Posts Tagged ‘andysworld’

Bees First, Photos Later – Malaysia 2023 Finally Online!

Wednesday, April 23rd, 2025

The Photo Album! (sorry for the 2nd post in 2 days!)

Finally! (Yes, really… finally!) The holiday photos from our amazing trip to Malaysia in 2023 are now up in the Album. No more delays, no more excuses — just a good old-fashioned dose of reality: everything else always comes before holiday photos. But in the next month, I’m catching up before Bees work takes off!

Let me explain…

Bees, VMware, and… Bees Again

Since returning from Malaysia, life has been buzzing — literally. Between caring for the bees, running Meltonby Honey, preparing fondant blocks, doing swarm control, extracting and jarring honey (with proper batch tracking!), and delivering to customers — it’s a full-time job.

Then, there’s my Hancock’s VMware Half Hour HOW TO series (which keeps growing), all the vExpert stuff, and, oh yes — my actual day job. So when it came to uploading holiday photos? Well… that always ended up at the bottom of the list. Along with finishing my coffee while it’s still warm.

Holiday Snaps – What’s the Point?

I often end up in conversations with people about what we all actually do with our holiday photos. Most of us take thousands on our smartphones, and then what? They just sit in iCloud, Google Photos, or a hard drive somewhere — never looked at again.

And it does raise a good question:
If we never view them, why take them in the first place?

The answer, I think, is memories.

They’re little digital keepsakes. Not always for today, but for some rainy day in the future. That’s why I still try to get the best ones up on the website — so we can look back and smile, or relive that adventure, even if it takes me a year (or more!) to get around to doing it.

The Process: Not for the Faint-Hearted

Getting the holiday album onto the website is no quick task. Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at how the magic (eventually) happens:

  1. Devices: We take two Apple iPhones and a trusty DSLR bridge camera. So far, so good.

  2. Storage: Photos land in iCloud, Google Photos, and locally from the DSLR. That’s right — manually copied from the camera (how quaint).

  3. Sorting: Enter Lindsey, who heroically goes through the ~3,000 photos and selects the best ones. (She’s got a great eye!)

  4. Converting: Once selected, I get the fun job of converting hundreds — sometimes thousands — of HEIC images to JPG. Because of course, not everything plays nice on the web.

  5. The Website Album: Now for the real time sink — manually coding the photo album. I’ve been running this HTML-based album for over 20 years now. And honestly? I don’t write much code anymore… so remembering how it all works takes a bit of head-scratching.

  6. Fixes and Tweaks: This year I ran into some broken HTML, incorrect folder names, and layout issues that needed fixing. So it took even longer to get everything polished and just right.

Getting Older (and Slower at HTML)

Let’s be real — this code is vintage. My own custom creation from decades ago. Back then, I had all the tags and folder structures in my head. Now? Not so much. Every time I dive back into it, I feel like I’m solving my own little legacy puzzle.

But hey, it’s done now, and it’s up!

Go Take a Look

So if you fancy a bit of armchair travel, check out the 2023 Malaysia Holiday Photos in the Album. Temples, tropical beaches, cultural sights, food (of course), and lots of little moments that made it such a special trip. The Album Index is here – https://andysworld.org.uk/album/index.html, and includes all the photos from 2006, to present, okay I still now need to complete the last holiday to Sri Lanka in 2025 ! I’ll start on those now!

Thanks for your patience — now I’m off to label some more jars of honey… or fix some vCenter upgrades… or maybe take a nap! Off to edit and publish all the videos to YouTube !

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Farewell VMware Skyline Advisor Pro: A Tribute and a Song

Thursday, October 3rd, 2024

On 4th October 2024, we bid farewell to a cherished tool in the VMware community—VMware Skyline Advisor Pro. After years of serving IT administrators and engineers in identifying and resolving issues before they could disrupt operations, this beloved tool is reaching the end of its journey. While its departure marks the closing of a chapter, the legacy it leaves behind will be remembered for its innovative contributions to proactive VMware support.

 

A Look Back: The Role of Skyline Advisor Pro

VMware Skyline Advisor Pro was more than just a tool—it was a companion for those navigating the complex landscapes of VMware environments. Introduced as an enhancement over the standard Skyline Advisor, the “Pro” version provided advanced insights into potential vulnerabilities and configuration issues. This proactive approach helped IT teams save countless hours and avoid major incidents, allowing businesses to run smoother with fewer disruptions.

One of its most valued features was its real-time, data-driven recommendations. With its ability to analyze telemetry data, the tool provided critical security advisories and performance recommendations. The integrated integration with VMware’s support services made the overall experience even more seamless, allowing businesses to stay ahead of potential issues while reducing downtime and operational costs.

Skyline Advisor Pro was there when we needed it, always scanning, always optimizing.

The End of an Era

VMware announced that Skyline Advisor Pro would reach its End of Life (EOL) in October 2024. For many of us, it’s like saying goodbye to an old friend. As IT professionals, we have come to rely on it for both routine monitoring and critical insights. Its departure means we must now look to alternative solutions and adapt to a future without Skyline.

