mace's blog v2

Time again.

noreply@blogger.com (mace) — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 04:57:00 +0000

Wow. That's two sessions of Uni gone already. Of course, I'm looking forward to the 3 month break we have, but it's struck me - where have all the other months of the year gone?

Ask yourself; what have you achieved?

For me it's been - scraping through my uni courses, I haven't picked up guitar in agges so now I'm basically starting from scratch again, sometimes it seems like friends have changed.. other times its almost as though everything is just the way it was a year ago.

Sure there have been the good times and the bad; the sleepless nights of apparent mild insomnia, the fun times out with old friends and all that.. but perhaps most importantly, the year that has gone be has been about new experiences and new situations. It's only through those, and how we deal with them, such as uni life, issues with friends, making new friends, etc, that we actually learn and grow.

Looking back, it seems like an age ago when we studied the Gwen Harwood poem, At Mornington for HSC English, but perhaps this was the meaning I was supposed to understand from it:

Life is like a wave, it has its ups and downs, so all we can really do is just go with the flow? Like waves, the cycle is repetitious - so all you can really do is just live it out, from one crest to the next ^*1

^*1 Don't get me started on Quantum Physics and Wave/Particle Dualities.. I don't have to do Uni Physics ever again!

So anyway, I was getting to Uni results. I'm pretty happy with how I've done this session, it's been much more consistent than last session, even with a lower WAM. Pity I won't be doing Physics anymore, as I did much better in that than Maths. All my grades are at the lower boundary, which is a little worrying, but then again, it's much better than last session where I missed out on the next grade by one or two marks; so I'm content now =) I guess the important thing is - if you've passed your courses - be happy! As above, things don't always work out the way you want, so just run with it (I seriously can't get the QOTSA song, 'Go with the Flow' out of my head)

Last week: Went for lunch at Pizza Hut all-you-can eat (no, I didn't get any fatter) with my group, then we headed over to Burwood City Hunter for a 'short' lanning session (heh, 3+ Hours). Then met up with other friends at Parra to go see the Advance Screening of Bee Movie! I thought it was alright, though it didn't seem like our law student friends didn't like it =P

This week has been a bit more eventful, went to parra/city to do some shopping, and met up with others again to go find presents for the many many birthdays this week. We spent a fair bit of time looking at games and deciding between which one to get.. and suffice to say, now I seriously want a Wii, and Guitar Hero 3. We watched Beowulf after that... I don't really know what to think of the movie. I kept thinking of 300 scenes whenever Beowulf spoke. =\

Afterwards - more bumming around the city, then Kirstie points me in right direction to the buses to Towers; and turned the ~1hr trip into a fun and entertaining one - so ty, always good to have company =)

Why am I at the Towers? To get to Aza's house for his Birthday. Long story short, seeing a Full HD FIFTY-TWO-inch LCD screen nearly made me cry. It was just.. soo big, and everything looked soooo good on it when we had the X360 hooked up to it. just.. omg. I swear I haven't seen anything like it at work, though I guess the larger space at Dick Smith makes the screens look smaller than they actually are. Anyhow that was an awesome night full of the usual pizza and gaming (FULL HD of course). So now I'll add Xbox 360 and a huge Full HD LCD to the list of stuff I want.

The next day - I rock up at Parramatta in the early morning to complete the shopping for birthday presents with Leane and Albert. We eventually get to Miu's house for his party, and as they say, the rest is history. Glad to see everyone who turned up =) Just more gaming and pizza, it's all good! Wii is sooo violent with so many injuries in our games haha. but so so fun.

So where am I now? I guess, late nights reminiscing too much about the past is where I'm at. Thinking wayy too much late at night =\

Watched all the current episodes of The Big Bang Theory though - that was just awesome. Thanks Kirstie! I <3 my geeks. It's going to be a while until more of The IT Crowd and Battlestar Galactica come out, so I guess I'll be watching How I Met Your Mother, Heroes, and Prison Break.

Things I'm supposed to be doing:
- Learning Guitar - I mean I have my electric out all the time, but I only play it briefly a few times each day.
- Learn Languages - I haven't progressed at all with Chinese/Japanese/German =\
- Finish building my gaming stuff and get painting. So slow...
- Driving - I've only done an hour so far... Anyone know any good instructors?

As for immediate plans.. Beach on Wednesday! msn for details.

That's about it from me, I've probably forgotten so much since I haven't blogged in ages. Have fun everyone!

.mace

I can has more battlestar?

noreply@blogger.com (mace) — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 11:52:00 +0000

Battlestar Galactica: Razor is great. Satisfied my BSG cravings for the next hour or so, but it's going to be ages till Season 4 is out (sometime early next year? =\).

Also, Kendra Shaw (Stephanie Chaves-Jacobsen) has got to be my favourite Pegasus XO so far. (I say Pegasus because Colonel Tigh takes the cake for Galactica, and for the Season 3 Finale scene):

I can't get no relief.

40k: Apocalypse Now!!! See what I did there?

noreply@blogger.com (mace) — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 06:12:00 +0000

Ok, it just occured to me that it's nearly been a month since my last post, and I've definitely been uncapped for a while, infact on my way to being capped again.

Stating the obvious: Yes, It's stuvac now. My exams start on the Tuesday 13th with MATH1231, followed by ELEC1111 (Wed 14th), PHYS1231 (Mon 19th) and finally COMP1921 (Wed 21st). Yes, it kinda feels like the HSC. Am I studying as much? HAH, sif. So I've looked through an ELEC past paper and going to look at a Maths one soon.. and realise how screwed I am.

Before I do that though, I didn't get around to finishing what I was saying about Apocalypse!

