Late last year, I think it was either October or November, I was having a really great day one week and later that day, when Mum came home from picking my brother, Aaron, up from school, I had found out some very sad news; Steve Irwin, The Crocodile Hunter and owner of Australia Zoo was killed by a stingray while filming a documentary. Mum got home and said that she had heard from some other mums at the school that Steve had died. Later that day, I watched the news with Mum and my brothers and felt very shocked. I used to always watch his Crocodile Hunter series since I was a kid in the early 90s. After watching the news of Steve's death, I walked around feeling shocked all night.
Who ever thought that Steve Irwin would die in such a way? I certainly didn't think so. I can still remember certain episodes of The Crocodile Hunter series from when I was little. Unfortunately, I've noticed that the series I used to watch isn't on DVD yet, that really annoys me. A Crocodile Hunter box set for each series would be nice. The only ones that I've seen that have been put on DVD are the ones made from 2000 on. I remember the episode where Steve and Terri followed the dingo fence from one place to another, finding all different kinds of wild animals who either died on the fence or are around the fence. I can't remember the entire Crocodile Hunter series that we don't have on DVD, that is why it would be nice for the earlier series to be put on DVD; on single DVD or a box set.
A few days later, Mum, my youngest brother Aaron, and I went to the local shopping center and got Steve's first ever movie (and obviously his one and only movie too), we brought it home and watched it. It was a very good movie, but to be honest, I like the Crocodile Hunter series the most as they are solely about Steve. When they had the Steve Irwin Memorial, it was broadcast live throughout Australia, even all the schools were watching as well. During the Memorial broadcast, Mum cried and I just felt all sad. It didn't really hit me that Steve Irwin had died until later that day. After watching several cut-down versions of the Memorial service (obviously, being live, the morning broadcast was the full version, nothing edited at all), it began to really sink into me. I just cried and cried and still couldn't believe that he had died.
Not long after that, we got all the episodes of The Crocodile Hunter from 2000 onwards, there are six in the set. I've been watching one DVD a night and you can really tell that Steve had pride in his job at Australia Zoo, but also as enthusiastic animal lover, reptiles or not. You see how he was emotionally upset by the fire on the way up to the Cape York Peninsula at the very top of Queensland (Australia's Wild Frontier) and the episode where Steve had a mother Orangutan bringing her baby down to Steve (Faces of The Jungle). I feel The Crocodile Hunter series are a fantastic way to educate kids and adults about reptiles and other animals, even though they don't go into as much detail about each animal as a book would. I so wish I could have gone to Australia Zoo before Steve died. My sister, Michelle, and her boyfriend went there a few months ago and they really enjoyed it, they did lots of things there that would have been great fun.
Brad's World - my love of music, books & modern technology.
Wednesday, 11 July 2007
Computers, Software And Technology
Australian PC User is such a great magazine! I get it every month and haven't been disappointed yet. Back in February, the magazine, PC User, supplied a video overview of Windows Vista. I watched the video and I was definitely hooked. All the new features and also some old ones that have been redone! When I looked through a later PC User issue, I read about all the computers that they have tested and then I found one for $1,499 with a pretty good rap. I am very excited about it! It is not a name-brand one like HP, Dell, IBM or anything like that, but I don't care. As long as it works and has everything I need, I'll be happy! I've been saving my money and, hopefully, I'll get it at the end of the year or early next year.
One thing I do realize about getting my new computer is that it may not come with programs I need like Microsoft Office or other programs, but I just have to say that I am a little disappointed in the latest Microsoft Office suite. They've taken out FrontPage, a program I used to use at school for a project. FrontPage was in Microsoft Office 2003, but taken out of Office 2007, therefore I am going to try and see if I can get Office 2003, otherwise, I'll buy Office 2007 and get FrontPage separately (I know I've already got a web site editor, but sometimes it is nice to use another one along side the one you're using). Apart from that disappointment, Office 2007 actually looks really good with its new ribbon bar (that is all I know about the new Office). If Microsoft Office is too expensive, I'll probably use a free, open-source program called OpenOffice.org, which actually sounds quite good, especially since it is free!
