| Movember |
[Nov. 13th, 2008|01:56 pm] |
Yeah, I'm taking part! |
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| This is about as close as I'll get to a Public Service Announcement |
[Jun. 20th, 2008|06:01 pm] |
Let me tell you a little story, crew. Disasters were happening. Buildings were falling down. People were screaming in the streets.
...Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating. But multiple apps on my new PC were just not working. Legitimate applications. Not even an error screen, just nothing, no response. Bioshock, Assassin's Creed, even AVG free weren't working properly! It was very frustrating, and I'd pretty much run out of ideas.
So, like with my old computer, where technology was really passing me by, I ended up playing old stuff, and free stuff, pretty much stuff that was lightweight and didn't need installing, etc. So I ended up installing I Wanna Be the Guy, a MegaMan-ish game that's brutally hard. But that, too, didn't work. But this time, I got my error message! It couldn't write to the temporary folder - you know, the folder that all programs access from time to time to make temporary stuff? Access denied!
So I looked at the temp directory. Some files were read only, and it was over 9 gig, so I did the obvious things. I turned off Read Only. I used the disk cleanup to clean the crap out of there, still nothing. Not allowed to write to it. So I took the next step. I turned off my firewall. Comodo Personal Firewall. Which is awesome, but it's Defense+ feature is somewhat annoying with it's popup windows asking for confirmation. But that didn't make any difference. Note: shutting down the program didn't make any difference.
I was getting frustrated by this point. So I checked out the settings on absolutely everything. And then I tried multiple Defense+ settings, and finally set it to disabled. And voila! Everything suddenly worked. So now, my firewall, which I'm happy with otherwise, is doing exactly what it should and being a firewall, rather than policing every .exe file and temp setting change. And Bioshock works, and AVG works, and Assassin's Creed works - and I'm loving it. |
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| We used to talk about girls who play guitars |
[Aug. 21st, 2007|03:17 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  cheerful | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Maximo Park - Parisian Skies | ] |
Man, this is my third attempt at writing this - first time I couldn't be bothered, second was while Gotye was Live at the Wireless last night so I didn't want to make any noise (recording) and now it's ages after the fact...
...But I'm going to gush about Maximo Park anyway! Saw them at Fowler's Live on Saturday night with Bec, and we also managed to snag the last ticket in town for Tania. Got photographed by Faster Louder (I'd link it, but I look like a clown, find it yourself) had a few beers and checked out the merch. And then the show began!
It was great. Fowler's isn't the biggest room in town, but the stage area was filled and we were unfortunately up the back, but the energy from the band could probably be felt outside the venue. They rocked the fuck out, basically. Even some of the slower songs off of Our Earthly Pleasures had Paul Smith fly kicking or just generally going above and beyond. And it was awesome.
They pretty much hit on all my favourites (although to play all my favourites they'd pretty much have to play the entirety of A Certain Trigger) and I'll go out on a limb here and say the girls had a good time, too. Missed out on getting a shirt (all they had left was small, and no one needs to see that) but picked up a signed copy of A Certain Trigger to replace the one that was stolen oh so long ago.
Spent the rest of the night bouncing from venue to venue, and I managed to miss a minor scuffle while I was in the can. Taking a slash and I missed all the excitement; bloody typical, if you ask me.
Oh, I said I'd talk about Die Hard 4, didn't I? Needless to say, it was bloody entertaining; my brothers and I are all big fans of the series, and of course the John McClane character. It got over the top at times, but I'd walked in with my brain set to "big dumb action movie" mode, so I enjoyed it thoroughly all the same.
Now I need to think of something else to see at the movies, as work gave me a couple of free tickets and I've only got till the end of September to use them. Hmmm, what's coming out? |
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| This is why I haven't bought a new PC for five years. |
[Aug. 16th, 2007|11:39 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  annoyed | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Reindeer Section - Son of Evil Reindeer | ] |
Goddammit.
