Memoirs of a Roadie

Lament

Posted on 22nd February 2008

On 24th January, Sheila Stevens (nee Dymock), lost her long battle against cancer. Sheila was my mum's elder sister, and when I was younger we would often travel over to see her, my uncle Wally and my cousins Roy and Sue, when visiting my Gran and my uncle Ivor. Thankfully she passed away peacefully in her sleep, with her family around her. Unfortunately I hadn't seen my aunt in quite some time, and even longer for my cousins. We've stayed in touch through my mum mostly, and we always get to see photos of the grandchilden, and likewise we've sent pictures of DanDan and Ethne. Sue commented how our Christmas cards always stood out, as Nicole always makes the cards and puts DanDan and Ethne on the front. It adds that personal touch. Aside from Wally, Roy and Sue, I also got to meet Roy's wife, Andrea, and son, Sebastian, as well as Sue's son, Joshua, for the first time. It was also the first time in just over 29 years that I met my uncle Peter and about 18 years since I met my cousin Nigel. It was also the first time in a long while I'd seen my cousin James too, as I think I've seen his kids more than him in the last few years :)

It really is a shame that we don't get to meet unless there is a dramatic family event. Andrea did suggest organising a family get together every year, which personally I would love, as Nicole, DanDan and Ethne have only met my cousin David, uncle Ivor and aunty Gaye. We now have quite a big family on my mum's side and it was staggering to realise that there are now I think 10 great grandchildren and 9 grandchildren descended from Nanny and Grandad Dymock. Not staggering in terms of numbers, but the fact that us grandchildren have grown old enough to have kids, and even grandchildren of own. Although as far as I known none of us are grandparents yet, as only Heather, Sue and Jane have kids who are teenagers, and the rest of us all started late, or have yet to start.

The funeral itself went well and the day, although a little chilly, was bright. The sun was just starting to set, looking very picturesque, when we came out to pay our respects by the flower tributes. It was strange driving over to the house for the wake, as I didn't remember any of the route until we pulled into the road, and even then I couldn't remember which house it was. It wasn't that it had changed that much, it was just so strange to see it all as a grown up. I commented to Roy that I always looked up to him when I was a kid and now I'm taller than him. Walking into the house brought back a lot of memories. Sheila's voice greeting us and offering to make us a cup of tea. The cats. And all the family get togethers we had there. I also remember Wally telling Roy off when he started playing his Derek And Clive records to me :)

A few people commented how much my mum looks like Sheila, although she never used to. It's only as she's got older that you can see more of the similarities. It was also very odd seeing Roy and Sue, as even though I know how old they are, I still see them pretty much as they were 20 years ago. Perhaps that's just me wishfully thinking I still look like I'm in my early 20s too ;) Sheila's passing has certainly made me think a little more about my own family. I think we get into the habit of thinking your family are just always going to be there. But it always feels such a shock when they're not. There was a lot of laughter and reminiscing at the wake and although there were definitely touches of sadness, it wasn't there for long. I think Sheila would liked that. I would certainly like to remember my aunt as the way she was when I was a youngster, and I'd rather not dwell on the pain she must have gone through in more recent times.

Just before Christmas, I attended another funeral, for Florence Ess or "Floss" as we all knew her. She was originally engaged to marry my Nana's brother Eddy, but before they could arrange anything, the war came and took him off to the front line. He died before he could return and marry Floss. My Nana (Christine) and Floss had remained good friends, as they were before, right up until Floss died. Floss was 99 and my Nana is 97. Like my aunty Sheila, I hadn't seen Floss in quite sometime, but she always sent birthday cards to us all, including DanDan and Ethne, and we always made sure we sent her one too. I did hope to arrange to call in last year, but we never got to make a trip up to Manchester last year. We had talked about going this year, but alas now she won't get to see DanDan and Ethne in person.

The service at the Macclesfield crematorium was quite an emotional one for my family, as my sister Jacqueline was cremated here in 1968, when I was just 2, and it was the first time I had been back there since. I took some time to walk around the grounds afterwards and I couldn't help but reflect on what might have been. She would have been 40 last year. My younger sister, Lisa, my mum and dad and my Nana attended the church service for Floss, and it was quite warming to see so many people come to pay their respects. The only relative left in the family, was her husband's niece, who was there, everybody else were friends. I hope I have as many friends attend my own funeral when the time comes.

As I was walking around the crematorium gardens, it did cross my mind that this was also where Ian Curtis, singer with Joy Divison, had been cremated. Three people who had all touched my life in different ways were all here in some shape or form. It might sound morbid, but I think I like it to be my final resting place too.

