Geek Stuff

I must say I was not too sure what to expect when I attended Northern Voice. Would I be surrounded by people geekier than me, or maybe some snobbish high brow folks? I was pleased to see a nice mix of of young and young at heart and from the people I met from all walks of life.

The day started out with the keynote address from Matt Mullenweg and then we went right into the days events. My first foray was in Bringing Social into Blogging by Marc Canter. Very interesting and thought provoking, I am always interested in what can be done with software and what is yet to come. Marc is an excellent presenter and provided a no nonsense look at the the addition of social features to all types of software.

Next on the agenda was Blogging is Dead, Long Live the Blogger presented by Chris Lott and a group of panelists seeded throughout the audience. The discussion went in several directions spurred by comments from both the audience and the panelists. One of the discussions I quite enjoyed was whether we create a different persona on our blogs which some of us use to escape from our lives. I personally do not have a different persona on my Blog, my blog is me, but I can understand why someone might want to have a different character on their web site. Some will be for privacy issues, some to escape their real lives and some possibly to explore different things which in our real lives we would not want to try but still want to experience in some way.

In the afternoon I attended The Other Side of Two Dimensions with Alex Waterhouse-Hayward and Kris Krug. Alex is a fine art photographer who was provided photographs for magazines and newspapers as well as for CBC and many other outlets. The discussion was quite stimulating and the interaction between Alex and Kris was interesting. The final presentation I attended concerned the research project of Jacqueline Schoemaker Holmes about online dating in Vancouver. She took 40 participants (Vancouver Professionites as she called them) professionals and through interviews and shadowing she came up with some info on what it is like to date online, why we use online dating and some of the pitfalls. While I found her presentation to be some what enlightening (it confirmed some of my experiences) I did not completely agree with how she got to her conclusions. She had shadowed 4 of the participants and when asked how she picked the 4 she indicated they basically picked themselves by standing out from the group. They were the most outspoken, had the most charisma and had a high level of confidence. Where I have a problem here is I do not believe this would give an accurate cross section of the 40 participants which in turn would not give a good cross section of online daters. Just my 2 cents.

I think the most interesting session I attended was a postmortem of the Moose Camp. Moose Camp was held on the Friday and is the “unconference” which is self-organizing and also includes an Internet BootCamp for beginners. As I did not attend, it made the postmortem interesting and as well Boris Mann who lead the discussion picked on me to get my take on the discussion from a non participant. Next year I think I need to plan to attend both days as I know I missed out on a lot from Moose Camp/Internet BootCamp.

I had a great time and look forward to next year!

Just finished listening to Matt Mullenweg’s speech which was very engaging and also thought provoking. Makes me really appreciate the Open Source concept which I for one sometimes take for granted. When you listen to Matt you feel his passion for Open Source and the impact it will have on the future and the impact of social interaction.

I will be attending Northern Voice coming up this Saturday. So what is Northern Voice, well it is a two day conference to celebrate personal blogging and social media. So in other words I guess there will be a few Geeks gathering! On the Friday their is Moose Camp which is a participant driven event where all attendees are part of the presentation. On Saturday, which is the part I am attending are a series of talks on different subjects including a keynote address by Matt Mullenweg founder of Wordpress. There is a good assortment of sessions so at this point I am still looking at which ones I will attend. I am looking forward to this event and meeting some of my fellow bloggers.

I have been on the hunt for a lighter smaller notebook for traveling. One of the things I discovered in my research was to get a new notebook would be costly as lightweight systems with smaller screens seem to be more expensive. As luck would have it I came across a system at a very reasonable price, which has turned out to meet my needs and surpass my expectations. My new notebook is an Acer Travelmate C110 which is a Tablet PC. At first I was not sure I was going to like it but after some experimentation I have found it is quite easy to use the stylus to write and the text recognition is pretty decent.

Yes the screen turns around and lays flat so it can be used as a writing pad. Even though the system is older, it is a PM 1.5 with 1 Gig of ram, an 80 Gb harddrive and wireless it starts quickly and runs all the applications with no noticeable lag. I have taken my Travelmate on a couple of small trips over the past month and it has served my needs perfectly. I am extremely happy with my new addition to Anthony’s Toy Box.

