• Listening to the @DaveGorman Absolute Radio Podcast from the Liverpool Radio City Tower! (Thought he might mention the show I saw @ Empire) #
• Exhausted and feeling quite down. Nothing back yet from all the job applications. Still in Scotland supporting grandparents. #
• Recently purchased the @jamie_oliver 20 min meals app for the iPhone, and think it's really good. Thanks @jamie_oliver #
• It's nice to be in an area that actually has decent 3G coverage. Asked for another month's worth of tethering over iPhone. Speed of 150KB/s. #
• Going to see the History Boys at the theater on Thursday. Hope its good as the film, but I suppose holding no expectations is good. #
• @lovemindfulness From my memory of it, the production values were great.Felt that History Boys felt authentic and portrayed British culture. in reply to lovemindfulness #
• @lovemindfulness Yes I have seen the Lion King, both film and at the theater, and very much enjoyed both of them. Different style of film. in reply to lovemindfulness #
• @lovemindfulness Thanks. How are you doing yourself? Mindfulness seems a good idea. Are there any events around Liverpool? in reply to lovemindfulness #
• @Alysson I "enjoyed" the first 3 saw films. Appreciated is probably a better fit. You get what's expected and isn't awful like many such. in reply to Alysson #
• I haven't actually used a proper twitter client in ages. It's nice to be able to wile away some time following links and replying to people. #
• @Alysson Thanks for replying. Haven't been active on twitter for a while and it's nice to get replies from people that I don't know too well in reply to Alysson #
• Watching Frankie Boyle Live (on the recommendation of my grandparents). Saying that it's a bit rude is an understatement. #Embarrassed #
• @BillGlover Agreed! He's a bit coarse really. Not exactly representing the Scottish very well. in reply to BillGlover #
• Is it kosher to discuss who I'm going to vote for directly on twitter? To vote tactically, for the local person or national policies? Dunno! #
• @BillGlover Local area is strongly Labour and I think a change of government is probably a good idea 4 energy and motivation if nothing else in reply to BillGlover #
• @BillGlover I like the local conservative candidate personally (mother of a friend), but like national liberal policies. #undecided in reply to BillGlover #
• @lovemindfulness better this morning. Different energy at play it seems. in reply to lovemindfulness #
• Back to Forfar (been to the hospital this morn) (@ Dundee bus station) http://4sq.com/9nGPiZ #
• Hears @KaiserKuo in a couple of BBC podcasts. Realising I'd heard of him from Twitter i was a little excited. #
• Buying a 3g dongle for my mum. (@ Overgate Shopping Centre) http://4sq.com/cjVc5b #
• Can't get to Ninewells from here. Arg. (@ Dundee bus station) http://4sq.com/9nGPiZ #
• I just ousted Stanley C. as the mayor of Dundee bus station on @foursquare! http://4sq.com/9nGPiZ #
• Can get bus to Ninewells hospital from here thankfully. (@ Whitehall Street Bus Stands) http://4sq.com/cLR8S0 #
• Hi and lo tech at hospital. http://twitpic.com/1hap0h #
• On the way home again. Arg! Too much travelling. (@ Dundee Railway Station) http://4sq.com/4DwcEv #
• @fusedreality I take it you're not still at Dundee railway station. On the way to somewhere interesting? #
• @Alysson thank you just the same. Not everyone has the same perspective. in reply to Alysson #
• Chinese woman speaking manadrin in Dundee giving me reminder of china and to work harder at learning Chinese. #
• By manadrin I of course meant mandarin. Haha, iPhone keyboard still getting the better of me. #
• Ahh, connections, and time for a seat. (@ Edinburgh Waverley Station) http://4sq.com/6itR3m #
• @kaykoyamagore assuming you've moved on from Edinburgh Waverley. Where you off to? #
• @fusedreality going back home through edinburgh having visited relatives. :-p in reply to fusedreality #
• Buying Train board snacks. (@ M&S Simply Food) http://4sq.com/9TCC6W #
• Train arrived here early. I need into the facilities. Arg! (@ Preston Railway Station) http://4sq.com/dryuCv #
• @phpcodemonkey how's the training day going? (saw you as mayor of Preston station on 4sqr) #
• Saw 4 people with iPhones walking down one train carriage. Didn't realise prevelance. One man has new iPod as well. #
• @Cskoyles is Wigan north western train station different from Wigan wallgate station? (on 4sqr) #
• @NancyMyrland haha, I think we've discussed the "good morning" thing before, (afternoon here) but good morning back to you. in reply to NancyMyrland #
• @Cskoyles Ta, not entirely clear from within 4sqr, though the signs in the station said North western. Cheer anyway. in reply to Cskoyles #
• I'm at Liverpool Lime Street Railway Station (Lime Street, Liverpool). http://4sq.com/4sGUDz #
• Finally home. (@ Wallasey Village Railway Station) http://4sq.com/bAgMhw #
• @NancyMyrland could be better, but weathers on the up, I have my health, and the support of my fiancé. So could be worse. Such is life! in reply to NancyMyrland #
• @JonathanDeamer I take it you work in or near wavertree tech park. What do you do for a living? #
• @JonathanDeamer I should say what's @jwgifts like to work at? #
• @JonathanDeamer I see you're the mayor on 4sqr for lime street and te tech park. Probably not gonna knock you off those 2 places. in reply to JonathanDeamer #
• @JonathanDeamer you'll have to forgive the mis types. Typing in too much of a hurry and still not used to iPhone virtual keyboard. #
• @NancyMyrland indeed. Although other concerns can seem a bit tiring at times, it is huge to have that. in reply to NancyMyrland #
• @NancyMyrland thank you very much! in reply to NancyMyrland #
• @scrauny I've just been in Scotland, liverpool is seeming almost tropical by comparison. in reply to scrauny #
• Seeing the history boys tonight (@ Clwyd Theatr Cymru) http://4sq.com/9lAvuf #
• The History Boys at Theatre Clywd very good so far, theatre very full, attentive atmosphere. http://twitpic.com/1hkw5c #
• Time for some petrol (dads car) (@ Tesco Extra Petrol Station (Bidston)) http://4sq.com/9SjgSz #
• Very brisk clear day here on the Wirral. Good for walking. #
• Just had ping from someone else on 4sqr. First time that happened. Excited. (@ Cherry Tree Centre) http://4sq.com/cIAvU1 #
• I just became the mayor of Liscard Wilkinson on @foursquare! http://4sq.com/9JlEtu #
• Hate to see empty shops. Bit sad really, but this is what the age of the super markets brings us. (@ Images Blocklavish Ltd) #
• @sean1983 I saw a group of guards talking outside heron foods. Thought you might have been one of them. in reply to sean1983 #
• Good scenic spot this. Nice view of motorway and beyond. (@ St Hilary Brow) http://4sq.com/auV73z #
• @sean1983 yes, I live down leasowe road. I like the brow as well. in reply to sean1983 #
• @sean1983 why do you bother going to heron if you live so close to somerfield? in reply to sean1983 #
• @sean1983 just checked your facebook profile. How long you been married? I'm envious of you big TV and dual computer monitors. in reply to sean1983 #
• @cityscape_viz New website looking good! Tried it on my iPhone and the google maps threw an error (but working on main site) #
• @BlakeyMole why the labour vote? #
• Is watching dr who. Excellent. #

