Asho's Blog http://www.ashos.com Fri, 02 Jan 2009 04:59:42 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 en hourly 1 My Green Thumb http://www.ashos.com/2009/01/02/my-green-thumb/ http://www.ashos.com/2009/01/02/my-green-thumb/#comments Fri, 02 Jan 2009 03:47:03 +0000 ashman http://www.ashos.com/?p=298 I am not much of a green thumb - actually to tell you the truth I am definitely not a green thumb, but obviously now that I have my own house and of course a backyard I have to do a little bit of gardening at least.

Yesterday I begun, I pulled out the conifer/pine tree in the back right hand side of the of the garden as shown in the image.
Backyard grass area

So that is step one of the makeover, I also got a some herb seedlings, chilli plants and strawberry plants really cheap from Stratco, they have been planted and hopefully they all survive - I just need to remember to water them.

The other next priority was a the passionfruit plant on the fence line - see image below
Out the back
Well this morning when I got up that problem was being solved for me. My neighbour decided to start cutting it back or should I say butchering it back - not sure if it will end up surviving but I will be sure to keep watering it and maybe even organise some fertiliser.

There is more plants that I need to pull out, especially out the front of the house but the ground is so hard I think I will have to wait till at least some rain to be able to dig them out. Next thing to do will be to mow the lawns.

]]> http://www.ashos.com/2009/01/02/my-green-thumb/feed/ combofix is king http://www.ashos.com/2008/12/29/combofix-is-king/ http://www.ashos.com/2008/12/29/combofix-is-king/#comments Sun, 28 Dec 2008 23:54:43 +0000 ashman http://www.ashos.com/?p=295 Obviously working in IT everyone comes to you to fix problems with their computers and I am a sucker for helping people out - most of the time. I don’t mind helping people who I know appreciate it and will always repay any favors given out.

Recently it seems there has been a spate of requests from friends and work colleagues to fix their computers because they have got a “bug” on their computer. The most recent “bug” was Windows XP basically couldn’t boot, you could login and the wallpaper would come up but that was it. Knowing computers I CTRL + ALT + DEL’d and got task manager up but couldn’t really see anything obscure running that shouldn’t have been, but there was no explorer.exe task which was odd. I tried to launch it, it would launch but no start menu would load and then it would disappear from task manager. So further investigation was required.

I was able to launch a command prompt and from there run some of the normal debugging tools - but basically nothing would run. So I downloaded a copy of an old faithful program I have used about half a dozen times in the last month - combofix.exe. I was luckily able to use a usb drive and transfer the file using good old DOS copy command and from the command prompt launch it.

It usually only takes 5-10 minutes to run, but this time it took about 20 minutes to run and one of the things it found was AntiVirus 2009 (there was others too). It seems even viruses get an upgrade to the latest version each year. The worst thing is it all looks legitimate but too many people fall for it and readily install this “AntiVirus” software only to discover all too late that it is a problem.

I recommend everyone get a copy of combofix and make themselves aware of its use - view the website below for more details

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/combofix/how-to-use-combofix

]]> http://www.ashos.com/2008/12/29/combofix-is-king/feed/ 2008 In Review http://www.ashos.com/2008/12/22/2008-in-review/ http://www.ashos.com/2008/12/22/2008-in-review/#comments Mon, 22 Dec 2008 00:15:45 +0000 ashman http://www.ashos.com/?p=290 Well it has been a very interesting year for me that is for sure - finally moving out of home and turning 30 would be the 2 biggest things of the year for me, but what else has occurred around the place?
Other notable things include the beginning of the Global Financial Crisis, from the AU$ being almost at parity with the US$ to being back to almost 50c, fuel prices were up well beyond $1.50/litre, no now being below $1/litre first time in a long time.
Casey Stoner was unable to defend his MotoGP World Championship but Jamie Whincup and Ford were able to win the V8 Supercar Championship.
Hawthorn defeated the unbeatable favourites Geelong in the AFL Grand Final.
Melbourne Tigers won the NBL Grand Final beating Sydney in the 2007-08 Season. Sydney and Brisbane fold due to dodgy owners. West Sydney Razorbacks change their name to Sydney Spirit (despite their already being a women’s basketball team called the Bendigo Spirit). Then Sydney Spirit go into default during the season - to be saved by the NBL (& the clubs) and Andrew Bogut, then Cairns Taipans go into Administration to again be saved by the NBL. Lets hope the review can save basketball.

