Tuesday, May 30

Back again

I'm not sure if anyone noticed but my blog seems to have been down for about a day. Sorry to disappoint you all. It was my fault (I'm fairly sure) because I posted something which didn't fit on the page and it seems that what Blogger does if this happens it not display anything.
Anyway, back in business from lunchtime today which will be good news, I'm sure, to readers around the world.
I've signed up for Google Analytics, and I'm proud to say that sometimes my blog gets as many as 6 hits a day. And the hits come from places as far afield as Oslo, and Minnesota. Beats me as to why. If this is you please leave a comment.

Didn't do much this weekend, the weather was awful which made me postpone my first big bike ride of the year. Bought a camera off ebay though, and at least it's a short week.

item! another version of blade runner is to be released on DVD. This has long been my favourite film of all time. It may even be worth buying a DVD player for.

p.s. Anybody want to buy a mouse?


Fruit & veg today? - cherry tomatoes, and some peppers etcetera in my chili
Exercise today? - unlikely
Hours of sleep I'm going to get tonight? - probably only 6ish

Sunday, May 28

Amnesty International

Amnesty are doing a campaign about Internet censorship. I doubt that my government are going to try to keep my musings on slow cookers and cutlery out of the public eye, but I'm going to give them a shout out anyway


Fruit & veg today? - a salad & a stirfry encompassing a huge variety of fruit and veg. pak choi and physallises to name but a couple
Exercise today? - a short cycle ride to didsbury
Hours of sleep I'm going to get tonight? - a lie-in tomorrow thanks to the wonder of bank holidays

Cutlery revisited

Exciting news from the world of cutlery. Regular readers (I like to think there are some) may recall my disappointment at the paucity of recent developments in the field of eating utensilery. So "bravo!" then to Connie Cheng and Leonardo Bonanni with the invention of the "Intelligent Spoon". No longer will humankind need to risk placing a foodstuff in our mouths which is too hot, too cold, too salty, etcetera. This spoon has sensors to detect when all is not as it should be.

And thanks to Apul for letting me know about the invention of the Foon (by Malvolio Rutteledge)

Small steps perhaps, but definately definitely progress.

Wednesday, May 24

Music - New Model Army

NMA are a band I listened to a lot in the early 1990s. I saw them play twice, somewhere in Wales, and later in Manchester. There's a song of theirs, in particular, which I always thought had a useful message. The lyrics to it are here "Before I Get Old" but I can't find an MP3.
There are a few MP3s on the official New Model Army website. And a new single out apparently. If you've never heard them before then this track is as good an introduction as any. And if you've heard them lots before, then I expect you won't mind hearing it again

Inheritance button which plays an MP3 file
I wonder if they wrote a song which warns specifically about wasting all your evening putting useless stuff on your blog?

Recipe - split pea soup in a slow cooker

a mighty slow cooker triumph today. I got my timer switch and this morning I chopped up a couple of onions and a courgette, and put them in the pot with some pre-soaked pulses (120g each of split peas, green lentils and red lentils, soaked overnight and rinsed) and a tin of chopped tomatoes. Also some stock, some ground pepper and some cumin seeds, some sun-dried tomatoes and two bay leaves. I set the timer for 11am and crossed my fingers
when I got home the house smelt of food, and after a quick blend, I had a bowl of delicious dinner. my soup making technique has changed forever


In other news, I have given in my notice, only working another 11 days in my present job. Eleven busy days if I get all the stuff done they want me to do before I go.

Fruit & veg today? - some leafy salad stuff, prob a banana and a kiwi fruit later
Exercise today? - prob some sit-ups later
Hours of sleep I'm going to get tonight? - hoping for about 8 hours, if I don't procrastinate too long

Sunday, May 21

Recipe - Tajine in a slow cooker

I've had a slow cooker for a while but not been able to find or invent any good vegan recipes. I decided to have another crack at it & I thought that a spicy stew should work okay. I googled for a few tajine recipes (spelling it correctly was the main obstacle to my research) and came up with a few ingredients. Then I bunged them in, and turned it on.

  • 1 large aubergine, diced
  • 4 portobello mushrooms, diced
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 1 cup (approx) dried chickpeas, soaked over night then rinsed
  • 1 tin chopped tomatoes
  • some pine nuts
  • black pepper
  • chili
  • coriander
  • cumin
  • cinnamon
  • garlic
  • tomato puree
  • a dash olive oil
  • 3 cups stock
Not much preparation required, and after eight hours it was surprisngly edible. Now I need an electrical timer so I can cook in the morning and come home to a lovely hot meal

paintball

went paintballing in Tarleton, with some people from work. looked a bit rainy at first and the ground was fairly muddy, but the weather cleared up when we got started. my team (Team Blue) didn't score very well (despite some heroism from the WHS posse) though I think our opponents (Team Yellow) got the breaks in terms of the scenarios. we had a great time anyway, even better than last year I think.

Friday, May 19

myspace

I'm not sure what myspace has to offer me besides an opportunity to struggle with CSS
Fruit & veg today? - salad and some chow mein, i reckon about 5
Exercise today? - nil, as per
Hours of sleep I'm going to get tonight? - seven if I start soon

Tuesday, May 16

ARCserve database maintenance

In a departure from my normal material I'm going to put some stuff here about backup software. This is because I've had a very frustrating time with my backup server and the Internet seems devoid of helpful clues. I've tried google, altavista, yahoo, ask jeeves and even technorati; but got zero results for ca_db_maintenance. So, robot crawlers - do your stuff.

