From Toast Disaster to Toast Triumph!

First of all Congratulations to Valavien and Kat on their engagement today! Wish you all the best!

After my disaster with toast from Spoon this morning a quick last minute shop at Woolies turned up my fav gluten free bread (the moores multigrain) which has been discontinued at Coles...

So for a late night snack... Nutella on Toast :)

Also my new copy of Puzzle Quest shipped from Play Asia today so fingers crossed I'll get a copy soon! I also got a headset which should come in handy for Pokemon and Metroid online..

Not Happy (no) Jam!!!

I waited entirely too long for toast from spoon this morning only to get butter on my shirt from the bag (sorry I missed you warnings Nessa) and when I finally got to QUT to eat my toast there was NO JAM!!! I SPECIFICALLY ASKED FOR JAM! You'd think for $9 for a coffee and 2 pieces of I could get a bit of Jam on my bread!

Well at least it's Thursday and I've only got one more day until the weekend, where we're off to see the 'Roos play a friendly against Uruguay.

My addiction to Puzzle Quest has been slightly subdued due to the fact that Ness keeps stealing it out of my DS. I think I'm going to order another copy of Play-Asia today just so I can keep my level close to hers.


With a bit of searching around last night I discovered a map of the whole Puzzle Quest Realm. My current character is a level 14 Wizard and I've only covered about 2x2 squares on the map... so (as there is 6x6 grids to cover) I've got a bit of a way to go.... especially as I'll be starting a new character from scratch!

The Non Gaming version of the room

This weekend (as well as a fair bit of gaming) I actually put the gaming room to it's second use. I had a some work to do over the weekend and I didn't realise how useful having dual screen at home would be... No need to keep alt-tabbing to check how the processes are going on my dev boxes... it's just all there on the gaming screen. It's actually made the space a great place to work. See still 50% to go!

I'm onto yet another DS game (it's all Dr. Butler's fault!). I've finished enough of Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin for my next review. I had every intention of cruising head long into Age of Empires or Children of Mana but I've been well and truly side tracked with Puzzle Quest. It's an interesting (and surprisingly deep) combination of a Tradition (as in D&D) RPG and a puzzle title. I was pretty sceptical about the game but now I've played it I'm totally hooked. I played a few multiplayer battles and the combat system (which is somewhat Zookeeper like) is easy to pick up. The only disappointment is it's note Nintendo Wifi Compatible so I can't play online.

This weekend has been pretty busy with all the normal singing commitments plus birthday parties, coffee drop ins and soccer matches.

I managed to resist picking up a PS2 this weekend for the Guitar Hero games and God of War. I just feed my need with some Ouendan and Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows. There hasn't been much online time lately as most of my regular online opponents have been held up with other committments. I have managed a few Metroid Battles but I've been keeping my eye out for some DS titles with co-op online play but sadly they've been few and far between. Most of the games that (I believe) lend themselves to some online play (ie the turnbased strategies of Advance wars and Age of Empires) haven't scored online modes in any of the current iterations.

With a pretty busy week ahead it's unlikely there will be much more than bus gaming until the weekend trip to Sydney for Socceroos friendly with Uruguay. Should be a great match to watch and a good trip to Sydney for the weekend. (Hopefully Ben gets into gear and gets a DS before we go down so we've got a few more for multiplayer sessions)...

Well my Dev box is back up.... that's all for now :)

Travelling again

It seems like an eternity since I've been out and about for work but this week it's started again with a trip to Townsville, which will probably be the first of many.

So I'm posting this from the VB lounge while I'm trying to catch a bite to eat and fix up a few bits and pieces for the people still in the office.

The only real problem with heading out today is that it's my Dad's birthday (and State of Origin, Go Queensland!) which meant I didn't get a chance to catch up with him on his birthday. Hopefully I can make it up to him on the weekend.

I'm catching up with Andrew (hopefully if he isn't on call too much) while I'm up there and probably Ben as well while he's doing a bit of work up there. So it's not all bad!

