Toni's Alternate World

Notepad Chaos Template

2009-05-02T10:20:00.001+10:00

Last year I created a template set for Movable Type based on the Notepad Chaos template from Smashing Magazine. Now there's a Notepad Chaos Blogger Template and I keep getting comments on my site asking how to fix problems with it. I refer them to wherever they downloaded it, but after checking one of the comments I discovered a really beautiful site.

Mercedes Sosa uses the Blogger version of Notepad Chaos and the site looks excellent. But it's the music. It's in Spanish or something, I can't understand it, but I've already listened to 3 of the songs and it's beautiful. After looking on Wikipedia I discovered Mercedes is a very popular Argentine singer. I understand why. If you have a minute, you can hear her music on her site.

Dealing with Grief, Happy Birthday Graham

2009-03-02T13:34:00.000+11:00

It's my brother's birthday today, and he would have been 41. Sadly, 3 years ago, Graham took his own life.

Just now on the TV I was watching Oprah, and people were talking about grieving, and giving yourself the time to do it properly, and that words like closure were not good words. Closure forms a scar over the grief that can turn into bitterness or anger, and it was those words that got me thinking about how I dealt with Graham's death.

Strange that it happened to be his birthday too. Normally I would be at work, and wouldn't watch Oprah during the day. I have a week off work and tomorrow I'm taking my daughter to Melbourne. We have tickets for Coldplay. Graham was a keen music fan and loved to attend live concerts, and was forever popping off to watch something.

I miss him very much, and I hope I don't have any scars and that I've dealt with his death properly. What that is I'm not sure because I do remember feeling very angry, especially with him. These days I know he made a choice and that it was his choice and I should respect that. It doesn't quite sit right but I can live with that.

Addicted to Facebook

2009-02-22T11:31:00.000+11:00

To the exclusion of all else, I find myself logging in to Facebook morning and night. Every day I have more and more requests to add applications that I now have to block, it's getting beyond a joke. Yet there's some that I love and hey! I'm helping to save the rainforests, or the oceans, or something.

One application in particular that got me hooked was Hatchlings. You look in people's baskets for eggs and add them to your collection. It's got to be the most addictive of all games, and a challenge to find all the eggs. You can gift the eggs you already have to people who don't have them, hatch the eggs and then feed the hatchlings. It's all pretty stupid, but still I'm doing it every day.

My one big gripe is all the eggs I've gifted and people don't claim them. They asked to be my friend to join the hunt though they're not interested in adding the eggs I give them. Why bother in the first place then? I don't know why I even care.

Happy Valentines Day

2009-02-14T17:22:00.002+11:00

To all the romantics around the world, happy Valentines day. My daughter's friend had a bunch of flowers delivered to her today with a note from an admirer that told her she was very special. I heard the squeals coming from Carly's room and wondered what all the fuss was about. Sweet 16 and a secret admirer: how romantic.

Watch Out For Bees Along the River

2009-02-08T11:21:00.000+11:00

We went swimming at the Wiradjuri Reserve on the Murrumbidgee River, and instead of the usual biting cold the water was actually quite warm. Lauren and Daniel came with us with Zeke and Riley and we had a great time. What a pleasure it was to feel cold, after 40 degree Celsius temperatures all week. Zeke loved the water, he's a real little fish, and cried when he was taken out.

Much to my annoyance, I trod on a bee just as I was stepping into the water. They love to hover along the edge of the river, and what a shock it was when that sting came. I knew straight away what happened, and thought I got the stinger out. Tuesday my foot was so itchy and red that I went along to the chemist for some anti-histamines that knocked me out for a few hours. I couldn't go to work, but by the next day the foot was fine and the pills had done their job.

Twitter Blog: The Night Before Twitmas

2009-01-04T14:01:00.000+11:00

Twitter Blog: The Night Before Twitmas

A funny and clever poem from the folks at Twitter.

Do You Use Twitter?

2008-12-30T21:39:00.001+11:00

Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows its users to send and read other users' updates (otherwise known as tweets), in real time. That means that if I add a tweet, it shows up wherever my Twitter updates are located. That might be on my Twitter site, my action stream blog, or here on the sidebar where I've added a widget to get my latest tweets.

Twitter is not just about what I'm doing at the moment, like "Feeling thirsty, need a drink!". It can be an important tool for getting help from the Twitter community, say for html or css code that has you stuck, or perhaps to find a lost child, which happened not too long ago. The link to a photo was posted and before long the child was located. Never underestimate the power of the web, in whatever form.

There's a great Twitter Tools Collection that will have you up and tweeting in not time. There's Window's clients that you can use from your desktop, Mac clients, tools for mobile tweeting, Firefox addons (TwitterFox is the one that I use), WordPress plugins, Web services and tutorials and development tools.

