Reorganising and Planning

This weekend I have have been, once more, reorganising my computer area. If you have been reading my blog for a while you will know happens at least once a year. I think i have a long term workable solution now. The monitors for my Mac and Linux computers are raised and side by side so I can easily work with both. The boxes themselves are sitting on top of a small cupboard which makes them a lot more accessible than in the past and I have the power block on the wall so it is easy to get at. Most importantly I now have all the desktop space I need for keyboards. mice, books and cups of tea. Here's a pic :)

I am hoping that a comfortable working area will let me get on with some of the many projects that I have under way including Hb and some original posts here at db4dawn. In planning I have posts on Firefox add-ons and the 1970's BBC Tv Series 'Survivors'.



I am doing a lot of development with the Drupal CMS at the moment, at work and for my personal projects. I had looked at Drupal before Christmas but had decided to pursue the Joomla! route. The main reason I have reconsidered Drupal is the extension system, I hope to post a piece about this over at the newly revamped (once again) rickis dot net.



Cya all soon



Kev

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Reflection on a walk

The rain took a break for a few hours today, yay! I was able to get out for a walk and get some photos taken. The light is still not great for photography but I managed to get a few interesting shots. The shot above was taken while laying on what remained of the footpath and looking across the surface of the pond. There are a few other shots including a panorama of the flooded pond on Flickr.

Next week I hope to get out for more walks and possibly runs. I think I am going to have to ignore the weather if I am going to start getting fit.

View from Skye

Today has been another dark, wet and very windy day all over Scotland. In the last couple of months it seems as if there have only been a few days when it wasn't raining and raining hard at that. It gets quite depressing after a while so I like to go through my photographs and remember how nice it can be here when the weather is good.

The view above was constructed from three photographs. It was taken from a cliff view point north of Portree on Skye in February 2005. The water in the photo is the Sound of Rassay with the Isle of Rona in front of the mainland. I don't have a detailed map so I can't at the moment name the mountains but the area is Wester Ross.

Path to Temple Wood

Ballymeanoch_10.jpgOriginally uploaded by Darkest Before Dawn.

I have uploaded some more photos from my summer holiday in Argyll.

The photos in this set are of the Ballymeanoch Standing Stones and landscape in Kilmartin Glen, Argyll, Scotland.

I like this photo because it has a tranquil feeling for me.

I am Man...

... see me search pathetically for stock cubes!

Today I managed to get up before it got dark again, which is a major step forward. I needed a few things from the shops so instead of taking my car and assisting the destruction of the environment. I decided to have a walk as I am in desperate need of some exercise. So I walked to near by Super-Multi-Mega Store (SMMS) which destroys the environment.

On my way there I stopped by my local dealer for 50 grammes of extra hot dried chillies. It is good stuff, a few of them in a chili con carny and you can guarantee your head will sweat.

At the SMMS I got a packet of lentils and a packet of Scotch Broth mix as it is winter and it is time for soup making. At this point I remembered that I needed to buy some stock (bouillon) cubes. Now I usually expect to find stock cubes around where the jars of herbs and spices are or where the gravy granule's are kept but could I find them? Well no, as it happens.

So I start my search pattern, going up and down the rows until I reach the dairy section or the hard goods, nothing. Of course it had now become a 'thing' I must find them and I must do it without assistance mainly because I too scared to ask in case I am told "they are right behind you mate".

Passing the 'Fantastic Sale Offers' or as I would think it would be more honest to title 'Christmas Crap We Couldnae Shift', for the third time I noticed copies of Instant Confidence by Paul McKenna

Now some Instant Confidence is what I could use at this point and more especially when I get to the checkout and my IQ does it usual 100 point dip. However unlike the Super-Multi-Mega Book Shops that destroy the environment this sort of store is not happy about you sitting down in the aisle and reading books. From the infamous 'Duck a l'Orange Incident' I know they don't like you trying out their recipe books with produce from the shop unless you have actually bought the book and ingredients and taken them home first.