So, the new 40k Expansion was released on October 13th, whereby I went to the store expecting to find a whole bunch of gamers (I won't use geek stereotypes here, but probably apply) huddled around a table eagerly constructing their Baneblades.. but even arriving a few hours later than I had intended (slept in and all, yeah I know it's Apocalypse and all but still) - I was evidently the first to sit down and look through my stuff.

I bought the Apocalypse bundle that had the big rulebook, a Line-Breaker Squadron (3 new Vindicators), a Baneblade, and templates. My wallet was empty by then. Spent most of the day assembling the Baneblade, and long story short, as I had pre-ordered a Baneblade, I went into the draw to win another, and surprise surprise, I won! So now I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do with it all. Probably start IG or Armoured Company. I gave a Vindicator to my brother, but still, now I have a hell of a lot of tanks.

See?

Keeping in mind each Baneblade covers an area about the size of an A4 sheet of paper.. that puts things into scale for ya. Now I've heard of news of a 'Steel Fury' datasheet that consists of 3+ Baneblades.. I may just need to invest in a 3rd, just to make things nice (3 is a good number!).

Two weeks later, they called me in for a big game, so I came along, given that GW Parra were aiming for 30 Baneblades.. and we had around 15 superheavies.

I had to eat my words with that 'Got Dakka?' statement above. We were playing against a massive armoured company that consisted of 8 Baneblades, ~20 Leman Russ tanks, including Vanquisher variants, a Hellhound Tank Company (10) and a few Hydra AA tanks. Got pwnt. We still won game though =) My Baneblade held the line and contested an objective whilst what was left of his army fired everything they had at me. That was a little nerve racking. Probably less so than carrying $500 worth of plastic around Parra.

Just a portion of the Armoured company that we were facing:

Some of his other stuff in their plastic transport crates.

More Pics - I haven't looked through them or anything, there are some repeats where I changed the exposure and re-shot them..

[40k] Battle of the Bulge

Keeping this short, so I better run back to study.

Good Luck everyone!
- .mace

40k Project: Motorized Land Raider

noreply@blogger.com (mace) — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 05:58:00 +0000

Well I'll keep this short, over the course of the past week or so I decided I'd kick off an old project I had in mind, rather spontaneously. I know, the timing is a little iffy given that it's stuvac... but nonetheless, here's a much needed intro/progress update.

Preface/Intro

Ok. Ok. Let's not try word this like an Engineering report or a Science experiment. See this thread for more in-depth detail.

The Plan:
1) To build a motorized 40k-scale tank.
2) Preferably make it RC controlled, with realistic tank drive and working tracks.
3) Add lighting to it, like headlights
4) Add special effects, like gun lights and sound effects

Videos/Tests

Well, long story short, I've bought some components, I have an RC car that I'll pull apart after exams are done, and I have a tank base with twin motors/gearbox just so I can test out the voltages and eventually the electronics. I also have a Land Raider Terminus Ultra on its way, it should arrive hopefully AFTER I finish exams.

So, videos ahoy.

Motorized Tank - Test #1

Motorized Tank - Test #2

Motorized Tank - Shout-out to Mr. Spinnytank.

Sometime soon I'll get the electronics together, have to design and build a power module and a amplifier/control module. That'll be fun. More updates on the fly, that forum thread linked earlier will have my latest progress. I cbb doing a direct copy/paste of what I've posted there into here...

Comments, anyone?

Apocalypse Please

noreply@blogger.com (mace) — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 14:36:00 +0000

I'm capped at the moment, so I'll be going light on the internet usage and have more photos of my new stuff later in the week. For the time being..:

=)

How things have changed... #1 - Life.

noreply@blogger.com (mace) — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 13:51:00 +0000

Well everyone, it's certainly been a while since I last blogged. But upon seeing Kevin's new blog, I too questioned why people create and post to weblog. "To what point and purpose? ^*1" I feel as though, somewhere along the way, I've lost my focus, or perhaps never had any in the first place when I started blogging.

So, to what purpose do I dedicate my blog to? this particular blog is a bit of a duality, I have my column for thoughts and opinions on anything that comes to mind, and a column to follow the life of mace in both meatspace and cyberspace. Someday I can look back at this and recall all the memories embedded in each post, or empathise with my past-self and the state-of-mind I was in whenever I wrote a particular post. Because, as unfortunate as the truth may be, there will be a time when things will have changed and I have forgotten (or don't want to remember) the events of the past...

^*1 who can pick the reference? =P miffy probably knows it off by heart ;)

So much has happened in the past three months; where to begin?

House

I've moved house, finally! Quite seriously just down the road from where I used to live. So here's a shot of my *messy* room. But I cleaned it up today, no joke! Whilst i'm at it, my guitar:

From what I can remember, only select few have actually been to the unit where I used to live, and I'm sure you can all remember how small it is! Packing my group in here + extra's after our Year 12 Formal was very fun though =)

Now our rumpus room is just as big, if not bigger than the unit's lounge room + bedroom area combined. So eventually we'll get a pool table and table tennis table to go in there!

Life

Life is good. Uni is.. meh. I'm making my way through the session. Been having fun, haven't really caught up with some old friends lately.. which is rather unfortunate. I'm glad I have my hobbies though...

It's back to uni this week, although I have engineering week, so I have a few more days of break =) I better start work and catch up on everything I've missed out on.

Working itself, at Dick Smith, well I've been doing ok in sales, but been dropping down lately, and haven't been selling warranties. Sometimes it's pretty stressful, but now I'm a lot more relaxed about it all. Next week I'm getting bumped off into music, so bye bye sales targets (and commissions) =)

More about life in the parallel post (when I get around to writing it...)

