Category — My Life

Currently, I am using free hosting at Frihost.net, whom I do thank for graciously allowing me to host this blog for free, but lately it’s been giving me grief - namely because of some of the restrictions they’ve placed on what can and cannot be done on their servers.

This morning, I wanted to install the Friendfeed activity widget for Wordpress, thereby removing a few of the widgets I have on the right hand side of the page. Unfortunately for me, it requires the cURL functions of PHP5 to be enabled. Something Frihost will not allow at all, as they believe the cURL functions are likely to be abused and bring their servers down. Now, while that is a valid concern, most of us would like to get our pages working to the full extent of how we see fit.

So…that leads me to the big question - do I stay on a free service, or actually pay for webhosting. Now, Jumba’s personal packages sound perfectly priced to me, and they are Australian-based, so it’s keeping someone employed locally, which is always a good thing. $29.95 for 500MB and 5GB of traffic is what I’m aiming at, as I don’t think people are going to flock here in vast numbers.

Next dilemma - do I pay for the webhosting, or do I go the Knights v Roosters game this Sunday? I really want to get out of the house for a day and have a day to myself, but as most people are aware, it can be expensive (although, to my credit, I don’t think I spent more than $50 for the whole day the last time I went to a Knights game). Oh what to do, what to do!!!

• I’m thinking of moving to a proper host (i.e. one you have to pay for) in order to get proper support and more space. Jumba sounds like a good bet. Thoughts?
• Anything related to the iPhone just shits me. A lot of Apple fanboys (and girls too, I’ve seen those photos) just go nutty whenever Steve Jobs says something. I won’t be buying one, unless they get it to work out here, the phone companies put it on a better plan, and improve the hard disk (i.e. bigger than what it is at the moment).
• And another thing. Someone please kill Ron Paul and his supporters, please? They’ve made the Internet about as enjoyable as shoving a butt-plug embedded with razor blades and nails up your clacker. He has about as much of winning the US presidency as I have of getting into a threesome with Jennifer Hawkins and Scarlett Johansson (or any two attractive starlets). And to the Australians supporting him? Please get out of our country. And don’t come back. You clearly do not have brains.
• Finally….GO NEW SOUTH WALES!!!

…well, only over at MediaSpy.

Here’s my public announcement from earlier this evening…

To some this will be a shock, to others it will be expected, and to some it will be celebrated, but there goes.

As of tonight, I am leaving MediaSpy for a extended break, and therefore resigning from my post of moderator in the process. I have been here since 2003 (2004 as a mod) in various capacities, so to some, you might call my leaving a much-awaited event.

I could elaborate on the specific reasons for my departure, but I won’t. Suffice to say, had I stayed around any longer, I would’ve blown my lid and be sacked anyway, so it’s better for all concerned if I headed off now. Also, I have lost interest in many parts of the topics we cover here, so it’s not much use to me hanging around anyway.

I’m going to concentrate on various personal issues, so I wouldn’t be expecting my return here any time soon.

As for the various add-ons I’ve developed for the site over the years, since most of them are tied to my accounts, there is the distinct chance that they will be deleted. I am making plans before I leave to see if some can be continued under new management.

To the moderators and administration team, past and present, I thank you for putting up for me over the past 4 or so years. Trust me, it isn’t easy being me, and to put up with me is something of an effort on your behalf. I wish you all the very best for the future and thank you for the opportunity.

To everyone else, I would also like to wish you the best for the future. And in particular, I wish Jarrod all the best for his upcoming nupitals and hope that life for you and the missus is filled with every happiness possible.

Right, that’s over bar the shouting. I can still be found over on my website if anyone’s interested.

Thank you, good night and good bye.

While my computer was undergoing the 9,999,999th crash cycle (and not at a good time, I was preparing to start summarising the midday news bulletins), I decided to figure out how to record these shows on my two PVRs for tomorrow night, since last week was an absolute schmozzle, missing out one show and having to use a tape to record another show.

Because I’m at darts of a Thursday, I need to tape shows so I can watch them later (I don’t subscribe to this channel BT nonsense either), and the shows in question are:

• 8.30pm Out of the Question (Prime)
• 9.00pm Family Guy (Prime)
• 10.15pm UEFA Champions League Hour (SBS)
• 10.30pm American Dad (Prime)
• 10.30pm The Nightcap (7HD via Prime HD)
• 11.15pm The Late Show with David Letterman (Southern Cross Ten)

Now, I happen to have two PVRs, both 160GB, but one of them is a twin-tuner HD PVR, and the other is a twin-tuner SD PVR, but you cannot record two shows at the one time with the latter. You can watch one and record another, but not record two shows.

So…I had to sit down with a TV Week, piece of paper and a pen and figure it out. Basically, here is the main points of note:

• The Nightcap can only be recorded on the HD box.
• Out of the Question and Family Guy can be recorded on either.
• Again, the SD PVR cannot record two shows at once.

I came up with this solution, and so far, it all appears to be locked in:

On The HD box…

• 8.30pm Out of the Question (Prime)
• 9.00pm Family Guy (Prime)
• 10.15pm UEFA Champions League Hour (SBS)
• 10.30pm The Nightcap (7HD via Prime HD)

On the SD box…

• 10.30pm American Dad (Prime)
• 11.15pm The Late Show with David Letterman (Southern Cross Ten)

Of course, this doesn’t take into account the shithouse programming practices of the commercial networks. But we’ll see. There’s no live programming tomorrow night, so it shouldn’t delay any programs.

Yes, I was bored. And decided to mash buttons. But it could work!

See? Playing around does come up with some good solutions…