Today i bring you two new (to me anyway) Mac OS X Apps.

HandBrake
A DVD converter that creates Divx, Mpeg4 and h.264 movie files. This app is really good, has a nice speed advantage over Apples Quicktime Pro and works really well to convert video into files compatible with the new iPod With Video.

Transmission
The best ever Bit-Torrent app for Mac OS X…….. ever!
Its at-least 10x better than its nearest competitor Azeurous which is a slow and cumbersome Java app. Transmission is written in C and runs nicely in the background without hogging up all your CPU cycles.

Thought you would like links to these two app’s and till next time au revoir.
-Richard

Do you want an ipod for christmas? Well this one girl sure did!

An iPod for Christmas.

Her request wasn’t quite as innocent as one might suspect.

-Richie

I have at long last updated this blog to wp 1.5.2! It took most of the arvo to create a new template for the design of the site, but now that i have it’s much more portable and will allow me to apply updates as they come out without breaking everything!

Anyway ill get back to fixing the remainder of bugs now, so stay
tuned for more updates in the near future.

-Richard

Well last weekend i ended up skiing up at Mt Hotham with Stu and Pant, while Jan went full out and cycled for the Weekend. When i say full out, he cycled all the way up to the top of Mt Hotham and back down in 4-1/2 hours! Really quite insane if you ask me!

The snow was really quite good seeing as it was 4-6 degrees both day’s and the most glorious blue sky’s were seen on both days, all in all a most enjoyable weekend.

I drove 960km on the weekend (Friday, Saturday, Sunday) which is really quite a long distance if you think about it and quite a mean feet.

Anyway take some time and have a look at the photo’s in the album i’ve posted below.

Picture Album

-Richie

Its amazing just how busy ive been in the last few weeks, what with school play’s dress rehearsals, peoples birthdays, University assignments and work everything has snowballed and i just haven’t had the time to do anything for myself recently let alone the energy!

The Little shop of Horror’s was a big hit, all the birthdays (Han, Stu, Eddie) have passed for this month and the new computer system at work is slowly coming together.

Im hoping to get up to the snow soon, and seeing as the snowfall in the last week has been amazing will maybe try for this weekend! So guys and girls pack that snow gear if your feeling like a bit of snow play!

See you all soon - Richard

I know this post has been a long time in the making, but im here now and thats all that matters! ive been busy updateing the 4 usage widgets that i have out att the moment, with only the iinet one still waiting for its usage bars.

In other news Apple today released a new mouse that, only apple could have released. Take a look, it really does look like something special.

Apple - Mighty Mouse

Chances are ill end up getting one soon enough, although it isn’t wireless, which is a little bit of a bummer, but o well. we will have to see.

Its snow day at RMIT tomorrow, where the Alpine club is meant to be dumping a few tones of snow in Tin-Can Alley, out the back of RMIT Buildings 8-10-12-14, so head on up and maybe, just maybe ill see u there!

-Richard

I told James i would make a usage widget for Optus as long as he did the images, and here it is.
He also redesigned the Netsapce widget and it looks better than ever before.

You can find all of my widgets here from now on.
http://phoenixonline.co.uk/widgets/

Downloaded : Check. Times.

-Richie

Well the last 5 days have seen me down at Philip Island, once again staying with Hannah at her holiday house. We spent our time cooking, drinking, eating, drinking, watching Monty Python DVD’s, drinking and just generally socialising at the beach and over at Donny’s house.

The weather on the whole was fine, and although being quite cold for most of the time we got in a few walks/late night strolls and had a couple of fires. Unfortunately we didn’t however end up having another beach bonfire that we found so fun 9 months ago, and by all accounts less happened in general than during our last trip down to the island last summer.

I would post some photo’s however i left the camera at home and in reality couldn’t be fucked using it down there even if i had had it with me.

Till next time Richie.

Last time I posted I mentioned that it was 9 days till my next exam, and in all accounts the last 7 days have seen me do fairly little study(none at all), and a whole load of mornings that just disappear totally to sleep (seems to only happen when you stay up till 4-5am).

The next couple of days will hopefully see me put my head down and do some hardcore study for my last exam this semester on this coming Monday. Best be off and maybe, just maybe i will do some study for all you peeps, before heading out to JK’s for a dinner party of sorts!

Richie

Today is the day of my Programming Principles 1A Examination, which shall be quite an enduring session.