I also don't know if people are aware, but MP3 players come in different formats; Flash, Microdrive and Hard Drive. For those of you who don't know what the difference is (I learnt the hard way when I got my MP3 player, more on this later), I will tell you now. Flash MP3 players are the ones that are pretty small and can fit in your pocket without any weight at all, there are also no moving parts (such as a hard drive needle or disc) in Flash based MP3 players, so you can run around with them and do whatever you want with them. Microdrive based MP3 players are good, but from what I hear, these ones are not as successful as the Flash ones or the hard drive based ones. Microdrive MP3 players are bigger than Flash based ones, but are smaller than hard drive based MP3 players (like Ipods). Since there is a mini hard drive in the Microdrive players (this means that there are moving parts that need to access songs), which means that you cannot take it on a run or a jog or else you could cause the MP3 player to skip and the needle to go all over the place.
Around August-September last year, I decided to get an MP3 player because I was sick of having to change CDs while I am busy and I also found it frustrating, seeing as I love to dance to my music, a CD walkman won't help at all because the songs will skip all over the place (and sometimes I have to press STOP several times before it actually stops the CD). The MP3 player I got was a 5.0GB Creative MuVo2 FM, which is fantastic, but still not enough space for me to put all my favourite CDs on it. The sound quality was also fantastic, even having a voice recorder and FM radio is fantastic (I just wish they would include AM radio frequency as that is all I listen to, AM stations). If anyone wants to get it, than I have a word of warning. I don't know if it is just the Creative MuVo2 FM or other brands, or if it also happens on flash based ones, but I find, with the MuVo2 FM, you have to be careful when you have the player plugged into the computer. I get frustrated because after I've finished transferring songs to my MP3 player and I do the usual thing to safely disconnect it via Windows from the USB port, an error comes up on the MP3 player screen saying that it wasn't disconnected properly. Windows XP said it disconnected safely but the MP3 player itself doesn't agree. It tells me I have to run ScanDisk/CheckDisk. You would think that would do the trick, right? Wrong! There have been times when I've had to re-connect to the computer and run CheckDisk at least fifteen times!!! I started to worry that I may lose songs due to this repetitive process or that the MP3 player may eventually stop working altogether. Well, it is still working BUT now the computer won't recognise it at all!! I'm not happy! My Mum has the exact same player as I do and, while she's had the occasional connection problems, the computer is still recognising her player just fine so, obviously, there is a problem with my player. I do intend to upgrade to a bigger and better player like an IPod or Microsoft's new player (Zune), but for now, I will have to stick with what I've got and be satisfied with the songs I have loaded on.
One thing I do realize about getting my new computer is that it may not come with programs I need like Microsoft Office or other programs, but I just have to say that I am a little disappointed in the latest Microsoft Office suite. They've taken out FrontPage, a program I used to use at school for a project. FrontPage was in Microsoft Office 2003, but taken out of Office 2007, therefore I am going to try and see if I can get Office 2003, otherwise, I'll buy Office 2007 and get FrontPage separately (I know I've already got a web site editor, but sometimes it is nice to use another one along side the one you're using). Apart from that disappointment, Office 2007 actually looks really good with its new ribbon bar (that is all I know about the new Office). If Microsoft Office is too expensive, I'll probably use a free, open-source program called OpenOffice.org, which actually sounds quite good, especially since it is free!
I also don't know if people are aware, but MP3 players come in different formats; Flash, Microdrive and Hard Drive. For those of you who don't know what the difference is (I learnt the hard way when I got my MP3 player, more on this later), I will tell you now. Flash MP3 players are the ones that are pretty small and can fit in your pocket without any weight at all, there are also no moving parts (such as a hard drive needle or disc) in Flash based MP3 players, so you can run around with them and do whatever you want with them. Microdrive based MP3 players are good, but from what I hear, these ones are not as successful as the Flash ones or the hard drive based ones. Microdrive MP3 players are bigger than Flash based ones, but are smaller than hard drive based MP3 players (like Ipods). Since there is a mini hard drive in the Microdrive players (this means that there are moving parts that need to access songs), which means that you cannot take it on a run or a jog or else you could cause the MP3 player to skip and the needle to go all over the place.
