IceKat's Thoughts

Firefox 4 - A waste of time!

2011-05-10T10:27:00.002+10:00

I installed Firefox 4 this evening. At least it was this evening. It's now after 10pm. I've spent the last 2 hours installing add-on after add-on to get it back to a reasonably useable state. Here's what it changed/removed/added:

The title bar has vanished - I had to install an extension to get it back
My theme changed all the buttons around so I couldn't find them - I installed a firefox 3 theme to get them back to the right order.
My personal menu extension was ruined so I had to install another extension to have my single button menu shortcut back
It took away the 'save and quit' option when I close my tabs. Thankfully I found instructions for the "about:config" section to get this back.
It changed the order the tabs are opened. Ditto with the "about:config" settings.
My personas themes were disabled. "about:config" settings had to be changed to get them to work - this was a comment by user: Steph in the theme reviews.

Now I understand that themes are likely to be different and that some extensions might not work yet (partially why I waited sooooo long) but this is nuts. It's taken me over two hours to get this thing back to something which vaguely resembled my personal settings. To have to install an extension to get the title bar back is just plain stupid.

I know that new editions of things usually make some changes but some of these are fundamental. The 'save and quit' button for example is firefox's trademark. Why they'd get rid of it is beyond me! Personally I HATE theme changes. Basic updates I understand but people get used to how something looks. It should be a chosen option - include the new theme or save the old one and just make the basic changes. We all want to save time and continually learning a new layout is plain irritating and idiotic!

Result: Firefox 4's layout and interaction sucks!!

Google & Royal Engagement

2010-11-19T11:19:00.001+11:00

Ok so I wasn't going to post here again but Google is officially pissing me off. Their latest "features" of Instant, Suggest and Preview are 'in-your-face-cannot-turn-off' ideas which have been created in the last few years. Suggest has been around for a while but Instant, the newest "feature" and Preview, also very new, are the latest ways Google has chosen to piss us all off.

Suggest...whilst annoying...was previously able to be turned off. Since Instant was launched that option is now gone and we are stuck with a feature most of us don't want. Preview is also blaring on to our screens and is by no means subtle. The major problem for me is that it eats bandwidth and for someone whose bandwidth barely lasts as it is I don't need another 'feature' downloading crap I don't want.

So what has this got to do with the recent royal engagement....well Google Instant, Preview and Suggest....like the endless news of the royal engagement....gives me information I don't want. I don't care who's engaged to who, I don't care what sites load when I'm halfway through typing "chemical elements + francium" and it decides to give me stuff about crap I'm not interested in because I've stopped to check that it's "francium" and not "fransium" and I certainly don't care what a site looks like if I can't read it and all I've done is click randomly to activate the scroll wheel.

Google....as far as I can see....has lost the plot. YouTube has been ruined with ads and comment verifiers (even when you are logged in) since Google took over. They've wrecked gmail contacts layout with the new design and now they've butchered the thing that made them so famous and popular to begin with: the search page.

See...we don't want it. Google became popular because it loaded fast and didn't clutter with ads. Not because you tried to read our minds, make us into robots, force your preferences on us instead of letting us choose our own preferences. And they certainly didn't gain popularity by hogging bandwidth (yes I live in the backwater country known as Australia which still limited bandwidth).

Google...to summarise...no longer caters to the searcher but expects the searcher to adapt to them. FYI microsoft did that and they lost a lot of their market to a company which didn't. I just really hope the same happens to Google if they don't shape up. It would, at the very least, be very entertaining poetic justice.

Blog Closing

2010-09-14T23:28:00.000+10:00

Cause only like 2 people read this I'm closing it. If you want to subscribe to something try my Selmari/Selmarea blog about my CONLANG project - Selmari.

It is at: http://selmarea.blogspot.com/

Office 2007

2010-09-14T11:19:00.000+10:00

Ok...I hate Office 2007. Amongst those who know me that is no secret. It makes the tiny amount of the page available even smaller with that bar and every time I've tried to do something it breaks now (I don't have it any more thank goodness). Not to mention the fact that it costs a fortune and eats up my computer memory.

However...I do like the program created by Microsoft to assist in the transition. It's where you open a Word 2003 simulation, click on what you would normally do, and then it will show you how to do it in 2007. A little late for this post perhaps but it's still cool. Check it out with the downloadable version before or try the online version at their website.

Kudos to Microsoft for this. It's an ingenious idea.

Download Simulation Word 2003-2007

Jamie's Food Revolution - OMG!

2010-07-16T22:13:00.004+10:00

Just finished watching Jamie's Food Revolution and oh my god! For those who haven't watched Jamie Oliver has travelled to the US to look into what schools feed the kids and why people are dying from Heart Disease and Dietbeties. Trying to "create a seed of change".

Personally I agreed with EVERYTHING he said. And found myself getting incredibly defensive of Jamie as just about every person in the town was snide, rude and unhelpful. He's there to help people!

The food being served to these primary school children was just plain disgraceful! Pizza for breakfast. Chicken Nuggets for lunch. All fruit thrown in the bin and guidelines which insisted on idiotic guidelines. I was utterly appalled at the attitudes of the townspeople and personally thought they deserved to be called idiots!

Our attitude toward food continues to baffle and horrify me. I found recently that a cream I'd bought had sugar in it and that to me signifies the complete idiocy of our culture today. We accept the insane but if 100 years ago we'd been told that we'd put sugar in cream and live on oil we'd have thought it was a joke. And it seems like a joke except for one thing...we're killing ourselves and the younger generation. That's not a joke. That's scary!

I had to eat my Sushi just to keep reminding myself I wasn't eating the disgusting food on the screen but I really don't believe we'll change. I wish I could describe how shocked and upset watching that was for me. A good guy, trying to help others and being blackballed whichever way he turned. I can say I was shocked, horrified, appalled, felt physically sick and upset but really none of those things, though all true, come close to what I felt whilst watching that. It was both distressing and just plain awful to watch.

