Beware the GunMonkey

Busy busy busy

2011-11-14T12:08:00.001+08:00

Well, this blog has gotten very few updates.

No surprises there. The new job I mentioned in Spetember had been flat out. I haven't had time or energy to do other things.

So there were no posts at all for October - very remiss of me. The reason the new job had such a sudden workload increase is that I was originally hired to be an assistant to the existing IT guy. About two weeks into it, he said "I'm outta here" and quit.

That left me as the guy in charge and with practically zero documentation! Had to spend a long time working out passwords, what systems we had and every time I turned around there was something else new which I had to deal with.

So long story short, I'm almost on top of things now. Got plenty written down and whoever replaces me will be able to do in about six hours what took me six weeks to work out.

So now I should have enough time to do other stuff, like work out and take photos.

*fingers crossed*

Workin'

2011-09-21T21:57:00.001+08:00

My unofficial goal this month was to make more blog posts than I had in any previous month this year.

Fortunately it is a fairly low goal (9), unfortunately I am in danger of failing - but for good reason. Been working some pretty long hours and staying off the computer when I get home since I spend all day at a computer.

So it's good and bad that I haven't been making as many posts as I wanted.

Tomorrow not working, so hopefully make a longer post then.

And ... gainfully employed

2011-09-08T18:31:00.001+08:00

Had a successful interview today. I start the new job on Monday (yay!) at 8am (boo!). There's the usual 3 month probation period, which will hopefully go well.

The main thing to consider is to focus on doing the job right to the best of my ability. Later on down the track I will be able to worry about other things like what to spend money on (fuel, food, bills...) but only after I actually start getting it.

No more day dreaming.

Time to grow up

2011-09-07T15:30:00.001+08:00

Today, I am an adult.

There are no real ways in todays society to declare when an individual stops being a child and is considered an adult by the rest of the community.

It used to be that there would be a ceremony or an achievement or even just getting married. But in todays society even getting married does not mean that a person is an adult. But these days, we as a society spend less effort on teaching and raising kids and providing milestones for them to achieve.

Today, I finally got around to selling my LEGO® collection.

It might not sound like much, but it broke my heart to do it. It had been sitting in five or six boxes, packed away since we moved from the old place to this place ... over two years ago. There is a bunch of stuff I wanted to build but never got around to. There was a lot, stuff going back to the 80's and some new sets. Even some catalogues from the 90's. There was even a bunch of bits that were new and still in bags! I don't know how long it had been that I hadn't played with them at the old place either. And it does not seem that I was going to use them anytime soon either.

So I decided it was time to man up and get rid of it. Better that some new young person play with them rather than them sitting in boxes unloved. I sold the lot to a friend for a couple of bucks. I could have gotten more on the open market but I didn't want to go through the hassle of selling over the internet. Like removing a bandaid - pull it off quick rather than drag it out.

When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I
thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 1 Corinthians 13:11 They knew it then, it still applies now.

I know I'll regret this at some stage, but it is time to move on. I hope the new youths who receive them play with them and love them as much as I did...

At a crossroads

2011-09-04T18:11:00.001+08:00

I have an offer in hand. Not sure about all the variables, but need to make a careful consideration. Conditions and pay seem okay, but not in a market I'm comfortable. Not sure which way to go, but options aren't coming in too hot or fast. On the plus side - no dealing with the public! On the downside... need to be discrete.

Not time poor ... just need discipline

2011-09-03T20:50:00.001+08:00

It is a common complaint that almost everybody makes at some time or another - I haven't got enough time.

Be it for family, creative endeavours, the cat or whatever - at some stage there will come a time when 24 hours just does not cut it.

In my case it is for writing. However, my biggest problem (as I have identified it) isn't that I don't have enough time. It's that I have poor time management and don't have the discipline to focus on what I want to do when I have the time.

I'm hoping that by getting myself making more updates to this blog (even though I don't have much of interest to say) I'll be able to get more into the habit of writing. I'm aiming for every day, though I've already missed one day - and I'm only three days into it. Though having said that, there's no reason why I couldn't update twice in one day. Assuming I actually had something to say!

Ideas are the start...

2011-09-02T16:48:00.001+08:00

...not the end!

At the moment I am trying to do a bit more writing. Annoyingly - every time I sit down to get something written down, I just end up dawdling and doing other things. The problem I have is that I want the results without putting in the effort. And the is not how it works!

Today I wanted to get a bit of writing done. I got as far as setting up a few folders (nothing in them) and then I had to duck out and do the shopping. Then set up the new set top box. Then move a bunch of stuff around. Then do a spot of cleaning. Gah!

I just keep putting things off, for no good reason.

There's a reason why my so-called writing site hasn't been updated in over a year. And it's all me baby. I can't blame anyone else other than me. So I either need to knuckle down or throw it overboard and stop attempting to write...

Waning days of August

2011-08-30T10:26:00.001+08:00

Well, another month is on the way out.

Have several projects on the backburner, but nothing front and center ready to go. I need to get a leg on and make things happen!

The Temple at Gobekli Tepe

2011-08-29T08:36:00.001+08:00

In Turkey, there is an empty, uninhabited region overlooked by a ridge of mountains. On a hill at the base of those mountains is a temple unique in human history.

Gobekli Tepe is a series of temples, built on top of each other over time. The oldest layer of temples is more than 11,000 years old. Do you understand how old that is?

That's not just seven thousand years older than the Pyramids. Five thousand years older than the first cities in the fertile crescent. It's a thousand years before agriculture. The builders were nomads, living off of herds and foraging.

It's before writing. So the whole thing was built by people whose knowledge had to be learned entirely in their lifetime and committed to memory. Can you imagine building a house with a group of people, when there aren't any diagrams or written instructions on length or weight? And the project took more than just your lifetimes? (Okay, maybe there were measured lengths of rope or something, but still.)

So it existed almost alone on Earth, with no large permanent human settlements. Not in the middle of a city, or even near one, or at a time when our concept of "cities" even existed. There are barely signs that people even lived at the site. It indicates humans who used it lived in nomadic villages nearby and it stood mostly empty. It was unimaginably unique at the time.

We only think it was a temple because it was full of larger-than-life statues of humans and dozens of different animals. The concept of a bigger-than-life statue indicates respect and reverence, when it was believed that humans weren't sophisticated enough at the time to see themselves as gods, or worthy of worship.

We know that Gobekli Tepe was in continuous use for more than three thousand years, and then buried. Not in an avalanche, not in a fire or storm. By hand. The entire f**king complex was buried by hand. We know from the striations of earth that it was carried in from the land around and dumped. And it wasn't destroyed first, the building was intact.

Only 5% has been excavated. It's been picked at for decades because of competing claims on archeological rights. Who knows what else is in there.

Super8

2011-08-28T20:46:00.001+08:00

It's a blend between Cloverfield and ET... not surprising considering it was made by JJ Abrahams and Steven Speilberg.

Not liking it...

And... the flashes arrive

2011-08-28T13:18:00.001+08:00

So I'm back in the game!

I ordered two Yongnuo YN-460 II flashes at the start of the month and they've arrived. Tested and working, I now need to get on with it and take more photos. I know the 460's are a "cheap and nasty" type flash but they are so cheap and easy to work with.

Well, I find them easy to work with. They will pretty much only work properly in Manual mode which is fine by me, but someone who wants to use Auto or one of the Creative modes then they would struggle with manual flashes.

On the Agenda: I want to get back into writing. Not sure why nor do I have too many ideas (I keep thinking I'm creative and then proving myself wrong) but every time I listen to Writing Excuses I get the urge to write more.

Census - done and dusted

2011-08-10T21:51:00.001+08:00

For those not in the know, Australia just had it's 5 yearly census.

This is the first year that it could be done electronically on-line, which I opted to do. Made things a little easier and the census worker (an elderly lady whom I assume was volunteering) didn't need to come back to pick up the paperwork. So we've done our bit for the cause.

For those who did the paper version or saved the electronic version before submitting it, remember that it is a $100 a day fine if you don't send it back in!

Cactus V5 triggers

2011-08-09T12:04:00.001+08:00

I received my new flash triggers! *squee!*

I bought two sets of the Cactus V5 flash triggers from Gadget Infinity. I only have one flash at the moment but I've ordered two more which are on their way giving me three flashes to play with. This'll make for a basic three-light setup.

