wpid-wp-1454879923242.jpg file not in this archive wpid-wp-1454879922374.jpg file not in this archive wpid-wp-1454879921679.jpg file not in this archive wpid-wp-1454879921239.jpg file not in this archive…
OK, we know Whistler has to make its pennies, especially with the ever crappier winters we get dealt. But, charging more for the only alpine trail on a mountain with a serious amount of alpine is frankly pants. The…
This year I have decided to help out Macmillan Cancer Support by giving up the booze for the month of October. Clearly this is going to be trivial! Your support in this would be much appreciated! Please give generously…
Watching the referendum debate as an expat of Scotland, having left after University to work down south in England for about 10 years and latterly for 6 years in BC, Canada; I find it disappointing that there is real…
Camping posh but without a complete trailer...just utility trailer with a tent tucked away in a roofbox. This is the Sylvan GO and if you want one you will have to import it from the USA. Not as big a hassle as you…
wpid-img_20140509_1837011.jpg file not in this archive A wee celebratory tipple to mark the sale of the Faversham house. Not the smartest property purchase ever, but it is now just history. The UK xtracold legacy grows…
A wee celebratory tipple to mark the sale of the Faversham house. Not the smartest property purchase ever, but it is now just history. The UK xtracold legacy grows every smaller. And no Jagger, I'm not sharing my crisps.
Well, it would seem that the excitement of a new Star Wars movie is going to start taking hold. A geek can only suppress his excitement for so long. http://starwars.com/news/star-wars-episode-7-cast-announced.html The…
So things have been quiet of late on xtracold..but not so much on Haggisandbigos.com Check out the latest beer efforts : http://www.haggisandbigos.com/bar-counter-built-from-reclaimed-materials/ JW
It has been a slow season this year, a day in December and now one late February. But that was due to lack of snow...something fixed this past week which bodes well for the rest of the season. Harmony ridge all to…
With 2 weeks to go time is running out for contributions. So far $405 dollars has been raised which is not really enough is it? C'mon ye all, start throwing some money at http://mobro.co/xtracold Movember 18th 2013
5 days in and we have steady growth and a miniscule $175 raised of which approx 43% came from me! Come, raise your game and start donating . IMG_20131105_070338.jpg file not in this archive
It is the 1st of November which of course means its time to raise money for the health of men everywhere. I have prepared my face for some fresh hair growth. A Muppet man upper lip is the lofty goal, please support me…
This week finds xtracold in Madrid. First time in Spain but i've left my union jack boxer shorts at home. From what I hear Madrid is a little more classy than the usual expat haunts - benidorm etc. Shacked up in a hotel…
For the record xtracold is to be married to Miss Williams. He asked, or surmised, that they might as well and she agreed/accepted. Some time later he took her shopping for a ring that now sits on the appropriate finger.…
As is perhaps evident from some recent postings, home brewing is increasingly taking up my time. Going forward, postings of a brewing nature can be viewed at the following website : www.haggisandbigos.com There is some…
Click the pics to enlarge, first is Heart of Darkness the second is A-line. 0706HeartDark_LS154.jpg file not in this archive 0706ALine_JAM071.jpg file not in this archive
So today we signed up to buy our first house together, yes it is true we will soon be living under a roof owned by ourselves with the hairy monster Jagger by our sides. Well actually the strata of the town house complex…
So a friday afternoon off spent at the bike park in some mighty fine sunshine and no line-ups. 3.5hrs and 7 laps of gravity fed moutain biking. Shot below looking out from the whistler DH on Blackcomb village.…
wpid-IMAG0628.jpg file not in this archive A brewery controller lies in the future of this little raspberry, or maybe just a replacement for the PS3s crappy media serving. We shall see, time to get the geek t-shirt on.
wpid-IMAG0622.jpg file not in this archive 2012 Devinci Wilson. Latest addition to the garage and a perfect complement to Cove Handjob and Stumpjumper EVO. Summer should be fun.
wpid-IMAG0608.jpg file not in this archive Beer festivaling BC style, a far cry from a CAMRA shindig but fun nonetheless. Well done chaps down at the Howe Sound Brewery.
And much like the ubiquitous Scotsman they are slow to mature but once of age can be considered the finest example of their kind. Full of character and strength to boot! wpid-IMAG0601.jpg file not in this archive
The 35th year begins. What better way than with a new toy. From this wpid-IMAG0466.jpg file not in this archive To this wpid-IMAG0469.jpg file not in this archive
So it has been a few months since I became the proud owner of a Nexus 7 and I feel it is time to share that experience with whoever cares to listen (or more likely read given this is a blog and not a radio show). The…
A trip to Cologne is apparently not complete without drinking Kolsch. So in the interests of international relations I have been doing just that. The line up in the picture below is a selection picked up from the local…
Enuff said, moments of genius like this are rare. Sit back and savour...oh and take a trip to Portland and sit in the brewery, tis quite special. wpid-IMAG0293-1.jpg file not in this archive wpid-IMAG0294-1.jpg file not…
So Firefox has been defaulting to Ask.com as my search engine at work, which for whatever reason really bugs me. Similar is happening home but I think it is that crazy duckandgo which simply finds a lot of crap. To…
wpid-IMAG0281.jpg file not in this archive Top of the world trail, finally ridden in what is likely my last day in the park this year. Tis a fine alpine descent, look forward to doing it again next year, and for the…
As mentioned in IEC 61511-1, "Software cannot be maintained; rather, it is modified." [IEC 61511-1:2003 §3.2.8.2] To which I would add that through modification it will be either improved, fixed or broken. Therefore,…
Not a single hit in a google search, this is now an experiment to see how long it takes xtracold to be picked up as the only hit. Which will make it a googlewack if I recall from Dave gormans book. How exciting.
wpid-IMAG0231.jpg file not in this archive First ever half marathon, first ever trail race, first time ever my heart rate hit 199, actual distance closer to 22.5km. 3hr50min. Puffed Oot.
So up in the chilcotin mountains Tyax Air provide MTB tours via a floatplane shuttle. This past weekend we took the Warner Lake tour and it has to be said that it is a pretty awsome experience. Tough going towards the…
A thing of beauty. 7 perfect inches of Android powered wonder. The screen may not glisten like the latest offering from the fruitmonger but for half the price there is no argument. Front facing camera only as the world…
On the east side of Okanagan lake, above Penticton, is the Three Blind Mice trail network. A maze of trails over varied terrain, well worth checking out. I stopped by Freedom Bikes on main st on Saturday to get some…
wpid-IMAG0113-1.jpg file not in this archive The first crop of 2012..Spring Onions might not be that impressive but it is a start. Oh, and for those of you who are North American a Spring Onion/Syboe /Scallion is a…
A mint condition, 1999 Toyota Tercel, the new falcon! Latest stats indicate a 50% improvement in the fuel economy over the Santa Fe. Stunning. wpid-PicsArt_1340857617666.jpg file not in this archive
So Linux Mint have released their latest version. 13. Maya with the Gnome offspring 'Mate' desktop or if you want to be on the edge of all things linux the 'cinnamon' offering. For me, I decided to upgrade from 11…
So having moved to Squamish to live, there had to come a time when we would hike the Chief. Well we've now done it, or at least peak number 1 is done, cracking day for it too. Mitch, Kaila and Tona joined us for the…
So, to add to this years distinguished list of unlikely places to spend a week I find myself in Fort McMurray at Canada's somewhat controversial oil sands. WishYouWereHere Controversial of course only because you can…
Ok, so partly spent in whistler, but Squampton has thrown up a couple of excellent days on the mountain. Biking the cheshire cat amongst other things and a 43cm dump at whistler to crown it off.
So this is a simple post to mark the day i left westport. Some good times, interesting places and certainly delivered many things if not least the beginnings of my xpat adventure to canada. But next week i will embark…
Well who would have thought it, screwed up flight dates and got whacked with a massive rebooking charge. Then...got upgraded to club world at checkin. Nice. Proper sleep after i quwaff this champers for an hour or too.…
So it is whistler bound this fine snowy morn, a 1hr bus trip coveniently door to slope and back i am struggling to fault the squamish whistler greyhound...20buks return it feels like a beer pass too as i wont be…
Thanks to all who donated to the Movember cause, my facial hair flourised amidst an outpouring of financial support that brought me to my meager target of 500bucks. This morning it was with great regret that the Mo was…
So this week I found myself in Miami for training on Autmotive SPICE of all things. Who would have thought that process related training for the Autmotive industry would bring you Miami. Some shots of the South Beach…
2011-11-11-11.28.42-e1321040736885.jpg file not in this archive The Mo @ 11 Nov So to date the Movember fund raising has reached a staggering $195, with some 2+ weeks to go more donations are welcomed...would be nice to…
It is time to get hairy, Movember is here and this year I will endeavour to grow some handlebars before months end. Please help the fight against Prostate Cancer by donating at my MoSpace http://mobro.co/xtracold…
Just a thought, but on opening the bedside drawer in a hotel room to find a bible from the gideons the following ocurred to me 1: why do these gideons always leave bibles behind? 2: if i chose to read the bible i would…
Danny Hart executing one of the most stunning descents on a bike yer likely to ever see. The commentary is golden too. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCMQPzKcFqs
kindle.jpg file not in this archive So having bought my dad a kindle for his birthday (or chipped in on it at least) I had a play with it and noticed that you can push your blog to kindle. Now, I know it is unlikely…
Back in kelsae, for quite some time, needless to say the place hasnt changed. Jamie Wardlaw's location@1:01am,8/16 Maxwellheugh, The Scottish Borders TD5 8, UK, Maxwellheugh, The Scottish Borders TD5 8, UK…
Another day, another brewery. Unfortunately it smells abit so we will move on. Nice though. Tomorrow the uk beckons. Hmm. Jamie Wardlaw's location@7:34pm,8/13 Tacoma, WA, Tacoma, WA http://m.google.com/u/m/BYY0zk
Another US city break, this time california, San Francisco. Long weekend to include riding a tandem over the golden gate bridge, a short stay in alcatraz, beers with the Hueghans and likely a cocktail or two. Fun times.
Canadian television is so dire i have been driven to watchin "soccer". More commonly known as "fitba" it would seem Man city are holidaying in north america and dropped by for a game against the whitecaps. They look to…
Impulse camping this time, cedar falls near silverstar/vernon. sweet sweet biking in an empty park too. If only working for a living didn't interrupt this stuff.
