WOW!
Just found out that Neil Gaiman may be writing the script for a new epic big budget trilogy remake of Monkey Magic!!
Well, prolly not a "Monkey Magic" remake per se, but "Journey to the West", which is what MOnkey Magic was based on so, yeah. I was a HUGE Monkey fan as a kid. So this is super exciting, especially as a big budget consideration & with Gaiman so ... Nice! :-)
Full story here:
http://www.scifitv.com.au/Blog/2011/03/monkey-to-get-epic-makeover-with-neil-gaimans-help/
and the best opening scene of any tv series here:
ohhhh yeahhhh
Monkeyyyyyy!!
Now to convince the wife to let me invest in the old series box set one day... need find it in region 4 tho... heh
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Tuesday, March 01, 2011
iPhone game... begun
Progress has begun on my Gyromonkey iphone game. First test version of one anyway.
Just using the Cocos2d engine at this stage.
Now that i have a version running on my phone and I'm happy with how easy that was to do, I think I can go forward with this...
*fingers crossed*
Just using the Cocos2d engine at this stage.
Now that i have a version running on my phone and I'm happy with how easy that was to do, I think I can go forward with this...
*fingers crossed*
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Ouch! My Liver.... a biopsy
So i spent the day yesterday in hospital.
Earlier posts mention issues with my knee. Some of the medication I am on for this can have a negative effect on my liver. So as to determine whether I can start some new medication or not, I needed a liver biopsy so that a liver specialist can have a closer look at some things that my blood tests set of some small alarm bells about. (basically some of the numbers are borderline so a liver specialist will determine if they are anything to worry about)
Well, interesting day.
I guess I partly know what it feel like to be stabbed.
While I had a local anesthetic I could still feel this long thick needly tube going into my insides... very odd indeed. I was supposed to hold my breathe but there was alike a snap and pull type thing going on in the extraction which sure as hell made me grunt and forget about holding my breathe.
Yeah it hurt... but it was over quick enough, afterwards the pain was just as if i'd been kicked in the ribs. A large part of it was the oddness and surprise of it during what i assume was the extraction...
Then it was a couple hours in the hospital bed being monitored for bleeding (standard practice) before going home.
I must say the nursing staff at Wollongong Hospital were amazingly excellent. Top notch!
The rotten old bag on the customer service/admissions desk on the bottom floor entrance to the hospital on the other hand... well she was a cantankerous old cow who's belligerent and unhelpful attitude threatened to make the whole event one crapload more stressful than it should have been.
While I do have private cover and usually get stuff done at Figtree private hospital this needed to be done publicly at Wollongong due to the particular specialist... and let me say... damn I'm glad to live in a country like Australia at times, where he have a publicly funded health system.
Just some general googling out of curiosity before having the procedure led me to some websites and questions and answers regarding liver biopsies in the USA... and prices ranged from approx $1000 to anywhere in excess of $6000 in some cases... WTF?!
For me... cost $0. Gotta love that little green medicare card.
Now I guess I get to find out if I can take this medication or not...
Earlier posts mention issues with my knee. Some of the medication I am on for this can have a negative effect on my liver. So as to determine whether I can start some new medication or not, I needed a liver biopsy so that a liver specialist can have a closer look at some things that my blood tests set of some small alarm bells about. (basically some of the numbers are borderline so a liver specialist will determine if they are anything to worry about)
Well, interesting day.
I guess I partly know what it feel like to be stabbed.
While I had a local anesthetic I could still feel this long thick needly tube going into my insides... very odd indeed. I was supposed to hold my breathe but there was alike a snap and pull type thing going on in the extraction which sure as hell made me grunt and forget about holding my breathe.
Yeah it hurt... but it was over quick enough, afterwards the pain was just as if i'd been kicked in the ribs. A large part of it was the oddness and surprise of it during what i assume was the extraction...
Then it was a couple hours in the hospital bed being monitored for bleeding (standard practice) before going home.
I must say the nursing staff at Wollongong Hospital were amazingly excellent. Top notch!
The rotten old bag on the customer service/admissions desk on the bottom floor entrance to the hospital on the other hand... well she was a cantankerous old cow who's belligerent and unhelpful attitude threatened to make the whole event one crapload more stressful than it should have been.
While I do have private cover and usually get stuff done at Figtree private hospital this needed to be done publicly at Wollongong due to the particular specialist... and let me say... damn I'm glad to live in a country like Australia at times, where he have a publicly funded health system.
Just some general googling out of curiosity before having the procedure led me to some websites and questions and answers regarding liver biopsies in the USA... and prices ranged from approx $1000 to anywhere in excess of $6000 in some cases... WTF?!
For me... cost $0. Gotta love that little green medicare card.
Now I guess I get to find out if I can take this medication or not...
Me being wheeled off to my biopsy...
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Lightwave Animation: Video & Process for Gyrocopter Monkey
So a little while ago I posted a still scene render of the Gyrocopter flying Monkeys... and included a short animated gif from the animation. Well, here's the full 35 second video clip of the final product, along with pdf's of the reports submitted as part of the assessment.
I'll go into a bit more detail about the animation etc, my specs, the problems I see with it, and the creation process, but first, the video itself.
The Video
As can be seen there are some real problems with it of course and it pains me to watch.
But anyway, let me explain about this video.
Why and when was it made
This was done as part of the CSCI236 3D Modelling and Animation subject at University of Wollongong in 2008 (some time ago). This is essentially the first Animation I had ever done in Lightwave (or anything else for that matter) that was more complex than a car moving across a scene or a ball bouncing and so on. It was a pretty big learning experience and I think, perhaps a tad ambitious.
This Subject was taught across Spring AND Summer session, so basically a standard semester to do our lectures and small incremental assignments. And then an extra summer session period, during which we were to complete two major assignments. The still scene render using a 'complex model' that I posted in the last post here. PLUS a 30 second/900 frame animation that is the video file linked above.
The Reports & Process
We then had to submit a report with each of those that detailed the assets, textures and methods used, as well as (for the animation report) a short 'reflection' on what we learned as well as our original plan and storyboards.
In case anyone may ever get any use out of them, I shall share these two reports in PDF for you here (click the images):
Welcome to Problem-town
Okay, so as I said, we had the summer session to complete the project. Summer session (for us here in Australia) runs over Xmas and New Year... Which also coincides with the annual family holiday for a couple weeks up the coast to Queensland. (Lofty ideals of getting a lot of work done on my trusty Mac Book Pro while on Holiday with the extended family proved to be loftier than practical...) And in general, having 3 kids, one of them 6 months old at the time, and all of whom also got rather ill over this period put a bit of a wrinkle in my grand plans for my first major and polished mighty animation.
Sooo, cutting to the chase, the upshot of all this, coupled with my general inexperience with Lightwave and animation/modelling in general (I'm actually a programmer) as I arrived back in town and the Universe rapidly approached the due date, I then realised that RENDERING actually takes a HELL of a lot Longer than I ever expected...!
The couple of rough renders (as i wasnt really in a position to properly render anything much on my laptop) revealed that a lot of the animation needed to use a lot more frames to look like it wasn't some kind of sped up Benny Hill themed animation... And of course having re-used models in the animation that were originally created as "complex" models for the still scene requirements meant that there were a lot of unnecessary polygons there.
Alas, time was running out. In the end I had to break up the render process into blocks of couple hundred frames and set some going on my home PC, some going on my work PC and some going on the faculty's computer Labs, and then edit those renders together. I cant recall the actual number of hours to render, but I had numerous computers tied up for days...
