Recently, I posted on my new toy, the Nokia N95 8GB edition. One might think, given that I’ve had it for 3 days now, that I’d have worked out everything about the phone there is to no, and would have subesequently become bored and moved onto desiring a new toy, like a new Apple Macbook Pro… or a rabbit shaped vibrator. But this is not the case, as I’d have to say every single time I’ve picked up the phone, it’s surprised me with some new (as yet, not found) feature or a faster/better way of doing something.

But you might say it’s just a phone, its not a PDA, and it doesn’t look quite as funky as the iPhone, but it really, just, works! No, its not just a phone, its:

• connected, through constant high speed access to the internet via wireless/3G network;
• for web browsing, email, RSS, social networking; and
• constant voip/skype connectivity for next to free international phone calls
• got an inbuilt GPS with Google/Garmin/Tomtom maps support
• a fantastic camera/video camera for day to day use, which stands up against most of the cheaper consumer modelled digital cameras
• a worthy media player for playing both 3gp/mpeg4’s and divx/mp3 and pretty much anythign else you can throw at it.
• also, all those other things you’d expect from a similar unit. A phone, calendar, address book.

As you can see, for the time being, I like this machine a little bit too much, and I hope things stay that way. Last night I was sitting on the Reading express train, frantic as I’d forgotten to pick up a paper or two at Waterloo station I was worried about how I would fill the next 20 minutes of my life. By the time I’d reached home, I’d updated my Facebook profile, uploaded a few photos taken earlier in the day, read most of the news articles I’d missed in the free tabloids, and watched the better part of the new American Dad episode.

I thought I’d end this by writing a quick list of the best applications I’ve found to date to make the N95 experience even better. Behold, in no particular order:

• 
• truphone - A VOIP/telephone app
• This app literally blew me away. As long as I’ve got internet connectivity (either through a Wireless LAN, or my phone providers 3G network), I can make and recieve phone calls to pretty much any where in the world (yes, Australian mobiles too) for free. I’ve long been used to calling friends and family via Vonage or Skype at home due to the sometimes prohibitive cost of calling an Australian mobile via land line, this is all that, and more from a device you carry on you at all times.

• Mobile Gmaps & Google Maps Mobile
• Just like Google Maps, or Google Earth, with the added benefit of GPS tracking through the phoones GPS. MGMaps is (I believe) a joint project between Microsoft, Yahoo and Google to provide extensive maps/satellite images to the mobile platform, so its definitely the better of the two.

• 
• Opera Mobile Browser
• Yes, the same web browser, which I used for a quite a while before the eventual migration to Firefox permanance (word?!), it definitely seems to out perform the standard web browser speed wise, though its not quite as streamlined, look and feel wise.

• 
• Gmail Mobile
• In all fairness I should probably group google maps altogether, as they’re always fantastic. But this a functioning, fast client for the Gmail mail service

And really, the list could go on forever. But a few more things to check out are:

• TaskSpy - A task/process list with memory/CPU information and the ability to kill processes
• YBrowser - A file browser, text viewer, unzipper to access all areas of the phones storage
• Accelerometer plugin - Plugin to access the phones inbuilt accelerometer (read: Wiimote ninja style)
• rotateMe - An app for auto changing between landscape and portrait depending on the angle the phone is held at (requires Accelerometer)
• FlipSilent - Flip the phone to silence an incoming call, flip it back again to turn volume on again (requires Accelerometer)
• ActivityMonitor - A Pedometer to record steps and exercise activity for the health buff (requires Accelerometer)
• SportsTracker - Same as above with GPS support for distance/mapping calculations
• RSSWorld - An RSS Feed Grabber
• putty - The same SSH Client
• Windows Live Messenger - Enough said

I got my new phone the other day, its a Nokia N95, the new one, that comes in black, because everyone knows, “Once you go black, you never go back”… Or so a lewd popup that came up when I searched for that picture would have me believe.

It’s not exactly new news, as the original version (the silver one) has been out on the market for at least a couple of years now. But there’s been some good fixes added to the new one that made the wait worth it (I’ve been waiting since about September last year). These are mainly related to the battery life, which apparently lasted less than a day of normal use, mines good for 24-36 hours of fairly heavy use so far.

Anythings an upgrade from the entry level £20 Prepaid mobile I’ve had since I arrived in the Ukey, but there are some big plus’s that make it worthwhile. Probably the main one of these is the camera in the phone, a 5MP beast which performs quite well, especially when compared to any camera phone I’ve seen before it. These photos were taken with the phone:

No complaints there! This is great as previously I’ve almost always gone out with a camera, phone and whatever else is required for that particular outing, now all I need (for most occasions) is the phone.