I sit here, thinking about this and feeling like if I believe hard enough we can change it but I don't think we will. I WISH we would. We are very very smart in some ways. We invent things all the time and have advanced beyond our wildest imagination. In other ways we are just plain idiots.

Recently I watched Star Trek: Insurrection. In that movie there is a culture. This culture knows technology. Can understand it. Can create it. They choose not to. I choose that. The more I learn, acquire and use technology the less I like it. Nothing is quiet. Nothing is as it seems. Nowhere is dark anymore.

I also have a message for everyone who thinks I'm crazy...I don't care. Some people have actively told me I'm either nuts or are generalising. I don't care. I don't like the lifestyle we're expected to live. I don't believe in it. I am not naturally spiritual however I know one thing for sure. I'm not going to find what I'm looking for spiritually with music blaring, food oozing and technology invading.

When I read and knit I am given the head-space to contemplate and reflect. With all of those other things invading my life I don't get that. I just don't want the same things anymore. I think I would be much happier if I just moved to a farm somewhere quiet, away from the city and the people, and lived the way I believe in and trust me...if I could I would!

Moving...again!

2010-06-28T01:07:00.004+10:00

Today, for the third time (although I count it as the fourth which I will explain later) in a year and a half , I finally finished moving, not the unpacking, the moving part. I've come to a conclusion. Moving and two story houses should be illegal.

Moving I've decided in fact is a form of abuse. Think I'm being melodramatic or exagerating?? If you saw all my bruises, which make me look like I'm being abused, or felt my feet, shoulders, hips or knees you'd agree.

Moving alone is particularly sucky! This is the first time I've moved without any help at all. Although Admin did help me move three pieces of furniture it was only because they wouldn't fit in my car. One of the shelves is bigger than my car in fact. It doesn't count as help. Help would have been a trailer which didn't give me 10 more bruises. Help would have been someone turning up when they promised they would. Help would have been someone staying with me for another hour or two at least and help me carry bags of glass kitchen jars.

So I moved without help. Today I went for about 12 hours - 13 with an hour for lunch - and I didn't stop for two hours to read. I worked non stop, packing, unpacking, carrying, transporting....and I am EXHAUSTED! It is now 1am and I am more tired than I have ever been in my entire life. My knees, hips and feet are aching from carrying heavy things all day and today was not the only day I was moving. I've been moving for the last three days.

Moving is awful. I am not a stranger to moving house and I detest it more every time I do it. Moving takes something away each time. You live in a house (or room), you make it yours, you give the room/s a piece of your personality and you make it feel safe; a haven to escape to when life is hard. When you move you lose all of that. You lose the safe place and you lose a little piece of yourself.

To me moving crushes me a little each time. I have never, ever, in my entire life, moved out of choice. Every single time I have moved in my life it has been because of someone else. To be told to move I think is one of the worst things you can be told. You are being told that your safe place is no longer safe and that you must upend your life.

Now I'll explain the 3rd vs 4th time. I live at Uni. I move to uni, move no.1, I moved within Uni, move no.2, and I've moved again within Uni move no.3. However in the middle of that My mother moved, again. That means that as well as losing my safe room at Uni (twice!) I also lost my home. We stored everything so she could go off traveling. I don't begrudge her of that travel as she has wanted it for a long time, but I now feel effectively homeless. I would like to leave this Uni accommodation more than anything in the world but I cannot. I have no place to go.

I would not and could not ask my mother to stop travelling. It is not my right to do so. However I have an obsession with TV and it is difficult to watch Uni students going home, taking home their washing (which thanks to coin laundries I do but I do the washing not my mum!), and going to a place where they feel welcomed and safe. Uni accommodation I feel is anything but welcoming. It is impersonal, cold and cramped. And for some reason the place where I live does not provide a bookshelf or a desk with drawers. It is crazy because the two things we are expected to do is read and write.

I don't really have a point. I wish I did. At the moment I just feel extremely exhausted and frustrated. Plus I'm kind of lost. I'm back where I began; no closer to a place of my own I can make safe and stable. Stability is what I crave and I just hope that one day I have it. At the moment I feel like if there is a God he hates me! I hope he doesn't always hate me. I'd like to stay in the same house for more than 5 years - more than 10 years. That for me would be a dream come true.

Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares

2010-05-04T22:11:00.000+10:00

I've been watching Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares recently. Not for the once-again-reality-TV show but for the hilarious, sad people who have no idea about what a good restaurant is. Tonight it's a guy who advertises wood burning pizza on his sign and then uses more prepackaged stuff than my nachos.
My nachos, a staple item in my diet is the best meal I've ever had. I make my own pasta sauce and so aside from the cheese and chips my nachos is the perfect meal. The pasta sauce (I don't use meat sauce cause I like it to be fast) is made of tomatoes, garlic, capsicum, fresh basil and a little olive oil. It's a perfect meal that is ready in less than 10 minutes and fills me up nicely.
I watch this show in stunned disbelief. My nachos has more flavour and nutritional benefit than what this guy is selling and it would probably sell better too. And what I find totally ironic is these people obviously call Gordon Ramsay in because they are going under financially and yet they don't see anything wrong with what they have been doing.
Newsflash...if nothing was wrong then you wouldn't be going under!
Seriously it stuns me that people are SO completely and totally ignorant about food. I reckon I could run a better restaurant than some of these people. I can't cook as quickly but I cook good food and nutritious food that isn't processed or that has gone bad.
I'll admit I don't like Gordon Ramsay much, he swears too much and I don't like his abusive style. However, having said that I don't doubt he knows how to cook and he clearly knows how to effectively run a restaurant.
You may have remembered my 11 tips for healthy eating and cooking. I stand by those. None of those were original ideas. Most of them I've picked up along the way and I try, although I don't always succeed, to follow them myself.
Personally I'm obsessive about food. I love cooking I LOVE eating and I could talk food and language all day. My friend is right I should become a chef but personally I feel that becoming a commercial Chef would take all the fun out of it for me. I like doing it for my and my family and friends. I'll stick with that, and I'll keep making my own pasta sauce. Preservatives should be reserved for chocolate and marshmellows...and if I could make those myself I would!

