Point Five Kay

This is it!! A new milestone! One I did not expect to ever reach at several points in the lifetime of this blog.

My 500th post!

I often start things, get excited about them and then forget about them just as quickly. I had hoped that this blog would break that mold, and while I've gone radio-silent a few times, my desire to post random stuff is still strong today.

I started this almost eleven years ago, on May 2nd, 2006! I can't believe it's been that long. Since then, I've gotten married, moved to Canada and become a father, and parts of all those years have been documented herein. Though a lot of a lot of 2014 and 2016 have been lost ot history, with only 11 and 9 posts respectively those years.

Let's not waste any more time and push on to 1,000!

Post Script: I actually had to cheat a little to get this post to fall on the 500th upload. Last night I posted the reviews of the Game Canopy and cajon bags, and the cajon post became my 500th. I'm going to alter the publication date on that post to move it after this one, rewriting history in real time!

 

Let's Do This

November is, for some, a chance to write a lot in a short amount of time, aided by the support of others doing likewise. Most popular is the NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writers Month, during which folks like my wife try to bang out a whole novel. Just the first draft. Editting and subsequent refining are left for another time.

I don't write novels, so instead, I'm trying my own version of November activity, NoBeProMo, November Be Productive Month. I'm going to try to write 30 blog posts over the month of November. The last time I tried this was way back in 2011, and I managed it! It wasn't quite one per day, but it was 30 posts in the month. Hopefully I can manage it again. But more than that, I'm going to try to do video editing stuff, art and more, all of which I'll update about here. So some of the posts this coming month might be short on content themselves, but hopefully I'll have put work into other areas for those days.

This time I'm also going in with a plan. I have a few types of posts I want to do, including movie and board game reviews, a short story or two, and general life stuff, mostly related to babies. I have a few outlines scribbled up in advance to help me manage this task.

If you enjoy what you see, please feel free to comment. Similarly, if you think some post is weak, then let me know. This should be an interesting month!

More

Happy 2014! It's been a great start to the New Year for me, and I have tonnes of stuff to look back and blog about from the Christmas holiday, but let's start 2014 off by looking forward.

While I don't make New Years resolutions, my goal for this year is to be "more". Make more, do more.

I'm going to draw more, and craft more. I have lots of art and craft supplies built up in a storage box, and I haven't been using them enough. I made my own Christmas tree this year, which was awesome fun, and I'm determined to make more stuff in 2013. Also, I'm going to draw more, both in sketch books and digitally. I still what to make a webcomic, so here's the deal: Ask me about it. Pester me about it. When I run out of excuses for why I haven't started, you have my permission to demand it. I love drawing, and I get a little bit better every time I take out my pencils. I just need to stop making excuses to leave them where they are.

I'm going to blog more. Yes, I realise the irony of saying that given that it took until now to write my first blog of 2014, but I'm going to do this. I'm immensely proud of how long I've had this blog now, and how much I've written in that time. 2014 is not going o be the end of that, but a strengthening of it.

For Christmas, Claire got me a monster fo a gaming PC. Suddenly, I found myself able to record my game plays, edit and upload them to YouTube and join the Let's Play community. I'm going to do this more and develop my editing skills more. I've been really enjoying it so far, and I find I'm even enjoying the game more because of it. I'm going to try live-streams in time, but before that, I want to try playing games I'm brand new to (Thank you Steam and Humble Bundle), and recording my commentary live as I react to these new experiences.

I'm going to role-play more and board game more. There was a time last year when we were board gaming every other week, sometimes more, but I stopped over the summer and only got back into it during Christmas. We gamed four times in that week, and I loved it. Also, it's been over a year, and probably closer to two since I GMed. Time to fix that.

I'm going to be with friends more, and talk to friends far away more. I'm going to Skype more and maybe even try this new-fangled Google Hangouts thing some time. I have my own PC with Steam now, so I'm going to try to game with friends more.

2014 is going to be more.

And anyone I can take along for the ride, I'll be happy to have the company.

Gone Mobile

Traditionally, my blogging and Flickr posting has been done through a desktop or laptop. But with more and more of my online activity done on my iPad, and on the go, I've been moving toward mobile blogging and photo posting.

Unfortunately, both Blogger and Flickr are utterly unusable on a touchscreen for posting, and the new Flickr is just plain unusable on anything. So I had to go searching, and I found the perfect apps for each.

Blogsy

I looked around and this is easily the stand out option for psoting to blogs. It supports a wide range of the most popular blogs, including Google's Blogger platform, which I use. I can write new posts, edit old posts, add tags and drop in images and videos exactly like I want to. There's even a series of support videos linked within the app to help get you over that initial confusing transition period while you learn where everything is.