One of the worst parts of the whole examination is having to write out code by hand onto paper, without having the luxury of a compiler to tell you of any slight mistakes you have made in any of your code. Not to mention the fiddle little bits of Java or any language for that matter that just seem so cluttered written out by hand in pen.

Now most people know that my hand-writing is not the greatest ever, its just slightly messy and when you combine that with the code complexity issue above you end up with pages full of code that looks like crap, no matter how functional it may actually be. Why is that indenting never seems to work when your doing it all by hand?

The worst part however are the braces ( { } ) that you need to use for so much of Java, they turn out horribly deformed when i draw them by hand mainly due to me trying to centre the little peak like kink in the line that never works out.

Well the other night (Sunday), I went with Jan up to the Forum Theatre to see Warren Miller’s latest and greatest Extreme Winter Sports film! All in all it was fantastic with a whole load of incredible scenery and wide open planes of fresh powder snow in extreme abundance.

The oohs and aahs start in the opening scenes, featuring shots of hardcore skiers and boarders climbing into helicopters then plummeting down the high slopes of gigantic mountains at rocket speeds.

The 55th of Warren Millers films, in the industry he is most certainly the daddy of extreme sports action films, and no matter how you put it it was most defiantly entertaining!

As a bonus for attending we were given 1/2 price lift tickets at Hotham &Falls Creek, which will sure come in handy!

Thoroughly enjoyed, although it was just slightly to American for my taste, and would have been nice to see a little more of Europe.

Check it out here.

Yes its that time of year again, where Chocolate abounds and you are sure to eat way to much of it.

Hopefully this year I wont be eating to much of the sweet stuff because, im guessing that its not so good for you in huge amounts!

I have a week off Uni starting from today, (Thursday) to next Thursday the (31st Mar). its long enough, however it would have been nice for it to include the extra 2 days so that the weekend joined onto the end of the holiday instead of going back for 2 days and then having the weekend.

What else can I say, everyone seems to have disappeared atm, not sure exactly what’s going on but what can i say, its strange!

Hopefully ill see everyone soon enough!
-Richie

Yes that’s right. It was the 2005 Fosters Australian Grand Prix. An race that means so much to so many.

I for one remember the first time I attended the Grand Prix, it was special on a number of levels, and will forever remain with me.

It was 1998, and if I remember correctly the West McLaren Mercedes team drivers Mika Häkkinen and David Coulthard started the Australian Grand Prix from the front row and the team managed to lead every lap of the race passing the chequered flag in first and second position.

However although that was memorable in its own right, I distinctly remember the ride on the moving roller-coaster cinema, that left a large impression on our (Jan and my-own) markedly younger minds. The most memorable part however was when talking about it later we decided that it would be cool to have at a party sometime. The coolest part was that our parents agreed. Enough to say that that day never eventuated.

Anyway, enough of the past and back to the present. Today (of all days!).

The results of the first round in the 2005 series are as follows.

1 Fisichella (Renault)
2 Barrichello (Ferrari)
3 Alonso (Renault)
4 Coulthard (Red Bull)
5 Webber (WilliamsF1)
6 Montoya (McLaren)
7 Klien (Red Bull)
8 Raikkonen (McLaren)
9 Trulli (Toyota)
10 Massa (Sauber)
11 Button (BAR)
12 R Schumacher (Toyota)
13 Villeneuve (Sauber)
14 Sato (BAR)
15 Karthikeyan (Jordan)
16 Monteiro (Jordan)
17 Friesacher (Minardi)
18 M Schumacher (Ferrari)
19 Heidfeld (WilliamsF1)
20 Albers (Minardi)

What I found weird was the double podium finish for Renault. Totally out of character, especially for a team that is generaly regarded as towards the back of the pack, not usually seen first over the finish line. Anyway enough to say it was a good day out, albeit cold to start and this sunburn is killing me now but I found it to be a fully enjoyable day.

Catch you all later
- Richie

I had a full week at work this week… it’s been exhausting but i’m home now, and the weekend is looking like a nice time to relax!.

I submitted my timetable for RMIT on Thursday and, although it totally sucking balls, is not that bad in the general scheme of things!. No class before 10:30.
The annoying thing is that I was angling to have Tuesday’s and Fridays off…. and managed to sort the TT so that I did have that… at-least I did before I found that I had to do a maths that had 4 1-hour lectures a week, on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. So there goes the Friday off, spoiled by one pesky, one hour lecture.

Then as the final card in the draw it turns out that I also have a 1 hour lecture in the middle of Tuesday, for Computer Systems 1. SAY hello to a full 5 days a week travel gig!.