So this week brings xtracold to the INCOSE Symposium 2011 in Denver. Been here since Saturday night and it has proved to be an interesting time. Difficult to suss out a city in such a short business and conference…
Tis true, met the parentals in the westin bayshore for their last night only to have the boston bruins coach over from us suppin vin rouge. Now. Come on canucks. It is the night before game 7 and the opposition coach is…
So, all ties to wiserhosting are broken and xtracold is happily settling in on the Dreamhost servers. The migration of the wordpress database and content files led me to some uncharted territory (for me anyway).…
Well what da ya know, just channel surfed to Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives to see a kick ass Reuben being cooked from fresh at a place that is borderline local. Waddell's Pub and Grille in Spokane is the place, with a…
It is true, the revamped and rearchitected Freenas 8 is available for download . Not supporting the "toy" functions of 0.7.x yet as they will be delivered by future plugins, but basic Network Attached Storage is all in…
Ok, this is for my own benefit as I continually forget the linux way of doing things. I'm pretty sure that should my employer move everyone over to Linux we would have a cost saving initiative that actually works and I…
So the usa have taken down osama bin laden, good riddance to a scurge on the human race. So tonight I requested that we watch bbc news 24 coverage to avoid gun-ho americanism. Glad we did, at least the bbc could spell…
So xtracold has been a homeowner for some years now, not necessarily a profitable endeavour either and I don't actually live in the latest one...so I am more of a property owner. As usual i digress, the purpose of this…
Ok Mitch I watched it, while eating a chocolate bunny and drinking a cup of tea from a particularly flowery mug. Thankfully I still feel masculine. All that aside, Mr LeBlanc provided me with an interesting scoop on…
A Denny's breakfast with the expected worst coffee in the world set us on our way from Boise back to Vancouver. Nailed in something like 12 hours it wasn't too bad a journey. Perhaps the time passed quickly due to the…
So that's it, back to Vancouver (reported to be the best city in the world, possible to challenge I should think). 23'ish hours driving ahead of us the first objective was Boise Idaho before nightfall then a final dash…
Today we all biked the bar m loop, an inaugral mtb trip for candace and departure from lycra for dave and lee. A simple trail it would seem it did not sell the sport to all participants, a fine effort nonetheless by all…
So we were headed for jeeps, but really no-one was convinced. Instead we ate at zaks then cultured ourselves in a local craft shop and dropped in for a swift six or seven pints at the brewery. Having chilled all…
So, to the famed porcupine rim we were shuttled by the good chaps at the poisoned spider. Avoiding the stupid initial climb and continuing up to LPS was a stroke of genius, quality singletrack and views to die for. The…
Out to the sovereign trail head we travelled this morn, delaying the porcupine ride due to storms last night. Glad we did, excellent trail out in the brush. Unfortunately I destroyed my rear mech and chain and had to…
Tis true, today PK and I rode the famed slickrock trail. Or to be more accurate, rode and hiked it. Those who mountain bike have likely read that the traction on the slickrock is uneblievable. Well it's true. It is…
Washington, Oregon then finally a campsite near twin falls Idaho. But for the puncture 50miles from camp (a let down to say the least) it would have been a perfect road trippin day. Oh and if it hadn't started raining…
The road trip is underway. First stop Issaquah and a us senator claims we took photos of him doing something terrible at the motel 6. Yeah right sir..read about it in the paper! Topped off in the brewhouse a fine start…
So, with the usual wordpress spam protector running I have decided to enable comments to all users, not just those logged in. As traffic is not quite on a par with farcebook I expect I will not be overwhelmed with input…
So I am reaching the point where finally I am content with my home network and development setup. network.png file not in this archive I'll detail the finer points of it in subsequent posts but for now the nuts of it is…
Check out Chaz pimping Cove bikes on a radio station in Utah..luvin the radio dudes accent, not so sure about his body rubbin early on!!! Hilarious. For us it is three weeks till the big road trip. Sweet.
Meatloaf. Need I say more. There are a number of musical boxes in xtracolds existence that needed to be ticked. Last year I stood within spitting distance of Slash playing the Sweet child o mine solo, and the godfather…
So an early rise got a hungover wardlaw to whistler for 9am courtesy of mr kostka and the buick luxury limo. Simply put, this is quite a wonderful day. Blue skies, perfect snow and fairly empty. Tis only midday and we…
Michael Bolton at the River Rock Casino, followed up by a wee play on the machines. A wee play cos it took only 20buks to hit the jackpot. 600 big ones!!!!! WooHoo!!!!!! casinowin-e1298230288408.jpg file not in this…
Yup, the next big trip for Miss Williams and I is Moab UT. Respect to the lass for agreeing to go, it's gonna be epic...breathtaking scenery, chillin in the desert landscape, off-roadin and the odd hike! Oh yeah, and…
Jamie Wardlaw's location@11:35,29/1 http://m.google.co.uk/u/m/QSpXMf So it is back to BC today, and to get me through the flight I've picked up Tony Blairs autobiography. Generally considered in the UK as a liar and…
Possibly the shortest flight i have ever been on but with that daft 25min hop from copenhagen oot the way i hit gothenburg, can't say the airport was too familiar either, maybe they have two and last time i used the…
So, this is the first real post of 2011. Strangely enough it is being made from a psuedo irish bar in denmark, copenhagen airport to be precise, on a Sunday night at 8pm. En route to sweden is xtracold, for a week of…
I stumbled across flavors.me today, check it out..before it gets tainted by social networking popularity on the scale of farcebook! flavorssnapshot1.png file not in this archive
Christmas time in New York. We didn't venture much further than Manhattan but we did explore what most people think is all of New York. Next time we'll return and venture further afield as Brooklyn on the last day made…
As a wee birthday treat miss williams took me to seattle to watch an NFL game. Fun day out. Great atmosphere and wicked stadium..shame they couldn't get the win!
It's that time of year when people start thinking about dreams...not the ZZZZ kind...but the aspirational ones that get baked into a list of never to be accomplished New Years Resolutions. Well for 2011 why not take the…
Miss Williams and I headed back to the UK and more importantly bonnie Scotland in April to catch up with the family. Not a bad trip, next time we will be venturing further North though to the remote desolate highlands!!
Those of you who know me also know that I have an unhealthy interest in Star Wars. Well, it's not as obsessive as it once was, now that the core saga is complete, but in June this year the flame was re-kindled as the…
As part of a requirement traceability tool that I have maintained over the last while, I need to build simple markup source filelists. It can be monotonous building the files from the increasingly large number of files…
So winter has arrived this week, all the mountains are open for business, shaping up to be a good winter. Perfect evenings too for a wee walk and cheeky pint.
Yes its true, today we were blessed. Blessed with pickled onion goodness, delivered by a monster, a munching monster...I never thought west vancouver had these hidden treasures.
So Netflix has hit Canada, for 7.99 a month you get some arguably limited in selection tv and movies. Arguably limited but in it's favor that's a whole lot cheaper than Shaw and what they transmit is really really bad -…
Luvly mornin for a ride, hell I even cycled uphill, a real shock to the system. Oh, and good work by the DNV fixing up the trails and making the mountain more accessible to all. Those lower trails are perfect for…
Finally it is mine, Never Summer SL , bring on the winter. DSC_05241-e1286658358731.jpg file not in this archive DSC_05231-e1286658286715.jpg file not in this archive This weekend is Thanksgiving in Canada and i'm…
This has to go on the list of things to do before my carbon based reaction comes to an end... Phoenix-Fly: The Need 4 Speed from Phoenix Fly on Vimeo .
OK, social media/networks (or anti-social media) bugged me again. Namely Facebook, it really gets my goat. A lot of people already know this. But really, what does it let you do that you couldn't do before. Some say it…
It is apparently official, one morning this week summer ended, autumn arrived and it has pissed down with rain since. With the passing of summer it would seem that I can't remember much of it. Not so long ago we were in…
Sittin here at the pne listening to a rod stewart lookie likey, and it occurred to me...why do security guards walk around like a woman who loves herself? Vision it...bad sunglasses, head up, chest oot. Very odd. Go…
Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Caaaannnnnnndaaaaaaccccceeeeeeeee, happy birthday to you. An for your birthday present we're off to Sidney!!!! Vancouver Island that is, not Australia ;)
Twas Canada Day and that meant a four day weekend, or at least it did if you took Friday off as well. Candace and I decided that we should head to the interior like two gypsies with 1979 Trillium. What a machine! The…
Heading home on the seabus, bored, so i thought i would post.. Europe beckons again next week. In lyon for a bit with work then on the way home to vancouver I'll be stopping off in scotland. Bit golf, bit edinburgh…
So tonight we are off to Chicago for 5days. Should be fun, wicked city, sweet hotel at the end of Michigan Ave, Cubs Baseball tickets etc etc. Back to Vancouver for the weekend when i'll have the pleasure of repairing…
Haggis and Bigos take on the Cumberland MOMAR. From what I recall it was around 6 or so hours of sweat and toil...with a final place of around 52nd out of 130ish teams. Not a bad effort for the navigationally challenged.
It's New Year 2010 and we're in Vegas, I won't begin to tell you what it is like to be in Vegas for 4 days over New Year....go and find out for yourself.
So here we are, after a long road trip draggin the 78 trillium to the interior we arrived at the base of sun peaks around 11 last night...to find the campsite closed. Lucky for us we didn't need to pitcha tent.…
So on perusing the web today for a number of linux answers I stumbled across the term neophile . I now think I am definately somewhat neophilic, if that is a word. I don't have an aversity to change, in fact I regularly…
I was cleaning up the server and deleted the frikkin website! Not amused. I'll have to start over...luckily there wasn't much posted!!!!!
14 May 2010
Ok I screwed up....
I was cleaning up the server and deleted the frikkin website! Not amused. I'll have to start over...luckily there wasn't much posted!!!!!
14 May 2010
Pah...here is the mtb post again
an early morning ride on seymour.
14 May 2010
Storms
A storm rolls out through north van.
15 May 2010
Let the stag begin!
15 May 2010
Oh my!
16 May 2010
Wtf?
18 May 2010
Pimped
22 May 2010
Holy duck!
Downtown too!
30 May 2010
Neophile?
So on perusing the web today for a number of linux answers I stumbled across the term neophile. I now think I am definately somewhat neophilic, if that is a word. I don't have an aversity to change, in fact I regularly embark upon it. Tradition is but an excuse not to try and think of anything different, repititive tasks send me to sleep and routine is the bane of my existence. It does not take long for me to become bored with something which as a result requires frequent embarkation upon change. Novelty, I need to read up on a bit more. But novelty is something which definately grabs my attention, albeit for a short time until the boredom kicks in as noted above. So yes, xtracold is a neophile. Now I need to decide if I like that.
2 Jun 2010
Magnificent!
The finest of home cooked quiche!
12 Jun 2010
UFC
Oh yeah baby...
