Instant Happiness – From Clementina Road

Can a Technologist be a Romantic?

Why write a personal letter when you can email it?

Why print a photo when you can F***Book it?

The waiting represents the work, effort and thought that went into delivering something to someone you care about. So I’ll keep using the postal services and photo printing booths for now.

Those who receive my letters often see the act as quite quirky especially considering my accidental profession but it feels wonderful and tells me lots about the recipient.

Will they write back?

Will they even acknowledge the letter?

…or will they simply ignore it and move on?
Love Letters from Clementina Road, Leyton, London E10

It’s NOT you, it’s me

I’ve decided to go with single player Horizon Zero Dawn™ over the co-op title Ghost Recon® Wildlands.

Despite experiencing absolutely no playing time, the simple fact is that I don’t have enough dedicated time to run with a squad.

Sometimes, running solo is the best and most enjoyable option.

I’m always in awe of the “10-hours a day” gamers who have the actual talent and resources to push a game to its limits.

Got an alert today that made me pay attention.

End-user exploitation: £100 to set up a stand-alone printer….WTF

I have no choice but to step in.

Phase One > ISO27001 Audit

Phase Two > Small Office LAN re-design

Phase Three > Reconfigure and documentation

Phase Four > maintenance and alerts

Probably take me 2-5 hours to sort it all out.

Home Office owners are easy targets

Female Small Office Home Office (SoHo) users are easy targets for ethically blind IT Pros as well as miscreants.

Why? Typically the SoHo user is

  1. Seriously busy with other stuff
  2. Less technical
  3. Overly trusting of any bloke that speaks tech
  4. Just wants “stuff” to work
  5. Not interested in the detail

….well they messed with the wrong CISSP today.

Love is not Free

Today Ghost Recon® Wildlands Open Beta goes Live to the general public for 120 hours.

It’s a standard strategic move to grow the community before the game goes on sale and for the most part an excellent experience for all types of players.

You can tame her but careful, she bites

Open Beta’s is a boost of Oxytocin or a School Boy Crush 10 times the normal levels.

The downer comes pretty fast as you realise you haven’t got the resources to play the game for any extended period of time.

No dedicated time

No enough money to buy the game in the first place

….and no one to play with.

It sucks and you wonder,  why play the Beta in the first place?

Well, like Love, better to have a neurotransmitter dopamine rush for a short time than nothing at all.

Dopamine is commonly associated with the ‘pleasure system’ of the brain

 

Stop Look Listen (To Your Heart)

One of the things that make BioShock such a great title is the sound design.

As you wonder through the first level you can hear Fitzgerald’s God Bless the Child in the background and can easily eavesdrop on the conversations of your enemies around every corner.

Destination this summer – Daytona Beach

Pretty early on, you are faced with critical moral decisions – rescue or kill.

It’s at this point you really have to get your head straight.

Got a bit stressed out last night. Back to usual dosage 60mg today.

 

Diana and Marvin sang it well in 1971

You’re alone all the time
Does it ever puzzle you, have you asked why
You seem to fall in Love and out again
Do you ever really Love or just Pretend
Why fool yourself

Don’t be afraid to help yourself
It’s never too late, too late to

Stop, Look
Listen to your heart, hear what it’s saying


Who’s your Daddy?

The Big Daddy Character – The ultimate protector in BioShock

Good game design goes beyond the platform (PC or Console) and like a great book, it can be absorbed decades later.

I first played BioShock almost 10 years ago and now that it’s on PS4 I’ve started the story again. I never finished the series so this is a real treat.

The Big Daddy character AKA Mr Bubbles are the ultimate protectors throughout the game and the writers did a brilliant job of creating a submerged world that is full of pure escapism.

It’s easy for relationships to fade out and disintegrate into nothingness but from time to time you find something that is truly magically.

Dionne Warwick sang it well in 1983….. So Amazing.

Love has truly been good to me
Not even one sad day
Or minute I had since you come my way
I hope you know I gladly go
Anywhere you take me

It’s so amazing to be loved
I’ll follow you to the moon in the sky above