Anyway found this cool page today while at work! its by Google to so that must be good!!
Google Technology

-Richie

Well today is that day, the one where you find out what courses you have been offered for the coming year’s education!

I am pleased to announce the birth of a beautiful baby girl, weighing in at 39.24kg, she has been named Heavana.

No.. No.. In all seriousness i received a first round offer to undertake Computer Science (’32831′) at RMIT City Campus.

Wish all of you out there the best with your courses if applicable to you.

See you all soon! RH

In recent days Apple bestowed upon us there new entry-level Mac, the Mac mini. Designed by the iPod team over at apple the whole unit is a tiny, being only 6″ x 4″ x 2″ cube.

The system is aimed at younger buyers, and those new to the PPC Platform, ie those who use Windows. These people are referred to as “Switchers”, and will hopefully continue to bolster the sales of Mac’s into the near and far future.

In other rescent news I started at Minters last Monday, received a warm reception and have been busy there ever since.

The last few days have been rather busy. Ive been up to Melbourne twice in as many days, and i’ve done my fair shair of shopping, both with christmas gift-vouchers, and good old cash.

The main reason for going to town was to visit the ATO in order to get some things sorted for upcoming work, getting there on the first day I sat down with a consultant, only to find out that they couldn’t accept my birth certificate, basically because it was issued in another country.

Having consoled myself for the rest of the afternoon by spending other peoples gift-vouchers I trekked back to Sandy to pick up the car and head home.

The next day, (today) I headed back up to town, once again consulted with an ATO assistant and came away with a receipt and the promise of some numbers in the mail.

[ The other day I worked out why you don’t need to pay to get a TFN or a ABN, basically its one of those plans where signup is free, but in the long run they are able to recoup there initial outlay through the tax that end’s up being deducted from your earnings. Dodgy Bastards. ]

Then this-afternoon I walked my poor feat raw, looking for the actual Crumpler Store in Melbourne. (Please take note: dont trust the Melbourne Information people. They ended up giving me a bum-steer and directions to two shop’s that while stocking some Crumpler products in no way offered the entire range.

I ended up finding the real store at 355 Little Burke Street Melbourne 3000, where after much careful consideration I ended up picking up a “Wonder Weenie” Courier bag in Green and Orange.

After all that finally arrived home, and was able to rest my sore feet, blistered from two intense days of walking around Melbourne!

Work starts on Monday up in Melbourne, which shall be good, although the early mornings will be a shock to the system i’m sure!

If your up in town feel free to pop in and see me at “Rialto Towers” 525 Collins Street, 3000. Proceed to level 23 and ask for me at the main reception desk. I’m working in the IT Support Department if they ask.

Till next time over and out! -Richie

Tomorrow, early we are heading off to Bright for a few relaxing summer days up in the high country of Victoria. THe house is now almost finished and should be absolutely complete for this years ski season which shall be a whole load of fun.

In other news I purchased and fitted a pair of JVC CS-HX645’s (240-watt Dual Mount 4-way Speakers) to replace the stock speakers in the front doors of the Subaru, they sound great and do not distort at all compared to the old stock cardboard cones. They also look quite nice, although they are covered over by the original grill’s in the door panels for most of the time.

I have also managed to line up work for the Jan-Feb period which shall be good. both giving me something to do, and some extra cash-flow. Its based up in the city, so maybe we shall have to do something up there once in a while!.

Best be off, pack and then get some sleep, don’t want to fall asleep tomorrow, behind the wheel, not that that would actually happen. Anyway.

Chow.

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Well a whole load of stuff has been going on. both of my 18th events, numerous other social gatherings, Christmas party’s and even a driving test!.

Yes thats correct, i have my P’s, so if u see a Silver Subaru Forester, cruising around with P’s on chances are its me, at-least around Mt-Eliza, not so sure about further up.

Its now Boxing Day, early in the morning and i am writing this after having a rather rushed Christmas day, with the family trundling from one venue to the next at great speed, with barely a moment to open our actual presents.

In further news, my adsl modem has died, leaving me on dial-up until i can get down to Tom’s to pick up a stand-in. Netspace dial-up is however rather reliable, with it being connected for 34:43:56 hours as of writing this.

Also: all the best for your trip to India Liv and Han, hope it all goes well and you have a great time exploring the wonderful continent, well be thinking of you.

Anyway I had better be off and get some sleep. another big day tomorrow.