Old Boar's blog (Old Boars blog)

I'm busy at the moment, so this won't be a long one. I was looking for some stuff to illustrate a point related to the next contract. You may not believe this, but this really was "business related". Anyway, Google found an appropriate website and these two items are a real hoot:

• Modern times


• In the future

Probably not suitable for the children, and may offend one or two fans.

I was on a course last week. I've just returned to the North West, just in time to pack up for the end of the contract. I'm reminded of a chapter in Iain M Banks' book Look to Windward "Returning to leave, remembering forgetting".

I'm not going to keep doing this, but... another day and more rain. I work in a flat-roofed, semi-temporary building. I came in early this morning and (yes, you've guessed right) one of my colleagues was dealing with a roof leak. We did what we could, which was limited to putting waste bins under the leak and umbrellas over the nearby monitors (which were switched off).

Having done the first aid, I reported the leak to the "property people". In due course they turned up and, apart from putting a plastic bag over the electrical sockets, did very little.

So, there we are. Some of those nearby are muttering things about "health and safety". Personally, I'm not but I'm not going to mess about with those sockets either. I recognise that fixing the roof is going to be more that a few minutes work, but guess I'm a bit disappointed that we haven't taken more effective action either to remove equipment from the immediate area or limit the amount of water coming in. And it is still raining hard.

OK. Back to the grindstone.

I swore to myself that I would not fill this blog with notes about the weather. Well, I'm not going to put lots of "weather stuff" in here, but the weather at the moment deserves some mention. Last week I found myself sheltering in a bus-shelter for quarter-of-an-hour while the rain abated. This week it seems to be getting worse.

I'm pleased to say I fixed my (elderly) neighbour's gutter at the weekend. The roof was so hot that I almost burnt myself when I put my hand on it. I did point out that he needs to get the whole roof looked at by a professional. Even I can see signs that it must be leaking. The trouble is: first, I don't think he'll do anything, and second, if he does, I fear he is an easy target for the unscrupulous. Still, I do what I can, and you can't live other people's lives for them.

The background task of the day is reviewing training material. Most of it is right, so the task is pretty unexciting.I make it more bearable by breaking it into reasonable sized chunks and taking breaks. The chunks have allowed me to sub-contract part of the task (hooray!) and also to monitor my progress. Somehow it's a bit more reassuring to be able to say (even to oneself), "1 scenario (chunk) complete out of 2", rather than "1 inch of paper done out of 2 inches".I think there must be some slightly dodgy psychology involved there. And I'm afraid I'm not kidding about the inches of paper. The pile of "stuff" I received was 4 inches thick (you may substitute the word of your choice in place of "stuff").

I wish I was looking at those bats!

No, this is not a description of my state of mind, rather it is a statement of fact (except I don't really have a belfry).

I was talking to my wife on the 'phone on Sunday evening and she told me that she had found a dead bat in a room (in the roof of our house) which we currently use as a store (until I get round to finishing the DIY). Naturally she was a bit concerned but thought that perhaps this was the explanation for some strange noises she had been hearing in that room. I have to admit I was both intrigued and mildly concerned. After all, there's not much I can do from this side of the Irish Sea.

Anyway, one cause for concern was that I know that bats are protected species (at least I knew that they were in the UK, and I know now that they are in Eire as well) and while I don't especially want them sharing my home, I don't want to get into any trouble either. A few minutes research on the internet got a couple of useful websites.

• http://www.bats.org.uk/
• http://www.iol.ie/~corkbatgroup/

My wife got in touch the the Cork Bat Group and their fellow said "we were priviledged" and that we probably had "pipistrelles". He was very reassuring about the harm they could do us (practically none) and advised that we may have a hundred or so guests living between the sarking felt and the tiles and probably have a "maternity roost" which will be vacated during the autumn. Once the occupants have left, then we are allowed to block the entrance (but I'm inclined to see if I can put up a "bat box" in the garden).

Following instructions, my wife went outside at sunset, and to her surprise counted 20 bats making an exit in about half-an-hour. She, like me, was astonished. I had expected a few, but if she counted 20, then an estimate of a hundred may not be unreasonable.

Anyway, that is certainly the most exciting thing to happen in the early part of this week. The rest has been spent reviewing (rather boring) documentation. So, I'm still looking for that follow-up engagement. If there is anyone looking for a Business Analyst in: Kanturk, Duhallow, Cork or Limerick, just drop me a line. Remember - "same bat-time, same bat-channel" (da-da, da-da, da-da, da-da, da-da, da-da, da-da, da-da, Batman!)

While my left hand is playing with Tkinter my right is trying to run a few simple test cases but the system isn't playing today and is giving lots of Corba errors.

And here is something which caught my eye http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts/3937039.stm
"A library of unwritten books".