For some reason a file got copied to the wrong place on my server and it brought all my websites down. I have now found it and fixed it but since I had no time for a few days the downtime was quite long. Anyhow, were back up and you can expect a new entry soon.
First day on the job
Yesterday I started a new job, my first in Melbourne. The company is called Interlex and my role there is developing a website. The company is small but versatile in what they do. Their services span most aspects computing services that a small to medium sized organization may need. The software development team is very talented and they have done some really cool projects. The project I am working on has been graphically designed and website features described and then I take it from there. I cant say what its about at this stage but I will write a post about it once I have released the project.
My first day there was good. There is a team of great people there and I felt very much at home. Its funny how every computer nerd in every corner of the world is really the same. If you speak the language of computer geekiness it does not matter where you land you are very likely to feel at home. That was my experience yesterday.
A new Website, by Valberg Lárusson
As I have had some time to play around with programming lately I decided to solve a problem that has been bothering me for a long time: how to store my recipes! For a long time I have been looking for a piece for software into which I can put all the recipes I have been collecting but not found anything I am happy with. After downloading all the desktop applications I could find on the web and found that they were not doing what I was after I finally stumbled onto one that I found to be close enough, RegiDean. After using it for several years I finally decided it was no good. Firstly it was impossible to synchronize the computers. If I added a recipe into one computer it would then get lost once I start using another one. Secondly they upgraded to a new version and getting the old files into the new version was quite a hassle, plus the new version is very unstable. I finally decided this would do no longer and sat down to make a website where I can upload my recipes, share them with others and not have to worry about loosing them. The result is http://www.myrecipes-online.com!
The site gives a simple way to upload your recipes and a very clean view to use them. There are no millions of recipes to organize and sift through, that´s what Google is for. There are no fifteen fields to enter data just to get one recipe in there. There are no folders, categories or long and winded registration processes. There is no up-selling or cross-selling or advert, just a clean and simple interface. The site is in its infancy and I hope I will have lots more time to spend on it because there are a fair few things I would like to add just to make it more fun. Do take a look and don’t be afraid to try out my lobster soup recipe, it is absolutely stunning and only takes 10 hours to make!
Carfree lifestyle
Everything is good in moderation the saying goes and it is true. The car is not a problem when deployed in moderation but it is not. Our lives today are literally overrun by lazy people who think their car is a natural extension of their legs. Well it is not and its time we make our cities more enjoyable to be in by getting rid of the car. Hicksvilleans and outerburbians can happily take their cars from one to the other but in the city and its inner burbs the car has no business.
We have personally chosen not to have a car at all. The reason is mostly that if we do have a car we will start using it and we will start thinking that our car is a natural extension of our legs. See we are no better than any other autoholic out there and we have found that it is best to simply remove the car from your life altogether and force your self to create a car free lifestyle. Once you have done this you will sneer at the weak minds of all the car addicts that have not worked it out yet and wonder what the hell you were ever thinking ever to have had a car.
Suzanne now rides her cool new bike to work every day, about 6-7km from our home and into the city. I sometimes come along just for the ride. Once we get into the city we will always have left in our wake hundreds of autoholics stuck in their metal boxes waiting for a little space on the road to continue their journey. They definitely haven’t worked it out yet!
Að búa í Melbourne
Ég hef tekið eftir því að það eru íslenskir gestir að koma á síðuna frá Google eftir að hafa slegið inn “að búa í Melbourne” og fundið gamla færslu sem ég skrifaði um Íslendinga í Melbourne. Það er því við hæfi að ég taki saman ærlega færslu á íslensku um það hvernig það er að búa í þessari borg. Við fluttum hingað því konan mín er Áströlsk og vildi komast heim aftur. Ég valdi þessa borg vegna þess að Melbourne er eini staðurinn sem ég hef komið til í Ástralíu sem hefur Evrópskan blæ.