Also, as a complete novice at this, I had no idea at the time if there was a way to easily reveal and hide objects in a scene during a render, of the best way to switch cameras etc, so I did a lot of keyframes where I suddenly jumped a camera from one spot to another and dropped elements out of sight for a few frames. Which had unintended consequences when i enabled motion blur. So I REALLY need to investigate a better way of handing that.
Overall, it very much meant that the final product, as submitted was a Hell of a Lot rougher and has a lot more flaws and dodgy animation than I had time to fix.
Result & Onwards
Basically I consider this animation to be a rough draft, and now that the rest of my degree is finished, I hope to go back to this to fix some of these issues and polish it up. :-)
But I did end up getting a 94% HD mark for the whole subject overall so I guess I should be happy with the end result. And of course learned a hell of a lot, and despite the stress, really enjoyed it.
I don't know if im actually really any good at this, I know a lot of it is dodgy and I really suck at setting up lighting and stuff, but I do think I'd like to dabble some more with it and see what i can do, if only to improve this particular video and make it a bit more polished and a bit more in line with vision I had for it...
Of course the Monkey models have already been reused by me in some other projects and experiments...
A follow on subject in this degree from this was Game Design, so the Monkey model was revived as a dancing, poo flinging, banana chucking, hat wearing, coconut lobbing and knife wielding soviet genetic experiment in our game project "Monkey Knife Fight"... but I shall perhaps talk about that one another time.
I'll go into a bit more detail about the animation etc, my specs, the problems I see with it, and the creation process, but first, the video itself.
The Video
As can be seen there are some real problems with it of course and it pains me to watch.
But anyway, let me explain about this video.
Why and when was it made
This was done as part of the CSCI236 3D Modelling and Animation subject at University of Wollongong in 2008 (some time ago). This is essentially the first Animation I had ever done in Lightwave (or anything else for that matter) that was more complex than a car moving across a scene or a ball bouncing and so on. It was a pretty big learning experience and I think, perhaps a tad ambitious.
This Subject was taught across Spring AND Summer session, so basically a standard semester to do our lectures and small incremental assignments. And then an extra summer session period, during which we were to complete two major assignments. The still scene render using a 'complex model' that I posted in the last post here. PLUS a 30 second/900 frame animation that is the video file linked above.
The Reports & Process
We then had to submit a report with each of those that detailed the assets, textures and methods used, as well as (for the animation report) a short 'reflection' on what we learned as well as our original plan and storyboards.
In case anyone may ever get any use out of them, I shall share these two reports in PDF for you here (click the images):
Welcome to Problem-town
Okay, so as I said, we had the summer session to complete the project. Summer session (for us here in Australia) runs over Xmas and New Year... Which also coincides with the annual family holiday for a couple weeks up the coast to Queensland. (Lofty ideals of getting a lot of work done on my trusty Mac Book Pro while on Holiday with the extended family proved to be loftier than practical...) And in general, having 3 kids, one of them 6 months old at the time, and all of whom also got rather ill over this period put a bit of a wrinkle in my grand plans for my first major and polished mighty animation.
Sooo, cutting to the chase, the upshot of all this, coupled with my general inexperience with Lightwave and animation/modelling in general (I'm actually a programmer) as I arrived back in town and the Universe rapidly approached the due date, I then realised that RENDERING actually takes a HELL of a lot Longer than I ever expected...!
The couple of rough renders (as i wasnt really in a position to properly render anything much on my laptop) revealed that a lot of the animation needed to use a lot more frames to look like it wasn't some kind of sped up Benny Hill themed animation... And of course having re-used models in the animation that were originally created as "complex" models for the still scene requirements meant that there were a lot of unnecessary polygons there.
Alas, time was running out. In the end I had to break up the render process into blocks of couple hundred frames and set some going on my home PC, some going on my work PC and some going on the faculty's computer Labs, and then edit those renders together. I cant recall the actual number of hours to render, but I had numerous computers tied up for days...
Also, as a complete novice at this, I had no idea at the time if there was a way to easily reveal and hide objects in a scene during a render, of the best way to switch cameras etc, so I did a lot of keyframes where I suddenly jumped a camera from one spot to another and dropped elements out of sight for a few frames. Which had unintended consequences when i enabled motion blur. So I REALLY need to investigate a better way of handing that.
Overall, it very much meant that the final product, as submitted was a Hell of a Lot rougher and has a lot more flaws and dodgy animation than I had time to fix.
Result & Onwards
Basically I consider this animation to be a rough draft, and now that the rest of my degree is finished, I hope to go back to this to fix some of these issues and polish it up. :-)
But I did end up getting a 94% HD mark for the whole subject overall so I guess I should be happy with the end result. And of course learned a hell of a lot, and despite the stress, really enjoyed it.
I don't know if im actually really any good at this, I know a lot of it is dodgy and I really suck at setting up lighting and stuff, but I do think I'd like to dabble some more with it and see what i can do, if only to improve this particular video and make it a bit more polished and a bit more in line with vision I had for it...
Of course the Monkey models have already been reused by me in some other projects and experiments...
A follow on subject in this degree from this was Game Design, so the Monkey model was revived as a dancing, poo flinging, banana chucking, hat wearing, coconut lobbing and knife wielding soviet genetic experiment in our game project "Monkey Knife Fight"... but I shall perhaps talk about that one another time.
Friday, January 07, 2011
Lightwave Animation... GyroCopter Monkey
UPDATE: After checking this out, see this new blog post for the full animation video & more.
So one of my subjects was 3D Modelling and Animation. CSCI236. So in 2008/09 (across the Xmas break) I was frantically working to get that done on time. I was a little ambitious for my final project but i think i managed to get the bulk of it done. I had intended enemy gorilla-mechs to be under attack instead of a banana dropping aid mission, but anyway... heh
So essentially we had to do an approx 30second animation, but first, one of the earlier major assignments was a rendered still of a 3D scene with at least one relatively complex model.
So i did a Gryocopter to be flown by a monkey. ;-)
A monkey modelled after my little 'mascot' "Hercules the Wondermonkey"
This Gryo and monkey scene is essentially a precursor to the animation i had planned for later on.
The Final still Scene:
All done in Lightwave.
Although the far background is a still image, the closer shrubs are modelled & mask the transition from model to background image.
(I didn't get around to putting motion blue and smoke on the 'falling/crashing' gyro, and yeah - shadows/lights are just a mess)
And here's the wireframe of the Gyro with the Monkey.
So one of my subjects was 3D Modelling and Animation. CSCI236. So in 2008/09 (across the Xmas break) I was frantically working to get that done on time. I was a little ambitious for my final project but i think i managed to get the bulk of it done. I had intended enemy gorilla-mechs to be under attack instead of a banana dropping aid mission, but anyway... heh
So essentially we had to do an approx 30second animation, but first, one of the earlier major assignments was a rendered still of a 3D scene with at least one relatively complex model.
So i did a Gryocopter to be flown by a monkey. ;-)
A monkey modelled after my little 'mascot' "Hercules the Wondermonkey"
This Gryo and monkey scene is essentially a precursor to the animation i had planned for later on.
The Final still Scene:
 |
| (click to embiggen) |
All done in Lightwave.
Although the far background is a still image, the closer shrubs are modelled & mask the transition from model to background image.
(I didn't get around to putting motion blue and smoke on the 'falling/crashing' gyro, and yeah - shadows/lights are just a mess)
And here's the wireframe of the Gyro with the Monkey.
 |
| (yeah the monkey's rather polygon heavy, but that's cos they were to be used as reference points to bring the 'fur' effect out of) |
And the textured but unoccupied Gyro:
One of my disappointments here was that i didn't get around to putting the Banana-rocket pods on the gyro, but I managed to get that done for the Final Animation assignment.