Hey Everyone,

Another pointless milestone, last night HD911 tipped over 2,000 users since the start of october, which means we’re getting just over 500 hits a month.  Ooooh.. Eeeee.  Amazing stuff.

We went out for what was a good, cheap New Years Eve at a local pub. I have to question, is drug use becoming such a problem you have to check everyone’s nostrils as they enter the pub or each time they leave the toilet. After I made the mistake of breaking the seal, I was forced to tilt my head a total of about ten times as a burley looking bouncer shined a UV light in my nose. Funny at first, annoying as hell after the first few times though!

Note to self. Next year start saving in October/November so I can afford Christmas and New Years and go to a classier establishment. Weatherspoon’s, pretty much the cheapest pub in town and attracts a younger rougher crowd.

Here I sit, broken hearted, tried to….

Well actually, I’m not by any means broken hearted and I havent tried to do anything yet, although I might go home a couple of hours and try to get horrendously drunk so I can bring in the new year on a high note.  But for now, here I sit, not broken hearted, but bored and starting to feel slightly insane as the only thing I’ve heard in the last 4 hours has been the drone of the server behind me and the bright downlights of the office are flickering in peripheral vision like stars in the sky.

Yes, its New Years Eve, and I’m in the office, and apart from the doorman upstairs I haven’t seen/heard anything all morning.  Looking up into the street outside seems to be the same story… Noones here, they’re all sleeping in, or commencing drinking to bring in the new year.  Or perhaps they’re playing Scrabble with a monkey, at least that’s what I should be doing.

But I made a decision this morning, and that was to get out of bed at 6:30AM to venture in to the city as I assumed everyone would be back after the christmas break.  If I hadn’t just paid £11.20 (yes, thats almost $30AUD) for a return ticket to get here and back, I probably would have gone straight home again.  But I did, so I won’t.

I thought I should take this oppurtunity to say Happy New Year all, as the people on the East Coast of Australia are merely minutes away from the moment, and those in Perth are not (surprisingly) far behind.

I’ve never been one for New Years Resolutions as I know I’ll break them, but due to recent changes in attitude toward a few things maybe I’ll give it a try this year.  So here goes:

1. In the eternal quest for money, and much more of it, launch ShanCo (or similar, better name) and start working to produce side income
2. Stop fart arsing around, believing that eating soup for lunch and walking to and from the train station is enough healthy food and exercise to become fit and lose weight, even though I work in a job all day that requires sitting, food and alcohol consumption (although I do occasionally use a computer too)
3. Get these Christmas presents sent home, somehow Christmas presents in February doesn’t cut the mustard, it’ll have to do anyway though.
4. Definitely don’t extend this contract as much as you want to, you have to get out and get some more experience elsewhere.
5. Think about drinking less, then trick yourself by storing beer in Orange Juice bottles in the fridge
6. Continue the proud Guiness Thursday tradition, but think of ways to improve on the concept
7. Travel?

I saw something astounding on the side of the road the other day, something that stopped me dead in my tracks, and even if just for a second made my mouth drop straight open. Parked at the road’s edge just near work on St James Street, a Silver-Grey 1980’s Ford Granada, which while slightly smaller, bears a striking resemblance to my first car, the great cûn, my canary yellow XF Ford Falcon. Actually, it was more like a mix between an XD and an XE, but close enough to still bring a definite tear to my eye. Few moments have I experienced in the last 6 months or so where I was filled with both laughter, surprise and sadness such as this, and for that this momement will be long remembered.

The Ford Granada, similar looking, but far less manly

Why all the fuss over a Falcon clone, one may ask? It’s a sh&^ty Australian family sedan (saloon for those UKey’d), that like the plethora of other large 1980’s vehicles (such as the Kingswood, Monaro, first Commodore’s, Torana and other period Falcons), is destined to rust bucketry and crushing (if this has not happened already). And its long been known for being a taxi, bus, and caravan for a certain Australian minority. But it was my car, and my first one at that, and it had so much history. After being used in an armed robbery and stolen at least 3 or 4 other times, it was responsible for many a fun evening of laid-back, non jaw-dropping fun and utter destruction (mostly of the car itself). Yes, the cûn was a star and shall go down in history as a legend, at least in my eyes.

