Competition results

We did reasonably well in the competition. Finishing 3rd in Grade D and semi finals in Grade C. That's one placing better in Grade D compared to our first outing back in December so I guess, it is an improvement, albeit, we were competing with a different group of dancers.

Am I happy with the results? Well ... I'm quite ambivalent about the results. Finishing 3rd and semis in not a bad thing but I was, a little bit, hoping that we could at least get into the finals of Grade C. Guess we'll just have to practise harder.

A friend and adjudicator advised on a change of costume. The maroon dress I have is apparently too dull and not outstanding on the floor, causing me not to be seen. She suggested orange, yellow or green. More striking colours. On top of that, the design of my dress is not quite flattering for my body type. The loose cutting makes it more apparent that I'm not ... ahem ... slim. A few other friends have mentioned exactly the same thing.

So, it's time to suss out for a new costume.

Either



or this purple one on the Dancing With The Stars site.



Which is nicer?

Getting MyDVD LE to work (Part 1)

Finally managed to get MyDVD LE (I have version 6.1.6) which came with the DELL laptop to work.

My first attempt at burning DVD came quickly to a stop with the following error:

Could not make a thumbnail. Make sure you have the appropriate decoder installed. -47010

After much searching through various forums, including Roxio's own forums, the decoder(s) that got it to successfully add a file to the project was the DJBCP Codec Pack 2.1 Light.

During installation, I believe I have only installed the following:
* Decoder 5.1,
* XviD-1.0.1 Final,
* DivX 3.11 Alpha, and
* AC3 Filter 0.7b.

After many successful disks, I also installed the VobSub 2.3 to enable burning (hardsub) and viewing of subtitles.

A whole series later ... it stopped working.

What is my number?

Quick tip I learnt from the friendly Telekom guy who came by to check out the problem with one of my office's phone line. Dial 13183 to find out the number for that line hooked to your phone. Especially useful when you don't have your mobile phone or if caller ID is has been suppressed for that line.