AutoChanger Audit

The Autochanger has now been updated! The new six are:

1. Beaucoup Fish (Underworld)
2. Daybreaker (Beth Orton)
3. Whitesnake (Whitesnake)
4. Wip3out (soundtrack)
5. Goddess Grooves (various artists)
6. New Romantic Classics (various artists)

Goddess Grooves features essential mixes from Thrillseekers, Firewall, Midway, Planisphere, Push and Ralphie B - cool uplifting beats.

The New Romantic Classics features Human League, Heaven 17, Duran Duran, ABC, China Crisis, Visage etc. etc.

The Wipeout soundtracks are always great driving music - this one featuring Chemical Brothers, Orbital and Sasha.

The Tale of Roger Rabbit

People who know me often end up asking me to tell them more about Roger. Well – I don’t mind doing that, but I thought I may as well put some stuff about Roger on here – then – in future – I can just refer enquirers to this posting (and perhaps the others that may follow it).

Roger is a rabbit. He is my rabbit.
People often ask what sort of rabbit he is. I tell them he is a BUNNY RABBIT. This usually elicits a “certain look” that I seem to get quite a lot. OK - Roger is a Dwarf Mini Rex. Fortunately, he doesn't sing endless songs about gold - like many other dwarves. And no - we don't feed him dwarf bread - let's just loose all the dwarf jokes, please - they don't amuse him.

Roger is six now - his seventh birthday is 13th June 2005. Sad to say, one human year is about ten bunny years. So...

This is Roger...

Just after this photo was taken, Roger flatly denied hijacking a shipment of watercress and eating half the bag. He looked at the photo as if to say "and your point is...?"

Roger is not your average pet. I don't think he's your average rabbit either. Roger has bucket-loads of character and personality. Prior to Roger, we'd had a hamster. Called Critter. Much as I hate to speak ill of the departed, Critter was, essentially, boring. We are used to growing up around cats and dogs - you get a bit more with those pets than from the average rodent. I had two suggestions for a sequel pet. First up was a pet rock. You can paint them. You can leave them outside while you go on holiday. There are no vet or food bills. If your neighbours annoy you, you can throw your pet rock through their window and then accuse them of kidnapping your beloved pet. You can put a rock on a small wheeled trolley and take it for a walk. Pet rocks are a source of positive peaceful karma. My second choice, moving up the rodent intellectual hierarchy, was a rat. Rats are very smart. I think if you line their cages with newspaper, it has to be a quality broadsheet or The Economist. If you put The Sun in, they'll just wee all over it in disgust. Rats are cool. You can walk around with them in your pockets.

I know this is hard to believe, but I was vetoed on both my suggestions! So unfair! I was gutted. A dog was muted. Over my prostrate corpse! Gill went to the pet shop and fell in love. Game over. No point arguing. A rabbit is also a rodent. I suspect a rat has a higher IQ - not sure. I think Roger was about 3 weeks old when we got him - if I'm wrong about this, I'll update the post. Roger was the runt of the litter, and the last one left. I don't know what would have happened to him if we hadn't bought him. So we went to the local pet superstore and got ourselves rabbited up. Cage, run, food, hay, sawdust, book (they don't come with a manual!). Although the book is called "The Bunny Manual", so perhaps it is fairer to say "manual available separately".

After Critter, and suspecting a low IQ, I wasn't expecting much of a rabbit. We took him to the vet. She went all googly over him. "Isn't he cute!!". He was about small kitten size. Extremely soft grey fur that feels like velvet. Blue/grey eyes. Short stubby tail. She said that because his fur is so thin, it would be dangerous to keep him outside. Quite a few people around us have pet rabbits. They keep them in wooden cages in the garden. And they don't interact with them much. That wasn't our plan. We wanted a pet that would be part of the family. So Roger became a house rabbit. We adopted an Open Door approach to the cage - it's open most of the day.

