The rain dripped noisily from the edge of the awning onto the paper bags in the cart, and 41C tugged his collar up from his jacket lapels, to his scruffy, week old stubble.

A dirty white Cab, with a red “Badgers” logo on the top pulled into the lot, and 41C waved to him. He pulls his the two large paper bags from the cart, and nudges it with his foot into the little line of other carts where it clanks into place, raindrops falling as it connects. Mr Stubble, bags to his chest, crosses over the front of the loading area, and carefully places his bags into the already popped trunk of the same-a-like Ford. Eggs at the top, meat at the bottom, glass on the side in the other bag, and 41C in the back, behind the driver.

“Jefferson?”

“Yes, please.”

Badger stops, blinks, fails to place the accent, and responds, “Sure thing!” and we’re off.

The rain, still falling, dribbles half-heartedly down the rear passenger windows, making stop lights and neons look disfigured and grotesque. Steam rises from 41C as the rain in his hair meets the warmth of the car’s heating, fogging the window, further enhancing the already comical view of the outside world.

The cab slowly winds towards UW Medical, and a the driver pulls up. Next fare, an elderly woman with a knee brace, and the front seat is sent all the way back, narrowly missing 41C’s feet, across the rear of the cab. Badger pulls out into the still miserable rain, and rounds the block, over the railway crossing… and the radio statics into what passes for a transmission.

“Sorry, Jefferson. I’ve gotta double back to UW Medical. This isn’t how we usually operate, man. I’ll knock a dollar off your fare.

“Don’t worry, I’m not in a rush”

The cab rounds back again, and once more winds a slow, creeping path under UW Med, this time out the other side, where a Rachael and her son bundle into the back with 41C, all cozy like. The car revs, and pulls slowly from the lot, turing back towards the railway, and moves downtown. Rachael’s son whispers to his mother, “he’s got an iPhone like Eric does, mom!”

41C smiles, and informs the young man, that if he too worked hard, he might work for someone super-cool like Apple some day, too, and get an iPhone of his very own. Rachael’s son’s eyes light up, and for a moment, 41C suspects, “this is what it’s like to be respected by the youth of today. I’m getting old. Fuck.” Mom smiles, and knowing that one reason to stay in school is as good as another for her clearly hyperactive son, mouths a silent “thank-you” at Stubble.

In the front, Badger, still oblivious and sleep deprived, takes a third wrong turn.

We’re not in Kansas any more, folks…

To be continued…

Life in London. There are only so many times you can ride the train past the power station at Battersea, and still be awed. It may very well soon be time…

So, Chicago. How does that sound?

I’m afraid I’ve been a little lax in my writing these past few months. In fact, I’ve been downright horrid at it. Despite producing content, I’ve not found anything I’ve penned quite up to snuff, which needless to say, is manifested in the lack of updates here. It seems poor that the first update I’ve posted is a snotty comment on yet-another-iPod from Apple.

In any case, this is a short, sweet update to let you know that I’m alive, and the rumors of my death are greatly exaggerated. As such, I’m still liable to the Student Loans Company, and no, you can’t have my things yet.

Since November, I’ve been working… and working some more. I finally pulled off a very painful migration for the team to a new ODM on a Xeon XServe (the documentation for which is still being written… I know, I know…) and since the last bugs were worked out in early/mid January, I’ve actually found time to sleep and even leave work on time. Needless to say, this has left me a little bored at times, but my health and Cardiologist both thank me.

