Pentankh Eternal’s Blog

Had a pretty full weekend. Picked up Sienna Friday night. Saturday morning =
we looked for a cheap outdoor suite to use for a temporary dining suite =
until I get to upgrade. It was Lisa’s brainstorm. I checked out shops =
around but it wasn’t until we went to the Warehouse store that I found =
anything useful.
While I was looking, Sienna found a kiddy outdoor suite and sat on that =
while I looked around. It was only $39.95 so of course I bought it for her. =
Two chairs and a table with a brolly. She loved it!
For me I found a glass and iron setting for only $189.. BARGAIN!!
Sienna and her cousin sat together at the kiddy set and the adults at the =
other.
We had streamers and balloons all over and a big sign printed out on the =
wall.

I got her a singing Care Bear ‘tebby bear’ which is sitting on her bed =
waiting for her to return. She also got a bunch of lovely clothes.

She didn’t manage to vet all the way through her slice of chocolate =
birthday cake with Care Bears on it but she had a good try!

I will be eating junk food for two weeks! lol!

Today I got my teeth checked and cleaned at the dentist. So they feel real =
good.

My train is just about at my stop so I’ll finish up now.

Happy Birthday to my darling princess, Sienna!

I hope you really enjoyed your big birthday party yesterday ( and your =
present from daddy of course!! )

Remember, daddy always loves you!!

XXX OOO XXX !!!

I tested out WEP on my home WiFi network last night. The Netgear software =
detected the network speed at 1Mbps instead of the 54Mbps it detects with =
WEP off. Should WEP cause such a dramatic decrease in network speed? I had =
to disable it to get the speed up again.

I did test using ftp and the speed was sloooow.

I’m still trying to figure the best way to stream video to my LCD TV.

Options:
- A/V Sender / Receiver connected to my server in another room (recently =
heard from a friend they are crap)

- Some sort of micro PC (unfortunately not common so cost upwards of =
$1,000)

- old laptop

Does anyone have any other good ideas?

Today I downloaded the x11vnc application for the server and dotnet vnc =
client. I also got a network drive mapper for my PocketPC to connect to my =
Linux Samba shares.
To go with that I also downloaded a PPC audio player and a video player. I =
hope to stream video and audio via WiFi to my PocketPC!

I got the SJPhone VOIP application for my PocketPC to try out one day as =
well

I had so much trouble trying to get my PCs on the home WiFi network I rang =
up Netcomm support and they gave me an RA number for each so I could return =
them. My PocketPC and work laptop could connect fine so it had to be the =
cards. Plus I tried one in my XP machine and one in my Linux box so it =
wasn’t OS.

I took them back and swapped them out for Netgear cards which worked =
perfectly from the start. I had a little problem with the Linux one but a =
quick email to the Mandriva mailing list provided a suggestion to use the =
latest ndiswrapper from sourceforge. This proved the correct solution and =
now my server is on the network. I might turn on WEP at some stage in the =
future.

My next plan is to set up VNC on the server and control the interface from =
my PocketPC. How leet! I also want to get one of those AV sender / =
receivers and put the server in another part of the house to cut down on =
the fan noise in the lounge.

My home is going to be super WiFi everything! lol!

Once I get ADSL finally on my phone line I might test VOIP from my PocketPC =
too!

Saturday was a busy day. I popped into the shops with Sienna to pick up =
some stuff. The stupid cat had jumped in my open car window Friday and =
pissed on the passenger seat. I didn’t discover this until I was going to =
work so couldn’t do anything until that night when I picked up Sienna after =
going to the doctor for the results of my ultrasound earlier in the week. =
So I bought some cheap seat covers from Crazy Clark’s discount store.

After that Sienna and I went and picked up my bike from the shop. Now it =
has a new chain I can finally ride it with Sienna.

We got home after ten and at 11.30 Foxtel turned up to install my new =
Foxtel IQ system. They were supposed to arrive between 12pm and 5pm so I =
was surprised but happy. It was raining all day except for the 1.5 hrs they =
were installing.

I dropped Sienna off at Bec’s new home this morning on the way to work.

I’ve been giving Sienna lessons on her bicycle. Saturday morning she needed =
me to push her bike around for her but by Saturday night she wa pedaling by =
herself, even reversing properly when stuck. She zooms around the house and =
really loves riding.

I will have to get my bike a new chain again soon so I can take her for =
rides to get some exercise and have some fun daddy-daughter time. She used =
to enjoy going for a ride with me.

As much as I’d like to try out an Apple, I just can’t justify the cost. It =
may be 1337. It may be cool and funky, but another PC is just something I =
don’t want to shell out for.

I would like to purge Windows from my home network all together and just =
run Linux. My problem is I still need XP for Oblivion, Game Editor and =
Second Life. Yes I could install VMware’s player but it means I still need =
XP somewhere on my system taking up space.=20
No, I haven’t re-installed any of these yet as the stability of my PC =
leaves a lot to be desired these days. Last night it had trouble just =
booting, then when I wanted to dial into the interwebbeh it spontaneously =
rebooted! It makes me not even want to turn the damned thing on at the =
moment. The best way to fix instability issues would be yet another =
rebuild, but with no ADSL and my linux box not yet connecting to the wifi =
network, I’m hesitant. If I AM going to rebuild it occurred to me that a =
Linux build might be the way to go (PCLinuxOS?) but with the above required =
applications not working on Linux, I’m trapped.

