Today's Earworm- Infa-Red, Placebo
After reading a whole lotta debate on the interwebs about Superman Returns, can I state for some people who missed it, Lois Lane *does* know who Jason's father is, she does remember sleeping with Supes, and *she does remember who Clark Kent is*. Mmkay?
It might seem a stretch, but bear with me here. It works in a universe where Supe's super-rohypnol wears off after a period of time, especially when Lois starts putting things together about the time period Superman II takes place in. She's not supposed to be an idiot. She might not remember everything, but she'd haved pieced together enough.
She ignores Clark at the office, much as how you'd ignore an ex. Things are predictably awkward. She can't ignore Superman (as in the plane).
She gets very little screen time with Clark so the audience isn't given much information to work with, but it's there if you look. She unloads on Clark in the taxi scene about him taking off on her. She doesn't want to work with Clark.
Just before she flies with Superman, she mentions that Clark told her that Supes didn't say goodbye because it hurt too much, she feels it's a load of crap. It might look like she doesn't know Clark = Supes, but look closer. I think she knows, but she realises that Supes probably still thinks she's mindwiped. She's giving him a shot at explaining himself. He blows it by pretending he doesn't know Clark (I'll have to see if in the original 2 films its established that he does know who Clark is, as one of his 'pals'. I think that it is). She plays along ("so, same old Clark!").
She's playing along with the whole 'secret identity' mess because she has a vested interest in keeping his identity secret, and also she might be waiting to see if he explains himself. She's testing him, to see if she can trust him.
Also, this is a big can of worms to open with her fiance nearby. She has no time during the course of the movie to bail him up and get the truth out of him.
There's a couple more hints that I can think off the top of my head. There's the glasses thing where she drops her bag, and brusqely hands Clark back his glasses without even looking at him. She knew what she was going to see. Also when her fiance connects the dots between Clark and Superman's return, who is it that deflects this line of inquiry? Lois.
There's a final subtle hint from Lex. "Superman can tell when people lie. Especially women." Lex is always wrong about Superman. Supes sure as hell didn't know she was lying about Jason's parentage, or that she didn't remember. It's a throwaway line, but considering the cuts to this movie, that line was there for a reason.
I know that all of that seems a stretch, but its a small one. I don't have any problem with the timing of the pregnancy. She's a busy woman, she might not have realised she'd missed her period for a couple of months. Things had ended abruptly with Superman, and then she took up with her fiance, possibly partially as a rebound. He might even have been lurking around the Daily Planet before Clark was, Lois only 'noticed' him when she was emotionally needy. Doesn't matter if she remembered or not at this point, she probably felt lonely regardless.
At the end of the movie, how could Lois not be incredibly, *blazing fire of a million suns* angry with Supes for knocking her up, if she had no pre-knowledge of their tryst? And if she remembers that, she'd have pieced together the stuff about Clark too.
I like the idea of Supes trying to relieve her of the pain of the breakup in SII, but in reality not handling it too well himself, and then leaving to try to find the truth of himself in the ashes of Krypton. Sure beats that stuff he was doing in the sequels where he kisses Lois to restore her memory when *he* needs some love, then promptly roofies her again to erase her memory. *That's* some high Superdickery.
4.7.06
29.6.06
Turning off SMP on a single app or game
Legacy games running BootCamp on a MacBook Pro (or any dual core processor) can sometimes crash, because they don't support multiprocessing. Two that I know of -
- System Shock 2
- Deus Ex 2
Neither of those games are getting multiprocessor updates anytime soon.
Deus Ex 2, for example, will sputter and sound-loop on the title screen. I've seen some crappy workarounds, but here's one that works.
1) Get a copy of imagecfg.exe . This tool lives in one of the Windows resource kits. There are places you can get it on its own, Google away.
2) Make a backup of your main game executable. I.e. I made a copy of DX2Main.exe that was called DX2Main.exe.backup
3) run imagecfg -u c:\Your game path\your game.exe
This sets the executable to have an 'affinity' with CPU 0, that is, it will run on one core.
And that's it, your game will run without you having to alt-tab, view processes, and set the CPU affinity every time the game runs (it was getting very old on DX2), or any other mullarkey.
Hope this helps any fellow retrogamers out there.
Now as for getting Shock 2 running on XP at all.. lets say there's a FAQ. A long one over at http://www.ttlg.com/forums/.
- System Shock 2
- Deus Ex 2
Neither of those games are getting multiprocessor updates anytime soon.
Deus Ex 2, for example, will sputter and sound-loop on the title screen. I've seen some crappy workarounds, but here's one that works.
1) Get a copy of imagecfg.exe . This tool lives in one of the Windows resource kits. There are places you can get it on its own, Google away.
2) Make a backup of your main game executable. I.e. I made a copy of DX2Main.exe that was called DX2Main.exe.backup
3) run imagecfg -u c:\Your game path\your game.exe
This sets the executable to have an 'affinity' with CPU 0, that is, it will run on one core.
And that's it, your game will run without you having to alt-tab, view processes, and set the CPU affinity every time the game runs (it was getting very old on DX2), or any other mullarkey.
Hope this helps any fellow retrogamers out there.
Now as for getting Shock 2 running on XP at all.. lets say there's a FAQ. A long one over at http://www.ttlg.com/forums/.
21.6.06
MacBook Pro Observations
Ok. Here's a bunch of MacBook Pro observations, in no particular order.
-- The MBP has a DVD drive that is very picky about Region codes. My iBook would play any DVD with VLC, my MBP will not. The DVD will just fail to play in VLC without a warning. Region 4 DVDs will play without a hitch (I'm in Australia).
Region 1 DVDs (I tested it with 'Primer') will play fine in an external drive.
-- Speedit v0.5 (http://www.increw.com/products/speedit/screen_shots.html) makes my Mac seize up periodically. The previous version works fine though for getting CPU temps.
-- Shutting off the keyboard backlight conserves battery.
-- On batteries, the calibration process is very different to previous Macs, read your manual.
-- If you install BootCamp, check your System Preferences for what your 'Startup Drive' is set to. If it hasn't got a default setting, your machine boots *Windows* by default. Yes, really.
-- If the above applies, or your machine is set to boot Windows, Safe Sleep *will not work for you*. You'll just find yourself back in Windows when you boot up after replacing your battery.
-- I discovered the above when I tested Safe Sleep after installing Boot Camp. Don't kid yourselves, Boot Camp is still Beta.
-- When idling, my machine will do about 30C to 40C above ambient. It will ratchet to 90C under full load, then fall back to the low to mid 80s as the fans kick in. This is warm, but it looks like the thermal system actually does work. I think it needs to be more aggressive though. a PrefPane setting ('Louder + cooler' vs 'quieter and hotter') would be nice.
-- I'm tempted to try to address the above issue with a 6 pack of beer, a tube of Arctic Silver 5, and an Apple Certified Tech.
-- I'll probably just wait for a firmware update though.
-- And I hope its out before Summer.
-- The MBP doesn't get too hot for lap use, but then again it is sitting on a foofbag normally. WoW is quite good even on powersaving settings.
-- The MBP has a DVD drive that is very picky about Region codes. My iBook would play any DVD with VLC, my MBP will not. The DVD will just fail to play in VLC without a warning. Region 4 DVDs will play without a hitch (I'm in Australia).
Region 1 DVDs (I tested it with 'Primer') will play fine in an external drive.
-- Speedit v0.5 (http://www.increw.com/products/speedit/screen_shots.html) makes my Mac seize up periodically. The previous version works fine though for getting CPU temps.
-- Shutting off the keyboard backlight conserves battery.
-- On batteries, the calibration process is very different to previous Macs, read your manual.
-- If you install BootCamp, check your System Preferences for what your 'Startup Drive' is set to. If it hasn't got a default setting, your machine boots *Windows* by default. Yes, really.
-- If the above applies, or your machine is set to boot Windows, Safe Sleep *will not work for you*. You'll just find yourself back in Windows when you boot up after replacing your battery.
-- I discovered the above when I tested Safe Sleep after installing Boot Camp. Don't kid yourselves, Boot Camp is still Beta.
-- When idling, my machine will do about 30C to 40C above ambient. It will ratchet to 90C under full load, then fall back to the low to mid 80s as the fans kick in. This is warm, but it looks like the thermal system actually does work. I think it needs to be more aggressive though. a PrefPane setting ('Louder + cooler' vs 'quieter and hotter') would be nice.
-- I'm tempted to try to address the above issue with a 6 pack of beer, a tube of Arctic Silver 5, and an Apple Certified Tech.
-- I'll probably just wait for a firmware update though.
-- And I hope its out before Summer.
-- The MBP doesn't get too hot for lap use, but then again it is sitting on a foofbag normally. WoW is quite good even on powersaving settings.
14.6.06
Fruit Fly
7pm - Checked Startrack. No change
9pm - 7pm - Checked Startrack. No change
10pm - Refreshed Stratrack page. No change
11pm - My foofpod will be here tomorrow, but no change on Startrack.
Yeah I know. My MBP will *get* here when it *gets* here. Like tomorrow.
12am - Going home to clean house for inspection this week. Startrack still says 'Scanned in transit'
9pm - 7pm - Checked Startrack. No change
10pm - Refreshed Stratrack page. No change
11pm - My foofpod will be here tomorrow, but no change on Startrack.
Yeah I know. My MBP will *get* here when it *gets* here. Like tomorrow.
12am - Going home to clean house for inspection this week. Startrack still says 'Scanned in transit'
Downhill slide
I got the funds together for a long-awaited, discounted, Shinybook Pro.
The bank, however, had other ideas, and for my own protection decided not to clear the funds today.
The Shinybooks have of course, sold out.
I think this is going to be one of those weeks where I just get kicked in the head, repeatedly.
If I had the option I don't think I'd leave the house.
Update : the machines I was referring to are new old-stock MacBook Pros, at a fairly ridiculous price. Those sold out very quickly, of course. There were still refurbs of the same spec on the website today when my funds cleared, so I went for one of those.
I'm optimistic this will be fine.
It cost the same as my iBook G4 when new.
The bank, however, had other ideas, and for my own protection decided not to clear the funds today.
The Shinybooks have of course, sold out.
I think this is going to be one of those weeks where I just get kicked in the head, repeatedly.
If I had the option I don't think I'd leave the house.
Update : the machines I was referring to are new old-stock MacBook Pros, at a fairly ridiculous price. Those sold out very quickly, of course. There were still refurbs of the same spec on the website today when my funds cleared, so I went for one of those.
I'm optimistic this will be fine.
It cost the same as my iBook G4 when new.
26.5.06
XMen 3
Verdict... *sigh*.
I know you have to make changes to make a genre work hang together on the big screen, but excising its soul is a Bad Thing.
I was happy enough with the explanation for Phoenix, but you've got this powerful being who is composed of rage and passion sitting about, and standing there looking morose, and occasionally, absently killing things with her mind. She should have been the emotional core of the film, but she wasn't, because she was played like a zombie (everyone else bored with depictions of 'possesion' in genre films? Yup) and because they lost a great opportunity when they *spoilered* *spoiler*.
And they also have her kill *spoiler*. Who really is the soul of the films, I guess, but if there'd been more emotional payoff or something I could have dealt with that, because various writers have *spoilered* *spoiler* over the years and it hasn't stuck yet.
Sigh.
At least Hugh Jackman was relatively impervious. His Wolverine is still pretty good. I liked the new additions like Beast, Angel and Shadowcat. (I think I saw Psylocke but she sort of blended into the BrotherHood Of Angry Goff Mutants).
Its not a complete waste of time, but it's not up to the previous two.
I know you have to make changes to make a genre work hang together on the big screen, but excising its soul is a Bad Thing.
I was happy enough with the explanation for Phoenix, but you've got this powerful being who is composed of rage and passion sitting about, and standing there looking morose, and occasionally, absently killing things with her mind. She should have been the emotional core of the film, but she wasn't, because she was played like a zombie (everyone else bored with depictions of 'possesion' in genre films? Yup) and because they lost a great opportunity when they *spoilered* *spoiler*.