I'll cover the whole animation thing in the next post:
Oh, and a quick shout out to http://cgtextures.com/ man, that site was the source for nearly all my textures.
Thursday, January 06, 2011
Custom Miniature
One of my awesome supercool workmates (pancreasboy) is into the miniatures scene and for a birthday some time past he made me this cool little custom version of my 'mascot':
Hercules the Wondermonkey, a sword wielding stuntmonkey of the "Rare Tropical Snowmonkey" variety.
Just wanted to make mention of it since I never got around to it in the past and I just love the way this monkey sits, forever upside down, upon my workstation all day. :-)
It can be seen and voted for here: http://www.coolminiornot.com/202698
Wednesday, January 05, 2011
Christmas Mikey Video, Funny lad
Yeah so my boy Mikey can be a funny kid.
He sent us into hysterics on Xmas when he wandered out of the house with a party whistle shoved up his nose...
So of course out came the camera phones as we all got him to try and recreate the funny... alas i missed the bit where he has one in each nostril and another in each side of the mouth with all four going at once... heaps funny. and gross.
Degree Finished, Back to Blogging...
Okay, so I have graduated from my Bachelor of Internet Science and Technology Degree, with Distinction.
Managed to come home with a HD Average.
Basically got 16 HD's, 4 D's and one C.
+ had 3 subjects worth of advanced standing.
So now that that's out of the way... I have time for things... such as blogs and whatnot...
Monday, July 07, 2008
Friday, December 21, 2007
long time...
Long time since an update.
I mean im sure my legions of faithful readers have been wondering where my updates are, lol.
Anyway, that operation \/ Went fine.
Will advise/update properly later.
heh
EDIT:
Anyway - Yeah, was all good, but one day I'm gunna need a knee replacement. Plenty enough long term damage that will degenerate with time.
I mean im sure my legions of faithful readers have been wondering where my updates are, lol.
Anyway, that operation \/ Went fine.
Will advise/update properly later.
heh
EDIT:
Anyway - Yeah, was all good, but one day I'm gunna need a knee replacement. Plenty enough long term damage that will degenerate with time.
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
Surgery today
gotta have the broken cartliage removed from my knee... fun. Hope it goes okay.
Finally feeling like things are improving after extensive physio etc... only the physio was to make it all strong enough to handle the surgery. heh.
Livy's surgery went well. She woke up alright but was sore and tired, then had a few hours nap, then when woke up was almost bouncing off the walls :-) was great. Sore throat and all for a few days, but overall and great recovery.
Mikey has been sick as a dog with the flu tho, poor baby. Had a really high fever. Mostly okay now, thougha bit of a cough and a lotta runny nose.
:-)
Finally got to play Operation Acorn map on POE 2 with a nice big almost full amount of players on the tactical gamer servers. Looks good, if a smidgeon dark and the description/briefing text is missing. But oh well. Was nice to play a map i made with over 50 people on it. :-)
Even if i did score miserably, lol.
Anyone has BF2? Be sure to get point of existence 2 ver 1.7 @ www.pointofexistence.com
Also the new release of the Project Reality mod is quite good too. realitymod.com
:-)
Finally feeling like things are improving after extensive physio etc... only the physio was to make it all strong enough to handle the surgery. heh.
Livy's surgery went well. She woke up alright but was sore and tired, then had a few hours nap, then when woke up was almost bouncing off the walls :-) was great. Sore throat and all for a few days, but overall and great recovery.
Mikey has been sick as a dog with the flu tho, poor baby. Had a really high fever. Mostly okay now, thougha bit of a cough and a lotta runny nose.
:-)
Finally got to play Operation Acorn map on POE 2 with a nice big almost full amount of players on the tactical gamer servers. Looks good, if a smidgeon dark and the description/briefing text is missing. But oh well. Was nice to play a map i made with over 50 people on it. :-)
Even if i did score miserably, lol.
Anyone has BF2? Be sure to get point of existence 2 ver 1.7 @ www.pointofexistence.com
Also the new release of the Project Reality mod is quite good too. realitymod.com
:-)
Thursday, July 05, 2007
I broke my leg!
Bah Humbug
Been a while since an update.
I slipped taking the kids to swimming lessons, fell and twisted my leg awkwardly... and broke off a bit of bone at the base of my femur, behind the knee and also broke my cartliage in the knee.
Time off work, lots LOTS of PAIN and lots of hefty painkillers, a stint in hopsital (with morphine that did NOTHING) i thought morphine was supposed to be good. oh well
Time off work is a problem, im out of sick leave now and still need an operation in a few weeks. Hopefully the pools insurance can cover some lost income in addition to our rather hefty medical bills. damn MRI's are expensive... and also the most excruciating 25mins of my life... except maybe the time waiting for the amambulance when i did the knee in the first place. (mri was prob cos had to keep it still, but in uncomfortable locked-in spot... i nearly passed out)
We are also hiring a casual at work to help cover some projects i havent been abel to address and also tae some load off considerig we are also getting some big ticket projects coming in...
and one big project is a project to develop a neverwinter nights module. That has been fun, if a little stressful. More info later perhaps. But i must say, making a game mod for work, ... how cool eh?
Otherwise, been playing a bit of LOTRO when i can, but time in front of computer is usually either work or uni studies atm. Well, not uni studies, session is over now. Results came out last night.
Two HD's again. Yayyy, even tho i missed a few weeks of lectures and also had to get some special consideration for one of my assignments etc and didnt get to study as much as i had hoped for exams...
ITCS213: Java Programming and the Internet.
A component of this subject was HTML and Javascript which made things easier. But the bulk of it was Java programming. Not too bad, but i feel i could have done better without the disruption of the leg break and also the fact that the lecturer was ... less than stellar. After the exam i half expected a credit and Hoped for a Distinction... but got a HD with a mark of 86 ! WooHOO!! I was worried about that exam... and since before the exam i was sitting on about 46/50 for marks, i musta got about 30/50 for the exam... less than great really, but good enough. I partly blame that on the exam being not too crash hot as well. Ie some bodgy questions ...
IACT201: Information Technology and Citizen's Rights.
This was a mainly group work/discussion type essay writing subject on a range of issues.
My final mark was 99/100.
No exam. :-)
What can i say, i found it kinda easy and interesting so... well, if only i didnt lose that 1 mark on that 1 submittable part of the group assignment, hehehhe.
Next semester im doing CSCI235 and CSCI204
204 is a prerequisite for just about EVERY 3rd year subject i wanna do.... so i really need to do well in that one. And i dont mean just good marks, but really GET the content. It's more C++ and Object Oriented programming. I also half suspect ITCS213 is also taught with a partial assumption that one has already done CSCI204... so hopefully it shouldnt be too bad.
235 is databases. hmm less important degree wise, tho a prereq for a 3rd year subject on databases i may do, but potentially more important from a work perspective.
Mikey is doing well. Talking more. Misbehaving more. But also great. And funny as!
He piddles a LOT and Drinks a LOT. Had a diabetes test for him, but thankfully shown negative, also kidney test, and all checks out. He just likes his drink i guess.
Livy is getting her tonsils and adnoids out in a few weeks. That should hopefully help her in her school work and concentration etc. Turns out she misses out on much of her REM sleep. (and StarTrek Next Gen fans should know what THAT does to you, heheh) Means she has some troubles concentrating etc, she stops breathing something like 7 times an hour per night (had her sleep tested)... hope it all goes well. She's a great doting big sister, but mikey's starting to find great ways to be annoying to a young girl.
