Gareth's Space http://blog.garethhowell.com My personal space posterous.com Tue, 13 Dec 2011 05:26:00 -0800 Never, never, never use Home Delivery Network! http://blog.garethhowell.com/never-never-never-use-home-delivery-network http://blog.garethhowell.com/never-never-never-use-home-delivery-network

My previous post was incorrect.

I said in that post that Nick's birthday present had arrived late. It hadn't: because it still hasn't arrived! It's sitting in the local depot of Home Delivery Network, and has been since the 8th. (it was something different that was delivered: something ordered later the same day)

This was supposedly a next day delivery, but when I spoke to somebody at the local depot just now they said it wasn't even near being delivered due to a backlog of parcels in the depot.

What sort of company is it that fails in such a massive way?

Oh, and shame on Amazon for committing to using them. The damage to Amazon's credibility in my eyes is enormous.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1633393/garethhowell_mo_2.jpg http://posterous.com/users/YXttRC6LLHj Gareth Howell business continuity uk Gareth Howell Wed, 07 Dec 2011 05:48:00 -0800 A not so satisfying retail experience thanks to Amazon Prime http://blog.garethhowell.com/a-not-so-satisfying-retail-experience-thanks http://blog.garethhowell.com/a-not-so-satisfying-retail-experience-thanks

I buy a lot of stuff from Amazon. Books, e-books, music (cheaper than iTunes) and other sundry stuff. So far I've resisted the offers to sign up to Amazon Prime, but I relented on Monday.

I ordered a book and opted-in to Amazon Prime and its promise to deliver next day. Next day was important in this case because the item was a present.

Unfortunately, the item only arrived just now: a day late. It turns out that Amazon Prime is delivered using Home Delivery Network: another one of the many couriers around and about.

In theory, I should have been able to track the delivery on the HDNL website, but the only status I ever got off it was "In Transit". Turned out that this was literally true as White Van Man delivered it!

I've opted-out of Prime. I'd rather pay for Royal Mail delivery. I have a higher trust in Royal Mail delivering to schedule and at least I know that if they can't deliver, I only need to pop into town to pick the parcel up from the depot.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1633393/garethhowell_mo_2.jpg http://posterous.com/users/YXttRC6LLHj Gareth Howell business continuity uk Gareth Howell Tue, 06 Dec 2011 02:58:00 -0800 I've just migrated to Virgin Media http://blog.garethhowell.com/ive-just-migrated-to-virgin-media http://blog.garethhowell.com/ive-just-migrated-to-virgin-media

I've just moved from one ISP to Virgin Media. So far the experience has been pretty painless.

Two guys turned up at 8AM as promised and simply got on with their work after confirming where I wanted the telephone point and SuperHub to be located. Two hours later and they were done.

I did have to spend a bit of time re-configuring the Superhub to fit in with the network configuration here, but as it's actually a Netgear under the hood, that was pretty easy too. And the results?

www.speedtest.net shows that I'm getting pretty good performance right now.

speedtest.net results

I'll keep an eye on it over the next few days; particularly at peak time.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1633393/garethhowell_mo_2.jpg http://posterous.com/users/YXttRC6LLHj Gareth Howell business continuity uk Gareth Howell Sat, 03 Dec 2011 04:23:01 -0800 Aah, Bread Sauce http://blog.garethhowell.com/aah-bread-sauce http://blog.garethhowell.com/aah-bread-sauce

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1633393/garethhowell_mo_2.jpg http://posterous.com/users/YXttRC6LLHj Gareth Howell business continuity uk Gareth Howell Sat, 03 Dec 2011 03:14:35 -0800 Spiced Red Cabbage http://blog.garethhowell.com/spiced-red-cabbage http://blog.garethhowell.com/spiced-red-cabbage

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Yes, I'm doing more prep for Christmas.
Bread Sauce next.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1633393/garethhowell_mo_2.jpg http://posterous.com/users/YXttRC6LLHj Gareth Howell business continuity uk Gareth Howell Sat, 03 Dec 2011 02:43:00 -0800 German Friendship (German) Cake http://blog.garethhowell.com/german-friendship-german-cake http://blog.garethhowell.com/german-friendship-german-cake

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I was presented with the basis for this on Wednesday by Nick. It's a sour dough cake, and it's just been fed for the first time.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1633393/garethhowell_mo_2.jpg http://posterous.com/users/YXttRC6LLHj Gareth Howell business continuity uk Gareth Howell Thu, 01 Dec 2011 11:30:00 -0800 Three disks to compile a program. Those were days. http://blog.garethhowell.com/three-disks-to-compile-a-program-those-were-d http://blog.garethhowell.com/three-disks-to-compile-a-program-those-were-d

I've just been reading an article on one of my favourite software development blogs: Joel on Software.  It was a post on the importance of doing Daily Builds when you are developing software, but the point that jumped out was a reference back to the days when PC workstations were equipped with floppy disks.

