Category: Technospeak

Connections – 15 August 2025

Posted on by Zogman

Scamp was out at FitSteps in the morning as is usual on a Friday.

After her exertions in the exercise class she went to meet Isabel for coffee. I can’t believe we’ve been calling her “Isobel” for years and nobody told us we were wrong, but as Scamp says, it’s not a thing we really think about. Anyway, apologies to Isabel.

Isabel was joined in the coffee shop by Shona and I was so glad to hear that. Two women blethering would have been bad, but three would just too much. Guys, just think of all that cross-talk going on for an hour or so!

<Technospeak>
While the ladies were blethering over coffee, I was worrying over the new iMac. I keep my Lightroom catalogs on an SSD, and I wanted to try making the catalog more versatile, so that it could be used on two computers at a time. I was worried that if I was swapping catalogs between computers, the data would get corrupted, especially if the two computer were running different OS versions. Eventually I decided to bite the bullet and try it. Surprisingly it worked perfectly. Another problem solved.
</Technospeak>

Eventually the ladies broke up. Isabel was going shopping and Scamp and Shona were heading to Broadwood Farm for lunch. Thankfully Scamp phoned me just as I was finish the test on the SSD catalog and I agreed to meet them at the restaurant. Restaurant is maybe too fancy a word for Broadwood Farm. It used to be pretty poor, but recently after a fair bit of upgrading, it had some better menus and decent food. Also, because I was not driving today, I could have a pint of Tennents!

Scamp had Fish ’n’ Chips and Shona had Mac ’n’ Cheese. I was the odd one out, not having a ’n’ meal. Instead I had a Traditional Carvery, which was a couple of slices of turkey, a Yorkshire Pudding, with a couple of chunks of ham. It was fine for what it was. The cauliflower cheese was a bit lumpy and the stuffing was made from cardboard, I think, but it filled a space.

Shona wanted some drinks to take to Ben and I wanted a box of mini ice lollies. Scamp drove Shona home and I walked back home. It was another warm day again. I’m getting used to this heat now, just as long as it doesn’t go mad and climb up into the mid 30s Centigrade.

PoD was another photo of a Red Admiral on what’s left of the white Buddleia bush. I think that might be the last of those flowers until next year DV.

Tomorrow we’re not going dancing in the morning, but may go to the evening dance.

Out early to speak to a Genius – 22 July 2025

Posted on by Zogman

I’d a 10.35am meeting with a genius. Not an everyday occurrence, but this was a problem solving mission and only an Apple Genius would do. Scamp, meanwhile went for a coffee in the Benugo cafe in JL.

After lugging my big heavy iMac to the Apple Store, I met a big friendly giant Genius who was going to sort out all my problems. He didn’t actually solve all the problems, but by watching carefully what he was doing I managed to remember the sequence he worked through to get the Desktop back and other stuff too. The rigamarole below took him about 10 seconds, but undid a lot of the damage last week’s outage had created. He seemed quite impressed that I was running the system on a couple of SSD drives and told me to connect the master drive to the new Mac if I was getting one and use it to enter all the complicated stuff for me. I didn’t want to tell him I’d done that about four or five times already over the years.

<Technospeak>

Find ‘System Settings’ from the Apple menu

Click on my name

Choose iCloud

Choose iCloud Drive and then ensure that the top two buttons are set to ON.

Done

I later found that I could also mess about with the bottom buttons too, but didn’t.

</Technospeak>

Packed up the big heavy iMac again and took it back to dump in the car, then I went to have a coffee with Scamp in the cafe and told her whole story.

We went down to the JL basement to look at fridges and freezers and fridge / freezers. Scamp found a few she liked and we made a shopping list of them, but we bumped into a very helpful salesperson who told us that JL have a cutprice sale of goods on the first Sunday of every month. I think we might be going there to see what they have. Just to finish off the morning, we bought a DIY fan, because it’s still quite warm and this big old fashioned fan will help to keep us cool.

PoD turned out to be a couple of Red Clover flowers. I found them during a walk round St Mo’s.