Now onto some other notable events during the year:

January

  • Drayton wines explosion in Hunter Valley, kills 2 men and injures others. An excellent Australian Story (ABC Australia) show highlighted the family orientated business and how it has affected them all

    • February

  • Clipsal 500 - was an excellent event, saddened by taking the life of Ashley Cooper
  • First signs on economic down turn - but everyone continued to deny it
  • Kevin07 apologises to the “Stolen Generation”
  • Northern Rock - UK bank, taken into state control - due to poor financial management and the government hoping to stabilise the economy

    • March

  • Massive Adelaide heatwave
  • Stephen Walker, a brother of a friend, drowned during an easter holiday at Glenelg River. A friendly guy who had married 10 weeks earlier, a sad loss for such an awesome family
  • An Automated Transport Vehicle sent by the European Space agency to the International Space Station as a supply vehicle - could humans ever been sent via this method?

    • April

  • India fills the sky with more junk 10 satellites launched at once - I guess they need to keep up with the demand for call centre bandwidth somehow ;)

    • May

  • Cyclone Nargis kills 130,00 in Myanmar
  • NASA’s phoenix space craft lands on Mars - becoming the first space craft to land in the Northern polar region

    • June

  • Mugabe is again elected president of Zimbabwe - how do his human rights go versus Saddam Hussein
  • Bill Gates steps down as chairman of Microsoft

    • July

  • World Youth Day wastes government money in Sydney

    • August

  • People arrested in China on suspicion of planning terrorist attacks on the olympics
  • Beijing Olympics
  • Worst Olympics TV Coverage ever
  • South Ossetia conflict - Russia v Georgia

    • September

  • Seemingly an excessive amount of hurricane’s in the US - slightly quicker help provided by George W compared with Katrina
  • A truck bomb explosion destroys a Marriott Hotel in Pakistan
  • Thailand political disturbances - again
  • SpaceX Falcon 1 the world’s first private space vehicle successfully makes orbit

    • October

  • Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes win Bathurst again
  • Sadly further bad injuries to Paul Weel and Paul Radisich mar an excellent Bathurst
  • The Global Financial Crisis is official - governments around the world scramble to shore up their economies in any possible way
  • Large Hadron Collider - gets hacked, does very little then breaks down - not sure if the LHC is real or just a bad episode of The Big Bang Theory

    • November

  • Barack Obama is elected the new US President - and I think he might be black too but I am not sure what that has to do with politics
  • Space Shuttle Endeavour - the 124th Space Shuttle Mission - to the ISS to install more equipment
  • More political problems in Thailand - again and again
  • Terrorist attackes in Mumbai, India
  • I turned 30

    • December

  • Riots in Greece after shrapnel hits a civilian
  • Lucas Dumbrell - injured in a Formula Ford crash at Oran Park, NSW - appears he is a quadriplegic. My thoughts and prayers go to the Dumbrell family at this time over Christmas - you might be aligned to the redder side of racing, but no one deserves that to happen to them. My pray is that Lucas is able to fully recover some time in the future
  • Political problems continue in Thailand
  • KG Cunningham finishes his afternoon Drive Time shift after been sacked by FiveAA - big mistake I believe
  • I moved out

    • 2008 Notable Deaths
    Stephen Walker
    Ashley Cooper
    Clinton Grybas - an awesome TV and Radio commentator - his knowledge of his subject was superb, to bring a man such as Rex Hunt to tears whilst doing a tribute to him on radio shows the respect he had earnt at such a young age.
    Sir Edmund Hillary - we claim him to be an Aussie, but he is a NZ Adventurer
    Heath Ledger
    Roy Scheider
    Charlton Heston
    Isaac Hayes
    Michael Crichton
    Mark Felt
    Kerryn McCann
    Richard Marsland
    Jane McGrath
    Mark Priestley
    Allan Scott

    I may add to my lists over the coming days if I can think of anything else.

    If I don’t see you over this festive season, I hope you have a great Christmas and happy new year, stay safe but enjoy yourself.

    ]]>     http://www.ashos.com/2008/12/22/2008-in-review/feed/     Finally Moved In http://www.ashos.com/2008/12/22/finally-moved-in/ http://www.ashos.com/2008/12/22/finally-moved-in/#comments Sun, 21 Dec 2008 22:54:06 +0000 ashman http://www.ashos.com/?p=288 I have finally moved in. It was last Monday that I did the majority of the moving - including my bed, so since Monday I have been sleeping in my house.

    It feels a little weird with no one else in the house, but I still haven’t fully settled in - I don’t have a proper fridge till tomorrow so I have still been eating at Mum and Dad’s and I still have a stack of things at Mum and Dad’s that I haven’t bought over yet.