Ástralinn
Fyrst ber að geta þess að Ástralinn er svoltítið öðruvísi en Íslendingurinn. Svo maður leyfi sér að alhæfa svolítið þá má segja að Ástralinn sé opinn, einlægur og kunni að lifa lífinu, en á sama tíma harður, grunnur og stéttskiptur. Ástralir elska allar tegundir íþrótta, mannamót utandyra (td. ‘barbie on the beach’), bjór og léttvín, ódýrt drasl og umfram allt landið sitt. Þeir eru latir að tala ensku og slanguryrði eru mjög algeng en eru þó ekki óskýrir í máli. Ef þetta hljómar eins og fólk sem þú myndir vilja umgangast þá lestu áfram.
Ástralía
‘Lítilla sanda, lítilla sæva, lítil eru geð guma’ (1). Landið mótar manninn og Ástralía hefur sjáanlega mótað menningu og hugarfar Ástrala. Landið er að sumu leiti svipað Íslandi. Fólksfjöldi á hvern ferkílómeter er sá sami, hæsta fjallið er svipað hátt og stærstu byggðirnar eru nálægt sjó. Það sem hinsvegar skilur að er að Ástralía er heitt land og mjög gamalt, það er lítið vatn hérna og vegalengdirnar á milli staða eru stjarnfræðilegar fyrir venjulegan Íslending. Ekki vanmeta vegalendirnar ef þú ert að plana ferð hingað. Ástralir eru ‘reddarar’ eins og íslendingar, hafa ‘ég get gert þetta’ hugarfar og geta verið helvíti harðir þegar á reynir án þess að þykja það neitt tiltökumál. Þeir eru einnig upp til hópa hjálpsamir. Á móti kemur þó að í Ástralíu er óvenju hátt hlutfall af fávitum (þó ekki eins hátt og í ameríku) og ber há glæpatíðni því augljóst vitni. Ein ástæða þess að ég valdi að búa í Melbourne er að hér er fávitahlutfallið að mínu mati lægra en í flestum öðrum hlutum landsins. Að minnstakosti í mínu úthverfi sem er Elwood.
Melbourne
Á gullaldarárunum var Melbourne líkt við París og skal mig ekki undra. Hér er mikið af fallegum byggingum frá því um og eftir aldarmótin 1900. Allt umhverfis Melbourne var að finna gull þegar byggð var að myndast hér og því byggðist borgin upp sem gullgrafarabær (2). Reyndar átti Melbourne aldrei að verða stórborg heldur var öðrum úthverfum upphaflega ætlað það hlutverk, s.s. Williamstown og Maryborough. Melbourne er rólegri en Sydney og mun menningalegri. Hér er mikið af söfnum og menningarviðburðum, mun meira en annarstaðar í Ástralíu. Flestir stærstu íþróttaviðburðir landsins fara fram hérna og eru margir þeirra heimsfrægir (3). Þeirra á meðal eru Australian Open tennismótið og Formúla 1 kappaksturinn. Aðrir stórir íþrótta viðburðir sem minni athygli fá á Íslandi eru Melbourne Cup veðreiðarnar, Australian Football League (aussie rules) fótboltamótið og Melbourne Boxing Day Test krikketmótið.
Strendurnar hér þykja ekki spennandi á Ástralaskan mælikvarða. Reyndar má segja að Melbourne hafi orð á sér fyrir óáhugaverðar strendur. Þetta er þó ofsögum sagt og fyrir meðal Íslending þá eru strendurnar hérna mjög fallegar. Ástæður þessa orðróms eru tvær. Annarsvegar þá voru strendurnar hér óhreinar í gamladaga og þeim lítt haldið við. Þetta hefur hinsvegar breyst og nú er mikið líf á ströndunum á heitum dögum. Seinni ástæðan er sú að Ástralir vilja hafa svoltinn kraft í sjónum þar sem þeir baða sig þannig að hægt sé að sörfa og leika sér í öldunum. Vegna legu Melbourne inni í Port Phillip Bay á eru öldurnar nánast alltaf litlar og sjórinn frekar flatur. Þetta þykir þeim miður en persónulega þykir mér það þægilegt.