Roger comes and goes as he pleases. Funny thing - it was almost as if he was pre-house-trained. He would always go back to his cage when he needed to go. So no problems there. To start with, Roger didn't like carrots. That tells you something about Roger straight away. He likes breakfast cereal - not just muesli, but also Rice Crispies, Cornflakes, Shreddies. He'll kill for chocolate. Loves watercress, celery, sunflower seeds and hearts, and cucumber. He'll have the lettuce we don't want.

The Open Door approach has had its drawbacks. Roger has a very laid-back attitude to freedom. Basically, he's not really interested. It's quite common for us to have to kick him out of his cage - in order to clean it, for example. Also, to make him take exercise. That can be quite fun. What you do is you lift him out of his cage, and take him to the furthest corner of the garden. Then you have to race him back to the patio doors! If you get back first, you have to slam it behind you, before he gets back in again. He needs to spend some time outside to wear his claws down and to eat fresh plants and grass. He's not really very enthusiastic about it, though. Generally, within a few minutes, he'll be sitting at the patio doors with his front two paws up on the frame - glaring at you to let him back in.

It is fair to say that Roger amazed me and took me totally by surprise. Rabbits are incredibly needy and affectionate animals! He will spend HOURS sitting on my lap watching TV (he likes Stargate, 24, Battlestar Galactica - most of what we like - he's not keen on Big Brother - maybe he IS smart after all!). He will start off on my lap, but when he gets bored, he will jump off and push whoever is sitting to my right off the sofa. HIS place!

He loves being stroked, picked up, held. At the vet, he will often jump into my arms. He will nestle along my arm, and bury his head in my elbow. He will climb up me and snuggle into my neck. Rabbits love salt. So they like you to death - you could say they're kissing you, but the reality is that they are just licking the salt off you. Sorry. Shattered a nice image, didn't I? When you stroke down their noses, along their ears, down the sides of their faces, and along their sides, they do go into rapture, though. If you do it too much, they can't stand it, and he starts making little cooing noises! But if you do it slowly and gently, you can actually send him off to sleep - and that's really cool!

Once he's sitting next to you on the sofa, you can put your hand down next to him. He'll work his nose down under your hand and then throw you hand back over his head - his way of telling you to stroke his face! He also likes to have his paw held. He'll sit next to you and watch TV with you, but he also likes to have his paw held.

If you ignore him for too long, he'll go into a sulk. Essentially, he'll go back to his cage and sit in there rattling the bars until he gets some attention. Sometimes, he'll turn his food bowl upside down. It's hard not to laugh at him when he does this! :)

Roger lives in the Utility Room - he shares his world with the washing machine and the tumble drier. The washing machine sends him to sleep - I don't know if he watches it, or if it's just the sound and vibration, but he's lived with these two noisy domestic appliances for most of his life - so he's quite comfortable around them.

A bit more about noises and sound. Rabbits are prey animals. Pretty much everything else kills and eats them in the wild (including us, of course). As such, they are quite well adapted to not being seen. I think this is one of the cool things about Roger - he makes me feel very special.
Usually, you won't get within 10 metres of a wild rabbit. I have one that jumps into my arms! How cool is that? Anyway - bottom line is that rabbits make virtually no sound. This can be heartbreaking. A rabbit has to be in unbearable pain and very very close to death before he'll say "ow". I can't overstate this - it's terrible. You have to watch them SO carefully to be aware that there's anything wrong.

Roger does have his health problems. He has a watery eye. It is a chronic condition. We have to wipe his eye many many times a day. He scratches them with his claws and they get very sore and red. We went through a whole raft of test, drugs and injections when it first started, and none of it helped. Plus, Roger got extremely traumatised with all the trips to the vet and
being treated. Wasn't fun. So - for Roger's sake - we decided not to continue down that road - we just look after him really carefully. I hope he's fine. I don't think he's in pain. He does seem a very very happy animal. It gets a bit embarrising to have to explain to the vet everytime, though - "oh - his eye doesn't look so good...". It's a chronic condition - we know about it - we're dealing with it - thank you.

