Entries made in April 2005

Sandwich steak in a steak sandwich

Fry some sandwich steak in a pan. Butter some bread. Add some lettuce and a little mayonnaise. Once cooked, slice the steak into strips and place it on top of the lettuce. Spread some horseradish sauce over it.

The result? Pure joy! There's nothing like a steak sandwich at 00:24.

I have also been staching hard. This is a habit I cannot afford to pick up again.

I was recently interviewed for a job, one that I really wanted to do. I did not get it.

I am oddly comfortable with this, so don't worry. Instead, just go and watch some Walker Texas Ranger clips. You might also be in for some interesting stuff happening right here, as there is now no need to pack in the freelance business just yet.

And for those with strong stomachs, why not read my idea for a fantastic ad?

Seperate

Got tons of ideas on what to include in your project? Want to seperate the wheat from the chaff?

Often, we'll have a lot of ideas that seem great at the time, but either these aren't good ideas or they just aren't suitable for the project. Here's a technique that I use, one that I find helps me to figure this out as early as possible - when I have the least amount of time and effort invested in the ideas.

You'll need a pen and some paper.

1. Write a list of everything you think should be included.
2. Re-write this list, and under each item write why this item should be included. If you can't think up a good reason, cross the item off the list.
3. Leave the list for a while, then come back to it. Look over the reasons you've written. If the reason doesn't sit well with you, then cross that item off the list.

By physically writing them down, I find the ideas and the reasons are made to feel more concrete, and shaky ones become more obvious. Besides: if you don't have a reason for doing something, are you really designing?

What do you think? How does your process work?

What has and has not been annoying me recently?

What is annoying Dave recently?

• My allegedly receding hairline. Thanks, Dad!
• The slow and pointless evil of certain unfunny folk.
• People putting two spaces after a period. It's not necessary now we have proportional fonts. Go on, listen to Bill Hill. Remember: you break the flow of the text, I break your legs.
• Apple hardward support. You've had it repaired twice already? Sorry, we'll only take you seriously if you send it for repairs three times and it's still broken. Thanks, asshats.

What is not annoying Dave recently?

• A good pickaxe.
• The idea that clothes can be slutty, but not too slutty; in fact, they can be just slutty enough.
• I Heart Huckabees.
• The fact that the Kotex Maxi Super pad packaging has, on the cover, what appears to be a big red tulip that is leaking blood.

Pigeons versus Bats

I have a deep-seated hatred of pigeons. I can't really explain how it got so severe, because I'm not sure why. It might have something to do with how disease-ridden they are, or how many times they've shat on me. No matter the reason, I hate them.

Recently, there's been quite a lot of bats near Maynooth train station at night. They fly from the trees near the canal, flying over the water to feed. If you are trying to catch a train at night, you have to keep an eye out for them; their path to the water could very well be interrupted by your head.

But the bats, I view with respect. Sure, they may get a bit close for comfort, but at the end of the day my reaction is fairly mild. They're just trying to get on with their own business. They mean me no harm.

Compare that to my rather extremist view of pigeons. If a pigeon buzzes my head, I immediately think of setting it on fire. Those bastards are lucky I'm not pyrokinetic, though if they keep this shit up I might just waste many hours of my time in front of the fireplace trying to develop an imaginary ability. It happens so often I fear I'm getting paranoid, to the point where I imagine a vast pigeon conspiracy.

That's how much I fucking hate pigeons.

EV1Servers versus the customer

I was (and still am) in the market for a dedicated FreeBSD 5 server. I heard good things about EV1Servers, so I got in touch with them. They were extraordinarily helpful, and very soon I was logged into my brand new dedicated server.

Things went down hill from here on in. What follows is an account of my experiences with EV1 Servers, and why I will not recommend them. I must warn you... it's a long one.