Vent?

New website: Frog Eat Dog

Hi all — it’s been quite a while since I’ve posted here, and there’s a possibility some of you forgot you had even signed up for the RSS on Vent… Well, I’m here to say this will be my last post here. I’ve been talking up my move to paid hosting for a while, and I’ve done it. I’ve started a new site — a collaborative site with my wife and some friends… Well, currently only one friend, but that may change. I wanted to reduce the strain in myself, and broaden my horizons. It’ll be very similar to Vent, but slightly more ambitious. I appreciate our coming here to check things out, but please, click the link below, and come visit Frog Eat Dog… And don’t forget to sign up for the RSS — we’re gonna put more effort into this one.

Cheers.

Check out newbeginwriting.com

My father wrote a book. Well, to be honest, he’s written more than one. Anyway, he’s recently written a sci-fi novel about mind travel and interplanetary conflict. It’s not a bad read, so I offered my website design skills… I may not be the most awesome of web designers, but I think I didn’t do to bad a job, considering half of it is done from scratch… So check out his site at the link below, and if you have the means, buy his book! There’s also an E-book about prostate cancer that’s a little cheaper… but if you have the means and you are looking for a read — give him a go! It can’t hurt — you might find you enjoy it!

Newbegin Writing

It’s about time…

Well, well, well… Here I am, at long last, writing another post. It’s been some time since I last wrote anything here, and I got the bug, so I thought I’d better.

So… what’s going down in Gregland? Well, I’ve started using twitter. I have no idea what the big deal is about it, but then again, I only have one friend following me, so I guess it’s a bit boring for me. But it’s also become something I find myself doing out of habit, and it’s only been a few weeks… Interesting.

On another web app note, I’ve become well and truly addicted to Last.fm, a super tops web radio… Well, they say Pandora is the best, but it don’t work for us ’stralians, so… For us, Last.fm is the shizNIT. At first, it’s nice, but as it learns what you like… it just gets better and better! It’s almost always right these days — glorious!

Further, and again on web apps — I’ve been drawn into the world of Google Reader. Why didn’t I try RSS earlier? It’s the best way to keep up-to-date on all those websites you check daily… I never fall behind, and I never wonder where I left off! Supoib!

More on Google — I also like Google Apps, and have installed Google Desktop, and started using Google Calendar… I resisted for quite some time, but now that I’ve given in, I find these apps to be better than the Microsoft equivalents… Crazy ol’ Google, always sneaking up on you…

Lastly, I guess — well, truth be told, I don’t know what else to go on about, I’m sort of rambling as it is, and I want to get back in to reading up on the CES details that are spilling out of my Reader — I’ve purchased the Domain for my new site… The one that will replace this one. To be honest, I was never happy with the title of this page, and I never had a direction planned for it… So I decided to make a new one — hopefully something I can be (more) proud of. I anticipate it’s going to take a month or two to pull my finger out and start designing it, but the goal is for it to be a little more than just a blog… We shall see, shan’t we?

Peace to you all — catch you in the future! Next post should be the grand opening!

Mihoko’s “new” website

Hi all… Our plans are finally coming to fruition. We have now got some paid web space, and will be relocating ourselves over time. Mihoko has already done so, and you can find her “new” site at the link below:

Life in Melbourne

(That’s http://www.lifeinmelbourne.net/ if you want to know the address.)

Me? Well, I will relocate when I’m done designing a site for my Dad. The link for that is coming soon. When it’s ready… But it’s eating up a lot of time, let me tell you. Oh, and I’ve taken on some weekend work, painting and sanding… It’s not glamorous, but it’s a living, and it’s appreciated. Sometimes you just gotta do what you have to…

Anyways, peace… Catch ya soonish! At a new site, no less! Somewhat more ambitious, but I won’t be feeling the need to update daily like I did when I started this one, so I don’t think I’ll give up like I did with Vent… Hehe, hey — at least I can admit to my faults!

Apologies for being lazy

Yeah, I’ve said a lot of things. I said I would be keeping up this website after I mentioned that I was going to start a new page, and I also said I was going to be posting about our trip to Tokyo. But I haven’t done either.

For one thing, I sat down last week and wrote a HUGE post about the Tokyo Game Show. But it didn’t save, and I lost everything (not sure whether it’s the free host thing or what, but I was pissed). So I gave up. Really pissed off about that. So I gave up, and wrote nothing. Every time I came back and tried to start again, the blood got angried up, and I stopped. So screw it. It ain’t gonna happen.