It's quite scary when he goes off his food. Because his fur is so fine, and he really doesn't like being brushed, he does get furball issues sometimes. And - now he's getting older, he does seem to get unwell more often. We've discovered that pineapple juice is really good. I did a Google search on rabbits and furballs and found out about the pineapple juice trick. In the summer, we put pineapple juice in with his water. When he goes off his food, we inject pineapple juice into his mouth (he doesn't like it!). Works really well and quickly, though. The last time it happened, we got really worried - thought it might be his teeth playing up. I went in to the supermarket and bought watercress, celery, and pineapple juice. Intensive care for the bunny! A day later, he was fine - back on his food.

He does have species issues. I don't think he knows he's a rabbit. He behaves a lot like a cat. If you are holding vegetables, then Roger will be the one sitting on your feet. If you open the 'fridge door, that streak of grey tearing towards you will be Roger. He will stretch out on the floor so
you can stroke his tummy. This is not rabbit behaviour!

Roger gets on relatively well with the children. They treat him very gingerly - like he is a china ornament - this makes him nervous. The children don't like to pick him up, but they do spend a lot of time down at his level making a fuss of him. James has some wonderful photos and video clips of Roger. He can get quite bossy with them - like pushing James off the sofa, or nibbling Daniel's feet when he's been on the Playstation for too long. Roger is very definitely part of the family!

Finally - the origin of Roger's name. Since I clearly appear to have precious little control over what pets we have, I DEMAND naming rights! Hence a hamster called Critter - and Roger Rabbit. My cunning plan is that by retaining Naming Rights, I will ensure we never get a dog. I have nothing against dogs. I love other people's dogs. I just don't want one of my own. I would rather we start a dog walking service than have our own dog. I want a dog I can give back - hence - being a very responsible pet owner - I really don't want one. Naming Rights will ensure we don't get a dog. I want a female dog - and we will call her BITCH. So - if you take her out for a walk, you will be faced with the prospect of yelling BITCH!!!!! across the park! Jon and I joke
about this - he was going to call his dog Dave, Steve, Colin or Phil. Good dog names. But Jon wimped out and somehow ended up with a dog called Molly - sheesh! I think Roger is a great name for a rabbit. It always gets a laugh when the receptionist at the vets calls for Roger the Rabbit! ;)

So there you go - now you've met Roger.

He's a rabbit.

Deal with it.

Trust, Faith & Betrayal

Three years and three months ago, I made a decision that I now somewhat regret. I certainly have no intentions of doing the same thing again. Three years and three months ago, I bought my first ever new car. To be precise, I bought a Volkswagen Passat. It seemed like a really sensible thing to do at the time. It's certainly a lovely car. The salesman roundly rubbished my Peugeot 406, and promised me a far superior car with a far lower rate of depreciation.

So - let's start by looking at my 406. Actually, my TWO 406's. I spent about six years driving 406's. I kept each one for three years - until they reached 45-50k miles. They were both really good cars. They NEVER went near a garage for anything other than servicing. The usual tyre changes, of course - but that was IT. Tyres and servicing. They didn't breakdown. They never let me down.

Requirements - I want to get from A to B with 100% certainty. That really is about it. The 406's delivered that. Four doors, big boot, flexible seating, good looking. A dependable family soon that I was proud to use as my company car as well.

When I came to what could have been my third 406, I thought that the 406 line would come to an end during the 3-4 years that I would end up owning a new one. This meant that buying a third 406 didn't seem like quite such a good idea. So I looked around for a change of car. After some research, I settled on the Passat.

The Passat is a solid German VW car. It is, apparently, well-engineered, well-designed, and well-built from superior parts. It is reliable and has a low rate of depreciation. This has NOT been my experience! Over the past nine years, my life has remained mostly static. I still do more or less the same profile of journey. My annual mileage rates are more or less constant. I would argue that my driving style has remained the same - and the mix of urban/motorway driving has remained the same. What I'm getting at is that comparing the Passat with the 406's is a fair and reasonable comparison.

Because I bought the Passat from new, I was expecting even less risk and an even better experience than I'd had with the 406's. This was not my experience! First, bits of trim started falling off - I took it in, and, in fixing it, the VW main dealer managed to break the cigarette lighter IN THE BACK OF THE CAR!!.

