woodenhead
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Status Updates posted by woodenhead
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The English language is really stupidly complex sometimes:
I was thinking the BBC is really scraping the barrel if it is going to do a competition about the UK's best sewerage systems.
But apparently, it's about needle and thread.
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I still wonder if they might actually be aware of the "quality" of some of their programme choices.
After all if, instead of offering us watchable programmes, they insist on plugging a load of ‽*##*¢¥$ - sorry, effluent - about sewers, this probably tells us all we need to know about how much notice they take of what the people who pay their wages really want to watch.
Just an observation, you understand ... .
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Well I'm currently watching the BBC - specifically BBC4 and the snooker.
Yes - they occasionally manage to show us some quality programmes.
Snooker usually hits the target for me - especially during prolonged "safety exchanges" - points during a break when everything "goes awkward" - and occasions when a player manages to get some "pot" that nobody thought possible.
Another thing I like is the way in which players readily admit could etc - even when referees haven't noticed and it really goes against them. The general expectation is that players conduct themselves in a civilized, "gentlemanly" manner - and very few of these guys disappoint.
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Whilst wandering around Dunham Massey yesterday realised I no longer understood youth, I've crossed the Rubicon into old age and I am that person who cannot relate any longer with the problems of being young.
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But our experience was very different, and try as I might I can no longer put myself into the head of someone half my age and imagine how it is for them.
I come from a generation who went to work at 16, got married, bought a house, got an affordable mortgage and settled down.
My grown up children are experiencing a very different adulthood to mine so far.
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Why on my work laptop does Google Chrome know my location in the UK but Bing which I am also logged into via my Microsoft Work account think I am in Spain, so much so that the searches come back in Spanish and it asks me if I want to translate back to English.
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Why do I only solve problems between the hours of midnight and 8am?
If ever I have an issue related to work that is frustrating me working after midnight or getting up stupidly early to work on it seems to be the answer.
Had an issue frustrating me all week, get up at 5:30, add in some code to throw out exceptions and then find the source of my issues and a simple ToString() resolves it.
I think my mind is too noisy in the day, it gets distracted and cannot see clearly, but during the wee hours it has clarity and problem solve.
Don't think the wife would appreciate me working from home on nights all the time though.
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i can relate to this - work related problem solving stops me sleeping (not stress per se but rather my mind gets into gear and i come up with some great ideas). Try to distract with thinking about trains and then do layout problem solving instead.... what i have found helps though is putting a Radio 4 comedy on quietly on the iPhone - i have a few faves - and distracts me and gets me back to sleep
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Feeling right royally down this evening - I have a call tomorrow to look at some software development, I have a ready made solution to the problem I will be faced with but there is another way to do the same thing and I am attempting to get my head around it.
But can I get it to return even the most simple dataset as it should do - no I cannot, spent two days, seen some progress but not enough.
Sometimes I feel like I am a total failure and my imposter syndrome is banging all the drums it can muster at present to make me feel much worse.
Hopefully, now I've said this out loud I will knuckle down and sort it.
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A light bulb - in an example I've been looking for a parameter called page - but it had been passed in as 'count' - took me ages to see it as all the other parameters being passed bore the same name going in as listed in the function - I couldn't see how 'page' was being calculated till I saw it.
Does also help that I'd overcome the initial challenge on seeing some actual data come from once I'd found a suitable free API I could test on without needing credentials.
Progress is being made - now to rewrite the initial stuff to cycle through the pages.
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And I no longer feel like the failure I did 3 hours ago.
Returned over 1000 lines of data in pages of 50 from an API.
I can sleep tonight now as I know I can do this - tomorrow it's doing it on the real API and adding in logon credentials - but that's just one additional function to play with.
Psychology works - admit your feelings and then begin to build yourself back up.
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Busy day today, what order do I do things:
- Work - pays the bills
- Delivery of a gym quality spin bike (for Mrs W) - needs building
- Shopping - Offers expire today
- Delivery of sound cards for my class 40 and class 50 - need installing and testing
- Delivery of new socks and a jumper for Mrs W - need trying on??
