A couple of weeks back, four to be exact, I started working on Space Office Fight 2. It’s my first foray into the world of Flash programming, and was a blast. Is a blast. Still a fair bit to do.
But the first release is here!
The Problem With Rugby In Australia ..
.. Is that it’s primarily to be watched either at the game or on Fox Sports.
Now, I love going to games. But I rarely get to, because I make the decision to stay at home with the family most of the time.
But I really REALLY don’t want to get cable.
So what am I left with?
The Tests the Wallabies play are shown on *Pleb* telly, but that’s about it. The great “ONE” channel doesn’t show hide ‘nor hair of Rugby.
ED: This isn’t exactly true. “One” did show some rugby last year apparently. And the ABC has the Shute Shield games, which are pretty cool. Some good rugby is played there.
It doesn’t matter what the reasons are. To me, as a lover of rugby, all that matters is that I can’t watch the regular matches on telly.
I’d really like to see this changing, but it probably won’t. Too much money is involved I would think. But then, they have plenty of League matches over the weekend.
Surely there’s enough room in the pleb schedule for a bit of Rugby?
Harry Dresden Has Changed (First Impressions, Minor Spoilers)
Yesterday our hardcover (mmmm) copy of “Changes” arrived. I started in on it that evening. This morning sometime the last page turned.
Wow.
My first impressions are that there were a lot of things happening.
Jim Butcher has created such a dense world, filled with all kinds of imagination, each thread of arching plot and sub-plot tightly wound about Harry Dresden (or not, sometimes), and this world must now be exceedingly hard to get out onto paper.
I didn’t really think much about the title of the book until I finished that first read-through. So if you did think about it a lot, even after finishing, the title is (in my opinion) laced with foreshadowing. We don’t get to see much in the aftermath of the changes that happen throughout the book. A little, but not much. It’s going to be a long wait between water holes for the next book.
There’s a development on the romance side of things that I’ve been gunning for, secretly, deep down. Just the same way I’d been gunning for Harry and Ginny from the get-go.
There’s a major character(s) arc completed, kind of similar to the completing of Donald Morgan in the last book.
And you get to meet Odin. Awesome. Odin. Just. Awesome.
There are a lot of hints throughout the series, covering a LOT of possibilities. One in particular has been around for a while, and I believe it came to fruition on the last page. I’m not completely sure, but I think Harry has thought about this hint once a book for the last half a dozen. It’s a doozey.
My first impressions are that Jim Butcher deserves awards and accolades and wotnot for his work. It’s a fantastic book.
You’ve got a great story in Dresden Mr. Jim Butcher. I’d love to have you over for a barbie one day, but alas, Australia is far far away. Oh, and you don’t know me.
In closing, there’s something you have to know.
Mac talks. A. Whole. Paragraph!
Origins (Space Office Fight)
A Response (In Song) To The Foolish Wisdom Of Easter
It’s very sad to hear and read of Church leaders giving forth their own brand of message about the meaning of Easter.
This song needs to be sung by someone with a better voice than me, but here it is for the moment.
Come Follow Him
[audio:ComeFollowHim.mp3|titles=Come Follow Him]When Lazy Programming Is Bad
It’s a bit frustrating when people hide behind the “Lazy Programmer” tag.
There is nothing good about bad “lazy” programming.
Discipline yourself in the small things, and it’ll help at 3am when you’re bleary-eyed and trying to work out whether that should be an “equals” or a “not equals” IF statement. Trust me, that’s from more than my fair share of stupidly late nights.
It’s such a simple thing to disable and enable a button on a simple dialog window like this one.
1. By default, disable the OK button (because it’s the one that moves you forward and you want the User to make a choice).
2. When a selection is made, enable the button.
3. OR, default to a selection (eg. “U. S. English” in this example) and the logic enables the button.
What’s the big deal?
It’s often the case that Software Developers, sometimes very very good ones, talk about adding polish later.
There is truth in this, but it’s also a bad thing when taken to the extreme.
IF you can’t spare 5 minutes to write the logic for disabling/enabling a button on a simple choice dialog window THEN you are not fulfilling your mighty destiny as a Software Developer ELSE you gain a little bit of experience for the next level (which no doubt has some cool power-ups).
Being A Creative Christian
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”
Genesis 1:1
The very first words in the Bible, that which Christians hold to be the living, inerrant and infallible Word of God, give us a clear picture of God Almighty as Creator.
“And God saw that it was good.”
We are hardwired to create because God creates. We are made in His image. He creates. We create.
This has been on my mind for a long time now. In fact, these thoughts probably began back when I started writing stories and wondering why God put within me a burning desire to make stuff.
Of primary concern to me then is the above. That God is CREATOR. And so I, in His image, reflecting His glory, can create.
All for His glory.