Actually, it seems my hassles won’t give up, as even though I deleted my accounts, it still thinks it’s linked into Facebook on those accounts. I’m not happy, but not much I can do at present… at least I have the nickname I want. I’ll sort out FB integration later. Anyway, after that exercise in frustration, I figured I’d also mention that I’m going to be making a couple YouTube vids and a blog entry related to the Matterbox, which I just received in the post today. There was a chocolate bar in there (emphasis on was) and also 2 games there which people are asked to review, so what I’m going to do is make an entry, and using pics that someone else has taken (properly attributed of course) write a bit about it, then the first video will talk about the stuff in it, and the second one (possibly a pair) will be with a person playing both games. It’ll make a change from the DiggerCast, which coincidentally is moving home, but the domain will still point to the DC’s current location, and in the future, it’ll be like it is now, although for the foreseeable future, the blog will get moved into its own space, till I work out how to move stuff into a multi-blog and put a domain on top of it. Of course, that’ll happen after everything has been moved over. Oh, additionally, I will be using the Rating WP plugin on the current DC site and future Podcasts website, so people can rate the episodes (be gentle!). It goes without saying that the Gamed Up website’ll use it too for its reviews system, though people will be able to give the game their own score..

I’m also hoping to gather a team of people for the DiggerCast, so we can make sure it sticks to the new pattern I’ve planned out for it (once every 2 weeks is an episode). I plan on uploading the 2 episodes I have recorded soon, but the new eps recording this coming weekend won’t be up till Xmas Eve; I will upload the 2 outstanding eps that weekend though just to have them sorted. There will be one ep in January which will be a farewell episode with regards to the Phase designation, meaning it’s going right into production! Regular series episodes will start in February, and will be uploaded once every 2 weeks, recording the weekend before, giving time to edit the episode and eventually transcribe it. Either way, with the server move happening, it gives me an opportunity to integrate stuff better and get a decent system going. Hopefully by the start of next year, everything will be sorted, and I won’t want to tear my hair out >.>

I’ll add more updates in due course. Oh, and before I forget… I’m not playing Guild Wars for a while now, given I’m getting into Lord of The Rings Online, and hopefully will be setting up a kinship (when I have enough people to). I’ve gotten myself and 2 other friends addicted to it, so we’re gonna be travelling Middle Earth for some time. If anyone is actually interested in joining us, let me know here and we’ll see about questing together. Additionally please note that we’re on the EU version of LoTRO, so US people can’t join us, but I will at least make inroads to have an equivalent US version of what we’re doing.

Watch this space for updates.

Edit: I’ve just made progress with my 250 movies goal, although admittedly I’ve seen them in the past but I’ve seen them so much, i want to take them off the list so I can focus on other movies instead, especially ones I have but haven’t seen in a while. or even haven’t seen at all!  Still, progress is progress.  I can also update the entry regarding podcasting, seeing as the DiggerCast is going into a proper production phase which I”m going to dub G2, given that There was a G1 ep posted (under Phase 1), and phases 2 and 3 were planned with a few test recordings (but never released), so the 3.5 phase is the true G2.

One thing I’ve also started to do is with the help of my server provider is install AWStats, in order to process server stats locally, although unfortunately it appears I cannot access any of my past site access logs, if any were ever kept.  Shame that.  At least I’m using StatCounter to keep progress on my sites; one of my sites (Therians dot Net – TdN) actually surprised me by indicating I’ve had over 1300 visitors to it in the past month, which isn’t bad going!  This site is a little lower on the scale, but hey at least it has exposure.  This site and TdN are the only active sites on StatCounter, though I do have more planned.  I would be putting the DiggerCast in as it is an active website, but it’s moving soon and I don’t fancy complicating matters with it just yet.   Besides, I’m still testing stuff out and it’s doubtful the stats would be all that impressive anyway.  At least though I have the groundwork sorted for when I do start it all, which I should soon.  I also need to sort out my IRC network’s website and plan out a prototype chat site, which should be fun.

Moving on to the 50 things bit, as I haven’t actually updated it much, if at all.  The list of updated ones are below – I’m going to summarise them in a paragraph each:

• 9. Properly produce a Podcast/Internet Radio Show. – (75% Complete)
  
• 14. Own part of a pub/bar. – (??% Complete)
• 29. Join the Special Constabulary. – (25% Complete)
• 33a. Be free of all short term debts  – (80% Complete)
• 35. Learn to to manage my time better. – (20% Complete)
• 36. Learn to budget my money properly. – (20% Complete)
• 46. See wolves face to face and maybe help out at a sanctuary. – (10% Complete)
• 19. Visit the birthplace of my ancestors and learn more about them. – (20% Complete)

Well, by far one of the highest in terms of completion is number 9, which has 2 pending episode edits and uploads.  I also need to change the software I use because as much as I like PrettyMay Skype Recorder, Pamela is much more suited to my needs, as I can lower the filesize, though I may need to use PrettyMay for longer until I’m sure I can afford Pamela, but when I can, I can at least feel that progression has happened with my podcasting techniques.  I have also decided as well that after switching between ideas, that the podcast would be best without time-sensitive content, meaning it gets adjusted to once every two weeks instead, which makes me think that I can fit in another podcast for the odd weeks.  I have an idea of what that might be… keep you posted on that one.  It is nice to know that I’m slowly hammering out a system though it is a bit frustrating it’s not a regular thing; however by freeing up the time constraints, it can now be recorded at any time available, though I need more thought on the timings.  Anyway, that’s the podcasting bit for now.

