geeky – T E Shepherd https://shepline.com author | illustrator | digital designer Fri, 08 Nov 2013 18:39:00 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0.4 https://shepline.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/cropped-shepline-white-on-green-square_512-32x32.jpg geeky – T E Shepherd https://shepline.com 32 32 Productivity, and the mutually beneficial relationship https://shepline.com/2013/11/07/productivity-and-the-mutually-beneficial-relationship/ https://shepline.com/2013/11/07/productivity-and-the-mutually-beneficial-relationship/#respond Thu, 07 Nov 2013 17:45:50 +0000 http://journal.shepline.com/?p=5754 Today has been a highly productive day at work in which I have refreshed our faculty/departmental news pages with a new look to manage the new design (okay, its about nine months old already…) of the main website. The news pages for one reason or another are hosted in a WordPress install and so a certain amount of wordpress-fudgery has been required…

I wouldn’t say I was a highly experienced or adept WordPress designer but I have learnt a thing or two about how it works over the years, and I do have all number of instances of it working in various ways in my main work, my freelance, and personal life. Today, I was able to bring all of these influences together to fix the faculty news pages quickly. It was just an added bonus that in doing so I was also able to solve a problem on both this personal blog, and the Abingdon Concert Band website.

]]> https://shepline.com/2013/11/07/productivity-and-the-mutually-beneficial-relationship/feed/ 0 On the seventeeth day of advent: first thoughts of the Kindle Fire https://shepline.com/2012/12/17/on-the-seventeeth-day-of-advent-first-thoughts-of-the-kindle-fire/ https://shepline.com/2012/12/17/on-the-seventeeth-day-of-advent-first-thoughts-of-the-kindle-fire/#respond Mon, 17 Dec 2012 23:07:00 +0000 http://journal.shepline.com/?p=2359 So, in the last week I have entered the world of the tablet computers with the reasonably priced Kindle Fire HD.

Basically I love it. I do have two slight gripes with it. One, the battery life. It’s advertised as 10 hours but I’ve needed to give it a charge once every day. Two, its very much a web-enabled device and works brilliantly as such but needs to be tweeked and fiddled with to make it useful as a standalone. It’s also not currently possible to connect a camera or external memory card to the device (although I’m sure this will become possible in time).

From first connection it is very easy to setup, and the screen is brilliantly clear. It’s also based on the android operating system so most android apps work with it, and of course it syncs brilliantly with my ‘proper’ kindle.

With the addition the a stylus pen and the full Word-like app I am able to load my novels onto it and edit them complete with track changes which is going to be a bonus. You can even install Flash Player and a neat browser called Dolphin in order to access more Flash rich web content.

So far, I’m impressed. Very impressed. Oh, and I might have become just a little bit obsessed with Angry Birds…

]]> https://shepline.com/2012/12/17/on-the-seventeeth-day-of-advent-first-thoughts-of-the-kindle-fire/feed/ 0 On the third day of advent… https://shepline.com/2012/12/03/on-the-third-day-of-advent/ https://shepline.com/2012/12/03/on-the-third-day-of-advent/#respond Mon, 03 Dec 2012 23:29:00 +0000 http://journal.shepline.com/?p=2335 …and I struggle to comprehend why only 2 out of 20 items in an ePub table of contents link through to their respective chapters. The other 18 are tagged in precisely the same way so… I not understand.

I would like to apologise for the unahamedly geeky nature of this post, but its what’s going through my mind at the moment. Normal, festive, joy will resume shortly.

]]> https://shepline.com/2012/12/03/on-the-third-day-of-advent/feed/ 0 The Theory Vindicated https://shepline.com/2012/02/14/the-theory-vindicated/ https://shepline.com/2012/02/14/the-theory-vindicated/#respond Tue, 14 Feb 2012 15:08:00 +0000 http://journal.shepline.com/?p=2029 I feel vindicated in the theory put forward yesterday. After assistance yesterday setting up the technical side of the new webserver, today I more or less, single-handedly got all my websites that currently operate on two failing servers working on a new server. It’s remakable how easy it is to do things when you are working on a cleanly installed, correctly set up machines.

It’s not the end of the road – there’s testing to come – but its an encouraging start.