I was testing them just now and they appear to be working properly. I was initially a little frustrated as I could get all the triggers to talk to each other (orange light on top) but couldn't get the flash to fire. Turns out (after reading the instructions) that I needed to press just a tad harder which makes the trigger lights flash green and sets off the flash. So there you go, read the instructions!

I'll probably pick up another two flashes and another set of triggers for a set of 5 flash/trigger units.

Next video clip

2011-08-02T22:02:00.001+08:00

Hmm, this is getting harder and harder...

At the moment I am trying to get a sample video clip together, both as a shakedown of the camera in video mode and to break out the editing software. I'm being hampered on the "getting footage" side by not being able to line up dates when everything is available at once (cast, crew and location) and the editing computer is off-line.

Gah!

Why is nothing ever easy? Well, I suppose if it was easy then everybody would be doing it. Well, this is where we put up or shut up. If it isn't happening then the fault must be mine because I don't want it badly enough. Time to get crakin'.

Fireshot Firefox add-on DON'T USE

2011-08-01T07:14:00.001+08:00

What a shame too, Fireshot used to be such a nice program.

What I find really annoying is that it was working fine, then the developer changed it remotely so it no longer works on my system...

Here's the skinny: Fireshot (used to be) a great program for doing screen captures. Very useful, very flexible. What it does now is demand an update, which does not work via the proper channels. It demands that you go get an update directly from their site (http://screenshot-program.com). On their site there is a "friendly" click here to check your computer message which is a huge red flag right there!

If you are unfortunate enough to use the site's update, it buries malware so deep in your system that it is very difficult to dislodge and the program won't work - it demands payment!

Fireshot is deceptive. Fireshot is a fraud. Don't use Fireshot!

And I use this program a lot too. None of the other "screenshot" programs available as add-on's for Firefox were as good because Fireshot was the only one that I've found which was able to reliably capture flash elements on a site.

Computer Swappin'

2011-07-26T10:59:00.001+08:00

Gah! Busy day.

Upgrading my video editing computer and in the process upgraded other computers as well. My old video editing computer became my new internet computer, so Ubuntu is running slick and fast now. "New" video editing computer however isn't doing so well. There are no new components, it's all second hand gear but it is much better than my old system (if I can get it to work).

Now I have a mess of components spare. Hmm, what else can I do with a computer...

Reload

2011-07-16T08:05:00.001+08:00

Now running Ubuntu 11.04! Runs a bit better and also get latest version of Firefox.

Had some teething issues, but nothing major. Still getting all settings and programs back up and runningbut no major downtime. Plus I have all my data backed up, so no worries there.

Extra! Extra!

2011-06-30T21:42:00.001+08:00

Really starting to get back into film making. I missed not being involved over the last couple of years.

Now comes the hard part - finances. Working on the mines would take me away from film work, but would provide financial stability, assuming I'm not killed or injured. Film and theatre would make me happy (happier?)
but there are very, very few paying jobs in Perth.

If I can pick up a fairly flexible part-time or casual job that I can work around then that would keep me from sliding further down but wouldn't provide enough money to be financially stable (or viable).

There's a difference between living and surviving...

Starting to edit

2011-06-26T15:29:00.001+08:00

Well, I shot some random test footage around the house with the 550d and the footage itself is pretty decent. Loaded it up onto my über computer (which is several years old, so it isn't that über) and had a bit of a play at editing.

Very frustrating to begin with since I've forgotten most of what I learnt about video editing (not to mention that I learnt on Final Cut Pro and I'm using Premiere Elements 8). As long as I yell loud enough at the computer then we manage to get things done.

Tomorrow I might make a short test film to upload and see if the export quality is good enough for putting up onto YouTube.

Work (or lack thereof)

2011-06-26T07:18:00.001+08:00

Haven't gotten very far in my quest for work. Actually, if I'm honest. I've gone backwards. I'm about $3,000 down in the training and tickets and such that I got (which as far as I can tell, haven't given me any advantage at all), plus about $1,800 down in expenses (rent and petrol and such) plus (using my previous pay as a base rate) about $3,500 down in missed pay.

That's nearly ten grand in the hole (depending on how you count), so from that point of view, my attempts to "get in the mines" has been a dismal failure. I managed to get two automated "not you" replies out of all the applications I sent out. Could I have sent out more? Sure, but I mainly aimed at the ones that I genuinely thought I had a chance at getting. I didn't apply for any that said "need two years experience".

So what's next?

The next step for now will be to find a new job, something local. My preferences are to not be dealing with the public, but I'll take what I can get at the moment. I'm not in dire straights yet, but I think that I've spent long enough out of work now. Time to get back on the horse.

Idea

2011-06-25T09:54:00.001+08:00

Since I've been gearing up a bit make more video content with my camera, I figure I may as well create another video clip for my so-called "music career".

I'm not actually creating any new music, but that'd be a simple way of practising using the camera with a specific goal to work towards. I want to make video clips for other people, but I need to make sure that I can produce reliably good video first. And that means practice.

I'll probably grab one of the songs from one of my albums that I've already published (despite pulling down my previous website) and use that.

As for ideas, the one I've got rattling around in my head at the moment is to get a dancer, dress them up like a ninja and have them dance around in the streets. In order to do this, I'll need to get someone who will agree to be the ninja, then get a suitable ninja-esque outfit. Simple black clothes with some black bmx armour ought to do it.

Legalities ... not too sure about the laws regarding going around in public dressed as a ninja. Might need to notify the local police station. Need to wear a high-vis vest. Having a camera out will help, so long as whoever is dressed as a ninja is mature enough to not act like an idiot - especially if the local constabulary show up.

Decisions Decisions...

2011-06-02T07:52:00.001+08:00

Hmm, not had a whole lot of luck yet on the work front. There I was all bushy tailed and bright eyed and thought I'd be able to just waltz into a high paying job without a lot of effort.

Then I walked into the unyielding wall of reality.

It's a shame about the money I spent with RMS, I really thought that would be helpful. I'm now at the stage where I need to decide if I really want to go out there and really have a good push at getting a job on the mines or switch tack and get a different job here in the city. This kinda puts me back where I was in 2002 - no idea what job to get.

I think I need to sit down and have a good hard think about what I want to be doing.

Trip out to a mining town?

2011-05-31T18:06:00.001+08:00

Well, not had much luck yet.

Looks like the best way to get a job out on a mine is to know someone who is working out on a mine.

Which I don't. :(

Since sending out a mess of applications hasn't been working out so well, I might need to drive out to a mining town and ask in person. The only down side would be that any job I'd get out there is likely to be a job in and around the town which would mean living out there. Which could be a bit of a pain as rents are quite high out there.

It's the usual - lots of jobs being advertised but everyone wants people with experience. Where do they expect people to get experience I wonder?

Even the supposed "entry level" openings are looking for people with experience, which does not really make them entry level. The only ways that are "easy" that I have seen are exploratory drilling assistants. Not too sure how I feel about roughing it out in the middle of nowhere.

Well, keep hitting that brick wall until it breaks...

Or I do.

Need a good ass-kicking!

2011-05-29T21:22:00.001+08:00

Have really got to get into gear.

In the last 22 days haven't sent out anywhere near enough applications to get a hit. If you want a job in the mines you either need to know someone in the business (I don't), send out thousands of applications or get very lucky.

I ain't that lucky.

So got to get down and get those applications sent out. They've gotta hire someone and they aren't going to hire me if they don't know about me!

Now for the hard part

2011-05-07T06:54:00.001+08:00

Well, I have pretty much all my tickets in hand, I have my resume re-written and ready to send out and as far as I can tell, I've ticked all the right boxes.

Now comes the difficult part of actually getting a job.

This is going to involve lots of perseverance and spamming all the mining companies with applications each week until someone notices me. This is not going to be easy as there are hundreds of other people applying for the same job and each week that passes, another ten people finish the same course that I just did.

It's going to be a little demoralising, but I've got to keep bashing my head against this wall and eventually it'll fall.

Or my head will cave in, either way...

First week of "unemployment"

2011-05-02T16:11:00.001+08:00

So should I be scared, excited or relieved?

Where I am right now: Three weeks ago I quit my old job. Technically, I quit five weeks ago when I formally handed in my written resignation, but my last shift as a full time employee of the company was three weeks ago.

Why did I quit? I could give lots of answers, but the core is that I want more money.

I was working retail and I've now got gold fever - I want to go work in the mines. The problem is that this is a rather vague sort of goal! Everyone says that they want to go "work in the mines" but there are so many different jobs one could be doing! I picked the most obvious - driving haul trucks.