I was a bit disappointed with the amount of cleaning out I’ll need to do before the iMac is ready to give up it’s place at the table and meet the new challenger, but nothing is perfect in this life, as Scamp always reminds me.

Dinner was an M&S stir-fry. Not the best one I’ve ever had. Too sweet for me and Scamp didn’t like the Singapore noodles. I don’t think we’ll get that again.

Watched Bakeoff the Professionals tonight and wondered where they get the ideas for the challenges.

Tomorrow Scamp is intending to meet Shona for lunch. I think I may be ironing out more of the ‘puter problems.

 

 

Rail cards and Butterflies – 9 April 2025

Posted on by Zogman

Scamp was trying unsuccessful to solve a rail card problem on a dull Wednesday morning. Dull? Is this the end of the good weather?

She had purchased mine, and thought she’d cleared the hurdles put in place by Railcard.co.uk, but they didn’t like the way she’d done it. Allegedly she could fix the problem at any rail station, but that would only get her a one year, paper card (is that an oxymoron?), not the two year one she’s always had. The person in the ticket office suggested she phone Customer Services. So not the easy fix she was promised. We drove over to Tesco and got bread and milk and some odds and ends.

Back home Scamp phoned Customer Services and had to answer all the questions she’d answered yesterday. Name, Date of Birth, Address, Size of big toe (LEFT FOOT). You know what it’s like, we’ve all been there. Then the person she was speaking to, possibly in a different country, had to go and check with “Her Team” (she didn’t say if they wore Green shirts or Blue ones). Five minutes later she returned to say she had to complete the questionnaire again to pass on to the “Team” and someone would contact her within the usual ‘Ten Working Days’. It was all a bit of a faff. Why is life never easy?

With all that done, it was lunch time and that meant half a Ginsters for me and a piece ’n’ egg for Scamp, and the sun had returned to a blue sky. Later Scamp decided the sun was warm enough in the corner of the garden to sit outside and read. I put on my boots and went over to St Mo’s looking for Flora, Fauna, Animal or Insect life. I found no fauna, a very few flowers, but there were animal tracks and there was a Peacock butterfly, sunning itself on a log. So that was one insect in the bag (digitally). I took that as a sign to head for home.

Quick and easy dinner was Giovanni Rana pasta with olive oil and grated Parmesan.

The following description is for my reference, but feel free to read it if you’re interested.

I needed to transfer some of my photo files from the iMac to hard disk (NTFS). My iMac won’t read or write NTFS drives now – don’t know why. The MBP can read and write to NTFS. Here’s how I managed to ‘easily’ copy the files from iMac to the NTFS drive.

  1. Power up the iMac the NTFS drive and the MBP
  2. Ensure that the MBP can ’see’ the iMac
  3. Connect the NTFS drive to the MBP.
  4. Search the iMac for the NTFS drive on the MBP.
  5. Drag the files that I’m looking for from the MBP to the NTFS drive

If all is well, the MBP becomes the conduit between the iMac and the NTFS drive. Today it worked perfectly. About 15GB of data copied in just over 9 minutes. Happy Bunny!

PoD was the Peacock butterfly.

Tomorrow, I’m informed that we may need some ‘Messages’!

 

 

Oops I did it again – 3 December 2024

Posted on by Zogman

I blew up the computer again today. This time, knowingly.

First things first. Hazy got her belated birthday box today, delivered by Royal Mail a day late. That may be the last time we use this overprices but untrustworthy delivery company. Some poor bloke is intending to buy the Royal Mail. Good luck with that mate. Anyway, Hazy enjoyed her extended birthday! We had a good talk to her in the late afternoon.

It was a bright day for a change, but it looked cold outside in the morning so we just stayed inside looking out at it until lunch time when we were entertained by the local grey squirrel who was checking out all the local gardens, looking of anything it could eat.

After lunch I took the A7 out for a walk in St Mo’s and deliberately walked the long way round the house first to chase away the rat with the fluffy tail. I think also frightened the man at the corner of our block who was measuring up a neighbour’s garden for a new fence.

The good light had gone by the time I got to St Mo’s, but I did a walk round the pond to keep my step count up and took a few photos. I really need to get up and out early(ish) if I’m going to get any good light at all.

