A weekend in singletown

This weekend Ness and the littleone are headed off to Melbourne for a belated mothers day visit. Due to fact my current project is coming to and end it was too hard to organize the time for me to go as well so I've been left at home to mind the fort.

This of course means I get the chance (however briefly) to return to a time when the littleone wasn't running around.

So this morning I dropped the travelers at the airport and came home to start my weekend of self indulgence. As it was too early to go out for breakfast I plonked myself on the couch and cruised through a few rounds of Battlefield: Bad Company 2 long enough for blowfly to open. I packed up the iPad and settled in to catch up on the weeks news over some coffees and some eggs without a trip to find some rocks in sight.

This being a fairly rare opportunity there has been some seriously planning to optimize the time available: Gaming on every platform I can find, catching up on all the movies I have missed over that last months, some ikea hacks for the lounge, tech shopping and the final parts of the arcade table upgrade. The most geeking out I can possibly fit into a weekend.

While this sounds Like a perfect escape the missing has already started as I spy all the other neighborhood families head out for their breakfasts. Maybe I'll have to pick up some rocks on my way home and push them around the train tracks just for good measure.

Sent from my iPad

Remembering the joys of being a kid

It dawned on me yesterday when I was watching the littleone playing
with some cardboard that had transformed into a train and was "choo
chooing" it's way over my face that generally I don't spend enough
time just having fun. Obviously there are plenty if things that get in
the way, work being the big one. I'm not really sure what I can do
about it or what the real purpose of this post is.

I guess it should just remind me that there is no point working to
live if you don't do the living bit in the end.

Sent from my iPhone

Some early morning ramblings

It's quite early in the morning and the sun is still yet to show but
I'm awake so I thought I'd should take this time to write a blogpost.
I don't have a subject to write about but I'm hoping one will form
while I type this.

Seem my body decided falling alseep a higher priority.

Sent from my iPhone

Time to let the projector go (but not time for 3D)

It's been a while since I've posts about audio/visual gear here but
this is a pretty big decision so it's probably with a post. We've been
toying with the idea of changing our lounge room layout and some of
the wall placements for a while now and have come up with a layout
(thanks to some invaluable advice) that will make the space much more
usable. This is in no small part to make unit living work a bit longer
while Zachary is still little (but getting a lot bigger). The
consequence of all this is however there is no real place for the
projector anymore. I tried very hard to make it work in the new space
layouts but there was nothing that was going to give a suitable result.

Fortunately not all is lost for big screen viewing though, we will
probably replace the projector/LCD TV combination that we have
currently with a single 55"+ display. The front runner at the moment
is a 58" Samsung Plasma.

I thought about holding off for a 3D set but after trying out one of
the offerings for Samsung I don't think first gen 3D is going to sit
well with me. First off they are able to produce a great sense of
depth in the picture. There was a demo disk running had a staged band
performance and a beach scene. In both cases the picture felt like it
was coming out from the screen toward you but I had a few problems
with it and one of the reasons I think it needs a few more generations.

1."Sweet Spot" - I had to stand in a sweet spot to be able to "see the
image perfectly" according to the Samsung rep. The difference between
being in this spot and out was pretty dramatic though. Best way to
describe it is though the image is focused at that spot and everywhere
else was like dialing back the focus. It didn't go blurry but the 3D
depth decreased and the crispness of the edges dropped.
Why I think this is a problem - while I'm pretty picky about the sweet
spot for my surround and there is a drop in the sound imaging it
doesn't make it more difficult to enjoy the movie. The other reason is
you might be able to the sweet spot concept work for a movie where
you're probably curled up in your favourite couch but for sports and
normal tv viewing I'm often wandering around the house doing other
things (especially if you've got a few mates around to watch a big
game) there is almost no chance of being in the "sweet spot" not to
mention it's going to get very cosy in there

2. Where did all my definitions go? - the picture just didn't seem
as sharp or crisp as I've come to expect from even a mid-level HD set.
This is probably not helped by the problem in point two and also from
a fair bit of ghosting in the background images

3. Headaches - I have this problem with the colour wheel in DLP
projectors. I could always see the rainbow on every dlp projector the
slower the wheel the worse it was. It only took a few minutes and I'd
have a headache. It seems that the effect that creates the 3D image
has the same problem for me. I probably had under a minutes viewin and
had a headache for most of the rest of the day. Samsung recently
released a list of people that would have issues with watching 3D so
it certainly isn't for everyone.