And they also have her kill *spoiler*. Who really is the soul of the films, I guess, but if there'd been more emotional payoff or something I could have dealt with that, because various writers have *spoilered* *spoiler* over the years and it hasn't stuck yet.
Sigh.
At least Hugh Jackman was relatively impervious. His Wolverine is still pretty good. I liked the new additions like Beast, Angel and Shadowcat. (I think I saw Psylocke but she sort of blended into the BrotherHood Of Angry Goff Mutants).
Its not a complete waste of time, but it's not up to the previous two.
ValleySchwag On The Way
Waiting on your ValleySchwag? Not to worry! The guys and girls at Ruby Red labs are on it.
The vid is in response to "Alterion"'s post here.
Hehehe very funny response. I love teh Internets!
(Yes, I subscribed. I got tired of hearing about Conference X and the Conference X shwag via podcasts and blogs, and feeling left out because my great-great-great(etc) grandparents emigrated to the wrong colony).
The vid is in response to "Alterion"'s post here.
Hehehe very funny response. I love teh Internets!
(Yes, I subscribed. I got tired of hearing about Conference X and the Conference X shwag via podcasts and blogs, and feeling left out because my great-great-great(etc) grandparents emigrated to the wrong colony).
24.5.06
It has a great personality
After (well after) the initial buzz, here's my thoughts on the MBP's baby brother, the MacBook.
I'm in the market for a replacement for my rock-solid but ageing iBook G4 800. It's held out this long because the RAM is maxed out. Its not a good games machine though, no Quartz special effects, and the hard drive is small and hard to extricate. So after the Intel switch, its time for an upgrade.
After seeing the MacBook in real life (http://www.mymac.com.au), it definitely more resembles the 14" iBook than the 12". I was tempted to take a picture of it next to my iBook but fortunately Ars Technica did it for me.
The MacBook is no lightweight.
(From http://arstechnica.com/reviews/hardware/macbook.ars )
It's bigger than I expected. One of my criteria for choosing a new laptop, between the MacBook and MacBook Pro, was whether I would need a new bag for it or not, as I really like the Crumpler Sheep Scarer backpack I currently use. But even with the extra inch or so clearance in that backpack, the MacBook likely wouldn't fit.
So if I end up buying a new bag either way, I may as well get the MacBook Pro. At 15.4", the MBP is in real life, not that much bigger, and not much heavier.
Another concern is gaming performance. I'm no ubergamer but I like WarCrack and Sims 2. Now according to my research (http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.aspx?FN=wow-mac-tech-support&T=24746&P=1 among others) the MacBook gets about 15 fps. My iBook gets 15 fps. This is not a win for me. So that's a point for the MacBook Pro, underclocked GPU and all (and I suspect that issue will be addressed next rev).
In every other respect though the MacBook blows the doors off my current laptop. It gives the MacBook Pro a run for its money too. I so wish it had a real GPU. But it doesn't, so to MacBook Pro I'll go.
I'm going to buy whatever MacBook Pro is available after the WWDC keynote in early August. My budget says I can afford one in July, but I'd hate to buy one and then for there to be a Merom-based MBP a couple of weeks later, so I'm holding out. And I'm not feeling so bad about hanging onto my iBook until then, because Apple don't make compact notebooks like that anymore.
The other thing I did recently was dip my (healed) toe in Media Center computers. I started with http://geexbox.org/en/index.html , which is nice but with a few rough edges. I'd like an installable version of this so I can at least save some settings, like DVD playback mode (menus please).
I then installed KnoppMyth but I don't need most of the features, and I haven't been able to get the DVD drive working with it yet. I just want a DVD and media-file playing setup. This was prompted by our Xbox crapping out on DVD playback (I think it's trying to say it's time for a 360, but we're not interested).
I'm in the market for a replacement for my rock-solid but ageing iBook G4 800. It's held out this long because the RAM is maxed out. Its not a good games machine though, no Quartz special effects, and the hard drive is small and hard to extricate. So after the Intel switch, its time for an upgrade.
After seeing the MacBook in real life (http://www.mymac.com.au), it definitely more resembles the 14" iBook than the 12". I was tempted to take a picture of it next to my iBook but fortunately Ars Technica did it for me.
The MacBook is no lightweight.
(From http://arstechnica.com/reviews/hardware/macbook.ars )
It's bigger than I expected. One of my criteria for choosing a new laptop, between the MacBook and MacBook Pro, was whether I would need a new bag for it or not, as I really like the Crumpler Sheep Scarer backpack I currently use. But even with the extra inch or so clearance in that backpack, the MacBook likely wouldn't fit.
So if I end up buying a new bag either way, I may as well get the MacBook Pro. At 15.4", the MBP is in real life, not that much bigger, and not much heavier.
Another concern is gaming performance. I'm no ubergamer but I like WarCrack and Sims 2. Now according to my research (http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.aspx?FN=wow-mac-tech-support&T=24746&P=1 among others) the MacBook gets about 15 fps. My iBook gets 15 fps. This is not a win for me. So that's a point for the MacBook Pro, underclocked GPU and all (and I suspect that issue will be addressed next rev).
In every other respect though the MacBook blows the doors off my current laptop. It gives the MacBook Pro a run for its money too. I so wish it had a real GPU. But it doesn't, so to MacBook Pro I'll go.
I'm going to buy whatever MacBook Pro is available after the WWDC keynote in early August. My budget says I can afford one in July, but I'd hate to buy one and then for there to be a Merom-based MBP a couple of weeks later, so I'm holding out. And I'm not feeling so bad about hanging onto my iBook until then, because Apple don't make compact notebooks like that anymore.
The other thing I did recently was dip my (healed) toe in Media Center computers. I started with http://geexbox.org/en/index.html , which is nice but with a few rough edges. I'd like an installable version of this so I can at least save some settings, like DVD playback mode (menus please).
I then installed KnoppMyth but I don't need most of the features, and I haven't been able to get the DVD drive working with it yet. I just want a DVD and media-file playing setup. This was prompted by our Xbox crapping out on DVD playback (I think it's trying to say it's time for a 360, but we're not interested).
6.5.06
Brack Toe!
Yes, this is the most interesting thing that happened to me this week. I don't think its actually broken, but its a bit disconcerting that all the bruising is around the joint and not the point of impact (end of toe vs metal escalator step, with rapid deceleration).
Can't bend it. Well, good excuse for wearing sneakers during business hours next week...
Can't bend it. Well, good excuse for wearing sneakers during business hours next week...
6.4.06
Fruity Boots
http://www.apple.com/macosx/bootcamp/
Dear Apple, this is why you are Shiny. Great 'birthday' present. Windows without the EFI twiddling. Probably wouldn't be much of a hack to boot Linux in the same way.
P.S. Please release a 12" or 13" MBP or MacBook without a castrated graphics card. Please.
Dear Apple, this is why you are Shiny. Great 'birthday' present. Windows without the EFI twiddling. Probably wouldn't be much of a hack to boot Linux in the same way.
P.S. Please release a 12" or 13" MBP or MacBook without a castrated graphics card. Please.
4.4.06
You know you're adjusting to shiftwork when...
-You set your Casio watch to run in dual-time mode so you know roughly what time in your work 'day' it is, and what you should be doing then... It's about Virtual Lunchtime for me now. I'm not hungry though so I don't know what I should be doing.
-You create a character on the US-based WoW servers so you have someone to play with.
-You start looking for live webcams in 'your' timezone, to remind yourself that it is, in fact, actually afternoon somewhere, just not exactly here.
-You lose touch with your day-shift workmates... the ones in the *same* building.
-You don't know what meal you should eat when... breakfast at the end of the 'day' feels wrong. And what do you eat in the middle? Does that meal have a name?
-You feel you've comfortably determined which girls in the phone sex ads are in fact transvestites or similar.
-You start refering to your SO as a 'Daywalker'
-You actually secretly or not so secretly appreciate the quiet and the time to yourself.
-You suddenly have a lot of time to write or study .... except you find yourself blogging instead because your brain won't make it out of first gear.
Yeah I've started shiftwork as part of my Shiny New Job. Its not completely horrible for a Night Owl like myself (and lets just say absence has made things... sparkier... between D and myself).
-You create a character on the US-based WoW servers so you have someone to play with.
-You start looking for live webcams in 'your' timezone, to remind yourself that it is, in fact, actually afternoon somewhere, just not exactly here.
-You lose touch with your day-shift workmates... the ones in the *same* building.
-You don't know what meal you should eat when... breakfast at the end of the 'day' feels wrong. And what do you eat in the middle? Does that meal have a name?
-You feel you've comfortably determined which girls in the phone sex ads are in fact transvestites or similar.
-You start refering to your SO as a 'Daywalker'
-You actually secretly or not so secretly appreciate the quiet and the time to yourself.
-You suddenly have a lot of time to write or study .... except you find yourself blogging instead because your brain won't make it out of first gear.
Yeah I've started shiftwork as part of my Shiny New Job. Its not completely horrible for a Night Owl like myself (and lets just say absence has made things... sparkier... between D and myself).
1.4.06
22.3.06
20.3.06
Not wild about Larry
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropical_Cyclone_Larry
Sparing a thought today for the friends and family around Cairns who
will be
losing roofs and the like. I've heard of two lost roller doors and a
skylight so far and this is in town, not even getting the brunt of the
storm.
A lot of people have lost power, there's been evacuations, and it's not
over
yet...
13.3.06
Goodbyeeeeee
Have you seen those irritating flash ads with the talking smileys? Well, more likely you've heard them bellow out 'Hellooooo' ,after being loaded as the banner ad on a normally pleasantly *silent* web page.
Having reassured myself that my computer was not, in fact, emulating the one from Electric Dreams (I'm old, so there), I loaded Adblock into Firefox... specifically for this ad. RIP, f**king smilies. +1 nomination for Most Annoying Flash Ad ever.
Yes, I've seen the crazy frog ones.
Having reassured myself that my computer was not, in fact, emulating the one from Electric Dreams (I'm old, so there), I loaded Adblock into Firefox... specifically for this ad. RIP, f**king smilies. +1 nomination for Most Annoying Flash Ad ever.
Yes, I've seen the crazy frog ones.
5.3.06
Changing gears on the weekend
I've caught up with some much needed sleep, come up with strategies for dealing with the new challenges of my job, and importantly, I've pencilled (iCal'ed?) some time in today to work on the webcomic.
Most things are either archived in VoodooPad or my sketchbooks, I'm going through those at present and getting a grip on where things are. You tend to know your characters pretty well but I need to pick up all the threads of plot I've written down but not woven in yet.
If I get some time after that (I'm on dinner duty tonight) I've got a Cisco PIX manual to read over. Which is easier when you've had enough sleep and your eyes focus. I think I need new glasses though, my eye fatigue plus these current glasses are giving me this weird sort of tunnel vision where I don't see and note things in the immediate periphery of the small area I'm focused on, in emails and stuff.
Maybe I need bigger frames as well. I definitely need some distance vision assistance for reading projectors and stuff.
Most things are either archived in VoodooPad or my sketchbooks, I'm going through those at present and getting a grip on where things are. You tend to know your characters pretty well but I need to pick up all the threads of plot I've written down but not woven in yet.
If I get some time after that (I'm on dinner duty tonight) I've got a Cisco PIX manual to read over. Which is easier when you've had enough sleep and your eyes focus. I think I need new glasses though, my eye fatigue plus these current glasses are giving me this weird sort of tunnel vision where I don't see and note things in the immediate periphery of the small area I'm focused on, in emails and stuff.
Maybe I need bigger frames as well. I definitely need some distance vision assistance for reading projectors and stuff.
1.3.06
New Mac Mini, integrated graphics
Hmmm, I dunno. Intel Integrated GMA950 ? I just hope thats not what ends up in the MacBook, though the Mini and the iBook ran very similar hardware previously.
And the Hifi box, I've seen better. And cheaper. This event rates a big 'meh' from me.
And the Hifi box, I've seen better. And cheaper. This event rates a big 'meh' from me.
