Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in Clifford Hoeft's LiveJournal:

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Tuesday, April 5th, 2005
9:17 am	Easter Update Part 1. Once upon a time... I have been home for over a week now so I guess I had better write down something of how my Easter break in Sydney went, before I do I thought I may as well tell some of my life story and why Easter is important to me. Easter is a special occasion for me because it is the anniversary of the first 'date' Dana and I had as a couple, it is this event which we mark as the beginning of our relationship. Dana and I met in 1992 while I was living in a share house in the suburb of Greenlane, in Auckland, New Zealand. The address was One Nolan Road. The house was an old bungalow, it had been leased by a couple of guys I knew from school, Aaron Carter and Duncan Dow, along with a couple of other guys who I had not met before, 'Gus' and Andy. I was living there at the generosity of those guys, particularly Aaron who let me sleep on the floor of his room, I really can't remember how long I stayed there but it seemed like quite a while, weeks if not months. The house was located across the road from a takeaway food outlet called Georgie Pie (which is now a MacDonald's). Georgie Pie was where I ate a fair number of my daily meals, the reason for this was that you could get a hot mince pie for one dollar, being a student and having very limited resources this appealed not only to my stomach but also to my meager budget. I recently remarked to Dana how alcohol and clothing seemed much more important at the time than food and she was in total agreement, I guess that is why we have managed to put on so much weight since our youth as food is now one of our shared pleasures in life. The guys had not been in the house long and so it was decided that we would have a house-warming party. Everyone was excited about the whole thing, we used a cheap automated business card vending machine to print up the invitations and I used my art skills to screen-print custom t-shirts for all the guys to wear (I still have mine hanging in my closet). The logo on the front of the t-shirt read "Medicated No.99 Snuff" and was taken from a box of snuff which Andy had brought back from a trip to England, we all had a good laugh snorting the snuff and watching each others eyes water. On the left sleeve of the shirt were the party details, event/address/date and on the right sleeve was the name of a fictitious sponsor 'Mammoth Breweries". The reference to Mammoth eludes me now, I can't remember who made up the name but I think it was something to do the the copious amounts of beer we were in the habit of consuming. When I think back on it one of the biggest reminders of how much we drank was the awful smell of the toilet the day after our many drinking binges, there was one beer in particular which we used to drink which generated a particularly foul odour, a South Island drop called Speights. I was looking forward to the party because I was keen to hook up with a girl who I had met previously while we were out drinking at the Globe Tavern one night, I can't remember her name but I do remember that she was blonde and quite cute. I had also invited a girl from art school whose name also seems to have evaporated from my mind, I remember that she had very pale skin and long flowing curls of brilliant red. To be honest I can't recall much of what went on that evening, I know that there was a large amount of alcohol and other drugs being consumed and I believe everyone was having a pretty good time. I am sure someone out there has a photograph or two of the event, I know that we all posed for a picture wearing our custom t-shirts just prior to the event. There came a point in the evening where I was in the midst of a conversation with the girl from art school when suddenly this other girl threw herself at me (every drunken males dream right?). While she wasn't a stranger, I think we had met on one other occasion, it was certainly a big surprise to me. Every guy knows how hard it can be to pick up at parties so I definitely wasn't going to complain. That girl is now my fiancee, Dana. Fortunately for me I have a physical reminder of the night we first kissed, a t-shirt which bears the date, Sat March 14 1992. It wasn't all plain sailing from that point but we came to see that we were much more interested in each other than we had first suspected. Not long after the house-warming party it was at the 1992 Royal Easter Show in Auckland where we had our first official date. This year we celebrated our 13th anniversary of that event. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Thursday, March 24th, 2005
11:49 am	Ok, so I was a little optimistic... Despite my previous post where I said I would try and make regular updates of this journal it is obvious that it hasn't happened. I think, given the number of things that are making demands on my time, the proposition was a little ambitious. So what have I been up to lately that has been so time consuming? I will attempt to answer this as briefly as I can. TRAVEL The last month has been a very busy one for me in terms of travel, I have spent a lot of time in Sydney and also recently had a long weekend on the Gold Coast. Sydney I have been to Sydney three times in the last month, the reason for this was to attend training courses held by a company named Barnes Products who specialise in Moulding and Casting supplies. The courses covered different aspects of mould making, especially of interest to me was the creation of compound silicone moulds. I learned several techniques which ranged from beginner to intermediate