Ben Boyle lives here!

Transformation fun, XSLT style!

It was Australia Day yesterday and—unsurprisingly—Ronn Moss did not win Australian of the Year, despite the amusing Vote Ronn campaign. I wasn't made Australian of the Year either, but I did have a fun day playing around with XSLT.

You see, the MTA (Multi Theft Auto) mod for San Andreas was released this week. This mod allows you to race online against others. The races themselves are customisations of the San Andreas map—the same map (it is a huge map though) in every race—with custom checkpoints, vehicles and occassionally new jumps, walls, and other tricks and traps. The maps are all encapsulated in XML format so I simply wrote a transform to display them in a web browser.

I call it the MTA map previewer. Pretty swish eh? Have a look at a map. Then try view source… :)

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Renovation Rescue

As I sit here in the swirling vortex—that is, at times, known as: the “study”, the “fifth bedroom” and Emma’s room—I am reminded of the need to renovate. It's going to be a mite crowded in here otherwise.

We have a few months ahead of us, but time slips by so fast. Basically we need to accomplish three things, before September. Actually, only two are essential. But the third would be nice.

1. Place a new carport over the driveway. This could be complicated depending on the length and how we squeeze the car in. It might be close to the local bylaws concerning distance from the footpath.
2. Knock out the wall between the lounge and carport, and put sliding doors on either end. This will give us more space—including room for a “study”—and much better airflow. It would also be the prime position for air-conditioning, if such is desired. Unforunately that is the one part of the ceiling that we haven't insulated. At any rate, that would allow us to move the desks out of here and Emma could have her own room.
3. Put a patio out the back. Extra shade from a roof would be nice. We wouldn't have to shut windows every time it rained. We could move the BBQ out of the shed and get some space in there too.

So there you have it. Easy right? If only I was more like Picard and could simply say “Make it so!”

• Inspiral said:

  So whose job is it to phone the necessary tradespeople to do these jobs? I guess that is why they are still waiting. I thought you were going to do it.

• Andrew said:

  You cant rush into these things.
  
  You have your project plan completed and the scoping especially signed off?
  
  You know how scope creep works and this can be a classic time when it can happen. :-)

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I'm a dill

Actually, a .DLL—is that any better? Whatever it takes to keep the quizmania at bay.

Which File Extension are You?

• Andrew said:

  Want to guess which one I ended up with?

• elessi said:

  Woohoo... I'm a jpg!!

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Happy New Year!

It's 2006. I believe this year marks ten years online for me, which is a third of my life. Yes I will turn the big “three–oh” in August. Interesting. Any resolutions? To spend more time on the things that are important (yes that includes sleep!). In other words, I intend to rememberthemilk :)

Hava good one people. Drive safe!

• Andrew said:

  Happy New Year to you to.

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