gettin' back into the groove

Ok, so I've been slack. Got back from NZ about two weeks ago, but have had a lot on in that time and never got around to posting. Promise I'll get back into it. Eventually...

nz

Off on a road trip to New Zealand, doing both north and south island. Should be fun, will be the first visit to NZ. Will try to keep track of it and do up a bit of a highlights reel when I get back.

Peace out.

box full of fun

The camera arrived today! Got delivered around 10am to the office, so I've been sitting here trying to resist the urge to pull it out and play with it (minds out of the gutter, people). Did open it up to get the battery and charger out - I want to be able to play with it straight away when I get home and not have to wait for it to charge. Hopefully I find that the Compact Flash card I bought separately arrives today too, which was to be delivered home.

my first digital slr

I've been pondering this purchase for a looong time (Raffy, you can vouch for this - we were discussing this back in January!) and have finally bitten the bullet and bought it, a month after it's successor went on sale.

Introducing my new toy - the Canon EOS 40D.

Image courtesy of dpreview.com

Not going to bother with the usual technical spiel - admittedly this is partially because I don't really understand most of it yet myself... Anyway the 50D came out last month so I figured that this was as cheap as it would get. Plus I'm heading over to New Zealand very soon, and wanted to be able to capture the beauty of the landscape with more than my point-and-shoot Canon IXUS 800 IS. They were sold out at my local camera store, so I ended up purchasing it online.

Of course, I needed a lens to suit - enter the Canon EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 Image Stabilized USM lens.

Image courtesy of dpreview.com

The 18-55mm lens that the standard lens kit comes with just didn't cut it for me, and I reckon the upgrade will be worth it. Also got an 8GB compact flash card and a spare generic battery, with a free bag coming with the camera too (not sure how good it will be though). So I'll need to pick up a tripod, filters, a better bag and maybe another lens before I take off. I'll have to leave the numerous other things I want until afterwards when I can afford it...

Dammit I'm getting all excited about it now... arrive already!

oversleep

Friday night - halloween party. Dressed as a mummy. Home made outfit, made from several square metres of calico torn into strips, wrapped and tied around me. Slowly started falling apart in the early stages of the night so I kept tying the loose ends together. Ended up having to cut myself out of it at the end of the night.

Go karting on Saturday. Had a great time, though I was comfortably running second when my kart runs out of fuel... Managed to recover to finish 3rd on the podium though, so it wasn't a total disaster.

Anyway, was out lateish on Saturday night, getting home at about 3:30am on Sunday morning. Now, this isn't very late by my standards, but here's the kicker - I didn't wake up until 4:45pm on Sunday afternoon. Now, I am notorious for my sleeping-in but the worst I've done is like 2-3pm. I was seriously freaked out when I finally woke up. Where the hell did Sunday go? Also, usually when I sleep in I struggle to fall asleep the next night. No problems here. Which was a shame, I was trying to stay up for the Formula 1...

indy!

Went to the Nikon Indy 300 yesterday. I got a bit sunburnt and I think I probably managed to lose some of my hearing too.

I've always been a motorsport fan, especially when it comes to open-wheel racing. However, I've only actually been to the Indy once before yesterday - it is so much easier to follow what is going on when watching the race on TV.

So we rocked up pretty early, paid our $105 each for general admission and pretty much just walked around and explored for the morning. There were stalls set up all over the joint (though it was mostly food and merchandise). Oh and lots of girls and cars. The crowd was just settling in, picking out their spots for the day, some hitting the booze early. I glared in jealousy at the people perched on the balconies of nearby buildings. Either that, or staring into the sun made me squint which looked like a glare.

Anyway race 2 of the V8 Supercars had started, so we stopped to watch them for a bit before moving on to explore the track further whilst still keeping track of what was happening (pun intended) in the race. There was a smattering of other stuff to keep us entertained after that in the lead up to the big race, ranging from Black Hawk helicopters, the Screaming Jets performing and an F1-11 dump and burn (which I must say looks better at night, but still scares the pants off you if you don't expect it).

Soon enough it was time for the big race and we parked ourselves on the fence at the entry to one of the chicanes. There were green and gold shirts, hats and flags aplenty in the crowd, with Team Australia's Queenslander driver Will Power starting from pole position. He was looking very comfortable up front early in the race until he made a costly error, taking him out of the race. However, it wasn't all bad news for us, with Sydney lad Ryan Briscoe leading to the finish to be the first Aussie to win the race.

It was very loud, especially in parts of the track where the cars could really gun it. In some areas of the track I found it almost unbearable and needed to plug my ears with my fingers. By the middle of the third V8 Supercars race we were over it (we were out on Saturday night as well so hardly had any sleep) and decided to head off, beating the rush.

Had a great day (despite the sunnies tan I'm stuck with), though I must admit though it didn't quite beat the last time I went, where I had a reserved seat in the undercover stands (a $400+ pass that I got for free!), conveniently located where most of the crashes occurred that year. The race had everthing that year, including a short burst of hail. I think I set the standard too high...

Anyway the future of the race is apparently in doubt... I sure hope it stays, I know I'll be there next year. Between now and then, I'm hoping to pop down to Melbourne for the Formula 1 in 2009. Currently torn between that and going for the Australian Open tennis again... but leaning towards the vroom vroom.

all hail hail

I was hungry. Went to the vending machine, got some cup noodles. Filled them up with hot water, and as I was walking away and about to cover them up for the 3 minutes when I noticed that the rain was hard and solid. I was walking through a hailstorm. And so were my noodles. It wasn't big hailstones, just lots of little ones. One actually landed in my cup noodles, splashing almost boiling water onto me.

Stupid hail.

Oh and did I mention I had a pair of expensive headphones on? Luckily they're fine and still work great.

big day out, here i come

Big Day Out tickets went on sale online at midnight on Thursday, and several hours later at ticket outlets. I was going to stay up late to get 4 tickets like last year, but the internet was too slow (down to dial-up speeds yet again...) so I didn't even bother. Kinda had that whole work thing too so I couldn't really go wait in a queue for a few hours.

Anyway they're sold out of course, but cheers to Malex who kept me in mind when he got his tickets. Of the four tickets I got last year, the other three went to him (sure he's a big fella, but they weren't all to get him in...) so I guess we're pretty much even now.

Casting an eye over this year's lineup, Arctic Monkeys, The Living End (missed two of their gigs this year, so I've gotta make up for that...), The Prodigy (they're back!), Bullet for my Valentine and Cog were a few of the names in particular that jumped out at me. Still quite a while away, but I'm looking forward to it.

Anyway, Japanese Formula One is starting soon. Peace out.

8hr enduro

5am Sunday morning, and I was out of bed. What the hell? I don't usually see the morning on Sundays, and when I do it's before I go to bed...

I was helping out a couple of mates who were doing a mountain bike 8 hour enduro race. Consider me as part of their "pit crew". The race started at 8:30am and was about an hour and a half drive from my place, longer since I had to pick Paul up (who was also helping out), which was why I had to get up so damn early.

It was held on a private property in what felt like the middle of nowhere. Competitors and their support crews/families and friends were all camped around the place. The purpose-built course was approximately 10km or so per lap, which took the boys about half an hour to lap in the early stages when they were still fresh.

Our job - pretty much top up their bottles and give them food and/or drinks whenever they wanted them. This wasn't much of a task given that they really only came by the spot we were stationed at every half hour or so. We had a gazebo, a camping chair, a hammock (which I fell off twice) and were armed with snacks and drinks to get us through the day. It was NRL Grand Final day, so we also had a radio to listen to the matches (woohoo for the Raiders winning the Under 20's Premiership!).

The race is something you don't really get exposed to until you actually go. The atmosphere was terrific - there were lots of youngsters around, who I think had their own mini races as well as unrelated activities like a jumping castle to keep them occupied. A lot camped at the site the night before too. Everyone was very friendly and easy to talk to, and a lot of people seemed to know each other from previous races.

All this actually makes me consider getting into mountain biking, though I think I'll start with flat smooth surfaces first... Gotta go buy me a bike first though. Might do that either towards the end of the year or early next year - I'd like something I could also use for a triathlon if I manage to get my fitness up in the next few months.

Ps. Post #100. Apparently. Yay for me.

all-ages gigs

Damn all-ages gigs. Make me feel old. It's not often I feel old either - if anything it has always been quite the opposite.