Tech

I've since upgraded my computer, and bought a new laptop from HP. It's allll good.
The specs, off the top of my head:

      Desktop     Laptop (HP DV6519TX)
CPU   P4 2.53Ghz  C2D T7100 1.8Ghz
RAM   2GB SDRAM   2GB DDRRAM
GFX   GF 6600GT   GF 8400M GS
OS    WinXP       Vista Premium
HDD   80/160      160
Mon   19" Wide    15.4" Wide
Res   1440x900    1280x800

Laptop has all this cool extra stuff, webcam, altec lensing speakers, fingerprint reader, hdmi out.. but it basically trumps my PC. Surprisingly good specs for a laptop, turned out to be a beasty entertainment pc.

I've been gaming a fair bit lately, especially with the mid-session break (sorry theresa!) - although I haven't dropped as far as to play WoW. Instead, been playing Quake Wars demo, could potentially get recruited into a clan to play in competitions.. but I don't think I'll be getting the full game anytime soon. So much for being a pro-gamer.

Meanwhile, Halo 3 was released a week ago; played through nearly half the game at tom's house, and played a bit during my lunch break at work. It's just awesome.

After looking at Ikea catalogues, and searching the net for LED tables... if I had a chance to design my own house/room.. it would be as techy as I could possibly make it of course! I'm talking about LCD's everywhere, funky lighting and interactivity, the works!

Warhammer 40k

Well I've gone and given this a bit more attention lately. A few days ago I decided to pull out everything I had, and chuck it down on the table. That's not even including the Battle for Macragge stuff my brother has nor his space marines. The scale of my collection surprised even me =\

So, for starters, for anyone who isn't aware of it by now, yes I play warhammer 40k, as you can expect a typical 'true' geek to do. For those who are game-savvy - well there's a new expansion coming up, called Apocalypse. Yes I'm caught up in the hype, but it's just going to be massive. Huge 3000+ point battles, where the FOC restrictions are removed and you can basically put down and use anything you want, in arbitrary quantities (I've been hearing things from 6 Baneblades to an army of assassins!).

I'm getting closer to my aim of a 2000 point pure mech list, but once I have the models for that, I'll have 3000ish points in models anyway that I can put down and use. 1/4 of it largely useless IMO but anyhow.

Apocalypse on October 13th. Funny to casually put a date on such a phrase. Anyway, I have one of the bundles on pre-order, that includes a Baneblade, Linebreaker Squadron (3 Vindicators), the book, and the Apocalyptic templates. Meanwhile I've just won some stuff off Ebay for my Tau, which should hopefully arrive soon.

With all this attention back on 40k, I'm now tossing up even more ideas of projects to run in parallel. So here goes:

Tau: Reach my ideal 2000 point mech list. Move onwards to 3000 points for Apocalypse.
Marines: Figure out what to do with my marine army. Thinking of going for Blood Angels, but Dark Angels and leaving it as Black Templars and just expanding is tempting.
Daemonhunters - well I have that 2000 Point list to work towards. I can always add in a Baneblade just for fun, and more units of Terminators.
Imperial Guard - I'm getting a Baneblade. What do I do with it!? Thinking of getting more IG.
Movie Marines: I want to convert up some models for this. And build a remote-control and/or LED-lit rhino for the squad.
Deathwatch: I just want a squad because they're awesome. I've been reading too many sci-fi novels.
I should build a gaming table. I mean I have the space now, even to put one in my room. Cities of Death/Apocalypse themes are the way to go.

I've also been to GW a few times in the past week, been working on some models that have been sitting here for over a year... So, from my WIP bench, I have a techpriest and a piranha that I'm working on at the moment. The techpriest was kind-of subject to a 15-minute speed-painting session.. just so I have a general idea of what it will look like. I will of course go back and fix it up with a lot more detail... As for the piranha, I'm still on the first colour, the blue-lining still has a long way to go, but you can see the general gist of it =) Still heaps of detailing left to do on the cockpit and pilots, as well as the drones and engine blocks. The highlighting is really dodgy in the second pic...

More on my Tau army progress and Apocalypse as it comes.

.mace out

this made my day.

noreply@blogger.com (mace) — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 11:49:00 +0000

over the weekend...

HAI
CAN HAS STDIO?
I HAS A VAR
GIMMEH VAR
IZ VAR BIGGER THAN 10?
   YARLY
      BTW this is true
      VISIBLE "BIG NUMBER!"
   NOWAI
      BTW this is false
      VISIBLE "LITTLE NUMBER!"
   KTHX
KTHXBYE

seen LOLCATS? This is LOLCODE. =D

HAI
CAN HAS STDIO?
VISIBLE "HAI WORLD!"
KTHXBYE

Holidays! are nearly over =(

noreply@blogger.com (mace) — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 11:50:00 +0000

Following on where I left off in this column...

Live Earth 07/07

What can I say, this was just an awesome show. A little tiring standing between acts, and getting squished by eager moshers, and also being kissed on the cheek by a random drunk, but otherwise yeah, pretty awesome. Sneaky Sound System got the party started =D
Eskimo Joe, John Butler Trio (awesome, awesome drum solo), Missy Higgins, Crowded House.. all FTW.

Attempted to make some recordings but it looks like the bass-beats overpowered the microphone on my mp3. Oh well. I'll go process those sound files later on.

So all I have are some videos from my phone, but otherwise youtube is the better source =)

Live Earth 2007

But omg I <3 Eskimo Joe now.

Brushy Point Trip

More awesomeness. =D Linkage ahoi.