21.2.06
MacBook P0rn
Oh hell YES.
I really, really want one of these babies. But unless I can somehow make it pay for itself, I can't afford one. *deep sigh*
I've adjusted my expectations, and my next laptop will be a iMacBook 13", or whatever the next iBook equivalent will be (I wouldn't mess with 'iBook' as a name, but it'll probably get Steved). Even the 13" MacBook Pro, should the make such a creature. In fact please do, it will probably fit in my existing (and much-loved) laptop backpack.
I really, really want one of these babies. But unless I can somehow make it pay for itself, I can't afford one. *deep sigh*
I've adjusted my expectations, and my next laptop will be a iMacBook 13", or whatever the next iBook equivalent will be (I wouldn't mess with 'iBook' as a name, but it'll probably get Steved). Even the 13" MacBook Pro, should the make such a creature. In fact please do, it will probably fit in my existing (and much-loved) laptop backpack.
20.2.06
Spreading stupid
So in my final weeks of tech support, front-line sh*t-filtering tech support, I’ve had phone calls from some characters of amazing density. I mean ‘IT Managers’ who need step by step guides *with pictures* to do routine tasks. It’s a stupidity so refined and intense that I’d have no problem using Balefire on them, I mean if I went far enough back and wiped out their ancestors too, I’d probably prevent the low-fat diet craze, the RIAA, and ‘Dancing with the Stars’. (Yes, they probably are getting paid more than me. Why do you ask?)
And that’s a couple of generations ago, with the reading writing and ‘rithmetic. I probably won’t retire in time to avoid dealing with the next generation’s ‘business leaders’.
And that’s a couple of generations ago, with the reading writing and ‘rithmetic. I probably won’t retire in time to avoid dealing with the next generation’s ‘business leaders’.
17.2.06
Retrocomputing
Feeling the need for a PDA, I dragged my Palm iiic out of mothballs. I bought it a USB adapter and dug some OSX drivers up from an obscure but *thorough* Taiwanese manufacturer’s site (Linux drivers too. Warm fuzzies) . I hooked it up to my iBook.
The Palm desktop is set up and works like a charm. iSync talks to the Palm and my muuuuch newer phone. Avantgo is up and running via a third party conduit. Mail.app won’t sync and crashes but I think that may have more to do with my colossal email archives than the plugin.
They really don’t make stuff like the Palm iiic anymore. The battery is still fine after lying in a drawer for a couple of years. The UI is fast and straightforward. Theoretically I could have used my phone as a PDA but the interface is awkward and the software is slightly sluggy.
I really think Palm peaked with the Palm V and the iiic, I see a lot of them around still. The Treos that periodically emit their peeping alarms around our office, really don’t compel me to upgrade. The news that Palm are moving to a Linux OS sounds really interesting though, I’ll keep an eye on that development. Palm might get interesting again.
13.2.06
Not all together..
Having trouble getting going this morning. Its another birthday (yay, I’m not dead!) . So far scored a few things, like the Serenity DVD (better the second time around). Instead of having a nice relaxing unemployed day today I’m off to $other things, but it’s still 2 weeks until I get to transfer out of here. (I checked out, but I didn’t leave).
6.2.06
Clan HoldTheFries
Today’s Earworm – ‘Queen Of The World’, Tina Cousins
Thinking of starting a WoW clan called ‘HoldTheFries’. We would not be exclusively low-carb, though we would be low carb friendly. We probably would be banninated under current management though.
I’ve an internal interview today for another department so wish me luck. Damn I wish I could let on the real reasons I think I’ll perform better in a different department…. But you know, if you have nothing nice to say… etc.
I’m hopeful but I’m also wary of things falling through, so come Monday I could have those glorious few days-to-weeks off I’ve been fantasizing about since I transitioned here from $old_werk with no time in between. Except of course, for the problem of actually being unemployed, and the longer you’re out of the game, the harder it is to get back in.
I need to line something else up before D starts sending filled application forms to fast-food joints on my behalf.
At least I’m at that point where lack of experience is no longer a problem, just lack of paperwork.
1.2.06
Wiped out
I was doing so well, I'd gotten the morning off ex-werk and had an interview with a recruiter scheduled for today. Then I got freaking *dysentry*. It's 50/50 as to whether I get to work tomorrow.
All I really feel like eating is bananas, an apple, or peanut butter, weirdly enough, and not available in our carb-avoidant household. If it means I can get through work tomorrow though I'll eat a bit off-plan.
All I really feel like eating is bananas, an apple, or peanut butter, weirdly enough, and not available in our carb-avoidant household. If it means I can get through work tomorrow though I'll eat a bit off-plan.
29.1.06
The TroppoBook
Here's my iBook after I applied a flower decal over the Apple logo. My iBook's getting on a bit so I've been on the lookout for stickers for it, and I couldn't find anything that wouldn't get peeled off in a couple of days. But this is nice. Sort of a tropical theme to reflect the hot, hot summer days Melbourne has been having lately.
I've switched from coffee to tea or iced tea (mostly). It seems too hot for coffee, and tea doesn't rattle my nerves as much. And even at McDonalds, tea is served in a teapot with a jug of milk. It's a more deliberate, civilized sort of experience. The only problem is I can't drink tea without some sort of sweetener. I'll have to buy some more Stevia to carry around with me.
On that topic, weight loss continues, doing very well thank you very much.
On the job front, I'm encouraged by interest from recruiters and I'm applying for more jobs, in the likely event that the current roles I'm pursuing with them fall through.
The other thing I'm working on is swotting for my MCSE exams, I've been putting those off for an embarrassingly long time. At this stage, I have experience but not the certs, and those certs could mean the difference of about 10k in the job market. It means more flexibility too. I'd like to be able to *avoid* the sorts of jobs I've had up until now.
One could argue that doing the certifications once you *have* experience means you'll get more out of them, and God knows I need more confidence.
Without the certs, I'm doing the work of people who *did* get the certs and are getting paid more than me, and who needs that?
I've switched from coffee to tea or iced tea (mostly). It seems too hot for coffee, and tea doesn't rattle my nerves as much. And even at McDonalds, tea is served in a teapot with a jug of milk. It's a more deliberate, civilized sort of experience. The only problem is I can't drink tea without some sort of sweetener. I'll have to buy some more Stevia to carry around with me.
On that topic, weight loss continues, doing very well thank you very much.
On the job front, I'm encouraged by interest from recruiters and I'm applying for more jobs, in the likely event that the current roles I'm pursuing with them fall through.
The other thing I'm working on is swotting for my MCSE exams, I've been putting those off for an embarrassingly long time. At this stage, I have experience but not the certs, and those certs could mean the difference of about 10k in the job market. It means more flexibility too. I'd like to be able to *avoid* the sorts of jobs I've had up until now.
One could argue that doing the certifications once you *have* experience means you'll get more out of them, and God knows I need more confidence.
Without the certs, I'm doing the work of people who *did* get the certs and are getting paid more than me, and who needs that?
27.1.06
Gaming it
Listening to ‘Landed, Ben Folds’
Playing phone tag with recruiters today. Actually I’m fairly chuffed considering how many applications it took to get *one* phone call the last few times I’ve been down this road. Feeling hopeful. Which is good because once the buzz from my impulsive Recovery had worn off and I was starting to feel a bit silly.
Treating the process like an RPG as much as possible, in terms of strategy and trying vs failing. Seems to be working out so far.
25.1.06
Recovered
Well, one thing led to another and I made a decision to move on from
$current_werkplace. So now I'm looking around for some new
employment. I might put up a quasi-CV listing my 1337 sk1llz later
today. I was up to 2:30am hunting down leads in my bookmarked job sites.
Hey, if you shake enough trees something is going to fall out.
There's a Unix gig I have my eye on.
16.1.06
It is what it is
So I’m back after a couple of days on holiday.
I got asked to write some notes on the stuff I’d done. I wrote a beautiful phone book, and arriving here found none of my cases had been touched, and nothing I’d done had been acknowledged.
So tell me why I was here doing an hour’s overtime, again?
5.1.06
On Interruptions
“Conversely, forcing someone to perform errands synchronously is bound to limit their productivity. The cost of an interruption is not just the time it takes, but that it breaks the time on either side in half. You probably only have to interrupt someone a couple times a day before they're unable to work on hard problems at all.”
http://www.paulgraham.com/procrastination.html
And if what you do is nothing *but* interruptions?
The other source of procrastination for me is just how long I spend avoiding other people (with some of the people I work with, understandable) if I’m depressed, which is most of the time lately.
3.1.06
In which KrisTheGrumpy survives a Random Spider Encounter, and discovers that she *really* signed on for paperwork, not computers
The day began with a Giant Spider Encounter in the shower. (I think the rude little bastard stole my towel, too). The fly plague is perpetuating a spider plague, and I predict in a month or so you won’t be able to leave anything on the floor without it sliding away a few minutes later on a lot of hairy little legs. I suppose I can hope that they don’t like 40 degree temperatures, and that would explain the tarantula lurking near the plughole.
I’ve gotten into World Of Warcraft, and if I wasn’t spending 8hrs a day shuffling papers this entry would look a whole lot more like ‘NElf Druid, lvl 10, lvl grinding atm, gg’.
On the paper shuffling, I think I’ve gotten myself pigeon holed here, set up a situation where I’m not going to be able to extricate myself.
See, I didn’t get hired as an engineer. I got hired as tech support, at the time an estrogen-only zone. There’s arcane rituals, filing, answers to questions that sound suspiciously like ‘because I *said* so,’ and ‘do as you’re told’ , bonding over shoes, and a pecking order. It’s a feminized environment, and not in a good way. It’s the checkouts at Woolworths, or the typing pool.
In a different department, or a different company, where there’s a more male style of communication and expectations I do well. Blame my chart for having Mercury in Gemini. I know the geek community gets a lot of crap for ‘RTFM!’ but IRL I’ve never found it to be excessive unless your query really did go ‘HELP ME PLZ’. Knowledge is power, so they express it by sharing information. Sometimes too much information, but the point I’m getting to is that it’s a different psychology.
29.12.05
Today's quote of the day
From one of our beloved customers -
Why do I need to (follow procedure to get replacement copy and reinstall software)? I have already done all that. Are you guys trying to punish me because your software didn't work properly.
Lets do a multiple choice 'MAD Magazine's snappy answers to stupid questions.' It writes itself.
a) No, but damn, I really wish I could.
b) Letting you live is punishment enough.
c) The correct question is why are you punishing me.
d) You better believe it, worm. You can't have your software until Mistress says you can.
Why do I need to (follow procedure to get replacement copy and reinstall software)? I have already done all that. Are you guys trying to punish me because your software didn't work properly.
Lets do a multiple choice 'MAD Magazine's snappy answers to stupid questions.' It writes itself.
a) No, but damn, I really wish I could.
b) Letting you live is punishment enough.
c) The correct question is why are you punishing me.
d) You better believe it, worm. You can't have your software until Mistress says you can.
Happy Holidays
Today's Earworm- Wires, Athlete
And how was your giftmas?
Mine was pretty quiet. I spent Christmas Dinner with family in Geelong. Mostly stayed off the carbohydrates, but I had some pudding. I've also been working my way through the light beer my mother had sent, and the occasional vodka. Doesn't seem to have done me any harm. D remained strict on what he ate and he's doing really well as a result.
I bought D a 200G Western Digital drive for Xmas, and installed it. Arconis True Image didn't properly clone over the boot sector, or so it seemed, and in the end after trying to clone the original drive a couple of times I gave up and added the new drive as a slave. It turned out that the original 30G drive was a WD 7200 RPM anyway, so replacing it with the new one without a fresh XP install would have negligible benefit.
Turned out too that the video card was running Too Damn Hot so I prised off the original wussy fan, and replaced it with a Blue Orb I had lying around. I wish I hadn't spent several hours scowling at the computer, and probably D too as he lurked in the doorway, waiting to get his computer back.
