From the mind of Hamish

My views on news, current events, sports and the general goings on in my life.

Friday, December 16, 2005

Damn Microsoft! I've just spend all morning clearing out old data from students who have left. That's no problem, I have to do that every year. It's a crap job but it has to be done. The easiest thing to do was take ownership off all the folders, then delete them all. Unfortunately as we used to have a lot of Macs there are some files with illegal characters in their names, so I usually delete users one at a time. Those with illegal characters are deleted later using a Mac.

However, there's a shortcut to Outlook Express that lives in Application Data\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch that does not change permissions like every other folder in the tree! So every time I go to delete a user I have to drill down to this file, manually set the permissions and then delete it. And it's only this one file, leading me to believe it's been done deliberately.

Thanks Microsoft, thanks a lot. You manage to turn a 2 hour job into a 4 hour job just because you want to force people to use your crappy email program.

Thursday, December 15, 2005

Bugger, looks like del.icio.us is down. There's been a message saying they'll be back in an hour up for the past several hours. Sounds like their datacenter is having some power issues. I can only imagine the techs scrambling trying to get things working again. There's nobody on IRC either, looks like it's off to Digg or StumbleUpon.

Take some responsibility! That's a lesson I wish more people would learn. Yesterday I got into an online slanging match, something I usually avoid, with an online friend (I actually do like the guy). Basically the arguement was about failing to take responsibility for one's actions. Instead of saying, "Hey, I messed up, I'm sorry" people launch personal attacks like, "Must be that time of the month." Why can people simply not accept that their actions are of their own doing, that if they have done something to upset someone they hold some of the blame?

Here's the deal as given to me by a very wise man some years ago: You are responsible for your own feelings, thoughts and actions. Simple huh? I think most people know this, they just choose to ignore it. Now, it works both ways. If something is said and somebody gets upset, who is to blame? The answer is both parties, the first for choosing to say/do something upsetting and the second for choosing to become upset. Notice the choice of words, it's deliberate. Your feelings are choices, very powerful choices. Some people claim they cannot control their feelings, I disagree. You can control them, it takes time and practise. Work at it, rule your emotions rather than having them rule you. Then, when somebody pisses you off, you can choose not to become angry and save yourself some energy. Of course if they're trying to piss you off, you win.

We're all interconnected and the choices we make have more effect than we think. So try it, try accepting that nobody can make you feel anything, that you choose to feel something. That if somebody gets upset with you, it might be a result of your actions. I truely believe most people know this somewhere deep down in our minds, we are often too deluded to realize it.

As Bodhidharma, the founder of Zen Buddhism, said, "All know the way, but few actually walk it"

Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Wow, I haven't updated this blog in well over a year. Still, at least it hasn't been deleted.

My wife and I are off on holiday on Sunday to the Gold Coast in Australia and we can't wait. We haven't been on a real holiday for almost 2 years now, plus we'd both like to see some real summer. Right now in Christchurch it's supposed to be summer but for the last two days it's been grey and drizzling. So much for global warming I guess.

I've changed some of the settings here for my blog, including the links. I've got a Flickr account now with lots of photos in it. We just got a new digital camera so I've got to show it off a bit. I've also just discovered del.icio.us, thanks to the Inside the Net podcast, which is a very cool site. I just wish their import option would be made available again.

Well, there's a suitably manic post to get this blog rolling again. I tend to be a bit like that online, jumping from one subject to another very quickly. Now I'm off to finish building that new server :o)