Current Mood: content

Mobile blogging just got a little easier for me!

My photohunt got neglected once again – but I’ll put up my Purple post (nice theme!) later, promise! This has been a rather tough week at work, starting early, leaving late. I have to live with compromises when dividing the little free time that’s left over to fit in the stuff I want to do. Not most, but all my time last night was spent with my new best friend…

This sucker for gadgets has done it again! Inspired by recent travels – with each trip that laptop bag appeared to get heavier on the shoulder – I got myself a neat little netbook. Over the past few months I’ve always looked longingly at those tiny beasts. Last week, when I bought Cds and stuff, I tried out the Dell Mini 8 and was immediately blown away, only the price was a little steep (EUR 499) considering it didn’t have a hard-disk but only a 16 GB solid state thingy – moreover, 8″ seemed just a tad too tiny.

Back  home I did some googling and the Aspire ONE seemed like a very good candidate, with more or less the same specifications (including the built-in webcam) but with 160 gigs hard drive and 10″ display. Well, and then (coincidence?!) I found out that Scan Malta had a number of Acers in their “This week only” promotion – et voila! My new companion is a sleek, wine-red coloured Acer Aspire ONE D150, bought for EUR 449. My first preference would have been for a blue one, which was however only available with the solid state disk (though at the same price!). But this one is just fine, a real beauty in my opinion! No kidding, I would consider buying a car in this colour! (But if you really don’t like red, they also have white and black.)

OK, so the looks are great (although, on the downside, the posh glossy-metallic finish attracts smudgy finger prints like my face does freckles!!). But the rest is awesome, too. It boots (WinXP Home) in one minute, the 10″ display is crystal-clear. The battery life is nothing short of phenomenal; when it was fully charged, the indicator said I had about 8 hours left – and that actually seems realistic! According to various posts on the internet the first batch of this model had been supplied with a superior battery, which was replaced in subsequent batches that showed the “typical” battery life of around 4 hours. Well, in Malta goods move slowly, and for once it looks like it’s a good thing to get something older!

The whole thing is smaller than a piece of A4 paper, so what about the keyboard? I must say it is surprisingly comfortable. I’m a touch-typer and while I’ve been typing this piece I haven’t experienced any frustrating typos that occurred due to the keyboard – it actually has a better feel to it than that of my laptop! Only once did I hit the <Enter> key by mistake. Well, I’ll try it out in the Sunday chat tomorrow; that’ll be the ultimate test LOL!

The only part I’m having some difficulty getting used to is the touchpad; I tend to tap it (instead of clicking) too far to the left edge, which caused me to think it wasn’t responding. However, now that I got aware of what the problem was, I’m starting to get the hang of it. Update after using it in the garden for the first time: while the screen is brighter than my laptop’s, and thus slightly more usable outdoors, reflection is an issue…

WiFi works a charm, too: No devices (laptops, iphone) have been able to pick up the signal from our bedroom – until now! Oh, and of course you can actually use the notebook on your lap without frying your legs or giving you cramps…

I’m very much looking forward to my next trip abroad. This baby fits into a handbag, and it will actually be possible to use it on the plane! I tried that only once with my laptop, but never again.

Photohunt to follow soon!

What? Another blog post so soon?!? Well, to be honest, I feel obliged to give my web host a plug, and it’s almost overdue LOL! As most of you probably know from my Yahoo saga last year, there’s little I despise more in the online world than those automated e-mails you receive in response to your screams for help. On the one hand, I guess I’ve got to be fair and concede that support services are probably inundated with a lot of crap, which must be sorted out before setting the machinery into action. (During a programmers’ course I once learned that users are to be considered idiots, and sadly, there’s a lot of truth in that!) Nevertheless, it can be painful to be at the receiving end.

Lunarpages is a web hosting company in California, who charge very (I mean, very!) reasonable rates and give you a lot (a real lot!!) of everything you need to run your website without quibbles including unlimited bandwidth. Their basic hosting plan is probably more than you’ll ever need – even if you’re in business (if you click that link, you’ll see the complete list).

