Ah, finally, got all the mudane assignments finnished (math1002 assignment, and the shoddy soft1901 advanced task X). Time to really work on the soft1901 assignment 2. Should be loads of fun :D

Ankle is still rather buggered, still limping around the place like a 1 legged kangeroo. Hopefully it should get better by the time uni starts again. If not... well, I have had worst time getting around with broken bones.

For those of you wanting pictures from the bbq, you have to wait until Shailla has "censored" them first ;-)
Any who, back to work :-)

Cheers,
Steve

Had my 19th's b'day celebration bbq yesterday, and it was GREAT. We talked, laughed, frolicked on the grass (well some of us did...), played various games of cards/balls/basketballs/jenga XTREME (*chuckle* Ah kev, I'll miss your wit).

Many thanks to every one who turned up, your company was much appreciated, and made my day. The gifts were all very thoughtful, and will be well consumed/used :-D

Now that the celebration as over, I need to get stuck into my various assignments, and do some catching up.

Cheers,
Steve.

Yay! Dad is back!

He also brought me the AMD 2600! Surprinsingly, he actually brought what I needed, a barton AMD XP. I had my moment of doubt when I can not find *any* technical information on the packaging, but after I deciphered the mysterious OPN numbers, it was clear I I had a barton on my hand. *dances*

So, all I need now is the nf7-s and some DDR400 ram, and I should have a brand new spanking computer to work with. This old girl has serve me well for the last 3 years, but unfortunately its age is finally showing through. It shall be reborn again as a distcc/povray/seti/folding/fileserver.

In other good news, my team mates for soft1901 (Victor and Tim) acutally turned in their research in time! Fantastic work it was too, all the information I need to start writting the simulation. Should have it done by the end of the easter break if all goes well.

Cheers,
Steve

Matrix solver updated. Win32 binary now included. Let me know if you want/have written a gui/binary for other plateforms

Ah, finally finnished my matrix solver. Took me a little longer than I expected, but it works, and I am rather happy with the code. A little more testing and polishing here and there, and it should be alright. The file is source only, email me to get binaries.

Tried out the electric lawn mower today... it was... an interesting experience. At least now the garden looks somewhat larger due to lack of random stalks sticking out the ground and lack of weeds.

Any who, happy a happy easter break, and come through it in one piece :-)

Hrm, Tuesday, still no presents *waits* ;-)

Finally learned about Gaussian Eliminations today. Which means now I can write my own matrix solver. I have started in fact, 1/2 an hour ago, but its getting a little late, and I want my sleep. Perhaps tommorow, but definitly before Saturday.

Got called to work today from 4-6, had my right index finger smashed when I was re-shelfing in the cold storage room, which made it hurt a lot more than it should have. Its perfectly fine, althought it sure didn't feel like it at the time! Teaches me for not wearing gloves :P

Caught an hour of the Simpsons on 10, after so many years, it still bring a smile to my face :-) After that, I worked on the last question (9-89) of my phy1901 assignment, and solved the cursed thing after much frustration. Take _THAT_ rotational dynamics! The key was using the same radius when calculating the moment of inertia for the 2 wheels despite them being of different radius since the toque applied is only applied at radius R1 for b), R2 for c), which also explains the results, where velocity in c) is greater than velocity in b), since the torque is greater, "re-torque" is also greater, and the string unwinds faster.

In other great news, I no longer have 8am starts on wensdays! Ben has decided he cbf coming at 8am, so nor would I :-) Its only soft1901 prac any way ;-) Oh, and apprently I have a quizz tommorow too. Hrm...I wonder if I should study.... nah :-)

Any who, have to sleep, need my energy tommorow to last through phy1901 tutorial AND table tennis at H.K. Ward. Last session before easter, next one would be after the 28th! :-S

Fare thee well and sweet dreams!

19 years ago on this day (well not exactly this day), I was born. And it *had* to rain :-) Even my umbrella didn't stop it this time (God has found some one else who he hates more than me, horrah!)

