Lots of visitors

Wow, during the first 1.5 hours after adding the counter, I've had 34 page loads from 28 unique users! :O The fact that three of them left spam comments on the previous post advertising stuff suggests that they're mostly bots, but hey. ;) To stop junk comments from getting posted by bots, I've turned on "word verification" which just means you'll get asked to copy letters from an image when you post a comment. A small price to pay, methinks. :)

Hit Counter

Yeah, I know I'm kinda copying Humphrey, but I saw his counter and thought - yeah, nice idea. So I've got one too! :P Check it out at the bottom of the page. It'd be subtle if I hadn't've written a post about it. ;)

Pure Nerd :S

I found this Nerd? Geek? or Dork? test somewhere and was somehow intrigued enough to give it a go. So here I am the other side of the test, and apparently, I'm a Pure Nerd, which is a little disturbing... What's possibly more disturbing is that I scored more for Dork than I did for Geek! People sometimes call me a Computer Geek (and sometimes even ask me if I mind (...elly, amelia!)) so I'd've thought I might've scored more for it. Anyhoo, check out my results! :) ...and then have a go yourself!

Pure Nerd 65 % Nerd, 39% Geek, 47% Dork

For The Record: A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia. A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one. A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions. You scored better than half in Nerd, earning you the title of: Pure Nerd. The times, they are a-changing. It used to be that being exceptionally smart led to being unpopular, which would ultimately lead to picking up all of the traits and tendences associated with the "dork." No-longer. Being smart isn't as socially crippling as it once was, and even more so as you get older: eventually being a Pure Nerd will likely be replaced with the following label: Purely Successful.

My test tracked 3 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 71% on nerdiness You scored higher than 53% on geekosity You scored higher than 79% on dork points

Link: The Nerd? Geek? or Dork? Test written by donathos on Ok Cupid

Stuart, the Human Ticket Granting Server

Today in Computer Security, Stuart (wearing black, holding the red and green sheets of paper) did an impersonation of a Ticket Granting Server as part of a practical demonstration of Kerberos, a computer network authentication protocol we're learning about. The demonstration mostly involved the guys here passing around notes wrapped up in coloured sheets of paper! :) I don't fully get Kerberos yet, but it was fun to watch nevertheless! ;)

Good Spot to Chat

Here are my awesome friends in their fav chatting spot at home group - No, that's not a couch they're sitting on! ;) Amelia, Sandy and Elly thank you for the use of your bath, Mark + Di!

...I've uploaded this so Elly can use it as her profile pic! See How it is. :)

Alpha Weekend

On saturday I went to the Alpha weekend - a special saturday and sunday's worth of alpha in the middle of the whole course. The weekend focusses on the Holy Spirit, who He is (yes, the Holy Spirit is most definitely a 'He') and how He relates to us. During the afternoon, we climbed to the top of St John's tower and I took some photos of the street below. Enjoy! :)

The story so far...

Well, I figured it was about time to write a little update of what's going on in my world!

Ok, so here's the run down:

• Nearly finished Bachelor of Computing degree at Utas up here in Launceston. ...just the rest of this semester to go! I'm doing Mobile and Ubiquitous Computing (mobile phones and stuff), Computer Security, Programming Paradigms (which I don't understand ANYTHING about yet - tough subject!), and...
  
• Software Engineering Project is still going... no more submissions til the end of semester now, which is kinda good but also kinda scary, cos it's harder to judge whether we're on schedule or not! :S
• I'm also still at St John's. I'm concentrating my efforts on music and not being involved in the children's ministry! (Well, not much anyway...!) Kudos to Di who's doing an awesome job at running that! :D
  
• St Joe's Big Band recently recorded for their CD - finally! We've been planning to make it for years apparently. Hopefully it'll be out in time for our concert in November celebrating the band's 160th year! Put it in your diary now: 12 Nov 2005 at the Princess Theatre!
• I've been taking a break from St Joe's for a few weeks in order to do The Alpha Course. We're about half way through and I've found it to be very informative. The content is very well put together, and well delivered. While I've been a christian pretty much my entire life, it's useful to go back to the basics and approach it anew. It's also great to see the enthusiasm abounding from those who are new to christianity. It can be very easy at times to settle into a routine and forget how amazing God is!!
• The Melbourne trip is going ahead! After much complication in organisation regarding accommodation and who was going etc, we're now pretty much set. In the end there are about 7 of us going 1st-5th Sep. We're planning to stay at All Nations which is a really great price - only $15 per night, and lots of stuff included. I suspect they're able to make it so cheap by also running the All Nations Bar, right next door. If you're staying at All Nations for accommodation, you're likely to be spending a fair amount of money at the bar (unless you're like me and don't care much for alcohol!). They even offer guests a free beer on check-in! ;)
  
  The idea behind this, originally, was to take Sandy to Melbourne to see the Lion King for her birthday. Unfortunately, due to one thing and another, Sandy is now unable to go... :( The trip has now largely become a Project Team + friends thing rather than a Sandy's birthday thing. Nevertheless, we still plan to go and have a well earned break from project work and uni and everything! :) While we're there we might also go take a look at the Melbourne Aquarium and maybe Melbourne Zoo. Who knows! :D

That'll just about do it for one post I reckon. Please leave comments so I know you've been visiting me! It might encourage me to post again! ;)

Until next time...

SGC concert at DOH - oops!!

I've been looking forward to a Southern Gospel Choir concert at Door of Hope, but not knowing the time and prices and stuff, I found this article on the utas what's on webpage:

"6 August
Conservatorium of Music
Southern Gospel Choir - Launceston Appearance
A rare opportunity for fans from the north of the State to catch the Gospel Choir in a one-off show.
6 pm. Door of Hope Church, Launceston. $35/$20 available at the door.
Further information: 6226 7337"

I just drove out there, and the sign says it's at 7:30pm! :@ Man! So I drove home again. I'm pretty sure the prices are wrong too! I thought it said $30/$25 on the sign...

I guess I'll have something to eat and try again shortly. ;)

Post from Email

I'm posting this blog by sending an email to my special address @blogger.com. That's a pretty nice feature. Makes it slightly more likely that I'll actually post to this! ;) Let's see if it works...

Hello all!

Well, this is my first post! I never thought I'd give this a go, but I was reading one of my friend's blogs and thought - why not? I figure it's a reasonable way to let others who may be interested know what I'm up to... Also I can look back and see what I was thinking and stuff. Of course, what with being in the middle of Project, I really don't have time to be writing entries in a blog, but maybe it'll work out! Worst case scenario: I'll set it up, make this first post then never go back again! ;)

I guess time will tell... :)