Scamp made a really delicious Fish Pie for dinner. Unlike Jackie’s fish pie with mashed potatoes on top, this one had sliced potatoes on top and a lighter sauce.  I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The PoD was intended to be Mr or Mrs Squirrel, but I blew up the computer again and it’s still struggling to get everything back into the big silver box, so the photos might not arrive until tomorrow. A bit like the Royal Mail.

I had decided to have one last try at installing the Paragon software, but for some reason the iMac wouldn’t restart after the installation. I’m guessing it’s because I’m running the show on an SSD and the software was designed to run on a ‘real’ computer. But because the internal hard drive of the iMac is junk, the SSD is a better choice.

The long term solution is a new iMac and although the prices can be eye watering, it’s my hobby, and I’m willing to pay for it. What I don’t want it to be is the constant struggle I’m having just now. At this moment the iMac is reinstalling the data from (yet) another SSD and will hopefully be finished in about an hour. Then I will let the whole thing cool down until we start the battle again tomorrow.

Hopefully we’ll get out tomorrow to get some potting compost and some pots for Scamp to take winter cuttings.

Happy Birthday Hazy (and the solution)

Posted on by Zogman

Scamp often complains about the amount of SSDs (Solid State Drives) that congregate round the iMac. Today the would prove a life saver.

<Tecnnospeak>
My solution was to format the drive that wouldn’t start yesterday and install a new clean operating system in it after downloading the OS from somewhere in California. Then I could copy a backup (Scamp complains about the number of backups I do too, but this is why I do it) into the once dead, but now cleaned out drive. The computer would then do all the surgical cutting and sewing together of the backup to the operating system.
</Tecnnospeak>

Long story short, it worked again. This is either the fourth or fifth time I’ve had to use this method. It took about four hours in total to fix things, but it worked. Thank you Andrew Tsai who was the first person who could explain in simple English who to do this incredibly difficult task.

As I said, the operation takes about four hours to complete, and since, once you’ve started, there is very little you can do except watch a white line crossing a black screen, I thought I’d make myself useful, since Scamp was off shopping in Tesco, and tidy up some of my room. It’s a work in progress, but I know I have to start somewhere. I can now find the carpet!

After Scamp returned and we’d had lunch we spoke to Hazy whose parcel hadn’t arrived in time for her birthday, today (Happy Birthday Hazy). We got to hear all the gory tales of picking bits of tooth out of her gums and the useful, but disgusting tasting salt water mouth washes she’s had to endure.

With just enough daylight left, I took my camera and a long lens and went for a walk in St Mo’s to concentrate on photography for a while. Today’’s PoD is a view across St Mo’s pond. I’ve taken that photo umpteen times, all for different reasons. Today’s reason was the colour in the sky and the reflections on the pond.
Yesterday’s PoD was a dried up weed looking as if it was struggling against the driving rain. One of those occasional showers we get driven along by a north wind, also taken in St Mo’s.

Tomorrow I’m looking forward to a less stressful day, if that’s possible.

Dull! – 29 November 2024

Posted on by Zogman

Scamp was out to the last FitSteps of the year. Stayed home and read more of The Black Loch.

When she returned from her exertions we filled a box with some of those plasticky things that look like white Cheesy Wotsits then put some bits of wood in and also some bolts and nuts to make the box look like it had something interesting inside before wrapping it up, taking it up to Tesco and posting it to someone as a little surprise. Probably not the surprise they were expecting. Just a little bit of fun!

In two weeks we’re hoping to last tea dance of the year and while we were in Tesco, Scamp tried to find me a Xmas jersey to wear at it. Most of them were awful, but I did find one I might pay money for. Only maybe though. I’ll see if the price will come down in the next few weeks.

With just enough light to see my way round St Mo’s, I took the A6500 and one lens for a walk. There wasn’t much of interest, except for a strange yellow glow in the sky from a very low sun. I clambered down a banking that led me down to the pond and got some shots from there of what looked like a bonfire being built in the pond. Surely not. After climbing back up, I was taking some photos of the reflections at the outfall from the pond when a gang of rowdy Mallards flew in and the shattered the peace. So I went home.

