Posts made in 2008
The internet is my happy place
Being the search geek that I am, my last post ‘smile‘ got me thinking…
I wonder if the Internet is a happy, smiling, optimistic place with a positive outlook, or if it’s more of a “glass half empty” kinda guy.
So I did a few searches and found the following statistics (based on Google.com.au data):
Sites indexed for the word smile : 401,000,000
Sites indexed for the word frown : 14,900,000
Sites indexed for the word happy : 940,000,000
Sites indexed for the word sad : 317,000,000
Sites indexed for the word positive : 409,000,000
Sites indexed for the word negative : 197,000,000
Sites indexed for the word optimism / optimistic : 14,300,000 / 22,300,000
Sites indexed for the word pessimism / pessimistic : 2,990,000 / 4,820,000
Sites indexed for the term glass half full : 1,290,000
Sites indexed for the term glass half empty : 1,280,000
Is Google sorting through the web wearing rose coloured glasses… I don’t think so. I think the net really is a happy place and now I have the numbers to prove it 
Smile…
Once again it’s been a while since my last update (this seems to be happening a lot lately).
In the ‘big update‘ I did a little over a month ago, I mentioned a few good things and a few bad. One of the bad things was that our house was broken into. Well it happened again. They still didn’t get anything large, but they did manage to get some cash and a few of our geekier portable items like a little DVD player of Caleb’s, laptops etc.
So the last few weeks we’ve been going through the insurance claim process which is always more painful than it should be. Work has also been really busy but some stuff is happening that’s helping the company grow and move in the right direction and we’ve got some big plans to push on ahead in 2009 (well, perhaps not big for some, but big for us).
I don’t have time to do a full update of everything at the moment, which will happen over the next week or so, but I do want to share with you something that brightened my day. Lyndal (my sister-in-law) emailed me the follow video clip and I thought it was awesome (as is she for sharing this)… in fact, if you’re reading this and take the time to watch the video, you’re also up there with the best of them! To everyone – you’re GREAT!
Read MoreStorm Damage, Internet and other work stuff
The week worth of storms has hopefully passed (there are reports that we’re still in for some more rain, but hopefully it won’t be anywhere near as bad as it has been).
During the storms, we were fortunate enough not to sustain any major damage, but on Saturday morning our phone line died (which subsequently killed our ADSL internet connection). We reported the problem and Telstra advised that it was a problem at the telephone exchange and they’d get it sorted for us and advised it should be right within 24 hours.
It’s now 3 days later and we still have no phone or internet. I use my mobile more than the landline, so that’s not really the issue, but I get really antsy when I don’t have an internet connection. Being a geek, I use the internet for EVERYTHING. Here’s a brief list of things that I haven’t been able to do at home lately:
- Wanted to lookup the contact phone number for a new Indian restaurant that opened (why don’t they just publish a big reference book with all these numbers in it… oh, wait a minute)
- For that matter, I’m not able to lookup any product or service which is something I’d Google on a daily basis
- Heard a song on the radio that I liked and wanted to know who sung it
- Saw a movie and wanted to know what other movie I had seen that actor in previously
- Was taking George to the toilet late one night and wondered if dogs had good night-eyesight
- Most of the stuff I read is online
- No online Playstation gaming, no downloading any media of any description
- No catching-up on work after hours
- No general/random web surfing that I often find myself doing when I’m bored
- And no blogging
Sounds pretty pitiful that my life revolves so much around the internet, but it’s such a useful tool and source of endless entertainment and knowledge. Sure, you can get most of the information from other places (and probably more reliable sources too) but the fact that the internet brings this all together in one big universal resource it’s brilliant.
I read a good quote the other day that basically said (and I’m paraphrasing here) but basically 20 years ago, if you wanted to make a statement that could be heard / read / seen by the rest of the world… it just wasn’t possible unless you were a world leader or celebrity (and even then it would need to be something pretty important for worldwide mainstream media to pickup on it).
Spose I’m just a big geek.
Other notable things that’s been happening lately – had drinks and dinner with one of my clients OJ and Trig who have launched a new social-media styled wedding website. They are both very funny people and it was great chatting about their online plans and a whole bunch of other random stuff. Dinner was at a little Indonesian restaurant called Jakarta and it was great – I tried a few things that I hadn’t had before (including ox tail soup) and all was very delicious.
Also during the week the business networking group I’m involved with had their end-of-year bash. In the new year I’m (reluctantly) planning on expanding my networking efforts. Networking has worked well for us in the past, but for it to be most effective you need to keep at it.
Many people assume that networking is about selling your services to everyone you meet, but that’s really the wrong approach. Instead you need to form lasting relationships with the people you meet and over time build-up your trust with them so that when their stuff breaks and they’re there to help them out. The problem is that sometimes it can take months or even years before their existing provider screws-up.
