That (below) was, as I said, the main reason for neglecting my blog.
One other reason is releated to the fact that I've finally ditched Windows.
It's taken some doing, and it hasn't been an unmitigated success, of which more later, but the deed is now done.
About a million years ago, I used to have a Commodore Amiga, and whilst I was by no means ever a "techie", I used to have a bit of an idea what I was doing.
Then, after a about 10 or 12 years, Commodore finally pulled the rug out from underneath the Amiga community.
I think they actually went bust, but old Amiga fans will know that they were pretty unspectacular when it came to promoting the BEST home PC of the time, and if they were similarly proficient elsewhere in the business... well p***-ups and breweries come to mind.
But all that was a lo-o-o-ong time ago, and after getting some old gear from work, I knew I would one day replace the average and grossly over-priced OS from the Microsoft stable.
You see, not only was I an Amiga owner, but I'm also a Yorkshireman... and we are, shall we say... er... frugal.
In the dim and distant past was PD, or public domain software, which was available for all kind of games, tools, games, applications, games, creative software, games and indeed, if you looked hard enough, even games.
This was all written by spotty 15 year-olds with a degree in high-level programming from the University of Sitting-in-me-bedroom-24-hours-a-day, and it kept well-adjusted types like mesen* off the streets for longer than was necessarily healthy.
I mean, I could program a bit, but these guys were a godsend to the thrifty.
Of course, you pay a gazillion dollars just for the honour of having MS software fail as if not more often than other software, and I certainly wasn't prepared to fund the Seattle elite any more than I had to.
(Let's just be fair here and applaud Mr. Gates for his genuine philanthropy, which should be recognised and appreciated, but let's not forget, he does own the world, or something!)
So, back to my OS... I knew I was ditching and also the jungle drums suggested that if you ain't gonna buy an AppleMac (Yorkshireman Alert!!!) then why not go Open Source.
LINUX!!!
So, I got myself a set of Mandrake CDs (rather than download on 56K dial-up) and took the plunge.
And then panicked on the installation when it said; you're about to wipe everything - press yes to blow up the world, or something along those lines.
I persevered with Windows for a few more weeks, while in the meantime dusting off some of those long-forgotten brain cells that used to know a bit about computers, and tried to get the lowdown on Linux.
Then, about three weeks before Christmas I came across a Linux Format magazine that came with Red Hat Fedora 6 and step-by-step instructions on loading.
Not only that, but you could initially set up a dual-boot system, in case you forgot to archive something.
So... me and my good lady set a couple of hours aside, and started this new installation...
Only to find out that I hadn't got enough partition space for dual boot, and couldn't remember my admin accesses to change the settings!!!
I HAD to over-write.
GULP!
OK, get everything saved off that I'm likely to want to keep...
Done...
Attempt three.
We did it... we got there... we filled in some of the missing steps in the step-by-step instructions, and hey presto... new Linux OS!!!
Whoopee!!!
Er... hang on... my modem doesn't work.
Turns out, it wasn't a real modem, but a WinModem.
After a bit of swotting, a trip to PC World was called for, and fair dos, they lined me up with a Linux compatibale modem.
Which I plugged in... and... nothing.
For three days I wracked over this, before it finally occurred to me I had entered the wrong phone number!!!
Finally, finally, finally, I put everything right, and as you can see by these two recent posts, I'm back online.
But, as I said... is wasn't a wholly unmitigated success.
I distinctly remember save all my birding database records off as spreadsheets... but I don't as distinctly remember copying them to CD.
Either I've lost the CD... or... erm, oops... I've lost my data.
I fear it's the latter!
Ah well...
Oh yeah... and that same "CD" is the one my email address book is on... so to any of my buddies who read this, and still have my email address... would you kindly send me a message so I can get going again.
Technology... dont'cha jus' love it!
* for the non-Yorkshire fluent, this = myself
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
In the family way.
Hmmm... s'been a while hasn't it!
Well the intervening break was caused as much by lack of inspiration as anything else, but also the nights began to draw in, got busy (well busiER) at work, other things came up, yada yada yada... you know the routine.
I heard something on the radio recently suggesting that there are [insert number here] billion dormant blogs cluttering up the old tinterweb thingy, and figured I ought to spring mine back into life.
So, what's been a-happenin'?
First of all, well, in fact most of all, I caught genealogy.