Max is huge.
Kristina has been going great at work, getting sent to melbourne for training to help set up a new unit etc... getting "noticed" by people at a national office level, hehe. :-)
Alas the leg buggered up my chance to spend some time fixing up a 2nd interation of the map for POE. I had grand plans for some fixes etc, and had done some. But the POE guys have been great and are gunna tweak the current version (needs some ticket bleed adjustments etc) and fix up some texturing etc and still get it in their next release, and then at my leisure i should be able to hopefully implement my other changes and get a later update out.
Anyway. That'll do.
Been a while since an update.
I slipped taking the kids to swimming lessons, fell and twisted my leg awkwardly... and broke off a bit of bone at the base of my femur, behind the knee and also broke my cartliage in the knee.
Time off work, lots LOTS of PAIN and lots of hefty painkillers, a stint in hopsital (with morphine that did NOTHING) i thought morphine was supposed to be good. oh well
Time off work is a problem, im out of sick leave now and still need an operation in a few weeks. Hopefully the pools insurance can cover some lost income in addition to our rather hefty medical bills. damn MRI's are expensive... and also the most excruciating 25mins of my life... except maybe the time waiting for the amambulance when i did the knee in the first place. (mri was prob cos had to keep it still, but in uncomfortable locked-in spot... i nearly passed out)
We are also hiring a casual at work to help cover some projects i havent been abel to address and also tae some load off considerig we are also getting some big ticket projects coming in...
and one big project is a project to develop a neverwinter nights module. That has been fun, if a little stressful. More info later perhaps. But i must say, making a game mod for work, ... how cool eh?
Otherwise, been playing a bit of LOTRO when i can, but time in front of computer is usually either work or uni studies atm. Well, not uni studies, session is over now. Results came out last night.
Two HD's again. Yayyy, even tho i missed a few weeks of lectures and also had to get some special consideration for one of my assignments etc and didnt get to study as much as i had hoped for exams...
ITCS213: Java Programming and the Internet.
A component of this subject was HTML and Javascript which made things easier. But the bulk of it was Java programming. Not too bad, but i feel i could have done better without the disruption of the leg break and also the fact that the lecturer was ... less than stellar. After the exam i half expected a credit and Hoped for a Distinction... but got a HD with a mark of 86 ! WooHOO!! I was worried about that exam... and since before the exam i was sitting on about 46/50 for marks, i musta got about 30/50 for the exam... less than great really, but good enough. I partly blame that on the exam being not too crash hot as well. Ie some bodgy questions ...
IACT201: Information Technology and Citizen's Rights.
This was a mainly group work/discussion type essay writing subject on a range of issues.
My final mark was 99/100.
No exam. :-)
What can i say, i found it kinda easy and interesting so... well, if only i didnt lose that 1 mark on that 1 submittable part of the group assignment, hehehhe.
Next semester im doing CSCI235 and CSCI204
204 is a prerequisite for just about EVERY 3rd year subject i wanna do.... so i really need to do well in that one. And i dont mean just good marks, but really GET the content. It's more C++ and Object Oriented programming. I also half suspect ITCS213 is also taught with a partial assumption that one has already done CSCI204... so hopefully it shouldnt be too bad.
235 is databases. hmm less important degree wise, tho a prereq for a 3rd year subject on databases i may do, but potentially more important from a work perspective.
Mikey is doing well. Talking more. Misbehaving more. But also great. And funny as!
He piddles a LOT and Drinks a LOT. Had a diabetes test for him, but thankfully shown negative, also kidney test, and all checks out. He just likes his drink i guess.
Livy is getting her tonsils and adnoids out in a few weeks. That should hopefully help her in her school work and concentration etc. Turns out she misses out on much of her REM sleep. (and StarTrek Next Gen fans should know what THAT does to you, heheh) Means she has some troubles concentrating etc, she stops breathing something like 7 times an hour per night (had her sleep tested)... hope it all goes well. She's a great doting big sister, but mikey's starting to find great ways to be annoying to a young girl.
Max is huge.
Kristina has been going great at work, getting sent to melbourne for training to help set up a new unit etc... getting "noticed" by people at a national office level, hehe. :-)
Alas the leg buggered up my chance to spend some time fixing up a 2nd interation of the map for POE. I had grand plans for some fixes etc, and had done some. But the POE guys have been great and are gunna tweak the current version (needs some ticket bleed adjustments etc) and fix up some texturing etc and still get it in their next release, and then at my leisure i should be able to hopefully implement my other changes and get a later update out.
Anyway. That'll do.
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
changed isps from exetel to internode
still having problems, it's a problem with my phoneline...
... aaaanyway....
new website url: http://www.users.on.net/~feenicks/
nothing there yet tho... but im gunna do something with it now
... aaaanyway....
new website url: http://www.users.on.net/~feenicks/
nothing there yet tho... but im gunna do something with it now
Friday, January 12, 2007
quick update
Mikey took his first steps yesterday. woowoo
he's been walking a while with the aid of a walkerlike toy he got for xmas, as well as using furniture and even pushing chairs along etc. and has been quite steady on his feet standing for quite some time. but yesterday he was standing there holding my hand and i let him go and he walked about 5 steps steady as to kristina. woowoo then repeating the feat a few times over the day. :-)
Also, the map i mentioned below
came second
woowoo
http://www.pointofexistence.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=12419
http://www.pointofexistence.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=12646
so the map will be in the next official POE2 patch, as well as in the map pack. They extended from 3 to 5 the amount for the map pack. but then decided the top two, mine and the other guys, would go into the official release maps.
:-)
"2nd place
Operation Acorn by feenicks
This map was just great! We loved the way Feenicks used the terrain and heightmap to really make an interesting map. The game play layout looks like it has a great flow and has great choke points. The map is very detailed and overall just a great map!"
And now, im off for two week holiday in queensland.
xmas was fun.
he's been walking a while with the aid of a walkerlike toy he got for xmas, as well as using furniture and even pushing chairs along etc. and has been quite steady on his feet standing for quite some time. but yesterday he was standing there holding my hand and i let him go and he walked about 5 steps steady as to kristina. woowoo then repeating the feat a few times over the day. :-)
Also, the map i mentioned below
came second
woowoo
http://www.pointofexistence.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=12419
http://www.pointofexistence.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=12646
so the map will be in the next official POE2 patch, as well as in the map pack. They extended from 3 to 5 the amount for the map pack. but then decided the top two, mine and the other guys, would go into the official release maps.
:-)
"2nd place
Operation Acorn by feenicks
This map was just great! We loved the way Feenicks used the terrain and heightmap to really make an interesting map. The game play layout looks like it has a great flow and has great choke points. The map is very detailed and overall just a great map!"
And now, im off for two week holiday in queensland.
xmas was fun.
Thursday, December 21, 2006
xmas etc
Well, i got my results back for uni.
The ECTE182 exam was harder than expected. But did okay.
ECTE192: 87% HD
The STAT131 exam was easier than expected. Was quite happy.
STAT131: 89% HD
Woowoo!
