Robbed!

Damnation!  Last night while I was waiting for a bus I put my briefcase on the ground for a moment, got my Pocket PC out to check a phone number and then put the Pocket PC back into the back and got a mobile out to look up a number.  Then I  noticed that the bus was arriving, so I turned round to pick up my briefcase.  Only it was not there.  It had disappeared into thin air.  I neither heard no saw anything, and neither, apparently, did the other people waiting for the bus.  I could not believe it.  I rang the police, but since I had not seen anyone, they would not send anyone to me.  Not a great surprise, I suppose.

In the bag was my highly useful Axim x30h pocket PC, a useful dictionary, all my teaching cards and a text book, plus a register for a course I am holding at the moment.  Boy am I miffed.  But what really gets me is that a did not notice a thing.  I was distracted for no more than five minutes.  Heaven knows who took the thing.

Afterwards I went to a local police station to make a statement, but I doubt I will see the bag ever again, and as for the Pocket PC, well, that may as well have been eaten by an elephant.  I will not see it again.

Unbelievable.  Whoever it was must have been close by and must have noticed the Pocket PC, as I doubt whether and Italian/English financial dictionary will fetch that much on the black market.  I did notice a guy at the bus stop who was on his mobile, but I don’t think there was any connection between his call and my loss, but you never know.

Moral of the story: Don’t flash hi-tech gadgetry around and keep tight hold of your possessions while you are in Milan.  You live and you learn.

Vista fever! Not here!

Being a technology nut, I was interested to hear about the latest version of Windows, but after having heard more details, and after having become bamboozled by the myriad of different versions available, my enthusiasm has waned. In an ideal world I would use Linux or possibly Apple’s OS, but these operating systems just do not have the variety of software available that Gates’ creations boast. Although Linux does have some great software available, a lot of it does not have the polish of the Windows equivalents. This will change in time. Anyway, back to Vista. I actually saw a demo version running on PC in the window of a local FNAC shop. I say ‘running’ when in actual fact it was stuttering. The jerky movements did not really make me want to run in and upgrade on the spot, and even if I had, all those different versions would have confused me, so I would probably have gone off to check out which version would be best for me. This all means that I would not have come home with a shiny new operating system.

From what I have understood, you should only consider upgrading if you happen to have a new, high specification PC, otherwise you may have all sorts of problems with hardware drivers, lack of memory and a graphics card that will not be up to scratch. Really, I’m rather glad I got my newish laptop before Vista came along. Windows XP works fine for me and rarely falls over, unlike the previous incarnations in the Windows line. The only thing XP seems to fall down at is running games, which either run out of the box, or don’t, from my experience. I also have a Playstation 2, so PC games don’t really interest me any more.

By the time I get round to upgrading my Dell laptop, with its bouncy wi-fi, I’m sure I’ll end up with Vista, but until that moment, I’m going to stick in XP land. Vista does not really do enough that is interesting for me to try it out. The next incarnation of Windows should be much more interesting. I hope.

Where have I been?

Short answer: Busy.  This period is fraught.  Lots of courses and not enough time to devote to other things, such as writing blog entries.

I have been pleased to note that one of my esteemed students has actually visited this blog and has even made some comments.  Good on you Gianluca!  It’s great seeing people actually making an effort to use English, and this will probably mean they will end up speaking the language well enough to allow them to do very well in their chosen careers.  I’m lucky enough to have a great bunch of students.

Have I ever said how rewarding it is to observe a group of my students actually interacting in English?  Well, if I have not, I have now.  A bunch of my charges, and I deal will lower level learners, managed to complete a meeting simulation very successfully today, much to my satisfaction, and to theirs.  They also used the language I had taught and ended up, as I have already mentioned, proving to themselves that they can, if they forget Italian for a moment, use English effectively.  So I can say that work is hectic, but satisfying.

When I have had a few spare moments I’ve been researching digital SLRs and have been zeroing in on the EOS 400d, although I would rather like to have seen and played with a certain Pentax k10d, which gets good reviews and offers a few more features than the already rather feature rich Canon, only I have been unable to find on of these jewels in any local camera shops.  I’m not sure whether this is a selling-like-hot-cakes sign, or an indication that the things are virtually impossible to get hold of over here, unless you want to buy sight unseen over the WWW, which I don’t.  I also reckon that Pentax may have possibly been pushed to one side in the Italian market by the dominance of Nikon and Canon.  This dominance is so overwhelming, that it is almost suspicious, much in the same way as the dominance of the famous coke manufacturer which goes by the name of Coca compared to the other pretty famous coke manufacturer which goes by the name of Pepsi.  Then again I suspect that in certain other countries Pepsi has a stronger presence than Coca.  Talk about carving up the market.

Anyway, that’s enough for the moment.  Time to hit the sack.  Guess what?  Yes, another busy old day tomorrow.  Ho hum, life goes on.