Facebook Group
YouTube Videos! of the drunken night...

My photos (plus extras):

Brushy Point

Kirstie's Photos:

Brushy Point; July 07

Ray's Photos:

Brushy Point 2007

Awesome trip, props to Kai for organising it, and Johnny for finding the place (and bringing the rain =P) But still - thanks to everyone who came, wouldn't have made it what it was without you! So, shoutouts to everyone else: Albert, Davy, Leane, Gladys, Joo, Kirstie, Dot, Ray, Dilsh, Eric, Wan, Bob, Ying, Supun, and Colin!

So what did we do? Rather unexpected that nearly half the guys would do the majority of the planning, organising, cooking, and shopping... whilst the girls chatted and gamed! I mean we had our share of gaming too I guess. It's all a bit of a blur now, a lot is captured on camera but that'll come, in time. In short:

We arrived, checked out the place, and Colin became FPS Doug

It was a very, very nice place, split up into two buildings, Cottage and Loghouse (cabin attached)

Plenty of beds for the guys, a few TV's around the place, and even a PS2 there already =D We had plenty of entertainment!

Tennis Courts there, played much tennis and soccer

We made a fire for the last few nights... and spent the whole of the last thursday making fire :D

Cooked bread, chips, and garlic bread on the fire. That was pretty FTW. Totally the way to cook stuff, i.e. with a bonfire

Oh, yeah we made a bonfire too. Kinda scary when the flames were taller than us, and that was with us standing on higher ground =S

Watched the sunrise on the jetty, nice stuff there

The jetty was actually really calm and pieceful, nice time-out place

Ok so Colin, Davy and Bob practically knocked themselves out on Wednesday night... interesting time!

The meaning of love was really deep.

More deep convos whilst others were responsibly consuming alcohol.

Went shopping on Wednesday. Woke up at 6am to eventually make our way to Forster, and how good it was to see civilsation again! (and KFC!) So many shops there, Stockland, and.. sales! But good thing we're guy shoppers. Spent $320 at Woolies. Long long shopping docket.

Had icecream on the way back. Fun and crazy trip back.

That's about all I remember so far, no one else seems to have blogged yet to go jog our memory...

Since then?

Well I've gone straight back to work, and been sick since =\ How fun.

Parra'ed on tuesday, Watched Knocked Up - interesting movie to say the least. =D

Picked up the latest Interpol Album - Our Love to Admire - still need to listen through it a lot more, but I'm starting to like it more and more. At that I still like Antics more.

Picked up the latest Horus Heresy Book - Fulgrim. It's fat, at 500+ pages. Yet to read Flight of the Eisenstein first though.

So anyhow had lunch, sushi, and max brenner, cheers @ Kirstie, Jady, Ray, Belinda, Miu, Michael, Robin, Sarah for the day. Good to see others again =)

Today

Well I've just spent today at home, well enough to sit at the computer, just been eating and drinking to hopefully get better. Just been getting moneys (I want my tax back too!) and mud cake today =)

The next few days sees me working more, and then its back to uni. How fun.

Have fun and take care everyone!

- Andrew

To quote Starcraft 2...

noreply@blogger.com (mace) — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 11:39:00 +0000

"Hell, It's about time!"

So here I am, finally of age! How do I feel, well less sick than I was yesterday. I've managed to return to the normal.. spending the day near the computer rather than watching midday television.

But really, what's the big deal about being eighteen? Aside from being the youngest (or second youngest) wherever I go...

I figure it just boils down to the legal ramifications of being 18, you can 'legally' do 'stuff' now. There's also the added responsibility for oneself and apparent independence gained overnight. But otherwise, I'm just a day older!

What else does it mean... Guys - I can finally join you at the pub now. We can go to Boxxdin then head over to Bull & Bush for a post-gears-of-war round. Girls - well I've heard so much about clubbing but never actually been able to go (standing outside is no fun, especially during schoolies =\). But I'll get around to this eventually. Cityrail - no more claiming child tickets for me. Work - thanks for the payrise =D

Reflections of a sound

Well it's a little hard to believe that it's been a year already. In that time I've.. cruised through the HSC, not really pulling my wait but still getting what I wanted (not quite enough for commerce though.. should've aimed a bit higher =S), survived the first session of University with fairly good results (ok I aced Engineering and Computing, and passed Maths and Physics...); Had fun chillaxing at uni, had an awesome time with friends in the holidays (soo many parties! I look forward to more!), watched the New Years Celebration in the city for once, had a great time at Brushy's Point (see adjacent post!); and met a few new people (no regrets about that.. you know who you are ;) ) - a busy year its been! Eh, good times, too much to mention here really!

The year ahead

Well what to expect? 2 Sessions of University. Many, many birthday celebrations. Christmas and New Years. Lots of holidays for summer break. Lots of fun =D I guess now I have a bit more freedom in not having to wait outside pubs/clubs (or wait at net cafes rather) and such whilst everyone else goes and parties... and to go visit Star City =) Earning more money probably means spending more too.. here I come 40k!

But otherwise, I'm still the same geek I was yesterday, and shall most probably be tomorrow. I mean since I've been sick I've learnt how to solve a Rubix cube and now I can do it in just over 2 minutes! Still proud to be a nerd.

Just a quick shoutout to everyone who sent birthday messages yesterday and today - thanks heaps, very much appreciated =D I'm getting better now too, just a cough but otherwise nearly at full strength! I must say I don't feel so young anymore, then again I don't feel old. @ Ying and Hansen, my 19 y.o. friends, you're not thattt old! =) It's really just the presence of people like me =\

Anyhow, yeah, thanks all, have a nice day =D

=O

noreply@blogger.com (mace) — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 12:41:00 +0000

I'm AFK for nearly a week.

