personal blog\n http://www.ghaan.net http://www.ghaan.net http://www.ghaan.net/images/rssicon.jpg 117 56 http://www.ghaan.net/blog-65.htm Okay, I heard this question several times and perhaps there is more than 1 month since last post, perhaps it's good to post an answer before someone else asks again. Why the hell is webcam always offline? We want pictures!!!

Well, the answer is quite easy. Why would you want to peek in my privacy? I mean, you're not some kind of voyeur or something... But the answer is really simple, it's just because I don't have fast network connection at home (I use GPRS/EDGE), so I just can't turn it on. Anyway, I'm travelling these days and I just don't bother with webcam.

Anyway, it's funny how some people reveal their privacy to the anonymous Internet world. Some time ago I've read an article that most people on Internet actually use real bio info in their virtual identities. Of course, people tend to make themselves nicer, smarter, whatever but most of them just don't (and if you are just a little bit skilled in computers, it's not that difficult to make yourself on pictures or videos more beautiful).

Anyway, here's this Youtube HOWTO video how to enhance your pictures:

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 20:44:32 +0200 http://www.ghaan.net/blog-64.htm Almost 2 months ago me and my band had first public concert in Prievidza. Strunobranie was great and we enjoyed it much although we didn't play that great *cough* *cough*

We had to borrow drummer and got new singer. Unfortunately the singer didn't last long and she left us. That would be.... uh, like 5th singer that tried to sing with us? But I hope it's not us, just the situation The judges (this was a competition too but we didn't play for the competition but because we need experiences) said the music was okay, just the singing struggled a little bit. I cannot blame the girl who sung, it was not her fault as she had little time for practice with us. I enjoyed at most Zombie by Cranberries. This song is quite simple and easy to play but it's great and I just love it.

So the result is: we played quite good, it wasn't 100% but good and I'm looking forward to stand on the stage again!

PS: Pictures will come soon! Tue, 08 Jul 2008 00:46:19 +0200 http://www.ghaan.net/blog-63.htm My logo submission has won as the best logo proposal among several others for the POBICOS project. POBICOS is a IT research project supported and funded by the European Union . This is a big plus for my design skills!

More details about my logo proposals can be found here:
http://www.ghaan.net/pobicos.htm

I'll post the details about this project later - the kick off for this project is scheduled on June 2008. Fri, 14 Mar 2008 16:29:37 +0100 http://www.ghaan.net/blog-62.htm Ok, it's February 2008 so perhaps it's time to make resolutions for the new year, uhhhhh? Ok so my resolution is that I will update my website more regularly.

That reminds me I should upgrade phpBB to version 3 and make also the bridge file. I use phpBB2's files to generate my entire website and was actually thinking about releasing my code public. However, it never reached mass-use level, without any documentation and used predefined structure. So maybe I could work on it and make it production-ready for phpBB3...

However, recently I played with Drupal and Joomla CMS's. I like Drupal a bit more because it appears to be cleaner and simpler to me. That's exactly what I want. I think I'll move our company website to Drupal, too as my boss bugs me now and then that he would like to do website updates alone. I just need to find a way how to configure it to fit my needs and understand better the template system.

That's nothing difficult, I just need to find some time.... Thu, 07 Feb 2008 17:54:41 +0100 http://www.ghaan.net/blog-61.htm You know what to do... make love, drink alcohol, ... err I mean bring joy, love, laughter and presents to other people, meet your family and survive Tuesday's hangover Thu, 27 Dec 2007 14:15:41 +0100 http://www.ghaan.net/blog-60.htm First class is behind us, next two are waiting. I hope you enjoyed the class about Photoshop and, of course, you are welcome to to next lessons about Macromedia Flash.

Summary of our classes together with video presentations will be available later on Internet.

Feel free to post any comments and opinions. Fri, 02 Nov 2007 11:50:20 +0100 http://www.ghaan.net/blog-59.htm Moment??lne si ako bas??k hĞad??m kapelu z PB/PU/IL/TN a okolia. Preferovan?? ??t??l rock, pop, funky, m?�?�e by?? i niečo in?�, nie v??ak punk. Po ukončen?� ??t??dia na V?� ma u?� nebav?� by?? s??m kapela Tak pokiaĞ m??te z??ujem, pros?�m, ozvite sa! Tue, 16 Oct 2007 14:43:09 +0200 http://www.ghaan.net/blog-58.htm Here are lyrics to Babylon 5's episode Walkabout. Maybe you remember the songs by Cailyn when Dr. Franklin was doing his "walkabout" and arrived into a small local pub. Cailyn was singing a beautiful slow song starting with "do you remember". The other song was at the very end of the episode. Both lyrics are written by John Michael Straczynski, the producer of Babylon 5, Christopher Franke wrote the music - lines in brackets are original lyrics that didn't appear in the episode. I eventually got both songs as MP3, you can buy a CD on Internet but that's not really what I was looking for. I just wanted these 2 songs. I edited them in Audacity to my needs and now they sound great

Do you remember when you told me you loved me?
Do you remember when you told me you care?
Now I'm standing on the edge of forever
for the first time I confess I'm scared
'cause it's our last night, oh, last kiss so
turn down the lights and hold me.
Oh, lie to me until I believe
(that promises mean what they say and tears aren't
mean to deceive.)
I will be in your arms for eternity.
I remember the first time you touched me.
I remember the first time I cried.
Oh, I remember every minute, every hour
and I remember the first time you lied.
(So throw out the pictures, clean out the room,
turn out the lights and leave me too.)
'cause it's our last night, oh, last kiss so
turn down the lights and hold me.
Oh, lie to me until I believe
(that promises mean what they say and tears aren't
mean to deceive.)
I will be in your arms for eternity.
But I now you baby and I hear you
I understand you completely, it's over for you
I love you baby, but I was say good bye.
I know you baby and I hear you
I understand you completely, it's over for you
I love you baby, but I was say good bye.
Good bye.