Farewell Sheila, and Floss. Thank you for being a part of my life.

File Under: family NO COMMENTS

Dancing with the Moonlit Knight

Posted on 21st February 2008

This week it seems eBay are changing their policies to a number of things, one of them being Feedback. My mother told me she had read about it in the paper, but seeing as I hadn't noticed anything in my inbox from them, and it wasn't obvious from any of the general announcements, I assumed that either the paper had put the wrong spin on it to generate "news" (typical of the paper in question), or my mother had misunderstood the actual news article. I suspected the paper to be at fault. However, after a quick search I found this blog post, which picked up on the feedback issue, and after a bit of digging through all the recent announcements, I finally found the announcement specific to feedback. Why they had to hide it away I don't know. With such a big change I would have expected to see this in a "news" or "update" box on the front page.

Anyway, the point of the feedback changes seems to be to protect buyers from poor sellers. They believe that "buyers will be more honest when they leave Feedback since they will not fear retaliatory negative Feedback." Sorry but I don't buy that. I've had several buyers who have failed to follow through and left me with a bill for the final value fees (FVFs) from eBay. eBay DO NOT make it easy to get those fees back. Thankfully, I've not been given bad feedback. I have also been caught out by bad sellers trying to sell conterfeit products, but having contacted both sellers in my case I was able to get a refund. Now admittedly not everyone may be as successful, and could quite easily be ripped by quite a considerable amount, but I do believe the negative feedback does have it's place. If there is ever any issue with retaliatory negative feedback, then there should be a mechanism where either party can alert eBay to the situation and for it to be handled more appropriately. From my experience eBay make it very difficult to contact them, and when you do try and contact them it falls on deaf ears.

eBay also state "When buyers receive negative Feedback, they reduce their activity in the marketplace, which, in turn, harms all sellers". Ever thought that sometimes there are buyers for whom that is a good thing? At the moment a seller has a difficult time to do anything about a bad buyer, and in some cases the only way to alert other sellers is by leaving reasonable negative feedback. How are eBay going to better protect the seller from continually bad buyers? Some sellers refuse to deal with anyone who has less than 100 points, and I can see that getting worse, as having to pay eBay what amounts to a fine for being an honest seller, is not good enough. And please don't tell me about their Unpaid Item system, as I was told my window of opportunity had passed (or words to that effect), after I had waited a couple of weeks, sending private emails and mails via eBay itself, after the end of the auction. Any experience of trying to deal with eBay themselves, for me personally, has never been a good experience. I always end up feeling that they are only interested in taking my money, never willing to sort things out when things go wrong.

Thankfully my actual auction experience with eBay has been good, and I've been very happy with both buyers and sellers in nearly all my transactions. I wouldn't stop using eBay because of these changes, but it will make me more wary of the feedback mechanism, both as a seller and a buyer, as I'm not sure the changes are favourable to anyone. Except maybe eBay themselves as it will mean less data storage.

I'm not convinced by some of the changes they propose, although some do have merit, but I shall wait and see what the outcome is for me. I may not sell high volumes, but if I find myself getting messed around because I'm not able to spot bad buyers, then I may find alternative places to sell my CDs and music memorabillia. If others follow suit then buyers have less choice and prices get higher, thus eBay wins more from FVFs. I think I see the pattern here. Or maybe I'm just cynical ;)

File Under: commerce / ebay / rant / website NO COMMENTS

Do You Remember Rock 'n' Roll Radio?

Posted on 20th February 2008

LUGRadio Live UK dates have been announced as the weekend of 19th/20th July.

At the moment the guys are busy preparing for LUGRadio Live USA, so expect more details for the UK event after next month. The US event will be the first time the LUGRadio experience will have been seen on such a major scale outside of the UK. The guys seem suitably excited and I'll be keen to discover if the American event has the same manic and mayhem feel as the UK event. The UK event is very definitely about getting the Linux and Open Source communities together, to hopefully provide an opportunity to meet and greet with fellow developers or just people you meet on IRC or the forums. It doesn't have that corporate feel is much more laid back, thus having a much more social nature about it than many traditional conferences. Not to diminish the value of the talks and presentations, but the atmosphere is much more conducive to discussion, questions and feedback than more formal events. For me that has perhaps more value as I like to get feedback and ideas from others and some more corporate events often don't encourage that atmosphere.

