<!-- News -- © 2005-2006 AraKaraath halfDragon / A Maus

addNews("recently",	new Date(2006, 8, 9),"travel,bicycle","","","","Dragon has new wheels - almost","Bought a new bike today and laid my old machine to rest. Rust in Peices. The new one has an XL frame, forward suspension, 21 gears and is a lovely blue that just happens to match my helmet (not why I chose it). Unfortunately, the bike was originally kitted out for off-road use and the forward suspension is very soft, making it unridable on the road. So next weekend I'll be taking it back to have the suspension replaced with a stiffer set.");
addNews("sitenews",	new Date(2006, 8, 7),"","","","","Hello? Is there anybody out there?","I wonder, does anyone actually read this site or my RSS feed? Somehow I feel like I'm maintaining the GemForge for my own personal enjoyment and amusement rather than it being a blog of interest to others.");
addNews("recently",	new Date(2006, 8, 5),"homepage","","","","GemForge updated!","I've made some changes to this site, updating the menu layouts, making them easier to use, improved the performance of the code in places, as well as adding in a search facility and a 'keyword' system to make it easier to find related news article. The Games and DVD sections have been updated too, bringing everything up to speed. Phew! Mostly the overhaul is due to having <em>nothing</em> to do at work all day. I hate days like this.");
addNews("recently consoles", new Date(2006, 7,16),"nds,homebrew","","","","Yay! HomebrewDS goodness","I've finally got my new SuperKey and SuperCardLite MicroSD reader for my NDSL (Nintendo DS Lite), as well as a 1Gb MicroSD card. Now I can play homebrew games and applications from my NDSL! What's all this about? Imagine playing more than just games on your NDS. Imagine being able to chat with people with an MSN client via WiFi, watch movies, listen to music and view images. Have your own personal organiser, play homemade games, etc. That's what this setup allows me to do. Basicly, the SuperKey goes in the DS cart slot and the Supercard reader goes in the GBA cart slot. The SuperKey tells the NDS to boot from other slot, running the built in firmware. You scroll the menu, select a NDS file, and run it. Its early days yet, so I'm still working through the cryptic comments and instructions and tips to get it all working. Because its all amature work and a rather nebulous topic at best, there is very little solid documentation around. Its pretty hit and miss if these things work. Lots of little ins and outs on patching, updating and checking card compatabilities.");
addNews("recently consoles", new Date(2006, 7, 8),"nds,homebrew","","","","HomebrewDS goodness only a week away","I got an email today confirming that my order from bambooGaming.com has been sent - obviously they have gotten some new MiniSD DSLite cardreaders in. It should be arriving in a week so I'm an excited little dragon. A nice little early birthday prezzy to myself. I've already got the ROMS to all the NDS games I already own. No more having to swap carts all the time. Movies, MP3s, MSN, IRC, eBooks, Pr&Oslash;n! Wheee!");
addNews("recently",	new Date(2006, 6,29),"adsl,rant","","","","Stuck with dial-up","Looks like I can't get broadband due to the phone company my parents are with having locked down the phone line to not allow any third party broadband connections except their own. And their own broadband connections are most accurately described as 'rip-off'. So I'm stuck with dial-up for a little while longer, at least until my parents ditch the current phone company.");
addNews("recently",	new Date(2006, 6,19),"adsl,rant","","","","Enough of nufties, go with the pros","Its been seven weeks since I applied for ADSL with Aussie PC Store.com and I still don't have ADSL. So I finally gave them a phone call. After getting it through to them that my phone number is 9689xxxx and not 9686xxxx (after I sent them 3 emails to get it changed in the first place) they concluded to tell me that I don't seem to have ADSL in my area. FFS, you nuffers! Every other website I've been to that allows you to check if there is ADSL in your area have said my local exchange is fine for ADSL. So I told them to stuff the order - I didn't want it anymore. Then Leigh tapped me on the shoulder and said 'If you're looking for good ADSL, go with Netspace.com'. Netspace is what we used at SEE before going over to iiNet. So I signed up with Netspace. In a week, I should have 20gb of download at 256mbs for $40AUD a month. And I'm getting it with a wireless multiport ADSL router. Bewdy. Wish I gave those drongos the flick ages ago. Wish Leigh suggested Netspace from the start. Could have saved myself six weeks of annoyance.");
addNews("recently",	new Date(2006, 4,31),"adsl,rant","","","","Dragon joins the 21 century","After months of searching, umming and ahhing and annoyances with my dial-up, I found a decent ADSL provider and bought a connection. Its a 512 connection, 20G download per month for only $39.99AUD - as much as my dial-up. I also bought a basic ADSL netcomm modem and an 8 port switch. That should be plenty to network the house (I'll share it with Dad). So no more sloooow download speeds, no more crappy phonelines and drop outs. No more being on for only a max of 8 hours a day and no more complaints about the phoneline being in use. Woohoo!");