December saw hours and hours and hours spent at work, past my salaried time, bashing my head against the server cabinet in some vain hope that my blood, offered as sacrifice, would resolve the AFP issues that had seemingly plagued my new install, but not the older 10.4.x G5 install. In reality, the issue had been there all along, but under the G5, performance was already so appallingly bad, that no one had a chance to notice the odd kernel panic causing everything to restart. The AFP lockups were so frequent under the old administration (a setup that I inherited, essentially overnight) that everyone was used to it by the time my new Intel went in. It wasn’t until after taking a break at the end of the year, was I able to come back with a fresh mind and look at everything with the analytical bent I had so far been lacking… as an aside, I still twitch at the mention of “beachballing…”

January saw the marriage of my best friend to his charming fianceé, where I stood as Best Man, and did my upmost to ensure the smooth running of the day. This culminated in my throwing myself out of an SUV and puling his then brand new Mother in Law from the path of a speeding car. Being European, she had neglected to remember that cars in the UK move in the other direction. As such, she’d not seen thought to check to her left as she stepped out into oncoming traffic… Needless to say, he still has said Mother in Law, and I learned that I can move rather quickly when needs must. I supposed it’s an indication that I should return to doing some sort of sensible sport and get myself back into shape (or at least, one other than “round”.)

In very early Feb, my little City was (metaphorically) shot in the knees when almost ten inches of snow fell, mostly overnight, causing London’s transport network to simply shut down. I was personally house-bound for three days as the snow that melted formed two inches of ice over everything capable of aiding movement (rails, tarmac, etc) and so venturing outside was an adventure in just how far you could get before falling on your backside because you’d forgotten to strap crampons to your boots.

My birthday was a quiet event (all things told) though the cake I brought to work was a resounding success. The post-cake-drinks were also a welcome change from the usual routine of going to the local Slug and Lettuce to listen to co-workers moan about being underpaid and overworked (which is in this climate, a rather snotty thing to say, I feel…) – the setting of a vodka bar, while not my usual choice, certainly made for a charming evening.

Which brings me neatly to March. Right now, this month has been rather spiffy. We’ve been granted new training resources at work, and projects that we’ve been working on have finally come to fruition. There’s new functionality to build into systems, new apps to test (note: always submit bug feedback; hell, all feedback. Feedback is good…) and stuff to learn. Challenges keep me on my toes. Love ‘em.

Other than that, I saw a very excellent opera based on The Office, written by my friend Anne for Comic Relief. You should all visit the site and sponsor her. And, last but not least, at the end of March, I’ll be setting off once more to the US, to visit friends in Chicago, Madison, and the surrounding areas. I’ll be staying through the Easter weekend, and should be back in London around the 14th. Hopefully, the trip will give me a little time to catch up on my written output. And perhaps a new story from the man in 41C.

The New iPod Shuffle: Because Fuck Buttons™

In a rare and unusual move, Apple has let slip an as yet un-announced, and highly anticipated product. Grab the PDF here while it’s still up, and scan down to the bottom of page 209.

Personally, I can’t wait for the new item to show up in stores. It’s going to be the hottest item of the Holiday season.

Bug Bites:

As part of my time away recently, I’ve been in West Sussex, and taking the odd walk. The other day, after helping an woman hunt for her lost dog in the 35 acres of woodland, I came back to the house and pulled off my boots, and noticed that my ankles were almost on fire. Removal of socks reviled a multitude of little bite marks from some unknown beastie.

Sunday is possibly my favorite day of the week. A day where I never work, and get to put my life in order; a great portion of that order stems from reflection on the week passed. And there is no better reflection than honey and banana on toast, with the Formula One to watch.

Certainly, the broadcast could be better; it could be an HD transmission, and if still broadcast on the BBC, I’m sure it would be. It’d also be nice if we could see the race uninterrupted by the plethora of adverts that seem so pop up at the most inconvenient of times, such as right in the middle of pitting. But such is life.

At the end of it all, I still get to watch a race and take a chance to zone out just a little. These are the days I cherish, the days that I wish would last just that little touch longer, a sort of reversal of long dark teatime of the soul. Days like these, the cold, overcast ones, are the kind to share with people you love. And while it’s not always possible to spend it with those special people, when it happens, it’s worth it.

Long cold mornings, fresh coffee, pancakes, and those you care about around you. It’s the perfect start to the day. I hope to have that pleasure again soon.

