StrikeLight

Pittsburgh Penguins - 2009 Stanley Cup Champions

sL — 2009-06-14T06:31:32-04:00

Woooohoooooo! Jea baybees... My Pittsburgh Penguinos have finally once again risen to the top.. What an entertaining year it's been for them, from replacing their coach midseason, to fighting for a playoff spot, to the series of the century with Crosby vs Ovie, and to top it off, avenging their defeat from last year against the Detroit Red Wings in a very entertaining 7 game series... Amazing.. Congratulations to my pittsburgh pennies!

Blocktrix 0.72 Beta

strikelight — 2008-02-03T02:46:27-04:00

Released Blocktrix 0.72 Beta today. Changes between 0.72 and 0.71 are as follows:

- Fixed minor startup bug
- Fixed loading of "Hold Key" setting (Reported by
Schiffner)
- Added italian language file (by Alberto Giuffrida)
- Updated Tcl/Tk engine to 8.5.0
- Updated Tix engine to 8.4.2
- Added 'shadow' option to extended tnet protocol
- Added /clear partyline command to clear the 
  partyline text
- Updated Copyright year

Tcl/Tk8.5 difficulties

strikelight — 2008-01-16T00:24:40-04:00

With the recent release of Tcl/Tk8.5, I was eager to update one of my programs (Written in Delphi) that uses an embedded Tcl/Tk scripting engine (with the Tslc component). I ran into a few stumbling blocks when attempting to do so. The update wasn't as seamless as it was when upgrading between Tcl/Tk8.4.x revisions. A couple of major problems that were encountered: Windows created through Tk8.5 were unusable, bindings not triggered, etc.. The other main problem was with using scripts that made use of Tix, a module that extends functionality of Tk with better widgets and what not, where they would fail to execute properly due to color code issues. For the first problem, I found that by pressing the alt-key, the Tk windows became functional again (I have no idea why), so in my application, I created a Tcl command from Tslc, 'pressaltkey' which emulates the key-press of the alt-key, and called this command through a Tslc eval during the initialization of Tcl/Tk. For the second problem, it appears that Tk8.5 doesn't like hexadecimal color values, so I had to edit some scripts in the Tix library to use color names instead (eg. black). I only hope that Tcl/Tk8.5 isn't this troublesome between revisions.

Blocktrix 0.71 Beta

strikelight — 2007-09-26T22:58:00-04:00

Released Blocktrix 0.71 yesterday. Changes between 0.71 and 0.70 are as follows:

- Changed splash logo again
- Added close button beside tabs on partyline
- Fixed bug with bottom button positions when restoring
  from maximized state
- Fixed scrolling behaviour of bottom buttons
- Fixed bug with game events text displaying improperly
  when run under WINE with -wine command line option
- Fixed an issue with Partyline at startup under WINE
  with -wine option
- Fixed bug with emptying music file theme entry 
  (Reported by Miffy)
- Fixed bug when scrolled up, and scrolling down, 
  timestamp is in incorrect format under wine or
  unicode mode
- Fixed bug when scrolled up, and scrolling down,
  game statistics aren't formatted properly under
  wine or unicode mode (Reported by dunno)
- Fixed bug with text being inserted on incorrect 
  lines in wine/unicode mode(?) (Reported by dunno)
- Updated Tcl/Tk engine to 8.4.16
- Fixed bug with text not displaying in partyline 
  when new text arrives while another tab is active

My ASCII Collection

strikelight — 2007-09-03T17:45:24-04:00

As some of you may know, I used to be highly involved in the ASCII art scene years ago, so I finally got around to putting up most of my ASCII designs on the web. If you're into the oldschool ASCII scene, then check it out, and hopefully enjoy.

USPS and Canada Post suckage

strikelight — 2007-09-03T17:33:34-04:00

Seems like all I have is nothing but bad luck with parcel deliveries. Ordered a laptop from ebay last month, took a while for usps to get it to the Canadian border. When it got there, customs held it for nearly a week...blah.... When it was finally released from customs into Canada Post's care, Canada Post's tracking system said that it was out for delivery the day that I checked... So i waited all day, when I could have done more important things, and they never showed up. Check again in the evening, and it says it's been transferred to a postal outlet for a carded pickup, saying that they tried to deliver the parcel, but that there was no answer. Such deceipt and laziness by Canada Post employees, to avoid actually doing their job and delivering packages... This isn't the first time that they've done this to me, and I'm sure it won't be the last. I eventually got my laptop, thankfully, but the delivery experience has rubbed me the wrong way. Isn't there a decent delivery service out there? Going to have to try FedEx next time, and hope for better results.

Welcome to the planet, Kayleigh

strikelight — 2007-07-06T01:49:16-04:00

I have a beautiful brand new niece! Born the 3rd of this month, she's a healthy 7 lbs 13 ounces. Mother and baby are both doing fine. I helped change her very first diaper. Quite the thing to be proud of, right? But I am none the less Oh, I also happened to help change her 2nd diaper as well, as she befouled her diaper exactly 3 seconds after having changed her the first time, lol. She's a cutey in any event, looks like her father, which isn't why she looks cute, but just happens to be the case. Welcome to the world my precious Kayleigh!

Tungsten Troubles

strikelight — 2007-05-30T02:49:27-04:00

Ugh.. Had the weekend from hell... All started when my Palm Tungsten E fell to the floor, hitting my chair and breaking the screen. So next day I go to The Source (Circuit City), and I buy the Palm Tungsten E2... Get it home only to find it's missing the power cord. I really hate shopping there, but it's the only electronics place that is close by.... So back I go, get it exchanged... Take that home, and get it working... Then I try to pop in my 2gb sd card, only to find out it's not accessible in the E2... In attempts to try and get the 2gb sd card accessible, I made the card completely inaccessible for anything that reads sd cards... Turns out the Palm Tungsten E2 can only access cards up to 1gb in size... How does that make sense??? The predecessor, The Tungsten E could read a 2gb card just fine, yet the successor can't... great marketting job Palm.... Come out with a new version of something that can't do the job that older models can.... I can not comprehend, or atleast agree with, that logic, at all.

Blocktrix 0.70 Beta

strikelight — 2007-05-19T05:33:09-04:00

Released Blocktrix 0.70 beta yesterday. Here are a list of changes between 0.70 and 0.69:

- Fixed double socket errors yet again
- Fixed slow responsiveness introduced in previous version
on some systems
- Added grid lines option to Theme settings
- Added piece shadowing to Theme settings (enabled only
in blocktrix mode)
- Made /start alias have a default countdown of 2
- Added -wine command line option for use with *IX machines
using wine to run the program
- Added more debug information to error logs, and a /debug
partyline command to display various information
- Added stickless-mode warning to game line
- Updated norwegian language file

Purolator Suckage

strikelight — 2007-05-13T02:30:35-04:00

I don't know what it is, but delivery service companies are being really crappy lately... I ordered a 2 for one SD card Web special, which the company uses Purolator to ship out... I check the status on their website, so I know when I have to be home to expect delivery... I wait all day, and they never come... Check on the site, and it says they tried twice with no answer from the recipient (me).... Was home all day, they never came, and then lied about coming.... So I had to go out of my way to pick up the parcel at their warehouse, which is not on any bus route, making it extremely difficult to get to for someone without a car... I was definitley not impressed.... Is there a decent, reputable shipping company out there any more??