Got this from Jodi over at Faster Pussycat Type! Type!
You have to answer these questions with one word, and one word only.

* Your last meal: soup
* Something on your desk/work area: chocolate
* Your New Year’s Eve plans: hockey
* The smallest gift you received this year: port
* The largest gift you received this year: camera
* Something you wish you hadn’t eaten so much of during the holidays: cookies
* On your feet: socks
* Your hair: hair?
* How many other countries you’ve traveled to: ten
* One country you dream of visiting: Israel
* A hobby you’d like to take up/revisit this year: Traveling
* A hobby of yours that died (aww, buh-bye) this past year:biking
* A publication you subscribe to (print): none
* The most embarrassing subscription in your feed reader (if you have one): hotbloggirls.com
* One of your favorite stores to window shop dreamily in: apple
* One of your favorite online stores to window shop dreamily on: amazon.com
* A color you love to wear: burgundy
* Your bed pillow: Sealy
* The color of your kitchen counter: counter?
* What you plan to do when you get up from the computer: dinner

There you go! Let me know if you fill this in so I can read it too!

After what seems like a very long search, well it has been about 2 months I have finally got my new camera. One of the challenges was trying to decide whether I wanted a Point and Shoot or move up to a Digital SLR. I went back and forth trying to decide and finally a friend suggested that the only way to make a definitive decision was to hold and manipulate the types of cameras I was interested in purchasing. At first I visited my favourite haunts Future Shop and Best Buy only to find the cameras all had security gizmos attached making it impossible for me to get the real feel for the cameras. Finally I came across a place in Surrey which is about 10 minutes from my office and decide to give them a try.

This place, Photo Expert is a specialized photo shop which allowed me to not only manhandle the cameras but also gave me insights into the positives and negatives for each of the cameras I was investigating. In the end I was flipping back and forth between the Nikon D40 and Canon Rebel Xt and decided on the Rebel XTI with the 17-85mm lens. So far I am quite happy and while learning the ins and outs of my new is taking some time I am pleased with the results. I have included some pictures below Read the rest of this entry »

I was recently invited to join this site with some interesting games where you can earn some money but you have to play real opponents and defeat them. If you win you climb the ladder and can earn some good money, of course you take a chance each time you play that you will lose and fall to the bottom of the ladder. I have a few invites if you are interested give it a try.

Moola (Click for an Invite)

As I have been planning for my upcoming trip I have been looking at getting a new camera as my current digital camera is about 5 years old so an upgrade is definitely needed. I have looked at some review sights and the thing I have discovered is that the more I search the more I am confused about whether I want a compact, a SLR or a cross between the two.

Here is what I am looking for and hopefully someone can recommend something which will meet my needs. The camera needs to have better than 3X Optical zoom, good startup speed so I am ready to take pictures quickly, image stabilization of some sort, a flash, a viewfinder would be nice but is not necessary and although not a deal breaker good low light/night pictures would be nice. I have been looking at the Canon Digital Rebel XT as well as the Canon A570 and some different Olympus cameras as well. I think I would like a compact SLR like camera as I do not believe I will be changing lens at all. Looking for some recommendations to help me make the decision. I am open to suggestions if someone knows about a compact that will meet my needs I will certainly have a look.

Lately I have been listening and watching alot of podcasts from such places as The BBC and PBS on both current affairs and history. I tend to go through phases and I am currently in my ‘knowledge sponge’ stage and cannot get enough of these podcasts and when I have listened to all that are available I go hunting for new ones to satisfy my hunger.

I have been listening to several from the BBC World Service Documentary Archive with subjects including the insurgency in Iraq all the way to life in Hong Kong 10 years after the handover. What I find particularly fascinating besides the information is not only the range of topics but the depth of the stories and how easy it is to become engrossed in each report. Today I was puttering about and as I listened to each podcast and moved on to the next one I did not realize it but I had spent almost 8 hours listening to podcasts. I guess I am addicted, but this is one addiction that is not all that bad.

