Friday, December 24, 2010

New Computer

Thank you to Katharine, my brother’s girlfriend in this new computer. I can already tell it’s going to be snappier than my previous one. Not to say my previous one was slow. This one just has a couple new features.

Had to scrap the video card though and put in my own. That was in fact better on my computer.

Christmas can sometimes suck. So far I’ve spent most of my vacation working or sick in bed. Not exactly how I was hoping to relax during most of it.

Anyway, this is a short one to test out live writer. Seems like a cool app. I’ll try writing these more often now :)

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Another Year Older

So my 25th birthday came and went and overall was a little bit better than last year. Sure that doesn't say much, but anything better is a good thing. The great thing about getting older is you've had enough bad things happen to you that when bad things happen to you now, they don't seem quite so bad anymore. An interesting way of looking at things, yes, but the result is still positive so I'll decide to focus on that.

Got a brand new car two weeks ago and loving it. Kia has really outdone themselves with the Forte. I got the SX version which is the highest end model but every little feature and add-on is totally worth it. I would definitely not have picked another car. Driving it is enjoyable, it fits right into my life perfectly, I feel it suits me to a T, and the price on it was totally reasonable. Definitely the best deal I could have gotten as far as per dollar quality. I still have yet to come up with a name for the car though. Maybe I'll ask people to suggest some names.

Here's some quick stats on the car:

Colour: Smokey Grey with black leather interior
17" Alloy Rims
176 HP 4 Cylinder Dual CVVT Engine
5 Speed Automatic Transmission with Tiptronic manual controls
Bluetooth Sync with phone for voice dialing and answering
Satellite Radio with Sirius
Automatic Climate Control
Airbags coming out of everywhere
Electronic Stabilization Control
Trip Computer
Everything Defrosts
Heated Seats
iPod controls
Sport Tuned Suspension

So now I feel I have a car deserving of my age, I also seem to be surrounded by relationships deserving of my age. People are getting married, having kids, buying houses, some are still students just starting out or just got out of long term relationships and just discovering who they are as individuals. The older you get, the more people you tend to find living in different stages of life surrounding you. It's definitely not a bad thing or a scary thing, I just find it really curious that this whole time the status quo has tried to drill the idea of "School, Job, Marriage, House, Kids, Retire" meanwhile, there's definitely no standard amongst the people I know of all ages, stages, and wages. Certainly makes you feel better when you don't have the same thing going for you. Better to just enjoy where you are and what you have and forget the rest.

Time to get back to working on things to get my life going though. More web designing needs to be done and definitely more of my own projects need to start getting done!

Peace out,
Rob

Friday, April 23, 2010

Getting Old


I know just about everyone has told me that 25 is just not that old. Usually, this is people older than me saying that of course because they themselves do not want to seem that old.

Something about the age of 25 though seems to make me feel different. I kind of want to get my life in a little bit more order, I tend to be more selective of who I spend my time with and make sure it's with people I genuinely care about. I'm guessing these are the things that you start to crave when you get older? Sounds all a bit too responsible from what I'm used to, ha!

Overall though, partying, going clubbing every weekend, getting drunk, none of these things seem all that entertaining anymore. Something like a camping trip with some good friends, relaxing around the fire sounds far more enjoyable at this point. Money also doesn't seem to be factoring in the same as it used to either. I seem to retain more money than I used to. Stopped spending it on frivolity and started being more cautious as to what I grant my dollars to. Ends up leaving me quite a bit more satisfied and less stressed out.

Finally, this feeling of Zen has come over me this past year. Not sure what it is, but things such as fairness, envy, expectations, and disappointment no longer have a place in my thoughts. Sure it sounds like it's bad to say that fairness plays a very small role in my life anymore but it has to. Life really is not fair. There are no cause and effect situations of doing something good and life will be good to you. That's a fraud. To believe that will drive you crazy, particularly when you think of how fair the world is on even a global scale.

On that note, I must also mention that my friends, Amir Azimi and Esther Hannah are currently in Cambodia building a classroom and delivering medical aid and help to the locals. They're not making things fair, but they're definitely touching the hearts and lives of people who appreciate everything they can get and are simply grateful for what they are given. These people are great role-models for all of us who live privileged lives. If we're so privileged, they why are they often so much happier than us?

