From the Wash

i've had a busy weekend. Went to Orbit to complete Time Crisis 4. Well since i'm a really crap player i continued from someone who quit just before the place where i got up to. The other player continued playing like a crazy pro. i wasn't so good but managed to stay alive while the pro completed the game. The result? i have my name in the highest top score board. i don't really deserve it. Daniel, Ben and i had dinner at Spencer's and i went back to Ben's place to check out the expansion for F.E.A.R. It was very scary and really cool. For a moment i thought there was the little ghost girl in REAL LIFE at the corner of my eye standing in the shadows, but turned out to be his little sister. Scared the crap outta me. i didn't think i could play from then on. Hmm. Not much happened this week, just work and stuff. My mum washed my pants which had my little 2 gig flash drive in it. Yesterday i woke up coz she took the clothes out of the washing machine and found the flash drive and was screaming at me saying it was my fault...i wasn't too concerned coz i heard stories of how flash drives survive washing machines and my flash drive had a rubber skin casing. After a few minutes sleeping i checked it again and discovered that water managed to get under the rubber that protected the steel casing and the labels where i printed out a mushroom pic and my email. It ruined and smudged the printed labels underneath the rubber and then i was afraid coz water actually got under the rubber and had the potential to get through its steel casing. Well i tested it out and i was relieved that it still works fine. i wouldn't recommend washing it or declaring its waterproof. i'm just a bit lucky i think.

i hate widgets

i just literally spent most of the day from 12:pm till now creating a 'beta' blogger version of the current template which i used to have. i tried to make it look as similar as i could get it to the old template. There was so much trial and error and alot of going hmm. i basically had to create a new blog and use it as a test to see if what i wanted to do was possible. Turns out it was. What i like about the 'beta' version is that it allows labels, and allows cool navigation and also has a cool way of presenting archives. i better go to sleep now. Going to drift event tomorrow. Actually its today coz its past 12 am.

New Hotmail look

It seems like Hotmail has a new look. And also a new name. Windows Live Mail. i was surprised because a lot of the new stuff seemed similar to the features in Gmail. i'm not gonna say who copied who coz i don't know the answer to that. Both emails are in Beta which shows users that they are still developing so there may still be bugs but still allows users to use their service without too much hassle. The Live Mail seems better than the previous Hotmail, probably due to simplicity. Email messages can be 'previewed' instantly without having to return to the inbox. This is particularly helpful if you can tell what you want to read straight from the subject line. Gmail also previews the email but only places a little snippet in the subject line. Live Mail also allows search just like Gmail and also allows easy finds on contacts straight from the To: toolbar. i liked Gmail's searching for contacts better though, because it worked much much faster than Live Mail's. Its interesting to see that both Gmail and Live Mail have calendar links. Live Mail's calendar can be opened through the same window where as Gmail's calendar opens up a new window. Both calendars can be shared by and with other people. Live Mail offers a little bit of personalisation by allowing users to change the colors on its layout in a minor way. Gmail also has a bit of personalisation by offering users to choose xml or rss webclips to be shown at the top of its inbox. Hmm. i grew up with Hotmail, then hated it then converted to Gmail. Is Hotmail's evolution enough to bring me back? i don't think so. i like Gmail better because its faster than Live Mail and also i'm able to read through email quickly and also compose and send mail quickly without having to use the mouse. At this time in my life, that is what i am doing. Sending out emails for job stuffs, sending quick emails, i would prefer to do that quickly. Live Mail still has 2 big picture ads (one on the top and on the right) which i really don't like compared to Gmail's personalised text ads. i would like to use Live Mail to browse through the seek job subscriptions because i get a lot of email sent from them and it would be easier to browse quickly through it all. The only big drawback is that it only works for Internet Explorer 6.0 which stopped working properly on my home computer. It works if i disabled my firewall, but i don't think that is wise. Live Mail doesn't work well with Firefox at all. The preview functions don't work at all in Firefox, so that pretty much kills Live Mail for me. It's a pity they can't (or will not) make it compatible. Gmail converted me from Hotmail because of its simple design. Live Mail does looks better that Hotmail because of its clean look and simplicity. Some of the best things are always the simple things. Gmail is still better =)

Wishlist

i've always wanted to build a computer for MYSELF. My very own
computer. i need to save up about 5000 bucks. Its gonna have a really
good motherboard, a really good cpu, really good DDR2 ram, and a
massive fan.