12 Jun 2010
And WE ARE LIIIIIIIIIIIIVE!
25 Jun 2010
The weekend is here!
And finally the weather seems to have pulled its finger oot!
1 Jul 2010
Happy canada day!
So here we are, after a long road trip draggin the 78 trillium to the interior we arrived at the base of sun peaks around 11 last night...to find the campsite closed. Lucky for us we didn't need to pitcha tent. Overnight at the front gate we got access this morning to set up. Now we're settled in for three days of bbq, bikes, golf!!, beer and relaxin. Sweet. Check oot the trillium!
7 Jul 2010
Jake the snake
Ok so riding in for 7am meetings is still proving to be a hurdle, lucky there is a train for jake and I!
12 Jul 2010
Baseball
Strangely enjoyable, hot sun, beer, men dressed in 30's clothes, psuedo cricket. Fun.
16 Jul 2010
Better than work...always.
Mmm...hot...empty...whistler...garbanzo here we come.
16 Jul 2010
Bear…and cubs
They are closer than they look...honest.
25 Jul 2010
Feelin hot hot hot!!!
Caribbean festival....amazin food and the usual daft bc liquor laws. But we won't be beat...mon.
31 Jul 2010
The Week that Was…
So tonight we are off to Chicago for 5days. Should be fun, wicked city, sweet hotel at the end of Michigan Ave, Cubs Baseball tickets etc etc. Back to Vancouver for the weekend when i'll have the pleasure of repairing the bike again...rear hanger lasted a total of 7 rides this time, so much for North Shore Billet making stronger hangers. I might as well stock up on 'em.
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Have you heard the new Slash Album? Why not...go listen to it. If you're a fan of GNR and the previous work of Slash I reckon you can't fail to enjoy the music on that album, although no doubt some muso with his head up his arse would criticise it for one reason or another (I've already found some losers online commenting on it) October 1st we're all off to watch the man himself play at the Commodore Ballroom and from what I hear it is an epic gig he's putting on. It's gonna be frikkin brilliant.
While on the subject of gigs, Wednesday night we checked out We Are Scientists at the Biltmore Cabaret. The gig was good, can't deny that, but the venue was the main player for me. Once again Vancouver has dealt up a fine music venue. With the passing of Richards on Richards (ok its relocating but that's not the point) for a frikkin Condo it's nice to know that places like the Biltmore remain - complete with moose heads hanging from the wall! The next months have more than Slash to treat us too, James and Pennywise tickets are also in our possession, fun times.
Laters.
20 Aug 2010
La semaine prochaine, la France et l'Ecosse
Heading home on the seabus, bored, so i thought i would post..
Europe beckons again next week. In lyon for a bit with work then on the way home to vancouver I'll be stopping off in scotland. Bit golf, bit edinburgh festival, bit haggis, all the usual.
Aside from that, the past weeks have included trips to chicago, horse racing, dave and lee visiting from san francisco, new jobs for candace and a distinct lack of mountain biking....that will be sorted on my return. Plans are afoot to catch mt washington before it closes, two more days in whistler and some sunshine coast xc. Now that jake the snake is rolling again after our little mishap its time to get fit.
Also, the website is still being developed. On my list of things to do are
- add navigation bar
- add about page detailing what makes up xtracold
- get local apache server running for offline development, document how I do it
- develop improved graphics in gimp, incl layout, doc how I do it
- take the gimp layout into my own theme, written from scratch
The wordpress engine is bloody brilliant. Its been way easier to adopt than the cms engines like joomla. I recommend it to everyone.
If you have access to the galleries take a look at our chicago pics. Also check the public starwars concert pics, that is a brilliant show.
Check out the fashion icon we seen at the races too! Luv it.
Laters
Jw
4 Sep 2010
Thought of the day
Sittin here at the pne listening to a rod stewart lookie likey, and it occurred to me...why do security guards walk around like a woman who loves herself? Vision it...bad sunglasses, head up, chest oot. Very odd.
Go rod!
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24 Sep 2010
Summer's Over
It is apparently official, one morning this week summer ended, autumn arrived and it has pissed down with rain since. With the passing of summer it would seem that I can't remember much of it. Not so long ago we were in sun peaks at the start of the bike season and now it draws to a close. Perhaps the fastest summer on record?
Not all bad though, there was a fine trip to chicago in there, numerous bbqs, gigs, revamed website, sweet bike rides with a progression in skinny riding, first real crash on the road bike and then all topped off with food poisoning. what a summer...I'm kinda glad it wasn't any longer in retrospect.
Summer and cynisism (is that a word) aside, it did mark the second year in canada and permanent residency. So I expect I will be here for the foreseeable. With that in mind it makes me consider if bc is what they say it is. I like to refer to it as boring columbia as beyond the great outdoors I doubt anyone would argue that the bc fun police might be the worst! But hey, u can't expect to have it all and sneakin a solitary pint in under the noses of the fun police is fun in itself. But read around on insurance laws and some govt decisions here and it really does beggar belief. Not that the uk isn't screwed up too mind you. I think we all know it is those special people that led univ societies that end up in local govt so we can't expect too much.
Onto winter, I'm holding out for some good snow amd winter riding on the bike. Be pickin up ski passes and a new board soon so fingers crossed the best part of bc deals us an epic winter.
Nuff rambling, the walk-bus-train-ferry-walk commute s almost over for this week, time to sneak around bc's borderline prohibition and have a cheeky pint. Haha...laters. JW.
28 Sep 2010
Farcebook
OK, social media/networks (or anti-social media) bugged me again. Namely Facebook, it really gets my goat. A lot of people already know this. But really, what does it let you do that you couldn't do before. Some say it lets them stay in touch with people - well ask yourself why you don't already have the persons email address that they needed to have a Facebook account in the first place!!! They didn't like you. Simple. That is also why they never spoke to you. I mean really, who has 100's of friends in real life, that's real friends btw not psuedo social network contacts. Hit Google and some quick research on those who have stopped using it will illustrate to the social-network-zombies that life without Facebook is better. Of course now things have gotten worse to the point where you can even go watch a film on it, oh the world is a screwed up place.
Anyway, lets "Face" it, Facebook exists to make money through building a profile on you to sell to advertisers. Yes gmail does the same but there are ways to hide them on gmail, again google will help you find them..now that is internet irony. Many years ago I started hanging up on people who cold-call my telephone trying to sell windows etc therefore why should Facebook fill the gap. Anyway, as it really only exists for advertising it never deletes your information but instead offers in the first instance to deactivate your account. Deactivation allows them to keep all your pictures etc etc, and any other information they have profiled on you. That is scandalous, even though they have increased privacy settings (not by choice of course) they don't make it easy or obvious how to delete your account. Well I decided to reactivate briefly after finding a delete link, so I could now delete my account properly. Here is the link for everyone else.
On following the on-screen instructions you are notified that in two weeks you will have it deleted properly. I mean come on, run a script on the OK event to delete the info immediately you morons!
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I expect two weeks is just enough time for them to check there was nothing really interesting about you that they want to keep a hold of. Or perhaps the world is waking up and realising Facebook can't be trusted and they now have a backlog of accounts to delete. Fingers crossed for that! Bog off and spend your money Mark Zuckerberg, leave us in real control of our privacy and don't take advantage of the naive folks out there!
(Creating a blog btw is easy, and you can remain in control)
30 Sep 2010
Before I Die
This has to go on the list of things to do before my carbon based reaction comes to an end...
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This weekend is Thanksgiving in Canada and i'm giving myself the above snowboard treat, so thank you JW.
The rest of this week hasn't exactly sucked either. The Commodore James gig was exactly as hoped for. Anthemic tunes played by a band that knew exactly how to hold the stage, and interact with the crowd. Tim Booth's walkaroud really brought the gig into the crowd. Luv'd it.
Just before the James gig Whistler had served up the usual bike park treats, last week of the season there and that's it for another year. Been some good effort ts this year, fun days and if anyone is heading there take a look at the new Fade to Black trail, maybe next year I can get close to riding it.
10 Oct 2010
Go for beer?
Genius branding.
15 Oct 2010
Friday morn on fromme
Luvly mornin for a ride, hell I even cycled uphill, a real shock to the system. Oh, and good work by the DNV fixing up the trails and making the mountain more accessible to all. Those lower trails are perfect for getting people interested in biking, lets not sanitise them too much though ;) Keep up the good work, and respect to the builders on Natural High/Lower Griffin who were there at 8am this mornin building bridges.
20 Oct 2010
20102010
It is true, it is the 20th of the 10th 2010...one of those days.
25 Oct 2010
Happy halloween!
30 Oct 2010
There's been a murder!!
1 Nov 2010
011110
Another one of those days...if you write your dates in a UK style ;)
9 Nov 2010
Netflix
So Netflix has hit Canada, for 7.99 a month you get some arguably limited in selection tv and movies. Arguably limited but in it's favor that's a whole lot cheaper than Shaw and what they transmit is really really bad - both in content and quality of transmission. A recent experiment with our PVR switching between HD and normal transmissions indicated that the quality is not that much better through the HD PVR channels. Certainly not what i'm used from the UK.
Anyway, give Netflix a go, it is stifled by Canadian broadcast licensing but it is better than what you pay $$$$ for with cable broadcasters.
Yes its true, today we were blessed. Blessed with pickled onion goodness, delivered by a monster, a munching monster...I never thought west vancouver had these hidden treasures.
21 Nov 2010
Winter has arrived in vancouver
So winter has arrived this week, all the mountains are open for business, shaping up to be a good winter. Perfect evenings too for a wee walk and cheeky pint.
29 Nov 2010
The first day of my season, wicked.
Whistler usa thanksgiving weekend, no crowds, bluebird skies and great snow. Surprised to say the least. What a way to start the season.
2 Dec 2010
Bike vs Bike
And the winner is....
16 Dec 2010
Using File::Find
As part of a requirement traceability tool that I have maintained over the last while, I need to build simple markup source filelists. It can be monotonous building the files from the increasingly large number of files that need to be parsed. A solution was required and as usual I turned to perl. With a simple application of the perl File::Find module I can traverse a source directory and build my input filelist. In the example below the File::Find wanted function is inlined and builds each file path into a <MDL> tag. The .mdl extension presents simulink design files, as required to be parsed by my script tool.
@ARGV = qw(.) unless @ARGV;
use File::Find;
find sub {
print "<MDL>", $File::Find::name , "</MDL>\n" if /\.mdl$/
}, @ARGV;
More to follow on the requirements management tool soon!
17 Dec 2010
The morning commute...
Sun rising, mt baker to the left, heading that way this evening for a few nights in seattle. Even gonna catch my first NFL game on Sunday.