Here's a link to donate to their cause, I hope you do.
Click Here!

-Rob

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Buying a car is hard

I have no idea why they have made the process of buying a car such a complicated one. There are purses that sell for more than a car and there's very little difficulty involving buying one of those provided you have the money.

Here's the thing that gets me about buying a car. The way they price them is unnecessarily complicated. They have freight/PDI, government taxes for tires, gas, licensing, GST/PST (soon to be HST), then on top of all this, they deduct a rebate from the listed price. After all these calculations you're lucky if you can make sense of what the car actually costs and what everything surrounding the car costs. Why can't they just tell you what the price of the car is? There's also room for negotiation and price reductions which adds a whole new element.

You'll be hard pressed to get a solid number out of someone either whether its a friend, online, or at the dealership of what the car will actually be sold to you for. Maybe they'll discount freight? Maybe they'll save you the fee for selecting a colour on the car? Maybe you can get a used or demo car that will lower the overall price?

All these factors can leave your brain completely scrambled. I have no idea what a car should end up costing or what any of these things even means. Just tell me the price of the damn car already! Someone! Anyone!

If cars were sold like shoes, I think I would have a much easier time with it.

Since the blue devil died (Yes, I named my old car the blue devil because of all the trouble it caused me) I've been looking around to see other car alternatives.

So far here's the ones in the lead:

Kia - 2010 Forte
Mazda - 2010 Mazda 3

That's right. Only 2 cars. These are the two best cars rated in their classes. The Mazda 3 however is a bit more expensive. Both rival each other in quality however with the Mazda having a slight one up on Kia for drive-ability but the Kia is ahead on built in options and features (heated seats would be nice wouldn't they?).

I seriously wish this whole project could be made way easier. Sooo many car websites out there, not a single one makes the process easier. Maybe I could try to make a car website that makes buying a car somehow easier?

-Rob

Kick Ass is actually pretty Kick Ass

So I watched the ending of Kick Ass the other day after I got off my shift at work. I'm really interested in seeing the movie in its entirety now. It was surprisingly refreshing and full of gratuitous violence which I was not expecting.



Serves as a good example that when you shake up a genre and actually push something to go beyond what has already been done, you risk falling flat on your face or rising up and succeeding with great reward.

I am really tired now and shouldn't even be up blogging at this hour. No idea why I'm still up. I'm tired even and could very easily sleep. I should stop now really, I keep making everything a good example. A good example of how you can be taken advantage of and now a good example of genre subversion. Blah.

That is all. Good Night (Day really)

-Rob

Friday, April 16, 2010

Online Terms and Conditions

So I just came across an article which showed that 7500 people unknowingly sold their souls to a UK based company called GameStation. They added a clause stating that they retained the rights to the soul of anyone  agreeing to their terms without opting out of that clause. This was to make a point of how few people actually  read the terms and conditions on most sites. Interesting to say the least. So there you go, double check terms  and conditions before you click yes. Sure it was an April fools joke but definitely worth considering before you sell your immortal soul for a video game.

On a side note, working at a movie theatre is probably one of the best jobs you can have. Everyone's happy to be their, the hours are flexible, and the stress level is almost in the negative.

So that's it. Not the most entertaining post I'm sure but I'm working all evening, what do you want from me?

No Adam Lambert reference please.

-Rob

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Trouble with File Organization

One of the major problems I find when tackling new sites is how their web host has the files organized.

Recently I was helping a friend out with her website only to discover her FTP had symbolic links for the webroot to 2 different folders. Both visible through her SFTP login... that's right not FTP, but SFTP login. Unless you're storing some highly sensitive information on that site (which she most certainly was not) you really don't need to sweat using SFTP. A proper password on your FTP account should suffice for most sites.

Not to mention her file permissions did not allow her, the owner to write to the directories. That was yet another thing that needed to be tackled.

Finally, her quota had been met and any new files trying to be uploaded were rejected by the server simply because there was no more room now to post them.

Anywho, I managed to get all that sorted out and updated the splash page to her site.

I have yet to decide whether I will include client specific addresses or name when I make posts like this. Perhaps I will ask the client permission before I do so. After all, this would still be promoting their site right?

-Rob

Followers