The last few days have been nice - busy but with a detail-dismissive attitude and a relaxing, moody atmosphere. The heat has been dissolved by thunderstorms and rain from the weekend. On the return journey from Brisbane the lightning and rain seemed to follow us, with hours of heavy rain at home. I decided it'd be a wise move to disconnect the wireless antennas during the storm - the lightning was getting just a tad too close for my comfort :)

The air since has been unusually cool and the wind, lip-parching. As such, my trusty Stussy 80 long-sleeve has been called into service. Ahh, the warmth and comfort levels; it's my equivalent of Seinfeld's "golden-boy".

The new unit is really nice. A few small details need a little work but it's in good condition and has all the right features... I really like it. It's the sort of environment I could see myself living in... *ponders* That's a story for another time.

Side note: The server's UPS has arrived and is now functioning - no more power hassles!

I've recently picked up some more work (yey!) and I'm currently redesigning the Coffee Lounge on firewave.com.au (again), but this time it's just the interface. I need it to be more organised so I'm using a new mentality, with a retina-blistering colour scheme, heh.

A new screen wallpaper will be available in Infraction soon.

"rofl"

The end of another week again. As with last Saturday I'm in Brisbane.

Over the last two days I've created a "to do" system for logging things that I need "to do". The system has also been designed for my dad, who is continually losing track of the many people he has to contact and the jobs that require more immediate attention. The system works very well and runs through a web browser, being served up by the IIS webserver on Isis, the office's main file server. Today that very server had to be rebooted, not because it required it, but because Ergon Energy's network failed for the second time in three days.

This time the failure lasted approximately four minutes. The previous failure from two nights ago was for only ten seconds. As such, it reminded me that the office's server needs a UPS, so I've ordered one similar to my own to use exclusively in the server cupboard. This will mean that in the event of power failure there should be zero chance of real data loss (so far there's been no loss because of the RAID). Because of the on-going problems with Ergon Energy, I made a call to their report line and gave them a list of times and durations of blackouts. Within thirty minutes one of their technical operators had returned the call and reported that there was a problem with the neighbourhood feeder and that they were looking into it. This also explains why the faults were only affecting ten or so blocks and not all of the buildings connected to the nearest sub-station. Although the problems have been very frustrating it is comforting to know that they are at least aware of the problem and attempting to fix it. No doubt the past few weeks have been particularly busy for them because of the continued storm activity.

Today we'll be looking at the new apartment.

And now, back to the night.



What a strange concoction of weather we've had recently. Tonight, after strong and hot winds throughout the day, a dust storm has moved through. The sky is a blue powder-like colour, lit by the moon. Other areas had more of the 'storm' earlier in the day.

Nothing much more of interest to say at this point, except maybe that we've just signed a contract for a unit/apartment in Brisbane, pretty close to where our current one is but larger, newer and higher :) We'll probably drive down this weekend to check it out for the building inspection and whatnot. It's a crazy life we live, heh.

Despite the length of today and the early start, I did have a lot of fun. The most interesting part had to be taking a new Mini Cooper S out and about for half an hour :D Although I didn't get a drive (what can I say, my dad just *had* to be the one in the driver's seat), I didn't mind being the back-seat driver :) It certainly is a nice car and if I had the money, I'd seriously consider upgrading... it purrs in a way that's reminiscent of the original, but it goes like a rocket. It also has all of today's modern luxuries, plus a lot more. The cornering is as direct as the original too, with even higher grip. The one we were offered to take for a spin (my brother was having his car serviced so the guy that looks after him made the suggestion) was metallic grey with a sun roof and everything except cruise control (which was on a display-only model). A lot of fun.

Even at this hour of the night the air is still thick and hot... just a sign of things to come. My laptop is working overtime to keep itself cool and my brain is telling me an early night is on the cards. Other updates coming shortly.

Just when you thought it was safe...

Today was one to remember. Everything that could have gone wrong did. This isn't an understatement, this morning even my coffee tasted off.

One of the numerous problems encountered was the ADSL dying - the dreaded 721 error "the remote computer is not responding". Never fear, Australia's Telstra will be fixing the problem, no doubt quickly too *cough*. The line requires a reset at the exchange, so my hope is that it won't become a replica of the horror stories I've poured through in Whirlpool's forums. I'm blindly optimistic. The dialup account would have been useful but I was informed that users are now charged $2.20 per hour for its use even when the ADSL service isn't functioning because other users abused the "free use during ADSL failure" privilege.

But enough about technology.

I've often commented on the notion of people repeating their mistakes. No one is perfect and I admit that I repeat mistakes also, however I make a conscious effort to find the source of the problem, what led me to believe it was a good idea at the time and what the truth of the situation really is. This has made me more aware of what I do and the associated consequences.

Increasingly I've found that some of my friends are saying one thing while doing another. Today's "buy now pay later" consumer mentality is invading other areas of life and causing many people to believe that short-term pleasure outweighs long-term suffering. As anyone who has experienced a situation resembling this will attest to, it is simply not true. One sure-fire way to identify such instances in your life as they occur is to confront yourself with the question:

"Would this make a good storyline for an episode of Dawson's Creek?"

If you answered "Yes" or you're unsure, stop what you're doing and rethink the position you're in. Are you telling yourself the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? It's your life; you only get one, so be wary of doing short-term things that could have an ongoing negative impact on your life and the lives of those that you care about.

