December 03, 2010
December 01, 2010
links for 2010-11-30
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"We don't selfishly hoard images for ourselves. We're more interested in sharing the inspiration, website and artist behind the work."
November 29, 2010
November 28, 2010
November 27, 2010
November 24, 2010
links for 2010-11-23
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FreeTrade Ireland is a unique public service allowing you to pass on and pick-up items free of charge. Get involved today and start saving money and protecting your environment.
November 20, 2010
November 17, 2010
November 15, 2010
links for 2010-11-14
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Comic with an Asian girl and her kitty cat... adorably drawn
November 13, 2010
November 10, 2010
November 09, 2010
November 08, 2010
November 06, 2010
November 05, 2010
November 04, 2010
November 03, 2010
November 02, 2010
October 07, 2010
links for 2010-10-06
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Via Dave Gibbon's tweet -- "And a link here to the PDF notes of what must have been a great drawing lecture"
September 16, 2010
September 10, 2010
September 09, 2010
September 08, 2010
September 01, 2010
August 30, 2010
links for 2010-08-29
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[...] pearls of wisdom and rick-rackery by run-on sentence maker Sarah Neuburger who runs this online shop called The Small Object.
August 27, 2010
August 25, 2010
August 24, 2010
August 15, 2010
July 30, 2010
July 28, 2010
July 27, 2010
July 21, 2010
July 12, 2010
July 07, 2010
June 28, 2010
June 21, 2010
June 20, 2010
May 15, 2010
May 14, 2010
May 12, 2010
May 11, 2010
May 07, 2010
April 29, 2010
April 28, 2010
April 25, 2010
April 21, 2010
links for 2010-04-20
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Girls in Tech is a social network enterprise focused on the engagement, education and empowerment of like-minded, professional, intelligent and influential women in technology.
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She’s Geeky gives women in technology an opportunity to get together and discuss the unique issues they face in their respective fields. Hosting unConferences across the United States, She’s Geeky aims to inspire women technologists in the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields, provide a space for women geeks to create enduring communities, and foster collaboration and innovation among peers.
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» Johnny TV’s 10 Must-See UX Videos Johnny Holland – It's all about interaction » Blog Archive
April 20, 2010
April 10, 2010
March 19, 2010
March 16, 2010
Dublin still pricey to live in
Well, we all know that, espec now. According to The Economist, Dublin is ranked 18th, down from 11th last year. Well, not sure if that makes me feel better about it, okay, maybe a teeny-weeny bit.
March 06, 2010
March 05, 2010
links for 2010-03-04
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Fast-paced, fun, thought-provoking, social, local, global—Ignite is all of these and more. It's a high-energy evening of 5-minute talks by people who have an idea—and the guts to get onstage and share it with their hometown crowd. Run by local volunteers who are connected through the global Ignite network, Ignite is a force for raising the collective IQ and building connections in each city. And, via streaming and archived videos of local talks, local Ignites share all that knowledge and passion with the world.
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Robots.ie was born fully grown to non-robotic parents. Doctors were baffled, society frowned upon it. Forced to leave home at a young age it walked the tubes of the internet doing monotonous odd jobs for hosting fees. Eventually robots.ie settled down at a domain which it egomaniacally named after itself. It had one dream hardwired into its circuits, to provide a place where the people of Ireland could share their robotic ideas, learn to build robots of their own and be blissfully happy. Previously it wanted to become self-aware and rule the people of Ireland as their robotic overlord, but an accidental brush with a giant magnet removed such ideas.
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March 04, 2010
February 26, 2010
links for 2010-02-25
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Like, Python was created by Jonathan Howard in February 2010 while drinking and reviewing code for an upcoming project with a coworker. At a certain point, higher-level explanations devolved into just flat-out reading Python code like they were actually speaking the language normally - complete with like's, um's, whatever's, etc - making it completely awesome for work.
February 25, 2010
February 24, 2010
links for 2010-02-23
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Eclectic Micks are a collection of Irish professional comic book artists. They include Stephen Mooney (Angel; After the Fall), Stephen Thompson (Star Trek; New Frontier, Presidential Material: John McCain), PJ Holden (Fearless, 2000AD) Nick Roche (Transformers, Doctor Who), Will Sliney (Farscape), Bob Byrne (Mr. Amperduke, 2000AD) and Declan Shalvey (28 Days Later, Frankenstein)
February 19, 2010
February 13, 2010
February 06, 2010
February 02, 2010
February 01, 2010
January 31, 2010
January 30, 2010
January 27, 2010
January 26, 2010
January 22, 2010
January 20, 2010
January 18, 2010
January 14, 2010
January 13, 2010
January 11, 2010
January 06, 2010
Jan 2nd - Snow in Phoenix Park
And on other news, there's snow business like salt business, salt sales increased due to householders salting their own driveways - http://www.independent.ie/national-news/salt-sales-double-as-householders-tackle-icy-paths-2000661.html
January 04, 2010
January 01, 2010
December 31, 2009
December 27, 2009
December 24, 2009
December 23, 2009
links for 2009-12-22
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Get Convert Numbers to Words (Python) at SourceForge.net
December 10, 2009
TGIF, happy, happy, happiness ahoy!
Aside from a pretty successful Python Ireland Xmas meetup last night (and if you are on Facebook, you may or may not see the photos), I was really ecstatic to find out that first time buyer's incentive has been increase till 2017, huzzah! Some good news from the Budget 2010. Most Irish people were rejoicing with cheaper booze, although a friend of mine did say that if you buy 49 pints, you get the 50th for free. Heh, so imo, people will be pissed and pissed off.
December 02, 2009
links for 2009-12-01
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Open Multilingual Dictionary and Software Message Database, you can find meanings and translations of words and sentences in many other languages easily at our home page without signup
November 12, 2009
November 10, 2009
October 03, 2009
September 23, 2009
Mushroom, mushroom
There's a high demand for mushrooms apparently. What's weird was my mom commented the same thing, but more on the catering level. She was wondering why so many customers order so many dishes with mushrooms last Saturday. Coincidental, I think not.
And not a badger in sight.
P.S. It defo couldn't be because of this.
September 16, 2009
September 07, 2009
September 06, 2009
September 05, 2009
September 02, 2009
August 28, 2009
July 15, 2009
Kids nowadays
Overheard while I was on the number 37 bus from town. Some kids (okay, they were in their early 20s, still kids to me) were discussing the finer points of helping the less well off. It was running up to the festival season, and the girl commented that the guy (whom she is talking to) can bring his old wellies to the venue and get in exchange a new pair of wellies... for free. The guy commented that it does not make sense, well, the way he says it "That's stupid, isn't it?". I was bracing for further cringey comment when he asked why do something like that, it's not benefiting the people giving away the wellies. Here comes the kicker, she replied that it provides the poor countries with jobs. Now you are thinking... "Huh?!?!?", right? She further goes on with her theory of being open and charitable that by donating old, stinky wellies, these wellies are processed by the people in the poorer countries to fix and clean the wellies up, thus providing them jobs. I nearly pissed myself laughing when I heard that. I was waiting for a sensible reply from the guy, come on, any decent normal person would think that is the most idealistic, rose-tinted glasses way of helping those less fortunate than us. He actually agreed it was a good idea. *shakes head Oh well, what can I say...? By the way, Mick was sitting with me that day.
Now about those emo kids... jaysus, would they ever eat something, but that's another whole rant altogether...
Things that make me smile...
Ok, apart from my hubby, Mick. Had a crappy day yesterday and I saw this conversation between PVP and Gabe from Penny Arcade on Twitter which made my day.
pvponline:Holy crap! San Diego is just a week away. I can't wait to see all
you guys out there. We are going to have such a BLAST!!!! Who's going?(link)
cwgabriel:@pvponline I am! Maybe while we are there we can get matching tattoos! BFF! (link)
pvponline: @cwgabriel Dude, let's each get half of the superman symbol on our arms. Then when we stand back to back WE are Superman! (link)
cwgabriel: @pvponline no, that's stupid. (link)
July 10, 2009
July 08, 2009
links for 2009-07-07
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Illegal Danish: Super Snacks still my fav! :D
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Yay, didn't realise the sequel was out! :D
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June 05, 2009
links for 2009-06-04
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Embed flash (overlay), expose, tool tips, tabs, etc. It's fast, and it's free.
May 26, 2009
links for 2009-05-25
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Waah, life-sized Katamari. Well, not quite, but funky hack nonetheless. :)
May 23, 2009
May 20, 2009
May 15, 2009
May 13, 2009
links for 2009-05-12
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tenderme.ie is a website that allows people post tenders for personal or commercial use.
May 12, 2009
May is the time...
Well, it's the month my youngest brother's birthday falls on. As it happens, the communions are on, so we had problems in the past, especially last year trying to book a cake, even three days in advance. The cakes we get from Ivan's are really fresh, last year's one was less on the freshness side. This year, I went to pick up the cake in the morning around 10.30am, there was hardly any customers. The cashiers were twiddling their thumbs. I picked up the cake, checked for a newspaper to pick up near the cashiers, and a lady asked if I minded she'll take those to her counter so I can pay for them. I walked past the 3/4 cashiers looking at me, around the corner to the lady's counter and paid for the items. It must have been a really slow morning. When the cake was cut by my brother after the usual Happy Birthday song and blowing out of candles, I took a bite out of my slice of cake.... mmmmm, really fresh and fluffy. Delish! I bet you anything, that it's something to do with the recession, parents are not forking out a fortune for communions this year. Sure enough, I read this today in the Indo, Communion cash to be sacrificed amid downturn.
May 07, 2009
May 06, 2009
May 01, 2009
April 28, 2009
links for 2009-04-27
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Primary and Secondary school (Mick went to the latter).
April 23, 2009
April 21, 2009
links for 2009-04-20
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Export django-comments to Disqus. Dump comments from Disqus to JSON.
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April 17, 2009
April 14, 2009
Go figure...
On Saturday, Mick and I decided to go and look for flooring at Brooks Thomas at Bluebell, turns out that they were not open, and we are guessing, because of Easter.
So we decided to check out Homebase, just out of curiousity, and found them rather lacking (who would have thunk, ay?). Anyhoo, we trundled back into town, by LUAS of course. Went to O'Hagan Designs on Capel Street, and it was a bit bare. We were told by the shop assistant at the time that they just fitted out 30 apartments, and are due new furniture in 2 weeks. I was still impressed with the quality of furniture though. Then I saw this in the news this morning, they are folding, what timing, and just our luck. It's probably too late to pick up bargains, all the furniture we saw there were all sold to someone already.
Anyway, before I knew what was going to happen to O'Hagan's, we went down the quays towards Hanover quay. Bob Bushell's was another place we were recommended, and guess what? It's moved to Park West. Oh noes....
Although across the Liffey, we went to another furniture shop in The CHQ building called The environment furniture, so some nice stuff there as well.
All-in-all, a half-half sort of day for us in regards to furniture and flooring browsing.
April 09, 2009
That burning smell
I was wondering why there was a strong whiff of burning plastic when I left the apartment yesterday morning. The reason being, an epic fire was raging at a recycling plant yesterday and was ongoing for 15 hours, according to the indo.
April 06, 2009
March 26, 2009
links for 2009-03-25
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Leinster Driving Campus is dedicated to providing the very best driver training available. Our purpose built facility is the first of its kind in Ireland with over 2 kms of total road length based on a private 5 acre site.
March 25, 2009
Dreamhost moving my account to new server
Heads up that my site will be down sometime in the next 72 hours (or so). Hopefully it'll be faster on the new server, and nothing will break.
March 24, 2009
March 22, 2009
March 19, 2009
This just reminds me of something I saw recently
Saw The Irish Times today that estate agents may go into selling repossessed houses. Was wondering why there wasn't anything I could find on repossessed houses in Ireland, you can find them aplenty on U.S. sites. This article also reminded me of this ad I saw on a U.K. commercial about selling repossessed houses via this site. It was a brash, shouting-at-you to go and buy a house ad, also reminded me of those old Cilit Bang ads (I think Harvey Norman has taken the shouting and buying over from Cilit Bang nowadays).
Well, now I know that there will be a service to buy repossessed houses.
March 18, 2009
March 10, 2009
links for 2009-03-09
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Can customer order Cookie monster cupcakes from this crowd. Nom nom nom. :)
March 04, 2009
March 03, 2009
links for 2009-03-02
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My dad would bring all his friends and visiting relatives to. It's been awhile since I was there, but oysters are top notch at Moran's.
February 25, 2009
February 24, 2009
February 22, 2009
February 21, 2009
February 15, 2009
links for 2009-02-14
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Fastest online editor (well, being able to handle 80k+ lines and still edit without slowing down is pretty amazing!). Still wip, but well worth playing with.
February 12, 2009
February 11, 2009
links for 2009-02-10
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Southwest Airlines "will test high-speed broadband wi-fi Internet connections for passengers on one aircraft and is set to equip three additional aircraft by early March with the satellite technology."
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February 10, 2009
February 06, 2009
Them estate agents... story continues
Well, an agent has been trying to ring me, it's not helped by the fact that I kept missing his calls. Plus he did not leave a message. Anyway, the reason was I was suppose to view a certain house, and someone has put an offer in, 420K for a house that is marked for 450K (asking price). He said the vendor was not happy (not sure why he told me this), and asked if I still wanted to view this house. More so, and to the point, if I was to make an offer, would I go higher? Of course, I declined to disclose anything, apart from the fact that my husband needs to be partake in this type of conversation. I told him to let the vendor and buyer go ahead with what they are doing. I can hear the disappointment in his voice, even though he was trying to sound cheery about it.
Seriously, I am not going to bid up on a house where house prices are falling. That's just ludicrous, "take it or leave it" will be our thinking when we put down our offer.
The world is nigh... but look on the positive side
With grim news of more layoffs, latest I just read in the Indo about Erricson laying off 300 people. At least the interest rate is due for another cut next month (doesn't stop me thinking about when interest rate and inflation willl sky-rocket in the near future).
Some good news, the Irish government is finalising a deal with mortgage providers to advise and hold out on legal proceedings if homeowners gone into arrears.
My husband and I are still house-hunting, it's a strange time for us. Getting a mortgage and a house when so many are losing their jobs, but let's not forget that there are new jobs created as well. The media is not helping with all their one-sided coverage.
January 31, 2009
Fireworks tonight?
Has been going on for the last few minutes, and was curious what it was about. I looked it up generally and see what special celebrations are on 31st Jan, and I initially found that it was National Gorilla suit day?!? Hmm, ok, that doesn't warrant Dublin to have fireworks, especially that woeful New Year's display (or lack thereof) on RTE, they had no fireworks. So what's the big deal, I found it (thanks to the internet). It's the GAA celebrating 125 years with Croker. Curiosity satisfied. :)
January 28, 2009
Them Estate Agents part deux
So, following on from my last post about them, I have something sort of positive. If I want to view a place, actually specify the date because normally I just enquire if I can view a property on weeknights and/or weekends. This time, the estate agent replied, wahoo.
The estate agent sounds kind of desperate as well, snips of the email:
If this suits you -please may I have your contact address.
Great, spamtastic via the mailbox now.
Here is the good part:
Also would you indicate if you are cash buyers, or indeed if you would have something to sell yourselves down the line.
And the finale:
Kind regards and await your confirmation
Await my confirmation, that was just too much. The estate agent is certainly, almost to nice to be true. Well, I will have to see when I meet the estate agent next weekend.
Hope all the rest are like that.
January 25, 2009
links for 2009-01-24
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Handy, importing your google notebook stuff to evernote. And it's real easy too.
January 23, 2009
links for 2009-01-22
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It's in Dublin tomorrow (thu 22 2009) - Tis a new movement indeed. :)
January 20, 2009
links for 2009-01-20
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Opened by an Irish man, hired a good Chinese chef. Still have to try it though, saw this on City Channel.
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Covers Django 1.0, still WIP.
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Online RPG and it's free. Full of witty humour, and its currency is meat!
January 19, 2009
Them Estate Agents... *grrr*
Estate agents (EAs) whine on how the property crash is affecting them, their multi-million Euro houses are not selling as well as they hoped for their clients, well boo-hoo for them. Are they actually worth their salt? Given that I am actively looking for a house, I have contacted numourous EAs (as they seem to be the main ones updating daft.ie and myhome.ie) and apart fro the odd reply of someone getting in contact with you, that's about it really. I really don't want to drop into the EAs offices just so I can enquire about property which I just viewed online, and supposed handy services online to contact agents to avoid me dropping into them in the first place. What's the point? They are not doing their jobs. I was making excuses right up to Christmas for them, EAs are working fewer days, EAs were being let go, early holidays, etc. Now it's halfway through January, and there is no let up in disappointments on the lack of return calls.
I have to say, I'm not the only experiencing this EA-ignoring-potential-clients-just-because-of-their-cockiness, my father-in-law (apartment hunting) found that he would get promises of return calls, even when he rang them up. These were big name EAs like Lisney.
In this climate, I know people would not be sympathetic to us property hunting, in my circumstances, I have been scrimping and saving with my hubby to get to a stage where we have our own desposit for a house. We avoided the crazy you-must-be-on-the-property-ladder business the last few years. It just feels the right time for us, as finally, the wait is over.
The problem is, can we actually get any vendors or EAs to return our calls? I would have thought this would have been the lesser of two evils, the other one is talking to mortgage advisors.