17 Dec 2010
Do You Have Dreams?
It's that time of year when people start thinking about dreams...not the ZZZZ kind...but the aspirational ones that get baked into a list of never to be accomplished New Years Resolutions.
Well for 2011 why not take the next step and make some progress towards realising your dreams. Better still set yourself some measurable goals and track real progress towards them. To help with this, check out this site put together by a buddy of mine: www.dreamsofmine.com.
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20 Dec 2010
Seattle seahawks
As a wee birthday treat miss williams took me to seattle to watch an NFL game. Fun day out. Great atmosphere and wicked stadium..shame they couldn't get the win!
21 Dec 2010
Happy birthday to me..happy birthday to me...
33 today, spent in fresh whitestuff at whistler. Nice.
24 Dec 2010
Fairytale of NYC
So we're here in New York for christmas. Merry christmas everyone!
6 Jan 2011
Flavors
I stumbled across flavors.me today, check it out..before it gets tainted by social networking popularity on the scale of farcebook!
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23 Jan 2011
Kick off to 2011
So, this is the first real post of 2011. Strangely enough it is being made from a psuedo irish bar in denmark, copenhagen airport to be precise, on a Sunday night at 8pm. En route to sweden is xtracold, for a week of meetings, always a treat. On the plus side I did get a couple of nights in scotland which always makes it worthwhile. A busy start to 2011, with snowboarding trips and moab in the near future its started off like 2010 ended. Should be good one...happy new year!
Possibly the shortest flight i have ever been on but with that daft 25min hop from copenhagen oot the way i hit gothenburg, can't say the airport was too familiar either, maybe they have two and last time i used the other??
So it is back to BC today, and to get me through the flight I've picked up Tony Blairs autobiography. Generally considered in the UK as a liar and George Bush's bitch, let's see if hearing the thoughts of the man at the centre of it all can shed any light on the truth. If nothing else at least there will be opportunity to make a judgement on the character of the man that is not based upon a distillation of reality as presented to the UK public by our miserable and pathetic tabloid press.
8 Feb 2011
Check oot the diggler
Live the dream mate. One day we'll have that dive school and pub in the carribean too.
Unbelievable, can only imagine it was a large rock or lump of ice, luckily the sunroof was closed!
10 Feb 2011
Big White...
The snow, atmosphere and pricing makes whistler look very shabby indeed.
15 Feb 2011
MOAB UT
Yup, the next big trip for Miss Williams and I is Moab UT. Respect to the lass for agreeing to go, it's gonna be epic...breathtaking scenery, chillin in the desert landscape, off-roadin and the odd hike! Oh yeah, and lets not forget that it is also a biking mecca. The snow might still be falling but the research begins now on how best to prepare the bike, it would seem from initial searching that the SX-trail will be perfect with little modification "Moab bike set up".
20 Feb 2011
Ch..Ching!!!!
Michael Bolton at the River Rock Casino, followed up by a wee play on the machines. A wee play cos it took only 20buks to hit the jackpot. 600 big ones!!!!! WooHoo!!!!!!
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Michael was rather good too, amazing rendition of Nessun Dorma but dissapointingly no Soul Provider. However, what we did get was the learned knowledge that none other than Meatloaf is on his way to Vancouver in March so we're signed up for that now too, what a gig that'll be.
21 Feb 2011
The Turbanator
It's true, he's back..The Turbanator!
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He's back
Kudos to Sandy for spotting him!
28 Feb 2011
Mullet of the night!
Goes to the lady behind me. It was rather magnificent. Credits to Mr Peter Sheldon for spotting it.
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2 Mar 2011
One Cool Monkey
My favourite monkey is now (actually the first favourite i've had) is a Golden Snub Nosed.
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6 Mar 2011
Mmmm empty whistler
So an early rise got a hungover wardlaw to whistler for 9am courtesy of mr kostka and the buick luxury limo.
Simply put, this is quite a wonderful day. Blue skies, perfect snow and fairly empty. Tis only midday and we have already trawled all over blackcomb aand whistler. Fun times.
8 Mar 2011
Desert Lines
Check this out, some folk have all the fun...
Riding 2,000 Vertical Feet with Darren Berrecloth.
http://bikemag.com
17 Mar 2011
Happy Paddys Day 2011
Sinkin pints in the eagles in the name of the dead saint with oirish songs chantin in the background. Cheers!
19 Mar 2011
Meatloaf
Meatloaf. Need I say more.
There are a number of musical boxes in xtracolds existence that needed to be ticked. Last year I stood within spitting distance of Slash playing the Sweet child o mine solo, and the godfather as he did in those use your illusion videos of my youth. Tonight I was less than 20m from the man singing the song that he owns..bat out of hell.
Amazing. Brilliant. Unforgettable.
Those moments stay with you forever and put the other boring realities of life into perspective. You see life is not about the daily grind. Its not about working to make money to survive. It is about feeding your brain with experiences that stay with you forever, at the forefront of your mind. Next week it won't be a chain of meetings at work that I value or get remotely excited about. It will be those memories of meatloaf tonight, tied to the lunchtime trips home in the car with my mum or dad as a kid, playing on the stereo...down at the bottom of a pit in the blazing sun....like a bat out of hell!
25 Mar 2011
Cove Hit MOAB
Check out Chaz pimping Cove bikes on a radio station in Utah..luvin the radio dudes accent, not so sure about his body rubbin early on!!! Hilarious. For us it is three weeks till the big road trip. Sweet.
28 Mar 2011
My Setup
So I am reaching the point where finally I am content with my home network and development setup.
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I'll detail the finer points of it in subsequent posts but for now the nuts of it is a Windows box running Freenas in a virtual machine to provide networked assisted storage (NAS) and handle torrent downloads/uploads etc.
The NAS solution is a consequence of running only Freenas for many months and it's filesystem of choice (UFS) is largely incompatible with other OS's when it comes to writing (reads were ok on Ubuntu server from what I could work out). That and the fact it is working makes me loathe to try a data migration to some other filesystem and server.
Normally I would refrain from using Windows machines but the best way I have found to watching UK television is using Identity Cloaker to get you onto a UK server and as far as I know it is only available for Windows. This is likely the only thing other than webhosting and hardware that I have actually had to invest money in (Windows PC came courtesy of my good lady).
The final piece of the puzzle is of course how to access the media on Freenas. In the past (before I wanted to use Identity Cloaker) I would use UPnP direct to the PS3. Not a bad solution but it is reasonably intolerant of many media filetypes and UPnP was also unstable (could be a Freenas issue). With the Vista box running I tried windows media center but frankly that is pish. So to xbmc I turned. What a revelation! With xbmc I have next to no problems with any media types, it's way more stable than the PS3 UPnP solution and likewise Windows Media Center. Who would have thought something born out of the xbox would be so useful and free!
The icing on the cake is xbmc remote for android phones. With that installed on my Xperia I can control xbmc with ease, a seamless solution to home networking and media.
My laptop btw runs OpenSUSE Linux which performs admirably with no hardware issues now that broadcom have opened up their wireless cards to Linux...in the past it was a real ball ache to get running which forced Windows to be used. This of course led to the death of the laptop as it crumbled under the weight of windows updates and crappy system management. Thankfully it now speeds along happily through all tasks once again.
Beyond the firewall I am using Dreamhost to serve up xtracold, one day I might host it myself but there seems to be little real value in that endeavour. I also have SVN configured on Dreamhost to allow more control over Wordpress theme development. In due course i'll write some more on all that, including what I intend to do with bug tracking etc.
So there you have it, a largely free home networking solution that is stable and easy to use.
29 Mar 2011
Comments are enabled
So, with the usual wordpress spam protector running I have decided to enable comments to all users, not just those logged in. As traffic is not quite on a par with farcebook I expect I will not be overwhelmed with input from the wider world!
7 Apr 2011
Spring boarding...post work.
9 degC, 6+ m of snow == nuts
15 Apr 2011
Moab d1 : Issaquah
The road trip is underway. First stop Issaquah and a us senator claims we took photos of him doing something terrible at the motel 6. Yeah right sir..read about it in the paper! Topped off in the brewhouse a fine start to the week. Tommorrow...twin falls bound.
16 Apr 2011
Moab d2 : Twin Falls
Washington, Oregon then finally a campsite near twin falls Idaho. But for the puncture 50miles from camp (a let down to say the least) it would have been a perfect road trippin day. Oh and if it hadn't started raining the minute we got round to pitchin tents...and if the site hadn't ran out of firewood. Hmmm...on to utah tommorrow, hopefully with less hassle!
17 Apr 2011
Moab d3 : Arrival
We have arrived in moab. A troublefree day motoring. Tommorrow the fun begins.
18 Apr 2011
Moab d4: Slickrock
Tis true, today PK and I rode the famed slickrock trail. Or to be more accurate, rode and hiked it. Those who mountain bike have likely read that the traction on the slickrock is uneblievable. Well it's true. It is truly astonishing what you can climb without spinning the wheels, and equally astounding how you can traverse a slope on the side knobs of your tires. In some ways it makes you feel like spidey. Technically, other than the climbs which are really just brute force and ignorance there is little technically to worry about. Descents on slickrock are straightforward, but I think that might be due to how different they are from the North Shore back home. We cleared the trail incl practice loop in 2hrs:49mins. A good effort for day one and likely with a change to the gearing on my bike we could nail it quicker (PK cleaned pretty much everything)...not to mention a slight fitness issue on my part. Thankfully the weather was on the overcast and cooler side too, would be tough goin with a strong sun beating down on ye, this pasty white scotsman is not afterall born in warmer climes. Tomorrow porcupine rim and LBS beckons, gluttons for punishment, I likely deserve it for a series of months sitting on the sofa watching 24 !! We are told that LBS will suit our more downhill tendancies, we shall see. Regardless, it is looking like Moab could be the biking mecca it is reported to be.
Back at the house, which is rather nice btw, Miss W spent the day recovering from 20+ hours dehydrating in an air conditioned car, perhaps also suffering a bit from the altitude. Tomorrow the Moab golf course will be shreded as she takes to the greens though. The tee is booked, I hope Moab is ready for us!
Other aspects of today included refusal at an off license due to not carrying passports. Idiots. A fine BBQ made up for that and we shall all be off for some karaoke tonight.
19 Apr 2011
Moab d5 : Sovereign, mechanicals and golf
Out to the sovereign trail head we travelled this morn, delaying the porcupine ride due to storms last night. Glad we did, excellent trail out in the brush. Unfortunately I destroyed my rear mech and chain and had to head back early. But still got some fun freewheel descents. Excellent trail.
An afternoon of golf followed, very pleasant it was too. High scoring as usual but it is a fine course and frankly stunning setting.
