Duke Street Alley

Originally published at Now Is A Long Time Too. You can comment here or there.

I’m in the process of setting up a site for Dublin 8, similar in intent to In Ranelagh. If you run or are involved in a business, club night, church, exhibition, institution, or whatever, anywhere in Dublin 8, please drop me a line. And if you know anyone else fitting that description, please point them at this.

Originally published at Now Is A Long Time Too. You can comment here or there.

So we were having some trouble in the new residence with the plumbing. Namely, the toilet was backing up. This isn’t pleasant. We had a plumber, who’s a friend of the landlord’s, and familiar with the pipes, come out and look at it. He expected it to be a pretty simple job, since it had happened before, and was a fairly quick fix. So he scooted out into the back yard, pulled up a cover, and attacked the outlets of the junction there with a plunger. Nothing moving.

More tools, he said, and came back the following evening with same. He attacked it with such vigour that the tools (plumbing rods, with a plunger on the end, for those familiar) got stuck. Badly stuck, as in, he had to call a burly relative to come and help him extract it (I was stuck in work). He scratched his head a bit - as did I when I got back in the evening - and we tried to figure out what the hell could be wrong with it. Some water had come up through floor tiles in an unexpected part of the premises, so we figured that would be a good place to start the next time. Armed with that, and information from the landlord that there was a manhole cover in an alleyway behind the garden wall, we went at it on Saturday morning.

I met more neighbours in one morning there than I did in four years in Hollybank. We went in and out of alleys, people’s backyards, over walls, peering down into manholes and shores and vents, and learned more about the plumbing of Portobello than anyone should ever know. Nothing moving.

We pulled up the tiles where the water had come up, and some more tiles hidden under them, and some cracked tiles under that, and arrived at an unknown and buried vent. We plunged that and checked the outflow from various drainage systems, and tried to figure out what the hell was happening. There was clearly a connection between the cover at the back and this newly-excavated vent, because if you plunged the back yard one, the other bubbled and spat - but not vice versa. Water run into the new vent drained without trouble, and every single waste pipe in the place, except the toilet, was fine - but there was equally clearly no problem between the toilet and the underground plumbing.
On the verge of giving up, and muttering vengefully about Dynorod, compressors, and advanced spelunking, we wandered outside to poke once more at the original suspected source of the problem. One touch of the plunger, and suddenly, it began to flow, and was clear within seconds. Triumph!
It was aliens, mysterious Victorian sewage valves, or a masochistic plumbing system which just wanted to be beaten for a while. You choose.

Originally published at Now Is A Long Time Too. You can comment here or there.

I’ve been working on various web projects of my own for some time now - some people will know them from the MMW filter on livejournal - but a few are starting to come up working with other people now. The first of these to get going will be my working with Graylion Enterprises as the marketing partner. Graylion’s site is graylion.net, and you can get to the (not safe for work) adult sections and blog from there. Graylion sell boots, leather goods, and adult toys for the goth and fetish market, and I’m greatly looking forward to working with them. Of course, if there’s anything you’d like to suggest (or like to buy), let me know.

Originally published at Now Is A Long Time Too. You can comment here or there.

It’s a minor quirk in what’s otherwise a much improved browser, but I’d  love to know who took the decision to move the “refresh” button from the left of the URL bar to the right in Internet Explorer 7. It means that I lose a few seconds looking for it every single time I go to use it - and then when I get used to it, I can’t find the reload in Firefox or Opera. At least F5 still works…

Originally published at Now Is A Long Time Too. You can comment here or there.

I’ve not been online much over the holidays, and when I have been on, I’ve mostly been engaging in PvP on World of Warcraft - there’s a post coming up on The Wizard of Duke Street about that soon.