One of my favourite things about Blogsy is how easy it is to add links and images, alter paragraph formats and font sizes or colours, all without altering the standard paragraph style of my blog. That's something Blogger couldn't even manage when I was posting to it directly!

Rating: Highly recommended. Get blogging!

FlickStackr

There was a little competition for my attention when it came to Flickr apps. I needed something that could not only allow me to post, tag and edit descriptions, but also perform batch edits and create new sets, or edit old sets. After reading around a little, I settled on FlickStackr, and I couldn't be happier. It's wonderfully designed, and allows me to do everything I need and more. It's become the only way I ever log in to Flickr any more as the site itself is unusable on my iPad in Chrome.

I love how this app displays my photos, and it includes a basic photo editting suite for minor alterations before, or even after, uploading. I can add single images or whole batches to set or groups, and can add tags to a bunch at once if I need to.

Rating: Picture perfect.

 

To Blog Or Not To Blog

The last few weeks have been kind of busy for me, not all productive though. Red Dead Redemption has eaten up a lot of time I hadn't allocated to gaming thanks to it's surprisingly great gameplay and amazing story. I've been meaning to blog about lots of things. Short posts on random observations, reviews of games and most importantly, a proper blog about my birthday that I promised over a month ago. I've wanted to give that one the care and attention it deserves, not for me, but for all the people that made it so damn awesome!

Tonight I have no projector, and no Xbox. Expect to be blog-bombed.

Three Hundred And Thirty

Happy anniversary to me!! No. Not "Denis me"; "One Terrific Day me"! My blog turns 300 with this post.

Three hundred posts. Wow. I never thought I'd do it. And in a fraction over four years as well. Not bad. It's nice to think I stuck with this thing, and continue to do so.  I've had a good time, and had a lot of readers. My Google Analytics stats tell me that there are loads of people all over the world stumbling into my little piece of the world wide web. Here are some interesting facts from Google about my blog:

• I average around 20 page visits per day, peaking in the last 30 days with 31 views in a single day.
• As I write this, there have been 699 page views, which suggests that the first person to read this on the site could be the 700th viewer! Congratulations, whoever you may be.
• The vast majority of visitors are from the United States, at 180 visits. Ireland comes second, at 62, almost a third of the US! Inexplicably, India, Brazil and Germany are in my top ten! Hi there countries I've never been to or written about!
• For the longest time my post titled "I Miss World Of Warcraft" was at the top of the pageviews leader board, but my recent review of Splinter Cell: Convictions co-op story mode has blasted to the top and seems to be gaining speed. The single player review is also ahead of WoW already. I should do more game reviews. Apparently, they make good reading.
• Google sends me almost 50% of my total traffic. Thanks Google. Thoogle.

Interesting and true!

This all happens at an oddly appropriate time as well. Next Friday, just six days after One Terrific Day turned 300, its writer turns 30. I am living my last week in my 20's. Am I worried? No. I don't feel 30. I certainly don't act 30. The friends I have are the best I've ever had. I love my job. I am married to the most extraordinary person on the planet, and the only one that will have me. I am healthy, happy and hungry... oh. I should probably get some food.

Before I go, there will be fun and games at my place next Friday, the 28th. Of this I am aware. As the 28th is the actual date of my arrival to this pitiful planet, it will probably involve cake and lots of Rock Band. Everyone is invited. Everyone. Bring friends. I don't care if I don't know them. If they can 100% the guitar solo in The Final Countdown on Expert, then they're welcome. It should be a blast.

What I am not aware of is what will be happening on Saturday, the 29th. There will be something. Claire has been organizing it. You will have to contact her or any of the people she has informed for further details. Do not ask me. All I know is that a small amount of driving will be involved, though there should be lots of room for car-pooling.

See you all soon!

And the Cow Goes Moo! And The Bird Goes...

Tweet.

@quaidrayn now exists on Twitter. You can choose to follow me, but really, I can't imagine I'll be updating often. It was really just to follow what Claire is saying about me behind my back. I've posted three times already, but that may well be it for the year.

Speaking of Claire, my wonderful wife is, as some of you know, a writer of large chunks of text without drawings to illustrate the physical action. I think they still call them novels. She has had a blog about writing and all sorts of things that interest her for some time now, but only recently decided to open it to anyone to read.

Taleweaving is a much more cerebral that my effort at contributing toward the unified intelligence of the internet. Her breath of knowledge and interests in topics that include politics and technology are clear in her writings, far flung from my bashing at the keyboard about video games and comic book characters.

Mayday, Mayday

As I start this, it's 14:27 on May 1st, according to my PCs clock. I relaxing in our apartment, watching Mythbusters and enjoying tea. Adam and Jamie are testing pain tolerance in varying groups, including males versus females, and red heads versus, well, everyone else, while Kari, Grant and Tori are blowing propane tanks sky high.