and with some practise I believe that I should gain a reasonable proficiency in this area. I hope to be able to use this knowledge in the future for making customised props for filmmaking purposes. Another area where I gained some valuable knowledge is in the manufacture of prosthetic teeth. I hope to begin experimenting with this process in the coming months as soon I the necessary materials arrive from the supplier. While at Barnes I was introduced to a product called Forton MG. Basically this is a modified gypsum system which has advantages over standard gypsum in that it uses an acrylic polymer instead of water. Forton MG is intended as a substitute for polyester resins in certain applications. The main benefit of using a modified gypsum is that other materials are able to be introduced to the gypsum such as metal powders and aggregates which normally would not bind in a standard gypsum formulation. The resulting effects which this system is able to achieve are simply amazing. Another added benefit is that Forton MG is water soluble which not only makes clean-up a breeze but it is also very user-friendly as there are no toxic vapours and no solvents. Since completing the courses at Barnes I have experimented with making silicone moulds with moderate success, I managed to create a reasonably convincing prop of a Chef's carving knife which was cast in a flexible resin, the idea behind this was to have a non-lethal prop which could be handled with relative safety by actors. I found this exercise extremely valuable and I believe that the experience I gained will help me to achieve better results in subsequent attempts. Gold Coast Dana and I spent a long weekend on the Gold Coast in Queensland. The purpose of the visit was to attend the 40th birthday of Dana's older sister, Linda. We stayed at the house of Linda's mother-in-law which was being minded by Dana's parents. The night of the birthday celebration we went to a Japanese restaurant and had a set course menu which was very appetising. WEBSITE Traffic www.cliffordhoeft.com is progressing well. Visitor numbers are steadily increasing which is very promising, currently the website is receiving close to 30 unique visitors a day. I have become less concerned with hits as this can vary depending on the size of the home page and also by the caching of files on a visitors computer. Links I have been busy adding new links but I am finding it demanding keeping up with the requests by filmmakers who wish to be featured at the website. I don't mind though as this is a good indication of the website's increase in popularity. I just hope I don't disappoint too many filmmakers who will now have to wait a little longer before they appear at www.cliffordhoeft.com. If any of you are reading this entry please don't think that I have forgotten about you, I will get around to including you as soon as I am able. Film Festival I have placed teaser advertisements at my website and on several forums regarding the H 4 Horror Online Film Festival. This is a project which I am very excited about however as it is still in the early development stage there is not too much I can say about it. What should be obvious from the title is that it is a film festival, hosted online, which has as it's main theme the Horror genre. 404's I have been doing quite a bit of restructuring with the website and as a negative consequence of this several pages which have been referenced by Google are no longer in the location where they once were. I apologise to anyone who has been misdirected due to this, to try and alleviate the problem I have added several of the more popular links to the 404 (File not found) response page. The pages that have been most effected by this change are the fan film links pages, the archives and some of the fan film art. Hopefully when the Googlebot does it's next crawl most of these dead end search results will be purged from Google's indexing of the website. SWITCHING I am currently in the process of switching from PC to Mac, to that end I now have an Apple PowerBook with which I am extremely impressed. While there are several major differences in the respective operating systems, which I am still learning the quirks of, overall I am finding it to be a very positive experience. The integration of the various software applications is superb and the ease with which I was able to connect my various peripherals was breathtaking. I am currently writing this entry on my Mac so that should give you some indication of where my new preference lies. PERSONAL I had a hair cut. I am trying to lose some weight. I like chocolate. OTHER STUFF My journal entries seem to coincide with me mowing the lawn. This afternoon I am going to mow the lawn. (Comment on this)
Wednesday, February 2nd, 2005
1:04 pm	Hello World. I know it has been an age since I last updated this journal. Things got a little hectic around here due to Christmas/New Years celebrations but I am going to try and get myself organised again and make an effort to write something of what I am doing on a more regular basis. So anyway I am going to fast-forward and put down a few thoughts about some of the more interesting things I have been doing. Dana and I have been doing more work in the garden, mostly planting and weeding. Dana was fortunate to get some plants for free from a work colleague so we have been integrating them into our existing garden plans. We have also bought some seeds which we intend to plant soon. The other weekend I moved a tree fern which was growing in a particularly annoying position, I don't know if it will survive the move but I can only hope. The vegetables that we planted a while back have been growing like