    Over the Christmas break I plan to finish it all off and get set up properly. It has been fun, but hard work and I don’t plan on moving again any time soon that is for sure.

    The list of jobs to be done around the place gets longer everyday - but most of the things are long term jobs that don’t need to be done today, so I will slowly get them all done over time.

    Some random photos of the house:


    ]]>     http://www.ashos.com/2008/12/22/finally-moved-in/feed/     Some New Web Sites http://www.ashos.com/2008/11/08/some-new-web-sites/ http://www.ashos.com/2008/11/08/some-new-web-sites/#comments Sat, 08 Nov 2008 12:21:19 +0000 ashman http://www.ashos.com/?p=286 I have created a couple of new websites, one is for a couple and their son at church who are going away on a mission trip for 12 months. The purpose of the website is to keep friends, family and supporters up to date with what they are doing. It is a wordpress install with a slightly customised theme, I really like wordpress, the themes are very customisable - people have made some excellent themes and just need a bit of tweaking to suit.

    The second site is basically an update to my sisters families website, it was running a wordpress blog solely, but for whatever reason it was just getting slower and slower. I have been meaning to update it for a while, and have been looking at many different options and I finally decided to go with a zenphoto install for the photo gallery and keep a wordpress install for posting any updates. I have done a few basic customisations to a theme and have created a basic landing page.

    I have a couple of more sites on the go and new site for myself for a small side business I am looking at developing and also oen for my brother in laws building business.

    Zwarts.com.au - mission update website
    TheWoodleys.com.au - my sisters family website

    ]]>     http://www.ashos.com/2008/11/08/some-new-web-sites/feed/     Save the NBL http://www.ashos.com/2008/10/27/save-the-nbl/ http://www.ashos.com/2008/10/27/save-the-nbl/#comments Mon, 27 Oct 2008 01:59:41 +0000 ashman http://www.ashos.com/?p=284

    ]]>     http://www.ashos.com/2008/10/27/save-the-nbl/feed/     iPhone is great http://www.ashos.com/2008/10/26/iphone-is-great/ http://www.ashos.com/2008/10/26/iphone-is-great/#comments Sat, 25 Oct 2008 23:49:59 +0000 ashman http://www.ashos.com/2008/10/26/iphone-is-great/ I am really finding this iPhone great, well so far at least

    I have replaced my PDA permanently with my iPhone and I won’t be looking back. My single complaint isn’t caused by the iPhone it is because our work software is too old.

    At work we use Lotus Notes and management decided not to continue maintenance so we are stuck on an old version. This old version doesn’t work in safari so I am unable to effectively get my email. But I don’t mind I actually like that I find it quite liberating. Hopefully I can convince management to upgrade to the latest version and it will all be solved.

    I am still debating the jail breaking but at this stage I don’t really have a need for it.

    ]]>     http://www.ashos.com/2008/10/26/iphone-is-great/feed/     That’s What I’m Talking About http://www.ashos.com/2008/10/12/thats-what-im-talking-about/ http://www.ashos.com/2008/10/12/thats-what-im-talking-about/#comments Sun, 12 Oct 2008 08:34:33 +0000 ashman http://www.ashos.com/?p=280 A three-peat for Ford and Triple Eight and Craig & Jamie at Mount Panorama today. Reminded me of this advert from the 2006 race win.

    ]]>     http://www.ashos.com/2008/10/12/thats-what-im-talking-about/feed/     Funny Photo http://www.ashos.com/2008/10/09/funny-photo/ http://www.ashos.com/2008/10/09/funny-photo/#comments Thu, 09 Oct 2008 10:28:41 +0000 ashman http://www.ashos.com/?p=277
    An interesting photo I spotted on nbl.com.au of Ebi Ere getting a feel of Phil Jones. Perhaps Phil was a little put off his game against the Cairns Taipans tonight after beating the Melbourne GOATS they went down to Cairns at home by 11pts.

    ]]>     http://www.ashos.com/2008/10/09/funny-photo/feed/     I am moving in!!!!!!!!! http://www.ashos.com/2008/10/03/i-am-moving-in/ http://www.ashos.com/2008/10/03/i-am-moving-in/#comments Fri, 03 Oct 2008 03:15:41 +0000 ashman http://www.ashos.com/2008/10/03/i-am-moving-in/ Woohoo, I finally received word today that my tenants have bought a house and are moving out. Their settlement date is November 28, so they need to paint and carpet the new house so I will probably move in during the second week of December or maybe the weekend of the 6th - V8 Grand Finale weekend. New Years Eve party is now at my house - see you there.

    ]]>     http://www.ashos.com/2008/10/03/i-am-moving-in/feed/