Archive for September, 2008

Wondering About My Domain?

written on September 29th, 2008 with no comments

Having a common last name has its down sides. I’ve looked at various times for a good domain for my blog but all of the obvious garysmith.* domains have been taken for years.

I was having another look recently and as usual domains like garysmith.com and garysmith.com.au were taken … garysmith.net was available for around $1400 (LOL) and even the domains with my middle initials were taken. So, not being a quitter, I decided to check for other domain suffixes. I was in luck. There is a top level domain (TLD) for the South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands that is ‘.gs’. Perfect!

So that’s the very short story on how I ended up putting this blog up on garysmith.gs :)

Back From Sydney

written on September 29th, 2008 with no comments

I got back home yesterday. I had planned on writing a blog post or two while I was up there but unfortunately the ‘wireless broadband’ at the hotel was..well … wireless something, but definitely not broadband. In fact it was slower than dialup and I gave up after a couple of hours.

Still, the hotel itself was fine. A bit light on services but it was cheap so I can’t really complain about that. The bed was comfortable and I had a good night’s sleep both nights that I was there. That’s the main thing!

Most of the members who attended the Rip2It training session left with at least one site up and running. That was one of the main aims … to give those people who were struggling a leg up and get them online. We had a handful with some domain problems which were mostly sorted out on the day or fixed up by me yesterday when I got back.

All in all it was a very positive session and Chris and Jenny Ford provided an excellent presentation and training session.

Kurt Nilsen

written on September 25th, 2008 with 2 comments

I was poking around You Tube recently, looking at some Australian Idol clips and came across some from World Idol from 2003. Kurt Nilsen from Norway won. What an amazing voice. Amongst the music clips are his version of ‘She’s So High’, U2′s ‘Beautiful Day’ and an interview in a taxi where he does a Karaoke version of ‘Fly Me To The Moon’ that even Frank Sinatra would probably enjoy!

The highlight though is the song ‘Hallelujah‘. Absolutely brilliant!

It's Off To Sydney We Go…

written on September 25th, 2008 with no comments

I’m heading up to Sydney tomorrow to help out with the Rip2It training. It was a real blast last time from the flight up to the flight back. I’m not much of a traveller so sitting in a big piece of metal and air fuel, about 12 kilometres above the earth is a real buzz! I have to admit though, having not flown for around 10 years, and also having watched many episodes of ‘Air Crash Investigation’ over the past 5 years I did wonder whether I would slip into the foetal position once I got on board. Nope! I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of the flight.

Anyway, I’m going to be the go-to guy for any technical issues or glitches again. I’ve spent a large part of my working life fixing people’s computer problems and it can be a real hair-tearer. Rip2It is a bit different though as most problems are related to ‘documentation-itis’ and are easily fixed. So, rather than ending the day in a frustrated frame of mind I will most likely end the day a little more up-beat having solved most of the problems that present themselves during the course of the day.