As for 14, no idea what happened there, it seems to have gone kaput!  What else can I say other than it’s just as well I haven’t invested any money into it, or is it because I didn’t that that happened?  We may never know.

With regards to 29, I’d like to think I made some progress here, even if ultimately, I failed this time.  It appears, based upon the rejection letter that I got, I passed the written test but failed the interview, which is fair enough.  I honestly had a feeling I failed it anyway; it’s extremely nerve-wracking and I really should have attended the workshop thing to help me.  Admittedly, I think my lack of interview experience may also be a factor as well… it’s been over 7 years since I had to attend any sort of job or positional interview now, so understandably I’m well out of practice.  In fact, the last job-related thing I attended was a group screening at Asda, which I failed.  As for Tesco, which I’m sure I’ve mentioned before, still nothing to report there, though I think I’ll be less nervous with that compared to the Specials gig.  I intend to reapply sometime in the new year, though I might wait till I have a job first and get back into the routine of working and/or customer service, as it might improve my prospects.

33a, 35 and 36 are all tied into each other in a sense, well 33a and 36 are at least so I’ll start with them.  I’ve never been all that good at managing my money, and the fact I currently have no real “local savings” at the moment proves it.  Although admittedly, moving does actually take a lot of blame for that; it’ll be a total of about 8 months since I moved before I can start to see a slight improvement, 9 months before I see something noticable and 12 months before I see a more signifiant improvement.  At present, I’m now in month 7 since moving, meaning by the end of next month I should have increased my spending power a bit, though it wont be till sometime in November before I can plan with it better.  It won’t be until February next year that I can actually start looking long term into my finances.  I plan to move my bank account to another company at some point and also setup an ISA, but I can’t really set one of those up till next year because I was going to move the money I have in a Post Office Savings Account to the ISA and they pay at the end of the year;  if I asked for the money now, it would be October before it comes out anyway and with it being around 4 months before they pay the interest on the account, it seems silly to take it out, plus it also means I can plan it much better.

I find it a little frustrating that I have to wait a month for the money to come out, and it appears the interest rate is a bit dismal, so I may as well put the money to better use elsewhere.  It may only be a relatively minor sum, but it can earn more elsewhere; I need it to either fund my bike or trip to the USA, if not both.   I also have some Premium Bonds which I plan on cashing in and putting into the Post Office account, which seems a better use of the money to be honest, especially when you consider I haven’t a chance in hell at winning… I certainly haven’t won anything since the bonds were issued!  They’d serve me much better gaining interest.  It is a little bittersweet having to get rid of them all to be honest, as they have been around since either just before I was born or within a few years after, but I guess it’s less documents for me to manage and also, I have more immediate access to the money.  I honestly have no idea how the interest on the account works though to be honest… I may just send it off in the new year to get a balance update, though selling off the bonds and transferring the money from them ro the account would be a sensible idea first… I’m doubtful there would be all that much interest on the whole though.  Still, every little helps, right?

As for time management, I’ve gotten myself a diary and plan to continue to get one, and start writing in it.  I’m going to get an A5 one, given I never really have anything to put in it anyway.  I’m going to look at getting one from PoundLand, as they’re cheaper.  I still amn’t sure if I want one for personal, one for business or just merge the two together… actually, that may be best; I can just tag each entry with B or P, so I know what’s what, though this means that I need a bigger diary… erg, complicated!  I’ve still got a few months before the new year starts though so I can start working out the best method, though I may get 2 diaries; one for all my engagements and another for engagements that require me to be on the move, so I’ll have to have it with me at all times.  The benefit of that system is that if I have a big, central diary, if I lose the small one, I can just buy a replacement, which seems the best option, given how forgetful I am!  Still, once I start getting to use a diary more properly, it’ll work out a lot better for me.  I am slowly getting better in both of these, even if they’re not exactly related, apart from the fact I’m awful with both of them!

Lastly, and still somehow not being as verbose as yesterday’s blog entry, we come to the wolf sanctuary bit.  I’ve decided it’s best if I go to somewhere more local to me, so I’ll eventually be visiting Wildwood, which is coincidentally near Canterbury although when I eventually go around there, I can’t visit, as it’ll be for a different reason entirely.  I completely forgot I updated it!  I’ll eventually put some photos up of my visit to Wildwood, when I go, which reminds me that I need to upload rakes of more photos to my Flickr account, as there’s many old and new ones I haven’t uploaded yet.  I am rather glad though that given I have more space and a decent internet connection, I no longer have to shrink the pictures, meaning Flickr is a great backup area for my photos too, so I just need 1 more safe area, given that My network drive and desktop will be keeping the photos.

And definitely lastly, the geneology thing.  I’m taking a notepad and camera with me for notes on the family tree and also to take photos of the area and also the family gravestones, so that will be an interesting thing to do.