I was at a gig last night (it was meant to be on Thursday night at the Arena but got moved) to see Underoath play at the Tivoli (probably my favourite venue in Brisbane), and found myself completely surrounded by kids who looked like they were 12. It was an earlyish gig to what I was used to - doors at 6pm, support act at 7pm and main act at 8pm, so it was over by 9:15pm (ie. bed time for the little ones). Nothing alcoholic was served at all either. I think the fact that it is currently school holiday time contributed to that a bit too. It was strange though, not something I was used to. Surely wasn't the kind of thing I got up to when I was in high school anyway - admittedly I was always more interested in attending live sport more than live music when I was growing up.

Must say though, I can't exactly say I'm a huge fan of Underoath - have a couple of their albums and like one of their songs in particular (which happened to be one of their encore songs, so there was a bit of a wait through a lot of unfamiliar songs), but besides that I mainly went because I heard about the gig when tickets went on sale, and one of my mates is a big fan of them (I had bailed on him on a gig last year, to which he ended going to on his own) so I figured I'd go along, and managed to drag another mate along for the ride. Being used to going to gigs where I actually know the songs and the words and can sing (or scream) along at the top of my lungs, I did feel a little out of place when everyone else would be joining in while I'm standing there thinking "I kinda know this song, I recognise it, but there's no way I know the lyrics..."

...but hey, it's not like you need to know the words or the song to bang your head, jump up and down against other sweaty bodies, and pump your fists in the air. Good exercise too.

near-death experience

I'm happy to be alive.

Ok, so I was driving a colleague home after work this evening. Sitting stationary at a red light, I took a swig from my water bottle to quench my thirst. Second in the queue. The light eventually turns green. Car in front moves off, and I follow.

Another car decides to come flying past from the right, somehow getting between me and the car in front of me. No idea why. Couldn't justify it in any way. It wasn't like he just scraped in when the lights turned red for him, the lights would've been red for a good 5-10 seconds. I managed to slam the brakes. If I hadn't, I think they would've ploughed straight into my driver's side door (ie. me) at whatever ridiculously fast speed they were going at. That would've hurt.

I must say though, I am kinda annoyed I didn't get to beep the horn at them because I had the drink bottle in one hand and the steering wheel in the other. Oh well, just gotta wait for karma to strut its stuff...

attempted robbery

Filling my car up at the petrol station last night (cheap Tuesday) was a bit more, er, exciting than usual. When I got out of my car and picked up the nozzle, I glanced into the shop to see a bit of action inside, involving two youngish males who appeared to be threatening the two petrol station attendants behind the counter. So I kept filling up, avoiding eye contact while still watching what was going on, and eventually one of the guys decides to get out of there, and drag his mate with him (who didn't seem the slightest bit fazed) when the female attendant picked up the phone and started to dial.

Anyway, it turns out that the two guys were threatening to rob the petrol station. I think they were high on something, they both seemed really twitchy - in fact, when I first saw what was going on it looked like one of the guys was in a rap video by the way he was throwing his arms about... On the way out, they kicked a few things outside before sprinting off across the street.

During the discussion with the attendants, I offered to run them down if I saw then on the way out - it was the least I could do. I have no idea what I would've done if the guys were still in there when I finished pumping, or they actually made progress with their threat... Maybe I should go get some capsicum spray or something.

Nah, too girly. I'll just bring a cricket bat with me wherever I go.

late for work?

Woke up this morning at about 8:15am and totally freaked out - I'm late for work!!! Scrambling, I leap out of bed, pull apart the curtains and make towards the bedroom door when it hits me - today is Saturday. So it was back into bed until the afternoon.

What puzzles me about this is the fact that if I had woken up at 8:15am on a weekday, I wouldn't panic like that - I would've cursed, and just gotten out of bed as per usual. I wouldn't rush around in a frenzy. Maybe I was just really tired or something.

pretending to run

Early this morning saw the running of the 2008 Bridge to Brisbane. If you look at the 10km race results when they come out in the paper, you'll find me in there as a finisher. I also have a finisher's shirt (not on me at the moment though). The truth is that I was actually sleeping while everyone was running/walking. Yes, that's right, I'm lazy.

I decided I really didn't feel like waking up early on a Sunday morning to run. I hadn't really gone for a proper run since the Gold Coast Marathon. And the final straw was when I found myself at a party on Saturday night. So, rather than paying to post my timing chip back, I gave it to Paul at the party, who was going to be walking the 10km (I usually carry my timing chips in my pockets when I go out). That way he could return it after the race and it wouldn't cost me. So I should have the exact time as him. Apparently Sara also got my a finisher's shirt, so it's like I was actually there.

Oh well, my $30 got me a finisher's shirt. At least I contributed to charity.

gold coast show

I have a day off tomorrow - it's a public holiday for the Gold Coast Show. Quite frankly, I don't get it. Don't get me wrong, I love a long weekend and am definitely not complaining about it. I know that it's been going for over a hundred years now and showcases the Gold Coast, but to me it just feels like a cheap ripoff of Brisbane's Ekka. Our show follows the Ekka by a couple of weeks, goes for three days (compared to two weeks) and is smaller, and quite frankly worse. Okay, fair enough, the Gold Coast is smaller than Brisbane, but I don't know...

I guess I just don't see the point of the whole concept. You pay to get in, and then you pay to go on the rides as well as trying to win prizes (damn Carnies...), as well as spending cash on showbags and food. Not the kind of place I'd like to be taking my kids if I had any. I think I went once or twice as a youngster, but I didn't go on any rides - all I wanted to do was get showbags. I think I actually nagged the hell out of Dad one year to go, just because I wanted the Jurassic Park showbag.

I went to the Ekka not too long ago (I think I went in 2000 and again in 2002), and I must admit I had fun. It was expensive though. Didn't really go on many "rides" as such, nor did I go on a showbag shopping spree, but I know that I spent quite a lot of money on trying to win prizes. It was always really crowded and hot, with people everywhere. I don't think I had a mobile phone the first time I went (well the first time I remember going anyway) and got separated from a few of my mates. Not the best way to go through the day, but still managed to enjoy myself.

Anyway all I'm getting at I guess is that I don't think I'll be going to either show anytime in the near future, I'd rather spend my day off at a theme park or something and not need to pay for the rides once I pay to get in... or just chill out at home. The latter is looking very promising right now...

mmm, pseudoephedrine...

You know it's bad when you're regarded as a "regular" at the local pharmacy...

Been sick over the last week. Hate it. Didn't really get much sleep over the last weekend, which then carried on into the working week. First came a headache and runny nose early in the week. Went to the pharmacy and picked up some sinus meds.

"Hi, we haven't seen you for a while, is your leg better now?"

And this...

"Usually we'd need to see your licence for these, but we know you well enough."

Wait. You do? Apparently so, enough that they don't need to check my credit card signature either.

Anyway they didn't really do much, and I found myself struggling even more. Thursday I didn't even go into work, just spent the day in bed. I slept a good 17 hours, though it was interrupted, waking up every hour or two. It was a cold day but I found myself sweating quite a bit too. Must be because I'm so hot (sorry, had to slip that one in...).

Friday morning saw me back at work, and I went back to the pharmacy and bought some actual cold and flu stuff (stupid night tablets don't work like they used to), as well as some strepsils (apparently these ones also have an anaesthetic to numb the throat). By the afternoon, the boss' wife sent me home because I looked like I was going to pass out. Anyway since then I've pretty much done nothing but sit at home. Which is frustrating. But at least the Olympics was on, so I could watch Channel 7 make a complete mess of their coverage...

the phone

I mentioned last week that I got a new phone. It arrived at my house at some point on Wednesday morning, and thanks to the power of online tracking of my parcel I decided to go home for lunch to open my new toy.

What did I get?

A Samsung i900 Omnia.

I was too lazy to take a photo of my phone...

So why did I choose this over the HTC Touch Diamond?

- Bigger 3.2-inch, 240 x 400 pixel display (compared to 2.8-inch, 480 x 640 pixels)
- Solid build
- Metallic finish on back (as opposed to the fingerprint magnet and oddly shaped Diamond)
- Longer battery life (almost double)
- Faster CPU performance (Diamond's TouchFLO interface is apparently quite laggy)
- microSD card slot (which the Diamond is lacking)
- 16GB of storage memory (compared to 4GB)
- Much better 5 megapixel camera
- TV-out (missing on Diamond)

I couldn't have everything though...