mad, we certainly do not have a shortage of cucumber or zucchini. I recently bought a load of materials to finish my studio, mainly timber and sheet flooring plus fasteners and construction adhesive. Getting the studio finished is going to be my top priority for the next few months. A couple of nights ago I filmed my part for an upcoming segment of a UK based webseries called 2 EPIC by Superteam Productions. The director Ian Paterson sent me a personal message at the Superteam forum with my script, it was only a few lines but it sure took a lot of work to get it done to my satisfaction. I am still not totally happy with it but after 32 takes I think Dana was ready to kill me. While we were filming it was really hot, I think it was around 30 degrees, and with the lights it was like sitting in an oven. I did whatever I could to keep cool so that I didn't break out in a sweat, I sat in front of a fan between every other take and I also strapped ice-packs to myself under the costume. After it was done I encoded the best take, which turned out to be the last one - take 32. I uploaded it to my server and Ian had the footage the same night it was filmed. The footage should hopefully appear in segment 9 of the series, the most recently released segment is number 5 so it will be a month or so before I get to see the finished product. If anyone is interested in seeing 2 EPIC here they can find the link here. I am going to upload some pictures to my website so that if anyone is interested they can check out what I have been up to. I would have posted some pictures here but there are too many robots that leech images from livejournal so you'll just have to wait until I have built my gallery. I am now a part of the Inside Report team, I will be the lead researcher for a new video show they are producing called Net News. Basically it is a cut down version of their main show but it focuses on recent events. That's all I have time for, here is some other stuff I have done today - I mowed the lawn, trimmed the hedge, 'swept' the driveway with the blower, pruned the trees which are growing in the garden at the front of the house and I watered the garden at the back of the house. I skipped breakfast but I had chocolate cake with cream for lunch. (Comment on this)
Thursday, December 16th, 2004
9:03 pm	Clean up time. I have been cleaning up the garden this evening. There was a large pile of garden waste which consisted mainly of dead branches that had fallen from the gum trees in the back yard. I had been meaning to do something about it for some time and tonight I finally got the motivation to do clear it away. I mentioned in my last journal entry that I had hired a skip bin, well this is where most of it went and the remainder I moved to where my composting heap is. I threw out a lot of other junk this evening, and old dishwasher that we recently replaced, my old lawn mower which was totally stuffed and a lot of unwanted timber and boards which were lying around the garage. Some mundane facts- I had roast chicken with vegetables and gravy for dinner. I am now drinking a glass of scotch and coke. I think I will go to bed early tonight. Other things of interest- My cat Oscar is the most 'talkative' cat I have ever heard. He has a very loud meow and he really gets going when I am doing something outside the house. Oscar really likes it outside but we only let him out when we can supervise him (we live on a busy street and it is likely he would be run over by a car if he were allowed out all the time). My dog Buddy gets really hot here in the summer so I decided to give him a haircut. He now has really short hair all over his body except around his head and at the tip of his tail. He looks a little bit like a lion and he is really soft to touch. We put up our Christmas tree the other day (can't remember which one). I have Christmas lights in the window of my living room which is visible from the street, there is a Santa, two reindeer and a rope light. Well that glass of scotch is finished I might as well make another. Goodnight. (Comment on this)
Tuesday, December 14th, 2004
7:43 pm	Time keeps on slipping... I have been meaning to update this journal for some time but I have been constantly sidetracked by other things. My website is still developing well and I believe that the 'word' is getting around that there is a new place to find and advertise independent films on the internet. I have been systematically creating the feature pages for the filmmakers who support www.cliffordhoeft.com . I have added a new 'Website of the Week' every week for the last 6 weeks. I have been a bit slack with moving information from the Home page into the archives, I must try and do more work on this in the coming days as the Home page is becoming too large. The other day I had the first response to my request to have 'filmmaker supplied graphics', this was from the filmmaker F.C.Rabbath. Freddy also created a new banner for www.cliffordhoeft.com, I now have this new banner on display on my Independent Film links page. Today I received another banner for www.cliffordhoeft.com, this one was from Nathaniel Iwaszko of Crystal Heart Films/Hidden Lotus, he also supplied a custom banner to represent his own website which I will feature within the next few days. The Fan Film Art gallery is also growing, more interest is being shown by artists so I am getting new submissions to have artwork displayed at www.cliffordhoeft.com each week. Other things I did today- I ate half a dozen iced dough-nuts at morning tea. I ordered some seafood for Christmas Day. I drank a glass of sparkling wine. I had steak and salad for dinner, ice-cream for dessert. Tonight I planted some lilies