Friday afternoon hang-outs
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I was on the phone to Phil Factor this morning, mulling over the unexpected popularity of his post on the origin of the term Bug in software. As we chatted idly, Phil (as frequently seems to be case recently) managed to work in a reference to the sheep that are in his temporary care:
"Database Professionals want to be amused and entertained as well as instructed. Like our sheep, they hanker for a mixed diet, and they get just grass. Like the sheep, it gives them wind."
He's right of course, though I can't vouch personally for the sheep and wind bit. So, in this spirit, and given I'm writing this on a very miserable and wet Friday afternoon in Cambridge UK and am in need of cheering up, I invite you all to share with us the places you go for a little light relief from the daily grind.
I will start with an unashamed plug for Phil. Programmer and poet. Eccentric, but oddly engaging. Where else? Every week or so I visit Scott Adams' blog. Check out his latest one, featuring the beaver on decongestants. If you don't laugh, never go back. I also like the BOFH (see if you can guess the acronym) on the register. He throws away gags that Phil would base an entire article on.
Finally, for a truly bizarre experience, check out the adventures of Makapakka and the ninky nonk. This link was sent to me when halfway through writing this editorial so had to be included. Apparently it's a very real children's TV program. Scary.
Enough from me – look forward to hearing about some of your Friday afternoon hang-outs.
Cheers,
Tony.
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So who posted that? The handle says it's Steve, but the sign-off says Tony.
I enjoy kayaking, hiking, or golfing to unwind.
-SQLBill
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Tony is Steve's British alter ego. Tony says "Hullo" instead of "Hello" when you ring him up, watches the telly, puts his luggage in the boot, goes upstairs in the lift, and blue is his favourite colour, not his favorite color.
There is no "i" in team, but idiot has two. -
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I don't know much about lifts and getting on the ground floor and getting off on the first. However, I have herded sheep - be it in another life and another time. None I have found amused or entertained. That said, I have found many instructed by a well trained dog.
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So that's why the weather's so awful here - Steve's brought it from America
Sorry Steve, but June's usually hot and dry because it's the peak exam season for our schools and colleges!
Friday afternoon (if we haven't taken flexi leave) is a chance to get a few things done as most of the users work industrial hours and clock off at lunchtime. The network guys take the opportunity to add new bugs in the guise of security patches so you can come in on Monday and find your backups have failed because the SQL Server couldn't talk to the tape server!
Otherwise the Friday favourites are still Phil Factor and SQL Server Central and delving around the net for solutions to various ASP.NET problems and spending lunchtime (unrestricted web access time) on the sailing websites checking weather and gossip for the weekend.
Rain on weekdays is great anyway - it's filling up the reservoirs so we can go sailing!
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Regarding Makapakka and the ninky nonk... this is indeed a real kids' show. It's called In The Night Garden, and is shown on Cbeebies at about 18:30. My son (who is about 20 months) absolutely loves it.
And I must admit, it is slightly surreal...
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When I need a laugh, I tend to check out some comics. My favorite lately has been "xkcd: A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language"
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Apologies to everyone who did a double-take on reading this editorial – I wrote it, covering for Steve while he was taking a welll-earned hol...sorry, vacation...in Mexico, but it automatically gets published under his ID.
And Dave, how on earth did you know that I am a lifelong supporter of Chelsea football team?! (I use the term "football" advisedly – in England, football players mostly use their feet
).Blue is, indeed, the colour!
Normal service will be resumed this week, though I may pop up again from time to time...
Cheers,
Tony.
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I've recently been playing host, in my garden, to a flock of extremely genial and intelligent sheep. They are Soay sheep, a most extraordinary breed, described as living fossils. They are the nearest we shall ever see of the wild species that Man domesticated.
I'd never thought much about sheep before or even knew much about their lifestyle, though I've always considered them to be delicious on a plate.
