For new readers: welcome to my day journal — of sundry activities and rambling thoughts. There's a mixture of techie stuff and personal doings, so just read the bits you're interested in ;-]
You'll find previous Kronikles in the ARCHIVE if you want to catch up.
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Monday, March 11, 2002

Joan went off to the supermarket with Joanna in the midmorning to help her shop; about an hour later, I got a frantic phone call from Joan to tell me she had picked up the wrong purse and needed some plastic in a hurry. I drove into town and presented myself at the checkout where the till was waiting to be cleared. It all began when Joan bought Rebeccah a duplicate of her own purse last year, and somehow the purses keep getting confused.

I worked on a client's web site for most of the day, doing updates and maintenance work of various sorts. Later, I did a web search for a suitable database for the iPAQ. It came with Pocket Excel installed, but I need something a bit better than that; strange they didn't supply Pocket Access as well. Anyway, I came across a product called HanDBase from a company called DDH Software. I downloaded a 30-day trial version, and set it up. There's a PC master program which may be used to import .csv files (I converted all the Psion files to this format), so imported them and transferred the results to the iPAQ. It's even capable of linking tables. The site has a huge array of contributed databases of every imaginable type, so I may latch onto some of them.

I then went up the learning curve, to get the display looking useable; and also to tidy up the data -- there were a few stray characters which got converted into 'blocks'. I also found out how to synchronise the files back to the PC; which went OK except for the insistence of the iPAQ ActiveSynch program to put the files only into the PC's My Documents folder -- without any option to change the destination. Typical Microsoft 'nanny knows best' behaviour; I'm supposed to be using the crappy Outlook contacts thing. I think this program will do the trick for me -- I have several databases in use, such as my address book, and a list of my favourite SF and fantasy authors and their book series. I use this when paperback shopping, because I can never remember whether I've already bought a particular paperback or not. My daughter Sue and I swap books back and forward a lot, so it's easy to get confused.

Tuesday, March 12, 2002

Joan went into town with Joanna for another physio appointment in the morning. I worked on the client web site until 11.30 am, finished it and transferred it to a Zip disk, then drove in to pick Joan up. A short stop at Don's office to give him the job back, and then return home.

When we arrived back in the street, there was a police patrol car opposite -- with a neighbour talking to the policeman. We pulled up to find that she had spotted a man coming from our front door, then moving around to the right side where there is a tall timber gate. He hopped up on the gate, using the latch cutout as a foothold, and was busy looking around the side yard and also at the upstairs, where there was a window partially open. He got down, looked around, and must have spotted Anita standing at the window with a phone in her hand -- because he promptly set off down the road to where there is an access to the childrens' playground and the park grounds that run along a small stream. The policeman got his dog out of the van, and set off on the scent. He didn't return for some time; but we kept looking outside and noticed the patrol car suddenly gone. So obviously they had lost the trail.

I managed to get the iPAQ working by Bluetooth to the Ericsson T39 phone, and was able to browse the 'Net. I had to get some help from Fraser, my Vodafone data tech contact, but it all came together and worked. The next task is to set up a dial-up connection to my ISP, so I can use the iPAQ to access my mailbox. This has to be done carefully, so I don't upset the GPRS link. I'm finding that the iPAQ software/firmware is not as user-friendly as it could be; neither is the Active transfer software as good as I am accustomed to with PsiWin for the Psion. In fact, the Epoc software is streets ahead of the Pocket PC stuff in most respects; particularly in well-thought-out useability.

Wednesday, March 13, 2002

Into town at 9.45 am at Don's request to attend a client meeting. These clients have a new business which produces an annual trade and services directory for this area and others, and had developed a pilot web site. They need proper marketing, and will require us to do periodic updates, as well as furnish hit reports. They are using Front Page to produce their web pages, and intend to send them to us to check over and upload. This might be tricky, as Dreamweaver can produce differing code -- so that if they download a page we've tidied up and then try and bring it back into Front Page.... No doubt I'll be getting the compatibility test job :-[

We met Joan and Joanna for lunch in town after the meeting; then I went back to the office with Don to pick up my next assignment. This will be drudge work -- checking client placement in the various search engines. When Joan showed up, we drove back home, did some jobs, then drove back to town to attend a sale at a local appliance shop. They had secured a heap of surplus appliances to offer at big discounts, and entry was being restricted to customers who had been sent an invitation. We needed a new VCR for the bedroom; Joan often has both recorders going at once, and is watching a third program -- and the old video in the bedroom has not been recording at the times set on it. So I found a 6-head Philips VCR for $NZ339 ($US142).

But I didn't get out the door unscathed, as Joan spotted some electric blankets and reminded me that I had directed her to ditch the old one some time back -- and winter was coming. These were made from fluffy real sheeps' wool, and will be lovely to sleep on. Price? $NZ349 (=$US147) -- we do have rather a lot of sheep here :-]

It being Wednesday evening, Joanna dropped the two boys off here at 5.30 pm and took Rebeccah off to her ballet class. It's a good opportunity for grandparents to find out over the dinner table, all the school goss, and who did what to who. Eli is off to his first school camp next week, and we will be having Ethan and Rebeccah to stay for four nights -- so I guess we'll be finding out a lot more.

Thursday, March 14, 2002

A trip into town again this morning for Joan's physio appointment (in response to those who've asked after her by email: the back is just about fixed -- one more appointment should do it). I had burned a CD of data for my across-the-road neighbours who run a tyre business, so dropped that in to them, then returned to the cat to wait for Joan. I employed my time usefully in tidying up my SF paperback database on the iPAQ (see Monday). We then did some food shopping and returned home.