Region Codes - The WORST invention ever!

2010-04-29T11:32:00.002+10:00

Today I'm going to grip about region codes. Yes those all important numbers which say whether or not you can find your favourite movie in a version that works in your player. Now you'd think that will all the technology we have around today, iPods, mobiles, laptops, netbooks, GPS systems etc, that they'd come up with a way to give all people equal chance of watching their favourite movie.

It wouldn't be that difficult. Instead of torturing everyone who lives outside of the US make EVERY movie ever made region free. Unit currencies would take care of pricing differences but I have yet to see a logical reason for Region codes.

Take two of my favourite movies. A little known romantic comedy starring Sarah Michelle Gellar and Sean Patrick Flannery called Simply Irresistible and an even lesser known film with Billy Zane called Invincible (and no I'm not talking about the one with Mark Walberg!). Neither of these films were popular. In fact I caught Invincible on TV late one night and stayed up until 1am watching it. I enjoyed it very much and spent 3 months ordering it in from the US to Australia. Simply Irresistible is I think my favourite movie of all time. It is, in my mind, the perfect romantic comedy. Humor, cooking, a great soundtrack, a cute lead actor, a talented cast...it has it all. But can I find it on region 4? NO!

Someone, please explain to me the Region code thing? In my mind all it does is hinder sales. I would have bought Simply Irresistible AGES ago if it were on region 4. In fact I can think of several movies that I haven't bought simply because of that barrier. My DVD player I hacked long ago to be multi region but my laptop is another matter. Laptops have this irritating feature which stop you from playing seasonal discs.

Personally I think it's a scam to force us to purchase software. Laptops are portable. It stands to reason that a portable device should be able to go international without TOO much trouble...but no. They lock computers and you are forced to watch your favourite movie on VHS - which is what I have to do with Simply Irresistible.

I in no way condone pirating. I know it's not a victimless crime. However I know how frustrating it is to try and watch things when they just aren't released. Fringe, the TV series, is a classic example. It hasn't been released here yet. The first 6-10 episodes were shown on ordinary TV before Channel 9 dumped it, as happens with all decent shows, and it was brought back with no notice on digital TV.

Australia, for those who don't know, is in a pointless transition. Some smart-ass decided that TV wasn't annoying enough with dumping shows without warning, moving them and cutting them off halfway through episodes (Channel 7 coped it from me for that I can tell you!), so they decided that we needed to go digital. Digital TV has several problems. Firstly it means that you can't record TV shows anymore with a VCR. Yes I still own a VCR! The digital signal has to go through a set-top-box and you have to get one for every TV, every VCR in the house. And then, even when it is connected you can't record on different channels because no set-top-box comes with a timer. Secondly if you lose a little reception, like during a storm, with the old analogue signal it goes fuzzy but it's still quite watchable, we've all done it with shows we liked. With digital losing just 1% of the signal means the entire picture, the audio...everything...is gone. Finally...a set-top-box costs. Now $100 isn't a lot to some people but it sure is to others. I am a student. $100 is a LOT of money to me and I definitely don't have money to waste it on something I really don't think is necessary.

All this brings me back to pirating. Without a set-top-box and with the DVD's still unreleased in Australia...how can I watch Fringe? And Gossip Girl? Without the correct region of DVD's how can I watch releases of Dr Who on my laptop? How can I see movies like Invincible and Simply Irresistible?? Can you see my point...people, not all but a great many, resort to pirating because they aren't offered decent alternatives. Unless someone gives me a set top box or an unlocked laptop I have no choice and that's what I chose. I bought Invincible as region 1 and then used DVD copying software to strip the region codes and make it playable on my laptop. Now technically even that is illegal but I have no other choice.

I call everyone to put a stop to region codes. Supposedly we are entering a new era of blu-ray - let's get rid of regions for blue-ray! Let's make sure the little know movies are transferred over to blu-ray and not lost and lets, for goodness sake, stop looking at all copying as people trying to beat the system and make money. Some of us just want to sit down and watch a darn decent movie!

Cooking & Moving

2010-04-10T11:01:00.001+10:00

Cooking and Moving. Personally I don't think you can get two more opposite things in life. Moving is disorganised, frustrating and I hate it. Cooking is organised, rewarding and I love it.

I'm almost done moving...again. Once again I had to pack up my life and move without choice. I'd like to choose to move one day but I doubt I will. I've been forced so many times to move that I doubt I'll ever move by choice. Tomorrow hopefully I'll finish getting everything in. My kitchen gear will be the last stuff to move. I'm SO over it but I wanted to wait for my kitchen jars, of which I have dozens, so I can move them carefully and safely. Because I like to cook I HATE keeping my kitchen stuff in plastic so all my kitchen jars are glass. I spent almost two years tracking down tall glass spaghetti jars which were tall enough and have almost 30 spice jars now.

I've been thinking about cooking again recently. My mum made me sit down and watch a sweet movie Tortilla Soup. I wasn't that enthusiastic until it began and the opening credits are accompanied by this amazing cooking montage. My mouth was watering before it was 5 minutes in. Then we came down to my place, so she could help me move (yes she is an angel!) and we made Bruschetta with goats cheese, basil, lemon, baked capsicum, watercress and bread. God that was good! Then she made us these cucumber tart things I'd found online the night before whilst looking for recipes. They were equally good. Finally I'd had enough of moving this afternoon so I made homemade pesto with the leftover fresh basil.

I've been wanting to make pesto for ages but don't have enough money for a food processor however recently I got my hands on a cheap imitation of the "magic bullet" machine. It's not the branded original but worked great for pesto just the same (especially when I remembered to add a little water).