Ahh, we journeyed off to the 'near goulbourn' tree farm for a xmas tree. It didnt look quite so big out in the paddock...
but when we got it home... ack. Wouldnt fit in front of window, and so we had to move it,m but it blocks the tv! lol. I lean the ironing board up against the tree when we wanna watch tv and that pushes some of the branches out of the way. hehe
Next year i think we'll have to pick a smaller tree, tho for our first xmas in the house, i think it good that we have an enourmo tree... hehe
Ah andd here's an obligatory mikey shot, we forgot a hat for him when getting the tree, and it ws quite warm and sunny, so my shirt doubled as baby hat:
So anyway, we also have lights on the house. And being as we have that great view, it means our lit up house can be seen from vast distances all around, heheh
We also had Livy's 8th Birtday, and Mikeys first and Kristinas 30th. Ahh busy time of year.
Livy had her Xmas concert. Heaps good. There is a dance where the whole troop splits off to either side of the stage and she's left in the middle to dance forward to front center of stage and then does a sidemount and then drops into the splits. Heaps cool. Total star, hehe
Mikey is a Strongbad fan. Well sorta. I sometimes sing the strongbad techno song to him.
Dum Dum Dum, duda da dum duda da dum.
Dum Dum Dum, duda da dum duda da dum.
Doo Doo dee doo doo Doo Doo dee doo doo
Dum Dum Dum, duda da dum duda da dum.
When i stop he goes 'dum dum dum' and bounces up and down. hehehe
And you ask him "mikey how old are you?" and he holds up 1 finger and says 'Waaauuuun!'
Not quite walking, but has started letting go of things while standing. And still crawls like a rocket.
Spent so much time the last two week working in a map for the BF2 mod POE2. I had started a map months ago just for fun for the mod. Then they announced a mapping contest. So decided to finish mine. Numerous late nights later i got it submittable. Tho i dont like my chances of winning. -map stuff- But a great learning experience.
Saw Borat. Heaps funny!
Work is busy as hell! Vista Exploded! buahhh
The ECTE182 exam was harder than expected. But did okay.
ECTE192: 87% HD
The STAT131 exam was easier than expected. Was quite happy.
STAT131: 89% HD
Woowoo!
Ahh, we journeyed off to the 'near goulbourn' tree farm for a xmas tree. It didnt look quite so big out in the paddock...
but when we got it home... ack. Wouldnt fit in front of window, and so we had to move it,m but it blocks the tv! lol. I lean the ironing board up against the tree when we wanna watch tv and that pushes some of the branches out of the way. hehe
Next year i think we'll have to pick a smaller tree, tho for our first xmas in the house, i think it good that we have an enourmo tree... hehe
Ah andd here's an obligatory mikey shot, we forgot a hat for him when getting the tree, and it ws quite warm and sunny, so my shirt doubled as baby hat:
So anyway, we also have lights on the house. And being as we have that great view, it means our lit up house can be seen from vast distances all around, heheh
We also had Livy's 8th Birtday, and Mikeys first and Kristinas 30th. Ahh busy time of year.
Livy had her Xmas concert. Heaps good. There is a dance where the whole troop splits off to either side of the stage and she's left in the middle to dance forward to front center of stage and then does a sidemount and then drops into the splits. Heaps cool. Total star, hehe
Mikey is a Strongbad fan. Well sorta. I sometimes sing the strongbad techno song to him.
Dum Dum Dum, duda da dum duda da dum.
Dum Dum Dum, duda da dum duda da dum.
Doo Doo dee doo doo Doo Doo dee doo doo
Dum Dum Dum, duda da dum duda da dum.
When i stop he goes 'dum dum dum' and bounces up and down. hehehe
And you ask him "mikey how old are you?" and he holds up 1 finger and says 'Waaauuuun!'
Not quite walking, but has started letting go of things while standing. And still crawls like a rocket.
Spent so much time the last two week working in a map for the BF2 mod POE2. I had started a map months ago just for fun for the mod. Then they announced a mapping contest. So decided to finish mine. Numerous late nights later i got it submittable. Tho i dont like my chances of winning. -map stuff- But a great learning experience.
Saw Borat. Heaps funny!
Work is busy as hell! Vista Exploded! buahhh
Thursday, October 26, 2006
bwah, months since last update
Okay, so mikey is turning 1 soon! weee
Exams coming up, STAT131 and ECTE182. Hate STAT131, statistics. bah. So far, running at, i think around 85% or so marks for the first 50% that's been done so far. So if i get 85% in the exam (worth 50%) i could manage a HD for this subject. Which would be nice, hoever i'll just be happy to put it behind me. Im not too confident tho, cos the last assignment i got like 76% and one of the lab tests i got 6/10 so im sure i wont manage the 85% in the final exam to keep my marks in HD territory. Fortunately i got 95% for my first assignment and the 6/10 test wont be counted for marks cos they take the top 3 scores of the 6 lab tests and disregard the rest, meaning that the 10/10, 9/10 and 8/10 get counted and the 2 7/10 and the 6/10 get ditched... but what worries me is that material will be in the final exam. Anyway, like i said, be glad to just put the subject behind me so a pass is enough, a HD or D is just gravy.
ECTE182 was so far a breeze. easy material, light workload. Tutorial class that runs for 15-20mins. No probs, again running at over 85% currently (not sure how far) the only stuff up was the final lecture quiz where i got 11/15 cos i forgot it was on and had skipped a previous lecture where most the material was covered. ooops. Most the answers there were educated guesses. Tho i saw the marks for my (tutorial) class. and the only score higher than mine was 12/15 the rest were like 6/10, 5/10 etc etc. Man.
So exams next week. The ECTE exam is worth 60%, eep, so i hope i do alright. It's mostly multiple choice and i get the impression it is largely questions in the same vein as the tut q's and lecture quiz q's in which case it should be fine. Still, a HD is not assured, but i'll be dissapointed if i dont get one... Mind you the only other ECTE class i have done is my only non HD mark so far, a D for that, and i bombed that exam cos before the exam i was running at roughly 90%'s on most other tasks for the subject. I got complacent thinking i knew what i needed to know for that exam and then realised i'd studied some wrongish topics... well anyway. Hopefully this one wont be like that, that one was essay type answers tho, this one will be MC and short answer.
Soooooooo enuff of that crap.
I had a birthday! And i finally got me a portable MP3 player. No, not an ipod! An iriver clix. Even better!
Basically if i were to get an ipod it'd be an ipod nano, cos anything bigger is too much money for a glorified walkman!
So as far as things go, were i to get an ipod the market niche that caters to me would be the nano. Small so carrying it aint a chore, cheaper cos the big ipods cost too much, flash memory cos i dont want a HD based one for wear and tear reasons, and i dont need/want huge drive space cos no ipod is big enough yet to hold ALL my mp3's (i have a lot) and if it wont hold all of em i dont want one that will hold 'most' of them cos all i do is pine for those last few GB. So a small one, for select songs etc is better for me.
So an ipod nano is what i need, but wait. The iriver clix is the same space as the base nano (2gb), can view pictures, comparable size (ie tiny) BUT has a bigger and brighter lcd screen, can play flash files, ie games, can play video... VIDEO!!, has an FM tuner, voice recorder, and can read text files, plus purportedly has a better quality sound and better quality screen.
The only downside is i cannot be used with a mac cos it uses stupid bloody windows media player plays for sure garbage and thus needs WMP to connect and synch to and so can only be used as a flash drive for windows.
Using a mac at work means mac compatability would be nice.
