Tag: Symmetry
It is time to kick ass and chew bubblegum… but I’m all outta gum!
by admin on May.12, 2010, under Soft-Dev
It is human nature to take comfort in the fact that no matter what struggles you go through in life that there is always some poor miserable bastard that is worse off than you. It’s not a very nice sentiment, or something to be proud of; drawing comfort from others misfortunes, but whoever said human nature was a pure enlightened existence?
From a software development perspective I have always drawn comfort from 3D Realms and their ongoing development of the next installment of the Duke Nukem universe, aptly titled as ‘Duke Nukem Forever’, the title of which being the centerpiece for a great many jokes during the past 13 years of the games development.
I am not sure where or with whom the fate of the Duke Nukem franchise remains with, as the path seems to have cooled off after an official inquiry by the United States District Court over funds borrowed from third parties involved in the games development back in June 2009. From what I have read of the inquiry findings, the DNF team were very close to completing the game. Critics may argue that they were ‘very close’ a few years back too - from a software developer perspective, I can appreciate this and I have no doubt that 3D Realms were merely months away from the finishing posts. The trouble is, what can often happen during software development, and what has happened with a few of the projects I have been involved in, is that the finishing posts keep getting moved further back.
Like the developers of Duke Nukem Forever, I too have been merely months away from wrapping up a software project for the past few years.
It’s a scary thought, because I look at the software development to date, and the product has come so incredibly far since the first year of its development, very similar to 3D Realms efforts, and like the evidence would suggest from the various screen-shots taken from the Duke Nukem Forever project, my current software project of four years has never been so damn close to the finish line.
I just hope, unlike 3D Realms, the goal posts stop moving soon and that we finally win one for the home team.
Filetype association in C#
by admin on Dec.10, 2009, under Soft-Dev
By night I keep myself occupied with travelling, seeing concerts or even sitting back with a bottle of Jacks philosophically reflecting on life. By day I am a software engineer, working for a R&D company developing software for driving rotary and laser engravers. I specialize in a wide variety of programming languages from the depths of the Windows API in C and C++ to the I don’t want to cause self harm way of C-Sharp (those who are familiar with both these lower and upper levels of programming will understand).
With each day innovatively programming and pushing through new barriers in my own programming experience, I like many others turn to the net in times of need, websites of the likes of msdn.microsoft.com/forums, codeproject.com and for more general terms Google.
Although some online research can easily span a great many hours, and possibly the occasional plea on a MSDN forum I feel compelled to give something back to the community, so Google bots, if you’re out there, please link this, it could save a great many people out there who want to ‘Associate filetypes programmatically for Windows 7, Vista and XP’. I couldn’t believe how difficult it was to find relevant information regarding this on the net, solutions not shrouded by DLLs, just a basic run of the mill C# solution that does what it says on the box. So here it goes:
This came about for the need to automatically associate files of a particular type in an installer I was developing for a software product. Here is the snippet related specifically to associating a filetype of your choosing.
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private const int HWND_BROADCAST = 0xffff; [DllImport("user32.dll")]
public void CreateExtension(string ExtensionType) string AppType = ExtensionType + "_auto_file"; // ie abc_auto_file Registry.ClassesRoot.CreateSubKey("."+ExtensionType).SetValue("",AppType); Registry.CurrentUser.CreateSubKey(@"Software\Classes\."+ExtensionType).SetValue("",AppType); Registry.CurrentUser.CreateSubKey(@"Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\."+ExtensionType).SetValue("",AppType); Registry.ClassesRoot.CreateSubKey(AppType+@"\shell\open\command").SetValue("","\""+InstallString+"\" \"%1\""); Registry.CurrentUser.CreateSubKey(@"Software\Classes\"+AppType+@"\shell\open\command").SetValue("","\""+InstallString+"\" \"%1\""); string UsersPath = ""; if (arinfo[keyid].Length > 12) // If the Key Name is over 12 Characters long } UsersPath = ""; if (arinfo[keyid].Length > 4) // If the Key Name is over 4 Characters long } // Refresh Registry
}
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Land of the Britons
by admin on Oct.07, 2009, under 2009 RTW, Travel
I have been looking forward to the UK ever since we left Colorado. Maybe it was because I was yearning for more cold weather after our snowy experience in the Colorado mountainside? Perhaps, though I think it was more so because London is familiar territory. In that sense we have planned out this jaunt around the world rather well, every second or third stop we make is familiar to at least either me or Michelle.
