I will leave this up but will close all comments and will no longer be posting here.
Stuart

As someone in the comments on the article said “Well, that phone has a wallpaper AND Cydia installed. Jailbroken iPhone for corporate security! (Jailbroken, 2010).

In case they remove it here is a snapshot:

Thoughts?

I have been working on a few different things this week, some geeky, some health related and others blog related. For those of you that visit my other sites you may have noticed things chopping and changing just a bit. I am flexing around with themes at the moment trying to find a good mix between each of these.

Well, just thought I would drop in and do a brain dump. Tomorrow is going to be a big one, starting at the gym then off to the beach which will be fun.

I will keep you all posted on my progress with the gym… which reminds me. I lost half a KG this week, not bad for my first week back at the gym. Still need to tighten things up a little food wise but I am taking this in baby steps.

Anyone else on a health kick at the moment?

Stuart

For those of you that have done it you know you can feel that pain deep within muscles you never knew existed… but you also know that although it is pain, it feels ever so good. Well I have done 3 days at the gym since I started back and have to say I am feeling a lot of pain at the moment, as I did weights yesterday morning. However I know that I am already on the road to recovery and looking to get back to the gym either tomorrow or Friday.

At this stage I am going to try for three days a week and once I get used to that up the ante a little more, the last thing I want to do is dive right in and ware myself out completely.

Well anyhoo, just thought I would give that update to my life
Stuart

One and a half hours later (if not slightly longer). Including 20 mins of cycling, 30 mins of running/jogging and additional weights work outs I have to say my body is REALLY feeling the pain of not having done any real sort of workouts in recent years.

However, even with all the pain… I have to say that I am actually feeling good, working out does get the good endorphins flowing and I look forward to going back tomorrow.

Anyone have any recommendations of yummy (and healthy) snacks while we are here?

Stuart

So lesson learned, if you are going out to the beach for a long time, sunscreen your feet more often than the rest of you. This has been a public service announcement.

I am going to hide back in the corner over here now LOL.

Stuart

However, upon closer inspection I found that it was in fact a legitimate email. I entered a competition as part of a Canon EOS survey as to what the EOS community meant to me. To be honest I cannot remember the exact answer I provided but it was along the lines of the community was inspirational to me and a source of learning.

So Canon judges chose my answer as the best of the bunch and have awarded me with a Canon EOS 500D Single Lens Kit for my very own. It will be a nice addition to my current EOS 50D as it also does full HD video.

Once I get my grubby little mits on it I will have a good play.

*w00ties*

However interestingly enough, with the exception of a couple of minor headaches I had no other side effects from a sudden stop in my caffeine (and likely insane amount of chemical) intake.

There is a big BUT though… CUCUMBERS ARE NOT A BREAKFAST FOOD… really they aren’t. But you know, there might just be some truth to it. I posed an interesting question to my workmate, I wondered if something like cucumbers would assist a person trying to quit cigarettes for example.

Anyhoo, enough of my rambling. I am still recovering from Christmas (in which I had a LOT of Diet Coke *grins*) How was everyone elses Christmas?

Stuart

Anyhoo, this morning I had to try something different, I could just NOT handle eating a full cucumber again. So, I decided to blend it in with some water before adding my biggest loser double chocolate shake to the mix. Yep I kid you not I ate cucumbers blended with a chocolate protein shake. This might sounds really disgusting but I do have to say it is the lesser of two evils, only because I can scull the drink down rather than having to chew the cucumber.

I would also like to mention that I have now been experiencing the caffeine withdrawal headaches I normally associate with dropping Diet Coke cold turkey. So far no shakes like I experienced last time but we will see how I am going in a day or two.

One of my workmates also was sweet enough to bring me an emergency supply of Diet Coke, wrapped in a nice little package (that is sealed) in case of just that… an EMERGENCY situation where Diet Coke is required for my sanity.

I have put it on ice (and will take a photo) but I just see it as a tempation to overcome. I have to say I am looking forward to that sweet taste on Monday morning next week… until then viva la cucumbers.

LOL how is everyone elses week doing? Anything happening as idiotic as mine?

Stuart

Today was day one and to the left you can see the wonderfully disgusting site that is me eating a cucumber for breakfast. Now I would like to point out a couple of things, firstly I have learned a couple of lessons.

1. Cucumbers are not a breakfast food, in fact they are FU***NG disgusting as a breakfast food (and for that matter in large quantities). However I guess I only have myself to blame as Diet Coke really isn’t a breakfast food either!