Melbourne er eins og Reykjavík að því leiti að það vilja allir búa í einbýlishúsum. Borgin er því mjög þanin út um allar trissur og langt að fara frá einum enda til annars. Miðborgin var mjög óspennandi staður fyrir um 15 árum síðan en það hefur breyst. Borgarráðið fékk Danskan skipulagshönnuð (4) til að gera drög að nýju skipulagi miðborgarinnar og hefur því verið hrint í framkvæmd. Í dag er miðborgin mjög lifandi staður með miklu mannlífi. Fólksþróunin er því í átt að miðborginni og innri úthverfunum þessa dagana og allar líkur til að sú þróun haldi áfram. Þetta hefur hinsvegar í för með sér að því nær bænum sem þú býrð því dýrara er húsnæðið. Ég mæli því með að þú skoðir að búa smátt og miðsvæðis frekar en rúmt og úti í rassgati.
Veðurfarið í Melbourne er eitthvað sem Ástralir gera almennt grín að. Þeir segja að í Melbourne þá geturðu fengið fjórar árstíðar á einum degi. Veðrið hér er mjög óstöðugt miðað við flesta aðra staði í Ástralíu og persónulega þykir mér það kostur, það minnir mig á Ísland. Hitinn á sumrin rokkar á milli 20 og 40 gráða en á veturna frá kanski 8-15. Ef gott veðurfar skiptir þig miklu máli þá mæla flestir með Perth. Þar er veðrið stöðugt, lítið sem kemur á óvart og alltaf heitt. Margir flytja einnig til Queensland fylkisins til að komast í gott veðurfar. Brisbane og the Gold Cost í suður QLD eru álitlegir kostir með tilliti til veðurfars en norðar verða sumrin mjög heit. Sydney hefur líka betra veðurfar en Melbourne. Persónulega þá leiðist mér stöðug sól og lognmolla en það eru ekki allir sem deila þeirri skoðun.
Á heildina litið þá er ég ánægður með Melbourne.
(1) Hávamál
(2) Golden Mile heritage trail
(3) Melbourne sport events
(4) Urban Realm Enhancement, Gehl Architects
Things are heating up
Summer is well on its way this year. The temperature today is forecast to hit 31°C which means about 35°C here by the beach side. On such days there is really just one thing to do; go to the beach. Today though we will be visiting a friend of Suzanne´s who is having a BBQ for friends at his home in Ferntree Gully, and yes that is just as far out of town as it sounds. We´ll be spending more than an hour on the train and then cycle the rest. Ah, the lengths you go to for a good barbie here in Australia! Like my friend at the PHP club said about why Australians love sports so much, even the ones you aren’t really into; “… any excuse to crack a beer”. Having said that, its time for me to head off to the Croquet lawns.
A new and improved Sunsite
Yesterday our site was down for a few hours due to some maintenance work on my part. Sunsite has now been put into a completely new spot on our servers and although there is no real difference in its performance or functionality this change was quite significant. What I did was upgrade our account with our hosting provider so that now I can host multiple websites on that one account. That meant I had to move sunsite down into a subdirectory and make changes to the DNS structure to keep everything clean. There are already new websites on that account now and more coming up soon. For now you can take a look at the all new Elwood Croquet Club website at http://elwoodcroquet.com and later I will post more of the sites coming up.