I was going to update this journal with good news - the new PC was working all superbly after I finally fixed the last problem. But obviously it was not to be. While it turned out that the fan noise was just stupidity on my part (cords flapping against it) the network card continues to be inconsistent, even after getting the proper 64-bit drivers for it, and now I've got a much worse problem.
Seriously, this thing now BSODs on me more than my old PC (which I'm using at the moment) I'm getting constant IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL errors randomly, but never with enough time to find the solution. Not to mention that occasionally the thing freaks out and tries to format the BIOS, causing a screaming beep noise. Seriously, I've got the motherboard manual right here, did it never occur to them to put the MOTHERFUCKING BIOS BEEP CODES in there? How the fuck am I supposed to search for that shit on the internet or whatever when the machine just beeps at me a couple of times and does nothing? ARGH!
Anyway, fuck Windows x64. All the driver bullshit and the rest, I've had it. It's day 6 of this new PC, and I've had issues every frigging day. I'm taking a break tomorrow, installing good ol' 32-bit XP and going from there. If I get anymore issues than fuck it, I'll spend the extra cash and take it to a technician. My time and my stress levels are more important than money.
Oh, bought tickets to Muse today, Die Hard 4.0 was awesome. More on both when I'm not filled with nerd rage. |
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| Oh God My Face |
[Aug. 14th, 2007|09:08 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  sore | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Editors - Munich | ] |
Oh man, managed to get elbowed in the face at basketball last night; had to bench myself due to my eyes watering and a bit of dizziness. Now it's the next day and my face still hurts and blowing my nose is an absolute pain in the... schnozz. It wasn't even worth it - we lost by two points! :(
Anyways, the good news this morning is that the new PC is working now; turns out my resetting problem was due to the heat sink. I reseated it Sunday night, with some frustration, and it was starting up at last! Unfortunately, I did some minor damage to the CPU fan and so it's now quite loud. It works, though, and replacing just the fan is apparently cheap and easy.
So that lead to Monday, and that day's issue was my network card not resolving an IP address. Attempting to repair the problem with Windows just lead to stuff hanging, so I re-installed Windows and re-installed the drivers, and it still didn't work! So, in frustration, I decided to go the direct route in getting my files off my old comp. I moved my old PC off the desk where it was sitting next to the new beast, disconnected one of the two hard drives and after unplugging the DVD drive on the new PC plugged it in. Starting her up; and the network was working! Wasting no time, I got Bigpond installed and was finally online. So now the comp has internet, all my music and hopefully I'll still have internet when I reconnect my DVD drive tonight. If that's what is causing the problem, that's... retarded.
Anyways, got kickboxing through work today (not as cool as it sounds), going to see Die Hard 4.0 tonight with my brothers, and Maximo Park at Fowler's on the weekend. Should be a good week!
...As soon as I have some Panadol. Ouch. |
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| Some Photos |
[Aug. 11th, 2007|03:03 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  tired | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | The Kooks - Jackie Big Tits | ] |
Well, I built my new computer today, and while I'm waiting to get it set up properly, have a photo or two! Behind the cut:
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| Strap yourselves in, this one should be epic |
[Aug. 10th, 2007|10:27 am] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Work | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  blah | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Digitalism - Pogo | ] |
Alright, I keep promising to update this bloody thing with what's been going on, and reviewing my posts I've got a shitload to cover. So, let's write this across the work day and see what happens, eh? Warning: Massive post behind the cut.
Right, I'll leave it there for now. Perhaps more will come to me when I get home and look at my tickets and my camera, and I should at least be able to post some piccies of the neph and the dog - and the wii, but it looks just like everyone else's.
Take it easy crew, and we'll catch you next time! |
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| Quick Update |
[Jul. 2nd, 2007|09:56 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  silly | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Blue King Brown - Come and Check Your Head | ] |
Hey all, been a while I know, but I thought I'd share a quick little story.