So without Mr McKenna's assistance I check throughly all the shelves around me several times and I am at least 50% confident that the stock cubes are not lying in wait to embarrass me and I ask a member of staff stocking a fridge where the stock cubes are. The answer was 'in the far corner of the shop above the freezers'. Of course I should have remembered that in shops with open top freezers the stock cube take up residence there.

Okay I am off to write to the Stock Cube manufactures to point out that their products are not actually cubes.

Finished tinkering…

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

.. for now anyway

The two images in the header are now selected at random from a list, the same image cannot be displayed in the two positions. If anyone is interested in the code for this then comment and I will post it. The flickr image strip is now set to display squares as it is neater and it is using the same method as the header images to display either a random selection of images or the latest stream.

The menu buttons are now using a single file with the origin being moved on a:hover to achieve the mouse over effect. This prevents a flash of missing button when the user first hovers over the mouse and prevents the need for pre-loading of additional graphic files.

Kev

New Year, New Theme

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

Hope your New Year is going will, mine was kind of quiet until 5:30 this morning when flat upstairs played Chas & Dave’s “Rabbit” at high volume while stomping about. It didn’t go on for long but I have been wide awake since then.

My new theme is based on the work I have done to construct Joomla! themes and only has a small section of code from my previous Jura theme. The 3 Column layout is based on one of the designs by Alex Robinson published under the Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication it is valid CSS and XHTML 1.1 I have tested it in FireFox and Safari but I have not had a chance to test the theme in IE. I will get this done later today, in the mean time if you spot any faults please comment here.

The theme is not quite finished yet, I want to add a way to display random images from a chosen set in the header and I want to add another one or two buttons to the header, when I remember what I had in mind!?

It has gone quiet upstairs now so I will try and grab some more sleep.

Happy New Year

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

Happy New Year and wishing all a prosperous 2007.

  

Mood : none

Crafts Network & rickis dot net

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

The project that I have been working on for the last few months is now on-line, Crafts Network. Currently the main feature is the forums, however I hope to add more features to the site over then next week. So if you are involved in Crafts in the UK in any way then please stop by.

I have also redesigned the rickis dot net site with a less wintry look.

At the moment I have no real plans for Hogmanay but I expect I will be on iChat/AIM if I am at home and anyone wants to chat.

Kev

  

Mood : creative

LOST - the viral marketing game.

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

Gacked from Morgaine.

LOST is a student project that aims to show how 7 million people can connect to each other. It’s also a game, and is trying to reach the highest number of players for any game, ever.

Want to give it a GO?

  

Mood : none

My Elfamorphosis

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

See me dance

  

Mood : none

But LiveJournal said it was on the Pill!

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

So there I am innocently checking my LiveJournal user info when I noticed the Google Ads.

Now the first three make sense, or is that AdSense? But the fourth one is a mystery, I mean I always practice safe surfing, what could have gone wrong!?

  

Mood : none

Tree Cam

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

I have set up a Christmas Tree cam for the duration of the festive period.

Festive messages can be sent using the form on the page and I will put them online as soon as I get the chance.

Oh and the scary looking Santa’s were in the flat when I bought it, there are three of them!

Hope to get the tree decorated a bit better as well.

Kev

  

Mood : Festive

Flakes

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

I have set up four previews of the Joomla! templates I have been working on.

Snowflakes Blue

Snowflakes Red

Snowflakes Green

Snowflakes Yellow

I am working on the WordPress version.

  

Mood : none

Oh Bollards

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

  

Mood : none

Let it Snow

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

Well snow would be a bit of a change as all we have had in Scotland for the last few weeks is rain, very heavy rain at times. The combination of rain and the Autumn leaves from the trees blocking drains have turned many streets in Glasgow into rivers rather than roads.