Currently, we are on route to Brussels via the Eurostar rail, a two hour journey traveling some 420km. Other than this train trip and the one to and from Bristol earlier in the week I haven’t really had much of a chance to sit down in solitude with my thoughts, there has just been too much to see and do in London.
There are a few bits of invaluable travel information that I feel somewhat obliged to share with future travelers to the United Kingdom. For one, the Oyster card; we collected our Oyster at Heathrow for £25, this included unlimited travel on the Underground and Surface networks between zones one and two for up to and including seven days. Since London is one of the few cities which have a public transport system that actually works, I would strongly recommend it, we saved tones travelling this way.
The next, and to some probably more importantly is drinks; The European beers and ciders are cheap! Four quid will get you a pint of your choosing, or, you can visit the local grocery store down the road and get that same bottle (or up to 1 liter equivalent in the case of Magners cider) for half that. Third night in, Michelle and I returned to our hotel after a long day with two liters of Magners underarm; for £5 who could argue with that.
We arrived in Heathrow at around 10am, immediately after collecting our luggage I exchanged my now useless American dollars and the small amount of Kiwi money I still had from our initial stopover in Auckland. At this stage, other than the currency not a lot had changed between New York and our arrival in London, the airport here was just as congested. It wasn’t until we boarded the underground from the airport where Michelle sneezed that I noticed any difference. All throughout the United States, no matter where you were, whether you were on the Metro or walking down a busy New York street the moment anyone sneezed ten or so people almost in perfect harmonic unison would say ‘Bless You’. Michelle sneezed, and there was silence. I smirked at the silence, and then of course realized I’d have to make up for it and whispered ‘bless you’ to her. A subtle difference yes, but a difference all the same, the first of many to come.
Our hotel, the Barkston Gardens were just around the corner from the Earls court tube stop, on the same line from Heathrow. My hands were buggered by this point. Since the luggage collection at the airport I had to manually carry my case due to damage to the wheels that you would otherwise use to drag the case along behind you. To add to my anguish of the situation it could have all been avoided had I been waiting on the other side of the luggage carousel. I watched helplessly as a tottering old nincompoop picked up my suitcase off the carousel, only to realize it wasn’t hers and dropped it back onto the rotating platform; right on the corner of one of the wheels. The sheer weight of the case focused on that one wheel alone came crushing down and broke it. Less than 10 seconds later the now lame case came round to my side. I pulled it off the carousel only to ‘wheel’ it a couple of meters before I realized that this felt a lot heavier than usual, with the wheel buckled in the case was resisting greatly. Since the wheel still seemed to be somewhat attached, only just, I decided to carry it until I could fix it at the hotel.
It just frustrates me that everyone else but me has to handle every single suitcase as it arrives on the carousel to determine it is not theirs. I see it at airports all the time. Now my case isn’t some yellow and pink poker dotted case with a huge sticker of ‘hi five’ on the side making it stand out like a white man in the middle of Africa, but I can still spot my case coming even from a distance, why on earth cant anyone else!!
I so love train travel, I have only done a few trips so far in Europe, mainly the trip to Bristol and another to Cambridge but the Eurostar service to Brussels is the best so far. I just returned from the galley with a packet of Pringles and a coke; the freedom of being able to get up and move about between cars is fantastic. Plus it is nowhere near as squishy as an airplane is – we need larger birds – or perhaps one better, a rail network from Europe to Australia! If being a Commonwealth nation doesn’t entitle us to that then what is the point?