On the regularity of posting — sorry, but this is how the new page is going to be. There won’t be daily postings anymore, I just don’t have the time, nor the patience, but I do enjoy doing it. I guess since deciding to start up a new page, my heart went out of this one. I apologise, and I’ll continue posting here, but I can’t keep up what I used to (by this time, this much should be pretty obvious).

Anyways, thought I’d say hi on this wonderful Melbourne Cup Day, on which I’m nicely drunk. Red wine is nice, and it’s good for my sexy waistline. Peace, I’m gonna go get me some Fallout 3 lovin’.

Oh, and in case you don’t know… Mihoko’s pregnant (just cracked 12 weeks)!

Burnout. Paradise. Indeed.

Wow… Why the hell did I wait so long? I had no money, I guess, and I had other things on my plate, but WHY THE HELL DID I WAIT SO LONG?

For someone like me, who has played and LOVED every iteration of Burnout since its first release (except for the miserable-looking DS version), including the madly awesomeful PSP versions — for someone like me to have waited so long to play Burnout Paradise… It’s just plain WRONG.

You know what though? The demo really does the game NO justice. Paradise is different to the others. You really need to get into it for a bit — you really have to drive around for a long time, crashing, running random races (and losing a lot of them), and just having a blast, before you realise the gloriousness of the game. The demo is just too different and feels wrong… It’s really the main reason I took so long to get this one. I wasn’t impressed, and I just didn’t get it.

And then it was released as a 3GB+ download on the PSN for $50. So buy it I did. And I have been converted. If you own a PS3, and you have it connected to the Internet, put down the pineapple and buy this game now. You will not regret it… Best $50 I’ve spent so far!

Actually, now that I think about it, lucky it worked! Most games I’ve downloaded from the Oz PSN just don’t want to work because the game is PAL and the system is NTSC… Rejoice, for I thought not about the possibilities! Phew!

Never enough time in a day

Yeah, I know what I said, but tonight’s not going to be the night I write about cool stuff I saw in Japan. And you know what — neither will tomorrow night. There’s just too much to do in the evenings — starting with the little things Mihoko wants me to do, and ending with video games. And considering I only have a couple of hours for all this… writing a long and involved post about whatever just aint gonna happen — that’s what weekends are for!

And you know what? The Simpsons is on, I have a couple of episodes of Family Guy to watch, and I just bought Burnout Paradise and am yet to start it up… So I’m sorry, good people, but I’m off to crank out a quick game before watching some vids! Yeah!

Travel & Pain

Well, I’m back. Back at the controls, and back home. It’s great to be back, but damn I miss Tokyo. It’s a great place, with wonderful food, people, alcohol… virtually everything suits me perfectly. Sigh…

I had a great time — it’s always good to be on holiday! But it’s funny how you take a week off work to relax and take a ‘holiday,’ but you end up going back to work more worn out than when you left.

And that was my mistake. I’m an idiot. I scheduled for us to arrive on Sunday, and back at work on Monday — no day of rest. Of course, my main problem is my fear of flying — yeah, yeah, illogical, weak, unnecessary, but regardless of how much I try to show myself otherwise, I hate flying. I can’t sleep, I can’t get comfortable, I can’t drink because my stomach can’t handle it, and similarly, I have to be careful what I eat for the same reason. If I eat plane food, I invariably get stomach problems, and it takes a few days for me to get over it. Damn it.

So this time I didn’t sleep, but I was careful what I ate. Still got a bit of a crappy stomach, but the fact we didn’t get home until 4pm is the reason I feel so shit today… Such is life. Miss your plane — even if it’s not your fault — you still have to pay for it. Not necessarily by cash, but you lose several hours.Too bad if you really had somewhere to be. And get stuffed if you wanted to have a rest before going back to work.

But hey, I had a great holiday, I just need to remember that things don’t work out how you want, and it’s better to waste time by flying during the day rather than trying to save the daylight by traveling at night… One day I might learn. Anyway, as a result, it’s bedtime now. I had a lot of fun, saw a lot of cool shit, so expect several posts about my trip over the coming days…

Very short post

Hi to whoever is still paying attention.

Been places, done stuff, seen awesome things. Carried old 6 kg computer for no reason, because it seems that even Lazarus has to die sometime. On a trip overseas was the perfect time. Back at `Hoko`s parent`s place, computer is in need of assistance. Assistance to be given tomorrow, thus, short post.

Love you all, even…. no, ESPECIALLY those of you I don`t know personally. Catch you soon — got a great deal to write about, been a great trip.

Drunk. Good ioght.

Blog of Lies

Well, it’s fast becoming a blog of lies… Thus the title. I just don’t have the time to do what I say, so I end up looking foolish, and so be it. I like rosemary.

