April 26, 2003
The Dilemma Of Downloads
The problem with downloading stuff from a filesharing network is that you don't know what you'll get. The episode of Buffy that I downloaded using BitTorrent proved to be a dud - after I'd dragged all 433MB back to my PC over my sorry excuse for broadband. One episode of Jungle Guu was plagued with video glitches. One episode of Azumanga Daioh dropped out with a minute or so to go.
In case anyone is listening: I'd pay to be able to download these files directly from the source. That's pay as in actual money.
You'd have to get the price right, though. A DVD box set of Buffy runs about $120, or around $5 per episode (Australian prices). A download would have to be cheaper than that, and if quality is significantly below DVD standard, it would have to be significantly cheaper.
April 25, 2003
Two Long Weekends For The Price Of One!
So, just how often does Easter coincide with Anzac Day to give a three-day working week?
I'd work it out, but I think I'd rather take a nap.
April 24, 2003
Owwie
You know that headache you get just because you're tired? And all you need to do to make it go away is get some sleep? Only you can't sleep because you've got this headache?
I've got one of those.
April 23, 2003
Or Possibly An Interociter
The Internet is a time machine.
I did 18 out of my 20 impossible things, and of the remaining two, one can't happen before the end of the month and no-one has actually decided what the other one is yet. So I can say that they're done and no-one can prove otherwise.
In other words, I'm blogging from work.
So why is the Internet a time machine, you ask? Well, you could (and indeed should) take a look at lileks.com and spend a happy - if somewhat dazed - afternoon lost in the 50's and 60's. It's well worth the effort, particularly if you missed them the first time 'round.
But what I was actually thinking of is this: Tonight, when I go home, I'm going to watch next week's episode of Buffy.
Which means I can spoil it for the guys at work. Hahaha! Not that I'd do that, of course.
The thing I have to remember is: Don't get greedy. No-one likes a greedy time traveller.
And I Haven't Even Had Breakfast Yet
I have 20 impossible things to do before I go in to the office today, so I won't have time to blog.
Oh.
Oops.
April 22, 2003
Well, I've Watched Buffy Now
Of course, now I have to download next week's episode and watch that too. No minutes! No waiting!
But this time I think I'll leave it to run overnight so that it doesn't chew up my precious peak-time badnwidth.
Meanwhile, kAzAa is chewing up all my upstream bandwidth, since I dropped Azumanga Daioh and Jungle Guu into my share folder. (And Rizelmine.) But I don't pay for uploads, so I don't care. Nyaa!
Pixy Misa, Telecommuter
I'm working from home today. Yay me!
On a less cheerful note, I forgot to watch Buffy last night. Well, poot. And episode 10 is well and truly history as far as BitTorrent is concerned. Fortunately, Kazaa (well, Kazaa Lite) found it for me and is happily downloading now. Unfortunately, this is costing me, depending on how you want to look at it, $12, $60, or nothing at all.
I'm sticking with "nothing at all", thanks.
April 21, 2003
April 20, 2003
To Thai Or Not To Thai
Family dinner last night to celebrate my brother's 35th birthday. Since it was his birthday, he got to choose the restaurant, and as expected we went Thai.
I hate Thai food.
Probably because I'm a supertaster. Coffee tastes horrible to me (for all its wonderful aroma) as does pretty much anything alcoholic. I thought for years that wine was an acquired taste, until I learned that most people can't tell that it tastes nasty.
Anyway, everyone else in my family (with one exception) loves Thai Red Beef Curry. To me, it tastes like it's been boiled in dishwater. Some other dishes are even worse. We had a fish curry dish once - I'm not sure exactly what it was - that everyone loved so much that they ordered another serving. I had to restrain myself from spitting out the single fork-full I tried.
My nephew Lionel feels no such constraints. If he doesn't like something, it's gone. Of course, he's 18 months old and cute as a bug, so he can get away with it. Fortunately, he loves rice (though he wasn't too impressed with the saffron rice) and prawn crackers. When we'd finished our basket of prawn crackers and were waiting for our entrees, Lionel was eyeing the baskets of crackers being delivered to other tables. They're going the wrong way! Prawn crackers over here!
Oh well. The Massaman Lamb was actually pretty decent, as were the curry puffs. And rice is rice, so I didn't starve.
We had dessert at my brother's house - chocolate cake and coffee for everyone else; chocolate cake and hot chocolate for me. Mmm. Chocolate.
Oh, and remember my little internet rant, wherein I mentioned a company called Comindico? Turns out that my brother's company is a Comindico reseller, and he'll put me in touch with someone there. So I can hope to have real internet access soon! Fingers crossed, as I said.
Stupid Stupid Blogger™
Stupid Stupid Blogger™ ate my post. In fact, Stupid Stupid Blogger™ has been effectively down for hours, at least as far as updates go.
Fortunately, I'm smarter than Stupid Stupid Blogger™, and I copied my post when by Geeksense™ started tingling. Just as blind people tend to be more alert to sounds, working as a programmer for [mumble] years helps develop a sense of when an application is going to barf in your lap.
Anyway, the BloggerPeople™ have fixed whatever it was, so I'll post my post now.