Warum liegt hier überhaupt Stroh?
Warum liegt hier überhaupt Stroh?
— by Robert Thomson, created 28th Jun, 2008, last modified 28th Jun, 2008 | Tags: World
Gettin' it done..
I'm sure many of you have heard about Getting Things Done, an action management method by David Allen, which basically involves recording tasks and information in an manageable fashion, to get them out of your head and your worries. For a while now, I've been using a piece of software called ThinkingRock at work, and I find it quite useful. I do project work, and at the moment, it's a lot of small insignificant projects and tasks for them, all demanding some level of time and thought throughout the day, so doing a brain dump is excellent and it's a relief to know that things won't be forgotten.
My only complaint is that ThinkingRock doesn't have any web integration at the moment.. It would be nicer even, if it could use WebDav to save/synchronise with other instances, and publish summaries online for an on the road reference, perhaps talking to a web app for collaboration with other users (you can delegate tasks, and being able to track them would be great)
— by Robert Thomson, created 5th Jun, 2008, last modified 5th Jun, 2008 | Tags: World
Italy! Italy! Italy!
Vado a Perugia questo anno! Eccellente!
— by Robert Thomson, created 7th May, 2008, last modified 27th May, 2008 | Tags: World
12 days until Maibaumkraxeln!
The countdown has begun! Maibaumkraxeln is an annual event in Freinberg, Austria (just near Passau) of beer-swilling pole-climbing fun! There are often side-events that are more readily accessible to the inebriated types, but ultimately it's just a day of drinking beer and eating good Austrian/Bavarian food in the sun along with friends and strangers, while watching some death-defying unharnessed people climb a 15m high pole like monkeys, and watching others climb it like your grandmother, inching up with arms and legs holding on tight enough to choke a bodybuilder. I can't recommend it enough! This year it's on the 18th of May (unless the weather really is terrible, in which case it's postponed). Bring your Lederhosen and your Dirndls and come along!
— by Robert Thomson, created 6th May, 2008, last modified 6th May, 2008 | Tags: World
The longer I live here, the more I hate this city.
Never move to Den Haag.
May 6 update: Sure, now the weather's lovely.. don't trust it, though.
— by Robert Thomson, created 25th Apr, 2008, last modified 6th May, 2008 | Tags: World
C++ gives me static
Scripting languages, managed runtimes and similar (CLR, Parrot and D) make me smile.
— by Robert Thomson, created 24th Apr, 2008, last modified 24th Apr, 2008 | Tags: Tech
Warm weather's on its way!
Hopefully. In the Netherlands, you can't really tell. It still gets to around freezing point, but the days lately have been around 10-12 degrees with sun, which makes sitting outside with a light jumper or even a long sleeved shirt a possibility. With daylight savings changes, it's no longer dark of an evening, which makes it a lot less depressing. I'm hoping for a nice summer here - mid-twenties with a soft cool ocean breeze.
— by Robert Thomson, created 16th Apr, 2008, last modified 16th Apr, 2008 | Tags: World
Fix for strange colours when playing movies
I’ve an NVidia card with driver version 169. Sometimes when playing movies with Totem, the colours would be off. It took me a while to figure it out, thinking it was maybe a bug I couldn’t do anything about except for downgrading the NVidia driver (which seemed like too much work with Fedora).. Not sure exactly where the bug lies, but the hue setting for XV changes sometimes, resulting in odd colours. I think gstreamer may reset it sometimes. The quick fix is to install xvattr and run the following:
xvattr -a XV_HUE -v 0.
— by Robert Thomson, created 2nd Feb, 2008, last modified 2nd Feb, 2008 | Tags: Tech
La vita, l'universo e tutto quanto.
Shell has been working on an IT outsourcing plan for about 12 years now, and it’s finally coming to fruition this year. As a result, my contract has been “mapped” to T-Systems, who are known in Germany but have no brand recognition in the rest of the world. In the Netherlands, they only have around 300 staff and contractors, so the addition of Shell’s Netherlands team will double their workforce. It’s a big opportunity for T-Systems to develop a name for themselves, so they will be trying hard to keep things working smoothly. Unfortunately one T-Systems person has stated that they don’t do development as a company (focusing instead on integration), which may turn out to be disappointing. But as a colleague told me, many times companies don’t realise that their staff are doing a lot of internal development, and I’m not likely to stop my current development work after T-Systems takes over in July. My contract is currently until the end of October, and I’m hoping in that time to make contacts within T-Systems so that it is an option for my future when I’m back in Germany.. or potentially make such a great impression that they keep me on the payroll part time, even while I’m in Italy.
My own future, intriguingly, will quite possibly take me to Italy. After almost two years contracting to Shell (as will be the case by the end of October), I want to move closer to Sophia; and by all accounts, it looks like she’ll be going to Italy for an exchange year. Being the intrepid character I am, I’m planning to go along with her and learn Italian in the process. It will leave me with no source of income (except maybe teaching some English) but it will no doubt be a great experience. La Buona Vita! It’s also vital for Sophia and I to live together and ensure that we can have just as great a (if not better) relationship living in the same house as with several hundred kilometres between us. I’m looking forward to it! She is hoping to go in September this year, in which case I will follow in November, otherwise in March next year, and her choices for cities are Perugia and Pavia. If March, I may stay for a little longer in the Netherlands to better equip myself for the income-less student lifestyle.
— by Robert Thomson, created 20th Jan, 2008, last modified 20th Jan, 2008 | Tags: World
I saw Knut today.
I saw Knut today. Das ist alles.