So top is work, has to be, it pays for my trains!!
But after that, I really want to hear my locos, but the food offers expire today and Mrs W also wants her bike built so it looks like last on the list will be the locos, the socks can wait.
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Little walk in the Pennines today, start the New Year with a new walk
That's me in the corner, that's me in the spotlight haha
And to top off a brilliant day, KLF are releasing some of their back catalogue on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbsEHtpoQxyWVibIPerXhug
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Kneeling on the floor to lay track at my age is not doing my joints any favours.
And the pins and needles whenever I get back up......
Mind you, at least on the floor I can lay the track straight and see what I am doing, swings and roundabouts.
Dapol Class 50 ordered for my Western region parcels, or LM parcels for that matter, in '76 it could be either.
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I love cold chicken curry - that is cooked chicken leftovers carefully reheated in a curry - yum.
Today I am experiencing for the first time - cold cold chicken curry, the cold leftover cold chicken curry made carefully from cooked chicken leftovers from the day before yesterday.
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What to do first?
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How have I never ventured down the A57 between Glossop and Sheffield?
I've used Woodhead on many occasions and it's never really a pleasure, you don't really get great views and it's full of lorries.
Went to Rails yesterday and the most direct route was on the A57, once you've got through the traffic in Glossop it's a lovely route. On the way back got a couple of pictures of Ladybower. Coming back in the Spring for a proper mooch around the area.
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It's interesting which locos you have an affectionate bond to one day and will toss into the sale pile the next.
As I move into DCC I now look at a pile of N gauge locos from the pre-DCC period and recognise I will likely never run them again if I keep them.
Even some of my OO stuff is now going into the pile as regretted purchases and things that I wouldn't run if I did another OO gauge layout need to go.
My very first railway from the 1970s is in the pile too, it hasn't seen proper use since I was a child, I kept hold of it whilst my dad was alive, but it has no chance of being used, it was mostly second hand when I received it. It's sad but what can you do, you can't keep everything forever.
No point keeping stuff you're not going to use only for your family to find it when you're gone and have to dispose of it.
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I've a couple of cardboard boxes of old Hornby stuff that are worth peanuts and not in a condition to attract a collector of curiosities. Ok, I could Ebay them and given the current climate, I might get something from them after fees and postage, but perhaps the best would be to donate them to a charity shop so they do some good elsewhere.
As for current stuff, I'm fighting off "change of gauge" scenarios!
QuoteNo point keeping stuff you're not going to use only for your family to find it when you're gone and have to dispose of it.
I'm not thinking that far ahead, but for the "good" stuff I'm maintaining a list of what is there and what the going rate at time of compilation is as a starting point. If it leaves the collection, it leaves the list...
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Change of gauge, tell me about it, I am considering how I will resist an Accurscale 37/0 when they get around to the centre headcode version.
And then I look at Geeps and shunting puzzles.
I really must reduce my stock first.
Whilst I am making a first foray into reducing my OO fleet a little around the edges I am wondering when I will actually use what I have left - if the N takes off and if I am seriously putting money into the layout with DCC then I don't see an OO layout beyond a plank. I noted the class 128 Digitrains sound file whilst looking for a 40 sound project and that makes me smile for running a RevolutioN 128 when it arrives. My heart seems to calling me back to N proper.
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Interests evolve and tastes change.
I realised some time ago that at my usual rate of construction (a loco a year?) I wasn't going to live long enough to build even half the kits in my stash. The obvious ones to move on were those that no longer fitted in with my current tastes and interests. Trouble was, those were the ones that I'd already part-built and - as we all know - part-built kits are those that are hardest to shift.
I suppose the moral of this tale is to buy any kit that takes your fancy while it is available (because it might not be available any more by the time you actually have use for it) but dont even think about starting it until you actually have use for it and, once started, dont stop until it's finished.
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Some weeks are hard and some weeks are just amazing, this week has been the latter.