in the back garden and I filled up the green waste bin. Other things I have been doing in the recent past- I have been busy working in the garden, summer is upon me so I had to put some mulch around the plants to help stop water loss from evaporation. The garden in front of the house is looking great and I planted some new shrubs in front of the hedge. I planted two citrus trees, one lemon and one lime. These were a gift I received almost 12 months ago so I am amazed they survived. I recently purchased some new plants for the garden, some Australian native flowering plants known as Kangaroo Paws amongst other flowering plants. I also bought a selection of herbs for the garden including sage, chives, parsley, rosemary, basil and oregano. I have been trying to organise my junk in the garage, this is starting to look like a losing battle, I do not think I will have it complete until well into the new year. I ordered a large skip bin which is now outside the house for all the rubbish which has accumulated about the place, garden waste and unwanted junk which I have been hoarding. Dana and I have been planning an overseas holiday for next year. I have been doing lots of other stuff, but it's never easy to remember everything when you don't write it down straight away. Oh well if I do recall anything momentous which I have omitted I will post it in my next update. (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, November 14th, 2004
10:52 pm	Here's the rest of it. Sunday the 7th of November. Sunday morning started much like the previous day although this time only Dana and I went for a walk. Our route took us through the Royal Botanic Gardens, The Domain and Hyde Park. It was another beautiful day and on the way back to the apartment we stopped at a cafe in Hyde Park for a coffee. Dana and I spent most of the day together looking around the shops, I bought a nice short sleeved linen shirt, something I had been looking for with the warmer weather approaching. We had our favourite Sydney lunch, Yum Cha at Sky Phoenix. After lunch we did some more shopping, Dana bought a few linen shirts and I bought a couple of pairs of footwear - a pair of casual leather shoes and a pair of leather slip-ons. That afternoon at around 3.30pm we met up with Jennifer and David at the Cargo Bar where they had arranged to meet with other friends from Sydney. We had a really good afternoon, it was nice getting to meet new people. Dana and I both drank beer the whole time we were there, I was drinking Millers Draught while Dana drank Corona. The Cargo Bar wasn't quite what I had expected, I thought it was going to be a bit of a 'meat market' but surprisingly there was quite a wide range of clientele from practically all age groups. The seating area was very open plan with plenty of light and fresh air, one full side of the bar is a balcony which overlooks the entrance to Cockle Bay/Darling Harbour. We stayed at the Cargo Bar until about 8.00pm at which time Dana and I headed along the wharf a little to Bungalow 8 (that's where we had lunch on Saturday) for dinner with Jennifer, David and a friend of theirs from Auckland named Milan. After all the beer Dana and I both felt like something nice and greasy so it was Fish 'n' Chips for me and Calamari 'n' Chips for Dana. I had a Scotch and Coke with dinner and Dana had a Gin and tonic. We took a very slow walk back to the apartment that evening stopping along the way at a convenience store to grab an ice-cream. Back at the apartment Dana and I, Jennifer and David sat around talking and shared a few more drinks and a couple of cigars before heading off to bed. Monday the 8th of November. Our last morning in Sydney was a bit of a rush, we got up reasonably early and made our way to the recreation level where we had a swim in the heated pool, it was very relaxing. It had been raining off and on during the night and as we waded in the pool it started raining again. We decided to head back to Port Macquarie early, with the rain we knew we could be faced with another long drive. After breakfast we said our goodbyes to David and Jennifer, packed the car and we were on our way. This time the journey home was swift we encountered no major accidents along the way. We got back to Port Macquarie at around 1.00pm and after dropping our luggage off at home we headed out to Pet's Park to get Buddy, Kitty and Oscar. Well that pretty much sums up our weekend in Sydney, I can't wait to go back as I always have a great time when I am there. (Comment on this)
Saturday, November 13th, 2004
10:03 pm	Better late than never. Well I know I said I was going to post information on my Sydney trip a few days ago but to be honest I have been a bit lazy. Anyway I am back into the swing of things so here is a rundown of my recent break. Friday the 5th of November. Dana and I headed down to Sydney at around 1.00pm after taking the pets to Pets Park (a local boarding kennel), we were on our way to spend a weekend with some good friends (David and Jennifer) who were over on holiday from New Zealand. It was raining so we expected to have a few delays on the way down the Pacific Highway - drivers here seem to have a lot of trouble in wet weather however we didn't expect that the highway would be closed in two separate locations due to head on collisions. At one point we were completely at a stand-still for quite some time, the driver in the car behind us actually fell asleep while we were waiting so when the traffic finally did start to move he created a small traffic jam of his own. At least one person died in one of the accidents, we did see a third head on collision between a 4WD and a small car but traffic was able to flow around