General
Travel
Hockey
Technical
Gaming
Catalogue
Movies
TV Shows
Music
Video Games
Stats
Pages
Travel Plans
Live Music
Phone History
Things to Do
Links
About
Blog Archive
Current Blogs
June 2011 (1)
January 2011 (1)
2010 (18)
2009 (28)
2008 (25)
2007 (67)
2006 (23)
2005 (32)
2004 (10)
Blog Tags
General
10 in '10 (4)
Books (1)
DVDs (3)
Funny (13)
Gadgets (5)
Hawt (1)
Movies (14)
Music (7)
Pets (4)
Recipe (16)
Running (3)
TV Shows (2)
Web (29)
Travel
Calgary (2)
Edmonton (12)
Kuala Lumpur (1)
New York (7)
Niagara Falls (2)
Phuket (2)
Pittsburgh (5)
Washington (4)
Hockey
Pittsburgh Penguins (25)
Technical
.NET (3)
Java (4)
Software (3)
Work (2)
Gaming
Commodore 64 (2)
Master System (1)
Mega Drive (1)
Rock Band (1)
Xbox 360 (16)
XNA (1)
The rarely updated blog of Joel Dixon
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Log o' cats
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 29/06/2011 21:52:48I've been getting a heap of spam comments on my most recent blog post - so I hope that adding a new blog keeps the spammers at bay (if only they knew how small and stingy my readership is).
I've wanted to have an online catalogue of my DVDs and CDs for a while now - mainly so I could answer such important questions as "shit, I know I've seen that guy in something before, what was it?". Some could (and did) suggest that IMDb satisfies this requirement and they would be right. Then I remembered the other reason I have - to stop buying doubles of things at JB Hi-Fi. It is now much easier to check if I already have a certain DVD via my phone while at the "crazy discounts" bin.
I also wanted to pay more attention to writers and directors of films - to better predict whether I would like a new release.
Anywho - I finished it months ago and have filled it with my Movies, TV Shows and Music. I also have Video Games, but haven't been bothered enough to catalogue them all yet.
As usual, I love an elegant URL, so each item or section tries to do away with query strings or arbitrary IDs - which actually took a bit of effort. For example:
All movies: http://www.joeldixon.com/catalogue/movies/
All movies released in 2008: http://www.joeldixon.com/catalogue/movies/2008/
Movies with a genre of romance sorted by my rating: http://www.joeldixon.com/catalogue/movies/genre/romance/sort /rating/
I also calculate some stats (which I hope to expand at some point).
Sure, there's probably an online tool that already does this kind of thing, but certainly not with such attractive and functional URLs!
# Posted in the Technical section and tagged as: DVDs, Movies, Music, TV Shows
Wednesday, January 05, 2011
I'm number 1!
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 05/01/2011 00:42:05Bell and I were playing some Rock Band 3 tonight - and I got a pretty big score on the Blur song "Song 2" playing Pro Drums on Expert (Pro Drums refers to the cymbals and pads being shown as separate gems). I thought I was pretty close to getting the song 100% so I gave it a few shots:
Yeah - I'm good.
Looking at the leaderboard - I appear to be equal first with around 100 or so people - so I assume we all got the most points available for Song 2. But that's 100 or so people that have made that score - so I'm calling it a victory
The Ion Rock Drummer electric kit that I use
# Posted in the Gaming section and tagged as: Rock Band, Xbox 360
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Resolute
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 26/12/2010 22:39:27I completed the 10 things for 2010 with around 6 months to spare. Another desire for 2010 was to see a lot more live music - mission accomplished.
My enjoyment of live music will continue into 2011 (so far Stone Temple Pilots, Sia, Weird Al Yankovic and others have been booked) - so it's time to come up with a new goal for 2011. Quiero aprender español (I want to learn Spanish).
Now Google Translate helped me with that last sentence - but I'm hoping by the end of 2011 - I'll be well on my way to speaking conversational Spanish on my own. A friend at work has started weekly Spanish lessons that have been going well. I'm hoping I can learn enough to justify a trip to Mexico sometime in the next two years.
# Posted in the General section
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Phuket, Thailand - 2010
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 20/07/2010 19:11:21Time for more random travel, this time to Phuket, Thailand.
