cloud 3

I spent the whole of last night (Tuesday) reading an article on the Amazon S3 service. Normally when I read an article I read the title, read 80% of the first paragraph, then scan down to half way down the page and ignore the rest. It's not reading per se, but it's sure as hell a lot faster.

The article in question is on a topic that I'm particularly interested in, and brings up some great points about creating a business model based around the S3 service. Because of that I actually read not just the entire thing, but just about every article it links to.

In case you don't know, the S3 service is a very cheap micropayment based online storage system. Amazon promise high bandwidth, secure, reliable and redundant storage. The cost is $0.15 per Gb stored online, plus $0.20 per Gb transferred per month. That's really pretty reasonable... so far..

The author of the article brings up some interesting points about security and safety that are well worth the read. Having read the article I'm slightly less keen to jump on the bandwagon and create a web business around the service, but at the same time I'm enlightened to the possible things that can effect S3 reliant services.

All in all the service sounds great and I'm looking forward to making the most of it. My first plan will be to install JungleDisk, map that to a drive, then move my personal subversion repository there.

love life

I just left work and I'm filled with a a strange euphoria.

It's not because I've written any great code today - my work today was pretty shoddy.

It's not cause the weather is nice - it's wet, cold and pretty 'orrible.

It's not because of any upbeat music I'm listening to - Crash Test Dummies are neither depressing nor happy-clappy.

It's not because of my surroundings - this bus is rather ordinary, in fact the driver isn't particularly good - he brakes too hard and too frequently.

It's because I was just hit with an overwhelming feeling of ultimate satisfaction. I'm a man married to a woman that I love, with a job I enjoy, with loving friends and caring family, living in a house that's clean, in a city I feel at home in. Sometimes I have to look at my life and smile. I guess I'm having one of those moments where you see the important things in your life with perfect clarity.

There is a message here for everyone. Regardless how bad things may seem, if you focus on the really important things in your lives you just might realise how lucky you are. Be happy everyone - whatever it is, it's not that bad. Focus on the good stuff, there's plenty of it, honest.

Love life, it doesn't last forever.

linguistic nonsense

I proudly pointed out to my german colleagues today that biweekly is commonly understood to mean once every two weeks when in fact it means twice a week. "A common german mistake" I said.

I just looked up the meaning of biweekly.

bi·week·ly (b-wkl) Pronunciation Key Audio pronunciation of "biweekly" [P]
adj.

1. Happening every two weeks.
2. Happening twice a week; semiweekly.

I am now boycotting the word.

home

29 hours of travelling and 48 and a half hours awake (and counting) were a pain in the neck, but all worth it to have been able to take pictures like this from my hotel balcony.


Kaua'i, Hawaii 1st Oct 2006.