In the meantime, if you're in the US and can make it to the West Coast over the weekend on 12th/13th April, checkout LUGRadio Live USA2008 and try and get along to The Metreon, San Francisco. As a tempter, watch the video trailer created by Tony Whitmore, AV coordinator for the UK event.

I shall be at LUGRadio Live UK, although whether that's as a speaker, attendee or member of the crew remains to be seen. I'm thinking of submitting my Understanding Malware talk, but seeing as it's about an hour long, and I definitely DON'T want to be on the main stage, I'm hoping the guys will agree to hiding me in a smaller room. They guys always manage to put me up against big names (Mark Shuttleworth and Chris Di Bona for the last two years), so this might be my chance to steal some of the audience back for the little guy ;)

As I don't specifically talk about Linux stuff, but more general Open Source stuff, I've often felt a bit of an outsider as a speaker. The Malware talk is again not about Linux specifically, and some aspects are not Open Source (for justifiable reasons), but the content, particularly for anyone interested in understanding what malware is and eager to gain some very basic hints and tips to protect your inbox, it's ideal. Seeing as most of the attendance for LUGRadio are knowledgeable Linux people, I'm hoping the talk will be of interest to a wide variety of people. I've now done the talk twice, for Leicester LUG last week and Coventry LUG last night. Both presentation went down very well and generated lots of interesting discussion afterwards. Seeing as some of these guys are very clueful sysadmins and developers, as a benchmark, I think the LUGRadio audience will love it. We'll see ;)

The UK event will be returning to Wolverhampton University Student's Union, the venue for the 2006 event. Personally I liked the Lighthouse, the venue for 2007, but I know the guys got heavily criticised for a variety of issues, that meant they had to reconsider the venue for the 2008 event. The SU venue is smaller than the Lighhouse too, which might cause some problems, as I can see the event getting a bigger attendance this year. For the past 3 years the attendance appears to have been increasing anyway, but in the last year, I am noticing more and more articles, blogs and posts about LUGRadio. I just hope there is enough space for everyone.

BTW if you're attending LUGRadio Live USA2008, please take a camera and post your photos publically. My site always gets a lot of hits for LUGRadio, and I'm sure the thirst for photos for the US event will be just as popular.

File Under: conference / linux / lugradio / opensource / security / spam NO COMMENTS

Don't Bring Me Down

Posted on 19th February 2008

Over the weekend I got spammed. I don't get that much spam into my inbox usually, as most gets caught by my own very aggressive detection rules, with SpamAssassin generally picking up everything else for me. However, this spammer seems to have got through because their spam was music related. Mr. Robert J. Johnson and Ms. Mary M. Dharma (Assistant to Mr. R. Johnson) under the guise of "www.eloformermembers.com", a website that seems only to exist to track real email addresses, appear to be working for a new band called The Orchestra, made up of former band members from ELO (Electric Light Orchestra) and ELO Part II. Now although I did used to like ELO, I have no real desire to see a half hearted attempt to see what almost amounts to a covers band, and especially when they employ a spammer to get me to listen to them or see them on tour.

However, what got me most about the spam, and the band's use of them, was that I got sent the request 3 times (or should I say 3 got through ... there maybe more), all different messages, and all 3 were requesting me to hit a link to obtain the tour dates for the forthcoming UK tour. But the best bit is the mails all started with "Dear Classic Rock Fan, Can I have your permission to send you info on the upcoming [UK tour]". Maybe the band don't see the stupidity of that statement, or are so ignorant of the actions of spammer that they don't care that their potential fans could become victims to a stream of rubbish in their inboxes. If you're going to advertise your tour dates doesn't it make sense to tell people about them in the mail, rather than request permission to send them? I might (note I said might) have had a bit of respect for them if they had done that and maybe had a link along the lines of "if you would like to receive further mails...", but as it is they have now been added to my blacklist.

Admittedly I wouldn't have wanted to see the band anyway, but possibly this might serve as a warning to other bands thinking about using spammers to get their name about. Don't. There is never a good reason to use a spammer. Ever. In this day and age there are plenty of ways to get your presence known, most venues have weekly or monthly updates on gigs, ents24 does the same, and there are many internet news sites these days (including the tradional hard copy magazines such as NME, Kerrang and Rolling Stone) that cater for a variety of musical tastes. It's alot easier to get your band's name known these days, and resorting to spammers just screams of desperation. If things are really that bad, maybe you really should just call it a day.

I've purposefully avoided adding any active links in this post, as don't want to promote the band or the spammers, but anyone getting a mail like this and being a bit dubious does a search, hopefully they'll find this post and avoid any further involvement with the band. Either that or bands read this and think of better ways to promote themselves.