- Touchwiz UI isn't as good as TouchFLO 3D
- Diamond does look nicer, and is smaller and lighter
- Omnia acks a stylus slot
- Diamond has a dedicated graphics chip with 64MB memory

One of my colleagues ordered a Diamond over the weekend, meaning I can do a side-by-side comparison later this week.

So far I'm loving this little beauty, took it on the boat cruise and took some photos until I decided that dancing/singing is difficult to do while also taking photos. Been transferring contacts over, customising it, adding new apps and stuff like that, which is good fun (though can be a little frustrating at times). Nice to be to do stuff on the internet (Gmail, Facebook, Blogger, IM etc) while on the go. Handy when you need to pick someone up and you have to wait for them in the car.

Took it to the beach on Sunday too, which I was a little worried about but the lack of flipping and sliding parts, not to mention lack of buttons in general, means less places that sand can get into. Having no stylus slot is a little annoying though - I dangle it off my phone, and I hate dangling things on my phones (makes me feel like a teenage schoolgirl...), but I don't see any other way without losing stylus after stylus. Also I didn't bother cleaning the screen before putting my screen protector on, so I have the odd particle stuck under the screen protector, though luckily this is only around near the edges anyway. Ah well, I'll probably order a new protector anyway, not that I really need it.

Handwriting recognition is cool, as is the autorotate feature (using the in-built accelerometer). Not really a fan of Windows Mobile though, it really does require the stylus to get around, as some of the buttons and scroll bars you need to hit are pretty small (and I don't really think that I really have big fingers or anything...). I did, however, install SPB Mobile Shell, which I love - I found it to be a lot more finger/thumb friendly, so I don't need the stylus to navigate around. Still working on getting some GPS software installed with turn-by-turn navigation, but until I get that sorted, Google Maps does a decent enough job. It uses data though, but I called Optus the day after I got my phone and set up a $14.95 a month data plan for 200MB of data. Can also use the internet by connecting to Wi-Fi, but can't get that working yet. In terms of internet browsers, I prefer Opera over IE - both are on the phone.

Sound quality is good enough, not much difference to my iPod Nano once I plug in my own headphones. Comes with Windows Media Player and Samsung's own media player too, but I can't seem to find an equilizer, which sucks. Actually, come to think about it, there are a lot of things I can't find. Sometimes I find something, and then can't find it again later. Guess I have to get used to where everything is with Windows Mobile. Threw on a movie (it comes with DivX installed), and it the screen size is great for widescreen movies (so now I can watch Juno when I get bored at some conference or presentation).

Anyway that's all that comes to mind for now. I'm going home.

boats, karts and beaches

What a weekend.

Friday evening after work saw me on a boat for a 3 hour party cruise along the Brisbane River, followed by an after party in the city. Theme was National Pride - the opening ceremony for the Beijing Olympics was on the same night. I went as Captain Cook, which was fun. First time I've ever hired a costume, and felt it was worth it. Though it was annoying how many people thought I was a pirate (I mean come on, it's not like I had an eye patch on or anything) or Napoleon Bonaparte (apparently due to my lack of height). I had a great time, and it was good to see everyone going to an effort to dress to the theme. Took a few photos as well using my new phone (which I got on Wednesday and love, but that story will come later... for now I'm still too busy playing with it). Got home at 5:30am.

Saturday was go-karting at Willowbank Raceway. Awesomeness again. It was my first time karting - the last few times my mates went, I was busy for one reason or another. There was a qualifying session, two heats and a final race. I picked kart number 05 (in honour of Brocky), with all karts powered by a 270cc Honda 4 stroke, 14hp engine. I somehow managed to qualify 1st (out of 8 of us) with my first lap, and spent half of qualifying, the heats and the final race with Storm sitting on my arse, giving me the occasional tap to remind me where she was. Not that I needed reminding, I found myself constantly checking over my shoulder and out the corner of my eye to see if she was still there. And that she was. I think my time spent playing racing games has finally paid off... the end result being a cheap trophy and getting to stand on the top podium (which was another first for me, I think). Sweet. Must say, I had luck on my side though. I pushed the kart into a few corners a little too fast once or twice (you can't help it when you've got the pressure on you to try to pick up an extra split second here and there) and almost spun out on a couple of occasions. Had I not qualified ahead of Storm, I doubt I would have kept up with her, let alone gotten past her. Others were getting quicker lap times than me, I was just able to take a decent enough racing line most of the time to stop anyone sneaking by. I've just gotta stop practicing it in my car now...

Today was a beach day. It was a nice warm day for winter, though it was a bit chilly in the shade and in the water. Also spent a lot of time driving people around. By the end of it I was exhausted. I think I broke my own weekend driving record, something like 700kms from Friday evening to Sunday arvo. Don't know why I'm still up actually. Time for bed I reckon...

cargo 200

Last night I found myself discovering my arty side, and went to see a film as part of the Brisbane International Film Festival. Of the movies that were in a convenient timeslot, I wanted to go see Russian film Cargo 200. This is the summary that drew me into it:

----------
Celebrated Russian filmmaker Alexei Balabanov confronts his nation's Soviet past with this hard-hitting thriller, peppered with dark humour. A police captain is dispatched to investigate a murder and the kidnapping of a politician's daughter in a grim 1980s industrial town. Not for the faint hearted!
----------

It was a bit like a late night SBS on the big screen. The difference was that because the cinema screen was already widescreen, there were no surrounding black horizontal strips available to place the yellow subtitles, which was hence placed on screen. I found this to be a little difficult to read at times.

Anyway, the actual movie itself was very hard hitting. Violent. Disturbing. Shocking. Having said this, an introduction was given before the film outlining the basis of the film, and we were warned. I did know what I was in for though and hence expected it. It seems that Paul didn't... though Simon was unfazed as usual.

The setting - 1984 Soviet Union. It was mostly centred on the industrial town of Leninsk. The backdrop was gloomy, decayed, run down. There was a lot of vodka consumption throughout the film (wouldn't be a Russian film without vodka, would it?). The soundtrack - ironic and amusing. It was a film that kept the audience tense throughout. There were scenes which were horrifying, yet with dark comedic twists. I think the plot, along with many of the scenes, is too disturbing to really go into any detail here. Murders, rapes, dead rotting bodies...

I think that Balabanov did well in conveying his message through his film - it does wake you up to the horrors taking place in the Soviet Union. It was a lot more than a flick full of gory scenes, with themes of religion, love, obsession and power.

We got to cast our vote afterwards, I think the choices were:
- Loved it;
- Liked it;
- Average;
- Didn't like it; and
- Hated it.

Simon and Paul (who was really disturbed by the end of it) both voted 'average', and I voted 'Liked it'. Honestly I can't say that I really liked it as such, but it was a good film. Just not the type of film that most people can really enjoy. I may decide to see it again someday if I get the chance, but not in the near future...

take that, iphone

iPhone, iPhone, iPhone. It's all you hear these days.

For some reason I don't really like the iPhone. I played around with one earlier this week, and despite being impressed with the screen quality and the ease of navigation (I found the user interface to be very intuitive), I'm not sure what it is about it that turns me off. It could be the;
- lack of MMS
- no bluetooth A2DP
- no bluetooth file transfer
- no radio
- currently no turn-by-turn GPS navigation (that I know of)
- lack of camera flash
- no video recording
- no video calls
- can't copy and paste
- non-removable battery (like my iPod nano, grr...)
- unexpandable memory
- bulkiness
- relatively high cost

Actually, I think it's just because there is so much fuss over it. Don't get me wrong, I reckon that it is a great phone. I just wouldn't buy one. In the above I was just being really nitpicky and trying to prove that it isn't the ultimate bestest ever phone in the whole wide world.

My current phone (Sony Ericsson w880i) has been bugging me lately - sometimes when you tap it a little too hard (and I don't mean hurling it across the room or out a high rise window, but putting it down on the table) it turns itself off, and the same happens sometimes when I put it in my pocket. Also the connector for the charger, handsfree etc is a bit loose, and you have to jiggle it around a bit to get it working - sometimes I plug in the charger and go to bed, and wake up the next morning to find that it hasn't charged at all. I got it for the slimness rather than features, but in the year I have owned it I have found the little features lacking a little frustrating. Halfway through my 2 year plan and I am over it.