We both spent the first day just getting comfortable with our surroundings. Michelle in particular re-familiarising herself with everything from the Laundromat to the best pub which she discovered her last visit here two years earlier. Once we were settled in we jumped back onto the tube and headed for Piccadilly Circus; more popularly known as the realm of cheap tickets for West End theatre productions and musicals. After the phenomenal performance of Phantom of the Opera which we saw on Broadway, West End to me had a lot to live up to. Looking at the performance line up we easily spotted a few productions we were interested in seeing, ultimately we went to two; Wicked and We Will Rock You. There were two other performances which stood out based on the cast alone, one of which featured John Sims, to me better known for his starring roles in the UK version of ‘Life on Mars’ and his portrayal of ‘The Master’ in the 2005 BBC series reboot of Doctor Who. The other production starred John Barrowman, also popular for his role in Doctor Who and later in his own TV series ‘Torchwood’ who portrays the adventurous ex-time agent rouge ‘Captain Jack Harkness.’ However I could not bring myself to see him perform in La Cage, though if the promo poster in the underground was anything to go by he pulled off the red dress pretty well.
Wicked turned out to be fantastic. I was somewhat concerned during the first couple of acts, although I was by far not the only guy in the theatre it didn’t seem to be a very blokey musical and I started to wonder just how many of these guys in the audience were here on their own accord, and then realized that I was the one who chose to see Wicked. Anyway, it picked up considerably and turned out to be very funny and creative. The story is of the Wizard of Oz, from the Oz perspective, featuring the life of the Wicked Witch of the West, her years through college, discovering her powers and abilities. The musical very nicely on occasion crossed over with the Wizard of Oz story line as most of us know it with references to Dorothy, the tornado from Kansas and also explained the origins and transformation of the Tin Man, Scarecrow and Lion. All up a fantastic production that I really enjoyed.
The next day both Michelle and I went our separate ways; Michelle to catch up with her best mate who’s name is also Michelle, who moved to London six months ago, and myself to catch up with a mate Garbs, who I’ve known since uni days who was travelling through on his way back from Oktoberfest. Garbs and I both determined that we only ever seem to catch up in some far away city, the last time some years earlier when another friend Rob and I went to Sydney for the long weekend on a whim, buying Qantas tickets some four hours before departure, with just the backpacks on our back and no accommodation lined up. After landing in Sydney we both changed our MSN status (no facebook then) to reflect our location. It wasn’t long before Garbs called up and said he was heading over for the weekend too.
We got off the tube at the Westminster stop and journeyed around the Themes taking in the traditional London sights such as Big Ben, St Pauls, Tower Bridge and the Millennium Bridge. We then stopped at a pub for lunch, both observing that our Australian accents didn’t do half the justice they did here as they did in the United State. US girls just seem to gush over the Aussie slang, whereas in London too many Australians now roam the streets for this to be special anymore. Later that afternoon I headed back to Earls Court and caught up with Michelle and Michelle (M&M) for dinner.
The next morning Michelle and I journeyed out to Oxford University, or the town of Oxford or whichever you prefer the two are practically the same thing. I can only ascertain that at one point in time, the town site of Oxford contained one university, and then later, as the university grew the faculties of the campus split up and spread themselves out all around Oxford. Hence the whole town site today is regarded as Oxford University. It was a novel thing to be in a gothic/medieval style town filled with castles and ruins and yet be surrounded by people in their mid twenty’s, students, most of which being guys; I can see why Michelle enjoys coming here so 
- Though none of them stood a chance against the ruggedly handsome bearded rouge such as myself dragging along my backpack on wheels. It didn’t take long at all, dragging the backpack along the cobblestones for me to really wish I had left it at home. The backpack was instrumental for carrying our coats and umbrellas since the weather looked overcast when we left London. The voice in my head later exclaimed ‘well duhh, the weather is always like this, it doesn’t mean its gonna rain’ and of course for our day ahead it didn’t. The backpack began to feel more and more like a ball and chain around my ankle. Needless to say, that was the last day trip that the backpack came on.
It was still a good day though, we toured the city on a open top double decker tour bus, absolutely freezing ourselves in the process and walked up and down most of the main streets, checking out various local shops and historic relics that we passed by.
