So since I had planned to re-purpose this site and start adding structure to my blog posts, I'm going to start now.
There will be a few changes, ones that are still being worked out, but some of these changes will include Tensioncore.org having it's existence linked directly to NickDodd.com, CDN Senate News will now have their own news posted to NickDodd.com (Categorized), and more inclusion of photography to name a few.
In just under a month I've taken well over 1300 pictures using my new 50D. I will start posting up my favorites, and some that I want criticism on, all in the name of learning.
Learning takes a lot of time, and my posts will document this learning with "micro-Galleries" as a part of the posts.
So I've decided to dive deeper into the codebase/library structure that I've already put dozens, if not hundreds of hours of time into.
I want to add Tags, Search, dynamic categorizing (to do with searching and pairing tags with specific categories within search results), and I suppose that I will end up merging the mostly-unused Tensioncore.ORG with NickDodd.com, having Tensioncore.ORG the software-sharing, informational hub of NickDodd.com.
First on the list will in fact be finally adding support for Editing Posts, tied in with adding/editing photos while composing new Blog Posts (This is a big one on my todo list).
It's truly amazing how clear it is in the Winter on a day much like today.
Visibility is dozens of miles, infinite in some places. There is NO smog at all, which is where a day like today is vastly different than a similarly sunny/clear day in the Summer.
Summer comes with a lot of smog, and the visibility is poor at best when it is clear for miles.
PS. Today turned out alright. I had a very rough night on my mentality last night. I felt as though I didn't even need to be alive and I had to fight against a lot of real/honest thoughts in my head and go against what I actually wanted to be the outcome. I "fought my demons".
I was ready to leave Vancouver at 3am and go to Seattle or even just on a Greyhound as far as I could go. I was actually going to leave and "run away" essentially from everything and everyone I know and not come back.
It took a lot of support from 2 very important people to get me to stay.
Once I got to work my mindset hadn't changed much, but my negatives were quickly shot down by people who care, and the only thing that mattered was that they cared.
Now I feel better about myself than I have in a long time. Chapter Four is here and in full effect. This story is going to turn out alright.
6:06 am - Post Category: Nickness Posted from my BlackBerry Storm
I've looked at my life very seriously recently and in the past on occasion, and I've come to see things a certain way.
Partly being influenced by great movies, games and even some really great people I've known, life is a story.
You tell your story to people, its ups and its downs. Some of us keep the personal details close to our heart, others indulge.
My life to this point has had 3 chapters. Three distinct periods of time in my life that will affect me and the person I am today and forever.
Chapter One: Beginning Life (0 to 11 years old), Chapter Two: Establishing Existence (11 to 17 years old) and Chapter Three: Love vs Life (17 to my current age of 21).
I can definitely go into a lot of detail about the 3 chapters as they have happened, but that is for another day.
Today, I feel Chapter Three is ending. In reality the subject of chapter three is something that will effect you your entire live, however life must go on and it does go on just the same as life changes, and that's where I feel I am right now; in the middle of a significant change.
I don't know what to expect, what I do know is Chapter Four is coming.
This website seems like it needs work... one-thirty in the morning on Sunday night before I have to go to work Monday morning seems like a good time to get crackin'.
First things first, even though I like my top links bar (and it's so new too), I'm going to shorten it up and move the outbound links to the sidebar, and I'm going to officially add a Gallery to the website!
I'm happy, excited, confused, life is very interesting and throwing me curve-balls. Time to get my head up in the air and get ready for a nice windy ride.
I'm going to be actively working on the website in order for it to appeal more and work effectively when it comes to traffic.
I may or may not completely remove our current MySpace account, I sort of feel like I want to reduce the number of websites just to make things easier on the social networking side of things, just keep it to Facebook/NF.com etc.
So I've had my storm for a week now. So far so good. A few hiccups, a nuke and a new BlackBerry OS and things are looking good.
I tried everything out stock until Friday when I really started getting annoyed by the stupid "Activation Required" thing on the main screen. I got a couple blue screens while attempting to read some binary data from the device.
This problem is so common on Google that it took me until last night to solve.
The problem being that the version of the Storm I have is Telus and the phone half expects to connect to Telus to activate itself on their network, I however am using it unlocked on Rogers.
So I quickly learned it needed to be manually activated by dialing an "MSL" code which in the US on T-Mo and Vodafone is simply 000000, in Canada however on Bell and Telus this code is different on every individual phone. This means ts hard-coded into the ROM and must be discovered manually.
Here's where it gets tricky. You must install uniCDMA preferably to a 32bit XP machine. You'll need your BlackBerry Desktop software installed first too.
A very important factor must be true for the following to work, Your BlackBerry OS must be 4.7.0.76 (if Your OS is newer it very likely wont work once you get to reading the memory)
Once we're this far get your Berry plugged into the computer and ensure its showing up in the Device manager COM ports on COM4 at least.
Next fire up uniCDMA and in change Mode to QUALCOMM then under setup change the port to reflect COM4. Now this is where it gets important, go to the Memory tab and enter in the starting address 0x17C455BE and length of 524288. Before you go reading Your phones memory BE CERTAIN your Berry's OS is 4.7.0.76! This is the only way to read the memory with success.
Firstly before getting dirty click the Read all button at the top mostly to be sure your Berry is connected properly. Now when all the random fields are filled in with Your Berry's info go back to the memory tab and click Read and Save to file...
If all is well at this point a box should appear telling you its reading the memory...a few minutes will pass and it will end and you'll now have a binary file to read with your favorite he editor/reader (I used HexWorkshop).
What you need to do is look for 6 numbers all together in a continuous string (easiest way is to search different single numbers in the "String search). The found number is your MSL code, disconnect your Berry and dial ##msl (msl being your 6 digit code from the bin file), Hit call, a menu will appear change the Mobile Directory Number that your phone thinks is your phone number to your actual 10 digit phone number, and finally hit your BB menu and Save.
Congratulations your phone will now bear the lovely word Rogers instead of Activation Required!
Nickness