Development on the new Newcastle Computer Wizards (original site here) website has kind of stagnated. The place is absolutely flat out and hasn't really been able to sit down long enough to contemplate what is wanted on the website or how they want it to look. That OK because I have a new project I'm working on. And it most definitely is a first for me.

Genealogy, the study of one's ancestry, seems to be a hugely popular past time for people with too much time on their hands. I don't see the appeal personally, but if it helps me make money then thats fine. Turns out it is such a big deal that there is actually a data format standard that is in use across the field. It's called Gedview and it allows the data stored to be transfered between different applications. This includes web applications.

PHPGedView is a website engine that can import said Gedview data files and present them in almost any format desired. On top of that there is a Joomla module in development that will integrate PHPGedView with Joomla.

I'm very much looking forward to working on this site. It should be a great challenge.

family tree

Just when I thought it couldn't get worse I type up a giant post only to have it get lost while posting. So here I go again, and now it will be very short indeed.

• - Big week working. Very tired.
• - Computer broke again but is now fixed. Need to finish installing software.
• - My legs hurt and I don't know why. Makes it hard to exercise.
• - Set list finalised. Getting tabs started.
• - Didn't realise hosting/domain was due. Web site dissappear!?!?!

Just got at least one new web design project. Two more major ones in the works. The one I have is for an industrial painting company. I always wondered where the "Warning" lines and path markers and "Loading Zone" painting comes from when you set it on walls or the ground. Well these guys do it and do it well by the looks. The site design is done (even though I had to keep the really awful logo) and shouldn't take me too long.

The next two are a little different. A simple static site for a fencing company looks more than likely like a goer, whereas I'm still not sure on the last which is a wholesale jewelery business. That one will require a lot of work (and also involves a lot of money) and as such I am really looking forward to the challenge.

I'm also going to redo the XRISmedia site as I think I have gone too complex with it. I want to keep it very simple and straight forward. It has too much information right now. One page and that's it. It doesn't need anymore.

On top of that I also have another site to do for work that is basically on hold until I get around to doing it. I'm thinking of doing something to make it a bit different and put in a Technician's Blog to keep it interesting. I find I have a lot of stories and advice when it comes to PC's that just don't fit in this blog. And I'd rather keep it that way.

One last note, I've decided to add links to my favourite musican's sites. There on the left. I hope this is a way for you to find some new music to listen to.

What a week.

Firstly, I've just spent 3 days in Tea Gardens doing a network roll out. What a pain in the arse. Wednesday was 8:30am to 1:30am. Yes AM!!!!! Thursday we did 7am to 6pm and then Friday 8:30am to 5pm. And I'm back there on Monday now as well. I'm tired and cranky but at least I got paid.

Shame it's gone though.

A simple minor service on my car I thought. That turned into $550. Two new tires, new brakes, wheel alignment and balance, machining of the brake calipers, it just goes on. So to ease my pain on spending money I spent more money on a Lick Library DVD. I bought the Blues Solos disc and I'm about to pop it in and have a look. I probably should have bought a general blues one as well, but I figure I'll pick a lot of that stuff up off the backing tracks.

Fuck it, I'm done here for now. I'm gonna play some guitar.

October and 37 degrees C. I'm stuck in the hottest room in the house working on websites. I do apologise for the lck of updates recently. While I've getting by doing some freelance web site work, I'm just about to finish my first major site that I can actually state puplicly that I built (bloody NDA's suck ass). So that has been pretty much the only thing I have been working on this week. The site is built and ready to go, however the host (not my choice of host) seems to limit the size of http uploads. This means I can't install some of the Joomla modules because they are too big. As you can imagine, it's causing quite a headache.

The other thing causing a headache is IE and it's abysmal implementation of CSS. It just doesn't do it right. I've had to butcher my lovely code to make the site work in IE. That pisses me off no end. The site still looks good and I'm proud that I can actually put my business name on it as well.

The other "good" news I had during the week involves the place of employment I left several months ago. Iw was the dodgiest computer store I have ever seen, or had the displeasure to work in. It's been four months and I'm still waiting for my annual leave to be paid out. The Office of Workplace Services has been great, and presented my former employer with a breach notice regarding my annual leave. However, my former employer just gone into receivership. Well there goes my $1800. It's really annoying as that money would be a great cash injection into my business. I have the receivers details coming to me so hopefully not all is lost.

Well, back to this website, and off I go to hang out the washing. Not much of a guitar week, but shit happens.

As this site is growing, so is the number of spam comments I am having to filter out. I've installed Bad Behaviour as an automatic spam filtering tool. It seems to be the best one out there, and installation was a sinch. Here's hoping to cut the crap I've been dealing with.

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