Firefox update and plug-ins

My computer has been haranguing me today. It's hot, and it's getting old, and so it's also starting to get slow. I'm personally looking forward to the day when I'm so slow that all of my laptop functions seem incredibly quick. Old-age here I come.

But the problems I've been having lately aren't to do with its speed. It's to do with the latest update, which I can't install.

Not due to incompetence or incompatibility settings. No, I could have a reasonable crack at the second, and if I had the first I wouldn't have installed any of the previous updates, or indeed be able to turn my laptop on.

The problem is that there's one plug-in that I use that isn't going to work in the new version. And, oh sure, they say they'll let me know as soon as it's been updated. They say these things. But what do they really mean? Where's my forwards compatibility now Windows?

I have a range of plug-ins that I could live without. There's a nice plug-in that I use to protect my computer when it's visiting sites that it shouldn't visit. And a double plug-in layer of protection for when my computer is visiting sites that it REALLY shouldn't visit.

I could happily expose my computer to everything that the wild west deep web of the internet has to offer. But the plug-in that makes it a tiny bit easier to do a job ten times a day and which I could easily devise a workaround for if a put a little effort in?

I'm not into putting effort in.

So I laugh at your attempts to bully me into updating my system just by saying I'm old and irrelevant, Mozilla. You're staying right where you are.

The great potato famine of 2014-2015

It may not have hit the world headlines, but there's a potato shortage in New Zealand. It sprang into sharp focus over Christmas when retailers weren't able to keep their shelves stocked with potato chips. Dip sales fell in equal measure.

The whole country went into shock. We may not be Irish, but potato chips are one of our national foods. We have flavours that no other country would ever dream of having. And we still sell reduced cream solely so it can be mixed with dried onion soup to make a traditional kiwi dip.

I think there were a few happy nutritionists jumping around, but that was about it.

It's not over, by the way. Every time we walk into our supermarket for our weekly shop we have to walk past the sign stating that due to a national potato blah blah blah.

And it's not just the chips. The chips are just the bit that everyone worries about. There are very few new pototoes, and the ones there are aren't very big.

All of this pretty much passed me by. Sure, I knew about it - everybody knew about it - but even when I'm not on a diet I'm not so far away from one that I indulge in potato chips. And I only need potatoes when we're doing a roast, which is winter food.

But this morning it all hit home.

The reason for the potato shortage is that the weather has been inopportune for potato growth. Less potatoes, less crops, and the potatoes there are have a smaller yield.

Today I dug up my own home-grown potatoes. They've been sprouting and growing and flowering and growing and dying back and getting all ready for harvest. I was going to have a full-on potato haul in my cupboards tonight!

These are the results of my crop.

The teaspoon - yes that's only a teaspoon - is in there for scale as otherwise you might believe that we grow rather big glad containers in New Zealand and the crop was fine.

It wasn't fine.

Now I have to dry them off and store them for a really special occasion because after five months work I'm only getting one meal out of these suckers.

Sales Desk

When our office moved last weekend I was left with a free desk in my pod. As my book was released on Monday I shamelessly purloined it to use it as a sales desk for my hastily assembled 'Katherine Hayton Only Bookstore.'

Sadly I'm gaining a new staff member in my little team on Monday, so although I will be grateful for the assistance I'm losing my POS furniture.

For some reason my Skeletal teddy bears, and my posters, and my stack of unsold books, and my handmade sign stating that they're signed by the author, just don't have as much panache when they're on top of a tambour instead.

I'm just going to have to try to harangue people that little bit harder. I believe it could go something along the lines of if you want help from the office QA then you just have to provide proof of purchase.

Damn. Just remembered that my manager is also back on Monday. That may not fly.

Thinking cap on then. I'll see what I can come up with over the weekend. Or I'll just sit down and start the next one. Whichever.