I had a call waiting on my answer machine; it was from Millennium, my computer place -- where I had hung a print exhibition last December. The message was to pick up my prints straight away, rather oddly, I thought. I went back into town after lunch and did so; the reason was quickly told to me, that the shop was going into receivership tomorrow and they didn't want all my prints seized by the Receiver. This is a crying shame -- the owner has been very ill since January, and unable to manage things properly. That, coupled with the downturn in computer sales since September to the New Year, has tipped them over the edge -- in spite of the best efforts of the staff. There's only so much that young staff can do in the absence of a manager. I do hope that someone will buy the business and get it going again; they were my best source of computer parts and were always most helpful.

I did some colour prints in the late afternoon; my colour cart finally ran out, and I installed a Jet-Tec cartridge with re-programmed chip, with full success apart from a slight cyan cast which was easily compensated for. I obtained the carts from a mail-order place called Kenbourne in Exmouth in the UK, as this type doesn't seem to be available here in NZ yet. I can recommend the service and prices -- even allowing for air mail post from the UK.

Friday, March 15, 2002

Joan and Joanna drove off at 9.30 am for a day out at Tauranga, an hour's drive away. I was just getting down to business after checking mail etc, when Sissy came over queer all of a sudden. The iPAQ stopped connecting and suddenly everything went pear-shaped. A couple of reboots made no difference, so the only remedy left was to restore the DriveImage I took last week before installing the ActiveSynch software for the iPAQ. That got me back on the scene -- but I then had to re-install the Active-Synch stuff again. This seemed to go better than last week, and all is serene once again.

I also went on the DDH Software site and paid for a download of the registered version of HanDBase -- this time coming with an add-on program which synchs its files with the iPAQ using Active-Synch. Got this installed and configured OK; made some alterations to the files in the PC, and synched them into the iPAQ as a test. I'm actually impressed with this program, now I've come to grips with it, and will have a look at the myriad pre-filled databases on their site.

Joan rang me from Ethan's school where Joanna had dropped her; I collected her and went into town to pick up the photocopied book pages for the next batch of our Genealogy book. This lot should keep us going until Kay and I do the second edition towards the end of the year.

I spent the rest of the day and a good portion of the evening, marketing a client site to a slew of search engines. I'm setting up a special web page with all the direct URLs of the site entry pages -- this will save a lot of time trawling round search site pages looking for those elusive words "add URL". I'm also doing a set of forms that we can photocopy and use for each client, to tick off each search engine as they are done.

Saturday, March 16, 2002

Outside after breakfast for lawn edge trimming and grass cutting. The grass was sopping after a heavy dew and cooler night temperatures, so I didn't actually get to cut the grass until 11.30 am.

After lunch, Russell came in with a salvage computer and a load of spare parts remaining after his recent upgrade -- could I assemble something that the grandchildren could use? Well, there was a slot 1 one Pentium II and a suitable ATX motherboard; the box was an old Compaq that I robbed the hard drive and CDRom drive from. Unfortunately, The only case on hand was an old AT; we drove into town to buy one from the local Dick Smith Electronics parts shop -- only to find they didn't keep cases in stock, only get them to order. And by this time on a Saturday, the other computer shops in town were shut. This will have to wait until Monday.

At 5.30 pm we went across the road to a 'street party'; seeing it was the last weekend of daylight saving time, some had got together and decided to have a get-together. Kids everywhere, the barbeque going, lots of talk -- and the opportunity to meet and talk to neighbours that one has been waving at, going past in the car, for ages. We came back home at 9.30 pm after a very pleasant evening -- which we've decided should be repeated every Daylight Saving Time 'on and off' in October and March. Here's a couple of pictures:

Sunday, March 17, 2002

It was rather noticeable this morning, that there was a singular lack of activity about the street -- and a few "walking wounded" from the previous night's imbibation. Daylight Saving had us putting back the clocks an hour -- but we were up early (really our bodies telling us it was time to get up). The weather remained gloomy all day; a regular succession of sudden showers keeping us indoors.

We decided it was about time for another lot of Aquajogging, so headed off to the indoor pool at 11.30 am. (Aquajogging, for those of you who don't know it, is water exercise carried out with the aid of a foam float held on one's back with a strap round the waist. This allows you to remain reasonably upright in the water, and progress around the lane by imitating jogging or running movements. As the water provides resistance, you get a good workout without impact on the feet). Joan's back is now better, and both of us badly need exercise to get us into shape for touristing overseas in May.

I worked steadily throughout the day on the reprint of the Family History Book. I printed 20 A4 front covers on the Epson in colour, trimmed them to size, laminated them, then re-trimmed the laminate back to A4. I then printed the 9 pages of pictures, using the laser printer instead of photocopying, to get better reproduction. The next job was to insert the picture pages in their correct places in the text. It was at this point I suddenly found that the photocopy place had missed a page, thus stuffing up all the lefts and rights from page 190 to 212 in each copy. So I'll be going back in the morning to seek a reprint of the offending pages. I did one quick pass through these pages on my own copier, so that I could at least bind up a book to post tomorrow. This order has been waiting for over a week.

Ethan and Rebeccah were deposited by their father at 4 pm, as Joanna and Eli are off tomorrow on Eli's first school camp. They are going over to the beach at Ohope, about an hours drive away, for the week. There will be lessons on site, looking at such things as rock pools and contents. We'll be fully occupied dropping the other two at their schools, and collecting at 3 pm. Not to mention 4 nights of ballet lessons and one swimming session. Don will be coming here for his evening meal; and we will also have an 'extra' tomorrow night: Adam, who is Ethan's best friend, will stay overnight as his Mum is away at the same camp with her daughter Catherine, and Adam's father has a late evening meeting. I guess we'll all survive....