I have competed the design for my first Joomla templates and after a lot of messing about and a few swear words I have got the template packaging method sorted out. The plan now is to construct WordPress templates with the same design. I hope to get a chance to do this tomorrow evening. Once that is done I will release them for download, I am not really sure anyone will be interested in using them but you never know.

Kev

  

Mood : geeky

One finished & one started

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

My sister’s online shop is now live made by val so if you happen to be looking for handmade fairy doors then you can find them there. Shipping is only to the UK at the moment however Val hopes to expand this in the 2007.

ZenCart was used for this project, I found that it can be a bit overwhelming when you first look at it but I guess it is the number of options that make it powerful. The template system takes a bit of learning when you are used to your templates being contained in a single folder as with WordPress or Joomla! The ZenCart template system is explained here if you want further reading.

Now that the shop project is live I am reviving on my loooong neglected rickis dot net site. I am working on a set of Joomla! templates which I want to convert for WordPress and if possible ZenCart so that sites can be created using a combination of these applications and have a unified design.

I will be changing the theme here before too long, Jura was my first attempt at writing a WordPress template and theme from scratch and although I like it does have a few problems. I have learned a lot of CSS in the last couple of months and I have a few new ideas that I want to try out, so as they say “stay tuned”

Kev

  

Mood : calm

Can some one fix that damn TV!

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

There is a danger that this blog in turning in to a health blog, or should that be a lack of health blog?? My toe is fine now and the nail is growing back so yay!

The past week I have been stressing out a lot and I frequently have a stress tone in my head. If you have never had one it, for me anyway, is like the whine you get off an old television. If you have never had an old TV then it is like when you have been in a loud club or concert. If you have not been to those then… sorry I am out analogies just now.

Last weekend was particularly bad and if Louise hadn’t come over on Saturday evening I don’t think I would have got out of bed all weekend.

The route cause of the stress is the stuff at work which I cannot talk about here but to add to that last Friday my car decided that it would signal left even if I was not indicating left. It was possible to stop it signalling left if I signalled right, this is of course no use if I didn’t intend to go right. In the end I put my hazards on when I was going straight on and took them off when I had to signal.

I got the car back today so at least that is done with. Last Sunday I had really wanted to take a walk along a beach and clear my head but without the car that was not possible, this Sunday maybe if the weather is better.

Anyway how you all been? At least one blog on my blog list seems to have disappeared which is a shame as it was an entertaining & interesting read.

Hope to get some nonsense going here again soon.

Kev

  

Mood : stressed

Can some one fix that damn TV!

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

There is a danger that this blog in turning in to a health blog, or should that be a lack of health blog?? My toe is fine now and the nail is growing back so yay!

The past week I have been stressing out a lot and I frequently have a stress tone in my head. If you have never had one it, for me anyway, is like the whine you get off an old television. If you have never had an old TV then it is like when you have been in a loud club or concert. If you have not been to those then… sorry I am out analogies just now.

Last weekend was particularly bad and if Louise hadn’t come over on Saturday evening I don’t think I would have got out of bed all weekend.

The route cause of the stress is the stuff at work which I cannot talk about here but to add to that last Friday my car decided that it would signal left even if I was not indicating left. It was possible to stop it signalling left if I signalled right, this is of course no use if I didn’t intend to go right. In the end I put my hazards on when I was going straight on and took them off when I had to signal.

I got the car back today so at least that is done with. Last Sunday I had really wanted to take a walk along a beach and clear my head but without the car that was not possible, this Sunday maybe if the weather is better.

Anyway how you all been? At least one blog on my blog list seems to have disappeared which is a shame as it was an entertaining & interesting read.

Hope to get some nonsense going here again soon.

Kev

  

Mood : stressed

Toe Update

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

I had the toe redressed today and the nail was gone, I am sure it was in the dressing somewhere but the nurse insisted it wasn’t. It looked okay and it wasn’t bleeding so Yay!

Kev

  

Mood : none