Yes you read right, AFK.

Back on the 13th =)

much s2; - mace

The days gone by...

noreply@blogger.com (mace) — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 13:59:00 +0000

It's happening again! Days like these blur into one...

Monday night - Pancakes on the rocks!

Well I arrived at the city early, scouted out some places, found HobbyCo and spotted some old-school XV15s.. so bought them =)

Now - We were in the city to go have dinner for Kati? - Those Present - Belinda, Jady, Kati, Josef, Eric, Ray and I. We ordered much food.

Just a few pics from the night...

With the exception of the first pic [mine], the rest of the pics are from Jady's Facebook album =) [ Shameless Plug: Get Facebook! ]
It was nice! We stayed there for 'a while' though - didn't end up going K after, just came straight home. Though I'm sure we were all fairly full anyway...

Tuesday - Parra bum

Arrived early (as always I guess) - bought a 2GB Micro-SD Card from Strathfield. And picked up some supplies for my brother - he's going on his first cadet camp on saturday! Brings back fun memories.. hah.

So anyway, the point of the day was to meet up for lunch and plan for next weeks trip - which most of us did =) I am perhaps a little concerned with our collective ability to turn up on time for next Monday morning though.. given that we said meet at 12, not 12ish for Tuesday... But anyhow, lunch was good, and Happy Birthday to Mitz!

Went down to the cinema afterwards, though only a few of us ended up going to watch a movie (Transformers - yes, I should've gone and watched it too). I decided against tagging along for shopping with the rest.. so went off by myself.

So where did mace go for three hours?, you ask your curious self..

Well i'm a Parra bum, and so I know my way around Parra. I also know where the basement is. =) So that's where I went. For a start I went to Billy Hyde to look around, then eventually to GW to visit some friends there. Ended up spending a lot of time there helping paint; Quite literally brushing up my skills. So now I have a squad reserved just for me for next time I go back to do some more...

Wednesday - City bum

I must say, I didn't find the day aimless ;)
Met up with Theresa for lunch in the city! Let's just say it was a relaxing day, which was what we needed, and we bought *nearly* everthing we needed to get, whilst walking whole city blocks.. From TGV to Pitt St Mall, Capitol, Market City, and Darling Harbour, and on a quest for Subway Cookies =D
Oh, did I mention? I got BEAT in pool! =O

Overall, I thought the day was good, just what we needed! Thanks for coming out with me =)
[ certainly got rid of that mood from the night before! ]
I need more cookies though.. maybe tomorrow!

And then I get home.. and apparently take over the internets with the help of a hungry cat.

Thursday/Today - Just another day...

In home sweet home

To save going out every single day of the week... I stayed home today. And really didn't do much of note. Just cleaning up and preparing to move.

So about the other house - the kitchen is nearly done! Saturday apparently! After that we can get someone in to polish the floorboards, and that could take a week perhaps.. then we can move in! At that however, we have a LOT of stuff here, as anyone who has been here would've seen.. so it's going to take a while.

No sight of a house party on the horizon unfortunately.. and if there is, it's going to be ridiculously last minute, which I'd wouldn't really go ahead with if that was the case. But I'll see what the case is when we get back from Brushy's Point next week!

In the 40k scene I've decided to go with repainting my Black Templars as Blood Angels, given the model kit-out and the just-released BA Codex in the last two WD magazines. More on that when I actually get somewhere.

Meanwhile its just the usual stuff, sitting online, browsing blogs/forums, and watching TV. The season finale of Heroes was not quite what I had expected, then again I've missed a few eps here and there =(

More in the thought-post-duality that exists beside this one.

- Andrew

Twenty-Five.

noreply@blogger.com (mace) — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 13:58:00 +0000

1. i've come to realise that i'm not the only one around here...

2. i am listening to Snow Patrol (Wow).

3. i talk predominently via msn.

4. i love anything, and anyone techy.

5. i hate restrictions on everything that I do.

6. i love the smell of food! What else! =D

7. marriage is like Mr & Mrs Smith.

8. fast food is like, never going to make me fat.

9. somewhere, someone is thinking that they should give mace a cookie.

10. i'll always be a sucker for ... you.

11. my secret crush - no wait, a second, stop here. I'm "free".

12. the last time i cried was when i ate too many wasabi peas for my own good.

13. my cell phone is slim and lanky like me.

14. when i wake up in the morning i try to sleep in.

15. before i go to bed - hah, me & sleep? Well ok, I spend a lot of time eating, and drinking, and bumming on the computer, before making numerous attempts to get offline. Then that takes about an hour or so...

16. right now i am thinking about not thinking about exam results.

17. babies are.. cute?

18. i get on with my fellow geeks.

19. today I found out I'm a counselor idealist

20. tonight i'll be alone and hungry.

21. my piercings won't exist.

22. tomorrow i'll still be alone, but no longer hungry =)

23. i really look forward to Live Earth this Saturday!

24. the person most likely to repost this has already posted it?

25. i regret a lot of things. But none of those include meeting the friends I have ;)

I must say, I have always had an interest in psychology, and philosophy. Perhaps not as much as Sci-fi, but nonetheless. I was doing my rounds on Tau Online today and came across a thread by Hansen. I went and did the typology test, and really wasn't surprised by the results; What surprised me was the uncanny accuracy of said results. Of particular interest was the last paragraph:

The Counselor Idealists are abstract in thought and speech, cooperative in reaching their goals, and enterprising and attentive in their interpersonal roles. Counselors focus on human potentials, think in terms of ethical values, and come easily to decisions. The small number of this type (little more than 2 percent) is regrettable, since Counselors have an unusually strong desire to contribute to the welfare of others and genuinely enjoy helping their companions. Although Counsleors tend to be private, sensitive people, and are not generally visible leaders, they nevertheless work quite intensely with those close to them, quietly exerting their influence behind the scenes with their families, friends, and colleagues. This type has great depth of personality; they are themselves complicated, and can understand and deal with complex issues and people.