Got together with some friends for a very enjoyable lunch at uni, bit of an informal celebration. When I got home, I found out my mum has invited a few family friends so over, so much for "quiet" celebrations. Any who, mum cooked my favourites, and it wasn't so bad, even when they started singing that blasted song :-)

Oh, and my cat threw up, green and purple, on the carpet. My mum went the same colors when she found out.

Oh, got my SOFT1901 assignment back, 20/20 *dances*. Also formed a group with Tim and Victor for the second assignment, which is going to be fairly interesting.

I'll put up a page with all the information regarding the Easter Monday BBQ in a bit. Links will be provided.

Cheers,
Steve

Put off posting yesterday since it was April Fool's day :-)

So, about thursday: First I went over to Eastwood, to get a new motherboard (nf7-s) and ram (512 ddr400 kingmax/ston) from Frank, then decided to walk up to school to get my copy of Etchings, MCE's yearly publication. I hardly made it up the slope before I spied a santa looking figure struting down the hill, its doug, my old math teacher! Bless the man, he is the best teacher I have ever had, one of the rare few who can put up with my questions and musing :D We had a nice walk down to the station, exchanged the usual (or unusual, depending) pleasantries and so forth. All is well it seems.

Then on the station waiting for the train, I ran into Ms. Adams, my y11/12 English teacher. Another batch of ususal conversational topics (weather, uni, life). It brings back rather fond memories, that now seem so far away, almost in another life, another realm, another universe. These people, are my links to my time at MCE, anchors who stayed while I drifed on.

There was something else on thursday... oh of course! John, Eflo and I went to a new Thai place, not far from Newton thai for lunch. Nice food, immensely satisfying, and rather good price ($6.00). To my misgivings afterwards, I ATE a chilli ring, John too I think, and we were both burning from the inside, so much, it hurts! Between the two of us, we downed about 3 litres of water in around 15 minutes. Not doing that again any time soon. It burns like fires of hell.

About today: nothing really happened, to my disappointment, this morning. Had rather interesting and involved electrical lab, and tutorial afterwards. Brought the 3rd book, Eye of Eternity out of sheer desperation to know the ending, and read it all through lunch. This time, I actually attended the elec1101 lecture, and glad I did it. Some fairly complex concepts. Met Tim from physics/software there also, a rather nice surprise. Showed up my solution to problem 1 of phy1901 assignment 1, and he thinks its right (and therefore it must be!). We have decided to collaborate on this one, to make life easier. Another rare occasion when I actually look forward to working with a partner on an assignment.

Had an excellent game of table tennis this afternoon too at H.K. Ward gym. I should go more often with my own bat, makes life so much more easier when you don't have to re-adjust to the different characteristics of random bats provided by the club. They are not bad bats, they are in fact very good bats, its simply they are different bats with different spin/bounce behaviour.

Made a new friend at TT, Len (as in strLEN(). hehe): a second year ITSys student, who is currently doing C and unix. Who ever said IT suxed at usyd is a moron ;-) Nice guy, who has a rather interesting style of play, and somewhat of an advantage as he arms, and hence reach, is somewhat longer than mine :-D Makes for an interesting game to say the least!

As a general announcement: my 19th birthday celebration wil be as follows: bbq @bicentennial @ 12am @ easter monday. Formal invitations will be given, this is just a general notice. Hope every one can make it!

*makes motions towards wish list down the page* *whistles* *cough*

Any who, have a great weekend!

Ah, finally, both math and software assignments are handed in... hope I did alright in both :D

Here is a picture I took in Central Coast, in the morning taking a stroll with my mother. Found it, amongst other photos when I sorted some of the more interesting looking boxes in the garage.

On tuesday John and his group went over to Bondi and did their "fun project", which was a beach shelter. From all reports (well ok, ONE report) it went well for every one, and much fun was had. Pictures are still late in the coming :-P

On wensday, PHYSOC held a free lunch, David and I met up, and we had a load of fun cracking physics/tech/geek jokes in general, with much head shaking from David :-) *waves*

Oh, also got some new people in my soft1901 tutorial group, who moved up from standard. Hopefully with the new injection of people, I can put together a workable group for assignment 2. Any one know anything about coral and crown starfishs?

