Category: general

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AI & IT

MsWalshLeave a comment

I don’t have the soul of a programmer and I don’t have the patience to be one either.  I want to say last week but I think it was the week before, we had a hack-athon / prompt-athon where we had to come up with ways of automation that would help us in our day to day work using AI and the likes.

(and yes it is the slippery slope of turkeys voting for christmas but that’s another rant altogether.)

Anyway – our team decided an email notification for records older than 90 days would be very handy – work is always moving forward that we tend to forget to look back especially after 90 days – or we could just organise ourselves better – but this email nudge would actually be handy.  Now I like to play with computers – figure things out.  I should point out that does not mean I’m good with computers – please see my opening sentence.  However when I get a new computer, phone, tablet, gadget – I like to press buttons, find out where everything is and mould it into what I feel comfortable with and makes sense to me.  So after our 2 hours were up in the hackathon we were to go away and actually do our “whatever your team decided on”.  Now this was really just showing me the shiny.  I could happily (with swearing) spend hours trying to figure it out.  The downside to this is that there is also the normal day to day work that needs to be done along with playing with the puzzle.

So yesterday (yes it was a Saturday) I decided that I was going to make it work – mainly because on Friday, I couldn’t even get the damnable programmes to see the excel file – talk about falling at the first hurdle.  – Anyway – I decided that armed with copilot and power automate I was going to make this work.  I liked that I didn’t have other calls on my time when I was breaking my brains, I could swear if I wanted (and I did) and the frustration went unwitnessed.

I had to start the conversation with Copilot a few times because it was just getting too bogged down and the more questions I asked the more lost I became in “where was I?” The first time Copilot mentioned that it had completely missed out a step was annoying – particularly when it tells me Great Question (like, Stop Patronising Me Please!).  I restarted the prompt and it omitted it a second time so when i did the restart for a third time I had to tell it to include the step if it was going to be needed for a later part of the instructions!  I mean by the end of the day I really was just annoyed with it.

Ultimately the computer won the battle but I did have a small victory.  I managed to get the computer to finally see the excel spreadsheet – yay!  and I managed to work thought all of the flows to get the thingy to send me an email.  However the email just contains gibberish and not the actual information that I want it to tell me.  In the end I opened the wine so that we could both be spouting gibberish.  I think ultimately the use of AI and all that it brings really should be left to the IT magicians, and let it help them with their wizardry.  Like I said I managed to get it to work(ish) but I didn’t understand the code that I had to enter and I think that’s ultimately why I don’t know why it failed.  At least a programmer would have an idea at what point it fell over and looking at it can see what went wrong – but I’m just taking screen shots and asking “is this correct?” of an AI programme that didn’t tell me all of the things I had to do.  So chances are when it’s say yes that’s correct – there’s a possibility that it’s not.

My task for today is to ignore the niggle in the back of my head that is asking why it didn’t work properly and I must not go back and try to figure it out – leave it ’til tomorrow when i can reach out to the real experts and get them to sort it.

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Starting the Summer

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It’s the May Bank Holiday Weekend – although I will admit that I woke this morning wondering if it really was a bank holiday or should I be getting up to go to work, but I think that’s a normal reaction.  Anyway – May, Summer – I had a productive day on Saturday – I had my car’s NCT at 9am – What was I thinking of??  9am!  on a Saturday!  A few years ago, I got caught in traffic and ever since then I’ve arrived early – so I was done and dusted at the time the appointment was due – how cool was that!  Anyway – I didn’t pass but didn’t exactly fail it either – a light wasn’t working so I’d to get it fixed and I could go back for a visual inspection.  I went to Ikea and spent like it was going out of fashion on knick knacks – I only went for cake and a charger cable but why stop there??  Anyway – went to the garage to see when they could fit me in to get the light sorted – as luck would have it they took a quick look and it seems nothing needed to be done – it was simply that something had popped out of place and once it was put back, all was well – so straight back to the NCT centre, had the visual, got my certificate.  I’m really pleased as the car is 21 yrs old and she’s still going grand!