Around August-September last year, I decided to get an MP3 player because I was sick of having to change CDs while I am busy and I also found it frustrating, seeing as I love to dance to my music, a CD walkman won't help at all because the songs will skip all over the place (and sometimes I have to press STOP several times before it actually stops the CD). The MP3 player I got was a 5.0GB Creative MuVo2 FM, which is fantastic, but still not enough space for me to put all my favourite CDs on it. The sound quality was also fantastic, even having a voice recorder and FM radio is fantastic (I just wish they would include AM radio frequency as that is all I listen to, AM stations). If anyone wants to get it, than I have a word of warning. I don't know if it is just the Creative MuVo2 FM or other brands, or if it also happens on flash based ones, but I find, with the MuVo2 FM, you have to be careful when you have the player plugged into the computer. I get frustrated because after I've finished transferring songs to my MP3 player and I do the usual thing to safely disconnect it via Windows from the USB port, an error comes up on the MP3 player screen saying that it wasn't disconnected properly. Windows XP said it disconnected safely but the MP3 player itself doesn't agree. It tells me I have to run ScanDisk/CheckDisk. You would think that would do the trick, right? Wrong! There have been times when I've had to re-connect to the computer and run CheckDisk at least fifteen times!!! I started to worry that I may lose songs due to this repetitive process or that the MP3 player may eventually stop working altogether. Well, it is still working BUT now the computer won't recognise it at all!! I'm not happy! My Mum has the exact same player as I do and, while she's had the occasional connection problems, the computer is still recognising her player just fine so, obviously, there is a problem with my player. I do intend to upgrade to a bigger and better player like an IPod or Microsoft's new player (Zune), but for now, I will have to stick with what I've got and be satisfied with the songs I have loaded on.
Saturday, 5 May 2007
A BIT ABOUT WEB DESIGN
In 2002, after graduating Senior at Cavendish Road State High School, I became very interested in website creation. I had visited many music and MIDI sites and wanted to create my own web site! My initial attempt was using Microsoft Publisher 98's web site tools but the site I created wasn't that good. Everything was out of place.
I bought a book called The Complete Idiot's Guide To Creating A Web Page Sixth Edition and started my second attempt. I tried out every single website program that came on the accompanying CD-Rom (which also had complete examples of all the exercises in the book and also some free stuff too) but only one program appealed to me... HotDog Professional 6.5.
After its trial period was over, I didn't know what to do, buy the program from Sausage Software or download another program to trial. I really loved using HotDog Pro (that is what I'll call it from now on for this post), especially its website management wizards and also a lot of other things such as an Accessibility checker that lets you know if you need to add accessibility options to different things. I even loved how you can collapse certain HTML code so you don't end up typing over it or doing something bad to something you want to keep safe. It even remembers to collapse the text when you reopen HotDog, even bookmarked text will also be remembered when you reopen HotDog as well, which is great! There are way too many things that I can tell you about HotDog Pro that I really love.
As I couldn't make up my mind on buying HotDog Pro, I went back to using Super NoteTab Light and Windows' Notepad (both are annoying as they don't color the code in HTML documents at all). Some months later, Mum told me that a friend of hers on the Internet told her that she was into web design like me and was using a program called CoffeeCup HTML Editor. Mum downloaded the latest version of CoffeeCup at that time (I think it was version 9.7) and I gave it a try until I was sure of what to do. I weighed up the pros and cons of both programs, especially their price and upgrade offers then, still unsure, I tried HotDog Pro 7.03 (the latest version of HotDog which, in some ways, is better then the one I was using). Even though I liked it a lot, I had come across this forum on the Internet that is called What Happened To Hot Dog?. After reading several of the posts on that forum, which is part of Tek-Tips (go to the Tek-Tips Home Page and do a search for What Happened To Hot Dog and it should come up), I felt very unsure about using and buying HotDog Pro and was starting to lean more towards CoffeeCup.
