Week of 17th January, 2005

Last Week

Next Week

Monday, 17th January

 

This is supposed to be a fortnight of early shifts, the 6 a.m. start, but I've swapped all but today and tomorrow for a workmate's middle shift. I'd have swapped today and tomorrow as well, but I had to book the two days as leave while he was on leave, so they stood at earlies for overtime - and were duly taken.

The reason for the leave is that I've accepted a number of freelance shifts - the first two of which are today and tomorrow. I don't make a habit of this, in fact it's only happened once before, because it smacks of conflict-of-interest. There's nothing specifically against freelancing in my contract, but taking leave to freelance is almost a bridge too far, for me.

All that aside, this is a revisit to a former freelance site, which I dropped out on, because the workload was a little too much for my brain to take in all at one lump. It's continuous swapping feeds about, during an almost continuous live transmission, for 8 hours straight. I ain't so young, any more, and that's a little too much for me. I don't mind 8 hours continuous closed-circuit recording, where you have the chance to back up after a boo-boo, but live? No, thanks, I prefer to catch my errors before they are seen by the world at large.

But this is a new commitment at this site - a third-party TV channel is moving from another playout facility. Air date is February 1st, and it will be server-based, so it's necessary to ingest (or cache in their terminology) all the material ahead of time. The automation is a new system to me, and thus far, I'm not impressed. It's full of quirks, and non-standardnesses. I mean, the clients are Windows machines (specifically XP) so you'd expect that standard Windows keystrokes would work.

Nope. You can't copy-and-paste using the keyboard, you have to right-click with the mouse. And even the installation engineer admitted to being caught out by that peasant trap.

You select the part of the automation you wish to work with in a version of Windows Explorer's 2-pane view, by choosing among folders in the left pane. And again it's non-Windows-standard. You double-click to select the branch you want to work in. And you can't copy-and-paste from one client function (say the cache controller) to another (say the clip database) even by non-standard right-click. Nothing pastes - which is illogical.

And finally, something I consider to be dangerous. As far as I can see, there's nothing to stop me, the trained-monkey caching operator, getting into the playout controller, and raising dignified hell there. Partitioning of function seems to be non-existent.

Back to Daynotes


Tuesday, 18th January

 

More of the same, except that the automation people were all over me today, as I tried to catch up on the deadline - air date, Feb 1st. I spent half my day re-reading James Schmitz' "The Demon Breed" in ebook form on the iPaq H4150, while waiting for the engineers to give me the system back. I was told about this yesterday, and told to "bring a book". Well, the iPaq is always with me, so that was sorted.

On the way in, on the Tube, I got the 'phone call from the estate agent who is selling my late mother's flat. When you get questions like, "Which is the allocated parking space in the car park?" the person viewing the flat is very likely serious. We'll see what transpires.

Back to Daynotes


Wednesday, 19th January

 

Today was spent rushing about. I took Ally to the garage to have his horn switch replaced - it had broken when I got a little too irritated with some idiot other driver, and was prone to sounding the horn at assorted random times, even in the middle of the night. Cutting the feed to the horn cured that temporarily, but I had to get it sorted - working audible warning device is a legal requirement. He's OK now.

But I couldn't get Sarah's clutch sorted as planned - she needed the car. Luckily, the garage has a couple of spare work slots tomorrow, due to cancellations, and Sarah doesn't need her car so I'll get it done then.

Then Jane and I met Sarah at the local shops for lunch, during her break from pool lifeguarding (or was she teaching swimming? I'm not sure) complete with minded child.


I was right about the interest in Mum's flat. The agent called today with an offer - UKP165,000, which is somewhat below my minimum - which is already lower that I'd like. The flat is on the market at a discount, because the bathroom and (separate) toilet need updating - they work well, but they're probably original from when the flats were built, and they look old-fashioned. The place is otherwise in reasonable order, the carpets are nothing to write home about, but at least there are carpets - they're no use to me - and the kitchen is new from when Mum moved in 6 years ago. Again, new owner, new broom probably, but it's all there, and functional.

I've counter-offered, and we shall see what happens.


Katy's Nokia 7200 'phone  - the 2nd replacement handset - has gone intermittent again. It has started cutting off in mid-call for no very good reason that I can see. So I've got it back from her, and today I called Vodafone about a replacement - even though Katy has said she doesn't want it. But I can't get a different model out of Vodafone without I go through the "3 replacement, reconditioned handsets, then you get a new one" mill. Katy wants the Nokia 6170, which is also a flip-phone, and which I can get. After one more try with a reconditioned 7200. I'm beginning to think that there's a design fault in the Nokia 7200 - it is, after all, Nokia's first flip-phone. And I wouldn't want one on a bet, but Katy loves new 'phones. I think she gets bored, and wants a new one, whereas I subscribe to the "If it ain't broke, don't change it" school of thought, and my Nokia 6310i ain't broke.

The replacement should be couriered tomorrow, all same last time. We'll see if this one is properly fixed - it is, after all, someone else's broken handset, supposedly repaired. And I need to extract the content from the current one before erasing it.

