Year: 2011

My first game of Baduk (Go)

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Played my first game of Go 囲碁(Japan). It is also known as Baduk 바둑 in Korea and wéiqí 围棋 in China. It has a huge following with TV channels devoted to it.

Playing white, my position at the end game was … I suck! ZERO score, computer was 90.5 … still learning the strategy.

At least it is better then losing chess in four moves … that feat is embarrassing.
Being a Mac user I played the game using an excellent free Go program called Goban.
I also purchased an expensive, but hopefully good program for the iPad called SmartGo Kifu

Battlefield 3 Pre Release Download

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Not long now until Battlefield 3 will be out. In fact I have already downloaded it

If you purchase Battlefield 3 through Origin, EA will let you download it from the 21st of October. Unfortunately you can’t play it, not even the single player version.


Its just sitting there tempting me …  B.A.S.T.A.R.D.S !!!!

You click and all you get is

So I have to wait until 10 am Thursday, 27th of October Australian time to play.

To add insult to injury I had to pay AUD $79 which is much more then the cost of the American version and the American dollar is worth less then our dollar.

Off course I am not complaining about having to wait, nor am I complaining about the higher price here.  Australians are used to being ripped off which is why I buy my books and Blu Rays from overseas.

Steve Jobs

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A slightly more famous Steve then I passed away today. Its hard to believe that someone who helped invent the personal computer is gone, and at only 56 way too young.

I can’t even begin to think how much money on I have spent on Apple products, starting with the Apple IIe way back in 1984.

I think it has been

– Apple IIe
– Macintosh Clasic II?
– G4 Laptop
– Intel Core Duo laptop
– Intel Mac Mini (2006)
– Mac Mini (2011)
– the last Macbook Pro 15″ before the Unibodies came in (early 2008)
– MacBook Air 13″ 2011

The IIe cost somewhere between $3,000 and $4,000 dollars AUD in 84!  I could buy a really nice motorbike with that sort of money now.

Tax Time

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I always use e-tax to do my Australian tax return.

For the last three years I have the same process:

1. Enter all the data that is relevant, then get an answer that says I owe the tax office money
2. Procrastinate for two or three months until finally I figure out what I have done wrong.
3. It seems I don’t fill in the medicare levy surcharge question which means by default I get charged it!  DOH DOH
4. When I repeat this process next year I will see this note and get my refund in July, not October!

In summary, if you are using E-Tax don’t jump around and fill in the questions you know are relevant. Start at Q1 and finnish at the end.

hmm, its now 4:48 am DST (daylights savings starts today) .. time to hit the sack.

Learning to Dive

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Last weekend (Friday, July 22nd) I started a Scuba course at Dive Plus.

Friday, 6pm:  Introduction, basic theory and practice in Dive Plus swimming pool.

Saturday, July 23:
Sunday, July 24: Dives at Blairgowrie Yacht Squadron Pier.

Saturday, July 30: One Dive at Blairgowrie Yacht Squadron Pier and written test at Rye Pub.

Our group would have finished yesterday, but unfortunately the instructor had done too many ascents and descents to be able to continue with a second dive.

I have been extremely impressed with the level of training offered and would recommend Dive Plus to anyone wanting to learn scuba diving.

The final dive was fantastic because the temperature had risen to the high teens instead of the 10 or 11 with rain it was before.
In short if you don’t like cold water or cold weather do your training in summer

Dual Monitors, not enough baby

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On my new computer I have an AMD Radeon 6950 which support eyefinity. This is the ability to run 3 monitors (or more) as one virtual display.

In my case this means a display of 5040 x 1049. I have three monitors, all different,

Dell U2410 24” – 1920 x 1200
Samsung SyncMaster 24” – 1920 x 1080
Asus VW222 22” – 1920 x 1080

In an ideal world you would run the same brand model monitor. I would recommend 22” monitors b/c there is not much difference between a 22” and a 24” in terms of what you see, but the physical size of three 24” monitors on your desk is much larger.

Scuba-man

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There is a really good website for deals if you live in Australia. http://www.scoopon.com.au/

There is usually something worth having, like restaurant meals, massage specials or god forbid, Golf

Well I purchased the scuba course:

“Save over 80% on an International Open Water Dive Certification! JUST $134 – NORMALLY $695! Includes 4 Ocean Dives, 4 Indoor Heated Pool Dives + 4 Tutorials + Manual to keep + Worldwide Scuba Qualification! ALL Gear, Tanks + Air Fills Included!”

So I have to get a medical and then book the class.

Melbourne is not renown for its temperature waters, especially with winter coming up, so I wonder if they have a wet-suit in size fat?

Cheap Blurays in Australia

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I love movies, especially in hi-def

But the price of blu-rays dvd sets in Australia is terrible. But amazon UK seem to have a lot of good stuff on special.

I got the complete Rumpole of the Bailey for 14 pounds (DVD)

Bluray Bargains – Best Blu-ray Bargains for Australian Blu-ray Enthusiasts

dvdguru.com.au  ….. if you ever want to buy blurays
http://www.dvdguru.com.au/Index.aspx?node=545126031&region=UK&format=blu-ray&type=Blu-ray%20Steals%20-%20Up%20to%2070%%20Off%20(Amazon%20UK)

The Kingkiller Chronicle

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Just finished reading the first two books of the Kingkiller Chronicle. Unfortunately the third and last won’t be out for a while (still not out in 2019!).

I loved the books, they each have a deep sense of history and a rich set of characters. Well worth reading.

I read both of these books in epub format on my ipad.

Until the third book comes out I will have to settle for a new author I’ve just discovered – George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones series (an HBO television series will soon come out)

More stuff to look pretty on my bookshelf

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Just order some new books from amazon.com. Originally I was going to order them from www.bookdepository.co.uk which has free shipping worldwide (unlike amazon) but in this case it was cheaper to buy from amazon even after postage is added.

But if you are after a single book then I would recommend you to check out

http://www.bookdepository.co.uk  UK Version
or

http://www.bookdepository.com/  US Version

Do price compare between the two sites as you can usually save a few dollars and the postage is free!

So what did I order?

The Digital Photography Workflow Handbook

This book is all about using Lightroom 3 and Photoshop 5. It focuses on techniques and workflows. It has nothing to do with the art of photography. For the art of photography I ordered the following two books:

The Photographer’s Eye: Composition and Design for Better Digital Photos
$19.77

The Photographer’s Mind: Creative Thinking for Better Digital Photos
$19.37

The Anatomy of Martial Arts: An Illustrated Guide to the Muscles Used for Each Strike, Kick, and Throw
$10.92

Pretty much what the title says. Useful to know what muscle you injure when you stuff up whatever technique you are doing

Excel 2010 Power Programming with VBA (Mr. Spreadsheet’s Bookshelf)
$31.49

I have already downloaded the PDF. This is a first rate reference to VBA and excel.

Collins Easy Learning Grammar and Punctuation
$11.33

The basic of grammar … exciting stuff ..zzzz .. but lots of pretty colours in the book.