I was relating to Tony the fact that these sheep, marooned for a thousand years on a tiny island in the Atlantic, five miles off the coast of Scotland, have evolved a surprising resourcefulness. They have an extraordinary knowledge of what is edible and what isn't.seem to prefer to eat a mix of bark, charcoal, broadleaved plants, grass, herbs, shoots, leaves and, if they can get it, seaweed. Grass is not enough.
It got me thinking that I, as a DBA, adopt a similar approach in my quest for professional knowledge. Presented with a bland diet of acres of MSDN, Technet, and BOL, I yearn for a broader mixed diet of publication. I want to be amused, informed, entertained, irritated, instructed, cajoled and stimulated.
Am I the only one who suffers near-death experiences from the tedium of technical writing styles in IT? Does it really have to be that way?
Best wishes,
Phil Factor -
When I need a respite from the daily grind, I spend some time at the Chronicles of George (http://chroniclesofgeorge.nanc.com). After you read the tickets, take some time to check out the War Stories in the forums.
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It definitely wasn't me and no sheep on this ranch. I was actually in Mexico, swimming with my daughter, completely unwired and enjoying the day.
I've fixed the ID, though I don't have a great way to get this set up for Tony to do without me
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There are elements that I incorporate into every day to prevent getting too wound up to really need to unwind - I guess that is why I rarely take holidays (and when I do, it's usually to work somewhere else).
At the moment, I'm getting great pleasure from riding the motorbike (even if it is to work) - it's about 33km each way and it gives me warm satisfaction to know that I do it in about 30 minutes less (even with roads that are better described as 'parking lots') than if I were to catch public transport. It is cheaper as well. Maybe one day local councils will work out that if they want people to use public transport then it should not be prohibitive in its cost.
I also practice martial arts (a traditional style) where I get to teach all levels and see people making progress and the happiness they get from gaining confidence and fitness. I'm also learning Latin American dances and practice with a troop that do public performances (which is really a hell-freeze-over thing for me considering that I've never been an artsy-fartsy performing type). Dancing is WAY better than football because I get to be with hot chicks rather than grope sweaty blokes out on an oval
My philosophy is that there is something you would never do in your life because "...it's just not me!" then there is no better reason to go and do it (well - except for the going to prison thing and marrying some bloke called 'Bubba' or stuff like that. You can keep those exploits all to yourself!
)There's heaps of other things I do - never, ever bored
A lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine.
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Good for you Matt. And if you get up for it, use a human bike a few days. I used to ride 12m (about 20km?) to work each way. I drove my car (and bike) on Monday with clothes, left the car at work and biked back and forth all week, driving home on Fri. Works well if there's a shower at work
I also recently got back into karate as my son started and my wife does it as well with me. I love it after years off from doing aikido and karate.
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That's exactly what I do. This new place I'm at has a locker room down in the carpark with showers (but no toilets for some *strange* reason??
). I found a couple of banks of lockers around home (don't ask ) and brought them in. All my ironing is done on the weekend and I drop it in to my locker. Each day now I can just get up and wear casual stuff on the train (if I go that way) or ride one of the bikes (yes, I also ride a bicycle - built up a *beautiful* set of wheels with Phil Wood hubs about 20 months ago - I also intentionally go the way where the nasty hills are instead of the easy flat route
). Bit cold here at the moment though - about 10-degrees in the morning (hey, it's cold for us - we're used to about 30-deg temps (around 90F) at 7am in summer! Drop the temp to 20-deg (about 70F) and we're digging out jumpers and overcoats! 
If this cold weather keeps up, I may have to think about closing the back door and maybe one of the windows on my house!
(I haven't put the lock into the back door yet (about 3 years now - can't rush these things) not that it matters as it stays open all year round (yes, there is a security screen there - keeps the cats in ).The beauty of having the locker at work is that I don't need to carry my work clothes in nor worry about crushing them in the process. Can also stop off for a coffee or do other things and not worry about being too whiffy on the nose when I get into work.
A lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine.
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