January 18, 2009
Tony Hart dies at 83
He was one of the people who inspired me to draw (even though none of my pictures got picked out for the Hart Gallery). I loved Morph, even tried to make my own while I was in school, but it got all squished in the pencil case, what with all the pencils, rubbers, and whatnot in there. He first appeared in 1977, the year I was born, wow, that was a long time ago. And I really couldn't believe he was teaching kids how to draw on telly for 50 years.
(Source: BBC News Online)
UPDATE: Even Stephen Fry tweeted about it.
January 17, 2009
January 16, 2009
links for 2009-01-15
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Gary Chang, architect in HK, redesigned a small cramped old family flat into a room that can be changed 24-ways with partitions.
January 13, 2009
links for 2009-01-12
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Rent a cat for an hour, or a dog? How about a beetle, or a University female student, relatives!?!? You heard correctly, Cat Cafes, Campus Cafes, etc. and companies such as ones named "I Want To Cheer Up Limited" who set up these services and more to help lonely Japanese.
January 12, 2009
January 11, 2009
links for 2009-01-10
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"""I’ll take you well beyond the official documentation, darting in and out of Django’s mysterious inner workings, demystifying it along the way, and illustrating useful ways to bend Django to your will in ways you probably never thought possible.""" -- Marty Alchin
January 10, 2009
January 09, 2009
Note to self...
Joys of being married.... when husband says "I'm only out for a pint after work", it actually means "I won't be back for dinner even though I did not tell you, or will I ever either, I'll be enjoying myself with my friends with my many pints, so deal with it". Hmmm, I think I am so right on so many levels, that's what goes on in my head when I get promises of dinner together in the evenings. I think I hit a new level of being a wife, at least when I do have a kid, I have company in the evenings. /end rant
links for 2009-01-08
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What is it? Who's best for the job? General article in Irish Times about it. Still no official price of getting a BER cert for a house though.
January 07, 2009
January 06, 2009
January 05, 2009
links for 2009-01-04
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Nice kitchenware, can buy the products in BT. Have not checked where else you can get them in Dublin. Got some of their stuff in the sale.
January 03, 2009
January 02, 2009
January 01, 2009
links for 2008-12-31
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See, female computer scientists exists. :)
December 31, 2008
December 25, 2008
December 20, 2008
December 19, 2008
links for 2008-12-18
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So Wil likes 4th Ed, and he played with who!?!? Lucky guy.
December 18, 2008
December 17, 2008
December 12, 2008
December 07, 2008
links for 2008-12-06
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CIE -- which includes Dublin Bus, Bus Eireann and Iarnrod Eireann -- had sought a 20pc increase and last night Mr Dempsey approved a hike of 10pc which will see Dublin Bus fares rising by 10 cents for an adult and 5 cents for a child. Train fares on DART, commuter and inter-city services are expected to increase by 10pc across the board, with similar increases for Bus Eireann.
December 06, 2008
December 03, 2008
links for 2008-12-02
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Pownce is no more. Not that I've been using it at all though. Another one bites the dust.
December 02, 2008
links for 2008-12-01
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Venus, Jupiter and the moon
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Seriously, it's really, really cold at the moment. This would be nice to have. wink wink.
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December 01, 2008
This is me in Venice with my hubby last year.
I'm just glad there was no flooding while we (Mick, Mick's dad and I) were there. We were very lucky.
Ref article - [BBC online]Venice is hit by serious flooding
November 27, 2008
links for 2008-11-26
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Pulling sickies? You'll need a "Fit note", not a sick note in UK by 2010.
November 26, 2008
And I thought I was bad
I was looking up online about areas around Dublin, where else to go initially? To boards.ie, of course. Anyhow, some of the posters have trouble composing a sentence or two (or more).
See this for example:
i must say swords aint reli rough but jesis d amount o wanabe scumbags round der is disgraceful haha i live in skeries meself quiet nuf but our own lil counsil estate mourne veiw isn a place ul go nyt or day in a hurry
Next reply:
Is your keyboard broken?
Then the following response was funny from another poster:
Translation: I must say, Swords isn't really rough, but Jesus, the amount of wannabe scumbags around there is disgraceful, haha. I live in Skerries myself. It's quiet enough, but our own little council estate, Mourne View, isn't a place you'd go, night or day in a hurry!
November 25, 2008
links for 2008-11-24
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After witnessing an alien monster being smashed through several blocks of buildings by another monster in the name of fun and all in the comfort of your own home, this seems fun. The only drawback is that it's pretty expensive, EUR50 for a start box and EUR10 for extra random bits and bobs.
November 21, 2008
links for 2008-11-20
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International visitors to the U.S. from Visa Waiver Program countries may now apply for travel authorization online. The tool is easy to use, free of charge and available in 16 languages.
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November 20, 2008
links for 2008-11-19
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Hopefully this will get rid of dodgy rental properties. I definitely have been in some.
November 19, 2008
November 18, 2008
November 17, 2008
November 12, 2008
November 10, 2008
November 09, 2008
links for 2008-11-08
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List of auctioneer and estate agents on the National Property Services Regulatory Authority website
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November 07, 2008
November 06, 2008
November 05, 2008
November 04, 2008
links for 2008-11-03
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Or EUR10. Imagine being on a transatlantic Ryanair flight to US... cringe.
November 03, 2008
links for 2008-11-02
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Cool and simple to use and it works. Nice green arrow to tell you where things are.
November 01, 2008
October 31, 2008
links for 2008-10-30
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My fav dip in the whole world, ginger and spring onion dip... yum yum yum. :)
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Huzzah for free software... and Python! See the design that won the Dutch five Euro coin design comp.
October 29, 2008
links for 2008-10-28
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Great for locating where everything and everyone.
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Up to 375
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Sinopop is an alternative site documenting Chinese popular culture, film, and books from China. It is an independent platform for criticism, art texts in translations and anything else that might help contextualize art from today’s dynamic China.
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"Home Choice Loan is a mortgage provided through a number of local authorities for First Time Buyers who can not get sufficent finance from a bank or building society.
Home Choice Loan will provide up to 92% of the market value of a property purchased. The maximum loan amount will be €285,000. The loan is a normal Capital and interest bearing mortgage which is repaid on a monthly basis.
The mortgage term will be for a maximum of 30 years. Home Choice Loan will only be available for newly built homes."
October 28, 2008
October 27, 2008
October 26, 2008
JoCo rocks @ Whelan's
First of all, it was fantastic to see JoCo live again. Although I must admit the "Oirish" crowd was much more fun to watch with than with the PAX crowd (PAX crowd were great too). The intimate settings of Whelan's, i.e. we are up close and personal with JoCo. The Irish witty heckling seemingly tickled him no end, and he even lost track of where he was singing once or twice (see video for re. your brain's one). I wonder what he thinks of Irish fans now, with coconut and monkey puppet signings!?! A maths fight broke out at one point after his mandelbrot song, it was all so fantastic. I quipped with hyperactive joy when I realised he was going to play Mr. Fancy Pants. I cannot believe he played "Oh Danny Boy"! Although most folks tried to murmur the song. All in all, a brill experience, especially when the crowd knew almost all of the songs and he pretty much had to sing louder over all of us. I hope he comes back, either that I could still catch him on the UK tour or even PAX next year. Funny thing about the Re. You Brains part was that most of the audience did not pretend to be zombies, except for a few of us (yes, I was flailing and groaning the chorus). I think he likes Ireland though. :)
Anyhoo, a taste of what happened that evening:
links for 2008-10-25
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Gabe on qn about fear of E3 stealing their thunder from PAX: "Just yesterday we accidentally left some of our thunder in our pants and then they went into the washing machine and the thunder got ruined. It wasn't a big deal to us, though, because we have plenty more thunder."
October 21, 2008
October 18, 2008
links for 2008-10-17
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Garlic and oysters... mmm, my favs. :)
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Just curious to see if this works best or that expensive digital ovulation kit from Clearblue...
October 17, 2008
October 16, 2008
links for 2008-10-15
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The dangers of social networking, young teenager's gullibility and a prank that could have ended wrong. At least she has learnt her lesson after travelling to meet her "Bebo friends". For me, most of my friends on Bebo and Facebook are real friends from meeting them in real life. It's my way of keping in touch.
October 15, 2008
October 13, 2008
links for 2008-10-12
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Still need to see confirmation that some boss characters will have their HP reduced for the transition from TBC to TLK.
October 11, 2008
October 10, 2008
links for 2008-10-09
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More fun stuff to read from Kotaku. Aww, isn't it sweet. Check out what Cliff "Dude Huge" Bleszinski (Epic Games Design Director: Gears of War), David Jaffe (founder EatSleepPlay: God of War) and Mark Pacini (Game Director Armature Studio - Metroid Prime) advice to a 7 year old. :)
October 08, 2008
October 06, 2008
October 03, 2008
October 02, 2008
October 01, 2008
September 30, 2008
September 29, 2008
September 26, 2008
September 25, 2008
links for 2008-09-24
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Videos of talks by folks from Python Ireland user group.
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September 24, 2008
September 23, 2008
links for 2008-09-22
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The guy who played some great songs outside convention centre at PAX 2008.
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The guys who played outside convention centre at PAX 2008. Great stuff. See video at kotaku: http://tinyurl.com/48olf9
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The guys who played outside convention centre at PAX 2008. Great stuff. See video at kotaku: http://tinyurl.com/48olf9
September 21, 2008
September 20, 2008
links for 2008-09-19
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Not a fan of pink? How about a pony in blue or green or even red? :)
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Still waiting for Monkey Island 5, try this, you might like it.
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September 19, 2008
links for 2008-09-18
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From a review: "“The premise behind Roam's book is simple: anybody with a pen and a scrap of paper can use visual thinking to work through complex business ideas."
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September 18, 2008
September 17, 2008
links for 2008-09-16
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People were talking about this in PyConUK after a few bevvies and said it's really addictive and fun.
September 16, 2008
links for 2008-09-15
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Stack Overflow is a collaboratively edited question and answer site for programmers — regardless of platform or language. Jump in and share your software engineering expertise! No registration or account required.
September 15, 2008
links for 2008-09-14
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3 film shorts made with a handicam in HK. Short and sweet. :)
September 14, 2008
links for 2008-09-13
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The premise of the system is ideally suited to rapid prototyping, but it would work equally well when integrated into a production environment. There are printable sketch sheets, design layouts, and a CSS file that have identical measurements.
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September 13, 2008
September 12, 2008
links for 2008-09-11
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When you post a pic, can be tweeted as well. Can be marked as public or private, and send pics via email. Dead easy. :)
September 11, 2008
September 09, 2008
PAX 2008 - More reminiscing
I'm happy with the swag we got at PAX this year. I queued up straight away when I got to the exhib halls on the first day of PAX. Lucky I did, they were out of PAX 08 tees and others stuff by Saturday evening.
The special PAX Razer mouse Mick got was cool:
And the collectors of Penny Arcade's first game, Precipice of Darkness:
(Both images from Kotaku.)
Most of our swag was bought or given on the 1st day:
And yes, we even got the Fallout 3's Vault Boy puppet as seen in http://www.joystiq.com/2008/08/31/pax-2008-the-vault-boy-puppet/.
A few people have been blogging how PAX can be improved (here and here and here for example). I hope the overlaps of certain events like demos, panels, Q&As as well as the long queues are resolved for next year. 5 hours queuing the first day was epic, and was not that enjoyable. Ok, people falling over themselves to get a blue band to get into the concert on Friday was funny:
Although in the end, we got our blue bands without doing anything. A few cosplayers were taking our attentions away from our tired and sore limbs from standing or sitting on the hard floor:
And not forgetting the Cookie Brigade who sold cookies and manage to raise $5000 for Child's Play.
There were good suggestions voiced out at PA's Q&A sessions, like having a Child's Play auction at future PAXis (apparently Tycho approves of the use of "PAXis suggested by a fan). And for all those dads who thinks that gaming is a waste of time, direct them to Child's Play (just re-iterating what Gabe said at the Q&A).
I don't think the smell was that bad, as mentioned by some bloggers, but I was lucky not being stuck with ones they mentioned. One other thing, they should have designated areas for charging DS', PSPs, laptops, etc. When over 50K (I mentioned 60K before, I was incorrect, I was guessing at the time as everyone was saying it was double the amount from last year's PAX) nerds attend a gaming festival, there are bound to be a lot of portable consoles and laptops. While we were queuing for an event in the main hall, it was announced that items will be confiscated if people were caught using the power outlets in the convention centre. Hours waiting in line, what did they expect, anyway, people honoured the announcement, and no more crowds of people around a power source that pocketed the convention centre. One thing I found funny, was the gun they were giving away (we did not get one as we were busy queuing) was not allowed to be used in the centre as they are a weapon. Sheesh, they should have asked the security in the place, give gamers a gun and hours of wait time, what did you think would happen?
And it sometimes feels good when photos taken (mainly by Mick) are good quality especially when you come across an article such as this one by Joystiq and compare to Mick's pic:
Again I cannot emphasise on the queuing side of PAX, at least we were having a nice dinner when these guys were in line at 10:30pm the night before PAX opened. We wandered in at 10'ish I think, after brekkie. We love PA, but there are limits. (Ok, Mick got sigs off Tycho and Gabe after their second Q&A, got to take a photo of that and put it up).
September 07, 2008
September 05, 2008
links for 2008-09-04
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Excellent animation on Adult Swim, just so happen to be on when I was flicking through channels in the hotel room. :)
September 04, 2008
Tis my B-Day!
It's great getting Facebooked with Happy B-day wishes from all my friends from my Sun, Propylon days and friends from college. It's great. Got the "old skool" HB wishes via emails, SMS' and also just saying it to me person to person. Got tweeted as well. Heehee. It's great to be connected to friends who I have not seen for a long time and who are in different parts of the world. Technology, huh! :)
Oh, and I purchased Photoshop CS3 (after Mick had problems with his VISA again, he forgot to tell them he is in the States for another week, VISA is getting annoying at this stage). One thing, I checked the receipt and they had my email address, it's so freaky. I got back and I got the receipt via email from Apple. Efficient and freaky...
links for 2008-09-03
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Alteil is a story-driven online card dueling game with art by Japan's most talented fantasy artists!
September 02, 2008
links for 2008-09-01
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"Animation needs man's drawing hand, which is why I will continue to use the pencil for as long as I can." - Miyazaki
September 01, 2008
Looking back at PAX 2008
From the overwhelming amount of people attending PAX this year to my utter disgust at Freezepop's inability to perform without your ears bleeding to immense pleasure of witnessing Gabe's artistic talents at work in creating Monday's panel (which unfortunately won't be seen till Gabe's machine is fixed, but that's ok as I have a video of it to remind me what it was like, and you can check out the photo of the final image at the make-a-panel). Who can forget the many, many DS' and laptops shining out during the gig, and Jonathan Coultan's act was fantastic, the Portal song and the Zombies were my highlights. Audience participation is a must for full enjoyment.
From phrases like "Whooo-oo" to "Yea-aah!" to "Awesome" was the main vocab for some odd reason. It's not like nerds/geeks are not educated or anything, it felt like they are either rednecks or surfer dudes (and yes, dude was mentioned somewhere out there).
The moment of Jerry tying the mic chord around Mike's neck to get the Pacman watch given by a fan was funny, Mick did not get a shot of that, we'll need to wait for the PAX 08 DVD to come out to see that again. Another thing I've never experienced before (apart from it being my first time at a gamers convention) was the use of PictoChat on the DS. It's fantastic up to a point where people were populating it with wangs and arses. Although I was happy when I drew (or tried to) a stick figure version of the portal slide and got Portal responses from the people around.
And finally some pics from PAX can be found at here
August 31, 2008
You know you are at a gamer's conference..
...when everyone played Rockband in expert mode!
PAX 2008 so far
It's fun reading what Kotaku has written from where they have been in PAX so far, but I'm surprise that they did not get into Fallout 3 demo. There are a few jerks milling around PAX, but you have to remember, that there are more than 60K wandering around the main convention centre and across the road where the table top games are. So it's the minority, but somehow it's the minority that sticks in some of what you remember. They normally heckle, draw wangs and arses in DS' Pictochat, and walk into you without apologising (my brother found that they think that they are larger than you that you will get out of their way, and yes). Mostly, people around are normal people having a good time, some dressed up in their cosplay finest (one as Yumi kindly took a pic with my brother in exchange for a badge, if you collect enough of these special PAX badges you get some free swag). Beanbags are everywhere, I have not succumb to sitting on these yet, or else I would not have moved at all if I did.
I think the main thing people will remember are the long queues. 5 hours was accumulated on Friday, it was not so bad on Saturday, just 1 hour for Fallout 3. I did not bother queuing for Jonathan Coultan's or PA's signing.
Friday night's gig was good apart from the shagging Freezepops! They suck donkeys, the main singer, she was trying too hard to be a punkish, while the music was retro 80s. As Mick puts it, the music was cute... for the first 10 minutes. It was grinding after that, and we had to endure one and a half hours before Jonathan Coultan came on stage. It was so bad, people were leaving the gig, at least that meant we were able to shuffle closer for Coultan's gig (aside from the ears bleeding from FP). I'm glad Kotaku did not like them either. Oh, the first performers, Oneups were quite good, it's just funky, jazz covers of games music. They had vids of the games on either side of the big screens.
Now all I have to do is pick out some pics and post them up on Flickr (they are on Mick's account at the moment).
August 29, 2008
August 27, 2008
August 23, 2008
August 19, 2008
July 30, 2008
July 29, 2008
July 28, 2008
May 23, 2008
MT4.0 - What I think of it
Ok, I just installed MT4.0 to see what's so different on it, since I have not checked new blogging tools for awhile. The set up was painless, also thanks to Dreamhost for its easy-to-setup mysql databases.