The holidays started this year on the evening of the 21st, when Nina and I had our solstice dinner, a platter of smoked fish, artichoke hearts, and other goods, and exchanged presents. I got her some Waterford crystal, wine glasses and champage flutes, and a hamper of various good things. The guys in the place where I got the hamper gave me some funny looks when I wanted to add some WoW:TCG boosters to it, but I’ve never minded that. She got me the incredibly awesome Prince August 54mm Richard the Lionheart vs. Saladin cast-your-own chess set, and news of a booking for afternoon tea in the Ritz in London in February. The chess set is going to have to wait until we finish moving, but I keep taking the bits out and looking at them anyway.

The 22nd was the last day in work, and we finished up early to start drinking in advance of the company Christmas party, a dinner in One Pico, with entrance to the Sugar Club afterward. I bowed out of the clubbing, since we were flying at oh-dark-hundred the following morning. The meal was pretty good, and the boss made us all drink shots of tequila in salute to the Chicago Marketeer, who’s leaving us after four years to go back to the States and get married.

We got up early to head for the airport, and made it in good time - which was very necessary, as the queues were insane. We finally got to an Aer Lingus checkin desk, and while the luggage could be checked in all the way, we apparently couldn’t. We were told this was because the second flight in Hamburg wasn’t open yet. We shrugged slightly and went to find some breakfast, before boarding the plane, which took off about 20 minutes late. Twenty minutes at the other end, coupled with trying to find the transfer desk meant we arrived at the Finnair gate just after the plane had left. We went through the various bits of rigmarole necessary to figure out what to do next, and then settled down to wait through the nine hours until the next flight to Helsinki.

We dozed, and read, and had coffee, and bought papers, and ate (Bratwurst! Schnitzel!), and had coffee, and read some more, and eventually got on the plane, and arrived into Helsinki a bit before eleven at night local time. A bus ride to Lahti, and then we got a lift to Nina’s grandmother’s house from her mother. We collapsed, and slept the sleep of the very tired. I don’t recall whether the cats came to investigate us at all at that point; I’m not sure I would have noticed.

The next day was Christmas Eve, which is the day of the actual celebrations in Finland. There’s a well-established ritual to the day, and we went through each part of it in turn, between seeing visiting relatives, putting up and decorating the tree, going to the graveyards to place candles, saunaing, dinner and the opening of the presents from under the tree. I always find the Eve in Finland to be immensely pleasing - there’s a definite feeling of tradition about it, and traditions are one of the things I like most about the winter festivities. There’s also a definite feeling that it’s more a pagan tradition there than a Christian one.

I got some excellent presents, a very fine scarf, a meat hammer with an axe-head on the back, and a very very fine cast-iron frying pan. Having tried it since, I’m able to say it’s the best one I’ve ever used.

We had a couple more days in Finland, at Nina’s grandmother’s and mother’s houses, not doing very much at all, which was absolutely necessary, and then back to the airport at an even earlier hour for the return trip. We found out from the Finnair agent at the checkin desk in Helsinki that the problems on the way over were due to Aer Lingus cutting costs, and removing themselves from several of the cooperative arrangements between airlines - which essentially means that if Aer Lingus are any part of your journey, you can’t check all the way through, and there’s no information available to the other airlines about the Aer Lingus flights. Which meant, of course, that the reason the Finnair flight left without us is that they didn’t know we were on an incoming flight. We’ve one trip booked with Aer Lingus for February, but after that, we’re not going to be flying with them. If we want a budget airline, there’s Ryanair - the national carrier should be something more reliable.

There wasn’t any trouble on the way back, though, since we knew the layout of the airport this time and knew that there is no transfer desk; you go to the next gate and check in there. And we had some more time to work with on the schedule, and then the Finnair flight got in early.

That was the 27th, and after we got home, we spent the day relaxing and having visitors. The 28th was more of the same, with a great deal of World of Warcraft being played. Pauline arrived on the 29th, and since then, we’ve been doing more of the relaxing and eating out.

Last night was the Beaver Row household’s annual New Year’s barbecue, this year in black tie. And indeed, nearly everyone turned up in full black tie, which was very nice indeed. One gentleman even had a proper bow tie requiring tying. I’m always amused by the number of my tshirt-and-jeans-wearing geek friends who own formal wear as well. I must look into acquiring a cravat as well as learning the bow tie thing. And possibly a top hat.