So I wanted a new phone. For weeks I obsessed over the HTC Touch Diamond. I liked its compact size, physical design and sharp VGA display. However, key downsides were the 4GB internal storage and lack of microSD slot, low battery capacity. I almost got it though, primarily for its compactness. I spent weeks staring at it online. Even went to the Telstra shop when it was released in the country (exclusively by Telstra... grr) several days ago for a touch (pun intended).

Two nights ago I changed my mind abruptly for whatever reason and picked out a different phone. Today I cracked and just impulsively bought it. Don't know what got into me. I have buyer's remorse. Feel so silly about buying something I didn't really research into. I won't talk about it now or tell you what I chose... you'll have to wait and see. What I can tell you though is that it is not yet released down under (and no date has been set yet either), so I had to get it imported from overseas. Will blog about it when it arrives. Hopefully soon. Very soon.

nananananananana batman

Saw The Dark Knight over the weekend (its the new Batman flick for those living under a rock). There was so much hype surrounding it that I just had to watch it at some point. So what did I think about the movie? I loved it! I had pretty high expectations for the movie, and I definitely wasn't let down.

It was a very dark movie, which made me question the families who brought their young kids along to the movie. But hey, when their kids can't sleep at night, it ain't my problem. The action sequences were utterly fantastic, but it was way more than just an action flick - the plot was deep and impressive. Too many superhero flicks these days are too focused on scenes full of special effects, and tend to forget all about the storyline. Acting was brilliant. Val Kilmer was always my favourite Batman, but Christian Bale really delivered. As much as I loved Katie Holmes in Batman Begins (admittedly more for looks than acting performance), Maggie Gyllenhaal's on-screen chemistry with Bale as love interest Rachel Dawes was irresistable.

However, as great as all these performances were, all eyes were on Heath Ledger's Joker. There was a lot of talk surrounding his terrifyingly psychotic portrayal of the Joker deserving of an Oscar, which I thought was people talking it up due to his unfortunate passing recently. I was wrong, he was scary. Absolutely frightening. He totally nailed it, and I don't doubt that his preparation for the role - living alone in a hotel room for a month, formulating the character's posture, voice and psychology, and kept a diary, in which he recorded the Joker's thoughts and feelings to guide himself during his performance - definitely didn't hurt. Jack Nicholson has nothing on him.

I want to go see it again actually. It really was that good, and you tend to pick up little bits and pieces you missed the first time. If all of my friends don't want to see it again, I'll just go by myself.

weekend in ballina

Ballina, NSW. I spent the weekend there with a bunch of mates. Eight people in their early twenties in a three bedroom cabin for a weekend in what is basically a town for old people... what do they get up to? I don't think there is really anything to do down there. If you asked me what I knew was in Ballina, all could say is that it was the home of a big prawn.


So what did we get up to? Most of the time we just bummed around, but that was the point really - to get away somewhere to relax and pretty much do nothing. Besides lazing around, we watched quite a few dvds, played a game of Monopoly, played some mini golf (there was a course in the holiday park we were staying at), did a couple of walks/jogs, plus Malex and I managed to squeeze in a bit of guitar action. There was also a lot of eating (thankfully a few of the others did a great job with the cooking) and general chit chat. Oh, and we managed to swing by the prawn on the way home.

Not quite a mind blowing, action packed holiday. Not that I'm complaining - nothing beats kicking back and not really doing anything...

the outside world

It was Tuesday morning. My mobile phone couldn't connect to the network. I couldn't make or receive calls. Or text messages. I got to work to find the emails were down. The internet also wasn't working. I felt so isolated from the outside world. For all I knew, alien zombies (yes, that's right, dead aliens that have come back to eat your brains) had spawned from 3G iPhones all over the nation to take over the world. I was freaking out. It made me realise how much I rely on technology - I felt cut off from the rest of the world, unable to call or SMS anyone, or email anyone or check my emails through my computer or mobile phone. For all I knew they were getting their brains eaten by iPhones.

Turns out some backhoe driver cut Optus' main fibre optic cable just before 8am, knocking out landlines, mobiles and internet across Queensland and some of New South Wales (read the full story here). Kinda scary that one fibre optic cable was so critical... A lot of people were complaining about the chaos and frustration caused by the outage, with businesses counting the costs of it. I must admit it was a different story for me - I probably had what was my most productive morning in a while.

Ah well, things were back to normal for me by about 1pm, but I'm still skeptical about those iPhones...

double-booked

I double-booked myself on Saturday night. It's what happens when you book tickets for something in 2007 when you don't yet have your 2008 diary to write it in. Anyway it was a real test of my masculinity - the two overlapping events that I had a ticket to were a ballet, Giselle, performed by the Australian Ballet, and a football (soccer) match, between the QLD Roar and Brazilian team Palmeiras. Both started at 7:30pm and went for about an hour and a half, so it was one or the other.

The Giselle tickets were bought at some stage last year by my ex (with whom I am still good mates), and I had totally forgotten about it. When the Roar tickets went on sale I was definitely keen, and even checked my diary to see if I had anything on that weekend. Nope, nothing.

So which one did I end up going to? The ballet. Why? I had a few reasons.
- It was the first event I committed to. By a long shot.
- It was the more expensive of the two.
- I have the whole upcoming A-League season to watch the Roar boys play.
- It was a trial game meaning that they would try to blood a lot of young talent.
- Giselle by the Australian Ballet isn't something that comes around every day.
- The Roar ticket was really easy to find another home for.
- Although I was told she wouldn't mind if I didn't go, I wasn't going to bail.
- And no, I am not whipped.

So I went to the ballet. And really enjoyed it. I've always had a thing for stuff like ballets, that are more considered to be the kind of thing that girls like. Part of the fun is dressing up a little without being too formal (having said that, there were a lot of men in full suits) - threw on a nice shirt and jeans, and added a new sports jacket I bought that day and a pair of shoes I hadn't yet worn (ouch...). Though it was only the third ballet I'd been to, after Sleeping Beauty and Don Quixote. All performed by the Australian Ballet. I mean, don't get me wrong, the Queensland Ballet are great, but obviously the Australian Ballet is better... Oh well, I've been to a lot more sporting events than ballets, plays and musicals, so I still feel quite masculine. I am man, hear me roar.

Anyway, turns out an Option C for Saturday night popped up as well, which was a 22nd birthday of a girl I had met only once before, starting around the same time. This one was definitely gonna go a lot longer than 90 minutes, so I managed to sqeeze it in afterwards. Figured I may as well make the most of the night.

hey ladies, i can go half the distance...

Yesterday I did it. I ran a half marathon. Only walked a tiny little bit, but I'll get to that when I get to that.

So my preparation was totally messed up. I had a cold for the whole week before the race, was unable to train. Just rest, load up on cold and flu meds and hope that I would be better by race day. Taking twice the dosage apparently wasn't going to help, so I didn't do that.

My feet hadn't quite adapted to my new rigid insoles (they still really hurt during a run), so I went out to the shop on Thursday night to pick up a pair of semi rigid ones. By Friday I was still snotty and sore throated, but I figured it was now or never to go for one final run and at least try the new insoles before the race. Did a short run, about 4km, and I was buggered. Not a good sign. Insoles didn't feel perfect, but they were better. They'll do anyway.

Started the carbo loading on Friday night - lots of pasta. Heaps of sleep too. By the time I woke up on Saturday near lunchtime, it was pouring rain outside. So that arvo I went out to buy a top I could wear under my race singlet to keep me warm if it was still raining.

I couldn't sleep the night before, as you can tell from the previous blog post. One of the trainers warned me of this, which is why I slept so much on Friday night. Problem is, I couldn't really wake up either. Two alarms didn't really do it. I woke up and it was 6am. Race start was at 6:30-6:40ish... dammit! Skipped breakfast, got dressed as fast as I could (I actually considered sleeping in my race gear the night before... shame I didn't), sped there as fast as I could, and as I ran towards the start line the gun went off... double dammit! No time to drop my bag off, I ran back to the car, threw my bag and my jumper and spray pants into the car, knocked back the first of my energy gels and threw a couple more into my pocket for the race, made sure I had the car keys and my iPod, and sprinted to the start.

Found myself at the very back of the pack, and as I passed the start line I heard the commentator announce a last call for any more half marathon runners, 30 seconds to cross the start line if we wanted to get timed. So I was 30 seconds early then... Anyway I was off. At the very back of the pack. With all the walkers from the looks of it.