It's something I've fancied doing for a while (I mean for years and years) but never really knew how and where to start, nor managed to get into gear.
The first series of "Who Do You Think You Are?" got me thinking again... but not acting. However the second series was the spur.
Actually, that's not strictly correct. It is true that directly after watching episode one (Barbara Windsor) I just upped myself off the sofa and hit the old cybervault, but that was just the initial kick up the backside.
After forking out for some credits (the main thing that stopped me in the past) the first thing I did was to check the "Who lived at your address 100 years ago?" list.
Oh... OK, no-one did as our house has only been around for 5 years or so, but I racked my brains for previous addresses that were good candidates. That drew a blank also, but my thoughts turned to my maternal grandparents.
A little insight here... family tree research is a little tricky for me, as there is something of a lack of rellies upon whom I can rely for snippets of information.
Both my parents died some time ago (although my mother during here life was helpful in a typically backhanded sort of a way... she was great - mums just are - but she was a funny woman!) all my grandparents are likewise departed, and although both my parents had a supply of siblings, they are either similarly unavailable for comment, or else difficult to speak to.
I admit that last barrier is somewhat self-inflicted as I am naturally shy with people I don't know well (some of you will understand not knowing family well!) and also... well, it would be too strong to say I am the black-sheep, but there was a particular time when I didn't tow the family-line, shall we say.
OK... I changed my name.
Didn't go down well in some quarters!
So... what do I have to go on.
First of all, the family myth that I am descended from Oliver Cromwell.
As a member of a large internet forum, I was finally in a position to put that to the test by the simple expedient of asking.
Turns out my mum's maiden name was Ireson, and that was somehow Cromwell's name.
Well, the myth was not immediately shattered, but a fairly sizable blow was struck, though some light was cast.
Cromwell's sister married Henry Ireton (not Ireson) - well did mum say Ireson or Ireton?
Sure enough, my maternal grandmother's death is registered under the name Ireton, so the myth has legs?
Well, no... it seems that a) that was the only time the name Ireton was used, she was born Ireson, and b) Mr. and Ms. Cromwell were "without issue".
Hey ho, there you go.
Who's up for reporting "a)" to the family?
Anyway, back to who lived where 100 years ago. Well as I type "100" years ago is actually 105 and a half years ago - that is to say, the 1901 census.
Neither of my maternal grandparents were born then, but maybe my ggps lived there???
Er, no...
But up the street, lived someone I was able to form a link to... that's what really got me hooked!
When we used to visit my gps, we very occasionally would visit someone unknown to me (I was about 6) "up the street".
Well according to the 1901 census, there was a household up the street with the same surname as my grandfather (not unusual) but with a couple of lodgers, one of whom was the brother-in-law of the grandfather-like-named "head" of the household, with the same two forenames as mum's dad (VERY unusual!).
I have no documentary evidence (yet) as definitive proof, but I will hang every hat I have on that being the ggps.
Oh... one other nugget of information provided by my mother. My middle name is "Christopher", and I was so named after "Uncle Jack, who everyone called John, but whose real name was Percy". I kid you not.
Yep... Percy was alive and kicking in that household in 1901.
And from there, I've been able to go back about 5 generations. Pretty cool!
On my dad's side, I had almost zero information, other than his mum's name was "Annie" and where she came from.
Even so... back about 8 gens there to the late 1700s.
Not discovered any potential inheritance yet, though!
Anyway, while we're at it, I might as well regale you with the latest piece of emabarrassing behaviour that's causing amusement amongst various family members with whom I am still on speaking terms.
I was showing my daughter what I'd done, and she asked if we could search for her mum (my ex).
I said OK...
Right you have to get in my head a bit here, but go with it.
Ah... but mum wasn't born in the UK, so she won't be on... OK marriage to new hubby... ah, no, they got married in the US, so they won't be on... oh, but was that just a celebration and the legal wedding happened in Britain?
Let's have a look...
Ah... there she is look, marriage registration!
Hang on... that says 1987? Daughter born in 1990...
"Who in earth was your mum married to before you were born??? Oh... that'll be me!"
!!!
That last bit I actually said out loud, and as I recall, my daughter actually held here head in her hands.
She's proud of me.
Well the intervening break was caused as much by lack of inspiration as anything else, but also the nights began to draw in, got busy (well busiER) at work, other things came up, yada yada yada... you know the routine.
