the bus blog

A week ago I took the next plunge into geekdom and got an iPhone. My overall impression is that its great, even though there are still a few flaws with the software (it hangs and its slow). The best use I’ve got for it - other than the standard email / web / blah - is the Remote application (Link - will open iTunes). Remote allows the iPhone to control iTunes, which in itself is pretty spectacular, however adding an AirPort Express to the mix makes it the best thing ever. Seriously.

The AirPort Express allows you to play music from iTunes wirelessly. This results in the ability to play your entire music collection on the stereo you connect the AirPort Express to - while controlling it with your iPhone.

There is a decent setup guide at LifeHacker which tells you everything you need to know to set this up. One thing that LifeHacker didn’t get entirely correct is the part regarding the access point - you only need WDS support if you want the AirPort Express to extend the range of your network. I’m using the router Sky sent me (some Sky branded Netgear thing) with no configuration changes and its working fine.

The next part of the challenge is scrubbing my MP3 collection and finding a decent low power device to stream it.

That’s going to be the new title of this blog, for a number of reasons:

• I think I’m going to have to sell my bus;
• I talk crap most of the time;
• I work in the metal packaging (can making) industry.

I’ve actually registered the domain, but wont be moving the blog there just yet, I’ve not actually decided if I’ll move it at all. If I do I’ll be sure to do it correctly this time!

So, what am I going to write on this blog? Well, I think the best way for me to stick to it and convey something marginally meaningfully is to have a strict-ish topic list that my posts must fall into:

• Travel, writing about places I’ve been to. I’m travelling quite a lot so it would be nice to record something about it and the places;
• Technology - PHP/VB.NET/Linux - what I’m interested in, this is a loose one but I’ve got some projects in the pipeline…

I’m also going to be working on a new design for the site - I don’t really like the default WordPress layout so that’s something that will hopefully appear soon.

Here we go - it doesn’t look too impressive now I look at it. But remember that’s only 5 months in the job. Maybe next time I’ll have to zoom out a bit!

I’ve been at home for the last two weeks so I’ve had a chance to sort out a few things that have been building up. I’ve also figured out Xen, just in time as it turns out - but that’s another post!

I’ve been a bit remiss when this blog is concerned - I always have been. Even though I keep telling myself I should post more often I never seem to ‘have time’. And looking back at the last 5 months that’s partially excusable - I’ve been on 12 trips in total, 6 of them overseas. That doesn’t sound like much but when 8 of them have been in the last 10 weeks it makes more sense.

So what is it like, all that travelling? Well, its interesting for a start. Its great to see new Countries and ‘ways of life’. Its good meeting new people and trying to find common ground. Its also horrible being away from home - even if it is only for a few days at a time.

There are, however, perks that come with the job. Apparently I’ve been paid (partially expenses) a decent sum of money for my 12 trips, where that extra money has gone I have no idea! I’ve managed to get a ‘flights only’ holiday for my girlfriend in Italy - and a pretty good few days away for myself! So all in, after 5 months I’m feeling a lot better about the job than I was in January. Only time will tell if I can keep up for the next 19ish months!

I’m playing with Google Earth - adding the places I’ve visited to a map, so I’ll take a screen shot of that and post it. It would be nice to have some sort of dynamic way of accessing that kind of information - ‘Places I’ve been’ - it probably does exist somewhere, I just cant find it.

Unfortunately while I was away this week my home computer (with Google Earth on) seems to have died :(. So that’s the first order of business now I’m back.

Anyway - I’m going to try to update this more often, so here goes!

In one of my biggest online gaffs to-date, when I moved this blog from http://craddy.swdl.org to http://swdl.org I forgot about redirecting RSS feeds. That’s hopefully now been fixed - so if you’re reading this as a first post for a very very long time then that’s why!

If anyone’s interested this is how you can redirect a whole domain / sub-domain:


Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine on

RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www.swdl.org [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.swdl.org/$1 [R=301,L]

Obviosly change swdl.org to the domain you want to re-direct to and place the above in a .htaccess file in the source domain / sub-domain.

I’ve been scanning in some photos my Grandfather took during the second world war, and some of them are absolutly amazing. I’ve added them all to Flickr - but here are a few of my favorite’s.

I’m not really sure of the history of my Grandfather in the war, I seem to remember hearing he was in the Marines but I don’t know any more than that. I’m going to talk to my Grandmother (his wife) about it and try to find some records from the archives.

Last weekend took me to Westonbirt - its supposedly one of the best arboretums in the area. I say supposedly, its the first one I’ve ever been to so I don’t have much to compare it to. Its was interesting, and absolutely packed. I imagined an arboretum to be a peaceful, quiet calm place - which it would have been if it wasn’t for the thousands of other people their noisy children and crazy dogs. Saying all that it was nice, we took both cameras and took some interesting photos. I’ve created a Flickr account, and I’ve uploaded the photos we took on Sunday. Here are a few from the set.

More Here.

Here it is! Unbelievably fun to drive, I didn’t think it would be as much fun as it is. There’s no point in writing some sort of a review of the car - its fantastic to drive. Its not as fast as I thought it might be but in ‘the twisties’ it makes up for its lack (140bhp) of power.

I’m probably going to change the tyres soonish as the fronts are unheard of and don’t inspire confidence, and I’d really like to get a roll bar fitted but funds are the limiting factor on that.

I’ve not added anything here for a long time. I’ve got a few things I’m working on that will be published in the coming weeks. In the time since I last posed my results came in, at just over 80% I got a first class degree - with honors! I’ve also just bought a Mazda MX5, and will be picking it up tomorrow, so photos when I get it!

Yes, for the first time in my life I’m suffering with hay fever, and it sucks! The kind of thought that usually runs through my mind when I hear people complaining about hay fever, or allergies as Americans call it, is something along the lines of “get over it“. But it really is very crap, like the thought of having a bad cold that might not go away for a few months…

In addition to this my Sky+ remote stopped working, not a huge deal you might say, and I’d say your right - unless you want to watch a recorded program. To do this - a fairly major part of the Sky+thing - you need to press the green button, which doesn’t exist on the box itself! I did find a work around, by pressing the play button twice you’ll play what seems to be a random recoreded program, from this pressing the ‘back up’ button you’ll get to the list of recorded programs, where you can select whatever you want to watch. This is simple enough - but surely its an oversight on the part of Sky, or whoever designed the box / interface? If any of the people behind Sky see this then sort it out!