it. We finally got to Sydney two hours late, the bad traffic had turned a four hour journey into a six hour journey. Conditions in Sydney were no better, because we were delayed we hit rush hour traffic which was pretty much bumper to bumper the whole way from the highway into the central business district where our apartment was located. We had booked to share a two bedroom apartment at the Medina Grand Sydney and we were really impressed with the overall standard of the establishment. The Medina Grand Sydney is very centrally located between the main shopping district and the multitude of restaurants at Darling Harbour and King Street Wharf. When we got to the apartment Jennifer was already there, David arrived shortly after we did - he had been out having a few drinks with some old work colleagues. We practically dumped all our luggage and quickly got ready for dinner as we had a booking for a restaurant at Circular Quay called Wildfire. Wildfire was an excellent choice for our first outing of the weekend, we had a fabulous table with an amazing view of the Sydney Opera House. The atmosphere was great, hanging from the the large vaulted ceiling are beautiful chandeliers which swayed in in the currents of warm air generated by the open wood-fired ovens. For our meal we partook in a very popular choice of the Brazilian inspired churrasco grill. Churrasco starts out with a selection of of tapas, this is followed by a steady supply of grilled meats fresh from the wood-fired ovens including chicken, lamb, beef, pork and calamari. We shard a lovely bottle of merlot to accompany our meal. David and I spent most of the evening talking about film making and computers while Dana and Jennifer talked about girl stuff like weddings, children and holidays. We all had a great night and the time really flew by, we headed back to the apartment at about 12.30am on Saturday. Saturday the 6th of November. Dana and I managed to get out of bed reasonably early on Saturday, we decided we would head out for a walk around the Sydney foreshore. Jennifer was also up and she joined us for our walk but David was suffering from the extra alcohol he consumed while out drinking before dinner on the previous night so he stayed in bed. The weather couldn't have been more different from the day before, it was a delightful spring day and things started to warm up fairly quickly. There were plenty of people out and about, and the Botanical Gardens were a real treat to stroll through. The rest of the day was spent looking around the shopping district, David and I headed out together to look at video cameras and computers, Dana went to look at 'girl' stuff (clothes, shoes, jewelery etc) and Jennifer went to visit with a friend. We all caught up later in the day for lunch at Bungalow 8, an inexpensive bar/restaurant at Kings Wharf. They have some really comfortable booths one of which we managed to snare so we had a very leisurely lunch, Dana and I had steamed mussels and one of our favourite dishes salt and pepper squid. After lunch we spent some more time wandering around the shops together. The highlight was probably a visit to Tiffany's were we drooled over some exquisite jewelery, I think there we a lot of requests to Santa that day. On Saturday evening Jennifer and David had pans to meet with a friend named Courtney, I think they went out to a restaurant called La Cita at King Street Wharf. They said the food was pretty average but they still had a good time. Dana and I met up with Dana's younger brother Fraser for the evening, we went to a restaurant called CMC at Cockle Bay Wharf. We mostly drank cocktails that evening, Dana had her favourite Margaritas and I tried the Cuba Libra, I can't remember what Fraser was drinking. After all the meat we ate at Wildfire on Friday I really felt like something light and seafood was my preference, we all ended up having the same choice for our main meal - Swordfish, prawns and asparagus on a parsnip mash with a garlic aioli. It was a very nice meal and we had a really pleasant night with Fraser, we mainly talked about the housing market and the benefits of moving to Queensland to live. Dana and I were not out too late, I think we got back to the apartment before 10.00pm, Jennifer and David got in a little later as they went out drinking after dinner. I am starting to get tired so I am going to head off to bed, I will finish this off tomorrow. (Comment on this)
Monday, November 8th, 2004
8:49 pm	More to follow... I know I have been a bit lax in updating my journal lately but things have been pretty busy for me at the moment. I have just come back home from a weekend in Sydney so I will post more information about my trip tomorrow. Some good news. I have been receiving treatment for my eye problem and it appears that I had a severe allergic reaction, most likely to dust. So far things are going well and the soreness has gone, luckily this means I don't have to worry about having surgery on my eye. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, October 26th, 2004
1:10 pm	Vision I went to the doctor today because I have had a sore right eye for the last few days, an irritation on the cornea which didn't seem to be getting any better. The doc prescribed antibiotics but he said I may have a type of Pinguecula, which can become Pterygium. If this is Pinguecula then I may have to undergo surgery to remove it. Here is a brief definition of Pterygium/Pinguecula. A Pterygium is a non-malignant tumor that frequently grows on the nasal side of the eye. It appears as a whitish-yellowish bump or a fleshy "growth" on the exposed conjunctiva (the visible white part) of the eye. If the bump appears only on the white part of the eye, it is called a Pinguecula. If it appears to "grow" onto the cornea, forming a winglike structure, it is called a Pterygium. A Pterygium has a rounded apical "head" advancing toward the cornea centre and a triangular "body" of thickened conjunctiva. It is situated on the outside of the eye and can be seen with the naked eye. A Pterygium may be small or grow large enough to interfere with vision. I hope that I have been diagnosed early enough for something to be done without too much damage occuring to my sight. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, October 24th, 2004