Let's get one thing clear: I'm not saying people shouldn't have fun, I'm just pointing out the reality that occasionally we need to make sacrifices in order to protect our wellbeing.

But enough about humanology.

I'm now in Brisbane, hundreds of kilometres displaced from the problems of today, with less than 5 hours of sleep separating me from the plans of 'tomorrow'. With special thanks to my trusty laptop I surprised myself with the progress made on a number of personal projects that have been in the pipeline in excess of a year. Foremost was the simple task of converting my existing database of names and addresses to a web-based format. Previously I have been using my custom program "Profiler", but it lacked the speed required when fumbling to answer a phone call displaying the "pick-up/hang-up determining" caller ID ;) It's not limited to that shallow use, thankfully. Up until the free time afforded by travelling down here, this conversion has been high on my to-do list, but of a lower priority than everything else in my life.

Completing work-related projects has also be rewarding and fulfilling in recent days. After two months of what felt like endless hair-pulling exercises I'm finally getting somewhere. In itself this reminds me of the freelancer's ever-present question and conundrum, "What next?".

But enough about life.

Good night :)

The weather is heating up quickly, though storms are still lingering.

Time for an early night.

Dad's back from Bathurst and he really enjoyed. I'm sure that I'll be hearing a complete coverage over the next two weeks, heh.

Meanwhile my little nephew Ethan is on the verge of being able to walk where he wants. So far he can walk a few metres at a time, so it'll only be one or two more weeks before he can run around where ever he wants. What a scary thought :)

*starts protecting computer cables* ;)

The prototype of the SCEC site is done and now has to be revised and finished to become the final version. The timeline on the project has been strict and because development began quickly the majority of the infrastructure is complete. The multiple languages have been a challenge to handle and now I've gone down the path of Unicode UTF-8 to make it more future-proof. This should also simplify the way the content is edited in the backend administration system.

Life can be strange and funny. This week I have a few personal projects planned so if I get a few free moments between work, they'll be poured into those long-overdue ideas :)

Meanwhile, back to work I go. *fixes a hot drink for the breezy cool night*

Happy birthday, you ;)

One site down, one to go. I'm also changing FTP clients, after my current one tried to upload a database onto a server where the database already existed and was in use (destroying it in the process), because it changed selected directories by itself after a file was updated outside the client. 5 hours, 3 cups of coffee and $135 later, the database was restored to its former glory.

The presentation went pretty well and the site is online. You can check the Cooloola Regional Development Bureau site out by clicking back there or alternatively, here.

The drive down for the presentation wasn't bad, except for the heavy rain. The drive back at night was pretty relaxing, but the roads around here are shocking, so it's not as nice and smooth as driving to Brisbane.

Meanwhile my Dad's down at Bathurst.

More updates tomorrow.

LOL, I have to say I really do have a crazy photo collection now. I just went through most of it posting random pics to people in #thehandle (our little chat channel - more on that later by the way, a project website's coming up for it).

There are certainly a lot of good times in them :) I have nearly 1000 in total now... but I have to sort through several hundred more and archive them on CD so that I don't lose any (which has already happened once to about 100 photos I think, which got lost during a format once).

I certainly haven't finished any serious work tonight but I have had a lot of fun :)

It's interesting that humans tend to focus on the bad things in life when there are so many good things.

Heh... life's so strange... :)



Well, as you can see, my caffeine blanket and other fun products arrived this morning from ThinkGeek.com. I think that's all I need to say ;)

Argh, a lack of updates for ye mateys! I'll see if I can put a stop to that.

Well everyone's finished their holidays so things are back to normal again, mostly. I'm developing all kinds of ideas right now including some more video/short movie projects. The more I think about it, the more I want to explore some video production.

I'm also working on another website right now (a personal one) which I'll have more details on in the coming days. I've been semi-considering integrating it with this one, but I'll know more as I develop it further.

I've been looking at purchasing a 3 CCD DV camera (not MiniDV, pure DV and DVCAM) that does true anamorphic widescreen. So many products, so little money ;) Heh.

More updates to follow later tonight!

Today has gone a bit too quickly. Everyone's here now so this week is going to be very busy, though a lot of fun at the same time I'm sure.

My Photoshop 7 upgrade finally arrived today and so far I'm impressed with the new features. There are a lot of enhancements, the most important one for me being Unicode support. Now I can edit character sets like Kanji, Katakana and Hangul right in the Photoshop editor, rather than importing characters from other applications.

There are a host of other great features, most of which I haven't had time to play with.

Meanwhile I've been able to get a sneak preview of OSI's debut album! I made a wallpaper for the title track, OSI, which can be found in Infractionm, available in the standard array of resolutions for your viewing pleasure.

I've ordered selected items from all over the world and the internet which I'm now waiting for. I still find it amazing to be able to find the exact product you're looking for and then order it from a country you've never heard of, having it arrive at your door a few days later. Most of the time I obviously try to buy things locally (within Australia), but it's comforting to know that when someone doesn't manufacture or sell a product here, you can still get it pretty easily from another country using online ordering (there are a few exceptions I've run into though).

Today was a little cooler with cloudy skies setting a strange mood for this time of year. Tonight is quite cold hanging around 10 degrees C and it's the kind of weather for eating hot food while looking out on the cold night. Unfortunately, there's a lack of hot food around ;)

I might have to cook something up, but I'll have to be as quiet as a mouse (pfftt, sif mice are quiet!) so I don't wake anyone up...

Now, back to work! :D