85 posts from 2006

One of my colleagues was gallivanting in lovely Thailand, so we got a new guy at work.

He didn't get much done, but he was entertaining to have around.

I think the thing that annoys me the most is that I'm a stickler for respecting privacy and for him to suggest that I'm invading his privacy really irks me. Especially when it's some thing that comes in a clear plastic bag.

Urgh. It seems ironic to have a vent post after a "happy moments" post, but what can ya do when life throws stupid curve balls all the time? I've been brooding about this all evening and it's starting to piss me off. So I figure that maybe if I vent here, I can finally let it go and it will disappear into obscurity (which is highly likely given the lack of comments on this site, haha).

I've moved out of home, but it's only been a little over a month since. My dad works abroad most of the year, but this last half of the year, he's on a sabbatical and so is home for 6 months. Mostly. Probably at least a third of this period will be spent in other parts of the world working with other mathematically-inclined colleagues. Anyway, his mother has given him a subscription to Australian National Geographic for the last 8 or 9 nine years. I think I've seen him read 3 issues. I don't know why he lets her continue "giving" him this unappreciated gift. So I'm visiting home, no one else is there, and I decide to relax with the latest issue of this mag, featuring Emperor Penguins (flavour of the year with "March of the Penguins" and "Happy Feet" releases). At some point, he has returned home and I come into the kitchen with magazine in hand.

Dad: Oh, you're getting this magazine now?
Me: No... (confused)
Dad: It's addressed to me, right?
Me: Uh, yeah.
Dad: Well, that's private mail then.
Me: But it's a magazine! (what the hell?) Did you want to keep it in the bag?
Dad: You shouldn't read other people's mail.
Me: Oh, I'm sorry. I won't do it again. (meekly)

Dammit, was I wrong? Why does he suddenly care about this magazine? And is it private mail when it's a magazine, in a clear plastic bag (that purely exists to hold in all the extra advertising they pile in there, I'm sure)? I don't know. It's so stupid. When he's not here, does that mean that we were never allowed to read it? This is so stupid. So why do I feel like crying? :(

I read on one of my feeds that people who think of three happy things that happened that day and analyse why it made them happy became happier people. Well, it's a helluva lot better than thinking about all the crap things just before your eyes close, right? So tonight, though it's not past midnight and I'm having a difficult time keeping my eyes open, I'll list the ones I can think of.

1. I was able to listen to my ipod on my way to work. (See previous entry for details of my stereo install).
2. I got next Friday off to attend a friend's wedding
3. I got a really wonderful hug from my boyfriend. This is good because he still finds it difficult to move without pain and for him to be able to hug me comfortably is a blessing (choose your church/diety/belief) that I refuse to take for granted.

It's not a big deal, really, and it's not a fancy stereo, but it's my success and I'm proud of it.

After getting the keys to remove the stock stereo, it was time to give myself more room to work in by removing the cubby hole:

What a luxury of space once this was gone! Maybe one day, I'll upgrade to a double-din unit.

I didn't think I'd be able to pull it out without breaking this clip, but it did pop out and remained intact!
Then I had to solder bits of wire (from an old head-unit from the Civic, it seems I have quite a collection!) to the speaker wires to give them a little more length.

The uninstaller was mean enough to leave stubs of wires when he removed the stereo. Next time, I'm doing it all myself!
And then everything that could be done before the next step was done and I had reached the point of no return: cutting the original wires from the plug.

I thought I was committed to finishing this when I pulled out the original stereo harness, but really it was here. Once I cut those wires, there was no point trying to backtrack. Forge ahead!

Here, the soldering is complete:

I nearly reconnected the battery at this point! It was only while stuffing the wires in that I realised that they were still naked. Close one!

Now that they're all wrapped up, it's time to put them to bed...

And test it!

This is the second time installing a stereo and I don't trust my soldering skills (or the not-exactly-my-model-eurovox wiring diagram) so I had to make sure all was well before cleaning up!

Finally, about 4 hours later, it's all in and working. I can now listen to my tunes from my ipod. No more burning CDs!!! Haha!

So that's my stereo install. I guess it's a bit proud of me to be taking photos and telling everyone about it, but hey, I worked friggin' hard to get it right!

So yeah, it looks like I'm not able to keep doing this project. I'll probably keep posting pics when I take 'em, but it might be every other day or once a week. I'll call it Picture Whenever I Feel Like It. Haha. :P

Are self-portraits the ultimate vanity? Or is that reserved for people who have kids because they're entranced with the idea of creating a mini-version of themselves?

Anyway, I was playing the expanded functions on my camera when you set it to take photos in JPG. I usually have mine set to RAW because I like the ability to adjust the images for

colour, contrast, exposure and sharpness. While the Fuji seems to do its own thing fairly well, pics taken in the JPG setting always have a slightly strange colour tone that I can't duplicate with Adobe Camera Raw for the life of me. (Shit, I think that was a run-on sentence.) To get back on track, we were driving back home and I thought I'd play with these settings and see if I could be happy with them. I used the "Chrome" and B&W settings, all on the highest qualityimage, should I feel the desperate need to adjust the pics later.

The doggies were my first victims.

The next easiest subject, and mostly willing, was myself, so I indulged.

The id in me is pleased with the way these experiments turned out, so I thought I'd share the joy, haha! Plus one with my man, whose patience is virtuous and appreciated. :)

P.S. The drag and drop feature with the photos doesn't always work. That's annoying. :P

I'm finally catching up on my photos. Mike is doing well, though still sore. Here he is in his hosptial bed, looking a helluva lot better than when he first arrived. Which, I guess, is how everyone would prefer to leave.

Also, I have just learned that you can drag photos when composing in Vox! :D

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