BUT compared to the other features, most importantly the ability to watch video (you gotta go big in the ipods for that feature - something i have used many a time to kill time before lectures etc watching family guy and southpark etc.) the mac incompatability pales in comparison to the extra features of the clix. So bleh on ipod. The clix rox! Very bloody happy. And it just might be enough to get me that extra few % marks in stat131 cos ive been listening to mp3's of past lectures on it too, hehe.
overclockers clix review;
http://forums.overclockers.com.au/showthread.php?t=497580
Also for father day i scored a new phone!! wheee
http://www.nokia.com.au/nokia/0,,85753,00.html
finally have a camera phone. and it also plays music and can connect to internet and all of everything else. very feature packed. most happy. AAAND scored a 1Gb memory card for it for my birthday off the inlaws. who needs a thumbdrive? i can use my phone! (just need the right cable)
So now onto more important things, Mikey:
has started saying stuff and crawls like a hoon. And loves standing up, not walking yet, but loves to stand by climbing up on things or being held up by his hands. He dances little jigs.
The other night Kristina pointed at Livy and said 'whose that?' and he said "siss" which was petty much the first time he's said anything with an S sound. And says book, and dog and look and mum and dad and a bunch of other simple things.
And when he's annoyed he frowns and points at you and says "dohhhhhhhh"
And Livy is doing well, she was very chuffed cos she got 20/20 in a spellathon at school. Very proud of here effort, she spent a lot of time practicing and learning the words. But nowhere near as chuffed as she was when mikeys 'first word' was "sissy" hehehehe
In bad news, Nana is in hopsital with a sore back. And Kristinas grandmother died the other day, so tuesday we are off to Canberra for the day for a funeral.
Exams coming up, STAT131 and ECTE182. Hate STAT131, statistics. bah. So far, running at, i think around 85% or so marks for the first 50% that's been done so far. So if i get 85% in the exam (worth 50%) i could manage a HD for this subject. Which would be nice, hoever i'll just be happy to put it behind me. Im not too confident tho, cos the last assignment i got like 76% and one of the lab tests i got 6/10 so im sure i wont manage the 85% in the final exam to keep my marks in HD territory. Fortunately i got 95% for my first assignment and the 6/10 test wont be counted for marks cos they take the top 3 scores of the 6 lab tests and disregard the rest, meaning that the 10/10, 9/10 and 8/10 get counted and the 2 7/10 and the 6/10 get ditched... but what worries me is that material will be in the final exam. Anyway, like i said, be glad to just put the subject behind me so a pass is enough, a HD or D is just gravy.
ECTE182 was so far a breeze. easy material, light workload. Tutorial class that runs for 15-20mins. No probs, again running at over 85% currently (not sure how far) the only stuff up was the final lecture quiz where i got 11/15 cos i forgot it was on and had skipped a previous lecture where most the material was covered. ooops. Most the answers there were educated guesses. Tho i saw the marks for my (tutorial) class. and the only score higher than mine was 12/15 the rest were like 6/10, 5/10 etc etc. Man.
So exams next week. The ECTE exam is worth 60%, eep, so i hope i do alright. It's mostly multiple choice and i get the impression it is largely questions in the same vein as the tut q's and lecture quiz q's in which case it should be fine. Still, a HD is not assured, but i'll be dissapointed if i dont get one... Mind you the only other ECTE class i have done is my only non HD mark so far, a D for that, and i bombed that exam cos before the exam i was running at roughly 90%'s on most other tasks for the subject. I got complacent thinking i knew what i needed to know for that exam and then realised i'd studied some wrongish topics... well anyway. Hopefully this one wont be like that, that one was essay type answers tho, this one will be MC and short answer.
Soooooooo enuff of that crap.
I had a birthday! And i finally got me a portable MP3 player. No, not an ipod! An iriver clix. Even better!
Basically if i were to get an ipod it'd be an ipod nano, cos anything bigger is too much money for a glorified walkman!
So as far as things go, were i to get an ipod the market niche that caters to me would be the nano. Small so carrying it aint a chore, cheaper cos the big ipods cost too much, flash memory cos i dont want a HD based one for wear and tear reasons, and i dont need/want huge drive space cos no ipod is big enough yet to hold ALL my mp3's (i have a lot) and if it wont hold all of em i dont want one that will hold 'most' of them cos all i do is pine for those last few GB. So a small one, for select songs etc is better for me.
So an ipod nano is what i need, but wait. The iriver clix is the same space as the base nano (2gb), can view pictures, comparable size (ie tiny) BUT has a bigger and brighter lcd screen, can play flash files, ie games, can play video... VIDEO!!, has an FM tuner, voice recorder, and can read text files, plus purportedly has a better quality sound and better quality screen.
The only downside is i cannot be used with a mac cos it uses stupid bloody windows media player plays for sure garbage and thus needs WMP to connect and synch to and so can only be used as a flash drive for windows.
Using a mac at work means mac compatability would be nice.
BUT compared to the other features, most importantly the ability to watch video (you gotta go big in the ipods for that feature - something i have used many a time to kill time before lectures etc watching family guy and southpark etc.) the mac incompatability pales in comparison to the extra features of the clix. So bleh on ipod. The clix rox! Very bloody happy. And it just might be enough to get me that extra few % marks in stat131 cos ive been listening to mp3's of past lectures on it too, hehe.
overclockers clix review;
http://forums.overclockers.com.au/showthread.php?t=497580
Also for father day i scored a new phone!! wheee
http://www.nokia.com.au/nokia/0,,85753,00.html
finally have a camera phone. and it also plays music and can connect to internet and all of everything else. very feature packed. most happy. AAAND scored a 1Gb memory card for it for my birthday off the inlaws. who needs a thumbdrive? i can use my phone! (just need the right cable)
So now onto more important things, Mikey:
has started saying stuff and crawls like a hoon. And loves standing up, not walking yet, but loves to stand by climbing up on things or being held up by his hands. He dances little jigs.
The other night Kristina pointed at Livy and said 'whose that?' and he said "siss" which was petty much the first time he's said anything with an S sound. And says book, and dog and look and mum and dad and a bunch of other simple things.
And when he's annoyed he frowns and points at you and says "dohhhhhhhh"
And Livy is doing well, she was very chuffed cos she got 20/20 in a spellathon at school. Very proud of here effort, she spent a lot of time practicing and learning the words. But nowhere near as chuffed as she was when mikeys 'first word' was "sissy" hehehehe
In bad news, Nana is in hopsital with a sore back. And Kristinas grandmother died the other day, so tuesday we are off to Canberra for the day for a funeral.
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
New additions... puppy, and a kitchen for him to wreck!
Yes, we finally did it. We got a puppy.
We have always wanted a dog since we got our new house. "We have a yard, we can get a dog now?!?!" but have for obvious reasons postponed any such move.
Well, Friday night i took livy to the video shop to get a movie. Snow Dogs is what we ended up with.
That night Kristina had a dream. A dream that we had a dog. The next morning she decided to time had come. We would surprise livy with a trip to the pound after dancing to save a dog from doggie death row. Obviously we had talked in the past, and talked on way there to livy insofar as rules, etc and only if we find the right dog etc and so forth.
So anyway, we found the right dog. A little 11 week old dog that is most likely half german shepherd, half black labrador. Ive always wanted a bigger dog, but am a little aprehensive regarding having a big dog now that there are kids in the mix. So we intend to train the dog well.
But of course being the RSPCA ... seems they have to come out to do a yard inspection and make sure it's big enough, that they have an appropriate kennel, and the fences are high enough etc.
That would be Monday. This was Saturday. Our fences arent quite high enough (retaining walls/sloped property makes for high fences one side, but low on the other... while those low are hig for the neighbour, etc) Sooooo. Sunday. Buy Kennel, Buy star pickets, buy wire cutters, buy wire mesh... use pickets, and mesh etc to raise fence by half a metre or so...