So what do you think of my Simpsons’ character?

He looks like me, what with the bushy eye brows and devilish good looks, I could picture this handsome guy in an episode of The Simpsons.

I participated in the Mt Cheam Lions Club Model Railroad Show in Chilliwack on the weekend. I was asked to bring my Dad’s Z Scale layout which is pretty rare and as it turned out was the only Z Scale layout at the show. The variety of layouts was extremely interesting to see and the depth of detail on some of the layouts was incredible. I was impressed by several of the layouts but especially the World War 2 setup by a member of Mount Rainier N Scale Model Railway

Also there was a good selection of remote control R/C cars and planes and the show had a demonstration area where the planes were flying and a race track for R/C street cars. A lot of interesting things packed into one area.

I was pleased and surprised by the attention my layout received from the large number of participants that attended the show. The uniqueness of Z Scale makes it an instant marvel and the detail of the engines and cars are a draw. I was bombarded with questions from young and the not so young and even though I have limited knowledge I was glad I did some research before the show. I received a lot of compliments which I felt a little embarrassed about because I was just showing the trains and layout, my father acquired and built the layout over a number of years and it was his pride and joy.

Still I did get it going and it is a nice legacy so I am not sure what is next but I would like to get more involved and maybe create my own layout. As I am not really a modeller it could be a real challenge. Since I have some Z Scale Trains already it makes sense to go in that direction. One major challenge with Z Scale is the small size (1:220) and maybe working with N Scale (1:160) might be a better fit for me.

I decided recently to get myself a gift…Hey I deserve it! Oh what to get for myself? So many choices and I really did not want to spend too much you know the lack of employment thing kinda puts a cramp in my purchasing power. After some browsing I happen to goto the Air Miles site and have a look at the rewards. Since I have a good number of Air Miles and I have enough for a trip or two with some extra left over I decided something for 300 to 400 Air Miles would suit my purpose perfectly.

After looking at the Gold rewards section I found a notebook backpack which looked like a nice gift for yours truly. It is a Heys EPac which is designed to fit notebooks with 15.4″ screens. After completing the required research I was happy with the due diligence and decided to use some of my cherished Air Miles to get myself one of this packs.

Since I have only used Air Miles for travel I was kinda curious what was involved and was surprised how easy it was to complete the order and it cost me nothing extra. In the end my new pack was delivered by Purolator in 5 days, a pretty sweet deal.

I have owned, used and abused my cherished notebook (laptop) computer for almost 2 years and made a big decision on the weekend. I was going to format my hard drive and those who have contemplated or actually formatted a drive know how distressing this chore can be, especially if it goes wrong. Now it is not like my notebook was not functioning it was just very bloated with all kinds of crap that has been installed and either removed leaving some remnants or just not used anymore and forgotten. Since I have completed this task on my desktop unit multiple times I knew that their were certain files I needed to back up to avoid grief later. Since I use Firefox and Thunderbird I found the files with my profiles and all my data files and copied them to my external drive. I must say my external drive is soooo damned convenient that I do not know how I survived without one.

Next came the big step, actually formatting my hard drive and hoping like heck that I did not forget to copy something to my external drive. This is the most nerve racking time as you wait to get the Operating System reinstalled and then the process of getting all the required software reinstalled. My plan was only install what I needed to function and not install all the crap I had on their before.

I was surprised at how quickly I had my notebook back up and running with a slimmed down Program Files directory. Using both my USB drive where I store all the required drivers, spy and antivirus software and my external drive with the rest of my required files I was able to get my notebook up and running within 3 hours. Not bad as I was watching a movie while working on my notebook it seemed to make the time go much faster.

Now I have my notebook running faster with less crap on it, a successful operation. Still a nail biter as you never know what will happen when you dive into reinstalling a Microsoft product. Reinstalling and setting up both FireFox and Thunderbird was a breeze and Microsoft should take a few notes on how simple it can be to reinstall a program with the previous settings.

I am glad to get rid of all the extra crap and especially like the increase in speed.

If you ask my friends I am very conservative and will not make rash decisions. Normally I will think before I leap. Occasionally I say what the hell and jump into something even if I do not know what the hell I’m doing.

