As some of you may know, I applied for the position of Web Co-Ordinator at Games Workshop Australia. I was scheduled to have an interview tomorrow at 10am, the previous 2+ months, I have been trying to build my confidence of getting the position and been getting some base working knowledge of ASP.NET.

Just half an hour ago, I recieved a phone call from a woman who stated she worked at Games Workshop and stated the following:

“I know you and Jim [Hobby Support Manager] had scheduled an interview tomorrow, but Games Workshop has changed it’s strategy and incorporating the position of Web Co-Ordinator with another role thus we are no longer recruiting for the position. Jim talked highly of you, and he shall keep your details on record for the next six months.”

See, I am let down, because I thought I was more then capable dealing with the site, updating it’s content, etc. But I do find it a tad rude to call me one day before the interview to tell me “Oh wait, we’re no longer interested, Bye.”

I’ve sent an email to Jim just for confirmation, to see what happens, but yeah disappointed for sure.

Recently iiNet signed a deal with Fairfax Digital and Anytime, this is rather significant in the way average users use the internet, by granting the ability for people to stream movies to their desktops and media centres at home, in a type of rivalry to Cable Television such as Foxtel.

By one ISP Provider signing a deal, it opens the door for more flexibility and options on a normal Broadband account, and indeed many ISPs will follow this to compete with iiNet and any other ISP who takes the same path. Video on Demand (VoD) is not a new technology, being around since the early 90’s, however VoD as we know it today only started settling in around 1999-2000. Currently, the only VoD Provider in Australia is TransACT, however they only provide to customers in ACT, so having a significantly large ISP like iiNet and it’s service coverage offering VoD, will bring it to nearly everywhere, especially when iiNet is still rolling-out it’s iiDSLAMs in a fairly fast time.

But back to the original point, Offering VoD in the coverage iiNet has will pretty much revolutionize the way average Australians use the internet, no longer will users just download email and chat, but partake in watching movies and TV Series in a way which would rival Foxtel, but be tremendously cheaper. Especially as stated here:

Anytime on Volt has signed a 12-month deal with internet provider iiNet to allow iiNet customers to download the movies — some of them close to one gigabyte — without affecting their monthly download limits.

So when iimedia starts, it should be somewhat interesting to watch the next twelve months afterwards, because in the monopolized market which is Broadband in Australia, this could both increase iiNet’s stake in the market and either change internet usage drastically or fail in the attempt.

Well, not literally ten thousand, really only two. But first, what am I talking about? Well it all starts with the fact that nearly everything these days is manufactured in China, and everything is pirated in China for sure, from Motorola Bluetooth Headsets to a Rolex.

Where am I going with this? Well you see, being like the average consumer I’m a sucker for low prices, and saw on eBay a Sandisk 1GB MiniSD Card for a reasonable price. So I purchased it and it was shipped from the special administrative region of Hong Kong. When I got it, I didn’t bother checking what lied beneath hidden within the MiniSD.

Now, my PC is pretty secure from threats on the Internet but somehow I got two nasty little Trojans, where did these come from?! I pondered, I turned off XP’s Hidden Files and Folders and OS Files and started my manual manhunt, and even though I managed to get rid of the files, I had no clues where they originated from until I decided to do an Avast Scan on all removable devices, it alerted me to the miniSD with the two exact files with a 2006 Creation date (What the? My OS has only been running since Feb ‘07!), I tried to delete the two hidden little files on the miniSD and it denied me the satisfaction of cleansing its impurity.

I do find it interesting that a miniSD, probably a cheap knockoff, came with two Backdoor Trojans, the infamous wscft.exe and EXPLORER.exe (Obviously trying to pass off as the shell.) Either-way, it’s made me more alert when dealing with Computer Electronics coming from the region and let it be a lesson to others, Buyer Beware they may try to gain access to your PC.

You know, I never understand why I’ve never gotten into blogging; I always update so sparsely, its unmotivation or laziness, one or the other.

So what to talk about? I’m currently doing German at TAFE, and even though I didn’t particularly wanted to learn it, I’m doing quite decently and most of my test results have been “Sehr gut“.

Earlier last month I applied for the position of Web Co-Ordinator at Games Workshop Australia. Interesting enough, I applied after the applications closure. I thought “What do I have to lose?”, I received an email back, and it progressed to a Telephone Interview which went well and I now have a Formal Interview on the 4th of April. It’s a standard 9-5 Job, but I think I’d enjoy it, and it’d look pleasant in a resume for sure. For people who know about GW, it’s quite apparent the need for a Web Co-Ordinator due to the fact no one’s been able to update content since the last guy left.