I think it’s only just shorter than yesterday’s post at this point!  I do have a lot to write about sometimes, and I’m going to be unapologeltic about it (as I should), given that it’s my blog, and its entire point is a place for me to put my thoughts to paper.  It is likely that I’ll end up putting the stuff I get up to as a blog of this site’s multi-blog system now, given I’m not going to have a dedicated blog for my CV & Portfolio site now.  The entire point of the portfolio site is really an excuse for me to learn (x)HTML/CSS and PHP, so in a way it’s good to have somewhere where I can just write without worrying about code.  And on the subject of writing (like I haven’t done enough already!), I’m going to be setting up a wiki off the Xeno Storm dot Net website so I have somewhere to put up some stories I plan to write.  It also gives me a chance to try out a sub-wiki system, via “subdirectories”, given I’m going to have a travel section, projects section and writing section.  Admittedly, my friend Scott (who is the other half of Xeno Storm, Broken Xeno) has a domain for a universe he is designing with a friend, which I will eventually see myself contributing to, but at the moment I’ve heard very little, so I’m just going to do my own thing, flesh out a few characters I own and see how it goes from there.  The XSdN Wiki is essentially the centralised infobase for everything under the Xeno Storm brand, meaning this site, the Xeno Storm site, Scott’s site and anything related, such as the Thames Cycle and Hop On, Hop Off projects as well as anything else I come up with now, during and before them.

I’m beginning to think my theme for the next year is consolidation, which should start to save me money, especially once I get my community consolidation project up and running.  It’s going to replace the WikiNet idea I initially had, as I realised I can just come up with a subdomain and stick a wiki, forums and other related stuff to do with that site there.  If it takes off, it’s likely to get its own domain because then I know it has enough support to get off the ground; it’s not really in my best interests to register a domain for every single idea I have, as it adds to my costs, so this is a compromise.  I’m subsequently dropping off 2 domains for renewal over the next 2 days as I no longer need them.  Those of you remember the Jammed In Project, if I ever mentioned it here would either know that it got replaced by the DiggerCast (which let’s face it, has a better sense of awareness anyway) and the st-timelines domain, which essentially is dead, but exists in small pockets.  I’m folding it into the Xeno Storm Wiki, under the writing section, so we at least have some record of its existance, as the writing there is too good to be forgotten, but maybe that’s just me thinking that.

Either way, it’s being moved so watch out for that – I’ll add an update to show when that happens.  Also expect me to write something about my character, Felix “Strider” Sheridan, as part of the Strider Chronicles.  I’m more than likely going to try to write it in a novel format, in the sense that it may be 2 book pages to a wiki page, although depending on how long each page is, it may actually end up being closer to 6; it’s going to be an even number for the most part (I’ll write it up first in a Word document, then see how much it takes up.  I’m rather excited at the thought that I’m finally getting into writing, but more than likely, the actual story will happen in installments from next year, while I flesh out the character before I start writing about him properly.  Keep in mind also that you may see a representation of him in Scott’s universe too, though different.  I intend to write up a few character profiles for him, and differing depending on the universe.   I think though that if I’ve a logical place to write in, then I’ll eventually start writing, although it’ll mainly just be text.  Also, as time goes on, I’ll be making use of the Wiki’s features in otder to make it better organised and also flow more freely.  It’ll certainly be an exciting time, all the same.

Anyway, I’m going to stop here, as I have nothing else to add, and I’m damn sure I’ve written more than yesterday’s entry >.>  I really have a tendancy to get carried away with myself, but I guess that’s by no means a bad thing… I just wish I could do it more often, especiallt with fiction.  Also, on a side-note, the XS Wiki will not be editable by anyone other than myself, Scott or my project partners.  The Wiki is more or less a place to display our ideas to the public, and not an outside collaborative effort; it’s entirely internal.  The reason why I’m using a wiki is purely because it has the features I’d be wanting for writing and showing off stuff; as much as I like blogs, I find it’s not really a system that’s good for really showing off ideas the way I want to, that is I want to be able to, without having to worry about too much coding, write a story and have it displayed in such a way it flows the way I want it to, as opposed to blog style.  I’ll most likely post an extract from a story I’m writing in my personal project blog from time to time and add in a link to the story, but that’s really the only blog exposure that anything with a narrative and is fiction will get.  The project section on the wiki will most likely be a summary of each the team/group project that is done under the XS banner, by way of a record; the gallery will be linked, as will the blog and any other info that the blog doesn’t handle, so in a sense it’ll contain things that we haven’t mentioned on the blog or in the photo gallery or other little, interesting things.

I sometimes seem a little too ambitious for my own good, to be honest, but the reason why I’m using blogs and wikis, and their multi counterparts is purely for simplicity and less hassle and remembering of passwords.  That and the fact that I can just write something and format it more easily, and not have to worry about much coding.  It makes perfect sense for me to go the way I’m going at the moment.  I’m also thinking that I may actually just make the Techie Guild Wiki the central place for tutorials and how-tos for all my websites, provided it’s techy stuff anyway.