I mentioned up that I was thinking of upgrading the hdd on my iBook, he agreed with me that it was probably a very bad idea on a stress level. It's my primary machine now and full of tiny, tiny parts packed into a very small space that will cause me many hours of fun (panic, take a deep breath, try again, panic, etc etc).
Like most non-geeks he doesn't appreciate *why* its necessary to do these things that stress us out (or, frankly, why, for example, a video card periodically freezing WinXP is an unacceptable situation that must be *immediately* rectified. Possibly expensively). I know why I got stressed out over the hard drive thing, I've been in happy Mac land so long I'm worried I'm losing my hardware mojo. Also, at work, my whole world is brittle proprietry software. I do sometimes deal with Linux but its usually through a human filter who likes to click on irrelevant things and has a small seizure when I suggest we'll need to modify httpd.conf. (Cue usual whine on Pakled sysadmins.)
And how was your giftmas?
Mine was pretty quiet. I spent Christmas Dinner with family in Geelong. Mostly stayed off the carbohydrates, but I had some pudding. I've also been working my way through the light beer my mother had sent, and the occasional vodka. Doesn't seem to have done me any harm. D remained strict on what he ate and he's doing really well as a result.
I bought D a 200G Western Digital drive for Xmas, and installed it. Arconis True Image didn't properly clone over the boot sector, or so it seemed, and in the end after trying to clone the original drive a couple of times I gave up and added the new drive as a slave. It turned out that the original 30G drive was a WD 7200 RPM anyway, so replacing it with the new one without a fresh XP install would have negligible benefit.
Turned out too that the video card was running Too Damn Hot so I prised off the original wussy fan, and replaced it with a Blue Orb I had lying around. I wish I hadn't spent several hours scowling at the computer, and probably D too as he lurked in the doorway, waiting to get his computer back.
I mentioned up that I was thinking of upgrading the hdd on my iBook, he agreed with me that it was probably a very bad idea on a stress level. It's my primary machine now and full of tiny, tiny parts packed into a very small space that will cause me many hours of fun (panic, take a deep breath, try again, panic, etc etc).
Like most non-geeks he doesn't appreciate *why* its necessary to do these things that stress us out (or, frankly, why, for example, a video card periodically freezing WinXP is an unacceptable situation that must be *immediately* rectified. Possibly expensively). I know why I got stressed out over the hard drive thing, I've been in happy Mac land so long I'm worried I'm losing my hardware mojo. Also, at work, my whole world is brittle proprietry software. I do sometimes deal with Linux but its usually through a human filter who likes to click on irrelevant things and has a small seizure when I suggest we'll need to modify httpd.conf. (Cue usual whine on Pakled sysadmins.)
21.12.05
15.12.05
I need a holiday from the holiday
I just spent about a week and a half walking a teenage girl around pretty much every shopping destination in
Dialtone was out from Friday to Tuesday due to some hardware upgrades at our exchange. It’s a long, ugly story. *sigh* At least it’s back up. I’m too scared to ask what happened to the ADSL speed upgrade that supposedly caused this because we’re still connecting at 1500, but as I *like* having dialtone that one can wait.
I’ve deferred my postgrad studies for now, possibly permanently. I think its all of questionable value to me at the moment, and what would be beneficial is some ‘cake’ certs like the Security+. I’ll need that for later.
27.11.05
Yeah, I have a problem
Listening to: International Date LIne, Ladytron
And these aren't all of them. Not by a long shot. These aren't even the three or four I carry in my bag. I have a lip gloss problem. Shiny, sparkly, flavored, wine, pink, occasionally red or purple, I have a weakness for them all.
Its like the NEXT lipgloss I see, perched fetchingly on a shelf in its fresh pink packaging, will be the Holy Grail of lipglosses, and I can forsake the other fifty in approximately the same color and texture.
Other than sorting my drawers (thats what prompted the lipgloss navel-gazing) I've got other things on at present. I'll probaly defer my postgrad stuff indefinitely after I finish the current subject. I took it on because I wasn't sure what to do, and now I've got a few projects on I'm really interested in I just don't have the time.
I have a few more website projects that need attention, and my main site of course.
There are other courses that interest me more, too. But they'll need to wait until I do something about work, either do something part-time, or get a shorter commute, or God knows, take a course I'm actually interested in, because the upload is a lot slower on business speak waffle than it is on geek stuff.
And these aren't all of them. Not by a long shot. These aren't even the three or four I carry in my bag. I have a lip gloss problem. Shiny, sparkly, flavored, wine, pink, occasionally red or purple, I have a weakness for them all.
Its like the NEXT lipgloss I see, perched fetchingly on a shelf in its fresh pink packaging, will be the Holy Grail of lipglosses, and I can forsake the other fifty in approximately the same color and texture.
Other than sorting my drawers (thats what prompted the lipgloss navel-gazing) I've got other things on at present. I'll probaly defer my postgrad stuff indefinitely after I finish the current subject. I took it on because I wasn't sure what to do, and now I've got a few projects on I'm really interested in I just don't have the time.
I have a few more website projects that need attention, and my main site of course.
There are other courses that interest me more, too. But they'll need to wait until I do something about work, either do something part-time, or get a shorter commute, or God knows, take a course I'm actually interested in, because the upload is a lot slower on business speak waffle than it is on geek stuff.
24.11.05
The shrew and karma
Watching 'Airline' as Joanna the 'journalist' in the trashy red
leather coat throws a tanty about the flight she missed. No,
sweetheart, nobody is going to be flexible. Nobody is going to break
flight regulations or displace somebody else on a plane just to fit
your over-privileged arse. Know why? Look in the mirror.
I guess her bratty behaviour is really hitting a nerve because there
seems to be so very many people who were never taught that
tantrums are not cool after two years old or so. Other people must
just keep letting them get away with it.
Do us all a favor, if you have an encounter with the lawyer who
needs to grow the fuck up or the whining consultant who keeps
quoting his hourly rate, if you're not going to get fired for
telling them to pull their head in, please do it? For the sake of those
who would get fired?
It takes a village to raise a child, after all.
14.11.05
Goals
Here’s a few little goals I have in mind for the next few months…
1) Pay of my debts, so if I want to start a biz, move to
2) Grow my hair.
3) Lose the *remaining* 5 kg (15 melts off like butter, the last few are a bitch though)
4) Remember current gig is a means to an end, so remember to treat it like a particularly brutal SSL/PKI course.
5) Don’t stop studying new tech
6) Take some certification exams, dammit.
7) Don’t overspend over Xmas
8) Sock away some money for my Intel Powerbook
9) Don’t kill anybody before I get a better job
8.11.05
Public Service Announcement
On behalf of all CS reps, everywhere,
If you are a contractor, or other generic humanoid carbon unit who is hired to maintain a server running, say, MongyServer Pro (don’t take that literally, I know some of you do have problems with abstraction. This is for all servers wearing hats, servers named after fruit, servers made of glass, and Blue servers among others) please understand you may one day have to crack a book or manpage about MongyServer Pro.
Any server, no matter how lickable the interface, requires an understanding of Where the server keeps its Important Bits, and where you might need to start looking in the event of Bad Things Happening.
This goes double if you’re actually working for MongySoft, ok?
2.11.05
Divas and heat
In the space of about three days, the weather has turned from ‘chilly’ to ‘I need a beer and air-conditioning, stat’.
The streets teem with people. This is something I don’t quite understand. I don’t mean in comparison to *yesterday*, which was quite busy anyway thank you very much (I think we were so popular because nobody else in
Don’t know where the hell the extra people are from, they can’t all be tourists.
I did some damage on the iTunes AU music store last night. The bloke knew I’d had a real horse-cookie of a day so he greeted we with food, iced tea, Body Shop swag, and an iTunes music voucher. I got the new NIN album while I tried to get an assignment in on time (Hmm. NIN, Uni, unbearable stifling heat, I must be 22 again!).
Yesterday was perfect café weather, today the f-ing thermostat is set way too high. I won’t even discuss co-werkers who didn’t turn on the airconditioning until 9:15-ish.
Day’s not over yet and I’m already fairly snippy. But then again, most of these people calling up haven’t learned anything when I walked them through everything the first time yesterday.
14.10.05
15% less grumpy
15% of my body weight. Gone. Foomp. Still a way to go but damn, feels good hitting a milestone.
Decided to make this more of a feelgood post. I had a fairly snarky one up before but I thought better of it and pulled it down before it got indexed. The truth is, I don’t care if I’m popular at work, or what people think of me there. It’s not exactly under my control. And not a permanent situation from the looks of things.
It’s true. Not a permanent situation. I can take action to make the end result more positive, but the situation – as it stands now – with my work relationships and my role here – is subject to change no matter what I do.
For a procrastinator like myself, who needs justification, lots of it, to initiate change, that’s a very comforting thought. I will land on my feet. I always do.
4.10.05
All flights cancelled
My Airport Express is dead.
And to say that things couldn’t get worse this week is dangerously optimistic. And it’s only *Tuesday*.
More later.
4.8.05
Signs your Melbourne cab experience is not going well
I have officially met a cab driver with a worse sense of direction than me. I swear to God.
Signs your Melbourne cab experience is not going well -
1) They don't know which way to South Melbourne
2) They don't know which way to the Casino
3) When one of the ways 'right' leads to the Citylink, they TAKE THE TURN INTO CITYLINK.
4) Once off Citylink, you have to tell them repeatedly to HEAD BACK TOWARDS THE CITY
5) They're unsure of how to do that, so it's HEAD FOR THE SHINY BUILDINGS
6) Except it's "Go left, dammit!"
7) And you, not the driver, crack open the Melways
8) You tell them to head for the Casino via Swan Rd
9) You give up on that and get them to drop you off at City road, where you, shivering, will begin the two or three block trek to work (and thank God I spotted the Kings way train overpass or I'd still be out there!)
10) They want you to pay the full fare!!!!!! I gave her sixteen bucks, I only had change really, and I wanted to eat lunch. She didn't deserve it, and I handed it over to avoid any more trouble. No, that wasn't the full fare.
Needless to say, I'll try to get something done at $taxico, if nothing else some remedial Melbourne navigation is in order. Only 20 minutes late, thank christ, but I'm doing some suspicious coughing and I'm *still* shivering. I should have gotten out when I realised she didn't know where the Casino was, I mean FFS!
Signs your Melbourne cab experience is not going well -
1) They don't know which way to South Melbourne
2) They don't know which way to the Casino
3) When one of the ways 'right' leads to the Citylink, they TAKE THE TURN INTO CITYLINK.
4) Once off Citylink, you have to tell them repeatedly to HEAD BACK TOWARDS THE CITY
5) They're unsure of how to do that, so it's HEAD FOR THE SHINY BUILDINGS
6) Except it's "Go left, dammit!"
7) And you, not the driver, crack open the Melways
8) You tell them to head for the Casino via Swan Rd
9) You give up on that and get them to drop you off at City road, where you, shivering, will begin the two or three block trek to work (and thank God I spotted the Kings way train overpass or I'd still be out there!)
10) They want you to pay the full fare!!!!!! I gave her sixteen bucks, I only had change really, and I wanted to eat lunch. She didn't deserve it, and I handed it over to avoid any more trouble. No, that wasn't the full fare.
Needless to say, I'll try to get something done at $taxico, if nothing else some remedial Melbourne navigation is in order. Only 20 minutes late, thank christ, but I'm doing some suspicious coughing and I'm *still* shivering. I should have gotten out when I realised she didn't know where the Casino was, I mean FFS!
24.7.05
Thoughts on The Island
Without spoilers, I'll say that The Island is a solid C+. It neither really shines nor becomes screamingly offensively bad. It has some cute little character scenes featuring some good character actors. I *liked* Ewan McGregor in this, though Scarlett Johanssen isn't given a lot to work with, sadly, given the girl *can* act.
This movie borrows from a lot of very classic sci-fi, including slightly more obscure stuff (e.g. Capricorn One's 'space suits in the desert' scene).
That said, please, someone, make a Paranoia movie. That's the Paranoia RPG from West End Games. Yep, you heard, correctly, Citizen. Please please please. Lets see a movie skewer dystopias, the War On Terror (for 'Communists', read 'Terrorists'), mad computers, cloning, and all the movies that have come out lately and hooked into these threads in the community conciousness in a straight-faced and, frankly, predictable and depressing way.