The other day a neighbour mentioned that the local model railway show was interested in displaying my ‘Z’ Scale trains for their show on the weekend of October 14-15 I told him that I would check into it. A couple of things occurred to me at this point, one, the trains had not been used in over 5 years and two, I have no idea how to run them or get them going. Let me explain, the trains in question were my Dad’s and they are made by Marklin in Germany and are the smallest scale trains made (1:220). The layouts are small enough to fit into a briefcase.

My dad purchased the different components about 30 years ago during his trips to Germany and built a custom layout which is in a table 5 feet long by 2 foot wide with a custom controller to control all the switches and tracks.

So now I have been playing with the trains the last couple of days trying to get them to run and finally I have successfully got a train running and it is amazing to just sit and watch the train go around the track. I am not sure why but I am enjoying the task of getting the trains and tracks back in shape. I have gotten quite proficient at setting up and hooking up different car combinations and knowing what speed to set the transformer to get the trains running without jumping the track. As I am not mechanically inclined If I may say so I am quite proud of myself.

I am listed on 25 Peeps check it out If you click on the link I get to stay on the site and move up

25peeps.com

So would you help a guy out Please.

It’s for a good cause.

It is kinda amusing now I guess but I was having some problems with my Gallery about a week ago and while I was trying to get it working I ran into all my database issues. All of the issues appear to fixed and I am in the process of putting up all my photos.

Check out my gallery and come back often as I will be adding photos.

I had a Database problem this evening and lost everything for the last few days. I am in the process of reconstruction.

Isn’t technology Grand!

At the same time I was dealing with Bell I was also dealing with Epson for my CX4600 All in One printer/scanner etc. I had purchased this unit last Feburary at Costco and used it sparingly. I needed to print something off in Feburary and the unit indicated the black ink was out so I finally broke down and went and purchased a black cartridge at almost $50. When I got home I installed the new cartridge only to have the unit indicate that all the inks were out including the new one I just bought. So I contacted Tech Support through email as I did not want to incur a long distance call if necessary. It took a couple of days before I got a response recommending several things I should try. I completed these tasks and still no joy so another email with the wait of two days for a response. The response was to send in all the cartridges at their expense and they will send me all new ones.

Packaged up the cartridges and sent them off and again waited. Still was not able to print what I wanted but I was patient and after five days I received a package from Epson which was filled with ink for my 4600. I installed all the new ink and joy the unit indicated the ink was good. I was a happy camper and printed out a test page, can’t be too careful you know. Wouldn’t you know it the page came out blank so I ran a cleaning and head alignment and tried again. Looked at the page it shot out and it was blank. Hmmm so the ink is acceptable to the unit but nothing wanted to print.I checked all settings and made sure everything checked out then did some research online. I Googled it (did I say Google is my Friend) and found multiple postings concerning issues with the printer and issues with ink. So after some reading I again contacted Tech Support through email and the response indicated I would have to call their support line for further assistance.

So I bit the bullet and called Tech Support and spoke to a very nice young lady who looked at my file which contained all of the email correspondence. She asked me what was happening so I explained what steps I had taken to remedy the blank pages with no luck. She asked a couple of questions and was satisfied with everything I had done whereupon she said the magic words, since there is nothing else to do to fix your unit we will replace it with a new unit. Also since my unit the 4600 was no longer in production she said they would send me the next model up from the 4600. I was happy with this response and after a couple of questions to verify my details the call was done. Grand total of time on the phone 5 min., quick and efficient.

Since I been in the customer support business for a lot of years I understand how these interactions normally work and the unit they are sending out to me is normally a refurbished unit. A refurbished unit is normally one that has been returned for some reason or other and the factory makes it like new. I waited the 5-7 days as per the instructions and my package arrived. I setup the new CX4800 taking care to ensure I did all steps as per the installation instructions and printed a test page. It came out perfect so I decided to print out a document just to be sure and it printed out perfectly. And yes I said a “new” 4800 which I am quite pleased about.