Then the end of the gear-shift broke. It was plastic that looks like chrome. When I took it in to get it fixed, the VW main dealer managed to get oil stains on my passenger seat!!

Then the ignition key broke. Then, at the 36k service, I was advised to get the front brakes replaced. I did, but not with the VW dealer!! I found myself questioning why I was replacing the brakes. I was expecting LOWER maintenance costs with the Passat, compared to the 406's. I never had anything more than service adjustments done to the brakes on the 406's. Oh well - there you go.

Just before Christmas, I was making a right turn at a junction. I was in first gear. There was a loud CLONK noise from the front/centre of the car. It was loud enough to be loud over the CD player. There was also a funny smell - like cellulose. The car seemed to loose power. It felt like the clutch was slipping.

I phoned the VW dealer and told him the story - yep - that'll be clutch! This was after about 39,000 miles. Replacement cost? £900. That was the best-case scenario. Some models of Passat apparently have a design where the clutch is combined with the flywheel. If I am "lucky" enough to have this "feature" in my car, then the bill will be £1500!!!!

Up until now, you can see where I'm coming from with "Trust" and "Faith". Now I hope you can see where the sense of "Betrayal" comes in to play. I was dumbstruck. My colleagues in the office were equally disbelieving. There was much bad-mouthing of the VW dealer. The 40k service was now due - so I took the car along to a garage that one of the guys in the office takes his much-loved M3 convertible to. They did the service for me and took the car on a road-test to check out the clutch. I am now holding a piece of paper that says "Extensive road test, no fault found on clutch". The VW dealer would have charged me £900.

I asked the guy who tested the car about what happened to me before Christmas. He said "your car is fine - put it out of your mind". The nature of causality being what it is, I CAN'T put it out of my mind!

I have lost faith in my car. I don't feel comfortable with it. Let me remind you, this car is THREE MONTHS outside of VW's warranty! I do not feel that I can get from A to B with 100% certainty. I will never completely trust this car again. I want to get rid of it - I want a new car. Actually - no - I DON'T want a new car. I want ANOTHER car. What good did buying a brand-new car do me? Where was the benefit? The two 406's were each about a year old with about 9,000 miles on them when I bought them. I will go back to doing this.

As you can imagine, there has been much discussion around this in my office. My friend and colleague also has a Passat. He got an exhaust warning light, and the car nearly broke down - it was limping along. His car is about two years old. From new. He said "I'll buy Japanese next time". Would this series of mis-adventures have happened with a Toyota or a Lexus? We feel it less likely. So this is not just me.

OK - so I have a plan. I will tell you my plan. I will get a replacement car in September/October. My thinking is that I want a car to keep for longer next time. Not just 45-50,000 miles. I want to spend about the same money, but I want a REALLY solid and dependable car. Like my 406's were. My current thinking is that I want something like a BMW 320 that is about a year old and less than 10k miles on the clock. BMW are just launching the new 3 series. I don't care about having the latest/greatest, so I am hoping that, come October, I will be able to get a relative bargain. To spend about the same as I spent on the Passat, and get a REAL reliable German car!!

It'll be interesting to see what they offer me on the Passat - I wonder if the low depreciation is a myth as well...

In the spirit of fairness, I will send details of my experiences to VW UK and I will tell you what they have to say. If you have any experiences that you want to share in this area, comment away!!

AutoChanger Audit

The contents of the Autochanger has remained static (aside from rotation) for perhaps six months. It is a new year - it is time for a change. The outgoing selection is:

1: Chronologie (Jean Michel-Jarre)
2: Little Ginger Club Kid (Tim Deluxe)
3: Kokopelli (Kosheen)
4: Talkie Walkie (Air)
5. 1990AD (Enigma)
6. Night on my side (Gemma Hayes)

The new selection will be deployed later today.

New Years Resolutions 2005

1. Loose the 2kg that I gained over Christmas. This is 2kg of body-weight that I put on in biscuits, chocolate, etc. - not 2kg of cocaine or anything like that.