Ah food. It almost makes all this crappy moving business worth it...not quite but almost. At least the fabulous food along the way, and the movies I've watched as inspiration, have helped me get through this. Without my kitchen gear I'd be lost and I've only just realised now how much of my life does revolve around food. I watched Julie and Julia just the other day, watched Simply Irresistible whilst eating dinner, and watched Iron Chef whilst unpacking this evening.

Food is an art form it is true but it is so much more than that. Food sustains us, helps us forge memories, gives us personality, rouses the senses and gets us through life. It is incredible that we have turned something so basic and necessary in to something so amazingly beautiful and creative.

I don't understand why people wouldn't like to cook. I used to hate it but I have NO idea why. I am horrified that I lived (almost literally) on Rice Bubbles, potatoes and Nachos for so many years, putting my parents through hell. Now however I've discovered cooking can be done slowly, without the frantic rush required for restaurants, and have such begun to enjoy it, discovering new flavours and textures so rapidly I can hardly keep up. But I can say right now that it's all been worth it and I will definitely be cooking for many years to come.

Language Progression

2010-03-29T23:14:00.001+11:00

Not very happy at the moment. I've been told I have to move which SUX! And because I'm tired and have zero motivation for study I've been working on my language. A lovely day of conlang-ing. :)

At the moment I'm studying Latin, which is not as dead as people think, and am learning a lot about the structure and evolution of English. Not having studied another language before (with any enthusiasm) it is fascinating to see how Latin is structured. From a linguistic view it's been awesome and I've gotten some great ideas.

Today I scanned my sketches and glyph/character drawings into the computer. Now I'm making digital copies which I will put up once they are finalised. I'm currently trying to decide what to call this language and can't think of anything right now. However writing has taught me to be patient, I will work it out sometime or another.

The best part of all this...not only am I making a language but a culture to go with it. It gives me a chance to have a base. For example for my writing I have a made up currency but instead of dollars and cents I have 'macre' and 'gratee'. So I came up with how those words evolved from my country/culture to modern use.

I love reading the debates about where to start. I find it hilarious because no one seems to agree. Personally I think it's up to the person. I began with the characters/alphabet. Some begin with the grammar, some with making up words, some a different spot altogether. In my opinion you can't only start in one place. To me the characters have to match the phonetics and the grammar has to be created early but you have to be able to test it with your words so you need to have some handy. I think it all happens simultaneously and you can't rush your creative mind.

I've done a mix of everything. I have some words with meanings, lots without, some grammar, some characters and some idea of the phonetics. It is great fun and I intend to keep going.

Create a Language Project

2010-02-08T23:45:00.000+11:00

For those of you who don't know there are two major parts of my life. Firstly I am doing linguistics at Uni (or at least I will if my final marks ever come in so I can enroll!) and secondly I am into story writing. Now before you get excited I should say I've never let anyone ever read my stories, even though I have dozens. However it got me thinking recently.

A few weeks ago I saw Avatar the movie. It was incredible! The graphics, the originality, the story, the people, the creatures, the plants. Just amazing. I'm against spoilers however I will say that I spent a lot of the movie either holding my breath, in tears or both and I would give almost anything to spend a hour alone with the person who dreamt up those creatures, James Cameron, and the person who created the language, Paul Frommer.

Anyway I've been writing for several years, just for myself and part of what I've always wanted to do is create my own language. And I don't mean something like Pig-Latin or a variation on an existing language but my own unique language with its own alphabet, grammar, structure, sounds and pronunciation. So I'm going to. And in the spirit of another movie I (annoyingly) missed, Julie and Julia, I'm going to document my progress in this blog.

I love language. I find it fascinating that deaf children learn sign language much the same way other children learn spoken languages. We have dozens of languages, all with different styles of script...why? Why are some scripts, like Chinese, really detailed? Why are some curly, like Arabic? Does the type of language that a culture has reflect it's attitude toward life?

I want to find out these answers and I believe there is a lot one could learn about language and it's role in society when one creates their own. So that's what I'm going to do. I have begun. I have begun to work out an alphabet and in the spirit with the story and culture this language goes with my language will be for a slower, more deliberate society. The script will not be as artistic as Chinese or Japanese, nor as flowing as Arabic, but it will have detail and flow more than English/Roman characters.

As for the Grammar. There will not be any gender differences and unlike English, which apparently has 12 tenses (although I am still confused by this) this will only have 3. This project will take me a while. I have only just discovered the Conlang community online and hope they will help me undertake this.

I have no idea why I want to do this, I only know that I do. And at the moment I have no desire for my language, which does not yet have a name, to become "the next Klingon" however if people like it and wish to learn it I have no intention of stopping them. I will be putting up more information as I go and at any rate this will be my own diary of this process.

Windows OS - I give up

2010-02-05T21:50:00.004+11:00

Ok it's happened. After about 15 years of using, defending and being loyal to Windows I've given up. Why you ask...let me explain.

A couple of months ago I got a beautiful new laptop. However it had come with Vista so since I had a chance to try Windows 7 I installed it. I'd heard Windows 7 was the OS to save Microsoft. I hated it. Yes it was smaller OS, no stupid trial games and it even had mahjong included which is a fav game of mine. However there were several things which drove me crazy. The biggest was the lack of remembering where folders where supposed to open. Here's the thing. I like 'My Documents' on the right, 'My Computer' in the middle and a space on the left for programs like Word and PsPad. That way I only have to minimise one window to get at my desktop icons.

So I open 'My Documents', put it on the left, open 'My Computer' put it in the middle. Go about my work close My Computer, close My Documents. The next morning I come back, open 'My Documents' and it opens....randomly in the middle of the screen. Long story short the entire part of Windows that remembers where I want the folders had gone. I looked up some forums. Found over 500 posts of annoyed people wanting the same function. MS refuses to comment or solve the problem.

Alternatives.....I HATE Ubuntu. I know I'll get my butt kicked in the comments for this but it's true. I've tried it at least 10-15 times and each time I feel like screaming with frustration after 5 minutes. People swear it's the answers to all things OS and yes, for a while I was using a very old version. However enough is enough. I just don't like it Ok!

