July 2005 Entries
I hate calling the baby "it", but until we know the gender, we're stuck, so we had an idea. Being of a geeky disposition, James and I decided to adopt a codename for the project under construction, in true Microsoft style.
You see, those geeks among you will have noticed that Windows codename "Longhorn" will actually be called Windows Vista when it's finally released, so this is the thinking behind our decision to name our little project codename Firefly. It's a bit esoteric, but it's a project under construction. Currently the majority of its features are complete, with small details yet...
Time to come clean - last Monday was a big day for James and I. For the previous 10 or so weeks, those who have been around me and unaware of the situation may have found me to be somewhat more irritable, emotional, tired, and green-tinged than normal, and last Monday, the official verdict came in - there is a new member of the Hart family due on or around February 7th!
Last Monday James and I went for a dating scan - a relatively early ultrasound scan that measures how things are developing and how big the baby is, and...
I will stick my hand up and admit it - I got the latest Harry Potter book on Saturday morning, started reading it in the evening, and managed to finish it by the end of the day... while it certainly wasn't as hard to read as, say, anything released by Tom Clancy in the past 5 years, it wasn't exactly the most entertaining 5 hours of my life.
I quite enjoyed the others - they steadily improved throughout the series, though I kept wondering if Potter himself would ever actually start to think for himself and grow up. Sadly, even though...
Ever since I was given this laptop at work, I've avoided installing Visual Studio or any other development tools on here - I've been more than able to do everything I need using Microsoft Virtual PC virtual machines. Now I think I may have finally found the limitation that forces me to have to install VS 2003 on my laptop... here's why:
Using a VM with VS 2003 installed, install the PocketPC 2003 SDK, and the 2003SE emulators, just to get you up to date with the latest emulator images.
Create a new Smart Device project - a simple PocketPC app...
You may have come across this at some point - oh the hilarity - combine your first pet's name with your mother's maiden name to make your porn star name. It's fun, and it does make for a good afternoon of laughs...
But it occurred to me - what are the questions you are most likely to be asked when it comes to retrieving a forgotten password; you know, the ones that prove you are who you say you are? Well, most sites include "What's your first pet's name?", "What's your mother's maiden name?"... my bank certainly use the latter, and...
Every now and then, between major projects, I like to take a bit of time out and tidy up my poor laptop and its busy hard drive. This process can take as much as a day, and involves:
Compressing old VMs on my external hard drive, clearing out space on said drive and defragging it
Copying over old (but still used) VMs from the laptop to the external (tidy) drive, clearing out old files, then defragging it with as much free space as possible
Copying back stuff from the external drive to the PC that I'm likely to need (VMs!) and...
James and I have yet to find a single one of our friends who has discovered the absolutely fantastic Boston Legal - the inspired US legal drama currently showing over here on Living TV. Having seen one of the best ever episodes the other evening, I feel compelled to enthuse about it to you all because I truly believe it to be one of the finest exports from the US to arrive on our shores in recent years.
First of all, Bill Shatner is an absolute star - his performance in BL is nothing short of brilliant. His delivery is superb,...
I've officially had enough, and it's time to rant. I want to watch Live8, and I want to watch as many fantastic bands as possible, yet in the middle of the REM set, in the middle of Man on the Moon, I'm dragged away to see an interview by dippy Fearne Cotton with Razorlight. In the gaps between the acts, it seems to be more important to give Jonathan Ross and his already inflated ego even more screen time than it would be thought possible, at the expense of seeing artists on stage in other parts of the world. 15...
I've gone a bit quiet in recent weeks - not intentional, but a bit of a side effect of having a book to finish, and from working away from home for the past couple of months. It's amazing how even a few nights away from home a week can throw your whole system out of whack... I have a garden with rampant bushes that need a thorough prune, a front garden that barely qualifies as a garden, and a house in a complete state of disarray! Not that James hasn't been doing his bit - he's been great, but there's...