May 31, 2008
Last entry for the month, so it's statistics time:
May has seen a record turnout with 1480-odd visitors generating around 17500 hits. There was a big spike on the 2nd, then it's steady at around 100 hits a day. Visitors are roughly evenly divided between NZ and USA, with a good presence from Oz.
By far the majority of people want the acer page - but the blog is getting appreciable traffic too.
The acer site is due for an update soon. Stay tuned.
The OSs are divided 50:50 between Linux and Windows. Considering the focus, it would seem that people want to know how to get online with the acer 4315 + Linux - tough nuggies guys, you have to use ethernet. There's precious little else here for you MS thralls... OTOH: everyone is using Firefox.
Next month should see a more agressive "anti IE" campaign - if you are using IE to access this site, stop now. It will still work, but you'll have an extra hoop to jump through.
Most of the referrals (not bookmarks or search-engine) are now from "stumble-upon" with some from ubuntu-forums like you'd expect. The vast majority of people came from personal bookmarks, and Google has been the favorite way to find me.
This page will join the new archives collection tomorrow. I'll start the new month on the 2nd - when Cathy is expected to return from India. I'll post in the morning since I expect to be busy that evening.
There will also be a new page dedicated to Oolite on Ubuntu - I'll be posting screenshots, models, and tips, for the retro-gamer. Not finished yet, but there should be something there to look at.
I have not heard from Acer NZ - time to give them a nudge.
Overall - May has been a bitter-sweet month. Corwins birthday was a tender time. Some of the lines I started months ago have had some tuggs, and I got to act in a commercial. There have been some awesome days. And it's been quiet - no wifey - with unlimited computer time.
I can feel something changing inside me. We'll see how it turns out.
May 30, 2008
Corwin's birthday been and gone - he would have been five. Feeling depressed.
Marked the occasion with fish and chips from the Red Beach place. They've gone upmarket - actually displaying fresh fish at the counter... at reasonable prices too. Check it out. They don't see me as often now.
F&C didn't quite hit the spot - so I polished off an adult steak meal too. Mum came in the evening and helped tidy the kitchen (and drink my Jamesons...) - I finished the night with 24 (season 2 on DVD).
Today has seen more 24, locating the computer receipt which shows that my 30-day return is up! I'll have to replace the optical drive instead now. (There's a thought - I have an old Acer with a working OptDD... must give it a go.)
Not actually heard anything from Acer about this meeting I'm supposed to be having. Maybe they changed their mind?
Today has been spent with the Wings-3D program and OoLite... building space-ships. So far I cannot get any of the custom designs recognised - though I've been re-skinning the standard ships (hence the picture) so they look cooler. That has worked like a charm so I don't know what could be wrong!
I'll have to try with the tutorial again.
Orlando (big ginger tabby) has decided he's getting extra cuddles in the mornings. He pushes the bedroom door open, kicks up a fuss, so I grope my way to the kitchen - lay out the cat food. Only he's not there. Puzzle!
Head back to find Orlando still on the bed looking all: "Where did you go?"
It's very warm and crowded and his purr vibrates the whole bed :)
May 27, 2008
Goodness! May 27 already - it's Cathy's Birthday today, and Corwin's birthday in a couple of days. Cathy is in India - which spares me making a cake ;) though I think I'll make one anyway - more for me!
The commercial is all shot and over with. Met the USAian reps, discussed wardrobe, got a nasty shock in the makeup mirror: I look haggard! Need more sleep. Or more makeup...
Overall it was a great job - a bit over five hours of doing what I'm told and watching other people panic. A TV-commercial set is a kind of controlled chaos, like stirring up an ants nest.
The hardest part for me was having to act surprised twenty or so times at the same thing. No wonder the guys in these ads always look so lame. Then the director calls out: "That was great - perfect, well done. One more time..." Nobody says "action" or "cut" or anything like that though. This is confusing for those of us whose only on-set experience comes from TV.
I was the only rookie there. You could tell the veteran actor - I'd barely heard "that's a wrap" and he was gone! Caught up to him at the wardrobe bus, already changed and signed out.
And this just in: The MS OOXML controversy is not over yet... according to computerworld:
South Africa has appealed the adoption of the Microsoft-sponsored Office Open XML (OOXML) document format as a standard by the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), the ISO says.
The language is quite strong - considering the kind of body we are talking about:
It is our opinion that the process followed during all stages of this fast track has harmed the reputations of both ISO and the IEC and brought the processes enshrined in the Directives into disrepute, and that this negative publicity has, in turn, also harmed the reputations of all member bodies of ISO and the IEC.