Armed with my trusty iPod I set off, trying not to go too fast and really slow myself down so that I could keep the heart rate down and be able to jog the whole way. The annoying thing was that I have short legs, and at this slow jog, some people were powerwalking quicker than me. Damn them and their big strides.

Along the way:
- It rained a bit, which was refreshing;
- I tried to make sure my iPod didn't get wet;
- I saw a great sunrise over the broadwater;
- I tried to photograph it but realised my iPod wasn't my phone;
- I applauded people passing me on the way back towards the finish;
- One of the wheelchair guys was in a full gorilla suit;
- I passed one of my old uni lecturers who was on his way back;
- I tried to hi-5 him but reacted a little too late;
- I hi-5ed a little girlholding up a bowl of jellybeans for the runners;
- I overtook a dude four times as big as me (sadly at the 14km mark);
- I jogged pretty much the whole way, except for drink stops;
- Also stopped to go to the bathroom once;
- I hit "the wall" at 19km, where I thought I couldn't run any more;
- I also realised here how much my left knee actually hurt;
- I ran the last kilometre hard;
- I realised how much of a stupid idea that was with 500m to go;
- I ran the rest of the way trying to shift some weight off my left knee;
- The awesome crowd pushed me on the rest of the way;
- I squeezed in under the 3 hour mark
- That was by my time anyway, it was 3:03 from the start gun;
- I must've looked quite distressed, the paramedics approached me;
- I scored "free" water, oranges and bananas;
- I picked up my grey finisher's shirt and medal;
- I went to cheer on my mates doing the 10km;
- Cheered on randoms as well;
- I got some food (was it breakfast or lunch?);
- I went home and showered, played PS2 and slept;
- Maybe it wasn't in that order; and
- I realise that this is a really crap bullet point summary.

Well that's all I can really remember. Today was painful. My legs are incredibly sore, especially the knees... it's ok when I'm not moving, but when I start to move it isn't cool at all. I kinda hobble around the place. Wore my other compression tights to bed and to work, which I think helped a bit. Even my arms were sore afterwards, but I think that was because I had my arms in a bent jogging position for three hours.

Need sleep now. Next race I've got is in September, but its only 10km, which is hardly anything... right? Better get training...

6 hours

Can't sleep. Running a half marathon in less than 6 hours. Panic!!!

why engineering?

I've been really flat out at work lately. This evening, working back late with a cold, trying to get some lintel designs sorted out as quickly as I could, I began to wonder why I was a consulting structural engineer. The pay is hardly great, you don't get any respect from others in the industry... architects want physically impossible designs, huge spans with little or no vertical elements to hold them up, builders want to cut out as much money from the structure as they can so that they can make more, and don't get me started with all the holes the services guys want to punch through the walls and slabs. I suppose the harsh reality of it all is that it's a money driven industry.

Damn you, Lego. I blame you.

Don't know what I'd do if I didn't do engineering though. Any ideas? I think I'd pretty much suck at everything else. Maybe it's time to go into academia and take out my pain and frustration on the students...

[4 sleeps to go until the half marathon. I am starting to freak out.]

gearing up

Less than two weeks to go until the half marathon. Damn. I saw a guy running at about 2am whilst driving home early Sunday morning. Now that's commitment, it was freezing too. Made me feel guilty. How is my preparation going?

Amount of training I've done: very very minimal.
The furthest I've ever run without stopping: 5km (though two "brief" pauses to readjust my knee strap).
Length of the half marathon: around about 21.097494km.

I am so screwed. So what if I can't run, at least I've given gearing up for the race some thought. Here are the latest.

Orthotic Insoles:
So I'm a really bad pronator. Like, really bad. I have the flattest feet in the world...

Me: I have the flattest feet in the world.
[Takes foot out of shoe]
Gym Receptionist: Holy crap you do!
Me: Told you so.

Bought these really stiff insoles for some more arch support (my shoes do provide some support, but it just isn't quite enough). Definitely helps with the leg and knee pain, but my feet really hurt after a few hundred metres of running. Apparently you're meant to gradually ease yourself into getting used to them over a month, especially these really stiff ones. Time I just didn't have. Walking is generally ok though, it's the running that isn't cool. Still trying to decide which insoles to wear in the race - what pain do I want to feel, knees or feet?

Skins Long Compression Tights:
These are great. Took them out for a run over the weekend, and definitely helps deal with muscle pain. Give me the support I need without needing my stupid knee brace. Also great to keep you warm in winter, especially early mornings.

The problem - I look like a complete tool wearing them. Of course, I don't feel comfortable wearing just the skins on their own, so I put a pair of running shorts over the top. Not to mention the fact that I'm generally regarded as being a short person, and for this reason the tights are too long for me so the ankles just bunch up. Either that or I bring them down over my foot which is uncomfortable (yes I opted to feel uncomfy to look like slightly less of an idiot). I just look ridiculous with it, especially when I'm walking rather than running. I found that people kept staring at me like I was some kind of weirdo. Well, more than usual anyway. Besides that, I love them, they feel great. Am looking for another pair to get, currently thinking a cheaper brand (Slazenger or something like that) and something shorter, maybe three quarter length if I can find some (I need knee support so the shorts wouldn't really help) - it would be handy to have another pair for recovery after a race, and to have a pair to wear that may possibly look slightly less tacky.

Other:
What else do I need to get? Well the shoes are good, as are my favourite running singlet and shorts (all Asics, probably just coincidence... or not, I don't really know). So I need to find myself some decent comfy socks (a toss up between a rather expensive pair or Thorlos that will last, or something a little cheaper like the CoolMax range in Target), as well as some Endura Energy Gel kinda sachets to bring with me to knock back when I hit "the wall" - I've been told this is around the 14-15km mark. I wonder if it's anything like the wall in Run Fatboy Run... Oh and I better find the arm strap pouch for my iPod or I'll have to carry the damn thing in my pocket. I know it's around here somewhere...

facebookless

Oh no, Facebook is down. What am I meant to do? Oh, I have an idea. How about I leave work and go home already? No wait, an even better idea. I'll go to the Broncos game tonight. Even better.

the nation's capital

Back from my weekend in Canberra. The Townsville story didn't reach an end because I ranted on too much and left it too long to recreate the experience in my head to properly retell the amazing encounters and adventures by the time I actually got around to it. So I'm going to try not to make the same mistake again. I'll try to keep it short and sweet this time around. Promise. Well, promise that I'll try anyway.

Three of us flew down to Canberra on Friday night. Flight was a bit delayed. Landed at about midnight. Eb picked us up. It was bloody freezing. Apartment was nice. Very close to the city. Went to sleep.

Woke up Saturday morning. Still cold. Did a run of all the touristy attractions. Breakfast in the Civic Centre. Walked to the Australian War Memorial. Looked around there. Walked to Parliament House from there. Took us about an hour. Very cold. It looked a lot closer on the map than it really was. Did lunch at Parliament House. It was like a cafeteria. Briefly visited Old Parliament House. Paul wanted to see the steps. He's a big fan of Gough. We were behind schedule and I wanted to get the most out of Questacon. Went to Questacon. I love Questacon. Last went there on a school trip in Year 7. Had heaps of fun there. Experienced zero gravity. Bought a Rubik's World. A cross between a globe and a Rubik's Cube. Sara got one too. We got a lot of the same souvenirs. I swear she was copying me. Went to the High Court. Had flashbacks of The Castle. Got a cab back to the apartment. Couldn't be stuffed walking back. It was already dark. And getting colder. Somehow. Went to dinner. Caught a Bus there. Had a Moreton Bay bug and crab lasagne. Picked it because it sounded really strange. Tasted a bit weird. Saw a real estate shopfront that looked like a furniture shop. Met up with Paul's friend. It was freezing. Had a warm milkshake. Yes, that's right. A warm milkshake. Sat outside. Near a heater. Still damn cold. Really cold. Freezing. Walked past a 24 hour Coles. Went to a club where we met up with Eb. A club in Canberra is like a pub in Brisbane. Apparently that club is a hot spot for miliatary folk. Not literally hot. Though the girls dressed like it was. Walked back to the apartment. It was absolutely freezing cold. Watched some crap TV. Went to bed.

