VolaciousNet

So, I’m sitting in the Qantas Club at Auckland Airport, waiting to board, and having a muse.
I decided to catch up on my LiveJournalling / blogreading, and came across a post from a darling girl I know who is very spiritual, very strongly a Christian, and having dilemmas. If she reads this, she will know it’s her I’m talking about.

It is probably something I cannot fathom. I was reading her post, sensing her struggling with her anguish about possibly being “unworthy” of God’s grace. Knowing that the Almighty knows her feelings, and might think she is unworthy because not all her thoughts are pure. The fear of failing God.

It’s something similar to another boy I know too well, brought up a Catholic. Whilst different ethos, the guilt is always there. The guilt of failing, of somehow not being able to control impure thoughts or deeds.

It’s not just Christianity, this applies to nearly all kinds of organised religion where expectations are put in place. The same kind of expectations that parents have for their children, particularly those where the best isn’t good enough.

So how to we justify ourselves when we fall short of these expectations? There is not a mortal alive that does not fail to live up to their own expectations. It’s the bar we set for ourselves, the bar that always moves a little bit higher as you reach out for it.

I’m not saying I have the answer. I’m one of those who chronically sets my own bar up in the clouds, and then go through agony when I keep failing. What I am learning, or trying to learn, is it is not so much reaching the goal, but what you can gain out of the journey. And whether you can use what you learn to better plan how you live your life.

Of course, achieving goals is important for our psyche in order to give us confidence to move on, but these really need to be clearly defined and quantifiable and in our grasp, or they will change and be unattainable. Goals such as “achieve enlightment” or “become a better person” are dangerous if you think about the destination and not the journey.

Anyway, my flight is being called, so I’ll get my head out of the clouds so you can all scratch your head and wonder what great drug I’ve been taking Have a great weekend, all !

See the size of this coffee? It’s huge! And exactly what I need this morning. I’m exhausted!

Well, it seems like I’ll be coming home early now, this Saturday instead of three weeks time! The job I cameover here to do had … Issues. To put it lightly. Oh well, happens sometimes. All part of the experience:-)

Hope everyone is well!

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

So I’m sitting here, in bed, updating via my iPhone. Frankly, I’m exhausted after a huge week at work. As for this weekend, I have to do a bit of organising and such because on Sunday I am getting exiled to New Zealand for three weeks!! It’s be ok if it was somewhere interesting, but it’s Auckland.

In fact, over the next few months I’m going to be travelling around a fair bit, with up to three separate trips to new Zealand, some time in Canberra, and then two weeks in Benalla for my gliding competition. I can’t believe that this year will be my last year at joeyglide, as I then become too old to compete! I am looking forward to being able to fly my own glider though…. It’s going to be so much fun!

Time is passing fast though, my friends. Two milestones went wooshing by recently and I didn’t even notice! They were:
*5 years of this blog
*4.5 years with Adam

4.5 years… Scary thought, huh? Jeez….

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

Well, it seems my great server update wasn’t as successful as planned.
PHP 5.2.6 doesn’t like the way I code thing. I told it to get screwed and rolled back.

Comments are restored, and my site doesn’t look like a 2-year-old tried to code it anymore.

So now you can tell me what you think about me making silly financial decisions :p

Ahhhh… I need scotch

Hello world!

This is quite exciting, finally a LiveJournal application has been released for the iPhone!

I no longer have an excuse not to post more often.

Also, in case y’all didnt know, I am now a part owner in a beautiful flying machine. I mean cmon… You didn’t honestly think I was going to listen to prudent financial advice and not get it, did you?

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

So, I decided to re-install Windows. No, before you think “Ahh, typical Microsoft software”, keep in mind that I’ve been running this installation of Windows Server 2003 without an issue for the past 3 years. Not only has it been webserver, email server, file server, but also multimedia centre, games console, and workbench. And never crashed. More than what I can say for Adam’s MacBook Pro!
I decided to go for the “colonic cleansing” after I noticed that certain functions were getting upset after I had to replace the motherboard a few months ago.

So, I decided to go the whole hog and put the ‘pruta up a level, to Windows Server 2008, previously known as “Longhorn”. I toyed with this OS a long time ago when it was in beta, and it had multiple issues, but it appears that it is now a hell of a lot more stable. Just like Server 2003 is known as robust and stable version of XP, Server 2008 looks to be a stable and robust version of Vista. Without the annoying UI. So far I’m quite pleased.

Also, I took it upon myself to upgrade all the aspects of my webserver (host of VolaciousNet, amongst others) and give it PHP 5.2.6, mySQL 6.0 and Apache 2.2. I think I must be getting better at this, it all installed beautifully and appears to be working (please tell me if you find bugs!). I havent’ upgraded to the newest WordPress, as my current one has been modified/hacked to pieces and I don’t want to have to go through all that again.

My other little project at the moment is turning my old IBM T-41 laptop into a media PC (standard def only, **sigh**), and I had an idea to use iTunes to display the video, because I absolutely **love** being able to control it from my iPhone! (using “Remote” app). Of course, iTunes hates AVI files, so I am going to have to think of an alternative, or convert them all.

So yes, in case you’ve forgotten, I’m a complete geek (and proud of it!)