Brisbane City Trees

city trees 2.JPG
city trees 2.JPG,
originally uploaded by Splinter.

A little while back I realised that I liked photography and was not doing enough. While I was in Canberra I took many photos and have posted quite a lot here.

Well it is time I started showing off my home city of Brisbane.

These beautiful Morten Bay Fig trees are just accross the road from my office builing in the centre of the city.

Visitors, Still!

A while back my lovely wife wrote about our visitors. Well we still have one, my father-in-law. He has be very unwell and while not in hospital he has been at out place for nearly 2 months now.

This has been very hard on us, we have never really had a close relationship with him, and my wife ran away (back to her mum) from his household when she was 15 or so. He has very different values from us but in respect for his ailing health we have been reluctant to confront him with the issues we have with him.

We have been married nearly 17 years and have gone through some tough times. We get through these by putting the other one and our relationship first. First above everything else.

We have “ticked off” other family members at times as we set rules of acceptable behaviour in our household and around our kids. This includes (what is considered normal now) no smoking in the house, we decide what the kids can and cannot eat when we are providing the meals (if the relation is providing food or our child is at their house then our kids will eat what is provided). We have always made it clear they are welcome in our lives if they have respect for us as people and parents.

As yet we have not had this conversation with my father in law because, up til now, the longest we have seen him is one to two days. I am sure our conversation will occur soon, probably the next time he says “slope head” in our local shops.

Handwriting

Ali at CaffeEcletic has a pointer to an online handwritting analysis site. I love this stuff, used to do a little when I was younger.

Well as you could guess here is what it say’s about me.

For a graphologist, the spacing on the page reflects the writer’s attitude toward their own world and relationship to things in his or her own space. If the inputted data was correct Tony has left some white space on the left side of the paper. Tony fills up the rest of the page in a normal fashion moving the entire writing rightward as he moves down the page. If this is true, then Tony has a healthy relationship to the past and is ready to move on. The right side of the page represents the future and Tony is ready and willing to get started living now and planning for the future. Tony is leaving the past behind and moving on to what he perceives as an exciting and enticing future.

Something is incomplete in Tony’s life. He feels frustration relating to his physical needs and desires. Somewhere in his life there is some disappointment, non-fulfillment, and interruption. This is very likely to relate to Tony’s sexual needs.

Tony is sarcastic. This is a defense mechanism designed to protect his ego when he feels hurt. He pokes people harder than he gets poked. These sarcastic remarks can be very funny. They can also be harsh, bitter, and caustic at the same time.

Tony is a practical person whose goals are planned, practical, and down to earth. This is typical of people with normal healthy self-esteem. He needs to visualize the end of a project before he starts. he finds joy in anticipation and planning. Notice that I said he plans everything he is going to do, that doesn’t necessarily mean things go as planned. Tony basically feels good about himself. He has a positive self-esteem which contributes to his success. He feels he has the ability to achieve anything he sets his mind to. However, he sets his goals using practicality– not too “out of reach”. He has enough self-confidence to leave a bad situation, yet, he will not take great risks, as they relate to his goals. A good esteem is one key to a happy life. Although there is room for improvement in the confidence catagery, his self-perception is better than average.

In reference to Tony’s mental abilities, he has a very investigating and creating mind. He investigates projects rapidly because he is curious about many things. He gets involved in many projects that seem good at the beginning, but he soon must slow down and look at all the angles. He probably gets too many things going at once. When Tony slows down, then he becomes more creative than before. Since it takes time to be creative, he must slow down to do it. He then decides what projects he has time to finish. Thus he finishes at a slower pace than when he started the project. He has the best of two kinds of minds. One is the quick investigating mind. The other is the creative mind. His mind thinks quick and rapidly in the investigative mode. He can learn quicker, investigate more, and think faster. Tony can then switch into his low gear. When he is in the slower mode, he can be creative, remember longer and stack facts in a logical manner. He is more logical this way and can climb mental mountains with a much better grip.