]]> https://shepline.com/2012/02/14/the-theory-vindicated/feed/ 0 To upgrade, or Not To Upgrade? https://shepline.com/2009/09/22/to-upgrade-or-not-to-upgrade/ https://shepline.com/2009/09/22/to-upgrade-or-not-to-upgrade/#respond Tue, 22 Sep 2009 17:29:00 +0000 http://journal.shepline.com/to-upgrade-or-not-to-upgrade/ I am now eligible for a free upgrade of my mobile. I’ve been thinking about this for a while, as the battery isn’t quite what it was on my own, and it can be sometimes a bit slow to start up in the morning. So I checked what I was elligible for online and yes, I am eligible for the fancy, touch-screen, kind of iPhone-like Nokia 5800 for nout. So after work I headed into town to the local Vodafone shop. I’ve now discovered that they calculate elligibility differently in store to online and that I *could* have that phone there and then if I stumped up 90 quid. No thank you. I’ll go back online later and get it for free, even if I have to wait for delivery, which will no doubt be to my home address which will mean going to collect it from the Royal Mail sorting office (open between the terribly useful hours of 9-4.30 Mon-Fri…??!!!) to pick it up…

]]> https://shepline.com/2009/09/22/to-upgrade-or-not-to-upgrade/feed/ 0 A whole New box https://shepline.com/2008/01/16/a-whole-new-box/ https://shepline.com/2008/01/16/a-whole-new-box/#respond Wed, 16 Jan 2008 22:35:00 +0000 http://journal.shepline.com/a-whole-new-box/ Last night, all the Humax boxes that I know of (Emma has one, her dad, my parents, my brother…), updated themselves over the airwaves, down that funny little old-fashioned aerial thingy.

And what an update? As well the addition of ‘tracked’ recording and series-link functionality, there are some lovely little improvements in navigation – including the addition of the actual Day in the programme guide. 😉

Is this post really, really, sad? But it works. Both Torchwood and Grand Designs started at two minutes past nine and the box kicked in just before the start. Okay, this post is very sad. Sorry about that!

It is a bit freaky that what is effectively the 21st century equivalent of a video recorder can upgrade itself, at night, when its on standby through radio wave frequencies. Scary…!

]]> https://shepline.com/2008/01/16/a-whole-new-box/feed/ 0 The future is closer… https://shepline.com/2008/01/15/the-future-is-closer/ https://shepline.com/2008/01/15/the-future-is-closer/#respond Tue, 15 Jan 2008 11:14:00 +0000 http://journal.shepline.com/the-future-is-closer/ Fingers crossed, and touching wood, my laptop has been behaving itself since the hard disk related glitches and the Dell support call of last week. Which is good, because at only 2½ years old, I really don’t want to upgrade it yet. Particularly as the future I have been waiting for looks like it might almost be here.

The news of a 4mm thick computer from Apple that fits in a wallet envelope interests me greatly. I’ve always been a PC person to date, hence the reason that when I went wireless and got myself a laptop I went with a Dell PC, but since then I seem to know so many many people who have made the switch, and they do seem to be more stable and reliable (Heck! Even my mum has made the switch!) Do I really need ultra-portability in the form of a MacBook Air?

No. Or at least not yet. One of the reasons why I want/need a laptop is so that I work on my writing from anywhere. Whilst my current laptop is a nice machine and takes up only a little room in my lounge and I can take it away with me at the weekend, it is too heavy and the battery not long-lasting enough to allow me to carry it around with me and work without access to mains power.

That said, the MacBook Air isn’t quite the solution yet (I do like my computer to have a dvd drive), but if they are producing these machines now, then by the time I am ready to upgrade… 🙂

]]> https://shepline.com/2008/01/15/the-future-is-closer/feed/ 0 Geeky toys (continued) https://shepline.com/2007/07/13/geeky-toys-continued-2/ https://shepline.com/2007/07/13/geeky-toys-continued-2/#respond Fri, 13 Jul 2007 10:14:00 +0000 http://journal.shepline.com/geeky-toys-continued-2/ After recent laptop adventures, I have been prompted to be better at the whole ‘backups’ thing. The thing is my photography habit is literally eating disk space. I am down to my last slither of free space on the ‘puter, and my backup drive is similarly full. With this in mind I have ordered a couple of new toys, and today, on next day delivery, they have arrived.