The Setup
Similar to our last random travel, the destination of Phuket came in a round about way. Jules had two weeks off from work, and decided he wanted to go skiing or somewhere tropical. I joined him on the trip to the travel agent - in case his holiday sounded fun enough for me to ride upon his coat tails. When one week in Patong Beach, Phuket was decided upon - I jumped upon the afore-mentioned coat and road along
.Flights
Jules asked if there was any chance we could sit in an exit row seat, for the added leg room, and it was granted. When we finally sat down on the plane - we saw that the exit row seat comes with about two metres of leg room! Coupled with the fact that the third in our row of three seats was unoccupied - I can safely say best flight ever! Oh - and I saw a great Michael Cera movie on the plane, Youth in Revolt. Go and watch it now, I'll wait.
The Resort
The fantastic view from the back of the resort
We stayed at the Impiana Resort & Spa on Patong Beach, and it was fantastic. One of the few resorts that opens directly to Patong beach, it has a fairly upper-class spa and restaurant on-site and the staff were polite and helpful.
We splashed out on the first night and enjoyed a fancy dinner at the award-winning Sala Bua Restaurant. It was a pretty incredible meal, but got a little too romantic of Jules and I when the candlelight came out.
The pretty love-heart shaped rice that Jules and I shared
I was getting a little worried about the room-service bill towards the end. We each had a 2-hour spa massage, our fancy dinner, a few normal meals and around 25 drinks charged to the room. In the end - the bill came to around $200 each - I was expecting far more!
The Locals
On our first day we met two groups of locals that really helped us with suggestions for eateries and night-time activities.
We firstly walked past a Fisho Spa, where little fish nibble on your feet for ex-foliation purposes. The fish-spa was fun, but the girls running the place were quite nice and provided helpful tips on places to eat and shop.
The Fisho Spa
Also on that first day, we decided to have drinks at the Aussie Bar so we could play a few games of pool. The bar staff were quite nice (and not the type of "bar girls" you find in most of the places there) and we ended up drinking and playing pool at Aussie Bar for most night we were in Thailand.
Aussie Bar became our local
Phi Phi Island
We spent a day doing a speed-boat tour of Phi Phi island, which was fun. The weather wasn't perfect but we got to see some amazing islands, and cheeky monkeys. We also played a bit of beach volleyball, which was fun - but reminded me that I hadn't done much exercise lately
We went past some really nice looking islands that would be fun to retire to
At monkey beach the monkeys knew how to get their bananas
The monkeys were cuter before the tour guide told us they all had rabies
Summary
It was a great week, nowhere near as relaxing as I thought it would be - but I had a lot of fun!
Ronald doing a traditional Thai greeting
# Posted in the Travel section and tagged as: Phuket
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Mr. Potato Head Mashups
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 29/06/2010 21:25:36(geddit? Mashups)
This is awesome! My brother's girlfriend, Carmen posted a link to some amazing Mr. Potato Head designs, made with modelling clay. Another excellent example of how great the Internet is. The Flickr Set is here - but here are some of my favourites:
Bender
Garfield
Yellow!
Another Futurama one - but Zoidberg is great in this one.
# Posted in the General section and tagged as: Web
Monday, June 21, 2010
Random Travel #2 - Thailand
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 21/06/2010 22:58:23Jules has a few weeks of annual leave coming up - so wanted to do another random travel experience. After getting approval for a week of leave from my team leader ("Well Joel, I guess I won't stop you - put it that way") I joined him on his trip to Flight Centre in-case his trip sounded like something I'd want to join in on.
His brief to the travel consultant was not incredibly focussed ("I'm thinking of skiing or something tropical") but with a bit of discussion Phuket, Thailand was decided on. It did sound pretty fun - so I also decided to join in on the adventure. So it's a week in Thailand for Jules and I in about three weeks time
# Posted in the Travel section and tagged as: Phuket
Saturday, May 29, 2010
You have been the ones, you have been the ones for me.
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 29/05/2010 18:23:42When Belinda and I discussed our separation a year ago, our babies (our two dogs and two cats) were an early concern. We decided that Belinda would keep the dogs, and I would keep the cats.
But as it's looking like Belinda will be staying in our current house I've realised that it's unfair to take the cats out of this environment. Belinda works from home, they get Bell's attention all day and have grown to depend on human interaction. They also love the size of this three-bedroom house, constantly running up and down the long hallway.
I'd hope they'd get used to any environment I put them into given enough time - but I love them enough to know they'd be happier here with Bell.
I'll miss my little kitties - but I'll be visiting them at least once a week before basketball games, and Belinda will just have to take more photos of them
# Posted in the General section and tagged as: Pets
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Balls
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 12/05/2010 22:58:51I administer a website that is used by high school students in support of their studies. I was looking through the search log tonight and found the following four searches that all occurred within a few seconds of each other:
gentil
genitil
genitals
balls
I sure hope that student found what they were looking for.
