For quite a while I have wanted to write something about the current round of stupidty being lived out in Israel, Palestine and the Occupied Territories - but haven't felt I had any right to, let along the words to say that wouldn't seem totally shallow and naive. In this piece from the SMH Desmond Tutu comments on the situation - and I feel that what he says sums up how I feel - in particular:

"My heart aches. Why are our memories so short? Have our Jewish sisters and brothers forgotten their humiliation? Have they forgotten the collective punishment, the home demolitions, in their history so soon? Have they turned their backs on their profound and noble religious traditions? Have they forgotten that God cares deeply about the downtrodden?

Israel will never get true security and safety through oppressing another people. A true peace can ultimately be built only on justice. We condemn the violence of suicide bombers, and we condemn the corruption of young minds taught hatred; but we also condemn the violence of military incursions in the occupied lands, and the inhumanity that won't let ambulances reach the injured."

Zombie Alert -- Home Protection for Sophisticated Families speaks for itself.

Well no excitement was waiting in the staffroom. Today went okay, spent a few hours after school finalising the new report letterhead with a few other people - and I think the finished product looks most spiffy.

Telstra have fixed whatever it was that was stopping the internet from working. But now the PC which drives Kylie Kam has decided to forget how to load the drivers it needs to make the cam work - damm Windows. I might fix it tomorrow afternoon - depending on how I feel.

Well, I enjoyed KYCKSTART, but there is still a feeling, which I can't quite explain, that is still getting me down. Maybe I'll work it out, maybe not. Having a God who stengthens me is very cool, but having the humilty to go to Him and ask Him and then to rely on that Strength and not my own, now that is sometimes a bit harder.

Oh and I like Rob's quote of the week - so you better rush over there and check it before it changes.

This should bring a smile to Rob's face - Telstra's network is having some trouble. Well alot really and so after a whole weekend away with no internet I am still without internet - so no webcam until Telstra work out "what's doing!" - the weekend? how did it go? Yeah, I thought it went well. Learnt a few things, which is always a bonus, about God and some of the people there too. So a good weekend. Did the sound last night at church, it was fun to do something I haven't done for a while. Although it did mean that I didn't really "get home from KYCKSTART" until 9pm which meant I was pretty wrecked - wasn't happy to then find internet out.

And as for work, well, the servers aren't here :( but I have managed to keep enough jobs to do to keep out of faculty. But I better get back down to the staffroom and see what excitement lies in wait for me there.

Well the move to OS X is still very cool and lovely. The only bad part has been IE deciding that it would not update pages like it should. I dunno, sometimes it just decides to be mean and nasty. Final touches to the movie today - oops almost forgot I have to go and cash Steve's cheque for him so he has some money. He won't be happy if I don't do it. Bye.

Had a great day today, helping some people edit a video they have to do - great fun being creative, and thinking up crazy ideas. If they give me permission I might even put the finished file up on the site.

Off to a Christian convention this weekend. I think I am looking forward to it. Yeah, I am. it's always a great time and there are some new guys coming along who have never been before and that is always good.

Well, this is the first I heard about it -Xbox: It's Alive! Alive! But it's not quite alive yet. Once you get past the jingoistic, cyber crack talk, you'll find the the summary points up the top are all that's left. It's still exciting to know that [in the US anyway] online XBoxing is not far away.

An interesting story about Computer recycling, well a start of thinking about it. As the article points out, most of the computers in Australia are imported and so there is not much incentive to recycle - we don't make the computers here. I am not sure but I think the EU is far ahead on this, making it mandatory for companies to take back manufactured products and recycle them.

Sent a few emails to some friends and sorted a few issues - so that's all good. Too bad work still rears it's ugly head - but who knows what will happen next term.

Got some work started on a major Leadership Course which I run. It's called Leadership Development Course - imaginative, hey. And runs in the first week of the school holidays. A great time but a big job, so it was good to get a start on it - thanks to Dave Bell for calling me and motivating me. The trick now is to keep on working on it one bit at a time.

