Monthly Archives: December 2004

My new year’s resolutions:

• Get a lampworking kit and learn how to make beads…
  I’ve wanted to try lampworking for over a year, I finally have the money and a spare room to give it a go. Let’s hope I don’t burn down the house.
• Get my health back on track…
  Since about September I’ve gone down hill and it’s really starting to annoy me.
• Reply to my emails…
  I no longer want to be that person who never replies. (Note that this is the third year that I’ve said this)
• Get my jewellery website up and running…
  Since I’ve been sick, my jewellery website has been pushed back, I hope to have it up and running by the end of February. I also have a few other jewellery related plans that I’d like to implement.
• Go on a holiday…
  It’s been over five years since I went on a holiday and I really need one. I’m thinking Margaret River near the end of summer or Broome in the winter.

Stay safe, don’t drink and drive, and have a great new year everyone.

Trillian 3’s encyclopaedia feature makes for some odd chats. At first it’s kind of cool, but it soon turns into that friend who tells you random bits of information that you don’t want to know while you nod, smile and think “Does this person have a degree in randomcrapology?” Or that bloody Microsoft Office assistant that you wish would stop bugging you about letter templates and go clip some paper together or jump off a desk.

If I’m feeling better by Thursday, I want to head to the Breadbox in Northbridge and check out the Supermart exhibition.

“A place where art meets consumerism and where purchasing becomes an art.”

The idea is the gallery is set up to look like a supermarket; including aisles, a checkout and shopping baskets. You can walk around and buy the art as you would your groceries.

I’ve been craving for some Knitted Donuts and Pre-Packaged Finger Food, I also want to pick up Someone Else’s Shopping List, a Pocket-sized Docket and Some Other People’s Photographs.

For more information check out supermart.com.au or if you’re a native Perthian, head down to the Breadbox Gallery, 233 James St Northbridge, before December 30th.

Oh, and don’t forget to nominate your favourite aussie blogs in the 2005 Australian Blog Awards.

I’d love to tell you that my Christmas was fantastic and full of joy, food and all that other crap, but it totally wasn’t.

One thing I desperately wanted for Christmas was to not to be sick and I didn’t find it wrapped up under the tree Christmas morning. I spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in bed thinking, “I’m not throwing up, nope, no way” trying to convince myself that there was to be no throwing up. It didn’t work. I could only eat a small amount and if an evil blue midget named Fred asked me if I wanted to sell my soul in exchange for instant wellness, I so would have done it. I think it might be my asthma medication or a stomach bug making me feel ill, but since all the doctors are closed, I can’t find out until late next week. I’m really starting to think someone has put an evil curse on me, some gypsy or blue midget I pissed off back in the day, because it’s getting ridiculous.

I did get some great presents though, such as…

• The Body Shop gift voucher
• Victoria’s Secret gift voucher
• Game boy advance SP and 2 games (‘Beg for Mercy’ and ‘Super Mario Advance 4’)
• Thumb drive
• 256mb SD memory card (higher resolution here I come)
• Egyptian cotton towels

The towels weren’t one of those underwear or face cloth presents your grandmother gives you, I actually wanted them. They’re Egyptian cotton towels, which means they are amazingly soft. I feel in love with Egyptian cotton after I bought some bed sheets made of it, and now there’s no going back. I’m still Kitta from the block.

Last night at 8:01pm (GMT8+), the LRM forum was exploited by the ‘Santy.A’ worm. The santy worm was using Google to search for forums using versions of phpBB 2.0.10 or below. When a suitable site was found, the worm used a remote exploit to gain access to the site, replaced all .htm .php .asp .shtm .jsp .phtm files with “This site is defaced. NeverEverNoSanity Webworm generation X” (X represents the generation of the worm), and then restarted scanning for new sites.

I was online when I happened and I it took about five minutes for the files to be changed. Luckily there was a daily back up, but there were a few files that were 0kb, mainly ones that had been updated over the last few days (including some from a re-design I was about to release). Thankfully I’m one of those people who never empty their recycle bin and most of it was still in there.

Apparently the worm is not spreading any more, thanks to Google’s quick response. Google started filtering the queries made by the worm, effectively stopping the spread of the worm. Even so, I’d advise you to take note internet. Upgrade any phpBB and check any other php based scripts now (I’ve noticed some top sites got exploited), before you see the ‘defaced’ file.

There’s a lot of sites that were exploited, but it’s hard to estimate just how many, the highest generation number is 22, and I can’t even remember what generation number I had. The first report of a sighting was 9:25 GMT on 20th of December.

Official home page of phpBB has yet to comment, but there are quite a few threads in their forum.

I saw this in the newspaper today…

512gb thumb drive for $94, bargain! They’re going to have a ton of phone calls come Monday.

Is it just me, or does anyone else think the above Christmas decoration looks like a Santa version of a lost soul from Doom 2?

More Christmas photos.

I was looking around allrecipes.com today for some interesting Christmas dinner recipes, when I saw this recipe…

Garbage Can Turkey
“Not the conventional way of cooking a turkey but the results are amazing and the bird tastes wonderful. Seasoning can be added but is not necessary.”

Ingredients:

• Aluminium foil
• 15 inch wooden stake
• 1/3 (12 pound) whole turkey, neck and giblets removed
• New 15 gallon metal garbage can with lid

Directions:

• 1. Lay about 3 long sheets of heavy duty aluminium foil out on the grass to make a square about 3×3 feet. Pound the wooden stake into the ground in the centre of the aluminium foil.
• 2. Fill the lid of the garbage can with a large pile of charcoal, and light. Place the whole turkey (thawed of course) onto the stake, legs down. Turn the garbage can upside down, and place over the turkey. Place piles of lighted coals on the top, and around the sides of the can.
• 3. Cook for at least 1 1/2 hours, or keep going until coals go out. Do not lift can during cooking. Brush the charcoal off of the can, and lift off carefully as some heat may rush out when you lift the can. The internal temperature of the turkey should be at least 180 degrees F (83 degrees C) when taken in the thickest part of the thigh.

Mmmm, nothing like garbage can turkey.

Taken in my garden a few days ago, see more at Flickr.

Dear Santa,

Once again, I have decided to blog my Christmas wish list – as I said last year, “Paper is so not the cool thing to do”. I now present you (and my friends & family) with a list of things I would like for Christmas. Don’t bother checking your list, I’ve totally been good this year Santa Baby, promise. 😉

• Gift vouchers for Victoria’s Secret, Xoxo and Emitations.
• ‘Sex and the city’ – The complete series (Seasons 1-6).
• ‘Passing the flame’ by Corina Tettinger.
• Brooches, I’m having a bit of a brooch obsession at the moment.
• A new watch, my old one seems to bee losing time.
• Flickr account upgrade (username: NikitaKashner). Thanks Bob. 😀

Sincerely,
Nikita

P.S. The little red monkey said to say he’s too busy to write you a list, he mumbled something about an army of robots, but he wanted you to know that all he wants for Christmas is to rule the world, that and a little red scarf.