In Memoriam: The Song “Goodbye VMware Skyline Advisor Pro”

To mark this moment and pay homage to what Skyline Advisor Pro has meant to the VMware community, Andysworld! created a heartfelt tribute—his new song titled “Goodbye VMware Skyline Advisor Pro.”

The song captures the emotions of this bittersweet farewell, reflecting the reliability, trust, and proactive support that Skyline Advisor Pro provided. Through the lyrics and melody, Andy has crafted a personal expression of gratitude toward a tool that, for so long, kept our infrastructure safe and sound.

“Goodbye VMware Skyline Advisor Pro” symbolizes not just the end of a tool but also the beginning of new innovations to come. As one door closes, the VMware ecosystem will continue to evolve, finding new ways to support IT teams across the globe.

Looking Ahead

While the EOL of VMware Skyline Advisor Pro is sad for those of us who relied on it, it’s also a reminder that technology is always changing. As VMware pushes the boundaries of what’s possible, we can look forward to the next generation of tools and solutions that will help us manage our environments.

For now, we take a moment to reflect on Skyline Advisor Pro’s contributions and listen to Andy’s musical tribute as we say our goodbyes.

Here’s to the future, and here’s to never forgetting what made Skyline Advisor Pro special. Goodbye, old friend.

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Merry Christmas from Andysworld! and York iconic St Nicholas Fair?

Sunday, November 25th, 2018

We don’t venture out to York very much, but Lindsey took me to Ippuku Tea House yesterday for my Birthday meal, which is a Japanese Tea room in York. If you like Japanese food, the food is excellent!

tearoom

The Christmas Shoppers in York, were terrible, drawn by the iconic St Nicholas Fair?

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The White Rabbit – Happy Thursday!

Thursday, February 25th, 2016

“One pill makes you larger,

And one pill makes you small,

And the ones that mother gives you,

Don’t do anything at all,

Go Ask Alice

When she’s 10 feet tall…….”

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HOW TO Publish from Microsoft Word to WordPress

Monday, February 8th, 2016

I’ve wanted to publish/write articles for Andysworld! For many years, directly from Microsoft Word (offline), and then hit a button to publish. I never noticed that Microsoft Word has this incorporated!

You select:-

  1. File > New
  2. Blog Post > Create

  1. Select your Account (blog)
  2. Select a category
  3. Type something.
  4. Hit Publish

Simply! Done!

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I’m a VMware Expert 2016, that’s six years in a row! @vExpert

Monday, February 8th, 2016

Last week on Friday 6th February 2016, the latest list of vExperts for 2016, was posted here.

So let the fun begin…

Andy

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Andysworld! – Andy’s 1000th Blog Post

Tuesday, May 1st, 2012

1000th

Yes, thats right folks, this is Andysworld! – Andy’s 1000th Blog post. So a Big Congratulations to Me, and a Big Thank You to ALL the Readers, where ever you maybe on the internet.

Lets hope for another 1000 blog posts, and to celebrate, a cream cake with 10 candles, I could not fit 1000 candles on it, so ten will have to do.

1000thcake

it was very nice as well! – Andy

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Andysworld! downtime!

Saturday, February 4th, 2012

I shutdown Andysworld! for 12 hours, (between Feb 4 00:00 and 13:00) because I was having issues with the performance and database, But I suspect the issue could be with my home broadband throughput.

in the process of checking the database, the website may have sent out, emails by mistake if you are registered on Andysworld!

Whoops!

Sorry about that!

Hopefully back to normal, and was nothing!

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Thank you if you donated in September 2011 your Donation has been forwarded to WaterAid

Saturday, October 1st, 2011

Thank you if you donated in the month of September 2011 your Donation has been forwarded to WaterAid.

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Andysworld! new logo and identity on the internet

Tuesday, June 14th, 2011

I was getting bored with the stock template image, and although I had changed it from the default blue to green, I’ve been wanting to change it for a while. As you may have noticed we have a new “clickable Logo “. If you click it, it will return to the homepage (root of the website).

Andysworld New Logo and Indentity

Andysworld New Logo and Indentity

I’ve been testing VMware View 4.6 (Virtual Desktops using PCoIP) experimenting with Windows 7 64 bit Professional and Adobe Photoshop CS5 64 bit, using virtual desktop workstations. I wanted to test fully, so I spent a few hours testing Adobe Photoshop Cs5 (64 bit) and Corel Paint Shop Pro x3 to check what performance was like testing the in the Cloud! I think the performance was better than installing it on my standard PC.

As more web site traffic comes to Andysworld! than it did five years ago, I’ve decided it’s time for a facelift, so the logo is the start.

As you may have noticed I “borrowed” the theme for the logo, from a well known Search Engine, if it works for them! the random colours in the logo, reflect the choas in my life, from one day to the next!

“a day in the life’ – Andy

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