Working in OS X now, and it seems to be running faster than before. Most of my apps are OS X, just my web page creation tools [dreamweaver and fireworks] yet to be updated. But I have using them today and seems like it causes little to no speed loss to emulate the old OS [classic] to run them in. Entourage - which is the Outlook for Mac, is very cool. Imported all the mail items and contacts and rules and accounts from Outlook Express!! Which is absolutely amazing. The only problem is it is just too pastel and bright for my tastes.

Had fun down with the Boys. Played a bit of HALO and the DOA3 all on the glorious data projector big screen. Not as sharp as you'd want, but still nifty. Feeling a bit better this week. I think last nigh at church helped, as well as a week without people constantly over at my house - this gave me a chance to reflect on things, to pray about stuff and look back over the last term and put what's going on in perspective.

Next term will be hard, and I have a lot of things to do over th next week to get ready for it. But I have at resolved an issue with one person and I am close to finishing a second, which just leaves me to deal with school. I still find myself feeling very unsure about myself and this is being reflected in how I relate to the people at church - paranoia and feeling disconnected from by friends. Understanding this i can talk to God and ask him to help me see the good things i me, relax in His grace and all he has done for me, and just marvel that I can know God.

I have some really good friends who do care about me, and so much more than so many in such diverse ways. Life sucks, but I can choose to let it get me down or choose to deal with it and be positive - I'm trying a bit of positiveness for now.

An interesting discussion about the Growth of Linux verses Windows is to be found in this article.

Do you like the spiffy icons? Me too. Off to BB sleep over tonight, will play a bit of xbox, it's been a while, so I am sure to enjoy it. A chance to hang with the guys which will be fun too.

iPod looks, with full PC functionality - an amazing little gadget about to hit the shelves [in the US]. Sound like it will be reasonably, all be it expensively, priced.

Ahhh, thanks goodness Bill Gates has promised to put security above new features - this shows that if Microsoft does get a huge security hole that you don't want to fix, they will redefine it as "not constituting a viable threat to users following standard best practices." Now that's reassuring.....

Now this from the Seattle Times is scary.

Microsoft wants the US Federal Govt to use Passport for peoples online identity. Hmm, this is Micro-60,000 bugs and a plethora of security holes-Soft we are talking about. So I guess either this is the "mark of the beast" and will see Microsoft take over the world sooner than next Wednesday or it will see identity theft reach new and unforseen heights.

Mind you, after the nice deal with the XBOX I was thinking Gatesy might have been going soft on us. So thanks Mr Gates for renewing my fear and loathing of your company.

Microsoft - What nightmare do you want to live today?(TM)

Incorporated my links database onto the front page of my site - hmm, that would be THIS ONE!!!! Still not many links yet BUT - to the best of my knowledge it works!!! Feedback would not go astray, so why not Speak Out. And now to bed, to sleep, perchance to dream. More links coming soon. Maybe.....

Well it ends up the the XBox deal isn't all that bad after all - they are giving the $250 value of stuff to all people who bought early [cool] we get 2 games and an extra controller. Which is way good [there are 11 titles to choose from] although this will see us with 5 controllers which I guess is cool as no doubt one day we will own a box each. And it gives us a spare for the typical 'oops I did it again' that so often accompanies the passage of use.

So although Microsoft is never high on my list of things to like I guess I reluctantly say that I am very very very happy with this new deal. Do I love Microsoft - I don't think so. And while you are there vote for his dam poll and tell him the site is excellent. Well, good, at least.

Now THIS sucks! I mean I expected that the price would drop - but 40% in 1 month and 12 days - you have GOT to be joking. Now the article mentions some $250 payback offer but I wonder if that is just for people who buy between now and the April 26 prcie drop date or who! Not happy Mr Gates, not happy at all.