What started this off was checking what the "export" does in MT2.6. It gave me a wee (or big enough) text file. So I was wondering what it would look like in MT4.0. So off I went to download it and copied to my server space. Ran the setup, as I said earlier, was a sinch. All in all, got my first blog post in, it was more automatically posted when I set up the blog.
I then imported the MT2.6 file, everything went swimmingly, and then realised that I needed to "publish" the site before anyone can see anything! It's that same age-old issue I had with MT, you have to publish everytime you did something, anything. Which is lame. In Wordpress, for example, I just post something and it publishes it (and can be draft if I wanted). The main thing is, it does not ask you to publish, republish every time you do something to an entry, templates, css, etc. In MT's case, it's publish, wait, check site, publish, wait... *sigh
Anyhoo, once I published some of my entries (as I have over 800 entries, and it kept timing out from the processing), it appeared fine when I viewed the site.
The admin interface has been vastly improved, they even have an editor that highlights the syntax and includes line numbers. Handy indeed. Erm, I wanted to include some code that is used to pull a list from a text file that is generated every few minutes or so, of posts from the Irish Born Chinese Forum. I figured out the widgets, nothing too taxing, and got it included (once I figured out where the widget goes). Published the templates, cos of the changes. Viewed the site, the latest entries from the forum appeared, huzzah!
The good news ends here, I noticed that the latest entries from the forum has not been updated, you have to republish the index pages for it to pick it up, which is not the point of pulling posts from the forum at all! It was find in MT2.6, it just pulls the file contents, but it seems to have changed in behaviour for MT4.0. I was hoping to switch to MT4.0, but this little setback is a little annoying. Maybe there is a way around it?
May 19, 2008
*sigh, now this is lame...
Subject line: Make Dad feel rad: $15 Mugs, shipping included!
That's right, "rad", who uses that phrase at all? I'm not a spring chicken, but I cringed when I saw that on the subject line. And which sp@m is this one from, Kodak Gallery, reminding people about the American Father's Day.
May 17, 2008
Ya "cyberslacker"!
Just came across this article about what's acceptable or not when it comes to internet usage during work. I agree that people should not be slacking off at work chatting to people on FaceBook/Bebo all the time, but that stands to reason. It's like you would get up to get coffee and bump into someone in the kitchen at work, you chat a bit, that is fine. I feel in moderation at work is fine, what annoys me are the games playing on the social networking sites more than anything else. Now don't get me wrong, I fall in the category of chatting people on IM, but I set my status to busy, so I don't get bugged all the time by friends, and I use it to look up stuff, mainly work-related. I do use it for personal banking (excuse of using part of the banking hour during work), quick check of my newsfeeds. I aim for lunchtime to do most of my catching up on news, if possible, that is why I sit at my desk eating lunch, and yes, on occassions, I do eat with my mates. Everyone has done it, check the emails their friends sends, and clicked on those links. I have learnt not to watch any videos, images sent at work, and made sure people I know tag the stuff as "NSFW" or "Not Safe For Work" on the subject line emails. I definitely stay away from those until I get home. It's the moderation, my excuse is that I need some time to ramp up when I first get into work. The main thing is, get your work done in time.
The last companies I worked in allowed the use of IM, it is really handy at work to get people's attention when it comes to asking questions, showing people how to do something,etc. I found using IM at work productive anyway. So according to the article,
[...] a ‘cyberslacker’, a term used for a lazy, unproductive employee who spends half the day checking Facebook and browsing eBay.
The report gave an example of a college graduate who was so use to being online 24/7, chatting to people, buying things, etc., that when she was in the work environment for the first time, she felt restricted. Ultimately she was banned from using the internet in the office and needs permission if she needs to use it for work-related tasks. What is interesting here is the transition of college to work environment. It was so different when I graduated back in '99, internet surfing was a pain at home and in college, it was dog-slow, so it was not a problem for me. Nowadays, I see students in the computer labs using Bebo and Facebook. It's so bad that some colleges have banned this usage. It's only fair for other people to use it to write their reports. If the students have their own laptops, which many do nowadays, they can go on these sites, so I think, surf on these sites on your own machine in college, don't take up space if you know many other people need it for their assignments. It's only common sense. How to get out of that habit when you go back to work? Is it any different to people travelling for a year and go back to work afterwards? I don't think so, it's just a different way for someone to adapt back to routine, and how to work in an office environment. If the contract stipulates it, obide by it, seek HR on what is acceptable. If manager warns you, take that into account. Use your noggin!
The report at the end suggests that maybe we are addicted to the internet.
So if you are logging on when cooking the dinner, or in the middle of the night, then you have crossed the line from internet abuse to full-blown addiction.
Well, call me an addict then. I use the computer constantly if it's nearby, for both browsing and doing personal projects. I'm not addicted to looking up porn though, I think that's another problem altogether. If I go on holidays, I can forget about the internet. The only thing is checking my email, I am worried that I miss some important emails. As long as I get to go online for a minute to scan my emails, I'm happy.
What about people who use their phones to go online to check the map, or where to go for food? Are they addicts as they thought of going online to look for information, or Twitter, blog, send Flickr pictures, etc? What constitutes to addiction to the internet? It's a tool we use constantly and has interweaved into our modern society and life itself. It's useful source of information, but please stop playing scrabble online with your mates at work, it bugs the living be-jaysus out of me, especially when I can see your screen!
May 12, 2008
May 10, 2008
links for 2008-05-10
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N. Dublin based business. Delivers fresh organic fruit and veg. Recommended by a friend.
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Fun puzzle
May 07, 2008
May 05, 2008
May 01, 2008
April 30, 2008
April 27, 2008
April 25, 2008
April 24, 2008
April 23, 2008
April 22, 2008
Twitter sp@m
Argh, I cannot avoid posting about this, it is so annoying. As some of you know, I'm on Twitter, but recently I have been getting followed by what looks like sp@mmers. Tell-tale signs, like names with 16xdvdmedia and its url links to a generic site with crap on it. At least there is a block option, but I wish Twitter will implement something to stop these people ruining another online tool. It's just like Reddit is going downhill as people are just posting digg-like or slashdotty stuff, and commenters are getting just as bad. It use to be so tecchie and nice folks are being pushed out. Now I'm reading Hacker News, just do a search for "Hacker News", and see what you think. 
April 20, 2008
links for 2008-04-20
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Enter Chinese, get Cantonese or Mandarin pinyin back. Great for reading Chinese articles.
April 19, 2008
Something's familiar
I don't work in the restaurant per sae any more, I use to help out yonks ago, but I came across this blog entry that sort of strikes a note from the stories my brothers would recount of the times when they dealt with customers in the restaurant. Cynical as the blog entry is, it's true about the beta-males, and the experiences of the cashier, definitely closer to the truth than the other parts of the entry. I wonder what prompted this person to write this though, he/she sounded a bit traumatised. Or just decided to ramble, just like what I am doing right now! :)
Aer Lingus ticket blunder
After their fiasco of not honouring 5 Euro tickets booked on Wednesday, Aer Lingus decided to honour them, but not the upgraded business seats, which was fair enough. What I found funny was in the Irish Independent papers yesterday, there was a Ryanair ad taking advantage of Aer Lingus' whoopsie.100,000 REAL (from) €5 SEATS. One-way, no hidden charges.I like it that they had the from (I put it in brackets) above the Euro symbol.
NO AER LINGUS "MISTAKES"
NO AER LINGUS FAKE OFFERS
NO AER LINGUS FUEL SURCHARGES
Oh, and here is their press release as well. They called Aer Lingus the high fares, way worse airline.
April 18, 2008
Tagging in the Indo
I've only just noticed that the Indo article pages look different, I'm seeing more links on the article pages. I moused over certain linked words, and realised they are tags. Here's an example, I clicked on "Menlo Park" and the link directs me to http://www.independent.ie/topics/Menlo+Park. Not sure when this happened, but it's not bad, great to see Irish news medias online are trying out new things.
UPDATE
Oh, so this is the crowd that handles all the linking of information, Inform.
Inform provides technology solutions for established media brands. We support editors and publishers by searching, organizing and linking content so your site can present even greater editorial breadth – and win more readers.
April 13, 2008
April 12, 2008
April 11, 2008
April 10, 2008
April 04, 2008
April 03, 2008
April 01, 2008
March 29, 2008
March 25, 2008
March 24, 2008
March 23, 2008
See, and friends say we were geek!
Guy proposes over Twitter. All we did was use Google docs and Google calendar to manage our wedding stuff, created our own wedding site with online RSVP (as well as the retro sending of invitations by snail mail).
March 22, 2008
links for 2008-03-22
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What cartoon characters would look like if they are really.. like Homer and Mario
March 21, 2008
March 20, 2008
March 19, 2008
March 18, 2008
March 17, 2008
March 15, 2008
March 13, 2008
March 11, 2008
March 10, 2008
March 09, 2008
March 08, 2008
March 07, 2008
March 05, 2008
links for 2008-03-05
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Woohoo, finally. Sun getting into Python
March 03, 2008
March 01, 2008
February 29, 2008
Tedfest
Tis mad, another Tedfest went by without me knowing! It's so windy out, I wonder have they taken in the roads. 
links for 2008-02-29
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Irish Web Technology Conference in Dublin, and Geek Girl's Dinner
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Scroll down and look for Geek Girl. Pity there is no proper link to the video.
February 26, 2008
February 25, 2008
February 20, 2008
If you want to be happy...
... just remember this little tune, it'll keep you smiling all day! I was extra happy yesterday with this in my head!
February 19, 2008
February 18, 2008
February 16, 2008
February 15, 2008
February 14, 2008
February 13, 2008
February 12, 2008
February 11, 2008
February 10, 2008
Just testing if the custom player works
...just the playlist of animations that will hopefully give me ideas for my own projects, both for college and personally.
Where did "whykay" come from?
I am not sure if I mentioned this before, but my nick whykay actually really means something. Why am I posting this now, well, after seeing What's the significance of your username?. Of course, I did not read 99% of the comments, the question itself was pretty obvious regarding my own one. It comes from my Chinese name, 韋岐, pronounced "Wei Kay". Initially I used I used "YK", since this was before the year 2000, my friends kept calling me "Y2K", it kind of got annoying after awhile, thankfully it stopped after year 2000, funnily enough! So I have adopted to using "whykay". I'm pretty sure if you do a Google search on that, you will find me. Unfortunately, I'm not the only whykay out there. Oh well, can't have everything, ay, at least I am the first on the Google search results.
February 09, 2008
February 08, 2008
links for 2008-02-08
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NSFW even tho it's only images of dolls!
February 06, 2008
February 05, 2008
February 04, 2008
February 03, 2008
Poor doggy!
Not sure why people do this to their dogs! See the piccie of the poor dog here, all I was doing was searching for "cute puppy" and one of the hits was this! Oh, the humanity.
February 02, 2008
February 01, 2008
January 31, 2008
January 30, 2008
January 29, 2008
January 28, 2008
Halifax drop-in useless
The whole point of opening an account with Halifax was to avail of their drop in service, talk to a person, not to be told to ring up some number. I should be able to do both, get information off the drop-in centre (not that they are busy anyway) and be able to ring up them up for it. Plus the girl with the blonde hair with a dark coloured pony tail was really not helpful at all! They were very nice when we opened up an account, but we received not one statement at the end of the year. That girl was so gruff answering me (pity I did not get her name, I dropped in today, I should have talked to the other girl, not sure if it made any difference though). Absolutely useless.
January 12, 2008
January 10, 2008
January 09, 2008
December 22, 2007
December 17, 2007
December 10, 2007
December 09, 2007
December 07, 2007
December 06, 2007
December 05, 2007
December 03, 2007
November 30, 2007
Lunch @ Leinster House
Heehee, my ex-work collegue manage to organise a table in the member's restaurant at Leinster House. The food was nice, and its prices were really good. I had to dress formally for this out of the ordinary event.
November 27, 2007
November 26, 2007
November 25, 2007
November 24, 2007
November 23, 2007
November 20, 2007
links for 2007-11-20
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If you took a picture of the Sun at the same time each day, would it remain in the same position?
November 14, 2007
November 13, 2007
November 12, 2007
November 07, 2007
November 05, 2007
November 01, 2007
October 28, 2007
October 27, 2007
October 23, 2007
October 22, 2007
links for 2007-10-22
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The Lancet Infectious Diseases, Volume 7, Issue 9, Pages 625-629
October 21, 2007
October 18, 2007
October 16, 2007
October 15, 2007
October 14, 2007
October 13, 2007
October 12, 2007
October 11, 2007
Got my Macbook
Woohoo! It suddenly appeared 2 days ago at my hubby's office. My delivery status was still Merged in GB transit! Um, I really think the couriers should update the statuses properly, I'm sure Apple does not appreciate all the unhappy customers calling them up. Anyhoo, the iTouch arrived today as well. My hubby is so happy.
October 09, 2007
October 08, 2007
Come on, Apple delivery!
Gaaaaah! Where is my MacBook?!?!? At least I am not the only one who is waiting. My MB only had 1 change, I bumped it up to 2G of RAM, that's it. And I also included an ipod (latest one) with it. The shipement is now two parts! According to my delivery status, both shipped 27th and 29th respectively, and delivery date is 11th/12th October. WTF! 
And the only status the last 2 and a bit weeks was "Merge in Transit GB", which means that all 2 parts of it are on its way to a central UK depot before being bundled together and shipped out to little ole Ireland to me (my hubbie, as he is the recipient in place of me).
Maybe it's the Golden Week and typhoons in China that are causing this length delay. 11/12th Oct is the latest delivery date, and I was hoping to get both in a week or so.
I have 2 friends, one ordered an iTouch and got it in a week, another orders a MB with no changes and got hers with the new iPod Nano in just a week. Oh, just remembered, another friend (classmate) just got updates on her MBP delivery!!! Gah! This is SOOO not fair. 
October 01, 2007
September 29, 2007
September 28, 2007
September 27, 2007
September 26, 2007
Frickin' random calls during the day
I've just so happen to have a free day off college today, and received to random phone calls today. Once from Sky down in Cork Call centre asking if we are happy with our provider. Which I said we were. And the other was a call to support Cystic Fibrosis for Temple St Children's Hospital. Now, I'm all for charities, but when:-
a) A caller's id is secret
b) get a phone call randomly during the day
I got rather pissed off at the guy. I told him that I do not know if he is legitimate or not, and I know it's for a good cause. My husband would have told me if he contacted this charity. I gave the guy what's what, told him that if I wanted to support a charity, I would go online or drop in the centre myself. And not hand over my details to a random caller during the day asking for my details for the donations. It's just not on. I told him that I did not believe that he was legit, and I am not interested. I was fuming at this stage, and I hung up before I actually started to curse. Yes, I did not curse as at all!
I rang my husband up, as I was quite upset with the guy who may/may not be taking advantage of the charity, but for all I know, he is. I asked if he contacted the charity, and I got a confirmation that he did not.
So people, stop ringing random numbers. If you are a proper charity, advertise, spread the word differently, not ringing random people up during the day, with your caller id marked as secret. It raised my suspicion, who can blame me. I'm paranoid when it comes to giving personal details regardless if it's over the phone, online and even in person.
So to all those who get random phone calls during the day, be wary. Just because they sound nice, does not mean they are legit.
September 25, 2007
September 23, 2007
Whee, we have cold water
Yesterday we found out that we had no cold water coming from our kitchen's cold water tap. We hazarded a guess that some airlock got into the pipes somehow. We tried all the home diy tips on rectifying this, but to no avail.
We were hoping today to go into town and acquire ourselves a hosepipe, we intend to cut ourselves a small piece of it, hook it up to the tap, and turn that tap on and suck the air. Okay, my hubby would.
Well, to my surprise, I decided to try out the cold water tap just now, and water came gushing out. That was such a sweet sound!
My hubby congratulated me on "fixing" the tap, and it was a virtue of being a holistic plumber, hahahaha. Sleep on it and turn on the tap the next day and hope for the best.
September 21, 2007
September 20, 2007
September 17, 2007
September 16, 2007
Another thing that irks me...
...is when person at the register in Eason in Limerick (and female), is when they see a tecchie mag and suppose to have a gift that was stuck on the front cover, but I would need to retrieve it when paying, they just don't give a toss and pretend they don't have it. What do I mean by that? They will make an attempt to look under the desk, and pretend not to find anything, and I would point out that it was stuck on the front cover.
Like yesterday for example, I was hoping to get the male sales assistant, and I got this girl. I knew it would happen. "You can get it off the web!". Um, hello, I read the inside page saying it's on the front cover and nothing about the web. I even pointed out to her. Anyhoo, I resigned to the fact that she was not budging to bend down to check if the freebie was under the desk somewhere, and I was holding up the queue. It's not the gift I'm huffed about, it's the fact she just waved her hand, gave some pitiful excuse and hoped I would just go away. Well, I am not going home, with a big "What if...?" hanging over my head. So, my cousin pointed out that there were markings of sellotape marks left over from something being torn from the front cover. So I walked up to the till, queued up, of course. Praying that I will get the male sales assistant, as from past experiences (last one not counted), they seem to be a little bit more competent. Well, guess what? I got her again. And she looks surprised, I as adamant that I was correct and she was wrong. Her male co-worker knew from a glance that I was right, and she relented and asked him. He pointed further in the desk below, and lo and behold, my free gift came to light. I was grinning at that stage, and she begrudgingly apolagised for the inconvenience.