Finally, the finest of burgers in the moab brewery, 2.75pints too. How generous. I won't comment on the pathetic canuck hockey effort.
Tommorrow the rim and the arches.
20 Apr 2011
Moab d6 : LPS, Porcupine Rim, the Arches and limos
So, to the famed porcupine rim we were shuttled by the good chaps at the poisoned spider. Avoiding the stupid initial climb and continuing up to LPS was a stroke of genius, quality singletrack and views to die for. The rim itself was awsome with 4x4 roads descending to the sweet cliff hugging singletrack. A quality 2.5 hrs.
Then onto Arches national park. All very dramatic and a must see when in Moab.
Consensus was found on mexican for dinner. Fiesta mexicana was chosen, tasty grub and crackin margharitas. But the icing on the cake was ken beesons 80s chicago gangsta limo taxi. What a ride, we looked like washed up rockstars as we climbed out of that machine in town. Classic.
21 Apr 2011
Moab d7 : Beer accident
So we were headed for jeeps, but really no-one was convinced. Instead we ate at zaks then cultured ourselves in a local craft shop and dropped in for a swift six or seven pints at the brewery. Having chilled all afternoon dave and lee finally arrived from san francisco and the evening was spent at home in the company of some beverages acquired in town at the store they named liquor. What an action packed day, haha!
22 Apr 2011
Moab d8 : Bar M Loop and Jet boating
Today we all biked the bar m loop, an inaugral mtb trip for candace and departure from lycra for dave and lee. A simple trail it would seem it did not sell the sport to all participants, a fine effort nonetheless by all concerned.
Then onto jet boating. 4 hrs up the colorado river to check out the views, some fossils and generally be buffeted by a chill wind all afternoon. Recommended though, its a cool ride into the canyons, away from pretty much everything. Everything including marine diesel engine workshops. Lucky for some (for which read everyone on board) xtracold had brought his bag of bike bits with him, and the throttle cable was fixed with a manual set up employing shifter cable and three trusty cable/zip ties.
Tomorrow, homeward bound. Shame.
23 Apr 2011
Moab d9 : Departure
So that's it, back to Vancouver (reported to be the best city in the world, possible to challenge I should think). 23'ish hours driving ahead of us the first objective was Boise Idaho before nightfall then a final dash for Vancouver on Sunday. It would seem that on this Easter Weekend the lord was indeed active and looking down on us as we left the Jesus state. On the wings of an angel or led by the hand of Jesus himself we must have been, as we pushed through Utah on into Idaho towards a Doubletree Club Hotel @ 59bucks per night and dinner in a brewpub in the potato munchin capital of Boise. Or, was it the fact we picked up a voucher book at a truck stop and asked at the hotel reception for a list of brew pubs? Likely the latter. If you are passing through Idaho check out Boise and the Bittercreek Ale house, it's pretty cool. Hallelujah, praise the truck stop voucher books.
24 Apr 2011
Moab d10 : Home and PHB's
A Denny's breakfast with the expected worst coffee in the world set us on our way from Boise back to Vancouver. Nailed in something like 12 hours it wasn't too bad a journey. Perhaps the time passed quickly due to the concluding episodes of the Star Wars radio dramas!
We were welcomed back to the aforementioned best city in the world by truly pathetic weather and the worst driving witnessed in 2000+ miles (by an allegedly professional Translink driver, bus #R9270 Route 351 @ 2032hrs 24Apr2011, what a prick, they have been informed).
I think it is fair to say the post holiday blues (PHB's) are going to hang around for some time. Xtracold is however contemplating an end of season pilgrimage back to the Moab...yes, I think that is a good idea.
On this Holiday Monday i'll spend some time editing the trip diary to be easier to navigate and upload the galleries to the lucky few who have access. There are some stunning shots. Or at least I think there is.
28 Apr 2011
Autonomy, Mastery & Purpose
Ok Mitch I watched it, while eating a chocolate bunny and drinking a cup of tea from a particularly flowery mug. Thankfully I still feel masculine.
All that aside, Mr LeBlanc provided me with an interesting scoop on motivation and if for nothing but the animation should be of interest to most of you out there. The clip below is an animation incl a speech by Dan Pink. Take a look, good stuff and in keeping with many thoughts i've had on monetary reward over the years. You can make all the money in the world but if you spend 40hrs a week without challenge (that's rewarding challenges not just downright frustrating nonesense) you might as well stay in bed!
30 Apr 2011
Requirements for xtracolds House
So xtracold has been a homeowner for some years now, not necessarily a profitable endeavour either and I don't actually live in the latest one...so I am more of a property owner. As usual i digress, the purpose of this post is to list the requirements for my next property which might actually become a home.
So far, the properties have spanned a range of formats. First up, a new build house with garage and garden in olde english cathedral town. Sticking with the cathedral theme a new apartment in a renovated village hospital on the edge of canterbury was called home for almost four years. Finally, and currently, a not so new 120 year old victorian terrace is in my posession. So I am somewhat aware of homeownership joys, woes and what I want from a house or home. Here is the list:
1. Min 2 bed,1 ensuite, 1 bathroom and 1 other utility area shower room
2. Large kitchen, commercial format integrated into the outside deck area that would hold the bbq.
3. Living room, simple, with open fireplace
4. Garage, double.
5. Study
6. Walk in closet in main bedroom
7. Bike workshop at foot of garden
8. Food root cellar
9. Wine cellar
10. Rural location, not in the burbs
11. Custom build on cleared land
I am now going to start looking for this land and will update the blog with progress toward that. Watch this space.
1 May 2011
Good News
So the usa have taken down osama bin laden, good riddance to a scurge on the human race.
So tonight I requested that we watch bbc news 24 coverage to avoid gun-ho americanism. Glad we did, at least the bbc could spell the filths name correctly.
Don't rest in peace bin heed, you were a sad example of a human being.
5 May 2011
Mount Freenas Share in OpenSuse
Ok, this is for my own benefit as I continually forget the linux way of doing things. I'm pretty sure that should my employer move everyone over to Linux we would have a cost saving initiative that actually works and I wouldn't get opportunity to forget this kind of thing.
Reason I need to do this is I hate ITunes. Period. It has to be the worst music management program out there. Always been terrible, always will be. So to add the new Airborne Toxic Event album to my pod I need something linux. Enter gtkpod. Seems to be capable of all I would want i.e. to transfer songs to what is basically a usb drive with a skirt on. Anyway, the interface is intuitive and fast. I recommend it. There is plenty info out there to inform those with no intuition how to use it. For me, back to the bit I always forget - mounting my freenas cifs/samba share on the laptop. Well here is the command, don't forget again you muppet!
> sudo mount -t cifs -o
guest //192.168.1.102/xcoldnas /mnt/dir
And yes, I know you can make the mount permanent by editing fstab. As I use kde, from the command line:
> kdesu kwrite /etc/fstab
Then add the following line to the end of fstab file that pops up, remember to leave a newline at the end of the file,some say this is the best way to ensure the end of file is met with a CR, maybe it is, maybe it isn't but a newline never hurt anyone so I do it :
There, permanent. Oh yeah, and I allocate the freenas system a fixed IP from the router so that the world keeps spinning. Dynamic allocation of the IP was proving a royal pain in the ass as far as the network mapping of drives was concerned.
6 May 2011
Freenas 8 Released
It is true, the revamped and rearchitected Freenas 8 is available for download. Not supporting the "toy" functions of 0.7.x yet as they will be delivered by future plugins, but basic Network Attached Storage is all in there. They now require that it is ran from a USB stick or solid state memory card, there is no live-CD option or it would seem possibility to run in a drive of a virtual machine. No biggy I suppose and a consequence of the rework they undertook. For xtracold, I think i'll give it a try, no Transmission for Torrents is a shame but I can likely live without that until 8.1 is available, or perhaps find a better torrent engine as I find Transmission functional but clunky. Also, I still need to install the additional disk and run a RAID config, interesting to read whether that promotes a shift from UFS to ZFS - which I think would also allow direct read/writes to the drive by openSUSE? Need to look into that in more detail.
27 May 2011
Diners...Drive-Ins...and Dives - Spokane
Well what da ya know, just channel surfed to Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives to see a kick ass Reuben being cooked from fresh at a place that is borderline local.Waddell's Pub and Grille in Spokane is the place, with a plethora of beers on draft to accompany yer grub from what we just seen on television it is gonna have to be checked out on the next road trip.
Oooo....Irish Lamb Dip....tasty....
30 May 2011
Finally @ Home on Dreamhost
So, all ties to wiserhosting are broken and xtracold is happily settling in on the Dreamhost servers. The migration of the wordpress database and content files led me to some uncharted territory (for me anyway). Modification of the sql tables for example, or the use of ssh on the server. Some issues en route, but now everything seems to be functional. Let the posting begin...
Future updates now that I am on Dreamhost might well include
- configuring the svn repository and development subdomain again
- adding trac or JIRA somehow, so I can record what does/doesn't work, improvements etc
- perhaps mess around with Gallery3 instead of using picasa
- improve front page in theme
- improve gallery post-type to include thumbnails, secure galleries etc
- upload the perl tools to the tech section
etc etc etc....
14 Jun 2011
Boston Bruins Coach on the lash b4 game 7
Tis true, met the parentals in the westin bayshore for their last night only to have the boston bruins coach over from us suppin vin rouge. Now. Come on canucks. It is the night before game 7 and the opposition coach is relaxed enough to kick back till 10 drinkin wine with some other psuedo french dude. Very bizarre approach to one of the biggest sporting finals in the world.
All I will say is, go canucks go! Wipe that red wine drinkin smirk off his face.
So this week brings xtracold to the INCOSE Symposium 2011 in Denver. Been here since Saturday night and it has proved to be an interesting time.
Difficult to suss out a city in such a short business and conference focussed space of time. Could be anywhere really. However, tonight I strolled to REI to buy a new chain tool. At the weekend I broke my specialized chain tool trying to break of all things the chain of the SX-trail. Now, that is topical. Let me explain. A chain tool that gets broke by a chain is a key failing of the highest level system requirement i.e. Brake Chains. Systems engineering is therefore clearly something that affects all of us ;)
So why do I choose to travel to INCOSE Denver? Well it seems abundantly clear to me that a controls software engineer can't help but be drawn to systems engineering. It is afterall clearly a discipline feeding off the learnings of software systems development. If you think about it, Software has never been able to exist in isolation of some other system. For those of us who have taken on the role of defining a complete software application or architecture we are compulsed to acknowledge the immediate system in which our product operates - in the first case the silicon on which we execute, rapidly expanding to those components that we interface with and control. The rate which the software complexity can grow requires a broad understanding of system interactions and it is this which has likely set it apart from traditional mechanical systems development. Not to say mechanical systems development is trivial, but now that we integrate so heavily components of all types to deliver a system function the discipline of systems engineering is born. Putting in place techniques that allow us to get our little brains around the complexity of the system.
