Monday, April 6, 2020

________________________ LOOKING FORWARD ________________________

 "Scout" before I carved her name plate and added her lugsail rig.

When this lock down is over and traveling around becomes safe again I think one of the first things I will do is go for a good row in 'Scout'. I will wait for a nice bright sunny day and go and get some exercise. In the mean time I am:

1 - Going through a large pile of old yachting magazines and "weeding" as the librarians say. I already have a number of boxes that go out with the rubbish tomorrow. The smile on my dear wifes face as I execute this much promised job (100 years and counting) is something to behold.

2 - Continuing to rig out my Zephyr 'Slipstream' - running lines, attaching cleats and hiking straps etc. Enjoyable work although not having a yacht chandlers open is proving difficult - some jobs will have to be on the post lock down list.

3 - Continuing to tidy my little "Can't swing a cat in it" work shed. I have a large number of chisels that require sharpening - the shocking rumours that I have been using all of them at times as screwdrivers is absolutely not true - I have only misused some of them in this way.

4 - Continuing my ongoing eclectic book reading - something that got ramped up on retirement and continues unabated. I usually have a number of books on the go.

5 - Watching a large number of Utube videos about the Linux Mint Cinnamon distro. This is something that I would like to pursue when I get enough time. It will be a good interest when I am too physically doddery to sail anymore.

6 - Re - reading Alexander S. Whites thorough 275 page manual "Photographer's Guide To The Sony DSC-RX10 1V" so that I am well informed when I purchase this camera post lock down (I should have purchased it pre lock down - doh!). Why cameras have become so bloody complicated is any ones guess.

7 - Watching the daily updates on Covid 19 ably lead by our Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern who is providing the country with strong, no nonsense, decisive leadership of Churchillian proportions. Thank God for that.

4 comments:

Bursledon Blogger said...

Alden - that all sounds too familiar.

I really don't see the argument for the harbour master closing the river down, sitting on a boat away from everyone must be the lowest risk of infection

I keep looking at a bunch of old Practical Boat Owner magazines in my book shelf going back to 1985 thinking I really should get rid of them.

Watch out for my blog post of restoring and sharpening a plane.

I haven't used linux mint but hear it's very good, I have been using Lubuntu the lightweight Ubuntu version for a about 5 years I'm running an old version which I like better than the current, my daily regular machine runs Linux Lite as I really like the file manager and Pinta is a simple and easy photo editing program, I have Krita and Gimp but while they're really good they take time to learn. Joseph is running Zorin which has a great windows-ey interface, really easy to use functions - and surprisingly works with his school on line systems.

Fortunately I'm one of the people who can work almost uninterrupted from home using video etc, so no time for any of this except weekends.

Keep busy

Alden Smith said...

The rationale for a complete lock down including banning most outdoor activities including boating, is the idea that if you get into difficulties you are putting the search and rescue people at risk re - Covid 19. Of course some activities are a lot riskier than others, some have no risk attached at all. I guess in the whole rush to get some sort of control over the situation the first response has been very little nuance and some very big brush strokes.

Looking forward to your blog posting on restoring and sharpening planes - I have several blades that I have been accused of using to mix paint with after having used them to scrap paint off metal - so they need a little sharpening up. (Some people simply do not understand the versatility of tools).

I am very motivated to try Linux but I want to keep my current laptop going which means the purchase of a dedicated laptop for Linux - doing a bit of research at the moment looking for a model that's known for hardware compatibility etc. - another task that happily staves off cabin fever in these interesting times.

Bursledon Blogger said...

Alden - you don't need a separate laptop to try Linux - all of the versions I've used you can download and install onto a USB drive as a trial version - I'm sure the same is true of Mint.

You have the USB in the machine when you power up and go into the bios (have to be quick on some machines normally F12 or similar) then lets you choose to boot from USB, which will give you a choice of install or trial

if you want more info - drop me an email - address is on BB page

Max

Alden Smith said...

Max, thanks very much for your kind offer. I am aware of the various permutations - trial from a USB, dual boot by partitioning the HD option and full single installation. If I get myself completely flummoxed I will most certainly take up your offer and get in touch.

- Are the trial versions of the distros fully operational? i.e. are you able to get all peripherals working such as printer etc and all services up and going such as internet, email etc?