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# please add local extensions to this file
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options nvidia NVreg_RegistryDwords=”PerfLevelSrc=0×2222″
options nvidia NVreg_Mobile=1

This was with a Geforce 8400M GS which shows up in lspci as:

05:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation GeForce 8400M GS (rev a1)

The difference was pretty dramatic.  KDE 4.1is usable with KWin display effects turned on, tab switching is smooth and generally it’s pretty usable again.  All using the NVidia 177.82 driver.

tom kitten

One of our new kittens basks in the late september sun.  We have to keep a close eye on them outside since there are a few buzzards around here, and I’ve seen a fully grown pigeon plucked from the air and devoured in our garden in a matter of minutes.  This fellow would make a tasty snack from our local raptors!

These lovely flowers only live for about a day or so, but they really brighten up the front of our house.

Seen on our fence - a smiley face to start the day.

twins, originally uploaded by Pete Connolly.

I went out for a sudden walk this evening. Just was on the phone to her mother, the boys were watching Scooby Doo and I was at a bit of a loose end. Foolishly, I slapped the Tamron 90mm Macro lens onto the camera, but then walked down Gladstone Lane and tried to take some wide angle landscape shots - this didn’t work out. I’ll have to get back down there with the ’standard’ 18-200mm lens.

On the way home I found this pair in the hedgerow, so I played about with manual and auto focus for about 5 minutes until I got this. The DOF is a bit shallow which could be good or bad, it has it’s good points. I love the fact that the petals cling together in twos, as did the flowers themselves.

All in all, a nice change of pace from over the past few months. Work can only make you so happy.

fly on my tongue, originally uploaded by Pete Connolly.

Last Febuary, we took a trip back to Dublin to see my Ma. Naturally, we had to go to Dublin zoo to show the boys the animals, get some awareness of the size, colour and what not of the real thing - something we can’t do here unless we drag ourselves to Longleat or London. This chappie, the Sumatran Tiger, was phleming away in his compound like the best of them. Just like a domestic cat who smells something interesting, like fish. Or steak, prawns, chicken or any of the myriad other foods our cats shout at you about when you try to make dinner.

This is fantastic - the technology behind it’s movement is so hard to work out.

This is a great piss take.  The swing part is just peachy.  Top comedy.

“Rusty old fence at the Conor Pass” in situ, originally uploaded by Pete Connolly.

I bought a printout of Donncha’s picture  - Rusty Old Fence at the Conor Pass  -  for various reasons - mainly family memories of travelling down there as a youngster with Ma and Da in a borrowed estate car walled Walter. Here it is in place in the shed (sorry ‘garden office’) calming me down when I get too wrapped up in work.

Walter was a weird beast - a huge car to me at the age of 7 or 8, but a bit basic in some respects. I nearly fell into the valley below the Conor pass that you see in the picture when the handbrake failed and the car started to roll towards the edge, with me asleep in the back. This fence is probably the only thing that would have come between me and my maker if Da hadn’t jumped in and hit the brakes in time.

Cheers Donncha, a lovely print of a lovely shot.

Bob bob bobbin’, originally uploaded by Pete Connolly.

I spent the best part of the week in Canterbury, working on some Physical to Virtual server migrations. Great fun! I did manage to get up early(ish) one morning to have a look around and get some photos, and this little chap sat with me for a short while. Couldn’t get into the Cathedral since it was too early - a first for me - but maybe next time I’ll get some pictures of that. Back there next week for some tests of SLES and Windows 2003 server migrations, just to see if the IDM drivers, the eDirectory DIB sets and the AD survive the transition.

Solo, originally uploaded by Pete Connolly.

Wow, the first few weeks of working for myself, contracting to two large and 1 small company, is over. Talk about tired.