jonathanhadden.com

Last week I bought myself an MSDN subscription. There are some things happening that may require that I need to know Windows 2008 & Exchange 2007 soon, so I thought I had better prepare and actually use the product I might be supporting. Anyway, I’ve now got an MSDN subscription and I can definitely say its well worth the money (for an IT guy like me anyway). I have access to so much software its like being a kid in candy store. Now I don’t have a huge amount of money to throw around, so I have installed VMware on my machine and started to build a virtual domain for me to so some messing around on. You may recall that back in February I had to buy some parts for my computer as I had a little “accident” that meant everything went tits up and I ended up buying in my haste four 1GB sticks of RAM. “Fantastic!” I Hear you cry, however it wasn’t what I was planning to do. I was planning for my next upgrade before the “disaster” to move to 8GB of RAM as motherboards these days can handle it and x64 OS’ can use it. But I didn’t. Anyway, I bought the 4GB and was happy up until I started making a domain…

I had 3 servers (2008) and a desktop (Vista) running on VMWare and my machine was getting slower and slower. Not long after I had powered on the last machine (the Vista desktop) I got a warning about memory… my machine was running low on 4GB!

Being the kind of rational individual I am, I hopped onto ebuyer and grabbed what I should have done in the first place – 2 sets of 4GB dual channel kits. So today I have installed the RAM, and everything is running sweet as a nut. All 5 (additional 2008 server installed today) VM’s are running and I’ve not hit the memory ceiling yet… although I am close at about 6GB.

At least I’m able to sell on the “old” stuff onto one of my colleagues for about 75% of what I paid for it…

Over the Easter weekend I bought a Canon EOS 400D Digital SLR. I’ve been wanting a DSLR for a while now, as I find that point and shoots are great for quick snaps (I have a 10MP Sony something or other), but for really good shots you need the control and quality that only a DSLR can provide. I’ve been playing with it pretty much constantly since I bought it trying the different settings and learning how to use it. As I’ve not really used a SLR before its been quite the learning curve, but its definitely worth it as it just so easy to get a good shot once you’ve worked out how each function affects the others.

Of course, now that I have it, I’m thinking I could do with a “better” lens as I’m intending to use it when my brother and I go on trackdays to get get some really nice shots of the car. After doing some reading, I’m thinking a lens that goes to at least 300mm is a good idea, and the Canon EF 75-300mm f/4.0-5.6 III Lens seems like a good bet for the budget consious buyer. I’d love a better lens, but as this is just another(!) hobby I can’t justify a larger price tag than the 100-odd quid the canon costs. And anyway, I’m not good enough to warrant a better lens!

I will probably also invest in a monopod to get some stability from my shots (I already have a tripod I bought a few years ago, although I’m having trouble “locating” the actual camera attachment plate for it!). You never know, if I get some shots that I think are good enough, I might just post them up here for you to look at. Now isn’t that exciting?

I’ve recently started playing poker online (free play only) to just past the time and I’ve noticed that a lot of people seem to use the “all-in” mentality to increase their stack size. This play consists of just chucking all their chips in as soon as they arrive at the table with no regard to the hand they’ve got (a symptom I assume of the fact that its free play and there is no consequence for losing).

They will repeat this every time they lose, which normally happens 3-4 times in a row. At that point they either give up or get lucky and win a hand. I’m curious though, as to whether they believe that this is truly good play. I mean, they only ever seem to get back about twice their all in at most, so on average they are actually down on the amount of chips.

Still, I seem to win quite convincingly against these types if they hang around long enough, so I guess I shouldn’t complain too much!

This is a kinda blog type thing that I’m going to update as and when I feel like it. Its just some stuff that I have either found useful or want to make a note of for later on.