James & Vilija

After a fantastic Christmas with the OC and family, and the relaxing days that followed, on the 27th a 7.30am train from Genova saw us arrive in Rome around lunchtime. After a few disorientating minutes at Termini train station, we got our orientation, weekly metro tickets (how organised were we!?) and jumped on the B-line that saw us exit right out the front of the Colosseum! I was immediately in awe, I wasn’t expecting it to be looming upon us as soon as we exited our stop. James was a little less impressed, disappointed by the black marks and cracks in this Roman icon caused by years of pollution and the metro system that runs a little too close below. We circled the Colosseum in search for the street where we were staying and were impressed to find that we were staying about a 100m down the road from it, with it sitting at the end of our street. Read the rest of this entry »

Yay, its officially the best day of the year today Boxing day, the longest period till next Christmas. All in all we have had a wonderful couple of days. From the sounds of it, all those in Melbourne should have come to visit us as the weather report indicated snow and slush (Perth was a little different), where as we experienced a gorgeous day with sun (about 14 degrees) and barley a breath of wind.

The weather at the moment is a little concern as it doesn’t resemble winter in any shape or form. Strangely, I find myself sympathizing with many Muscovites lamenting the lack of snow, rain and general bad weather. (matches my mood ;)) Read the rest of this entry »

Another catholic holiday yesterday gave us another long weekend this week. We are now on the train off to Milano for an explore. Given that last time we were there it was deserted, we are hoping that two weekends before Christmas it should have a bit more life.

This week has seen the arrival of some wet and wild weather. Unfortunately for those who headed to the mountains this weekend it didn’t bring much snow. The damp weather has, however, aided our house to develop a personality of its own. During autumn spots of mold appeared on the walls of our place and roughly once a month I got the chlorine spray out to clean them. Over the last month, these small patches have developed into living organisms complete with their own volunteer conservation groups shackled to our walls for their protection. Read the rest of this entry »

After buying my first Windows Mobile phone a O2 Atom, I was immediately disappointed.  Coming from a Nokia that did what it needed to do and did it well.  For a multi-function device it did lots of things, but only poorly.  Slowly, slowly I have found third party software that adds, what I believe, basic functionality to my phone that should have been there from the start.

The first thing to do is ensure that your phone has the latest firmware.  Visit the
web site of your phone’s manufacturer and get any updates.  Another good source of phone firmware originally manufactured by HTC is XDA-Developers.  Most HTC phones were sold with different names so if you’re not sure, head over and check out the pictures to see if your model is there.  If it is, there is a very active community working on (un)official firmware for their phones.

Read the rest of this entry »

The following is a summary on how to install .Net Compact Framework on a PocketPC without Activesync.

1. Download .Net Compact Framework from Microsoft
2. Using a Windows PC, extract all the files from the installer package by running the following command msiexec /a PackageName.msi from either the command line or the run dialog box. The /a ommand specifies to run it ass an adminstrative install that will extract the files to a specified location rather than install them as usual. Replace PackageName.msi with the name of the installer you downloaded in step 1.
   • For non-windows systems (linux/mac etc…) 7-Zip is supposedly (I haven’t tested it myself) able to extract files from .msi files. If you goto to the download page, at the bottom there is a list of unofficial packages for other systems.

Read the rest of this entry »

Having spent the last few weekends doing things like updating the website (why?? Because I could Don’t you think it looks good??) its been a little while since we have actually added content so here goes.

After a period of slackness on our behalf about 2 weeks ago Vilija calculated that it is roughly 5 months till our wedding next year. At first I thought that was wrong, maybe it was calculated using the American date system (5th of April) instead of the normal system (4th of May) but in fact it is right. This lead to a renewed effort on our behalf to get things organised. Read the rest of this entry »

When I bought my O2 Atom Pocket PC earlier this year I had visions of finally being able to keep fully up-to date. That’s the idea with a PIM Phone. However, given circumstances, I found myself without a Windows PC and hence no access to the Microsoft ActiveSync Client. The only PC I had access to was my partners Mac iBook. This left my phone a little “island in the wind”. I found that there are several options for syncing a Windows Mobile (WM) device with a Mac.

• The Missing Sync
• Windows Emulation/Virtualisation and use ActiveSync

I was reluctant to use Missing Sync as I believe the fewer programs on a computer, the better. Regarding emulation/virtualisation, this wasn’t an option as we don’t yet have an Intel Mac. After a LOT of research I finally stumbled upon a solution that allows me to sync my contacts, calendars, to-do list between OS X Address Book, iCal and our two phones. This method does not require you to install any new software or to pay for expensive services. Inspired by this informative write up on syncing for windows, this article provides an overview of how I achieved my Sync goals. Read the rest of this entry »

About a month ago when I started making inquiries about what Vilija wanted for her birthday, she made the suggestion to go to Venezia. The last time I was in Venezia was 4 years ago and it didn’t leave the best impression. It was cold, smelly and you couldn’t see the hand on the end of your arm thanks to the fog. Needless to say I tried passive and then not so passive resistance to the idea. With a distinct shortage of better ideas we decided to go. After a short time I was actually claiming the idea as mine ;-). What’s a better birthday present than a romantic weekend away on your birthday in Venezia?? Read the rest of this entry »

Just a brief one… Halloween
In Australia we generally shun the Halloween tradition, saying that its all American hype and an excuse to eat more junk, however, we found out recently that Halloween was actually started by the pagan Irish who feared spirits and so sought to ingratiate themselves with candles and food for all ghouls.
What has surprised me here in Italy - not just Genova, but all the places we’ve been to lately - is how the Italians (or at least the entrepreneurial ones) have embraced this celebration. In so many shops that we’ve walked past for the last month there have been window displays dedicated to this Hallmark-y holiday. In particular the pasticerias have heaps of pumpkin-shaped treats.
Speaking to some friends of ours it turns out that this is the first year that Halloween has really been celebrated in Italy in a big way. On the way home from work last night I spied heaps of kids dressed up in whatever their imagination conjured and mum sewed. It was actually quite fun to watch. My friend from work Claire told us about a party that her partner’s friends organised for the occasion, so Jimbo and I went along for a look. Being totally too slack we decided that the best costume was creative use of black eyeliner to create a ghoulish appearance and a black eye for me
Not wanting to feel too touristy we decided not to take snaps of the others, but much credit goes to Claire for her mummy outfit, Maria the “assassin” chicken, and the witches and pirates of the night.
Also an honourable mention to the mini scooter-truck that was dumped at our local park that looked the part for the night.
Today we’re enjoying living in a Catholic country with a public holiday for All Saints Day - YAY!

Vilija