Blog

The thoughts, opinions, happenings, and just plain ramblings of a seemingly boring person.

Lego New and Old

Categories Geekery, Lego, Life

My completed old LegoI posted last year about my rekindled love of Lego, and since then it has gone slightly nuts. My desk at work is now covered in minifigures and small Star Wars sets, and I recently completed The Simpsons series of minifigures. After seeing The Lego Movie (which is my favourite movie of the year so far), I couldn't help myself but get Benny's Spaceship from Amazon (super excite), and am now waiting for the Super Secret Police Dropship to be released here in Australia.

A few weeks ago I retrieved most of my childhood Lego from my … Read more →

Getting My Beard On

Categories Life

I've always despised shaving. Getting up earlier in the morning than I otherwise would, and trying to get my eyes to focus on my face whilst putting whirring blades up against my cheeks and neck is definitely not my favourite part of the day.

I've had a goatee/Van Dyke since 2003, but I've finally decided to change things up a bit. Beards seem to be all the rage now, and I'm lucky to work at a company where my worth isn't valued by how I look, so there's no better time to grow it out and try the "full hobo" … Read more →

Arsenal Win a Trophy & Futsal Return

Categories Football

Arsenal win the FA CupIt's been 9 long and painful years in the making, but Arsenal have finally won a trophy. The club has been the butt of jokes in the past few years, especially following the humiliating loss to lowly Birmingham in the relatively worthless League Cup final in 2011. Sites like http://www.sincearsenallastwonatrophy.co.uk/ with the accompanying hashtag of #sincearsenallastwonatrophy have long been used to taunt Arsenal fans.

After the FA Cup triumph last week (in horrifyingly Arsenal-esque fashion, might I add), those taunts and jibes have been reversed. The aforementioned hashtag is now a taunt to all of the other clubs whose seasons … Read more →

Workrave: Keeping On Top of the Pain

Categories Life, Technology

WorkraveLast year I was diagnosed with fybromyalgia, which added another condition to my growing list of statistically improbable health issues. Of course one of the worst things you can do when you have any muscular problem is sit at a computer all day, as well as for most of the evening. Lucky I don't do a lot of that then! (ha)

Part of the problem is that moving around helps me to not get too sore, but if I'm concentrating on something (either at work or at home), I only remember to move around after I am sore, and … Read more →

Trying Out Online Backups

Categories Geekery, Internet, Technology

Crashplan logoI first published my backup rant almost 7 years ago, and my catch-cry for anyone who owns a computer and cares about some data (i.e. everyone), is that there are no excuses when it comes to backing up important data.

To quote a wise man from the end of that post:

If your digital belongings are really that important to you, you should guarantee that only the most inconceivable of disasters should be able to rob you of them; anything less is negligence.

Since that post, only the medium and frequency of my backup regime had changed: weekly backups … Read more →

The End of ‘How I Met Your Mother’

Categories Life, Rants

How I Met Your MotherHow I Met Your Mother finally concluded this week after nine seasons. Despina and I have been watching the show since the first season, and it was actually one of the first TV series we started watching as a married couple all the way back in 2006.

The past three or four seasons had seen it drop in quality, and it wouldn't be a stretch to say that we were watching it more out of an obligation to see it through, rather than genuine anticipation and enjoyment.

So the finale aired yesterday, and whilst it was good to see … Read more →

1 Year as a Technical Writer

Categories Life, Work

It's now been one year since I've been working as a technical writer. To say I've thoroughly enjoyed the work would be an understatement. I've always loved technology (as evidenced by this blog and an IT degree), and I've always loved writing (as evidenced by this blog and an Arts degree 😉 ), so I have to pinch myself that I have a job at a great company where I get paid to combine the two.

In this past year I have learned a lot more about both writing and technology. I've been exposed to some great experience in using … Read more →

Game Endings

Categories Gaming, Rants

The Last of UsOver the past few weeks, I have played through The Last of Us (exclusive to the PS3). This might surprise some, considering my abject aversion to playing any game that requires a decent amount of aiming with a controller. Although I still suck miserably at using control sticks to aim, the game was definitely good enough for me to endure the humiliation of having it configured on the easiest possible settings in order to get through it. That, and the $30 price tag made it an easy gamble to make.

The Last of Us is a fantastic game, and although … Read more →

Dead PS3s & Transformers: FoC

Categories Gaming

ps3-super-slimI was a big fan of the first Transformers game from High Moon Studios, War For Cybertron. When its sequel, Fall of Cybertron was released in 2012, we were in the middle of preparing to go overseas, so I didn't notice it too much. Some time last year I bought the game, but it had been sitting on the shelf waiting to get played while I was playing a few of the bigger PC titles from last year.

Just after New Year's, I finally got the game out and started playing it for a few hours. But then my … Read more →

Her: Provocative Stuff

Categories Movies

Her movie posterLast night we watched Her, starring Joaquin Phoenix.

The movie is set at some time in the nearish future (where high pants are seemingly fashionable), and it centres on an introverted writer who has a relationship with an intelligent computer program.

It was quite a provocative film, focusing on the nature of relationships between people, technology, and consciousness in general.

Overall I found it quite a strange movie, being amusing at times, as well as extremely uncomfortable at others.

I enjoyed the exposition of how we, as people, react and interact with software and technology in general, and how … Read more →