I'm going for a higher pay position at work, and as such spent most of my workday Friday writing up my resume, cover letter, that sort of thing. What made an interesting addition is a "statement of claims" which you make against all the selection criteria of the position. I've never actually written one of them before, but spent the afternoon writing 2-3 paragraphs against each of the 8 or so criteria.
It was only after I was rereading my efforts and the position vacant ad that I realised that I had written my statement of claims not against the selection criteria but against the list of duties expected of the position!
Feeling thoroughly silly (and hoping reading comprehension isn't a selection criteria :) ) I had to re-write the whole thing against the 9 selection criteria that I should have.
Still, it was a nice way to spend the work day. I'll let you all know how I go with it and I'll have a longer update on just what the fuck's been going on later. |
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| My wounds are nicely salted dear |
[Jun. 30th, 2007|02:21 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  complacent | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | The Reindeer Section - Cartwheels | ] |
Good heavens, friends, I haven't posted since February! Is it any excuse that a lot of stuff has been happening, so I haven't had time to share it with y'all?
Perhaps, perhaps. Either way, this lj requires a proper update and I'm in no state to deliver it now. However, keep an eye out, there will be one soon.
And much like the past couple of months, it'll hopefully be interesting! |
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| Quick Update |
[Feb. 12th, 2007|05:16 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | rejuvenated | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Triple J | ] |
Well, Saturday night while waiting for my ride into town, I managed to knock over my Carlton Black (very brown) on my old keyboard (very white). Naturally, a string of curse words followed and I went scrambling for a rag to clean up the mess. I thought I got the most of it, but numerous buttons were sticking and there was a rather horrid looking brown stain left as well. Luckily for me, when I got my new work PC (best way to start the new working year, let me tell you) it came with mouse, keyboard and everything. Of course, while I'm now using dual monitors at work, I certainly didn't need two keyboards so the new one sat on my desk for the following month, me not bothering to find out what to do with it.
So, today I snuck it home! Not to worry, I'll sort out paying for it with help desk tomorrow, but at the moment I just wanted something to type as typing with this bad boy is pretty nice. I'm also planning on finally getting off of pre-paid and getting on a mobile plan tomorrow (along with the requisite new phone!) so more on that as it happens. |
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| This one's for the Caspian Sea |
[Feb. 2nd, 2007|01:04 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | tired | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | SubAudible Hum - All for the Caspian | ] |
Geeze, I haven't updated since November? Christ!
Alright, quick summary of stuff that's been going on; I've got the Big Day Out tomorrow so I'll be back after that with more detail, but:
- All my CDs were stolen from my car
- As a result, I got an iPod for Christmas
- I got the Camry all serviced and fixed up, in prepartion for...
- I went to a 21st in country Victoria, which was good fun
- Christmas saw me drinking all day and at night making promises I couldn't keep
- New Year's saw me hitting the turps pretty hard, chatting to 17 year olds and copping a frickin' frisbee in the frickin' eye
- And we saw Tenacious D when they were here recently
There's plenty more, believe me, and that's why I haven't been updating! But that'll have to wait a bit. Until then, sit tight guys. Sorry about the silence! |
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| Negative Man-Points |
[Nov. 29th, 2006|10:33 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  confused | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Beck - Debra | ] |
Let me paint a little picture for you, my friends. I work in an IT area, and sure, there are nerds everywhere. Hell, in my weaker moments I could possibly be considered a bit of a dork myself. Possibly. Anyways, as I wandered over to our little water cooler thingy to grab some water (I'm slightly hungover this morning, damn mid-week weekends) I wandered past Rob's desk.
Now, like many around here, Rob's rocking dual monitors, and I've noticed in previous times he's had some pretty rockin' video game screensavers - the opening to Mortal Kombat: Deception, the intro to Gran Turismo, etc. But this morning, I saw something I hadn't seen in quite some time. Before we go any further, let me point out that Rob has kids and would be pushing 40.