I think about the things we lost
and I think about the things we had.
It's funny but as long as I had you
then I guess it wasn't so bad.
Now we're running out of time
and dancing on the wire.
But engine's showing empty and I think
I'm smelling fire.
I gave you love, you gave me fire.
I took you in, you took me higher
but if I wasn't what you wanted
then tell me what it was.
Lost yourself in yesterday, forget about
tomorrow.
Now there's not another minute left
to beg, or steal, or borrow.
All of me I gave to you,
all that I believe.
Now I'm standing here without a clue,
can't you tell me what it is you need?
I gave you love, you gave me fire.
I took you in, you took me higher
but if I wasn't what you wanted
then tell me what it was. Wed, 03 Oct 2007 17:45:54 +0200 http://www.ghaan.net/blog-57.htm When the day comes and you will cry, call me, I can't promise I will make you smile but I can promise I will cry with you. When the day comes and you will not want to hear anyone, call me and I will be quiet. Sometimes the life is like a beautiful melody, sometimes it's a hard fight but never forget that the life is just one and it's only yours...

--ma-rgaretka


The life is just the guy next door that comes and leaves whenever he wants to. You can only love him or to to make as a present...

-- Ghaan's comment Wed, 05 Sep 2007 17:01:26 +0200 http://www.ghaan.net/blog-56.htm As promised here are my humble experiences about new musical instruments I bought. This happend one month ago and my musical experiences include 2+ years so don't take them too seriously. And because it's not a long time I use my new beloved I'm not going to consider duriability or reliability but I hope it doesn't fail me

New gear: Ibanez SRX300 SLB bass guitar
Screenshot: http://www.ghaan.net/images/album/newone.jpg
Before: 2x Jolana something, ancient ones, terrible sound and quality

I like the bass. Originally I wanted a black bass but for the price of around �??300 the Ibanez was the best bass available I could find. In shops I checked they had different 3 colors, I chose this bright blue because it's also the newest manufacted model (manufactured since Dec 2006). The other colors have been manufacted before this date.

The sound is just great. In comparison with my old basses it's 5 classes above. At least. Slapping sounds great, too - well, I'm not a good slapper, still learning, but it's just great. When the bass arrived I replaced the battery (this bass has active electronics) immediately because lot of people had bad experience with the state of shipped battery. And... it played great!! Later I bought new strings and the sounds is more clear now. The shipped strings were not that bad but I can hear the improvement. It's is better now. String replacement would be easy even for your mum.

This instrument is a bit heavy but for a bass it's ok. I bought a new wide guitar belt and it's ok (or maybe because I'm a strong man I don't feel the weight?

Only thing I don't like is that while slapping I can hear the frets buzz. I don't know if it's the bass setup or me slapping. I guess it's the second because sometimes it's not that bad. Sometimes annoying. So sucks must to be me.....

I'm still so excited and I practice every day for 1-2 hours. I love bass and especially this one...

New gear: Fender Rumble 100/2x10 bass combo
Screenshot: http://www.fender.com/products/prod_images/amplifiers/2315700000_xl.jpg
Before: Behringer (borrowed, unknown model, 2x speakers and solo amplifier), I'm too lazy to find the proper model of that setup

This is a 100 watt combo. I'm not a professional bassist and I needed a combo mainly for home practice. This one suits me well. It has nice clear sound. The equalizer is not really rich, just bass, treble, low and high boost and that's all. I can't really play with the "color" of the sound but it's ok, later I'll buy some better gear for gigs

I also like the CD input so I can play to my favorite songs. With Audacity I remove the bass sounds from songs I want to play completely and then I can play my own bass. Good for practice. Or make a simple (drum) loop and play bass into it.


New gear: Boss GEB-7 bass equalizer
Screenshot: http://www.bosscorp.co.jp/products/com/GEB-7/images/top_L.jpg
Before: no effect

I bought this effect because this way I can enhance the sound of my bass by boosting any frequency I wish. It is quite cool and the slap sounds lot better with it than without (although my Fender combo has "mid-scoop" feature to do something like this). I prefer to use this Boss eq than the combo's in-built mid-scoop. I can make the bass sound just as a normal guitar without deep bass tones. Really funny for some parts. It's a nice thing to play with even if I get a better combo/amplifier/speakers.


Uh, that's it. Not really much, eh? But it might give you a better look if you're a novice/advanced player. I chose this gear which is not too much expensive but still provides good quality. I'm still learning to play bass and this gear fits me just well. The old bass was very terrible and I needed this change to put myself to a new level. And even for this month I can feel I play better than before. In 2 weeks I'm going to play with my former band back from studies in Czech Republic so it will be a great weekend. I can't wait for it and show them my new instrument and skills Wed, 05 Sep 2007 16:40:14 +0200