2. This is going to be a long seven days for breakfasts

So besides a cucumber I did actually eat other food with breakfast (contrary to popular belief). In fact this is likely to be very similar to most breakfasts that I have throughout the next seven days. It contains a protein shake (I just like the taste of the Biggest Loser ones), a cucumber *cringes*, a mens general multivitamin, and a omega 3 fatty acid tablet to assist in feeling full and general wellness.

Well I have to run, I will keep you all updated with my progress (like I said please leave a comment I need support haha). Oh and I have started changing my blog theme please bare with me while I complete this over the next day or two.
Stuart

Well I now have six cucumbers sitting downstairs, and tomorrow rather than a Diet Coke with breakfast it will be a big, green, Lebanese cucumber (I like the flavour).

I am going to need a lot of emotional support this week peoples… it is going to be an interesting one.

After a long night working, and consuming a V Pocket Rocket yesterday morning. A workmate has issued me the challenge of replacing caffeinated substances with cucumbers.

However in true geeky style I figured I wanted to put this to a vote. So I propose that if I can get 100 votes on the below poll, with at least 50% in favor of me giving up caffeine for a week and getting my energy boosts from cucumbers… I will do it! So have a read of the below and feel free to vote:

Below is the original email that I was sent by my workmates:

Stuey
Tomorrow Kerry and I want to see you do the below for tiredness instead of that junk you were putting into your body this morning

——————————————————————

Never thought that CUCUMBER can do so much!

The Amazing Cucumber

This information was in The New York Times several weeks ago as part of their “Spotlight on the Home” series that highlighted creative and fanciful ways to solve common problems.

1. Cucumbers contain most of the vitamins you need every day, just one cucumber contains Vitamin B1, Vitamin B2, Vitamin B3, Vitamin B5, Vitamin B6, Folic Acid, Vitamin C, Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Potassium and Zinc.

2. Feeling tired in the afternoon, put down the caffeinated soda and pick up a cucumber.   Cucumbers are a good source of B Vitamins and Carbohydrates that can provide that quick pick-me-up that can last for hours.

3. Tired of your bathroom mirror fogging up after a shower?  Try rubbing a cucumber slice along the mirror, it will eliminate the fog and provide a soothing, spa-like fragrance.

4. Are grubs and slugs ruining your planting beds?  Place a few slices in a small pie tin and your garden will be free of pests all season long.   The chemicals in the cucumber react with the aluminium to give off a scent undetectable  to humans but drive garden pests crazy and make them flee the area.

5. Looking for a fast and easy way to remove cellulite before going out or to the pool?   Try rubbing a slice or two of cucumbers along your problem area for a few minutes, the photochemical in the cucumber cause the collagen in your skin to tighten, firming up the outer layer and reducing the visibility of cellulite.
Works great on wrinkles too!!!

6. Want to avoid a hangover or terrible headache?
Eat a few cucumber slices before going to bed and wake up refreshed and headache free.   Cucumbers contain enough sugar, B vitamins and electrolytes to replenish essential nutrients the body lost, keeping everything in equilibrium, avoiding both a hangover and headache!!

7. Looking to fight off that afternoon or evening snacking binge?  Cucumbers have been used for centuries and often used by European trappers, traders and explores for quick meals to thwart off starvation.

8. Have an important meeting or job interview and you realize that you don’t have enough time to polish your shoes?  Rub a freshly cut cucumber over the shoe, its chemicals will provide a quick and durable shine that not only looks great but also repels water.

9. Out of WD 40 and need to fix a squeaky hinge?   Take a cucumber slice and rub it along the problematic hinge, and voila, the squeak is gone!

10. Stressed out and don’t have time for massage, facial or visit to the spa?  Cut up an entire cucumber and place it in a boiling pot of water, the chemicals and nutrients from the cucumber with react with the boiling water and be released in the steam, creating a soothing, relaxing aroma that has been shown to reduce
stress in new mothers and college students during final exams.

11. Just finish a business lunch and realize you don’t have gum or mints?  Take a slice of cucumber and press it to the roof of your mouth with your tongue for 30 seconds to eliminate bad breath, the photochemical will kill the bacteria in your mouth responsible for causing bad breath.

12. Looking for a ‘green’ way to clean your faucets, sinks or stainless steel?  Take a slice of cucumber and rub it on the surface you want to clean, not only will it remove years of tarnish and bring back the shine, but is won’t leave streaks and won’t harm you fingers or fingernails while you clean.

13. Using a pen and made a mistake?
Take the outside of the cucumber and slowly use it to erase the pen writing, also works great on crayons and markers that the kids have used to decorate the walls!! Pass this along to everybody you know who is looking for better and safer ways to solve life’s everyday problems.