For myself, sitting designing software components over the last 10 years was never going to be enough. Mobile phone networks, Set top boxes, Mortgage/Insurance websites, vehicle theft systems, engine control.....it is all the same. Software that meets a set of requirements. Systems engineering it turns out is the discpline that formalises what I have really been doing and have been interested in. Let someone else create the gilt etched software designs and implementations that in isolation mean nothing to anyone but the designer, I would rather be involved in the definition of the broader electronic control system function and architecture. That is what ultimately delivers what someone was asking for. So that's why i'm in Denver. To try and understand what processes are available to a systems engineer nowadays and how they can make my life easier, what does model based systems engineering offer when put up against the traditional software development processes and emerging ones? We shall see.
Anyways enuff of that. It also turned out that Denver had Pride Weekend this weekend. That is not ideal when you are one of two heterosexual male engineers travelling on business and wandering aimlessly through a pride festival looking for dinner or a pint. The interest in us was limited but some events stand out, truly a frightening experience. What else does Denver offer other than Pride? Well it has the most brewpubs of a western North American city. Isn't that wonderful? The beers are really rather good. Recommend them. They also have tables in the bars with self serve taps. Many years ago at Edinburgh University I wanted to invent such a thing. Seems someone else got there first. Oh well.
Thats about it. Not a lot more to add. Some pics of my Denver wanderings are below. Laters.
25 Jun 2011
Whistler first ride
Finally my bike park season begins. Sweet weather too and no crowds.
27 Jun 2011
Bears Are Oot
Twas a fine day yesterday and on the way home from Whistler to Squamish I caught a fine picture of a Yogi.
9 Jul 2011
Camping it up BC
English river falls, parksville, vancouver island. 5 star camping.
16 Jul 2011
Camping it up bc..#2
Impulse camping this time, cedar falls near silverstar/vernon. sweet sweet biking in an empty park too. If only working for a living didn't interrupt this stuff.
18 Jul 2011
So it's come to this...
Canadian television is so dire i have been driven to watchin "soccer". More commonly known as "fitba" it would seem Man city are holidaying in north america and dropped by for a game against the whitecaps. They look to be having a wonderful time.
29 Jul 2011
San francisco!
Another US city break, this time california, San Francisco. Long weekend to include riding a tandem over the golden gate bridge, a short stay in alcatraz, beers with the Hueghans and likely a cocktail or two. Fun times.
Back in kelsae, for quite some time, needless to say the place hasnt changed.
Jamie Wardlaw's location@1:01am,8/16 Maxwellheugh, The Scottish Borders TD5 8, UK, Maxwellheugh, The Scottish Borders TD5 8, UK http://m.google.co.uk/u/m/zQg7uq
16 Aug 2011
Kindle Blogs
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So having bought my dad a kindle for his birthday (or chipped in on it at least) I had a play with it and noticed that you can push your blog to kindle. Now, I know it is unlikely that anyone is going to sign up through the kindle interface for xtracold - especially as no-one really signs up online, but it is an interesting method of publishing.
So, if you have a kindle, search for xtracold in the store and you'll be able to keep up with the blog.
My opinion on the Kindle is that it is a pretty cool bit of kit. The electronic ink is a marvel to look at, almost easier on the eye than printed paper...especially if your eyes are as bad as mine. The idea of carrying around 8000++ books is kinda neat too. Of course, it is the latest in a long line of technology advances that removes some joys of ownership. Just as mp3's and digital photos have taken away some of the tangible pleasures of ownership, Kindle does just that. In future what will a library be....an empty minimalist room with a row of Kindles? The stale smell of electronic devices heating the air as supposed to damp and musty old books? Is that better? I'm not sure..
17 Aug 2011
Kindle Blog...Published and Available!
So there it is, available overnight in the Kindle marketplace, what a seamless implementation by the folks at Amazon.
18 Aug 2011
More of Macaskill
Danny Macaskill jumpin aboot an auld railyard...he really does redefine the term skinny. The Shore is made to look like the M25.
21 Aug 2011
Scotland 23 Italy 12
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A fine day oot at murrayfield.
14 Sep 2011
How Can He Sit Down With Balls That Big?
Danny Hart executing one of the most stunning descents on a bike yer likely to ever see. The commentary is golden too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCMQPzKcFqs
8 Oct 2011
Last day of season....next one is clearly on its way...
6 Nov 2011
The gideons should start leaving kindles or kobos
Just a thought, but on opening the bedside drawer in a hotel room to find a bible from the gideons the following ocurred to me
1: why do these gideons always leave bibles behind?
2: if i chose to read the bible i would no longer have to carry a book when travelling as those chaps have always left a copy
3: in these modern times perhaps the gideons could be encouraged to start leaving kindle like devices on which we could login and acess our preferred literature?
4: who are the gideons anyway, and why dont they read some other fiction, like some clancy or jeffery archer?
Oh well, with no other option here goes, chapter 1, genesis...should be good, they did some great tunes!
8 Nov 2011
Movember
It is time to get hairy, Movember is here and this year I will endeavour to grow some handlebars before months end. Please help the fight against Prostate Cancer by donating at my MoSpace http://mobro.co/xtracold
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The Mo @ 11 Nov
So to date the Movember fund raising has reached a staggering $195, with some 2+ weeks to go more donations are welcomed...would be nice to tickle 500 bucks before the end, any shortfall I am even considering making up. So please start donating such that my Mo and I have enough for a celebratory pint at months end!!!
Thanks to all who donated to the Movember cause, my facial hair flourised amidst an outpouring of financial support that brought me to my meager target of 500bucks. This morning it was with great regret that the Mo was removed, removed on the day that we also left the condo in North Vancouver for the last time. Tis the end of an era...
15 Dec 2011
Whistler bound
So it is whistler bound this fine snowy morn, a 1hr bus trip coveniently door to slope and back i am struggling to fault the squamish whistler greyhound...20buks return it feels like a beer pass too as i wont be burdened by driving.
Add to this yesterdays snow, its been snow all the way from just outside town so today is lookin like a goodun.
20 Dec 2011
Happy Birthday!!
Well who would have thought it, screwed up flight dates and got whacked with a massive rebooking charge. Then...got upgraded to club world at checkin. Nice. Proper sleep after i quwaff this champers for an hour or too. Hahaha!!!
9 Mar 2012
Another chapter draws to a close
So this is a simple post to mark the day i left westport. Some good times, interesting places and certainly delivered many things if not least the beginnings of my xpat adventure to canada. But next week i will embark on a different path, leaving not only westport but also automotive controls behind. Fun times!
13 Mar 2012
Squamish Days
Ok, so partly spent in whistler, but Squampton has thrown up a couple of excellent days on the mountain. Biking the cheshire cat amongst other things and a 43cm dump at whistler to crown it off.
1 May 2012
Oil Sands
So, to add to this years distinguished list of unlikely places to spend a week I find myself in Fort McMurray at Canada's somewhat controversial oil sands.
Controversial of course only because you can see what is going on above the surface, people prefer for it to be hidden below a desert in the middle east or the seas off the coast of Scotland that we happily swam in as kids in woollen swimming trunks. Controversial because the 1000's of people and families supported by the industry would of course be better off supported by the social services, much like those greenpeace warriors who would rather camp out on city hall steps under synthetic fabrics that are a likely by-product of the very industries they despise. But seriously, it is an impressive industrial machine that is running up here and I am not going to join the argument as to whether it is right or wrong...at least not until people can offer up a real alternative. Oh, and if asked to choose between FtM or Weifang I think i'll go with the Fort everytime.
1 Jun 2012
Linux Mint 13 (Maya)
So Linux Mint have released their latest version. 13. Maya with the Gnome offspring 'Mate' desktop or if you want to be on the edge of all things linux the 'cinnamon' offering. For me, I decided to upgrade from 11 (Katya) to 13 with Mate and at the same time upgrade to the latest Freenas version '8.0.4'. Here is my experience...
Firstly, I did not do this without a care in the world. My Linux box has been performing admirably over the last year or so, as has Freenas inside the virtual machine that launches on startup. Since moving to Freenas 8 with the ZFS pools I have never had an issue with the server or disk read/writes etc. I usually only reboot if an application install requires it or after weeks of continuous running the PC takes a bit of a wobbler. Basically, it was robust, more so than the PC at work that runs a much more common commercial OS. Say no more.
So, off I went. Step one was to ensure Freenas 8..0.4 would work off the bat with my configs from Mint 11. It did. Wahey!
Next, download and install Maya. Alongside Katya with dual boot to make transferring files between the OS's easily. Downloaded, .iso burned to DVD, reboot, install, grub bootloader install fails..bollox! Not to worry though, machine reboots to Katya and I go to the startup/bootloader app to change the settings such that I get time to select Maya at boot. I think I had made the boot menu time be short many months ago and this is why I didn't get the option to select OS on startup.
Note, in Maya the grub bootloader config wasn't available, but through package manager you can install 'startupmanager' and get back the app to play around with grub bootloader options.
Next step was the freenas install. First download the VirtualBox app using the software manager. Copy the machine from the old Katya partiion over to the new OS partition. Now the ZFS disks are not mounted by the native filesystem of Linux Mint, or at least they don't seem to be for me. So, the virtual machine needs to have the rawdisks created. For myself copying the raw disks over from the Katya install never worked. So for reference here is how I created my rawdisks again:
Where target is a full path to the filename you want to use. The disk /dev/ location can be located by running the following command
> fdisk -l
2. I have had to change permissions on the rawdisk files such that VirtualBox can access them. This took 3 steps, firstly 'chmod' each file to 777. Secondly 'chown' to 666. Then, finally make sure that the local user is in the 'disk' group by navigating to 'Administration/Users & Groups' and adding the username. VirtualBox will now be able to access those vmdk files and read/write quite happily. A word of caution here though, adding the local user into the disk group gives all power in the world over those disks at a most fundamental level. As this is my computer sitting behind the firewall I think i'll be fine. But I will be looking for a more robust approach, like perhaps having the virtualBox machine be in the group as a user or something. We shall scour the web for answers....onwards to the next step.
3. Reconfigure the VM to use those newly created disks as shown below on SATA port 0/1.
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3. Start the machine and hey presto everything is up and running! Note that this was much easier than when I tried to get it running under Katya, probably because I knew about step 2 which is critical!! The new devil animation is pretty sweet!
