New Tech Support Website for Galway

As the people of Galway no doubt constantly bemoan, there is no good tech support in available. I mean, there are the multitude of "Virus Removal/Printer Repair" man with van type things in the local papers... great, if your problems are of the paper jam variety. You also have PC World, the most laughable "tech" store I can imagine. The sales staff are untrained beyond what is today's margin leader and their technical ability extends to reformatting your hard drive as the first port of call in pretty much every situation. Great diagnostic process guys!
So, what's the solution? Well I don't propose that this is, but it's certainly a big improvement. Myself and Rob (of EMCRadio) have set up galway.cc, the Galway Computer Club, an online forum, hints and tips and tech news site. People will be able to get honest, informed advice on more than just the mainstream, as provided by the aforementioned "experts". Having a problem getting your Mac and your Linux box talking? Ask us. Having issues with Cubase and Vista? We're your boys. Want to know the best choices in security (rather than a profit driven recommendation for Norton or McAfee). Visit galway.cc for this and much, much more.

Amateur Radio

After a hiatus of many years, I have reactivated my amateur radio ticket and am active once again... so far, just on 2m, but will be widening my scope into UHF and HF as soon as funds allow.
That said... rigs are seriously cheap these days. I picked up what used to be my dream 2m rig, a Yaesu FT480R, off a ham radio sale site for £40 + postage. For a rig that only 10 years ago cost £500+, that's a serious bargain.
Since rf technology hasn't advanced really at all since day one, technology that was relevant 50 years ago is still relevant today... ok, PLL circuitry helps eliminate drift, transistors are much less current-hungry than valves and microprocessors allow such things as scanning and memories, but fundamentally, such things as signal modulation, wave propogation and all that are the exact same today as they were when Guglielmo was a pup.

Some things have changed though...

1. CW no longer a requirement. That's not going to stop me (re)learning it though. Many hams, particularly the oldskoolers, seem to think that that's the end of ham radio. Which leads nicely into point 2.

2. What happened to the old helpful ways of yesteryear? (ok, it's only 15 years since I was active, but still...) Now that one of the main forms of comunication between hams (as with much of the rest of the world) is the internet, the same anonymity-fuelled abrasiveness and impatience that plagues the multitude of newsgroups and forums is rife in the amateur radio community. Where once an invitation to mentoring and extreme helpfulness, a naive question can now attract such derision as to scare the newbie ham into quitting their burgeoning hobby outright.

No wonder potential new hams are either sticking to the unregulated and generally less skilled 11 metre bands or simply passing an extremely rewarding hobby over in favour of something else (or, worse, nothing at all).

Out of Beta...

So Blogger is no longer Beta. Does that mean it's no longer web 2.0?

Grou.ps

Ok, just discovered grou.ps
Dunno what it's for yet... I wonder if it will be friends with me?

OAPs of the camera world

Got another vintage camera recently... a Canon QL17 GIII. Put another way, a poor man's Leica. It's a great little snapper... sharp f1.7 lens, shutter priority and fully manual and... wait for it... quickload! Just pop the film in, extend the leader to the red mark, close and wind... and all from a 70's camera!

Two days after I got it, I took some nice snaps down Moore St. All came out great despite guestimating exposures.

Something about these old cameras really gets me. I mean, I love my F801... no question, but sometimes it's nice to not be thinking about DOF, shutter speed and all that.

Picking up the pieces...

Fuck, the last few months have been tough. First, GMV pull the carpet out from under me, then I have to have surgery and endure subsequent complication after complication... still unresolved, might I add. Moving back to Galway was comparatively straightforward... a piece of piss, to be honest.

So... 2006. The year where all the bad stuff becomes a memory. Taking its bloody time, I can tell you. Still... must be positive. Finally got some cash from the GMV wrap-up. Not what I was hoping, but much more than I expected. Happy days :)

Finally... a use for German

If you live in Ireland or the UK, rather than just using eBay.com or eBay.ie/co.uk, put those German classes to use and use eBay.de
Sure, it'll take a little effort on your part, but I've found serious bargains there and much less bidding wars, particularly in photographic equipment.

Also, a handy little tool is JBidWatcher. It snipes for you when you're tucked up in bed/out having life. Find it at Sourceforge. Sure, there are other bidding tools out there, but this one is open source, something which is dear to my heart.

One pot cooking... outdoors!

Going camping this weekend with Edel! It should be a blast. I haven't lived in a tent in a good few years, and not out of choice in a few more.
If I can get the Electro up and running before then I'll take it with me, otherwise, it'll be the F801. Dunno if it's practical to go lugging a kilo of camera around with me, but I have to record the spectacle of us cooking dinner for two in one pot!

Some old camping recipes for a full belly on a budget...

Beans and sossies

Fry sausages in pot. Add beans. Wait til hot. Eat.
You could always boil a few baby spuds first, set aside while doing sausages and add with beans for variety.


Various rice/soup dishes.

Boil up some rice.
Drain.
Boil a good quality beef stew or meaty or veggie soup and add rice.

Bombay Aloo (seriously!!)

Put oil and some madras mix/masala mix in a pot and fry for a bit.
Add chopped onions.
Add pre boiled, roughly sliced baby spuds and fry til almost dry.


Chickpea Curry

Do as above, add can of chickpeas (drained)
Add half can of chopped tomatoes and simmer for a fair while.

Macro photos

I got a set of extension rings for my camera a while back. Basically, what they do, is extend the distance to film-plane so that one can focus on things a lot closer than normal. They cost ~€15 from eBay, which is a damn sight cheaper than a Nikkor Micro (~€250) and almost as good in terms of quality. Ok, the Nikkor would give me greater than life-size reproduction, but... well, I'm only an amateur.

Anyhow... here's a few examples of how the pictures look:

Cactus
Succulent
Another Succulent
Not sure :)

Gonna get them damn aphids

I have a serious aphid problem, but, on my way back from lunch today, what did I see on the ground but a ladybird... and a second... and another. I found four altogether and they're in a paper cup beside me right now. I can hear them making little clicking sounds as the climb up the sides of the cup and fall back down.
I've put some tissue paper soaked in water in there with them so their little insect throats won't be too dry.
Hopefully, they'll have a nice feed of green and black-fly when I get them home.

Yashica Electro GSN

I just got one of these babies off eBay for... wait for it... €15 inc p&p. Ok, it needs surgery, but it's clean as a whistle. I'm told they have some of the best glass in the business too... fast (f1.7) and sharp.

So now I don't need to worry about straining my back ;) carrying my F801 or F90 around the place.

I got this because a few weeks back I saw a great picture, but had no camera with me. They say the best camera available is the one you have with you...

Hate Campaign

This hate campaign by various disgruntled ex-employees is really taking it out of me. I mean, I was insecure enough about my position up to now, being somewhat bound in terms of job prospects by impending ankle surgery, but this? I hope it all just goes away.

It sounds childish, but all I want is to do my job, get paid and have a fairly relaxed life... not too much to ask, is it?

Coffee...

I'm going to get a decent coffee maker for work... I'm fucking tired of freeze-dried crap.