9:25 pm	New Poster Art! Here are my latest fan film posters. Star Trek: Hidden Frontier, Season 5, Episode 5, Epitaph. Star Trek: Andromeda, Concept poster, Season 1, Episode 1, A Misterioes Vortex. I have been appointed Graphic Designer for a new Stargate Fan Film SG-Delta, I will post the artwork here when it becomes available. (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, October 19th, 2004
11:59 pm	This is where it all happens. Here are a couple of pictures of my study. This is where it all happens. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, October 18th, 2004
11:44 pm	I'm still here! I thought I'd make a quick entry tonight, I have been so busy lately that I keep running out of time. I have mounted my new white-board on the wall in my study, it is really handy. These are the things that appear on my white-board. Website Statistics: I have a table in which I record the hits and unique visitors to my site. By doing this I can see at a glance how well the site is performing in terms of traffic. Using this method I can easily compare stats between individual days/weeks/months and also see the averages as well. Last week my website averaged 4,138 hits per day, from a total of 165 unique visitors. So far this month my website has received 59,486 hits from 403 unique visitors. Targets: I have set myself certain goals, one of which is good indexation on the major search engines. I am getting constant hits on my site from various spiders and robots acting as agents for search engines. So far 5 search engines have indexed my homepage; Google, Yahoo, Lycos, Exite and Alexa. I am hoping that as each new crawl occurs more and more of my pages will be indexed, this will help later down the track for locating specific items on my website. Another goal I wish to achieve is increased traffic, I will revise this goal monthly. I am aiming to reach 1000 unique visitors by the end of November. I have set myself targets for expansion of my website also. I currently have about 45 websites listed in my links section, my current target is to have 100 listings by the end of November. The sites I have listed in my links section are divided into two groups, supporting sites (those that link back to me) and non-supporting sites. Currently approximately 40% of the sites are listed as supporters, I hope to increase this amount to about 60% by the end of November. I have several strategies to reach this goal but it is all trial and error at this stage. I also have a list of targets for new development, this is where I write down possible new additions to the website. I have dated this list so that if/when these come to fruition I can track how long it took for me to go from concept to reality. Long term targets, these are big goals which I aspire to, I want to reach 1,000,000 hits per month and 300,000 unique visitors within the next twelve months. I don't know if this is even possible but I wanted to write it down so that in a year I can look back and see how reasonable my goal was. Well that's enough from me for tonight, I have some interesting news from the fan film community but I'll leave that for tomorrow (I'll upload some new pictures too). Other things I did today- Bought some new pens (multi coloured, I was tired of carrying around different coloured ones) I took some of my fan film art down to the photo kiosk and printed them out, they look really good, I just need to make a few adjustment and they will be perfect. I intend to get them framed and I will hang them in my study. I dropped of my Group Certificate (record of tax payments) to the Tax Accountant, tax returns are due at the end of this month. I had Red Rooster for dinner. I emptied the cat litter, this is normally Dana's job but she is away on business for the next two days. I won't get to see much of her this week because when she gets back she is off to the Hunter Valley (wine region) for a 'girls weekend'. Mental Note: Feed the pets. Goodnight. (Comment on this)
Wednesday, October 13th, 2004
6:47 am	Onward, ever onward. I continue to refine the look of my website, tonight I spent quite a lot of time re-arranging things so that my pages would display better on computers set to a lower resolution. In the process I made a new advertising banner which I hope will grace the pages of many sites in the coming months. My list of supporters is beginning to grow, I now have my website linked by nine of the film makers that I have featured at www.cliffordhoeft.com. I hope that this number will steadily increase over time as the website gains in popularity. My web traffic is also increasing at a reasonable rate, (although I am only basing this on my personal expectations, if anyone can give me an idea of how much traffic is good for my type of website I would grateful), I appear to be gaining about 20 new (unique) visitors each day and hits are well up on the same period last week. I really need to wait a little while longer (read months) before the statistics I am gathering have any true relevance or significance but I am already beginning to see trends in viewing patterns. That's about all the news I have this evening. Other things I did today- I bought a nice magnetic white-board for my study, I am going to use this to help plan the development of my website. I had KFC for dinner. I forgot to fill up the green waste bin. Oh well there's always next fortnight. (Comment on this)