Now things since then have not been without problem. Well one problem to be precise which manifested itself in a couple of ways. The Katya release worked out the box for me with regard to sound and video. However Maya was running video (YouTube etc) at a superfast frame rate with no sound, and audio files could not be played at all. Add to this, Skype audio did not work. Some websearching indicated that the pulseAudio driver/mixer is, well. crap. I never had problems on Katya but without argument I uninstalled PulseAudio and installed ALSA instead:
Following the reboot everything worked fine. So lesson learned, PulseAudio is crap! I should join the online campaigns to have the linux Mint team ditch it.
Next steps...to configure CIFS on Freenas again, with the correct user priveleges. Also need to sort out skype to load with the lib4vl drivers that are necessary to get webcams working and then perhaps i'll dabble with installing ownCloud which I was reading about today.
17 Jun 2012
Whistler 2012
Twas a dirty first ride in whistler this year.
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28 Jun 2012
1999 Tercel
A mint condition, 1999 Toyota Tercel, the new falcon! Latest stats indicate a 50% improvement in the fuel economy over the Santa Fe. Stunning.
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3 Jul 2012
How does your garden grow?
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The first crop of 2012..Spring Onions might not be that impressive but it is a start. Oh, and for those of you who are North American a Spring Onion/Syboe /Scallion is a Green onion! This little horticultural endeavour should start to be profitable in approximately 1 or 2 harvests time which given the growth rate should be before the end of summer. How exciting.
4 Jul 2012
Twilight whistler sessions.
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Fun times
23 Jul 2012
Three Blind Mice
On the east side of Okanagan lake, above Penticton, is the Three Blind Mice trail network. A maze of trails over varied terrain, well worth checking out.
I stopped by Freedom Bikes on main st on Saturday to get some route info and pick up a map. Directed to start by the pearly gate at the end of riddle road off I went.
Through the gate I took a left and traversed on a gradual climb along White Trail. The trail starts on a sandy FSR like surface and soon mixes it up with a single track ascent over roots, stoney sections, rock slabs and in and out of the trees. I picked up Narnia rather than stay on White trail, then conected with Three Witches to get me up to a viewpoint. Views are stunning all the way. Freedom recommended this route and a descent from here back to start point would give a 2hr loop. Took me over an hour to reach the viewpoint...climbing was never my forte, add to that 30 deg interior heat and stops for pictures the time soon dissapears.
Rather than just descend back down I continued on to get some more vertical before heading back. Pick up Yellow Brick Road and Squirrel to get to the Corral junction. From Corral I headed for Drops a Lot, fun trail and well worth checking out. Drops and the odd gap riding mainly rock all the way to pick up Fred which is less techy but fast and flowing. From Fred I picked up Cougar and then connected with Chute Out and Roller Coaster to get me back to the Pearly Gate. Takes 2 to 3 hours with all the photo stops and the trail network is packed with something for everyone. If you keep your eyes peeled for the yellow diamond trail markers and make sure to pick up a map from Freedom or the Bike Barn you can't go far wrong. If you want to shuttle and miss out on the long traverse I think there may be an FSR access further North called Arwana. Dropping a car near Riddle road and then heading up there would deliver the fun without the toil, don't know if you will get the same views though.
3 Aug 2012
Nexus 7
A thing of beauty. 7 perfect inches of Android powered wonder. The screen may not glisten like the latest offering from the fruitmonger but for half the price there is no argument. Front facing camera only as the world starts to realise tablets are not for taking photos...we have cameras for that. No 3g only WiFi but again when do u not have access to WiFi...or just tether to your other handheld device that was once used for telephone calls. My only complaint so far...I had to temporarily disable Mac filters on my router to setup as you can't access the Mac address without completing setup...which as step 1 requires WiFi..doh!
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7 Aug 2012
Tyax - Warner Lake MTB Tour
So up in the chilcotin mountains Tyax Air provide MTB tours via a floatplane shuttle. This past weekend we took the Warner Lake tour and it has to be said that it is a pretty awsome experience. Tough going towards the end in the searing 30++ degC heat but will definately be returning to do it again.
Low-res pics below from the ride, due to me being a muppet and not changing the camera setting before take-off...doh!
12 Aug 2012
Squamish 21km
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First ever half marathon, first ever trail race, first time ever my heart rate hit 199, actual distance closer to 22.5km. 3hr50min. Puffed Oot.
24 Aug 2012
Broonjab
Not a single hit in a google search, this is now an experiment to see how long it takes xtracold to be picked up as the only hit. Which will make it a googlewack if I recall from Dave gormans book. How exciting.
30 Aug 2012
Software thought of the day
As mentioned in IEC 61511-1,
"Software cannot be maintained; rather, it is modified."
[IEC 61511-1:2003 §3.2.8.2]
To which I would add that through modification it will be either improved, fixed or broken. Therefore, there is a 1 in 3 chance you are going to make things worse. Fairly crappy odds and the beginning of a vicious circle that we can call "software engineering". How lucky we are to work in a circle of viciousness!
23 Sep 2012
Top of the world
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Top of the world trail, finally ridden in what is likely my last day in the park this year. Tis a fine alpine descent, look forward to doing it again next year, and for the trail crew to open up more up there.
As the bike park enters the last week of the season they have also uploaded some footage from the top of the world, check it out.
24 Sep 2012
Note to Self...Firefox Toolbar Keyword Search Settings
So Firefox has been defaulting to Ask.com as my search engine at work, which for whatever reason really bugs me. Similar is happening home but I think it is that crazy duckandgo which simply finds a lot of crap.
To change this it is necessary to navigate the keyword URL field of options, but not via a GUI. Use the about:config method by entering that in the address bar. Firefox will ask if you are sure you want to navigate to this page as it impacts core settings. You do!
With about:config loaded, you can search for the appropriate field by enterring "keyword" in the search box.
Double click the value of the keyword.URL
Replace the Ask address string with the equivalent google one : https://www.google.ca/search?q=
Or whatever is your preferred search engine and the result should be quite wonderful, google searches by keyword from the address bar forever more.
4 Oct 2012
Bottletop Genius
Enuff said, moments of genius like this are rare. Sit back and savour...oh and take a trip to Portland and sit in the brewery, tis quite special.
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22 Oct 2012
Introducing Jagger!
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He's got the moves.
21 Nov 2012
Kolsch
A trip to Cologne is apparently not complete without drinking Kolsch. So in the interests of international relations I have been doing just that. The line up in the picture below is a selection picked up from the local shop, for a massive 3.5EUR...stick that in yer pipe and smoke it BC Liqor cartels (aka Provincial Government). PROST!
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22 Nov 2012
LIVING WITH THE NEXUS 7
So it has been a few months since I became the proud owner of a Nexus 7 and I feel it is time to share that experience with whoever cares to listen (or more likely read given this is a blog and not a radio show).
The relationship between myself and the Nexus got off to a good start, partly due to the warm feeling that a full function tablet that is arguably equal to more expensive options gives you. Add to that the store credit for Google play and your adventures get off to good start. I am also an owner of an HTC One X and although capable and satisfactory for reading e-books it is on the small side. In this regard the Nexus format is perfect being pretty much the size of your average paperback. Yes the Google bookstore might not be Amazon but there is always something there to read and for people like me who are still reading star wars books you are well serviced. Recently Google launched the magazine store too and that is simply awesome. I think magazines are curiously expensive, especially given the number of adverts that appear within them. Well not on Google play. WIRED, BIKE, DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY have been subscribed too so far and with subs in the $20 / year / mag you could get the price of the tablet back in your pocket in no time.
Some would argue that the lack of 3G or similar connectivity is an issue but I have to beg to differ. Actually no I take that back, I am not begging I am just differing and screw those who disagree. I have frequently found myself without wireless and simply move to tethering to my phone. Not much more to say on that, problem solved.
The subject of connection leads somewhat conveniently to browsers. The tablet ships with Chrome and for the most part I am happy to use the Google standard. However, Chrome can be weird at times with certain websites, I don't know why, and it is worth downloading another browser just in case. I generally default to Dolphin which seems to be more consistent. Flash gets poor support from android based devices nowadays which can be a pain but there are solutions out there for the persistent. I haven't bothered myself and I expect flash will start to disappear as HTML 5 gains momentum anyway.
Other apps I can recommend are QuickOffice, Wordpress, ES File Explorer and Dice Player. With these you will be well equipped for blogging, simple document editing and media playing on the road. The Dice player seems to offer the widest range of compatibility for video files so that is now my player of choice. ES file explorer has become the defacto standard for file management and will connect to pretty much anything whether that be your home LAN, NAS or cloud storage like Dropbox. Which leads me to the storage limitations of the tablet. Some say that it would be better if it offered expandable memory. Perhaps, but I have pretty much given myself up to drop box for convenient storage and movement of files between devices. With no cost to me I already have 26GB avail on Dropbox. The bulk of that came with m y HTC One X but look around and you can usually find a way to receive more free space from them.
With every tablet you open yourself up to a myriad of accessories. I was to travel fairly soon after my purchase and the need therefore arose for a case. I still think it sucks that they don't sell even the most basic protective sleeve with these things. Nexus 7 specific devices were not readily available at the time so I opted for compatible cases marketed for other 7" devices e.g. Kindle Fire or Blackberry Playbook. First off was a fairly clunky case by Targus. It worked, it offered protection but I can't say that it was too elegant and as it did not actually attach to the tablet you always have to find somewhere to put the damn thing when the tablet is in use. So not great but definitely functional and offers a lot of protection for a soft case.
I have since got hold of a Nexus 7 Case by Tuff-Luv. Again marketed for something other than the Nexus (Kindle Fire) it still works well and offers a feeling of high quality in your hand. It is a definite improvement over the Targus and needless to say the Targus likely has eBay in it's future, or perhaps craigslist to avoid eBay charges. Anyway i digress, back to some Tuff-Luv. The case not being designed specifically for the Nexus results in issues with access to the IO points on the tablet - headphone and volume/power buttons. The anchor straps cover the IO jacks which is annoying but rotating the tablet and only using three of the straps gives an acceptable solution for the frequently accessed power and volume buttons. Headphones I have found requires dropping to only two straps which if you are on the move will present some risk of the tablet falling out. If they bring out a Nexus specific version I am sure these minor issues will be resolved. The case also includes a loop for holding a stylus which I think would be a good accessory for the tablet. On the back there is a hand strap which I found gimmicky at first but it is actually quite good when walking around and can of course be used to hold other things like your phone when tethering. So all in all if you struggle to find Nexus specific cases check out the Tuff-Luv.