Woke up on Sunday. Packed. Went to the National Museum. Cold. Tight schedule so we cabbed it. That place looks trippy. Had another dodgy cafeteria meal for breakfast. Stupid restaurant there was already closed after breakfast at 10:30am. Wasn't open for lunch yet. Looked around there. Picked up a few things here and there on Australian History. Had to leave in a hurry though. Caught a cab up to Black Mountain to check out Telstra Tower. Saw Canberra from up above. Not really that much to see to be honest. Bought a model of the tower to add to my mini city collection. Eb picked us up from there to take us to the game. I was clad in jersey, scarf and viking helmet. Not as cold. In the sun. The Raiders thrashed the Broncos. Sheer awesomeness. It alone was worth the trip down there. Met some of the squad (ie my heroes) afterwards. It was great, got photos with them. Went back to the airport for our flight out. Dinner at the airport. We had a bit of a wait there. Before we knew it it was late on Sunday night. We were back home. Still cold though.

Keeping it short? I tried. Really.

shortest post ever

Flying out to Canberra.

MIA

Ok so I've been missing from here lately. A combination of being busy, tired and sick. Still the first two and a little of the third, so I'll leave it at that for now. Hope to get back into it soonish. Apologies to my readers, if you exist...

dr jones

Saturday night saw me at a housewarming party, which involved me playing Twister for the first time ever - I was one of those kids who always opted to watch instead. Damn was I sore afterwards. One of the girls tipped a bit of drink down the back of my pants while I was trying to balance too.

Sunday was Indiana Jones day as far as I was concerned. Along with James and Darz, we hijacked a room with a big projector, found some confy couchy things and footrests, and went through the Indiana Jones trilogy.

Raiders of the Lost Ark - 115 mins
The first of the series, and I love this movie. Absolute classic, too many memorable moments to mention. Karen Allen is hot.

Temple of Doom - 118 mins
I never really liked the second movie (which is a prequel to Raiders) as much as the others, the theme behind it was a lot darker than the others, and the key female Willy annoys me. I do like Short Round as Indy's sidekick though.

Last Crusade - 127 mins
Sean Connery is great in this one as Indy's father, the chemistry between them entertaining, and Alison Doody is quite aesthetically pleasing as Dr Schneider. Love the intro too, explains a lot.

Following watching the trilogy as well as getting through corn chips, salsa, lollies and soft drink, we went off to buy tickets for the fourth movie at the cheap cinemas. When we got there - sold out. We'd have to wait a a few hours for the next session that wasn't sold out yet. So we decided to go for a walk to the more expensive cinemas, which had an session on soon that hopefully wasn't sold out. By the time we got there and went to get our tickets, we found that it hadn't sold out but we had missed the first 5-10 minutes. So we decided to buy tickets to the next session, go get ourselves some dinner and kill some time before making sure we didn't miss a single minute of the movie.

Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - 124 mins
I liked it. Though not quite as awesome as the first or third. There was a bit over CGI overkill here and there, and it just didn't have that same level of breathtakingness (a bit like the newer Star Wars films). And I didn't see as much of Indy's whip as I had hoped (no, that's not metaphorical for anything...). What I did love was the running gags relating to the past three movies.

Anyway that was my 8 hours of Indiana Jones on Sunday. It was good.

elevator-phobia

Saturday was interesting. I represented a company that isn't the company I work for in mixed touch at the Corporate Games. I hadn't played touch footy for about a year. Managed to injure my leg again in the second of three matches - I got a little overexcited when I took an intercept and went for a flamboyant swan dive to touch down... We lost the first match but won the other two to come second in our pool - not bad considering we had only just met each other. I still don't know most of their names. Oh, and it bucketed down on us basically when our last match finished - it was like we were in a bloody cyclone.

Anyway, I went to Malex's afterwards to shower and get changed, and then the two of us made our way to Suncorp Stadium to watch the Reds' final match for the season. We parked in Auchenflower and walked to the stadium from there. Along the way we had to cross the train tracks at Milton train station, which involved climbing up to the platform, then climbing up to the concourse and crossing the tracks up there. After climbing the steps up to the platform I decided my leg wasn't in a step-climbing mood so we decided to catch the lift up to the concourse. We got in, pressed the button to go up and waited. And waited.

The light to the button we pressed had gone off. So we tried it again and again, and it wasn't coming back on. We tried other level buttons, and they weren't working either. Neither was the door open button. We were stuck in a lift. The emergency telephone button worked though, and we were told that someone was on their way to let us out.

I think that if I was in the lift alone and it didn't have glass doors I would've panicked. But I didn't. We both saw the humour in it. Paul, who was already at the game and alone since it was the three of us going (front row, too...) kept us up to date over the phone. A few QR workers and a policeman tried helping us out, but to no avail. Amusingly the cop tried to pry the doors open with his bare hands.

Anyway after about 40 minutes the elevator man came along and, with a few minutes of tinkering, saved the day. We said our thanks, relieved to be outside that damn lift, walked the stairs and made our way to the game. We heard that they had discounted merchandise, we both bought Reds jerseys (Paul got one too after hearing how much they were... best jerseys ever by the way, good old cotton jerseys so soft to the touch) and by the time we were done with that it was half time. So we missed half the match. Oh well. The Reds ended up losing the match, but at least we got to farewell the departing and retiring Reds players afterwards.

intermission

I had the honour of seeing Ross Noble last night. It was three hours of awesomeness. Face was hurting from excessive laughter. Mouth was dry but I couldn't really drink any without the risk of choking and/or spitting all over the rows of people in front of me. I think I wet myself a little bit too. Luckily all eyes were on Ross, so I think I got away with it unnoticed.

It was great value for money too. He went on for about three hours. Actually, Ross reminded me of me a bit. He had this way of jumping from topic to topic like lightning, starting a story and then jumping to something else when he's barely started the last one. He kept forgetting that he had mentioned a story without actually getting through it or onto it. Tangents left, right and center. The difference between us was that he was funny. The show was pretty much based around him picking on audience members, with the tangents leading the way to all kinds of stories and random stuff from there. I reckon that if I went to see him again tonight, most of the show would be different - I highly doubt that he really plans much of it, probably has a few stories/jokes that he'll try to get to at some stage, but it would mostly be his improv genius, supported by a lot of miming and sound effects to help get the message across.

Picked myself up a cool signed poster for $10 - the money going to feed some Africans or something.

townsville (dos)

Don't ask why I'm counting in Spanish. I wouldn't have the faintest idea as to why the hell I'm doing it. That pretty much goes for most things that I do actually.

Saturday (Day Two):

Geez, as I sit here and think about it, I actually have very vague recollections of what actually happened on Saturday. I woke up. Eventually. I would've easily been the last of the four to wake up. I think the others managed to go for a swim in the pool (which had a damn awesome view... just like our balcony in fact, just not as high, funnily enough) before I even stirred.

Ooh I remember now. After getting harassed (both verbally and physically) by my hungry companions, I managed to get our of bed and get ready, before we headed out to find a quick breakfast and supplies for the rest of the stay. It was another stinker of a day, but luckily this time I had the genius idea of wearing shorts. We bought a lot of crap at the local Bi-Lo, considering it was Saturday and we were leaving on Monday. Not to mention the arguments and indecisions involved with picking stuff. How the hell was I meant to know the difference between fruit juice and fruit drink? Who cares if it's reconstituted or regurgitated or whatever... Glad we all managed to agree on the Raspberry Splits. Mmm.

Back at the apartment it was straight into the pool for me - I hadn't gone for a dip yet, and Paul came along too. Stormy set out to explore the city in the hunt for souvenirs. Who knows what Ray got up to back in the apartment. Following that, I made lunch. Yes, I am awesome. Sure, it was two minute noodles (my specialty dish, and probably the only one not requiring a microwave), but for 15 minutes there, I actually felt like I could cook.

After that it was time to gear up in our supporters gear and it was off to get the bus to Dairy Farmers stadium to go see what we were up there for - the Cowboys vs Storm match. I liked the feel of the stadium, it was as if it hadn't bowed down to the commercialism that other stadiums had gone through. Rather than having a big catering services company, they had like the local Rotary clubs etc doing the catering. They had a carnival thing for the kids in one corner, with rides and stuff. I got fairy floss from there. We were treated with skydivers, fireworks, cheerleaders, as well as a dodgy local cover band. The game itself was pretty good, a close one that went to the visitors. Wasn't the best performance from either team though. Amusing was the cha-ching sounds that came over the speakers everytime Ray Cashmere made a hit-up, as well as playing Big Girls Don't Cry when Billy Slater copped an accidental Thurston finger to the eye.

