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Here is the pup we hope to adopt

This little thing is Liberty. We hope they will let us adopt her. Need to have the house checked and then we’ll see if the SPCA approve Ben as the adopter.

We’ve been saying ‘No’ to a dog for years. Maybe it’s time. The kids are all older now. Which ever dog we get will be Ben’s and he needs to take it when he leaves 🙂 Could be a few years off.

Update: 4 March

Libby (nee Liberty) is asleep on the floor next to the sofa. We picked her put on Saturday morning. The cat said ‘Hello’ by giving a her right hook to the head. He has done it a few more times since. Libby wants to play but Monty is having none of it.

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Cicadas are too loud

During February the cicada come out. I like them, but they do make a noise. We have loads of trees so we have plenty of them around the house. They ‘sing’ 24 hours a day if it’s warm enough. The last few days have been non stop. They sound like this. That was one and we probable have 20 going at once. The females clip their wings if they like the sound of the males. The males cluster together to get a better chance with a female.

Unlike the American periodical cicada, ours come out every year and all 42 types are only found here.

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Too many computers

We have two Windows 7 desktops, one Windows 8 laptop, one Linux based laptop, one MacBook Pro, two MacBooks, one Samsung Android tablet, one Windows Mobile phone, four Android phones, one iPod Touch and iPod classic. We also have two servers which are not active, but working perfectly. There is a Kindle with a damaged screen and another damaged tablet. We also have three printers. A multi-purpose inkjet, a mono laser and a colour laser.

Too any for a house hold of seven? I think not as I’m hoping to get a few more laptops. : ) Only one of the desktops and one laptop where bought new. The phones, Kindles and tablets were new. (Gifts)

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Free(ish) stuff

I decided to see how much I can do on the Internet without paying much or free.

The first moved email to Google Apps for Business (not available for free anymore) I have 25 users all who get 15 GB storage for email, docs, calendar and files etc.

We use OpenDNS for web filtering. I use a paid version ($10 a year) to get better reporting.

CloudFlare is my name-server. I use this for several sites. It was a great way to set up what was needed for the MX records needed to move to Google Mail.

Using OpenShift to host this site and a couple of others. Just using a small gear for each site. Using WordPress for this blog and Ruby on Rails for another site. Both sites are using MySql as their backends. Two different languages for these too. PHP and Ruby.

Deploying to OpenShift uses Git to start the process. Push the changes and the build begins. I could set up Jenkins, but that would use a gear. OpenShift runs on Linux, uses Apache and uses SSH. All free as in beer and freedom.

I also have source code accounts with Bitbucket and Visual Studio online. I have hosting accounts with Amazon Web Services, Azure and Nitrous.io and just trying HoistApps. There are so many choices, so why did I go with OpenShift. It lets me have custom domains on the free offering. Simple.

 

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Been a long time (think Led Zeppelin)

Now at Xero going API stuff. Been here over a year and enjoying it. Although started in Wellington it is a global company.

Still in the same house, with the same long suffering wife and the same five kids. It’s a big year for schooling. Jack starts Trentham School in August, Erin started Fergusson Intermediate, Tom started at Upper Hutt College and Ben starts are Victoria University next month. Only Kristian is not changing schools (he has started at the equivalent of old Sixth Form)

This site has a new look and new hosting. Thanks OpenShift 🙂

Hopefully add something before 18 months are up.