File Under: music / spam 3 COMMENTS

Two Tribes

Posted on 18th February 2008

This Sunday Callowbrook Swifts were playing Glade Rangers away. A couple of weeks ago we played their neighbours, Hampton Sports. For the first time since DanDan has been playing for the team, they had a full strength team of 10 men. Glade Rangers finally managed to make a full 7 man team, as we were thinking they might have to forfeit the game when only 5 players initially turned up. From the kick-off Callowbrook Swifts made their presence felt. Glade Rangers put up a galant fight all the way through the match, and never gave Callowbrook a chance to take it easy. However, a mid-week training session seemed to make a huge difference in the team play. Callowbrook were passing, making and finding space and generally taking on their opponents.

DanDan was sub for the first half, and came on for the second half. Sharpy had managed to take Callowbrook ahead, and nearly got a second, in the first half, and the constant pushing and driving kept the ball in the Glade half. The pitch was slightly sloped in our favour, and the early advantage could easily have been taken away by Glade, but they never quite managed the same level of pushing and dispite getting close to goal on a few occasions, Ross, Jack and Zak held their own. Jack taking the ball up the full length of the picth on several occasions. Soon into the second half Callowbrook got a corner. My previous hinting of DanDan standing in front of the goal, rather than standing back, paid off and ball fell more or less right at his feet. He just had to kick it, and he did. Right into the back of the net. His first goal for the team. Understandably I was delighted, although I was disappointed that the camera wasn't quick enough to capture the moment.

Both teams to their credit continued the relentless driving of the ball. It was the best match I've ever seen Callowbrook Swifts play and much better than several professional matches I've seen. Sharpy did himself proud with a second goal, supported by passes from DanDan and Charlie. All the team played brilliantly, although it was a shame that we saw a few casualties. Joel suffered towards the end of the first half and Cameron got a bad knock just after he came on for the second half. They all played better as a team this week, with much better passing and calling for the ball, so a 3-0 win was well deserved. We're at home to Marston Green next week, so fingers crossed we're on form again. Well played lads.

File Under: birmingham / callowbrook / dandan / football NO COMMENTS

Making Memories

Posted on 11th February 2008

In June 2005 I was in Toronto for the 2005 YAPC::NA Perl Conference. Aside from being my first YAPC::NA conference, it was also a chance to discover first hand some of the places that are referenced on albums and in songs for Rush, one of my favourite bands. I first discovered the band in the late 70s, and finally got to see them on the Signals tour in the UK. I've seen them a few times since, including being in the audience for A Show Of Hands, but I've always wanted to visit the city were they made their home.

I also got to go up the CN tower, the tallest tower in the world at the current time.

I first uploaded these photos onto a BlueYonder photo album site, which has long since been shutdown, although VirginMedia seen to have resurrected it, but none of the photos or accounts are there from the previous incarnation. It's been on my TODO list for some time to reload the photos to my personal site, and finally last week I found them. Now I have to find all those links I made previously and update them.

The trip itself marked my first speaking engagement in North America. I have been fortunate enough to continue this since. Toronto itself is a great city, and although it's a bit of a trek, Niagara Falls aren't too far away. However, it was the city's association with Rush that fascinated me the most. Although I got to see a lot of sights, I didn't quite see as much as I would have liked. There were several bars and restaurants, and official offices that I would have liked to have seen, but most of all I would have loved to have seen a concert at Massey Hall and The Orbit Room. Seeing as MessageLabs now have a base there, it isn't beyond the realms of possibility that I could be visiting the city again at some point. I'll also have to time it to have a few beers with the Toronto Perl Mongers too, who did such a wonderful job of organising the Perl Conference.

Photos uploaded to the following galleries:

• Toronto - Flight, Tower and Fireworks
  
• Toronto - Niagara and Moving Pitcures
  
• Toronto - Danforth & Pape and Maple Leaf Gardens
  
• Toronto - Hotel, City and Airport

File Under: canada / music / rush / toronto / yapc NO COMMENTS

Turn, Turn, Turn

Posted on 7th February 2008

Last month I discovered a games site called Your Turn My Turn. They feature several online games, which are based on two-player games that are turn based. Several are quite traditional games, such as Backgammon, Rummy and Go, but they are starting to introduce some other games. One of which is Lost Cities, which I've enjoyed playing with DanDan, but wanted to play a bit more with more experienced players. Their online version follows the original game, although only one round is played. I won my first game, but it looks like I might be losing my second game. However, aside from the one-off games, they also hold tournaments. This weekend I decided that I would put my name to the Lost Cities tornament.