Well, MS will not support the ISO-standardized OOXML for a while anyway.
Oh well... MS won't actually
support OOXML until later on - much later on - anyway.
May 23, 2008
Well - I got the job: I am now in a Heineckan commercial - woot!
I've had to reserve the whole weekend - I got processed through costuming this evening (they seem to have this "Elton John" look for me...) and the shoot is on location tomorrow. Everyone is rushed and I am still restricted in what I can talk about with this.
For me, there is a certain amount of waiting around for people to be ready. I've been occupying myself drawing space-craft models for OOLite and learning 3D rendering in the meantime. I'll post some screenshots later. Meantime my OOLite captain keeps getting arrested (that's spelled K-I-L-L-E-D) by the GalCops - the keystrokes for the docking computer is very close to the weapons firing sequence... so I keep shooting up the station landing bays...
May 20, 2008
Another early morning today - a followup on the auditions on Friday. They had us go through a scene over and again, ad-libbing, in different combinations. The video will go to the USA for the client's assessment.
Shooting starts Saturday, so I'll know by then. This is fun!
Movies: Bruce Willis night for me - Hostage, 18 Blocks, and The Fifth Element.
- Hostage: Bruce plays a burt-out hastage negotiator whos familf is takes hostage by some villains in order to get him to do stuff for them. No, they don't want him to assassinate a presedential candidate... but it does sound a lot like the plot of 24.
- 16 Blocks: Brue plays a burnt-out, corrupt, cop who has to transport a prisoner those eponymous 18 city blocks to be a testify in a police corruption trial something. Very non action-hero stuff.
- The Fifth Element: Bruce plays a burnt-out special forces soldier looking for the perfect woman while pursued by cops, aliens, a radio-host and his mother. He gets the perfect woman, Milla Jovovich (sporting Franke Portente's hairdo from Run Lola Run), dumped on him from a great height - which is just as well really. The scene where he has to hide five people in an apartment the size of a coffin is still the best.
May 18, 2008
Been eventful these last few days.
The audition was... an experience - a positive one though. If you get a chance to do anything in show business, it is fun. However, I'm sworn to secrecy re the details. I'll let you know if I get the part.
I've also had a phone call from Stewart Williams of Acer NZ. They've finally heard of me and all that work done for their 4315. He's interested in setting up a meeting for the end of May (no firm date yet) to discuss how they can help.
One of the things which has become clear in the conversation so far is that the OEM companies need the support as much as the end user. We'll see if we cannot come up with something which is good for everyone.
The nightschool course is in full swing with a range of enthusiastic students. They are borrowing my laptops, so we'll see how that goes. Hopefully, it means they can get through the course faster. And they are already asking about more advanced courses...
Meantime, we have had some of the most gourgeous weather - crystal clear and sunny, around 18C (64F or 291K), and it's put everyone in a good mood. So it's been a great time to get out and about in the community.
May 15, 2008
A different first lesson from the last one - all six showed up, and they were full of questions that I previously covered in the seminar ;) On reflection - the seminar should have gone ahead: there would have been at least five of them there at the last minute.
Also - my agent called this morning. My agent!!!
Since last year I havn't really known what to do with myself, so I have a lot of different lines in the water. Some of them you know about... one of them is a talent agent. Tomorrow morning, I have an audition to act in a commercial!
They were keen that I should come - I got a txt message, a phone call, and an e-mail. All before I'd woken up. So I guess I'd better show up. Here's the character:
Character description: Garage guys: This is a group of guys in their late
30s to late 40s. They are the types that might have technical or university
jobs. One might be a physics professor; one owns his own printing company,
etc. They are also big fans of Sci-Fi and are like cool old-school tech
geeks. Old school professor beards and moustaches crossed with family man.
they have kids now. You know that these guys have a lot of inside jokes.
They are not, however, freak-shows or goofy looking. They are good dudes.
I think I can cover that one.
May 14, 2008
Just heard from Orewa College - I have six people booked for the gnuLinux course, so we are go for tomorrow evening.
Today has been utterly wanted playing a 20-year old video-game called "Elite". The OpenGL version is called OOLite and it is very playable still - even if the rendering is short on polygons.
For people who havn't seen it. think Eve Online - single player. In fact - the play is almost identical...
This means I will be very busy tomorrow morning, getting the laptops set up with the course.
May 12, 2008
Mother's day was sunny, with a bit of drizzle. The forcast rain did not show. Lunch was Tai takeout, courtesy of Thomas who is a motor mechanic (the menu said "Tom Kar Gai"), and Ben Shaws Dandilion and Burdock.