Another great resourse is Mashable's Twitter Toolbox: a list of 60 Twitter tools with a short description for each one.

Another New Year

2008-12-27T11:56:00.000+11:00

A new year is coming up fast, and it amazes me how quickly the years go (once they're gone). Remember the fear of a total computer collapse around the year 2000? It doesn't seem that long ago.Since then I have a job that I love. My two oldest girls have married and had two children each, and I was re-united with my eldest son. For me, the new millenium has been wonderful.

I lost my brother 2 years ago, and my grand-mother this year, so there's been some sad events too. You can/t have the good without the bad and that's just how life is. On a balance though, my life leans heavily on the side of good. I think also that it has a lot to do with the good that you do, and as the old saying goes, it comes back to you tenfold. At least that's how it feels for me.

I wish everyone the best for 2009 and hope it's a year filled with happiness and goodness.

Season's Greetings

2008-12-24T23:15:00.001+11:00

Today is my daughter's 16th birthday so we've had a hectic day visiting all the rellies that we won't see tomorrow, and some we will! It's always a hectic Christmas Eve in our household because of Carly's birthday, but I'm used to it now. Tonight it was all about her friends though, she had plans that didn't include the family, and at 16 that's probably how it should be. I gave her the big lecture before she went out about not doing anything that would have people talking. We live in a small town and she's heard me say it so often that I'm sure she knows well enough from right and wrong.

Tomorrow the family is coming for Christmas lunch, and Mum is coming in the morning to give me a hand with the cooking. I dare say we'll imbibe while we're at it, I've got several bottles of wine in the fridge that are begging to be opened. Alex is very excited. He's been trying all night to talk me in to letting opeing just "one" present. He can wait!

Today was a good day. I finished work around lunch-time and don't go back until January 5, so I'm particularly looking forward to doing nothing! Of course, I won't actually be doing nothing. Dad is in the hospital here in Junee and each day I go to see him for around an hour, taking him out each afternoon so he can have a smoke. It's all he has left to look forward to. Then there's Carly's job. It takes me an hour to take her to work before I get back home, then there's another hour trip when I pick her up. Occasionally she stays in Wagga at her sister's house and that makes it a little easier. It's a good thing I like to drive. There's something calming about it, and I'm okay with it.

I spent the last few days reading "Twilight". An absolutely fantastic book that made me wish I was a teenager again. Talk about anticipation. I haven't seen the movie yet, I wanted to read the book first. It's no good the other way around, and there's 5 books now so I'll certainly be getting the next one. I can't wait to continue the story. One of my great passions besides computers and the blogosphere is reading. I love it. I put my order in for the next couple of books in the series for Christmas, but they were sold out. Now I'll be on the hunt, because, as I said, it's a great story. Now, after reading the book I want to see the movie, but it's always a little disappointing because so much is left out. Perhaps I'm better off just reading, and leaving it up to my imagination. Sometimes when I love a book I actually have no problem dreaming about it after reading at night. I somehow manage to continue the story in my sleep. It makes going to sleep extra special. I get my own special version of a book.

Australians - Save the Net

2008-12-02T22:30:00.004+11:00

Did you know the Australian Government is proposing an internet censorship scheme that goes further than any other democracy in the world?

I've just signed a petition to prevent the scheme that will make the internet up to 87% slower, more expensive, accidentally block up to one in 12 legitimate sites, will miss the vast majority of inappropriate content and is very easily sidestepped. The government of the day may add any ‘unwanted’ site to a secret blacklist under the scheme.

Our Government should be doing all in its power to take Australia into the 21st century economy, and to protect our children. This proposed internet censorship does neither. Can you join me and take action on the net today to save the net?

http://www.getup.org.au/campaign/SaveTheNet/442

No Time For Blogging

2008-11-28T23:33:00.002+11:00

My Dad is in hospital after breaking his hip last Friday and I've been so busy I've had no time for blogging. Most nights I'm barely able to read my email and subscriptions in Google Reader (which are way out of hand, with around 300 a day), and the Twitter posts I follow.

You can follow my online activity on Toni Hambilton Online, which gives a live account of my internet interests, and my Twitter feed. I save lots of links using Delicious and Magnolia, and watch videos on YouTube and Joost, answer questions on the Movable Type Forums and lots besides.

So to say I have no time for blogging is true enough. With the advent of social networking, I find it difficult to keep up with the "socialising" and after reading all about what's going on, I feel there's little else to talk about. Everyone already seems to have it covered.

Dad's Coming To Live With Us

2008-11-02T10:01:00.002+11:00

My Dad is moving in with us today and I must admit, I'm a little apprehensive. He's in bed by 6 so we'll be sneaking around all night, and gets up early. I'm going to have to adjust my body clock so I can be up earlier too.