Fun... indeed
Come monday, inspection and all is well. Expected to pick up puppy wednesday (today) but they alredy sent him for the snippity snip desexing, so now, puppy is ready to get tuesday. Long lunch, early home to beat livy home from school for surprise of puppy a day early.
Awwwww
:-)
So, pictures.
Aaaand, the last few weeks were kinda chaotic. We had our kitchen redone. Fridge and microwave and dining table in the living room. hehhe. Now we have new cupboards etc. Two weekends ago, had to paint. I hate paining rooms. Done now tho.
Still need to get our flooring sorted out, new lino, or floating floors, or just for now relay the OLD lino? (tho since we have walls removed, the old lino has gaps where the old walls were...
But after rest of kitchen stuff and now all this puppy stuff, broke broke broke. So who knows. Maybe we'll have to use the old lino.
We have always wanted a dog since we got our new house. "We have a yard, we can get a dog now?!?!" but have for obvious reasons postponed any such move.
Well, Friday night i took livy to the video shop to get a movie. Snow Dogs is what we ended up with.
That night Kristina had a dream. A dream that we had a dog. The next morning she decided to time had come. We would surprise livy with a trip to the pound after dancing to save a dog from doggie death row. Obviously we had talked in the past, and talked on way there to livy insofar as rules, etc and only if we find the right dog etc and so forth.
So anyway, we found the right dog. A little 11 week old dog that is most likely half german shepherd, half black labrador. Ive always wanted a bigger dog, but am a little aprehensive regarding having a big dog now that there are kids in the mix. So we intend to train the dog well.
But of course being the RSPCA ... seems they have to come out to do a yard inspection and make sure it's big enough, that they have an appropriate kennel, and the fences are high enough etc.
That would be Monday. This was Saturday. Our fences arent quite high enough (retaining walls/sloped property makes for high fences one side, but low on the other... while those low are hig for the neighbour, etc) Sooooo. Sunday. Buy Kennel, Buy star pickets, buy wire cutters, buy wire mesh... use pickets, and mesh etc to raise fence by half a metre or so...
Fun... indeed
Come monday, inspection and all is well. Expected to pick up puppy wednesday (today) but they alredy sent him for the snippity snip desexing, so now, puppy is ready to get tuesday. Long lunch, early home to beat livy home from school for surprise of puppy a day early.
Awwwww
:-)
So, pictures.
Aaaand, the last few weeks were kinda chaotic. We had our kitchen redone. Fridge and microwave and dining table in the living room. hehhe. Now we have new cupboards etc. Two weekends ago, had to paint. I hate paining rooms. Done now tho.
Still need to get our flooring sorted out, new lino, or floating floors, or just for now relay the OLD lino? (tho since we have walls removed, the old lino has gaps where the old walls were...
But after rest of kitchen stuff and now all this puppy stuff, broke broke broke. So who knows. Maybe we'll have to use the old lino.
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
WOOWOO!
WOOWOO!
Got a HD for CSCI124! (C++ programming subject)
Didn't think i'd manage it for that one, thought if lucky i'd get a Distinctions, but just made it to the HD.
Soon i start STAT131 not looking forward to that.
In other news. Livy finally got thru her solo modern dance without forgetting it. 2 previous times she danced it (sutherland eisteddfod and a showcase) she forgot the dance partway thru and add libbed it instead.
Yesterday, Wollongong Eisteddfod. She got thru it without forgetting and got a "highly commended" for it.
Also did her solo jazz dance for the first time (to 'uptown girl') and got a highly commended for that too, tho i felt it was rather good and deserved a place even. (full credit to those who got places, but not sure if gender encouragement may have played a role - ie the two boys, while good enough, didnt quite seem to have deserved to win) - but anyway, matters not at all cos the main thing was she got thru it and did well!!!
:-)
And pete and nerida are having a boy! A little mate for mikey.
And i need to design a cubby house to build in the backyard when we put in a retaining wall and flatten the top part of the yard. Mmm buildy stuff.
Saw Xmen III. good stuff.
Thanks to pizza hut, pete and koren have BF2, alas neither of their computers will run it. Pete has just gone out and bought a new 7900GTX video card, the bastard, and an Asus A8N Premium, AMD 3700+ and 2 Gb Ram to run it. Got it all home and realised he didnt have a good enough power supply for it all (340w and 20pin not 24) so a delay there, but i think he got it all sorted yesterday.
Koren is pricing parts for a new computer and Frog also got a new AGP video card - shame he's not able to build a new one and go PCI express but at least he's able to get some later stuff running now - tho now he's having monitor issues.
Me and the Fam drove to Berrima for the hell of it on Sunday. Nice.
Very Very Enjoyable.
Need to do stuff like this more often.
Tho next time, while yummy, refrain from blowing the budget in the lolly shop. Tho we DID get peanut butter M&M's, and Reeses Peanut butter cups, which was quite the hit with Kristina.
:-)
Got a HD for CSCI124! (C++ programming subject)
Didn't think i'd manage it for that one, thought if lucky i'd get a Distinctions, but just made it to the HD.
Soon i start STAT131 not looking forward to that.
In other news. Livy finally got thru her solo modern dance without forgetting it. 2 previous times she danced it (sutherland eisteddfod and a showcase) she forgot the dance partway thru and add libbed it instead.
Yesterday, Wollongong Eisteddfod. She got thru it without forgetting and got a "highly commended" for it.
Also did her solo jazz dance for the first time (to 'uptown girl') and got a highly commended for that too, tho i felt it was rather good and deserved a place even. (full credit to those who got places, but not sure if gender encouragement may have played a role - ie the two boys, while good enough, didnt quite seem to have deserved to win) - but anyway, matters not at all cos the main thing was she got thru it and did well!!!
:-)
And pete and nerida are having a boy! A little mate for mikey.
And i need to design a cubby house to build in the backyard when we put in a retaining wall and flatten the top part of the yard. Mmm buildy stuff.
Saw Xmen III. good stuff.
Thanks to pizza hut, pete and koren have BF2, alas neither of their computers will run it. Pete has just gone out and bought a new 7900GTX video card, the bastard, and an Asus A8N Premium, AMD 3700+ and 2 Gb Ram to run it. Got it all home and realised he didnt have a good enough power supply for it all (340w and 20pin not 24) so a delay there, but i think he got it all sorted yesterday.
Koren is pricing parts for a new computer and Frog also got a new AGP video card - shame he's not able to build a new one and go PCI express but at least he's able to get some later stuff running now - tho now he's having monitor issues.
Me and the Fam drove to Berrima for the hell of it on Sunday. Nice.
Very Very Enjoyable.
Need to do stuff like this more often.
Tho next time, while yummy, refrain from blowing the budget in the lolly shop. Tho we DID get peanut butter M&M's, and Reeses Peanut butter cups, which was quite the hit with Kristina.
:-)
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
Academic super genuis!
hehe
anyway - I've still gotta post some pics etc from the lamb roasting day, erm - i mean Mikey's Christening/Housewarming party.
but first i thought i'd comment on my studies.
i just submitted a c++ assignment wherein the progam doesnt work/do what it is meant to. Most displeasing as this is the first such that i have submited without being happy with what i have submitted.
has to do with linked lists and hash tables. alas my collisions overwrite the records and i just ran out of time to fix it. so reading 250 records with 190 collisions means i end up with 60 records... :-(
not happy.
happy in other ways tho... the assignment accounts or 5.25 marks of the entire subjects and thus far ive gotten close to full marks for every other assignment/excercise for the subject and distinction level marks for the tests so far... so im not toooo stressed.
tho i doubt i'll get a High Distinction for this subject. Hopefully i'll manage a Distinction tho... with luck and work.
just to clarify im doing a Bachelor of Internet Science and Technology (Internet Applications) (link).