Gaming room Mk iI

There's been a lot of planning and deciding but I finally got around to doing something about the gaming room update. I picked up a 19" DSE Monitor/TV. It's not the best display around but as an xbox display it works exceptionally well. As a pc monitor is not bad either so it's worked out really well as a dual display option. I've also managed to mount it to the desk. I was worried that the 19" display might be a bit small but as I'm really close it's huge... Played an hour of Battlefront last night and it was great!

Gaming room Mk iI

There's been a lot of planning and deciding but I finally got around to doing something about the gaming room update. I picked up a 19" DSE Monitor/TV. It's not the best display around but as an xbox display it works exceptionally well. As a pc monitor is not bad either so it's worked out really well as a dual display option. I've also managed to mount it to the desk. I was worried that the 19" display might be a bit small but as I'm really close it's huge... Played an hour of Battlefront last night and it was great!

I've (not) got the power...

This afternoon is a flash of glory (or doom) my power supply for my laptop blew up. Normally this would be a bit annoyance but not a completed disaster... Tomorrow however I'm flying to Townsville which would mean I'm basically without a laptop... Looks like I'll be making a mad shopping dash to look for a universal power supply..... they aren't cheap though... more than $150!

And the gaming room (finally) begins

After post upon post about the gaming room upgrade it's finally started. On a day that was going to be dedicated to gaming (and many for a review of Castlevania:Portrait of Ruin) I spent a fair amount of time looking for desks and shelving solutions for the room. In the end I worked out that there was a currently obsolete desk in another room that would work perfectly to house the Mac/Gaming rig which meant only finding another small desk for the PC. found a pretty suitable desk on sale but with the TV still in the room it hasn't made it out of the flat pack.

I also (at least for the moment) have found the favoured display option. The Samsung 215TW is the pick for the moment as it has DVI for dual screening on the Mac, VGA for docking on the laptop and Component for the Cube/Xbox. With 1680x1050 it will work well for any futher HD gaming upgrades in the future. The adaptec Gamebridge 1400 that I pick up cheap on ebay a year or so ago will link the other Xbox to the PC for any multiplaying needs.... Battlefront 2 anyone?

The new layout works pretty well for gaming, especially with a bean bag in the corner for any serious sessions on the DS... I managed to catch up online with a friend for a few Metroid battles, turns out I'm pretty rusty on the ds shooters only managing 1 draw over all the matches. It's still a great title even though it's been around since the early days of Nintendo WFC. It's a shame there haven't been more FPS titles developed for the DS as Metroid proved it's a solid platform for this genre.

I'm going to call in a bit early tonight after a late one last night with the FA Cup final (as I didn't manage to nap during the match like some other people...)

So many games... so many xboxes...

Tonight Ben dropped by for a bit to drop of his xbox for me to "mind" while he's moving house. At least while it's at my house it's going to slip into the games room rebuild as an xbox server for live matches and a secondary console for multiplayer sessions.

As far as the redesign is going the current plan is to do a dual purpose pc room/games with the displays running as both monitors and console screens. The biggest problem at the moment is deciding which arrangement for desks. I think the best option is to desk off the longest wall.

My gaming library for the DS has also blown out recently. I picked up Age of Empires for DS of Ebay but the package has been lost in the post. I also have Children of Mana to play and Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin to start if I can every get to the end of Spectrobes! It's not hard it just seems to take forever to finish...

I've booked a gaming day on Saturday so I'm hoping to get through most of the other ones (and finish everything else while I'm busing to work)

My cousin discovers the internet... (and other ramblings)

It's hard to imagine (well for me anyway) anyone not being on the 'net... However my littlest cousin has just got her laptop as is claiming her space on the web... She's on myspace and fast discovering the joys (or evils) of iTunes and eBay. It's nice to have another random chat buddy though :)

We took the wind blocker upgraded MinX for a test run down to Bethania today (for Ness's soccer match) and the upgrade has passed with flying colours. The reduction of wind in the cabin is more than I'd expected, to the point where the fan is actually useful on it's lowest setting. It meant that even in the cool night air I could have the heat on 1 and keep the cabin toasty warm. If you've got a NA and find the wind in over the back a bit much it's worth tracking down an NB wind blocker.