It’s made me realise that my objectives seem to be the following:

• Don’t repeat content if you have to; if you need the same thing for another site, just link the original page you did, with a short explanation.
• If anything is related, share the base software, ie: have a multi-blog or multi-wiki system, so you only have one install, but multiple systems running off it, ie: have separate single blogs on a multi-blog system.
• Reduce the amount of coding required where possible, so it’s simple to get what you require out.
• Reduce the amount of separate logins where possible, less to remember.
• Reduce the amount of installs of the same software to conserve space and reduce headaches when backing up; use plugins to software if possible to get a more integrated system going.

It all makes perfect sense to be honest…  and while everything may be a little shaky at the start, as time goes on, the system will start to work better, especially given some of the systems are yet to be fully planned, or they’re easily integrated into a future system.  You can totally see the random randomness come in now, can’t you?  Admittedly, people may or may not understand what I have to say, but hey, so long as I understand it I guess it’s okay!  If you do understand it, then fair play to you; all I’m doing at the moment equates to a brain dump of ideas, in some possibly comprehensible, albeit readable format.  If anyone wants to make use of any of my ideas, feel free… but please let me know that you used it, because I’d be very interested to see it in action.  The problem with many of my ideas is that I think they might work, but I either am too disorganised to do them myself (quite common) or they’re beyond my ability at the moment (surprisingly common).  I’ve given out ideas freely in the past if I see a use for them in a friend’s project; in fact for the “Camelot” mIRC project I’ve worked on and off for the past 8 years is an ehancement of a MUD-like environment someone else developed, called Starbase Oceania (SBO).  The reason why I’m mentioning this is because I was the one who came up with the credits system for it; it was a system where you earned a credit for each time you typed a single line within the bot.  I also assisted with some of the descriptions as well.  Sadly, SBO appears not to be up any more, but I have plans to design a successor in mIRC 7.x although it may be a case of being too late, but to be honest I’ll more than likely use it as the basis for a prototype and then design a proper client-server system around it.

I’ll have to sort out the design for it though, which could take a while.  Either way, I want to first sort out more immediate projects before working on anything new, even if it was a preexisting project.  It’ll be a bugger to get it working, because of the network complications at my end, but I’ll think of something no doubt.  It may be that I’ll instead just use a VPS to host after and connect a website VPS to the dev server, so I can have a web frontend.  But yeah, I need to focus.

I’m going to stop here now before I run away with myself any further because I think I’ve nearly gone twice as long as the other entry without meaning to!  I could actually use Twitter as an alternate, off-site status system as well which would be useful.  Sadly though, I think MUDs are slowly being phased out, but I don’t care because I’m essentially designing a future framework and want to see how it would work at the most basic level first as I need to learn more advanced stuff.  I’ll speak about this project more in time, but for now, I’m stopping it here.

I feel that I’ll have a third entry, possibly more this month, so watch out for it, otherwise I’ll post more next month… I really need to write to my LiveJournal sometime though

This blog isn’t supposed to have anything to do with games, but I managed to get myself addicted to Bejewelled Blitz and yesterday was by far my best score; I scored roughly 308k in that game, though I’m wondering how people can get scores of 500k plus in 60 seconds!  Anyway, that aside I’ve also signed up to a new browser game, much like Lord of Ultima (LoU), called Might & Magic: Heroes Kingdoms (MMHK).  It’s quite similar to LoU, except it reminds me more of the Heroes of Might & Magic series, except it’s in real-time.  Sadly, all games of these nature I end up dropping after a few weeks, sometimes months, so I’m likely to get back to Guild Wars and Lord of The Rings Online.  I might have to play a bit of Star Trek Online at some point soon too, seeing as I haven’t played it in a while and I pay for it monthly!  Anyway, still games related but in a different vein, I attended a Joystick Junkies (JJ) party for the first time in at least 3 years!  It was great to go there, although the venue was extremely posh… read that as I’d never be able to go there under my current, normal circumstances!  All that aside though, it was good to get back in touch with Chris as I hadn’t seen him since the second JJ party, the first being back in September 2004 after Game Stars Live… oh, those were the days.  I have pictures up online somewhere of the GSL Event, but damned if I know where they are on Fotki!

Of course back then, I was more obsessed with booth babes and freebies!  Oddly enough though, I was kind of working on stuff back then what would have fit into my current game site project; I still actually have some of the promotional materials from that as well.  This reminds me that I really need to get myself some business cards.  Anyway getting back on track, at the JJ party, I had the pleasure of meeting Ian Livingstone, the guy regarded as the father of Lara Croft (you may recognise him as being involved with Eidos, Fighting Fantasy or the Game Workshop).  Admittedly, I didn’t actually know what he looked like, which happens a lot with me.  I know of people, but don’t necessarily know how they look!  That said though, I imagine I’d have recognised Peter Molyneux and I know for a fact I’d recognise Jon Hare given I’ve met him a few times now!  Anyway, I asked him if I’d be able to interview him for the Gamed Up website and he said yes, so I’m happy about that.  I actually haven’t contacted him since then as I amn’t sure of what to say at present, though I might just send him an email to explain more about Gamed Up.