But that alone wouldn’t be worth as much if there weren’t real people working there. During nearly 3 years hosting my site with Lunarpages there were a few of occasions when I needed help, and always received it very promptly and accurately.

Most recently, a bunch of friends and I got together and came up with an idea for Kathy’s birthday: we were going to pool and pay for her website’s renewal (she’s always used Lunarpages and actually she was the one to persuade me to do the same), so she wouldn’t have to think about it for the next couple of years. After all, she’s to blame for keeping us all together!! :) And that’s were Randy Tarpley of Lunarpages’ Helpdesk came in: he went out of his way to make it happen on a Sunday while enjoying his own weekend off away from home, and even presented her with a notification e-mail that said it was a birthday gift from us.

Although Randy kept us on our toes throughout our usual Sunday chat – we were all waiting for “it” to happen, only it didn’t because, as it turned out, he had problems with his internet connection – Kathy received her birthday gift later in the afternoon (‘t was midnight here LOL!). Thanks to Randy Tarpley & Lunarpages! :)

And just in case you’re wondering (I know how cynics think – I am one myself ), I do not get paid for this post, and the above link does not include my referral details. It’s nothing but good intentions, because I really am grateful for the great service we received! If you intend to use Lunarpages and would like to do me a favour, click on the link on my main page – but if you don’t I’ll never know, and honestly: I really don’t care! Stupid, you think? Naaah. Just happy it worked out so well, that’s all! :)

Current Mood: content & Tired

The iPhone’s new firmware version ruined for me what was supposed to be the highlight of July 2008! A word of warning if you have a hacked iPhone (and if you have one and you’re in Malta, chances are yours is hacked!): DON’T INSTALL IPHONE 2.0!!

I’ve spent the best part of 36 hours trying to fix my little beauty. Yesterday morning I’d connected my iPhone to the ‘puter and, in a moment of thoughtlessness, when prompted to download and install an update to its firmware, clicked “OK”. Do you know that sinking feeling when you suddenly realise you’ve done something you shouldn’t have? I was sweating buckets while the upgrade was underway, and then some more when my fears proved utterly correct: I had succeeded in creating an iBrick (a totally useless iPhone, that is)!

In Malta there wasn’t (isn’t?) an “authorised provider” for the iPhone, all iPhones available on the market were (are?) hacked, jailbroken, whatever you’d call it, i. e. unlocked. I’ve put “isn’t” and “are” in brackets because Vodafone Malta is supposed to be offering the iPhone 3G since 11th July, but I’m not quite sure whether they actually do. There’s no indication on their website and I’m sure they’d be making a lot of noise about it, if it were so. But anyways, I’m not with Vodafone…

To cut this miserably long story short, I had effectively “bricked” my phone by wiping out the previous hack, causing my simcard to be invalid. Then I worked incessantly at getting it back to work. It’s a good thing I’m such a stubborn person, I just didn’t want to accept that my iPhone is a goner. I can’t believe it myself that I actually managed to do that, at long last. I’m pretty knackered now… but enormously relieved as well! I’m enjoying a celebratory and well-deserved Gin & Tonic as we speak.

And how ironic this had to happen on the day of our anniversary proper! Gritting my teeth I had to interrupt my resuscitation efforts last night, because my gift to hubby was a romantic private sunset cruise that I had booked. Only hubby & me and the skipper – who also acted as chef & waiter, cooking and serving us fish while we were mooring at Mgarr ix-Xini after sunset. What shall I say: it was such a great night out, and all my worries were forgotten for the time being! A big thank-you to Rina from Norway, who did this cruise with her boyfriend during their stay in Gozo last month. Without her I wouldn’t even have known about it!!

I took some 260 photos – the sea was a little choppy and many shots fell victim to sudden movements of the boat… But probably I won’t have the time to sort them out and upload some before next weekend. It’s time for some serious relaxation!!

Oh yes, and my photohunt went down the drain too. Bummer!

PS: Here are a couple of extremely useful links for iPhone 2.0 victims:

ipodtouched.net gives a step-by-step instructions how to use winpwn – including all necessary download links.