I now have a new, second, Maxtor external hard drive, a whopping 500 GBs in size, and also a rather funky Maxtor portable drive of 160GB on which I am going to keep all my photos (instead of on the ‘puter). Of course, naturally enough, both geeky items are silver… *grins*

]]> https://shepline.com/2007/07/13/geeky-toys-continued-2/feed/ 0 From television past… https://shepline.com/2007/05/25/from-television-past-2/ https://shepline.com/2007/05/25/from-television-past-2/#respond Fri, 25 May 2007 19:44:00 +0000 http://journal.shepline.com/from-television-past-2/ Ooh, how exciting! Well, possibly. It might all be a big, wet, squib but we shall see. A while back I expressed an interest in signing up to the BBC archive trial, and today I got an email that says I’ve been selected. I’ve got a mental list of childrens dramas from my childhood that I would like to see again if they are included in this… 😉

—–Original Message—–
From: BBC archive trial
Sent: 25 May 2007 16:06
To: Archive-trial
Subject: BBC archive trial – coming soon!

Hello and thanks for signing up for the BBC archive trial.

We thought you’d like to know that we’re in the final stages of preparations for the trial. We’ll e-mail you your account details in just a few weeks and then you’ll have access to hundreds of hours of programmes.

We’ll be bringing you a range of radio and television programmes from the 1930s right up to the 21st Century, including dramas, comedies, variety shows and some stunning documentaries. You’ll also be able to witness key moments in history, discover the lives and stories of incredible people, and see well-known faces in their first TV appearances.

We’ll be back in touch with more information very soon, but for now we’d just like to thank you for registering and let you know how much we’re looking forward to hearing your thoughts on the trial.

The BBC archive trial team

]]> https://shepline.com/2007/05/25/from-television-past-2/feed/ 0 Snow inspiration https://shepline.com/2007/01/24/snow-inspiration-3/ https://shepline.com/2007/01/24/snow-inspiration-3/#respond Wed, 24 Jan 2007 23:30:00 +0000 http://journal.shepline.com/snow-inspiration-3/ 1. When I woke this morning, I genuinely didn’t have a clue what was to face to me today. Drawing back the curtains, I was faced with a blanket of whiteness. Snow? I know that they were kind of saying, maybe possibly, that there could be, if weather conditions were right, some snow up in the north sometime in the next week. So anyway, we had some snow and for a while it all looked very pretty.

2. Sadly, if not unpredictably, by lunchtime it was pretty much all gone. Although having it gone, did reveal some rather odd parking going on down in the car park with people guessing – woefully inaccurately – where the lines and spaces are. More down to luck than to judgement, but after some very impressive space straddling, at one end of the row, by the time half a dozen cars had each reigned themselves in, I was able to just get my wheels *onto* the line.

3. Succeeded in paying for my car tax online. Definitely preferable to the hour-long torment I would have otherwise had to have endured at the Temple Cowley Post Office.

4. In book geek news, I have logged in excess of 500 of my library of books. LibraryThing makes for mildly productive procrastination. 😉

5. In writing news, I am on the edge of finishing draft two of Part One, Chapter Six.

]]> https://shepline.com/2007/01/24/snow-inspiration-3/feed/ 0 Snow inspiration https://shepline.com/2007/01/24/snow-inspiration/ https://shepline.com/2007/01/24/snow-inspiration/#respond Wed, 24 Jan 2007 23:30:00 +0000 http://shepline.com/snow-inspiration/ 1. When I woke this morning, I genuinely didn’t have a clue what was to face to me today. Drawing back the curtains, I was faced with a blanket of whiteness. Snow? I know that they were kind of saying, maybe possibly, that there could be, if weather conditions were right, some snow up in the north sometime in the next week. So anyway, we had some snow and for a while it all looked very pretty.

2. Sadly, if not unpredictably, by lunchtime it was pretty much all gone. Although having it gone, did reveal some rather odd parking going on down in the car park with people guessing – woefully inaccurately – where the lines and spaces are. More down to luck than to judgement, but after some very impressive space straddling, at one end of the row, by the time half a dozen cars had each reigned themselves in, I was able to just get my wheels *onto* the line.

3. Succeeded in paying for my car tax online. Definitely preferable to the hour-long torment I would have otherwise had to have endured at the Temple Cowley Post Office.

4. In book geek news, I have logged in excess of 500 of my library of books. LibraryThing makes for mildly productive procrastination. 😉

5. In writing news, I am on the edge of finishing draft two of Part One, Chapter Six.

]]> https://shepline.com/2007/01/24/snow-inspiration/feed/ 0 The January Geek Post https://shepline.com/2007/01/12/the-january-geek-post/ https://shepline.com/2007/01/12/the-january-geek-post/#respond Fri, 12 Jan 2007 16:29:00 +0000 http://journal.shepline.com/?p=1563 Amazon are now selling 1GB usb memory sticks for 15 quid or less. I now have one of these. I could have spent even less, but where as those often have caps that get lost and/or broken, this one has a rather funky retractable usb plug.