As reported by As The Apple Turns - us Mac users have our very own personal Microsoft critical security flaw - cool!

Just finished our Mega Myth Marathon - great fun. Although plague by our dialup friends dropping out, oh and people giving their poor old windows box too much to do.

RANT-I dunno, I must be gettin old, but it is really bugging me how people try and not engage in what's happening right now - they may be doing something with you and at the same time replying to SMS or chatting through an IM. I mean it just says to me I don't really want to be here with you I would prefer to be talking with someone else. Sometimes it's unavoidable but people need to stop using SMS and IM as an excuse to not be involved with what's going on.

Mind you - compared to the stupid things people are doing to each other in the Middle East [all of them] i guess it really pales.

Had lunch with Houghdy today - great to catch up. Houghdy is always encouraging and good to hang with. Tonight is the Mega Myth Marathon - all systems are go and hopefully will continue to be so. Should be good fun.

Now this is a very interesting Unix Ad (Big pic inside).

Hey there, well, let's see....
No, the holidays haven't done much for my state of mind - I still feel ... rejected is the word. Tomorrow night is an online Myth night which should be cool. And I will be having lunch with Houghdy - which I will enjoy.

Been thinking about how people relate to me. Probably need to talk to a few people, but the problem is that the beginning of some problems are lost in time and as for others - arghh! Anyway....

Got the right tools for MySQL and have started to work on a links database. You can try searching it. It aint pretty but it works - well it did for me. There is at least one item in each category - eventually I want to allow more searches in different fields, but for now you can search it [simply] and I add records. Which is enough for me for now.

Yikes! is that the time - see you later today.

Why do people always pick on Fords. [Mildy amusing 3.8Meg QT movie]

A few more words about OSX on x86 from Macrumors Forums - AMD/nVidia OSX hybrid rumors... - scroll down to the bottom and the larger posts for interesting thoughts [ignore the grammer skirmish in the middle].

Now this is an april fools day story but this [X on x86 overview] is not.

Rob alerted me to this idea first, and I must admit I thought "yeah, right rob" and then tried to forget about it after all I'd told him of the legend that Apple has a working OSX on Intel.

But maybe just maybe one day OSX will be working on AMD chip. If you visit the forum someone suggested that AMD might make the next version of the PowerPC chip the G5.

Good? Bad? I think bad, to my mind it would spell the death of Apple Computers [they would be a software company] and I can't see Microsoft sitting by and letting it happen - unless it's some plot to dodge the DOJ case.

AMD making G5's would be great, they seem able to make quick chips quickly which is what Apple needs to finally get ahead of intel and not just parity in certain areas [notably PhotoShop]. I for one though wouldn't mind using OSX on cheaper hardware for a change. I love Apple, but they are so expensive - and although I know that means better quality and support and yadda yadda yadda in the end it means upgrades less often and costing an arm and a leg.

I dunno what to think. Will just have to wait and see.

Well I think the archive for my blogg now looks like I want it to. This holidays project - set up a links database! Not got all that far [yet] but it's only the first day. This will mean learning a bit about SQL and PHP and finding software to do all the hard stuff for me.

The sky is grey and the thunder is rumbling. Sort of matches my mood. After such a great day Sunday the week just went all downhill from there. In the end I did get everything wrapped up for work before heading off to holidays. I dunno what's wrong with me right now but I feel very down.

I am doing a few things in Sydney this week so won't go away but I will be away next week. Might head north and sit by the beach for the best part of the week. Friday week is KYCKSTART a christian convention for 15-19 yr olds and we take the BB/GB along. Great weekend, has a very positive impact. This year the youth group are coming along for a change. Taking many years of asking and waiting. So it is excellent that they are going along.

I think my angst is mostly being caused by relationships - lack of, feeling distant in, trouble in, having to deal with. All that stuf that makes up life - but right now they are all coming in at the one time. Plus feeling old, old, old. Questioning my use as a youth leader guy. So looking forward to going away next week with just a bible and God and spending time with Him. Should help put all this crap into some sort of perspective.