Carly has given up her bedroom and we've borrowed a caravan for her to sleep in. It just at the back door and today she needs to clear out her room ready for Dad. I think he'll be happy here. There'll certainly be lots going on to distract him from his medical woes, though exactly what they are we don't know yet. The doctor has asked for a family gathering in another week and that doesn't sound good. There might be lots of on-going therapy.

Dad's getting very forgetful too, and has to be constantly reminded about things. Once you jog his memory he's okay, but it's a worry. He's been a shocker in hospital, roaring the place down when he can't get his own way. He's been insisting I bring up his cigarettes, and he's had quite a few tantrums.

I know the first thing he'll want to do when he gets out of the hospital. We probably won't make it to the car before he's insisting on a smoke. The damage is done so the doctor said there's no point in him giving them away. He's ten steps from the front verandah at home and there's a nice comfy day bed there where he can go.

Happy Halloween

2008-10-31T12:37:00.003+11:00

Don't let this happen to you. Enjoy.

Simple Fix for Disappearing Favicon

2008-10-25T10:47:00.001+11:00

I subscribe to BlogU and today's article was all about disappearing favicons. After checking my own site I discovered I'm also a victim of this problem.

The fix was quick and easy, a simple cut and paste, moving the code from the top to just above the closing </head>.

It's nice to be able to read about problems before you even realise you have them.

Movable Type Training Day 2

2008-10-18T21:44:00.001+11:00

Hacking Movable Type Training - Day 2

From: byrnereese, 6 hours ago

Hacking Movable Type Training - Day 2

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: movable type)

SlideShare Link

Movable Type Training Day 1

2008-10-18T21:43:00.001+11:00

Hacking Movable Type Training - Day 1

From: byrnereese, 3 days ago

Hacking Movable Type Training - Day 1

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: movable type)

A series of slides presented to developers wishing to learn how to build plugins using Movable Type.

SlideShare Link

10,000 Steps Program

2008-10-13T21:04:00.000+11:00

Today I started a 10,000 Steps program, that will last for 2 weeks. It's a healthy promotion being run in Junee at the moment and at Council we've got 2 teams entered with 5 people in each team. I must be having a slack day because after wearing the pedometer for 13 hours, I've only managed 5,000 steps. The goal is 10,000 steps a day, so I'll need to double my effort if our team is to have any chance. My boss got to work this morning and already had 4,000 steps clocked up and it was only 9 am. He said he took the dog for a walk before work. Doing actual workouts adds extra mileage too, but I haven't done any of that either. I guess my goal will be to improve day by day.

The pedometers and log books were available for free to promote a healthy lifestyle, and 50 were initially loaned for the challenge. Junee Council also provided a map showing the walking tracks around Junee that I made at work using our mapping software. Have a look, I was feeling quite proud of the end result. It also shows a nice aerial of Junee.

Carly went along to the step class at the gym tonight but I declined, now I'm kicking myself because I could have added an extra 1,000 steps for every 10-minutes. Wednesday night is my usual body balance class, but I don't think it's worth as much. It's certainly not as physically challenging as the step class.

Some days at work all I do is go from the front of the building to the back, and back again, and so I thought it would be interesting to see how much mileage I clocked up on a busy day. Obviously, today wasn't one of them, but we've got 2 weeks. The challenge will no doubt be between each participant, and already today we were checking each other's pedometers. It's something healthy and fun, so I'd encourage other workplaces to take up the challenge.

Do You Agree With This?

2008-10-10T21:44:00.001+11:00

I certainly agree!

Message from a hard working Aussie

I work, they pay me. I pay my taxes and the government distributes my taxes as it sees fit. In order to earn that pay cheque, as I work on a mine site on a Kalgoorlie (WA) construction project, I am required to pass a random urine test, with which I have no problem. What I do have a problem with is the distribution of my taxes to people who don't have to pass a urine test. Shouldn't one have to pass a urine test to get a Centerlink Payment because I have to pass one to earn it for them?? Please understand - I have no problem with helping people get back on their feet. I do on the other hand have a problem with helping someone sit on their backsides drinking grog and smoking dope. Could you imagine how much money the Government would save if people had to pass a urine test to get a Centerlink Payment???? Please pass this along if you agree, or simply ignore if you don't. Hope you all will pass it along though, because something has to change in this country, and soon!

I work in the office at our local Council and I too have to pass a random urine test. This year I've had two random tests, and I fully agree with this guy about something having to change. I know "generations" of Centrelink payment recipients. The parents get a pension, the kids end up on the dole and later on end up collecting a pension too. Sometimes that is a disability pension, and that disability is their drug addiction. Somehow that just seems like twisted logic.