Last Friday didn’t end quite as hoped. When I’d gotten to work that day, I’d fully expected to leave late, after starting on an Open Directory migration. Instead, at about 15,30 I fainted. Out cold, and getting intimate with a printer on my way down. Naturally, I’d hoped to shrug it off after fifteen or so minutes, down a cup of hot sweet tea and get back to work. 

My employer however, had other ideas. Within four minutes of my newly found affinity for the ground, I had paramedics by my side, and a fantastic little portable machine for telling them that my heart was still beating. Being wheeled out of work on a squeaky chair will forever be one of the most embarrassing moments of my working career to date, right up with addressing a young lady who turned out to in fact, be a young man. 

In the ambulance, they took an ECG, and concluded that my heart was 1) still beating, and 2) not subject to a heart attack. For this privilege, my legs and chest were shaved in odd spots, so as to get the little Skintact pads to stick and get a reading. After that, we took a trip to St. Mary’s Hospital in Paddington. While there, two further ECGs were performed, and 15ml of blood drawn for miscellaneous testing via a clumsily applied cannula. Near six hours later, after being given the all clear, I stumbled back to work, picked up my things, and then dragged myself home.

Four days later, I’ve done nothing but sleep most of the day and be irritable. The visit this morning to the doctor revealed a pretty boring diagnoses. Mono, Lyme’s or “something viral”. We’ll find out Friday about the “something viral” and mono, and a little later for Lyme. Now until then will be spent at home, catching up on all the things I’ve meant to do for months, and never quite got around to. The man on AA99 still has a story to finish.

On May 30th, Apple released Mac OS X Server 10.5.3 - a long awaiting, and highly anticipated update to the Mac OS X Server product line. Some of the most important points addressed: 

-Addresses an issue that could cause the AppleFileServer process to stop accepting connections while consuming most of the available CPU time on the server.

 

-Addresses an issue that could cause the Apple File Service refuse new connections after DirectoryService becomes unresponsive, and improves stability of DirectoryService.

These two issues alone were one of the biggest, causing no end of headache with Portable Home Directory users, and causing many people, myself included, to roll back to more stable 10.4.x Server installations. SInce the advent of 10.5.3, however, a great many people are now able to roll forward to 10.5.x installs again, and active testing is once again starting up. 

Of course, not all is as it should be. While unsupported by many applications, such as the Adobe CS Suite, many users are at home working on files directly from network shares. However, from 10.5.3 onwards, Mac OS Client has issues with writing partial files back over network shares. The result of this, is that users are making changes to CS documents, saving as normal, and finding their work corrupted. As it stands, the issue affects both Server and Client .3 and the current work around is to Save As when writing files back. This causes the application to write an entire copy of the file, rather than just the changes. 

While understandable that this is a somewhat hackish work around, it must also be remembered that the applications affected have never touted, nor encouraged, files to be worked on live on network mounted shares. However, given that Apple’s installed user base tends to centre around graphics and design professionals, it is unlikely that many will see this as anything other than Apple’s fault. 

More news as it becomes available.

The man in 41C yawns, and leans back in his seat. The lights are down, the display from the laptop lights his face, and blinks off the rim of his glasses. A stack of papers sits on his desk, and a scribbled note on the back of an Apple Store Repair confirmation stands out in red ink against the grey Helvetica of the Terms and Conditions.

He calls his calendar up on the screen of the computer and fiddles with the date range, and titles the event. “AA99 To Chicago” stands out as the first entry of the day. Get there for going on ten am local, and a five hour lay over at O’Hare. Not ideal, but it’s preferable to the otherwise mad sprint to the other end of the airport, And that’s not forgetting the joy of Immigration Control. 

41C checks his booking, and selects the seat for his flight out. The seat is free. And now, confirmed. Our hero adds the seating plan to his calendar and syncs. Flight booked. Tickets sorted. Passport found. 

Six weeks to go…