Counselors can be hard to get to know. They have an unusually rich inner life, but they are reserved and tend not to share their reactions except with those they trust. With their loved ones, certainly, Counselors are not reluctant to express their feelings, their face lighting up with the positive emotions, but darkening like a thunderhead with the negative. Indeed, because of their strong ability to take into themselves the feelings of others, Counselors can be hurt rather easily by those around them, which, perhaps, is one reason why they tend to be private people, mutely withdrawing from human contact. At the same time, friends who have known a Counselor for years may find sides emerging which come as a surprise. Not that they are inconsistent; Counselors value their integrity a great deal, but they have intricately woven, mysterious personalities which sometimes puzzle even them.

Counselors have strong empathic abilities and can become aware of another's emotions or intentions -- good or evil -- even before that person is conscious of them. This "mind-reading" can take the form of feeling the hidden distress or illnesses of others to an extent which is difficult for other types to comprehend. Even Counselors can seldom tell how they came to penetrate others' feelings so keenly. Furthermore, the Counselor is most likely of all the types to demonstrate an ability to understand psychic phenomena and to have visions of human events, past, present, or future. What is known as ESP may well be exceptional intuitive ability-in both its forms, projection and introjection. Such supernormal intuition is found frequently in the Counselor, and can extend to people, things, and often events, taking the form of visions, episodes of foreknowledge, premonitions, auditory and visual images of things to come, as well as uncanny communications with certain individuals at a distance.

Now if you haven't deduced already - I do actually get random psychic stuff happen. Mainly precognitive visions. I mean it's happened twice in the past week already =S

I'll spare the details of said occurances, but I was interested into what typology others have received from this test.

Directed at other Counselor Idealists, does anyone else get psychic precognitions? or is it just me?

And at others - eh.. please explain? =\

Moonlit night...

noreply@blogger.com (mace) — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 05:41:00 +0000

I thought I'd keep this post to one column, just so it's less confusing for those who were overcome by the leetness of the last three posts =P

I guess I can say I've settled in to the holidays now, no more urges to do something constructive everyday - I'm happily content with just relaxing, msn'ing and gaming now =) But the food cravings are ensuring I get my weekly dose of the outside world [ you know who you are ;) ].

House Update

For those who didn't know already, a while back we purchased a new house, merely 100m down the road, that is many, many times bigger than this unit (for those who have been here). We've been cleaning it up and doing renovations and such, and it should be done soon!

There have however been many delays, kitchen sink problems, annoying salespeople, things going wrong (Re: Murphy's Law - "If anything can go wrong, it will") - but for the most part, looking forward to moving in, in a few weeks time. As for the house party I had in mind, no sign of a pool table on the horizon, at least not until we sell our other two houses =\

So on Friday, we went to pick up a new kitchen sink, made our way to Beverly Hills.. and on our way back.. I saw a peacock crossing the road! Totally random, just on one of the streets off the main road on our way back from Hurstville! So if you know anyone who owns a pet peacock that has gone missing...

I gave in! - Sansa e250 Review/Comparison

For me to think that iPod was the mp3 player of choice on the market was a little misguided. True, that 70% of the people I know (who own mp3 Players) seem to have one, but that's not to say there aren't alternatives. So I found this little baby, Sandisk Sansa e250, jam-packed with (useful!) features that the equivalent Nano's seem to lack. That and it's priced competitively, coming in much cheaper than a 2GB Nano (I got it for $168; an iPod Nano would cost $199).

As I've been looking for an upgrade of my current mp3 for a while, I finally gave in yesterday and bought it at work, and I must say, so far so good!

It came with a lanyard, headphones, usb cable, and a neat black felt-like case. The Sansa e250 (2GB version) feels so much more.. durable than an iPod, it's not like a wafer as such.

The specs off the top of my head,

Sansa e250
2GB Memory
MicroSD Expansion Slot
MP3/WMA playback
1.8" TFT Colour Screen
Photo Playback
Video Support
Digital FM Radio
Voice/FM Recording with Built-in Microphone
Preset/Custom EQ
User-replacable battery, should last 20 hours on one charge

I guess the two things that sold it for me was the MicroSD Slot (expansion is soo easy, you can get a 2GB MicroSD from Strathfield for like, $39) and that it's considerably cheaper than the equivalent iPod Nano. Add to that you don't have to go through any special software, you can connect it just as a USB Drive or manage it through WMP10 rather than iTunes (iTunes keeps doubling up on my music as it converts everything to AAC, especially WMAs...) AND the leet blue glow (ok and it can be submitted to uber-hackery as per online forums). And anyway, everyone has iPods these days, but those who know me know I don't care about mainstream.

So anyhow, I filled it up with music, I shall need some MicroSD cards to put on the rest of the music I want =\ I filled it up a bit too much yesterday so deleted one of the preloaded videos off it to make space for the music database. The earphones look rather thin, not too solid... I don't know if they'll last with my type of usage. Otherwise, no issues here, I'm happy =)

Vs. My old mp3 player

My old mp3 player was a cheap $40 SD Card Player from Jaycar (they now sell a newer version for $30) - that doesn't have internal memory but uses standard SD cards - again you can get these for really cheap these days.