I would LOVE to see that.
Times like this, you need laughter.
This movie borrows from a lot of very classic sci-fi, including slightly more obscure stuff (e.g. Capricorn One's 'space suits in the desert' scene).
That said, please, someone, make a Paranoia movie. That's the Paranoia RPG from West End Games. Yep, you heard, correctly, Citizen. Please please please. Lets see a movie skewer dystopias, the War On Terror (for 'Communists', read 'Terrorists'), mad computers, cloning, and all the movies that have come out lately and hooked into these threads in the community conciousness in a straight-faced and, frankly, predictable and depressing way.
I would LOVE to see that.
Times like this, you need laughter.
Bluetooth Follies
Replaced my Belkin Bt adapter with a special D-Link adapter ordered from Apple, as the DBT-120 is NOT the same as the DBT-122.
The DBT-120 has a CSR chipset which is supported by the Apple bluetooth firmware update, the DBT-122 has the more common Widcomm chips so it is *not*.
The Belkin adaptor technically worked, and still does, but it was always a little flaky and used to choke my Bt keyboard and mouse connections when I tried to run iSync.
This plug is also made for PC, but obviously doesn't ship in this box.
The DBT-120 has a CSR chipset which is supported by the Apple bluetooth firmware update, the DBT-122 has the more common Widcomm chips so it is *not*.
The Belkin adaptor technically worked, and still does, but it was always a little flaky and used to choke my Bt keyboard and mouse connections when I tried to run iSync.
This plug is also made for PC, but obviously doesn't ship in this box.
27.6.05
Back to Orkut
Out of curiousity, I'm finding myself logging back into Orkut (Orkut? That thing *still* around?) to check out what's up, who's live, who's not.
I'm pruning my groups list. If 80% of conversation is in a language I don't speak, if my association with the group is either not representative of reality (*cough*DomainsRUs*cough*) or really quite funny (St Augustines Alumni?), it's gone. GONE baby.
I sort of hope the first wave of internet locusts have moved on from Orkut and the servers now stay up.
Pictured is the Hudsons on Elizabeth Street, it is comfy and that corner is ideal for controlling your Internet Empire from a laptop. Except for the Optus bill I guess.
I'm pruning my groups list. If 80% of conversation is in a language I don't speak, if my association with the group is either not representative of reality (*cough*DomainsRUs*cough*) or really quite funny (St Augustines Alumni?), it's gone. GONE baby.
I sort of hope the first wave of internet locusts have moved on from Orkut and the servers now stay up.
Pictured is the Hudsons on Elizabeth Street, it is comfy and that corner is ideal for controlling your Internet Empire from a laptop. Except for the Optus bill I guess.
19.6.05
X&Y
Today's Earworm- Coldplay X&Y, White Shadows
Ok there's been an awful lot of things going on since last post.
I've got Coldplay's X&Y, and it is better than the Foo Fighter's 'In Your Honor' for getting stuck in my head, at least at the moment.
Square One, White Shadows, Talk, Low and Twisted Logic are my current favorites, but the others on the CD could grow on me sooner or later. X&Y picks up geek points for its use of made-up code on the CD booklet. Figuring out what the graphic on the back page of the CD booklet said made my train trip a bit more interesting (downside of iPods, no instant gratification on new CD purchases).
The Foo Fighters new CD is *good*, but nothing's really standing out at the moment. It might grow on me later. I should mention I like the acoustic CD more than the other CD.
Today's the first day I've really felt better after having a bad cold for a good week at least. I dragged my carcass in every day until Friday when I had to admit defeat to laryngitis and a pickaxe of a sinus headache. I couldn't do much except watch tv. That's nowhere near as fun as it sounds. If I tried working on my laptop the stabby sick headache would get worse. I couldn't believe how bad it was, all the way up to throwing up once. I was really irrational and upset with D for not being there the whole time, you know, for being out selfishly getting groceries for the both of us rather than holding my hair back or ferrying ibuprofen. Its hard to whine with your vocal cords in wet cement, though. I guess it's funny in retrospect.
I'm about 95% better now, better than I've been for at least the past week. I have a 7am shift start so my circadian rhythms are going to be a little out of whack. At least the afternoons are free for shopping ^H^H^H^H studying so I can get further up the ladder.
Oh yeah. MacTel. I'm over that. I think. I fully expect post-Longhorn WinOSen to run on PowerPC arch. You heard this baseless spec here first! I'm looking forward to badass new PowerBooks, which I'm *almost* tempted to start saving for now.
Ok there's been an awful lot of things going on since last post.
I've got Coldplay's X&Y, and it is better than the Foo Fighter's 'In Your Honor' for getting stuck in my head, at least at the moment.
Square One, White Shadows, Talk, Low and Twisted Logic are my current favorites, but the others on the CD could grow on me sooner or later. X&Y picks up geek points for its use of made-up code on the CD booklet. Figuring out what the graphic on the back page of the CD booklet said made my train trip a bit more interesting (downside of iPods, no instant gratification on new CD purchases).
The Foo Fighters new CD is *good*, but nothing's really standing out at the moment. It might grow on me later. I should mention I like the acoustic CD more than the other CD.
Today's the first day I've really felt better after having a bad cold for a good week at least. I dragged my carcass in every day until Friday when I had to admit defeat to laryngitis and a pickaxe of a sinus headache. I couldn't do much except watch tv. That's nowhere near as fun as it sounds. If I tried working on my laptop the stabby sick headache would get worse. I couldn't believe how bad it was, all the way up to throwing up once. I was really irrational and upset with D for not being there the whole time, you know, for being out selfishly getting groceries for the both of us rather than holding my hair back or ferrying ibuprofen. Its hard to whine with your vocal cords in wet cement, though. I guess it's funny in retrospect.
I'm about 95% better now, better than I've been for at least the past week. I have a 7am shift start so my circadian rhythms are going to be a little out of whack. At least the afternoons are free for shopping ^H^H^H^H studying so I can get further up the ladder.
Oh yeah. MacTel. I'm over that. I think. I fully expect post-Longhorn WinOSen to run on PowerPC arch. You heard this baseless spec here first! I'm looking forward to badass new PowerBooks, which I'm *almost* tempted to start saving for now.
1.6.05
Train Wreck
Today's Earworm- Technologic by Daft Punk
Today was the sort of day that leaves you really reconsidering your work/life balance. It began with all kinds of human-error transport issues. I started the ball rolling by forgetting my train ticket. I also managed, in the rush, to punch in the wrong ticket zone, but, fortunately the ticket inspectors were fairly forgiving of that.
Train (#2, #1 having departed whilst i searched for my ticket and fumbled with the machine) serenely cruised onto the platform slightly late.
Escaping from Flagstaff, the screen on the tram terminal assured me that the next tram was going to arrive in 20 minutes. *Delightful*. That blew away any buffer time I had. Also, as a footnote, the screens belong to a firm I had a fairly excruciating sysadmin/support interview with a few months ago, followed by deafening email silence. It was the sort of morning to be thinking of that sort of thing. Nobody is ever going to give me a break.
Have you any idea how hard it is to flag down a cab in the Melbourne CBD of a morning? Now I do. The tram arrived just as I managed to flag one down with the assistance of another cab that was waiting for a fare. The cab driver was great. Couldn't fault him. Traffic abysmal. Got to work, had to hit the phones right away, there's difficult paperwork I have to complete (late), there's a uni assignment I should have handed in (also late), the stress of managing my own panic at not knowing nearly enough answers yet, by 3:30 I'm vibrating with stress and I can't picture making it to the end of the day, let alone however long one normally stays in this sort of role.
I collapsed earlier on this evening but now I'm too tired to sleep and I don't know how I'll get through this week.
My job is somewhat less than ideal for my personality. Actually my personality is only ideally suited to ordering about a few personal slaves while I read trashy books on a remote beach. But its where I am for now. Any energy I have for bettering my circumstances has to come from outside work. I have to recharge my batteries by remembering to lead a meaningful life outside of work, remembering my friends, my home life, my interests and my dreams, because despite being a geek *I will not find meaning at work*. Not being a tiny cog in someone else's machinery. And I've been guilty of only sleeping and working and wondering why I haven't got anything else going on in my life and feeling downhearted and overwhelmed. Can't recharge the batteries on 24 hours a day stressing about career.
By de-prioritising work in my realm of things, it will take the pressure off me to be good enough, and maybe I'll get better at it? Maybe with enough energy left over for my other projects, maybe that will open more doors, even live off those in future?
Today was the sort of day that leaves you really reconsidering your work/life balance. It began with all kinds of human-error transport issues. I started the ball rolling by forgetting my train ticket. I also managed, in the rush, to punch in the wrong ticket zone, but, fortunately the ticket inspectors were fairly forgiving of that.
Train (#2, #1 having departed whilst i searched for my ticket and fumbled with the machine) serenely cruised onto the platform slightly late.
Escaping from Flagstaff, the screen on the tram terminal assured me that the next tram was going to arrive in 20 minutes. *Delightful*. That blew away any buffer time I had. Also, as a footnote, the screens belong to a firm I had a fairly excruciating sysadmin/support interview with a few months ago, followed by deafening email silence. It was the sort of morning to be thinking of that sort of thing. Nobody is ever going to give me a break.
Have you any idea how hard it is to flag down a cab in the Melbourne CBD of a morning? Now I do. The tram arrived just as I managed to flag one down with the assistance of another cab that was waiting for a fare. The cab driver was great. Couldn't fault him. Traffic abysmal. Got to work, had to hit the phones right away, there's difficult paperwork I have to complete (late), there's a uni assignment I should have handed in (also late), the stress of managing my own panic at not knowing nearly enough answers yet, by 3:30 I'm vibrating with stress and I can't picture making it to the end of the day, let alone however long one normally stays in this sort of role.
I collapsed earlier on this evening but now I'm too tired to sleep and I don't know how I'll get through this week.
My job is somewhat less than ideal for my personality. Actually my personality is only ideally suited to ordering about a few personal slaves while I read trashy books on a remote beach. But its where I am for now. Any energy I have for bettering my circumstances has to come from outside work. I have to recharge my batteries by remembering to lead a meaningful life outside of work, remembering my friends, my home life, my interests and my dreams, because despite being a geek *I will not find meaning at work*. Not being a tiny cog in someone else's machinery. And I've been guilty of only sleeping and working and wondering why I haven't got anything else going on in my life and feeling downhearted and overwhelmed. Can't recharge the batteries on 24 hours a day stressing about career.
By de-prioritising work in my realm of things, it will take the pressure off me to be good enough, and maybe I'll get better at it? Maybe with enough energy left over for my other projects, maybe that will open more doors, even live off those in future?
The pink sector of technology
Wellll.... weekend before last I did some shopping on Glenferrie Rd. There's a decent sized Mac store there. Check out the giant Wacom Cintiq if you go there. OMG. If I was any sort of real artist I'd dream of nothing but owning one. Also, cinema displays, iPod paraphenalia, and SpeedBalls (pictured) to lift my iBook's butt off the desk and allow better circulation. I dunno if it helps the iBook run cooler, but they are fun to play with.
There's a computer store there too, which looks less like a store and more as if a tilt-tray truckload of boxed computer bits was avalanched into an empty shopfront. More fun are two local yum-cha computer stores (by local, I mean 'near $newwork'). Western computer manufacturers (other than Apple) don't really understand why squishy wrist rests shaped like koala bears, pink-scarfed girl penguin screen chamois, or any other pink or pastel peripherals are cool.
I don't think that gadgets should *only* be marketed to women in pink, but I like the option being there.
There's a computer store there too, which looks less like a store and more as if a tilt-tray truckload of boxed computer bits was avalanched into an empty shopfront. More fun are two local yum-cha computer stores (by local, I mean 'near $newwork'). Western computer manufacturers (other than Apple) don't really understand why squishy wrist rests shaped like koala bears, pink-scarfed girl penguin screen chamois, or any other pink or pastel peripherals are cool.
