Looking for Luke and Megan

Tancredi — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 08:18:34 -0800

Update: Found them, thanks to Facebook.

I've been trying to work out how to track down a couple of friends of mine who I met about nine years ago in Byron Bay. I've lost their parent's phone numbers and I know they also moved since we last spoke so I don't really have any way of contacting them. So I thought I'd write a blog post with their names in and see if they or their friends respond.

Moving across to Drupal from Mephisto

Tancredi — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 23:50:15 -0800

I decided to attempt to migrate this weblog across from Mephisto to Drupal. This post gives a quick overview of how I managed it and what I had to do to achieve this goal.

Solving Macbook Wake from Sleep issue

Tancredi — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 06:45:13 -0800

My girlfriend's Macbook has been suffering from a wake from sleep issue for around 12 months now. It appeared to go away and then last week with an upgrade to Leopard the issue came back even worse than before. The problem: Macbook automatically wakes from sleep with a log entry stating 'USB caused wake event (EHCI)'.

What follows are the steps I've taken to try to eliminate the problem and also what I hope is the permanent solution.

Virgin Mobile iPhone Carrier Image

Tancredi — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 18:21:44 -0700

If you can't find a better one somewhere, here is my Virgin Mobile iPhone carrier image to replace the somewhat annoying YES OPTUS writing that appears when using the Virgin network in Australia on an Apple iPhone.

Bad Boy 8 fixie conversion

Tancredi — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 20:29:05 -0700

I would like to present to the world my latest and greatest bicycle, the Cannondale Bad Boy 8 fixie conversion. Its my first fixed wheel bike and I hope you'll agree she's a beauty.

Abode Photoshop CS3 fix for crash on Save

Tancredi — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 21:13:37 -0700

A quick post to describe a possible solution for fixing an issue I had where Photoshop CS3 kept crashing on trying to Save.

Courier bikes - Which one to buy?

Tancredi — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 04:19:40 -0700

When I go back to Australia, we are moving over east to Melbourne. I'm going to hopefully be a bike courier again, riding around the streets at ridiculous speeds trying not to kill myself or anyone else. To this end I'm considering what bike to buy here in the UK (where choice is much better) to take with me when I go back over.

Photoshop CS3 and Save for Web issues

Tancredi — Sun, 13 May 2007 21:32:09 -0700

I've recently begun using Photoshop CS3 and noticed that all of my saved 'Save for Web and Devices' jpgs were coming out differently than they looked in my workspace. I always disable colour management as I don't do any print work and I believe the simplest method for web development and design is to work in my monitor's colour working space. This was working fine in CS2 but for some reason my jpgs were looking different when I'd saved them. I discovered a setting in Save for Web and Devices that is on by default and converts the output to the sRGB profile before saving.

Windows Vista, Linux and Mac OS X

Tancredi — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 04:18:08 -0800

I have two computers at home, a mini PC in a Shuttle case with a TV card for my entertainment and storage and my Macbook Pro which I use for everything else. I recently became frustrated with trying to get Windows Media Centre 2005 to work properly with guide data in Australia and the correct daylight savings times, so I decided to dual boot it with Linux to see how the current distributions were going, and to give MythTV a shot.

Bleedin' Hayes 9 brakes

Tancredi — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 15:38:11 -0800

Last couple of weeks I've been riding I've noticed the efficiency of my brakes has been slowly getting worse, to the point where the levers reached right back to the handlebars and I could no longer get enough leverage to lock up the wheels. I use Hayes 9 hydraulic disc brakes on my bike and figured maybe they just needed bleeding or something.

Cannondale F800 Bad Boy conversion

Tancredi — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 19:41:27 -0800

I wrote a previous entry about what I was going to do to my Cannondale frame to make it into my dream work bike. This new entry is about what I've actually done and the various difficulties I encountered along the way.

Amcom - the saga continues

Tancredi — Sat, 30 Dec 2006 12:03:12 -0800

Wow, those guys at Amcom are truly incompetent. After disconnecting my ADSL connection for no good reason and making me wait a week without even offering dialup before reconnecting me, I have now found out they connected the wrong number at the local telephone exchange, so all my calls are going through someone else's Telstra account and phone number. This means no-one has been able to contact us for days too.

So I decided to write to Amcom (yet) again, with a list of all that has occurred between us so hopefully they will understand the problem. I've copied the letter below.

Converting a Cannondale F800 XC bike into a courier work bike

Tancredi — Fri, 29 Dec 2006 06:18:07 -0800

As you may know I work as a bicycle messenger or courier at the moment and I've got a tricked out Avanti Escape with rigid forks I'm riding currently. I can't bear to see my Cannondale sitting there each day not being used so I've decided to convert it to rigid forks and get it out on the road and start using it as my main work bike.

The bike is a Cannondale F800 2004 model XC mountain bike. Its a hardtail with a Lefty Jake front fork, which is one of the most beautiful things I have ever ridden; as long as that riding is done off-road. On the road it is simply wasted effort, there is no lockout on the front fork so a lot of energy is lost riding up hills and turning is not so tight and accurate as a rigid fork bike.

Amcom - pain or pleasure?

Tancredi — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 03:47:15 -0800

I use the broadband ISP Amcom here in Western Australia for my fast broadband needs. They are one of the only providers which have their own DSLAMS in the local telephone exchanges, most of the rest of the ISPs are at Telstra's mercy. I have always found the Amcom connection to be fairly fast and reliable, unlike my experience with iiNet where disconnections seemed to be an almost daily occurance. My main problem with Amcom is their administration department and their billing department and their technical support department...

Being a messenger in Perth

Tancredi — Mon, 11 Dec 2006 15:50:29 -0800

I haven't written an entry for a while now. To be honest I haven't felt like it, the time I have spent with my computer has been focused on ordering new bike parts to turn my crappy Avanti Escape work bike into a lean mean street machine. I think I want to put down some thoughts and observations about being a courier in Perth, Australia.

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