It's that fact that I was right that she couldn't be arsed to go and look for it properly. I might be a pain in the you-know-what, but sometimes you can't blame me for it. I paid alot of money for that magazine, and it just so happens to have this free gift. If I knew that it was incompetence instead of a real reason why the gift is not available on that mag, like it's only available in UK, or you really retrieve it from the web, then so be it. But lord of strawberries and honey on high if anyone who try to think otherwise, and pull a quick albeit a lazy one on me.
September 15, 2007
My first (and their first) Pycon UK 2007
So, the Python UK conference was pretty good. The organisers did a brill job, the fact they expected 100 people and 200 people registered. They have put forward themselves to host EuroPython in 2009/10. Heh, Python Ireland wished to do that as well, but I was duly impressed with their first conference. The level of professionalism, and organisational skills, they pulled if off really well. I would rather push for something smaller in Ireland like PyCamp instead. We are still kinda in discussion (ok pub talk) about it.
One thing that sort of irked me a little bit. Nearly all the guys that attended in the conference, mainly British, asked me (apologising beforehand for their rudeness) if I was a programmer or developer. This brings home the truth to me that there are so few girls in this area. I felt suddenly alone for those brief seconds. But I've brushed it aside over and over again during that weekend. But it has become apparent to me that I cannot brush aside these brief encounters of being reminded that you are one of the half dozen females attending a conference. Probably my worst nightmare realised, as I was afraid to be the only girl there, like my first Python Ireland Meetup. Since then, a few girls attended, but not regularly. I have tried to convince girls from work to attend, but I've always ended being disappointed when none of them even made an attempt to attend one meetup. Why is this the case? Why do girls feel alienated from their male peers. Once I established myself after a brief introduction to male conference attendees, it did not matter to them, but it did to me.
September 13, 2007
September 12, 2007
September 05, 2007
September 04, 2007
August 30, 2007
August 28, 2007
links for 2007-08-28
-
It only makes sense now since Yahoo! now owns Flickr
August 27, 2007
August 26, 2007
August 24, 2007
August 22, 2007
August 21, 2007
August 20, 2007
August 18, 2007
August 14, 2007
My gap year coming up
And no, I am not a student. I've been working since I graduated in '99... yeah, yeah, a dot-com baby. Worked in 2 very different companies, one is your atypical American corporate company (Sun Microsystems) and my current one, which is a small-medium local Irish company.
I made jovial comments that I would NOT go back to college, for my fear of exams got the better of me. My venture into Open Uni course put the end of my appetite for college courses, yep, I had to do an exam at the end of it. *Pleurgh!
I know I loved workshop type courses, and from my years of working in the industry, it's definately the only way to learn.
So I chose to go to DCU to study MSc. Multimedia. My main reasons:
- No exams
- Picking up skills to improve my websites (I'm currently revamping one at the moment)
- Picking up the business end of things that will help to push my current IBC further.
- Venture into a more creative area of the industry, programming is just not my cup of tea, it's fun, but just not me.
So I have alot riding on this course. My career, my future, turning my hobbies to a realisation that it can reach more people out there. And hopefully the maintenance of the sites will pay themselves off at some stage.
But I thought many would have thought I was crazy, a minority were curious on why I was not moving up with regards to my career. Why don't I want to become a manager? But there are many that were a bit taken back on what I am about to embark on. I'm not the only one it seems, taking a year off seems to be getting populate according to this indo article.
And so many things happened in my life, and it takes something like my father passing away to wake me up to achieve more, challenge myself more. Life is too short. Each change is a milestone in my life, I am dedicating this "career break" of learning for my own progression in my career path to my father.
August 12, 2007
August 10, 2007
August 09, 2007
August 04, 2007
August 03, 2007
July 30, 2007
July 29, 2007
July 28, 2007
July 25, 2007
It all works really well!
At work, I'm using Ubuntu on my Thinkpad T42p, and to work remotely with files, I use Komodo Edit. I have FTP setup (it also works with SFTP and SCP) on the remote machine, and it works a dream. It's fast, does split view, soft tabs by default.
At home (when I need access to the same remote machine via VPN), I use Cyberduck for FTP access. Then I can use Textmate to open my remote files. Textmate is by far my favourite editor. It's looks nice and great to use. Textmate only needs one feature, a split view. It's no biggie, but definately a nice to have. Heehee.
So as I said, it all works really well! (And bugger if I'm going to work in a Windoze environment, I'll stick to Ubuntu and Mac OSX )
July 21, 2007
July 19, 2007
July 18, 2007
July 16, 2007
July 13, 2007
3 times the luck
Ok, it was bad enough that I went to work really early (than normal), just so I can leave at 5:30 to get out to Blackrock for a friend's company's pub quiz. I did not get to Pearse St. Dart station till around 6:30pm! I decided to go take the route I know best, 16 into town (that was a bad move, got stuck on Camden St, but I fell asleep and did not realise till it was 6:15pm). Then, because I was flustered from rushing, I suddenly panicked and did not know where the Dart station was, I was standing on Westland Row!
Anyhoo, I manage to get to Blackrock, just a tad bit late, and KC was able to come out of pub to wave me in, as I was lost on the one street, go figure. Streets and Vicky do not mix. Anyway, we hit a tie-breaker, and we lost. But we put all our prize money into the raffle, and I won the raffle 3 times! 6 bottles of wine, dinner for 2 and a night at a nice hotel.
What a night. Started off being pissy, and then wound up with alot of booty in my pocket, ok it did not fit in my pocket, but all I can say... I'm buying my lotto this weekend. 7 mill, baby!
July 11, 2007
July 10, 2007
July 09, 2007
July 08, 2007
You know you play too much WoW when...
...even your partner does not play with you anymore. Grinding by myself is taking so long! I'm halfway to level 50. None of my characters reached level 60, and I've been playing since WoW was released... *sigh
July 05, 2007
July 04, 2007
July 03, 2007
July 02, 2007
July 01, 2007
Social networking
It's still here. Although it might be slowing down. I myself over the past few years signed up to some of the most popular ones.
- Bebo is one of the most popular ones used here in Ireland (from what I can see). 2 friends from secondary school found me in Bebo, which was an unexpected surprise. Most Irish folks use this to keep in touch, especially when they are off backpacking all over the world. Even though I have my badge below, it's mostly for people whom I've added as my friend that can access my profile.
- The other main one is Facebook. I don't use this much, but I noticed that it's alot cleaner than the other social networking sites.
- Then for professionals (job seekers or headhunters), there's LinkedIn. My collegues from the last company hooked me up with this. It's a great way to find other work collegues.
- The ickiest of them all is MySpace, 'cause a friend of mine was travelling around and his normal blog is bookmarked by his mom! Alot of his friends use MySpace, so that's where all the interesting stories are!
http://www.myspace.com/shazsweetie
As far as I know, guys tend to sign up to this to try and find themselves a girl. I'm not making this up, they told me so, especially one friend. He says most of the girls that use MySpace that he chatted to are, ahem, sluts. - There is one I like alot and find darn useful... del.icio.us, a social bookmarking site. Why use bookmark folders when you can use del.icio.us, full of tagging goodness. http://del.icio.us/whykay
- Meetup.com was kind of cool. Get like-minded people and meetup in a cafe for a chat. But it started to charge people, and one of my main meetup groups (ok, the only one I would go to), does not use it anymore.
- Last.fm, songs I have been listening to, uploaded from using iTunes. - http://www.last.fm/user/whykay/
Newest ones I have joined:
- Icon Buffet, cool professional icons you can buy. And share free ones with your friends! - http://www.iconbuffet.com/people/whykay
- Colour Lovers, for web designers who love colours. (They even spelt it right!) - http://www.colourlovers.com/lover/whykay
Here are ones that I manage to forget about, until I started to write this blog post that is. :)
- Cutesy WeeWorld, create your own weeme! - http://www.weeworld.com/home/whykay/
- Ringo, some photo/video sharing site - http://www.ringo.com/profile/whykays.html
- Crunchyroll, where you can watch anime shared by some really nice people - http://www.crunchyroll.com/user/whykay
- Yahoo 360 (this really did not take off, IMHO) - Whykay Yahoo 360
Well, I think that is all of them. I'm not surprised if I still missed out more from the list above!
June 29, 2007
June 27, 2007
June 20, 2007
June 15, 2007
June 13, 2007
June 11, 2007
June 07, 2007
June 05, 2007
June 03, 2007
June 02, 2007
June 01, 2007
May 27, 2007
May 26, 2007
May 25, 2007
May 17, 2007
May 16, 2007
Strange day
Today has been interesting. I've had the best sleep last night (given that I hardly slept proper for the past week and a half, since my hubby is working in Bermuda). And I left home early to go to work, got on the 16 as usual to head out to Rathfarnham. Reading my magazine, I noticed out the corner of my eyes, a very different landscape. I had plum forgot to get off at Rathfarnham Castle! Doh! And ended up at Nutgrove. Now I know where it is. The cursed 75 bus that I see rounding the corner each evening as I wait for my 16 came to the rescue. Oh well, at least that's the worse of it.
Funny thing though, I was just heading to the LUAS stop with my friend, and I heard over the tannoy, the control centre telling some scumbags to move away, or the Gardaí cars would be called. Heh, strange thing to hear, ay? Well, got on the LUAS safe, or so I thought. Some druggie drunks were on board smoking and drinking, on top of shouting "Cen ye hare meh...? CEN YE HARE MEH?" and so on.
Strange day.
May 15, 2007
May 10, 2007
May 05, 2007
May 01, 2007
Well, I'm registered in Dub now
Mick was nice enough to print out the change of address form for me. It was not that hard, go to Garda station, put in envelope, dropped into the Dub city council office. And by the end of the week, I'll get registered in Dublin.
I still don't know who to vote for, it's not really something I am interested in,
Elections coming up
Well, I don't know if it's a surefire sign, I decided to print out the Change of Address RFA3 form, so I get a chance to vote in May, and the black ink is gone. Tomorrow's the last day to register. Well, I tried. Why can't they hold ballot in the weekend? I'm definitely registered back home in Limerick.
April 27, 2007
April 25, 2007
April 16, 2007
Blazing toilets
From the land of the flushing loos to new sense of the meaning ring o' fire. 
Just couldn't help posting it when I came across the article tonight!
April 03, 2007
Self-rant
Don't you just hate it when someone takes you too seriously. FFS, why does that have to happen. Like I don't need any help... well, I should be following the how to handle difficult conversations book. But not using sarcasm just makes it boring sometimes. But it's so annoying that people takes you seriously. BTW, I'm just waiting for my character on WoW's skill to cooldown for next half hour. *sigh
Where's help when you need it, not being sarcastic this time. Sometimes it's just so WTF. At least I am not suicidal.. hahahahahahaha, or am I? Seriously, I'm not. /endrant
March 25, 2007
Dontcha just hate it when...
... you decide to sleep in till 11 on a lazy Sunday and realise half an hour later that Daylight Savings Time kicked in, and it's 12pm! Oh cripes. I wish they just remove DST. Only 2 good things come out of this, I get to leave work 1 hour earlier and summer is near. The worst thing is, I have to get up 1 hour earlier for work now. *End rant.
March 23, 2007
March 09, 2007
March 08, 2007
March 06, 2007
March 05, 2007
Another reason to stay away from MBNA
... they now charge customers for being in credit!
They are slightly on the lower rung to AIB. Ach!
March 04, 2007
Total Eclipse!
I just realised I missed my opportunity to say "...full moon, total eclipse!" (from the jaffa cake ad). Doh!
I saw it last night, it was not as orangey as I thought it would be, as I witnessed a total lunar eclipse before, and it was amazing. It was a murky brown from where I viewed it, maybe it was hazy, or there was too much light pollution.
Shush! No talking in lifts
From Mainichi Daily News, Stickers in a Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry elevator urge people to be quiet
I wished they had these stickers on the lifts for that one time, when we were in the lift coming back from one of our numerous trips to town in Mandarin Oriental in Tokyo, that these western businessmen just shut up! The hotel staff (2 in total) with 2 (or was it 3) businessmen were being polite, did not talk much. Just asked about the trip getting there. The businessmen went into some ramble about some acquistion of some land to develop hotels, but it was the boisterous businessman's attitude that really bugged me. We were in a damn lift. It felt longer than it should (ground floor to 38th floor). How does the Japanese staff handle all this bravado? Mick and I just don't talk, it was just curteous. Another thing I noticed, rich Japanese people, Japanese men don't talk on the lift. So what's the with attitude from westerners?
So when in lift in highrise buildings, please make it bearable during that time to keep your business mouths shut!
March 01, 2007
February 28, 2007
February 25, 2007
February 24, 2007
Binary wedding ring
As geeky as I am, I did suggest engraving binary inside the band, but thought the silversmith would go bonkers, but I see this crowd actually used binary as its feature for the binary wedding ring. When I showed Mick, all he said was "Meh!".
February 16, 2007
Back in Dublin
Well, since last night. Argh, was so knackered last night, I really don't like this timezone thing, was stuck on Tokyo time when I landed. I woke up near the end of the Tokyo to London flight, and was expecting brekkie, instead got a dinner!
I'm heading down to Limerick today for Chinese New Year. And it's my turn to give out Lai Sees.
February 08, 2007
Mandarin Oriental
Talk about taking my breath away and leaving the best to last, that is the Mandarin Oriental s the coolest ever! The reception is on the floor 38! And our room is on floor 30. Heh! The reception was very impressive, albeit we were a bit tired after getting here 2 hours later. It takes 51 mins alone from Narita to Tokyo, then we got a taxi. Long story short, we got here, and ordered room service cos I was famished. Well, it's passed midnight here in Tokyo, so gonna get ready for bed.
February 07, 2007
WoW, 2 weeks as a missus
It's nearly 2 weeks since I was hitched! Time flies, jetsetting all over the place. Will update on what's been going on in HK and Sydney. Here in Cairns now, really wet from Cyclone Nelson. So Cairns being mostly an outdoors place, there was nought to do! But we did The Skyrail and it was really nice. The train was out cos of all the water from the rain, so it was the cable car up and down. Anyhoo, it's our last night in Cairns and we are having a proper dinner at the hotel. Tip for folks, don't come to Cairns in Feb, it's wet and the Great Barrier Reef is a just great murky waters now. It really sucks if you want to do alot of the activities here at this time of year! Sydney was brill though. Maybe chance Melbourne next time we are in town, espec that alot of the conventions are held in Melbourne.
January 25, 2007
Less than 5 hours now
Rehearsals done at the hotel, all stuff bought. Things are as ready as they should be.
Last night before midnight, my aunts and my mom brushed my hair while saying auspicious things. Mostly symbolising that the marriage will last long, me having lots of kids etc etc. Wierd thing is, I hear this from Chinese dramas alot. But it's pretty informal last night though, which is good. Then my whole family had some rice balls to show their support on me leaving the family. For the groom, I heard, in the country (back then), the groom will slaughter a pig and that night eats rice balls as well.
Anyhoo, just typing as the last few hours tick away as a single person.
Am I scared, not really. Just so wierd that everyone I know will be in Limerick, in one place today!
Some references
- http://www.chinabridal.com/etiquette/guide.htm
- http://www.chinatownconnection.com/chinese_marriage.htm
January 24, 2007
1 more day to go
So... wedding car, CHECK! Urm, cake, CHECK! Flowers, CHECK! Seems to be going fine, even got the blessing booklets printed the night before, and then realised after folding the booklets ready for stapling, that I fecked it up. So much for working at the darn thing at 2 in the morning for 2 nights straight, and no proper sleep since early last week. So, after a hissy fit, Mick fixed it all for me.
The table plan final now, sent off to hotel. Phew!
What will tomorrow have in store for me?
- Last minute purchases of things I forgot.
- Rehearsals at the priest's
- Dinner somewhere
And my, oh my... friends and relatives are all arriving tomorrow, at all different times.
This evening, we all sat down to figure out the timing and planning for Thursday morning. Confusion ahoy! Anyhoo, I left the room and hope they all made up their minds, since I am just confusing everyone. And it will stop me being bridezilla.... LoL. >-<
So all the stuff is ready and packed. Starting to shift stuff to the hotel tomorrow. Incredible, I will be married on Thursday!
January 22, 2007
3 days to go
Weather outlook is good, although freezing! Temperatures could be as low as -1! Was talking to my aunt last night and heard there will be a BA strike. 
So I checked it out and it's held after we fly to HK. Phew! And of course, does not affect our flights from Japan at the end of our honeymoon, I hope. 
January 20, 2007
4 days and counting
That is how many days are left till I get 
married . And it looks like the weather is not in our favour. Big possibility of rain. Although all we need is a few hours of sun, then we are inside from the evening afterwards.
Fingers crossed.
January 19, 2007
January 18, 2007
January 16, 2007
What a near miss!
I was working away, and in the back of my mind, I had something to do. And then it struck me, I had to pick up my wedding dress! Eep! 
I was going to be late, if I left and took the bus into town. So flagged down a taxi, and got into town just in time for my appointment. All I remember was my friends telling me not to forget to turn up on my big day. 
Well, at least I got the dress now.
January 13, 2007
Dual carriageway shooting, so close to home
OMG, just saw in the news that there was yet another shooting incident in Limerick, but that is just not what the OMG was for... it's where it happened, on the Shannon-Limerick dual carriageway! I am from Limerick, and that road is the main artery to Shannon, Ennis and the west. I drive along it alot to pick up relatives since Shannon airport is out that way. It's just so crazy, not just in Limerick but in Dub as well. It can happen anywhere.