Nifty! 😉

]]> https://shepline.com/2007/01/12/the-january-geek-post/feed/ 0 Web surfing… https://shepline.com/2006/08/15/web-surfing/ https://shepline.com/2006/08/15/web-surfing/#respond Tue, 15 Aug 2006 22:35:00 +0000 http://journal.shepline.com/?p=1406 You leave your computer unattended for five minutes and your cat tries to do some websurfing.

Arthur was looking up this site:

http://www.\swswdfssdsj493we6sdddd.net/

I’m quite impressed that he go the http:// and the .net right!! 😉

]]> https://shepline.com/2006/08/15/web-surfing/feed/ 0 Just surfing the net okay! I’ll be right with you after I’ve just checked my email… https://shepline.com/2006/08/07/just-surfing-the-net-okay-ill-be-right-with-you-after-ive-just-checked-my-email/ https://shepline.com/2006/08/07/just-surfing-the-net-okay-ill-be-right-with-you-after-ive-just-checked-my-email/#respond Mon, 07 Aug 2006 20:36:00 +0000 http://journal.shepline.com/?p=1402

Just surfing the net okay! I'll be right with you after I've just checked my email...
Just surfing the net okay! I’ll be right with you after I’ve just checked my email…
Originally uploaded by shepline on 7 Aug ’06, 8.34pm BST PST.

]]> https://shepline.com/2006/08/07/just-surfing-the-net-okay-ill-be-right-with-you-after-ive-just-checked-my-email/feed/ 0 The October Geek Post https://shepline.com/2005/10/03/the-october-geek-post/ https://shepline.com/2005/10/03/the-october-geek-post/#comments Mon, 03 Oct 2005 19:57:00 +0000 http://journal.shepline.com/?p=1158 For those of you out there you use a combination of some or all of AIM, MSN, Yahoo and GoogleTalk, can I take this opportunity to recommend GAIM – all the advantages of Trillian to connect to multiple providers at the same time, but with the ability to wire in GoogleTalk without splashing out on the paid version.

And if you need any further convincing, Gaim is OpenSource… 🙂

]]> https://shepline.com/2005/10/03/the-october-geek-post/feed/ 1 Stylish Integration https://shepline.com/2003/02/28/stylish-integration/ https://shepline.com/2003/02/28/stylish-integration/#comments Fri, 28 Feb 2003 22:28:00 +0000 http://journal.shepline.com/?p=12 Well, as you should (I hope!) be able to see I have now finished customising my styles for the journal, friends, and archive sections of my LiveJournal. Trouble is it looks great within shepline but not so great within LJ itself…?!!!

I’ve used the following coding in global_head override:

<meta HTTP-EQUIV=”REFRESH” CONTENT = “5; URL=https://shepline.com/about/journal/index.htm”>

…but this leaves with the following problems:

a) it only redirects the journal page not my friends and calendar pages too
b) the page refreshes every 5 seconds

Can anyone suggest a way of redirecting my lj recent/friends and archive pages to ../about/journal ../about/friends and ../about/archive of www.shepline.com?

]]> https://shepline.com/2003/02/28/stylish-integration/feed/ 2 Getting with the technological change https://shepline.com/2003/02/25/getting-with-the-technological-change/ https://shepline.com/2003/02/25/getting-with-the-technological-change/#comments Tue, 25 Feb 2003 08:38:00 +0000 http://journal.shepline.com/?p=11 I’ve succumbed and entered the DVD age. Well, when you realise you can get a pretty decent, above average (though not top the range by any means) DVD player worth £180 for just fifteen quid and 20, 000 Nectar points, then why not?!!

]]> https://shepline.com/2003/02/25/getting-with-the-technological-change/feed/ 3 The frustration, The relief… https://shepline.com/2003/02/19/the-frustration-the-relief/ https://shepline.com/2003/02/19/the-frustration-the-relief/#comments Wed, 19 Feb 2003 21:37:00 +0000 http://journal.shepline.com/?p=10 Just finished fiddling with my tables and my LiveJournal styles to make this journal look good in my site (my journal).

Is it funny how the smallest things, when not going your way, can really make you want to throw down your keyboard in disgust, string the mouse up by its tail and go and read a book … and then the relief (and self-satisfied pleasure) when in the twinkling, you tweet one bit of code and suddenly its all lovely again.

(ah well, now just got my friends, and calendar to do now…)

]]> https://shepline.com/2003/02/19/the-frustration-the-relief/feed/ 1