I've also tried Mac. I worked at a web design company for a while which forced me to use a Mac and whilst I could see it was very fancy, and probably better quality than Windows, it's like driving a bus when you are used to driving a car. Just too different for me. I've used Windows since I was about 10. I used Microsoft before they even had Windows.

So this brings me to my solution....I'm going to make one. Yes. I am going to MAKE an OS. I'm going to design, code, compile and build my own OS. It will be free, the one part of Ubuntu I agree with, and it will be made for the USERS! Not for coders (like I suspect Ubuntu is), not for business the way Windows and Mac are, but for the users. And to that end I need your help!

I want to know your most loved and hated features of your OS. Any of them. I want to know what it always does that drives you crazy, what you love about it and what you always wish it would do but doesn't. ie. My most sought after feature is an Australian Dictionary which is actually an Australian dictionary. In Aus we spell colour with a 'u', centre with 're' and customise with a 's'. My "Australian" dictionaries always spell the words: 'color', 'center' and 'customize'.

So that's a feature I'll include. What would you include? What do you really not care about. Would you want to set everything or have it all done for you? Would you want more vertical space or are you happy with documents being wide because of modern screens but only have windows have enough space for 5 lines because of all the toolbars?

So give me your comments! Because some day, some way, some how...I will have a computer which doesn't make me scream!

BTW - If you are a coder/designer who wants to help me out keep an eye on this blog. At some point I'll put out a call for people to help me. This is for users. I'll need help from users. NOTE: I am totally serious about this. I don't care if they are obsolete by the time I'm finished. I'm still going to do it and I know it will take me a while but you watch...I'll do it!

Stargate: Universe

2009-12-14T23:02:00.001+11:00

Tonight I'm going to take a break from my usual ice-skating, personal stuff, website obsession based posts to talk about something else. Stargate. Stargate began for me with a friend of mine who said to me 'oh just watch it already!' or something along those lines. The episode was in Season 4, called 'The First Ones' and even though that episode is not my favourite I was hooked from day one and ever since I have been a avid fan. I cried when Michael Shanks was written out, laughed myself silly with the episode 'Window of Opportunity' (where the day loops over and over and Teal'c and Jack play golf through the Stargate, breaking shot records). Stargate got my Higher School Certificate (Australian version of the SAT's at the end of year 12) and through the years since. I made the reluctant transition to Stargate Atlantis and became just as hooked and furiously wrote to Channel 7 after they stopped an episode halfway through one week - slamming them by fax and insisting they replay the entire episode. After almost 3 years of the show being moved about that was the last straw. I mustn't have been the only one because they did replay the episode the next week.

I have hated with a passion the decline of sci-fi shows and cheered the New Dr Who because it was a welcome break from remakes of 90210, Home and Away, bad comedies such as Rules of Engagement and the endless list of new, trashy, reality TV shows.

I gratefully borrowed the earlier seasons on video and then bought them on DVD until I knew almost every episode word for word. I nearly fainted one day after seeing the prototype for the Phillips e-Reader (also referred to as the Readius) because it looked so much like a device from one of my favourite episodes "Window of Opportunity".

Now tonight Australia FINALLY got the long awaited premiere of Stargate Universe. Australia regularly has to wait for episodes of TV even though communication is supposed to be almost instant these days and by the miracle of all miracles it was aired on Ch10. This is a miracle because Ch7 which still airs Stargate Atlantis now airs it on digital, a type of TV not accessible to everyone because it requires a set-top-box (a gadget I don't have). Thankfully Ch10's digital channel is all sport so I eagerly sat down to watch the premiere this evening. It did not fail my expectations. As if my nostalgia at watching Stargate at home in the cool weather and sitting on the edge of my seat wasn't enough the episode was surprisingly entertaining. My favourite bit had to be the computer/math geek being beamed out of his house to the ship and saying to myself in the ads 'some day, some way, somehow my life will get interesting!'. One of the reasons I've always loved Stargate (and it's spin-offs) is the possibility, however small, that it's all real, all going on somewhere. I would do almost anything to be part of a real-life Stargate team - however dangerous.

On the more practical review side Robert Carlyle is a very mysterious, dark character and I suspect he has a past he is hiding from. David Blu as the geek is quite funny and one suspects he is a lot braver than his appearance leads us to believe at first. Elyse Levesque, who plays Chloe the Senator's daughter, drove me crazy until I realised I'd seen her in the under appreciated kids Show 2030CE. I suspect there is a lot more to her as well and would like to see her kick-butt in upcoming episodes.

I could go in all day to the characters but a lot of reviewers have already done a much better job at that. So I'll finish here by saying that this show definitely deserves a chance and I sure hope Channel 10 gives viewers a proper chance to decide, rather than ditching it in a midnight time-slot after 3 episodes (as happened with Torchwood). I'll be interested to see next week's episode after the premiere ended with a cliff hanger and hope I can find a video tape next week so I can go back to my high school ritual of taping Stargate each week - even if I do miss Michael Shanks, Tapping, RDA and Judge.

Food - 11 tips for a pleasant eating experience

2008-10-07T18:15:00.002+11:00

I was reading an article today about how insane we are about food and it got me thinking. The article spoke as usual about the problems we have with food and how unrealistic it all is. I remembered back to when I was a kid and food was simpler. 'Eat your vegetables' was a regular call from my mother and ice cream was ice-cream. Ice blocks were made from lemonade straight from the freezer and fruit juice was made in a juicer from whole carrots and apples.

Now it's complicated. Meat pie is only 10% meat, ice creams have 15 different toppings, 30 different flavours and 25 ingredients. Ice blocks are not even available anymore and fruit juice has more ingredients than a curry. Why?

Why do we always overcomplicate things? Why do we constantly ignore the obvious and expect things to be available 365 days a year. Mangoes are a summer fruit, potatoes are a winter vegetable. That's how life goes. And while I'm asking about the absurdities of life why on earth do we eat our national symbol???

