A scribble pad

No, I actually *have* done some interesting stuff lately.

Firstly, anyone that knows me, knows that I’m an avid, albeit it a fairly inexperienced, fly fisherman.

I like to fish the Cowichan River on Vancouver Island. It’s what fly fisherman call a ‘traditional’ fly river. It’s traditional in the sense that it meanders rather than rages through the land. It meanders because it’s fed by Lake Cowichan and if it raged, like most British Columbia rivers do, it would be mountain fed instead. The problem with mountain fed rivers is that at this time of year they are subject to what is called the freshet (no typo). Which is when the snow pack melts. This causes the river to become very high and fast and the water to become cold and dirty.

None of these things are good for fishing. The fish tend to hide out of the way so that they don’t get swept downstream and they don’t feed because it’s too cold and not clear enough for them to see anything.

The Cowichan isn’t like that. So the levels of the river have been lower than most, the water has been warm and clear.

So, back to the story. Last weekend I was on the Cowichan and had the pleasure of what’s known as a double-digit day. I caught more than 14 fish in a single outing. They were all fairly small at between 8 and 10 inches overall and were an assortment of Rainbow and Brook trout. I’d post pictures but the pictures were unremarkable. (Update, I decided to include the link to pictures anyway, here.)

A lot of fly fisherman never have a double-digit day so I was very happy.

The other interesting thing I’ve done is to see my favourite band in the world ever, Rush To see pictures of this event, follow this link. I had a wonderful time and felt like I was with old friends. I’ve followed the band since 1975 (yes, I am that old) and they bewilder me each time I see them because they’re better than the last time.

I opted for the VIP ticket package which gave me a seat on the very end of Row 4. So I had a great view of the whole show and loved every minute of it.

Another interesting thing I’ve done is to join the Apple Developer community. This is because I’ve got a killer idea (aren’t they all killer ideas?) for an iPad app. More on that later if it ever takes shape.

Joining the Developer community also gave me access to pre-release software, so I’ve been enjoying the new Apple Operating System, Lion which is due to be released sometime in July, 2011, rumored this coming week but we’ll see.

Of course the problem with running beta software is that some apps are incompatible and the system runs generally more slowly that actual, released software but it’s been fun all the same.

I’ve also (told you I’ve been doing interesting stuff) joined Google+ is their attempt to bring down Facebook. I’ve never liked Facebook for a few reasons and Google+ has circumvented the reasons I didn’t like Facebook so it suits me. These reasons include the fact that on Facebook, when you share something you share it with the world, or at least everyone that follows you, and therefore the people that follow your followers. This is good for growing your follower count but I don’t want that. Google+ allows you to share with select ‘circles’, rather than forcing you to share with everyone.

So I can share something with my friends or family that my clients don’t need (and aren’t able) to see. I like that.

Also, Google+ is not Facebook. That’s another reason.

Anyway, I can’t think of anything more interesting. Had my hair cut off. I’d been growing it for about 2 years and grew (did you see what I did there?), tired of it.

That’s it, so end of line.

Really, I have!

A client of mine has been having a problem with their monthly backup of their Time Machine volume taking too long. They’ve got a large external drive attached by USB and it’s backing up just about 1Tb each month. Problem is, it’s taking more than a full work day. Which makes everybody nervous because it means that all the company’s technological eggs are in one bucket for a day.

So, I ran some comparisons backing up just over 10Gb of data to a drive connected via USB, FireWire 400 and FireWire 800 (and for interested over my LAN to a NAS).

As predicted, the FireWire 800 interface was quickest but not by much. Which is what surprised me. And the LAN copy was the slowest of all.

Now, I’m certain that over the time needed to copy 1Tb we would see improvements in performance so that FireWire was noticeably faster than USB but I found it interesting that FireWire was not by any means significantly faster when copying just over 10Gb.

Oh and in other news. As of this moment, I have no dandelions in my front lawn. Well, none that you can see. I’ve been out there for weeks, every day, digging them up. It looks great. Now if it would stop raining for long enough so that I can cut it, that would be great, thanks. It looks like a farmers pasture right now. Swaying in the breeze.

That’s it for now.