Joel referred to the IBM Pascal compiler that came on three floppy disks; with each compiler pass on a separate floppy. 

Blimey, I remember those days too. Compiling a non-trivial program took ages. I was developing programs that modelled real-world events like packet switching networks: and these were certainly non-trivial!

Does your software development history go back to the 80's? Do you remember the agony, and the ecstasy of developing software in those days?

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1633393/garethhowell_mo_2.jpg http://posterous.com/users/YXttRC6LLHj Gareth Howell business continuity uk Gareth Howell Thu, 01 Dec 2011 01:39:00 -0800 At last - the missing Chrome addon appears http://blog.garethhowell.com/at-last-the-missing-chrome-addon-appears http://blog.garethhowell.com/at-last-the-missing-chrome-addon-appears

As everybody knows, I use a Macbook Air for most of my work and leisure. I love it. and I did love the built-in Safari browser until Chrome came along. The one feature I missed when moving from Sfari to Chrome was the "Reader" feature.

The Reader feature allowed you to re-display a web page with just the main content displayed: i.e. sans all the trimmings that surround blog articles and the like.

Now, Evernote has produced an extension for Chrome that appears to deliver the same experience. Called Evernote Clearly the extension delivers the same functionality as Reader did in Safari, plus you can clip the page straight into Evernote if you wish. As a long time Evernote user, I can see this getting great use.

Try it out for yourself.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1633393/garethhowell_mo_2.jpg http://posterous.com/users/YXttRC6LLHj Gareth Howell business continuity uk Gareth Howell Wed, 30 Nov 2011 13:01:28 -0800 Can you beat this? http://blog.garethhowell.com/can-you-beat-this http://blog.garethhowell.com/can-you-beat-this

p186.mov Watch on Posterous

23 Scouts skipping at the same time!

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1633393/garethhowell_mo_2.jpg http://posterous.com/users/YXttRC6LLHj Gareth Howell business continuity uk Gareth Howell Wed, 30 Nov 2011 12:53:05 -0800 One last pic of the Mo http://blog.garethhowell.com/one-last-pic-of-the-mo http://blog.garethhowell.com/one-last-pic-of-the-mo

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1633393/garethhowell_mo_2.jpg http://posterous.com/users/YXttRC6LLHj Gareth Howell business continuity uk Gareth Howell Mon, 28 Nov 2011 03:30:16 -0800 The final Mo http://blog.garethhowell.com/the-final-mo http://blog.garethhowell.com/the-final-mo

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This is what the Mo looks like after I lost patience with the droopy bits. Still don't like it though: it's going on Thursday morning.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1633393/garethhowell_mo_2.jpg http://posterous.com/users/YXttRC6LLHj Gareth Howell business continuity uk Gareth Howell Mon, 28 Nov 2011 02:55:00 -0800 Preparing to capture more rainwater http://blog.garethhowell.com/preparing-to-capture-more-rainwater http://blog.garethhowell.com/preparing-to-capture-more-rainwater

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It's a fact that I live in one of the driest regions in the UK. Average annual rainfall in Cambridgeshire is around the 500mm mark: a lot less than the 4000mm that falls in the Scottish Highlands!

Capturing and saving water is therefore an absolute requirement if one is to have a blooming garden. This has become even more of an imperative recently as we are in a very dry spell. Historically, November is the second wettest month in the year around here (after June) but this year it looks like being the driest for ages. That persistent area of high pressure over Scandanavia has pushed all the rain bearing anti-cyclones well to the north. Scotland and the Lake District have been getting plenty of rain, but not the East and South East of England. No wonder Anglian Water have issued a drought warning for some of our area.

So, I've been taking advantage of the dry weather to beef up my rainwater capture system. I already had two water butts behind my office on the right hand side of the garden; capturing water from the office roof. I am now in the process of adding two more behind the shed on the left hand side. That way, I'll have water on both sides of the gardn and I can then move to stage two; which is to implement a water trickling system.