Given I want to have some features up for the site which will be sometime within the next couple of months (properly), I’m going to approach industry people and ask them if I’d be able to interview them sometime.  I eventually hope to do this on the Gamed Up site proper, even if it’s just a temporary blog on there – indeed I’m putting up the multi-blog system so I can start blogging about games somewhere; given that my games blog will take a different format to the rest of the site, I should be able to get away with using it while the site is still being built! – but for now, I’m going to field interview questions here, so if anyone reading has a question they’d like to ask Ian Livingstone, please comment below, or if you have my email address, you can send questions that way.  Please do title it “Re: Interview Questions” though so I know what it’s about.  In the future I’ll have a dedicated interview email address, but that’s a little time off yet, same for the other email addresses.  Please keep in mind though that I may choose to combine, rephrase or even not use questions to help things flow smoothly.  Lastly, if anyone is interested in Gamed up and either wants to know more about it, or sign up to it, they can comment here or email, and I’ll answer what I can.

I eventually plan on writing a nice long blurb about it, but that’s not going to be for a while yet as I need to think about how to word it, although admittedly I may have to come up with it sooner, so I have something to show people when they ask about it!  Watch this space for details and I’ll get back to you.  At the very least, I hope by the start of November to at least have my WordPress installs in place.  I will eventually be adding my project blog to here as well, but I need another few weeks to sort that out.  It’s becoming increasingly likely as well that this will be my only personal site for a while!  I do also plan on getting back into writing, but for now, that’s limited to games design documents that I’m preparing seeing as Notepad doesn’t quite cut it, no matter what I’d like to think!  I would love to code some sort of reader thingy though, so people can read what I write in a more linear format.  Anyway, that’s something that can be worked on in the future.  I’m going to let people in on a little secret though… I’m designing an RPG with a friend of mine of which we’re using RPG Maker 2003 (it’s simpler to use!) to design a concept with; it’ll be a fully playable game, though the full game mechanics won’t be present, due to the limitations of RPG Maker.  Also what won’t appear is the entire story, given we’d save that for a more professional release.  Still though, it’s better to have something basic down before taking it further… it’s a given the planned mechanics won’t work too well, but at least if nothing else the story, characters and maps can be fleshed out in this manner; it provides a means to see how well the basic components work.

Of course, the issue is that we need to work out how RPG Maker 2003 works although we’re making progress in that regard but we’re gonna make something basic first before expanding upon stuff, so we understand how the engine works and such.  I’ll eventually start a blog with regards to it going but again that’s a while off.  I imagine though that the independent (yet related) blogs will take off sooner than the main site will, which is by no means a bad thing… may as well get something started with it, right? Part of my plans though is to get a blog up for every section I have planned for the site, so there’s at least a placeholder, which saves me from doing anything later, plus has the added benefit of making sure that everything works correctly.  I’ve always been more about function over aesthetics, but in the case of Gamed Up, I really want to site to look professional and have something to show for when it’s up and running, hence why I’m gathering up staff atm, and preparing for interviews early as well.  Indeed, the sections are still being planned but I at least have a small idea of what I want to get on the site, although the list gets bigger as I realise the scope of what I’m doing.

I can’t really say anything else at the moment with regards to it, but I do hope that when it does finally get up and running, it’ll be something amazing… although given that my sites tend to have a slow takeoff, I’m going to have to accept that there might be a small userbase at the start; of course, it will help if I can start tying the site into other sites on my network and also places like Steam, Mypace, Bebo, Tagged, Facebook, etc. just to have some sort of presence there.  I do at least plan to have the site’s internal backbone working soonish, though there is already a clan presence at least; it’s all about the small steps.

Unfortunately, I can’t take screenshots of C&C4, though I can of STO, and expect some in my Flickr gallery soon.  And just to talk a little bit more about C&C4, I’m honestly not sure if I like it, but it’ll be released next month, so we’ll have to see what happens then.  There’s noconventional bases in it and it sems rather remensicent of Dawn of War without the building options… actually, those of you who remember the game Z, it’s more like that.  Other than that, I’m having to wait for stuff regarding my new house and I’m hoping to record a DiggerCast pilot episode either tomorrow or next week.  I also plan on going to see Assemblage 23, which are pretty damn good.  I recently managed to properly listen to all their music and I do quite like them, so I’ll be seeing them next week.  I’ll post some more here later, although I think my LJ needs to be updated some more, seeing as it’s swamped with Tweets.  Realistically though, unless something significant happens between now and my next post on here, it’s likely that the aforementioned next post will be a better opinion on STO, which should really be put onto a games blog, but at present I have none so here will have to do.  I really need to give Guild Wars some attention too; although in a way I’m glad there’s no monthly fees as like I said in the past, it doesn’t feel like a chore in that I have to play it.  It also means I can save money.  Either way though, I’m going to start balancing it out.  Heh, I might even consider playing WoW again, just to use the trial time I have.

