Warcraft: Orcs and HumansjawaproTue 01/04/2008 11:02 PM
Might not be a cutting edge game - but I am now the proud owner of a copy of Warcraft.
No, not World of Warcraft.
Not Warcraft 3.
Not even Warcraft 2.
This is the original game!
Warcraft: Orcs and Humans.
I played the demo of this game to death back when I had a 486.
Now I own the full game - yippees!
This was the second real RTS (Real Time Strategy) game ever made. Westwood Studio's fantastic game 'Dune 2' beat it (and is the better game). Blizzard hit back with this game, which gained a huge fanbase itself.
A while later, both Blizzard and Westwood released new games. Blizzard released Warcraft 2, while Westwood release Command and Conquer. Although my allegience definatly lies with Westwood - I still respect and enjoy Blizzard's games.
And now I own a piece of history.
Thanks ebay.
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Money makes a house feel real.jawaproMon 31/03/2008 10:59 PM
This finally feels real.
Going to the bank and signing documents saying you are agreeing to owe them more money than I've ever seen - that has a tendancy to make things feel real.
Before that, it didnt really feel real. Now that I'm agreeing to put half of my income into a house - it's a different story.
Hopefully it wont turn out to be a bad move.
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Settlement Pushed-BackjawaproThu 27/03/2008 06:34 PM
Why cant things ever be simple.
Settlement for my house was supposed to be Monday (Settlement = the house is mine). The solicitors said everything was going well.
On Tuesday, I'd contacted my current Rental guys, and told them I'd be moving out on the 12th. I was planning to move out on the 5th, but that would give me time to clean up the unit before I hand the keys back.
Unfourtuantly I got an email from the solicitors today saying there had been a mess-up.
They thought they had given the bank some paperwork, but the bank didnt think so.
The 2 offices (bank and solicitor) are literally next door to each other (seriously!) so you'd think they'd do a better job of communicating.
They gave the bank the paperwork today, but that meant the settlement couldnt happen yet. In fact, it would probably happen on the 11th.
That means I have less than a day to move out, clean up the unit, get the carpets cleaned professionally (its required in the lease) and get the keys back to the Rental guys before they shut at midday.
Not a good thought.
So after running around like a chookless head, I finally managed to talk the Rental people into letting me stay 2 extra weeks. That at least gives me some breathing room (though there isnt even any gareetee the settlement will be the 11th).
Now I just have to tidy the place up, because the Rental people want to show someone through the unit tomorrow. I'm not leaving for a few weeks yet and they are already trying to replace me.
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Flying visit to Melbourne (work)jawaproThu 27/03/2008 06:28 PM
Well - that was exhausting...
I set 3 or 4 alarms to wake up in time to catch my plane to Melbourne yesterday. Would have been plenty - but some unknown person decided to ring my landline up half an hour before my alarms were due, and hung up after the first ring (which was enough to wake me up).
I go up, had a shower, got dressed and went to meet my boss for a lift to the airport for my 6:30 flight.
The tickets say to arrive 45 minutes early for security, but Devonport airport dosnt have any security, so apparently you can arrive only a few minutes before you need to take off.
Getting out of my bosses car, I had another brief shower, as it was raining cats and dogs.
We sat around in the terminal until boarding was due to start. Before they let us board, they wheeled a disabled passenger out in a wheelchair to the bottom of the plane (they gave her an umbrella first) and then back inside again because the captain had decided it was too wet to allow boarding. The rumour going around the terminal was that he didnt want to get his hat wet (not sure where that came from).
After a few minutes the rain eased, and we were let on the plane.
I've only ever flown a handfull of times - and I dont remember being on a plane this small before (although I might have been when I was little). I scored a window seat, which happens to be under the wing. The other planes I've flown in have all had seats above the wing, so this was a little different.
Very cool spot to watch the landing gear fold down and touch the ground in Melbourne though.
We arrived in Melbourne, and went through security (apparently they dont care if you hijack a plane from Tassie, but they are worried about Tasmanians hijacking the Melbourne Terminal).
We found a cab who took us to the Pier in Melbourne (where the ship docks). The cab almost didnt make it. We were part the way there when it made a huge back (like the sound of the engine falling out) and then died. We coasted to the side of the road, and the cabbie eventually got it going again. It was idleing very roughly from then on though.
We got to the Melbourne office, and spent the day working on network stuff, setting up a conference phone, and various other bits and pieces. We managed to remove a hub from the centre of our network in Melbourne. All traffic between Melbourne and Devonport (and the internet) was going through both a rack mounted hub and a little home-network style switch. We managed to get rid of both, and are now useing the rack mounted switches properly. Much more reliable. (note for non-geeks: Hubs are bad, switches are good).
After working right up until 7, I caught the ship home. It was a slightly rough sailing. It wasnt too bad - but if I'd had a car on board, I would have been rather worried each time I heard a bang from below.
I was woken up once by a rather large wave, and again by the loudspeaker telling everyone to get up because we were comming into Devonport.
I crusied home from some breakfast, and then back to work for another day. And after all the stuff that happened today (see next post), I'm rather exhausted...
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Easter UpdatejawaproTue 25/03/2008 09:56 PM
Wasn’t long ago that we had long weekend - and Easter means we get an even better one. 4 days off!
On the Friday, we headed East to Anson’s Bay, where my Grandma has a shack. Uncle Ben and his family were down for Easter, and we all got together to go and cut some wood up the bush to keep Grandma’s going over winter. (or at least for a day or 2, depending how fast she burns it)
It was great catching up with Mike and Gabi again (as well as Grandma, Ben and Bec, and even Pete (who’s not related)). Mike and Gabi are pictured here doing the usual - trying to push each other into the water. Gabi has a slight disadvantage here – as her right arm is in plaster. It could be argued that it’s a benefit, as it means Mike would get into lots of trouble if he actually got her wet.
Saturday was fairly relaxing. Klutz and I played some Xbox (finally justifying the purchase of the 2nd controller), and generally recovering from the physical labour we’d put in the previous day carting wood. We’re both geeks, and don’t get much more exercise than occasionally carting computers to the car and back for LANs.
Sunday was good too. Nothing overly special. Church as always. Our church doesn’t believe in doing special Easter or Christmas services, so there was nothing extra flash or anything - just some good solid teaching. Actually really enjoyable.
Monday saw another Exeter Market - but this time I was able to get away without spending any money (quite a feat).
Which brings us to Tuesday (today). Back to work (all too soon).
I was at work today when my boss asked if I could go to Melbourne tomorrow to help him do some network testing. The idea was to put us on the ship, but being Easter it was too full (pity, Mike and Gabi and family were going home tonight, so it would have been a fun crossing). So I’m off to the airport early tomorrow morning (flight is at 6:30).
Tonight I was able to catch up with Ben, Bec, Mike, and Gabi before they boarded the ship to go home. I took them for a look at my new house (from the foot-path, there are still tenants in it). Uncle Nathan and Aunty Julie had turned up to see Ben and Bec off, and had a look too. Everyone was suitable impressed, or at least made and effort to seem impressed.
Anyway - I’d better go and get some sleep. I’ve got to be up stupidly early tomorrow (anything before 9 is stupidly early).
And it’s just started raining - cool!
Catch ya next time Mike (and family)!
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