Following the day at Oxford it was time for me to make a work stop in Bristol. That morning I dressed up in my business clothes, it was time to play like a local and along with many other business men journeyed to Paddington where I caught the train out to Bristol. It was a fun experience flirting with the idea of being a Londoner. The whole time I had been there I had felt very much at home and very relaxed; a far cry from the lifestyle of NYC. So I was on a train to meet a man I had only been introduced to via email a few weeks earlier, one of the head executives of Roland DG, yes, the same family (or sisters rather) of the electronic music industry. And yes, I did feel important 
The day in Bristol was great; most of the day was spent at Roland demonstrating the software I had been co-working on for the past three years. When business was settled we went for a spin in the execs BMW to a local pub for lunch. Out on the balcony of the pub we had views of the River Seven and its bridge. The sky was blue and the sun was beaming down. It was amusing to see just how much of a fuss Peter made of the weather, mentioning to everyone back at the office that we went out for lunch and that we sat out on the balcony! Usually it is much cooler this time of the year, and the chance for decent sunlight has long since gone.
That evening Michelle and I headed back to West End with tickets for ‘We Will Rock You’. I had a hard time picturing what this musical would be like. Earlier in the year I saw the ‘Queen – we will rock you’ concert at Burswood, which was exactly that, a rock-concert, for some reason I kept on picturing this to be the same. We found our chairs, in the middle towards the back of the theatre with a perfect view of the stage. The curtains rolled up and I was completely blown away! ‘We Will Rock You’ was fantastically done. The story was set in the distant future where over the decades between now and then music as we know it today (with lyrics and instruments) were phased out with completely electronic like techno equivalent. The global empire aptly named Globalsoft was responsible for eradicating music as we know it today, along with then destruction and banning of any instrumental play. The streets were heavily policed and monitored and those that were found not conforming to the status quo were disposed of in a ruthless manor or brainwashed and then re-integrated into society.
The story was about a journey two people took, a guy who kept spilling out phrases to lyrics of popular songs which came to him in his sleep and a girl who just didn’t fit in with her gothic style of dress and her purple hairstyle. The two fleeing the authorities whilst on a quest to find the mythical instruments of Rock and bring ‘Rock n Roll’ back to the world. Everything from the costumes, the special effects and even the music in this production were fantastically executed. Some of the music was brilliant, taking the Queen melody and applying their own lyrics in reference to what was going on at the time, usually referring to the internet or some other tech gadget; the geek in me loved it!
Our last day trip out of London was to Cambridge University. Unlike our trip to Oxford which was by stage coach we opted for the more comfortable journey of going by train. The layout of Cambridge was very similar to that of Oxford, where the city started as a single campus and then broke out with faculties scattered all over the city. I liked it a lot more than Oxford though, Cambridge had a very real college feel to it and yet at the same time also a more homely one; it also featured daily markets in the square.
The university grounds were incredible; we took a tour of these grounds via a punt down the river which they all backed onto. It became something of a game however to sneak into a university ground without having to pay an entrance fee of two pound which most of them advertised. On the punt our guide told us that the university accommodation was heavily comped for the students, as Cambridge is very rich. At charging tourists two pounds per faculty per visit, its easily to see how the campus got so rich 
We arrived at Brussels and after much confusion we are now on a train to Antwerp, or more specifically to Berchem station where my Belgium colleague is planning on meeting us. In all the confusion and breakdown of communication with the platform conductor we were finally ushered onto the train. Michelle and I were convinced we ended up in a first class car. Michelle then left the train to check out the other cars, no sooner had she done so the alarm started to sound and the doors began to close (despite me pressing the ‘open door’ button). Fortunately she managed to jump back onboard on the car ahead just as the train started pulling out of the station.
Our punt operator (a punt is a flat canoe shaped boat with the operator standing at the back of the boat using a long pole to push us through the water) told us the famous stories of the university, from stunts such as hanging toilet seats off the top of the cathedral corner points to the infamous relocation of a Mini on top of one of the multistory faculty buildings. Apparently this stunt took facility staff by such surprise and astonishment that they were forced to enlist the support of those involved in the stunt to undo it. Those that came forward as responsible for the stunt and assisted with relocating the running mini were given a commendation in the form of course credits for the units they were currently undertaking. Although the stunt was indeed a ridiculous act, the University acknowledged the feat of engineering and planning that was required.
