Ralph's Place

Neglected, but not forgotten

Ralph — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 16:47:06 +0000

Consider it a new year’s resolution that this site will get an upgrade at some point soon. It’s just a case of finding the time, and the energy, to do something about it.

Ralph

A Lesson Learned

Ralph — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 21:47:56 +0000

In the last 2 weeks I’ve learned a valuable lesson about backing up data. We all know we should do it, we all occasionally think about it. Sometimes, if we’re lucky (and smart) we even make the odd backup, but all too often the hassle and time involved mean it gets put off until another day.

It’s funny how it takes the realisation of our mistakes to really make a lesson hit home. I made a mistake, in fact I made quite a few. Every time I thought to myself “I should probably back these up sometime soon” and didn’t, that was a mistake.

About 2 weeks ago, my computer ground to a halt, shut down, then failed to boot again. It turned out that this was because my hard drive had failed. Music.. photos.. files.. all gone (or at least held inaccessibly where only some expensive recovery work can get them).

My last full backup? Never. Music - about 18 months ago. Photos - about a year.

Luckily many of the most important photos to me will also be on Caroline’s machine, so I should get some of them back. But some are lost forever, along with other pretty irreplaceable stuff like my climbing route log.

So.. as I said before, I’ve learned a lesson. My external drive was out today, and I’m set up and ready to clone my drive weekly. There’s plenty of software out there to help, it just takes a bit of effort up front to get on and do it. Don’t make the same mistake I did…

For Mac (if you haven’t got Time Machine like me) I’d recommend SuperDuper. It’s free, or you can pay for extra features like scheduling backups. For Windows there are a few options, none of which I’ve tried: Norton Ghost or DriveClone are the first 2 that come to mind. Neither are free, but worth every penny I’m sure. There are no doubt some free options out there too, even a scheduled batch file would do!

An Overwhelming Sense of Self Preservation

Ralph — Wed, 20 May 2009 11:52:38 +0000

I often wonder how I could improve as a climber. I’ve been climbing VS for about 3 years now, with only the occasional forray onto anything harder. I’d love to be operating more in the HVS/E1 ball park, but for some reason I just can’t seem to get a foothold.

I don’t think my problem is ability. That’s to say I’m physically capable of climbing much harder. In fact I’m probably bouldering about as well as I ever have! Climbing E2 on top rope hasn’t been a problem for years, so why should leading HVS? Alas, I am fairly sure my issues lie elsewhere.

My head is what needs training, but how? How do you improve at reading routes, placing gear under strain, and let’s not forget that big one, “the fear”. That performance crippling fear of falling and hurting yourself, because you’re sure your gear won’t hold or you haven’t found a place for any yet.

I even know the answer to some extent; climb more, and push out of my comfort zone. Only by trying harder routes will I start to adapt and settle at a new level. But how to do that, when every part of me says to climb the HS I know I’ll “enjoy” rather than pull onto a potential epic?

Noone likes leaving their comfort zone (except a select group of nutters), and I’m no exception. More often than not these days I’d much rather have a “nice day out” than really push myself. But the only way to improve is to do just that. I know I’m capable, as long as I can control the fear and resist the urge to overgrip everything (and pump out) or stand around on a ledge for weeks and eventually back off.

Somehow I’ve got to get past that overwhelming sense of self preservation and push myself a bit… but how?

UKC Article: Journey to Failure

Ralph — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 11:04:40 +0000

I like this I need to get out and try Deliverance again soon…

UKC Article

It’s been a while

Ralph — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 09:49:00 +0000

No time
Too busy
Moving house
Wrong phase of the moon
The internet’s too smelly

…

All the usual excuses for being away, but hoping to be back soon…

FreeMind

Ralph — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:33:29 +0000

If you’re anything like me, then dumping the contents of your brain into some sort of list or mind map is something you do quite regularly. Just thought I’d share a clever free tool that I was introduced to recently, which can help you do this quickly

FreeMind

Enjoy!

Gallery & Recent Photos: Fixed

Ralph — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 14:36:10 +0000

Taken me a while to get round to it, but the gallery is fixed (used to cut off about 2/3 across the screen) and the recent photos are back on the right hand side of the main page.

Maybe I’ll use them both now.

Economics vs Environment

Ralph — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 14:27:11 +0000

London to Nottingham - Return

Car - Approx £30 in petrol *
Train - £33.45, £38.95 or £80.20 depending on when you travel **

What would you do?

* Does not include cost of Car, Insurance and Servicing
** Price includes 16-25 Railcard discount. Does not include cost of travel to/from stations. For cheaper tickets must travel at specific times.

Sunny Froggatt

Ralph — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 22:27:25 +0000

Caroline and I managed to escape work and join the club for a day at Froggatt at the weekend. Unfortunately we couldn’t take up an offer of a weekend of Western exploration, but we were lucky enough to enjoy a gorgeous sunny afternoon in the East.

After a quick warm up on Trapeze Direct, we joined the queue for Chequer’s Buttress, which went with all the fun I’d been told to expect. The stretch out the arete was about as much as my arms would allow, and after a short rest on the jugs, the airy arete had me giggling by the top. Classic route!

Next came a failed (or rather, escaped) look at Two Sided Triangle - HVS (should be E1 if you ask me) 5b, just left of Three Pebble Slab, then I promised to put a rope down Sunset Slab for Caroline, as obviously neither of us would ever lead it… hmmm. 10 minutes later, I was grinning through the crux above a 15m groundfall, at least it’s “only” 4b

My turn to hold the rope now as Caroline breezed up Slab Recess, and then had even more fun on Trapeze (if swearing at your boyfriend counts as fun lol).

All in all, a really good day out, and the sun even put in an appearance for us mid October! Perfect.

James Brown padding up final run out moves on Three Pebble Slab, HVS 5a

A Simpler Service

Ralph — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 15:19:45 +0000

Train companies recently updated their ticket tarrifs to make things simpler for customers. Removing a large number of ticket types, on EMT services you can now get:

Anytime - for use at any time
Off-peak - for use at off peak times
Advance - bought in advance, for use on a specific service

Along with these changes, prices appear to have been raised slightly… so that an Off-peak ticket actually costs around 10-15% more (based on London-Nottingham ticket) than the old, and equivilant, Saver ticket. Although on thetrainline.com, a Super Off-peak ticket seems to be available if bought in advance (isn’t this an Advance ticket?) at around the old price.

So while simplifying the ticket types, train companies have also managed to raise prices… great, but it doesn’t stop there! Some of the tickets that disappeared as part of the simplification have no equivilant. Take the “Weekender” that EMT offered on their services, allowing you to leave any time on a Friday and return anytime over the weekend or on Monday (you could also do this Saturday to Tuesday). This ticket used to cost just a little more than a saver ticket, but now the only way to do this is to buy an Anytime ticket, which costs more than twice as much!

This means that not only have they raised prices on simple tickets, but they’ve removed cheaper options, forcing you to travel at inconvenient times or pay a small fortune for your journey. Isn’t that just fantastic.

Fantastically shit. I think I’ll just drive.