YEAH! Warped 2002 was on yesterday out at the beautiful Dee Why beach - and I had a great time! Need to do it more often. The start was not promising with the 10am gates open becoming more like 1130am gates opening. And the day looking like it may be a very hot one.

But the gates opened and an overcast day with light sea breezes meant that the weather was all you could want. Nice lush green grass kept the dust down as did the "mega floor" they put down to skank on. And of course the bands - 28 Days, PennyWise, Bosstones, Toe to Toe and Area 7 - plus local bands [although missed ODS and Mad Dash due to the main stage running a head of time] meant that the day just went off.

Made it to the front of the fence for Area 7, right in front of Stevo so that was great. Managed to pick up a pick or two plus A7 set list, which rounded off the day nicely.

Got home at a resonable time [it was all over by 7pm] and so caught up with the after church crowd and still got to bed. Sore today and very tired even now - will try and hold out to 930pm before sleep. It was a great day, felt really happy and relaxed - just what the doctor ordered. There is a gig this Saturday with A7 and the Rhomb playing and I think I will head out to Penrith for that and have another time of fun fun fun.

Work is still work - the staffroom got broken into over the weekend so that disrupted everything - although I had some good lessons with Yr7 and Yr9 Maths and, let's face it, with only 4 more working days until the end of term, why shouldn't I be happy :)

"Updated" my links page [called Places to Go], although I just changed the look and fixed up the cartoons and friends section, then thought about adding a geek section and then got bored..... Not a day of much action or excitement at all. Oh, there is stuff going on, just without me. Off to Warped tomorrow, hope I feel a bit less lethargic than I do right now.

Work continues to be full and busy and I am very very glad that I have 5 more working days until a holiday. Although Term 2 has always been the most busiest terms of the year, what with reports and LDC to work on as well as the normal stuff at work.

But the holidays will be great - lots of xboxing - playing new games and enjoying multiplayer..... and just hanging out and relaxing.

Reason # 714 & #715 of why it's better to own a Mac.....

The Praetor's blog is up again [for how long we have to wait and see]. I think it's current format is one of those "just because I could" design decisions.

And as for the email debacle [hmm, no, blogger has no spell checker so just a tick .... yep debacle is how you spell debacle] I guess it's better that than hacking NASA or ASIO or doing drugs. Get better soon lil Praetor dude.

The Paper has been updated, so why not get.to/thepaper and have a read of Issue 183.

Now folks, this is a case mod! [just for you Rob].

Been playing Max Payne on the xbox - very funny story and love the nifty bullet time matrix effect thingy. I am really enjoying the pulp story line with it's very corney descriptive passages.

Oh and Rob has moved his web site - so update those links. Not that he has updated it since the xbox has arrived...

I know a niche market when I see one - so you Mac gamers RUSH over toMG News April 1st, 2002 and catch all the important mac gamers news and just remember what date it is. Did you know that Steve Jobs was a typing fragger in Quake?!! Comes as no surprise to me.

I have just finished HALO. [on normal, for those who are wondering]. After a week without it I found that it was even better than I had remembered. The interiors of the last few levels are very nice. I loved the game immensely - and I can now just relax and enjoy multiplayer with the boys. A few nice twists as the end plays itself out make the finish satisfying too.

Was it worth the money - for sure. I will be borrowing a few other games later today [Monday] so I can have a look at what else this box can do. Titles I am keen to get include Max Payne, RTCW, MOH, the air combat sim and a rally game. Of course can't wait for the online option to get set up, just a little bit scared about the cost. Hopefully it will be a Telstra deal and maybe just maybe as a suffer of their pricing I may get some deal that will make it all a bit more cheaper.

Proably heading off to check out where Warped 2002 will be held next weekend so as to see what sort of Parking may be possible. But that is for later today, maybe with Jim, maybe not.