Quick update

Ok so as you can see the site looks a little different.  I have updated to the latest version of WordPress and decided that a new look was in order as well.  One theme change later and here we are.

Hope you like it.

Simple Update

Just updated my site to the latest version of WordPress. Should be a simple task, ftp the new files save a couple of configs and presto all done.

Except I could not get ftp to work properly to my server… took me 3 hours, 4 programs, a lot of frustration before I used the site restore functionality to get the new files up.

Over the next week I will be updating the theme with one of my own.

Web Designer, Me?

Ok I have had my first website design published. About a year ago friends of mine asked if I could help update their business website. They were expecting increased focus on the business and realised that the site was not “up to scratch”. Well it was pretty bad, you know the type, put together by someone with little experience using Microsoft Frontpage like a notepad.

Well me being a little particular wanted to do a liquid layout, using XHTML and CSS only. They did not require an active site, just the company information so this should be easy. After talking to my friends I got some great ideas and directions. I did all the graphics (hardest part for me), layout and hand coding. The site layout and navigation was accepted nearly 8 months ago but a new addition to their family delayed the deployment.

So earlier this week we published what we had and put “placeholders” for the infromation yet to come.

Loosing Comments

For those making comments and them not appearingl, I am sorry.

My site is being floaded by spam comments at the moment, approx 100 – 200 a day, and I am loosing real comments in the clean up.

I will be installing the newest version of wordpress soon to hopefully make things easier.

edit: Ok the new version of WordPress is in and hopefully things will be easier.

New Year

This year we got away from home for a few days. We went out to see Dani’s mum and stay a few days, so leaving the father in law to go and see the mother in law, sounds crazy but we needed the change.

So we towed my brothers trailer out with some furniture for my mother in law. This was the first time we have done a long trip (600km each way) towing a trailer with the 307. I was really pleased with the performance and the economy ( about 7.4 l/100kms – 50 miles per gallon).

Heading out to western Queensland gave me a chance to catch up with my boss and workplace, Romavilla Winery. I have some photos of the place being processed so I will post them up later.

I enjoy getting out of the city once in a while, however being away from an Internet connection is very trying. I miss reading the news, blogs, new photos and comics that make up my daily routine. I have been taking more photos, arty shots mostly and I will post them up once I have them processed.

Although the temperature was higher out there it is more pleasent due to the lack of humidity, a nice change from the hot and humid weather here. I am heading back to work tomorrow and I can honestly say I am not in the least bit motivated.

Well enough rambling, my family and I wish you all the best this year and hope the year provides happiness and opportunities.

Handwriting

Ali at CaffeEcletic has a pointer to an online handwritting analysis site. I love this stuff, used to do a little when I was younger.

Well as you could guess here is what it say’s about me.

For a graphologist, the spacing on the page reflects the writer’s attitude toward their own world and relationship to things in his or her own space. If the inputted data was correct Tony has left some white space on the left side of the paper. Tony fills up the rest of the page in a normal fashion moving the entire writing rightward as he moves down the page. If this is true, then Tony has a healthy relationship to the past and is ready to move on. The right side of the page represents the future and Tony is ready and willing to get started living now and planning for the future. Tony is leaving the past behind and moving on to what he perceives as an exciting and enticing future.

Something is incomplete in Tony’s life. He feels frustration relating to his physical needs and desires. Somewhere in his life there is some disappointment, non-fulfillment, and interruption. This is very likely to relate to Tony’s sexual needs.

Tony is sarcastic. This is a defense mechanism designed to protect his ego when he feels hurt. He pokes people harder than he gets poked. These sarcastic remarks can be very funny. They can also be harsh, bitter, and caustic at the same time.

Tony is a practical person whose goals are planned, practical, and down to earth. This is typical of people with normal healthy self-esteem. He needs to visualize the end of a project before he starts. he finds joy in anticipation and planning. Notice that I said he plans everything he is going to do, that doesn’t necessarily mean things go as planned. Tony basically feels good about himself. He has a positive self-esteem which contributes to his success. He feels he has the ability to achieve anything he sets his mind to. However, he sets his goals using practicality– not too “out of reach”. He has enough self-confidence to leave a bad situation, yet, he will not take great risks, as they relate to his goals. A good esteem is one key to a happy life. Although there is room for improvement in the confidence catagery, his self-perception is better than average.

In reference to Tony’s mental abilities, he has a very investigating and creating mind. He investigates projects rapidly because he is curious about many things. He gets involved in many projects that seem good at the beginning, but he soon must slow down and look at all the angles. He probably gets too many things going at once. When Tony slows down, then he becomes more creative than before. Since it takes time to be creative, he must slow down to do it. He then decides what projects he has time to finish. Thus he finishes at a slower pace than when he started the project. He has the best of two kinds of minds. One is the quick investigating mind. The other is the creative mind. His mind thinks quick and rapidly in the investigative mode. He can learn quicker, investigate more, and think faster. Tony can then switch into his low gear. When he is in the slower mode, he can be creative, remember longer and stack facts in a logical manner. He is more logical this way and can climb mental mountains with a much better grip.