I decided to try and name my own personal tips about how we could eat healthier. Just for the record this isn't about fast food. This is about the fact that I don't want to die at the age of 45 because of a heart attack or diabeties.

Buy food with as few ingredients as possible. I am a fan of the spreadable butter from Western Star but when I read the packaging I found it had 12 ingredients. Butter should not be spreadable without being put in the sun. Regular butter has only 4 and should have only 1.
Don't drink too much soft drink. I personally limit myself to 1 1.25L bottle of soft drink per week. Eventually I'd like to get that down to 1 per fortnight. Instead of soft drink I drink tea or milk and being addicted to coffee I drink that often too. Drink water! (if you don't like plain water squeeze a little lemon in to it but you do get used to it).
Prepare proper meals. Those 'health' meals are useless. Utterly empty of nutrients, usually full of fat and sugar. Just look at the label. Powders, colours, flavours and half of them reduce the fat only to increase the sugar and salt. Anyone can boil some water and cook some carrots, peas, beans and potato, then fry some chicken or piece of steak. Takeaway should not happen every day or even every week. When I was a kid chips were eaten only on holidays or the odd weekend during a term.
Buy plates from antique stores. Plates today have been made bigger to accomodate our larger serving sizes. No longer is just a burger enough. We now have a burger, fries, dessert and a drink and some people don't even find that enough. We've gorged so much that we don't find a normal serving size big enough anymore. I use a plate we own which is smaller than our others and using that is plenty.
Don't eat food your great grandmother wouldn't recognise as food. This tip isn't mine. It's from a book called In Defence of Food: The Myth of Nutrition and the Pleasures of Eating by Michael Pallon. It's a great tip and it's included because it makes perfect sense. Your grandmother wouldn't have bought hollandaise sauce in a packet which has 10 ingredients or yoghurt in a tube. She'd have made it with 5 ingredients of her own and had it as a treat once a month. (proper hollandiase sauce is 10 times better than the packet kind).
Lower your expectations of how long food lasts and when it's available. Food should go off. 90% of the extras put in food is to make it last longer. Milk should go off, bread goes mouldy. It's a fact of life. I'll bet most people don't know that basmati rice can go purple when mouldy. I go out in the middle of the week (with time) and so I do two shops per week. This is so I can buy good, natural food and I buy half so that I don't waste it. Also food has seasons so instead of buying the really expensive imported magoes which are brought in from the opposite hemisphere try eating a winter fruit. Potatoes are crappy in summer so eat summer vegetables instead (this is also good to reduce your carbon footprint).
Make it yourself. 10 years ago I never would have thought I would be saying those words however I've realised that cooking can be fun. Even if you are a busy family there is no reason why you can't cook a meal together and then sit down and eat together. Let your kids help. Kids love to help if they can. Cooking as a family takes half an hour and gets the kids away from the TV. They learn about food early and have much more fun eating it if they've made it. With one family member doing one thing each you can get it all done within 45 minutes or less.
Stop eating when not hungry. Kids know how to stop. Adults don't. 'Oh I shouldn't waste it' is the most common excuse but there are dozens of others and we've all used them. Tired, stressed, you actually want flavour, someone else is still eating....they go on forever. Adults force themselves to finish and force their kids to finish. If you don't want it don't eat it. First step: Learn what hunger actually feels like and be aware of it. Second step, know when to stop. Weight watchers has a trick. Eat half your meal and then pause for 10 minutes before finishing it.
Savour your food. Taking time to eat sitting down, calmly, without a phone or 20 people talking to you or 10 papers to read is good. Sit. Eat. Be still and quiet. We eat so quickly these days at our desk or on the train or whilst driving to a meeting that a lot of the time we've finished the food before we've realised that it was too much. By eating slower you accomplish two things. First of all you get a chance for a time out. Something every person needs in a day. Secondly you'll often realise when you are 80% done that you've had enough. If you eat slower you won't eat the final 20% you don't really want anyway.
Be aware of what you eat. For years I've lived on the same things. Potato, cheese, nachos and chocolate. When I began finding out that there were forms of exercise I found interesting I began being much more aware of what I put in to my body. I was bigger and eating butter with almost everything, sugar with almost everything, cream with almost everything, chocolate on the way to the bus etc etc. Now that I'm more aware I've dropped weight without even trying. I sound like a freaky infomercial but it's true. Being aware of what I was eating and how often I was snacking made me change. Now I still go through up and down periods of too much chocolate or too much cheese but it doesn't last as long. I now try to make things myself. Like the difference between a homemade pie and a store bought one. Mine was satisfying to make, healthier, tastier, more filling in general, cheaper and had about 1/3 of the ingredients. I personally still have a long way to go but I totally believe in these things.
Final tip: Don't drink. Alcohol is a mild poison. I personally drink about 4 times a year. My birthday, my mum's birthday, christmas and one random one when sometimes I just want a single brandy. By the way by saying 'i drink 4 times a year' I don't mean that I go on a bender 4 times a year. I mean I have 2 drinks at the most and then stop and ALWAYS after food. I'd sooner drink battery acid than get drunk and it would be just as harmful. Alcohol is a poison used to disinfect. Guys sometimes pour beer on a BBQ to clean it. Would you drink regular BBQ cleaner? Believe me you can have a lot more fun sober than you can drunk and if you can't get up and talk to the opposite sex then maybe you should ask yourself way rather than getting drunk (or taking drugs) so you can chat to the hottie across the room.

Well there they are. My 11 tips of better food health and a final note about exercise. When I was in school I hated sport. It made me hot and sweaty and the gym was so boring I'd almost fall asleep. However 2 years ago I discovered ice skating and then dance. Exercise which didn't feel like exercise. It is fun, varied, challenging, different. I've never seen the point of going to a gym. Why would you climb on a step machine? You climb and you climb and you don't get anywhere. There is no accomplishment. So if you find you are like me in nodding off at the gym try lots of different forms of exercise. If you like the gym then fine but if you don't there here are some options:

Tennis, swimming, figure skating, ice hockey, any form of dance, bike riding, bush walking, lacrosse, hockey, netball, basketball, golf, water polo, volleyball, gymnastics, yoga, pilates, tai chi, stretch class...The posibilites are endless and don't let people tell you you are too old. If you enjoy it and it's fun and you are willing to work at it that's enough.

