Akra’s DevNotes

jwz on 29th Oct 2007:

When (WHEN) your backup drive goes bad, which you will notice because your last backup failed, replace it immediately. This is your number one priority. Don't wait until the weekend when you have time, do it now, before you so much as touch your computer again. Do it before goddamned breakfast. The universe tends toward maximum irony. Don't push it.

Some very good advice. I just back up my "cannot afford to lose" data at the moment. If I lose my hard drive, I have a good day or so of reinstalling and re-setting-up to look forward to. It's probably worth the £100 or so for a new hard drive.

If you read DevZone, then you'll notice that Cal's looking for some PHP Abstract advertising.

I'm always up for free books, so there's my link Cal! (Though I doubt that technorati picks up my little blog!)

More seriously, PHPAbstract is worth listening to. Unusually for a podcast, each episode is short (around 10 mins) so that I actually get to listen to a whole episode without being distracted. They have episodes by many (lots?) well known PHP luminaries about a variety of PHP related topics. I've listened to every one (except #16) and PHPAbstract is one of only 4 podcasts I actually subscribe to in iTunes. (Where's the iTunes button on the PHPAbstract page then Cal?)

Advert over - back to writing about the Zend Framework!

(This post probably has more links than any other on this site!)

I thought that I'd answer Davey's question: what do you do to get away from PHP?. I also enjoy seeing the non-PHP side of people on Twitter, though I'm tending to use Twitter as a micro-blogging tool more at the moment.

I enjoy spending my "non-PHP" time with my family. We are members of the National Trust as it gives us cheap access to land where the boys can run around freely. We also go camping for our holidays, though like to do it in a little bit of comfort.

I also enjoy photography, though still have a long way to go to being more than "proficient" at it. Looking through my Flickr stream, and it is also obvious that I like old trains - mainly as a photographic subject. There's something about the pent up power in the old steam trains, that just isn't there in the modern people transporters we have nowadays. I'll photograph anything really as I haven't really discovered what I'm good at!

Another thing I'm doing is writing a book, of course! I love reading fiction - anything really, from Bernard Cornwall to Peter Hamilton via Terry Pratchett. I also read "technical" books to keep my brain sharp and to keep on learning.

So what about you? Answers on a postcard and make sure you let Davey know too!