Of course, there are hundreds of people applying for these jobs so I decided to make sure I was properly trained and went and signed up for the RMS course. I had to really take a leap on that one because it costs $3,000. Handing over that kind of money makes you want to be really sure of what you are doing.

I did the main course two weeks ago. That was both scary and a lot of fun. I got to drive these big 100-ton trucks around the course they have (which is really tight) and spent time on their simulator (which is really cool) where they kept throwing emergency situations at us to see how we'd react.

Two weeks ago I did the follow up training and got my Senior First Aid and General Safety Induction to work on mine sites. I also applied for my National Police Clearance certificate which I received. That means I've ticked all the boxes and I'm now ready for the hard part - applying!

This week is my first week of true unemployment. I was still listed at my old job as a casual and did some work on the Saturdays during training but I have no shifts scheduled. Fortunately I have a very thrifty lifestyle so having no income for a few weeks ought not be a huge handicap - though I don't want to let it go too long!

I spent today getting my CV up to date, which I've nearly finished and I'll be set to start sending off applications tomorrow.

Total spent thus far: $3,500 - and climbing...

March Update

2011-03-30T21:40:00.001+08:00

Still plodding along. Still need to do more exercise and manage my time better.

At this rate, if I have a near death experience and my life flashes before my eyes, it'll be a really short slide show...

Feb 14

2011-02-14T00:48:00.001+08:00

Well, this makes 32 years in a row without a Valentine.

Perfect record.

Long day re-installing

2011-02-06T21:08:00.001+08:00

Pulled the old hard drive out of the laptop and spent the last five odd hours re-installing everything.

Going down the list of all the different things that I need to re-install and it ain't fun. Oh well, the result should be worth it. This is being posted from Scribefire, an add-on for Firefox and everything seems to be going great.

For now...

Improving the car

2011-02-05T18:40:00.001+08:00

Spent the day yesterday making a few improvements to the car. I'll do a little write-up on it for the website.

Basically, replaced the headlights as the old ones were really yellow and faded and installed a UHF CB. Had a good chuckle today driving to and from work listening to people chatting away.

Thinking of becoming an escort...

2011-01-23T22:31:00.001+08:00

An Escort Pilot that is.

For those that don't know, an escort pilot is someone who drives those cars with the flashing lights that follow / lead the trucks which take up all the road.

I see a number of these around and I'm looking to see if it's worth it to join them. It'd cost a few thousand in setup costs (there is a course to do [$800], modify the car [signs and lights - $1,000] add barwork to mount the signs and lights onto [$1,600] add a uhf cb radio [cheap at "just" $300]) and then there is no guarantee of work on the other side.

From what I've seen, most of the operators are independent business's who operate out of home. I have yet to find a central business that has several sub-contractor drivers working for them.

The other thing against me is that many of the loads seem to travel long distances out into the countryside. Which would mean overnight stays and eating crap at dodgy dive diners. I'm unsure if I should proceed or not. I have a HR drivers licencse, that was fun when I was driving trucks. But I like the reliability of full time work.

What I'm mostly full of with my current job is the long distance I have to drive to get to work (driving as a pilot would be different - running costs would be tax deductible) and dealing with the public. Except that driving as a pilot I'd still be dealing with the public but they'd have 1-ton steel missiles under them...

Decisions, decisions...

What the hell is wrong with Google

2011-01-22T15:54:00.001+08:00

Well, looks like Google are finalizing their sell-out.

Oh wait, no - they were always in it for the money.

My complaint is that Google's search engine facility used to be pretty good for locating information. Let's say you wanted to buy something and wanted to read up some reviews on that product. You'd go to Google, type in the product name and "review" and you'd get a bunch of pages which people had review said product.

Today, it has become painfully obvious that this no longer works. I was trying to get some reviews on a UHF CB radio and all Google gave me was page after page of links to shopbot, getprice, myshopping and all these other crap "find the best price" sites. The worst thing? None of those damn sites actually had the product I was looking for! Just a page with "your search did not find any results - try these" and would then suggest a bunch of random stuff that had nothing to do with what I was looking for.

What. The. Hell?

Do these sites really think that if I come to their site looking for something and they don't have it, I'll say "well, I'm here - might as well buy something"? Or is the rest of the world finally retarded enough that this actually work for them?

Gah, why bother looking for intelligent life out there - there's none down here!

New Year, New Lens

2011-01-18T07:38:00.001+08:00

Picked up a 17-55mm f2.8 IS USM lens at the start of the year.

Haven't done much yet other than take a few test shots, but hopefully I'll get out there and be taking some shots in the next few days. And this year my goal is to be taking more photos of people. I already have plenty of photos of landscapes and the cats.

Also have another website to build, more details on that once it is nearer completion.

Last thing of note is that I'm more actively hunting for a job closer to home. I'm spending too much time and petrol on just getting to work, and work does not pay that much to begin with. So far, my plan to win millions in the lottery have not come to fruition. It may help if I actually bought tickets... I'll need to check and see if I have any rich elderly relatives in poor health....

Dead Tree books are dead

2011-01-15T06:59:00.001+08:00

Well, I took the plunge and bought a Kobo Wireless.

And I am loving it so far!

It's quite a cute little device, smaller than I originally thought it was going to be. It refreshes the screen very quickly. If I hit "next page" before I finish reading the last line, I'll have time to finish reading the line before the screen goes black and the new text comes up around the same time that my eyes reach the top of the screen.

The e-ink screen is awesome, I'm loving the ability to read for hours on end without eye strain. I downloaded a few free ebooks a while back and tried reading them on my computer, but my eyes became sore and fatigued very quickly. I had to stop after about two hours. Using the internet, browsing and watching videos isn't as big a deal but reading large blocks of text for sustained periods of time is a real hassle.

There are a lot of cheap Chinese pretend readers floating around and I find it amusing that they advertise "yes, in colour - watch video and see photo" as a big selling point - which totally misses the point of an e-reader! TFT or LCD screens won't give you the "read for hours" ability that e-ink will.

Next on the list, get a case for it. The screen is (I assume) fragile and I want to protect it. It may have cost "only" $180, but it's still $180 I'd rather not lose due to something pressing against the screen...

Music site rebuild complete - time to start again

2010-11-25T07:05:00.001+08:00

Ha! I'm never satisfied. Since I've stalled on my music "career", I may as well use the site for testing purposes. I've only just finished re-building it in html 4.01 strict and now I want to port it over to html 5.

I think it's worth the effort as more and more browsers are supporting html 5 and it is the way of the future We'll see if this pans out or not.

Gallery - Redux

2010-11-25T07:02:00.001+08:00

Well, it took longer than expected (like everything) but my new gallery is up and running.

Actually, it's probably not very well done as the main gallery index does not show any actual photos! It is a list of links to the pages that have the photos. Not the best way to do it since there are no "hooks" to grab people and get them into the photos themselves. My bad.

You can check it out here and see what all the fuss is about.

In other photography related news - my new camera has arrived! *squee* You can't see me, but I'm totally doing a happy dance right now. It's a Canon Kiss X4 and it's just dandy. I've only just started playing with it, I'm hoping to get some photos to share this weekend (or sooner!).

Mildly interesting

2010-11-24T20:06:00.004+08:00

I have had enough with the spam comments so I have turned anonymous posting off. Sorry to those few who wanted to make a quick comment without registering / logging in / creating a shell account. However, you few were in the minority, and the vast amount of garbage that was collecting was getting annoying.

The mildly interesting part is that most of my visitors come from three places. Australia, which will be mostly me and a few of my friends who read this, America (US) where occasional people pop up and read and sometimes leave a comment and ... Russia.

I wonder which accounts for most of my spam?

Be interesting to review visitor numbers in a few weeks now that the anonymous posting has been switched off. And a captcha has been added as well.

Sorry. But gotta fight the spam...

One more to go...

2010-10-17T13:37:00.001+08:00

Well, the rebuild of my music site is practically complete. There is a bit more jazzing up that can be done, but that's as far as I'm going to go on it for now. I'm not producing music at the moment, having swung back to photography so there isn't much point in spending time and effort on the site.

However, my main site needs an update. I'll be totally re-doing the photograph section but the whole site I want to upgrade to 4.01 strict which means changing all the back end stuff. This is a lot of effort considering that on the outside it'll look pretty much the same.