We watched another episode of Shetland and just when everything was looking a bit clearer, there was another twist in the story. I know we should have expected it, but there’s always a cliff hanger in these stories.

That was about it for today. Not a lot to report, really.

We might need an earlier rise tomorrow because the politburo at Brookfield need time to set up a Xmas Fayre.

 

At The Fort – 26 November 2024

Posted on by Zogman

We drove to The Fort today. Our main aim can’t be divulged yet, but it was partly successful.

Scamp messaged Hazy in the morning to see how here mouth was. The reply was that she “slept ok. Her face was a bit swollen, but not too sore.” We were both glad to hear that.

We drove home via Tesco to get some veg for dinner and a carton of milk. Such an exciting day. Then it was home for lunch. First I was reminded that we need the boiler serviced, so I phoned the local heating engineers and got an appointment for the middle of December. Another thing  to tick off the ToDo list.

After lunch Scamp was intending to phone Jackie, so I put my boots on and went over to St Mo’s on a cold but sunny day to get some photos with the 16-35mm lens on the A7iii. One of them became PoD. I liked the colour of the light and the low viewpoint that had me crawling along the boardwalk. I thought the council plan to cut channels into the reedbeds and the marshy areas was going to be a disaster, but after a couple of years they have become a haven for ducks and the occasional swan. Also they are sheltered from the wind and create great reflections. For once I say “well done” to the council.

By the time I got back, the telephone conversation had finished and it was time to chop up the veg to make Butternut Squash Soup which would be the main course of tonight’s dinner. Scamp made custard that went so well with the apple tart of a couple of days ago.

We watched the final of The Great British Bakeoff. I got the winner totally wrong, but I think Scamp backed the right horse.

A quick practise of the new Quickstep that we’re hoping to unveil on Thursday at a tea dance. Still a few rough edges to remove, but effectively it’s there.

We may go shopping tomorrow and hopefully there will be enough for a quorum at the British Legion for the last waltz of the year!

No Snow – 24 November 2024

Posted on by Zogman

When I woke around 6am yesterday’s snow had disappeared. All of it, just gone!

The rain during the night must have been torrential because there was no sign of the snow that was still lying when I went to bed last night. The temperature had risen during the night, but not significantly, so it must have been the rain. It’s a strange climate we live in these days. I blame Global Warming … and Kier Starmer.

It was a usual Sunday. Solved Wordle in four and found the Pangram. Struggled a bit with Angry Birds, but completed the day’s test. What Now? Well, there was the Las Vegas F1 GP to watch and we did watch Verstappen collect his fourth championship in a row.

Scamp decided that there was too much sitting around going on and we needed to get out and go for a walk. If that walk also mean shopping, then so much the better. So that’s what we did. We walked down to The Shops. Not a soul had moved their cars, but I shouldn’t complain, because we hadn’t moved ours either.
We picked some veg and fruit and a bag of Jam Donuts, then we headed back up the hill. Scamp offered to take the message bag home if I wanted to go for a walk in St Mo’s. I took up her offer.

Almost immediately I found my PoD. It’s just a man-made hill that creates the start for the BMX track. I used a low angle and a wide angle lens to make it look even higher. I knew you’d like to know that!
Not a lot of interest to see today and the wind from Storm Bert was beginning to ramp up. Plus there were jam donuts waiting for me!

Back home it was lunch time and today dumpling was the star. Scamp had Egg and Dumpling, I did too, but I added a slice of bacon to it. It’s the saltiness of the bacon with the sweetness of the dumpling I like. The jam donut was lovely too with a cup of coffee.

Both Scamp and I were baking today. She was making an Apple Tart and I was making Bread. It’s a long time since I’ve made bread and it showed with the strange football shaped loaf that came out of the oven. Too much butter and a dough that was too wet. Scamp’s apple tart was delicious with the crisp shortcrust pastry.

We spoke to Jamie later had heard that he is safety officer for his office at work and they are being inspected this week. I know how you feel, Jamie. I’ve been there and done that and came out of it alive. You will too.

