Alex Harries's diary

(Geek mode on, work mode off...) 

Pretty much everything I do is based around some sort of computer or another, whether it's watching TV (on a temperamental Windows Media Center made from old bootlaces and sellotape, mainly), or keeping up with friends through messenger, or calling them on Skype, or chatting on a web forum, or seeing what they're doing on Facebook (other social networking sites are available... They're just not as good), or checking my e-mails (on an Apple laptop which cost more than my car).

Or I could be in lectures being told to download the lecture notes from a website with a horribly complex URL, or driving somewhere using a sat nav system, while listening to music on my stereo played from my generic MP3 player (ok, it's an iPod - I'm a shameless gadget freak...).

... Or even using my mobile phone (which uses my broadband connection instead of the mobile network when I'm at home, and synchronises my appointments and contacts with my computer using Bluetooth), or even when I'm in the bathroom... Ok, maybe not in there...

Hell, I even DJ with a computer (not very well though...).

So it's quite hard sometimes to get my head around how some people can go through so much of their lives without using a computer at all - actually by *talking* to each other, or going out *socialising* (whassat then?).

And what's odd is that both sides would probably argue vociferously that *their* particular balance is the best, at least for them. So why do gadget-obsessed, technology lovers become the way they are? And why do some people see no point at all in spending more time than is absolutely necessary on a computer?

Hell, we can even do everything apart from the physical side of a relationship over a computer, thanks to dating websites... But even I can see the arguments against that one, at least once you're past the initial "Hi, I'm Bob" "Hi, I'm Brenda. Nice picture..." part.

To continue this stream of consciousness would only be to reinvent the wheel as far as debating the benefits and drawbacks, ethics and implications of a technologically-driven life over a more organic, even traditional one; it's just something I wonder about from time to time.

In other words, the question here is, "should I get out more?".

Somehow, I suspect the answer might be a resounding "Yes"... ;o) /al

Woke up this evening (odd body clock cycle at the moment) to find the Media Center - with its brand new power supply - just won't turn on.  Housemates - in their technical wisdom - said "it did something funny. Something came up on the screen (they don't know what) and then it shut down."  Thanks - extremely helpful... Numpties (bless 'em).

While I'd been unconscious, a bunch of people had added themselves as friends on my Facebook profile, and it got me thinking... So now everyone who's a member of UPSU.net can add their Facebook, MySpace and Bebo profile links to their UPSU public profiles. If you're signed in, you can change your details here.

Go play!

No, no, don't all rush to argue with me on this point: my resolve is steadfast. No longer am I prepared to stand idly by while the world fails to notice my greatness (in being stupid, that is).

Y'see, I've just worked out why my Media Center (made from old PC parts, empty toilet rolls and requiring occasional servicing with a large hammer...) was saying there's no TV guide information available after I rebuilt it last night following the power supply blowing up - quite spectacularly - almost two months ago to the day.

Of course, four hours of Googling took place between my noticing the problem and my having fixed it, just a few minutes ago (and if you spot the posting time, Steve, this will be why I'm not going to be in work this morning... ;o). I even went for a drive to try and clear my head because this problem was bugging me so much that I couldn't sleep.

Normally, Windows Media Center is pretty much trouble-free. It's kinda like Sky+ or TiVo in that you can record TV shows, a whole series of shows, etc,with just a couple of clicks on the funky back-lit Microsoft remote.

In fact, it was such an integral part of my life (such was my incurable need to catch up on re-runs of The Bill on UKTV Gold... Why are you staring at me??) that my sleep patterns were - possible irreparably - damaged when it blew up last October, forcing me to crawl out of bed at 9am regardless of how much - or (more commonly) - how little sleep I'd enjoyed.

So, having finally got round to picking up a Shiny New Case™ for it from Novatech yesterday (I love those guys... Sometimes...), I rushed home full of joyous abandon... Ok, I wandered home via. Pizza Hut - and revived my televisual crutch back into life.

I hope this explanation means you can understand my absolute frustration when I realised it wasn't showing any TV listings at all - channel after channel said "No program guide available" and, although I could watch and record TV fine, I couldn't schedule anything because I didn't know what was on.

Anyhoo, as I mentioned, 4 hours of Googling followed by a sprint up the motorway (which, err, might also have been to test out my new TomTom... No wonder I'm always broke and surrounded by electricity bills which would make Blackpool's Illuminations department envious) didn't provide any answers, so I decided to take a look in the error logs.

"That's odd" quoth I, munching a pink & sprinkled doughnut and slurping on a cup of unhealthily sweet tea. "That date's in the wrong format - it should be 01/09/2007 and it says 09/01/2007." To cut this increasingly long-winded, but painfully boring, story short, it turned out I'd mistaken Americanese date formats for English and set the date on the Media Center to September 1st 2007 (01/09/07) instead of today's date (09/01/07). Result? Media Center was trying to download TV listings for 9 months' time. Since they haven't even been written yet, guess what? No listings found... Duh...

Common sense: 0, Idiocy: 1. So I guess that means that I win then!