I really enjoyed my time at Cambridge; it was a novel experience to walk about the streets of a city which has more history and age to it than any corner of Australia. I would strongly recommend a day trip visit to both Oxford and Cambridge to travelers to the United Kingdom. Along with the punting I would recommend hiring of a bicycle to get around as both these cities are very bicycle friendly with almost as many push bikes on the streets as there were motor bikes in Vietnam.
“Next Stop: Paddington Station”
by admin on Oct.02, 2009, under 2009 RTW, Travel
I am currently on a train bound for London on my way back from a day trip out to Bristol where I visited the United Kingdom head office of Roland DG. It has been pretty much my first chance since arriving in London three days ago to get up to date with my writing having just finished ‘Australia: The land of The Crocodile Hunter and Elle McPherson – according to Yankee’ a few moments earlier.
The day trip out was great, it was really interesting to see Roland operations from behind the scenes. I was there mainly to meet with their head sales distribution coordinator to do a presentation of the software I have been slaving over for the past three and a half years. As with the stops before, one at Epilog Colorado (Laser Engravers) and another at Vision (Phoenix engravers) the presentation was very well received and as with all three presentations of the software there was something specific that Symmetry performed which resulted in a Wow moment from all of them. I hope this early foot work of introductions leads to some prosperous options down the line. Although it has been somewhat a pain to orchestrate this in with a holiday, it has been beneficial, and it has been great fun to get to know the industry from the other side of the fence. It’s been invaluable really, I have made a lot of good contacts.
Currently I am about five minutes out of London. The train has been rocketing back to Paddington, the scenery a blur of green fields and Victorian style cottages with the odd speedy-blur of a train passing in the opposite direction for dramatic flair. I have truely enjoyed my time in London so far, and would love nothing more to come back in a year or two time and spend a good month just traveling around; spend about four days in London and then hire a car. Very similar to the road trip I did with my folks back in 1997. Mum, Dad, although I loved the holiday at the time, I think its only now that I can truly appreciate how memorable and special you guys made that trip be for me, its been something I have thought a lot about since returning. How I would love to once again hire a car, visit Wales, the pier at South End of Sea and drive through the Lake District and in through the Yorkshire Moors. Next time… or perhaps the ‘time after next’ or the one after that? Colorado definitely left an impression too.
I have arrived at Paddington Station. Time to hit London’s West End.
Touring Vietnam - Prelude
by admin on May.06, 2009, under Personal
Finally, after what has seemed to be a never ending flow of work; updates for Symmetry, media meetings for brochure and CD/DVD Rom design work, development of said DVD and CD-Rom products, itinerary scheduling for an upcoming trip abroad in September, project documentation and notes for while I am away in Vietnam, software development meetings and progress reviews, teleconferences with resellers in Belgium and Phoenix… Finally, after a week and a half of holding the fort and preparing for my own leave of absence have I completed everything on my list and am feeling comfortable about stepping out tomorrow for two weeks while I explore Vietnam with my babe.
I am now one step closer to looking forward to the Vietnam trip. Up until now the trip has been shrouded behind the escalating piles of papers and tasks that have been dumped on my desk since taking the helm while my co-worker is off running through the Sahara trying not to get trampled by elephants or eaten by a lion. During this time, aside from the occasional moments of boredom which are quickly rectified by visiting my co-workers at the other end of the building I have been most productive, and firmly believe I have shown my peers and superiors just how well I perform.
These efforts of late have been rewarded by my September/October holidays to the United States and Europe being approved along with substantial compensation due to ‘work related’ stopovers I agreed to do whilst away. As much as this trip is a blessing, the timing of this proposal has taken the lime light away from Vietnam almost completely. Which I find both sad and mesmerizing; sad, simply because time goes by so quickly, and part of the travel experience is looking forward to a trip, something I have been robbed of and mesmerizing simply because we haven’t yet departed for Vietnam and we are already knee deep in planning the next larger trip.
So what can I say about this next trip? Well, the flight itinerary has been in the works for some time. Currently, we have an approved itinerary and costing for it. What we are currently waiting for is the go-ahead from my boss, and in turn, he is currently waiting for the resellers in the USA and Belgium to get back to him on the notification that I will be visiting them in September. If all goes according to plan, our journey will be as follows: Stopovers in Las Vegas, Phoenix, Denver and New York City, before flying over to London and finding our own way to Brussels where we then move on to St Petersburg and Moscow before returning back to Perth. Hopefully we will get the green-light on this in the coming days so we can secure the airfares.