Diplomacy is one of Tony’s best attributes. He has the ability to say what others want to hear. He can have tact with others. He has the ability to state things in such a way as to not offend someone else. Tony can disagree without being disagreeable.

Tony will be candid and direct when expressing his opinion. He will tell them what he thinks if they ask for it, whether they like it or not. So, if they don’t really want his opinion, don’t ask for it!

Tony will demand respect and will expect others to treat him with honor and dignity. Tony believes in his ideas and will expect other people to also respect them. He has a lot of pride.

Tony is moderately outgoing. His emotions are stirred by sympathy and heart rendering stories. In fact, he can be kind, friendly, affectionate and considerate of others. He has the ability to put himself into the other person’s shoes. Tony will be somewhat moody, with highs and lows. Sometimes he will be happy, the next day he might be sad. He has the unique ability to get along equally well with what psychology calls introverts and extroverts. This is because he is in between. Psychology calls Tony an ambivert. He understands the needs of both types. Although they get along, he will not tolerate anyone that is too “far out.” He doesn’t sway too far one way or the other. When convincing him to buy a product or an idea, a heart rendering story could mean a great deal to him. He puts himself in the same situation as the person in the story, yet he will not buy anything that seems overly impractical or illogical. Tony is an expressive person. He outwardly shows his emotions. He may even show traces of tears when hearing a sad story. Tony is a “middle-of-the-roader,” politically as well as logically. He weighs both sides of an issue, sits on the fence, and then will decide when he finally has to. He basically doesn’t relate to any far out ideas and usually won’t go to the extreme on any issue.

People that write their letters in an average height and average size are moderate in their ability to interact socially. According to the data input, Tony doesn’t write too large or too small, indicating a balanced ability to be social and interact with others.

Comics I read

Ok I have added the links to online comics that I read daily. Now you will be able to tell just how strange I am :razz:.
I will go throught the list in alphabetical order (same as the links):

Alpha Shade
This one I have only just started reading, and the detail and quality of the drawing is amazing. The setting reminds me of the anime Last Exile. Set in an alternate reality where the only and new technologies mix. This story follows 3 soldiers through a fight that is shaping their world.

Dilbert
Ok if you don’t know Dilbert then where the hell have you been! He is the hero of the engineering set! The defender of logic! The bane of management! and a little pathetic at times.

Errant Story
I started reading a different comic by this artist, but his skill in drawing and story telling is much improved with this sotry. Meji is a half-elf who has run away to uncover her past, along the way she has run into the other characters that are helping her for their own reasons.

Girly
Ok I am not going to try and explain this one, other than to say it is about an “interesting” lesbian relationship. It is sometimes sexual in nature but not revealing or pornographic.

Megatokyo
This is one of my all time favourite comics, I even own the first volume in real paper. Piro and his friend Largo have travelled to Tokyo and spent all their money. They are trapped there until the earn enough to come home. No Largo is a hard core gamer, however he sees the world through gamer’s eyes. Piro is an inocent shy boy who’s guardian angle cannot seem to do anything to help him.

Outsider
Outsider “is a space opera chronicling the adventures of a young human officer thrust into an alien society in the midst of a galactic war. It is presented in a for-web, full-color comic format, which combines 2D and 3D computer artwork with hand-drawn characters.”
This comic is updated only infrequently but the story has me interested and the quality is great.

PVP Online
Player vs Player is a gamers magazine and this comic is about the people that write it. Including the Troll that is an intern, and the super intellegent cat, Scratch.

Striptease
Behind the scenes at a small independant comic company. The relationships between the people and the evil twin keeps me interested.

Wandering Ones
After world war 3 the Americas have been broken into too factions. Placed squarly in the middle are the Mountian People, living of the land and keeping the old ways of the American Indian.

One last thing, most of these comics have a story, so you should go back and read from the first.

Blue Moon and Spam

Ok tonight is a blue moon ! This is a very rare event and one that should be marked in some way, here in Australia we decided to call an election. Yay! 😕

Last month the America’s had a blue moon on the 31st of July. Well now it is our turn. Due to the confusion of timezones Australia did not get a blue moon last month, but that full moon became the first for us in August. Now approx 29.5 days later we have had our 2nd full moon.


Now I just got a piece of creative spam as a comment so I thought I would share (the content, not the links).

“Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards, for you are crunchy and good with ketchup.”
not J.R.R Tolkien

Site Updates

Ok just a few more changes. I have added “Grins” and “Style Switcher” from Alex King’s site. These are very cool.

So now you can change the style (all but the Asian one are from Alex’s site) and the site will remember and I have smilies on the comments.

Enjoy.

New Style

Ok as you can see I have done some basic changes to the style here. I am working on a style switcher extention for WordPress (if I can’t find one) so you will be able to pick the one you like.

New Software

Ok well I have decided to go mainstream. I found I could not add the features I wanted to my software and keep my content up to date.

So welcome to the new Brog Blog powered by WordPress.