His screensaver this morning was the opening dancing scene from Final Fantasy X-2. Now, X-2 was a fun game, but seriously, there's something a little strange about having that as your screensaver amongst peers of a similar age (I think I'm the youngest dude here, and hell I get embarassed about my PSU screensaver) so that gave me quite a laugh this morning. |
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| A Loooong Week |
[Nov. 24th, 2006|03:19 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | exhausted | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | ABC Grandstand Cricket | ] |
Oh man, it's only Friday and it already feels like it's been a stupidly long week. Things have been hectic at work, and I've been eagerly awaiting the start of the first Ashes test. Not to mention going out last night and the night before!
More shenanigans tonight, too, with going to see Bob Evans at Jive. Tomorrow we're going to BBQ up at my place, with the cricket on TV and cricket in the front yard, too. It's gonna be so long until I get some rest... :( |
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| (no subject) |
[Nov. 15th, 2006|05:26 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | tired | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Sub Audible Hum - Sugarcoat | ] |
Hey everybody.
Not much of interest has been going down, hence the lack of updates, but I thought I'd bore you all with stories of Phoenix Wright 2: Justice for All for the DS. It's freaking awesome, and if it weren't for Case 3 I'd say it's better than the first.
It arrived on a Friday night, which was unfortunate as my friends have recently taken to heading out really early on Fridays, which is fine for them but a bit of a pain when I don't get home till 6 (due to basketball with the guys from work). So I didn't actually get to sit down seriously with the game until the Sunday. I tell ya, I've barely put it down since.
The translation is a bit sloppy in places, but considering that I got the game direct from Japan, months in advance of it's Australian release and probably cheaper too, then I certainly can't complain. The game was never confusing and the translation never got in the way of gameplay, so that's the important thing. However, if the occasional typo in a videogame drives you into murderous rage, perhaps you should wait for the localised release.
Anyway, onto the game itself - the gameplay is almost identical to the first game, except with the awesome addition of Psyche-Locks, which are used in the investigation portion of the game when certain characters are hiding something. You have to present evidence to "break" these locks and get to the truth. The beauty of the locks is that it livens up the somewhat boring investigation sections (i.e., go everywhere, talk to everyone, check everything, repeat) by making them more like the courtroom scenes. However, I'd almost say that it's better than the cross-examinations at times, as Pysche-Lock breaking is ALWAYS just you versus that person, head to head, battle of wills style, as opposed to the courtroom scenes where Phoenix relies a lot more on everyone to help him out (especially in the last case!).
Case 3, however, really drags. The case is centred around a murder at a circus, and hence some of the logic is really hard to grasp. Also, the clown from this circus is possibly the most annoying character ever. Just seeing his AHA!s slowly scrolling out on the screen drove me to distraction (especially since you can't speed up text on your first playthrough) and I lost the case multiple times due to the right evidence at the wrong time.
Court is a lot harder in this game. Rather than your five ! icons like in the first game, you have a health bar, which means that rather than a set loss for each mistake, "big" choices in the game can cost you up to half your life bar, and in one case, your entire health bar. Lots of saving done, here!
So yeah, that's what I've been plugging away at for a while. In other news, I really need to update my computer as it's slowly dying, but that clashes with my need for new basketball boots and clothes in general (don't look at me like that, I've lost a lot of weight, okay?!?) and my need to save up and get the fudge out of the house. It's frustrating, let me tell you, and saving's been a pain ever since I got the car. It was so much easier before, I swear...
Oh well, until next time, people! |
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| Make it happen! |
[Oct. 29th, 2006|10:18 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | tired | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | The Panda Band - Sleepy Little Deathtoll Town | ] |
Those boys over at Consolevania are pumping up a campaign to get Shenmue III made - and much like many of you, I think online petitions are about as effective as a wet towel against a machine gun, but it's always worth a try! http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/tv/videogaiden/index.shtml |
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| How long has it been? |
[Oct. 26th, 2006|09:07 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | cheerful | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | JJJ | ] |
Man, I don't think I've ordered a game from overseas since those halcyon Dreamcast days (more than likely when I ordered Shenmue 2 from the UK) but Phoenix Wright: And Justice For All is out in Japan, has an English option and by ordering it now, I get it months earlier and cheaper than if I bought it here!