4. Glasses - Last but not least you have to watch the image. It
certainly isn't watchable without. And on top of the fact that you
have to wear glasses logistically if you want someone else to watch
with you they need glasses. The set we looked at only came with two
pairs so you'd easily need another two pairs just for normal visitors.
They also make you look stoopid. Nuf said

Sent from my iPhone

Disabling front row via the apple remote

This is really just a post so I remember to do this when I get home...

http://theappleblog.com/2008/08/18/disable-apple-remote-control/

I'm sick of the laptops bursting into life every time I'm trying to control the appletv

So that last post was supposed to be longer

... I was mid sentence in that post when I accidentally hit send and then after it posted I was going to finish it but STREET FIGHTER IV for iPhone somehow got started and well.... that was the end of any more blogging...

So back to what I was saying, I don't know what I would do if I didn't have the river walk to calm/occupy/put to sleep the cranky pants. I know in a lot of suburban places they have some pathways and footpaths by the road but I know from the walk to day care in the mornings this can be about as stressful as the scream at home with all the dodging of traffic crossing roads etc.
We are out on the walk almost every morning it's fine and on the weekends (or afternoons if it's light enough) we're out there as much as we can. I think if I was still with a little one I would find it very hard to get through the loud patches without a similar sort of space.

The reason it's such a topic today is it's been a week of very long nights and the escape to the river walk has probably been a little overused (in defence of the too young to blog he does have a cold/cough and is getting some new teeth all in one go). But there is nothing like a 5:30am walk to watch the sunrise and a double macchiato to cure some sleep deprivation.

I must admit that I restarted this post with something else insightful to add, but of course now I'm halfway through it I can't remember what it was....

Anyway... on to other events of the weekend, we took advantage of the waterpark at southbank after a very cruisy bike ride with a few other friends. Fortunately the off and on rain for the day meant there were only a handful of kids in the water and we could roam free the whole time.

I finally did some gaming on the Wii that didn't involve "New Super Mario Bros. Wii" and plugged away at another level of Fire Emblem. I swear the AI is targeting healers because it knows if you loose a character it's game over. It's possibly one of the most difficult games I've every played and it's not difficult in a good way... Never the less this just seems to make me want to play it more... either that or throw the controller at the TV, such a fine line.

The iPad was available for preorder in the States yesterday and I've been trying to steer clear of the news because I know I want to buy one and the release seems like such a way off for Australia. I'm thinking that the WiFi only device is the one to get because with two iPhones and a 3G enabled MacBook Pro how often am I going to need the iPad to be online out of the house.

Lastly but not least... is one of the best things about having someone little running around the house... no one wonders why you're sitting on the floor playing with toy cars (complete with brum brum noises. Yes I'm still that much of a kid at heart)

A quiet afternoon....

It's not often I get to sit and just type out all my random musings
any longer. Not that I'm really complaining most of that time now is
filled with playing and running around like a crazy thing. As I
haven't really grown up myself it's really the perfect past time for
me. This afternoon though the little time occupier was particularly
cranky (because he's tired from running around the waterpark for ages
and going for a long ride and refuses to have a nap) so we set off for
a walk along the river. Of course after about 2 mins he was asleep and
rather than tempt fate and move him we've camped on a park bench
(obviously he's in his pram) and are watching the afternoon pass by.
This is how I've managed to have a quiet afternoon and have time to
ponder my thoughts. The wind is just strong enough to be rocking the
pram and keep him peacefully asleep.
It made me wonder "what do people in the suburbs do. The walk by the
river is really my coping mechanism and having a small child I think
you need one.

Photo by TiltShift Generator