After the game we caught a cab back to the apartment (it was quicker and easier for the four of us compared to queueing up for the bus), got changed and headed out to check out the Jupiters Casino. It was really close to the apartment, but unless we wanted to swim there we had to walk around to it. Same as any other casino, it managed to keep us occupied until midnight or so. After that, we considered going out into the city to check out the nightlife but we were tired and were planning to be up early on Sunday morning to head to Magnetic Island, so decided to head back to the apartment and chill out. Once again I can't actually remember anything after that. No joke. I think I remember being hungry.

townsville (uno)

Townsville - it was like stepping into a time warp. And now it's like trying to step back into time into that time warp (erm... does that even make sense) to remember what happened. So I'll split this up into days - trying to remember all four days at once might make me explode.

Friday (Day One):

I was up around 3am-ish, and left home at 4am to make my way to the airport for our 7am flight. It was early, I was cold and tired, and by the time we got to the airport to drop our baggage, the queue was huge. Anyway, the four of us managed to finally get on board after a slight delay, and I managed to sleep through a bulk of the two hour flight, despite a window seat with a nice view. After landing in Townsville, we caught a hybrid cab (Ray really really wanted to ride in the hybrid) to our apartment. Well, as close as he could get to our apartment anyway - there was an Anzac Day march happening along The Strand, complete with road closures. The Strand ran between us and our apartment. So we had to cut through the march... hope that isn't regarded as being disrespectful or anything.

Our room wasn't ready until about 2pm, so we left our bags there and headed out into the heat of the sun (it wasn't humidity, it was just the sun beating down on us, trying to fry us as quickly as possible... and I had jeans on) to explore Townsville.

There really wasn't that much to it. Nothing much was open, being a public holiday and all. I was hot and tired. After walking along a bit of The Strand and finding some brunch, it was into the "city". This coincided with a tirade of whinging and complaining (both shared openly and kept deep down inside) on my behalf.

Flinders Mall was deserted. Most shops were closed. Victoria Bridge was a little pedestrian bridge. Chasing air conditioning, we went to Reef HQ. It was a smaller Underwater World without the travelator. Finally we got the call saying our apartment was ready. On the way back we went to check out the museum, and found that we needed to be local residents to get in for free - otherwise you had to pay some sum of money for admission that wasn't worth it.

First thing we did when we got to the apartment was hit the air con to full blast and bask in the awesomeness of the coolness (both ways). We had a great view from the apartment balcony. After settling in, we decided to venture out again for food. First plan was Woolies - when we got there, that was closed. Duh.

Anyway, following a feed at the one cafe that was open in the mall, we headed up Castle Hill. Ray went ahead because he was so cool (or so he thinks). Stormy and Paul hung back to make sure that I made it up there alive. I really struggled on the walk up, could've been the lack of sleep, but maybe it was just because I'm unfit and I suck. Don't know how I'll manage the half marathon I've got in two months' time...

The view from the top was awesome, and well worth the struggle up there. I had forgotten my camera back at the apartment though. You could see everything. Well, not literally everything. That would be weird. While up there, Stormy spotted what she thought was the Melbourne Storm training on a football field. This may be a good opportunity to add that the primary reason for visiting Townsville that weekend was to watch the NQ Cowboys (Paul's heroes) play the Storm (funnily enough, Storm's object of support). When we went down, we decided to check it out. And she was right. Not to mention excited.

We watched them train from the sidelines (with the sounds of coach Bellamy's foul mouthed commands filling the air), followed by a bit of a meet and greet session. I kept Paul company (who had a Cowboys jersey on) while Storm ran around like a kid in a candy shop, meeting the players, as well as photos and the odd signature.

Next stop was the apartment - we were all tired after the climb and just wanted to sit down and watch the footy on TV, though we had to actually get there first, which involved walking back. When we finally got there, Stormy passed out on the couch while Paul and I ducked back out to find some dinner. After eating and watching the footy, that's all I remember of Friday. So I'll leave it there before I strain my brain a little too much.

don't forget your card, sir...

Today Rebel Sport had a 25% off sale for RACQ members, which included already discounted stock! I had a few things that I wanted to get, so I went to my closest Rebel store after the gym to pick up some bargains. Now, in order to receive the discount you needed to be an RACQ member and flash your membership card. Guess who didn't check that they had their membership card with them? That's right. Me.

So when I got there it was about 7pm. During the drive there I searched through my wallet to make sure the card was in there (it's one of those cards that I usually always keep with me - kinda needed for when/if my car breaks down...), and it wasn't there. I though that was fair enough, I probably temporarily took it out of my wallet to make it thinner for whatever reason, and the card was probably just in my bag. At this stage I was tempted to pull over to check, but I figured I'm just being a worry wart. So I waited until I got there. And couldn't find it.

I drove home to get it. Searched around the house and it showed up after about 10 minutes, hidden away under a pile on a shelf. Quite glad that I didn't have a car problem and need to call RACQ and found my card missing...

Got back to the store at about 8pm, giving me an hour until the shop closed at 9pm. Freaked out because I thought I had left my wallet at home this time, but it was sitting on the passenger seat. Phew. Anyway I ended up spending $172.85 on a bunch of random stuff. Wanted to get myself a Canberra Raiders jersey, but there was only one there (either they're really popular or they're not... I'm picking the latter) and it wasn't my size. I felt obliged to get something Raiders related, so I got a scarf. Other purchases included a gym bag, long Skins compression tights, a t-shirt and a ball that apparently bounces on water (impulse buy whilst standing in the queue). Went through the checkout with about 7 minutes to spare. No sweat.

[For those wondering, Townsville recap will be up soon... just gotta get around to it.]

back in black

Well I'm back from Townsville. And I've darkened up a little from too much sun without sunnies or a hat. Proper summary to follow, but for now I need sleep.

leaving on a jet plane

I'm off to Townsville tomorrow morning (7am flight, eew). People keep asking me why I'd go up there for a holiday, and the answer to that is mainly because I've never been and just want to see what it's like. The receptionist at the gym doesn't seem to be able to understand this... Anyway I'm back in the great south east on Monday night (yes, that's right, a four day weekend suckers). Until then, have a great long weekend folks.

the windscreen, my only weakness... how did you know?

My car appears to be a magnet for disaster. Ok, disaster is probably too strong a word - I'd be really worried otherwise. Anyway, I was driving on the highway on Saturday morning and found myself boxed in behind a truck (there were cars either side of me so I couldn't just change lanes). Next thing I know I hear the bang of something hitting my car, and after a few seconds of swearing and frantic searching, I found a rock chip in the passenger side of the windscreen. Not good.

Yesterday I took it in to get filled in or whatever they do so that the cracks don't spread - I really didn't feel like replacing the windscreen. They did give me a bit of a scare beforehand though when they had a look at the chip - apparently it was nasty (what do you expect when I was driving at about 115km/h into it, and who knows what speed it was travelling at me at...) and there was a chance that when they used the machine to fix it, the windscreen would crack and they'd need to replace it. $109 and half an hour later it was fixed and all good. Still looks the same to me, but apparently they did some fancy stuff involving injecting the cracks with some resin or something like that. I trust them... I have a lifetime guarantee on it anyway so I'll be back if they didn't do it right.

This car is becoming more expensive than I expected. Oh well.

pilot

I flew a plane this morning. A Cessna Skyhawk. Don't tell anyone though, I'm pretty sure I wasn't exactly supposed to... It wasn't a lesson, just went along with someone with a pilot's licence who decided to put his fate in my hands once we were in the air. I thought I was just coming along for a ride. I was wrong.

This morning I found myself steering the little aircraft (the first non-commercial aircraft I've ever been in) around Redcliffe Aerodrome towards the runway - after a quick five minute rundown on how it worked, I got told to steer the damn thing. After almost wetting myself when I headed away from the bitumen, I got the hang of it and got us to the runway. Once we took off, I got a quick overview of the countless buttons, switches, levers, dials and displays in front of me and got told what altitude to be at and which direction to go in, and then got told to fly the damn thing. It actually wasn't very hard at all. Wasn't quite like driving a car though, I'll tell you that now.

Heights aren't really my thing, but it was ok because I didn't really get the chance to worry about it, I was too busy trying to make sure that we weren't too high or too low, and heading in the right direction, as well as looking out for other aircraft around and dodging the clouds. I had my camera with me but was also too preoccupied to take many photos. Whenever I did get the chance to gaze out, I found the view to be awesome. It wasn't like when you're on a passenger jet with a window seat and have this little hole to gaze out of. You had this big open view of everything.