Anyway, back to Vietnam. Our first stop will be Ho Chi Minh City, formally known as Siagon, the southern capital of Nam. I am not too sure what to expect of Ho Chi Minh, the write-up of our hotel (The Duxton) is very good, and the location of it is supposed to be very close to markets.. In my mind Ho Chi Minh is going to be the more rural of the two capitals, I am thinking a lot of farming produce and dirt roads. I guess I will see soon enough for myself. I can’t wait.. I am so looking forward to escaping western civilization for a while and just experience life in another country.
Life on Mars?
by admin on Feb.03, 2009, under Personal, Soft-Dev, The Road Ahead, Travel
Well here we are, what initially was to take only a day or two to transfer has ended up taking nearly a month and the job isn’t over yet; only about one quarter of entries have been transferred over thusfar.
So what have I been up to? Well, planning a trip to Russia for one, then greater Europe, resigning from my job, then not resigning, followed by putting off Europe for another year until the world economy sorts itself out. January has been a thrill of a ride to say the least, full of dreams of travel and adventure.
February so far has proven to be a far more mature month, with travel plans starting to take shape in the form of two international trips for 2009. September/October are still slated for the grand Russian adventure which came about through a girl I met a month or so earlier who also expressed interest in touring Russia, who coincidentally now is my gorgeous girlfriend.
Thinking back to that initial night I remember exactly what it was that first drew me to her; it was two things in fact, one being her incredible spirit of adventure, I found her passion for travel extremely alluring, the second was her gorgeous smile… I will never forget that night… anyway, I digress…
The second of the international trips planned is in fact slated first of the two. As of a week ago Michelle proposed a week and a half trip to Vietnam. Although only a week in its infancy the trip to ‘Nam’ is becoming seemingly realistic for May. Not only is Vietnam yet another amazing country that neither of us have yet had the pleasure of visiting but it will also prove to be rather insightful as to how well we travel together, a handy thing to know before investing a month into Russia later the same year. Though, through simple observation alone based on our desire to travel and explore I believe we will be great.
Of course all this travel needs to be financed, and although I have been purchasing a number of lotto tickets per week, currently I am still financing my life the old fashion way by pushing paper about, well, of the virtual kind at least. Work is going very well, and although working on a project for three and a bit years can be somewhat nerve wrecking at times, we are so close to the finish line it isn’t funny. Since the Visual Impact Image Expo in Sydney last year I have been busily fine tuning the software, creating printed media, cd covers and labels, help files and filming/editing videos for promotional DVDs. Currently half a dozen advanced beta’s (Preview Editions) of the program are in the field, the feedback has all been rather positive.
Just for a refreshing change I was approached by the Sales department of our parent company today to help with their new promotion for a product called Rowmark. Now I may only be a humble Software Engineer on paper, but I have made a point to lend my expertise in many other areas of the two companies I am associated with, including; project management roles, onsite customer service (not limited to software) and of course designing promotional media for our Sales department. So when Tom approached me today to share his ideas for the new campaign I was only all too thrilled to be a part of it. The theme for this year’s Romark launch: TopGear (yes, I am referring to the BBC Series TopGear). From what was loosely discussed the motto would go something along the lines of want top gear for your signage applications, look no further than Rowmark… or something along those lines, anyway, it’s a play-on-words thing using ‘Topgear’ as a keyword the design is to reference indirectly the infamous BBC series. I look forward to getting those creative juices going again; it can make the perfect break from mind numbing computer code.
Tonight was the first time I watched a complete episode of NCIS (well, I watched most of it), I really enjoyed what I saw of it. I am not completely sure just how much of the DNA research conducted in the episode was fictional; regardless though I found it quite fascinating that so much can be learnt from an individual based on a hair sample. By the end of it, the scientist was deducing the diet and what type of water the subject was drinking - most impressive stuff.
Anyway, I am going to cut my rambling here. Usually my posts are more subjective and particular than this but I have been meaning to make this ‘first’ entry for a while now, and well, 1.18am seemed like a great time to do just that.