So far i want to get a Aw8-max motherboard (LGA 775). Still drooling
over it. And for the CPU, i want a Intel Pentium Processor Extreme
Edition 965. Its a dual core chip so it has a 2x2MB cache, 3.73 Ghz,
and 1066FSB. Maybe one day i'll fill it up with 8Gb of ddr2 ram, and
put in the lastest most pyscho uber graphics card ever. Sigh...

Need my own time

i got some stuffs to do but my grandpa wants his comp fixed perfectly.
i dunno how its working now. Shop said that it works fine now, but
i'm not so sure. It sometimes says that it is not connected to the
wireless network and still the internet works. Sometimes it does
disconnect. i got my grandpa using the comp that is connected
wirelessly to the router. He's reading some chinese newspapers online.
i thought he knew how to use a comp but it seems like i was wrong.
He told me to do the search for him. i wonder how he uses the net?!?
Probably gets my cousins who live with him to search for him. He just
reads and clicks on any chinese hyperlink. Things that popup, he
pushes OK to get rid of them. i dunno how to tell him that its bad to
do that all the time. Some webpages put hyperlinks on images that look
like windows popups and he can't tell the difference. i dunno if i
should take it back to the shop or pretend that its all working ok. i
need time of my own. Gotta look for jobs and gotta work tonight. i
can't always drop everything just to help him and i don't want him
bugging me all the time. Dilemma.

Wireless connection

Been pretty busy lately. Trying to get my grandpa's comp working
wirelessly with another comp that has a wireless card then gave up on
that. We bought a new wireless router and tried to get it working
with that. It kinda works. The Internet works even though sometimes
it shouldn't be. =S And sometimes it does disconnect so i dunno. Its
getting fixed at the shop today. Dunno when they're gonna be done with
it. i got 3 days a week a Kmart now. Extra $$$ is good. i've been
doing a lot of cleaning lately. Cleaned my room, cleaned my email
inbox and cleaned the car. Busy as always.

i graduate today!

i guess today is an important phase in my life where i finish my
formal educational studies and begin working. Had a bit of stuff to
do today. Yesterday i helped my grandpa buy a computer system, but
the pci wireless card seemed to be faulty. So today we sent it back
for repairs. They said they'll be ready in a few hours so i'm just
waiting for the call from them. Then about 6 i leave the house and go
to the ceremony and hopefully it all goes well from there. i'm only a
little stressed atm. i spent last night chatting with Safina.
Haven't really played much in ages. Did i get bored? Or was i too
busy? Or both? Hmmm. Dunno what to do atm.

Blogging by email

This is a test to see if i can blog using my email. Subject line is
the title post and the email is the post itself. It would be so cool
if this works. It means i don't have to sign into blogger to actually
post onto the blog. If this turns up then it works. =) i hope i did
ok in the interview. They did seem friendly and were doing their best
to keep me relaxed. Took me 30 mins to put on a tie. i got help from
the net. i'm so glad that i don't have to wear a tie if i get the
job. Got a few things to do today.

Past memories

i've been thinking a lot about the past during the weekend. Kinda makes me sad that i'm gonna be saying goodbye to uni life soon. i had a lot of fun and made many friends. i'm gonna miss the time i had with friends in ECL labs and then later in PS labs. i might even miss all the late nights i spend in the labs. Its been a place where i could do homework in peace and meditate and reflect on my life. Its also a place where i chilled with many friends as we did uni work. i spent all of yesteday night capturing 2 tapes of holiday video from the dv camera to the computer. Took 3 hours to burn it on dvd. i let the computer auto shut after the burning completes. When i woke up today the computer was switched off, but the dvd burner drive was ejected with the finished dvd. i tested the dvd and the quality on it was very very good. Much more better and clearer than vcd. However it did take some time though. The two videos in the computer took 15 GIGS. The price we pay for quality. i'm at uni at the moment. Spent the past couple of hours organising my bag again. Also printed out lecture notes and readings.

i think i already know

So...yeh, i think i already know how its gonna turn out...but just don't have the guts to face it..i'll try again tomorrow. Also last thursday my lil bro blew up the computer. He didn't really blow it on purpose, but it died on him. i decided to open it up and have a look. i noticed that a few capacitators were blown or leaking...not good.