The Sansa is considerably more expensive, but then that's what I pay for something that isn't a random chinese brand that I've never heard of. Sansa knocks this one out straight off. The monochrome LCD, eating-of-4-AAA-batteries on a weekly basis, and glitches with another SD card I had means this one doesn't compare really. But it did it's job well of playing mp3/wma's.

Vs. iPod Nano

In the end... the Sansa wins out for me.

Sansa has a bigger screen.
Sansa can play Videos and has built-in Radio
MicroSD Slot for easy memory expansion
Built-in Microphone for voice/FM recording
You can change the battery yourself with the Sansa, not go through Apple's ridiculous process of servicing your iPod to get it fixed...
The sansa doesn't feel like a wafer.
The iPod however, has a much better scroll mechanism. It's mechanical on the Sansa, which gets a little tiring. But hey, it means it can have the blue glow. Neat.
(@ Asians)Sansa is cheaper! =P
iPod has games. Does anyone play these? I mean soliatare is neat and all, but it's a mp3 player!

More of a fan-rant than a proper review from me... see the pro ones which have more pretty pics =)
- SanDisk Sansa e250 - JusTech'n.com
- Anything But Ipod - Sansa e200 Series Review

Life.. from mace's workbench

Somedays I wonder what I'm going to do with my life... for a start I want to learn 3 languages now. I have 3 "Let's Learn..." disks here now: Japanese, German, and Chinese. Someday I'll work my way through them and be able to say more than "Nein, Das ist mein hamburger!" and "What's the time?" in Japanese...

On my desk...

The first photo: I have 3 phones on my desk. The right two are mine, the left one belongs to a very lucky friend, who's phone we found on the bus just after our physics exam! Nokia 6280 is a pretty awesome phone btw, so don't diss it. =)

The other two photos - These are all the cd's I've purchased during Session 1. I really don't recall how much I've actually spent on cds :s But judging by that stack I'd estimate somewhere around $200. Ever so slowly I'll work out where all my money has gone..

Anyway, still more shopping in the week ahead.. there goes my bank balance =(

I'll see some people around, as for everyone else, have fun!

- mace

Ode to the Nice Guys

noreply@blogger.com (mace) — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 11:21:00 +0000

I think this deserves to be the first post here of this column... For those who haven't read it already, here be the Ode to the Nice Guys (written for the Wharton Undergraduate Journal):

This is a tribute to the nice guys. The nice guys that finish last, that never become more than friends, that endure hours of whining and bitching about what assholes guys are, while disproving the very point. This is dedicated to those guys who always provide a shoulder to lean on but restrain themselves to tentative hugs, those guys who hold open doors and give reassuring pats on the back and sit patiently outside the changing room at department stores. This is in honor of the guys that obligingly reiterate how cute/beautiful/smart/funny/sexy their female friends are at the appropriate moment, because they know most girls need that litany of support. This is in honor of the guys with open minds, with laid-back attitudes, with honest concern. This is in honor of the guys who respect a girl’s every facet, from her privacy to her theology to her clothing style.

This is for the guys who escort their drunk, bewildered female friends back from parties and never take advantage once they’re at her door, for the guys who accompany girls to bars as buffers against the rest of the creepy male population, for the guys who know a girl is fishing for compliments but give them out anyway, for the guys who always play by the rules in a game where the rules favor cheaters, for the guys who are accredited as boyfriend material but somehow don’t end up being boyfriends, for all the nice guys who are overlooked, underestimated, and unappreciated, for all the nice guys who are manipulated, misled, and unjustly abandoned, this is for you.

This is for that time she left 40 urgent messages on your cell phone, and when you called her back, she spent three hours painstakingly dissecting two sentences her boyfriend said to her over dinner. And even though you thought her boyfriend was a chump and a jerk, you assured her that it was all ok and she shouldn’t worry about it. This is for that time she interrupted the best killing spree you’d ever orchestrated in GTA3 to rant about a rumor that romantically linked her and the guy she thinks is the most repulsive person in the world. And even though you thought it was immature and you had nothing against the guy, you paused the game for two hours and helped her concoct a counter-rumor to spread around the floor. This is also for that time she didn’t have a date, so after numerous vows that there was nothing “serious” between the two of you, she dragged you to a party where you knew nobody, the beer was awful, and she flirted shamelessly with you, justifying each fit of reckless teasing by announcing to everyone: “oh, but we’re just friends!” And even though you were invited purely as a symbolic warm body for her ego, you went anyways. Because you’re nice like that.

The nice guys don’t often get credit where credit is due. And perhaps more disturbing, the nice guys don’t seem to get laid as often as they should. And I wish I could logically explain this trend, but I can’t. From what I have observed on campus and what I have learned from talking to friends at other schools and in the workplace, the only conclusion I can form is that many girls are just illogical, manipulative bitches. Many of them claim they just want to date a nice guy, but when presented with such a specimen, they say irrational, confusing things such as “oh, he’s too nice to date” or “he would be a good boyfriend but he’s not for me” or “he already puts up with so much from me, I couldn’t possibly ask him out!” or the most frustrating of all: “no, it would ruin our friendship.” Yet, they continue to lament the lack of datable men in the world, and they expect their too-nice-to-date male friends to sympathize and apologize for the men that are jerks. Sorry, guys, girls like that are beyond my ability to fathom. I can’t figure out why the connection breaks down between what they say (I want a nice guy!) and what they do (I’m going to sleep with this complete ass now!). But one thing I can do, is say that the nice-guy-finishes-last phenomenon doesn’t last forever. There are definitely many girls who grow out of that train of thought and realize they should be dating the nice guys, not taking them for granted. The tricky part is finding those girls, and even trickier, finding the ones that are single.