For years, I had been buying a magazine called Australian PC World (the Aussie version of the popular US computer mag) but when I later saw another computer magazine called Australian PC User (this one is totally Australian) featuring a free version of CoffeeCup HTML Editor 9.5 on their cover CD/DVD, I bought it and now buy PC User regularly. Mum installed the free version of CoffeeCup HTML Editor for me to use (from now on, it will just be called CoffeeCup on this blog post).
They had a trial version of CoffeeCup 2005, but I just wanted to use the free one for the time being until I decided what to do. After a while, I was fed up of using the free old version of CoffeeCup so I told Mum that I wanted to order the latest version so we went to the CoffeeCup site and ordered the HTML Editor which also offered upgrades for life!!! I would highly recommend this program as it has many features and is user-friendly.
Since I've been into web design, I've bought three more web design books to add to my collection. The reason I prefer to handle HTML coding is because you have a lot more control over it than you do with the WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) Internet browsers and you also know where to look for errors and fix them. Currently, I am in the middle of creating a web site to put on the Net so, one day when I get it up and running, I will post the link for it.
Well, I guess that is all I have to tell you at the moment. Bye for now ~
I bought a book called The Complete Idiot's Guide To Creating A Web Page Sixth Edition and started my second attempt. I tried out every single website program that came on the accompanying CD-Rom (which also had complete examples of all the exercises in the book and also some free stuff too) but only one program appealed to me... HotDog Professional 6.5.
After its trial period was over, I didn't know what to do, buy the program from Sausage Software or download another program to trial. I really loved using HotDog Pro (that is what I'll call it from now on for this post), especially its website management wizards and also a lot of other things such as an Accessibility checker that lets you know if you need to add accessibility options to different things. I even loved how you can collapse certain HTML code so you don't end up typing over it or doing something bad to something you want to keep safe. It even remembers to collapse the text when you reopen HotDog, even bookmarked text will also be remembered when you reopen HotDog as well, which is great! There are way too many things that I can tell you about HotDog Pro that I really love.
As I couldn't make up my mind on buying HotDog Pro, I went back to using Super NoteTab Light and Windows' Notepad (both are annoying as they don't color the code in HTML documents at all). Some months later, Mum told me that a friend of hers on the Internet told her that she was into web design like me and was using a program called CoffeeCup HTML Editor. Mum downloaded the latest version of CoffeeCup at that time (I think it was version 9.7) and I gave it a try until I was sure of what to do. I weighed up the pros and cons of both programs, especially their price and upgrade offers then, still unsure, I tried HotDog Pro 7.03 (the latest version of HotDog which, in some ways, is better then the one I was using). Even though I liked it a lot, I had come across this forum on the Internet that is called What Happened To Hot Dog?. After reading several of the posts on that forum, which is part of Tek-Tips (go to the Tek-Tips Home Page and do a search for What Happened To Hot Dog and it should come up), I felt very unsure about using and buying HotDog Pro and was starting to lean more towards CoffeeCup.
For years, I had been buying a magazine called Australian PC World (the Aussie version of the popular US computer mag) but when I later saw another computer magazine called Australian PC User (this one is totally Australian) featuring a free version of CoffeeCup HTML Editor 9.5 on their cover CD/DVD, I bought it and now buy PC User regularly. Mum installed the free version of CoffeeCup HTML Editor for me to use (from now on, it will just be called CoffeeCup on this blog post).
They had a trial version of CoffeeCup 2005, but I just wanted to use the free one for the time being until I decided what to do. After a while, I was fed up of using the free old version of CoffeeCup so I told Mum that I wanted to order the latest version so we went to the CoffeeCup site and ordered the HTML Editor which also offered upgrades for life!!! I would highly recommend this program as it has many features and is user-friendly.
Since I've been into web design, I've bought three more web design books to add to my collection. The reason I prefer to handle HTML coding is because you have a lot more control over it than you do with the WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) Internet browsers and you also know where to look for errors and fix them. Currently, I am in the middle of creating a web site to put on the Net so, one day when I get it up and running, I will post the link for it.