January 12, 2007
January 10, 2007
January 09, 2007
G11N Solaris now opensourced
Wow, it's been awhile since I looked at G11N and Solaris, but I had to see it to believe it, it's open-sourced ! Heh, if you want to know how long since I looked at G11N and Solaris, just check my last entry in my old Sun blog.
(I think they changed something in the way the links are handled on that blog, it's not using Textile anymore. Oh well, it's not like I can log in and fix it. )
January 08, 2007
January 07, 2007
January 06, 2007
Promises, promises
Just rambling to myself here... isn't it annoying that when someone promised to do something with you, and they don't remember until they are too tired and push it to the next day? Well, it is to me. Back to the drawing board.
January 04, 2007
January 02, 2007
January 01, 2007
December 30, 2006
3 weeks, 3 weeks...
So, only 3 weeks to go... 3 weeks till what? My wedding! And I cannot wait for is the honeymoon, to be more specific, T O K Y O!!! Ok, I am dropping by HK to say hi to my relatives, then Sydney, Cairns and then T O K Y O! Heh, a little excited that is all. \\(;*_*)//
So February is not a bad time to visit. Phew. But I just realised that we will be spending our Valentine's in Tokyo, the land of the wierd. And where girls gives choccies to their fellas, well, also female collegues buy them for their male collegues, no it's true!. They really do! Crazy, isn't it.
December 25, 2006
Merry Xmas
Has anyone been tracking Santa on Google Earth?
Anyhoo, have a great Xmas, get stuffed with turkey, and for me... plenty o' brusselsprouts. Mmmmm, yum-yum! And I'm not being sarcastic!
December 22, 2006
December 17, 2006
What a penthouse!
Well, was at a house warming last night. The house to be warmed was actually a duplex penthouse, situated at the top of Jameson's brewary. Impressive as it sounds, it looked the part as well. The main floor housed the bedrooms, bathroom, kithcen/dining room. Also a huge balconey covering a wide area, which leads onto the roof garden. Up the winding staircase, we reached into a very large space, with an equally high ceiling. The ceiling tapered up like a circus tent, and at the top, it had some windows, sort of like a look out post. With the Christmas lights, and the mellow lighting, it was really nice and atmospheric (aside from the odd cheesy chrissie songs >-< ). That floor itself also has a "smaller" balconey. We went out to have a look, and the view was amazing, albeit a little chilly, impressive nonetheless. I have to say, this is what I expected to see when someone mentions penthouse, not a small top floor appartment tagged as being a penthouse. But I suppose, a price tag does come along with it. \(;*~*)/
But one thing I did not expect to happen was the fire alarm going off around 5am this morning! Some gobsh*te set off the alarm, and our block and the block next to us were affected. Funny thing was, we were just discussing the "joys" of living in an appartment, including the random false fire alarms going off, becuase of incompetant tenants. 
December 16, 2006
Christmas is coming
So it's that time again. So quick, isn't it. I think everyone has their happy and their "bah humbug" moments. Here is a nice reason not to be grumpy, a gingerbread version of carcasonne.
December 15, 2006
December 11, 2006
December 10, 2006
December 07, 2006
December 04, 2006
Secret Santa
Just got my secret santa from work, but this Penny Arcade strip is funny. Heh, will Mick and I have a secret santa of our own? >-<
December 02, 2006
December 01, 2006
November 28, 2006
November 15, 2006
November 14, 2006
links for 2006-11-14
-
fast dictonary lookup, plus it's fun and addictive!
November 12, 2006
November 03, 2006
November 02, 2006
October 31, 2006
October 26, 2006
Grumpy mornings
I am not known to be a morning person. Really? Waking up at 4am to get to the airport took the biscuit, according to my fiancé and cousin. Well, saw an article from Indo that suggests that women are really grumpy in the morning and lasts for 3-4 hours after that. So much for my Chinese bakery idea, waking up at 4am to start baking would make me a little grumpy.
October 20, 2006
October 19, 2006
October 12, 2006
October 11, 2006
October 06, 2006
October 05, 2006
October 04, 2006
September 30, 2006
September 28, 2006
September 26, 2006
September 22, 2006
September 20, 2006
September 14, 2006
3-person chess
It does exist! This comic just reminded me. I personally did not partake in this, but it was in a wine and cheese party (more of the cheese kind), and saw some folks playing this! We took over the night by playing tequila drinking game by substituing tequila with any drink we found. Heh, the night ended well, ignoring the 3-person chess part of the night.
September 13, 2006
September 12, 2006
September 08, 2006
September 05, 2006
September 04, 2006
September 03, 2006
Argh, die sp@mm3rs, die!
I am getting sick of having to daily remove between 2-5 bogus users registered on the Irish Born Chinese Forum.
It already has the visual confirmation for people who are registering for the first time, but this can be compromised with OCR. Well, I decided to check what other anti-sp@m measures (and not to complicated) to add to my forum. Found an advanced visual confirmation. After some tweaking to forum code, and the database tables, I got it up and running with hardly any downtime.
The downside is the visual picture for confirmation is a little more harder to read, but what must be done, be done. It's rather annoying, having to turn my board which was free for anyone to post on (no need to register) to this type of visual confirmation. Stupid bots, and sp@mmers....
September 02, 2006
Geo-tagging in Flickr
Just saw this from Mezzoblue's site about geotagging. So I decided to try it out for myself. And I don't have that many pics, but I have them dotted around the world map now. Yay. I think it's a great idea. On the main flickr page now, there is a map link under the picture. Clicking on it brings up a dialog with the satellite pic with the pic plotted on it. Ok, it may not have alot of detail in the maps, mainly America has everything plotted out. But it's a nice idea. Now, if Picasa did the same with Google maps (or Google Earth).
September 01, 2006
Finger-printing in DisneyWorld
Not sure why BoingBoing posted an article about finger-printing in DisnyWorld 'cuase it's been there for quite awhile. My frist reaction when I saw this was last Christmas when I was over in Orlando, and I think on the 2nd day, they were fingerprinting folks going in. It was an odd sight, we joked that they know where we were and was actually keeping track of us!
August 29, 2006
August 28, 2006
August 25, 2006
I made it home (finally)!
Today's journey home was as arduous as trying to eat udon noodles in soup with chopsticks (yes, even I have trouble sometimes). Waited over 45 minutes for the darn 16/16a (thanks, Dublin Bus).
My brother was kind enough to inform me that the LUAS was in a crash and the red line was offline (for my leg of the journey home). But as I walked down to Jervis St from the Southside, I only then realised that the LUAS was out of commission. I know, I know, my brother called me about it, but I was on auto-pilot, and just ended at the LUAS stop. Anyhoo, I walked home, I did not want to get the 'lovely' Dublin Bus (see above). So after 2 hours, I made it home, quite a trip considering that it normally takes at least 1 hour for me to get from Rathfarnham to Parkgate St with our ever so reliable Dub transport. Again, I would like to thank Dublin Bus for a fantastic job of not doing their job properly.
August 24, 2006
Bah, scumbags
(Hear it comes....) Argh, I hate skangers so much. Typical journey home on the LUAS, ok trying to get to Heuston Station to meet with Mick (who is off to PyPy Sprint in UL this weekend). And because of the lousy messers, the LUAS was stuck at Smithfield and the driver cannot get the LUAS going. Argh... so I got off and walked (not that far, but was hoping to catch my fiancé before he left). Anyhoo, the LUAS went passed me at Museum stop, empty of passengers.
*End rant
August 23, 2006
August 20, 2006
August 16, 2006
August 15, 2006
August 13, 2006
August 12, 2006
August 11, 2006
August 09, 2006
August 05, 2006
August 02, 2006
August 01, 2006
July 21, 2006
July 17, 2006
July 16, 2006
July 15, 2006
So it begins...
Well, it sort of has I sujppose.... wedding shopping for the most part has begun when I was in HK last 2 weeks.
This morning I decided to head into Hickeys on Henry Street, they were very busy, no-one paid any heed to me. Which was a bit annoying, ok, they had their hands full with 2 brides having a fitting and a bridesmaid to boot. But at least show me the catalog. I think I saw a dress or two.. but not that friendly and inviting is all I could say.
Headed to Town Bride in Powerscourt. The guy there is very friendly, I arranged my appointment and he invited me to check the dresses there. There was someone there already, so I took a quick look around, but decided to leave and check them out proper come day of my appointment. Went to another bridal shop on Wicklow Street, this place was extra busy, needed to ring doorbell to get in. Got another appointment down.
Decided to check out Barry Doyle's at Grafton Arcade for rings. Some nice stuff, pretty mush chosen that place.
Checked out Appleby's, as that is the place I got my ring in the first place. A young lad was our sales guy, a pretty poor one at that. If he was in HK, he would have been fired straight away. He had no sales pitch, only showed us really normal rings, no display cabinets or anything. I kept asking for anything different, but he inclined to show us what he had there. As I said, pretty dire, and I think he thought we did not have the money or something like that. Anyhoo, I have arranged to meet with the lady who sold us the engagement ring initially via a quick phone call (with a quick comment that the guy who showed us the engagement ring was not really good). Mick also got a fine pair of soft leather Italian made shoes. So there you have it, I am back home, and going to have a late brunch.
July 13, 2006
July 12, 2006
June 24, 2006
June 14, 2006
June 11, 2006
June 10, 2006
World cup in... ascii
This is so sick! "Live stream of world cup in ASCII"":http://ascii-wm.net/! There is a how-to to use telnet and stream the feed!
"Funny" to "Really...?"
So, I might as well start off this in a geeky way. Heh. So an xbox was being used as a cheap server for a Uni which held some students how-to-build-your-own-website projects. Years later, the department bloomed and in came more staff, and wait for it, a new manager. One day, students started to complain that they cannot access their websites, after much investigating, and trying to locate what happened to the server... the result was, it was missing. Physically missing. The sysadmin, who coincidentally was one of the few who knew about this xbox-now-a-server machine, went to the new manager. Heh, here it comes, the new manager brought it home for his kid to "entertain himself". So now the missing xbox mystery resolved, the sysadmin has labelled it very thoroughly with “This is actually a server” all over the xbox.
(Ref: http://www.windowsitpro.com/Article/ArticleID/50428/50428.htm )
Now, onto the guy who does the Family Guy's voices. Yes, Seth MacFarlane. He made a speech during this year's Haravard's class day. It was really funny, and I never knew he looked like that?!? Plus, some of the stuff he said, I am surprised he got away with it.
(Warning, string language. Ref: Family Guy Voice Actor's Speech @ Harvard You might want to click on the 2nd link on the site in the comments, if the first one does not work.)
Finally, Simpson's eps nearly tossed out Fermat's last theorem. Um, well, this came out of the math equations you saw from 1995's Halloween's ep, when Homer got sucked into anther dimension. Apparently, the writers take mathematical references in the series quite seriously. Lots of thought has been put into it! Really, just check out some of the stuff at Mathematical references abound on The Simpsons.
June 06, 2006
June 05, 2006
May 29, 2006
May 27, 2006
May 25, 2006
May 23, 2006
May 22, 2006
May 20, 2006
From the producers of..
Funny that... an ad came on for Alias (yes, not that funny), and it ended with "From the producers of Lost and MI:3. It's THAT good that they had to tack that at the end, and I thought Alias ages ago. Didn't think it could have gotten as far as season 5.
May 17, 2006
May 07, 2006
May 06, 2006
May 05, 2006
May 01, 2006
Guitar Hero
Just managed to get over medium... played the 1st song of hard... OMG! It's so hard.. Anyhoo.. to commemorate the occasion, I did a little sketch!
April 29, 2006
April 28, 2006
April 26, 2006
April 25, 2006
Dreaming
Here is another pic I did using my wacom tablet in Alias Skecthbook Pro.
April 24, 2006
April 22, 2006
Fun Fun Fun
Just decided to do up a pic today for no apparent reason. It's not Coffee Monkeys, so that is why this is here in my personal blog. Drawn from scratch with Alias SketchBook Pro using my nice A3 Wacom tablet... been ages since I used it. So might as well get some practice in. 
April 17, 2006
April 15, 2006
April 10, 2006
April 06, 2006
March 21, 2006
March 11, 2006
Dvd cover templates
Been spending all week trying to put together a movie for my parent's anniversary pressie. Finally burnt it to DVD. But I needed a DVD case cover.
Mick found a handy page size reference page from none other than wikipedia, but what was more useful was the info on DVD jewel case size. But we decided to opt to see if there was a template for photoshop. And this forum has some handy links to templates. A few tweaks here and there, and voila, a nice DVD cover.
March 08, 2006
Fridge
This Little gamers strip reminds me of my bro commenting that our stuff in the fridge are always gone off. Life of living in the modern age, not being able to cook at home, 'cause we are all working too late.
February 25, 2006
bad_httpd_conf & Dreamhost
Well, I registered irishbornchinese.com, no need to check it out at the moment. The site is down due to bad_httpd_conf with Dreamhost. A quick google search and the first hit was the Dreamhost wiki. And pointed me to support, so at least I don't feel like an eejit. So all I have to do is wait now!
February 23, 2006
Numa Numa
"So what the heck is this?" That is what I would mumble to myself everytime I see this being the top tagged funny thing etc... so curiousity killed the cat when I noticed it when I was browsing the Flash Box Charts on bebo (which I just joined today). Google-searching helped.. here's the videos I found. I liked the Taiwanese one.
But I need to know more, so where to other than the ol' reliable wikipedia. And there we have it, an entry for it.
My, my.. it's so silly isn't it. I don't really find it funny though. My funny bone was just not being tickled enough by it. Oh well. there is always PEANUT BUTTER JELLY TIME!!!
February 19, 2006
Frozen waterfall in Japan
Cool, check out this article with the pic of the frozen waterfall.
February 07, 2006
Caffeine-free (still)
Forgot to tell you about this beer pulling robot, it's so cool. Sent the link around to the grads, and they loved it! We all want one!
Now my abstinence of coffee for 11 days was not thwarted, even with all the Starbuck opening around Dublin (one on Harcourt St now open), so when I saw this article about Starbucks and Apple teaming up does not really raise an eyebrow for me anymore. Coffee.. meh. 
BUT... maybe this might still help me wake up... a coffee aroma alarm clock? Well, I think I wake up a bit better without relying on coffee now. But not sure what happens if I smell coffee first thing in the morning.
February 05, 2006
Wind, no wind... and noise
Just watched the Ireland V Italy match today, and the weather for it could not be more perfect. No wind! But that just reminded me of my work collegue who was complaining no end about the "no wind" 'cause he kitesurfs.
I have to say there is one thing about living in appartment blocks, it's the noisy neighbours. The ones next door are not so bad, it's down the corridor. Yes, it does travel! It was like a shouting match, I dare say, not quite civilised. And this is in the afternoon. Noise does travel on clear nights though. Like some scumbag of a person who sounds like a drunken wagon (prob is) is screaming at the top of her lungs out in the streets nearby. All I think at the time was, "classy". 
January 29, 2006
Coffee detox
So, Mick and I decided to give up coffee on Friday. So no coffee in the morning, I normally have 1 coffee (a large latte to be precise). So I decided to let my work collegues know (much to their horror!). Well, after much torment of "Right, lads, let;s go up for some coffee." or "Mmmm, Vicky... coffee.", which is ok, since I don't drink the office coffee (yuck).
So I did not have coffee today either, mild headaches are kicking in. Yawns, tiredness, breakfast not sitting well in my tummy (followed by more yawns). I really need MY COFFEE! But I got myself a rosehip tea at the coffee shop I was having lunch with my mom, aunt, cousin, bro and Mick. Well, ahem, headache still there!
So, I have another 2-3 days of this to go through, yippe-yi-yay. *sigh
And then I came across this comic ... so apt. (Still remembering Mick telling me not to turn around when we were in one of the aisles in Dunnes... coffee, coffee.....coffee.
January 24, 2006
Knight in shining armour
Well, what can I say... no sooner my django problem blog was published, my knight in shining armour rushed in to see what was going on! After much grumbling from... I get to see the master at work. Really, since the switch to the Mac, and most stuff at work do not need me to install anything remotely close to this (last time I installed something, it was Zope 2 last year!). So it was more learning experience.
A bit of tidying up with my different Python distros, and get my system up-to-date with setuptools and finally django.
Easy_install really does what it says on the box (that is if that someone has eggs that are not broken for you to install). As I said, I did not have much experience, and a wee bit rusty. Will have to do more stuff, so first things first.. tutorials. And next step after, my super-secret project. I can't wait! This is my new year resolution.
Don't laugh! Last year, I made a resolution to get a new job, and I did. So on that note, I'm gonna get some shut eye, as I know I have something to work on now... all thx to one super-duper-patient man called Mick.
January 23, 2006
Erm, django anyone
Ok, my last attempt of installing django was a bust, so I decided to try again tonight (my PB still has 76% power left, hurrah... so no hurry there). Well, guess what, it did not go according to plan.. ended up with easy_install conflict. Erm, very ironic isn't it, that I cannot get easy_install to work! How in the heck did I get a conflict, and I just remembered why spotlight is handy (damn Mac storing things in wierdly named directories! How helpful, yeah, thanks for all the fish.. not). But how do I get rid of pkg_resources.VersionConflict: (setuptools 0.6a9 (/Library/Python/2.3/site-packages/setuptools-0.6a9-py2.3.egg), Requirement.parse('setuptools==0.5a13'))? Could attempt an upgrade, but I don't have much experience with eggs, this is practically my first time. The last time I tried to install django was the plain python setup way. Man, I am so rusty.