It all kicked off on Sunday and I've already got through several plays of each game in my group. I don't think I'm doing too badly at the moment, but it can easily go downhill rapidly when you get to the end game, as I'm discovering in my second one-off game. Still, it makes a difference to losing at Scabulous far too often recently ;)

File Under: games NO COMMENTS

Surreal Madrid

Posted on 6th February 2008

DanDan is now a fully fledged member of the Callowbrook Swifts Juniors Football Club, playing in the 7s age group. He played his third match, his second full match, at the weekend and thoroughly enjoyed himself. He's getting really good these days, and although there are still plenty of improvements and confidence needed to get the best out of him, it's been really consuming to watch him and his team mates play. I don't think I've shouted so much at a football match in years! The whole team are great to watch and they have some stars in the making too.

They played against Hampton Sports on Sunday and put up a good fight. Zak and Jack held the defence well, to the point Zak unanimously earned himself man of the match, and the remainder of the team certainly got in the way, just not really making the most of their potential. One of Hampton's goals was very lucky to go in, as their man just happened to be on the far wing, as a throw-in on the other side got kicked further over, and then when he shot for goal, Zack, Jack and Ross just couldn't quite reach the ball to kick it away. For a Callowbrook corner, DanDan was standing too far back from the far post, and had he been level, the ball would have dropped at his feet with an open goal. Joel made several attempts at getting the ball in the goal, but was tackled down every time. In the end they lost 2-0, but it could so easily have been a 1-1 draw. The team are getting better, now they just need to get the goals.

It took a while to notice, but amusingly there was a Kane, a Jack and two Dan's on each team. Unsurprisingly, calling out to Dan caused some confusion, especially among the Hampton players. With our DanDan having problems with his ears, he never seemed to notice. As such one of the Callowbrook mums suggested we randomly shout Kane, Jack or Dan to put Hampton off ;)

At some point this year I really ought to revamp DanDan's website and start adding all the football matches and photos from the last few years on there. I've given the coach photos of DanDan's first two matches, so hopefully they use them when they update the Callowbrook Swifts site. In the mean time, some of the action shots from the last two matches from the first half of the season:

• 16/12/2007 - Callowbrook Swifts vs Warriors (3-0)
• 27/01/2008 - Cadbury Athletic vs Callowbrook Swifts (3-2)

File Under: callowbrook / dandan / family / football NO COMMENTS

Fixing A Hole

Posted on 5th February 2008

I recently made some minor alterations to the site, most you shouldn't notice, and some that are part of the admin screens. However, one noticeable part that I've removed is the Digg links. I can't really say why I added them in the first place, apart from the fact it seemed like a good idea at the time and several other sites have them too. My site doesn't really get the high end traffic that other more prolific and structured writers get, so it seemed a bit daft keeping them there when no-one was ever likely to use them. I know a few read my thoughts via their favourite RSS feeds, so obviously that has been worthwhile adding to the site, but Digg, well at least I know how it works if I'm ever asked to add to another site ;)

File Under: labyrinth / website NO COMMENTS

Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft

Posted on 5th February 2008

Last week, I went along to the Milton Keynes Perl Mongers social, which was also Birmingham Perl Mongers first date on their 2008 World Tour. As it was a Wetherspoon pub, while ordering a pint I asked if they had one of these 30 minutes free cards for the WiFi, which I duly got. Now the idea of having WiFi in a pub is great, but providing 30 minutes free when you order a pint is inspirational. However, not having a working WiFi is just a pain. I already have several cards from the Wetherspoon pub in Bromsgrove, when I failed to get a connection there (others had problems too, so it wasn't just me). At Milton Keynes it seems there was some drastic Java error which failed to load the landing page to allow me to login. Apparently the error had been logged, but it didn't get fixed at any point during the evening :(

Although I've only tried this at two Wetherspoon pubs, it's also a 100% failure rate. Do any of their pubs actually have a working WiFi, or is it a big ruse to get geeks into the pub? It would be a great shame if it was the latter, as this is exactly the kind of thing that pubs and cafes should be using to attract business. WiFi is relatively cheap these days and the additional business it brings is worth it. With more and more WiFi enabled devices being sold, especially phones, it wouldn't surprise me to see WiFi accessible meeting places to see an upturn in business and hopefully profits, hopefully inspiring others to follow suit.

File Under: rant / wifi 1 COMMENT