So, until those girls are found, I propose a toast to all the nice guys. You know who you are, and I know you’re sick of hearing yourself described as ubiquitously nice. But the truth of the matter is, the world needs your patience in the department store, your holding open of doors, your party escorting services, your propensity to be a sucker for a pretty smile. For all the crazy, inane, absurd things you tolerate, for all the situations where you are the faceless, nameless hero, my accolades, my acknowledgement, and my gratitude go out to you. You do have credibility in this society, and your well deserved vindication is coming.

Fu-zu Jen, SEAS/WH, 2003

And a three-part youtube video series - "Just a Nice Guy"

At the end of the day... cheers to all nice guys!

Dual action!

noreply@blogger.com (mace) — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 11:20:00 +0000

Here's some dual action to get us started ;)

Uni
I guess University has treated me pretty decent this session, got a taste of Uni life as an engineering. Frankly I miss seeing the Commerce people and friends from other Uni's as often as I did back school, but I've come to accept that now. That's just the way Uni is. Also, all the more reason to make the most of these holidays =D So: looking forward to the next few weeks? I know I am! (Brushy's point ftw)

I've felt as though its about time to wrap up uni for the session, I've collected all my books and neatly organised them... I didn't realise there was so much stuff!

[ Left-Click the image for the awesome lightbox effect =D ]
I have a WHOLE folder (left one) there dedicated to just the maths course notes =S

My S2 timetable sees me doing maths, physics, computing, and electrical engineering... again. No I don't S2 it, but I like it more than session one's; I finish relatively earlier from Wednesday to Fridays.

@ Life in general
For some reason, these holidays I've suddenly felt the need to actually go and do something with my time rather than sleep all day (not that I don't) - anyone else getting that as well? After finishing my last exam on monday it was as though I needed something to use up my time... Thus why I whipped up this blog design yesterday, assembled my Skyray the day before...

At the moment:

I am really, really, craving subway, and subway cookies. Thanks Theresa! =P
I'm tempted to go play C&C3 (demo - the full game crashzors my comp when I try install) - graphics are very nice!
I'm sitting here wishing I had an Xbox 360 to play GoW on. Lucky Tom.
I'm still deciding whether or not I really want/need an new mp3 player. I'm considering the Sansa e250 *shock - yes, not an ipod* because it's better than my current asian SD card mp3 player.
Soo many games here to play, and movies to watch!

Soon, not long till:

Party! I don't know what to come as for Hansen's. Horror theme. Anyone have any wild suggestions?
Movie? (03/07) - I can go home to parra :D
Live Earth! (07/07) - I just need to get out of work this day and it's all good :D
Brushy's Point (09-13/07) = fun.
Our Love to Admire - Interpol's new album should be out sometime after 10/07!
New house (and room).. when its done.

Life is looking good at the moment =D Now I just need to spend some days out and i'll be satisfied. If only the weather would pick up again.

Have fun all =D

40k Post #1

noreply@blogger.com (mace) — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 11:19:00 +0000

This post will more or less be photo spam, of various things I have here, representing my current status.

Chrome Space Marines! I can't really focus on them because they're so shiny... (Grey Knight is there not just for awesomeness, but to help focus =P)

Got them from GW for intro'ing Tom to 40k. I'd like some more!

My recently assembled Tau:

Yes, that's the Skyray that you guys got for my birthday last year. Don't worry, I have a special paint scheme in mind for it!

Soon I'll order some stuff off eBay so I can bump up my army to my ideal full mechanised list. Then it's just waiting for Apocalypse...

And I recently got an old Black Templar army off a friend, amusingly it totals up to 1337 Points at the moment! Big army nonetheless, and very dusty =\

At the moment I'm not sure what I'll do with these Black Templars yet, I can either keep them as they are and just restore the models and paint job (they're all covered in dust) OR - I get some Dark Angels and repaint them. Oh Ravenwing are so awesome.

I also want a squad of Marines and a Razorback so I can build a quick 1500 Point Movie Space Marine army in DoW-Intro-esque style.

I'll see how it goes =)

Guess who's back!?!

noreply@blogger.com (mace) — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 09:25:00 +0000

Mace here, back online; up and running! Quite seriously this blog has been a long time in the making... alright so I designed and coded it in one day (did the shadows earlier); pretty good if you ask me =D (apologies to anyone on 56k, this new design is a bit fat and pic heavy already).

So anyway, it's been one long and hectic session of uni, it's stolen me away from the internets and stuck me out IRL^*1. To my friends especially, my computer, and my site (and to a lesser extent my uni work); I apologise for the lack of attention I've been giving you all!

^*1 IRL -> In Real Life

Now that exams are done, I feel like I've got all the time in the world... well ok less than a month.

So begins my epic quest to knock over everything on my to-do list(s), within reasonable limits of my wallet...

To save me boring everyone I know over msn, I've designed this blog to be split into three major sections;

General Posts - which span the full width
"Life" Posts - more for just the daily grind and such
"Thoughts" Posts - for anything that comes to mind or philosophical in nature etc.

Add to that everything *should* be labelled so you only have to read whatever is of interest to you.

A few things I'll be doing here is tracking my 40k progress as I get back into the game, and the progress of our new house!

So it's looking good =)

Blog Specs:
Blogger Powered
XHTML and CSS based design
Fluid-width design (Designed for 1024x768, minimum 900px width)
Uses a combination of leet hackery and php to sort certain posts into left and right columns =P
Designed and coded by mace!

So yeah, a warm welcome to you all =D