• On the way to Dundee to see relatives. (@ Wallasey Village Railway Station) http://4sq.com/bAgMhw #
• I'm at Edinburgh Waverley Station (Waverley Bridge, Edinburgh). http://4sq.com/6itR3m #
• Arrived. Now for the buses. (@ Dundee Railway Station) http://4sq.com/4DwcEv #
• Here for lunch. They do a mean steak pie and soup lunch meal for 4.55. (@ The Plough) http://4sq.com/abqadt #
• Having a half of guiness and a seat while waiting for train south. (@ The Nor' Loch) http://4sq.com/c2qwc5 #
• I just became the mayor of The Nor' Loch on @foursquare! http://4sq.com/c2qwc5 #
• All change! (@ Preston Railway Station) http://4sq.com/dryuCv #
• Enjoying the freedom of having a cup of free coffee. (@ Starbucks) http://4sq.com/9oxHB8 #
• Returning tomtom in car kit as requires cigarrette lighter power to work. #fail (@ Apple Store) http://4sq.com/cCYu73 #
• Another free coffee after successful return and got money back. (@ Starbucks) http://4sq.com/bqZU46 #
• Back to scotland again. (@ Wallasey Village Railway Station) http://4sq.com/bAgMhw #
• Time for a break. (@ Tebay Services) http://4sq.com/ay6CYN #

• I'm at Liscard Cashconverters. http://4sq.com/cbdd1O #
• I just became the mayor of Liscard Cashconverters on @foursquare! http://4sq.com/cbdd1O #
• I'm at Wallasey Food And Wine Off-Licence. http://4sq.com/aaV2cX #
• I'm at Leasowe Paints & DIY. http://4sq.com/cHykQ4 #

I find myself in a painful situation which is made painful by the need to spend money to correct it or live with inconvenience, and the situation goes as follows. I’ve got a huge amount of hard disk space available to me over a variety of disks, and a variety of media spread over these disks. Specifically (all internal) Sata: 1x2TB, 1x1TB, 4x500GB and IDE: 3x 500GB, 1x 300GB. I also have a SATA external NAS device which runs a linux kernal and uses a non standard file-system. I have also a separate external SATA enclosure, access to my Dad’s external IDE enclosure, and an IDE raid card. My desktop computer had previously had all the 500GB SATA disks and all the IDE disks installed in it, which left the 2TB and 1TB disks in the NAS and SATa enclosure. Happy days you might think, until you find out that the bios on my desktop overheats causing the desktop to freeze and in a way that never automatically restarts. I’m trying to consider alternatives to purchasing a new motherboard ram cpu combo (and quite possibly a new power supply).