A bunch of emails went around excitedly announcing the date 04/05/06 and =
the time to go with it at 1:23am. ‘It’ll not happen again for many many =
years’ they proclaimed!

But what about reverse numbers? Is the general public unable to easily =
comprehend them?

What about 08/07/06 at 5:43 and 21 seconds? I haven’t seen emails about =
this strange phenomenon as yet! What’s going on?

I occasionally get cheques (checks?) from an American company where I sell =
a Palm handheld game called Quirl.
My problem is since this company takes 40% of my payments and I mostly sell =
one or two copies when I do, I get cheques which convert to about $4 or so =
in Australian dollars. All banks charge $10 or more per cheque to convert =
the value to AUD for my account. Do the math!
So this leaves me with a few small cheques to frame on the wall and look =
at. *sigh*

Sigh. iinet tells me I am on pair gain so I can’t get ADSL until Telstra =
rewires the phone line to my house.

I don’t want to change providers because I love ii and although I am =
getting Foxtel in a couple of weeks I don’t want cable internet as I have =
just bought a new WiFi ADSL modem/router/voip box which Harris Technology =
says is a NO RETURNS item. I also wanted to use my iinetphone voip system =
which is why I bought the NetComm NB9W modem. Wish me luck!

Yesterday I got a phone call from the Solicitor asking if we filled out and =
signed a form to have any excess money put into my personal account. Since =
Bec’s name isn’t on the account they needed her permission to dump it in =
mine. I said I hadn’t received any forms or anything from them in weeks and =
to just put it all in our joint account if that saves us the trouble. I =
also asked if we have anything else to sign or if that was all. She said =
everything was now okay and they would go ahead with it and call me when it =
was over.. the settlement that is.
I got another phone call at lunch time telling me we still hadn’t signed =
some forms which had to be signed before the settlement could go through. =
She asked if I had filled them in and returned them yet. I told her again =
that I had not received anything from them. She asked if I could pop in =
that afternoon to fill them in, with Bec. I said I work until 5pm and no =
longer live anywhere near there. So I had to take the afternoon off and =
drive Bec and I down the coast.

When I was walking to the train station I got a call from Bec that her =
grandmother had just passed away. so after we went to the Solicitor’s I =
dropped Bec off at home and picked up Sienna and she stayed at my place the =
night to give Bec some quiet time to herself.

This morning I dropped Sienna off at kindy and am now on the train going to =
work.

I just had iinet on the phone and discovered my home phone needs to be =
connected two business days before they can lodge an ADSL relocate request =
with Telstra. He says that means the application can be lodged tomorrow =
then it’s up to Telstra when they have time to connect it up. D’oh! Let’s =
hope they get it done sooner like they did last time! Last time it was =
about two days.
Oh well. Plenty of time to play with my new Game Editor and Oblivion!!

On Friday I got the house tidied up. I moved the washing machine and =
freezer out of the laundry and DAMN it was dirty under there! I vacuumed up =
the dirt and mopped up the floor. Next I packed the car full of loose items =
to drop off.
That afternoon I canceled my PO Box and headed north for a long trip to =
pick up my keys and sign forms. On the way I had to make a quick toilet =
stop. I finally found the address I was given but it was a house so rang to =
check. No, it was right. The lady runs her business from home. I did what I =
had to do and headed off, stopping only to fill up tge car and get some Red =
Rooster for the next trip.
I got to my new home and went in the back door. The builders were changing =
the locks so I only had keys for the sliding door. I plugged in the garage =
remote system to power and went back out to my car and opened the door =
remotely. I emptied the car and looked around before going back down the =
coast.

Saturday morning I woke early and got ready before the removalists arrived. =
They turned up at 7am and got busy. I filled my car again and got stuff out =
of the shed. It took longer than expected as they couldn’t get their truck =
up my steep driveway. We headed north. They were trailing me by a few =
minutes so I popped into the shopping centre to get a Maccas breakfast.. an =
egg and bacon and bbq sauce deli roll plus hash browns and a big coffee. =
The only time I will eat there is for emergency breakfasts! While waiting =
for my food Telstra rang and said they would be about half an hour or so. =
They were due between 10am and 2pm and arrived at 10am!!! Wow!
I got a call from the removalists on the way home asking if I was arriving =
soon as they were waiting. I said to give me three minutes.
I let them in and they unpacked my stuff while I did the same. The Real =
Estate agent ws showing people through a home down the road and dropped off =
my keys.
Telstra shortly arrived andbwired up my phone and got me to test the line. =
Working in the bedroom but not the kitchen so he rewired it correctly. =
$299 all up! Owners pay $150 though. Whew!
One problem though.. the dishwasher was installed with the power cable =
coming into the cupboard on the right. However, the socket is in the =
cupboard to the LEFT!!
I drove back to the coast home and cleaned, vacuumed and scrubbed then put =
the cat in the car boot. He was not happy, Jan!
I dropped off the keys and remote to the agency and drove home.

More to come soon…

How fortunate of us to have a wonderful company such as this monopoly in =
charge of telecommunications in Australia.

Today my internet stopped working at 10am. The time is correct however I =
asked them to do this changeover on Saturday the 20th! Now correct me if =
I’m wrong but isn’t today the 19th? Hence why my removalists aren’t here =
because they are smart enough to know what damn day it is!!!

So it looks like no interwebbeh for me. Let’s hope they have connected my =
new home already.