This morning was an excellent start to the New Year, with a large breakfast in Hobart’s café with about eight or ten friends. We occupied a set of tables pulled together in the middle of the café, and I suspect the eventual bill was a wonder to behold. One kind person (not sure I’m allowed name names on that) had an expenses tab for the day for being on call, and put breakfast on it for all of us, which made it an even better start.

Now we’re taking care of various bits of mundane necessity before reconvening in Beaver Row to help dispose of the remaindered goods from last night, and generally relax. Back to work tomorrow, and I think I can deal with that.

Originally published at Now Is A Long Time Too. You can comment here or there.

Right. It’s up and running and should be accessible from all parts of the world by now, so I’m pleased to announce the opening of fireflymmo.com, a site to track news and coverage of the newly announced Firefly MMORPG.

Originally published at Now Is A Long Time Too. You can comment here or there.

I’m a complete neophyte in the world of cars, but I would have thought something as complex would come with an owner’s manual. You get manuals with can openers and teapots. But there wasn’t one when it arrived, and searches on eBay and indeed, the web in general, are telling me that no manual exists for a Seat Ibiza after October 1999. The car in question is a 2000 registration, though.

For that matter, the manuals I’m finding for older models are published by Haynes, not Seat. Am I using the wrong term? “Owner’s manual” seems pretty simple…

For what it’s worth, I’m not looking to take it apart, or anything - just how to check the oil, set the clock, and other simple stuff.

Originally published at Now Is A Long Time Too. You can comment here or there.

Nina has posted an account of the Samhain dinner she cooked on Rocking Grass. Reading it is almost as good as having the meal again, and the sauce really was absolutely excellent.

Originally published at Now Is A Long Time Too. You can comment here or there.

So it’s getting decently autumnal out there, and I’ve finally given up on the sleeveless jacket. However, I’d like to get a decent look at this autumn thing before it goes away, and therefore Nina and I are going to take a walk up the Dodder as far as Bushy Park this Sunday. You’re welcome to come along.

The plan is to leave the house at about 12:30, and walk down Sandford Road, then through Milltown to the Dodder. After that we’ll be following the north bank right down to Bushy Park, and poking around there for a while (there’s a peculiar little hexagonal folly in among the trees there). If we’re feeling energetic, we might walk back as well, and if not, public transport will be availed of.

It’s about a three, four mile walk, and most of it is right by the river. Anyone interested, drop a comment here, or turn up at the house at 12:30 on Sunday 5th of November. We’ll be trying to leave fairly well on time, but if you’re late, jog after us.

Originally published at Now Is A Long Time Too. You can comment here or there.

And indeed, where in this part of the city is good for lunch? There isn’t the same selection of sandwich and coffee shops as Dun Laoghire (or if there is, they’re cunningly concealed). The ideal is a baguette and coffee for five euros or under. A sandwich will do instead of a baguette, and other options will be considered. Somewhere I could sit down for an hour would also be useful, as eating in the office means eating at my desk; we don’t have the nice kitchen table from the old place.

Originally published at Now Is A Long Time Too. You can comment here or there.

We’re back, alive. Very tired, and have acquired colds. Fantastic trip. More details when brain clears. If anything significant has happened in the last 18 days, please let me know, as there’s no way I can catch up on that length of LJ and blogs and such.

Originally published at Now Is A Long Time Too. You can comment here or there.

You all know I’m a weather buff by now. And one of the things I’m most fascinated by in the weather is the stuff that happens within a few days of the same date every year, regardless of what the rest of the weather is doing. One of these is the upturn in temperatures on Christmas Day (proving, at least in my mind, that the date was set by early medieval weather geeks). The other is the equinoctal storm, which happens twice a year, within the week of March and September 21. St. Patrick’s Day 1987 saw one of the worst storms I can remember, and now, coming up to September 21, we have… Hurricane Gordon.