I am writing this post on a flight which forces me to use the onscreen keyboard instead of the Logitech Bluetooth keyboard I purchased. For real work on documents and even ease of use when not on the move I would recommend getting a good quality full size keyboard. This will transform your Nexus into a very capable laptop. The Logitech comes in an android specific version so you get the three navigation buttons on the keyboard. When connected the tablet will default to full screen editing all the time and not present the onscreen keyboard. The case for the keyboard also serves as a stand and I have found it a great solution when on the road.
So in summary I have no regrets with my purchase of the Nexus, go get one.
21 Dec 2012
Happy Birthday
The 35th year begins. What better way than with a new toy. From this
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To this
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26 Apr 2013
A scotch ale is born
And much like the ubiquitous Scotsman they are slow to mature but once of age can be considered the finest example of their kind. Full of character and strength to boot!
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27 Apr 2013
BEERARAMA
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Beer festivaling BC style, a far cry from a CAMRA shindig but fun nonetheless. Well done chaps down at the Howe Sound Brewery.
5 May 2013
The New Rig
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2012 Devinci Wilson. Latest addition to the garage and a perfect complement to Cove Handjob and Stumpjumper EVO. Summer should be fun.
14 May 2013
Raspberry Pi Arrives
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A brewery controller lies in the future of this little raspberry, or maybe just a replacement for the PS3s crappy media serving. We shall see, time to get the geek t-shirt on.
16 May 2013
C'mon baldy throw the ball
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25 May 2013
WBP First Day of 2013 Season
So a friday afternoon off spent at the bike park in some mighty fine sunshine and no line-ups. 3.5hrs and 7 laps of gravity fed moutain biking. Shot below looking out from the whistler DH on Blackcomb village.
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Whistler DH
30 May 2013
4th or 14th Depending how you look at it
So today we signed up to buy our first house together, yes it is true we will soon be living under a roof owned by ourselves with the hairy monster Jagger by our sides. Well actually the strata of the town house complex is responsible for the roof so maybe we won't actually own that bit outright. All very confusing.
If my math serves me correctly it will be the 14th house I have lived in since birth and the 4th I have actually owned: Kelso (2) Edinburgh (2) Bath (2) Cambridge (1) Ely (1 owned) Canterbury (1 owned) Faversham (1 owned) Vancouver (1) North Vancouver (1) Squamish (1, 1 owned) I expect that going forward the rate of change of accommodation will tend toward zero. Likely a good thing.
Roll on August.
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28 Jun 2013
Hail the birth of Hops
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A Hop plant is born, awsome.
8 Jul 2013
WBP July 6th 2013
Click the pics to enlarge, first is Heart of Darkness the second is A-line.
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22 Jul 2013
Haggis&Bigos Launched
As is perhaps evident from some recent postings, home brewing is increasingly taking up my time. Going forward, postings of a brewing nature can be viewed at the following website : www.haggisandbigos.com
There is some history behind the name, the site will explain all. Meanwhile, xtracold will focus on all the other things that Haggis gets up to, and perhaps some that he doesn't!?!
(no idea what that last line could mean, looking forward to finding out tho!)
28 Jul 2013
End of August Completion My Hairy Scottish Arse
"Raise yer game..."
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11 Aug 2013
Wanna get married?
For the record xtracold is to be married to Miss Williams. He asked, or surmised, that they might as well and she agreed/accepted. Some time later he took her shopping for a ring that now sits on the appropriate finger. A wedding will follow, then letters will arrive in the postbox with the new addressees of Mr and Mrs Wardlaw. How exciting!!!!
27 Aug 2013
Madrid
This week finds xtracold in Madrid. First time in Spain but i've left my union jack boxer shorts at home. From what I hear Madrid is a little more classy than the usual expat haunts - benidorm etc.
Shacked up in a hotel near the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu which of course gets full of fitba players and their obsessive followers on a weekly basis. The team is called Real Madrid, which must mean that somewhere else in town the False Madrid play. Regardless, in between matches it would seem that tourists hang around outside taking pictures e.g.
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Estadio Santiago Bernabéu
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Estadio Santiago Bernabéu
After the mandatory shots of where the fitba players run aboot I kept wandering to see if I could find somewhere to eat. Seen a bunch of places but as the Spanish eat late they were all empty. Some of us have been travelling for 20+ hrs to get here so a late dining experience would likely end up with me falling asleep face down in tapas. Eventually I sat down in a lounge bar type place and hand signalled for beer and food. Perhaps by the end of the week I will know enough to converse a few words. I'll leave haggisandbigos.com to discuss the beer findings on this trip.
To wrap up, here is a picture of some church like thing that was on my walk. No idea what it is and likely I won't return to find out. But someone adept at chipping stone must have been involved in the construction. Good work Señor.
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Churcho Liko Buildingo
1 Nov 2013
Movember
It is the 1st of November which of course means its time to raise money for the health of men everywhere. I have prepared my face for some fresh hair growth. A Muppet man upper lip is the lofty goal, please support me in this with exceedingly large donations via my mospace mobro.co/xtracold
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5 Nov 2013
Movember 2013 Update : Steady Growth
5 days in and we have steady growth and a miniscule $175 raised of which approx 43% came from me! Come, raise your game and start donating.
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5 Nov 2013
Hopping Marvelous
Just a wee note to suggest people head over to Haggis and Bigos for the latest in the brewing adventure:
http://www.haggisandbigos.com/?p=37
Funtimes.
18 Nov 2013
Movember 18th 2013 Update
With 2 weeks to go time is running out for contributions. So far $405 dollars has been raised which is not really enough is it?
C'mon ye all, start throwing some money at http://mobro.co/xtracold
Movember 18th 2013
21 Feb 2014
Whistler to yourself
It has been a slow season this year, a day in December and now one late February. But that was due to lack of snow...something fixed this past week which bodes well for the rest of the season. Harmony ridge all to myself under bluebird skies. Can't ask for more than that. Back home for lunch too.
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31 Mar 2014
Redirect to haggisandbigos
So things have been quiet of late on xtracold..but not so much on Haggisandbigos.com
Check out the latest beer efforts : http://www.haggisandbigos.com/bar-counter-built-from-reclaimed-materials/
JW
5 Apr 2014
Is it really April?
30 Apr 2014
Star Wars VII Cast
Well, it would seem that the excitement of a new Star Wars movie is going to start taking hold. A geek can only suppress his excitement for so long.
I heard rumors that the expanded universe story was going to get messed up but perhaps now it is not. Will Han and Leia be married in this followup...will they have had their kids? Will Chewie die on Sernpidal part way through? If not then the timeframe of the new film becomes clearer as Chewie died approx 25 years after the battle of Yavin. ANH came out in 1977, if the movie observes the aging of the original cast then it should be 38 years after the battle of yavin so I would suggest that Holywood is going to do some time bending as Chewie should have been dead and buried for some 13 years. But hey, this all happened some time ago in a place that is apparently really far away so who knows what happens with time.
December 18th 2015 we shall all find out. My calendar is marked.
9 May 2014
Farewell Faversham
A wee celebratory tipple to mark the sale of the Faversham house. Not the smartest property purchase ever, but it is now just history. The UK xtracold legacy grows every smaller.
And no Jagger, I'm not sharing my crisps.
9 May 2014
Farewell Faversham
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A wee celebratory tipple to mark the sale of the Faversham house. Not the smartest property purchase ever, but it is now just history. The UK xtracold legacy grows ever smaller.
And no Jagger, I'm not sharing my crisps.
14 May 2014
GOing Camping
Camping posh but without a complete trailer...just utility trailer with a tent tucked away in a roofbox. This is the Sylvan GO and if you want one you will have to import it from the USA. Not as big a hassle as you might think. We checked we knew how to set ours up tonight before this weekends camping trip near Darcy outside Pemberton. Gonna be fun with the new rig. The brown dog is extra...not so recommended. Just kidding!!
3 Aug 2014
Logger Sports 2014
Wood. Wood and more wood. These Canadians know how to have fun.
10 Sep 2014
Independence?
Watching the referendum debate as an expat of Scotland, having left after University to work down south in England for about 10 years and latterly for 6 years in BC, Canada; I find it disappointing that there is real possibility that the United Kingdom will separate. In England you could live and remain Scottish with no loss of national identity, in Canada you live with the luxury of both Scottish national identity and that of UK citizenship. You are equally proud of being Scottish and from UK, the UK passport delivers you freedoms that many can only wish for.
It is unfortunate that the referendum has been structured somewhat insularly. Those Scots who remain at home may not fully appreciate the value of their Scottish and UK national identities. They may not fully appreciate what it is to say to others that you are a UK citizen and the stature that the UK holds internationally. Scotland will lose all access to that 300+ year legacy upon gaining independence and have to set about earning it.
From an economic standpoint the arguments are resoundingly weak. If Scotland is still not delivering what they think they can they should look to their devolved government and ask why they have not lobbied in the last 15 years to improve the situation. Do we really think it is the restrictions place upon the devolved government that allegedly leaves Scotland disadvantaged? Do we really think those very same individuals will work differently under independence? There comes a time when the root cause must be identified and being part of the UK does not look to be a root cause.
The Scottish have for generations explored the world and shared what it is to be scottish under the union. National identity has not diminished, travel globally and you will see Scotland everywhere. So the romantic image of Scotland being more identifiable when independent is ludicrous. Hopefully those who are allowed to vote can see the irrelevance of independence and keep Scotland in the UK. The referendum has already delivered more devolved powers if we vote no - something the devolved government failed to ever do as their focus was misplaced for 15 years.
Stick with the union, rebuild our parliament with focused and capable individuals and Scotland will prosper.
1 Oct 2014
SOBER OCTOBER
This year I have decided to help out Macmillan Cancer Support by giving up the booze for the month of October. Clearly this is going to be trivial!
Your support in this would be much appreciated!
Please give generously – or why not join me and we can create a team!
Don't talk to men in the bathroom, simple rules, don't screw with them. Some dude just did it to me. Idiot.
25 Jul 2015
Getting Married Today
It is true, by the close of business today xtracold will be married. Who'd of thought it!!
12 Aug 2015
WBP..TOTW..Top of overpriced and hyped mountain biking
OK, we know Whistler has to make its pennies, especially with the ever crappier winters we get dealt. But, charging more for the only alpine trail on a mountain with a serious amount of alpine is frankly pants.
The trail tho, is quite good fun, and I suppose rivals those of the alps. Rivals..but can't compete as they have only 1. Hmmm. To be fair the skinny jeaned sub-twenties with a bike mummy and daddy bought them to get some peace would not ride something borderline techy so I suppose there is no real business case for more "mountain" bike trails in the actual park. Caveat being the Garbo zone of course :mrgreen:
Heading home on the seabus, bored, so i thought i would post..
