James Flores

July Update

James Flores — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 13:34:23 +0000

The last few weeks of July and early August brings the eisteddfod to Albury-Wodonga. I've noticed that my contemporaries has slowly faded away from the competition (everyone getting older or I just don't want to grow up?). I still enjoy playing because it's probably the only time in the year where I get to perform what I've been working on. I'm going to enjoy listening to the others in the Chopin Piano comp though. The age bracket for the section I'm in is 14 years and over, I think there are about 4-5 other competitors. So anyway, apart from the practise and my nervous wait for next week, I'm also entered in the Wagga eisteddfod. I haven't been there in a while so it will be great to here what other talent and hardworking musicians are out there in country NSW.

July also brought my 1 year work anniversary. The place is awesome and I've good people. I even managed to score an invite to the social club function last week. Meeting colleagues outside the workplace is always fun and gives you a chance to interact in a different environment. So anyway, I leave you with a few photos of the evening and my eisteddfod pieces (along with youtube links to my favourite performances).

Bach BWV 848
Chopin Trois Nouvelle Etude No.1 in F minor
Gershwin Prelude 1
Khachaturian Toccata
Chopin Nocturne No. 20 in C # minor
Chopin Etude Op. 10 No. 5

Social Function

I love Paddies!

I guess we were tired?

June Update

James Flores — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 12:40:06 +0000

Time does fly quick. I'll be at my current job for a year at the end of this month. I can still remember my old stamping ground very fondly. I do still keep in contact with some of my ex colleagues, it's good to see how time changes things. Probably the highlight of this month was the MIA Open Tennis at Griffith, NSW. Brandon Vescio, from Albury, took out the open mens title after a 5 year break from the game! From the grapevine, he played a lot of juniors in the generation that Bernard Tomic played in. The Area News has a little article on his achievement.

Andy won his first round in the opens but losing to Kyrgios in the next round 6-2, 6-2. I had an interesting 1st round. I won the first 6-1 (great I thought!), the next set was a series of service breaks until I eventually surrendered my serve to give the set 6-4. The final set, I was up 3-0...I couldn't keep focus and play as strong as I did in the first. Too many errors and I lost the 3rd 6-4. Well I guess that sets back my goal in getting any AR points this year (or ever!).

Final draws at 92computing.

May Update

James Flores — Sun, 09 May 2010 00:04:54 +0000

Happy Mother's Day to all the mums out there. I'd thought I would post something normal because the last few ones have been a bit techy. This is a bit overdue but I finally graduated with my AMus.A in Piano late March. I kept putting it off every year and even had a break from the piano while I was at uni. I'm so relieved that I got it. Thanks to my auntie and family for all the support. The ceremony was fairly formal and even showcased a few candidates' performances. My favourites - Chopin Op. 10 No. 2 and Chopin Op. 10 No. 4.

Adjust Mythbuntu screen resolution

James Flores — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 11:07:19 +0000

This one bugged me a lot. I have a full hd tv and I was staring at an awesome 640x480 distro of Ubuntu. Let's get on with it shall we?

Log in as root:

su - root

Stop gdm:

/etc/init.d/gdm stop

Create xorg.conf file:

xorg -configure

(this generates /root/xorg.conf.new, move to /etc/X11/xorg.conf)

Generate "modeline" to insert into /etc/X11/xorg.conf under monitor section.

cvt 1920 1080 60

arguments: width height refresh

example output:

Modeline "1920x1080_60.00" 173.00 1920 2048 2248 2576 1080 1083 1088 1120 -hsync +vsync

Restart gdm:

/etc/init.d/gdm start

The new screen resolution should now be under display settings. Follow the steps again to add more screen resolutions.

SSH/VNC into your iPhone using USB

James Flores — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 05:37:40 +0000

For Windows users only:

Download iTunnel.

This only works on jailbroken iPhones
iTunes must be installed
Use the package manager Cydia on your iPhone to download:

OpenSSH
Veency

Make sure you have TightVNC viewer installed on your PC
Install an SSH client such as PuTTY
Unzip iTunnel
To SSH:

Run RunSSH.cmd
Open up your SSH client and connect to 127.0.0.1 or localhost on port 22

To VNC:

Run RunVNC.cmd
Open up TightVNC viewer and connect to 127.0.0.1 or localhost on port 5900

Setup Mythbuntu SMTP email delivery

James Flores — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 02:55:26 +0000

Wouldn't it be nice if the Mythbuntu distribution could email you output from the cronjobs? Below is a short guide to allow your Mythbuntu distribution to send emails:

Open terminal session and "su - root"

apt-get install mailutils

this installs exim4

Run:

dpkg-reconfigure exim4-config

Keep these settings or adjust to suit yourself:
* This machine is an: Internet Site
* Keep machine name
* Listen on default IP (localhost)
* Relay for none
* DNS queries minimal - answer no
* maildir format in homedir
* split config - answer no

Test your email is working by issuing the command:

echo | mail email@domain.com

Check your spam box as well if it didn't arrive in your inbox.

Control-D in terminal to log out as a root and back to normal user

Run:

crontab -e

Add this to the first line:

MAILTO="youremail@domain.com"

Any output from cron will now be emailed to you.

A tip from Agassi’s dad

James Flores — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 11:27:55 +0000

I've started reading Open and I'm enjoying it. I'm usually not that into books or fiction for that matter. My brother received it as a present for his 18th and he suggested that I read it. Agassi's dad was a nutter from what I've discovered so far. There's one thing that I am keeping in mind for future reference - If your opponent has a weapon, say a huge forehand, keep hitting it there until it becomes the most hated shot in his repertoire. Sounds simple huh? It's all a psychological mind game out there

Thought for Lent

James Flores — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 13:02:05 +0000

Lent is mostly known as a time where we try to give up something we like in order to experience Jesus' 40 days in the desert. Don't forget, Sunday's are exempt from fasting...eat as much as you like

Have you ever held back talking about your faith to your friends because you might lose them? I think of that all the time, but someone made me realise that you will lose them...but only for a short time. They will come back, no matter what decision they come to.

Another thought. Ever heard the saying "life is a distraction"? It does kind of make sense now. What is our final goal? To get to heaven of course! Everything else is just filling in the spare time. Our bodies have limits or certain thresholds of what we can experience. That's why we don't take our bodies up there. We must leave our bodies here on Earth to take up a place in heaven.

The white garment

James Flores — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 10:59:46 +0000

I learnt something today. When you think about professional athletes, musicians, politicians or any other high profile figures, for a moment they are at the top. They have probably worked so hard to achieve that feat. As you can imagine, it's hard to stay up there. The closer you are to perfection, the easier people and yourself notice the imperfections. Just like when God placed us on this Earth and we receive the sacrament of baptism in a white garment, we strive to "keep it clean". The more we become like God and realise how perfect he is, we come realise how imperfect we are. So I guess along our journey through life, our garments will get dirty, but we can always clean them by going to confession. Just like an athlete would train harder or a musician would continue to write more quality music in order to stay at the top, as a Catholic I must strive to become more like God.

Random sentence

James Flores — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 11:48:29 +0000

A jazz lodges a transcript below a defensive hello.