Laptops, you think you have problems?
First it was my young bro whose laptop made clicking (and most recently, bzz-hummin') noises. I thought he was bringing it back the first time he told me. That was not at all too bad, worse could happen, change for another laptop back at the shop from whenst it came. But it is still a new laptop, barely a baby out of the box, at least he is still covered by warranty (and also means not much stuff installed or saved onto the machine, although we do have nearly 300G in total between 2 other machines in the house, so plenty of room for backing up.).
And the next I see is my mate's laptop (me thinks it's his Alienware, that is one monster of a machine though). Kinda reminds my of yy 1st PB that went bye-bye within the few hours that I recieved it, but I got a lovely replacement (and she is still behaving herself, my little baby ) Many folks have asked at work if I am going to replace her with the Mac Book Pro. If she had ears, I would have blocked them, but as I said before, I am happy with her. She does her job well, and still looks mighty damn fine.
January 01, 2006
Happy 2006!
Wishing all the very best this new year! 2006, bring it on. *lol
December 30, 2005
I'm back
...from the Sunshine State. And a 5-day funfilled Disney World adventure! The happiest staff were at Animal Kingdom by the way.
Just happen to come by the Wired - Foot in mouth 2005 Awards. Brought a smile to my face, and then realising, "OMG... it's the end of the year already!".
Oh, while I was at Animal Kingdom, I saw their latest ride in development called Expedition Everest - Legend of the Forbidden Mountain. It's looks sick! I cannot wait. Pity it opens in Spring 2006. Actually, more of a reason to head back to Animal Kingdom. But I don't think I would be able to handle this ride in the middle of Tokyo! 
December 06, 2005
Judge a book by its cover
This morning, I was reading the latest copy of Edge (E157)... it's the Xbox special edition, which means it's mostly white on the cover (not a fan of xbox.. and if you never heard of Edge before, it's a games magazine for games developers and gamers from a games developer point of view).
Remember the co-workers who derided me on using the Mac, well, the first assumption they had seeing me with a white mag was that I was reading a Mac magazine. Come on. But hey, sometimes books do get judged by its cover, or magazine in this case.
November 17, 2005
That's alot of acrynoms!
Man, this job title from M$ is so overloaded with acrynoms.
Title: Senior Operations Account Manager (OAM) – Windows Anytime Update (WAU)
October 22, 2005
Coffee Monkeys back!
I have managed to get back to drawing, and Coffee Monkeys back! Huzzah!
October 12, 2005
Free newspapers
Ok, past 3 days of being accosted by free Metro papers (a pair of people in blue jackets on nearly every street corner, and train stations), and also the free Herald AM to boot (folks in red jackets)! Yesterday I was on D'olier St, and there was one Herald guy and 2 Metro guys. I have already taken a Metro, and I was thinking... sure, get the Herald as well. And a second later, the Metro dude ran up to me to try a different paper! The whole of Dublin city is in a newspaper war, I'm not kidding! Check one news article out : http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,3604,1589160,00.html.
October 08, 2005
Yesterday was not so bad after all
Friday yesterday, hmph. You would think it was Friday 13th, the way things were going yesterday! Work got me a new Thinkpad T42P and guess what? Had it over a week, got into work in yesterday morning, and the machine was powered down (not hibernating), and would not come back on. Did all the usual things, plugging out AC, take out battery, holding down button for a few seconds. Then just had AC plugged in. Nothing registered. Borrowed a friend's power adaptor, nope. Borrowed a friend's battery, nada. So it's been taken away to laptop hospital that is the sysadmin's office. Heh!
That was only the beginning! 
Decided to head home, back down to Limerick. So left work at 4pm, and did not get back to the appartment.. wait for it... till 5:50pm! WTF? Rathfarnham to Parkgate Street took an hour and a half. Sheesh. Ok, the only good thing was that my fiancé manage to come and see me off on the train. That was that... or so it seems. 
15 minutes or so before the train reached Limerick city, the lights decided to give out. We were in pitch darkness. Ok, that was a lie, I was lighting up the whole carriage, as I was playing Warioware on my Nintendo DS.
That was that really. Until this morning, I decided to check my Euro Millions lotto ticket. No, I did not win millions, or thousands, or hundreds of Euro. I won €10 from a number and 2 lucky stars. Yay! Well in a sense, it was not that bad, considering I paid €4 and won €10. Glass half full or half empty, or a glass just too big.
September 24, 2005
My site was 3 years old yesterday
Ok, nothing phenomenonly is going to change (for now)... heh. So, enough of the celebrations... wha..?
Anyhoo, I have uploaded 2 pics to my flickr and I am wondering why I don't use it to add the pics to my blog?!? Well, I have it set up for all my blogs including my current experimental photo blog.
Privacy is only to people who are registered with Flickr. I want to be able to send a special password to folks and let them view the pics, and not have everyone in the general public see them. Plus I like them to be on my site, as I have been stung so many times by photo sharing sites over the years, and I keep losing my pics I carefully selected.
I don't like to upload by hand and man-handling, that is why my older photo site is a bit dormant. Given how easy it is with blogs nowadays. But I don't like to upgrade to MT3.0, and wordpress has a nifty plugin which I use, but still, does not have the sharing permissions ability that I want. I tried using httaccess but because of the nature of the plugin, for each pic, it asks for p/w (if you don't enter it correctly)! That is a tad annoying. You should be allowed to see the post or not. Plus it's Perl and PHP for the blogs aformentioned respectively.
So do I have a cunning plan...? That is for me to know and you to find out.
September 11, 2005
AIB and online savings
Mick pointed out that you can set up your own savings account via AIB online banking! And the interest is quite competitive (wrt Rabodirect and Northern Rock), and from as little as €20 a month to a max of €1000 (you can ad-hoc add money which totals upto €1000 a month, or else it will reject the deposit). No, really, it's true, more information at AIB's personal finance page.
It's easy to setup, just log into AIB 24 hour online as usual, and find the Savings online link from the menu, fill out the simple standing order form (how much you want to save each month, how frequently and when it starts), followed by your pin, and voilá... savings account all setup.
You can transfer money anytime via the usual transfer money link (obvious, ay!). But seriously, I needed to see if this option allowed me to transfer money apart from my current account i.e. my deposit account. And it did allow for that. Which is really handy. Banking should really be this easy. To think I went through all the trouble of getting my passport photocopy proofed by my local Garda, tax information, bills... just to ready them to send to Rabo-direct. I suppose, I was waiting for Bank of Scotland to come out with a personal finance package (due end of this year). Good thing I waited. But I am still curious on what BoS has to offer though.
September 07, 2005
Confused
You know, I am at a stage in my career where I am a bit confused. I think I will just go and have another read of Paul Graham's (infamous) article called Great Hackers.
September 03, 2005
Please say your name clearly
Heh, OK/Cancel did it again, another "funny strip": http://www.ok-cancel.com/archives/comic/2005/09/voice-aggravated-system.html.
So reminds me of the ringing up Eircom about BB for home down in Limerick. Chasing them up was no fun at the time, but was amusing that I went through this voice system for channeling you through to the right person (if you are lucky). Don't you find yourself sounding stupid...
me : "O..N..E.."
eircom : "You have chosen 1 ... (blah blah blah)
Why do we all think we should be shouting into the phone reciever, really ennunciating each word?
July 27, 2005
Cool
I'm currently at the airport waiting for my fiance's father to arrive from Milan. And guess what? I am using Eircom's wi-fi, and sipping semi-drinkable latte at the cafe near the meeting point in the arrival lounge. This is cool!
July 16, 2005
This is nice
Wow, back at home in Limerick. Sitting out back, listening to a wee bit of Hybrid, with my... Powerbook! And it's really cool, I can do a bit of work, web the interweb. 
Summer is going great so far. Now if only it can last till beginning of August.
July 11, 2005
It works
So my sim card was not being recognised by Vodafone alll night and early this morning. Rang them up last night, was told the support team comes in at 8am. So I rang a little after 8am this morning, explained my situation. Told to switch off my phone, while they disconnect/reconnect whatever doohickey it is to recognise my sim card. And hey presto, I was able to receive and make calls. Vodafone support are brill! 
July 10, 2005
Update on my new phone venture
Well, went to Vodafone shop today. Switched from 02 and gave in my old mobile phone, and it knocked €100 off! So it only cost me €99 in the end. But now O2 has not swtiched me over yet, so my sim is not being registered on Vodafone network yet. I'll just have to wait. 
July 09, 2005
New phone?
Hmm, will I or won't I? Pay-as-you-go (Ready-to-go) or bill pay I mean. Make the switch to Vodaphone?
Very tempted. Got their brochure today, and also checked out Nokia 6680. Really nice in real life. Plus I can finally do some funky Python programming on this series 60 phone. Ho-hum...
Some review to chew on (well, glance over... Mick read most of them. ).
* http://www.russellbeattie.com/notebook/1008503.html
* http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/06/10/review_nokia_6680/
The funny thing was, I am on 02 Pay-as-you-go (From Esat Digifone days). And I need to use up my call credit... Was trying to check how much was left, after a few "Service is not available" from "#100*", it was about €14'ish. Mick and Jo was actually laughing when I could not find how much I had left! It was like O2 knew I was on the verge of switching to Vodafone. I never realised how much I use on my phone at the moment... between €40 and €60 a month! 
I should hopefully save some money after the swtich.
So I have gathered my paperwork, and will check out the Vodafone shop, and see what they offer me. It should be no more than €279, I think. Since I will be connecting first time. I shall have to see. So much for not using my plastic!
June 02, 2005
The digital age... ah yes...
Ok, my head is filled up with DOM and JS at the mo from work. It's has been terribly busy at my new job. And I am enjoying it. Who would have thunk?!? 
Anyhoo, I am getting use to using my Mac for my work. The seperate work login account works wonders, and it's encrypted. Heh. So, I found out that I love using Textmate. It's great. It has the basic stuff of an IDE, but not the cumbersome feeling of one. All I want is a search to pop up multiple finds and showing you which lines it's on. A work collegue is using Ultraedit, but hates it, if only if it's not for the ease of searching files. Ah yes, the spotlight feature is so handy for searching in general as well.
And now, for something really retro and contempary.... a candle digital clock. 
I have been on a search for some good cyberpunk books, but I found a link taking the mickey out of many new movements following this.
April 08, 2005
Thursday at Dundrum shopping centre
So was out to Dundrum's shopping centre (called The Town centre, even though the town centre is really the village, not the shopping centre. I see many a confused tourists in the near future!) and I was not well too impressed with it. It lacked a certain character, and I suppose it was in fairness 7pm, but it was a Thursday evening. It's biggish, but I was expecting something more lavish. But it's still incomplete. The sign at Balally was a large white paper with Town Centre scrawled on it, very temporary. Heh, but the one thing I got was a Luas smartcard (I wish they called it something interesting, like the Octopus or Pearl card, smart card is just such a practical name.) Had a nice dinner there, they have a world cuisine section on the top floor, and food is cooked for you there and then. Going up to it, I nearly fell off the escalator, as there was a huge flat display on the way up.
References:
* http://www.dundrum.ie/ (Store directory)
* http://www.luas.ie
March 30, 2005
Funny thing today
Leaving work today and walking out of the biz park, and those Northsider kids on their whiney bikes were doing their rounds up and down the green. One lad was racing down the dirt road (gated of course), and skidded to a stop. Thinking it was fancy and all. And one thing popped in my my mind and all the fellow folks leaving work as we walked past, and I laughed out loud when someone said, "I was hoping he would run smack into the gate!". Boy, it's so true.
March 23, 2005
He blogs, she blogs.
So my QT is at pycon over at DC, and I do check out his blog to see what he is upto, mainly frying his brain.... hahaha, and having a fantastic time, it seems. But I could not help laughing myself silly when I saw this.
February 06, 2005
We'll just have to get over it
Going to U2? Then you are the lucky ones that got them the old fashion way. As alot of us who went online did not get any at all, here's some chat about it that morning. My BF went online at 8 on the dot, to ticketmaster and it was loading up really slow, and then a proxy error. Some manage to get to purchase page before it timed out!!! Those folks at ticketmaster don't really care one way or the other because they will sell the tickets one way or another. So what if there is no backup system and their IT folks are a bunch of muppets that morning. They deal with major gigs alot nowadays,, so no excuse to upgrade their technology to improve their services online.
And on top of that, the MCD have to clear up if U2 are haing a 3rd gig or not, as fans are buying tickets around €500 a pop!
January 23, 2005
Just messing about with Topic Icon
Just thought I want to try Topic Icon again. I really have to make myself, or find proper icons for all the gazillion categories I have. (Maybe I have to re-organise everything, but there are just too many entries! Or I can do it with a script... but I am just lazy! lol)
I just grabbed pics from wherever I can, and resized it, and as I said, it's all just experimenting. I grabbed some code for my stylesheet from topicon's demo page, just because it's rather late, and I had been having perl issues, and misplaced icons directory tonight. So this is just a quickie to get it up and going. Well, it works! YAY
December 09, 2004
No plastic for a few days
Lost my wallet. 
But did not have too much in it... just all my credit cards... all 2 of them (oh and my ATM card). But cancelling them (Visa and ATM card and AMEX corporate card) was a painless <5mins! Which is not bad, so I should have all my cards back next week. It's just one of these days, and I hope the last. 
UPDATE: Got my wallet back at the restauarant last Friday. yay But I have no cards for the next few days!
"My BF == ATM"
November 29, 2004
Hey!
Wanna see something ultra cute! Feast your eyes on THIS! 
Hmm, anyone left? Heh, I'll let ya live now... unless you like Halo 2.
November 26, 2004
It's a Friday
There is a feeling that it's a Friday! First of all, I get the usual bus at the usual time into town (I'm lazy), and reading (as usual)... you get the idea. But somehow, I felt it seems like we were sitting in the bus longer than usual, and we were. 20 minutes and we were only just passed Collin's Barrack's (we got on at Parkgate St). Then I noticed a steady stream of people walking into town (you guessed it, more than usual). 
Many people were getting off the buses. Well, we decided to get off and walk, and what a sight. A snake of buses up and down the quays. My BF could have taken a pic, but we were walking and did not stop. First thing that came to our minds, was it a traffic accident? And why are the drivers so patient (no horning beeping!). And then we thought, could be "operation Free Flow"? Nah, not a sign of a Garda. But the traffic was moving, but not the buses. Well, it's a Friday, I should not be complaining. I should be just happy that it is the end of the week 
, and the weekend is rolling in soon. (The usual)
November 15, 2004
Yay! It works!
My BF kindly did a bit of tweaking and got the Airport Express to work with our Netgear router Friday night down in Limerick. He has not posted how he manage to do it, but he will soon (there was alot of cussing, google-searching, re-configuring, and resetting the airport express that night). The signal is at its peak, and the router which was halfway outside my bedroom door (converted garage), can now be tucked back in without and signal degradation. Hip-hip... Hurray! 
November 07, 2004
Weekend just flew
All in all, I have upgraded the IBC message board, and added a few new styles. Peeps can change if they want. Uploaded some pics for work, and also created the unofficial fight school board just for the sake of getting folks off the comment section of my one blog which ironically enough, was slagging it. All in all, was one heck of a busy weekend. Still got more pics to upload.
October 31, 2004
Halloween
Boy tonight's definately a Halloween night, got off Heuston Station and it was all foggy and dark out. Plus the booms and blasts of the fireworks which are lighting up the night's sky. I know for sure that there will be no trick-or-treaters a knocking on my door. That's is the only good thing about living in an appartment. 
October 25, 2004
Sp@m-diculous
Sp@m-diculous
This is getting rather annoying... sp@m ahoy there... after just a weekend away.. I think I accidently removed some old comments by accident. But let us not delve into the past, let's try and keep a positive mind... sigh
October 17, 2004
The abomination has arrived
Now isn't this a first phenomenon I ever witness yesterday that I thought only happens on an all-girls shopping trip. Was witha bunch of g33k friends (I'm the only girl), and we were in GAME. Which was fine. But I noticed that there a certain change in the air, and behaviour of my boyfriend that's XBox bound as soon as we stepped pass the security sensors. (Anything but the Xbox, don't care if it is the crystal version.) Aghast as I was, he was reaching for this "thing", and my protests were oblivious with his high of owning this "thing". As I was frantically recalling his mortification of attending the awful launch of Xbox in GAME a few years prior. But that did not phase him one bit. I asked for a reason to acquire something like this that would take up half the living room! He tried to blackmail me with Tony Hawk's Underground 2, and 75Euro worth of vouchers that comes with it as another GAME special. Well, what can I say, my outcry of warnings and end of world order has fallen on deaf ears. And it's now lurking in the living room, online and all. Plotting.... it's the spawn of the most evilest kind. 
October 16, 2004
kaykays.com on blogshares
Hmm, strange, my site is listed on blogshares!?!
Interesting nonetheless, given that I ignored blogshares when it started.
September 10, 2004
It's true so...
... computers make you sick", well ok, if you are not provided with proper equipment (or your manager just don't give a toss, and I have given up asking for a proper monitor 
). So much for following the ergonomic policy of this damn place. 
UPDATE
More on this from Techdirt
September 09, 2004
If only I knew...
..to play classical music outloud to keep the next-door neighbour's hyperactive dog quiet.