2. Go to the gym MORE than once per week. This is kind of linked to (1) above.

3. To "spring-clean" my MSN Messenger contacts. It's not clever or cool to have 110 contacts.

4. To keep the promises that I let slip last year.

5. To remember that I have two ears and one mouth - to spend more time listening than talking.

6. To not take my friends for granted.

That'll do. :)

Happy New Year.

No Compromise!!

Microsoft product managers are an uncompromising bunch. If you think about it, they do actually have a VERY tough job to do. They are stuck between the rock that are their developers, and the hard place that is the sales and marketing community. The stance that they are increasingly taking is that a Microsoft product will NOT ship until it is finished, ready, stable and conforming to the requirements that were set for it. If that means a slipped release date, then the release date will slip. I believe this is absolutely the right stance. Perhaps one spin-off will be that release dates are more realistic - or perhaps more vague - or perhaps not quoted.

It is important, though, to get it right. To issue a quality product that will not damage the reputation of that product or of Microsoft itself. If that means it's late, then it's late. Deal with it.

So - I would like to thank the ISA Server EE Development Team for their Christmas Card. It is very nice Christmas card. It appears perfect in every way. It arrived yesterday. :)

I am displaying it with pride on my desk. Until this evening - this evening being Twelfth Night.

Books

Perhaps not surprising from my previous post, I'm reading Terry Pratchett's "Going Postal" at the moment - and enjoying it. At the moment, it would appear to be about the telecommunications and postal industries, but you never know with Mr.Pratchett!

Prior to "Going Postal", but after "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time", which followed "Generation X" (still with me?), I was reading Lian Hearn's excellent "Across the Nightingale Floor". I really enjoyed this book, and found it extremely hard to put down. It is a tale of political intrigue, light fantasy, romance and revenge, set against a backdrop that bears more than a passing likeness to fuedal Japan.

Once I'm up-to-date with my Pratchett, I will probably go off in search of "Grass for his pillow". I highly recommend Lian's books - you can learn more about them here.

Ultimately, I enjoyed Generation X. Once I realised what it actually was. It was a bit like looking through someone's photo album. Like a series of scenes. And if you look really closely at what's going on in the photos, then you can make up a story around the scene - like that. For me, it was very much about zeitgeist - catching a mood of an era.

"The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" is well worth a read. I think it is one of those books (like Harry Potter) where you can get an "adult" cover version, so you don't feel like you are reading a children's book. It is a book that works at both the adult and younger reader level. I laughed at some things, my son laughed at other things.

...to be continued...

New Years Blog

This is my first Blog of 2005.
And ye - I was much remiss in 2004. For many days and nights I Blogged not. And Blog viewers looked upon my page and thought thus to themselves "he's buggered off!".

But now behold and be quiet - for I am BACK.

I had a Christmas of book and film. As usual, I largely boycotted broadcast television. Over the years, we have been buying the 4-DVD sets of the Lord of the Rings movies. Over Christmas, we watched all three extended movies - about 1.5 hours of extra movie in total - and it was Damn Good. Now we are picking our way through 9 hours of extra features - and most of them are really good too. The thing I particularly wanted - to bring the thing to life for me - was an interactive map. The book was largely about journeying and questing - so the idea of a map that traces the travels, and allows you to see what happened where - that's what I really wanted. And it's there! Very cool!

I got four books for Christmas. The two Pratchett books were from immediate family, and very welcome. A Pratchett book is always a safe bet with me. So I was kind of expecting "Going Postal". What I wasn't expecting was the Almanak (details here) - haven't looked at this yet.

The other two books were Bill Bryson's "A short history of Nearly Everything" and Marcus du Sautoy's "The music of the Primes". This was to have been the year of me learning about Quantum, but, with my interest piqued by having recently read "The curious incident of the dog in the night-time", and now this, I think the writing (or perhaps the numerics) are clearly on the wall. 2005 will be my year for exploring Primes. I'm sure you can look forward to future Prime-related posts.