# Posted in the General section and tagged as: Funny, Web
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Caramelised Pumpkin Risotto
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 17/04/2010 22:38:55The second meal for my vegetarian week is Caramelised Pumpkin Risotto:
Pumpkin, 500 gram
Canola oil, 2 tbsp.
Onion, 1 medium finely diced
Garlic, 3 cloves minced
Arborio rice, 250 gram
Sage, 2 tbsp. chopped
Salt and Pepper to taste
Parmesan, 4 tbsp. shaved
1. Dice 250 gram of the pumpkin into 1cm-wide pieces. Place in a non-stick frypan with 1 tbsp. canola oil and cook over medium to low heat.
2. Periodically toss and continue to cook until the pumpkin is cooked and the outside is darkened. Set aside.
3. Dice the remaining pumpkin into large pieces and cook in 2 cups of simmering water.
4. When tender, puree the pumpkin with the water in which it was cooked. Add more water to bring the total pumpkin liquid to 1 litre.
5. Heat 1 tbsp. oil in a pan, add onion and garlic. Sweat for 30 seconds and add rice.
6. Toss for 1 minute and add 1 cup of pumpkin puree. Cook over a low heat.
7. As the liquid is absorbed, add another cup. Stir constantly and keep adding pumpkin stock as necessary.
8. After 25 minutes, the risotto will be cooked. Remove from the heat and toss the diced caramelised pumpkin and sage through.
9. Season with salt and pepper and serve with shaved parmesan.
# Posted in the General section and tagged as: Recipe
Malaysian Vegetable Curry
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 17/04/2010 21:34:42The final item on my 10 things for 2010 list is to be vegetarian for a week (well, from Monday breakfast to Friday lunch). I've left this one until last because it was the one I was least looking forward to. But the friend that came up with the 10 things list also gave me a few recipes, which is only fair after all. The first of which is Malaysian Vegetable Curry:
Red Thai chilies, 2 chopped coarsely
Fresh ginger, 2 tsp. grated
Garlic, 3 cloves quartered
Coriander root, 1/2 cup loosely packed coarsely cut
Ground turmeric, 1/2 tsp.
Ground cinnamon, 1/2 tsp.
Ground cumin, 3 tsp.
Coriander seeds, 1 tsp. crushed
Whole peeled tomatoes, 1 can (400 gram)
Coconut milk, 1 can (400 gram)
Kaffir lime leaves, 6 leaves shredded finely (I just used lime juice)
Palm sugar, 25 gram shaved (I used dark brown sugar)
Pumpkin, 2 1/2 cups chopped coarsely
Potatoes, 3 medium (600 gram) chopped coarsely
Green beans, 200 gram chopped coarsely
1. Blend or process chili, ginger, garlic, coriander root, spices and seeds until smooth.
2. Add undrained tomatoes, process for 1 minute or until tomato mixture is well combined.
3. Transfer tomato mixture to medium saucepan. Add coconut milk, leaves and sugar and bring to the boil.
4. Reduce heat, simmer tomato and coconut mixture uncovered for 5 minutes.
5. Add pumpkin and potato and cook, covered, for about 10 minutes or until just tender.
6. Add beans and cook for 3 minutes or until tender.
Serve with brown rice and roti.
# Posted in the General section and tagged as: Recipe
Next Page
Recent Blogs
Log o' cats I'm number 1! Resolute Phuket, Thailand - 2010 Mr. Potato Head Mashups Random Travel #2 - Thailand You have been the ones, you have been the ones for me. Balls Caramelised Pumpkin Risotto Malaysian Vegetable CurryFeed
Blog Entries
Recent Comments
Log o' cats
posted 7 months ago by joeldixon
ha ha - I didn't mention that I bought two copies of Lock, Stock after the creation of this catalogue ... link
Log o' cats
posted 7 months ago by Brad
I made a DVD list for the same reason and just last week bought The Green Mile on Blu-ray before ... link
Balls
posted 2 years ago by joeldixon
Exactly. What's wrong with the kids today when they can't spell genitals? And you and I have been using ... link
Balls
posted 2 years ago by abrereton
I'm just glad that they spelt it correctly in the end. link
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - 2010
posted 2 years ago by joeldixon
Definitely, you have to let us know when you're free for UBs! link
Comment Standings
1. the man with no name (45)
2. Hoff (39)
3. Gav (27)
4. Hitman (26)
5. Brad (23)
6. Eryc-Ads (13)
7. Deep Lurker (6)
8. thefury (5)
9. Dieter (4)
10. Zelks (4)