One last thing: be sensible, if you feel something isn't right with your body or your diet or exercise makes you feel strange or uncomfortable for goodness take talk to your doctor. These tips are just general, do what is right for you.

Shakespeare and my Essay

2008-09-26T22:42:00.001+10:00

Well it's acutally happening. I've been watching 12th Night and I'm actually understanding what's going on. It's a miracle! Actually it's a lovely production. A quite old (1979) BBC production with Felicity Kendall. But it's classic Shakespeare and by chance I hired the book of the exact same production which is great to use as a guide. I can hardly wait until tomorrow night so I can finish it and then read some of the notes included with the book I borrowed. Then I will watch it again without following the script. It's great to finally understand some of this stuff.

About my essay. From previous posts you'll know I've been on a literary conquest. Well what I haven't explained is why. I hope to study in 09 and in order to do that I have to first of all read things other than Cleo and the TV guide and secondly I have to remember (acutally just learn in general) how to study. I haven't even tried to write an essay in five years and they were childish at best when I did. However I do have one person who can help me and that is my Mum. She is big on literature, essays and study so thankfully I have until the end of the year to learn how to write a decent essay, practice some study techniques and get myself back in to thinking academically.

I've been writing an essay on Russia because I never studied Modern History at school and am finding it fascinating but sad. So many wars, so many people lost. Well that is enough for tonight. After my Russian essay and Shakespeare I want to just read a little Tolstoy and then go to sleep. Night all.

Poetry

2008-09-18T23:25:00.001+10:00

Poetry. Something literary in this world I've never understood. Sure I've read some kids poems and one of the famous poems from Wind in the Willows (Ducks' Ditty) was actually a song in our family but poetry hasn't ever been part of my life...until now.

If you've read my recent posts you'll know I'm on a bit of a literary conquest. At some point I'd like to read Proust, Tolstoy and maybe finally manage to get in to Jane Austen (someone I just can't seem to read). However at the moment I'm reading something simpler and so I have a little time to look at some poetry. Now because I'm so ignorant when it comes to poetry I called on the help of my Mum. She is big on poetry and has been reading it to me every so often and then we talk about it afterwards.

What has this got to do with the price of eggs in London you ask? Well tonight I'm proud to say I just read my first ever adult poem all on my own. And I reckon I actually understood it. For the most part anyway. The poem was called Qua Cursum Ventus and was by A.H. Clough. It's about some ships and wasn't too hard.

Perhaps this poetry this isn't that complicated after all.

Reading Reading Reading

2008-09-16T22:16:00.001+10:00

Recently I've been reading again. Now this might not sound complicated or special but for me it is and here is why. As a kid I was a bookworm. I'd read every spare moment I got. However as I got older my friend/s (one in particular) would get more and more annoyed at me and my Mum and then my Dad told me to stop reading and go out instead. So I changed to TV and by then they'd given up and I was hooked on TV.

However...recently I've been watching old episodes of the Gilmore Girls. This show is one of the few I missed the start of and have been watching the old episodes and loving them. Watching the daughter is a little like watching myself if people hadn't told me to stop reading and we hadn't moved house so much. So I've begun reading again.

I started with Anita Shreeve of whom I've read a book before, about two years ago, and quite enjoyed. The book before was called Light on Snow which I quite liked.

This new one however a couple of weeks ago was called Sea Glass.

Now both of these were very nice (although I wanted Sea Glass to end differently so the main character would be happy) but it got me started on Isabelle Allende's Daughter of Fortune.

Daughter of Fortune was also quite good (although again I would have liked an extra chapter to tie the stories off more neatly). But this one and Sea Glass have done is get me reading so when I had the chance to borrow another book from my Mum I did.

This last book I've read was called Mao's Last Dancer by Li Cunxin (pronounced “Lee Schwin Sing” according to his website). It was wonderful. The book was a mix between a bit of a historical look at China through a child's/teenager's eyes and an auto biography. I made up my mind as soon as I'd finished it that I would never complain about running out of Milk ever again.

I felt such appreciation for what I have grown up with and shock when I read about some of the poverty for my parents generation. What changes those of my grandparents generation must have seen!

Now I am on to another book and am loving this world I am finding of new books, ideas and authors. When I stopped reading I'd read the same authors over and over and over. Now I'm enjoying the fun of discovering the joy of a new author and highly recommend Mao's Last Dancer. It was truly a wonderful book.

Skating Frustrations

2008-04-19T22:29:00.002+10:00

I haven't been in the mood to write recently. Not in my regular diary, not here, not on either of my other 2 blogs. But now I want to write. I've got so many things to think about at the moment and of course one of them is skating.
I love skating. It is my favourite thing in the world to do and I would literally live at my rink if I was allowed. However...I'm frustrated. I competeted today. That's not that unusual for me. I compete as often as I can to get used to crowds but what annoyed me was that I messed up. I lost and element I should have known. It's hard to ignore that and even though I didn't break down and cry like a little kid might but I'm mad. Mad at myself for getting rattled after which almost ruined another element too.
I want to advance so badly but I seem stuck. I want to know how I can advance and what it is that's stopping me from advancing. I know some reasons. I've begun work which has seriously cut in to practice time and easter eggs never help.
It's weird. I love to skate but I can never find the time. I love to cook but never find the time. I love to make my own websites but can never find the time. How is it I managed to get hooked in to only working and nothing else.
I need help. All I can say is: Launch Operation save me! :)

Skating Comp & Election Day

2007-11-27T11:54:00.002+11:00

Well I wanted to post about the second attempt at my major routine and the election. Living in Australia a few days ago I voted along with everyone else in the Federal Election. We changed our political party (something I think is good) and now we wait an see. I hate any political party staying for too long so I reckon we did the right thing. I think politics takes fresh eyes every so often.