On the same site, there is an explanation of how to put your iPhone into DFU mode (Device Firmware Update) – without it I wouldn’t have managed. I was literally running around in circles without noticing that the phone was NOT in DFU mode!!

If I’m not mistaken, this is the very first PhotoHunt I shall pass on since I started participating almost a year ago. I have absolutely no time to go out and find some Bad Hair to shoot, and there’s nothing in my archives that fit in, either. It really is a pity but can’t be helped. Next week’s theme is Emotions – that should be an easier one! :)

Work is eating almost my every waking moment, it’s becoming a little disconcerting, but I’m still full of hope that things will settle after a while and become more “normal”. The work as such is exactly what I want – it’s just that everything seems to be urgent, and the amount of tasks that cry out to be done “first thing in the morning” is sheer impossible to actually tackle “first thing in the morning”. I mean, how many things can be first, anyway??

Yesterday I stayed at the office until 7pm, so I literally begged hubby to go out for a pizza instead of having to throw together a meal. It turned out a wonderful evening; while munching away at Smuggler’s delicious fare, we were entertained by Johnny Cash and Band, who played at the other end of the bay on the occasion of some bar’s first anniversary (sorry I don’t mean to down-play the occasion, it’s just I don’t know any of the bars’ names across the seafront, strange but true!). Don’t be fooled by the name – John has nothing to do with that famous namesake, but very ably plays covers of Pink Floyd, Coldplay, U2 and many more. After we finished the meal we went over and enjoyed the last part of the gig. And an idea formed in my head for my 50th birthday celebration next year. Sadly, I probably won’t be able to afford it, and even if I did I’d also have difficulties to get together enough guests to make it worthwhile. But hey… I can always dream!

I’m writing this post using BlogDesk. a marvellously uncluttered but fully functional (and free) off-line blog editor. The inspiration came from She-Who-Blogs , where Frances had asked about such editors a few days ago and Michelle, in turn, posted this link which has detailed reviews on a whole bunch of them. I went with the first one, just to try it out, and I’m very satisfied. If publishing turns out as quick and easy as inserting photos – both, by using existing ones on my blog and by uploading new ones – I’ll probably be a convert! No more hair-pulling as the internet connection goes boom!! The only missing feature seems to be the possibility to insert flash videos without using code, but I don’t see a problem with that. It’s a great little piece of software! :)

Probably because every journalist worth their salt flocked to the Labour Headquarters last Thursday, I was asked by The Times whether I’d like to cover, for the Business Times supplement, an event taking place in Gozo on that night: A “Citizens’ Forum” to discuss Gozo as an ecological island. Keynote speaker was Gisela Kallenbach, a German Green member of the European Parliament. I so didn’t need another job on the side… but I was unable to say the magic word, “No!”

As a matter of fact, it was a very interesting as well as enjoyable evening, and coming from me, who usually stays far away from public discussion events, that means a lot! It was also the very first debate I’ve ever heard in these islands, which was so extremely civilized that I was almost disappointed. I would have loved to write about opponents throwing those wonderfully delicious, organically grown strawberries (see pic on the right!) at each other… but no such luck! (I’m joking, of course!) A very well done to Julian Vassallo and the European Parliament Valletta Office, who pulled off a great evening; to Ta’ Mena Estate, which was the perfect venue for this and provided tasty food; and to everyone who participated in the discussion and didn’t feel the need to interrupt one another.

The only disappointment, in my humble opinion, was that expats, together with officials of all kinds, seemed to outnumber the “ordinary” Gozitans. People ought to start taking notice of such opportunities to be heard, and make use of them!