There's been the odd patch of rain around tonight. Nothing of significance but just enough to keep the plants on my balcony green and lend some soothing background noise to the evening. It's certainly not going to break the drought but it gives some hope that there's rain out there...

Anyway it's bed time for me. I've got to sing tomorrow and I think I've got the solo in Bairstow's Let all mortal flesh keep silence. At least I won't be hung over as I was during the recording on Friday. :)

MinX on the Upgrade (and repair) path again!

I bought a NB factory wind blocker of ebay the other week in anticipation of our holiday to Tambourine. Although ours is an NA the conversion is quite simple. I also put her in for a quick service... That ended up not being quite as quick as I'd hoped.... She came back with more new parts than I was really looking for, the whole list : -
Engine Oil Flush
Oil Change (full Synthetic)
Coolant Flush
Top and bottom radiator
Radiator Cap
Air Filter
Both Drive Belts
Water Pump
Rocker Cover Gasket

On the bright side it drove like a dream when I picked it up so it wasn't a great a lost.

I'll post up a "Step by Step" on the wind blocker with some photos shortly.

Rebuildarama

Well after loosing my removable drive a few weeks ago, my laptop hdd gave up the ghost this week. Fortunately the performance signs and the detlayed write failures gave me a bit of a heads up on the impending doom so I managed to back everything up.

The service was pretty quick, My laptop was next to useless by Monday after all the backing up and attempted fixes it was Tuesday I logged a case with dell on Wednesday, they were out on Thursday but that left me with a blank HDD.

Now it's been the slow process of rebuilding bit by bit... I've got all of the drivers back on and some of most useful apps but it's a endless loop of download, install, restart.

Oh well back to the downloading..

General Update

It's been a busy couple of weeks. Lots of bits and pieces in all different areas. A couple of go lives at work keeping the new guys on their toes. Here's the highlights....

• Our Unit is almost on the market : - Our first home which we've been holding onto as a rental is going on the market this week... It was a hard and sad decision to let it go when it's your first home, but it will work out well... emotional attachment and investment never ends well..
• Stereo Install *almost* complete : - I managed to put up there remaining cable guides for the stereo install I had started back in Feb. I ran out of cables again though so there is at least one or two more trips to Bunnings yet.
• Gaming Room Upgrade : - The room upgrade has been put on hold for a while... The practicalities of the room in it's current form weren't so good so we're looking at a complete redesign at the moment. The plan is to get it setup with more of an office feel with somewhere I can use my lappy other than the lounge room. Ness is also looking for a PC to do some photo stuff (no picasa on the Mac and it's Ness's favourite photo tool). Trying to find the right desk combination is a lengthy task though so there will be a few weekend trips to Ikea yet before it's finished.
• MinX Ebay Upgrade :- I've been spending a bit of time looking for odds and ends for the MinX on Ebay. So far it's been proving quite effective. I picked up a dual cup holder to replace the ash tray, much more useful. It's a pretty good design, even has a removable drip tray for cleaning up the spills.
  Monday night I secured a Wind blocker for the back. One of the problems in winter is the back draft between the seats freezing my left ear and arm. I've been looking for one for ages but they are hard to find... Kudos to Tom for winning the auction for me though :)
  We're taking here away on the weekend up the mountains so she's in for a quick check over and clean today before we head off on Friday.
  
• Gaming on the Run :- I've been stuck on my Micro lately with Fire Emblem. It's turned into a captivating game. The levels are small enough that the strategy can be played through on a bus trip and the ability to revisit the rest of the map moving away from a linear story has kept me coming back. I've in the 3rd Dungeon of Zelda but I haven't had enough time to sit down and play through a whole dungeon so I haven't kicked it up. I'm thinking about picking up Diddy Kong Racing for the DS today. It was a good game on the 64 and while Mario Kart DS is great game I know most of the tracks backwards by now.
• Singing... this is a bit of a nothing one but I have been doing a heap of singing lately but at my lesson last night I hit the best top G I've ever sung.