Speaking of games, I've plonked down a pre-order for Final Fantasy XII and Phantasy Star Universe, despite the fact that I don't have as much time as I used to to play videogames. Still, the first single player Phantasy Star game in years and an apparent return to form for Final Fantasy? Sign me up.
The wedding over the weekend was great fun! I had my brand new suit on, and we headed to Kent Town for the ceremony, which was lovely. The reverend, however, seemed more nervous than the bride and groom, flubbing some of the lines when poor old Oppy (the groom) had to repeat after him!
The reception was down at Grange, at the golf club, and was spectacular. Great food, free beer and just a nice room. It certainly didn't hurt that they had some classic lounge music playing, making everything feel more... I don't know... swank.
Had a little too much to drink, however, as I don't remember coming home, and woke up Sunday morning thinking that I had lost my wallet, when I had just left it on top of the microwave. My sunglasses are still on Smithy's parcel shelf, and I just found my tie this morning when I put my jacket on to style it up a bit for my Performanace Management meeting.
The hectic schedule didn't stop when the wedding did; I had to move everything out of my room on Sunday, since I was getting carpet laid on Tuesday, and between work, basketball and going to see Arj Barker at the Gov on Monday, there was no way I was gonna get a chance to do it that day. ARj was great fun, although Lehmo was on support and Big Brother jokes don't really fly well with me. Ended up getting our tickets signed by Arj as well, which was pretty awesome.
This weekend promises more adventures, with going to the local cricket on Saturday, and hitting the Tattersall's building on Saturday night for some local bands and stuff. Should be fun! |
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| A Birthday and a Buck |
[Oct. 15th, 2006|09:51 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | tired | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Josh Pyke - Kids Don't Sell Their Hopes So Fast | ] |
Man, it's been a busy, busy time! Birthday, leave from work and Buck's Show stuff all behind the cut!
( In the end, it's just money ) |
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| Quick update |
[Oct. 4th, 2006|09:41 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  old | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Phoenix - Consolation Prizes | ] |
Just some random stuff to keep my peeps posted...
1. Triple J's Impossible Music Festival is on again this year (notable last year for finally giving me a recording of Smashing Pumpkins' secret gig from 98) and the line-up has another bunch of cool old Live at the Wireless' I'd like to submit to MP3. But the first, the Whitlams from 98, is at 6am on Saturday! Argh!
2. Bought a lot of stuff recently, actually - Star Ocean: Till the End of Time for the PS2, which is kinda fun, Scrubs Seasons 1-4, which is probably half the reason I haven't posted much lately, and Pokemon Mystery Dungeon - Blue Rescue Team for the DS. It's a roguelike that's a hell of a lot of fun. I'm a Machop!
3. I turn 24 this Sunday, and then I go on a week of leave because... Well, because I can. And I haven't really had a break from full-time work since March 2005. Especially since I'll be feeling so old next week, I'll need the rest... Well, that and going to see Josh Pyke at the Gov on Wednesday and going on a fishing trip on Friday (which is only the first leg of my mate's buck show - I'll let you know more, soon!)
So I'll see you after the weekend with birthday musings, and buck show anticipation! |
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| I'll Write My Own Comeback Song |
[Sep. 17th, 2006|02:21 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | tired | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Freddie King - Let Me Down Easy | ] |
I've been neglecting you, internet! Sorry about that, but things have been pretty buzzing around here, and so doing stuff took priority over talking about doing stuff for a while there. Don't worry, it won't happen again! I can almost guarantee it!
( A month's worth of stuff! )
Well, that's about it for now, I'll let you know how the prelim goes, and anything else that comes to mind. Until then, take it easy! |
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| It's the car! |
[Aug. 30th, 2006|07:17 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | chipper | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Smashing Pumpkins - Untitled | ] |
Stereo tomorrow! Not much else happening! Exclamation point! |
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