Daniel Martinoli’s Website

I wasn’t really happy with the way PixelGrab turned out. Sure, it worked, but it was kind of messy and didn’t look great. So I decided to completely rewrite it. I also decided that I would write it using WPF (since I’m trying to learn how do use this technology) instead of Windows Forms (which is outdated and limited on modern versions of Windows).

After a few days, here’s the end result: PixelGrab 2.0 – with a completely new WPF interface. It looks much nicer, in my opinion. More after the break.

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Don’t you just hate it when you lose a lot of data? I do. My webhost decided to kick the bucket and shut down. I was able to get my money back, but none of my data. So yeah, I was in a bit of trouble. That is, until I remembered that I had every single one of my blog posts backed up thanks to Windows Live Writer (which I use to write these blog entries).

Live Writer automatically saves everything you publish so restoring my blog posts was simply a matter of re-installing WordPress (the program that runs this blog on the web server) and then republishing all my blog entries! Simple!

Now I’m back up and running and you wouldn’t even be able to tell that the site has been down.

So, people, back up your files. When something bad happens to them, you know you’ll always have an extra copy.

PixelGrab is a small application I wrote aimed at web developers and graphic designers/artists. It helps to save a lot of time by retrieving the colour of any pixel on your desktop when you mouse over it.

The user has a great deal of control over the program. They can choose whether or not they want it to run automatically when Windows starts and can choose exactly what gets copied to the clipboard when a pixel is selected.

If you ever need to know the exact value of a colour (you know who you are if you do), then give PixelGrab a try. It’s free and it’s pretty good (if I say so myself).

Here’s some screenshots:

Well, people, it’s that time of year again! That’s right, Valentine’s Day is coming up. It’s the one day of the year when the focus is on those we love, not ourselves, right? Right?? Well, not entirely…

Soon, the shops will be filled to overflowing with things to buy your special someone for Valentine’s Day. The people selling these things also have a great marketing ploy: If you don’t buy something for your partner/boyfriend/girlfriend, then you don’t really love them. Not surprisingly, this attracts the customers.

But I’m sure I’m not the only one who thinks that Valentine’s Day is rather pointless and shallow. This ‘obligation’ to buy gifts for those you love seems to defeat the purpose, really. Wouldn’t it actually be better to receive a gift from that special someone when they’re NOT obligated to give it to you? Why does love have to be shown to its full extent only on Valentine’s Day? Why not every day?

In the end, I guess it all comes down to money and/or consumerism (like most things wrong with this world). But maybe we shouldn’t get sucked into the whole Valentine’s Day thing. I’m not really one to talk about romantic relationships, but why can’t we treat our loved ones as though every day is Valentine’s day?

Well, I think it’s finally starting to dawn on thousands of students across the country. School is over. Forever. It’s now time to grow up and join the real world.

I’m sure that for many people, this is a time of fear and uncertainty. It certainly is for me. I don’t know what’s going to happen in the short-term and to be honest, it scares me to death.

It’s often been said that no-one likes change but change is something that everyone is guaranteed to experience at some point. Times like this are a remind of how dependent we are on having control of our lives. However, as a Christian, I know that my life is not mine. I should be letting ‘Jesus take the wheel’ (as one song puts it).

So it’s my prayer for myself and everyone in the state that we use this huge change in our lives as an opportunity to surrender control to the one person who really matters.

Well, the other day, I was listening to Only the Good Die Young by Billy Joel and these lines got my attention:

You say your mother told you all that I could give you was a reputation
She never cared for me
But did she ever say a prayer for me?

Now, all the lyrics in this song criticise the church about it stance on abstinence and it’s fairly obvious that Billy Joel had no idea what he was writing about. However, these lines got me thinking that he has a point.

The church seems to be all-too-ready to judge people based on the things they do and it’s all-too-easy to turn down your nose at people who don’t attend church/aren’t Christian. But how often do we find ourselves praying for these people? Jesus told us that we should love our enemies and pray for them. What could be better than these people coming to know Jesus? I know I struggle with this, so I’m quite sure other people must, too. Instead of judging people who don’t know God, try praying for them.

Yeah, I was inspired to write this blog entry after learning that someone I know (who shall remain nameless), broke up with his girlfriend recently. These two had been going out for a couple of months, I guess and I’d seen them proclaim their ‘love’ for eachother over MSN/MySpace.

Anyway, after I heard that things had come to an end so suddenly, I began to think about how so many relationships are like this. Two people say they ‘love’ eachother and then in a few months it’s over.

Have we really lost the idea of what love is? Do people say they’re in love because they’re obligated to?

Sure sounds like it.

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If you’ve been watching the news lately, you’ve probably heard about QANTAS cutting back on flights and jobs to avoid ‘losing money’. What QANTAS fail to mention is that they rake in billions each year and that the purpose of the cutbacks are to preserve those profit margins.

In short, QANTAS won’t ‘lose’ any money but not cutting jobs/flights. They’ll just fall a bit short of their profit estimates.

This is the way business is run in our world in which shareholders take precedence over customers/employees. Who cares about the people that actually work for and use the services of a company as long as the shareholders get their money’s worth?

I’m not saying that shareholders should also be ignored - that’d be stupid. They do support the company they buy shares from. But why can’t there be a healthy balance?

Overnight, Obama all but won the position as Democratic nominee for the position of President of the United States. I couldn’t be more happy for him. He will most likely win and should do great things for America.

However, I can’t help but feel that America isn’t ready for him. Racism is still a huge issue in the US (and many other countries), and this will effect Obama’s election campaign. Even if he does win, I fear for his life.

It takes many people to vote someone into power. It takes one crazed redneck with a rifle to undo all that. I sure hope nothing happens to Obama, but America has a history of racism which they haven’t quite overcome yet.

Why do I care what happens in the USA? Well, like it or not, they influence the rest of the world. If America is in turmoil, chances are things will go pear-shaped for a lot of other people.

Anyway, ‘that’s all I have to say about that’.

Yeah, someone just linked me to this song by Disciple (a band whom I’ve never heard of before, but are apparently quite popular) which is about someone wishing they had expressed their feelings for someone before they are ‘lying there in this hospital bed’.

This song not only inspired me to write a blog post, it’s inspired me to make the most of today and to value all time spent with those whom I care about.

I’ve heard it said that one should not let a dispute/argument see the end of the day and this song just reminds me of that.

I guess I’m just trying to say: live every day like it’s your last and treat those you love like you may never talk to them again.

Song: Things Left Unsaid - Disciple (YouTube link)
Lyrics @ SongMeanings