From Metcheck:

Here are the probabilistic forecasts for the next 48 hours :- 1. Gordon has no interaction with the British Isles (5%) 2. Gordon splits in two late on Wednesday evening taking gales and heavy rain North into Southern Ireland which later spreads East into Western areas (60%) 3. Gordon retains central circulation affecting Western Ireland as a Tropical Storm (20%) 4. Gordon retains central circulation affecting Western England and the Irish Sea as a Tropical Storm (15%)

Better forecasts will be available tomorrow, but in any case, incoming storm.

(Yes, I know this is nothing for people in real hurricane areas. This is a big one from our point of view.)

Originally published at Now Is A Long Time Too. You can comment here or there.

On a gloomy Monday morning, it is a very good thing to have had a good weekend. And I had an excellent (birthday) weekend. HIghlights follow.
Very shortly after I woke up, Nina had placed two parcels and a card on the bed. One of the parcels was huge. Very careful unwrapping revealed Jimmy Doherty’s A Taste of the Country, a cookery book I’ve been eyeing for quite some time now, and… a lightbox. A lightbox is a timber frame with an opaque plastic pane on top, through which light from two bulbs underneath shines. It’s for tracing on thick paper. I have wanted one for ever for my mapmaking, and now I have one. It is the best thing ever, and I’ve already discovered a number of insanely clever things you can do when you can trace from one level to the next of a map. I intend to discover many, many more.
Then breakfast. Breakfast was the biggest fry in the world, cooked by Nina - bacon, egg, sausages, white & black pudding, mushrooms, beans, potato waffles, hash browns, toast, tomatoes - with apple juice and coffee. It was nothing short of superb.
Then, when I could contemplate food again, chocolate fudge cake and coffee.
I played MMOs pretty much non-stop all day, and then we went out to the pub with Dave, Glen and Bríd, for a very good evening out. Thence to Glen’s house, and eventually left there at after two in the morning, after intake of both whiskey and rum.
And then yesterday had the added bonus of the fish-and-chip dinner I wasn’t able to get in the pub the night before, and Niall dropping over to lend me his new copy of Ptolus.
It was an absolutely excellent birthday, and Nina is very much thanked for it.

Originally published at Now Is A Long Time Too. You can comment here or there.

Yesterday, after lunch, winding down through a long series of formatting problems on the current project, I found some odd gaps in table cells. For some reason, places where we had nicely formatted tabular data with images in some of the cells, there was a gap of two pixels at the bottom of the cell. I flexed my (by now, reasonably well developed) CSS muscles, and went to work. Some hours later, I was still staring at it. I cut it down to a bare bones test case. It still happened. I ripped out every single bit of CSS individually, margin, margin-bottom, padding, padding-bottom, and it still happened. And eventually, trying ridiculous things, I found it.

It was the gods-bedamned doctype. 6 hours work. One line of code.

Originally published at Now Is A Long Time Too. You can comment here or there.

I’m poking at a project concept here. It might grow into a massive, world-ruling empire, or it might disappear when I find it too complex. However, it needs a database. Without giving away any specifics, it deals with boxes and objects. There is a single main box, which has some method of distinguishing it from other main boxes - probably an ID number, that being nice and simple. It has a number of compartments within it, which may vary. Some of these compartments can hold more than object, others can only hold one. Some compartments have limits as to what types of objects they can contain. Some objects are containers themselves, and can hold other objects, generally more than one. Some objects are too large to fit in particular containers.

Optional extras for simplicity: Containers cannot hold containers, so the deepest you can go is main-compartment-container-object.  The size limit will only be applied to whether a given object can fit in a given container, not how many other objects are in there.
Can someone who is a little more knowledgable than me in the ways of database design show me how to set up the tables for this?

Originally published at Now Is A Long Time Too. You can comment here or there.

Some design/imagery stuff that I want to put here before I close the tabs….

waterhalo
happy mundane
design*sponge
notcot.org
MoCo Loco