Interestingly enough I stumbled across the last place that I ever thought I would. I managed to stumble across the Biggest Loser WhiteHouse where the Australian series of The Biggest Loser was filmed.

So, I wonder, is this an omen to my continued efforts to lose weight? I have lost 8kg already and this has just given me another spark to keep on going.

So feel free to check out the photos on Flickr, I would love to hear your thoughts.

Stuart

If you are looking for my other Technical Geeky blog check out http://www.technicalnotebook.com there was a small amount of confusion and the wrong URL was used but feel free to check the site out.

Cheers

Stuart

Until next time… toodles

Stuart

Many people have laptops these days and one of the sad facts is that laptops are a premium target for theft. To kick this off I want you to know that this is not in fact a review, more something that I have found out (a review will come later) and wanted to let fellow Australians know where they purchase Absolute’s Computrace from.

Absolute’s Computrace comes in several different flavours, this includes ComputraceOne and ComputracePlus (more targeted to corporate users) as well as Computrace LoJack for Laptops which is targeted to the home user. Either way companies such as Dell are embedding this laptop tracking software into their systems so that in the event of a system being stolen, they can be traced and hopefully recovered.

For quite some time, I have been attempting to find somewhere in Australia that will sell Computrace to me (in *ANY* flavour) so that I could put it on my laptop. As I have just purchased a new laptop I once again went in search of someone that would be willing to sell Computrace to the Australian personal market (as opposed to the business or corporate customers). For me this will have two benefits, not only can I track my laptop if it is stolen, but I can also remotely delete any sensitive or personal data (which for me is a big plus).

After a lot of searching, and sending out emails to a variety of companies in Australia I received an email back from Murray at Sense of Security (contact details below) who was extremely prompt and professional and is in the process of getting me up and running with ComputracePlus. For those of you in Australia, although this is the corporate product I have yet to find somewhere that sells the Computrace LoJack for Laptops Premium version in Australia which I believe is essentially the same product for the home user.

At the time of writing Computrace Plus cost me $209AUD (inc. GST) for a three year service contract.

If you are interested you can contact:

Murray Goldschmidt

Sense of Security Pty Ltd
Level 3, 66 King St
Sydney NSW 2000
T: +61 2 9290 4442
F: +61 2 9290 4455

Web: http://www.senseofsecurity.com.au
Email: Drop Murray a line here

I hope this helps some other Australians to finally be able to purchase the Computrace products for their laptops. As a side note, I am in no way affiliated with Sense of Security, I am just one happy chap that managed to find a company that sells Computrace in Australia.

Stuart

All I can say is *EPIC FAIL* MWAHAHAHA! (What are your thoughts?)

Hello,

We are sending you this e-mail to inform you that recently cPanel has
increased its prices on licenses when they released version 11.24. The
reason for the increased pricing is because cPanel for VPS servers are now
completely redesigned and improved upon the old code and because of
increased functionality the price was also increased.

Since we have had our prices increased for VPS licenses we will no longer be
able to offer discounts on VPS licenses and some of our clients have had
their VPS License prices increased to $15/month. If you have any questions
or concerns regarding the price increase please contact us at our help desk
and we will be glad to assist you.

Please note: We have not made changes to any other licenses! (Dedicated,
Fantastico, RVSkin).

Thanks,

InstantcPanelLicense.com

-----------------------------------------------

Had to be very vague in the e-mail because I didn't want everyone to know
that some people were paying $13/month or even $14 since this is going out
to everyone.

------------
<Name Omitted>
Sales Manager
HostDime.com

Anyhoo, in past times every time I was ill I would go back to my bad eating habits and just go to my comfort foods. However I am proud to say that this time, I have regularly walked past bowls of lollies, rum balls and other such yummies all without giving in to temptation.

I guess the one real push for me this time is that I cannot fit into any of my good clothes at the moment which is an embarrassment more than anything. I want to get myself back and healthy and back into my clothes.

So how do you manage to resist your temptation for good foods (in sickness or in health)?
Stuart

Click the image to view a larger version.

Source Unknown

Personally I can see the humor in it, but to be in that situation would be shocking. What are your thoughts?

[note] As I expected this is an urban myth *but a funny one nonetheless* See http://www.snopes.com/business/consumer/firedrill.asp

Before I go any further, I want to try and keep this as two sided as I possibly can so I do welcome feedback from smokers, non-smokers and ex-smokers as well. So please, after you are done reading, feel free to leave a comment.

