Archive for November, 2008

Europe, baby!

Monday, November 24th, 2008

Aleksander put forward the idea of a backpacker trip through Europe next summer and I immediately though “why not, lets do it!”.

So the coming summer, we will be roaming around Southern Europe mostly by train I guess, seeing most of the places we both have been wanting to see for a long time. Aleksander have made a map on google showing a preliminary version of our trip. We’ll possibly fly to Paris and then move down along the west cost of France, into Spain, maybe Portugal, back up the east coast of Spain, into France over to Italy and down to southern Italy. If anyone has ideas for places to see, or cities that we have to visit, please advice!

Also, if you have room for 2 awesome guys from Norway for a night somewhere along our route, please feel free to speak up ;) Yeah, Arnaud and Isa, I’m look at you! It would be cool to see you guys, anyways :D
Europe, baby!

Posted in Life, News | 1 Comment »

Wishlist for Christmas 2008

Monday, November 24th, 2008

As every previous christmas that this blog has lived through, I publish my wishes here on my blog so that you more easily can go out and buy me stuff ;)

Posted in 42, Life | No Comments »

Monty Python on YouTube

Friday, November 21st, 2008

As a response to the YouTubers who have been ripping off Monty Python and putting their videos on YouTube, the gang of crazy Brits are now firing back - taking matters into their own hands!

Monty Python have created their own YT channel, with all the great Monty Python clips - for free :) They’ve even made this funny promotion.

Posted in Amusement, News | 1 Comment »

Feeling the Wrath of the Lich King…

Tuesday, November 18th, 2008

Wrath of the Lich King

Wrath of the Lich King, the second expansion pack for the MMORPG World of Warcraft, was released last week. I was not one of those standing outside the retailers at 12:00am to secure a copy, but I had definitively been looking forward to the game :)
I have had about a 10-month break from World of Warcraft, with a few hours of game time now and then this autumn. so it was a great feeling to get on the boat in Menethil Harbour and head north to Northrend and Howling Fjord. The scenery and atmosphere of the Howling Fjord was stunning. It has a very norse touch to it, which probably makes it suit me even better. But the best part, being Howling Fjord or any of the other new playfields; new quests, new levels, new unexplored areas and new dungeons! Hours of entertainment for dark winter evenings :)
So far I have reached about halfway to level 73, I have almost finished Howling Fjord and are about to enter the Dragonblight. I have explored two new dungeons; Utgarde Keep and The Nexus, both incredibly cool, but Utgarde Keep being my favourite of the two. Quests have been diverse and the good’ol WoW-feeling is back :) Also, because I had a rather limited raid-career after the Burning Crusade (Gruul, TK (1 boss), SSC (1 boss)) it did not take long before I started swithing out my gear, which I did not mind at all. I was terribly fed up with my boring-looking Beastmaw Pauldrons!

Might keep you updated on the progress toward the mighty level 80 now and then ;)
GeekJaran, out!

Posted in Geek, Life | 3 Comments »

Multiple desktops setup

Tuesday, November 18th, 2008

After reading this blog on multiple desktops setup , I realized I should really try to make use of this neat feature in Ubuntu. Since Ubuntu 8.10, Compiz is also much more more compatible with Eclipse, which means that it does not screw up my dual-screen Eclipse setup, which was mainly the reason I did not use Compiz earlier.

Although Compiz is not a requirement for multiple-desktops, it certainly help making transition between the desktops etc look sweet!

So what I am currently testing is to organize my applications on different desktops to make my workflow more efficient. Earlier, I often ended up having a taskbar consisting of countless 10-pixel wide buttons, which made it a huge hassle to find the window I needed. Now I have tried to organize different types of applications on different desktops, so that I know where to find what I need, and have the applications I need ready when switching “context”. Here’s what I am currently running on a 3×2 virtual desktop setup (2 screens on each desktop):

  1. Web browsing - Opera on Screen 1, Firefox on Screen 2.
  2. Chat & IM
  3. Development - Eclipse on 2 screens
  4. Music
  5. Terminals
  6. Currently free - probably end up using it for virtualization

I have also set up auto-start of my most used applications, so that whenever I need to restart my computer my browser, IM clients etc will start automatically and be placed on the correct desktops and screens (this is done using the Compiz Place Windows plugin).

I am also using the Expo plugin, which I have configured to let me move the mouse pointer to any of the 4 corners of a desktop to get a thumbnail overview of my available desktops and easily switch between them.

So far it has been working great for me, but whether it increases my efficiency is too soon to tell - I’ll post a followup in some weeks to let you know :)

Posted in 42, Geek | 2 Comments »

Gears of War 2

Tuesday, November 18th, 2008

Morten and I just finished Gears of War 2 yesterday evening. We’ve spent about two and a half evenings playing it (~10 hours I think), and what a blast! We played through the orignal in co-op as well, and even though I found the original more scary, GoW 2 was like one looooong sci-fi action movie filled with thousands of wasted bullets, just for the hell of it :) I am pretty sure Gears of War 2 could beat many action movies and get an Oscar. Not just because of the senseless, highly enjoyable action, but also because of incredible scenery which really makes the hair stand on your arms.

Gears of War 2 is the perfect chance to be the fearless soldier hero, with a big-ass gun! Several, actually.

If you’re buying an action game this year and you love some senseless shot’em up, Gears of War 2 gives you all you need… and then some! I’ve always found “shot’em up” type of games rather lame, but Epic and their Gears of War has shown that it is still possible to create entertaining games in this genre, and which still gives you a good story. Its the kind of game which makes you sit at work realizing you just want to go back home to your Xbox.

Posted in Geek, Life | 4 Comments »