Monday, October 11th, 2004
6:59 am	Non-Stop. I have been working non-stop to get my website ready for the further expansion I have planned. I was up until 5.00am this morning rewriting the code and I must say it was well worth the effort. I now have a well ordered website which will be a lot easier to maintain. It is amazing how much I have learned in this short time I still feel like a real dummy though when it comes to HTML, I know there must be more sophisticated ways to achieve what I am doing but I suppose for now everything at least is working the way I want it too. I redesigned all the banners for the supporters of my website and I am very pleased with the result. You can see them in all their glory by visiting www.cliffordhoeft.com. I also had fun designing some advertisements for my website this weekend, I hope they are cheeky enough to make people want to click on them. I must be doing something right because my web traffic continues to grow, I have also been indexed by google which is fun. If you search my name, clifford hoeft, my website will appear at the top of the results. Other things I did today- I had McDonald's for lunch. I went shopping and bought ice-cream and coke. I took my suit to the dry cleaners. I dropped of an antique print (engagement present from Dana's parents) to the framers along with a black and white photograph from a friends wedding. Oh well, I am running on 2 hours sleep and it is getting late, time for bed. (Comment on this)
Saturday, October 9th, 2004
5:19 am	Say Cheese! Here are the photographs I promised. We had a lot of fun doing these today! We thought we would do these as a snap-shot of the family, we will try to do them on a regular basis from now on. Clifford Dana Buddy Kitty Oscar What else did I do today? I spent some of this morning surfing the web for new content to add to my website. I answered about four emails from directors of independent films regarding being featured on my website. I am really pleased that interest is starting to grow as I want my site to be a hub of sorts for independent film makers. I used the fencing materials that I bought yesterday to make a dog-safe zone in the back yard, now Buddy is happy again because he didn't like being stuck inside all day. I managed to update my journal before 11.00pm! Early to bed tonight. P.S. Thank you Larry for updating my banner so quickly! (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, October 8th, 2004
8:27 am	Strategies. I really have to plan out my days now, I am formulating a strategy to reach my goal. As part of that strategy I have a notebook that I have been writing in every morning, I list the tasks that I hope to achieve for the day and I also write down long term projects that I want to accomplish. I have found that this is one of the best things I have ever done to organise my time effectively. I also find that keeping this journal is very motivating, if I did't do anything in my day then I'd have nothing to say. Lately the opposite has been true, I have been so busy that sometimes I am too tired to update my journal. It is another late night for me tonight, but I couldn't go to bed knowing that I hadn't added more content to my website (especially with the weekend approaching). If you are reading this Christeen and/or Roger here is a big HELLO!!! I am going to take some pictures of the 'family' tomorrow and I will post them in my journal later that evening. This next message is for Cartoon Larry. I have created a new banner for my external links, I thought it would be better to have an image that told people a little about the purpose of the website instead of just a couple of pictures of my ugly mug. I would really appreciate it if you could update the banner you currently have with this one- Other things that happened today- I bought some fencing material so that I can cordon off the gum trees out in the back yard. The gum trees are frequented by Koalas which are the main carriers of the paralysis tick (they are immune to the poison). When this is done we will be able to let Buddy go in the back yard again. Good Morning :) (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Wednesday, October 6th, 2004
6:46 am	Branching out. I spent most of the evening planning out the next development stage for my website. The content is growing at an ever increasing rate and along with that comes increased traffic and interest. I am really pleased with the response I have had to my website from independent filmakers and I am looking forward to branching out into new areas. The next phase for 'construction' is a new archive section. The home page is starting to become rather bloated as I continually add new updates and reports. Starting this weekend I hope to migrate some of the older posts to an archive section. This should have several benefits as people will be able to access the updates according to when they were posted on the site. It will also mean less data to load when you first hit the homepage. You can visit my website at www.cliffordhoeft.com Other things I did today- I finished mowing the lawn. I shaved off my beard. (I told you I would!) I had KFC for dinner. Yum (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Monday, October 4th, 2004