Adding to the issues are approximately 800GB of assorted music, of which there are (I’m assuming) many duplicates, backups of CDs that I’ve ripped and inadvertently re-ripped, mp3s I took to China which were copies of files themselves and have now returned, wma’s that I’ve converted and re-converted by the way of setting up itunes many times for whatever reason and podcasts that I’ve downloaded through the automatic downloader on my PSP or NAS as well as through iTunes or on my iPhone. An organisational pain in and of itself, and from quite legitimate sources, and I’m not embarrassed to say that I have complete collections of Mozart and other classical artists purchased from Amazon, I keep every podcast I download, and I’ve been downloading them for what is years now, so this amount is not exactly an unreasonable amount considering duplication, and I have in the past subscribed to emusic, and have repeatedly downloaded music which I thought I’d lost etc.

The music itself poses a problem, because for iTunes to function properly the relative paths of each and every mp3 needs to remain consistent, and unlike Google’s Picasa iTunes does not live update according to what it can see, and this poses sync problems for my iPod and iPhone. My laptop hard disk is only 500GB (which is pretty big by laptop standards) and can’t fit it all on. Adding mp3s to iTunes from a samba share is slow and prone to outage either though taking my laptop away or poor wireless signal in the house so not a good solution. I discount syncing my iPod to a desktop because that means I can’t update podcasts and applications on the device if I’ve gone on holiday or away from my home. So my only conclusion is the 1TB sata disk in the external enclosure.

Maybe 600GB of DVD backups (Yes I do own lots of DVDS as well) which doesn’t need to be network accessible, but would like to have available to be converted to DivX avis and MP4s so that I can just ditch the original files. 2x400GB Photos and Home Videos which is duplicated on a different disk for the sake of backup. 200GB of applications (steam content takes up a large proportion of this), which I’d also like to be duplicated on whatever desktop I have.

In this sort of situation moving files around becomes tedious because the volumes are just so large. The photos should be available on the NAS, along with the DVD rips, a backup of my applications/drivers and any documents. The photos can be backed up onto a 500GB IDE disk in the external enclosure. Therefore the music and the photos can be accessible on the move and the other IDE’s and SATAs become redundant and spare as necessary. I can use the automatic downloader on the NAS to download podcasts, not requiring me to leave my laptop on all the time, and move them onto the external disk when I wish to sync my iPhone. Fantastic, I do believe I have a complete solution.

• I just became the mayor of The Dairsie Inn, Rumblethumps on @foursquare! http://4sq.com/cnCRo1 #
• I'm at The Dairsie Inn, Rumblethumps. http://4sq.com/cnCRo1 #
• @n8vision http://twitpic.com/1bphs2 – I like Beijing Airport. Heathrow being half as nice would be a miracle. #
• @1rick I hear "You" have come out as being gay. http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/news/2010/03/100330_ricky_martin_wup_sl.shtml #
• I'm at Village Way. http://4sq.com/cUu9YR #
• Giving support to sisters friends band. (@ Glassfire) http://4sq.com/aaQA0u #

See You Jimmy Hat
Originally uploaded by clarkalastair

Taken (by my sister on my iPhone) on the way home from Scotland, at a motorway service station along the way. I was given one as a young child (there’s a photo somewhere). I’m not sure I really fancy having real locks of ginger hair.

This is not an April Fools Day post, but rather a serious one. In all my recollections of my maternal grandparents, my Nannie (grandmother in the Scottish vernacular) has always collected strange and unusual salt and pepper shakers (and silver spoons and miscellaneous small boxes, but that’s by the by) and my grandfather has always collected elephants in different shapes and sizes (not real ones you understand but ceramic models and the like).

Elephant Salt and Pepper Shakers
Originally uploaded by clarkalastair

But when my grandparent’s moved into a smaller more appropriately placed house nearer to my uncle’s house, they gave away many of these items. This was one such item they gave to my uncle, and I saw it when we had a takeaway curry at their house last weekend. It will for me serve as a distinctive and memorable combination of their personal interests should anything happen. Long may their good health remain.