My personal and professional life

2007-02-08

How much?

Do you ask the question "How much?"? I had to answer this question, which irritates me and it's unpleasant, from time to time. I cannot understand why people are so curious and want to know how much you're paid, haw much you're paying about something and so on and so on. I do not like to be asked neither I ask this question.
Please, next time when you're about to ask this question think whether you'd like to answer the question you're asking.

2007-02-01

I've released SlackPack (at least)

After long delay at least I've released SlackPack - my site for my Slackware packages. The whole site is written in Perl with the use of Template and is like the popular software for bug tracking - Bugzilla. Naturally the idea is quite a lot different - a system for management of Slackware packages and repositories. However, for the moment the system is rather representative, because the administrative part is not ready at all. Only the public side, which presents the packages and give the possibility for download works and is available to the public. Currently SlackPack will offer its users:
  • full packages information;
  • possibility for review of the package contents;
  • possibility for download;
  • possibility for automatic update of a system from the repositories;
  • quick search, advanced search and review of the packages by Slackware version or category;
  • always current feeds, generated on the moment.
Unfortunately currently the site is only in English, but I hope the soon I'll have the time to localize it in Bulgarian, because a significant part of my packages are localized in Bulgarian and I don't want to cause difficulties to the users who don't use English. I have also lot of interesting ideas for the site development, but its all matter of future and enough free time. I hope the site will be liked both by the professionals as well as enthusiast working with one of the best distributions.

Wash up your flash meomories!

Washed memory

Last Saturday with displeasure I found, that I've forgotten my personal flash memory of 2 GB in the jeans, which my wife have already been finished washing. It had occurred to me too late. I decided, that it can hardly survive after the two hour trundle and wash with strong powders in the washing machine. But, after I dried it for two days I finally found with pleasure that it works perfectly normal. I don't know whether the fact that I have left the cap closed didn't allow entering of much moist, but maybe the corpus itself does matter. I want to praise the manufacturer TwinMOS, for what they did - a product steady even on washing.

Now the memory works even better! Only the stamp did suffer and is more pail now.

I'm using the possibility to thank my ex-colleagues from OBS, which made me such quality present for my last birthday - TwinMOS® Mobile Disk Z4.

2006-12-07

New versions of my calculators

Today, so as yesterday I released new versions of my calculators - Mortgage calculator and Interest calculator. Yesterday just at St. Nicolas day, absent from the drinked wine I didn't notice that the files of the two applications didn't contain update information about themselves and their versions. So, I had to made new versions in a hurry :-)

Both new versions contain small changes. The new version of Interest calculator comes with fixed problem on the form reset, and Mortgage calculator with rename of the table to 'amortization plan'.

Those who are interested can review my other projects also.

Enjoyable using!

2006-11-27

18-th in linuxpackages.net

Today I noticed, that I had took 18-th place in the Top Contributors list of linuxpackages.net - 48 packages. This, to some extent makes me happy, because the work on the creation of the packages is not easy, and is expensive. Although the created by me packages are build with scripts, the lack of generalized system for building of packages is still a minus for Slackware.
Unfortunately I still don't have the possibility to run my own site for Slackware packages, because I have no time remaining to complete the advanced search. My repositories currently contain around 130 packages of about 60 different software distributions, and this indices along with the space taken grow constantly.
This Saturday thanks to Vassil Kolev I managed to made mirror of the packages on marla.ludost.net. I hope this way they will be accessible even when I have problem with the Internet connection or the machine at home.

2006-11-17

Translation of Bugzilla 2.22.1 (also 2.18.6 and 2.20.3)

A day and half ago I managed at last to release the updated Bulgarian translations of Bugzilla. For the new 2.22.1 version several things needed to be translated and templates synchronized, because most of the changes were in the code and not in the text. Simultaneously with this I made several improvements of the translation and spell check fixes.

For the old versions the only thing that I done was to synchronize the templates. One way or another there were only code changes, and I don't have the possibility to support this versions qualitatively.

The packages can be found on the usual places - project packages and my home server.