I came home had cake and decided that the weather had been fine long enough to cut the grass or in my case, dandelion patch – and that’s what I did – it makes such a difference it really does – and I took it as my cue to move the garden bench – in the colder months it’s kept on the path by the wall of the house, but during the summer I move it so that it’s back is to the shed and it’s sheltered by the honeysuckle.  Yesterday (Sunday) there were noises in the garden – I was terrified it was a rodent having some sort of shouting match but it was a load of starlings feeding on whatever was coming through on the garden – it was fascinating to see.  Also when I say starlings – that’s me having a guess…

I actually spent all of yesterday (Sunday) indoors because I’d finally gotten time to read and this was a book I couldn’t put down, so that was me ignoring the outside world for a few hours.  I am actually really happy about that – it’s not that it doesn’t happen that often but I’m a bad reader and it takes me an age to get through books but this was one of the few where I simply had to keep reading until it was finished – the disappointment in it, was that it finished and as it was alluded to the book – that there is always an aftermath and we don’t get to see it.  Anyway – the book was The Wilding by Ian McDonald – it’s categorised as horror but I’m not a horror reader so I’m not sure how deep into the genre it is – I can’t say it was fantasy although it did contain the fantastical – it had the catastrophe and the survival flight or fight – funnily it reminds me of John Wyndham.  Sorry that’s just my thoughts running away with me – but now that the book is finished I’ll have to bring it back to the library.

Keeping me company while I read was the neighbours cat – she came in and curled up on the desk chair and was most reluctant to leave when I eventually evicted her at 8pm.  She’s also the reason I thought rodent in the garden rather than birds – I’ve seen her on occasion passing by with a mouth full of mouse!

This morning I had notions about this post – there was even thoughts of a photo but that didn’t happen ’cause I tend to eat the food and rarely remember to photograph it even if I had intended to do so.  So starting the summer – breakfast outside on the bench listening to the birds and as I was a bit late it also involved a child having great fun playing in their garden somewhere down the road.  The sunshine and the not warm but not cold morning – a lovely air that refreshes but doesn’t invigorate too much.  It’s the one thing that I love – to sit out on the bench having breakfast listening for the sounds and the silence.  If the weather holds over the next while, it will be a mix of the mornings and evenings after work, listening to all of the voices enjoying the outside – looking around and seeing how the flowers are growing and changing (flowers = raspberries, black currants, agapanthus, lavender, holly and of course dandelions).  There is something so peaceful about just sitting out when the weather allows.  So now that the bench is in Summer position it’s time to start getting outside.

Bloggage · general · Life · Mental health · Notions

What do you do, when you don’t do anything?

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I want to blog or write or whatever this is – but I don’t do anything – I’m not joking – I really don’t do anything at all!  It’s like I’m still living in lockdown.

I occasionally have an opinion on things but it’s never fully formed enough to even try to coax into words – I have been known to answer the questions “what do you think?” or “Did you like it?” with a simple yes or no.  I’m not great on expanding my thoughts internally or externally.

I do journal – but it’s very stream of consciousness – planning what i might do in the day, what will I eat etc – or trying to figure out what is causing a particular bout of emotions that are being inconvenient.  I rarely go back and do a what i did today – I write forward rather than backward.  And you wouldn’t want to be looking for world events ’cause in the journal they don’t happen.

Previously I said this was going to be a bit of a mirror for my social media – that didn’t happen but I think I might have to pull up my socks and start filling this with little bits and pieces – just snippets.

So my big news is – I bought a skipping rope, gave it a try and now my left leg feels like it’s been tortured.  I’m going to try and persist with it, as it was recommended when I went for a Lymphatic Drainage massage.