Storm Bert is blundering around outside the window and will be doing so until about midday tomorrow, all being well. I don’t like wild wind, so I think I’ll just go to bed and read for a while before I go to sleep.

Another fairly early rise – 21 November 2024

Posted on by Zogman

Well, it was before midday. That’s early for us.

Scamp had managed to get an appointment to see the doctor about the tremor in her right hand. After examining her and checking her arm movement he told her to make an appointment to get some blood tests done, to rule out the possibility that it was her meds that were causing the tremor. Luckily we managed to get an appointment in the afternoon to get the blood letting done.

I also spoke to one of the receptionists about the results of the ECG I had done last month and found out it was normal, which is good. It must be the first time I’ve been described as ‘normal’. I’m not sure if that’s a compliment or a slur! You’ll be happy, Neil. You were the one who convinced Scamp to set a date to get some awkward things done we both used “Neil’s Rule” today

Back home it was coffee time and also time for a slice of dumpling. A dumpling Scamp had made yesterday. Partly cooked in the slow cooker and partly nuked in the microwave. The smell yesterday was a powerful reminder of ‘clootie’ dumplings my mum used to make by tying the mixture up in a cotton tea towel and then boiling the dumpling in the pressure cooker, the biggest pot she had. I never liked the thick skin on the dumplings, but I do now. Isn’t it funny how your tastes change as you get older.

Scamp had a piece ’n’ egg for lunch and I had a smoked fillet of mackerel. It was lovely at the time, but it does repeat quite a lot and comes back on you, tasting more and more oily every time. I’ll maybe give it a miss the next time I’m looking for something ‘different’ for lunch.

I went for a walk in St Mo’s but couldn’t find anything interesting to photograph, then as I was about to walk home I saw today’s PoD through the trees. Someone managed to push a shopping trolley about half way across St Mo’s pond. The ice on the pond isn’t really very thick, but the water underneath is at least waist deep and very cold. Maybe the contents of the empty bottle gave them Dutch courage to try this dangerous game.
Don’t try this at home kiddies!

No snow yet here, but we are getting worrying weather warnings for Friday and Saturday. Maybe someone should tell the weather fairies that it’s still Autumn and not Winter for more than a week.

No FitSteps this week because the teacher has a bad cold. I think Scamp may be intending to meet Isobel for coffee at Costa.

 

 

Finding space – 18 July 2024

Posted on by Zogman

It started in the morning when Scamp said that the blog wasn’t loading. An hour and a few quid later it was fixed.

<Technospeak>
Long story short, the problem with the blog appeared to be a lack of storage space on the Namecheap server. When I tried last night to install a WordPress update. It stalled and glitched upgrade, but more than that, it appeared to damage something. After an hour on a help-chat line I upgraded my 20GB of storage to 50GB. That should keep the wheels turning for a while.
That took care of the morning, but of course, I was now on a different server with a different address and I had to change the host name in all my email addresses. Not an onerous task.
</Technospeak>

Once I was back in again and the emails were working, Scamp suggested a walk to the shops would be good, so that’s what we did. As has almost been traditional after a walk to the shops, I carried the bag halfway home and Scamp carried it the rest while I went for a walk around St Mo’s. After about four years using the Sony A7 camera series I’d found another tweak that while not exactly guaranteeing a sharp, in focus shot every time, at least gives you a fighting chance. No need to explain it to you, but let’s just say it works. That’s what I was using today to get the PoD of a Crane Fly or a Jenny Long Legs to give it its proper Scottish name!

Back home Scamp made a prawn stir fry and it was really delicious. Meanwhile I bagged the stew and let it rest in the fridge.

It wasn’t the brightest of days. Still clammy but with a bit of a breeze, which made it more pleasant.  Maybe a couple of notches down from the unpleasant heat we’ve been having recently.

After the blog problem from the morning, I’ve been feeling washed out today and I’m hoping to get to bed before midnight. I expect you understood most of that jargon Hazy and I’m equally sure you passed it by Jamie.

Scamp is intending to go to FitSteps tomorrow while I stay home and do some tidying up.