Having said that, my primary focus is going to be the photography stuff.

I've already been sorting out through all of my photos looking for which ones to put up and have a fair stack sorted out. There's still more to go though, but I'm getting there. I'll need to re-organize the main page as well (plus write more articles, but I've been saying that for years).

Final thing on the to-do list is sort out the media computer and get it sorted out. It is too noisy and is running out of space. We'll see how that goes.

Hosting Upgraded

2010-10-07T07:57:00.001+08:00

All-right! I have managed to get the hosting package on my main site updated from a basic personal plan to a business plan. This means more storage space and more bandwidth (not that I'm using that much) plus more reliable performance. It also means additional cost, but that's to be expected.

I'll be starting to upload all my photos (meaning all the best ones, not every single one) and organising things into folders and such to share with the world. In my experience, more images with descriptions means more people are likely to visit the site - which can be a good thing or a bad thing.

This also means that I need to be taking more photos. This is fine with me as it is what I want to do plus I have all the fancy new gear to play with.

Speaking of new gear, I do have a small issue with flashes. I've been buying Yongnuo YN460 flashes which are pretty cheap and they have worked out pretty good for the most part (review / tutorial coming soon). The problem is that I want three of them. I bought one, liked it, then bought two more. Turns out that one of them was DOA but because I didn't get around to testing them for a few months I wasn't able to get it replaced.

Recently I bought another one and this one arrived faulty. It works in the sense that it turns on and the flash fires if you press the "test" button but the trigger on the bottom does not respond. So neither the camera nor the wireless triggers will make the flash go off, rendering it useless. I corresponded with the seller who said they'd send a replacement (I think) so now I'm waiting for the replacement one to arrive. I offered to send the faulty one back to them to which they asked how much shipping would be. I sent them a message saying how much it was and have not had a reply, so not 100% sure what's going on.

Hopefully they'll send a replacement, but will wait and see. Might need to buy another one from another seller.

Lucky I am patient.

Website woes

2010-09-29T06:22:00.001+08:00

Well, sometimes upgrades work without a hitch and sometimes ... they don't.

Upgrading the hosting plan on my main site and it's gone a little pear shaped. Mind you, it's partly my fault as I'm moving it from an Australian host to an American host (still the same company, they just offer hosting on both continents). I could have gone with hosting in Australia but the American plans offer twice as much storage and twice as much bandwidth for the same price.

At any rate, at the moment the site returns a "domain not found" error message, but hopefully it'll be up again in a day or so.

Hopefully...

Celebrating 300,000

2010-09-12T14:23:00.001+08:00

This was kind of cool.

Got home the other day and looked down at the tacho on the car and it read exactly 300,000km's (that's just over 186,400 miles for those using Imperial).

It isn't the insane amount of distance covered that I found cool, just that it happened to land on 300,000 as I stopped at home. I knew it was going to change over soon, but it didn't occur to me to carry the camera around and pull over when it clicked to it's thirtyeth millenia.

But I'm glad that it came up when it did, so I ran inside and grabbed the camera. That's why the oil and battery lights are on - the engine is switched off (no, I wouldn't try and take a photo of the dash as I'm driving along!).

No longer a twit

2010-09-04T23:04:00.001+08:00

Well, I had enough and deleted my Twitter account. Not that I was doing much with it, but it created a conflict. I'd provide a link but, you know - I deleted it...

Nearly there

2010-08-31T23:26:00.001+08:00

Waddling along at the moment. Today has been a little disapointing, but we keep moving onwards.

Tried a new antenna for the main tv but reception was a little spotty. Picked up most of the channels really nicely but didn't pick up all the channels. If we can't get decent reception out here then there isn't much point in getting a PVR. Maybe once we move back closer to the city?

At least internet has been sorted out. More or less, that's another battle and I'm tired. Off to bed now... though I should have something interesting for tomorrow.

It's getting closer

2010-08-30T06:25:00.001+08:00

Woohoo! I've upgraded my music box a bit. It's now running Windows 7 and I splashed out and got some better software including a DAW. I haven't had a chance to play with it yet, but I'm hoping that it'll really get my production levels up.

I'm looking at a couple of microphone setups. My choice at the moment would be a Behringer B1 Condensor microphone. They are supposed to be pretty decent and they are cheaper than most condensor mics (which are better than standard dynamic mics). The downside is that they need phantom power to run which needs to be supplied by the mixer.

My current mixer (Behringer UB502) is pretty nice but it is a basic unit that does not have phantom power. So to run a decent mic I need to upgrade the mixer. I'm looking at the Behringer 1204USB which is pretty nice but carries a hefty price tag. I'd be looking to drop about $500 between the mixer and the mic (plus some cable and a pop guard and probably a stand).

Considering that my voice ain't that crash hot and that I have not recorded any lyrics since setting out (repeatedly) to record more lyrics, it makes me wonder if it is worth the effort to spend that much on a microphone. It will definitly be worth it if I manage to collaborate with someone who can sing, but not yet.

So before I can splash out on a mic and mixer I need to release my fourth album (which is where I am stuck at the moment). On the plus side, if I can get my music output up, then I'll be picking up the mixer, mic and assorted bit but also a camera and some accessories for that as well.

Microphone hunting

2010-08-26T20:20:00.001+08:00

For some bizarre reason I wanted to record a podcast. No idea why, since I don't actually have anything to say. As a part of that I was looking around at different options for recording vocals - more specifically, recording several people. I had an idea for a long-form serial setup for a podcast (like a telly drama but audio only) with a constant on-going story.

Then I realised I don't have enough friends to do that.

So I dropped the idea, but I'm still looking at options for recording several people at once. We'll see how I go.

Upcoming Election

2010-08-20T08:13:00.001+08:00

Well, it's nearly that time again. A Federal election in Australia and people are wondering "who should I vote for?"

Actually, I think that the majority of people have no clue and no desire to find out about the election process. You get tricked a little because most of the ads by the bigger parties will be promoting the two main leaders (Gillard and Abbott), but unless you live in their electorate then their names won't appear on the ballot.

Why? Because most people in Australia have been "Americanized" and think that they are voting for who will be President / Prime Minister. This is not true - people vote for their local members and the party with the most members normally makes it's leader the Prime Minister. People don't vote for who gets to be the Prime Minister which is why there was no major issue with Gillard kicking out Rudd and taking over. It wasn't a coupe.

The two best things people can do is:

Do their homework. It takes all of three minutes to go to the AEC website (that's the Australian Electoral Commission) and click the big "who is on the ballot" button. This will let you find out the names of the people who will be on the ballot tomorrow. Most people will be surprised to find out that there are not three candidates, but fifty five. And none of these names will be familiar. By doing a bit of research, people will be able to decide how they will vote before going to the polling booth.
Use their own preferences and vote for a minor party first, then the big party.

How it works in Australia is that all votes go the the person that vote was cast for. If there is no clear winner, then whoever got the least votes has their votes moved to the #2 spot on those votes. This repeats until someone is the clear winner. This is the simple version on how the preferences work.

If people just vote for the big parties Labour and Liberal) then they are shoe-in and we get more of the same. If people vote for minor parties first (like the Shooters Association, the Climate Skeptics or the Australian Sex Party) then the balance of power is distributed and it means more stable political policies since the party that ends up in power can't just arbitrarily make new policies that benefit small sections of the community, they have to take a broader approach.

Having said that, I'm calling this election as a landslide victory for Liberal, making Gillard the first female Prime Minister in Australia and also the shortest serving (about two months). Labour were already on the way out with the mining supr profits tax and Gillard's back-stab of Kevin so close to the election was a destabilizing influence. Australian's don't like traitors and they don't like change.

Giving it a try

2010-08-19T10:25:00.001+08:00

Today I tried a new feature for the website. I am seeing if I can get the current (latest) post on my blogger blog to show up on the front page. Yes, this can be done (I've already done it). I may even write up a bit of a tutorial on how to do it as well later on.

At any rate, the purpose of this update is to test the image function. Here's an image:

And here's alinks list:

My music site
My story site
My main site (redundant in this case)

Whee! Now to see if it worked...

Change default search engine country Firefox Ubuntu

2010-08-17T08:16:00.001+08:00

Ha! Took about an hour or so.

I'm running Firefox 3.6.8 on Ubuntu 10.04 and for whatever reason, I didn't end up with the default settings that I wanted (probably my fault at setup). At any rate, what I wanted to do was change the default search engine from google.com to google.com.au (sounds easy, right?).