And despite all this brain candy, I am finding myself reading over a few old posts here on the old blog. And while doing so, I suddenly realised that it was around this time of the year, way back in the halcyon days of 2006, that I started this endeavor.

Sure enough, on May 2nd, 2006, I posted my first blog, "What's in a name?" I never thought that I'd still be posting four years later! At the time, it was just something to do. Another hobby to add to my day. I always liked writing, and blogging allowed me to write anything I wanted to. I could jump from factual posts about my day, through movie and comic reviews, onto thoughts on world events, right through to fiction and short stories.

To commemorate four years of blogging, I'm going to try to blog as often as possible for the month of May. I'd love to commit to a post a day, but I'm not promising anything. I have a busy month ahead of me, as we get towards the last few weeks of school, but I'll do my best to inform and entertain. Besides, I have loads more to write about for Splinter Cell, as well as a Nutshell Review for Iron Man 2. That's... well... two more posts anyway.

Formating Issues

I just spent the last few hours formatting my last post so that the text would have the same spacing as every other post I've ever made in this blog! When I first published it earlier today it was all squashed together. It was still legible and all, just not very clean looking. Most annoying. I seem to have finally done something to put it back the way I want it, but I'm not sure what that was, or how I could do it again.

Most annoying.

Edit: I've just realised that the vast majority of you read my blog through Google Reader and wouldn't have noticed the change, as Reader uses it's own formatting for text! Hah! Still, at least it looks nice on the page now.

Slow Blogging

After a fantastic four posts in the first half of January, I've let this lovely project slid somewhat, despite having a lot to say now and then. I like my blog, and I'm proud of having lasted this long, but I've never had the same level of posting as I did in my first year.

I'd love to say I've been a busy, busy boy, but mostly I've been playing Xbox and sitting around complaining of just how bored I am! Kinda seems like the answer to the later is to post more often, but I find myself suffering from a surprising level of apathy around the times when I'm most bored! Well... not so surprising when you think about it.

Anyway. The coming week is going to see a lot of boredom in my life. School has started their two week Easter holiday, meaning I am ungainfully unemployed for the majority of that time. Thankfully, the preschool is going to run an Easter camp for the next three days, so at least I'll have that. But even then, it's only for the morning. Which means from 1pm Monday to Wednesday, I'm going to be free. Which, in turn, means after 1pm Monday to Wednesday I'm going to be incredibly bored. I dread to even think about the remainder of the two week break.

At least I'll be home in Tipp for some of it.

I Like The Way This Soldier Talks

Finally, someone is doing something about this menace to our way of living! General Ryan has some interesting ideas, and I for one will be keeping a close eye on Cork Zombie Watch, especially coming up to Halloween.

Be vigilant out there.

My Xbox Is Sentient

In a shocking turn of events, my Xbox 360 has gained a disturbing level of sentience, and has stated it's (his?) own blog! Mostly it just spends it's time insulting me and talking about the games I play, but every now and again, it mentions that it's responsible for turning off my PC or messing with my other modes of entertainment for it's own benefit. At least now I know what's causing all that.

The Xbox voice blog is provided my 360Voice.com. It's an amusing, if utterly useless addition to the larger 360 universe. If you have or start up a blog for your own Xbox, post me a link so I can keep an eye on what your Xbox thinks of you!

Join The Revolution

While I'm pimping other peoples websites, I guess I should pimp my own wife's (still not used to typing that!) one as well.

Claire has started up a blog focusing on the basics of how to use a computer, from posts about what an operating system is and what it does, to the weird wild world of the world wide web.

Revolutions Ireland is aimed squarely at those of us that know next to nothing about PCs, and can't tell their input device from their output device, let alone their ROM from their RAM, most of the readers of my blog, will find little new information within. That said, it is, unsurprisingly, well written and clear, and if any of you have family or friends that would like to start learning the basics of what makes computers tick, then Claire would love if you'd point them to her site. If they're wondering why their computer actually is producing a ticking sound, I'm sure she has a post related to that particular issue coming up soon... though, honestly, if it's ticking now, it's probably already too late.

Long overdue, I've also added her site to my blog list on the right side of this page.

I Think Someone Is Watching Me

Recently, as any of my regular readers know, I had an extended break from blogging caused by a lethal combination of laziness, procrastination and no internet. However, everything has it's purpose, even if unintentionally so.

While away, I had a number of people ask if I was ok, or if I had become bored of blogging, or if I had moved my blog elsewhere (don't worry Blogger. I love you too much to leave). It made me realise that there are a lot more people reading than I'm aware of! Some come and go, some even have me on their Google Reader feed or similar. I don't post very interesting stuff 99% of the time, just things that catch my own attention, but people still come back for more.