September 05, 2004
Shuttle ready to go
Yay! My little shuttle is ready to go. I had to go out and purchase a cheapo graphics card (around €60) and Debian picked it up. My BF added the ATI drivers, and other tweaks here and there, and now it's ready to rock and roll. We'll test run the firewall/router/fileserver for a week here before I bring it down to Limerick.
September 03, 2004
Nearly there...!
Boy, the shuttle looks really cute. Everything is so squished inside, heh, a snug fit. But just one thing is missing... the graphics card. The PCI card fits, but of course, it's fried... so was pulling one from one of our unused linux/windoze boxes. But that one did not fit, the card was a bit old. Feeling annoyed that we may need to get a new graphics card after all, then my BF was getting excited... our other unused desktops! Maybe we can scavenge those. So the result, it works! Yay!
Now, see now picky I am on the rez of this ancient card... hey, I'm not knocking it, it's going to be a dumb Linux terminal at home down in Limerick anyway! 
My little baby!
My Shuttle arrived! Gonna be busy putting it together this weekend! It's my first form factor pc, and I'm a newbie, but I have my BF by my side showing me the ropes. It's gonna be a sinch. Nowadays, everything is colour-coded.
September 02, 2004
Crazy @ work
What a humdinger of a week... my machines won't work, no recognition for contributing to the internal Irish site re-design. What was worse, I was told, you should benefit your own organisation with your contribution from your spare time! What, with my spare time, I do whatever I want, and I chose at the particular time to contribute to our own Irish site. Just once, I want it to do something for the whole site compared to just my organisation which is part of the site. Our old site director acknowledged us, fully supported us, but the new one... he's too busy for the little folk. He thinks what our little temporary team did for the site was a waste of time. No resources, did not eat into our daily duties... and that's the thanks we get. I am going crazy here.... 
just need to get a project under my belt.. then I am out of here...
September 01, 2004
From Yay to boohoo
And when I thought everything is going well, the Shuttle I ordered Saturday 2 weeks ago, finally got delivered yesterday. So I am expecting to arrive either today/tomorrow. On the same note, I reconfirmed with Eircom that a technician is heading out on 13th September (I know, it's 3 weeks late, suppose to have this wrapped up by 24th August). And my City&Guilds cert arrived at the place I did my Flash course on Monday just gone. So that is winging its way to my mailbox. 
. But I cannot for the life of me get a machine to boot up in 64bit mode after a kernel upgrade. 
, and on top of that, I might need to hang around during Christmas week cos of work. 
.
August 21, 2004
Fruitful day today
Weel today has certainly been fruitful. As I have ordered Eircom Broadband (I know, what have I done, with Eircom with all people), I have gone out to town today with the intention of burning my credit card to a cinder!
Shopping list (after I had a nice lunch at the Metro on Willaim St) was :
- Netgear WG511TGE 802.11g 108Meg CardBus Adapter (ok close enough)
- Netgear Wireless - 108 Mbps/802.11g - model WG311T
- Netgear Wireless - 802.11g - model WG602
- Maxtor DimondMax Plus 9
My next purchase was suppose to be a barebones PC, but I was looking for Aopen XC cube but seem to be out of stock in it-direct, so nearly ordered from dabs. Unfortunately komplett.ie did not have any, so I looked for a shuttle. None in stock. 
So I ordered from Peats, and yes I know, I should have walked there when I was in town. And I did. They had none in stock that I see on display. But I finally ordered it. Costs a wee bit more... about €280 (incl VAT and del)
My credit card is so toasted... and all this so I can have a router/firewall/file server for my family at home.
Oh, and talk about Eircom. Well, I rang them up through 1800 503 303 and sales picked up. Asking them why a technician never dropped by 2 days ago, like he promised (via phone call), the guy said with an exclamation, "Oh they have you down with homestarter pack, not technician". Hmm, I said I know, I ordered the homestarter pack (summer surf promotion, remember... self-install and free router). The extra was the technician on top as we have Eircom Phonewatch installed. We have all the stuff, just no technician. (I liked the flustered sales rep at this stage, such a stress relief from day-to-day work). He said he will pass it through straight away to the technician's department (heh, whatever, as long as someone gets out to the house). And will not get back to us till Monday, as there are only 10 people in at work today taking basic inquiries (like..boohoo, you get paid so grin and bear with it). So I will follow-up on Monday, if no-one arrives at my parents place. Ready and waiting, as I told him before I hung up, "there will be someone there everyday and at all times at the house" (no excuses this time). We'll just have to wait and see... wait and see...
August 18, 2004
That is so uncanny!
Woah! 
How uncanny...? What you may ask? This comic from Apple Geeks. It reminds me of a friend who loaths Macs, and this comic sums it up nicely. 
August 14, 2004
Bringing up painful memories...
...for my friend's ibook problems. (wave of OJ over ibook, since his blog entries are not there to the world anymore), this interesting article about [metal-rubber] would mean an end to all gadget-terminating-accidents.
August 04, 2004
I hate evenings getting dark so early
It's one of those days again. I really am annoyed with my ipod. Just annoyed with it. Not sure why I got it in the first place. I am more happy with the Sony earphones I got for it though... *sigh*
June 25, 2004
Yay! I got paid today.
Now for that darn credit card. I suppose my day is a bit better than Glynn's!
And at least I am not down in Limerick, too close to dubya then I would like to be... Look at all those scorpion tanks though!
June 19, 2004
Yay..I have a gmail account
Silly as it may sounds, yay, I have got a gmail account! (Thanks, Neil!)
June 04, 2004
What a day!
What is up with today. First it was a power outage at work... the candidates for this was surge onsite, or one of esb's substations was knocked out, or the crew who were out fix our air-con caused it... who knows. Then, my kaykays.com site was offline.. apparently some distuibuted DOS on some sites and knocked everyones sites hosted by Dreamhost. Thank goodness that the folks at Dreamhost are on the job straight away.
Earlier today, I wanted to read an eweek article, and could not access it, as oops, they forgot to re-register their domain name. Today is just alot of oops-a-daisies... heh, thank goodness it's the bank holiday weekend coming up! Yay!
May 05, 2004
Just a wondering...
..if these laptop fan coolers is suitable for my friend's recently acquired alienware laptop (droool)... Although I would be calling it a portable desktop rather than a laptop, it's a monster of a gamer's machine... but it's sooo cool!
March 27, 2004
MT-blacklist is the biz
Oh yes, no more click-delete-rebuild and ban IP (repeat another couple hundred blog entries, blast those scripted spammers). But MT-Blacklist makes life alot simpler now. It's the biz. Thanks a whole bunch, with sugar on top!
February 21, 2004
BBC oops link
Ok, this is going to cause an uproar. But a mistake to point out... The bus tragedy in Dublin news was filed under Northern Ireland. Must be how their scripts picks things up. Any way, pic is just a click away...
Oh my goodness!
Bus accident that killed 5 people while waiting on Wellington Quay. I wait at that bus stop alot! And good thing I am back in Limerick. Lucky is all I could say.
January 01, 2004
ARGH! Not fair!!!
Sort of attached to neopets' auctions... being on 56k modem is not really helping me much! Peeps on broadband get to refresh their pages and place higher bids and I am stuck trying to load the bleedin' thing! :( Only got one auction successfully... wait till I get back up to Dublin. ;)
Cave marathon
Wonder what Mick and Oisin thinks of this? Ananova.com - Teacher wins underground marathon.
December 23, 2003
I just love Google's Doodles
And here's some for the holiday season... be sure to google every so often to see what's new on special occasions - Google Holiday Logos
November 17, 2003
Blog back up now
Apolagies for people who had problems commenting on my site. Some issues with MT (not sure if it is with the db, which was not corrupted, or the perl environment). Anyhoo, my knight in shining armour, Mick
November 06, 2003
Oh boy... can't wait till tomorrow!
Yes, got tickets to Matrix... should have booked them for yesterday.. well you know how it is! So Matrix film's release in 80 countries sets record (The Straits Times). Cool.
October 21, 2003
Stock market maybe bullish, but not for Sun
I read this about Sun being put on credit-watch as they are not doing so great for a few quarters now - C|Net : Sun posts deeper loss for quarter. I wonder what Sun execs are planning? Should I be worried (not really)? Is there still a market-share for Sun to grapple? Time will only tell... I'll be watching in the next few weeks anyway...
October 04, 2003
Checking out tennis racket grip sizing
Just joined the company tennis group. The rackets at home are all banjaxxed by my brother, so I am getting a new racket (but hey that is just an excuse, right? :P)
But there is only one good sport store and it is on Suffolk Street here in Dublin called Elvery's. Not many Prince rackets, but hey, it's a good shop.
Needed to find out my grip size, so went searching online, found the following:
SweatBandTennis.com - Instructions for measuring you grip size
Wilson site - tennis, Click on the "Grip Sizer" link for the menu and a pdf file will show you a picture for you to measure your hand. (Pretty good)
So my size is L2 (European) or 4 1/4 inch (US). Now all I have to do is wait for next payday.. :P
September 19, 2003
OU site still down
No! After trying to get my assignment done, I tried to go to OU site. But OH NO! The site is inaccessible. I wonder if it is the swen worm? Anyway, whatever it is the server is dead, I hope their sysadmin peeps are good, although I have been trying to get to their site since 6pm today (nearly 5 hours!) I need to get to it to upload my assignment. Anyway, I have mailed my tutor a few times already (I am so paranoid), plus included my assignment. Why the rush, I am off to US tomorrow morning and tonight's the deadline, so any extensions, I will not be around..sigh.
So hopefully, my tutor will accept my attached assignment, although her email address is OU's as well...double-sigh! Fingers crossed.
September 18, 2003
Sun laying off 3% of workforce
Got wind of this from a friend who was readint the Register - Sun shocks showgoers with layoffs, and I did a google Search: sun layoffs
The thing is, one source says it is 1000, while another is 1080, but all in all it is 3% of its workforce.
September 15, 2003
Hurricane veering away -- phew!
Thank goodness, it is veering away from Florida! Reuters - Dangerous Hurricane Isabel Aims at U.S. East Coast
I have never driven abroad before and I did not want a hurricane to go on top of to-worry list which includes driving in US (considering my experience is only driving in Ireland).
September 05, 2003
There comes a time when you want to say enough is enough
Why? I am not a tech person. Trying to understand tech stuff after reading, re-reading (and a million times after that) just still seems hopeless material to me as ever! Sigh...
I hate it, I can't understand the flipping tutorials, honestly, how much more pathetic can you get! (Boy am I opening myself to an onslaught here!)
I'm recovering from a cold (yes, I am whimpering here), trying to read tips, tutorials, specs, the lot, and my head is done in, and for what? So I can hand in some piece of code to prove my ideas in my docs are sound! Cripes, wish I can stop being cocky and think I know what I am doing sometimes.
August 19, 2003
The top searches to hit my site so far
Did I type Hamtoro wrong I wonder? But for some reason my site comes up first... No dodgy searches hitting my site (thank goodness) :) So here are the following top searches so far this month (not alot, but I am happy anyway)
#reqs: search term
129: hamtoro
53: korean anime
30: oish
27: strong bad cartoon
26: lego matrix
25: wonderful days anime
22: cute flash
22: good logos
13: monty python official
13: meowlingual
11: irish chinese
11: cool css
10: thermal depolymerization
10: swedish chef muppet
10: clone wars animation
10: wonderful days korean
10: barcode art
9: izzue
9: star wars animation
9: funny movie posters
August 09, 2003
Robbie in the park
I am not going to the gig, 65 a pop is a wee bit too much been stuck in a middle of a crowd of 135,000 screaming fans, in mid-twenties degrees celcius heat... and um, did I mention the 135,000 fans?!?
I'm just living on Parkgate street, down the road from the entrance to Phoenix Park where the gig is being held. So I may get to hear ol' Robbie sing anyway. But when I came back from town, and the street was jam-packed with people (the pubs and the chipper will be doing some good business today!).
As we were on the bus rounding up to the bus-stop, we heard something was caught under the bus... when we got off, it was a traffic cone! We told the bus driver but he drove on anyway! It's so hot today, you would wonder driving at high speed with a plastic cone underneath scraping along the hot tarmac will catch fire or not... anyway, tempting to print some Robbie Ts and sell them outside our appartment gates :P Chow!
July 12, 2003
Usability testing
I am on an Open University course - User interface design and evaluation, and this Dilbert cartoon reflects that! ;)
The course is going well, passed my first assignment, albeit the pang of disappointment of not getting a higher grade, oh well, I have forgotten the horrors of typing reports. Best get in to it, as this maybe my next career move to something I like. I don't mind a pass, but gaining theory is also important as industry experience. Something to fill in the empty evenings I suppose (although I find it hard to study when my brain has
switched off after work!).
Wow, did not realise the ...
... compiling Gnome2.4 can be such a job in itself! I need it as it would be useful for my development work, plus I can do some usability testing. But utter frustration of one dependancies missing and re-compiling the modules took its toll today, as it ate into my work time, which was thankfully my development time).
Checking out was fine, followed the jhbuild instructions. It;s the actual compiling of the modules that were utter nuisance.
All I could say is, I am lucky to have a BF to save the day. I am back at my family home down in Limerick, and my laptop is back in the appartment in Dublin, whirring away as it is compiling away under the watchful eye of my ultra cute BF! :P
Well, it's late, to all you geeks out there, how do you guys do it at all!
June 13, 2003
Blogging @ work
My BF set up blogging at work now. All my logs which were wiki pages are from now on blogs! Categories really came in handy for subcatergorising each part of my projects. It's great! So much hassle-free time instead of wrangling with my wiki pages to make sure everything is readable...grr..structured text, it was fun for awhile until I have to re-edit until it came out right!
May 30, 2003
Good day for a BBQ
Yup, hopping on the train off to my BF's dad's place for a spot of BBQ'ing. Although, there are some folks from a team on our floor BBQ'ing outside, the smell of rawly cooked food meanders through out our aircon system, I just can't wait... yup all the marinating I was doing last night, and it should be all set for a good grilling!
May 26, 2003
Rumble in the park
The daily rumblings at work can be thought of as a foot massage. It happens about 3 times a day now. It's all this tunnel drilling for the Dublin Port Tunnel, and a couple of heavy machinery rolling back and forth along the waterfront for the new water sports clubhouse (I think). I can imagine when I look out the window, we would be floating out towards the Irish sea on the bed of rubbish we are on (literally we are, East Point Business Park was built on an ex-dump!).
May 25, 2003
Ster Century phone booking system
I cannot stop laughing. It's the first automated phone booking system I encountered for a cinema (Usually I am twiddling my thumbs waiting for someone to pick up the phone). Anyhow, listening to the different segments of the different options spoken by at least 2 different people was very funny. Especially when I got to the end, it went through the whole sequence of what I booked "You have booked...(chg of voice)...Matrix Reloaded...(cov)...rated 15pg...(cov)..." etc... Even the 8 Euro and 8 cents were different voices. I know, I am not use to this, but I could not stop laughing to key in my credit card number. Someone should phone up Ster century if you are going there to watch a movie sometime...it's the most gas thing I have heard so far.
May 16, 2003
It's one of those days I feel..
..that I maybe addicted to coffee! Take yesterday morning for example, we (me and my BF) just got off the escalator at the DART station and the guy who works at the little coffee shop on the platform saw us and did a 180 degree turn around and by then I realised that he was going to re-open the shop so we can get our regular large latte!
And most mornings now, we do not even have to order the coffee, he just prepares it for us when he sees us. :D
Same with the coffee shop at the business park I work in, one of the guys working there knows what we usually order...
Considering 2 years ago, I do't even drink the stuff. Ho-hum...
May 05, 2003
I'm in a cooking mood today
... and as I was checking out weblogs, I can across this site - Culinary Adventures with The Radical Chef. Lots of nice recipes. Oisin would be interested in this.
April 28, 2003
Back in the city
Well, back from my trip around Clare. I'll try and put something up on where I was staying, and where I went with pictures and everything. We stayed in Ballyvaughan in this very nice B&B called Ballyvaughan Lodge. And it was very nice, and was not at all too dear, €65 for an enuite room, for two people. The room was huge, with a double and a single bed. The ensuite was very nice (apart from the elctric shower which took its time to heat up). And it's 2-5 minutes walk to the nearest pub (to be honest, I did not go to any pub in the evening to enjoy the trad music... ;P) and restaurant. Clare is so beautiful, the scenary was absolutely breathtaking. It was well worth getting out of the city for a few days, even though it means that I was driving. :) I love driving, I am getting the hang of this driving in the country lark! :D Next time, I'll take a longer break and drive to the west and also a trip to the north...
April 26, 2003
Motion sickness
Ugh! Not on the road yet! Been back for over 1hr 1/2 now to recover from some motion sickness. Walked to town this morning, and it started to lash (typical), so we dropped by a nice Italian café by the Civic offices, and had a latte. Proceeded onto Grafton street to acquire a Clare map (yup, that is where we'll be heading), and a hat for myself as it was raining... Got the aircoach, but realised that milk plus any kind of transport equals "oh-oh I am not feeling well". So, got to the airport in one shaking piece, got the car and drove back. It's a brand spanking new Opel Vectra, but I hate the indicators.. oh well, at least it's a car I am familiar with, most the main controls (except for the reverse) is on the side I am use to using (unlike that crappy Hyundai Accent, turn right, windscreen wipers come on!) So, after many cups of Chinese tea and a shower, I am feeling less on the green side... Prob leave in 30 mins. Till Monday night, I'm off to vroom-vroom ;P
Goodnight!