Template Modifications

2008-10-03T18:06:00.001+10:00

I did a few more template modifications tonight :

Removed the pencil and screwdriver from the blog. Since I have an admin control panel these weren't necessary. Instructions for doing this were available on Blogger Tips and Tricks.
Added a breadcrumbs trail on each page for easy navigation with instructions from Blogger Buster.
Added an inline comment form with instructions from Blogger Buster.

I also toned down the tag cloud. This was way too big and so I've got the labels showing where there are two or more. Since there's also a search box, I didn't think the over-large cloud was necessary.

Who Turned the Freezer Off?

2008-09-29T21:50:00.000+10:00

Alex got ice cream from the freezer tonight and it was completely thawed, which caused a mad dash out to the back room to see if everything else was okay.

Obviously not! Everything had thawed out and it looks like our dog will be having the best food for the next week.

I've managed to salvage some of the bigger cuts of meat that we can cook over the next couple of days. The rest cannot be re-thawed so it's off to the dog and the garbage. What a terrible waste.

Of course, nobody turned the freezer off, it's another mystery.

Sharing the Love

2008-09-25T21:51:00.001+10:00

For starters, I'm loving my new theme. I've tried a few more modifications over the last couple of days, including related posts and adding an admin control panel in lieu of the nav-bar. The related posts wasn't what I wanted so I just went with the control panel, which is only visible when I'm actually logged in so no-one else can access it.

I discovered a better alternative to the AddThis toolbar too called ShareThis, which gives you heaps more options than just bookmarking and sharing. ShareThis also lets you post to sites like Facebook, Blogger or Twitter, or send an email. It's also fully customisable so it blends in with your site. I'll get around to adding it to this site soon. I've already added it to all my other sites.

A New Look for Toni's Alternate World

2008-09-20T13:56:00.005+10:00

I've been using Blogger since August 2005 and in that time I've had two theme changes.

In the beginning I used the dots theme, and loved it until I saw it getting used on lots of other Blogger sites so I decided a new theme was in order. I kept it for about 6 months, I think, before changing over to the harbour theme, which I've used for the last couple of years.

I particularly liked the look of the harbour theme, until monitors got bigger. The design is left-aligned, and it left an awful lot of white space on the right. My monitor is a 19" and it was quite noticeable. I've looked at other themes in the last year, but every time I've gone to update, I've lost my widgets and other customisations.

Today I discovered a very cool site called Blogger Buster, a site run by Amanda Fazani to help other Blogger users make the most of their Blogger blogs. There's lots of hints, hacks, tips and tricks to help enhance your blogging experience. After reading some of the posts I felt confident enough to have another go at changing my theme again. To make sure I didn't lose any of the widgets, I went through them one by one and copied the code to a text file.

I uploaded the new theme, saved the images to Dropbox, updated the links for the images, and when I was happy with the result, went about adding my widgets to the sidebar. I'm happy with the end result, and give thanks for this girly theme by Annie of BlogU.

Spotted on Facebook

2008-09-16T20:43:00.003+10:00

Do you have friends on Facebook that are forever sending you requests to join this and that? I get them all the time and sometimes they're cool and I sign up, but alot of the time I don't bother.

While I was viewing my Facebook tonight I came across a gorgeous photo of Scarlett with Jake. Good one Em!

No doubt about it, they're all beautiful children in our family.

A Year of Disasters

2008-09-11T22:39:00.001+10:00

Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides, tsunamis, hurricanes, twisters, avalanches, floods and wildfires are in the news every other day. Millions have been left homeless and many hundreds of thousands more are dead from the forces of nature.

More earthquakes have hit Japan and Indonesia today and both quakes have been measured and exceeded 6.6 magnitude all with an epicenter just off shore. Tsunami warnings were issued earlier today but have since been withdrawn.

This year has seen more devastating natural disasters than any other year in memory. Every day the news brings horror stories as families struggle to carry on after such shocking catastrophes. I thank God every day that we remain safe and pray for all those people who have been through these living nightmares.

Blogger Widget Problems

2008-08-31T15:24:00.000+10:00

I created a blog list of all my own blogs to embed in a couple of sites I own. Until recently the list showed all the favicons for the sites, but now the list shows only the top-level favicons. Granted, nearly all the blogs are hosted on one site, but all are separate blogs, with their own favicons.

I planned on submitting an error request about it, but there seems to be hundreds of errors already that refer to the blog lists widget. I can only hope that it will soon be fixed.

When I view the blog list it's a fantastic reminder to post on some blogs. The list gives the date of the lastest entry and updates when new posts are added. It's a great widget that I've been able to embed in other sites, but looked much better when the sites had their own favourite icons.

I also have a problem with the recent comments widget. This is a 3rd party widget that seldom works, even before blogger in draft. It's a pity, because it's a good addition to any blog that enjoys social networking.