And if anyone has wondered what I’ve actually played, I can tell you I’ve played these:

• EverQuest
• Subspace/Continuum
• Guild Wars
• World of Warcraft
• Lord of The Rings Online
• Star Trek Online

I might have also played these games, or at the very least I have them or have them downloaded or bought/aquired a copy:

• Dungeons & Dragons Online
• Ultima Online
• Dark Age of Camelot

Well, it’s safe to say that I’ve played a fair few games.  Not surprising given I have been gaming since at least 1989.  And by this point I’d like to think I’ve a pretty respectable opinion when it comes to games.  Well, at the very least I can work out how to play most games within half an hour.  I’m old enough to  remember playing Doom, Wolf3D, Quake and their successors as well as also The Catacomb Abyss.  Games were certainly more original back then anyway, and when I mean “back then”, I mean before 2000.  I need to properly go “retro” at some point, although it feels a little odd to me calling anything before 2000 retro, but there you go.  I do actually have plans to write an entry about the games industry and how it’s progressed, although I think I need to do research on that first.  I should be able to do it now, given I have read enough about the history of games and consoles.  Look out for that at some point in time.  I also want to develop my own game at some point too, which I’m looking at getting a team together for, but more on that later.

Well, I can’t think of anything else to say really, but I might look at talking about STO in more detail at the very least.  I certainly want to play some Guild Wars again before I do though.  Expect some screenshots at the very least.

Anyway, Even though this blog is more about what I’m thinking, I figured I should at least start doing a cursory glance at what I plan to do over the next month…

First of all, I decided in the interests of putting less strain on this PC, I’m using a spare one that I have for music production and programming/development.  Of course, what I’ll be doing webserver wise is using a USB server on a stick, to make sure stuff such as Apache and MySQL don’t take up system resources, unless I need them to.  Of course, that being said, I may end up using the PC for internet radio as well seeing as it requires MySQL to run.  I guess this then means that this PC will be my PC only for entertainment and downloading.  Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but I just realised that most likely anything involved with multimedia production and programming will be on the second PC now, with this essentially being mostly for games.  I shelled out 40 quid on a few bits for both PCs to help facilitate some of the above…

1 x Gold 3.5mm Stereo Jack Socket to 2 Phono RCA Plugs Adapter Cable (K006) = £0.69
1 x USB Joystick Converter 15 pin Game Port to USB (USB-Nest) = £8.37
1 x USB Mouse to PS/2 PS2 6 pin Plug Adapter Convertor GREEN (333962) = £1.27
1 x 2 Port Auto KVM Switch – Built in USB Hub for Sharing USB Devices (MPB068A-1) = £19.57
——————————————————
Sub-Total: £29.90
3 Day Courier Delivery (Usually within 3 days Courier Service – Not Royal Mail): £4.49
VAT 15%: £5.16
Total: £39.55

Gotta love the fact that VAT adds a fairly sizable chunk to my bill.  But yeah, I only initially wanted to get the top one, but then I realised that I could get everything else I wanted too; the KVM for switching between the production and entertainment PCs (although I may have to use the classic VGA connection now); the adapter cable to go with the second one that I have that’ll convert the 4 RCA ports on the back of my Audiophile to 2 3.5mm stereo jacks (I know it’s not ideal, but I can’t have 2 huge sets of speakers up here! – I’m also using some cheapy ones from PoundLand for the time being till I can get some half-decent smallish ones); then the Joystick converter which is mainly for my gaming system, seeing as I discovered my production PC has its own MIDI port, which is gonna be useless gaming-wise (my MIDI controller is USB as well, so it’s gonna find little use) and lastly the USB to PS/2 mouse converter, so I can free up a USB port.  I’m not actually even sure if there’s any real benefits of using a mouse in USB over PS/2 although it’s nice just to have it lying around anyway.  That said though, the KVM switch is going to host the mouse, keyboard and monitor so I could always just hook the mouse back up to USB.  I’m also moving my router and network drive downstairs sometime soon in the interests of regaining space.  More than likely, I’ll have to switch my PC off and reorganise all the cables but it’s a good time to do so.  I’m going to also be using my spare HDMI TV as a secondary monitor, as it’s just lying there right now with nothing to do.  It also means that I don’t have to go downstairs in order to switch over to something “important”, which invariably happens on the IRC networks that I hang out on.  One thing I also planned to do was stick my 2 rear spakers to the wall, thus freeing up more desk space.  The centre and front speakers are fine where they are, but the back speakers make things a little crowded, I feel.

Once I move my router downstairs though, I can wire up the PS3, although the desktops will have to go wireless, as I don’t need cables to be trailed round the place as it makes things look messier, plus it’s a bit dangerous and I don’t think the cables reach that far anyway.  Either way, it’s going to be much nicer here when I get everything sorted out; the PS3 is already connected to a CAT6 for when the router goes downstairs and it’s mostly hidden as well, although I need to make sure it stays on the ground when it goes under the door.  I may also have to slightly shigt the PS3 in a bit to make sure that there’s enough slack for the cable.  Either way, there’s going to be a hell of a lot to do.  I did try to upgrade my PS3 40GB’s HDD yesterday, but it turns out I needed a 2.5GB SATA drive, go figure.  The RAM I got didn’t work either as I needed DDR and I bought DDR2, doh!