We have ARCserve for Linux r11.5

The backup database is supposed to be maintained by jobs which Prune and Purge old records. I remember this happening when I had ARCserve on NetWare (the good old days) or even on Windows, but in Linux I can't even see the Prune/Purge jobs in the Job Status Manager, which is probably why our database filled up all the available hard disc space in less than 12 months.

If this has happened to you, dear reader, then see the CA tech note ref TEC324615, which describes how to copy the data out of a huge database, destroy the database, then create a new one and copy the data back in. this does work but is pretty fiddly.

But how to get the database to trim itself down automatically?

You can use the Generic Job Manager to run a statistics update (ca_dbadmin –maintain –type statistics) and this is supposed to let ARCserve see what parts of the database are no longer needed. When you run the maintenance task after this (ca_dbadmin –maintain –entity details) then the old stuff is removed, the database is compacted, and your disc space is freed up.

But, to run the maintenance task the caqd and cadbd tasks need to be stopped, and as far as I know you cannot run a job which stops these daemons, because the daemons won't stop if a job is running - even if the running job is only trying to stop them. Anyway, the ca_db_maintenance script doesn't need these tasks to be stopped, I know because I've run it from a command prompt

ca_db_maintenance -retry 1 -interval 1

(I know the Admin Guide has different syntax, but mine works and theirs doesn't)

But can I run it from the Generic Job Manager? No. The exact same command works from a command prompt but not from the GJM. Well I'm stumped and I've opened a support call with CA. If I get something good from them I'll update or post a comment here. If you know what I should do please get in touch. I could use cron but I want all my ARCserve tasks to be in the same scheduler, otherwise I'll get confused when I make changes in the future.

UPDATE:- Nadia from CA has figured it out, the syntax in the Admin Guide is wrong, and so is my guess. It should be

ca_db_maintenance -repeat 1 -interval 1

Nadia is brilliant.

Saturday, May 13

advancing 21st century british sculpture

for another helping of culture I went with my lovely gf to the Cass Sculpture Foundation at Goodwood. there were some really nice pieces there, and the brochure was interesting as it had the price and the mass of most of the sculptures. At 16,000 kilograms "Regardless of History" by Bill Woodrow was one of the heavyweights.



The current exhibition is by Tony Cragg and while some of his pieces were a bit samey, there were a couple of really nice ones like Sinbad and Tongue In Cheek.

Thursday, May 11

rhubarb

I pulled some of my rhubarb today, after i chopped the leaves off and washed it, it weighed in at a substantial 455 grams. At sainsbury's prices that is £1.70 of rhubarb. I'm not sure that gardening makes financial sense at this scale. maybe some rhubarb crumble will make my mind up


Fruit & veg today? - 3/5
Exercise today? - situps
Hours of sleep I'm going to get tonight? - probably not enough

Monday, May 8

a bit of culture

i went to the theatre this weekend. it makes me feel sophisticated, like drinking wine that costs more than five quid a bottle.

the play was at the west yorkshire playhouse (in leeds) and it was "foxes" by Alice Nutter. i didn't know until i started researching this blog entry that Ms Nutter had left leeds' favourite anarcho-punk collective Chumbawamba, and though this is sad (in an "end of an era" way) I can imagine that after 20+ years anyone would feel like a bit of a change

Anyway, the play was excellent. A look at the interaction between asylum seekers and the "host" community. Funny in parts and sad in other parts, like tragicomedies usually are. If it was still on I'd tell you all to go and see it. As it is, just go and see what ever else she writes. Thanks for getting me the ticket Mum.

and this is my favourite chumbawamba song. great for singing tunelessly when drunk

That's How Grateful We Are button which plays an MP3 file

Fruit & veg today? - pak choi, celery, an orange and a banana
Exercise today? - 40 sit-ups
Hours of sleep I'm going to get tonight? - nearly eight

Wednesday, May 3

my lucky underpants?

Your Lucky Underwear Is Red
You're confident and bold, and your lucky red underwear will only make you more sure of yourself. You have a great zest for life, and you tend to take on impossible goals - and succeed. When it comes to love, it's hard for you to take the time to open up. You're too busy conquering the world. So if you're looking for a little more romance, put on your red underpants. And see where their passion takes you!

Monday, May 1

blog design changes

responding to reader feedback, I have decided to replace the poem in the description container. For posterity it shall be recorded here:

"Whistling past the graveyard" by Matt (6th feb 2006)

In the midst of life we are in death.
One day we'll draw our final breath.
At any time it could happen to me.
I hope I can finish this cup of t-       eurgh

Partying with the Hindlip massive

Andy's long awaited shindig happened this weekend, he must have been preparing for ages. All the sharp/dangerous things were hidden and his lawn had sprouted a marquee.

Arriving on Friday we took the opportunity to get some booze down us. Rob managed to find a dangerous bit of the marquee, but it seems he'll live. Unless Helen kills him.

On Saturday the barbeque was complemented by a huge bonfire. Vast quantities of food were consumed, including some delicious cous-cous salad

Everyone was pretty blurred by the time this event came to an end, respect to Andy for throwing such a great party


Fruit & veg this weekend? - stacks
Games of Trivial Pursuit lost? - two
Hours of sleep I'm going to get tonight? - eight?