The whole time I dealt with Epson I was treated respectfully and professionally and in the end I got what was needed to fix my issue. That is the way a company should support their customers, Bell Mobilty can take lessons from Epson on how to keep it simple and ensure customer satisfaction. I have nothing but positive for Epson and will recommend Epson based on the positive customer service experience I had with them.

I am currently testing my Family Guy Plugin and putting the finishing touches to it. Once I am satisfied I will release it. You can see it on my page. It is based on Phunky’s Simpsons Plugin, Thanks Phunky for allowing me to use your code as the basis of mine.

So stay tuned!

I am trying this new theme which is cleaner than the previous one I was using. I am a bit a of pack rat and tend to overdo it by adding too much. I will try and not clutter this one up and see what it looks like in a bit of time. Theme is called WP_Andreas06 and is available here

Looking for feedback please be constructive. Thanks!

Check out my new tenant OneManBandwidth An American Professor in China, very interesting reading. Some interesting posts with a different perspective on life in China. Definitely worth a browse.

Click on the Blog of the Week in my sidebar to visit the site

Just for sake of interest I have added a poll to my site, the first one is easy What do think of my Site?. Check it out in the left hand column and let me know what you think.

I will periodically change the Poll Question so check back.

As Always feedback is welcome and appreciated.

I found this theme the other day and really like how it looks. Thanks to the developers. It took some modification and tweaking to get it so it looked good with some of my content and to get some of the German code removed. It is called A Blog Beyond. I like how clean and simple it is in look and feel.
Let me know what you think.

You can get it here

It is a nice rainy Sunday and I decide to go online only to discover my website is not working. When I investigated I discovered that I could not get access to my site, Admin pages or my Blog Admin pages. So I contact my hosting company Ace Net Hosting only to discover they are doing an upgrade to the server thats hosts my site. That’s kinda funny because the last time they had issues I was put on the newest server so I would never have outage issues again. This was two weeks ago and in short I have been without access to my website and email since that fateful night.

So what is the history and why am I so pissed off…well within a month of the last outage I again find that my site is down for what started to be several hours. I am not sure what pisses me off the most, the fact that an upgrade occurs with absolutely no previous notice or that this company lied to me and claimed I was on a uptodate server. Read the rest of this entry »

Well I have just gone through the hell of my Hosting company having a server go down. It just happened to be the server which had all my stuff stored …so you guessed it everything lost and no backup on their end. This hapened last Thursday and to get any details concerning what happened was like pulling teeth. My hosting company Ace Net Hosting was not forthcoming and I had to wait patiently while they first tried to explain to me that it was a server issue (RAID 10 Config) and then fix the server and recreate the customer accounts. The thing that bothers me the most is this is the second time this has happned to me in the last 12 months and at that time I was told I was being moved to a newer server so that this would never happen again. So why am I pissed off…well one of the explanations I received was that the server I was on was an older server that had not yet been upgraded. How is that possible….obviously someone at Ace Net lied to me. I had requested this time to be moved to a newer server and while this has not happened yet my request has not been denied. Probably they are just hoping I will shutup and put up with it.

I was lucky that I had a backup from Oct 6th so I just needed to recreate all the info after that date. I was able to find some of the posts I did not have backed up by looking at Google and checking the cached information for my page. While I was able to recreate my pages it took me the better part of 2 days to put everything back on the server. I am not a happy camper and am very displeased with my server company. Ace Net Hosting

Hosting,Ace Net Hosting,Webserver

Which OS are You?

Well I have heard from several people who have tried to watch TV at my place that it is too difficult to turn on and figure what remote to use. So I say Phooey to all those people….hey just kidding. So I did some research and found a Universal remote that you connect to your computer and setup and update online.

I had a look and was impressed with Harmony line of Universal Remotes. They have a large variety of remotes which use single button controls to accomplish the different tasks I was needing for my system. I got the Harmony 628 version of the remote.

To turn on the TV, watch a movie or listen to music I push 1 button and the remote completes all the changes required. The remote is simple to setup and make changes and even allows custom setups to provide the user with whatever controls they require.

So far I am impressed with ease of use and setup.