However if we know anything about me – it’s persistent and consistent aren’t always within my nature…

Must Try Harder

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The Confusion of Dreams

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Firstly a slight back story – When I was in London earlier this year, I picked up a gift for my Dad for his Birthday/Christmas. They are both in December and the second gift would dictate whether this was going to be for his birthday or for Christmas. Anyway – I came home and dutifully put it away (Can you see where this might be going??)

Fast forward 5 months and I was in the local shopping centre, spotted a shop that reminded me I had already made a purchase, but where did I put it? No, not a clue! it’s not in the places I thought it was – and I’m not going to lie, I am panicking! The up-side is that I still have slightly over 2 months to find it – so that’s ok.

Last night I had a dream that I’d found the gift and it was exactly where I thought it was – how lucky is that??? I’ve gone through most of the day with a sense of relief knowing that I’ve found the item in question. Until now that is, when I’ve just realised it was only a dream and I still have to pull the place apart to find out where it is.

I was going to make a Bobby Ewing/Patrick Duffy reference but after a conversation last week in work, I’ve realised that it’s waaaay out of date. But if you get the reference than I thank you!

Bloggage · general · Home

Saturday Success

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I’ve been looking forward to the weekend ever since Thursday. That’s when the wind down started. I did my weekly food shop, and there’s only one more day of work to get through. Yesterday, when I got home from work, I changed to bedding – I also upped the duvet tog. Naturally this meant that it’s heated up again. However the notion of cosy has beaten being slowly roasted for a week or two and the duvet stayed. Saturday’s Plan was get up and get stuck in and then just relax – sounds normal.

Well, normally, I plan to do something similar – but I get up have breakfast and the next thing I know is it’s almost midday. I get washed and dressed, have a sit down and suddenly it’s 4pm. I mean seriously – how does that happen?? Where does the time go to??

Not today! While I was having breakfast, I washed the bedding that was taken from the bed last night (it really was too late to put on a wash), got it dried and put away. If I managed to do that alone it would have been a good day. HOWEVER, I made a list! This consisted doing a few things in the Living room, Bathroom, & Bedroom. Whenever I do a list it gets to be a meh – as if it’s all optional. This time I’ve tried to stick to it – to make sure that these are the things I get done. I think it has helped that this time I haven’t overwhelmed myself with things. Bt 4pm today, I’d tidied the livingroom, cleaned up the bathroom and picked up stuff in the bedroom – I’d even swept the leaves from outside of the front door!!

I know this might down daft, but when I look at the livingroom – it doesn’t look that different but it still feels different. Is it the sense of accomplishment that has made the difference? I don’t know. What I do know is that I can now sit down and relax!

Another thing I was looking forward to and this is just odd – I was looking forward to a ham,cheese & tomato sandwich for my lunch. WHY??? I think it definitely falls into the category of “notion”. So that is what I had for lunch – and it really did just hit the spot. In addition to that – I made soup – I’m obviously expecting it to get cold any minute now.

Expecting the cold to arrive definitely explains why I have this on the telly:

Bloggage · general · Life

reMarkable

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I’m a stationery nut – I do like buying a new notebook for an occasion and in my book it takes very little for something to be an occasion.  However, in an effort to reduce the amount of things coming into the apartment, I decided to opt for a reMarkable paper tablet.  I have to admit that I love it but as with about 100% of all of my tech, I don’t use it to its fullest capability.  Now I do use it to 100% of my capability and I think that’s where the gap is.  Anyway, on a recent system upgrade, I spotted a picture that showed notebooks with covers – and thought oh that’s nice, how do I get those???  Well it seems that I get those from the gap between what I can do and what it can do – I’d have to draw/design them myself.  The convenient thing is that it’s possible to do on this as you don’t run out of paper – you can do it and redo it all you want ’til you’re happy – so it’s time to dip my toe into a world I have no ability in.  On the other hand it’s my tablet – who’s going to see?

There’s one other thing that I really like about this – it’s that I’m writing, not typing (although I could) but it’s writing – it’s not falling out of practice.  I don’t know why I feel it’s important to maintain a level of penmanship.