Back to Daynotes


Thursday, 20th January

 

I've got a little fed up with people taking no notice of my desire to record television programmes. I've lost several to the $ky digibox having been retuned from the channel I wanted to record to another, and not returned. So I decided to splurge a little, and ordered a Sky + satellite receiver and personal video recorder, all-in-one. This is the basic Sky+, the 20 hour model - there is an 80 hour version, but it's more than twice the price, and I don't think I'll need it. AFAIK, I can archive material from it to tape, and quite possible cut out the adverts safely, so this will be an improvement. Also, it should be impossible to miss a recording, because it's got 2 receivers, so as long as I don't want to record 2 things at once (rare) there'll always be one receiver available for casual viewing.

$ky charge UKP10 a month for the programme planner functions of the Sky+, but this is waived if you subscribe to sufficient of their premium channels, as I do. I also took their Multiroom option - move the existing digibox to another room, and watch all my subscribed channels on it, for an extra UKP10 a month. All the installation (normally UKP60) is free if you do this. The Sky+ costs UKP149 at present, if you take Multiroom (it's UKP199 otherwise) - the 80 hour version, the Sky+ 160, is UKP399.

I have to install an extra 'phone point wherever I decide to put the digibox - $ky insist that all Multiroom boxes be connected to the same landline at all times, allegedly to prevent people sharing Multiroom subscriptions among neighbours. But what viewing data do they collect meanwhile? No one knows, except $ky, and they aren't telling. And I have to present that working 'phone point to the installer when he arrives - which means I'll have to move furniture in Katy's bedroom, which is where the resited digibox is going.

Anyway, the installation is today, sometime - the installer will 'phone with a time. Which means I may not be able to get Sarah's car sorted before the afternoon - Jane or I will have to be here all day, and Jane will be out taking her aunt to the shops this morning.

And I still haven't found all the paper for my tax return - I was planning on doing it Sunday, before the birthday party got in the way.


I wrote all the above yesterday evening. Now, after the fact, I can report on how things went. The 'phone point was easy enough, after I found the roll of 4-core cable. There is a BT specification for this, that all the accessory kit makers are supposed to follow - wire diameter, insulation thickness, colour coding, and probably lots more that I don't know about. The spec. number is CW1308.

Anyway, from previous escapades in the matter of 'phone point installation, I knew I had a roll of flat, rather than round, CW1308-spec cable. But could I find it? So I ran in a 5 metre extension cord that I just happened to have lying around. Then I found the roll of CW1308 flat. The logical place to pick up the 'phone wiring is a junction box in the stairwell, which uses insulation-piercing connectors, so I needed my Krone punchdown tool, which is in my toolcase, which in turn, lives in Ally. So I went to get the case - and found a second roll of CW1308 flat. Isn't that typical - first you can't find it, then you find two. Just like buses. The wiring was then routine, albeit I left slack, since I wasn't intending to move the furniture in Katy's bedroom just yet, and the 'phone cable run is behind a sofa/bed.

Meanwhile, I'd had the 'phone call from the installer - "sometime between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m." Great, not enough time to drive Sarah's car to the garage, and be back before the timeslot. Of course, he didn't arrive until about 1:30 p.m., so I could have got Sarah's car fixed first.

Anyway, we got the new, 4 output, low-noise block downconverter fitted to the dish, and new feeders run. Then we plugged in the new hardware, and got all the authorisations sorted - which was done by allowing the Sky+ box to 'phone home, followed by a voice call to pass details of serial numbers. And it all works, the box will read the $ky EPG (Electronic Programme Guide) and will record on manual demand. I make no doubt that 'timer' recordings will also work.

Then upstairs, to plug the old box in. And I haven't got a TV available to allow us to get the new viewing card authorised in this box. No matter, I can do it myself later. So I signed off on the job, and the installer betook himself to his next job - looks like they do about 3 or 4 a day per each installer, which is good going.

During all this, the courier delivered the replacement mobile handset - which works with my SIM card - or at least it connects. Now to see if it continues to work, or manifests the same intermittency problems. I'll carry it for a few days.

Then away to the garage - where Sarah's car got it's replacement clutch cable. The clutch action is now much easier - still rather heavy, but not practically rigid. And the problem was definitely the cable - the plastic inner lining was coming out. But the clutch still isn't right. The entire assembly is on it's last legs - failure is likely, and soon. Fixing it will cost UKP270, or so, which isn't worthwhile, given the value of the car. So Sarah will need a new motor soon. I may be able to help with that, once the flat sells. Which may be soon. The prospective buyer and I have finally struck a bargain, at UKP168,000, but the flat remains on the market until contract exchange.

And the other garage have nearly finished with Hopalong - whose headlights are in better condition now that they have been for years. We can now adjust headlamp aim from inside the car, to compensate for load - an ability we lost (we thought permanently) some years ago, when a Peugeot main dealer couldn't (or wouldn't bother to) get some spare parts from the factory. I'll pick him up Saturday morning, after a bit of rewiring.

Back to Daynotes


Friday, 21st January

 

Back to Daynotes


Saturday, 22nd January

 

Back to Daynotes


Sunday, 23rd January

 

A quiet weekend, nothing of note to report, except that we've got Hopalong back, and he is fine. Headlamp adjusters work, the rewiring was successful, and Jane is happy that she has her car again. So all is well in the world.

Work was quiet, there's not much to do, and we had all the available jobs by Saturday afternoon. So it was a case of keep hacking through the in shelf.

Last Week

Back to Daynotes

Next Week