Now, if you want to change the search engine, it actually is quite easy. In the search bar (top right box) there is a drop-down next to the current search engine favicon which will let you change between the different search engine. Mine lists Google, Yahoo, eBay, Wikipedia and a few others. What I want to do is change google.com to google.com.au which is a little harder.

I'll save you the boring details and jump straight to the solution.

Open the terminal, type gksudo nautilus (don't use sudo, you want gksudo which will give you a graphical interface)
Find the searchplugins folder. Mine was in /usr/lib/firefox-3.6.8/searchplugins (if you can't find it, run a search for google.xml in your system, that's the file you want). It may also show up in other places (like /usr/lib/.mozilla/ depending on your system). Also note that the 3.6.8 bit will depend on your version.
As an extra step, in my system it had two more folders, en-GB and en-US and a google.xml file was inside both - you may have both, neither or something else.
What I did was copy the google.xml file and rename it google-au.xml (this is so that if I stuff anything up, the original file is still there).
Inside that file, find every instance of .com and change it to .com.au (or to what you need, like .co.uk). There are about three or four places to change this. I also changed the short name to Google AU so that it would make it easy to see which I was using in the drop-down list. Ignore everything else.
Save the file, close Nautilus and re-start Firefox.

With Firefox re-started, it was easy enough to use the "Manage Search Engines" option at the bottom of the drop-down and move the AU version to the top (and the US to the second spot so I can quickly change to US if I need different search options).

I initially only changed the xml file in the en-US folder (I assumed that was the one being used) but it didn't work. I re-did the above except that I just copied the google-au.xml file over into the en-GB folder and then it worked. This was also the payoff for making a new file rather than just editing the original file.

My biggest problem in getting this changed was that most places that said how to make the change either had the simple solution of altering the order of the drop-down or had the difficult solution of editing the google.xml file but omitted that you had to be in Nautilus with root permission in order to do it (if you just use "Places" to navigate to the file you can only read it, not edit it).

After that the rest was easy. Now, just need to buff out the fore-head shaped dents on my desk...

Blurgh - getting too hard

2010-08-16T14:28:00.001+08:00

Video editing - it isn't supposed to be this hard.

I've used both Adobe Premiere Pro and Final Cut Pro and found both of them to be quite superb. I'm currently on the market for a basic but decent video editor. Ideally, I'd grab one of the Pro programs, but there are some minor considerations (like cost and hardware) which make it unfeasible.

I've been looking at a number of different editors and I can't say that I'm overly excited by any of them. There is a good round-up of the various different editing programs available here which shows a variety of different options. I like that they focused on the "home user" market and I'm surprised that Adobe Premiere Elements came in third. I may have to have a look at the ones that came in first and second. Or at least download the trial versions and see how they go. Pity the trial versions are over a gigabyte!

Of course, this is all moot since I have not been creating any music! Gah, I really need to get into gear with this. If I can't produce when I have the time available, how am I supposed to produce when I am time poor?

Next weeks' plans

2010-08-15T07:10:00.001+08:00

So here's the skinny;

Need to finish and publish fourth album.
Need to make at least one video clip and upload (two or three is better)
Need to get going on lyrics and songs.

I think I may be going about this the wrong way. I've been so busy wrapping myself into circles that I've lost sight of the bigger picture. What I need to do is get cracking on production rates. I already know I can't do quality, so I have to go for quantity.

Still need to set myself up properly in order to get busy with music creation. Software that needs to be obtained / upgraded:

Go Vista to Win7 for music box
Get better editing software (Adobe Premiere Elements 8?)
Get better music making software

So much to do, so little time to do it. No matter, so long as I am doing something, then I can only improve, Also, will probably want a book showing how to use said editing program as I want to take advantage of the features (such as transitions, effects and titles).

Songwriting for dummies - don't bother

2010-08-14T07:44:00.001+08:00

In my feeble attempts at becoming a musician, I decided to start with the lowest easily accessible book, Songwriting for Dummies.

For those who are interested in getting this book, here's a summary of the information contained within this tome: write what you feel and make it good.

It's a pretty impressive effort on the part of the authors to pad out that short concept to over 300 pages and they manged to get my thirty dollars, so props to them. Still quite disappointed with that purchase though. This one page at SongLyricist.com provided more useful information.

Oh well, live and learn.

On other matters, I've now watched the dvd of Let the blood run free which I picked up off eBay (it's no longer available). It turns out that it's not the show that I thought it was but I still found it amusing. The humour is dated and it's very much hit-and-miss but it does have moments that made me laugh like a manic.

Not highly re-watchable but worth the $20 I dropped on it. Would I recommend it? You really have to be in the right frame of mind for it to be worth watching. It was made to look really low budget (a car chase scene is done with little toy cars on a scalectrix set) and a lot of it was improvised (it originated as a cabaret stage show) but not in the same way as Who's line is it anyway.

Oh yeah...

2010-08-13T09:53:00.001+08:00

What I'd been posting about before...

I need to get my game face on. It's Friday already and so far I have not written or recorded any lyrics, now video recorded and composed no new music. I really need to lift my game and get busy.

On the plus side I have worked out two options:

Get a Mac - this would be around $1,500 for a basic, entry level model but would come with iLife and Garageband which would make things easier.
Get Windows 7 ($130), Adobe Premiere Elements ($100) for editing, Fruity Loops ($160) for making music and a video camera ($300) and I can use my existing computer for around $700 and as a plus, still be able to use all my old software.

Not much of a choice really.

Now really frustrated

2010-08-13T09:47:00.001+08:00

Gah!

I just had a long post all written up and ready to post and I went and deleted it! Noooo!

So far, ScribeFire has been like totally awesome. I've now done more updates on this blog in the last fortnight than I have in the entire rest of the year combined. But having a "undo" button would be reeaallly nice when one accidentally deletes a long post in progress. Or an auto-save.

Multi-flash setup?

2010-08-11T22:52:00.001+08:00

Well, I've now got several flashes for the 300D (three actually). They're Yongnuo Speedlite YN460 flashes - basically a cheap knock-off of the Canon Speedlites (which cost several hundred dollars - each).

The idea is to be able to get light flashes onto the subject from different sides at the same time.

Obviously they are not going to be anywhere near as good as the proper Canon flashes, but I'll have to have a play with them to see if I can get some satisfactory results out of them. I tried it once with one of the flashes mounted on the hotshoe on the camera and the result wasn't very good.

In other news, the copy of "Let the blood run free" mentioned a few posts ago has come through which is quite nifty - very fast delivery and it wasn't even express - just regular mail. I'll pop it into the machine tomorrow and have a watch and see if it was worth the expense...

Also, I temporarily have the Kogan hi-def camera again for a few weeks, so hopefully I'll be able to produce another video clip or two in the next fortnight.

Watch this space!

Preparing for increased output

2010-08-10T08:09:00.001+08:00

Well, I have been looking at different options that are available in order to increase my music and music video output.

Increasing video output is relatively easy. I had been comsidering the old "get a Mac" solution that everyone else has been suggesting. Since I don't have a Mac I figured I'd look into it (since that would mean that I'd have all systems - Windows, Linux and Mac).

But computers aren't like Pokemon.

The cheapest option would be a Mac Mini (which is just a box) and use the old keyboard, monitor, etc. However, even this "cheap" option is still $1,500.

On the other hand, I already have a reasonably powerful computer that is getting under-used. I could get Windows 7 (currently running Vista - yuk!), Adobe Premiere Elements 8 for video editing, Acid Pro for music and keep using a slab of software that I already have and have enough change left over to buy an entry level high-def camera.

Looks like Apple is going to lose out on this one. I've used Final Cut Pro on a G tower and it is indeed awesome, but I can buy a car for the same price.

However, the point is moot if I don't step up my music production. So I should probably get on top of that first!

New video Up!

2010-08-09T13:38:00.002+08:00

Well, slowly getting things done.

My song Svelte now has a video on YouTube! That makes my second video clip, this time from my second album, Jump.

This one is more of an experiment than the first one was. For this one I was trying out a video camera that I picked up off eBay. It's one of those low-profile "sports" type cameras that you mount on the side of your helmet or motorbike or skateboard or w/ever to catch all your "extreme" sports moments.

The camera itself isn't too bad for a $30 camera - but the annoying thing is that it comes with a time/date stamp feature. The really annoying part is that not only was this feature not advertised, you can't turn it off either! Dang!!!