The sharpest tool in the shed
I have a funny story to share with you guys about some knives that we got at the Chefs Hat. A couple of weeks ago we were buying homey stuff for our place and I wanted to get a set of knives but being particular about my knives I wanted to get some reasonably good ones. However, since we were buying so many other things I was reluctant to spend the necessary $200 (10.000kr) on a single knife. Suzy then found this set of cheap knives at $50 for a whole set and I consented it made more sense to get something like that. I looked at the brand and to my surprise it was actually a quality brand called Victorinox so I was confident that even though they looked cheap these would be good knives. We then went home and started cooking for the dinner party we had planned for that night. As Suzy was cutting some vegetables it became apparent that the knives were unnaturally sharp. She cut her self and telling her to be more careful I took over the cutting. I was cutting some carrots and using my fingernail to guide the knife, as you do. That knife however was not like most knives though and instead of being guided by my nail it simply sliced a part of my nail off! I instantly started treating those knives with more respect and have handled them much more carefully since but none the less I have managed to cut my self three times since then. Now we treat those knives with more care than we have ever treated any knives before and I highly recommend the Victorinox knives, provided you treat them with sufficient respect.
A new companion
Almost four years ago now, I built a desktop computer that has been my companion during the last turbulent and traumatic four years. We have done everything together. From building and running international websites to watching romantic movies and even moving houses a fair few times. She came with me to Australia and now it seems it was only to be discarded and ignored.
It was in early December 2003 that I sat down to design a powerful working horse to perform some magic for my customers. I looked up the spec specialists at Ars Technica to see what they were recommending at that time, talked to master Kiddi and looked up the prices on his price comparison website. After much deliberation I decided to get an AMD Athlon XP 2500+ CPU, MSI K7N2 Delta-L, Samsung 120 GB disk, 512 MB of memory and a simple but efficient case to put it all together in. Once she was ready I named her “Eldskírn” after my first boat and turned her on. She was fast!
Now, four years later she is still reasonably fast. I over-clocked the CPU and increased the speed from 1800GHz to 2200GHz. This put her back into the arena of useful computers but unfortunately it also meant that I had to improve the cooling system by adding more fans to the case. I added 3 new fans and modified the case to improve airflow and she still over heats when I make her do difficult things. Worse yet the noise of all the fans make you feel like you are in a factory. And so, with a heavy heart and trepidation I started speccing a new machine.
My process was much the same as before. Look up the Ars systems guide, talk to Kiddi and then find a good value. Luckily my local computer dealer, Centre Com is quite cheap. In fact one of the cheapest in Melbourne. They offer good prices and the staff are friendly and helpful. You do however have to know your stuff before you walk in there as there is very little stuff on display or even in stock and the staff are swamped with work. Long chats about the properties of various components is not what you feel like doing there. After going through the process I made my decision and ordered the components.
It took me most of the day to put her together. She was playing a little hard to get. I had to install the operating system twice and the wireless network card kept freezing her up. Once she was satisfied though she turned out to be a real beauty! Intel Dual Core 2 E6750, Gigabyte P35-DS3R with 2GB of RAM and a GeForce 8600GT video card with a fan free cooling system. I have named her RUDI-TOO, after my second boat. She purrs like a kitten and stays cool at all times while delivering outstanding performance. I ran the Performance Test software to see exactly how powerful she is and boy was I happy with the whopping 815 points she gave me! That is an improvement of about 500 points over old Eldskírn who scores 325 points when she is over-clocked and about 250 when in normal mode. My old laptop, Nafni scores only 125 and Suze´s brand new laptop is scoring 420 points. She is big, she is bold and she is beautiful; my all new power machine!
30 degrees and a tie!
Yesterday was the hottest day in Melbourne since I arrived. It got up to 30 degrees, which was all well and good except, I had a job interview that day. I got all suited up, even put on a nice tie and headed off. As I kept walking to the train station I just got hotter and hotter and hotter. By the time I got into the shade at the station I was sweating like a pig. A nice hot day is all very well, but I don’t recommend wearing a suit and a tie.
The interview went well. I had probably lost some of my professional look having taking off my jacket to try and cool down a bit but the guy interviewing me was quite nice and we had a good conversation about the job.
Once I got back home I have to admit that I did not get straight into my work. I got my towel and trunks and went for a swim at the beach. That, is how a hot day should be spent 
