Ghosts from our past

Including today, I have two days left for making up for the ASP.net project I have been putting off for two weeks. But I have a good reason: my girfriend of two years and I have broken up.

And I really am one of those guys who thinks of this as a good reason. Fuck so-called “tough people” who claim you should keep – hum-hum – “business” and personal life seperated as they are the first to end up having a mid-life crisis. Always take care of personal stuff, everything else, in a way, is irrelevant.

There have been some improvements to my newsletter software. I’m migrating from WinForms to WPF, from Outlook 2007 to the 2010 version (of which I’m glad a beta has gone public). Some speed optimizations and bug fixes are scheduled for the version 1.2 (current version is 1.0) and a whole new Opt-In system is going to be added alongside support for Microsoft SQL. The whole package is due for release on february 21st, 2010.

CSS: Safari/Chrome 1px off compared to Firefox and Internet Explorer

Should you encounter the situation where Chrome and Safari are one pixel off compared to Firefox or IE, just try using a “float” instead of an “integer”.

By which I mean (in my case I encountered it with a navigation bar):

/*—-MENU—-*/
#navbar {
    margin-top: -43.5px;
    height: 69px;
    position: relative;
    margin-left: -40px;
}

instead of

/*—-MENU—-*/
#navbar {
    margin-top: -43px;
    height: 69px;
    position: relative;
    margin-left: -40px;
}

Should it not work immediately, try .4 or .7 or whatever instead of .5

This is better than so-called css hacks because it still validates using the W3C service, and Web Developer Toolbar for Firefox.

Software you should check out

Only products that are free and bound to improve health and productivity are listed here. “New” as in “new to the general public”. This list is updated every few months.

You might be using	You should check out
Adobe Acrobat Reader Foxit Reader	Digital Editions
WinZip WinRAR	7-Zip
Adobe Audition Audacity CoolEdit	Ubuntu Studio

July, a new start it is.

Though short as it might seem, already I have had some – what I call –“false starts” in my life. Songwriting turns out not to be as “easy” as a lot of you aspiring musicians – as myself just nearly a couple of months ago – might think.

What I have learned thus far though, is that “real life” is about priorities. I have also learned that I’m not good at setting those. I’ve got so many things going on (unfortunately in my head only); it’s just not easy to pick the things that are best for me.

But today, I’ve set one. Starting from tomorrow on, I’m not going to touch that guitar before september. I’m going to focus entirely on my studies now. I’m dead serious about that. Then and only THEN we’ll see what happens next.

So apart from maybe another two blogs today, so long for now. Oh, and I’ve cleansed a large part of my blog. You know, refurbished old posts, deleted unverified and unread ones.

G’d*, I’m stuck in IT…

Titanic: Adventure Out of Time: Screenshots

Introduction

As I was checking my old software archives, my eyes fell on this game I ordered over the net from a publisher called either Cyberflix, Hammerhead Entertainment or Baracuda-gssm. That was back in 2002. Some promotional screenshots were to be found on the installation disc and as, because of their nature, they are posted below.

Runs on 80486 and Windows 3.1

The publisher’s name unfortunately doesn’t really matter anymore as those companies basically were all the same, and now defunct. I don’t think you can buy this game anymore. At the time it was clearly already out to date, as was their website.

The install CD is so packed with Windows 3.1-era image formats it almost makes one melancholic. I must say I have always wondered why this game didn’t make it big over here. In all fairness, it didn’t have the gameplay of Duke Nukem 3D BUT it had the nicest graphics ever seen in a video game anno 1996.

Although the screenshots below cleary are “marketing-enhanced”, the product looks dazzeling for something that renders on a 486 in only 256 colours.

It wasn’t very fun to play. I purchased the game after seeing these very same on the net. Here I was thinking I could wander freely on a gigantic steamer, but I seemed to be mislead.

Moving and manipulating objects was very, very limited. Pressing one arrow key makes the lead character move as if he was a train on rails. During the whole game the place feels like a desolate ghost ship where, apart from the thirty-or-so characters, only 5 people seemed to be on board.

I guess the developers had to make some sacrifices in order to sport the rather limited hardware. And, after a three-hour play, the music – endlessly on repeat – got to me. But hell, it’s an odd piece of melancholy.

“Alleged” screenshots

 

June: It’s a wrap.

Next monday I’ll start working for the company where recently I did an internship for. I have passed this internship gracefully with a 15/20.

They are employing me for another two weeks officially to optimise several computerized jobs… And a lot of other stuff too, I know ‘em.

I’ll do the job (not because I particulary like the place of employment) for the money obviously: I gain about €10 an hour. That’s decent money (10*8*10 = 800). It’ll allow me to save up for a decent electrical guitar because – as does virtually everyone else in the world – I play. And I do drums and sing, too. I urgently need money for decent equipment in order to “make things happen” – Light Edition style of course.

The software I created during the internship seems to be in demand. I got one potential client already. I’m thrilled, after all you can’t have many without starting out with one. “Will I see you soon in my hotel room for a holiday romance?”

Stuck coding?

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting… different results.

– Benjamin Franklin

So, try this simple “algorithm”:

When stuck on a problem longer than 30 minutes, quit for some time and think using a different approach. Use different logic and variable namings.