Well, I guess that is all I have to tell you at the moment. Bye for now ~
Wednesday, 18 April 2007
Music In The Family
Welcome to another week and to another post made by myself. Nothing much has been happening in my life at all lately, but I am mainly here to tell you about music and that is what I am doing and this time, it is going to be unrelated to Elton John.
Since October last year, members of my family have been getting musical instruments. It all started that October when my sister, Michelle (who moved out of home in June 2006) rang Mum up and said that she got a guitar, so one day she came over and brought it over with her so Mum could tune it and get it right. Michelle, her boyfriend and my brothers all went to the coast that day while Mum and I were spending time with Grandma and Granddad, who had come over to spend the day with us. That afternoon, Reece (one of my brothers) was playing Michelle's guitar and he really liked it a great deal that he wished he had one! The next day, Reece went out to the local musical instrument store called The Music Spot with Mum and he came home with a new guitar as well. Mum said that she saw a guitar that she really loved and would love to get one day (Mum used to have her own guitar before we went to America and she really enjoyed playing it).
A few weeks later, I went into an electronics place called Tandy down at our local shopping centre, Grand Plaza, and brought a keyboard that I had my eye on for the last few years. Actually, Mum and I waited for the keyboard to be brought into the store from the storage room. The keyboard I looked at, the CASIO CTK-451, was very similar to my cousin Skye's one, except it wasn't MIDI compatible and had different songs, but the one they brought from the storage area looked a lot better and I got it for exactly the same price I was wanting the older model for, and I bought a keyboard stand separately, as that didn't come with the keyboard.
The newer one was is a CASIO CTK-481 and it was even better than the one I was looking at because it was a lighter color and it also is MIDI compatible, which is what I need as I am going to et into MIDI creation for when I get my web site up and running. Two days after getting the keyboard, I bought a book from the local bookstore called The Complete Idiot's Guide To Music Theory Second Edition by Michael Miller. I found the book very easy and fun to follow and was impressed at how much I was learning through it. It contained an audio CD, which includes The Complete Idiot's Guide To Music Theory Ear Training Course, which will help you know the difference in pitches and what are intervals, scales and much more, just follow along with the book and do the CD for the chapters that have the CD icon and you will be all set for that chapter. The worst thing is that I have only just started Chapter 4, the last chapter in Part 1, so I better get a move on with it. Even though I'm still on Chapter 4, I feel like I could really recommend this book for everyone who loves music. In my opinion, the book doesn't make music theory seem hard at all, just another fun lesson that you can do at your own pace!
Since I bought the keyboard, I wanted to get into learning some songs, so I eventually went to The Music Spot with Mum, the place Reece got his guitar and I was looking for a music book.
Mum helped me find a more modern E-Z Play Today book that includes keyboards as well, and it had a lot of my favourite songs, so I ended up buying it and an M-Audio MIDISPORT UNO MIDI-to-USB cable (a MIDI cable that had a USB cable at the other end for plugging into the computer to make MIDI music with the keyboard). The music book, E-Z Play Today - Adult Contemporary Songbook is quite good. The MIDI cable was expensive though, I nearly didn't buy it, but I couldn't resist it. If you want to know what MIDI is, I can't really tell you as it is a little bit complex, but you will find a link to the MIDI Manufacturer's Association website in my Links section.
Even more surprising was that Beau, my other brother, bought himself a keyboard as well. At the time, I thought it was good, but then I realized what a few of the fall backs were such as having a built-in sustain button instead of a sustain pedal, which would be a lot easier to work with if you're changing between notes than having to press the button. Beau also eventually went out and bought himself a keyboard stand. Skye, my cousin, had already got an electric guitar a while back, but she loved my Aunty Angela's acoustic guitar so much that she used to play it. Aunty Angela and Uncle Peter got Skye her own acoustic guitar for Christmas, including a guitar tuner and a device that shows you correct finger positions for certain chords, Skye was rapt about that.