After a touch and go at Caboolture (I obviously had nothing to do with that, I handed the controls back over) we flew towards the Glasshouse Mountains and this was when I started to feel a little nauseous. There was a bit of a wind coming in from the south, and that coupled with the bits of turbulence from the wind coming off and around the mountains when we got near them (damn you Reynold's number...). Managed to survive though - I think that by concentrating on keeping the plane heading in the right direction helped me forget about the possibility of being sick. Not to mention making sure I didn't fly into the mountains...

Anyway it was an awesome experience. Not sure if I'm keen to get back into that cramped cockpit and thrown around anytime soon though. I went straight to bed when I got home, had a killer headache. Not having much sleep the night before probably didn't help either. I need to harden up a bit, really don't feel like throwing up everywhere... Though all I had for breakfast was a muesli bar, so it's not like there was much that could've come back up.

first blood

Well it's finally happened - my new car doesn't look quite so new anymore. Not sure exactly where or when it happened, but there are now some chunks of paint taken off the left rear bumper. All I know is that it was a white car. It could've happened anywhere between my house and somewhere in Brisbane, and any time before Sunday. Actually, now that I think about it, it had to be after Saturday night - I washed my car that night (my first drive-thru car wash), and since there were white paint remnants left on my car, it had to have been after that. Oh well, I guess the first bit of damage to a brand new car is always the worst, because it goes from perfect to not-so-perfect. It had to happen at some stage. Now the floodgates have opened, and any further damage sustained sometime down the track won't feel so bad.

Anyway, can I ask a favour of you? It would be cool if you could just vandalise any white cars you see with battlescars suggesting a collision with a black Liberty. That would be very much appreciated. Actually, that wouldn't really achieve much, would it... Revenge may be sweet, but I guess I'll never know whether one of the many cars I take my frustration out on is actually the perpetrator. Oh well, it's the best I can do.

Maybe I should call in the guys from CSI. They usually shine their different coloured lights on everything, swab stuff, hypothesise about what happened from different viewpoints, pull out some real corny lines here and there, and figure it all out in an hour, including ad breaks.

signed memorabilia

Signed memorabilia - I'm not really sure what the fuss is all about. Yet I'm addicted.

Today I bought a signed Canberra Raiders jersey.

This can now go with my footy signed by the QLD Reds, footy signed by the Wallabies, tennis ball autographed by Australian Open tennis stars, as well as various signed posters ranging from INXS to the QLD Maroons State of Origin squad. I'm sure there are various others which I have forgotten about and/or lost. That's the problem though, isn't it? I get these things but soon get bored with them (I mean, besides staring at it, what can you do with it, really?) and it's onto the next thing. Its not so bad when you gather the autographs yourself, as is the case with most of them, but when you buy things like the jersey, it becomes an expensive habit...

and i would drive 600 k's

Well I picked up the car on Friday evening after work. As of this evening, I've done about 600 kilometres of driving, stretching from as south as Northern NSW and as north as Redcliffe. Absolutely love it. The new car smell kinda messes with my head a bit, still getting used to it. I think I've figured out most of the dials and buttons. Well the important ones anyway.

After my last car, its just so good to drive. It packs more oomph, runs so smoothly, and is so comfy. Then there's the cruise control, which I had on my first car but not on the last one. 6 stacker CD means that I don't have to constantly flick between radio stations to find a decent song. I could go on and on, but I won't. What's annoying is how easily it gets dirty, especially when it rains (ie like this whole damn weekend...). Something tells me I should take care of this car better than the last, which I pretty much never washed or cleaned.

Also went to see Millencolin play at the Tivoli last night. That totally went off. Everyone was singing and jumping along. They're the best bunch of Swedes ever. Male ones anyway... Its always nice to see a band that's touring for their new album not just play the songs from that album - they played mostly stuff from their last three albums before the latest one, which was great, as well as a few of the newies (which I didn't know, as I hadn't bought the new album, but still enjoyed despite not being able to sing along) and the odd really old one (Bullion was awesome).

liberty!

Well it's official - today I popped into the Subaru dealership around the corner from the office and purchased a new car. Basically what I got was:

2008 Subaru Liberty 2.5i
2.5L AWD Sedan
4 Speed Automatic with Sportshift
Colour - Black Pearl
...and lots of other features (I'm not in the mood for listing every one - go to the website if you really want to know)

Anyway after a test drive, I spent a while haggling to get a better deal. I generally dislike car salesmen, but I had Shelley, a 28 year old car saleswoman who was friendly and appeared to be very understanding. Original price was about $38,500, and they valued my car at $3,000 for trade in. That meant that I was to pay about $35,500 in total. Anyway, the end result was that I got an extra $250 for my car as well as about $5,500 off the car. So I need to come up with $29,750. Not bad - I walked in there not wanting to be forking out any more than $30,000.

I didn't end up going for the ex-demo, I went for the brand new option. It should be available to pick up on Friday. It's funny - I'm not really excited about it. I guess it hasn't sunk in yet. Also, I couldn't sleep last night, so maybe I'm just too tired to get excited. I'm sure I'll be excited when I do pick it up - no doubt I'll be doing a lot of driving that evening.

The freaky bit in the day came when one salesman out the back mentioned that I looked familiar, and asked if I'd been on TV before... made me wonder if it was all some kind of April Fool's Day joke.

cars

Cars. They're funny things, aren't they? I haven't posted for a while - consider it a combination of business and laziness - but at some point in that time I've been thinking of getting a new car. Most people would ask - why? It's a depreciating asset, don't waste your money etc etc. Well, here's my reasoning (however flawed it may be):

• I want a new car just for the sake of change;
• It doesn't feel right spending $600 to fix my current car when something goes wrong, especially when it's only worth $2-3k;
• A new car will be under warranty for a few years, which will provide me with peace of mind;
• Unlike my current car, I know I'll actually look after a new car and keep it clean;
• I could be cool and have a cool car.

Anyway, last week I finally got around to fixing up the body damage on my car from the accident. $500 got me a decent enough job without having to buy replacement parts. So then came the hard bit - deciding what to get. I wanted a brand new car, so I wouldn't have any worries with it and so that it could last.

I would have loved a Subaru Liberty GT tuned by STI. They only make 300 of them a year. I knew this was beyond my budget without even looking at how much exactly it would cost me.

Dropping down a rung would mean getting a standard Liberty GT. Still pretty nice, but $55k. Still out of reach I think. Also insurance would be a nightmare - turbo and under 25 don't really go together very well in that regard. Fuel wouldn't be too pretty a sight either - my current car is quite fuel efficient.

Lowering my expectations even more got me to the standard Liberty. At $35k plus on roads etc it was reasonably priced. I've managed to track down an ex-demo 2008 Liberty for $35k drive away, and if I can manage to get $3k from my car and get the price down a bit, I should only need to fork out about $30k.

I have enough saved up. The question is whether I blow it on the car, or spend some of it on a deposit for the car and finance the rest. I'd save interest if I bought it with cash, but its my "life" savings, something I'd rather hang onto for a rainy day - you never know when you might get to a stage where you need some cash.

Anyway I'm off to check the car out on Saturday morning, so we'll see what happens. I'll have to see what their finance deals are like and decide from there. The problem is that I don't actually need a new car, but now that I've thought about getting the car I really really want the car. I'm sure you know what its like, the anticipation of getting a new toy. You just want it right now. I'm probably better off waiting until towards the end of the year, when I've saved more up and might be in a better position to buy it.

We shall see. Car salemen can be quite convincing. Bastards.

dial-up

For the last week or two I've been down to dial-up internet speeds here at home. It sucks. Admittedly until about half a year ago, all I had ever known at home was dial-up. I think I had it for about 6 years. It was dodgy dial-up too. Was slower than your average dial-up, and would disconnect fairly often for no apparent reason. The worst thing was that I was so used to it. When my computer would freeze up for a second I knew that it was disconnected, and just got ready to reconnect. Friends I was chatting to online would figure it out and wait patiently for me to get back online. I wouldn't bother downloading attachments and files over 1 megabyte at home. The connecting tone became just a regular background noise.

Anyway, now that I've had a bit of a taste of awesome super-fast cable internet, it just doesn't feel right, having to wait for pages to load. Especially when the internet at work is now fast too. At least it doesn't disconnect on me every few minutes...