Memoirs of a Roadie

I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday

Posted on 6th April 2008

Snowy Rubery

I commented to someone in the US recently that we'd had snow, blistering gales, rain and only a bit of sunshine over the last week. He then replied "all four seasons, wow!" However, the snow we had was only light had gone within an hour of the sun being out.

Not so this morning!

We awoke to discover Birmingham has been covered in a blanket of snow, and not just a light covering, but a couple of inches in places. DanDan was supposed to be playing a football match today, somehow I doubt that now. Ethne got all excited when she saw it all. I think trying to stop them playing outside today might be a bit difficult ;)

Where The Birds Always Sing

Posted on 4th April 2008

Peter N M Hansteen

This week I was at The UKUUG 2008 Spring Conference, where I gave two talks on testing. While I was there I met Peter N M Hansteen. The name didn't ring any bells, and it was only when I was in conversation with Peter that he happened to drop the snippet of information that he was part of Bergen LUG, who implemented RFC1149.

Okay for most people that probably doesn't mean that much, but for real geeks this is one of the guys that implemented RFC1149!

So what is RFC1149? It's full title is "A Standard for the Transmission of IP Datagrams on Avian Carriers", which also goes by the acronym of CPIP ... Carrier Pigeon Internet Protocol. Yes you read that right Carrier Pigeon. There was a later revision of the RFC which allowed for Sparrowhawks, but in 2001 Bergen LUG took it upon themselves to attempt a practical experiment to prove the RFC1149 actually worked. You can see all the photos and reports of the event, to which they invited Alan Cox along as an impatial witness, on their website. Peter can be seen in this picture, on the far left.

The reason I know all this, is that in the first version of my Understanding Malware talk, I used it as a humous aside. Amusingly, Peter did a talk about Spam and Malware at the UKUUG conference. It's a small world :)

Incidentally my photos for the UKUUG 2008 Spring Conference are now online. Click the links below:

• UKUUG 2008 Spring Conference - Day One
• UKUUG 2008 Spring Conference - Day Two
• UKUUG 2008 Spring Conference - Day Three
  

I Feel The Earth Move

Posted on 27th February 2008

Last night, just before at about 1AM, an earthquake hit the UK. At the time, Nicole woke me up and was a little worried that something had happened to the house, as she heard the wardrobe bumping against the wall. Unfortunately, possibly because I was tired, I didn't hear or see anything. After checking on the kids and checking outside, everything seemed fine and we went back to sleep. This morning on the news we discovered that there had been an earthquake just south of Hull, that had been felt in London, Newcastle and across the midlands.

Last time there was such a major earthquake in the UK, the other side of Dudley (about 15 miles from my house) in September 2002, I was out of the country, having just attended YAPC::Europe in Munich, so only got to hear about. This time around I was half-asleep and too tired to notice. Not that I want to experience the full effects of a devastating earthquake, but next time I hope I'm a bit more with it!

Two Tribes

Posted on 18th February 2008

DanDan playing for Callowbrook Swifts

This Sunday Callowbrook Swifts were playing Glade Rangers away. A couple of weeks ago we played their neighbours, Hampton Sports. For the first time since DanDan has been playing for the team, they had a full strength team of 10 men. Glade Rangers finally managed to make a full 7 man team, as we were thinking they might have to forfeit the game when only 5 players initially turned up. From the kick-off Callowbrook Swifts made their presence felt. Glade Rangers put up a galant fight all the way through the match, and never gave Callowbrook a chance to take it easy. However, a mid-week training session seemed to make a huge difference in the team play. Callowbrook were passing, making and finding space and generally taking on their opponents.

DanDan was sub for the first half, and came on for the second half. Sharpy had managed to take Callowbrook ahead, and nearly got a second, in the first half, and the constant pushing and driving kept the ball in the Glade half. The pitch was slightly sloped in our favour, and the early advantage could easily have been taken away by Glade, but they never quite managed the same level of pushing and dispite getting close to goal on a few occasions, Ross, Jack and Zak held their own. Jack taking the ball up the full length of the picth on several occasions. Soon into the second half Callowbrook got a corner. My previous hinting of DanDan standing in front of the goal, rather than standing back, paid off and ball fell more or less right at his feet. He just had to kick it, and he did. Right into the back of the net. His first goal for the team. Understandably I was delighted, although I was disappointed that the camera wasn't quick enough to capture the moment.

Callowbrook Swifts

Both teams to their credit continued the relentless driving of the ball. It was the best match I've ever seen Callowbrook Swifts play and much better than several professional matches I've seen. Sharpy did himself proud with a second goal, supported by passes from DanDan and Charlie. All the team played brilliantly, although it was a shame that we saw a few casualties. Joel suffered towards the end of the first half and Cameron got a bad knock just after he came on for the second half. They all played better as a team this week, with much better passing and calling for the ball, so a 3-0 win was well deserved. We're at home to Marston Green next week, so fingers crossed we're on form again. Well played lads.

Snow

Posted on 19th November 2007

It's snowing!

Early this morning, just before going to bed, we happened to look out into the back garden and noticed a rather large abundance of white. It had been trying to snow earlier in the day, but it hadn't been settling. After it had gone dark it would seem the snow had fallen a little more heavily. I tried taking some photos through the kitchen window, using a night setting, but I think it would have been better had I been outside. Seeing as I was too tired to go out (it was 2am) and it was far too cold, I had to make do. Hopefully this won't be the last snow, as I'd like to get some with Ethne playing in the snow :)