Hrm.. thats all I can think of right now, still suffering some what from a creativity block. Need that 4space model done sometime real soon before I lose sight of the big picture too... hrmmm....

Forgot to make a new entry yesterday, so making up for it this morning :D Currently at uni, enjoying my rather short 1hour WAKE UP hour.

Any who, I managed (after much thought, grunting, swearing) to place my good old 20" MONSTER on my new shiny-made-mostly-of-glass computer desk, so I no longer have to spend my ibook fund on a new monitor. But karma being karma, with in the same hour, my cousine's 17" acer decided it has had enough abuse from dirty fingers and spittle, and gave up the ghost. *sigh* Sundays are never easy :S

In slightly better news, I got GIMP 2.0.0 (!!) and its FANTASTIC! Faster, slicker, and better than ever before! Kudos to the good people over at gimp.org for dedicating their time and effort.

Also uploaded a new deviation, head over to my deviantart page and have a look. On the topic of images, I captured a fairly ironic screen shot, in which 7-11 advertised the lower TCO of MS Server over *nix on slashdot of all places. I wonder how they managed to get that one in considering slashdot's parent company.

Last and not least, my dad left for China, and due to day light saving, got there an hour early, and then the plane itself was delayed 3.5 hours. I sincerely hope my poor father had a good book with him! Got a phone call last night, he has arrived safe and sound.

Hrm, thats more or less it, boring eh :P

Cheers,
Steve

P.S. blogger.com works in lynx :-) Pardon the formatting, lynx needs more work in how it handles textboxes!

FINALLY got back from work. I hate skipping a shower before sleep, makes me feel sooo... unclean.

Any who, kudos to Rene, who kindly invited us out to the Ranch, and paid for our rather posh, and bleedingly expensive dinner. We had a good time all in all, even though no one got drunk, and Shaun failed to throw up.

Slept over at John's at around 1am, woke up this morning and got STRIGHT to work, *sigh*. At least dad is leaving tommorow, so no workies for some time. Horrah!

My birthday being next month, here is a wish list, for those who don't know what to get me ( and those who THINK they do):

geek t-shirt
another geek t-shirt
DAPrints wish list
Caffinated mints. If you want myroom3 to be finnished, get me this ;-)
vi mug, every *nix geek's best friend


I'll add more to the list later.
Cheers

Back from engineering camp, it was GREAT!

Much beer was consumed, many muscles pulled and strained, and many new friends made. Activities included absailing, kayaking, rock climbing, archery, high rope course, and a 12 meter swing!! Great fun that was.

And on top of all of that, I met the girl in my dream. (Note the subtle distinction between "girl of my dreams>". Though she could be!)

I bet you are just hanging like a man with a broken arm off a cliff for the pictures, so get them here.

I'll leave it to some one with a better memory to detail exactly what happened. Suffice to say we (mostly) got rather drunk and wet. Oh, and playing footy drunk is a bad idea, so is getting tackled and landing on your head...

Cheers,
Steve

Firstly, no, I am not dead, just extremely busy moving houses and starting uni. But, I still managed to code 2 simple games, myroom, and myroom2. Both of these require at least a graphics card tnt2 or above, or you will be magically transported to graphics hell.

Like I said, I have started uni, at Universit of Sydney, currently enroled in the following subjects for this semster:

MATH1001
MATH1002
PHYS1901
SOFT1901


Life is pretty interesting, well, at least working in a group with girls is :S Damn boys only catholic schools *mutter*. The 8am starts are a big downer, I have to get up at 6:30am!! For the love of GOD! But the activities avaliable more than make up for it, like the Engineering Camp this Friday - Sunday! Horrah!

And for those who are stalking me (I know who you are!), I am in the following university socs:

Table Tennis
SUSpects
SUEWA
EWB


Any who, I got a lecture now, hopefully now that a new telephone line is installed today, I can post more often.