Warning: long [and probably boring] post For anyone who enjoys running, you will know the exhilarating feeling that it provides. For me, sprinting was my first love and as a child I used to run to school, run back home [a good 5 miles in some instances] and I ran for the sheer enjoyment it provided. Why walk through a bush path [I'm Australian] when you could run? I just loved it. It made me feel good and to be honest, it was really that simple. And I could run fast. Faster than all of the kids in my class, faster than any of the kids in my year level, faster than most of the kids in the school, even those much older and taller than me. Sports Days were fantastic. I was able to run in relay teams, sprint events, open events against anyone and everyone, and competition was healthy and well-embraced. We supported one another - even our rivals - and we appreciated the efforts that the person had put in to even take part. Winning wasn't everything! I ran in other sports too, in soccer and in rugby - where I played on the right wing and just waited ...

Once upon an eon ago, I used a webmail product called Hotmail. Truth be told, I think I still have an account or 50 in place, but none of them are ever used. I have also used Microsoft Outlook, Thunderbird, a work-based Outlook Web Access [OWA] and numerous other email options. But one stands out head and shoulders above the rest in my opinion, the monster we all know as G-Mail [or GoogleMail for some]. For more information on why it is called G-Mail in some places and Googlemail in others, do a quick search on Google itself. And why do I choose G-Mail? Basically, it works. It rarely has any downtime, it is so easy to set up and use and it's quick, reliable and does everything I want. The fact it is web-based has obvious benefits in that it is accessible from any location with an Internet connection and it has all the functionality and features that I need. The 'but' though comes from my personal wish to set up an email account in my own fashion. Functionality is excellent and so is the ability to use it as your base email portal - by directing all other email accounts ...

Bad timing. Why is this happening now? Why me? Is there a God [and if so, why is She/He being such a bastard]? N0, NO, NO, this cannot be happening - it's just a bad nightmare! And then you realise it IS happening and worse, it is happening to YOU! Millions have been diagnosed with cancer, many of those millions have died from the disease, and yet in this world of self-centred daily existence we call modern-society, those who it does not affect usually turn a blind eye. What doesn't affect you directly is often of no consequence and although you may feel some form of mild-compassion for those poor sufferers, hey, what's it got to do with you? Right? And now WE join the statistics! A loved one has become a victim and has been diagnosed with the severe onset of lung cancer. Our world has immediately collapsed. The tears flow, the daily reality becomes a roller-coaster of unknowns and raw emotions and nothing seems to matter any more. Everyone offers help and yet what can anyone really do? You find yourself caught in a world where everything is blurred, nothing makes sense and your brain refuses to operate normally. Music ...

We recently had to fly from England to Rotterdam and then obviously back again. And as much as we all tend to think that the process of flying is exciting and glamorous, in reality, it is anything but enjoyable. Those few fleetings moments of pleasure as the plane takes off, turns in the air and lands again are all encompassed in hours of waiting, mixing with tiresome and rude people, and having to spend far too much on basic requirements such as food and liquid. And as anyone who has travelled in recent years will confirm, the security measures and the longer waiting times as a result, are just about enough to make us stop travelling altogether. A one hour flight turns into 5 hours if not longer. Arrive at the airport 2 hours ahead of the actual flight time, line up for check-ins [and wait], go through customs and be treated like criminals [and wait], go the departure gates and be treated like sheep going through a dip [and wait]. It's not a pleasant experience. The security checks are a farce too. I was told to open my bag and remove the dangerous substances. What dangerous substances I asked. Turns out ...

Being in the lucky position that I find myself in at my place of employment, where because we have Microsoft sponsorship [which basically means we have a huge amount of the latest Microsoft products at our disposal - and ALL for FREE] you may wonder why I would ever go looking for an open source alternative. Well, there are several reasons actually, but without digressing too far from the main point here, sometimes open source is simply thrust upon you. And anyway, I am a big fan of open source. Take the example of VirtualBox. I use more virtual servers than physical these days and the thing is, once you start using virtual systems, you really do wonder how you ever coped without. They are quicker [when configured correctly] and they are so easy to backup and to restore in times of disaster. I use Virtual PC 2007 for many of my personal experiments and this allows me to use whatever operating system I need without the need for extra hardware, and I use Virtual Server 2005 for some of the more demanding tasks which require server capability. Both of these products are free and readily available - a fact that ...