Anyway, I went back that evening to get replacements and ended up having to buy another 1GB for my music PC, though depending on certain factors, I might have to get another 1GB.  If that’s the case, the 512MB I have spare may not be of any use to me any more, unless it works in the spare base unit that I’ve got, then I can use that as practice for the CompTIA I eventually plan to take.  I’m not going to lie… this entry has been written over 2-3 days, so if anything seems a bit inconsistant, you now know why!  With this in mine, I may as well mention the hassle of upgrading my PS3 hard drive… it wasn’t getting the old drive out or the new drive in that was the problem… it was getting the frame holding the drive in!  The screws are really tight and all the screwdrives I had wouldn’t let me take it off!  In the end, I had to use my powered one although it’s just as well I had one to be honest or I’d not have been able to replace the hard drive easily!  I am hoping the old one is still okay as I touched the connectors a couple of times, whoops.  The next thing I need to sort out is my RAM for my desktops although I really don’t want to do that today… I need to go and reinstall/re-download everything on my PS3, and patch up my games.  For some bizarre reason though, I have problems staying connected to PSN since the 3.10 update although I have downloaded some thing s so far.  Wireless was being a pain, so I had to use the guest access on my router (really handy to have) to get the PS3 online.  It worked, but the problem now is that I can’t have access to my media drive!

That said though, this is a temporary solution while I work out how to reorganise my flat… I think it’s likely that a trip to Ikea’s in order, so I hope I have the money!  For starters, I am gonna have one of those really thin bookcases, so I can store a few extra things behind my large one.  Then I also want another bookcase for my living room, so I can keep some more stuff there, as it looks likely that I’ll need to expand my space for DVDs, though it may be more likely that I put my games on it instead, as I have quite a few of them.  I’ll think of something, albeit next year.  I’ll also need some shelving to sort a few things out with as well; I certainly see a few places where a shelf could fit.  Sometimes I wish I owned my own place instead of renting, then some of these concerns wouldn’t be as big, seeing as when I move out of here one day, I’ll have to fill up all the holes I’ve drilled and give the whole place a new lick of paint!

The RAM, for those who are curious, has not been sorted out as of yet, though it will be eventually.  Moving on swiftly to the DiggerCast (DC) and other podcasts and Stormhaven Radio (SHR), I’ve decided that for now that I’ll just work on the DC, and have those due to appear on either SHR or other podscasts I plan to do to appear on the DC instead till things are sorted.  The draw for this is that there will be different people each time it’s recording, although it’s the same group of people doing it.  Essentially, it all depends on who is around at the time, although I’m gonna cap the amount of people at no more than 4, and consider doing it once a week, for 30-40 minutes an episode, although there will be some pre-planning before then.  The format harks back to the initial podcast (and the only released one!) which was “popular” (we only had a few fans as only a few people heard it) because of the banter between myself and Sean.  I’m hoping that what made the original funny will make this one as funny, if not funnier.  The concept essentially revolves around the team digging up a website and talking about it for the podcast, although that said, the stuff talked about may not necessarily be about the site!

The websites aren’t generally the usual ones either, as they’re generally places like failblog.org, thisiswhyyourefat.com and overheardinlondon.co.uk, just to name a few, which gives rise to the catchphrase “We dig up the craziest parts of the web!”.  I actually have a list of sites that I’ve dug up specifically for it and in the interests of amusement, I’m going to use something that randomly picks out a website for us “on the air”.  While there’s a possibility that sme of the people have been on the sites before, some others might not have and the content is usually updated anyway, so there should be something for everyone.  Even better is that none of this is scripted, so what you here will be genuine reactions to what people see.  There are other considersations in this I’m sure, but I’ve not thought that far ahead; it can wait till I’ve recorded a few sample episodes.  This format is about the only way I thought that could capture the original feeling of the DiggerCast, given I had tried to find a place for it to go, and although the technology reporting approach might work, at the same time, I think it’s not what the DC is about.  I intend to upload the “drafts” of the DC that was recorded under the “techcast” format, seeing as I think it’s important to both indicate that some headway was being made (even if it flopped) and also to get feedback on what could have been.  Keep in mind though that they’re rough, so they’re not going to be perfect.

Because of a brand new format, I’m actually going to be shunting all the DC content to its own WPMU blog and having an archive for each “phase” of the DC, just to show the differences between them.  Officially, while this format is meant to be phase 4, phase 3 ever amounted to much so instead it’ll be phase 3.5.  I don’t think I even mentioned phase 3.0 other than here anyway, so it’s likely that it will have no other mention other than here, meaning that there’s only 3 complete phases.  Given that 3.0 never made it off the drawing board, asides from a few chats with people, it makes sense to call this one phase 3.5 as it’s a refinement of phase 3.  It also includes a few elements from the first one, although mostly it has its roots in phase 3.

The main points of this one are indicated below (with the phases that they were taken from):

• The banter between hosts (1)
• The randomness of choosing websites (1) – though this time it’s a single one chosen by a computer
• Bringing in guests (3)
• Users being able to interact more with the podcast, such as suggesting a website to go to (3)
• Having more than 2 hosts (2)