Oh well, guess if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys. :(

It'll still come in useful for some specific shots, but I doubt I'll be using it much.

Letting the blood run ... free

2010-08-08T16:27:00.001+08:00

I've been on the hunt for a while now for an old Australian TV series called Let the Blood run Free. It was on in the 90's or so and I have very little memory of it - other than finding it funny. The one thing that I can clearly remember is that it was a spoof show set in a hospital and the perpetual "patient" was shown as a man lying on the operating table except that his chest was just a ribcage. No skin, no organs - nothing. The man was clearly dead.

(Note that this was a low budget comedy show - they didn't have an actual cadaver, it was just intended to look that way.)

At any rate, it isn't available (EzyDVD sell it but are out of stock) but I was able to find someone selling copies on eBay. I've ordered one and will see if it was worth the $20 I dropped for it.

Getting back on the bike

2010-08-07T06:37:00.001+08:00

Not that anybody really cares, but I've started to get back into the old exercise routine.

As usual, I've added a page on my site to publicly track my progress. We'll see if this progresses longer or not.

In other news, I've got my copy of Ubuntu Studios! Whee! I've already installed it and have been having a bit of a play with it. There is precious little documentation around for it, but it seems promising so far. I've already had a bit of a play with the drum machine that it comes with which is fun and reasonably intuative.

I am a little disappointed that I didn't find a good video editor (like Cinerrala) bundled in, but it remains to be seen if I'll be able to make any video clips during the holidays.

I've already shot a bunch of test footage with a camera mounted on the bicycle to make a filler video clip with, but I got nasuous watching the footage, so I don't know if I'll be able to use it or not.

We'll see.

Still no sign

2010-08-04T19:06:00.001+08:00

Ordered Ubuntu Studios a while back. It's a Linux based digital creation suite. It has music and video software that should work quite nicely with my existing setup and get me streamlined and producing more music.

However, the first disc that arrived had an error on it and would not install properly. So arranged for another copy and it still has not shown up (this was in March!) which is starting to annoy me.

No matter, I have some time off coming up, I'll have to see what I can do then in order to get some stuff produced during the allotted time. If I can get hold of a camera, I'll see about making another video or two. That would be sweet. Still in discussion with others about collaborating, which will be awesome, but I need to get my own skills up first in order to make sure that I can keep my end up and bring a decent amount of talent to the group. Maybe.

Gotta keep practicing.

Getting Fit (again)

2010-08-02T23:01:00.001+08:00

Well, back on the "let's exercise" train again. I'm going to do up a page on my main site (hopefully this week) and keep an on-line track of what I've done.

The current goal is simply to get <em>some</em> exercise each day (except Sundays). At the moment I have been doing okay, but it's winter and cold in the mornings so it's understandable if I miss a day or two (though I feel bad about it when I do).

Note to self: I also need more excuses to get out of the house and meet people.

Trying FireScribe instead

2010-08-01T17:01:00.001+08:00

Well, this is my attempt to get more blogging done so that I can integrate my current (and much ignored) blog with my other assets.

I tried BloGTK for Linux and it was a sad, sad failure. It'd install but when I tried to run it, nothing would happen. Even updated the kernel and did a complete re-instal. At any rate, this is the first post to my blog from FireScribe

2010-07-19T07:47:00.000+08:00

First post using w.bloggar - going to see if having an easier interface will make it easier to do updates.

WD Passport Essentials - pure garbage

2010-05-09T14:23:00.003+08:00

Recently bought a Western Digital Passport Essential usb drive. It come's preloaded with something called "SmartWare" which is great - if you are an idiot or are happy to use the drive only in the Western Digital Approved way and only on Western Digital Approved operating systems.

I run Linux (Ubuntu). I also run XP and Vista and I run Windows 7. Yes, I have too many computers.

But when I buy a hard drive, I expect to be able to use it as a hard drive. I do not want to be locked into using some garbage software each and every time I plug it in. I do not like being lied to (moreso) about the amount of space on a drive. I do not like being forced to use garbage that does not do what I need it to do.

We already have to put up with hdd manufacturers fudging the numbers around so that they can claim bigger hard drive sizes. Having it use some of the space (230Mb) for their garbage is one thing. Having that be a lie since the actual space used is closer to 640Mb is a dis-service. Being completely unable to remove said garbage is like being spit in the face.

Sure, I can waste time and bandwidth downloading updates and programs from Western Digital that will turn off the GarbageWare but that's ALL it does - the garbage is still there!

I have previously only bought WD drives. They are good and reliable. If I can't get rid of this garbage or a full refund then I will not be buying any WD drives again and recommending to others that they avoid this brand like the plague.

On the tiny, miniscule, microscopic chance that anyone who is affiliated with WD in any way actually reads this - I DO NOT WANT SMARTWARE! I do not want to be locked into one way of doing things. I do not want to have to jump through hoops to use a product.

When I buy an external hard drive I want a hard drive that is external to my computer - that's it! Plug it in, transfer files, unplug it. Simple.

Been a while

2010-04-25T21:47:00.002+08:00

Whoops, totally forgot about this.

Going to have to do a catch-up post. Very sore at the moment as have been taking self defense classes and feeling it today. Tsbytomd will be better soon.

Musicwise, hit a bit of a dry spell, but getting better(ish), for loose definitions of the word "better". Getting fitter(ish) sortof. Hmm, lots of room for improvement (lots).

Getting there

2010-02-25T06:40:00.001+08:00

Well, on my way today out to get a midi controller. Been playing with the Acid XPress 7 software and it is totally awesome.

I'm sure that people who make music properly would say "pft" but since I'm starting out I really like it.

First podcast finished!

2010-02-21T22:01:00.002+08:00

Sweet! I'm on a roll.

Okay, so the first podcast is in the can. Haven't put it up on the website since the host is having issues at the moment and the site is down. But that's okay because I haven't built the site yet!

So got the first one done on schedule (finish them on Sundays for a Monday publication) even though I had a bit of a learning curve with all the new software. I'm using three or four programs at the moment. No doubt I could do it with a single program if I paid for a good one, but I like using freeware.

In related news, dug out the old music I'd made under the Dj Pyro name back in the day and pulled the better ones (read: less bad) into a ten-track album. Of course, calling the album "Pyro" but putting it under my new stage name of Tsbytomd.

So it is all coming together nicely. I have an old friend who has offered to show me how to do midi sequencing and stuff so that should be good. I have a program (also freeware) to get started with and if i can pull some halfway decent stuff together then I'll be splashing out for a midi controller of some type. I have a few on my watchlist on eBay to see if I can pick one up cheapish, but I'm not holding my breathe.

Looking forward to getting started!

Well, sold the Corsair

2010-01-30T17:07:00.001+08:00

Today I sold off the Corsair. It served me faithfully for the few months that I had it. Towards the end of December it was a pretty tight toss-up between keeping the Corsair and getting it serviced and such, or picking up a fresh car.

My desire for a ute won out and I bought the XH and have now sold off the Corsair.

May she serve her new owner faithfully.

Ford Falcon celebrates 50 years

2010-01-23T17:54:00.001+08:00

That’s right – it has been fifty years since the first Falcon rolled off the assembly line and came to our shores. To celebrate, I bought myself a Falcon Ute – an XH model, one of the rare ones (yes, I finally bought a ute).

Ford, to celebrate, decided to cancel the Falcons.

For the two people who are reading this but have not heard the news, Ford have announced that they will discontinue “regional” cars and use a single large sedan for all countries. From a business perspective, this makes a lot of sense. It means that they have to spend less money on research and development of different vehicles that do the same job and they will need to produce fewer spare parts.

For the end user, it is the end of an era.

I don’t really partake in the big “Ford vs. Holden” mentality that has been the primary focus of car enthusiasts for as long as my generation has been around. I guess this means that Holden wins?

At any rate, I doubt that this will affect me too much. I only buy old, second hand (more like tenth hand) cars. If I really wanted to support Falcons then I would go out and buy a couple of brand new ones. Since that ain’t gonna happen, then I’m not going to kick up a fuss.

I’ll keep driving my XH for as long as I can – though with the increasing fuel prices, I don’t know how long that will be…

Almost at the end of 2009

2009-12-19T12:38:00.001+08:00

And not much has happened.

Looking back, it looks like I did very little during the past year. No major accomplishments like 2008. Got my computer back after nearly a year, started, stopped and started exercising again (still hanging around low 85Kg).