I finally got to meet Dr Arnold Cassola in person (we’ve been friends on some social network LOL!) and enjoyed very much talking to him. I tried to convince him that Gozo needed an airstrip for small fixed-wing aircraft, in order to have a real alternative to the ferry service. He must be an extremely diplomatic person, because he almost managed to convey the impression to me that he’d relent and agree. Obviously that’s wishful thinking, but hey, I tried! :D

Now I must sit down and prove to myself (and The Times) that I am, indeed, able to write more than feuilleton stuff or rants. Wish me luck, because my legs have gone jelly at the thought, all of a sudden…

Happy Weekend! :)

Update… Publishing was a breeze – and so is editing a published post! :) Yet another bonus is that posts are saved locally (i. e. on the PC). Great stuff. Yep, I’m converted to off-line blogging! :)

Current Mood: Ecstatic & Frustrated

If it ain’t broke… don’t fix it!! :pitch:

For two days in a row I’ve tried coming up with a new, fresh look for my blog. Yesterday I was royally pissed off when I noticed after spending hours on modifying a particular WordPress theme, that 1) the posts didn’t bear any dates and 2) there was a whole row of terrific (NOT!) links in the footer that bordered on the ridiculous. I’m always prepared to give credit where credit is due (and Joni actually deserves hugs for this beautiful theme – it’s just that I thought I’d needed a change of scenery… ), but I don’t agree with spam on my blog! *grumble*

Today, refreshed, I spent another hour looking for a suitable theme and finally found one (this one). Once bitten twice shy, I then I checked whether it had any unpleasant surprises in store – and finally modified it to my liking. In the end I was really excited about it. Hahahaaa.

While modifying the sidebar file, I already noticed that something wasn’t going the way it should, as I got an error message after each save. However, the file apparently saved correctly, so I didn’t worry too much (yet). Then – tadaa! – came the time for my first post, when I realised that something was really going bunkers in here. My visual mode was gone, and that darn error message appeared as soon as the autosave feature was invoked after a minute or so. That “professional” theme simply messed up my WP installation, and I tell ya, I’m NOT pleased…

And that’s why, my friends, I’m telling you: don’t fix anything if it’s working just fine. Unless you’ve got a shitload of time at your hands, obviously. Which I don’t, but what else is new!

So now it’s time again to go to sleep, and the great news, which I meant to throw at you with big fanfare, will be dealt with in a rather anticlimactic (really, is that actually a word??) manner:

This week all my fears and insecurities (all of which were self-inflicted, mind you!) about my future came to an end: As from 1st June I’m going to be PRO at the Kempinski Hotel San Lawrenz. As I already hinted a few days ago, I’ve already slipped into that role, sort of, but now it’s official. That heavy weight I’ve been carrying with me these last couple of months is gone. I’m feeling good. I’m excited.

I feel like hugging the whole bloody world, actually!!

Good night…

Update….. Sorry for the confusion: PRO means Public Relations Officer – which is a job right up my alley, finally. Still can’t quite believe it, but one item on my list of things to do before I kick the bucket (namely finding a paid job where I can make use of my creativity/writing/photography… ), is achieved!

Current Mood: Tired

WordPress 2.5

I finally took the plunge and upgraded my WordPress installation to version 2.5, which was less painful than I feared, using WordPress Automatic Upgrade (thanks to Darryn for recommending it, several moons ago!), but not without keeping my fingers crossed. At the end the upgrading plug-in stalled, though, and I had to re-activate each plug-in manually, one by one, which was a pain.

So far everything seems to be working fine, but there appears to be a bug that prevents text from properly wrapping around a picture when you drag it to a different location in the text while editing an existing post that has been already published before. The developers claim that WordPress won’t interfere with HTML code any longer (anyone using WordPress and embedding videos etc. knows the pain caused by editing a post that contains embedded flash code: it used to get all mugged up!!). I have not tested that yet (I haven’t really tested any of the new features at all!), but that text wrapping bug doesn’t augur well!

The fullscreen editing mode (ok, so I did try out one feature!) is a nice touch. I had the feeling that the editing space had become smaller and smaller over time.

As you can see, I found something to take my mind off other things. Playing with my blog has always been distraction of choice when I needed it!

Photography stuff

Oh, by the way, did I mention that I ordered a little toy for my camera? It’s a telephoto zoom lens similar to the one my dad lent me the other day for my swan shots. Well, much cheaper, obviously: I don’t think I’ll ever afford genuine Canon glass… But this Sigma lens got awesome reviews (one of them here), and for where I’m standing right now, it seems good enough for me.