Not only have I overcome my fear of tech with trains - JMRI installation with Sprog working but I've completed a piece of code development that wasn't even on the radar a week ago and today began processing files for the first few of 50,000 free school meal vouchers that need to go out in the next week or so to parents.
Twelve months ago I was in the early days of an apprenticeship where I was feeling quite negative, but now realise just how valuable my learning from it has been, from requirements gathering, flowcharts, Entity tables to Test Driven Development - all new buzzwords that I now use when planning a piece of work before I even begin typing the code. Who says an old dog can't learn new tricks.
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Having watched a couple of videos this week on simply DCC conversions in N gauge I am actually considering buying some chips (of the six pin kind) and a controller.
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Don't skimp on decoders. Just get the budget Zimo's @ £20. MX617's. Then you'll start off with the best motor control and not waste money on second rate ones. If you have a laptop and are happy using it then for a controller get a Sprog2. (Try Coastal DCC for supplies of both or Sprog direct for the latter). Load JMRI and your away for about £60. If you have a smart phone then these can be used as wi-fi throttles with it. Possibly the cheapest way of doing it with the widest capability. Sprog + JMRI/Decoder Pro easily the best way of setting up decoders bar non whatever DCC system you use so the cost outlay is never a waste. ( The Sprog can be used as a decoder programmer or a command station).
Have fun whatever!
Izzy
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Thanks Izzy
When I read this last week, I thought what the heck are you on about, but today I took at look at JMRI and then Sprog.
For £60 plus a chip I can test this out, you wouldn't think I spend all day writing code when I seem to be such a luddite when it comes to train control. Having looked at Bachmann Dynamis over the weekend and other budget makes of controller like NSC, Prodigy and Hornby they all seem to have downsides and none stand out. But when I looked at Sprog today I actually saw why it is an option and why I should give it a try - even found a recent Lenovo PSU I can use for the power - 20v 4.5a - perfect for a Sprog 3.
It seems daft to buy a controller when my phone and laptop are both next to the railway!
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Glad you think it might be of use to you. I think it's probably the best bit of DCC kit I have bought. Lots of people use them with Raspberry Pi bits to make standalone DCC systems. I am now looking at this via the new Pi 400 but I'm a bit of a numpty with all this kind of stuff. I just ride the tailcoats of others.... There is a thread in the DCC discussions section. Thanks to all the efforts of many the open source JMRI kicks most others into touch given all that is possible with it.
Izzy
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Minutes away from my first proper moderated exam in something like 30 years.
Sweaty palms and I have to do this with said moderator watching my (and possibly only my) every move remotely on camera whilst I operate their machine remotely to write my answers.
I am sure it was more fun doing O levels
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Feeling a little better now - couple of days madness out of my system.
System migration back on track, so time to mask up and head on out to the shops.
I might even take a look at my railway later on
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Channel 4 cancelling Gogglebox, to be replaced with Snooper Troopers, a fly on the wall curtain twitching extravaganza featuring everyone who has ever wanted to know what it was like working for East Germany.
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Question: Compare Enterprise Architecture and Business Architecture
NO !
It is a soul destroying tedium and I really wish I didn't have to if you don't mind.
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Being terms I've never encountered, I did a quick google. I didn't get past the first paragraph describing EA in Wikipedia, I didn't get past the first sentence describing BA in Wiki.....
Who thought up this turgid rubbish?
Was it for some sort of bet?
Here's a better question, "Produce analyses of Sh!t Creek using Enterprise Architecture and Business Architecture". Of course it would be structurally equivalent to the original question...
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Last week I had to develop 32 console apps to demonstrate my c# skills, that took a few days but was fun. Today I just looked at various websites to write notes on Enterprise Architecture. My email was off as I knew it would take only the slightest interruption for me to find an excuse, any excuse, to do something else.
Took me back to age 18 doing 'the organisation in its environment' modules.
Never have I had so many excuses to pop down to the kitchen for another quick snack.
Next assignment is Scrum, Kansan and stuff like that which is actually more interesting as it deals with getting stuff done rather than high level strategy and management speak.