Although that the changes this time were not much, the translations and the synchronization took full month, because

  • I learned late for the new versions released by Bugzilla;
  • I had problems with the softer, I use for the translation;
  • I didn't have enough free time.

Happy using!

2006-10-19

Just ask!

Transcard hid my card these last months. It all started when in the middle of August I found that my card is blocked - I couldn't log in the Internet service. On phone *77 they informed me that there was a reorganization ongoing and my card had to be "reissued", because they were ceasing work with EuroBank. As it wasn't possible this to be done by fax, I went to their office where they convinced me that it's better to wait for the expiration of the card at the end of August, because like this the card would be reissued automatically.
I armed myself with patience and waited the whole month of September. After the card didn't arrive after all I called again phone *77 from where they informed me that I'm required to submit a plea as I point out reassuring and transfer of old debts. So I did. A new half a month waiting followed, until finally I received my card in teared envelope. Of course this wasn't a problem as they assured me on phone *77, because the card wasn't activated. But hasn't the one the one that teared the envelope had all the necessary for activating it? Hopefully, it didn't.
After some days my card was activated. I decided to log in the Transcard's Internet service for users, to check the information there. Alas, there was no information at all, because as they informed me from phone *77 this was "a completely new card" and respectively they cannot provide me access to the information about the old card.
All this made me ask myself the following questions:
  • Why it was necessary I to be deprived from my credit card for two whole months?
  • What kind of "reissuing" is this, as the card is "completely new"?
  • Is the level of security enough especially at the delivery of the new "reissued" cards by regular mail?
  • Why am I deprived of the information about the past movements on the card?
These questions made me come to the conclusion that the level of services in Bulgaria is still quite low. I think that as a user I should feel the "reorganization" of Transcard in such a way. I think that I should have received the reissued card as early as the beginning of  September, and not with two months delays and for reasons beyond my control.
Now I have my card, but I'm very disappointed from what happened and I already addressed my complaint to Transcard for everything that happened in the past two months.

For the mail without Subject:

Very, really very much I hate the mail without subject. Many people (even professionals) continue to send mail to anywhere, which doesn't tell me anything at first sight and is getting ordered with all other such messages (I must check if there is a bug in Bugzilla for that).

I appeal to anyone sending electronic mail - don't send messages without subject. It is the most essential thing of a message. Always put subject on the messages, which you send, if you want them to be taken into consideration.

2006-09-25

A little sport

This weekend I again went to swim in the pool of the elementary school next to our house in Dupnitsa. I use the possibility to congratulate the municipality of Dupnitsa for the initiative to restore the pool in which paradoxically I was not able to swim until I was student there, but about 15 years later. Похвално е, that the destruction of the building was stopped and public access to the facility was granted.

From the beginning of this summer I use the possibility to swim each time when I'm in Dupnitsa. For other there is no time, and anyhow there I'm as less engaged as possible. I love sport, but the strenuous daily round, the strive for professional success and the family didn't left much window for it.

On Sunday I began practicing swim with plunge under water in the styles breaststroke and front crawl. However still is pretty hard for me and I can't get enough air. Therefore next time I'll practice mainly breathing, because it is most important for the right swimming and moreover in my opinion it reduces the tiredness in swimming.

2006-09-21

Is Slavi exhausted?

I don't know how many people are now asking themselves this question, but I begin to ask myself more frequently, and others my have found the answer for themselves long ago. I questioned myself yesterday, when the show was in format "Lets talk with Rossen Petrov". The talks was about "the great" show Survivor. I don't know if it is about the man, but I just can't stand Rossen Petrov and his participation in any form in the show. I admit, that I don't watch the broadcasts regularly, but I have he feeling that Rossen Petrov is more frequently guest in the show that it should be. Even it should not appear at all. I don't remember Jay Leno ever to have invited his script-writers in the show moreover to make political shows, like it was in Slavi Show on the previous parliamentary elections, when the whole script-writers army came out against the leaders of the big partyes.

There were time when Slavi made show, liked and watched by many people, but now if there are no actors with some fresh sketch there is nothing else to watch. Like Slavi himself said after one not so good show some years ago "If the script-writers sit down to work like it should maybe the show will happen..." - citing by memory.