I don't think that gadgets should *only* be marketed to women in pink, but I like the option being there.
13.5.05
New cast sketch
I know it *looks* dead but I've been doing a lot of work behind the scenes. Here's a sketchy cast pic. Mostly done on the train. That's why its wobbly. Really.
30.4.05
Steady on, Tiger
I spent most of Saturday sorting out my brand new copy of OS X 10.4 . Heh I thought a backup, drive nuke and reinstall would be the less problematic path..
Some of my issues were self-inflicted (I hadn't verified one of my backup DVDs, turns out the burner hadn't finalised the session). I can say now I don't think I lost any data in the end.
There's some odd bugs and oversights. Browsing s60 symbian phones over bluetooth still doesn't work, though syncing now does (they upload a little app to your phone.) and I have the same pink daisy icon on my phone address book that I do on my user profile.
There's a weird bug where folder names on my external DVD drive disappear. Tiger seems to recognise the drive's capabilities though (it knows its a DVD burner). Haven't tried burning anything yet.
As predicted, Shiny Effects are limited on an iBook G4. You don't get the Dashboard ripples but you do get the little swirl effect when you refresh individual widgets. The little Core Graphics test app (Fun House) works if a little sluggishly.
Seems faster. Could just be a reaction to the reinstall.
Spotlight is everything as advertised. For fun, try typing porn-related search terms into the Spotlight text field on the computers of recent switchers >:).
On the Dashboard - a hint for Aussies. If you want to use the weather widget, type in 'your city, your state' (e.g. Adelaide, South Australia) then press 'enter' rather than the Done button.
This photo was taken Friday night. After standing in the queue at the Malvern Applestore, I got a 'Spotlight' mini torch keyring and a $20 gift voucher. I was overdressed in a big fuzzy jumper and it was really hot in there, but because I was in a sluggish queue I accepted some of the free champagne anyway :).
I didn't have to put myself through that (I pre-ordered) but I wanted my swag and a Friday copy of Tiger, dammit.
Some of my issues were self-inflicted (I hadn't verified one of my backup DVDs, turns out the burner hadn't finalised the session). I can say now I don't think I lost any data in the end.
There's some odd bugs and oversights. Browsing s60 symbian phones over bluetooth still doesn't work, though syncing now does (they upload a little app to your phone.) and I have the same pink daisy icon on my phone address book that I do on my user profile.
There's a weird bug where folder names on my external DVD drive disappear. Tiger seems to recognise the drive's capabilities though (it knows its a DVD burner). Haven't tried burning anything yet.
As predicted, Shiny Effects are limited on an iBook G4. You don't get the Dashboard ripples but you do get the little swirl effect when you refresh individual widgets. The little Core Graphics test app (Fun House) works if a little sluggishly.
Seems faster. Could just be a reaction to the reinstall.
Spotlight is everything as advertised. For fun, try typing porn-related search terms into the Spotlight text field on the computers of recent switchers >:).
On the Dashboard - a hint for Aussies. If you want to use the weather widget, type in 'your city, your state' (e.g. Adelaide, South Australia) then press 'enter' rather than the Done button.
This photo was taken Friday night. After standing in the queue at the Malvern Applestore, I got a 'Spotlight' mini torch keyring and a $20 gift voucher. I was overdressed in a big fuzzy jumper and it was really hot in there, but because I was in a sluggish queue I accepted some of the free champagne anyway :).
I didn't have to put myself through that (I pre-ordered) but I wanted my swag and a Friday copy of Tiger, dammit.
15.4.05
Last Call
So I've tidied my desk, sent my 'I luv you all' email to everybody, washed the coffee cup, consigned a forest to shredding, compressed a month's work into two weeks, removed 2.5 years of sedimentry computer files from my account on the main server, my desktop, and my thumbdrive.
Talked to some people, probably won't get to everybody, handing my cards over in an hour or so.
Hmph.
Realisation will hit me on Tuesday. I'm guaranteed to need a couple of minutes to remember the extra tram on Monday.
Talked to some people, probably won't get to everybody, handing my cards over in an hour or so.
Hmph.
Realisation will hit me on Tuesday. I'm guaranteed to need a couple of minutes to remember the extra tram on Monday.
14.4.05
The space where you were
Today's Earworm- I need to say goodbye - Vast
Second last day at $oldjob (still dithering on a Fri night drinks venue). Its going to be Hudsons at this rate.
Miserable weather. It's raining, but its the sort of warm clammy air where all your rain-weather gear is too hot and stifling. Running extra late, but I'll make that up with change over the next couple of days.
I've taken to carrying around a sketchpad, with a few markers. I've actually gotten some preliminary work done. If you don't respect your muse, and ignore it, your muse will take an extended vacation right when you're trying wrap up the first act and move on. And then the muse will only come back after *days* of brainstorming, cajoling, and watching better sci-fi.
Funny how I've gotten inspired amid impossible deadlines and the paperwork and running about that a job transition brings. I guess Benton didn't have to put away a month's worth of webstuff in two weeks. Could be escapist. Could be therapeutic. Could be a subconcious reassertion that I'm not really my job, because *that's* changing.
Until Friday night though... I think I've about a week's worth of work remaining and nothing is going to stop me today. Not my desk in the monkey house, not meerkat impressions by the boss-unit, bosses boss-unit and co-workers over the cube wall, not caffeine dependency/deprivation. Not that I'm broke til tomorrow and lunch is reconstituted 3 minutes noodles with a more interesting asian providence then usual.
More on the quitting situation tomorrow.... no dirt, just squishy emotional stuff.
Second last day at $oldjob (still dithering on a Fri night drinks venue). Its going to be Hudsons at this rate.
Miserable weather. It's raining, but its the sort of warm clammy air where all your rain-weather gear is too hot and stifling. Running extra late, but I'll make that up with change over the next couple of days.
I've taken to carrying around a sketchpad, with a few markers. I've actually gotten some preliminary work done. If you don't respect your muse, and ignore it, your muse will take an extended vacation right when you're trying wrap up the first act and move on. And then the muse will only come back after *days* of brainstorming, cajoling, and watching better sci-fi.
Funny how I've gotten inspired amid impossible deadlines and the paperwork and running about that a job transition brings. I guess Benton didn't have to put away a month's worth of webstuff in two weeks. Could be escapist. Could be therapeutic. Could be a subconcious reassertion that I'm not really my job, because *that's* changing.
Until Friday night though... I think I've about a week's worth of work remaining and nothing is going to stop me today. Not my desk in the monkey house, not meerkat impressions by the boss-unit, bosses boss-unit and co-workers over the cube wall, not caffeine dependency/deprivation. Not that I'm broke til tomorrow and lunch is reconstituted 3 minutes noodles with a more interesting asian providence then usual.
More on the quitting situation tomorrow.... no dirt, just squishy emotional stuff.
2.4.05
Menu Bar Widgets
I removed some things from my OS X menu bar and added a few. There's a countdown until the end of my current role (looks to have been a wise decision), CPU temp (poor little iBook is no speed demon and it's a hot stuffy day), a smaller battery meter, iiNet Usage (by Harold Chu). Bluetooth, Menumeters CPU usage (again, iBook is an 800Mhz G4), Menumeters network speed monitor, Airport Extreme, and date/time.
I installed the G4 specific build of Firefox but I can't say its any better, even if I like the icon more. Firefox eats a lot of RAM, and the CPU utilisation is insane once you have a few (7, 8, 10 ?) tabs open. I suspect Safari is better behaved in use, but FF has RSS. (Yeah, I'll be upgrading to Tiger. Whether the upgrade will be coming in a Mac Mini box is a matter of budget).
I installed the G4 specific build of Firefox but I can't say its any better, even if I like the icon more. Firefox eats a lot of RAM, and the CPU utilisation is insane once you have a few (7, 8, 10 ?) tabs open. I suspect Safari is better behaved in use, but FF has RSS. (Yeah, I'll be upgrading to Tiger. Whether the upgrade will be coming in a Mac Mini box is a matter of budget).
April Fool on .com.au from Google
On Friday Google had an additional prank in store for the Australian .com.au websites. It dropped them from the index. Every last one.
In the fastest rollback ever AFAIK, around 5pm-ish the .com.au domains started to appear for most searches.
Lets just say things were interesting in SEO-land.
I hope it doesn't end up affecting getting through my workload by the 15th. It's the last day at $oldwork (and the end of my brief SEO career, hopefully.) I can't say I was comfortable with the marketing aspects, though those aren't my only reasons for moving on.
In the fastest rollback ever AFAIK, around 5pm-ish the .com.au domains started to appear for most searches.
Lets just say things were interesting in SEO-land.
I hope it doesn't end up affecting getting through my workload by the 15th. It's the last day at $oldwork (and the end of my brief SEO career, hopefully.) I can't say I was comfortable with the marketing aspects, though those aren't my only reasons for moving on.
28.3.05
Lost Weekend
Just for a change, for the Easter weekend this year, I didn't leave the house all weekend. I needed to recharge my psychic batteries.
I probably should have studied more and eaten less junk food. I don't like to think of the time as wasted though.. sometimes, I need to decompress and catch up on some sleep. I'm a better (or should that be, more convincing) human being when all of the other human beings are seperated from me by a locked door.
Its good to be alone. Well, alone plus the last person I'd kill if I were an Evil Overlord.
I customised my Linux desktop.
Click the image above for a closer look.
(Check out the name of that iTunes client, cheeky! Also, dear ARIA, I own all of that music.)
The whole fakey Apple thing is cute but now that I've done it, it looks sort of tired. Especially if one has the real thing. I think I'll hunt down a slicker theme. I'll keep the FakeDock though.
The Dock is called 'engage', its an Enlightenment application.
In other news, I'm really looking forward to the pre-WWDC Melbourne Apple event though admittedly if Apple were opening a mailbox (and putting on nibblies) I'd be there too.
Also on the Apple front, annoyingly, Macchiato the iBook has developed a slight white spot on the screen which I am trying to ignore, as this is my primary machine. It's got to be a pressure issue. There's an area of screen behind the spot, on the lid of the iBook, which is pressure sensitive (warps when pushed slightly). The rest of the iBook screen isn't. Unlike a lot of recent switchers though, I won't be holding that guy with the turtleneck personally responsible. *shrugs*. I don't know why people submit whiney posts to the forums around the net attributing glitches to Steve or Bill or Linus, you can hold the company responsible for quality control issues in code or hardware, but CEOs aren't Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny, they don't have magical omniscient powers that should have saved you from inconvenience.
Ok I know posters don't mean it 'literally'. I think.
I probably should have studied more and eaten less junk food. I don't like to think of the time as wasted though.. sometimes, I need to decompress and catch up on some sleep. I'm a better (or should that be, more convincing) human being when all of the other human beings are seperated from me by a locked door.
Its good to be alone. Well, alone plus the last person I'd kill if I were an Evil Overlord.
I customised my Linux desktop.
Click the image above for a closer look.
(Check out the name of that iTunes client, cheeky! Also, dear ARIA, I own all of that music.)
The whole fakey Apple thing is cute but now that I've done it, it looks sort of tired. Especially if one has the real thing. I think I'll hunt down a slicker theme. I'll keep the FakeDock though.
The Dock is called 'engage', its an Enlightenment application.
In other news, I'm really looking forward to the pre-WWDC Melbourne Apple event though admittedly if Apple were opening a mailbox (and putting on nibblies) I'd be there too.
Also on the Apple front, annoyingly, Macchiato the iBook has developed a slight white spot on the screen which I am trying to ignore, as this is my primary machine. It's got to be a pressure issue. There's an area of screen behind the spot, on the lid of the iBook, which is pressure sensitive (warps when pushed slightly). The rest of the iBook screen isn't. Unlike a lot of recent switchers though, I won't be holding that guy with the turtleneck personally responsible. *shrugs*. I don't know why people submit whiney posts to the forums around the net attributing glitches to Steve or Bill or Linus, you can hold the company responsible for quality control issues in code or hardware, but CEOs aren't Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny, they don't have magical omniscient powers that should have saved you from inconvenience.
