Month: August 2005

You can tell..

… it’s Friday afternoon when talk turns to what functionality a “who’s turn is it to make the tea” .Net app would have.

So far we have something that would send an email or MSN message to the next person in the rota, still arguing about the ideal amount of time between the rounds of tea though.

Thank feck I drink coffee.

Apparently we’re not the first people to think of this, TeaBuddy may be the answer!

Update: we have now moved onto to a discussion on English language. Namely what you get if you add “-ian” to a word/proper noun. For example: “anythingian“. No I have no idea either…

August 26, 2005

Auditioning

Sidenote: I still use blogrolling (can’t find an alternative with the same options – anyone?). If there is no list of sites here it’s because blogrolling is down and as it’s been yo-yo-ing for the past couple of days then it’s probably more likely than not.

On Monday I asked for some suggestions of sites that may, or may not, be added to my blogroll in the future. I like to keep a separate list of such sites, monitor them for a while and then switch them over to the main list (the one that appears on this site).

You gave me some great suggestions, thank you everyone, and having spent a few days with them I thought I’d share the list with you. This is not ALL the sites suggested, but the ones that I think MAY be worth reading for a while.

I’ve added a few I found myself as well so have a gander. You never know, your NEXT favourite blog might be listed below!

Now I should point out that this isn’t a competition, and I hope this isn’t all a little too pretentious, it’s not meant to be, it’s just the way my mind works. I like to plan and list and evaluate most things (probably too much), and my “blogroll” is no different. To those guys and gals that are listed above, don’t worry about it, you’ll doubtless even notice the effects bar the odd extra click here or there.

August 26, 2005

MySQL Help

OK, techie request time people. Those of a non-technical, anti-acronym mindset should look away now.

I think I’m getting hacked. Well not here, Scottish Blogs.

The Scottish Blogs site uses a MySQL database to store the member details. The submission form calls a separate PHP page which does a little checking (to make sure duplicate URLs and email addresses aren’t added) then throws the info into the database. The database connection details are held in a separate PHP file which is included as and where needed.

I’m pretty sure that someone has managed to figure out how to write to the database directly. I’ve taken the submission form offline for the past few hours but I’m still getting new “spam” sites added, I’m currently getting around 15 – 20 “spam” submissions a day, mainly from chinese sites/hackers (not really spam as such just illegible nonsense).

So, given those rather skimpy details, anyone got any suggestions on how this is happening and how I can stop them from doing it?

August 25, 2005

Bleary

Another early start this morning, as the in-laws are heading back to Spain. Picked up their car – they bought a G reg Golf for £150 to keep here in the UK – at the airport and promptly got stuck on the M8. I now know that there had been a car crash but the radio in the Golf doesn’t work so I was kinda stuck. Still only took me two and a bit hours to get past Glasgow.

Sad to see them go, but we are thinking of flying out early February next year. Louise did mention New Years Day mind you… hmmmm

August 25, 2005

Counting

Thundering at the window. Rain slams into glass. A million impacts. A staccato beat of tiny sharp flat…

Ohhh bugger that, too tired to be creative…

It’s chucking it down, blowing a gale and keeping me awake. Rather than lie in bed and wonder if that new dripping noise is a drip or, um, something non-drip related… ohh it’s just stopped. Phew.

Dammit, a new one has just started.

My home is my castle and my mind keeps me awake lest I miss any damage reports from this whooshing groaning screaming building.

Now, I think I got a couple of hours sleep as the last time I saw on the clock, before I got back up, was 11.54pm. It’s now 3am.

At a push I can function(ish) on around 6 hours sleep. But, of course, tomorrow morning is THE ONE AND ONLY MORNING THIS WEEK when my alarm is set early. It goes off in 3 hours and 30 minutes.

But I’m sitting here. I’m not in bed. I’m not sleeping. With each passing sentence my sleep quota for the day decreases.

I can’t believe I’m blogging this.

Enough. To bed, perchance to dream.

Hang on! I know why I’m blogging this… because it’s likely to be all you get from me today. If you want more please scroll down, there’s plenty more nonsense if you seek it.

August 24, 2005

Guilty Pleasures

Sometimes I loathe our TV, despite paying for the “all the channels, yes even the poker ones” some nights there is just NOTHING ON! Quite frankly it’s ridiculous and it’s all that Murdoch’s fault, sometimes I wish I wasn’t addicted to Sky+…

Mind you at other times it offers day long TV marathons and next thing you know you have to lever yourself up from the sofa (always a slightly painful experience when bare skin has been in close proximity to a leather couch for nine hours) and you are wondering why it’s gone dark. Of course, they never EVER broadcast day long marathons of good TV shows, no no, if you are going to spend all day in front of the TV it’ll be brain-numbingly awful stuff that you’ll be watching.

Ohh yes, it will.

Don’t deny it.

So, what programmes yield such power over me? Well in an effort to clear my soul of some of it’s burden (I’d like it to be nice and trim for when I get sent to hell) here is a short sampling of my guilty TV pleasures:

  • Extreme Makeover: Home Edition – An American house DIY/design show where they, sometimes, knock the house down and build a new one. It’s all done for “needy” families and is a mixture of OTT Americanisms and heart-wrenching stories. If you have a soul you’ll have tears in your eyes at the end of every show, if you don’t it’s worth it just to see what they put in the houses.
  • The Best – the only made a couple of series of this but we still enjoy watching it. Three chefs, well two chefs and a cute food scientist, cook a meal based on a given theme which are then judged by three members of the public in secret. A running score is kept through the series and the banter between the chefs is half the fun.
  • U.F.C. – late night on Bravo, amongst the titillation and … er… whatever else they do, is the Ultimate Fighting Championship. In the same vein as boxing I’ve always believed that if that’s what these guys want to do, and it’s as safe as it can be then why not? Often bloody, always exciting, but I wonder if it’s just the shock factor that drags me back?
  • Friends – yes. That’s right. We still watch repeats (re-runs for my American reader) of Friends. They are simple, easy to watch and light-heartedly funny.

They are the most common culprits the ones I’ll happily embrace along with my dressing gown, a jumbo bag of minstrels, a mixed selection of (generic supermarket brand) crisps, and copious cups of coffee (surely the reason advert breaks were invented). Couple them with a very laisse faire attitude to personal hygiene for the day, and I’m in TV heaven.

It’s so bad that I only allow myself one of these days every two or three years lest my brain rebel and force me to stab myself in each eye with a blunt spoon, for if there’s something guaranteed to make me want to stop watching TV it’s a sharp pain to the eyes inflicted by a rounded metal eating implement (but each to their own of course).

Now, it’s over to you dear reader, time to fess up! What’s your guilty TV secret? What’s your ideal “TV loafing day”? Share your techniques and let all of us slobs benefit.

Ohh and I’ll pre-empt the wisecracks about “nekkid ladeez” or any reference to Jude Law naked, daytime TV only guys and gals!

August 23, 2005