Archive for the ‘Life’ Category

Bored of struggling with SE20 coursework and still dreaming of my new laptop which still hasn’t been dispatched I did an inventory of the software on my current laptop so I knew what I had on there and what I needed to install on my new laptop so that I could trash my Windows install on my old one and still have all the software I needed.

The approach I’m going for is very much go free software (open source for the most part) all the way. I’m planning to switch from Outlook Express to Thunderbird and Power Archiver to IZArc. I’ve never used IZArc so I’m hoping it will be good. I generally use Power Archiver at the moment as I bought a licence for that but I’m not massively impressed with it.

I’m still strugging to find some software r eplacements though. I currently use AceFTP which I love. It’s simple to connect using quick connect or you can store your site’s details you can easily lockstep directories (a MUST for any FTP client I use), has tabs for local and remote (multiple connections and transfers), allows me to heavily customise my collision actions. I need an FTP client with all that plus I know some FTP clients offer server to server transfers and on-server file editing which would be wicked bonuses if such software that is free exists (though I’m very tempted to just pay for CuteFTP as it does have all that or so it would appear from the website).

I also want to find a program I can stick icons together in. IconCool Editor is good software but it’s not free. I need something I can easily copy and paste an image into or import from a file and output an icon for my website’s shortcut icons / favicons.

I also need an office suite. OpenOffice is obviously the leading contendor but I prefer Microsoft Office over OpenOffice. I don’t use Excel and PowerPoint as much as I used to so that’s less of an issue but I occasionally use Access for the old websites still running Access databases. Although Base can apparently handle those. So I should be fine with Openoffice.

Then there is also my graphics editing software. While most things can be replaced by free alternatives I don’t see how I can get round this one. Fireworks is really, really good at doing what I want it to do. For the stuff I do it’s probably by far the best software out there. I’ve used PSP and Photoshop and I still think Fireworks is way ahead. But the hippies over at Adobe want money for it. Maybe I should try chatting up the sales staff.

So yeah, if anyone wants to preach how great their FTP client, icon editing software or even vector based graphic editing software is, I’m all ears.

A naked girl stuck her fingers in herself then pulled them out and placed them on my lips. If you’re under 18 stop reading this post now as it sure as hell isn’t suitable for you.

I started the night off at Christianity Explored. The Halloween festivities had somewhat drained the audience to the point where instead of having three tables we were all around one. The total attendance list excluding the people who run it was in impressive one – myself! Surely that has to be a sitcom “half a dozen Christians and an atheist” given the stuff I am doing with atheist soc the irony is quite amusing. As is the duality between the sweet and innocent Christian stuff and the night’s later events.

Afterwards I went home and changed and headed to The Old Bar to meet Phil and Michelle. Norm turned up too and about 10:30 we headed down to the Red Leopard for the student night. For those not in the know, the Red Leopard is a strip club.

It was one hell of a night. We ended up spending about £250 between us but it was so worth it. I didn’t realise the lap dances would be so full on but I am definitely not complaining! When you experiance such things as I described in my opening line it was worth every penny. Plus we took another step in the corruption of Michelle who not only went to the club but had two dances. What a night.

A while ago I knocked up a diagram to explain how the food chain works in nature. I was clearing my laptop’s hard drive when I came across it so I thought I would share it.

It’s been 5 days since I ordered my new laptop and it still hasn’t been dispatched. When I originally placed my order they had a date for when they were getting it in but everything else in the order was an unknown date. Then within a few days I had dates for everything else but had lost the date for my laptop. At the moment I now have a mix. And everything was dated (except the laptop itself) for today which has now been pushed back to tomorrow, Thursday or unknown.

That said it’s quite wierd as my two bits of networking kits have been upgraded to “to be picked” so I think I’m on a bit better ground there. I will not be impressed if the order is held up by network cables though I think I’m going to be waiting on the laptop more than anything. I’m hoping it all gets sent out ASAP as I’m desperate to get it, I’m checking the order tracking information religiously.

If you haven’t tested your websites with Internet Explorer 7 – well, you should have. Because you’re out of time. IE 7 is here. I’ve got a little update notification sitting in my system tray telling me that Windows XP update dealie is ready to install Internet Explorer 7 for Windows XP.