Anyway, it’s been hella busy. Like crazy. The boys came down Thursday night and we got retarded. Which was great… Brain cells are WAY overrated. Then we went and got the new lappy back (I shouldn’t have driven… but I did), and I’m once again a happy man. Actually, it could be said that I’m a VERY happy man, because the replacement I got FAR exceeds the original in looks and processing power! It was extremely worth the wait! But I don’t have a little one to take to Tokyo, like I planned…

Ah well, such is life.

Then we had our party on Saturday, and if I ever get the chance to set up a Flickr account, you might even be able to check it out! And our wedding for that matter… Of course, the party bled into Saturday night, and exploded all over the place… That was pretty funny. Good work to my boy Jan for that one.

Sunday was subdued. W went to see the birds, but the birds didn’t come to see us. Mihoko didn’t look silly at all. Nope, she was feeding bread the grass… It’s a very common thing to do.

And I’m back at work, busy, as usual, and only a few days left before jumping on a plane to Tokyo! We will probably take Lazarus, but whether or not he will last the time is another story, so I’m not sure if I will be able to post… But I hope I can, because I’m going to Tokyo Game Show, and I want to spread the joy.

So life is once again busy. And I need to find the time to do things — create a new website for me, and another for my Dad, update the blog I do have, and take care of my missus. Plus work. And find time for the sauce, but that fits in to all the little spaces in between. Peace, and although I won’t promise, it’s likely I’ll post again soon…

Sigh

Damn Acer. Enough said on that front. Sigh.

And yeah, I realise there’s something going on with the site, because the links aren’t working… I hope to get around to working out what’s causing it soon, but I thin I know what it is… Free host problems last week, website problems this week. Time is coming when free host will no longer be the problem! But not until after our trip to Japan…

Peace.

Acer: Can they do one thing right, at least?

So… It comes to this. Six weeks since my Acer was last functioning, I am expecting to receive my replacement. Six weeks seems like a long time to me, but it isn’t to some…

You see, my Acer rep popped into work the other day, as he generally does (he’s a nice bloke, and without him I wouldn’t have a replacement, so I don’t wanna make him seem like a bad guy). While he was there, I asked who I could complain to in order to get some free stuff — hey, I’m only human. His response? “Free stuff? You won’t get anything free for a six-week wait.”

I was pretty shocked at that, for obvious reasons. It suggests that six weeks isn’t out of the ordinary, and that the response I’ve received so far is pretty much average. Wow. Nice. On top of this, I can’t get a credit, so I have to continue being the (proud?) owner of an Acer machine, against my desires. But it is being replaced with a better model, so I shouldn’t complain… Much.

So six weeks is pretty much normal, eh? What if I was relying on this machine for business? I guess in that case I would have a backup. Which reminds me, I suppose, how lucky I was that I had Lazarus, or I wouldn’t have been able to post anything for the past month and a half. Damn, that’s a long time….

Anyway, on Friday I was told that Acer had shipped the machine that day, and that I should expect it Monday. Not really sure where it is being sent to, as nobody asked for my address, but we’ll see, I guess. So let’s just see if Acer can at least get one thing right — the day they return it to me. If they do, well… I won’t be recommending them (sorry Acer, but six weeks shouldn’t be average turnover for this kind of thing — and if it is, you shouldn’t be blaming the distribution company for that, you should be trying to get that shit sorted out), but I might consider them when I consider my next purchase — a mini-note… I’ve heard good things about the Aspire One… Then again, I’ve experienced extremely bad service on my top-of-the-range unit (hehe, unit). Let’s hope that was a once-off — but my eyes are set primarily on the HP Mini for now…

Quick post before work

Hello, it’s been a while, has it not?

Well, you may giggle quietly to yourself when I acknowledge that no, I still haven’t received a replacement unit from Acer, and I won’t be getting the credit I asked for. Sure — laugh it up, enjoy yourself. On top of that, for the past week, this computer has been dead, dead, dead. So I’ve been fretting… and bored. And somewhat concerned that there have been no posts on Vent!

So here I am — a quick one to make up for my lack of preparation while Lazarus is walking again (I really should write a bunch of posts that I can have stored for publishing at times like these). I’m sure this puty is about to lay down a die forever sometime soon — he was gone for a good four or five days this time, but he always comes back! It’s so frustrating!

Anyway, he actualy came back yesterday, but the free host I use was down. Yay me. So, while both it and Lazarus are up, I just wanted to say hi, and I hope to get my computer soon. I don’t expect it today. Not with my luck over this whole fiasco.

Cheers!