Thats the mother board after i removed all the graphics card, modem, firewire, sound and network cards. Below is the obsolete geforce 2 mx 64 mb graphics card:

Here is a pic of the creative sound card:

And our firewire card:

And network card:


And internal modem:


Heres me taking apart the big ass fan/heatsink from the cpu (pentium 4 1.6 ghz):


Pics of the Pentium 4 1.6 Ghz CPU:


So we got a new computer upgrade on the weekend. i picked it up today after uni. Our new computer has the old 40 Gb hard drive as the primary drive, and an extra 120 Gb hard drive as its slave. Also has an additional 512mb ddr RAM over the existing 256 ddr RAM. Has a Intel Celeron 2.8GHz and a new motherboard which has already a network slot and also 6 USB 2.0 ports. We also got a new case and dvd burner for it. The graphics card, firewire and modem has been transferred to the new mother board. When i turn on the computer, everything looks the same, because we used our old hard drive as the primary drive. The only difference is it can now burn dvds and is slightly bigger and faster. i'm kinda happy with it. It helps take my mind off current things that are disturbing me.

Very Happy

i was so happy yesterday...my parents bought me a zen! i promise that i will do anything they say for the next 5 years or until i pay them back. i'm at uni right now listening to it and also writing up my critique for the week. i'll finish in the next 2 hours then i can start on my ICT325 assignment. Also our new neighbours who recently moved in gave us some home cooked muffins. They must be really nice. i can't believe that i have zen that will give me music whenever i need it. Thats already one of my four goals that i have in my life. The remaining three are: a job, a car and a girl.

Google for thought

i think Google is such a successful company. Its not just because its become filthy rich, but because we (or at least i) seem to be using a lot of its services. For example, when we first got the internet, i set google as the homepage because it was nice, clean, simple and took the least amount of time to load up the page. Whenever i wanted to look up something on the net, whether it be music lyrics or code, google was always there to help me. And google also made Gmail. i like gmail a lot because it handles spam very nicely. And also because it holds over a whopping 2GB of email space. Its also loads faster because there isn't any picture ads. i hardly used my old email. Its filled up with hundreds of spam. i would of liked to turn on the function that only enables emails from people within my addressbook, but if i turned that on, i won't be able to recieve any email from my uni. Google also owns blogger, which is pretty cool because i can now experiment a bit with xml stuff and also write down random ramblings and read what other people is rambling on about. Recently i've played with google earth which is fun to use and see places from around the globe. i think its only a matter of time before google takes over the world. i really hope google isn't evil.

Distracted

Hmm...i was supposed to be doin homework, but i keep getting distracted. i downloaded and installed google earth which shows pics everywhere on earth from orbit. It even shows roof tops from houses. If commercial satellites can do this, i wonder what military satelillites can do? Darn i have to go to uni coz i can't find my uni work, and i'm hoping i saved it onto my uni folder at uni. Otherwise i know its on one of the desktops of the many computers i go on. =( i'm hoping i can find it and get it done by 3:30 pm

Movies and Work

i've been spending too much time watching movies these past few days. i've seen Elektra, Sahara, XXX2, Unleashed, Madagascar, Mr and Mrs Smith and Sin City. They were all good... i get easily satisfied. Jonny wants me to make a website for his IT club. Since uni is gonna start next week, he really needs a webby or he might be the only club without one. Crap...i make the crappest web designs in the whole world, but i'll give it a shot. Might be fun, or might be stressful. i've also been doin thinking which is not good. Thinking too much is bad for me. Thinking makes me paranoid, schizo and suicidal. i better start on the webby before i get distracted.

Another Day

i think i'm really into developing web stuff. i spent quite a bit of effort on this blog's template design. i've added in links that manipulate what can be seen by the user. Took a few hours to get the concept of it. i can't believe i have this much motivation in web design. This is my second blog place. my first 'blog' was just editing a single html page every time i wanted to make an entry. i decided to make this new one and end the old one coz there's a lot of things that i want to move on and forget about, and it will probably help if i distance myself from all the old stuff.

Crap...

i've spent 7 hours yesterday trying to move the holiday movies from dv tape to the computer. It's taking a long time 'coz i still want to have it in good quality and not fill up the harddrive. On the smallest tape which had about 17 mins of video, i made a avi file which was almost 3 gigabytes. i don't have enough space on the hard drive to make a 60 min tape. =( i guess i'll have to set the format to 768Kbps Broadband NTCS in WMV then. Quality still sucks though. i'm gonna try and manipulate this blog layout a little more.

Success!

i finally got the layout just the way i want it. Sure worth the effort. =D i wonder when i'll get some sleep? Some ppl are still on msn...Crazy

Tired...

i'm so tired now... i spent a few hours trying to edit the style sheets on this blog spot thing. Since i'm only a beginner, i'm doin a lot of trial and errors to get stuff working. i wish i was more smarter than i am now. =(

Testing Hello Picasa program. If anyone knows a bit about it please gimme a yell

Ginji looking at a photo

my first post at blogspot

Woohoo i have a blogspot now. Woopeedoo. =D