Randy Pausch died today

I just caught a post on Rob Bushway's personal blog saying that Randy Pausch
died on Thursday.

That was the day I found out I will have a job still in September.

That is life a mixture of the good and the bad.

Here is the Scientific American item on it

Quiet but productive day

Bit of a thoughtful day today.  Most of the staff where I am based went off to a union meeting.

 

I always enjoy it when the building is quiet, as I get more done, but today was even more effective.  I made a start on revamping my CV, downloaded some advice on the topic and had a skim of the local job adverts. 

 

Also gave me the chance to reflect on what I had done and what I want to do in the future.  I have a week away soon and this will give me an opportunity to mull as well.  Not knowing what's happening with me is a little unsettling as neither my current charity nor the new one are willing to commit to anything in writing at present.  I am retaining my optimism which is very comforting, given so many others who have had a commitment are unsettled or negative even.  I try to lift spirits by example.

 

Worse things happen at sea as they say.

 

Another advantage of the quiet time was that it coincided with a Web Conference on Windows Live meeting about using BT Conferencing for web collaboration.  I joined in via conference call and web site, since the desktop I used was locked to application install.  I enjoyed it and the timing to suit Europe helped (it started at 11.30am GMT).  The saddest part was my, out of character, reluctance to ask a question live; it meant I missed out on a $400 prize, given to the first person who called in their question rather than type in a question from the web.  Hey ho.

 

Just typing then posting this before heading off to bed.

Times when I wish I was in London No.1

Times when I wish I was in London No.1
Originally uploaded by Phil(hellene).

The Journal and BBC iPlayer in harmony - typing on the HP 2710p

The Journal and BBC iPlayer in harmony - typing on the HP 2710p
Originally uploaded by Phil(hellene).

Well, I think that I may have gotten over the novice Tablet user hump. It's
what I refer to the fascination with handwritten composition on the my first
Tablet PC to the near exclsuion of all else. Since getting this HP 2710p in
November I have used it in Tablet mode with pen for input for, let's say, 40
hours per week (well, I don't use it for more than a few hours a day at
work) and maybe 1 hour in keyboard mode - seriously, that little. I have
had a Pocket PC that let me write but it didn't allow me to do as much as
easily as this HP.

These last couple of days I have started typing with the keyboard and, in
doing so, I think I may have found a killer use. I have a wide screen on
this computer which I love for giving me the equivalent of an A4 page when
working in portrait mode, my preferred orientation for pen input; Today I
set up the journal programme with the BBC iPlayer along side and this meant
I could catch up on watching stuff while being able to write a journal and
also blog. I'm really excited by this as I have been distracted on a number
of occasions from writing by the watching of web content.

We managed to carry out our sponsored walk today, postponed from when I was first struck down with strep throat or whatever you'd like to call it.

It was a good day to go walking. The sky was a split between blue over the village and white cumulus clouds over the neighbouring one, half and half for our walk. Combined with the trees that line much of the walk we were cool and comfortable most of the way around.

There was just one downside to what was a very pleasant walk and that was the number of people who refused to respond when we greeted them in passing. The main culprits were cyclists, given that cycling was not supposed to be done through the Woods they were already on dodgy ground in my book.

On the way back we encountered the gigs racing at Porthleven Gig Day. I only just managed to get a shot of the gigs in the harbour as they were already heading in as we approached the harbour. My phone went flat as we entered the village because I had been using Location Tagger to tag the photos i took on the way around Penrose Woods.

As the first full day out for me since getting poorly and, while I got around without any problems, I do feel tired now. We were off to the cinema to see the latest Narnia film but will do that tomorrow. Cathy has gone upstairs to lounge on the bed and catch up on Deal or No Deal streamed from Channel 4's catch up website using the Lenovo Thinkpad (we refer to it now as her computer). I am writing this using The Journal programme,(actually typing on the HP 2710p, because watching and writing seems to work best in landscape on this widescreen. I am watching BBC programmes, Sun Sea and Bargain Spotting currently, I have downloaded previously. I have taken to downloading programmes to cover for times when Cathy is streaming programmes, my BT connection is currently 1.5MB - not a lot in some people's book but it works for me most of the time. Next year the exchange is going to upgrade and allow much more speed but I am not complaining.

Now to send this to the blog from The Journal. Posting photos didn't work earlier but text is fine, (I reaquainted myself with blogging via email and Flickr earlier today, that works well with text and photos).

The Journal programme a quick peek

The Journal programme a quick peek
Originally uploaded by Phil(hellene).

tr keep trying to write in One Note but it in still an information gathering place for me. I hope I can do better with a dedicated writing programme.

This is something new to try to both encourage me to write and blog on a more regular basis than I do now.

This is being produced in a programme called The Journal ( http://www.davidrm.com/thejournal/ ). As it's name suggests the programme is designed to act as an aid to journaling. One of the features is a calendar layout that tracks and stores entries by date; I hope that this will help to highlight when I have not made an entry for a while. I am not unrealistic enough to think that it will get me blogging everyday.

I have hopes that it will encourage general writing as well and is at least an improvement being a tool for writing rather than just another book. This is a programme I will only use for writing so hope that it will also encourage me to concentrate on the one thing.

I am using ritePen to enter text as it gives me the flexibility to write anywhere on this tablet screen, just like on my Pocket PC, which I have really enjoyed using.

This is a test to ensure I have setup the Journal to post to my blog.

What do I want to do?

BBC iPlayer has had a makeover and it looks mighty fine

A few minutes with my hero

The late great physicist Richard Feynman

I am nothing but in awe of Richard Feynman.

How much would we have advanced, if only we could have bottled such passion or been blessed with more years in his company.

The above link brings a podcast of an interview with Richard Feynman.

Thanks to RobiNZ for the heads-up.