addNews("recently",	new Date(2006, 4,19),"fun","","http://www.angryflower.com/webshi.html","Article on Angryflower.com","I can relate to this","A workmate just stuck this on the wall above my PC. I think its a subtle admonishment about how I tend to cuss at my PC whenever I'm trying to get code to work and its not behaving as its suppose to. I have an odd habit of talking, swearing, at inanimate object, such as PCs. Actually its my way of working out my thoughts and ideas. When things are going wrong, I need to clear my thoughts and thinking aloud gives me a line of reference to concentrate on. So if you hear my talking to my PC, I'm not going insane (yet), just working something out.");
addNews("sitenews",	new Date(2006, 4, 5),"homepage","","http://www.furnation.com/arakaraath/","view the portal page","Gemforge Portal","My Gemforge Portal page is now up and running. I'm still missing the gem rollover graphics but everything else is complete and working fine, including the RSS feed and DVD and game review pages. Hopefully this will be a worthy stand-in until I get my main site up and running (which has been postponed yet again). I *will* sit down this weekend and work on the interface - its so close, but not quite there yet.");
addNews("recently",	new Date(2006, 3, 7),"work,fun,holiday","","","","SEE 2006 Conference","My work is having a company conference this weekend and we'll be flying out to sunny Uluru (Ayer's Rock) for what will possibly end up being one big three-day piss-up. While I'm not particularly looking forward to the conference, I am looking forward to seeing Uluru, especailly at sunset when the setting sun turns the red stone bright orange. I'll be taking lots of photos, though I doubt we'll be allowed to climb the rock or go out into the bush much due to the Natives' control over the region.");
addNews("recently",	new Date(2006, 2, 3),"travel,bicycle","","","","1000 Kilometers","Today my bicycle odometer hit 1000 Kilometers. This means I have travelled at least 1000 Kilometers riding to and from work, thats 44 days that I've ridden my bicycle to work, and its almost the distance from Melbourne to Brisbane. In the process I have extended my stamina, toned my leg muscles and saved $220 AUD - which pretty much pays for the upgrades I've made to my bike recently");
addNews("recently",	new Date(2006, 1,10),"celebration","","","","Happy 4th Birthday Wai","Wai's fourth birthday today. Gah, the years have flown by. I can't believe she is four already.");
addNews("recently",	new Date(2006, 1, 6),"travel,bicycle","","","","The Groundkisser's Club","I've just renewed my membership in the Groundkisser's Club. While trying to mount a curb at the Docklands this morning - a manoeuvre I've done dozens of time before - my bicycle somehow got caught and fell over, sending me sprawling. Luckily I wasn't going at my usual break-neck speeds and I wasn't seriously hurt. Just a scratched up palm and cuts and abrasions on both lower legs and elbows. Luckily no-one else was around to see.");
addNews("recently",	new Date(2006, 0,29),"travel,bicycle","","","","Bicycle Upgrades","In addition to fixing my bike's flat tires and other ailments I bought some new additions for my bike today, a pair of tires, a pair of panniers and a rear mount rack. Instead of wearing a backpack and getting a large sweat patch, I now put all my stuff into my pannier and mount it on the bike itself. This is great, means I dont get as hot and sweaty, and makes me a little more aerodynamic. Sadly the rack and panniers set me back $150AUD and the only rack I could mount was one that only attaches to the seatstem, meaning it sways when carrying one pannier and rubs on the rear tire whenever I go over a bump. I'm having some teething problems, obviously, but I'll work out a solution soon enough. Its still better than the alternative.");
addNews("recently",	new Date(2006, 0, 3),"holiday","","","","Back to Reality","Back to Melbourne and back to work. I really enjoyed my holiday in Brisbane, had a wonderful time with my friends Flamedrake and Mandarax, got to play some WoW, cruise some waves in a small fishing boat and watch a few cheesy movies. A great time was had by all.");
addNews("recently",	new Date(2006, 0, 2),"fun,wow","","","","R.I.P Kekmar","Kekmar, my faithful level 13 Tauren Druid, now at rest at the bottom of Stagnant Oasis. May you rest in peace.");
addNews("sitenews",	new Date(2006, 0, 1),"fun,celebration","","","","Happy New Year","Happy New Year to everyone! Welcome to 2006! What do we have in store for this year? New series of IAPW is on the drawing board; New artwork soon to be released including my 'Dragon Weekly' spoof magazine; Australia gets the Xbox 360; Halo 3 comes out; And hopefully I'll be looking toward finding work in England, taking a step closer to being permanently with my mate.");
addNews("recently",	new Date(2005,11,26),"holiday","","","","Holidays in Sunny Queensland","Just so everyone knows, I'll be up north visiting a friend in Brisbane for the next week. I will be back on January 3rd. I'll try to get online whenever I can while I'm up there but we'll see how that goes, maybe put up some photographs.");