Before I delved into writing this post, I requested some input from my friends and followers on twitter.  The question was: Smokers and non-smokers “What are your feelings on passive smoking”.

In almost no time at all a few people had responded, before we go any further I just wanted to mention that fridley is a self-confessed ex-smoker, which is why it seems that he is so knowledgeable about the topic (and kudos to him for giving up the habit).

@fridley My only real prob is walking smokers. (when in front of me). You want to smoke? Fine. Go for it. Just dont hold the damm thing!! Main probs with Aust cigi is the chemical smell/taste (inc menthol), cost, rubbish, & ppl who just hold it while walking. I still now and then smoke a cigar, but not in places that affect others. Besides, I like to savor good things when possible.

@BethTana As a smoker, I think it’s extremely rude, harmful and unnecessary to smoke around others. Going outside is so easy to do.

@alanjlee I don’t mind… but I don’t know how bad it is these days as i am hardly ever near smokers/in the city. Just don’t blow at me!

Initially I was interested that two of the people that comented were either active smokers or ex-smokers themselves. I must also commend BethTana for her attitude to not subjecting non-smokers to smoke. It is funny from my own discussion with people (offline that is) I have discovered that the only people that hate second hand tobacco more than non-smokers are ex-smokers.

Personally for me I am at a loss as to why when I go out I am forced to endure the inhilation of second hand cigarette smoke. Be it walking down the street or even leaving my building at work at the end of the day, I find it a rare (pleasurable) occasion when I can walk along without having smoke trailing in front of me or blown in my face.

So what I wanted to do was ask two questions:

For the smokers/ex-smokers: How do you feel about going out and blowing smoke around often when people may not desire to be subjected to tobacco.

For the non-smokers: What are your thoughts, does passive smoking not bother you or do you have your own pet hate?

Of course I welcome any other comments, those questions are only a guide. I would really love feedback on this one.

(And finally if you do not follow me on twitter feel free to add me, I would love to do more of these discussion type posts in the future. @ereality is my twitter ID.)

OK I have been around a lot of the net I would like to thing, and I thought I had seen it all, the funny the crude, the “what the fuck” (WTF) to the downright disgusting. So I would like to think that I am pretty well travelled and that nothing could really surprise me on the net anymore.

After recently putting the request out to my fellow tweeters of what my next blog post should be, @desdev came back and requested suggested “How about a exegesis re: RT @Tarale I don’t know why this site exists. ‘Girls eating sandwiches’.” So here we are.

Now I really do not know how much detail I can go into but to make it short and sweet, someone has put together their favourite list of pictures of girls eating sandwhiches… (now I know you are giving me a strange look… see what I mean… WTF!)

Anyhoo, what is the strangest thing you have come across on the internet and what are your thoughts on Girls Eating Sandwiches.

During my photography class last week, our tutor sent us out to get some photos of each other on the street at night. The above photo happened to be me just shooting from the hip… /Queue stranger with weird look on his face.

So I thought for a bit of fun we could do a caption this on this photo (or if you so desire you could do it as one of those demotivator posters. After racking my brain for quite some time I decided on:

“That is the most awesome…. *drools*!”

OK So I was never spectacular at this, but hey, lets see what you guys can come up with.

Therefore I am now trying something new, I know it sounds cliche but I am trying out the Biggest Loser Shake supplements and using the Biggest Loser club as a guide to what I should be eating alongside that. Essentially this is putting me back to the six small meals a day theory that I did three years ago (and worked quite spectacularly if I may say so).

So, I have some stocks, the shakes actually taste half decent and I even had a fruit salad and bottle of water for morning tea (my workmates were stunned LOL).

So here is to new beginnings. I am on day 1 of the shakes, I will see how I am going with them tomorrow.

I have to say that I see this as extremely obscure, CitiRail is saying that they do not want their staff to be copping flack from customers because the timetable information does not account for delayed rail services and so forth. My workmate today however posed an interesting question, do they update the distributed paper timetables to include day to day delays? Not that we know of!

OK granted the nature of having an iPhone app, or an app for any other smart device, would lead you to believe that the information would be current but a short disclaimer would get around this and easily cover CitiRail’s arse.

Personally I can still not believe that the information from Sydney’s rail, bus and ferry services has not been provided to developers via some API (Application Programmers Interface) so that they can get instantly updated information. Then the transit systems would not have to even concern themselves with developing their own applications. This would also permit the very easy integration of transport information from any device such as a WAP enabled phone, to a blackberry and PDAs, so in other words, not just the iPhone.