Diplomacy is one of Tony’s best attributes. He has the ability to say what others want to hear. He can have tact with others. He has the ability to state things in such a way as to not offend someone else. Tony can disagree without being disagreeable.

Tony will be candid and direct when expressing his opinion. He will tell them what he thinks if they ask for it, whether they like it or not. So, if they don’t really want his opinion, don’t ask for it!

Tony will demand respect and will expect others to treat him with honor and dignity. Tony believes in his ideas and will expect other people to also respect them. He has a lot of pride.

Tony is moderately outgoing. His emotions are stirred by sympathy and heart rendering stories. In fact, he can be kind, friendly, affectionate and considerate of others. He has the ability to put himself into the other person’s shoes. Tony will be somewhat moody, with highs and lows. Sometimes he will be happy, the next day he might be sad. He has the unique ability to get along equally well with what psychology calls introverts and extroverts. This is because he is in between. Psychology calls Tony an ambivert. He understands the needs of both types. Although they get along, he will not tolerate anyone that is too “far out.” He doesn’t sway too far one way or the other. When convincing him to buy a product or an idea, a heart rendering story could mean a great deal to him. He puts himself in the same situation as the person in the story, yet he will not buy anything that seems overly impractical or illogical. Tony is an expressive person. He outwardly shows his emotions. He may even show traces of tears when hearing a sad story. Tony is a “middle-of-the-roader,” politically as well as logically. He weighs both sides of an issue, sits on the fence, and then will decide when he finally has to. He basically doesn’t relate to any far out ideas and usually won’t go to the extreme on any issue.

People that write their letters in an average height and average size are moderate in their ability to interact socially. According to the data input, Tony doesn’t write too large or too small, indicating a balanced ability to be social and interact with others.

Spyware

Ok it is now one of the biggest problems in desktop systems. According to Dell and The Financial Express approx 90% of all [Desktop] computers are infected by spyware.

A new site GetNetWise gives some basic pointers on how to avoid and remove spyware.

My basic advice:

  • Install a personal firewall that detects outgoing connections (ZoneAlarm, Norton Security, etc)
  • Install and run a virus scanner – any one is fine
  • Avoid using Internet Explorer and Outlook whereever possible
  • Turn off all services you don’t require, sharing, IIS etc.
  • Get and run a good spyware removal tool (Adaware, Spybot, etc) – DON’T get a spyware tool from an embedded webpage add! Most of these are fake and will install Spyware.

Rainfall.

Well after the last three months providing the lowest rainfall on record, bushfires and drought, it is raining and has been most of the day!!!

10mm and counting, by the sounds of it will be raining all night.

Drunks are funny – he he he

Hubby had a blah day today …… and decided to solve it with slightly more than half a bottle of wine tonite. Now witnessing this is always a reminder of why he usually doesn’t drink.

He has a low body weight, and a fast metabolism. This means that the alcohol hits his system fast. Within a hour of starting drinking, he is moderately incoherant and having to concentrate on not running into the furniture. 2 hours? …. and he is explaining to me why he isn’t as think as I drunk he is. Overall the effect is milding amusing and ever so slightly annoying. See, being a big girl …. it takes a considerable amount of alcohol to get the same effect.

And worse of all, thanks to a fast metabolism … he will have processed all the alcohol before bed, and therefore won’t have a hangover ….. which stinks! 😡

Election Day

It is Federal Election day in Australia! We get to chose if we retain John Howard and his Liberal Party (Conservatives) in government or put in place the Labour Party (Socialists) in.

The campaign has been run on “Trust” being the keyword, but both major parties have a different take on this word. The Liberals ask us if we “Trust” Labour with the economy, and the Labour party ask’s us if we should “Trust” the party that took us into war on “incomplete/incorrect” evidence.

I will update you later today on how it all goes.