I heard something on the radio recently suggesting that there are [insert number here] billion dormant blogs cluttering up the old tinterweb thingy, and figured I ought to spring mine back into life.
So, what's been a-happenin'?
First of all, well, in fact most of all, I caught genealogy.
It's something I've fancied doing for a while (I mean for years and years) but never really knew how and where to start, nor managed to get into gear.
The first series of "Who Do You Think You Are?" got me thinking again... but not acting. However the second series was the spur.
Actually, that's not strictly correct. It is true that directly after watching episode one (Barbara Windsor) I just upped myself off the sofa and hit the old cybervault, but that was just the initial kick up the backside.
After forking out for some credits (the main thing that stopped me in the past) the first thing I did was to check the "Who lived at your address 100 years ago?" list.
Oh... OK, no-one did as our house has only been around for 5 years or so, but I racked my brains for previous addresses that were good candidates. That drew a blank also, but my thoughts turned to my maternal grandparents.
A little insight here... family tree research is a little tricky for me, as there is something of a lack of rellies upon whom I can rely for snippets of information.
Both my parents died some time ago (although my mother during here life was helpful in a typically backhanded sort of a way... she was great - mums just are - but she was a funny woman!) all my grandparents are likewise departed, and although both my parents had a supply of siblings, they are either similarly unavailable for comment, or else difficult to speak to.
I admit that last barrier is somewhat self-inflicted as I am naturally shy with people I don't know well (some of you will understand not knowing family well!) and also... well, it would be too strong to say I am the black-sheep, but there was a particular time when I didn't tow the family-line, shall we say.
OK... I changed my name.
Didn't go down well in some quarters!
So... what do I have to go on.
First of all, the family myth that I am descended from Oliver Cromwell.
As a member of a large internet forum, I was finally in a position to put that to the test by the simple expedient of asking.
Turns out my mum's maiden name was Ireson, and that was somehow Cromwell's name.
Well, the myth was not immediately shattered, but a fairly sizable blow was struck, though some light was cast.
Cromwell's sister married Henry Ireton (not Ireson) - well did mum say Ireson or Ireton?
Sure enough, my maternal grandmother's death is registered under the name Ireton, so the myth has legs?
Well, no... it seems that a) that was the only time the name Ireton was used, she was born Ireson, and b) Mr. and Ms. Cromwell were "without issue".
Hey ho, there you go.
Who's up for reporting "a)" to the family?
Anyway, back to who lived where 100 years ago. Well as I type "100" years ago is actually 105 and a half years ago - that is to say, the 1901 census.
Neither of my maternal grandparents were born then, but maybe my ggps lived there???
Er, no...
But up the street, lived someone I was able to form a link to... that's what really got me hooked!
When we used to visit my gps, we very occasionally would visit someone unknown to me (I was about 6) "up the street".
Well according to the 1901 census, there was a household up the street with the same surname as my grandfather (not unusual) but with a couple of lodgers, one of whom was the brother-in-law of the grandfather-like-named "head" of the household, with the same two forenames as mum's dad (VERY unusual!).
I have no documentary evidence (yet) as definitive proof, but I will hang every hat I have on that being the ggps.
Oh... one other nugget of information provided by my mother. My middle name is "Christopher", and I was so named after "Uncle Jack, who everyone called John, but whose real name was Percy". I kid you not.
Yep... Percy was alive and kicking in that household in 1901.
And from there, I've been able to go back about 5 generations. Pretty cool!
On my dad's side, I had almost zero information, other than his mum's name was "Annie" and where she came from.
Even so... back about 8 gens there to the late 1700s.
Not discovered any potential inheritance yet, though!
Anyway, while we're at it, I might as well regale you with the latest piece of emabarrassing behaviour that's causing amusement amongst various family members with whom I am still on speaking terms.
I was showing my daughter what I'd done, and she asked if we could search for her mum (my ex).
I said OK...
Right you have to get in my head a bit here, but go with it.
Ah... but mum wasn't born in the UK, so she won't be on... OK marriage to new hubby... ah, no, they got married in the US, so they won't be on... oh, but was that just a celebration and the legal wedding happened in Britain?
Let's have a look...
Ah... there she is look, marriage registration!
Hang on... that says 1987? Daughter born in 1990...
"Who in earth was your mum married to before you were born??? Oh... that'll be me!"
!!!
That last bit I actually said out loud, and as I recall, my daughter actually held here head in her hands.
She's proud of me.
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