(Off topic…. Now I’ve come across a problem with inserting a photo… I uploaded a pic of the lens, but upon clicking “insert into post” nothing happens. Just great… I was able to insert the photo by giving its URL, but that’s certainly not the way it was meant to work. I guess WordPress 2.5 still needs some time! Back to topic!)

I can’t wait for the lens to arrive – although that’ll be the day my blogging goes downhill again. But at least my photoblog will benefit from its arrival!

Finally, speaking of photoblogs: Check out these projects of fellow She-Who-Blogs girls: Two Lives by Lissa & Susan, and Snap2days by Sabine & Debbie. And another one, named ourTWOsense. I wish I had the time to do something similar, it’s awesome stuff! :)

And now it’s way past my bedtime again. Sh*t!

Current Mood: Frustrated

I meant to blog this week… somehow it didn’t work out. Then I promised myself that today I would, for sure. Yeah right. Instead, I got all caught up in my search for a reasonable photoblog theme for WordPress. I think I almost learnt the internet by heart in the process – at least where photoblogging themes are concerned. Ha. I think if I was a developer, I’d sit down and code some serious money! There are only a handful of themes, but most don’t do what I want to do. If you like, take a look at Sabine’s Fotoblog. It is really just under construction. For interested photo-bloggers, the theme is named Desenfoque, created by excesomedia.com.  It was the most attractive I found after hours. I had no intention of spending that much time on this – and I certainly have none left for tweaking it.   Update 22.03.08: Thanks to Darryn & Pixelpost it has taken shape by now!! :)

The photos in this post were taken yesterday morning. It was my first “free day”- and also the first totally cloudy day in ages. I was all set to go out for a walk, however, and go out I did. A two-hour stroll around the limits of my village (Gharb) resulted in about 80 photos… and when I sorted them out afterwards – that’s when I started thinking about more efficient ways to display photos on my blog. Everything just takes so much time… and what doesn’t take time, well, it looks tacky. Didn’t I ever tell you I wasn’t easy to please? I always find something to grumble about, I assure you! Any suggestions or recommendations of what photo-blog themes and/or plug-ins work well with WordPress but are uncomplicated to use, are very welcome.

Writing, walking, photography & website tweaking… How can I possibly juggle all that, earn money and keep our home in a reasonable shape??

Not to mention keeping in touch with people on- and off-line. Sometimes I feel like formatting myself and reboot my life…

Current Mood: A rant coming on

No mixed bag today… Instead a little geeky rant is coming up, for a change. I just need to spit this out after my blood began heating up during my blog-commenting marathon in the name of the PhotoHunt. Mind you, I’ve very much downsized the extent of my blog-hopping, otherwise the resulting annoyance might well have led to overheating!

There’s something funny about the way companies that grow bigger and bigger, lose touch with their client base. My opinion of Google was once quite high. Emphasis on was. Because, while they used to ramble on how Micro$oft coerced people into steering clear of software, websites etc. that weren’t approved by MS, they apparently aren’t taking any notice of the fact that they are heading in the same direction! Or they are merely attempting to upstage MS in that discipline, too.

Read The Full Story…

Current Mood: Frustrated

This morning my blog friend Wen told me again about that weird error that brings internet explorer to a halt while loading my blog. I thought there was something wrong with the template and spent more time than I’d planned to on installing a new one. But apparently the template was not to blame!! It must be one of those bloody scripts…

Please bear with me if the maintenance screen (which I find neat, by the way! :)) shows up every now and then during the next hours few days. I reckon it would be worse if you were dropped into my choppy blog waters and didn’t know WTF was going on!

Read The Full Story…

Current Mood: Geeky

With the usual side-effects of sweaty hands and raised pulse rate, I upgraded my wordpress installation to version 2.3 (download here) yesterday. Murphy’s Law didn’t let me down… because I expected a medium-sized disaster (as happened with one of my previous upgrades), it didn’t happen! :D And I’m breaking my promise of not blogging today for the sole purpose of trying out that everything works fine!

Read The Full Story…