If you haven’t tested your site with it I would recommend you do so as soon as possible – very soon you could see the majority of your audience using it.

Last night was Ellerslie Hall’s Halloween do. Kicking off with fun and games in the common room (including Twister!) between 8 and 10 though I grabbed a few hours sleep and so didn’t wander down until 9:30.

At 10 we headed down to Creation for free entry with fancy dress (my sterling effort was a hockey mask and fake blood on my arms and the latter was a late addition) and headed into the cheese room for a bit. After a short time there we headed up to the main room as we had the VIP area there with our own bar and the music was quiter so you could actually hear each other talk.

Thursday was a fun night. I started off with a meal in the Queen’s Arms before heading to The Old Bar (in a taxi after the busses failed us miserably again) at which we spent 30 mins or so before hitting Bourbon. We then drank there until they kicked us out and headed off to Rockstar at Halo until they kicked us out :D.

I got through a total of 12 units in the night of which 8 of which were shots so I was reasonably hammered by the time we left Bourbon. After getting kicked out of Halo we headed back to Graham’s for some Counterstrike and other Graham related activites.

So yeah, it was an awesome night.

I’m 20! How did this happen? All my faith that God would stop time for me didn’t help a bit. It’s almost as if God isn’t up there listening to everything I’m saying. Still as my mum pointed out on the phone earlier today (on the phone as my family went to Kent for a few days abandoning me on my birthday – albeit with a very valid reason) there is still time for God to stop it before her 50th and therefore I can stay 20 forever. It’s still a step too far though.

On the plus side, I just spent a lot of money. I love spending money. I was waiting for my cashback credit card but then is it really worth saving a £10 when you’re spending like a grand, it’s a drop in the ocean and it’s my birthday so I can blow £10 on getting my stuff a few weeks earlier if I want to!

What did I get you ask? Well, I got myself a new laptop as it happens :). The Samsung Q35 to be exact. Weighing in at less than 2kg, featuring a 12.1″ screen and having a battery life of 6 hours (that’s not a typo, CNET said it was the longest battery life they had ever seen) it’s one of the most ultraportable laptops ever. The only thing that comes close is the Q30 which weighs half that but with much reduced features and the really mega expensive laptops which cost silly amounts. And they still don’t match up on battery life.

I also got some new networking equipment. After all I need to go wireless if I’m spending so much on a wireless laptop and my current wireless router is at home plugging the parents network. Sure I could ask for it back as it’s mine and they only have one computer on there now anyway but then I also want wireless at home because I’m home every weekend for work and I would need a new switch even if I could live without wireless as I would need to at least plug in to a wired network at home as that is what my new laptop is all about – being able to work absolutely anywhere. I can carry it anywhere, it has a battery that can last for an entire day away (or indeed an entire weekend at home given I will be working for most of it and so it won’t be turned on a lot of the time).

So yeah, I can’t wait for it to arrive, it’s going to be awesome. I really loved my first laptop when I got it even though it was far from ultraportable but I loved being able to go anywhere with it. Now that I can jack into wireless networks (which cover most of uni) and will once again have something with a battery life I’m really going to enjoy the mobility I lost when my last laptop’s battery gave up and just went and hid under a rock.

As with most of the level 2 SoC students I’m currently burried under a sea of coursework. With coursework in every single module now there is a lot to get through and I haven’t really had time to do it given how much I am working at the moment.

The thing is though – coursework is very stressful. Uni on the whole is stressful. You are constantly having things thrown at you. For my AI21 coursework I have to write a program that will detect edges in an image. Where do I even start with that? There is a lot to be said for jobs where you just turn up, do your work and go home again.

So I went to work on Friday, walked on shift about 9pm, there were about 10 people there and I realised I was the second oldest. How depressing is that! Then yesterday I did my day shift and headed back to uni for Wendy House. I joined B, Sophie and Michelle at their pre-Wendy drinking session at which people were getting somewhat wasted, especially by the time we left for Wendy at 11ish.

As ever it provided a solid night. The music was a bit off but then they did end the night with Crazy. Also I met some cool new people and woke up with a comedian recommendation written across my arm.