I’m rather looking forward to stepping up my usage and to see how far I can push myself.

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Slow Sunday

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This is going to be short’n’sweet as I’m just out if bed as I type this!
This morning I have done something I haven’t done in a while – I got up, made myself a cup of coffee (mug of coffee) brought it back to bed, switched on the speaker and listened to some background music and read a magazine on the iPad.  I can’t remember the last time I flicked through a magazine.  It was so worth it – I have a new recipe for tea brack and I have discovered there is a new book I want to buy, although it’s still only being written.  It seems that Joanne Harris is currently writing a prequel to Chocolat.  Mind you it seems that the kindle edition of Blackberry Wine is 99c/p on Amazon ’til the end of March – I’ll have that, Thank You Very Much!!

On that note, I’m off to sit on the sofa and watch Pride & Prejudice – the entire 1995 mini series – well what else would you be doing on a Sunday?

BTW the recipe was in the March issue of the Country  Living magazine

 

Bloggage · Books · general · Life

I’ve Been To The Library

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I always thought that I was bad at blogging because I had a boring life.  Well recently I’ve been doing THINGS so it seems I’m just really rubbish at writing about it!  I’m not going to list off all of the things I’ve been doing –  in fairness it’s not really a long list, but it’s more than two things so that definitely constitutes as being a list right?

Today I took the day off work to go and get my eyes tested.  It seems my vari-focals will see me through for another year or two and after that I’m reverting back to single vision lens because I tend to use my reading glasses for all things bar seeing.   My eyes are complicated – long sighted/shortsighted/astigmatism <- I should point out that I do only have two eyes but one of them has two defects, just in case you were getting carried away with notions.  When I was finished with the opticians I decided to drop into the library.  Now this is no longer my local library – but it was when I was growing up and I remember the joy of being able to go from taking books out upstairs in the children’s section to taking out books from the grown-ups library downstairs.  Of course all of that has changed now but the memories were wonderful.  I went in and although it’s smaller, it definitely felt like they had more books than my local disappointment.  I decided to take out a book anyway – I mean, how daring!  and yes it does mean I have to go back and return it in a few weeks but that’s no great hardship really – ok maybe the parking is – but…

The book-du-jour is “A Nice Cup of Tea” by Celia Imrie

A Nice Cup of Tea

I’ve listened to the Audio books of the other two in the series and they were lovely!  “Not Quite Nice” & “Nice Work (If You Can Get It)” were both read by the author herself and believe me when I say she really has the voice for audio books – absolutely delicious!  This trilogy (so far a trilogy) is about a group of British Ex-Pats, plus Carol the American, all living in Bellevue-sur-Mer, along the coast from Cannes.  I don’t want to spoil it but it’s basically about their friendships and adventures.  I’m almost tempted to compare it to the Famous Five, if they had all retired to the south of France.  The south of France is also why there’s so many plays on the Nice and the British nice.

Anyway – I’m off to put the kettle on, this has put me in the mood for a nice cup of tea, and I’ve a book to be reading!

 

 

general · Life

My Mediocre Year

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I know you might think that is a tad negative but believe me that’s me bigging it up.  There’s a lot of round-ups of the year that was etc so I thought that I’d hop on the bandwagon.

For me 2023 was a year that went by and I’m not sure what it was that I did for 365 days.  Work wise, we had somebody go out sick, which meant that a my work became that little bit more stressful fairly early on, and it just didn’t seem to recede back to what was previously normal.  Technically I’ve stepped up to the challenge etc but I’d now like it if I could gift wrap it all up and hand it back.