Also, my kitty cat named Cheeky, the one I got from the Pound, has settled in fantastically. She’s a beautiful addition to the household, and she certainly lives up to her name, the sheer mischief she gets up to is staggering, but I love her all the same. Here’s a picture of her being like her owner, lazy.

Well, sure has been a while since I last made an entry.

I’ve finished my Diploma, while things have came up which might mean I might not get my Diploma, I am confident that it will all turn out well, I’ll know in two or so weeks.

I’ve adopted a female brown tabby from the animal pound named Cheeky. She’s a beautiful cat and is only six months old. I was looking to get an older cat, but this one wouldn’t leave me alone, and I’m sure a nice home with lots of love is a perfect environment for Cheeky.

Due to time contraints, I wasn’t able to enroll in Mandarin this semester, but I will next. So I am taking German as well, and will be doing a Certificate I in German this Semester. Looks like I’m becoming very multilingual.

I also have a brand new computer which is working like a Gem, and thanks to Paul It’ll be much easy to upgrade it eventually due to the Motherboard. The following specifications are:

Intel Pentium 805D 2.66GHz

2GB(2×1GB) DD2 Corsair RAM

256MB Nvidia 7900GT

Gigabyte 965P-DS3 v2 MotherBoard

250GB Seagate HDD

Thermaltake Soprano Case

While it’s not completely finished, it’s using a 430w CoolerMaster PSU, I’ll be getting a new 550w PSU and a SATAII DVD Burner to finish this new computer off. Why a 550w PSU? It’s the 805D CPU, that’s why. When I get the new PSU, I’ll be overclocking to 3.8GHz, which I’m sure this system will easily be able to handle.

Well also being a webservice provider, I knew it was only a matter of time before I came across a real phising scheme, and last week I did.

I was contacted by both Paypal and the Federal Police as an account on one of my servers was setup to be a fake paypal site and the addressed was spammed out. The account happened to belong to a client of one of my resellers. So I checked around, got logs, information and suspended the site.

Turns out the account was hacked into by a mob in Eastern Europe, Romania to be precise. Doesn’t suprise me but what’s to make it worse was the reseller knew something odd was happening to the account as the client hadn’t accessed it yet. Yet he failed to do anything.. Gah, people are so silly.

This is old news, but it irritates me so much. I mean, sure some people may have deficiencies in english but they should be helped to increase the quality of their writing, not allowing them to use a sub-standard deviation of english.

In my opinion, not only is it not giving people with these deficiencies the help they should be receiving but it’s butchering the english language, which is really an beautiful thing.

CCNA/Subproject 2 and Internetworking are completed. I’m relieved, CCNA was the only subject I might’ve failed, but it turns out I passed, so Diploma for me, wee.

Oh and joy.. I have another little brother.

Lets see, next four days will be very exciting, the final moment on what the last two years have been resting on, to get my diploma or not. Well, I’m confident I’ll obtain it, but it’s possible that it could be misplaced.

 Monday

CCNA/SubProject 2 

Theory Exams (Worth 30% of the semester)

Practical Lab (Worth 15% of the semester)
WAN Assignment (Worth 20%)

Internetworking 

Internetworking Exams (Worth 40% of the semester)

Tuesday

Subproject Exam (Worth 25% of the semester)

Wednesday

Major Project Assignment (Worth 70% of the semester)

Major Project Presentation (Worth 10% of the semester)

I got PERL out of the way, that class is finished and done, with a credit. But I’m so nervous about everything. I mean, if I fail it, I won’t redo it, I’ll just have a CERT IV but I’m so bad at doing assignments, I leave them to very last minute and even then I do them reluctantly, not to mention I’m the world’s worse person when it comes to studying.. Ah well, we shall see what happens.

So, I stated a few months back that I met former NSW Premier, Bob Carr.

It’s taken me this long to actually get the photo scanned of him and myself, so finally here it is.

People say he was a bastard, but he really isn’t. I mean you have to be a bastard in politics to get anywhere, I do feel he made a positive impact on NSW, particularly in IT. Besides, I met him after he retired from politics, and he was a pretty nice guy to talk to.