10:43 pm	Rome wasn't built in a day. I have been steadily working on improvements for my website at www.cliffordhoeft.com and even though I only manage a little each day I can see my 'empire' building (note that empire is spelled with a lowercase 'e'). Today was a pretty full-on day. There was quite a lot I wanted to accomplish today and I am pretty happy with the progress I have made. If you have visited my website before you will notice a few changes, most notably the fact that I have banners on my site asking for sponsors. These are primarily aimed at fellow artists and film makers who want to promote their work in exchange for returning the favour when producing their films (ie they get a banner on my site and I get an advertisement included with every new film they produce). I am please to announce that already I have found a sponsor for my Independent Films page. Superteam Productions is now an official sponsor of cliffordhoeft.com! In exchange for having their banner and links displayed prominently on my site I will get a 5 second advertisement which will precede every new film they produce. I have my fingers crossed that it will not be long before others come forward to help out. Another new change on the site is a redesign of some of the banners. I hope to continually offer new images so that my website does not become stale. There is an update on the website today for new releases - a trailer by Unseen Hands Productions and a new Ghostbusters fan film by staff and students of the DAVE school. There is also a progress report on the Genetic Crime Unit series which is currently producing episodes 5 and 6. Last night I didn't have time to update my journal because I was busy posting a special news update with a list of winners for the 2004 Superteam Productions Film Awards. There are links on my site to almost every film that won a major award. Another positive development last night was finding out I am being considered to do some paid graphic design work for a company in France. I am pretty excited about this because if the first contract is successful it could lead to ongoing work with the company. I am also looking to find a web host who will exchange storage space and bandwith for advertising, already there is one prospect that is very promising. If I do manage to secure a good deal I will be hosting my own film awards in 2005. My web traffic is skyrocketing! I can't believe how quickly my readership has grown, is really motivates me to keep improving the website. Other things that happened today- I took down the blinds in the living room so Dana could paint the walls. I mowed the lawn (most of it anyway...I forgot to charge the mower last night and the battery went flat before I could finish it all). I had a good talk with my neighbour Sean, he brought over a beer and we discussed a lot of different things. I found out that he used to be an avid skydiver and he also filmed many of his and other peoples jumps. He said that he has a load of footage which I could use, especially interesting to me are the shots where all you can see is the ground coming closer, I think these would be useful stock footage for film projects. He even offered to do a jump and film it for me so I could get the footage just the way I want it. I have a new addition to my friends list, his name is Larry (cartoonlarry). He is a film maker who specialises in animation, I downloaded and watched his cartoons today and I was most entertained. I am going to put a banner link to his page at my website in the coming week. Well that's it from me tonight, I am out of 'here' early for once... the last few nights I have been up well into the wee hours (3.00am this morning), even so I can't wait for tomorrow to arrive so I can get right back into creating more content for my website. (Comment on this)
Saturday, October 2nd, 2004
11:32 pm	Ambition. I don't know why but I have never really been an ambitious person. I suppose I have always been of the attitude that I'll just make do with whatever comes my way in life. I can truly say now that I have changed, now I have a goal in sight and I am going to strive to achieve it. I am determined to succeed. I have become more disciplined in many aspects of my life and am getting better at managing my time, because of this I am really beginning to see tangible results form the effort I am expending. I really feel that I am moving forward and the momentum is increasing. I believe that I am at a true turning point in my life. I feel now more than ever that I possess skills and talents that others could only wish for. Now is the time to stop hiding behind flimsy excuses and become all that I am capable of being. Watch this space. (3 Comments |Comment on this)
1:02 am	Another late night. I think I will sleep in tomorrow, well that is the plan at least but somehow I don't think it is going to happen. I have been working hard to get more content on my website so that it will be a better place for people to visit. I am aiming to update it daily except of course when I am away from home. I managed to add a couple more links to the Independent Films category, one is for a web series called Bluesmoke which is about a bunch of cops, the other is for and group of independent film-makers called Brawny Lads Films - they have quite a few films available for viewing. I will probably have to spend one night next week just surfing for new websites to link to. It rained quite heavily today, we had a storm warning that there could possibly be hail but it never eventuated. I hope the weather is better for the weekend ahead. I am looking forward to doing some modelling with the clay I purchased in Sydney last weekend, if I manage to make something worthwhile I'll definitely post some pictures. I really should go to bed. I'd say goodnight but it is morning already. (Comment on this)