I am still hunting around for a fresh car. The biggest drawback being that I don’t know what it is that I am looking for. At the moment, my main criteria is that it be a rear wheel drive and five speed manual. A Ford Falcon would be nice, but they are nearly all automatic. A small 2 door coupe would be nice but they are nearly always front wheel drive.

Oh well, keep looking.

Not much else to report.

I’m pretty sure Nano is a bust now…

2009-11-23T07:41:00.001+08:00

Well, it’s the 23rd and I’ve effectively written no words for Nano. I mean, I wrote a whole bunch of words for my article on the old Atlantis Marine Park (mentioned in my previous entry) but they are not part of a story and so don’t count.

If I wanted to go for it and write out for Nano, with only seven days left, I’d have to write just under 10,000 words per day.

I don’t see that happening anytime soon.

I probably could write that much if I really wanted to and if I had the time, but since I work full time and have other commitments, I would only have about one or two hours a day to write in.

And I’m not writing 8,000 words an hour!

Atlantis Marine Park

2009-11-22T20:37:00.001+08:00

For those that don’t know, Perth used to have a large number of theme parks back in the 80’s. One of those was the old Atlantis Marine Park. It had dolphins and sea lions and slides and all manner of stuff that was exciting if you were a kid back then.

Of course, if you went there as a teenager or had been to bigger, better parks on the East Coast then you would have been bored out of your skull. The place pretty much only had six dolphins and a few other small animals.

It’s been closed for nearly 20 years, but I went up there to have a look at it a few weeks ago. Wandered around and took a bunch of photos while I was there.

Finally got around to organising it all and writing out a proper article. You can read it here and see the photos that I took. It is quite interesting, if you happen to have been there.

Australian Computer Resellers – ripoff merchants

2009-11-18T19:47:00.001+08:00

Dammit! Tried a new computer shop out today and got majorly ripped off. The guy there had no idea what he was talking about and most of the systems that he was selling were way overpriced.

I have no idea why the hell I bought the stuff. If I thought about it for three seconds I would have told him to stick it but I was in a hurry and not paying attention.

Paid over three hundred dollars for bits that shouldn’t have been over $200 if they were new. And these are retarded refurbished parts.

Caveat Emptor – and I wasn’t aware.

So damned angry right now. If the place wasn’t so damn far out of the way I’d march back there and demand a refund. As it is I’d end up losing too much time.

Gah! Oh well, serves me right for shopping in a hurry. Memo to self – take a list, take your time!

If you live in Perth and are planning on going to Australian Computer Resellers – DON’T! They’ll just rip you off.

Aaaand … NaNo comes to a crashing halt

2009-11-08T16:05:00.001+08:00

Well, I gave NaNoWriMo a half-hearted stab this year. I went to the first meet-up and managed to get 500 odd words done at the first write-in. And pretty much stopped after that.

I’m still trying to write, just shifted targets for a bit. I’m now starting (yet another) project - Fallen House. It’s going to be a bit of a crossover between a webcomic, a novel and a wikivella. It’ll be piggy-backing on the back of Orbital Cauldron for now, though I may give it its own domain at a later stage.

In anticipation of this, I’ve ordered a graphics tablet which will hopefully be arriving sometime next week. This will help with the “webcomic” part of it. I may use the Orbital Cauldron Wiki or the Loneverse wiki, but at the moment I am planning to keep it away from the Wiki model since that normally tends to make me dither.

So at this stage I am gearing up for this project, Loneverse still on the backburner and Orbital Cauldron still needs a bit of a tidy up to allow it to be promoted.

Now all I need to do is to get stuck into it and WRITE!!

Word Count: 7

2009-11-01T07:08:00.001+08:00

Well, NaNoWriMo is under way again.

I woke up fairly early and decided to get stuck into writing as soon as I could. However, since mum is still needing care due to her having had an operation a few days ago, my writing time (and inspiration) is coming up short.

No matter, it is still only 7am on day one, so there is plenty of time left. Only 49,993 words left to go…

Gearing up for NaNo and stuff

2009-10-24T19:23:00.001+08:00

Well, it’s nearly the end of October and NaNoWriMo is all set to get cracking again. There is a pre-Nano meet-up tomorrow in the city (there was an unofficial one today for those that can’t make it tomorrow, not sure how many attended), and I intend to be at the meet-up.

NaNo is awesome fun and quite hectic. I’ll be having a few problems this year as mum goes in for surgery at the end of October.

That’s the other bit of news. Mum is having her gall bladder removed. Hopefully the doctor will be able to remove it via keyhole surgery, but they say that they may have to open her up. If they cut her open, then she has to stay longer in the hospital and will take longer to recover.

Hopefully all will go well. I’ve booked a few days off from work (I wanted to take two weeks off, but they would only allow me three days), so hopefully between me and my brother we’ll be able to make sure she gets better.

The last thing is that my dog tags arrived. I had to wait until I knew my blood type, but they are now around my neck. I put my name, blood type, drivers license number and emergency contact details on there.

They are supposed to be military grade stainless steel, but we’ll see how long they last…

Also, I saw Up today. I liked it.

Bee Positive

2009-10-19T22:14:00.001+08:00

Well, got the results back from the blood clinic and it turns out that I am B+ bloodtype.

I’m not sure what to say. I don’t feel any different and I don’t think it’ll make a whole lot of difference in my life (unless someone gives me the wrong blood type at the hospital).

In an effort to head off that calamity before it happens, I put in an order for some dog tags. We’ll see how long they take to arrive.

Also ordered more flashes and some stands. Hanging out for those to arrive…

Shoes!

2009-10-17T19:35:00.001+08:00

Well, since I am now gearing up to run more often, I figured that it would be a good idea to get some proper running shoes. Something with support that would help me.

Picked up some Adidas shoes for about $200 (ouch). Hopefully they will be 10x better than the $20 shoes I am running with at the moment.

The main drama being that with the old shoes I was getting ankle pain which might have been due to a lack of support.

I’ll be trying them out on Monday. I’ll share how it goes!

Trying out Coppermine

2009-10-11T20:19:00.001+08:00

Well, I wasn’t able to find a different image gallery program so I went ahead and decided to install Coppermine (it is available as a one-button install option provided by my website host, Jumba).

So far, it has gone reasonably well. The learning curve isn’t too hard, I’ve been able to sort things out and get the ball rolling (15 photos uploaded thus far) and it looks like it will be much better than my original photo gallery which was just a basic page with links to photos.

The new one looks pretty crappy at the moment (default theme) but I will be trying to change the look of it to fit in with my website a little more.

If I can get it to look like it is part of the site, then I will be very happy with it.

Site Rebuild

2009-10-10T09:51:00.001+08:00

Well, it’s been a long time coming, but it’s about time that I re-built my website. It’s been floundering around with little aim and has outdated code.

Plus it was built when I didn’t really know that much about building websites.

Onwards and upwards.

Going to the Rise

2009-10-09T06:18:00.005+08:00

It's been sooooo long since I went out on a friday night. I don't think I'll have the energy to dance til dawn any more, but I'll see if I can make a good showing of it.

Should be fun, unless I end up in a random fight with some stranger who thinks I'm trying to hit on his girfriend whom I don't even see and end up getting punched, kicked, glassed, stabbed, shot, killed or some other horrible thing.

Oh well, no point in living if there's no chance of dying!

Yes!

2009-10-08T06:37:00.001+08:00

Oh, I can’t believe it – those dvd’s I ordered actually work!

I’m so excited – and I just can’t hide it!

I have so much other stuff that I should be doing – but noooo – I’ll be wasting time watching dvd’s. Oh well, I knew how the game would play out when I signed up for it.

*squee*

Goodies arrived!

2009-10-07T18:11:00.002+08:00

I found a site a few weeks ago that sold old series and stuff that aren't available. The package arrived today - yay!

I'll be opening it up and having a look in a minute. Hopefully, they'll play on my dvd player. If it does, I'll definitily be leaving positive feedback for the chap who sold them to me - not to mention spending hours and hours watching them!

And I thought I had a book to write! Well, I did order a book that arrived a few days ago which I haven't looked at yet.

There must be something wrong with me that a new book arrives and I don't start reading it and a package arrives with stuff for me that I've been waiting for and I jump online and blog about it rather than opening it up...

Okay, off to watch!