So as we dive into the new year, we’re going to be pushing this along with a little side-project that I think will work well to help educate people on what we do.
Getting away from work and internet related stuff – George starts Puppy Preschool tonight and we’re all very excited.
Read MoreKristy’s Family, George updates and Storms
Had a few crap days at work last week… luckily this week has been a lot more productive.
Last weekend was officially filled by Kristy’s family. On Saturday afternoon her Dad and family came over for a BBQ which went well into the evening. On Sunday morning we helped-out Kristy’s niece and then Sunday night Kristy’s Mum came over for dinner. I love Kristy and her family, but at times they can be a bit painful.
George has been coming to work with me over the last couple of weeks and he had his first bath on the weekend. He seemed to like playing in the water although wasn’t quite so excited when we started scrubbing him with the shampoo. Because of his white and black spotted doggy-fro’ he looks kinda fat (and that’s not spelt with a ‘ph’) but the moment he gets wet, George starts looking like a drowned rat (albeit a cute one). We took a couple of photos, but I haven’t downloaded them yet so you’ll have to take my word for it.
We also had him micro-chipped and vaccinated last Friday and this coming Tuesday evening he starts Puppy Preschool which should be interesting.
Other than that, the only other interesting thing that has been happening lately is the weather (yea, it’s kinda lame that I’m about to discuss the weather on my blog) but Brisbane has officially been declared a natural disaster zone (the weather bureau has likened the recent storms to a Category 2 cyclone).
There’s been flash flooding, whole suburbs devastated with some houses beyond repair. 24 hours after the first major storm, there were over 220,000 homes without power and nearly a week later (and a few more heavy downpours) there are still roughly 300 homes that are in the dark despite Energex and SES emergency workers operating in 24 hour shifts for the last 5 days. The army have stepped-in to help with the clean-up and the government are providing financial assistance to families affected.
Lastnight’s downpour uprooted rail lines, flooded roads (there’s 11 mega-litres of water stuck in the Inner City Bypass tunnel which authorities are trying to figure-out how to clear)… schools have closed down due to water damage and transportation issues. It’s really not pretty at the moment. The damage bill has been tipped to exceed $540 million.
My heart goes out to everyone affected and the tremendous efforts of the emergency crews and I’m eternally thankful that our house has remained watertight and unharmed.
Read MoreBig update
I could go on and on about how busy I’ve been lately which is why the blog has been a little neglected (which is true… but it still sounds like a fairly lame excuse) so instead, I’ll tell you about all the stuff that has happened over the last month and a half and then there’ll be no need for excuses.
Before I dive into it, I’d just like to do two quick things. Firstly a warning – if you aren’t particularly interested in long, waffle-filed, stories about me, then turn away now as this post will be both long and full of a lot of pointless information.
Secondly, I’d also like to acknowledge the inspiration that encouraged me to get off my butt and write this post instead of going to bed (which is what I’d much rather be doing as my sleeping patterns are all screwed at the moment… more about that later).
I was going to write this post yesterday, only to discover that I had broken my internet connection by trying to upgrade the firmware on my modem in an effort to get my voIP phone to work with my router’s firewall setup (in retrospect, I should have realised that when I try and do technical things as advantageous as this, it never ends-up well). As I couldn’t seem to roll-back the firmware upgrade, I went-out and purchased a new router only to find that due to a conflict with my wireless network card driver, it crashed my laptop with a blue screen of death. It took me most of Saturday just to discover that the problem was a driver conflict as the machine would either get stuck in a reboot cycle crashing as soon as windows would start or if it did manage to boot in safe mode, it’d end-up crashing after a non-specified amount of time (but inevitably always before I could check my error logs to help diagnose why the errors were happening in the first place). Anyways, I digress…
The motivation for this long-winded update really came down to two people – my Dad and Con.
When I dad lunch with my folks a coupe of days ago, Dad said he wrote his first blog post (Mum argues that it wasn’t a proper blog platform that he was posting to… not to mention the fact that I’m astounded Mum could make this observation) but the simple fact that he’s giving it a go is truly admirable. To be honest everything my parents do (and have done over the years), is a shiny beacon of inspiration and without it, I doubt I (or my family) would be where we are today.
The second piece of inspiration came from my best mate Con, who is also quite inspiring in his own special kinda way, although unlike my parents, his most motivational words are usually preceded by copious amounts of alcohol.
He called me on Saturday morning and although I can’t remember a bulk of the conversation as I was still half-asleep, I felt pretty bad as I’ve been incredibly slack with keeping in touch. A blog post certainly doesn’t make-up for personalised one-on-one contact with friends, but at least it is still a way of sharing stories and events which at the time may have been quite entertaining, but are often forgotten a few weeks later when you’re on the phone and are asked “so… what’s been happening lately”.