Ok I know posters don't mean it 'literally'. I think.
22.3.05
ThinkGeek :: Wi-Fi Digital Hotspotter
I need one of these. Now. Just in case there's some FREE wireless hotspots arround Melb.
17.3.05
Murder Mysteries
John Coelho runs live-action murder mysteries for groups in Melbourne. From the looks of this, if you liked Cluedo, you're going to love this game (and make that a lock if you like LARPing too).
16.3.05
Things Are Going To Change
Today's earworm - Lift Me Up-Moby
The title references the last storyline in Scary Go Round. :)
Definitely personally feels like a season of change though. I'm a postgrad student (RMIT Grad Dip in IT Management) and I'm fast tracking my MCSA.
Trying to establish a routine for Midnight Blue. Just moved the latter to a friendly Athlon box this side of the pond. That's working out so far.
Reconnecting with old friends. Recognising the need for people in my life
Had a birthday recently and I felt really stalled, and pretty down, but that was because perhaps the moves I'd made towards change hadn't borne fruit yet.
Re: the strip - I seem to have caught up with studying, and barring any EXTREEM overtime, that should update again later on in the week.
11.3.05
New Midnight Blue Webcomic Strip
Today's new strip
I'm emailing this in because Blogger is being quite unhelpful.
Ok, as of 11:00am Blogger seems to have it's stuff together so here's my ramble. I was going to have a background, but for reasons which will soon become obvious, a glaring white backdrop was perfectly fine. Anyway, there's a lot of dialogue there.
I penciled, then inked using an Espresso felt-tip. This saves a hell of a lot of time! I used to ink with my Graphire but while I can get better lines, it takes about five attempts . With ink, I'm stuck with whatever I did, which is good for my obsessive-compulsive streak.
I'm emailing this in because Blogger is being quite unhelpful.
Ok, as of 11:00am Blogger seems to have it's stuff together so here's my ramble. I was going to have a background, but for reasons which will soon become obvious, a glaring white backdrop was perfectly fine. Anyway, there's a lot of dialogue there.
I penciled, then inked using an Espresso felt-tip. This saves a hell of a lot of time! I used to ink with my Graphire but while I can get better lines, it takes about five attempts . With ink, I'm stuck with whatever I did, which is good for my obsessive-compulsive streak.
10.3.05
Thursday Already?
Today's Earworm- Placebo, Plasticine
It's already Thursday... after Monday and Tuesday spent on the couch and a less-than-productive Wednesday. I have a lot of mind-numbing document-crunching to do this week.
Ever get the feeling you could be replaced by a (slightly complicated) shell script?
Postgrad ACS stuff arrived... this evening I should *really* be catching up on my readings and eyeballing the assignment. I've also got some Security+ to do.
And if I'm really organised, strip this weekend.... though I'll understand if you don't hold your breath.
It's already Thursday... after Monday and Tuesday spent on the couch and a less-than-productive Wednesday. I have a lot of mind-numbing document-crunching to do this week.
Ever get the feeling you could be replaced by a (slightly complicated) shell script?
Postgrad ACS stuff arrived... this evening I should *really* be catching up on my readings and eyeballing the assignment. I've also got some Security+ to do.
And if I'm really organised, strip this weekend.... though I'll understand if you don't hold your breath.
3.3.05
575 Reasons To Back Up Your Data
Engadget are running a competition where they're giving away a 2(!) Gig flash drive to whoever produces the best data loss horror story. There's tales of pr0n substitution, death by magnet, death by Big Night Out, squashed dogs, lost holidays, and untold hours of make-up work.
25.2.05
Moving
The Receptacle - The Receptacle
My domain has just been redelegated (I've got the best hosting setup imaginable, as in I work at my registrar, and the sysadmin and DNS admin are right down the hall.) There *might* be some issues as things propogate but I've done some digging in DNS and things are good to go.
*crosses fingers*
My domain has just been redelegated (I've got the best hosting setup imaginable, as in I work at my registrar, and the sysadmin and DNS admin are right down the hall.) There *might* be some issues as things propogate but I've done some digging in DNS and things are good to go.
*crosses fingers*
24.2.05
Fresh Firefox 1.01
Index of /pub/mozilla.org/firefox/nightly/latest-aviary1.0.1
Apparently faster startup and load, obviously YMMV.
Apparently faster startup and load, obviously YMMV.
22.2.05
MobileTracker - Paris Hilton's Sidekick hacked
MobileTracker - Paris Hilton's Sidekick hacked
Stupidity. technology. They don't mix . Maybe they should make a reading of 'The Art of Deception' compulsory in high school, or something. Assuming Paris here actually went.
Stupidity. technology. They don't mix . Maybe they should make a reading of 'The Art of Deception' compulsory in high school, or something. Assuming Paris here actually went.
21.2.05
ELX.com.au (Australia) - ChocoXtreme Energy Drinking Chocolate
ELX.com.au (Australia) - ChocoXtreme Energy Drinking Chocolate
Need to cut back on coffee? No problem! Elx has you covered.
;p
Need to cut back on coffee? No problem! Elx has you covered.
;p
20.2.05
Moving to receptacle.org
Today's Earworm- Lonely as You - The Foo Fighters
Moving the whole shebang to receptacle.org.
Things *might* be a little dodgy for a bit until I get the links sorted, etc. DNS redelegation will probably take place tomorrow, there might be a failover period. (Hey, *I* care.)
Moving the whole shebang to receptacle.org.
Things *might* be a little dodgy for a bit until I get the links sorted, etc. DNS redelegation will probably take place tomorrow, there might be a failover period. (Hey, *I* care.)
15.2.05
Socks and underwear
For my birthday, the folks gift voucher bought me socks and underwear. (No, I'm not posting the latter).
Happy V-Day
These arrived unexpectedly yesterday. There were flowers, choccies, and a balloon. (Nothing says 'hate me' like carrying home an overt display of affection).
Some day big D is going to tell me he can't afford V-day (fair enough, as it is wedged in just after Christmas and my birthday) and be telling the truth.
Some day big D is going to tell me he can't afford V-day (fair enough, as it is wedged in just after Christmas and my birthday) and be telling the truth.
11.2.05
Evil, not evil, I'm so confused!
Google donating bandwidth and servers to Wikipedia
And this after canning ninetyninezeros.
And this after canning ninetyninezeros.
Google Employee Fired Over Blog - The Unofficial Google Weblog - google.weblogsinc.com
Poor guy! I guess it would have been rather politically unwise.... expains why there have been no updates lately.
Hope it doesn't affect his hiring chances with other companies.
Hope it doesn't affect his hiring chances with other companies.
8.2.05
7.2.05
Little red Crumpler baggie
Here's my birthday present... a brand new Crumpler laptop bag. Thats an APPALLING photo, I know. Sadly, that's the good phonecam.
A review of the 'Sheep scarer' is forthcoming. Then hopefully I will get a real camera, and review *that*.
A review of the 'Sheep scarer' is forthcoming. Then hopefully I will get a real camera, and review *that*.
3.2.05
iBook plague
The iBook count at our LUG meetings is often pretty high. There's three in that pic (mine is the closest).
In other news, work finally claimed the LCD I'd borrowed for the past few weeks.
I'm running Nightmare Weaver and Orifice on a crumbly beige box while the salescritters are being apportioned fresh new Dells. Its not as bad as some boxes around here but even if they'd left me a decent screen...
I asked the boxen-installer as to when I'd be getting a new box.
"Ask $Boss++" he said, in a tone which suggested that the *box* wouldn't be replaced first.
I mentally added it to my 'And that's why I left' list (its a meditative technique that makes all things bearable).
The search for a PFY gig continues.
In other news, work finally claimed the LCD I'd borrowed for the past few weeks.
I'm running Nightmare Weaver and Orifice on a crumbly beige box while the salescritters are being apportioned fresh new Dells. Its not as bad as some boxes around here but even if they'd left me a decent screen...
I asked the boxen-installer as to when I'd be getting a new box.
"Ask $Boss++" he said, in a tone which suggested that the *box* wouldn't be replaced first.
I mentally added it to my 'And that's why I left' list (its a meditative technique that makes all things bearable).
The search for a PFY gig continues.
The Ducks Love It
Storms last night resulted in a few adventures in getting to work. Power outage means we had to do a Ray Charles impression in finding our stuff for work...
Then my train got delayed and I had to tram hop across the CBD because the train loop was flooded.
I got a call from my mother to say she'd heard that people had been advised not to go in to work unless 'absolutely necessary'. (She's in Darwin). Sadly, its business as usual around here.
Probably just as well, I had a mental image of the PHB announcing 'Due to the snow, only non-essential staff are required today.' Followed up by rubbing his hands together and thinking 'Layoffs are going to be easy this year.'
Then my train got delayed and I had to tram hop across the CBD because the train loop was flooded.
I got a call from my mother to say she'd heard that people had been advised not to go in to work unless 'absolutely necessary'. (She's in Darwin). Sadly, its business as usual around here.
Probably just as well, I had a mental image of the PHB announcing 'Due to the snow, only non-essential staff are required today.' Followed up by rubbing his hands together and thinking 'Layoffs are going to be easy this year.'
2.2.05
Mac mini in the wild
Mac Mini in the 'wild' at the Flinders St Applestore. What you can't see in photos is that the sides of the mini are brushed aluminium and not plastic.
It's hooked into a Sony monitor.
It's hooked into a Sony monitor.
31.1.05
Great Wall Of Dell
I constructed a little wall out of Dell boxes to cut down on the glare - a hazard of the sunny weather recently.
Doesn't look like anyone's noticed. I don't want to get sunburned at my freaking desk.
Doesn't look like anyone's noticed. I don't want to get sunburned at my freaking desk.
28.1.05
Google Commute
I'm not going to comment on Mr GoogleBlogger, self-censorship, or PR stunts. I will say that after reading ninetyninezeros' blog I am awaiting commuter mobile wifi. In fact I actually wonder if that is real. I've had the 1.5 hr bus commute, but sadly with only a tape walkman for company (I am OOOOOOOOOLD).
Tired
Through temperature, or perhaps being exhausted past the point where one can expect a restful night's sleep, I am bleary eyed and foggy beyond all reason today. (Well, sharp enough to realise I'd dated some paperwork for last year. Ooops).
My office is a fishbowl with an ongoing parade of dazed salesmonkeys. (YES, Its a SCREEN!) I take it back, salesgoldfish.
My paperwork is like pushing an exceedingly dull boulder up a hill (I fully expect to get squashed by the boulder soon enough if I don't get out of its way, recent developments).
My eyes are sore and tired. I have new glasses so it could be worse, at least they focus. It's been GroundHog Day for a week (same paperwork, some horrible weather).
My office is a fishbowl with an ongoing parade of dazed salesmonkeys. (YES, Its a SCREEN!) I take it back, salesgoldfish.
My paperwork is like pushing an exceedingly dull boulder up a hill (I fully expect to get squashed by the boulder soon enough if I don't get out of its way, recent developments).
My eyes are sore and tired. I have new glasses so it could be worse, at least they focus. It's been GroundHog Day for a week (same paperwork, some horrible weather).
25.1.05
Hmmmm. Cocoa.
I've gotten inspired to try to learn Cocoa so I can write a small program. It's a terminal application that does a few extra things that I'd like to see in a terminal app. Of course this is all talk, I haven't learned Objective C yet ;p
Its a problem that every time I read the documentation I crave chocolate brownies. Hmmmm, Cocoa.
Its a problem that every time I read the documentation I crave chocolate brownies. Hmmmm, Cocoa.
23.1.05
17.1.05
Mac Mini Carry Bag
Today's Earworm- Cult Of Mac Interview
Five seconds after release, Mac Mini has a cute little Tom Bihn carrybag. Bless.
Five seconds after release, Mac Mini has a cute little Tom Bihn carrybag. Bless.
10.1.05
Everyone is Big Brother
Today's link is http://www.opentopia.com/hiddencam.php . This is a page composed of random camera feeds from those wonderfully secure AXIS cameras that Google helped us find.