There may be more there, but those are the main ones I can think of at the moment.  As for why this isn’t going on the DC website… well, it’s not up yet properly, then there’s the fact that I’m gonna continue the old “everything on this blog” format until the new year.  I figure that by that point, I’ll have my project blogs up anyway, so can start talking about my projects more.  This, as I’ve said before is going to be more for my opinions, musings and rants on various things.  There is also the fact, which I sort of touched upon previously is that I’ve nowhere to put this sort of stuff yet, so I may as well mention what I have planned out.  Hell, maybe someone finds my randomness interesting.  On that thought though, going back to this blog… and more than likely closing off this entry, I figure that if I consistantly say that I’ll type up an entry at least 2 or 3 times a month, whenever I feel I want to blog should be enough warning.  Besides, I’m pretty random in terms of stuff anyway, so predictibility isn’t my strong suit.  I should also mention, while I’m talking about my blog is that I’ve made a few changes to my blogroll and have added and removed people.  One person I’ve added is Glen McNamee, who goes under the nickname C64Glen.  He’s mentioned me a few times in his blog now and I’ve not had a chance to mention him as of yet (although some of you may have found this blog through him), so I figured that now’s a good time as any!  I’m going to have to think a bit more about what I plan to do with my blog in the future, as I think that I should be able to expand the scope of it, although I do at least want to move my projects and experiments elsewhere so I can expand on them more without me feeling that the project is the whole point of the post, as usually it isn’t; as if I havent’ said it enough already, I want to use this blog more for my thoughts, musings, opinions and rants on things as opposed to what I do.  I’m still only starting out properly with blogging, so you’ll have to forgive my roughness at the start.

I am also trying to work out how these Trackback things work as well, although in the future I do hope to start referencing people’s blogs and read more of them.  I’ve referenced C64Glen’s latest post as I’m not sure if you can reference a blog itself, but then there is also the fact it’s a post mentioning a wolf (of the Courage sort), so it’s not a bad post to reference to be honest.  Also, now that I remembered it, I’m gonna be working on a “40 things” list, as I had talked about it.  I need to go and see a few more to be honest, and I want to start from February, as that’s always been my “New Year”.  Additionally, given that I do like to read but haven’t done it properly in a while… as penance for my lack of reading on the whole (though I have read 3 books within the past couple of weeks) I’ll tackle the top 200 list.  I’m still trying to work out if I can count the first “book” of “His Dark Materials” as read (same for The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe), given I haven’t read it in a while.  I may just start with a clean slate to be honest; at least then I can properly say I’ve done it.  I do have a handful of those books already, so at least I can get started somewhat straight away.  Given that I’m a pretty fast reader, though I intend to take breaks, or read them a little bit slower, I imagine I can finish the 200 in less than 3 years, even if I do end up straying.  I suppose though it all depends on what I’m trying to accomplish.

I may also sign up to 43 things for ideas on what I could do, as although I’m not completely aimless, I’d have a little difficulty coming up with 40-43 things to actually accomplish.  Some things though, I’m going to combine as one thing, either because they make sense to, or it’s a case of redoing something something I lost, such as a language.  Still, it’s food for thought as to what I want to accomplish.  In the meantime though, I’m gonna have a quick look at my blog to see what I can do to tidy it up some more… I will give the list some thought though as I already have an idea of a few things I want to do. I should also remember to change my email address too, now I’ve set up Google Mail for this domain!

Watch this space for developments…

Certainties in life

• Life itself – Kinda self-explanitory.  Life, we live it…. it’s the beginning of a cycle.
• Death – We all gotta go sometime… the end of a cycle, but not the end of this post.
• Taxes – They’re everywhere and you can’t escape them… VAT, car tax, Council Tax… you’re bound to have at least one of those, if not all 3.  And there’s not just those.
• The Sun & The Rain – Sometimes together, sometimes apart, but always there.  According to Madness, it’s what life is about; they’re cycles, and life is a cycle.
• Things are always further away than you think. – Oh, I learnt this the hard way.  You think something is just up the road… then you forget how long the road actually is!
• They’re even further with a heavy load. -  Dragging something a mile up the road is not my idea of a good time…
• It is possible to get lost on a straight road – If you don’t know what you’re looking for, you’ll never find it.
• You’ll find things when you don’t need them. – I know I have.
• You lose them again soon after. – “Oh yeah, I do actually need it… crap, where’d it go?!”
• You can’t find something you really need. – I know it’s here somewhere, I remember seeing it here yesterday!
• You can never have too many kettle leads. - You always seem to have less than you think.
• Upturned plugs are bound to be stepped on. – They’re gonna hurt like hell too!
• If it seems too good to be true, it usually is. – Something’s broken, you’re not eligable, you can’t afford it, it’s too far… and they’re just the main ones.
• They’re not out to get you. – You’re not that important, get over it.
• Computers – Yes, they’re here… yes, they’re annoying… but we need them.
• Some of the best, closest friends you have you may never have met – The internet… it’s more important than you realise.
• A really good friend is someone you can talk to again after weeks, months or even years and it was like you just talked to them yesterday. – Treasure them. (I know it’s not in the usual format, but it’s damn hard to word that right!)
• Time isn’t always that straightforward – Just because time can be measured, it doesn’t mean it can be valued.
• Days can go by as fast as hours, minutes as slow as hours. – Perception of time is different for all… days can meld together; hours can separate and feel like days… minutes and seconds can pause.
• The infinity of human stupidity – This one is kinda obvious.  Just when you think something is the height of stupidity, something raises the bar, sometimes a little but often a lot.

I plan on adding to these gradually, but if you want to suggest your own, then please do so in the comments.