The pictures show the two new butts joined together; a picture of the office on the right hand side and a picture of the shed on the lefft hand side. You can'
t see the butts themselves because of the reed screening in front of them.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1633393/garethhowell_mo_2.jpg http://posterous.com/users/YXttRC6LLHj Gareth Howell business continuity uk Gareth Howell Sat, 26 Nov 2011 07:43:48 -0800 Blowing away the cobwebs http://blog.garethhowell.com/blowing-away-the-cobwebs http://blog.garethhowell.com/blowing-away-the-cobwebs

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I've just spent a great day in the hills with some mates. Nothing too strenuous; the weather didn't really allow it.

It wasn't really raining, it was more that we were walking in the clouds. However the force 7 winds meant that it felt like rain when the water hammered against bare flesh!

I took the photos as we came down past the Derwent Dam on the way back to the car.

We're on our way back home now, and what do you know, it's not raining down here.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1633393/garethhowell_mo_2.jpg http://posterous.com/users/YXttRC6LLHj Gareth Howell business continuity uk Gareth Howell Sat, 26 Nov 2011 06:38:20 -0800 A day out in the Peak District http://blog.garethhowell.com/a-day-out-in-the-peak-district http://blog.garethhowell.com/a-day-out-in-the-peak-district

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Ladybower to Back Tor

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1633393/garethhowell_mo_2.jpg http://posterous.com/users/YXttRC6LLHj Gareth Howell business continuity uk Gareth Howell Tue, 22 Nov 2011 03:25:00 -0800 Movember week Three http://blog.garethhowell.com/movember-week-three http://blog.garethhowell.com/movember-week-three

After a period when the Mo seemed to have stopped growing, things are picking up again. Don't forget that you can still donate at http://mobro.co/garethhowell

So far, our team has raised over £1400. Help us get to £1500 by donating now!
Thank you for helping to increase awareness about mens' health.

Photo

Sent from my iPhone

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1633393/garethhowell_mo_2.jpg http://posterous.com/users/YXttRC6LLHj Gareth Howell business continuity uk Gareth Howell Mon, 21 Nov 2011 12:41:00 -0800 Further proof that most US republican congressmen are morons. http://blog.garethhowell.com/further-proof-that-most-us-republican-congres http://blog.garethhowell.com/further-proof-that-most-us-republican-congres

http://dyn.com/sopa-what-you-should-know-why-dyn-opposes-it/

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1633393/garethhowell_mo_2.jpg http://posterous.com/users/YXttRC6LLHj Gareth Howell business continuity uk Gareth Howell Sun, 20 Nov 2011 03:19:05 -0800 5th Letchworth Scouts come 42nd overall out of 137! http://blog.garethhowell.com/5th-letchworth-scouts-come-42nd-overall-out-o http://blog.garethhowell.com/5th-letchworth-scouts-come-42nd-overall-out-o

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1633393/garethhowell_mo_2.jpg http://posterous.com/users/YXttRC6LLHj Gareth Howell business continuity uk Gareth Howell Sun, 20 Nov 2011 02:43:35 -0800 Part of the 5th Letchworth leadership team http://blog.garethhowell.com/part-of-the-5th-letchworth-leadership-team http://blog.garethhowell.com/part-of-the-5th-letchworth-leadership-team

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1633393/garethhowell_mo_2.jpg http://posterous.com/users/YXttRC6LLHj Gareth Howell business continuity uk Gareth Howell Sat, 19 Nov 2011 13:20:19 -0800 The leaders' bar at Green Beret http://blog.garethhowell.com/the-leaders-bar-at-green-beret http://blog.garethhowell.com/the-leaders-bar-at-green-beret

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1633393/garethhowell_mo_2.jpg http://posterous.com/users/YXttRC6LLHj Gareth Howell business continuity uk Gareth Howell Sat, 19 Nov 2011 13:04:25 -0800 Chilling - literally http://blog.garethhowell.com/chilling-literally http://blog.garethhowell.com/chilling-literally It's gonna be cold tonight I think. The scouts are off doing night bases; full of spag bol, cake, haribo and red bull. The leaders are relaxing in the leaders' bar.
We're nice and warm inside ; theyre cold outside. Now where would I rather be right now?

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1633393/garethhowell_mo_2.jpg http://posterous.com/users/YXttRC6LLHj Gareth Howell business continuity uk Gareth Howell