And so far, not including the subject im doing now have done 4 subjects.
(ie 4 subjects per year as studying parttime, 2 per semester. Except this semester im only dong the 1 subject. New baby, new house... subject with high fail rate. and 6 credit pts advanced standing... means 1 subject this semester and back to two next semester. Thus finishing all my needed 1st year subjects this year.)
Anyway, so far ive done:
2005 Autmn --> ECTE195 (Design & Management) - Distinction
2005 Autmn --> CSCI103 (Algorithms and Problem Solving) - High Distinction
2005 Spring --> CSCI114 (Procedural Programming) - High Distinction
2005 Spring --> CSCI102 (Systems) - High Distinction
currently im doing CSCI124 (Applied Programming)
the subject divided in 4 modules. mod1 = 84.5% mod2 87.8% mod 3... i have gotten 15/15 for exercise. But have this bodgy assignment to worry about now. :-( and then the module test. the 4 modules add up to 60% of total mark. Then final exam. I do worse in the module tests than the assignments/exercises normally. Hopefully i can manage a HD (need 85% plus for whole subject) but i think i'll need to hope for a Distinction if im lucky.
Next semester im doing
ECTE182 (Internet Technology 1) .. no worries. should be okay. "this is the www, this is packetswitching etc etc"
and
STAT131 (Understanding Variation and Uncertainty) ... statistics. *breaks out in a cold sweat* Nooooo! I once made the webpage for this subject. As i made it (and made little graphics for all those annoying little forumla symbols) i said to myself. 'i pity the poor fools who have to do this subject... im glad i do Arts* and never will have the misfortune to do this subject....'
lol
Anyway...
Point being the hard work on some ofthose HD subjects has paid off.
Work is now paying for nearly half my hecs for 5 years... essentially a special study allowance given to a couple Uni employees that i had to apply for... which nets me $1000 per year for 5 years to help pay for the studies as i see fit. Hecs working out at this stage to about $2500+ per year so that helps muchly.
ANNNND
I scored some awards/prizes! wheee!
SITACS Advisory Committee Prize
ELIGIBILITY :The prize shall be open annually to candidates who are enrolled in either the Bachelor of Information and Communication Technology degree or the Bachelor of Computer Science degree and enrolled in CSCI102 Systems. The prize shall be made to the candidate with the highest mark in CSCI102 Systems
VALUE OF PRIZE : Varies annually, but no less than $250 – shared if two or more equal candidates
The Pearson Education Australia Prize
(formerly known as Addison-Wesley Prize) for First Year Bachelor of Computer Science Students
ELIGIBILITY :The prize will be awarded to the candidate with the best average performance in three 100 level CSCI subjects offered by SITACS.
VALUE OF PRIZE : The value of the award will be text books to the value of $150– shared if two or more equal candidates.
This second one is shared... so only $75 for me.
:-(
hehe, when i told my mum she sorta mulled it over and said... "I thought you were going to say a couple thousand dollars" *sigh* It'd be nice... but lol.
* Ive done about half a Bachelor of Arts degree (History & Politics), but gave up on that.
oooh im a genuis... i mean genius.
anyway - I've still gotta post some pics etc from the lamb roasting day, erm - i mean Mikey's Christening/Housewarming party.
but first i thought i'd comment on my studies.
i just submitted a c++ assignment wherein the progam doesnt work/do what it is meant to. Most displeasing as this is the first such that i have submited without being happy with what i have submitted.
has to do with linked lists and hash tables. alas my collisions overwrite the records and i just ran out of time to fix it. so reading 250 records with 190 collisions means i end up with 60 records... :-(
not happy.
happy in other ways tho... the assignment accounts or 5.25 marks of the entire subjects and thus far ive gotten close to full marks for every other assignment/excercise for the subject and distinction level marks for the tests so far... so im not toooo stressed.
tho i doubt i'll get a High Distinction for this subject. Hopefully i'll manage a Distinction tho... with luck and work.
just to clarify im doing a Bachelor of Internet Science and Technology (Internet Applications) (link).
And so far, not including the subject im doing now have done 4 subjects.
(ie 4 subjects per year as studying parttime, 2 per semester. Except this semester im only dong the 1 subject. New baby, new house... subject with high fail rate. and 6 credit pts advanced standing... means 1 subject this semester and back to two next semester. Thus finishing all my needed 1st year subjects this year.)
Anyway, so far ive done:
2005 Autmn --> ECTE195 (Design & Management) - Distinction
2005 Autmn --> CSCI103 (Algorithms and Problem Solving) - High Distinction
2005 Spring --> CSCI114 (Procedural Programming) - High Distinction
2005 Spring --> CSCI102 (Systems) - High Distinction
currently im doing CSCI124 (Applied Programming)
the subject divided in 4 modules. mod1 = 84.5% mod2 87.8% mod 3... i have gotten 15/15 for exercise. But have this bodgy assignment to worry about now. :-( and then the module test. the 4 modules add up to 60% of total mark. Then final exam. I do worse in the module tests than the assignments/exercises normally. Hopefully i can manage a HD (need 85% plus for whole subject) but i think i'll need to hope for a Distinction if im lucky.
Next semester im doing
ECTE182 (Internet Technology 1) .. no worries. should be okay. "this is the www, this is packetswitching etc etc"
and
STAT131 (Understanding Variation and Uncertainty) ... statistics. *breaks out in a cold sweat* Nooooo! I once made the webpage for this subject. As i made it (and made little graphics for all those annoying little forumla symbols) i said to myself. 'i pity the poor fools who have to do this subject... im glad i do Arts* and never will have the misfortune to do this subject....'
lol
Anyway...
Point being the hard work on some ofthose HD subjects has paid off.
Work is now paying for nearly half my hecs for 5 years... essentially a special study allowance given to a couple Uni employees that i had to apply for... which nets me $1000 per year for 5 years to help pay for the studies as i see fit. Hecs working out at this stage to about $2500+ per year so that helps muchly.
ANNNND
I scored some awards/prizes! wheee!
SITACS Advisory Committee Prize
ELIGIBILITY :The prize shall be open annually to candidates who are enrolled in either the Bachelor of Information and Communication Technology degree or the Bachelor of Computer Science degree and enrolled in CSCI102 Systems. The prize shall be made to the candidate with the highest mark in CSCI102 Systems
VALUE OF PRIZE : Varies annually, but no less than $250 – shared if two or more equal candidates
The Pearson Education Australia Prize
(formerly known as Addison-Wesley Prize) for First Year Bachelor of Computer Science Students
ELIGIBILITY :The prize will be awarded to the candidate with the best average performance in three 100 level CSCI subjects offered by SITACS.
VALUE OF PRIZE : The value of the award will be text books to the value of $150– shared if two or more equal candidates.
This second one is shared... so only $75 for me.
:-(
hehe, when i told my mum she sorta mulled it over and said... "I thought you were going to say a couple thousand dollars" *sigh* It'd be nice... but lol.
* Ive done about half a Bachelor of Arts degree (History & Politics), but gave up on that.
oooh im a genuis... i mean genius.
Monday, April 24, 2006
Christening etc
Had Mikey's Christening and our house warming this past weekend... tired...
had spit lamb. mmmm
More info to come soon.
had spit lamb. mmmm
More info to come soon.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)