Well, that is it for me at the moment. The next time I do a post, I am going to talk about my interest in web design how I've come to know about it. It may not be totally to do with music, but at least it is music related as my web site will be totally about music and I will also tell you bits of the stuff that will be included.
Since October last year, members of my family have been getting musical instruments. It all started that October when my sister, Michelle (who moved out of home in June 2006) rang Mum up and said that she got a guitar, so one day she came over and brought it over with her so Mum could tune it and get it right. Michelle, her boyfriend and my brothers all went to the coast that day while Mum and I were spending time with Grandma and Granddad, who had come over to spend the day with us. That afternoon, Reece (one of my brothers) was playing Michelle's guitar and he really liked it a great deal that he wished he had one! The next day, Reece went out to the local musical instrument store called The Music Spot with Mum and he came home with a new guitar as well. Mum said that she saw a guitar that she really loved and would love to get one day (Mum used to have her own guitar before we went to America and she really enjoyed playing it).
A few weeks later, I went into an electronics place called Tandy down at our local shopping centre, Grand Plaza, and brought a keyboard that I had my eye on for the last few years. Actually, Mum and I waited for the keyboard to be brought into the store from the storage room. The keyboard I looked at, the CASIO CTK-451, was very similar to my cousin Skye's one, except it wasn't MIDI compatible and had different songs, but the one they brought from the storage area looked a lot better and I got it for exactly the same price I was wanting the older model for, and I bought a keyboard stand separately, as that didn't come with the keyboard.
The newer one was is a CASIO CTK-481 and it was even better than the one I was looking at because it was a lighter color and it also is MIDI compatible, which is what I need as I am going to et into MIDI creation for when I get my web site up and running. Two days after getting the keyboard, I bought a book from the local bookstore called The Complete Idiot's Guide To Music Theory Second Edition by Michael Miller. I found the book very easy and fun to follow and was impressed at how much I was learning through it. It contained an audio CD, which includes The Complete Idiot's Guide To Music Theory Ear Training Course, which will help you know the difference in pitches and what are intervals, scales and much more, just follow along with the book and do the CD for the chapters that have the CD icon and you will be all set for that chapter. The worst thing is that I have only just started Chapter 4, the last chapter in Part 1, so I better get a move on with it. Even though I'm still on Chapter 4, I feel like I could really recommend this book for everyone who loves music. In my opinion, the book doesn't make music theory seem hard at all, just another fun lesson that you can do at your own pace!
Since I bought the keyboard, I wanted to get into learning some songs, so I eventually went to The Music Spot with Mum, the place Reece got his guitar and I was looking for a music book.
Mum helped me find a more modern E-Z Play Today book that includes keyboards as well, and it had a lot of my favourite songs, so I ended up buying it and an M-Audio MIDISPORT UNO MIDI-to-USB cable (a MIDI cable that had a USB cable at the other end for plugging into the computer to make MIDI music with the keyboard). The music book, E-Z Play Today - Adult Contemporary Songbook is quite good. The MIDI cable was expensive though, I nearly didn't buy it, but I couldn't resist it. If you want to know what MIDI is, I can't really tell you as it is a little bit complex, but you will find a link to the MIDI Manufacturer's Association website in my Links section.
Even more surprising was that Beau, my other brother, bought himself a keyboard as well. At the time, I thought it was good, but then I realized what a few of the fall backs were such as having a built-in sustain button instead of a sustain pedal, which would be a lot easier to work with if you're changing between notes than having to press the button. Beau also eventually went out and bought himself a keyboard stand. Skye, my cousin, had already got an electric guitar a while back, but she loved my Aunty Angela's acoustic guitar so much that she used to play it. Aunty Angela and Uncle Peter got Skye her own acoustic guitar for Christmas, including a guitar tuner and a device that shows you correct finger positions for certain chords, Skye was rapt about that.
Well, that is it for me at the moment. The next time I do a post, I am going to talk about my interest in web design how I've come to know about it. It may not be totally to do with music, but at least it is music related as my web site will be totally about music and I will also tell you bits of the stuff that will be included.
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