Month: November 2004

Oh, forgot to say. One bonus of not yet working full time is when we’re tired and need to relax, we can just go to the beach. Today: Mooloolaba. I really like their loo, but they need a better chippy.

Things are happening, eventually, and I’ll let you know as they happen some more. First, an aside.

It’s not easy to start a new business just from a website; think of it as a brochure you didn’t have to send someone. However, for someone to read that site, they still have to find it, and the most efficient way of getting that page in their face may be to… send them a flyer. But at least that’s a cheaper print job.

Anyway, a site can do quite well. My uncle’s website: Orchard Therapies, is one I did a while ago and have revised since for maximum Google-friendliness. Happily, this site reaches a new client every week, which is great for him and makes me happy too. So it can be done!

Now, do I decide to push this whole freelance angle or just get a cushy full time job? Will let you know.

Oh, and broadband. That thing we don’t have here. Options:

– Wait for ADSL. Might not be possible.

– Wireless through cbdnet.com.au. More likely to work, good support, professional attitude.

– Wireless through techsus.com.au. Two overworked guys in Samford. A cheaper, unlimited deal.

Gah. Will, as ever, let you know.

Oh, don’t miss the Straight Out Of Brisbane festival, happening soon in the Valley. All sorts of cool stuff, including a chance to get inside the Village Twin before redevelopment and cool new media stuff plus lots more. Maybe see me in the Hacklab? Or maybe at the VT. Cool!

See Garden State when it’s released where you are. Cool film we missed in the USA but caught in preview over the weekend. Read Zach Braff’s Garden State Blog when you can. He’s a funny lad.

Finally a few things falling into place, and I’ll let you know if/when they come off. Also thinking of trying a few new ideas out, and really wanting to get back into programming. Serious-ish stuff with C using Xcode, but I’ll need some hefty sample code to kick me into gear. Either that or something fun with Flash. Thoughts? Anyway, to sleep; I’m training again tomorrow. The one downside of living in paradise is that it’s about 20 minutes further than suburbia to drive into the CBD.

(Note to self – never write a blog post in a browser window. Browsers crash, posts get lost.)

Typing happily on new iMac G5 Lozenge. Black window on the trees behind, about 200 moths hanging on the glass. One persistent one has made it inside and is making its presence occasionally felt.

This evening: sketching with an aged Graphire tablet, surfing for hours (oh unlimited dialup, how you have been missed) and enjoying the widescreenyness of it all. (Yes, Neverwinter Nights does support the odd 1440×900 resolution! I’m glad you asked!)

There’s unlikely to be broadband here until WiMax materialises out of its own vapour and becomes a product sold in Samford. It’s like current WiFi, but goes 10km, and through trees, unlike current line-of-sight wireless systems. It’s near enough that larger companies aren’t even bothering to install repeaters for today’s l-o-s solution, though smaller companies are. We’ll see how it all goes, but I suspect that the copious numbers of trees plus their inevitable growth and non-ownership by us will stuff up our chances fairly thoroughly. So we wait with dialup.

However, we can still share a dialup connection wirelessly, and the totally wireless laptop on the deck with the birds is a happy reality. Our latest simultaneous bird record is 13 king parrots and a cockatoo. No laptop then, but one camera. Photos on request.

Party soon – maybe see you here? Will let you know.

Tons of stuff this week, so bullet points it is.

We didn’t win anything in the 48 hour film contest. I’ve written something, but it’s got lots of bitching, so maybe, maybe not.

We moved in to our new house in Mt Nebo. It’s fantastic. We’ve been literally up in the clouds.

The carpet in half of the main room came up, as did the carpet gripper strips around the sides. Much, much better.

We bought a high definition TV set (Palsonic 76cm) and decoder box (DGTEC 2000A). After the initial decoder’s sound died the day after we bought it, it was replaced, and all has been good since then. We’ve seen amazing quality on crappy movies, on the ABC’s Gardening Australia, and right now we’re watching The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. Not the full, full widescreen, and an annoying logo, and ads (nooooo!), and not the extended version, but the quality is stunning. It’s just amazing. So happy Australia went HD instead of multichannel, as I don’t trust the Australian commercial networks to create anything uncrap. But I do trust a few of them to buy nice cameras and good movies.

Today I’ve fed King Parrots from my hand, on our back deck. One sat on my hand. On our back deck. Cockatoos, lorikeets, too. A happy purchase of wild bird seed funded that.

Our crap is slowly making its way from boxes into cupboards and wardrobes. Slowly.

I’ve been unwell. Achy, headachy, tired in the bones. Feeling maybe better tonight, but I won’t make the 1am finishing time of the movie, nor would I choose to. There’s a mega-fest planned when the extended part 3 is released nearer Xmas.

We’ve got a new, comfy bed. Arrived after I felt ill, so that’s not the bed’s fault. The bed is peerless, faultless and soft.

Today was a job application. One of those long government Selection Criteria jobbies. Let’s see. At least they’ll acknowledge the application, unlike the countless seek.com.au advertisers.

I’m hot and sick now, so I’m going to bed. Alas, not even an hour into the lovely picture on the screen, but what I have seen is very much appreciated.