Update: Well we have voted, including my Father in law doing an interstate vote. I can tell you now he and I are at total opposite ends of the political spectrum.

Update(2): The votes are in and enough have been counted for a result. Our conservative government has been returned with a larger majority than before. I must say I am not impressed.

New webcam

Ok so I have a new webcam! So if you know my MSN Messanger account (I think you can look up my details easy) I can send you a video stream while we chat.

Otherwise look at this temporary page that is being updated. Sorry about the ads, testing some free software.

Fire’s in and around Brisbane

Ok today it got to 36o degrees celsius today and wind gusts up to 66Km/hr. Since this is the 3rd or 4th day in a row of high temperatures and winds several fires have broken out around the city.

These have mostly been grass and bush fires, however due to the layout of Brisbane and the large areas of bush within the city limits many houses and business’s have been threatened. Out in the western suburbs several cars have been destroyed while they were parked at the local train station.

With fires this early in the season it looks like a long, hot summer.

Comics I read

Ok I have added the links to online comics that I read daily. Now you will be able to tell just how strange I am :razz:.
I will go throught the list in alphabetical order (same as the links):

Alpha Shade
This one I have only just started reading, and the detail and quality of the drawing is amazing. The setting reminds me of the anime Last Exile. Set in an alternate reality where the only and new technologies mix. This story follows 3 soldiers through a fight that is shaping their world.

Dilbert
Ok if you don’t know Dilbert then where the hell have you been! He is the hero of the engineering set! The defender of logic! The bane of management! and a little pathetic at times.

Errant Story
I started reading a different comic by this artist, but his skill in drawing and story telling is much improved with this sotry. Meji is a half-elf who has run away to uncover her past, along the way she has run into the other characters that are helping her for their own reasons.

Girly
Ok I am not going to try and explain this one, other than to say it is about an “interesting” lesbian relationship. It is sometimes sexual in nature but not revealing or pornographic.

Megatokyo
This is one of my all time favourite comics, I even own the first volume in real paper. Piro and his friend Largo have travelled to Tokyo and spent all their money. They are trapped there until the earn enough to come home. No Largo is a hard core gamer, however he sees the world through gamer’s eyes. Piro is an inocent shy boy who’s guardian angle cannot seem to do anything to help him.

Outsider
Outsider “is a space opera chronicling the adventures of a young human officer thrust into an alien society in the midst of a galactic war. It is presented in a for-web, full-color comic format, which combines 2D and 3D computer artwork with hand-drawn characters.”
This comic is updated only infrequently but the story has me interested and the quality is great.

PVP Online
Player vs Player is a gamers magazine and this comic is about the people that write it. Including the Troll that is an intern, and the super intellegent cat, Scratch.

Striptease
Behind the scenes at a small independant comic company. The relationships between the people and the evil twin keeps me interested.

Wandering Ones
After world war 3 the Americas have been broken into too factions. Placed squarly in the middle are the Mountian People, living of the land and keeping the old ways of the American Indian.

One last thing, most of these comics have a story, so you should go back and read from the first.

National Novel Writing Month

Ok via whoever it was that brought me here will have to take me home (aka Bartspace) I found out about the National Novel Writing Month. Now it seems to be challange for all budding writers to complete a novel in one month. That’s right 50,000 words in 30 days!

Now it seems like Darren is doing it again and I wish him all the best.

I am toying with the idea of doing it myself, which would be amazing to see me motivated to to anything :grin:. I will let you know.

Flickr Photo’s

Garden 021


Garden 021,
originally uploaded by Splinter.

Ok I have found this new site (in Beta) called flickr. It allows you to create public and private galleries and as you can see post blog entries from them.

This is a nice single rose I photographed in Canberra.

Interesting marketing

Ok so we have all seen lollies with interesting facts on the wrappers, even toilet paper with stuff to read. Well the other day I saw something that just blew me away.

Now you are warned, I am going to be talking about feminine hygiene products.