Most of the feeds are weirdly anonymous. Where, specifically, are they? Do they know that the cameras are public? That they're being watched?
Most of the feeds are weirdly anonymous. Where, specifically, are they? Do they know that the cameras are public? That they're being watched?
Again with the posting
Hmm hopefully that sound is the nice RACV person dropping D off.
Yes, it is. *hugs D*
Commuters, be nice to D on the train tomorrow. He's not used to it.
In crazy news, I've just signed up to do a Grad Dip in IT Management via ola.edu.au (through RMIT + ACS).
Yes, it is. *hugs D*
Commuters, be nice to D on the train tomorrow. He's not used to it.
In crazy news, I've just signed up to do a Grad Dip in IT Management via ola.edu.au (through RMIT + ACS).
9.1.05
Option-Cmd-Arrow
There are few things more mindlessly glorious than running Virtual Desktop for OSX, and setting the transition to be 'spinning cube'. Option-Cmd-Arrow and your desktop spins to the next virtual desktop. It is a thing to inspire awe and jealousy in all kinds of PC users.
Option-Cmd-Arrow *SPIN*. Option-Cmd-Arrow *SPIN*.
Small things, hey ...
I have some important things happening this week, and it feels like a good omen that I could find all the paperwork I needed.
A less good omen is that D is marooned at the 7-11 because the clutch on the Lanos has failed. I'm waiting for the RACV to drop him back. :(
Option-Cmd-Arrow *SPIN*. Option-Cmd-Arrow *SPIN*.
Small things, hey ...
I have some important things happening this week, and it feels like a good omen that I could find all the paperwork I needed.
A less good omen is that D is marooned at the 7-11 because the clutch on the Lanos has failed. I'm waiting for the RACV to drop him back. :(
4.1.05
I can't be Flarked today
Today's Earworm- The Limbo Song (WHY????)
The New Years break is over.
My iBook just gave me the Multilingual Screen Of Death but it hasn't done it in months so hopefully it was just a software spaz.
I put together a new bookcase (called Flarke) to house D's prodigious DVD collection. I find putting together furniture kind of relaxing. The process of obtaining the furnture, is *not* so relaxing and involves a long drive followed by projectile-child dodging and concludes with a treasure hunt followed by car-tetris. (There is a guide available). D wanted to know why the hell I forced him out on this trek and the truth is that I like Ikea because of the way the furniture often flips out or folds up, or has a cool design in some other way. I'm talking about stuff like the blue LED chandelier, the folding chairbed, or the translucent white desklamp that fits in suspiciously well with the "Mac-istan" on my desk (the lamps are also available in iMac fruit colors).
The DVDs are guarded by an Alien bobblehead and the Master Chief sitting on top of the bookcase.
I've new glasses with progressive lenses on order, with more rectangular frames. I tried the thicker plastic frames that are fashionable now, but I looked like the blonde guy from the Lone Gunmen. So it's metal frames again.
My old lenses are scratched up, and my prescription has changed a little bit. I'm getting distance correction across the top, for those days when my eyes are tired. As in most.
NYE was a non-event, we briefly stopped watching Buffy DVDs to wish each other Happy New Year. D is still watching 'Buffy, the Doom and Gloom years' this evening. I'd sort of stopped caring about most of the cast at that point (6,7), and it had fallen off my must-see list. Willow's big arc had been played out (and fumbled), the show wasted time on whiney slayerettes, Buffy was a hypocritical bitca, there were pacing problems, the Big Bad was just plain boring and amounted to an evil twin most of the time, Kennedy existed, and the new monsters were *super-vampires*. *Sigh*. Anya and Andrew were comedy gold sometimes and Wood was an interesting character but the story arc was spaghetti.
My sci-fi series 3 rule holds - that any 'genre' series, once it makes it to season 3, will enjoy its best season. It's all downhill from there.
The New Years break is over.
My iBook just gave me the Multilingual Screen Of Death but it hasn't done it in months so hopefully it was just a software spaz.
I put together a new bookcase (called Flarke) to house D's prodigious DVD collection. I find putting together furniture kind of relaxing. The process of obtaining the furnture, is *not* so relaxing and involves a long drive followed by projectile-child dodging and concludes with a treasure hunt followed by car-tetris. (There is a guide available). D wanted to know why the hell I forced him out on this trek and the truth is that I like Ikea because of the way the furniture often flips out or folds up, or has a cool design in some other way. I'm talking about stuff like the blue LED chandelier, the folding chairbed, or the translucent white desklamp that fits in suspiciously well with the "Mac-istan" on my desk (the lamps are also available in iMac fruit colors).
The DVDs are guarded by an Alien bobblehead and the Master Chief sitting on top of the bookcase.
I've new glasses with progressive lenses on order, with more rectangular frames. I tried the thicker plastic frames that are fashionable now, but I looked like the blonde guy from the Lone Gunmen. So it's metal frames again.
My old lenses are scratched up, and my prescription has changed a little bit. I'm getting distance correction across the top, for those days when my eyes are tired. As in most.
NYE was a non-event, we briefly stopped watching Buffy DVDs to wish each other Happy New Year. D is still watching 'Buffy, the Doom and Gloom years' this evening. I'd sort of stopped caring about most of the cast at that point (6,7), and it had fallen off my must-see list. Willow's big arc had been played out (and fumbled), the show wasted time on whiney slayerettes, Buffy was a hypocritical bitca, there were pacing problems, the Big Bad was just plain boring and amounted to an evil twin most of the time, Kennedy existed, and the new monsters were *super-vampires*. *Sigh*. Anya and Andrew were comedy gold sometimes and Wood was an interesting character but the story arc was spaghetti.
My sci-fi series 3 rule holds - that any 'genre' series, once it makes it to season 3, will enjoy its best season. It's all downhill from there.
22.12.04
Chilling
Today's Earworm- Candle, Vast
Feeling kind of chilled today. I made a special effort to get some extra sleep and now I'm quite laid back.
The Mac virus is spreading, there are iBooks and iPods popping up all over.
I think I got the first iPod here, so maybe I'm partially responsible. :)
Feeling kind of chilled today. I made a special effort to get some extra sleep and now I'm quite laid back.
The Mac virus is spreading, there are iBooks and iPods popping up all over.
I think I got the first iPod here, so maybe I'm partially responsible. :)
20.12.04
Wired for sound
Today's Earworm- Candle - VAST
Had a Coles/Myer voucher. Needed 'phones that would block out surrounding office noise (often including ape-like pounding on keyboards and hard surfaces.).
I had the option of some sort of Sony cans, but I'm sort of anti-Sony outside of picture tubes... and my phone, come to think of it....
I think Sony sound gear is a bit overpriced and overrated, anyway.
So I wanted Sennheiser 202s or 212 pros . No such luck. It's Sony, Koss, or nothing at Myer.
So I saw the Koss Ur10's, and grabbed them. They're $30 Au, enclosed, padded enclosures, cheap plastic fake-silver finish, etc. All I needed were enclosed phones so I could maintain my sanity by tuning out the background noise.
Here comes the surprise - they're pretty good. They sounded a bit muffled at first but they seem to be getting better. They're clear, they don't distort, ambient noise is blocked. Metal strings sound great. Bass isn't overly boomy. Not overly bright. For some reason vocals sound a bit thin, but nothing too horrible.
In conclusion - better than Podphones (not hard!), they're cheap, co-werkers are muffled to a dull hooting, and I can't hear keyhits at all, even my own.
Disclaimers - I probably have tin ears. I've listened to stupidly expensive sound systems and my only reaction has been 'that's up awfully loud, isn't it'.
Also, I have small ears. I wouldn't recommend these phones for an average-to-large guy. Try them on if you can, which you probably can't as they're too cheap to hang on the 'headphone tree' at your local audio store.
Had a Coles/Myer voucher. Needed 'phones that would block out surrounding office noise (often including ape-like pounding on keyboards and hard surfaces.).
I had the option of some sort of Sony cans, but I'm sort of anti-Sony outside of picture tubes... and my phone, come to think of it....
I think Sony sound gear is a bit overpriced and overrated, anyway.
So I wanted Sennheiser 202s or 212 pros . No such luck. It's Sony, Koss, or nothing at Myer.
So I saw the Koss Ur10's, and grabbed them. They're $30 Au, enclosed, padded enclosures, cheap plastic fake-silver finish, etc. All I needed were enclosed phones so I could maintain my sanity by tuning out the background noise.
Here comes the surprise - they're pretty good. They sounded a bit muffled at first but they seem to be getting better. They're clear, they don't distort, ambient noise is blocked. Metal strings sound great. Bass isn't overly boomy. Not overly bright. For some reason vocals sound a bit thin, but nothing too horrible.
In conclusion - better than Podphones (not hard!), they're cheap, co-werkers are muffled to a dull hooting, and I can't hear keyhits at all, even my own.
Disclaimers - I probably have tin ears. I've listened to stupidly expensive sound systems and my only reaction has been 'that's up awfully loud, isn't it'.
Also, I have small ears. I wouldn't recommend these phones for an average-to-large guy. Try them on if you can, which you probably can't as they're too cheap to hang on the 'headphone tree' at your local audio store.
18.12.04
14.12.04
Midnight Blue - new webcomic strip
Today's Earworm- VAST, Winter in my heart
"You spin me right round baby,.."
I smile because I'm the only one who knows what's going on
Seriously though I'm realising I need to slow down and explain things. I'll address that in the coming strips.
I'm allergic to copious exposition but it seems to be fairer to readers.
"You spin me right round baby,.."
I smile because I'm the only one who knows what's going on
Seriously though I'm realising I need to slow down and explain things. I'll address that in the coming strips.
I'm allergic to copious exposition but it seems to be fairer to readers.
13.12.04
Forum
Today's Earworm- everything by VAST
Updated phpbb to address some security issues.
Also, if you haven't done so already, check out /usr/bin/w00t because it is really, really funny at times.
Updated phpbb to address some security issues.
Also, if you haven't done so already, check out /usr/bin/w00t because it is really, really funny at times.
10.12.04
Down Again
Today's Earworm- America, F**K Yeah - Team America Soundtrack
And today my site is down and blogger is up and accepting posts. Joyous.
I think I need to review my hosting choices. As well as my job and education choices.
And today my site is down and blogger is up and accepting posts. Joyous.
I think I need to review my hosting choices. As well as my job and education choices.
8.12.04
Get out of my space.
Today's Earworm-Tiny Machine - The Darling Buds
Batman Begins
Dr Who
I'm having a extreme personal space day. I can't concentrate with all the noise out here. I kind of feel like punching somebody.
I think that if someone offered me a job, with no raise, but an office with a lockable door, I'd be out of here so fast it wouldn't be funny.
I hate cubes. Its even more of a joke when you even have to share your cube. What exactly do those dividers keep out, anyway?
PS anyone with real offices want to hire a Unix/OSX/Linux/php/MySql geek ?
PPS Here's a link to Paul Graham's essay on 'Great Hackers'. Look for the section on cubicles. Not suggesting I am a great hacker. I am suggesting my brain is in a blender.
PPPS If you don't stop bouncing that ping pong ball on your desk, I am going to make you EAT it!
PPPPS STFU! an oldie but a classic.
Batman Begins
Dr Who
I'm having a extreme personal space day. I can't concentrate with all the noise out here. I kind of feel like punching somebody.
I think that if someone offered me a job, with no raise, but an office with a lockable door, I'd be out of here so fast it wouldn't be funny.
I hate cubes. Its even more of a joke when you even have to share your cube. What exactly do those dividers keep out, anyway?
PS anyone with real offices want to hire a Unix/OSX/Linux/php/MySql geek ?
PPS Here's a link to Paul Graham's essay on 'Great Hackers'. Look for the section on cubicles. Not suggesting I am a great hacker. I am suggesting my brain is in a blender.
PPPS If you don't stop bouncing that ping pong ball on your desk, I am going to make you EAT it!
PPPPS STFU! an oldie but a classic.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
