Laptop. Doubled the RAM. Doubled the storage. Success.

And now I must decide how best to throw Windows on it, and which version to use. Oh the decisions.

Feeling less Star Trek today, and more IT Crowd.

But, oddly, that’s still okay! :-)

This evening I have been mostly cloning my hard drive to a double-sized replacement.

Tomorrow I will throw the drive in my trusty laptop, and double the RAM at the same time.

No matter how often I do this stuff, whether it’s back up all my music, photos, and documents to a wee 2.5" disc, blip pictures around the world from my iPhone, VPN into work to grab a forgotten file, draw not so pretty pictures on an iPad, create virtual worlds on PS3, or kill aliens on an XBox 360… I still feel like I am an extra in Star Trek. Gotta love technology!

When you have spent too much of the day dealing with paper, trapped in the endless coffee-work-loo-cycle, nothing beats a good dog walk to clear the head!

I grew up being promised of the impending paperless office. I still await it, relatively patiently.

Apparently called “fingers” by those in the trade, we were visited by this cherub and her parents¹ today.

Don’t let the disguise encourage you to assume this lass is the shy, retiring type. It’s more about control! You can’t lose control of your image, especially in the digital age.

She will hold it against me to say, no doubt, but she’s very huggable - like one of the family!

Well the primary stress is over for another year. Now I can focus on all the secondary stresses.

I would like to clear my inbox by Easter, but I think I need a helping hand. I walked around tonight looking for some inspiration, but there were no signs!

I have only ever had one recurring dream, mostly in my childhood. It resembled tonight’s blip.

Today the stresses and strains of other people’s deadlines are taking their toll, in some peculiar stress by proxy manner. I am hoping a bottle of Chianti finds it’s way into my hands by tomorrow night!

Driven by sunsets and hectic schedules, I fear mundanity in my blips!

Today I am dissatisfied with the camera in my iPhone 4, and wonder at the prospect of completing this year long challenge. Tempted to get the Nikon out instead.

But almost one quarter of the year has passed. Soon the clocks change. So maybe it’s possible. This might just be my dark period!

In recent months I have been heartened and inspired by many people. They are fighting a guerilla war against the establishment of education. They talk in a language that resonates with my own philosophies and they embrace technology rather than simply teach it!

From the lone voice to the collective concert, these are exciting times.

The days are now longer than the nights. The commute to and from work will be in daylight until autumn, and better weather might allow more sunsets to be captured.

I best be careful. I like sunsets. I might get carried away!

I like shadows, reflections, and warped perceptions. It’s good to let the mind wander, and consider worlds yet undiscovered.

Today I caught up with the things I should have done on Friday and Saturday, but was otherwise engaged!

I also failed miserably to capture the moon, despite an evening stroll to suitable vantage points. I need to do done research!

The Howff, Dundee. Something especially peaceful about the last resting place of those long gone.

Missed the Scotland game.

Instead it was my sixth day of “work” this week. But third day in a row in civvies, so it feels less real.

Repeated 80s flashbacks today.

Manic Miner and Elite. Apple II and ZX81.

And the journey home randomly threw up a chain of classic tracks that made me forget the decade I was in.

And today I met some nice people, enthused about technology, committed to good education, grappling with how these things combine.

It’s been a bright, bright sunshiny day!

Should we worry that one of our daughters has a teacher that patently does not know her capabilities, strengths, or weaknesses. He could not tell us how she might improve, just that there was little chance of it happening. Not through lack of application or misbehaviour. Apparently “knowledge” is the problem. Not a lack of it especially, any aspect of it in particular, or a small portion of it - just knowledge! It’s hard. Yup, as a reason for her not being able to improve he actually said that getting a better mark is “hard”.

It frustrates me that teachers do not always want to find the time to know and understand their students. Some do not want to cultivate opportunity or foster talent. How can change be effected in education while some practitioners are only interested in dictating notes and collecting a wage?

Apologies for the rant, fellow blippers. Normal service to be returned tomorrow.

Sometimes order wins over chaos. Certainly it makes life easier at work. But which is better? Only one way to find out…

Photograph!

Another occasional series begins?

And… Eldest convinced family to download Words with Friends. Another social gaming addiction hits our household. Great to know we are gullible.

Appreciation of fruit. An occasional series.

Today I rather unexpectedly played Judge in the second heat of a talent show. Tough decisions left unmade. Let’s just say the final is already looking great!

Only unfortunate thing is I had intended photographing proceedings, not being sucked along by them. Oh well. There’s always Thursday…

When it comes to portraits, I find myself and my victims^H^H^H^H^H^H^H subjects equally coy, sometimes even elusive.

So when opportunity knocks it seems sensible to open the door, offer an invite, and provide coffee and biscuits!

Hobnob?

It’s difficult to express thoughts about natural disasters that claim the lives of thousands, or to understand what possesses a population to point guns at one another.

Some days it just seems that the world gets hotter. And it brings the best out in many, and the worst in a few.

Peaceful thoughts to those around our world punished by fate and humanity.

Scotland had all seasons in one day today.

Snow. Hail. Rain. Wind. Sun.

Spent afternoon enjoying the rugby. Spent evening with beer in hand, listening to live music, and catching up with an old friend.

Too busy to blip, apparently. So back blipped tomorrow.

A bottle of red. A family movie. A relaxing end to a busy week. It all kicks off again on Monday!

Oh wait, I have homework! Ho hum! Good job I love it!

Today I beat the system!

Okay, so I was given work beyond my load and when I went to do it I found it already being done. So not exactly demolishing capitalism, but these small victories in life can make a cold day a little warmer.

I imagine teaching is like acting, but with a captive audience. I guess a captivated audience would be better.