I am curious to hear other Australian’s thoughts on this though? I mean we all know how wonderful the Sydney public transport system is with the failed TCard Smartcard ticketing system as just another recent example.

So if you are a Sydneysider what do you think? If you are from another state or overseas, how do you think this reflects on Sydney in comparison to your own state?

Also while we are here, how do you think Sydney’s public transport reflects on Sydney as a whole?

iPhone Image courtesy of Apple

So tomorrow being Wednesday I have to get back on track, especially as I will be eating dinner out as I have my photography course.

Also I need to get back into the 100 pushups thing (dont think I have mentioned that on here yet) after my first day my pecks have been throbbing for 2 days solid LOL but they are feeling better now.

Bring on the not misbehaving!

Stuart

Last weekend I weighed myself and came in at a WHOPPING 106KGs. I decided that enough was enough as last year at this same time I was 95KG, and I can really feel all the extra weight that I am carting around.

Over the last week I have started using the Australian Biggest Loser Club to keep a track of what I am eating and chatting on the forums to try to help me get my weight down.  Well, one week in (to the day) I have weighed myself and am now 104KG. Granted I estimate I have only really lost just one kilogram as last week I weighed myself in clothes and this week I was in the buff (tho from now on I will always do it in the buff on a Sunday Morning before brekky).

So I thought that I would use this space (i.e. Secluded Habitat) to put down my thoughts, my feelings and how I am coping.

Twill be interesting, and I can’t WAIT to shed some of this weight. The motto is… there is no TRY there is only DO!

Stuart

Therefore I am deciding that I am “re-classifying” Secluded Habitat as my personal blog. It will be a place for me to really post my random thoughts and will not be updated on a regular schedule. I guess for the moment I am putting it on hiatus but I may pop in when I just need to have a vent and then scamper off again for a while.

I have decided that I really want to pour my heart and my soul into Eccentric Reality which is focused around my new hobby of Photography. I have been blogging for over a year on a blog which (I do hate to say did not have any sort of real direction to it), now I want to continue growing and actually blog with a theme and purpose.

Of course all my articles will stay here, and I hope that some time in the future I might be able to pick up and give Secluded Habitat some what more of a real direction.

I would like to thank all my regular readers for listening, reading and commenting over the last year and a half it has been real.

I hope to see you all again in future but for now, abiento!

Stuart

However in the last couple of months I have made the move towards outsourcing some of these things that compliment my blog. One example is the galleries that I use on both of my blogs and the other is the analytics that I use on my blogs.

In the case of the galleries, I made the move because I was finding that the self-hosted gallery software was a pain to customise and a pain to upgrade, as well as the storage costs were proving to be a killer. So… that was the galleries gone to an outside provider.

In the case of my site analytics, I have been looking for a self-hosted analytics packages and found that they just no longer exist as everyone either uses Google Analytics or a similar service, so that is my analytics outsourced too.

As far as the general concept goes I do not have all that much of a problem outsourcing such things, in fact it does come with a lot of benefits. The one that really concerns me tho is that I no longer have control over backups or have any avenue to go to if the service goes under. Granted I have gone with pretty stable companies but that is never any sort of guarantee.

Anyhoo, I am curious do you do all your blog stuff “in house” so to speak, and what are your thoughts on outsourcing. Is it really the future?

Stuart

P.S. For those who are curious I have added a new page to my blog Tech Details/Recommendations which contains an overview of what software and services I use to compliment my blog (including all the Wordpress Plugins that I use).

Sadly Australia lost the match. Through out the game they were dropping a LOT of catches, and their fielding in general was less than spectacular. But hey, I am not a cricketer so who am I to judge (I could not do anywhere near what they can LOL). The game was a lot of fun and I did get into it quite a few times doing Mexican waves and cheering.

There were also our fair share of disturbances, we had 3 people run onto the field. The first one was fully clothed and was caught the moment after he was over the fence (I did not even see him, Erin told me about it later). The other two actually managed to go a third of the field before they were tackled (one crash tackled) to the ground. Needless to say, a lot of fun to watch when they were only 40 odd feet away.

At one stage there was also what we could only assume was a brawl going on in one of the other stands. We knew something was going on after a lot of police and security guards were running over there… and then a few minutes later about 10 riot squat police. So that stopped the game for a little while but I have to say it was awesome to see just how quickly they reacted.

Anyhoo, just thought I would share a couple of photos as well while I was here, if you would like you can see the full One Day International Australia v South Africa album in addition to the photos below (and to see the photos fullsize for more detail).

So all in all I had a pretty good time. I may have to go back and see another somewhere down the track!

Stuart