Another draw back to work challenges was the inability to take time off, however, this was also a result of being the carer of a deaf and demented cat.  Should I want to go away, I would have needed somebody to come and babysit ’cause despite being 17 she was my baby.  Sadly she (Oscar) passed away in October leaving me alone in the apartment for the first time ever.  Prior to her passing, I had two family funerals to attend, one was a cousin – She was my first cousin once removed – otherwise known as my dads first cousin – she was a lovely woman, and whilst nobody deserves it, she most certainly didn’t.  After that, there was my Uncle, he was my Godfather and I was fond of him, but I really was a terrible niece.  I hadn’t been to visit in years- but covid played a part in that.  His death was unexpected and I think that was better, it was sudden and he hadn’t been ill – by which I mean terminally ill.  It did lead to a bit of a tiff with my sister – I won’t say it’s resolved but we have moved on.

So what about me?  Well I essentially spent my time either working or after work just looking after the cat and waiting for the time to pass so that the next day would arrive.  Once I was left in the apartment, it’s taken time to readjust.  Sometimes things have just occurred to me and I have to wonder why didn’t I think of it before – which is rather comical.  I was at a craft morning and I was wondering how do all of the ladies get the time to start and finish so many projects???  Of course then it hit me that – they are either retired or they do it in the evening – and I realised, I no longer had a cat to dominate my time – so now I’ve been doing a lot more crochet.  I’m really rather pleased about that.

And what do I intend to do?  I’m not entirely sure – there’s so many things that I want to do, however I can safely say that consistency is not my middle name!  I’d like to get back to walking, I’d like to attempt to learn to knit, I want to improve my photography – or at least my ability to see a photographic opportunity.  I’ve started to follow an instagram account – it’s a lady that who is advocating that you wear the sparkle, and while I’m not a sparkle wearer, I am going to embrace the wear the nice clothes and not just keep them for Sunday best as it were.  When I’m working from home, there are times when the bar is very low and I’m just happy to be dressed – so yes – 2024 embrace the sparkle.  I also want to start to cook – previously I think you could describe my culinary attempts at simply heating something in order to eat.  Lets face it that can be demoralising – especially if you’re also dressed like swamp monster.  It’s sending subliminal messages that you don’t matter.

So 2024 will involve, good food, good mood – indulging in hobbies – I might even remember to post here

What are you planning to do in the New Year?

Bloggage · Celebration · general · Life · Mental health · Notions

Let Me Inspire You

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The other day I was reading a substack.  The author was saying how in general she doesn’t compare herself with others – and yes I can identify with that notion – I’m happily playing away at being me, because although we are all the same, we are different.  The author also decided that this steadfast reluctance to compare herself to others was impacting her negatively – she found that although she enjoyed doing the things that she does, she was reluctant to write or publicise it because there are others out there doing exactly the same, but doing it better.  This I can truly identify with.  I know my limits, I know what I can and can’t do – I know where my finesse ends!.

There’s a world of blogs out there that you can dive into and love, well I’ve decided to blog so that you can look at this and say, you know what? I can do better than this.  You see I’m happy with my limits, and pushing to expand them a little every so often, but there are people out there that do want a push, that do feel the need to try and produce things they are proud of.  If I was to think that way, I’d be stuck in a paralysis because my talent falls well short of my minds eye.

So in future, if you like what you see, but thing that you can do better – then do it!  Seriously, just do it!  If I can produce this then I know that you can do it so much better.  Break out your flat lays, construct your photos, write your reviews (mine mainly consist of yes or no and let’s face it – that doesn’t really count – it barely has a word count!), show us what you’ve been working on – I’ve been working on a blanket for the last year and I’ve only done about 25 rows!.

It’s just about finding your voice.  I love the word JUST as if it’s the simplest thing in the world!  In a year and a half I’ll be 50, I’ve been married, and now separated. I never had children, but did have 4 cats.  I’ve loved and experienced the heartbreak that lurks in the shadows.  However I’m only now starting to have the courage to be me, it’s taken a lot and I still haven’t really gotten there – so in fairness there’s no JUST about it – but it’s still something that needs to be done.

So there you have it.  I’m going to be ordinary, so you can shine.  I’m happy to trundle along slowly improving (or not) but I’ve decided not to be ashamed of being ordinary because there’s billions of us out there and it’s not really a bad thing.