Now about my comp. I didn't place (grrrr) but I was pleased with the routine. Below is my routine and I was quite pleased with it. Of course there are bits I have to work on but it's much better than some of my others. I love the music but it wasn't really artisitic enough for an Artistic Comp however I was pleased and I didn't freak out like I normally do.

Now I get to focus on improving my elements overall so that in the next comp I will WIN! :) Of course I want that, who wouldn't, but I'm also realistic. None of my routines so far have been good enough to win. But don't worry. One will - and soon too!

PS - Thanks to Mum for making the dress. It was awesome and she did such a great job.

Writing - My Stories

2007-09-20T13:37:00.002+10:00

I've been thinking about things lately. Now you know I love to skate (duh) but there is something else I love to do too that I've never written about.

I like to write stories. In fact I have heaps of them on my computer however I've never let people read them. I love to write and have created entire families and even a country as a setting but I'm afraid if I let someone read them they will trash them and I will stop doing it. I like to write because it's like creating your own world and living everything you ever wanted to. It's like living your dreams and sometimes I wish I could stay there. LOL. I'm a much better skater in my stories.

Anyway I'll pose the question to whoever reads this. Would you read them? I could put one or two of them up at least. Would you read them if they were online?

PS- I would love to kill my computer at the moment. I won't because I need it but I'm using Flock (it's a very cool browser) but the extension I have for del.icio.us (look it up, it's online bookmarks) is driving me CRAZY. It works but asks for a password every 3 minutes. Aghhhh. Someone do something!

Love Skating - Don’t be the only photographer in your family

2007-09-16T16:27:00.002+10:00

It's no secret I like skating but here is my tip for the day. Don't be the only photographer in your family. This is the best pic I could find and it was taken as a freeze frame from some video footage and then lightened with Google Picasa.

One thing though. Being the old photographer in the family (all my Mum takes pictures of is nature - no people) you can make sure the pictures are nice and not really bad so it does have it's good side. I just have to remember to bug Mum to take some pics when I can't.

However...I still love skating!

Skating Update

2007-08-18T16:48:00.002+10:00

I should be going to bed but I wanted to bring you up to date on my skating. Let's see. I'm entering a comp soon. (Just a little one), I'm working on my sit spin and still trying to get strong enough to hold it and I've finally started learning a loop jump.

I'll be glad when this competition stuff is over. It's been fun to prepare for the comps and I'm getting much fitter but I like getting things perfect and you never do with comps. At least I never do. Maybe I should. Maybe that's why I haven't won one yet. Anyway study is still good. I'm hoping I'll be able to get a part time job soon so that should be fun.

Oh my god. I landed a toe loop the other day, just before the eclipse and before I got sick for a few days. It was only a single of course but when I landed it I felt like I had done it right. Like I had gotten it more right than I had ever gotten it. It was AWESOME!

Anyway. Sleep now. It's late and I have skating tomorrow. Night.

Ice Princess Montage

2007-08-11T00:27:00.002+10:00

I was looking at my posts recently and they are all kind of the same so I thought I'd put up a different one. Here is a montage from youtube which I just love! It's a montage to Reaching For Heaven and it's perfect.

This is so perfect. I just love it and I love the movie so it's a perfect combination and a different post. Enjoy. :)

Skate School and Study

2006-06-04T07:58:00.003+10:00

Another post...

I started skate school a few weeks back and nearly broke my wrist but I'm still doing it. I went today but it's like Ice Princess because I am about a foot taller than most of the other kids in the class. But I think I'm losing weight which I won't complain about. I don't really care but I definitely won't complain if I do.

I really want to get my own skates which is kind of annoying because I don't work (although I would like to) and so I am broke as usual. My Mum doesn't have much money either so I suppose I will have to wait but hire skates are so blunt. (I know nothing about skating and even I can tell).

I'm working on some study stuff at the moment. I'm doing a web course this year and that's why skating is so good because it gets me away from the computer. I don't like studying much but I do love this course. Although I would like to throw my computer out the window because it's kind of old and not very good.

Ahhh. I dream of having money for skates and computers and new clothes and....Ok I'll stop before I get carried away.

Back to the grindstone as my mom would say.

Culture Shock Humour

2006-04-06T12:57:00.000+10:00

Here is a funny site which talks about culture shock when moving between Australia and America.

Hello Everyone :)

2006-03-26T18:48:00.000+11:00

Hello everyone. I started a web design course and my teacher has gone on and on blogging so much that I’ve decided to start one, which isn’t for class, to see what all the fuss is about.

A bit about me. I'm 22 and this blog will be about everything I reckon is cool. You may not. LOL. For the start I've just started Ice Skating because I saw Ice Princess and I love that movie and she looked so pretty in that dress. I'll admit I cried at the end. (I wont give away the ending but it has to do with her Mum).

I like cooking and sewing and craft and languages. I also love being online and looking up stuff on the web and on YouTube. I have the same username everywhere (including YouTube and MySpace so just type in my username to find me.) I love chatting online so come chat to me.

One other strange fact about me is that although I'm left handed I hate it and so I'm working on becoming ambidextrous (able to write with both hands).

I like cheerleading but it's hard to find in Australia, I love the beach but I live a long way away so I don’t get to go there very often, I'm kinda stereotypical but not blonde :) I love what I call “fun day's” like Australia day, St Patrick’s day etc because it means I can have fun, except there aren't many places where I live where I can do that because I live kind of in the country (but it’s hilly).

I hope to move closer to Sydney sometime soon so I can have more fun and hopefully go to Uni. I love music and dance, gymnastics, skating, soccer, swimming and chatting online. I also happen to love Sci-Fi and I really love my course.

If you want I'll add you to my MySpace but don't send me porn because I block people who do. Say Hi and look for me on

MySpace, Digg, Del.icio.us, 43 Things, 43 Places, Technorati, YouTube and just about any place I can sign up to. :)