I've discovered that the optical drive on that 4315 has mysteriously stopped working I'll test it properly tomorrow... it so, then it's going back. I'll put up with a lot of things, but I must have by opticals.
The acer pages in hbclug are still popular. They are getting the lion's share of the hits and the first couple of weeks look set to be busier than last month. Mostly on that first Tuesday - I'll have to come up with something to keep the interest up.
May 10, 2008
Slow installfest today - not surprising as the seminar was cancelled. I should find out if I have a course by Wednesday.
Mother's Day soon - if I find out where Cathy's staying, I'll have burnt toast marinated in orange juice sent to her room, with a weed-flower. The traditional Mather's Day breakfast in bed in NZ - usually courtesy a small child. I think the idea is to remind her why she normally makes the breakfast.
My own mother, will be differently treated - she's already had all the burnt toast from me that she's going to get.
There have been some modifications here - I have finally installed Hardy Heron to my main work machine only to discover that the ftp-client of my choice will not work with the latest firefox. There is something to be said for third-party stuff after all... now I'm using the gnuLinux port of "Filezilla" ;)
I did a completely fresh install, basically because I messed up the partition scheme last time. Backups were starting to get difficult, as I had almost 60gig in DVD backups. So I compressed the vob files to ogg/theora and burned those to DVDs and generally did a painstaking file purge. Now everything feels clean.
Next task... kitchen!
May 8, 2008
Sad to say, only two people booked for the seminar this term, so it was cancelled. The course is still on: three people have booked so far and the course went ahead last term with four people.
There's a week to go, the installfest is still on, get those bookings in people!
May 7, 2008
At long last, I stuggle to the console to post. The man-eating crocodiles I can handle, it's having to beat my way through the baby seals... if you knew what I have to go through to make these entries each time! Maybe I should move my office?
Well, this week I saw the back of the old ball and chain love of my life as she winged her way to exotic Bangalore. After all that effort to locate places is Whitefeild, she ended up in Prishanti Nilayam . But she's having fun in the sun.
Back home and it's cold. I've been running the panel heater full blast... one side of my body bakes and the other freezes. It's so cold an night that the Yeti turned to me and said, "Isn't it cold!" It is colder than a very cold thing. And I don't want to know about anyone's childhood in Siberia - thanks.
Movie - Babylon 5: the lost tales... sorry Joe, the script sucks. Even the stories are odd... I mean: a weird smell, and a crew member changes personality? Maybe it's a rogue telepath? Leftover Vorlon technology? An energy-based life-form? A Psychotic episode? What does Lachley do? Calls a preist! Hello?!
Mind you - the sock-puppet version was inspired! Shame Fox didn't let him run with it - it would have been equal to the material.
On the technical front - the oem partition image is finally ready. Burned to DVD. (It's about 3gigs compressed). Tomorrows job is to call Acer and see what they say. (Add the result to my review - and call PCWorld... fingers crossed.)
Meantime - tomorrow is the seminar for term 2. I've been moping about too much to do any promotion so we'll see.
May 1, 2008
Tomorrow my wife is headed off to India on a spiritual retreat. So today is about cuddles and connections. So no computers... well, almost no computers. And this entry gets written in advance.
In order to stay in touch, while in India, she plans to use an internet cafe. In the past, these have proved more reliable than India Telecom. Since she'll be staying in Whitefeild, in Bangalore, I had a hunt for such places online.
With the help of some locals, I was able to find quite a few. (Google for "browsing center india" or you will get places in the USA!) Unfortunately, their listed addresses did not exist according to Google Maps. Particularly puzzling were the addresses on "Main Road" (no number).
I found nine "main road"s in Whitefeild, before I gave up. Nine! But none were just plain "main road". Eight of them are numbered (1st Main Road, 2nd Main Road, etc.) and there is "Hoodi Main Road".
They did give landmarks, so I fired up Google Earth to have a look. Millions of dollars of space-technology to locate a cyber-cafe... are we decadent or what?
Well, it worked. Cross-referencing with the maps, I found that "Main Road" meant an expressway that is not named on the maps I've seen. This sort-of makes sence: SH1, which runs through Orewa, is just called "The Main Road" by locals, and mail so addressed will get there. It also makes more sence to navigate by landmarks than streetnames there (a bit like the CBD, Auckland in that way).
Why didn't I just phone them? Well... you just try it!
I am not going to say that India Telecom are staffed by incompetant, obstructionist, nitwits. After all, I've never managed to complete a phone call with the service. What I will say is that India has a bright future in technology, provided they can leverage all the bright, helpful, competant people languishing in Cyber-Cafes on the fringes.
Maybe it's just that geeks speak the same language.