addNews("sitenews",	new Date(2005,11,25),"celebration","","","","Merry Christmas","Wishing you all a safe and Merry Christmas these holidays. From all of us here aboard the <em>ThunderChild</em>.");
addNews("sitenews",	new Date(2005,11,18),"homepage","","","","ThunderChild Launched!","After a year of design and months of work and procrastination, my new website is ready for viewing. Sporting new layout, features, archives and links, most of which will be constantly updated. Several pages havent been uploaded yet but they will be released in short time. Enjoy your visit to the ThunderChild.");
addNews("sitenews",	new Date(2005,11,16),"fun","","","","MidFur 2005","This weekend is the Melbourne MidFur meeting. So I'm going out to meet some Melbourne furs. Friday has a dinner planned but I don't know if I'm going to make the rest of the weekend seeings its so close to Christmas and I have ALOT to catch up on, so we'll see what happens. I hope to meet up with one of my Victorian dragon friends and have a good time.");
addNews("recently",	new Date(2005,10,21),"toys,lego","","http://guide.lugnet.com/set/6285","Set review on Lugnet","Pirates, Avast!","Special thanks to Jamie of Aurora Cab who sold me his Lego <a href='http://guide.lugnet.com/set/6285' target='_blank'>Black Seas Barracuda</a> pirate ship (6285). Apart from the dust, its in great condition and will take pride of place in my collection.");
addNews("recently",	new Date(2005,10,20),"anniversary,celebration","","","","Happy 6th Anniversary!","Yay! Aneirin and I have been together for six wonderful years. I can't belive it, it doesn't seem all that long yet it feels like we've been together forever. While we've had our ups and downs over the years, and spent as much time apart as together, we're still as close as ever, if not closer, something even distance can't spoil. I love you my sweetheart, always and forever.");
addNews("recently",	new Date(2005,10, 6),"jb,doom,rant","gui/games/xb-doom3special.gif","games.html?id=doom3special","Read game review","JB Hi-Fi You've Done It Again!","While I love JBs, they have great range, great prices, the weirdest things happen to me there. Previously I had the recurring faulty Stargate SG-1 boxset and Steamboy dvd, but this time it was my DOOM 3 game for the Xbox. I got home and opened it up .. and it was empty. It was covered in shrink wrap so I figured the game was inside. Obviously the lassie who served me didn't know she was suppose to put the game inside. After returning to JB I got it all sorted, thankfully and I got to take my new game home.");
addNews("recently",	new Date(2005,10, 5),"celebration","","","","Blast of a Night","Happy Fireworks night for those in the UK who have to put up with the continuous raucous noise of crackers and rockets all night for the next few nights. Oddly enough it one of many things I miss about England - celebrating the thwarted attempt to blow up parliament by blowing things up... Not quite sure how that logic works...");
addNews("recently",	new Date(2005, 9,31),"celebration","","","","Happy Halloween","Its Halloween tonight, for those of you in America and the UK who celebrate it, and for those of you on the fantasy RPG's such as EverQuest and Worlds of Warcraft where all hell breaks loose for a day or week. Have a good time everyone, lots of trick or treats, be safe, be well, and remember to brush after all that candy.");
addNews("recently",	new Date(2005, 9,14),"work,travel,bicycle","","","","Cycling to work","The last few weeks I've been riding my bicycle to work, mostly to cut down costs of public transport and to gain some more exercise. The end result is I <em>am</em> saving money, but the riding has been stressful on my body, leaving me sore in my knees and upper legs. So I've decided to ride only every second day, getting 3 days of riding out of 5.");
addNews("sitenews",	new Date(2005, 8,29),"homepage","","","","Finally, a new site","Hurrah! I've done it! the new design is perfected, the CSS is nailed down and the graphic design and aesthetic is finally coming together. Hopefully it will only be a month before its launched.");
addNews("recently",	new Date(2005, 8,20),"work","","","","Finally a SEEite","I've been working for SEE for three months now, and officially off my probation. This means I get holidays and stuff on top of the many wonderful benefits. I thought I was going to get a wage rise but that doesn't seem likely - not that I mind, as I'm well paid, along with the lovely coffee and chocolate Timtams and ripper $3 lunches, I don't have any compliants.");
addNews("sitenews",	new Date(2005, 8, 8),"homepage","","","","Fixes and changes","The new design is sound but the CSS doesn't work on all browsers, falling apart on older IE platforms. So I'm going back to tables because they are more reliable for what I want, at least until I can find some more robust CSS.");
addNews("sitenews",	new Date(2005, 7,16),"homepage","","","","The latest news","Slowly getting there. Finally come up with a really nice design, its only like version 8 or 9.");

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