new version of WordPress which should hopefully help resolve the latter, which just leaves me to concentrate on the former!

I’m hoping that extending the scope of this blog by writing about general geekery as well as posting some of my photography will mean I find it easier to think of something to write about!

Oh, and the site design is coming soonish, I promise!