The Ford XF Falcon

The cûn and I had an understanding, I could treat her like shit, stretch her to her absolute limits and she would never actually stop running on me, apart from the occasional limp. No, she didn’t break down on me constantly (apart from running out of fuel due to faulty fuel gauge), or blow a head gasket, its features just occasionally stopped working as they should or fall off altogether, like the airconditioner, radio, rearview mirror, wing mirror(s), pedals, windows, doors, backseats and other slightly more valuable organs. And there was always the odometer that stuck at 110191km over 5 years before she was rolled out of the driveway destined for the crushing yard. But it just kept on running, and I appreciate that.I’ve always said (about 5 years ago), that when I’m old and rich, I’ll go back and find the last surviving mint XF and buy it to put next to the Bugatti, and while I adamently believe this will never happen as all will probably have been scrapped its nice to keep living the dream.

Here’s an ode, to my first car
You learned and taught me, like a training bra
For you are and forever will be the wonderous cûn
Even though you could seldom muster a tune

You, me and the H man had some great times
Like limping home all broken diffed after dimes
And yes I know, I treated you like shit
But as most who remember know, you were a smashing hit

P.S: The author reserves the right to hide the original nickname for el cûn-o.

“Today is the day. Today is probably the most important day right after episode 300 Today, we have 20th of december, so it’s time for Top 20 tunes of 2007 The list is result of your own Top 5 as voted at arminvanbuuren.net - Armin Van Buuren himself or Armada Music do not have any influence on the results of this election. so the tracklist is in the reverse order from what they were played in.”

Tracklisting:

1. John O’Callaghan feat. Audrey Gallagher - Big Sky (Agnelli & Nelson Remix) Armind Tune Of The Year
2. Armin Van Buuren vs. Rank 1 feat. Kush - This World Is Watching Me (Cosmic Gate Remix) Armind
3. Dash Berlin - Till The Sky Falls Down (Vocal Mix) Captivating
4. Above & Beyond - Home (Club Mix) Anjunabeats
5. The Blizzard - Kalopsia (Original Club Mix) Armind
6. Armin Van Buuren - Rush Hour Armind
7. First State feat. Anita Kelsey - Falling (Original Mix) Black Hole
8. Vincent De Moor - Fly Away (Cosmic Gate Remix) Combined Forces
9. Paul Van Dyk & Starkillers & Austin Leeds feat. Ashley Tomberlin - New York City Vandit
10. Armin Van Buuren - The Sound Of Goodbye (Nic Chagall Drumbeat Re-Edit) Armind
11. Filo & Peri feat. Eric Lumiere - Anthem (Original Vocal Mix) Vandit
12. Above & Beyond pres. Tranquility Base - Oceanic (Original Mix) Anjunabeats
13. Ilse DeLange - The Great Escape (Armin Van Buuren Remix) BMG
14. Jonas Steur feat. Jennifer Rene - Fall To Pieces Black Hole
15. DJ Shah feat. Adrina Thorpe - Who Will Find Me (Original Summer Sunrise Mix) A State Of Trance
16. Albert Vorne - Formentera What (Gareth Emery Remix) Club Elite
17. Cerf, Mitiska & Jaren - Light The Skies (Retrobyte Classic Electrobounce Mix) Baroque/Armind
18. Breakfast - The Sunlight (Original Mix) Flashover
19. Cosmic Gate feat. Denise Rivera - Body Of Conflict (Vocal Mix) Black Hole/Maelstrom
20. Above & Beyond feat. Zoe Johnston - Good For Me (Thomas Datt Bootleg Mix) Anjunabeats

It’s released, the results of everyones votes are in!

Why the hell can’t I afford to go and see him? He’s playing tonight!

Hi all, just thought I’d report in to say that since its inception the proud tradition of Guiness Thursday is going strong. Every week has seen at least 3 of us from work at lunchtime down the at pub, consuming at least a couple of pints.  It’s only been 5 weeks, but I can see this growing into a bustling little social club, as well as a healthy way to start the afternoon and a great way of life.

Who would believe that these great minds could accomplish so much?

GT is, however, different that your normal whip-lash shoe-horn religion, there’s no rules, no commandments, and the only messiah is a black coloured liquid from Ireland.  Whilst there are no leaders, the word needs to be spread, for this is the job of the Guiness Thursday Spokesmen.  But, not wanting to sound cheesy, there’s a bit of GT spokesman in all of us.  So spread the word, join the force.On a side note, my boss, being the competitive type that he is, suggested a sort of Sporting Gala, a Guiness Olympics if you will.  It consists (but is in no way limited to):

• The Sprint (skol, scull or down) - The Speed Event:-

• First person to the bottom of a full ping of guiness is declared the winner
• Default can be given if the winner has lost more than 20% of said pint on shirt/floor
• Care should be taken to spot a cheat, though unfortunately (I’m not so lucky) the straight neck open throat pour is allowable, spillage rules still apply

• The Marathon - An Endurance Event:-
  • Speed is not an issue here, its all about slow and steady
  • Pick a time period, and count pints until the end of the event/evening
  • Most drinks under the belt wins
  • In the interest of competitors safety the GOC (Guiness Olympic Committee) takes no responsibility for injuries occuring after the 15th pint
• The Triathlon/…/Decathlon - The Skill Event:-
  • This event can consist of any number of stages, but usually comprises of both a sprint, a marathon, and the special event
  • The special event can be anything (in keeping with the Guiness tradition, an Irish Whiskey is preferred here)

I shall post results of the olympics, and we’ll see how the Aussies stand up against our English and North American counterparts, I expect it to be a whitewash.