So, if you do read regularly, please take this opportunity to just drop a quick "hello". Especially if you're a friend with a blog I don't read. While you're at it, feel free to let me know if there is something about my blog you particularly enjoy, or even something you dislike. What would you like to see me do more of in 2009? What would you like to see less of?

Terribly Terrific Twos

Today celebrates the second birthday of this humble web log. Not only that, but entirely coincidentally, this very post happens to be my 200th!!

Two hundred posts in two years! That's a lot of writing! Of course, 200 also means I slowed down significantly over the past twelve months. On my first birthday, I was at around 120 posts, adding only 80 more since then. But while quantity has dropped, I feel that quality has increased! I have a touch of continuity in my posts, with nutshell reviews, RPG run-downs and hilarious life stories! Hahah! Funny stuff... It's also my second anniversary on Flickr! Sweet!

One of the really nice things about having a blog for two years is looking back on older posts. I've forgotten so many good times that I've posted about here, but re-reading them reminds me of some special moments with friends. I was almost abducted by aliens (they took Bob instead. Blast), I confessed my love for murder mysteries, I complained about not having enough hours in the day (a lot!), I've gone on a rant or two, I've talked about being with friends, and missing them, I've made mistakes, I've broken promises, I've shared victories, and failures, but most of all, regardless of what it's about, I've just been writing. And I'm grateful now that I have. Through all of these, I have many fond memories to look back on.

Here's to another fine year of posting ahead, and many more besides!

Finally, Some Me Time

It's been almost a full month since I last updated, and it's been a busy month! Preschool work kicked into overdrive in the run up to Christmas, and I've been putting in extra time at home on arts ideas for the class, as well as buying supplies in town. My other work has had me in for more hours, both in the health food store and the comic shop. This is great, because I really need the money! Rent this month is on the credit card!

And on top of all this, I got a new game for the Wii, and an Xbox 360! The Xbox was a Christmas present from Claire, and I bought the games for it myself through ebay. In fact, most of my Christmas shopping was done through ebay! Sweet!

Edit: Oops! Silly me. I almost talked about what I got people, before realising that some of them read this!! Heh. Anyway...

But tonight I have a little time to say hello to the world wide web again, and blog a little. Poor Flickr is still feeling cold. I haven't really taken any photos at all recently, even of action figures. I guess I'm allowed take a break now and then, but I really want to get back into it. Maybe in the New Year. I'm not going to make a resolution to photograph or blog more though. I feel I did a lot this year, certainly more than I expected to do, given my reputation for starting and ending things with reckless abandon! Still, hopefully I'll have time to blog a bit more before the end of 2007.

HTML Help

Question:

Why is it that every time I use Blockquotes in my blog it seems to break the text formatting from that point on? Just look at my post on G.I. Joe. The first paragraph is nicely spaced between lines. Then I put in the quote and the rest of the post is crammed together like in the style of the Blockquote. This annoys me greatly. Any help?

False Start

Dammit! I forgot that yesterday was the start of NaBloPoMo! Last year, Karen did a great job, and it looks like she's starting it again. I really wanted to give it a try, and so I will!

Did You Know: There is a small east-African tribe that, due to a spacial anomoly in 1913, exist one day in the past. This post is for them.

Welcome to November first!

Got out of that one...

Reader? I Hardly Know'er!

At Cians suggestion in my post lamenting all the time I waste checking peoples blogs for non-existant updates, I decided to look into Google Reader. As it turns out, it's easy to use, clean, and does exactly what I need it to do!

I now have all the blogs I read listed on it, as well as a few websites. My only worry is that, as bad as I am at stopping to take the time to comment on sites, will this make that even worse!?!? Now I'm not even going to my friends blogs, instead letting Google do all the work for me!

Only Bob gets away from me. For some odd reason I can't add his blog to my list. Curse you Bob! Why must you make me waste precious megabits checking your blog on a daily basis?!? I have more important things to be doing with my broadband connection, you know!

Updated Yet?

I have quite a few friends that blog regularly, and I love reading them all! What I hate is checking a list of five or six blogs every morning and evening for updates, so I've come up with a solution, of sorts. Unfortunately, it needs your help, fellow bloggers!

See, I'm going to archive a direct link to this post at the side there, under the heading of "Terrific Updates". Any time you update your own blog, my friend, just pop over here, click the link, and leave a comment on this very post!! That way, I get an instant email telling me you updated, and I can go read all about your interesting life, and the crazy adventure you got up to today that makes me want to buy a bus/train/plane ticket to wherever you are and hang out with you right now!

If anyone out there has similar problems keeping up to date with your friends lives, just copy this idea, and text, into a post on your own blog!! Only we can make life easier for all.

So get posting and commenting. I look forward to reading your next entry.