Heh! Just shared a bottle of white wine (very nice and fruity) with my friends while watching Southpark, Family Guy and Futurama on Channel 4... Boy was that wine strong. I'm off to bed now after this blog...Good night! ;)
April 25, 2003
Brain Freeze!
From my earlier blog, I mentioned I had a smoothie... it was a Strawberry Energiser smoothie and ws bought at Zubar (I think) at the Jervis Shopping Centre...
But then this happened...
Got my hiking pants
A bit late getting out of the appartment today. Anyway, got myself 2 pairs of hiking pants at The Outdoor Adventure Store on Upper Liffey Street. Each around €45 which was not bad at all.
Since this is the end of the week, it was time to replenish our food supplies at home. So off to Tesco. But we did not have €1 coin for the trolley, so I got smoothies to break a note. My BF nearly got €2 coin back (after all the trouble to breaking the note!), but tragedy averted, and we got the €1 coins instead. Anyhoo, it turns out that the trolley was not locked..teehee! After all that, and me drinking the smoothie really quickly and getting a brain freeze... All in all, today was relaxing. Can't wait till tomorrow. Picking up the car at the airport... gonna have a whale of a time! w00t!
April 24, 2003
Where to go on my break?
Well, it's my first day of my break from work, and I am still in Dublin. Not going abroad. Apart from the money issue (expensive city breaks), it's the SARS thing as well... I don't want to be one of the unfortunate one quarantined in the airport for days on end, just because someone on the same plane might have the virus! Call it paranoia, but it's too rampant not to worry about this, even if the flu is more of a killer than this new virus...
Anyhoo... this morning, I did sleep it in, then head into town later supposedly to get hiking pants. Did not get a pair, not a great selection for women, might end up getting a pair of small men's trousers, but hey, Mick says it makes no diffs as they get muddy anyway. Anyhoo, after an evening vegging in front of tv watching Buffy, Angel and Scrubs (all while Neil was in the background commenting on something or another), I am here at the pc (surprise, surprise), and just apart from blogging that is, I just booked a car via www.carhireireland.com which was cheaper than Argus and Budget Rentals I must say! Anyhoo, picking up the car at Dub airport on Sat at 12pm and returning it on Mon at 9pm. So where am I going (well, with Mick as well ;P)? It's a bit hazy, but we will be travelling towards Wicklow first and south towards Cork then. It will hopefully a hiking/road trip. This is going to be fun. I can't wait!
Nothing's cheap anymore!
Just back from town. One thing about this week... after saving a few bob from not buying 7 day bus rambler tickets (walking instead), we bought a 7 day DART train ticket! And thing is I have taken today and Friday off! And I only use the DART ticket for 5 days anyway! Such a rip-off..wish there was a 5 day ticket. Talk about things being expensive... a cd album now costs nearly as much as a dvd. What's the story?!? Just saw an Aphex Twin new mix album, and that was around €28... eep!
Apart from that, got myself a DryFlow shirt, a 1st aid kit... paid with my credit card, and guess what, the card swipey thing was not authorising my card transfer, and the shop assistant had to ring the bank up. So what was wrong? Someone nicked my card, or someone cancelled it, or something I bought recently caused some problems with my card... but as it turns out, the banks were doing random checks on cards, and mine was one of those. So after the phone call, it went through fine...phew! My plastic is fine! :)
April 23, 2003
Cut down on coffee
This just reminds me of what happened this morning - Cutback on coffee from dilbert.com. My flatmate Oish made coffee. He wanted to cutdown on the stuff so he made really weak coffee. Well, I was barely awake when all I hear was my BF slagging Oish off for the weak coffee. I was still in slumberland, just brushed my teeth, so all I could taste was toothpaste anyway! :)
April 17, 2003
This is how I feel...
...today! Recovering from a cold (and NO it is NOT sars!!!) But I phoned home saying that I will be back down but not till tomorrow until I feel a bit better. (I am 80% recovered from a head cold) But was told to go see a doctor... it's a Thurs... I'm at work. How the heck can I see a doctor? They'll be closed by the time I see them. Argh... Ooh..! It's a nice day today.. I feel so happy! :D
March 29, 2003
Absinthe...mmm...nice
Continuing from my earlier blog about LAN party and alcohol. This is how much absinthe was used since 8'ish (I think!)... Remember, it was an unopened bottle...
And yes, that is absinthe all over the cooker hob! better clean that up before we use the cooker! :P
March 28, 2003
LAN party!!
w00t! But I am not playing. I am not a pc gamer. But this is a LAN party, and as LAN parties go, there should be alcohol. My bf just got back from Prague, and brought back a bottle of absinthe. So I went online and searched how to prepare it to drink properly (unless I want to hullucinate!) and found the following site: Absinthe -Wilde green fairy liquid Where I got instructions, after I read most of the history of course, and proceeded with friends of mine to make the concoction! Panic attack to douse the flames in the beginning, but Oish managed to get the fine balance of absinthe and water. So I have shared 3 glasses of absinthe mixture so far. And I don't think I will be in a state to go to the pub to meet some friends of mine in town later, when this stuff kicks in. I am planning to make some more in a mo... w00t!
More sites:
Absinthe the great equaliser
ABSINTHE - THE SHOCKING TRUTH
March 11, 2003
March 05, 2003
Coffee Freak
This strip from Angst Technolgy is brilliantly funny, and yet disgusting at the same time! - Coffee Freak!
March 03, 2003
How much?!?
Argh! The cost of RDRAM nowadays. Ok, ok, they have dropped in price. My BF brwsed the web when I was on the phone to him over the weekend to check out the prices of PC800 RIMM RDRAM at komplett.ie and Compustore. The difference in price!!! It costs 107 euro in komplett.ie and 128 euro in Compustore. Since I was planning a trip to my local PC world, I thought the worse scenario would be the top of that price range. Boy, was I wrong! I made a bee-line for the sheves that has the mems, and guess how much they were? 250 euro!!! EEK! So I am going to order the mem online now.
My BF has ordered my RDRAM, it costs 98Euro now from komplett.ie (2 x 128MB instd of the single one). And looky what I found about world chip price - World chip sales rise despite seasonal dip. (from The register)
March 02, 2003
Silliness, closer to home this time
Just heard from my BF about the mystery of the ATM disappearance from our local newsagent across the road. Apparently it was stolen! Yup, since it was a convenient size (fit through the door), and an even more convenient location in the shop, uh-huh... just in the door, it was just waiting to be dragged off. Well the shop is getting another ATM machine, but hopefully they would locate it in a more secure part of the shop, or bolt the thing down more securely at least! :)
February 26, 2003
Up...and down...
Argh! My site is up and down like a yo-yo the past month! Hope my host resolves any issues that remain and/or prevent any major site outages in the future.
Their tech guys are prob buzzing full of coffee (like I am now! :) ) But nothing could be as worse than what is happening in the following comic strip from Angst Technology :
February 25, 2003
Got paid today
I feel great! Got paid today. Did the month go by so slowly... Just put up a bubble gum piccie just to show you how I feel right now!!! [WARNING: Cuteness involved...]
Coffee
I still have a piccie of a solution in preventing a coffee crisis...
...and that is having a UPS especially for the coffee machine. The idea came along when my flatmate got a coffeemaker from UK, but it blew our appartment's fuse when he tried to use it. So, that is how the idea came along. Here is a strip from Angst Technology for now. But watch this space...
February 18, 2003
The word "twee"
I have been obsessed with the word "twee"! Why? Why, you ask???
I hear my mates say... "She is twee." "Yeah, she is twee." Ok, so I sort of get the idea of what twee means when describing a female from a male perspective, but then the type of girl I thought they would think is twee, is not what I thought! (If you get what I mean.) What is it with this word that is driving me absolute bonkers. Here are the following definitions of the word "twee":
From Cambridge dictionary - http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=twee*1+0:
adjective
ESPECIALLY BRITISH INFORMAL DISAPPROVING
artificially attractive or too perfect
The village has escaped all modern developments, yet without becoming twee or 'preserved'.
Oxford paperback - http://www.askoxford.com/dictionary/twee
twee
adjective (tweer /"twi:/, tweest /"twi:st/) derogatory affectedly dainty or quaint.
Argh! Twee...! This adjective was used recently to describe a painting, which does not have a single female in it. Has the definition changed in the course of time? But this infuriating word comes back every so often, so I can bang my head against the tabletop everytime I hear it.
With laughter I bear with the current meaning I was falsely led to believe it was, and then a dramatic changes when I am comfortable with the meaning.
And guest what I found the Chinese translation for twee from - http://www.tigernt.com
And here it is : 形 矯飾的;可愛的
Twee, hah... yeah, that is twee. You are twee... I am twee? We are twee!!!
February 17, 2003
Has Neil being telling us about this?
Or have my filters kicked in, and I also kind of forget what he says sometimes... :) - Peter Hook to play bass on upcoming Hybrid album
My new headphones
They are phat! Man, they are so cool, they are Sennheiser HD280 Pro headphones. And they were way better than my last pair, which was not bad either, but it just got a bit dodgy in the right hand side, no sound matter of fact.
And they were my Valentine's pressie. Not the usual gift you would get, but I love gadgets, and I was aiming to get these for last couple of months now... He is so sweet.. ;)
February 16, 2003
Ach!
Just getting better after a wee bit of motion sickness... was reading on a bus (which was totally covered in a dark guinness ad. So when I wanted to look at the distance to stop my motion sickenss, low and behold, all I saw was black windows. Anyhoo, just to say I have updated my photos page for both personal and work piccies.
February 14, 2003
Happy V-day!
'kay! A bit late to post this piccie up. Back from dinner at an Italian restaurant in Temple Bar called Trastevere. That was a great dinner. Half happy from the chardonnay, and I really enjoyed it. I am ok now, or else I would not be able to blog!!! Anyhoo, to everyone, happy v-day! This piccie is dedicated to my BF, the cutest in the whole wide world... 
MICK!
February 11, 2003
I an sooo Hungee!
Just out of 2 meetings in a row. Missed my lunch break. I am so hungry.... At least I have a jarful of coffee and a Chinese pear to munch on.
February 01, 2003
VW Beetle with Spoiler! Ugh!
Was in town today, heading to the city centre car park and what do I see parked on the side of the strret. A VW Beetle, not only am I not a big fan of these awful looking cars, but it also has a spoiler at the back! Yup, a blue beetle with a spoiler! You cannot imagine it? Well here is a picture I found in Google - The Beetle RSi with the spoiler picture. It just looks utterly absurd. Why does it need a spoiler? By the way, as I found out from the VW site, the spoiler is retractable. Um, my initial question, is it necessary? Well, I suppose if someone can afford this car, then they are probably going the whole hog. I would rather have a VW Golf instead...
January 29, 2003
Happy Lunar new year
My Lunar new year strip to greet everyone. Yes it is of myself! Happy new year from Whykay!!!
January 28, 2003
It's quite blustery out...
I'm going to go home in this weather...ugh! Here is a picture I find quite nice - Distant View of Nagamichi-ura; umbrellas blown away. Or Sudden Shower at Ohashi Bridge at Atake
January 26, 2003
A piccie of me BBQ'ing in HK
Just a little piccie I drew of me bbq'ing in HK. Aah, memories. BBQ's sweetcorn cobs, spare ribs, roast pig and goose, meatballs, pork, beef and marshmellows. And some beer to wash it all down...
January 19, 2003
January 18, 2003
Just the other day...
I was at the post office in town. I noticed that the lad in front of me was posting a video cassette to Big Brother! How sad is that?!? I was very good. I did not snigger or make any snide comment (me? I never do anything like that)... I was ready to explode with laughter at the silliness of what this guy has subjected himself to, in making this video. Just needed to comment on that in my blog to get it out of my system.
Oh, look what I found... and anti-idiot site! http://www.anti-idiot.com/
January 15, 2003
Listening to the radio
(No not online, but with a real radio!) Listening to 2FM, only tuned in last night when I was driving home. Nearly swerved off the road laughing my head off! She is so funny! Her page at 2FM - Ruth Scott.
I'm actually just recovering from keeling over listening to her, thank god for the radio ads! At least I can take a breather.
Wish Eircom would cop on...
Argh! I want broadband at a reasonable price! What is wrong with Eircom??? I wonder when they will give in to an agreement on the EUR30 a month flat rate for us ordinary home users.
What I am planning to do is cut the 2nd phone line in my room (used to go online) and get broadband. Get a n/w server going, and link up the pcs around the house, so it is easier for everyone to go online (with my BF's help of course ;) )
Down with Eircom...Boooooo!
January 14, 2003
Wow, is it windy outside!
First we are frozen to death, now the weather is trying to blow us away to kingdom come! Grr... Trying to get contact with my relatives. It's still slow. Just waiting for them to reply. Am using opera browser now. Downloaded the full 11megs! And it was on my little 56k modem. It took 1 hour and 40 mins. I started downloading at 2 something AM. 40 mins left and I was keeling over with tiredness. So I rested my eyes and woke up just in the nick of time (around 3:20'ish AM) Phew, just in time to go offline, ok the main thing that I was not online till 6 in the morning! It's much faster now, but is it necessary to download the JRE as well. It's humongous... I'm not pointing any fingers at who I am annoyed at. :)
BF lent me his Nokia...
... to see if I would like it or not. It's a Nokia 8310 by the way. Anyhoo, it was working fine until I switched it off, and it would not come back on again. The closest I found to this problem is that it could be from dodgey covers being swapped and causing damage of some kind. Anyhoo, the power button is broken, wonder if Repairing Handbook for Nokia 8310 would help!
January 11, 2003
Stuuupid cable!
Argh! Couldn't get online with my machine in my own room. Used my dad's laptop to connect instead. Hazard a guess that it maybe the cruddy cable, and guess what? I was right!!! Heh.. well that is the first. Having a techie for a BF has its wonders...
January 10, 2003
Funny that...
Just got in touch with some of my relatives in Cork. Funny that it is the first time since I talked my Aunt and my first cousin since I can't remember when. I mean a searious talk, not just a "hi" at weddings and stuff. But it was a great feeling. But under unfortunate circumstances brought us closer. But that is life isn't it. Everyone in their own world, trying to earn money and do the best for themselves and their own family. But what gets left behind is our own blood kin. But this is why I have setup the site for, to get more of my family together (all the 2nd generation Irish Born Chinese) and meet up and keep contact with each other, no matter where we all are, and whatever we are doing. It's a very feel-good feeling. I am so happy! :)
January 05, 2003
Back from HK
Well, I am back unexpectedly because of unfortunate family-related reasons :( Where have I been? I've been in HK for the past 2 weeks. Got to walk in the country parks, BBQ'ing, go to a games expo in Wan Chai (more in my other blog when I get time to type it up), different markets, Golden Arcade (plenty of hardward bought here!) and we also acquired ourselves (my BF and I) a Panasonic Gamecube/DVD player (multi-region unlocked). Heh, it's brill. Review and piccies later as I do not have the time for that now. Plus review on Monkey Ball 2 and the Sonic bumper games pack later! (Neil would be camping in out flat for the next few months!!! ;-P
So that's the story of my sudden disappearance of the face of the earth the past 2 weeks. Did not bother to go to Internet Cafe as I thought my cous was installing ADSL, but that was too late for us. And now I am back. Maybe I should do a travel blog???!?
December 12, 2002
My photos site is up
Yup, it's at http://www.kaykays.com/photos
http://photos.kaykays.com is a re-direct to http://www.kaykays.com/photos.
Some are password protected, so mail me (those who know me have my address) if you want the password.
December 10, 2002
Bad day today
I'm feeling sick, so not really in a blogging mood. But I 've got new joiners in my IBC message board. :)
December 07, 2002
Oooh, lots of photos
But it cost me EUR50 for 4 rolls of APS films to be developed. Ouch! Ok, digitial camera has to be invested in! It is costing me on average around EUR100 each year... But I'll be busy scanning photos, and I'll have them up at http://photos.kaykays.com (password protected of course, which is the only compromise I can get to put the pictures up (discriminating or not). So many photos to create and upload (so much work!). My BF found this site - http://www.amk.ca/python/code/gallery.html, where you can download and use a really simple Python code to generate thumbnails, re-size pictures and output a simple html code. That was cool and simple. Can hack at the code to output more useful HTML code. But thanks to that person who created the code - http://www.amk.ca/.
November 20, 2002
I can't wait to get out of work...
... "Me so HUNGY!" Plus I am off to watch "28 Days Later" with Kieran. And the rest of the crowd are off watching "Bowling for Columbine". Either way, I am getting popcorn in the end. :-p
It's just not fair!
I could not order the Sennheiser HD280 pro from amazon.com as they can't ship to Ireland... grr!!! And nothing is working as usual for me today. Sucks donkeys today. I read material, eyes hurt, increased fonts that even Mrs. Doyle with her funny glasses can read it, and everything is still blurry as I read more and more. I hate today...
October 15, 2002
Just one of those days...
Have you had one of those days just when things are so hunky-dory and other days which goes in the category of the other extreme, complete and utter annoyance. Well, today is the latter, but I won't comment on the issue as it is a small work issue which is driving me up the wall for some unknown, obscene reason. Maybe I am tired. Maybe it was from last night when I was so happy (3 hours after I ate 2 fruit pastille sweets) that I was constantly giggling non-stop for few minutes (I'm sure my BF thinks otherwise, I mean more than a few minutes ;-) ) Anyway, I am waiting for contentment to hit me when I start drinking my nice large latte to go from Bon Expresso. Ahh, bliss!