A possible event? I think so

I’m used to copping a fair amount of flack as a contractor at work, as I’m the youngest in the office, and as a result of this get paid far too much for doing far too little, in my bosses mind anyway. In fact, his exact words are (on a daily basis), “…, but you’re just a lowly contractor”. It’s funny though, like an extension of the Pom/Aussie tradition of ripping the shit out of each other for, well pretty much anything, it adds another layer to the whole office rivalry thing.

Now, being the lowly contractor that I am, I don’t expect much, I don’t get holidays, I don’t get sick pay, I don’t get a christmas bonus and I don’t have the same job security an full timer may have come to expect. This is a good and a bad thing, bad for the obvious reasons, good for the fact I have pretty much no responsibility and get paid more (apparently). The last thing I expected to be doing was giving and sitting in on job interviews. Yes, this contractor come contract-er is going to have a fun week.

I guess its good experience, and I should hardly complain, but it seems weird none the less. Least I’m not like the PHP guys, having to give interviews for over 50 people, I’ve only got to do two.

This may have helped

This got me thinking back to a job interview I had a while ago back home at a mining/oil company in Nedlands, Perth. The interview was going great, and I was clearly fit for the job, and I was asked:

Them: “What’s a word you would use to describe a good thing about yourself?”
Me: “Thorough, I need to make sure the job is done” (or something to that effect)
Them: “Now, whats a word you would use to describe a bad thing about yourself?”

Ah, the age old “bad” thing question, always going to catch the unprepared out. Like the scene with the bad thing from Peep Show, Jeremy couldn’t remember what the bad thing was, unlike Peep Show, my bad thing did not involve a blow job. But I was stuck…

Me: “Well, I can be lazy”

(deafening silence, with an odd look on smug interviewer’s face)…

I bet they’re still laughing at my expense. “Remember that lazy guy? That was the best interview I’ve done so far”. Well keep laughing, I would.

Had I have the above book, maybe I would have been able to answer the question. Maybe I would have said, I just try too damn hard, or work is an obsession, but thats not me. Lazy is. I love honesty.

- the HR/IT guy.

Not often do I regret my actions enough that I think about it for longer than about five minutes, but when you’ve got 3 and a half hours sitting on benches, buses, tube stations, tube trains, normal trains, normal train stations all in about zero degree (celsius) temperature, it gives you some time to rethink the course of an evening.

Yes, what was supposed to be two drinks at the pub after work turned into an almost 15 hour journey of excessive drinking, expensive champagne, way too much public transport and pointless wandering and an insight into the horrible seedy underside of London. Well all except the seedy underside part, the only thing that was seedy (Yes, the slang word seedy is when you feel like s*&t from consumption, not a disgusting pervert) was me and the other revellers stupid enough to be out.

Course of evening:

I’ll stop here, as it started to become hazy after this point, but there were several more drinks including two glasses from two bottles of £200 champage (that I thankfully took no part in purchasing) and some white Sambuca shots (ech). At this time I came to the realisation (a mistake) that it was one oclock and and there was no way I was getting home without shelling out a substantial amount (£60-75+) for a black cab home, which I definitely wasn’t prepared to do. So I went with the flow, until the club (like the Ambar in Perth) closed at 3:00am.

From here we’d run out of options, and wandered around aimlessly in the code before getting on a bus, that interestingly enough went absolutely nowhere, and we ended up not far from where we started. So after a bit more fart-assing around and an interesting trip to King’s Cross and a huge waste of time at McDonalds, I’d had enough and decided to call it a night and head home. By this point (4:30am), I was completely over the evening, and after already yearning for my bed for well over 2 hours, I looked forward to making my way home, as quick as possible. And then the fun (and my stupidity started):

So, it was a bit of an adventure, and 4 hours to sober up and wish I was at home in bed was enough for me, I’m too old for this! That’s the biggest cop-out for a 24 year old ever I know, but next time Cath definitely has to be there, and there has to be an exit strategy, or at least a good way to get home.

And how the hell did I manage to last without sleep until falling asleep on the train?