Video card ho!

My 7600GT just arrived - tonight, I play restore my PC to it's former glory! Oh wait, I'm playing "tactical boardgames" with mates. Should be interesting (and insanely geeky!).

Rentalwars 2: The Search for Another Crib, is on-going. On-going-badly, actually. We almost lost the 3rd person we were going to move in with. And one of our current flatmates' girlfiend is now going to be living with us for... I guess an undisclosed amount of time. This makes the our plan of Lou moving in for a while seem a bit far out.

The search continues

Lou and I, along with Megan (another recently-graduated Vet) are trying very hard to find a rental property together. I've been in the same place in Taringa for almost 7 years now - and it's time to move on (and to see what living with Lou full-time is like!).

Unfortunately, I get constant reminders why I've decided to stay in this one place so long - looking for properties sucks big time. We've been at it for months now; properties often appear on realestate.com.au and are snapped up that same day. Several inspections I've been to have had in excess of 30 people there, all vying for a 2 or 3 bdr unit.

The worst bit is when you get very attached to a particular property. You start picturing living there; where you're going to put your couch, where you're going to flake out and read a book on Sunday arvo's...

We have (unofficially) lost a place we were extremely keen on. It seemed to be a rare find - 3bdr/3bath/DLUG. Perfect for a couple + 1. You're flat out finding a place with TWO ensuites, let alone a double lock-up garage.

Anyway we've apparently lost it - though a freak chance we learned that the current tenants have just decided to re-sign their lease. SURELY once you've informed the estate agent that you're leaving, that starts an irreversible process??? I guess not. If Megan finds a place on her own now, we're going to have to go back to looking for sub-$300, 2bdr places again.

Gah!

Anyway, Aus PC Market says my replacement video card is on it's way back to me. At least I can get my website back up, and take out my frustrations in Battlefield 2142.

geordie.is-a-geek.net is down, not out

...and has been for a few weeks. My 'puter was "bricked" for a while there. It's back up and running now, but it's basically just an overqualified web-browsing terminal. This is a good reason why I should just pay up and get a commercial host for my little hobby site!

TECH-TALK ALERT:
My Leadtek A7600GT video card I bought in Nov '06 was dying a slow death. It's spent weeks back at Aus PC Market & their distributor; should be back soon. That should have been a trivial thing to remove from the computer and return, except Windows decided to crap out and lose all it's security information (after a while lot of driver conflicts/problems). Even Microsoft's Knowledge Base article said I was stuffed (can't do a repair install, can't log onto recovery console, must re-install). So I did a clean nuke - which isn't to be taken lightly with Media Center... It is a harsh mistress.

So now I'm on Integrated Graphics - the nForce2 IGP in fact, which is roughly equivilent to a GeForce2MX. Bonus annoyances: my CPU is now acting like a Athlon XP 2500+ instead of a 3200+, due to the vaugarities of Shuttle mobos... can't play HD video coz the graphics are so slow... can't play Battlefield 2142, can't even RUN Media Center or my HDTV tuner card (video card isn't compatible)...

So I'm gimped until my 7600GT returns. Here's hoping for a smooth installation.

Transformers - slightly sooner...

According to the Birch, Carrol & Coyle cinemas Coming Soon page, the Transformers movie is out two days before the US (well, three days, if you ignore the whole timezone thing...).

Awesome!

Mandatory mortarboard hurling

(Long time no post...)

Well Lou's a Vet now - she's even got a job! Here's a photo of everyone going nuts throwing their expensive hats around.

I'm off to WWDC!

...in San Francisco!

The Apple WWDC to be specific. I applied to an AUC nationally competitive "scholarship" (it's more like a "sponsorship") for a free ride to SanFran for a week to learn all about Macs and what they can offer developers. Of course work let me go: it's free staff development!

Now I'm not the biggest Mac user and I didn't proport to be in my application; I try to look at it like any other "platform", and not get caught up in the reality distortion field... although those new Intel MacBooks look schweet... I think I got selected to go becuase of my work with QuickTime VR, my position in a multimedia unit, and my "swinging vote" in the (imaginary) platform wars.

Anyway, I'll head off on the 5th of August for the (allegedly gruelling) weeklong event, and then try and muster up enough stamina to see the rest of San Francisco for the next 7 days. Unlike the song about the city, I won't be wearing a flower in my hair. (Wouldn't want to give the wrong idea in the gayest city in the world).

More info soon... and I might even start posting more often. (HA! Likely...)

This means I'm sad :(

Poor Charlie.

Lou just came back from 2 weeks in Melbourne doing prac work for her Vet course. We went over to her house so she could do some washing. Jody, the girl house-sitting for her parents, was out. I got to play with Charlie and Tessa for a bit, while Lou got organised. I picked up his poo.

A few hours after we left, Lou got a call from Jody at the UQ Vet Clinic saying that Charlie had fallen down the stairs and suffered serious injuries. We rushed to the clinic.

He has suffered internal trauma; his lungs were operating at a third of their normal capacity, and his heart was beating faster than normal. We got to see him in the ICU. They had him sedated and on oxygen; hooked up to heart & oxygen monitors. The Vet said that although he didn't think that it was cause for euthaniasia yet, as he was not in any pain, but he was not optimistic. Puppies don't have a lot of resilience.

We all stayed with him for a while. Jody kept saying how sorry she was. We kept saying it wasn't her fault. In a way, I believe now, we were all equally responsible. Those stairs.

We got the call that he had died, a few hours later. Lou cried a lot, and I wanted to cry too. She had wanted to be with him when he passed.

Very sad.