Heh, there goes just over 550 words and I haven’t even started talking about what’s been going on… this IS going to be a long post.
A few weeks ago Mel and Joe had their engagement party. It was great to catch-up with Mel’s family and some old familiar friends that I got to know when Mel and I were flatmates. I didn’t know any of Joe’s friends, but let’s just say that some of them were quite interesting (and I don’t mean that in a bad way… I just can’t think of adequate words to describe a couple of them… one of which was offering me beard and moustache advice while policing the entrance to the function room so well that invited guests weren’t even sure if they were allowed in).
On top of the privilege of sharing such a milestone in Mel and Joe’s relationship, highlights of the evening included meeting some really great people, with impressive cocktails (none of which I can remember the names of, but the headache the following day confirmed they must have been good at the time), some not so impressive, but rather effective shots, beer and scotch, all helping to lubricate the conversations and mingling which we often don’t do much at parties.
On top of dealing with a hang-over the following morning, we also discovered that while we were sleeping, our house had been broken into. One of the back, kitchen windows was forced open causing the glass to break (enough to cause damage and require the glass to be replaced… but not quite enough to wake us… although the big night prior probably dulled our senses a little more than usual too).
They didn’t stick around long, nor did they target any larger items. Just grabbed Kristy’s handbag and purse off the dinning room table and then they were gone again. Kristy thought she heard some footsteps, but figured that it was most likely my Dad as he has keys to our house and its not uncommon for him to come over to mow the lawn or do odd-jobs.
We were about to call the police when they pulled-up next-door and it turns-out that a number of houses in the street were burgled and the school a few blocks down the road was vandalised. It was reassuring to know that we weren’t the only ones that were hit, plus our insurance covered the costs of replacing the window and reimbursed Kristy for some of her personal possessions from the handbag… but none of this makes-up for the inconvenience of having to cancel credit cards, update bank account details, get a new drivers license etc. etc.
Not to mention that once you know that a stranger has been able to gain entry to your house (and although unlikely, could re-enter at any time), every time the house creaks or you hear an unfamiliar sound, you start wondering if someone is trying to get in. It’s really quite an unsettling feeling which I’m sure will pass as time goes on, not to mention that we are now a lot more mindful of home security and are looking at getting better locks and screens on the windows when our budget permits.
The following weekend, Kristy and Caleb went to see a local performance of the musical ‘Cats’. I wasn’t particularly interested which turned-out well because there was a trivia night at my parents life-style village. Our team consisted of Mum, Dad, my brother Brett and the last-minute addition of sister Leanne and her husband Bob.
I didn’t hold high-hopes for our team (the Knew Some’s) because even though I love trivia, I’m pretty crap at it. Fortunately I paid attention to Voltron at an early age, so with our powers combined… we ended-up surprising ourselves and came second out of all the teams (along with winning some other lucky door prizes throughout the evening).
The next weekend, it was Vicky’s ‘Girls Night In‘ which I was hoping to catch-up with some of the guys, but due to my poor organisational skills leaving things to the last minute, everyone else had plans.
Normally I would have been a little saddened by this, but as I recently purchased Guitar Hero III on the PS3 I had the house to myself where I cranked the volume, dropped the dacks and rocked-out harder than Tom Cruise in Risky Business.
This brings me to the week and weekend just gone which is really the biggest news. Let me introduce you to George – He’s an 8-week old Maltese cross Shih Tzu puppy.
He’s the cutest little ball of fluff and since he’s still so young, we’ve been staying with him all day (both Kristy and I have worked from home a couple of days and since I effectively work by myself most of the time, I’m able to bring him to work with me).
He’s slowly getting used to going to the toilet outside (but will still require more training and patience) and over the last couple of nights he’s slept right through without waking us for a toilet break at 2am. He’s still been awake at 5am each morning, so I’ve been a bit cranky as I’m not a morning person… but, I can’t really complain too much because Kristy’s been going through the same treatment and is dealing with it a lot better than I am.
The newness of having a little puppy and not knowing what to do has had me reading every online article, forum, blog and any other source of doggy information I can find. So when you combine my lack of knowledge with an information overload, topped off with very little sleep for the last week, you end-up with me freaking-out a lot. I’ve been following George around Googling everything he does… “is he supposed to be doing that?”… “what does it mean when they do this?” etc. etc.
In a few weeks he’ll be starting Puppy Preschool which covers basic obedience training plus the opportunity for him to mingle with other puppies which is also crucial to their development and hopefully by then I will have had some sleep and settled-down a bit.
In the meantime, here are a few pics :