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I love testing data - NOT
So my colleague has written a new data extract and not only are there hundreds of thousands of records but also a ridiculous number of columns that all sound very similar.
It's a great dataset, a development of an earlier one and before it gets unleashed I am testing it on some known extracts to check the results are the same. Found an issue, very subtle, so subtle I didn't notice at first and thought perhaps it was a naming convention issue in a report.
Anyway got to the bottom of it after searching through a lot of code and a few columns have been misaligned in a derived table.
It reminded me of Andre Previn on Morecambe and Wise and Eric says "I'm playing all the right notes, but not necessarily in the right order" In my case "I've got the right data, but not necessarily in the right order"
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So apparently this heat is so unbearable because of the lack of pollution and plane contrails.
I thought global warming caused by the pollution and plane contrails was the problem
We just can't win
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At the end of this week my garage was so full of stuff that I could only get out of it the lawnmower and bikes - everything else was a wall of junk.
Put some items up on a local site to get rid off and began the process of chucking stuff that 'might be useful one day' into the back of the car.
I think I've removed about 50% of the
usefuljunk items now one way or another and I can actually move around the garage.As long as the wife doesn't see everything I am throwing out, she's more nostalgic than me, so I let her keep one Dennis the Menace binder from college.
Still more stuff to go, but the aim is to be able to let my wife use the garage as a home gym, so it needs to be cleared so I can paint the interior so it isn't dusty and then only return back in what is truly to be kept.
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Today, I shall be mostly cutting wood
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Well it got a little more complicated when I remembered I needed to add another track to the baseboard and wire it first.
But all the cutting is done, spot of screwing
after tea and then I can mount the baseboard at it's permanent height.
No blood was spilt cutting the wood and it's all the correct length too so not a bad afternoon.
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Pretty sure we have an unwelcome visitor in the house and whilst I am not showing any effects from it so far it will only be a matter of time.
Front door will be out of use for a couple of weeks but business as usual in the old office for the time being.
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I see the birds and the bees are not self isolating.
Animals are so selfish, they never consider us humans
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We're already pointing the finger at them
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-52048195
Although we're worried about some catching covid19 off us
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-52036712
QuoteRobin, in the garden right at the top of the tallest tree, singing his head off.
Mainly telling all the other robins that this is HIS patch and that any robins that think otherwise will learn about self-isolation. Unless they're female...
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Cannot help but think if i had spent more time doing rather than thinking I might have a model railway to play with during this lockdown.
As it stands I have a gap in the room I am filling with rubbish instead.
However, the impending isolation did make me get off my fat a*s and clear out the rubbish from my late father's flat - three trips to the tip and a lesson in reverse engineering a sofa back into wood, padding and fabric. Don't we collect a lot of cr*p throughout a lifetime that for anyone else has absolutely no value once the person who so loved them has gone. I had to be particularly ruthless as it would be easy to go "that's useful", though one week since
dismantlingdestroying his layout I am thinking I should have kept some of that 2x1 for when the lockdown comes!!Also it has become self evident that I am thriving under lockdown whilst other's are finding it a real issue. For me nothing has changed, I have worked from home since 2014, I only generally go out to shop or exercise and they are not prohibited. Ok, I do like a meal out and visits to railway exhibitions but I can live without both for the time being.
For the weekends to come I have three rooms to paint, a house to tidy and plenty of stuff to study so hopefully I don't come down with anything as I am just too busy.
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I once reverse engineered a sofa back into wood and fabric and managed to stab myself in the arm with a Stanley knife
Been breaking up old decking during lockdown and extracted some sizeable unrotten bits that might become the basis of a garden layout. Didn't stab myself but did take a direct hit on my ankle with the hammer. Been telling the rest of the household to avoid doing anything that might result in a trip to A&E, need to listen to my own wise advice.
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Been breaking up old decking during lockdown and extracted some sizeable unrotten bits that might become the basis of a garden layout. Didn't stab myself but did take a direct hit on my ankle with the hammer. Been telling the rest of the household to avoid doing anything that might result in a trip to A&E, need to listen to my own wise advice.