This one hit me unexpetedly hard. CmdrTaco quits Slashdot
I’ve been going to the site for years now, and always spending an obscene amount of time there. It feels like another part of my youth is gone. Especially reading the summary he put up of all the big posts and discussions that’s happened on Slashdot, and all the old timers coming out of the woodwork to comment. Good luck CmdrTaco…thanks for the slash and the dot, and for getting me onto Linux.
So I have started work. The most frustrating thing about it is the internet. You see, I have to connect to the work internet connection through wireless. More often than not the wireless drops me, and this is pretty much the screen I see the most.
It pretty much gives me the irrites everytime I see it. So I’m currently having the irrites a bit since no network is the rule rather than the exception. The astute among you may recognise that the screenshot doesn’t look like your usual standard work configuration computer. Those astute people will be correct. Not only are there no LAN ports for me to plug into, there is also no computer for me to use, despite my job being ostensibly to do some database development and some financial analysis. I am currently taking my personal laptop to and from work everyday. That isn’t too bad mostly except it seriously limits the amount of things I can do straight after work, since I need to drop my laptop off at home first. Also, I don’t think my old laptop is up to being on for 10+ hours a day anymore (I sometimes use it at home for entertainment purposes as well).
Overall though, I have to say it has been pretty damn cruisey so far. My counterpart is pretty cool and everyone is friendly in the office. The pace is so much slower, and
From a sporting perspective, well I haven’t done any sports since I arrived. There’s pretty much just rugby and netball that’s played here. Noone really wants to play soccer that much, although I hear that I’ve just missed out on a work soccer comp…the next one is next year. 🙁 There doesn’t appear to be any muckaround sports apart from variations of rugby or netball…I may need to get into netball sooner or later. I’ve taken to walking home from work as a form of exercise (it’s about 30 mins walk), you feel pretty dead afterwards because it is so hot. Luckily there’s a pool in our residential compound for me to take a quick dip in afterwards. When I come back from Samoa, I probably won’t know how to kick a ball.
On the other hand, it is a very pretty country. Here’s a pic that I actually managed to upload using the dodge net connection of Aganoa, a beach area in Suvaii, that I went to on the weekend.
It’s been a mixed bag, but definitely overall positive so far. The only annoying thing is having to take my own laptop in for work purposes everyday. I think I will say something to the work guys today about it, see if I can actually be supplied with a PC of some sort.
As I write this, it is 7th August 2011, a Sunday in Apia, Samoa. It’s about 5pm and the ceiling fan directly above my head is creaking pretty lousily and ominously with every rotation. The publication date for this will probably be a lot later, basically whenever I get a chance to connect to the internet again. Hopefully on a Monday when I head into town.
The 1st week has passed both quickly but has also felt like an age. It’s a contradiction that is quite in line with the rest of the contradictions throughout Samoa. I’m still on orientation and there are times of awesome and times of boredom. But having explored my area a little bit more today, I’m starting to like it a lot more. I was planning to write a lot more but there’s a guy waiting for me now and I can’t sit here and type this one out as much as I would like. So it is to be continued…
Well I’ve been in Samoa for a week now, so 51 more to go. :p
How do I find it? Well this first week has been pretty fun, going to beach fales, a couple of house parties, receptions and just busy with setting up here, like a phone and finding a place to live.
The thing I miss the most is the internet. As I am writing this, I have 14 minutes left on my prepaid net, which also only works in town, and not in the residential area where I live. My housemates don’t want to stump up the cash to pay for home internet so I’m shit out of luck on that respect. So far they seem pretty cool apart from that, and the house where I’m staying is pretty nice. It has a pool and lots of trees like coconut, starfruit, paw paw, etc. I’m yet to start work, so we’ll see how that goes next week. I’ve had a lot of beer already and everyone here is huge. It can be quite intimidating. That and the huge amount of stray dogs. Exercise needs to be done in early mornings or dusk because other times are either too hot or not enough light.
Overall it’s been pretty fun. With Sal coming that should be even better, and hopefully I don’t go stir crazy without the internet. Oh and a soccer game is really hard to find!!!!! Lack of legion doesn’t help. I will keep this blog updated but I don’t know how frequently.
You are meant to read the title in the voice of the peon from Warcraft 3 / Frozen Throne. I’m all packed and about to head off.
When I land it will be around 6am local time on the 29th of July. So it’s like time travel. See you all next year. Of course I’ll still be putting stuff on Ultimatesigh when I can, and there’s facebook and ultimate sigh email.
I started writing this review back at the beginning of July. Well, it’s the last night in Sydney for a year and I still haven’t written it. So I’m going to give you the gist of it very quickly.
I migrated off Mandriva 2010.2 to Mageia 1 release back on the 23rd of June.
It wasn’t that I was dissatisfied with Mandriva in anyway. I was very content with my installation and have been for a while. However the new fork based on Mandriva was out and I thought I should give it a try, especially since it has the majority of the former Mandriva contributor community onboard. Another reason is because Mandriva 2011 is still not released, and they have been mucking about with the UI apparently.
Despite a clear migration path from Mandriva 2010.2 to Mageia 1 being officially supported, the exercise did not go well. Here are my problems documented. Basically X and Dbus issues caused by a change in the default user UID, according to the forum. I had already solved the problem with a fresh install of Mageia on top of my Linux partition.
So the conclusion after restoring my files from backup on a fresh Mageia install is that it is quite nice. There are some nice touches in terms of the audio just working without configuration, and other little bits and bobs. But overall I have had a little more trouble with it in terms of stability than the old Mandriva release. Which makes me sort of want to return that distro once 2011 is released for a test drive.
It’s still a great distro, but it just feels less solid somehow than its predecessor. There’s a bump up in smoothness and speed but that shouldn’t come at the cost of stability. This is a more thorough review of the release. Basically it’s early days, and the first release is solid rather than great.
I just got back from watching Harry Potter 7: Deathly Hallows part 2.
It was great.
This was the culmination of about 15 years of Potter books and films. The battle scene is pretty epic and I didn’t feel that it was long at all given its 2+hrs running time. I could have kept on watching. The story was resolved like the book of course, with sexual tension released, the quest finished, and destinies fulfilled. It really brought back a lot of good memories of the last 10 or more years of reading, watching and even playing Harry Potter games. All those familiar environments, gone into history and memory.
I distinctly remember when Potter mania began in the late 90’s. I made a promise to myself that I would hold out and not read any Potter books because they seemed so juvenile. But one summer uni holiday (1st year) I was so bored I turned to the 3rd book and started reading. Only because a friend of mine had lent it to me, and I had nothing else on. It really pulled me in from the beginning. That’s one promise I was happy to break. And of course I remember Bao saying in 2001 how hot Emma Watson was. At the time I believe she was 12 or something. Something disturbing about that. But she turned out to be indeed hot. :p
I’ve finally had the time to post on here again. Been quite busy getting ready for Samoa. Just 14 days to go until I leave. I’ve resigned from CBA, got my PF&R which was a high rating and I hope to get a job back at CBA once I’m back potentially.
I’ve moved back to my parents as well, it is as cold as the freezer. I can constantly see my own breathe, and what’s more my fingers are cold despite being rugged up. I can look on the bright side of not having to be cold for much longer.
There’s yours truly at the farewell reception with the Samoan high commissioner a few weeks ago. Those are the people I will be spending the next 12 months with. It still hasn’t sunken fully in yet, that I’m about to leave for a full year. As I go through the process of disengaging things in my current life and minimising things for my stint in Samoa, the more real it feels.
As before, excited, anxious, stressed, and quite a few other emotions mixed in too.