Writing again

2009-10-07T06:44:00.001+08:00

Whee, finally sat down and wrote some words.

Not just in a generic sense, but in a “I’m writing a story” type sense. Now I just need to keep up the pace in order to get into the groove and ready for NaNoWriMo 2009.

Of course, if I was doing it properly, I would still be writing the story rather than writing this blog post about writing the story while not writing the story.

Wait…

Night Photography

2009-10-06T21:10:00.001+08:00

Not a whole lot going down at the moment. Went out the other night to take a few more pics of the streets at night. Didn’t get anything particularly exciting, but there were one or two that were good enough.

This is one of them:

There must be a story behind this shoe, though I do not know it.

I was walking back to the car when I happened to notice that there was a shoe lying by the side of the road. It is pink and not very large. There is only one and the straps are done up. Like I said, I have no idea as to the story behind this shoe.

Maybe a young girl was happily playing the park, went back to the car to go home with the family and dropped it by the side of the road. Perhaps an annoying little brother threw it out the window as they were leaving.

I don't know what happened, but somewhere there is another little shoe, sad, and missing it's twin…

In other news, I put in an order for some business cards. I have no idea if or when they are going to show up, but I’ll wait and see how they turn out.

Updated website

2009-10-05T07:17:00.001+08:00

Wow, it has been way too long since I updated my website.

Well, at least I don’t do frivolous updates for the sake of an update. Put up the latest “essay” (if you can really call it an essay). It’s a short article about upgrading my Extensa 5220 laptop with more RAM and a bigger HDD.

Didn’t go out on the weekend to do any photography (wanted to save a bit on fuel) but I did take a bunch of photos of the flowers and stuff around the house.

Mood: Anxiously waiting for stuff I bought on-line to arrive.

This time with a photo

2009-10-04T14:44:00.001+08:00

Okay, we’ll add a hyperlink to Google and a photo:

That’s a photo of one of the guys I used to work with in his race car.

I’m reluctant to use the other “insert” options as I’m not sure what they all do but I am liking the fact that this thing has spellchecker built in and that it seems to be handling everything pretty well.

I wasn’t too sure about all the extra stuff that it installed when I first put it in, but we’ll see how it goes and if I can keep myself trained to do more Blog posts.

I don’t tend to write too much. Whee. Word. Heh. Lol.

Okay, enough of that…

Trying out Windows Live Writer

2009-10-04T14:39:00.001+08:00

Okay, so this is the fancy new Windows Live Writer.

Didn’t seem to hard to set up, now let’s see how it works. Post Number 1 from Writer – away!

Trip to Bunbury?

2009-09-11T21:22:00.000+08:00

Might head south this weekend.

Why?

Just 'cos.

Windows 7 rocks!

2009-08-30T20:02:00.001+08:00

Well, after playing around with a few different linuc distro's I figured I'd give Windows 7 RC 1 a try (after all, hey, it's free!).

I'm really digging it. It does everything I need it to, has been fairly stable and is backwards compatible with my older software. Plus, if I did decide to get the proper Windows 7 when it comes out, I wouldn't need to buy a complete new machine again.

At the moment I have two and half ciompoters lying around. I need to get mum's upgraded, but I might hold off putting the half to work until furhter down the track.

District 9

2009-08-22T20:21:00.002+08:00

Heard markedly different opinions on this one. Some people saying it was so bad that they walked out of the theater. Some people saying it was the best film they'd seen all year.

Very violent film, not for the kiddies.

Me? I'm mixed. There were a few things that seemed to not follow an internal consistency. Plot seemed a little thin. The effects were pretty good, almost to the point where the aliens blended in seamlessly with the live actors.

Didn't really like the style, though the fast cuts definitely showed a history on the part of the director / editor to have come from an advertising background.

Overall, I'd say it's the kind of film one really needs to see at the cinema (I think most of the budget went on special effects), but if you weren't already planning on seeing this film, I wouldn't try and change your mind to go see it.

It's one of those films were you either like it based on the trailer or you probably won't like it.

Me, an author? Epic fail.

2009-08-22T15:46:00.002+08:00

Well, for a while now (since I participated in the 2007 NaNoWriMo) I've been trying to get into writing. I've set myself targets, gotten supplies, set aside time and even bought an ergonomic keyboard specifically for this - and I'm not getting too far.

Let's see - in the past twelve weeks, I've set myself the target of 20,000 words for June (as a warm-up towards JuNoWriMo), 50,000 words for the July WriMo and 20,000 again for August to keep ticking over on the way towards this year's WriMo in November.

How many words did I actually write?

Zero.

Oh yay me - that is truly a distinguished effort which greatly exemplifies the term "epic fail". If I'd gotten only a few thousand out each month then that would be just plain old fail. But to have achieved absolutely nothing? That takes a special kind of non-effort right there.

So the current goals are being re-evaluated and I'm locking down time and resources to devote to this. I have at least two sites (more like three) that I have running devoted to this project(s) and they have stalled for quite some time now.

Oh well, onwards and upwards.

In related news, I'm looking over the idea of buying a graphics tablet again. No idea why since I don't have the skill or discipline to draw properly anyway.

Well, since I should be writing - I'm off. To go watch a movie. District 9 actually.

*sigh*

Worked out the remote

2009-08-22T08:03:00.002+08:00

Playing with my 300D I finally figured out how to use a little cheapy IR remote I picked up off eBay.

The trick was telling the camera to accept IR - done via the normal / timer button on top of the camera. It should also be noted that the IR receiver on the camera is covered by the fingers in a normal holding position so that the remote will only control the camera when it is on a tripod or on a desk.

Now I just need a subject to photograph...

So damned tired

2009-08-18T20:44:00.000+08:00

As the title says.

2009-08-08T16:04:00.000+08:00

First Post from BlogEntry on Ubuntu

Test post - let's see if this works.

Might be a little easier to do it this way than to be making emails and sending that. Not sure how it'll work for images and such though - need to look into that.

Still going with the A/V system

2009-08-04T05:22:00.001+08:00

Boy, am I a glutton for punishment.

Having spent all that time working on getting the tv system all set up I am now about to go and pull it all apart again.

Actually, it's not that bad. I'll be adding a PC loaded with movies to be a poor mans Media Center and it's just a basic re-wiring of the connections. It should just be a matter of connecting it to the back of the telly, but it does not have enough inputs.

I picked up a little switchbox to connect everything together, so we'll see how it goes.

Wish me luck!

New project (yet again)

2009-08-03T21:12:00.002+08:00

Well, the new project, Orbital Cauldron is coming along nicely.

It's nothing flash yet, but it is shaping up to be interesting. Not much to report, just a quick note today.

To-do list

2009-08-03T07:01:00.002+08:00

Okay, have a few projects on the burner at the moment.

I need to pick up a few cables in order to get the media PC hooked up to the tv, I want to grab a shelf (or something) to stick said PC on and I want to get a footrest so that if I am spending large amounts of time on the computer writing then I can get a better seating position.

The new gOS is working out okay. It's not the fantastic thing I thought it was going to be, but I'm still willing to stick with it a while longer and see how it goes.

The main thing I am on the lookout for at the moment is a quick and easy way to upload blog posts here to blogger. I find the login system on the site to be a little clunky and if I can find a way to be in an editor and click on button to send the post to the site then that would be awesome.

Not a whole lot new going down, but slowly plodding along.

From GMail

2009-08-02T21:34:00.001+08:00

Let's see how this works. This is a post made via email from GMail.

Hand-coded link: <a href="http://www.google.com.au/">Link to Google</a>. Same, but using editor: Google

Would try an image, but don't have a little one to try out. I won't put the closing tag to see if GMail adds anything to the bottom.

Orbital Cauldron

2009-08-02T20:50:00.001+08:00

Well, I've picked up the site Orbital Cauldron. I've started working on it to try and make it into something that people might one day want to use.

I doubt that it'll be anything particularly fancy, but so long as there is some participation going on, then I'll be happy.

gOS

2009-08-02T16:41:00.002+08:00

Just installed the spanky new gOS - the supposed "Google" Operating System.

Technically, it's a distro of Ubuntu but it is geared to integrating with a lot of the applications and services offered by Google. This means that the computer it runs on can be less powerful (I've put an old PC to work) and it uses the new "cloud computing" fancy stuffs.

Half the point of getting it was to make it easy to use Blogger, but the "Blogger" function in the system just launches Firefox to the blogger site.

We'll see how it goes.